Release Notes for elmiX 2010.0a =============================== The elmiX developers are proud to announce the immediate availability of elmiX 2010.0a, the latest release of the Linux Live system for EM data analysis and education. This release is only a bugfix release that eliminates several annoying problems that were encountered in elmiX 2010.0. Highlights of version 2010.0/2010.0a ------------------------------------ * Broken links that were present in version 2010.0 have been fixed. * elmiX now uses KDE 4.3.4 as desktop environment. It provides a much better look and feel compared to KDE 3.5 that was shipped before. * The previous office suite has been replaced by the powerful OpenOffice.org 3.2 that can also handle MS Office data formats well. * The underlying Debian GNU/Linux distribution has been upgraded to Sid to take advantage of newer software. * The EM software has been updated. Available flavors ----------------- (a) DVD ISO image Name: elmiX_2010.0a.iso MD5 sum: 7b15ac9dce44b616da57769b99c1ccc9 elmiX_2010.0a.iso Size: 1.2 GiB (b) USB memory stick images are not available see 'Writing elmiX to a USB memory stick' section below Main download location is: ftp://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/linux/elmiX/2010.0a/ Writing elmiX to a DVD ROM/RW ----------------------------- (1) Download the ISO image of elmiX 2010.0a. (2) Start your favorite burning application. (3) Choose the "Burn ISO image" (or similar) option. (4) Start the burn process. (5) Done. Writing elmiX to a USB memory stick ----------------------------------- The following description is valid for Windows and Linux: (0) Get a USB memory stick that is at least 2 GB in size if you do not want to use persistence or 4 GB in size if you want to use persistence. (1) Download the ISO image of elmiX 2010.0a. (2) Get the latest version of UNetbootin from [1] or install it from your Linux distributor's package repository. (3) If you want to have full persistence (see also section "Full persistence"), you might want to create at least 2 partitions on your USB stick. Make sure that both are big enough to hold the data. Format the partitions afterwards with the FAT32 file system (not NTFS). (4) If it is not already attached, i.e. if you did not perform the optional step 3, insert your USB memory stick (both OSes) and mount the first partition if necessary (Linux only). (5) Use UNetbootin to write the ISO image to the first partition of your USB memory stick: (a) Check the "Diskimage" radio box, choose "ISO" from the combo box and load the file elmiX_2010.0a.iso. (b) Set the type to "USB Drive" and choose the first partition of your USB memory stick (e.g. D: under Windows or /dev/sdb1 under Linux). (c) Press "OK" and follow the instructions. (6) After the image has been written to the USB memory stick, click "Quit" (both OSes) and unmount the first partition (Linux only). (6) Done. On restart, elmiX can now be booted by either choosing the entry "Default" or "Start elmiX" from the boot menu. Full persistence ---------------- elmiX comes with the ability to save your changes permanently. There are two supported methods (first one is recommended): (1) You can enable full persistence by copying a file named 'live-rw' to one of the non-NTFS partitions of your hard drive(s) or USB memory stick. The file has to be formatted with the ext2 file system. Such a file (unpacked size: 1 GB) is provided with elmiX and can be extracted to a partition by choosing the "Enable full persistence" item in the "First Steps" dialog. elmiX will store all changes you apply to the system in that file. Further information about this method and how to produce files that are smaller or bigger can be obtained at [2]. There is also a video tutorial shipped with elmiX that shows step-by-step how to enable full persistence. (2) You can create a partition formatted with the ext2 or ext3 file system labeled 'live-rw'. This partition will then be recognized on start-up and used to store all changes. Further information about this method can also be obtained at [2]. Upgrade Notes ------------- Upgrading from version 2009.1 or earlier to 2010.0/2010.0a seems to cause problems. We recommend that you do a fresh install. However, if you decide to upgrade your system regardless, please read the following paragraph and have a look at the "Known issues" section. If you already set up your USB memory stick to use full persistence, i.e. it has two partitions with the live-rw file stored on the second one, the upgrade process should retain your data. However, a backup of the second partition before overwriting the current installation is strongly adviced. Known issues ------------ - GRIP (Groningen Image Processing) does not start if the VESA graphics driver is used. Instead, it just fails (with an X error message). - Setting up printers has experienced a minor regression compared to previous versions due to package dependency problems in Debian GNU/Linux Sid. We are now (temporarily) using foomatic-gui that is a bit awkward to use. - If you are using full persistence you might not get the latest modifications we applied to the desktop, because your own settings will overwrite the default onces of the live system. - If you are using full persistence, under certain circumstances you might not be able to start the printer configuration tool supplied with elmiX. In this case, the following workaround can be used: + Start the web browser. + Enter the URL http://localhost:631. + The graphical web interface for the configuration of the printing system appears in the browser. + Go to the "Administration" section. + Add your printer(s). + When you are asked for authentication, please enter "elmix" as username and "live" as password. - Tests have shown that the currently installed free Flash movie player is not able to play YouTube videos, because YouTube recently changed its video format to Flash 10. References ---------- [1] http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ [2] http://live.debian.net/manual/html/persistence.html