The latest update to Newt OS Gnome, released this morning, includes LightDM as the display manager, aligning it with Newt OS LXDE. This is one of the final steps towards a final release!
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Like many other popular Linux distros, Newt OS includes several quality wallpapers pre-installed. With the upcoming releases, I thought it would be appropriate to refresh the wallpaper selection. Most of these images are my own work, with a few taken from the Ubuntu defaults (they were too good to resist!) You can view the wallpapers below. These images are free for download/personal use, and if you want I can upload them in a package for easier download. However, I would prefer that these images not be used publicly without first contacting me ([email protected]), and that credit be given where credit is due. Thanks, and enjoy!
~Newt The title basically says it all, I am choosing to use LightDM as the display manager for all versions of Newt OS. (The display manager is the program that controls the login screen) While I don't really have anything against either LXDM or GDM (LXDE and gnome's display managers) I wanted to have all versions of Newt OS use the same program. I find LXDM to have a dated look, and GDM requires the Gnome desktop to be installed, so I found another solution. This change is part of my work to make the Newt OS experience more professional from download to daily use. LightDM is a very nice window manager used by popular Linux distros, including Ubuntu and elementary. Though I am still working on the themeing functions of it, I have tested it and found it to be very capable at logging users in, locking the screen, and logging out, all with a unified style. See below for pictures. Let me know what you think by posting a comment below!
~Newt Like the title says, there are several design and usability changes coming to this website. The goal of these changes is to make the experience of Newt OS be open, professional, and consistent, from download to daily use. So lets get into what is changing and how. If you're a regular visitor to this site, you may have noticed that, as the Newt OS project has expanded, several pages have been somewhat unmaintained, and are in need of a refresh. The home page has already been redone (comment below with your thoughts!) but there is still work to be done. The download page in particular needs a lot of work, especially with the new additions to the Newt OS family. So that's where I decided to focus my efforts first. As a student, paying for a download service hosted on this site is just not possible at this point, so while I would love to have downloads be managed entirely by myself, I have done the best I can to make finding what you, the user, needs as easy as possible. Below are some images of the new pages in development. As you can see, the new design aims to be more focused, with a dedicated download page for each flavor, and a splash page linking to each page. I think this is a big improvement over the current download page, which may be functional, but sure isn't pretty. Let me know what you think in the comments. The new pages should go live within a couple weeks, so now is the time to request features.
First and foremost, a belated happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope that your holiday was enjoyable, and that you have something to be thankful for.
I've finally had some time to work on things other than school because of Thanksgiving. I haven't done a lot of work on Newt OS for quite some time, and though I really haven't put much time in this week either, I've managed to meet some goals that have been tantalizingly out of reach for some time. The first of these goals is that I have discovered how to make Newt OS identify as Newt OS and not openSUSE! Thank you Mr. Ryan Alexander for your tip. The second piece of news is that Newt OS LXDE has been updated (16.0.1) While still not finalized, it is nearly ready to replace its older brother based on openSUSE 13.2. Third, I am oh so happy to announce that Newt OS Gnome has finally, after something like 6 attempts, been updated to openSUSE 42.1!!! Without getting into detail, I can tell you that this update was not anywhere as easy as I had hoped it would be. I had problems with software selection, configuration, and booting issues, but that has been resolved simply by waiting. I'm not sure what changed, I'm just thankful that it works. A download will be available later today, the live cd .iso is taking a long (long... long...long) time to build. By this point you might be wondering, What is the future of the ageing releases based on 13.2? I personally am happy with where these builds are. They aren't perfect, but I would be happy using them, which tells me others would too. According to the openSUSE website, 13.2 will be supported until sometime next spring, probably late April or early May. As long as they are still receiving updates, I will have them available for download. However, all development will be focused on the upcoming releases, so the old appliances will not receive any updates outside of what openSUSE provides. If you have any questions or comments, respond below, or email me at [email protected] ~Newt The first beta release of Newt OS KDE based on openSUSE Leap 42.1 is available for download. This release is strictly experimental. Due to the transition from plasma 4 to plasma 5, I am finding that I have to re-learn how to configure KDE in the way I want to. This is probably most noticeable in that I cannot get it to use the wallpaper I want. However, testing it on other systems, I vastly prefer Plasma 5 to Plasma 4, and with 5.4, it seems to be quite stable. So yeah, please test out the new appliance, and if you have any advice/help, please contact me at [email protected].
Known Issues:
Like any beta software, there are some issues. Luckily, the only one that really limits usability is that, on login, you must select LXDE as the desktop environment from the menu at the bottom, otherwise you will be unable to login. Another issue is that, in the PCManFM file browser, there is no new tab "+" button. This is a problem with the Moka icon set used, as it is there when other icons are chosen. New Things: New things! The best part of a new release! First and most obviously, this release features a new wallpaper. Additionally, this release now uses Gnome's update manager (Thank you Jon!) which is cleaner than the update applet used in the last version. Finally, included are the usual updates to software (Firefox 42, Libreoffice 5.2, Flash player, etc) Feedback: I would love feedback on this build, whether you test drive it, or if you have the time/bandwidth to download and run it on a live cd. Please leave comments below, on the download page, or email me at [email protected] If you have been keeping up with the latest Linux news, you may have heard that openSUSE recently made a new release a couple days ago. This release, 42.1, is based on SUSE Linux Enterprise, which is an interesting change, as openSUSE, while supported by the same company as SUSE, has always been independent-ish.
Some of the biggest changes in 42.1 are updated desktop environments (yay!) 42.1 provides Gnome 3.16 and KDE Plasma 5.4. Both of these have significant usability and appearance improvements over the versions used in 13.2 and the current releases of Newt OS. So, how will this affect Newt OS? Most obviously, this change means updates to major system components, including the Linux kernel, which is updated to version 4.1 LTS, as well as updated desktop environments, display managers, etc. What won't change is my desire to make a user-friendly Linux distro based on openSUSE with the aim of providing a more focused project. The included software will not change significantly. There may be changes, additions, or removals, but when the day is over, Newt OS will still be Newt OS. With this release, I am setting myself some goals for Newt OS. First, I want to become more familiar with the openSUSE Build Service. I also want to make the three versions of Newt OS feel more similar; as it is, there are many inconsistencies with software selection, theme choices, wallpapers, etc. I want to remove these differences, so there is only a choice of preferred desktop environment, and no difference in content. As for release dates, I really have no target other than preferably by early December. School keeps me busy during the week, and I am having some issues with migrating to 42.1 in a few cases. Those of you running Newt OS should be able to update your systems to 42.1 base like you would update a generic openSUSE install, but settings may not be kept. 13.2 is supported until late 2016 at least, so don't worry about losing support. What do you want to see in Newt OS's future? Have you tried Linux and found something difficult that you think Newt OS could resolve? Let me know in the comments. ~Newt The latest build of Newt OS LXDE (2.7.23) is available for download. With this release comes several changes, some of which you hopefully will not notice. Note that there is no need to reinstall if you are using Newt OS LXDE, as the changes made in this build do not affect a system's performance.
The first changes are, as always, updated software. Libreoffice is now at version 5.0.3, Firefox has been updated to 41.0.2, and many other small packages have been updated. If you have been installing updates regularly, you will already have these updates. The second change is one that you will likely notice. The login screen has been slightly redesigned, with several icons being replaced by less archaic-looking choices, and the background being set to a green patterned wallpaper. The goal of this change is to make the login screen appear cleaner, and less cobbled together. Another slight change is that the wallpapers have been changed, with a few being removed and some being added. I have been meaning to make this change for several weeks now, but only just got around to it. Finally, I have been learning to use the build script to apply settings that have previously required me to upload edited files to the builds. Using the script makes changes easier, and also means less work keeping track of files. All seems to have gone well (it should have after 16 tries) so you should not notice any unintentional differences. Let me know what you think of the latest release. Are there any things I could add? Let me know in the comments. This was originally going to be a post about the release of Newt OS Gnome 3.1.4, which was quite a disappointing release. However, I was able to contact a fellow SUSE Studio developer, Ryan Alexander, who helped me accomplish my goal of implementing a new theme for Gnome. So, the first good news I have is that Newt OS Gnome 3.1.5 has been released, bringing a new theme consisting of the Moka icon theme with a modified form of the Zukitre theme. Also, the system font has been set to Open Sans for a clean, consistent look. The second piece of news is that Newt OS LXDE has also been updated to include the Libreoffice suite. This comes at the request of a SUSE Studio user. To compliment that news, I have chosen to update Libreoffice to version 5. This is the latest stable release of Libreoffice, bringing many nice updates to an already great office suite. You can find more information at the links below. So, you're probably looking for some images of these exciting changes, especially the new theme. Well, wait no more. Here are some screenshots of the newest release of Newt OS Gnome. The homepage slide show will be updated soon. In the meantime, feel free to download the most recent release, or testdrive it on the SUSE Stuido page.
Are there any changes you'd like to see in Newt OS? Any suggestions? Perhaps you have a skill to contribute. If you want to help out, there are a multitude of ways to do so. You can leave a comment here or on the SUSE Studio pages. You can answer a short survey under the suggestions tab at the top of the page. You can also email me with any questions or comments at [email protected]. If you want help starting your own SUSE-based distro, don't hesitate to contact me, I will happily help you in any way I can. ~Newt |
AuthorNewt is the single developer of Newt OS. Archives
December 2016
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