Calculate Linux 12 Alpha

Since May, 25, all our Stage images include the Alpha version of the new graphical installer: just click on the corresponding icon on your desktop to launch it. Though the numbering has not changed and the installer visually appears the same, these may be considered CL 12 alphas.

Click here to read more on the new GUI installer. Stay assured that we’ll be posting on the new utilities next.

If you wish to, you can install from the command line: our console Calculate Utilities are available from the main menu as well. Note that you can now install on several storage media simultaneously, let’s say on your hard disk and on an USB-Flash. Calculate Install 3 has been featured as a multi-installer indeed!

LXDM will replace GDM

As we’re currently optimizing the new XFCE 4.10 and CLDX in general, we believe it will be better to login in with LXDM, not GDM. There are many reasons for it: LXDM has all the functionality while being more lightweight; it has no Gnome dependencies; GDM 2 might be unsupported soon...

Calculate Utilities 3 Alpha 5

CU Alpha has been available in Portage for some time already. The Beta version will be following, which will support the local system setup. I shouldn’t actually say local, because the graphical console not only manages the local host, but fully supports remote computers as well.

Besides, we have been working on the regular text console for Calculate Utilities, cl-console. Once this is done, cl-install, cl-setup, etc, will be made available. Just like its graphical counterpart, it will be operational with remote hosts, too.

Updating with Calculate Utilities is planned for the final release. For more simplicity, it will support only the basic update procedures at first, which means installing packages from binary repos; custom USE flags will be ignored. We’re doing this, because we want some of our users to be able to upgrade more easily and others to enjoy full functionality when managing remote hosts.

We are aware we’ve kept you waiting, but we hope you will like Calculate Linux 12 once it has been released.
The new server utilities, though, will not be available before CL 13. Calculate Directory Server will finally get a GUI for settings.

If you are a developer yourself, feel free to join the project’s team All of the Calculate Utilities will support the API that will be made public on our site. The original CU have been written in Qt, but the API could be used to develop a graphical interface for Gtk, for Ncurses, for Web, for Android/iPhone etc.

Will be desktop edition somehow similar to Sabayon:
easy install and upgrade with portage (of course with only free and open source packages)?
I haven't got great luck with sabayon's porthole, seemed to me like an alpha package manager.. (won't work well for a newbie)

We'll continue using Portage and emerge anything: some people find it somewhat inconvenient, I don't know if this is your case But the binary repo and fetching from Git make it faster. You can still apply USE flags, though, if you want to configure your packages.

But all Calculate Utilities will get a GUI, little by little.