Linux Lite 5.2

 

Jerry Bezencon has announced the release of Linux Lite 5.2. The project's latest release is based on Ubuntu 20.04.1 and introduces a number of small changes and improvements. The firewall can now be managed through a module in the settings panel, old GTK2 software and themes have been removed, Adobe Flash is no longer included in the distribution, and new packages have been added to the Lite Software package manager. The distribution also includes some package updates: "Details: kernel: 5.4.0-52 ( custom kernels also available via our Repository for versions 3.13 - 5.9); Firefox: 82.0; Thunderbird: 68.10.0; LibreOffice: 6.4.6.2; VLC: 3.0.9.2; GIMP: 2.10.18; Base: 20.04.1. Known Issues: No prompt to eject Media at the end of the Legacy install, prompt is available at the end of the UEFI install. Release Notes - not working on first installer slide. Desktop icons - English support only. GRUB - holding shift down whilst booting in UEFI mode does not bring up the GRUB menu (works in Legacy mode), waiting for Ubuntu fix. GRUB menu shows Linux Lite as 'Ubuntu'. After you install Linux Lite, you can change GRUB to show 'Linux Lite'." Further information and screenshots can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (SHA256): linux-lite-5.2-64bit.iso (1,365MB, torrent, pkglist).

Fedora 33

 

The Fedora project has announced the release of Fedora 33. The project's latest version ships with Btrfs as the default filesystem (on the Workstation edition) and runs GNOME 3.38. Each edition now enables the EarlyOOM service to free up memory when heavy processes consume too much RAM and swap space. The project has also made nano the default command line text editor, replacing vi. "No matter what variant of Fedora you use, you're getting the latest the open source world has to offer. Following our 'First' foundation, we've updated key programming language and system library packages, including Python 3.9, Ruby on Rails 6.0, and Perl 5.32. In Fedora KDE, we've followed the work in Fedora 32 Workstation and enabled the EarlyOOM service by default to improve the user experience in low-memory situations. To make the default Fedora experience better, we've set nano as the default editor. nano is a friendly editor for new users. Those of you who want the power of editors like vi can, of course, set your own default." Further information can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (pkglist): Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-33-1.2.iso (1,954MB, SHA256, torrent), Fedora-Server-dvd-x86_64-33-1.2.iso (1,980MB, SHA256, torrent).

Xubuntu 20.10

 

 Xubuntu 20.10, the latest stable version of the project's official Ubuntu variant featuring the Xfce desktop, has been released: "Xubuntu 20.10 was released on Thursday, October 22, 2020 and will be supported for nine months until Thursday, July 22, 2021." The project has yet to publish an official release announcement, but the release notes do provide some information, including a list of known issues: "Installer issues: grub-installer chooses which drive to install to with no user input. Graphical issues: AMD graphics - block staircase display with side-by-side monitors of different pixel widths (fixed upstream, SRU expected for 20.04.1). General issues: GNOME Font Viewer - crashes in the live environment; Xfce PulseAudio plugin - multiple notifications displayed if multiple PulseAudio plugins added to panel; Xfce Screensaver - password required twice when switching users; Xfce Settings daemon - sometimes does not run after logging in, resulting in appearance and configuration issues. This was a less active development cycle for our team, though we did make some significant improvements for our contributors." Download link: xubuntu-20.10-desktop-amd64.iso (1,731MB, SHA256, signature, torrent, pkglist).

Linux Mint 18.3 Beta

 The Linux Mint team has announced the availability of a new development snapshot for Linux Mint. The new testing snapshot, Linux Mint 18.3 Beta, features several overhauled applications. The software manager and backup utilities in particular have been given a new look. Linux Mint now makes it easier to install third-party software, such as Google Earth and Steam, and Flatpak packages can be installed through the software manager. The new beta also features operating system snapshots using Timeshift. "Linux Mint 18.3 features Timeshift, a tool dedicated to system snapshots. Timeshift is the perfect companion to the Linux Mint Backup Tool. It doesn't save your personal data, it saves everything else. Thanks to Timeshift you can create backups of the operating system itself. You deleted system files by mistake? You can recover them. You upgraded to a newer release and something isn't working well anymore? You can go back in time." Further information can be found in the project's release announcements for the Cinnamon and MATE editions. Download (pkglist): linuxmint-18.3-cinnamon-64bit-beta.iso (1,815MB, SHA256, signature, torrent, release notes), linuxmint-18.3-mate-64bit-beta.iso (1,836MB, SHA256, signature, torrent, release notes).

SharkLinux 4.13.0-17

SharkLinux is an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the MATE desktop environment. The project has released new installation media labeled SharkLinux 4.13.0-17. "This release comes with several system changes from previous builds which aim to increase system efficiency and allow greater control for user configuration. The more significant upgrades include changes to package management and the new 'pkg' command which significantly reduce install times and provide fallbacks in the event of mirror outages, configurations at startup are no longer network dependent and finish in 50% of the execution time from previous builds and tools added to allow easy toggling of both the automatic system maintenance and default sudo behaviour. As well SharkLinux has adopted the 'edge' variant of Ubuntu's HWE kernel and now features the 4.13 series kernel." Further details on the new features and package updates can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (MD5): SharkLinux-4.13.0-17.iso (1,551MB, pkglist).

VyOS 1.1.8

Daniil Baturin has announced the release of VyOS 1.1.8, an updated version of the Debian-based distribution for firewalls and routers born in 2013 from the ashes of the discontinued Vyatta project: "VyOS 1.1.8 is now available for download. It breaks the semantic versioning convention; while the version number implies a bug-fix-only release, it actually includes a number of new features. This is because 1.2.0 number is already assigned to the Jessie-based release that is still in beta, but not including those features that have been in the code base for a while and a few of them have already been in production for some users would feel quite wrong, especially considering the long delay between the releases. Overall it's pretty close in scope to the original 1.2.0 release plan before Debian Squeeze was EOLed and we had to switch the effort to getting rid of the legacy that was keeping us from moving to a newer base distribution." See the release announcement and the changelog for further information. Download (SHA1, pkglist): vyos-1.1.8-amd64.iso (230MB, signature), vyos-1.1.8-i586.iso (220MB, signature). Also available from OSDisc.