OP, I will point you to my other reply here which you will find useful, I hope.

I will reiterate - stability. Slackware is more stable than any other OS I have used [I spent a lot of time with Debian which is renowned for stability, but that was kind of ruined after Jessie].

My brother, who has worked with Unix his whole life, ran Slackware for years. When I paid him a visit in October I told him I hadn't ever had a failed boot in Slackware, to which he replied, "and you won't".

Well recognized.
In "Arrab(b)iata" is missing a (b). No idea how that could happen. Either a problem from CentOS what I have tested or the after effects of an good Italian wine.

I have explained Slackware's appeal to me at a technical level in the other similar threads, and that looks similar to what others have already said.

On a more meta level, I think what makes it unique is that Patrick takes responsibility for various aspects of the distribution, and he is very good at doing so. He applies his conservative and pragmatic design methodologies to the package management system, the choice of kernels and included packages, the init system, and even into the low-level details of the init scripts.

Others contribute to these different parts, but he is the final arbiter. The overall design is brought together in himself, and he is very good at it.

His old-school release engineering methodologies are dangerously close to being "forgotten lore" in the tech industry in general, and I don't know of another distribution in which they are applied so comprehensively.

This is the secret sauce which makes Slackware what it is.

1 members found this post helpful.

Agreed 100%, Patrick is what makes Slackware unique. Everything else stems from that.

Recently I have been in a situation where I could not use Slackware
because of my need to connect to a VPN not friendly to non-systemd Linux.
So I have been forced to use Win10 and Ubuntu the past several days to work
on a project in Drupal and Bootstrap that requires the VPN to tunnel
through a firewall to get some essential information.

Finally was able to configure "VPN Hotspot" on my 1+6-Pie cell phone which required a "root"-ing of the phone.
The VPN Hotspot app allows the VPN connection to be forwarded by wifi hotspot or via USB connection.
The USB connection is quite ok indeed and it is fast and convenient. Problem solved.
Now I am back up and going on Slackware64-current again.
Mind you, on the same machine. Slackware is on the NVME_SDD chip
which makes it a little bit faster and smoother but it is a quick machine.
But still, slackware is fast and powerful and convenient.

Most of the tools that I want to use are standard in Slackware.
Slackware is often subject to slurs from the distro media saying that
it is difficult to install software on a slackware machine. Actually slackware
is the easiest to maintain and upgrade and add new software.
And no "a problem has been encountered. would you like to report it?"

Slackware is rock solid and durable. It doesnt nag you with stupid questions and imbecilic messages
and it lets you own your computer. It just works.
I think that is what a Linux system is supposed to do.

2 members found this post helpful.

Ending with hacking your phone to avoid the lack of systemd from Slackware, well... I do not think is the best example of "how cool Slackware is."

"Hacking" my phone is a victory. And further, OnePlus cooperates with programmers by providing source code and other information for modding their phones. It's actually pretty cool. And fun.

Not only does it circumvent the knuckleheads and robber barons who want to block people from owning their devices but it also provides a way to improve the utility of the device to punch more holes in the darkness.

I dont want Slackware to be like Ubuntu or Windows. The problem is not with Slackware. The problem might be with some unattained projects at "Open"VPN (TM).

I have a most excellent solution. A "kludge" you think? I am not sure. An elegant and portable kludge I think.

No doubt a better example of Slackware koolness is the great Slackware community. Incomparably better than any techline or chat box.

2 members found this post helpful.

Ummmm...
I sense a contradiction....

No contradiction. A crowbar is incredibly simple and robust, but you can still mess one up if you work hard enough at it.

Similarly, operator error can definitely damage Slackware, but it is fairly resilient in the face of damage, and that damage can be fixed much more easily than in other distributions.

4 members found this post helpful.

Very good comeback
Yes, I did break a crow bar a few years ago also.

what makes slackware special are the argyle socks it wears

Right. Happy Christmas.

My BMW is a good Car and very robust..repairs/maintenance are done very quickly thanks to an intelligent design.
That's what I meant.

Merry Christmas

That you need an app for this [which only works once you break your phone's security] only highlights the fact that android is broken by design.

It is extremely frustrating. I, for one, have an extreme distaste for being "nannied," and this is the perfect example... Google think that they know what's best for me.

If someone at Google is reading this: Is it really safer to have people running around with broken security on their phones just so that they can hotspot their VPN?

Surely, they must know that if someone is smart enough to know how/why you would need a VPN hotspot, then they're smart enough to administer it properly.

2 members found this post helpful.

What VPN are you using that won't work without systemd on your computer *and* won't work without rooting on your Android device? That seems crazy and I wouldn't be willing to use something like that (even if I've had my phones rooted since my Nexus 1 almost 10 years ago).