According to this trailer: "SLACKER (slak'er), n.1. A person who evades duties and responsibilites" (sic).

Found the link in Slacker and the Failed Promises of the Internet. I began to read this article assuming that it was about Slackware... I will let you meditate on this quote from it:

That trailer is rather confusing. The Wikipedia article tells one much more clearly about the film:

So it's like Coffee & Cigarettes or something by Jim Jarmusch.

But yes, I don't know about in the US but here in the UK, 'slacking' or 'slacking off' means doing no work. Therefore being a 'slacker' in the vernacular means being lazy and not involving oneself with any useful activity. I imagine it comes from the work 'slack' meaning loose. The Old English is slæc, which means the same thing.

Maybe it's because after the initial install, it's so solid that you never have to do anything to it :-)

Considering that the Slackware logo is Tux sitting down and smoking a pipe, there has to be a connection with the popular usage of the word.

My guess is that in Slackware, all the work is done upfront. You have to set it up properly and that needs thoughtful work at the console. But after that, it just works by itself.

That logo is a cross between Torvald's original idea of a lovable, cuddly, stuffed penguin sitting down after having gorged itself on herring and J.R. Bob Dobbs smoking a pipe. I don't think the penguin smoking the pipe has anything to do with slacking off as such, that may be a coincidence.

You may be onto something there, especially seeing as, according to Peter Knight's volume, 'slack', in reference to the Church of the Subgenius, means effortlessly achieving one's goals.

Marty McFly has a real attitude problem. He's a real Slacker. He reminds me of his father.

What is a slacker depends on the context.
In my part of the world, the broad context would be, slacker ("A person who evades duties and responsibilities") that can be equated to bludger ("someone who relies on the efforts of other people and wants to have things without working for them").
The narrow context would be Slacker ("Slackware user"), best denoted by the use of uppercase "S", one who uses the Linux/GNU distribution named Slackware.
The dichotomy has long been a source of amusement to me, as I like to consider myself a "true Slacker", a much bandied term without formal definition. For me the term embodies something like "someone who relies on the efforts of other people, accepts the final arbitration of those people, but works for individual wants as well as working to have things done to the benefit of all".

A miserable little pile of shell scripts.
But enough talk... Have at you!

the most return for the least effort.

To do lists? Get Things Done? The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? Nah.... Put off to tomorrow that which could be done today. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

A slacker is someone who sits back and enjoys the fruits of other people's hard work making Slackware what it is, while occasionally posting long-winded rants to LQ about features he'd like to see included and excluded.

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It is in The Church of the SubGenius where the answers will be revealed.

(Also, I recall reading an old quote from Pat that he wanted to make sure everyone knew he was just tinkering around.)

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People that understand Bob Dobs and the ability to get your slack back. Let Bob into your life and you will see.
Pat at one time bought an old church turned it into a home.

From the first issue of Linux Journal:Back in 67 I remember the DI's at Paris Island would sometimes call us "a bunch of slack bastards" but then there wasn't much we could ever do to improve their opinion of us. The DI's being in their twenties would have picked the expression up in the late forties and fifties which means "slack" has been around longer than slackware but I'd prefer Slackware over a drill instructor any day of the week.

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