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http://mammouth.tuxfamily.org/slackware/desktop.jpg


I found this pic when I searched "slackware" on google images, seeing as I am looking into installing Slackware 11 over my RedHat 9 Install.

In the above picture, is that the default theme for slackware (with the dock and the transparent windows)? It makes it look like Mac OS X (in a way), and with the way Linux functions, and the way OS X looks, that would make a killer team on my computer (seeing as I can't afford a damn $1,500 Macbook from apple.com).

Another question:
Is Slackware 11 equiped with better sound drivers than RedHat 9 has? Because with my RedHat 9 box now, I can't listen to music or videos, seeing as I don't know where to find what sound card I have.

Also:
In the Slackware desk on the image's computer, he has little "widget" things on the upper-right-hand corner of it. Is that standard, or are all of these things just add-ins that can be installed on any linux distro?

If this belongs in "Getting Started and Choosing a Distro," then, moderators, feel free to move it, just don't get mad at me. I thought it might go here because my main question was about the dock and the transparancy in the Slackware image.

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Dani AI

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As and already hinted, that screenshot is a heavily customized KDE desktop rather than a stock Slackware look. Konsole/ksnapshot are dead giveaways. The small gadgets are KDE widgets (SuperKaramba-style) and the dock is either a separate dock program or an icons-only KDE panel; the window translucency comes from an X compositor (KWin compositing or an external compositor such as xcompmgr/compiz).

To reproduce the look on Slackware 11:

  • Install KDE and a widget/dock package of your choice.
  • Verify the X Composite extension is available with xdpyinfo | grep -i composite and run a compositor (for quick testing try xcompmgr &).
  • Use SuperKaramba (or KDE widget/plasmoid tools) for desktop widgets and tweak window decorations/themes in KDE to get the Apple-ish chrome.

Sound troubleshooting and what to try before switching distros:
Slackware 11 generally ships with a newer kernel and ALSA support than very old releases like Red Hat 9, so hardware detection is usually better. To identify and diagnose the card from Linux, run:

lspci -nn | grep -i audio
cat /proc/asound/cards
aplay -l
lsmod | grep snd
alsamixer

If the card appears but is muted, unmute/raise channels with alsamixer. If no module is loaded, load the right ALSA module with modprobe modulename and install alsa-utils if missing. Some devices need non-free firmware — check dmesg output for firmware errors.

Quick tips: test hardware with a live image before reinstalling, check BIOS for onboard-audio enable/disable, and back up data first. Official references: Slackware Linux and the ALSA Project for driver/firmware details.

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Member Avatar for John A

In the above picture, is that the default theme for slackware (with the dock and the transparent windows)? It makes it look like Mac OS X (in a way), and with the way Linux functions, and the way OS X looks, that would make a killer team on my computer

My guess is that it's Gnome, running SuperKaramba, and probably some sort of SuperKaramba plugin like for the dock. I suspect the transparency is some sort of Gnome Theme. And no, I don't think it's the default theme for Slackware, although I could be wrong as I've not tried Slackware 11 yet.

Is Slackware 11 equiped with better sound drivers than RedHat 9 has? Because with my RedHat 9 box now, I can't listen to music or videos, seeing as I don't know where to find what sound card I have.

I'm not completely sure about that one, in any case you can always download the drivers using Google. To find the soundcard that you have, you can either boot into Windows if you have it installed, and look under the System control panel. In the devices tab, look for any data related to your soundcard.

If you don't have Windows installed, you can also try taking apart the computer and looking at the label on the sound card.

In the Slackware desk on the image's computer, he has little "widget" things on the upper-right-hand corner of it. Is that standard, or are all of these things just add-ins that can be installed on any linux distro?

I doubt they're standard, but I highly suspect that they too are SuperKaramba plugins.

Member Avatar for sn4rf3r

desktop: Im going with KDE, since the command in the shell is ksnapshot. I think superKaramba is a tool for making widgets for the KDE env and not gnome.

sound drivers: joe's right, google or your distro. Since Linux is open source everyone pretty much shares the specific drivers if they dont already come as part of the kernel base. Have you tried ALSA as a module? You need to sniff around and figure out the exact card, dmesg and lspci are great tools.

widgets: prolly custom made or a very slick skin to a KDE tool.

Member Avatar for John A

desktop: Im going with KDE, since the command in the shell is ksnapshot. I think superKaramba is a tool for making widgets for the KDE env and not gnome.

Ah yes, I missed somehow missed that important detail (also the fact that they're using Konsole is another big hint). However, it's not to say you couldn't create a Gnome enviroment that looks identical or very similar to the one displayed here.

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