Gentoo Linux 12.1 LiveDVD arrives

The Gentoo project has announced the availability of a LiveDVD edition of version 12.1 of its Linux distribution. While it was published on April Fools' Day, the developers note that the new release is "100% real" but that it also includes "an extra feature" when running 12.1 LiveDVD on 1 April. That extra feature is a Gentoo installer, billed as the "most intelligent Gentoo Install Wizard yet" which sends users to the help pages on the project's web site. Gentoo is known for requiring users to install it from the command line and does not actually come with an installer.

The Gentoo Linux 12.1 LiveDVD is based on the Linux 3.3 kernel, and offers a choice of desktop environments and window managers, including KDE SC 4.8.1, GNOME 3.2.1 and Xfce 4.8, as well as Fluxbox 1.3.2. A persistent home directory is now available and support for the ZFS filesystem has been added using the ZFS on Linux port. New and upgraded packages include the Firefox 11 web browser, LibreOffice 3.5.1, GIMP 2.6.12, Blender 2.60, version 2.5 of the Amarok music player, VLC Media Player 2.0.1 and X Server 1.12.

More details about the Gentoo Linux 12.1 LiveDVD release, including download links, can be found in the official release announcement – at the time of writing, the project's download page still shows version 12.0 as the current release. Gentoo is a rolling release distribution, meaning that its software is continuously updated. The project's releases, such as the LiveDVD, provide a snapshot of its current state of development and can serve as a basis for new Gentoo installations.

See also:

• Digging deeper with Gentoo Linux, a feature from The H.

(crve)