14 DAY TRIAL // Zenwalk Linux 7.0 has been released. The latest update comes with a new Linux kernel, XFCE 4.8.1 and plenty of other updated packages. LibreOffice makes its debut in Zenwalk Linux 7.0 and HAL has been completely removed. There is also a package management revamp.
"Still desktop, Internet and multimedia oriented, Zenwalk 7.0 is a milestone in the evolution of the distribution. This release brings several major changes at user level and system level," Jean-Philippe Guillemin announced.
The biggest or at least the most visible change in Zenwalk 7.0 is the updated desktop environment.
Zenwalk 7.0 sports the very latest XFCE 4.8.1 which, after two years of development, brings quite a few improvements over the previous XFCE 4.6, a revamped panel with true transparency support, GVFS support in Thunar and plenty others.
Highlights of Zenwalk Linux 7.0:
· Linux Kernel 2.6.37.4 - with BFS scheduler and performance tweaks; · LibreOffice 3.3.1; · XFCE 4.8.1; · Icecat 3.6.15; · Icedove 3.0.4.
Another change is the switch to LibreOffice to replace OpenOffice.org. It's a switch that mirrors that of most major Linux distros that have moved from the now Oracle-run OpenOffice project to the community driven LibreOffice fork.
Finally, udev and GIO have now replaced the deprecated HAL which has been dropped altogether.
"We also changed a little bit the way we manage packages, you may have noticed that we no longer provide a 'current' repository," Zenwalk explained.
"We had to find a solution to make package management safe and clear for the average user : from now, for each version of Zenwalk, we will provide a versionalized repository including extra packages, where all packages are 'certified compatible' with the given version," it added.
Zenwalk Linux 7.0 is available for download here.