Just Can’t Leave Slackware

Over the last week I made yet another attempt to find a new Linux distro. I have no actual problems with Slackware. I just get these wild ideas sometimes that I need to find something different. So my week consisted of making backups of my current Slackware install and trying out both Arch and Crux Linux. Arch and Crux made the consideration list solely because I wanted my next distro to be a minimal distro. Just the packages I want. I know this is possible in Slackware, but I still feel Slackware is best installed as a whole. Things just feel better that way.

First up was Arch. I have a short past with Arch. I have used it before, but that was back during the pre Arch install scripts days. Also pre systemd. The Arch install script method was not hard. Read the guide, follow it and it installs fine. I actually had no real problems with Arch. But systemd made me feel dirty. It might just be because I’m  used to the Slackware way of doing the init scripts. Either way, after a few days of Arch I just couldn’t get comfortable with it.

Then we have Crux. This is a distro that I think I would use full time if I had a little bit better computer. The initial setup and the package management reminded me a lot of FreeBSD, which I’ve always had a fascination with. But having to compile everything is incredibly time consuming. What I really liked about Crux was the install and the configuration. The install was more complicated than Slackware – Crux makes you compile your own kernel – but the configuration was largely the same. No GUI, all text files. And like Arch, Crux installs just a base. After that it’s up to the user to install what they feel they need.

If I had a better computer, I could see myself switching to Crux. I like everything about it, minus the compile times. Arch, with its every changing setup and systemd just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Luckily, I’m happy with Slackware. It has yet to steer me wrong. Sometimes though you just need to take a chance and try something new. And like always, Slackware is there waiting for me.

Posted on January 19, 2013 at 3:52 pm by jstg · Permalink
In: Linux · Tagged with: , ,