Slackware, whats good and bad?

[robke1972]

Hi there,
I must agree with opnosforatou

think about what a newbie is

a newbie is most likly a windows user
windows users are used to gui
and to setup install next next next done

if you use slack you need to rtfm or else it simply will not work out.
(ofcourse after rtfm you also need to think but lets keep it in this realm of reality for this case)

ever heard of a windows user doing rtfm?

no matter how cool or usefull the distro, if it doesn't do install next next next done....forget it, no newbie will use it

IMHO if you want a user to take an interest in linux give him a live linux distro like knoppix or so.
(although I think the enter at the boot prompt might be to complicated for most windows users, thank god that knoppix does not ask for an any key)

as long as it works without to much interference
there was an url to a list of lotsa live distros on slashdot, but I can't seem to find it anymore.

[heartsmagic]

A new user? but to what? a computer or just linux.

Think a professional computer (or would i mean Windows user) user wants to meet Linux. He/she knows lots of thing about computers and heard a little big about Linux. If he starts with RH or Mandrake he thinks "yeah this is like Windows" but when he wants to install an utility he ll fail. So he think " is Linux this". He thinks wrong both. Linux is not like Windows and it is not like he thinks.

Yep RH and Mandrake are a little bit user friendly than Slackware or Debian. But i think they are not so strong Linux distros, even though for newbies.

[fingal]

I agree with much of what has been posted here so I thought I'd add my bit. I am also from a Window$ background, though I'm happy using a command line as I started using Billdow$ before GUIs were commonly in use (not all that long ago really). I think what you need is patience and curiosity: I tried Mandrake 9.1 to start with: too many bugs. Then Peanut Linux... #root by default.

Now I use SuSE and Knoppix. I think if you are determined you will find Linux fairly easy to use on a basic level. I think you need to be interested in learning the command line though, and if you want to be productive and to learn to program then Slackware and co. are great!

[danbo]

i am gonna try slackware 9.1, i bought it for £12...... alot cheaper than windows and its better value