14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to the 123rd issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!
The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: Clonezilla 1.2.6-40, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Beta, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, OpenSuSE 11.4 Milestone 3 and Linux Mint 10. In other news: Hacker wins $3,000 for open-source Linux driver for the Xbox 360 Kinect device; Jolicloud introduces the Jolibook netbook. For this week we've also prepared an interesting review for the BottomFeeder 4.6 application. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.
Summary:
On November 9th, Steven Shiau announced the immediate availability of a new stable release of his system-cloning Linux distribution, Clonezilla 1.2.6-40. The new version is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.32-27, and it introduces a couple of important bugfixes, as well as many enhancements and changes.
Highlights of Clonezilla 1.2.6-40:
· Based on Debian Sid (2010/Nov/06); · Linux kernel 2.6.32-27; · Partclone 0.2.16; · Syslinux 4.03; · isolinux 4.03; · Live-boot 2.0.11-1.drbl1; · live-config 2.0.11-1.drbl1; · The "config" parameter is now used, instead of "live-config"; · Implemented a better mechanism in ocs-live-run-menu (everything can be put now in a single line, in the ocs_live_run boot parameter, without the need of ocs_live_extra_param); · Improved ocs-live-restore to shutdown the system when the "-p poweroff" option is used for the Clonezilla recovery iso/zip image; · Fixed failing restoring swap partition on GPT disks bug; · Users can now run commands with "=" and "," in ocs_prerun; · Fixed DNS query in initrd; · Fixed the "startpar: service(s) returned failure: x11-common ... failed" issue.
Download Clonezilla 1.2.6-40 now from Softpedia.
Also on November 9th, Red Hat announced the immediate availability of the first beta version of the upcoming Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 operating system. Besides the usual updates, improvements or bugfixes, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Beta is powered by a 2.6.18-229.el5 kernel, and it is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.
Highlights of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Beta:
· Updated Linux kernel to version 2.6.18-229.el5; · Updated Bind 9.7 for better support for DNSsec; · Updated PHP 5.3, which includes support for namespaces; · Added ebtables, an Ethernet layer firewall; · Added dropwatch, a network stack packet analysis software; · Added IPA fonts to support Japan JIS X 0213:2004; · Added sssd, an offline credential caching tool.
On November 10th, Red Hat proudly announced the immediate availability of the final and stable version of the powerful Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 operating system. This highly anticipated release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 includes lots of improvements and it is available for the i386, AMD64/Intel64, System z, and IBM Power (64-bit) architectures.
Highlights of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6:
· Improved graphical installer; · Support for new filesystems (EXT4, XFS, NFS, block discard); · LVM enhancements; · Better power management with powertop and tuned; · Improved PackageKit and Yum package managers; · Better support for clustering, with the Corosync Cluster Engine; · Enhanced security; · Network packet labeling and support for IPv6; · Suspend and resume functionality; · Support for multiple displays; · Nouveau video driver for Nvidia graphics cards; · Internationalization support; · KDE SC 4.3; · OpenOffice.org Office Suite 3.1; · Mozilla Thunderbird 3; · Mozilla Firefox 3.5; · Apache 2.2.15; · MySQL 5.1; · PostgreSQL 8.4; · Better documentation; · Enhanced C++ support; · Samba enhancements; · Full support for KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine); · Alternative PHP Cache (APC) support for PHP; · Added memcached.
On November 11th, Will Stephenson announced that openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 3 is available for testing. The preview build of the upcoming openSUSE 11.4 comes with a number of updated packages including the kernel as well as both the GNOME and KDE desktop environments.
Highlights of openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 3:
· Linux kernel 2.6.36; · GNOME 2.32; · Banshee 1.8; · KDE SC 4.5.3; · Arora 0.11; · LibreOffice 3.2.99; · Digikam 1.5.0; · Mono 2.8.
Download openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 3 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 November 12th, Clement Lefebvre announced the immediate availability for download of the final and stable release of the Linux Mint 10 operating system. Dubbed Julia, Linux Mint 10 is based on the recently released Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system, it features a Linux kernel 2.6.35, the GNOME 2.32 desktop environment, and X.Org 7.5.
Highlights of Linux Mint 10:
· Based on Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat); · Linux kernel 2.6.35; · GNOME 2.32.0; · X.Org 7.5; · New welcome screen; · Improved Mint Menu; · Improved Software Manager; · Improved Update Manager; · Improved Upload Manager; · New artwork; · Various system improvements.
Download Linux Mint 10 right now from Softpedia.
· The Kinect controller for the Microsoft Xbox 360 is very interesting gadget. While its purpose is to get more people playing and buying games, those who wouldn't otherwise be interested in gaming, a different set of people is very interested in the device, robotics enthusiasts and electronics geeks who see the potential of Kinect as a cheap sensor. Adafruit Industries, an open-source hardware manufacturer, offered a reward or $1,000 to the first hacker or team to provide a completely open-source driver for the peripheral. Read more about it here.
· This month, according to the Jolicloud developers, something big is going to happen in the world of little computers. Jolibook, will be a netbook device powered by the Jolicloud 1.1 operating system, it will have a next-generation N550 CPU, a 250GB hard disk, and a LED LCD monitor. Read more about it here.
Review of the Week: BottomFeeder 4.6
· Offline newsreaders are useful for reading news when Internet access is not available. Particularly when you're looking to actually read them instead of browsing through titles. BottomFeeder is such a tool,with one clear feature in mind: geeky simplicity.
Unless the BottomFeeder team considers us Linux users know-it-alls, I was a bit disappointed to see that the documentation for a Linux installation is absent in both the online or downloaded documentation files. This leaves us plenty to look for in future releases, particularly since the existing documentation is written in a rather friendly and careful style.
Read the entire review here.
Video Clip of the Week: Linux Mint 10 "Julia" New Menu Features
· For this week we've posted a 720p HD video clip about the Linux Mint 10 operating system. The new Linux Mint 10 "Julia" main menu allows users to install software from the menu, add GTK bookmarks, independently theme the menu and more. The video has 4 minutes and 15 seconds, and it was posted by beginusinglinux. Enjoy!
Distributions Updated Last Week:
· Myah Linux Dragon 3.1 · Ubuntu Mini Remix 10.10 · Salix OS Xfce Live 13.1.2 · Imagineos 20101103 K1 · Astaro Security Gateway 8.060 · IPFire 2.7 Core 41 · Pinguy OS 10.10 · LPS-Public 1.1.0 · Smeegol 1.0.3 Build 11.77 · Me-OS 1.0 · OpenHost OS 1.1 · simpleLinux Minimal 1.0 · openSUSE Medical 0.0.6 · ZevenOS 3.0
· Fusion Linux 14 RC · SimplyMEPIS 11.0 Alpha · Tiny Core Linux 3.3 RC3 · ConnochaetOS 0.8.9 Beta 1
See you again next Monday, November 22nd, for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.