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Slackware 9 Unleashed to World
kiltedtaco writes "Slackware Linux 9.0 is out! Based on gcc 3.2, and equipped with kernel 2.4.20 (ptrace-patched), XFree86 4.3, GNOME 2.2 and KDE 3.1. You can read the full announcement, or just go grab a copy for yourself at either the Slackware Store or these lovely mirrors." I know a lot of people who first cut their teeth on Slack when trying Linux. It's cool to see that it's still around.
The only thing that makes me happier than FreeBSD releases is Slackware releases. Always clean and small, always reliable, always complete. My first and favorite distro.
Thank you Patrick.
it dosent hold your hand, so you learn the right way
Actually, it's been out since Tuesday... but anyway, to us freaks, who kept up to date with -current branch, it was nothing new.
Oh, you'll have a great ol' time. If you (painfully?) learn how to run Slack, then you won't have to un-learn anything in the future.
Good luck. You might need it.
The answer to all your questions is no and that's exactly what makes Slackware so attractive.
It is clean and tidy distribution which keeps everything as simple as possible. It is beautiful.
it's amazing that Slackware hasn't included some sort of automatic update like apt-get or RHN. I feel that it is not a wise descision to not allow users to keep w/the bleeding edge in this day and age of Linux.
I prefer that my system is running the latest and greatest.. Someday, when apt-get isn't broken, and you can easily use CVS X *and* automatically update programs it will be nice.
Please no comments from the Debian policy freaks. It's my system, I should be able to do what I want w/it whether Debian likes it or not.
Mandrake is for newbies. Slackware is for newbies that don't want to stay newbies.
Yeah, but thanks to its complete lack of package managment, its not so 'clean' and 'tidy' after you've used it for a couple months. It becomes a mess of libraries and broken dependencies that is a nightmare to administer.
Provided, of course, you do want to learn :P
I am always amazed that people are into distros like Slackware. No easy gui install that anyone can do without effort. No way to automatically update the system for security updates. And that's the way they like it.
Usually this is when a Slackware user starts crowing about bloat and spewing phrasing like "redhate". Slackwares's installer and system maintenace methods were normal in 1993, a bit dated by 1996, and positively outdated by 2000. Now that were in 2003 I'm still amazed that anyone wants to deal with all of that manual work in order to get everything completely working.
I guess its all about priorities. People who use something like Red Hat just want to sit down and be productive right away. While Slackware/Gentoo users just want to "master" their computers and dig on "noobs" for not taking the "hard way". I've always thought that was funny since linux is basically linux and a distro like Red Hat is just as powerful as Slackware no matter what the deafault theme looks like.
Oh well. Some things never change. Some people think the ease of use found in modern distros is a sign of weakness. I think its a sign of progress. If I had to return to my linux box from 1996 I'd slit my wrists.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
You mean besides the fact you can:
Download and use apt-get
Download and use Rpm
Download the sources of the most bleeding edge
Chances are the latest and greatest is going to be SOURCE anyway, not a package.
CVS is always available.
Please learn. Don't give people the wrong about slack.
Yes it's easy to install, but Slackware never strived to have that illusion of simplicity that other distros tried and (IMO) have failed at. This scares some newbies, but teaches you Linux in the most straightforward way.
I mean, what's with this, found in mandrake and redhat:What!?!?! Coz it's a good idea to get used to an interactive rm, isn't it?
GO PATRICK!
Great job as usual. Thank you.
Indecision is the key to flexibility.
Patrick Volkerding is like slackware itself -- quiet, competent, gets the job done without need for flash. Rock solid, comforting, a fine old friend.
Infuriate left and right
wait. Maybe if I were to spend years developing a dependable and rock-solid linux distribution, then I could make FP postings and not get modded down! Then, with this now power, I will slowly take over all of /.!!!!! MUHAHA (specifically two "ha"s)
/. .... yeah, that would be a lot less work.
Or I could just come up with something meaningful to contribute to
YOU SUCK BALLS!
Personally, I found tweaking mdk's or rh's scripts in /etc a bit of a chore, because I don't like the way they're written and organised. Pat's scripts are written pretty much as if I had done it myself, so I find them easy to follow.
"despite its simplicity"? That was one of the big reasons that I moved to Slackware and haven't looked back.
Here are some reasons why I love Slackware:
1. The package manager is simple and easy to understand.
2. When something breaks, you have a good chance of knowing what you did to f*** it up, and how to fix it again.
3. It doesn't need RPM or APT.
4. It encourages you to use the source.
5. Nothing breaks unless you tell it to break (unlike RPM).
6. The most up-to-date software.
7. The best compiler.
8. The best user groups.
9. The best desktops and the best driver support.
10. Less "compulsive upgrading" than other distributions.
Slackware just ROCKS. I have used Mandrake, Redhat, Debian, Knoppix and Slackware, and Slackware is my favorite by far. Keep up the great work!
A colleague of mine put it best when he said of Slackware that "it doesn't try to do anything I don't want it to".
That is Slackware's beauty - if you know what you are doing, it doesn't get in the way.
I recently installed my first distro on a laptop. Slackware was the only distro I could get to work (I tried Red Hat and SuSE). I am sure a Linux expert could have made any distro work, but Slackware got me, a newbie, to the point of enjoying Linux. Now that I am up and running I am learning more about Linux than I knew existed by configuring the machine and getting everything to work (and no, not everything works yet). Slackware is easy to use, but requires you to actually read a HOWTO or man page to get what you want.
No, that is confusing cause and effect. ;-)
It takes effort to learn something new, and when learning unix I think the effort is best spent with Volberdings gift to the world.