Slackware is the oldest surviving Linux distribution. In its early years, Patrick Volkerdin rolled up a kernel, init, libraries, desktop, and applications to make Linux easier for users. He doesn’t change anything, he doesn’t customize anything. Every component is exactly how the original developers intended.
Version 13.1 was released May 25 with Linux 2.6.33.4 and KDE 4.4.3. Slackware ships with other desktop options, such as Xfce 4.6.1, and lots of handy software. Slack usually includes Java, but most other browser plugins and multimedia codecs are left to the user to install. 13.1 still uses HAL and udev in order to grant users access to removable media without root privileges or sudo.
New to the desktop framework are ConsoleKit and PolicyKit. ConsoleKit handles “seats”, things like dealing with devices when switching from one user to another. PolicyKit is a system for fine-grained access control, allowing a non-root user to run certain tasks with elevated privilege, but more securely than if the entire task were simply run as root.
Finally, the installer is another area of Slackware that gets some negative comments from time to time. It asks a few questions during the process in a similar manner as other Linux installers. The most difficult aspect is the need to partition your disk prior to beginning the install setup. The installer disk comes with fdisk and cfdisk for this purpose.
So, all in all, besides the partitioning requirement and the lack of multimedia support, Slackware is just as up-to-date and easy-to-use as any Linux distribution.
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jonboy60
I’m a Malaysian, my name is Jon Loh (jonboy60) living in Kuala Lumpur and working in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Jonboy60.com is a blog magazine about Linux and other open source softwares. All about to a daily jobs or real life experiences I had since the year 2002 administrating Linux and Windows server in a hosting company. Basically i will be offering Linux tips, howto, tricks, latest news and tutorial. Contact Me for Career opportunities, business offers, Linux solutions for business or home, web and email server solutions, Linux consulting and expertise requests. Email to me on jonboy60{@}gmail.com. The site I’m running is VenCouture.com – Malaysia Online Fashion Shopping Boutique, VenCouture. We sell fashion clothes, sexy lingeries, baby clothing and etc.
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