
Old School Goes New School with Slackware 13.1 - jennifercloer
http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/314666-slackware-131-a-linux-distro-that-gets-out-of-the-way
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peterwwillis
_Criticizing Slackware for lack of modernity would be like criticizing a well-
maintained 1957 Chevy for not having power windows or satellite radio. You
don't run Slackware to escape from the complexity or configurability of Linux;
you run Slackware to embrace those things._

A very good analogy for this distro. It is slightly misleading, though, since
new technology regularly makes its way into Slack. The problem most people
will find isn't the lack of "modernity" in terms of new versions of software
and support for features like encrypted root filesystems and modern kernels.
If anything I think it's the lack of larger resources [edit: in the way of
amount of distro devs, packaged software, software 'polish'] provided by other
distros that make Slack daunting.

Also, i'd say there is even less complexity and configurability in Slack than
most other distros. Each distro brings its own method for dealing with common
tasks central to any operating system. Typically these include management of
the configuration and operation of local services, network services, and
taking care of the heavy lifting of installing complex interlinked
applications and libraries. What Slack does is strip all that away. _You_
become the manager of your operating system, not an obscure software tool.
What's really beneficial is the experience you gain in working with open
source software at such an intimate level. Everyone who wants to really know
Linux well should try out LFS once, but then use Slack day to day.

------
wazoox
I just upgraded my main personal desktop from slack 12.1 (lagged behind
recently :) to slack 13.1. Though an upgrade from anything older than slack
13.0 is unsupported, it worked pretty well :)

Now I'll have to upgrade my slack 13.0 work desktop, will be a breeze...

By the way installing applications properly from source is very easy now with
"makepkg" : simply do

    
    
        ./configure && make && mkdir PKG \
        && make install DESTDIR=./PKG && \
        cd PKG && sudo makepkg ../myapp-version-arch-rev.txz \
        sudo installpkg ../myapp-version-arch-rev.txz

~~~
koenigdavidmj
Check <http://www.src2pkg.net/> out---you just pass it a tarball and it will
figure out how to build it, for most types of packages.

~~~
wollw
Thanks for both of these. I've been making SlackBuild scripts or installing in
/usr/local until now.

~~~
koenigdavidmj
Also, <http://www.sbopkg.org/> takes the drudgery out of using SlackBuild
scripts from <http://slackbuilds.org/> ; you may wish to check it out.

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jaxn
Slackware was my first linux experience and has always been my favorite since.
When I happened to see the 13.1 release a few days ago I couldn't help but
check it out.

I have been running Mac OS for a few years now, but if Apple finally annoys me
too much I am running back to slack.

~~~
blantonl
My first linux experience as well. I recall purchasing a 50 pack of diskettes
and making hard choices to determine which disk sets i would download and
install. Fun times :)

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bitwize
Arch Linux is my poison of choice these days -- but what the hell. I have a
few gigs to set aside and will try booting this in a VM, see how the ol' boy
fits.

------
merraksh
...and if you are disappointed at the smaller set of packages available as
opposed to other distros, visit <http://slackbuild.org> to get a broader
choice.

