May 21, 2011 23:01 GMT  ·  By

Welcome to the 148th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Kanotix 2011-05, Salix OS Xfce 13.37, Pinguy OS 11.04, Clonezilla Live 1.2.8-42 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1. In other news: Softpedia presented a nice article with various keyboard shortcuts and tricks for the Unity interface in Ubuntu 11.04; Oracle announced the release of VirtualBox 4.0.8; Google Chrome 13.0 will drops support for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS; Linus Torvalds anounced Linux Kernel 2.6.39; Softpedia presented an article about the upcoming features of Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot). For this week we've also prepared a very nice tutorial about how to use the classic GNOME desktop on the Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.

dots Summary:

dots KanotixOn May 11th, Maximilian Gerhard announced the immediate release of Kanotix 2011-05, codename Hellfire. This version adds updated packages and bug fixes. Kanotix 2011-05 now enables the proprietary Nvidia or ATI drivers by default, from the live environment and then allows users to maintain this after they install the distro as well.

Highlights of Kanotix 2011-05:

· Linux kernel 2.6.38 - from Ubuntu, recompiled; · KDE SC 4.4.5 - with Kanotix Branding; · Amarok 2.4.0; · LibreOffice 3.3.2; · Grub2 bootmanager 1.98+20100804; · KDE Network Manager 1:0.9~svn1141976; · Iceweasel 4.0.1; · Icedove 3.1.9; · Pidgin 2.7.11; · ntfs-3g 2011.1.15; · Wine 1.3.19; · Kanos scripts to install Nvidia and ATI graphics drivers and Flash Player.

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Kanotix 2011-05

Download Kanotix 2011-05 (32-bit) now from Softpedia.

Download Kanotix 2011-05 (64-bit) now from Softpedia.

dots SalixOSOn May 12th, George Vlahavas announced the immediate availability of Salix OS Xfce 13.37, based on the recently released Slackware 13.37. Besides all of the upstream improvements, Salix OS Xfce 13.37 comes with several enhancements and updates of its own.

Highlights of Salix OS Xfce 13.37:

· Linux kernel 2.6.37.6; · Xfce 4.6.2; · Firefox 4.0.1; · Claws-mail 3.7.8; · LibreOffice 3.3.2; · Exaile 0.3.2; · Parole 0.2.0.6; · Pitivi 0.13.5; · Brasero 2.32.1; · GIMP 2.6.11.

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Salix OS Xfce 13.37 - Image courtesy of DistroWatch

Download Salix OS Xfce 13.37 now from Softpedia.

dots PinguyOSOn May 13th, Antoni Norman proudly announced the final release of the Pinguy OS 11.04 operating system. Pinguy OS 11.04 uses classic GNOME 2.32 desktop environment with the Docky dock-like application. Compiz has been fixed and it's now enabled by default. Pinguy OS 11.04 is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.

Highlights of Pinguy OS 11.04:

· Based on Ubuntu 11.04; · Linux kernel 2.6.38; · GNOME 2.32.1; · Build-in OEM support; · Implemented root filesystem with Overlay scrollbars; · Implemented message menu items; · Added custom NotifyOSD; · Added workspace switcher applet; · Added Live USB installer tool; · New Conky configuration utility; · Fixed the default theme for LibreOffice; · Added Pinguy OS entries to the display manager; · Modified icon theme to show the Pinguy OS logo; · Better Wi-Fi support; · Added missing firmwares; · Cleaned up the menu; · Modified Pinguy OS profile; · Updated all installed applications; · Fixed lots of bugs.

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Pinguy OS 11.04

Download Pinguy OS 11.04 now from Softpedia.

dots ClonezillaOn May 17th, Steven Shiau announced the immediate availability for download of the stable Clonezilla Live 1.2.8-42 operating system. The latest update brings a fresher source distro, since it's based on a very recent Debian Sid, a new Linux kernel and other changes.

Debian Sid, as of May 13, 2011, is used as the base for Clonezilla Live 1.2.8-42. This means that it should be running a fairly recent set of packages since Debian Sid is where the popular distro is being actively developed.

Linux kernel 2.6.38-5 is included in this release, the very latest stable build. Syslinux 4.04 has also been included in Clonezilla Live 1.2.8-42. Among the changes in the latest release is the switch to XZ compression for Initrd, saving 3 MB for the live ISO image, or archived file system.

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Clonezilla Live 1.2.8-42

Download Clonezilla Live 1.2.8-42 now from Softpedia.

dots RHELOn May 19th, Red Hat proudly announced the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1, which comes six months after the initial release and bundles all of the security patches and security fixes issued for RHEL 6.0 to date.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 brings several new features and technologies, understandably, mostly aimed at complex data center configurations and virtualization environments. The latest update also adds better support for some hardware configurations and newer devices or standards, such as PCI-E 3.0, that have been launched since November when RHEL 6.0 was released.

Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 via the company's Red Hat Networks service, which is available to subscribers.

dots Other NewsOther News:

· On May 14th, the Softpedia Linux team presented an article to inform the readers who use the Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system about some very useful and helpful Unity mouse tricks and keyboard shortcuts. With these tricks and shortcuts, users should familiarize with Unity and find it very useful and user friendly. Read more about it here.

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· On May 16th, Oracle announced a new update of its popular and powerful VirtualBox virtualization software. VirtualBox 4.0.8 is a maintenance release that brings lots of stability improvements and many bug fixes over previous versions. The VirtualBox 4.0.8 binaries are now available for download (see the link at the end of the article) for Ubuntu 11.04, Debian Squeeze, Fedora 14, RHEL 6, OpenSuSE 11.4 and other Linux distributions. VirtualBox 4.0.8 is also available for Solaris, Windows and Macintosh platforms. Read more about it here.

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· On May 17th, the Google Chrome developers at Google proudly announced the immediate availability for download and testing of the first development version for the upcoming Google Chrome 13 web browser, for Linux, Windows, Macintosh and Chrome Frame platforms. The main change in the new Google Chrome 13.0.767.1 for Linux operating system is that it will no longer support the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) distribution. Read more about it here.

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· On May 19th, Linus Torvalds announced the immediate release of the highly anticipated Linux kernel 2.6.39. Among the new features included in Linux kernel 2.6.39 we can mention new drivers for high-end AMD graphics cards, ipsets to simplify firewall maintenance and implementation, improved EXT4 file system, new drivers for better hardware support, and lots of bug fixes. Read more about it here.

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· On May 20th, Softpedia presented an article to present to Ubuntu fans all over the world, a few interesting features and facts for the next version of Ubuntu OS, the Ubuntu 11.10, dubbed Oneiric Ocelot. Mark Shuttleworth announced the Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system on March 7th, 2011. Ubuntu 11.10 will be released on October 13th, 2011. Read more about it here.

dots Tutorial of the WeekTutorial of the Week: How to Use Classic GNOME Session on Ubuntu 11.04

· Many of our readers have requested this, so here it is guys... an easy, step-by-step with screenshots tutorial about how to dump Unity and switch back to the old and classic Ubuntu interface, using GNOME's two panel session.

The following tutorial is also for those of you who don't like the new Unity shell introduced by Canonical in the recently released Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system.

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Classic Ubuntu 11.04 interface

Don't like Unity? You want to use your old classic GNOME desktop in Ubuntu 11.04? Look no further, we have the tutorial for you. It's easier than you might think!

Read the full tutorial here.

dots Video Clip of the WeekVideo Clip of the Week: Pinguy OS 11.04 First Look and Initial Impressions

· For this week we've posted a video clip that showcases the main features of the newly released Pinguy OS 11.04 operating system. The video has 11 minutes and 26 seconds, and it was posted by thisweekinlinux. Enjoy!

Download from SoftpediaNew Distributions:

· PrimeE17 · Blackbuntu Community Edition 0.2 · mabuntux 11.05 · Ubuntu GNOME Remix 0.1.0 · Darkbuntu 0.1 Alpha

Download from SoftpediaDistributions Updated Last Week:

· Saline OS 1.4 · EeeMC 10.10.24.01 · Quelitu 2-11.04 · R.I.P. 12.4 · 4MLinux Rescue Edition 2.2 · StorkOS 15.01 · simpleLinux EXT 4.0 · MeeGo 1.2 · CacheGuard OS 5.6.9

Download from SoftpediaDevelopment Releases:

· Caixa Magica 16 Beta · Zentyal 2.1-1 Beta · Fusion Linux 14.1 RC · Kongoni 2011 RC · Mageia 1 RC · ALT Linux 6.0.0-20110517 · Zorin OS 5 RC · Tiny Core Linux 3.7 RC1 · Chrome OS 1.3.767 RC

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