And Slackware too puts out a test release. Patrick writes in the changelog: “OK, we’re going to call this Slackware 12.1-rc1, though there is still some more minor work to do.” So there. Just so you know.
And Slackware too puts out a test release. Patrick writes in the changelog: “OK, we’re going to call this Slackware 12.1-rc1, though there is still some more minor work to do.” So there. Just so you know.
I don’t use Slack anymore since switching back to OS X this year, but it always was and always will be my favorite Linux distro. I learned more about computers during the years I used Slackware than at any other time in my life. It is an amazingly robust OS.
I agree. You get absolut control of your OS plus is a rock solid distro. I tried Zenwalk too and it is awesome too.
-2501
Same here. I love Slack’s philosophy, and although I never really settled with raw Slackware (I don’t really want to go without dependency checking), it’s one of the two distros I respect the most (the other being Debian). I’ve been using Zenwalk for… well, as long as I’ve not been using Windows XP, which has been a couple years by now.
Same here, too. Slackware was my first step into PC’s Linux / UNIX world. Allthough I knew a few bits about UNIX generals from the P8000 and PSU, Slackware was a great experience which taught me many things. It was back in the days of kernel 2.0.32 – Slackware 3.4, if read it correctly (approx. 1995) – when I bought “Sybex POWER!-CD LINUX” 2 CD version for 29,95 DM. This system invited me to use LaTeX for my school stuff – and the concept not to rely on some strange “wizards”, frontends and automation tools for some of the the complex system operations. “Only insist on what you’ve checked by yourself!” could be a famous slogan from those days. And no matter which Linux and UNIX I tried later on, the lessons from my Slackware times were an important help. Concepts, commands and procedures are almost unique, no matter which Linux or UNIX you use. (Okay, I admit, that’s not the full truth. There are differences, some of them may even be a deep impact into things you’re sure you know. But all the basic stuff helps you to understand and to follow other kinds of system installations.)
Sadly, now that I’ve moved from Linux to UNIX, I rarely try or use Linux systems. Maybe I should put together a system and give “old friend” Slackware a new try. Let’s see if I can still handle it. 🙂
Edited 2008-04-04 22:46 UTC
I believe that would have been more like ’97 – ’98.
Hmm… I was just guessing because in the barcode field there was the following information: “ISBN 3-8155-9901-6 02995” that made me think it was 1995; but you’re right, 1997 / 1998 seems to be correct (I started using Linux exclusively when I was working at the TLM in Schwerin).
One of the things I love about it is that it attracts some right nutjobs.
Just check out alt.os.linux.slackware (that’s a newsgroup, for those younger viewers among you). Flamewars on that group seem to last decades.
I’ve been using Slackware for quite some time, and personally I think it rocks. Of course sometimes you loose some weight trying to make things work, but without a little pain, where’s all the fun? 🙂
I really would like to see more people using slack, but I don’t see any tendency of that increasing… or maybe it’s good to have fewer people using it, who knows…
Anyway, KISS is the way.
It’s the one and only UNIX-like operating system within the Linux distros.
It’s the only 80s and 90s style Unix-like operating system within the Linux distros. Unix operating systems like Solaris and AIX have moved on. After administering Unix for 8 years, I started my Linux journey with Slackware back in 1996. (Slackware ’96) It’s remarkable how little it has changed in the last 12 years.
Actually, Xenix and AT&T Unix 3.2 for 386 and 3B2, back in the 80s, had more sophisticated package management, and reasonably good menu driven administration facilities. So maybe Slackware is more of a 70s style Unix-like distro.
Edited 2008-04-04 18:00 UTC
I’ve got to agree with you.
I love Slackware’s philosophy and for a long time Slackware was my favourite distro.
Recently ArchLinux has taken over on my Linux boxes. It has the same kind of “feel” as Slack but without a lot of the arsing about.
ArchLinux?
It lacks quality, it lacks stability, it lacks reliability, it lacks experience within the developers. It has got pacman but this alone doesn’t make a good distro or something UNIX-like. KISS as excuse for the lack of any quality is a really poor excuse. So Slack with e.g. pkgsrc beats ArchLinux in no time.
That post smacks of somebody whos never used Arch properly.
I’ve found the quality to be excelent, along with the stability and reliability.
It’s no less UNIX-like than slackware (both prefer config files to GUIs, both use BSD style inits). Arch doesn’t install anything but the bones of the OS, expecting users to install their desktop and applications separately (again, very much like ever other UNIX build i’ve used and hardly KISS-like as you blindly suggest).
When every other distro these days are going towards default desktop installs (often even a customised version of KDE/Gnome) with fancy GUI configuration tools and the lark, it really shows that you haven’t a clue about what you’re talking about when you accuse Arch of doing exactly the same when in reality it’s really leaning the complete opposite way.
>had more sophisticated package management
slapt-get
pkgsrc
and so on, it’s open source you know. Solving dependencies has nothing to do with UNIX-like, comparing it with Solaris makes me laugh by the way.
Then what exactly did you mean by your original statement? The simplistic tar.gz package management, and relative lack of intuitive admin tools are Slackware’s primary distinguishing factors.
Me too. But probably for different reasons.
I’ve been a Slackware user since 10.0, it is my distro of choice:-) Stable, secure, and blazingly fast Slackware is amazing!
Hmmm… I can only speak for myself, but Slack has always been good to me and I’ve never left her side since the 10.0 release. I can certainly say that Slack is reliable, stable and secure and never seem to falter.
My hat’s off to Pat and the Slack team.
Peace.
I think anyone who started using Linux during the 90’s has a special place for Slackware. Granted, I no longer use it as I’m now a Debian user but it certainly has its place in the ranks of today’s distros. Slackware brings back fond memories of when xmms was king, netscape was THE browser and GNOME still had that big foot for a menu lol.
Yeah, I remember those times. I started out using Redhat-7.0 and FreeBSD-4.3 and ended up dropping Redhat for Suse-8.0 which led me to Slack when Novell took over. So now I’m just a Slacker with a BSD finish.
I really like Debian… I keep it on a spare box, but I never understood why corporations don’t implement it more, I think it’s very competitive with FreeBSD and Microsoft in the server market.
Peace.