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Softlanding Linux System
Linux distribution

Softlanding Linux System (SLS) was one of the first Linux distributions. The first release was by Peter MacDonald in May 1992. Their slogan at the time was "Gentle touchdowns for DOS bailouts." SLS was the first release to offer a comprehensive Linux distribution containing more than the Linux kernel, GNU, and other basic utilities, including an implementation of the X Window System.

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History

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 It was soon superseded by Slackware (which started as a cleanup of SLS by Patrick Volkerding) and Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X, among others.

Similarly, Ian Murdock's frustration with SLS led him to create the Debian project.7

Series

The system consists of the following series which were installed via floppy disk:

  • a1-a4: The minimal base system
  • b1-b7: Base system extras (man pages, emacs, etc.)
  • c1-c3: The compiler(s), gcc/g++/p2c/f2c
  • d1-d2: Documentation
  • s1: Source
  • t1-t3: TeX document processing
  • x1-x10: X Window System distribution, documentation and idraw

Version History

Known SLS releases
VersionRelease date
1.0012 August 19928
1.0118 April 19939
1.0228 April 199310
1.035 August 199311
1.0421 October 199312
1.055 April 199413
1.06Late 199414

References

  1. 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,... 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 ↩

  2. Noyes, Katherine (25 August 2016). "Linux's brilliant 25-year history, in pictures". PC World. Retrieved 25 February 2025. https://www.pcworld.com/article/416174/linuxs-brilliant-career-in-pictures.html ↩

  3. GNU/Linux Distribution Timeline, version 11.4 by A. Lundqvist, D. Rodic https://web.archive.org/web/20230209040035/http://futurist.se/gldt/wp-content/uploads/11.04/gldt1104.svg ↩

  4. Hall, Jim (4 May 2017). "How I got started with Linux". opensource.com. Retrieved 25 February 2025. https://opensource.com/article/17/5/how-i-got-started-linux-jim-hall-freedos ↩

  5. 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,... 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 ↩

  6. Proffitt, Brian (4 August 2016). "25 Years of Linux". Red Hat. Retrieved 25 February 2025. https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/25-years-linux ↩

  7. Murdock, Ian A. (16 August 1993). "NNTP Subject: New release under development; suggestions requested". Retrieved 17 August 2007. https://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.development/msg/a32d4e2ef3bcdcc6 ↩

  8. Peter MacDonald (12 August 1992). "SLS: Free Linux Distribution". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211215084534/https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.linux/c/Q4fxCi2g0kc/m/Z6vfd2aLSQwJ ↩

  9. MacDonald, Peter (18 April 1993). "SLS release: 1.01". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: [email protected]. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. /wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer) ↩

  10. MacDonald, Peter (28 April 1993). "SLS release: 1.02". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: [email protected]. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. /wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer) ↩

  11. MacDonald, Peter (5 August 1993). "ANNOUNCE: SLS 1.03 is now available". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: [email protected]. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. /wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer) ↩

  12. MacDonald, Peter (21 October 1993). "SLS 1.04 CDROM Announcement". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: [email protected]. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. /wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer) ↩

  13. MacDonald, Peter (5 April 1994). "SLS 1.05: Softlandings Modular Linux Released". Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.announce. Usenet: [email protected]. Retrieved 25 February 2025 – via linux.co.cr. /wiki/Peter_MacDonald_(computer_programmer) ↩

  14. Epstein, Caleb (April 1995). "A review of InfoMagic's December 1994 Release". Linux Journal. Vol. April 1995, no. 12. Retrieved 25 February 2025. https://linuxjournal.rubdos.be/ljarchive/LJ/012/0060.html ↩