Mandriva Linux 2009 RC2

Damien Lallement has announced the availability of the second and final release candidate for Mandriva Linux 2009: "Mandriva Linux 2009 RC 2 should be available on public mirrors now. Main features of RC2 (compared to RC1): improved boot speed; support for encrypted partitions in installer and DiskDrake using LUKS; improved support for netbooks; support for Intel G41 graphics chipset; GNOME 2.24; KDE4 theme complete (still some small issues to fix); kernel 2.6.27-rc7; installer new design is finalized. Warning: we had a last minute notice that there might be EEPROM corruption on PXE part of e100 network cards, similar to the EEPROM corruption seen on e1000e cards (e1000e support is disabled in 2009.0 RC2 to prevent any damage). We advise people with such cards to not test Mandriva 2009.0 RC2 or to backup their network card." See the release announcement and release notes for additional information. Download the installation DVDs or live CDs from here: mandriva-2009-dvd-i586.iso (4,010MB, MD5), mandriva-2009-dvd-x86_64.iso (4,027MB, MD5), mandriva-one-2009-rc2-KDE4-int-cdrom-i586.iso (694MB, MD5), mandriva-one-2009-rc2-GNOME-int-cdrom-i586.iso (592MB, MD5).

nVIDIA ForceWare 178.13 [WHQL] Graphics Drivers for Vista

nVIDIA ForceWare software unleashes the full power and features in nVIDIA's desktop, gaming, platform, workstation, laptop, multimedia, and mobile products. Delivering a proven record of compatibility, reliability, and stability with the widest range of games and applications, ForceWare software ensures the best experience with your nVIDIA hardware. • Incredible 3D and video performance for all of your applications.d • Rock-solid system stability, greater compatibility, and reliability with nVIDIA® Unified Driver Architecture (UDA). • Industry-leading features for graphics, audio, video, communications, storage, and security. • Robust product support for over ten unique operating systems. • Continual product performance and feature updates for the life of your nVIDIA hardware. NVIDIA has released the following WHQL certified drivers for use with Windows Vista RTM that will enable you to test the basic features and capabilities of the new operating system. NVIDIA is committed to supporting Microsoft Windows Vista on current and previous GPU generations. It's important to us that you have an excellent experience through the Vista transition, and driver development is the highest priority in our company. Release Highlights: * WHQL-certified driver for GeForce 6-series, 7-series, 8-series, 9-series, and 200-series GPUs, including the newly released GeForce 9800 GTX+, 9800 GT, 9500 GT and 9400 GT GPUs. * Adds support for NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory (this driver package installs NVIDIA PhysX System Software v8.09.04). * Experience GPU PhysX acceleration in several full games and demos today by downloading the GeForce Power Pack. * Adds support for 2-way and 3-way NVIDIA SLI technology with GeForce GTX 200-series GPUs on Intel® D5400XS motherboards. * Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI™ technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way and Quad SLI technology. * Supports CUDA™. * Supports Folding@home distributing computing application. Download the high performance client for NVIDIA GPUs here and join the NVIDIA team: #131015. * Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software. * Includes several 3D application performance improvements. The following are examples of improvements measured with v178.13 WHQL versus v175.19 WHQL driver: o Single GPU increases up to 11% in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset) o Single GPU increases up to 11% in Assassin's Creed DX10 o Single GPU increases up to 15% in Bioshock DX10 o Single GPU increases up to 15% in Call of Duty 4 o Single GPU increases up to 8% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars o 2-way SLI increases up to 7% in Bioshock DX10 o 2-way SLI increases up to 10% in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts DX10 o 2-way SLI increases up to 12% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars o 2-way SLI increases up to 10% in World in Conflict DX10 * Includes numerous 3D application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues. * Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here. Supported Products: GeForce GTX 280 GeForce GTX 260 GeForce 9800 GX2 GeForce 9800 GTX+ GeForce 9800 GTX GeForce 9800 GT GeForce 9600 GT GeForce 9600 GSO GeForce 9500 GT GeForce 9500 GS GeForce 9400 GT GeForce 9300 GS GeForce 9300 GE GeForce 8800 Ultra GeForce 8800 GTX GeForce 8800 GTS 512 GeForce 8800 GTS GeForce 8800 GT GeForce 8800 GS GeForce 8600 GTS GeForce 8600 GT GeForce 8600 GS GeForce 8500 GT GeForce 8400 SE GeForce 8400 GS GeForce 8400 GeForce 8300 GS GeForce 8300 GeForce 8200 GeForce 8100 / nForce 720a GeForce 8100 / nForce 720a GeForce 7950 GX2 GeForce 7950 GT GeForce 7900 GTX GeForce 7900 GT/GTO GeForce 7900 GS GeForce 7800 SLI GeForce 7800 GTX GeForce 7800 GT GeForce 7800 GS GeForce 7650 GS GeForce 7600 GT GeForce 7600 GS GeForce 7600 LE GeForce 7500 LE GeForce 7350 LE GeForce 7300 SE GeForce 7300 LE GeForce 7300 GT GeForce 7300 GS GeForce 7200 GS GeForce 7100 GS GeForce 7150 / NVIDIA nForce 630i GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 620i GeForce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 630i GeForce 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 610i GeForce 7050 PV / NVIDIA nForce 630a GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a GeForce 6800 XT GeForce 6800 XE GeForce 6800 Ultra GeForce 6800 Series GPU GeForce 6800 LE GeForce 6800 GT GeForce 6800 GS/XT GeForce 6800 GS GeForce 6800 GeForce 6700 XL GeForce 6610 XL GeForce 6600 VE GeForce 6600 LE GeForce 6600 GT GeForce 6600 GeForce 6500 GeForce 6250 GeForce 6200SE TurboCache™ GeForce 6200 TurboCache™ GeForce 6200 LE GeForce 6200 A-LE GeForce 6200 GeForce 6150SE/nForce 430 GeForce 6150 LE GeForce 6150 GeForce 6100/nForce 420 GeForce 6100/nForce 405 GeForce 6100/nForce 400 GeForce 6100 Download Release Notes [PDF] All Downloads for Windows Vista 32-bit All Downloads for Windows Vista 64-bit

IE 8.0 Beta 2 on WU

For all you WU users who happen to be running Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 on a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 system, we wanted to let you know that today we’re releasing IE8 Beta 2 to Windows Update so that getting the latest Beta is super easy and convenient for you (note IE8 Beta 2 will be made available to WU users running Windows Vista at a later date). If you have Automatic Updates turned on, Windows Update will automatically download IE8 Beta 2 and notify you when it is ready for install. You’ll then have the option to proceed with or postpone installation.

You can read more about the IE8 Beta and upgrade options here.

Thanks!

-MU Team

Mythbuntu 8.10 Alpha 6

A new alpha build of Mythbuntu 8.10, an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring MythTV and designed for home theatre PCs, has been released: "Without further ado, allow me to introduce Mythbuntu 8.10 alpha 6. It is very important to note that this release is not compatible with Mythbuntu 7.10 or any other MythTV 0.20.2-based distribution. Changes from alpha 4: lots of bug fixes across the board in Ubiquity and Mythbuntu control centre; bug fixes for MythTV; general bug fixes. We are introducing a testing Personal Package Archive (PPA). This PPA will contain software that is either not in the repositories, or is a more current version than what is in the repositories. This PPA will not contain updated MythTV packages, but instead will contain new and updated packages for programs such as MythExport, MythNetTv, and MythVideo-Bulk-Updater." Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5): mythbuntu-8.10-alpha6-desktop-i386.iso (597MB), mythbuntu-8.10-alpha6-desktop-amd64.iso (644MB).

openSUSE 11.1 Beta 1

Christoph Thiel has announced the first beta release of openSUSE 11.1: "The openSUSE Project is happy to announce the first beta release of openSUSE 11.1. It includes quite a few improvements and new features over the 11.0 release, including new versions of KDE, GNOME, the Linux kernel, improved YaST modules, and much more! What's new? GNOME 2.24 - PulseAudio improvements, Ekiga 3.0, Empathy instant messenger based on Telepathy framework; KDE 4.1.x - KWin has compositing enabled by default, Amarok 2.0 beta 1, auto-hiding panels, KWin cube effect; basic SELinux enablement; YaST Modules - rewritten YaST printer, partitioner and security modules; cluster stack features significant usability changes; support for Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2); new BlueTooth features with BlueZ 4.6." There is much more so check out the full release announcement for more details. Currently only installation DVDs are available for download via BitTorrent: openSUSE-11.1-Beta1-DVD-i386.iso (3,628MB), openSUSE-11.1-Beta1-DVD-x86_64.iso (3,771MB).