RhinoLINUX KDE Edition

RhinoLINUX KDE Edition is an open source distribution of Linux based on the world's most popular free operating system, Ubuntu Linux, and built around the KDE Plasma Workspace and Applications desktop environment.

Distributed as a dual-arch Live DVD

The distribution is available for download as a single, dual-arch Live DVD ISO image of approximately 2GB in size, which means that the user must burn it onto a DVD disc or write it to a USB thumb drive of 2GB or higher capacity in order to boot it from the BIOS of a PC. It supports both 64-bit and 32-bit hardware platforms.

It provides users with a standard boot loader from where they can start the live environment with default options or in safe graphics mode, by using the VESA framebuffer, boot an existing operating system from the first drive, perform a system memory diagnostic test, as welll as to check the DVD for defects.

Custom KDE desktop environment with top-notch apps

As its name suggests, RhinoLINUX KDE Edition uses the KDE Plasma Workspaces and Applications project as its default and only desktop environment, customized with beautiful artwork and comprised of a single taskbar and a standard desktop interface (without widgets).

Default applications include the FileZilla file transfer client, Mozilla Firefox, Konqueror and Google Chrome web browsers, Drivel journal Editor, KMail email client, KVpnc VPN client, KPPP Internet dial-up tool, KTorrent torrent downloader, GIMP image editor, and digiKam photo management software.

Furthermore, the AcidRip DVD-Video ripper, DVD95 Converter, DVD Styler DVD-Video authoring software, ISO Master CD image editor and burner, Amarok audio plauer, Kaffeine media player, DeVeDe DVD-Video creator, K3b CD/DVD/BD burning utility, VLC Media Player, and LibreOffice office suite are also installed.

Bottom line

Summing up, the KDE edition of RhinoLINUX proves to be a stable and reliable operating system that uses the latest Ubuntu and KDE technologies, all in order to provide users with a modern, familiar and productive desktop oriented distribution of Linux.

What is new in this release:

• Kubuntu 13.10 'Saucy Salamander'
• Linux Mint 16 'Petra'
• Linux 3.11 (custom-tuned)
• K Desktop Environment 4.11
• WHATS NEW:
• KDE Desktop
• The battery widget now supports keyboard brightness and can deal with multiple batteries in peripheral devices, such as your wireless mouse and keyboard.
• The Kickoff menu now shows recently installed applications for a few days.
• Notification popups now feature a configure button to easily change settings for a particular type of notifications.
• The KMix sound mixer received full media player control support based on the MPRIS2 standard.
• The KWin window manager features better multi-screen awareness (including an edge glow option for 'hot corners') and improved quick tiling (with configurable tiling areas).
• The monitor configuration in System Settings was replaced with the new KScreen tool. KScreen brings more intelligent multi-monitor support, automatically configuring new screens and remembering settings for monitors manually configured. It sports an intuitive, visually-oriented interface and handles re-arranging monitors through simple drag and drop.
• The Dolphin file manager brings many small fixes and optimizations. Loading large folders is faster and requires up to 30% less memory. Heavy disk and CPU activity is prevented by only loading previews around the visible items.
• The Nepomuk semantic storage and search engine received massive performance improvements, such as a set of read optimizations that make reading data up to six times faster.
• SAMBA MOUNTER:
• A new tool called Samba Mounter haa been bundled to assist with sharing files using Samba/Windows shares
• MDM Login:
• MDM received the following improvements...
• Drastic speed improvements and an easier codebase to facilitate maintenance, bug fixing and innovation (niche features and some 24,500 lines of codewere removed)
• A streamlined user interface which focuses on important features
• The ability for the last logged-in user to simply log in by entering his/her password
• Num-Lock support
• New theme techniques were also implemented and featured in the default theme. The animated background and the user selection will inspire other artists to create a new generation of MDM themes.
• USB FLASH DRIVE FORMATTER:
• A new tool was developed to easily format USB sticks to NTFS, FAT32 and ext4.
• The new format tool and the USB Image writing tool were integrated with the Dolphin file manager, right click on the objects to get a relevant menu.
• RhinoLINUX 7.0 focuses on the task at hand, it does less and does it better than before. It features many speed and performance improvements:
• The boot and login sequence no longer scan your system for btrfs partitions.
• The MDM display manager no longer listens or communicates over the network.
• The Update Manager is now started with a delay to make it faster for the session to load.
• The Software Manager features significant speed improvements.
• The RhinoLINUX 7.0 ISO images are not as compressed as before. They take more space and are bigger to download but also easier on the system and faster to decompress during the live session.
• Safer kernel updates.
• Faster boot sequence and faster login.
• Better EFI support.
• Better support for Steam and its addition in the repositories and the featured section of the Software Manager.
• Additional private/secure search engines in certain countries.
• APT "recommends" disabled by default.
• Better colors in terminal and the addition of "ll" as an alias to "ls -al".
• Better help support.
• SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS:
• Under the hood, RhinoLINUX 7.0 introduces a lot of improvements!
• FEATURED APPLICATIONS:
• INTERNET: Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Pidgin IM, Teamviewer 9
• GRAPHICS: GIMP,GThumb, Risotto image viewer
• MULTIMEDIA: VLC Media Player. Kaffeine, K3B dvd writing software, DVDstyler, DeVeDe, AcidRip, Handbrake
• SYSTEM TOOLS; Virtualbox, Multisystem USB multiboot USB Creator, RhinoLINUX Software Manager, Unetbootin, Testdisk, Midnight Commander
• OFFICE; LibreOffice 4 with improved MS Office document compatibility
• CROSS-PLATFORM WINDOWS APPLICATION SUPPORT:
• WinE compatibility layer allows one to run up to 95% of Windows applications by simply right-clicking the .exe file and choosing 'Wine Windows Program Loader".

What is new in version 6.0:

• K Desktop Environment 4.10.5
• LibreOffice 4.0
• Firefox Web Browser
• Google Chrome
• VLC Media Player
• Kaffeine
• K3b CD/DVD/Bluray burning tool
• DVD Styler/AcidRip/DVD9 media converters
• VirtualBox
• Multisystem
• Unetbootin
• USB Image Writer
• TestDISK and Midnight Commander
• Remastersys
• Based on Ubuntu 13.04 'Raring Ringtail'
• Based on Linux Mint 15 'Olivia'