Decided to bring back the Pinguy OS Mini’s (Full version should be out in about a week or so). It comes with all the tweaks the full version will have (full version will be based on the Mini’s) and has all the extra added system tools like Samba and boot repair, but for apps it just has Firefox (29.0) with all the plug-ins so things like Netflix, Flash, Quicktime, Divx, Java, Hangouts etc. will work out-of-the-box and VLC (2.1.2) for media files.

It’s just a nice clean solid base to add your own apps to. It does include all the repos from the full version so has a huge selection of apps available from the software center (Spotify, Dropobox, Skype, Steam etc.)

It’s called a Mini due to many of the apps that are included in the main version being absent, but due to the tweaks and added system tools the ISO is still fairly large.

Pinguy OS Mini is using GNOME Shell 3.10 by default, customized with extensions such as Gno-Menu, Media Player Indicator, Top Icons and more. It comes with many useful applications and tweaks by default.

The Mini also includes TLP (a tool that applies various tweaks to your laptop to save battery power), zram-config, preload (a daemon that stores the frequently used files in memory for faster startup times) and Profile Sync Daemon, among many other tweaks.

Changes in Pinguy OS 14.04 Mini

For 14.04, Pinguy OS comes with new applications and tweaks available by default. For instance, Peerflix and the Firefox scripts (which allow you to click a torrent in Firefox and start playing it immediately using VLC) are available by default:

Another important change is that TRIM is now used by default. TRIM allows the OS to “inform a solid-state drive (SSD) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally”. Without using TRIM, the SSD speed decreases after a while so if you have a solid-state drive that supports TRIM, you should enable it so your SSD remains fast over time.

There are also some new default applications:

FileBot, an application that allows you to batch rename Movie and TV Show files;

GNOME Do (quick launcher);

A data recovery script that uses TestDisk is also available by default with Pinguy OS 14.04 Mini.

Other changes include:

Netflix works out of the box

Liquid Prompt available by default;

Google2Ubuntu (speech recognition API. Hot Key F7)

Latest TeamvVewer is included

Basic Conky tool to change themes and settings

Added Panel OSD GNOME Shell extension (lets you configure where to display the notifications);

Added Audio Output Switcher GNOME Shell extension (adds a switch for selecting the audio output to the system menu);

Many bug fixes.

PinguyOS Mini includes the latest 3.13.0-24 Ubuntu Linux Kernel, Xorg server 1.15.1 and Mesa 10.1.0.

Direct 32bitDirect 64bit

#UPDATE 9th May

Updated the Mini’s with branding and made them so they are compatible with Gnome 3.12.

Known Bugs/FAQ:

Selecting auto login in the installer does not work.

I had to disable it so the live session would auto login. You can enable it once Pinguy OS is installed by opening gdm3setup/Login screen settings and editing the options.

Torrent Streaming in Firefox isn’t an option. To make it work you need to open a torrent in Firefox and select: /usr/bin/Torrent-Video-Player

More info here: http://forum.pinguyos.com/showthread.php?tid=4723

Open Firefox and download a video torrent. When it asks what app to use pick Other and browse to /usr/bin/Torrent-Video-Player Same as before but instead of downloading a torrent file download a magnet link and select /usr/bin/Magnet-Video-Player

There is an issue with logging into Facebook with gnome-online-accounts that is a know Gnome bug. A work around can be found here.

Apturl is broken. This is an issue with Ubuntu. I tested Apturl in Ubuntu and it’s also broken there. I installed older versions of apturl and apturl-common and it worked fine.

To make the Distro work with Gnome 3.12 I had to add Restore-Extensions to startups. This forces the Extensions to start. If you want to add extra Extensions and have them start you will need to remove Restore-Extensions from startup.

If you use symbols in your password make sure you pick the correct Keyboard.

In Firefox some of the Add-ons are disabled. Just run Add-on update to enable them. Also when you first open Firefox it will download Silverlight so wait for it to download and install before using the browser.