Slackware 13.1 Beta 1 Comes with KDE SC 4.4.3

Slackware 13.1 Beta 1 is the first testing release of the upcoming update to the venerable Linux distribution. The major change in this release is the switch to KDE SC 4.4.3, which has been finally introduced to the main tree after testing. With this addition, the team believed that the development reached a stage stable enough to label it as a beta. The final release should be coming soon.

“Hi folks! We have some pretty big changes today, with an update to the latest KDE SC 4.4.3, and the addition of support for ConsoleKit and PolicyKit which have been enhanced to use shadow authentication. Thanks to Andrew Psaltis for doing some great work on polkit-1, and to Robby Workman for spending months following the sometimes random developments coming from the CK/PK camp,” Patrick Volkerding wrote in the official announcement.  

“Thanks to Eric Hameleers for leading the KDE 4.4.x Slackware development and handling the out-of-tree testing through http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/. And with that, we're calling this Slackware 13.1 BETA1,” he also announced.

Highlights of Slackware Linux 13.1 Beta 1:

· KDE SC 4.4.3;
· K3B 1.91;
· KDevelop 4.0.0;
· KDevplatform 1.0.0;
· PolicyKit;
· ConsoleKit;
· Phonon 4.4.1;
· Xterm 258;
· XFCE 4.6.1;
· Amarok 2.3.0.90 - in testing.

Besides the upgrade to KDE SC 4.4.3, Slackware Linux 13.1 Beta 1 also introduces the ConsoleKit and PolicyKit authentication tools. Of course, it also includes all the updates and new packages that have made it into the Slakware Linux 13.1 development. Slackware Linux is the oldest Linux distribution still in active development. Slackware Linux 13.0, the latest stable release, was launched last year.

Slackware Linux 13.1 Beta 1 is available for download here on Softpedia. Remember that this is a beta release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only.