14 DAY TRIAL // Vector Linux 5.9-Pseudo64-0.1 is the first public alpha release of 64-bit Vector Linux, still in early development code. This is the first 64-bit version of Vector launched by its developers, an essential step for Vector Linux in transforming itself into a major distribution.
As last year Vector's team offered for the first time commercial support, the internationalization and localization are taking big steps and the future Vector Linux 6.0 will be available in more flavors, in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
On Vector Linux's forum the developers announce that their distribution will have both VL Standard 32-bit and VL SOHO 32-bit and if the community decides that the 64bit versions are valuable, there will be 64-bit variants.
The installation process is slow, mainly because there aren't any bulk packages; all packages are individual, for the moment. Some dependencies are missing, like the gnutls-1.6.2-i486-1 package or imagemagick. Another problem would be the different versions shown for the same program (for alsa in valsaconf the version is 1.0.11 but in glsapt it's 1.0.14). The developers are working on fixing every problem that may appear, offering info as they work.
Vector is a small, fast, Linux distribution based on Slackware that improved some qualities of the last-mentioned, transforming itself into an easy to install, configure and maintain operating system. The features Vector has lie in automatic hardware configuration, unique administration tools and easy software package management using the Gslapt/slapt-get system. The latest stable editions are Vector Linux SOHO 5.8 and Vector Linux Standard 5.8, both free to download. There is one more version available, Vector Linux SOHO 5.8 Deluxe that can be ordered from the official site. All these versions are good for those who have older computers, but they can be used on newer computers too, offering some nice visual effects even on computers that were made 8 years ago.