14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 86th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems were announced last week: TEENPup 2010 Mini Beta, Igelle DSV 1.0.0, PapugLinux 10.1, SimplyMEPIS 8.5 RC1, PTS Desktop Live 2010.1, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3, Vine Linux 5.1 and SystemRescueCD 1.4.0. In other news: Linus Torvalds presented the new Linux kernel 2.6.33, which doesn't include support for the Android platform anymore; and the new PC-BSD 8.0 offers true FreeBSD installations. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released/updated and the development releases.
Summary:
On February 21st, John Van Gaans proudly announced the immediate availability of the TEENPup 2010 Mini Beta Linux distribution. Still powered by the lightweight IceWM desktop environment, TEENPup 2010 Mini Beta is now based on Puppy Linux 4.2.1 and includes popular KDE 3.x applications. Many netbook owners will find TEENPup 2010 Mini a reliable, secure and fun operating system!
Download TEENPup 2010 Mini Beta right 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 22nd, Markku Kero announced that Igelle DSV 1.0.0 was complete and available for anyone wanting to give it a spin. The Igelle developers say the Linux distribution is production-ready and have granted it the 1.0 label. The main feature of the release is the new Esther Desktop, a customized desktop environment, which Igelle states it's lightweight enough to work on underpowered machines without compromising in the looks department.
Download Igelle DSV 1.0.0 right now from Softpedia.
Also on February 22nd, Sylvain Balbous proudly announced the release of PapugLinux 10.1, the first major release in a little over a year of development. It is also likely the only one for 2010, based on previous release schedules. PapugLinux 10.1 is mostly aimed at bringing the various software components up-to-date, though version numbers aren't, for the most part, the newest ones.
PapugLinux 10.1 comes with a very short list of default applications installed with just the bare-bone functionality covered. The latest version updates the X-Window server to X.Org-7.4 (the latest stable release is 7.5). Mozilla Firefox 3.5.6 is included as the default web browser, email is handled by Sylpheed 2.6.0. and instant messaging by Pidgin 2.6.3.
Download PapugLinux 10.1 right now from Softpedia.
On February 23rd, Warren Woodford uploaded the ISO images for the first release candidate of SimplyMEPIS 8.5. As usual, this development release is ready for testing for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures, and it includes a new NDISwrapper for Linux kernel 2.6.32 and an updated QtCurve theme for KDE SC. At the moment, there are no new features in SimplyMEPIS 8.5 RC1, compared to the last beta release!
Download SimplyMEPIS 8.5 RC1 right 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 25th, Michael Larabel announced PTS Desktop Live 2010.1, a live DVD distribution designed solely to run the Phoronix Testing Suite. Dubbed Anzhofen, it brings the comprehensive benchmarking and testing software suite to those that want the most accurate results. Like previous releases, PTS Desktop Live 2010.1 is based on the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution and comes with the latest Phoronix Test Suite 2.4.1. The idea behind PTS Desktop Live 2010.1 is to give users a standard software stack to run the testing suite ensuring that the underlying operating system doesn't interfere with the validity of the results.
Highlights of PTS Desktop Live 2010.1:
· Custom Linux Kernel 2.6.33 Release Candidate 6; · Based on the latest Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx packages; · 43 tests from the Phoronix Test Suite 2.4.1; · Stripped-down version of GNOME 2.29; · Designed for relatively modern hardware.
Download PTS Desktop Live 2010.1 right now from Softpedia.
Also on February 25th, Canonical unleashed the third and last alpha version of the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system, due for release in late April this year. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 brings the Nouveau video driver for Nvidia graphics cards, instead of the old nv one; and the popular Mozilla Thunderbird 3 e-mail and rss/news client has been included in the default software repository, replacing the old 2.x release.
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 is powered by the GNOME 2.30 Beta 1 (2.29.91) desktop environment and the kernel packages have been updated to version 2.6.32-14.20, based on Linux kernel 2.6.32.8. The Indicator Applet Session received major features, and the volume applet has been redesigned a little bit. Looks like Ubuntu is getting ready for social networking activities, and it has built-in support for Facebook, Twitter, identi.ca and many other similar services. The Gwibber microblogging client has been also added to complement the aforementioned social networking services.
Download Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 right 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 25th, Daisuke Suzuki announced the immediate availability of Vine Linux 5.1 ISO images for 32-bit, 64-bit and PowerPC architectures. Vine Linux is a free Linux-based operating system, for the Japanese community. Vine Linux 5.1 is designed for both workstations and server machines. The new version brings only security updates and bug fixes that were announced since the release of Vine Linux 5.0. Therefore, it should be considered a maintenance version, with no new features!
Highlights of Vine Linux 5.1:
· Linux kernel 2.6.27.29; · X.Org 7.4; · X Server 1.6.3; · GNOME 2.26.3; · Mozilla Firefox 3.5.2; · Faster and lightweight; · Reorganized software collection; · Support for x86_64 (64-bit) platforms; · Support for PPC (PowerPC) platforms; · Greatly improved the look and feel; · Added user-friendly utilities; · Added DVD/USB installable images.
Download Vine Linux 5.1 right now from Softpedia.
On March 1st, François Dupoux announced SystemRescueCd 1.4.0, the latest iteration of the popular recovery live CD based on the Gentoo Linux distribution. SystemRescueCd 1.4.0 comes with several updated packages and new versions for both the standard and the alternative kernel, but there are also a couple of new boot options, which should come in especially handy for those booting over a network.
Highlights of SystemRescueCd 1.4.0:
· Updated the standard Linux kernel packages to 2.6.32.9; · Updated the alternative Linux kernel packages to 2.6.27.45; · Updated Mozilla Firefox to 3.6; · Added the zfs-fuse-0.6.0 filesystem; · Updated fsarchiver to 0.6.8 (fixes archive corruption when saved to smbfs/cifs); · Updated sys-apps/parted to 2.1 (support for devices with sectors > 512 bytes); · New boot option "nbdboot=ip:port" to boot sysresccd from NBD; · New boot option "nfsboot=ip:/path" to boot sysresccd from NFS; · New boot option "isoloop=xxx" to boot sysresccd from an ISO on the disk with grub2.
Download SystemRescueCd 1.4.0 right now from Softpedia.
· The people behind PC-BSD, a FreeBSD-based distribution, announced on February 22nd the release of PC-BSD 8.0 (Hubble Edition). This newest update is built on the latest FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE-P2 and running the eye-pleasing, if not bleeding-edge, KDE 4.3.5. It's a major update, so it comes with plenty of bug fixes and new features over the previous PC-BSD 7.x. Read more about it here.
· Announced by Linus Torvalds on February 24th, Linux Kernel 2.6.33 brings the highly anticipated Nouveau open source video driver for Nvidia graphics cards. Among other features, we can notice Compcache, support for the Gamecube and Nintendo Wii consoles, DRDB, improvements to perf, Xen PV-on-HVM guests support, and drivers for VMWare. Read more about it here.
Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Alpha 3
· For this week, we've posted a 720p High Definition video clip that showcases the new Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 (Lucid Lynx) operating system. The video has 2 minutes and 4 seconds, and it was posted by softui. Enjoy!
· Ubuntu Studio 10.04 Alpha 3 · ClutchOS-12.2-i486 Alpha 1 · UKnow4Kids 2010.1.1
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· PLD KDE4 LiveCD 4.4.0 · Katana: Multi-Boot Security Suite 1.5 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.4-7 · NetSecL 2.6 · CacheGuard OS 5.5.5
· Mythbuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 · Edubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 · Xubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 · Kubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 · Kubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 · Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 · Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 · Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 10.04 LTS Alpha 3 · Tiny Core Linux 2.9 RC5 · Lubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 · EasyHotspot 0.2 Beta
See you again next Monday, March 8th, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.