Is slackware still widely used?

hibby , 11 months ago

Slackware may not be huge, but it is the base distro for Unraid.

housepanther , 11 months ago

Interesting! That’s news to me. Does Slackware still use the Sys V style init system or did the devs change it to systemd?

hibby , 11 months ago

I’ve only barely gone beyond the more “backup + Docker appliance” style front end of Unraid, so I’m not sure. They make it extremely difficult for the untrained to get where you can break stuff. I am mostly an Arch/Debian guy.

housepanther , 11 months ago

I haven’t used Debian in eons but I have respect for it as well. I really like anything and everything open source

hibby , 11 months ago

I’m a guy who prefers community based distros. They don’t have business decisions get in the way of the needs of the community. It ain’t perfect, but it’s worth the tradeoffs for me. Debian for stuff I don’t want to constantly mess with. Arch for the express purpose of constantly messing with (and sometimes messing up).

housepanther , 11 months ago

I actually have yet to break my Arch systems.

zzzzzz , 11 months ago

Unraid does not use systemd

Spacegrass , 11 months ago

Slackware doesn’t use systemd.

drwho , 11 months ago

BSD style initscripts.

housepanther , 11 months ago

Man, I might have to look into using Slackware again for the first time. No matter how much more comfortable I’ve become with systemd, I still hate it with a passion. If Slackware can handle at least XFCE well, preferably Cinnamon, it’s worth diving back into. Been 25 years though.

drwho , 11 months ago

I’m pretty sure it does.

docs.slackware.com/slackware:xfce

cinnamonslackbuilds.github.io

razieltakato , 11 months ago

Never heard about Unraid, but I hear about Slackware all the time.

hibby , 11 months ago

If you can manage a Linux server, you likely have no use for Unraid. If you want to put together a Synology type appliance out of PC hardware to run Docker containers and uses ZFS for backups, Unraid is a fairly user friendly option.

hugetechnerd , 11 months ago

@hibby @razieltakato I have an Ubuntu server with ZFS I’ve been using for a while. Haven’t seen the need for unraid personally.

Case , 11 months ago

I run a server on unraid.

Honestly, it works as a way to cut your teeth with a type 1 hypervisor.

Fairly user friendly, and the community seems to offer a lot of support.

That being said, I mainly use it as a file server and a place to host containerized stuff that doesn’t need to bog down a gaming rig.

I got the hardware for free, so other than upgading the CPU to 10 cores (used, 50 dollars, not bad) and paying for electricity, it just churns along doing its thing.