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Sidux
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sidux [zi?d?ks] is a desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Debian, which uses the codename Sid. The distribution consists of a Live CD (bootable CD-ROM) for i686 or amd64 architecture and can be installed to a hard drive through a graphical installer.
sidux is maintained by a team of developers including former Kanotix developer Stefan Lippers-Hollmann (slh). Initial administration was managed by The sidux Foundation, Inc. located in the United States. Now the Berlin, Germany based is administering and supporting the project.
Featuressidux puts Debian Sid packages together and adds its own programs. sidux' own repository avoids packages which are currently defective in Debian Sid. The sidux system management program "smxi" also holds sidux fixed packages until a repaired version from Debian appears in Debian Sid.
Live CD - DVD - USBEach sidux release comes as a Live CD or Live DVD, booting to a graphical desktop without installation. On the Live CD an USB installer is provided to create a Live USB system.
InstallerThe graphical installation can be started directly from live-mode.
Installation can not only be done to fixed harddisks, but also to USB connected hard disks and USB flash drives.
UpdatesOnce sidux is installed, it can be kept up-to-date with updates from the Debian Sid and sidux repositories. Due to the fact that these "unstable" software packages could cause an unstable system, a special tool - smxi - has been developed to prevent sidux from getting damaged during updates. The special part of this tool is not only updating parts of the system or all of it, but selectively upgrading on a daily list of upgradable packages. This applies especially to so called dist-upgrades, which not only update the installed programs, but the whole system.
This way it is not necessary to do a reinstallation to have the newest, most up-to-date release.
Support
- The is also a good place for questions and talks, however the reaction time is longer, but it is a good source for searches.
MultilingualThe default language of sidux releases is English, however German localisation is also provided on each release. Selectable at boot prompt. The DVD includes localisations for KDE / XFCE, Iceweasel and Icedove to additional languages, including Dutch, Danish, Spanish, Russian, French, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Japanese and Romanian.
Currently 2008-01-27 the manual is available in 13 languages: DE Deutsch, DA Dansk, EN English, ES Espanol, FR Français, HR Hrvatski, NL Nederlands, PL Polski, PT-br Portuguese-br, RO Român, RU ???????, JA Japanese / Nihongo, IT Italiano.
Packages
sidux comes with a selection of programs, covering system rescue and web surfing.
To mention a few: KDE / XFCE desktop, openoffice, iceweasel, amarok, digikam, gparted, gwenview, k3b, kaffeine, koffice, krita, krusader, sane, vdr, virtualbox, wireless-tools, xawtv, yakuake, ...
The complete package list is available for each release in the download directory, named .manifest.
Releases The releases were usually available in 4 CD versions, however since release 2007-04.5 a fully equipped DVD and two light CDs will be offered [ftp://debian.tu-bs.de/project/sidux/release here].
Since 2008-02 also an ~420 MB large XFCE variant is available.
| Colour | Meaning |
|---|
| Red | Old release; not supported | | Yellow | Old release; still supported | | Green | Current release | | Blue | Future release |
>| Release | Name | Date | Info |
|---|
> 2007-01 | chaos "????" | 22nd February 2007 | | > 2007-02 | tartaros "???ta???" | 28th May 2007 | | > 2007-03 | gaia "Ga?a" | 14th August 2007 | | > 2007-04 | eros "????" | 2007-11-21 | | > 2007-04.5 | eros "????" (Christmas-Special) | 2007-12-26 | | > 2007-04.5 DVD | eros "????" (DVD) | 2007-12-30 | | > 2008-01 | nyx "???" | 2008-04-12 | | > 2008-02 | erebos "??eß??" | 2008-06-25 | | > 2008-03 | ourea "O??ea" | week 25-26 2008 | | > 2008-04 | pontos "???t??" | week 37-38 2008 | | |
Ports As like many other Linux-distributions, sidux has spinoffs, mainly versions of different languages.
Some to be named here:
- celtux - Irish, Irish/Gaeilge localisation
- Deb-on-Air - French localisation
- myrinix - Digital Home Edition
- sid-icewm-edu - educational version
Name The name of the distibution sidux is derived from Debian Sid and the common use of -ux for Unix derivatives. The names of the releases are taken from the Greek mythology.
Writing: sidux is always written in small letters. As well the sidux e.V. is written in small letters, however e.V. is a German abbreviation for "eingetragener Verein" (incorporated society) and must therefore be written with a capital "V".
History Due to incompatible opinions, a group of former Kanotix developers, accompanied by many users, divided from the Kanotix-project to continue the former goal of Kanotix in a new project with a defined declaration.
The sidux project appeared on 2006-11-24, with the goal of providing a hard disk installable Debian Sid-based Live CD distribution.
The first sidux preview appeared on the 2007-01-24 with the finished release appearing on 2007-02-22, codenamed 2007-01 “????"(chaos).
In February 2007 sidux was awarded by DistroWatch with the donation of US$350.
The second sidux Live CD was released on the 2007-05-28, codenamed sidux-2007-02 "???ta???"(tartaros).
During the (an open source fair in Berlin) a special linuxtag-edition was distributed at the shared booth of KDE e.V. and sidux.
On the 2007-05-31 sidux e.V. (foundation) has been officially registered with the German authorities.
On 2007-11-15 was accepted as Non-profit organization by German law, retroactively as of 2007-04-01.
Software sidux releases contain only free software as defined by the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). To aid proof of compliance, a monolithic tarball containing the source for all packages used in the release is provided alongside the Live CD ISOs.
Access to non-free software such as codecs, plugins and wlan firmware can be enabled by configuring contrib and non-free Debian and sidux repositories in /etc/apt/sources.list
In keeping with the evolutionary nature of the "unstable" Debian branch, sidux releases do not provide an upgrade path from previous release versions. Rather, once sidux is installed, incremental updates are performed via regular "dist-upgrades". The idea of a sidux "release" is instead to improve Live CD hardware support, performance, flexibility and reliability, built from the current debian unstable repository.
sidux also provides a "meta-package installer" for installation of related packages for common requirements via a graphical install process. Existing meta-packages include security, graphics, games, educational software and to provide support for older computers.
System recommendationssidux is officially supported for the i686 computer architecture.
AMD K6 and VIA C3 Samuel and Ezra cannot be supported because those don't support the full i686 instruction set (missing CMOV support).
sidux e.V.For permanent support and financing - on 2007-04-01 the non-profit association "sidux e.V." , seated in Berlin, Germany, was founded. Whose constitution, and goals however supersedes the aims of the support and spreading of sidux.
See also
External links
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