University of Glasgow and Slackware

I just noticed a bit on DistroWatch about a major university's Department of Physical Sciences' migrating their main logon server to Slackware... It seems that the University of Glasgow (in the UK) retired the old logon server because it couldn't handle the load any more. They needed a stable, secure, and easy to maintain operating system for the new one, so they chose Slackware for the job. Thanks to Shane Kelly at UG and anyone else involved in the decision!

Slackware 12.2!

The anxiously awaited Slackware 12.2 release is now upon us - here's the blurb on the home page:

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That's right, it is once again time to announce a new release of Slackware. With a shiny new kernel, many package updates, and the newly added ability to install from a Samba share, we bring to you the latest in the stable Slackware 12.x series. Slackware 12.2 ships with the 2.6.27.7 Linux kernel, the Xorg 1.4.2 X server (with many driver, library, and application updates), Xfce 4.4.3, KDE 3.5.10, simplified wired and wireless networking with wicd in /extra, package upgrade management with slackpkg moved into the main tree, support for non-usb-storage digital cameras through libgphoto2, pm-utils (tools to support suspend and hibernate through HAL), and much, much more. This release brings the system up-to-date without compromising stability or compatibility with the 12.x series.

More details may be found with the official announcement

If you like Slackware, please consider supporting the project by picking up a copy of Slackware 12.2 from the Slackware Store. The discs are off to replication now and pre-orders are being accepted for the official 6 CD or 1 DVD set. Also by popular demand, we now have black T-shirts with the original Slackware logo for sale. Check 'em out!

Thanks are due to the Slackware crew, the developers of slackbuilds.org, the fine folks on linuxquestions.org, IRC, and everyone else who pitched in to help make this another great Slackware release. We couldn't have done it without your help.

As always -- have fun!

Pat and the Slackware crew
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On a related note, we at SlackBuilds.org have just opened up our 12.2 offering, so enjoy!

Slackware 12.2rc1

Well, it's getting close, folks. After several months of development and testing in the -current tree, Slackware 12.2 is almost here. As a precursor, here are some notable changes compared to 12.1:

1. Addition of pm-utils, a collection of scripts which take advantage of HAL's quirks database to handle power management tasks (like suspend and hibernate). See README.SLACKWARE for details.


2. Addition of wicd, a graphical NetworkManager-like application, to /extra. Wicd doesn't yet support all of NetworkManager's feature set, but for most users, it's plenty adequate.


3. SlackPkg has been added to the main tree (moved from /extra).


4. libgphoto2 has been added.


5. Based on kernel 2.6.27.7 and upgraded udev, gcc, and many other libraries and tools are upgraded and added.

As an aside, there are always many requests for new additions around this time, but quite frankly, release candidate state is too late for most of those, especially if other parts of the system can/will use them if present. Things that are of general purpose use will certainly be considered, but you need to suggest them earlier in the development cycle, and be prepared to discuss the pros and cons of adding them. Sending a well-tested and clean build script, licensed under BSD/MIT or similar, is also strongly suggested... :)