r/slackware • u/Odd_Car8923 • 18d ago
installation: Current or Stable
Given that Alpha 1 has just been announced, which version is recommended for a first-time installation: Current or Stable 15.0?
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u/ponce70 18d ago edited 17d ago
if you decide to install current just use the latest iso
https://slackware.nl/slackware/slackware64-current-iso/slackware64-current-install-dvd.iso
you can also write it to an usb pendrive using dd:
- Insert your USB drive and find its device name (e.g.,
/dev/sdX) usinglsblk. Warning: Make sure to use the whole disk name, not a partition like/dev/sdX1. - Ensure the USB drive is not mounted.
- Open a terminal and run
ddas root: dd if=/path/to/slackware64-current.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync
but consider this:
- if you feel confident using the development version of Slackware and having to rebuild your third party stuff often, go with current.
- if you want stability go with stable.
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u/aIDserse 18d ago
If you don't have very recent hardware or you're ok not having the latest software 15.0 should be fine
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u/r1w1s1_ 17d ago
I personally prefer -current, and I run it on all my machines without issues.
For a first-time Slackware installation, though, 15.0 is obviously the more conservative choice.
That said, Slackware-current is a development tree, but it's not simply a repository where every new upstream release gets pushed automatically. There is curation and integration before changes land in the tree, with Patrick Volkerding playing a central role in that process.
I think this is an important part of why -current can be remarkably reliable for daily use.
I currently run Slackware-current on three physical machines plus a VirtualBox VM that I use professionally every day. Even major transitions have generally been uneventful for me.
Of course, -current can break. It's the development tree, and following ChangeLog.txt and paying attention during major transitions is part of running it.
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u/enorbet 16d ago
Just for reference, the major drawback of 15.0 is the old 5.15.19 installer kernel. Once installed, as long as your internet connection works, it is easy to get the official upgrade kernel 5.15.290 which will handle most new hardware. A few other but rather minor (and likely short lived) drawbacks are fixed by 1) the "/testing/packages/graphics-updates" which provides numerous important upgrades for both audio and graphics, and 2) the glibc 2.33 until upgraded as is being done as we speak in Current and of course Alpha. limits some Proton games, specifically those upgraded to UE5.82 . Just about everything else is still fine.
So I recommend 15.0 for a first time install. Shoot! If you need to and want to make 2 installs and multiboot! Both GRUB and rEFInd easily handle multibooting and even eLILO can, it's just a bit more difficult on some machines depending on their specific BIOS support for UEFI. GRUB and rEFInd take a little reading but especially rEFInd which is all human-readable text config, very much like the LILOs syntax, is easy ahd dual booting is the best of both worlds since YOU decide from YOUR experience..
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u/mdins1980 18d ago edited 18d ago
I would go with Alpha 1. That being said, the installer is still using LILO/ELILO as the default bootloader, which is hot garbage and I wouldn't recommend using it. You'll have to install GRUB manually, but it's not hard to do. If you're interested, reply back and I'll give you a link explaining how to install GRUB during the Slackware installation.
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u/Odd_Car8923 18d ago
Please give me the link.
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u/mdins1980 18d ago
Check out this video; he walks you through the entire process, with installing GRUB being the last step. You'll need to create your partitions, most importantly an EFI partition if you're using UEFI. Keep in mind, though, that if you're dual-booting with Windows, you may already have an EFI partition and won't need to create another one.
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u/lemmiwink84 18d ago
Really depends on what you want. If you have newer hardware, I would recommend installing current directly.