14 DAY TRIAL // In a world where everyone tries to drop 32-bit support for their OSes, Black Lab Linux developers have announced on Twitter that they’ve released a 32-bit version of their KDE-based distribution in order to support installations of the Black Lab Linux KDE Edition 6.0 SR1 operating system on low-end computers or machines with old/semi-old hardware components.
Until now, Black Lab Linux was only distributed as 64-bit images. We’ve downloaded the brand-new 32-bit image in order to compare it with the existing 64-bit edition. Both are based on the Kubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) computer operating system and built around the beautifully designed KDE Applications 4.14.2 graphical desktop environment. We have to admit that we did not expect to find any differences, as we really like how the 64-bit flavor is designed.
The 32-bit version looks completely different from the 64-bit one
Unfortunately, this is not that case as the 32-bit version of Black Lab Linux KDE comes with a complete makeover. It uses a more lightweight theme for the KDE4 desktop environment, with a slim Start Menu, a light theme (not dark as in the 64-bit flavor), a gorgeous wallpaper, and a set of packages optimized only for 32-bit (i686) computers. Please note that you will be able to boot the ISO image on computers supporting either of the 64- or 32-bit CPU architectures.
The pre-installed collection of open-source applications seems to be the same on both ISO images. Users will be able to browse the Internet with the powerful Mozilla Firefox web browser, view and organize their photo collection with digiKam, and edit images with GIMP.
Additionally, you can chat with friends and family using Pidgin, play games with Steam for Linux, send and receive email messages with Mozilla Thunderbird, watch movies with Dragon Player, as well as to write office documents with LibreOffice.
32-bit images might be available for other Black Lab Linux editions
The minimum requirements for using the Black Lab Linux KDE 32-bit operating system are a 32-bit processor with PAE (Physical Address Extension) support, at least 768MB of RAM (system memory), and at least 10GB of free disk space.
For your viewing pleasure, we’ve prepared a nice screenshot tour of the distribution. In the mean time, you can download Black Lab Linux KDE 6.0 SR1 32-bit Edition right now from Softpedia, along with the 64-bit edition.
We've asked Black Lab Linux on Twitter whether 32-bit images will be available for other Black Lab Linux editions and they kindly responded that it might be possible if users request them.
Black Lab Linux 32 bit is released. Min. Requirements: 32 bit processor with PAE support, 768 mb of RAM, 10 gb HD https://t.co/LtUFZM0D15
— Black Lab Linux (@BlackLabLinux) February 11, 2015
