Monday, April 28, 2014

Bodhi Linux 3.0.0 Beta Release

Its been two months since we had our alpha release and since then Ubuntu 14.04 has released as "stable". That means the core for our upcoming Bodhi 3.0.0 release is finally stable enough for me to stamp a "beta" label onto it. For those that do not really care what I have to say and just want a download link, this beta release comes in the following three flavors:
Those looking for a change log / my TODO list for 3.0.0 please see here. All of these images are built directly on top of the latest Ubuntu 14.04 packages. The 32bit and 64bit images utilize the 3.13 Linux kernel, while the Chromebook image utilizes a 3.11 kernel due to hardware compatibility issues.

The Chromebook image is tested/designed to work with the Acer C720 and HP 14" Chromebooks. It could very well work with other Chromebooks, but they have not been tested. For more information on installing Bodhi on your Chromebook follow the directions here.

Updated Release Schedule

Some folks made note that when I first posted the Bodhi 3.0.0 release schedule we were set for a stable release at the end of June. After some discussion on our user forums it was decided that we would all be more comfortable with waiting till after Ubuntu releases their first major update to 14.04 before we called 3.0.0 our "stable" Bodhi release. With this in mind the Bodhi 3.0.0 stable release has been moved from a June 27th target date to a August 2nd target date. This makes our release cycle heading towards 3.0.0 stable look like:
  • May 30th - Release Candidate
  • June 27th - Release Candidate 2
  • August 2nd - Stable Release
New Look and Applications

While I a linked a change log above, a picture is worth a thousand words as they say! Below is pictured the new Radiance Enlightenment theme that is nearing completion (Thanks Duma!) which is now the default look for Bodhi 3.0.0. Also shown in the screenshot is ePad text editor (replaces Leafpad) and eepDater system updater.


Bug Reporting/Issues

As always please, please, please do not post issues in a comment on this post. Instead open a thread in the 3.0.0 testing section of our user forums. Also keep in mind this is a testing release not intended for production machines.

Happy Testing,
~Jeff Hoogland

31 comments:

  1. Any plans for a NON-PAE beta?
    Charles

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    Replies
    1. Having trouble getting my desired kernel built at the moment. Will add a non-PAE disc when I can.

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  2. This is fantastic. I can't wait to try it out. Keep up the good work!

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  3. Do Alpha users have to reinstall, or is a software update sufficient?

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    Replies
    1. Performing a software update and resetting your Bodhi profile is fine.

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  4. El 3.0.0 alfa no se pudo instalar, ni siquiera en modo live arrancó, esperemos que esta versión si arranque.

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  5. If I install 3.0 beta for C720 now, I assume future updates to RC & stable won't require a re-wipe & image reinstall (until the next major 4.0 release)?

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    Replies
    1. Correct. Bodhi is semi-rolling release. Only new major release require a reinstall.

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  6. Why Radiance as the default theme? Why not the Bodhi Linux Forums theme? That would make it feel more like Bodhi out-of-the-box (without theming it by hand).

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    Replies
    1. The forums and web site will be getting a make over before we hit a 3.0.0 stable release.

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  7. Awesome! I can't even tell you how awesome it is to find a distro where the touchpad on my c720P works out of the box. Maybe you could add the necessary patches to make the touchscreen work as well? Keep up the great work!

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  8. thanks for the beautiful distro


    warm greeting

    Indonesians Blogger

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  9. Jeff,

    Are you ever going to support EFI booting?

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    Replies
    1. This supports anything Ubuntu 14.04 supports.

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    2. Hmmm.............can't even get my EFI laptop to boot up the live USB.

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    3. Open a support request in the pre-release section of our user forums.

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    4. I think you better check your ISO image again. I see no EFI folder or EFI.cfg file. No EFI anything.............

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    5. Suggestions for fixes welcome. I don't own this hardware and can't test anything myself.

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    6. I successfully booted the 64Bit release via EFI and installed it on my Macbook. The Kernel has EFI stub support which is enough for rEFInd to boot it.
      After creating a normal bootable usb key you can to the following to make refind auto detect your key:

      Copy casper/vmlinuz to the root of your usb key and add a .efi extension. Create refind_linux.conf on the root of your usb key and add the following line:
      "Default" "initrd=casper/initrd.gz file=/cdrom/preseed/custom.seed boot=casper"
      The installer does work as intended afterwards! It installs Grub to your EFI partition etc.
      rEFInd has pretty good documentation and should with most (all?) EFI hardware.

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  10. Hi Jeff, Thank you for doing this great work. I was thinking about Debian first, then I saw your post http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.in/2014/01/howto-bodhi-linux-on-acer-c720.html and got excited.
    And then I discovered that you even went ahead and made beta 3.0.0 for the chromebook! It'll save me time on tweaking things and making them work.
    I'll donate to Bodhi for sure. =)

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  11. Jeff,
    Thanks for building the ISO for the c720. I then installed it, and decided to try the new unity desktop. However, suspend is now broken. I have tried the various fixes on the web, but none seem to work. Any thoughts?

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  12. Has using pulseaudio some benefits?
    Just as I know from my experience - using it always had some troubles, while using alsa or with jack installed almost had no issues
    So, what were matters including pulseaudio as default?

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    Replies
    1. You need Pulse Audio to easily do things like audio over HDMI among other things.

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  13. Cannot install, at the end it fails, no error message. 32bit version ISO booted from USB (prepared by Multisystem). Already using Mint 13 and several LUKS encrypted partitions on the drive I installed Bodhi.

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  14. We don't provide support for third party tools for creating USB devices outside of unetbootin. If you are having trouble getting the OS loaded please open a support request on our user forums.

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  15. Any news on release candidate 1? I checked your blog and the forums but haven't seen anything about it.

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    Replies
    1. Waiting on some delayed code from team members. Should roll out by Friday.

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  16. Jeff,
    Taught at a tech school. Students are lucky to have you.

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  17. Thanks to all work.

    Do we can an upgrade with "sudo do-release-upgrade" or anything else ?

    Thanks again.

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    Replies
    1. You can upgrade with the command:

      sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

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