Well, the day is finally come.
With belial still not configured properly at 100% (still working on its power-management syste, cpufreqd and some other beautiful things) but basically working, it’s finally time to put some attention on my old and tired haldir (the Compaq Presario 2510).
Since my final transition from Windows to Linux 3 years and half ago, on haldir I had a Slackware running. It started out as a 9.1, then upgraded to 10.1 and since then it worked fine and smooth without any major upgrade needed. Slackware 11.0 it’s just out, and my system is starting to feel the weight of time on its informatical shoulders: too much different pieces of the system now runs on different state of updating, and due to the lack of a packages managing system on Slackware this has become a major issue by now (yeah, stop screaming: I know about swaret, I just discovered it too late :p).
Installing and/or compiling something new has become a real pain, it’s not a Slackware fault, but indeed I now see very well all the errors I have done in these years while learning to master a Linux system. Part of the learning process, I suppose.
Anyway, different problems have started to POP-out in the last few days, part because of some playing I have done messing around with ACPI and a-thousand-Gnome-libs, but mostly because the system is really torn up in two: a very old core part, and a newer layer of user-end programs which I use regurarly. Actually these two parts are colliding hard more often each day. Need to do a very deep clean up, which means: blast all partitions, format, and re-install everything!
*yay*
Isn’t that pure geek fun?
Straight to the point now: what to install next?
I love Slackware, deeply love it, but I’m really feeling too grounded by it right now. The very little experience I’ve done with Gentoo on belial has showed me in just a few day of usage how much good a packaging manager system can do, and that’s something you don’t want to lose anymore in a so fast evolving world like Linux’s.
Moreover, I really feel the need to be finally part of something more than the so-called elite of the braves (or crazy ones) running Slackware. Linux is something good for building up communities, and well: I want to try something with a huge community behind it. An aspect of using Linux I don’t think I’ve yet experienced and probably something that could even get me to enjoy using it even more.
Anyway, all this to say that I’m 99% going to say farewell to Slackware to try something different… what? Thinking of Debian Etch or Gentoo 2006.1, I think I’ll come out with a decision about that after a good night of sleep.
Scared like hell to format a system so curson-configurated that could probably be considered a new distro on its own, I’ve already done all the relevant backup needed (mostly just of /home/curson ad life related pictures) and I’ll take my time to say farewell to this good old fella of a system which cared for me in the last 3 years.
Wait… I’m becoming sentimental, not with a computer, but with an operative system.
That’s definitely a new top-high in my personal geekiness!
Note: I’m working on a HOW-TO about installing Gentoo 2006.1 on a ThinkPad X60s. That will be a long working process, but I hope I’ll be finally able to “publish” some of it (let’s call it a beta) after the haldir renewal process has ended.
