Two days ago, Paul Sherman, developer of Absolute Linux, announced the immediate availability of the Absolute Linux 12.1, this time powered by the unbeatable Slackware 12.1. In this version, he improved the fonts and colors, updated some important applications and made useful customizations. For example, the file finding tool (ff.py) was tweaked and the PCMan File Manager was updated to version 4.1.1 for better performance. Moreover, Paul customized PCMan File Manager to include ff.py (the file finder tool) in the TOOLS menu.

Absolute Linux 12.1 includes an add-on CD that contains additional applications and documentation. For this second disc, Paul recompiled the libsndfile and Audacity packages. The libsndfile library was recompiled because it had failed to work with the latest version of FLAC. Other updated applications worth mentioning are:

￭ Pidgin 2.4.1
￭ Avidemux 2.4
￭ Azureus 2.5.0.4
￭ Apache 2.2.8
￭ Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.12
￭ OpenOffice.org 2.4.0
￭ Scribus 1.3.3.9
￭ Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.1.1
￭ Bibletime 1.6.4
￭ Deluge 0.5.9.0

Absolute Linux is a lightweight modification of the Slackware Linux distribution. It makes maintenance and configuration much easier, has common applications installed and configured. Absolute Linux allows you to play audio CDs, DVDs and movies "out of the box", and it is easy to configure and simple to use. Highlights of Absolute Linux include:

￭ icewm/ROX_Filer as a window/file manager combination;
￭ Time-saving utilities;
￭ Preconfigured shortcuts/menus;
￭ Desktop-oriented software;
￭ Customized installer;
￭ Manuals, HOWTOs and other useful documentation.

If you want to try a fast and lightweight Linux operating system, you can download Absolute Linux 12.1 right now from Softpedia.