Welcome to the 196th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

Apr 22, 2012 00:00 GMT  ·  By

The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.04 and Mageia Linux 2 Beta 3. In other news: the GNOME Project announced the first point release of the GNOME 3.4 desktop environment; Canonical presented a draft wiki page with the release schedule for Ubuntu 12.10. Softpedia Linux Blog news includes articles about Wine 1.5.2, LPS-Public 1.3.3, Linux kernel 3.4 RC3, Trisquel 5.5, MATE 1.2, Fedora 17 Beta, GNOME Shell 3.4.1, Cairo-Dock 3.0.0, Pinta 1.2, FreeBSD 8.3, Plop Linux 4.2.2, FreeNAS 8.2.0 Beta 3, Scientific Linux 5.8 RC2, PC-BSD 9-20120418, Calibre 0.8.48, Tiny Core Linux 4.5 RC2, Vendetta Online 1.8.214, and much more. For this week we've also prepared an interesting review for the Stellarium 0.11.2 application. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.

dots Summary:

dots ChakraOn April 16th, Anke Boersma proudly announced the immediate availability for download of the Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.04 operating system. Dubbed Archimedes, Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.04 is the second maintenance release for 2012 and it is powered by Linux kernel 3.2.8 and KDE Software Compilation 4.8.2, as well as the latest Calligra 2.4 office suite, Qt 4.8.1, updated sound stack, phonon and krb5 packages.

Highlights of Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.04:

· Linux kernel 3.2.8; · Linux kernel 3.0.22 (optional); · KDE Software Compilation 4.8.2; · Qt 4.8.1; · QtWebkit 2.2.1; · Switch to kmod; · tomoyo-tools 2.5; · initscripts were updated to allow testing of systemd; · wqy-microhei is now the default font for Japanese, Chinese and Korean lanaguages.

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Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.04

Download Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.04 now from Softpedia.

dots MageiaOn April 28th, Anne Nicolas announced the immediate availability for download of the third and last Beta release of the upcoming Mageia 2 operating system. Mageia 2 Beta 3 is powered by Linux kernel 3.3.1, improving support for Xen virtualization, addition of a new iSCSI stack or NFC, and the Tomoyo framework.

Highlights of Mageia 2 Beta 3:

· Linux kernel 3.3.1; · KDE Software Compilation 4.8.2; · GNOME 3.4 desktop environment; · glibc 2.14.1; · dracut, an initrd creator; · Implementation of systemd for a faster and simpler boot process; · PulseAudio 2.0 Preview; · CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) 1.5.2; · Added NoMachine NX libraries for remote server applications; · Lastest LXDE packages; · Sugar 0.95; · Pencil-Planner 0.4.4b; · Amarok 2.5.0; · Cantata 0.3.0; · Kdenlive 0.8.2.1; · MPlayer (including GNOME MPlayer, KMPlayer, SMPlayer, and mplayer-gui interfaces); · VLC Media Player; · Xine (including xine-ui and Kaffeine interfaces); · Acetoneiso 2.3; · Kanyremote 5.13; · Kid3 2.0.1; · Konvertible 1.0.1; · Koverartist 0.7.6; · Marave 0.7; · MariaDB 5.5; · Apache 2.2.22; · Postfix 2.8.9; · Drupal 7.12; · Mediawiki 1.16.5; · GCC 4.6.3; · Python 2.7.2 and 3.2.2; · Perl 5.14.2; · Ruby 1.8.7; · PHP 5.3.10; · OpenJDK 1.7.0.1; · Sun Java 1.6.0.26.

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Mageia 2 Beta 3

Download Mageia 2 Beta 3 now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a beta release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only.

dots Other NewsOther News:

· On April 18th, the first point release of the GNOME 3.4 desktop environment was announced by the GNOME Project developers. As usual with a maintenance release, the GNOME 3.4.1 update brings important fixes and various improvments among various packages such as Baobab, Brasero, Empathy, Eye of GNOME, GCalctool, GDM, GTK+, MouseTweaks, Nautilus, Vino, Yelp, GNOME Terminal, GNOME System Monitor, GNOME Shell, GNOME Settings Daemon, GNOME Session, GNOME Screenshot, GNOME Panel, GNOME Keyring, GNOME Online Accounts, GNOME Desktop, GNOME Control Center, and some other core libraries. Read more about it here.

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· On April 20th, Canonical published on the Ubuntu Wiki the release schedule for the upcoming Ubuntu 12.10 operating system. The final version of Ubuntu 12.10 will see the light of day on October 18th, 2012. For Ubuntu 12.10, the Ubuntu developers decided to modify the release schedule, again, to three Alpha versions and two Beta releases. Read more about it here.

dots Softpedia Linux BlogSoftpedia Linux Blog:

· Wine 1.5.2 Brings Support for JPEG Encoding · HP Launches HPCloud Beta · LPS Public 1.3.3 Available for Download · Download Linux Kernel 3.4 Release Candidate 3 · Trisquel 5.5 is Based on GNOME 3 · MATE 1.2 Desktop Environment Released · Download Fedora 17 Beta Now · GNOME Shell 3.4.1 Is Available for Download · Fedora 17 Beta GNOME Live CD Screenshot Tour · Fedora 17 Beta KDE Live CD Screenshot Tour · Top Ubuntu Software Center App Downloads for March · Ubuntu 12.04 Won't Feature Hibernate · Cairo-Dock 3.0.0 Available for Download · Pinta 1.2 Officially Released · FreeBSD 8.3 Final Available for Download · Plop Linux 4.2.2 Fixes a Couple of Bugs · Linus Torvalds Receives Prize from The Linux Foundation · Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Will Get HP Certification · Mageia 2 Beta 3 GNOME 3.4 Screenshot Tour · Mageia 2 Beta 3 KDE SC 4.8.2 Screenshot Tour · Linux Mint 13 Will Be Named Maya · FreeNAS 8.2.0 Beta 3 Officially Released · Download and Test Scientific Linux 5.8 RC2 · PC-BSD 9-20120418 is Available for Download · Calibre 0.8.48 Has New Search Feature · Download Tiny Core Linux 4.5 RC2 · Ubuntu OS Can Run on Mele A1000 ARM PC · Introducing Ubuntu Bookmarks Lens for Unity · Google Stops Supporting Picasa for Linux · Vendetta Online 1.8.214 Brings Faction Modifications · Calibre Plugin of the Week: Generate Cover

dots Review of the WeekReview of the Week: Stellarium 0.11.2

· Stellarium is a one of a kind software that provides more than just a simple rendering of the night sky, as it can also illustrate our space dreams, and because we cannot yet go to the stars, we can make the stars come to us.

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Stellarium 0.11.2

It’s always difficult to write a conclusion for a software you love, but if it were after me, Stellarium should be an obligatory course, at least through middle school. This is the kind of application that makes you feel important and insignificant at the same time, but it also teaches you that the Universe is a big place and that we know mostly nothing about it.

Read the entire review here.

dots Video Clip of the WeekVideo Clip of the Week: GNOME 3.4 REVIEW! + Gnome-Shell vs Classic Paradigm

· For this week we've posted a 1080p HD video clip that reviews the new features of the GNOME 3.4 desktop environment. The video has 14 minutes and 1 second, and it was posted by Linux4UnMe.

Download from SoftpediaDistributions Updated Last Week:

· LPS-Public 1.3.3 · Trisquel 5.5 · OS4 12.1 · ttylinux 14.0 · Sabayon Awesome 8 · 4MLinux Media Edition 3.2 · PLoP Linux 4.2.2

Download from SoftpediaDevelopment Releases:

· VectorLinux SOHO 7.0 RC3 · Phinx Desktop 2012.3 RC1 · Fedora 17 Beta · Fedora KDE LiveCD 17 Beta · Fedora LiveCD 17 Beta · Fedora LXDE LiveCD 17 Beta · Fedora Xfce LiveCD 17 Beta · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.12-51 · Scientific Linux 5.8 RC2 · Tiny Core Linux 4.5 RC2

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