Slackware 13.0 released with 64 bit support

Slackware 13.0 has been released. This new version of Slackware is considered a landmark release and contains many new features. The most prominent are as follows ...

1. An official 64-bit port of Slackware
2. Linux kernel 2.6.29.6 is the default kernel in Slackware 13.
   
3. KDE 4 (version 4.2.4) is the default desktop. Previous version of Slackware had KDE 3 bundled with it.
   

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Slackware 12.1 released

Which Linux user wouldn't know about the venerable Slackware ? The same one which has been elevated to cult status through the efforts of a single person Patrick Volkerding. Over all these years when flashy Linux distributions like Ubuntu rule the roost, Slackware has been successful in retaining its followers. Nay, Slackware user group comprises of a passionate set of Linux users who are keen on configuring their Linux box the old fashioned way namely editing plain text files. And these users have invariably mastered the art of configuring their Linux OS inside out.

A long time back, I had reviewed Slackware 11.0 and I found it every bit classic Linux and really took a liking to it. In fact, after I installed Slackware on my machine, I used to use it most of the time even though I had a couple of other Linux distributions installed on my machine too.

If you negate the latest versions of the packages that are bundled with Slackware 12.1, I believe not much has changed as far as installing it on your machine and configuring it. To know what are the changes in this new release, do read the official announcement.

Slackware 12.0 released

So after nearly a year since Slackware 11.0 was released, Patrick Volkerding has finally deemed it fit to release the next major version of this very popular Linux distribution namely Slackware 12.0. I have always been a Slackware fan and I especially liked its BSD style ways of maintaining the scripts which made configuring Slackware really simple once you get the hang of it.

Some of the new features of Slackware 12.0 are as follows :

• Use of Linux kernel 2.6.21.5 which is patched with Speakup to support speech synthesizers providing access to Linux for the visually impaired community.
• X11 7.2.0
• Support for fully encrypted network connections with OpenSSL,OpenSSH, OpenVPN, and GnuPG.
• udev dynamic device management system for Linux 2.6.x. This means Slackware now can automatically mount a USB stick as you insert it.
• New development tools for a wide variety of programming languages.
• Latest versions of different web browsers - the list includes Sea Monkey, Konqueror, Firefox 2.0.0.4, and thunderbird email client.
• KDE 3.5.7 - This is no surprise as Slackware is essentially a KDE centric Linux distribution.
• A number of GTK+ programs such as pidgin Instant Messenger, Gimp, Pan news reader and so on.
• Sun's Java runtime environment (JRE ver 6.0)
  

One thing I really wish to see included in Slackware and which has not (to my knowledge) been included in version 12.0 is a Personal Finance software such as GnuCash or KMyMoney. I personally would root for GNUCash as it is what I find most useful. And if Gimp, which is a GTK+ application can be included, it fails me why GNUCash couldn't be included too. But those are my inner ramblings.

And apart from that I find Slackware 12.0 to be a very robust, secure and user friendly Linux distribution. You can read the official announcement as well as check out the full package list to take a closer look at the packages that are included in Slackware 12.0. The preferred method of downloading Slackware is via torrents and a list of torrents for CD sized ISOs and DVD ISOs has been made available here.