SlackwareThis Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
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In 18 years of doing countless installs I've never encountered the issues described with creating a user account.
It can happen, especially if you take off your headphones and put them down next to the keyboard, not noticing that you have actually parked them on the edge of your enter key. Happened to me just yesterday. None of the controls in Chrome or KDE would work. Damn flaky software!
It can happen, especially if you take off your headphones and put them down next to the keyboard, not noticing that you have actually parked them on the edge of your enter key. Happened to me just yesterday. None of the controls in Chrome or KDE would work. Damn flaky software!
Yep. From my experience the only time I've had trouble with Slackware it was the result of PEBKAC.
I agree on slackpkg. The review looks very dishonest concerning that. I prefer to use the xmission mirror so I assume he had a problem with the redirector or he didn't run update gpg.
He does have a point that people unfamiliar with computing in the 90's could get confused. How many Millennials and Zoomers could do this (install DOS) today? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-1DIoGwp0g
Quote:
Something eventually occurred to me: no one in any of these discussions mentioned having their first start with Slackware after the year 2001. It suggests to me not many new people have wandered into the Slackware community in the past 20 years and, given the project's apparent intent to avoid evolution, I suspect not many newcomers are going to try out Slackware and stick with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hitest
A fair review, albeit less than flattering. In 18 years of doing countless installs I've never encountered the issues described with creating a user account. The adduser command always works without fail for me.
@RadicalDreamer:
I say it only appeared like he was trying to make a fair review, to help sell his FUD -- "Slackware stubbornly fails to evolve" "No new users", "I find it hard to do common tasks". He only sort of hints at how Slackware targets a different audience; but then he goes on to suggest the target audience is totally irrelevant. In my opinion, it sounds like his a bit bitter for some reason:
Quote:
As a veteran of Slackware I knew the first thing I'd want to do was create a new user account
So now his a Slackware veteran!? and he can't even manage to add a user, with a script that no one until now has ever heard of giving people trouble? He seems desperate to keep people from trying Slackware. This does not read like a review from someone who doesn't agree with Slackware based on technical merits -- instead it reads like its some personal issue. I'd like to know just what those common tasks he has so much trouble with are? -- because it seems to me, that the examples of tasks given, were absurd. I would say objectively Slackware has more common tasks covered.
I say it only appeared like he was trying to make a fair review, to help sell his FUD -- "Slackware stubbornly fails to evolve" "No new users", "I find it hard to do common tasks". He only sort of hints at how Slackware targets a different audience; but then he goes on to suggest the target audience is totally irrelevant. In my opinion, it sounds like his a bit bitter for some reason:
So now his a Slackware veteran!? and he can't even manage to add a user, with a script that no one until now has ever heard of giving people trouble? He seems desperate to keep people from trying Slackware. This does not read like a review from someone who doesn't agree with Slackware based on technical merits -- instead it reads like its some personal issue. I'd like to know just what those common tasks he has so much trouble with are? -- because it seems to me, that the examples of tasks given, were absurd. I would say objectively Slackware has more common tasks covered.
He wants Slackware to adopt GUI installers, branding, officially adopt VLC and LibreOffice, and automatic dependency resolution like the distros he likes. It's the ideology of progress in action, it is because Slackware is affront to his idea of what it should be so he feels condescending towards it, or he hates Pat. I expect this bias from him and he was looking for gotchas. He probably is a Slackware veteran which is what pisses me off so much and makes him look so disingenuous when he plays dumb and breaks something, or pretends that people couldn't setup slackpkg+, and get VLC and LibreOffice from alien bob's repository. I bet he knows a lot more than he is letting on. If Pat updated the website (it needs updating), he'd still give reviews of Slackware like this.
He complained about the same things in this review as he did in his previous review. He had issues with slackpkg there too. The main difference is that he went after the website this time and had a mysterious issue with adduser. We could write the next one for him! Just take my first sentence in my first paragraph and expand it then find fault with slackpkg.
His "common tasks" are a mystery. The review would have been much better if he explained what those were because otherwise he looks disingenuous.
He does have points like the website and could/should the installer be improved while staying true to itself for the millennial/zoomer crowd? The reviewer didn't follow the recommendations. Should people like that be allowed to not follow the recommendations without warnings or something?
Last edited by RadicalDreamer; 02-14-2022 at 12:33 AM.
I don't understand what his problem is. He wants a different selection of software? Complains that a mirror should be selected first when running slackpkg? Ag and the favourite one: that slackpkg is not seen by a normal user. I can go on...
Something eventually occurred to me: no one in any of these discussions mentioned having their first start with Slackware after the year 2001. It suggests to me not many new people have wandered into the Slackware community in the past 20 years and, given the project's apparent intent to avoid evolution, I suspect not many newcomers are going to try out Slackware and stick with it.
yes, many things might have occurred to him... I started in 2005. The text in bold is plain arrogant, but if we look past that, this is the reason I stayed with Slackware for so many years.
There is an appeal to Slackware for use on servers where the desire is for everything to be stable, static, predictable. Especially when running classic network services. But for modern desktop use, or even modern server usage, Slackware has long since fallen behind to the point where I find it too much effort to get common tasks done with this distribution. There is a lot of manual work involved and very little, if any, benefit to being forced to do this extra work.
I can't say he's not quite right here, at least from my last 10 years of experience with Linux.
I can't say he's not quite right here, at least from my last 10 years of experience with Linux.
I'm glad you have a setup that works for your business (Slackware servers, Ubuntu Workstations).
I'm just a bit confused: we have a stable Slackware release that contains a very recent and complete install of KDE. How has this 'fallen behind'? Do your Ubuntu workstation uses need to manage updates and install software themselves or do you manage that centrally?
Just interested, not trying to argue a case or anything.
@keithpeter
I explained this before in a post but I'll be back. Slackware as a server operating system is my choice but I am also solely responsible for any issues caused by this choice.
I do not remember having installed the graphical interface (KDE) for Slackware more than 2 times and this only in the virtual machine. LibreOffice is missing, which must be installed on workstations.
Ubuntu for workstations is not my choice (is required by the specifics of certain activities) but it is a solution that I agree with.
I would like to have the centralized update for workstations (for example with Ubuntu Landscape) but now I only use scripts and Squid on one of the Slackware servers.
The kind of review I'd expect from someone who hadn't read any documentation before installing. If the intent was to encourage new users to at least try Slackware, then he set a bad example from the start by not doing the recommended full install. Not selecting a mirror for slackpkg. All round amateurish effort. 1/10 Could do better.
@keithpeter
[snip
Ubuntu for workstations is not my choice (is required by the specifics of certain activities) but it is a solution that I agree with.
I would like to have the centralized update for workstations (for example with Ubuntu Landscape) but now I only use scripts and Squid on one of the Slackware servers.
Thankyou for replying and again I'm glad you have something that works for your organisation. Best of luck.
Hello from Slackware64 15.0 running on a Dell XPS 15 9560!
You're right, they are great machines. This one has been running Slackware64 since the day I bought it in 2018... and without ever editing the X config file.
I'm glad it's working out for you.
This machine came out in 2021 and has an Intel 11800H and 64GBs of ram. Older hardware is always better supported in Linux than newer hardware.
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