Parallel Knoppix 2.8 has been released

ParallelKnoppix is a remastered edition of KNOPPIX that allows setting up a cluster of machines for parallel processing using the LAM-MPI and/or MPICH implementations of MPI. Getting the cluster up and running takes less than 15 minutes, if the machines have PXE network cards. Starting from version 2.2, the distribution is based on Debian's unstable branch, rather than KNOPPIX.

ParallelKnoppix (PK) is a fast and easy way to create a HPC cluster for parallel computing. It is designed to be easy to use for people new to parallel computing, but it is also suitable for serious work.

PK is normally used as a "live CD", but it can also be used very productively from your usual operating system, through virtualization. The PK master node can be booted in a virtual machine, then you can network boot other computers to make a real (nonvirtual) Linux cluster in minutes. The cluster is ad hoc, it does not install anything to any of the computers it runs on. This way, when you shut down the cluster, the machines are in their original state. Getting the cluster up and running takes about 5 minutes.

PK gives you a cluster of machines ready for parallel processing using MPI. The openMPI, LAM-MPI and MPICH implementations are installed and ready to use. Examples for C, Fortran, GNU Octave (using MPITB) and Python (using parallelpython, mpi4py and pyMPI) are ready to run. Both 32 bit and 64 bit versions are available. If you have only 64 bit machines, use the 64 bit version. If you have only 32 bit machines or a mixture of 32 bit and 64 bit machines, the 32 bit version is what you need.

Why should you be interested in parallel processing? Do you happen to have a dual core CPU? Would you like to get both cores working on the same problem? If so, parallel processing could be useful to you.

You can download PK at here.

BlueWhite64 Linux Mini Live Edition

The developers of Bluewhite64 Linux, a Slackware-based distribution for 64-bit processors, have announced the availability of a new "miniLive" edition of their product, BlueWhite64 Linux 12.0 Mini Live.

Bluewhite64 Linux 12.0 miniLive (257MB) runs entirely from CD or USB stick and includes packages from Bluewhite64 Linux 12.0, the updated packages from the patches directory and a few custom created one. The miniLive was created using Linux Live scripts 6.1.5 and uses the AuFS (another unionfs) and Squashfs LZMA.

Features:

  • SMP Linux Kernel version 2.6.23.8
  • X.org 7.2
  • KDE 3.5.8
  • IA32 emulation (run 32-bit CLI and GUI programs)

Internet:
  • Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.9 (flash ready) and Konqueror (Java ready) web browsers
  • Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 and Kmail 1.9.7 email clients
  • Pidgin 2.2.2 multi-protocol Instant Messaging client
  • Xchat 2.4.2 IRC chat program
  • Ktorrent 2.2.3 BitTorrent client
  • Akregator 1.2.8 RSS feed aggregator

Graphics
  • Gimp 2.4.1 Image Editor
  • Kuickshow 0.8.13 Image Viewer
  • Kpdf 0.5.8 PDF Viewer
  • ksnapshot 0.7 Screen Capture Program

Multimedia
  • Mplayer 1.0.0-rc2 Movie Player
  • Noatum 2.10.0 Media Player
  • K3B 1.0.4 CD& DVD Burning

Office
  • Koffice 1.6.3
  • Kword - Word Processing
  • KSpread - Spreadsheets
  • Kpresenter - Slide Presentations

Package manager
  • Swaret 1.6.3 (CLI)
  • QtSwaret qtswaret-0.1.5.3 (GUI)

and many more!

Download this mini Live CD at here or at here.

Pioneer Linux 3.0.2 has been released

Technalign, Inc. announced today the release of the final release candidates of the latest versions of Pioneer Basic and Pioneer Explorer. Pioneer Basic and Explorer are LiveCDs that allow users to test the operating system before installation.

Pioneer Basic has a 7-year lifecycle while Pioneer Explorer is geared towards people who require a stable operating system in the community without support. Technalign is announcing that the Explorer line will now provide a 3-year lifecycle, while it's new Warrior release will take the place of Explorer as the new test bed. Pioneer Stagecoach includes both a full workstation and server functionality and is a perfect learning tool.

The Pioneer Explorer and Renegade offerings include the LinSpire CNR client preinstalled. Technalign requests that users testing CNR report any issues that may occur with this pilot. Also included is Nero Linux 3 preinstalled, which offers Blue Laser technology for those with the proper media installed. Nero requires a registration and may be purchased on the Pioneer e-commerce system.

"These versions of Pioneer Basic and Explorer remain a downstream from Ubuntu" Dianne Ursini, CEO, explained. "Pioneer Warrior will be released in the first quarter of 2008 allowing the transition of Pioneer Explorer, Renegade and Basic to move into a new direction."

The current final release candidates all use KDE, which has a simpler interface for Windows users to transition to Pioneer. It is expected that Renegade will be released early next week with a Gnome interface to meet the community demand for a different interface. No decisions have been made as of yet to include the Gnome desktop as a Basic offering wrapped with support.


You can download Pioneer Linux by visit here.

Devil Linux: Live CD Firewall


Devil-Linux is a CD-based Linux distribution for firewalls and routers. The goal of Devil-Linux is to have a small, customizable and secure Linux. The future of Devil-Linux will go far beyond an ordinary router, it will provide a lot of other services, but the distribution will still be easy and fast to maintain.

Features:

* Boots from CD
Traditionally Devil Linux boots from a CD-ROM which is read-only by nature. This means an intruder will not be able to install i.e. an "ordinary" root kit.

* Boots from USB pendrive
As all movable parts in your computer, the CD-ROM is prone to failure. This is the reason why we provide a script to install the entire system on an USB pendrive. Note: You need a computer which is able to boot from USB harddisks, in order to use this feature.

* Configuration is saved on a floppy disc or on a USB Flash Media
Due to the read-only nature of CD-ROMs, you need a place to save your configuration files. This can either traditionally be on a floppy disc or on a USB flash media (like a pendrive), to increase the reliability.

* Configuration can be burned on CD
There are cases when you have to ensure that the configuration can't be modified. This is the reason why we provide the feature for loading the configuration archive from the (read-only) CD-ROM.

* No need for a harddisk although it can optionally be used for data storage
Most distributions need a harddisk for data storage, with DL this is completely optional. Reasons for adding harddisk data storage would be, i.e. when you use DL as your mail server or for file sharing. DL uses dynamic disc configuration via the Logical Volume Manager, which makes adding and maintaining the harddisk storage easy (regardless if you have only 1 GB or 1 TB of data).

* Support for Intel 486 and higher
Got some old boxes in your bone yard? For most internet connection an old computer is enough to play the role of your Firewall, this is the reason why we still support 486 CPUs. But we're not stuck with old technologies, we also provide you a version vor 686 CPUs with SMP support.

* IPTables/Netfilter Support
State of-the-art firewall functionality is provided by IPTables/Netfilter, which includes features like connection tracking. Devil-Linux adds many more Netfilter modules then you find in your standard Linux Kernel.

* Create your own, customized version with our Build System
Since everybody has different requirements, Devil-Linux provides you with an easy-to-use build system, which enables you to create your own customized version. You can i.e. only add the packages you need on your machine or even add features which are currently missing in the mainstream version.

* Directly supported by Firewall Builder
Don't like writing your Firewall rules by hand? Get Firewall Builder and use a great GUI tool to create your ruleset. Firewall Builder supports writing the rules directly onto your configuration floppy.

* No graphical desktop
Devil-Linux has not support for i.e. X-Server. This greatly reduces the requirements to run DL and also greatly increases security by reducing the number of running programs. (Try this on Windows...)

* Almost all binaries are compiled with the GCC Stack Smashing Protector
Except of a very few exceptions, all binaries are compiled with the GCC Stack Smashing Protector. Applications written in C will be protected by the method that automatically inserts protection code into an application at compilation time. The protection is realized by buffer overflow detection and the variable reordering feature to avoid the corruption of pointers.

* Improved Kernel Security through GRSecurity
GRSecurity adds several new features and protection mechanisms to the Linux Kernel itself. This includes Chroot restrictions (did you know that it is easy to break out of a non-protected chroot jail?), Address space modification protection (like PAX), Auditing features, Randomization features and much more.

* Easy to use chroot
Devil-Linux has support for chroot jails which is easy to use. Just define what you need in a configuration file and our jail script will take care of the rest. Some pre-defined configurations are already available.

Applications for Devil-Linux

The traditional application for Devil-Linux is to use it as Router/Firewall. Below you see a list of other possible applications:

Proxy Server, DNS Server, Mail Server with TLS support and Spam and Virus filtering, HTTP Server, FTP Server, File Server, VPNs with X.509 support, DHCP Server, NTP Server, IDS Node.

You can download Devil Linux from here.

Musix Linux Live CD 1.0 R3 has Released


Musix GNU+Linux is a KNOPPIX-based live and installation CD with a large collection of free audio software.

It released the “Musix GNU+Linux 1.0 R3 test2” Live-CD, a testing version produced on the basis of the stable version 1.0 R2 and the reports about test1. Musix is based on Knoppix and Debian/Stable.

English is now the default boot language and new functionalities were added, for instance: automount of CDs, DVDs and USB memories, or the "install" boot argument. Now you can install Musix by typing "english install" or "knoppix lang=en install" or "xorgmusix lang=en install" at the first "boot:" screen.

Video edition and graphic design applications have been moved towards the Live-DVD version that will be out in a few days, but Musix 1.0 R2 Live-CD will have them forever.

Fundamental programs have been updated since Musix 1.0 R2: Ardour 2.0.5, Jackd 0,103, or Solfege 3.6.4. New packages were added: Firefox 2.0.0.3 (iceweasel) aMSN 0.97rc1 or Gnumeric, turning Musix into a friendlier system for general users.

Its software repository now contains LMMS 0.3.0, which can handle native VST plugins. You can download the ISO of Musix Linux at here.

Enjoy it!

ArtistX: The Multimedia Linux has come


ArtistX is a live DVD which turns a computer into a full multimedia production studio. It is based on Debian GNU/Linux and contains nearly all the available free audio, 2D and 3D graphics, and video software for the GNU/Linux computing platform. It doesn't need to be installed, and boots directly into a running system without touching hard drives.

The files produced with ArtistX can be easily stored on USB devices or CD/DVD medium while it is running. If you want to install it please take a look to our documentation to the ArtistX Installation Manual (Live DVD section).

ArtistX 0.4 is ready for download. Now comes in two flavours (Gnome and KDE) and both include the Powua Client and Powua Tutorials. Powua is the Super Internet Computer and has been created to speed up CPU-intensive tasks. For example you can realize an animation with Blender and directly from ArtistX upload and render it on Powua (more info on the Powua Wiki and in the DVD).

ArtistX is based on the Debian Live Initiative and includes the 2.6.22 Kernel, Gnome 2.20 , KDE 3.5.7 (both versions ship with both Desktop Environments ) and includes about 2500 free multimedia software, nearly everything that exists for the GNU/Linux environment.

You can find these apps on ArtstX:

  • 2D Graphic Software: Gimp (experimental version), Inkscape, Nip2, Krita, Cinepaint, Synfig, Rawstudio, Skencil, Hugin.
  • 3D Graphic softwares: Blender, Wings3D, Kpovmodeler + Povray 3.6, K3D.
  • Video softwares: Cinelerra, Kino, Openmovieeditor, Kdenlive, Pitivi, Avidemux, Devede, and many others.
  • Video and Music players: Mplayer, Helix Player, Videolan, Xine, Kaffeine, Kmplayer, LastFM and many others.
  • Music software: PD and externals, Rosegarden, Ardour, TerminatorX, Cecilia/Csound, Gnusound, Mixxx and many others.
  • On the DVD you can find about 2500 multimedia softwares, practically everything made for the GNU/Linux platform.
You can download ArtistX at : HTTP or FTP.



Pie Box: The Mini of RedHat


Pie Box Enterprise Linux 4 is aimed at people who need a stable OS with a long lifespan but don't want an expensive bundled support contract. It is derived from open source software with only four packages modified in order to replace trademarks and logos with our own. Features of Pie Box Enterprise Linux 4 include the Linux 2.6 kernel, SELinux, GNOME 2.8, Samba 3.0, Logical Volume Manager 2, PCI Express support and NFSv.4.

Pie Box Enterprise Linux is a Linux distribution that is derived from the open source software made available by Red Hat, Inc. It is built from the source RPMs of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Only a small number of packages are modified in order to remove Red Hat's trademarks from relevant images and to skip the RHN registration step immediately after installation.

All other packages remain unchanged from those released by Red Hat and there are no packages added or removed. This results in a product that is fully compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The updates and repository service is very similar to the up2date service offered by Red Hat, Inc. It is a subscription-based service under which errata are distributed that have been compiled from source RPM packages that have been released by Red Hat, Inc.

Update 6 of Pie Box Enterprise Linux 4 was made available today. This update includes the following enhancements:

  • New kernel features including ability to disable out of memory killer
  • Driver updates including aacraid, adp94xx, bonding, bnx2, cciss, dell_rbu, e1000, ehea, forcedeth, ibmveth, IPMI, ipr, iscsi-sfnet, lpfc, megaraid_sas, mptfusion, OpenIB, qla2100, qla2200, qla2300, qla2322, qla2400, qla2xxx, qla3xxx, qla4xxx, qla6312, s2io, sdio, sym53c8xx and tg3
  • Drivers added arcmsr, cxgb3, e1000e, netxen, pata_jmicron and pata_pdc2027x
  • Samba upgrade from 3.0.10 to 3.0.25
  • Updates to lvm2, NFS performance metrics, diskdump support, gdm, alsa, WPA Supplicant driver, PAM module, Microcode, automounter
  • Technology previes including autofs5, evolution 28, frysk, gcc4, systemtap
Download Pie Box at here.

Pardus 2007.3 Lynx has released


Pardus 2007.3 codenamed Lynx is out and ready for download. Pardus comes with internet tools, office suite, multimedia (picture, music, video, etc) players, games and numerous applications populated in a single CD to answer needs of desktop users.

Pardus is a GNU/Linux distribution funded and developed by the Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey. Pardus has a range of unique features, such as Mudur, a start-up framework of Pardus to speed up the boot process, and PiSi, an efficient package management system with a user-friendly graphical interface.


Whats New in this release:

  • Network manager can detect your own wireless profiles and automatically switch to one of them.
  • Package manager is more polished now. Many bugs in bug tracker have been fixed.
  • Pardus installer "YALI" now asks questions first, and then· installs the system.
  • KDE is updated to 3.5.8. All-in-one office suite OpenOffice.org is now version 2.3. K3b, CD/DVD burner application version is upgraded to 1.0.4.

Zenwalk Live 4.8 Live Has Released


The Zenwalk Live Team presents Zenwalk Live 4.8. This new release features the speed, stability and usability of Zenwalk Gnu/Linux with several new features geared towards Linux Live CD users. From the beginning our goal was to make this the best Live CD ever and it makes us proud to offer it to the world.

Zenwalk GNU/Linux is a modern, user-friendly and fast operating system that provides the user with software that gives a full multimedia, development, office and desktop environment ready for both work and play. Zenwalk Live takes these same great features, makes them extremely portable and then adds new features such as system recovery tools as well as software to build your own Live CD.

New or improved features of Zenwalk Live include automatic wide-screen resolution adjustments, the ability to read and write to the ntfs file system, a LiloFix gui tool, wireless free drivers and much, much more. This release also comes complete with enhanced localization and user guides translated in more languages than ever before so that you feel right at home, no matter where you are as you learn all of its features and just what this thing can really do for you.

Weighing in at under 500 MB, this baby packs a punch! Whether you are a sysadmin, a long time Zenwalk Live user, curious about Linux or are always on the go this Live CD is for you. It's a pocket full of Zen, ready anytime and anywhere!

Download the ISO of its Live CD at here.

Finnaly, Daryna came to date me (Linux Mint 4.0)


As my last post about the beta release of Daryna, now, the final release of Linux Mint 4.0, code name "Daryna" has released. Daryna, based on Celena and compatible with Ubuntu Gutsy and its repositories. Daryna is using Gutsy's package base (kernel 2.6.22, Gnome 2.20, OpenOffice 2.3, Thunderbird 2.0...etc).

What's new in Daryna

1. mintUpdate

With mintUpdate you can now get automatic updates without compromising the stability of your system. Updates are assigned a security level which indicates how safe they are for you to apply. MintUpdate also brings you more information about the updates and the risks involved in applying them.

MintUpdate is also highly configurable and you decide which levels you want to see and which you want selected by default. The implementation of mintUpdate in Daryna follows the decision to remove the Ubuntu Update Manager in Celena because it didn't give enough information about updates and assumed all updates were without risk for the user's system.

2. mintInstall & the Software Portal

MintInstall and the Software Portal were already available in Cassandra and Celena. Even though they were better alternatives than Click'n'Run, APTURL, PBIDir or the new SUSE initiative they failed to be noticed both by the press and by our own community. We asked ourselves why and came to the conclusion that their presence had not been made obvious enough. In Daryna, you can now interact with mintInstall without starting from the Portal. A link was added directly in the System menu. And a new frontend to mintInstall now allows you to search the portal directly from your desktop. mintInstall itself was also made more intuitive and improvements were made to its interface. In the backend, mintInstall now also relies on Synaptic and brings improvements on how it handles downloads/installations of packages and hotplugging of repositories.

A lot of popular software is already available for Daryna, for instance:
Opera, Google Earth and Skype.

Visit the Software Portal and don't hesitate to use the forums to request any piece of software you would like to see added.

3. mintDesktop improvements

mintDesktop got major improvements in terms of usability and now has an extra-feature which lets you restore the default splash-screens coming with Linux Mint for OpenOffice, Gimp and Amarok.

4. Liberation Fonts

Linux Mint now includes the Red Hat Liberation Fonts, consisting of three sets of fonts: Sans (a substitute for Arial, Albany, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, and Bitstream Vera Sans), Serif (a substitute for Times New Roman, Thorndale, Nimbus Roman, and Bitstream Vera Serif) and Mono (a substitute for Courier New, Cumberland, Courier, Nimbus Mono L, and Bitstream Vera Sans Mono).

5. Compiz Fusion

Credits go to Xorg, Compiz Fusion and Ubuntu for bringing us the best 3D effects available and activated out of the box in Daryna.

6. Upstream improvements

  • Improvements made in Linux Mint 3.1 Celena
  • Upstream improvements in Gnome 2.20
  • Upstream improvements in Ubuntu 7.10
  • Upstream improvements in the Linux kernel 2.6.22

7. New repository structure

Linux Mint is now using pinning between its own repositories and Ubuntu/Medibuntu repositories.

Packages are now organized in a modular way which allows users to select how they pin between the two distributions:
  • Main: Packages being developed by Linux Mint. (example: mintinstall)
  • Community: Packages being developed by the Linux Mint Community. (example: sunbird-mint)
  • Upstream: Ubuntu packages patched by Linux Mint. (example: firefox)
  • Import: Packages coming from 3rd party sources. (example: envy)
  • Backport: To allow optional backports for older releases.


Daryna is ideal for desktop using:
  • Out of the box multimedia support
  • Microsoft Windows Integration (Dual-boot, NTFS read/write support, Migration Assistant)
  • One-Click install system (Linux Mint Software Portal, mintInstall)
  • Easy file-sharing (mintUpload)
  • Desktop features, Control Center, mintMenu
  • 3D Effects
  • Great configuration tools
  • Great selection of default applications (OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Gimp, Pidgin, XChat, Amarok..etc)
  • Solid package base (Google Earth, Picasa, Skype.. a lot of important software present in the repositories or in the Linux Mint Software Portal, compatibility with all Ubuntu Gutsy repositories and most Debian packages)
You can download Daryna at here.

T2 SDE 7.0 RC2 has Released

T2 is an open source system development environment (or distribution build kit if you are more familiar with that term). T2 allows the creation of custom distributions with bleeding edge technology. Currently, the Linux kernel is normally used - but we are expanding to Hurd, OpenDarwin and OpenBSD; more to come.

T2 started as a community driven fork from the ROCK Linux Project with the aim to create a decentralised development and a clean framework for spin-off projects and customised distributions.


T2 SDE is not just a common Linux distribution - it is a flexible Open Source System Development Environment or Distribution Build Kit (others might even name it Meta Distribution).

T2 allows the creation of custom distributions with state of the art technology, up-to-date packages and integrated support for cross compilation. Currently the Linux kernel is normally used - but the T2 SDE is beeing expanded to Minix, Hurd, OpenDarwin, Haiku and OpenBSD - more to come.

You can download this new release at here.

PCFluxboxOS: Mini of PCLinuxOS

PCFluxboxOS is a light-weight, PCLinuxOS-based distribution with Fluxbox as the window manager. PCFluxboxOS is a beautiful little remaster series of PCLinuxOS with Fluxbox as the window manager.

PCFluxboxOS gives you all the power of PCLinuxOS through Synaptic and the Control Center, whilst delivering a lightning fast operating system, even on older hardware.

There is a remaster in the series for all users from TinyFlux with a carefully considered selection of applications so that memory usage is kept to a minimum right up the giant G-Flux and K-Flukx (formally FullFlux) for a full-on Linux experience. Each remaster has the same polished and modern 'look and feel'.

Fluxbox presents a unique desktop experience. Whilst it is often used in 'light-weight' distros because of it's low memory print, beneath the surface it is actually quite powerful. This Wiki provides some useful tips and links to get the most from your PCFluxboxOS experience.

PCFluxboxOS is a series of remasters of PCLinuxOS catering for different end-user needs. All the following remasters are installable live-CDs and all come with the i586 'Legacy' Kernel 2.6.18.8 for increased compatibility with older hardware. Newer kernels can be installed via Synaptic.

TinyFlux 1.0 Final out now!

At long last the first stable TinyFlux release, version 1.0, is now available for download.

It will be recommended to perform a clean install of TinyFlux 1.0 - this means formatting your / and /home partitions. It will not be possible to upgrade any of the test releases to the final version. However, you will be able to keep TinyFlux 1.0 up to date using Synaptic for the foreseeable future.

Features:
A minimal desktop experience within a tiny ISO of 235MB.
Ships with the legacy 2.6.18.8 kernel for ultimate compatibility with older hardware. Newer kernels, including 2.6.22.10 will be available as a Synaptic upgrade just as soon as they move out of testing status into the main PCLOS repos.

Main applications:
AbiWord (word processor); Netscape browser (inc Flash 9); Sylpheed (e-mail); Thunar (file manager); Audacious (XMMS/WinAmp clone); gThumb and mtPaint (image viewing/manipulation); Brasero for CD/DVD burning; Synaptic (package manager); PCLOS Control Centre; guided installer.

The GlorySimplex GTK theme and the Oxygen Refit icon theme give TinyFlux a polished, modern appearance!


DSL 4.1 First Release Candidate


The first release candidate of Damn Small Linux v4.1 is now available.

Heres the change log for v4.1RC1:

  • New boot option user=name
  • New boot option settime (settime=its_server_name) must have boot time net access. Use with tz=XX/Yyyyy for accurate local time.
  • New mini-icons in jwm mydsl menu when available.
  • New iconView.lua - View & Edit xpm icons.
  • Updated torsmo to v0.18 - now supports noswap
  • Updated .dfminfo now a plain text file.
  • Updated processing order of extensions with .tar.gz now last to better support myconf.tar.gz
  • Root menu solely under user control - defaults to selected window manager menu.
  • Added 'toram' to frugal installed grub checkfs menu item.
  • Updated several murgaLua programs to reflect the dropped fl_ask GUI widget.
  • Dropped SWM - Small Window Manager.
  • Fixed System.map link error.
  • Better support for alternate window managers. - see /opt/.mydsl_menu/ and ~/{wm}.inc
  • Streamlined MyDSL download procedure - dropped use of sudo and download location prompt.
  • Dropped unsued emelfm wrapper.

And many, many programs, files, and their locations have changed to support the new user=name option and the window manager processing support. Most noteably .filetool.lst and .xfiletool.lst are now under /opt.

Btw, you can download this release at here.

Vector Linux Standart 5.9 RC 1 has released


The Vector Linux founder, Robert Lange has announced the first release candidate of VectorLinux 5.9.

Vector Linux is a small, fast, Intel based Linux operating system for PC style computers. The creators of Vector Linux had a single credo: keep it simple, keep it small and let the end user decide what their operating system is going to be.

What has evolved from this concept is perhaps the best little Linux operating system available anywhere. For the casual computer user you have a lightening fast desktop with graphical programs to handle your daily activities from web surfing, sending and receiving email, chatting on ICQ or IRC to running an ftp server.

The power user will be pleased because all the tools are there to compile their own programs, use the system as a server or perhaps the gateway for their home or office computer network. Administrators will be equally as pleased because the small size and memory requirements of the operating system can be deployed on older machines maybe long forgotten.


As said in its release notes of Vector Linux 5.9:

"We are proud to release the RC1 of VectorLinux 5.9 standard. We should not be to far away from a final at this point. We want to be looking at the overall usability of this release and where we can make improvements in the user experience. This includes squashing remaining bugs and improving the package mix. With this release we updated Firefox, SeaMonkey, Opera and the GIMP to their latest. We improved on the artwork (subject to discussion) and added a few software selections to balance the usability. We did some major code clean-ups to the init system and udev for faster boot-up and shut-down speeds. The development team is very pleased with this release we think you will be too."
You can download the ISO of this release at here.


BLAG Linux, a Mini Fedora Linux

BLAG is a Linux distribution based on Fedora Core and reduced to one CD. It includes useful applications missing from Fedora Core (e.g. mp3, p2p, apt, etc...), as well as a suite of graphics, Internet, audio, video, office, and peer-to-peer file sharing applications. BLAG is up-to-date with all Fedora errata fixes at time of release and uses synaptic for easy upgrades. The name stands for Brixton Linux Action Group, which works to overthrow corporate control of information and technology through community action and to spread Free Software.

BLAG is a 100% Free Software distribution with all the tools you want from a desktop computer, plus more. It comes on a single CD, is easily installed, and user friendly. Power users have the resources of a repository that combines bits from Fedora, freshrpms, Dries, ATrpms, livna, Planet CCRMA, and our own special brews.

BLAG 70000 (sugarwater) is a new series with a new base (F7) and many new applications. It is released under the GNU GPL v3.

Featuring all of the applications below on JUST ONE CD. Burn copies and hand them out! It's got it all. Did I mention it's all on just one CD?

inkscape
enabled with inkboard so you can collaboratively work on drawings with other users via the Internet using jabber!

Audio players
"listen", is a cool app that integrates playlists, album covers automatically, lyrics, wikipedia lookups, group playlists, everything. Audacious replaces xmms.

mplayer & xine
Two top-notch video players, plus mencoder to re-encode audio and video

DVD Ripping
Well, that's what it does. Thoggen! So easy to use, straight to theora format. For CDs, there's the venerable grip.

audacity
Edit soundfiles with a lean, easy to use, but powerful sound editor.

Pidgin
Handles jabber, AOL, MSN, IRC, ICQ, Yahoo, and other Instant messaging networks--all in one program. Includes encryption and "off the record" plugins for privacy.

Firefox
The famous web browser, of course

Thunderbird
Nice email client

streamtuner
Tune into streaming radio stations on the 'net! Plus with streamripper, you can record 'em.

MuSE
Or instead of just listening, broadcast your own station with MuSE and icecast! Free music is even included.

kiax
Make VoIP (IAX2) phone calls and play with BLASTERISK.

Miro
Very cool Internet TV program. Download high-quality shows straight to your hard drive. Don't settle for little windows in a web browser! :)

Package/Application Management
Both yum and apt are available with pirut and synaptic GUIs. Download from our repo of over 9,000 free packages.

Gnome
User friendly yet powerful, Gnome is the main desktop that BLAG is built upon. Fluxbox is on the CD too....

games
A few of those even....

GIMP
Edit photos & images, put Bush's head on anything you want, have at it...

Peer-to-peer
Bittorrent and a gnutella client, sitting right there on the CD waitin' for you.

Blogs
Get blog or any other RSS feeds with liferea, gpodder for audio blogs, and gnome-blog for uploading your own blog posts.

gnome-translate
Conveniently translate text or websites.

Document Layout
scribus for anything from pamphlets to long books!

Office slock
abiword a lightweight word processor, gnumeric lightweight yet powerful spread sheet, and glabels does its job so well.

GCC

Server bits
apache for webserving, vsftp ftp server, and postfix for SMTP. Openssh's server is included, along with a dhcpd server and xinetd.

kernel
CD has kernel-2.6.22.9-91.fc7. BLAG 70k is compatible with i686 (~Pentium II or greater) processors. BLAG disables SELinux by passing selinux=0 to the kernel boot line. :)

So freakin' much
And even more in the online repository. Thousands of more applications are available with a few clicks. No cost, yo.

Yes, all this is on one CD! 700 megs of Free Software.

For installation instructions you can view at this wiki, and the ISO of BLAG can be downloaded at here.

Put in the CD, hit enter at the boot: prompt, and answer the few questions. :)

Alternately, if you want to ERASE EVERTYHING on your hard drive and do an automated install, you can type: blagblagblag at the boot: prompt of the initial screen of the CDROM. This makes installation fast and easy for computer labs, recycling centers, etc.

Enjoy !

StartCom Enterprise Linux AS-5.0.1 is Available


Now, StartCom Enterprise Linux AS-5.0.1 is available. StartCom Linux is using the latest in open source technology and with its known stability, reliability and security allows for mission-critical server deployments. This update release provides improved support for virtualization - the running of multiple instances of operating systems on one physical hardware unit.

The Global File System (GFS) provided in AS-5.0.1 allows the building and maintaining of high availability computer clusters, mainly used for data centers. Depending on the installation preferences, StartCom Enterprise Linux can function as server platform or as an advanced client workstation.

  • The new Xen 3.1.0 hypervisor makes the running of multiple virtualized server instances with its performance improvements and live-migration support for fully virtualized guests more efficient and reliable. The benefits of server virtualization are consolidation, increased utilization, an ability to rapidly provision and start a virtual machine, and increased ability to dynamically respond to hardware failures by moving a virtual machine to different hardware.
  • The enhanced usability of the desktop applications makes AS-5.0.1 also an excellent choice for client and development workstations. Many well known products such as Firefox, OpenOffice and Eclipse IDE are provided already during installation as possible options. OpenGL driven 3D Desktop is included in the default selection.
  • New kernel features include EXT3 filesystem sizes of up to 16 TB, updated CIFS filesystem and improved ACPI power management support. Other improvements includes addition of smartcard support for SSH, SMB update for improved interoperability, PAM/Kerberos and NSS-LDAP updates for improved integration in Active Directory environments. VLC cross-platform media player which was added from our Extras repository supports a large number of multimedia formats and can also be used as a streaming server, with extended features like video on demand (VoD) and on-the-fly transcoding.

StartCom Enterprise Linux AS-5.0.1 codenamed "Kishuf" is available for Intel i386 and AMD x86_64 architectures. DVD ISO images can be downloaded for free. Alternative installation options via network or harddrive are also available.


Racer: a Very Nice Free Linux Racing Games.

Racer is a free car simulation project, using real car physics to get a realistic feeling. Cars, tracks, scenes and such can be created with relative simplicity in mind (compared to other driving simulations). The 3D and other file formats are, or should be, documented. Editors and support programs are also available to get a very flexible and expandable simulator.



It uses OpenGL for rendering. It attempts to do well at the physics section, trying to create life-like cars to emphasize car control and doesn't cut back on realism in the interest of fun. If you've played Grand Prix Legends from Papyrus, you'll know what I'm talking about.

General Features:

  • It's totally free! (for non-commercial use)
  • Available for multiple platforms; Windows 2000/XP (95/98/ME may work but have some trouble with fonts), Linux and Mac OS X.
  • 6 DOF chassis movement (the car can move around freely); around 15 DOFs in a total car (wheels/engine/clutch etc).
  • Uses motion formulae from actual engineering documents from SAE for example.
  • Incredible flexibility; almost everything is customizable through ASCII files.
  • Commercial-quality rendering engine (with smoke, skidmarks, sparks, sun, flares, vertex-color lit tracks).
  • Support for Matlab (log files can be converted into Matlab format for further analysis & processing).
  • Support for Matrox' Surround Gaming. See the corresponding page on Matrox' site.
  • Lots of addon cars and tracks available on the web (over 100 tracks & cars).
  • Easy integration of your own cars and tracks that you create in ZModeler, 3D Studio Max(tm), Maya etc.
  • At least 15 degrees of freedom for a regular car (6 DOF for the car body, 1 for each wheel's vertical motion and 1 for each wheel spinning, and 1 for the engine, several more for the driveline). Depending actually on how many wheels you put on the car.
  • Real-time internal clock; no physical dependency on framerate. Controller updates are also done independently of the framerate.
  • Not limited to 4 wheels; anything from 2 to 8 wheel vehicles are currently supported (but mostly untested, and some problems with hardcoded differentials for example may exist (v0.5.0)).
  • Not much constraints on the track data; surface info is taken from polygon data (VRML tracks), and splines are used to smooth out the track surface (polygons are too harsh for driving on just like that).
  • Tools to modify the cars & tracks are freely available on this site (though some external utilities like 3D Studio Max are recommended for best results).
  • Some used algorithms are explained on this site, so this site can be interesting to learn from if you create your own car simulation software. Also, links and references are available.




Physics Features:
  • Full 6 degree of freedom motion of the car chassis.
  • Independent suspension for all wheels.
  • Suspension features: springs, dampers, anti-rollbar, rollcenter, anti-pitch.
  • Wheel features: camber, wheel hop (the wheels have mass), toe.
  • Tires: Pacejka tire model, relaxation length.
Graphics Features:
  • View frustum culling for increased framerate.
  • Shader system for Quake-style rendering.
  • Fog definable per track.
  • Environment mapping for shiny materials.
  • Live track environment mapping.
Feel free to compare this game with other free linux racing games as can view on my last post about this.

Btw, you can download Racer for Linux stable version at here and the new beta version at here. Enjoy!


gOS: The Google OS?


gOS is an Ubuntu-based distribution using a heavily modified Enlightenment window manager. gOS 1.0.1 is a simple, user friendly, beautiful desktop for normal people.

"We're creating an OS ecosystem that is complete. We come with all the software you need to browse the web, email, instant message... play movies, music, and connect to iPods... create and edit documents, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, images... out of the box. Plug and play!", said its author.

gOS recommends Google for just about everything... Gmail, Gtalk, Calendar, Maps, Docs and Spreadsheets, and more. We'd like to welcome you to the idea that Google already is your "operating system."

In the media, it was often presented as a "Google OS", but the project's web site states that gOS is not affiliated with Google in any way. Even so, the distro developers are clearly enamoured with Google applications and services, which form an integral part of the gOS experience. The computer and the OS are meant to attract less technical computer users, but its low-end specifications suggest that it might be too sluggish to be really enjoyable. Still, it's hard to beat the price!

gOS thanks the Ubuntu 7.10 community and Enlightenment community for their contribution to gOS and the world. Our dedicated team and passionate community of volunteers are commited to bringing our alternative OS to the masses... so people everywhere can enjoy a third, more affordable and attractive choice when shopping for a computer. To get ahead of ourselves, we're saying goodbye to closed software and the digital divide.

Download gOS at here.

Fedora 8 RC 3 Released on the Torrent site


Fedora 8 Release Candidate 3 has been released on the torrent site. Both DVD and Live images have been provided. Getting them now is actually an excellent way of beating the release rush on Thursday; as pointed out by Max Spevack, these RC3 images are as good as final - at least in terms of configuration of package repositories. That's because until Thursday, users running the RC3 builds will still receive updates from the "rawhide" directory, but as soon as Fedora 8 is out, they will be automatically and seamlessly redirected to the stable tree. Just a little user-friendly touch by the Fedora development team.

Unless something goes terribly wrong, these will be the same bits (modulo gpg signed SHA1SUM files) that will go to the mirrors for the final Fedora 8 release.

As the Fedora 8 Release Candidates have come out in the past few days, Jesse made the change to fedora-release to have it point to the /releases/8/ directory instead of /development/ because that is how it has to look for the final release of Fedora 8.

That /releases/8/ directory isn't active yet, because Fedora 8 hasn't been released yet. But our mirrors currently have a redirect that points over to Rawhide. On Thursday, it is a trivial operation for Jesse to take that redirect away. Then the Fedora 8 directory is active -- people can install, we can push updates, etc. Separately, Rawhide can then be opened back up for Fedora 9 development, and a new fedora-release package that configures yum to look back at Rawhide will be placed in it. People who want Rawhide can install that package or tweak their yum repository files and be off and running.

What's the point of all of this?

It makes the upgrade path as hands-off as possible. Chances are that if you installed a Test release of Fedora or a Release Candidate, you want the final version of the release when it is available -- you don't want to stick on Rawhide.

By altering the default settings in fedora-release at the right time, and also by using redirects, the Release Engineering team can achieve this affect without requiring the user to change anything.

So if you have installed one of the Test versions of Fedora, you are already all set up the way you need to be. Your machine will "become" Fedora 8 at the right time.

Compared to the project's previous release, Fedora 8 feels like a relatively minor upgrade, but it does ship with a few interesting features up its sleeve. One of them is PulseAudio, a new sound server:

"PulseAudio is a next generation sound server for Linux, making all sorts of 'ear-candy' possible: from dynamically changing the volume of individual applications to hot-plugging support for many different devices. Fedora 8 is going to be the first distribution to ship and enable PulseAudio by default and with this in mind we talked to Lennart Poettering who is the upstream and Fedora developer of PulseAudio and Avahi about the work he has put into this."

pfSense 1.2 Release Candidate 3 has released


pfSense 1.2 Release Candidate 3 has released. pfSense is a small, FreeBSD-based firewall and a m0n0wall-derived operating system. It uses Packet Filter, FreeBSD 6.x (or DragonFly BSD when ALTQ and CARP is finished), ALTQ for excellent packet queuing, and an integrated package management system for extending the environment with new features.

Here are just a few of the new improvements and features that have made their way into this new version:

* IPSEC Carp rules cleanup
* IPSEC stability worksarounds for > 150 tunnels
* Only reload webConfiguration from System -> Advanced when cert changes
* Increase net.inet.ip.intr_queue_maxlen to 1000 which is the IP input queue.
* Do not allow sticky connection bit to be set if pppoe is enabled. Ticket #1319
* Disable firmware upgrade for embedded and cdrom and suggest using the console option to upgrade. Ticket #1433
* Recompile MPD with MSS/dial-on-demand patches (also fixes idle timeout bug) Obtained-from: http://svn.m0n0.ch/wall/tags/release-1.3b3/build/patches/packages/mpd.patch
* Fix CP not sending Acct-Session-Time to Radius during accounting update Ticket #1434
* Work around heavy network activity issues. [20070116, update 20070212] Systems with very heavy network activity have been observed to have some problems with the kernel memory allocator. Symptoms are processes that get stuck in zonelimit state, or system livelocks. One partial workaround for this problem is to add the following line to /boot/loader.conf and reboot: kern.ipc.nmbclusters=”0″
* Bump lighttpd to 1.4.18
* Show wireless nodes regardless if we can deterimine BSS value.
* IPSEC tunnel endpoint highlighting in system logs
* Show the IPSEC interface as a option for the traffic graph.
* Add RRD Settings page.
* Make it possible to disable RRD graphs. Bump config so it’s on by default if it wasn’t already.
* Correctly set reflection timeout for all protocols.
* Restart snmp services after LAN IP changes Ticket #1453
* Bump miniupnpd version to RC9 -add multiple interface support
* Speedup ARP page by using diag_dhcp_leases.php page code for parsing the dhcpd.leases file
* Relax the ip address check and allow duplicate ip address entries which allows fr example a wireless card and a ethernet card on a laptop to share the same ip address
* Do not allow DHCP server to be enabled when DHCP relay is enabled, and vice versa Ticket #1488
* IPSEC keep alive pinger using the wrong source IP address Ticket #1482
* Failover DHCP Server in 10 seconds as opposed to 60 seconds

You can download pfSense and/or its live CD at here.


Technology Preview in New RedHat 5.1


Red Hat has announced the availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.1, the first update to the RHEL 5 product line.

"Red Hat is pleased to announce the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1. This update includes the following enhancements: completion of virtualization support on Itanium2 platforms; improved support for Fully Virtualized (FV) guests; improved ACPI power management support including support for S3 suspend to RAM and S4 hibernate; ext3 filesystem now fully supports filesystem sizes of up to 16 TB; IPv6 improvements; hardware support enhancements; Samba update for improved interoperability; PAM/Kerberos and NSS-LDAP updates for improved integration in Active Directory environments; improved support for autofs load balancing with replicated servers...."

Technology Preview features are included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux to provide the features with wide exposure. Customers may find these features useful in a non-production environment. Customers are free to provide feedback and functionality suggestions for a Technology Preview feature before it becomes fully supported in a future release.

Technology Preview features are currently not supported under Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 subscription services, may not be functionally complete, and are not supported for production use.

Erratas will be provided for high-severity security issues in Technology Preview features. Red Hat intends to fully support Technology Preview features in a future release.

Features:
  • Support for 32-bit PV guests on 64-bit AMD64/Intel(r) 64 hosts
  • Significant stability improvements to the GFS2 file system
  • Stateless Linux
  • AIGLX including X server and updated Mesa package
  • New devicescape (d80211) stack enabling ipw 4965 wireless driver
  • FS-Cache file system
  • Systemtap
  • iSCSI target device (iSCSI server)
  • Firewire stack

dyne:bolic 2.5.1 Has Been Released

The updated version of dyne:bolic, a live CD with a collection of multimedia software has been released. Heres the announcement:

"Dyne.org foundation proudly present dyne:bolic 2.5.1, code name "Dhoruba", a 100% free multimedia GNU/Linux operating system. What's new in 2.5.1? Support for Java (now GNU GPL) out of the live CD is the special entry of this release, along with bug fixes and snappy support for network booting of thin clients with BOOTP/PXE as documented in our manual. Ekiga has been moved out, but the Iaxcomm and Kiax phone applications (Asterisk native protocol) are pre-configured to work with Blasterisk, the experimental ((i))ndymedia telephone service - just press hash. Upgraded software includes X.Org 7.2 and MPlayer."

What's New in Version 2.5.1:
  • Support for Java (now GNU GPL!) out of the liveCD is the special entry of this release, along with bugfixes and snappy support for network booting of thin clients with bootp/pxe as documented in our manual.
  • Ekiga has been moved out, but the Iaxcomm and Kiax phone applications
  • (Asterisk native protocol) are preconfigured to work with Blasterisk, the experimental ((i))ndymedia telephone service - just press hash.
  • Upgraded software includes Xorg 7.2 and Mplayer.
  • Documentation is being updated to reflect the current setup in detail as well facilitate translations and customizations.
At this point there are a lot of cool modules out there, including cross-compiling kits for NintendoDS and software notation applications and
pure:dyne is launched in the wild world of artistic software and
creation.

Dyne:bolic GNU/Linux is a live bootable cd, containing a whole operating system that works straight from boot, without the need to install or change anything on the hard disk.

If you like and want to have it on harddisk you can simply copy the /dyne directory on your computer: the simpliest installation ever! Your older system is untouched and comes back booting without CD.

Dyne:bolic is user-friendly: recognizes your hardware devices (sound, video, firewire, modem, network and USB) and offers a vast range of software for multimedia production: audio and video manipulation, sound composition and synthesis, 3D modeling, photography, peer2peer filesharing, web browsing, veejaying, desktop publishing, word processing, cd burning, email, encryption, anonymity tools and more.

All software is free and there is no market operation behind dyne:bolic, just a communal effort to widen access to modern technology and let people be Free to Create.

Dyne:bolic is being developed since 6 years by independent and well skilled artisans optimizing it to run on computers commonly found in Africa America Asia Europe and Oceania. It includes code from hundreds of programmers all around the world, with a lively community of artists, teachers and developers who use, distribute and adapt this platform according to their needs and desires.

You can download dyne:bolic 2.5.1 Dhoruba at here.

phpMyAdmin 2.11.2 has been released


phpMyAdmin, a tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web has released version 2.11.2. This opensource tool currently can create and drop databases, create/drop/alter tables, delete/edit/add fields, execute any SQL statement, manage keys on fields.

phpMyAdmin's project have won the 2007 Sourceforge.net Community Choice Award "Best Tool or Utility for SysAdmins" on few months ago.

Currently its available for Linux, Windows for free to download. You can visit here to learn more and download this SysAdmins Best Tool.

GoblinX Mini 2.5 Final Release


The Final "Mini" edition of GoblinX 2.5 has been released. Its a Slackware-based live CD featuring the Xfce desktop.

The GoblinX Mini Edition is the son of GoblinX and contains only XFCE as windows manager and GTK/GTK2 based applications.

GoblinX is a bootable live CD distribution based on Slackware Linux. The primary goal for GoblinX is to create a more pleasant and functional desktop, standardising all icons and themes to make it easy for novice users to learn about available applications.

Main upgrades since release candidate v.01:

  • Added script to use module on the fly from Thunar/Nautilus
  • Upgraded gtkKeyboard Layout, gtkSource, gtkHDInstall
  • Upgraded Media Manager and added new policies to HAL and Ivman
  • Added a hidden Ivman home folder because other applications need to save settings
  • Added Xbindkeys and configured special keys
  • Corrected sudo/su and shadow errors
You can download GoblinX Mini 2.5 at here.

1st Preview of Indiana has released

First milestone of Project Indiana is now available. Its called OpenSolaris Developer Preview.

This is an x86-based LiveCD install image, containing some new and emerging
OpenSolaris technologies. This may result in instabilities that lead to system
panics or data corruption.

"This milestone preview shows the results of many months of engineering work
through the collaboration of several projects on opensolaris.org. I would like
to thank to those people who have been involved, and offer my congratulations
for reaching this successful milestone." the author said.
Features of this release are:
  • Single CD download, with LiveCD 'try before you install' capabilities
  • Caiman installer, with significantly improved installation experience
  • ZFS as the default filesystem
  • Image packaging system, with capabilities to pull packages from network repositories
  • GNU utilities in the default $PATH
  • bash as the default shell
  • GNOME 2.20 desktop environment
Indiana is a binary distribution of an operating system built out of the OpenSolaris source code. The distribution is a point of integration for several current projects on OpenSolaris.org, including those to make the installation experience easier, to modernise the look and feel of OpenSolaris on the desktop, and to introduce a network-based package management system into Solaris. The resulting distribution is a live CD install image, and is fully permissible to be redistributed by anyone.

Btw, you can try it by downloading here.

Absolute Linux 12.1.0 Beta 1 Has Released



First beta of Absolute Linux 12.1.0 that based on the recently updated Slackware 12.0 modification has released.
This is a beta release because it is based on Slackware-current. The base system, utilities and integration are actually superior to anything in the 12.x series so far, but it is possible that there can be package incompatabilities between Slackware 12.0 releases and Absolute 12.1x.

Includes support back to Intel Pentium CPUs; this means you should be able to install on an old Intel Pentium-1 or a AMD K6-2 machine. You will need at least 48MB of RAM. Suggested minimum hardware requirements are a Intel Pentium II and 64MB RAM. If things run slow, turn off the auto-mounting option.

The default Auto-mouting of connected devices (CDs, USB sticks, external drives...) is unique in that devices are not automatically mounted, but icons of the devices appear in a panel hidden UNDER the taskbar. When you want to look, click the arrow on the right of the taskbar; that bar will slide off to the right, and connected devices appear on the lower panel.



Single-click on an icon for the default action, else right-click for a menu. (For example, an audio CD will have "Play", "Rip" and "eject" listed.) You can also have the devices truly auto-mounted, with icons popping up on the desktop, by selecting the appropriate options in the DevTray preferences. For VOLUMES > PREFERENCES, choose MOUNTING auto mount and under pinboard show icons on the pinboard.

You can download it at here.

openSUSE 10.3 (Live Edition) Has Released


The live edition of openSUSE 10.3 is available as a GNOME or KDE live CD. Both contain the same software as the one CD installation editions from the launch time. The live system can be used as a production system or as a rescue system.

Or you can just check out how openSUSE 10.3 runs on your computer without touching your hard drive. The live CDs are available as 32-bit in English only and for the first time they contain an installation option on the desktop. Simply, just click the icon and installation to your hard drive will start.

I saw its like Ubuntu but more better. Easy to use, easy to deploy, easy to install.

For who don't know openSUSE, it is a project of community program sponsored by Novell. Promoting the use of Linux everywhere, this program provides free, easy access to openSUSE, a complete Linux distribution.

The openSUSE project has three main goals: make openSUSE the easiest Linux for anyone to obtain and the most widely used Linux distribution; leverage open source collaboration to make openSUSE the world's most usable Linux distribution and desktop environment for new and experienced Linux users; dramatically simplify and open the development and packaging processes to make openSUSE the platform of choice for Linux developers and software vendors.

You can download ISO files of openSUSE 10.3 GNOME Live at here and openSUSE 10.3 KDE Live at here.

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