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SparkyLinux LXDE Changelog

What's new in SparkyLinux LXDE 4.11

Jul 12, 2019
  • all packages upgraded from Debian & Sparky ‘oldstable’ repos as of 2019/July/09
  • fixed root password at armhf images (toor)
  • added network-manager (nmtui) to armhf-cli image

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 4.10 (May 5, 2019)

  • Full system upgrade from Debian stable Stretch repos as of May 2, 2019
  • Linux kernel 4.9.168

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 4.9 (Nov 12, 2018)

  • full system upgrade from Debian stable repos as of November 8, 2018
  • Linux kernel 4.9.110 (PC)
  • Linux kernel 4.14.71 (ARM)
  • added key bindings of configuration of monitor brightness (Openbox)
  • added key bindings of configuration of system sound (Openbox & LXDE)
  • added cron configuration to APTus Upgrade Checker
  • Added packages:
  • xfce4-power-manager for power management
  • sparky-libinput for tap to click configuration for touchpads
  • xfce4-notifyd for desktop notifications
  • ‘sparky-artwork-nature’ package features 10 more new nature wallpapers of Poland
  • Changes in the „100” special edition:
  • added „sparky100” theme pack, which provides a special background to: desktop, Lightdm login manager, GRUB/ISOLINUX boot manager and Plymouth
  • added a sub-menu called „100”, separated in English and Polish, which provides menu entries to Wikipedia, to let you find out about Polish National Independence Day and others, important informations from Polish history as well.

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 4.6 (Jun 22, 2017)

  • full system upgrade from Debian 9 stable repos as of June 19, 2017
  • Linux kernel 4.9.30 as default (4.10.x and 4.11.x available in Sparky ‘unstable’ repo)
  • added new repo (not active): wine-staging.com
  • deep cleaning from old packages and files of older releases
  • email client Icedove replaced by Thunderbird
  • changed http to https protocol of all Sparky services, including repository; updating the ‘sparky-apt’ package fixes it automatically
  • new theme “Sparky5” which fixes look of gtk+ based applications
  • added two new live system boot options:
  • 1. toram lets you load the whole live system into RAM memory (if you have enough);
  • 2. text mode if any problem with normal or failsafe boot, this option runs sparky in text mode and lets you install it using the advanced installer
  • new tool for checking and displaying notification on your desktop about available updates

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 4.4 (Aug 21, 2016)

  • full system upgrade as of August 15, 2016
  • Linux kernel 4.6.4 (4.7.1-sparky is available in Sparky repos, see howto)
  • firefox 45.3.0.ESR (firefox 48 is available in Sparky repos)
  • calamares is available (but not default yet) in our repos
  • new default theme called ‘Numix-SX’
  • added new desktops to MinimalISO and APTus: Lumina, Trinity and PekWM
  • ‘tint2’ panel replaced by ‘fbpanel’ in the MinimalGUI iso images
  • added ‘rootactions-servicemenu’ to the Dolphin file manager in the KDE edition
  • added short key which runs a terminal emulator in the MinimalGUI edition (Super+t)
  • added an option which lets you install a PDF viewer, to the ‘sparky-office’ tool
  • Midori web browser replaced by NetSurf in the MinimalGUI edition
  • the ‘sparky-firstrun’ which lets you fully upgrade the system and install missing language packages has been fixed
  • the ‘sparkylinux-installer’ a part of ‘sparky-backup-core’ tool refreshes package list itself and installs the latest desktop settings in the MinimalGUI and MinimalCLI editions
  • added Vivaldi and NetSurf web browsers to Sparky repos
  • improved Wiki pages

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 4.2 (Dec 21, 2015)

  • full system upgrade from Debian testing repository as of December 15, 2015
  • Linux kernel 4.2.0 (4.2.6)
  • Enlightenment 0.20.0 (0.20.1 is available in our repos)
  • KDE Plasma 5.4.3
  • LXDE 0.99.0-2
  • LXQt 0.10.0-2
  • MATE 1.10.2
  • Openbox 3.6.1-2
  • Xfce 4.12.2
  • Iceweasel 38.2.1esr
  • Icedove 38.4
  • LibreOffice 5.0.4 rc1
  • Wine 1.8 rc3
  • removed KDE/KWin based packages, the system uses Openbox window manager only and applications based on Qt and GTK libs (LXQt edition)
  • a small issue which did not let loading the default Sparky wallpaper has been fixed (KDE 64 bit edition)
  • the live-installer supports auto login via SDDM in the target system (KDE edition)
  • due to removing a dependency from Debian testing repository for ‘mintstick’ tool, it has been replaced by Sparky USB Live Creator, which is a GUI front-end to ‘dd’, and another (new) tool Sparky USB Formatter
  • ‘boot-repair’ tool has been removed from iso images, but it is still available in the Sparky repository and on the iso images of the Sparky Rescue Edition
  • ‘xfce4-mixer plugin’ has been replaced by ‘pulseaudio-plugin’ (Xfce edition)
  • general cleaning and removing obsolete packages
  • localizationing Sparky tools
  • TOR Messenger – a multi messenger (IM), which uses the TOR network as default, is available in Sparky repository now
  • removed all old Sparky wallpapers from the live iso images, and the default wallpapers has been slightly modified, depends of a Sparky edition
  • added small application called “Sparky First Run”
  • added ‘menulibre’ package (Xfce edition)
  • added new tool ‘obmenu-generator’, which can generate a static or dynamic pipe menu and ‘xfdashboard’ tool (Openbox edition)

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 4.0 (Jun 26, 2015)

  • full system upgrade from Debian testing repository as of 22/06/2015
  • Linux kernel 4.0.5
  • added support for the system installation on 32 bit machines with UEFI motherboard
  • Razor-Qt Edition has been dropped
  • added two new editions: KDE and LXQt
  • system rebranding, see HowTo: http://sparkylinux.org/sparky-rebranding/
  • new flat theme “Sparky4″ and a set of icons “Ultra-Flat-Icons”
  • added Pipelight repository and the public key
  • Gnome-Alsamixer has been replaced by Pulse Audio Mixer (LXDE & LXQt editions)
  • Mplayer2, Gnome-player and Gecko-player have been removed
  • VLC is the default video player now
  • added vlc-mozilla-plugin for Iceweasel
  • Sparky APTus features a few new options:
  • Liquorix kernel installation
  • i686-pae kernel installation for 32 bit systems
  • office suite installation (via ‘sparky-office’ package):
  • AbiWord & Gnumeric
  • Calligra
  • LibreOffice
  • MS Office OnLine (Menu shortcuts)
  • OpenOffice
  • WPS Office

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 4.0 RC (Apr 4, 2015)

  • massive numbers of updates from Debian testing and SparkyLinux repositories
  • full system rebranding, see HowTo: http://sparkylinux.org/sparky-rebranding/
  • new flat theme “Sparky4″
  • new flat icon set “Ultra-Flat-Icons”
  • wallpaper “Vortex” by LiquidSky64
  • the look of all the system’s elements has been fully integrated
  • many visual improvement
  • Gnome-Alsamixer replaced by Pulse Audio Mixer (LXDE edition)
  • XChat replaced by HexChat
  • Wbar has been removed
  • traditional look of the desktop with one bottom’s panel
  • updated Boot-Repair (available in Live system only)
  • updated Live-Installer
  • the default’s Sparky iso building tool is Sparky Backup System now; it works in a text console or using Yad based GUI – available in our repos
  • many small improvements
  • many improvements and bugs fixing of Sparky apps
  • all the Sparky apps moved to SourceForge git repos

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 3.6 (Dec 8, 2014)

  • improvements, such as:
  • Linux kernel 3.16.0-4 (3.16.7-2)
  • lxde-common 0.99.0
  • grub 2.02~beta2
  • Twitter’s microblogging client Hotot replaced by Turpial (Hotot is not under development any more)
  • the new wallpaper ‘Vortex’ by LiquidSky64
  • Sparky Conky Manager updated up to version 0.1.7 having a new applet of battery status
  • System has been synchronized with Debian “testing” repository as of 03/12/2014.
  • Added new apps:
  • sparky-aptus-upgrade (System Upgrade) – small (recommended) tool for system upgrading
  • sparky-systemd-ui – a metapackage which gives you an access to systemd settings as root
  • Removed packages:
  • sparky-tray
  • old, deprecated mate packages of 1.4 & 1.6

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 3.4 (Jun 4, 2014)

  • Linux kernel 3.14
  • All packages upgraded from Debian testing repositories as of 2014/05/31
  • LXDE 0.5.5-6
  • Support for installation on machines with EFI
  • systemd is the default init system now, see how to change sysvinit to systemd:
  • http://sparkylinux.org/sparky-systemd/
  • The repository list has been split:
  • The main one features Debian repository only inside the file /etc/apt/sources.list
  • All additional repositories have been moved to the directory /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
  • see: http://sparkylinux.org/sparky-repository/
  • Sparky Center – our system control center for LXDE desktop has been rebuilt, added tabs for every option and upgraded up to version 0.2.1
  • Sparky APTus – our tool for updating, installing and removing packages has been updated up to version 0.2.0; it offers new functions now:
  • Removing Non-Free and Restricted packages which are pre-installed in the system
  • Installation of missing language packages
  • Every option is placed in a separated tab
  • Sparky-Tray – our small app which is loaded to the system’s panel tray and gives quick access to APTus, Synaptic, repository list editor and root terminal has been updated up to version 0.1.2. It lets you edit all repo lists due to changes occurred in the repository list
  • Sparky-Backup-Apps – our applications backup tool has been updated up version 0.1.4
  • Sparky-Backup-System – our system backup tool has been updated up to version 0.1.7 – due to moving Sparky to systemd
  • A few apps have been removed: aptoncd, avidemux, audacity, devede, ogmrip, soundconverter; still available to install in the repository
  • Added a new package: hardinfo
  • New application in our repository: skype
  • Teamviewer has been updated up to version 9

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 3.3 (Mar 7, 2014)

  • New iso images of SparkyLinux provide a ton of updates, some changes and system improvements, such as:
  • Linux kernel 3.12
  • all packages upgraded from Debian testing repositories as of 2014/03/04
  • new installer forked from LMDE/SolydXK (no support for EFI yet)
  • new wallpaper ‘Strange Nature’ by Sakasa + artwork of Grub, Plymouth and installer based on the wallpaper
  • sudo is active as default after installation
  • SparkyLinux default repository has been changed
  • new, refreshed logo
  • The ‘old’ installer is still available in the live system and it is recommended for ‘old’ machines. It can be run in text mode, by the command: sudo sparkylinux-installer or in graphical mode: sudo sparkylinux-installer gui.
  • The ‘old’ installer features two changes as well:
  • partition detection way has been changed after the disk partitioning process is ended
  • added new option ‘nogrub’ which lets you NOT install bootloader Grub.
  • Added new applications and tools:
  • Boot-repair – a simple tool to repair frequent boot issues
  • Truecrypt – a source-available freeware application used for on-the-fly disks and partitions encryption
  • Plymouth + sparky-plymouth-theme
  • uGet + Aria2 as the default download manager for Iceweasel, via FlashGot plugin
  • Osmo is out – replaced by Iceowl plugin for Icedove mail client
  • Hotot-Gtk microblogging client
  • sparky-eraser – simply graphical interface for ‘shred’ and ‘wipe’ tools, read the post: Truecrypt & Sparky-Eraser
  • sparky-wine – simply Wine wrapper which lets you choose and install ‘.exe’ applications from a local drive

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 3.2 (Dec 10, 2013)

  • Linux kernel 3.11-2 (3.11.8-1)
  • All packages have been upgraded from Debian testing repositories as of 2013/12/07
  • Added support for installation 32 bit applications on 64 bit systems
  • 32 bit wine package has been installed on 64 bit systems
  • sparky-center-lxde and sparky-center-openbox have been reconfigured; some applications have been extracted from sparky-center and packed separately so they can be installed on other Sparky desktops with no sparky-center; see Sparky news 11/2013
  • Added package curl – it’s a missing tool requires by PlayOnLinux
  • Added new package sparky-tray – it gives quick access to package management: Sparky APTus, Synaptic, repository list editor and root terminal emulator
  • sparky-aptus has been updated up to version 0.1.5 – added new option ‘Fix Broken’ – it lets you fix not (or wrong) installed/upgraded packages
  • The default Sparky theme has been ‘slightly’ improved and upgraded up to version 0.1.1 for better gtk3 applications support

New in SparkyLinux LXDE 3.1 (Dec 3, 2013)

  • Linux kernel 3.10-3 (3.10.11-1)
  • all packages have been updated from Debian testing repositories as of 2013/09/27
  • added Teamviewer client for remote controling other machines
  • added Sparky APTus – a small, simply and lightweight frontend for “apt-get” for upgrading and cleaning up the system, installing and removing packages
  • added Minitube – a lightweight video player of YouTube contents
  • added Gnote – a lightweight notes
  • added Osmo – a lightweight personal organizer
  • added Radiotray – a very small application for listening to the internet radio channels
  • SparkyBackup-System bug fixed – updated up to 0.1.4
  • Brasero has been removed and Xfburn has been installed
  • lxpolkit bug fixed after the LXDE and Lxpolkit updating
  • e17 desktop has been dropped out from the main release