So what is the main benefit of choosing Slackware Linux over other distributions? First and foremost, it's the clean and uncomplicated system, with no hidden surprises, that is perhaps Slackware's biggest asset. As commented recently by a poster on a popular web site, it is the only major distribution that has resisted the temptation to add custom features and other bloat to Linux. Slackware is as pure and natural as a Linux distribution can be - it comes with a vanilla kernel and it includes just the necessary libraries, as well as a well-balanced set of development tools, desktop and server packages. Nothing more and nothing less.
yc c on 08 Apr 10Isn't Qubes just another Linux distribution after all? Well, if you really want to call it a distribution, then we're more of a "Xen distribution", rather then a Linux one. But Qubes is much more than just Xen packaging -- it has its own VM management infrastructure, with support for template VMs, centralized VM updating, etc, and also its very unique GUI virtualization infrastructure. What is the main concept behind Qubes? To build security on the "Security by Isolation" principle. Key architecture features:Based on a secure bare-metal hypervisor (Xen)Networking code sand-boxed in an unprivileged VM (using IOMMU/VT-d)No networking code in the privileged domain (dom0)All user applications run in "AppVMs", lightweight VMs based on LinuxCentralized updates of all AppVMs based on the same templateQubes GUI virtualization presents applications like if they were running locallyQubes GUI provides isolation between apps sharing the same desktopStorage drivers and backends sand-boxed in an unprivileged virtual machine(*)Secure system boot based on Intel TXT(*)
