MadPenguin has the first review of VectorLinux 4.3, with screenshots.
VectorLinux 4.3 – Rocket Fueled Slackware
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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On what points does vector and slack differ so that vector runs faster?
I know that vector comes default with kernel 2.6, but installing that on latest slack is no big deal. I’m more thinking about prelinking/optimized compile/…
On what points does vector and slack differ so that vector runs faster?
I think that Vector is optimized especially for older hardware. It’s light-weight and may run faster on older computers than the Slackware proper.
The possible problem is that there are more precompiled packages available (linuxpackages.net) that run on the latest Slackware than there are ones for Vector. If you are happy with the software that is already included in Vector, this might be the ideal distro for you. But if you want additional apps, be prepared to compile source packages and hunt missing libraries.
not exactly true,
there is a compatibility table of what versions of VL correspond to what versions of slack packages, its the same format and all the corresponding slack packages work on vl too;
stop spreading FUD about a great distro;
cheers
ram
Sorry if I’m spreading FUD, but my experience is that a default Slackware installation includes LOTS of libraries that are not included in default Vector installation. So when you try to add packages to Vector you are bound to encounter problems with missing libraries. You can add packages from linuxpackages.net but most of them won’t work because in Vector you haven’t got the needed libraries. But this is just my personal experience. Your Mileage May Vary.
It was a great distro for quickly setting up older boxen to give away to students, but only for students to do their basic papers/surf/email on. Gaim didn’t work ‘out of the box’, and students are heavy im’ers. A lot of the menu items were nonfunctional. So either you burned up more time tweaking every installation, or you gave them away with warnings about gaim and other dead menu items. And compiling stuff was not initially possible, as many required libraries were missing. Newer versions of Vector keep bumping up the minimum requirements.
Stop being an idiot. The man is right.Many packages on linuxpackages.net simply won’t work for the very reason he said. A lot of slack packages are missing in the VL which makes many packages unusable for this distro.
generally, i have enough harddisk space, even on older systems. slack defaults to using little RAM. so why does someone need this? i don’t get it 🙂
One of the big pluses for Vector is that it comes with a rather useful config tool (or set of tools) called VASM. This takes a lot of the pain out of a number if little jobs that can be tricky if you do not know how to do them in Slackware.
3.2 was very good in its day, and mixing in Slack 8.1 bits made it really very nice indeed and very lean compared with some modern stuff.
Rather than digging around linuxpackages.net, it’s probably wiser to go to the Slack mirrors and get packages from 9.1 (though many from 10 will also work). If a package doesn’t work on it’s own, run it from a CLI and see what it wants – then get it from the same place. It’s not like rpm dependency hell, just a question of trial and error. OK you can avoid that by using Slack from getgo, but then the people on the Vector forum are much more tolerant of silly/inexperienced user questions than AOLS. It’s just a learning experience…..now if you want broken Slackware try Buffalo – there’s an accident that’s looking for somewhere to happen! 🙂
So no real package management is available for Vector Linux then? Well, that’s a deal breaker.
This is arguably one of the most important features to include in a distro: the means to easily add package and the means to keep those packages (and the rest of the system) up to date. FreeBSD has it, Debian has it, therefore they are superior to any distro lacking this. I prefer to setup a system and be able to use it a couple of years (or until the next Maxtor(crap!) HDD crash). The two *nix i mentioned are the only ones I feel that can consistently do this without leaving me with a broken system. Anyone have other experience?
The possible problem is that there are more precompiled packages available (linuxpackages.net) that run on the latest Slackware than there are ones for Vector.
i routinely used/use slack packages with Vector 4.0. i have had 2 machines running 4.0. i also use swaret, which makes it easy to dependency check. just read the instructions on swaret main page about configuring mirrors and dependencies tracking. easy as pie.
So either you burned up more time tweaking every installation, or you gave them away with warnings about gaim and other dead menu items.
i had no real issues with 4.0. i wonder if you had the SOHO 3.2.
Newer versions of Vector keep bumping up the minimum requirements.
they still recommend 1.8 for older machines. Deli linux or Slack 7.1 would work too. the reason the requirements go up, is that each successive Slack install is a bit bigger (Vector is Slack based, almost a Slack front-end).
@captainmellow:
> A lot of the menu items were nonfunctional.
VL has been polished and bugfixed a lot since 3.2. you should really give 4.3 a try.
@Evert:
> generally, i have enough harddisk space, even on older systems. so why does someone need this?
because the lightweight WMs (ice, xfce, flux — the ones i like to use on older boxes) are actually set up in a useful way (better than in any other distro, imho). in older VL releases i still had to do a bit of tweaking, but as of VL4.3 they can be used outofthebox.
swaret is a pretty ok package management tool for slackware.
I think it has installpkg under its hood.
swaret, in my opinion, isn’t as flexible as apt-get / synaptic but it does do a good job handling dependencies.
I like slackware, I been using it as my home desktop since version 8.0.
Peace man,
Jim