May 11, 2011 14:04 GMT  ·  By

Welcome to the 147th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Pinguy OS 11.04 Beta, antiX MEPIS 11, Alpine 2.2.0, iQunix OS 11.04, SimplyMEPIS 11.0, Sabily 11.04, Parted Magic 6.1, Zenwalk Live 7.0, Linux Mint 11 RC and BackTrack 5. In other news: The KDE developers announced the release of KDE Software Compilation 4.6.3; Canonical announced that they will collaborate with Lenovo; Mark Shuttleworth sets the goal of 200 million Ubuntu users in four years. For this week we've also prepared a nice review of the Rawstudio 2.0 application. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.

dots Summary:

dots PinguyOn May 1st, Antoni Norman proudly announced that the Beta release of the upcoming Pinguy OS 11.04 operating system is available for download and testing. Pinguy OS 11.04 is an operating system that will be based on the recently released Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) Linux distribution, but without the Unity interface. Pinguy OS uses the classic look of the GNOME desktop environment with Docky.

Pinguy OS 11.04 Beta is more stable than the Alpha version released one month ago, and it adds the powerful GNOME NetworkManager utility to manage your network connections, as a replacement for ConnMan. Conky has been set by default in this Beta, and the developer promised that he'll most likely change the default wallpaper for the final release.

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Pinguy OS 11.04 Beta

Download Pinguy OS 11.04 Beta now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a beta release and it should NOT be installed on production machines.

dots antiXOn May 3rd, after one year of development, antiX MEPIS 11 has been released on mirrors worldwide, available for 486 and 686 architectures. Dubbed Jayaben Desai, the antiX MEPIS 11 operating system is a light, fast and very complete/flexible desktop Linux LiveCD based on SimplyMEPIS and Debian Testing distributions. This version defaults to a completely customized icewm-Rox desktop environment.

Highlights of antiX MEPIS 11:

· Linux kernel 2.6.36-4 (MEPIS based); · X.org 7.5; · Fluxbox 1.3.1; · Better antiX-Control Centre (with new options); · New menu structure for IceWM and Fluxbox window managers; · Extended and improved themes for IceWM and Fluxbox window managers; · Extended localization for antiX apps; · Added Japanese, Korean and Chinese fonts (available on antiX-full ISO); · Added meta-installer to easily install LXDE, XFCE, KDE4 and GNOME desktop environments; · Thunar is now the default file manager, replacing PCManFM; · File-roller is now the default arvhiver, replacing Xarchive; · links2 has been replaced with elinks-lite; · lighttpd was replaced by Cherokee; · idesk was removed; · umtsmon was removed; · mpd/ncmpcpp/mpdpss was removed; · osmo was removed; · Added extra cheatcodes on the boot menu; · Updated the install-meta applications; · Added Vim; · Added umt-panel2 for GPRS/UMTS/3G connections; · Added SpeedCrunch; · Added Toshset; · Added prism2-usb-firmware-installer; · Added volumeicon; · Added fancy-prompts script; · Added Samba/pyneighborhood; · Added apt-show-versions; · Added cdw; · Added Zathura; · Ceni 2.21; · Rox-filer 2.10; · Iceape 2.0.13-1; · Abiword 2.8.6 · Gnumeric 1.10.14; · Goggles Music Manager 0.12.1; · wicd 1.7; · Pidgin 2.7.11.

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antiX MEPIS 11

Download antiX MEPIS 11 now from Softpedia.

dots AlpineOn May 4th, Natanael Copa announced Alpine 2.2.0, the latest update to the firewall and router distribution. Alpine 2.2.0 adds several new features and packages moving it beyond its traditional role. With the addition of GNOME as well as the Mozilla Firefox web browser, Alpine Linux sports bare-bones but workable desktop. Alpine 2.2.0 also debuts support for 64-bit architectures.

Alpine 2.2.0 comes with a recent Linux kernel 2.6.38 with all of the usual Alpine patches. With the new release, support for x86_64 machines has been introduced as well. This means that modern processors can now be taken full advantage off and also means that larger amounts of memory can be accessed more efficiently.

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Alpine 2.2.0

Download Alpine 2.2.0 now from Softpedia.

dots iQunixOn May 5th, Salih Emin proudly announced the immediate availability for download of the iQunix OS 11.04 operating system, based on the recently released Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) Linux distribution. iQunix OS 11.04 is a minimalistic version of the Ubuntu 11.04 operating system. It is very fast and looks nice, but it only has a few basic applications pre-installed.

Highlights of iQunix OS 11.04:

· Based on Ubuntu 11.04; · GNOME 2.32.1; · Linux kernel 2.6.38.4; · XOrg Server 1.10.0; · Mesa 7.10.1; · Intel IPS (Intelligent Power Sharing) support; · Btrfs, EXT4 and XFS filesystem optimizations; · XInput 2.1 (a multitouch input extension); · Preload.

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iQunix OS 11.04

Download iQunix OS 11.04 now from Softpedia.

dots SimplyMEPISAlso on May 5th, Warren Woodford announced the final version of SimplyMEPIS 11.0. Going through several alpha and beta releases, the polished, stable result is now ready for anyone to install. SimplyMEPIS 11.0 is based on the latest Debian 6.0 Squeeze stable release and comes with a KDE SC 4 desktop by default. However, it also bundles GNOME apps to make sure users get the best application for the job.

SimplyMEPIS 11.0 also boasts a solid selection of apps to help you do whatever you need right out of the box. LibreOffice 3.3.2 is included for all manner of office work, document editing, spreadsheets, presentations and so on. The very latest Firefox 4.0.1 is also available, making sure that users get to enjoy all of what the modern web has to offer with great support for HMTL5, WebGL and other new web technologies.

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SimplyMEPIS 11.0

Download SimplyMEPIS 11.0 now from Softpedia.

dots SabilyOn May 6th, the Sabily developers proudly announced the immediate availability for download of the new and improved Sabily 11.04 operating system. Dubbed Al-Badr, Sabily 11.04 is now based on the recently released Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system and features the new Unity desktop interface. The release includes lots of new applications and various system improvements.

Highlights of Sabily 11.04:

· Based on Ubuntu 11.04; · New artwork; · New GDM theme; · Unity 2D available on the DVD edition; · Classic GNOME session enabled by default; · New Firefox Persona.

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Sabily 11.04

Download Sabily 11.04 now from Softpedia.

dots Parted MagicOn May 7th, Patrick Verner announced the release of Parted Magic 6.1, the latest update to the live Linux distro useful for disk partitioning. Parted Magic 6.1 adds an updated kernel, plenty of updated packages, and the latest security update to the Mozilla Firefox web browser.

Highlights of Parted Magic 6.1:

· Linux kernel 2.6.38.4; · Firefox 4.0.1; · Alsa library 1.0.24.1; · Alsa-utils 1.0.24.2; · Ddrescue 1.14; · File 5.05l; · Dmidecode 2.11; · Fuse 2.8.5; · MC 4.7.5.2; · Cpio 2.11; · Dosfstools 3.0.11; · gDisk 0.6.14; · mdadm 3.1.5; · cryptsetup 1.2.0; · dvd+rw-tools 7.1; · lsscsi 0.24; · Tar 1.26; · Syslinux 4.04; · Xorg-server 1.9.5 - all compatible drivers and libraries too; · ocz_sf_fw_set; · Nwipe 0.05; · hdt-0.5.0.

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Parted Magic 6.1

Download Parted Magic 6.1 now from Softpedia.

dots ZenwalkOn May 8th, Jean-Philippe Guillemin announced the live version of the latest Zenwalk 7.0 operating system, enabling users wanting to test the Linux distribution without installing it to give it a spin. Zenwalk Live (ZenLive) 7.0 comes with the same applications and environment from the regular Zenwalk release, but adds a few updates and some changes.

Zenwalk Live 7.0 follows after the release of Zenwalk 7.0, a little over a month ago. The latest addition to the Zenwalk family comes with an updated kernel, the very latest XFCE 4.8 desktop, LibreOffice, as well as un-branded versions of Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, IceCat and IceDove, respectively.

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Zenwalk Live 7.0 - Image courtesy of DistroWatch

Download Zenwalk Live 7.0 now from Softpedia.

dots Linux MintOn May 9th, Clement Lefebvre proudly announced last evening, May 9th, the immediate availability for download and testing of the Linux Mint 11 Release Candidate operating system. Dubbed Katya and based on the newly released Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system, Linux Mint 11 will feature Linux kernel 2.6.38, GNOME 2.32.1 and X.Org 7.6. Unity will NOT be included in Linux Mint 11.

Highlights of Linux Mint 11 RC:

· Based on Ubuntu 11.04; · GNOME 2.32.1; · Linux kernel 2.6.38; · X.Org 7.6; · Multimedia codecs; · Linux Mint Software Manager; · Linux Mint Update Manager; · Linux Mint Desktop Settings utility; · Extra applications; · New artwork; · Various system improvements; · Software selection.

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Linux Mint 11 RC

Download Linux Mint 11 RC now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a development release and it should not be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.

dots BackTrackOn May 10th, Offensive Security proudly announced the immediate availability for download of the new and highly anticipated BackTrack 5 release, an extremely popular security oriented operating system. Dubbed Revolution, BackTrack 5 is based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx), it's powered by Linux kernel 2.6.38, patched with all the relevant wireless injection patches, and includes several major improvements.

Highlights of BackTrack 5:

· Based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS; · Linux kernel 2.6.38 (with wireless injection patches); · KDE 4.6; · GNOME 2.6; · 32-bit and 64-bit support; · Metasploit 3.7.0; · Forensics mode (a forensically sound instance); · Stealth mode (without generating network traffic); · Initial ARM image of BackTrack (for Android-powered devices); · ...and many more!

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BackTrack 5

Download BackTrack 5 now from Softpedia.

dots Other NewsOther News:

· On May 6th, the KDE team has announced the third maintenance release for KDE Software Compilation 4.6. This is a minor update, focusing on bug fixing and translation updates. KDE Software Compilation 4.6.3 is the third in a series of monthly bug fixing releases to the KDE Software Compilation 4.6 series, which brings various translation updates and improvements. Everyone should update their existing KDE SC machines running version 4.6.1 or earlier (see a short tutorial below). Read more about it here.

dots

· On May 9th, Canonical, through John Bernard, has announced that they will start a collaboration with the popular Lenovo company, the world’s 4th largest PC manufacturer. It is now official that Canonical will work closely with Lenovo to certify the Ubuntu operating system on various Lenovo laptops, workstations and servers. At the moment there are more than thirty (30) Lenovo ThinkPads that are certified with Ubuntu, and many more will come by the end of this year. Read more about it here.

dots

· On May 9th, Mark Shuttleworth, father of the Ubuntu operating system, announced at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Budapest that Canonical's goal is to have 200 million Ubuntu users by 2015. Ubuntu Developer Summit for Oneiric Ocelot, the upcoming version of the popular Ubuntu operating system is taking place these days in Budapest, Hungary. Mark Shuttleworth delivered yesterday morning his usual keynote where he set the goal for 200 million Ubuntu users in 4 years. Read more about it here.

dots Review of the WeekReview of the Week: Rawstudio 2.0

· DSLR users have a hard time finding a good software for RAW file manipulation on Linux because there are just a few options to consider. Practically, besides Rawstudio and UFRaw, the only viable alternatives can be found on Windows and Mac OS operating systems, but users need to pay a considerable amount of money for these kind of features.

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Rawstudio 2.0

Rawstudio has a huge number of features even if some of them might never be used by the average user. With options like Lens Edit and Tethering, it's hard to find anything wrong with this software.

Read the complete review here.

dots Video Clip of the WeekVideo Clip of the Week: BackTrack 5 - Penetration Testing Distribution

· For this week we've posted a video clip that showcases the main features of the newly released BackTrack 5 (Revolution) operating system. The video has 2 minutes and 3 seconds, and it was posted by Offensive Security. Enjoy!

BackTrack 5 - Penetration Testing Distribution from Offensive Security on Vimeo.

Download from SoftpediaNew Distributions:

· ZevenOS Neptune 1.9.9 · Icefeast Linux 1 · Remix_OS 11.05 Beta · SlimPup 1.0

Download from SoftpediaDistributions Updated Last Week:

· ttylinux 12.6 · PelicanHPC 2.4 · VortexBox 1.9 · Xange 2011.06 · KDE Reloaded CD 4.6.2 Build 2.13 · R.I.P. 12.3 · 4MLinux 2.2 · linuX-gamers Live DVD 0.9.7 · Berry Linux 1.09 · Salix OS Xfce Live 13.37

Download from SoftpediaDevelopment Releases:

· VectorLinux 7.0 RC1 · Porteus 1.0 RC2 · Astaro Security Gateway 8.164 Beta · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.8-41

See you again next week for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.