Ok.. here's my problem. I install slackware... use the verbose prompting, slect only the software i want... and then... boom... my system doesnt; boot... alsa doesnt; work, or i have a hundred other problems. I have only ever had luck installing "EVERYTHING. I want to do a very minimalist install that only includes the base command line utilities, (probably everythign from /a, /ap, and /k (so i can compile the kernel. I know i need the development stuff... and i'd just like to run a very barebones X with just kde... and only one or two other programs. Slackware's installer doesn;t check for dependencies so i get screwed every time I try to take out the junk I don;t need because I don;t know that it is dependent on something or because I misunderstood a description. Does anyone have a dependency list for slackware so i can go through it abd make sure i don;t miss anything? or better yet... does anyone have a stripped down tagfile set that gets rid of all of the junk software? advice? comments? snide remarks?

Try googling for minimal slackware install.

From the above google results is a LinuxQuestions.org thread on HOW-TO do a 20 MB Slackware install

You'll also find here my other mininstall howto's :
www.amigolinux.org/index.htm
If you install ALL of /a /ap and /l you'll avoid lots of problems. just by leaving out emacs and docs and gnome/or KDE you'll cut your install in half.

I think the principal packages to install are :
- module-init-tools
- util-linux
- glibc
- bash
- man-pages
- aaa_elflibs
- aalib
but I forget certainly some...
Why do no choose packages with interactive installation setup ? There is the possibility of see description of the package and you decide to intall it or not (can't remember which setup give interactive install)

The list for the 20MB is about the absolute minimum for an error free boot with no modules. in the the main A Minimal Install Guide to an Optimized linux OS you'll see a list for about 42MB install. this is the most reasonable place to start a minimal install list as it includes modules and pkgtools, so whatever needs to be installed can be added.
If you dont include findutils, grep, gawk, sed you may find some scripts fail.
Follow the link on the home page to minimal install index.