Yes, I fear this group is dying.

If it is so, it'd be a pity.

I'm just a lurker, I am reading it since decades, learning a lot,
can't contribute something because as a mere user,
perhaps I am one of a dying kind ... mere user seeking for a slim
easy to manage distribution ... slackware just works for me
(I tried Ubuntu Debian Fedora even Caldera which exists no more
all of them for me not wanting to rant too complicated)
(this perhaps because I like the command line and editors like Vim
and I see no inconvenience editing lang.sh by hand, on the contrary)
and it is really easy to manage, a real all-purpose distribution.
OK Slackware is an OS, not a religion. Never mind. I pay my share
on Patreon.

Switched to Slackware current because my new notebook would not
accept the 14.2 installation DVD. OK my fault, I did not download
the latest version, just used the original DVD. But Current was rock
solid so everything ok.

There once was a guy with the signature "Ubuntu - an African word meaning
'Slackware is too hard for me ' " I never got that joke. For me Slackware
has _always_ been easier to manage.

Asking myself why it has this fame of being "difficult" or "only for
experienced users" guys I am a "dau", a german word for "dümmster
anzunehmender user", american SCU "silliest credible user" and after I
admit after a more or less steep learning curve I am at ease.

Last word about the "steep learning curve". I'm 66 years old. When I
started with Linux, that was SuSe 4.* . Later I learned, that SuSe was a
Slackware clone haha! At that time, a lot of things had to be done on the
command line and I really really was *no* programmer, I was a male nurse.
And I got along.

These GUI things don't make things easier. They are just eye-candy.

Perhaps this is my history - do I really belong to this century?

At the age of 12 I learned the mechanical type-writer of my own free will.
People nowadays do not seem to realize what formatting levels you can do
with a simple mechanical typewriter, and then with text editors like emacs,
vim, or joe, which was my first one. Looking from this perspective,
perhaps things are different.

Enough now.

Excuse me for the verbosity.
Perhaps someone who is looking out reads this.

Erich

--

c·o·m·p·e·l·l·e·i·n·t·r·a·r·e·at·p·o·s·t·e·o·.·m·e

On 9/18/21 11:20 AM, eho wrote:
> Yes, I fear this group is dying.

I still see relative / on topic content monthly. Sometimes even weekly.

--
Grant. . . .
unix || die

eho <adress@signatu.re> wrote:
> Yes, I fear this group is dying.
>
> If it is so, it'd be a pity.
>
> I'm just a lurker, I am reading it since decades, learning a lot,
> can't contribute something because as a mere user,
> perhaps I am one of a dying kind ... mere user seeking for a slim
> easy to manage distribution ... slackware just works for me
.....
.....
> Perhaps someone who is looking out reads this.
>
> Erich
>
Thank you for voicing the opinion of some, or many, of us in the same
category: just a lurker, reading it for decades, learning a lot and can't
contribute something as a mere user.
Agree, Slackware is not as difficult to install and use as some would like
to say. Slackware is one of the most solid rock distribution I have ever
used, and it would be a pity to see it gone.

On 2021-09-18, eho <adress@signatu.re> wrote:

> Yes, I fear this group is dying.
>
> If it is so, it'd be a pity.

Usenet itself has been in a prolonged death spiral for some time
unfortunately. Many fine newsgroups have turned off the lights and
locked the doors. Everything comes to an end I guess..

> There once was a guy with the signature "Ubuntu - an African word
> meaning 'Slackware is too hard for me ' " I never got that joke.
> For me Slackware has _always_ been easier to manage.

Dan C had a carefully crafted aggressive facade but was actually one
of the good guys. I had a lot to do with him on news.software.readers
but I have not seen him post for more than a year now.

> Last word about the "steep learning curve". I'm 66 years old. When I
> started with Linux, that was SuSe 4.* . Later I learned, that SuSe was a
> Slackware clone haha! At that time, a lot of things had to be done on the
> command line and I really really was *no* programmer, I was a male nurse.
> And I got along.

We have a few things in common then besides our good looks :). I am 60
years old and recently retired from a long career in an Intensive Care
Unit. Some of the gory details here:

https://www.andrews-corner.org/nursing.html

And a history with Slackware since 12.1 or so...

> Enough now.
>
> Excuse me for the verbosity.
> Perhaps someone who is looking out reads this.

Nice to meet somebody with whom I have something in common :)

Andrew
--
Do you think that's air you're breathing?

On 9/18/21 10:20, eho wrote:

> Yes, I fear this group is dying.

Most slackware problems can be solved by doing a search and reading,
When all else fails, you can ask here, many years of slackware
experience can be found here.

Anything not slackware related would probably be considered off topic
and ignored.
--
Jimmy Johnson

Slackware64 Current - AMD A8-7600 at sda7
Registered Linux User #380263

On 18/09/2021 06:20 pm, eho wrote:
> Yes, I fear this group is dying.
>
> If it is so, it'd be a pity.
>
> I'm just a lurker

I'm generally a lurker, too.
But I think 'most' Slackware users can solve 'most' problems - by
themselves reading - hence lower traffic on this group.
Finding non-base Slack software is fairly easy too, due to
Slackbuilds.org, Alien Pastures (alien.slackbook.org) etc.
I'm finding -current a lot better than -14.2
When will the -15 repositories appear? They've been referenced in
/etc/slackpkg/mirrors for quite some time.

--
Chris Elvidge
England

eho <adress@signatu.re> wrote:
> There once was a guy with the signature "Ubuntu - an African word
> meaning 'Slackware is too hard for me ' " I never got that joke. For
> me Slackware has _always_ been easier to manage.

Part of the joke revolves around the fact that Ubuntu goes after the
crowd that wants a GUI with checkboxes to check to manage the system.
Managing Slackware sometimes requires editing one or more text files
(and, often, knowing /which/ text file to edit). Ubuntu folk who want
a "GUI with checkbuttons" for system admin/management find editing a
text configuration file or having to know which file to edit to be too
hard.

On 9/18/21 1:20 PM, eho wrote:
> Yes, I fear this group is dying.
>
> If it is so, it'd be a pity.

Yeh, ALL ng's are kicking the bucket, thanks to
tyhe goggles and the web forum space wherte
ads help out with the costs. THe only way to
save usenet now is to orgabnize the server
operators to allow one tiny graphic ad per
posting ..not likely to happen.

> There once was a guy with the signature "Ubuntu - an African word meaning
> 'Slackware is too hard for me ' " I never got that joke. For me Slackware
> has _always_ been easier to manage.

It wasn't a joke :-)))

> Last word about the "steep learning curve". I'm 66 years old. When I
> started with Linux, that was SuSe 4.* . Later I learned, that SuSe was a
> Slackware clone haha! At that time, a lot of things had to be done on the
> command line and I really really was *no* programmer, I was a male nurse.
> And I got along.

Ditto, I wasn't a nurse but the wife was. Yes,
Suse 3.x or 4.x was the 1st fork and initially
suse used the same Slackware install dialogs
that still lurk in Yast's curses innards.

I'll be 78 soon, started learning music to forestall
brain-rot and am otherwise running Suse Leap +
Tumbleweed, Slack-14.2, Devuan and Artix though
I don't really have time to learn them much.

> Perhaps this is my history - do I really belong to this century?

Anyone that still knows what usenet is, is a has-been :-)

On 2021-09-20, bad sector <forgetski@postit_INVALID_.gov> wrote:
> On 9/18/21 1:20 PM, eho wrote:
>> Yes, I fear this group is dying.
>>
>> If it is so, it'd be a pity.
>
>
>> There once was a guy with the signature "Ubuntu - an African word meaning
>> 'Slackware is too hard for me ' " I never got that joke. For me Slackware
>> has _always_ been easier to manage.
>
> It wasn't a joke :-)))
>
>
>> Last word about the "steep learning curve". I'm 66 years old. When I
>> started with Linux, that was SuSe 4.* . Later I learned, that SuSe was a
>> Slackware clone haha! At that time, a lot of things had to be done on the
>> command line and I really really was *no* programmer, I was a male nurse.
>> And I got along.
>
> Ditto, I wasn't a nurse but the wife was. Yes,
> Suse 3.x or 4.x was the 1st fork and initially
> suse used the same Slackware install dialogs
> that still lurk in Yast's curses innards.
>
> I'll be 78 soon, started learning music to forestall
> brain-rot and am otherwise running Suse Leap +
> Tumbleweed, Slack-14.2, Devuan and Artix though
> I don't really have time to learn them much.
>
>
>> Perhaps this is my history - do I really belong to this century?
>
> Anyone that still knows what usenet is, is a has-been :-)
>

Fear not, 78 is the new 50. One of the first hospitalized here (.ie) was
94, and he is back home long ago.

USENET was better, with a reader (slrn) that is one of the best
utilities I have.

the Social media are a con. With USENET, if you did not want to read
a post from someone, you killed it on your reader. Social Media, the
dick(tator) blocks it, which is probably one of the reasons that Social
media exists.

Rant, Rant, as I retreat into the growing darkness.

--
greymausg@mail.com
Down the wrong mousehole.

eho <adress@signatu.re> writes:

> Yes, I fear this group is dying.
>

Or it has the appropriate number of posts for the subject matter. For
myself, I am usually (not today it seems) more circumspect about posting
here, since the quality of writing and subject choice is better than on
the official web forum. In contrast I'll post any number of foolish
things on LinuxQuestions, following the example of other users there.

I wish all the substantive LQ posts were instead here or on a mailing
list with the web reserved for chat and socializing. That seems to be
how BSD (at least OpenBSD and NetBSD) mail vs. daemonforums.org operates.

- Mike Sm.

On 9/20/21 11:12 AM, maus wrote:
> On 2021-09-20, bad sector <forgetski@postit_INVALID_.gov> wrote:
>> On 9/18/21 1:20 PM, eho wrote:
>>> Yes, I fear this group is dying.
>>>
>>> If it is so, it'd be a pity.
>>
>>
>>> There once was a guy with the signature "Ubuntu - an African word meaning
>>> 'Slackware is too hard for me ' " I never got that joke. For me Slackware
>>> has _always_ been easier to manage.
>>
>> It wasn't a joke :-)))
>>
>>
>>> Last word about the "steep learning curve". I'm 66 years old. When I
>>> started with Linux, that was SuSe 4.* . Later I learned, that SuSe was a
>>> Slackware clone haha! At that time, a lot of things had to be done on the
>>> command line and I really really was *no* programmer, I was a male nurse.
>>> And I got along.
>>
>> Ditto, I wasn't a nurse but the wife was. Yes,
>> Suse 3.x or 4.x was the 1st fork and initially
>> suse used the same Slackware install dialogs
>> that still lurk in Yast's curses innards.
>>
>> I'll be 78 soon, started learning music to forestall
>> brain-rot and am otherwise running Suse Leap +
>> Tumbleweed, Slack-14.2, Devuan and Artix though
>> I don't really have time to learn them much.
>>
>>
>>> Perhaps this is my history - do I really belong to this century?
>>
>> Anyone that still knows what usenet is, is a has-been :-)
>>
>
>
> Fear not, 78 is the new 50. One of the first hospitalized here (.ie) was
> 94, and he is back home long ago.
>
> USENET was better, with a reader (slrn) that is one of the best
> utilities I have.
>
> the Social media are a con. With USENET, if you did not want to read
> a post from someone, you killed it on your reader. Social Media, the
> dick(tator) blocks it, which is probably one of the reasons that Social
> media exists.

Not only that, usenet is/was the last place where freedom
of expression still exists keeping in mind that anonymous
expression is an indivisible part of that freedom. This, alas,
is something the texto crowd ostensibly cannot comprehend
because if they did they would do neither web-forums nor
social media.

Which brings to mind exactly why google went after deja-news
in the first place, because that one step hurt usenet more that
all other attacks combined! Now THAT had more to do with
crimes against humanity than LeHague.

> Rant, Rant, as I retreat into the growing darkness.

:-)

> --
> greymausg@mail.com
> Down the wrong mousehole.
>

eho <adress@signatu.re> writes:

> Yes, I fear this group is dying.

But very gradually, eh? :-)

> I'm just a lurker, I am reading it since decades, learning a lot,
> can't contribute something because as a mere user,

I'm a "mere user" too. Yes, I wrote some C code years ago and I tweak
my web experience and other stuff with mostly simple shell or Perl
scripts but fiddling with the kernel or, say, with inetd is way beyond
me.

> Last word about the "steep learning curve". I'm 66 years old. When I
> started with Linux, that was SuSe 4.* .

I started Linux in '99, buying a great fat book with a CD of Caldera
Linux. Came up with KDE by default and XEmacs. Immediately
downloaded GNU emacs and switched to Slackware 8 as soon as I figured
out how to do it. And I'm 79 years old, 50 of them as a blacksmith.

> These GUI things don't make things easier. They are just eye-candy.

I'd be badly set back without X but I run twm and numerous xterms and
emacs windows, no "desktop". I do like a GUI browser, albeit with
images, style and js disabled. Use command-line MPlayer all the time
in preference to vlc. (Yes, late-blooming cineast.)

> At the age of 12 I learned the mechanical type-writer of my own free
> will. People nowadays do not seem to realize what formatting levels
> you can do with a simple mechanical typewriter....

Just so. But if you do that with ASCII text, your interlocutor reads
it in a web browser and it all goes away. On one mailing list, I got
in the habit of marking up my posts with minimal HTML tags and
surrounding my actual post in <PRE> tags.

New problems with using Slackware emerge every few months. My local
ISP dropped dial-up and to continue using them for mail, I had to
figure out how to (1) make sendmail do authinfo and (2) use stunnel(8)
to do crypto for POP3. Frustrating, then gratifying when I got it to
work and I don't have to join the Borg and sign up for gmail.

Helpful people on Usenet have bailed me out of numerous difficulties.
One pointer on modems came from a user in Romania! It *is* sad that
Usenet is fading and that so many people who might reasonably be here
find web fora more reasonable or at least more agreeable.

Still, here we are, are we not? Don't go away, eh?

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

On 23 Sep 2021 03:10:45 -0300
Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:

> eh?
CANADIAN DETECTED; DISPATCHING SYRUP

On Sun, 19 Sep 2021 22:48:41 -0400
bad sector <forgetski@postit_INVALID_.gov> wrote:

> Yeh, ALL ng's are kicking the bucket, thanks to
> tyhe goggles and the web forum space wherte
> ads help out with the costs. THe only way to
> save usenet now is to orgabnize the server
> operators to allow one tiny graphic ad per
> posting ..not likely to happen.

there was more ways to build a sustainable business than just selling
out and shoving ads into things. It's a bigger problem with the whole IT
industry really.

On 9/26/21 1:25 PM, tom wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Sep 2021 22:48:41 -0400
> bad sector <forgetski@postit_INVALID_.gov> wrote:
>
>> Yeh, ALL ng's are kicking the bucket, thanks to
>> tyhe goggles and the web forum space wherte
>> ads help out with the costs. THe only way to
>> save usenet now is to orgabnize the server
>> operators to allow one tiny graphic ad per
>> posting ..not likely to happen.
>
> there was more ways to build a sustainable business than just selling
> out and shoving ads into things. It's a bigger problem with the whole IT
> industry really.
>

Granted there'd be little ad money from a usenet that's
full of spam and half a dozen has-beens per NG. I was
just looking for a way to save usenet, or a place to start
saving it. I don't do social media at all except a tiny
utube presence, and web-hosted forums only when I
have no choice... open to sugestions.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

tom <tom@invalid.tld> wrote:
> On 23 Sep 2021 03:10:45 -0300
> Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:
>
>> eh?
> CANADIAN DETECTED; DISPATCHING SYRUP
>
Dispatch sushi as well
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=r2FR
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

On 9/23/21 2:10 AM, Mike Spencer wrote:
> eho <adress@signatu.re> writes:
>
>> Yes, I fear this group is dying.
>
> But very gradually, eh? :-)
>
>> I'm just a lurker, I am reading it since decades, learning a lot,
>> can't contribute something because as a mere user,
>
> I'm a "mere user" too. Yes, I wrote some C code years ago and I tweak
> my web experience and other stuff with mostly simple shell or Perl
> scripts but fiddling with the kernel or, say, with inetd is way beyond
> me.
>
>> Last word about the "steep learning curve". I'm 66 years old. When I
>> started with Linux, that was SuSe 4.* .
>
> I started Linux in '99, buying a great fat book with a CD of Caldera
> Linux. Came up with KDE by default and XEmacs. Immediately
> downloaded GNU emacs and switched to Slackware 8 as soon as I figured
> out how to do it. And I'm 79 years old, 50 of them as a blacksmith.
>
>> These GUI things don't make things easier. They are just eye-candy.
>
> I'd be badly set back without X but I run twm and numerous xterms and
> emacs windows, no "desktop". I do like a GUI browser, albeit with
> images, style and js disabled. Use command-line MPlayer all the time
> in preference to vlc. (Yes, late-blooming cineast.)
>
>> At the age of 12 I learned the mechanical type-writer of my own free
>> will. People nowadays do not seem to realize what formatting levels
>> you can do with a simple mechanical typewriter....
>
> Just so. But if you do that with ASCII text, your interlocutor reads
> it in a web browser and it all goes away. On one mailing list, I got
> in the habit of marking up my posts with minimal HTML tags and
> surrounding my actual post in <PRE> tags.
>
> New problems with using Slackware emerge every few months. My local
> ISP dropped dial-up and to continue using them for mail, I had to
> figure out how to (1) make sendmail do authinfo and (2) use stunnel(8)
> to do crypto for POP3. Frustrating, then gratifying when I got it to
> work and I don't have to join the Borg and sign up for gmail.
>
> Helpful people on Usenet have bailed me out of numerous difficulties.
> One pointer on modems came from a user in Romania! It *is* sad that
> Usenet is fading and that so many people who might reasonably be here
> find web fora more reasonable or at least more agreeable.
>
> Still, here we are, are we not? Don't go away, eh?
>
>
> --
> Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

Lovely place NS, second only to Quebec :-)

What I see on many NG's is that once they drop below
about a dozen regulars then spammers and every odour
of the new world start flooding them. But if there are 50
or more normal postings per day then they get drowned
out and ignored so there seems to be a threshold of sorts.

Katsuragi_Keima <katsuragi@life.invalid> writes:

> tom <tom@invalid.tld> wrote:
>
>> On 23 Sep 2021 03:10:45 -0300
>>
>> Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:
>>
>>> eh?
>>
>> CANADIAN DETECTED; DISPATCHING SYRUP
>>
> Dispatch sushi as well

We make our own maple syrup. Sushi welcome.

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

bad sector <forgetski@postit_INVALID_.gov> writes:

> On 9/23/21 2:10 AM, Mike Spencer wrote:
>
>> --
>> Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
>
> Lovely place NS, second only to Quebec :-)

Yes, and we're in the middle of our nicest season:

https://bonmot.ca/~daniel/SixSeasons/

(Update: Piggies are now made with pecans instead of Brazil nuts;
result more like old fashioned pralines.)

ObSlackware: Figured out -- with help frpm Usenet! -- how to update
the certs for my older version of Seamonkey so the LetsEncrypt cert
expiry no longer turns half the web black for me. In case anybody
else has the problem:

https://letsencrypt.org/certificates/#root-certificates

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

On 10/4/21 2:55 AM, Mike Spencer wrote:
> bad sector <forgetski@postit_INVALID_.gov> writes:
>
>> On 9/23/21 2:10 AM, Mike Spencer wrote:
>>
>>> --
>>> Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
>>
>> Lovely place NS, second only to Quebec :-)
>
> Yes, and we're in the middle of our nicest season:
>
> https://bonmot.ca/~daniel/SixSeasons/
>
> (Update: Piggies are now made with pecans instead of Brazil nuts;
> result more like old fashioned pralines.)
>
> ObSlackware: Figured out -- with help frpm Usenet! -- how to update
> the certs for my older version of Seamonkey so the LetsEncrypt cert
> expiry no longer turns half the web black for me. In case anybody
> else has the problem:
>
> https://letsencrypt.org/certificates/#root-certificates
>
> --
> Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

Used to visit Halifax frequently, would've retired there were it not
for the wif being from here; nonetheless I tell friends to consider
either, mostly in the case of language prefs. Everybody else I
complain to all year about mosquitos and black flies the size of
crows, hurricane tails, and artic killer rabbits. Works less well
then it used to :-(

Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:

[snip]

> Helpful people on Usenet have bailed me out of numerous difficulties.
> One pointer on modems came from a user in Romania! It *is* sad that
> Usenet is fading and that so many people who might reasonably be here
> find web fora more reasonable or at least more agreeable.
>
> Still, here we are, are we not? Don't go away, eh?

Yes, I am here!

-Joe

On 2021-12-12, Joe Rosevear <Joe_Rosevear@localhost.invalid> wrote:
> Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>> Helpful people on Usenet have bailed me out of numerous difficulties.
>> One pointer on modems came from a user in Romania! It *is* sad that
>> Usenet is fading and that so many people who might reasonably be here
>> find web fora more reasonable or at least more agreeable.
>>
>> Still, here we are, are we not? Don't go away, eh?
>
> Yes, I am here!
>
> -Joe

"If you’re listening to this, you are the Resistance."

May the Source be with you!
~carriunix