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

05-27-2006

Development Release: Elive 0.5 Beta

The Elive project has released the first beta build of the upcoming Elive 0.5 Enlightenment live CD. What's new? "New live CD system - Elive has moved from Morphix to DSS; new kernel 2.6.15 with a lot more hardware support, also for wireless networking, make a look to the list of new drivers added; new installer features; Elive has new system of elive-skel, you can select 'night look' or 'elive look' in the boot of the live CD system; introductory tutorial to Enlightenment hot keys on E16; Unionfs version 1.1.4; Evidence doesn't crash any more; email client integrated with the system." Read the development changelog for more information and a list of download mirrors. Get it from here: Elive-unstable-cvs20060526.iso (680MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Scientific Linux 3.0.7

A new update to the 3.0 series of Scientific Linux, a distribution release built by recompiling the source RPM packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, is available for the i386 architecture: "Scientific Linux (SL) release 3.0.7 for i386 has been released. We wish to thank all the contributors, testers, and all those who have given us kind words of encouragement. The Scientific Linux community is great to work with and for. Scientific Linux release 3.0.7 is based on the rebuilding of RPMS out of SRPMS's from Enterprise 3 AS, including Update 6 & 7. There aren't too many improvements over 3.0.5 other than bug fixes, security errata and updated kernel modules. The release notes can be found here." Read the brief release announcement for more information. The 4-CD ISO image set of the new release can be downloaded from the distribution's main FTP server or its mirror sites.

Distribution Release: tinysofa classic server 2.0 Update 5

Jaakko Heinonen has announced the release of a new update to tinysofa classic server 2.0: "tinysofa classic server 2.0 Update 5 (Ceara) is now generally available. This release focuses on bug and security fixes, integrates all released security fixes, and updates various packages (notably the kernel) to the more recent upstream releases. 'Ceara' features: the Linux 2.6.16 kernel, grsecurity support, APT and SmartPM for advanced package management, the next generation PHP 5 environment (5.0.4), OpenSSH 4.3p2, high availability features such as DRBD (0.7.17) and UCARP (1.1), the latest development tools and languages (GCC 3.4.3, Python 2.4.2), and much more." Visit the distribution's home page to read the release announcement. Download (SHA1): Ceara.i586.iso (361MB) or Ceara.x86_64.iso (364MB).

05-28-2006

Development Release: SimplyMEPIS 6.0 Beta 4

The fourth beta of SimplyMEPIS 6.0 has been released for download and testing: "Warren Woodford of MEPIS has released beta 4 of SimplyMEPIS 6.0. Beta 4 includes some new and/or updated applications including amaroK 1.4, XaraLX 0.5, and ksudoku. digiKam plugins were added to make digiKam and showFoto much more powerful and fun to use. To make room for XaraLX, it was necessary to remove tvtime and the GIMP from the bootable CD, but for those who need them, they are available for download and install via the Synaptic download manager or apt-get." Read the rest of the press release for more details. Download: SimplyMEPIS_6.0-beta4_i386.iso (694MB, MD5).

Development Release: Grafpup Linux 1.0.4 Pre 1

A new pre-release of Grafpup Linux, a Puppy-based distribution tailored to graphic designers and other imaging professionals, is out: "Announcing the availability of Grafpup-104pre1, in 'deluxe' and 'standard' flavors. This is a preview release meant to showcase several new features that are being integrated into the 'official' 104 build, still a bit off. It has most of the functionality you can expect in the finished product but does lack a certain amount of polish right now. GIMP and Cinepaint have both been upgraded to the latest stable releases, while we've moved on up to Opera 9-beta for browsing." Read the rest of the release announcement if you need more information. Download (MD5): Grafpup_standard-104pre1.iso (79.2MB) or Grafpup_deluxe-104pre1.iso (389MB).

Development Release: UHU-Linux 2.0 Test 1

The developers of Hungary's UHU-Linux have announced the availability of the first test release of UHU-Linux 2.0. According to the release announcement (in Hungarian), the new version features a number of important conceptual changes to the distribution; these include availability of a complete UHU-Linux DVD, multilingual features (besides Hungarian, the new installer also supports English), switch to UTF-8 as the default character encoding, unified keyboard shortcuts for all desktops, and new automount features. Among the known bugs, there are issues with writing CDs and DVDs in this release. Those interested in helping with bug reports can download the CD and DVD images from here: uhu-linux-2.0-test1-cd.iso (699MB, MD5) or uhu-linux-2.0-test1-dvd.iso (3,260MB, MD5).

05-29-2006

BSD Release: PC-BSD 1.1

An updated version of PC-BSD, now based on FreeBSD 6.1, has been released: "PC-BSD 1.1 was released today, along with a PBI update file for users running 1.0, who wish to update to 1.1. This release brings the core operating system up to the latest version of FreeBSD 6.1, adds better driver support to the kernel, and improves the speed on many systems." The new release also ads "nve" devices to DHCP network detection, fixes network manager to restart network after settings change, and upgrades Online Update Utility to display status. For more information please read the release announcement and consult the release notes and changelog. Download (MD5) : PCBSD-1.1-x86-CD1.iso (678MB).

05-30-2006

Development Release: Damn Small Linux 3.0 RC1

The first release candidate of Damn Small Linux 3.0 is ready for testing. From the changelog: "New unionfs as a boot option; new mountable MyDSL extension type unc with automatic branch management; adjust Dillo screen to support booting 640x480; added ACPI modules for newer power management support; new FUSE and sshfs support; fixed bug in kbdconfig when changing keymaps; new theme "A Penguin with a Hat"; new sample unc extensions, AbiWord, CUPS, and Opera 8.52. Note this is a 'dot oh' release and an 'RC1' as well, so test carefully. Most of the changes are for the deployment of Unionfs which only occurs upon issuance of the boot code 'unionfs'." Download: dsl-3.0RC1.iso (49.5MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: CentOS 4.3 Server CD

Karanbir Singh has announced the release of CentOS 4.3 Server CD, the project's single-CD variant designed for server use: "The single CD server install for CentOS 4.3 / i386 has now been released and is available from all active mirrors. Notes: this installer will only work with i686 based CPUs; the included packages are a subset of all packages available in the CentOS distribution, however yum has been pre-configured to use the entire repository; in order to ensure that drivers and other third party apps maintain compatibility, the package set used on the Server CD is from CentOS 4.3, you are strongly encouraged to run a 'yum update' immediately after installation." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information. Download: CentOS-4.3.ServerCD-i386.iso (563MB, MD5).

05-31-2006

Distribution Release: Scientific Linux 4.3 Live CD/DVD

Troy Dawson has released a set of updated builds of Scientific Linux live CDs and DVDs: "Scientific Linux Live CD 4.3 has been released for both i386 and x86_64. The Scientific Linux Live CD/DVD is a bootable CD/DVD that runs Linux directly from CD/DVD without installing. It is based on Scientific Linux 4. It uses Unionfs, allowing read-only filesystem to behave as a writable one and SquashFS providing on-the-fly decompression that allows storing 2GB software on a normal CD-ROM. The Live CD/DVD was built using modified scripts from www.linux-live.org." New in this release is an option to save files to a hard disk or USB storage device. See the release announcement for further details. Quick download links to the i386 ISO images: livecd_SL43_2006-05-17.iso (563MB, MD5) or livedvd_SL43_2006-05-17.iso (1,755MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Turbolinux 11 (International Edition)

Turbolinux has announced the immediate availability of an international edition of its successful desktop-oriented operating system, also known as "Turbolinux 11 Fuji". Originally launched in Japan in November 2005, some of the key features of the new release include: "Expanded Control Center features; wireless LAN capacity; automatic updates for security patches; enhanced broadband features, including Windows Media Playback and Flash Player; and development tools such as JAVA and several other state-of-the-art functions for personal and business users." For more information please read the full press release and visit the product's features page. The international edition of Turbolinux 11 "Fuji" is available for purchase from Source One Network for US$39.00.

Development Release: GeeXboX 1.0 RC2

GeeXboX, a Linux-powered media player based on MPlayer, has entered the final stages of its development leading towards the 1.0 release: "It has been exactly 2 weeks since previous GeeXboX development release. Thanks to your reports, many bugs have been fixed and we are getting closer to the so awaited final 1.0 public release. It's just a matter of a couple of days now. It's now up to you to test this second release candidate in order to help us finalizing GeeXboX. Just remember it's the last chance to report nasty bugs to us." We could not locate changelog or release notes, but your can read the release announcement on the project's news page. Download (MD5): geexbox-1.0-rc2-en.i386.iso (6.8MB) or geexbox-1.0-rc2-en.ppc.iso (11.6MB).

Distribution Release: StressLinux 0.3.1

StressLinux 0.3.1 final is out: "After a long time of development the final StressLinux 0.3.1 is released. The changes between rc4 and this final are very small. The kernel was bumped to version 2.6.16.18 and the Realtek R1000 driver was added. Everton Marques suggested adding the following network testing tools, which are now included: nepim, iperf, netperf. Busybox reached version 1.1.3. With this final release the PXE packages are available, too. There seem to be still some problems with AMD64 hardware; this is the main reason why I included an extra boot menu entry (noinitrd) to boot without loading extra drivers." Visit the distribution's home page to read the release announcement. Download: stresslinux-0.3.1.iso.bz2 (30.5MB, MD5); also available via BitTorrent.

Distribution Release: Musix GNU/Linux 0.40

A new version of Musix GNU/Linux, a Debian-based live CD with a large collection of audio software, has been released: "Thanks to the support of the Ututo Project, FSF, Ourproject, and to the usual collaborators, the Musix project has just released Musix 0.40. Musix 0.40 can be considered the most stable and functional Musix version until now, and its use is recommended in the long term." Musix 0.40 includes a number of new audio programs, such as Rosegarden 1.2.3, Mixxx 1.4.2 (Digital Disc Jockey Interface), Cecilia 2.0.5, Csound and others, as well as many updated packages. For more details and known issues please consult the release announcement. Download: MusixGNU+Linux-0.40.iso (694MB); also available via BitTorrent.

06-01-2006

Distribution Release: Nonux 3.0

Marcel J. Zwiebel has announced a new major release of Nonux, a Slackware-based distribution with Dropline GNOME designed for business use in Dutch-speaking office environments. Version 3.0 comes with the following improvements and updates: upgrade to kernel 2.6.16.17; upgrade to GNOME 2.14.1; upgrade to Evolution 2.6.1; upgrade to Firefox 1.5.0.3; new menu entries for common system administration tasks; new, more serene, desktop theme; by default the live CD now boots into a non-root account; improved power management for notebook computers; many application updates, including Mail Notification, WiFi-radar and GParted. For more details please read the full release announcement on the project's news page (in Dutch). Download (MD5): nonux-3.0.iso (671MB).

Distribution Release: Kubuntu 6.06 LTS

Kubuntu, one of the distributions belonging to the Ubuntu family of Linux operating systems, is the first to publish a formal announcement about the product's new release: "Kubuntu 6.06 LTS has been released. It is available for download now or for the first time you can order free Kubuntu CDs through Shipit. This release comes with KDE 3.5.2 and includes a new installer which you can use direct from the live desktop CD. We have focused on stability and bugfixes, as our first Long Term Support release 6.06 will be supported for 3 years on the desktop and 5 years on the server." Kubuntu 6.06 for three processor architectures and in a variety of configurations is available for download from several mirrors servers, while free CD images can also be ordered from its ShipIt system. Here is a quick link to the i386 CD image: kubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso (697MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Ubuntu 6.06 LTS

Right on schedule, Ubuntu 6.06, a distribution with long term support features, has been released: "Ubuntu, which has become one of the world's most popular Linux distributions in recent years, launched its latest version on June 1 following months of intense testing. The new release is titled Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support), and has a specific emphasis on the needs of large organisations with both desktop and server versions." For full details please read the formal press release and the more useful release notes, but don't miss the Do the Dapper Dance post on Mark Shuttleworth's web log either. As usual, Ubuntu 6.06 ISO images for three architectures are available for download from the many Ubuntu mirrors worldwide, while free official CD sets can be ordered via ShipIt. A quick link to the i386 CD image: ubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso (698MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Edubuntu 6.06 LTS

Edubuntu 6.06, an Ubuntu-based distribution designed for classroom use and inclusive of long term support options, has been released: "The Edubuntu team is proud to present Edubuntu 6.06 LTS. Included in this release are installation CDs, live CDs, and combination DVDs for i386, PPC, and AMD64 architectures. Edubuntu is the education-focused counterpart of Ubuntu, offering fast, easy installation of stand-alone systems, thin clients and servers. Like Ubuntu, Edubuntu 6.06 LTS offers long term security updates after release (3 years for desktops and 5 years for servers." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information. Edubuntu 6.06 CD images are available for free download, but interested users can also order free CDs via the project's ShipIt system. Download the i386 CD image from here: edubuntu-6.06-install-i386.iso (695MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Xubuntu 6.06 LTS

Not to be left behind, Xubuntu 6.06 has also been released: "Today sees the first launch of Xubuntu 6.06 LTS. This version of Xubuntu will be supported for 3 years on the desktop, and brings you all of the latest XFce goodness." Xubuntu's new desktop features: "XFce 4.4beta1 including a more flexible panel, many panel plugins and icons on the desktop; Thunar file manager; GDM desktop manager; Gnome Office (latest AbiWord and Gnumeric); Evince do*****ent viewer; Xarchiver archive manager; Xfburn simple CD burner; Xubuntu System Tools for GUI system administration...." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details. Xubuntu 6.06 CD images for three architectures can be downloaded from this directory; here is a quick link to the i386 CD: xubuntu-6.06-desktop-i386.iso (649MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Puppy Linux 2.00

Now that we are done with all the *ubuntu-related news, here is something for the connoisseurs of superfast mini-distributions: Puppy Linux 2.00 is out! From the release notes: "This is a major upgrade from the 1.xx series. How to summarise five months work? The graphical user interface is much the same, as most work has been on the underlying architecture. In a nutshell, the fundamental architecture and boot-up / shutdown scripts are a total rewrite, from scratch, no relationship to any other distro." Among other major changes, the 'standard' edition of Puppy Linux now supplies SeaMonkey 1.0 web suite for web browsing and email, Inkscape for vector drawing, and GParted for disk partitioning tasks, while the kernel has been upgraded to version 2.6.16.7. Download: puppy-2.00-seamonkey.iso (70.0MB, MD5).

Development Release: Ark Linux 2006.1 RC2

Bernhard Rosenkraenzer has announced the second release candidate for Ark Linux 2006.1: "The Ark Linux team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Ark Linux 2006.1-rc2 and Ark Linux Live 2006.1-rc2. This is the last release candidate of Ark Linux 2006.1, which will be released as soon as OpenOffice.org 2.0.3 and kernel 2.6.17 are released and integrated. The current release candidate includes pre-release versions of those. There have been numerous changes since the first release candidate. Highlights include KDE 3.5.3, X.Org 7.1 and amaroK 1.4.0a - and we've fixed numerous bugs." Read the rest of the release announcement for a complete list of major changes. Download the installation or live CD from here (MD5): arklinux-2006.1-rc2.iso (701MB), arklinux-live-2006.1-rc2.iso (668MB).

06-02-2006

Distribution Release: Trixbox 1.0

Trixbox is a new name of what used to be called Asterisk@Home, a CentOS-based Linux distribution that enables the home user to quickly set up a VOIP Asterisk PBX. Version 1.0 is the project's first stable release under the new name: "Trixbox 1.0 released. Like Asterisk@Home, Trixbox is a complete Asterisk PBX including a Linux OS, Asterisk PBX software, a web GUI, and many other useful add-ons. Trixbox will focus on both the business and home user and will have more features including automatic upgrade capability. As with Asterisk@Home, Trixbox can be quickly and easily installed in under one hour." Here is the brief release announcement. Download: trixbox-1.0.iso (536MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: KNOPPIX 5.0.1

Klaus Knopper has announced the availability of the first public release of KNOPPIX 5 live CD and DVD: "At CeBIT 2006, a preview of KNOPPIX 5 was introduced, which has now been updated with the new kernel and udev hotplug management. What's new: Linux kernel 2.6.17 (rc); X.Org Version 7.0; detection of onboard IDE raid controllers and raid disk components; udev + hwsetup for automatic hardware detection; KDE 3.5.2, GNOME 2.12 from Debian unstable; OpenOffice.org 2.0.2; transparent write access for NTFS partitions; new Knoppix installer, now also with the possibility to update existing installations of Knoppix...." Read the full release announcement on the project's home page. Download the English language editions from here: KNOPPIX_V5.0.1DVD-2006-06-01-EN.iso (4,144MB, MD5) or KNOPPIX_V5.0.1CD-2006-06-01-EN.iso (696MB, MD5). The files are also available via BitTorrent.