Slackware Linux

★ wanayoo — archive 1999 http://www.slackware.com/info/

General Information

News
Forum
FAQ
General Info
Get Slack
ZipSlack
Install Help
Configuration
Packages
ChangeLogs
Propaganda
Other Sites

General Information

What is Slackware Linux?

Slackware Linux is one of the many different Linux distributions available. Linux is a free operating system kernel that anyone can download and use. Different companies and people have taken that kernel and bundled it together with a nice collection of programs and an installation program. The end product is a Linux distribution.

Slackware Linux was one of the first Linux distributions available. Patrick Volkerding discovered Linux through one of his friends and became interested in its development. He had longed for a version of UNIX he could run on his system and this project looked very promising.

Shortly after discovering Linux, Patrick found that a distribution had been created. He downloaded SLS Linux and gave it a try. There were many bugs in that distribution and Patrick finally decided to make his own distribution. Mostly a "repaired" version of SLS. And that began the wonderful distribution known as Slackware Linux.

The Slackware Philosophy

From the beginning, Patrick has aimed at producing the most "UNIX-like" Linux distribution out there. Slackware complies with the published Linux standards, such as the Linux File System Standard. Patrick tries to follow what he refers to as the KISS Principle, that is Keep It Simple, Stupid! This idea has grown Slackware into one of the most popular, stable, and friendly distributions available.

Slackware Overview

Slackware Linux is a complete 32-bit multitasking "UNIX-like" system. It's currently based around the 2.0 Linux kernel series and the GNU C Library version 1.0.x (libc5). It contains an easy to use installation program, extensive online documentation, and a menu-driven package system. A full installation gives you the X Windows System, C/C++ development environments, Perl, networking utilities, a mail server, a news server, a web server, an ftp server, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, Netscape Communicator, plus many more programs. And Slackware Linux can run on 386 systems all the way up to the latest Pentium II systems.