Slashdot Mirror
Slackware, Oldest Actively Maintained GNU/Linux Distribution, Turns 25
sombragris writes: Slackware, the oldest GNU/Linux distribution which is still actively maintained, turned 25 this week. The latest stable version, Slackware 14.2, was released two years ago, but the development version (-current) is updated on a fast pace. Today the development version offers kernel 4.14.55, gcc 8.1.1, glibc 2.27. mesa 18.1.4, xorg 1.20, and the Xfce and KDE desktop environments as default, with many more available as third-party packages. Other points of note are that Slackware is systemd-free, opting instead for a simple BSD-style init.
Since its first release ever, this has been a distro with a strong following due to its hallmarks of simplicity, speed, ease of maintenance and configuration. Happy birthday Slackware!
Since its first release ever, this has been a distro with a strong following due to its hallmarks of simplicity, speed, ease of maintenance and configuration. Happy birthday Slackware!
Slackware was my first distribution, but mostly because I didn't have any other options at the time.
To answer your questions.
Is it usable yet? It was always usable. It isn't a Desktop OS, but for a server system it has been really good, because it has such a small foot print.
Is it worth trying again? I tired it out a few years ago, it is about the same. If you didn't like it then, you probably won't like it now.
Or, is it still only for super hardcore Unix people, only? Slackware (Linux) and FreeBSD (Unix) are rather similar. However OS X is Unix, while Android is Linux. That said if your are a Traditional Unix guy, Slackware probably feels most comfortable. But if you are trying for a Desktop system then Probably not.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I remember back in the mid 90's I hosted images.slashdot.org on a Slackware box (Pent 90, IIRC) because Rob Malda's T-1 circuit was getting constrained. I was working for the Seattle ISP Wolfe.net and we had a whopping T-3 with 45Mb/s direct to Sprint.
Slashdot start off on Slackware.
This, of course, was back in the dial-up days. Nothing like trying to find a ring-no-answer in a 400 line hunt-group.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
Is it usable yet?
Come on, dude. Do you really think it would still be here after 25 years if it wasn't usable? It was perfectly usable back when you tried it. The fact that you found it "unusable" tells us more about you than slackware.
Slackware is simple, fast, stable, and has been used on production systems for a long, long time.
Production systems very often use a commercially-supported distribution, as support is valued, or one of the open versions of those, as they tend to get patches pretty promptly. Whilst you could use Slackware on a production system, it wouldn't be my first choice from a risk perspective.