S. B.
After considerable delay, I’m pleased to announce a beta preview of the next set of updates coming to the GeckoLinux Static series. There are a number of major improvements reflected in this release, mostly resulting from a new build system. From its inception, GeckoLinux was always built with the fantastic SUSE Studio service. However, the announcement of the merging of SUSE Studio with the Open Build Service forced me to look for an alternative build method because of the non-free software that GeckoLinux includes. After considerable trial and error, I am confident that Kiwi running on a VPS will be the best way forward. Thanks to Kiwi, GeckoLinux will now boast the following improvements:
- Much smoother and more reliable startup
- Splash screen during live system startup
- Better hardware detection, especially Xorg startup with certain troublesome graphics cards
- No more entering passwords for the live session user account
- Live USB persistence – GeckoLinux can now be used as an excellent portable OS, not just as an installation medium
- Cleaner ISO generation process that is more in line with openSUSE
GeckoLinux is a live installable system, with two installer options:
- The default recommended installer is Calamares, now at the latest version 3.1.7. This version in conjunction with an updated set of underlying tools offers a huge number of improvements and bug fixes that should lead to smooth and successful installations for almost everyone.
- For advanced users that prefer the older
yast2-live-installer, it is still available and even incorporates some integration fixes to workaround issues that used to be present on the resulting installed system. This is also the recommended option for users that want a BtrFS system with Snapper integration for the GRUB bootloader, providing automatic system snapshots and rollback capability.
Additional improvements in this
version of GeckoLinux include a formerly missing library needed to
transfer files from iOS devices, and the Nvidia proprietary graphics
drivers repository is now included out of the box. Apart from these
improvements specific to GeckoLinux, there is a plethora of improvements
coming straight from the openSUSE Leap 42.3 base system. GeckoLinux is
proud to be built from completely unmodified openSUSE
and Packman packages, with all software updates coming directly from
openSUSE and Packman, thus benefiting from the vast expertise and
extensive infrastructure of its parent sources. To see what openSUSE has
changed in Leap 42.3, please refer to the openSUSE release notes.
For this beta
preview of GeckoLinux Static, only the Cinnamon edition is currently
available. The other editions of GeckoLinux Static and Rolling will be
generated after testing and refining this initial beta generated with
Kiwi. You can download it here: