Quirky Xerus x86_64 8.1.6 released

This release of Quirky is codenamed "Xerus" and is built from Ubuntu 16.04 x86_64 binary packages.

The background, announcement and release notes are here:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.6/release-xerus64-8.1.6.htm

A very brief announcement blurb:

Quirky Linux 8.1.6 x86_64 is codenamed "Xerus" and is built using the woofQ Quirky Linux build system, with the help of Ubuntu 16.04 binary packages. Thus, Xerus has compatibility with all of the Ubuntu repositories.
The Linux kernel is version 4.4.40 and SeaMonkey is upgraded to version 2.46.
Quirky is a fork of Puppy Linux, and is mainly differentiated by being a "full installation" only, with special snapshot and recovery features, and Service Pack upgrades.

Instructions to install are here:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.6/howto-install.htm

Quoting from the above link:

Quirky is provided as a 8GB USB Flash stick image, or for an SD-card. This file may be written to an 8GB or greater Flash stick. In the latter case, at first bootup there will be an offer to increase the filesystem to fill the drive.

Very easy install instructions for Windows users. The above link explains how to install from the commandline in Linux, though I intend to develop a simple GUI.

For those who still want one, there is also a live-CD ISO file.

Download
The primary download host is Ibiblio:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.6/

There are faster mirrors, such as NLUUG:
http://ftp.nluug.nl/ftp/pub/os/Linux/distr/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.6/

You will notice that the Flash-stick image file is 502MB, whereas the ISO file is 398MB. The reason it is so large (by Puppy standards) is because it is gzip compressed. The same file xz-compressed is only 333MB.
Gzip compression is used as that is understood by many Windows image-writer applications. The *.img.gz file is very easy to install for Windows users.

The live-CD ISO is 398MB. It is smaller because internally it uses xz compression.

Setup notes
Please do think about the security of your Quirky. When QuickSetup is running, you will see a button to manage daemons. You can also run this from the menu, System -> Bootmanager -> Manage system services.
I recommend disable all daemons that you don't immediately need.
Also, tick the checkbox for a firewall. Leave the firewall at defaults to block all ports.

You might find that the keyboard layout choices in QuickSetup don't quite meet your country/language/region requirements. Never mind, make the best choice, then later click the "setup" icon on the desktop, and you will find an "Advanced Xorg keyboard configurator", to fine-tune the keyboard localization.

Issues
There are some known issues.

1. There is Bluetooth support, but it needs work.
2. SeaMonkey has a few problems. It is stuck on DuckDuckGo for starters.
3. CLI VLC only. A full GUI video player needs to be installed.

Regarding SeaMonkey, it is version 2.46. The SM developers released 2.40 in March 2016, then nothing until 2.46 was released at the end of December 2016. Perhaps they were under pressure to get something out. Whatever, 2.46 has some issues, mostly annoyances.

Choice of video player is left up to the user for now. Here are instructions on how to install Xine or VLC:
http://bkhome.org/news/201701/xine-or-vlc-for-xerus64.html

Feedback is invited to choose the "best" and hopefully small, video player for inclusion in the next minor-point release.

Forum thread for feedback:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=106460&start=360

Tags: quirky, linux