Advertising

minimal

Sparky 4.8 RC

There is a new, testing live/install iso image of SparkyLinux 4.8 RC “Tyche” available to download. Sparky 4 is based on Debian stable line “Stretch”.

Sparky 4.8 RC is a release candidate to upcoming next 4.8 stable release.

Changes between 4.7 and 4.8 RC:
– full system upgrade from Debian stable repos as of April 11, 2018
– Linux kernel 4.9.82
– Calamares 3.1.12 with an option of installing system on an encrypted disk
– added new option of live system booting which lets you choose a localization (via kernel parametr) and keyboard layout (via a new script)
– sparky tools which need the root access use pkexec now instead of gksu/gksudo/kdesudo/etc.
– added packages: xinit (provides startx command) and bleachbit (for cleaning the system)
– temporary removed gscreenshot and replaced with sparky-screenshot
– sparky advanced installer features 4 localizations now: Brazilian, English, German and Polish (more translations needed!); fixed removing partitions from the partition list after choosing and used them;

The final 4.8 release is planned in the middle of May and will be available in following versions: LXDE (full version), MinimalGUI (Openbox) and MinimalCLI (text mode).

New iso image of the development version can be downloaded from download/development page.

Sparky 5.2

There are new live/install iso images of SparkyLinux 5.2 “Nibiru” available to download.
Sparky 5 follows rolling release model and is based on Debian testing “Buster”.

Sparky 5.2 provides fully featured operating system with lightweight desktops: Xfce, MATE and LXQt.
Sparky 5.2 MinimalGUI (Openbox) and MinimalCLI (text mode) lets you install the base system with a desktop of your choice and a minimal set of applications, via the Sparky Advanced Installer.

Important !
Sparky based on Debian testing is not a stable edition; can make problems sometimes and can need individual fixing. If you prefer much stable operating system – Sparky 4.x of the stable line will be better choice.

Changes of all editions:
– full system upgrade from Debian testing repos as of December 17, 2017
– Linux kernel 4.14.2 from Debian Sid repos (4.14.8-sparky is available in Sparky ‘unstable’ repo)
– Calamares 3.1.10 as the default system installer
– the full disk encryption option has been activated in the Calamares, so Sparky can be installed on an encrypted disk now
– added 8 new wallpapers of Polish nature to ‘sparky-artwork-nature’ package
– added symlink of ‘sparkylinux-installer’ to ‘sparky-installer’ (Advanced Installer), and ‘spb’ shortcut to ‘sparkybackup’ command (backup tool)

Changes in Xfce edition:
– due to abnormal CPU usage of the ‘xfce4-pulseaudo-plugin’ (with Sparky 5 icon set), the plugin has been replaced by ‘pasystray’

Changes in MinimalGUI edition:
– PCManFM file manager replaced by Thunar
– external USB disks are mounted automatically now

No system reinstallation is required, simply make full system upgrade:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
If any problem, run:
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get install -f

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

Known issues:
– possible problem with unmounting the live system’s squashfs if running inside of a virtual machine (tested in VirtualBox only) – ignore it, shot the live system down, remove the live media and run your machine normally.

Merry Christmas to all Sparkers
from Aneta i Paweł

 

Sparky 5-dev20171120

There is a development iso image of Sparky 5-dev20171120 MinimalGUI ready for testing.

The Sparky 5 live system is based on Debian testing “Buster”.
All packages have been updated as of November 20, 2017.

The most important change is about disk encryption.
The Calamares installer has full disk encryption option enabled to be used during installation process.
Please test it and report on our forums whatever you find.

The development iso images can be downloaded from the download/development page.

Encryption option during installation    Sparky running on encrypted disk

 

Sparky 4.7

There is an update of SparkyLinux 4.7 “Tyche” out there.
This is Sparky edition based on Debian stable line 9 code name “Stretch”.

No big changes, the new iso images provide updates of all installed packages, from Debian “Stretch” and Sparky repositories as of November 17, 2017.

Highlights:
– Linux kernel 4.9.0-4 (4.9.51)
– Xfce 4.12.3
– LXDE 0.99.2
– Openbox 3.6.1
– Firefox ESR 52.5.0
– Thunderbird 52.4.0
– Pidgin 2.12.0
– HexChat 2.12.4
– VLC 2.2.6
– DeaDBeeF 0.7.2
– LibreOffice 5.2.7
– Transmission 2.92
– Calamares 3.1.8

The new iso images can be used to perform fresh Sparky installation.

If you already have Sparky installed on a hard drive, simply make full system upgrade:
sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

ISO images of Sparky 4.7 LXDE, Xfce, MinimalGUI (Openbox) & MinimalCLI (text mode) for i686 and x86_64/amd64 machines can be download from the download/stable page.

Consider a small donation which would help to keep Sparky project alive.

SparkyLinux

 

Sparky 5.1

There are new live/install iso images of SparkyLinux 5.1 “Nibiru” available to download.
Sparky 5 follows the rolling release model and is based on Debian testing “Buster”.

Sparky “Home” edition provides fully featured operating system with lightweight desktops: Xfce, MATE and LXQt.
Sparky MinimalGUI (Openbox) and MinimalCLI (text mode) lets you install the base system with a desktop of your choice and a minimal set of applications via the Sparky Advanced Installer.

Changes between version 5.0 and 5.1:
– full system upgrade from Debian testing repos as of September 25, 2017
– Linux kernel 4.12.13 as default (4.13.3-sparky is available in Sparky ‘unstable’ repo)
– gcc 6 removed from the live media; the default compiler is gcc 7
– obmenu-generator updated up to version 0.80 (MinmalGUI edition), what speeded up launching the menu with svg icons
– the default system installer Calamares updated up to version 3.1.4
– added new tool for installing a web browser: Sparky Web Browser Installer
– new desktop environment added to Sparky repos: Manokwari
– live system’s memtest86+ issue has been fixed
– source code repos moved to GitHub

No system re-installation is required, simply make full system upgrade:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
If any problem, run:
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get install -f

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

 

Sparky 5.0

There are new live/install iso images of SparkyLinux 5.0 “Nibiru” available to download.
Sparky 5 follows rolling release model and is based on Debian testing branch “Buster”.

From Wikipedia:

In Babylonian astronomy, Nibiru (in cuneiform spelled dné-bé-ru or MULni-bi-rum). The term refers to the equinox and the astronomical objects associated with it…
…Nibiru was considered the seat of the summus deus who shepherds the stars like sheep, in Babylon identified with Marduk.

Sparky “Home” edition provides fully featured operating system with lightweight desktops: LXQt, MATE and Xfce.

As usually, Sparky MinimalGUI (Openbox) and MinimalCLI (text based) lets you install the base system with a minimal set of applications and a desktop of your choice, via the Sparky Advanced Installer.

Changes between version 4.5 and 5.0:
– full system upgraded from Debian testing repos as of July 14, 2017
– Linux kernel 4.11.6 as default (4.12.x is available in Sparky ‘unstable’ repo)
– new theme “Sparky5”
– new theme of LXQt edition
– new default wallpaper created by our community member “barti”
– new set of wallpapers of the Nature category, with a few nice landscapes from Poland
– Calamares 3.1.1 as the default system installer
– new tool for checking and displaying notification on your desktop about available updates

Other changes:
– added new repos (not active): wine-staging.com
– email client Icedove replaced by Thunderbird
– changed http to https protocol of all Sparky services, including repository; updating the ‘sparky-apt’ package fixes it automatically
– added two new live system boot options:
1. toram – lets you load the whole live system into ram memory (if you have enough);
2 – text mode – if any problem with normal or failsafe boot, this option runs sparky in text mode and lets you install it using the advanced installer

Sparky edition based on the Openbox window manager (MinimalGUI) has gotten 3 key shortcuts:
– Super+t -> terminal emulator
– Super+r -> gexec
– Super+q -> logout window

No system reinstallation is required.

If you have Sparky up to 4.5 installed on your hard drive, simply make full system upgrade:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
If any problem, run:
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get install -f

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

SparkyLinux LXQt

 

Sparky 4.6-dev20170307

 

New development iso images of Sparky 4.6-dev20170307 MinimalGUI are ready for testing.

Changelog:
– all packages updated from Debian (frozen, but still testing) Stretch repositories as of March 07, 2017;
– Calamares 3.1;
– fixed installation on UEFI machines issue; it installs the efi-grub debs offline (no internet connection needed), in the same way as the Advanced and the present Live Installers do;
– fixed small lightdm related issue, which did not list a target user in the login window;
– cleanup, removed some unnecessary packages, so the iso images are a little smaller then before.

Note: installation on an ecrypted device/partition is not configured properly yet.

The development iso images can be downloaded from the download/development page.

Test it and report on ours forums whatever you find, please.

 

Sparky 4.5.4 MinimalGUI/CLI

 

There is a minor update of Sparky MinimalGUI and MinimalCLI 4.5.4.

Sparky “Full (Home)” editions are installed as they are, with no need of updating or installing extra packages from the repositories.

MinimalGUI and MinimalCLI editions are shipped with current versions of packages, but they are current when the iso images were built only. After a week, month, and so the base system is out of date. It is not a problem until you’d like to install different desktop via Sparky Advanced Installer.

The point is, sometimes, installing new versions of some packages on the top of older version of base system can make problems…

Our community member reported such issue installing Enlightenment via MinimalGUI iso. The older version of systemd did not want to run just installed connman service, so the internet connection couldn’t be done automatically.

I posted on our forums, how to fix it manually, but it is temporary solution:
https://sparkylinux.org/forum/index.php?topic=3870.msg9303
So, looks like the Minimal iso images should be updated much often then the Full Editions, I think…

Anyway, the new iso images of Sparky 4.5.4 Minimal provide all packages updated as of February 22, 2017, Debian’s Linux kernel 4.9 (Sparky’s 4.10 is ready in our repos), and some small improvements.

 

SparkyLinux 4.5.2

New, updated iso images of SparkyLinux 4.5.2 “Tyche” are ready for download.

The new images provide a Virtualbox related bug fix, which has been solved via the latest updates from Debian testing repos.

If you have Sparky already installed – you do not need to reinstall your system, simply keep it up to date.

So, the updated iso images let you play, test and install Sparky inside the VirtualBox virtual machine, as before.

There are a few important updates landed in Sparky repos in meantime:
– Budgie Desktop 10.2.9
– CDE (Common Desktop Environment) 2.2.4-1 (some small issues fixed)
– Enlightenment 0.21.5 & EFL 1.18.4
– Firefox 50.1
– Linux kernel 4.8.15
– Lumina Desktop 1.1.0-p1 (own build)
– Palemoon 27.0.3
– SlimJet 12.0.12
– Vivaldi 1.6
– Skype Installer 0.1.10 (installs 4.x i386 on 32 bit/1.x Alpha amd64 on x86_64 bit systems now)
– TOR Browser 6.0.8

Sparky iso images can be downloaded from the download page as usually.

 

SparkyLinux 4.5.1 MinimalGUI

There is an update of Sparky 4.5.1 MinimalGUI available to download.

The Sparky Advanced Installer doesn’t work as it should in the MinimaGUI edition, if you are trying to install an additional desktop. The installer calls a ‘desktop-installer’, but it does not coming back to the main installer with right privileges after. It used to do before, but not any more.

You do not re-install your already installed Sparky.
You can also use existing Sparky 4.5 MinimalGUI iso images, but if you’d like to install a different desktop, run the Advanced Installer from the command line:
sudo sparkylinux-installer gui
or
sudo sparkylinux-installer

The updated MinimalGUI 4.5.1 iso images provide a fix of the small issue.

Live is crazy, anyway…

Advertising