3 replies to this topic

[Alessandro17]

http://www.thepowerb...-our-slackware/


Is Slackware in danger of disappearing?

Slackware is the oldest Linux distribution. It is nothing like most modern Linux distributions:

Quote

Design philosophy

The design philosophy of Slackware is oriented toward simplicity, software purity, and a core design that emphasizes lack of change to upstream sources. Many design choices in Slackware can be seen as a heritage of the simplicity of traditional Unix systems and as examples of the KISS principle.^[12] In this context, "simple" refers to the simplicity in system design, rather than necessarily implying directly attempting the simplification of ease of use. Thus, ease of use may vary between users: those lacking knowledge of command line interfaces and classic Unix tools may experience a steep learning curve using Slackware, whereas users with a Unix background may benefit from a less abstract system environment. In keeping with Slackware's design philosophy, and its spirit of purity, most software in Slackware uses the original configuration mechanisms supplied by the software's authors; however, for some administrative tasks, distribution-specific configuration tools are delivered. These and other core design decisions for Slackware lead to features that set it apart from most other modern Linux distributionsp.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slackware)

Slackware is much loved by old-school and advanced Linux users. Yet nowadays most prefer easier to use and configure distributions.

[fos]

Slackware was the first truly viable Linux distro. At the time I had tried yagsdrasil and some other stuff painfully downloaded from UNC but Slackware could be purchased as a set of disks through the mail. I believe I noted on an earlier post that I ran it on a Zeos 386 notebook and did my homework for a unix/c class rather than wait in line for one of three unix terminals to a sequent computer in the computer lab.

It is still Slackware and still lorded over by Patrick V. It is a very stable and conservative distro. It will work.

I ran down the rumors and looked at various sources. It seems that the main Slackware site is running on an old server. They do have a mirror that can also be accessed. It doesn't seem that they are going anywhere. They are still ranked 16th at distrowatch so there is quite a bit of interest. These rumors will probably give them a boost.

If you have the spare bucks (??? in these times) buy the Slackbook or make a donation. It is a venerable distro and worth saving.

fos

[Alessandro17]

fos, on 23 April 2012 - 08:00 PM, said:

If you have the spare bucks (??? in these times) buy the Slackbook or make a donation. It is a venerable distro and worth saving.

I couldn't agree more   I just donated.

[fos]

I intend to purchase a set of disks and the 3rd edition of the Slackbook when it comes out of beta, which should be soon. (You can download the beta version from the slackbook page.