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Every major blogger is using Buzz now...

You might as well say "Every major loser is using Buzz now". Most bloggers write drivel (hence this), and I fail to see the value in Google providing yet another means for cretins to prattle inanities into the void.

IIRC that was the reason why there is no full GNOME in Slackware.

Actually, GNOME was dropped in Slackware because it was taking up so much of Patrick's time that the system as a whole was suffering -- it had nothing to do with X.org 6.9, which by the way didn't even exist at the time. In addition, there were already two whole communities of developers (perhaps three? gware, dropline, and freerock) putting time and effort into making their own GNOME distributions specifically for Slackware. But don't take my word for it...read all about his decision from http://lwn.net/Articles/129282/:

New Entry: gnome/*: Removed from -current, and turned over to community support and
New Entry: distribution. I'm not going to rehash all the reasons behind this, but it's
New Entry: been under consideration for more than four years. There are already good
New Entry: projects in place to provide Slackware GNOME for those who want it, and
New Entry: these are more complete than what Slackware has shipped in the past. So, if
New Entry: you're looking for GNOME for Slackware -current, I would recommend looking at
New Entry: these two projects for well-built packages that follow a policy of minimal
New Entry: interference with the base Slackware system:
New Entry:
New Entry: http://gsb.sf.net/
New Entry: http://gware.sf.net/
New Entry:
New Entry: There is also Dropline, of course, which is quite popular. However, due to
New Entry: their policy of adding PAM and replacing large system packages (like the
New Entry: entire X11 system) with their own versions, I can't give quite the same sort
New Entry: of nod to Dropline. Nevertheless, it remains another choice, and it's _your_
New Entry: system, so I will also mention their project:
New Entry:
New Entry: http://www.dropline.net/gnome/
New Entry:
New Entry: Please do not incorrectly interpret any of this as a slight against GNOME
New Entry: itself, which (although it does usually need to be fixed and polished beyond
New Entry: the way it ships from upstream more so than, say, KDE or XFce) is a decent
New Entry: desktop choice. So are a lot of others, but Slackware does not need to ship
New Entry: every choice. GNOME is and always has been a moving target (even the
New Entry: "stable" releases usually aren't quite ready yet) that really does demand a
New Entry: team to keep up on all the changes (many of which are not always well
New Entry: documented). I fully expect that this move will improve the quality of both
New Entry: Slackware itself, and the quality (and quantity) of the GNOME options
New Entry: available for it.
New Entry:
New Entry: Folks, this is how open source is supposed to work. Enjoy. :-)

Thanks. I assume you mean this?

From the changelog, and for anyone else interested:

gnome/*: Removed from -current, and turned over to community support and distribution. I'm not going to rehash all the reasons behind this, but it's been under consideration for more than four years. There are already good projects in place to provide Slackware GNOME for those who want it, and these are more complete than what Slackware has shipped in the past. So, if you're looking for GNOME for Slackware -current, I would recommend looking at these two projects for well-built packages that follow a policy of minimal interference with the base Slackware system:

http://gsb.sf.net/ http://gware.sf.net/

There is also Dropline, of course, which is quite popular. However, due to their policy of adding PAM and replacing large system packages (like the entire X11 system) with their own versions, I can't give quite the same sort of nod to Dropline. Nevertheless, it remains another choice, and it's _your_ system, so I will also mention their project:

http://www.dropline.net/gnome/

Please do not incorrectly interpret any of this as a slight against GNOME itself, which (although it does usually need to be fixed and polished beyond the way it ships from upstream more so than, say, KDE or XFce) is a decent desktop choice. So are a lot of others, but Slackware does not need to ship every choice. GNOME is and always has been a moving target (even the "stable" releases usually aren't quite ready yet) that really does demand a team to keep up on all the changes (many of which are not always well documented). I fully expect that this move will improve the quality of both Slackware itself, and the quality (and quantity) of the GNOME options available for it.

Folks, this is how open source is supposed to work. Enjoy. :-)

I'll look into the alternatives, though it's still sad I won't be able to depend on their stability as I would the base system.

By default, all distributions (except for Debian, I believe) use the Autohinter instead of the Bytecode Interpreter, due to potential patent issues. They render in very different ways. The Autohinter looks pretty good on LCD displays, with its subpixel hinting (producing fonts that are better in my opinion than Windows Cleartype), but I prefer the Bytecode Interpreter on CRTs.

I'm not sure what you mean by "native" support for Linux fonts. All of the font rendering is handled through Libfreetype. You can compile Freetype to use either rendering method, but it defaults to the Autohinter. Freetype supports more than 11 different font formats. This includes standard scalable formats such as Truetype and Type 1 fonts.

For example...
With the Bytecode Interpreter:
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_1.png
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_2.png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/2.10_4.png
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana.jpg
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana2.jpg

With the Autohinter:
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-11. png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-9.p ng
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-5.p ng

Additionally, configuration can cause fonts to look bad. Some people don't like much antialiasing. They prefer the method that Windows uses to antialias only fonts greater than 12 points in size. A combination of the Bytecode Interpreter and disabling antialiasing for small fonts can produce font rendering that is similar to the rendering that most Windows users are familiar with.

If you disable antialiasing while using the Autohinter, you'll find that fonts look terribly uneven and jagged.... They're pretty ugly. If you want to disable antialiasing, you probably should do it only with the Bytecode Interpreter being used as the renderer. This will produce the results that you may be looking for if you prefer Windows-like font rendering.

Lastly, OpenOffice.org's builds have typically included internal Freetype libraries that don't particularly look pretty. There are some workarounds for this. I mention it in the following FAQ:

http://www.dropline.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=825

It's quite outdated, but may provide you with the information that you need to get the font rendering that you prefer. You may also want to try tracking down a package of the Microsoft Core Webfonts. They are legal to distribute as long as they are provided in the original EXE, which may be extract with cabextract. As an alternative, you may be able to find a custom build of OpenOffice.org for your favorite distribution, that links against your system's own freetype libraries instead of the internal OO.o Freetype libraries.

By default, all distributions (except for Debian, I believe) use the Autohinter instead of the Bytecode Interpreter, due to potential patent issues. They render in very different ways. The Autohinter looks pretty good on LCD displays, with its subpixel hinting (producing fonts that are better in my opinion than Windows Cleartype), but I prefer the Bytecode Interpreter on CRTs.

I'm not sure what you mean by "native" support for Linux fonts. All of the font rendering is handled through Libfreetype. You can compile Freetype to use either rendering method, but it defaults to the Autohinter. Freetype supports more than 11 different font formats. This includes standard scalable formats such as Truetype and Type 1 fonts.

For example...
With the Bytecode Interpreter:
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_1.png
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_2.png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/2.10_4.png
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana.jpg
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana2.jpg

With the Autohinter:
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-11. png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-9.p ng
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-5.p ng

Additionally, configuration can cause fonts to look bad. Some people don't like much antialiasing. They prefer the method that Windows uses to antialias only fonts greater than 12 points in size. A combination of the Bytecode Interpreter and disabling antialiasing for small fonts can produce font rendering that is similar to the rendering that most Windows users are familiar with.

If you disable antialiasing while using the Autohinter, you'll find that fonts look terribly uneven and jagged.... They're pretty ugly. If you want to disable antialiasing, you probably should do it only with the Bytecode Interpreter being used as the renderer. This will produce the results that you may be looking for if you prefer Windows-like font rendering.

Lastly, OpenOffice.org's builds have typically included internal Freetype libraries that don't particularly look pretty. There are some workarounds for this. I mention it in the following FAQ:

http://www.dropline.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=825

It's quite outdated, but may provide you with the information that you need to get the font rendering that you prefer. You may also want to try tracking down a package of the Microsoft Core Webfonts. They are legal to distribute as long as they are provided in the original EXE, which may be extract with cabextract. As an alternative, you may be able to find a custom build of OpenOffice.org for your favorite distribution, that links against your system's own freetype libraries instead of the internal OO.o Freetype libraries.

By default, all distributions (except for Debian, I believe) use the Autohinter instead of the Bytecode Interpreter, due to potential patent issues. They render in very different ways. The Autohinter looks pretty good on LCD displays, with its subpixel hinting (producing fonts that are better in my opinion than Windows Cleartype), but I prefer the Bytecode Interpreter on CRTs.

I'm not sure what you mean by "native" support for Linux fonts. All of the font rendering is handled through Libfreetype. You can compile Freetype to use either rendering method, but it defaults to the Autohinter. Freetype supports more than 11 different font formats. This includes standard scalable formats such as Truetype and Type 1 fonts.

For example...
With the Bytecode Interpreter:
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_1.png
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_2.png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/2.10_4.png
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana.jpg
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana2.jpg

With the Autohinter:
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-11. png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-9.p ng
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-5.p ng

Additionally, configuration can cause fonts to look bad. Some people don't like much antialiasing. They prefer the method that Windows uses to antialias only fonts greater than 12 points in size. A combination of the Bytecode Interpreter and disabling antialiasing for small fonts can produce font rendering that is similar to the rendering that most Windows users are familiar with.

If you disable antialiasing while using the Autohinter, you'll find that fonts look terribly uneven and jagged.... They're pretty ugly. If you want to disable antialiasing, you probably should do it only with the Bytecode Interpreter being used as the renderer. This will produce the results that you may be looking for if you prefer Windows-like font rendering.

Lastly, OpenOffice.org's builds have typically included internal Freetype libraries that don't particularly look pretty. There are some workarounds for this. I mention it in the following FAQ:

http://www.dropline.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=825

It's quite outdated, but may provide you with the information that you need to get the font rendering that you prefer. You may also want to try tracking down a package of the Microsoft Core Webfonts. They are legal to distribute as long as they are provided in the original EXE, which may be extract with cabextract. As an alternative, you may be able to find a custom build of OpenOffice.org for your favorite distribution, that links against your system's own freetype libraries instead of the internal OO.o Freetype libraries.

By default, all distributions (except for Debian, I believe) use the Autohinter instead of the Bytecode Interpreter, due to potential patent issues. They render in very different ways. The Autohinter looks pretty good on LCD displays, with its subpixel hinting (producing fonts that are better in my opinion than Windows Cleartype), but I prefer the Bytecode Interpreter on CRTs.

I'm not sure what you mean by "native" support for Linux fonts. All of the font rendering is handled through Libfreetype. You can compile Freetype to use either rendering method, but it defaults to the Autohinter. Freetype supports more than 11 different font formats. This includes standard scalable formats such as Truetype and Type 1 fonts.

For example...
With the Bytecode Interpreter:
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_1.png
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_2.png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/2.10_4.png
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana.jpg
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana2.jpg

With the Autohinter:
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-11. png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-9.p ng
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-5.p ng

Additionally, configuration can cause fonts to look bad. Some people don't like much antialiasing. They prefer the method that Windows uses to antialias only fonts greater than 12 points in size. A combination of the Bytecode Interpreter and disabling antialiasing for small fonts can produce font rendering that is similar to the rendering that most Windows users are familiar with.

If you disable antialiasing while using the Autohinter, you'll find that fonts look terribly uneven and jagged.... They're pretty ugly. If you want to disable antialiasing, you probably should do it only with the Bytecode Interpreter being used as the renderer. This will produce the results that you may be looking for if you prefer Windows-like font rendering.

Lastly, OpenOffice.org's builds have typically included internal Freetype libraries that don't particularly look pretty. There are some workarounds for this. I mention it in the following FAQ:

http://www.dropline.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=825

It's quite outdated, but may provide you with the information that you need to get the font rendering that you prefer. You may also want to try tracking down a package of the Microsoft Core Webfonts. They are legal to distribute as long as they are provided in the original EXE, which may be extract with cabextract. As an alternative, you may be able to find a custom build of OpenOffice.org for your favorite distribution, that links against your system's own freetype libraries instead of the internal OO.o Freetype libraries.

By default, all distributions (except for Debian, I believe) use the Autohinter instead of the Bytecode Interpreter, due to potential patent issues. They render in very different ways. The Autohinter looks pretty good on LCD displays, with its subpixel hinting (producing fonts that are better in my opinion than Windows Cleartype), but I prefer the Bytecode Interpreter on CRTs.

I'm not sure what you mean by "native" support for Linux fonts. All of the font rendering is handled through Libfreetype. You can compile Freetype to use either rendering method, but it defaults to the Autohinter. Freetype supports more than 11 different font formats. This includes standard scalable formats such as Truetype and Type 1 fonts.

For example...
With the Bytecode Interpreter:
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_1.png
http://www.borgerding.org/dropline/zborgerd/screen shots/2.10_2.png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/2.10_4.png
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana.jpg
http://dlgwiki.dot42.org/uploads/katana2.jpg

With the Autohinter:
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-11. png
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-9.p ng
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/optical/dropline-5.p ng

Additionally, configuration can cause fonts to look bad. Some people don't like much antialiasing. They prefer the method that Windows uses to antialias only fonts greater than 12 points in size. A combination of the Bytecode Interpreter and disabling antialiasing for small fonts can produce font rendering that is similar to the rendering that most Windows users are familiar with.

If you disable antialiasing while using the Autohinter, you'll find that fonts look terribly uneven and jagged.... They're pretty ugly. If you want to disable antialiasing, you probably should do it only with the Bytecode Interpreter being used as the renderer. This will produce the results that you may be looking for if you prefer Windows-like font rendering.

Lastly, OpenOffice.org's builds have typically included internal Freetype libraries that don't particularly look pretty. There are some workarounds for this. I mention it in the following FAQ:

http://www.dropline.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=825

It's quite outdated, but may provide you with the information that you need to get the font rendering that you prefer. You may also want to try tracking down a package of the Microsoft Core Webfonts. They are legal to distribute as long as they are provided in the original EXE, which may be extract with cabextract. As an alternative, you may be able to find a custom build of OpenOffice.org for your favorite distribution, that links against your system's own freetype libraries instead of the internal OO.o Freetype libraries.

You might find a better experience with Slackware. The relevant forums, particularly Dropline's tend to be very civilised and helpful.

Depends on the forum, though. I would agree that there is a large degree of abuse at Slashdot, which is targeted at a wide range of audiences, but other less general forums (fora?) such as, for instance, Dropline's have remained pretty civilised and consequently useful.

Actually, I think it is more because Dropline does a good job of packaging GNOME for Slackware and Pat has enough resource management issues. This was mentioned before on /.. I am surprised that noone else mentioned Dropline, but then everyone seems to busy trolling. Bah.

There is also Dropline, of course, which is quite popular. However, due to their policy of adding PAM and replacing large system packages (like the entire X11 system) with their own versions, I can't give quite the same sort of nod to Dropline. Nevertheless, it remains another choice, and it's _your_ system, so I will also mention their project: http://www.dropline.net/gnome/

he recommends these two

I suspect the main reason behind this is the popularity of Dropline GNOME.

"Dropline GNOME is a version of the GNOME Desktop that has been tweaked for Slackware Linux systems. It is available in Slackware's standard .tgz package format, in addition to the usual source code. The current release is based off of the latest GNOME 2 distribution from the GNOME Project."

Why not let Dropline do all the work... so don't fret slackware users you still have GNOME. Just not being packaged by Slackware officially.

Because you can always easily install dropline gnome.

For Slackware users who love Gnome (like me), they can still use Dropline's Gnome distribution. It should work out of the box for Slackware 10.1 too.

And here is an actual link: http://www.dropline.net/gnome
It took an extra six characters to type (OK, 13 if you count the "http://"). Too bad the parent poster was such a lazy ass that he couldn't be bothered to type 6 (13) lousy extra characters. Lazy mouseball-fondling communist.

True; furthermore, that article appears to rely on the user running an implementation of Gnome that includes hal/dbus for autoloading of media.

I don't know how many distributions do this by default, but I have found very good reasons for excluding it from my Dropline Gnome setup.

In case anyone is interested, his other two projects are:
Optimystic--CD creation for GNOME
DrivelLiveJournal client for GNOME

In case anyone is interested, his other two projects are:
Optimystic--CD creation for GNOME
DrivelLiveJournal client for GNOME

Dropline for Slackware[dropline.net]

In terms of administration and setup I'd compare FreeBSD with Slackware Linux.

Which is very true. And since Slackware has the best open source GUI around there's absolutely no point in using BSD on the desktop.

The maintainer of dropline gtk said:

"I suggest users instead download the GTK+ libraries Tor Lillqvist builds ands hosts at www.gimp.org/win32. As the leading Win32 GTK+ developer, he is in the best position to release compiled binaries, and users will have the fewest head-aches by sticking with his packages."
here.

Which is exactly what I've been doing, even though I just heard of dropline.

It would be nice if Tor's gtk would allow multiple generations of the library to be installed at once. There was a (short) time when I couldn't upgrade from gimp 2.0.1 to 2.0.2 because gimp switched to gtk+ 2.4.x and gaim was still on gtk+ 2.2.x. A new version of gaim fixed that up a few weeks later. It wasn't a big issue for me, but I'd immagine it could if you have more apps that use gtk on windows and need multiple versions of gtk installed.

That said it would be nice to have gtk in a project with bug tracking like gladewin32 seems to have.

Has anyone tried gladewin32 with gimp?

Debian has always been difficult for me because of all the options that you're presented with during installation. That's not a negative for Debian though. Keep in mind that I have never tried Debian with the anaconda installer, but I hear it is awesome. For me, Debian's biggest plus is package management. Nothing beats apt-get. I also like that the fact that it is one of the last TRULY free distros. Debian has got to be one of the easiest distros to maintain (from what I hear from many sysadmins.)

Slackware is incredibly stable and more UNIX-like than other distros. The installer will ask you less questions than a Debian install but will give you a very stable, secure and functional system (desktop or server) with default install options. For me, I find Slackware more enjoyable because it uses a stock kernel right from Linus' tree without any distro specific "tweaks" that you would find in most other distros. I run Xandros for my wife and it is a nightmare if you want to install a package that's not in the Xandros (Debian-based) repository. I have never had a problem compiling a program from source on a Slackware box. It will even install packages using rpms via the 'rpm2tgz' command. Package management is getting better with tools such as "slapt-get" and "swaret". I believe both tools come with the Slackware isos. If you can't find them, you can look here to get any slackware packages you can dream of. If you prefer a gnome desktop, you can download the dropline gnome desktop. Lots of eye candy and GUI front-ends for Slackware specific tools etc.

I could go on for a long time about the merits of each distro, but both are excellent choices for desktop or server roles. I guess it comes down to Slackware for me because I work in a pure UNIX (AT&T 3B21D) environment at my job with the phone company. I work daily on Solaris (Netra boxes) and HP-UX as well. Slackware was designed to be the most UNIX like linux distro out there. Hope that helps

...and taken, it appears. ;-)

He is a great project leader and always dedicated with an open ear to the Dropline Community. He did such a great job in building Dropline-Gnome and serves the whole Slackware Community with the great and active forums, and he is still in his early 20s.

Actually I believe that even if a deveolper or maintainer isn't famous in the sense that his name is known throughout the whole OSS-Community there is still the close community around his project and they know very well if the person is a "hero" or an asshole. In the case of the swaret project this seems to have backfired on the developers, despite having a good "product".

Two words: Dropline Gnome.

Dropline's a meta-distribution that sits on top of Slackware that's very desktop oriented. It even has a helpful little applet that checks to see if there've been updates and a simple menu based program for upgrading the system. This means you get all the latest packages with a pretty nice amount of ease.

When it comes down to it, Slack is actually one of the simplest distributions out there. Everything is very logical, and nothing is made more complex than it needs to be. Thrown in with the nice admin tools Dropline provides for those that aren't really comfortable hand editing config files, and I feel like it makes for an excellent desktop distribution.

I'm fairly new to the Gnu/Linux world and I have to agree with those who say that Slackware is NOT difficult to install and use, especially for geeks who have put in a lot of time on other platforms. I have tried all of the major distros, and have found that Slack posseses the best of all worlds. It is not only simple and stable, but it seems to me to be the most flexible distro.

I have had the most luck getting things to work in Slack. Sure, I don't have the benefits of something like apt-get or emerge (swaret and slapt-get don't quite measure up) but I'm also not limited by those tools. I installed and configured my Slack in under an hour, everything worked, and I have been able to get, install and use every piece of software that my heart has desired.

Coupled with Dropline Gnome, I have found Slack to be an excellent, complete and attractive desktop, even for the beginner/intermediate Linux user. I think that many of those who hold outdated, or second-hand impressions of Slack would be impressed by Slack 10.

To summarize, I love Slackware and want to marry it.

I have it in use since day one (including the excellent Dropline-Gnome suite. Pat did a great job as far as it concerns me. One downside is that OpenOffice.org and Evolution are not included due to space restrictions. Another one maybe, that you can't install the 2.6.7 kernel from within the installer. No big deal, though, since all you need to do for an upgrade is a simple installpkg.

Aside that, it's a lightning fast distro that hasn't failed on me yet. Also, IMHO the greatest distro for starters since learning under Slack is learning it "the right way" and will help you later on with other unixlike systems.

For me, average installtime is just about 1 hour for a working X setup with Gnome 2.6.1, and thanks to the wonders of Dropline Gnome I have been able to play around with what's now Slackware 10's Gnome for quite a while. I am confident that the Dropline Crew will move on onto Slackware 10.x as they did with 9.x., thus allowing Slackware-users to deploy updated Gnome-packages and other system utilities along the development of the next Slackware version.

Perhaps, if I may add some disapointment at the bottom; I had hoped that 10.0 would be the first time Slackware got on the 2.6 series, but I do somehow understand the desire to stick with 2.4 as I myself do so also on my workstation and servers. 2.6 is great tho, and I would very much like to see it on the 10.1-release. Keep up the good work Patrick!

Cobble some spare parts together and give DROPLINE a try. I think you will be surprised just _how_ feature- and app-rich the X(Free|.org) has become oer the years.

-PONA-

If you're using Slackware, you shouldn't have to ask this question, but... :P

Dropline GNOME All you'll ever need for Slackware GNOME

If you want PAM, you can roll your own and make packages of it, or you can use the PAM packages from Dropline GNOME. I still don't recommend it! =)

lol, that should definetely be their new claim. Well, Slack in fact is the answer. At least for me. It is still one of the distros that really scale well. I use it on my old PII 300Mhz Notebook, together with Dropline Gnome, and it is very usable. The load times really are the big problem with Gnome. I don't know why this is so., though. Once the apps are loaded it really makes a nice Desktop but KDE apps seem to be much faster when it comes to startup. I am still wondering wether I should hand my mom her new machine with Fedora Core 2. It ran Win98 before and though Fedora is much more capable it is also soooo much slower that I am not sure she will fall in love with it...

Two more words: Dropline Gnome

'nuff said. ;-)

Perhaps the fact that Dropline Gnome has already switched to X.org as well, also played a role. Dropline is a highly optimized gnome desktop for slackware and it seems to be used by a large number of slackware users. I believe that there was another period where the two projects were slightly different in some library, and it caused problems for both.

If you want GNOME, you should check out Dropline, a tweak of GNOME geared for Slackware on i686s.

I'd be one of them, thanks in huge part to Dropline Gnome. Excellent set of packages complete with a built in updater that lets me run a light, clean Slackware install, but not have to worry about updating and compiling huge packages - ie: Gnome or X.org myself. Todd does an awesome job keeping it up to date, and this combined with a 2.6 kernel (which drops right in on a default Slack install) make Slackware a really nice little distribution to use. But who am I to say? I'm only running it on 3 machines at the moment. ;)

If you are running Slackware you can find a codecpack for xine here.

Actually my sig is kinda outdated. What I do now is provide them with Firefox, OO.org, and Thunderbird (or even Audacity, Gimp and Gaim). Most are actually delighted to get rid of crappy shareware and broken "warez". Firefox is a real dooropener to opensource. I just blows IE away and people get addicted to banning ads with a rightclick or tabbrowsing. It gives them a good feeling too since most of my friends KNOW about opensource but haven't been techsavvy enough to administrate their own Linuxbox (yes, I sometimes turn my cellphone off). When they finally make the switch all their favourite apps are already waiting for them on their Linux Desktop!

Next stop Dropline Gnome but no need to rush things, here! ;-)

Rest assured, they do. I run the X.org server already, since its part of Dropline Gnome 2.6 testing. I only had to rerun the installer. No difference recognized so far...

I wish they would join wih the freedesktop.org X-server folks and bring true alpha to the desktop before redmond does... ;-)

cu,
Lispy

Before the delay, this is what Todd (maintainer) said this thread on March 22nd:

"The GNOME release is planned for March 24th, but I doubt I'll have everything ready until this weekend at the earliest. Even so, since *so* much stuff is changing, I may hold off until the 1st or 2nd week of April to ensure everything is stable."

I think we'll see Dropline 2.6 before the end of April. I'd rather not have it rushed and keep the stability in my Slackware install *wink wink*

There's a thread on 2.6 in the forums.

It'll probably be ready in about a week or so, I reckon. (Looking forward to it!)

Does anyone have any news on this?

Still I wouldnt trade in Slacks pkgtool, togetehr with zpkgtool frontend it makes my newbie friends happy.

Is anyone aware of OSS products similar to this?

Gnome/GTK+ is available for Win32, although not as neatly packaged as for X11. Dropline has some Win32 packages that are easy to install. Tor Lillqvist has created some packages that a useful in conjunction with the MingGW environment. I believe that there is a Cygwin Project as well (see here but I can't testify as to its status. If you need an IDE, the Bloodshed IDE, Dev-C++, can download GTK+ packages for use within the IDE, and can help you automate integrating GTK+ in your apps. See here for information on the IDE.

Gnome/GTK+ is GPL'd and truly "free software". wxWindows is another option, but someone has already posted regarding that, so I'll leave it to you to investigate your options and decide which you like best.

http://www.dropline.net/gtk/

Sorry, but when exactly did Slackware loose "The distribution with attitude" feeling? We are havin quite some fun over at dropline, thank you! ;-)

Lispy

I'm a big fan of KDE, and a few years ago I found Gnome a little bit cumbersome to use on a daily basis (this is not troll... those days I didn't find KDE too special either).

However... recently, I've tried it once or twice, and man, how it has improved!

I always liked Gnome because of its GTK+ (C coding is great!).

I'm even considering switching to it, thanks to Dropline Gnome, a version especially crafted for Slackware. I'd like some opinions from its users (Dropline Gnome).... anyone around?

Why use FOX when you can use GTK2. I suppose if you really can't stand programming in C instead of C++ than you're stuck? Excellent Gtk2 for Win32 stuff here. Not to mention that many Linux users will already have GTK2, whereas there are very few apps that I'm aware of that depend on FOX-- and zero desktop environments being pushed by the corporate types.

alright. No Sun bashing intended but somehow I just dont get why the JDS is perceived as such a revolutionary thing. Itsnice and all but I guess there isnt much what I cant do with a stock Slack9.1 and Dropline-Gnome, or name your favourite Distro (Debian, Mandrake or even Xandros etc.) I really dont get why its such a big thing. Just because its SUN and they signed a deal with Walmart? Come on. I personally dont even like the implementation too much. Many different Widgetsets, a substandard OpenOffice.org finish (the ximianized version is MUCH smoother), and not even a chance to run KDE apps out of the box, or a decent enduser autoupdate system, such as RedCarpet. Is this really such a big jump forward compared to other distros?

cu,
Lispy