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DistributionsNews and Editorials Slackware current takes off Slackware 12.0 was released July 2, 2007, and since then the slackware current changelog has been quiet. But no more.On October 17, 2007 Slackware Patrick Volkerding released all the changes that have happened so far in the next version of Slackware. So far much of the work has gone into updating packages with security issues. Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird have been upgraded to 2.0.0.6 and Seamonkey is at version 1.1.4. Other packages with security updates include BIND, xpdf, qt, poppler, gimp, tcpdump, samba, PHP, OpenSSH, OpenSSL and Java packages. Lots of X packages have been updated and the current version of X.Org is 7.3. Many KDE packages have also been updated to 3.5.8. The kernel in use is 2.6.23.1. It seems likely that all of these packages will be updated to newer versions before the next version of Slackware becomes finalized. To see what packages are in Slackware current, try the Slackware Package Browser.
New Releases rPath Linux 1.0.7 available for x86 and x86_64 rPath Linux has released updated images for rPath Linux 1. "The new images incorporate updates to the installation process and all package updates released as of September 26, 2007. In particular, the installation images and installed system now include a 2.6.22.7 Linux kernel, enabling installation on more recent hardware not supported by previous installation media. (Linux kernels for Xen support are 2.6.16.33 in this release.)" Current rPath users should update using Conary.
Ubuntu 7.10 release candidate available The release candidate for the Ubuntu 7.10 "gutsy" release is now available. "We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable, and suitable for testing by any user. The final release of version 7.10 is scheduled for 18 October 2007 and will be supported for 18 months on both desktops and servers." See the release notes for details about Ubuntu 7.10.
Distribution News Debian GNU/Linux Bits from the DebianGis Team DebianGis is a sub-project launched at the end of 2004. The main goal of DebianGis has been making Debian the best GNU/Linux distribution oriented to serious Geographical Information Systems (GIS) users and applications. Click below to see a project status report.
Bits from the Testing Security team Here's a status report from the Debian Testing Security team. "Thanks to an increased size of our team, Debian Lenny is in good shape with respect to security and has been so for some time. We expect to be able to keep up this level of security support (at least) until the release of Lenny."
Bits from Tcl/Tk team Debian's Tcl/Tk team has previously announced to all interested maintainers (those whose packages depend on Tcl/Tk) that there is an ongoing effort to draft a policy for team maintenance of Tcl/Tk main packages and their modules/extensions. This announcement is to the larger audience of all maintainers in order to inform also people who could be interested in packaging Tcl/Tk related packages in the next future. Click below for more information.
Fedora The Fedora Fonts SIG is open The Fedora Fonts Special Interest Group has been created. The group is dedicated to improving fonts availability and text rendering/layouting in Fedora. If you are interested in the Fonts SIG, please read the wiki, join the mailing list and get involved.
Max Spevack's Ohio Linux Fest Keynote Talk Fedora's Max Spevack gave a keynote at the Ohio Linux Fest. The video is available as a torrent.
Gentoo Linux Upcoming masking of dev-lang/php-4* and packages depending on it If you are using PHP4 in Gentoo you'll want to read this. "We, the Gentoo PHP team, are going to mask =dev-lang/php-4* and all packages explicitly depending on this version of php around October 18th (i.e. the whole dev-php4/ category (36 packages) and www-apps/knowledgetree, unless there is a php5-compatible version by the time of masking; bug 194894). This step is necessary as there is hardly any upstream activity anymore."
Slackware Linux Slackware glibc-zoneinfo Slackware has new glibc-zoneinfo packages available for all versions of Slackware from 8.1 to 12.0. These packages update the timezone tables to the latest versions.
SUSE Linux and openSUSE Advance notice of discontinuation of regular support for SLES 8 SUSE Security has announced that the regular maintenance, security and L3 support for the SUSE LINUX Enterprise 8 line of products will end after November 2007. Extended Support for 2 years is available for the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 product only.
Ubuntu family Coming Changes in Launchpad 1.1.10 Ubuntu's Launchpad 1.1.10 is due for release October 24. Click below for information on changes that are planned for the next Launchpad release. These are changes that may affect the way you use Launchpad, rather than a full list of new features that will appear in 1.1.10.
New Distributions KlikIt-Linux 0.1-7B The first beta release of a new distribution called KlikIt-Linux is out. "Ease of installation, ease of use, an attractive GUI, and solid technology are no longer unique features in Linux distros, these are the expectations. So, yeah, we have those things, but what separates one distro from another, is the quality of the community. We go to great lengths to ensure that the community has an atmosphere conducive to the free expression of their ideas, thoughts, wishes, and to the forging of lasting friendships." KlikIt is based on Kubuntu.
Distribution Newsletters Fedora Weekly News Issue 105 The Fedora Weekly News for October 8, 2007 looks at the Fedora Fonts SIG announcement, the Ontario Linux Fest, a Fedora Marketing Meeting, Killing Kittens with Yum-updatesd, and much more.
Gentoo Weekly News The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for October 1, 2007 looks at Gentoo PPC updates. The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for October 8, 2007 covers Gentoo VDR updates and Gentoo PHP masks php-4.
Ubuntu Weekly News: Issue #61 The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for October 13, 2007 covers the release candidate of Ubuntu 7.10, learning more about Ubuntu at Ubuntu Open Week, Gutsy release parties, another Ubuntu Forums interview, new MOTU team member Laurent Bigonville, and much more.
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 224 The DistroWatch Weekly for October 15, 2007 is out. "Following the openSUSE 10.3 release two weeks ago and the new Mandriva Linux 2008 announced last Tuesday, the rapid succession of major Linux distribution versions continues this week with Ubuntu 7.10. Will the developers of these projects succeed in enticing more computer users to switch to Linux? Chris Smart tries to answer the question in the upcoming issues of DistroWatch Weekly by reviewing these new products - today he installs openSUSE 10.3 on his trusty MacBook to see how it fares. In the news section: Mandriva simplifies its product range, Ubuntu prepares for another download rush, and Fedora embraces artwork developed by the user community. Finally, don't miss two interesting interviews with Lucas Villa Real from GoboLinux and Gerard Beekmans from the Linux From Scratch project."
Distribution meetings UDS Schedule Announced The schedule for the next Ubuntu Developer Summit has been announced. This Summit will be held in Boston Massachusetts, USA starting October 29 and ending November 2, 2007.
DebConf8 to be held from August 2nd to August 17th 2008 The DebConf team has decided on having the next DebConf during the first two weeks of August 2008, in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. The whole event will be starting on August 2nd and ending on August 17th with DebCamp taking place from the 3rd till the 9th and DebConf from the 10th till the 16th. Registration will open in late 2007.
Miscellaneous Articles Splashtop: Embedded Linux For Your Motherboard (Information Week) Information Week looks at Splashtop. "Every so often I bump into yet another example of Linux being used in creative ways. Here's a new one: an ASUSTek motherboard, the P5E3, which ships with a built-in Linux variant called Splashtop. Splashtop's a small but fairly useful Linux desktop environment that boots and runs entirely in RAM. The current iteration of Splashtop features network connectivity (both wired and wireless), a rebadged version of Firefox 2.0, and the Skype VoIP client (version 1.3) -- a small but useful clutch of tools. I read through a sneak preview of the product at Phoronix.com, and the impression I got was that it's still pretty rudimentary but that it will over time be expanded into something far more functional."
Red Hat Global Desktop to appear in November (Linux-Watch) DesktopLinux takes a look at the Red Hat Global Desktop, due for a November release. "The new desktop will be built on the foundation of RHEL 5.1 According to Jonathan Blandford, Red Hat's engineering manager for client solutions, RHGD will use the GNOME 2.16 desktop as its standard interface. It will also include "Firefox, Evolution, Thunderbird, OpenOffice and other popular Linux desktop applications," Blandford said."
Small Linux Distros For Every Occasion (Enterprise Networking Planet) Carla Schroder takes a look at some of the smaller Linux distributions. "One of the (very many) areas in which Linux has pulled ahead of the pack is with live, complete Linux distributions on every form of removable media. Tiny Linuxes to full-blow kitchen sink Linuxes boot and run from USB sticks and drives, Compact Flash cards, CDs and DVDs; so they never need to touch the hard drive, or even have a hard drive present. Some of them run entirely in memory. Some are smart enough to use the swap partition on the hard drive, if one is available. There are different ways of preserving data and configurations, the main point being you can still save data and configurations."
HowtoForge sets up Mandriva 2008 This week HowtoForge sets up the perfect server and the perfect desktop with Mandriva 2008 Free.
Linux Product Insider - On Your Marks, Get Set...Gutsy Gibbon! (Linux Journal) Linux Journal blogger James Gray attended a press conference with Mark Shuttleworth. "The goal of today's meeting was to prime the 'press pump' and get us talking heads to turn our attention to the new Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon", which will roll out on Thursday, October 18th. (The other variants such as Kubuntu, Edubuntu, etc. will also be available then.) Shuttleworth focused on three key areas - the Ubuntu development process, desktop innovations and server innovations."
All systems go for Ubuntu 7.10 Linux Desktop launch (DesktopLinux) DesktopLinux takes a look at Ubuntu's Gusty Gibbon, due for an October 18 launch. "The latest version of Ubuntu includes numerous new features. In particular, its hardware support has been improved. Besides better plug-and-play configuration for printers, the new Ubuntu includes automatic firmware installation for Broadcom Wi-Fi cards."
Ubuntu: It's not just for desktops anymore (Linux-Watch) Linux-Watch looks at Ubuntu 7.10 Server Edition. "In a Linux-Watch interview, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical's CEO and Ubuntu's founder, said the server team has been, and will continue, to grow. Canonical is also working directly with server OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to ensure compatibility. Specifically, Ubuntu Server Edition is available and optimized for x86, AMD64, EM64T (Intel Core & Xeon), and Sun SPARC architectures."
Interviews Jaka "lynx" Kranjc Interview (Mage Power) Mage Power talks with Source Mage developer Jaka "lynx" Kranjc. "What was it about Source Mage that made you decide to stick with it? The package manager is featureful, fast and mostly written in bash! As most distributions, contains all the packages I need and I don't like gui configuration tools too much (hard to get right), I judge them by their package managers. That's the real added value for me."
Its Linux and I did it my way. An interview with Gerard Beekmans (ITtoolbox Blogs) ITtoolbox Blogs has an interview with Gerard Beekmans. "Locutus: Who are you and what is your involvement with LFS? Gerard: My name is Gerard Beekmans and I'm the founder of the LFS project. I developed the initial process and strategies of what became LFS about eight years ago. Nowadays I am not involved so much with the day-to-day develop and maintenance anymore due to time constraints in my professional career. Instead, I am more involved with the management of the people who do still have the time for the daily work that goes into LFS."
GoboLinux: An Interview with Lucas Villa Real (Packt Publishing) Packt Publishing interviews GoboLinux developer Lucas Villa Real. "GoboLinux is popular for its filesystem hierarchy which breaks away from the traditional Unix Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). So basically you wouldn't find any /etc or /usr directries under Gobo. In turn, files of a particular program are stored in their own separate directories like /Programs/GCC/2.95.3/lib. This means Gobo's package management system has its advantages since users can now install multiple versions of the same program without conflicts. To find out more about Gobo and why it does things the way it does, I talk to one of its main developers Lucas Villa Real."
Distribution reviews openSUSE 10.3 in review: A solid Linux desktop (TuxMachines) TuxMachines reviews openSUSE 10.3. "There are a few different ways one can install openSUSE 10.3. On my test box (a $150 Fry's special based on an AMD Sempron 2200+ CPU, which now has 640MB of RAM, a NVIDIA GeForce MX 440 video card, and a larger hard drive), I used the "KDE-only" and the "non-OSS add-on" CDs. (A "GNOME-only" installation CD is also available.) The advantages of having KDE and GNOME installation CDs is that they take a lot less time to download than the full installation DVD, and why bother if you're never going to install the other desktop environment? (For fans of Xfce, you can also install Xfce 4.4.1. Also, if you want to beta-test the next version of KDE, you can install KDE 4 alongside KDE 3.)"
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol |
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