VectorLinux 6.0 [LWN.net]

VectorLinux 6.0

Posted Mar 22, 2009 10:20 UTC (Sun) by djao (subscriber, #4263)
Parent article: VectorLinux 6.0

By itself, VectorLinux is great. I used it for a while on an embedded system in order to take advantage of its reduced footprint and rich feature set.

The problem is that VectorLinux, like most of the minor distributions, provides no automated mechanism for applying security updates. More specifically, although it does support package management, automated system updates are unreliable. (Don't believe me? See the manual.) This makes the task of keeping a system up to date a chore compared to more well supported distributions.

Lately, I've started using CrunchBang Linux for low-end hardware. It runs great and includes all of the standard Ubuntu repositories for system updates.

(Log in to post comments)

VectorLinux 6.0

Posted Apr 3, 2009 15:45 UTC (Fri) by M0E (guest, #57808) [Link]

Actually, 6.0 does support this.

There is a tool called slapt-update-notifier which periodically checks for updates and informs
the user about them. Sort of similar to the way ubuntu does it.

This feature is new in 6.0, which coupled with the rss feeds of security updates from
vectorlinux.com is as good as any other method.

VectorLinux 6.0

Posted Jun 1, 2009 1:23 UTC (Mon) by kristina (guest, #58864) [Link]

Personally I had problems with crashbang. Theming on the taskbar not working, freezing out of no where, my network not working anymore (permanently) and having no clue how to get it back (it still works on my other linux partition). I don't think it is quite ready for normal use.

Also I have a question about Vector, I liked slackware but stopped using it because it had no built in networked packaging system and slapt-get/gslapt's dependency and upgrade detection was VERY VERY VERY messy and frustrating. It would sometimes downgrade packages instead of upgrade if I was using more than one repository and uninstall things still needed for other apps just because another app didn't need it anymore. It also was not very good at picking up dependencies. Have these things been fixed in Vector?