SparkyLinux 4.3 Development Continues, Now Rebased on Linux Kernel 4.4.6 LTS

[steven36]

The developer of SparkyLinux, a Debian-based Linux operating system made in Poland, announced today, March 31, 2016, the immediate availability of the third milestone towards SparkyLinux 4.3.

 

 

The current stable version of SparkyLinux is 4.2, and it was announced back in December 2015, so it's time for the GNU/Linux distribution to get a new release. Therefore, today we can get our hands on the SparkyLinux 4.3 Dev3 milestone, a development version that brings more features and improvements to SparkyLinux 4.3.

What's new in SparkyLinux 4.3 Dev3? Well, first of all, the installer received a significant amount of new features, starting with support for the Pantheon, i3, Window Maker, and bspwm window managers, and the replacement of the Iceweasel web browser with Mozilla Firefox, and continuing with the ability to save more options in the log file.

The Sparky APTus package manager received a new option that lets users install any desktop environment that has been configured for SparkyLinux, the same way you can install them by using the Sparky Advanced Installer. Moreover, we can notice that the bspwm window manager is now live in the main software repositories.

Powered by Linux kernel 4.4.6 LTS

Another interesting feature added to today's SparkyLinux 4.3 Dev3 milestone is the long-term supported Linux 4.4.6 kernel, which is the latest and most advanced kernel available at the moment of writing this article. Besides that, there's better support for the LightDM login manager to the Budgie, Enlightenment, and bspwm desktop environments.

You can help the SparkyLinux developers discover and fix bugs for the upcoming SparkyLinux 4.3 operating system by downloading the SparkyLinux 4.3 Dev3 milestone, install it on a separate partition or a computer that you only use for testing, and report any bugs you might find.

 

Changes between Sparky 4.3-dev2 and dev3:

1. Improved the Sparky Advanced Installer:
– added 4 more desktops: bspwm, i3, Pantheon and Window Maker
– added more options to be saved in the log file; if any problem with the advanced installer, provide /var/log/sparkylinux-installer.log file
– Iceweasel changed back to Firefox (is in Debian testing repository), so the Advanced Installer offers you Firefox-esr instead of Iceweasel now
– many small fixes

2. Sparky APTus got an option of desktop installation, so you can install any desktop configured for Sparky as the same desktops provided via Sparky Advanced Installer

3. Added bspwm window manager to Sparky repository.

It can be installed via the package manager, but has to be configured by you.
It also can be installed via the Advanced Installer or APTus with Sparky’s configuration.

4. Small improvements for home grilled desktops: Enlightenment, Budgie and bspwm to be runable as a default session via Lightdm or a different login manager.

5. Linux kernel 4.4.6

 

Remember DEV releases  are not for everyone. If you need a stable system, hate bugs and can’t deal with potential package breakages, wait for the stable release .

Download :  http://downloads.sourceforge.net/sparkylinux/sparkylinux-4.3-dev3-x86_64-minimalgui.iso

The Source

[OrbingStorm]

Worst part for me is I keep distro hopping to find the perfect one but I may have to build one from scratch like Arch.