Viewing newswire

Puppy Linux, the lightweight and speed-oriented Linux distribution based upon Slackware, has updated their "Slacko" release to version 5.6 and with Puppy Linux 5.6 comes full F2FS file-system support...

New mozilla-thunderbird packages are available for Slackware 13.37, 14.0, and -current to fix security issues.

New mozilla-firefox packages are available for Slackware 13.37, 14.0, and -current to fix security issues.

Wifislax 4.6, an updated build of the Slackware-based live CD with a collection of security and forensics tools, has been released. This is mostly a maintenance release to fix a serious bug in Reaver, a WiFi passphrase brute-force attack utility, the use of which resulted in segmentation fault in the previous release of Wifislax. The Linux kernel has been updated to version 3.6.11 with a number of new drivers to support tablets, touchscreen devices, multi-function printers, etc. The KDE desktop has been upgraded to version 4.10.5 and an option to boot into a lighter Xfce desktop remains available.

Your answers also showed us just how diverse the readership here is. Not only did we see a lot of you offering up the usual suspects, such as Debian, Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora, we also got reminders of Linux’s rich history. It was somewhat gratifying to discover that some who visit here first tried Linux using long gone but not forgotten distros such as Yggdrasil and Soft Landing System.

This past week saw all kinds of developments on the Linux Planet. We witnessed an ongoing discussion about civility in Linux kernel development, Slackware turned 20 years old and Mark Shuttleworth launched (yet another) phone effort.

While there already is a second beta release of KDE 4.11, the next development cycle of the KDE Software Compilation, the team released their final increment (stability and bugfix release) of the 4.10 cycle today. KDE SC 4.10.5 sources were made available online for the larger public – and since I have early access to the sources, I built Slackware 14 packages already.The packages are available on several mirrors, see below. Note that these are built for – and should be used only on – Slackware 14. Pat should hopefully add KDE 4.10.5 to Slackware-current soon. So if you are running our development version of Slackware, just wait for Pat and do not install my packages – they will have issues on -current.

Slackel KDE-4.10.4 Live has been released. A collection of two KDE live ISO images that can be burned to a DVD or used with a USB drive are immediately available. The Slackel live DVD images include the Linux kernel. Slackel KDE-4.10.4 Live includes the 'Current' tree of Slackware and KDE 4.10.4 accompanied by a very rich collection of KDE-centric software. Firefox 21.0, KMail, KTorrent, Akregator, Kopete... In the multimedia section VLC 2.0.6, Clementine 1.1.1, K3b 2.0.2 are included. The Salix codecs installer application can be used to quickly and easily install patent-encumbered codecs to your system. Calligra Words, Calligra Stage, Calligra Tables are the main office applications present.

This summer, the Slackware Linux distribution will celebrate its twentieth anniversary. Here's a list of ten reasons why Slackware is still the perfect choice on servers, desktops and workstations.

Yesterdaty I noticed the LibreOffice 4.0.3 release.by chance, and built Slackware 14 packages for it right away (they work on -current just as well).Noteworthy statement in these release notes is “LibreOffice 4.0.3 is another important step in the process of improving the quality and stability of the bleeding edge version of the suite, and facilitating migrations to free software by governments and enterprises“. Relating to that statement, a personal rant is about to burst.

I was on holiday, so I was unable to create the Slackware packages for KDE Software Compilation 4.10.3 any sooner than today. This installment of KDE SC was already added to slackware-current earlier this week, but my packages are specifically for users of the stable release, Slackware 14.

In our poll we asked, “What operating system would you be most likely to consider for a tablet if available?” The options were Android, iOS, BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone 8, Windows RT, Ubuntu, webOS, None of the above and Other. Those who chose the “Other” option were given the opportunity to name another OS.

Looking for Virtual machine images for Virtualbox and/or VMware? That quick tip is for you then.

Dietrich Schmitz takes a look at Slackware Linux, the oldest Linux Distro, to assess the state of affairs concerning systemd compliance. Read what Founder Patrick Volkerding has to say about it.

If you have been following discussions on LQ, then you might have seen this thread where the original poster was Patrick himself. He basically asked for opinion about the future of -Current for this development cycle which will end up with Slackware 14.1 in the end. Although things has been working pretty well in -Current as of now (at least in most systems looking at the comments there), but there are some considerations by Patrick in three parts of the system: kernel, GCC, and XOrg. They are critical components for most Linux distributions.

I have been writing regular updates to the Alien’s ARM page on this blog which can be found in the top of left sidebar. Readers of this blog who only visit the blog’s front page, will probably not have noticed, so I decided to write a more visible status update on the main page.

The big news here is the removal of MySQL in favor of MariaDB. This shouldn't really be a surprise on any level. The poll on LQ showed a large majority of our users were in favor of the change.

Here are some SlackBuild scripts to build and install the MATE desktop environment on Slackware. Currently, they build and install MATE 1.5 which is the development branch of the upcoming 1.6 release, due at the end of March or early April, 2013.

Well folks, the ARM-powered Chromebook built by Samsung can finally be bought in the Netherlands, and this raises a hairy question. Should I buy one and have a real-life target for my ARM port of Slackware which has been on the backburner for a year? As you may remember, I started an ARM port of Slackware which is different from SlackwareARM.The design goals I have set for my own port are:

Here it is, KDE Software Compilation 4.10.1. A few weeks ago, KDE 4.10.0 was added to Slackware-current, along with all its updated dependencies. Essentially that was the same set of packages which I had made available on my ‘ktown‘ repository earlier, Pat Volkerding simply recompiled them using the provided KDE.SlackBuild framework.

It happened faster than I had thought, considering the slow pace at which slackware-current has been evolving these past months. But there is a massive flurry of activity and Patrick Volkerding has pushed lots of updates to the development branch of Slackware lately. Quite interesting was the addition of the elilo and gnu-efi packages of course, which indicate future support in Slackware for UEFI-based hardware (UEFI being the sucessor to the good old BIOS). Slackware already supported GPT partition tables (successor of the good old MBR) so this looks promising for buyers of “Secure Boot” computers. Don’t forget to wipe that awful Windows 8 first! It would not make any sense to keep it on a computer if you can install Slackware on it in its place.

One of the biggest ongoing challenges for Linux advocates has always been that there is such a paucity of data available to demonstrate the preferences of the people who are actually using the free and open source operating system.

LinuxQuestions, a leading Linux fan and user support site, has just completed its annual members choice survey to see which Linux distributions and open-source programs are the most popular and the results may surprise you.

December 2012 saw the final release of Slax 7.0 after more than three years without an update, quickly followed by several bug-fix point releases. In 7.0.3 the ability to act as PXE server was re-introduced, which had been present in earlier versions but was missing from the early 7.0 branch. I tried it in VMware Player, VirtualBox, from Live CD as intended and installed to external USB connected to an Acer 5551 laptop with ATI graphics, 4 GB Ram and a Phenom II X3 processor.

Tomas M. has returned to the business. The new version of his famous operating system, SLAX 7.0, was released in the middle of December 2012.

New version of Slax pocket operating system has been released. Improvements and fixes include:

added 'load=' and 'noload=' boot parameter support to filter loaded modules. The first parameter (load=) affects only modules from /slax/modules/ directory - if specified, only those modules matching the pattern are loaded...

New kernel, a number of application tweaks and quite a few packages updated for security fixes. Also made better use of a battery monitor for laptop use, automatically triggers a system shutdown when power gets low enough... gives user 60 seconds to cancel if they need more time to finish up. Fun is fun, but who really needs crashes and file corruption, anyway?

A new version of Slax Linux is available for download. This release adds several new features and fixes few bugs as well. Probably the most interesting feature is PXE boot support and improved X autodetection.

All modern computers nowadays support PXE, which allows booting of an operating system over network interface independently of data storage devices (like hard disks). Slax fully supports PXE booting now

Unlike many of the Linux distributions out there today that are little more than minor user-facing changes to Ubuntu or another tier-one Linux operating system, Slax for the past many years has followed its own dance. Slax, a LiveCD Linux distribution built around Slackware, is very lightweight and calls itself a "pocket operating system" as with the most recent release it can fit a full Linux OS with the KDE4 desktop in about 200MB. Slax is also intended to be quite easy for others to modify and create custom images via Slackware packages and Slax modules. The recent Slax 7.0 release was the first update for the open-source operating system in several years. For those interested in knowing how this very lightweight and customizable operating system can work so efficiently, Tomáš Matejícek, the Slax creator, has written an exclusive Phoronix article about the process.

Wifislax 4.3 has been released. Wifislax is a Slackware-based live CD containing a variety of security and forensics tools. The current release has been in development for six months, during which time the product underwent significant improvements in terms of system scripts, clean-up and hard disk installation. Wifislax also boasts an impressive range of WiFi utilities and drivers. The live system offers a choice of three different desktops - KDE 4 (the default), Xfce and Openbox, and it provides a choice between standard and PAE kernels. The Linux kernel is at version 3.5.7, well tested for support of the included wireless network card drivers. Additionally, the project develops a number of extra modules (in XZM format) that can extend the system capabilities as desired.

Slax 7.0, code-named "Green Horn", includes a kernel based on Linux 3.6, a suite of development tools and an up-to-date KDE 4 desktop that fits into a 210MB ISO images. Optionally, users can purchase a copy of the distribution on a 16GB USB stick for $25. The extra space on the thumb drive does not go wasted as the module system allows users to customise and extend their Slax image with a lot of additional software. Additionally, the distribution implements an optional persistent storage option that enables users to preserve their installed software and data on the live system across reboots.

Puppy Linux lead developer Barry Kauler has announced the release of Slacko Puppy 5.4. The Puppy Linux family sets out to create small, lightweight, live-CD versions of various Linux distributions. Slacko Puppy, as the name suggests, is built from Slackware, specifically the packages of Slackware 14, and is binary compatible with the venerable distribution. This gives users access to Slackware repositories in Slacko. The Slacko Puppy distribution is one of the more popular offshoots of the minimal Puppy Linux distribution, or as Kauler puts it: "one of our flagship puppies".

Salix Xfce 14.0 is ready! With Xfce 4.10 being the centerpiece of this release, iso images for i686 and x86_64 architectures are available for immediate download. Apart from Xfce 4.10, the software that comes installed includes Linux kernel 3.2.29, Midori 0.4.7 is the default web brower, Claws-Mail 3.8.1 is the application to use for accessing your e-mail accounts, LibreOffice 3.6.3 for all your office needs, Gimp 2.8.2 for everything that has to do with image editing and manipulation, Viewnior 1.3 is the default image viewer, Parole 0.3.0.3 is the default movie player, Exaile 3.3.0 is the application to use for managing your music collection and more.

With the many high-profile efforts to bring Linux to desktop computers, it's easy to forget that Linux has been dominating other certain areas of computing, such as servers, for many years. Yet, server-oriented Linux distributions are relatively rare. The Slackware-based Superb Mini Server is one notable exception, focusing exclusively on server deployments and configuration through the intuitive Webmin web-based interface that can be accessed from any web browser. Also in this issue, an update on Secure Boot that seems to be universally present on most new computers...

This guide will explain how to rebuild core glibc libraries to use the greater capability of the Raspberry Pi’s on-board ARM 1176JZF-S CPU. The process is not terribly involved, but using NFS for the build space took 8-1/2 hours, even with the CPU overclocked to 900 MHz.

Also, check out the previous article, not particularly Linux, but interesting to techies. - gus3

Zenwalk 7.2 was released last week as the latest release of the interesting Slackware-based distribution. This latest Zenwalk release continues to patch its Linux kernel to drop in the BFS scheduler for providing better interactivity on the Linux desktop...

The latest release of Zenwalk Linux, version 7.2, is now available and focuses on further improving the Slackware-based distribution's overall performance, as well as updating its underlying components. Project founder Jean-Philippe Guillemin says that the goal of the new version was to "achieve 100% Slackware Linux compatibility," while also keeping and improving upon most of the optimisations throughout all levels of the OS, including the kernel, applications and desktop.

LXer Feature: 07-Oct-2012

The latest installment of the Weekly Roundup. Enjoy!

This week's Linux Top 3 strikes right at the core of Linux with a kernel update, a new release of the world's first Linux distro and a milestone update of Red Hat MRG.

The Slackware developers have released version 14 of the oldest still-maintained Linux distribution, with kernel version 3.2.29 and numerous updated components such as the Xfce 4.10 and KDE 4.8.5 desktop interfaces

The software developers have released version 14 of the oldest still-maintained Linux distribution, with kernel version 3.2.29. Slackware 14 includes numerous updated components such as the Xfce 4.10 and KDE 4.8.5 desktop interfaces

That's right, the long wait is finally over and a new stable release of Slackware has arrived! Since our last stable release, a lot has changed in the Linux and FOSS world.

Today's been quite a busy news day for a Friday, but it's not over yet. Slackware 14.0 was released today after being in development for more than one year...

Wed Sep 19 23:52:16 UTC 2012 Here we go one more time with Slackware 14.0 release candidate 5.

One of the best things about Linux is that its distributions come in all shapes and sizes. There’s a distro for every taste and skill level. Below is a list of some of the most popular Linux distributions. Be sure to check them out and let us know what you think. If you’re familiar with these distros, feel free to tell us about your experiences and share your recommendations.

Thu Aug 30 23:35:53 UTC 2012 Well, we fixed a lot of bugs and took some upgrades that we pretty much needed to take since they were important bug and/or security fixes, so it looks like we'll need to have a 14.0 release candidate 4 and another (last?) round of testing. Hopefully the fourth time is the charm!

Fri Aug 24 20:08:37 UTC 2012 This is Slackware 14.0 release candidate 3, and is hopefully the last stop on our long road to a stable Slackware release soon.

LXer Feature: 19-Aug-2012

In the Roundup this week we have a 3.5.5 review of GNOME, as well as going all out and starting a OS of there own, Debian celebrates its 19th birthday, Red Hat finally commits to OpenStack and Carla Schroder talks about discovering and monitoring your hardware. Enjoy!

Thu Aug 16 04:01:31 UTC 2012 Getting close! Hopefully we've cleared out most of the remaining issues and are nearly ready here. We'll call this release candidate 2.

The Slackware developers have delivered the first release candidate of Slackware 14. According to the developers, all bugs from the beta have been fixed and many packages were refreshed