How to install and use Slax Linux

Slax Linux (Nick-named as pocket operating system)

What is Slax Linux and how to use it ?

 Slax Linux is a small and light-weight operating system which is based on slackware. It can be booted from a Live-CD or a USB. Slax Linux has a small size of over 200MB. Unlike other linux operating systems which focus on hard disk installation, Slax works completely from a USB and needs no particular installation or dedicated partition. You don't have to create a new partition for installing Slax. You can boot it from a pendrive and the changes you made are stored in the pendrive for later use.

   Despite having  small size, Slax comes with pre-installed softwares and good user-friendly interface (KDE desktop environment)  that looks similar to windows user interface. Users familiar with windows interface will be having very less trouble using Slax user interface.

How to get Slax Linux ?

To get the 32-bit version of latest Slax try this link----------------> For USB: Link here

                                                                                                            For CD  : Link here (zip file, can be opened with 7zip archive manager)

To get the 64-bit version of latest Slax try this link----------------> For USB: Link here

                                                                                                            For CD  : Link here

To choose Slax from the available languages try this link---------------->  Link here

How ever if you want a older version of slax then try this link

For CD version download from here---------------->  Link here

For USB version download from here----------------> Link here (tar file, can be opened with 7zip archive manager)

How to install Slax in USB ?

  After downloading the required Slax file (tar or zip) open it using a archive extractor like Winrar or 7zip. Now e need to extract the files to the pendrive. But before we do that we need to check whether pendrive is in FAT32 format. If it is in FAT32 format then it's OK, but if not then format it to FAT32 format.

  

    After formatting the pendrive extract the files in the zip/tar file directly to the pendrive. Generally the zip file has two folders containing all the required files. The two folders are named "boot" and "slax". So you need to extract the files in away that when you open the pendrive you see two folders (boot and slax) as shown in below image.

     

     Now after extracting the files go to the folder named "boot" shown above. You will find files as shown in below picture.

       In the picture you can see that there are two files highlighted. If you are a windows user then click on the "bootinst.bat" file and a prompt opens and the installation of boot loader in pendrive starts. A while later the installation will be finished and the pendrive is ready to boot Slax Linux. Just reboot and see if it works. If you are windows user then skip to the bottom of the page.

       But if you are an linux user then you need to do little work.

   Linux Users:  After extracting the files to the root of pendrive and opening "boot" folder, you need to open the "boot" folder in the pendrive in the terminal or console.

  1.Open console (or terminal or konsole, whatever name it has in your linux distro)
  2.Using 'cd' command go to you boot folder in your pendrive

     Note: Don't use any single or double quotations in console.    Example: See below image

   3.Generally the pendrives are shown in the "mnt" or "media" folder when mounted. In my 

       case t is "mnt" folder.

   4. My pendrive is loaded at /mnt/sdc1. so the command to type would be 

        "cd  /mnt/sdc1/boot/". For you it will be "cd /path/to/your/usb/boot/"

    Note: Don't use any single or double quotations in console.

    5.Now type "pwd" and press enter to check your present folder in console (or terminal)

       

   Note: The commands would be something like this (see below picture)

  

     6.Now if you haven't tempered any file then there will be a file named "bootinst.sh". This is a

         shell script file and we need to run it.

     7.Now in the above terminal in which we used "cd" command and entered the boot folder

         through terminal type the following command -----> Command: "./bootinst.sh"

         or if that doesn't work then try "sh bootinst.sh". You will get prompt in the terminal as

         shown in below image.

       8.Now be cautious and  press enter if everything went well, and if you think something is

           messed up then press ctrl+c to cancel.

       9.After that the console starts installing bootloader to the pendrive. A while later a

           message appears that is something like this as given in below picture.

         10. Press enter and then close the terminal.

         11. Now your pendrive is ready to boot Slax. Just reboot and it should boot up.

 Finally for both windows and linux users

         Note: In case if the slax doesn't boot up then check your bios settings whether they are

           set to boot USB first. If not then do it and save settings and reboot.

       After the system boots if the system shows a screen like this(shown below) then it means 

         your pendrive has booted properly.

  Congrats now you have a fully functional Slax linux USB.