14 DAY TRIAL // Welcome to our 5th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly! In this edition, you can read about: the new face of Launchpad, Atheros is the first vendor to release free wireless drivers to the Linux community, Debian releases its fourth maintenance version, Nvidia introduces support for GeForce 8600 GS video cards for Linux users in its new drivers, and Mandriva 2009 Beta 1 offers you the possibility to test the new KDE 4.1, which can also be installed on Ubuntu 8.04 in only two easy steps with our tutorial. Also, don't forget to check out the Linux distributions released last week, at the end of the article!
Summary:
Last weekend, a miracle happened, as Atheros Communications announced the free availability of the ath9k Linux driver for IEEE 802.11n wireless devices. "The ath9k driver comes shortly after Atheros hired two key Linux wireless developers - Luis Rodriguez and Jouni Malinen. [..] We have been informed Atheros does plan to add access point support to ath9k and to work with the community to enhance and complete access point support in the Linux kernel. It is understood there is plenty of work required on the wireless stack to complete full access point support. Jouni Malinen will help drive this process within the community while Luis helps enhance regulatory compliance in the Linux kernel." - the MadWifi team. The free wireless driver released by Atheros will work with the following chipsets:
? AR5418+AR5133 ? AR5416+AR2133 ? AR5416+AR5133 ? AR9280 ? AR9160 ? AR9281
The ath9k driver will be included in future versions of the Linux kernel. Until then, you can get the sources right now from Softpedia and compile them yourself. Read more about it here.
The Debian project announced the immediate availability of the forth maintenance release for its stable distribution, Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (codename Etch). Debian 4.0r4 brings support for some newer hardware components, corrects about 30 miscellaneous bugs, updates more than 100 packages, and fixes a handful of system issues.
Debian 4.0r4 introduces for the first time support for hardware components, which requires updated drivers. Named "Etch and a half," the Debian team wanted to demonstrate their enormous dedication to their users, and they decided to update various core packages in the stable release of their Debian Linux distribution (Etch). In other words, if you upgrade your Debian 4.0 (Etch) system (including r1, r2 and r3 revisions) to this fourth maintenance release, the Linux kernel packages will be updated from 2.6.18 to 2.6.24, along with some X Server and Wireless tools ones.
Download the Debian 4.0r4 right now from Softpedia.
Canonical officially announced the new face of Launchpad, a major hosting platform for open source projects. Those who spend a significant amount of time on Launchpad must have noticed the new interface a couple of weeks ago, which, by the way, is easier to use and more intuitive. Launchpad 2.0 makes the collaborative development faster and more flexible than ever, allowing users to integrate their projects more easily. Among the major features brought by Launchpad 2.0, we can notice:
? A simpler and easier to use web interface ? Code reviews ? Mailing lists ? Integration with Trac and Bugzilla
"Launchpad was conceived as a nexus of collaboration for Open Source projects to make them more efficient to build, easier to collaborate on and more open to innovation from community participation," - said Mark Shuttleworth, CEO, Canonical. Read more about it here.
Mandriva announced the first beta release of Mandriva 2009, which brings KDE 4.1, GNOME 2.23.5, Firefox 3, and the final version of Linux kernel 2.6.26 with tethering support for Windows Mobile 5+. Also, in this beta, the old bootsplash is finally replaced by Splashy and the synce framework makes its first appearance, which brings synchronization support for Windows Mobile 2003 devices.
The following features could be part of Mandriva 2009, scheduled for release on October 9, 2008:
? Linux kernel 2.6.26 ? GCC 4.3 ? GNOME 2.24 ? KDE 4.1 ? Firefox 3.0 ? OpenOffice.org 3.0 ? revamped installer ? improved boot speed ? improved DKMS (Dynamic Kernel Module Support) management ? improved language selection ? implementation of the PolicyKit and PackageKit technologies ? improvements to the Mandriva Windows Migration and Parental Control utilities ? Live Upgrade (same as Ubuntu's update-manager tool) ? initscript improvements ? Splashy will replace the actual boot splash ? Lots of desktop improvements
Download Mandriva 2009 Beta 1 right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a beta release and it should NOT be installed on production machines.
KDE 4 is the next generation of the popular K Desktop Environment, which seeks to fulfill the need for a powerful yet easy-to-use desktop, for both personal and enterprise computing. KDE 4.1 was finally released on the 29th, and it comes with a lot of innovations for the Linux desktop. The new version also provides increased stability over the first KDE 4 version and more eye candy!
If you don't want to download an OpenSuSE-based KDE 4.1 Live CD or to wait until a stable distribution is released with KDE 4.1.0 as the default desktop, we will teach you how to install it on your existing Ubuntu 8.04 or 8.04.1 LTS desktop. Read our popular tutorial about how to install KDE 4.1 on Ubuntu 8.04 here.
Nvidia decided to make the Linux users happy again, by releasing yet another bugfix version of its graphics driver, Nvidia 173.14.12. But, besides the bug fixes, the new version brings support for GeForce 8600 GS video cards.
Let's take a quick look at the three bugs fixed in this new version of the Nvidia video driver. The first bugfix is related to an issue with some missing rendering in OpenGL Workstation Overlays, the second one resolves a display problem that occurred when switching the virtual terminal or running some SDL programs, and the third bugfix resolves a potential crash in nvidia-settings (this occurred when someone wanted to save the modifications to the X configuration file, xorg.conf).
Read more about it here.
Helping the colorblind, we released another tutorial at the end of last week. This time, it was about How to Install the Colorblind Applet on GNOME. Color blindness, sometimes called daltonism, is mostly a color vision deficiency. Colorblind people can't tell the difference between some chromatic colors and as far as I know there are no tools on Linux OSes that can help them distinguish the hues. I use Ubuntu, and the colorblind applet is part of the gnome-mag package, but for some reason (and I have no idea why) the developers didn't include it in the distro. So, basically, we?re gonna recompile the gnome-mag package with the colorblind panel applet. The tutorial was tested on Ubuntu 8.04.1 with GNOME 2.22.3 and can be found here.
Distributions Updated Last Week:
? Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 Beta 2 ? OpenWrt 7.09 ? Linux LiveCD HotSpot Server 2.0.29 ? Astaro Security Linux 7.260 Beta ? Red Hat Enterprise 4.7 ? KDE 4.0 Live CD 1.1.0 ? Puppy Linux 4.1 Alpha 5 ? Frenzy Linux 1.1 RC1 ? Parsix 1.5r1 ? ClarkConnect 4.3 RC3 ? Absolute Linux 12.1.06
New Distributions Released Last Week:
? DCL 2008 ? Hurt Me Plenty 0.1 ? NOP 4.0r1 ? Fire Hydrant 3.01c ? wNOP 0.2