Hi, I've been a Slackware user for 3 years now, and I was in a simillar situation as you are.
Basically I've decided to use Slackware, because one of my friends (Linux guru) was using it at the time, and I aspired to be like him. But that's not what you want to hear. Although I am a Slackware user (and as such I am supposed to defend it), I wouln't say that it is more secure than Redhat. I have a feeling that an out-of-the-box Redhat Linux installation might be more secure than Slackware, because of Redhat's frequent security patches. Unfortunately, in my experience Slackware doesn't bother very much with those. Just take a look at the postings in bugtraq. Most of the time you are notified by Redhat about security issues than by Slackware. And that is definitely not due to the fact that Slackware is more secure. But you can't make generalisations like that anyway. It depends on the actual installation and the type of software you use. (Usually, the less software you install, the more secure you are.) But you can't make generalisations like that anyway. It depends on the actual installation and the type of software you use. (Usually, the less software you install, the more secure you are.) Slackware has the "advantage?" that is much closer to BSD type Unixes than Redhat and other distributions. Generally it is not so fancy as Redhat and teaches you more about Linux than other fancy distributions. If you are a control freak like me, go for Slackware. Sometimes it is a It is a pain to set up, but once you are running, you are running for good. You might also want to check other secure distributions like Immunix or Trinux. I'll probably stick to Slackware to provide me with basic packages for the time being mainly because of its history. The rest of the packages which provide an interface with the ouside world---I compile them from sources, keep an eye on security bug postings and update. (Mind you, I changed my box so much, that you probably couldn't say it was originally a Slackware box.) But don't take it from me I'm known to be a bit old-fashioned. -- Jiri
