A new stable edition of Scientific Linux was made available

Apr 14, 2015 19:13 GMT  ·  By

Scientific Linux 7.1 is a recompiled Red Hat Enterprise Linux put together by various labs and universities around the world, including Fermilab, and it is finally stable after a couple of RCs.

This Linux distribution is used in numerous universities and research centers across the world, so when an update gets released for it, people will notice. It's not something built for regular users, although nothing's stopping you from downloading it and giving it a spin. It might provide an insight on what scientists use.

Whenever you see a Linux operating system in an interesting place, like NASA or CERN, odds are that you might have spotted a Scientific Linux build in action, as this OS is being used much more than people might think. It's certainly not the only distribution that attracts this particular public, but it's one of the most interesting.

Scientific Linux 7.1 is out and ready for download

Scientific Linux has had some problems with UEFI boot for some time, and it seems that it's not over just yet. Users still need to make some adjustments in order to install the distribution on UEFI-powered systems.

"Booting with Secure Boot enabled works but requires a manual step. This is because the 'shim' has not been signed by the UEFI CA . As seen in the above Secure Boot requirements the UEFI CA is not the only certificate that can be used to validate the 'shim'. The SL signing certificate can also be used. The SL signing certificate has to be enrolled in the MOK (Machine Owner Key) database. This can be accomplished by using the 'mokutil' command specifying the SL signing certificate," read the release notes.

According to the changelog, OpenAFS has been upgraded to version 1.6.11, the kernel package has been modified to recognize the SL Secure Boot key, and the recognition of the SL UEFI key has been implemented.

A complete list of changes and updates can be found in the official announcement for the regular distribution. You can download Scientific Linux 7.1 right now from Softpedia.