It’s been couple of months since openSUSE 11.2 was released. But in the Linux world nothing comes to a standstill, and as on schedule the openSUSE team has announced the release of the first Milestone of the next version of the distribution.
The first Milestone (M1) release is intended to provide a glimpse into what would be featured in openSUSE 11.3. This release features updates to some of the most popular and commonly used software, and an introduction of LXDE, the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment as an alternative into the desktop environment selection lineup.
The updates include:
Desktop Environments:
GNOME: M1 features GNOME 2.29.5, which is the first release of the popular desktop environment in 2010. The updates include Ephiphany, GNOME’s built-in web browser now stores all form data in GNOME keyring and Empathy redesigned to make it easier to use.
KDE: M1 brings in the first release candidate of KDE 4.4. The RC brings in new applications such as Blogilo which is a blogging tool to Rocs & Cantor – the scientific applications for advanced math and graph theory needs. In addition, Nepomuk Search framework is now faster due to a new storage backend, and now provides a timeline view of your files. Full details of intended goals of 4.4 release of KDE can be read over here.
LXDE: LXDE, short for Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment makes its debut in openSUSE as the lightweight alternative desktop environment, which will help users who have computers with less amount of RAM.
Desktop Apps:
Some of the updated desktop apps include:
Firefox: Firefox gets updated to 3.6, bringing in support for personas which allow you to change the look of the browser via themes/
Thunderbird: Thunderbird gets bumped to 3.0.1, which features a tabbed messaging interface, Smart folders and whole lot of bug fixes.
Other updated Desktop Apps include Amarok – the awesome media player, the KDE Photo Manager digikam, and the BitTorrent clients ktorrent and transmission.
Other Updates:
Other updates include moving Qt library to version 4.6, several updates to Networking stack and Development tools.
Download it!
If you’re itching to get your hands on the bleeding edge of software, don’t hesitate to try out M1 release and in the process contribute to the openSUSE community by means of bug reports ( and fixes too ). Do note the most annoying bugs, however.