Slax is a pocket-sized live operating system designed to boot quickly from a USB stick or disc image and leave the host machine untouched. Modern Slax builds on Debian, with a parallel line based on Slackware preserving its original heritage, and both stay deliberately tiny by shipping a minimal Fluxbox-based desktop with only a few essential applications. Its defining mechanism is modularity: software comes as self-contained bundles that can be activated or deactivated without traditional installation, and changes can persist on writable media so your portable system remembers you between machines. Because the Debian variant can draw on APT when networked, the small footprint does not impose a small ceiling. Slax is a favorite for rescue work, kiosk-style duties, demonstrations, and older computers. Loading Slax through OpenFactory is fitting, since a disposable browser VM matches its run-anywhere, change-nothing philosophy.
Select a version of Slax to try online:
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Need Slax for more than a quick browser preview?
The buttons above launch an ephemeral browser VM, perfect for kicking the tires. Paid plans unlock the things you'd actually use it for:
- ✓Persistent VMs you can SSH into and customize
- ✓Snapshots, your own packages, a downloadable ISO
- ✓Fleet deployment to your own machines (on-prem or cloud)