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Duke Nukem

Member

Registered: 2018-11-07

Posts: 61  

[SOLVED] Identify old distro mascot.

When I was first involved with Linux, and read printed magazines back then, there was what seemed then to be a fairly popular distro with the rather odd but striking logo consisting of the face of a man with a 1950's hairstyle and smoking a pipe. I never used that distro myself and have not seen it now for years. Does anyone know what it was, and is it now defunct?

Last edited by Duke Nukem (Yesterday 10:46:43)

Camtaf

Member

Registered: 2019-11-19

Posts: 523  

Re: [SOLVED] Identify old distro mascot.

Pretty sure it was Slackware - Dr Dobbs.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=Dr+Dob … nux&ia=web

Last edited by Camtaf (Yesterday 11:48:08)

steve_v

Member

Registered: 2018-01-11

Posts: 599  

Re: [SOLVED] Identify old distro mascot.

smoking a pipe

Yeah, that'll be Slackware. Prior to the more modern "S" logo it was either Bob Dobbs or Tux smoking a pipe, both are still considered "mascots".

Slackware is still alive and well, making it the oldest surviving major distro. It also hasn't changed very much since I first installed it some 25+ years ago, which is either its biggest strength or its biggest weakness, depending on who you ask.

TBH I'm kinda surprised a Devuan user isn't at least passingly familiar with Slackware, it's the OG old-school init holdout (BSD init) and one of the only two "big" distros (the other being the somewhat younger Gentoo) that didn't go all-in on systemd.

Last edited by steve_v (Yesterday 12:57:19)

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Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.

Duke Nukem

Member

Registered: 2018-11-07

Posts: 61  

Re: [SOLVED] Identify old distro mascot.

That is quite a backstory behind Dr "Bob" Dobbs.

Yes, I'm aware of Slackware although I have never used it, and the modern Slackware logo is an "S" on a blue roundel. Searching for other info now, it seems that the Slackware logo back then was Tux with Bob's image on his chest.

brocashelm

Member

Registered: 2020-06-29

Posts: 175  

Re: [SOLVED] Identify old distro mascot.

The only thing to keep in mind with Slackware is that its package management does not use automatic dependency tracking, which means that you will often have to install everything but the kitchen sink to avoid problems.

If that's not your jam, but you still want to explore the distro, try out Salix, which -- on top of having automatic dependency tracking with the Apt-Get-like package manager Slapt-Get-- has the largest official repository of all the Slackware-based distros (most of them compiled straight from the SlackBuilds).

15.0 (for both Slackware and Salix) is the current stable release, and is comparable to Debian Bullseye (which Devuan Chimaera is based on). You can add specific third-party repositories for newer or otherwise missing packages, but that's not needed when you can just rely on using SlackBuilds.