Mageia Linux releases version 2 of its operating system

Mageia, a community of former (and some current) Mandriva Linux developers, has released the second edition of their Linux-based open source operating system, Mageia 2.

Unlike Rosa, the other fork of Mandriva, Mageia has opted to retain both the Gnome user interface design as well as the KDE interface, giving users more choice.

Rosa, a partner of Mandriva SA, had released its own independent operating system last week, while Mandriva SA decided last week to hand over the development leadership of its Linux distribution to the volunteer community.

The three Linux operating systems (and to some extent, PCLinuxOS) are the inheritors of the legacy of the wildly popular (within desktop Linux users) former operating system known as Mandrake Linux.

Mandrake Linux was the original Ubuntu, offering a user-friendly open source operating system targeting the non-geeks. The company was successful enough to run a more or less profitable business based on the OS.

However, hit by a cash crunch, the company lost its leadership in the Linux operating system market to Canonical-promoted Ubuntu Linux about 3 to 4 years ago.

A large number of European developers then formed the Mageia community.

Mageia 2 is the first proper release of the developer-based Mageia community. Mandriva is expected to take at least 4 to 6 months to come out with a 2012 edition of its operating system.

Mageia 2 brings the latest software from both the Gnome side as well as the KDE side. It offers Gnome 3.4.1 and KDE 4.8.2.

Technically, it is the first major general-audience Linux distribution to support the Gnome 3.4 interface, though Ubuntu supports it to a limited extent in its latest release.

Gnome 3.4 addresses some of the issues regarding high use of system resources (such as processing power) that was noticed in the Gnome 3 software upgrade.

KDE 4.8 is the latest and greatest of the KDE software suit.

Mageia comes in Live CD formats as well as install-oriented DVDs and CDs.

Users requiring proprietary drivers (such as fglrx for ATI cards and broadcom wireless drivers) at the time of installation are advised to use the Live CD edition.

Mageia also offers easy-install for Skype, the voice and video chat service.

Credits: http://rtn.asia/1270_mageia-linux-releases-version-2-its-operating-system

The Best Programming Text Editor for Linux

Linux users have more text editors, IDEs, and command-line tools than a programmer can shake a stick at. If you're looking for a good programming text editor, we recommend Kate. It's super easy to get started with, but is quite powerful and has lots of great plugins to beef it up.

Credits:http://www.linuxtoday.com/developer/the-best-programming-text-editor-for-linux.html

Linux Mint 13 Maya RC available for download now

Ubuntu Linux 12.04, also known as Precise Pangolin was released just last month. It's known to be one of the most popular Linux distributions around. Another equally popular distribution is Linux Mint and it’s also based on Ubuntu. The next big release - Linux Mint 13, based on Ubuntu 12.04 also called Maya is now close to final release. If you want to give it a go, you can check out the near-final release candidate build that’s available for 32 and 64-bit systems. The operating system is freely available for download on their site. The distribution is available in two variants - one called MATE 1.2 and the other Cinnamon 1.4. MATE is considered to be a more stable build designed for all mainstream PCs, while Cinnamon is made specifically for 3D capable PCs and has a more slick user interface, as compared to MATE. Among the smaller additions, there are new themes and a whole bunch of new backgrounds bundled with it.

Full Story: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/linux-mint-13-quotmayaquot-rc-available-for-download-now_707005.html

Linux Kernel Update Beefs Up Security and Graphics Support

Linux creator Linus Torvalds on Sunday released a brand-new version of the Linux kernel, and it's packed with a range of goodies that promise to make life considerably better for users.

Among the highlights of the new Linux 3.4 are driver support for several new graphics cards as well as a new security module and numerous key updates to the Btrfs file system.

“I think the 3.4 release cycle as a whole has been fairly calm,” wrote Torvalds in the release announcement on Sunday. “Sure, I always wish for the -rc's to calm down more quickly than they ever seem to do, but I think on the whole we didn't have any big disruptive events, which is just how I like it.”

'Yama' for Better Security

The new Linux kernel now offers early support for Nvidia's GeForce 600 “Kepler” GPU along with AMD's new Radeon 7xxx and Trinity APU series. Experimental support for Intel's GMA500Medfield graphics targeting smartphones is included as well.

The new “Yama” security module, meanwhile, joins several others that are already part of the kernel, including AppArmor, but adds a number of new systemwide security protections. Yama restricts the ptrace interface, for example, so that processes can't “see” each other's memory.

Then, too, there's a new x32 ABI that aims to make it possible for programs to run in 64-bit mode but using 32-bit pointers and 32-bit-long C type. That way, “applications who need it can enjoy the performance of the 64-bit mode, but with the memory requirements of a 32-bit ABI,” as the kernel's release notesexplain.

Mobile devices could especially benefit from that new capability.

Credits: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/255900/linux_kernel_update_beefs_up_security_and_graphics_support.html

Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.5 Released

The initial download images for Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.5 were made available over the weekend. This is a "rollup" release, it forms a new installation base for the Debian 6.0 "squeeze" stable branch, it does not add major new functionality or features. If you have Debian 6.0.x already installed, it is not necessary to reinstall, you only need to install all the latest updates from your nearest mirror site.

At this time only the netinst image is available, which allows you to boot a small installer image (about 180MB), and then pick up all the necessary packages from a mirror via wired or wireless (WiFi) network connection (ISDN and Cellular are not supported). As usual, the rest of the assortment of Live, CD and DVD images will be added over the next few days/weeks.

As has been the norm for the 6.0 release, all of the ISO files are hybrid images, which means that they can either be burned to CD/DVD or copied to a USB stick.

Credits: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/jamies-mostly-linux-stuff-10006480/debian-gnulinux-605-released-10026163/

Electronic Arts to Produce Games for Linux

Electronic Arts, one of the biggest games publishers in the world, having titles like Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect to their name, will be making a short presentation at next week's Ubuntu Developer Summit. The EA plenary session is a mere 15 minutes long, but coming on the back of the recent news that Steam is coming to Linux, this could be very significant indeed. With mainstream gaming on board, perhaps this will finally be the breakthrough that Linux needs to reach critical mass and become mainstream on the desktop? It would certainly give much needed competition for Microsoft in this space. Let's hope so. 

The DRM question is interesting though: Linux doesn't have any DRM in it like product activation and Linux users are a highly computer literate, tech savvy bunch, while EA infests all its titles with hardcore DRM and will be highly unlikely to want to let it go. The shakeout between these two diametrically opposed mindsets will be interesting to see and could shape the future of gaming on Linux and the future of Linux on the desktop.

CREDITS: http://www.legitreviews.com/news/13049/

Make a bootable Linux USB key with the Universal USB Installer

A bootable USB memory key is the best way to try out or install Linux on a netbook without an optical drive but making one can be tricky if you don't have access to a second computer with an optical drive. The Universal USB Installer is the answer as it will create a bootable USB key using the ISO file downloaded from the Linux website.

There is no installation required as the program can be run directly from the download. You might want to make a note of where you download the program so you don't lose it if you need it again.

Agree to the licence agreements and the main screen will be displayed.

Select a version of Linux from the dropdown menu in Step 1. There is a wide selection including the latest versions from Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, Fedora, Opensuse and Puppy Linux. There are also entries for some Linux based antivirus rescue tools from companies such as AVG, Avira, Bitdefender, F-Secure and Kaspersky.

The second step is to locate the Linux ISO on your computer. Universal USB Installer includes an option to download the ISO if you don't already have it. This will start the download in your default browser.

Once the download has finished and the ISO file has been selected, select the USB key you want to install Linux on in the Step 3 dropdown menu. Click on Create to make the bootable key. We suggest you shouldn't have any files on the USB key before you start to avoid losing anything important.

After the USB key has been selected you can choose how much space to dedicated to persistent storage, that's a place to keep documents on the USB key to use in more than one session. Once that's selected click on Create and the USB memory key will be prepared for use.

There's not much else to say except to highlight how helpful the ability to download the ISO images is. A real timesaver.

CREDITS:http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/download-review/2171593/bootable-linux-usb-key-universal-usb-installer