4MLinux 43.0 is available. A new version of a utility distro that focuses on server, multimedia, system rescue, and games.
There’s a new 4MLinux in town and it’s ready to download now. Being version 43.0, it’s gone one step beyond being the answer to life, the universe, and everything else, as any good hitchhiker should know — but that’s something for a discussion later in day. For the time being, we’ll stick with the basics.
Although 4M Linux is often referenced as “a lightweight Linux distro,” that doesn’t tell the whole story. In truth, it’s a lightweight Linux distro with a mission. You can use it for your everyday Linux distro for searching, surfing, email, and writing if you want — but that’s not really what it’s made for. It’s mainly a lightweight utility distro, ready to serve you if you need to fire up a server (let’s say to publish your blog), to use for system recovery (for like when your “real” distro fails you), or for a multimedia center (to hook up to a screen and speakers), and for gaming (which needs no explanation).
So what’s new, featurewise? Let’s start with the biggies.
43.0 now gives you the ability to install proprietary web browsers — you know, like Google Chrome, Opera, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi and the like. So that’s a plus.
For gamers, how ’bout the addition of some Java-based games, stuff like Flappy Bird, Karoshi, Micropolis, and Zuma. Also, does support for SoundFonts (sf2) for FluidSynth, the mtPaint raster graphics editor, support for old sound formats originating from Amiga, Atari, Commodore, ZX Spectrum, etc. in XMMS, along with support for watching modern AVC/HEVC videos trip your trigger? It’s all there.
On the server side, for those who want to LAMP-up to serve your blog (or if you’re really old fashioned, to start a bulletin board or something like that), the server addition is full of upgrades. Like, Apache 2.4.57, MariaDB 10.6.14, PHP 5.6.40, 7.4.33, and 8.1.19. Also along for the ride: Perl 5.36.0, Python 2.7.18 and 3.11.3, and Ruby 3.1.4. Does that do anything for you?
Oh, and for those of you who insist on using 4MLinux for regular ol’ computing things — it has the LibreOffice 7.5 office suite, Firefox 115.0 (which is the latest and greatest from Mozilla), and Chrome 115.0 (for those how like to do your surfing with a degree of ium).
Need more refreshed components? There’s AbiWord 3.0.5 , GIMP (horrible name) 2.10.34, Gnumeric 1.12.55, Mozilla Thunderbird 115.0, Audacious 4.3.1, VLC 3.0.18, and SMPlayer 23.6.0. Oh, and there’s always Wine 8.12, for those of you are addicted to vintage Windows apps.
You can download from here, but only if you plan to make a donation first. If you want to download without making a donation, you’ll need to go here, which is SourceForge. It’ll be easier to just go ahead and donate a dollar, I promise you that.
Gin Landers is an intern covering open-source technology for FOSS Force.
