I'm a new slackware user and of course I'm going to use this forum to it's potential. I reciently have downloaded Slackware vs. 9.1 and am very pleased. Keep in mind that all I've ever known has been MS-DOS and Windows platforms. MS-DOS was the most powerful tool at the command prompt I had ever known...until Linux that is. I could write batch programs like no other and fly through different modes and commands...Linux is a little different for me and I'm excited at the possibilities and yet feel handicapped at my lack of knowledge. I love Slackware though and found it very stable. I'm asking these questions only because I'm new and know that by learning Linux, I will unlock it's powers and I'll be able to sleep better.

I'm reading the Slackware Book and have managed to squeek my way around the command line and use some different commands. Some specific questions I have are:
(please keep in mind that I'm a baby at Linux and if these questions seem stupid or not worth your time, I'm just trying to understand better)

1) What exactly is the Kernel
2) How often is a new Kernel updated
3) What are generic Kernels

4) How do I look at a CD-ROM CD from the command line
5) "" "" "" "" floppy drive floppy

6) What's the difference between Slackware and Debian

7) What are RPM's (concerning Red Hat...I guess)

8) What are Tarballs

9) Dependancies?

10) What do you mean by "compile my own Kernel"
11) How do I compile my own Kernel

There they are...some questions for now...Please do not refer me to another post to answer these questions. I'm trying to make a database for future use with one thread.
Thank you for your answers and all your help!

Although relatively a newbie, I can answer some of these things (others will be able to add more or clarify to a greater extent, I'm sure).

The kernel is the core operating system. Everything, such as the graphical interface, sits on top of the kernel.

New ones come out fairly often (I think, several a year?)

Don't know about generic kernels.

To look at CD-ROMs or floppies you just have to mount them, and then look in that mount space. Like mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy. This would mount a floppy drive located at fd0 formated with the vfat file system to a /mnt/floppy location. You could then use: ls /mnt/floppy and see what is on the floppy. Similarly, for CDROM.

Slackware is a commercially distributed Linux OS, and Debian I don't think is. I've never used Debian, only Slackware, SuSE, Red Hat, and Mandrake. I've heard Debian is hard to use (but that's what I've heard about Slackware, too)

RPM are Red Hat Package Managers (I think). Software can come in .rpm formats. You can install these on slackware also. Use: rpm -i packagename.rpm.

Tarballs are zipped up files that need to be extracted.

Dependencies are what a given program needs to have to work. For instance, to use xdrawchem you need to first make sure you have openbabel and Qt 3, because the program relies on these.

Compiling a kernel. I can't say much about it here. Too long and I'm not experienced enough with it to be much help.


Hope this helps a little. If I've given inaccurate info, others feel free to correct me.

EST

Well euh ican't answer all but some i do so here we go

1 - To explain it simple, the kernel is the heart of ur system makes it possible for ur linux to exist

2- I dunno really how often it is updated. As for now the current stable kernel used by most distros is the 2.4.22 this is the "stable" version, the latest however is the 2.6.0-test9 wich will be the future stable one to be released. ( the even numbers in the mid refear to stable if they are even )

3- dunno tho i think those are kernels preconfigured to work on most normal systems. but i'm not sure about this one

4-normally should be /mnt/cdrom
5- /mnt/floppy should be this


7-RPM, well u can compare it abit to when u install a program in windows, whe u use it a program or whatever gets installed and all files go in the right place

8- it's a zipped file tar.gz. or tar.bz2, ....

9- sometimes whe u install a program, some other files, libraries are needed by this program in order to run

10- ehehe here is the fun well when u have the sourcecode of a kernel u can configure it to ur need and skin it so much to work only on ur system to make the things u want to do with it.

11-here i have to point u to a thread, it's the sticky int his section very good one

This should be it, i'm not totally sure about some answers tho they should be correct (i hope )

As for the difference between Debian and Slack, i know it in big big lines, but some more experts then me can help u with that

Have fun

First off, to use this forum to it's potential, try the search feature, as most if not all of your questions could be answered before you need to post them.

1) 2.4.22 is what ships with the Slack CDs

2,3) for info on kernel updates visit kernel.org

4,5) read this

6) I'm not a Debian user, but the most apparent difference is that Debian uses a "feed" which you can download and install/upgrade packages using a simple command. I won't go into detail mainly because I don't know, but there are many debian users who will.

7)RPM's are software packages. Some distributions use them (RedHat, Mandrake, Suse) some don't. Slackware can handle them, but it's not ideal.

8) tarballs are a .tar.gz file which is basically the source for a program or app, which you compile yourself and install.

9) are just what they are. In order to run program 'x', you need certain things. if you don't have them, program 'x' won't install or compile.

10,11) you might want to do some more extensive reading on this subject. Not to sound esoteric or anything, but if you are asking these basic questions about Linux, then you probably don't need to bother with compiling the kernel. It's not necessary to get your system up and running anyway.

Kernel is core software that enables system to run the hardware you have and in most cases provide enough modules and or tools for other software the end user can use in order to get basic systems operation things done.Compiling the kernel specifically for your hardware setup makes it smaller and more efficient and usually faster.Example slack 9.1 basic kernel at install is set up for generic ide and pent 3 and modules/drivers for almost evrything, if youve got something else it will help to recompile it and get rid of what you dont need.

to view a cdrom: mount /dev/cdrom then cd /mnt/cdrom then ls all from command line,this mounts and lists its contents and puts you in the cdrom directory,usually unles youve made changes,you must be root to do mount/unmount.

dependencies:most software requires libraries or modules to run, the ones necessary need to be in the system for the program in question to run.

RPM is a way of handling dependency issues by installing programs for you,same with pkgtool in slackware.When you install software it comes with lots of directories and files and they must end up in the right places in order to work,RPM handles that.Pkgtool in slackware does too,slackware can also do rpm to an extent.

As stated above tarballs are a format of zipping just like in windows,or similar anyway.Goes back to old tape archiving format in unix...hence TAR,gzip is another file compression format or tool....

Please utilize the search feature of this site. Many/All of these questions have been asked/answered before.

Last first.... generally you will be directed to other posts, other sites, books, etc. It is hard in a forum to answer complicated questions in their full context. Also teaching you where to find information will speed you along to independence.

1. This was pretty well answered already above.

2. The kernel is constantly being developed. 2.4 is the current stable, 2.5 is the experimental. The ending of an even number shows stable. The upcoming 2.6 is in testing and will be the new stable. Some people are still running 2.2 kernels on older hardware. The newer the kernel the more up to date it is for newer hardware.

3. I assume by generic you mean the basic stock kernel. Slackware normally runs on one of these. Patrick Volkerding is the owner of Slackware. To the best of my knowledge he does not put a bunch of experimental patches on his kernels. This is done on some other distros for various reasons. One example is the recent Mandrake fiasco wherein a patch was put on the kernel that was damaging a certain brand of cdrom.

4. The mount /mnt/cdrom command will work if the cdrom is properly listed in /etc/fstab. You only mount data cds not music. The audio app will read it with its own permissions without mounting it manually.

5. ditto

6. Slackware is a commercial distro. It has its own package management system. You have a choice of downloading slackware packages from places such as linuxpackages.net or compiling them from source. Slackware does no dependency checking that is up to you to figure out on your own. IMO Slackware was easier to install than Debian. You will find that we are all devotees of our distro. I think Slackware is the best, but I am willing to read. Debian has a reputation as being difficult to set up the first time but easy after that. It has a package management system that automates the installation of binaries (already compiled programs) and it does the dependency checking and installs them as well. But Debian stable is made up of antique packages that I got tired of using 5 years ago. But it is very stable and secure. You can run Debian testing and they are a bit newer, but less stable.

7. RPMs are binary packages built for RPM based systems. Red Hat, Suse, Mandrake all use this system. You will hear of RPM hell from these where you try to install packages that do not have dependencies met and in some cases it seems can never be met.

8. Tarballs are archives.

9. For a program to build or execute it may need code from another policy or library. So to build that program or run it, the other package has to have been installed. As I said before, Slackware will allow you to install a binary package without checking if the dependencies are met. RPM or Deb packages will check for that. If you try to compile however some dependency checking may be done when you run ./configure or make if it needs that library to build the package.

10. The kernel is like any other source code package. You can compile your own. At this point in your experiment with linux, I would not worry about it. Unless you have some bizarre hardware that is not covered by the stock kernel and need to add it in. Directions to do this are on this site and in the Slack book and are too long to repeat here.