SliTaz 4.0 arrives with "Russian doll" images

SliTaz 4.0 desktop, running the Midori web browser

The SliTaz community has announced the release of SliTaz 4.0, a small Linux distribution that packs a full graphical desktop into a 35MB image that can run in 192MB of RAM. SliTaz 4.0 adds more than 1,000 packages to its repository and comes with a new CGI-based control panel that lets users configure the system from one central place.

Other new features include a boot loader that starts one of four different images of the distribution at boot time, depending on the specifications of the machine it is being executed on. The developers call this the "Russian dolls" model. The distribution also comes with a new graphical installer, a reworked update manager and a build tool called cookutils that lets users package software for the distribution "in a minute". The distribution itself was built with this tool and the included documentation helps users re-spin their own live images of SliTaz. The distribution has about 3,350 packages available to choose from.

The SliTaz boot screen, showing the four available images for different hardware specifications

The distribution can be run from a bootable USB stick which transfers the distribution into memory and can then be ejected; it can also be installed on a machine's hard drive. The installation is fully automated and can even be started over the network via boot.slitaz.org using PXE and HTTP protocols. The included Openbox desktop uses the PCman file manager, the Midori web browser and a choice of LXDE and Enlightenment desktops. Furthermore, the system can be used in a web server configuration as it comes with lighttpd and the SQLite database engine already installed.

Slitaz 4.0 is available for download for x86 systems from the project's web site. More information is given in the release notes, and detailed installation instructions are also available.

(fab)