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.
On a separate note, I wonder what is the oldest package in the current version of Slack.
Looking at Slackware64-current, the oldest package in there is linux-faqs but that package was never compiled on slackware64... I took it from the 32bit Slackware tree at the time.
The oldest compiled package in slackware64-current is pmake (created when I was recovering from surgery and thought of something to kill the boredom). Here is the top-5 oldest packages:
For 32bit -current it is a different story because it predates the 64bit OS by many years:
Code:
Feb 24 2002 slackware/ap/ispell-3.2.06-i386-1.txz
Feb 24 2002 slackware/ap/amp-0.7.6-i386-1.txz
Feb 24 2002 slackware/ap/seejpeg-1.10-i386-1.txz
Feb 27 2002 slackware/n/netpipes-4.2-i386-1.txz
Mar 7 2002 slackware/n/trn-3.6-i386-1.txz
Looking at Slackware64-current, the oldest package in there is linux-faqs but that package was never compiled on slackware64... I took it from the 32bit Slackware tree at the time.
The oldest compiled package in slackware64-current is pmake (created when I was recovering from surgery and thought of something to kill the boredom). Here is the top-5 oldest packages:
For 32bit -current it is a different story because it predates the 64bit OS by many years:
Code:
Feb 24 2002 slackware/ap/ispell-3.2.06-i386-1.txz
Feb 24 2002 slackware/ap/amp-0.7.6-i386-1.txz
Feb 24 2002 slackware/ap/seejpeg-1.10-i386-1.txz
Feb 27 2002 slackware/n/netpipes-4.2-i386-1.txz
Mar 7 2002 slackware/n/trn-3.6-i386-1.txz
Wow. Thanks. The oldest 32-bit packages were compiled before my first Linux installation
There is nothing new that I actually "need" and nothing that I cannot do with 14.1, so in that sense why mess with perfection?!
Slackware 12.1 was a kind of perfection which I ran for most uses until I began to replace it with 14.1. So even with a new release I expect to continue with 14.1 for some time to come... what's the rush?
Really? I'm already running current because some stuff just got old on 14.1... Well, to be honest xfce 4.12 is my biggest reason (and I also needed some new packages for something that I really can't remember right now... turned out it wasn't that important after all).. But two years is a lot of time in our days for just doing security updates..
On the bright side, -current is actually pretty stable right now
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,086
Rep:
Quote:
Originally Posted by fibster
Thanks for all you've done!
Learned much from your very helpful blog mate...
Cheers
+1.
We do owe Alien Bob, Robby Workman and others (sorry, names don't come to mind) many thanks for all their significant contributions to Slackware.
IIRC, rworkman is "the force" behind Xfce and many, if not most, of the updates and changes we see in the "x" directory.
Alien Bob, aka, Eric, is/was "the force" behind the 64-bit version of Slackware and the creator and maintainer of the Mulitlib system for Slackware64.
For those who don't have the time or the inclination to compile their own applications, Alien Bob's many packages makes Slackware useable for end users who would otherwise be driven to a different Linux distribution.
Just off the top of my head, Alien Bob provides,
KDE 4.14.3 for Slackware-14.1 (and for -current, before it was officially added),
Qt5,
KDE 5.x for -current,
Chromium and the flash and widevine plugins for the same,
Corefonts,
Ffmpeg,
Gst-plugins,
Icedtea-web and Rhino, which are needed for
Openjdk,
LibreOffice,
Veracrypt,
VLC,
Flash,
Wine,
Wine-pipelight,
Handbrake,
and many, many more.
As to "major changes"... well, it was version 12 before we no longer had to manually mount optical drives, and that was overdue.
It was Slackware-13 before we saw a 64-bit version and that was way overdue.
I don't recall when Networkmanager was added, but it was a welcome addition.
It was just this last April when KDE 4.14.3, was added to -current and that was way, way, way overdue.
I don't know what lies ahead, but, just my two cents worth, if someone wanted to broaden the appeal (use) of Slackware in the professional/corporate world, PAM should be included and it should have been done three or four years ago. As I said, just my two cents worth.
Last edited by cwizardone; 10-19-2015 at 11:33 AM.
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,086
Rep:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ReaperX7
Slackware 14.2.......
As of today it is just 18 days until we celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the release of 14.1. Unless there is some major changes awaiting in the wings, the next release could well be called, 14.1a.
As of today it is just 18 days until we celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the release of 14.1. Unless there is some major changes awaiting in the wings, the next release could well be called, 14.1a.
What would you consider a "major" change?
A lot of packages have been updated since 14.1 in -Current, so that alone is a major change. We've pushed into a new kernel series, many of the core applications in /a have been updated to new and maintained versions, Mesa has evolved to support WINE/D3D9 better, and has gained variable drivers for both the traditional Tungsten API and the Gallium API respectfully on all chipsets including Intel, and X has been updated also, plus various other components.
Changes to a version don't need to be drastic and jaw-dropping-kick-you-in-the-crotch-make-your-eyes-bulge changes. They can be subtle and simple changes that are elegant and quiet.
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,086
Rep:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ReaperX7
What would you consider a "major" change?
A lot of packages have been updated since 14.1 in -Current, so that alone is a major change. We've pushed into a new kernel series, many of the core applications in /a have been updated to new and maintained versions, Mesa has evolved to support WINE/D3D9 better, and has gained variable drivers for both the traditional Tungsten API and the Gallium API respectfully on all chipsets including Intel, and X has been updated also, plus various other components.
Changes to a version don't need to be drastic and jaw-dropping-kick-you-in-the-crotch-make-your-eyes-bulge changes. They can be subtle and simple changes that are elegant and quiet.
Well said and "subtle and simple changes" call for an incremental bump in the version number.
Last edited by cwizardone; 10-20-2015 at 03:39 PM.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.