Get SliTaz

Choose an ISO image

SliTaz 5.1 comes as seven ISO images for two architectures: i486 for 32-bit and very old PCs, x86_64 for any 64-bit PC. Pick the architecture of your machine, then the image matching what you want to do:

ImageSizeFor
SliTaz Base i486 17 MB, x86_64 25 MB Text mode, no graphical desktop: servers, rescue, a base to build on
SliTaz Core i486 47 MB, x86_64 65 MB The GTK3 desktop with the system tools and the installer, no web browser and no applications: you add only what you need
SliTaz Core Retro i486 44 MB SliTaz Core on the Linux 3.16 kernel, for very old hardware
SliTaz Firefox i486 125 MB, x86_64 155 MB SliTaz Core plus Firefox ESR and a few everyday applications

If you are not sure, take SliTaz Firefox x86_64 on a recent PC and SliTaz Core i486 on an old one. Firefox on i486 needs a processor with SSE2 (Pentium 4, Athlon 64 and later); on older 32-bit machines use SliTaz Core or Core Retro.

Download and check

Download the ISO images from the Get SliTaz page. Each image has a .md5 file next to it: download it in the same directory and check the image before using it. Files are named slitaz-<flavor>-<arch>-<version>.iso, for example: 

$ md5sum -c slitaz-core-x86_64-5.1.md5
slitaz-core-x86_64-5.1.iso: OK

Write it to a USB key

All SliTaz images are hybrid: the same file boots from a CD or from a USB key. Copy the image as is to the whole key, not to a partition. Everything on the key is erased.

On GNU/Linux, find the name of the key with blkid or cat /proc/partitions (for example /dev/sdb), then as root: 

# dd if=slitaz-core-x86_64-5.1.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M
# sync

Double check the device name: dd overwrites whatever disk you give it, without asking.

On Windows or macOS, use a tool that writes a raw disk image, such as balenaEtcher or Rufus in DD image mode. The i486 images can also be renamed to .exe and run from Windows to create a SliTaz USB key.

BIOS, UEFI and Secure Boot

The x86_64 images boot on BIOS and UEFI machines. The i486 images boot on BIOS only, or on UEFI machines in legacy (CSM) mode. SliTaz has no signed boot loader: disable Secure Boot in the firmware settings.

To boot from the key, open the firmware boot menu while the computer starts, usually with F12, F11, F8 or Esc depending on the brand, and choose the USB key.

Floppy, web boot and test images

Machines that cannot boot from a USB key can start SliTaz from a set of floppy disks (floppy.slitaz.org) or boot it from the web with the iPXE loader of the mirror.

The development images, built from the cooking packages, are published on lab.slitaz.org for testers. On a running system, /etc/slitaz/flavor tells which image it was built from and when.