14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 112th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: NetSecL 3.0, Linux Mint 9 Xfce Edition, Fedora 14 Alpha, Vyatta 6.1, Zenwalk Linux 6.4 Live and Parted Magic 5.4. In other news: Canonical announced the Ubuntu 11.04 Developer Summit event; MessageWire and Solar VPS offer Open-Xchange, an Microsoft Exchange alternative; AMD released ATI Catalyst Linux 10.8 with support for OpenGL ES 2.0 and SLED/SLES 11 SP1; Google releases the first development build of Google Chrome 7.0; Likewise will launch a CIFS appliance for VMWare; Canonical presented the new wallpapers and theme of the upcoming Ubuntu 10.10 operating system. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On August 16th, Yuri Stanchev announced the immediate availability of the NetSecL 3.0 operating system, which brings quite a lot of changes and updates over previous releases. NetSecL 3.0 is now based on OpenSuSE, but still comes with the same tools and enhancements you've come to expect from the security-focused distro.
NetSecL 3.0 is a major departure from the previous releases, but the developers focused on bringing all of the distinctive features to the new release as well. Specifically, many packages have been adapted to work with GrSecurity.
Download NetSecL 3.0 right now from Softpedia.
On August 24th, Clement Lefebvre announced the Linux Mint 9 Xfce operating system. New features include a new software manager and backup tool, common to all Linux Mint 9 releases, but also specific changes like "move to trash" and "delete" options for the Thunar file manager.
Highlights of Linux Mint 9 Xfce:
· New Software Manager - completely rewritten, now supports 30,000+ packages; · New Backup Tool - making it easy to do fresh installs and keep all your data; · Move to Trash and Delete options in Thunar - new entries in the context and Edit menus; · Better look and feel - new art including new background images and a new welcome screen; · Many bugfixes and updated packages; · All of the new features and enhancements in Xubuntu 10.04 LTS.
Download Linux Mint 9 Xfce now from Softpedia.
Also on August 24th, Dennis Gilmore proudly announced the release of Fedora 14 Alpha. Dubbed Laughlin, this first pre-release version comes with bleeding-edge components, such as Linux kernel 2.6.35 and KDE Software Compilation 4.5.
Highlights of Fedora 14 Alpha: · Linux kernel 2.6.35; · KDE SC 4.5; · GNOME 2.31.2 desktop environment; · Session and system management; · Desktop virtualization; · Faster JPEG compression and decompression; · Updated and new programming languages; · Better utilities for developers; · Sugar 0.90 desktop environment; · Better netbook experience with MeeGo; · Fedora EC2 images; · IPMI server management made simple; · SCAP (Security Content Automation Protocol) support; · Perl 6 support with Rakudo; · Powerful data analysis tools.
Download Fedora 14 Alpha now from Softpedia.
Also on August 24th, Vyatta has released a new version of its software-based router/firewall solution. Vyatta 6.1 is the first update to the 6.x line, but is a solid release by itself. The update brings IPv6 certification and new tools for those using cloud solutions.
The most touted new 'feature' in Vyatta 6.1 is the IPv6 Ready Logo Phase 2 certification which ensures that the Linux distribution is ready to handle IPv6 traffic, even though the technology is far from commonplace even now.
Download Vyatta 6.1 now from Softpedia.
On August 25th, Jean-Philippe Guillemi announced the release of Zenwalk Linux 6.4 Live edition, which will enable users to get a taste for the Linux distribution without the investment of having to install it on their systems.
One of the differences between the regular release and the Live CD version, obviously, is the "Livekernel" which features support for aufs and SquashFS 3.4 along with LZMA compression.
There are also a few more localizations for Icedove and Icecat, the rebranded versions of Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird. Zenwalk Linux 6.4 Live also features customized artwork for GDM and the bootsplash.
Download Zenwalk Linux 6.4 Live now from Softpedia.
On August 25th, Patrick Verner announced Parted Magic 5.4, which fixes an issue which caused keyboard input to slow down. Despite the short time between releases, several other issues have been fixed as well and some packages updated.
Highlights of Parted Magic 5.4:
· Linux kernel 2.6.35.3; · alsa-lib 1.0.23; · alsa-utils 1.0.23; · DHCP 4.2.0; · GRUB 1.98.
Download Parted Magic 5.4 now from Softpedia.
· Canonical proudly announced on August 23rd the second Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) event for 2010. The 11.04 Ubuntu Developer Summit event will take place in Orlando, USA from 25th to 29th October. Read more about it here.
· On August 24th, MessageWire and Solar VPS announced that they are now offering Open-Xchange as an integrated email and collaboration solution. The open-source suite is positioned as an Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint alternative. Read more about it here.
· On August 25th, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced yet another improved version of its ATI Catalyst Linux display driver, available for both x86 and x86_64 architectures. ATI Catalyst 10.8 introduces final and stable support for the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11 SP1 operating systems, and official OpenGL ES 2.0 support. Read more about it here.
· The first Chrome 7.0 has been released on August 25th for all platforms. Google Chrome 7.0.503.1 for Linux is an incremental update with very few changes for those already using the development channel builds. The jump from Chrome 6 to Chrome 7 is largely symbolic and emphasizes the beginning of a new development cycle. Read more about it here.
· Likewise is previewing a new tool to help system admins migrate file-servers from 'legacy' platforms to virtualized solutions powered by VMware and Likewise software. The Likewise CIFS Appliance will run the Likewise CIFS file server in a virtualized environment powered by VMware vSphere. Read more about it here.
· On August 26th, Canonical uploaded the new wallpapers and default theme for the up-coming Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system. Seventeen new beautiful wallpapers and a lightweight and eye-candy theme will please every existing and future Ubuntu 10.10 user! Read more about it here.
Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu Unity Desktop 10.10
· For this week we've posted an Ubuntu ad that showcases the features of the Ubuntu Unity interface for the up-coming Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.10 operating system. The video has 40 seconds, and it was posted by UbuntuAds. Enjoy!
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· MyWolfe 020 · Me-OS 1.1.0 · Kuliax 7.0 · BlankOn Sajadah 6.1 · Pipsqueak 1.2.1 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.6-11 · Pinguy OS 10.04.1.2 · AUSTRUMI 2.1.7 · Caixa Magica 15 · Mandriva Linux MUD LXDE Edition 2010.1 · Redo Backup and Recovery 0.9.6 · ArtistX 0.9 · Chakra GNU/Linux 0.2.0
· eBox Platform 2.0 RC1 · Tiny Core Linux 3.1 RC2 · Hadron Gnu/Linux Alpha · Momonga Linux 7 Beta 2 · Pardus Linux 2011 Alpha · Calculate Linux Desktop 10.9 Beta 1
See you again next Monday, September 6th, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.