After more than two years, Slax 11.3 has been released with EFI Boot Support for USB Devices.
Slax is still alive and well! Tomas Matejicek, the founder and developer of Slax, has announced the general availability of Slax 11.3, the first version of this minimalist distribution in over two years.
Slax 11.3 is, as you might expect, a substantial update to this portable distribution, which was formerly based on Slackware Linux. It now runs on Debian GNU/Linux and makes use of the Fluxbox window manager.
The new release is based on the newest and greatest Debian GNU/Linux 11 "Bullseye" operating system series and uses the Linux 5.10 LTS kernel series, which is long-term supported. Linux kernel 5.10.92 is used by Slax 11.3 in particular.
Slax 11.3 includes EFI boot support for USB devices, full AUFS compatibility to retain support for existing modules from prior Slax versions, and Connman as the default program for managing network connections instead of Wicd, which also provides enhanced Wi-Fi support.
The default programs have been modified in certain ways. PCManFM is now the default file manager, GNOME Calculator is now the default calculator software, SciTE is now the default text editor, XArchiver is now the default archive manager, LXTask is now the default task manager, and XTerm is now the default terminal emulator in Slax.
The VLC video player and the Chromium web browser both have shortcuts on the desktop, but they aren't installed. Users will be requested to install them from the repositories when they click them, which will happen automatically in the background.
Aside from that, the new Slax release supports touchpads with "click by tap" functionality and includes the xinput tool for listing and querying available input devices as well as altering input device settings.
Slax 11.2 is now available for download from the official website if you're searching for a minimalist distribution that runs solely on a USB stick and supports both 64-bit and 32-bit computers. More information about the changes in the new release may be found in the complete changelog.
Download Slax 11.3 here
