14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to our 17th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
Here’s what you can read about in this edition: The first maintenance release of PC-BSD 7.0 (Fibonacci Edition) brings a 64-bit variant; Canonical opens up the ShipIt service so you can order CDs with Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), free of charge; the Linux Mint community is quite active this month, as they've released the final version of the Fluxbox Edition for Elyssa; the OpenSuSE team launched yet another beta for their upcoming openSUSE 11.1 Linux distribution, this time with Live CDs with KDE4 and GNOME; the release candidate of Ubuntu 8.10 was made available and we have the first screenshot tour. Also, check out the tutorial of the week (How to Install OpenOffice.org 3.0 on Ubuntu 8.10) and the Linux distributions released/updated last week, at the end of the article!
Summary:
• On October 21st, Kris Moore from the PC-BSD development team announced the immediate availability of the first maintenance release of PC-BSD 7.0 (Fibonacci Edition). PC-BSD 7.0.1 includes KDE 4.1.2, Adobe Flash 9 support, better Wi-Fi support, System Updater improvements and various fixes, an updated Nvidia video driver (177.80), write support for the NTFS file system and much more! But the best part of this release is that it comes now with an x64 Edition, which can be installed on systems with AMD64/EM64T processors. Here are the changes since PC-BSD 7.0:
· Updated KDE (K Desktop Environment) to version 4.1.2; · Updated the Nvidia graphics driver to version 177.80; · Updated the Wi-Fi tool to support long and very long SSIDs (especially the ones with multiple spaces). It also allows network profiles and it will connect to the best available wireless network; · Added NTFS writing support; · Added a new icon for the KMenu -> System -> Display Setup Wizard; · Added Adobe Flash 9 support for both i386 and amd64 editions; · Added all the KDE l10n packages, so you can easily switch locales and languages; · Repaired various System Updater bugs; · Repaired the sound detection problem for the ALI M5451 PCI audio device; · Repaired the X.org/QEMU problem; · Various other small fixes.
Download PC-BSD 7.0.1 right now from Softpedia.
• If you are anxious to get your hands on some nice CDs with the Intrepid Ibex, then you should pre-order them right now from Ubuntu's ShipIt service, FREE of charge. They have started taking the orders a days ago, so hurry up!
If you want to count the days until Ubuntu 8.10 is released – which will happen on October 30th – you can get a nice script, to show it on your website. After you get the countdown script from here, you can even modify it to look the way you want. Each day, the image will change, counting the days remaining until the release of Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex).
Read more about it here.
• On October 22nd, Shane Joe Lazar (developer of the Linux Mint Fluxbox Edition) announced the final version of his Linux Mint 5 flavor, for Fluxbox fans! Linux Mint 5 Fluxbox Edition is based on the Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and it is also compatible with its software repositories. The final version comes with some nice new features, such as mint-mfm (which auto-updates the Fluxbox menu), full desktop functionality, multimedia compatibility, improved localization/language support, attractive themes for Fluxbox, and various custom actions for Thunar, to enable a more pleasant user experience. The Fluxbox edition of Linux Mint 5 also comes with the popular Linux Mint tools:
· mintInstall · mintWifi · mintUpdate · mintAssistant · mintUpload · mintBackup · mintConfig · mintDesktop
Download Linux Mint 5 Fluxbox Edition right now from Softpedia.
• Also on October 22nd, the hard working people behind the openSUSE project announced the third beta version of openSUSE 11.1. Here are the changes since openSUSE 11.1 Beta 2:
· Live CDs for x86 and x86_64 (with GNOME and KDE4) · Linux 2.6.27.1 · GNOME 2.24 · OpenOffice.org 3.0 · Mono 2.0 Final · CUPS 1.3.9 · Amarok 2.0 beta 2 · Mono 2.0 RC3 · Banshee 1.3.2
Download openSUSE 11.1 Beta 3 right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a beta release and should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only.
• The release candidate version of the upcoming Ubuntu 8.10 (codename Intrepid Ibex), which is scheduled for launch in late October this year, arrived on October 23rd and, as usual, we have the first screenshot tour. Compared with the beta release, this version comes with two brand new and useful tools: a System Cleaner and a USB Startup Disk Creator. Below are the included applications:
· Mozilla Firefox 3.0.3 · OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 · The GIMP 2.6.1 · F-Spot 0.5.0.3 · Pidgin 2.5.1 · Brasero 0.8.2 · Transmission 1.34 · Rhythmbox 0.11.6 · Ekiga 2.0.12 · Evolution 2.24.1 · Nautilus 2.24.1 · Vinagre 2.24.0
Download Ubuntu 8.10 RC right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a development release and should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only.
• Tutorial of the Week: How to Install OpenOffice.org 3.0 on Ubuntu 8.10
· I guess everyone already knows that OpenOffice.org 3.0.0 will not be available (sad, I know) for the Intrepid Ibex (Ubuntu 8.10), because the developers did not have enough time to test it, and they will introduce it later this year. Therefore, Ubuntu 8.10 ships with OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 and, if you want to use the new and improved version, then this guide is for you! However, we will not do a fresh install of the OpenOffice suite, as we will instead only upgrade the current version in Ubuntu Intrepid.
What do I need to get started? Ubuntu 8.10 (32-bit or 64-bit)...
Read the full tutorial here.
• Distributions Released Last Week:
· Brasillinux Versao Comercio 1 · Kuki Linux 0.1
• Distributions Updated Last Week:
· Linux Mint x64 5.0 · Parted Magic 3.1 · wattOS Beta 1 · Learn free with Ubuntu 2.0 · SimplyMEPIS 8.0 Beta 3 · TurnKey Drupal 5 Live CD 2008.10.17-hardy · TurnKey Joomla Live CD 2008.10.17-hardy · TurnKey LAMP stack Live CD 2008.10.17-hardy · Foresight Linux 2.0.5 · Parsix Linux 1.5r2 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.1-9 · Absolute Linux 12.1.11 · Dreamlinux 3.5 RC4 · Wicker 8.04 2008-10-22 · Debian GNU/Linux 4.0r5 · Greenie Linux 3.1.3H · R.I.P. 7.2 · Astaro Security Linux 7.304