Fedora 16 Verne Released !!

Fedora 16 "Verne" has finally been released. As expected, the new version uses GNOME Shell by default as well as a complete GNOME 3.2 application stack: GNOME Sushi, GNOME Contacts and so on.

There are also a lot of changes under the hood: GRUB2 is now used by default, HAL has been removed, ext4 driver mounts ext2 and ext3 partitions, systemd and virtualization improvements, GPT support and many others. Fedora 16 also comes with "Trusted Boot":

Trusted Boot (tboot) is an open source, pre- kernel/Virtual Machine Manager module that uses Intel(R) Trusted Execution Technology (Intel(R) TXT) to perform a measured and verified launch of an OS kernel/VMM. It checks to make sure system files haven't been tampered with before letting the system boot, offering much greater protection against rootkits and other types of malware that try to cover their tracks by editing those files. Trusted Boot can be enabled at install, and will fall back to a normal boot if the hardware doesn't support it.

A lot more about these, here.

BTRFS is still not the default file system but you can of course select it during the installation.

Fedora 16 comes with Linux Kernel 3.1.0, Xserver 1.11.1, Nautilus 3.2.1, Gedit 3.2.1, Evolution 3.2.1, Empathy 3.2.1.1, GDM 3.2.1, Firefox 7.0.1, Rhythmbox 2.90.1, Shotwell 0.10.1, Deja Dup Backup Tool 19.4, Totem 3.2.1 and Transmission 2.42.

I've tested Fedora 16 for about 1-2 hours (fresh install) and I can say it feel really stable and robust. But there is something that I don't like: besides the wallpaper (which is amazing by the way!), there's no other Fedora branding so it basically looks like the default GNOME Shell. And I'm not saying GNOME Shell looks bad by default, but a Fedora logo and a (at least) slightly modified default theme would have been nice. Oh, and including GNOME Tweak Tool by default would have been cool too.

Download Fedora 16 | Fedora 16 release announcement

By the way, if you've installed Fedora 16, try Fedora Utils for tweaking it and quickly installing various applications that are not available in the Fedora repositories.

source:www.webupd8.org

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Firefox 8 Released ( Download link )

In the never-ending quest to make version numbers irrelevant, Firefox 8 has been released. Technically it’s not supposed to be out until tomorrow, but as with past Firefox releases, the download was pushed early to the Mozilla public FTP servers and is widely available for anyone to pick up for each supported platform (Mac, Windows, Linux).
Features of Firefox 8 include Twitter search integration, improved HTML5 support, better extension/plugin security, and some tab improvements that I couldn’t identify. When you first launch Firefox 8 you’ll encounter the new add-on manager, which checks to make sure you installed the add-ons and not a third party. You’ll also notice that the default Firefox page seems to think it’s a beta version, but when you check the version number it’s 8.0. Firefox 8 feels a bit faster too, particularly when loading from cache.

Download Firefox 8 Now

Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux versions are available, these are direct download links:

• Download Now (Mac OS X)
• Download Now (Windows)
• Download Now (Linux)

Mac OS X Lion users may be disappointed to discover that true Full Screen support is still absent in this release. You can enter into their own baked version of full screen mode with Command+Shift+F, but there is no full screen button in the upper right corner until you’re already in, and the overall approach Firefox takes feels sloppy compared to Safari, Chrome, or any other OS X Lion apps handling of full screen mode. This leaves Firefox as the only remaining popular Mac browser that hasn’t adopted full Lion feature support, but I’m sure it’ll come eventually.

source:www.osxdaily.com

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Pinguy OS 11.10 GNOME Shell Edition Pre-Alpha Available For Download

A quick update: Pinguy OS 11.10 GNOME Shell edition pre-alpha is now available for download. According to Pinguy, it's called "pre-alpha" because it's still missing a lot of stuff, but other than that it should work just fine.

Download Pinguy OS 11.10 GNOME Shell edition pre-alpha (32bit only for now).

Thanks to Pinguy for the tip!

source:www.webupd8.org

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Pinguy OS 11.10 GNOME Shell Edition Screenshots

Pinguy OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that comes with many popular applications, tweaks and other customizations by default.

Pinguy OS 11.10 will come with two editions: a GNOME Shell edition as well as a GNOME 2.3x edition (either using the old GNOME 2 or using Mate, a GNOME 2.3x fork). The release date is not yet known, but it's usually a month after the Ubuntu release (though considering there will be 2 editions this time, it might take longer).

Pinguy has posted some Pinguy OS 11.10 GNOME Shell edition screenshots on the official blog and it looks great so far! Judging from the screenshots, it seems like Pinguy OS 11.10 GNOME Shell edition will continue to use some of its old features: Docky or Conky by default, but also integrate some of the best GNOME Shell extensions: from the Music extension to System Monitor, GPaste, and so on.

Further more, Pinguy OS GNOME Shell edition will use a new menu: Cardapio (instead of Linux Mint menu) which as you probably know, is now available as a GNOME Shell extension:

(the screenshot is a bit broken)

Also, it looks like the GNOME Shell Global Menu extension will be integrated by default too:

As for the default theme, it seems Pinguy OS 11.10 GNOME Shell edition will use Zukitwo Resonance by default (see screenshot above) and Zukitwo GNOME Shell theme.

And finally, the notification area has been moved to the top bar and the clock is on the right:

Pinguy also mentions that this is just the beginning and there is still a lot of work to be done. But even at this stage, it looks simply great.

What do you think?

source :PinguyOS blog

: webupd8.com

 

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Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot Has Been Releashed !!

Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot has been released! The new version uses Unity as the default interface on top of the GNOME 3.2 application stack. The launcher, panel, indicators and so on have all been ported to GTK3.

New Unity design

Unity (3d) has a complete new design in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot.

There are no more Files / Application places and the Dash button is now placed on the Unity Launcher. Instead of the "places", there are now built-in "lenses" for files, applications and music [1].

Also, Dash has its own window buttons which can be used to maximize or close it [2]. Further more, all Unity elements become semi-transparent when clicking Dash (and Dash inherits the wallpaper color):

The new "lenses" (for files, applications and music) come with custom filters:

There's also a cool new ALT + TAB switcher which can display window previews for minimized windows:

And finally, there are some new options in CompizConfig Settings Manager for Unity such as launcher opacity, automaximize value (the value for which a window should be automatically maximized), an option to enable/disable mounted devices from showing up on the Launcher as well as a new tab with various tweaks for the new ALT + TAB switcher.

Ubuntu Software Center

Ubuntu Software Center has been ported to GTK3 and has a brand new design:

Further more, you can now sync applications between computers from Ubuntu Software Center using a tool called OneConf (installed by default):

For now, this feature (which you can access by going to File > Sync Between Computers) doesn't actually sync your applications between your computers, but it lists the applications installed on each computer as well as the apps available on one computer that aren't available on another one, so you can easily install the same apps on each computer you own. Also, this only works for applications available in the official Ubuntu repositories.

Multiarch support

Ubuntu 11.10 comes with multiarch support. The implementation is not 100% complete, but you can already install 32bit packages on 64bit for Skype or Adobe Flash.

Light themes (Ambiance and Radiance)

The Ubuntu Light themes: Ambiance and Radiance have been ported to GTK3 and use a new GTK3 engine called Unico especially designed for Ubuntu.  

The update themes look almost the same for both GTK2 and GTK3 which is actually very important because some applications like Banshee or Shotwell haven't been ported to GTK3 yet.

Also, Ambiance now uses dark toolbars:

Ambiance GTK3

Radiance GTK3

Default applications

Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot comes with Unity 3D (based on Compiz) as the default interface, on top of GNOME 3.2 (so you have most of the GNOME 3.2 application stack). Unity 2D is used by default for computers that can't run Unity 3D. But if you want to use GNOME Shell instead, you can easily install it from Ubuntu Software Center.

You can even run the GNOME 3.2 fallback mode which looks a lot like the old classic GNOME interface.

Thunderbird and Deja Dup Backup Tool

Quite a few applications have been removed from Ubuntu 11.10 (but are installable via Ubuntu Software Center): Synaptic Package Manager, PiTiVi and Computer Janitor. Also, Evolution has been replaced by Thunderbird (which now integrates with the Messaging Menu and Unity launcher but unfortunately there's no calendar integration by default) and GDM by LightDM.

Here's the new LightDM login screen:

There's also a new backup tool called Deja Dup, included by default in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot:

Deja Dup comes with UbuntuOne support:

Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot comes with: Firefox 7.0.1, Thunderbird 7.0.1, Nautilus 3.2.0, Gedit 3.2.0, Ubuntu Software Center 5.0.1.4, Deja Dup Backup Tool 20.0, LibreOffice 3.4.3, Shotwell 0.11.2, Banshee 2.2.0, Totem 3.0.1, Empathy 3.2.0, Gwibber 3.2.0.1, Unity 4.22 (Unity 2D 4.12) on top of GNOME 3.2.

Also, Oneiric includes the 3.0.0-12.20 kernel based on the upstream kernel v3.0.4, GCC 4.6, Python 2.7 and Xorg server 1.10.4.

Other changes

One of the most controversial changes in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot is a new behavior for maximized windows for which window controls are now hidden by default and are displayed on hover, just like the menu:

The MeMenu has been integrated into the Messaging Menu:

The Ubuntu Font Family got a new "member": Ubuntu Mono (fixed-width font). The new font is used as the default fixed-width font for Ubuntu 11.10:

Qt applications such as Skype or VLC use native Ubuntu indicators thanks to a package called "sni-qt" which automatically converts Qt systray icons to indicators:

There were many many other updates and changes - too many to list them in a single post so give Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot a try and discover them for yourself!

Unity 2D

Unity 2D is used by default for computers that can't run Unity 3D. While there were many changes to Unity 2D during the Oneiric cycle, it still doesn't look exactly the same as Unity 3D (lacks buttons for Dash, transparency and more). Here are a few Unity 2D screenshots:

 

 

Download Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

You can download Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot from ubuntu.com.

Also check out the Ubuntu 11.10 tour and release notes.

Source:www.webupd8.org

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