Star Slackware 12.2 Released
Linked by David Adams on Thu 11th Dec 2008 00:15 UTC, submitted by Brian
Slackware, Slax Slackware, the grand daddy of Linux distributions, has released a new version: Slackware 12.2. This new version runs the 2.6.27.7 version of the Linux kernel. The other updates include Xfce 4.4.3, KDE 3.5.10, HAL support etc. You can get Slackware 12.2 from one of their mirrors.
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RE[3]: eee PC?
by Doc Pain on Thu 11th Dec 2008 12:53 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: eee PC?"
Doc Pain
Member since:
2006-10-08

Slackware doesn't come with a lot of GUI control utilities, or pre-configured powersaving features. It is very much a do it yourself distro in that respect, and that's exactly what it's supposed to be.


The main advantage of this concept is that you get exactly what you install and configure - nothing more, nothing less. You end up with a well defined set of settings and applications where *you* are the one who determines what's going to happen. It is an approach that I personally do like more than "just shove in all the applications and drivers someone might eventually need, just so they're there".

That's not to say you can't configure those features yourself and install whatever you want as far as GUI controls go, you can.


It's Linux - of course you can! :-)

And since you did it yourself, it will stay working as long as you want it to--no package updates breaking your hard configuration work, etc.


Important fact for systems that are to be set up once, and then expected to keep working until alteration is exlicitely intended.

I hope I don't get flamed for saying this, it's just how I see things.


Why should you? It's a valid point of view, and I do share it. Slackware was the first Linux I used on x86 PC, and I very quickly got familiar with how things worked. Slackware was my teacher of UNIX basics - stuff you need everywhere, no matter if you're running Linux, BSD or UNIX. This basal knowledge is essential if you want to achieve something in your job (if your job is UNIX); every idiot (sorry) can install a GUI driven Linux today, but what if something fails? Then you drop back to your basics, and you're able to solve the problem on your own. That's what Slackware taught to me: diagnostics and how to solve problems. Hey, that's what people today pay me for. :-)


Slackware is the most BSD-ish (is that a word?) of the Linux distributions around and always has been--from its tgz-based package system to its BSD-style init scripts.


Because BSD (esp. FreeBSD) is my main OS, I like Slackware for the fact that I don't need to search around for configuration files, init scripts and program locations. Allthough Slackware is a Linux (and not a BSD with a standardized base OS environment), it's moved quite into the direction you mentioned, and that makes the life of system administrators easier.

Probably one of the reasons, maybe even the big reason, I love it. It takes a bit to configure but afterward it just stays completely out of your way, just like *BSD does--it most closely resembles OpenBSD in its configuration files and init scripts.


And isn't that what an OS is supposed to do? Keep the stuff running, keep out of your way and let you do your work or fun? In my opinion, Slackware achieves these goals very well.

Having said this, I love to hear any further development of this excellent Linux distribution. I'll always have a spare PC left to try it out.

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