budgie-remix 16.04.1 released

Actually we released last week but since this is my first Planet Ubuntu blog seems like an opportune moment 😉

Using the superb Budgie Desktop, we are pleased to follow the official Ubuntu and community flavour release cadence and offer up a new release incorporating the mass of updates since 16.04 in April. Download links are here.

Our first release was released immediately after 16.04 – built from scratch in less than two months!  This time,  16.04.1 is actually not just a standard point release though. We now build budgie-remix in an automated repeatable manner based on the iso-builder from the Elementary team.

Sleeping beauty (above) is just part of a new selection of wallpapers – thanks to Jeremy Bicha for supporting and guiding us – this package has been submitted to the Ubuntu 16.10 proposed queue.

We’ve included the very latest budgie-desktop available (10.2.6) – the same package that I submitted to Debian, together with Moka, Faba and Arc-Theme packages (all submitted to Debian and now available in Stretch as well as Yakkety).

The budgie-remix team have developed for this release a welcome app to introduce new users to the desktop and offer advice to get the best out of the distro.

All the remaining packages that make up budgie-remix have also been submitted for review.  The goal is to ensure all packages are in the Ubuntu repo’s … we aim to demonstrate that the budgie-remix team can support its software on an ongoing basis through official distribution procedures.  Maybe also in the future become an official community flavour 😉

David

budgie-remix project team lead

 

budgie-remix 16.04 is now out!

The budgie-remix team are proud to announce the 16.04 release of budgie-remix.

Built upon the superb 16.04 Ubuntu LTS package archive, this is our very first full release using the excellent budgie-desktop from the Solus Project team.

64bit and 32bit ISO’s are available as well as bittorrents for these ISO’s – remember to keep seeding please!

We have a fantastic and enthusiastic growing community on both Google+ and Reddit – thank you for supporting us through testing and providing valuable feedback.  Some pictures from the community are shown in this post. More details on our support-us page on how to help budgie-remix.

The budgie-remix team has grown from just myself, to the irrepressible HEXcube, the on-the-ball SpotTech, the enthusiastic Ploctaux, eagle-eyed Foggalong and our newest design recruit udara-u3.  It has been a pleasure working with you all 🙂

Working with upstream guys like Horst3180, Ikey Doherty, Pinguy and others has been great.  Cheers!

We have come a long way in a very short time.

It doesn’t end here.  The team has lots of stuff lined up and we’ll announce these in the next days and weeks.  From the fantastic Solus Project team – we look forward to the forthcoming new releases of budgie-desktop this year and we’ll bring these updates to you our 16.04 members as soon as possible.

Moreover – we have lots of opportunities for you as well to get involved.  It is this part we are most excited about.  We need your help to achieve our number one goal – to become an official member of the Ubuntu family.  Please look out for these announcements and don’t be afraid to step forward!

Next step will be the 16.04.1 release of budgie-remix in approximately three months time.

Likewise we’ll be publishing our first alpha 16.10 builds in July, looking forward to the 16.10 release in October.

budgie-remix release candidate 1

As we march madly onwards towards the 16.04 release of budgie-remix, I’m pleased to announce our first release candidate.  Please grab these from our download site and give these a good workout.

Have a look at the README – the known issues should be looked at.

Feedback any issues on our launchpad bug-tracker, discuss via our google+ and reddit communities.

As always – many thanks to the thousands of testers who have downloaded budgie-remix.

On behalf of the development team (Hexcube, Foggalong, Ploctaux, Spottech, myself) lets make one more push to make budgie-remix ready for the wider community.

cheers

budgie-remix changes post beta 2

Its been a busy time since beta 2 was released – so here is a quick run-down of what is new (remember to do a full update to get the latest changes)

• New Dock Added.  Oft asked is the addition of a Dock.  We know via feedback received by the budgie-remix team that many people use a launcher to aid their workflow.  The icon tasklist included with budgie is rather limited at the moment – although we expect some nice changes from upstream sometime in the future.  We’ve included Plank with the Arc-Plank theme which complements the default Arc themes.

• We have removed the icon tasklist applet for new installs and new users.  When new stuff is done upstream we will look to see if we can reinstate this applet in the default install (either at 16.04.1 or 16.10)
• Don’t worry if you love the icon tasklist applet and don’t like docks.  Simply use Startup Applications to stop Plank from launching on logon.  Use Raven to readd applets.
• We have centered the clock – it just looked too odd stuck at the left hand side of the screen.
• We’ve included the stylish Vertex themes – these themes complement budgie very nicely.  Plank also comes with a Vertex theme – change this via Accessories – Plank Preferences.

• Arc-theme has received updates to support users using the GNOME3 Staging PPA (Gnome 3.20)
• budgie-xfdashboard has now been removed  as a default application – many people in the community didnt think it added any value.  Don’t worry if you like this – sudo apt install budgie-xfdashboard to reinstall.
• The stylish gnome-calendar is now installed.
• For laptop users TLP is included by default – enjoy better battery life!
• Again for laptop users – touchpad tap-to-click is enabled by default
• On the logon screen, a budgie-logo is now visible signifying the budgie-desktop session.
• The arc firefox theme has been built from upstream sources – this will allow us to bring updates quickly when they are released.
• The slideshow used for the installer has received nice new screenshots.
• Work is ongoing very nicely to rework budgie-remix.org to be more dynamic and maintainable.

We’ve been working with upstream developers:

• budgie logo will be added in a future unity-greeter package
• we’ve requested a similar update for the lightdm-gtk-greeter package
• Numix now includes a fix for budgie-desktop start-button.
• We’ve got positive responses for future work on budgie desktop – support for python plugins, better plugin installation structures and vendor specific customisation of the panel applets
• Pinguy has been absolutely wonderful supporting us through all the late breaking installation issues Canonical devs pushed recently.  Both Pinguy and ourselves have confidence (bar anymore late breaking changes) that we’ll be pushing out our 16.04 release on-time – weekend after the 16.04 release is our target.

budgie-remix beta 2 is now available

The budgie-remix team are pleased to announce beta 2 of budgie-remix is now available.

We are hoping this is the final beta before our LTS release soon after the official Ubuntu release date (24th April).  If you haven’t already heard we’ve got the thumbs up for budgie-remix by Martin Wimpress – we look forward to working towards official status.

Screenshot Tour

We haven’t been idle in the last couple of weeks since the last beta.

1. 64bit edition installable on UEFI based laptops with secure boot enabled
2. Updated Ubiquity Slideshow
3. Fix for Rhythmbox tray-icon right-click menu
4. Uplift for Budgie-desktop to v10.2.5
5. Updated Arc-Theme is now GTK+3.20 compatible – GNOME3 Staging PPA can be added
6. New budgie-logo Plymouth Theme
7. Uses new budgie-remix repository
8. Uses revised PinguyBuilder – for VirtualBox users you’ll need to install virtualbox guest additions

Just today we have made sure QT apps look just as beautiful on budgie-remix as GTK apps.  So remember to do a full update.

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

We would like testers like you to try this beta out on a spare desktop/laptop if possible.

We urge beta 1 users to reinstall from these revised ISO’s. If you cannot – please remember to switch to the updated budgie-remix repository

We offer the download through a couple of ways bittorrent and direct downloads.

Remember to keep seeding please when using bittorrent!

There are two ISO’s:

• 32bit – budgie-remix_16.04-LTS_i386.iso
• 64bit – budgie-remix_16.04-LTS_amd64.iso

If in doubt choose the 64bit ISO since most modern hardware since 2004 is 64bit compatible.

The applications included with this beta are described here

• Remember – both budgie-remix AND ubuntu are in beta – so…

Don’t keep any critical data on a beta machine unless you are doing daily backups

Recommendation

• dual core/2 virtual core processors, 2Gb RAM

hidden features

• Dashboard: Press CTRL+TAB
• Raven: Super/Win+N
• Start Menu: Super/Win key
• Quick App: ALT+F2

Help and Support

Bug-report should be reported on our Launchpad.net site:

• https://launchpad.net/budgie-remix

Community Support:

Try our Google+ or Reddit sites:

• Reddit
• Google+