14 DAY TRIAL // Elive, a Linux distribution based on Debian that uses the Enlightenment desktop environment to provide a unique user experience, has been updated to version 2.4.0 and is ready for testing.
Elive is a light and interesting operating system that uses a rather different approach to desktop design. It uses the Enlightenment desktop environment, which means that it will take a while until users manage to master it, but the fact that it's not like all other DEs out there is a refreshing experience.
The developers have been hopping from one Beta version to another and it seems that it might take them forever to get to the final build, but they want to make sure that everything works as it should for users who will eventually try it.
The distro will use LZO real-time compression
The Linux distribution is actually making some great progress, and it looks like users will have the opportunity to try some very interesting technologies. This also means that it will take a while to sort everything out and the final version might not be as close as we would like it to be.
"This version of Elive includes officially Reiser4 (with all known bugs fixed!), you can enjoy of an extremely-fast system by using the LZO real-time compression mode, which makes your data to use less space in your hard disk, this is good for people that wants to save space on their hard disk, but this also makes your hard disk mechanism to require less space to travel."
"We need your feedbacks and reports, each version can include new things not working as expected. Note that this development release doesn’t include yet the proprietary drivers for now (Nvidia/fglrx) but the open-source drivers should detect your hardware and configure your system without problems," reads the announcement.
The developers have explained that the new Linux kernel branch 3.16.x has been added to the distribution, Reiser4 (stable version) is now available from the installer (not by default, but users can choose it), Terminology has advanced to a newer version, and numerous smaller changes have been made.
More details about this distribution can be found in the official announcement. You can download Elive 2.4.0 Beta right now from Softpedia. It works very well in virtual environments, if you want to give it a spin before installing it. Keep in mind that it's still not stable.