Slax author's Blog (RSS)

Glad to see 32 bit Slackware version avaailable. I will try it soon on my obsolete hardware.
Thank you!

Great to see SLAX is still alive after all those years. I have not yet found the time to try this due
to reallife time constraints but I'll eventually get around to test it.

On an ad-hoc suggestion, do you know Rene? He had a linux distribution builder system in
place years ago and is still active on t2sde org. Would be kind of cool if SLAX and
T2 could join forces and integrate the best of both worlds (e. g. a general, adaptable
linux distribution toolkit for customizing everything; I remember how super-easy it was
via SLAX to customize stuff years ago already).

Hello

I'm not able to savechanges and create a ISO with the Slackware version.
Even after changing the genslaxiso to use mkisofs instead of genisoimage.

The ISO gets created, but only gets part of the changes made.
Can anyone confirm?

Thank you

The debian version will save changes but no sound. The slackware version has sound but will not save changes.

Hello!

I popped over here from DistroWatch; I thought I'd check out your distro. One thing straight away though: this blog's use of grey text on a white background is not good for the eyes (or at least for the eyes of many a person)!

Great job !
Works fine and extremely fast !
Saves works fine too,
many thanks for your job !

Sorry for totally stupid question... will be able Slax see 6TB external HDD or copy/write files on it?

It would be better to use black font, not chatgpt...

Slax 11.6.0 does not contain the "changes" folder. I had to create it manually. The persistent changes option worked fine after that. FYI, I used Linux and followed the install instructions. Hope it helps.

I hope you can develop slax that can change DE, some of my programs can't run because of default DE

Quan, have you tried to run them from your terminal? I installed Disks and Feathepad and had to run them from the terminal because they don't show up on my desktop.

It is possible to change DE by yourself:
- install Slax on a pendrive;
- delete 03-desktop.sb , 04-apps.sb and 05-chromium.sb files in modules folder;
- boot Slax connected to wired network;
- open terminal and install a DE you like (with apt for Debian based Slax);
- execute "savechanges 03-mycustomdesktop.sb";
- copy the generated 03-mycustomdesktop.sb file to the modules folder;
- reboot.
It is not sure this will work with any DE; in the past I tried successfully with Mate.

There is also an obsolete version of Slax with Trinity DE (KDE 3.5 based DE) here:
mirror.ppa.trinitydesktop.org/trinity/cdimages/slax/

A reminder: there's a Telegram channel for talks about Slax:

t.me/slaxlinux

It is unofficial and then support is limited, but it can be useful for announcements and collaborative hints.
Bye!

I have an issue; on a PC with EFI SecureBoot I can't use Slax. The problem seems related to not signed kernel. On the same PC I can run distributions with official Debian kernel.
Is it possible to have signed kernel in Slax?

I am trying to install slax on a mac computer. when I run bootinst.sh I get the following error:
./bootinst.sh: line 125: ./extlinux.x64: cannot execute binary file
Error installing boot loader.

EFI not boot on debian 64. MD5 download section missed.

A problem that has arisen when trying Slax is that it does not allow me to update the repositories, I want to use Slax since the truth is that I have seen that the performance is better than other distros that I have tried but that problem prevents me from doing so

I wonder if there are people here who use this distribution as their primary system? Or do you use it as an emergency flash drive?

I've used Slax as my primary system since 5.0.x so for more than a decade. I'm kind of atypical as far as the way I use it, I think. I have never used the changes feature, because the reason I wanted a live distro was to be able to easily boot back to a known baseline. I build the individual bundles I need separately and save them to a location on my hard disk. I boot Slax always fresh and then when booted and connected to the internet, I run a script to activate the bundles I use every day, as well as patch/tweak some config files to my liking. I leave it running for weeks or months at a time. For the lesser used bundles, I just activate them as needed from the command line. When a new release comes out, I recreate the bundles to a different directory at least initially for testing, as well as adjust my load and patch script as necessary.

Pat

There are such people =) that's great, it's interesting how you use this distribution. Question well there are times when you need to save the current state of the system for something, for example to save the history in the browser or something else or you always start from scratch ?
Did you automate your work on saving and creating new slax packages?
Why don't you like other distributions? How long have you been using linux in your daily work?

Ah yes, the browser state is all that I save. I should have mentioned that. I use firefox but the same should apply to other browsers. Long ago I started firefox, then exited it. Then I moved the /root/.mozilla directory to my hard disk (which is of course automatically mounted by Slax at bootup) as /media/sda2/linux/root_.mozilla. Now one of the steps the script I run after bootup does is:

ln -s /media/sda2/linux/root_.mozilla ~/.mozilla

Now when I start firefox, it's just as I left it. I do back this directory up now and then, and always before trying a new version of Slax (which will usually require a new version of firefox). If you use a new version of firefox, it will sometimes modify your .mozilla files so that they will no longer work, if you need to go back to the old version. Tar is your friend in that case, to save off your directory first.

For automating creating new packages, I use the apt2sb script. Search the slax google group for that. I use the Debian version of Slax and this apt2sb script builds the packages in a chroot environment with just the base Slax bundles loaded. So the new bundle (e.g. firefox-esr) has all the dependencies within it and does not depend on whatever other non-Slax bundles you might have had already loaded.

Other distributions? It's not that I don't like them. I was just looking for a live distribution all those years ago, found Slax and stuck with it. I was getting frustrated with Windows at the time because of bloat and slowness from all the necessary anti virus and other anti-malware. I wanted something that I could not really have to worry about. If something went wrong, poof, I just rebooted from my CD. Try to corrupt that, malware. I also really liked the modularity of Slax. I also use the toram boot option. This loads the small Slax distro to memory for speed, but my own bundles are activated from hard disk once the system is up. These other "secondary" bundles are thus available through Tomas' aufs magic but do not take up extra memory in my old laptop.

Using Linux in my daily work? Well, I was a Solaris system admin in a large production environment for 20 years so that may have influenced me a bit. :) They are not the same, but similar enough.

Take care,

Pat

I love slax for its size. it's perfect for VM's. Remind me of damn small linux and my heart
was filled with joy to see Slax is still alive.

With "toram" parameter,
What package I have to install to have a drive icon present in desktop ?
how can I do to have a drive icon in desktop ?

I've installed (with toram parameter) "gvfs-backend" package, and start them manually ; but nothing appear in desktop !

Help !

Hi @Tomas M,
I've installed slax 11.6.0 Debian flavor on an HP t430 Thin Client.
The system has an eMMC NAND flash memory as /dev/mmcblk0p1.
After booting the following error occurred:
"Fatal error occurred - Could not locate slax data [...]"
The problem is probably due to missing drivers in initramfs.
Would it be possible to add them in the distro?
Thanks

Hi,

I'm using Slax for several years now. But with this version 11.6.0. I get this error when trying to generate iso:

"genisoimage: No such file or directory. Invalid node - 'slax/boot/syslinux'."

What is causing this issue and how to fix this?

sudo apt-get install cdrtools

Hi all!
Very nice distro!

At the moment i'm testing it, i want to make a dvb tv server on it.
For that i need to build own modules and load to kernel.
It is ddbridge for digital devices PCIe DVB cards.

The main problem is that i can't find "linux-headres-6.0.12"
I have tried other different header versions: 6.0.0-0.deb11.6-amd64, and 5.10.0-21-amd64....
I'm able to build the drivers, but can't load them, always i get errors like this:

[ 312.994040] ddbridge: version magic '5.10.0-21-amd64 SMP mod_unload modversions ' should be '6.0.12 SMP preempt mod_unload '

If someone may give any advice, i would be very thankful!)

Maybe there is a way to get "linux-headres-6.0.12" ....

Hi Tomas,

will be posible add to next version of slax this features:

cheat codes:
rootpwd=NewRootPassword
guestpwd=NewGuestPassword
etc.: changes=/dev/sda1 this will be created new folder changes/ on linux formated part with changes dir tree

maybe you want keep slax minimalistic but would be great to have more sata/nvme kernel modules for put slax to real drive not only usb.


thanks. lukas

Why every time I ask for the download link it sends me the 32 bit version even though I ask for the 64 bit version?

¿Por qué cada vez que solicito el enlace de descarga me envía la versión de 32 bits a pesar de que solicito la versión de 64 bits?

In addition, they should include the CC and GCC packages for manual installations, another problem is that it does not detect WIFI connections

Además deberían incluir los paquetes CC y GCC para instalaciones manuales, otro problema es que no detecta conexiones WIFI

Hi Tomas,

Another great announcement from you, I would like to know, now that Debian 11.7 has been released, will you be able to keep up with the changes? Also, the Dynfs file system for saving user changes is a pure stroke of genius, much better than the 4GB limit you had on user changes before, congratulations!
I can't wait to see what's next for you and Slax!

Kind regards,
Dean

installing nvidia drivers is close to impossible pls help

Hi Thomas!
After several starts, I managed to build a normal system for this Slax with Arctica lightdm greeter and sudoers member guest user twice. Once cinnamon and once mate system was built on it. In the first phase of the backups, something like systemd slices is always missing, but the backup continues and an approximately 860 megabyte sb module is created. Unfortunately, after the savechanges operation, after transferring the sb module to the modules folder and deleting the contents of the changes folder after restarting (load to ram), Fluxbox accepts again with root and the greeter does not come on. This is disastrous! After a lot of sweating, instead of success, it's failure. It's frustrating. Is there any solution for this? ... By the way, good progress because the system is already running happily on a USB NVME SSD. I can only congratulate you! But how could that little thing be added?

So, for the time being, I can't modify the can made with the help of the Linux Live Kit so that the original functions of Slax work on it. Conversely, converting a larger system built on Slax into an sb module will not be truly functional. It would be good if the development of these two starting points came together like a bridge. Maybe you want it that way too?

Your sincerely CsIxy

Cslxy: You need to create .xinitrc with something like:

exec startxfce4

or command to start máte session or cinnamon

I think slax is fór usb fine but fór normal use i prefer normal linux

Does anyone know where to find a real-time kernel for slax or how to create one?

Slax 11.6 can't detect an ordinary corded USB mouse or a keyboard. Also the monitor display is smaller, can't adjust anything. How to fix this?

Thank you Lukve. This sounds like a good way to go!

Lukve! I have a lot of memory on my computer. The processor is also quite good. I like it when the total comfort system is loaded into the RAM. I have already made cans using the Linux Live Kit from debian systems, but unfortunately these are always final states. They cannot be further developed like Slax. That is why I need to build a complete all-comfort purifier from Slax according to my own needs. Slax is not an end state, it can be further developed.

I put a Legacy MBR partition table on the usb NVME SSD. The first partition is ext4, Slax is placed here, the legacy boot is done using bootinst.sh. The second partition will be EFI fat32 for Slax. The third partition is again an EFI for another later linux. The fourth is the extended partition, including a swap partition, an NTFS data partition and the remaining space for the other linux, which can only be started with EFI boot. Slax can be started either way. After creating the legacy boot, the files required for the EFI boot can be copied to the EFI partition by transferring and adding the EFI folder of the original boot folder.

Contents of the legacy boot folder:
bootlogo.png isolinux.bin libutil.c32 syslinux.cfg zblack.png
extlinux.x32 isolinux.boot mbr.bin syslinux.com
extlinux.x64 ldlinux.c32 pxelinux.0 syslinux.exe
help.txt ldlinux.sys runadmin.vbs vesamenu.c32
initrfs.img libcom32.c32 samedisk.vbs vmlinuz

Contents of the EFI/boot folder:
bootlogo.png initrfs.img libutil.c32 syslinux.efi zblack.png
bootx64.efi ldlinux.e64 menu.c32 vesamenu.c32
help.txt libcom32.c32 syslinux.cfg vmlinuz

The contents of my legacy boot syslinux.cfg file:

UI /slax/boot/vesamenu.c32

PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 40

MENU CLEAR
MENU HIDDEN
MENU HIDDENKEY Enter default
MENU BACKGROUND /slax/boot/bootlogo.png

MENU WIDTH 80
MENU MARGIN 20
MENU ROWS 5
MENU TABMSGROW 9
MENU CMDLINEROW 9
MENU HSHIFT 0
MENU VSHIFT 19

MENU COLOR BORDER 30;40 #00000000 #00000000 none
MENU COLOR SEL 47;30 #FF000000 #FFFFFFFF none
MENU COLOR UNSEL 37;40 #FFFFFFFF #FF000000 none
MENU COLOR TABMSG 32;40 #FF60CA00 #FF000000 none

F1 help.txt /slax/boot/zblack.png

MENU AUTOBOOT Press Esc for options, automatic boot in # second{,s} ...
MENU TABMSG [F1] help

LABEL default1
MENU LABEL Run Linux (Fresh start)
KERNEL /slax/boot/vmlinuz
APPEND vga=normal initrd=/slax/boot/initrfs.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 consoleblank=0 slax.flags=automount

LABEL default2
MENU LABEL Run Linux (debug)
KERNEL /slax/boot/vmlinuz
APPEND vga=normal initrd=/slax/boot/initrfs.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 consoleblank=0 slax.flags=debug

LABEL default3
MENU LABEL Run Linux (Persistent changes)
KERNEL /slax/boot/vmlinuz
APPEND vga=normal initrd=/slax/boot/initrfs.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 consoleblank=0 slax.flags=perch,automount

LABEL default4
MENU LABEL Run Linux (Copy to RAM)
KERNEL /slax/boot/vmlinuz
APPEND vga=normal initrd=/slax/boot/initrfs.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 consoleblank=0 slax.flags=toram

The contents of my EFI boot syslinux.cfg file are:

UI vesamenu.c32

PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 40

MENU CLEAR
MENU HIDDEN
MENU HIDDENKEY Enter default
MENU BACKGROUND bootlogo.png

MENU WIDTH 80
MENU MARGIN 20
MENU ROWS 5
MENU TABMSGROW 9
MENU CMDLINEROW 9
MENU HSHIFT 0
MENU VSHIFT 19

MENU COLOR BORDER 30;40 #00000000 #00000000 none
MENU COLOR SEL 47;30 #FF000000 #FFFFFFFF none
MENU COLOR UNSEL 37;40 #FFFFFFFF #FF000000 none
MENU COLOR TABMSG 32;40 #FF60CA00 #FF000000 none

F1 help.txt zblack.png

MENU AUTOBOOT Press Esc for options, automatic boot in # second{,s} ...
MENU TABMSG [F1] help

LABEL default1
MENU LABEL Run Linux (Fresh start)
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND vga=normal initrd=initrfs.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 consoleblank=0 slax.flags=automount

LABEL default2
MENU LABEL Run Linux (debug)
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND vga=normal initrd=initrfs.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 consoleblank=0 slax.flags=debug

LABEL default3
MENU LABEL Run Linux (Persistent changes)
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND vga=normal initrd=initrfs.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 consoleblank=0 slax.flags=perch,automount

LABEL default4
MENU LABEL Run Linux (Copy to RAM)
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND vga=normal initrd=initrfs.img load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 consoleblank=0 slax.flags=toram

Is there any work in progress for a next Slax based on Debian 12?
Thanks.

Hi there,
I used Slax to provide a USB-based OS for online banking for some low-level-users.
Unfortunately with the version 11.6 I can't get a browser up and running in a way such users are able to use Slax.
When I click on "Webbrowser" I am only asked whether I like to download and install Chromium. After installing Chromium didn't start. The coursor shows a circling icon but nothing more happens.
I can start Chromium --no-sandbox from the shell but these users are not able to do it.
That's a bummer because now I have to use a different OS.
But thanks for all the effort. It worked great many years!

And a recommendation: Please install a ntp daemon because BIOS' can be configured very different.

When You have SLAX and you want connect to wifi via command line, you must unblock wifi adapter

rfkill unblock wifi
rfkill unblock all

and after generate wpa config
wpa_passphrase __NAME_OF_AP_ PASSWORD > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

find what is your wifi name of dec, etc. wlan0

and after run wpa_supplicant, you know

and run dhclient after all

this helps me, i spend long time to do this. :D

This command line script is usefull for me :D and is under a MPL-2.0 license,

github.com/finnix/finnix-live-build/blob/main/files/hooks/wifi-connect

would be nice to have it in slax

Tried my slax 2 lzo script, and it works fine on the current release, though the tap-to-touch feature isn't needed anymore as it's pre-included.

But we need another script to help clean modules for slax that i don't see. These include removing wifi options/directories, and mostly removing the /root directory. (Most programs add files after your first run). Deep cleaning non-needed files i'm not sure otherwise.

Also i think we need tmpfs auto mounted on /tmp as well as /root/.cache. On another machine the .cache folder tends to be firefox and other stuff, but never exceeds 150Mb, and rarely needs cleaning. /tmp on the other hand i enjoy trying to use to convert sb and other files, only to see it reflected in the changes (and testing with a 1Gb SD card that quickly fills up and makes the changes useless as there's write errors for obvious reasons).

Finally for smaller file sizes, tools should be optionally allowed, Advance Compression tools, optipng, jpegoptim, gifsicle (though i rarely see gifs), using zopfli compression on png files while either uncompressed gz files (usually man files or fonts) or zopfli. Using Advance tools those files tend to get 10% smaller, though xz may do better so uncompressed may be preferred. This can save quite a few extra megs. Though if these are done beforehand and put in the main download distro would save on everyone else having to do it.

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