Slackware Linux 14.1 Released

An anonymous reader writes "According to the official announcement, Slackware 14.1 includes the following: 'Slackware 14.1 brings many updates and enhancements, among which you'll find two of the most advanced desktop environments available today: Xfce 4.10.1, a fast and lightweight but visually appealing and easy to use desktop environment, and KDE 4.10.5, a recent stable release of the 4.10.x series of the award-winning KDE desktop environment.' Installation ISOs can be found here."

Comments

amused that they talk about the DT environs

[themushroom]

when real Slackware users only use command lines :)

Re:amused that they talk about the DT environs

[ShanghaiBill]

when real Slackware users only use command lines :)

Real Slackware users use a Desktop so they can run command line shells in six xterms simultaneously.

Re:amused that they talk about the DT environs

[evilviper]

Real Slackware users use a Desktop so they can run command line shells in six xterms simultaneously.

You only need a window manager (like Fluxbox, fvwm, xfwm, sawfish etc) to manage multiple xterms, not a full desktop environment.

And you don't need X11 at all, since tmux will allow you to do all of that from a text console.

eg.: http://tmux.sourceforge.net/tmux3.png

Re:amused that they talk about the DT environs

[Charliemopps]

No, real slackware users use punch cards for input and have a single red blinking LED for output. Although I used to know this guy that shaved, thought he was better than the rest of us... he had a green LED. Fucking pretentious asshole he was.

Re:amused that they talk about the DT environs

[farrellj]

Actually, us Slackware Users us whatever the fsck we want, because we know how to do it all! CDE, KDE, Gnome, Enlightenment, raw X, screen, and anything else we can dig up. We not only know how to use it, we customize it so that other users on the same machine have a hard time time using it! What's more, we probably also know how to use Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, SUSE, Debian, Arch, *BSD, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Mac OS (7-10), and another dozen operating systems that most of you haven't heard of! We can even make Windows useful! We Kick OS BUTT!

All single OS users must cringe in the shadow of our awesomeness!

Really!

Re:amused that they talk about the DT environs

[slack_justyb]

They put it there for the casual on-lookers. For whatever people bang on it, when you say Linux in an interview and they ask you which distro, you say Slackware. If you know how to hold it together with Slackware, things like installing 3rd party drivers from the command line on Ubuntu or SuSE or knowing the entire purpose of everything in /proc is the kinds of things they know you do 300% better asleep and drunk than most admins could muster running full steam.

Here's to the release of yet another amazing version of the best Linux distro to date.

Re: amused that they talk about the DT environs

[captjc]

Pfft, noob. Use real professionals have over 9000 xterms open and each one of those has screen running with over 9000 command prompts. Every one of those command prompts has over 9000 commands running as background tasks!

Re:amused that they talk about the DT environs

[K. S. Kyosuke]

If he's a Slackware user, he's not fat; he's most likely ext2.

Re:amused that they talk about the DT environs

[evilviper]

I would just like to take the time to point out that we have a 3-digit User ID here... So by default he knows what he is talking about.

IIRC, it only took about a year to go from single-digit to 6-digit UIDs, so it's largely a matter of timing (or luck), and all the lower-numbered UIDs were created about the same age, and only means we were on the internet, reading about Linux circa '98.

"Award-winning"

[krkhan]

Please stop using arguably the most useless of marketing slogans. Every desktop environment which has been around long enough has won an award of some kind. (Yes, even Gnome.)

packages

[dmbasso]

I used slackware from 97 to 2000 -- too long ago -- so I was curious about the state of package management:

One of the major complaints by new users is the fact that Slackware does not automatically track dependencies and install dependencies when you install a file. To many this may seem like a negative mark against Slackware, but I prefer to know exactly what is installed on my system and what it is for.

So, no, thanks. I'll stay with my Debian based distros. Which btw I know exactly what is installed... I'm not sure why one would assume automatic dependency installation imply the dependencies are installed secretly. :p

Re:packages

[mark-t]

The problem with automatic dependency checking is that because the computer is doing that checking for you, you are less likely to personally know what, exactly, what all those dependencies are for packages that you've installed, unless you've installed them very recently... which means that if you want to uninstall a package, and you don't want to keep around any other packages whose only purpose for being installed was to support the package that you no longer want, if you had to manually install those dependencies in the first place, you are in a good position to be able to know which packages you should be removing as well.

Re:packages

[seyyah]

The problem with automatic dependency checking is that because the computer is doing that checking for you, you are less likely to personally know what, exactly, what all those dependencies are for packages that you've installed, unless you've installed them very recently... which means that if you want to uninstall a package, and you don't want to keep around any other packages whose only purpose for being installed was to support the package that you no longer want, if you had to manually install those dependencies in the first place, you are in a good position to be able to know which packages you should be removing as well.

The problem with automated dependency checking is that when it breaks you are often fucked. So it's not so much that dependency checking is bad, but that it is very hard to get absolutely right, more so when you throw in extra repositories into the mix.

Re:packages

[rusty0101]

Good dependency management keeps track of such things for you over the long term as well. apt-get _will_ tell you of libraries that were installed in support of applications that you've since removed, and gives you the ability to remove those libraries as well with the auto-remove function. It does not automatically remove them with the application, which can leave cruft on your system, but has the advantage that if you've found the library handy for some program you're writing, but haven't explicitly toled the package management system that your app depends on it, you're not breaking your own application.

Re:packages

[jones_supa]

The problem with automatic dependency checking is that because the computer is doing that checking for you, you are less likely to personally know what, exactly, what all those dependencies are for packages that you've installed, unless you've installed them very recently... which means that if you want to uninstall a package, and you don't want to keep around any other packages whose only purpose for being installed was to support the package that you no longer want, if you had to manually install those dependencies in the first place, you are in a good position to be able to know which packages you should be removing as well.

Under Ubuntu/Debian those supporting packages are marked "automatically installed" and can be removed with "apt-get autoremove".

Frankly, I thought Slackware already had a package dependency system in place. If not, I have better things to do than manually track dependencies. It's not productive work for me.

Re:packages

[reub2000]

How often do users get into that type of hole? It might happen if you enable too many addon repos or are running a development branch.

Re:packages

[CronoCloud]

Wait, you wanted to use Midnight commander to edit a conf file instead of vim or emacs? Freak!

Probably easier to use for simpler edits though.

Like the Eveready Rabbit

[stox]

It keeps going and going.

True to its users.

Congratulations, on another fine release, to the Slackware Team!

Re:Still tarballs?

[Nimey]

More importantly, it still doesn't use a dependency-resolving package manager. If that works for you, great, but it doesn't for me.

No its not

[ArchieBunker]

The config files in Slackware are pretty straightforward. These days its near impossible to set up a Ubuntu or Debian install via the command line. Nothing but a pile of scripts that call for more scripts. When something doesn't work you can't even look in the logs because its not reported.

Re:Still tarballs?

[Nimey]

Well, you know. Some people need to do things the hard way to prove how manly they are; also nerds aren't stereotyped as being ill-socialized for nothing.

And there was much rejoicing in Slacker Land...

[Noryungi]

Here is to another great release!

Thanks to Patrick Volkerding and the entire crew - I am going to buy my CDs and DVDs right now to support Slackware.

Re:Bundled with proprietary software...

[Wild Wizard]

To get on that list you only have to include the full unmodified kernel.

Since Slackware always uses the full unmodified kernel then it will always be there unless the kernel devs fix it up.

I also believe there is a special agreement regarding the non-free program xv.

Slack is the God of linux distros

[satan666]

If you are a real SA, then you use slack.
This is my quick, 1 line, summary of most
distributions today:

1. Fedora -- Fuck no. I want my video to work.
2. Centos -- Not too bad actually. The only thing I would run other than Slack.
3 RH - No! I dont have $10,000.00 a month for support.
4. Debian -- De-what ? Die motherfucker!
5. Ubuntu -- Ubu-suck-my-dick -- another African word that means suck-my-dick
6. BSD -- Hey, listen to me: Fuck off. Go play with OSX... bitch!
7... Whatever...

Yeah, I run Slack, I compile my own kernel, I build my packages from source.
I kill and eat my food. I live in the woods. Grrrrr....
Now leave me alone people. I have a Word document I need to finish,
for management :P

Re:Bundled with proprietary software...

[unixisc]

No mainstream distro passes the FSF tests if you look there - only some fringe distros like gNewSense (Stallman's favorite), Trisquel and a few other Latin America specific distros available only in Spanish (English is a separate localization download for them).