A Real Honest-to-Goodness Live Slackware Coming Soon

There is Porteus and SLAX, but no real Slackware live. Perhaps that's about to change. Should Linux users live in fear of viruses and malware as Windows users do? Mel Khanlichi answered today. SteamOS was found to be lagging behind Windows performance for gaming and Josh Fruhlinger found 10 odds places for Linux. All this and more in today's Linux news.

Slackware Live would be a nice addition to the distribution line-up for it would give folks a chance to try it before buying it, as it were. Slackware used to be known for its ridiculously simple configuration, but with the kernel auto-configuring hardware these days, Slackware remains the best distribution for those wishing to experience Linux and Open Source software as the original developers intended. Very little if any tweaking is done to the software used. I've wished for a true live Slackware for years, but gave up the dream long ago. Until this evening when I came across a long awaited updated from AlienBob. AlienBob is a Slackware developer quite well known in Slackware circles.

Today AlienBob said he's been wanting to create a live Slack for longer than I've been wanting one. He cited irritation at reviewers' complaints at not having one and Slackware's old-fashioned installer. Some of his stated goals are exciting:

1. Provide a Live version of Slackware proper – i.e. show Slackware as it is, but without having to install it. No hiding of kernel messages scrolling across the screen at boot – no custom wallpapers, etcetera.
2. Target should be slackware-current – the bleeding edge.
3. Provide a way to generate a Live ISO with just Slackware packages as the source – fully scripted and deterministic.
4. Still be able to customize its content – for instance provide stripped-down or minimalist versions but also allow for the inclusion of 3rd party packages.
5. Option to create a bootable USB stick running Slackware Live.
6. Keep It Simple Stupid!

Eric Hameleers, AlienBob's alter-ego, reported today that he has a "Beta Quality" Live CD of 700 MB. He used "syslinux and its sibling extlinux for booting up the Live environment… not lilo or grub or elilo." His Live CD is a minimal system using Xfce with XDM as the desktop. There are two full versions featuring KDE 4 and Plasma 5 with SDDM. Bob said his live systems are for fun and education as they are compiled from the developmental branch of Slackware, not for mission criitical systems. He's posted some screenshots, but isn't sharing his images just yet as there are bugs. When they've stabilized some, Hameleers said he'd probably make the Xfce and Plasma 5 versions available. But for now, "it’s just the screenshots."

In other Linux news:

* 10 odd, offbeat, and downright weird places you'll find Linux (slideshow)

* SteamOS gaming performs significantly worse than Windows

* Is Linux Free From Viruses And Malware?

* Ubuntu Community Donations Report

* If Addicted to NVIDIA Drivers don’t install Fedora 23 yet…