14 DAY TRIAL // The development team behind the Debian-based SparkyLinux operating system announced today the release and immediate availability for download of SparkyLinux 5.0 Rolling.
Dubbed Nibiru, SparkyLinux 5.0 Rolling is based on the Debian Testing repositories, which, in time, will become Debian GNU/Linux 10 "Buster." Therefore, users should expect to get a test of the newer packages that are available in Debian Testing when installing the SparkyLinux 5.0 operating system on their personal computers.
It comes in five editions, three of which are Live images using the Xfce, MATE, and LXQt desktop environments. The other two are the MinimalGUI, which uses the lightweight Openbox window manager, and MinimalCLI, a text-based variant that doesn't ship with a graphical interface and can be used to build your own SparkyLinux OS.
"There are new live/install iso images of SparkyLinux 5.0 "Nibiru" available to download. Sparky 5 follows rolling release model and is based on Debian testing branch "Buster"," reads today's announcement. "Sparky "Home" edition provides fully featured operating system with lightweight desktops: LXQt, MATE and Xfce."
Here's what's new in SparkyLinux 5.0 "Nibiru"
Compared with the old SparkyLinux 4.5 series, the SparkyLinux 5.0 "Nibiru" release comes with a fully up-to-date system that was synced with the Debian Testing repositories as of July 14, 2017, the Linux 4.11.6 kernel by default, though users can install Linux kernel 4.12 from the "unstable" repository.
SparkyLinux is the second GNU/Linux distro we know, after KaOS, to switch to the latest Calamares 3.1.1 as default system installer, which fixes a weaker password salt security issue. SparkyLinux 5.0 also replaces Icedove with Mozilla Thunderbird as default email and news client, and adds new repos for Wine Staging.
A new Sparky5 system theme is available, along with a new set of wallpapers, including some nice landscapes from Poland, new default theme for the SparkyLinux LXQt edition, a new default wallpaper, and a new tool that automatically checks for new updates and displays a notification on your desktop when they're available.
The Live ISO images of SparkyLinux 5.0 come with two new boot options, namely "text mode" for running the operating system in text mode and install it from there using the advanced installer if you have graphical issues on your hardware, and "toram" to be able to run SparkyLinux from RAM (2GB or more are required).
Last but not least, all SparkyLinux services are now using the HTTPS (HTTP Secure) protocol for better security, including for the software repositories. User can download SparkyLinux 5.0 "Nibiru" as 64-bit and 32-bit PAE MinimalGUI or MinimalCLI, as well as Xfce, MATE, and LXQt editions right now from our website.