Announcing Bluewhite64 Linux 11.0 ! This is the first Bluewhite64 Linux stable release after a 4 months of development and maintenance ! Among the many program updates and distribution enhancements, you'll find two of the most advanced desktop environments available today: Xfce 4.2.3.2, a fast and lightweight but visually appealing and easy to use desktop environment, and KDE 3.5.4, the latest version of the award-winning K Desktop Environment. Bluewhite64 uses the 2.6.17.13 kernel bringing you advanced performance features such as the ext2, ext3, ReiserFS, IBM's JFS, SGI's XFS filesystems, SCSI and ATA RAID volume support, SATA support, and kernel support for X DRI (the Direct Rendering Interface) that brings high-speed hardware accelerated 3D graphics to Linux (including a version of this kernel that supports multiple processors, multi-core CPUs, and about every other optimization available), or the recently released 2.6.18 kernel in /testing. This kernel also spent a long time in development and in our own testing has proven to be fast, stable, and reliable. All of these kernels may be used with Bluewhite64's CD/DVD based installation system, and NFS network installs may be done using the 2.6.17.13 (generic.i) kernel. Here are some of the advanced features of Bluewhite64 11.0: - Runs the 2.6.17.13 version of the Linux kernel from ftp.kernel.org. with hardware support such as SCSI controllers, SATA controllers, USB keyboards and mice, parallel-port IDE devices, IBM PS/2 machines with the Microchannel bus. The performance of the 2.6.x kernel series along with Bluewhite64's track record of careful attention to system security make it the perfect choice for running your production servers. - As an alternate choice, Bluewhite64 11.0 includes Linux 2.6.17.13 and 2.6.18 kernel source, kernel modules, and binary packages, along with the mkinitrd tool and instructions on using it to install the new kernel (see /boot/README.initrd). When running a 2.6 kernel, Bluewhite64 supports udev. This is a system for creating devices in /dev dynamically, greatly reducing device clutter and making it easy to see what devices are actually present in the system. Udev probes for and enables hardware on the system, much like the hotplug system does for a 2.4 kernel. - System binaries are linked with the GNU C Library, version 2.3.6. This version of glibc also has excellent compatibility with existing binaries. - X11R6.9.0 (same codebase as Modular X.Org 7.0.0) This is the X.Org Foundation's X Window System. The 6.9.0 version includes additional hardware support, functional enhancements, additional support for some recent popular Intel graphics chipsets and bug fixes. - Installs gcc-3.4.6 as the default C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran-77, and Ada 95 compiler. - Support for fully encrypted network connections with OpenSSL, OpenSSH, and GnuPG. - Apache 1.3.37 web server with Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) support, SSL, and PHP. - PCMCIA, CardBus, and APM support for laptops. (pcmcia-cs-3.2.8 and pcmciautils-014). Bluewhite64 also now includes hotplug and udev support. This locates and configures most hardware automatically as it is added (or removed) from the system. It also loads the kernel modules required by sound cards and other hardware at boot time. - New development tools, including Perl 5.8.8, Python 2.4.3, Ruby 1.8.4, Subversion 1.4.0, and graphical tools like Qt designer and KDevelop. - Updated versions of the Bluewhite64 package management tools make it easy to add, remove, upgrade, and make your own Bluewhite64 packages. Package tracking makes it easy to upgrade from Bluewhite64 11.0-rc5 to Bluewhite64 11.0 (see UPGRADE.TXT). The slackpkg tool in /extra can also help update from an older version of Bluewhite64 to a newer one, and keep your Bluewhite64 system up to date. In addition, the slacktrack utility (in extra/) will help you build and maintain your own packages. - Web browsers. Includes KDE's Konqueror 3.5.4, SeaMonkey 1.0.5 (this is the new replacement for the Mozilla Suite), and the immensely popular Firefox 1.5.0.7, as well as the Thunderbird 1.5.0.7 email and news client with advanced junk mail filtering. - The complete K Desktop Environment (KDE) version 3.5.4, including the KOffice productivity suite, networking tools, GUI development with KDevelop, multimedia tools (including the amazing Amarok music player), the Konqueror web browser and file manager, dozens of games and utilities, international language support, and more. - A collection of GTK+ based applications including gaim-1.5.0, gimp-2.2.13, gkrellm-2.2.9, gxine-0.5.7, xchat-2.6.6, xsane-0.991, and pan-0.14.2.91. - Large repository of extra software packages compiled and ready to run. This includes various window managers, the K3b CD burning application for KDE, the Java(TM) 2 Software Development Kit Standard Edition, libsafe (advanced buffer overflow protection for additional security), and much more (see the /extra directory). - Many more improved and upgraded packages than we can list here. For a complete list of core packages in Bluewhite64 11.0, see this file: http://data.bluewhite64.com/bluewhite64-current/PACKAGES.TXT Downloading Bluewhite64 11.0: ------------------------------ The full version of Bluewhite64 Linux 11.0 is available for download from the primary mirroe hosted by inode.at: ftp://mirror.inode.at/bluewhite64 http://data.bluewhite64.com If the sites are busy, see the list of official mirror sites here: http://bluewhite64.com/page.php?5 Support Bluewhite64 Linux ------------------------------------------------ Please help support the Bluewhite64 Linux Project. Bluewhite64 Linux software is offered free over the Internet, so many users choose to make a voluntary contribution to support continued Bluewhite64 maintenance. Donations can be done using credit cards, PayPal or bank transfer. Please see: http://store.bin-sh.ro/bluewhite64 Enjoy ;) --- arny -- arny[at]bluewhite64.com http://www.bluewhite64.com