SLAX

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Image:Slax.png Template:Infobox OS SLAX is a Linux Live CD based on the Slackware distro. It does not need to be installed on a computer system's hard drive, as it boots and runs from removable media (either a CD or a USB drive). There is also an option to run SLAX from RAM. SLAX Standard and Kill Bill editions use KDE as their desktop environment, while Popcorn uses XFCE. Fluxbox is an option in all versions except Frodo for users with a low amount of RAM.

The current version of SLAX is 5.1.0 which is around 184 MB, released on March 31, 2006.

1 Editions of SLAX
2 Features
3 Webconfig
4 Author
5 Distributions based on SLAX
6 External links

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Editions of SLAX

There are four other editions of SLAX besides the Standard Edition:

KillBill: Includes WINE, DOSBox and QEMU.
Server: Includes DNS, DHCP, SMB, HTTP, FTP, MySQL, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, SSH.
Popcorn: Fits on a 128MB storage medium such as USB flash drive and includes XFce desktop, Mozilla Firefox, Beep Media Player, Gaim and AbiWord.
Frodo: Serves as base for other releases. It has no GUI, but contains the core GNU utilities, drivers, and a command prompt. This is often a good place to start if you wish to "roll your own" SLAX derivative.

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Features

The primary feature of SLAX is easy customization. Using any Slackware package, you can easily add additional software to the base CD, and burn a customized distribution. With a bit more trouble, you can add rpm's, and even directory trees.

Base SLAX contains the following software:

Linux Kernel 2.6.16
X.org 6.9
UnionFS & SquashFS
KDE 3.5
MPlayer 1.0pre6a with KPlayer
Rdesktop (rscp in KDE)
Hotplug support
Cdrtools
Mutt e-mail client
Wget

A full list of software can be found at SLAX software page.

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Webconfig

Webconfig is a feature of SLAX that allows changes made to a session to be saved to an online repository on the SLAX server. When booting SLAX from a liveCD, this option is activated by using a "cheatcode" or boot option. At the boot prompt, press F1 to reveal the available boot options. Previously saved system settings will be applied to the current session. It is also possible to save and restore system settings from an active session.

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Author

SLAX, despite it being open source, was made by one man: Tomas Matejicek, using the Linux Live scripts and Slackware as a base.

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Distributions based on SLAX

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BackTrack

BackTrack resulted from the merger of the former WHAX and Kanotix-based Auditor Security Collection distros. It takes advantage of SLAX's modular design and structure to enable "the user to include personal scripts, additional tools, customised kernels" in personalized distros.

WHAX, a name derived from 'Whitehat' and 'SLAX', was a distribution designed for security tasks. WHAX emerged from Whoppix, a Knoppix-based security distro. When Whoppix reached version 3.0 it was renamed as WHAX, to reflect the change of parent distribution from Knoppix to SLAX. Customized by an Israeli security consultant, WHAX made its mark in penetration testing. WHAX made it possible to test and verify the security of a network from many computers located in various places.

Max Moser's Auditor Security Collection—"The Swiss Army Knife for security assessments"—was focussed as well on Linux-based penetration tests. The overlap with WHAX in purpose and tools collection partly led to the merger. Auditor featured well-laid-out menus for its collection of over 300 tools for troubleshooting, network- and systems-fortifying. Its user-friendliness resulted in enhanced usability for penetration testing.

BackTrack site: http://www.remote-exploit.org

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Planktum

Planktum Slax taylored in a not technical show-off, but with the intention to allow a fast, versatile and "slimmed" Spanish-English system that simplifies the boot process, and that includes a friendly graphical user interface(GUI) following a design that comes close to the visual culture of the target group of users to whom it is addressed i.e. Immigrants. There is an intention to distribute copies of Planktum around marginalized communities, be it Africans, Latinos, Chinese etc. Users are met with a graphical environment that includes 4 basic icons on the desktop, all leading to communication applications (present version includes Skype, WebBrowser, Email Client and an Instant Messaging application).

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Wolvix

Wolvix A LiveCD Linux distribution based on Slax. The lastest version release is 1.0.4. There are two editions available for use, Desktop Edition (DE) and Games Edition (GE). A third addition is under development, the Media Edition. Wolvix DE is a full featured distribution with up to date open source software including OpenOffice 2 for office productivity, Bluefish (text editor) for web development and Firefox for the web browser. Yet this distribution is fairly light weight at 461 MB in size. See the Wolvix web site for a complete list. Wolvix GE is loaded with fifty games, but weighs in at only 478 MB in size. Like Slax, Wolvix is bootable from an appropriately sized USB drive. Wolvix's ISOs can also be modified using MySlax Creator.

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SLAMPP

SLAMPP A LiveCD Linux distribution based on Slax that is configured to be a home server. SLAMPP includes the standard linux server software packages such as Apache HTTP Server, MySQL and Samba software. It also supports website and program development languages such as PHP, Perl and Python programming language. The developers of SLAMPP also offer SLAMPPLite which is only 258 MB in size.

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TeaM-TL

TeaM-TL a LiveCD Linux distribution based on Slax. TeaM-TL (TeXLive in LinuxLive) aspires to become the most comprehensive Linux LiveCD-based implementation of TeX.

The main goal of TeaM-TL is to produce an all-in-one environment for TeXing with the right tools within a modern operating system. All software comes ready-to-use on one standard, bootable optical disk, be it CD, DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray format.

Another goal is the promotion of TeX. As a bonus, when TeXing, the user can listen to music, surf the Web and read email, among other activities.

For beginners, TeaM-TL is the easiest way to discover the wonderful world of TeX. The user does not have to add fonts and packets, or wrongly configure TeX features and editords. TeX-nicians have in their shirt pockets a ready-to-use, powerful TeX Linux LiveCD distro for use anywhere. One needs only a PC with a CD drive to begin TeXing.

Monika, a mathematician, and Tomek, an electrician, two Polish self-professed "computer nerds" who love Linux and TeX, develop and maintain TeaM-TL.

TeaM-TL site: http://team-tl.livenet.pl

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