pbhj's Journal: LQ post on Slack vs Ubuntu

Well I moved in January from Slack 12 to Ubuntu when I was installing on my new computer (Athlon 64 X2 4000+; 3G RAM; Nvidia 7200 GX).

I'd not tried Gnome in a long time (since Slack 9 I think) so thought it was worth a shot.

Loved the default look and feel, added compiz-fusion and loved the eye candy some more. Then I needed to get my work done! Lasted 10 days (or so) with Gnome. Then installed KDE ... click, click, click, wait ... installed.

Also installed KDE4 (which is so not ready for users).

Quote:
try installing something that is not in the repos
Someone mentioned non-repos installs ... very easy. Download the deb and click on it.

I like the way sudo is arranged so that admin tasks request the user password.

At least one other mentioned lack of compiler and trouble kernel compiling ... haven't tried later (though all my Slack kernels were custom), new box is fast enough I don't need to bother.

Things that I used to self-compile were either cutting edge or just rare enough not to have packages or slackbuilds readily available. Now I find that most of what I need is available as a deb or is already in the repos (testing! or in repos of distros like medibunti or Mint). Indeed I've yet to find anything I need to compile (including SVN builds of Inkscape which are in the testing repos) and several things I used to self-compile that now I don't. Critical mass is the term here I guess.

This machine came with Vista Home Premium pre-installed ... which bizarrely took more setup (didn't see all memory, video was wrong) than the entire Ubuntu install. I thought the boot manager setup would be complicated but it didn't require any intervention it just added Vista to the boot list.

Ubuntu installed the nvidia drivers and fixed xorg.conf for me which was nice. Synaptic is just awesome ... it was my reason for trialling Ubuntu (having used it on Fedora some time back). Only problem is that I now test install a lot more stuff. Ubuntu also have ensured that some FF plugins install direct from the repos rather than their normal locations - then they get updated by apt tools, etc..

Can't now see anything to draw me back to Slackware to be honest though it has been something of a culture shock. I'm just at the stage when I've finished learning about Linux and started using it. Only downside is that the LQ forum isn't as good as this one!

FWIW I used Slackware for about 9 years, have an undergraduate diploma in computing (UK) and work part-time as a web designer/technician.