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The following was posted to the Slackware.com Forum by Patrick Volkerding (Slackware Project Lead), at 21:43 10-10-1999.

I've stayed out of this for now, but I do think I should lend a little justification to the version number thing.

First off, I think I forgot to count some time ago. If I'd started on 6.0 and made every release a major version (I think that's how Linux releases are made these days, right? ;), we would be on Slackware 47 by now. (it would actually be in the 20s somewhere if we'd gone 1, 2, 3...)

I think it's clear that some other distributions inflated their version numbers for marketing purposes, and I've had to field (way too many times) the question "why isn't yours 6.x" or worse "when will you upgrade to Linux 6.0" which really drives home the effectiveness of this simple trick. With the move to glibc and nearly everyone else using 6.x now, it made sense to go to at least 6.0, just to make it clear to people who don't know anything about Linux that Slackware's libraries, compilers, and other stuff are not 3 major versions behind. I thought they'd all be using 7.0 by now, but no matter. We're at least "one better", right? :)

Sorry if I haven't been enough of a purist about this. I promise I won't inflate the version number again (unless everyone else does again ;)

The most obvious way you can help with Slackware is to use it! The more people that use it, the more people that can find and report bugs. This will make Slackware even more stable than it is now. Another obvious way is to purchase a CD set. This helps to support everyone working on Slackware, and allows us to work on new versions. You can also email us and tell us what programs need to be added.

You can also jump on the forum and answer other users' questions. Finally, you can help get the word out on Slackware. Help advocate the distribution - especially to the potential users who are still looking for their distribution.

Slackware supports all of the hardware that the Linux kernel supports. In addition, you may be able to find drivers for other hardware by looking around. For specific information on your hardware, check out the Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO. In addition to the Intel architechture, Slackware works on Alpha and SPARC systems as well.

If you know of another question that's worthy of inclusion in the general Slackware FAQ (ie, non-technical...I don't want to fill this particular FAQ with stuff about video cards and IP tunneling), feel free to email us and let us know.

It's usually our policy not to speculate on release dates, since that's what it is -- pure speculation. It's not always possible to know how long it will take to make the upgrades needed and tie up all the related loose ends. As things are built for the upcoming release, they'll be uploaded into the -current tree. If the -current does not exist, it probably means we have just released a new version of Slackware. A new -current tree will be formed shortly after the new release is made.

Here are some places where you can get answers to your technical questions:

• Linux Documentation Project
• USENET newsgroups at Google (alt.os.linux.slackware)

Yes! Actually, there will be 6 CDs, a 32-bit install DVD, a 64-bit install DVD, and a source DVD.

These will be available from the main distribution site, ftp.slackware.com.

If it's in the slackware-current tree at ftp.slackware.com, there's a pretty good chance it will be. If it's not, you'd have to inquire, but odds are that it's not slated for inclusion.