Both distributions are similar because they follow the KISS principle. And they *don't* split libraries and headers, which is a plus.

The major difference is that while Salix offers a fully-functional Desktop environment out-of-the-box, while Arch offers a system from scratch. And by scratch I mean ...

It does not deserve the bashing it has received.

No, it doesn't. Specially after you read this .

Actually I think the separation of libraries and headers is the worst thing ever happened to desktop Linux distributions (it may be a good idea on embedded systems to save space). (...) That was a ...

Wheew what a debate!

I feel like I'm the only person in the world who actually liked GNOME 3! :D But my mother and a friend who never ever used Linux got their way in quite well so... YES, the removal of features and customization options is bullshit - they should ship GNOME 3 with gnome-tweak-tool ...

Pros:

- Simple to install
- Works 'out-of-the-box'
- GNOME 3.4 is a major improvement over its predecessors
- Pretty artwork (tip: install Faenza icons!)

Cons:

- Damned separation of <package> and <package>-devel which troubles compilation from source
- Difficult to customize
- I don't know what ...

Well well, unless I'm equivocated, I'm amazing to notice that there's only the 'screenshots' thread. But I'd like to go one step beyond and ask:

What do you do to make the standard Salix OS 'yours'? Do you use a custom Lilo splash and/or Login theme? Do you mess up with the default bash scripts ...

http://people.salixos.org/lmello/pkg/c/

You don't have to install *all* the packages, but first install compiz from the repos and then install, in this order:

compiz-bcop
libcompizconfig
compizconfig-python
ccsm
compiz-plugins-main

then launch ccsm and make sure to enable "Window Decoration ...

It plays ok, but...

mplayer dvd://
MPlayer 20101218-4.5.1 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team

Playing dvd://.
libdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.10 for DVD access
There are 1 titles on this DVD.
There are 1 angles in this DVD title.

libdvdread: Attempting to retrieve all CSS keys
libdvdread: This ...

Ok, playing an unencrypted DVD on Whaawmp:

GStreamer encountered a general resource error.

gstmpeg2dec.c(455): gst_mpeg2dec_alloc_buffer (): /GstPlayBin2:player/GstURIDecodeBin:uridecodebin0/RsnDvdBin:source/RsnVideoDec:viddec/GstAutoConvert:autoconvert5/GstMpeg2dec:mpeg2dec2:
Failed to allocate ...

I don't think it's a problem with the dvd because mplayer and vlc plays them correctly...

Yes I did... selecting anything besides 'X Window System' makes parole hang.