ZevenOS is a free and open-source operating system with a focus on providing users with a low on resources and easy-to-use distribution of Linux that features a BeOS-like graphical interface and support for old hardware components. It is derived from the world’s most popular free OS, Ubuntu.
The dual-arch Live CD supports mainstream architectures
This Ubuntu-based distro is available for download as a single, dual-arch Live CD ISO image that has been designed from the ground up to be used as-is directly from the bootable medium (CD or USB) or installed on both 32-bit and 64-bit computers.
Boot prompt à la Ubuntu Linux
The boot prompt is identical in functionality with the one from the Ubuntu Linux distribution, which means that it will automatically start the live system in approximately seven seconds from the moment the user boot the ISO image from the BIOS of a PC using either a CD disc or a USB thumb drive.
Then, the user will be asked to choose between the live mode or the installation mode. Please note that if you press any key on your keyboard during the 7-second timeout, you will be able to change the language for the live system and access all the boot options, such as the ability to run a memory test or boot from the local drive.
BeOS-like graphical desktop environment powered by Xfce
We hate to ruin the surprise, but the default desktop environment of ZevenOS is Xfce, which has been highly customized to look and act like a genuine BeOS interface.
It features no panels or docks, but only a system tray area that also acts as a task manager on the upper right side of the screen and a multifunctional right-click context menu from where the user can also navigate the main menu and launch applications.
Includes a great selection of open source applications
As expected, the distro includes only lightweight applications. Among some of the most important ones, we can mention Geany IDE, Shotwell image viewer and organizer, GIMP image editor, Claws Mail email client, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Pidgin multi-protocol instant messenger and DeaDBeeF audio player.
Additionally, the Liferea news reader, GNOME MPlayer video player, Transmission torrent downloader, AbiWord word processor, Gnumeric spreadsheet editor, Thunar file manager, Inkscape vector graphics editor, XChat IRC client, Brasero CD/DVD burning software, Audacity audio editor and Synaptic Package Manager are also installed.
Bottom line
Summing up, we strongly recommend to use the ZevenOS Linux distribution on a low-end machine or a computer with old or semi-old hardware components.
What is new in this release:
- Deskbar replaced by xfce4-panel ‘deskbar' mode (old Deskbar still available via repository)
- new Ubuntu 14.04 base
- OpenShot 1.4.3 with Youtube Upload support and a lot more features
- Abiword 3.0.0
- Audacity 2.0.5
- Claws-Mail 3.9.3
- Firefox 34
- Gimp 2.8.10
- Inkscape 0.48.4
- Thunar 1.6.3
- Updated Icon and GTK-Theme
- ZRAM enabled by default
- Sysctl Tweaks for better responsiveness
- Updated scripts to include btrfs-snapshot.sh script from Neptune
What is new in version 5.0:
- Deskbar replaced by xfce4-panel ‘deskbar' mode (old Deskbar still available via repository)
- new Ubuntu 12.10 base
- OpenShot 1.4.3 with Youtube Upload support and a lot more features
- Abiword 2.9.2 the current edge of development
- Audacity 2.0
- Claws-Mail 3.8.1
- Firefox 17
- Gimp 2.8
- Inkscape 0.48
- Thunar 1.5.3 - Finally with tab support and categorized side panel
- Updated Icon and GTK-Theme
What is new in version 3.0:
- This release comes with a couple of changes and new features.
- We updated the Kernel to version 2.6.38.3 which comes with neat little features like better hardware support for wireless and the famous cgroups patch which brings more speed under heavy load. The underlying Debian Squeeze system was upgraded to Debian Testing (alias Wheezy) which will provide newer applications through the lifecycle of Neptune 1.9.9.
- KDE SC 4.6.2 makes it debut in ZevenOS-Neptune 1.9.9 with lots of updates and the typical Neptune look & feel and a new default font, the Ubuntu Font.
- For the sake of consistency we replaced Synaptic & Software Center with its KDE/QT based counterparts Muon & Kpackagekit.
- Libreoffice replaces OpenOffice.org and the contact management software people was upgraded to version 0.3 which brings better vcard support and a new layout.
- With Snapshot Manager we introduce a new cool feature which allows you to easily customize your live system and save the customization to a file that you can share with your friends & colleagues.
- The Harddisk Installer has been rewritten and allows you to install ZevenOS-Neptune 1.9.9 faster than ever.
What is new in version 3.0:
- This version is based on Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat (10.10) and has a bunch of new features and changes.
- The base system was updated to Kernel 2.6.35 which brings a bunch of new drivers. The biggest change here is the switch from the Nvidia OpenSource driver nv to nouveau. Besides that there are a lot of updated and refreshed wireless drivers on board.
- Besides that ZevenOS 3.0 also has a lot of new stuff in the Desktop area.
- Thunar has gained a new contextsensitive entry to convert images.
- The deskbar was updated to have a freedesktop.org compliant dynamic menu which is editable with standard tools just like alacarte. Besides that the deskbar gained a lot of contextual menus which allow you to have access to commonly used actions, like change time & date or mute the volume. The quicklaunch items now also have a context menu which allows you to quickly access files & folder bookmarks, webbrowser bookmarks mediaplayer actions and e-mail creation. The deskbar also gained a speed and ressource improvement.
- The Video encoding application Encode was updated to intelligently choose the right audio and video codec for the selected container format. Added was also the option for multithreading which will allow for great speed improvements on multicore CPUs.
- 2 Pass has been added aswell as the new WebM and MKV container format. With it comes also the support for VP8 Video encoding.
- To configure your system ZevenOS 3.0 now uses its MAGI tool to have a centralized global configuration tool . So MAGI 2 now is only an application launcher .
- Besides those improvements ZevenOS 3.0 also brings new default installed software for various tasks. The biggest changes are in the multimedia sector. Parole is now the default videoplayer and way faster than totem. Videoediting is now done with OpenShot which has a lot more features than avidemux. OpenShot allows you to create very easily good and professional looking videos.
- To manage music we included Deadbeef as an very fast and less ressource intensive application than Rhythmbox. It allows you to manage music, play it back and even has a build in equalizer with foobar2k support aswell as a plugin interface.
- When it comes to images and storing them we switched from the not so userfriendly Gthumb to Shotwell which offers a great user interface and easy image editing features .The Zeebar which was included from ZevenOS since version 1.0 was replaced by docky. Docky requires Compositing features which means we also developed an easy compositing manager which allows you to turn compositing on. Docky offers Drag'n Drop support aswell as theming support. ZevenOS 3.0 now also ships with a graphical proxy configuration tool.
- Firefox still is the default browser for surfing the net and Claws-Mail is still our default mail client. Abiword and Gnumeric take care of the office business you might have.If you don't like our software choices you have the option to install your favorite tool or search for a new tool in the new Software-Center.
- ZevenOS 3.0 comes with a new Haiku-like Design with our slightly updated Icon-Theme. The desktop is based upon the newest XFCE 4.6.1 aswell as the windowmanager Sawfish which comes in the newest version 1.7.1.
- One of the main features for the third release is the updated ZevenOS Repository which allows you now to install the zevenos-desktop right from an already installed Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu or Lubuntu. The upgrade from ZevenOS 2.0 to ZevenOS 3.0 is also supported.
What is new in version 1.1:
- It includes many new and updated features. We switched the base system to Ubuntu 8.10, including Linux kernel 2.6.27 and X.Org 7.4. That results in many new drivers and better netbook support. We updated our applications, MAGI 2 and Deskbar, to get a better user experience. Deskbar now includes a task switcher and MAGI 2 has MeCoI integrated. All in all, the system is much more reliable and still offers the best BeOS experience in the Linux world.
What is new in version 1.0:
- added new Dark Theme
- added Low Level Desktop (uses PCManFM and LXPanel instead of XfDesktop[Thunar] and Xfce-Panel)
- added new static deskbar menu
- added german translation for catfish
- bugfixed menu localization in Deskbar
- making JFS the default filesystem
- fixed permission errors after install in /etc/sudoers
- added SuM and BuM
- removed Streamtuner and Ristretto
- improved MAGI 2 visual appearance
- added advanced configuration in MAGI 2
- added Wmconfig (MAGI 2)
- added new Zeven (Zetaish) GTK-Theme
- added Darklooks GTK-Theme
- improved Peopleedit (mainly bugfixes)
- added 2 new Sawfish themes to fit the new Dark Look
- updated some icons
- cleaned up the menu
- updated YAVTD to use the newest clive (mp4 HQ Download)
- added zenity support in YAVTD (graphical progressbar instead of console output)
- fixed fonts in Fwizard
- fixed positioning of Deskbar after Screen resize
- fixed Time and Date functions in Deskbar
- fixed fonts in MAGI
- set Firefox as the default browser (removed epiphany-browser)
- added quodlibets-plugins (LastFM, CD,Lyrics ....)
- updated Deskbar visual appearance
- added 'Integrate to Panel' Mode into Deskbar
- updated Kernel to 2.6.24-19 (Ubuntu Hardy)
- updated DiskManager
- updated Usplash Bootscreen
- updated MAGI 2, usage of gnome-display properties as default
- updated Flash Plugin
- updated autostart system (adding or removing apps is now easy as pie)
- added graphical Proxy Configuration
- added scripts to switch between low and standard desktop
- added scripts to switch between light and dark theme
- updated cpufreq-gui to work with more then 1 CPU
- fixed pulse
- overall system clean up
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