14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 141st issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Ultimate Edition 2.9, Linux Mint 10 LXDE, Mandriva 2011 Beta 1, Mandriva Enterprise Server 5.2, SalineOS 1.3 and Debian 6.0.1. In other news: Linus Torvalds proudly announced the release of Linux Kernel 2.6.38; Canonical published the release schedule for the Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system; Mozilla releases Firefox 4.0 for Linux. For this week we've also prepared a very nice step-by-step with screenshots tutorial about how to boot ISO images from your hard drive. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On March 15th, Glenn Cady announced the release of the Ultimate Edition 2.9 operating system. The latest update to the popular Ubuntu spin-off comes with updated packages, a number of desktop environments to choose from, more customization options and new apps.
Ultimate Edition 2.9 is based on Ultimate Edition 2.8 and, as such, doesn't add any big new features or changes. Packages have been updated to their latest version available in the repositories and there are more themes to choose from. Ultimate Edition 2.9 continues the tradition of the Linux distro, there are plenty of apps to choose from, drivers and some non-free software come pre-installed, Compiz effects are turned all the way up to 11 and so on.
Download Ultimate Edition 2.9 now from Softpedia.
On March 16th, Clement Lefebvre proudly announced the LXDE flavor of the Linux Mint 10 operating system. Based on the already quite popular Linux Mint 10, this edition caters to fans wanting a light desktop built on top of Ubuntu with the usual Mint magic sprinkled.
Linux Mint 10 LXDE comes with many of the improvements from the regular release along with OpenBox and the standard packages that usually ship with LXDE. Among the improvements to trickle down is the new Software Manager which, as the name implies, enables users to manage the packages they have installed on their computers as well as get new ones from the repositories.
Download Linux Mint 10 LXDE now from Softpedia.
Also on March 16th, Eugeni Dodonov announced the immediate availability for testing of the first Beta version of the upcoming Mandriva 2011 Linux operating system. Mandriva 2011 Beta 1 is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.37.2, it features updates to the desktop theme, a development version of NetworkManager, integration of TexLive 2010, KDE Software Compilation 4.6.1, lots of updates and many bug fixes.
Highlights of Mandriva 2011 Beta 1:
· Linux kernel 2.6.37.2; · KDE SC 4.6.1; · GNOME 2.32.1; · XFCE 4.8.0; · X.Org 7.5; · XOrg Server 1.9.4; · Mozilla Firefox 4.0 RC1; · Mozilla Thunderbird 3.1.9; · OpenOffice.org 3.2.0; · Clementine 0.6; · NetworkManager 0.8.3.997; · Systemd 20; · GCC 4.5.2; · OpenSSL 1.0.0d; · Wine 1.3.15; · Bash 4.2; · TexLive 2010 (replaces tetex).
Download Mandriva 2011 Beta 1 now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a beta release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.
On March 18th, Mandriva announced the release of Mandriva Enterprise Server 5.2, an evolutionary update, building on the legacy of Mandriva Server 5.0 and 5.1, adding more packages and a larger number of drivers. There is also an updated Linux kernel as well as new or updated packages including newer versions of BusyBox and uLibc.
Mandriva Enterprise Server 5.2 comes with Linux kernel 2.6.33.7 and supports a larger range of hardware. There are several new networking devices supported as well as several storage devices drivers, including IDE and SCSI drives along with RAID controller drivers. Mandriva Enterprise Server 5.2 also adds support for the KA installation method which enables system administrators to copy entire SCSI or IDE drives and duplicate them on several systems.
Download Mandriva Enterprise Server 5.2 now from Softpedia.
Also on March 18th, Anthony Nordquist announced the immediate availability of the SalineOS 1.3 operating system. SalineOS 1.3 brings some updated packages as well as the possibility to change the system language when installing. There are also simpler ways of installing translations for several popular packages. Finally, the user manual is available in Spanish now as well.
Among the new features is the possibility to select the default language and keyboard layout before installing the operating system. There are language packs for Icedove, Debian's version of the Mozilla Thunderbird email client, OpenOffice.org and MySpell, also available from the installer. If a translation is available, the manual in your selected language is now downloaded. At this point, only a Spanish translation is available. The English manual also got updated.
Download SalineOS 1.3 right now from Softpedia.
On March 20th, the Debian project announced the first update to the very latest stable Debian release. Debian 6.0.1 has been released, less than two months after the much awaited Debian 6.0 launch. It comes with a number of security updates and a series of major bug-fixes.
If you already have a Debian 6.0 install, you don't really need Debian 6.0.1 since all of the changes are available as updates in the repositories. Because the differences are small, if you already burned Debian 6.0 CDs it's probably less of a hassle to install from those and then update the system or do a network install. If you're only now trying out the latest Debian release, then you should probably get the updated images.
Download Debian 6.0.1 now from Softpedia.
· On March 15th, Linus Torvalds announced the immediate release of the highly anticipated Linux kernel 2.6.38. Among the new features included in Linux kernel 2.6.38 we can mention support for automatic process grouping, Btrfs LZO compression and read-only snapshots, VFS scalability, support for Transparent Huge Page (without the use of hugetblfs), B.A.T.M.A.N. Mesh protocol support,AMD Fusion APUs support, new drivers, lots of bug fixes. Read more about it here.
· On March 16th, Canonical published the release schedule for the Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system on the Ubuntu wiki. The distribution will be released in the middle of October 2011. For Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), the Ubuntu developers decided to stick with the modified Natty release schedule. That means, to three Alpha versions and two Beta releases. For the Oneiric Ocelot, the Ubuntu development team will focus their efforts on improving Unity. Both the 2D and the OpenGL versions of Unity will be available in Ubuntu 11.10. Read more about it here.
· On March 21st, Mozilla has finally made available for download the latest and stable version of the highly anticipated Mozilla Firefox 4.0 web browser for Linux, Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures are supported. Mozilla Firefox 4.0 brings an amazing new look, faster start-up times, lots and lots of improvements, support for 3D graphics, HTML5, WebM, CSS3, SVG, hardware acceleration, JavaScript improvements, privacy enhancements, crash protection, and much more. Read more about it here.
Tutorial of the Week: How to Boot ISO Images from Your Hard Drive
· The following tutorial will teach you how to easily boot any ISO image of a Linux distribution directly from your hard drive. 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.
Would you like an easy method to test ISO images of various Linux distributions? Look no further, as we have the perfect guide for this. All you need is a software called UNetbootin. Follow the instructions below, carefully!
Read the entire turorial here.
Video Clip of the Week: What's New in Firefox 4
· For this week we've posted an 480p high-definition video clip that features Johnathan Nightingale, Director of Engineering at Mozilla, which gives an overview of what's coming in Firefox 4. The video has 3 minutes and 5 seconds, and it was posted by firefoxchannel. Enjoy!
· Zorin OS Business 4.0 · GenOS Beta 1 · Macpup 520
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· Vyatta 6.2 · SuperGamer Supreme 2.5 · Ututo 2011 · R.I.P. 11.6 · Zorin OS 4.0 · AUSTRUMI 2.3.2 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.8-18 · GParted LiveCD 0.8.0-5 · Tiny Core Linux 3.5.1 · Astaro Security Gateway 8.161
· Mageia 1 Alpha 2 · Kongoni 2011 Beta 1 · Slackware 13.37 RC2 · Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04 Milestone 3 · Trisquel 4.5 RC · VectorLinux 7.0 Beta 2 · Chrome OS 1.1.969 RC · Linux Mint Xfce 201104 RC · Kororaa 14 Beta 4
See you again on March 28th for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.