14 DAY TRIAL // 4MLinux Multiboot Edition, a mini Linux distribution that is focused on the 4Ms of computing, Maintenance (system rescue Live CD), Multimedia (e.g., playing video DVDs), Miniserver (using the inetd daemon), and Mystery (Linux games), is now at version 9.0 and is ready for testing.
4MLinux is one of the smallest distributions in the world and its developer is trying really hard to keep the size as small as possible, no matter what the flavor is. You would imagine that an operating system that allows users to install other distros was pretty big, but you would be wrong.
The ISO for this flavor of 4M Linux only weighs about 273 MB, which makes it one of the smallest of its kind. Users will be able to access and install some very famous distributions without having to carry multiple DVDs or images.
“This release is distributed in the form of a multiboot CD, which allows you to make network installations of the following systems: Debian 7.5, Fedora 20, Slackware 14.1, and Ubuntu 14.04. It is also possible to boot 4MLinux 9.0 Rescue Edition to prepare the installation of these systems (by performing data backup, disk partitioning, and the like),” reads the official announcement.
Besides the installer entries for Debian 7.5, Fedora 20, Slackware 14.1, and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, there is also an entry for the 4M Linux Rescue Edition, which has been bundled along all the others.
The 4MLinux Rescue Edition 9.0 Beta was released last week and helps users rescue systems in trouble, but it's also very helpful for users who are trying to prepare a hard drive for a new operating system that has yet to be installed. This is very helpful, especially on PCs that already have an OS present.
You need to keep in mind that this is a Beta release, but the development cycle for 4MLinux is rather short and the final version of this distro will be out pretty soon. It's very likely that not too many changes will be made to the OS, but if you want to use this tool extensively, we recommend that you wait for the final release.
A complete list of changes and updates can be found in the official announcement. You can download 4MLinux 9.0 Beta Multiboot Edition right now from Softpedia.
Remember that this is a development version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.