Slackware is a Linux distribution. Slackware takes a different approach than other popular distributions such as Red Hat, Debian, Gentoo, SuSE, and Mandrake Linux. It might best be described as "UNIX-like", given its policy of incorporating only stable applications, and the absence of distribution-specific GUI configuration tools found in other varieties of Linux. Partisans have been known to say, "When you know Slackware, you know Linux... when you know Red Hat, all you know is Red Hat."
Slackware's approach to package management is also unique. Slackware's package management system can install, upgrade, and remove packages as easily as other distributions. But it makes no attempt to track or manage what are referred to as "dependencies" (i.e. ensuring that the system has all the supporting system libraries and programs that the new package "expects" to be present on the system). Debate on the relative merits of tracking or ignoring dependencies, while not as intense, is somewhat reminiscent of the "religious warfare" found in the longstanding UNIX "Vi versus Emacs" text editor debate. Slackware's approach to the problem seems to be well accepted by its often technically adept user base.
Slackware latest stable version is 9.1 (as of September 26, 2003), which includes support for ALSA, GCC 3.2.3, Linux kernel 2.4.22 kernel (but is 2.6.x ready), GNOME 2.4.0, KDE 3.1.4, and all the usual utilities.
There is also a current version that can be used if you like the bleeding edge distribution.
The first version, 1.00, was released on July 17, 1993 by Patrick Volkerding. The original 1.0 announcement can be found here [1]. It was based on the SLS Linux distribution and supplied as 90mm floppy disk images that were available by anonymous FTP. Slackware celebrated its 10th anniversary on July 17, 2003.
The name "Slackware" stems from the term "Slack," as defined by the Church of the SubGenius.
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You can save/restore your settings by using a floppy, HDD or USB keydrive. Run "configsave" and/or "configrestore" and then select your desired location.
LiveCDs
Slax
Slax is the Slackware LiveCD based in KDE, that weights only 190 MB, so it can be installed in a USB keydrive too.Stux
STUX is a Linux system that runs from CDROM (LiveCD).
STUX can automatically load and save main configuration and personal files on a writable partition. When STUX boots up, it look for a configuration files archive (named stuxconf.zip):
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