It’s been another busy month in the land of Linux app and distro releases. In this post we roundup some of the latest and more notable updates.
We take in a pair of popular operating systems, a useful photography app, and a popular open-source note taking client.
Android x86 8.1
Do you long to run Android 8.1 Oreo on your laptop or desktop PC? With the latest release from the Android x86 project, you can!
Now, Android isn’t a particularly great as a desktop operating system, but the novelty value of being able to run mobile apps on a PC is hard to resist.
The latest stable release of Android x86 is based on Android 8.1 Oreo, and features tweaks and fine-tuning to make the mobile OS run faster and more efficient on regular x86 computers.
Android x86 8.1 features the latest LTS Linux kernel 4.19.15, and offers OpenGL ES 3.0 acceleration supporting a variety of Intel, AMD and Nvidia graphics chips. Users of Intel HD & G45 graphics can also enjoy hardware accelerated codecs for high quality video playback.
Open-source utility Taskbar has been added as an optional, alternative launcher. Taskbar adds a start menu and ‘recent apps tray’ to the top of the screen. It also supports the freeform window mode introduced/hidden in Android ‘N’.
You can download Android x86 as 32-bit and 64-bit ISO images from the Android x86 project website, or via FossHub:
via AndroidPolice
Ubuntu Core 18
While we’re on the topic of operating system releases, it’d be remiss of us to not mention that Canonical has made a brand new version of Ubuntu Core available to download.
Pitched squarely at powering the ‘internet of things‘, Ubuntu Core is a stripped down, pared back version of Ubuntu that is supremely lightweight.
Previously known as Ubuntu Snappy Core, Ubuntu Core makes heavy use of Snap technology to deliver and manage app and software updates, and improve security. It can run on pretty much anything, including a range of Raspberry Pi SBCs.
Based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Ubuntu Core 18 will get 10 years of low-cost security maintenance.
To learn more about Ubuntu Core head over to the Canonical website.
Entangle 2.0 ‘Sodium’
As a former Canon DSLR owner — I recently migrated to MFT — open-source Entangle software was one of the first things I installed after a fresh install.
Entangle 2.0 was recently released, adding a couple of new new features, like being able to highlight over exposed pixels in red.
Various bugs have been squashed, memory leaks plugged, and APIs updated.
For more detail on Entangle and how to use it do check out our earlier post on tethered shooting on Ubuntu. It walks through the basics of using the app.
Source code can be found on the Entangle website, and older versions are available in the Ubuntu repo. To update to the latest version of Entangle on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or later, add Dariusz Duma’s photography PPA (note: this PPA also contains other apps you may not wish to upgrade).
Dash to Panel
If you’re rocking Dash to Panel on your desktop be sure to keep an eye out for the latest update.
A new bug fix release of the popular GNOME extension is pending review on the GNOME Extensions website.
The latest version adds a highlight to favorites when re-ordering taskbar icons, and fixes a crop of issues, including a crash when opening too many app windows!
Simplenote 1.4.0 Beta
Want to test the latest beta release of note-taking tool Simplenote? Well, you can; the Simplenote team is prepping a major new release with new features and enhancements — and it’s available in beta.
Simplenote 1.4.0 adds support for clickable checklists markdown-style in the editor, a hamburger icons is introduced, and a ‘Tools’ panel is available in Settings.