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Slackware 14.2 released

slackware.com

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Re: Slackware 14.2 released

#21

Post by mangamadaiyan »

kbenson wrote: post #15

Slackware 3.0 or 3.1 was my first Linux distro. I remember spending many hours tweaking my XF86Config file to get my Diamond Stealth64 video card working, while worrying about the comment in the config about how the Vsync and Hsync params could cause your monitor to smoke if specified incorrectly... I also remember in 1999, while installing servers with it, that you had to be careful to lot boot it on an open interne…

Slackware 2.1 in my case, and the (in)famous SiS 6215C video card. And yes, I too worried about the Vsync/Hsync comment :)

Re: Slackware 14.2 released

#22

Post by keithpeter »

morganvachon wrote: post #11
hodwik2 wrote: post #7

I've worked with a lot of linux distros. I'm a Fedora person myself, but enjoyed Debian and Gentoo also. For Slackware heads, why should I look at Slackware?

Rock-solid stability. Even running the -current (development) version, I've not seen any show-stopping bugs. The bugs I do see are all upstream, and are patched quickly by Pat and the Slackware team. If you are masochistic and enjoy the sometimes daily breakage of distros like Arch and Fedora Rawhide, you won't get your jollies here. But if you want a stable, fast, sysadmin-friendly OS with no surprises or NIH nonsen…

"Speaking of patching, Slackware tries to stay as close as possible to the upstream developer's version of a package, with minimal patching."

Posting this from my Thinkpad X220 running Slackware 14.1. Just check config files (*.new suffix) when a package is updated to a newer version. Debian/CentOS backport patches to packages so that the configs don't change during a release.

Quite happy with what I've had from Slackware for the past couple of years and I have subscribed. The distribution does not pretend to cater for all needs but can support many use cases.

Remember that there is now a live iso image to try before you install.

Re: Slackware 14.2 released

#23

Post by jsizz »

ovt wrote: post #18
hodwik2 wrote: post #7

I've worked with a lot of linux distros. I'm a Fedora person myself, but enjoyed Debian and Gentoo also. For Slackware heads, why should I look at Slackware?

I used to run it, and I'm not sure there's value in it anymore. They often don't stay on top of security updates, and compiling anything just got worse and worse. The last straw was the fanboys at the linuxquestions forum. It was cultish and creeped me out.

Three negative comments on this submission, that's some impressive anti-cult thing you've got going.

Slackware doesn't do "security theatre" updates. Whenever there's both a credible risk and a reasonable fix, you'll see an update, and it'll be quicker than distros that are multiple steps downstream from Debian.

Re: Slackware 14.2 released

#24

Post by lionyo »

ovt wrote: post #18
hodwik2 wrote: post #7

I've worked with a lot of linux distros. I'm a Fedora person myself, but enjoyed Debian and Gentoo also. For Slackware heads, why should I look at Slackware?

I used to run it, and I'm not sure there's value in it anymore. They often don't stay on top of security updates, and compiling anything just got worse and worse. The last straw was the fanboys at the linuxquestions forum. It was cultish and creeped me out.

There's a slackware security newsletter that blasts out new patches news

Re: Slackware 14.2 released

#26

Post by Esau »

mrottenkolber wrote: post #25

Yes! I have been waiting for this. Awesome! To the people in this thread that claim Slackware is outdated and has no security updates: what are you on about? Neither is true.

I think part of the blame for this impression lays on a lack of communication on the main website. The last news update to the website, prior to the 14.2 release, was nearly three years ago.

I feel that it gives the impression that nothing is happening; at least to those not inclined to seek out Slackware related forums or mailing lists.

Re: Slackware 14.2 released

#27

Post by chpatrick »

orthecreedence wrote: post #16
prima-facie wrote: post #13

I've used Slackware back in the day. Nowadays it feels like it's a terribly outdated distro. Why would anyone still use it? The packages are pretty much up to date but the distro itself feels dusty.

I've used this analogy before, but here goes: Slackware is the muscle car of linux distros. If you own one, you're going to need to know how to get your hands dirty, but once you do the thing is going to be fast, lean, and stable. If you enjoy tinkering, swapping things out, compiling from source, editing configs without GUIs...Slackware is for you. If you just want to spin up a linux, install some packages (includin…

Why not use Arch and get the same benefits, along with extremely up to date binary packages and build scripts for basically everything?

- former Slackware and Gentoo user

Re: Slackware 14.2 released

#28

Post by buzzrobot »

chpatrick wrote: post #27
orthecreedence wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used this analogy before, but here goes: Slackware is the muscle car of linux distros. If you own one, you're going to need to know how to get your hands dirty, but once you do the thing is going to be fast, lean, and stable. If you enjoy tinkering, swapping things out, compiling from source, editing configs without GUIs...Slackware is for you. If you just want to spin up a linux, install some packages (includin…

Why not use Arch and get the same benefits, along with extremely up to date binary packages and build scripts for basically everything? - former Slackware and Gentoo user

Because Arch is different and more complex.

A Linux distro is a Linux distro, of course, so differences are subtle and particular. Any distro can be manipulated as much as anyone wants as long as they know how and they can deal with the implications of their changes.

Arch has more scaffolding -- dependency resolution, etc. -- which is all very nice but presents its own Arch-specific learning curve and tends to get in the way if you want to do something that the "Arch Way" does not encompass.

Slack users can build and install the very latest source from upstream if they wish, or they can choose not to.

Dependencies obviously exist in Slackware. They are how Linux is structured. But, for some strange reasons, perhaps, Slackware packages seem to have fewer of them.

Re: Slackware 14.2 released

#29

Post by groovy2shoes »

ovt wrote: post #20
chinarulezzz wrote: post #19

Would be nice, if slackware went to a public VCS for greater transparency and assistance in the development process.

I've certainly wondered why they weren't interested in being more transparent.

The development is pretty transparent, if you know where to look. The ChangeLog.txt is the main place where development updates happen (especially the -current ChangeLog, but security updates for stable happen in the respective release's ChangeLog). There's also the mailing lists, and the key people in Slackware hang out on the linuxquestions forums and ##slackware (freenode).
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