Zorin OS 2.0
Happy New Year! The first release announcement of 2010 belongs to the Zorin OS team which has just announced the release of Zorin OS 2.0, an Ubuntu-based distribution designed primarily for Linux newcomers: “We are proud to announce that Zorin OS 2.0 has been released. Zorin OS 2.0 is available in five different flavours: Zorin OS ‘Core’ which is the regular desktop edition; Zorin OS ‘Gaming’ which includes over 40 of the best open-source games; Zorin OS ‘Multimedia’ which includes over 40 extra multimedia applications; Zorin OS ‘Educational’ which includes many educational programs; and Zorin OS ‘Ultimate’ which has some of the best open-source programs around. Zorin OS Core is available to download and the other releases are available for purchase from the Store page.”
Here is the full release announcement.
Download: zorin-os-2-live-32.iso (1,379MB), zorin-os-2-live-64.iso (1,201MB).
Development Release: TinyMe 2010 Beta 1
Kaleb Marshall has announced the availability of the first beta release of TinyMe 2010, a Unity Linux-based minimalist distribution with Openbox: “I am glad to announce the release of TinyMe 2010 ‘Acorn’ Beta 1! TinyMe is a Unity-based distribution targeted at older computers and people who want a very light and fast desktop environment. Release notes: you will be automatically logged into the guest account when booting up the live CD; due to the lateness of the year, I decided to change TinyMe 2009 to TinyMe 2010; at this point, only an LZMA-compressed ISO images is offered. Features: Linux kernel 2.6.31.6, Pragha audio player, AbiWord – a light and fast word processor, Midori web browser….”
Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
Download: TinyMe-2010-Beta-1.i586.iso (199MB, MD5).
Sabayon Linux 5.1
Fabio Erculiani has announced the release of Sabayon Linux 5.1, a Gentoo-based desktop distribution with GNOME or KDE desktops: “The best, refined blend of GNU/Linux, coming with bleeding edge edges, is eventually here. Features: based on the new GCC 4.4.1 and glibc 2.10; ships with a desktop-optimized Linux kernel 2.6.31; provides extra server-optimized and OpenVZ-enabled kernels in repositories; installer now available in multiple languages; complete ext4 file system support; features X.Org 7.5 and up-to-date FLOSS, NVIDIA, AMD video drivers; containing GNOME 2.28 (with GNOME Shell) and KDE 4.3.4; outstanding 3D desktop applications (Compiz, Compiz Fusion and KWin)….”
See the release announcement for a complete list of new features and changes.
Download the KDE (K) or GNOME (G) edition for your preferred architecture: Sabayon_Linux_5.1-r1_x86_K.iso (1,936MB, MD5, torrent), Sabayon_Linux_5.1-r1_x86_G.iso (1,734MB, MD5, torrent). Sabayon_Linux_5.1-r1_amd64_K.iso (2,032MB, MD5, torrent), Sabayon_Linux_5.1-r1_amd64_G.iso (1,882MB, MD5, torrent).
SimplyMEPIS 8.5 Beta 2
Warren Woodford has announced the availability of the second beta release of SimplyMEPIS 8.5, a beginner-friendly Linux distribution based on Debian stable, but with updated KDE 4 desktop. From the announcement: “The rapid response of the Debian KDE team made it possible for us to recompile KDE 4.3.4 in time for this beta. And we were able to fix the perpetually problematic Python toolchain well enough that system-config-printer finally works. Also there have been numerous suggestions from the community; some are included now, and some will be in the next beta. The MEPIS artistic team made some tweaks to the theme graphics. To also improve the look, mepis-init has been changed to default to 24-bit depth display for most modern graphics drivers. We’re being cautious about this change, since we don’t want to make things worse for users with older graphics chips.”
Read the rest of the release announcement for additional notes.
Download: SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.94-b2_32.iso (696MB, MD5), SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.94-b2_64.iso (693MB, MD5).
pfSense 1.2.3
Chris Buechler has released pfSense 1.2.3, a specialist firewall distribution based on FreeBSD: “pfSense 1.2.3 is now available! This is a maintenance release in the 1.2.x series, bringing an updated FreeBSD base, some minor enhancements, some bug fixes, and a couple of security updates. We have been waiting a few weeks in anticipation of a FreeBSD security advisory for the SSL/TLS renegotiation vulnerability, which came last week and allowed us to finalize the release. Change list: upgrade to FreeBSD 7.2; embedded edition switched to NanoBSD; dynamic interface bridging bug fix; IPsec connection reloading improvements; dynamic site-to-site IPsec; sticky connections enable and disable; ability to delete DHCP leases; polling fixed; ipfw state table size; UDP state timeout increases….” Read the rest of the release announcement for a complete list of changes and enhancements.
Download: pfSense-1.2.3-RELEASE-LiveCD-Installer.iso.gz (55.2MB, MD5).
Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Alpha 1
Steve Langasek has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 10.04, code name “Lucid Lynx”: “Welcome to Lucid Lynx Alpha 1, which will in time become Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. New features: updated packages, Linux kernel 2.6.32, KDE 4.4 beta 1, HAL removal. Known issues: the nv driver used by default for NVIDIA video chipsets on the live CD is reported to lead to X server crashes; the firmware for the bnx2 driver is not available on the alternate and server installer images at install time; manual partitioning in the graphical installer is reported to cause the installer to crash; clicking on the installer icon on the Kubuntu desktop CD fails to launch Ubiquity; the Kubuntu alpha 1 desktop ISOs are too large to fit on a CD.”
See the release announcement and release notes for more details.
Download (SHA256): lucid-desktop-i386.iso (685MB, torrent), lucid-desktop-amd64.iso (690MB, torrent).
Also released today: Kubuntu 10.04 alpha 1 (download, release notes) and Xubuntu 10.04 alpha 1 (download).
Ubuntu Ultimate Edition 2.5
Glenn Cady has announced the release of Ultimate Edition 2.5, an Ubuntu-based live DVD in over 3 gigabytes – with GNOME, KDE, Xfce and thousands of applications: “Ultimate Edition 2.5 was built off Ultimate Edition 2.4 (Ubuntu 9.10 based), all upgrades pre-installed as of current. It has KDE, Xfce and GNOME, user-selectable at login, three new themes and tons of applications. This release is huge, obviously bigger then Ultimate Edition 2.4. I am not going to spend my time writing a web page, just a post, even though it is a very worthy release and deserves a web page. I have a lot on my plate in programming and other activities. It has been out about a week, forum users have been grabbing it left and right.”
For more information please see this brief release announcement.
Download (MD5): ultimate-edition-2.5-x86.iso (3,040MB), ultimate-edition-2.5-x64.iso (3,057MB).
Unity Linux 2010 Beta 1
Unity Linux is a Mandriva-based minimalist distribution with the Openbox window manager and Smart advanced package management tool. The project’s main goal is to provide a core operating system upon which more complete solutions can be built. The first public development release was announced earlier today: “The Unity Linux project is pleased to announce its first beta release, 2010 Beta 1. Mandriva-based Unity Linux uses the MkLiveCD project, which allows developers to create their own distribution on top of a Unity Linux core. Nearly 7,000 packages are available after installation. In an effort to give distribution developers maximum flexibility, the core is kept small and usable, but not too basic. Unity Linux provides developers with the bare minimum – just enough to make use of remastering tools, the Smart package manager, a 2.6.31.6 kernel, and RPM 5.”
Here is the full release announcement.
Download: Unity32-2010-Beta1.iso (261MB, MD5), Unity64-2010-Beta1.iso (298MB, MD5).
SimplyMEPIS 8.5 Beta 1
Warren Woodford has announced that the first beta release of SimplyMEPIS 8.5, a Debian-based desktop Linux distribution with KDE 4, is now ready for testing: “MEPIS has released SimplyMEPIS 8.4.90, the beta 1 of MEPIS 8.5. Warren Woodford reported on the progress in the 8.5 release cycle: ‘This beta includes a 2.6.32 kernel that is one patch short of the final. The next beta will probably contain kernel 2.6.32.1. We still use KDE 4.3.2 but we’re hoping we can leverage the dedicated efforts of the Debian KDE Team to update to a newer version soon. We’ve had a lot of input from users. We’re trying to tweak 8.5 to reflect their suggestions and preferences. In particular, our thanks go out to the community members who designed and tested a new desktop theme for 8.5.’”
Here is the brief release announcement.
Download: SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.90-b1_32.iso (693MB, MD5), SimplyMEPIS-CD_8.4.90-b1_64.iso (687MB, MD5).
BSD Release: FreeBSD 8.0
FreeBSD 8.0, a major new update of the popular operating system for servers, desktops and embedded devices, has been officially released: “The FreeBSD Release Engineering team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE. This release starts off the new 8-STABLE branch which improves on the functionality of FreeBSD 7.X and introduces many new features. Some of the highlights: Xen Dom-U, VirtualBox guest and host, hierarchal jails; NFSv3 GSSAPI support, experimental NFSv4 client and server; 802.11s D3.03 wireless mesh networking and Virtual Access Point support; ZFS no longer in experimental status; ground-up rewrite of USB, including USB target support; continued SMP scalability improvements in many areas, especially VFS; revised network link layer subsystem; experimental MIPS architecture support.”
Read the release announcement, release highlights and release notes for additional information.
Download (torrents): 8.0-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso.gz (1,784MB, SHA256, torrent), 8.0-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz (1,848MB, SHA256, torrent).
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