News: Simplicity Linux 15.4 Released

David Purse has announced the release of Simplicity Linux 15.4, a set of lightweight Puppy Linux-based distributions for desktops and netbooks - now available in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavours: 

Simplicity Linux 15.4 is now available for download in Netbook and Desktop editions, both available in 32-bit and 64-bit variants. It is based on the excellent LXPup and it uses its implementation of LXDE as the desktop environment. The 32-bit kernel is the 3.14.20 kernel and the 64-bit kernel is the 3.17.20 kernel. As usual, our Netbook edition is lighter, with shortcuts to web applications rather than locally installed applications. Desktop is our heavier version, with bigger, locally installed applications, like VLC and LibreOffice. We hope you enjoy using Simplicity Linux as much as we enjoyed working on it. Netbook: Chrome, Tor Browser, shortcuts on the wbar dock for Gmail, Grooveshark, Kindle, Netflix, Rock 181.fm. Desktop: Chrome, TOR Browser, Netflix, full LibreOffice

News: ChromixiumOS 1.0 Released

The Chromixium project has announced the release of Chromixium OS 1.0, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution that attempts to recreate the look and feel of Chrome OS while providing a complete Linux system with the ability to install popular desktop applications: 

I am extremely proud to announce that Chromixium 1.0 final, a stable version, is ready for download from Sourceforge right now. Chromixium combines the elegant simplicity of the Chromebook with the flexibility and stability of Ubuntu’s long-term support release. Chromixium puts the web front at the center of the user experience. Web and Chrome applications work straight out of the browser to connect you to all your personal, work and education networks. Sign into Chromium to sync all your applications and bookmarks. When you are offline or when you need more power, you can install any number of applications for work or play, including LibreOffice, Skype, Steam and a whole lot more. Security updates are installed seamlessly and effortlessly in the background and will be supplied until 2019.

News: deepin 2014.3 Released

The deepin development team has announced the release of deepin 2014.3 which brings new updates to the project's Ubuntu-based desktop Linux distribution, together with a new website domain (deepin.org) and a new product name - now spelled with a lower-case "d". From the release announcement:

deepin 2014.3 is the revised version. This version is the achievement after we comprehensively fixed bugs in the system and applications in the last version and optimized the performance of the last version. Meanwhile, the system features and UI interfaces have been adjusted slightly. In terms of the languages the system supports, deepin 2014.3 has increasingly supported 23 languages. In addition, deepin has relatively complete community documents and nearly 70 mirror sites worldwide, allowing users all around the world to be able to experience the infinite charm of the deepin system. This time, we focused on fixing and optimizing Dock and Control Center to make the experience and stability of deepin 2014.3 greatly improved.

News: BackBox 4.2 Released

Raffaele Forte has announced the release of BackBox Linux 4.2, the latest stable build of the project's Ubuntu-based distribution dedicated to penetration testing and forensic analysis: 

The BackBox team is pleased to announce the updated release of BackBox Linux, version 4.2! This release includes features such as Linux Kernel 3.16 and Ruby 2.1. What's new: preinstalled Linux kernel 3.16; new Ubuntu 14.04.2 base; Ruby 2.1; installer with LVM and full disk encryption options; handy Thunar custom actions; RAM wipe at shutdown and reboot; system improvements; upstream components; bug corrections; performance boost; improved anonymous mode; predisposition to ARM architecture (armhf Debian packages); predisposition to BackBox Cloud platform. New and updated hacking tools: beef-project, crunch, fang, galleta, jd-gui, metasploit-framework, pasco, pyew, rifiuti2, setoolkit, theharvester, tor, torsocks, volatility, weevely, whatweb, wpscan, xmount, yara, zaproxy.

News: Debian GNU/Linux 8.0 Released

The Debian project has announced the release of Debian GNU/Linux 8.0, code name "Jessie". The new stable version is the first Debian release to use systemd as the default init software. It offers support for two new architectures, arm64 and ppc64el, while dropping support for the IA-64 and Sparc architectures. Debian Jessie ships with GNOME Shell 3.14 as the default desktop environment and a number of code hardening features have been added to the build process. 

After almost 24 months of constant development the Debian project is proud to present its new stable version 8 (code name 'Jessie'), which will be supported for the next 5 years.

Jessie can be downloaded in several editions, including a full DVD set, a CD image, a set of live DVD images with popular desktop environments, and a minimal "net-install" image.

News: Ubuntu 15.04 Released

Canonical has announced the launch of Ubuntu 15.04. The new release, which will be supported for nine months, features LibreOffice 4.4, version 3.19 of the Linux kernel and a switch from Canonical's Upstart init to systemd. 

systemd has replaced Upstart as the standard boot and service manager on all Ubuntu flavors except Touch. At the time of the 15.04 release there are no known major problems which prevent booting. The only service which does not currently start is Juju, which will be fixed in a post-release update soon; all other packaged Ubuntu services are expected to work. Upstart continues to control user sessions... You can boot with Upstart once by selecting `Advanced options for Ubuntu' in the GRUB boot menu and starting the `Ubuntu, with Linux ... (upstart)' entry. To switch back permanently, install the upstart-sysv package (this will remove systemd-sysv and ubuntu-standard).

The new release offers several updates and improvements for LXC containers and this is the first version of Ubuntu to offer the LXD container management utility. Ubuntu is available in a number of editions, including Desktop, Server and Snappy, a minimal "core" installation.

News: KaOS 2015.04 Released

Anke Boersma has announced the release of KaOS 2015.04, the latest update of the project's rolling-release Linux distribution featuring KDE's Plasma 5 desktop: 

A nice way of celebrating the second anniversary if this distribution is releasing KaOS 2015.04. The previous two releases were the result of some drastic and fundamental changes to this distribution (new desktop environment, new installer, move to UEFI). With this release it is finally back to a much more simple focus as always intended. Most attention has gone in updating and rebuilding well over 1,200 packages the last two months. As for the desktop this release brings all the latest of Plasma 5 (Frameworks 5.9.0, Plasma 5.2.95) and KDE Applications 15.04.0. All built on Qt 5.4.1. Many more applications are now fully ported to Qt 5 and Frameworks 5, among those re-added since their ports became available are Skrooge, Kid3, Choqok and Kgamma. New additions to the repositories includes applications very recently switching to Qt 5, examples are Wireshark, Frescobaldi and Musescore.

News: ExTix 15.2 Released

Arne Exton has announced the launch of ExTiX 15.2, currently available in two editions, KDE and LXQt. The two editions are based on packages from the recently frozen Ubuntu 15.04 repositories and Debian "Jessie". 

ExTiX Linux Live DVDs (64-bit) are based on Debian Jessie/Ubuntu 15.04. The original system includes the desktop environment Unity (Ubuntu). After removing Unity I have installed LXQt 0.9.0 (in ExTiX 15.2, build 150417) and KDE 4.14.6 together with KDE Frameworks 5.9.0 in an extra version also of 150417. LXQt is the Qt port and the upcoming version of LXDE, the lightweight desktop environment. It is the product of the merge between the LXDE-Qt and the Razor-qt projects: A lightweight, modular, blazing-fast and user-friendly desktop environment. And KDE Frameworks add 60 add-on libraries to Qt which provide a wide variety of commonly needed functionality in mature, peer reviewed and well tested libraries with friendly licensing terms.

News: Scientific Linux 7.1 Released

Pat Riehecky has announced the release of Scientific Linux 7.1, a distribution compiled from the source code for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 and enhanced with extra scientific applications: 

This release delivers a number of changes, including: abrt - removed the recommendation to open an upstream support case; Anaconda - modified the installclass library so that it correctly identifies Scientific Linux; DHCP - changed to remove upstream's bug report URL; GRUB - this package has been modified to recognize the Scientific Linux Secure Boot key; Apache httpd - changed the default index.html to remove upstream's branding; ipa - changed package requirements to remove upstream's branding; Linux kernel - this package has been modified to recognize the Scientific Linux Secure Boot key...

News: ElementaryOS 0.3 "Freya" Released

The developers of elementary OS have announced the launch of a new stable release, code name "Freya". The new release features UEFI support, improved interactive notifications, a new firewall utility, designed administrative utilities and a unified login/lock screen. 

elementary is proud to announce the stable release of elementary OS Freya. After a year and a half of development, over a thousand bug fixes, and countless lines of code, we can finally say it's here. Freya is the latest version of elementary OS, a design-oriented and open source Linux-based operating system for desktops and laptops. It succeeds Luna which was released in August of 2013.

The new release offers Google Calendar support, improved network share support through Samba and more flexible search tools. More information on the new release can be found in the distribution's release announcement.

News: HandyLinux 1.9 Released

The developers behind HandyLinux, a beginner friendly distribution, have announced the availability of HandyLinux 1.9. The new release is based on Debian Wheezy and mostly focuses on minor improvements and bug fixes over the 1.8 release. The 486 and 686 builds have been merged, removing the necessity of selecting the correct ISO image for one's 32-bit architecture. Installing the Skype VoIP client should now be easier. Plus an upgrade path from HandyLinux 1.8 to 1.9 has been introduced and most users should be able to upgrade using a simple graphical utility. The new release also features a new tool for changing the desktop interface. Further information on the new version of Handy Linux, along with screen shots, can be found in the release announcement.

News: Slackel 6.0.3 Released

Slackel, a distribution based on Slackware and Salix, has launched a new release, version 6.0.3 "Live Openbox". The new release provides a lightweight desktop environment with useful, yet efficient, desktop applications. The new Slackel supports UEFI and ships with Midori as the default web browser and AbiWord for word processing.

This release is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures with both fitting comfortably within the size of a single CD. ISO images are isohybrid. The 64-bit ISO supports booting on UEFI systems. Secure Boot is however not supported. The 32-bit flavor is also the first live release that supports both i686 PAE SMP and i486, non-PAE capable systems. The focus of this release has been to provide a lightweight and fast system and also to be easy for all users. The default web browser included in this release is Midori, while the default e-mail client is Claws-mail. The Internet/network applications also include the Pidgin instant messaging application, the Transmission torrent client, the gFTP for connecting to (S)FTP servers, the Wicd Network Manager for connecting to wireless and wired networks and Sakis3g for connecting to 3G mobile networks

News: Linux Mint 2 "LMDE" Released.

Clement Lefebvre has announced the launch of Linux Mint "Debian Edition", version 2. The new release, code named "Betsy", is available in two variants (Cinnamon and MATE) and is based on packages provided by Debian "Jessie". There are separate release announcements for Linux Mint Debian Edition 2 Cinnamon edition and for the MATE edition. Both announcements discuss the features of the new release and how it differs from Linux Mint's other products: 

LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) is a very exciting distribution, targeted at experienced users, which provides the same environment as Linux Mint but uses Debian as its package base, instead of Ubuntu. LMDE is less mainstream than Linux Mint, it has a much smaller user base, it is not compatible with PPAs, and it lacks a few features. That makes it a bit harder to use and harder to find help for, so it is not recommended for novice users. LMDE is however slightly faster than Linux Mint and it runs newer packages. Life on the LMDE side can be exciting. There are no point releases in LMDE 2, except for bug fixes and security fixes base packages stay the same, but Mint and desktop components are updated continuously.

News: BellaOS 2.2 Released

Bella OS is a user-friendly Linux distribution based on the latest Xubuntu LTS release with a highly customised Xfce desktop that combines the best features of several popular operating systems. Bella OS 2.2, released yesterday, is the project's current stable release: 

Launch release version 2.2 is now live! Fully functional live CD, or install to hard drive or virtual machine; comes complete with a curated suite of high-quality web, office and entertainment applications; takes design queues from several modern operating systems; declutters and beautifies the desktop; built from Xubuntu LTS and Debian GNU/Linux; large community support and software compatibility. The top Linux applications for work and play are already installed and configured with the most popular options: Firefox web browser, Shotwell photo album, Banshee music player, VLC media player, GIMP image editor, LibreOffice office suite, Brasero CD burner, KeePassX password manager, Ubuntu Software Center...

News: Semplice Linux 7 Released

Eugenio Paolantonio has announced the release of Semplice Linux 7, a lightweight, Debian-based distribution that comes with a custom GTK+ 3-based desktop environment called "vera": 

It's my pleasure to announce the release of Semplice 7, code-named 'Comfortably Numb'. Functionally and aesthetically-wise, you won't find that many differences from Semplice 6. But under the hood there are plenty. Openbox became a component of the desktop environment and not the desktop environment itself. This distinction will help me introduce vera, a plugin-based GTK+ 3 desktop environment, made from scratch by us. Currently Openbox and tint2 run as plugins, but they will eventually get replaced by our own ones. We are not fans of the NIH thing, but personally I feel that this is the right step to make in order to get things up and running on Wayland. Wayland is the future and it's actually already production-ready (I, for example, already run it in my phone, and it's pretty damn exciting).

News: SalentOS 14.04.2 Released

Gabriele Martina has announced the release of SalentOS 14.04.2. Along with an updated set of core packages, the latest version of SalentOS features a number of visible changes. These changes include a new Control Center, a new Update Center for handling package upgrades, a new software repository and Firefox is now the default web browser. 

The Full version is complete with all the software available so can be used right now to surf the web, enjoy multimedia content and work. The live ISO weighs around 850MB, it is installable and can be burned to DVD or used to create a bootable USB device. The Light version is planned to use alternative software and programs according to the tastes and preferences of each user. It contains the base system and has only web browser and text editor installed. The live ISO image weighs around 550MB and can be burned to a CD or used to create a bootable USB device.

News: Kwort 4.2 Released

David Cortarello has announced the release of Kwort Linux 4.2, a new version of the project's lightweight distribution with Openbox, no systemd, and a custom package manager called kpkg - all based on CRUX: 

As the title says, Kwort Linux 4.2 is out there in the wild. This new version is fast, stable and simple as always and a little bit smaller. Everything has been built from scratch in a clean way from a new toolchain to every X.Org package. Most significant technical aspects are: Linux kernel 3.19.2; Chromium 41.0.2272.76; as usual our system remains light and clean as Kwort users like it; new and improved GUI aspect. As usual, a big thanks to the CRUX people for developing it, as it is the system Kwort is based on; even though Kwort 4.2 isn't based on a CRUX release, their ports system was a key component to build this release. The eudev folks for supporting and approving our patch to make /run to be configurable (Kwort uses /var/run). And of course, the people who develop every project Kwort makes use of.

News: Makulu 8 "Unity" Released

Jacque Montague Raymer has announced the launch of a new branch of MakuluLinux 8. The new MakuluLinux edition is based on Ubuntu 14.04.2 and features a customized Unity desktop. Apart from a special look, the MakuluLinux edition of Unity features three panels where users can access information and features. 

Now sporting a unique three panel system that allows the user complete control of his system without even needing to minimize a window. This release is 64-bit with EFI support and offers the Constructor tool to re-spin your own custom ISO.

The announcement goes into more detail on the unique desktop layout: 

MakuluLinux Unity now sports a fully operational bottom panel, this panel includes a classic menu, window list, update notifications and a clock. It acts and functions just like a normal bottom panel, and it makes use of a multi mode system. When not needed it will auto-hide itself, when in fullscreen mode it will reserve panel space. When not used it will also auto-fade into background.

This release also features the Steam gaming client, WINE, PlayOnLinux, support for watching Netflix and the Popcorn Time client. Further information on the release, a list of features and a video tour can be found in the project's release announcement.

News: LXLE 14.04.2, 12.04.5 Released

The developers behind the LXLE distribution have announced the availability of LXLE 14.04.2 and LXLE 12.04.5, the project's respective 64-bit and 32-bit branches. The new release features a number of important application changes. For example, Firefox, Thunderbird and Filezilla have been replaced by the SeaMonkey suit and FireFTP. The Vokoscreen reader has also been replaced by the RecordMyDesktop application. Plus the update manager application has been dropped in favour of the Synaptic package manager.

The next incremental update of LXLE has been released, ticking it up to 14.04.2 along with the last 32-bit version of LXLE ever, which is based on 12.04.5. The 32-bit closely mirrors the changes to the latest 64-bit edition of the OS. As announced in our beta release LXLE now sports a highly customized version of the SeaMonkey Internet Suite. A fairly lengthy article was written on why this decision was made and that it wasn't something taken lightly. To add to that the other underlying reason was we wanted the distribution to showcase an excellent community driven browser to help spur support and perhaps encourage developers to join the project and lend a hand to the overworked small team of Mozilla volunteers still moving forward with Netscape's original suite idea.

How To: How to Use the Cron

Cron jobs are used to schedule commands to be executed periodically. You can setup commands or scripts, which will repeatedly run at a set time. Cron is one of the most useful tool in Linux or UNIX like operating systems. The cron service (daemon) runs in the background and constantly checks the /etc/crontab file, and /etc/cron.*/ directories. It also checks the /var/spool/cron/ directory.

News: CentOS 7.1 Released.

Karanbir Singh has announced the availability of the first point update to CentOS 7, a Linux distribution built by compiling the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7:

We would like to announce the general availability of CentOS Linux 7 (1503) for 64-bit x86-compatible machines. This is the second major release for CentOS 7 and is tagged as 1503. This build is derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1. This merges in all base, updates, and CR (continuous release) components released in the month of March 2015. If you have been using the CR repositories on your previous CentOS Linux 7 install, you already have all the components used to compose this new release. This release supersedes all previously released content for CentOS Linux 7, and therefore we highly encourage all users to upgrade their machines. Information on different upgrade strategies and how to handle stale content is included in the release notes.

News: LinuxLite 2.4 Released

Jerry Bezencon has announced the launch of Linux Lite 2.4. The new version of Linux Lite features smooth upgrades between point releases. There have also been a number of improvements, including VPN support and the installer now supports disk encryption. 

With the release of Linux Lite 2.4 Final, we continue to evolve into a fully featured, light weight free operating system. Major announcement - there is now an upgrade path on Linux Lite from within the LTS series for each release, update your current install from now until April 2016 with one click, see below for details on this. There are enhancements to Lite Software, Install Updates, Lite Tweaks and Network Share Settings. Bountysource has been a major factor in our ability to enhance our software. By paying developers to help improve our software, we improve the quality and usability of our applications. Disk encryption and LVM is now supported - see below for details. There is added support for exFAT, Android MTPFS, VPN connections and NTP to name a few. You get the latest Whisker Menu, there's a new default Terminal theme, and the Windows (Super) key now opens the Menu.