The VectorLinux development crew is proud to announce the beta3 release of VL-6.0-SOHO. The SOHO project is VectorLinux for the small office or home office (thus SOHO) as such is larger than our other releases. The challenge is to keep SOHO as fast and as stable as the rest of the Vector family and we think we have met that challenge!
The SOHO beta3 release is based on the latest KDE-4.3.4 with many graphical and system enhancements. We have included all the productivity software one would need like Digikam, koffice, the gimp, k3b, scribus, OpenOffice and Inkscape to name a few. The kernel is version 2.6.31.11 which adds new wireless network possibilities along with greater speed and stability. The GUI installer first introduced in the VL standard 6.0 release has seen futher refinements since our last beta release. Support has been added for a wider range of graphic chipsets and both lilo and grub bootloaders. Importing user accounts from previous installs is now possible provided a seperate home partition is used.
X.org has been upgraded to version 7.4 to expand the useable hardware base for SOHO.
We have included out of the box multimedia support so that all of the popular formats play without the need for searching for third party downloads to play a certain format. We also have the latest amarok 2.2.2 for your music appreciation.
The beta3 release includes several installer fixes and updates as well as package updates to OpenOffice. Amarok, Inkscape and several other system improvements. Anyone that had installer problems with the beta2 release is encouraged to give this a try so we know the installer bugs are corrected. Please post your results to the forum topic below so that we can evaluate our progress. Please remember no posts mean that everything is perfect and we can stop and go final. If thats not the case then you need to tell us so we can fix issues and get to the final release.
http://forum.vectorlinux.com/index.php?topic=11214.0The two install iso's are here:
http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-6.0/iso-test/VL6.0-SOHO-B3.1.isohttp://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-6.0/iso-test/VL6.0-SOHO-B3-CD2.isohttp://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-6.0/iso-test/VL6.0-SOHO-B3.1.md5sumhttp://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-6.0/iso-test/VL6.0-SOHO-B3-CD2.md5sumEnjoy,
Vec and the Crew
Vector 6.0-SOHO BETA 3.
I used a COMPAQ Presario desktop I have used since 2006. AMD 64 Processor-3500-2GB-120GB hard drive-NVIDIA GeFORCE
6150 LE Graphics.
Installation and post-install setup: Installing the system was quick and painless. It installed less than thirty minutes.
My formatting options:
I utilized my existing partitions using / exl4-reiserfs /dev/sda1-115GB and /dev/sda5 4919 MB Swap.
I used the full / total install default software selection and 1024/768 resolution. Dic #1 finished, and than put in
Dic #2.
I answered the usual questions and setup an adm. password and user info. / password. I removed Dic#2.
No problems @boot. The Desktop loaded very quickly initial boot took about thirty seconds. The wired network defaulted automatically.
I set the local time, reduced the desktop icons to 32. I don't like much on a desktop. It was necessary to open the sound mixer and adjust the channel configuration. I increased the PCM to the volume level I needed. This needs to be done with most all distros.
That was the setup. Done.
I followed my usual routine: Secure the updates using Gslap, opened Firefox, Google, Msnbc, a music Dvd.
Everything worked 100%. I held off my usual hacking and used all defaults. The Desktop loaded very quickly.
The web page renderings were sharp, clear and very pleasing on my eyes. This is not a geek only OS, Vector 6.0-SOHO is every one's desktop. I only looked @ it as a desktop user.
This is a polished desktop offering more than all the necessary applications.
I works flawlessly No problems. Sorry, nothing to report. Is it Vector 7.0 yet?
Regards,
Alex
