We have a confession to make. We are secretly, deeply, head over heels in love with Zenwalk Linux. Zenwalk is a Slackware-based distro. It's lightweight, it's modern, and though it may not be the easiest distribution to install, we've certainly had worse experiences.Zenwalk 5.0 beta was released for testing yesterday. The 5.0 release has some major changes: the use of HAL in place of its own hotplugging system, updates to the Xorg X servers, and the Wicd wifi-browser. Zenwalk still uses Xfce (4.4.2) as its default desktop environment, along with the Icedove email client and Iceweasel browser (both Thunderbird and Firefox compatible).
We've been playing with Zenwalk 5.0 beta for a day now. It's everything we've come to expect from Zenwalk, the speed and stability, the flexibility, and the nice interface. There were a few little problems at install (needed to boot with the "noapic" kernel parameter to avoid a panic) and beyond (video card driver installation is hardly ever fun). These little issues aside, the beta bugs seem minimal.
Zenwalk may not be the best choice for a first Linux distro, but we'd highly recommend giving this beta a try if you're comfortable with a more text driven install process. Meanwhile, our hearts are pounding and our palms are sweaty, waiting for the final release of Zenwalk 5.0. Love is so hard.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-28-2007 @ 7:12PM
ToddZ said...
I don't get it. What exactly is so heart-stoppingly dreamy about this distro?
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12-28-2007 @ 7:47PM
Kristin Shoemaker said...
Ah, how do you really put a finger on love? ;) Linux is fast and stable in general, but Zenwalk raises it to an artform. It's an efficient distro, installing enough that it's functional without installing a whole lot of stuff I don't need. Every once in awhile you find a distro that just hits the mark... Zenwalk has consistently hit the mark since I first tried it two years ago. Doesn't mean I don't use other distros from time to time, but Zenwalk continues to be a favorite.
12-29-2007 @ 4:45AM
Imitis said...
Zenwalk has kicked that spot about 4 years ago when it still was Minislack....once tried never stoped using it :D
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1-03-2008 @ 11:12PM
Jonny said...
I've had similarly good experiences with SAM Linux, which is another Xfce-based distro (although this one has its roots still firmly in PCLinuxOS ground, so at least in my experience, it's a lot more nub-friendly).
You can check out SAM Linux (which ships with all my favorite apps) at http://sam.hipsurfer.com
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1-13-2008 @ 10:13AM
AntMan said...
Yes, Zenwalk is awesome. It's light, fast, and gets the job done. I currently have the release candidate installed on two home laptops. Once the final version is released I will put it on my desktop too.
I also love the fact that I can just upgrade it to a new version just by using a simple command "netpkg upgrade", which makes changing versions easier and more fluid when needed.
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=zenwalk
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