SlavankaOS

SlavankaOS is a free and open source distribution of Linux based on the highly acclaimed Slackware Linux operating system and built around the minimal Openbox window manager and the lightweight LXDE and Xfce desktop environments. It is aimed towards system administrators or advanced users who are looking for a system rescue CD.

Distributed as a dual-arch Live CD image

The operating system can be downloaded from its official website or via Softoware as a dual-arch Live CD of approximately 700MB in size, which fits on a CD disc or a USB flash drive of 1GB or higher capacity.

Boot options

Being a system rescue CD, it features a comprehensive boot menu that allows the user to start the live environment in console or graphical mode using either the Openbox, LXDE or Xfce sessions, with a 64-bit or 32-bit kernel, as well as with support for modules or development packages.

In addition, it is possible to run a system memory diagnostic test using the Memtest86+ utility, view detailed hardware information using the Hardware Detection Tool (HDT), skip the CD-ROM boot, and reboot or power off the machine.

The only system rescue CD with three desktop environments

We can declare SlavankaOS the only system rescue CD with three desktop environments. While the Openbox setup is very minimalistic, it will require the user to login and type “startx” on the shell prompt. The LXDE and Xfce sessions are also minimal, but will provide access to more applications.

Default applications

Default applications include the PCManFM file manager, Mozilla Firefox web browser, DeaDBeeF audio player, AbiWord word processor, MPlayer video player, XChat IRC client, Pidgin multi-protocol instant messenger, Geeqie image viewer, and Leafpad text editor.

Bottom line

Specificially designed for system administrator, SlavankaOS is a minimal recovery Linux distribution that uses the Openbox and Xfce desktop environments, Conky, as well as several useful, open source command-line or graphical applications designed for complicated system recovering tasks.