I started with Lindows, then to Mandrake (now called Mandriva). Because I use dial-up is very hard to download iso files 700M. Slackware gives me (and I hope it continues to offer) the option of downloading the individual packages which use to mount the CD (now DVDs).

Out of curiosity, I tried other distros, but I got used to the Slack ...

ps:I stop using dial-up, now I finally use adsl :-), but for now I have no intention of changing distro ...

The fanatic (used in positive sense) people and threads in this forum made me pick Slackware, though I am yet to install it, but I have made my choice! I'll have a choice to install only what I want without any dependencies! Then I hope there'll be no looking back.

I started with Puppy about a year ago. Lately I've been wanting a more complete Linux experience. I did some checking and found that someone had installed Slackware on an identical laptop as my old one and everything except 3D is supported. From what I've been told Slackware is one of the less demanding distros.

Slackware was the first linux Distro I tried. Read a article in maximumpc mag about linux, listed the top 10 distro's', you could probably guess which one was number one and the article suggested to try. However Slackware was listed as the one to use if one wanted a challenge, so a way I went, installing zipslack reading and googling whenever I got stuck installing zipslack.

I thought I was during pretty good getting zipslack installed, untill I had a had a darkstar curser blinking at me and didn't have the first clue what I had just installed or what to do next (LOL).
After that I jumped back and forth form Slackware to easier distros and back, as I slowly learned to use linux. Slackware was the first distro I tried to install and I still like it best.

When computers became appliances, I didn't even own one for quite a long time.
Bought an Asus Netbook 900, hated winxp, went on distro-hop binge. (What fun!)
Met Rev. Strang at a strange convention, laughed about the concept of "slack".
Learned there was a distro called "Slackware", that promises nothing, and delivers everything.
I resolved to have it. I got it. Couldn't figure it out. Tried again. Success.
Slack has been achieved.

I first came across slack when it was about version 3. Then there was a file called "zipslack" which contained some of the more popular packages and could be run under DOS. Then followed many months of fun learning about linux. I purchased a second (500 MB) hard drive for my PC and installed zipslack on it. I learned how to install extra packages including X. That was a lot of fun because I had to manually set all of the parameters myself. My computer wasn't good enough to run either Gnome or KDE but fvwm95 proved to be more than adequate for these experimental purposes. (That was fun too because then there was no drag and drop - you had to modify the startup files yourself).

All said and done, it was just a learning experience. At the time there was little in the way of practical software compared to that for windoze so I had to stick with micro$. One thing that disappointed me was the difficulty of porting the programs I had written for DOS to linux. Many of them required a 40x25 text screen which I couldn't seem to replicate in linux (linux doesn't allow you to directly control the BIOS).

I now have slackware 13.1 on my laptop and it will never see microsoft again! My desktop needs one of those periodic microsoft restores (back to virgin state) so I am planning to install slackware 13.1 on that at the same time that I do this. Even though it will be dual boot, I suspect I will rarely boot into Vista.

Well,

eventually saying goes so "..If you learn Slackware....."

just ended up with slack after trying Mandriva & OpenSUSE, both are good for their part of worlds.

happy with 'multilib slack64-current' on my laptop, credits to LQ community here and all.

I heard the voice of Bob commanding me to ditch Fedora and immerse myself in warm waters of Slackness.

Tried Slackware 5.0 long ago and couldn't get things to work out. So a friend got me to try out FreeBSD which I liked a little, a year later moved onto NetBSD which I still love to this day. Then three years ago my local LUG talked me into trying Debian which they all use and I didn't like the binary package installs of software. So I decide I'll give Slackware one more try downloaded Slackware 13.1 and haven't look back. Although I still run NetBSD on my Servers

I purchased a box with Suse pre-installed in 2001, I saw Mandrake in a Changi duty free and purchased it because I liked the comic strip when I was a kid, Rpms seemed wronged, multitudes of sysV init scrpts and non-conforming file systems were confusing to this newbie and Mandrake eye candy notwithstanding, I decided to switch. Most serious knowledgeable users at my local LUG, MLUG, used Debian and when I said I was interested in trying Slackware they advised against it for all the usual reasons and a couple sounded a bit too superior for my liking. I installed Slack-8.0 just to be contrary and now would think of using nothing else.... except ... er.... maybe.... a Slax CD for rescue work or Salix on my nutbook.

my first linux distro was mandrake.after the shame caled mandriva i installed debian.for years i was switching betwen debian,slackware and gentoo.three monts ago i installed arch.arch is fast and a good distro but i was pissed of.every update breaked tha system.after every update restet your sys seatings and finaly last friday update to new hal with all the bugs.so i decided to install slackware on my laptop

I started back around 97ish. I was doing dialup tech support for a local ISP. One day our system admin didn't come into work. The owner came over to me and dropped this giant BSD binder/book on my desk and said, "You've just been promoted."

Only real experience I had with Unix at that point was adding user accounts, setting up email with sendmail, setting up their webspace and rebooting the servers. During my search of the internet to figure out what the hell I was doing I came across Linux and Slackware. Downloaded all the floppies and installed it on my machine at work and at home and have used it ever since.

I have still used windows now and then for different reasons. As much as I hate windows for my own reasons, operating systems are tools for different jobs. Sometimes you have to use a craftsman wrench, other times you might have to use a dollar store hammer.

I have played with tons of other Linux OS's on live CD's but the only one thats ever made it on my hard drive was Mint. I used it on an older laptop that has an ATI vid card that plays well with it.

I've been using Ubuntu for about 4-5 years, but I got tired of Ubuntu's handholding, and the fact that I'm still a Linux noob, so I decided to try out Slackware on the recommendation from one of my friends, in hopes that I would better understand Linux.

like hitest I tried Caldera OpenLinux...must have been popular in Canada at the time...then Mandrake, then Slack at v.7...I was buying, restoring and hacking IBM microchannel desktops and servers as a hobby and usually put OS/2 Warp3 or 4 on them. I read that Slack had MCA support so I put that on a Server 9595A. That machine started life with a Pentium 90 processor but was maxed out with a little soldering to accept a P200MMX which was pretty nifty hack at the time. Built in 1992, it stills runs v.7.1 today, although it does sound a bit like a 737 idling in the room when it's on. I've stuck with Slack since...

My first Linux encounter was with Red Hat 5.0 back in late 1997. For a reason long forgotten, I decided that I didn't care that much for it, and just went on a whim and installed Slackware instead, version 3. something I think. Never regretted it, and have been growing fonder of it ever since.

Now I'm running multiple Slackware and CentOS boxes. I like Slackware particularly for how quickly I can turn it into a "homemade IronPort" box. There's no clutter and no pain. They just sit silent in their corners (and on IBM blades) and do their job. I do tend to use CentOS for those quick and dirty file & print servers and sometimes even DNS, RADIUS and other smaller tasks.

In my opinion, I think I was just lucky that I tried out Slackware rather than some other distro at the time. It's been a long, loving and rewarding relationship.