Thought I Might Drop a Note...

[Amateur_Doctor]

I was introduced to VectorLinux... today through a post at another distro's community (the LinuxBBQ to be exact). One of the users there posted a screenshot, I thought it looked like it had sane defaults, and decided to give it a spin on my T410. Couldn't be happier

I've only been using GNU/Linux since 2013-or-so, beginning with a journey from Ubuntu to distro-hopping to Crunchbang and eventually Debian Sid (a la LinuxBBQ). I've wanted to take a closer look at Slackware for a while and finally tossed Current on my HDD a week or two ago. I've enjoyed the Slackware philsophy and way of doing things, but wanted an easier way to get rid of the cruft the default 7+Gb install entails. VectorLinux looks like it fits the bill

I look forward to lurking and learning more in my Linux journey!

Cheers.

[sledgehammer]

Welcome.  I expect that you will enjoy vector linux and this forum.

[wigums]

ive been a slacker for 18 years
slackware -current is NOT for people who dont know slackware.
-current is the development branch and is often broken.
it has nothing to do with being the latest and greatest version of slackware
slackware prides itself on stability over the biggest number release of a program
(which can often times be broken)

as far as its size its always suggested to do a full install because
unless you know exactly what you're doing you will end up with a broken system.
and lets be honest. with the size of todays hard drives and the cheapness of them
worrying about the size it takes to do a full install is rather silly

with that being said Vector linux grows farther and farther away from slackware everyday
to the point that its really a stand alone distro all its own. but we do say "inspired by slackware"

[sledgehammer]

Wigums,

I have noted in other posts on this forum that Vector is reducing its reliance on slackware.  If you know, and have the time, could you summarize the reasons behind this move or point me to a post which has already done this?

John

[bigpaws]

There are no real posts detailing removing the reliance from Slackware.

In fact there is no documentation detailing the move or inspiration.

What I can add is what I have seen.

Vector found that trying to do things the way Slackware did them
was creating road blocks in development. Primarily due to size of
the development group. Keeping up was becoming a problem. The process began
to move towards a new installer and settings management. The next step
that has been done is a build package system. That system is stable and
a reliable using minimal people to run it. Dependencies are met unlike
Slackware. The development has also changed. Allowing faster turn around
times from start to release.

There are also changes in system processes that no longer match
Slackware. 

The 64 bit build has no correlation to the way Slackware has done it.
If you need to use 32 bit software in VL it is a challenge. Vector is not
able to add packages to create a multiple library system due to design.At
least not that I am aware of at the moment.

Slackware it is setup after adding packages from Alienbob
(an independent project per say). Then you can use 32 bit software
as well as compiling 32 bit software. Alot of the software ia 64 bit and
many never see the need or reason for 32 bit software. Which I guess
would be the reason that Vector went the direction it did .

Which is why it is recommended to only use Vector packages.

So Vector is inspired but not the same as Slackware.

I hope this answers your question.

Bigpaws

[wigums]

excellent explanation

[sledgehammer]

Thanks Bigpaws. Very much.  I love the simplicity and reliability of Vector.  Too busy to do much testing of my VL 7.2 (64) ver ? system now, but so far it works great.

John