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Slackware Linux distribution turns 30 years old

theregister.com

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Re: Slackware Linux distribution turns 30 years old

#81

Post by mattl »

bluedino wrote: post #10
F00Fbug wrote: post #2

That was my first exposure to Linux in 1995. I remember downloading 30-something floppy disks over a painfully slow T1. I deployed our company's sendmail email server a few months later, running on an old PC. In 2006 I switched to Linux as my daily driver and if I need windows these days, it runs as a VM.

A T1 was about ten times faster than a 3-1/2" floppy drive wasn't it? I never thought of a T1 as "slow" until I started downloading CD images for Linux distros. The first cable modem connections I had were so much faster for downloads.

T1 is about 1.54mbit/sec IIRC

Re: Slackware Linux distribution turns 30 years old

#82

Post by cykros »

jlarocco wrote: post #27
jbovlaste wrote: post #15

I ran Slackware for ~6 years, my first serious distro. It's kind of the perfect learning distro for Linux - a super stable base, but if you want more you need to learn how to do it yourself. You didn't need to compile your own kernel or set up tons of configuration just to boot, but if you wanted certain graphics drivers or other software, you quickly learned how to write shell scripts and manage builds and dependenc…

I was just telling a co-worker literally yesterday that a few years of Slackware was the single most effective thing I did to learn Linux well. I ran it on my desktop and an old (old in the early 2000s!) laptop with 32 MB of RAM, and learned a TON. It's the perfect generic "Linux" system, and you can take it in any direction you want, but you have to do it yourself. Funny enough, I also got too busy and moved to Debi…

I used Slackware, among quite a few others in the early 00's. Moved to Ubuntu and Debian for awhile, but then got too busy to deal with all the questionable design decisions, and have been back on Slackware for the last 5-7 years or so.

It just keeps working, and when a new release comes out, it keeps working better. Better than I can say for my experience on most other distros. That it moved to pulseaudio eventually in the first place was a bit of a gasp moment, but it's generally been very good at adhering to the Unix design philosophy -- a rare thing these days.

Re: Slackware Linux distribution turns 30 years old

#83

Post by mattl »

aynyc wrote: post #72
akoster wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very nice! Was there a reason your school gave out Slackware installer floppies? Was it required for a class? Or through a student organization? And if you recall, were you running a Creative SoundBlaster? Ad Lib? Gravis ultrasound?

One of the professors were giving them out. Not a class requirement as we all had school Unix login. Remember pine? I don’t remember the sound card anymore. It was pentium and expensive as hell. Spent all my money earned during summer construction. Like $2K. I might be mistaken, I think I had a CD rom instead of floppies.

Maybe a boot floppy and then a CD?

Pine finally dropped the weird custom license and became Alpine which I used a few days ago to read my panix.com email

Re: Slackware Linux distribution turns 30 years old

#84

Post by arjvik »

jraph wrote: post #78
arjvik wrote: post #76

Relative young'un here, my first introduction to Linux was Ubuntu 12.04 in 2013, when I was in elementary school :). The very first day I installed it, I managed to disable admin access for my user, so I had the pleasure of obtaining a recovery root shell and learning about the sudoers file. These days I run Arch Linux, which is the closest I can get to total control of every aspect of my system (without sacrificing…

> The very first day I installed it, I managed to disable your keyboard?

Ha, got distracted in the middle of typing out my comment. Fixed now.

Was saying that I managed to disable admin access for my user, so I had the pleasure of obtaining a recovery root shell and learning about the sudoers file.

Re: Slackware Linux distribution turns 30 years old

#85

Post by Rediscover »

ergonaught wrote: post #77

It was my first distro in 1993 or 1994, with I think a 0.99 kernel. Still have the warm fuzzies every time I think of it.

How about 0.99 patch level 15g kernel? That's what was shipped with the first version of Slackware that I used (I was upgrading from an SLS distro).

Re: Slackware Linux distribution turns 30 years old

#88

Post by sombragris »

It's funny how most comments here are on the line of "Slackware was my first distro, I have a soft spot due to the memories, but now I moved on to $MODERNDISTRO...". My case was the exact opposite.

My Linux journey started in May 2000 with Red Hat 6.2 (a Deluxe boxed edition). I then upgraded Red Hat up to 7.2, and then went to Mandrake, from 8.2 and up to 9.2. Then, a special version of dependency hell that was the Mandrake 9.2 framebuffer console forced me to switch to Slackware, which I was already using for experimenting.

This Register article hits it in the nail; Slackware might look primitive but it's in fact quite advanced. It's my regular desktop driver, working as a lawyer, translator and university lecturer. There are many things who are automatically detected and configured, and whatever stuff you had to configure by hand, it lives on legendarily over and over.

I had to configure stuff by hand, yes; but I have configs from those early days almost 20 years ago which still are there, unmodified. They just keep working.

So, if you would like a reasonably stable, fast, modern and simple Linux system, and you are not afraid of using a text editor, then you should give Slackware a try.

Re: Slackware Linux distribution turns 30 years old

#89

Post by sillywalk »

housemusicfan wrote: post #12
F00Fbug wrote: post #2

That was my first exposure to Linux in 1995. I remember downloading 30-something floppy disks over a painfully slow T1. I deployed our company's sendmail email server a few months later, running on an old PC. In 2006 I switched to Linux as my daily driver and if I need windows these days, it runs as a VM.

Check out Mr. Fancy T1 line over here. I remember downloading Slackware floppy images over 28.8 dialup. Talk about pain. I recently stumbled on a dusty box of them whilst cleaning out the attic.

(Caution: Monty Python Reference) 28.8? I used to dream about 28.8, I had 14.4, and before that 2400baud.

Do you remember the dreaded 'floppy disk is probably unreadable' sound during installation of any software on floppy?

Re: Slackware Linux distribution turns 30 years old

#90

Post by foliveira »

I started using Slackware in the early 2000s. Tired of Windows (and rebelling a bit against The System), I ended up installing Slackware into the family desktop and used it as my daily driver. After a while I got a refurbished horizontal case desktop that I repurposed into a home server, installed Slackware and learned to deploy a mail server and a LAMP stack so I could offer hosting (email and sites) to my high school friends - then gmail came around and everyone forgot about my little cool hosting provider. After a while I got hooked into FreeBSD, but for some reason, and apart from using it for some niche projects, it didn’t really stick for me, since I always find a way back into either Slackware or Arch nowadays. As you can probably tell, reading through all the other comments brings back a certain nostalgia.
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