Mageia 3 RC

Anne Nicolas has announced that the only release candidate and the final development build for Mageia 3 is now ready for testing: "We are now two weeks from the end of the trip (at least we hope we will have no delay). Mageia 3 release candidate is now available for the very final tests. We need your feedback more than ever. The Mageia team is working hard to fix the last annoying bugs - what we call release-critical bugs. How do we qualify a release-critical one? All the bugs that cannot be fixed through updates, mainly in the installer, the kernel and some of the main drivers. As with the beta 4, live ISO images are still in progress and should be released in the coming days." Mageia 3 RC ships with the latest Linux kernel, version 3.8.8, and includes RPM 4.11, systemd 195, KDE 4.10.2, GNOME 3.6.3 and LibreOffice 4.0.2. See the brief release announcement and the detailed release notes for more information. Download the installation DVD image from here: Mageia-3-RC-x86_64-DVD.iso (3,865MB, MD5). The final release of Mageia 3 is scheduled for 3 May 2013.

Manjaro Linux 0.8.5 "MATE", "LXDE", "KDE"

The Manjaro development team has announced the release of three community editions of Manjaro Linux 0.8.5, featuring the MATE, LXDE and KDE desktop environments: "We are happy to announce three new Manjaro community editions featuring MATE 1.6, LXDE 0.5.5 and KDE 4.10.2. The community editions of Manjaro Linux are released as bonus flavours in addition to those officially supported and maintained by the Manjaro team, provided that the time and resources necessary are available to do so. Yusuf and Cumali from Manjaro Turkey released Manjaro KDE 2013.04 based on Manjaro stable repositories. It features the brand new KDE SC 4.10.2 point release." Read the full release announcement for more information and screenshots. Download links: manjaro-mate-0.8-r13-0417-x86_64.iso (1,090MB, SHA1), manjaro-lxde-0.8.5-x86_64.iso (1,099MB, SHA1), manjaro-kde-0.8.5-x86_64.iso (2,142MB, SHA1).

[FIX] Brightness Keys Not Working on a Notebook/Laptop - Ubuntu/Linux Mint

In this tutorial, we will see a solution that may render your brightness keys workable again in a laptop/notebook running Ubuntu/Linux Mint.

Before starting, you should bear in mind that this solution is not meant to fix all laptop or notebook models and is dedicated for users of intel cards for adjusting brightness levels. Also, this tip is only workable on Ubuntu/Linux Mint with GRUB 2.

Getting Started

You can check if you have an intel card by running this command:

 ls /sys/class/backlight/

If the returned outputs show this:

(...) intel_backlight

Then this solution may work for you. In the same terminal window, enter this command:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Find this line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

Change it to this one:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_backlight=vendor"

Save your file and exit, then run this command to update GRUB 2:

sudo update-grub

Finally, reboot your system.

Good luck!

Rebellin Linux 1.5

Utkarsh Sevekar has announced the release of Rebellin Linux 1.5, a set of commercial, desktop-oriented distribution based on Debian "Stable" (the "Synergy" edition) and Debian "Unstable" (the "Adrenalin" variant): "It gives us immense pleasure to announce the latest Rebellin Linux release - version 1.5. Although this is a minor version update, it brings a host of fixes and upgrades to both of the Rebellin Linux flavours. The Rebellin Project was started to provide top-notch email support at affordable price so that everybody can enjoy a reliable distribution designed for daily use. A lot of people shy away from Linux due to lack of personal level support and that's the niche Rebellin fills up! While Rebellin is a brilliantly crafted distribution suitable for users of any skill level, it is perfectly suited for newbies just entering the Linux world as it comes with personal email support that lasts for the lifetime of the product!" Read the rest of the release announcement for a list of improvements, fixes and known issues. Rebellin Linux 1.5 costs US$5.00 and is available for purchase and immediate download from the project's online store.

Network Security Toolkit 18-4509

Ron Henderson has announced the availability of a major new release of Network Security Toolkit (NST), a specialist Fedora-based live DVD featuring a collection of open-source network security applications: "We are pleased to announce the latest NST release - 'NST 18 SVN:4509'. This release is based on Fedora 18 using Linux kernel 3.8.6. This is the most robust and stable release of NST to date. Significant effort has been devoted to integrate systemd service control support with all network services applications, thus providing enhanced management and flexibility when using the NST WUI. Here are some of the highlights for this release: created a more friendly and intuitive user experience when booting NST Live and performing a hard disk installation; added a new NST script, nstipconf, which provides management to easily setup IPv4 address and stealth network configurations...." Continue to the full release announcement if you'd like to find out more about the product. Download: nst-18-4509.i686.iso (1,762MB).

Pardus Linux 2013 "Community"

Following the release of the "Corporate" edition last month, the Pardus development team has now also released the "Community" flavour of Pardus Linux 2013 (or "1.0" as it is called in the announcement). Available in both Turkish and English, the "new" Pardus is a desktop-oriented distribution based on Debian's "testing" branch. From the release announcement: "We are doing a stable and useful Linux called Pardus Community edition 1.0. We are sure you'll enjoy the many improvements. We have done our best in terms of stability and security that you have come to expect. Pardus Community edition 1.0 is now based on Debian 'Wheezy' and built using tools provided by the debian-live project. Easy to install and use. And also all drivers are included. All images boot as live CDs but they can be installed on your computer with the included installer." Download the GNOME or KDE variant from SourceForge: pardus_community_2013_gnome_64bit_en.iso (1,748MB, MD5), pardus_community_2013_kde_64bit_en.iso (1,941MB, MD5).