Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Waterfox : the new way to go for browsing ?

At the time when Firefox, Chrome, and most legacy browsers are heavily blowted with trackers, and are about to be forced by governments to integrate spying code and backdoors : Waterfox seems a good option for browsing !

 

 


 

Waterfox is a ...

  • faster,
  • unbloated,
  • more secure,
  • more modern,
  • with more functionalities ...

... version of Mozilla Firefox. 

It's even faster than Chrome on Google content.

Latest G6 version is available in Zenwalk right now.




Sunday, September 10, 2023

Zenwalk Current 2023 is out !

Zenwalk Current is the rolling release of Zenwalk GNU Linux. 

Current status seems stable enough for an ISO to be published, so here we go ;)

As usual this edition provides a complete package rebuild from upstream Slackware and Zenwalk specific packages.

The desktop has been updated to use latest Adwaita themes featuring a unified look for GTK4, GTK3, GTK2 and QT applications.

On application side, this release introduces Syncthing for realtime folder synchronization with any device from Linux, Android to IOS and Windows (think about it as an Open Source private OneDrive).

The desktop is built upon the latest stable XFCE environment with the one of a kind original "dock centric" Zenwalk layout. Flatpak package management is installed by default and ready to use.

Zenwalk aim to be a best of breed media OS. Several new applications and media frameworks have been added : Navidrome Music Server, Jellyfin Media Center (just type "netpkg jellyfin"), Lollypop Music Player, Rygel DLNA Server, ... Pipewire is the default sound system, completely replacing Pulseaudio.

The ISO can be downloaded here : 

zenwalk-current-230909.iso / zenwalk-current-230909.iso.md5

Have fun :)



Monday, September 4, 2023

New unified GTK4/3/2/QT ready artwork

 I've been working on a new Adwaita based theme with unified look for GTK4, GTK3, GTK2 and QT applications.

Enjoy !





Syncthing added to Zenwalk with custom tray icon

Syncthing is a continuous file synchronization program. It synchronizes files between two or more computers in real time, safely protected from prying eyes. Your data is your data alone and you deserve to choose where it is stored, whether it is shared with some third party, and how it’s transmitted over the internet.

 See the github :  https://github.com/syncthing/

Zenwalk integration includes an added original tray icon!!

The service is per-user and can be started from XFCE autostart & sessions management.

Syncthing package can be installed via netpkg, and requires no dependencies :)




Sunday, November 6, 2022

New Zenwalk Current ISO 2022 07 November is ready

 Hi, 

It's been some time since the last Zenwalk Current ISO, so here it is.

Most packages have been rebuilt here or upstream. Since 18 years Zenwalk follow the same guideline : being the only true 100% Slackware compatible striped-down optimized system.

The main change in Zenwalk design lately, is the return of Mozilla Firefox as main browser. Due to the lack of improvements, especially performances issues and instability in Chromium. I also believe that privacy can be more easily achieved with Mozilla Firefox.

The Zenwalk "SlackBuild" packaging utility has also been updated so that it now allows to build Slackware packages from any source tarball without any configuration, as well as from any .DEB Debian binary as long as it's using the same toolchain and shared libs as Zenwalk, as well as from any Github URL.

You'll also notice some improvements in Netpkg : the multi-repository, dependency aware, package management system.

Have fun :)

JP


As usual don't forget to provide any support you want to the Slackware Linux project !

Download : zenwalk-current-221106.iso ( md5 )

Friday, February 4, 2022

Zenwalk 15.0 "Skywalker" milestone is ready

  Hi,

Following the release of the so long awaited Slackware 15.0 , here we go for the Zenwalk 15.0 "Skywalker", aka "It must be very stable after all this time" milestone. 

As usual for a milestone release, most packages have been rebuilt down here or upstream.

Desktop is the latest XFCE 4.16, with the special Zenwalk layout : this unusual NEXT/Windowmaker inspired dock system, with unique panel placement for ergonomic user access to the whole desktop area. This one of a kind desktop is optimized for modern wide screens ! 

What you get is a pure Slackware system with the following main changes :

- Focused on Desktop usage, XFCE and Chromium based 

- Just one app for each task, latest version of the most user-friendly apps

- Optimized in size / RAM footprint : Zenwalk is very fast on latest hardware and can even run fast on old PCs

- Flatpak and AppImage ready (almost all existing apps can be installed either via right-clicking on AppImg or flatpakref file)

- Automated packages updates (daily check at startup)

- Simplified setup with no nonsense animated pink ponies

Since 18 years : Zenwalk has always been a non profit project : all contributions and donations go to the Slackware Project. We all love that OS and want to thank Pat Volkerding for his fantastic work over the years (note : Pat has an enormous stock of Slack tee-shirts and other cool goodies to sell :p).

Please report bugs !

And have fun !


Immediate download (waiting for mirrors and torrents) :

zenwalk-15.0-220204.iso.md5

zenwalk-15.0-220204.iso


JP





Sunday, July 18, 2021

Zenwalk Current 15.0 18 Jul 2021 "Near Landing" milestone

 Hi,

Summer is there, Pat is about to release a candidate for Slackware 15.0 which will likely last for 2 years, and the current code seems as stable as it can be : so it's time for a Zenwalk Current release. 

It can be considered as a milestone release, most packages have been rebuilt down here or upstream, and it confirm some of the choices that where applied since the beginning of 2020 : Pipewire as the sound daemon, with mostly all existing Bluetooth codecs available from APTX to LDAC. 

Desktop is the latest XFCE 4.16, with the special Zenwalk layout (NEXT/Windowmaker inspired dock system, with unique panel placement for ultra-ergonomic use of the whole desktop place on modern wide screens). 

Kernel is 5.13.2, with Elogind and PAM, and thankfully : still no Systemd :).

Of course : Flatpak is present, and as usual, configured out of the box so that you can install nearly anything on Zenwalk.

Have fun !

Report bugs ;)

Immediate download (waiting for mirrors and torrents) :

zenwalk-current-15.0-210718.iso.md5

zenwalk-current-15.0-210718.iso

JP



Saturday, December 26, 2020

Pipewire replaces Pulseaudio in Zenwalk

Goodby Pulseaudio !

Quoting pipewire.org : Pipewire provides a low-latency, graph based processing engine on top of audio and video devices that can be used to support the use cases currently handled by both pulseaudio and JACK. PipeWire was designed with a powerful security model that makes interacting with audio and video devices from containerized applications easy. Alongside Wayland and Flatpak we expect PipeWire to provide a core building block for the future of Linux application development.

To make the switch on your Zenwalk or Slackware system : just uninstall pulseaudio and install the Zenwalk pipewire package (pipewire-0.3.18-x86_64-201226.txz). Pipewire emulates Pulseaudio libraries and daemon : so all your applications will work seamlessly including the pavucontrol mixer.

Furthermore : I ported my Pulseaudio patch for SBC XQ (much better than AptX) to Pipewire : so you will have CD quality Bluetooth audio in Zenwalk or Slackware.

Have fun !





Thursday, December 24, 2020

AppImage for VLC 3 Media Player

Hello,

Maybe you like VLC and don't want to install Qt5 just for that ?

Here's the fully platform independent AppImage for VLC 3.x :

vlc-3.0.11.1-x86_64-1alien.AppImage

Hopefully it should work on any distribution without any dependency.

Have fun :)

JP



 

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

AppImage for KID3 tag editor

 Hi,

Since there's no reason to install the whole Qt5 toolkit, just to run KID3 Tag Editor : here's the AppImage !

kid3-3.8.4-x86_64-1.AppImage

This AppImage should run on any Linux distro... and note that you have "1 click" menu integration in latest Zenwalk desktop (you'll have to update zenwalk-desktop package and then copy the new "uca.xml" thunar actions file from /etc/xdg/Thunar to your home profile) ;)

Enjoy !!





Thursday, December 10, 2020

 Zenwalk Current 15.0 Santa Claus edition

 Zenwalk Current 15.0 10 12 2020 "Santa Claus" edition is available.

In short you get the latest Slackware current system with elogind, pam and the release candidate yet stable XFCE version 4.16 : installed in 15 minutes on your drive.

The Zenwalk Desktop is what we believe to be the most modern and user friendly desktop environment available for computers in 2021 : full "dock based" window management, designed for modern ultra wide displays.

Plethora of applications and games are ready to go with Flatpak or dependency aware package manager.

Please report any bugs :)

Have fun !

JP


Immediate download (waiting for mirrors and torrents) :

zenwalk-current-15.0-201210.iso.md5

zenwalk-current-15.0-201210.iso






Tuesday, July 21, 2020

AppImage for pulseaudio-dlna

Hi,

I created an AppImage for pulseaudio-dlna :

pulseaudio-dlna-0.5.3.AppImage

No need to keep Python 2 just for this, it runs without any dependencies.

Have fun
jp


Tuesday, July 14, 2020

2nd video review of Zenwalk 15.0 Milestone 2020


Here's a nice video review which can also be useful as a step by step setup tutorial (thanks to DJ Ware).

Note that the DJ didn't use netpkg : the Zenwalk package manager, and he should have  ;) (flathub is NOT a package manager : it's more to be considered as a "play store").


Friday, July 3, 2020

A new EFI administration tool in Zenwalk

Today : a new tool to manage EFI boot entries has been added.

Have fun

JP


Thursday, July 2, 2020

Zenwalk 15.0 - milestone 2020 07 02 is ready

Hi,

Once a year, Zenwalk Current is considered stable enough for a "milestone" release, here's Zenwalk 15 milestone 2020.

Based on Slackware Current July 2020, Zenwalk 15 milestone 2020 is fully compatible.

As usual, the goal is to provide fast simple setup, refined desktop, selection of the best apps, ease of use, with full respect of the Slackware philosophy.

The news are :

  • New XFCE desktop based on the latest XFCE 4.14+ with many tweaks providing the widest possible workspace for modern full HD displays
  • Introduction of Flatpak support for installing any application from Flathub or Gnome Desktop
  • New rewritten Netpkg package manager for instant access to thousand of packages from the Slackware community, and keep the system up to date with one liner command
  • PAM authentication system thanks to upstream
  • Kernel 5.4.50
  • Improved SBC XQ codec in Pulseaudio providing APTX-HQ like high-fidelity music quality
  • Chromium Web browser v83.0.4103.61 , intensively used for "everything it can do" : Web browsing, Chromecast streaming, Webapps, Webmail, PDF viewing, image viewing, etc ..."


The ISO image setup is intended to be launched from a USB stick (see the SlackWiki for some tips).

First downloads are here :



You can consult the full Changelog for more information. See also announcements and other stories in the BLOG section.

As usual : donations and contributions of any kind go to Patrick Volkerding. Zenwalk remains non profit.


Have fun
JP



Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Flatpak is available on Zenwalk

Flatpak is the freedesktop.org software deployment and package management standard for Linux, offering a sandbox environment in which users can run application software in isolation from the rest of the system.

In Zenwalk : Flatpak is managed through the App Outlet application (https://app-outlet.github.io/).

You can also browse https://flathub.org/apps, find what you're looking for (ie : VLC) and just launch "flatpak install VLC" in an unprivileged user terminal.

Have fun !!


Saturday, June 27, 2020

Netpkg 7.0 : simpler, faster tool to manage packages

Netpkg 7.0 has been released.

Netpkg is the original network package management tool provided in Zenwalk since 2005, and was the first tool of this kind available for Slackware back in the days.

Over the years, following users requests, netpkg has evolved into a graphical (GTK) application with CLI counterpart.

Netpkg is Slackgnostic ;) : it work for any Slackware system.

The CLI version has proven to be easier for the user, is faster, and requires no dependencies except bash, wget, and a few command line utilities found on any Slackware installation :  so it can run in level 3 with just the "ap" packages installed (could even run from the setup from a chrooted mountpoint).

Nowadays graphical applications are more and more handled through Appimages packages and such formats, so the graphical Netpkg is not needed anymore.

So here it is, deeply improved, more powerful, easier to use than any other package management tool : automatic system update, dependency resolution, multi-repository, with full-text search, .new config files management, local packages removal and reinstallation, etc...

Have fun :)