ZevenOS Neptune

ZevenOS Neptune is an open source distribution of Linux based on the world’s most popular operating system, Ubuntu, and built around the modern and productive KDE Plasma desktop environment, which uses a very attractive theme and layout.

Available for download as a dual-arch Live DVD

The user can download this Ubuntu-based operating system via Softoware or directly from the project’s official website as a dual-arch Live DVD ISO image of approximately 2GB in size, designed from the ground up to support both 64-bit and 32-bit computers, which must be writte on either a DVD disc or a USB stick.

Boot options

From the boot screen, the user can start the live environment with default boot options or in safe mode, with support for the English or German languages, as well as to access a help menu. The Live DVD also includes supports for many other languages.

The best KDE Plasma desktop experience

If you want to experience the true power of the KDE Plasma desktop environment, you should try the ZevenOS Neptune distribution, as it comes with a highly customized KDE session that comprises of a single panel located on the bottom edge of the screen, from where users can launch apps or interact with running programs.

Includes state-of-the-art applications

The operating system includes state-of-the-art applications, such as the Ardour professional audio editing suite, Encode media converting software, Recffmpeg screencasting tool, Dolphin superior file manager, LibreOffice office suite, Chromium web browser, Apper software center, Icedove email and news client, VLC Media Player, and many more.

Bottom line

All in all, ZevenOS Neptune is built on top of a recent Linux kernel and includes a large number of popular open-source applications. The distro uses the KDE Plasma desktop environment with a customized notification center and a superb theme on top of the latest upstream Ubuntu version.

What is new in this release:

• This service release comes with a brand new kernel 3.16.3 (+bfq I/O Scheduler) which includes many driver updates and improvements in power saving functions. Our improved installer now offers you to install on uefi capable PCs and brings in a new option which allows you to disable sudo for your user during installation.
• Several security, bugfixes and updates were merged into this release. The bash "shellshock" vulnerability is fixed, Chromium to version 37, LibreOffice to version 4.3.2, Kdenlive to version 0.9.10 and Wireshark to 1.12.
• For the first time Neptune also ships the btrfs snapshotting tool snapper which can create hourly snapshots of the filesystem. It allows you to view changes in files and to restore files, folders or the whole filesystem.

What is new in version 4.1:

• Fixed neptune-installer to successfully remove live tools like
• snapshot-manager, persistent-creator and itself aswell as
• quickinstallation-guides
• Fixed systemd startup not creating loopback devices (apps like TrueCrypt weren't able to mount virtual drives)
• Fixed bluetooth not enabled by default in systemd
• Fixed bluedevil not be able to send files via bluetooth
• Fixed version strings in /etc/issue; /etc/os-release;/etc/lsb-release; ...
• Fixed plasma workspace not showing icons but scrollbar occasionally
• Added Kernel 3.14.13 with bfq I/O scheduler by default
• Replaced LibreOffice version from Kanotix with Debian Backports version 4.2.6
• Added default asound.conf with dsp0 dmix device
• Added default vimrc config with saving last cursor position
• Added Meta/Super/Windows-key + k hotkey to open Knetworkmounter
• Updated KDE Applications and Plattform to version 4.14.0
• Updated nouveau and intel driver
• Updated wireshark
• Updated virtualbox-guest-dkms
• Updated systemd
• Updated apper
• Updated packagekit

What is new in version 4.0:

• This version focuses on user requests and brings a bunch of new groundbreaking changes like new kernel 3.13.11, KDE SC 4.13.2, Systemd 204, Encode 3.0, Recffmpeg 1.8.5, LibreOffice 4.2, Chromium 35, default btrfs, a brand new design and so much more.
• We modernized the look and feel of Neptune without loosing the touch of simplicity and easy going with the introduction of our new design.
• We aimed to create a distract free desktop experience.
• The base of Neptune 4.0 is the Linux kernel 3.13.11 with bunch of new drivers, fixes and support of new hardware. On top of that we offer the latest and greatest KDE Plasma Workspace + the best of its apps.
• Systemd is the new default init system for Neptune which brings speed and service improvements.
• The new default filesystem offered on installation is btrfs. With its modern support for SSDs, snapshots, raid and so much more it offers the greatest features of a linux filesystem to date. T
• We also rewritten and improved our own applications like the media encoding application Encode which now ships in a totally revamped version 3.0.
• It offers the feature to convert any known audio & video format (supported by ffmpeg) to any known audio & video format.
• Recffmpeg got inspired by vokoscreen (and grabed some code from it) and offers a slick new user interface with a bunch of cool new features for recording screencasts.
• ZevenOSHardwaremanager was upgraded to support the new kernel and recognize a bunch of new graphicscards to offer the appropiate driver.
• By default the Neptune KDE repo is now enabled so you won't have any trouble upgrading your KDE experience.
• This version comes with the usual software upgrades like Chromium 35, LibreOffice 4.2, Apper 0.8, Icedove 24, VLC 2.1
• Neptune 4 still offers one of the best KDE centric desktop experience.

What is new in version 3.3:

• New kernel 3.10.12
• KDE SC 4.11.2 with customized notification center
• Removed eclipse
• Removed pavucontrol
• Removed muon software center, muon updater and qapt-deb-installer
• Use Apper as default deb installer with gdebi-common
• Fixed neptune installer uuid detection
• Added new version of neptune-scripts
• Updated LibreOffice to version 4.1.2.3
• Updated Chromium to version 29
• Updated VLC to version 2.1
• Updated Quick Install Guide
• Added about menu fur Zevenoshardwaremanager
• Added Calligra 2.7.2 in repository

What is new in version 3.2:

• New kernel 3.10.5
• KDE SC 4.10.5 with customized notification center
• updated Debian base to 7.1 Wheezy
• Added reText
• Added yavtd
• Added kffmpegthumbnailer
• Added preload
• Added new nvidia and fglrx drivers compatible with kernel 3.10
• Updated LibreOffice to version 4.1.0.4
• Updated Icedove to version 17
• Updated Chromium to version 28
• Updated VLC to version 2.0.8
• Updated Ardour to version 3.3
• Updated phonon-backend-vlc to version 0.6.2
• Updated plasma-widget-networkmanagement to version 0.9.0.8
• Replaced ntpdate with rdate to workaround kcm dateandtime bug
• Fixed timezone setting in kcm dateandtime (we are the only debian based distro who fixed that)
• Added manpage and bash completion to remaster-kit
• Fixed installer to be run as normal user to show all nice graphics
• Added xdg-user-dirs-gtk to update user folder names when localization change appears
• Added newest e17 0.17.3 with video thumbnail loading patch

What is new in version 3.1:

• New kernel 3.9.2
• KDE SC 4.10.3 with customized notification center
• updated Debian base to 7.0 Wheezy
• Added f2fs filesystem support
• Upgraded Gparted to handle new filesystems and load faster
• fixed zevenos-hardwaremanager
• Updated LibreOffice to version 4.0.3
• Added knetworkmounter
• Added Apper as default software center
• Updated Amarok to version 2.7.1
• Updated Kdenlive to version 0.9.6
• Downgraded muon to a working version of 1.4
• Enabled Multiarch
• ISO is now build as hybridiso so it can be dd'ed onto a usb stick

What is new in version 3.0:

• Switched to 64bit only release (you need a 64bit capable CPU to run Neptune 3.0)
• New kernel 3.8.4
• KDE SC 4.10.1 with customized notification center
• removed Pulseaudio for better audio experience and no crackling sounds anymore
• new Installer summary page
• new language-selector tool
• updated zevenos-hardwaremanager with experimental driver support
• better default font config
• fixed snapshot-manager to disable install button when no snapshot is available
• added new xserver-xorg-video-ati 7.0 to support more ATI/AMD chips
• advanced installer now provides warning when not started as root
• new Muon 2.0 RC2 software installer
• updated LibreOffice 3.5.4-4
• added nested installation as neptune-installer-nested
• Use Lancelot now as our default launchermenu for applications
• switched base system to debian wheezy
• split neptune repository in neptune config + apps and kde repository
• added ppapi-flashplayer for better flash experience

What is new in version 5.0 Beta 1:

• ZevenOS used the deskbar for ages to create a slick and nice looking tasklist and mainmenu panel. With the current struggle in development on ZevenOS (btw. thanks for all your support it was really helpful and motivated me to start working on ZevenOS 5.0 again) I decided to give the deskbar mode in the xfce4-panel a go and I really have to say I am impressed. It works almost flawlessly. There are still some glitches like not being able to setup the panel to move under windows (so not behave like a panel but more like the deskbar used to) and some confusing configuration settings but the xfce4-panel brings in the advantage of plugins and you can configure a lot with them.
• So I decided for the 5.0 release of ZevenOS to simply ship the xfce4-panel. Currently I am not sure if I would stop development of the deskbar completely or if we implement a tasklist on our own (the one we used before wnck needs dirty patching and does not seem to work as good as it was before). This will also depend on how many contributors are interested in either creating special xfce4-panel plugins for ZevenOS (like a good quicklaunch plugin, the current one is not very advanced) or working on the deskbar.

What is new in version 3.0 Beta 1:

• Kernel 3.5.4
• KDE SC 4.9.1
• newest Amarok, VLC, KDEnlive, Audacity
• LibreOffice 3.5.4.2
• Chromium 21 & Icedove 10.0.7esr
• TrueCrypt
• Wireshark
• BackInTime
• Muon Packagemanager, Muon Software Center & the brand new Muon Discover
• New tweaked default configuration (we use Lancelot now as our Neptune default launchermenu)
• New Advanced Installer (a graphical one not the one the commandline which is still available if you want to setup a lvm system)