14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 126th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Vine Linux 5.2, Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1 and OpenSuSE 11.4 Milestone 4. In other news: Red Hat acquires Makara, a cloud platform maker; Oracle released VirtualBox 3.2.12, with lots of improvements; Google released the stable version of Google Chrome 8.0 for Linux; KDE Software Compilation reaches version 4.5.4; Fedora 12 reached end of life on December 2nd. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new/updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On November 30th, Daisuke Suzuki announced the release of Vine Linux 5.2, the latest update to the Japanese Linux distro is mostly a bug-fixing release bringing a few new packages, patches and other various improvements. Vine Linux 5.2 caters to the Japanese market and offers support for local scripts and input methods.
Highlights of Vine Linux 5.2:
• Security fixes and bug fixes; • Various package updates; • Fixes to the installer: - support for the FAT file system fixed in the installer; - support for SD card controllers; - support for FireWire controllers; - support for the openchrome graphic card driver; - support for the via-velocity, via-rhine, ne2k-pci, 3w-9xxx, 3w-xxxx • network card drivers; • Updated apt repositories list; • The Vine manual is included in the DVD edition.
Download Vine Linux 5.2 now from Softpedia.
On December 2nd, Canonical announced that the first Alpha version of the upcoming Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system is available for download and testing. The big news is that Unity is now the default in the Ubuntu Desktop Edition, as Mark Shuttleworth said at UDS. Unity uses Compiz, therefore you will need proper video drivers installed to see it. If you don't have video drivers installed, you'll see the default two panels layout.
Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1 is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.37 RC3, but the final release of Natty Narwhal will have Linux kernel 2.6.38. The GNOME desktop environment is still at version 2.32.1. Moreover Network Manager applet was patched to use appindicator.
The Mozilla Firefox web browser has been updated to version 4.0 Beta 7. Last but not least, the Ubuntu Netbook Edition was merged with the Ubuntu Desktop Edition!
Download Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1 now from Softpedia. Remember that this is an alpha release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only.
Also on December 2nd, Will Stephenson announced the fourth development release of the upcoming openSUSE 11.4 operating system. openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 4 comes with quite a few updated packages, including some big ones like an updated kernel and KDE SC 4.6 beta, to be expected from an early development release.
Highlights of openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 4:
· Linux kernel 2.6.37 RC3; · KDE SC 4.6 Beta 1; · GNOME 2.32.2; · NetworkManager 0.8.2; · Libzypp 8.8; · Zeitgeist 0.6; · KOffice 2.3 Beta 1; · LibreOffice replaces OpenOffice.org.
Download openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 4 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.
· With the threat cloud environments pose to its traditional business, it's no wonder Red Hat has been very focused on virtualization and cloud platforms lately. And it's now acquired cloud specialist Makara, partly to get rid of what could have proven a big competitor, partly to integrate the technology the startup developed so far. Read more about it here.
· On December 2nd, Oracle released VirtualBox 3.2.12. It's a bug-fixing/maintenance release so don't expect anything too flashy. That said there are plenty of updates and fixes for both Linux guests and hosts and there should be no reason to hold back. The previous minor update added support for Ubuntu 10.10 and Fedora 14. Read more about it here.
· On December 2nd, Google Chrome developers at Google proudly announced last evening (December 2nd) the stable release and immediate availability for download of the Google Chrome 8.0.552.215 web browser for Linux, Windows and Macintosh platforms. The new version, Google Chrome 8.0.552.215 brings a built-in PDF viewer, over 800 bugs squashed and stability enhancements, security fixes, and more. Read more about it here.
· On December 2nd, the fourth maintenance release of KDE SC 4.5 has landed. KDE Software Compilation 4.5.4 is a bug-fixing release but also comes with more translation work. Nothing too glamorous about this update, but it's an important one nonetheless. Because it's a minor update, users should have no reservations in upgrading to KDE SC 4.5.4. Read more about it here.
· On December 2nd, the Fedora 12 (Constantine) operating system reached end of life. This means that, starting two days ago, users of Fedora 12 will no longer receive security/critical fixes and software updates. Therefore, all Fedora 12 users are urged to upgrade to the most recent version, Fedora 14, as soon as possible. Read more about it here.
Tutorial of the Week: How To Sync Your iPhone Device in Ubuntu 10.10
· The following tutorial will teach GNOME, Ubuntu, and other Linux users how to synchronize music and video files on their Apple iPhone 3G, 3Gs, or iPhone 4 devices. The tutorial was tested with an iPhone 3Gs phone, on the Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system.
· Apple's iPhone is quite an impressive smartphone, and if you are into open source operating systems, and you want to synchronize music or videos we will present some of the best methods to do that, easily.
Read the entire tutorial here.
Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal Alpha 1 Review
· For this week we've posted a 1080p high-definition video clip that reviews the Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1 (Natty Narwhal) operating system. The video has 5 minutes and 17 seconds, and it was posted by quidsup. Enjoy!
· Xubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1 · Edubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1 · Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 11.04 Alpha 1 · Ubuntu Server 11.04 Alpha 1 · Kubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1 · Ubuntu Studio 11.04 Alpha 1 · Bodhi 0.1.21 · Liberté Linux 2010.1 · 4MLinux Media Edition 1.0 · K2Z 2010.12
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.6-46 · Chakra GNU/Linux 0.2.4 · MeeGo 1.1.1 · BG-Tiny Linux Bootdisk 1.0 · BG-Rescue Linux 1.1.0 · GoAutoDial CE 2.0 · Astaro Security Gateway 8.080 · Poseidon Linux 3.2 · IPFire 2.7 Core 43 · Superb Mini Server 1.5.4 · R.I.P. 11.3
· VectorLinux 7.0 Alpha 3.6 · Pardus Linux 2011 Beta 2 · DEFT 6 RC · Salix OS Fluxbox 13.1.2 RC3 · Tiny Core Linux 3.4 RC1
See you again next Monday, December 13th, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.