alpha posts

Ubuntu 9.10 alpha 5 available for download, gears up for October release

by Lee Mathews Sep 4th 2009

With the final version of Karmic Koala due in less than two months, things are looking good for Ubuntu 9.10. Alpha 5 has been officially released and is now available for download from the usual channels.

The new alpha brings with it kernel 2.6.31-9.29, Gnome 2.27.91, GCC 4.4, and a lengthy list of additional updated packages. KUbuntu has been bumped to KDE 4.3.1 and its first Netbook Remix has also been released this time around.

Karmic's installer now sports a series of panels that showcase apps like FSpot, OpenOffice, and Rhythmbox. It's a nice touch -- if only as a reassurance to new users that yes, you can do these things on Linux. Though it's still touted as Ubuntu's default IM application during the install process (see the slides after the break), Pidgin has now been replaced by Empathy. Canonical's Ubuntu One cloud sync app is now included by default.

The usual alpha software caveats apply here: it's not recommended for use on critical systems and may contain bugs that could be hazardous to your computing health.

Now that that's out of the way...The alpha builds have been a lot of fun to play with so far, so check them out. Share your thoughts with us in the comments if you've given 9.10 a shot already!

Tags: alpha, karmic-koala, linux, ubuntu

Filed under: OS Updates, News

Haiku OS project gets ready to take the wraps off alpha release

by Lee Mathews Sep 1st 2009

Back in the early 1990s, BeOS appeared on the operating system scene promising a simple, uncluttered desktop designed to tackle digital media chores. Though Be is no longer "alive," its memory lives on thanks to a devoted community of supporters - like those behind Haiku.

At long last, the Haiku OS project is getting close to an initial alpha release. Even better, they're making nightly builds available on Haiku-Files.org so that anxious OS Evel Knievel types can get an early look at what's in store.

While it's a very lightweight system, Haiku still contains a good assortment of essential apps - a Mozilla-based web browser, mail client, media players and converters, and, of course, some distracting little games. And, of course, it's got the trademark tabbed window decorations.

You'll find the alpha releases here, and each build is available as an iso image, zipped raw HD image, or as a VMWare .vmdk for easy testing in their virtualization apps.

Tags: alpha, beos, haiku, nightly-builds

Filed under: Windows, Freeware, Browsers

Maxthon 3 gets turbo-charged with WebKit

by Lee Mathews Sep 1st 2009

If there's a solid browser out there that gets less coverage than Opera, it's got to be Maxthon. After testing out the latest alpha build of version 3, it appears that they're going to make sure people start taking notice.

Witness the V8 benchmark score above - that's Maxthon on the left and Chrome 4.0.203.2 on the right. As you can see, Maxthon 3 puts up pretty competitive numbers. In practical surfing on my core web apps and sites? It's just as fast as Chrome, if not just a hair faster.

What's responsible for the big change? Well, prior versions of Maxthon had used the Trident engine from Internet Explorer. While that meant Maxthon was good at handling IE-friendly pages that didn't work so well on other browsers, it came at the price of last-generation performance.

With WebKit now under the hood, Maxthon 3 looks likes it's ready to make some serious noise. Enthusiasts, get ready - this is going to be a fun year when it comes to browsers.

Many of the core features you'd want in an everyday browser aren't working yet in Maxthon, but if you want to take it for a spin anyway you can download it from Maxthon's forums or from Softpedia.

Tags: alpha, maxthon, webkit

Filed under: Mozilla, Open Source, Beta, Browsers

Deja vu all over again: tab previews are back in Firefox 3.6

by Lee Mathews Aug 3rd 2009

Now that Firefox 3.5 has made it into the mainstream, Mozilla is plugging away at browser.next. In last night's addition to the 3.6 nightly builds, some old-but-new tab features have finally made an appearance in Mozilla's browser.

Originally slated for 3.0, then bumped to 3.5, then bumped again, tab previews are back in Firefox 3.6. To activate the feature, you'll need to jump into your about:config and search for browser.ctrlTab.previews. Double click the entry to set its value to true, and the result is what you see above.

Your last six tabs are displayed in a floating window, with a button below that allows viewing of all open tabs (screenshot after the break).

Tags: alpha, browser-tabs, firefox-3.6, preview, tab-switching, visual

Filed under: Internet, Features, Linux, Google, Beta, Browsers

Chromium on Linux progressing, screenshots inside

by Lee Mathews Mar 17th 2009

Ubuntu users (or users of a Ubuntu-based distro) who have been waiting patiently for the chance to play with Google Chrome, there's now a dead simple way for you to do it. Thanks to the PPA (personal package archive) for Chromium daily builds team, getting the pre-alpha Chromium browser running on your system is about as painless as it can be at this stage.

You'll need to add repositories, of course. They are (substitute jaunty or hardy if needed):

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main

Once they've been added, running sudo apt-get install chromium-browser in a terminal window will take care of the rest. After the package has finished installing, just type chromium-browser [enter] to fire it up.

While it's still in its early stages, Chromium on Linux runs as it does on Windows - fast and smooth. Some important features aren't working yet, like the tab and bookmarks bars and options menu, but nearly everything else is. Incognito, history, download manager, and the new tab view are all functional, and every web page I tested rendered beautifully - and fast.

Check the gallery after the break for screenshots from my CrunchBang install.

Tags: alpha, chromium, google-chrome, linux, web-browser

Filed under: OS Updates, Linux, Canonical

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Alpha is now available

by Brad Linder Nov 23rd 2008

Ubuntu 8.10 Inteprid Ibex is still warm, but the folks at Canonical are already hard at work on the next generation of the popular Linux distribution. The first Alpha version of Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope was released today.

As a first Alpha, this release is not recommended for users in search of a stable desktop environment. And there's really not much benefit to downloading it unless you plan to help test and develop Ubuntu 9.04. For the most part Jaunty Jackalope looks a lot like Ubuntu 8.10. The desktop theme and other graphics haven't been altered at all, and for the most part, the operating system comes with the same set of applications as Intrepid Ibex.

So what's different? The developers have been busy re-merging of changes from Debian, the Linux distribution that Ubuntu is based on. Canonical is also working on porting the operating system to run on machines with ARM processors which could lead to Ubuntu showing up on more Mobile Internet Devices and netbooks next year.

There's currently no LiveCD version of Jaunty Jackalope, so if you do decide to download the Alpha, you'll have to grab the alternate or server installation CDs. The full version of Ubuntu 9.04 is scheduled for release on April 23, 2009.

Tags: alpha, jaunty-jackalope, ubuntu, ubuntu-9.04

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Mozilla, Browsers, Mobile

Mozilla releases Mobile Firefox Alpha - For Mac, Windows and Linux?

by Brad Linder Oct 17th 2008

Mozilla has released the first Alpha version of Fennec, the mobile web browser which currently runs on the Nokia N810 internet tablet, and which will soon run on Windows Mobile. Fennec is just a code name. Eventually the browser will probably be called something like Firefox Mobile. And there's a good reason for that. If you can view web content in Firefox, you can pretty much view it in Fennec.

Today there is still no version of Fennec that will run on your phone. But you can install the Alpha on an N810 tablet -- or on Windows, OS X, or Linux. Because Mozilla has decided the best way to show off its upcoming browser is to let you download and run it on your desktop.

To run Fennec for Windows, all you have to do is download and unzip an 8MB file and click on Fennec.exe. Up pops a small web browser with nothing but a URL bar visible. Type in an address and away you go. You can scroll up and down on a web page by clicking and draging the page. And you can zoom in on the content by double clicking. You might wonder why you would want to zoom in, but keep in mind, this browser is designed to run on a much smaller screen. The text that looks perfectly readable on your desktop may look miniscule on your phone.

Tags: alpha, fennec, firefox-mobile, mobile-firefox

Filed under: Internet, Windows Mobile, Mozilla, Mobile Minute, Browsers

Firefox Mobile Alpha coming in "a few weeks"

by Brad Linder Oct 6th 2008

Mozilla CEO says the first Alpha version of Firefox Mobile will be available in a few weeks. That's pretty exciting. But I wouldn't read too much into it at the moment.

It's not clear exactly what devices or operating systems will be supported by the early Alpha. Pre-alpha releases of the browser, code-named Fennec, are already available. But at the moment, they only run on the Nokia N810 internet tablet. The N810 is a pretty cool little device, but it's not as ubiquitous as say, Windows Mobile or Symbian powered cellphones.

Mozilla does plan to make a Windows Mobile version of Firefox Mobile available. I just don't know whether we'll see that version in a few weeks when Fennec hits alpha.

[via Gizmodo]

Tags: alpha, fennec, firefox-mobile

Filed under: Internet, Social Software, Beta

Digsby multi-protocol chat client seriously cuts RAM usage

by Brad Linder Aug 12th 2008

Digsby is probably one of the coolest free Windows applications released in recent memory. The utility is like Pidgin mashed up with Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, and it has email notifiers for Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail as well as other services thrown in for good measure. There's just one problem: Digsby is a major resource hog.

Early builds of Digsby have been known to eat over 100MB of memory. If you've got 4GB of RAM, that might not seem like much. But if you have an older PC with 1GB or less, there's no reason that a messenging program should eat up 10% or more of your memory.

A few days ago, Digsby pushed out a new alpha release that addresses the memory issue. I find that the alpha version tends to hover around 30MB of memory use, and according to the developers, it shouldn't go much higher than 50MB even if you register a ton of email and social networking accounts.

The new version also features other performance enhancements, and improvements that will attempt to help you get around firewalls and proxy servers if necessary. There's also a new crash reporter.

Keep in mind, the latest version of Digsby is still in alpha, which means there are likely plenty of bugs to be worked out. Normally I wouldn't recommend replacing stable software with an alpha. But if you've been frustrated with Digsby's high resource usage in the past, you should really check out the latest version. Just make sure to backup your settings first.

Tags: alpha, digsby, instant-messenger, memory, RAM, resources

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Beta, web 2.0

Sync your Google Reader, Newsgator feeds with RSS Bandit

by Brad Linder Jun 23rd 2008

At first glance, the latest version of RSS Bandit looks just like pretty much every other desktop RSS reader for Windows. In other words, it looks like Outlook. But this week saw the released of RSS Bandit 1.7 Alpha with one killer new feature: support for synchronization with your Google Reader or NewsGator feeds.

Here's how it works. You download and install the open source application, and then click the File menu and select Synchronize Feeds. Pick your service and enter your login information and RSS Bandit will import your feed list in a matter of seconds. Any actions you take using the desktop reader should then be reflected at your online feed reader. You can mark items as reader, unread, or shared. And you can subscribe to feeds or remove feeds using RSS Bandit and the changes should apply to your online account.

At least that's the theory. In practice, we're still waiting for our changes to show up in Google Reader. We read a few items, unsubscribed from a feed, and over an hour later Google Reader is showing no sign that it's noticed. This is still Alpha software, so it's possible speedier updates could come at a later date.

RSS Bandit 1.7 Alpha also adds a new podcast download manager.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Tags: alpha, feed-reader, google-reader, newsgator, rss, rss-bandit, rss-bandit-1.7-alpha

Filed under: Developer, Features, Linux, Open Source, Beta

Flipping the Linux switch: Enlightening experiences with window managers

by Kristin Shoemaker Mar 28th 2008

Do you remember our youth? The good times we had, the games we played, and that great discussion we had about what makes a window manager different from a desktop environment? Then our relationship sort of got stuck on desktop environments.

It's understandable, of course. Most new Linux users feel more comfortable with something a little heavier than a window manager like Fluxbox or WindowMaker. The interesting thing, of course, is that many new users are either consciously or unconsciously playing the field of not only distributions, but desktops.

Rest assured, KDE will not text you a hundred times a day to beg, plead or curse if you switch desktops. GNOME will not mail you a dead fish from the opposite side of the country, book rate. In this relationship, it is always okay to have a wandering eye, not only for what is out there, but for what's on the horizon.

We like Enlightenment as it stands now. It's one of our favorite window managers. It doesn't feel too foreign to the new user, but it is still extremely lightweight. If there was a spectrum with the heaviest desktop environments on the right, and the lightest window managers on the left, just right of the middle would be the venerable Xfce, and just to the left of the middle would be Enlightenment.

But as for what's on the horizon for Enlightenment? We have seen e17. Right now it's an alpha release, and we're waiting not too patiently for the coming out party. We are smitten.

Tags: alpha, desktop, desktop environment, DesktopEnvironment, enlightenment, linux, linux-switch, open source, OpenSource, testing, window manager, WindowManager

Filed under: Developer, OS Updates, Linux, Novell, Open Source, Beta

Being cutting edge while playing it safe: OpenSUSE Factory LiveCDs

by Kristin Shoemaker Feb 29th 2008

We know how it is. You like to hack. You like to develop software -- or maybe you just like to watch developing software coming together (there are stranger hobbies). You've been known to play with alpha software. Yes, yes, you truly live on the edge.

But you're an adult (well, you know, mostly. Chronologically, anyway). You have responsibilities. You need a stable environment for your data. Your documents. Your pictures. Your.. ahem... multimedia collection.

You can have the best of both worlds. The openSUSE project has announced the arrival of the Factory LiveCDs. Whether you're a hacker or just curious about what's going to unfold with openSUSE 11.0 later this year, this is a great way to get a sneak peek without disturbing your desktop.

The liveCDs are, according to Stephan Kulow, xdelta files running in conjuction with the most recent liveCDs, and come in both GNOME and KDE varieties.

Still not quite ready to test? You haven't too long to wait. OpenSUSE 11.0 is scheduled for public release on June 19 of this year.

[Thanks, Zonker!]

Tags: alpha, beta, development, linux, liveCD, openSUSE, xdelta

Filed under: OS Updates, Linux, Open Source, Canonical, Beta

Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 5 released

by Brad Linder Feb 23rd 2008

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron is marching closer to its scheduled April launch. Canonical has released the 5th Alpha of the next generation of the popular Linux distribution. Among other things, Alpha 5 comes with a new installation option: Users can either run and install Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 5 using a LiveCD, or they can use Wubi to install Ubuntu to a partition from within Windows. No reboot necessary.

Here are a few more updates in the latest Alpha release:

Firefox 3 beta 3 is the default web browser
Xorg 7.3 is included
Uses Linux kernel 2.6.24
PulseAudio is used by default
Transmission BitTorrent client replaces Gnome BitTorrent
Vinagre VNC client replaces xvnc4viewer
Brasero CD/DVD burning application, replaces the Serpentine CD burning utility
The World Clock applet can now display the time and weather in multiple locations

Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 5 is available for download now. But since this is still pre-release software, we wouldn't recommend installing it on your primary machine. You know, unless you like using undercooked software on your primary machine and potentially losing data.

Tags: alpha, hardy-heron, pulseaudio, ubuntu, ubuntu-8.04, ubuntu-8.04-alpha-5, wubi

Filed under: Linux, Freeware, Unix, Beta

Tech preview of Amarok 2 released: Codename "Kutie"

by Simon Kerbel Jan 21st 2008

Amarok has just released a preview of its new version 2, codenamed "Kutie." In case you didn't know, Amarok is the free music player for Linux and Unix, with support for album art, lyrics, and Wikipedia and last.fm integration.

A word of warning: this is a very early release and a technical preview only (it's called a pre-alpha release; if you've ever wondered what came before alpha, this is your chance to find out). The developers admit that many things are broken or not feature complete, though it does play music; which is, upon deeper reflection, a nice thing to have in a music player.

So why release such an early version? Call it an inspiration, a call to arms. They need developers and artists to help finish Amarok 2.0. If you hear that siren song, you can join them in their IRC channel #amarok on freenode or let them know via email.

Tags: alpha, amarok, linux, music player, MusicPlayer, unix

Filed under: Macintosh, Productivity, Open Source

Native (but alpha) version of OpenOffice.org arrives for Mac OS X

by David Chartier Jun 5th 2007

OpenOffice.org has had an interesting journey on Mac OS X. For roughly half a decade, anyone who wanted to use it has had to also download the not-quite-user-friendly X11 environment which OpenOffice had to run in. Long story short: this cumbersome and resource-intensive setup knocked OpenOffice off the lists of almost all but the most resilient and passionate Mac OS X users.

Today, this unfortunate open source tragedy is no more - as long as you don't mind running alpha software.

Slashdot is reporting that the OpenOffice.org project has unleashed an alpha build of a true, native version that will run on PowerPC and Intel Macs using Mac OS X, and only Mac OS X (X11-be-gone!). Users must chose the correct version for their processor (i.e. - it isn't a Universal Binary for some odd reason), and the downloads are being distributed via BitTorrent. Users are also warned, however - in bold red lettering on the OpenOffice.org download page, no less - that this is definitely an alpha. In fact, a full list of known issues with this version is linked from the announcement post, with a few of the big hitters stated to help wary users make the decision to wait for a more robust version at a later date. These issues include:

You cannot print
PDF export does not properly work as thetext won't show on the page right
Starting OpenOffice.org from a shared folder does not work
Copy and paste does not fully work
OpenOffice.org will crash after quitting
Some text is not drawn in places like Impress
Impress will not recognise multiple monitors

Still, this is a massive step forward to bringing a true version of OpenOffice.org to Mac OS X, and we tip our hats to the project for getting this far. Head over to the announcement post for more details on whether this early build is right for you.

Tags: alpha, office, open office, OpenOffice, x11

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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