14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 158th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Finnix 102, CentOS 6.0 Live CD/DVD and Mandriva Linux 2011 Release Candidate 2. In other news: the KDE development team has proudly announced the immediate availability of the highly anticipated KDE Plasma Workspaces, KDE Applications, and the KDE Platform 4.7, which brings new features, improved stability and performance. For this week we've also prepared a nice and interesting review for the AcetoneISO 2.3 application. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On July 23rd, Ryan Finnie announced the immediate availability of a new version of his Finnix Linux distribution, now powered by the recently released Linux kernel 3.0. Dubbed Algoma, the Finnix 102 operating system was released at the end of last week, on July 23rd, and it features a smaller distribution size, support for Xen pvops and support for the 486 architecture.
There are lots of other Linux distros that use Linux kernel 3.0, but they are still in development. Therefore, we can say that Finnix 102 is the first stable Linux operating system that uses the brand-new Linux kernel 3.0. The 3.0 kernel found in the Finnix 102 release was produced by the Finnix developers and it was partially based on Debian pre-release kernels. Support for Linux kernel 3.0 in Finnix was heavily tested throughout the entire Linux 3.0 RC process.
Download Finnix 102 now from Softpedia.
On July 25th, Karanbir Singh proudly announced the immediate availability for download of the Live CD and Live DVD ISO images for the recently released CentOS 6.0 operating system. After the official release of the CentOS 6.0 Linux distribution two weeks ago, on July 10th, we are now proud to announce that Live CD images are also available for anyone who want to try this wonderful operating system without installing.
CentOS 6.0 Live CD is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.32 and the GNOME 2.28.2 desktop environment. It includes popular applications, such as Mozilla Firefox 3.6.9, Mozilla Thunderbird 3.1.3, The GIMP 2.6.9, and Pidgin 2.6.6. Because of space constraints the CentOS developers could not include all the usual desktop applications, therefore they are available on the CentOS 6.0 Live DVD images (see the download link at the end of the article).
Download CentOS 6.0 Live now from Softpedia.
On July 27th, Mandriva announced the immediate availability for testing of the second and last Release Candidate version of the upcoming Mandriva Linux 2011 operating system. This last development release of the Mandriva Linux 2011 distribution contains new drivers, new features, more than 300 bugfixes, and about 700 updated packages.
Highlights of Mandriva Linux 2011 RC2:
· Linux kernel 2.6.38.7; · KDE SC 4.6.5; · New cursor theme; · New icon theme; · New wallpapers; · Added VirtualBox guest additions; · More Intel and Atheros network cards are now supported; · Better support for Epson, HP and Lexmark printers; · Better support for USB 3G drives; · Improved Dolphin and KDM; · Removed NVidia and ATI proprietary drivers from the ISO images; · Long Term Support release coming by the end of the year.
Download Mandriva Linux 2011 RC2 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.
· On July 27th, the KDE team has proudly announced the final and stable version for the highly anticipated KDE Software Compilation 4.7 environment. KDE Software Compilation 4.7 was in development for about two months, since May 25th when the first Beta was released, and it brings very nice new features, various software improvements, and overall stability. KDE Software Compilation 4.7.0 is composed of the KDE Plasma Workspace, the KDE Applications and the KDE Development Platform. Read more about it here.
Review of the Week: AcetoneISO 2.3
· Sometimes people just get tired of using the terminal to do the simplest things, in most of the Linux distributions. Some will claim this method offers more freedom, but the reality is we just don't have the time anymore to waste on such trivial matters. That's why AcetoneISO exists, to remove the need to perform a simple mount command that sometimes proves to take longer than it really should.
Sure, we can still pretend to like the terminal way of doing stuff, but who has the time to doodle with a terminal when there is a software that can do it with one click or two, if we count the one needed to open the program.
Read the entire review here.
Video Clip of the Week: KDE 4.7 and Activities
· For this week we've posted an 720p HD video clip that showcases the activities of the new KDE SC 4.7 Plasma workspaces. The video has 5 minutes and 34 seconds, and it was posted by myswiat. Enjoy!
· OpenXange Server 2011.07 · BeedBox 0.1 Alpha Build 04 · VectorLinux Light 7.0 Alpha 3
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· Salix OS KDE 13.37 · IPFire 2.9 Core 50 · Calculate Linux Scratch Server 11.6.1 · Calculate Linux Scratch 11.6.1 · Calculate Linux Directory Server 11.6.1 · Calculate Linux Desktop Xfce 11.6.1 · Calculate Linux Desktop 11.6.1 · ZEN-mini 2011 · 4MLinux Media Edition 2.3 · Zorin OS Lite 5 · SlimPup 3.1 · Parted Magic 6.4 · Poseidon Linux 4.0 · GParted LiveCD 0.9.0-7 · Otakux 1.1 Final · Scientific Linux 6.1 · Scientific Linux Live CD 6.1
· Zentyal 2.2 RC1 · Vine Linux 6.0 RC1 · BlankOn Sajadah 7.0 RC1 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.10-2 · Openwall GNU/Linux 20110727 · LinEx 2011 Beta 2
See you again at the end of next week for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.