The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.4, Clonezilla Live 1.2.12-10, DEFT Linux 7, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Alpha 2 and Linux Mint 12 KDE. Softpedia Linux Blog news includes articles about Wine 1.4 RC2, Ubuntu 12.10 Developer Summit, KDE Telepathy 0.3, Spark, PS3 Media Server 1.50.1, Frugalware 1.6 RC2, OpenShot 1.4.1, ownCloud 3, Endian Firewall Community 2.5.1, GNU Health 1.4.3, Firefox 10, Linux Kernel 3.3 RC2, PelicanHPC 2.7, Scientific Linux 6.2 RC1, IPFire 2.11 Core 56, Tails 0.10.1, PCLinuxOS KDE 2012.02, Calibre 0.8.38, SecureCRT 6.7.4, PHP 5.3.10, Salix Live Xfce 13.37, Netrunner 4.1, Skolelinux 6.0.4 Beta 3, LibreOffice 3.5 RC3, Firefox 11 Beta, and much more. For this week we've also prepared a very nice tutorial about how to jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on Linux and an interesting review for the highly acclaimed Oil Rush game and the Desura gaming client. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
On January 28th, the Debian project proudly announced the fourth maintenance release of the stable Debian 6.0 operating system. Debian 6.0.4 brings fixes to various security issues, as well as improvements to some serious problems. Some of the packages included in the previous versions of the distribution were also updated with the Debian 6.0.4 release.
The Debian installer was also updated in this release, allowing users to install Debian 6.0 on POWER7 machines and to adjust the dimensions of the first boot menu in order to bypass problems with various screens. The Linux kernel included in Debian 6.0.4 was also updated with security fixes, and bringing support for Agere ET-1310-based network cards (et131x driver), USB 3.0 controllers (xhci driver), and Intel C600-series SAS/SATA controllers (isci driver).
On January 30th, Steven Shiau proudly announced a new stable release of his popular Clonezilla Live operating system, used for cloning hard disk drives. Clonezilla Live 1.2.12-10 is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms and includes major improvements and assorted bugfixes. Clonezilla Live 1.2.12-10 is powered by Linux kernel 3.2.1-2 and features Partclone 0.2.45 and Syslinux 4.0.5. This release is based on the Debian Sid repository as of January 27th, 2012.
Better mechanisms were implemented, in ocs-update-syslinux ("syslinux -i" will run only when files that will be updated will be found), for Microsoft Windows boot partition size to be kept reserved if the "-k1" option will be selected, and to handle UFS partition in a GPT table when saving FreeBSD 9.0. Another mechanism was implemented to bypass saving of an image for an unmatched MBR partition table or GPT. VMFS5 and VMFS3 support are now separated, as partclone.fstype higher than 0.2.45 can now tell them.
Clonezilla Live 1.2.12-10
Download Clonezilla Live 1.2.12-10 now from Softpedia.
On January 31st, after months of hard work, the DEFT Linux team proudly announced that the final and stable version of the DEFT Linux 7 operating system is now available for download. DEFT Linux 7 is the first Linux distribution able to perform Computer Forensics, Network Forensics, Mobile Forensics, Cyber Intelligence and Incident Response.
Highlights of DEFT Linux 7:
· Based on Lubuntu 11.10; · Linux kernel 3.0.0-12; · Support for USB 3;
On February 2nd, Canonical announced the second and last Alpha version of the upcoming Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) operating system. What's new in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Alpha 2? Well, the final version of Linux kernel 3.2.2 has been added to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Alpha 2, which merges the amd64 -server and -generic kernel flavors. Not to mention that AUFS is disabled and everyone who needs it is encouraged to migrate to OverlayFS.
Mozilla Firefox 10.0 is now the default web browser and Mozilla Thunderbird 10.0 is the default email client. Moreover, the LibreOffice 3.5 Beta 2 office suite has been added. The Unity interface received lots of improvements, configuration settings, Nautilus quicklist support, maximized windows improvements, and quicklist items accessible with one right click. The GNOME components have been updated to latest stable 3.2.2 version, the LightDM login manager has now support for theming, and the desktop wallpapers list has four rows.
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Alpha 2
Download Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Alpha 2 now from Softpedia. Remember that this is an alpha release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only.
On February 3rd, Clement Lefebvre, father of the Linux Mint project, proudly announced a few minutes ago, February 2nd, that the final and stable version of the Linux Mint 12 KDE edition operating system is available for download. Being based on Kubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), Linux Mint 12 KDE is built on top of the KDE SC 4.7.4 environment, it is powered by Linux kernel 3.0, and distributed as a DVD Hybrid ISO image for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.
Highlights of Linux Mint 12 KDE:
· Linux kernel 3.0; · Based on Kubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot; · KDE Software Compilation 4.7.4; · Distributed as Hybrid ISO image; · Black boot splash screen; · Print to PDF; · Apturl; · Ctrl_Alt_Backspace; · mintDesktop; · Mint4Win; · Removed Moonlight.
Tutorial of the Week: How to Jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on Linux
· The following tutorial will teach all Linux users how to jailbreak their Apple iPhone 4S and Apple iPad 2 devices. As you all know, the Chronic Dev Team finally released the highly anticipated version of Absinthe jailbreak tool for the Linux platform. With Absinthe users can easily untether jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2 devices powered by the Apple A5 chip.
Absinthe jailbreak tool on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
With today's tutorial we will teach you, step by step, how to jailbreak an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 device on Linux.
· Oil Rush is an interesting strategy game that has a twist in the gameplay, combining simple RTS action with a tower defense flavor. It’s not hard to like it and to admire what the developers have managed to accomplish with the engine.
Oil Rush
Oil Rush is an amazing looking game. It’s on par with everything developed these days and the fact that everything takes place on water was a challenge for the developers. Water is one of the elements most difficult to replicate in a game because players can easily spot “fake” looking textures.
· Desura is a name that is going to come up a lot more often in the future, mainly because it's practically the only digital distribution platform for Linux games that presents itself in a commercial, but friendly manner.
Desura 110.22
Desura is the only digital distribution platform on Linux that provides games in a simple and easy way. If we ignore some of the faults, it's hard not to think that Desura is really the only option available and by the looks of it, it will become an important game distribution platform.
Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin Alpha 2
· For this week we've posted a 1080p HD video clip that showcases the new Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Alpha 2 (Precise Pangolin) operating system. The video has 6 minutes and 12 seconds, and it was posted by quidsup.