Re: Query from a potential newbie

From: SuperDaemon (Super_at_DiskAndExecutionMONitor.biz)
Date: 04/30/04 

Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 22:52:35 GMT

Madhusudan Singh wrote:

> My first post did not go through. Kindly forgive the multiple post.
> -----------------------------------------------
>
> Hi
>
> I am a long time Redhat user (versions
> 5.0,5.1,5.2,6.0,6.1,7.1,7.3,9.0), and am about to receive a new laptop
> from linuxcertified (finally rebelled after years of paying M$ tax).
>
> Ever since RH threw its loyal users to Fedora (which by all
> reports
> is a snazzy looking distro, but with some fairly serious issues regarding
> stability and interoperability from some of the reviews about Core 1), I
> have been looking to migrate to some other distro that will not hang up on
> me. For months, I believed that with Debian Sarge, I had the right choice
> (mainly the attraction of the apt-get mechanism). However, I am having
> some doubts after reading some reviews - the staleness of some of the
> packages, problem with running newer versions of KDE (am switching back to
> KDE after a year long dalliance with GNOME), etc.
>
> I am now considering slackware.

very good choice;

> From the homepage, it seems that
> the
> latest release is 9.1.

Slackware has been updating heavily past few weeks. kde-3.2.2, qt-3.3.2,
xfree86-4.4, kernel-2.4.25, or (or 2.4.26?) are there for upgrading using
swaret, which also checks for dependencies by the way.

> My question is very simple : how easy is it to
> migrate from Redhat to Slackware (directory structure, configuration
> files, etc.)

are BSD style, very straight forward

> ? Does Slackware have an apt-get mechanism ?

as other mentioned after install get "swaret" (and also "checkinstall" which
makes a slackware package for packages compiled from source).

> I am not averse
> to compiling packages by hand as I have done a fair bit of it in the past,
> but is there a GUI tool (preferably KDE friendly) for simple admin
> functions etc. ?

many, kpackage, kuser, kcron, etc. with kde kadmin package,if you install
KDE they'll be there. There is also a swaret GUI frontend which I think you
would compile from source? not sure here.

> Another concern is whether Intel Fortran Compiler will
> work on Slackware (it is distributed in rpm format alone, but with Debian,
> I have heard of people being able to alien it to a .deb package). Has
> anyone set up IFC 8.0 on Slackware successfully ?

Yes, don't know about IFC 8.0, but gcc complete package is available. You
would need "gcc-g77-3.*-i*86-* module of gcc for compiling fortran codes.
At install time choose to install all development packages or pick and
choose what you need from many, e.g. kdevelop, QT designer, CVS, gcc, etc.

> The above are serious questions from someone on the eve of
> receiving
> a new laptop, so please do not start a flame war.

also apm, acpi kernel modules are compiled in kernel but not loaded per
default at boot, very easy to fix for seeing your battery status, etc.

> Thanks,

welcome to Slackware, You'd love it.

>
> MS

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