Welcome to Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 6, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.04." Not much information is available on this release; in fact, both the release announcement and release notes are almost exactly the same as for alpha 5. The only difference is the number of known issues - with alpha 6, two of the seven known issues have been resolved, including the bug where the installer fails to tell the kernel to reload the partition table during partitioning and the OEM configuration failure.

The RC1 release of Mandriva Linux 2009.1 (code name 'pomerol') is now available. This RC1 version provides some updates on major desktop components of the distribution, including KDE 4.2.1, GNOME 2.25.92, Xfce 4.6, X.Org server 1.6, OpenOffice.org 3.0.1 and Qt 4.5.0. It delivers a first glance at 2009.1 design with free wallpapers and provides a way to create a 'One' GNOME hybrid ISO image on a USB key. You will be able to use some very useful tools: HDT (Hardware Detection Tool) - get a complete description of your hardware without booting; Draksnapshot restore tools - restore your full system from a date you choose.

MEPIS LLC has released SimplyMEPIS 8.0, the community edition of MEPIS 8.0. SimplyMEPIS 8.0 uses a Debian 'Lenny stable' foundation enhanced with a long-term support kernel, key package upgrades, and the MEPIS Assistant applications to create an up-to-date, ready-to-use desktop computer system. In addition to Linux kernel 2.6.27.18, MEPIS 8.0 includes many desktop applications, for example KDE 3.5.10, OpenOffice.org 3.0, and Firefox 3.0.6. To support US Government deployment of DNSsec and IPv6, MEPIS 8.0 includes BIND 0.9.6 and IPv6 is enabled out of the box.

Welcome to Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 5, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.04. New features in Jaunty: updated packages; X.Org server 1.6; font size optimization; new style for notifications and notification preferences - included in Jaunty is a simple menu which can be used to set preferences for notification icons, such as where they pop up on the taskbar; Linux kernel 2.6.28; ext4 file system support.

The Debian Project is pleased to announce the official release of Debian GNU/Linux version 5.0 (code-named 'Lenny') after 22 months of constant development. Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system which supports a total of twelve processor architectures and includes the KDE, GNOME, Xfce, and LXDE desktop environments. This release includes numerous updated software packages, such as the K Desktop Environment 3.5.10, an updated version of the GNOME desktop environment 2.22.2, the Xfce 4.4.2 desktop environment, LXDE 0.3.2.1, the GNUstep desktop 7.3, X.Org 7.3, OpenOffice.org 2.4.1, GIMP 2.4.7....

The beta release of Mandriva Linux 2009.1 (code name 'Margaux') is now available. This beta version provides some updates on major desktop components of the distribution, including KDE 4.2.0, GNOME 2.25.90, Xfce 4.6 RC1, X.Org server 1.5, OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, Qt 4.5.0 RC1. This beta version proposes step 1 of Speedboot, which should improve the boot time. It’s not enabled by default, to test it, enter the 'speedboot' keyword at boot time. This release is available as a DVD edition (32-bit or 64-bit) with a traditional installer, two CDs GNOME or KDE with a traditional installer.

Welcome to Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 4, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.04. It includes a number of software updates that are ready for large-scale testing." New features: "Updated packages; the latest X.Org server, version 1.6; font dot-per-inch settings are now optimized based on your monitor's capabilities; new style for notifications and notification preferences; Linux kernel 2.6.28; option of installing on the new ext4 file system, ext3 remains the default.

The Fedora project is proud to present the availability of Fedora 11 (Leonidas) Alpha. The Alpha release provides the first opportunity for the wider community to become involved with testing Fedora 11 by way of Rawhide." Some of the more interesting features of this release include: "Windows Cross Compiler (mingw32-*); ext4 and Btrfs file systems, mew volume control; PackageKit firmware support; GNOME 2.26 development snapshot, KDE 4.2 RC 2 and Xfce 4.6 Beta; NetBeans 6.5, Python 2.6, Git 1.6.1.1.

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS, the second maintenance update to Ubuntu's 8.04 LTS release. This release includes updated server, desktop, and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. In all, over 200 updates have been integrated, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS.

The OpenSolaris 2008.11 operating system is a point of integration for the installation, desktop, and package management system projects on OpenSolaris.org. Today, the OpenSolaris 2008.11 live CD is available with the following feature updates: ZFS Time Slider and Songbird; suspend/resume and CPU power management; Distribution Constructor and Prototype Automated Installer; WebStack with 64-bit MySQL, CherryPy, and DTrace for Ruby; GNOME 2.24, OpenOffice.org 3.0, and Firefox 3; Many F/OSS applications added, including top, sudo and Emacs; 700 additional man pages and Package Manager online help.