The final release should arrive on March 2017

Nov 21, 2016 00:30 GMT  ·  By

4MLinux developer Zbigniew Konojacki has informed Softpedia about the immediate availability of the Beta release of his upcoming 4MLinux 21.0 GNU/Linux distribution.

Last week, we reported on the release of 4MLinux 21.0 Core Beta, the barebone version of the project on which the rest of the editions are based, including 4MLinux itself. And now, it looks like we're able to test the Beta build, which is similar to the current stable 4MLinux 20.0 branch, but ships with many updated packages, including the Glibc 2.24 library.

"4MLinux 21.0 BETA is ready for testing. Basically, at this stage of development, 4MLinux BETA has the same features as 4MLinux STABLE, but it provides a huge number of updated packages, including a major change in the core of the system, which now uses the GNU C Library 2.24," said Zbigniew Konojacki in the release announcement.

It also looks like Zbigniew Konojacki revealed the final release date of the 4MLinux 21.0 distribution. As such, users should expect to get their hands on 4MLinux 21.0 and 4MLinux 21.0 Core sometime in March 2017. This version will be supported for nine months, until November 2017, and will become OLD STABLE around July 2017, when 4MLinux 22.0 hits the streets.

Until then, you can now download the ISO image of 4MLinux 21.0 Beta and take if for a test drive on your personal computer, and study the list of installed packages. However, please try to keep in mind that this is a pre-release version, which means that some bugs might be present. Don't use a Beta software or operating system as your daily driver, and don't forget to report bugs.