14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 92nd issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems were announced last week: Calculate Linux 10.4, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2, ArchOne 2010.04, Parted Magic 4.10 and SystemRescueCd 1.5.2. In other news: Ubuntu 10.10 release schedule is now available; IBM denies breaking its pledge to Open Source; Google updates Chrome web browser for Linux; Avant Window Navigator 0.4.0 brings amazing features for Linux desktops. For this week, we've also prepared a review for the Parole Media Player 0.2.0.2 application. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released/updated and the development releases.
Summary:
On April 8th, Alexander Tratsevskiy announced the immediate availability of the latest stable release of the Gentoo-based Linux distribution. Calculate Linux 10.4 comes in a variety of flavors, including, for the first time, a GNOME desktop version. This release brings a big number of updated packages and several other improvements. All versions have been updated, Calculate Linux Desktop (CLD - KDE, CLDG - GNOME, CLDX - XFCE), Calculate Directory Server (CDS) and Calculate Linux Scratch (CLS - Openbox).
Highlights of Calculate Linux 10.4:
· The first release of Calculate Linux Desktop with GNOME (CLDG) desktop environment; · CDS authentication facility now comes with 'cl-passwd,' which allows to change user's domain password; · A smaller system footprint; · Better transfer rate for roaming profiles from a remote server; · Ability to customize application updates through the file ~/.calculate/ini.env; · A parallel package installation by default; · Support for more printer models: HP, Epson and others.
Download Calculate Linux 10.4 right now from Softpedia.
Download Calculate Linux 10.4 XFCE right now from Softpedia.
Download Calculate Linux Directory Server 10.4 right now from Softpedia.
Download Calculate Linux Scratch 10.4 right now from Softpedia.
Also on April 8th, Canonical unleashed the second and final Beta release of the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system, due for launch at the end of this month. What's new in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2? Well, the most important feature of this second beta release is the brand-new GNOME 2.30 desktop environment, which brings lots and lots of new and exciting features that will make Ubuntu 10.04 LTS a good-looking and modern operating system.
Another interesting feature, but one that you will see only once (theoretically), is the new slideshow of the Ubiquity installer. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2 is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.32.9.
Download Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2 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.
On April 9th, the ArchOne developers announced ArchOne 2010.04, the latest update to the small Linux distribution aimed at netbooks, specifically the Acer Aspire One. It's a small update focusing on several fixes and tweaks. ArchOne 2010.04 doesn't come with any new features or updated packages. Notable changes are a new default web browser, the open source Chromium has replaced Google Chrome, and a new default network manager, Wicd. All three flavors have now been updated, ArchOne 2010.04 Main (Openbox), GNOME and KDE.
Highlights of ArchOne 2010.04:
· The default timezone has been changed to "Canada/Pacific" from "Europe/Rome"; · /etc/rc.conf_install has been removed; · The MODULES_II array has been added to /etc/rc.conf; · Hostname fixed, changed from "acerone" to "archone"; · Wicd has replaced Network Manager in the Main and GNOME releases; · NFS common is now disabled by default; · The /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.udisks.policy file has been updated; · Chromium is now the default web browser, replacing Google Chrome.
Download ArchOne 2010.04 right now from Softpedia.
On April 11th, Patrick Verner announced the release of Parted Magic 4.10, which brings a number of updated and new packages, as well as fixes for several bugs. Parted Magic is a very specialized live CD/USB Linux distribution designed primarily for partitioning hard drives. As the name would imply, the main tools are Gparted and its command-line counterpart Parted, but Parted Magic 4.10 comes with several other useful tools, as well as some general utilities that may come in handy, like the Chromium web browser.
Highlights of Parted Magic 4.10:
· Linux kernel 2.6.32.11; · Grep 2.6.3; · BusyBox 1.16.1; · SSHFS FUSE 2.2; · SimpleBurn 1.5.0 - CD/DVD burner; · EncFS 1.5.2 - encrypted FUSE-based filesystem; · GEncFS 1.0.0 - graphical front end for EncFS; · GSSHFS 1.0.0 - graphical front end for SSHFS; · RLog 1.4 - logging utility; · UNetbootin (Universal Netboot Installer) 429 - tool for creating live USB environments; · emelFM2 0.6.0 - file manager; · GParted failure to reload partition table before format; · Issue with non-English characters in FAT32 - now mounts as UTF8 by default; · GPicView segmentation fault - introduced in Parted Magic 4.9; · Live-CD 4.9 failure to boot from SCSI - many enhancements to SCSI booting; · Chromium crash when bookmarking a page.
Download Parted Magic 4.10 now from Softpedia.
On April 12th, François Dupoux announced the release of SystemRescueCd 1.5.2, which comes with a number of fixes and changes, but also updated packages. There are newer versions of both available Linux kernel options. SquashFS has been updated to SquashFS 4.0. SystemRescueCd 1.5.2 also incorporates the fixes included in SystemRescueCd 1.5.1, which was released a little over a week ago.
Highlights of SystemRescueCd 1.5.2:
· Linux kernel 2.6.33.02 - alternative kernel updated (altker32 + altker64); · Linux kernel 2.6.32.11 - standard kernel updated (rescuecd + rescue64); · Squashfs 4.0 - now has lzma compression; · A framebuffer console mode is now available to fix extended VGA modes (boot with "vga=xxx"); · Modules have been moved to embedded kernel initramfs to reduce used memory; · Initramfs.igz now uses lzma compression instead of gzip for a smaller footprint; · The "dostartx" option that startx XOrg automatically now works properly; · The Xorg auto-configuration script used by "wizard" has been fixed; · The default isolinux boot screen is now based on a menu.
Download SystemRescueCd 1.5.2 right now from Softpedia.
· On April 6th, Softpedia announced the release schedule for Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat), which will be released this year, on October 28th. This time, Canonical decided to change it again, to 4 Alpha versions and a single Beta release. Read more about it here.
· IBM wants to be an open-source software supporter, but only when it suits it. The giant tech company was accused on April 6th of breaking its pledge to not pursuit open-source companies and projects that might be infringing on some of its many patents. Yet, earlier this week, it did just that, sending TurboHercules, a company that makes an open-source mainframe emulator, a list of 100 patents on which the software might be infringing. Among those were some that IBM had said it wouldn't use against open-source projects, but the company is now claiming that this doesn't mean it's breaking its promise. Read more about it here.
· The amazing Chrome developers at Google Inc. announced on April 9th the immediate availability for testing of the Google Chrome 5.0.371.0 Alpha web browser for Linux. Windows and Mac operating systems. The new development release comes with great, new features, such as support for Geolocation, HTML5 fixes, Omnibox improvements, and more! The release is distributed as binary packages for Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and OpenSuSE operating systems. Both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures are supported at this time, as well as a pre-installed repository (at least on the Ubuntu platform) for easy updates. Read more about it here.
· On April 12th, the Awn developers announced the stable release of Avant Window Navigator 0.4.0, after more than a year of development. Improving overall performance and bug fixing was the main goal of this release, but the amazing, new features can not be overlooked. Read more about it here.
Review of the Week: Parole Media Player 0.2.0.2
· From the review: "Everything is moving online these days, it seems, and entertainment is no different. With YouTube, Hulu, Netflix and plenty of other sites and services to choose from, it might seem that the days of actually owning a movie are gone. But we're not quite there yet, there's still a place for DVDs and you're going to want to keep your home videos on your computer, even if you may also upload them to YouTube. And if you do that, you're going to need a video player."
"Parole Media Player is definitely not aimed at even the moderate movie enthusiast. If you want to turn your machine into a multimedia powerhouse, Parole is not for you. But, if your desktop environment of choice is XFCE and all you want is to play a video or watch a movie once in a while or listen to the occasional MP3, then look no further. Parole is a simple tool with a simple goal and, in that, there's nothing you can fault it for. It does what it was intended to, namely play media files, well and nothing more. However, Parole is still in early development, so new features should be coming as things progress."
Read the entire review here.
Video Clip of the Week: Avant Window Navigator in Ubuntu 9.10
· For this week, we've posted a 720p High Definition video clip that showcases the Avant Window Navigator dock in Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system. The video has 9 minutes and 29 seconds, it's in Spanish and it was posted by juanetebitel. Enjoy!
· Fnestree 2010 · Fnestree Full 2010 · Netrunner 1.0
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· Tritech Service System 2.0.3 · Slack Mini Server 1.5.0 · ttylinux 11.1 · Tor-ramdisk 20100405 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.5-1 · PLoP Linux 4.0.5 · Comal-Linux 0431
· Chakra LiveCD Alpha 5 v4 · Zencafe 2.2 RC · Gosalia Beta 1 · Edubuntu 10.04 Beta 2 · Kubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS Beta 2 · Kubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 2 · Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 10.04 LTS Beta 2 · Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS Beta 2 · Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS Beta 2 · Mythbuntu 10.04 Beta 2 · Ubuntu Studio 10.04 Beta 2 · Xubuntu 10.04 Beta 2 · MCNLive Kris RC1 · MyWolfe 013 Beta 1 · Lubuntu 10.04 Beta 2
See you again next Monday, April 19th, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.