I like it.
Slackware was my first distributive since that time when a sysadmin of an ISP burned a dvd with it and gave it to me And I will never regret that Slackware was my 1st GNU/Linux OS! I still use it – for example on the gate in my university

My opinion is -
if a person wants to use free and open source software, but is NOT interested how all that works – it’s better for him to use Open SuSE/Mandriva/etc.

But if a person IS INTERESTED in different daemons and services, if he is on the way to become a system administrator – Slackware is one of the best solutions.

PS: I also like ZenWalk, but the latest release (6.0) is much more hard to run at my old P-iii 800 Mhz, 128 mb

Debian is also cool But today Slackware is closer to me.

I also try to master OpenBSD, but do it extremely slow because of lack of time)

Have fun!
Alexey,
Kurgan, Russian Federation

Used to when you went to university professors would force you to learn Solaris. I guess you appreciated what you had. Now you can spend $500 and buy a laptop pre-installed with Windows Vista. It comes with .NET 2.0 installed ( C#, VB.net, j.net, clr ). It’s like a drug because everything just works and makes you feel complete. Then you start realizing they impede your efforts for like trying to reinstall the products. Sure there are ways around that but what a hassle.

“Seek and yee will find”, Bible tells us.

Then you find yourself with a copy of Linux. Sure you used Gimp portable for win32. But now you can install it native. It’s faster. Although, your Sony VAIO’s keyboard functions dont’ work like they did in Windows Vista. So you switch back and forth for a few years.

Video games are like Opium! They draw you in get you hooked and you need more. You’re mad if you don’t get them. If your computer is broke you are mad.
You’ll stay up odd hours trying to reinstall Windows.

With Linux you just do your work and damn the games.

Knoppix, Linspire, Ubuntu set a precedent. Instead of requiring the user to configure their X they configure it and more.

My only wish is that Pat would just pull in some of the autoconfiguration from Knoppix… I mean come on how hard can it be”?

I really do enjoy Slackware. Slack 4 was my all-time favorite. It was the fastest before they went to that crazy Elf/dynamic glibc.

slack forces you to learn.. It’s similar to Blender3D. You appreciate the simplicity and intuitive design after you learn it.

pez

And by that I mean, all of the ominous warnings from Windoze users, advising to steer clear of Linux because of the supposedly steep “learning curve”, how it’s not for beginners, etc., are exactly what Linux users say about Slackware. And in both cases, it is typically without any first-hand knowledge or experience.

But in fact, in both instances, the situation can be analogous to the difference between driving a vehicle with an automatic transmission, and driving one with a manual transmission. At first, it might seem that the automatic is easier to operate, and more user-friendly. But once you become familiar with a manual transmission, you find that not only is it no more difficult to operate, the added control can make the manual transmission actually easier top operate in some situations.

There is a reason Slackware has been around so long. It freaking works, and it can do ANYTHING. It can use .rpms, Slackware packages (.tgz), compile from source, etc.. If it asks a little bit more of the user, than other distributions, the benefits of simplicity, flexibility, stability, scalability, configurability, and community support make it more than worth it. It’s only limitation is the capability of the user.

I have been using Slackware since Slackware 4. It was the first Linux distribution I ever laid eyes on. At the time, I chose Slackware precisely BECAUSE I had heard it was the choice of “hardcore” users. I have never regretted it for a moment.