Many years ago I used Slackware Linux. I switched to Ubuntu because I was concerned that Slackware seemed to be essentially a one man show, and that seemed like a single point of failure. But Slackware was good to me, and I have not forgotten it. Recently Slackware came out with a new and up to date release and I am looking at it again.

The web site looks much like what I remember from 15-20 years ago. That is OK with me, although I would like to see some more current content. I decided to download the Slackware book in its pdf form. Firefox just hung when I went to that page. However, I noticed that it was an ftp site, not http. 20 years ago I was accustomed to accessing ftp sites using ftp tools, not web browsers. So I guessed that this was what once known as an anonymous ftp site, and that such sites could be accessed with the ftp command line. Feeling like Gandalf recalling a thousand year old spell, I opened a Linux terminal window and proceeded to type:

    gmcdavid@Donegal:~$ ftp ftp.slackbook.org
    Connected to slackbook.org.
    220 Welcome to harrier's public FTP
    Name (ftp.slackbook.org:gmcdavid): anonymous
    331 Please specify the password.
    Password:
    230 Login successful.
    Remote system type is UNIX.
    Using binary mode to transfer files.
    ftp> lcd Downloadsthe Slackware Documentation Projectged.
    ftp> die
    ?Invalid command
    ftp> dir
    200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
    150 Here comes the directory listing.
    -rw-r--r--    1 0        0         1863038 Jan 26  2019 slackbook-2.0.pdf
    -rw-r--r--    1 0        0         3223923 Jan 26  2019 slackbook-2.0.ps
    226 Directory send OK.
    ftp> get slackbook-2.0.pdf
    gmcdavid@Donegal:~$ ftp ftp.slackbook.org
    Connected to slackbook.org.
    220 Welcome to harrier's public FTP
    Name (ftp.slackbook.org:gmcdavid): anonymous
    331 Please specify the password.
    Password:
    230 Login successful.
    Remote system type is UNIX.
    Using binary mode to transfer files.
    ftp> lcd Downloads
    Local directory now /home/gmcdavid/Downloads
    ftp> cd slackbookthe Slackware Documentation Projectnsider using PASV.
    150 Here comes the directory listing.
    -rw-r--r--    1 0        0         1863038 Jan 26  2019 slackbook-2.0.pdf
    -rw-r--r--    1 0        0         3223923 Jan 26  2019 slackbook-2.0.ps
    226 Directory send OK.
    ftp> get slackbook-2.0.pdf
    local: slackbook-2.0.pdf remote: slackbook-2.0.pdf
    200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
    150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for slackbook-2.0.pdf (1863038 bytes).
    226 Transfer complete.
    1863038 bytes received in 1.99 secs (915.6511 kB/s)
    ftp> ^C
    ftp> ^C
    ftp> exit
    421 Timeout.

It worked. I followed the ancient custom of logging in as “anonymous,” with my e-mail as the password. Back in the day this was a very common method for distributing files on the internet.

I should add that the book is not up to date, although there is probably not much actively wrong in it. There is a more recent version of it online and current documentation at the Slackware Documentation Project.