XpressLinux

The first public beta of XPressLinux is now available. The CD image can be downloaded here.

****Taylor’s Notes****

Okay guys havent had internet all week, but at 6:01pm on Friday Dec 1 I got it. I have been checking out this version on Xpress Linux and I have to say I am very happy with it, I just installed it and I fell in love with it (creepy I know) but mainly I just wanted to tell you folks out there that are a few more key things going into the final release that arent in the public beta, also if you find any bugs that you would like to report please do so at [email protected] or [email protected]. Also I have to give props to Chris Haney for emailing me and doing some screen shots for us and also providing us with a mirror (will be up soon). Hang in their guys (73 downloads in under 24 hours) you are the best community an indie team could ever ask for.

Well now I have a Live CD copy of Xpress Linux in my hands, and while it may not be complete yet it is very awesome. The new theme looks very nice its very brushed and modern looking, its just small things that really impress me, like how when I scroll over to the close button it fades silently into red. The programs it comes with are very standard but nice nonetheless I really appreciate the Wireless Assistant LAN manager, it works flawlessly. Also I had direct access to all my files on a Windows PC easy through Konqueror, unfortunately we are not finished with the wine setup so the programs didnt work off the bat but you had to install them (Note: this should be fixed in the final version). There is still no installer, but that will be there soon. So everything is on schedule and expect the November 30th release date (maybe even earlier!)

I decided to take another sub project in the mean time, I decided to call it Xpress Linux M. I took ubuntu with the gnome interface and made it look more like OSX. It will have all the same things as Xpress Linux will except it will run in Gnome instead of KDE and it’s default setup is a Mac OSX styled theme, enjoy the screen shots, I will keep you posted on Project M, there is currently no beta release date.

The key features of XPressLinux are:

• Desktop appearance similar to Windows XP
• WINE & improved NTFS tools pre-installed
• If it’s installed over Windows, a link to the Windows drive will appear on the desktop, along with links to My Documents, etc.

Well, there it is a screen shot from pre-alpha (thanks mike). Notice the awesome watermark in the wallpaper. As you can see we went with a windows feel and I think it turned out nicely (dont freak out if you dont like the layout over the next two weeks im making some other layouts). Can you believe one week since we started the project we have a screen shot ready for everyone. If you have any suggestions email us at ([email protected] or [email protected]) its still in very early stages of development. Expect to see the beta sometime at the end of November!!