Slax author's Blog (RSS)

...My personal suggestion : switch from "KDE" to Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment - "LXDE".

Jako alternativu za KDE bych být Vámi zkusil Razor-qt - http://razor-qt.org/

Great news (new Slax version)! Thank you!
Maybe it is worth to collect donations for Slax?
Can you throw out the KDE Panel (temporarily)?
Can add E17 with normal theme?
Success.

Some others may indeed be more workable/efficient, like Qt+E17.
(Themes should be available separately, just like apps.)
If only we could separate WM/DE issues from apps, like LinuxBBQ does with 53 window-managers via browser-tech ... API needed?
Or just suffer on, with Xfce or Consort/Mate ...

Tomas,
I've read of a live smaller Linux based on Debian, uses the Trinity Desktop (fork of KDE3) called exeGnuLinux. I've downloaded an iso, but haven't tried it yet. Might be able to get some ideas from exeGnuLinux though.

Maybe you should cosider Openbox (+Tint2, etc.)?

what about xfce?

I would stick with KDE. It's traditional in Slax and I like it :-). I think that after resolving those small annoying issues, it will be great like KDE3 in the old days. Moreover, if you move to another desktop environment, it will need a lot of tuning and customizing to get it to the state, in which is the current KDE4.

But maybe I am too oldschool and I don't like changes :-).

MATE, LXDE

Hello Thomas, it's good to hear that you are working on Slax. Does the it work if you leave the task bar in the default settings? Also did you try the new KDE 4.11? Maybe if you report it to the KDE team they maybe able to fix this upstream problem that you are facing. I see that Aaron Seigo and Martin Gräßlin are very responsive in the KDE G+ community https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/102942756287167879504 maybe they could know about an easy fix for this problem.

I always report the issues I experience with KDE using their official bug tracker, and none of the issues were resolved ever, as far as I remember. Maybe KDE 5 will be better :)

Excellent news! I've been trying to get the live kit to work with Debian (Ubuntu) for the last few months but no success. Hope this project of yours will release soon! Oh and for Slax - Cinnamon please! Easily the slickest DE and as I read the next release will not depend on Gnome at all. If not Cinnamon, then just plain Gnome shell. Thanks!

Just a wish ... could you make it possible to sort modules by date (just so one can see what is new, at a glance)? (Btw, sorry for posting here, but the requests section is still under construction ...)

Tomas do you have the bug IDs that you reported? I didn't face these issues with the task bar in any of the computers that I tested Slax but I could try to reproduce the error and try to talk to them to resolve the issue.

If KDE will be dropped, I'll vote for simple and lightweight environment like OpenBox (maybe with lxpanelx as panel and taskbar) or E17.

I vote for Cinnamon.

http://segfault.linuxmint.com/2013/10/cinnamon-2-0-released/

@Tomas_M

It would be cool to use Openbox with Crunchbang style : http://crunchbanglinux.org/wiki/adding_crunchbang_features_in_another_distro

Any style is better than none.

I am compiling kernel 3.11.6 for Slax 7.0.8 and got Syslinux-6.0.2 ready for it...
Making everything module as possible as i can. So people can seperately add or remove them to allow/disallow or speed up boot time... (No need of X drivers if i dont use X, or same as sound...)

KDE has some issues, right. One of them is org.kde.networkmanager applet in taskbar. Causes black screen after login... KDE Launcher restarts itself couple of times and it fails...

I have created a script to install Slax into HD. Slax is slightly basic and well configured out-of-box version of slackware. You can copy-move it to elsewhere and run it. Portability, stability, speed and ease-of-use is makes it tail at ubuntu or other most used distros...

With the pxe server, i had a project to boot entire system with complete-basic development environment C, C++ within minute. I wasnt far to success but new releases suspended my work.
Slax supports deb / rpm and txz install already, also allows modules to add/remove. Basicly.
I made it to work with touchscreens, with interactive boards in Turkey. (Government have put them into classes, but they're running Win7 Pro. Also there is no chance to get in built-in linux [They put our national operating system / Pardus but it is fake! It is really a Debian with make-up... Which is i have proof of it.] No keyboard, no selection button, touchscreen not yet working in boot option mode. There is just a counter, counts from 30 and boots W7.)
I set up slax pxe server with small amout of ram (512) just serving basic webpage about status of server, objectives of project. And the PXE.
Modules and touchscreen drivers are ready to go. Have a hostname system that allows to name each class, poweroff or reboot machines, 0-latency updating. (Put new file into server, when all machines booted, they will be updated through pxe)
No need of internal hard drive, built in i3 processor and 2gigs of ram are enough.
No viruses, no worms, no shit. There is no change to change or modify operating system or desktop from client. But in server... Everyone has small amount of cloud storage on server, has webpages with php support. in schoolname.k12.tr/~name.surname also got account and have access to this development environment.
DISTCCs are installed, so any compilation can be done with approx. 50 computers with identical processors, ram and peripherals...

Hey, doesn't seem to be a forums for help? I'm trying to use a webcam in Skype. I have the most recent slax version, downloaded Skype, put it in my modules folder, plugged in my usb webcam (Logitech QuickCam E 3500 PLUS) and then restarted. It shows in the video devices options tab in slax that I have a "UVC ..." selected webcam. However all that shows up in Skype is a black screen. I have the disk but yeah.. Obviously only works in windows. I can't get windows. I'm running my entire Dell Latitude D610 laptop off a 4gb flash drive cause my hd got corrupted. Can I get any help on how I might be able to get my webcam working? My life depends on Slax and getting this webcam to work, lol... Seriously though.

If you can't find someone to help you with Skype camera, I suggest you try Porteus OS.

Slackware 14.1 is drawing to a close. Maybe Pat and the Slack team will fix the majority of the issues you're having.

If I remember slackware news snippets they too are considering axing KDE4. Slax 6.x was great as it was capable of running on much older hardware with KDE3. I am using porteus now for this reason for this reason. I would like to suggest that options be available for a range of WM's. E17, LXDE, for the meager computers, Mate or XFCE for mid level traditionalists and Cinnamon or other for well outfitted computers.

Possibly a build system again would be best for this sure to ensue discussion?

KDE4 should have never been. KDE3 was just about the best desktop environment I have ever used. Its too bad the developers abandoned it for a much less worthy replacement. I had Slax 7.0.x with KDE4 running on a tablet but KVKBD was not installed or in repo so I tried plasmoid keyboard. What a joke. It was taller than my screen. Unusable. The list of KDE4 bugs will always be endless, yes. Time to move on. I too would love to see a LL kit for debian.

hey thomas, maybe you could take a look in this:
https://build.opensuse.org/package/show?package=kdebase4-klyde&project=home%3Awstephenson%3Abranches%3Aklyde
https://github.com/SUSE/hackweek/wiki/Lightweight-KDE-based-desktop

maybe yoy can use some of their work on tweaking kde even more in slax

can't wait to see a debian live version made by you
will you be posting it somewher?

I vote for KLyDE too. :D

Hello Thomas, I start to use slax daily, coming from Debian, found your job impressive, im playing with slax and hard drives to use as only system, maybe is time to make some script to setup on hard drives, even in companion with MS-windows and standalone, there are a lot of people that can´t use linux at all and your distro is amazing for newcomers from MS-win.

PD. sorry about my english.

Trinity!

KDE4 is largely OK, but if you strip it that much problems are inevitable.

@Matt
The Skype problem should be solved by
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype

This is from slackbuilds.org, search for Skype (and hope that Slax has v4l1compat).

Tomáš M. Kdy přidáš na stránku tlačítko "Donate" nebo "Flattr", aby ti mohli fanoušci vyjádřit svůj dík za tvou těžkou práci? ;)

Main reason I am not using slax 7.x is exactly KDE 4.x implementation.
In live OSes I have tried, I like KDE 4.x at backtrack linux.
Another one downside in slax 7.x is the lack of easy to find and ready to use bundles. "Unofficial" bundles in repository saved me a lot of time by testing the app without the need of install. Yes, I know it is easy to make bundles (have done some), but the way I use slax (As faster than light swiss knife solution), ready to go software bundles (even with some bugs) are essential. Maybe with linux live kit it is fixable, but I have liked slax, exactly because I don't have to bother with that kind of stuff. It was:

download iso
put it on USB/HDD/SD
download bundles with needed software
do some minor fixes
do the job
remove unneded software with one click or two
download other bundles with software
do another job
etc..

and it worked for me on many different machines and configurations out of the box, without being resource hungry.

I am still using slax 6.x with KDE 3.x with great pleasure, but the hardware support issues are naturally more frequent.

I hope debian version will be more like slax 6.x

Try KDE Trinity, we can have Slax 6 but up to date :)

openSUSE
http://susestudio.com/a/VU5ypu/kde-4-love-slax

Awesome news about debian! I would also like to see a switch away from kde. XFCE and Gnome are in my opinion nice alternatives, also Openbox+Tint2 is great, but I think razor-qt and lxde should wait until the merge for lxde-qt is complete!

BTW: A steam module would be great scince one could easily make a steambox running of USB and with the persistent changes updating and changing the game folder to an external device would be great.

i had try build a live-linux on debian7 and it boots ok

I like mac style. would you like to develop one?

Hi Tomas M. Even though you have decided to use another window system in the new slax version, please don't get rid of KDE. I suggest you, just to make KDE as a module and give us a possibility to use it in Slax if we want to. The KDE is even not needed to be configured.

The reason is that many of the users use Slax as a working system instead of a testing system. We will use Slax for quit a long time after we booted with it. So it is much better that Slax has the same configuration as our "real" working system and it will be bad that we use another windows system that we are not familiar with (@Prcek has already mentioned it). For the people like us, we do not need the default KDE configuration because we have made them ourselves.

So, please just compile KDE as a module and let us be able to play with it.

Thank you!

I would vote for XFCE. It appears the Debian team might stick with it.
I know there is a variation of Mepis that is being built by their community members that will be Mepis XFCE.
I think XFCE is becoming more popular.
Maybe not drop KDE altogether, I like KDE too .

Just my two cents.

Thanks,

hi,
i tried to install slax on my usb disk but i couldnt.. i clicked on bootinst.bat file but error appeared.. error window says: it cannot be found substructure of ''VBScript'' comand file for 'I:/slax/boot/runadmin.vbs'' comand file.
sorry for translation mistakes, its language was not english..
how can i solve this problem and can i install slax on my usb?

Hi,

PureOS is already a debian live build with Linux Live Kit, contact Marc from the forum for details.

You can test my script debs2lzm too ;)

http://pureos.org/
http://pureos.org/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=58&lang=english

Hi Tomas, any update on the linux-live for debian?

I like Slax as an OS. It is the most beautiful KDE distro I have seen so far. It has the things that I love most about KDE and extras stripped off. The only problem of Slax is that Slackware and thus Slax lacks many needed software. For example, I couldn't install ibus and ibus-m17n in Slax.

Arch linux on the other hand has a wide collection of software in their repository. I hate Slackware for the lack of software. I could see KDE in Slax but Slackware gives me a headache sometimes. But I love Slax. I think that's the way linux distros should be -- small, efficient and fast.

Despite this fact that KDE is sluggish and in some cases buggy. But to tell you the truth it is the most user friendly and complete Desktop ever.

However other choices are at hand, and to my taste XFCE is the best for Slax concept. As it is not as simple and raw like LXDE and not as heavy and fancy as Cinnamon and Mate or big or useless like razor-qt.

Any way, I really respect your priceless effort on preparing Slax.
Cheers!

Mate is solid. How about Razor Qt or the upcoming LXQT? I bet if you shipped with Mate you could get some free exposure from their website. PLEASE don't switch to Arch, whoever posted that Slackware doesn't have enough packages has obviously never heard of Slackbuilds, Slackpkg+, or compiling from source. Long live Slackware!

LXDE or XFCE are my votes

Tomas and fellows, to leave the kde is leave all the programs who are made for it too.
One thing who i like in SLAX is your complete modularity. The solution is make new module.
If kde4.x is give head ache, stay using kde3.x. But, slackware are in constant alteration. This is not easy to follow!
More important is the compatibility modules with new and old hardware. You are thinking in a new software who do not play in kde?

How to burn ISO for CD to USB from SLAX downloads.
I use free utility Rufus for Windows (search on Google). This is for the first time only. Run SLAX from USB, add for example a program, turn Slax off. Then I use UltraISO for Windows (search on Google for torrent or for portable version), mark all USB files and folders and save as ISO in any folder. From now you can save all next changes by UltraISO and burn to USB by UltraISO (bootable, write disk image). It takes a few minutes, but you will have SLAX snapshots from zero to the last modification. My zero snapshot was 242 MB, last working 1100 MB (Libre Office and a few programs).

Hi Tomas,
I am Electronic eng. I want run Slax on A13-OLinuXino-WIFI :
https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A13/A13-OLinuXino-WIFI/open-source-hardware
Are you can help me to rebuild slax for A13.
A13 is ARM Cortex-A8 and use on mobile, tablet, DVD-Player, DVB and ...

Thanks.

Hello there.
I'm having a hard trying to access to my local Wife Network.
I have a Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini Card and a Marvel Yukon Ethernet Controller.
The thing is that it seems that the adapter is unable to recognize the wireless network, even though I'm very close to it.
Does this has to do with SLAX not recognizing the WiFi adapter or maybe there is no support for my WiFi card.
I was thinking of downgrading back to SLAX 6 but that is like going backwards on what we supposed to know is "Updates".

Waiting for your response!
Regards!

Have you heard of the KDE fork called Trinity?
It is out on a couple of other distros and forked from the last version
of KDE 3. One distro I have tried out is Netrunner and the other is
Exec Linux both run Trinity.

nice news , i like slax but my pc dont like kde4. Maybe you creation slax with e17 or lxde.

As long as the desktop is stable and has the usual desktop conventions (so, something like Cinnamon, MATE, or XFCE), I don't really care what desktop appears on the next Slax release.

I use Slax as the standard environment in the classes that I teach, so my main concern is that it is a traditional desktop. Something with an application menu and a system tray, and some basic integration.

We can find out it?

Just that is necessary, I will participate. Together we can come to a right answer.

I apologise, but, in my opinion, you are not right. Let's discuss it. Write to me in PM, we will communicate.

Yes, all is logical