Ubuntu 8.10 Beta screenshot tour, Fedora 10 Beta, NetSecL 2.3, Ultima Linux 8.4, KDE 4.1.2, Little Wizard review and more!

Oct 6, 2008 09:01 GMT  ·  By

Welcome to our 14th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

Here’s what you can read about in this edition: Ubuntu 7.04 will no longer be supported starting with October 19th; easys Linux 4.2 comes with KDE 4.1.1 and a few other improvements; elpicx Linux 2.0 features a dual-boot Live DVD with both Ubuntu and Fedora Linux; Martin Ultima presents Ultima Linux 8.4; after a few delays, the beta version of Fedora 10 is finally here with the GNOME 2.24 desktop environment; NetSecL 2.3, the Slackware-based Linux distribution with advanced security enhancements, brings a handful of improvements and bug fixes; Gparted Live 0.3.9-4 is powered by a new kernel and GParted 0.3.9; Ubuntu 8.10 Beta arrives as expected on October 2nd, and we have the first screenshot tour; the second beta version of OpenSuSE 11.1 brings various fixes; the KDE Project announces the second maintenance release of KDE 4.1. You can also read an interesting review of the Little Wizard application, and don't forget to check out the Linux distributions released/updated last week at the end of the article!

Summary:

Launched almost a year and a half ago, Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) is now less than a month closer to its end. Since its release on April 19th 2007, Ubuntu has been committed to security and critical fixes but this is about to stop, as on Sunday, October 19th, Ubuntu 7.04 will reach its end of life. Therefore, neither information nor updated packages for the Feisty Fawn will be included in the Ubuntu Security Notices from then on.

An OS upgrade will soon be imperatively necessary for Ubuntu 7.04 users, and the best and only supported way to do it is to first upgrade to Ubuntu 7.10 (Gusty Gibbon). If you want to upgrade to a more recent version, like 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron), you still have to upgrade to 7.10, and then to 8.04 LTS. It's important to mention here that both Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04 LTS are currently supported by security notifications and benefit from important bug fixes.

Read more about it here.

On September 28th, the easys GNU/Linux team announced the release and immediate availability of the latest version of their Linux distribution. easys GNU/Linux 4.2 comes with certain additions, such as the latest version of KDE (4.1.1), thus benefiting from QT 4's eye-candy. However, applications specific to QT3/KDE3 can still be launched by using a compatible library.

This release also includes the latest version of the popular Firefox web browser (3.0.1) and the KOffice suite, which replaced the previous Softmaker Office. This brings new and improved functionality for small office/home office users, such as a program for creating presentations.

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easys GNU/Linux

Download easys GNU/Linux 4.2 right now from Softpedia.

The elpicx development team proudly announced, on September 29th, the latest version of their Linux distribution, elpicx 2.0. This release features a dual-boot Live DVD that includes exam simulators and plenty of documentation to prepare students and, as a matter of fact, just about anyone who wants to obtain the Linux Professional Institute Certification. Based on both Fedora 9 (KDE Edition) and Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long Term Support), elpicx 2.0 features many documents aimed primarily at the preparation for the LPCI. Here are some of them:

· Linux Fundamental; · LPI Exam 101 Reference Card; · LPI Exam 102 Reference Card; · 101 Modular Training Notes; · Exam LPIC 101 Preparation Guide; · Exam LPIC 102 Preparation Guide; · General Linux 1 (Study notes); · General Linux 2 (Study notes); · Study Guide for LPI 101; · Study Guide for LPI 102; · Study Guide for LPI 201; · Study Guide for LPI 202; · The LPIC-2 Exam Prep.

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elpicx Linux

Download elpicx 2.0 right now from Softpedia.

Martin Ultima and his team announced, on September 30th, the immediate availability of Ultima Linux 8.4, a Slackware-based Linux distribution, optimized for x86 and AMD64 platforms. The new release includes many new and updated packages, improvements and additions. Highlights of Ultima Linux 8.4:

· The codebase was completely rewritten, is now based on the ultima-scripts, and replaces most of the Slackware-derived code; · Excluding Adeona, Adobe Flash and GRUB, which are the only non-native programs on the x86_64 platform, the base system is now highly optimized for both x86 and AMD64 architectures (including the glibc and kernel packages); · Improved support for ATI and NVIDIA video drivers, better support for wireless network, and initial support for ASUS Eee PC and a few other popular netbooks; · The LiveCD scripts, X auto-configuration and hardware detection were greatly improved; · The Ultima desktop is now cleaner and more refined than ever before (includes many Ultima enhancements and tweaks); · Improved security and privacy, thanks to the newly introduced Adeona packages (a theft prevention and recovery tool), TOR (a free tool for anonymous surfing) and Privoxy (a privacy-enhancing web proxy); · Support for disk encryption; · Lots of system improvements and various fixes.

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Ultima Linux

Download Ultima Linux 8.4 right now from Softpedia.

Also on September 30th, the hard working team behind the Fedora project announced the immediate availability of Fedora 10 Beta. This version brings many improvements, features and fixes over previous releases. Dubbed Cambridge, Fedora 10 Beta introduces the newly released GNOME 2.24 desktop environment, an improved NetworkManager, RPM 4.6, KDE 4.1, and the famous Linux kernel 2.6.27 (with better webcam and wireless network support). Below are some of the highlights of Fedora 10 Beta:

· Linux kernel 2.6.27 (with improved webcam and WiFi support); · GNOME 2.24; · KDE 4.1; · Eclipse 3.4; · RPM 4.6; · An enhanced version of the PackageKit package manager; · An updated PulseAudio sound server; · Improved Apple Macintosh hardware support; · Improved HDTV support in X.Org; · A new icon theme called Echo; · The old RHGB was replaced by Plymouth for a faster graphical start-up; · Remote virtualization; · Sectool and NetBeans IDE were added.

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Fedora 10 Beta

Download Fedora 10 Beta right 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.

Iuri Stanchev announced, on September 30th, a new version of NetSecL 2.3, Slackware-based Linux distribution, with advanced security enhancements. The new version comes with a smaller ISO image, a portage system, enhanced kernel configuration and updated X.Org, improved installer and much more. Highlights of NetSecL 2.3:

· The ISO image was reduced from 700 MB to 600 MB; · X.Org was updated to version 7.3, based on Zenwalk packages; · ATI 4850/4870 graphics cards support; · A much better configured kernel, with new modules; · dazuko and ndiswrapper were fixed; · CruxPorts4Slack, a source-based portage system (useful if you want to upgrade command-line tools from source); · Around 150 packages were updated. Among them, we notice applications such as The GIMP 2.4.7, Xfce 4.4.2, Mesa 7.0.2, X.Org 7.3, ntfs-3g 1.2310, OpenSSL 0.9.8h, OpenSSH 5.0p1.

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NetSecL Linux

Download NetSecL 2.3 right now from Softpedia.

On the first day of October, the GParted Live CD team announced the immediate availability of GParted Live CD 0.3.9-4, a Linux distribution based on the popular GNOME Partition Editor (GParted) software. Being based on the latest build (10-01-2008) of Debian Lenny, the new version brings an updated GParted, an updated kernel, 3 new boot options and a handful of improvements. Let's take a quick look at the changes of GParted Live CD 0.3.9-4:

· Linux kernel 2.6.26-5; · GParted 0.3.9; · Debian Lenny based; · Addition of the hfsprogs package (Thanks to Curtis Gedak); · Three new boot parameters were added: gl_kbd, gl_lang, and gl_batch. The first one can be used if you don't want any changes to your keyboard, the second one to change the language/locales, and the third one to force the Live CD to enter the X session without waiting for entering key. Here's a little example of use: "gl_lang=en_US gl_kbd=NONE gl_batch"; with this command you will tell it to use en_US.UTF-8 locale, don't change the keyboard mapping, and with gl_batch don't wait for entering key before the X session; · At boot time, the framebuffer was set to VGA 1024x768; · The desktop USB icon was removed, because it didn't fit the way USB flash drive was created; · live-initramfs 1.139.1 was updated; · PXE booting supports the fetch=tftp://$IP/filesystem.squashfs function.

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GParted Live CD 0.3.9-4

Download GParted Live CD 0.3.9-4 right now from Softpedia.

The beta version of the upcoming Ubuntu 8.10 (codename Intrepid Ibex), which is scheduled for release in late October this year, arrived on October 2nd and, as usual, we have the first screenshot tour. This version comes with the final and stable GNOME 2.24 desktop, a brand new wallpaper, Firefox 3.0.3, PAM authentication framework, and a BBC plugin for Totem (the default movie player in Ubuntu). Here are the included applications:

· Mozilla Firefox 3.0.3 · OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 · The GIMP 2.4.7 · F-Spot 0.4.4 · Pidgin 2.5.1 · Brasero 0.8.2 · Transmission 1.34 · Rhythmbox 0.11.6 · Ekiga 2.0.12 · Evolution 2.24.0 · Nautilus 2.24.0 · Vinagre 2.24.0

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Ubuntu 8.10 Beta showcasing Firefox 3.0.3

Download Ubuntu 8.10 Beta right 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.

openSUSE 11.1 Beta 2 was announced on October 3rd by the hard working people behind the openSUSE project. This new development version brings GNOME 2.24, KDE 4.1.2, VirtualBox 2.0.2 and a few other improvements over the previous beta. Unfortunately, there still are no Live CDs, as they will be made available on Monday (October 6th)! Here is what has changed since openSUSE 11.1 Beta 1:

· GNOME 2.24.0 · KDE 4.1.2 · VirtualBox 2.0.2 · OpenOffice.org 3.0 RC2 · Mono 2.0 RC3 · Compiz 0.7.8 · Live CDs for GNOME and KDE (coming October 6th)

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openSUSE 11.1

Download openSUSE 11.1 Beta 2 right 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.

Also on October 3rd, the KDE community announced the release of KDE 4.1.2, the second maintenance version of one of the most popular desktop managers, K Desktop Environment (KDE). It ships with many packages, including web development applications, educational tools, administrative programs and more, all of which are available in over 50 languages. The majority of applications have been improved to some extent, which has generated a large list of changes. Here is a summary of them:

· KHTML, KDE's HTML layout engine, received many improvements and bug fixes; · Frostbyte, the KHTML's JavaScript bytecode interpreter, was also improved; · Konqueror includes the "Stop animations" function once again; · Kopete, KDE's instant messenger client, was patched for the crashes in the Yahoo, ICQ and Gadu-Gadu protocols; · The image thumbnail generator function of Gwenview, KDE's default picture viewer, was fixed; · KGpg, the PGP security software in KDE, was patched against some strange crashes; · The comicbook backend of Okular, the document viewer, was fixed; · Improved speedup.

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KDE 4.1.2 with wobbly windows effect - Courtesy of the KDE Project

Download KDE 4.1.2 right now from Softpedia.

Review of the week: Another week, another review (actually, the last) by Mihai Mircea for Softpedia Linux. This time, it's for Little Wizard 1.2.2, a development environment for children. From the review: "I've always wanted to present an educational product, one intended especially for children in primary school because, that way, I would contribute to making the learning process just a tad better for some. And by better I mean more fun, with less stress associated with it and, why not, a real pleasure. Well, now that I have this opportunity, I will tell you about the most user-friendly development environment you ever set your eyes upon, an IDE especially designed for children. Although far less powerful than the usual programming environments, Little Wizard is just what a kid needs to be introduced to, if s/he is to regard learning how a computer program is crafted as something fun."

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Little Wizard 1.2.2

Read this interesting review of Little Wizard 1.2.2 here.

Distributions Released Last Week:

· ParsLinux 0.5f0 · Orange Sombrero 9

Distributions Updated Last Week:

· SimplyMEPIS 8.0 Beta 2 · Turtle Kevux 0.8.10 · Momonga Linux 5 RC · VectorLinux STD LiveCD 5.9 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.0-27