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Slackware 9.1RC 2 Out, Mandrake 9.2 Soon
Colin writes "The founder of Slackware, Patrick Volkerding, released version 9.1 RC-2 of the upcoming Slackware. Good ol' Slack comes with new versions of packages while the addition of the Swaret tool adds dependency checking on Slackware for the first time! Here is an enthusiastic preview of Slackware 9.1 with plenty of screenshots." And pacc points out that Mandrake 9.2 will soon be ready, but only for Mandrake Club members at first. "But it will soon come to a mirror near you(TM). Though by choosing to distribute it with BitTorrent, do they effectively limit the downloads for a limited release?"
"adds dependency checking on Slackware for the first time!"
Well that's going to take all the fun out of it, I'll have to change distros, it just wouldn't be the same if after 2 hours of compiling it doesn't bork. Hell, I'd even pay extra for that, dependency checking is for pussies, with too little time on their hands.
Um, what is there that this guy *doesn't* like? I guess he didn't mention Commodore Basic...
Eugina is a "she" and also runs that site.
Alsa is a separate entity from Slack - if Alsa had issues with the sound card it wasn't Slack's fault. Also, the driver on the cheaper onboard sound rigs emulates full-duplex in software, right? At least sometimes? Setting up full duplex in software can probably be done but with quite a bit of work. The issues never exist on a card with onboard full-duplex support but one must still learn and use Alsa. The Slack/Alsa combo worked fine for basic sound support.
As to the Slack install, it is what is is - easy and quick. Just like FreeBSD's - there's no reason to change it, it's fine.
The heat from below can burn your eyes out
"Though by choosing to distribute it with BitTorrent, do they effectively limit the downloads for a limited release?"
As opposed to NOT using BitTorrent and having all the bandwidth eaten up so that each person gets 4k/s ?
Oh, I get it . . . you meant "Though by limiting the release, do they effectively make the BitTorrent method of distribution less effective?"
Well, there are over 16,000 Mandrake members. Let's say only 10% decide to download at the same time (an obviously conservative figure), that is still 1,600 simultaneous downloads. Is that suboptimal for BitTorrent?
Personally, I don't think Mandrake cares. The other way couldn't handle the traffic so they are using BitTorrent. If members get 150k/s instead 200k/s because of the limitted release, big deal. That is a small price to pay to get freeloaders involved in the actual realities behind creating a product they obviously value.
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
Man when will they switch to numbering schemes even remotely resembling anything real? Come on, the version is based on kernel 2.4.x - name it version 2.4.x, that's it. Not 9.2 or 22.34!
Just installed the latest Slack on an extra drive the other day and was suprised that the venerable and much appreciated 'setup' was missing.
I've used Slack off and on since the 0.96-pre-1 days and it was the first time since then that I noticed it was gone from the system.
Here's hoping for a new, revamped (still curses!) 'setup' app in the near future.
Thanks for years of great software, Patrick and company!
You can get it and a lot more Slackware extra packages
here:.
If you really want it in the base distribution, just ask Patrick. He is usually prompt and if you make a good case for a package, he will add it. It also helps if you can give some built tips for particularly onery packages.
For always releasing such sweet, sweet distros!
Like many of the other geeks here, my tastes are very peculiar. It takes me months to get my system customized just the way I want it. As soon as I do, Mandrake comes out with a new version of their distro with all kinds of creamy goodness that I just can't pass up.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
swaret --update
swaret --upgrade
Lots of options, you can even specify default 'yes' for all upgrades. Resolves dependencies too.
Just posting this link again to try to get through to new users. Time for M$ whores to take the plunge!
A MANDRAKE HOWTO
The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to LINUX Mandrake 9.1
http://mandrakeuser.cjb.net
New web site up on how to set up mandrake 9.1 to ease the configuration pains of the new linux user. Written and catered for the moderate computer user. It covers how to get and install mandrake and add in most of the needed applications. Covers most of the major software included in the distribution, other freely available applications, newbie command line tutorial, how to handle some common and annoying bugs peculiar to each application.
PART I
1. Introduction
2. Indispensable Tools for the Linux User
3. Useful links
PART II - Mandrake Installation
1. Getting Mandrake 9.1
2. Installing Mandrake 9.1
3. Going through the install sequence
4. Using Mandrake
5. Nice things to add easily
6. Configuration with Mandrake Control Center
7. Configuration with Gnome Control Center
8. Important Configuration of Menus and MIME Types
9. More Advanced Configuration
PART III - Linux Shell and Apps
1. Navigating around terminal
2. Shells -- bash, csh, rsh, sh
3. Environments and Paths
4. File Permissions
5. Editing files
6. Linking
7. Finding Files
8. Using grep
9. Basic bash scripts knowledge
10. Running Remote X applications
11. Mounting Remote File Systems
12. Language setup for man pages
13. Handling Print Jobs
PART IV - Software Packages
1. What are packages?
2. Specifying Sources For Online Downloading - Mandrake Mirrors, Texstar, PLF
3. Packages to be installed from Mandrake CDs - Mesa, mplayer, Timidity, pan, gaim, mozplugger
4. Packages to install from Texstar - Macromedia Flash, nano, Real Player
5. Mplayer and Codecs
6. Other essential packages- Open Office, Sun Java, Adobe Acrobat 5, BitTorrent
7. Setting up SMB share for Windows
8. Using vncserver for remote desktop applications
9. File Sharing - p2p networks - Limewire, edonkey, lmule
10. Running M$ Office under Linux.
11. Games - SNES, MAME, WineX
PART V - Advanced FAQ
1. How do I get DRI 3D acceleration to work?
2. Mandrake Fonts Deuglification and Anti-aliasing
3. Email Clients and Web Browsers (Handling mailto: and http:)
4. Full Mozilla Plugins Configuration (Quicktime, Java, Flash, Mplayer)
5. Konquerer Plugins Configuration
6. X Windows xmatrix screensaver
7. How to adjust the sound volume permanently
This HOWTO is my first contribution to the linux user community, and since I have found documentation sorely lacking for the total newbie, I have decided to write one myself. It is based on my experience in the past month trying to install everything from scratch. This HOWTO will be short, brief and to the point. Further information can be found in documentations on other websites, this one is just for the impatient, and users who want to reduce their startup time. Why Mandrake? Firstly, it is easy-to-install, and the first distribution that I've tried that has come very close to the ease-of-use of windows. If you can install and customize windows, you will not have much trouble with the Linux installation. Who is this HOWTO written for? This document is meant for the average user who is at least accustomed to tweaking and customizing their own OS. It will definitely not be a tutorial on how to point and click or use GUI interfaces.
This HOWTO is my first contribution community, and since I found newbie documentation wanting, I wrote one myself. It is for
It's a very interesting approach: Mandrake Club & contributors (developers, translators...) are thanked, while business (retail sales) is boosted!
Here is the full message posted on their website:
____
Mandrake 9.2 ISOs available for Club and contributors in advance!
Next ISOs of Mandrake 9.2 Download Edition will be available for Club Members and all people who have contributed to the new version (including developers and translators), prior to retail packs and public download release.
This new policy was strongly suggested by Club Members for a long time. It is now possible to offer this opportunity with the new BitTorrent technology.
Mandrake 9.2 ISO images will be released in advance to Mandrake Club users, hopefully before October 15th, when all last tests will have been achieved.
Thanks to all people who made possible this new promising release of Mandrake Linux.
MandrakeSoft Team.
____
A few months ago I tried setting up Linux From Scratch. I discovered that to make it not completely suck, I had to patch various things. It occurred to me that Slackware has already done exactly these things (plus more I wouldn't think of) for me.
/var/run, but I want to run named as a non-root user, meaning /var/run wouldn't be writable. The only configure option is --localstatedir which defaults to /var, meaning it would create a subdir called "run" under wherever I chose to put it, which is pretty stupid IMHO. Slackware uses /var/run/named/named.pid so you can change the ownership of /var/run/named to match the user you run named as.
./bin/named/include/named/globals.h.
The other day I upgraded BIND to the new version which I downloaded from ISC, so I could work around Verisign's DNS hijacking. I ran into a snag: it wanted to save a PID file in
So I popped in the source CD to see how they do it, since I couldn't find a config option for that. Guess what? There's a diff file, and a shell script that patches the source (along with other build options). The changes are toward the end of
Yes, that's right, when I got the source off the CD, I got the original unmodified source tarball, a diff file, and a shell script with build options - not some mysteriously customized source tarball that the distro thinks is somehow better than the original, but the original tarball plus Slackware's modifications - meaning, I can easily make the same modifications to a new version of the source.
Is Slackware perfect? Well, no, maybe not - but that's OK, because if something's not to my liking, Slackware doesn't get in my way if I want to do it myself. I can just build a new version of BIND from source, uninstall the old one, install the new one, and not worry about other packages maybe depending on BIND somehow, or anything else weird.
So, let me join the other Slackware fans here with a hearty "THANKS, PATRICK!"
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
In college, I was the ideal Slackware user. I wanted to learn programming, loved to compile my own stuff and felt that Redhat was only useful in removing the user from my goal of learning *nix. I extolled its virtues at every opportunity. I didn't have to hunt down an RPM just to install a new kernel, and I certainly knew how to compile my own kernel. I didn't know of any other serious distributions in 1996.
When I entered the real world and had a job and non-computer hobbies, I still had the need (perceived need as opposed to life or death need) for a *nix machine for my home mail, DNS and web serving. I no longer had the time, however, for fixing dependencies, applying source code patches and hunting down the minor details that I had arduously learned how to hunt down in the previous years. Debian came to my rescue. Dselect may be rough around the intuitive UI edges, and it's not quick on my 486, but it's consistent and only requires occasional answers to keep my machine well patched. It's been years since I've had to compile my own kernel, let alone wanted to.
I fondly remember Slackware as I remember my first girlfriend. It was a good idea at the time, but that time has since past and I have moved on. I am much happier now, but the lessons and memories will stay with me for a long time.
Call me dull, but I usually just plug some speakers into them. Anyone else?
Hey, I love Slackware, but this is not a "fix" to dependancy checking.
/extra packages.
This uses Swaret to actually declare and manage the dependancies.
TGZ and PKGTOOL still have no idea what a dependancy is. This is a problem of course, because you rely on Swaret being right.
Not to mention, that it only works on the official Slack servers, which basically have what's on the ISO, and maybe 5-10
I think Slack should go with PACMAN/ABS from archlinux.org. GREAT package manager and "PORTS" system.
I'm buying Mandrake 9.2 I use Redhat, Debian, and OpenBSD mainly but I tried Mandrake 9.1 on my laptop and replaced Redhat w/ it. urpmi surprised me (almost as good as apt) and the overall speed is noticeably better than Redhat. Combine this w/ the excellent packages from texstar and plf and I'm very happy.
This guy is way out there
Did you have a look at Mandrake's website?
September 24th, 2003 - Mandrake 9.2 Beta1 for AMD64 - The first beta of Mandrake 9.2 for AMD64 (Athlon64 and Opteron) is now available. Release informations and places to download are available here.
I have Mandrake 9.1 and Slackware 9.0 dual-booted on one machine (cheap no-name 1.1 GHz with 224 Mb RAM). I was able to get Mandrake to work, but it was problematic enough to not recommend it. I hope 9.2 is better.
Slackware installed and ran without a problem, while Mandrake had several problems, notably configuring X (no screen definitions) and not seeing my wheel-mouse. I had to copy my XF86config file from my Slack partition to get Mandrake to work. Not good.
In addition, Slackware is about 20% faster than Mandrake on the same machine, although memory usage was about the same. This was when running either KDE, GNOME, or WindowMaker. In fact, this machine running Mandrake is about as fast as my old 433 MHz Emachine w/192 Mb RAM running Red Hat 9.
Like I said, I hope Mandrake 9.2 is an improvement over 9.1. Otherwise it just isn't worth trying.
Microsoft's VP of Customer Service is Helen Waite. If you are having problems with their products go to Helen Waite.
only thing making slcakware 9.1 orgasmic is swaret and pretty screenshots of gnome, not saying slackware is bad, slackware is awesome, but I dont see why people are creaming their pants over the new build, you can install swaret on your existing slack system, and swaret is optional in slack 9.1 :P
Hello fellow Slackware users and newcomers, just a few comments to help clarify a few things.
Slackware 9.1 comes in two CDs and it's Installation is text-based.
I would personally describe this as a menu based installation. ie: use arrow keys to select packages/options.
The only snag might be that the user will need to use the command line and not extremely user-friendly fdisk application to create partitions for Slackware.
cfdisk is also available which is menu based.
Hmmm. This whole OSS business is supposed to engender, among other things, choice.
Now, for various reasons, some geek, some pragmatic, some even business-like, I - a die-hard Windows user/programmer of over 10 years - am interested in Linux. Not to the exclusion of Windows, hoever.
It's not necessary to call us whores. Not all of us. At worst, there are the vast majority who think there is no choice, and they certainly need to be educated. But, having educated myself on the alternatives, I still choose to use Windows, and damned if I will apologize for it. If you want to convert the intelligent Windows geeks, (we're out there, lost in a sea of clue-bies) you might want to consider that we're worth a little respect.
By the way, I'm loading Mandrake on a virtual as I type this.
meh.
Ok, since you brought it up:
e nt (or http://gma.sourceforge.net/swaret/libraries-curren t). In the same directory are files from the 9.0 and 8.1 releases. These files are checked nightly against Slackware's ftp site.
The dependency checking does not work by including additional information in the tgz package's metadata. Instead, swaret checks each executable program installed with ldd (which is part of the * package). If the executable depends on a library not on the system, swaret downloads a small text file that lists each package in Slackware that contains a library, and also gives what the library name is. The example below is a small snipper from the libraries-current, which is from http://mhlug.linuxorbit.com/swaret/libraries-curr
qt-3.1.2-i486-4.tgz: usr/lib/qt-3.1.2/lib/libqui.so.1.0.0
qt-3.1.2-i486-4.tgz: usr/lib/qt-3.1.2/lib/libqt-mt.so.3.1.2
procps-3.1.8-i386-1.tgz: lib/libproc.so.3.1.8
procps-2.0.13-i486-1.tgz: lib/libproc.so.2.0.13
popt-1.7-i386-1.tgz: usr/lib/libpopt.so.0.0.0
This methode does not guarantee that there will be no errors. An example where it will not detect a dependency is when a package depends on another because of a command, not a linked library.
Slackware is very solid, there's no doubting it. It makes a good server system. I'd rather rely on it that RedHat because you don't have to learn all the changes they make to various packages - ie things behave as they should. It's simple and clean and just works. I used Slackware for 2 or so years before moving to Gentoo.
... stable.
I've been using Gentoo ( unstable; ACCEPT_KEYWORDS=~x86 ) for about 18 months or so now. There are sometimes a few glitches, but that's what you get when you choose the unstable branch. I'm sure the stable branch is more
The things that set Gentoo apart from Slackware ( they're otherwise quite similar ) are:
1) Portage. It's just beautiful. You can do incremental upgrades till the cows come home, and it even handles major changes like upgrading glibc from 2.2.5 to 2.3.2 without any hickups. Amazing!
2) User forums. They *feel* like a nice, friendly, communal place where you go to hang, chat, and talk about Linux and stuff. In comparison, alt.os.linux.slackware feels like an Afghani desert - after the US military have finished with it. And of course it wouldn't be complete without the regular gang of vultures sitting atop their nests, waiting for the next non-boys-club member to turn up and ( God forbid ) ask a question. Yeah , yeah, I know. Tough love and all. Don't ask stupid questions. RTFM. That's all beside the point, which is that the they're just plain rude and childish, and I'd rather not go there - even if it is someone else who's getting flamed. It makes me feel bad to be a member of the Linux community when I see how they carry on.
I have the deepest respect for Pat. To hold together a Linux distro by himself for so long is nothing short of incredible. Well done Pat. If I need to put together a no-fuss server or even someone else's desktop that I don't wanna maintain, I'll most likely choose Slackware.
I've asked various people in the past why I would want to upgrade to Apache 2.x, and most people admit that the main reasons wouldn't convince many users to upgrade yet, especially combined with the the authors of PHP and other modules stating that Apache 2.0 doesn't yet work very well with these other packages.
Until it becomes very compatible with these other modules and proves itself to be reliable with increased usage down the road, I doubt 2.x will be included in Slackware very soon. Also, with the type of user that Slackware attracts, it's not unreasonable for those that want Apache 2.x be expected to be able to build it for themselves.
Then again, there's always LinuxPackages.net, but that's another story (notice how I didn't link to the site...).
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Slack rocks!
Slackware Mirror
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
Linux has many good points in it's favour. It is more secure. I can if I so choose audit code. It is great for a server demanding minimal and well managed downtime. It is free as in speech and free as in beer.
But it also has negative points, at least from my viewpoint. Drivers are not commonly available to provide the full functionality of many pieces of harware. The code for many applications is convoluted, and requires more time than I have to fix. Taking a stock system (Compaq, Dell, etc.) it is difficult many times to get set up to provide the full capabilities of the system. Games are difficult to find and play on Linux.
Windows, likewise, has it's share of ups and downs. But based on what I need and want, I have made a choice using logic rational measures of the effectiveness of both.
At work, I use Windows. It has the stability I need, is fully (and I mean 100%) compatible with our servers and internal network, and most importantly, it is mandated by the company. I program all day at work in C++, Java, Visual Basic, SQL, and whatever else I need to get the project done and accomplish the goals set by my bosses.
When I come home, I boot my PC to Linux, and use Linux for the things I have to have 'just work.' Balancing my checkbook. Checking my e-mail. Managing my home. For these simple tasks, having Linux is a great pleasure. I go in, run the apps I need, and don't suffer feature bloat or downtime. I can rebuild the whole Linux side of my machine in an hour in case of crash, thanks to the wonderful structure of the tree. I keep my data completely seperate from my apps, have a cron job to back it up to the family server daily. All the features Linux advocates are so proud of. But the things I do not want to do when I get home is have to write 500 lines of code to make a feature work, or spend 2 hours compiling a kernel. Some days, when I feel mashochistic, I pull out my spare machine and hack away. But when I need it to work, I need it to work then.
Then I switch to Windows, and play a couple of games, do my artwork. Yes there are games for Linux, but the selection I have for Windows dwarfs the choices for Linux. The graphics capabilities of Linux are still shadowed by the commercial programs I can get in Windows for my artwork.
I look forward to the day when I can ditch Windows completely. And although there are a great many people spending hour upon hour working on perfecting and improving Linux, it still has a few hurdles before I can. I need graphics packages that are on par with AutoCad, capable of complex solids modeling in mutliple 3-D layers, that will not crash when I try to model complex kinematic animations. I need games, simulation games, role playing games, things I can play on the network with my roommates. I need the ability to hook my television to my NVidia and get simultaneous output (without spending an hour editing XF86Config files) to watch our productions.
Linux advocates are very vocal about the virtues of Linux. And equally vocal about the flaws of Windows. Eventually, their hard work will bring Linux to the point I will really have the choice to run it full time. Of that I have no doubt, and I put my money where my mouth is. But I know, for my needs, it is not there yet.
And all I ask is that while extolling the virtues of Linux, please acknowledge it's limitations. Please realize that even some of the geekiest of us would rather go home and play a game instead of hacking a kernel driver.
To all those who have poured hours into Linux, I say one last thing. Thank you. Keep up the good work.
You can have it fast, accurate, or pretty. Pick any 2.
I'm looking at the screenshots; the backdrop is over-compressed and too low resolution, the KDE (or is it gnome) taskbar-wannabe still looks plain and bland, as if they've somehow tried to round the 3d appearance of the buttons (and it looks like ass), The fonts are badly hinted and waaay too thin, and just generally not visually appealing, the underlining of the letters in the menu looks like something from Windows 3.1...actually, it's mostly just the fonts (and whatever engine draws and renders the glyphs), and the ugly 3d elements.
The Media Player winamp thingy looks great, beautiful clean interface with nice fonts. The rest of the OS? not so good. It reminds me of the harsh appearance of intuition on the Amiga. The shades which make the GUI elements look 3d need to be waaay more subtle. And just stupid things like in the panel at the top of the screen, the icons are just rammed across the top of the screen, with not so much as a 2 pixel border to make them look nice (look at the XMMS icon). And those two buttons near the xchat icon stick out like zits on a teenager.
Compare to the elegance of this. Ignore the one pixel cut off on the left side of the toolbar buttons (beta software glitch...)
Perhaps it's just what you're used to, but most people seem to agree the UI in linux is it's worse attribute, and that it's one of OS X's best. Please, PLEASE steal some ideas, and/or concepts. Go read Apple's UI guide, or even Microsoft's if they have one.
--THIS IS NOT A TROLL, THIS IS CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM--
Themes = putting lipstick on a chicken.
I'm not a clueless mac bigot, it's just that I have used a number of operating systems (BeOS, NeXTSTEP, Amiga, Windows, QNX, Mac OS 9) over the years and linux has by far the most nonstandard and confusing out of the lot; the way it looks bad reminds me of a java application using Swing.
I think linux is a great operating system - it's stable, fast, and free - the interface just stinks.
* I know the linux is just a kernel and the gui is other software all together, blah blah save it.
If linux is trying to proposition itself to be successful desktop OS, why the hell should the end user have to know what GUI toolbox any particular app was written in? That's absurd.
Here. Nothing beats an eye candy screenshot full of pr0n spam.
BSD is designed. Linux is grown. C++ libs
If linux is trying to proposition itself to be successful desktop OS, why the hell should the end user have to know what GUI toolbox any particular app was written in? That's absurd.
What's your alternative solution to providing a wide range of choices to user's without requiring them to know what they are?
Like what I said? You might like my music
Just:
...
# urpmi.setup
(add 9.2 source)
# urpmi urpmi
# urpmi --auto-select
# urpmi kernel
# reboot
No need do re-customise your system