The ROSA development team has released a beta version of ROSA Desktop 2012, its Mandriva-Linux-based operating system aimed at desktop users. The beta of the next major release of the Russian firm's distribution, also known as Marathon, addresses various compatibility issues and brings with it several changes and new features, such as a new boot menu option.

The new "Install in basic mode" option has been added to allow users to run the ROSA Desktop 2012 installer on lower-spec hardware. Aimed at testers and developers, the release also sees the inclusion of full support for EFI/UEFI; basic support for UEFI was added in the in the second alpha as an experimental option, but is now fully integrated into the main system.

The beta uses the 3.5.6 Linux kernel, updates the systemd startup system and adds components to enable hibernation of the system. It also improves hardware detection and has additional services that should provide better compatibility on systems with Windows 8. The developers have also created a new video to demonstrate the next generation of its SimpleWelcome application launcher and the TimeFrame tool for content visualisation, which is based on KDE's Nepomuk project:



SimpleWelcome and TimeFrame in action

Other changes include improvements to system boot time, reduced power consumption on mobile devices, a new version of the 2Safe cloud storage desktop client and fixes for font rendering. According to the project's roadmap, the beta will be followed by a release candidate on 14 November, with the final version arriving on 28 November.

An overview of all of the new features in the beta can be found in the announcement blog post and in the release notes; a list of known issues is available on the Errata wiki page. ROSA Desktop 2012 Beta is available to download for 32- and 64-bit systems from the project's mirror; as with all beta releases, use in production environments and on mission critical systems is not advised. Users testing the release are encouraged to provide feedback in the forums and report any bugs that they find.

See also:

Mandriva specialist ROSA releases enterprise distribution, a report from The H.

(crve)