Thursday, June 30, 2011

Mandriva Linux 2011 RC1


The first release candidate for Mandriva Linux 2011 is available for download. This pre-announcement, published some 24 hours before the release, lists the most important changes since beta 3: "Integration of (almost) final user interface, new login manager, desktop themes, plasma widgets, icons, backgrounds, splash screens, launcher, boot screens and desktop settings developed by ROSA Labs; initial version of Mandriva Sync and Sphere help-desk clients, developed by ROSA Labs; new version of Improver testing application, developed by ROSA Labs; Firefox 5.0, together with optionally installable beta and aurora versions; X.Org Server 1.10.2 with most up-to-date video and input drivers; Mesa 7.10.3 and libdrm 2.4.26 for most up-to-date 3D experience; Pidgin 2.9.0; OpenStack packages integrated into Cooker...." Download: Mandriva.2011-rc1.i586.iso (1,619MB, MD5), Mandriva.2011-rc1.x86_64.iso (1,680MB, MD5).

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Sabayon Linux 6


Fabio Erculiani has announced the release of Sabayon Linux 6, a Gentoo-based desktop distribution with KDE 4.6.4 or GNOME 2.32 desktops: "We're once again here to announce the immediate availability of Sabayon 6, one of the biggest milestones in our project. Letting bleeding edge and reliability coexist is the most outstanding challenge our users and our team are faced with every day. Features: Linux kernel 2.6.39.1 and blazing fast, yet reliable, boot; natively supporting the Btrfs file system; completely redesigned artwork and boot music introduction; improved themes for 16:9 and 16:10 widescreen monitors; X.Org Server updated to 1.10...." Read the complete release announcement for further information. Download: Sabayon_Linux_6_x86_K.iso (1,956MB, MD5, torrent), Sabayon_Linux_6_x86_G.iso (1,561MB, MD5, torrent), Sabayon_Linux_6_amd64_K.iso (2,180MB, MD5, torrent), Sabayon_Linux_6_amd64_G.iso (1,777MB, MD5, torrent).

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

openSUSE 12.1 Milestone 2


Jos Poortvliet has announced the availability of the second milestone release of openSUSE 12.1 - now with Firefox 5 and a more stable Flash support on 64-bit architectures: "About 3 weeks after the first milestone for openSUSE 12.1, today the second milestone has been made available. Following the roadmap, this is the second of six milestone until the openSUSE 12.1 release in November. The first milestone had a huge number of changes and improvements on top of the latest openSUSE release. Again, many packages have been updated: Firefox 5-rc, Horde 4 packages, 'The Board', Rawstudio, LLVM/clang 3.0 snapshot, many smaller updates to KDE and GNOME applications and desktops." Refer to the release announcement for additional details. Download (mirrors): openSUSE-KDE-LiveCD-Build0072-i686.iso (671MB, MD5, torrent), openSUSE-GNOME-LiveCD-Build0072-i686.iso (668MB, MD5, torrent), openSUSE-KDE-LiveCD-Build0072-x86_64.iso (672MB, MD5, torrent), openSUSE-GNOME-LiveCD-Build0072-x86_64.iso (685MB, MD5, torrent).

Space freighter plunges into southern Pacific

Europe's unmanned ATV 2 space freighter Johannes Kepler burned up on reentry early this morning as planned, after undocking from the International Space Station yesterday.


Contact with the Automated Transfer Vehicle 2 was lost at 8.41pm GMT (3.41pm ET) at an altitude of 80km, just before the vehicle fell into the southern Pacific Ocean.

There was one unplanned manoeuvre, following a warning from NASA that a piece of space debris was set to approach within 50 meters of the ship about two hours after it left the ISS. Using its last tonne of fuel, the ship fired its thrusters briefly to move out of danger.

"The mission of ATV-2 has been very smooth and we have encountered during these four months only very minor issues that were quickly taken care of by our teams," says Nico Dettmann, head of ESA’s ATV programme.

"ATV has shown again its capabilities in servicing the Station, and we are looking forward to the next, Edoardo Amaldi, which will be shipped to Kourou in August for launch in early 2012."

Just before hitting the atmosphere, Johannes Kepler was commanded to begin tumbling to make sure it would disintegrate and burn up safely.

Pieces such as the heavy docking adapter and main engines – designed to withstand extreme heat – struck the ocean at around 4pm ET. There were no hazardous materials aboard.

The freighter's last moments were recorded by a prototype 'black box' provided by the US Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies. It collected information on acceleration, roll, pitch and yaw rates, temperatures and GPS coordinates.

The black box was then left to decend on its own, protected by its own heatshield, and transmitting its stored data via the Iridium satphone system.

The information will help to predict what happens to space hardware as it reenters and comes apart, and should help in designing future spacecraft so that they break up into less hazardous fragments on reentry.

"We broke many records with ATV-2," says Alberto Novelli, head of ESA’s ATV Mission Operations.

"Not only was this the heaviest payload ever launched by ESA and the Ariane 5 rocket, but the ATV’s engines also achieved the biggest boost for human spaceflight since the Apollo missions to the moon: we raised the Space Station’s orbit by more than 40 kilometres."

pfSense 2.0 RC3

Chris Buechler has announced the availability of the third release candidate for pfSense 2.0, a FreeBSD-based operating system for firewalls: "I'm happy to announce what will likely be the final 2.0 release candidate, RC3, is now available. RC2 was a snapshots-only tag. The mirrors are currently syncing, with a few of them done already and the remaining will sync within the coming hours. There are considerably fewer open issues on 2.0 right now than there were on 1.2.3 when it was released, and no major outstanding problems. 2.0 has gotten widespread use in production environments over the last year plus including in our most critical networks, and looks to be ready for release. We expect final release within a month, and consider RC3 the preferred release for all new installs." Here is the full release announcement. Download: pfSense-2.0-RC3-i386.iso.gz (96.5MB, SHA256), pfSense-2.0-RC3-amd64.iso.gz (110MB, SHA256).

Scientific Linux 5.6


Troy Dawson has announced the stable release of Scientific Linux 5.6, a distribution built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6, with extra packages that could be useful in scientific and academic environments: "Scientific Linux 5.6 has been released for both i386 and x86_64 architectures. It has a new graphical theme called 'Atom Shine' provided by Shawn Thompson. Scientific Linux release 5.6 is based on the rebuilding of RPMs out of SRPMs from Enterprise 5 Server and Client. It also has all errata and bug fixes up until May 13, 2011." Some of the extra application, tools and drivers added the distribution include Alpine, IceWM, Intel wireless firmware, Sun Java, KDEEdu, multimedia support, OpenAFS, R, YumEx and many others. Please read the release announcement and release notes for further information. Download: SL.56.061711.DVD.i386.disc1.iso (4,167MB, MD5), SL.56.061711.DVD.x86_64.disc1.iso (4,172MB, MD5).

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

VectorLinux 7.0 RC2


Robert Lange has announced the availability of the second (and final) release candidate for VectorLinux Linux 7.0 - now with the added ability to build Arch Linux packages in Slackware format: "The VectorLinux development crew is proud to announce the second release candidate of VectorLinux 7.0. There have been numerous changes since the RC1 release. The kernel is version 2.6.38.7, glibc is 2.13 and everything else is up to date with Slackware 13.37. We have the new Xfce 4.8.1 with Glx-Dock, latest AbiWord, Gnumeric, Scribus, Inkscape, Shotwell and a vast array of other programs in all categories at their latest stable versions. Due to stability problems Audacious has been replaced with UMPlayer. We have squashed major bugs that occurred during the first RC cycle, which includes updates to the kernel, firmware, vasm, GDM, VectorLinux artwork, ConsoleKit and some minor theme changes." For more details please see the release announcement. Download: VL7.0-STD-RC2.iso (700MB, MD5), VL7.0-STD-LIVE-RC2.iso (700MB, MD5).

Monday, June 20, 2011

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Frugalware Linux 1.5 Pre 2


Miklós Vajna has announced that the second test release of Frugalware Linux 1.5, a general-purpose distribution featuring the Pacman package manager and a large online software repository, is out and ready for testing: "The Frugalware developer team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware 1.5pre2, the second technical preview of the upcoming 1.5 stable release. Here are some of the major improvements, fixes and updates since 1.5pre1: Package updates - Linux kernel 2.6.39, LibreOffice 3.4, KDE 4.6.4; the boot splash is now provided by Plymouth; i686 and x86_64 kernels can now boot from EFI, however, the bootloader is not yet installable from setup; in addition to EFI support, GPT partition tables are now enabled, GPT fdisk is the recommended partitioner for this." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: frugalware-1.5pre2-i686-dvd1.iso (4,261MB, SHA1).

Linux Deepin 11.06 Beta 2


Linux Deepin is a Chinese community distribution based on Ubuntu and featuring the GNOME desktop and numerous usability enhancements. The second beta version of Linux Deepin 11.06 was just released this Monday. There are two major changes: the ISO image is now generated with the Hybrid mode so that users can easily boot their computers from USB media; improved user experience via Packages.LinuxDeepin.com where all unofficial Ubuntu warehouse (like PPA, Medibuntu, and LinuxMint) are cached. Besides quite a few bug fixes, there are observable package adjustments like the inclusion of DeadBeef 0.5.1 with patches and the brand new Firefox 5.0, as well as the downgrade of Compiz from version 0.9 to 0.8. The installer now only supports Chinese and English, and ibus-chewing the input method for Traditional Chinese is added. Caveat: due to DNS problems, upgrading from earlier versions now becomes a bit different. Check the complete release notes (in Chinese) for full information. Download (MD5): deepin_11.06-beta2_i386.iso (652MB), deepin_11.06-beta2_amd64.iso (679MB).

Parsix GNU/Linux 3.7 Test 2


Alan Baghumian has announced the availability of the second test release of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.7, a Debian-based desktop distribution with GNOME 2.32: "Our second testing release of Parsix GNU/Linux 3.7 is out now. This version merges all the published security and bug-fix updates. Several packages have been upgraded to their newer versions, such as Evolution 2.32.3, GParted 0.8.1, Iceweasel 4.0.1, Chromium 11 and NetworkManager 0.8.4. Parsix GNU/Linux 3.7 is built on top of the rock-solid Debian testing branch as of Feb 7, 2011 and brings tons of updated packages. We decided to ship GNOME 2.32 with this version and GNOME 3.0 is planned for Parsix GNU/Linux 4.0. We will follow this testing release with our classic three-step development releases and are looking to release the final version in late June or early July." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download: parsix_3.7r0-TEST-2-i386.iso (948MB, MD5), parsix_3.7r0-TEST-2-amd64.iso (961MB, MD5).

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Webconverger 8.0


Kai Hendry has announced the release of Webconverger 8.0, a Debian-based live CD for web kiosks, with Firefox 4, designed for deployments in places like offices or Internet cafés where only web applications are used: "Webconverger 8.0 allows you to deploy Firefox 4.0.1 in a kiosk environment. This release uses a lot of up-to-date Debian packages from Progress Linux. Between 7.2 to 8.0 there are several highlights such as: Firefox 4.0.1, updated Adobe Flash to 10.3.181.26, 2.6.39 Linux kernel, a few extra locales like South African English. Security has been tightened up by removing terminals, though there are probably ways of downloading 32-bit terminals for execution that could be blocked. There is a known issue where sometimes Webconverger boots without loading the browser. This is a strange intermittent problem that needs debugging. If it happens to you, please try booting again." Read the rest of the release notes for further information. Download: webc-8.0.iso (335MB, MD5).

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Fuduntu 14.10


Andrew Wyatt has announced the release of Fuduntu 14.10, an updated build of the Fedora-based desktop distribution: "The Fuduntu team is pleased to announce the general availability of Fuduntu 14.10. This release continues our tradition of small incremental improvements bringing new versions of several important packages and bug fixes to the Fuduntu Linux distribution. Included in this release: Linux kernel 2.6.39.1, Adobe Flash 10.3, Chromium 12, Shotwell 0.10.1; ext4 is now our default file system during installation; support for NVIDIA (akmod-nvidia), and ATI (akmod-catalyst) proprietary drivers; a tool to help simplify customizing your installation; a theme refresh, correcting several bugs and streamlining the look and feel; new background choices; new tweaks to improve Flash playback; bug fixes; the quarterly patch roll-up." Here is the full release announcement. Download: Fuduntu-14.10-i386-LiveDVD.iso (907MB), Fuduntu-14.10-x86_64-LiveDVD.iso (937MB).

The Nine Lives of Chloe King

Scientific Linux 5.6 RC2


Troy Dawson has announced the availability of the second (and likely last) release candidate for Scientific Linux 5.6: "Scientific Linux 5.6 RC2 is now available. We have pushed out the latest update to Scientific Linux 5.6. There are both network install images as well as CD and DVD images. If there are no problems, this will be the final release, there will be no further changes. Changed since RC1: GDM Login screen background was changed to have the 'Atom Shine' blue background. After four years the 'EaseOfBlue' GDM theme is now blue; release notes and READMEs were updated; on the distribution servers everything is copied over to the 56 directory, there should be no links pointing to 5rolling. If there are no problems we expect to release Scientific Linux 5.6 on Tuesday 21 June 2011." The release announcement. Download: SL.56.061711.DVD.i386.disc1.iso (4,167MB, MD5), SL.56.061711.DVD.x86_64.disc1.iso (4,172MB, MD5).

Friday, June 17, 2011

Conspiracies II Lethal Networks SKIDROW


Greenie Linux 9N


Stanislav Hoferek has announced the release of Greenie Linux 9N, a beginner-friendly Ubuntu-based distribution with enhanced support for Slovak and Czech languages and extra software applications: "Greenie Linux 9N is finaly here! Based on Ubuntu 11.04, Greenie uses the classic and solid GNOME 2.32.1 instead of GNOME 3 or Unity. Several new applications (FBReader, gToDo, Adobe Reader, Audacity), new versions of Firefox and all other software, and new, much darker artwork, are now in Greenie. Also we made it possible to run popular websites (Facebook, Twitter, Pastebin, YouTube, etc.) using the Run dialog. This version will come in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavours, and the 64-bit edition will be announced very soon." Read the release announcement (in Slovak, except for a brief English note at the bottom) for a detailed list of changes and new features. Download: greenie-9n-x86.iso (1,123MB, MD5).

DoudouLinux 1.0


DoudouLinux is a Debian-based distribution targeting young children, with a goal to make computer use as simple and pleasant as possible. The project's version 1.0, code name "Gondwana", is now released: "The version 1.0 of the project is finally ready, after a year of happy work! To mark this event, we named this version Gondwana, for the super-continent which included most of the landmasses in today's southern hemisphere, before the breakup into several continents due to plate tectonics. DoudouLinux provides tens of applications that suit children from 2 to 12 years old and gives them an environment as easy to use as a gaming console. Kids can learn, discover and have fun without dad and mum always watching!" Read the release announcement and check out the feature list for more information. Download (SHA1): doudoulinux-gondwana-1.0-en.iso (695MB). Several other language editions are available from the download page.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Analyst: Swap into AMD shares and out of Intel

A prominent financial analyst is advising investors to swap into AMD shares and out of Intel.

According to Craig Berger of FBR Capital, AMD “should gain both desktop and notebook processor market share” with the help of Hewlett-Packard and Acer.

Analyst: Swap into AMD shares and out of Intel

Although Berger emphasized he wasn’t "negative"” about Intel, the analyst pointed out that Fusion APU pricing is approximately 10%-15% below Intel’s competing Sandy Bridge line - which doesn’t even support DX11.

"We are not negative on Intel near $22, we just want to limit exposure to PC chip stocks, while recognizing the potential for more earnings growth with AMD in the second half of 2011.”

To be sure, Berger estimates AMD can boost its CPU market share by 3-5 percentage points, "possibly adding $900 million to $1.5 billion of annual revenues and 40-60 cents a share in profits."

However, the analyst was careful to note Intel has "major scale, manufacturing and costs advantages" over AMD, and was undoubtedly capable of "squashing" Fusion with more aggressive pricing.

Thus, the AMD call remains "largely tactical in nature and less of a long-term investment."

Tiny Core Linux 3.7


Robert Shingledecker has announced the release of Tiny Core Linux 3.7, a minimalist, but extensible desktop distribution in 10 megabytes: "Team Tiny Core is pleased to announce the release of Tiny Core Linux 3.7. Final change log: new multicore.iso both Tiny Core and Micro Core installation and network tools edition; new added kernel module for NTFS to base, allows read access to NTFS partition; new GUI loadpack to load, when required, Starter Pack after boot; updated rebuildfstab now supports NTFS-3G for NTFS-3G extension, allows read-write access; updated cpanel to reflect changes in the base; updated tc-functions to better handle TCVD virtual disk; updated network GUI to record udhcpc PID for services support when DHCP is requested...." Here is the release announcement with a changelog. Download: tinycore_3.7.iso (10.3MB, MD5). The "mulitcore" CD image with a graphical system installer is available from here: multicore_3.7.iso (45.5MB, MD5).

Salix OS 13.37 "Fluxbox"


George Vlahavas has announced that the "Fluxbox" edition of Salix OS 13.37, a lightweight Slackware-based distribution, has been released: "Salix Fluxbox 13.37 is here, available in both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. Everyone who has used the 13.1 Fluxbox edition, will find this release very familiar. It comes with Linux kernel 2.6.37.6, Fluxbox 1.3.1, Firefox 4.0.1 and Claws-mail 3.7.8. LibreOffice 3.3.2 is included by default in full mode installations, replacing OpenOffice.org and localization packages for more than a hundred languages are available through the package management tools. Exaile 0.3.2 is the default music player and the Whaaw Media Player, version 0.2.14, is used as the default movie player." Read the full release announcement for further details. Download (MD5): salix-fluxbox-13.37.iso (574MB, torrent), salix64-fluxbox-13.37.iso (561MB, torrent).

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Parted Magic 6.2


Patrick Verner has released a new version of Parted Magic, a Linux-based live CD with a collection of software designed for disk management and data rescue tasks: "It's that time of the month again. The most noticeable change is that Rox now handles the desktop icons and feh displays the desktop wallpaper. These seemed like the best lightweight choices in preparation for the new PCManFM when it's released as stable. Parted was upgraded to 3.0, but GParted is still linked against libparted 2.4 for now. All fonts should look good in Firefox if you use a language other than US English. A few other useful programs were added like ZFS Fuse, LILO Setup, Rox Filer, and FixParts. Updated programs: TestDisk 6.12, Parted 3.0, Linux kernel 2.6.38.8, GParted 0.8.1...." Visit the project's news page to read the release announcement. Download: pmagic-6.2.iso (168MB, MD5).

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

AV Linux 5.0


Glen MacArthur has announced the release of AV Linux 5.0, a Debian-based distribution with a collection of audio and video production software and running on the LXDE desktop: "After more than five months of daily development following the release of 4.2, AV Linux 5.0 is here. This release balances the rock-solid reliability of Debian's stable release and fortifies it with some carefully selected packages to make it a state-of-the-art multimedia content creation powerhouse. Features and improvements: 2.6.39.1 Linux kernel with IRQ threading and rtirq-init activated; complete full-featured desktop package selection including LibreOffice 3.4; RTC (Real-Time Clock) permissions set by default on the live DVD; FFADO SVN Firewire drivers with daisy-chaining on the new Juju stack...." Read the rest of the release announcement for full details and screenshots. Download: avlinux5-20110612-lxde-i386-en.iso (1,915MB, MD5, torrent).

Monday, June 13, 2011

IPFire 2.9 Core 49

Arne Fitzenreiter has announced the release of IPFire 2.9 Core 49, a Linux-based firewall distribution: "Today we are going to release Core Update 49. IPFire 2.9 Core 49 is a bug-fix release and brings minor feature updates. List of changes: QoS - replaced sip with rtp for VoIP; Apache - tuning maximum spare servers to 10; add 'charon' to IPSec log section; fix ID information on IPSec configuration; backup.cgi - added content length to show file status bar; add CGI to display the md-state; services.cgi - blacklist mdadm (no good idea to stop it); extrahd -add mmcblk card reader and mdadm support; extrahd - display also non-partitioned disks; add initskript to wait until slower drives are present; changed OpenVPN CGI to create a CN without a blank; change Squid init script to kill remaining ClamAV redir; lm_sensors - update to 3.3.0...." Here is the full release announcement. Download (SHA1): ipfire-2.9.i586-full-core49.iso (67.5MB, torrent).

Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04-r1


Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04-r1, a new respin of the Arch-based desktop distribution: "The Chakra development team is proud to announce the first respin of 'Aida'. Some weeks passed since Chakra 2011.04, we have added lots of package updates, KDE got updated to 4.6.4 with our Chakra patches added. Also we updated our hardware detection and added the latest drivers. This is the first image using chakra-live for creating the image. We will focus now on Edn our next stable release which will come out in September 2011. Simone Tobias has updated AppSet to fix the reported problems. For all our GTK+ fans we have added some more popular GTK+ applications as bundles." For further details please consult the release announcement. Download: chakra-2011.04-r1-i686.iso (654MB, MD5), chakra-2011.04-r1-x86_64.iso (674MB, MD5).

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Imagineos 20110605


Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has announced the release of Imagineos 20110605, a Slackware-based distribution formerly known as GoblinX: "The new Imagineos release is finally available. This live CD created by using linux-live scripts with a few modifications uses KDE (4.5.5) as the desktop environment and is based on Slackware 13.37 with more applications and features. Some versions of major components of the system: Zen kernel 2.6.38.4, Squashfs 4.2, Aufs 20110502, GCC 4.5.3, Binutils 2.21.51.0.6, glibc 2.13. Changelog: system upgraded; bootsplash is again our splash manager; Plymouth removed; user created during hard disk install process is the default user; included AbiWord because it is important to have a word processor...." Here is the full release announcement. Quick links to download the English and Portuguese (Brazil) editions: Imagineos_en-20110605-i486-K1.iso (697MB, MD5), Imagineos_br-20110606-i486-K1.iso (696MB, MD5).

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Macpup 525


Johnny Lee has announced the release of Macpup 525, a Puppy-based Linux distribution with a customised Enlightenment 17 desktop: "Macpup 525 is based on Puppy Linux 5.2.5, 'Lucid Puppy', An official Woof build of Puppy Linux that is binary-compatible with Ubuntu 10.04. It contains all the applications from Lucid Puppy, with the addition of Firefox 4. Extra applications like Opera or GIMP are available for easy download from the Quickpet application on the iBar or the Puppy package manager. Macpup 525 also includes the Enlightenment E17 window manager. The EFL libraries version 1.0.999 and E17 version 59456 were compiled and installed from source. To keep your CPU cool and your fan quiet use the CPU Frequency Scaling Tool. The first time you run Macpup, the system will be running totally in RAM." Refer to the release announcement for further details. Download the live CD image from here: Macpup_525.iso (155MB, MD5).

Friday, June 10, 2011

Toorox 06.2011


Jörn Lindau has announced the release of Toorox 06.2011 "GNOME" edition, a Gentoo-based distribution showcasing the new GNOME 3 desktop: "A new version of Toorox 'GNOME' has been finished. This one contains the GNOME esktop 3.0.2. What's new? The kernel is Linux 2.6.39-gentoo and USB 3.0 support has been built-in. The deprecated ATA tree has been removed; also HAL is not needed and has been removed. The nouveau graphics driver is now part of Toorox and this makes it possible to enable graphics acceleration for the GNOME desktop. The hardware detection was updated for all graphics chipsets. Many packages have been updated: X.Org Server 1.10.2, IceCat 4.0.1, Thunderbird 3.1.10, LibreOffice 3.4.0, Audacious 2.5.1, Wine 1.3.21, Pidgin 2.7.11, Brasero 3.0.0, Totem 3.0.1." Read the full release announcement for more information and known issues. Download (MD5) the live DVD images via BitTorrent: Toorox_06.2011-32bit_GNOME.iso (1,535MB), Toorox_06.2011-64bit_GNOME.iso (1,716MB).

Peppermint OS Two


Kendall Weaver has announced the release of Peppermint OS Two, a lightweight, Lubuntu-based distribution featuring the Openbox window manager: "It is our distinct honor to announce the release of the second major iteration of Peppermint OS. Peppermint Two is now available either for free download or via purchasable live CD. This edition is based upon Lubuntu 11.04 and includes a number of new features. Also this marks the first time Peppermint has been available for the 64-bit architecture. I'll take a moment to cover some of the new features present in this release: we're now using Chromium as the default web browser in our main release; the Ice SSB application has added functionality for removing SSBs as well as creating them; we've added some additional example SSBs to the default install from pixlr...." Read the remainder of the release announcement for further details. Download (MD5): Peppermint-Two-i386-06052011.iso (442MB), Peppermint-Two-amd64-06052011.iso (479MB).

Dungeon Siege III RELOADED

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Painkiller Resurrection RELOADED

Are expectations lowering for Super 8?

Just as the coming attractions for Super 8 felt like they were ramping the American public up for something pretty big, all of the sudden Paramount has been downplaying their expectations for the film, as well as reports that tracking for the film is "soft."

Are expectations lowering for Super 8?



Hollywood Reporter also ran a story about "what's at stake" with Abrams's career if Super 8 doesn't take off, it could affect other "nonfranchise" projects he has planned for the future.

Super 8 has reportedly cost $50 million dollars, which shouldn't be hard to recoup, but you also get the sense there may be a slight panic that the mystery behind the film isn't working to its advantage.

Abrams joked to Vanity Fair that, "After doing a series of films based on TV shows from the 60s that Leonard Nimoy starred in, I felt like it was important that I do something Leonard Nimoy had nothing to do with." (Yet in one scene, the show In Search Of is on in the background, which Nimoy hosted.)

The fact that Super 8 is not a remake, sequel or reboot could be making Paramount nervous. In a recent article in GQ, "The Day the Movies Died," Mark Harris reported with considerable disgust that Christopher Nolan's Inception, an original film that obviously did quite well, got made because Warner Brothers needed him back for the next Batman.

And it is indeed tough to get an original idea sold because it's harder to market something new from scratch, or so current Hollywood "logic" would have it. 

About five years ago I met with a well known producer who said if I had any good ideas for a remake, not any good ideas for an original movie of course, to let him know.

I also once wrote a story about a friend, Paul Fusco, who got a screenplay he'd written, Soldiers of the Dead, adapted into a graphic novel, because if it did well, it would be easier to sell the movie out of a previously successful comic, instead of trying to pitch an original idea from scratch.

If Super 8 doesn't take off, Abrams still have enough success under his belt that he should be able to survive the hit just fine, and if takes a little time for Super 8 to build, thankfully with today's social networks word of mouth will grow a lot faster, hence Paramount announcing a preview on the eve of Super 8's release via Twitter.

Scientific Linux 5.6 RC1


Troy Dawson has announced that the first release candidate for Scientific Linux 5.6 is out and ready for testing: "Scientific Linux 5.6 RC 1 is now available. We have pushed out the latest update to Scientific Linux (SL) 5.6. Changed since beta 3: SL 5.6 has a new graphical theme called 'Atom Shine'; sl-release and yum-conf were updated to point to 56 instead of 5rolling; R was updated to 2.13.0; on the distribution servers there is now a directory 56, for i386 and x86_64 there are links to 5rolling, this does not mean that 56 is released, it is only in release candidate, It is set up this way so that we can test. Known issues: the GDM login screen still has the old graphics instead of the new Atom Shine graphics, this will be fixed in the next release candidate. We expect SL 5.6 RC2 out in two weeks." The release announcement. Download: SL.56.060811.DVD.i386.disc1.iso (4,167MB, MD5), SL.56.060811.DVD.x86_64.disc1.iso (4,172MB, MD5).

FreeNAS 8.0.1 Beta 2

Josh Paetzel has announced the availability of the second beta release of FreeNAS 8.0.1: "Hot on the tail of the first BETA I am proud to announce 8.0.1-BETA2. This is the second of three planned betas in the 8.0.1 release cycle. Most of the changes from BETA1 are bug fixes. In particular several bugs have been fixed in the migrations from 8.0-RELEASE. The system was not relabeling ZFS volumes to use the new devicename-independent naming scheme correctly in BETA1. Also the database migration scripts in BETA1 do not migrate NFS shares properly. The upgrade/migration scripts have been improved. In previous versions failure of the database upgrade was easy to miss, and it could leave the system booting to single-user mode with error messages that had nothing to do with the root issue. This has been rectified. If a database migration does fail, the error message will be clear as to what happened." Here is the complete release announcement. Download (SHA256): FreeNAS-8.0.1-BETA2-i386.iso (102MB), FreeNAS-8.0.1-BETA2-amd64.iso (108MB).

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Nintendo admits it faked Wii U game footage

You know, I haven't been impressed with Nintendo in, well, just about ages. I much preferred playing Golden Axe on the Sega Genesis than Mario on the NES.

True, that was many, many years ago - but some things never change.

Nintendo admits to faking Wii U footage

For example, I have long suspected Nintendo excels in little else but marketing, as the corporation seems to have an uncanny knack of convincing people they absolutely must buy a subpar system and play mindless games until their eyes are red from sleep deprivation.

Admittedly, I probably do sound like an aging curmudgeon, but I always believed the color Lynx was miles ahead of the monochrome Game Boy.

But what did the mindless masses end up buying? Yeah, the Game Boy. Sure, the quality was lacking, but so friggin' what? Obviously, high-end graphics have never mattered to Nintendo.

So that's why I wasn't at all shocked to learn the bloated corporation had faked video game footage ostensibly rendered by its "next-gen" (*cough*) Wii U console this week at E3 in Los Angeles.

That's right, some of the clips were actually snatched from Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games, both of which, IMHO, probably boast superior graphics to whatever advanced "console" Nintendo is working on.

But Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime seemed rather nonplussed by the controversy, telling GameTrailers the presentation was perfectly legit, as the graphics on the Wii U would definitely be comparable to what was shown at the LA game show.

"We're talking a year away from when the system's going to launch. The system's going to be 1080p," Fils-Aime claimed.

"You're going to see games that take full advantage of a system that has the latest technology and can push out some incredible graphics."



Yeah, right. If I was an optimist, I would say Nintendo needs to internalize the following age-old slogan:

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

But they won't, because they really don't have to. Unfortunately, modern consumers tend to fall for slick marketing campaigns, and never seem to learn that spin just can't quite make up for lack of quality.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

Watch the exclusive online trailer debut for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner, coming to theaters November 18, 2011!

Mass Effect 3 coming March 6, 2012

Electronic Arts has confirmed a release date for the anticipated Mass Effect sequel.

Those were almost the very first words out of EA during its pre-E3 press conference this afternoon.

Bringing the most state-of-the-art visuals yet and ambitious new gameplay controls, EA promises Mass Effect 3 will be "the best in the series."

One of the unique features about the Mass Effect series has been its unparalleled continuity. That is, the way players interacted with Mass Effect had a fundamental impact in the way their Mass Effect 2 experience was handled.

In Mass Effect 3, that dynamic will go even further, as players continue their epic journey in which every move they make, every decision they take, has an effect.

Mass Effect was originally an Xbox 360 exclusive, but in one of the biggest scores for the PS3 to date, Mass Effect 2 was brought to the Sony console (albeit after a significant wait following its Xbox 360 release).

For Mass Effect 3, multiplatform support will come right out of the gate, with the PS3 version coming alongside the Xbox 360 and PC versions on the same day.

We now know that day is March 6, 2012.

After 25 years, Ubisoft reinvents classics

Platformer fans rejoice, because there's a brand new, high-definition Rayman game in the works. And that's just the beginning.

Ubisoft, which does not traditionally go to the expense of having a decked-out pre-E3 media event, used this as an opportunity to celebrate its legacy as a 25-year-old video game publisher, which started as a humble company founded by a couple brothers in France.

The company's very first creation was an unlikely superhero with no arms or legs named Rayman. Today, that same character was the first thing shown at Ubisoft's briefing.

Rayman Origins takes all of the fast-paced platforming, puzzle-solving action fans have come to know and love, and brings it to the world of powerful HD graphics and all new gameplay, with support for up to four-player cooperative gaming.

Rayman himself has taken a back seat in recent years, with his spin-off franchise, the crude, toilet-dwelling Rabbids getting most of the attention as of late. So it's nice to see him make a return to gaming.

It's not just Rayman that's getting a refresh. Driver, which first gained notoriety as a blocky, simplistic racing title back in the day, is poised to take over the latest consoles in Driver: San Francisco.

There is more than just remakes of decades-old franchises, though. Ubisoft also revealed a new installment to its high-octane adventure series, Farcry 3. But today's conference was mostly about Ubisoft's rare 25-year mark in the gaming market.

Ubisoft may not be a part of most gamers' everyday vocabulary, but it does have a strong hold on the industry, and its E3 lineup in honor of the company's 25th anniversary looks pretty decent.

Monday, June 6, 2011

ClearOS 6.1 Alpha 1


Dave Loper has announced the availability of the first alpha release of ClearOS 6.1. Previously ClearOS was a small distribution for network and gateway servers, but starting with this release, it is now a full-featured operating system for servers and workstations built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. From the release announcement: "ClearFoundation announces the release of ClearOS Core 6.1 Alpha 1. This release is intended for testing and proof of concept for the new line of operating systems for servers and workstations. ClearOS Core is an enterprise Linux distribution for server and desktop environments. The goal is to provide near binary equivalence and functionality that exists in the upstream distribution, including bugs. Additionally, ClearFoundation strives to release versions, updates and patches in a timely and professional manner (the goal for updates is 48 hours or less)." Download: clearos-core-6.1alpha1-x86_64.iso (3,616MB, SHA256, torrent).

SystemRescueCd 2.2.0


François Dupoux released an updated build of SystemRescueCd, a Gentoo-based live CD with a collection of utilities for data rescue and disk management tasks. Version 2.2.0 comes with a long list of updated packages: "Updated standard kernels to Linux 2.6.38.8 (rescuecd + rescue64); updated alternative kernels to Linux 2.6.39.1 (altker32 + altker64); updated 'Offline NT Password & Registry Editor' ('ntpasswd' boot entry); updated NTFS-3G to 2011.4.12 (driver that provides read-write access to NTFS); updated Python from 2.6 to 2.7; updated Gentoo Portage to 2.1.9; updated GParted to 0.8.1; updated Samba to 3.4.12; Updated Perl to 5.12.3; added xfce4-session package (new menu entry to leave Xfce)." Read the full SystemRescueCd changelog for more information. Download the live CD image from here: systemrescuecd-x86-2.2.0.iso (321MB, SHA256).

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The helmets and missiles of X-Men: First Class

The film starts out a little disjointed, but once it picks up steam it’s a powerhouse.

First, this point: X-Men: First Class was not offered in 3D, which is refreshing. I guess that’s all there is to say about that.

Many of the nicest scenes of the film were well and truly spoiled. I found myself disappointed several times at scenes with major neat-factor or twists, as I’d already seen them in the plethora of pre-release clips. Of course, I already knew that was going to happen, and it’s my own fault for watching the stupid things, but it was still a tangible disappointment. I can’t fault the film itself for that, however, that’s a studio marketing decision.


The beginning of the film has a bit of a jerky start, but this was something else that, it seems, could not be helped.

The story is all about Erik and Charles, and how they got together, and ultimately, the differences that drove them apart.

This means that the beginning of the tale goes through the characters live up until the point they meet, and this section flashes between the two starkly different tales (one of loss and remorse for Erik, and of learning and compassion for Charles.

Once they come together however, the parts slip together more wholly, and the film becomes seamless and full, more so than it could have been without that earlier bit of disjointedness.

The themes of the story seem to have changed a bit. While the X-Men stories always focus on the ideas of acceptance, this film is less about exploring the idea of finding a place in society, as it deals with the idea of the need to find a place at all.

It’s a fine distinction, but an interesting shift, none-the-less. Of course, there is the obligatory comparison of mutantness to homosexuality. If you haven’t noticed, each oif the films in the trilogy has at least one line which draws a tongue-in-cheek comparison between the fictional issue, and the real one. In the first film, it even serves as one of the major themes.

The film does a great job of giving everything the beginning it needs. Lots of details about the X-Men canon are established here, and, despite seeing that it doesn’t quite fit with the original film trilogy, it’s made me want to get those films back out and watch them again.

The climax of X-Men: First Class was emotional and touching. It is easily the most powerful scene in a new film so far this year. When the dichotomy between Erik and Charles reaches its ultimate point of resolution, there is truly no turning back for anyone, and all of the characters are so fully sympathetic and dimensional that one might find themselves in tears (not that I did... ahem...).

Then again, as a comics reader, these characters are already so close to me, and knowing all the hurt that they will cause each other after this moment, I just wanted to help them stop this whole thing from starting, though I knew how inevitable it all was.

The film’s overture was familiar. It was the same scene we see in the first X-Men movie relating to Magneto’s origin. Not everything fits in with that canon, however. T

here are several details in this film which do not quite mesh with the existing trilogy. This suggests that they may be planning to branch it off into a new X-men franchise. I would have no problem with that. Now that they’ve given it a new beginning, I want to see where it goes next.

Friday, June 3, 2011

LulzSec Hacks SonyPictures.com; 1 Million Accounts Exposed


Just when it looks like Sony was finally recovering from the PlayStation Network hack, it happened again. This time, it wasn't PSN, but Sony Pictures: hackers may have compromised 1 million SonyPictures.com user accounts, stealing personal information including e-mail addresses and passwords, as well as street addresses, dates of birth, and more. On top of that, the hacker group posted a file containing information on 50,000 users.
Apparently the hack wasn't even that difficult for LulzSec to pull off: Gizmodo quotes LulzSec as saying, "SonyPictures.com was owned by a very simple SQL injection, one of the most primitive and common vulnerabilities, as we should all know by now. From a single injection, we accessed EVERYTHING."

In addition, none of the passwords were encrypted; instead, they were stored in plain text.

Keep in mind that Sony Pictures is an entirely different division of the company from Sony Computer Entertainment, the Sony subsidiary responsible for the PlayStation 3 and hit with April's PlayStation Network hack. Still, it's another black eye for a company that hasn't exactly garnered a good reputation security-wise in recent weeks.

We'll have more on PCWorld.com on this story as it develops, including tips on what you should do in case you fall victim to a data breach.

E3 2011 Deus Ex: Human Revolution

FreeNAS 8.0.1 Beta 1

Josh Paetzel has announced the availability of the first beta release of FreeNAS 8.0.1, a FreeBSD-based operating system providing free Network-Attached Storage (NAS) services: "I'm pleased to announce 8.0.1-BETA1, the first preview of the upcoming 8.0.1-Release for FreeNAS. The changes from 8.0-Release: upgraded software stack across the board, new version of Django, Dojo, istgt and many other software upgrades; the new version of istgt fixes issues people were having in a Hyper-V environment; vastly improved remote replication, with much better error notification as well as the ability to recover from failure situations; device names are no longer hard-wired in the database; users can now be given an email address, making them more useful for use in cron jobs; the ability to add cron jobs via the GUI is now present...." See the release announcement for a complete list of changes and errata. Download (SHA256): FreeNAS-8.0.1-BETA1-i386.iso (103MB), FreeNAS-8.0.1-BETA1-amd64.iso (105MB).

Linux Caixa Mágica 16


Linux Caixa Mágica 16, a new stable version of the Portuguese desktop Linux distribution, has been released. This is the project's first version based on Ubuntu (previous releases were based on openSUSE and later on Mandriva) and it comes in separate live media with GNOME and KDE desktops. Other new features and applications of the release include Firefox 4.0.1, LibreOffice 3.3.2, Caixa Mágica software centre, Shotwell photo management program, Banshee media player, automatic detection of proprietary firmware, new package management formant and system, and simplified system installer. Read the release announcement (in Portuguese) for further information and links to documentation files. Download: caixamagica-16-desktop-i386-gnome-dvd.iso (1,310MB, MD5), caixamagica-16-desktop-i386-kde-dvd.iso (1,509MB, MD5), caixamagica-16-desktop-amd64-gnome-dvd.iso (1,448MB, MD5), caixamagica-16-desktop-amd64-kde-dvd.iso (1,628MB, MD5).

NuTyX Pakxe


Thierry Nuttens has announced the release of NuTyX Pakxe, a highly customisable, rolling-release French Linux distribution designed for intermediate and advanced Linux users. This is the project's fifth stable release, but the first one which includes support for 64-bit architectures. All packages have been compiled with GCC 4.6.0 and against glibc 2.13, and the entire backend which builds binary packages has been re-worked to better identify the dependencies and to build high quality packages ready for installation. Desktop environments include KDE 4.6.3 and Xfce 4.8, but GNOME is no longer available due to lack of a package maintainer (volunteers are welcome). Visit the distribution's home page to read the detailed release announcement (in French). Download the tiny "netinstall" image which offers complete control over which packages get installed: NuTyX_i686-pakxe.iso (16.0MB, MD5), NuTyX_x86_64-pakxe.iso (16.0MB, MD5). Pre-built live DVD images with KDE pre-installed are available via BitTorrent only.

Legacy OS 2


John Van Gaans has announced the release of Legacy OS 2, a Puppy-based distribution for older computers: "After 9 months of development, today sees the release of Legacy OS 2. With this release comes a host of improvements over Legacy OS. The focus was to look at all aspects of Legacy OS and make improvements. We started by looking at the default desktop and the GTK+ and KDE themes it used. It was decided to create a pleasant neutral look to tie all the included applications together. A desktop environment that was easy on the eye and usable every day. The look had to be usable for those who want or need to use Legacy OS 2 as their main operating system. While the GTK+ and KDE themes share common elements, there are differences by design. You'll only find one window manager (IceWM), One IceWM, GTK+ and KDE theme. The goal was to keep it as simple as possible. We didn't want to confuse new users with multiple options. Next was the look and feel of the applications." Read the full release announcement for further information about the release, list of the main packages included, as well as download links.
Mirror-uri de download http://pupweb.org/wikka/TeenPup

Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 1


Kate Stewart has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Ubuntu 11.10, code name "Oneiric Ocelot": "Our Oneiric Ocelot (Ubuntu 11.10 alpha 1) is poking its young head out of the den, and looking for some developers and testers to play with. As with every new release, packages are being updated at a rapid pace. Many of these packages came from an automatic sync from Debian's unstable branch, others have been explicitly pulled in for 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot. Some of the key packages making their first appearance with this alpha 1 release are: Linux Kernel 2.6.39 based on the latest mainline release candidate kernel at kernel milestone freeze kernel; the default compiler has been bumped from GCC 4.5 to GCC 4.6; NetworkManager 0.9. For further information please refer to the release announcement and release notes. Download (SHA256): oneiric-desktop-i386.iso (714MB, torrent), oneiric-desktop-amd64.iso (715MB, torrent). Alpha 1 images are also available for Kubuntu (download), Xubuntu (download) and Edubuntu (download).

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Scientific Linux 6.1 Alpha 1


Troy Dawson has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Scientific Linux 6.1, a distribution built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 and enhanced with extra application useful in academic environments: "The first alpha for Scientific Linux 6.1 has been released. This release has all the new updated packages from the upstream vendors (TUV) update 1. It will install, and it appears to work, but no major testing has been done. Changes from 6.0 (in addition to TUV changes): Shawn Thompson created a whole new graphical theme for Scientific Linux 6 called 'Edge Of Space'; we pulled the fastbugs and testing repositories out of the repository file, they are now in their own RPM called yum-conf-sl-other - this is done to fix the problem of people checking the fastbugs during the install. Read the rest of the release announcement and release notes for further details. Download: SL-61-i386-2011-05-31-Install-DVD.iso (3,559MB, SHA256), (4,115MB, SHA256).

Angry Birds to arrive on Roku this summer

If playing Angry Birds on your phone, computer and tablet isn't enough, well, soon you'll be able to get your daily dose of the uber popular game on TV - courtesy of Roku's next-gen set-top box and a new controller.

"Angry Birds is the most popular and fastest growing casual game yet is has been trapped on mobile devices. We believe there's a huge market for games like these on the TV," explained Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood.


"Just as we were the first to enable Netflix to stream instantly to the TV, we intend to be the catalyst for transforming the way people play casual games - starting with Angry Birds-on the biggest screen in the home."

Unfortunately, streaming & online video expert Dan Rayburn says Roku has confirmed Angry Birds won't run on existing players because "some of the new games will require more horsepower."

So yes, while Angry Birds is coming to Roku, it seems as if you'll have to wait until sometime this summer to play the game on the company's new box.

Of course, as Engadget’s Richard Lawler points out, it may also be quite difficult for Roku's gaming initiative (Angry Birds or no) to realistically compete with Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo - on their native turf.

We'll just have to wait and see how Roku's aspirations pan out. And what if you don't feel like waiting for Roku? Well, there is always HDMI out, right?

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Mageia 1


Version 1 of Mageia, a Linux distribution built and maintained by many former developers and contributors to Mandriva Linux, has been released: "We are the Mageia community, and today we are happy to tell everyone that our first release, Mageia 1, is out and available for download. Mageia began in September 2010 as a fork of Mandriva Linux. It is supported by a not-for-profit organisation, governed by a body of recognized and elected contributors, and made by 100+ people around the world. Our work adds to the excellent work of the wider Linux and free software community. We aim to bring one of the best, most stable, reliable and enjoyable experience and platform we can make; for a regular user, a developer, or a business. Read the release announcement and release notes for more information. Download (mirror list): mageia-dvd-1-i586.iso (3,826MB, MD5, torrent), mageia-dvd-1-x86_64.iso (3,726MB, MD5, torrent). Quick links to the live CDs supporting English and other major European languages: mageia-livecd-1-KDE4-i586.iso (693MB, MD5, torrent), mageia-livecd-1-GNOME-i586.iso (621MB, MD5, torrent).