TechieMoe.com

Introduction:

Slackware is one of the oldest (arguably *the* oldest) Linux distributions still around today. It is the pet project of one Patrick Volkerding who, love him or hate him, has ruled his distribution with an iron fist since the beginning. This is fine if you agree with his choices, however history has shown that I most often do not. Here is my experience with his latest iteration, Slackware 11.

UPDATE:: Since its original date of release, this rant has been the one that has garnered me the most flack and criticism. I would like to remind anyone reading this for the first time that I offer my opinion here, nothing more. If you don't like it, great. Just don't try to convince me otherwise.

UPDATE AGAIN:: Looking over some of the jabs made at Patrick in light of the fact that he has been terribly, deathly ill, I decided to sanitize a few parts of this rant. Just because I dislike this particular Linux distribution doesn't mean I wish any harm to come to its creator.

Install:

The installer has no graphical interface nor any automated partitioning utility, so if you're not comfortable creating your own partitions with cfdisk from the command line and navigating ncurses text menus, leave now.

Slackware is an advanced distro and makes no bones about it. You get your hands dirty, and fans of this distribution argue that's the way they like it. I, if you haven't guessed already, am not a fan. You'll learn a lot about Linux internals, but don't expect any automated tasks whatsoever.

If you don't do anything special, the default is to install the Linux 2.4.x kernel. This is a pet peeve of mine that dates back 3 years. Kernel 2.6 is absolutely superior for my hardware and I actually *need* the features (such as USB support) that it offers over 2.4. Kernel 2.6 has been in development for 3 years, so the maintainer's constant "it's not stable enough yet" mantra has gotten very old.

You *can* install the 2.6.18 kernel when the installer gets to the "kernel" screen. Insert the first disc and scroll down to the "test26" kernel image. This is something that to my knowledge wasn't possible in previous Slackware versions, so I at least give Patrick props for supporting it, however grudgingly.

The default bootloader is LILO for some reason. Most modern distros these days use GRUB. I've had issues with both, so I can't really say which I'd prefer. It's just odd that Slackware uses the one everyone else doesn't.

After the install you're greeted with a textmode prompt which you must log into as root user and manually create your own regular user. It's not an especially difficult task (run "adduser YourUserName") but it's certainly one that I personally like the installer to take care of.

After adding my user I was pleasantly surprised to find that X Windows actually worked. I was unpleasantly disappointed to find that my mouse did not. I figured it was probably because I had chosen the wrong mouse driver during the install. I tried to quit back to BASH by hitting CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE and the screen froze. I sincerely hope this was due to my VM software and not an instability in Slackware.

I fiddled with my xorg.conf over and over trying to get the proper protocol for my mouse. I tried every driver and option available and none seemed to work. Before the apologists out there accuse my VM, let me remind you that every other distribution I've tried has worked just fine with this VM software including full mouse support.

I tried all my usual configuration tricks and was unable to get my mouse to work, so I decided to try reinstalling with the stock 2.4.x kernel just out of curiosity. The install seemed to work but when I tried to start X Windows, I got a strange black screen with a very faint pair of mirrored blinking cursors. At this point I gave up.

::UPDATE:: I tried this install once more on Rig 2 and ran into the same problem, so it wasn't my VM software. I fiddled with my "/etc/modrobe.d/blacklist" file at the suggestion of someone else (because apparently Patrick had decided to disable mouse support in the 2.6 kernel) and this solution didn't work. What ended up working was attaching a USB mouse instead of my default PS/2 mouse. This is much too much work for a modern distribution. The last time I remember having to spend this much time configuring my mouse was in Redhat 6.

As if the mouse issue weren't enough, I tried to play an MP3 file and was told my soundcard was not configured properly. I'm really having flashbacks to 1998 here.

Alsaconf told me no supported PCI or PNP devices were found, even though I had TWO sound devices (one onboard AC97 and one PCI C-Media). Because my sound didn't work I was also unable to try out my movie files in Xine.

There was no version of SANE included that I could find, so no scanner support. My USB thumbdrive was detected (according to dmesg) but I could not mount it. I may have been issuing the wrong mount command, however. I got a "cannot find valid filesystem" error. I didn't try my digital camera, but since there was no digital camera software I can guess the outcome. This distribution was really a waste of a perfectly good CDR.

Software Selection:

Kernel 2.4 is the default. Sure, at least in this release you get a supported option to install 2.6, but Patrick is still vehement that the 3-year-old 2.6 kernel is just "not stable enough". I'd like to live in his little alternate reality for a day because apparently he sees something that the dozens of maintainers for commercially-sold distributions such as Redhat and SuSE have not yet grasped.

Firefox was included, but I couldn't find Gaim, Gimp, or OpenOffice. I really couldn't find much of anything because my default install gave me the option of XFce, TWM, FVWM, Blackbox and Fluxbox. Now, I like these desktops in their own right, but I like to see an "Applications" menu when I'm reviewing something. The official Sun Java VM was included, but that's small comfort considering all the other useful software that was left out.

Most Annoying Feature:

My biggest complaint with Slackware is still the maintainer himself. Patrick *is* Slackware. There is no democracy in this distribution. It is in every way *his* project, and he runs it as such. He has every right to do so, but I also reserve every right to lambast him and use a different distribution when I don't agree with the choices he makes.

He doesn't include any scripts that might make using his system easier for those of us not interested in dicking around with text files every hour of every day, nor does he seem to understand the idea of NEW kernels. These two make Slackware a distro I not so much despise, but still avoid at all costs.

Yes, yes, I'm sure if you're a Slackware fan and haven't been so offended you kept reading this rant, you'll probably argue that the very things I point out as flaws are things you consider boons. Thus demonstrates the importance of personal perception. When I can't do work on it, it's not worth my time. I'm glad it works for you.

Who's it best for?

Like kernel 2.4? Still play music on LPs? Don't mind having to do everything manually? Try Slackware. Everyone else should stay away, and I dare say encourage everyone you know to do so as well.

Slackware is designed for the uber geek. Since I left college I am no longer a part of that crowd. I look for functional, relatively pretty desktop operating systems to do what I want. Slackware does not fit this bill, nor do I really think it ever will.