New to Slack

[vwgtiturbo]

Just a quick question... I am running Red Hat 9 and just downloaded Slackware 9.1. I was considering switching because I have heard that Slack is kind of a pain in the rear, and that you actually have to learn something to use it. I want to learn USING Linux because I have used it on and off for a year, but in my limited use, I haven't been able to learn too much besides the basics. Considering that I do want to learn this stuff, am I getting in over my head by trying to use Slack? What are benefits of Slack? I have read a bit and it seems like a cult type following for some reason... just curious.

[sujoki]

slackware is just what you want, its not a cult type thing, its just really good, coming with slackware 9.1 things become easier with the update tool that they add, using slack you find that the best way to do things is by using cli, most of your installs are from source code, or at least should be, because thats what makes the system fast. if you actually want to learn linux id say slackware is a great start.

[vwgtiturbo]

slackware is just what you want, its not a cult type thing, its just really good, coming with slackware 9.1 things become easier with the update tool that they add, using slack you find that the best way to do things is by using cli, most of your installs are from source code, or at least should be, because thats what makes the system fast. if you actually want to learn linux id say slackware is a great start.

I think I am just worried that I will be getting in over my head and end up saying "screw it". That's cool though, I have heard that Slack would be the way to go to learn the stuff, and that's what I am trying to do. Thanks for the input.

[sujoki]

well lets just say this, i used mandrake for a month then said screw it cuz i wasnt learning enough. then went to slackware and went whoaaaa im learning alot and now here we are lol.

[vwgtiturbo]

I think that is where I am with Red Hat. Everything that I would normally need is in the GUI, but I want to learn the terminal. I think it is more valuable because you can't always get to the GUI and some systems don't even have one installed.

[friskydrifter]

I found using Red hat instead of slack made me learn more?
When i had Slack running it was too much all at once, with Red Hat i could do things with the gui then look at it through the terminal and then work out what the hell was going on. with Slack it was just "what the hell is going on"

My 2 cents

[vwgtiturbo]

That is what I am paranoid about, the "What the hell have I gotten myself into" phase. Hell, I tried to install Slack yesterday alongside my RH9 install (but on a second hard drive). That didn't work. I hadn't yet read the installation instructions from their site, so when the CD booted, and it spit me out at a command line, I was a little shocked. No big deal though... all it took was 20 seconds of reading, then it becomes clear... "Oh yeah, 'fdisk /dev/hdb1'!"
I think my biggest problem is that I use the system as a home user, and not as a power user, because I just haven't had things to do to warrant it. In light of this, I WANT to learn the power user stuff, but that is impossible if you don't use the system in that way.

[gaxprels]

Here's what I suggest.

Go ahead and install Slackware. As long as you faithfully read the README and INSTALL docs for things you are trying to install, you'll be ok. If you take the standpoint of "./configure && make && make install" without reading, you might find out that this was the one program that didn't do it that way... and you could break something. Slackware will keep you on your toes enough that you'll learn to be a power user gradually, but not too fast. RedHat takes too many things away (GUI partitioning system, for instance) and has several CLI "help tools" that can criple someone trying to learn to be a power user. I'm not saying it's bad to have programs / scripts that make the tasks easier, but you should learn HOW those programs / scripts do the things they do in case you are ever on a system that doesn't have those tools. Otherwise, there's no need to become a power user. (Except it's just cool to know what's going on )

Anyway, there are several of us who use slack here, and I for one would be more than happy to try to help if you get stuck on anything. Hang in there and don't be afraid of it. In fact, if you want to make Slack feel more comfortable, try to install a BSD system first, then as soon as you get confused, go back to Slack and you'll feel warm fuzzies about it all the more

Seriously though, you should try Slackware if you really want to learn to be a poweruser... you could learn to be one on Red Hat but my experience has been that people who intend to learn it on RH just never get around to it. I'm sure there are people out there who have, but I haven't met them yet.

Good luck, and keep us up to date on your progress.

[vwgtiturbo]

Thanks alot for the advice. I will probably be installing it this evening, so there may be some new topics up from me. I did go to the Slack website and print out some basic docs for installation, so hopefully, things will go smoothly.

[sujoki]

Seriously though, you should try Slackware if you really want to learn to be a poweruser... you could learn to be one on Red Hat but my experience has been that people who intend to learn it on RH just never get around to it. I'm sure there are people out there who have, but I haven't met them yet.

you have not met JimH then