Welcome to Slackware ARM version 13.1! For Slackware ARM we've come a long way since the release of version 12.2. 13.1 is the first release which uses the newer 'EABI', which is a new port built entirely from scratch. Since the EABI port began in July 2009, there has been intensive development and testing, and we're very proud to bring you this release! Over to Patrick Volkerding for the official announcment of Slackware 13.1 x86: We are sure you'll enjoy the many improvements. We've done our best to bring the latest technology to Slackware while still maintaining the stability and security that you have come to expect. Slackware is well known for its simplicity and the fact that we try to bring software to you in the condition that the authors intended. Slackware 13.1 brings many updates and enhancements, among which you'll find two of the most advanced desktop environments available today: Xfce 4.6.1, a fast and lightweight but visually appealing and easy to use desktop environment, and KDE 4.4.3, a recent stable release of the new 4.4.x series of the award-winning KDE desktop environment. We continue to make use of HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) and udev, which allow the system administrator to grant use of various hardware devices according to users' group membership so that they will be able to use items such as USB flash sticks, USB cameras that appear like USB storage, portable hard drives, CD and DVD media, MP3 players, and more, all without requiring sudo, the mount or umount command. Just plug and play. Properly set up, Slackware's desktop should be suitable for any level of Linux experience. New to the desktop framework are ConsoleKit and PolicyKit. ConsoleKit handles "seats", things like dealing with devices when switching from one user to another. PolicyKit is a system for fine-grained access control, allowing a non-root user to run certain tasks with elevated privilege, but more securely than if the entire task were simply run as root. Slackware uses the 2.6.33 kernel bringing you advanced performance features such as journaling filesystems, SCSI and ATA RAID volume support, SATA support, Software RAID, LVM (the Logical Volume Manager), and encrypted filesystems. Here are some of the advanced features of Slackware 13.1: - Runs the 2.6.33.4 version of the Linux kernel from ftp.kernel.org. The 2.6.x kernel series has matured into a stable kernel, and provides reliable performance for your desktop or your production server. In particular, Slackware ARM provides support for: - The ARM Ltd "Versatile" development board. This primarily is used to run Slackware ARM inside the QEMU emulator. - The Marvell Kirkwood series, including the following devices: [ ] Marvell SheevaPlug Development Kit (original version) [ ] Marvell SheevaPlug Development Kit with eSATA [ ] Marvell GuruPlug Reference Board [ ] Marvell OpenRD-Client & OpenRD-Base - System binaries are linked with the GNU C Library, version 2.11.1. This version of glibc also has excellent compatibility with existing binaries. - X11 based on the X.Org Foundation's modular X Window System. There's been much activity in the X development world, and the improvements in terms of performance and hardware support are too numerous to mention them all here. - Installs gcc-4.4.4 as the default C, C++, Objective-C, and Fortran-77/95. - Support for fully encrypted network connections with OpenSSL, OpenSSH, OpenVPN, and GnuPG. - Apache (httpd) 2.2.15 web server with Dynamic Shared Object support, SSL, and PHP 5.2.13. - PCMCIA, CardBus, USB, IEE1394 (FireWire) and ACPI support. This makes Slackware a great operating system for your laptop. - The udev dynamic device management system for Linux 2.6.x. This locates and configures most hardware automatically as it is added (or removed) from the system, and creates the access nodes in /dev. It also loads the kernel modules required by sound cards and other hardware at boot time. - New development tools, including Perl 5.10.1, Python 2.6.4, Ruby 1.9.1-p378, Subversion 1.6.11, git-1.7.1, mercurial-1.5.2, graphical tools like Qt designer and KDevelop, and much more. - Updated versions of the Slackware package management tools make it easy to add, remove, upgrade, and make your own Slackware packages. The slackpkg tool can also help keep your Slackware system up to date. In addition, the slacktrack utility (in extra/) will help you build and maintain your own packages. - Web browsers galore! Includes KDE's Konqueror 4.4.3, SeaMonkey 2.0.4 (this is the replacement for the Mozilla Suite), and the immensely popular Firefox 3.6.3, as well as the Thunderbird 3.0.4 email and news client with advanced junk mail filtering. - The KDE Software Compilation 4.4.3, a complete desktop environment. This includes the KOffice productivity suite, networking tools, GUI development with KDevelop, multimedia tools (including the amazing Amarok music player and K3B disc burning software), the Konqueror web browser and file manager, dozens of games and utilities, international language support, and more. - A collection of GTK+ based applications including pidgin-2.7.0, gimp-2.6.8, gkrellm-2.3.4, gxine-0.5.903, xchat-2.8.6, xsane-0.996, and pan-0.133. - A repository of extra software packages compiled and ready to run. This includes the Java(TM) 2 Software Development Kit Standard Edition, an MPlayer browser plugin, and more (see the /extra directory). - Many more improved and upgraded packages than we can list here. For a complete list of core packages in Slackware 13.1, see this file: ftp://ftp.armedslack.org/armedslack/armedslack-13.1/PACKAGES.TXT Downloading Slackware 13.1: --------------------------- The full version of Slackware Linux 13.1 for ARM is available for download from the Slackware ARM FTP site. ftp://ftp.armedslack.org/armedslack/armedslack-13.1/ Download instructions are contained in the installation instructions which can be found here: http://www.armedslack.org/doku.php?id=installation Purchasing Slackware on CD-ROM or DVD: -------------------------------------- Slackware ARM is available for free download and whilst it's an official port, it's maintained independently. To support the project, please consider purchasing the CDs and DVDs from the Slackware store: http://store.slackware.com Other Slackware items like t-shirts, caps, pins, and stickers can also be found here. These will help you find and identify yourself to your fellow Slackware users. :-) Have fun! :^) I hope you find Slackware to be useful, and thanks very much for your support of this project over the years. --- Stuart Winter Visit us on the web at: http://slackware.com Slackware ARM: http://www.armedslack.org