41 / m / chicago / bass
I first tried Mandrake for a couple days in the late 9ps because I heard it was easy. It was definitely easy to brick my system and have no idea why!
So I switched to Slackware and never looked back. I’m still daily driving Slackware all these years later.
Samesies
Like what? (Curious)
I’ve been daily driving linux since the late 90s and have no idea what wine prefixes are!
Mine too! But for a couple days only.
There are tools to download, compile and install packages! Whether or how you use them is left up to the slacker. I use them, but I scrutinize most deps so that I’m not adding support for features I won’t use.
I think Slackware’s reputation for being difficult dates back to the 90s when all linux was difficult. Slackware has evolved just like everyone else, just differently. It’s easy to install, and works like any other kde plasma based distro if you choose the default full install.
The two biggest differences are no systemd and package management. Slackpkg functions somewhat like apt-get, but only for official packages and updates. Everything else can be installed with slackbuild scripts that can be automated with sbopkg. This process is similar to using the AUR with a helper like yay. And I have some flatpaks installed too.
I should take another crack at sway. I didn’t know about EOS. I started with nwg-shell.
Remember the first time you got a printer working in Linux? Better than sex…
Nope! Everything just works and it’s rock solid. It’s also been my daily driver for over 20 years.
I was doing a lot of tech support when my wife was on endeavouros and my daughter was on bazzite. Tbf, my problems with bazzite were probably down to me not understanding the immutable distro concept.
My other thought was “obnoxious American tourists,” but the bacon thing sealed it.
Arch users are the sanctimonious vegans of the linux world. Bacon is delicious, and you are not special.
I’ve got my wife and 5 year old on slackware. They wouldn’t know how to screw it up if they wanted to!
Install slackware instead! But if you must, yay.
Batocera linux and retro games!
I use slackware btw. Doing work for the computer is half the fun.
But I did learn something here, so thanks for that.
I was on xfce for a long time due to having low power hardware. I got a decent computer around the time kde plasma came out. I tried it and have stayed on it.
I hate gnome with every fiber of my being.
My daily driver for ~25 years is still on sysvinit. I have plenty of experience with systemd based distros. I run proxmox on my home server. I don’t hate systemd, but it’s a lot less intuitive for me.
Example: I want to start the tailscale daemon and service at boot. Easy, add it to /etc/rc.d/rc.local . Oh wait, I want my laptop to check for an internet connection before trying to bring up tailscale. Otherwise the boot process halts for 20 seconds until it gives up. Easy, add a bash script in rc.local to test for an internet connection before trying to bring tailscale up.
I know the answer is systemctl something, but I have to look it up EVERY DAMN TIME. and this is just one of many things that have been giving me heartburn for years.
Slackpkg or slackpkg+, without a doubt.
I second any recommendation for a kde based distro. Ubuntu or it’s derivatives are the easiest place to start. Kubuntu is the kde based flavor iirc.
My daughter just turned 6 and is competent with a mouse and keyboard. They have kid friendly houses and keyboards on Amazon for cheap. She’s been daily driving slackware since she was 4 and has no idea how badass she is yet.
Gcompris is a great app. It’s a bunch of games for kids to learn letters, typing, mouse skills and some stuff just for fun. Install it on whatever distro you land on. Also, tuxpaint.