-----
title: "Slax - A small, complete and 'nice-looking' Linux live distribution"
content-type: article
timestamp: 1139156266
tags: "review"
-----
How can I learn how to use Linux? Simple, you grab a copy of any of the twelve thousands different 'distros' available
out there, and you install it on your PC, hoping not to damage your existing Windows installation (if any). Or there's a
more lazy and safe way, get one of the few dozens of 'Linux live CDs', burn the cd, boot from it, and you're all
set...It's true, nowadays the best solutions for Linux newbies is trying out a few <em>live CDs</em> before installing
<em>the real deal</em> on their machines: it's safe(r), takes less time and it's much more fun. Yes, some people may
object saying that the fun in learning Linux is installing it on your hard drive first, but a few people I know who
'accidentally' overwrote their Master Boot Record or 'accidentally' damaged their Windows installation might disagree
there...<br /><br />A live distribution[1] basically is a CD (or DVD or USB drive) containing a fully working operating
system - Linux in the specific - which can be run directly from the CD itself and does not require an hard disk
installation. The drawback is that normally some part of the operating system are loaded and run from a <em>ram disk
</em> and therefore the data written there will be erased once the system reboots. Due to the nature of CDs, saving data
on the CD itself is obviously not possible, and this limitation can normally be bypassed by saving changes within a file
to store either on your hard drive, remotely, or on some other media which allows read/writing like a floppy disk or USB
stick.<br /><br />Linux is well known for the many different distributions available, each with its own features, pros
and cons. The same happens for live distros: in the last few years the number grew a lot[2] and nearly all major
distributions now have a <em>live</em> counterpart, mostly to allow new users to preview their product.<br /><br />The
most famous, and possibly one of the first LiveCD ever made was Knoppix[3], a Debian[4]-based CD featuring a KDE[5]
desktop environment and many useful applications <em>squeezed</em> into 700MB of space which can be used as a fully
functional operating system. Add to this a truly impressive on-the-fly hardware detection ability, and there's the
<em>best</em> (arguably) multi-purpose linux Live distribution ever made.<br />If Knoppix is "so perfect", why do other
distributions exist at all? Well, some people noticed that they wanted to remove something from the collection of
applications Knoppix included in the default CD, others wanted to add other bits, so soon a long list of Knoppix-based
<em>customized</em> distros followed[6]...<br /><br />This is another story, I'd like focus my attention on perhaps the
most valid Knoppix-alternative out there: Slax[7].<br /><br /><strong>Size vs. Features</strong><br />Knoppix was the
first Live CD I tried, but I didn't like one thing about it: its size. 700MB means one CD, and one CD means that I can't
carry it in my pocket now can I? Not literally, anyway, at least not comfortably. So I started looking for a smaller
alternative, and I found various possible candidates. Damn Small Linux[8] was one of the most extreme: 50MB in total,
nothing more, nothing less, and it worked! Alright, I must say that now it's much better than it was when I first tried
it but, it was more or less functional at the time (2003), although relatively new on the scene. <br />I liked it,
really but, due to its size self-limitations the user interface wasn't too pretty, and the applications included weren't
exactly what I was looking for: when you're used to Firefox (or better, Firebird, at the time) to browse the Net,
Dillo[9] doesn't really look exactly appealing and feature-rich - although remarkable for its size. <br /><br />I
decided that I wanted something more than that, also because I was planning to burn the live-linux distro on a <em>brand
    new</em> (at the time) 8cm CD-RW with 180MB of space available. The best solution I could find, at the time and
still now, perhaps, was Slackware Live CD, a very promising live distribution based on Slackware Linux[10].<br />I was
very impressed at the time, especially for the effort the developer put to create a mini-distribution which is also
user-friendly and nice-looking as well, incorporating the KDE Desktop. These are not the only strengths of the project,
as we'll see in the next sections but, certainly the first thing everyone can notice. <br /><br />After a while the
project changed names and became "Slax", perhaps to create its own identity and expand itself following a different
direction than its non-live predecessor: while the 'real' Slackware is often quite cautious on using latest technologies
and normally includes <em>stable</em> packages, Slax does quite the opposite, including more recent applications and
solutions. <br /> <br /><br /><strong>Overview</strong><br />Slax website[7] evolved quite a bit through the years, and
now it's a true example of clarity and exhaustiveness. An essential clean design, access to a lot of information on how
to use the live CD, solutions to common problems and also something for developers interested in creating their own live
distro: the truly remarkable thing is that the biggest part of the work is done - apparently - by one single person,
Tomas Matejicek[11], the founder of the project. <br /><br />The strength of Slax - as I anticipated before - is perhaps
its ability to compress a few carefully selected, commonly used applications which allow the user to fully enjoy his
live experience in 177MB of space. Certainly the choice of using the K Desktop Environment instead of a more lightweight
one like Fluxbox or Xfce may seem illogical, but for sure new Linux users would feel more "at home" with KDE, especially
if coming from Windows XP. KDE is by far the most user friendly desktop environment available for Linux, and Slax made
it even more user friendly by carefully organizing menus in an optimal way without cluttering the desktop with a myriad
of icons and overly-crowded navigation bars.<br />When it comes to the applications included, Slax offers nearly
everything the average desktop user needs: word processor (KWord), spreadsheet (KSpread), browser (Konqueror),
multimedia player (Kplayer), editors, games and much more[26]! In its simplicity and especially for its size, Slax is a
well-rounded, multi-purpose distribution. There's an interesting article available on tuxs.org[12] which documents the
author's <em>personal challenge</em> of using <em>only</em> Slax (version 4.1.4 at the time) for a whole week.
Surprisingly, the writer was really impressed of the features offered by this little distro: he was able to connect to
the Net, browse the web, check his mail, write and do various other "everyday task", with no difficulty or extra
hassle.<br /><br />Slax is also <em>very</em> fast: normally some other live CDs compress <em>the whole</em> operating
system on a single file, or a few, while Slax developed an optimized modular architecture: groups of programs or even
single applications are compressed <em>separately</em> into .mo files: this technique sensibly increases the performance
and speed of the operating system: whenever I open KWord, for example, to write an article, the OS will access
<em>just</em> the KWord module on the disk, without touching other modules. <br /><em>Surely there's a way to add/remove
    modules...</em> - Yes, there is, and this will be discussed later on.<br /><br />Finally, like various other live
distros, Slax supports some handy "cheatcodes" which can be used to boot customize some options when booting the
operating system.<br /><br />Some of the most interesting codes
include:<br /><br /><code><br />boot: slax webconfig=passphrase<br />boot: slax webconfig=ask<br /></code><br />This is
a recent feature: Slax allows users to save their settings remotely, directly on Slax server. Every user has to choose a
10+ characters password in order to use this
feature[27].<br /><br /><code><br />boot: slax toram (just alias for copy2ram)<br />boot: slax copy2ram<br /></code><br />This
code can be used to copy the entire operating system to your computer's RAM: this may make the booting process slower,
but Slax will run faster than light afterwards (256MB+ ram
required)<br /><br /><code><br />boot: slax changes=/dev/device<br /></code><br />Saves changes to a specified device
using any linux filesystem, like a hard drive or a usb
stick.<br /><br /><code><br />boot: slax load=module<br /></code><br />Load optional modules stored in the /optional/
directory. For further information about modules, see the "Make your own!" section below.<br /><br />For a full list of
all Slax cheat codes, see the cheatcodes page[13] on Slax website. <br /><br /><strong>Different flavors</strong><br />I
defined Slax a multi-purpose mini distribution, but as always different people have different needs: some users may want
to be able to run some windows applications through Wine[14], for example, or may prefer a more lightweight Desktop
Environment. The huge - and logical - limitation of all live CDs is that they normally don't offer the possibility of
adding applications and packages: when the operating system starts the "root" partition is transferred onto a ramdrive
which allows - even if until reboot - read/write access. Although this limitation can be overcome at least through using
some of the cheatcodes described before, having the application already installed could be much
easier.<br /><br />That's why Slax developers decided to start creating different <em>flavors</em> of Slax. Some of them
are not available at the moment (the current slax version at the time of writing is 5.0.6), and others can be already
downloaded from the official site[15].<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Slax "Kill Bill"</span> -
This is the first Slax customization which became available, and came out more or less at the same time as Tarantino's
movie. <em>Bill</em> Gates didn't seem to mind at all, even if this version actually allows users to run <em>some</em>
Windows applications like notepad on linux. Basically Wine[15] dosbox[16] and qemu[17] can make this possible, with
limitations... nothing too exciting but, definitely fun to try out.<br /><br /><br /><span
    style="text-decoration:underline;">Slax "Server"</span><br />
<blockquote>SLAX SRV is a pocket operating system with many internet services ready to use. Includes DNS, DHCP, SMB,
    HTTP, FTP, MySQL, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, SSH.</blockquote><br />Unfortunately, this flavor of Slax is not yet available
for download, but some updates concerning its status are available on the developer's TODO list[18]:<br /><br /><em>SE:
    mysql up and running <br />SE: httpd up and running, with PHP with MySQL <br />SE: DNS server up and running as a
    cache server <br />SE: DHCP server included but not started automatically, could confuse local network <br />SE: SSH
    server up and running <br />SE: MAIL server up and running, needs testing <br />SE: FTP server up and
    running</em><br /><br />This is definitely going to be an interesting project, and I'm really looking forward to it.
In the meantime, there are two server-oriented live distribution available, which is also based on Slax: Slampp[19] and
in particular Slampp Lite[20]. I tried Slampp Lite and I was really satisfied with its features: support for PHP, Perl,
Python on Apache (basically includes XAMPP for Linux[21]), xfce desktop environment, the latest Firefox browser,
antivirus, firewall, and more.<br /><br /><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Slax "Popcorn"</span><br />This Slax
flavor is more minimalist, and substantially different from the Standard Edition. For a start it features the more
lightweight xfce Desktop Environment[22], and thus removes all KDE-based applications making more room for Firefox
browser and Abiword, which are not included in the Standard version due to the presence of their <em>KDE
    counterparts</em> (Konqueror and Kword). <br />Very fast, simple, and fits 128MB: suitable for small USB keys more
than anything. <br /><br /><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Slax "Frodo"</span><br />As the name implies, this
version is smaller again (47MB), and it's basically the base for all other flavors as it includes just a Linux console
and some scripts for hardware detection and setting up the live environment.<br /><br /><strong>Make your
    own!</strong><br /><em>Nice! But I'd have included X instead of Y, then added Z as well, perhaps...</em><br />That's
a common feeling: the truth is that people are never happy with what they get! If you're still not happy with what Slax
in all its different flavors can offer you, well, you can make your own. Although some might want to start more or less
from scratch, creating <em>Slax-based</em> customizations (this was the only option until the more recent versions), now
there's an easier way: modules and the documentation present on the official site is complete enough and describes the
necessary steps to take to create, modify and use them[23]. Modules are basically files with .mo extension containing an
application which will be loaded by Slax at startup, if placed in the /modules/ directory, or only if required by the
user (see the corresponding cheatcode) if placed in the /optional/ directory. The easiest way to create a module which
requires no particular skill is converting a Slackware package, by issuing this
command:<br /><br /><code>tgz2mo application.tgz application.mo</code> <br /><br />Of course there are other ways to
create modules without converting Slackware packages, further details in the documentation[23]. There are also a lot
(currently 576!) of user-contributed modules ready for use available for download and hosted on the Slax site[24], the
only problem is that inevitably some of them seem to be out-of-date, and not constantly updated by their
maintainers.<br /><br />Last but not least, the dream of all Windows users: MySlax Creator and MySlax Modulator[25],
which allow Windows users to create their own Slax distribution with custom modules both for CD and USB drive and create
Slax modules on windows respectively. Two really nice additions which make this project even more
(Windows-)user-friendly!<br /><br /><strong>Conclusions</strong><br />Slax is exactly how advertised on its website:
<em>"[a] fast and beautiful Linux operating system which fits on small (3.14") CD-ROM disc"</em>, nothing more, nothing
less. Personally, I'd like to emphasize its user-friendliness, as it seems the most valid alternative to Knoppix, and
perhaps even better: it does not include <em>as many applications as possible</em> which could confuse Linux neophytes
but, just a bunch of useful programs for everyday use to give users a <em>taste</em> of what Linux is capable to
do.<br />Normally, as Slax is mostly maintained by one person, Slax releases are not too frequent: normally 2-3 per year
maximum. The version which was tested for this article was the 5.0.6 and (un)luckily a new one <em>just came out</em>
while I was writing the article: version 5.0.7b is now available for download[15] and features KDE 3.5. A few bugs were
discovered immediately after its released and quickly fixed with a patch-module (hence the "b"): This YOUR chance to try
it out before I do...<br /><br />Happy Sla<em>x</em>ing! <br /><br /><br />[1]Linux Live CD - Wikipedia: <a
    href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_live_cd">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_live_cd</a><br />[2]DrozenTech's
LiveCD List: <a
    href="http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php">http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php</a><br />[3]Knoppix
Official Site: <a href="http://www.knoppix.org/">http://www.knoppix.org/</a><br />[4]Debian Official Site: <a
    href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a><br />[5]K Desktop Environment: <a
    href="http://www.kde.org/">http://www.kde.org/</a><br />[6]Knoppix Customizations: <a
    href="http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Knoppix_Customisations">http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Knoppix_Customisations</a><br />[7]Slax
Live CD: <a href="http://slax.linux-live.org">http://slax.linux-live.org</a><br />[8]Damn Small Linux - Official Page:
<a href="http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/">http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/</a><br />[9]Dillo Browser, Official Page: <a
    href="http://www.dillo.org/">http://www.dillo.org/</a><br />[10]Slackware Linux, Official Page: <a
    href="http://www.slackware.com/">http://www.slackware.com/</a><br />[11]Slax - Developer's page: <a
    href="http://slax.linux-live.org/credits.php">http://slax.linux-live.org/credits.php</a><br />[12]Barney Matthews,
"A week with Slax 4.1.4" - Tuxs.org: <a
    href="http://www.tuxs.org/slax.htm">http://www.tuxs.org/slax.htm</a><br />[13]Slax cheatcodes: <a
    href="http://slax.linux-live.org/cheatcodes.php">http://slax.linux-live.org/cheatcodes.php</a><br />[14]Wine HQ: <a
    href="http://www.winehq.com/">http://www.winehq.com/</a> <br />[15]Slax download page: <a
    href="http://slax.linux-live.org/download.php">http://slax.linux-live.org/download.php</a><br />[16]Dosbox Project:
<a
    href="http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1">http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1</a><br />[17]Qemu
Project: <a href="http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/">http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/</a><br />[18]Slax TODO
list: <a href="http://slax.linux-live.org/todo.php">http://slax.linux-live.org/todo.php</a><br />[19]Slampp Official
Page: <a
    href="http://slampp.abangadek.com/wiki/wikka.php?wakka=HomePage">http://slampp.abangadek.com/wiki/wikka.php?wakka=HomePage</a><br />[20]Slampp
Lite page: <a
    href="http://slampp.abangadek.com/wiki/wikka.php?wakka=SlamppLite">http://slampp.abangadek.com/wiki/wikka.php?wakka=SlamppLite</a><br />[21]XAMPP
for Linux: <a
    href="http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-linux.html">http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-linux.html</a><br />[22]Xfce
desktop environment, official page: <a href="http://www.xfce.org">http://www.xfce.org</a><br />[23]Slax Documentation -
Modules: <a
    href="http://slax.linux-live.org/doc_modules.php">http://slax.linux-live.org/doc_modules.php</a><br />[24]Slax
modules page: <a
    href="http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.php">http://slax.linux-live.org/modules.php</a><br />[25]MySlax Projects:
<a href="http://myslax.bonsonno.org/">http://myslax.bonsonno.org/</a><br />[26]Slax - installed packages: <a
    href="http://slax.linux-live.org/installed_packages.txt">http://slax.linux-live.org/installed_packages.txt</a><br />[27]Slax
- Webconfig: <a href="http://slax.linux-live.org/webconfig.php">http://slax.linux-live.org/webconfig.php</a><br />