Arch Linux 2009.02 at 9:21 PM

Arch Linux is a general purpose linux distribution that can be molded to do just about anything. Arch Linux distribution is fast, flexible, lightweight and most of the parts under the hood are quite simple to understand and tweak, which can make it a good distro to "learn the ropes" on. We do not provide any configuration helper utilities (ie, you won't find linuxconf in here) so you will quickly become very proficient at configuring your system from the shell commandline.

Arch Linux uses i686-optimized packages which gives us improved performance over some of our i386-optimized cousins. This means that Arch Linux will only run on a Pentium II processor or higher. We try to stay fairly bleeding edge, and typically have the latest stable versions of software.

Arch Linux uses the Pacman package manager, which couples a simple binary package format with an easy-to-use build system, allowing the users to easily manage and customize their packages, whether they be official Arch packages or the user's own homegrown ones. The repository system allows users to build and maintain their own custom package repositories, which encourages community growth and contribution.

Here's another Linux distribution that adopts the EXT4 filesystem, Arch Linux 2009-02, announced on February 16th by Aaron Griffin. Arch Linux is a bleeding-edge independently developed Linux distribution. This is the first release of Arch Linux for 2009 and it brings some of the latest and greatest Linux technologies available today, such as Linux kernel 2.6.28 and support for the evolutionary EXT4 filesystem. The latter was also added in the installer, which means that every Arch Linux user will be able to easily create EXT4 partitions.

Based from Arch Linux site, Aaron Griffin in the official release announcement said "We proudly announce the release of the new Arch Linux installation images, version 2009.02. It took us quite a while, but we think the result is worth it: we added some cool new things and ironed out some long-lasting imperfections".

Highlights of Arch Linux 2009-02 :

· Updated Linux kernel to version 2.6.28;
· Added EXT4 support in the installer;
· Added maintenance and rescue aptitudes for EXT4 partitions;
· Added ISO images with the ISOLINUX bootloader, as an alternative for the GRUB-based ones;
· Fixed various bugs in the installer;
· Updated documentation;
· Added Arch Linux Installation Framework, the next-generation installer, which is still in development.

Also, in a few weeks ago, on January 27th, the Arch Linux community announced the immediate availability of the popular KDE 4.2 desktop environment for their distribution. Before you update, the team suggests to backup your ~/.kde4 folder and start with a clean configuration!

Arch Linux is a flexible and lightweight GNU/Linux distribution that embraces the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle. It uses i686 and x86_64 optimized packages that offer you an improved performance over other distributions.

A step-by-step installation tutorial (with screenshots) can be found here.

Download Arch Linux 2009.02 right now from Softpedia