Story 2015-05-02 88YG ConnochaetOS, a Libre-Slackware-based Distro Resumes Development

ConnochaetOS, a Libre-Slackware-based Distro Resumes Development

by
Anonymous Coward
in linux on (#88YG)
ConnochaetOS, a Slackware- and Salix OS-based GNU/Linux Distribution, has announced a Release Candidate 2 for its version 14.1 after a several year hiatus.
This time it will be again a free/libre distro which contains only free software. It still focuses on lightweight usage and old computers - why there will be only a 32 bit version. To reduce the workload ConnochaetOS will be based on Slackware and Salix OS.

The versioning will follow the Slack/Salix versioning scheme to make things easier. So the next ConnochaetOS release will be version 14.1.
The ConnochaetOS website is also host to the slack-n-free repository, which provides Free Software replacements, including a linux-libre kernel, in the Slackware .t?z format.

Promising news for Free Software and Slackware fans alike.
Reply 13 comments

Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 2, Funny)

by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2015-05-02 16:28 (#88ZM)

....not a single mention of systemd. ;-)

Re: Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-05-02 21:09 (#891A)

You can get your fix if you check out the distro's web page, which states Technically ConnochaetOS follows the KISS principle (which means no systemd, for example). It is build on top of the GNU/linux distributions Slackware and Salix OS.

I'm curious, but leery. Slackware takes some learning, and this appears to be a one-person distro, which is hard to pull off effectively. I'm willing to give it a try though - I agree we need a replacement for init, but definitely am adverse to systemd (and the team pushing it).

So, how the hell do you pronounce this moustachioed distribution?

Re: Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-05-03 04:22 (#892R)

As long as they keep it simple, Slackware is remarkably easy to modify and customize. ConnochaetOS appears to be using the FreeSlack listing to blacklist the non-Free software that ships in Slackware. I have not tried it out yet and so I do not know if there are any other changes at this point, but FreeSlack was straightforward to setup. This should be maintainable by just a few people.

The maintainer did state on their forum that the primary reason for resuming is because of systemd frustration. Slackware, through Pat, has stated that they will hold out until it is no longer feasible; probably until KDE adds it as a dependency.

As for pronunciation, how's your Greek?

Re: Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 1)

by dnied@pipedot.org on 2015-05-03 18:55 (#8A7V)

Slackware, through Pat, has stated that they will hold out until it is no longer feasible
Do you have a link for this?

Re: Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 2, Informative)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-05-03 19:32 (#8A9M)

Re: Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 3, Interesting)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-05-03 19:35 (#8A9N)

Got it. Here's a quote from about halfway down this interview: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/interviews-28/interview-with-patrick-volkerding-of-slackware-949029/
LQ) Right now, there are a number of potentially intrusive technical changes coming to some of the major distributions. How do you feel some of these will impact Linux in general and Slackware specifically? Are there any you would considering merging into Slackware? (55020 & tuxrules)

volkerdi) Yeah, I see a few things coming down the line that may cause a shakeup to our usual way of doing things, and could force Slackware to become, well, perhaps less UNIX-like. I guess the two big ones that are on the horizon are Wayland and systemd. Whether we end up using them or not remains to be seen. It's quite possible that we won't end up having a choice in the matter depending on how development that's out of our hands goes. It's hard to say whether moving to these technologies would be a good thing for Slackware overall. Concerning systemd, I do like the idea of a faster boot time (obviously), but I also like controlling the startup of the system with shell scripts that are readable, and I'm guessing that's what most Slackware users prefer too. I don't spend all day rebooting my machine, and having looked at systemd config files it seems to me a very foreign way of controlling a system to me, and attempting to control services, sockets, devices, mounts, etc., all within one daemon flies in the face of the UNIX concept of doing one thing and doing it well. To the typical end user, if this results in a faster boot then mission accomplished. With udev being phased out in favor of systemd performing those tasks we'll have to make the decision at some point between whether we want to try to maintain udev ourselves, have systemd replace just udev's functions, or if we want the whole kit and caboodle. Wayland, by comparison, seems fairly innocuous, assuming that they'll be able to implement network transparency either directly or through some kind of add-on compatibility layer. Again, another thing that most desktop users don't have a lot of use for but many users can't do without. I like X11, and would probably stick with it if moving to Wayland meant losing that feature, even if Wayland's rendering method carried with it some benefits like reduced rendering artifacts or increased video performance. I guess we'll just have to see what the overall benefit is when it's far enough along to make such comparisons.

Re: Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 1)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2015-05-03 22:36 (#8AG2)

Hasn't KDE already been sucked in requiring systemd dependency?

Re: Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 1)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2015-05-03 22:37 (#8AG3)

Just thought about the fact that Slackware uses older/stable software. KDE 3.x definitely did not use systemd. Forgive me :

Re: Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 1)

by dnied@pipedot.org on 2015-05-04 09:04 (#8B79)

I run Slackware 14.0 (the one before the latest) and it provides KDE4, not KDE3. In my experience Slackware doesn't generally prefer older software. In fact, it's usually very up to date.

Re: Something definitely wrong with this article..... (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-05-04 13:24 (#8BMF)

14.1 shipped with 4.10.5, but Slackware-current has 4.14.3. It seems AlienBob is packaging KDE5, but is not pushing it to -current yet.

As a side note, Slackware was one of the first to get a Trinity Desktop package, but it seems no one has been packaging the newer releases.

SalixOS (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-05-19 00:27 (#9A1P)

My primary OS. LiveCD, easy to install, user-friendly. I've used Slack in the past, Salix isn't like that at all. Includes Gslapt for pre-compiled packages, and Sourcery for source packages. I haven't found anything it can't do, compared to the debs. Bonus: no PulseAudio, ALSA works great! Recommended for all except maybe complete linux novices.