14 DAY TRIAL // Salix Openbox 14.1 Beta 1, a GNU/Linux distribution based on Slackware that is simple, fast, easy to use, and based on the Openbox window manager, has been released and is now available for download.
The Openbox version of Salix has been released has arrived and it’s pretty similar with the previous flavors that have been made available until now in this branch. This window manager is a very light one, which means that it can run on low-end hardware and on old computers.
“The 32-bit iso image includes both SMP (multiple processor capable) and non-SMP (single processor) kernels. The non-SMP kernel is mostly intended for machines that can’t run the SMP kernel, which is anything older than a Pentium III, and some models of the Pentium M that don’t support PAE.”
“It is highly recommended to use the SMP kernel if your machine is able to boot with it (even if you have only a single core) because the optimization and memory handling options should yield better performance,” says the developer in the official announcement.
The Linux distribution features Openbox 5.2 and numerous applications have been implemented by default. The integrated Linux kernel for Salix Openbox 14.1 Beta 1 is 3.10.17. This is not a very modern kernel, but given the target audience for this operating system, the choice for the Linux kernel is understandable.
Also, a number of other important packages have been added, like the Midori 0.5.8 web browser, Claws-Mail 3.9.2, Transmission 2.82, SpaceFm as the file manager, Openjre-7u9, rhino, icedtea-web, Pidgin 2.10.9 and Gftp 2.0.19, just to name a few.
The developers also implemented Samba to make it easier to access Windows systems, and Abiword 3.0.0, Gnumeric 1.12.19 and ePDFviewer 0.1.8 as the default office applications.
Other applications that might get the attention of the users are Exaile 3.3.2, Asunder 2.3 Cd ripper, Bracero 3.10.0, Viewnior 1.3, GIMP 2.8.6, Flash plugin 11.2.202.359, and Openjre-7u51.
This is a rather stable system, but it’s not ready for mass adoption. If you decide to try this new operating system, you should consider using a virtual machine, like VirtualBox for example.
A complete list of new features can be found in the changelog. You can download Salix Openbox 14.1 Beta 1 right now from the website.
Remember that this is a development version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.