Zenwalk Hits the 6.0 Milestone
by Kristin Shoemaker - Mar. 09, 2009Comments (0)- Related Blog Posts
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Every Linux user has at least one -- a distribution that's near and dear to their hearts, even if it isn't installed on many (or any) of their machines at a given time. I've found Zenwalk, which I've talked about before, is one of those distributions. In anthropomorphic terms, it's Slackware's younger brother, a hip, handsome sibling with a strong family resemblance. Zenwalk brings the solid, stoic, server-oriented Slackware to the desktop user.
Zenwalk officially released its 6.0 version this weekend, featuring the newly released Xfce 4.6 desktop, the 2.6.28.7 kernel configured with gspca for better USB webcam support, and Netpkg enhancements.
Zenwalk has always nicely balanced being useful with a small footprint. A new Zenwalk install is fully able to handle routine daily tasks, and can run comfortably and quickly on old hardware (a P3 with at least 128 MB is recommended, but slightly older configurations also work, if at a slower pace). Zenwalk 6.0 boasts faster boot times, thanks to the fine tuning of some init scripts and the realtime I/O scheduler. Between the faster boot process and the simplified installer, the Zenwalk team says installations generally take about twenty minutes.
In this release, Zenwalk has traded GNOME Office with an optimized version of the OpenOffice Suite. Zenwalk includes the base OpenOffice applications, and offers the less commonly used add-ons, such as OOo Database, Math, and Java support through Netpkg. Zenwalk has also swapped MPlayer for Totem, and added Exaile as its official music player.
Netpkg, Zenwalk's package manager, is now able to manage "orphaned dependencies" as well as support offline operation. While Netpkg isn't quite where other package managers are in terms of functionality -- yet -- it has seen massive improvements in recent releases, and is one reason why Zenwalk is a gem among the Slackware-based distributions.
Zenwalk is available in a few different versions -- Standard, Core, and Live Editions. The Standard Edition Zenwalk disk image will do for most, but those wishing to create their own Zen might prefer the X-server free Core Edition. If you are brand new to Zenwalk and don't have a spare machine to kick its tires, it is certainly worth some time to check out the live version.
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