questions about distributions

[pfarrar at learningco.com]

     I've played with a little Caldera and Red Hat, but most my Linux 
     experience is with Slackware.  It's the first distribution I 
     installed, and I've seen no reason to change.
     
     Some differences:
     Slackware is somewhat different than Caldera or Red Hat.  Packages are 
     distributed as Tarballs, not RPMs.  There is a utility to convert RPMs 
     to Tarballs, though I've never had a need to use it.  Slackware uses 
     BSD style init scripts.  Instead of having run level directories, 
     there are run level scripts.  I find this very simple to follow .  
     Apache has a non-standard root location: /var/lib/apache/.  Setup is a 
     very simple to follow text interface; not fancy like RHat and Caldera, 
     but easier to use than I recall Debian's to be.
     
     SMP? no se
     
     Focus:
     I see it as a network/development focused distribution.  Less emphasis 
     has been put on cool window managers than I see on Red Hat and 
     Caldera.  The Slackware website has this to say:

      The Slackware Philosophy
      Since its first release in April of 1992, the Slackware Linux 
      Project has aimed at producing the most "UNIX-like" Linux 
      distribution out there. Slackware complies with the published Linux 
      standards, such as the Linux File System Standard. We have always 
      considered simplicity and stability paramount, and as a result 
      Slackware has become one of the most popular, stable, and friendly 
      distributions available. 
     
     ...
     OK, I guess that was a little more than 20 words.
     
     -Peter
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