[Bio-Linux] Bio-Linux 5.0 pre-release announcement

[Stewart Houten]

Dear all,

We will be releasing Bio-Linux 5.0 on the 1st December and would like
to invite members of this list to download and try a pre-release
version in advance of this.  A number of you have already contributed
to the development process by testing earlier beta versions and have
provided constructive feedback and suggestions so far, for which we
are very grateful.

If you would like to get BL5 now and have access to a DVD writer, then
please download the iso image from below and try it out.

The DVD image can be downloaded from:
http://nebc.nox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/download_register/register.cgi?a=bio-linux5

We would welcome you to try it out running live or as a full
installation, either as a single system or as dual-boot.  Of course,
we suggest that people make full backups of their current system
before doing this.  We will be publishing full installation
instructions shortly but a detailed guide on creating backups can be
found here:
http://nebc.nox.ac.uk/envgen/software/archives/000501.html

A draft userguide is available from:
http://nebc.nox.ac.uk/envgen/software/archives/000589.html

We are keen to hear about your first impressions on any aspect of the
new system. For example, Do you like the new desktop?  Does the system
run well on your hardware?  Can you find the tools you need?  If you
have the time to look at the userguide, is there information that you
feel is missing?

More information about Bio-Linux 5.0 is below, but please contact us
if you have any questions or comments.

Regards,
The NEBC Team


Bio-Linux 5.0 is based on Ubuntu 8.04 (LTS) and the Gnome
desktop. While the Gnome desktop looks a little different to KDE, we
hope that the usability and friendly design will be easy to appreciate
and quick to adapt to.

In contrast to earlier versions of Bio-Linux, the full Bio-Linux 5.0
system can be installed or run as a Live system from the DVD image.
This removes the need for a fixed IP address, network installation and
the previous constraints on hardware types. We envision the Live
system will find frequent use in teaching courses, demonstrations, or
just working when out of the lab.

Of course, in Bio-Linux 5.0 we have retained the added value features
of the previous versions. So you will find it comes with databases
(PostgreSQL and MySQL), a preconfigured firewall, development tools,
nightly software updates, disaster-recovery backup and the 60+
bioinformatics packages in our software repository.