it's that time again!

[DJ Art]

On Tuesday 03 July 2007, nikos roussos wrote:
> για όσους δεν ενημερώθηκαν ήδη, βγήκε το slackware 12.0:
> http://www.slackware.com/announce/12.0.php
> με αρκετές αλλαγές σε σχέση με το 11.0

Συνήθως αποτελεί καλή ιδέα το να βάζεις στο mail προς την LGU και το 
κείμενο/announcement του release του Slackware.

Συνήθως το κείμενο αυτό κεντρίζει διάφορους αγαπητούς αναγνώστες της 
λίστας (φήμες λένε ότι απλώς ζηλεύουν το Slackware επειδή οι ίδιοι 
χρησιμοποιούν κάτι γελοιότητες για Distros) και πολλές φορές το 
σχολιάζουν κιόλας (καυστικά). Και φυσικά, ΣΥΝΗΘΩΣ αυτό μπορεί να 
προκαλέσει από απλώς ένα ευχάριστο απόγευμα μέχρι ένα απλό flamewar 
(δηλαδή μια ευχάριστη εβδομάδα) :>



----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: [slackware-announce]  Slackware 12.0 released
Date: Tuesday 03 July 2007
From: Slackware Security Team <security at slackware.com>
To: slackware-announce at slackware.com


The official announcement follows:


Well folks, it's that time to announce a new stable Slackware release 
again.  So, without further ado, announcing Slackware version 12.0!  
Since we've moved to supporting the 2.6 kernel series exclusively (and 
fine-tuned the system to get the most out of it), we feel that Slackware 
12.0 has many improvements over our last release (Slackware 11.0) and is 
a 
must-have upgrade for any Slackware user.

This first Slackware edition of the year combines Slackware's legendary 
simplicity (and close tracking of original sources), stability, and 
security with some of the latest advances in Linux technology.  Expect 
no 
less than the best Slackware yet.

Among the many program updates and distribution enhancements, you'll 
find 
two of the most advanced desktop environments available today: Xfce 
4.4.1, 
a fast and lightweight but visually appealing and easy to use desktop 
environment, and KDE 3.5.7, the latest version of the award-winning K 
Desktop Environment.  We have added to Slackware support for HAL (the 
Hardware Abstraction Layer) which allows the system administrator to add 
users to the cdrom and plugdev groups. Then they will be able to use 
items 
such as USB flash sticks, USB cameras that appear like USB storage, 
portable hard drives, CD and DVD media, MP3 players, and more, all 
without 
requiring sudo, the mount or umount command.  Just plug and play.  
Properly set up, Slackware's desktop should be suitable for any level of 
Linux experience.

Slackware uses the 2.6.21.5 kernel bringing you advanced performance 
features such as journaling filesystems, SCSI and ATA RAID volume 
support, 
SATA support, Software RAID, LVM (the Logical Volume Manager, and 
encrypted filesystems.  Kernel support for X DRI (the Direct Rendering 
Interface) brings high-speed hardware accelerated 3D graphics to Linux.  
We have switched from the older one-piece X11 Window System to the 
newest 
modular X11 from X.Org, which should be simpler to maintain and will 
likely speed up development of new features for X (such as translucent 
windows and a few other things that are on the horizon).

There are two kinds of kernels in Slackware -- the huge kernels, which 
contain support for just about every driver in the Linux kernel. These 
are 
primarily intended to be used for installation, but there's no real 
reason 
that you couldn't continue to run them after you have installed.  The 
other type of kernel is the generic kernel, in which nearly every driver 
is built as a module.  To use a generic kernel you'll need to build an 
initrd to load your filesystem module and possibly your drive controller 
or other drivers needed at boot time, configure LILO to load the initrd 
at 
boot, and reinstall LILO.  See the docs in /boot after installing for 
more 
information.  Slackware's Linux kernels come in both SMP and non-SMP 
types 
now.  The SMP kernel supports multiple processors, multi-core CPUs, 
HyperThreading, and about every other optimization available.  In our 
own 
testing this kernel has proven to be fast, stable, and reliable.  We 
recommend using the SMP kernel even on single processor machines if it 
will run on them.

- From the beginning, Slackware has offered a stable and secure Linux 
distribution for UNIX veterans as well as an easy-to-use system for 
beginners.  Slackware includes everything you'll need to run a powerful 
server or workstation.  Each Slackware package follows the setup and 
installation instructions from its author(s) as closely as possible, 
offering you the most stable and easily expandable setup.

Here are some of the advanced features of Slackware 12.0:

- - Runs the 2.6.21.5 version of the Linux kernel from ftp.kernel.org.
  Also included is a kernel patched with Speakup to support speech
  synthesizers providing access to Linux for the visually impaired
  community.  The 2.6.x kernel series has matured into a stable
  kernel, and provides reliable performance for your desktop or
  your production server.

- - System binaries are linked with the GNU C Library, version 2.5.
  This version of glibc also has excellent compatibility with
  existing binaries.

- - X11 7.2.0.  This is the X.Org Foundation's modular X Window System.
  You will notice many more X package than before, and it's probably
  best to install them all.  There's been much activity in the X
  development world, and the improvements here in terms of performance
  and hardware support are sure to be only the beginning.

- - Installs gcc-4.1.2 as the default C, C++, Objective-C, 
  Fortran-77/95, and Ada 95 compiler.

- - Support for fully encrypted network connections with OpenSSL,
  OpenSSH, OpenVPN, and GnuPG.

- - Apache (httpd) 2.2.4 web server with Dynamic Shared Object 
  support, SSL, and PHP 5.2.3.

- - PCMCIA, CardBus, USB, IEE1394 (FireWire) and ACPI support.  This
  makes Slackware a great operating system for your laptop.

- - The udev dynamic device management system for Linux 2.6.x.
  This locates and configures most hardware automatically as it
  is added (or removed) from the system, and creates the access
  nodes in /dev.  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 2.5.1,
  Ruby 1.8.6, Subversion 1.4.4, git-1.5.2.2, mercurial-0.9.4,
  graphical tools like Qt designer and KDevelop, and much more.

- - Updated versions of the Slackware package management tools make it
  easy to add, remove, upgrade, and make your own Slackware packages.
  Package tracking makes it easy to upgrade from Slackware 11.0 to 
  Slackware 12.0 (see CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT).  The slackpkg tool in
  /extra can also help update from an older version of Slackware to
  a newer one, and keep your Slackware system up to date.  In
  addition, the slacktrack utility (in extra/) will help you build
  and maintain your own packages.

- - Web browsers galore!  Includes KDE's Konqueror 3.5.7, 
  SeaMonkey 1.1.2 (this is the replacement for the Mozilla
  Suite), and the immensely popular Firefox 2.0.0.4, as well as
  the Thunderbird 2.0.0.4 email and news client with advanced
  junk mail filtering.

- - The complete K Desktop Environment (KDE) version 3.5.7, 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 pidgin-2.0.2,
   gimp-2.2.15, gkrellm-2.2.10, gxine-0.5.11, xchat-2.8.2, xsane-0.994,
   and pan-0.131.

- - Large repository of extra software packages compiled and ready to 
  run.  This includes various window managers, the Java(TM) 2 Software
  Development Kit Standard Edition, libsafe (buffer overflow protection
  for additional security), ISDN support, additional 802.11 drivers,
  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 Slackware 12.0, see this file:

    ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-12.0/PACKAGES.TXT

     
Downloading Slackware 12.0:
- ---------------------------

The full version of Slackware Linux 12.0 is available for download from
the central Slackware FTP sites hosted by our friends at www.cwo.com
and osuosl.org:

   ftp://slackware.osuosl.org/pub/slackware/slackware-12.0/
   ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-12.0/

If the sites are busy, see the list of official mirror sites here:

   http://slackware.com/getslack/

We will be setting up BitTorrent downloads for the official ISO images.
Stay tuned to http://slackware.com for the latest updates.

Instructions for burning the Slackware tree onto install discs may be
found in the isolinux directory.


- ---
Patrick J. Volkerding    <volkerdi at slackware.com>

Visit us on the web at:  http://slackware.com

-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Thanos Kyritsis <djart at linux.gr>
Q: Εθελοντής ή θεατής ?
A: Ιδιοκτήτης! ;-)