SlackwareThis Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
What will happen if the sun will not shine anymore?
People, stop flooding. I am more than 10 years with Slackware and always hear people are saying that Slackware is almost dead. It is simply not true and people just want to talk about anything. It is still (and always was) the best distribution I ever tried. Mods, please close this thread.
I couldn't agree more. I don't really see the point of this topic and I find it rather offensive and disrespectful. Just my .
2 members found this post helpful.
Click here to see the post LQ members have rated as the most helpful post in this thread.
No disrespect intended - more a reflection of how seriously I take this thread. I mean, the point's a valid one, but I don't see much value in speculating about it right now.
There could be a "Slackware Social contract". Pat could set the rules of that contract.
For example:
1)Slackware will always be 100% free
2)Vanilla Packages
3)Slackware is ready when it's ready.
And so on....
Anyway, i am sure that Pat knows better than us.
And until that day, lets all enjoy Slackware
So...you want the social Slackware to have different rules than the current one, then? (Where did this 100% free Slackware myth come into existence?)
Good question, I second it. Slackware is not Debian. Slackware is designed to be useful, Debian is designed to be 100% free. That's why I use Slackware.
This post should not be interpreted as a suggestion to modify Slackware in any way, either now or in the future; I am only expressing my own belief that using non-Free software for serious work is asking for trouble.
I think xspartan was giving a hypothetical example of a future social contract, not describing current design goals. And IMHO, it would be very nice if Slackware became 100% Free while preserving all of its other virtues. I understand that the current process is dictated by things like performance, security, KISS, and the resources of the Slackware team. Making the distribution Free would take a lot of additional work while providing very little practical benefit, Slackware being 99.99% Free as it is. Some will also say, the performance would suffer if binary blobs were purged from the Linux kernel (my reply is, the tiny performance gain is worthless compared to the utter loss of security). But I cannot think of anything in the Slackware philosophy that would contradict or be in a direct trade-off relationship with freedoms 0-3, and I cannot think of a good reason to use non-Free software/hardware for serious work, so xspartan's example does not sound out of place to me.
This post should not be interpreted as a suggestion to modify Slackware in any way, either now or in the future; I am only expressing my own belief that using non-Free software for serious work is asking for trouble.
I think xspartan was giving a hypothetical example of a future social contract, not describing current design goals. And IMHO, it would be very nice if Slackware became 100% Free while preserving all of its other virtues. I understand that the current process is dictated by things like performance, security, KISS, and the resources of the Slackware team. Making the distribution Free would take a lot of additional work while providing very little practical benefit, Slackware being 99.99% Free as it is. Some will also say, the performance would suffer if binary blobs were purged from the Linux kernel (my reply is, the tiny performance gain is worthless compared to the utter loss of security). But I cannot think of anything in the Slackware philosophy that would contradict or be in a direct trade-off relationship with freedoms 0-3, and I cannot think of a good reason to use non-Free software/hardware for serious work, so xspartan's example does not sound out of place to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_hardware And I am not saying that going 100% Free in hardware is practical today, or even possible for things like desktop. Only that nothing about it contradicts goals such as performance and compatibility, which includes "it just works" factor.
This post should not be interpreted as a suggestion to modify Slackware in any way, either now or in the future; I am only expressing my own belief that using non-Free software for serious work is asking for trouble.
I think xspartan was giving a hypothetical example of a future social contract, not describing current design goals. And IMHO, it would be very nice if Slackware became 100% Free while preserving all of its other virtues. I understand that the current process is dictated by things like performance, security, KISS, and the resources of the Slackware team. Making the distribution Free would take a lot of additional work while providing very little practical benefit, Slackware being 99.99% Free as it is. Some will also say, the performance would suffer if binary blobs were purged from the Linux kernel (my reply is, the tiny performance gain is worthless compared to the utter loss of security). But I cannot think of anything in the Slackware philosophy that would contradict or be in a direct trade-off relationship with freedoms 0-3, and I cannot think of a good reason to use non-Free software/hardware for serious work, so xspartan's example does not sound out of place to me.
In the Real World(TM) the companies use non-free software with support contracts, and are happy with the results. Oracle, AIX, Mainframe, all non-free stuff that is powering many of the biggest companies on the planet. Do you really think all non-free is just asking for trouble?
I don't care about a 100% free OS. I care about a 100% working OS. I want my webcam, my wireless card and my video card to work as designed, that's why I bought them. Make better use of the same hardware was one of the strongs points of Linux, isn't it? Right now I have to use a VM with Windows in order to use Windows Live Messenger with videoconference, or to have Skype recognize my webcam properly. Considering that with 100% free I will have even less drivers, how is a free Linux helping me be free? I am sorry, but I have a sister living on another continent and I use videoconference software in order to keep in touch with her.
My data is safe as long as I can take it out of the system on which it is stored. So even if it is written in an old version of MS Word, as long as I can start a VM and read the file, it is just fine.
As per security, well, while it is true that one can't tell if the binary blobs are secure or not, one surely can't tell that about the free software either. Bugs are discovered every day in both free and non-free software, and they are fixed or worked-around in more or less the same way.
"But the ati drivers may be sending your bank account details to AMD" you can say. Well, as long as I can tell, the Linux code may be doing the same, as I don't have the will or the knowledge to audit it.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.