4 ms·

I wonder which of my "pet" virtual machines will hit it first: slackware or voidlinux ?

Aaronstotle 7y ago
Out of curiosity, what do you do with either of these "pet" machines? I always have an idea to make a virtual machine cluster, or something similar, but I haven't taken the plunge yet.
- enriquto 7y ago
  I find them very useful for testing codes, as a sort of rapid-response travis. I run a script that pulls any new modification into each of my five "pets" (openbsd, slackware, freebsd, voidlinux+musl, dragonflybsd) and runs the tests. Since the systems are so different, it is very easy to break something. Since you notice it immediately (and not after waiting 1 minute for the travis answer) you develop a sense for avoiding non-portable things.
azinman2 7y ago
Slackware... they still active? No new stable builds in 4 years but seems to get security updates curiously. Their store leads to an error page in what looks like Chinese, confusingly.
- smabie 7y ago
  http://www.slackware.com/changelog/current.php?cpu=x86_64 http://www.slackware.com/changelog/current.php?cpu=x86_64 The changelog seems to be, uhh, changing, so that's good I guess. I'm not sure they have many users left though.
  - smhenderson 7y ago
    We're around and it gained a bit more attention during a recent system wide change to many, more mainstream, distros that I'm sure most people here on HN don't really want to talk about (again). I like it because it leans more closely to traditional BSD systems than System V variants like Red Hat.
- charlesdaniels 7y ago
  Slackware still lives. I'm running it on my daily driver right now. I actually just started using Slackware a few months ago too, so it's gained at least one new user in the last 12 months. Many updates are pushed to https://slackbuilds.org/ https://slackbuilds.org/ every week. Things definitely seem to move slower than on other OSes, but I much prefer it that way. I still run a supported LTS kernel and a supported LTS Firefox release; as long as security updates keep coming I don't feel the need to upgrade to newer software by and large.
- smhenderson 7y ago
  The store thing is a sad state of affairs. Basically, as I understand it, the store was not run by Patrick Volkerding but by a third party that agreed to share profits with him from sales of Slackware branded merchandise. Patrick states that after a few years and much review he was basically being ripped off by them and withdrew permission for them to continue. Although helped by many volunteers Slackware is mostly a one man show and Patrick's income from the project was basically drawing down to zero. It seems to be a long, drawn out affair and I'm trying to come across as neutral here as I'm sure I don't have all the information. But I'll admit some bias as I started my life with Linux using Slackware from a CD that came with a book about Linux, I think in 1994, maybe early 1995. I switched to more mainstream distros at some point based on me using them at various jobs but always liked the idea of Slackware (the most BSD like Linux!). And I'm posting this from a laptop running -current. Yes, 15 has been a long time coming but Patrick continues to publish updates and the Slackware Security mailing list is alive and active. I'm off topic here so I'll wind this up with a note that the GCC package for Slackware Current is gcc-9.2.0-i586-4.txz. So I'm sure 9.3 will be coming along soon, though not as quickly as with some other distros. For those interested in more about the store I found the most relevant information here[1] when I last went looking for a way to contribute money to the project (i.e. to Patrick). [1]https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/donating-to-slackware-4175634729/ https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/donati... edit: grammar
smhenderson 7y ago
Their both on 9.2 in their "current", rolling releases so I guess the race is on!
asymptotically2 7y ago
It landed in the Gentoo tree 12 hours ago :D

Out of curiosity, what do you do with either of these "pet" machines? I always have an idea to make a virtual machine cluster, or something similar, but I haven't taken the plunge yet.

enriquto 7y ago
I find them very useful for testing codes, as a sort of rapid-response travis. I run a script that pulls any new modification into each of my five "pets" (openbsd, slackware, freebsd, voidlinux+musl, dragonflybsd) and runs the tests. Since the systems are so different, it is very easy to break something. Since you notice it immediately (and not after waiting 1 minute for the travis answer) you develop a sense for avoiding non-portable things.

azinman2 7y ago

Slackware... they still active? No new stable builds in 4 years but seems to get security updates curiously. Their store leads to an error page in what looks like Chinese, confusingly.

smabie 7y ago
http://www.slackware.com/changelog/current.php?cpu=x86_64 http://www.slackware.com/changelog/current.php?cpu=x86_64 The changelog seems to be, uhh, changing, so that's good I guess. I'm not sure they have many users left though.
- smhenderson 7y ago
  We're around and it gained a bit more attention during a recent system wide change to many, more mainstream, distros that I'm sure most people here on HN don't really want to talk about (again). I like it because it leans more closely to traditional BSD systems than System V variants like Red Hat.
charlesdaniels 7y ago
Slackware still lives. I'm running it on my daily driver right now. I actually just started using Slackware a few months ago too, so it's gained at least one new user in the last 12 months. Many updates are pushed to https://slackbuilds.org/ https://slackbuilds.org/ every week. Things definitely seem to move slower than on other OSes, but I much prefer it that way. I still run a supported LTS kernel and a supported LTS Firefox release; as long as security updates keep coming I don't feel the need to upgrade to newer software by and large.
smhenderson 7y ago
The store thing is a sad state of affairs. Basically, as I understand it, the store was not run by Patrick Volkerding but by a third party that agreed to share profits with him from sales of Slackware branded merchandise. Patrick states that after a few years and much review he was basically being ripped off by them and withdrew permission for them to continue. Although helped by many volunteers Slackware is mostly a one man show and Patrick's income from the project was basically drawing down to zero. It seems to be a long, drawn out affair and I'm trying to come across as neutral here as I'm sure I don't have all the information. But I'll admit some bias as I started my life with Linux using Slackware from a CD that came with a book about Linux, I think in 1994, maybe early 1995. I switched to more mainstream distros at some point based on me using them at various jobs but always liked the idea of Slackware (the most BSD like Linux!). And I'm posting this from a laptop running -current. Yes, 15 has been a long time coming but Patrick continues to publish updates and the Slackware Security mailing list is alive and active. I'm off topic here so I'll wind this up with a note that the GCC package for Slackware Current is gcc-9.2.0-i586-4.txz. So I'm sure 9.3 will be coming along soon, though not as quickly as with some other distros. For those interested in more about the store I found the most relevant information here[1] when I last went looking for a way to contribute money to the project (i.e. to Patrick). [1]https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/donating-to-slackware-4175634729/ https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/donati... edit: grammar

smhenderson 7y ago

Their both on 9.2 in their "current", rolling releases so I guess the race is on!

asymptotically2 7y ago

It landed in the Gentoo tree 12 hours ago :D