14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 117th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Fedora 14 Beta, Sabayon Linux 5.4, Ubuntu 10.10 RC and CRUX 2.7. In other news: Linux Mint 7 reaches end-of-life; the final version of the GNOME 2.32.0 desktop environment brings new features; Ubuntu 10.10 has an amazing new font; future Ubuntu releases will ship with LibreOffice. For this week we've prepared a nice tutorial, about how to connect the ZTE MF636DB USB modem on Ubuntu. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On September 28th, Dennis Gilmore announced the release of Fedora 14 Beta, the first and only beta of the upcoming Fedora 14 operating system. This Beta is mostly feature-complete and all the updates will focus on bug fixing and stability issues. Fedora 14 comes with a slightly shorter new features list than previous releases.
Apart from updated packages, like KDE SC 4.5 and GNOME 2.32, Fedora 14 comes with few new features for the end users. System admins will enjoy the several new technologies included in Fedora 14. The one feature geared towards end users is the implementation of the libjpeg-turbo library which, Fedora says, should cut down the loading times of JPEG files in half.
Download Fedora 14 Beta now from 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.
On September 22nd, Fabio Erculiani proudly announced the immediate availability of the Sabayon Linux 5.4 operating system. The latest release is designed for Linux enthusiasts who want the latest packages and the best performance, but don't want to spend days getting things working properly.
Highlights of Sabayon Linux 5.4:
· Linux kernel 2.6.35 (optimized for desktops); · Extra kernel packages in the default repositories (Server-optimized, Vserver-enabled, OpenVZ-enabled); · KDE Software Compilation 4.5.1; · GNOME 2.30.0; · X.Org 7.5; · Support for Btrfs filesystem; · Support for EXT4 filesystem (default); · Includes proprietary and open-source Nvidia, AMD video drivers; · Includes GNOME Shell; · Entropy package manager was updated to version 0.99.50.2; · OpenOffice.org Office Suite 3.2; · XBMC Media Center; · World of Goo Demo; · New artwork; · Amazing 3D desktop effects; · 10-minutes installer; · Over 1,000 packages were updated; · Can run inside Windows!
Download Sabayon Linux 5.4 GNOME right now from Softpedia.
Download Sabayon Linux 5.4 KDE right now from Softpedia.
Also on September 30th, Canonical unleashed the Release Candidate (RC) version of the up-coming Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system, due for release in October 10th, 2010.
Ubuntu 10.10 Release Candidate comes with the final version of the greatly improved GNOME 2.32.0 desktop environment. The kernel packages have been updated to version 2.6.35-22.23, based on Linux kernel 2.6.35.3.
Shotwell is now the default image viewer and editor, and it replaces F-Spot. Also, Gwibber received support for the new Twitter authentication system, and many other improvements.
Download Ubuntu 10.10 RC 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.
On October 2nd, Tilman Sauerbeck announced the release of CRUX 2.7, which brings updated packages and several changes. The kernel and toolchain have been updated to recent versions. There are also changes to the way packages are compressed and an image for USB drives is now available for download, besides the regular ISO image.
Highlights of CRUX 2.7:
· Linux kernel 2.6.35.6; · glibc 2.12.1; · GCC 4.5.1; · binutils 2.20.1; · Xorg 7.5; · Xorg server 1.9.0; · ACL has been added; · BtrFS-progs has been included; · NFSv4 support is now available in nfs-utils; · Portmap has been removed.
Download CRUX 2.7 right now from Softpedia.
· Clement Lefebvre and the community behind the Linux Mint project announced on September 28th that Linux Mint 7 (Gloria) operating system will reach end-of-life on October 23rd, 2010. This means that starting with October 23rd, 2010, the Linux Mint 7 operating system will no longer be supported with security or critical fixes, and software updates! Read more about it here.
· On September 29th, GNOME 2.32 has been finally released. The latest version of the popular desktop environment for Linux comes with several new features and improvements as well as updated applications, but is generally considered an evolutionary update. Read more about it here.
· On October 1st, Canonical uploaded and replaced the default font in the the upcoming Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system. All user will get an amazing new font, called Ubuntu Font Family. As Canonical says, it is a beautiful, clear, libre and open font family. Read more about it here.
· Earlier this week a number of OpenOffice developers have created the Document Foundation a new group, based around OpenOffice.org, which would oversee the development of LibreOffice, an OpenOffice fork which would focus on making the office suite better adhere to the open and free software principles. Read more about it here.
Tutorial of the Week: How to Connect the ZTE MF636DB USB Modem on Ubuntu
· Are you one of those users with an MF636DB USB 3G modem from Orange, and you want to make it run under Ubuntu OS? Look no further, as today's tutorial will teach you step-by-step who to make it work!
We've tested the MF636DB USB stick on an eMachines 350 netbook powered by the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system. After we've search the Internet for various solutions, we've finally find a good combination to make this MF636 USB stick act like a 3G modem.
Read the complete tutorial here.
Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu 10.10 RC Unity Interface
· For this week we've posted a video that showcases the Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system with Unity Interface on an Asus Eee PC 1005-HA netbook. The video has 5 minutes and 59 seconds, and it was posted by ColombosBlog. Enjoy!
· mFatOS 1.3 · GALPon MiniNo 1.2 · Quelitu 1.10.10 Beta · Kubuntu Mobile 10.10 RC · Kubuntu Mobile ARM 10.10 RC
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· R.I.P. 10.9 · StressLinux 0.6.101 · Puppy Studio 3.1 · iMagic OS 10 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.6-28
· Mythbuntu 10.10 RC · Edubuntu 10.10 RC · Kubuntu 10.10 RC · Ubuntu Server 10.10 RC · Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.10 RC · Xubuntu 10.10 RC · Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 10.10 RC · Ubuntu ARM 10.10 RC · Lubuntu 10.10 Beta 2 · openSUSE Linux 11.4 Milestone 2 · Peppermint Ice 10012010 · Devil-Linux 1.4 RC6
See you again next Monday, October 11th, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.