Black Lab Studio Linux

Black Lab Studio Linux is an official edition of the Black Lab Linux operating system, built around the lightweight and responsive Xfce graphical desktop environment. The system is a derivative of the world’s most popular free operating system, Ubuntu, and has been tailored specifically for low-end machines and computers with old or semi-old hardware components.

Distributed as a 64-bit Live DVD

Despite the fact that it uses a lightweight desktop environment, the Xfce edition of Black Lab Linux is distributed as a Live DVD ISO image that contains software packages optimized only for 64-bit (x86_64) computers.

To use the ISO image and boot the operating system in live mode, you must first download it from Softoware using the download button above, save the file on your computer and burn it onto a DVD disc using any CD/DVD burning software or write it to a USB thumb drive of 2GB or higher capacity using the UNetbootin or GNOME Disks applications.

Boot options

The Live DVD boot menu is standard, identical in look and functionality with the one of the main Black Lab Linux edition. With it, users will have access to the live environment, which can be started with default settings or in safe graphics mode, to a memory test, to an existing operating system that is installed on the local disk drive, as well as to the graphical installer.

Xfce looks amazing in Black Lab Linux

Apparently, Xfce has been highly customized in this edition of Black Lab Linux, as it presents uses with a modern layout that comprises of a single panel located on the bottom edge of the screen. The panel is semi-transparent, includes the main menu, various application shortcuts, a taskbar and system tray area applets.

Default applications

Default applications include the App Grid package manager, AbiWord word processor, GnuCash finance manager, Gnumeric spreadsheet editor, Audacious audio player, Audacity audio editor, gMTP mobile device manager, Mixxx music creation application, Spotify client, VLC Media Player, Xfburn CD/DVD burning software, Mozilla Firefox web browser and Dropbox client.

In addition, the Pidgin instant messenger, Steam for Linux, Mozilla Thunderbird email and news client, Transmission torrent downloader, XChat IRC client, Blender 3D modeller, GIMP image editor, Shotwell image viewer and organizer, Inkscape vector graphics editor, Scribus desktop publishing tool, Simple Scan image scanner, as well as various games and utilities are also included.

What is new in this release:

• Real-time kernel
• Professional Audio and video editing
• TV and Radio station automation
• Mixxx DJ Console

What is new in version 2015.10 RC4:

• Release Candidate 4 is a major bug and application fix that plagued users of the RC2 and RC3 series. With that we also have some changes that came along and landed in RC4. Some visual changes and some application changes.
• We are testing some browsers so we have included Seamonkey 2.38 and Opera 34. We have also upgraded the kernel to 3.19.0-51. And have applied all system updates up to Friday Oct 23 2015.
• We also resolved several issues:
• HDMI mirroring is now fixed
• Our remaining wireless networking issues are now resolved
• 2007 Macbook wireless drivers now included by default and working
• Unable to create bootable media with ISO fixed
• Virtual Machine compatibility improved
• Dropbox daemon issue fixed
• MTP volume mounting fixed

What is new in version 2015.10 RC1:

• Freezing on a system with an NVIDIA card. - FIXED
• Lag in wireless keyboard and mouse input. - FIXED
• Youtube black screens with Firefox 41. - FIXED
• Network manager crash - FIXED
• .MKV playback crashes Parole - FIXED
• Lenovo ThinkCentre M52 XFCE crash - FIXED
• Kernel 3.16.0-50
• Kernel 3.19.0-30
• Firefox 41
• LibreOffice 5.0.2.2
• Audacious 3.6.2
• Thunderbird 38.2.0

What is new in version 2015.9 Beta:

• kernel 3.19
• LibreOffice 5
• Tracker
• Tracker GUI
• GNOME-Documents
• GCC 5
• Fixed: Wireless dropping in and out
• Fixed: Boot manager installation on UEFI systems
• Fixed: HTML5 Black Screen in Firefox
• Fixed: 32 bit libraries will now install automatically when installing WINE and Skype

What is new in version 2015.7:

• XFCE 4.12
• Kernel 3.16.0-43
• Ubuntu Compatible Kernel 3.19
• Mainstream Kernel 4.0 available via an install script
• GCC 4.9.2
• Firefox 39
• Thunderbird with Lightning Extension 31.7
• LibreOffice 4
• Steam Client
• Shotwell
• GNU Image Manipulation Program
• Inkscape
• Ristretto
• Audacity
• gMTP

What is new in version 2015.6:

• GNOME 3.10.4
• Kernel 3.16.0-40
• Ubuntu Compatible Kernel 3.13.0-53
• Mainstream Kernel 4.0 available via an install script
• GCC 4.9.2
• Firefox 38
• Thunderbird with Lightning Extension 31.7
• Abiword 3.0
• Gnumeric 1.12
• Steam Client
• Shotwell
• Pinta Image Manipulation

What is new in version 6.5:

• GNOME 3.10.4
• XFCE 4.12
• Kernel 3.13 LTS Compatible
• Kernel 3.16.0-31 Default Boot kernel
• VLC 2.2
• Firefox 36
• Thunderbird 31.5
• Rhythmbox 3.1
• FFmpeg 2.6
• Google Chrome 41
• exFAT support
• UEFI Secureboot support

What is new in version 6.0 SR1.1:

• Heavily customized XFCE 4.11.4 Desktop
• Firefox 35
• Thunderbird 31.4 Released on January 19, 2015
• GTK 3.14
• Font Manager
• Fogger for Web Apps
• Updated Dropbox
• Updated Steam client
• Black Lab Visual Subsystem 8
• Linux Kernel 3.13.44
• Install Script for 3.18.3