Absolute 13.1.1 released. New kernel and a boatload of updates from Slackware. Almost replaced Firefox with Google Chrome (which I really like) but due to an endless ‘upload’ bug that keeps crashing Chrome when you try to upload a file, it’ll be in the CD2 directory for testing/playing. The 13.1.0 release was a naming snafu as it pre-dated Slackware’s update. This release (13.1.1) incorporates Slackware 13.1 as well as several re-compiled packages on Absolute and a couple of scripting changes. Some add-ons in the CD2 directory of the FTP sites (Google Chrome and Picasa for example), gmail-notify added and incorporated into email notification setup as an option. Add/Remove programs (PERL script) updated.

Salix 13.1 has been released. Available in both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures, Salix 13.1 is fully backwards compatible with Slackware 13.1. Salix 13.1 is built on top of a Slackware 13.1 base and offers a streamlined Xfce desktop environment with selected applications following the ‘one application per task’ philosophy. Salix 13.1, can be installed using three different installation modes: ‘core’, ‘basic’ and ‘full’. The ‘full’ installation mode installs all software that is included in the ISO images. Mozilla Firefox and Claws-Mail are the applications chosen for your web browsing and email needs, accompanied by the Pidgin instant messaging client, the Transmission torrent client and the wicd wired and wireless network manager. A complete OpenOffice.org suite is provided for all your office work.

So here is Salix 13.1 RC1. Let us test this and then release 13.1 final in about a week. The repositories for version 13.1 are already in place and Slackware 13.1 users can already use them for adding software packages in their systems. Not many changes since 13.1 beta1, here’s the short list: v4l-utils added, needed for Simple Scan; ktsuss has been internationalized and already translated in several languages; tweaked the package update notification tool so that it will hopefully prevent freezes in gslapt; upgraded a few packages to their latest version available; cleaned up the repositories from obsolete packages.

Zenwalk Linux 6.4 provides many enhancements at system and application levels, while confirming the maturity and feature stability of Zenwalk. The brand new 2.6.33.4 kernel is featuring the new BFS scheduler, designed for the best desktop interactivity on multi-core CPUs while taking the most of lower specification machines. You’ll notice better responsiveness of graphical applications, better real-time performance of sound applications (very low latency), and efficiency of ‘niced’ commands (compilation tasks can really be niced in a way they don’t disturb other applications). Like its predecessor, Zenwalk 6.4 features ext4 as the main file system, and latest versions of most applications and desktop environments.

NetSecL 2.6 released. In the new release you will find QEMU, servers and new penetration tools. We took our time to separate the usual network utilities and penetration tools and add them in a new section. Also, you will find that now we have a section called ‘srv’ with some server packages in it. There are many updates to the libraries and additional bindings to Perl and Python that we hope will be useful for future programs included with the distribution. You will also find in the distribution ISO a VMX file created with VMmanager which you can use for creating a virtual machine – mount the ISO copy the VMX folder, unmount the ISO (that you just copied), move it to the VMX folder and start it with VMware Player.