Pardus 2009.2 Geronticus eremita

The new updated version of Pardus 2009, Pardus 2009.2 Geronticus eremita announced with the new technologic features.

Updates in Pardus Technologies

Core Pardus technologies are updated to new versions, including many bugfixes, optimizations and new features.

Pardus manager family has been refactored and optimized for new KDE 4.4 / Qt 4.6 environments. Pardus KDE tools, Network Plasmoid for easy network profile switching and Service Plasmoid for easy service management are available in our repositories. These plasmoids can be placed either on the desktop, or any of the panels on the desktop for easier access.

A new KDE tool plasma-runner-pisi has been added to provide easy package installation in KDE environment. Under KDE environment, when you start up krunner (default by pressing ALT-F2) and write a command that is not available on the running system but provided by a package in Pardus repositories, an entry to install the necessary package will appear. Simply selecting the entry will automatically install the required package.

Package Manager and PiSi have been optimized for better performance and improved stability. PiSi interface has been refactored for easier use. Package Manager went through heavy refactoring and is now using Pardus Desktop Services, which allows the GUI to run on desktop environments other than KDE 4 without the necessity of any KDE library. Among performance enhancements on the GUI, Package Manager now supports update types. Type of the updates are shown next to packages and users can select group of updates (security for example) easily from the Package Manager GUI.

Pardus welcome wizard Kaptan has also been refactored for the new Pardus release. With new graphical changes, Kaptan is more user friendly then ever, especially on small displays like netbooks.

Graphical Enhancements

Like other Pardus releases, this new release comes with the theme and name of species that is in danger of extinction. With new packages added to repositories, GTK and KDE integration is improved from notifications to user dialogs. Milky icon theme of Pardus is also updated with new icons. Older wallpapers released withing Pardus 2009 family can also be installed from package repositories.

KDE 4 Desktop Enviroment

Default desktop environment is updated to KDE 4.4.4, the latest stable release of KDE that has been enhanced and modified for Pardus. All the KDE programs in Pardus repositories have been updated to or replaced by their latest KDE 4 versions. With the new KDE desktop users can select between Default Mode, Old KDE Mode and the new Netbook Mode, optimized for small displays.

Pardus team has integrated Kosd kded module, an eye candy status and level display for sound volume and monitor brightness with the new KDE release.

With the new version KDE, Pardus provides a new look and feel for users. Plasmoid based desktop system, where every component can be placed on anywhere on the desktop, Strigi desktop search fully integrated to desktop environment, desktop effects coming as a part of KDE, Dolphin the next generation file manager with many remote protocol support are just a few examples of the new desktop experience for our users.

Updated Components

New release includes many updated packages. Some of the highlights are as follows:

• KDE 4.4.4
• Qt 4.6.2
• Python 2.6.5
• OpenOffice.org Office Suite 3.2.1.3
• Firefox Web Browser 3.6.3
• Thunderbird 3.0.4
• Gimp 2.6.8
• Linux Kernel 2.6.31.13

Installation requirements

You can run Pardus on an average x86 compatible hardware. We suggest to use at least 512 MB RAM (memory) and a 1400 MHz processor to get a good performance. Minimum and recommended hardware requirements for Pardus 2009.2 Geronticus eremita are mentioned below:

• 256 MB memory (1GB or more recommended)
• 450 MHz Intel or AMD processor (1000 MHz recommended)
• At least 4 GB of free hard disk space (10 GB recommended)

You can download Pardus 2009.2 Geronticus eremita from here.