Linux Lite 3.4 Beta Released

[Valtam]

Release Announcement

Linux Lite 3.4 Beta is now available for testing. There have been a number of changes since the 3.2 release. See below for all the changes.
Linux Lite 3.4 Final will be released on April 1st, 2017.



Lite Updates Notify - A new application for Linux Lite. Lite Updates Notify is a desktop notification that informs the user of all available updates. Menu, Favorites, Install Updates should be run before executing Lite Updates Notify for the first time. A HUGE thank you to Ralphy for his collaboration on this challenging application.

1. Menu, Settings, Lite Updates Notify.



2. Select a notification frequency.



3. When you receive your desktop notification, you will get either of two messages:





This is a notification only. Go to Menu, Favorites, Install Updates if the notification says you have updates to install. This is an optional application, you do not have to use it if you don't want to and it is disabled by default.

16.04.2 Base - Linux Lite 3.4 is based off 16.04.2, however, we do not include the 4.8 kernel Hardware Enablement Stack. The HWE stacks were never meant to be supported for the entire life of the LTS release. In the past, support has been limited between HWE releases. I prefer to offer people the option to switch to one of our custom kernels should you require newer hardware support, not forcefully impose a newer kernel where it is not necessary or where it may drop support for older hardware.

Lite Welcome - Has been improved by recommending people follow a basic 3 step post-install process. Install Updates > Install Drivers > Setting a Restore Point.





Window snapping by default - Dragging windows to the corners and snapping windows which is a feature familiar to Windows users, is now available in Linux Lite 3.4 Thank you to torreydale for this suggestion.

Joystick support - New in Linux Lite, better support for joysticks.

Changelog:

Kernel 4.4.0-65 (custom kernels also available via our Repository for versions 3.13 - 4.10)
Firefox 51.0.1
Thunderbird 45.7.0
LibreOffice 5.1.6.2
VLC - 2.2.2
Gimp 2.8.20
Base: 16.04.2

There is no upgrade to or from Beta releases. Beta releases are for testing only and it is not recommended to run them as your main or secondary operating system.

Developer credits for this release - Jerry Bezencon, Ralphy

Downloads:
HTTP:
Download 32bit from here - Linux Lite 3.4 Beta 32bit
md5sum: 75eae1bba1caaf85b72fb14e1030c4ad
Size: 1002mb (DVD, USB)

Download 64bit from here - Linux Lite 3.4 Beta 64bit
md5sum: 4bade47d0116de4ff6330425c811ed33
Size: 990mb (DVD, USB)

TORRENTS:
32bit Torrent from here - linux-lite-3.4-beta-32bit.iso.torrent
Hash: 8802035b9f65f677b29b340218006058018cf10a
Size: 1002mb (DVD, USB)

64bit Torrent from here - linux-lite-3.4-beta-64bit.iso.torrent
Hash: eb306daa9f490ada8c5729e59f3634a372c934a7
Size: 990mb (DVD, USB)

Live USB/DVD/VirtualBox/Vmware:

Login is automatic, no credentials are required. The image can be written to a 2gb or larger USB stick, or a writable DVD. Alternatively, you can use the dd command: sudo dd if=linux-lite-3.4-beta-xxbit.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=4M where 'x' is the letter of your usb stick. In linux to find out the letter of your usb stick, open a terminal and type: df -h It is usually listed as 'media' or similar. Please see the built in Help Manual if you require a more detailed explanation of this procedure.

All Ubuntu 32bit kernels these days ship with PAE.

Minimum Recommended Specs:
700MHz processor
512mb ram
VGA screen capable of 1024x768 resolution
DVD drive or USB port for the ISO image

Preferred Specs:
1.5GHz processor+
1024mb ram+
VGA, DVI or HDMI screen capable of 1366x768 resolution+
DVD drive or USB port for the ISO image

Login to the live desktop is automatic.

The first thing you MUST do after a fresh install of Linux Lite is run Menu, Favorites, Install Updates.

As this is a beta release, there are bound to be bugs etc. Please help make the final stable for other people by participating in this Beta. Please report any bugs and feedback in this thread.


Thank you
Jerry and the team.

[Teddy]

Eager to try this release out! I'll install the 3.4 Beta on a spare 2009 HP Slimline desktop I recently picked up from my neighbor's trash pile out in the front of his yard. Wonder what was that about. It ran Windows Vista so that might be a reason within itself! Thank you Linux Lite team for putting in hard work and effort into all the release done thus far!

[Jocklad]

Linuxlite 3.4x64 beta clean install.

LL 3.4 iso downloaded and installed to live usb through Etcher........No problems.

Booted from live usb for install to 500g hdd.

System installed to hdd........No errors.

Updating.....System is up to date......No errors.

Language support.....Default was US....changed to UK....no problems.

Installing drivers.......No issues.

Synaptic: Changed server from US to UK.....No problems.

Lite Software installed.......No errors.

Google Chrome downloaded and installed.....No errors.

Bluetooth: A2DP worked out of the box......No issues.

Systemback: Restore point created.........No problems.

So far no problems with this install at all.

Many thanks to Jerry and the Team 

Now to give it a good run. 

[Valtam]

Cheers Teddy, always great to hear from you

[member=4737]Jocklad[/member] - thank you for your detailed feedback, it is really appreciated. I only have so much hardware here to test releases on, so the more people that help with testing, the more solid LL will end up. We have a great community here

[bitsnpcs]

LL 3.4 beta. 64 bit - Oracle VirtualBox

trial report -

Live run #1 -
Gimp - no problems
LibreOffice document - no problems
Firefox  - Google search visit results - no problems
Home folder navigation , sub folders, ctrl h hidden folders - no problems
terminal cal, clear, exit - no problems
help manual - no problems

Install -
settings chosen -
English UK
download and install updates while installing
install third party ....
keyboard layout test £ @
Keyboard automatically highlighted English UK
Selected login automatically
No problems any of the above.

Restart Installed mode -
English UK keyboard settings held - no problems
Install Updates from splash Gui> Your system is up to date
Install drivers > VB drivers shown > selected close
Set a restore point from Splash Gui > set restore point - no problems
Install language support> 4 options available for English language variants>closed

Install updates from Main Menu - unable to root error, or perfom task, clicked ok closed error
Lite software from main menu - unable to root , clicked ok, closed error
Main menu> Shutdown

Restarted (VM) -
on desktop error-
failed to set new theme
failed to write file '/home/bitsnpcs/.cache/xfce4-notifyd-theme.rc.3W2NWY:write() Failed no space left on device.
Closed error, close splash.
Main Menu altered style - search at top, left menu items now on the right, clicking right menu items produces the sub menu on left. eg columns are switched.
Session manager > Shutdown from main menu - no longer working, error while trying to logout -
Session manager must be in idle state when requesting a shutdown.
Used X > power off the machine (VM)

Shutdown and restarted Oracle VB, restarted VM -
at desktop error .. failed to set new theme.
Main Menu> System back restore point> full restore> task completed> auto reboot

Desktop error - failed to set new theme...
Main menu is correct format.
Main Menu > Install updates  error - failed to run bash/usr/scripts/updates-gui as user root. Unable to copy the users Xauthentication file.
Menu> Lite Software same error.
Menu session manager> Shutdown - no response
Used X/close power off machine.

I will remove VM and make again tonight, without trying the language support and see if it is the same or different, can isolate that trigger.

[Scott(0)]

Exciting! Downloading/Seeding now.

[bitsnpcs]

LL 3.4 beta 64 bit beta testing - new vm

run #1-

install
install updates (gui) your system is up to date
install drivers> vb drivers
                    > added micronode firmware for Intel CPUs from intel-micronode (proprietary)
Setting a restore point - no problems
Installing Language support - not used
Lite software> error failed to run bash '/usr/bin/lite-software' as user root. Unable to copy the users Xauthentication file.
Install updates > same error
Menu> Shutdown> shutdown failed used X power down machine (VM)

Run #3 - restarted Oracle Virtualbox - same results as run #2

Removed VM

Created #3 VM -

Install ...
Download updates while installing Linux - Not used
Install third party software - Not used
Closed splash Gui - Not used

Menu> Install updates > installed libgd3 amd64

Menu Lite Software> installed> Audacity
                                                Kodi
                                                Openshot
                                                Pinta

Menu> Install Updates> Your system is up to date.

Menu> Lite Tweaks> Package cache - clean
                                Whisker menu recently used - clean
                                Log archives
Menu> LibreOffice> New Document

Menu> Kodi > Library Updated
                      Scrapes updated
                      Add ons updated
                      database updated
                      Kodi repository updated
Menu> Audacity
Menu> Firefox>Google>LL main site
Menu> Pinta
Menu> Gimp

Home Folder> all sub folders open
Ctrl h> hidden folders open

Menu> Session> Shutdown

Start VM -

Run #4 -

Menu> Install Updates> Your system is up to date
Menu Lite Software>no problems

Terminal -

Code:

sudo apt-get moo moo moo

A Happy cow, all is sunny  8) , with LL 3.4 64 bit Beta

Menu> Restart
Menu> Help Manual
Desktop right click > desktop settings> changed wallpaper to great Wall ^^
Desktop right click> desktop settings> changed to default wallpaper (very nice wallpaper)

Menu> Shutdown.

Summary of issues -

Issues I had seemed related either to the install additional during install, or the install via splash Gui, as when updates were installed by usual menu methods, I found zero problems at all with Linux Lite 3.4 Beta 64 bit.

I hope it is useful for the team. Great work

[Valtam]

Thanks for the detailed reports bitsnpcs. Report #1 - "failed to write file '/home/bitsnpcs/.cache/xfce4-notifyd-theme.rc.3W2NWY:write() Failed no space left on device." your VM was probably too small. I usually set my VM's to at least 20gb. Ideally, tests would be performed on real hardware. But all feedback is appreciated.

[bitsnpcs]

I only had the VM set to 10Gb, I know now for next time making, thank you.
I don't have a spare desktop at the moment.

[Jocklad]

Linuxlite 3.4x64 beta.

Last night I run the system for four hours non-stop on YouTube.

Video and bluetooth audio was flawless.

The system just never coughed.

Jocklad