SliTaz Forum
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I'm a senior citizen (retired) and normally run Linux Lite. It works very well, and hopefully this will completely take over from Windows in time. How do I pronounce SliTaz?
I've been looking for a really compact live distro, and have been working with SliTaz for the last few days. It's wonderfully fast, and efficient, and it would be great if SliTaz would flourish and grow. It's also generally user-friendly. It took time to create a working bootable USB with slitaz rolling core64.iso, as the recommended tool tazusb didn't work. I'm hoping to make SliTaz as functional as possible for my own use.
I installed a few packages, including btop, qdirstat, and Abiword. It was easy and fast; they appeared in the menu, and worked fine from there. The problem is that they disappear on reboot. I have a clunky workaround, where I store them on the FAT 32 partition on the USB stick and re-install them from there. This means I can do it offline. From the documentation, I tried:
slitaz home=usb
at the boot prompt and installed the packages after reboot. On rebooting the packages I had installed all disappeared again.
Other settings dissapear on reboot. On View I select Detailed List as I like to see details rather than icons for folders and files. I tick (check) the keep this setting box. In other words, I would like any settings I make to stay set and not revert to default on a fresh reboot if possible.
Please bear in mind that I have no programming skills, and answer (if possible) in a simple way. So the questions are:
1) If possible, please let me know how I can stop the packages I install from disappearing?
2) How can I set Detailed List permanently?
3) Please recommend any packages for HDD maintenance, system troubleshooting and arcade games.
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Hi Ean,
[c]home=usb[/c] will allow persistence if the stick is formated ext2 or ext3.; it doesn't work with FAT32 (see § Slitaz Parameters of the Quick start section in the Handbook).
The persistence only save the [c]/home[/c] directory (documents and settings), not packages that have been added during the session; to save them permanently, open a terminal, become root and type
[c]# tazusb writefs lzma[/c]
This builds a new [c]rootfs[/c] file in the directory from where you ran the command.
Then replace the existing [c]rootfs[/c] file in the [c]/boot[/c] directory of the stick with the new [c]rootfs[/c] (maybe better to rename the initial [c]rootfs[/c] rather overwrite it by the new one 
)
Reading your post, it seems to me your stick is formated FAT32. Another solution would consist to store the [c].tazpkg[/c] in [c]/boot/packages[/c] on the stick (you'll have to create [c]packages[/c]). All the packages in this directory should be installed automatically at boot (but witout your settings if you don't enable persistence).
The TazUSB manual and this page could interest you.
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Hi Ceel,
Many thanks for taking the time to reply. The memory stick is FAT 32, formatted in Windows. I've found the format command for EXT2, EXT3 and FAT32 in the TazUSB manual. Do I need to become root? I'll try this out on a memory stick when I'm feeling brave; this is very useful if I can make it work.
What you say "Another solution would consist to store the .tazpkg in /boot/packages on the stick (you'll have to create packages)". It seems I have to create a package by writing code. I've looked at the TazPkg manual, and I don't understand it.
I've also found the instructions on how to become root. The problem is I don't understand them. This is because I don't understand programmers' shorthand. In other words it's too advanced for me, rather like a child trying to read a book on advanced mathematics. I can easily find my way around the folder/file structure within a PC, create and edit text files and folders and use a wide range of applications/packages, and also build PC's and install operating systems. Also, I know how to manage HDD's (partitions, formatting) in Windows and to a lesser extent in Linux (Gparted).
I may not be able or competent to do what you advise, and I don't want to waste too much of your time. I really like SliTaz; in many ways it's so neat, compact and easy to download and install packages. It also seems very stable. My SliTaz USB stick works great on 3 desktop PC's i've tried.
Sorry to say, I have another query, although a solution may not be simple enough for me to use.
I would like to be able to set up the screen resolution to a lower resolution so I can read the menus more easily, as they will appear bigger. My eyesight isn't what it was. The widget in Preferences seems to be locked to the monitor's native resolution, and won't let me change it. Also, I would like to be able to set the wallpaper to a single light colour. There's a neat little widget that enables me to do this, but on reboot, the wallpaper reverts to the original dark one and I have to set the colour again. It would be good if this could be set permanently. I understand this may not be possible.
From the documentation, I tried slitaz screen=800x600x24 at the boot prompt, but this didn't work; I just got a flashing cursor.
I tried screen=800x600x24 but "could not find kernel image" appeared.
If possible,
1) How can I adjust or set a monitor resolution of my choice and then make it permanent?
2) How can make a permanent change to the default wallpaper using a colour I've chosen?
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Hello,
Don't worry about my free time
The widget in Preferences seems to be locked to the monitor's native resolution, and won't let me change it.
Hmm that's strange. I never use the core64 ISO, it's possible its kernel doesn't have the same configuration that in the 32bit ISO. Maybe you need a driver for the graphic card. It's time to learn how to become root Install the [c]pciutils[/c] package.
From Applications > System Tools, open a terminal (Sakura allows copy/paste); type
[c]su[/c]
Enter the password ([c]root[/c]); nothing displays when you type it.
That's all, you're root! Type
[c]tazpkg -gi pciutils[/c]
When the package is installed, type
[c]lspci[/c]
Copy and post the return of the command.
1) How can I adjust or set a monitor resolution of my choice and then make it permanent?
2) How can make a permanent change to the default wallpaper using a colour I've chosen?
Well, you just need persistence... The best thing is to create a second LiveUSB. We can see this step by step next time.
Does your computer have more than 4GB RAM?
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Hi Ceel,
Thank you for the info. One thing I should say, is that yesterday I tried to do another live USB using tazusb.exe, and again I got an error message saying the USB won't be bootable. This time the USB was formatted ext3 (in Gparted), not FAT32. Yet again the xbootvs1.0beta14.exe utility worked as before (I reformatted the USB FAT32 for this). Using this alternative installation utility may change the way some things in SliTaz work. For one thing I can create folders and files in the unused section of the USB and they persist.
I'll try rooting and doing the pcutils tomorrow. It looks easy the way you describe it.
I have a few PC's, all dual core, around 2.8MHz and with 4 to 8Gb PC 1333 RAM. The one I used for SliTaz has 4Gb RAM and uses onboard graphics. In my next post I'll send a few details from Windows System in Control Panel or from DXDiag in case it might help.
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Hi Ceel,
I've tried SliTaz on 3 desktop PC's (2 AMD chipset and 1 Intel chipset) and a laptop (Intel chipset). I get the same results with the monitor setup widget - Native screen resolution and zero for refresh rate.
It's good to say I now seem to have root access, and it was really easy to do. I ran pciutils as you suggested and got:
root@slitaz:/home/tux# lspci
00:00.0 Class 0600: 8086:0040
00:01.0 Class 0604: 8086:0041
00:16.0 Class 0780: 8086:3b64
00:1a.0 Class 0c03: 8086:3b3b
00:1a.1 Class 0c03: 8086:3b3e
00:1a.2 Class 0c03: 8086:3b3f
00:1a.7 Class 0c03: 8086:3b3c
00:1b.0 Class 0403: 8086:3b56
00:1c.0 Class 0604: 8086:3b42
00:1c.4 Class 0604: 8086:3b4a
00:1c.5 Class 0604: 8086:3b4c
00:1d.0 Class 0c03: 8086:3b36
00:1d.1 Class 0c03: 8086:3b37
00:1d.2 Class 0c03: 8086:3b38
00:1d.7 Class 0c03: 8086:3b34
00:1e.0 Class 0604: 8086:244e
00:1f.0 Class 0601: 8086:3b06
00:1f.2 Class 0101: 8086:3b20
00:1f.3 Class 0c05: 8086:3b30
00:1f.5 Class 0101: 8086:3b26
01:00.0 Class 0300: 1002:6778
01:00.1 Class 0403: 1002:aa98
03:00.0 Class 0101: 197b:2368
04:00.0 Class 0200: 10ec:8168
3f:00.0 Class 0600: 8086:2c61
3f:00.1 Class 0600: 8086:2d01
3f:02.0 Class 0600: 8086:2d10
3f:02.1 Class 0600: 8086:2d11
3f:02.2 Class 0600: 8086:2d12
3f:02.3 Class 0600: 8086:2d13
root@slitaz:/home/tux#
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Hi Ean,
This afternoon I remebered that when I did tests on a UEFI computer I got persistence with a LiveUSB FAT32. Try this:
[*]Boot with your Live and open GParted
[*]Select your stick and set the flag [c]lba[/c]
[*]Open a terminal and become root; type
[c]blkid[/c]
it'll return something like this:
[c]/dev/sda1: LABEL="rolling" UUID="823eef0c-0505-4083-99f5-eb534074c294" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext3" PARTUUID="ed73ed73-02"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="F244-D424" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="c57e50bf-01"[/c]
where
[c]/dev/sda1[/c] is your HD (note you'll have as much as lines starting by [c]/dev/sda[/c] that you have partitions on your disk)
[*]and [c]/dev/sdb1[/c] is your stick; note its [c]UUID[/c]
[*]In PCManFM, select the stick and open the configuration file in [c]/boot/syslinux[/c] and add the option [c]home=UUID=F244-D424[/c] but using YOUR [c]UUID[/c] of course; replace the [c]ro[/c] option with [c]rw[/c]
[*]Save and quit.
Now reboot, change your wallpaper and reboot again. If the session opens with your wallpaper, the persistence is enabled. All your settings will be saved and you can save your documents in your home directory. Let me know.
It seems to me you run the [c]lspci[/c] command before you install the [c]pciutils[/c] package but no matter, your graphic card is an AMD Caicos XT [Radeon HD 7470/8470 / R5 235/310 OEM]. This card is supported since kernel 2.6.39 so maybe we'll have only a few packages to install.
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Thank you for your reply.
If I remember rightly, I think I did install the pciutils package first, but didn't copy/paste the text that appeared.
Please confirm that I can use the xbootvs1.0beta14.exe utility USB formatted FAT32 for these tests. If you say "yes", I'll do the testing and tell you the results. You mention using a a UEFI PC. I don't know whether it matters but all my PC's are traditional BIOS.
On which line in the configuration file do I add the option home=UUID=F244-D424 but using YOUR UUID, please? I must remember to back this stuff up!
I've made a mistake-I can't remember which PC I ran the lspci command on. Will this matter when it comes to installing packages for graphics card compatibility? This is for when I run the live USB on different PC's.
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Oh sorry, I forgot you are using xboot 
I don't know this utility so I can't answer to your question.
And no matter your PC's are BIOS.
I think the best is you create a second Live; you can do it quickly and easily from SliTaz:
[*]Boot your Live. Open PCManFM, eject the stick and remove it; insert a new one.
[*]Download the rolling-core64.iso
[*]Change to the directory where the ISO is saved and press [F4] to open the Sakura terminal; become root.
[*]Identify the stick; type
[c]fdisk -l[/c]
The command displays the list of the devices found:
[c]/dev/sda1[/c] should be your HD (note you'll have as much as lines beginning by [c]/dev/sdaX[/c] that you have partitions on the HD).
[c]/dev/sdb1[/c] should be the stick if you don't have a second HD and anything else than the stick connected at USB ports; check the size displayed to be sure.
[*]Format the stick:
[c]tazusb format[/c]
[c]Device to use:[/c] enter [c]/dev/sdb1[/c] assuming [c]sdb1[/c] is your stick
[c]Please specify a filesystem type ext2, ext3, ext4 or fat32 (ext3):[/c] hit [Enter], tazusb will use ext3; then enter a name for the stick.
tazusb will start to format the stick as soon as you'll press [Enter]
[*]Now let's create the Live:
[c]tazusb gen-iso2usb rolling-core64.iso /dev/sdb1[/c]
Your new Live with persistence is ready to use; reboot and test it. Remember that persistence concerns only your settings and your documents not the apps you'll install. For this we'll have to generate a new rootfs.
About the resolution run the [c]lspci[/c] on each PC on which you want to use SliTaz, they probably don't have the same graphic card.
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Hi Ceel,
Thank you very much for all your time, your helpful instructions and your patience. This is all getting complicated and you would be better off working with someone who is more skilled than I am. I can't find PCManFM and don't know what it is anyway.
I spent 18 to 20 hours on SliTaz before my first post on the forum. Things seem to be going backwards and may never end.
If I'm lucky I would end up with an OS that's non-standard and also with changeable graphics control on one PC only, as my PC's do have different graphics cards. This is a huge disadvantage with a live OS.
I wish you well in your work.
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Hello Ean,
PCManFM is the file manager 
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Greetings All.
Ean: re your issue with text too small to see - there is a way to fix that without reducing screen resolution. Instead, reconfigure Openbox thusly: right-click the desktop, then select "Openbox" then "obconf" from the pop-up menu. When the Openbox Configurator starts, choose the "Appearance" tab. Then alter the font sizes for the features that are hard to read.
At the same time, you can choose a better Theme - the default theme is TERRIBLE for readability.
Openbox configuration can also be started from the apps menu. Right-clicking the menu item allows you to place a shortcut on the desktop.
Ean & Ceel;
The wording of Ean's original and subsequent posts makes me think that Ean is trying to make persistence work on a ISO-derived booter. Ean says the tazusb attempt failed, so Ean created the booter elsewise. If so, can of worms. Better to restart with a properly prepared USB. For me "Create a Live USB" from the "System Tools" entry of the Apps Menu works just fine. One tip is to always use the most recent ISO as the source - it will save time & annoyance upgrading packages later and having to writefs them to a new rootfs.gz.
Hope this helps Ean or someone else.
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Hi Slizzard,
Many thanks for the info. I've been using: slitaz-rolling-core64.iso. It will be a while before I have the time to try all this, but I'll let you know how I get on. Ean.
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Ean:
When I first stated using Slitaz (with version 4) I also had persistence problems. I also had trouble using tazusb effectively to install from scratch. Using the "Create a Live USB" menu option is far easier and more reliable for initial creation, and allows graphical selection of the source ISO instead of having to remember a path for the command-line. I now only ever use tazusb from the desktop's right-click context-menu, just before shutdown.
I have found that Slitaz will not reliably multi-task while the new rootfs.gz file is being written on my 2009 Sony VAIO laptop (w/ 2.4Ghz dual processor), nor on my 1996 PIII Desktop (w/ 1.2Ghz single-core processor). Some apps, eg Abiword, will not even run while the .gz file is being created. If I try to do anything while it is being created, the new root.fs file will usually have critical errors. Commonly such errors will result in a corrupted desktop or total absence of system icons after rebooting.
After much hair-pulling with these early issues, Slitaz has become a reliable portable tool for me for working on other people's computers - it has booted and been effectively usable for recovery & repair even on machines as limited as an old Cyrix-II-powered (Pentium II equiv) 300Mhz machine.
So I think it will be worth the trouble to persist.
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Hi Slizzard,
Please let me know where "Using the "Create a Live USB" menu option is far easier and more reliable for initial creation" comes from. Also, do you mean I need to do a persistant installation from an existing installation? I don't understand the stuff about .gz files and Abiword not working, etc. I tried your suggestion on making the desktop more visible, and this works well. My PC's are all 64 bit, about 2.7GHz, dual core, with 4 to 8Gb DDR3 RAM. Having spent some 18 to 20 hours trying to get Slitaz working properly, I've had enough. I would have thought it important for any OS installation to be straightforward.
Although I've been happily using Linux Lite for over a year as my main OS, as I prefer it to Windows for nearly all tasks, I consider myself as a beginner. I've learned the hard way to use only "beginner's distros". I did successful installations for persistant Tails and Linux Lite live USB's with little difficulty, but left Antix alone! I've also done several Windows installations over the years. Looking back, perhaps I was lucky to choose a user-friendly distro in Linux Lite. Otherwise, I may have been put off Linux altogether.
Many thanks for all your help.
Ean.
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Greetings Ean;
You wrote...
Please let me know where "Using the "Create a Live USB" menu option...comes from.
Also, do you mean I need to do a persistant installation from an existing installation?
Reply:
Second thing first: You shold create a persistent Live-USB from within Slitaz - especially if you consider yourself a beginner. The other utilities may or may not get it right. This is exactly the issue I had when I first started using Slitaz and other live distros with persistence.
First thing second: Once Slitaz is booted, from the "Start Menu" (AKA Applications), choose "System Tools", then choose "Create a Live USB" near the top of the list. This is the partly-GUI-based tool that does part of the command-line tazusb's job, and does it better.
Another thing: Before you start the "Create..." operation, download the latest desired ISO and have it conveniently nearby (eg on Desktop or in Downloads). You will need to select it from within the "Creator" app. There are two boxes in the "Creator" app that you will need to fill out - one is for the source ISO file - that's what the fresh/current ISO is for - and the other is for the TARGET drive. Make SURE the target drive is correct. I once accidentally re-formatted my C: drive because I got this wrong. Any sda# is your hard drive. USB sticks will appear as sdb# or sdc# (assuming you have only one physical hard drive).
Fat32 format works fine for the target USB drive. Fat32 also lets you edit startup files, or access your entire HOME directory with your notes etc,, and the boot directory, from Windows if there is a boot problem (more on that below).
You wrote:
I don't understand the stuff about .gz files and Abiword not working, etc.
Reply:
(1) Ignore the part about Abiword not working, for now!
(2) About gz files: When Slitaz boots from a FAT32 drive, it has to create a virtual linux file system in memory (Linux doesn't run directly "in" fat32 systems). So the booting procedures create the virtual filesystem in memory, then flesh it out with all the data and executable and configuration files that it needs to run. All that essential stuff is recorded in "squash files" that in Slitaz are lebeled *.gz. These are compressed files, like a ZIP archive, that retain the structure and content of the operating system filesystem. Slitaz rolling comes with 4 such files, called rootfs1.gz, rootfs2.gz, rootfs3.gz, rootfs4.gz. LATER, I can explain why there are four, but for now, just remember that is the DEFAULT condition (OEM) of your operatng system all zipped up. Once Slitaz is booted, it is running in the virtual system, like a RAMdrive in DOS. But like any volatile RAM system, all the changes you make evaporate when you power off. To preserve the changes, the virtual files have to be written to disk, as a file that can be reloaded on next boot, recreating the changed files. Thus, the files persist - though they are killed and then are reincarnated, they are functionally the same. The new squash file is always called rootfs.gz. If rootfs.gz exists, Slitaz will always boot from it, and ignore the other 4 OEM squash files.
Slitaz does not just save the changed files separately from the original files and add them on the next boot - it saves the whole shebang at each "writefs" execution, as a single (fat32 on disk) file called *** rootfs.gz *** with the whole linux filesystem including system changes inside it. Only the BOOT directory, and your HOME directory and its contents remain outside this file and on disk as themselves, so they can be accessed from other operating systems for backup, referral, or editing.
The editing function is important - if the squash file gets corrupted, you can delete the faulty one and rename the backup (last good rootfs.gz file will have been backed up as "previous.gz") to rootfs.gz from Windows, and Slitaz will boot again, minus the changes that caused the problem. Slitaz makes these backups automatically whenever you write a new rootfs.gz file. All the boot-up files, syslinux, rootfs.gz etc, are in BOOT.
You wrote: I tried your suggestion on making the desktop more visible, and this works well.
Reply: I am glad the font-size tip helped!
Yet more:
Other USB-creation utilities do a good job of creating the intial SLITAZ booter to use for installation to HD or USB. But this booter is not a persistent system - some of the utilities will even write it as an iso 9660 filesystem, which is intended for CD-ROMs only, and is read-only. There is no way to do persistence on a read-only system. Whenever I intend to write a new live USB, I like to use the netwoork boot item of the startup menu, which always gives you the most current system.
I hope this is not all too pedantic - I was a newbie not long ago and know that some of this might be necessary, but some of it will be unnecessary, but I don't know which is which - so excuse me if it seems too much like hand-holding.
Slizzard
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Ean:
This post is going off-topic - moderator may want to move it.
You wrote: I would have thought it important for any OS installation to be straightforward.
Reply: This is only a priority for commercial systems! Welcome to Linux!
For many Linux distros, installation is now actually much easier than for Windows, partly because you do not have to go through all the ?is-this-legal? and ?who-tf-are-you? hoops. The last time I installed Win-10 on a refurbished machine took over 90 minutes. The last time I installed Slitaz as a Live-USB with persistence took maybe 10 or 15, including booting up the Slitaz USB and downloading the pristine ISO. Linux Lite is pretty easy, yup. So are all the other mainline Linux distros. Slitaz is very different from the other distros.
You wrote: Although I've been happily using Linux Lite for over a year as my main OS, as I prefer it to Windows for nearly all tasks, I consider myself as a beginner. I've learned the hard way to use only "beginner's distros".
Reply: I started using DOS at version 3.3, 30 years ago, and had a lot of help from friends or I could not have learned it. It was a very simple and elegant OS that was easy to learn IF you had some human assistance at the start, were able to unlearn a whole pile of real-world assumptions, and RTFM, as people used to say a lot. But the manual for DOS was very simple and straightforward, and unified.
Linux is a conglomeration of systems, Linux, GNU, several alternate bootloaders, multiple filesystem formats, myriad desktop environments, and other complications. The information about the system as a whole is scattered all over the place, is hard to find, and is written for geek-heads, not normal humans. My first attempt to use Linux was about 2000(?), when I tried repeatedly, and failed repeatedly and ultimately, to install CALDERA-Linux on a PII. It asked a bazillion cryptic questions that I could not answer, nor, with research, find the answer. Some of those questions I still could not answer. This was at a time when I was moonlighting fixing other peoples' DOS and Win 3.1 machines and doing some Basic programming. So yeah, Linux is different.
I don't use Windows at all now, and haven't since Vista expired, except for some legacy-related reasons. Occasionally a USB-stik will go sour that Linux cannot easily fix, so I will try the Windows utilities.
I still consider myself a Linux beginner.
You wrote: Otherwise, I may have been put off Linux altogether.
To paraphrase Mark Twain about smoking: Quitting Linux is easy. I've done it a thousand times.
Slizzard
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Hi Slizzard,
Many thanks for your generous help and advice. Will the method for installation you suggest work without extra complications? I've learned that solving one problem can introduce two new ones!
Abiword works with my installation, but there's an issue with fonts, possibly they're not True Type (except maybe Times New Roman which reproduces correctly in other word processors). Abiword is good for drafts, though. On the subject of packages, Midori and Slitaz browsers don't work with many sites, neither does Pale Moon. Possibly because of website bloat. Firefox, my favourite browser, is fine, but this takes time to harden, (for privacy and security). I'm just commenting here, and don't want to bog you down - I can work round this.
I take your point about being very careful which drive I install on. So far I've been OK. I also now understand why Slitaz is difficult for persistance re: CD ROMs. The detail is a bit over my head. I'm competent with hardware but learned long ago that programming, like mathematics, is not my thing. Things need to be linear and simple.
Windows 10 is indeed a handful, but I could have done several installations with the time I've spent on Slitaz. I vaguely recall starting with MS-DOS v2.x, I think. DOS was indeed straightforward, very well documented and worked well. Windows 3.x was awful. In late 2025, when support for W10 is withdrawn, I'll have a couple of Windows 10 installations, with full ISO HDD backups, for occasional offline use only. I don't plan to give up Linux. For one thing I'm very keen on FOSS. I can't offer anything technical, but at least can donate and very good value it is too!
Ean.
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Ean;
You wrote:
Will the method for installation you suggest work without extra complications?
Answer: I can't promise that! What I recall about the other ways I tried to get persistence was that they did not work as well or did not work at all. There is still an issue with reliably writing the new rootfs.gz file - if you try to do anything else (eg run an app such as Abiword or the file manager) during the minute or two that the file is being written and compressed, the file may be corrupted. SO, close all windows before running "tazusb writefs" from the desktop R-clik menu, and keep your hands off everything while the file is being written. But I assume this precaution applies to however you are currently supporting persistence as well.
You wrote:
Abiword works with my installation, but there's an issue with fonts.
Reply: This may be beyond what I am competent to answer, but I think thats probably just a lack of shared fonts between systems, not an issue with Abiword itself, or with Slitaz. For most word processors, there is an option to embed the fonts in the document, precisely to overcome this lack of shared fonts (font data is normally posessed/stored at the system level, not the doc/file level by default). I can't remember if Abiword offers the option to embed the fonts in the doc itself.
When a system does not have the same fonts specified by the doc, if they are not embedded it consults an equivalents chart, and displays the document using what it thinks is the nearest font to the one specified. Sometimes you don't even notice any difference, but sometimes the result is not vey close at all, especially if the original doc used an unusual, uncommon, and fancy font. As an example, Arial, which is copyrighted, is often substituted by free *SANS lookalikes when displayed on Linux systems that restrict use of non-free material.
Embedding the fonts increases the size of the doc file quite a bit.
Abiword is a useful program, but it is extremely buggy. Most of the bugs will show up when you try to share files between systems, which unfortunately is exactly what it is most useful for. You will get abundant formatting issues if you transfer files between systems/apps. Very simply laid out docs are usually OK.
You wrote:
...Midori and Slitaz browsers don't work...
Reply: And most other browsers available in the Slitaz repos don't work either. Some won't run at all. This is a long-standing problem in Slitaz. For me, Firefox doesn't even work entirely right. But the way I use Slitaz (as a portable repair system), this is not a fatal flaw. I would be surprised if anybody was using Slitaz as their daily regular system.
To return to a much earlier question of yours, "How do you pronounce Slitaz?"... I don't know. But it is amusing to think that, although this is a very simple word and you would expect it to be orthographically orthodox, there probably IS NOT a single correct pronunciation, because the devs for this distro are from multiple linguistic traditions (I assume the devs rule supreme on this point, tho not necessarily unanimously). Many IT/dev people only work together remotely and often by text, so they may themselves not have an agreed pronunciation for something that is usually rendered in print. I only speak English fluently and French rather poorly, and the orthodox pronunciations of this word for each of THOSE languages seem different to me. I think that most anglophones would accent or emphasize the first syllable, whereas most francophones would accent the second, though both would keep both vowels short. Germans or Peruvians might assume different default pronunciations - is there any language whose speakers would assume one or both vowels were long? Opinions, anybody? Devs? Maybe its in the FAQs!
Slizzard
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Hi Slizzard,
One thing; if I type: slitaz home= usb at the boot prompt, (with root access set), this is said to provide persistance. For really old PC's presumably you use the 32 bit version. There may be differences between this and the 64 bit version. This distro is not for beginners such as myself, it's for intermediate (or advanced) people such as yourself. For me to take it further will lead to an endless succession of hoops and bugginess, and deepening the hole into which I've dug myself. Really, Slitaz needs to be modernised and many bug fixes applied, but this is a very tall order. I'm prepared to experiment and have tried other lightweight OS's, but Linux Lite has provided me with a practical and reliable live USB with persistance. Thank you for all your input.
Your comment "Linux is a conglomeration of systems, Linux, GNU, several alternate bootloaders, multiple filesystem formats, myriad desktop environments, and other complications. The information about the system as a whole is scattered all over the place, is hard to find, and is written for geek-heads, not normal humans". This is quite true. I have great respect for geeks; I regard them as clever people who develop the FOSS that I use! By the standards of people I know, I do a bit of geeky stuff myself. It's a pity that there isn't a "Linux Central" type website to advise people on the easiest way into Linux. Then those such as myself can find a user-friendly distro. Those who have the right mindset are free to develop their technical skills with more flexible and challenging distros and maybe become devs.
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