this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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You got it from a friend on a pile of slackware and floppies labeled various letters. It felt amazing and fresh, everything you could need was just a floppy away.
Then we got Gentoo and suddenly it was fun to wait 4 days to compile your kernel.
I remember my first Slackware installation from a pile of floppy disks!
I also remember that nothing worked after the installation, I had to figure out how to roll my own kernel and compile all the drivers. Kids today have it too easy.
shakes fist Now get offa ma lawn!
I tried compiling gentoo a bit later, upgraded from windows 95. Could never get to a login screen, I quit, and started using Linux later when it was easier to install
I remember I had over one hundred floppies to install it all. And those were just for the stuff I was interested in. This was circa 1996. I bought Red Hat 5.0 a year or so later. It came on 4 CD-ROM's and was cheaper than that pile of floppies had been.
Is Slackware just pirated software?
No, it’s one of the first Linux distributions
Thanks! The Wikipedia was an interesting read. It seems it was closed source? That’s an interesting Linux method
Slackware is still around, no past tense. What makes you think it was closed source?
That's just the way things were done back then. Slack has been around long enough that that's just the way it is.
That doesn't make the source code proprietary or non-open, it just means it isn't a community driven project.
It is a community-driven project, but there is no structured way to join.
You can become a member of the community when Patrick Volkerding or one of the lead devs ask you.
I've been in contact with them for a while and ultimately decided against contributing.
They acted too much like old men when you step on their lawn, and I don't see the point in this distro anymore, apart from it being a blast from the past.
Literally everything it does is done better by others now.
Looks pretty open source to me https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware-current/source/