14 DAY TRIAL // 4MLinux Game Edition, a Linux distribution based on Busybox, Dropbear, OpenSSH, and PuTTY that also incorporates numerous games, has been promoted to version 10.1 Beta.
All the 4MLinux distros are known for their small size, and the Gaming edition is no different. The developer has worked very hard to integrate a lot of applications and a ton of games, while trying to keep the size down to a minimum.
It currently weighs about 198 MB, which is very little if we take into consideration all the elements that are integrated into the operating system.
One of the methods used by the developer to decrease the size of the ISO is to provide installation scripts for various components. For example, LibreOffice, which is a very big application, looks like it's installed by default, but it's not.
Users will find a link for an installation script that brings all the necessary packages from the repositories, an action which seems to be very fast.
4MLinux Game Edition is still in the Beta stage
The 4MLinux distros usually have a single Beta version before advancing to the stable release, so it's possible that a stable version is actually very close, probably just weeks away. Testing the operating system before launch is a good idea because it allows users to report any problem that might arise.
"This is an updated version using 4MLinux 10.1 as the core system. The 4MLinux collection includes, among other things, the following items: classic 'shoot'em up' games (Abuse, Doom, Freedoom, Heretic, Hexen, Quake I, and Quake II), Liero (a realtime 'Worms-like' game), Lincity (a construction and management simulation game), space shooters (XGalaga, Kobo Deluxe), Extreme Tux Racer (3D game), DOSBox 0.74 (with some Freeware DOS games), and a set of small games using Qt. GNU Chess 6.1.2 with WinBoard 4.8.0, GNU Go 3.8, and Michael Speck's LGames are also available," reads the official announcement.
4MLinux is actually a series of mini Linux distributions focusing on the following four Ms: Maintenance (system rescue Live CD), Multimedia (e.g. playing video DVDs), Miniserver (using the inetd daemon), and Mystery (a collection of Linux games).
Check the official announcement for more details about this distribution. You can also download 4MLinux Game Edition 10.1 Beta right now from Softpedia.
It works well in virtual environments, but it’s not recommended to get it running on a production machine just yet. Some problems might still be present. Also, the system seems to have a problem when running from a USB key.
