{"slug": "slax", "name": "Slax", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 2.884, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-12-06", "latest": "2026-06-30", "why": "Slax brings back fond memories! I used to boot school computers into it", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Slax brings back fond memories! I used to boot school computers into it", "icon": true, "domain": "slax.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.slax.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Slax", "SLAX"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 740086384, "item_id": 46255399, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46255399", "by": "sombragris", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Slax was and still is a great live distribution.", "excerpt": "I used it sometimes when I needed a live Linux, and I liked it, because it used to be based in Slackware, and it had KDE as its desktop. Now they added Debian as another base, and that's great. Sadly, they dropped KDE. There's also Porteus, also a Slackware derivative offering KDE Plasma -- https://www.porteus.org Slax was and still is a great live distribution. The fact that (at least one of its flavors) is based on", "context": "", "use_case": "live Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Slax: Live Pocket Linux"}, {"id": 740042976, "item_id": 46252686, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46252686", "by": "i_v", "date": "2025-12-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Slax brings back fond memories! I used to boot school computers into it", "excerpt": "Slax brings back fond memories! I used to boot school computers into it to have access to OpenOffice, Firefox, ahem Ophcrack\u2026 I never ran Slackware Linux beyond that but the simplicity of being able to build a custom live USB through their web interface was amazing. I don\u2019t think I\u2019d have gotten as much of a head start with Linux had it not existed.", "context": "", "use_case": "live USB Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Slax: Live Pocket Linux"}, {"id": 738789426, "item_id": 46174339, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46174339", "by": "ifh-hn", "date": "2025-12-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "and Slax too: https://www.slax.org/", "excerpt": "I've used many of these small Linux distros. I used to have Tiny Core in a VM for different things. I also like SliTaz: http://slitaz.org/en, and Slax too: https://www.slax.org/ Oh and puppy Linux, which I could never get into but was good for live CDs: https://puppylinux-woof-ce.github.io/ And there's also Alpine too.", "context": "", "use_case": "small Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tiny Core Linux: a 23 MB Linux distro with graphical desktop"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["live boot", "live linux", "live usb linux", "live pocket linux", "small linux distro"], "compared": [{"slug": "knoppix", "name": "Knoppix", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46191449", "title": "Slax: Live Pocket Linux", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48732056", "title": "Knoppix", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46173547", "title": "Tiny Core Linux: a 23 MB Linux distro with graphical desktop", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 3, "compare": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 779799121, "item_id": 48737445, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48737445", "by": "whalesalad", "date": "2026-06-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used knoppix (and later SLAX) in high school", "excerpt": "I used knoppix (and later SLAX) in high school to reboot shared computers (library, labs, etc) and then extract the SAM file from the C:\\ drive. I would shuttle the file home on a USB stick and crack it overnight. After doing this on a handful of computers I ended up having virtually every teacher/admin password in the school, including the domain admin which was no shit all lowercase \"north\". The crack was so fast f", "context": "", "use_case": "live boot", "switched_from": "Knoppix", "story": "Knoppix"}, {"id": 740086384, "item_id": 46255399, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46255399", "by": "sombragris", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Slax was and still is a great live distribution.", "excerpt": "I used it sometimes when I needed a live Linux, and I liked it, because it used to be based in Slackware, and it had KDE as its desktop. Now they added Debian as another base, and that's great. Sadly, they dropped KDE. There's also Porteus, also a Slackware derivative offering KDE Plasma -- https://www.porteus.org Slax was and still is a great live distribution. The fact that (at least one of its flavors) is based on", "context": "", "use_case": "live Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Slax: Live Pocket Linux"}, {"id": 740042976, "item_id": 46252686, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46252686", "by": "i_v", "date": "2025-12-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Slax brings back fond memories! I used to boot school computers into it", "excerpt": "Slax brings back fond memories! I used to boot school computers into it to have access to OpenOffice, Firefox, ahem Ophcrack\u2026 I never ran Slackware Linux beyond that but the simplicity of being able to build a custom live USB through their web interface was amazing. I don\u2019t think I\u2019d have gotten as much of a head start with Linux had it not existed.", "context": "", "use_case": "live USB Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Slax: Live Pocket Linux"}, {"id": 740033776, "item_id": 46252111, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46252111", "by": "system7rocks", "date": "2025-12-12", "stance": "compare", "quote": "IT SHOULD WORK WITH EVERY HARDWARE PERMUTATION KNOWN TO EXISTENCE. If not... combine your energy with Fedora.", "excerpt": "I love the idea of this... but here is what I want - IT SHOULD WORK WITH EVERY HARDWARE PERMUTATION KNOWN TO EXISTENCE. If not... combine your energy with Fedora.", "context": "", "use_case": "live pocket Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Slax: Live Pocket Linux"}, {"id": 738789426, "item_id": 46174339, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46174339", "by": "ifh-hn", "date": "2025-12-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "and Slax too: https://www.slax.org/", "excerpt": "I've used many of these small Linux distros. I used to have Tiny Core in a VM for different things. I also like SliTaz: http://slitaz.org/en, and Slax too: https://www.slax.org/ Oh and puppy Linux, which I could never get into but was good for live CDs: https://puppylinux-woof-ce.github.io/ And there's also Alpine too.", "context": "", "use_case": "small Linux distro", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tiny Core Linux: a 23 MB Linux distro with graphical desktop"}]}