Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 5 :Makes Installation Easy !

The Ubuntu developers are moving very quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. Hardy Heron Alpha 5 is the fourth alpha release of Ubuntu 8.04, and with this new alpha release comes a whole host of excellent new features.

Features : –

1. Xorg 7.3 : – The latest Xorg is available in Hardy, Xorg 7.3, with an emphasis on better autoconfiguration with a minimal configuration file.
2. Linux kernel 2.6.24 : – Alpha 4 includes the 2.6.24-5.8 (2.6.24-rc8-based) kernel. This brings in significant enhancements and fixes that have been merged in the last few months into the mainline kernel. Among these is the introduction of dynticks support for amd64, bringing the same power savings already available on 32-bit systems to 64-bit laptops and desktops.
3. PulseAudio : – Alpha 4 includes [WWW] PulseAudio enabled by default. Some non-GNOME applications still need to be changed to output to pulse/esd by default and the volume control tools are still not integrated.
4. umenu : – WinFOSS and the Windows open source software have been replaced by umenu, a simple launcher that lets the user install Ubuntu from Windows using Wubi (see below), install Ubuntu to a partition without having to make their CD-ROM the first boot device, and find out more about Ubuntu at the Ubuntu Home Page | Ubuntu website.
   

Famelix GNU/Linux : The XP Nemesis.

Famelix is a GNU/Linux distribution developed by Brazil’s Faculdade Metropolitana de Guaramirim (FAMEG) and based on the work of Kurumin Linux. Its peculiarity lies in the adaptation of the user interface so that it resembles Windows as much as possible.

It is with great satisfaction that the group of developers and users Famelix GNU / Linux, announced the launch of Famelix 2.1 – Release Candidate 1, and many new features in this version are present.

Here are some of its features of Famelix 2.1 RC1 : –

• Support for 5 languages Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, German and English.
• Mounting Automatic CD Rom,Floppy, Pen Drive etc.
• Automatic Update packages.
• Development of new OS based on pure Debian using Live Script which allows greater compatibility.
• Support the various plates Wireless.
• Support 3d Graphics nVIDIA, ATI and Intel.
• Compiz Fusion with all plugins enable.

Ubuntu 8.10 a.k.a. Intrepid Ibex

None other than the father of Ubuntu Linux, Mark Shuttleworth, announced last night the name and the goals for the next version of this marvelous operating system, Ubuntu 8.10 (codename Intrepid Ibex); scheduled for release in October 2008.

With Hardy now past feature-freeze it’s time to start to plan features that are being lined up for inclusion after Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is released in April. And so I’d like to introduce you to the Intrepid Ibex, the release which is planned for October 2008, and which is likely to have the version number 8.10.For the Intrepid Ibex, the development team will prepare an unbelievable desktop, with an amazing performance, that will work on mostly any computer (be it a high-end workstation or an old and dusty Pentium III machine). Another major feature planned for Ubuntu 8.10 will be the ability to stay connected to the Internet (read: wireless connections) wherever you go.

Entertainer : The Best Media Center

Entertainer aims to be a simple and easy-to-use media center solution for Gnome and XFce desktop environments. Entertainer is written completely in Python using object-oriented programming paradigm. It uses GStreamer multimedia framework for multimedia playback. User Interface is implemented with Clutter UI-library, which allows sleek OpenGL animated user interfaces. Entertainer also uses other great projects like SQLite, pyIMDBb and iNotify.

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Features:-

1. Movies and TV-series : – You can watch movies and TV-Series from your harddrive. Entertainer automatically searches and downloads metadata like cover art from the Internet.
2. Music library : –Let’s play music! Entertainer allows you play your favourite tracks easily. Navigate music by artst, album, genre or make your own playlists. Entertainer also automatically downloads album art and lyrics of the tracks.
3. Photographs : – Watch your family photographs from the big screen. Entertainer includes a photoraph library, which allows you easily find your best shots.
4. RSS-reader : – Entertainer includes a simple RSS-reader which allows you to read feeds right from your couch. In Entertainer RSS is called Headlines since it’s easier to understand for people who are not IT oriented.

ATI Linux Display Driver 8.2 : Fixes X Server Bugs

A new version of the ATI/AMD Linux display driver was released last night, for both x86 and x86_64 platforms. This release fixes some important X server bugs, such as:

1. The X server no longer crashes if the screen resolution is changed in horizontal or vertical desktop setup with a monitor that does not support DDC;
2. The X server no longer segfaults or fails to initialize DRI if a BusID was specified in an unexpected format in xorg.conf;
3. The X server no longer freezes on shutdown if atieventsd is running;
4. The first OpenGL application run after starting a session on X server version 1.4 no longer hangs.

Known issues of this release:

• On workstation hardware 3D applications will be corrupted if the screen width is not an integer multiple of 64 pixels, for example with a 1680×1050 wide screen display;
• There is no support for video playback on the second head in dual head mode;
• Desktop corruption may be noticed when dragging the overlay/video when using dual-display mode;