This is the first version of Salix based on Slackware 13.37. It comes as a CD to install the Xfce version: the live CD, and the KDE, Fluxbox, and LXDE versions will arrive shortly.

The installer is fast and simple, and all hardware was detected. Some may be put off by the use of cfdisk rather than gparted, but it really is quite easy to use. A full install took just 15 minutes.

There is a good collection of software for a CD, including Firefox, Claws-mail, Pidgin, Exaile, Parole, LibreOffice, Gimp, and PiTiVi. A new development is a graphical viewer for man pages. There is also a program for installing media codecs and flash. All the software worked perfectly.

Gslapt, the package installer, is not as elaborate as those in distros like Fedora or Ubuntu, but it's fast and easy to use: no separate searches in xyz, xyz universe, xyz multiverse.

The documentation describes how to manually upgrade from version 13.1.2 using the internet, so I decided to test the procedure. The sequence of commands was long and complex, but I just followed instructions and was rewarded with success.

Some derivative distros can be accused of being parasitic. Not Salix, which makes sure that all the extra software added to Slackware can be safely installed in the parent distro.

Note: If you get the live version, this has Gparted available for easy partitioning before you run the installer.