How to get rid of Slackware?
by deNiro from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5EPKZ)
Not really a question but more a personal observation/story/experience of the last 2 months. (perhaps interesting or not)
I have been on Slackware for almost 2 decades, On and off. Some years I ran Slackware as the only distro. Some years I mixed it up. with puppy linux and windows and openBSD. The last years I only really ran slackware/salix, except for a short amount of time were I had to run Windows to follow an education. Recently I upgraded both my laptop and PC to Slackware Current. Everything that is installed just works flawless. Good performance, my old scripts which uses oldskool tools, recent virtualbox with bridge networking, steam games, you name it, there are no surprises.
Sometimes I dislike Slackware when I want to install certain 3rd party software, and it takes me gazillion amount of time to figure stuff out, and sometimes I fail with that. So for my PC, which I also use for gaming and multimedia , I tried to replace it with Mint, Ubuntu and also debian. Why those? For the obvious reasons, nl., Want to install some piece of software? .. just one "apt install" away. Lot's of support for 3rd party stuff, which just means you add a repo, and again, ...just one "apt install" away. So, basically to take the easy route, and have more comfort.
I think I gave them a fair chance, since I ran each of them for a couple of weeks as the only system on that PC. All use systemD, which from a usability point of view I kinda like. It gives you easy tools for managing services and getting the right info out of your log files, without the need of being an ace in bash scripting. But it comes with complexity under the hood, and obviously it does not really fit in well with the KISS principle and the idea that one can easily replace a certain system if a better system appears.
Each time during those trials I hit a wall. Things that are relatively easy on Slackware, are difficult on mint , ubuntu or debian. Especially related to the init, or easy editing scripts. Or just fixing a little problem under the hood. Those things often require more wading through documentation/forums on the other the distro's. Also, mostly they are performing a tad slower then Slackware. The difference in performance is not huge, but it is noticeable. Especially with a lot of multitasking. I don't really know what the cause of that is.
Anyway, every time after a few weeks of trying, I went back to Slack. One thing improved a lot during those attempts to get rid of Slackware on that PC: My backup scripts and the structure of my home data improved a lot. My laptop and PC are now fully synced within seconds (depending on the number of changes), because I finally created proper backup scripts. :D
Seems that getting rid of it is kinda hard. Perhaps I better stick to virtualization on Slackware when I feel the need to go for other endeavors.
I have been on Slackware for almost 2 decades, On and off. Some years I ran Slackware as the only distro. Some years I mixed it up. with puppy linux and windows and openBSD. The last years I only really ran slackware/salix, except for a short amount of time were I had to run Windows to follow an education. Recently I upgraded both my laptop and PC to Slackware Current. Everything that is installed just works flawless. Good performance, my old scripts which uses oldskool tools, recent virtualbox with bridge networking, steam games, you name it, there are no surprises.
Sometimes I dislike Slackware when I want to install certain 3rd party software, and it takes me gazillion amount of time to figure stuff out, and sometimes I fail with that. So for my PC, which I also use for gaming and multimedia , I tried to replace it with Mint, Ubuntu and also debian. Why those? For the obvious reasons, nl., Want to install some piece of software? .. just one "apt install" away. Lot's of support for 3rd party stuff, which just means you add a repo, and again, ...just one "apt install" away. So, basically to take the easy route, and have more comfort.
I think I gave them a fair chance, since I ran each of them for a couple of weeks as the only system on that PC. All use systemD, which from a usability point of view I kinda like. It gives you easy tools for managing services and getting the right info out of your log files, without the need of being an ace in bash scripting. But it comes with complexity under the hood, and obviously it does not really fit in well with the KISS principle and the idea that one can easily replace a certain system if a better system appears.
Each time during those trials I hit a wall. Things that are relatively easy on Slackware, are difficult on mint , ubuntu or debian. Especially related to the init, or easy editing scripts. Or just fixing a little problem under the hood. Those things often require more wading through documentation/forums on the other the distro's. Also, mostly they are performing a tad slower then Slackware. The difference in performance is not huge, but it is noticeable. Especially with a lot of multitasking. I don't really know what the cause of that is.
Anyway, every time after a few weeks of trying, I went back to Slack. One thing improved a lot during those attempts to get rid of Slackware on that PC: My backup scripts and the structure of my home data improved a lot. My laptop and PC are now fully synced within seconds (depending on the number of changes), because I finally created proper backup scripts. :D
Seems that getting rid of it is kinda hard. Perhaps I better stick to virtualization on Slackware when I feel the need to go for other endeavors.