See also: Linux | Linux Distributions
Home Page: http://www.slackware.org
Some History
Adapted from Slackware Linux Essentials (http://www.slackware.com/book/)
Slackware was started by Patrick Volkerding in late 1992. He had been introduced to Linux when he needed an inexpensive LISP interpreter for a project. At the time there were very few distributions, so Patrick went with the distribution from Soft Landing Systems (SLS Linux). [ probably from Linux System Labs (http://www.lsl.com) ]. SLS filled over 60 floppy disks in disks sets of ten to twenty. A software package for SLS was simply a compressed tar file, so one could see where Slackware gets some of it’s package management from.
However, SLS had some problems, so Patrick started to fix little bugs as he found them. Eventually, he decided to merge all of those fixes into his own distribution for himself and friends. This private distribution quickly gained popularity, and in in April of 1993 Patrick made it available to the public under the name of Slackware.
Slackware was the first Linux distribution to achieve widespread use. It used to be called/distributed with Walnut Creek CDROM.
- Slackware Linux Essentials (http://www.slackware.com/book/) – The Official Guide To Slackware Linux
- Slackware Help (http://www.slackwarehelp.org/) – A Slackware help forum.
- Linux Slackware-Advocacy (http://www.slackware-advocacy.org/)
- userlocal.com (http://www.userlocal.com/) – A Focal Point For The Online Slackware Community
- LinuxMafia Slackware Resources Home Page (http://www.linuxmafia.org/) – (http://www.linuxpackages.net/)
- theage.com article (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/04/1033538761935.html) – “The Linux distribution that’s always in the black” – By Sam Varghese – an interview with Patrick Volkerding, the founder of Slackware
- Sean Dreilinger’s work regarding Slackware (http://www.durak.org/sean/pubs/ligs-slackware/) – a large set of articles
- CheckInstall (http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/) – A tool to create Slackware .tgz packages from “make install” scripts.
- How to secure Slackware Linux (http://www.c2i2.com/~dentonj/system-hardening) From one of the developers of SAStk comes a white paper on how to harden Slackware Linux.
- What’s the difference between Slackware startup scripts and System V startup scripts? (http://linuxtipps.sourceforge.net/show.php/en/faq/56.htm)
- zuul.slackware.com (http://www.slackware.com/~david/zuul/) – This site is reserved for Slackware related projects other than the actual distribution, ongoing development status of said projects, and things that are not yet ready for the main web site. — Of note, includes autoslack (http://www.slackware.com/~david/zuul/autoslack/source/README) – Autoslack is designed to keep your Slackware Linux system up to date automatically. It reads a configuration file to get the FTP site you wish to use, the distribution directory to use, and where to store the packages on your system. It will show what’s been updated based on what you have installed, what’s new since you installed, and optionally download and install the packages. — Unfortunately, the autoslack project appears to be dead.
TakeDown.NET -> “Slackware”