Nov 29, 2010 10:37 GMT  ·  By

Quirky 1.4, the latest official release of the Puppy Linux-related distro, is now available for download and install. It's an evolutionary release that comes with a few updated packages as well as some new, so far experimental, features.

"The main purpose of releasing Quirky 1.4 is to test my experimental simplified module loading and interface configuration boot scripts (codename 'zzz')," Barry Kauler announced.

"This is supposed to improve the detection and setup of sound, analog modems and 3G modems, and maybe more peripherals. Note, this complements the considerable earlier and ongoing development by Richard Erwin," he added.

"1.4 differs from 1.3 in that it is built from the Wary5 PET packages, of which the main feature is Xorg 7.3. Also an older kernel is used, 2.6.31.14," he explained.

Highlights of Quirky 1.4:

· Better support for analog/3G modems; · New Video Upgrade Wizard; · Better DejaVu fonts; · Improved file locating and handling at bootup and shutdown; · Ask before upgrading a save-file; · Dialog to install Flash Player; · /etc/modprobe.conf removed; · Faster startup for the welcome-first-boot window; · New GUI for the ALSA Wizard, bugs fixed; · Accumulated monthly network transfers, improved; · Fixed file downloading; · Proxy server setup; · Other minor bug fixes and improvements.

One of the big new features in Quirky 1.4 is improved support for analog and 3G modems which should come in especially handy for those using netbooks.

Considering that the light-weight Quirky is a perfect fit for netbooks, being able to connect to the internet on the go is a great improvement.

A number of choices were also made in order to support older hardware. X.Org 7.3 is still being used in order to support as many video cards as possible. The older Linux kernel 2.6.31.14 is used for the same reason.

Still, there are a number of forward looking features as well. A number of features from Wary, the active development build, have now been included in Quirky 1.4, like better multimedia support and support for developing BaCon BASIC programs.

Quirky 1.4 is available for download here on Softpedia.