Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 10

On August 30, the PC/OS team announced the final release of their Linux distro, PC/OS 2008v2. It comes with various updated packages, as well as all of Ubuntu's (8.04.1) bug fixes and distribution updates.  Two versions are provided with this release, the client and the server editions. Let's take a look at some of the leading features for the PC/OS client:

· Linux kernel 2.6.24-19 · Firefox 3.0 · Totem · Audacious and GTKPod · Screenlets 1.4 · Gnome PPP · Picasa · Google Gears

Download PC/OS 2008v2 right now from Softpedia.

On September 2, MidnightBSD 0.2.1, a FreeBSD fork aimed at providing an easy-to-use desktop experience, included improved support for new hardware devices such as Nvidia, ATI, or Intel SATA controllers. It also added better wireless networking support and many new packages. Updated software in MidnightBSD 0.2.1:

· GCC 3.4.6 · Bind 9.4.2-p1 · Sendmail · Bzip2 · OpenSSH 5.0p1 · PPC compiler added (i386) · Removal of gnu cpio for BSD licensed version · cpdup added · IPv6 fixes · mksh added

Download MidnightBSD 0.2.1 right now from Softpedia.

Fluxbox 1.1.0 is now available, after almost a year since the release of Fluxbox 1.0.0 in October 2007. It introduces some new commands such as Attach, ClientMenu, SetDecor, new options to client patterns like fullscreen, shaded, urgent, as well as some important bug fixes like, for instance, for the gcc 2.96 compile problem. One important adjustment present in Fluxbox 1.1.0 is the window cycling syntax, which behaves a bit differently now. The format of window cycling functions has been changed from a bitmask to a list of options separated by commas and enclosed in {} followed by a pattern, much like the one used in the apps file. The following new commands were introduces in this release:

· Attach · ClientMenu · Delay · Focus · ForEach · GoToWindow · If · StartMoving · StartResizing · StartTabbing · SetDecor · SetTitle · SetTitleDialog · SetLayer

Download Fluxbox 1.1.0 right now from Softpedia.

The KDE community announced on September 3 the release of KDE 4.1.1, the latest version of one the most popular desktop environments. Many new additions are featured, including web development applications, educational tools, administrative programs and more, all of which are available in over 50 languages. Here are the most important:

· Konqueror (KDE's web-browser) and KHTML have seen considerable improvements in interaction, rendering correctness and performance. · Stability, user interaction and rendering fixes in Plasma, the KDE4 desktop shell. · Okular, the document viewer, has seen PDF backend fixes. · Lots of fixes in the image viewer Gwenview, regarding thumbnailing; also, images with broken metadata can now be more robustly retrieved and displayed. · Stability and interaction fixes in KMail.

Download KDE 4.1.1 right now from Softpedia.

Scientific Linux 4.7 (based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 7) was released on September 3, with major improvements and package updates. The following tools were added, compared to Red Hat Enterprise 4:

· 915resolution (a tool to modify Intel graphics chipsets’ video BIOS) · alpine (a tool for reading, sending, and managing electronic messages) · apt · cfitsio (Flexible Image Transport System support) · Cluster Suite & GFS · dropit · FUSE (Filesystem in userspace) · Graphviz (Graph Visualization Tools) · IceWM (Simple window manager) · Intel wireless firmware (Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 and 2200 driver) · and many more...

Download Scientific Linux 4.7 right now from Softpedia.

On September 4, Mandriva announced the first release candidate version of Mandriva 2009, which brings a greatly improved package management tool, with automatic mirror selection and repository configuration. Dubbed camelopard, this first RC replaces the old madwifi wireless driver with the brand new ath5k, for all Atheros cards, and brings further improvements to the Ora theme.

Download Mandriva 2009 RC1 right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a development release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only.

xVM VirtualBox 2.0, Sun's open source, free and very efficient virtualization tool was released on September 4, together with Sun xVM VirtualBox Software Enterprise Subscription, with support for enterprise users. This release is a major upgrade as it brings 64-bit guest OS, a new and improved GUI, a new version notifier, and also guest information interface.

Download Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.0 right now from Softpedia.

Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Alpha 5 was released on September 5. This version comes with Linux kernel 2.6.27, GNOME 2.24 Beta 2, X.Org 7.4 and DKMS, a new tool that automatically rebuilds all kernel modules when the system's kernel are upgraded. The following applications are included:

· Kernel 2.6.27-2 (based on Linux kernel 2.6.27 RC) · X.Org Server 1.5 · Mozilla Firefox 3.0.1 · OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 · The GIMP 2.4.7 · F-Spot 0.4.4 · Pidgin 2.5.0 · Brasero 0.8.1 · Transmission 1.33 · Rhythmbox 0.11.6 · Ekiga 2.0.12 · Evolution 2.23.91 · Nautilus 2.23.91 · Vinagre 2.23.90

Download Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 5 right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a development release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only.

Another week, another review by Mihai Mircea for Softpedia Linux. This time, it's for the Sage application, a free mathematical software, released under the GPL license. Read this comprehensive review of Sage 3.0.2 here.

Distributions Released Last Week:

· Hadron Gnu/Linux · HackerOS 20jun2008

Distributions Updated Last Week: