Although it is not a distribution that has great developments or a marked schedule, it is not even rolling relese, Slackware continues to advance and continues with its development. A few days ago we saw how it came to us the second beta of Slackware 14.2, the next version of Slackware that will update the distribution completely.
Among the new features that we can see in Slackware 14.2 is the inclusion of all the fixes that users have reported since the stable version and the first beta version. Something that is positive since it gives more stability if possible to the distribution. We have also seen how little by little Slackware 14.2 incorporates the latest versions of its package. So we can see how Firefox 44 is present, Pidgin 2.10, Gparted 0.25, SeaMonkey 2.39, Coreutils 8.25, etc ...
Slackware 14.2 will be with us shortly
If you want to try Slackware 14.2, in this link You will find the disk images of the 32-bit version and the 64-bit version. The release of the stable version is still unknown, but everything indicates that it will be sooner than ever, since the version presents great stability and a lot of updated software.
Slackware is not characterized by having a very up-to-date distribution, what's more, its development seemed to have stopped a long time ago But it was just an illusion since it has been going on for a long time. And that's great news since along with Gentoo, Debian and RedHat, Slackware was one of the first distributions to exist and one of the most free that existed, although it was not for everyone.
For using Slackware required great knowledge, but it seems that today, little by little, that problem has been corrected and any user can install and use it, although of course not like Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Despite everything Slackware 14.2 is close and surely more than one will be surprised when it comes out Do not you think?
It would have been interesting to mention the "quasi-official" Live version of the distribution. Ready to load and use version.
http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/slackware-live-edition/
Live slackware today and in the future to scrub everything that systemd carries.
It will not have the newest software but it is one of the most stable districts and one that makes the difference among the others.
cannibal district!
Slackware has been with me since version 12.2, after using several distros I stayed with it for its stability and although they do not believe it the ease of keeping it updated without losing stability and that they only update what is necessary to improve functionality and security and although the tools to manage packages (slakcpkg with the slackpkgplus, sbopkg and slackbuilds extension) do not solve dependencies but they do make the installation of programs and packages easy.
And although many thought that development in its stable version had stopped, in the current version updates and new packages were always being tested.
Slackware users hope we can enjoy this distro for many years to come.
Some details:
He says: "It's not even rolling relese ..." (sic), making it clear that such a thing could represent an advantage. First of all, it must be clarified that the concept of rolling release is nothing more than a new name to make an old idea fashionable, which Debian unstable and Slackware current, among others, have been implementing for many years. Secondly, being (or not) rolling release is only attractive in a certain environment, that of the desktop user who wants to always be up to date, sacrificing if necessary the stability of the system. A rolling release, unstable, current, bleeding edge or whatever it is called is, at best, not recommended on servers of any kind.
It says: "Along with Gentoo, Debian and RedHat, Slackware was one of the first distributions to exist ...". It must be clarified that Slackware is, at this moment, the oldest GNU / Linux distribution still in force, and incidentally the most similar to Unix. Debian and RedHat are also in that "historical" category. Gentoo, in comparison, is a much more modern distribution, I myself had been using Linux for years when Gentoo appeared, and before it there were many others, some still valid, such as SuSE (today OpenSUSE), Mandrake and Conectiva (later Mandriva and today Mageia), and several other lesser known ones, so that Gentoo does not fit into the same bag.
He says: "To use Slackware you needed a lot of knowledge, but it seems that today, little by little, that problem has been corrected ...". First of all, it must be clarified that this is not a distribution "problem", but rather a characteristic, which is associated with the fact that the installation, configuration and installation of packages are not associated with a graphical interface, and that they are carried out in " text mode ", or at most using ncurses, which for many is not only not a problem, but an advantage. And no, that "problem" has not been "corrected." Fortunately, Slackware remains true to its KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) philosophy.
Finally, we must add to the list of packages mentioned, the Linux Kernel 4.4.1
Regards!
Sergio, your details seem very accurate to me. Especially regarding the rolling release, for me personally it is the biggest advantage of Slackware.
I adhere to what you say, I think that it also influences the part of the "problem" that slackware is difficult is due in itself to the knowledge that today the "middle class" of users have, today those who by distros like slackware are people who they have already tried other distros that have started with something of the user friendly type that for some reason they bet on the "legendary" distros.
If I had to mention a disadvantage of the distro it would be the lack of documentation, although there is enough, it is still missing.
For example, I have noticed that distros like arch have managed to build an interesting wiki in Spanish, which slack has not yet been able to do. Although information on the internet in English abounds, that according to my criteria is problematic at some point.
Sorry for the mistakes, it was 4 in the morning when I wrote the comment, I hope it is understood. XD
The point at which you mention the lack of documentation in Spanish is very true, however, as you get to know the linux world you realize that many of the solutions for Debian, red hat, suse or others apply to slackware. And most importantly, you are getting to know Linux. Of course, that's not for everyone and Slackware won't be a majority distribution but I feel good about it.
I prefer Slackware THE Expert.
I was a Slackware user and like any distribution it has its pros and cons. It continues to have a community of users who enjoy its features and stability. I abandoned it because I no longer liked its non-inclusive and rather semi-closed development model, also that it is not very practical at the production level and to install on many machines. From my point of view it stands out as a home desktop system and small servers. I'm glad that Slackware continues to release new versions.