Free Penguin Download - Zenwalk
32 bit Live cd
Zenwalk (formerly Minislack), or Zenwalk Linux,
is a GNU/Linux distribution founded by Jean-Philippe Guillemin.It was originally based on Slackware. Since its creation, the distribution has become very different from Slackware in most regards
while still maintaining compatibility with its binary packages.
Zenwalk aims to be a multi-purpose Linux distribution by focusing on Internet applications, multimedia and programming tools.Additionally, Zenwalk comes with many specialized tools, designed for beginner through advanced users as it offers system configuration
via both graphical and command-line operations. Jean-Philippe Guillemin, also known as "Hyperion" or "JP"
is the creator and main contributor to Zenwalk Linux.He earned a degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Nantes, and is now working for Telindus, a group of companies offering ICT Solutions and Services, as Project Manager and Security Engineer.Jean-Philippe also developed several projects like Snorter Snorter, a reporting frontend for the Snort Intrusion detection system, and some system administration tools for the Linux operating system (Netpkg software package manager, Xnetconf network configuration tool between others). Zenwalk was originally called Minislack up to version 1.1, taking its current name with version 1.2 released 2005-08-12.
A key difference from Slackware is the use of a Linux 2.6 series kernel by default, where Slackware uses a 2.4 series kernel as of version 11.0.
Originally using KDE as its desktop environment, Zenwalk now uses Xfce as of version 0.3, although GNOME and KDE packages
have always been available separately. The Zenwalk Project aims to create a lightweight Linux operating system through the incorporation of the latest software available for a stable release (though using only one application per task on the release ISO image), optimization for a specific processor architecture to increase execution speed, and introduces a comprehensive package management
system with dependency resolution. The Zenwalk Project has a forum that allows users and developers
alike to post their issues, concerns and praise. The part of the community that is involved in testing new software packages is closely listened to by the project developers.The newest official software packages are published in the -snapshot tree.
When sufficient testing and debugging have been completed, a package is moved to the -current tree, where most users can download
software to update their systems. Zenwalk uses the netpkg package management tool.
It is developed in-house, and it provides the main functionalities of the apt-get variety of package managers. It uses Slackware's .tgz package format, but adds dependency resolution capabilities.The system uses meta files to provide dependency information, as well as package description during the install process.
This convenience is only available to the official Zenwalk mirrors listed in the netpkg configuration file, netpkg.conf.
In addition to the original netpkg command line interface,
xnetpkg provides a GUI frontend with similar capabilities.
Packages available in the Zenwalk mirrors aim to stay true to the project's philosophy of using one application per task, but allow for customization of the end-user's system by offering more variety. Additionally, Zenwalk is compatible with Slackware package management tools such as slapt-get and its frontends, and have
similar functionality as that of netpkg. As of Zenwalk 4.6, package compatibility with Slackware is still maintained.
Slackware packages may be used to substitute
Zenwalk packages where necessary.
Additional package availability can be found at LinuxPackages.net. Zenwalk Linux is built and optimized primarily for the i686 architecture, although it supports i486 computers as well.
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