Slackware Linux going 64 bit

This might be old news to some of you but for the longest time Slackware Linux was x86 only with really no indication that the distro author, Patrick Volkerding, would create a port. 

Well the wait is over and Slackware 64 is on its way.

Ready or not, Slackware has now gone 64-bit with an official x86_64 port being maintained in-sync with the regular x86 -current branch. DVDs will be available for purchase from the Slackware store when Slackware 13.0 is released. Many thanks go out to the Slackware team for their help with this branch and a special thank you to Eric Hameleers who did the real heavy lifting re-compiling everything for this architecture, testing, re-testing, and staying in-sync with -current.

There have been many side projects using Slackware to offer 64 bit support but none of them were official or supported by the Slackware creators.  I suspect that much of that code base was used in creating this new version but only the developers will know.

So why all of a sudden Linux news??  well I've been Slackware since the beginning, admittedly I'm not a hardcore Linux user but I have had a Linux server running on my network for the past 10+ years and it has always been Slackware, it is the premier Linux distro for those that truly want to know Linux the way it was intended to be. 

Related Web URL: http://www.slackware.com/