Slackware Linux

I am currently running Slackware Linux 9.1 on my fileserver/router/firewall server. I have used Linux since June 2003, and it has been very interesting, especially since I learned it all from reading books and internet documentation, as well as the man pages. I am running my server on a PII 0.4GHz box that I got from my dad's office because it was their fileserver, running winNT, and they thought it was broken; it was really NT that sucked, the computer is very stable and adequate for my needs.

I use Slackware 9.1 because it is simple and is the "most UNIX-like" of all distributions. Just a few days after I installed 9.1 on my server, 10.0 came out, but I didn't want to reinstall or upgrade. I did, however, install the 2.6.7 kernel, which is very nice compared to the 2.4 series.

You can understand the mood of Slackware through the fact that it boots into a text mode command prompt instead of a GUI login. It boots fast, too. Slackware is the ultimate command line experience, but it also comes with KDE, Gnome, and other window managers, which are, again, not reconfigured with Slackware logos all over them, but left as they should be, the way the developers released them. KDE and Gnome are just plain KDE and Gnome, there had been no customization, except that which enables them to run well with the rest of the Slackware system.

Another benefit is the fact that Slackware provides no distro-specific configuration file editors--you have to go edit them yourself! This way, you have complete control and you become more knowledgeable about the system. Slackware affords you a big choices for customization, the installer will let you select groups of packages to install, and even select individual packages from groups, so you get the system you need with the minimal amount of bloat.

It is easy to learn with Slackware, and I learned best by configuring configuration files myself. There are a wide variety of packages on the CD, enough for almost any system. The .tgz packages for Slackware are simple, and they work smoothly for installing software. Slackware is also a great system for compiling source code into binaries for your system.

Slackware is a powerful and stable Linux distro, and it has given me a love for the CLI. Choose it if you are serious about learning Linux.