We will be releasing Shift Linux 0.6 today. There are three versions released at this time: Shift Linux 0.6 Gnome, Shift Linux 0.6 KDE4, and Shift Linux 0.6 Lite (for older computers). Shift Linux Lite will contain two less resource hogging desk managers (XFCE-4 and Fluxbox), but will have a full compliment of packages and utilities. Both versions of Shift Linux 0.6 will be fully installable (tested and verified).

Shift Linux has moved away from it's Morphix base and is now based on Ubuntu. This version incorporates Firefox 3 (GranParadiso), OpenOffice, new themes, and a tested installer. We've also updated to KDE4. This is a transition version as we move away from Morphix and port over our previous versions to Ubuntu.

LINK: http://www.shiftlinux.net/download/release/0.6.2

To access Lite, use the Fluxbox link

KDE: http://www.shiftlinux.net/download/get/Shi...x-KDE-0.6.2.iso

If you encounter an issue with these versions, please post them in our bug tracking section.

Again, thanks to the hard working staff of Shift Linux. We are well on the road to making a top of the line, well recognized Neowin distro.

Congrats also to the team!

People have been asking, is there an official release time set for today? We need a countdown timer on the front page!

i was wondering..can i install lite version on a pc 466 mhz, 256 mb ram?

I do not have the official release time yet... I will post it as soon as I find out (or the link...... whatever comes first)!



Yes, Shift Lite should work fine!

And if Shift Lite works very fast (as it should, as Barney says), you might want to give Shift Gnome a go too, as lots of people report 256MB RAM to be fine, even for processors as slow as the one you've got there.

When will the version with KDE come out?

Finally a version of Shift Linux that is installable has come out!

thanks, James. will try it out.

It's out now on the site (Gnome and 'Lite'). To access Lite, use the fluxbox link (Fluxbox is in lite, and I wasn't aware of the naming change until I saw this thread, so had no time to update the site for it).

Link: http://www.shiftlinux.net/download/release/0.6.2

The file is available from the main site, torrents, and the secondary mirror (which can be slow sometimes). Anyone with a torrent client, please help us seed

Helping out with the Gnome and Flux Lite 0.6.2 versions now. Ok... mostly downloading at the moment, but that can't be helped as I just started.

Still seeding KDE 0.6.1 until such time that 0.6.2 comes out, I suppose.

And the installer for Gnome works just as well as the installer for Ubuntu. I'm going to install Shift on my laptop later on today, and I wouldn't usually do that with a "beta" or "alpha" OS

You sound like you tried this before? I have also. 3 times and haven't gotten it to even begin to install.

What are the specs of your machine? Not about to try this again without knowing FOR SURE it's going to work, whether they say it's been tested or not. I know you knit picky people are going to say how would I know for sure if I don't try it, but that's my point. NOT going to TRY it!!

can i put this on a cd and run it as a live cd?

Yes, these are live CDs but of course you can also install them (or should be able to).

Everyone has different kinds of hardware, so success for one person is not guaranteed for all. We try our best to have as many different types of drivers and packages as possible. As I've said before, I am sorry that you've had trouble, but you've never told us where you are having it. Do you get any screens at all when you try to install? What part of the installation fails for you? What is the error message (if any)? It helps us to know where your issues are......

Our good friend Kreuger has thrown up some screen shots on the Shift Linux site:

http://www.shiftlinux.net/art/list/13/date/

Thanks a bunch, my man .

This is awsome. Excellent job, guys, really well done. I'm going to be playing with the Gnome live cd for a couple of days and all being well, I'm planning to replace my Ubuntu install with Shift.

I had a little chuckle as Gnome loaded and the Ubuntu login sound belted out You guys are going to have to commision some jingles!

Click to view attachment

Thanks for the input. We will continue to improve and create new apps as we go along. And, indeed, our development and graphics teams are awesome!

I knew I missed something branding wise

Also tried to get the brown color when you log in changed to blue, but Ubuntu hid the file for it somewhere deep within the system, and I couldn't find it. Just be happy there's a Shift icon instead of the Ubuntu one at the top left of the screen, I spent 5 hours straight trying to get rid of it yesterday, because it's a violation of trademark to keep it there. Ask anyone in IRC how irritable I was for that period of time

if you guys whant, i can try and make some sounds.

my server (Fr.ste-soft.com) is seeding all distros

ste

That would be great!

Not a problem.

Hopefully with our next release, there won't be Xubuntu's logo, but the shift one

Seems a good idea to me to help with our full on branding of the next version

can you not get some branding for the firefox (logo)

ste

I am not sure that we want to brand familiar program logos like Firefox or Thunderbird. I think our own apps and graphics such as splash screens, and wallpapers should be our own.

Actually it could even be renamed. As I understand it the only parts of Firefox and Thunderbird that are restricted/unfree in their copyright/trademark are the names and the logos. Strip those out and you've got total open sourceness, ready for rebranding.

I sorta like the Firefox branding, it is more familiar.

However, a theme would be nice, I've gotta say.

Anyone able to get a screenshot on a Compiz-capable machine? Shift Gnome will enable Compiz if the machine is capable, and we'd like to have some screens of that. I'm trying to decide whether or not I'm going t install it to my laptop...

For future reference http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=5...light=gdm+brown

How does one update this: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=shift ?
We're #60

What kind of driver support does it have? Does it work with an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG?

I'm looking forward to seeing a new "How we made Shift 0.6" guide. It's really useful, and there is a tremendous lack of Morphix documentation. I'm surprised it even functions anymore.

I tried a pre0.6 Shift. I plan to download it when I can.

For a Linux n00b like me that just want to play with Linux from time to time, is that enough complete and easy to be tested by n00bs?

Suggestions?

Intel d/c 6600, IP35, 4gig OCZ, 8800GTS + bells & whistles.

It is... give it a whirl!



Do you have a floppy drive attached? Looks like it is having trouble with that...

As you know Ubuntu is the base for Shift now. Probably the 'How we made Shift 0.6' guide will appear on the official wiki, or perhaps the guide to 0.7 will show up there, but maybe they'll post an updated guide here before then. It seems they used a combination of UCK (Ubuntu Customisation Kit, a nifty GUI app for making your own Ubuntu-based distro) and lots of additional CLI tweaks.

How embarrasing, thanks Barney, I was sure I had it disabled.

The KDE release is now available folks!!

http://www.shiftlinux.net/download/get/Shi...x-KDE-0.6.2.iso

We are getting to be a familiar entity on Distrowatch

and with a screenie HERE: .... congrats, guys!

Yawn... As always, the only way to boot Linux on my PC is to boot in VGA mode.
I tried to auto configure it, I saw GF8 in the list, but I bet the Driver don't support the new G92 Core in my 8800GT.
Really annoying... I think Gamers Cards are not so welcome in the Linux World.

Anyway, I'm posting from Shift Guys. If I ALWAYS get GFX trouble, I must say, congrats on the rest, the Sound is working well, I can browse my NTFS drive without mounting them or whatever that annoying thing I needed to do in the past. It boot clearly fast for a LiveCD (Ok, it's burned on a DVD, that help, but still impressive)
But there something NOT forgivable, guys, you have even not put Neowin.net as Home page!!! That is SCANDALOUS!

PS Graphic team: reading text in input zone are un-readable since text is black and the the text area is dark blue...

Edit: Yawn... still need to install MP3 Decoder to listen MP3s... Oh Well, it took 1 minute to get it.

Thanks for the feedback. I know what you mean about the text/input box issue. It's a problem with the Darklooks theme as well (a theme that you can get as an extra in Ubuntu).

You're definitely right that something must be done with default homepage!

As for MP3s and certain other decoders, there are legal issues in some countries. It's not really possible to have MP3 and DVD and some other sorts of playback on the Shift live/install CD. But like with most distros out there it's easy to install those codecs from online sources. The legal issues remain in some countries, but they are not really an issue in many countries. Just worth checking your own country's laws. I gather for instance that you shouldn't download a free codec to play encrypted commercial DVDs if you live in America. There are many countries, however, in which this is not illegal at all. Depends on where you are.

I read though that Dell are now selling Ubuntu computers with encrypted DVD playback (I don't even think Vista does this out of the box, though I guess lots of OEMs add this to their Windows boxes) so Dell have done a deal somewhere, obviously, to make that happen legally in America.

Yeah, but I though it was a Ubuntu problem, as if Canonical Ltd would have got legal issue.
But it seems that it's spreading to other distros. Anyway, as I told, it's easy, in Synaptic search for MP3 and in the list you will see a Decoder.

But if I install Shift, is there a way to manually install nVidia drivers that fully support the 8800GT GPU?
See, I don't want to clean an Hard drive for nothing as they are all full...

nVidia's drivers support that card, at least according to their readme.

Hey Barney,

I will be reviewing Shift KDE 4. I haven't had a chance to play\look at KDE 4 but I prefer KDE over GNOME.

An interesting suggestion I have for you on Shift is to have CNR installed. It works on Ubuntu base and it be nice to see since you're only doing 32 bit and it would make shift easier for the noobs to install programs, although Ubuntu has a nice installer but web is even better.

from distrowatch



is that true, cause i allready tried kubuntu kde 4 . i dont wanna waste another cd

The Kubuntu splash screen and default user does say Kubuntu but that is all I can say since I didn't really look at it KUbuntu with KDE 4 so I can't answer that

Can I play around with this using VMWare or Parallels?

We're using Kubuntu as a base, but we've added our Shift packages and themes. As we move forward, we will add more of our own custom packages and scripts. Please give Shift a go, if you are interested. I think it is a great effort!



And our servers are getting hammered!

Click to view attachment

Oh my i been busy will have to get gnome to have a whirly with hopefully a lot more enjoyable to play with.

is this based off ubuntu 7.10 or LTS 6.06.X ?

nice work on the icons too whoever done them

7.10

oh ok cheers fish

Wow, are you guys sure that the download counters are correct? How are the torrents? I would seed, but I'm behind Comcast(ic!!!)