Linux Mint 13 Rallies Behind Gnome

With the new version of Linux Mint, released Wednesday, the developers behind the open source Linux distribution have put all energies behind Gnome, offering two versions of the desktop interface.

One version of the Linux Mint distribution, called Mate, is based off the widely used Gnome 2 desktop interface. The other, called Cinnamon, runs a variant of Gnome 3, which offers more cutting-edge features, such as support for 3D acceleration. Both versions will be supported until April 2017.

"These two desktops are among the best available, they're perfectly integrated within Linux Mint and represent great alternatives to Gnome 2 users," wrote Linux Mint founder and lead developer Clement Lefebvre in a blog post announcing the release.

Last year, Canonical dropped the Gnome interface for its Ubuntu Linux distribution in favor of Unity, which the company's engineers felt could be used more easily across a wider range of devices, such as television sets.

Linux Mint 13 -- codenamed Maya -- is built from Ubuntu 12.04, but bypassed Unity, which has been criticized for being buggy and difficult to use.

The Mate distribution builds upon Gnome 2, which could be called the classic version of Gnome. It is best suited for those users who want a stable platform with well-known features. It can run the many applications with interfaces built with the GTK2 toolkit. The developers behind Gnome have moved to work on Gnome 3, though Linux Mint will maintain this code base, under the name of Mate, and even add more enhancements over time, according to the Linux Mint site.

The Cinnamon distribution is based on the new version of Gnome that is still being developed, although the Linux Mint developers are adding additional features here as well. Cinnamon features a number of different themes and add-ons that could speed productivity. The Linux Mint people, however, admit that Cinnamon, as well as the underlying Gnome 3, is not as stable as Mate.

Full Story: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/256180/linux_mint_13_rallies_behind_gnome.html

Five Things to Look Forward to in Linux Mint 13 'Maya'

There's been much attention focused lately on Canonical's recently released Ubuntu Linux 12.04 "Precise Pangolin," but it's by no means the only popular Linux distribution out there with a major update in the offing.

Just a few weeks ago we saw the launch of a beta release of Fedora 17, with the final version due this month, and now the Linux Mint project has rolled out a release candidate for its ownLinux Mint 13, or "Maya."

Mint and Ubuntu tend to jostle for the No. 1 spot in popularity rankings on DistroWatch, but lately--perhaps as a result of this upcoming new release--Mint is in the top seat.

The final version of Mint 13 is expected to arrive soon. Want a sneak preview? Here are some of the highlights of what you can expect.

1. Two Editions

I've already written a few times about Mint's new Cinnamon desktop, and Maya will offer a version of the OS based on it. So, users of Linux Mint 13 will be able to choose between the "productive, stable and mature MATE 1.2 desktop," as the project puts it, and the "brand new modern-looking and exciting Cinnamon 1.4."

2. Long-Term Support

Just as Ubuntu Linux 12.04 is a Long Term Support (LTS) release, so too is Linux Mint 13, which is based on Ubuntu 12.04. That means the software will be supported all the way until April 2017--a key advantage for business users, in particular.

3. A New Display Manager

Also featured in Linux Mint 13 is MDM, a new Display Manager that's based on GNOME Display Manager 2.20. With graphical configuration tools, themeability, remote, automatic and timed login, event scripting, and language selection, "it comes with more features than any other display manager currently available," the Mint project says.

4. Yahoo on Board

For users in the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, Yahoo is now the default search engine. DuckDuckGo and Amazon already share revenue with the Mint project, but Yahoo is really the first major one to do so. Of course, anyone who wants to use a different search engine can easily install their choice as well.

5. Fresh Beauty

With the latest Mint-X and Mint-Z themes and better support for GTK3, Linux Mint 13 now includes a collection of beautiful background photographs from an Irish artist called "masterbutler".

It's not certain when, exactly, Linux Mint 13 will make its final debut. In the meantime, however, this release candidate for the free and open source operating system can be downloaded from the project's site.

Credits: http://www.pcworld.in/news/five-things-look-forward-linux-mint-13-maya-72762012

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/