New Slacker here...
 

Just wanted to drop in and say hello. Just joined these boards after a fresh squeeky clean install of Slack 13.37. Smooth install and setup, no problems. Been using linux off and on for many years. Started with Red Had back in the 90's. Fiddled with slackware a little back then, but nothing serious. After I built a new high-speed desktop, I settled on giving slackware the real go. I will say this... FANTASTIC. This is absolutely the cleanest and smoothest distro I have ever touched, and the simplicity and stability make me a very happy person. Especially considering I just came off openSUSE. Bleh... Anyway, Thanks for having me!

P.S. Don't worry, I'm one of those people who's been doing this long enough I know how to search boards/google before asking questions. :hattip:

Welcome and hope we can help you out if there is ever any problems, so don't be shy. It NEVER hurts to ask a question.

Favorite Question of mine: "There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers."

Make sure to check out http://www.slackbuilds.org for a lot of packages that normally aren't available for Slackware.

If you're running the 64-bit version, also check out Eric Hameleers's multilib packages at http://connie.slackware.com/~alien/multilib/ for 32-bit compatibility packages for those projects that are often a pain or non-working with 64-bit only.

Thanks for those sites. The 32 bit libs are a definite plus because I am indeed x64. Playing around with compiling kernel 3.0 atm. Works all good except for network support. I am used to installing kernels from SUSE's package management system. It's been a few years since I actually compiled the kernel by hand. I had forgotten the fun in doing it yourself. I'm like a kid in a candy store right now.

I've never really messed with kernels honestly to say its a good idea or a bad idea. Mostly I've stuck to the distro kernel until the next update rolls out or a patch is made, though I will play around the the testing kernels from time to time in a virtual machine.

You will find that the lack of an automated packaging system does allow for more freedom, easier management, and everything additional that may need to be built from sources are going to be more tailored for your system. It also cuts a lot of fluff out as well.

Recompiling kernels from source is fun.

Long time ago since kernel 2.4.x i used to recompile them, but now, i forgot how to do it .. hehehe lousy me .. =P

Have fun with kernels..

Welcome to the official Slackware forum here on LQ. Once you Slack, you never go back. :)

Go with "Bob". :p

Yea, I put all the other distros I own into storage. I've found my home. I may even buy a shirt. haha

I did and my wife laughs at me hysterically every time I wear it. Oh well, she's the one who married me ;)

My girlfriend says it's the sexiest t-shirt I got. And she's not even into Slackware: she thinks of it as somewhat of a rival, I'm afraid. :rolleyes:

for 32bit multilib environment check out:

http://multilibpkg.sourceforge.net/index.html
http://compat32pkg.sourceforge.net/

Both of this pkgs work to make the installation of Eri'c Multilib easy and simple..... Same goes for updating the libs if need it.


Best tool so far!

BTW a word on using multilib...

Make SURE you have all the packages for your system you think you will ever need BEFORE installing multilib. I've had several instances where the multilib setup causes problems with certain packages not recognizing the /usr/lib64 directory and just the /usr/lib directory. This doesn't always happen, but it can, so be warned about this.

Slackware will work fine as a standalone 64-bit system.

Never had any issues.... and been using slackware x86_64 with multi lib for a few years.

I've had a few issues on and off, but it's mostly limited issues that don't affect anything but a compile of random programs. I really don't mess around with Multi-Lib as much anymore as I hardly ever use WINE or even need it.

I am not sure I am understanding your reply but wine has nothing to do with having multilib on a system.