The Chakra team is proud to announce the first release of Chakra 'Descartes' series which will follow the 4.13 KDE releases. This new release includes new features and updates as follows: KDE Software Compilation - the latest stable version of the KDE series; Nepomuk search has been replaced by Baloo, we have implemented a patch that permits the user to disable Baloo; Chakra Tools are fully translated into more than 30 languages thanks to the amazing job done by our users on Transifex; artwork - new Chakra Logo and new default theme for GRUB, KDM, KSplash, Yakuake; NVIDIA 331.38 and Catalyst 13.12 drivers; Linux kernel 3.12.15, X.Org Server 1.14.5....

Recent Related News and Releases

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2019.01 RC2 Luca Giambonini has announced the availability of the second release candidate for Chakra GNU/Linux 2019.01, an upcoming major new update of project's desktop distribution featuring the latest KDE Plasma: " Chakra 2019.01 'Hawking' RC2 released. The second release candidate is ready; except for the Calamares bug, the RC2 is very close to be the final version. What's new since RC1: added vdpau driver and libraries to enable hardware accelerated video; moved the Kickoff menu from the Latte dock to the top left corner; renamed 2019.01. Fixed: slow start-up in live mode; slow start of Calamares (around 1 minute the first run, caused by fc-cache); update images in Calamares and Heritage. Known issues: Calamares crashes during the partition selection (see bug report ). The testing version does not contain the final release name, but it is tagged by the commit tag and date. release announcement which also links to the earlier RC1 announcement with some more information. Interested testers can download the new Chakra ISO image from here: chakra-2018.12.29-401367c6-x86_64.iso (2,018MB, SHA512, signature, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2017.10 The Chakra GNU/Linux project has announced the release of a new snapshot of the semi-rolling release distribution. The new installation media carries the version number 2017.10 and offers several package upgrades as well as an updated system installer. " The 2017.10 ISO is a maintenance release. As always, it is a snapshot of our stable repositories and includes all the package upgrades and changes that have happened in Chakra since the previous ISO release. Noteworthy changes include: New versions of the Linux kernel, Xorg server, and graphics drivers. Support for mesa libglvnd1. Dropping support for catalyst. The installer, Calamares, has been updated to version 3.1.5. Our home grown Heritage theme for Plasma received several improvements in the logout screen and icons. This release also ships with the following package versions that already available in our repositories... " A list of updated packages, along with screen shots of Chakra running the Plasma desktop environment, can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (SHA256): chakra-2017.10-goedel-x86_64.iso (1,976MB, torrent, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2017.03 The Chakra GNU/Linux project, a semi-rolling desktop distribution, has received an update. The developers have announced a new version, Chakra 2017.03, which carries the code name "Goedel". The new snapshot features the Calamares 3.0.1.91 system installer which includes support for installing the distribution on Btrfs and LUKS encrypted partitions. " We are excited to announce the first Chakra release of 2017, codenamed Goedel, to honour the logician, mathematician and philosopher Kurt Goedel. The 2017.03 release introduces two noteworthy changes: 1. The installer, Calamares, has been updated to version 3.0.1.91. As a result, users are now able to install Chakra on Btrfs and LUKS encrypted partitions. Calamares has received lots of partitioning enhancements and bug fixes since our previous ISO release and the installation process should be smoother than ever. 2. Our homegrown Heritage theme for Plasma got a refreshing face-lift that we hope you will enjoy. " Further details and version information for key components can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (MD5): chakra-2017.03-goedel-x86_64.iso (1,966MB, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2016.02 Neofytos Kolokotronis has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2016.02 (code name "ian"), the latest stable version of the KDE-centric distribution originally forked from Arch Linux: " We are happy to announce the release of Chakra's first 2016 ISO image, codenamed 'Ian', in memory of the late Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian. This ISO image doesn't introduce any major changes, but it offers an updated snapshot of our stable repositories to new users. It can be considered a maintenance release, providing all the bug fixes and package updates that occurred in the last three months, ever since the previous ISO image was released. As always, we ship the latest available versions of KDE's Plasma, Applications and Frameworks. The 2016.02 'Ian' ISO image ships with the following notable packages: KDE Plasma 5.5.4, KDE Frameworks 5.19.0 KDE Applications 15.12.2, Calligra 2.9.11, Linux kernel 4.2.6, X.Org Server 1.17.4, systemd 228, Qt 5.5.1, MESA 11.0.6, NVIDIA 358.16, Catalyst 15.9.... " Read the release announcement for more details and a screenshot. Download (MD5) the live DVD image from SourceForge: chakra-2016.02-ian-x86_64.iso (2,144MB, torrent, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2015.11 The Chakra project has announced the availability of new installation media for Chakra GNU/Linux. The new version, Chakra GNU/Linux 2015.11 (code name "Fermi"), uses KDE's Plasma 5 as the default desktop environment. The Calamares system installer has replaced Chakra's Tribe installer and the SDDM display manager has been included as it integrates well with KDE's Plasma. " We are delighted to announce that Chakra 2015.11 'Fermi' is out. As always, this release is a snapshot of our stable repositories and includes all the updates and changes that have happened in Chakra since the last release. The Fermi series of ISO image releases marks some very important changes for Chakra: Plasma 5 is the default desktop environment, replacing kde-workspace 4; Calamares a new modern installer which is actively developed, it has replaced Tribe; a new repository structure which includes changes aiming at simplifying things for both developers and users; a new display manager, SDDM, which is very well integrated with Plasma 5; new artwork, code-named 'Heritage', which is a fork of the very successful Caledonia artwork, together with new wallpapers. " Further details can be found in the project's release announcement. Download (MD5): chakra-2015.11-fermi-x86_64.iso (2,055MB, torrent, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2015.03 Neophytos Kolokotronis has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2015.03, a new update in the project's "Euler" series which follows the KDE 4.14 line: " The Chakra team is happy to announce the third release of the Chakra Euler series. This is a maintenance release to fix some installation issues and provide all the updated packages that landed in the stable repositories since the previous release. The main new feature is that our ISO now supports booting and installing on UEFI systems! We are aware that everybody is looking ahead into Plasma 5 and we are working on the transition, but we believe it is too early for this to be shipped by default and decided to wait for a little bit longer until Plasma 5 has matured and more KDE Applications have switched to Frameworks 5. This ISO ships with the following notable packages and updates: KDE Applications 14.12.2, except for the applications that have been ported to frameworks 5, which will remain on their 4.14.3 versions; kde-workspace 4.11.16 and kdelibs 4.14.5; Frameworks 5.7; Calligra 2.9.0.... " The release announcement. Download (MD5): chakra-2015.03-euler-x86_64.iso (1,809MB, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2014.11 Neophytos Kolokotronis has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2014.11, the project's latest update featuring KDE 4.14.2, the Pacman package manager and a custom installer called Tribe: " The Chakra team is happy to announce the second release of the Chakra 'Euler' series, which follows the KDE Applications and Platform 4.14 releases. The main reason for providing this new ISO image, in addition to providing a new KDE release, is that Chakra has now implemented the /usr merge changes. If you already have Chakra installed on your system manual intervention is needed, so please follow the instructions on how to properly update. For new installations using this ISO image, this is of course not needed. Core packages: Linux kernel 3.16.4, X.Org Server 1.15.2, systemd 216. " Read the rest of the release announcement for further information and an important link to update instructions. Download (MD5): chakra-2014.11-euler-x86_64.iso (1,786MB, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2014.09 Neophytos Kolokotronis has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2014.09, a desktop Linux distribution that uses the Pacman package manager and features the latest KDE 4.14 desktop: " The Chakra team is happy to announce the first release of the Chakra Euler series, which will follow the 4.14 KDE releases. A noticeable change in this release is the major face-lift of Kapudan, which now gives the option to users to enable the [extra] repository during first boot so they can easily install the most popular GTK+-based applications. As always, many updates to packages are available after installation. KDE Software Compilation: Chakra provides the latest stable version released by KDE, 4.14.1; dhcpcd has been replaced by dhclient as a dependency for NetworkManager. Core packages: Linux kernel 3.15.15, X.Org Server 1.15.2, systemd 216. " Continue to the release announcement for more details and a screenshot. Download (MD5): chakra-2014.09-euler-x86_64.iso (1,728MB, pkglist).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2014.02 Neophytos Kolokotronis has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2014.02, the latest stable version of the project's Linux distribution, originally forked from Arch Linux, featuring the KDE 4.12.1 desktop: " The Chakra project team is delighted to announce the first release of Chakra 'Curie'. Curie is the name of a series of Chakra releases that follows the KDE Software Compilation 4.12 series. This new release includes some refinements as well as new features and updates: Chakra provides the first in a series of monthly stabilization updates to the KDE 4.12 series: 4.12.1; KDE Workspaces has been patched to display the width or height (depending on orientation) of Plasma panels when resizing them; we now provide KDE Connect, which aims at making your computer aware and seamlessly integrated with all your devices; enabled login/logout sounds.... " Read the rest of the release announcement for more information and a screenshot. Download: chakra-2014.02-Curie-x86_64.iso (1,698MB, SHA512).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.09 Neophytos Kolokotronis has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.09, a major new update of the Linux distribution that always features the latest KDE desktop: " The Chakra project team is delighted to announce the first release of Chakra Fritz. 'Fritz' is the name of a series of Chakra releases that follow the KDE Software Compilation 4.11 series and is dedicated to the memory of Fritz_Van_Tom. With this ISO image we offer KDE SC 4.11.1. In this release, many areas have received a number of improvements that affect multiple applications; most notably a speed boost on Akonadi. The Plasma Workspaces 4.11 will receive long-term support as the KDE team focuses on the technical transition to Frameworks 5. You may have noticed that there is no new artwork with this new series as it is usually the case, since it wasn't ready by the time of the release. Hopefully work on the artwork will be completed soon so we can include it in a future release. " Continue to the release announcement to find out more. Download: chakra-2013.09-Fritz-x86_64.iso (1,700MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.05 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.05, an updated release of the project's desktop Linux distribution for 64-bit computers: " The Chakra project team is very happy to announce the third release of Chakra 'Benz'. Benz is the name of a series of Chakra releases that follow the KDE 4.10 series. This new release includes some existing new features: Oktopi, a promising graphical interface for Pacman which has recently reached the stable repositories, is now installed by default; kio-mtp, which brings support for mobile devices in Dolphin; Konversation replaces Quassel as the default IRC client in Chakra; Fcitx is now the default input method (for Asian languages); bundles are no longer available, they have been replaced by actual packages installed to a path of their own. " Read the rest of the release announcement for more information and a screenshot. Download: chakra-2013.05-Benz-x86_64.iso (1,658MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.03 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.03, a desktop Linux distribution for 64-bit computer systems featuring the very latest KDE desktop: " With this second release of 'Benz' (a code name that will follow the KDE SC 4.10 series), the Chakra project team is very happy to announce a new feature that has been on the wishlist for quite some time. Tribe (the installer) has a 'netinstall' feature implemented, giving the user the option for a regular offline install, or install fully updated packages, starting with a minimal functional KDE desktop, and adding groups of packages to that minimal install as desired. KDE SC is updated to 4.10.1. The over 100 recorded bug fixes since 4.10.0 include improvements to the Kontact personal information management suite, and the KWin window manager. " See the full release announcement for more details and screenshots. Download: chakra-2013.03-Benz-x86_64.iso (1,411MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.02 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.02, the project's brand-new series featuring the KDE 4.10 desktop: " Chakra 2013.02 'Benz' (a code name that will follow the KDE 4.10 series) has been released. KDE 4.10 is about the most polished release KDE has put out to date; one feature that stands out is the fast improvements of Nepomuk. Our tools have gotten a lot of attention too, the live image has switched to using GFXboot - this will give many more options for language and keyboard settings and it adds a few hardware checking tools in a visually pleasing way. Tribe has now a dedicated keyboard page - this will avoid issues with setting the desired keyboard. The 'Dharma' artwork theme is fully updated and integration is set for all parts of the live image, GRUB bootloader, KDM and the installed desktop. " See the release announcement for further details and screenshots. Download: chakra-2013.02-Benz-x86_64.iso (1,656MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.01 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2013.01, the fifth update of the project's "Claire" series featuring the new KDE 4.9.5 desktop: " The Chakra project team is proud to announce the fifth 'Claire' release, (a code name that follows the KDE SC 4.9 series). The day the 2012.12 release was announced as the final ISO image in the 'Claire' series, KDE announced there was going to be a KDE 4.9.5. That fact combined with KDE 4.10 release being pushed back 2 - 3 weeks and many base packages updated, the team decided to have one more 'Claire' release. Among updates in this release are KDE 4.9.5, OpenSSL and krb5 stack, sound group, KDE telepathy 0.5.2 to name a few. ISOlinux (the start-up of the live session) received a face-lift, plus booting into existing operating system and Memtest86+ options were added. " See the complete release announcement for more information. Download: chakra-2013.01-Claire-x86_64.iso (1,636MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.12 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.12, the fourth update of the project's "Claire" series featuring the latest KDE desktop: " With this fourth and final 'Claire' release (a code name that followed the KDE SC 4.9 series and dedicated to the memory of Claire Lotion), the Chakra project team would like to make this final ISO announcement of the year, and also report on the state of the project. With this release we offer: KDE 4.9.4; Linux kernel 3.6.6 (3.0.43 optional); DVD image, including all locales and a nice selections of applications; Kapudan, Chakra's desktop greeter and all-round first setup tool; artwork theme called 'Dharma'; the latest GRUB 2.00, including graphical Dharma theme, Qt 4.8.4; enhancements to Chakra tools; updated systemd, kmod, mkinitcpio, file system, latest proprietary graphics drivers; the latest toolchain with GCC 4.7.2, updated libpng, libtiff and glew stack. " Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: chakra-2012.12-Claire-x86_64.iso (1,614MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.10 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.10, an updated release of the KDE-centric desktop Linux distribution: " The Chakra project team is proud to announce the third 'Claire' release. It took a good six months of preparations to get to this point, but the full switch to systemd is here. To do so udev is merged into systemd, with systemd being updated to 194. This meant a first .so file jump for libudev, meaning many packages depending on libudev were updated and rebuilt. It also meant the removal of ConsoleKit, handled now by Polkit and logind. Among all the other updates on this release, KDE 4.9.2, Linux kernel 3.5.6, kmod 0.10, CUPS 1.6.1, D-Bus 1.6.4, Qt 4.8.3, Calligra 2.5.3 to name a few. " Read the rest of the release announcement for more information and a screenshot. Download (64-bit computer systems only): chakra-2012.10-Claire-x86_64.iso (1,573MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.09 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.09, an updated build of the project's distribution featuring the new KDE 4.9.1 desktop: " The Chakra project team is proud to announce the second 'Claire' release. After the release of 2012.08 well over a thousand packages were updated, including a new sound stack, updated Poppler, OpenJPEG and OpenAl group, KDE 4.9.1, latest Calligra and LibreOffice. Because of all these changes, and to get back to having a release schedule that follows closely to the schedule KDE is using, 2012.09 is following the first 'Claire' ISO image rather quickly. It also gives us a chance to fix some issues found in that first release. Chakra is making the switch to PulseAudio as default with this release. " See the complete release announcement for more details and a brief list of main features. Download (64-bit computer systems only): chakra-2012.09-Claire-x86_64.iso (1,589MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.08 Anke Boersma has announced the of Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.08, a major new release incorporating the KDE 4.9.0 desktop: " The Chakra project team is proud to announce the first 'Claire' release; this codename will follow the KDE SC 4.9 series and will be dedicated to the memory of Claire Lotion. Claire 2012.08 is bringing some exciting new features, like the port of the excellent Pardus tool 'Kaptan' to Chakra named 'Kapudan', it will allow the user to easily make all kinds of selections on first boot into their newly installed system. We are also very proud to show the excellent work the Art team has done with the new 'Dharma' theme, which even carries over into the latest GRUB 2, which now has a graphical theme. A Simple Pacman update notifier named 'spun' was also added. " Check out the release announcement if you need more details or if you'd like to see the distribution's new default look. Download (64-bit computer systems only): chakra-2012.08-Claire-x86_64.iso (1,576MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.07 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.07, the final update of the project's "Archimedes" series of distribution releases featuring the KDE 4.8 desktop: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the final 'Archimedes' release, this codename has followed the KDE SC 4.8 series. With this release a big move to /usr/lib has occurred to prepare Chakra for a complete move to systemd, Linux kernel is updated to version 3.4.3, udev to 182, new initscripts used, kmod is at 8, mkinitcpio at 0.8.8, to name a few of the newer base packages included. These base updates made the third 'Archimedes' release no longer usable for simple updates, thus a new ISO image was needed to avoid a situation where new users are confronted with a need to force an update right away. " Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download (MD5): chakra-2012.07-Archimedes-i686.iso (1,471MB), chakra-2012.07-Archimedes-x86_64.iso (1,454MB).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.05 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.05, an updated release of the project's rolling-release "Archimedes" series featuring KDE 4.8.3: " The Chakra project is proud to announce the third 'Archimedes' release. As with the previous release, Chakra is no longer shipping a GUI for package management. Appset-qt was the GUI for Pacman, but was not handling complex updates as should, so it is dropped from this ISO. With this release KDE is updated to 4.8.3, a new toolchain including GCC 4.7 and glibc 2.15, updated glib2 stack, latest NVIDIA and Catalyst, updated SQLite, unixODBC and Python groups, to name a few of the newer base packages included. These base updates made it so that the second Archimedes release is no longer usable for bundles, thus a new ISO needed. " See the full release announcement for additional details. Download (MD5): chakra-2012.05-Archimedes-i686.iso (1,459MB), chakra-2012.05-Archimedes-x86_64.iso (1,452MB).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.04 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.04, an updated release of the project's KDE-centric distribution originally forked from Arch Linux: " This second 'Archimedes' release brings some good news and, for some, bad news. Good news - after a year of hard work by the Calligra team, we are really pleased to present the DVD image with the first-ever stable release of the Calligra office suite. Bad news for some, there is no longer a GUI for package management shipped. Appset-qt and any other Pacman GUI front-end were not able to handle more complex updates as they should, and the team felt it was not correct toward the users to ship a package that needed constant warnings. With this release we offer: KDE 4.8.2, Linux kernel 3.2.8 (3.0.22 optional), Qt 4.8.1, QtWebkit 2.2.1. " Read the rest of the release announcement for additional information. Download (MD5): chakra-2012.04-Archimedes-i686.iso (1,452MB), chakra-2012.04-Archimedes-x86_64.iso (1,448MB).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2012.02 Anke Boersma has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2010.02, one of the first distributions featuring the recently released KDE 4.8 desktop: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the first release of the KDE 4.8 series, code name 'Archimedes'. With this release KDE is updated to 4.8.0, kernel to Linux 3.2.2. A new theme, Ronak, is introduced. Updated Qt, boost, Subversion, Phonon packages, libxcb stack, to name a few of the newer base packages included. A switch to GRUB 2 has been decided on, to be more compatible with other operating systems. Chakra is now offering a DVD and CD edition. The CD edition gets you to a minimal working KDE desktop, with only a text editor, file manager, web browser and a simple media player installed. The DVD includes all the language packs, most of standard KDE applications, LibreOffice 3.4.5, Amarok.... More details in the release announcement. Download (MD5): chakra-2012.02-i686.iso (1,461MB), chakra-2012.02-CD-i686.iso (689MB), chakra-2012.02-x86_64.iso (1,462MB), chakra-2012.02-CD-x86_64.iso (696MB).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.12 Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.12, a KDE-centric desktop distribution originally forked from Arch Linux: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the third and final release of 'Edn', Chakra GNU/Linux featuring Linux 3.1 and KDE 4.7. Edn has followed the KDE 4.7 releases, and with KDE 4.8 a new name will be used. With this release KDE is updated to 4.7.4, kernel to Linux 3.1.4. The sound group has been rebuild/updated, latest network management and Mesa stack are also included. With this release we offer: KDE 4.7.4 Linux kernel 3.1.4 (2.6.35.14 optional); updated sound-stack; DVD image, including all locales and a nice selection of applications; tomoyo-tools 2.5 added to a default install, for more security options; wqy-microhei became the new default font for Chinese, Japanese and Korean; QtWebkit 2.2.... " Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5): chakra-2011.12-Edn-i686.iso (1,367MB), chakra-2011.12-Edn-x86_64.iso (1,377MB).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.11 Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.11, a desktop distribution featuring the just-released KDE 4.7.3: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the second release of 'Edn', Chakra GNU/Linux featuring Linux kernel 3.0.8 and KDE 4.7.3. This is a regular scheduled release, approximately 7 - 10 days after a new version of KDE is announced. Besides the latest KDE, this release features an updated toolchain and a split of Qt and QtWebKit, thus enabling HTML 5 and WebGL support for Qt/KDE web-browsers. Chakra is now offering a DVD and CD edition; the CD edition is a minimal working KDE desktop with only a text editor, file manager, web browser and a simple media player installed, while the DVD version includes all the language packs, most of the standard KDE applications, LibreOffice, Clementine, XBMC, Calibre.... " See the full release announcement for more information. Download (MD5): Chakra-2011.11-Edn-i686.iso (1,298MB), Chakra-2011.11-Edn-x86_64.iso (1,300MB).

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.10.26 Phil Miller has announced the availability of a new development build of Chakra GNU/Linux. Version 2011.10.26 is a test build in preparation for the next stable release. From the release announcement: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the second release of 'Edn', Chakra GNU/Linux featuring Linux 3.0 and KDE 4.7. As announced after the last team meeting, this is a regular scheduled release, approximately 7 - 10 days after a new version of KDE is announced. Besides the latest KDE, this release features an updated toolchain and a split of Qt and QtWebKit, thus enabling HTML 5 and WebGL support for Qt/KDE web browsers. With this release we offer: KDE 4.7.2, Linux kernel 3.0.7, GCC updated to 4.6.1, glibc to 2.14.1.... " Download the live DVD images from here: chakra-2011.10.26-Edn-i686.iso (1,244MB), chakra-2011.10.26-Edn-x86_64.iso (1,260MB).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.09 Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.09, a desktop distribution originally forked from Arch Linux and featuring the latest KDE desktop, version 4.7: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the release of 'Edn', Chakra GNU/Linux featuring Linux kernel 3.0 and KDE 4.7. Since our last stable image many things are updated and changed, which makes it hard to install for Chakra newcomers. We decided to release 'Edn' a bit ahead of schedule because of this. We switched to KDE 4.7 and added Linux kernel 3.0 to our repositories. Appset and CCR got enhanced. With this release we offer: minimal image you can build your desktop on; ported Tribe for KDE 4.7 series; updated initscripts with the option to test systemd; updated Mesa stack. " Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. Download: chakra-2011.09-i686.iso (699MB, MD5), chakra-2011.09-x86_64.iso (699MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04-r2 The regular monthly re-spins of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04, a desktop distribution originally forked from Arch Linux, continue with the latest update: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the second respin of 'Aida'. We added lots of package updates and KDE got updated to 4.6.5 with our patches added. Also we updated our hardware detection and added the latest drivers. So what changed with this release: CInstall, our bundle handler got a fresh user interface; Burg theme got updated; complete rewrite of our init scripts; support for systemd added (installation via repositories); small fixes to some packages. Other features to mention: Linux kernel 2.6.39 series; X.Org 7.6 stack with Mesa 7.10.3 and X.Org Server 1.10.3.... " See the full release announcement for more details. Download: chakra-2011.04-r2-i686.iso (654MB, MD5), chakra-2011.04-r2-x86_64.iso (676MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04-r1 Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04-r1, a new respin of the desktop distribution originally forked from Arch Linux: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the first respin of 'Aida'. Some weeks passed since Chakra 2011.04, we have added lots of package updates, KDE got updated to 4.6.4 with our Chakra patches added. Also we updated our hardware detection and added the latest drivers. This is the first image using chakra-live for creating the image. We will focus now on Edn our next stable release which will come out in September 2011. Simone Tobias has updated AppSet to fix the reported problems. For all our GTK+ fans we have added some more popular GTK+ applications as bundles. " For further details please consult the release announcement. Download: chakra-2011.04-r1-i686.iso (654MB, MD5), chakra-2011.04-r1-x86_64.iso (674MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04 Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011/04, an Arch-based distribution featuring the latest KDE desktop: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04, code-named 'Aida'. Two month have passed since Chakra 2011.02. Now it is time for Aida to impress. We added kernel 2.6.38.4 and lots of package updates. KDE got updated to 4.6.2 with our patches added, such as our hardware detection, including the latest drivers. Manuel Tortosa managed to remove all GTK+ dependencies from LibreOffice, so you can use it from our DVD edition on your KDE desktop without GTK+ installed. Also we added AppSet as our front-end for Pacman. For all our GTK+ fans we have added some popular GTK+ applications as bundles. " Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: chakra-2011.04-kde462-i686.iso (686MB, MD5), chakra-2011.04-kde462-x86_64.iso (697MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04 Milestone 5 Phil Miller has announced the availability of the fifth and final milestone release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04, a KDE-centric distribution based on Arch Linux: " Almost two weeks have passed since our last milestone release. We are now proud to present our fifth and last milestone before the final release of 'Aida', planed for the 22nd of April. We have fixed KDE 4.6.2 and some other packages to get it much more stable than before. The Burg installation system got improved and it now includes GPT support. Also the WLAN detection in live-mode works now, so you have instant Internet access for installing language packs using Tribe, our installer. Appset-Qt is included in version 0.4.0, fully translated and with the support of CCR, our community repository. " More details in the release announcement. Download: chakra-2011.04-ms5-i686.iso (691MB, MD5), chakra-2011.04-ms5-x86_64.iso (700MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04 Milestone 4 Phil Miller has released a new development build of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04, an Arch-based distribution featuring KDE 4.6.2: " After two weeks of heavy developing we are proud to announce our fourth milestone of 'Aida'. This is the first KDE SC 4.6.2 live CD that you can download and give a spin. We added Burg as our bootloader -- including OS detection -- so other operating systems get be detected and added to the boot menu. Rekonq is again our default web browser, in version 0.7.0. Also our installer, Tribe, got fixed and most of the known bugs are gone now. So what else can you expect from this release: Linux kernel 2.6.38.2, X.Org 7.6 stack with Mesa 7.10 and X.Org Server 1.9.5, KDE SC 4.6.2, updated Chakra tools, GPT support.... " See the release announcement and release notes for more details. Download: chakra-2011.04-ms4-i686.iso (691MB, MD5), chakra-2011.04-ms4-x86_64.iso (687MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04 Milestone 3 Phil Miller has announced the availability of the third milestone release of Chakra GNU/Linux 2011.04, an Arch-based distribution and live CD featuring the KDE 4.6.1 desktop: " I'm happy with milestone 3 of 'Aida', our next stable release. We changed our tools we are using. Cinstall got stripped down, just to handle our Bundles. AppSet-Qt will replace it and will serve as Pacman user interface from now on. Also, this live CD is based on the brand-new Linux kernel 2.6.38 patched with Aufs 2.1 support and other features like LZMA. We managed to tweak the size of our images to the bare minimum. Now we have more space to add default applications which the community should vote for. So what else can you expect from this release: X.Org 7.6 stack with Mesa 7.10 and X.Org Server 1.9.5; updated X.Org drivers; updated Chakra tools.... " Read the rest of the release announcement more information. Download: chakra-2011.04-ms3-i686.iso (627MB, MD5), chakra-2011.04-ms3-x86_64.iso (648MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.4 Beta 2 Phil Miller has announced the availability of the second beta release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.4, an Arch-based distribution featuring the KDE 4.6.0 desktop: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the second beta release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.4, code-named 'Cyrus'. We are happy with our current repositories. Due the latest move of KDE SC there was a demand for new install media. Use only 0.3.70 or higher for now to install Chakra GNU/Linux. All the other images out there don't work properly. I fixed some big bugs in tribe and tested those images more than one day. Still to fit 700 MB Kaffeine and Qmmp had to been dropped in our x86_64 image. Seems we have to use DVDs if we don't want to have minimalist CDs any more. " Here is the release announcement. Download: chakra-0.4-beta2-i686.iso (687MB, MD5), chakra-0.4-beta2-x86_64.iso (697MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.2 An updated stable release of the Arch-based Chakra GNU/Linux, version 0.3.2, was released yesterday: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce our second point release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3 series, codenamed 'Ashoc'. This time we moved core-testing and platform-testing to our stable repositories and redesigned our testing repositories. Also X.Org got updated and fixed some known issues. Our tools got fixed and work even better than before. Due some issues with SourceForge we uploaded the images to our backup server. Feel free to mirror the images. What changed: Linux kernel 2.6.37 series; X.Org 7.6 stack with Mesa 7.10; X.Org Server 1.9.3.901; updated X.Org drivers; KDE SC 4.5.5; updated Chakra tools; known bugs fixed in Tribe. " For more information please see the release announcement. Download: chakra-0.3.2-i686.iso (686MB, MD5), chakra-0.3.2-x86_64.iso (698MB, MD5). Besides an updated stable build, the first beta release of the upcoming 0.4 series was also released yesterday.

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.4 Alpha 3 Phil Miller has announced that the third alpha release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.4, an Arch-based distribution featuring the latest development version of KDE 4.6, is now ready for testing: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce our third alpha release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.4, code-named 'Cyrus'. Our biggest achievement was to get rid of HAL and use upower and udisks instead of it. Test this image especially for things that might require HAL. Also Cinstall got a big update to only ask for the root password once. Tribe got new translations and we hope we fixed all the known bugs in it. What changed: Linux kernel 2.6.37 series, X.Org 7.6 stack with Mesa 7.10 and X.Org Server 1.9.3.901, updated X.Org Drivers, KDE 4.6 RC2.... " For additional details please consult the release announcement. Download: chakra-0.3.50-i686.iso (692MB, MD5), chakra-0.3.50-x86_64.iso (692MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.0 Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.0, an Arch-based distribution and live CD showcasing the latest KDE desktop. From the release announcement: " This release features the brand new KDE SC 4.5.4 plus the option to install our popular Click'n'Run applications through 'tribe'. We updated all our tools and fixed lots of bugs you and we found. Tribe can now create more than one user account again. This time you can add your personal avatar to each account. For the first time you can customize your installation. We added two lists of our popular packages and bundles to choose from. Tribe got translated to Catalan, German, Italian and Spanish. Good news about CCR, our community repository: you can find now over 378 packages added by our users. " Download the live CD images from here: chakra-0.3.0-i686.iso (692MB, MD5), chakra-0.3.0-x86_64.iso (691MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3 RC1 The first release candidate for Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3, an Arch-based desktop distribution with KDE, is ready for testing: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce our first release candidate of 'Ashoc'. This image is for finding any quirks we might have created due the KDE update to 4.5 series in stable. Please test multi-user creation, with all the new features we added. Also, the Marble page got a new style and is translated to German, Catalan and Spanish. The partition page got enhanced so it will be easier for newcomers to get Chakra GNU/Linux installed. Good news about CCR, our community repository: you can find now over 363 packages added by our users. Some of those already found their way into our binary repositories. " Read the rest of the release announcement for more information. Download: chakra-0.2.95.1-i686.iso (696MB, MD5), chakra-0.2.95.1-x86_64.iso (670MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.4 Alpha 1 Phil Miller has announced the availability of the first alpha release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.4, an Arch-based desktop distribution, featuring the first beta of KDE 4.6: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the availability of 'Cyrus' Alpha 1 (0.3.40). This image is for testing the brand-new KDE 4.6 Beta 1 build and finding first bugs in our testing repositories. We rebuilt the kernel to be more Arch-like in the kernel configuration. This might solve lots of issues some users have. Good news about CCR, our community repository: you can find over 332 packages added by our users. Getting GIMP into Chakra you can use CBS - the bundle system we created exclusively for Chakra. Build notes: Linux kernel 2.6.36.1; both legacy NVIDIA drivers got updated to support X.Org 1.9.... " Read the rest of the release announcement for the full list of build notes. Download: chakra-0.3.40-i686.iso (702MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.2.4 Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.2.4, an Arch-based distribution featuring the KDE 4.4 desktop: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the availability of our fourth and last point-release of 'Jaz', the live CD using our stable repositories. During the last days our stable repositories got some new updates. This is done to prepare the KDE SC 4.5.4 build which goes directly into stable next weekend. Also we updated the toolchain to be even faster in compiling. Under the hood we still use the 2.6.33 kernel series. I'll try to backport the autogroup-scheduler to give this kernel more speed. The image uses larch8 now, which is more advanced and simplified for our needs. Features: Linux kernel-2.6.33.7-2 with LZMA support, KDE SC 4.4.5, X.Org Server 1.7.7; ATI Catalyst 10.8, NVIDIA 256 and legacy. " More details in the release announcement. Download: chakra-0.2.4-i686.iso (690MB, MD5), chakra-0.2.4-x86_64.iso (700MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3 Beta 1 Phil Miller has announced the availability of the first beta release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3, an Arch-based distribution and live CD featuring the KDE desktop: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the first beta release of 'Ashoc', our next best thing! This time it comes with a bang: NEDA. Over 15 different resolutions got added to this brand-new theme by Roozbeh Shafiee. We also fixed X.Org 1.8 integration and glibc locales, plus updated some packages from our toolchain to get rid of even more bugs we had in the system. Good news about CCR, our community repository - you can find over 240 packages added by our users. Getting Gimp and Co into Chakra you can use CBS - the bundle system we created exclusively for Chakra. Features: Linux kernel 2.6.35.6 with LZMA support, KDE SC 4.5.2, X.Org Server 1.8.2, ATI Catalyst 10.9 and NVIDIA 256 series. " See the release announcement for more information. Download: chakra-0.2.65.0-i686.iso (701MB, MD5), chakra-0.2.65.0-x86_64.iso (697MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.2.2 Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.2.2, an Arch-based distribution and live CD featuring the KDE desktop: " We did it! Now with our new page layout and CCR open for public we also have 0.2.2 ready - our second point release of 'Jaz'. This time tribe got a rework to fix bugs we found during last week. We improved CInstall to handle packages and bundles better. Packer will build packages from our community repository now. Your all welcome to add your packages there - we might add them to our binary repositories. Some users reported some issues with VLC and MPlayer. Those are gone now. NVIDIA and ATI drivers got updated and hardware-detection-scripts will find them properly now. " Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: chakra-0.2.2-i686.iso (691MB, MD5), chakra-0.2.2-x86_64.iso (686MB, MD5).

Distribution Release: Chakra GNU/Linux 0.2.0 Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux 0.2.0, an Arch-based live and installation CD featuring the KDE desktop: " The Chakra development team is proud to announce the availability of 'Jaz', our first live image using our stable repositories. We've been working hard since March 2010 on Chakra GNU/Linux. Ten developers hacking, packing and writing documentations for our new distribution. Chakra is a fork of Arch Linux. We are using Pacman but working on our own package management called 'akabei'. Since the split we created some confusion but we are going in the right direction. Over 5670 packages are now available for our new distribution and over 500 get installed by this media. Features: Linux kernel 2.6.33.7 with LZMA support, KDE SC 4.4.5, X.Org Server 1.7.7, Catalyst 10.6, NVIDIA 256.x and NVIDIA legacy series. " Read the rest of the release announcement for additional details. Download: chakra-0.2.0-i686.iso (697MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra GNU/Linux Phoix Phil Miller has announced the release of Chakra GNU/Linux Phoix, an Arch-based distribution and live CD with KDE 4. This is the project's first release that uses packages compiled in-house rather than those provided by Arch Linux. From the announcement: " There was a rumor about splitting from Arch Linux. Yes, that is right. I did a big step and continued what Jan Mette started in the dark. During my first week of my vacation I built over 900 packages for our new distribution - Chakra GNU/Linux. I split it into three repositories: core - all the good stuff you need for a simple system; platform - X11 and drivers plus dependencies and applications you need to build KDE; desktop - KDE in all its glory. The initial release of Chakra GNU/Linux is called Phoix and has the following features: Linux kernel 2.6.33.4 with LZMA support, KDEmod 4.4.3, X.Org Server 1.7.6, Catalyst 10.4, NVIDIA 195. " Download: chakra-i686-phoix-2010-05-25.iso (700MB).

Development Release: Chakra Alpha 5 Phil Miller has announced that the fifth alpha release of Chakra, an Arch Linux-based distribution and live CD with the latest version of the KDE desktop, is now available for testing: " After lots of testing and rebuilds we are finally there. Chakra Alpha 5 'Panora' left the building and is ready to get a new home on your boxes. We focused our efforts on two aspects. Tribe, our installer, now includes an easy and advanced mode to partition the target, also the installation speed has been much approved and supports lower screen resolutions. The usability of the Chakra live CD, we added support for some important features - print, and configure printers; complete management of optic drives; drop-down Konsole technology with Yakuake; management of dial-up modems and broadband USB 3g/HSDPA. Features: Linux kernel-2.6.32.10 with LZMA support, KDEmod 4.4.1, X.Org Server 1.7.5.902.... " Read the rest of the release announcement for additional notes and a link to a new beginner's guide. Download (MD5): chakra-i686-panora-alpha5.iso (702MB), chakra-x86_64-panora-alpha5.iso (702MB).

Development Release: Chakra Alpha 4 Phil Miller has announced the availability of the fourth alpha release of Chakra, a desktop distribution and live CD with KDE 4 based on Arch Linux: " Today we are pleased to announce the release of alpha 4, named 'NewAge', of our very own Chakra live media. A lot has changed since alpha 3. We have a new KDE 4 theme; Tribe can install custom mount points, and we did a ton of fixes. KDEmod got updated to version 4.3.3. Chakra hardware detection got stripped down to fit X.Org Server 1.7.1.901 package, so only NVIDIA drivers are the supported proprietary drivers for now. Most noticeable changes and additions since alpha 3: Linux kernel 2.6.31.6 with fglrx patch; Chakra tools updated (aqpm, shaman, chase); ATI Catalyst support temporarily dropped.... " Here is the complete release announcement. Download: chakra-minimal-i686-091116-alpha4.iso (674MB, MD5), chakra-minimal-x86_64-091116-alpha4.iso (687MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra Crush Phil Miller has announced the availability of a new development build of Chakra, an Arch Linux-based distribution and live CD with the latest KDE and a graphical system installer: " Today we are pleased to announce a development release named 'Crush' of our very own Chakra live media. It comes only as minimal edition this time due to minimal changes. I added our Chakra Tools from Git to test them out on the live media. It's a hybrid ISO as usual. Most noticeable changes and additions since 'Fuzzy': Linux kernel 2.6.31.5 + fglrx patch, updated KDE 4.3.2 packages, updated Tribe, Catalyst 9.10 + utilities, updated NVIDIA 190.x drivers, vesa mode test option. " Read the rest of the release announcement for more information, minimum requirements and download links. The CD images are available from here: chakra-minimal-i686-crush.iso (660MB, MD5), chakra-minimal-x86_64-crush.iso (684MB, MD5).

Development Release: Chakra Fuzzy Phil Miller has released a new development build of Chakra, an Arch-based desktop-oriented Linux distribution and live CD/DVD with KDE 4 and a graphical system installer: " Today we are pleased to announce the release of a development release named Fuzzy of our very own Chakra live media. It comes in two flavours, DVD and minimal, which contain a big amount of fixed bugs and polishing done all over the place. There is also a slew of new features like an improved hardware detection, an auto-updater called 'chase', updated Shaman and brand new hybrid images. Most noticeable changes and additions since Alpha 3: Linux kernel 2.6.31.4 + fglrx patch, KDE 4.3.2, updated Tribe, American locales fixed.... " Here is the full release announcement. Download: chakra-minimal-i686.iso (668MB, MD5), chakra-dvd-i686.iso (1,385MB, MD5), chakra-minimal-x86_64.iso (684MB, MD5), chakra-dvd-x86_64.iso (1,413MB, MD5).