Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Slackware 12.1 Released

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the old-timers dept.

SlackFan writes "Slackware 12.1 has been released, with kernel 2.6.24-5. 'Among the many program updates and distribution enhancements, you'll find better support for RAID, LVM, and cryptsetup; a network capable (FTP and HTTP, not only NFS) installer; and two of the most advanced desktop environments available today: Xfce 4.4.2, a fast, lightweight, and visually appealing desktop environment, and KDE 3.5.9, the latest 3.x version of the full-featured K Desktop Environment.'"

8 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. Fix URL, please - s/org/com/ by robw810 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The official Slackware site is at slackware.COM, not slackware.ORG. (and it's already dead as of comment #3).

  2. Bittorrents ... by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... are listed on this page:

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

    --
    If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  3. Re:So tell me... by Nimey · · Score: 4, Informative

    Patrick (the maintainer) is a SubGenius.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
  4. Re:Difference in .org and .com by robw810 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, there is a difference. Patrick controls one of them, and has no control over the other. Just because it's a mirror right now does not mean that it will be a mirror in ten minutes.

  5. Re:excellent question by notamisfit · · Score: 4, Informative

    Really, any distribution boils down to package selection, package management, and release engineering. As per your example, Ubuntu uses Debian unstable for packages and apt for management, but only supports a small subset of unstable, and releases every six months. Yeah, just about every GNOME and KDE distro looks the same (well, scratch that for KDE, considering how much Mandriva, SuSE, and Kubuntu patch it all to hell and think they're actually *improving* it). Slackware's more of a throwback to the days when a Linux distro was just an easy way to get a system up and running, as opposed to an all-inclusive software library.

    --
    Jesus is coming -- look busy!
  6. Re:Xfce ? by notamisfit · · Score: 3, Informative

    WTF? 12.1 ships with FVWM 2.4.20. Along with blackbox, fluxbox (my personal fave), windowmaker, and twm, the REAL man's window manager.

    --
    Jesus is coming -- look busy!
  7. "sudo apt-get build-essential"... by SEMW · · Score: 3, Informative

    Distros like Ubuntu are not developer friendly because ... you will have a hell of a time compiling anything from source unless you get all the right development libs after install Yes, I can see how running "sudo apt-get build-essential" can be hell. I mean, at 28 characters it, umm, really puts a strain on my RSI. Or something.
    --
    What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
  8. Re:excellent question by turgid · · Score: 3, Informative

    Making a distro is quite an involved software integration exercise.

    It's not just about selecting a bunch of packages. It's about selecting the right versions of the source, configuring, compiling, testing, debugging, patching, testing, packaging, installing, testing, testing and more testing.

    A lot of bugs in core utilities get found in this way, and obviously they have to be fixed. Whether that's the disto maintainer, the developers or random community members depends on the individual circumstances.

    Bugs pertaining to architecture (big- vs. little-endiam, 32- vs. 64-bit etc.) get found. Bugs in shiny new cutting-edge versions of applications, obscure kernel bugs caused by very particular combinations of configuration parameters, you name it.

    As the complexity of GNU/Linux and unix systems increases, it's an ever-increasingly difficult job. That's why large, diverse communities of testers and developers are important.

    As for Slackware, it's simple, conservative, very high quality and very useful/usable.

    It's a shape Pat hasn't done an official AMD64 version. I've moved to SLAMD64 for my newest machine now. I should really make a donation to Fred.

    --
    Stick Men