News – SparkyLinux

Sparky 5.11

2020/04/04 by pavroo

A quarterly update point release of live/install media of Sparky 5.11 “Nibiru” of the stable line is out. This is a release based on Debian 10 “Buster”.

Changes:
– the base system upgraded from Debian stable repos as of March 1, 2020
– Linux kernel 4.19.98 LTS (PC)
– Linux kernel 4.19.97 LTS (ARMHF)
– added 9 new nature wallpapers captured by Aneta, Pavbaranov and me
– Sparky repository changed to the named “nibiru” (“stable” works as before); no need to manually change the repo; see also: https://sparkylinux.org/sparky-named-repos/
– Firefox 68.6.0 ESR
– Thunderbird 68.6.0
– LibreOffice 6.1.5

System reinstallation is not required; if you have Sparky 5.x installed make full system upgrade:

sparky-upgrade

or:

sudo apt update sudo apt full-upgrade

or via the System Upgrade tool.

Sparky 5 is available in the following flavours:
– amd64 & i686: LXQt, Xfce, MinimalGUI (Openbox) & MinimalCLI (text mode)
– armhf: Openbox & CLI (text mode)

New iso/img images of the stable line can be downloaded from the download/stable page.

Sparky Upgrade text tool

2020/04/032020/04/03 by pavroo

There is a tool available for Sparkers, which lets you make full system upgrade in a text mode via just one command: Sparky Upgrade.
The tool was introduced in Sparky APTus Upgrade 0.3.15.

The Sparky APTus Upgrade offers a GUI to make your system upgrade, but if you prefer a text based tool, the Sparky Upgrade should cover your needs.

How does it work?
1. It checks does the Debian and Sparky servers are online.
– if not, stops the process
– if yes, asks you for your password
2. It refreshes package list and inform you about updates.
– enter “y” (yes) to make the upgrade
– enter “n” (no) to stop it, that all.

Run the tool as a regular user:

sparky-upgrade

See also the Wiki page: https://wiki.sparkylinux.org/doku.php/aptus_upgrade

March 2020 donation report

2020/04/01 by pavroo

Many thanks to all of you for supporting our open-source projects, specially in this difficult days. Your donations help keeping them alive.

Thanks a lot!
Dziękuję bardzo!
Vielen Dank!
Merci beaucoup!
Muito obrigado!
Mnohokrat dakujem!
どうもありがとう !

Don’t forget to send a small tip in April too, please 🙂

Country	Supporter	Amount
	Krzysztof M.	PLN 50
	Wojciech H.	PLN 2
	Gernot P.	$ 10
	John C.	$ 5
	Tom C.	$ 15
	Walacy D.	€ 2.45
	Robert C.	PLN 50
	Andrzej M.	PLN 5
	Krzysztof B.	PLN 141
	Tomas H.	€ 10
	Marek B.	PLN 10
	Rudolf L.	€ 10
	Alexander F.	€ 10
	Karl A.	€ 1.66
	Wojciech Z.	PLN 100
	Małgorzata R.	PLN 39.87
	Anja G.	€ 15
	Jacek G.	PLN 40
	Agostino M.	€ 30
	Stanisław G.	PLN 20
	Krzysztof P.	PLN 30
	Andrzej P.	PLN 10
	Krzysztof Ś.	PLN 100
	Jork S.	€ 5
	Robert C.	PLN 50
	Janusz L.	PLN 50
	Wolfgang L.	€ 12
	Okamoto Y.	€ 200
	Total:	€ 296.11 PLN 697.87 $ 30

Sparky news 2020/03

2020/03/312020/03/31 by pavroo

The 3rd monthly #stayhome report of 2020 of the Sparky project:

• Linux kernel updated up to version 5.6.0
• ChourS2008 translated a few Sparky wiki pages to Russian, thanks a lot
• Nemoman keep translating Sparky wiki pages to Hungarian, thanks a lot
• I keep translating wiki pages to Polish as well
• Sparky 2020.03 & 2020.03.1 of the rolling line released
• Sparky 4.12 of the oldstable line released
• added to our repos: ClipGrab, CudaText
• Sparky repos changed to the named: oldstable-> tyche; stable-> nibiru; testing-> potolo; the old ones work as before alongside to the new ones; see also: sparkylinux.org/sparky-named-repos/
• added Chines (zh_CN) fonts and other stuff to be installed via APTus-> System-> Install Locales tool (v0.4.27)

In this difficult days I only wanna say: #stayhome my friends.

Sparky 2020.03.1

2020/03/28 by pavroo

New iso images of Sparky 2020.03.1 of the (semi-)rolling line have been generated.

This is a minor update of the live/install media which provides:

• fixed issue which doesn’t let you boot Sparky 2020.03 copied to an USB stick
• Sparky repository changed to the named “potolo” (“testing” works as before)
• all packages updated from Debian testing repos as of March 27, 2020

No reinstallation is required, simply make full system upgrade.

New rolling iso images can be downloaded from the download/rolling page.

Sparky named repos

2020/03/25 by pavroo

New Sparky named repositories have been created, alongside to the present ones:
• oldstable-> tyche
• stable-> nibiru
• testing-> potolo

What is it for?
Developing and providing packages to Sparky based on Debian testing only was quite easy, it was just one branch, developed as a rolling release. No changes in repos required then.

Everything changed after releasing Sparky on Debian stable and keeping the oldstable line as well.

Every big upgrade, means from testing to a new stable, and stable to a new oldstable required manual changes in the repo lists.

To avoid that, the named repos will let you smoothly upgrade your Sparky installation without any manual change. It will be done via a regular upgrade using the package manager/upgrade tool only.

So…

What to do now?
No need to change Sparky repos manually, simply make system upgrade as you do.

Packages:
• sparky4-apt on Sparky 4 Tyche
• sparky5-apt on Sparky 5 Nibiru
• sparky6-apt on Sparky rolling (upcoming 6 Po Tolo)
install the new Sparky repo automatically.

Let me know at our forums, if you find any problem with that.
Wiki pages of Sparky repos have been already updated.

Sparky 4.12

2020/03/11 by pavroo

Sparky live/install media of the ‘oldstable’ line updated up to version 4.12.
Sparky 4 “Tyche” is based on the Debian 9 oldstable “Stretch”.

Changes:
• all packages updated as of March 11, 2020
• reconfigured Sparky repositoy to the present one
• added a new Sparky public key

System reinstallation is not required, make full system upgrade vis Sparky Upgrade tool or via apt:

sudo apt update sudo apt full-upgrade

New iso images of the oldstable line can be downloaded from the download/oldstable page.

Sparky 2020.03

2020/03/142020/03/09 by pavroo

The March 2020 snapshot of Sparky 2020.03 “Po Tolo” of the (semi-)rolling line is out. It is based on the Debian testing “Bullseye”.

Changes:
– system upgraded from Debian testing repos as of March 7, 2020
– Calamares installer 3.2.20
– Linux kernel 5.4.19 as default (5.5.8 & 5.6-rc4 in Sparky unstable repos)
– changed qCamera webcam application to Cheese
– changed Vokoscreen to Vokoscreen-NG
– removed packages: radiotray, imagemagic
– GCC 10 is preinstalled, alongside to GCC 9 (default)
– LibreOffice 6.4.1.2
– Firefox 73.0.1
– Thunderbird 68.5.0

System reinstallation is not required, make full system upgrade via Sparky Upgrade gui tool or a text based tool:

sparky-upgrade

or via apt:

sudo apt update sudo apt full-upgrade

New rolling iso images can be downloaded from the download/rolling page.

February 2020 donation report

2020/03/01 by pavroo

Many thanks to all of you for supporting our open-source projects!
Your donations help keeping them alive.

Don’t forget to send a small tip in March too, please 🙂

Country	Supporter	Amount
	Krzysztof M.	PLN 50
	Christian H.	€ 20
	Gernot P.	$ 10
	Andrzej M.	PLN 5
	Jacky M.	€ 15
	Ruedi L.	€ 10
	Marek B.	PLN 10
	Alexander F.	€ 10
	Karl A.	€ 1.66
	Daniel W.	€ 30
	Andrzej M.	PLN 25
	Jacek G.	PLN 40
	Agostino M.	€ 30
	Charles S.	€ 50
	Stanisław G.	PLN 20
	Andrzej P.	PLN 5
	Marek M.	PLN 10
	Jork S.	€ 5
	Jürgen V.	€ 10
	Wolfgang L.	€ 12
	Jerzy R.	PLN 50
	Jacek G.	PLN 50
	Total:	€ 193.66 PLN 265 $ 10

Sparky news 2020/02

2020/02/29 by pavroo

The 2nd monthly report of 2020 of the Sparky project:

• migration to a new, bigger vps done; make sure to install a new public key of Sparky repository -> https://sparkylinux.org/migration-to-a-new-vps/
• Sparky 5.10.1 of the stable line released
• Linux kernel updated up to version 5.5.7 & 5.6-rc3
• added to our repos: Android Messages Desktop, MystiQ Video Converter
• Nemomen keep translating Sparky Wiki pages to Hungarian, thanks a lot
• Sparky 2020.02 and 2020.02.1 of the rolling line released
• Sparky Special Editions 2020.02 GameOver, Multimedia & Rescue released

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