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The Edgy Efts swim to a mirror near you

The family of Ubuntu 6.10 ("Edgy Eft") final releases showed up soon after the first release candidate. Separate announcements were made for Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu version 6.10. Ubuntu 6.10 can be installed as a desktop or a server, although we would expect most Ubuntu servers to stick with the 6.06 LTS release which will still be supported after 6.10 reaches it's end-of-life eighteen months from now.

In the 6.10 releases Upstart replaces init and under the hood you'll find GCC 4.1, Glibc 2.4, Xorg 7.1 and Linux 2.6.17. The Ubuntu desktop features Tomboy for note taking, F-Spot for photo management, GNOME 2.16, Firefox 2.0, Evolution 2.8.0, plus new translations, a new Edgy theme and much more. There are still a few known issues, so check out the release notes before installing or upgrading.

Kubuntu 6.10 comes with K Desktop Environment 3.5.5, Digikam for photo management, a new power management applet which uses HAL, a Hardware Database Client allows you to profile your system and upload the details to the Ubuntu Hardware Database for better bug reporting, new laptop buttons work on most laptops, Zeroconf and print sharing and more. You should look at the known problems in Kubuntu before getting started.

The Edubuntu release features the KDEedu suite in version 3.5.5, Gcompris 7.4, Schooltool 0.11, the tux4kids applications and lots more educational software. The Edubuntu classroom server ships with a pre-release of the upcoming LTSP-5 (Linux Terminal Server Project). Here are the Edubuntu release notes.

The Xubuntu release features Xfce 4.4 RC1, new artwork for the boot splash, login screen and wallpaper, the gxine media player, a new printer GUI, a calculator application and a dictionary panel plugin, better support for users with motor disabilities, plus newer versions of Firefox, abiword, gnumeric and more. The Xubuntu website has been recently relaunched and has pointers to download information. Take note of current issues with upgrading from Dapper to Edgy.

The next Ubuntu release has been codenamed the "Feisty Fawn". Beginning next Sunday you will find the Ubuntu developers meeting in Mountain View California for some Feisty workshops.

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New Releases

Gentoo/FreeBSD available for Sparc64

The first Gentoo/FreeBSD/Sparc64 release is ready for testing. "There are a few rough edges, namely you have to compile all kernel stuff you need into the kernel as loading modules causes a kernel panic. This is probably a gcc related error as upstream uses gcc-3.4.x by default."

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OpenBSD 4.0 released

OpenBSD 4.0 is out, right on schedule. "We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of ten years with only a single remote hole in the default install. As in our previous releases, 4.0 provides significant improvements, including new features, in nearly all areas of the system."

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openSUSE 10.2 Beta1 available

The first beta for openSUSE 10.2 is available for i386 and x86-64. The PowerPC edition is also available. The 10.2 release features Linux Kernel 2.6.18.1, glibc 2.5, Firefox 2.0, GNOME 2.16.1, KDE 3.5.5, X11 R7.2 RC, and much more.

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Ramdisk Rescue 0.6.4 released

Ramdisk Rescue 0.6.4 has been released. "Ramdisk Rescue allows Linux to be installed to a flash card (SD, MMC or CF) using a handheld, without requiring a separate computer to format the card. In other words, Ramdisk Rescue is an automated installer for Familiar Linux, which works just like the installer for your desktop distribution. Maintenance and kernel testing are also possible, including the ability to diagnose and filesystem problems, check board/device versions and test audio+LED support."

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rPath Linux 1.0.4 available for x86 and x86_64

rPath has released an update to rPath Linux 1. "New in rPath Linux 1.0.4 is support for the Xen 3.0.3 hypervisor, including Xen installation media."

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New version of xfld - Xfce live demo

The company os-cillation has released version 0.3 of Xfld. This is a live CD with a preview of Xfce 4.4. The CD contains plenty of other desktop applications like OpenOffice.org, Gimp, Firefox and Thunderbird.

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Distribution News

Fedora Core 6 common issues

The Fedora developers have put up a page describing common issues which have come up with Fedora Core 6, along with workarounds. It is refreshingly short. Definitely worth a look before installing FC6 or asking questions about problems.

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Cooperative Bug Isolation for Fedora Core 6

The Cooperative Bug Isolation Project has announced support for Fedora Core 6. "CBI is an ongoing research effort to find and fix bugs in the real world. We distribute specially modified versions of popular open source software packages. These special versions monitor their own behavior while they run, and report back how they work (or how they fail to work) in the hands of real users like you."

Here's how CBI differs from other bug tracking efforts: "The software in our downloads area has been augmented with extra instrumentation: special code that runs along side the application to monitor its behavior. The specific behavior we monitor varies depending on how the application was built. In general, we are looking at data values and decisions within the application, and testing them to see if they show unusual patterns. If monitoring picks up something unusual, and the application also crashes, then we may have isolated the cause of a bug."

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Announcing the ubuntu-directory team

The ubuntu-directory team has been formed to bring Active Directory or similar technology to Ubuntu, as both client and server.

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Debian: First call for votes

In this post to debian-project Anthony Towns stated his intent to withdraw the "Package Policy Committee" delegation made by Branden Robinson in June last year. This ballot offers Choice 1: The DPL's withdrawal of the delegation remains on hold pending a vote or Choice 2: The DPL's withdrawal of the delegation stands until a vote. This vote ends November 3, 2006.

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Debian etch release adjustments

The full final freeze of Etch has been delayed a bit although the final release date is still set for December.

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Debian BSP Marathon continues

Join the Debian Bug Squashing Party in Helsinki, Finland on the weekend of November 11 - 12, 2006. Click below to sign up or get more information.

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DebConf7 next June

DebConf7 is set for June 17 - 23, 2007 in Edinburgh, Scotland. DebConf will be preceded by DebCamp, June 10 to 15, a smaller, less formal event giving an opportunity for group work on Debian projects. DebianDay, a short conference aimed and users and other interested parties, will take place June 16.

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Distribution Newsletters

Fedora Weekly News Issue 64

This edition of the Fedora Weekly News covers Fedora Core 6 (Zod) announcement, Fedora Core 6 (Zod) Live-Spins Released, Third Party FC6 Repositories Announcements, Phoronix: Fedora Core 6 Review, Lunarpark6: Fedora Core 6 Review, LinuxForm: Fedora Core 6 Review, J_K9@Linux: Fedora Core 6 Review, O'Reily OnLamp: Fedora Core 6 Review, and more.

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Gentoo Weekly Newsletter

The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for October 23, 2006 looks at Gentoo Linux on Sun T1000/T2000, forums and mailing list summaries, and much more.

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Ubuntu Weekly News #19

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for October 21, 2006 covers Ubuntu 6.10 release candidate out, Mark Shuttleworth's announcement naming Ubuntu 7.04, A feel-good "Thank You!" for Edubuntu, Edgy Changes, Oracle relationship speculation, Mark's BBC interview, and several other topics.

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DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 175

The DistroWatch Weekly for October 30, 2006 is out. "The long awaited Fedora Core 6 and Ubuntu 6.10 are finally here! Amid all the usual excitement accompanying any major new release, reports from around the web suggest that Ubuntu's latest version might suffer from upgrade issues as many users find themselves unable to boot into "Edgy" despite following the standard upgrade procedure. After months of media speculation, Oracle's entry into the Linux distribution market was finally announced late last week - with a re-branded Red Hat Enterprise Linux and heavily discounted support costs. Also in this issue: update on Yellow Dog Linux 5.0, a link to an excellent audio interview with Slackware's Patrick Volkerding, and a contributed review of Elive 0.5. Finally, don't miss ArtistX, a new live DVD for audio, video and 2D/3D graphics artists."

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Package updates

Fedora updates

Updates for Fedora Core 6: bluez-gnome (update to bluez-gnome 0.6), pygobject2 (update to 2.12.2), eclipse-changelog (enhanced functionality), fonts-japanese (bug fix), wpa_supplicant (update to 0.4.9), libxml2 (upstream release 2.6.27), hardlink (update docs), systemtap (current upstream version), eject (apply upstream patch), tsclient (bug fix), kdeaccessibility (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdeedu (KDE 3.5.5 release), libvte-java (new build of Frysk), libgconf-java (new build of Frysk).

Updates for Fedora Core 5: bash (patchlevel 17), initscripts (bug fixes), libsepol (bump for FC5), audit (bug fixes), fonts-japanese (bug fix), wpa_supplicant (update to 0.4.9), hardlink (update docs), systemtap (current upstream version), arts (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdelibs (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdeaccessibility (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdeaddons (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdeadmin (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdeartwork (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdebase (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdebindings (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdeedu (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdegames (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdegraphics (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdemultimeda (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdenetwork (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdepim (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdesdk (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdeutils (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdevelop (KDE 3.5.5 release), kdewebdev (KDE 3.5.5 release), libvirt (bug fix), libvte-java (bug fixes), libgtk-java (bug fixes), libgconf-java (bug fixes).

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rPath updates

Updates for rPath Linux 1: conary, conary-build, conary-repository (Conary 1.0.37 maintenance release), info-rmake, info-rmake-chroot, rmake (add the rMake build tool).

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Trustix updates

Updates for Trustix Secure Linux 2.2 & 3.0: libgpg-error, libksba, net-snmp, nss_ldap (various bug fixes).

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Newsletters and articles of interest

How To Install VMware Server On Debian Sarge (HowtoForge)

HowtoForge covers the installation of VMware on a Debian Sarge system. "VMware has just released version 1.0 of its free VMware Server. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system. This has the benefit that you can run multiple operating systems on the same hardware which saves a lot of money, and you can move virtual machines from one VMware Server to the next one (or to a system that has the VMware Player which is also free). In this article we use Debian Sarge (3.1) as the host operating system."

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OpenBSD 4.0: Pufferix's Adventures (O'ReillyNet)

O'ReillyNet interviews several BSD developers about the OpenBSD 4.0 release. "On October 18th, OpenBSD celebrated its 11th birthday and ten years of punctual biannual releases. Now it's time for OpenBSD version 4.0, which includes tons of new drivers for wireless, network, and storage chips. Discover what's new and what battles developers must face daily to access documentation and support new hardware."

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MythTV Ubuntu Installation Guide

The MythTV Ubuntu Installation Guide is a howto article covering the setup of MythTV on Ubuntu's Edgy Eft release. "With the release of Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft), installing MythTV is now easier than ever. Ubuntu is a great basis for a general purpose MythTV box and now comes with the latest version of MythTV (0.20) in its standard packages."

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The Perfect Setup - Ubuntu 6.10 Server (Edgy Eft) (HowtoForge)

HowtoForge provides a detailed description for setting up a server on Ubuntu 6.10. "This is a detailed description about how to set up a Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) based server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, DNS server, FTP server, MySQL server, POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc. This tutorial is written for the 32-bit version of Ubuntu Edgy Eft, but should apply to the 64-bit version with very little modifications as well."

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Distribution reviews

Fedora Core 6 Innovates Unabated (eWeek)

eWeek reviews Fedora Core 6. "During tests, Fedora Core 6 impressed eWEEK Labs with the progress it has made toward making Security-Enhanced Linux—and the dramatically improved security protections that SELinux helps afford—more palatable. We also liked the look of Fedora Core's new graphical and command-line tools for managing Xen virtual machines, although, as with every Xen product we've yet tested, plenty of rough spots remain."

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Mandriva 2007: Back in the race (Linux.com)

Linux.com reviews Mandriva 2007. "Beginning with an easy-to-use installer and booting into a well-thought-out desktop, Mandriva 2007 provides an environment that is aesthetically consistent and makes new users feel at home. Where Mandriva 2006 failed to provide an appropriate level of support for more advanced users, Mandriva 2007 includes prominently displayed tools for configuration from the desktop. Although these tools are marred by sluggish package management and an unhelpful security rating system, as well as instability on some machines, overall Mandriva 2007 re-establishes the distribution as one of the most advanced desktop experiences in GNU/Linux."

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