Slitaz 4.0 Arrives with New TazPanel Goodness

Slitaz seems to be growing up and playing with the big boys. In the latest release, new original tools highlight the maturing nature of this tiny distro. It's been two years in the making, but it's been worth the wait.

LXDE and OpenBox are used to provide a familiar and pretty desktop interface. The simple layout soon leads the user to discover TazPanel. TazPanel is the new Slitaz administration and setting center. It's a Web browser connected internally to a server running on port 82. The information and configuration tools are written in XHTLM and CSS and feel oddly familiar. From TazPanel one can do things like configure their network, add or remove users, and install Slitaz onto hard drive, optical disk, or USB stick. Main navigation can be through the toolbar at the top of each TazPanel window. From there users can easily find all the tasks offered. The same code-base used in TazPanel also provides a basic Web browser which is used by Slitaz mainly to serve up documentation, information, and such.

One of the more convenient elements of the TazPanel configuration tool is its package management. From a comfortable Web-like interface, one can search, install, or remove software for their new Slitaz system. It can also list what's installed. The repositories have been updated for 4.0 and feature 1000 new packages. With Cookutils users can even build their own packages.

Of course, in the menu are a selection of applications and lots of other individual tools and utilities. The desktop is fully configurable, many through graphical tools.

One of the best things about Slitaz 4.0 is its increased performance. All aspects, especially booting, is faster than ever. All that still comes in a 48 MB download.

The release notes have more information and download information is at www.slitaz.org.