KToon, Linux Alternative for Anime Studio

KToon is an open source 2d vector animation toolkit with focus on on the cartoon industry. All of the features you would expect of such a products is there: drawing tools, layers, keyframes, time line and more.

Together all of these functionalites lets you build cartoon animations. The animations can either be saves as a list of png files - or exported in Macromedia flash (swf) format. A LiveCD is available to allow anyone to try out this product.


More info, gallery and download links can be reached at KToon's site.

Zenwalk Live 5.0 Has Been Released

Finally, Zenwalk Live 5.0 is available now! The new Zenwalk Live features all the latest secure & stable versions of Zenwalk 5.0 standard packages based on the current repository.

In this release, the development team also present Zen Installer which will enable you to install a standard Zenwalk system onto your computer's hard drive. You will, of course, find Zen Installer along with all other native Zenwalk system configuration tools under Menu -> System -> Zenpanel (Root password is: ZenLive).

Now, if you first use Live Clone to remaster your own LiveCD & then execute Zen Installer from that remastered LiveCD, it is interesting to note that in that case, you will install your own customized version of Zenwalk rather than the Standard version. This is very helpful if you need to deploy a highly personalized Zenwalk System on the computer park of a school, a cybercafé, an office or an organization.

(Notes: From a Zenwalk Live cession, yous simply have to personalize your desktop graphic environment as well as suppress and/or add some new programs, and then click a couple times in Live Clone, in order to create a LiveCD that will be a perfect clone of your modified cession.)

As previous release, Zenwalk Live 5.0 offers extended multilingual, Multimedia & Wifi support. Simply execute Wicd network manager from Menu -> Network, in order to configure eventual passwords & connect yourself to any available wavelan.

You can download this new release of Zenwalk Live at Here or Here.

Choose The Right Linux Web Host Easily

Nowadays, many web hosting server company acclaim and support for Linux OS which has paved the way for many third party software developers to build their architect around it more so than other popular OS’s such as FreeBSD and Windows Server. Right now there is more support than ever and Linux hosting has now dominated the market.

Web hosting as we know it really helped Linux take off into mainstream and control panels which are basically expected of a hosting company have built around Linux and support it.

Almost of them said that they provide One-Click Application Installation to easy install your favorite Applications like phpBB, Joomla, Mambo, Typo3, Wordpress, b2Evolution, PHProject, PHPCalendar, Gallery and many more.

So, it is very difficult for us to choose a linux web host that you are comfortable with, has the right price and is stable. New web hosts are entering the industry all the time, however, just as many are making their exit from mergers, buyouts and even gone like the wind cause bankruptcy. This is where Web Hosting Pal comes in. Their team do a lot of the research for you and actually do the homework to make it easier for you to narrow down the field and make a choice based on the data that they provide that matched with your needs and budget.

Web Hosting Pal provides us the nice guide to finding the right web host to choice with post the Top 10 Web Hosting chart that be updated regularly, so we can choose the right web host more easier and faster.

Ubuntu 8.04 Beta Has Been Released

Ubuntu development team has released the Beta of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
(Long-Term Support) on desktop and server. Codenamed "Hardy Heron", 8.04. LTS continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.



Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition features incremental improvements to
familiar applications, with an emphasis on stability for this second Ubuntu long-term support release, and is easier than ever to try out with the new Wubi installer.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS server follows in the footsteps of Ubuntu 7.10 with even more virtualization support and security enhancements - enabling AppArmor for more applications by default, improving protection of kernel memory against attacks, and supporting KVM and iSCSI technologies out of the box.

The Ubuntu 8.04 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio, and Mythbuntu, also reach beta status today.

More info about this new release and download links can be reached by visiting Here.

PUD Linux 0.4.8.5 Has Been Released

PUD GNU/Linux is a mini LiveCD based on Ubuntu Linux, which takes up small size, with (both Simplified/Traditional) Chinese enhancements.

This release is a development version of PUD but contains lots of experiments and new features so that we would like to make it a beta release, including installer, new package selection, enhanced livecd build kit, kernel patches, optimizations to speed up boot time, and better laptop/mobile device support.

PUD Linux has minimalist desktop that pre-configured and selected applications. With "Plate" User Interface, an elegant way to use your desktop. There is more than one way to boot on PUD Linux as it has feature LiveUSB, Boot to Ramdisk. With "Opt-Get" Plugin System, its easy to do one-click install system to add more applications

More features:

• Patched Kernel and Optimized: squashfs+lzma, aufs, and more..
• Various Backup Methods: backup/restore your data just like permanent installation
• "Build-LiveCD" ToolKit: customize your own live cd easily and automatically

More info can be reached at PUD Linux's site. Btw, you can download this new release of PUD Linux at Here for LiveCD and Here for LiveUSB and Here for Build Kit.

Clonezilla Live 1.0.9. -19 (stable) has been Released

Clonezilla Live is a Debian-based live CD containing Clonezilla, a partition or disk clone software similar to Norton Ghost. It saves and restores only used blocks in hard drive. By using clonezilla, you can clone a 5 GB system to 40 clients in about 10 minutes.

A few days ago, Clonezilla Live has been released on version 1.0.9. -19 (stable). This release is a bug fixed one with some minor updates. Here are :

• Bug fixed: memtest, freedos and etherboot were not listed in syslinux boot
• Bug fixed: cciss RAID device restoration was broken.
• Bug fixed: When "ocs-iso -s" or "ocs-live-dev -c -s" was run in Clonezilla live, etherboot and freedos image were not copied. Thanks to Spiros Georgaras.
• menu in clonezilla live zip file.
• Now syslinux related files are in /syslinux/.
• sdparm was added in Clonezilla live.
• Newer syslinux.exe is used now. Makeboot.exe is replaced by makeboot.sh so that USB flash drive will boot successfully with kernel under /casper/.
• Package zip and unzip were added.
• partclone 0.0.6 is used now so clone.fat is available.
• More descriptions were added in the boot menu.
• An option for VGA mode 640x480 was added so that it's easier for some PC, e.g. Asus Eee PC, to backup and restore in Chinese environment.

You can download Clonezilla at Here.

MirOS BSD #10 Has Been Released

MirOS is an operating system based on OpenBSD and synchronised with the ongoing development of its parent. The most important differences between OpenBSD and MirOS include a completely rewritten bootloader and boot manager, a slim base system without NIS, Kerberos, BIND and i18n, binary security updates for stable releases, and current versions of the GNU developer toolchain.

MirOS is available as a BSD flavour which originated as an OpenBSD patchkit, but has grown very much on its own, though still being synchronised with the ongoing development of OpenBSD, thus inheriting most of its good security history. This variant is also called "MirBSD", but the usage of that word to denote MirOS BSD (plus MirPorts) is deprecated.

MirOS BSD often anticipates bigger changes in OpenBSD and includes them before OpenBSD itself. For example, ELF on i386 and support for gcc3 were available in MirOS first. Controversial decisions are often made differently from OpenBSD; for instance, there won't be any support for SMP in MirOS.

More info and General overview about MirOS BSD and MirPorts (in English, German, and French) can be reached at Here. Now, the MirOS Project has released MirOS BSD #10. A mini-ISO for the installation can be downloaded from Here. The full CD image can be downloaded via BitTorrent.

First Beta Ulteo Application System Has Released

For who don't know, Ulteo is an Debian/Ubuntu-based Linux distribution created by Gaël Duval, the original founder of Mandrake Linux (now Mandriva Linux) and co-founder of MandrakeSoft (now Mandriva). Currently in early stages of development. Ulteo promises to bring new concepts designed to help individuals with limited knowledge to accomplish many common computing tasks.

Ulteo is a new innovative project aimed at simplifying the use of computers for both individual and corporate users by bypassing installation of applications, and bringing mobility features.

It's an hybrid, network-oriented, computing system. It's using network services intensively.

As said the development team of Ulteo: "After the recent success we had at providing OpenOffice.org in a web browser, we're proud to deliver the first beta of nearly two years of work: Ulteo Application System 'Sirius' is now ready for download on several mirrors. It was the needed 'client' brick to the Ulteo framework that is made of several online services, and provides, among others, automatic personal data (and forthcoming user environment) synchronising. In this release, you will also be able to test the first version of the 'My Digital Life' panel which is a new way to organise your documents and applications, and manage your system installations."

Currently, Ulteo consists of:

• Ulteo Online Desktop (version 1): it lets users store their documents online, and open them with a choice of applications that run within their web-browser (Firefox, IE and others).
• Ulteo Application System (Ulteo AS): is an installable version of Ulteo, for the local PC, that ships with hundreds applications and innovative features.

The basic version of the Ulteo AS provides a choice of applications for the daily userlife such as Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org..., but can be easily extended with an extended set of applications, from the Ulteo panel. It also provide by default document and panel content synchronization capabilities betwen the local installation of Ulteo and Ulteo Online Desktop.

Btw, you can download Ulteo at Here.

Slax 6.0.3 Has Been Released

The Slax development team has announced the latest version of Slax 6.0.3 yesterday. Among all the updates described in the changelog, it features a bugfix for SquashfsLZMA kernel driver. They said 6.0.3 won’t include the fix, but it has been decided to wait a bit and include it.

What’s new in this release?

• Added kernel 2.6.24.3 with kernel headers, stripped sources and modules all using the same version, to prevent any possible mismatch
• Silenced several bootup messages
• Added wpa_suplicant package
• Updated to Slackware-current, which adds a lot of FIRMWAREs
• Fixed a bug in sqlzma, which may cause (in rare conditions) data read errors
• The sgnfile= boot parameter was not working, so it’s fixed now.
• Make_iso.sh now works even if called from a different directory
• The ‘copy to ram’ boot menu option doesn’t have any changes= default anymore
• Fixed loading of modules from subdirectories while using copy2ram
• The ‘nocd’ boot parameter has different meaning now. It will cause CDROMs to be skipped, but still visible later on

You can download this release of Slax at Here.

Elive 1.6 Has Been Released

Elive development team has released Elive 1.6, and it's available now. Some of updates of this new version are: New improved boot system in live mode; Icedove 2.0; much better disk and partition recognition; CDs can eject without being unmounted first; Eltrans, the new translation tool; resolution selector re-enabled temporarily; Eee PC modules for ACPI support; miscellaneous improved Windows support functions; WiFi widget called Exalt works again; special edition of Elive for MacBooks will be implemented as normal Elive, this is the first compatible ISO image.

Elive now uses a new prompt (the default line that appears in the terminal) with more features. They said that this is a development version, so it is not ready for installation on a production machine.

For who wanna know more about Elive, you can read my previous post about it. And more info and download link of this release can be found on Elive's site.

Kompozer, The Adobe Dreamweaver Alternative

KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) web page editing. It’s designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional- looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding.

Of course it’s also possible to write your own code: for that purpose KompoZer features an intelligent Dreamweaver-like code interface.

KompoZer is based on Gecko, the layout engine inside Mozilla; it's a super-fast, very reliable, standards conformant engine maintained on a daily basis by a wide community of developers. Its remarkable support of XML, CSS and JavaScript offers the best authoring platform on the market. Its architecture based on XUL makes it the most extensible editing tool ever.



Those who are familiar with the DreamWeaver interface will feel right at home with KompoZer:

• WYSIWYG editing of pages, making web creation as easy as typing a letter with your word processor.
• Integrated file management via FTP. Simply login to your web site and navigate through your files, editing web pages on the fly, directly from your site.
• Reliable HTML code creation that will work with all of today's most popular browsers.
• Jump between WYSIWYG Editing Mode and HTML using tabs.
• Tabbed editing to make working on multiple pages a snap.
• Powerful support for forms, tables, and templates.
• The easiest-to-use, most powerful Web Authoring System available for Desktop Linux, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh users.

You can download Kompozer for Linux at Here.

Adobe Lightroom Alternative: Picasa for Linux

Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you locate and organize all the photos on your computer, edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks and share your photos with others through email, prints, and on the web.

The special Picasa Basic Fixes are buttons that make it fast and easy to crop, remove red eye, fix the contrast and color, and enhance your digital pictures, and they are very similar to the professional features in Lightroom!


Picasa helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your computer. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will recognize. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels to create new groups. Picasa makes sure your pictures are always organized.

Picasa also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes and powerful effects at your fingertips. And Picasa makes it a snap to share your pictures – you can email, print photos home, and even post pictures on your own blog.

Picasa should work on any Linux system with Intel 386-compatible processor, glibc 2.3 or greater, and a working X11 display system. Optional: XVideo extension on your display driver (to view things full screen); having a newer kernel (>= 2.6.13) to get notified of file changes; having a new kernel and HAL to automatically detect new media insertion.

Notes:

• There are other variations -- for example, setting screensavers and desktop backgrounds only works on certain Linux windowing environments.
• Desktop Integration features require a current version of Gnome or KDE.
• Camera detection and integration requires kernel >= 2.6.13, hal >= 0.56, and gnome-volume-manager or equivalent.

Picasa is available in US English now and plan to expand to more languages in a future release.

Feel free to download Picasa for Linux at Here.

Synfig Studio, The Flash Alternative for Linux

Synfig Studio is a vector based 2D animation program. It is designed to produce feature-film quality animations, though it can also be used to create great vector images.

Synfig Studio has an alternative to manual tweening, which prevents the need to hand draw each frame. Synfig Studio features many professional features like spatial and temporal resolution independence (sharp and smooth at any resolution or framerate), high dynamic range images, and a flexible plugin system.




Synfig animation technology eliminates the task of manual tweening, producing smooth, fluid motion without the animator having to draw out each frame individually. This allows you to produce 2D animation with fewer people while producing a product of a higher quality.

Btw, you can download Synfig at Here.