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Softlanding Linux System
open-in-new
<h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>SLS was the most popular Linux distribution at the time, but it was considered to be rather buggy by its users. It was soon superseded by <a href="/facts/Slackware/eGJIIHgW">Slackware</a> (which started as a cleanup of SLS by <a href="/facts/Patrick_Volkerding/fKI0n6aI">Patrick Volkerding</a>) and <a href="/facts/Yggdrasil_Linux%2fGNU%2fX/G8X3jlXw">Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X</a>, among others. </p><p>Similarly, <a href="/facts/Ian_Murdock/ThYRNxXV">Ian Murdock</a>'s frustration with SLS led him to create the <a href="/facts/Debian/cBd93qfJ">Debian</a> project.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="series">Series</h2> <p>The system consists of the following series which were installed via floppy disk: </p> <ul><li>a1-a4: The minimal base system</li> <li>b1-b7: Base system extras (<a href="/facts/Man_pages/S2yYjy0J">man pages</a>, <a href="/facts/Emacs/BvGxuAxQ">emacs</a>, etc.)</li> <li>c1-c3: The compiler(s), <a href="/facts/Gcc/QlmXk24T">gcc</a>/<a href="/facts/G%252B%252B/t07jh01k">g++</a>/p2c/<a href="/facts/F2c/uELnCdoY">f2c</a></li> <li>d1-d2: Documentation</li> <li>s1: Source</li> <li>t1-t3: <a href="/facts/TeX/8t3cCBqk">TeX</a> document processing</li> <li>x1-x10: <a href="/facts/X_Window_System/ac2vRIQL">X Window System</a> distribution, documentation and idraw</li></ul> <h2 id="version-history">Version History</h2> Known SLS releases<table><tbody><tr><th>Version</th><th>Release date</th></tr><tr><td>1.00</td><td>12 August 1992<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>1.01</td><td>18 April 1993<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>1.02</td><td>28 April 1993<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>1.03</td><td>5 August 1993<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>1.04</td><td>21 October 1993<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>1.05</td><td>5 April 1994<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>1.06</td><td>Late 1994<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a></td></tr></tbody></table> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/oldlinux/Linux.old/distributions/SLS/">SLS</a> at <a href="/facts/Princeton_University/n3EPGHBM">Princeton University</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/rdebath/SLS-1.02">SLS version 1.02</a> at <a href="/facts/GitHub/n1hNCsc3">GitHub</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/historic-linux/distributions/sls-1.03/">SLS version 1.03</a> at <a href="/facts/Ibiblio/nJNrxxPa">ibiblio</a></li> <li><a href="https://archiveos.org/sls/">https://archiveos.org/sls/</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Berlich, Ruediger (April 2001). "ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT... The early history of Linux, Part 2, Re: distribution" (PDF). LinuxUser. Retrieved 12 May 2024. This was followed shortly after by the Softlanding Linux System (SLS), founded by Peter McDonald, which was the first comprehensive distribution to contain elements such as X and TCP/IP,... <a href="https://github.com/oldlinux-web/oldlinux-files/blob/9912ec445d0014e3571745223df8c35144468a57/docs/lu9-All_you_need_to_know_about-The_early_history_of_Linux_part_2.pdf" target="_blank">https://github.com/oldlinux-web/oldlinux-files/blob/9912ec445d0014e3571745223df8c35144468a57/docs/lu9-All_you_need_to_know_about-The_early_history_of_Linux_part_2.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Noyes, Katherine (25 August 2016). "Linux's brilliant 25-year history, in pictures". PC World. Retrieved 25 February 2025. <a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/416174/linuxs-brilliant-career-in-pictures.html" target="_blank">https://www.pcworld.com/article/416174/linuxs-brilliant-career-in-pictures.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>GNU/Linux Distribution Timeline, version 11.4 by A. Lundqvist, D. Rodic <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230209040035/http://futurist.se/gldt/wp-content/uploads/11.04/gldt1104.svg" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20230209040035/http://futurist.se/gldt/wp-content/uploads/11.04/gldt1104.svg</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Hall, Jim (4 May 2017). "How I got started with Linux". opensource.com. Retrieved 25 February 2025. <a href="https://opensource.com/article/17/5/how-i-got-started-linux-jim-hall-freedos" target="_blank">https://opensource.com/article/17/5/how-i-got-started-linux-jim-hall-freedos</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Berlich, Ruediger (April 2001). "ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT... The early history of Linux, Part 2, Re: distribution" (PDF). LinuxUser. Retrieved 12 May 2024. This was followed shortly after by the Softlanding Linux System (SLS), founded by Peter McDonald, which was the first comprehensive distribution to contain elements such as X and TCP/IP,... <a href="https://github.com/oldlinux-web/oldlinux-files/blob/9912ec445d0014e3571745223df8c35144468a57/docs/lu9-All_you_need_to_know_about-The_early_history_of_Linux_part_2.pdf" target="_blank">https://github.com/oldlinux-web/oldlinux-files/blob/9912ec445d0014e3571745223df8c35144468a57/docs/lu9-All_you_need_to_know_about-The_early_history_of_Linux_part_2.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Proffitt, Brian (4 August 2016). "25 Years of Linux". Red Hat. Retrieved 25 February 2025. <a href="https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/25-years-linux" target="_blank">https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/25-years-linux</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Murdock, Ian A. (16 August 1993). "NNTP Subject: New release under development; suggestions requested". Retrieved 17 August 2007. <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.development/msg/a32d4e2ef3bcdcc6" target="_blank">https://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.development/msg/a32d4e2ef3bcdcc6</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Peter MacDonald (12 August 1992). "SLS: Free Linux Distribution". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux. Usenet: 1992Aug12.232203.20860@athena.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211215084534/https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.linux/c/Q4fxCi2g0kc/m/Z6vfd2aLSQwJ" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20211215084534/https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.linux/c/Q4fxCi2g0kc/m/Z6vfd2aLSQwJ</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>MacDonald, Peter (18 April 1993). "SLS release: 1.01". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: 1993Apr18.153535.29139@klaava.Helsinki.FI. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. <a href="/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)" target="_blank">/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>MacDonald, Peter (28 April 1993). "SLS release: 1.02". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: 1rlcvcINN640@hydra.Helsinki.FI. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. <a href="/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)" target="_blank">/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>MacDonald, Peter (5 August 1993). "ANNOUNCE: SLS 1.03 is now available". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: 23r84f$4h4@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. <a href="/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)" target="_blank">/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>MacDonald, Peter (21 October 1993). "SLS 1.04 CDROM Announcement". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: 2a67cb$rhj@samba.oit.unc.edu. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. <a href="/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)" target="_blank">/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>MacDonald, Peter (5 April 1994). "SLS 1.05: Softlandings Modular Linux Released". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: 1994Apr5.001632.28777@cs.cornell.edu. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. <a href="/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)" target="_blank">/wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer)</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Epstein, Caleb (April 1995). "A review of InfoMagic's December 1994 Release". Linux Journal. Vol. April 1995, no. 12. Retrieved 25 February 2025. <a href="https://linuxjournal.rubdos.be/ljarchive/LJ/012/0060.html" target="_blank">https://linuxjournal.rubdos.be/ljarchive/LJ/012/0060.html</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>