What's new in SparkyLinux MATE 5.2 Rolling
Dec 20, 2017
- full system upgrade from Debian testing repos as of December 17, 2017
- Linux kernel 4.14.2 from Debian Sid repos (4.14.8-sparky is available in Sparky ‘unstable’ repo)
- Calamares 3.1.10 as the default system installer
- the full disk encryption option has been activated in the Calamares, so Sparky can be installed on an encrypted disk now
- added 8 new wallpapers of Polish nature to ‘sparky-artwork-nature’ package added symlink of ‘sparkylinux-installer’ to ‘sparky-installer’ (Advanced Installer), and ‘spb’ shortcut to ‘sparkybackup’ command (backup tool)
New in SparkyLinux MATE 5.1 Rolling (Sep 28, 2017)
- full system upgrade from Debian testing repos as of September 25, 2017
- Linux kernel 4.12.13 as default (4.13.3-sparky is available in Sparky ‘unstable’ repo)
- gcc 6 removed from the live media; the default compiler is gcc 7
- obmenu-generator updated up to version 0.80 (MinmalGUI edition), what speeded up launching the menu with svg icons
- the default system installer Calamares updated up to version 3.1.4
- added new tool for installing a web browser: Sparky Web Browser Installer
- new desktop environment added to Sparky repos: Manokwari
- live system’s memtest86+ issue has been fixed
- source code repos moved to GitHub
New in SparkyLinux MATE 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 MATE 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 MATE 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 MATE 3.6 (Dec 8, 2014)
- improvements, such as:
- Linux kernel 3.16.0-4 (3.16.7-2)
- mate 1.8.1
- 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 MATE 3.4 (Jun 27, 2014)
- Linux kernel 3.14
- all packages upgraded from Debian testing repositories as of 2014/06/23
- Openbox 3.5.2-6
- MATE 1.8
- 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/
- menu of Openbox (Base Edition) has gotten a few extra scripts
- added new package: hardinfo
- TeamViewer has been updated up to version 9
New in SparkyLinux MATE 3.2 (Dec 18, 2013)
- Linux kernel 3.11-2 (3.11.10-1)
- All packages have been upgraded from Debian testing repositories as of 2013/12/15
- MATE 1.6
- Added support for installation 32 bit applications on 64 bit systems
- Added 32 bit wine package for 64 bit system
- Added package curl – it’s a missing depends for PlayOnLinux
- MATE desktop – added packages: sparky-conky, sparky-locales, sparky-tray
- sparky-aptus has been updated up to version 0.1.6 – added new option ‘Fix Broken DPKG’ – it lets you fix not (or wrong) installed/upgraded packages with ‘dpkg’ tool.
New in SparkyLinux MATE 3.1 (Oct 8, 2013)
- Linux kernel 3.10-3 (3.10.11-1)
- All packages have been updated from Debian testing repositories as of 2013/10/05
- SparkyBackup-System one more bug fixed (thanks to The Black Pig) – updated up to 0.1.5
- e17 desktop is available as a separated iso image now and it has been updated up to 0.17.3 version from Debian unstable Sid repository
- Added Teamviewer client, Sparky APTus, Minitube, Gnote, Osmo, Radiotray and Xfburn.
New in SparkyLinux MATE 2.1.1 (Apr 26, 2013)
- Linux kernel 3.2.41
- MATE 1.6 updated from MATE project’s repos
- rest of packages have been updated from Debiana testing repos of 24/04/2013
New in SparkyLinux MATE 2.1 (Mar 19, 2013)
- Linux kernel 3.2.39-2
- minor bugs fixing
- live system works on USB stick fixing
- full system installation on USB stick – link
- new set of wallpapers