14 DAY TRIAL // Chakra Linux, a distribution especially built to take advantage of KDE Software Compilation and the Plasma desktop, is now at version 2013.03.
Chakra Linux 2013.03, dubbed “Benz,” follows the development of the KDE SC 4.10 series and a trend started by developers a while ago. They will be naming their releases after famous engineers.
One of the biggest changes in this version is the introduction of a netinstaller feature for Tribe (the installer). The users now have the option for a regular offline install, or install fully updated packages, starting with a minimal functional KDE desktop, and adding groups of packages to that minimal install as desired.
KDE SC has also been updated to a new version that was released just last week, 4.10.1. Over 100 bugfixes have been implemented in this version and they include improvements to the Personal Information Management suite Kontact, the Window Manager KWin, and others. KDE's Development Platform has received a number of updates that affect multiple applications
Highlights of Chakra Linux 2013.03:
• Kapudan has added launchers and improved systemd units activation handling; • GFXboot has improved keyboard options and for the artwork, the "Dharma Grub" theme is updated; • A lot of applications have been updated, including Glib2 2.34.3, Networkmanager 0.9.8.0, Iw 3.8, Libffi 3.0.12, Libnl 3.2.21, Db 5.3.21, and Apr 1.4.6; • Major applications have also been updated, including Calligra 2.6.1, LibreOffice to 4.0.1, Chromium 25.0.1364.160, and Firefox 19.0.2; • Steam for Linux has been added to the official repositories.
Only a couple of issues remain to be solved in the following version. The is no GUI for package management and Tribe's partition page is missing the Solid integration, needed to have automated partitioning and support for LVM, RAID, LUKS and the likes, which are necessary for a complete, modern installer.
Moreover, users can install a lot of additional applications from the repositories. A complete list of new features and updates can be found in the official announcement. Download Chakra Linux 2013.03 right now from Softpedia.