14 DAY TRIAL // Lars Torben Kremer announced the immediate availability for download and testing of the Snowlinux 4 E17 final version.
Just like the previous release, Snowlinux 4 17 is based on Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 “Wheezy” and makes use of Linux Kernel 3.5.
The developer has chosen to provide two separate images, one for each desktop environment, XFCE (which is now at version 4.10) and E17.
Snowlinux 4 E17 distribution has been built from the E17 repository and the developers feel that a desktop environment which has been production since 2000, will make a good choice.
The E17 desktop environment comes with different shells, such as SnowOSX, SnowClassic and SnowGnome 2.
In any other respect, the E17 variant is practically the same with its XCE counterpart and uses the same resources.
Highlights of Snowlinux 4 E17:
• The distribution is based on Linux kernel 3.5. The main reason for this choice are the support for the various filesystems and for the new Nvidia Kepler graphic cards; • The desktop environment in use, XFCE, was updated to version 4.10, although the underlying Debian “Wheezy” still uses 4.8; • LightDM has been used for the login process; • Mozilla Firefox was updated to version 17; • Mozilla Thunderbird was updated to version 17; • The speed and response of the operating system has been improved.
Among other features, it includes popular software such as Firefox 17, Thunderbird 17, LibreOffice, Shotwell, and Pidgin, not to mention a lot of improved themes.
The life cycle of the Snowlinux 4 E17 distribution is pretty long and the support is scheduled to last until February 2016. This is possible mostly because the distribution is 100% compatible with the Debian repositories.
The system requirements are pretty solid too: x86-CPU, 256 MB memory, 2 GB free disk space, a graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution, and a DVD-ROM drive or a USB port. Due to its size, the distribution will not fit on a standard CD.
Check out the official announcement for a complete list of changes and improvements. Download Snowlinux 4 E17 right now from Softpedia.