When comparing Slackware vs Fedora, the Slant community recommends Slackware for most people. In the question“What are the best Linux distributions for desktops?” Slackware is ranked 5th while Fedora is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose Slackware is:
Uses stable, plain-vanilla packages from upstream.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Stable
Uses stable, plain-vanilla packages from upstream.
Pro Strong adherence to UNIX Principals
Pro Ideal to learn more of Linux
Follows the original Linux roots. It still sees Linux as a free clone of UNIX so the distribution tries to be UNIX-like.
Pro Package management
Uses standard tar archives with shell scripting as packages.
Pro One more distro which is init based
Some users don't like to install systemd based distros because they increase booting and processing speed.
Pro Oldest surviving Linux distro
Besides Debian (which was first released in August 1993), it is the oldest still maintained Linux Distribution and was first released in July 1993.
Pro Super fast
Pro No systemd
Pro Backed by one of the biggest Linux kernel contributors
Fedora is backed by RedHat, the 2nd biggest Linux kernel contributor in the world. Using a distribution made by RedHat means that it will be fine-tuned to work as efficiently as possible since it's made by the same people who work extensively on the kernel and know its ins and outs.
Pro Integration with GNOME
It perhaps has the best integration with GNOME (GNOME software works out of the box).
Pro Focuses on innovation
By using bleeding edge software, Fedora allows for innovation to take place by testing out things which other distros are not willing to try due to fears of having instability issues.
Pro Fast and stable updates
Pro Frees developers from some backward compatibility restraints
Fedora has a relatively short life cycle: version X is supported only until 1 month after version X+2 and with approximately 6 months between versions this means that a version of Fedora is supported for approximately 13 months. This promotes leading-edge software because it frees developers from some backward compatibility restraints.
Pro Strong commitment to free software philosophy
Pro Fast performance
Pro Very good integration with Flatpak and Snap Packages
Pro Huge array of binary packages ready to install
Pro Can still be installed in a bad sector on the hard disk
Pro Linus Torvalds' distro of choice
Pro Create user after the installation
Very good for selling PC‘s with Fedora.
Pro Frequent updates to latest versions of software, so quick security and other bug fixes
Latest version software often means quick bug fixes, more useful features. For example, for a daily user of TeX, the latest TeX distro is a must. It's also useful to be able to use recent external hardware such as USB Wi-Fi dongles or printers.
Pro Minimalist GNOME
Fedora Workshop does not come with bloatware. It is a minimal GNOME installation, which makes it very simple and nice to use out of the box.
Pro The best choice for sysAdmin and developers
Nearly flawless, perfect performance and consistency with development and operational software.
Cons
Con Not user-friendly
It is made to be KISS (keep it simple, stupid), so you have to do everything by hand.
Con Large size live ISO
One needs to vain 3GB+ data for downloading one slackware ISO.
Con Narrow repos
Doesn't offer the same amount of options as other distros do.
Con Niche/small community
Slackware is its own niche and has a small community.
Con Very slow release cycle
Hasn't updated in 3+ years.
Con Dependency issues
When it comes to dependencies, Slackware shows more issues than many other distros.
Con Updating to a new release can be problematic
While there are a few tools on offer that will upgrade an old Fedora release to the newest, there can often be problems with these methods. Some that may not even crop up at first but will show later down the road. Being that upgrading can be an issue, it can be exacerbated by the fact that Fedora updates every six month, which means twice a year there is a risk of completely borking ones install.
Con Proprietary drivers are unsupported
Fedora does not support proprietary drivers, meaning that users may have problems with a lot of hardware when using Fedora. The software to make that kind of hardware work can be installed, but it can be done only through third-parties and it's not easy for the average user.
Con Unstable
Some packages may break, because there isn't an option to test them before rolling them out.
Con Dnfdragora needs work
As the default package installer, this piece of software needs a lot more polish. It's not explicit in saying things are installed, more granularity in package selection is needed, and the ability to move columns around to see if you're installing the correct version.
Con Optimus support is straight terrible
Running on a laptop with optimus gpu or the driver for your powerful gpu is not gonna happen.
Con Not for beginners
It is not a user-friendly distro like ubuntu, PCLos. You will be required to learn a lot of commands even for simple activities.
Con Slow
It is quite slow on some computers.
Con Basically owned by RedHat
Community? Forget it! RedHat says what Fedora must do.
Con Too many changes to upstream packages leading to a "Fedora way" of doing things
Linux should be Linux, but Fedora is constantly introducing breakage and changes which move things in the wrong direction and make things worse for everyone.
Con Controlled by big corpos
Con 86'ed
Description of the word. Support for 32-bit architecture ended with Fedora Release 30.
Con Wayland does not work with Prime/Optimus
On a pc with hybrid video, you must use Gnome on Xorg to let the Prime or Optimus technology work.