SLAX 15.0.2 / SLAX 12.1.0 – Live Linux OS

Slax is a modern, portable, small and fast Linux operating system having a modular approach and exceptional design. It runs directly from your USB flash drive without installing, so you can carry it everywhere you go in your pocket. Despite its small size, Slax provides nice graphical user interface and wise selection of pre-installed programs, such as a Web browser, Terminal, and more.

Slax is based on Slackware or Debian, which gives you the ability to benefit from the entire ecosystem of each. Tens of thousands of prebuilt packages with applications, all within reach thanks to slackpk (Slackware) or apt (Debian) command.

Slax boots from USB mass storage devices such as Flash Drive keys as well as from regular hard drives and CD/DVD discs. Simply plug your device in and boot from it. Entire Slax operating system resides in a single directory /slax/ on your device, making it easier to organize with your other data.

Slax provides FluxBox window manager already preconfigured for the most common tasks. Included is a Web browser chromium, Terminal emulator xterm and simple text editor leafpad and calculator qalculate. You can put Slax on wide range of different filesystems, including EXT (ext2, ext3, ext4), btrfs, and even FAT and NTFS.

When Slax is started from a read-only media such as CD/DVD, it keeps all system modifications in memory only, and all the modifications are lost when you reboot. On the other hand, if you run Slax from a writable device such as USB Flash Drive, it can store all changes there. So all your configurations and modifications are restored next time you boot, even if it is on a different computer. This feature is known as Persistent Changes and you can read more about it in a separate chapter.

Included Text-mode Utilities:

• Archival utilities: such as gzip, bz2, cpio, tar, ARJ, ZIP, LHA, LZO, XZ
• Disk utilities: as fdisk, gptdisk, parted, hdparm, sdparam, lvm2, mdadm
• Hardware monitoring tools: like dmidecode, lm_sensors, smartctl, powertop
• File system utilities: for ext2/3/4, btrfs, fat, ntfs, reiserfs, xfs, jfs
• CD ripping/ burning software: such as cdparanoya, cdrdao, mkisofs
• Utilities for CPU overclocking: like cpufreq-info and cpufreq-set
• Data recovery tools: such as ddrescue, xfsdump, rsync, bpe
• Networking tools: such as tcpdump, iptraf, iftop, mtr, nc, ftp, netwatch
• Support Windows shares: by mounting with mount -t cifs
• Wireless tools: such as iw, rfkill, wpa_supplicant
• Other tools: like OpenSSH ssh server and client, screen, Midnight commander, and more.

Choosing optimal Slax architecture (32bit or 64bit)

Slax is available for 32-bit and 64-bit processor architectures. The 32-bit version can run on very old computers (as old as Intel 686; that dates back to 1995). It will run properly on brand new computers too, but it is somehow bigger download. Furthermore it has a limitation that single application can address only 4GB of RAM.

On the other hand, the 64-bit version is smaller, does not have such limitation, and it will run on most computers available nowadays. So in general, if you plan to use Slax on very old archaic computers, then choose 32-bit. If your intention is to use Slax on machine made in this century, you better go for 64bit. And if you don’t know what your target hardware is, go for 64bit too, because the chance you’ll ever see a 32-bit computer nowadays is almost zero.

Changes in version 11.4.0 and 15.0.0:

• Released version based on Slackware 15
• Updated to Debian 11.4.0 base
• Stop preserving mounted devices between boots (removed systemd rules)
• Updated shutdown procedures to improve handling of unmounting devices

Changes in version 11.3.0:

• Updated to Debian 11.3.0 base
• Updated application launcher to read config from a temporary configuration file rather than stdin

Changes in version 11.2.1:

• Fixed some problems with EFI booting
• Fixed changing screen resolution
• Use Win key to run application launcher (Alt+F2 still works too)
• Associate text files with text editor properly
• Added new Menu and Logout buttons on xlunch screen for easier navigation
• Skip running conman service on startup if network is already initialized (by pxe, etc)
• Disable dns proxy in connamn so PXE server can start properly when needed

Changes in version 11.2.0:

• Added EFI boot support for USB devices
• Updated to most recent packages from Debian bullseye
• Wicd replaced by connman-gtk
• Improved network support for WIFI connections
• Using gnome-calculator and scite as default applications (GUI calculator and text editor)
• Enabled click by tap support for touchpads
• Added xinput package
• Removed Google Chrome, but users can still install it by a single click or two

Homepage – https://www.slax.org

System requirements to run Slax:

Slax 32bit version

• Processor: i686 or newer CPU, all Intel processors and AMD processors will work
• Memory: 128 MB of RAM for desktop, 512 MB of RAM to run Web browser
• Peripherals: CD or USB drive to boot from
• Optionally: network card, sound card

Slax 64bit version

• Processor: An x86_64 CPU, like AMD Athlon 64, Opteron, Sempron, Intel Core 2/i3/i5/i7, and others
• Memory: 128 MB of RAM for desktop, 512 MB of RAM to run Web browser
• Peripherals: CD or USB drive to boot from
• Optionally: network card, sound card

Size: 365 MB

DOWNLOAD Slax 15.0.2 ISO for 32-bit [en]

DOWNLOAD Slax 15.0.2 ISO for 64-bit [en]

DOWNLOAD Slax 12.1.0 ISO for 32-bit [en]

DOWNLOAD Slax 11.6.0 ISO for 64-bit [en]

DOWNLOAD Slax IPXE 11 ISO

Purchase SLAX