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What does the version number say, and what does it say it about?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet
1337 == Leet (in English: Elite)
It's 'leet speak' for 'leet' itself; a (IMHO sophomoric) method that the hAx0rZ & script kiddies use to supposedly seem kewl by misspelling words with numbers & other sy/\/\bols.
I don't mind the occasional obvious misspelling (i.e. kewl or laterz) but if you check the wikipedia page you can see that it can get quite out of hand quite quickly.
Laterz!
1337 == Leet (in English: Elite)
It's 'leet speak' for 'leet' itself; a (IMHO sophomoric) method that the hAx0rZ & script kiddies use to supposedly seem kewl by misspelling words with numbers & other sy/\/\bols.
I don't mind the occasional obvious misspelling (i.e. kewl or laterz) but if you check the wikipedia page you can see that it can get quite out of hand quite quickly.
Laterz!
I didn't even catch the mapping... Surely you can be subgenius w/o using some arbitrary hacker slang for a version number... What's next in the series, 31173?
Not really arbitrary...the previous version number was 13.1. Patrick Volkerding (the creator of Slackware) simply saw an opportunity in his numbering to do something different. The next to last Release Candidate was RC 3.1415926535897932384626433832.
I think of it more as just a little tongue-in-cheek nod at their own nerdiness.
Did you ever gave ArchLinux a try? All I can say is that there is many points in common with Slackware. Arch doesn't hide things away from the user, from install to daily use. I really learned alot with it. Funny thing is, I wasn't sure I'd stick with it, but now I can't think of a reason to leave it.
Oh, and their packaging system - pacman, ABS, AUR - is really top notch.
Oh, and their packaging system - pacman, ABS, AUR - is really top notch.
Archlinux is good, but you need access to ASL. I use both slack and archlinux when I have access.
Thanks for the heads-up! A timely reminder that I have been using too many noob-friendly distros in recent years! Must try Arch and Slack out properly!
As my French teacher would say: Subjects and verbs must agree both in number and gender.
2011: Year of the GNU/Linux desktop!
2011: Year of the GNU/Linux desktop!
When we were building our last web server and MySQL db server, I did a lot of benchmark comparisons (this was when 13.1 just came out). Slackware was faster in nearly every area. The only reason I didn't use it was that I could not get the TSM client to work on it (that is a requirement for us). So, I stepped back to CentOS (which was still not slouchy), but I think I might give Slackware 13.37 a test and see what happens. Seems like the base install was smaller, too.
Never cared for KDE since I first experienced it with SuSE 9.2 Pro... But to me, KDE (or Gnome for that matter) on Slackware is rather like having an automatic transmission in a Corvette; why hamper a perfectly good sports car with an inefficient transmission, especially when (IMHO) the point of running a distro like Slackware is to enjoy the feeling of shifting through 6 speeds of heaven?
I'm not saying "Don't have a window manager..." If it bundled with (or at least easily gave you the option to install) Xfce, my personal favorite FVWM or your precious Enlightenment I'd be downloading an .iso right now.
'Course, I may still look at it for my servers (which are SSH/CLI only - no GUI) -- IMHO Ubuntu obfuscates services a bit "too" much - I'd still rather adjust a single /etc/init.d/grumble file and link it to /etc/rc3.d/S80grumble than diddlywack around with Ubuntu's supposedly "easier" solution...
For those who think Slackware is still to "Easy," there's always LFS. LFS stands for Linux From Scratch, and it's not a distro, it's a *book* that teaches you how to download the individual tarballs & compile linux completely from scratch. It took me over a month the first time (on a Crusoe 933MHz laptop) but having a Linux tailored & optimized for that platform was 1) a great feeling of accomplishment and 2) faster than you could believe for a low-power platform.
Laterz,
LFS ID # 9350.
I'm not saying "Don't have a window manager..." If it bundled with (or at least easily gave you the option to install) Xfce, my personal favorite FVWM or your precious Enlightenment I'd be downloading an .iso right now.
'Course, I may still look at it for my servers (which are SSH/CLI only - no GUI) -- IMHO Ubuntu obfuscates services a bit "too" much - I'd still rather adjust a single /etc/init.d/grumble file and link it to /etc/rc3.d/S80grumble than diddlywack around with Ubuntu's supposedly "easier" solution...
For those who think Slackware is still to "Easy," there's always LFS.
LFS stands for Linux From Scratch, and it's not a distro, it's a *book* that teaches you how to download the individual tarballs & compile linux completely from scratch. It took me over a month the first time (on a Crusoe 933MHz laptop) but having a Linux tailored & optimized for that platform was 1) a great feeling of accomplishment and 2) faster than you could believe for a low-power platform.Laterz,
LFS ID # 9350.
Slackware comes with fvwm AND Xfce AND Fluxbox AND Window Maker AND KDE. Slackware's Xfce and Window Maker are perhaps the best versions around.
Jack's article mentioned *no* other window managers than KDE. People who haven't worked with Slackware recently may not know it's bundled with other WMs beyond KDE if Jack's article is an individual's only "current" information to go by. I've used many distributions over the years -- my first *nix-like OS was MicroWare OS-9 on a Tandy CoCo2 back in '84. That provided the experience to gain employment working with Linux & SunOS in '95. I've used Slackware back in that time frame, but around '98 or '99 I moved to Caldera OpenLinux & RedHat and (some would say unfortunately) haven't touched Slackware since that time.
With a standard Ubuntu install, you get Gnome. Jack's article could easily be interpreted (as was by me) that with a standard Slackware install, you get KDE. Admittedly, Jack's article wasn't a full review of the distro.
Some people like KDE, some do not. I certainly don't love Gnome, I just find it easier to "tolerate" than KDE. If I'm going to install a "stripped-down, hard-core, gotta love the CLI" Linux distro, I don't want either of them. (And when I built my LFS installs [2 of them] I certainly didn't use either of them.)
And I'll quote myself: """I'm not saying "Don't have a window manager..." If it bundled with (or at least easily gave you the option to install) Xfce, my personal favorite FVWM or your [1] precious Enlightenment I'd be downloading an .iso right now. """
Guess what: I'm downloading an .iso right now.
[1] That was referencing Jack, BTW. He's published several articles on how much he prefers Enlightenment.
With a standard Ubuntu install, you get Gnome. Jack's article could easily be interpreted (as was by me) that with a standard Slackware install, you get KDE. Admittedly, Jack's article wasn't a full review of the distro.
Some people like KDE, some do not. I certainly don't love Gnome, I just find it easier to "tolerate" than KDE. If I'm going to install a "stripped-down, hard-core, gotta love the CLI" Linux distro, I don't want either of them. (And when I built my LFS installs [2 of them] I certainly didn't use either of them.)
And I'll quote myself: """I'm not saying "Don't have a window manager..." If it bundled with (or at least easily gave you the option to install) Xfce, my personal favorite FVWM or your [1] precious Enlightenment I'd be downloading an .iso right now.
"""Guess what: I'm downloading an .iso right now.
[1] That was referencing Jack, BTW. He's published several articles on how much he prefers Enlightenment.
You should add something like "Need to try it again", or "Need to come back" to your options list. I've first tried Slackware at the end of 2004. I wanted to try out something new that would work fine on an old PII with 64M RAM, to use for miscellaneous services (Samba, printer sharing, etc). Slackware took a bit of time configuring, but it worked flawlessly. Since then, I went back to Fedora, and then to Gentoo, which definitely deserves checking out. It's not much different from Slackware in terms of configuration, plainness, and is about choice. I guess it's time to check what Slackware is up to.
When I started looking for a Linux OS a few years ago, I wanted a small memory footprint at boot, something that ran fast on older hardware, and something that provided an X window manger that didn't consume a lot of memory. I found Crunchbang. Have your tried it? Originally based on Ubuntu, Crunchbang is now based on Debian. I love it and have stuck with it. Even though I did not have a lot of experience with Linux, I have had growing pangs learning the Linux OS with Crunchbang. Sure it works out of the ISO. What you learn comes from using the OS like drivers, uninstalling apps, and the like. If you have not tried it, why not give it a try. I love to run it off of a 2 GB thumb drive. I run it on an old Toshiba laptop and an old desktop 2.4 GHz CPU. I also run it with OpenVM and VMware Player. No problems.
Coming from a UNIX background I love Slackware for the way it tries to stick to the standard[1] UNIX way of doing things.
For me that makes it feel more like home and it is easier to configure right. When the budgets did not leave any room for HP, IBM or Sun systems, there were always the possibility of a stock server (and in some cases, any old PC) and a Slackware install disc.
The slow release cycle and well tested patches, where everything has to be rock solid takes some of the fear of upgrading and patching out of my working day. These days, slapt-get and a few well crafted scripts will see your system running with very little work.
Slackware has a little higher learning threshold than the newer distros but the lessons you learn are very valuable for any *nix system, and it is fun[2].
I *love* it.
-RG.
[1] - for wildly differing values of "standard".
[2] - In much of the way S&M can be said to be an expression of tenderness. YMMV
For me that makes it feel more like home and it is easier to configure right. When the budgets did not leave any room for HP, IBM or Sun systems, there were always the possibility of a stock server (and in some cases, any old PC) and a Slackware install disc.
The slow release cycle and well tested patches, where everything has to be rock solid takes some of the fear of upgrading and patching out of my working day. These days, slapt-get and a few well crafted scripts will see your system running with very little work.
Slackware has a little higher learning threshold than the newer distros but the lessons you learn are very valuable for any *nix system, and it is fun[2].
I *love* it.
-RG.
[1] - for wildly differing values of "standard".
[2] - In much of the way S&M can be said to be an expression of tenderness. YMMV
- Haven't tried it but I think I might give it a whirl -
I had to use "I have no opinion" instead.
I had to use "I have no opinion" instead.
It has certainly come a long way since I firsted started playing with it. I think that it was around 1993/94 when I first started using it and was pretty faithful to it until I found Debian and I have used Debian or distro's based on Debian ever since. I have a spare box at home that I might throw slack onto just for the nostalgia feeling.
Its a good distro and I am surprised that it isnt more popular amongst the enthusiasts.
Its a good distro and I am surprised that it isnt more popular amongst the enthusiasts.
I was totally able to relate to this article. I got into Linux 6 months after buying my first computer in December of '95. My brother steered my into minix and then Linux. It kicked my ass for several years while I learned everything I could, but the ease of M$ was hard to ignore. Eventually, ease of use developed in Linux land and I grew very weary of Billy Bob's Bugware. It is so far out of my life now that I wonder why anyone would use it. With Mac for people that don't care what's under the hood and Linux for weirdos like me that like to play with the innards and write code to make it do our bidding, that other choice just seems goofy and ill advised.
I think I'll buy me a nuclear powered computer so it has enough juice to run my antivirus and antimalware software all the time on everything. Huh? Why?
But I digress.
I got into Redhat at version 4.2 and largely stayed with it. I like it, and what's more, I know it, but the scholarly distributions of Slackware and Debian have always exerted a pull on me. While I can get lots of work done at the command line, there are holes in what I know. It sounds like Slackware has evolved enough to be simple(r) to use while still providing that blood and guts experience that separates the rangers from the infantry, the men from the boys, whatever metaphor works for ye.
I am running in Fedora 14, but will be installing Slackware in VMware to try and to learn from.
I think I'll buy me a nuclear powered computer so it has enough juice to run my antivirus and antimalware software all the time on everything. Huh? Why?
But I digress.
I got into Redhat at version 4.2 and largely stayed with it. I like it, and what's more, I know it, but the scholarly distributions of Slackware and Debian have always exerted a pull on me. While I can get lots of work done at the command line, there are holes in what I know. It sounds like Slackware has evolved enough to be simple(r) to use while still providing that blood and guts experience that separates the rangers from the infantry, the men from the boys, whatever metaphor works for ye.
I am running in Fedora 14, but will be installing Slackware in VMware to try and to learn from.
I tried it. What a bunch of work. I enjoy some behind the scenes work, but I also like to be able to use it. After installing in VMware, I was unable to bring it up to a KDE desktop. The others work, but KDE would be preferred. I would imagine that with enough effort I could get it going, but with no effort I could install a different distro and have it functional. Then I could poke around the innards when I want, and use it to do something when I want.
I don't regret all the work I did to learn the insides of Linux, but I'm also glad I'm not stuck in an eternal need to fix things that are broken and wait for a driver to get written by someone (else). It's enough to drive a person to Apple.
I tried, I'm done. Now I'm going back to Fedora. Have fun. Call me inept.
I don't regret all the work I did to learn the insides of Linux, but I'm also glad I'm not stuck in an eternal need to fix things that are broken and wait for a driver to get written by someone (else). It's enough to drive a person to Apple.
I tried, I'm done. Now I'm going back to Fedora. Have fun. Call me inept.
of The Great Communist Empire of Ubuntu...
http://ubuntulife.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/linux-world-map-large.png
http://bit.ly/l8DTlv
cheers
http://ubuntulife.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/linux-world-map-large.png
http://bit.ly/l8DTlv
cheers
...install and 'play' with VectorLinux.so I can say I'm a linuxhead. Apparently designed for Windy-polluted noobs, it claims to be based on Slack.
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