SparkyLinux KDE is a special edition of the open source SparkyLinux computer operating system built around the modern, award-winning KDE desktop environment. The distribution is based on the powerful Debian GNU/Linux OS.
Distributed as 32 and 64-bit Live DVDs
The KDE edition of SparkyLinux is currently distributed as two Live DVD ISO images, one that supports only modern 64-bit machines, and another one that lets users run the operating system on low-end, 32-bit computers, as well as x86_64 systems.
Boot options
The boot options are the same on both Live DVDs and are standard for a SparkyLinux edition, which means that users will be able to start the live environment with normal configuration or in failsafe mode if their graphics cards aren't recognized in by the first boot option.
Additionally, it is possible to perform a system memory (RAM) diagnostic test, as well as to boot an existing operating system that is installed on the first disk drive of your computer.
Built around the KDE 4 desktop environment
As its name suggests, SparkyLinux KDE uses the KDE project as the default and only desktop environment. It is built around the KDE Workspaces and Applications 4.14 and offers a pretty standard, traditional layout comprised of a taskbar located on the bottom edge of the screen.
As expected, the distribution comes with all the SparkyLinux in-house built tools, as well as all the standard KDE applications, including Dolphin file manager, K3b CD/DVD burning software, Okular document viewer, KTorrent torrent downloader, Kopete IM client, and Choqok micro-blogging client.
Includes powerful open source projects
In addition to the standard KDE apps, SparkyLinux KDE also includes powerful open source projects, such as GIMP image editor, Iceweasel web browser, LibreOffice office suite, SMPlayer media player, SMPlayer YouTube Browser, VLC Media Player, and PlayOnLinux for playing Windows games.
What is new in this release:
- 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
What is new in version :
- 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
What is new in version 4.4:
- 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
What is new in version 4.3:
New in SparkyLinux KDE 4.0 (June 26th, 2015)
What is new in version 4.2:
- 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)
What is new in version 4.1 / 4.2 RC:
- 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
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