14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 140th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Fedora 15 Alpha, Gentoo Linux 11.0, Alpine Linux 2.1.5, Vinux 3.0.1, OpenSuSE 11.4, Joli OS 1.2 and Fusion Linux 14. In other news: Canonical says that there will be no more Ubuntu "Editions." For this week we've also prepared a very nice step-by-step with screenshots tutorial about how to install and play the popular Dragon Age 2 game on the Ubuntu operating system. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On March 8th, the Fedora Project announced the first and only Alpha version of the upcoming Fedora 15 operating system, dubbed Lovelock. Fedora 15 Alpha is feature-complete, but it may be lacking the polish of a more stable release. The biggest change in Fedora 15 is the switch to GNOME 3, the next generation desktop environments. Systemd is now finally being used by default, after being offered only as an alternative in Fedora 14. Fedora 15 Alpha also comes with pre-release versions of Linux kernel 2.6.38 and GCC 4.6.0.
Fedora 15 will offer a variety of up to date desktop environments. The revamped GNOME 3 will be making its debut, the first mainstream Linux distro to switch to the new desktop environment. Fedora is also slated to be the flag-bearer of GNOME 3 since Ubuntu has decided to develop its own Unity desktop, dropping GNOME. If you're not a fan of GNOME or GNOME 3 in particular, KDE 4.6 will be an alternative as well as XFCE 4.8. LibreOffice continues to be the default office suite, replacing OpenOffice.org.
Download Fedora 15 Alpha 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 March 8th, Joshua Saddler announced the immediate availability of Gentoo Linux 11.0 Live DVD, the first release in a year and a half, which comes with the latest stable versions of most packages included as well as a couple of new features. The live environment is now available to everyone for testing, but installing Gentoo Linux 11.0 takes a bit more work and experience that with most Linux distros these days.
Highlights of Gentoo Linux 11.0:
· Linux kernel 2.6.37 - with Gentoo patches; · Accessibility Support with Speakup 3.1.6; · Bash 4.1; · Glibc 2.12.2; · GCC 4.5.2; · Binutils 2.21; · Python 2.7.1 and 3.1.3; · Perl 5.12.3; · GNOME 2.32; · KDE SC 4.6; · XFCE 4.8; · Enlightenment 1.0.7; · Openbox 3.4.11.2; · Fluxbox 1.3.1; · XBMC 10.0; · OpenOffice 3.2.1; · Abiword 2.8.6; · GIMP 2.6.11; · InkScape 0.48.1; · Mozilla Firefox 3.6.13; · Arora 0.11.0; · Opera 11.0; · Epiphany 2.30.6; · Seamonkey 2.0.11; · Pidgin 2.7.10; · Quassel 0.7.1; · Mozilla Thunderbird 3.1.7; · KDevelop 4.2; · KDESvn 1.5.5; · qt-creator 2.1.0; · Bluefish 2.0.2. · Amarok 2.4; · MPlayer 1.0_RC4; · DVDAuthor 0.6.14; · LAME 3.98.4; · FFMpeg 0.6; · GNOME-MPlayer 1.0.0; · SMPlayer 0.6.9.
Download Gentoo Linux 11.0 now from Softpedia.
Also on March 8th, Jeff Bilyk announced the release of Alpine Linux 2.1.5, a firewall and server Linux distro. Alpine Linux 2.1.5 includes an updated kernel and updates to many of its packages, including several for VoIP and PBX servers. The latest update also fixes several bugs present in the previous release, including an issue that affected AMD Geode systems and a crash in the updated Kamailio. There is still a bug affecting iputils which conflicts with bbsuid.
Highlights of Alpine Linux 2.1.5:
· Linux kernel 2.6.35.11; · Kamailio 3.1.2; · Asterisk 1.8.3; · FreeSWITCH 1.0.7; · Samba 3.5.8; · Dovecot 2.0.11; · Bind 9.7.3; · pmacct 0.12.5; · OpenSSL 1.0.0d.
Download Alpine Linux 2.1.5 now from Softpedia.
On March 10th, Tony Sales proudly announced the immediate availability of Vinux 3.0.1. The long term support version of the Linux distro comes with updated packages, bug-fixes and a few new tools as well such as Emacspeak. Vinux 3.0.1 comes in 32-bit and 64-bit versions in CD and DVD forms.
Vinux is designed for the blind and visually impaired and is essentially a modified Ubuntu geared for this purpose. It adds a number of accessibility packages and other tools to help those with seeing problems use the Linux desktop. Along with the new audio desktop, Vinux 3.0.1 adds other functionality as well, like the possibility to create audio books from text files.
Download Vinux 3.0.1 now from Softpedia.
Also on March 10th, the openSUSE developers proudly announced the final release of the openSUSE 11.4 operating system, after more than eight months of hard work. openSUSE 11.4 is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.37, has KDE Software Compilation 4.6 and GNOME 2.32 as the main desktop environments. Moreover, LibreOffice 3.3 is now the default open office suite, which makes openSUSE the first stable Linux distribution with the LibreOffice office suite.
Highlights of openSUSE 11.4:
· Linux kernel 2.6.37.1; · KDE Software Compilation 4.6; · GNOME 2.32.0; · Glib 2.26; · LibreOffice 3.3.1; · Mozilla Firefox 4.0 Beta 12; · Better performance and scalability; · Improved boot processes; · Faster repository refresh; · Faster software installation and update process; · Open Broadcom Wireless drivers; · Improved Wacom support; · Better hardware support; · Support for qemu-kvm and VirtualBox; · Vixie Cron has been replaced by Cronie 1.4.6 (has support for SELinux and PAM); · Xen 4.0.2; · VirtualBox 4.0.4; · Apache 2.2.17; · lighttpd 1.4.26; · ngninx 0.8.54; · PostgreSQL 9.0.3; · MySQL 5.1.53; · MariaDB 5.1; · Qt 4.7.1; · QtCreator 2.1; · GTK+ 3 bringings; · GRUB2.
Download openSUSE 11.4 DVD now from Softpedia.
Download openSUSE 11.4 KDE LiveCD now from Softpedia.
Download openSUSE 11.4 GNOME LiveCD now from Softpedia.
On March 9th, the Jolicloud developers announced the release of Joli OS 1.2, previously known as Jolicloud. Joli OS 1.2 comes with several new features, high on the list is the new Dropbox integration the first of several cloud storage services to be included in Joli OS and Jolicloud.
The latest version gets a tweaked dashboard and a more polished design, though no major changes. There are also new wallpapers to choose from. There is also the possibility of creating your own web apps, basically just shortcuts to websites you like, with a new app creation wizard. If you use Dropbox, you can now integrate the account with Joli OS. After you link Dropbox, your files will be available via the custom dashboard from the Files tab.
Download Joli OS 1.2 now from Softpedia.
Also on March 10th, Valent Turkovic announced the release of Fusion Linux 14, codenamed Thorium. The Fedora based Linux distro aims to provide a more complete environment than its upstream source, with the latest version of many packages, media codecs and other software packages to make everything work out of the box. Fusion Linux 14 brings a visual revamp and a new post-installation wizard. However, Skype has been removed from the standard packages due to licensing issues.
Highlights of Fusion Linux 14:
· mintMenu; · DockbarX; · GNOME Do; · Compiz Fusion; · Chromium; · Firefox 4.0; · Thunderbird 3.0; · OpenOffice 3.3; · F-Spot; · GIMP 2.7 beta; · Scribus 1.4 svn; · Inkscape · Blender; · Banshee; · Gparted; · K3b – best CD/DVD and Blu-ray burning app; · Dropbox – online backup and file sync; · TeamViewer – multiplatform remote desktop app; · HandBrake – DVD ripping application, convert DVD to a video file; · Arista video transcoder – right click on any video file to convert; · PlayOnLinux – easily install numerous Windows games and apps; · Miro – free and open internet TV application; · Ailurus - GNOME tweaking app; · FedoraPlus – scripts for customizing; · Gwibber – GNOME Twitter and Identica app; · Redshift – takes care of your eyes if you work late; · Development package and tools.
Download Fusion Linux 14 now from Softpedia.
· On March 9th, Canonical, through Gerry Carr, announced that the 'Ubuntu Netbook Edition' of their popular operating system will be folded into Ubuntu for the upcoming April release, Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). Canonical thinks that there is no need for separate editions of the Ubuntu operating system. Therefore, starting with Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) there will be no more 'Ubuntu Desktop Edition', 'Ubuntu Server Edition' or 'Ubuntu Netbook Edition'. The core Natty release suitable for all PCs, laptops and netbooks will be simply called Ubuntu. Read more about it here.
Tutorial of the Week: How To Play Dragon Age 2 on Ubuntu
· The following tutorial will teach you how to install the famous Dragon Age 2 role-playing game on a Linux platform, especially a Debian-based one, such as Ubuntu. We've tested the tutorial on the Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) and the current development version of the upcoming Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating systems.
Dragon Age 2 is the sequel to BioWare's Dragon Age series of role-playing video games and was released on March 8, 2011 in North America and March 11, 2011 in Europe.
Read the entire turorial here.
Video Clip of the Week: openSUSE 11.4 Review - Linux Distro Reviews
· For this week we've posted an 720p high-definition video clip that reviews the recently released openSUSE 11.4 operating system. The video has 9 minutes and 48 seconds, and it was posted by InfinitelyGalactic. Enjoy!
New Distributions:
· 4MLinux Rescue Edition 2.1
· Elephant OS 0.0.2
· Fern Linux 2011.03.0
· PUIAS Linux 6.0
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· Fuduntu 14.9 · Bodhi 0.1.7 · Calculate Linux Desktop 11.3 · Calculate Linux Desktop Xfce 11.3 · Calculate Linux Directory Server 11.3 · Calculate Linux Scratch 11.3 · Calculate Linux Scratch Server 11.3 · Openwall GNU/Linux 3.0 · USU 6.2
· Foresight Linux Xfce 2.5.0 RC · Slackware 13.37 RC1 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.8-12 · openmamba GNU/Linux 2.0 Pre 4 · VectorLinux 7.0 Beta 1.10 · Pinguy OS 11.04 Pre-Alpha 002 · Openwall GNU/Linux 20110312
See you again on March 21st for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.