Installing zenwalk

For instance, it has recovery tools, partition tools, video games and a whole lot more. The Zenwalk website needs a serious makeover. If for no other reason, it is very confusing to find basic information about the software, support and download options.

The developer website can tell a potential user a lot about a distro. In the case of Zenwalk, it suggests that the distro is a small shop operation. The website gave me a very poor impression of the OS. It appears to be very unorganized with little useful information. The ISO files do not show a release date. The downloads page indicates only a last post date. That may or may not mean release date.

For instance, the downlink for the supposedly latest version of 7. This is caused in part by the sometimes rapid development of newer beta versions.

Plus, most of the Zenwalk ISO downloads are for direct installation. They do not have the ability to run in live session. It is difficult to find the most current versions of live, testing and stable versions. Zenwalk does not have a live version beyond 7.

The testing version is now at 8. Too many versions lack details about their current status and intended users. An unaware new user actually should not install Zenwalk Linux on a primary system, especially if the downloaded ISO file is a testing version.

The live version or 7. An install-only version of 7. There is no substantial difference other than not having a live environment. For the record, versions 7. So the only fully stable current release that is not a testing version seems to be version 7. This is the focus of my review. As a live edition Linux OS, you boot the computer and have your fun or productive work sessions. However, you can save modifications if you install it to a USB stick or a hard drive. In that case, you will need the superuser password — and therein lies a huge deal breaker.

Forum calls for help — still unanswered — go a long way back in time. At this point, you would expect the developer or someone active in the community to solve this ongoing problem. Without having a usable password, you can not install or make changes to system defaults. It requires a root user password as does the installation program. The XFCE environment is an easy-to-use desktop environment in its own right. It lacks the eye-candy integration with the functionality of other more modern interfaces like Unity, Cinnamon or KDE.

However, it is an ideal choice for the design and mission of Zenwalk. Plus, the developer includes on the website a feature, of sorts, that most Linux developers ignore. This is a start-up user guide. It even talks users through how to use many of the software applications. Fancy is not a part of Zenwalk Linux. Functionality and workable lightweight infrastructure are. Have fun jp. Tuesday, July 14, 2nd video review of Zenwalk Here's a nice video review which can also be useful as a step by step setup tutorial thanks to DJ Ware.

Note that the DJ didn't use netpkg : the Zenwalk package manager, and he should have ; flathub is NOT a package manager : it's more to be considered as a "play store". Monday, July 6, A video review of Zenwalk First review of Zenwalk Here's the first review of Zenwalk Today : a new tool to manage EFI boot entries has been added.

Have fun JP. Thursday, July 2, Zenwalk Hi, Once a year, Zenwalk Current is considered stable enough for a "milestone" release, here's Zenwalk 15 milestone Based on Slackware Current July , Zenwalk 15 milestone is fully compatible. As usual, the goal is to provide fast simple setup, refined desktop, selection of the best apps, ease of use, with full respect of the Slackware philosophy.

First downloads are here : zenwalk-current See also announcements and other stories in the BLOG section.

As usual : donations and contributions of any kind go to Patrick Volkerding. Zenwalk remains non profit. Wednesday, July 1, Flatpak is available on Zenwalk. Flatpak is the freedesktop. Have fun!! Saturday, June 27, Netpkg 7. Netpkg 7. Netpkg is the original network package management tool provided in Zenwalk since , and was the first tool of this kind available for Slackware back in the days. Netpkg is Slackgnostic ; : it work for any Slackware system.

The CLI version has proven to be easier for the user, is faster, and requires no dependencies except bash, wget, and a few command line utilities found on any Slackware installation : so it can run in level 3 with just the "ap" packages installed could even run from the setup from a chrooted mountpoint.

Nowadays graphical applications are more and more handled through Appimages packages and such formats, so the graphical Netpkg is not needed anymore. This is the temporary image we will be using during installation. Now, open default. Make sure that the editor is able to save in UNIX format. Edit the file so that the block devices are set up like this:. Note: If you want to add a swap partition, you will need to add it to the configuration file as well.

Visit the coLinux wiki for more information. Block device 0 refers to the disk image we are going to install Zenwalk on. Inside coLinux, these devices will be known as cobd0, cobd1, and cobd2. Make sure, that the paths point to the right directories and files.

Save the file, and open up a command prompt. Navigate to your coLinux directory, and start coLinux by issuing this command:. If you set things up like described above, coLinux should now boot right into the Zenwalk installation.

However, the ordinary way of installing Zenwalk will not work, so we have to do a little work. First, we need make Zenwalk aware of the block devices we are using. Issue these commands:. Now we are ready to install the Zenwalk packages. Do this for the package categories you would like to install.

For a basic system, you will probably want to install a, l, and n. For the complete Zenwalk system, simply install all of the package categories. When you are done with the installation, we need to let Zenwalk know about the coLinux block devices.