[Peace-discuss] Slackware Linux and FOSS

[E. Wayne Johnson]

Slackware Linux, the oldest version of Linux (GNU/Linux) still 
maintained, marked its 25th anniversary this week.
https://fossbytes.com/slackware-birthday-25-oldest-active-linux-distro/

The Slackware <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slackware> Linux 
distribution is so named after the tenet of Slack,
a satirical concept borrowed from the parody SubGenius cult.
The idea was that Slackware ought not be taken too seriously.
The subgenii are said to be anarcholibertarian and
critical and subversive to the concept of the American Dream.

Slackware is often criticized for being rather tech-y and in the 
province of geek-y computer types.
I am a veterinarian not a computer guy but I build my own computers from
components that I purchase new and scavenge from junked parts.
I use Slackware-64 -current as my "daily driver".
I dont need to spend a couple of days deleting junk and adware off
of my new computers so that they can function optimally.

My computer belongs to me and I neither need nor want
any gates, or windows hindering nor taunting me,
nor any nut jobs looking over my shoulder
nor telling me what to do or what not to do
for their ultimate profiteering at the expense of
my wherewithal nor my liberty.

This mailing list spamming your mailbox exists and runs on a Linux-based 
machine,
albeit perhaps running Ubuntu Linux rather than Slackware, but FOSS 
nonetheless.

In the olden days, computer companies provided the source code because 
it was recognized that it was imperfect
and often needed adjustments and there was a sort of group effort in 
keeping things going.
Open source was essential for the day to day operations.

Today open source software is more part of a community effort.
There are various opinions on what constitutes "free".
For some free is free like free beer.
Others say there aint no such thing as a free lunch and the community
should contribute something to support those who sacrifice their time.
At the far end is pseudo-FOSS where there is some quasi-beneficent 
corporatism
and the software frequently will "phone home", Microsoft style, and 
tracks userland activities
while discouraging tinkering under the hood and
disparaging "3rd party software".

I might use BSD but I am turned off by their logo.
Slackware has no official logo but sometimes Tux is shown with a pipe
(ceci ne pa une pipe | ).

I use NVIDIA's "commercial" but "free" drivers because they just
plain work better than the FOSS -nouveau- drivers.

I was very much as latecomer to Linux.
I had a programming project on pig growth modeling in the 90's and got 
very tired
of being jacked around by problems with MSDOS.
But I stayed with Microsoft software until a few years ago.
Windows 8 and .docx and .pptx files were among the last straws.

I got an extra computer as part of some used office equipment we bought
so I decided to install Linux on that machine.
The thing that put me off about Slackware at first was that you have to 
create
and format a partition and I was leery about fiddling with the FAT due to
some horrid past experiences with Winchester drives.
Knowledge dispels fear and I got past that minor point and found
that the installation of Slackware was no big deal.
Admittedly i had some experience with the command line and
actually like the terminal.

The power of the control of my computer that I have with Slackware Linux
has allowed me to accomplish some things in our laboratory that
I would not have done otherwise, and we published some abstracts
and got asked to talk at meetings as a indirect result, not to talk about
computing nor software but to talk about pig disease diagnosis and control.

I have not been an effective evangelist for Linux and FOSS.

But I sure ain't going back to picking corn out of the dirt with the 
chickens.

ewj
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