Re: [Lilux-help] FreeBSD, compile from source and Distributions

I would recommend Slackware: http://www.slackware.com First of all: I am using Slackware since october 1994(!) on the desktop and on many servers and firewalls, have tried many distros (including Debian, SuSE, RedHat). I have always comed back to Slackware. Here are the reasons why: * Slackware is a stable, fast, complete and resource friendly distro. * Slackware is uptodate. Every 6 months there is a new official Slackware release (with downloadable ISOs). * Slackware-current gets updated every day. You can always upgrade your current install to the level of Slackware-current by executing the tool 'swaret'. If there is a new KDE version, you can be sure that two days later, Slackware-current contains the new version. * There aren't new downloadable ISOs of Slackware-current every day, but you can download the whole tree with wget and make your own ISOs by executing a simple command. * No dependency hell! Slackware install tools, configuration tools and boot scripts only require the shell. Most tools and utilities are written in C. You don't need perl or python, TCL/TK, etc. installed. A main advantage of Linux vs Windows is the fact that under Linux you can build a dedicated system without the bloat you don't need (good for dedicated systems like firewalls). Slackware makes this easy (unlike other distros). Even FreeBSD needs perl. FreeBSD 5 corrected this by rewiting tools like 'adduser' in shell code. Yast needs perl. The RedHat tools need python, etc. * Slackware is the most UNIXish Linux distro around (I have experience with Solaris, SunOS, AIX, Tru64, HP/UX and *BSD). The init system is an enhanced BSD style init with support for SYSV init scripts for compatibility reasons. The only other Linux distro which uses BSD style init scripts is Gentoo. * The whole distro (with the installation program) has always been open source (unlike Yast for example which only recently has been GPL'ed). * I might not be the easiest distro for users who never touch the command line. But for users who want to know more about Linux, Slackware is the way to go. The streamlined boot scripts and configuration files makes it one of the easiest distros to master. It is also easier to understand than Debian, although some will say that it is also less sophisticated than Debian. * Slackware was one of the first distros ever (only SLS preceded Slackware). In fact, the first versions of RedHat and SuSE were based on Slackware. Here are some links: Slackware main site: http://www.slackware.com Community site: http://www.userlocal.com Additional slackware packages: http://www.linuxpackages.net Recent discussion in Slashdot: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/16/1326202&mode=thread&tid… Patrick Kaell