Why do you use Slackware?

brianL · 10-03-2017, 04:17 PM

I use Slackware because I was told it cured baldness. Been using it since late 2004. Hasn't worked yet. Maybe by next release?
Seriously, though. All the above.

Didier Spaier · 10-03-2017, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

3. I'm not sure enough attention is paid to security fixes. Perhaps I have my head in the sand, but the last time I got a kick in the behind to "update this quick" was the Bash Bug maybe a year back. If there was a security page I could set my browser to open on , it could be made as simple with a link to a new package. Ideally I could copy & paste that into an 'upgradepkg' command.

There is a security mailing list, you just have to register: http://www.slackware.com/lists/

Quote:

The slackware-security mailing list is for announcements relating to security issues. Any exploits or other vulnerabilities pertaining to Slackware will get posted to this list.

Diantre · 10-03-2017, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

If there was a security page I could set my browser to open on , it could be made as simple with a link to a new package. Ideally I could copy & paste that into an 'upgradepkg' command.

You might find this page useful: Slackware Security Advisories

SCerovec · 10-04-2017, 02:42 AM

@business_kid:
ever considered sbotools regarding SlackBuild dependencies?

regarding security updates:
make sure to regularly run:

# slackpkg update

and check the output of

# slackpkg upgrade-all

as it ends in a ncurses-based menu

business_kid · 10-04-2017, 09:39 AM

Code:

# slackpkg update
# slackpkg upgrade-all

Updated slackpkg mirrors list and ran those, and joined the Secuurity Advisories mailing list. I haven't considered sbotools but might acquaint myself with it in the future; the next time I meet a dependency nightmare.

thim · 10-07-2017, 10:32 AM

Slpkg may be helpful with cases like freecad. https://slackbuilds.org/repository/1.../?search=slpkg

I do prefer pure slackpkg with no automated dependency solving. But last time i installed slackware in my brother's machine, using slpkg to install a few extra packages, proved reliable and time saver.

thim · 10-07-2017, 11:11 AM

I am using linux in all my boxes since may, 2010. I was doing a lot of distrohopping, tons of live CDs usually dual booting. Most time spent in LMDE and eventually Debian. In my very first linux days, try a bit Slackware, due to its reputation, but had problems, mostly to my inexperience or litte patience or bad nvidia drivers.
A couple of years later, i opted dual booting Arch and Salix. After 10 months or something like this, i quit Arch for Debian again, but Salix remained there, solid as rock.
I always found Salix fast and reliable. The thing is that, despite it's excellent graphic tools, i preferred going by the book and adjusting my system by editing text files and/or then attributes. So, the next step was obvious :by november 2013 i fully converted to Slackware and never looked back.

Slackware gives me more control on my system than any distro i ve tried. It let's me decide.
Also, i prefer the approach of pre-installing a huge set of libraries: like a toolbox, when you need something, it's already there.
There is a nice balance too: no ancient packages, neither the hype of running behind the latest and "greatest".
Last but not least, i fully agree to
https://docs.slackware.com/slackware

hilosophy

SCerovec · 10-08-2017, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thim

Slpkg may be helpful with cases like freecad. https://slackbuilds.org/repository/1.../?search=slpkg

I do prefer pure slackpkg with no automated dependency solving. But last time i installed slackware in my brother's machine, using slpkg to install a few extra packages, proved reliable and time saver.

I picked (back then when linuxpackags.net went down :'( ) slapt-get from jaos.org and never looked back

.

It's my first choice for huge installs on weaker CPU setups (pre-compiled packages)

I also happen use a tweaked config for it:

Quote:

WORKINGDIR=/var/slapt-get
EXCLUDE=^aaa_elflibs,^devs,^glibc-.*,^kernel-.*,^udev,.*-[0-9]+dl$,x86_64
SOURCE=http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware-14.2/:OFFICIAL
#DISABLED=http://software.jaos.org/slackpacks/14.2/:OFFICIAL
SOURCE=http://repository.slacky.eu/slackware-14.2/:PREFERRED
SOURCE=http://rlworkman.net/pkgs/14.2/:CUSTOM
SOURCE=http://connie.slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/:PREFERRED
SOURCE=http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware-14.2/extra/:OFFICIAL
SOURCE=http://slackonly.com/pub/packages/14.2-x86/:CUSTOM

so I can benefit from the most of 3rd party repositories ^_^

NOTE: Some of the mirrors might be obsolete better check for that before using (at own risk)

thordn · 10-08-2017, 12:13 PM

In the late 1980's at the university computer club we were running mostly SUN and DEC machines. Then in the early 90's a port of NetBSD to IBM PC became available.

At home I had a 486 running DOS5.0+Win 3.x and a 8086 Running DOS3.3. Networking on DOS was rather poor to say the least. NetBSD needed at least a 386 + 4 MB of memory to run. I got a 386 board with a 287 math processor on, and with an add-on memory board I was able to get 4 MB. Bringing a couple of dozens of floppies to the computer club you could download the latest release.

After buying a larger hard-disk, i got NetBSD installed (after removing the 287 as that was not supported, but there was an emulator so should work).

Oops, only US-keyboard support. Well OK, let's fix that, just need a good editor so going for installing Emacs from source. I could always use the 486 with ms-kermit as a terminal. Everything seemed to work well, but Emacs would not run. At the computer club there was a working version of Emacs on NetBSD. Comparing the images showed that the first 32 bytes were missing on the image I built, copying them from the other Emacs i got a working editor.

Next problem was that floating point worked when compiled without optimization, but with optimization it got the wrong results sometimes. Looking at the source of the 387 emulator code i saw it was adapted from something called "Linux". Ok so check out that Linux and see if they have fixed some bugs... and the Linux emulator code was completely different. All i got from the bug-report to the NetBSD maintainers was something like "Yes, we know the emulator is crappy".

So, what now, I could try it on the main 486 machine. It had a 650MB ESDI + a 1GB SCSI disk. NetBSD did not support SCSI, but there should be plenty of space on the ESDI disk. So back up everything and repartition the ESDI disk.

When loading the installation I got a message like: "Aiiiiieeee... SCSI adapter detected, dumping core at track 0 sector 0, press any key to stop".

I did not want that code on my machine, so bye to NetBSD for now.

Well, maybe I should try Linux, heard that X-windows should work on Linux now, so looking around i find Slackware.

So back to the 386, one of the first questions during install was: "Do you want to remap your keyboard?"... and the rest is history.

SCerovec · 10-08-2017, 12:50 PM

Wait, that was late 80's? before even the 90's began there was Slackware already?

This old?

onebuck · 10-08-2017, 03:25 PM

Hi,

No, Slackware was released officially in 1993; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slackware

So it is impossible to have it in the late 80's;

Quote:

From; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slackware

This article is about the Linux distribution. It is not to be confused with Slack (software).
Slackware

Slackware 14.1
Developer Patrick Volkerding OS family Unix-like (based on Softlanding Linux System) Working state Current Source model Open source Initial release 17 July 1993; 24 years ago[1] Latest release 14.2 / 30 June 2016; 14 months ago[2] Available in Multilingual Update method pkgtools, slackpkg Package manager pkgtools, slackpkg Platforms IA-32, x86-64, ARM Kernel type Monolithic (Linux) Userland GNU Default user interface CLI License GNU General Public License Official website www.slackware.com Slackware is a Linux distribution created by Patrick Volkerding in 1993. Originally based on Softlanding Linux System, Slackware has been the basis for many other Linux distributions, most notably the first versions of SUSE Linux distributions,[3][4] and is the oldest distribution that is still maintained.[5]
Slackware aims for design stability and simplicity and to be the most "Unix-like" Linux distribution.[6] It makes as few modifications as possible to software packages from upstream and tries not to anticipate use cases or preclude user decisions. In contrast to most modern Linux distributions, Slackware provides no graphical installation procedure and no automatic dependency resolution of software packages. It uses plain text files and only a small set of shell scripts for configuration and administration. Without further modification it boots into a command-line interface environment. Because of its many conservative and simplistic features, Slackware is often considered to be most suitable for advanced and technically inclined Linux users

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

onebuck · 10-08-2017, 03:55 PM

Hi,

Someone's memory is foggy;

Quote:

From https://duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&uddg...Fwiki%2FNetBSD

NetBSD was originally derived from the 4.4BSD release of the Berkeley Software Distribution from the Computer Systems Research Group of the University of California, Berkeley, via their Net/2 source code release and the 386BSD project.[3] The NetBSD project began as a result of frustration within the 386BSD developer community with the pace and direction of the operating system's development.[8] The four founders of the NetBSD project, Chris Demetriou, Theo de Raadt, Adam Glass, and Charles Hannum, felt that a more open development model would benefit the project: one centered on portable, clean, correct code. They aimed to produce a unified, multi-platform, production-quality, BSD-based operating system. The name "NetBSD" was suggested by de Raadt[citation needed], based on the importance and growth of networks such as the Internet at that time, and the distributed, collaborative nature of its development.
The NetBSD source code repository was established on 21 March 1993 and the first official release, NetBSD 0.8, was made in April, 1993

Please notice the underlined above, released NetBSD in April,1993.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

thordn · 10-08-2017, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCerovec

Wait, that was late 80's? before even the 90's began there was Slackware already?

This old?

We were running SUN and DEC systems in the late 80's, so already had som basic Unix experience when first NetBSD came out 1993, Slackware came somewhat later.

1337_powerslacker · 10-08-2017, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thordn

In the late 1980's at the university computer club we were running mostly SUN and DEC machines. Then in the early 90's a port of NetBSD to IBM PC became available.

This provides the context in which the poster was speaking. I'm assuming that '92-'93 time frame was what he was referring to; sometime after that, when he said he discovered Slackware, probably would have been '95-'97. Again, just my guess; no definitive information is given as to time reference.

SCerovec · 10-11-2017, 02:40 PM

We all seem to forget a thing:
in those days, technology was, apparently, at a slower overall pace than today:

He certainly had few years of Unix under the belt (late 80's to circa 92-3) and (as above) around mid 90's migrated to Slackware (pretty darn early still)

Today's 'pace' of development is just ridiculous IMO, but what do I know :^]?