Kiwi Linux 10.08 released with Chromium, Shotwell and more

Finally, after a hiatus of over a year, the Ubuntu derivative tailored for Romanian and Hungarian Linux beginners is having a new release! Of course English is still available on the CD :)

Here is the iso (700M)

Its focus is to provide much of the commonly needed software conveniently installed by default but without straying away from Ubuntu in looks or by forming a separate community. These two decisions were made in order to keep those that see or use both distributions on a familiar ground.

Kiwi Linux 10.08 is based on Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS and as always it only comes in GNOME x86 Desktop CD edition.

The main differences from Ubuntu are in the default application lineup. The decision to switch out some components are based on my own usage and on input from a subset of the Ubuntu-RO community.

• Chromium instead of Firefox because it is snappier, more stable, has built-in page translations, and has a cleaner albeit at first non-intuitive UI. HTML5 video codecs included.
• Shotwell instead of F-Spot - a nice fast tool, it is happening in Ubuntu 10.10 as well.
• Pidgin instead of Empathy - while I am sure that Empathy and the Telepathy stack is the way in the future, Pidgin is more mature at this point.
• VLC 1.1.3 along with Totem . VLC just handles better regular movies, DVDs, and subtitles. Totem is kept because Chromium annoyingly (but wisely) does not support Mozilla browser plugins that don't use XEmbed and are written instead in the old way using X Intrinsics.
• Adobe Flashplugin and the gstreamer ungood bunch for mp3 and various other codecs.
• Libdvdcss2 for encrypted DVD support
• Evolution removed as most home users are on webmail. The nice desktop-webmail helper app included
• p7zip and rar tools added to help file-roller deal with archives sent by Windows users.
• Gnote instead of Tomboy - more or less equivalent
• Compiz extra settings config
• Firmware to support the Speedtouch 330 USB modem driver - the initial reason to create this derivative is still shipped on the CD, but now fewer people need it having migrated to saner ISP connection equipment.
• Removed Mono, Erlang + CouchDB, Telepathy, Gwibber - as space needed to be freed for the above software the ones that were removed are those I considered stuff for more savvy users and less used by beginners.

The rest are small changes - custom liveCD boot screen and plymouth theme just to make it clear this is not 100% Ubuntu and no confusion arises in case of support issues.

The Launchpad PPAs are a great help, I copied VLC and Shotwell from Nate Muench's and Yorba's PPAs to the Kiwi release PPA where the custom packages are kept as well (Ubiquity slideshow and Plymouth theme only).

Thanks to all who tested release candidate images and helped with graphics!

Download here

Ubuntu CD syslinux boot splash question

Does anyone reading this know what program was used to create the splash.pcx file that is the first thing coming up when the CD boots? It has a small text in the new font saying 'ubuntu' with a subtle glow around the text. My trials as a beginning GIMP user to recreate it using the text 'kiwi linux' resulted in a coarser look of the font after glow and a blur effects were applied and the palette is disturbed leading to the menu items having a dark purple background.

If the original was done using Gimp or Inkscape and someone knows the steps to achieve that effect - that exact effect in that image, not glowing effects in general as I have looked at a few tutorials before trying my hand at it - I'd be grateful if they shared their tips in the comments.

Maybe the original needs to be done in a certain way so that it can be converted to pcx and 256 colors without loss of quality.

Kiwi 10.08 RC

UPDATE: RC2 aici

Traduceri si finisaj la imagini, adaugat cheese.

Imaginea RC a ultimii versiuni de Kiwi e gata.

E bazat pe Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS cu următoarele schimbări semnificative, făcute pentru utilizatori mai începători ce vin dinspre Windows

• singurele localizări sunt en/hu/ro
• Chromium e navigatorul implicit, cu codecuri pentru video prin HTML5
• Adobe Flash plugin
• VLC 1.1.3 instalat pentru că merge în general mai bine decât Totem, dar acesta a rămas pentru că pluginul VLC nu merge în Chromium, doar în Firefox.
• Pidgin în loc de Empathy pentru că e mai matur
• Codecuri audio, video si pentru DVD criptate
• Firmware inclus pentru modemul USB Speedtouch 330 folosit (încă?) în unele instalări Romtelecom - nu am avut unde testa.
• Gnote în loc de Tomboy
• Shotwell 0.7
• Date jos Mono și Erlang și aplicațiile ce le foloseau (Gbrainy, CouchDB, etc)
• Dat jos Evolution, protocolul mailto: e tratat de selectorul desktop-webmail care deschide yahoo, gmail, etc.

Mai trebuie actualizat și tradus slideshow de instalare, finisate câteva imagini care arată prost și corectate buguri care le găsesc cei care testează imaginea RC.

Odată instalat aceste ultime neajunsuri estetice nu mai afectează sistemul, sunt vizibile doar în timpul instalării. Intenționat artworkul și majoritatea brandingului e cel al Ubuntu să fie familiar celor care văd ambele sisteme.