Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 175

The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Linux Mint 12 and Parted Magic 2011_11_24. In other news: The final version of the PS3 Media Server 1.50.0 for Linux was announced; Softpedia presented the features of the upcoming Linux Mint 12 (Lisa) operating system. Softpedia Linux Blog news includes articles about Wine 1.3.33. Rhythmbox on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Ubuntu Desktop Migration eBook, Ubuntu 11.10 kernel vulnerabilities, ConVirt, Nvidia 290.10, Doom 3 GPLed, Alpine Linux 2.3.2, and much more. For this week we've also prepared an interesting review for the The Binding of Isaac game. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.

Summary:

On November 23rd, Clement Lefebvre proudly announced that the new and highly anticipated Linux Mint 12 operating system, dubbed Lisa, is available for download on the official mirrors. Linux Mint 12 (Lisa) is based on the recently released Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system and is powered by Linux kernel 3.0, X.Org 7.6 and GNOME 3.2.

Highlights of Linux Mint 12:

· Based on Ubuntu 11.10; · Linux kernel 3.0; · No Unity shell; · GNOME 3.2; · MGSE (Mint Gnome Shell Extensions); · MATE interface (fork of GNOME 2); · Mozilla Firefox 7.0; · Mozilla Thunderbird 7.0; · One-click installer for multimedia codecs and extra apps; · New desktop theme, called Mint-Z; · A new set of wallpapers; · LightDM login manager; · LibreOffice 3.4 office suite; · Black screen boot splash; · Lots of bug fixes and improvements.

Download Linux Mint 12 now from Softpedia.

Patrick Verner announced the immediate availability of the Parted Magic 2011_11_24 Linux distribution, which brings improvements and some updated packages as well. Parted Magic 2011_11_24 packs LiloSetup 0.2.9.1, TestDisk 6.13 and the Linux 3.1.2 kernel. The update also fixes a major bug that caused the secure erase command to fail. A dummy file had been left in /usr/local/bin and that was causing the problem, but it has now been removed.

There are also some changes that should fix issues where Parted Magic would not boot properly, either the pmagic-<version>.sqfs or Initramfs would not be found, even though things should be working. There were several reasons for the issues and they should all be fixed now. On some occasions, on Windows machines, archive managers would convert the pmagic-<version>.sqfs to PMAGIC_<VERSION>.SQFS.

Download Parted Magic 2011_11_24 now from Softpedia.

Other News:

· On November 20th, the PS3 Media Server developers announced the immediate availability for download of the PS3 Media Server 1.50.0 application for Linux, OSX and Windows platforms. The PS3 Media Server is a DLNA compliant UPnP Media Server for the PlayStation 3 gaming console. PS3 Media Server is written in Java, therefore it can be used on Linux, Windows and Macintosh platforms. PS3 Media Server doesn't require any installation and will allow you to easily playback your video, audio and image files stored on your PC's hard drive on a big screen TV set or LCD/Plasma high-definition display, via a PlayStation 3 console. Read more about it here.

· On November 22nd, Softpedia presented the features of the upcoming Linux Mint 12 operating system. Long story short, the upcoming Linux Mint 12, dubbed Lisa, is an operating system based on the Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) distribution and powered by Linux kernel 3.0, featuring a new user interface based on the GNOME 3 desktop environment. From Linux Mint 12, users should expect that classic (two panel) style for the desktop interface, the one that (apparently) most of the Linux users want to use. Linux Mint 12 (Lisa) is also built on top of a complete version of the GNOME 3.2.1 desktop environment. Read more about it here.

  · On November 24th, the GNOME Project announced the immediate availability for testing of the second development release of the upcoming GNOME 3.4 desktop environment, which brings assorted fixes and improvements. GNOME 3.3.2 brings brings a new module (libgxps), and it updates the packages such as GConf, NetworkManager, Clutter, Empathy, Eye of GNOME, Epiphany, Evinve, Folks, glib2, glibmm, GTK+, Mutter, Pango or Gucharmap. Main GNOME components were also updated in GNOME 3.3.2, including GNOME Bluetooth, GNOME Control Center, GNOME Desktop, GNOME Keyring, GNOME Session, GNOME Settings Daemon, GNOME System Monitor, GNOME themes and docs. Read more about it here.

Softpedia Linux Blog:

· Download Wine 1.3.33 With New Gecko Engine · Rhythmbox Is the Default Player for Ubuntu 12.04 · Download Free Ubuntu Desktop Migration eBook · Kernel Vulnerability in Ubuntu 11.10. Upgrade Now. · ConVirt Available for Ubuntu, CentOS, SUSE and Red Hat · New Kernel Vulnerabilities Affect Ubuntu 10.10 and 8.04 LTS · Download Nvidia 290.10 Video Driver for Linux · Doom 3 Game Has Been Open Sourced · Alpine Linux 2.3.2 Has Linux Kernel 3.0.10 · Firefox 8 Officially Lands in Ubuntu 11.10 · ZevenOS 4.0 Based on Ubuntu 11.10 · Zorin OS 5.2 Back to GNOME 2.x · PC-BSD 9.0 RC2 Available for Download · Firefox 8 Also Lands in Ubuntu 11.04 · Download Shutter 0.88 With Better Upload Mechanism · KDE SC 4.8 Beta 1 Is Available for Testing · Jono Bacon Interview About Ubuntu 12.04 Cycle · phpMyAdmin 3.4.8 RC1 Available for Download · Download Linux Kernel 3.2 RC3 Now · Several Security Updates Released for Debian · Calibre 0.8.28 Adds Support for iPhone 4S

Review of the Week: The Binding of Isaac

· Being a game that costs money, there's no download links and no support in the official repositories of popular Linux distributions. If users will decide to buy the game, the developers offer quite a few options. The Binding of Isaac has several formats available, like archived binaries, Ubuntu and Debian files for 32-bit and 64-bit platforms and a 32-bit RPM file for Fedora and other similar RPM-based distros.

The player starts out with three hearts and each time an enemy lands a successful hit, Isaac loses half a heart. Fortunately, the life can be replenished and even extended. Through his journey the character finds various items that most of the time enhances his abilities.

Read the entire review here.

Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu UDS P Orlando Interviews - Jono Bacon Cycle Update

· For this week we've posted an interesting video clip with Jono Bacon's interview at the Ubuntu UDS P Orlando event. The video has 5 minutes and 54 seconds, and it was posted by ubuntudevelopers. Enjoy!

New Distributions:

· Haiku R1 Alpha 3 · it-center Debian 0.1

Distributions Updated Last Week:

· Tiny Core Linux 4.1 · Puppy Linux "Wary" 5.2.2 · VESTA 2.2 · CAINE 2.5.1 · Ututo 2011-03 · ZevenOS 4.0 · Zorin OS 5.2 · CRUX 2.7.1 · 4MLinux Rescue Edition 3.1