

The default desktop in Slax 7.0 RC1 With the arrival of a first release candidate, the next major release of Slax, version 7.0, is nearing completion. Slax is a fast and full-featured Linux operating system based on Slackware that includes KDE 4 as its default desktop. The small distribution weighs in at less than 190MB and is designed to run as a live system from a CD or USB drive.

Slax 7.0 RC1 uses the 3.6.6 Linux kernel and features version 4.9.2 of KDE. Despite its small size, the distribution includes a wide range of pre-installed software including Firefox 16.0.1 the MPlayer media player, the Gwenview image viewer, version 2.10.6 of the Pidgin IM application and the Okular document viewer, as well as several games. According to Tomáš Matějíček, the project's lead developer, the final version will also include development tools, which are currently missing in the release candidate. Slax can also be further expanded using various modules.

According to the project's site, the final version of Slax 7 will be released before the end of December in 50 languages. To support the project, users can also pre-order Slax 7 on a 16GB Kingston SE9 USB flash drive for $25.00; Matějíček says these will start shipping at the start of December and should be delivered around the middle of the month.

Further information about the RC can be found in the announcement blog post. Slax 7 RC1 is available to download for 32- and 64-bit systems from the project's site; the current stable release of Slax is version 6.1.2.

(crve)