What's new in SparkyLinux Xfce 5.10
Jan 13, 2020
- the base system has been upgraded from Debian stable repos as of January 10, 2020
- Linux kernel 4.19.67-2+deb10u1 LTS (PC)
- Linux kernel 4.19.75-v7+ (ARMHF)
- Chromium web browser changed to Firefox-ESR (ARMHF)
- small bug fixes and small improvements
New in SparkyLinux Xfce 2019.11 Rolling (Nov 3, 2019)
- system upgraded from Debian testing “Bullseye” repos as of November 2, 2019
- Calamares installer 3.2.16 + kpmcore 4
- Linux kernel 5.2.17 as default (5.3.8 & 5.4-rc5 in Sparky unstable repos)
- obmenu-generator removed from Openbox edition (due to Perl updated up to 5.30 and libgtk2-perl removed); it has been replaced by sparky-obmenu (+obmenu)
- added Sid repos back (not active) – use it on your own risk
- Yad updated up to 5.0, but it is available from Sparky unstable repos now
New in SparkyLinux Xfce 5.9 Rolling (Oct 7, 2019)
- The base system has been upgraded from Debian stable repos as of October 4, 2019.
- It works on the Linux kernel 4.19.67 LTS.
New in SparkyLinux Xfce 2019.09 Rolling (Sep 2, 2019)
- system upgraded from Debian testing “Bullseye” repos as of September 1, 2019
- fixed issue in Advanced Installer which did not set home partition on non-root partition with no-formatting option (thank’s lami07)
- Firefox-ESR replaced with Firefox Latest
- GCC 9 is the default compiler now, GCC 8 removed
- Calamares installer 3.2.13
- Linux kernel 5.2.9 (5.2.11 & 5.3-rc6 available in Sparky unstable repos)
- Xfce 4.14
New in SparkyLinux Xfce 5.8 Rolling (Jul 23, 2019)
- based on Debian 10 stable “Buster” now, repositories changed from ‘testing’ to ‘stable’
- system upgraded from Debian stable “Buster” repos as of July 14, 2019
- Linux kernel 4.19.37-5 (i686 & amd64)
- Linux kernel 4.19.57-v7+ (ARMHF)
- the Calamares installer updated up to version 3.2.11
- apt-daily.service disabled
- sparky-tube installed as dafault
- removed old 3rd party repositories
- added obconf-qt (LXQt edition)
- nm-tray installed instead of network-manager-gnome (LXQt edition)
- network-manager added to CLI ARMHF image
- small fixes
New in SparkyLinux Xfce 5.8 RC (Jun 5, 2019)
- Debian repo set to buster now, not to testing
- Sparky repo still points to testing, and will be updated automatically soon
- usrmerge set dirs symlinks (can be removed after)
- added inxi tool to all iso images
- all packages updated from Debian Buster repos as of July 3, 2019
- due to a few feedbacks I got, some of you are not happy with switching from LXDE to LXQt edition, so there is the Xfce edition re-built and ready to use
- due to problem with sparky5 theme in the Xfce edition, a new sparky6 theme is set as default (Xfce only)
- many Sparky apps have gotten Russian translations, thank’s to ChourS
- Calamares updated up to 3.2.9
- Firefox replaced by Firefox ESR
New in SparkyLinux Xfce 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 Xfce 4.6 / 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 Xfce 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 Xfce 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 Xfce 4.6 RC (May 4, 2017)
- upcoming Debian stable Stretch ready
- Calamares installer with LUKS disabled; instead of the previous Live Installer (Advanced installer is still available)
- updated all packages from Debian Stretch and Sparky repositories
- many small improvements and bugs fixing
- deep cleaning to reduce iso images size
New in SparkyLinux Xfce 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 Xfce 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 Xfce 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 Xfce 3.6 (Dec 8, 2014)
- improvements, such as:
- Linux kernel 3.16.0-4 (3.16.7-2)
- xfce 4.10.1
- 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 Xfce 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
- Xfce 4.10
- 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 Xfce 3.3 (Mar 18, 2014)
- Xfce 4.10.1
- Linux kernel 3.13
- All packages upgraded from Debian testing repositories as of 2014/03/16
New in SparkyLinux Xfce 3.2.1 (Jan 31, 2014)
- Linux kernel 3.12
- All packages upgraded from Debian testing repositories as of 2014/01/29
- Xfce 4.10
- The same set of tools and applications which can be found in all Sparky spins
- Added ‘boot-repair’ tool
- Added ‘plymouth’ + Sparky theme
- Download manager uGet has been upgraded from Debiana “Sid” repository; it uses ‘aria2′ for downloading files as default
- Iceweasel has been synchronised with uGet via FlashGot addon – downloading big files never been so easy
- Added microblogging client Hotot
- Whisker Menu is preinstalled but not active – I am a traditional man, so the traditional Xfce menu is what I need. Anyway, the Whisker Menu can be found in the panel’s applet box.