[Amd64Boy]

I've recently found out that the distro that ive been using all this time (SuSe linux) is Debian based. However I do not really feel like learning a practicly new OS, therefore I shall simply switch my distro. Ive been leaning towards Slackware but Im still not sure. I want a disro that dosent need a fixed package, insted I want to be able to compile regular packages.Open for distro recomendation. Last but not least I'd like have a up to date kernel. Below are some question about some distros.

Slackware-- Does it accept recular tarballs, tgz's etc

Mandrake-- Is It KDE based?

I just cant decide :mad:

[horndude]

Linux is linux is linux, you can compile and install from the source on ANY distro provided it has the compiler and needed libraries installed.

None are "KDE" based, KDE is a desktop environment.

all the other distro's have really done is either introduce package dependency management or in the case of slackware, not at all

precompiled binaries in ready to go packages are available for any distro prettymuch

slackware uses the tgz system for precompiled binaries and has a large depository of those available, just like debian has deb pkgs and many of the others have rpm's

if it isnt broke, dont fix it, it isnt about learning a "new OS", its about learning linux, the old fashioned manual way of doing things works in ALL of them

[Qiranworms]

I don't entirely understand the issue. So you've been using, (and I'll assume, liking) SuSE Linux, and you find out it's actually based on Debian Linux, so you want to switch?

Does knowing a bit more about the system you've been using change its functionality? What's wrong with Debian? If I wasn't using Gentoo now I'd probably be using Debian or something Debian based (like Ubuntu, which I really enjoyed)...

Now that you know it's based on Debian Linux, why not try taking advantage of that? Learn how to use APT...it's an excellent package management system and it will only make Linux life better and less stressful .


All of your issues with Debian (and Debian-based) are non-issues. Debian doesn't need a "fixed package" at all, though it offers a very robust package management system if you should want it. Anything, if you have a compiler, which you should, will accept regular tarballs. Nothing 'requires' a specialized type of package...

No distro prevents you from upgrading your kernel should you want the latest alpha-warning--under-development-crazy-unstable-bleedingedge-onlyfortesting-whatnot vanilla Linux kernel.


As horndude says, Linux is Linux...(is Linux...)