Thank you for the recommendation of SourceMage GNU/Linux. To be candid, I had not heard of this distribution until reading your post. ;D

Incindentally, 'thehundredthone', I have been using Linux for over four years, but have used SuSE Linux exclusively (the Professional version, until it was dropped with SuSE 10).

I am very seriously considering Debian, especially in light of quality problems with SuSE 10.1, although I intend to make 10.1 work!

Thanks, again, 'thehundredthone'!

Cordially,

David
--
<http://ddickerson.igc.org/>

it's a fine distro. sorcery is written entirely in bash, and is a pleasure to use.

Thank you for your message. I will definitely report back on my XFCE installation. I have quite a bit of work to do on my Linux production machine, including upgrading some hardware and finding time to install SuSE Linux and XFCE. (I am also looking for a new job, and spending as much time as possible helping my uncle, who has cancer, in any way that I can.) :-(

Thank you for the tip on the Gentoo Handbook, 'geniux'. I will check it out. 

Speaking of Linux from Scratch, I recently purchased the latest version of the LFS book. I intend to try Gentoo and Debian before I even thing of LFS, but I thought the book might make interesting reading.

Thanks, again!

Cordially,

David
--
<http://ddickerson.igc.org/>

If you follow the Gentoo Handbook (located at gentoo.org) line by line it's quite easy to install, it takes more time installing then other distros, besides LFS, but it's truly worth it. I've used it in 4 or 5 years now and I'm as satisfied as ever

Thanks again for your help! ;D

I will certainly let everyone know how the XFCE installs (CentOS and SuSE) go.

I have been interested in Gentoo since it was released. I have a broadband Internet connection (cable modem), so if I can educate myself about the Gentoo installation process, at least I have decent bandwidth!

Cordially,

David
--
<http://ddickerson.igc.org/>

Tell us how it went when you're finished

Thank you for your reply and the information!

In addition, I appreciate your wishes for good luck. You never can tell what will happen.

Finally, I am setting up a separate Linux box as a MySQL and Oracle 10g database server. Oracle 10g requires an enterprise server, but I am using CentOS 4.3, which is a "clone" of Red Hat's enterprise server. I plan to try XFCE on that machine, as well, after I am sure that MySQL and Oracle are installed properly and stable.

I have been impressed with XFCE, and dying to try it, for some time. I was always waiting for the latest beta version to become the latest stable one, but thanks to the help I have gotten in this forum, I am going to install the beta release.

Thanks for everything, 'geniux'!

Cordially,

David
--
<http://ddickerson.igc.org/>

Thank you for your reply. Gentoo is a distribution that I definitely want to try. (I have the latest version on CDs.)

It is good to know that you have seen success with the graphical installer. As I wrote in my reply to 'geniux', I believe that such installers are going to help new Linux users, if they become widely adopted.

Does the Gentoo fluidportage overlay take care of dependencies automatically, 's0ulslack'? If it does, Gentoo is even more appealing to me.

Thanks!

Cordially,

David
--
<http://ddickerson.igc.org/>

I've compiled and installed from source numerous times with Linux, using regular "tarballs" and pulling files from CVS, so installing from source is no problem for me, except when I run into major dependency problems.

I am assuming and hoping that XFCE has no dependencies that I won't already have installed. Have you found any dependency problems with XFCE?

The idea of graphical installers for Linux appeals to me, because I think such installers would be of great help to new Linux users, but I plan to install XFCE from source.

Finally, did you install any of the XFCE "toys"? Several look very interesting and useful to me, so I want to give them a try.

Thank you!

Cordially,

David
--
<http://ddickerson.igc.org/>

Sorry I couldn't offer any input/advice on the GUI Installer

I hope that 's0ulslack' has some thoughts on the graphical installer and will be kind enough to share them here.

At first blush, it would seem (to me) that it would be quicker to compile and install from source. (I will have to research the XFCE documentation to see if there are any special flags or options.)

I have scanned the Web site of the graphical installer and it obviously takes a bit of time to get things set up.

On the other hand, I have absolutely no idea what advantages or features the graphical installer offers! ;D

Thanks, 'geniux'!

Cordially,

David
--
<http://ddickerson.igc.org/>

I am enjoying the XFCE forum and finding it very helpful. A great desktop environment deserves such a useful forum.

As I stated in my initial message, I have been using KDE for the most part (although I tried FVWM for a while, just to experiment with its infinite and confusing configuration options and files.)

Speaking of installing XFCE, has anyone used the graphical installer?

Is it simpler just to compile and install from source? (I assume that XFCE has a default directory that it uses.)

Thank you, in advance, for your input.

Cordially,

David
<http://ddickerson.igc.org/>

P.S. -- I have done technical writing for over twenty years; I plan to volunteer to help with the English documentation of XFCE, after I become familiar with XFCE, of course! ;D