Vinux: Latest News

25/08/10 - New Vinux Development and Support Groups:

I have now split the original Vinux Development Forum into two separate groups because of the significant increase in the number of subscribers and posts. The original list has now been renamed 'The Vinux Support Forum' and I have created a new list called 'The Vinux Development Forum'. On the support list, any subscriber can post once their first message has been moderated, while on the development list only authorised developers can post, although anyone can read messages or subscribe to the list.

02/07/10 - Vinux 3.0 'Libre' Edition Released:

I have just uploaded the first 'Libre' edition of Vinux! This is a special version of Vinux 3.0 made for the GNU/FSF which does not contain any non-free software. It is built from Ubuntu using the 'free software only' option and I have removed any non-free packages as well as excluding them from the EasyInstall scripts. It does however use the same standard Ubuntu repositories and the default kernel as the main edition.

21/06/10 - Vinux USB And DVD Final Versions Released:

The final versions of the USB and DVD Editions of Vinux 3.0 are now available for download from the website. There are three different versions of the USB Edition. Two of these are simply images of an installed USB Vinux system taken with 'dd' which can easily be copied to a USB pendrive of an equal or greater size in Linux. The third version is a 'Universal' Edition which can be installed to any USB pendrive of 1GB or greater on Linux or Windows. Full instructions for both of these installation methods will be available soon. The DVD Edition is a slightly modified version of the original Alpha release with a few extra GTK based applications included and without the Firefox Accessibility Plugins, which caused a few stability issues.

15/06/10 - Vinux USB And DVD Versions Available For Testing:

There are now USB and DVD versions of Vinux available for testing from the Downloads page of the website. There are two USB versions for 2GB and 4GB pendrives which are provided in the form of .xz compressed files. The md5sums provided are for the uncompressed .img files. To install these simply run the following command e.g. dd if=Vinux-3.0-2GB-Alpha.img of=/dev/sdb - you obviously need to change the USB drive letter to match the location of your pendrive. The DVD version is the standard version of Vinux with all of the EasyInstall applications pre-installed as well as several other additions including Firefox Accessibility Plugins. These are both experimental but we would appreciate any feedback whether it be positive or negative.

11/06/10 - Vinux Becomes The Unofficial Accessibility Testing Platform For Ubuntu:

Luke Yelavich who is in charge of accessibility at Canonical has announced that he has decided to use Vinux as a test platform for accessibility related features. The plan is to test these features, make sure they are well implemented and then as time and the maturity of the packages permit, they will be merged into the main Ubuntu distribution proper. This work will begin by moving Vinux iso building over to the same framework used to build official Ubuntu CDs. Canonical won't actually be building the disks, but Luke knows how to set up the framework. This will make the development of Vinux much easier and faster, as this will provide automated daily builds, based on different Ubuntu releases etc. This is a significant step forward for the Vinux Project!

31/05/10 - Vinux 3.0 Released:

On behalf of the whole Vinux community I am happy to announce the 3rd release of Vinux - Linux for the Visually Impaired, based on Ubuntu 10.04 - Lucid Lynx. This version of Vinux provides three screen-readers, two full-screen magnifiers, dynamic font-size/colour-theme changing as well as support for USB Braille displays. Vinux is now available both as an installable live CD and as a .deb package which will automatically convert an existing installation of Ubuntu Lucid into an accessible Vinux system! In addition, we now have our own Vinux package repository (from which you can install our customised packages with apt-get/synaptic) and a dedicated Vinux IRC channel. In the very near future we will also be launching a Vinux Wiki and releasing special DVD, USB and Virtual Editions of Vinux 3.0!

25/05/10 - Vinux 3.0 Release Candidate 6 Available For Testing:

Bill has now uploaded the 6th release candidate of Vinux 3.0, with both 32 and 64 bit versions available. This release candidate features the newer version of Firefox and a few other tweaks. If there are no other significant bugs then we hope this will become the final release version of Vinux 3.0 at the weekend. I have also made some more of the earlier versions of Vinux available from the archive. These versions are no longer officially supported but I thought they might be of historical interest and/or of use to someone.

21/05/10 - New Format For The Downloads Page:

I have just uploaded the new version of the downloads page. If you have a look, you will notice that you are presented with the version number of each release, the distribution it is based on, its size in megabytes and the md5sum followed by a list of the available mirrors in different geographical locations. We recommend that you try the mirror closest to you in order to get the fastest possible download speed. I have also made some older versions of Vinux available, primarily for archaeological reasons. However, these versions are no longer actively maintained or developed, and we are unlikely to be able to offer any technical support for them should you choose to try them.

20/05/10 - Vinux 3.0 Release Candidate 5 Available For Testing:

The 5th Release Candidate of Vinux 3.0 is now available for download and testing. It will hopefully become the final release of Vinux 3.0 assuming there are no serious bugs. The only known issue at this stage is the possibility of Firefox crashing sometimes when a tab is closed and some slight delays in Orca response times while navigating certain websites. This is due to the fact that we have been forced to downgrade Firefox to 3.5 temporarily in order to overcome some accessibility problems with the current Ubuntu version 3.6 - If this can't be fixed by the end of the month, we plan to release Vinux 3.0 and provide a patch or update to fix this as soon as possible.

16/05/10 - New Vinux Website Under Construction:

The old Vinux website that was originally built and managed by Osvaldo La Rosa has now been dismantled and I am attempting to construct a new one from scratch! The new website will be officially launched along with a new Vinux Community Wiki and a dedicated Vinux IRC Channel when Vinux 3.0 (based on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) is released at the end of the month.