http://news.softpedia.com Softpedia News - Linux Softpedia News en-us 2001 - 2009 Softpedia. All rights reserved. Sun, 8 Nov 2009 10:52:57 GMT Sun, 8 Nov 2009 10:52:57 GMT News http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 10 http://www.softpedia.com/base_img/softpedia_logo.gif http://news.softpedia.com/ http://news.softpedia.com/news/Installing-Ubuntu-9-10-126370.shtml Ubuntu 9.10, also known as the Karmic Koala, arrived exactly on October 29, 2009 and is the eleventh release of Ubuntu OS. We've created the following tutorial to teach Linux newcomers how to install the Ubuntu 9.10 operating system on their personal computer. Therefore, it is addressed to people who have just heard about Ubuntu, those who have never installed Ubuntu before and want to test it, but don't know how.

The tutorial will make things very simple for you, but if you get stuck somewhere in the middle of the installation and you need help, do not hesitate to use our commenting system at the end of the article!

Requirements:

You will need the Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop ISO image that corresponds to your hardware architecture (i386 or amd64), and which can be downloaded from here. When the download is over, burn the ISO image with your favorite CD/DVD burning application (Nero, CDBurnerXP, Roxio) on a blank CD at 8x speed.

Reinsert or leave the CD in your CD/DVD-ROM device and reboot the computer in order to boot from the CD. Hit the F8, F11 or F12 key (depending on your BIOS) to select the CD/DVD-ROM as the boot device.

Select your language when asked...

[tablec][row][col][/col][/row][/tablec]
Select the second option "Install Ubuntu," and hit the "Enter" key...

[ta... (read more)]]> Fri, 6 Nov 2009 17:38:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Installing-Ubuntu-9-10-126370.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Installing-Ubuntu-9-10-126370.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Moblin-2-1-Has-3G-and-Bluetooth-Support-126210.shtml The amazing team of developers behind Intel's Moblin project, through Imad Sousou, proudly announced last night (November 4th) the immediate availability of the Moblin 2.1 operating system for Intel Atom-powered netbooks and nettops. In this release, users will find a new and powerful web browser, support for 3G data connections, Bluetooth support, an integrated application installer for Moblin Garage, an improved user interface and overall performance. Additional documentation has also been added in Moblin 2.1.

"The Moblin project steering committee today announces the project release of Moblin v2.1 for Intel Atom processor-based netbooks and nettops. This project release includes the broadest feature additions, customer requested improvements, and overall polish to date. [...] In addition to the various new features, this new version of Moblin includes several hundred bug fixes and incorporates feedback from users and the developer community. Much polish and performance improvement was accomplished within this release from the Moblin developers." - Imad Sousou, Moblin Steering Committee and director of Intel Open Source Technology Center, said in the official release announcement.

Highlights of Moblin 2.1:

· Linux kernel 2.6.31;
· Intel Linux video driver 2.9;
· ... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 13:36:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Moblin-2-1-Has-3G-and-Bluetooth-Support-126210.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Moblin-2-1-Has-3G-and-Bluetooth-Support-126210.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Scientific-Linux-5-4-Brings-Improved-Support-for-Wi-Fi-Networks-126189.shtml Connie Sieh and Troy Dawson announced last evening (November 4th) the immediate availability of Scientific Linux 5.4, a Linux distribution put together by various universities and labs around the world. Being based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 4, the new release of Scientific Linux brings improved support for Atheros wireless chipsets, the iwlwifi 5150 ucode firmware, lots of updated packages and numerous bug fixes. The iwlwifi 4945, 3945, and 5000 ucode has also been updated, and the Lua programming language has been added.

"We want to thank everyone who has contributed, tested, and given us feedback. We say that every time, but we really mean it. Without everyone's help and testing, this release wouldn't be as good as it is. Scientific Linux release 5.4 is based on the rebuilding of RPMS out of SRPMS's from Enterprise 5 Server and Client, including Update 4. It also has all errata and bugfixes up until November 1, 2009." - the Scientific Linux team said in the official release announcement.

Let's have a closer look now at the main packages that were updated in Scientific Linux 5.4:

· 915resolution 0.5.3-6;
· Alpine 2.00-2;
· AUFS 0.20090202.cvs-6;
· CFITSIO 3.100-1;
· DKMS 2.1.0.1-1;
· dropit ... (read more)]]> Thu, 5 Nov 2009 11:43:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Scientific-Linux-5-4-Brings-Improved-Support-for-Wi-Fi-Networks-126189.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Scientific-Linux-5-4-Brings-Improved-Support-for-Wi-Fi-Networks-126189.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Monomaxos-4-0-English-Edition-Released-126074.shtml Dimitris Papadatos proudly announced on November 3rd that the fourth edition of Monomaxos Greek operating system was now also available for English users! Being based on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), Monomaxos 4.0 comes as a 1.7 GB Live DVD and it offers out of the box support for HD (High-Definition) video files and any other multimedia content.

It contains lots of useful applications, such as OpenOffice.org 3.1, the XBMC Media Center, the MAME emulator (with more than 500 functional games), the Avant Window Navigator, and many more. Besides the various software packages, Monomaxos 4.0 provides lots of new drivers for various devices, and it can be easily installed from within the Windows operating system, thanks to the Wubi Installer. New artwork has also been added in Monomaxos 4.0.

Before you download (see link at the end of the article) and install the Monomaxos 4.0 Linux distribution, make sure that you meet the following recommended system requirements:

· 2 GHz X86 CPU;
· 512 MB of RAM (system memory);
· 5 GB of free hard drive space (or a 4 GB USB stick);
· Video card capable of 1024x768 resolution, with at least 64 MB;
· A modern sound card;
· Internet/Network connection.

About Monomaxos

Mono... (read more)]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:26:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Monomaxos-4-0-English-Edition-Released-126074.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Monomaxos-4-0-English-Edition-Released-126074.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mandriva-Linux-2010-Officially-Released-126020.shtml After Canonical showed off their latest operating system, Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), it is now time for another Linux mammoth to take the spotlight. In other words, Mandriva Linux 2010.0 was just released a few minutes ago, after two Alpha versions, one Beta and two Release Candidates, totaling more than four months of hard work. With this article, we are proud to present the new features that are included in the new Mandriva Linux release. Don't forget that Mandriva 2010.0 can be downloaded for free either as a Live KDE and GNOME CDs or a 100% Free DVD/Dual CD/Mini CD, for both i586 and x86_64 architectures (see download links at the end of the article).

Under the hood of Mandriva Linux 2010.0:

· Linux kernel 2.6.31;
· GNOME 2.28.0 desktop environment;
· KDE 4.3.2 desktop environment;
· EXT4 filesystem;
· X.Org 7.5;
· X.Org server 1.6.5;
· Moblin support;
· New artwork.

[tablec][row][col][/col][col][/col][/row][/tablec]

[tablec][row][col][/col][col][/col][/row][/tablec]

[tablec][row][col][/col][col][/col][/row][/tablec]

The Mandriva Linux 2010.0 feature tour:

· Improved boot performance - through various tweaks and hacks, the boot p... (read more)]]> Tue, 3 Nov 2009 20:11:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mandriva-Linux-2010-Officially-Released-126020.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mandriva-Linux-2010-Officially-Released-126020.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/KDE-4-3-3-Is-Available-for-Download-125990.shtml Dubbed Clockwork, the third maintenance version of the amazing KDE 4.3 desktop environment was released a few minutes ago by the KDE community. Bringing only translation updates and bug fixes to applications such Dolphin, Konqueror, KWin, KGeography, KLettres, KStars, KPat, Okular, KAlarm, KGpg, Okteta or JuK, KDE 4.3.3 is the next-generation KDE desktop environment for Linux, Windows and Macintosh platforms. With every release, KDE 4 is here to deliver the most modern, beautiful and attractive desktop environment!

"Like the ticking of a Swiss watch, every month the KDE team brings you a new release. November's edition of KDE is a bugfix and translation update to KDE 4.3. With the KDE 4 series picking up in popularity, we're happy to encourage even more people to give KDE 4 another spin -- or just upgrade your existing KDE to KDE 4.3.3. As the release only contains bugfixes and translation updates, it will be a safe and pleasant update for everyone." - was stated in the official release announcement.

KDE 4.3.3 offers smoother effects (that means no more visual glitches), while Juk's stability has been greatly improved and KDE PIM has received an important update. Moreover, all applications are in the process of being ported to the new Akonadi cache and storage!

Currently, the KDE 4.3.3 desktop environ... (read more)]]> Tue, 3 Nov 2009 14:09:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/KDE-4-3-3-Is-Available-for-Download-125990.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/KDE-4-3-3-Is-Available-for-Download-125990.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Linux-Weekly-Issue-69-125874.shtml Welcome to the 69th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

The following Linux distributions were announced last week: Endian Firewall 2.3, Toorox 10.2009, Ubuntu 9.10 and openSUSE 11.2 RC2. In other news: Nvidia releases the new 190.42 video driver for Linux users, now with support for OpenGL 3.2. For this week, we had the pleasure of reviewing the PS3 Media Server 1.10.5 application. We are also proud to announce gedit is the "Application of the Month" for October! The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released/updated last week and the development releases.


Summary:

[tablec][row][col]· Announced Distro: Endian Firewall 2.3 Includes Lots of New Features
· Announced Distro: Toorox 10.2009 Enables Desktop Effects for Many Video Cards
· Announced Distro: Ubuntu 9.10 Officially Released
· Announced Distro: openSUSE 11.2 RC2 Has Linux Kernel 2.6.31.5 and Firefox 3.5.4
· Other news: Amarok 2.2 Has a Completely New Look and Feel
· Application of the Month: gedit
· Review of the Week: PS3 Media Server 1.10.5
· Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu 9.10 3D Desktop Video Players
· New Distributions: Leeenux 1.2, Lots of TurnKey Appliances, ALT Linux School Servers,... (read more)]]> Mon, 2 Nov 2009 14:16:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Linux-Weekly-Issue-69-125874.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Linux-Weekly-Issue-69-125874.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Gedit-Don-t-Get-Tricked-by-Its-Simple-Looks-125672.shtml Every Linux user that has used the GNOME desktop environment must have had at least an encounter with its default text editor, Gedit. You start it up, and it looks like a simple notepad type application with a toolbar added on top. However, don't let yourself fooled by that simple appearance. If you know how to customize this application, it can be modified to serve almost any text exiting purpose, and you can even create an IDE-like environment.

With Gedit, it's not the general appearance that counts, it's all the little details that make a great application. As a programmer, I know that simple things like auto indentation and syntax highlighting can make your job much more easier. Gedit's can do syntax highlighting for quite a large number of programming languages or file formats, over 70 in fact. Also, the customizable tab width makes it easy to structure your texts, and the option to fill tabs with spaces makes it so much friendly to many environments in which your files could end up. The line numbers make it easy to collaboratively edit text files like source code, and along with the jump to line function it provides a way to refer and return to a certain section of the document without scrolling through to it.

Many text editors have trouble opening files that were created on other platforms, or with spec... (read more)]]> Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:41:01 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Gedit-Don-t-Get-Tricked-by-Its-Simple-Looks-125672.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Gedit-Don-t-Get-Tricked-by-Its-Simple-Looks-125672.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Doru Barbu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/openSUSE-11-2-RC2-Has-Linux-Kernel-2-6-31-5-and-Firefox-3-5-4-125685.shtml While everyone was celebrating the release of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), Joe Brockmeier proudly announced last night (October 29th) the immediate availability of the second and final release candidate of the upcoming openSUSE 11.2 Linux-based operating system. This last development version fixes some of the nasty bugs found in previous versions, updates various packages, and it is now powered by Linux kernel 2.6.31.5. Also, switching the package vendor between repositories has been improved.

"This is it folks! We’re almost there for openSUSE 11.2. Time to grab the final 11.2 release candidate and shake out any remaining bugs to get the lizard ready for release. This release includes an updated kernel, Samba, Firefox, and more. This release should be almost ready for the gold master stamp, but there’s still time to shake out remaining bugs. This release should not be deployed on production systems, but should be ready for early adopters and contributors who want to help with testing and development of 11.2." - Joe Brockmeier, the openSUSE community manager, said in the official release announcement.

[tablec][row][col][/col][col][/col][/row][/tablec][tablec][row][col]openSUSE 11.2 boot splashes[/col][/row][/tablec]
Highlights of openSUSE 11.2 RC2:

· L... (read more)]]> Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:06:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/openSUSE-11-2-RC2-Has-Linux-Kernel-2-6-31-5-and-Firefox-3-5-4-125685.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/openSUSE-11-2-RC2-Has-Linux-Kernel-2-6-31-5-and-Firefox-3-5-4-125685.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-9-10-Officially-Released-125578.shtml After six alphas, a beta version and a release candidate, we are pleased to announce that Ubuntu 9.10 is here, today (October 29th), available on mirrors worldwide (see the download links at the end of the article). It is our greatest pleasure to introduce you guys to the highlights of this new release dubbed Karmic Koala. It all began on February 20th, 2009, when Mark Shuttleworth announced the Karmic Koala operating system, the next major release of the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system. Ubuntu 9.10 is also the eleventh release of the Ubuntu OS and will be supported for 18 months on both servers and desktops.

Under the hood of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala):

· GNOME 2.28.1 desktop environment;
· Linux kernel 2.6.31.1;
· EXT4 filesystem;
· X.Org 7.4;
· X.Org server 1.6.4;
· Mesa 3D DRI 7.6;
· Compiz Fusion 0.8.4;
· Xsplash 0.8.4;
· New artwork.

The Ubuntu 9.10 feature tour:

· Improved boot times - Once again, the boot speed has been improved through various modern tweaks;
· New default filesystem - EXT4 is now the default file system for new installations;
· New boot loader - GRUB 2 replaces GRUB Legacy to support EXT4 file systems;
· Ne... (read more)]]> Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:11:02 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-9-10-Officially-Released-125578.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-9-10-Officially-Released-125578.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Toorox-10-2009-Enables-Desktop-Effects-For-Many-Video-Cards-125592.shtml Joern Lindau announced today the next release of Toorox, version 10.2009. This Gentoo-based Linux distribution features the KDE 4.3.2 desktop environment and many other updated packages, all running on top of the 22.6.31 Linux kernel and Xorg Server 1.6.5. The base install also comes with OpenOffice.org 3.2.1, Amarok 2.2, IceCat (Firefox) 3.5.3 and The VLC media player 1.0.2.

A special addition to the Linux kernel that Toorox uses is the Direct Rendering Manager, which is installed as a module and enabled by default. Its presence allows Intel, SIS and ATI Radeon video cards to display advanced window compositing effects without needing a proprietary driver. However, this may prove problematic to certain hardware configurations, and to avoid this the module can be disabled altogether by using the "nodrm" boot option. Other new kernel features include support for the EXT4 filesystem, which can be used for the root partition during installs, and the inclusion of Kernel Staging Drivers, supporting a larger set of hardware than the ones officially included in the kernel.

A few new features make life easier on laptops. The improved Systemconfig "LAN+WLAN" can now detect if your wireless card needs a firmware file to function, it will inform you about that requirement and you will be given the opt... (read more)]]> Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:21:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Toorox-10-2009-Enables-Desktop-Effects-For-Many-Video-Cards-125592.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Toorox-10-2009-Enables-Desktop-Effects-For-Many-Video-Cards-125592.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Doru Barbu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Endian-Firewall-2-3-Includes-Lots-of-New-Features-125484.shtml On October 27th, Christian Graffer from the Endian team proudly announced the immediate availability of the Endian Firewall Community 2.3 Linux-based operating system. The new version includes a lot of bug fixes, improvements and many new and breathtaking features. We, at the Softpedia Labs, took the 2.3 release for a test drive and, among the new features, we noticed the support for backups, a dashbord, the VPN support, the SNMP support, e-mail notifications, policy routing, QoS, intrusion prevention, and many more.

Highlights of Endian Firewall 2.3:

· USB backups;
· Encrypted backups via email;
· Scheduled backups;
· Dashboard (with live graphs and system/services statistics);
· E-mail notifications for upcoming events;
· Time-based access control lists for HTTP proxy;
· New HTTP proxy web interface (with user-based and group-based content filtering);
· Intrusion prevention (with configurable Snort rules);
· Policy routing rules;
· Better port forwarding;
· QoS (Quality of Service) – replaces the Traffic Shaping feature;
· Added support for SNMP;
· A better and easy-to-use SMTP proxy web interface;
· Support for VLAN (I... (read more)]]> Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:45:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Endian-Firewall-2-3-Includes-Lots-of-New-Features-125484.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Endian-Firewall-2-3-Includes-Lots-of-New-Features-125484.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Nvidia-190-42-Linux-Display-Driver-Has-Support-for-OpenGL-3-2-125389.shtml After quite a long development period, Nvidia finally decided to make Linux users happy again, by releasing a few minutes ago a brand-new and improved version of its graphics driver, Nvidia 190.42. As you see in the title, the big news is that Nvidia 190.42 now supports OpenGL 3.2. But, it also introduces support for the following video cards: GeForce G102M, GeForce GT 220, GeForce G210, GeForce G210M, GeForce GT 230M, GeForce GT 240M, GeForce GTS 250M and GeForce GTS 260M.

However, the above is not even close to what the new driver has to offer. Here are some of the most important new features in Nvidia 190.42:

· Newer Debian-based Linux distributions that use the /usr/lib32 path instead of the /emul/ia32-linux one, for the 32-bit library, are now detected by the Nvidia installer;
· More modes can now be validated by the Nvidia X driver, on GeForce 8 or later graphics cards;
· GLX support for OpenGL 3.2 was added;
· Added GLX_ARB_create_context_profile;
· Support for the IgnoreEDIDChecksum option was added, and it can be used to force the Nvidia X driver to accept an EDID if the checksum is invalid;
· GPU's fan speed configuration is now supported;
· Added support for decoding MPEG-4 Part 2, DivX 5 and D... (read more)]]> Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:01:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Nvidia-190-42-Linux-Display-Driver-Has-Support-for-OpenGL-3-2-125389.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Nvidia-190-42-Linux-Display-Driver-Has-Support-for-OpenGL-3-2-125389.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Linux-Weekly-Issue-68-125234.shtml Welcome to the 68th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

The following Linux distributions were announced last week: Fedora 12 Beta, CentOS 5.4, Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate and Elive 1.9.51. In other news: Novell releases the second beta version of the upcoming Banshee 1.6 player and Ubuntu 9.04 offering from Dell. An in-depth review of the KeePassX 0.4.1 application is also present in this edition. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released/updated last week and the development releases.



Summary: [tablec][row][col]· Announced Distro: Fedora 12 Beta Is Available for Download
· Announced Distro: CentOS 5.4 Arrives, Complete with Live CDs
· Announced Distro: Download Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate
· Announced Distro: Elive 1.9.51 Features Dynamic Filesystem Compression
· Other news: MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition, Happy Birthday, Ubuntu!, and more...
· Review of the Week: KeePassX 0.4.1
· Video Clip of the Week: Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) Release Candidate (RC) - review
· New Distributions: JULinux 0.1.4.7 and Slax Router 0.2
· Distributions Updated Last Week: Greenie Linux 5.1j, Berry Linux 0.99, TurnKey Live CDs, and more...
· ... (read more)]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:37:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Linux-Weekly-Issue-68-125234.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Linux-Weekly-Issue-68-125234.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Pre-Order-Ubuntu-9-10-Free-CDs-125086.shtml Only six days are left until the final release of Ubuntu 9.10 and, if you are anxious to get your hands on a very nice CD with the Karmic Koala operating system, then you should know that they can be pre-ordered from Ubuntu's ShipIt service, free of charge (a free account or an OpenID is required). It has started taking the orders a few days ago, so hurry up! However, Canonical wants you to consider downloading the release of Ubuntu 9.10 from the worldwide mirrors.

Also, if you want to spread the word about the Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) release, which will happen on the 29th of October, you can get two nice, animated countdown scripts and a static one to post on your website. Each day, the image will change, counting the days remaining until the release of Ubuntu 9.10. Choose your favorite right now from here!

For those of you who don't know yet, Ubuntu 9.10 is dubbed Karmic Koala and it will come with new artwork, the lightweight and powerful GNOME 2.28.1 desktop environment, which brings lots and lots of improvements in many areas, such as Empathy, Evolution, GNOME Control Center, GNOME Media, GNOME Power Manager, and many more. Karmic's kernel packages will be based on the latest version of Linux kernel 2.6.31, which will offer improved support for various webcams, wireless devices, and new filesystems. Moreover, a... (read more)]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:09:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Pre-Order-Ubuntu-9-10-Free-CDs-125086.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Pre-Order-Ubuntu-9-10-Free-CDs-125086.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Elive-1-9-51-Features-Dynamic-Filesystem-Compression-125077.shtml The Elive Team has announced earlier today the release of Elive 1.9.51, a new development version of this Debian-based operating system. One of the greatest features that have been added is the compressed filesystem that can help users with limited hard drive space to get the most out of their computer. The entire operating system will fit in 1GB, and the files that are created by the user will be automatically compressed, transparently and in real time.

The Shared Folders implementation has received many fixes and new features, and so did Virtual Private Network support, improvements that will come in handy for users dealing with corporate networks. Legacy applications that rely on the Open Sound System for audio output are better supported, in that category falling many games or other special purpose implementations.

Running in Live mode has been enhanced and a few problems have been fixed. Selecting Catalan in the boot menu now works as supposed, and running the system completely from RAM is now possible again. If you already have Elive installed, you can test this latest version without writing it to a CD. All you need to do is access your Administration menu, click "Upgrade Elive" and point it to the downloaded ISO image. Reboot your computer and, presto, you have the new version running. Thi... (read more)]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:37:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Elive-1-9-51-Features-Dynamic-Filesystem-Compression-125077.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Elive-1-9-51-Features-Dynamic-Filesystem-Compression-125077.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Doru Barbu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Ubuntu-9-10-Release-Candidate-124982.shtml With only one week left until the final release, Canonical unleashed a few minutes ago the Release Candidate version of the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system. As usual, we've downloaded a copy of it in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes in the Ubuntu 9.10 development. Oh, and once again, we would like to say Happy 5th Birthday, Ubuntu!

What's new in Ubuntu 9.10 RC? Well, this is the last development version of the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system and much of the new features that will be part of it were presented here on our website. Nothing really changed from the Beta release, except many bugfixes and lots of updated packages. But, there is a better login screen now, and some nice fade-in/fade-out animation to the boot splash.


As a little reminder, HAL has been replaced by DeviceKit-power, DeviceKit-disks and udev, in order to provide a better power management, better handling of the hotkeys on laptops and better handling of storage devices.

The kernel packages have been updated a lot in the last two weeks, and they are now based on Linux kernel 2.6.31.1. The old linux-restricted-modules package has been replaced by DKMS, and KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) is enabled by default for the owners of Intel's graphic cards.

Ubuntu... (read more)]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:41:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Ubuntu-9-10-Release-Candidate-124982.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Ubuntu-9-10-Release-Candidate-124982.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/CentOS-5-4-Arrives-Complete-With-Live-CDs-124975.shtml Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4.0 was released about a month and a half ago, and it was only natural for the CentOS developers to follow suit. Yesterday it was up to Karanbir Singh to officially announce the immediate availability of CentOS 5.4. This new release comes in i386 and amd64 versions and, unexpectedly, Live disks are also available for these two architectures. Previously CentOS Live CDs were built exclusively for i386 processors and they were usually made available a week or two after the main version was released. Notably, the amd64 LiveCD weighs in at 757MB, larger than a standard CD, so it requires higher capacity optical disks.

For CentOS 5.4 the upstream package repositories have been combined into a single one, making it easier for users to manage their software sources. External package repositories can be enabled during the installation, as this feature has been added to the distribution's installer. Also, starting with this CentOS version, fast-track rpm packages will be available in the distribution's fasttrack repository, which will be populated during the next few weeks. This also means that CentOS will have a functional yum-security setup, but more details on this subject will be released on the 15th of November, 2009.

Bug fixes created for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4.0 from its release... (read more)]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:41:01 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/CentOS-5-4-Arrives-Complete-With-Live-CDs-124975.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/CentOS-5-4-Arrives-Complete-With-Live-CDs-124975.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Doru Barbu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/IBM-And-Canonical-Team-Up-To-Create-Business-Oriented-Desktop-Software-124956.shtml IBM and Canonical launched yesterday a software bundle targeted at companies that packs productivity applications along with underlying system infrastructure in a well-integrated product. For it the two software creators have stacked the IBM Client for Smart Work, a collaboration and productivity package that was released just a month ago, on top of Canonical's well-known Ubuntu Linux operating system.

This is more of a solution for companies seeking to move to a newer platform, but that don't want to incur the associated licensing and migration costs, or the hardware upgrades that are necessary for a Microsoft Windows 7 implementation, as Bib Picciano, general manager, IBM Lotus Software, explains: "If a company is a 'Windows shop,' at some point it will need to evaluate the significant costs of migrating its base to Microsoft's next desktop [...] American businesses have asked for a compelling alternative that can help them free up PC expenses to use for more strategic collaboration and business transformation projects."

The software solution created by IBM and Canonical contains an office suite featuring word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications based on IBM Lotus Symphony, an e-mail client that is based on IBM Lotus Notes, the social networking and collabora... (read more)]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:07:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/IBM-And-Canonical-Team-Up-To-Create-Business-Oriented-Desktop-Software-124956.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/IBM-And-Canonical-Team-Up-To-Create-Business-Oriented-Desktop-Software-124956.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Doru Barbu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Introducing-LZMA-and-XZ-Compression-Algorithms-124883.shtml We've decided to write a little article about some recent compression algorithms found in various bleeding-edge Linux distributions, especially for newcomers to this open source and free operating system. We guess that some of you already know about the classic archive types, such as tar.gz or tar.bz2, which are mostly encountered whenever you get your hands dirty with Linux.

But today we will introduce you to two high-compression utilities: LZMA and XZ. Why? Simply because, you will definitely encounter in the near feature more and more tar.lzma or tar.xz archives, and you will either have no idea what they are and what to do with them, or you will not have the required packages to extract such archives.

Developed since 1998, LZMA (Lempel-Ziv-Markov chain-Algorithm) is a data archiving utility with a high-compression ratio. Yes, that means smaller archives! How small? Well, even if we can't provide a real benchmark for it, from our experience the outputted archives are two times smaller in some cases, compared with an old tar.gz archive. On the other hand, the XZ compression algorithm is much newer, is based on the Lempel-Ziv/Markov-chain compression method and it is designed to replace the LZMA package. That means, XZ is faster and it produces even smaller archives. But the best part is that it can als... (read more)]]> Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:01:02 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Introducing-LZMA-and-XZ-Compression-Algorithms-124883.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Introducing-LZMA-and-XZ-Compression-Algorithms-124883.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Happy-Birthday-Ubuntu-124827.shtml With only nine days left until Karmic Koala's official release, it's time to take a look into the past. Five years ago, on the 20th of October, 2004, Mark Shuttleworth and the "warm-hearted Warthogs" from the developer team announced the first official Ubuntu release. Version 4.10, code name "Warty Warthog," was only the first representative in a line of operating systems that were made by human beings for human beings, aiming to let normal people use Linux.

Let's take a quick look at when each of the Ubuntu versions was released, and what it brought new:

· Ubuntu 4.10 (Warty Warthog) - Released on the 20th of October, 2004
· Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) - Released on 8th of April, 2005
· Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) - Released on 13th of October, 2005
· Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) - Released on the 1st of June, 2006
· Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) - Released on the 26th of October, 2006
· Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) - Released on the 19th of April, 2007
· Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) - Released on the 18th of October, 2007
· Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) - Released on the 24th of April, 2008
· Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) - Released on the 30th of October, 2008
· Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) - Released on the 23r... (read more)]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:11:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Happy-Birthday-Ubuntu-124827.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Happy-Birthday-Ubuntu-124827.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Doru Barbu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Fedora-12-Beta-Is-Available-for-Download-124764.shtml The time has come for Fedora fans to test the Beta release of the upcoming Fedora 12 (Constantine) Linux distribution, announced a few minutes ago by the Fedora Project developers. This release is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.31.4, and it includes the KDE 4.3.2 and GNOME 2.28.0 desktop environments. Moblin support was also added in this release, as well as better power management, audio, webcam and video codec support. GNOME Shell is also available for testing, in the default software repository, and it will offer a preview of how GNOME 3 will look like. However, checking the feature list for Fedora 12, it appears that the developers completed all of them.

[tablec][row][col][/col][/row][/tablec][tablec][row][col]Fedora 12 Beta[/col][/row][/tablec]
Highlights of Fedora 12 Beta:

· Linux Kernel 2.6.31.4;
· Dracut, the new booting system;
· Plymouth graphical boot splash;
· KDE 4.3.2;
· GNOME 2.28.0;
· New artwork;
· Empathy Instant Messenger;
· Moblin support;
· Better webcam support;
· Spanning desktop support;
· Improved HD video codecs;
· Network Manager mobile broadband for GSM networks;
· EXT4 is the default filesystem;
· x86 op... (read more)]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:51:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Fedora-12-Beta-Is-Available-for-Download-124764.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Fedora-12-Beta-Is-Available-for-Download-124764.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/MontaVista-Linux-Carrier-Grade-Edition-Brings-Support-For-4G-and-LTE-Networks-124794.shtml MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition is an embedded development platform that allows telephone operators to implement systems that feature high reliability, availability and serviceability. The latest release of this platform builds a whole range of new features on top of a Linux Standard Base compliant system powered by the 2.6.21 Linux kernel.

One of the greatest improvements in MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition is the support for next-generation cellular wireless standards like 4G, a successor to the GSM and 3G standards, and LTE, the 3GPP Long Term Evolution. These new technologies promise increased network speed, in excess of 100Mbit/s for downloads, along with higher capacity nodes that will support a larger number of simultaneous users.

The OpenSAF integration opens the way for developers to integrate more open-source projects into their solutions, namely the OpenSAF middleware, a project that is backed by the many infrastructure market leaders, like Nokia Siemens Networks or SUN Microsystems. The in-built virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) capabilities enable the use of less pricey commercial off the shelf hardware for secure mobile phone or wireless networks and, at the same time, allows larger telecommunication operators to sell services to smaller carr... (read more)]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:01:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/MontaVista-Linux-Carrier-Grade-Edition-Brings-Support-For-4G-and-LTE-Networks-124794.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/MontaVista-Linux-Carrier-Grade-Edition-Brings-Support-For-4G-and-LTE-Networks-124794.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Doru Barbu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Linux-Weekly-Issue-67-124641.shtml Welcome to the 67th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

The following Linux distributions were announced last week: Dreamlinux 4.0 XFCE Edition, Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0r0, openSUSE 11.2 RC1 and LinuxConsole 1.0.2009. In other news: Novell releases the second beta version of the upcoming Banshee 1.6 player and Ubuntu 9.04 offering from Dell. An in-depth review of the LyX 1.6.4 application is also present in this edition. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released/updated last week and the development releases.



Summary: [tablec][row][col]· Announced Distro: First Alpha of Dreamlinux 4.0 XFCE Edition Released
· Announced Distro: Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0r0 Has EXT4 and GRUB 2
· Announced Distro: openSUSE 11.2 RC1 Puts the 2.6.31.3 Linux Kernel to Work
· Announced Distro: LinuxConsole 1.0.2009 Is Out
· Other news: Banshee 1.5.1, Dell and Ubuntu 9.04
· Review of the Week: LyX 1.6.4
· Video Clip of the Week: clicfs eats CPU on openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 8
· New Distributions: DigAnTel 1, Portable Linux 1.0 and VAST 2.71 Beta
· Distributions Updated Last Week: GParted LiveCD 0.4.7-1, Bee Linux 1.0.3, Puppy Linux 4.3.1, and more...
· Development Releases... (read more)]]> Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:32:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Linux-Weekly-Issue-67-124641.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Linux-Weekly-Issue-67-124641.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/LinuxConsole-1-0-2009-Is-Out-124514.shtml Thursday, October 15th, Yann Le Doare proudly announced the immediate availability of his LinuxConsole 1.0.2009 operating system, now powered by Linux kernel 2.6.30.5. The LinuxConsole distribution comes now in three main editions: CD, DVD and Multimedia, but the good news is that the LinuxConsole Jukebox is also available for those who want to build their own custom ISO images!

The LinuxConsole 1.0.2009 Multimedia Edition includes the following new features: Linux kernel 2.6.30.5, X.Org 7.4, IceWM window manager, ROX-Filer file manager, iDesk, Mozilla Firefox 3.5.3, Adobe Flash Player 10, MPlayer. This edition is about 200 MB in size and it was designed for your multimedia needs.

Based on the Multimedia ISO, the LinuxConsole 1.0.2009 CD Edition includes the GNOME desktop, the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS), The GIMP, the GCompris, the FooBillard and the Frozen Bubble.

On the other hand, the LinuxConsole 1.0.2009 DVD Edition is based on the CD one and includes the following extra packages: ATI Catalyst 9.9 video drivers for ATI cards, Nvidia 185.18.36 video drivers for Nvidia cards, VirtualBox 3.0.6, PlayOnLinux, Qjackctl + ardour 2 Qjackctl, Ardor 2, and many games, such as OpenArena, Warsow or TORCS.

Last but not least, LinuxConsole Jukebox is an online script that allows anyone to build t... (read more)]]> Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:46:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/LinuxConsole-1-0-2009-Is-Out-124514.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/LinuxConsole-1-0-2009-Is-Out-124514.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/openSUSE-11-2-RC1-Puts-The-2-6-31-3-Linux-Kernel-to-Work-124421.shtml While openSUSE 11.2 has been in development for quite a while now, today the developer team has made available the first release candidate of this operating system, as it nears its November 12 due date. In it you will find the Linux kernel version 2.6.31.3, GNOME 2.28 and PulseAudio 0.9.19 and Qt 4.5.3, to name just the more important packages that have received updates.

Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier, the openSUSE community manager, says in the official release announcement that "As the first release candidate for openSUSE 11.2, it should be almost ready for final release. However, there still are a few remaining known issues and the purpose of the release candidate is to discover any major issues before 11.2 final. It may not be suitable for production systems, but is ready for contributors who want to help with testing and development for 11.2."

The developers requested special feedback on USB drive booting, a new feature added to openSUSE 11.2. Even if this version is tagged as a release candidate, some important bugs still exist, like repository information being lost on update, the computer not rebooting when it is issued a restart command, boot errors and graphical interface inconsistencies.

Other important updates in openSUSE 11.2 RC1:

· Postfix 2.6.1
&m... (read more)]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:07:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/openSUSE-11-2-RC1-Puts-The-2-6-31-3-Linux-Kernel-to-Work-124421.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/openSUSE-11-2-RC1-Puts-The-2-6-31-3-Linux-Kernel-to-Work-124421.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Doru Barbu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Parsix-GNU-Linux-3-0r0-Has-EXT4-and-GRUB-2-124389.shtml Alan Baghumian proudly announced today the release of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0r0 (codename Kev), a Linux distribution based on Debian and designed for laptop and desktop users. In Parsix 3.0 everything is new, starting with the Linux kernel 2.6.29.6 (contains extra drivers and patches), GNOME 2.26.3 and continuing with the EXT4 filesystem and GRUB 2 bootloader, which is capable of detecting any other installed operating system. Parsix is an installable Live CD, therefore the developers put a lot of work into the new Parsix-Installer, which offers support for EXT4 (the default filesystem for new installations), GRUB 2 and separate Home partitions. For the Live CD, the UnionFS and Aufs are used, while the compression is provided by the SquashFS and LZMA packages. X.Org 7.4 has also been greatly improved in this release. The theme in Parsix 3.0 is also new and it is based on the Aurora GTK engine!

"We proudly announce the immediate availability of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.0 aka 'Kev.' Parsix Kev brings a vast amount of new features [...] Here we need to thank all community users and team members who helped us to make 'the best ever released Parsix' possible. Due to vast amount of changes and new default features in this version, it's highly recommended to do a CD-ROM update mode installation." Alan Baghumian said in the official rel... (read more)]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:24:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Parsix-GNU-Linux-3-0r0-Has-EXT4-and-GRUB-2-124389.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Parsix-GNU-Linux-3-0r0-Has-EXT4-and-GRUB-2-124389.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-9-10-Now-Available-on-Dell-Computers-124356.shtml Until now, Dell has been shipping Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) with its Linux computers and, frankly, this operating system is more than a year and a half old. Well, thanks to the Dell fanboys and girls who submitted requests to the IdeaStorm project, the computer manufacturer decided to honor its customers' requests and now you can get your Dell computer with a custom version of Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope).

If you plan to buy one of Dell's Studio XPS 13, Inspiron 15 or Inspiron 537 machines you will receive a copy of Ubuntu 9.04 preinstalled and ready for use. Unfortunately, the Mini 10 and 10v netbooks will not benefit from this upgrade, so they will be only available with Ubuntu 8.04 or, for the Mini 10v, with the special Ubuntu-based Moblin OS that was announced during the Intel Developer Forum.

Don't think that Dell just installed an off the shelf copy of Ubuntu 9.04 on its computers; its version has quite a few OEM enhancements added to it. This is what you will get:

· Cyberlink PowerDVD replaces LinDVD as the default DVD player. Also, the Fluendo MP3, WMA and WMV codecs are included and they will work with almost all media players.
· A custom recovery method is provided should you decide to restore the operating system to the state it was when it was shipped. This fu... (read more)]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:03:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-9-10-Now-Available-on-Dell-Computers-124356.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-9-10-Now-Available-on-Dell-Computers-124356.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Doru Barbu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Banshee-1-5-1-Supports-Palm-and-Samsung-Galaxy-Devices-124323.shtml Novell proudly announced on Tuesday, October 13th, the second beta release of the Banshee 1.6 media player. This new development version, also known as Banshee 1.5.1, brings some awesome features, such as an Auto DJ mode, three new shuffle modes, support for WebOS devices (like Palm) and support for the Samsung Galaxy Android phones. The Auto DJ feature appears to be the star of this release, and you should know that it will keep the Play Queue "busy." Among the new shuffle modes introduced, we can mention "Shuffle by artist," "Shuffle by album" and "Shuffle by rating." Another feature is the ability to keep the currently playing song selected and visible in the playlist.

Highlights of Banshee 1.6 Beta 2:

· The ellipsized ListView text received tooltips;
· The "Library" suffix was removed from the Video and Music sources;
· The ListView selection received a thin highlight for a 3D effect;
· The search box can be cleared with the ESC key;
· Added the --gconf-base-key command-line option;
· Added support for playlists on Android G1 mobile devices;
· Improved support for Rockbox-powered devices;
· Ability to sync the video folder on WebOS and Android mobile devices;
· The error message lab... (read more)]]> Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:52:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Banshee-1-5-1-Supports-Palm-and-Samsung-Galaxy-Devices-124323.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/Banshee-1-5-1-Supports-Palm-and-Samsung-Galaxy-Devices-124323.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor) http://news.softpedia.com/news/First-Alpha-of-Dreamlinux-4-0-XFCE-Edition-Released-124193.shtml The Dreamlinux team announced earlier today (October 13th) the immediate availability of the alpha version of the upcoming Dreamlinux 4.0 XFCE Linux distribution. This Xfce edition of the Dreamlinux operating system is a new project which tries to combine the good looks of the main Dreamlinux distribution with the speed of the Xfce 4.6.1 desktop environment, and it is also powered by Linux kernel 2.6.29. Without further introduction, here are the main features of Dreamlinux 4.0 XFCE Alpha:

· Linux kernel 2.6.29.3-dream-1;
· Xfce 4.6.1.2 desktop environment;
· Included packages from the Debian Squeeze software repositories;
· Added the Smart Package Manager software;
· Included various multimedia packages from the Debian Multimedia Testing repositories;
· The Engage dock was replaced by Wbar;
· Added a new "Applications Folder" for the DEM (Dreamlinux Executable Modules) packages;
· Added the popular and powerful SMPlayer package for all your audio and video needs (including HD playback);
· Added the Go_Steel GTK theme, based on the Aurora GTK engine.

Being in early development, there are some known issues in this alpha release. For example, there is no installer for the Nvidia video driver... (read more)]]> Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:30:00 GMT Softpedia News - Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/First-Alpha-of-Dreamlinux-4-0-XFCE-Edition-Released-124193.shtml Linux http://news.softpedia.com/news/First-Alpha-of-Dreamlinux-4-0-XFCE-Edition-Released-124193.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Nestor)