The weekly roundup for Linux users

Dec 28, 2009 11:45 GMT  ·  By

Welcome to the 77th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

I would like to start this weekly by wishing a happy and prosper 2010 to all of our readers! The following Linux-based operating systems were announced last week: VortexBox 1.0, Salix OS 13.0.2, SimplyMEPIS 8.5 Beta 3, Berry Linux 1.00 and Sabily 9.10. In other news: the KDE community announced the second beta release of the upcoming KDE Software Compilation suite. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released and updated last week, and the development releases. Happy New Year!

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Summary:

dots VortexBoxOn December 21th, Andrew Gillis from the VortexBox development team announced the final release of the VortexBox 1.0 media server operating system. VortexBox will turn your computer into an easy-to-use and out-of-the-box music jukebox and server. With it, you can rip Audio CDs to the FLAC and MP3 formats, add ID3 tags, grab album art and stream music files on your network.

Highlights of VortexBox 1.0:

· FLAC to m4a (Apple Lossless) mirroring via the web interface; · CDDB and MusicBrainz can be used for ID3 tags; · Added tool-tips for each section in the graphical user interface; · Preinstalled and configured Logitech SqueezeCenter 7.4.1; · Upgrade software via the web interface; · Lots of bug fixes!

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VortexBox 1.0 - Image courtesy of VortexBox

Download VortexBox 1.0 right now from Softpedia.

dots SalixOn December 23rd, George Vlahavas announced that Salix 13.0.2 was available for download on mirrors worldwide. The good news for all the fans of this Slackware-based Linux distribution is that it now has a 64-bit edition, which is backwards compatible with the Slackware64 operating system. Salix64 offers an easier way to install the XFCE desktop environment, and a software repository with lots of packages. The Salix developers also prepared a software repository with dependency information for both 32-bit and 64-bit Slackware packages.

Highlights of Salix 13.0.2:

· Fixed Linux kernel issues; · Fixed some issues in Mozilla Firefox; · Installer improvements, including an easier way to create a user; · Updated the XFCE environment packages (USB devices will no longer be mounted with the "sync" option); · Added an update checker and notifier tool, called salix-update-notifier, which uses the gslapt utility to update packages; · XFCE's taskbar buttons were localized.

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Salix 13.0.2

Download Salix 13.0.2 right now from Softpedia.

dots SimplyMEPISOn December 24th, Warren Woodford uploaded the third Beta release of the upcoming SimplyMEPIS 8.5 operating system. This development release of SimplyMEPIS 8.5 contains a reconfigured Linux kernel 2.6.32.2 to make the Kdenlive application work with DV cameras. Moreover, the Kipi-plugins package was updated to version 1.0.0 and some Konqueror plugins were added in order to make a more productive browser and file manager for the KDE environment. Hardware support has also been improved by updating the initramfs-tools, hwinfo and hwdata packages; the software update process should be faster, and the KDE desktop more stable!

Highlights of SimplyMEPIS 8.5 Beta 3:

· Linux kernel 2.6.32.2; · EXT4 filesystem; · KDE SC 4.3.4; · Added Konq-plugins; · Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5; · Google Gadgets 0.11.0; · Kdenlive 0.7.6; · Kipi-plugins 1.0.0; · Sun Java Runtime Environment 6; · Adobe Flash Player 10.

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SimplyMEPIS 8.5 Beta 3

Download SimplyMEPIS 8.5 Beta 3 right 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 BerryOn December 25th, Yuichiro Nakada proudly announced that his Linux distribution finally reached version 1.00. Berry Linux 1.00 is now powered by the Linux kernel 2.6.32.1 and based on the Fedora 11 operating system. The new release of Berry Linux updates a few important packages, such as the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, MPlayer, Wine, and, last but not least, it is built on top of the KDE Software Compilation 4.3.2, which is now in sync with the version from Fedora 11.

Highlights of Berry Linux 1.00:

· Based on Fedora 11; · Kernel 2.6.32.1 SMP (with ndev/udev and bootsplash); · AUFS 20090921; · Removed madwifi r4100; · KDE 4.3.2; · Rasp-UI 0.14 (Window Manager); · MPlayer 20091211; · Xine 0.99.5; · xine-lib 1.1.17; · Mozilla Firefox 3.5.6 (in both Japanese and English); · Wine 1.1.32.

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Berry Linux 1.00

Download Berry Linux 1.00 right now from Softpedia.

dots SabilyOn December 27th, Mehdi Magnon proudly announced the final release of the Sabily 9.10 Linux distribution. Dubbed Gaza, this new release is based on the amazing Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system and it comes in two main editions: small and full. While the small edition contains basic applications and has 1 GB in size, the full version is 2.8 GB in size and features multimedia, educational, offline Quran recitations and lots of other interesting packages. Sabily 9.10 (Gaza) has new artwork, including the GRUB image and Xsplash, a new structure for the Islamic software and Monajat is now rewritten in the Python language.

Highlights of Sabily 9.10:

· Noor, a new Quran Browser application; · Thwab sample books; · Rejaal: Men around the prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him). A flash bibliography of 60 Sahabi (available only in the full version); · Fsool: The Sira of the prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) (available only in the full version); · Arabeyes Qamoos, an Arabic to English dictionary application (available only in the full version).

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Sabily 9.10

Download Sabily 9.10 right now from Softpedia.

dots Other NewsOther news:

· The hard-working people behind the KDE community project announced on December 21st the release of KDE Software Compilation 4.4 Beta 2. To be in tune with the Christmas holidays, KDE SC 4.4 Beta 2 is dubbed Claus, and it brings a couple of stability improvements over the previous release. Read more about it here.

dots Video Clip of the WeekVideo Clip of the Week: How to Install Ubuntu: Karmic Koala 9.10

· For this week, we've posted a very nice tutorial about how to install Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)! The video has 4 minutes and 20 seconds, and it was posted by NixiePixel. Enjoy!

Download from SoftpediaNew Distributions:

· Sabayon Linux Gaming 5.1

Download from SoftpediaDistributions Updated Last Week:

· Tin Hat 20091218 · ArchOne 2009.12_rev2 · ArchOne KDE Edition 2009.12_rev2 · Sabayon Linux CoreCD 5.1 · TOSS 2.0 · Astaro Security Gateway 7.502 · Kahel OS 12-25-2009 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.3-21 · KANOTIX 2.6.32 · SystemRescueCd 1.3.4 · Parted Magic 4.8

Download from SoftpediaDevelopment Releases:

· Elive 1.9.54 · Pardus Linux 2009.1 Beta · pfSense 2.0 Beta 1

See you again next Monday, January 4th, for the first issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly in 2010.