Fedora 18 Beta has been released

The much-delayed beta release of Fedora 18 is finally ready for testing: "The Fedora project team is excited to announce the beta release of its free, fully-functional Linux operating system, Fedora 18, code-named 'Spherical Cow.' Explore what's new in the Fedora 18 beta, including these highlighted release features: Fedora 18 offers a brand-new version of the GNOME desktop, version 3.6, straight from the upstream development process; updates have also been made to the KDE, Xfce and Sugar desktop environments; additionally, the MATE desktop is available for the first time in Fedora; Fedora's new installer user interface enhances the anaconda installer with improvements in ease of use and installation."

The Fedora Project is an openly-developed project designed by Red Hat, open for general participation, led by a meritocracy, following a set of project objectives. The goal of The Fedora Project is to work with the Linux community to build a complete, general purpose operating system exclusively from open source software. Development will be done in a public forum. The project will produce time-based releases of Fedora about 2-3 times a year, with a public release schedule. The Red Hat engineering team will continue to participate in building Fedora and will invite and encourage more outside participation than in past releases. By using this more open process, we hope to provide an operating system more in line with the ideals of free software and more appealing to the open source community.

Linux Lite 1.0.2 has been released

Jerry Bezencon has announced the release of an updated build of Linux Lite 1.0.2, an Ubuntu-based, beginner-friendly Linux distribution with Xfce as the preferred desktop environment: "Proud to announce the release of Linux Lite 1.0.2. With a number of enhancements, changes and additions Linux Lite 1.0.2 is smaller, leaner and has capitalized on the fantastic feedback it has received from the global computing community to produce a step up from the previous version. Changelog: all system software updated; Firefox 17.0; Linux kernel 3.2 PAE; reduced size of ISO image by maximizing compression of file system; added LibreOffice Impress; added ability to 'dd' the ISO image file; added tool tips for applications; added support for VMware; added libopenal1 for extra sound support; added keyboard shortcuts; PrintScreen key opens the screenshot tool; fixed bug where laptops unplugged from mains power source lost use of USB mouse.

Linux Lite is a beginner-friendly Linux distribution based on Ubuntu LTS and featuring the Xfce desktop.

Cinnarch 2012.11.22 has been released

Alex Filgueira has announced the release of an updated version of Cinnarch, an Arch-based Linux distribution with Mint's Cinnamon as the default desktop interface: "Here it is, a new release of Cinnarch. This is a list of changes: multilingual access from boot menu in syslinux, and redesign (based on Manjaro's work); available languages: English, Spanish, Galician and German; multilingual welcome message; unmuted ALSA channels; fixed screenshot button; support for USB modems and VPN in NetworkManager; Nemo as Cinnarch's new default file manager (chosen by the community); default folders (Downloads, Desktop, Images); support for VIA graphic cards; installed missing dosfstools on Cinnarch Live; option to install GRUB 2 or any UEFI bootloader; LightDM replaces LightDM-Ubuntu; Pantheon greeter replaces Unity greeter.

Cinnarch is a modern, elegant and powerful Linux distribution and live CD based on Arch Linux. It uses LightDM as the login manager, Cinnamon as the graphical desktop and Chromium as the web browser. Cinnarch is a rolling-release distribution and the Cinnarch live CD includes a simple text-mode system installer.

Linux Mint 14 has been released

Clement Lefebvre has announced the final release of Linux Mint 14, code name "Nadia", in MATE (version 1.4) or Cinnamon (version 1.6) editions: "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 14 'Nadia'. For the first time since Linux Mint 11, the development team was able to capitalize on upstream technology which works and fits its goals. After 6 months of incremental development, Linux Mint 14 features an impressive list of improvements, increased stability and a refined desktop experience. We're very proud of MATE, Cinnamon, MDM and all the components used in this release, and we're very excited to show you how they all fit together in Linux Mint 14." 

Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution whose goal is to provide a more complete out-of-the-box experience by including browser plugins, media codecs, support for DVD playback, Java and other components. It also adds a custom desktop and menus, several unique configuration tools, and a web-based package installation interface. Linux Mint is compatible with Ubuntu software repositories.

Manjaro Linux 0.8.2 "LXDE" has been released

Philip Müller has announced the release of Manjaro Linux 0.8.2 "LXDE" edition, an lightweight desktop distribution based on Arch Linux: "The culmination of substantial refinements and exciting new developments, Manjaro 0.8.2 is the most polished, feature-rich, and accessible release yet. A lot of people asked me for a LXDE edition. Here it is. It has the same look and functionality as our Xfce edition. With this release you get a better EFI-support through rEFInd, it includes support for Steam gaming, automatic desktop notifications for new system updates, and -- developed exclusively for Manjaro -- a user-friendly graphical interface to easily manage and maintain the system. A more detailed overview of the improvements in the 0.8.2 release is as follows: the default Linux kernel series has been changed to 3.4-longterm for better upstream support; LXDE got updated to 0.5.5.

Manjaro Linux is a desktop-oriented, user-friendly distribution based on Arch Linux. Some of its more pronounced features include an intuitive installation process, automatic hardware detection, special Bash scripts for managing graphics drivers, and extra desktop configuration options. Manjaro Linux comes in three editions featuring the Xfce, GNOME 3 (with the Cinnamon Shell) and KDE desktops.

openSUSE 12.3 Milestone 1 has been released

Will Stephenson has announced the availability of Milestone 1, which is the second official test build on the way to the stable openSUSE 12.3: "News fresh from the Factory - the openSUSE release team has made the openSUSE 12.3 Milestone 1 available for testing and feedback. There has been lots of plumbing in the infrastructure, with most prominently the removal of SuSEconfig - the capitalization of its name should give a hint about its age. If you want to get a taste of the upcoming release or want to help test and develop this awesome, green Linux distribution - come and get it! With Milestone 1, things start getting interesting. For starters, the init system continues to evolve rapidly. SysVinit has now been removed, following some discussion."

The openSUSE project is a community program sponsored by Novell. Promoting the use of Linux everywhere, this program provides free, easy access to openSUSE, a complete Linux distribution. The openSUSE project has three main goals: make openSUSE the easiest Linux for anyone to obtain and the most widely used Linux distribution; leverage open source collaboration to make openSUSE the world's most usable Linux distribution and desktop environment for new and experienced Linux users; dramatically simplify and open the development and packaging processes to make openSUSE the platform of choice for Linux developers and software vendors.

Arch Linux 2012.11.01 has been released

Pierre Schmitz has announced the availability of Arch Linux 2012.11.01, the latest of the regular installation CD images that the project providing a popular rolling-release Linux distribution now makes available at the beginning of each month. This is mostly a bug-fix release. From the release announcement: "The latest snapshot of our install and rescue media can be found on our download page. The 2012.11.01 ISO image mainly contains minor bug fixes, cleanups and new packages compared to the previous one: first media with Linux kernel 3.6; copytoran can be used to not copy the image to RAM on network boot - this is probably unreliable but an option for systems with very low memory; cowfile_size boot parameter mainly for persistent COW on VFAT.
 

Arch Linux is an independently developed, i686- and x86_64-optimised Linux distribution targeted at competent Linux users. It uses 'pacman', its home-grown package manager, to provide updates to the latest software applications with full dependency tracking. Operating on a rolling release system, Arch can be installed from a CD image or via an FTP server. The default install provides a solid base that enables users to create a custom installation. In addition, the Arch Build System (ABS) provides a way to easily build new packages, modify the configuration of stock packages, and share these packages with other users via the Arch Linux user repository.