Update
Use the core ISO which has only one rootfs to bypass all the pain.
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I posted about this tiny USB-bootable Linux-based OS in this post earlier. The latest version SliTaz 4.0 is released just a few hours back! Available for download from the following locations:
Will be trying it out tonight! 😉
Update
If you are installing it on USB using Unetbootin and FAT32 as filesystem:
- I installed SliTaz 4.0 using Unetbootin and I was not able to boot due to kernel faults initially. SliTaz 4.0 has split rootfs into 4 parts. To get past the kernel fault add the following entry as the first one in syslinux.cfg file in the USB:
label ubnentry0 menu label slitaz kernel /boot/bzImage append initrd=/boot/rootfs.gz rw root=/dev/null vga=normal laptop slitaz home=sdb1After “append” add any other laptop specific kernel option you may need. In boot menu select the newly created menu – slitaz.
- Append all the rootfsx.gz files under /boot into one using the following command:
# cat $(ls -r rootfs*.gz) > rootfs.gz - I was not able to boot into tux but I didn’t waste any time on that as I prefer root login. The default password for root is root.
Thats it! Enjoy the speed! Don’t forget to install Pidgin for chat and SMPlayer for multimedia.
Update
If you are a purist like me 😉 and love to save every byte possible then you may remove tazweb. If you get alarmed to find that clicking on “Package Manager” does nothing:
- Run:
# tazpanel start //will start tazpanel or will tell you if it's running Starting TazPanel web server on port 82... [ OK ] - Open this local link in your browser:
http://tazpanel:82/pkgs.cgi?list
Change the DNS server IP in SliTaz
Edit /usr/share/udhcpc/default.script and add the following line just below the first line:
dns="8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4"Restart the network using /etc/init.d/network.sh.
Save downloads to USB directly
It’s a pain to remember to save downloaded files every time. Here’s a simple tip. Create a directory in SliTaz USB and name it Downloads. Now create symlink to the directory in your home directory –
# ln -s /home/Downloads/ ./DownloadsChange settings of your browser, transmission etc. to save the files in /root/Downloads. Access your downloads at ease and no need to save them twice.
My fonts in Firefox looked horrible so I switched to Opera on SliTaz. Looks cool! To enable wireless on SliTaz try this post.
Another screenshot of my SliTaz Desktop
I will be logged out of Ubuntu for a while.
Looking for more linux mini distros?
Check the tag LINUX MINI DISTRO.
Great, you solved the boot problem!
It’s good to know it helps! 🙂
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Thanks! 🙂
Hi Arun, Great article. Just want to say that I did it a slightly different way using the Slitaz Installer in the TazPanel.
1. Downloaded v4.0 of Slitaz and burnt to a CD-RW.
2. Booted from CD with a 8GB USB stick attached.
3. Once the CD was booted went into “Taz Panel” and selected “Install”
4. Once the installer started used the default partitioning tool to create two 4GB partitions (a little overkill for a small distro I know).
5. Continued the Install using SDC1 to install to and SDC2 as the “home” partition.
6. Had the bootloader use SDC and it was done in about 4 minutes.
7. Rebooted once finished and booted from the USB drive.
8. Installed/Removed software and tweaked layout.
Been running it that way on various systems for a few months now. Although I must admit I prefer your option of being on the command line; just offering an alternative to those who may be new and ‘scared’ to go anywhere near the command line.
Thanks for your alternative approach! Pretty cool! 🙂
In my opinion simplicity of usage is very important irrespective of user’s level of experience. If things can be done easily from GUI only then the OS can break out from being just the “geek’s OS”. Fortunately for us, all the modern Linux based OS -es are reaching there.
Appreϲiate this post. ʟet me try it out.