Slackware in 2026? Didn't know it was still around
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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For my bare metal personal systems, I just use Debian stable with backports. When that does not suffice, I manually build and install things from source.
Nix
No
Yes
Come to the dark side, we've got new Plasma, and exhausting manual configuration
It's there to solve your "This is boring" issue without having to do all of the system configuration stuff manually*.
I was able to package a nightly AppImage as if it were installed normally like an app, and I could reinstall the system if I wanted to, and it'd still be there. NixOS is the opposite of manual dependency resolution, it's dependency heaven. You can have unstable and stable repositories side-by-side, living in a utopic egalitarian society. You can write a configuration file that does everything. You can do anything with NixOS. NixOS is the one true god, all hail NixOS---
Ah, I see why you may not want to use it. Consider it though, it's genuinely good and trying doesn't hurt.
I haven't even told you about nix-comma or nix helper (nh) yet. May the, uh, flake be with you.
*You do have to write the config files, though you can just adapt someone else's configuration.
nix
Roll with Debian Testing? Or even SID?
Install a random distro once a week for the next 6 months.
Tumbleweed somehow gives me the newest Plasma with neither configuration nor manual dependency resolution exhaustion. It is not perfect either but it squares the circle of a stable rolling release distro surprisingly well.
And in the center of the graph you can find Fedora.
Far from perfect but the exact middle ground
Do people really be using Slackware these days? I'm on Bazzite atm and it's cool but a bit different esp with the ostree stuff.
Curious what the use case is for Slackware nowadays
Slack is great when you need to make something completely out of the ordinary. It's right there just one step removed from a system from scratch without GNU.
That said, embedded computers nowadays run full Debian. So I dunno what use it still has.
A few thousand people in the world, yes.
It combines the stability of Debian with the simplicity of Arch, and turns both up to 11.
Main selling point is that it never does anything unexpected.
You set it up and then it works the way you're used to, literally for decades.
Feeling superior to Gentoo and Arch users.
I see the main use case for Slackware, if youβre a Linux graybeard, who has used it for 20 years.
NixOS manages to be all of these at once except the manual dependency management
NixOS is indirect manual dependency management.
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A boring OS is a healthy OS.
Yeah, that's me comfortably sitting on Bazzite right now. There are definitely ways for it to improve, but I've only really ever had one issue in the last few months, and that was fixed the next week. I just get to use my computer, and it's nice.
I was about to say! Who the hell thinks their computer being reliable is boring!?
People who like fixing things.
Yeah but I like to tinker when I chose to tinker. Not randomly when I'm trying to get work done
I am one of those people, but I'm still annoyed when my tools don't work right. I hate having to fix something, only to find out that my tool I need for that also needs repairs. I use my computer's primarily as tools, so I almost always am at least a little annoyed when my computer demands attention all of a sudden.
Maybe there are others that are hobbyists. I guess if you're a computer tinkerer primarily, troubleshooting that crap can be like cultivating a zen garden, but it is the opposite for me.
I totally understand. Thatβs why I have a working Mac and a sometimes working Linux machine.
I think I just reached the point where my NixOS is configured exactly as I want, so now the system just works and works without me changing anything. π Iβm gonna have to start having sex since I can no longer justify it on the lack of time.
Literally me.
Which one?
Both
Don't show this image to my girlfriend
Iβm sure thereβs a window manager you havenβt explored yet.
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I'll never understand why some people have the need to constantly fiddle with their OS install. But, different strokes for different folks.
Look at Mr. "I have something better to do than build compilation queues for LibreOffice" over here.
In between gaming and gooning theres just no time left in the day for anything else.
/S
To invert an argument, prefix it with no- or capitalize the short form, for example to turn off --sarcastic (or -s), use --no-sarcastic or -S.
Fiddling is how you find out whatβs possible and what you like.
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