[Consortium] Press Release - 64 Studio 1.4.0 'Ariadne' released!

[Daniel James]

The Internet, 22nd May, 2007

64 Studio is a GNU/Linux distribution tailor-made for digital content 
creation, including audio, video, graphics and publishing tools. A remix 
of Debian testing, it comes in both AMD64/Intel64 and 32-bit flavours, 
to run on nearly all PC hardware.

Our latest development version (1.4.0) is the first release candidate 
for the forthcoming 64 Studio 2.0, which will retain compatibility with 
Debian Etch to create a long-lived and stable creative desktop.

Known bugs in 1.4.0 include:

* Ktoon requires rebuilding with an old version of Qt. Without this, it 
will crash on start-up

* Inkscape cannot print unless the cupsys-bsd package is installed

* Hydrogen crashes if the user activates an empty instrument channel

This release is named after the song by Ian Carr's Nucleus on their 1973 
album Labyrinth, featuring the vocal talents of the great Norma Winstone.

Please note that if you want a stable install of 64 Studio, you should 
stick to version 1.0 for now, as that release has been more thoroughly 
tested.

The changelog is available here:

http://cdd.64studio.com/releases/64studio/ChangeLog-1.4.0

and DVD-R ISO images for amd64 and i386 here:

http://cdd.64studio.com/releases/64studio/64studio_1.4.0_amd64.iso (770MB)
http://cdd.64studio.com/releases/64studio/64studio_1.4.0_i386.iso (739MB)

You can also upgrade from a 1.0 install, or from previous testing 
releases, using our testing APT repository:

deb http://apt.64studio.com/64studio/testing 64studio main

and running apt-get update, apt-get dist-upgrade, or pressing the 'Mark 
all upgrades' then 'Apply' buttons in the Synaptic package manager. To 
avoid system breakage, please comment out or uncheck any third-party 
repositories (for example an official Debian one) first, as these might 
interfere with the upgrade procedure.

Installation

The DVD image will install Debian with X.org, the Gnome 2.14 desktop, 
Linux kernel 2.6.19 with realtime preemption patches (supporting both 
single-core and SMP systems) and a selection of creative applications, 
as well as the internet and office tools a creative user is likely to 
need for their daily work. Adding favourite packages from Debian is as 
easy as apt-get, or a few clicks in Synaptic.

Please note that these releases are free software, and come with no 
warranty. However, the software does actually install and run on the 
project's dual processor Opteron, dual core Athlon 64 and single core 
Turion test hardware, and is already in daily use by many of the 
project's testers. The 32-bit version has been tested on a variety of 
older PC hardware, including a Via C3 and a dual Pentium Pro, but the 
project suggests a faster processor and at least 512MB RAM to take full 
advantage of the distribution's features.

If you would like to send feedback or make a suggestion for improvement, 
please subscribe to the 64studio-devel mailing list: 
http://lists.64studio.com/mailman/listinfo/64studio-devel

For other communication, please have a look at the contacts page on 
http://www.64studio.com/ or see the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Community and business model

Developers and users who are interested in getting involved with the 64 
Studio project are most welcome. The aim of the project is to create a 
distribution with full (but completely optional) commercial support, 
which will generate revenue to pay free software developers. The 64 
Studio Ltd. company, which supports the free software project, is also 
producing custom distributions for commercial partners with Linux-based 
audio products.

Press contacts

64 Studio project director Daniel James and lead developer Free 
Ekanayaka are available for interview by email or phone. Please contact 
daniel at 64studio dot com for any enquiries. A screenshot of the 
distribution is available at http://64studio.com/

ends