🐶PuppEX Slack64 15.0 251002 — Puppy meets Slackware with speed, polish and practical tools⚙️

🐶PuppEX Slack64 15.0 251002 — Puppy meets Slackware with speed, polish and practical tools⚙️

Table of contents:-

What PuppEX Slack64 15.0 251002 is and where it fits

Inside the build: kernel, desktop, drivers and tools

Practical how-to: download, install and common operations

Official notes you asked to include

Conclusion

PuppEX Slack64 15.0 Build 251002 is C A Exton’s modern Puppylinux derivative that brings Slackware 15.0 compatibility, a small-but-powerful Puppy workflow and a purpose-built kernel to a live USB or frugal hard-drive install. It’s designed for people who want Puppy’s nimble, RAM-based responsiveness together with access to Slackware-compatible packages and the tools you need to remaster, develop and run on both UEFI and legacy systems. This article unpacks what the build contains, how it boots and runs, useful hardware and driver notes, developer-provided tips for remastering and frugal installs, exact notes about root credentials and Chrome, and practical steps to download and get support from C A Exton.

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What PuppEX Slack64 15.0 251002 is and where it fits

PuppEX Slack64 15.0 is a Puppy derivative assembled using the Puppy Linux Woof-CE build system with Slackware 15.0 compatibility in mind. That means the base environment is Puppy-style—very small, fast, and typically run as root from RAM—but the underlying packaging and binary compatibility are tuned to work with Slackware 15.0 packages where appropriate. Exton compiles a kernel specifically for these builds (the Slack64 build uses a 6.16.9-exton kernel), and packages selected desktop components and utilities to produce a balanced, portable live system.

Why this matters today

• Lightweight, responsive live systems remain invaluable for quick troubleshooting, hardware testing, secure ephemeral sessions, and for users who prefer a minimal but flexible desktop environment.

• Slackware compatibility opens a broader universe of pre-built software and libraries while preserving Puppy’s unique approach to running a live session and saving state.

• Exton’s builds are practical: they include devx bundles for development work, proprietary drivers for specific hardware needs, and clear guidance for frugal installs so the same live image can be used on many machines with the bootloader of your choice.

Who will benefit most

• Hobbyists and tinkerers who want Puppy simplicity with Slackware compatibility.

• Administrators who need a fast live tool for hardware diagnostics and maintenance.

• Users who like to remaster and create their own Puppy-based distributions using PuppEX as a template.

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Inside the build: kernel, desktop, drivers and tools

Kernel and low-level choices

• PuppEX Slack64 251002 ships with a custom kernel from Exton (6.16.9-exton), compiled to provide wide hardware support while remaining lean enough for a Puppy-style live session. The tailored kernel helps drive compatibility on modern hardware without the bloat of a general desktop distribution kernel.

Desktop and user experience

• The build uses Puppy’s familiar lightweight desktop practices that prioritize speed over bells and whistles. PuppEX is set up to run from RAM, which makes the system very responsive once the image is loaded.

• Screenshots provided by the developer show the first boot screen and desktop session, and documentation demonstrates running PuppEX in VirtualBox and on physical hardware.

Graphics and NVIDIA support

• Exton includes NVIDIA’s proprietary driver (58.82.09) to address cases where modern NVIDIA cards (for example an RTX 4060) fail to work with the default open-source driver. If X does not come up automatically with your card, the developer instructs running xorgwizard and choosing “Auto” for the card selection, then restarting X. That pragmatic inclusion helps users with relatively recent NVIDIA GPUs get a working desktop without diving into driver compilation.

Audio, network and storage handling

• PuppEX Slack64 supports both wired and wireless networking out of the box; screenshots and documentation show dhcpcd usage and Wi‑Fi connections.

• Sound configuration guides and screenshots demonstrate how to get audio working on a variety of systems.

• The system is suitable for frugal installations—Exton provides example grub menu entries and a frugal-install walkthrough so you can place the PuppEX files under /PUPPEX-SLACK64 and boot them with your existing Grub configuration.

Development support and remastering

• If you want to build software or create your own remaster, Exton supplies a development SFS (devx) that can be downloaded and loaded into a running PuppEX session. Loading devx makes development tools available and lets you run classic build tools, for example, to test whether make is found on PATH.

Boot and frugal install notes

• Detailed example grub entries are provided for frugal installs so that you can reuse an existing bootloader rather than burning a dedicated USB every time. The instructions show the necessary linux and initrd lines and the pmedia/psubdir parameters used by PuppEX to locate its files.

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Practical how-to: download, install and common operations

Downloading the build

• PuppEX builds, including Slack64 251002, are hosted on Exton’s PuppEX site and mirrored on SourceForge and select FTP mirrors. Exton’s site lists direct links, md5sum files, and SourceForge project links for fast, reliable downloads. Use the official PuppEX Slack64 download page for the build files and checksums.

Creating a bootable USB and running live

• Standard steps apply: write the ISO to a USB device or extract the ISO contents to a PUPPEX-SLACK64 folder for frugal installs. Exton’s guide explains how to add the correct Grub menuentry that points to /PUPPEX-SLACK64/vmlinuz with pmedia=atahd and psubdir parameters.

• The recommended and most convenient mode is to run PuppEX from a USB stick and save system changes back to the stick. On shutdown or reboot you will be prompted to save changes; this preserves your configuration across sessions without a full hard-drive install.

Frugal install short guide

• Extract everything from the ISO to a folder named PUPPEX-SLACK64 in your Linux root (or copy ISO contents to a partition).

• Add the supplied grub menuentry example to your grub.cfg and adjust UUID or partition info to match your system.

• Boot using your existing Grub bootloader and PuppEX will run from the files placed in that folder.

Loading development tools

• If you need compilers and build tools, download the devx SFS provided for Slack64 builds and place it in the same folder as PuppEX. Click to load devx in the running session, then verify with which make or similar tools.

Common troubleshooting tips from the developer

• If you see an “unclean shutdown” message during boot, ignore it—the boot continues and the desktop will come up.

• For NVIDIA problems, run xorgwizard, choose Auto for graphics card, and restart X to attempt proper configuration.

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Official notes you asked to include

Root (superadmin) password

• Normally you run Puppy/PuppEX as root and seldom need to enter the root password. For PuppEX Slack64 the developer notes that the root password is woofwoof when you need it.

About Google Chrome

• Google Chrome can be installed in PuppEX Slack64 without problems. The developer points to a Puppylinux pet package for Chrome and documents that in some PuppEX flavors (Jammy/Trixie etc.) you may need to install an extra package such as libnss3 when using apt-based variants, but for Slack64 the Chrome installation route is supported.

How to contact the developer (C A Exton)

• Contact instructions and the developer’s pages are linked from the PuppEX site. The PuppEX project and C A Exton maintain the site with build notes, screenshots, and detailed instructions; use the contact or developer pages listed on the PuppEX front page to reach out for questions, donations, or feedback.

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Conclusion

PuppEX Slack64 15.0 Build 251002 is a practical, fast, and flexible Puppy derivative that brings Slackware 15.0 compatibility into a Puppy-style, RAM-optimized live environment. With Exton’s custom kernel, pragmatic inclusion of the NVIDIA proprietary driver, devx for development, and explicit frugal-install instructions, it’s a solid choice for users who value portability, speed, and the ability to remaster or extend the system. The build preserves Puppy’s hands-on approach while making it straightforward to integrate Slackware-compatible packages and tools.

Disclaimer

All product and trade names referenced are the property of their respective owners. Every effort has been made to present accurate, current information drawn from the PuppEX project pages; The Distrowrite Project aims for factual accuracy and clarity, but readers should follow the official PuppEX pages for the definitive source of downloads, checksums, and developer contact details.

References and further reading (official PuppEX sources)

• PuppEX main page: https://puppex.exton.se/

• PuppEX Slack64 build directory and installed-packages: https://puppex.exton.se/slack64-251002/

• Frugal install instructions: https://puppex.exton.se/frugal-install.html

• Devx for Slack64: https://puppex.exton.se/slack64-251002/devx_s15pup64_22.12.sfs

• PuppEX on SourceForge (project downloads): https://sourceforge.net/projects/puppex/

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