[ale] Slackware user list?

[Jeff Walters]

> I don't think this should be a flamewar issue - it's rather one of the
> strengths of having multiple distros.  You can get a distribution geared
> towards your own strengths and preferences, which is preferable to the
> situation where one vendor puts out a bloated 'one size fits all'
> product which makes no one really happy.

I'd like to ask for some brief non-flame distro advice on Debian
vs. Slackware.  I'm on Mandrake 7.1 now but want to move to another
distro, probably either Debian or Slackware.  The good things about
Mandrake is the Pentium optimized binary RPM's and the Red Hat
compatibility.  But... configuration is getting so automated that it's
hard to do tweaking without breaking something: for example
Xconfigurator and XF8Config don't work right, you must use XFDrake
which is great unless it doesn't do what you want.

The way I see the distro differences is:
Red Hat/Mandrake -- great marketability, lots o' RPM's out there,
Mandrake is Pentium optimized, but configurability seems to be waning
Debian -- pure free system (if you're gonna do it do it right), has a
nice package system and automated update, but updates are much slower
unless for security, could be a pain waiting on features
Slackware -- good balance, mostly free, doesn't rely on package system
or configuration system so you have control, and it is also mostly
current as far as the app versions.  But no package/update system.

Can someone correct my impressions on this?  Does either Debian or
Slackware compile for i586?
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