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You're not the only one who confused it with slackware, same here. Warmed my heart for a bit before I realised it wasn't the real slack. :-(

I'm sure I'm not the only one who immediately thought of this, am I?
I'd have chosen something else, even at the risk of it sounding ridiculous.
Like one of my projects, for example.

http://www.slackware.com/getslack/torrents.php

Last link

Eric The X ratfynk

Judging from http://www.slackware.com/announce/11.0.php it looks like slack is still using a lot of old packages. Is there a reason? Apache 1.3. Kernel 2.4. Etc...

There's more to a web site than its front page. Slackware keeps development news where it belongs:

http://www.slackware.com/changelog/

I've been checking the changelog twice a day for a helluva long time, and its finally come.

Here's the full list of mirrors from where you can download it!
(Or you can get the torrents)

I've been checking the changelog twice a day for a helluva long time, and its finally come.

Here's the full list of mirrors from where you can download it!
(Or you can get the torrents)

I've been checking the changelog twice a day for a helluva long time, and its finally come.

Here's the full list of mirrors from where you can download it!
(Or you can get the torrents)

How the heck can you slack using Unbuntu (sic)?

For regular Slack users there is also the Subscription.

• Slackware Linux 11.0 CDROM set
• Slackware Linux 11.0 DVD
• Slack DVD Pack (Slackware Linux 11.0 DVD & Slackware Essentials, 2nd Ed)

• Slackware Linux 11.0 CDROM set
• Slackware Linux 11.0 DVD
• Slack DVD Pack (Slackware Linux 11.0 DVD & Slackware Essentials, 2nd Ed)

• Slackware Linux 11.0 CDROM set
• Slackware Linux 11.0 DVD
• Slack DVD Pack (Slackware Linux 11.0 DVD & Slackware Essentials, 2nd Ed)

• Slackware Linux 11.0 CDROM set
• Slackware Linux 11.0 DVD
• Slack DVD Pack (Slackware Linux 11.0 DVD & Slackware Essentials, 2nd Ed)

IBM owns Novell, Novell owns SUSE. There you have it folks. Good to see GNU/Linux making it's way into the mainstream. Now we've got to get someone pre-loading Slackware.

then installing windows & linux would be as simple as putting windows in c:\win and linux in c:\lin

Does that strategy actually work? Internet Explorer 4-6 weren't substantially different, nor has Windows been since Windows 95.

Yes, I know, "under the hood" Windows 95 and Windows XP aren't much alike, with 95 having DOS roots, and XP having NT roots. I'm talking about interface here.

Hell, even Slackware has done it.

I'm an open-source developer (Ultima Linux, PyWord – just to name a few. And yet I'm living on the east coast of the U.S. In fact, so's Red Hat. Not to mention Slackware, now in Minnesota, or even MySQL, who's all the way over in Sweden. I've also noticed a lot of my users tend to be from European countries – Germany, France, Sweden, England, Ireland... and that's only counting a small handful. Oh, and Linus himself is in Portland, Oregon, which is a bit closer but still not in the valley. So unless I'm missing the point entirely, I'd have to say the article must be completely wrong...

DISCLAIMER: I will admit I haven't read the article yet, so I probably am missing the point, but may as well post anyway, since this is Slashdot ;-)

Or you can pre-order 11 here http://store.slackware.com/cgi-bin/store/slack11.0 ?id=7qg7pUeb:mv_pc=27 support the project, and look forward to 12.

Pat already does that.

Change your slapt-get sources over to the stable branch, and you'll get security updates.

I recommend Slackware (www.slackware.com) along with the official book, Slackbook: www.slackbook.org. Slackware and Slackbook is a nice introduction to Linux. You can view it online or download a PDF.

Slackware is, as far as I know, the oldest Linux distribution in existance. It is simple and clear. I hear comments say that it is very close to pure Unix (I can't say myself, I haven't used Unix, nor any of the modern BSDs). It's a a "do it yourself" fashion, it doesn't rely on configuration "wizards". From an educational point of view, I think that it is the best way to go.

There is a "slogan" saying, "When you learn a X/Y/Z distribution (Fedora, Suse, etc), you know that X/Y/Z distribution. When you learn Slackware, you know Linux."

One suggestion: You can have a dual-boot with Slackware and another, more "automated", distribution, like Ubuntu, Suse, Fedora, etc.

I know you're trying you damnedest to sounds smart, but my question does actually stem from past events.

I use http://www.slackware.com/ for work.

Without a doubt, America needs much, much more Slack.

Real geeks run SlackWare.

I always like a good malware removal suite.

find me a Linux distribution that lets you customer a Linux kernel at install time.
*Raises hand* Me me! that one is easy!

Gentoo, slackware

Or what about NeoMagiclux

Neat uh?

Look, the problem with the article and almost all the articles is that they try to add labels and properties to "Linux" as an operating system. Linux is not an operating system it is a kernel, Mandriva, Gentoo or whatever you want is an operating system, some of them are Fat, some of them are bloated, some or them are insecure and whatever.

But you can not say that "Linux is a fat operating system" because linux is not an operating system.

oh if only there were a way!

I suggest Slackware (http://www.slackware.com/). While its popularity has declined over the last decade, it's a wonderful distro with a reputation for being somewhat minimalistic (and behind the times, although I would beg to differ). If you're new it's better to get your hands as dirty as you can, in my most humble opinion.

I've used Slack off and on for about ten years now (since 3.0), and tried various other distros both on real hardware and virtual. I always come back to Slack [tm].

Incidently, I've not tried Ubuntu or any of its derivates, and I'm neither trolling nor attempting to incite a distro war. Just stating my opinion.

Errr... okkkk... you must be a debian user (which uses exim) - as an example the following use sendmail as their default MTA:

Solaris
HP-UX
RedHat
Suse
Slackware

..and Gnome and udev and millions of others I don't have time to list.

slackware dont even have gnome include right now, so how can be outdated?

i'm runnig the latest udev, but as slack wants to support 2.4 kernel, cant use the latest, because new udev cant work with kernels below 2.6.15

Which one? 2.6.0? Are you sure you want to compile from scratch? Wouldn't you like to leave it to someone more knowledgable, like your slackware masters? It will be more user friendly that way.

i'm runnig the 2.6.15.4...no problem whatsoever compiling... and anyone with a pair of eyes, capable of reading english and with a little of brain can compile the kernel...
but wait... you want pre-compiled binaries? check this url:

http://slackware.com/changelog/current.php?cpu=i38 6

search for 2.6 and you will find this:

kernels/*.?/*: Recompiled 2.4.32 kernels with gcc-3.4.6, upgraded
              test26.s kernel to 2.6.15.6.

for someone pointing to gentoo, not wanting to compile the kernel in slackware is ...err.. something very stupid and idiot

Given the glacial Slackware release process (isn't it one guy?)

what, 2 release a per year aren enough for you? how many gentoo releases?
gentoo have more updated packages? great, i prefer stability and cpu time for my apps, not for compiling

and yes, its oficially one guy only, but he have many people that helps him, just check the changelog... even gentoo people that also run slackware
at least the slackware original founder still works in its distro and never worked for MS (if you know what i mean 8)

I would think you would have learned more patience.

what a troll... you complain that slackware is outdated, now you ask us for patience for gentoo not being so updated as it should... decide your self please...

You can even pick a winner.

You can have a desktop linux NOW. Fetch a modern commercial distro (http://www.ubuntu.com/>Ubuntu, Mandrake, etc) or any of the free ones and you'll have an excellent desktop with little issues, if any.

    The people that bitch about the "linux desktop" haven't normally ever tried Linux and want something that feels like their WinXP desktop. If you're looking for that, yes, there's nothing like it now and probably won't be for a while. If you want an useable Unix desktop, there's a lot of excellent ones arround.
    You have a wide choice of desktops and window and managers, and there's a lot of excellent software for them. A linux desktop is useable today, and by anyone - i had Ubuntu on a desktop for a while and my mother, who's 'computer-imparied' had zero issues using it. Besides being unable to find the blue E icon ;)

nope

$0 is nice but I bought my first copy of Slackware long before I could download it, I even had to copy it to (I think 22) floppies from cdrom so I could install it.

And even after I have downloaded them, I've paid for FreeBSD, plan9 and Inferno.

Free as in Freedom is more important than you give it credit for.

Just one business case is that one can mitigate risk by having multiple OS vendors to choose from. I know that if my chosen OS goes kaput or gets litigated out of existence then I won't go with it. And it doesn't cost me a fortune to try out the alternatives.

Use this:

http://www.slackware.com/

It will solve the root of your problem. Every other solution offered here is a bandaid which will fall off shortly, will surely get infected, will probably leave scars and will cost a lot of time and money for a temporary "cure."

Oh yes, I almost forgot, the fee for the fix: Gratis.

Cheers.

As evidenced by this page, it looks like Slackware's web site has been compromised. Everyone who downloaded Slackware recently should probably check their MD5 and PGP sigs to make sure they didn't get anything tainted.

1993 according to this.

I quote:
During 1992 and 1993, the Linux kernel gathered all the necessary features it required to work as a replacement for Unix workstations, including TCP/IP networking and a graphical windowing system (the X Window System). Linux also received plenty of industry attention, and several small companies were started to develop and distribute Linux. Dozens of user groups were founded, and the Linux Journal magazine started to appear in early 1994.

Just one of several examples of doing a google search on Linux History. I personally have bene using Linux on my desktop and servers since I discovered Slackwarein 1996. (Thanks Patrick! :-)

1. Slackware Linux. Still the best after all this time.
2. OpenBSD. Just because you are paranoid does not mean they are not out there trying to get you.
3. OpenSSH. Because you just can't use plain text telnet anymore.
4. Rsync. Just because.
5. GNU Screen. Triple your terminal productivity. Now with minty-fresh taste!
6. GNU Wget. Because you have better thing to do than watch over a download.
7. Vim.Because Emacs is for losers.
8. Nmap. Look at 'OpenBSD' above.
9. IPTables. Lock that machine down, admin boy.
10. pf. I said, lock that machine down , admin boy!

Half a year ago, being a complete Linux newbie I actually managed to revive a 166-MHz Pentium with 32 MiB RAM. I wiped out the original Windows 98 install, because it took ages for Windows to render the windows. It was unworkable. I gave the penguin a try, since noone wanted to work with this box. After some forum searches, I stumbled upon Slackware. Works as a dream if you just minimally install the system, leaving out X-Windows and the Windows managers. Now I have a nice and fast Apache/PHP webserver with 1.8 GiB of webspace, all for free. Occasonally, I even use Lynx to get the latest news when other computers are in use by collegues.

Just out of curiousity. Is there a Linux distro with a reasonably usable X-Windows environment for a 166 MHz Pentium/32MiB RAM configuration?

Nothing is stoping you from downloading a source tarball and installing it the same way you would in slackware, in fedora.

No, except it defeats the whole point of having a package manager. I also think (this is personal opinion, YMMV) that packages have made it way too easy to create "dependency hell". Ever tried to compile GNUCash from source?

An ability to do things differently is not a bad thing, when the other method is still available.

And that's why I like Slackware. There are packages for almost everything (even a nice third party site that went through the pain staking process of installing GNUCash) -- but they don't take over the distribution. I like the BSD init scripts. I like the simplicity -- especially for my servers.

I'm not in the business of shoving Slackware down people's thoughts. Just pointing out that it still has a place. I still recommend it for people new to Linux. Fedora teaches you how to use Fedora, Slackware teaches you how to use Linux. For anybody out there who happens to agree with me I would encourage you to buy the current version and support Pat's efforts. For those that don't agree with me... to each their own :)

http://www.slackware.com/~fizban/ftpinstall.php

Slackware doesn't suffer from all the bloat the "other distros" seem to suffer from. From the simple but sufficient text installer, to just the right number of packages - its not bloatware. They also tend to stay a step or two behind the other distos with respect to upgrading libraries and such so your applications tend not to break as often...

Besides, what other distro has aSmoking Tux Logo?

-everphilski-

Actually, there's Slackware. Pat has dropped GNOME support from Slackware 10.2, which makes Slackware
a KDE-centric distro. And Slackware is great too ;-)

http://slackware.com/changelog/i386/ChangeLog-stab le.txt

Slackware 10.2 dropped Gnome altogether.

I believe the ebuild uses rpm2targz.
* app-arch/rpm2targz
            Latest version available: 9.0-r3
            Latest version installed: 9.0-r3
            Size of downloaded files: 2 kB
            Homepage: http://www.slackware.com/config/packages.php
            Description: Convert a .rpm file to a .tar.gz archive
            License: as-is

Slackware, interestingly.

I must admit, it makes it look more like they're providing a serious product rather than something made by a group of hippies and slackers.

*dives under a table with his Powerbook*

i agree. Each time i have tried to install gentoo, i have run into massive issues with broken ebuilds during the stage 1 or stage 2 install. Each time, i got fed up complaining about the "quality control" of the install ebuilds and went back to http://www.slackware.com/ or http://www.crux.nu/. Crux has a BSD ports system that works better than portage, IMHO, and its a lot easier to deal with. Each to his own of course, but there are always other options :)

Definitely.

That's the same reason I actually ordered my copy of Slackware 10.1 from the Slackware Store, even though it was available free for the taking.

The way I see it, I got more than a year's worth of use out of Slackware 9.1, and I didn't pay anything for that (being the first version of Slackware I tried). I figure I got way more than $39.95's worth of use, so I showed my support by actually purchasing the next release I wanted to have.

I don't have an aversion to paying for quality software.

I signed up for the Slackware subscription service to support Pat, not for the CDs which still sit in the shrink-wrapped cases they were mailed in.

Promoting the torrents is probably a good thing. It wasn't an FTP link to slackware.com after all.