Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 129

Welcome to the 129th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.0, Mandriva 2010.2, Knoppix 6.4.3, Linux Mint Debian 201012, Finnix 101 and aptosid 2010-03. In other news: X.Org Foundation released X.Org 7.6 for holidays; the Ubuntu Font Family is now available worldwide; Oracle releases VirtualBox 4.0.0 with lost of new features. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new/updated Linux distributions, and the development releases. Softpedia Linux wishes Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all of its readers!

dots Summary:

· Announced Distro: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.0 · Announced Distro: Mandriva 2010.2 · Announced Distro: KNOPPIX 6.4.3 · Announced Distro: Linux Mint Debian 201012 · Announced Distro: Finnix 101 · Announced Distro: aptosid 2010-03 · In Other News: X.Org 7.6, Ubuntu Font Family and VirtualBox 4.0.0 · Video Clip of the Week: Linux Gaming: Christmas Eve Crisis · New Distributions: PCLinuxOS Enlightenment E-17 2010.12 and PocketWriter OS i686 · Distributions Updated Last Week: Fuduntu 14.7-3, Sabayon Linux Gaming 5.4, Zorin OS 4.0, and more... · Development Releases: grml 2010.12 RC0 and Kororaa 14 Beta

dots Chakra On December 20th, Phil Miller announced the immediate availability for download of the final version of the Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.0 operating system, which features the amazing KDE Software Compilation 4.5.4 environment. Dubbed Ashoc, Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.0 features a brand new Linux kernel 2.6.35.9 with LZMA support and aufs2 version 20101206. The KDE Software Compilation 4.5.4 environment, Xorg Server 1.7.7, ATI Catalyst 10.8 video driver, Nvidia 260 and Nvidia Legacy series video drivers are also part of this release.

Highlights of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.0:

· Linux kernel 2.6.35.9 (with LZMA support); · Updated aufs2 to version 20101206; · KDE Software Compilation 4.5.4; · Xorg Server 1.7.7; · ATI Catalyst 10.8 video driver; · Nvidia 260 and Nvidia Legacy series video drivers; · Support for Run'n'Click apps; · Tribe Live Installer; · Cinstall package manager.

Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.0

Download Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.0 now from Softpedia.

dots On December 23rd, Mandriva announced the 2010.2 release of its popular Mandriva Linux distribution, available for download on mirrors worldwide. The new release of the Mandriva Linux operating system is an incremental update for the Mandriva 2010.1 version, released this year on July 8th. Mandriva Linux 2010.2 comes in three editions: One Edition, Free Edition and Powerpack Edition. Mandriva Linux 2010.2 is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures, with GNOME and KDE4 LiveCDs.

Highlights of Mandriva Linux 2010.2:

· Linux kernel 2.6.33.7; · X.Org 7.5; · Xorg Server 1.7.7; · Nouveau video driver; · Intel video driver 2.11.0; · Mesa 7.8.1; · KDE SC 4.4.3; · GNOME 2.30.0; · Amarok 2.3.1; · Mozilla Firefox 3.6.13; · Oracle OpenOffice.org 3.2.0; · Avant Window Navigator 4.0; · The GIMP 2.6.8; · GNOME Shell 2.29.1; · NTFS-3G 2010.3.6; · Spamassassin 3.3.1; · libgpod 0.7.93; · Glibc 2.11.1; · GDB debugger 7.1; · Python 2.6.5; · OpenSSL 1.0.0a.

Mandriva Linux One 2010.2 GNOME

Download Mandriva Linux 2010.2 now from Softpedia.

Download Mandriva Linux One 2010.2 now from Softpedia.

dots KNOPPIX Also on December 23rd, Klaus Knopper anounced the immediate availability for download of the KNOPPIX 6.4.3 operating system. This release bringins several updated packages along with the usual bug fixes. This is also the first release to bring support for the open-source nouveau driver for Nvidia video cards. KMS is now also included in the kernel shipped with the latest KNOPPIX release.

With the batch of updates, most packages should be getting an upgrade in KNOPPIX 6.4.3. The latest version comes with a new kernel and X.Org 7.5, among the bigger changes. There is also support for the open-source nouveau 3D driver for Nvidia cards, which is used by default. However, since the open-source driver is not on par with the proprietary, binary releases from Nvidia, or the older 'nv' driver, you may experience some issues and incompatibilities.

KNOPPIX 6.4 - Image courtesy of KNOPPIX

Download KNOPPIX 6.4.3 now from Softpedia.

dots On December 24th, Clement Lefebvre anounced the immediate availability for download of the Linux Mint Debian 201012 operating system. While existing users should have already gotten the updates, the Debian edition is a rolling release with a constant stream of package and feature updates, Linux Mint Debian 201012 makes it easy for new users to start with the latest packages.

Highlights of Linux Mint Debian 201012:

· All Mint 10 features; · Support for 64-bit systems; · Performance boost - using cgroup, the notorious '4 lines of code better than 200' in user-space; · Installer improvements - multiple HDDs, grub install on partitions, swap allocation, btrfs support; · Better fonts - Using Ubuntu’s libcairo, fontconfig and Ubuntu Font Family; · Better language support with the inclusion of the ttf-wqy-microhei, ttf-sazanami-mincho, ttf-sazanami-gothic fonts; · Better connectivity and hardware support - pppoe, pppoeconf, gnome-ppp, pppconfig, libgl1-mesa-dri, libgl1-mesa-glx, libgl1-mesa-dev, mesa-utils installed by default; · Better sound support - addressing conflicts between Pulse Audio and Flash; · Updated software and packages.

Linux Mint Debian 201012 - Image courtesy of Clement Lefebvre

Download Linux Mint Debian 201012 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.

dots Finnix On December 25th, Ryan Finnie announced the release of Finnix 101, the latest update to the lightweight Linux distro that's been in development for over a decade. Things look rather similar on the surface, but Finnix 101 comes with quite a bit of work under the hood and is a major update over the previous Finnix 100.

Finnix 101 adds support for PowerPC processors again, boasting that it is one of the few LiveCD distros to support the aging architecture. While a PowerPC version should be available with each future release, there is no 100 percent guarantee that this will be the case, the developers warn.

Finnix 101

Download Finnix 101 now from Softpedia.

dots aptsoid On December 27th, Stefan Lippers-Hollmann announced the immediate availability for download of the aptosid 2010-03 operating system. This is the second release to sport the aptosid name and it comes with an updated kernel and plenty of fixes related to the name change. aptosid is the new name of the rather popular sidux Linux distro. aptosid 2010-03 still offers an upgrade path from previous sidux installs, but support is limited to the few days left in 2010.

Highlights of Aptosid 2010-03:

· Based on Debian sid, as of 2010-12-26; · Linux kernel 2.6.36.2; · X.org 7.5 and xserver-xorg-core 1.7.7; · KMS support for ATi and Intel based graphics chipsets; · DRI (3d) support for ATi Radeon chipsets up to r7xx; · KDE 4.4.5; · Iceweasel 3.5.16.

Download aptosid 2010-03 now from Softpedia.

dots Other News:

· On December 20th, the X.Org Foundation has announced the release of X.Org 7.6, the latest update to the X Windows System. X.Org 7.6 comes with X.Org Server 1.9, which has been available for a while now, and brings several main new features and changes, along with the usual bug fixes and small updates. Read more about it here.

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· On December 21st, Canonical announced in a press release that the Ubuntu project, with Google's help, released today the amazing Ubuntu Font Family to the world. The font is available to any web designer from the Google Font Directory. Read more about it here.

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· On December 22nd, Oracle announced the immediate availability of VM VirtualBox 4.0.0, a major release that brings quite a few changes and new features, on top of the bug-fixing, broader hardware support and the typical set of changes in any new version. Read more about it here.

dots Video Clip of the Week: Linux Gaming: Christmas Eve Crisis

· For this week we've posted a 720p high-definition video clip that showcases the Christmas Eve Crisis game for Linux systems. The video has 4 minutes and 51 seconds, and it was posted by thejoesteiger. Enjoy!

Download from Softpedia New Distributions:

· PCLinuxOS Enlightenment E-17 2010.12 · PocketWriter OS i686

Download from Softpedia Distributions Updated Last Week:

Download from Softpedia Development Releases:

· grml 2010.12 RC0 · Kororaa 14 Beta

See you again next year, on January 3rd, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.