LibreOffice 3.4.5 Released

The Document Fondation (TDF) has released LibreOffice 3.4.5, a free office suite for Linux, Mac and Windows.

LibreOffice is the default office suite for Linux based distros, an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office.

In 2011, LibreOffice has won InfoWorld’s BOSSIE Award 2011 as Best of Open Source Software, and the Open World Forum Experiment Award of Most-Popular Software. The awards are a demonstration of the key improvements brought to the legacy code by a small army of close to 400 TDF developers.

LibreOffice 3.4.5 is available for immediate download from the following link: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/. Extensions for LibreOffice are available from the following link: http://extensions.libreoffice.org.

Change logs are available at http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/src/bugfixes-libreoffice-3-4-release-3.4.5.1.log (fixed in 3.4.5.1) and http://download.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/src/bugfixes-libreoffice-3-4-5-release-3.4.5.2.log (fixed in 3.4.5.2).

Facebook is now Pixelbook

It seems that everywhere I turn I see Facebook users are complaining about the quality of their images when posted.  No matter how you tweak the photos they look grainy when uploaded.

Spicebird

I was looking for a good alternative to Evolution mail, I found Spicebird from Sourceforge and installed it.   Spicebird has crisp icons and uses a tabbed interface for different utilities such as mail, calendar, contacts, etc., and setting up your existing Gmail address is quick and easy.  The home tab is very useful, it has RSS Feeds, mail folder view, calendar, upcoming events, and date & time.  Date & time is very helpful when you need to view different timezones.

MadBox Linux

I installed MadBox today, MadBox Linux is a lightweight, Ubuntu-based Linux distribution featuring the Openbox window manager and a simplified desktop configuration system.  It tries to cater to CrunchBang (“#!”) Linux users who want an Ubuntu-based Openbox distribution (as #! switched to a Debian base almost a year ago), as well as to users who want a fast and lightweight OS or one that will work on a slower computers.

Here's a video by sneekylinux.


Download it at http://download.tuxfamily.org/madbox/madbox-11.10

Five things I like about CrunchBang Linux

1. It boots faster than Ubuntu and other distros
2. Suitable for low-end hardware
3. It uses lightweight Openbox or Xfce window manager
4. Based on Debian 6
5. Not bloated like Ubuntu

crunchbang-10-20111125-i386.iso mirror

I had a hard time looking for a link to download crunchbang-10-20111125-i386.iso. When you google it the results are all torrent files. If you prefer to download the ISO directly, use the following links.

crunchbang-10-20110207-openbox-amd64.iso     14-Nov-2011 20:56     652M
crunchbang-10-20110207-openbox-i686.iso     14-Nov-2011 20:56     684M
crunchbang-10-20110207-xfce-amd64.iso         14-Nov-2011 20:56     647M
crunchbang-10-20110207-xfce-i686.iso         14-Nov-2011 20:57     679M
crunchbang-10-20111125-amd64.iso         27-Nov-2011 12:37     643M
crunchbang-10-20111125-i386.iso            27-Nov-2011 12:36     686M

You may also use the links bellow if you prefer to download the torrent.

32-bit BitTorrent Download
Approx. Size: 686M
MD5: d71651d6a628dd39c9be2fbcf399f417

64-bit BitTorrent Download
Approx. Size: 643M
MD5: 35c79681607b6276af646bd07057c04f

KahelOS 111111 Review

This is the newest version of this rolling-release based on Arch Linux. It has a live CD and a GUI installer and claims to "simplify the typical Arch Linux install".

Live CD looks good but when you proceed and install it, you are greeted by File Management window signaling you to backup your files. If you don't read this carefully, you may come to think of it as an option to pick a partition to install it.

Moving on to the next window, again it reminds you to back-up your files or partitions. If you hit Install, say goodbye to all your partitions.

Don't install it unless you have a spare hard drive.