The weekly newsletter for Linux users.

Jan 26, 2009 15:21 GMT  ·  By

Welcome to the 30th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

Last week at Softpedia Linux: Mandriva released the second alpha version of the upcoming Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring, now with support for the evolutionary EXT4 filesystem. Anurag Bhandari announced the first stable version of his Granular Linux distribution. Red Hat presented the third point release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, with initial support for the Intel Core i7 processors. Fabio Erculiani announced a Lite Media Center edition of Sabayon Linux 4. Canonical launched the second point release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long Term Support), which offers over 200 updates. Philip Newborough made many Eee PC users happy with his latest release, CrunchEee Linux. Do you want to turn your Linux box into a media server? Look no further, as we've published a brand new tutorial that teaches everyone how to achieve that. The weekly ends, as usual, with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released/updated last week and the development releases... at the end of the article!

Summary:

MandrivaOn January 19th, Mandriva proudly announced the second alpha version of the upcoming Mandriva Linux 2009.1 (Spring), another development version that brings some of the hottest Linux technologies. Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring Alpha 2 is now powered by the stable version of the Linux kernel 2.6.28 and includes the following desktop environments: KDE 4.2 RC, GNOME 2.25.4, XFCE 4.6 Beta 3 and LXDE. Above all that, the Mandriva team also included support for the EXT4 filesystem, in the installer.

The development cycle of Mandriva 2009.1 will continue with a beta release in February 2009, two release candidates in March, and it will conclude with the official public release in the middle of April 2009. Once again, with the Spring edition, Mandriva Linux 2009 will try to compete with the upcoming Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), and even to "steal" some of its devoted users.

Highlights of Mandriva Linux 2009.1 Alpha 2:

· Linux kernel 2.6.28 (with EXT4); · The release candidate of KDE 4.2; · GNOME 2.25.4; · Xfce 4.6 Beta 3; · X.org server 1.5.99.3; · Python 2.6.1; · Diskdrake improvements; · LXDE replaces IceWM, as the default lightweight desktop environment; · Revamped msec tool to manage and control the security of the system.

Review image
Mandriva Linux - Image courtesy of Mandriva

Download Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring Alpha 2 right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is an alpha release and it should not be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.

GranularOn January 20th, Anurag Bhandari announced the immediate availability of Granular Linux 1.0, a release that comes with the following updated packages: Linux kernel 2.6.26.8, KDE 3.5.10, Enlightenment 0.16.999, Mozilla Firefox 3.0.4, KOffice 1.6.3, Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.14, Compiz Fusion 0.7.6, The GIMP 2.6.3, Wine 1.0.1 and many more. Here are the changes since the release candidate of Granular Linux 1.0:

· Brasero was replaced by the popular K3b, as the default CD/DVD burning application; · Greatly improved the Granular Control Center; · Added ATI and Nvidia video drivers; · Added MPlayer and Xine, two great multimedia playback engines; · The old system:/ was replaced with the sysinfo:/ kio slave; · Added support to write on NTFS (Windows) partitions; · Added Wine; · Added a FAQs section to Granular StartPoint.

Review image
Granular Linux 1.0

Download Granular Linux 1.0 right now from Softpedia.

RHELRed Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of Open Source solutions, announced on January 20th the immediate availability of the third update for their Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 operating system. Besides the usual bug fixes and software updates, the most important features brought by Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 are: better virtualization performance for the 64-bit architectures, support for the new Intel Core i7 (Nehalem) processors and the inclusion of the OpenJDK next-generation Java technology.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 also updates various packages, such as audit 1.7.7, wpa_supplicant 0.5.10, NetworkManager 0.7.0, dbus-glib 0.73.8 or sudo 1.6.9; and drivers, such as scsi_dh, scsi-target-utils and MPT Fusion.

Review image
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 - Image courtesy of irwan

Existing RHEL customers will be able to download the updated ISO images or the updates from the Red Hat Networks website. New RHEL users can download a 30-day trial edition from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Evaluation Program website, after registering.

SabayonAlso on January 20th, Fabio Erculiani announced the immediate availability of a multimedia center DVD edition, called Lite MCE and based on the newly-released Sabayon Linux 4. The Lite MCE edition of Sabayon 4 is a GNOME-based distribution that offers a "ready to use" version of the powerful and already popular XBMC Media Center, which will allow everyone to transform their computers into a veritable Multimedia Center station. In other words, with Sabayon Linux 4 Lite MCE you can watch your favorite movies and TV shows/channels... out-of-the-box! Sabayon Linux 4 Lite MCE is available for the x86 and x86_64 architectures, featuring Linux kernel 2.6.28 with support for the EXT4 filesystem.

Highlights of Sabayon Linux 4 LiteMCE:

· Based on Sabayon Linux 4; · Under 2 GB DVD ISO images; · GNOME 2.24.2; · OpenOffice 3.0; · Media Center Mode - powered by XBMC; · Linux Kernel 2.6.27.10 (with enhancements from the 2.6.28 version, which is also available via the software repositories); · Lots of multimedia applications (from DVD ripping and P2P file sharing to audio and video players); · Entropy Package Manager 0.24.8; · Ext4, AUFS, NTFS and UnionFS support; · Input devices and HAL-based GPU detection; · Support for AMD Catalyst Drivers 8.11 and Open Source RadeonHD video drivers; · Support for Nvidia 180.11, 173.14.12, 96.43.09 and 71.86.07 video drivers; · One-click 3D desktop effects.

Review image
Sabayon Linux 4

Download Sabayon Linux 4 Lite MCE right now from Softpedia.

UbuntuOn January 23rd, Steve Langasek proudly announced the second maintenance release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron), which (in case you forgot) is supported with maintenance updates and security fixes until April 2011 on desktops, and April 2013 on servers. Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS brings to its dedicated users a lot of security updates and corrections (over 200), all with a single goal: to keep Ubuntu 8.04 LTS a stable and reliable Linux distribution! Below are some of the highlights of Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS:

· The hdparm power management was set to 128 for all hard disks while on battery, and 254 while on AC (please note that the suspend/resume functions still crash this and a complete fix will arrive in the third maintenance release of Hardy Heron); · Added support CDs with compressed packages, which will allow everyone to upgrade to future release using CDs; · Updated the MySQL 4.1 packages, which will allow a smooth upgrade from Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake); · Repaired the checksum recheck, after reset, for Asus Eee PC 1000; · Fixed a Pidgin issue with ICQ connections; · Added support to boot from degraded RAID devices; · Printing to remote ipp:// printers is possible again.

Review image
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

Download Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS right now from Softpedia.

CrunchEeeAlso on January 23rd, Philip Newborough baked and delivered an optimized version for the popular and tiny ASUS Eee PC. The new edition is called CrunchEee and has the same version number as its older brother. ASUS Eee PC users can test this very lightweight version of CrunchBang Linux using a USB flash drive and by following the installation instructions below. For those of you who don't know yet what CrunchBang is, then you should know that it's an Ubuntu-based distribution powered by the light Openbox window manager. But first, let's take a closer look at the features brought by CrunchEee 8.10.02:

· Linux kernel 2.6.27-8-eeepc-lean · Modified theme, designed especially for small screens; · Eee-control, a very easy to use tool designed to "feed" all the special Linux Eee PC needs; · Lots of Internet-related applications; · Array.org software repository.

Review image
CrunchEee 8.10.02

Download CrunchEee 8.10.02 right now from Softpedia.

Tutorial of the Week: How to Turn Linux into a PS3 or Xbox 360 Media Server

· Turning your personal computer into a media server means that you will be able to play video (AVI, MPEG, MPEG-2, DivX, XviD, MKV, WMV, MP4 or even DVD ISOs or VIDEO_TS folders) and audio files (MP3, OGG, FLAC or WMA) or view your favorite photos (JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF) stored on your PC's hard drive on a big screen TV set or LCD/Plasma high-definition display, via a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 console. The following tutorial will teach you how to set up such a media server, step-by-step, from configuring your PC and gaming console, to installing and setting up the media server software in your Linux box. We've offered two media server installations, so you can choose whichever fits you best.

Review image

Read the full tutorial here.

Video Clip of the WeekVideo Clip of the Week: Vixta Aero 3D

· For this week we decided to present a short video for those of you who want to see what Vixta Aero 3D is all about. The video clip has 1:02 minutes and it was posted by pcesarjcb. Enjoy!

Download from SoftpediaNew Distributions:

· PureOS 1.1 2009 · Icadyptes 0.2 · SOAD Linux 3.0.4 · Vixta Aero 3D 2009 · CrunchBang Linux Lite 8.10.02

Download from SoftpediaDistributions Updated Last Week:

· Vinux 1.2 · Tin Hat 20090119 · Webconverger 4.2 · Greenie Linux 4I R2 · Parted Magic 3.5 · Gentoox Home 7.0 · Tor-ramdisk 20090125

Download from SoftpediaDevelopment Releases:

· Linux Mint XFCE 6 RC1 · Astaro Security Linux 7.386 Beta