Slackel 7.5

Mayank Sharma finds this distribution combines Slackware and USB distros with two use-cases: older computers and portable installations.

- Mayank Sharma

Linux distribution

There are several reasons why Slackware, the oldest, actively developed distro, still has a huge user and install base. However, user-friendliness isn’t its forte, which has given birth to distros like Salix that produce custom tools and scripts to tame Slackware and make it usable for the desktop user. Slackel helps bring those tools to the actively developed Slackware-current branch.

On paper, Slackel produces multiple editions, each with a different desktop environment. However, since the last couple of releases, the developer has only put out the flagship Openbox-based edition, giving the MATE and KDE editions a skip. But Slackel is essentially a one-man distro, so we can’t really complain, especially since the developer puts out these snapshot releases at regular intervals.

In fact, we’re impressed that despite its limited staff Slackel is one of the few distros that’s still available for both newer 64-bit and older 32-bit machines. This enables you to install the distro on the latest UEFIequipped machines, as well as on decades old Pentium, Celerons, and get a comparable experience on both.

Slackware for newbies