Foresight GNOME Edition is a Linux distribution for your desktop that features a rolling update schedule that always keeps your desktop up to date; a revolutionary package manager, Conary; the latest GNOME desktop environment and an innovative set of excellent, up to date software applications. We hope you enjoy using Foresight as much as we do. Because your desktop should be cool!

What’s new

Foresight 2.1.2, released Sept. 2nd, 2009 is a maintenance release only, whose contents are available in advance for current Foresight Linux users. It features the latest stable GNOME desktop release, a new kernel, and Xorg improvements.

GNOME 2.26.3

Foresight features the latest GNOME release, GNOME 2.26.3, a bugfix release which features improvements to file sharing, better support for multiple monitors and projectors, integration with fingerprint readers and many more updates. For more information, visit http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.26/.

Updated multimedia codecs

Our entire multimedia codecs stack has been updated and is now maintained to follow the latest and most advanced features offered by the multimedia open source world, all thanks to our new contributor Thijs Vermeir!

Kernel 2.6.30.5

Foresight includes an updated Linux kernel, 2.6.30.5, which includes some important security fixes, improves support for KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) for integrated Intel graphics adapters (found in many laptops), and has updated support of the ext4 filesystem, which now handles power failure or system failure more gracefully than previous versions. For more information, check out http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_30

Xorg Improvements

An up to date Xorg (7.4) stack is included in Foresight 2.1.2. Users should find better video hardware support for video cards, monitors and Compiz. ATI and Nvidia users can also choose to use the latest versions of the closed source drivers of those vendors.

Other Packages

OpenOffice.org has been updated to go-oo 3.1.1. Chromium and Cinelerra have been added. Firefox has been updated from 3.0.11 to 3.5.2.  Wine was updated from 1.1.21 to 1.1.27.  Calibre was updated from 0.5.13 to 0.6.3.  Too many more to list!

Last but not least, Conary has been updated from 2.0.39 to 2.0.46, which among other things significantly improves system update speed, bringing you this update that much faster.

Downloading and Installing

Foresight 2.1.2 GNOME Edition installation media will be available shortly for download on one DVD at http://www.foresightlinux.org/foresight-gnome/, in x86 and x86_64 editions.  A single CD, Foresight GNOME Lite, will be available for download at http://www.foresightlinux.org/foresight-gnome-lite/.

Credits

As in all of our previous releases, we'd like to acknowledge the hard work done by our awesome community of developers, contributors and users who made this release possible. A special thank you to the following individuals who, in many cases single-handedly, stepped up to the plate and helped us get things done: Martin Bähr, Tomas Forsman, Alexandre Franke, Mihai Ibanescu, Michael K. Johnson, António Meireles, Rune Morling, Paul Scott-Wilson, Zhang Sen, Michael Tharp, Thijs Vermeir, Pavel Volkovitskiy and all the other usual suspects!

Thank you for using Foresight - Because your desktop should be cool!.