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Looking forward to Mandriva 2008
Mandriva 2008 is scheduled for a September release. The team is planning on a Cooker Snapshot (alpha release) followed by two betas and two release candidates before the final release on September 27, 2007.This page provides a run down of the biggest new versions and features that will be coming with Mandriva Linux 2008. Under the hood there's a 2.6.22 "tickless" kernel, ALSA 1.0.14 and built in support for the Hauppauge PVR series cards. The desktop is powered by X.org 7.3, featuring the new XrandR 1.2 framework. It also has GCC 4.2, with a complementary build of 4.3 available as an option in the /main repository.
On the desktop you can take your pick of GNOME 2.20, KDE 3.5.7 (with a KDE 4 preview)or XFCE 4.4.1. The GNOME release includes Ekiga 3.0 and support for fillable forms in Evince (PDF reader). The KDE 4 preview has the Nepomuk semantic desktop system. Compiz Fusion, the re-merge between the Compiz and Beryl 3D desktop technologies, will be available as well.
Among the improvements to interoperability and standards compliance is a complete migration to the XDG menu standard. Mandriva Linux 2008 will adopt the Fedora initialization system for udev, and move to a more distribution independent system for detecting and configuring hardware.
A new configuration and management tool will replace several separate applications used to configure and manage network connections. WPA-EAP ('WPA Enterprise') authentication and security framework will be implemented in both the new network configuration tool.
A hybrid suspend mode will be implemented for Mandriva Linux 2008, in which the system state will be saved to both memory and disk, allowing a quick resume from memory or a safe resume from disk.
Contributing to Mandriva has never been easier. Volunteer maintainers have almost the same access to update and improve packages as Mandriva staff. Only a few of the most vital packages, such as the kernel, retain restrictions. There are plenty of ways to help out, including the package rebuild project which aims to refresh the package base by rebuilding and updating almost every package in the supported /main repository. Take a look at the technical specifications to see where else you might wish to help out.
New Releases
First release candidate for 64 Studio 2.0 - "Safe as Milk"
64 Studio 2.0-rc1 has been released. "Safe as Milk" was taken from the second track on Strictly Personal, the second album by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. The final 2.0 release is expected by the end of the month.CentOS 5 i386 Live CD
The CentOS Development team has announced the availability of the CentOS 5 i386 Live CD. This CD is based on CentOS-5.0 i386 distribution with live CD technology from the ADIOS Live CD Project. This CD can be used as a workstation or a rescue disk.
Distribution News
Debian Menu transition
Bill Allombert looks at the Debian Menu transition. "With the upload of menu 2.1.35, the transition to implement the new menu hierarchy discussed in bug #361418 officialy start. The menu is now in transitional mode until packages are fixed. Menu sections translations will be updated in subsequent releases."
Debian release team releases hold on unstable
Marc 'HE' Brockschmidt covers the news from the Debian release team. "Since my last mail, we have been able to fix up the missing odds and ends and have finally pushed a big chunk of packages to testing. This resolves most of the outstanding library transitions, so you can go back to doing whatever you want in unstable. Thank you all for helping by not uploading unneeded stuff for the past few days."
Debian looking for new FTP assistants
DPL Sam Hocevar has announced a search for new FTP assistants. "Though I have already received a few offers to help, most of them were from people already very deeply committed to other tasks in Debian, which kind of defeats the idea of having fresh blood in the teams. Which is not to say that their help is not being considered or appreciated, but rather that I *also* would like to see more "new" people."
The "new" Fedora Board
The Fedora Board elections are over. Current board members Seth Vidal, Bill Nottingham, Chris Blizzard, and Matt Domsch will remain on the board for another term. New board members include Karsten Wade, Dennis Gilmore, Christopher Aillon, Jef Spaleta and Steve Dickson.Fedora Kadischi reached End Of Life
Kadischi, a program used to create custom Fedora spins, is no longer supported. The revisor project is the successor to kadischi.Please Read: Need help in replacing music in Fedora package
Tom Callaway has a problem with one of his Fedora packages (rocksndiamonds). It includes copyrighted music without permission from the copyright holder. So he is looking for some replacement music that can be used under a Creative Commons type license. Otherwise this game will have to be pulled from the Fedora archives.Gentoo Council 2007/2008 Nominations
A web page has been set up to track the nominations for Gentoo Council.
Distribution Newsletters
Fedora Weekly News Issue 95
The Fedora Weekly News for July 7 2007 covers the New Infrastructure Ticketing System, a Reminder -- Vote in the Fedora Board election, Fedora Core 5 Retirement (EOL), Fedora Planet articles Red Hat High, Fedora Free Media Program and The Tone of Fedora, Fedora Reviews and much more.Ubuntu Weekly News: Issue #47
The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for July 7, 2007 features two weeks of news packed into one issue, including a look at the second alpha of Gutsy Gibbon 7.10, some new members and LoCo teams, an ambitious set of features announced for the next Launchpad milestones, and the security updates and bug stats you all have learned to love.DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 210
The DistroWatch Weekly for July 9, 2007 is out. "The all-new Slackware Linux 12.0 should have been the major story of the week, but it was the release of Elive 1.0 that stole some of Slackware's thunder; we will take a quick look at the Enlightenment-powered desktop distribution, link to an interesting interview with the project's founder, and explain why DistroWatch provides direct download links to the Elive CD images. In other news, Fedora's Max Spevack talks about the future and vision of the popular distribution, Kubuntu's Jonathan Ridell explains why KDE 4 will not be the default desktop in Gutsy Gibbon, and Mandriva's Adam Williamson introduces NEPOMUK, a new social semantic desktop technology for KDE. All this and more in this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly."
Distribution meetings
3 Debian developer meetings in Extremadura 2007
The Spanish region of Extremadura will sponsor Debian Work Meetings in the same way they did last year. "Projects that want to use this great opportunity should create a wiki page with goals for the meeting and a list of attending people..."
Newsletters and articles of interest
Enlighten your desktop with Elive (Packt Publishing)
Mayank Sharma interviews Samuel Baggen, creator of the Elive distribution. "On its website, Elive claims to be more than a simple Linux distro, rather a work of art. I might be a little biased but that's probably true. One look at Elive's graceful and charming environment and you are sold. And unlike today's 3D visualization, Elive can run efficiently on older systems as well with a gamut of desktop applications. Its got detailed documentation Wiki and an active forum to answer questions."
A face-to-face conversation with Max Spevack of Fedora (Technetra)
Alolita Sharma and Robert Adkins talk with Max Spevack. "We had the opportunity to sit down face-to-face with Max Spevack, chairman of the Fedora project, at the Red Hat Summit in San Diego to talk about all things Fedora -- the merger of Fedora Core and Extras, Fedora 7, and the road ahead. Here are Max's responses to our questions."
Burning Debian packages and repositories to disc with APTonCD and apt-mirror (Linux.com)
Linux.com takes a look at the APTonCD utility. "Have you ever wished you had access to your Linux distribution's online package repositories when you didn't have access to the Internet, or when your access was slow and unreliable? The recently released APTonCD utility allows users of Debian-based distributions to create backup CDs and DVDs of as many Debian packages as they can download. Used in conjunction with the apt-mirror utility, APTonCD can back up an entire package repository, spanning several CDs or DVDs."
Using Compiz, Beryl, And Metisse On A Mandriva 2007 Spring Desktop (HowtoForge)
HowtoForge provides a tutorial on using Compiz, Beryl, and Metisse on a Mandriva 2007 Spring (Mandriva 2007.1) desktop. Your system must have a 3D-capable graphics card.
Distribution reviews
Venerable Slackware 12 gets a sporty new wardrobe (Linux.com)
Linux.com has a review of Slackware 12.0. "Slackware Linux is the oldest surviving Linux distribution, and still one of the most popular. Last week's release of version 12.0 is a milestone for the Slackware team, as it marks Slackware's first use of a default 2.6.x kernel. Other new components include KDE 3.5.7, Xfce 4.4.1, Xorg 7.2.0, and GCC 4.1.2. Slackware is now nearing the bleeding edge without sacrificing stability, making this truly an exciting release."
As Specialized A Linux Distro As You're Likely to Find (InformationWeek)
InformationWeek takes a quick look at Hikarunix. "You want proof there's a Linux distribution for absolutely every possible application? Here's one for you: Hikarunix, a distro dedicated to Go players and based on the ever-versatile Damn Small Linux (DSL)."
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol
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