Slackware installing 14.1 or current...?

Novatian · 06-01-2016, 10:10 AM

Good day, if I try out Slackware, should I use current, or 14.1? Has Slackware become easier to install? I plan to either install Mint or Slackware on an external 2.5 inch SATA 160 GB HDD for document writing and portability. I also like Compiz Fusion. My computer is a Lenovo. 8GB RAM. i5 CPU.

Belikewater · 06-01-2016, 10:16 AM

They both seem to install the same. I opened a thread on getting help with my partitioning. Lots of people helped me out there. I also used these tutorials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGgAGAle1a8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2UJoW8f0lo

This got me through it.

cwizardone · 06-01-2016, 10:37 AM

Slackware-14.2 will be released very soon and it is based on the "current" state of -current

so installing the "current" version of -current would be a pretty safe bet.

Paulo2 · 06-01-2016, 11:38 AM

As cwizardone said, Slackware 14.2 is just around the corner (better say 'when it's ready

)
so install -current and just change to a 14.2 mirror in /etc/slackpkg/mirrors when 14.2 is released
if you want a stable release.

There is -current iso files from AlienBob and live cd/dvd editions too.
http://bear.alienbase.nl/mirrors/

If you are planning install in an external usb device, maybe you could search for how to
make an initrd with usb drives (even with huge kernel).

alekow · 06-01-2016, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Novatian

Good day, if I try out Slackware, should I use current, or 14.1?

By all means try current now, as 14.2 should be ready very soon.

Quote:

Has Slackware become easier to install?

I think it became easier to configure than it was a few years ago. The installation process hasn't changed much throughout the years and is fairly simple in my opinion. It is the configuration that is the most time consuming.

Quote:

I plan to either install Mint or Slackware on an external 2.5 inch SATA 160 GB HDD for document writing and portability.

Please read this thread.

onebuck · 06-02-2016, 08:57 AM

Hi,

Too try Slackware, I would suggest AlienBob's Slackware Liveslak. Look at; http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:liveslak

Or http://bear.alienbase.nl/cgit/liveslak/plain/README.txt

Quote:

Common download locations are:

Primary site: http://bear.alienbase.nl/mirrors/slackware-live/ (rsync://bear.alienbase.nl/mirrors/slackware-live/)
Darren's http://slackware.uk/people/alien-slacklive/ (rsync://slackware.uk/people/alien-slacklive/)
Willy's http://repo.ukdw.ac.id/slackware-live/
Ryan's https://seattleslack.ryanpcmcquen.or...lackware-live/
Shasta's http://ftp.slackware.pl/pub/slackware-live/ (rsync://ftp.slackware.pl/slackware-live/)

If you decide to try Slackware Live then that would be a great way to use on testing hardware to see how things work for you. If you want to customize the Live Edition is well documented to produce your own.

Look at AlienBob's blog for more information; Updated ISOs for Slackware Live Edition

Good reference;

Quote:

As announced before, I have “re-written” the original blog post on Slackware Live and saved the old text in a new article so that it does not get lost in history. The URL of the original article is visited a lot and I do not want people reading that original article to think that this project is still in beta, immature and not usable.

You can subscribe to Eric's blog by selecting the subscribe button on the blog; http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/

Many thanks to AlienBob for his continued support and innovation for Slackware. Keep up the great work!!

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

kjhambrick · 06-02-2016, 09:13 AM

Thank you onebuck.

I just learned about the liveslack Current Version this morning.

That's EXTREMELY Useful for me and will be useful going forward after 14.2 is blessed and released.

It will help me decide whether to stay current on my Work Laptop or to play it safe and stay with 14.2 stable.

And thanks a zillion to Alien Bob / Eric !

-- kjh(

I need to re-read Alien's Wiki and Blog more frequently and more carefully

)

EDIT: Novatian.

My 'vote' is for you to try current. It's been VERY stable on my Skylake + NVidia Laptop.

And what onebuck said about Alien Bob's Current Slackware Live USB makes it safe too

Didier Spaier · 06-02-2016, 09:33 AM

If your main usage is document writing I suggest trying Salix. It is fully compatible with Slackware, the installation is slightly easier for newcomers and it ships libreoffice out of the box. It comes in one edition per desktop or windows manager.

Caveat emptor: Salix has no -current branch and expect the 14.2 version of the XFCE edition one month or so after the release of Slackware 14.2. Before that you won't get the most recent software versions.

PS If you want more recent software you could give a go to Slackel Openbox 6.0.6, that has just been released with install and live versions. Dimitris Tzemos follows the development of Slackware-current, you could "migrate' to Slackware 14.2 when it will be released if you prefer.

Gerardo Zamudio · 06-03-2016, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paulo2

As cwizardone said, Slackware 14.2 is just around the corner (better say 'when it's ready

)
so install -current and just change to a 14.2 mirror in /etc/slackpkg/mirrors when 14.2 is released
if you want a stable release.

No need

Code:

Wed May 11 05:20:01 UTC 2016
ap/slackpkg-2.82.1-noarch-1.txz:  Upgraded.
  Updated x86* mirrors lists for Slackware 14.2.

bassmadrigal · 06-03-2016, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerardo Zamudio

No need

Code:

Wed May 11 05:20:01 UTC 2016
ap/slackpkg-2.82.1-noarch-1.txz:  Upgraded.
  Updated x86* mirrors lists for Slackware 14.2.

He just meant you'd need to change your slackpkg from pointing to a -current mirror to a 14.2 mirror. But as you noticed, the mirror file has already been updated, so you won't have to manually find the mirrors or add entries yourself... just comment out your -current mirror and uncomment your 14.2 mirror.

ttk · 06-05-2016, 03:07 PM

Pitching in my two cents:

I've been using 14.1 on laptops, desktops and servers for two years, and only encountered two bugs.

One of them prevents any version of keepalived(8) from being compiled, due to contradictory forward declarations in some system include files, and is only relevant to very specialized server roles.

The other is a tcsh(1) bug, whereby some tty parameters are set incorrectly such that less(1) exhibits display problems. This is only relevant if you're using tcsh(1) (which almost nobody does; bash(1) is king these days), and can be worked around.

Since 14.1 satisfies all of my desktop/laptop needs, and I'm fairly confident to not run into any additional bugs, I plan on continue using 14.1 for my laptop and desktops. Why fix what isn't broken?

On the other hand, newer laptop hardware might require 14.2's newer kernel .. or might not. We'll see.

I'm very interested in switching to 14.2 for some server roles -- I want the newer perl, samba, bind, apache-httpd, smartmontools and openssh, and would like to see if IPv6 is better supported (it's very spotty in 14.1, and would use it more if the network management tools weren't so hobbled).

My point is, if you're looking at desktop use, 14.1 is just fine, and you'd likely be quite happy with it.

On the other hand, 14.2 is shaping up quite well, and -current is very nearly there (PV sent out a "last call" for bugfix reports, and it's received a couple rounds of bugfix patches already), so installing -current would likely be fine too.

On the other other hand, it's been my observation that after each stable Slackware release, additional bug reports trickle in for some months (and the bugs get fixed). Because of this, I like to wait a couple of months before starting my stress-testing of the new release, but I'm neurotically risk-averse. Someone with a more typical tolerance of risk will likely be fine using the new stable release right out of the gate.

55020 · 06-05-2016, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ttk

One of them prevents any version of keepalived(8) from being compiled

The trick is '--with-kernel-dir=/usr' -- I'd've committed this to the 14.1 branch too if I thought anyone was bothered

https://slackbuilds.org/cgit/slackbu...ee16eaf21cabe0

ttk · 06-06-2016, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 55020

The trick is '--with-kernel-dir=/usr' -- I'd've committed this to the 14.1 branch too if I thought anyone was bothered

https://slackbuilds.org/cgit/slackbu...ee16eaf21cabe0

W00T!! Thank you for this! I'll give it a shot tomorrow!

I spent some hours digging at the problem, but as far as I could tell there were functions declared with different interfaces in different .h files, it was going to need serious patching, and I shelved it until such time I felt like doing that. If your one-line SlackBuild change fixes this, I'll be loving life.