Porteus Xfce is yet another edition of the Porteus Linux operating system, this time built around the lightweight Xfce desktop environment. It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.
Porteus is known for being a community-driven remix of the Slax distribution, which is based on the well known Slackware Linux operating system. It provides users with a very fast boot process, support for multiple languages, and hybrid ISO images.
In addition, the distribution features its own dependency-resolving package manager, as well as the Porteus Settings Centre application, which allows users to effortlessly install, remove and update packages.
Distributed as hybrid Live CD ISO images
As mentioned, this edition uses the Xfce desktop environment and it is distributed as Live CD ISO-hybrid images that can be easily deployed on a USB thumb drive or written to a blank CD disc.
When booting from the boot medium, users will be prompted by the same boot menu found on other Porteus Linux distributions, which enables them to boot an existing OS, drop to a shell prompt, access the PLoP boot manager, initialize a PXE server, or copy the ISO to RAM (requires at least 1GB of system memory).
Because the Live CDs are persistent by default, allowing users to save downloaded documents and settings and reuse the boot medium whenever they want, there’s also an option to start a fresh session, which erases previously stored persistent sessions (only available if the ISO is on a USB stick).
Uses the Xfce desktop environment and includes lightweight apps
The Xfce desktop environment is comprised of a single panel located on the upper part of the screen, from where users can interact with running apps, system tray area, switch between virtual workspaces, and launch applications.
Default applications include the Pidgin instant messaging client, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Audacious audio player, GNOME MPlayer video player, WinFF video converter, Thunar file manager, Transmission torrent downloader, and uGet download manager.
Bottom line
Overall, Porteus Xfce is yet another low on resources Linux operating system that boots fast, looks good, it’s very stable and reliable, and includes all the application you need.
