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Posted by : slh on Dec 26, 2007 - 04:39 AM Release Notes
Release Notes

A lot has changed since sidux 2007-04 "Ερως" got released, most importantly additional hardware support for concurrent graphics-, DVB-, ALSA- and wireless LAN devices, which suggests to fresh up "Ερως", while continuing the development for sidux 2008-01 "Νυξ". Consequently we are now proud to announce the immediate availability of the sidux 2007-04.5 "Ερως" christmas special for amd64 and i686 systems, shipping in roughly ≈445 MB KDE lite flavours and a combined i386+amd64 release with ≈1430 MB KDE for kde-full.

sidux is a full featured Debian sid based live CD with a special focus on hard disk installations, a clean upgrade path within sid and additional hard- and software support. The ISO is completely based on Debian sid, enriched and stabilized with sidux' own packages and scripts.

Release notes for Ερως xmas

This update release of sidux 2007-04.5 "Ερως" concentrates on additional hardware support and stability improvements for wireless and DVB devices, combined with newly available hardware support for various ATi graphics cards in interaction with the new X.org 7.3/ xrandr 1.2 based X detection.

A new feature is the combined DVD ISO for kde-full, which supports i386 and amd64 architectures and avoids the hard size limit of CD-R media while trying to retain a slick package list. Further efforts have been invested into consolidating classical and advanced USB installation methods, kernel stabilisation and the live persistency framework. Various updates, fixes and adaptions have been applied to large parts of the package list.

As a special christmas present for our non english/ german speaking users, sidux 2007-04.5 "Ερως" ships an xdelta to add initial localisations for all currently supported languages.

The release plan for sidux 2008-01 "Νυξ" has been adapted slightly in response to this intermediate "Ερως" update and moved to early february.

Our special thanks go to everyone involved in enhancing our list of download mirrors and especially all mirror hosters for their efforts regarding sidux.

Now to the interesting topics, like what's on the menu for now:

  • amd64 (AMD64, Intel Core2, newer 64 bit capable AMD Sempron and Intel Pentium 4 CPUs (watch for the "lm" flag in /proc/cpuinfo or use infobash -v3) and i686 (Pentium pro/ Pentium II, AMD K7 Athlon or newer)).
  • Debian sid, as of 2007-12-26.
  • kernel 2.6.23.12 (smp, hard preemption).
  • libata support for parallel ATA systems.
  • X.org 7.3.
  • KDE 3.5.8 (en + de).
  • completely new X.org probing, finally amd64 compatible.
  • new USB fromiso Installer.
  • new artwork created by cleary and the sidux art team.
  • offline manual for en + de directly on the disc, online manuals for more languages online at http://manual.sidux.com/ and available via apt; a big thank you goes to the documentation and translation teams!
    Please note that the offline manual is only available on the running live CD or the installed system.
  • iwlwifi3945/ iwlwifi4965 1.1.17.
  • b43/ b43legacy support for Broadcom wlan cards.
  • rt2x00 2.0.13 support for RaLink cards.
  • support for RealTek RTL8187 wlan cards.
  • support for ADMtek ADM8211 wlan cards.
  • support for Intel 82801I, 82566DM-2, 82562GT-2, 82562G-2 and 82562V-2 Gigabit Ethernet cards (ICH9).
  • enhanced hardware support libraries.
  • fw-detect to probe for hardware with non-free needs.
  • memtest86+.
  • overhauled partition and file system detection.
  • several X.org 7.3 and kernel 2.6.23 related bug and compatibility fixes.
  • siduxcc overhaul.
  • persistency fixes.
  • several X.org detection improvements and bugfixes.
  • /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ superseding the monolithic /etc/apt/sources.list.
  • fix booting for VIA C7 CPUs.
  • virtualbox-ose-guest support.
  • fix remaining sources.list.d/ issues.
  • bitsetting/ xrandr compatible driver for ATi cards (6.7.197).
  • basic lvm2 detection and install support on exististing logical volumes.
  • Pinnacle PCTVsat (DVB-S) compatibility.
  • kernel 2.6.23 stabilization.
  • dual-arch ISO.

Hints for hardware with non-free needs:

sidux contains only dfsg free software, so you'll probably want to add contrib/ non-free to your /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list and ensure internet access. 

# See sources.list(5) for more information, especially
# Remember that you can only use http, ftp or file URIs
# CDROMs are managed through the apt-cdrom tool.
# The /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory provides a way to add sources.list
# entries in seperate files that end with sources.list file.

# unstable
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

# testing
# deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free

# experimental
# deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free

and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sidux.list: 

# sidux e.V., Germany
deb http://sidux.com/debian/ sid main contrib non-free fix.main fix.contrib fix.non-free
#deb-src http://sidux.com/debian/ sid main contrib non-free fix.main fix.contrib fix.non-free

The required firmware can be determined with the following device/ firmware enumeration or by using the newly developed fw-detect script (packaged in configure-networkcard).

  • ATi Radeon graphics:
    3d acceleration for older cards up to r35x should work, newer Radeon X1xxx cards need non-free drivers for accelerated performance which are not yet compatible with Kernel 2.6.23. Depending on the particular chipset "xmodule=vesa" or "xmodule=fbdev" as cheatcode might be in order for later Radeon X1xxx models.
  • Atheros/ "madwifi" wlan:
    m-a a-i madwifi
  • Atmel AT76c50x 11 MBit/s wlan:
    apt-get install atmel-firmware
  • Broadcom, bcm43xx/ b43/ b43legacy wlan:
    apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter b43-fwcutter
  • Eagle USB ADSL modem:
    fetch the firmware from http://eagle-usb.org/ueagle-atm/non-free/ and place it under /lib/firmware/.
  • DVB firmware for various full featured DVB TV cards (most budget cards won't need this):
    fetch the needed firmware (check dmesg) from http://www.linuxtv.org/downloads/firmware/ and place it under /lib/firmware/.
  • IVTV firmware:
    fetch the firmware from http://dl.ivtvdriver.org/ivtv/firmware/ and place it under /lib/firmware/.
  • Intel ipw2100, 11 MBit/s wlan:
    apt-get install ipw2100-firmware
  • Intel ipw2200, 54 MBit/s wlan:
    apt-get install ipw2200-firmware
  • Intel ipw3945/ iwlwifi, 54 Mbit/s wlan:
    apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi
  • Intel ipw4965/ iwlwifi, draft-n wlan:
    apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi
  • Intersil prism54 (p54pci/ p54usb), 54 MBit/s wlan:
    fetch the firmware from http://jbnote.free.fr/prism54usb/ and place it under /lib/firmware/.
  • nVidia graphics:
    3d acceleration isn't possible with free drivers yet, please use "get-sidux-binary-gfx && install-binary-gfx -a" or "sgfxi" to fetch install scripts for these cards.
  • RaLink rt61 and rt73 54 MBit/s wlan:
    apt-get install firmware-ralink
    please remove rt61-fwcutter, rt73-fwcutter, firmware-rt61 and firmware-rt73, if already installed.
  • Texas Instruments ACX100 (22 Mbit/s)/ ACX111 (54 MBit/s) wlan:
    fetch the firmware from http://www.kazer.org/acx-firmware-20060207.tar.bz2 and place it under /lib/firmware/.
  • ZyDAS zd1201 11 MBit/s wlan:
    fetch the firmware from http://surfnet.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/linux-lc100020/zd1201-0.14-fw.tar.gz and place it under /lib/firmware/.
  • ZyDAS zd1211 54 MBit/s wlan:
    apt-get install zd1211-firmware

We try to provide packages for legally redistributable firmware from our non-free repositories, but not all vendors allow this.

Disclaimer:

This is experimental software. Use at your own risk. The sidux project, it's developers and team members (all represented by the sidux e.V.) cannot be held liable under any circumstances for damage to hardware or software, lost data, or other direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of this software. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, you are not permitted to use or further distribute this software.

Download URLs, please give the mirrors some time to sync:

Europe

North America

Asia

Africa

Australia/ New Zealand

Our thanks go to all mirror hosters for their efforts regarding sidux.

How to get involved

Getting involved in sidux is easy, just join us at our Forum or even better on IRC (irc.oftc.net, port 6667, channel #sidux) and discuss your patches/ proposals or additions.

We will gladly discuss any dfsg-free patches and contributions, especially regarding alternative window managers (gnome, xfce), mobile network connectivity (GPRS/ UMTS, Bluetooth, but also ISDN, PPP, PPPoE) or general janitorial tasks or translations/ localisations.

Roadmap:

Please understand that the following roadmap is a rough estimate regarding our release schedule and is affected by the status of upstream Debian sid, major system components like X.org, KDE, the linux kernel and our own developments and is subject to changes.

  • sidux 2008-01 "Νυξ" — calendar week 4-6 2008
  • sidux 2008-02 "Ερεβος" — calendar week 14-15 2008
  • sidux 2008-03 "Ωυρεα" — calendar week 25-26 2008
  • sidux 2008-04 "Ποντος" — calendar week 37-38 2008

Special thanks go to the entire sidux development team:

Jose Tadeu Barros (ceti)
Michiel de Boer (locsmif)
Joaquim Boura (x-un-i)
Mikhail Burov (von_Selbst)
Alessio Giustini (alessiog75)
Stefan R. Eissens (eislon)
Roland Engert (RoEn)
Bernard Gray (cleary)
Chris Hildebrandt (slam)
Ralph Hokanson Jr. (piper)
Richard Holt (Richard)
Harald Hope (h2)
HarzG
Markus Huber (hubi)
Aedan Kelly (etorix)
Lady_Cuddles
Latino
Stefan Lippers-Hollmann (slh)
Philippe Masson (LjanA)
Kel Modderman (kelmo)
Koslow
Markus Müller (moto)
maslot
muchan
Gabriel Palade (ladepa)
Gerald Prock (raider700)
Steven J. Robinson (cathbard)
Philipp Rudolph (Zophod)
Dinko Sabo (cobra)
Florian Schneider (hathe)
Ferdi Thommes (devil)
Horst Tritremmel (hjt)
Trevor Walkley (bluewater)
Niall Walsh (bfree)
Andreas Weber (webera)
Fabian Wuertz (xadras)
zerby
zonker
zulu9

Thanks to Hetzner Online AG for sponsoring sidux.com.

On behalf of the sidux team:
        Stefan Lippers-Hollmann (slh)

 
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