Original project announcement on comp.os.linux was 20 years ago today

volkerdi · 07-11-2013, 02:39 PM

It's hard to believe, but it's been 20 years since this post. The first release (along with the first public mention of the name) followed 6 days later. I think I can safely say that a lot more people turned out to be interested in this than anticipated.

Cheers!

Code:

Path: gmd.de!xlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!cleveland.Free
net.Edu!bf703
From: bf703@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Patrick J. Volkerding)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Want an SLS like .99pl11A system?
Date: 11 Jul 1993 17:53:15 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Lines: 41
Message-ID: <21pk2b$h45@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
Reply-To: bf703@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Patrick J. Volkerding)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu

Well, that's good, because I put one together. It does not yet have
XFree-86 1.3, but give me about 2 days and it will. This is not like
the MCC release, rather, it is a big system, even more bloated than
SLS :^)

Currently it has all of the same features as SLS 1.02, with these
additions:

1. The newest FAQ
2. Simplified installation procedure.
3. Kernel level .99 pl 11 Alpha.
4. libs and includes at 4.4.1, (without the limits.h problem)
5. GCC at 2.4.3 (may be 2.4.5 soon)
6. Net-2 TCP/IP preconfigured for loopback.
7. Public domain ksh and tcsh 6.04.
8. command line JPEG utilities.

On the X side, XV 3.00 has been added.

Now here's the deal: there are 13 disks in the 'A' series (same as SLS
A, B, and C) and 10 in the X series. I don't have any way to offer this
system publicly. If I tried to put it up on our 3b2 it would kill it.

This system has been used among my associates here since we put the
first one together back at pl8. Our original goal was just to debug the
SLS releases, but those have been slowing down and we happened to get a
jump on things.

I'd like to hear from you if this package sounds appealing. If demand is
not too strong, I may test releasing it on the 3b2 here.

If you have an archive site for it, LET ME KNOW! I'll set you up with a
copy of it to put up for FTP.

Take care,

--
Patrick Volkerding
volkerdi@mhd1.moorhead.msus.edu
bf703@cleveland.freenet.edu

astrogeek · 07-11-2013, 02:47 PM

Thank you!

cynwulf · 07-11-2013, 02:49 PM

Great job, thank you for continuing to maintain this superb distro.

kikinovak · 07-11-2013, 02:59 PM

Cheers from the grateful South of France, Patrick!

hyperhead · 07-11-2013, 03:03 PM

Thanks, I never stop learning with Slackware and benefit from its great community.

chess · 07-11-2013, 03:06 PM

Thank you for developing and continuing to maintain the Slackware project, Pat. Congratulations on 20 years of awesomeness!

thirdm · 07-11-2013, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by volkerdi

I'd like to hear from you if this package sounds appealing. If demand is
not too strong, I may test releasing it on the 3b2 here.

Yes, quite appealing.

volkerdi · 07-11-2013, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thirdm

Yes, quite appealing.

I did end up releasing it on the AT&T 3b2 UNIX PC. Those didn't come with FTP services, but I found a .mil site with binaries and instructions for setting it up. The 1.00 release was offered from there.

Killed the box dead in about an hour, and more or less DoSed the whole campus network for a week. I think we were connected by frame relay at the time.

sparkyhall · 07-11-2013, 03:36 PM

Here's to another 20 years of Slackware

Didier Spaier · 07-11-2013, 03:41 PM

Congrats Pat, you may rightfully be proud of such a great achievement

And a warm thank you for delivering an even better Slackware at each release.

kabamaru · 07-11-2013, 03:53 PM

You killed my distro-hopping joy. So congrats.

Bindestreck · 07-11-2013, 04:07 PM

Congrats! Best distro ever!

JWJones · 07-11-2013, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by volkerdi

It's hard to believe, but it's been 20 years since this post. The first release (along with the first public mention of the name) followed 6 days later.

Cheers, Patrick, and thank you! Incidently, Slackware and I share the same birthday, July 17th. Awesome.

chess · 07-11-2013, 04:28 PM

I can't help but think:

"It was twenty years ago today,
volkerdi showed the users a new way..."

brianL · 07-11-2013, 04:29 PM

Congratulations! Happy Anniversary/Birthday, Slackware!! Thanks, Pat, and Praise "Bob"!!!