14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 128th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Parsix GNU/Linux 3.6r1, Openwall GNU/*/Linux 3.0, PCLinuxOS 2010.12 and Tiny Core Linux 3.4. In other news: Canonical announce that there will be no more PS3 CD images for the upcoming Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) release; AMD released ATI Catalyst 10.12 video driver for Linux systems; Nvidia released Nvidia Display Driver 260.19.29 for Linux systems; Mandriva announced the availability of Mandriva Flash 2010 for Christmas sale; Alien Arena 2011 comes with lots of new features and improvements; Debian 6.0 (Squeeze) will ship with a completely free kernel; XBMC Media Center reached version 10.0, it brings a new add-on platform and better hardware acceleration. For this week we've prepared a nice tutorial about how to fix manage your iPhone's SpringBoard icons in Ubuntu 10.10, and an interesting review of the SoundConverter 1.5.3 application. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new/updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On December 15th, Alan Baghumian announced the release of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.6r1, a minor update which just brings the ISOs on par with the repositories and the updated packages released so far. The Linux kernel has been updated in this release and so has the X.Org server along with several other big packages.
Highlights of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.6r1:
· Linux 2.6.32.26; · GNOME 2.30.2; · Xserver-xorg 1.7.7; · GNU Iceweasel 3.5.15; · OpenOffice.org 3.2.1; · Glibc 2.11.2; · SquashFS + Lzma 4.0; · Gparted 0.6.2; · Empathy 2.30.1.1; · GIMP 2.6.8; · CompizFusion 0.8.4; · Synaptic 0.63.1; · VirtualBox-OSE 3.2.6; · Exaile 0.3.0.2; · VLC 1.0.6; · xFarDic 0.11.7.
Download Parsix GNU/Linux 3.6r1 now from Softpedia.
On December 16th, Solar Designer announced the release of Openwall GNU/*/Linux 3.0, the latest update to the long-running security focused Linux distro. The latest release comes with quite a few updates from Openwall 2.0, including support for 64-bit systems, Ext4 as the default filesystem and a move to "RHEL 5.5-like" packaged kernels.
Openwall GNU/*/Linux 3.0 comes with quite a lot of changes. The x86-64 architecture is now supported as well and is offered for download along the 32-bit versions. The latest release supports Linux 2.6 kernels in RPM packages similar to how Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 does it. It also makes it easier to deploy kernels not packaged as RMPs.
There is now built-in support for OpenVZ virtualization though the components are still optional at this point. Openwall 3.0 also makes the switch to the Ext4 filesystem, now used by default, which was previously unsupported. Ext3 and Ext2 are supported as well. The new version comes with support for xz compression, specifically LZMA and LZMA2, in all system components.
Download Openwall GNU/*/Linux 3.0 now from Softpedia.
On December 18th, Billy Reynolds announced the relese of PCLinuxOS 2010.12, an updated version of the latest PCLinuxOS 2010 released earlier this year. PCLinuxOS 2010.12 brings fresh packages and better support for hardware and printers. It's only a refresh of the PCLinuxOS release and existing users that have kept their systems up to date don't really have any reason to grab the ISOs.
PCLinuxOS 2010.12 is aimed at new users looking to install the Linux distro. Rather than grabbing the original PCLinuxOS 2010 ISOs and then having to sit through downloading and installing all of the updates since the April launch, they can grab the updated ones. There are versions for all the desktop environment supported: KDE 4, GNOME, LXDE, XFCE and Enlightenment E17.
Download PCLinuxOS 2010.12 now from Softpedia.
Also on December 18th, Robert Shingledecker announced the final release of the Tiny Core Linux 3.4 operating system. The latest version is an evolutionary update, as are most Tiny Core releases, and brings quite a few updated tools, mostly to the custom inner-workings of the minimalistic Linux distro. Along with the updated scripts and system files, comes the usual array of bug fixes, updates and other small changes.
Highlights of Tiny Core Linux 3.4: · Appsaudit multi-select updates and md5 checking; · Fluff 0.8.5 - with integrated file type and associations; · Mnttool updated to show all drives and mount launch filemgr via FILEMGR env as well as support labels and 10+ partitions; · Wallpaper gradients and color preview updated; · Editor for named new file argument updated; · Wbarconf updated for control of text, zoom and icon size; · Exittc "Exit to prompt" to be PID driven; · Wbar updated for fluff startup via "~"; · Fluff .desktop item updated for startup via "~"; · Ab2tce.sh updated to terminate if appbrowser is aborted by killing X; · Mountables.sh updated to support labels and 10+ partitions on a single drive; · Rebuildfstab updated to support unpartitioned but formatted drives; · Tftpd updated to support alternate user; · .profile - added MANPAGER='less -isR'; · Tce-load adjustment for spurious message with copy2ram; · Getdisklabel updated for speed and embedded spaces support; · Select updated, to return 'q' when selected to calling program; · Ab updated to handle received 'q' and tmp file cleanup.
Download Tiny Core Linux 3.4 now from Softpedia.
· On December 14th, Canonical, through Colin Watson, announced a few minutes ago that starting with today, December 14th, they will no longer build ISO images for the PlayStation 3 gaming console. Apparently, the Ubuntu developers were still cooking daily builds of the Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) port for PS3. But with today's announcement, PlayStation 3 owners who love Linux, especially the Ubuntu flavor, will have to look for another operating system designed for the PowerPC architecture. Read more about it here.
· Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the two major companies specialized in programmable graphics processor technologies, released a couple of days ago new and improved versions of their video drivers for Linux systems, available for both x86 and x86_64 architectures. Read more about it here.
· Now here's a special Christmas present for all of you Linux enthusiasts out there, as Mandriva announced the availability of its portable USB Mandriva Flash Drive. It is based on the KDE4 Edition of the Mandriva Linux 2010 distribution (released on July 8th, 2010) and it's available as an 8GB USB flash drive. Think of Mandriva Flash 2010 as your personal and private 3D mobile desktop, which empowers you to perform your daily computer tasks from anywhere. Read more about it here.
· Alien Arena 2011, one of the best freeware, open source first-person shooter games for Linux systems was released yesterday, December 16th, as announced by COR Entertainment, LLC. Just in time for the holidays, Alien Arena version 7.50 brings major improvements and new features that smooth up the gameplay. Alien Arena 2011 is a standalone 3D FPS with online multiplayer features, built from the source code of Quake II and III, games produced by id Software under the GPL license. Read more about it here.
· The Debian community is now announcing that Debian 6.0 Squeeze will come with a completely free Linux kernel. What this means is that the kernel in Debian 6.0 Squeeze will have no binary drivers whatsoever. A lot of work has been done on removing the proprietary parts and finding alternatives where possible. For the past two major releases, Debian was unable to provide a truly free release. Finally, the work is done and Debian 6.0 Squeeze will be completely free. "Free" in this case refers to freedom not price, of course. Read more about it here.
· HTPC enthusiasts have something to look forward to this Christmas, XBMC Media Center 10.0 "Dharma" has been released. The latest version of the media center open source software originally created for the Xbox comes with a brand new add-on platform along with plenty of other updates like broader codec support and improved hardware acceleration. Read more about it here.
Tutorial of the Week: Manage iPhone's SpringBoard Icons on Ubuntu
· The following tutorial will teach GNOME, Ubuntu, and other Linux users how to manage the icons (SpringBoard) 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. The SpringBoard is the screen where all of your installed applications are displayed. You can easily rearrange the icons on your iPhone device if you hold your finger on an icon, for a few seconds, until they start jiggle.
· But, if you want to manage the SpringBoard icons on your Linux operating system, you can do that with the SBmanager application. And, today's tutorial we will teach how to install this application, tested on Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system.
Read the entire tutorial here.
Review of the Week: SoundConverter 1.5.3
· Remember those days when we used to put together a music mix for someone special, either on tape or CD? In 2010 we don't just have different mediums (CDs, flash drives, FTPs, etc.), but there are also different file format options out there, some better than other. So we've reviewed a tiny tool that helps you convert media files in your desired audio compression algorithm. SoundConverter is an application that can convert from a multitude of filetypes (mov, avi, mpeg, ac3, dts, alac, mpc, ogg, aac, flac, etc.) into 5 different audio formats: wav, flac, aac, mp3 and ogg.
· SoundConverter is a friendly, simple and fast application. Because it's designed to handle multithreading, it uses all possible cores to speed up the process of conversion. Most of all, it allows for a casual "translation" of both video and audio files into audio formats, making sound converting accessible to any user, not just sound-experts.
Read the complete review here.
Video Clip of the Week: Videotutorial - Instalar SBManager en Ubuntu 10.04
· For this week we've posted a 720p high-definition video clip that shows you how to install the SBManager application in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system. The video has 7 minutes and 23 seconds, and it was posted by Llopisillo. Enjoy!
· GNOME-Minimalist 2.1 · Pardus Linux Corporate 2 Beta · UberBang 10.04
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· USU 6.0 · Devil-Linux 1.4.1 · Fuduntu 14.7 · Webconverger 7.1 · Bodhi 0.1.3 · GParted LiveCD 0.7.1-1 · VoiceBuntu 1.0.268 · XBMC Live 10.0 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.6-54 · GnackTrack R3 · PCLinuxOS GNOME 2010.12 · PCLinuxOS LXDE 2010.12 · PCLinuxOS XFCE 2010.12 · PCLinuxOS Openbox 2010.11
· PCLinuxOS Gnome Zen Mini 2010.10
· openSUSE Linux 11.4 Milestone 5 · OpenNode 1.1 Beta 1 · Zenwalk 7.0 Alpha · Scientific Linux 6 Alpha 3 · Calculate Linux Desktop 11.0 Beta 1 · Salix OS LXDE 13.1.2 RC1
See you again next Monday, December 27th, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.