I update this information at the end of the week and get the release news from Distrowatch.

05-20-2006

A new version of SLAX has been released: "I'm happy to let you know that a new SLAX release is ready. This time you can use some cool new features. Added 'noload' cheatcode to disable loading of any specified modules. This affects all modules on the SLAX CD, including /base and /modules, so using 'noload=*kde*' will disable loading of all modules with 'kde' in the name. It's useful with copy2ram cheatcode, because any unused module is not copied to RAM. Added 'ramsize' cheatcode to specify maximum memory for SLAX to store changes, downloaded files, etc." Read the rest of the changelog for a detailed list of new features and changes. Download (MD5) from here: slax-5.1.5.iso (192MB).

Eddy Nigg has announced the second release candidate of StartCom Multimedia Edition 5.0.5: "With more than 200 updated and added software packages, the second release candidate of the new MultiMedia Edition ML-5.0.5 is on its way to the download mirrors. For RC2, the DVD image for the i386 architecture can now be burned using regular DVD devices. The x86_64 architecture requires a double layered DVD or an installation via network or hard drive. We added more supported file systems to the kernel (namely SMB and NTFS), easier printing of multiple images, and kino (video editing)." Read the full release announcement for further information. Download (MD5): Kessem-i386-rc2-DVD.iso (4,326MB) or Kessem-x86_64-rc2-DVD.iso (5,102MB).

Yuichiro Nakada has announced the release of Berry Linux 0.70, the first Fedora-based live CD with integrated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers, Xgl graphics subsystem and Compiz compositing manager (available as an option in the GRUB boot menu). From the changelog: "Berry Linux 0.70 released. Kernel 2.6.16.16 SMP + ndev/udev + bootsplash; KDE 3.5.2 (Fedora Core 5 stable); Xgl and X.Org 7.0 + Bold patch; GIMP 2.2.11; Firefox 1.5.0.3 and Thunderbird 1.5.0.2; WINE 0.9.13." Besides all the package updates, the new release also features a stunning new wallpaper. Download from here: berry-0.70.iso (508MB, MD5). Although defaulting to Japanese, Berry Linux also supports English as an option in the initial boot menu.

05-21-2006

Iuri Stanchev has announced a new release of NetSecl, a Slackware-based security distribution formerly known as ISlack: "NetSecL 1.3 is out. There are some important security improvements since ISlack 1.2. There are two 'paranoia' kernels 2.6.x and 2.4.x; they are very restrictive so please be careful - it is advisable to use them as second kernels. PaX kernels are on CD 2; don't use the kernels from the 'bootme' directory on CD 1 as a second kernel. Some of the libraries were recompiled so they can not use the stack, X was also recompiled and became a little bigger." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download: netsecl-1.3-cd1.iso (542MB, MD5) and netsecl-1.3-cd2.iso (582MB, MD5).

05-22-2006

Jay Klepacs has announced the availability of aLinux 12.7, a distribution formerly known as Peanut Linux. The latest version of the multimedia-focused project comes with kernel 2.6.15, X.Org 7.0, KDE 3.5.2 with dbus and hal, and KOffice 1.5.0. Among the browsers, Mozilla has been replaced with SeaMonkey 1.0.1. aLinux 12.7 includes a number of communication and file sharing utilities (aMule P2P eDonkey, GNutella, Kopete, Ekiga, LinPhone), graphics manipulation programs (GIMP, KView, Kuickshow, GTKam, Camorama, TV-Time, xawtv, XPaint), and useful utilities (Firestarter, ClamAV, Bochs x86 emulator, GKrellM, HDBench). Please see the release notes for more details. aLinux 12.7 is available for download as a single DVD image: alinux.iso (771MB, MD5).

05-23-2006

Barely three days after version 5.1.5, the SLAX project has announced the availability of SLAX 5.1.6: "A new version of SLAX is available. The main added feature is NTFS write support. The default behaviour didn't change, SLAX still mounts NTFS volumes read-only. But you can mount it manually with read-write support by using the command 'ntfsmount'. It allows you to safely edit all existing files on NTFS partitions. You can also create or delete files, this will either succeed or it will be refused. Please note that refusal to do an operation does not mean the volume will be corrupted. Actually it means just the opposite: it's a guarantee that your data is safe." See the latest SLAX changelog for further details. Download: slax-5.1.6.iso (192MB, MD5).

The developers of BeleniX, a full-featured live CD based on OpenSolaris, have announced an updated release - version 0.4.3a: "BeleniX 0.4.3a with JDK 1.5 released! Another release of the live CD this month. The significant feature of this release is the inclusion of JDK 1.5 under the new Distributors License for Java (DLJ) as announced by Sun Microsystems on May 16th in JavaOne. However due to a licensing issue with a required SUN Studio C++ runtime library it is currently an installable bundle and does not execute off the live CD. This is expected to be resolved soon." Visit the distribution's home page to read the complete release announcement. Download: belenix0.4.3a.iso (698MB, MD5).

Judd Vinet has announced the release of Arch Linux 0.7.2, a minor update to the Arch 0.7 series: "Arch Linux 0.7.2 (Gimmick) is now available for download. This time, we've provided three different ISO images for you to use: an FTP-only image (13MB), a Base-only image (145MB), and our full image that contains the entire Current repository (519MB)." Gimmick is the first official release to have the new modular X.Org 7.0 and GNOME 2.14, as well as KDE 3.5 available in a "stable" repository. Among other upgrades, it also includes the Linux kernel 2.6.16.16. Here is the brief release announcement. Download: arch-0.7.2.iso (518MB, MD5); also available via BitTorrent.

Zenwalk Linux 2.6 has been released: "A new stable Zenwalk release 2.6 is available as a CD-ROM ISO. More than 80 packages have been updated or added. The kernel is 2.6.16.16. Since the last release, we worked on the desktop look and feel, and also on Zenwalk specific system tools, like networkconfig, serviceconfig,and Zenwalk USB automount system. In our continuous search for the best applications for our GTK2-based platform, we have added WiFi Radar to handle WiFi roaming network profiles. The extra section provides optional add-on packages made specifically for your Zenwalk system, like the OpenOffice.org suite or KDE." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information. Download: zenwalk-2.6.iso (413MB, MD5).

05-24-2006

Sergei Mozhaisky has announced the availability of the second release candidate of Frenzy 1.0, a live CD based on FreeBSD 6.1: "Frenzy 1.0-RC2 have been released. Improvements since RC1: install2hdd - select language of installed system; nessus - added default Nessus user 'frenzy', password 'yznerf'; xautoconf - QEMU, support, handling DDC absence; addfrenzyuser renamed to addsshuser; Fluxbox menu generated at build stage, menu language depends on build type; auto-login may be disabled; devtree: tree view device list; frestore - restore backup from specified file; servconf - service setup (sshd, ftpd, httpd); gnotepad+ replaced with leafpad." Read the rest of the release notes for further details and download links. Get the English edition from here: frenzy-1.0-RC2-std-EN.iso (192MB, MD5).

05-25-2006

Miklós Vajna has released the first preview of the new Frugalware Linux 0.5: "The Frugalware Developer Team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware 0.5pre1, the first technical preview of the upcoming 0.5 stable release for the i686 architecture. Updates: GNU C Library 2.4; GCC 4.1.0; KDE 3.5.2; more than 300 new packages. New features: created a new tool, called 'setup', to summarize the available configuration tools; localized the package manager (currently German and Hungarian language support available); added Brazilian Portuguese and Indonesian translation to the setup." Read the full release announcement on the project's news page. Download (SHA1): frugalware-0.5pre1-i686-cd1.iso (476MB), frugalware-0.5pre1-i686-cd2.iso (651MB).

Alan Baghumian has announced the beginning of public beta testing of the upcoming Parsix GNU/Linux 0.80: "Parsix GNU/Linux 0.80 BETA-1 is ready for public testing and bug report. Some key new features are: a new 100-pages Parsix GNOME 2.14 user's guide (Persian) and other updated do*****entation (Persian and English); kernel 2.6.16.14 with many patches including CK's performance patches and extra WLAN drivers, X.Org 7.0.20, GNOME 2.14.1, integrated GNOME power manager, OpenOffice.org 2.0.2, new look and feel using Ubuntulooks theme and Tangerine icon set; support for hibernation and suspend to RAM...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: parsix_080-beta1.iso (671MB, MD5).

Tuquito is a Debian-based, desktop-oriented live CD for the Spanish-speaking market, developed by a Linux user community in Argentina. The project announced a new beta release a couple of days ago; based on the current software in the Debian "testing" repository, the new release focuses on ease of use and multimedia aspects of personal computing. Other features include "Tuco", a user-friendly software installer, an option to use a variant of the distribution that excludes any non-free software, and a new version of "Garfio", a system that enables easy building of Linux live CDs. This version of Tuquito deploys Linux kernel 2.6.16.10 with KDE 3.5.1 as its default desktop. For more information please read the release announcement (in Spanish). Download (MD5): Tuquito-2.0Beta-r3.iso (697MB).