Slax is a

LiveCD A live CD (also live DVD, live disc, or live operating system) is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading fro ...

Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading on ...

developed by Tomáš Matějíček and based on upstream customizable Linux distributions. Packages can be added by apt package manager or can be prepared as modules. The

tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, s ...

for Slax refers to itself as "your pocket

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

Features

One of the main benefits of the Slax distribution is its ease of customization. Additional software can be added and removed, using Slax modules. A traditional

package manager A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner. A package manager deals w ...

such as Debian's

APT Apt. is an abbreviation for apartment. Apt may also refer to: Places * Apt Cathedral, a former cathedral, and national monument of France, in the town of Apt in Provence * Apt, Vaucluse, a commune of the Vaucluse département of France * A ...

is not required to load additional software; Slax modules are completely self-contained. However, APT is fully supported. Users can also modify the default CD image or USB drive installation to customize the packages available in the distribution on boot. Slax also allows Debian packages to be converted into Slax modules. Slax modules are compressed read-only SquashFS

file system In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one lar ...

images that are compressed with a LZMA compressor. The various modules are stacked together to build the complete Slax root directory. A supplemental writable layer (a

tmpfs tmpfs (short for Temporary File System) is a temporary file storage paradigm implemented in many Unix-like operating systems. It is intended to appear as a mounted file system, but data is stored in volatile memory instead of a persistent stora ...

file system) is put on the top of the stack to implement the write functionality. The stackable file system of choice changed between Slax versions 5 ( UnionFS) and 6 ( aufs), as did the module file name extension (changed from to ).

Versions

Slackware-Live! 1

Slackware-Live! 1.8.0.1 was based on Slackware 8.0. Slackware-Live! 1.81.0.21 was based on Slackware 8.1.

Slackware-Live! 2

Slackware-Live! 2.9.0.1 was based on Slackware 9.0.

Slax 3

Slackware-Live! was renamed to SLAX in 3.0.24.

Slax 4

Slax 4.0.1 is based on 4.0.1 linux live scripts with Linux Kernel 2.4.25. Slax 4.2.0 special is based on SLAX 4.2.0.

Slax 5

There were five editions of Slax 5: * Slax Standard was the standard edition for normal personal use, introduced in Slax 5.0.0. * Slax KillBill included

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are ...

, DOSBox and

QEMU QEMU is a free and open-source emulator (Quick EMUlator). It emulates the machine's processor through dynamic binary translation and provides a set of different hardware and device models for the machine, enabling it to run a variety of g ...

to run DOS and Microsoft Windows applications, introduced with Slax 5.0.2. * Slax Server supplied additional Internet functionality and came with pre-configured

DNS The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned to ...

, DHCP,

Samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havi ...

HTTP The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...

, FTP,

MySQL MySQL () is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter My, and "SQL", the acronym for Structured Query Language. A relational database ...

SMTP The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet standard communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages. User-level email clients typic ...

, POP3, IMAP and SSH servers and several other server applications, introduced with Slax 5.0.8. * Slax Popcorn was a minimalistic edition focused on browsing and multimedia playback, introduced with Slax 5.0.5. It featured Mozilla Firefox as the default

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...

and the lightweight Xfce as a

desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphi ...

instead of KDE. * Slax Frodo was a "bare bones" edition, providing only a full-featured text-only environment, particularly focused on computers with small amounts of RAM. The Fluxbox

Window Manager A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment. They work in conjunct ...

was an option in all editions except Frodo. Slax 5.0.0 standard edition is based on Slackware-current and Linux Live 5 with UnionFS and SquashFS, Linux kernel 2.6.11.6.

Slax 6

Slax 6 is offered in a single version and completely relies on modules (additional packages) for extra features. From version 6, modules are based on LZMA compression, but some compatibility was initially provided between the obsolete .mo modules used by Slax version 5 and the more recent modules of version 6. As there have been some changes between Linux kernel versions during sub-version releases of Slax 6, however, the .mo modules of Slax 5 are now considered obsolete. Each module or package should be compiled for compatibility with the Linux kernel currently in use.

Slax 7

Slax version 7 was announced on the developer's blog (which has now been integrated into a newly refreshed Slax website). Slax 7 supports both 64-bit and 32-bit architectures, and according to its download page, "is available in more than 50 languages". It also features a stripped-down version of KDE 4, a new wallpaper, and a new module system.

Slax 9

In November 2017, the developer announced the release of version 9. This latest edition is heavily rewritten and is based on

Debian Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of De ...

, and relies on APT to add packages. The default builds (both 32-bit and 64-bit) contain Fluxbox window manager with a terminal,

Chromium Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and h ...

web browser, LeafPad text editor, calculator, file manager, and network manager.

Slax 11

Slax 11.2 is based on

Bullseye (version 11.2).. Slax 11.3 is based on Debian version 11.3.0. Slax 11.4 is based on Debian version 11.4.0.Releasing Slax 15.0 (based on Slackware again after 9 years) and 11.4 (based on Debian)
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Slax 15

Slax 15.0 is based on Slackware 15.Slax based on Slackware 15.0
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References

External links

Official website

Slax developer's blog
*
Slax in OpenSourceFeed gallery

; Reviews:

{{Linux distributions Debian-based distributions Light-weight Linux distributions Linux distributions Live CD Live USB Operating system distributions bootable from read-only media Slackware