Slax Proves You Can’t Keep a Good Linux Distribution Down
After 4 years of stagnation, the lightweight Slax distribution is back in business.
Anyone who’s ever looked into bringing computer hardware back to life has considered one or more lightweight Linux distributions. In the search for the right OS, you might have come across Slax, which was a Debian-based operating system that was quite popular for a while. However, the pandemic wreaked havoc on the development lifecycle, so we hadn’t seen anything new from the maintainer since 2018.
That all changes now, with the release of Slax 11.2. Based on Debian Bullseye, almost ready for release and will include features like kernel 5.10, support for 32 and 64-bit systems, PCManFM file manager, Connman network manager, SciTE text editor, xterm terminal emulator, and more. The developer has opted to leave out the Chromium browser by default (due to its size), but by clicking on the Chromium icon, the browser will automatically install.
Although Debian shifted to the OverlayFS union mount filesystem, Slax had to continue with AUFS to provide the necessary support for the slax activate command. As OverlayFS doesn’t allow for modification of the existing overlay filesystem on the fly.
At the moment, there’s no definitive release date, but anyone interested in testing Slax 11.2, can download an ISO image for either 64- or 32-bit architecture.
Follow the Slax developer blog to stay in the know about this lightweight Linux distribution.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.