14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 127th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Unity Linux 2010.02, Ultimate Edition 2.8 Lite, Vinux 3.1 and Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3 RC1. In other news: Canonical announced that Ubuntu One Music client for iPhone has support for the new AirPlay technology. For this week we've prepared a nice tutorial about how to fix the Alt+Print issue in Ubuntu 10.10, and the highly-anticipated review of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Netbook Edition operating system. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new/updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On December 6th, Matthew Dawkins the immediate availability of the Unity Linux 2010.02 operating system. It's the second snapshot of the 2010 build and comes with a number of updated packages from the previous two releases as well as improvements to the "mklivecd" and "unity-installer" tools.
Highlights of Unity Linux 2010.02:
· Linux kernel 2.6.35.7; · XFCE 4.6.2, · KDE 4.5.1 - KDE 4.5.3 is also available, optionally; · Gnome 2.32.0; · Openbox 3.4.11.2; · E17 0.16.999.52995; · Updates to the toolchain, openssl, xorg, python, mono, smart, drak tools; · Updated proprietary Nvidia and ATI drivers.
Download Unity Linux 2010.02 now from Softpedia.
On December 7th, TheeMahn announced the immediate availability of the Ultimate Edition 2.8 Lite operating system. As the name implies, this version is intended as a light-weight alternative to the graphics-heavy Ultimate Edition. In many ways it is the antithesis of regular Ultimate Edition releases since the emphasis is on taking stuff out not cramming in as much stuff as you can in Ubuntu.
Ultimate Edition 2.8 Lite is built on Lubuntu 10.10 but it has been stripped down even more. Some packages that aren't crucial have been removed to keep things as light as possible. There are some obvious choices, office packages like Abiword and Gnumeric, but also some curious moves such as replacing Chromium with the bloated Firefox or the lighweight Leafpad with Gedit, which requires the GNOME libraries. The default, professional, icon themes probably didn't really add a lot of 'weight' either.
Download Ultimate Edition 2.8 Lite now from Softpedia.
On December 9th, Tony Sales proudly announced the immediate availability for download of the Vinux 3.1 operating system for the visually impaired. Based on Ubuntu 10.10, the new release of Vinux brings lots of interesting features, new and updated applications, bugfixes and enhancements. Vinux 3.1 is a Linux distribution designed for the visually impaired. It is distributed as a downloadable CD or DVD image, for the 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.
Highlights of Vinux 3.1:
· Quick Start Guide for Linux beginners (can be accessed with Ctrl+Alt+Q); · Autokey-GTK (allows to insert text automatically as you type); · Parcellite Clipboard Manager (allows to paste text from clipboard); · X-Tile (allows to tile windows automatically); · Gnome Media Player (a VLC front-end); · Conkeror (a web-controlled keyboard); · Pidgin with many plugins (a multi-protocol Instant Messenger); · Gufw (Ubuntu's firewall manager).
Download Vinux 3.1 now from Softpedia.
On December 10th, the Chakra Development team announced the immediate availability for download and testing of the Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3 RC1 operating system, which features the recently released KDE Software Compilation 4.5.4 environment. Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3 RC1 now features the new Linux kernel 2.6.33.7-3 with LZMA support, KDE SC 4.5.4 and, Xorg Server 1.7.7, ATI Catalyst 10.8 video driver, Nvidia 256 and Nvidia Legacy series video drivers. New locales, such as Catalan, English, Spanish and German, were added to this release.
Highlights of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3 RC1:
· Linux kernel 2.6.33.7-3 (with LZMA support); · Updated aufs2 to version 20100514-6; · KDE Software Compilation 4.5.4; · Xorg Server 1.7.7; · ATI Catalyst 10.8 video driver; · Nvidia 256 and Nvidia Legacy series video drivers.
Download Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3 RC1 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 December 6th, Canonical announced that the Ubuntu One Music app for iPhone has now support for the new AirPlay technology, which allows users to stream audio, video and image files stored in your Ubuntu One account directly to your Applet TV, stereo device, or any other AirPlay-compatible hardware. The AirPlay technology was made available by Apple via the new iOS 4.2 software update. Read more about it here.
· On December 8th, the KDE developers announced the second beta of the upcoming KDE SC 4.6 environment. KDE SC 4.6 Beta 2 is significantly more stable than the first beta and is close enough to the final version that more curious users should be able to give it a try without too much risk. That said, it's still beta software and not suited for production environments. Read more about it here.
Tutorial of the Week: How To Fix the Alt+Print Issue in Ubuntu 10.10
· The following tutorial will teach you how to fix the Alt+PrintScreen issue, if you want to take a screenshot of a current window, in the Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system. The problem: If you use the new Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system, you will no longer be able to use the Alt+Print key combination to take a screenshot of the current window. This is because Alt+Print is in conflict with the magic SysRq key.
· The solution: To enable Alt+Print in Ubuntu 10.10 we have to disable the magic SysRq key.
Read the entire tutorial here.
Review of the Week: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Netbook Edition
· With Ubuntu 10.10's failure to reach the expectancies version 10.04 LTS trained us to have, our Lucid Lynx review became slightly more important. We're all used with fans rising to the surface with every new Ubuntu launch, but an insistence on looks instead of functionality just got Ubuntu 10.04 LTS some extra praises.
· Netbooks are easy to carry and simple to use, so it's important to have a fast bootup when you need to write, check or test something on the go. With Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, boot time is impressively short for a fully packed distro. Besides the minor optimizations Ubuntu 10.04 LTS could do better with, it's impossible to get over the fact that it has a great feel to it.
Read the complete review here.
Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu Ultimate Edition 2.8
· For this week we've posted a 1080p high-definition video clip that showcases the Ultimate Edition 2.8 operating system. The video has 2 minutes and 47 seconds, and it was posted by italya161. Enjoy!
· Swift Linux 0.0.2 · Diet Swift Linux 0.0.2 · Forensic Swift Linux 0.0.2 · Taylor Swift Linux 0.0.2
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· LinHES 6.03.00 · Tor-ramdisk 20101207 · Salix OS Fluxbox 13.1.2 · Jolicloud 1.1 · CrunchBang Linux 10 r20101205 · KXStudio 10.04.3 · GParted LiveCD 0.7.0-11 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.6-52 · Asturix Desktop Edition 3.0 · Asturix Business Edition 3.0 · Asturix Lite Edition 3.0 · Comal-Linux 1231
· VectorLinux 7.0 Alpha 4 · Chrome OS 0.9.576 RC · SimplyMEPIS 11.0 Alpha 4 · Zorin OS 4 RC · Openwall GNU/Linux 20101209 · Scientific Linux 6 Alpha 2 · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.9 Beta · Tiny Core Linux 3.4 RC2 · Frugalware Linux 1.4 Pre2
See you again next Monday, December 20th, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.