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newsQuirky Xerus64 8.1.94 released
July 14, 2017 —
BarryK
This is a beta release, the final will be version 8.2. The previous release of Quirky Xerus64, for PCs with 64-bit CPUs, was version 8.1.6, in January 2017.
Since then, I have mostly been working on other things, such as the experimental container-friendly Easy Linux.
I have, however, been aware of outstanding issues with 8.1.6. After deciding recently to work on a new version of the Quirky Xerus series, many things have been upgraded and fixed.
In particular, I found that the overlay filesystem is broken -- all prior releases use aufs, but for 8.1.6 and other builds around that time and since then, have used overlay filesystem, also known as "overlayfs".
Actually, I was not aware of the problems with overlayfs, as I use Quirky on a daily basis as a full installation, which does not use an overlay filesystem. In Quicky, only the live-CD and frugal installs use an overlay f.s.
Quirky Xerus 8.1.94 has returned to aufs, and it "just works".
There is a brand new theme, here is a snapshot:
I tested a selection of videos, comparing VLC and Xine, and found the latter to perform better. For example, Big Buck Bunny at 2160p had missed frames and disintegration, whereas Xine played it perfectly. So, 8.1.94 has Xine-UI for multimedia.
There are two options to download, an ISO live-CD, and an image for a 8GB (or bigger) USB Flash stick.
Download from here:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.94/
Instructions for installing:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.94/howto-install.htm
The devx and kernel-source PETs (334M, 146M):
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/packages/pet_packages-xerus/devx-8.1.94-xerus64.pet
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/packages/pet_packages-xerus/kernel_src-4.11.9-patched_aufs.pet
Feedback is welcome at the Puppy Forum:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=960496#960496
Comments
Here is a fast mirror, in the Netherlands:https://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/quirky/quirky6/amd64/releases/xerus-8.1.94/