Quirky 8.1.5 x86_64 released

My, how time flies! The previous release of Quirky for x86_64 desktop PCs and laptops, was version 8.0, on April 21, 2016:
http://bkhome.org/news/201604/quirky-linux-80-released.html

Since then, some of my time has gone into porting Quirky to the Raspberry Pi2 and Pi3. The most recent release is 8.1.4, on December 13, 2016:
http://bkhome.org/news/201612/quirky-814-for-pi2-and-pi3.html

WoofQ is the build system for building Quirky, and this has undergone significant infrastructure improvements. The release of 8.1.5 for the x86_64 CPU brings these infrastructure improvements, plus some package upgrades. Short announcement blurb:

Quirky Linux 8.1.5 is released for x86_64 CPUs. This is codenamed "Xerus", as it has binary compatibility with Ubuntu 16.04 package repositories. This means that Quirky is able to install DEB packages from these repositories.
Other than that, Quirky is in no way similar to Ubuntu!

8.1.5 has Linux kernel 4.8.8, SeaMonkey 2.40, Libreoffice 5.1.2, and a host of applications to fill every need. As per inheritance from Puppy Linux, Quirky includes the "kitchen sink" in a very small download.

Significant new features for 8.1.5 are mostly in the infrastructure, underlying improvements that you might not immediately notice. There have not been many package upgrades, however one major change is the removal of Abiword and Gnumeric, replaced with Libreoffice.

The full release announcement and notes are here:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.5/xerus-8.1.5-announce.htm
...a bit brief, but I am in "Christmas mode" right now.

Installation
If you already have Quirky 8.0 installed, there is a Service Pack PET to upgrade. Unfortunately, due to the kernel upgrade and change to Libreoffice, this PET is rather big, at 186MB.
There should be an automatic offer to install the Service Pack when you run the Package Manager, or you can probe for new Service Packs via the menu "Filesystem -> Quirky Version Upgrade Manager".
Or, you can download it:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/packages/pet_packages-xerus/service_pack-8.0_TO_8.1.5-xerus64.pet

For everyone else, read these installation instructions:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.5/install-readme.htm

Please try to move on from "legacy" optical media! Read this:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.5/alternatives/alternative-readme.htm

Download
Primary site, courtesy of Ibiblio:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.5/

There are faster mirrors, such as courtesy of NLUUG (at time of writing, 8.1.5 has not yet propagated through):
http://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/

devx
For compiling source packages, you will need this PET (216MB):
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/packages/pet_packages-xerus/devx-8.1.5-xerus64.pet

And if you need the kernel source (140MB):
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/packages/pet_packages-xerus/kernel_src-4.8.8-patched.pet

Feedback
All bug reports and any feedback and discussion, can go here, from page 21:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=106460

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Comments

I have pulled the ISO file off the Internet.

It won't boot, as reported in the forum:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=937171#937171

Quirky itself is OK, and the alternative modes of installation are OK.

Hmmm, I consider ISOs to be legacy format anyway. Perhaps I should just stop offering them.

In Xmas/New-year mode right now, hope to get back to it soon.

Tags: quirky, linux