The 4MLinux project has announced the stable release of its 45.0 series (download here), delivering a ton of updates and new features. This lightweight Linux distribution continues to offer a quality experience for both desktop and server environments.
In this latest release, users can edit documents with the updated LibreOffice 24.2.1 and GNOME Office suite, including AbiWord 3.0.5, GIMP 2.10.36, and Gnumeric 1.12.56. Web browsing is covered with the latest versions of Firefox 123.0.1 and Chrome 122.0.6261.128, while Thunderbird 115.8.1 caters to email needs.
Multimedia enthusiasts will appreciate the inclusion of Audacious 4.3.1 for music playback and VLC 3.0.20 and SMPlayer 23.12.0 for video viewing. The distribution also supports gaming with Mesa 23.3.0 and Wine 9.2.
For server purposes, the 4MLinux LAMP Server has been updated to include Linux 6.6.18, Apache 2.4.58, MariaDB 10.6.16, and PHP 8.2.16. Additionally, the distribution offers Perl 5.38.2, Python 2.7.18, Python 3.11.6, and Ruby 3.2.2 for programming and scripting needs.
The 45.0 series introduces several new features to enhance the user experience. Notably, the addition of numerous printing drivers expands support for various hardware. FFmpeg, a key multimedia library in 4MLinux, now boasts improved video scaling capabilities through the zimg library. It also, along with MPlayer, utilizes the Bauer stereophonic-to-binaural DSP effect library (libbs2b) for better stereo audio handling.
Gamers will be pleased to find the classic CHAMP Kong game added to the 4MLinux DOSBox package. For web browsing, the Basilisk browser is now available as a downloadable extension. Lastly, a system-wide upgrade to OpenSSL version 3 ensures enhanced security across the distribution.