snutz411

I am a big fan of Slackware. I was weened off Mandrake and decided to go to a distro that was more true to the essence of Linux by switching to Slackware 10.0. I am very happy with it and just through the installation, you will learn more about the ins and outs of Linux. There is a huge learning curve for Slackware, it is not RPM based like RH and FC, but don't fret...there are programs to help you easily install applications and updates like pkgtool, installpkg, and slapt-get as apposed to yum.

Well if you have any programming experience, you can create your own GUI with Java. In my own experiences Java is a great front-end to use with Database applications. It is highly portable as in it should work the same on Windows or Linux or Mac. Java has great support for JDBC/ODBC connections and works with MS Access, mySql, SQL server, and DB2. If you are interested in going down this path, trying looking around for anything about Java Swing. That is the graphical interface library for Java. And of course the graphical end won't do squat if the SQL working behind it doesn't work.

Java was the first programming language that I learned on my own...no teachers, no friends, just me and the internet. One of the best aspects of Java is the heavy documentation provided by Sun and every other Java developer out there. Here is a link to a site that lists loads of examples of Java code. http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/? They have examples of setting up a JDBC/ODBC connection for database use, creating ZIP files for archival purposes, and simply showing you how to use vectors. This site is great for learning the basics and building applications on top of it. Hope you enjoy!

This is a copy of the walkthrough that I created which is posted on my own personal website. So being new to this forum, I thought it could come in handy for any users here interested in Slackware.1 8J775 LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY, THIN FILM TRANSISTOR, SUPER EXTENDED GRAPHICS ARRAY PLUS, STANDARD PANEL WORK GROUP B, 14.1, SAMSUNG1 8U077 ASSEMBLY, BASE (ASSEMBLY OR GROUP), NOTEBOOK, PENTIUM 4, M9, 64M, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR., BURN 21 1M722 KEYBOARD, 87, UNITED STATES, ENGLAND/ENGLISH, SINGLE POINTING, D-FAMILY1 4R867 PROCESSOR, 848226, 1.6GHZ, 1MB, MICRO FLIP CHIP PIN GRID ALIGNMENT1 0E828 MODEM, 56K, INTERNAL, MODEM DAUGHTER CARD, PCTEL, GVC1 2R152 ASSEMBLY, FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS, NEC CORPORATION, D MODULES1 8K261 ASSEMBLY, CABLE, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS, FDD, D MODULES1 8W049 Flash Storage Device, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS, 16M, SELF MONITORING ANALYSIS & REPORTING TECHNOLOGY1 8267R CONNECTOR, HEADER, 2X22, FEMALE, 2, S, G, 35K, THIRD HEIGHT, CHIP SET1 9Y273 HARD DRIVE, 60GB, I, 9.5MM, 5.4K, HIT-FRES1 3X548 CARD (CIRCUIT), WIRELESS, MINI PCI CARD, TM1400, BROADCOM CORPORATION1 P0648 ASSEMBLY, COMPACT DISK READ WRITE/DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE COMBO, SMALL FORM FACTOR, HITACHI LG DATA STORAGE, D MODULES, V21 0K963 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 512, 266, 64X64, 8K, 2001. Download the ISOs from LinuxISO.org. Burn them on CDs using Nero Burning Rom. Use "Burn Image to CD".2. Boot using CD Drive.3. Follow the prompts from the install. Make sure to setup your paritions correctly. This Dell has a 60gig hard drive. 40gigs for WinXP, 20gigs for Linux. I created the partition with "fdisk /dev/hda/" and made hda3 (ID=83, Linux) and hda4 (ID=82,Swap). Now write the partitions.4. First thing is to create the Swap from the menu options. Then follow through with the install process and picking the packages that you want. After it goes through all that, it is time to pick the kernel. Slackware 10.0 has the 2.4.26 kernel, I picked the option that will support APCI which will monitor the battery life on laptops.5. Install LILO or GRUB on the Master Boot Record to let Linux manage the startup. This will allow you to easily boot to Linux or Windows from the startup.6. Restart the computer after it is all done with CRTL+ALT+DEL.7. Login as "root", and type in the password you picked during the installation. This login will only show the command line part, in order to boot with a GUI you'll have to modify /etc/inittab. You can do this by typing "vi /etc/initab". Find the lines of code that show...# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)id:3:initdefault:You want to change the "3" to a "4" so it looks likeid:4:initdefault:Now find this part...# These are the standard console login getties in multiuser mode:c1:1235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty1 linuxc2:1235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 linuxc3:1235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 linuxc4:1235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 linuxc5:1235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 linuxc6:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 linuxChange it to read like this# These are the standard console login getties in multiuser mode:c1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty1 linuxc2:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 linuxc3:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 linuxc4:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 linuxc5:1235:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 linuxc6:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 linuxNow you will boot into a Windows Manager. You can either choose GNOME, KDE, or whatever else you want. I happened to pick KDE, which looks really great. This is a really long step so make sure you do it right. (*NOTE* to use vi, you need to know certain commands, typing "i" will allow you to input lines of code, "x" will delete a character, "dd" will delete a line, ":w" will save the changes, ":q" will quit vi)8. Quit out of vi and CRTL+ALT+DEL to restart the computer.9. The only things that didn't work right out of the box were my sound and the wireless card. I'm still working on the sound, but I have the wireless card working great. First you will need to install Ndiswrapper. Follow the instructions to correctly install the program from source. (*NOTE* I downloaded version 0.7 since it works correctly with the 2.4.26 kernel). Grab the drivers from the Wiki list of supported cards. The Dell 600m I have uses Dell Truemobile 1400, so I downloaded that. I actually downloaded it from a Windows machine and just emailed the files that I needed to myself. (The wired eth0 interface worked after installation, so I could get the files). The file I needed was "bcmwl5a.inf", you can find that in the "AR" folder after installing the .exe on the Windows machine.10. Follow the instructions for ndiswrapper until you have it working correctly or if that is too hard, I have the walkthrough posted on my forum for Linux. Once you do you'll have to modify your /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf file. Find the lines that say "Remove the next 5 lines to activate the lines of code" or something that looks like that. Follow the examples to type in your ESSID, KEY, MODE, RATE, etc. I had to put "KEY = open MY_WEP_KEY" to get it to read correctly. Now in your /etc/rc.d/rc.local, add the lines.../etc/rc.d/rc.wireless wlan0dhcpcd wlan011. Reboot your computer and the wireless card should work now. If you still have problems feel free to leave a comment or an entry in the guestbook, and I'll try to help you out.12. The biggest things that I wanted to work correctly were the APCI and wireless card. I have the working and it is great now. Linux is a great way to learn about code that make a computer work.