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Open Source Linux

Slackware, the Longest Active Linux Distro, Finally Has a Patreon Page (patreon.com) 49

Posted by EditorDavid from the Patreon-for-Patrick dept.
"Slackware is the longest active Linux distribution project, founded in 1993," writes TheBAFH (Slashdot reader #68,624).

"Today there are many Linux distributions available, but I've remained dedicated to this project as I believe it still holds an important place in the Linux ecosystem," writes Patrick J. Volkerding on a new Patreon page. He adds that Slackware's users "know that Slackware can be trusted not to constantly change the way things work, so that your investment in learning Slackware lasts longer than it would with a system that's a moving target... Your support is greatly appreciated, and will make it possible for me to continue to maintain this project."

TheBAFH writes: The authenticity of the Patreon page has been confirmed by Mr. Volkerding in a post in the Slackware forum of LinuxQuestions.org. "I was going to wait to announce it until I had a few more planned updates done in -current that would be getting things closer to an initial 15.0 beta release, but since it's been spotted in the wild I'll confirm it."
Slashdot also emailed Patrick J. Volkerding at Slackware.com last summer and confirmed that that is indeed the account that he's posting from on LinuxQuestions. At the time, he was still trying to find the time to get a Patreon page set up.

"I've been trying to catch up on nearly a decade of neglecting everything other than Slackware, but I'm at least getting more caught up."
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Slackware, the Longest Active Linux Distro, Finally Has a Patreon Page More

Slackware, the Longest Active Linux Distro, Finally Has a Patreon Page

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  • Has it been unable to accept donations for the past 25 years or something?

    • Re:Finally? (Score:4, Informative)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Sunday August 18, 2019 @01:12PM (#59099750)

      He had a web store selling media and merchandise but they were ripping him off big time. He barely got anything from them and ran into personal financial problems as well. Once people found out they started donations.

    • Re:Finally? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Noryungi ( 70322 ) on Sunday August 18, 2019 @01:23PM (#59099778) Homepage Journal

      Slackware has had an online shop for the longest time.

      It seems, based on previous posts by Patrick Volkerding, that the people who were in charge of running this shop have been ripping him off for years.

      The situation finally came to a head when Pat V broke all contacts with them and asked the community for support. Having a Patreon page is just one more step in this direction.

      If you'd like to contribute, Patrick Volkerding PayPal page is: https://www.paypal.com/paypalm... [paypal.com]

  • Yup, there was a time when being cool meant running slackware, back in the 90s.

    Less than 1 percent of Linux users run it now, excluding corporate use which would drive the percentage to near zero.

    • It wasn't just cool, it was a solid choice when you looked at the state of other distributions at the time. (Just my opinion first hand, i couldnt source anything to back that)

      In some ways i feel the direction of many distributions have taken over the years were both inevitable and a detriment to the personality they used to have. Slackware still has personality. :)

      • I'm sure it's great distro, wasn't questioning that.

        It's just that there are many alternatives that already solved problems of the various adjustments needed to run desktop software, so I find Linux Mint to be the best for personal use. Sure, any good slackware user could build up the exactly the same thing Linux Mint gives me right off the install disk... but would take time.

        • I use Mint on one of my machines because the Multifuction Canon printer has a binary blob compatible with it. Otherwise, Slackware is the preferred distribution.

        • 100%
          Actually when I was a Slackware user, it really wasn't so much of a choice for me. I was just in highschool, had a dialup internet connection, and so I just ordered a distribution from cdrom.com, that and a paper copy of the Linux Bible. I really didn't know much about it at the time, and I just learned with what I had, and it stuck for a long time. It was Slackware 3.4 if anybody cares.

          As a hobby for me, slackware was a dream. Right or wrong, I followed hotows in the bible, learned how to configure

        • Yep - laziness wins every time.

          I use Linux to do full disk backups of Windows PCs. I got a USB 3.1 Gen 2 drive dock so I could get 10 Gb/sec transfer (making it faster than SATA III, so not the bottleneck) only to find the latest Slackware didn't have a modern enough kernel to support this higher speed. Yes, I could have downloaded a built the latest kernel and gotten it to work. But instead, I downloaded Linux Mint which "just worked".

          So, I repeat: Laziness wins every time :-)

    • Re:still around eh? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Noryungi ( 70322 ) on Sunday August 18, 2019 @01:32PM (#59099800) Homepage Journal

      Less than 1% of Linux users? Care to back that assertion with solid numbers?

      Slackware is still a very popular distribution, and I know a few companies use it for stable infrastructure services (DNS, Proxy/Reverse proxies, Firewalls, etc). It is a very stable and regularly updated distributions.

      • Slackware is still a very popular distribution

        Care to back that assertion with solid numbers? I mean so far you have mentioned "a few". Sounds like a 1% to me.

        Asking for a citation is all good and fine, but don't provider a counter to the point which is completely uncited as well. Mind you given what is generally heard of Slackware and generally understood about it (barebones, highly customisable and therefore specialised) and given that they haven't jumped on the cloud / cluster / enterprise support bandwagon that propelled the likes of Ubuntu and Red

    • Um, or now, etc$ cat slackware-version Slackware 14.2 To quote someone from years ago, "Eat shit, a million flies can't be wrong!"

  • Slackware ... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Retired ICS ( 6159680 ) on Sunday August 18, 2019 @12:01PM (#59099584)

    I run Slackware as it is one of the few things left that has not been contaminated with systemd. There is also high value in the concept that as so it ran and behaved in the beginning (the 1980's) so it runs and behaves now. Quite refreshing, all in all.

    • Slackware was released in 1993.

      • Go easy on us aging computer nerds. Once you surpass age 40, 5 years is an acceptable margin of error. >50 yields +/-10 years.

        Did I ever tell you about the old 286 I had to program with punch cards? I had to walk uphill (both ways) barefoot on greased linoleum to compile my programs. I still run a BBS on a C=128. 64M of RAM? Try 64K! Get off my lawn you rascals!

    • It was not my first, but l eventually found Slackware through a man named "Wes" at the Tacoma Linux Users Group (TACLUG) in 1996. Slackware was a few years old in those days. It really helped me get myself "under the hood" so to speak in a Linux distro. I still use it today and have Slackware 14.2 installed in my full tower PC, an old Dell Optiplex, and my 2 laptops

    • Re:Slackware ... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday August 18, 2019 @01:03PM (#59099738)

      I run Slackware as it is one of the few things left that has not been contaminated with systemd.

      While I currently run systemd-free Debian, I am thinking about donating to slackware, just to make sure a distro stays around where that is actually the sane default, not something you can do only with some effort.

      • Slackware and OpenBSD are two projects I donate to, for that exact reason.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cb88 ( 1410145 )
        I wouldn't call no dependency management system sane... its archaic. And yes I've ran Slackware and VectorLinux for years back in college... still it is a distro I like. Slackware stability and development pace + pacman pacakge management would be near perfect IMO.

        I skipped over to ArchLinux before they went insane and turned against the OG Arch way...

        Currently reside on Gentoo... which is insane in it's own way.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          I wouldn't call no dependency management system sane... its archaic.

          Do you use hammers? Or do you also think that they work well is not good reason to use them, because they are an archaic design?

          Your argument has no merit.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by cb88 ( 1410145 )
            You mean instead of compressed air nailers... like are practically always used for 90% of construction nailing. Hammers are only used when you don't have an alternative these days. If you used only hammers you'd probably go out of business due to being too slow.

            Even in the 90's my dad was already using nail guns for most of the nailing he did on roofs... there was just no contest for how much work you can get done with a nail gun vs a hammer.

            The difference is there is no real drawback to having dependancy m

    • Slackware was easy to install and configure. I didn't need to google anything because they have good documentation. I can easily edit config files manually because they don't change every release. Ubuntu has some automated upgrade bullshit that has already fucked me over. It updates grub and clobbers the config. Yeah thanks for bringing over those lovely Windows features.

      • Sure. But Slackware is not scalable. By which I mean you need a 1000 more administrators to install 1000 slackware machines.

        This doesn't make Slackware a bad distro, it just makes it a bad fit for corporate environments. Corporate environments need an OS which can be automated to the greatest extend possible.

        Slackware is perfect for learning in great detail how a Linux machine works though. There's little abstraction in the way of seeing the actual machinery running. I started running Slackware back in 1995

    • Systemd is a problem from 4 years ago. These days we have far bigger concerns, such as the ability to boot a fucking distro without some cloud auto-provisioning service applying completely randomised network settings. Or some ill conceived security setting that magically came through with an update without prompting a file change or warning a user that the default kernel IP settings will prevent VMs from speaking to the rest of the world.

      I've been an Ubuntu user for a long time but I am seriously starting t

  • There’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting up a Patreon page... but I fear this means Patrick is finding himself lacking the motivation to keep plugging along with Slackware. And the people I’ve known who run Slack don’t seem like the type who’d be inclined to support a project financially for any length of time.

    Might be the beginning of the end...

    • Re:Uh oh (Score:4, Informative)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Sunday August 18, 2019 @01:14PM (#59099758)

      No he has plenty of motivation. See this long thread https://www.linuxquestions.org... [linuxquestions.org]

      • Wow, I just read some of that. That really sucks... I imagine he didn’t think he could afford a lawyer when he signed the contract for the storefront, but it sounds like a case study regarding why lawyers can occasionally be indispensable.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Noryungi ( 70322 )

      I use Slackware, and I support Slackware financially, through PayPal and probably through Patreon in the future.

      Do you?

      Contrary to what you seem to think, a lot of people who use Slackware like it enough to support it. This is a community that values Patrick Volkerding's work.

      • Do you?

        Since I don’t use it, why would I pay to support it?

        But I do hope your community turns out to be more in line with what you think it is.

    • Slackware was the first distro I ever tried. Couldn't get it working because of some problem with the modem I was using at the time. It wasn't a winmodem . . . it was a Diamond 33.6 if I recall correctly. Very nice modem. Frequently uploaded faster than most 56k modems anyway. Downloads? Not so much.

      Anyway I bought the CD from Slackware and everything. Might still have it somewhere. Regardless, now I'm just sending them $1 a month so enjoy Patrick!

  • I'd been waiting for him to post whether that patreon was his (or some impostor.) Glad he finally verified it! I still use Slackware for server and desktop.

    I was never sure what was up with that storefront anyway - I'd pay for the subscription, and then never get the next DVD - or I'd get the next DVD and they wouldn't charge me. The place was terribly mismanaged. Even though it's mostly available through downloads, torrents or direct, it was still nice thinking I was supporting him by getting that actual p

  • I just signed up as a patron. The least I can do, given as I have profited from Patrick's labors for over 20 years.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jmccue ( 834797 )

      Same here and when I saw it and signed up. I do not like PayPal , but I hear it is much better these days but I still try and avoid them.

      I and glad to see the patreon page here in /. I hope he gets enough + some to make a living with seeing it was one of the first easy to install distros.

      I sometimes wonder how things would have ended up without Slackware, I doubt SUSE would be were it is today if Slack never existed.

  • Slackware is a good distribution to learn Linux. The IRC has the most knowledgeable people I have encountered when it comes to computers. The way you install software is different, in that the package management system requires that you seek out and bring in dependencies. While it takes a while to get your system ready, once you do, you wind up with a stable, reliable OS. Maintenance is easy. But like setting up your system and installing programs, it requires research and work. The net result is a better u
  • Slackware was one of the earliest distros I used and the one I had used for the longest time until I moved to Arch and now Manjaro. Its a fine distro and deserves the support. Might go back to it coming to think of it.
  • So I never switched.
  • Patreon is not loading without whitelisting google, facebook and cloudflare, too bad.. I won't support those who refuse to host their own scripts.

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