Slackware 13!!!!!!!

Hey everyone!

Slackware Linux 13.0 has just been released! The new version, which I'm currently searching for a mirror to download from, was just released and from what I'm reading, it has some MAJOR upgrades to it!

Slackware hasn't changed much in a long time. I still have a copy of 3.6 I got from my best friend which was released I think before I even had a computer. So needless to say, it's a really old version of it, and I installed it to see what it looked like, and saw that the installation was basically the same as the new version I had was (9.0) and the only changes I'd seen really were that Slackware started coming on more than one CD-ROM, and that was probably the biggest change over all these years.

Not anymore though; According to the release, a HUGE number of things have been upgraded, and not just that, but now, they have a new package management system that instead of using .tgz packages, uses .txz packages.

Also, it should work right out of the box without having to touch an X configuration file. Just install and start X or use the old init 4 method, and it should work. This isn't anything new for me, I've been doing that for years. The only time I change X on Slackware is when I'm changing the Mouse part so that my Scroll Button works as a scroll option instead of just a way to middle click.

Anyway, I'm looking for a mirror right now to download from, and once I get it installed and running I'll maybe do a post on what I think of it.

http://www.slackware.com

I say! gore old chap,

There should be a torrent here:

http://slackware.com/getslack/torrents.php

;)

I will give this one a go out of respect for youself..............nihil is getting slack in his old age?

:D

I will see if I can find the Slackware-BillyWindoze thing I posted years ago

:lildevil:

It's high time you write a good "get to know - linux" guide.. not acting noob or asking for spoon feeding.. I really think it will help you a lot..

All i've seen are broken guides to start off with linux answering only which is the easiest disto .. but no one goes into the shell part or commands part..

Just a suggestion..

OK, so last night when we got home from seeing Halloween 2 (Rob Zombie's) I saw that my downloads were done.

I found an FTP server that had all 6 CDs and the DVD. The first three are the only ones you need, the rest are for sources.

I finished uploading the ISOs to my FTP server, then downloaded them on my quicker Desktop to make the CDs for it, and once the first three were done, I started to install on my test machine.

I finished installing and as normal, it boots up in init3 with no GUI, and I left it that way to do some basic set up stuff I always do with Slackware.

Now, a minute ago, I just loaded up X for the first time. (I typed init 4 as root).... My jaw dropped. The load screen looks like it's from some form of science fiction movie.

I logged in, and again, my jaw dropped.

I'm not even joking when I say this - Slackware 13.0 default, looks like a special FX movies loading up. I'm amazed.

I'm MORE amazed because of this:

The machine I installed on is my test machine, which normally only runs Windows 98 SE, FreeBSD, and Slackware. The reason is mostly because it's a REALLY old box. I mean REALLY old.

Here are the specs:

192 MBs RAM
8 MBs ATI video
433 MHz Celeron Processor

It's my Mom's old Gateway essentials.

Yet it's loading KDE4 and not crashing. How?

Windows Vista doesn't have this many GUI effects, neither does OS X, and they need WAY more hardware than this. So how can Slackware install and run on this old hardware without issues?

The machine does lag a small amount, but, I expected it to lag the whole time. I'm kind of shocked such a low end OLD machine can even handle KDE4 considering the movie like Special FX it has, and I'm wondering how it's going to look on a faster box.

Anyway, I'm impressed to say the very least. It's kind of amazing, and I'd go as far as saying this already has "gore's stamp of approval" which anyone who's read my reviews knows I only do that in rare cases of a good OS or software package, and I don't give it to everything.

I can't give it the stamp YET though. As I pointed out, a lot of things have changed in this release, and I'm not done testing yet. I think first I'll test the new package format.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ByTeWrangler

It's high time you write a good "get to know - linux" guide.. not acting noob or asking for spoon feeding.. I really think it will help you a lot..

All i've seen are broken guides to start off with linux answering only which is the easiest disto .. but no one goes into the shell part or commands part..

Just a suggestion..

---

Lol things sure have changed here. For a while I was getting some crap from people because I was writing to many tutorials on what was considered "Easy" subjects.

Nihil probably remembers some of this from a few years ago when I was actually writing quite a few things on here and said in one of my threads that I was thinking of writing a Unix style guide, and like 2 members here were basically saying that it was a stupid idea and that everything I wrote was stupid and that basically I was writing things that ANYONE could easily do. When I did a whole series of installation tutorials was about the time I got crap for it. The idea was, from the people complaining, that I shouldn't write these because anyone could install them and it wasn't hard. My argument ran better because I had like 4 people asking me for permission to print them out for ther jobs at work.

I also did an intro thing for Vi. One of the complaints there was that "Well anyone who reads a book could learn this" even after I pointed out that if everyone WANTED to read a 200 page boring book no one would ever need tutorials for anything.

I did do a couple things here and there I was writing but some of them I just never posted here, and since I haven't worked on them in almsot 5 years they're so dated it isn't worth posting because half the info I wrote and researched myself is no longer even valid.

I had a great one I was pretty proud of which, at the time, here on AntiOnline it was popular to say "My OS is better than YOUR OS" and I decideed to make it an actual paper going over differences between Windows and the Unix world, but I just never posted the whole thing.

You have to remember though, that at that time, Windows was either XP, or before, and XP, which, is probably one of the best things Microsoft did other than Windows 2000 and NT since their Xenix days, was all that was usable.

No real OS should ever use Co Op Multitasking. That's a horrible idea that wouldn't ever work in any sense because Applications like to think they are the most important thing running, and when take away control of the OS and give it to apps, you're asking for trouble.

This was one of my biggest problems with some of the OSs I was talking about, but most of the time, it would be forgotten what I had said, and I'd end up being told I was trying to start flame wars even though I had a genuine argument.

Not everyone jumped on that of course; Some people here actually saw what I was doing, and thought it was interesting.

I once made a thread about DOS even. My idea was that basically, if DOS is single user, single task, doesn't that mean you could lock it down more because you could always have something running and prevent someone from breaking in by using the down fall of a single user single task OS as an advantage? How can someone break into your machine and run commands on it if it can only handle one at a time? Could you write an interface that would ALWAYS be running so no one could break in since it would run all the time?

I did that mainly because I wanted to start a discussion. Obviously the idea, though neat on paper, doesn't actually work so well, and considering how dated DOS is, doesn't really matter anymore.

It was kind of cool though, I mean, some people did scratch their heads for at least a minute thinking "Wait, would that work?".

Security through lack of features ;)

And it sucks... right?

What sucks?

Gore stop wasting time and write up a nice article about this slack13 prease. :)
As i won't be downloadin the .iso or giving it a test, simply because i don't have the time nor spare machine atm. :(

as i've said before who cares what some people think, there are always people ready to complain about something they dislike or just plain don't understand. ;)

I've tried many times to start using Linux (almost all flavors).. i mean on the side at least to learn.. but i've lost enthusiasm somewhere down the line.. Maybe it's because I started to use all at the same time or i just didn't keep the vm long enough..

Anyway i have actually downloaded CBT Nuggest for Linux :D .. Maybe get some more knowledge into me.. I really want to learn openBSD .. Somehow i've always liked the project and the OS.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ByTeWrangler

I've tried many times to start using Linux (almost all flavors).. i mean on the side at least to learn.. but i've lost enthusiasm somewhere down the line.. Maybe it's because I started to use all at the same time or i just didn't keep the vm long enough..

Anyway i have actually downloaded CBT Nuggest for Linux :D .. Maybe get some more knowledge into me.. I really want to learn openBSD .. Somehow i've always liked the project and the OS.

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If you like OpenBSD, just get FreeBSD, and shut everything off. It'll be almost the same thing. There really isn't much OpenBSD does that you can't do with FreeBSD, and FreeBSD is way easier to install and set up.

That and you don't have to put up with Theo or whatever his name is... You won't have to put up with his ego. Learning Linux today isn't even something you'd need time for. If you want to learn Shell stuff, sure, it takes a little while, but, using it, is just like using any OS now. Those days where it was hard to install or configure are gone now.

It gets boring at times.. to be honest i really don't have many people here who are into exploring or computing for that matter.. None of my friends are into computing except CS or warcraft and WoW .. :|

So it's me trying all the time and if get tired it's again me trying to figure out stuff with not really anyone to ask out there.. I am not saying google is dead but searching on google isn't same as asking someone and getting an answer or guidance from a person.. I might just start with Linux one more time.. I'll go ahead with ubuntu (Yeah yeah you hate me now :p :D) or maybe openSuse :)

Ill be putting up my question's soon .. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ByTeWrangler

It gets boring at times.. to be honest i really don't have many people here who are into exploring or computing for that matter.. None of my friends are into computing except CS or warcraft and WoW .. :|

So it's me trying all the time and if get tired it's again me trying to figure out stuff with not really anyone to ask out there.. I am not saying google is dead but searching on google isn't same as asking someone and getting an answer or guidance from a person.. I might just start with Linux one more time.. I'll go ahead with ubuntu (Yeah yeah you hate me now :p :D) or maybe openSuse :)

Ill be putting up my question's soon .. :)

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I hate WoW, a lot.... lol.

Anyway, here is something that not everyone on here knows about me:

I've literally held hands with 3 different members on here helping them not only install Linux, but then after I took like 8 hours once helping Phishphreek after installing SUSE, helped him over IM to set the thing up. I'm sure Phishy remembers the day I spent HOURS helping him configure stuff.

I pretty much have a BUNCH of PMs in my inbox from people thanking me for helping them get up and running. They didn't want to ask in public for help for fear of someone thinking they would be called stupid for not knowing something, so they sent me a PM, and I helped walk them through set up and learning how to use it. I've done this so many times I had to one day clean out my inbox because it was like full. I'm not saying every member here has sent me messages asking for help, but I've helped at least 20 members or so on here get up and running.

If you want help from me, simply ask, I won't call you stupid, or lazy, or assume you know everything with an OS you've never used much. I'm not like that. You can ask me either in PM, or make threads.

Just know that if I help you, you DO have to read some things, but I won't simply say to Google it either. I have somewhere here a list of Websites where you can get Unix help.

So ask away.

and Ubuntu though not my favorite, isn't terrible, and certainly isn't changing how I feel about someone. I do think you'd be better off with something else though, not because I don't like it, but because I think Ubuntu still has that no Root thing, which makes it harder to understand what you're being told on a screen VS what you are able to do.

Do you have an old machine you're using as a door stop? I can help you pick a distro that's right for you and help you set it up.

This is a check list for you to go over:

1. What are you going to use the machine for?
2. What kind of tools do you use?
Basically after this it's a matter of taste. If you want to do coding or something, ANY distro will work for that, but if you want other stuff, let me know. I can help normally.

I'm going to install over a VM (VMware). I'll be using it for testing and playing around.. Most importantly to get feel of using a bash or command line. So i can be comfortable with using live cd's (backtrack and others)..

As far as what kind of tools do i use .. well nothing.. I never got past using Linux on a VM.. I would have it for few days and later delete the VM.. Found it too boring when command lines came in..

I'll start using OpenSuse and let you know..

It might be end of this week because I just signed up for CCIE - security.. I need to get few stuff for it..

Anyway thanks a lot for the offer to help.. I'll be sending PM's to you soon.. :)

I personally love Ubuntu. You just have to get used to sudo for the command line and gksu for gnome. (I am not familiar with KDE but I'm sure there's an equivalent). It's inconvenient but it prevent people from screwing up my box, which is helpful when a lot of people use it simultaneously (sessions in a virtual PC). Also I can pop into and out of root for a brief session no matter who's logged in. IMO people look down on it because it's more user friendly than most distro's, so you don't get much practice setting stuff up and playing with it unless you really dig into it yourself.

sudo works on every version of Linux and BSD and Unix I've used, so it's not something most would need to get used to in the way you're describing; most of the books that talk about Unix and security will probably have at least one section somewhere that says to use sudo to do something as root, and nothing else other than the use of su without an arguments to get root for sys admin stuff.

As far as user friendly and looking down on that, I think most people who think "user friendly" can't be good, are probably the same people who talk about "The good ol' days of SystemV" in Unix when they weren't there for those days to begin with. (In other words they're talking out their ass).

I don't care if an OS is user friendly, as long as it doesn't get in the way. Going through a Windowed Environment trying to set something up, you're going to eventually hit the proverbial brick wall because there is only so much a click of a mouse can do until it gets to the point it actually takes longer and becomes more complex than typing out a line of text.

Even adding a user to the system is faster in a terminal than a GUI:

GUI way - Click on whatever menu you have, find the application that actually adds users, open, wait for it to load, then, add a new user, type in the info, save it, done.

Non GUI - useradd [Enter] type info, done.

That's not the best example, but I was awake for about 31 hours, slept for 4 hours, barely, and I'm awake again, so for now that at least shows the point.

Hey all,

I was testing out something to see if it was going to work or not, and so now that I can report back, this may be of interest to some of you:

The distro that was known as I-Slack, which is now NetSecL, which, for those wondering what it is, is basically a Security Enhanced and Security Minded version of Slackware. It comes with a lot of tools, and since the distro is so heavily based on Slackware (Some screens in this thing will still say Slackware on them instead of NetSecL) the packages it comes with are all .tgz format, which, until this new release came out, was the standard Slackware Package format.

They still work though, so, if you like, you can get NetSecL, or download packages you want to try out, and they'll install on Slackware!

Some of these don't want to work, and I think it's probably an issue with Libraries and so on with dependencies, but I've gotten a few packages installed now and they actually do work, so you can have Slackware and all the stuff you expect from it, but also add in tools you normally can't find a Slackware package for.

Some people may ask "Why would you do this? Wouldn't it be easier to just install NetSecL?" Well, maybe, but my Laptop doesn't play very well with NetSecL, so since Slackware does, I can use the tools from NetSecL, and install them on Slackware.

Also I like having the real version of Slackware since the security patches are so easy to work with that it just makes sense to me.

Anyway, thought I'd give a little tip.

I'm also still running this new version on my Laptop and it's working very well! I also still have it installed on my test machine, which I posted the specs for, and not only is it still working, I have now set up a test FTP Server to start testing how it handles huge loads (Like 30 gigs in MP3s and Videos) and it seems to stand right up to it without even flinching!

I decided to use Window Maker on the old box since that and FVWM2 work VERY fast on old hardware, and Window Maker in general is a beautiful Window Manager, so I'm using that on there and I'm also using it right now on my Laptop. My Laptop can handle KDE4 just fine, but I do like KDE3.X much more since it seems more "Desktop" like.... If that even makes sense lol.

But anyway, I'm using Window Maker if anyone cares. I also have the Enlightenment 17 Slackware package installer if anyone wants it :) It's the Enlightenment 17 installation package which you basically untar and it has shell scripts inside that install Enlightenment 0.17 ALL dependencies included, for Slackware Linux. I've tested it and got it working on everything from 10.2 - the present new release without any problems.

hey gore why not some screenshots of hot slackware??
im waiting to see them..
right now im using FreeBSD..:rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rotoR*46

hey gore why not some screenshots of hot slackware??
im waiting to see them..
right now im using FreeBSD..:rolleyes:

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I had FreeBSD 7.1 on my production box (The machine I use to make all the music I do, and listen to music, and watch movies and stuff) it's great.

Anyway, I've got a bunch of screen shots all over AO of my installs. I think I have almost all of them around here somewhere. I'll post a few though so no one has to go looking around for them, in a little while.

I was going to take some new ones anyway after getting some new stuff for Window Maker. I have Screen shots of Slackware with KDE, Gnome, Window Maker, Enlightenment 0.17, FVWM2, XFCE, and both TWM and MWM which look like the 1980s lol. They're REALLY fast though.

I'll dig them up in a little while and post some in here. Not sure why I didn't to begin with. Must be that 3 hours of sleep in the last 72 hours thing.

Does anyone else have this installed yet? I'd be interested in having some screen shots of other people's machines if they have it. I'll post a few in a bit like I said, but if anyone else would like to join in, feel free to at any time :)

Here it is:

Slackware with Enlightenment 0.17, running on a machine that has this:

8 MB ATI Video
192 MBs RAM
433 MHz Celeron Processor

All the stuff you see on screen moves around. The rain drops in some of the shots I took fall from the clouds, and the Snow, well, that one has been around a while, but the Fire at the bottom can not only change color, it moves like a flame.