14 DAY TRIAL // Black Lab Linux 6.0 Preview, a distribution based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, has been released and is now ready for testing.
Black Lab Linux started its life more like an alternative to Windows and Mac OS systems, but the developers listened to the community gradually transformed this Linux distribution into something unique.
As it stands right now, the developers have two distros under construction, one that's in the 5.x branch and this new one, which is very different from everything that's been done before with Black Lab Linux.
One of the biggest changes is the rebase on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, which makes all the difference in the world. The system will be faster and the users will have access to a much larger repository. The devs also chose GNOME 3 as the default desktop environment and the look of the new Black Lab Linux OS has changed dramatically.
“Switch to GNOME 3, our default desktop switches to a highly customized release of GNOME 3 as our default GNOME Classic, while Black Lab Linux 6 will be primarily available with hardware we are going to continue to make our community edition available and users will be able to use GNOME Classic with older hardware,” say the developers.
To make things even more interesting, the MATE 1.8 repositories have been enabled, so users who want a more classic experience will be able to use the latest MATE version for their desktops.
Other changes include FFMpeg (this was removed from the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS repositories), Timeshift System Recovery and Restore, and a new Linux kernel (the 3.13 branch that's being maintained by Canonical).
A few issues still remain, but that is to expected with a Preview release. For example, older NVIDIA cards might not work during the installation process and the system might say it's actually Ubuntu 14.04 instead of Black Lab Linux.
Black Lab Linux devs usually make the operating system free of charge a couple of months after the initial release. All the development releases are free of charge and can be tested without any problems, even in virtual environments. It should work without any issues in VirtualBox.
Check the official announcement for more details, features, and changes about this build. You can download Black Lab Linux 6.0 Preview right now from Softpedia.
Remember that this is a development version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.
