14 DAY TRIAL // The developer of GeckoLinux, a GNU/Linux distribution based on both openSUSE Leap and Tumbleweed operating systems, announced the release of a beta preview of the next stable GeckoLinux Static series.
It's been quiet lately for GeckoLinux, and it has to do with the merging of SUSE Studio with the Open Build Service (OBS) distribution development platform, which forced the developer to find an alternative build method of his distro. After a long search, it appears that Kiwi on VPS is the best method for GeckoLinux.
"The announcement of the merging of SUSE Studio with the Open Build Service forced me to look for an alternative build method because of the non-free software that GeckoLinux includes. After considerable trial and error, I am confident that Kiwi running on a VPS will be the best way forward," said the developer.
This will bring several enhancements to GeckoLinux, including a more reliable and smoother boot process, better hardware detection, persistence support for the live session so you can use the distro directly from a bootable medium without installing anything on your PC, boot splash screen support, and cleaner ISO generation process.
GeckoLinux Static to be based on OpenSuSE Leap 42.3
The upcoming GeckoLinux Static stable series will be based on openSUSE Leap 42.3 and feature to installers, one powered by latest Calamares 3.1.7 universal installer framework, and an older one from SUSE Linux, namely yast2-live-installer, which is recommended to those wanting a Btrfs system with Snapper integration.
Other noteworthy improvements coming to GeckoLinux Static include support for transferring files from iOS devices, out-of-the-box support for Nvidia GPUs, and all the latest updates from the openSUSE Leap 42.3 repositories. It also looks like you won't have to enter any passwords anymore for the live session user account.
GeckoLinux Static 423.171028 Beta with the Cinnamon desktop environment is available for download right now if you want to give it a try on your personal computer, though we recommend that you want a few more days for the final release to hit the streets and than update your installations or download the new, stable live images.