Slackware, the grand daddy of Linux distributions, has released a new version: Slackware 12.2. This new version runs the 2.6.27.7 version of the Linux kernel. The other updates include Xfce 4.4.3, KDE 3.5.10, HAL support etc. You can get Slackware 12.2 from one of their mirrors.
Congrats Pat and Co.!
Anyone try Slackware on an Asus eee PC 1000?
Love this distro, not my first encounter with Linux, but my foundest, really speaked to the geeky side of me
For the 3e-pc I have know idea really, traditioanally Slackware has been somewhat conservative in regards of new ideas like power-saving function, WLAN etc(a little bit irony). But really shouldnt be to much work, using standard tools.
I don’t think tho that Slackware has any flashy GUIs for controlling ACPI and/or WLAN(or any other function for that matter), other than those in your DE of choise(KDE/GNOME the other dont have those kind of programs right? xfce/flux/blackbox/e16/17?)
Slackware doesn’t come with a lot of GUI control utilities, or pre-configured powersaving features. It is very much a do it yourself distro in that respect, and that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. That’s not to say you can’t configure those features yourself and install whatever you want as far as GUI controls go, you can. And since you did it yourself, it will stay working as long as you want it to–no package updates breaking your hard configuration work, etc.
I hope I don’t get flamed for saying this, it’s just how I see things. Slackware is the most BSD-ish (is that a word?) of the Linux distributions around and always has been–from its tgz-based package system to its BSD-style init scripts. Probably one of the reasons, maybe even the big reason, I love it. It takes a bit to configure but afterward it just stays completely out of your way, just like *BSD does–it most closely resembles OpenBSD in its configuration files and init scripts.
For EEE PC Users, see the topic on the eee-user forums about Slackware. It describes the additional drivers and daemons you might want to install to smooth out the experience.
The main advantage of this concept is that you get exactly what you install and configure – nothing more, nothing less. You end up with a well defined set of settings and applications where *you* are the one who determines what’s going to happen. It is an approach that I personally do like more than “just shove in all the applications and drivers someone might eventually need, just so they’re there”.
It’s Linux – of course you can! 🙂
Important fact for systems that are to be set up once, and then expected to keep working until alteration is exlicitely intended.
Why should you? It’s a valid point of view, and I do share it. Slackware was the first Linux I used on x86 PC, and I very quickly got familiar with how things worked. Slackware was my teacher of UNIX basics – stuff you need everywhere, no matter if you’re running Linux, BSD or UNIX. This basal knowledge is essential if you want to achieve something in your job (if your job is UNIX); every idiot (sorry) can install a GUI driven Linux today, but what if something fails? Then you drop back to your basics, and you’re able to solve the problem on your own. That’s what Slackware taught to me: diagnostics and how to solve problems. Hey, that’s what people today pay me for. 🙂
Because BSD (esp. FreeBSD) is my main OS, I like Slackware for the fact that I don’t need to search around for configuration files, init scripts and program locations. Allthough Slackware is a Linux (and not a BSD with a standardized base OS environment), it’s moved quite into the direction you mentioned, and that makes the life of system administrators easier.
And isn’t that what an OS is supposed to do? Keep the stuff running, keep out of your way and let you do your work or fun? In my opinion, Slackware achieves these goals very well.
Having said this, I love to hear any further development of this excellent Linux distribution. I’ll always have a spare PC left to try it out.
I’ve got an Acer Aspire One and am sticking with the factory-installed Linpus so far as AFAIK it’s the only one where _everything_ works (I’m more interested with using the AA1 than playing). I’ve modified it heavily and made notes for the inevitable reinstall.
The AA1 notes are a lot longer and quite a bit more fiddly than my Slackware config notes which involve tweaking about 3 files, startx, install a few apps and enjoy a wonderful working system.
To anyone who says Slack’s difficult it’s a matter of persistence. When you’ve a bit of experience it’s the easiest of them all!
I should add those are notes for my beige boxes
Edited 2008-12-11 13:59 UTC
Are you talking about one of the mini-laptops?
How can you load Linux on it or do you have to use a specific distro based for the tiny laptop?
Well, they’re no different than any other laptop except for the lack of an optical drive, and the possible use of an SSD disk. So, how do you put Linux on them? Why, you install it, of course. You can make a USB install drive, or get a USB optical drive, if that’s what you mean.
I’m actually surprised to see you, a staunch Linux advocate, ask this question to be honest, especially given that most of the mini notebooks already come in a Linux flavor as well as a Windows one. Granted, I don’t care much for any of the Linux flavors installed, but hey that’s why I can just wipe it and install whatever I want.
There’s no real challenge to it, at least not apart from installing Linux on any other laptop.
This is exactly how I feel about them… wipe the drive and put what you want on it. I’ve put OpenBSD on an associate of mine who requested it – no problems here.
I actually can’t recall what my first distro was, and when I was just using Slackware for the first time (several versions ago, a few years back), I failed at getting the distro up and running past the command line. I managed to get a full GUI in most other distros I’ve tried. Anyway, right from the start, I appreciated Slackware’s simplicity (from what I read about it), and have since learned to get past the command line and get a full-blown desktop.
Now, the only thing I’m not really used to (for the most part) is the package management. No central repository and no dependency checking. But the real thing that puzzles me is security updates; surely there’s some proper method to apply the latest security updates… right? There’s got to be a way other than waiting for a new version to come out and installing over (formatting) your previous / partition. And every OS probably should get security updates every once in a while, even those as robust as Slack itself and Linux in general.
Or is the best way to use Slackware to do just that: format and reinstall every time a new version comes out? I have personally used Zenwalk as a full-time distro at one point and have used KateOS for a few months, and have come to appreciate Slack’s clean layout and simplicity. It’s really just the package management and security updates that get me confused, which these two derived distros have covered.
So, long story short: What is the “proper” way to do security updates on a Slackware system?
Edited 2008-12-11 14:31 UTC
The traditional way of doing this is to subscribe to the slackware security mailing list (cf instructions at
http://www.slackware.org/lists/
) or, alternatively you can access the security alerts directly from the homepage:
http://www.slackware.org/security/list.php?l=slackware-security&y=2…
The entries in this list (usually) contain links to locations where you can download the relevant slackware packages.
Alternatively, you can use third party systems that sit ontop of the slackware package system like for example slapt-get to keep your machine secure, e.g.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/6y3bk6
altough I have to admit that I have no experience with these tools and how reliable things work.
Ah, I see. Looks like the best way (for me) would be to bookmark the page on Slack’s site. The main page might take some getting used to (ie. knowing which dependencies are used by a package I use regularly), but each item in the list appears to lead to a well-written description, md5sum and download link… quite clean, yet completely manual. Sounds like Slack alright.
Thanks for the answer.
Edited 2008-12-11 15:49 UTC
No, a much better way of managing updates is to use slackpkg which was in /extra for a long time and now is included as part of the base Slackware installation. Slackpkg will let you install extra software from the official Slackware mirrors, including updates in the /patches directory.
For third party software, I encourage you to check out the site mentioned in Patrick’s announcement: slackbuilds.org. This site is run by several members of the Slackware team and provides a repository of slackbuild scripts that are vetted by the admins for tons of third party software. You can also use a tool called ‘sbopkg’ (www.sbopkg.org) that provides a nice dialog-based front-end to slackbuilds.org. Slackbuilds are simply shell scripts that are used to compile third-party software into Slackware packages. As a long time Slackware user, I do not use unknown binary packages from places like linuxpackages.net (those packages often break people’s systems) or outside tools like slapt-get etc. that are poorly bolted on to the official Slackware package manager and package tools.
Slackware + slackpkg + slackbuilds.org + sbopkg is all you need. 😉
Edited 2008-12-11 16:09 UTC
Thanks for adding this information, I meant to lookup slackpck when I wrote my comment but somehow mixed it up with slapt-get in my memory (talking about embarrasing things, … )
As I mentioned earlier, my knowledge about additional packaging systems is rather limited, since I have not used anything besides pkgtools + slackbuilds.org in the past five years or so and my scripts for handling the updates in a semi-automatic way are pretty much unchanged since 10.0 .
I would still recommend subscribing to the security advisory list, though.
Cheers for http://www.sbopkg.org
I never heard of this, I always went and manually ran the build scripts.
Well, it looks like others have covered most of the easy ways to do slack updates.
You’re absolutely correct, no central repository and no dependency checking. And to that I say, thank goodness! I can’t count the number of times I’ve wound up in dependency hell with deb or rpm-based distros due to an error in their central repository. It’s probably just me and the packages I use, since it doesn’t ever seem to happen to anyone else
. Slack doesn’t bother me with it, I like the fact that it assumes I know what I’m doing and just lets me do it. To be perfectly honest, I’m heartily sick of most of the package managers around today, and I’d prefer no automatic dependency resolution to getting my installation corrupted, thanks.
And if you want dependency checking on slackware, as others have pointed out, you can have it. It’s just not mandatory.
With this release, she’s just bloody perfect. I’ve a user since Slack9 and I’m very well please with Pat’s philosophy and the direction he has taken with her.
Slackware is just home to me.
I’ve read some previous posting… BSD init style… yes. I also like FreeBSD and have used it since the 4.4 release, no flames – I use them both and they both rock. Now I’m just curious about the progress and direction of OpenSolars in the future.
P.S Pat – we need better looking T-Shirts (black n’ blue with the bold S) – just a hint.
Thank you Pat for an excellent product.
Completed my second install of Slackware 12.2 last night. Thank you, Pat:-) Absolute perfection! I’m a proud Slacker since 10.0. I’m dual booting Slackware 12.2 with FreeBSD 7.0 on one of my Slackware boxes.
As previously mentioned the best way I think to keep your Slack box updated is to subscribe to the security mailing list and then download, install patches as they become available. Also, as mentioned I use Slack build scripts from slackbuilds.org to install software not included on the install CDs.
I have a few trusted sources for other packages that I use. I trust the packages from Robby Workman and Eric Hameleers, both are Slackware developers. I prefer to manually update my Slack boxes.
http://www.slackbuilds.org/
http://rlworkman.net/pkgs/
http://slackware.com/~alien/