Hehe, funny!
imo the really best docs are in the bsds, check my signature for the freebsd handbook. Of course, they are funded, some people and organizations pay to support them, so that explains it. Gentoo docs are really fine, but sometimes i feel like i'm "learning gentoo", a customized doc that only aplies to gentoo, and not "linux" as the Slackware saying goes. Anyway, i'm gonna stfu as i'm late for work. Have a nice day!

I've used red hat,arch,gentoo,icepack,mandriva,ubuntu,kubuntu(ubuntu with kde),college,phlak,and Suse. I didn't like any of them. Before I used them I used Slack 9.0 and always ended up coming back to it. Phlak is a nice live disc but not a nice OS. I would want to live with it every day! Slackware has raised me into the mega computer geek I've always wanted to be But really, I didn't like the other distros, no offense, I just feel Slackware is the best even without having the nicest and newest gadgets! Slackware is built on a strong foundation! Red hat is another windoze wanna be along with mandriva!

theres no such thing as women on the net. the net is a place where men are men, women are men , and children are the FBI.(anon.)

I tried Gentoo recently, ironically one of the things that brought me back to Slack was wanting up to date and fast programs again. Gentoo made my system crawl and everything was a few versions behind unless I played with the masking settings. Emerge is nice and all, but it wasn't enough for me over the awesome simplicity Slackware offers.

I'm not knocking down Gentoo it's just it was not for me. I felt that I spent more time configuring and tuning the box then working on the box. As for production machines forget it, it would take me days to weeks to get Gentoo working right when I can do the same thing in Slackware in just a few hours. Also my Slackware would be just the way I would want it to be without any bloat and would run just as fast as my Gentoo machine. Sure I learned alot with Gentoo like how to compile a kernel, jeez I had no choice I must have complied the kernel like over 10 times to get it working just right with Slacware it's just alot easier. My only wish would be to have allot more programs precomplied that just what linux packages offers. Installing a program via .tgz format it so easy and it that program is not for you removing it is just as easy. Sometimes compiling from souce is difficult when the package needs a deb and you have to hunt it down when a .tgz would have been done with. I have nothing against compliing but when you want a machine setup quick it can just bog you down sometimes.

To each their own. Also if you really want to learn Linux best to setup LFS because with Gentoo you learn alot but you also learn it the Gentoo way.

Maybe one day I'll try LFS but from now I'll stick to Slackware and Centos.

I'm on the fence, I used to be big into slackware but it's not doing all that I want it to anymore, I've tried gentoo before and it didn't do all that I wanted either. Freebsd is wonderful but it isn't linux and as a result doesn't have some things that I've really become accustomed to, like some of my more obscure hardware.
nothing works perfectly as I want it to, so I simply choose from the best and stick with it until I've mangled it so badly that it doesn't run anymore, then try something else.

Another wish is that with Slackware 11 coming out whenever it does I hope Pat added a better way of distributing .tgz programs. The current way of taking a compiled source and repacking to .tgz format is difficult. Problem is that the instructions are vague at best and very outdated. Hopefully with slack 11 that will change. Time will tell.

I don't understand what the problem is- the Slackware packaging setup works great and couldn't be easier to use. If you have a question, do some searches and if you can't find what you want, open a new thread. It's a great group of guys and I'm sure they can help out.

What so hard? Install 'checkinstall' (in /extra on the website or cds), and typeDone, plus you get to save the resultant package to where ever you wish, to install again later using 'installpkg'

I tried a few times to make my own .tgz but it just would not happen. Tried to google but only found very outdated stuff not a clean guide. Slack's own slackbook is great but when it comes to creating your own .tzg it's kinda vauge. If you have any links or guides you would like to share that would sure help.

I have not tried checkinstall to be honest but I will. I have a Slackware box that needs a few programs added from source. I'll give it a try. I'm now reading up on the docs.

Any tips, suggestions on using it effectively.

I had the same questions as you and the guys gave me awesome answers. There are tools to make this a snap. Here is a link to one post. If you still have questions, please search the Slackware forum for checkinstall and makepkg and then post a new topic. Otherwise we will get kicked out of the bar for thread-jacking

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi....php?p=2118552
(I don't know why this goes to the middle of the thread- start reading from the beginning.)

WOH! wait a minute, "gentoo" is a brand of linux? I thought they made WIKI's kidding, just tried it, got it going, wow, I need to power tweak this or something, off to the wiki again. I needed my laptop next to me the whole time to refer to the wiki. Havent done anything else in it yet, except go to google to check if I had internet.

Regarding packages: I'm really starting to like tgz format. I like it more than YaSt, becuase even if the package is broken, I can get it out. I have had times where with YaSt I thought I was fine, just to reboot and get a kernel oops on. I dont find many dependency issues with slackware. The only issue I get into is for applications like "net-snmp" with does not recognize "DESTDIR=/..." But for that application, they do give a "make-uninstall" and it does work. And the upgradepk that gets used in "slapt-get" is superb, works like a charm. The fact that you can make a package, and then slap it into other pc's and bang work everytime is sweet. Dependency checks on yast, synaptic, very slow.

Tho to be honest, and this is my opinion, and they are like belly buttons - every one has one. Have you guys fiddled with Mepis lately, the betas. Mepis, not debian - ubuntu, or kubuntu, but Mepis's based on the ubuntu. That mepis/synaptic is bar none incredible, there's no other way to put. Every package works superbly in Mepis, and not even in debian or ubuntu ROFL. That Warren is one smart dude, but why he has yet to date made a distro that can take proprietary ATI drivers and yeild 3D rendering "DRI" is any one's guess.

Yes --> http://www.linuxpackages.net/howto.php and my sig
Oh! true, then i'll say Gentoo feels like running debian-sid: apt-get blah, wait for compiling and cross your fingers but fun to play with

I've been using Slack for several years now and for the past three years I have been managing a small (micro) ISP where all of our servers run Gentoo.

On the upside, typing "emerge gnucash" and having it work its magic is really amazing. Spending three hours in anticipation of your new build really builds up the anticipation. But God help you if Portage chokes, you will need to spend a lot of quality time with the (remarkably complete) Gentoo docs. (Maybe I'm a jinx, I have managed to totally screw up every fancy package manager I have ever tried.)

For all the talk of Gentoo's speed, I haven't seen it. Replacing Gentoo with Slack has always boosted performance in my experience.

The worst part of maintaining Gentoo isn't the compiling, it's syncing the portage tree. It's like being late for the birth of a child and being held up at a two hour traffic light. I can install Slackware in the time it takes to run "emerge sync."

It's been about a year since I've done a Gentoo install, so things may have changed, but for the life of me I don't know why it has to be so painful. Can't any of that be scripted?

The versatility of Gentoo means that no two Gentoo users have the same selection of software so your package interop problems are often your own. With Slack (or most others) if you have a problem chances are pretty good someone has already posted the issue and gotten some answers.

Gentoo has been amazingly stable, but then Slackware is as reliable as an anvil.

There times when I would really like a dependency tracker/auto-doo-hickey for Slackware. A recent KDE upgrade trashed kmail's ability to read crypto mail and I don't want to fight with that nonsense again. And I have accepted that I am not smart enough to get GnuCash compiled (Gnome 1.x?!?) But most of the time it's just ./configure, make, checkinstall, voila! In some cases you might spend a half an hour tracking down dependencies, but then that's still less time than "emerge sync."

I am happy without the dependency management and with slackpkg I don't have to type much to upgrade most things. I only wish Patrick would switch to Postfix.

Well, i was playing with Gentoo inittab tonight and i found a familiar name, i was surprised and pleased, does it happen on others distros too?
part of my gentoo inittab: