Welcome to the 208th issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly!

Jul 15, 2012 16:21 GMT  ·  By

The following Linux-based operating systems have been announced last week: CentOS 6.3, OS4 12.5, Linux Mint 13 RC KDE and Finnix 105. Softpedia Linux Blog news includes articles about Linux kernel 3.5 RC6, Tails 0.12.1, XOrg Server 1.12.3, digiKam 2.7.0, Alien Arena: Reloaded Edition 7.60, GParted LiveCD 0.13.0 Beta 1.3, SecureCRT 7.0, 4MLinux Server Edition 3.3, Viperr 2, LibreOffice 3.5.5, Axigen 8.0.3, KDE SC 4.9 RC2, openSUSE 12.2 RC1, LibreOffice 3.6.0 RC1, Parted Magic 2012_07_13, and much more. For this week we've also prepared a very nice tutorial about how to install Mass Effect 3 on Linux, and an interesting review for the Bastion game. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the new and updated Linux distributions, and the development releases.

dots Summary:

dots CentOSOn July 9th, Karanbir Singh announced the immediate availability for download of the CentOS 6.3 operating system for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. CentOS 6.3 is based on the acclaimed Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 distribution, bringing all its features, with which it is 100% binary compatible. As usual with a new CentOS release, version 6.3 contains various improvements and bug fixes, such as the LibreOffice office suite, the virt-p2v and virt-v2v tools, and it removes the matahari API set for operating system management.

The CentOS 6.3 Linux operating system also includes packages from all variants, even if it is based on the upstream Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 release. Moreover, the developers combined all of the upstream repositories into a single one, making things easier for all end users.

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CentOS 6.3 Live CD

Download CentOS 6.3 Live CD and DVD now from Softpedia.

Download CentOS 6.3 installable DVD now from Softpedia.

dots OS4On July 11th, Roberto J. Dohnert informed us that the OS4 12.5 Linux operating system was made available for download for both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms. Being redesigned from the ground up to satisfy the needs of most PC users, OS4 12.5 is a major update to the open source Linux distribution developed by Roberto Dohnert.

OS4 12.5 comes packed with Wine and everything a user needs to install Windows games and apps without much hassle, as well as out-of-the-box multimedia playback backed by Audacious and Totem, and lots of codecs. It is compatible with many commercial apps, such as Lotus Notes or Oracle Database products, and offers full support for Apple's HFS and HFS+ filesystems.

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OS4 12.5

Download OS4 12.5 now from Softpedia.

dots Linux MintOn July 12th, Clement Lefebvre announced that the Release Candidate of the upcoming Linux Mint 13 KDE Edition operating system is available for download and testing. Being based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) and the Maya technologies, Linux Mint 13 RC KDE is built on top of the stable KDE Software Compilation 4.8.3 desktop environment, it is powered by Linux kernel 3.2, and includes applications like Mozilla Firefox 12, Amarok 2.5.0, KTorrent 4.1.3, GIMP 2.6.12, digiKam 2.5.0, Kaffeine 1.2.2, VLC 2.0.1, LibreOffice 3.5.3.

Highlights of Linux Mint 13 RC KDE:

· Based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS; · Linux kernel 3.2.0; · KDE SC 4.8.3; · MATE and mintMenu applets; · Mint Display Manager; · Artwork improvements; · Search engines.

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Linux Mint 13 RC KDE

Download Linux Mint 13 RC KDE now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a development release and it should not be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.

dots FinnixOn July 13th, Ryan Finnie announced the immediate availability for download the Finnix 105 Linux operating system. Powered by Linux kernel 3.4, Finnix 105 is the first release to be build with the help of the Project NEALE (Normalized Extraction and Assembly of LiveCD Environments), which provides easy production of solid Finnix CDs, without filesystem bloat or other mistakes.

Other interesting feature in Finnix 105 is the replacement of sysvinit with runit, a minimal, statically-compiled init system, for less memory consumption. Because of the transition to Project NEALE, Finnix comes now with a new archive managements system and new GPG keys.

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Finnix 105

Download Finnix 105 now from Softpedia.

dots Softpedia Linux BlogSoftpedia Linux Blog:

· Download Linux Kernel 3.5 Release Candidate 6 · Tails 0.12.1 Has Linux Kernel 3.2.21-3 · XOrg Server 1.12.3 Is Available for Download · Introducing the ARM 64-bit Architecture · digiKam 2.7.0 Fixes Lots of Bugs · OMAP4 Kernel Vulnerability Fixed for Ubuntu 11.10 · Alien Arena: Reloaded Edition 7.60 Available for Download · Fedora 18 Will Have 256-Color Terminal Support · GParted LiveCD 0.13.0 Beta 1.3 Available for Testing · SecureCRT 7.0 Officially Released · 4MLinux Server Edition 3.3 Has TOR 0.2.2.37 · Introducing German Ubuntu Forum Lens for Unity · X Server 1.13 Will Have Better Support for Hybrid GPUs · Viperr 2 Available for Download · LibreOffice 3.5.5 Brings Stability Enhancements · Calibre Plugin of the Week: Find Duplicates · Download Axigen 8.0.3 Mail Server Now · Control Robots with Speech Recognition and Raspberry PI · Download KDE SC 4.9 Release Candidate 2 · CentOS 6.3 Screenshot Tour · Ubuntu One No Longer Supports Facebook Sync · Ubuntu 12.10 Gets Revamped Session Menu · openSUSE 12.2 RC1 Is Now Available for Testing · openSUSE 12.2 RC1 Screenshot Tour · LibreOffice 3.6.0 RC1 Is Available for Download · Introducing Ubuntu RuneScape Wikia Lens for Unity · Parted Magic 2012_07_13 Incorporates GParted 0.13.0

dots Tutorial of the Week Tutorial of the Week: How to Install Mass Effect 3 on Linux

· The third installment in the Mass Effect franchise, Mass Effect 3, is an action role-playing game (RPG) developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. The following tutorial will teach Linux users how to install the Mass Effect 3 game on their open source operating system.

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LIMBO game running on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

To install the Mass Effect 3 game on your Linux system, follow the next step-by-step (with screenshots) tutorial.

Read the entire tutorial here.

dots Review of the WeekReview of the Week: Bastion Review

· It would be easy to dismiss Bastion as another action RPG, but I have yet to have so much fun with a game that desperately wants to be an RPG and manages to be a lot more. Bastion was developed by Supergiant Games, a game studio formed mostly by people who worked on Command and Conquer games and Red Alert 3. They wanted to try something else, but I don’t think anyone could have guessed their project would be radically different.

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Bastion game running on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

The objective of the game is to get through the levels, collect shards from enemies and destroyed environments and gather the shard at the end of each level. These shards can be used to build various buildings within Bastion, a neutral zone that the player accesses between levels. In Bastion he can upgrade his weapons, buy potions (for special moves and life), and rebuild some of the lost structures.

Read the complete review here.

dots Video Clip of the WeekVideo Clip of the Week: Introduction to OS4 12.5

· For this week we've posted an 720p HD video clip that showcases the features of the OS4 12.5 Linux distribution. The video has 19 minutes and 20 seconds, and it was posted by Roberto J. Dohnert.

Download from SoftpediaDistributions Updated Last Week:

· KNOPPIX Live DVD 7.0.3 · Tails 0.12.1 · 4MLinux Server Edition 3.3 · Viperr 2 · Instant WebKiosk 1.6 · Parted Magic 2012_07_13 · GParted 0.13.0-1

Download from SoftpediaDevelopment Releases:

· Clonezilla LiveCD 1.2.13-8 · AprendeClick 2.0.0 Beta · openSUSE GNOME Live CD 12.2 RC1 · openSUSE KDE4 Live CD 12.2 RC1 · openSUSE Linux 12.2 RC1 · Vine Linux 6.1 RC1

See you again at the end of next week for another issue of Softpedia Linux Weekly.