14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 116th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: VortexBox 1.5, Quirky 1.3, ArchBang 2010.09 and Clonezilla 1.2.6-24. In other news: Former Mandriva employees launch Mageia, a Mandriva Linux fork; Canonical demonstrates context-aware user interface for Ubuntu; Mandriva reassures the community that it's alive and well; Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) reaches end-of-life. For this week we've prepared a nice review for the UNetbootin application. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On September 21st, Andrew Gillis announced the release of VortexBox 1.5, the latest version of the music streaming server Linux distro. The big change in VortexBox 1.5 is the introduction of a new DAAP server, for iTunes compatibility, and a new Squeezebox server.
Highlights of VortexBox 1.5:
· Logitech SqueezeBox Server 7.5.1; · New DAAP (iTunes) server - works with iTunes 10; · GUI DAAP (iTunes) server; · Service manager to start and stop VortexBox services from the web GUI.
Download VortexBox 1.5 now from Softpedia.
On September 22nd, Barry Kauler proudly announced the immediate availability for download of the Quirky 1.3 lightweight operating system. The new Quirky 1.3 release comes with a new Linux kernel, lots of updated packages, a new wallpaper created by "stu90," and some important bugfixes.
Highlights of Quirky 1.3:
· Linux kernel 2.6.30.5 (recompiled with patched Aufs); · Updated FFMpeg to support webM; · Updated Gnumeric to version 1.10.6; · Updated Sane-backends to version 1.0.21; · Updated Gparted to version 0.6.0; · Updated Parted to version 2.2-5.fc14; · Updated libusb to version 1.0.8; · Updated Busybox to version 1.16.2; · Updated Pfind and Pprocess utilities; · Updated Pburn, Pfileseach and Pmusic tools; · Updated Pmusic and Pcd; · Updated lameSMBxplorer to version 0.2.2b; · Updated Ffconvert to version 1.0; · Updated Udev to version 151; · Improved Samba; · Fixed CPU scaling bug; · Fixed Roaring Penguin PPPOE; · Recompiled Abiword 2.8.6; · Fixed Disktype; · Fixed Nathan's Wallpaper Setter 0.5.6; · Network reconnect/disconnect; · New artwork!
Download Quirky 1.3 right now from Softpedia.
On September 23rd, Willensky Aristide proudly announced the immediate availability of the ArchBang 2010.09 operating system, a boutique Linux distro based on Arch Linux. The latest releases drops LXDE in favor of OpenBox, the original option. Some of the packages have been replaced as well, as part of the switch.
Highlights of ArchBang 2010.09:
· Linux kernel 2.6.35.5-1; · The LXDE desktop environment has been dropped; · Xdg-menu has been removed and replaced with the dmenu dynamic menu; · Thunar, the Xfce file manager, is replacing PCManFM, the default file manager in LXDE; · New look; · VLC is now the only media player, Exaile and Gnome Mplayer removed; · GIMP has been included; · Xfburn replaces Graveman; · Gnumeric has been added; · Evince replaces Xpdf.
Download ArchBang 2010.09 right now from Softpedia.
On September 27th, Steven Shiau has announced the release of the Clonezilla Live 1.2.6-24 operating system. The latest release adds testing support for Brtfs with the developers having successfully tested the feature with both Ubuntu and OpenSuSE installs.
Highlights of Clonezilla live 1.2.6.24:
· Linux kernel 2.6.32-23; · Partclone 0.2.15; · gPXE 1.0.1; · syslinux 4.02; · Usplash was removed; · Russian language support; · "--force" option was added for grub-install (grub2) when run with "-g auto".
Download Clonezilla Live 1.2.6-24 right now from Softpedia.
· Mandriva has had its fair share of problems in recent years and its financial troubles worsened this year. While the company's fate is still uncertain, a large number of its developers have been let go and the project seems in disarray. This prompted a number of former employees to get together and start the Mageia project, a Mandriva fork. Read more about it here.
· Canonical, through Christian Giordano, presented a few days ago a demonstration of a system which detects physical context, and that could be implemented in future versions of the Ubuntu operating system. With the help of a webcam or infra-red/ultra-sound sensors, the idea of this context-aware UI (user interface) concept is that the computer will be able to detect user's presence (like proximity sensors of today's smartphones). Therefore, the computer will automatically change to the screen layout. Read more about it here.
· Mandriva has now come out to clarify the project's future and has said that Mandriva will continue to be supported and developed on the desktop in both free and paid flavours. The company says that the community will be catered to as always. It also promises that development is continuing and that the next community release will come spring 2011. Read more about it here.
· Dear Ubuntu 9.04 users, the time has come to say goodbye to the Jaunty Jackalope release of the popular Ubuntu operating system. One month from today, on October 23rd, Ubuntu 9.04 reaches end of life. Read more about it here.
UNetbootin 485
· UNetbootin’s interface is basically a simple to use and intuitive window. The first section allows you to choose from a list of available distributions. They range from lightweight ones (i.e. xPUD, SliTaz or Puppy Linux) to the more common distributions (OpenSUSE, Debian, Ubuntu, Mandriva, Fedora, Gentoo, etc). For each one, you can select the type of version to test (live, net install, stable, unstable, specific version number, etc.). Then, simply skip to the lower section of the window – the Type section – and choose where you'd like to install it.
Read the entire review here.
Video Clip of the Week: Parallax and fullscreen interaction via webcam
· For this week we've posted a video that showcases a system which detects physical context, and that could be implemented in future versions of the Ubuntu operating system.. The video has 16 seconds, and it was posted by Canonical Design. Enjoy!
Parallax and fullscreen interaction via webcam from Canonical Design on Vimeo.
· VectorLinux SOHO Deluxe 6.0 · Ultimate Desktop Linux 4.0 · StorkOS 9 · Upstream OS 5.0.0
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· EeeMC 10.04.24 · Scentlinux 1038 · Redo Backup and Recovery 0.9.7 · SchilliX 0.7.2 · Chakra GNU/Linux 0.2.2 · GParted LiveCD 0.6.3-3 · AV Linux 4.1
· Openwall GNU/Linux 20100924 · Tiny Core Linux 3.2 RC1
See you again next Monday, October 4th, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.