14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 94th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems were announced last week: PCLinuxOS 2010, Sabayon Linux CoreCD 5.2, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Beta, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Release Candidate, StressLinux 0.5.111 and Macpup Opera 2.0. In other news: Linux notebooks will get support for touch gestures; OpenOffice.org extension allows the creation of Audiobooks. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released/updated and the development releases.
Summary:
On April 20th, Bill Reynolds announced the immediate availability of the highly anticipated PCLinuxOS 2010 operating system. With a Linux kernel 2.6.32.11 (with BFS scheduler) on board, the new version provides ISO images for all tastes: GNOME, GNOME ZenMini, KDE, Xfce, LXDE and even Enlightenment E17 fans. PCLinuxOS 2010 has improved support for Nvidia and ATI graphics cards, support for popular printer models, lots of bleeding-edge applications and over 60 translations.
Highlights of PCLinuxOS 2010:
· Linux kernel 2.6.32.11 (with the BFS scheduler); · KDE Software Compiltion 4.4.2; · GNOME 2.30.0; · Mozilla Firefox 3.6.3; · Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0.4; · Pidgin 2.6.6; · KMyMoney; · KTorrent; · The GIMP; · Digikam; · Amarok; · SMPlayer.
Download PCLinuxOS 2010 right now from Softpedia.
Also on April 20th, Mitch Harder announced the new Sabayon Linux CoreCD 5.2, a minimalistic operating system created for advanced users who want to build a customized installation of Sabayon Linux. Sabayon CoreCD 5.2 can also be used for USB installations!
Highlights of Sabayon Linux CoreCD 5.2:
· Linux kernel 2.6.33 optimized for desktop; · built with Glibc 2.10 and GCC 4.4.1; · a bootable ISO image suitable for USB or CD drives; · a text-mode installer; · basic networking activated by default; · Portage and Entropy ready (allows access to thousands of packages); · built with Glibc 2.10 and GCC 4.4.1; · extra kernels optimized for Server and OpenVZ (available from the repositories); · fast installation.
Download Sabayon Linux CoreCD 5.2 now from Softpedia.
Also on April 21st, Red Hat announced the availability of the first beta of the upcoming Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 operating system. With the RHEL 6 Beta, one of the most popular Linux offerings for the business environment is getting a significant update affecting all major areas and components. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 will be the first major release since 2007, when RHEL 5 came out. With so much time between releases, it’s understandable that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Beta comes with a big number of improvements and updates.
RHEL 6 Beta is optimized for efficient computing. Several power-management features have been implemented, enabling the system to use up as few resources as possible.
Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Beta 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.
Also on April 22nd, Canonical unleashed the Release Candidate (RC) version of the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system, due for launch at the end of this month. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS RC is now powered by Linux kernel 2.6.32.11.
The Release Candidate version of the upcoming Kubuntu 10.04 LTS operating system is built on top of the KDE Software Compilation 4.4.2 and includes the Amarok 2.3.0 music player, a polished system tray notification, better integration for Mozilla Firefox, Touchpad configuration support in System Settings, integration of GNOME apps in systray, and a good-looking installer!
Download Ubuntu 10.04 LTS RC right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a development release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only.
On April 23rd, Carsten Schöne announced the release of StressLinux 0.5.111, a minimalistic Linux distribution aimed at stress-testing PCs under the best conditions. This release brings a number of improvements and updates over the previous versions. StressLinux is now based on OpenSuSE 11.2 and most core packages have been updated in 0.5.111.
Highlights of StressLinux 0.5.111:
· BusyBox; · Supportutils - modified for StressLinux; · Stress; · Stressapptest; · CPU burn; · Nbench; · Hddtemp; · Lm_sensors; · Lshw; · Bonnie++; · Netio; · Nepim; · Netperf; · Iperf; · Smartmontools; · x86info; · Memtester; · Bandwidth; · Memtest86; · Memtest86+; · Tw_cli; · Arecacli; · Hpacucli; · Megacli; · Mpt-status; · Lsiutil.
Download StressLinux 0.5.111 right now from Softpedia.
On April 24th, Johnny Lee announced the release of the Macpup Opera 2.0 operating system. The frugal Linux distribution is based on the latest version of the popular Puppy Linux 4.3.1 and it features the Enlightenment e17 window manager and the Opera web browser. Macpup Opera 2.0 aims to take Puppy Linux’s best features while bringing the look and feel of a Mac on Linux.
Highlights of Macpup Opera 2.0:
· Based on Puppy Linux 4.3.1; · Linux kernel 2.6.30.5; · Opera 10.10; · Gimp 2.6.3; · D-Bus 1.2.16; · Enlightenment e17 .061.
Download Macpup Opera 2.0 right now from Softpedia.
· Touch interfaces are becoming an increasingly popular way of interacting with devices. It all started with the iPhone, more or less, but today, plenty of laptops support gestures through the touchpad. Apple notebooks have had multi-touch and gesture support for a while now, and Windows users also get to enjoy the feature. For Linux though, as always, this was problematic. Luckily, there is one glimmer of hope, Synaptics, the manufacturer of most touchpads found in laptops, has made the Synaptics Gesture Suite for Linux (SGS-L) available for OEMs. Read more about it here.
· On April 21st, Clement Lefebvre proudly announced the plans for the artwork of the upcoming Linux Mint 9 operating system. Dubbed Isadora, Linux Mint 9 will be based on the unreleased Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system and will include some new and beautiful artwork. The most important thing to mention is the fact that the window buttons in the title bar will remain on the right side! Read more about it here.
Video Clip of the Week: Macpup Opera 2....The Barber of Seville Returns..
· For this week, we've posted a 720p High Definition video clip that showcases the new features of the brand-new MacPup Opera 2.0 Linux distribution. The video has 8 minutes and 25 seconds, and it was posted by sneekylinux. Enjoy!
· GnackTrack Beta 1 · Kappa OS 1.0 · MeeGo 20100330-001
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· Salix OS 13.0.2 · PCLinuxOS LXDE 2010 · Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.5-6 · CDlinux 0.9.6.1 · MyWolfe 015
· 64 Studio 3.3 Alpha 2 · Yoper 2010 RC2 · Kubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS RC · Kubuntu 10.04 LTS RC · Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04 LTS RC · Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS RC · Edubuntu 10.04 RC · Mythbuntu 10.04 RC · Xubuntu 10.04 RC · Ubuntu Studio 10.04 RC · Easy Peasy 1.6 RC · Lubuntu 10.04 Beta 3 · Nexenta OS 3.0 Beta 3
See you again next Monday, May 3rd, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.