Ultima Linux 8.2 has been released!

Rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. After over a year and a half of intensive development (and/or about a month or so of non-stop last-minute coding), the Ultima Linux developers are pleased to announce the Ultima Linux 8.2 (codename “Godot”) release. This is our first major new version since the 8.1 Beta release last year, and the first stable release since all the way back in January 2006. Among other features included in this release:

First stable release with full AMD64 support
- And greatly improved since Ultima 8.1 Beta
Improved LiveCD with integrated, easy-to-use LiveCD installer
Linux kernel 2.6.21.3 with built-in SMP
X.org R7.2 (prerelease) with ATI/NVIDIA proprietary drivers
KDE 3.5.7 desktop with full automounting (HAL/D-Bus)
Beautifully redesigned default desktop (ultima-artwork)
Play MP3s, CDs, DVDs, and more right “out of the box”
- And you can burn them, too!
Compatible with Apple iPod and other popular portable media players
Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.4 with Flash/Java/MPlayer plug-ins
Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.0
OpenOffice.org 2.2.0 comprehensive office suite
And many, many more...

This release is available for both AMD64 (64-bit) and x86 (32-bit) processors, as either a Desktop LiveCD containing the most popular Ultima software, or a three-disc set containing everything listed above, along with various other packages such as the GCC 4.1.2 compiler, Apache 2.2 Web server, and many, many more. A three-disc source set is also available for those who are interested in building their own Ultima, or who just want to see how everything works.

As always, this release will be available for free download from MadTux.org. We know that not everyone can afford to constantly shell out huge wads of cash whenever an upgrade is available, and we can’t blame you for it! But we do ask that if you can spare a couple bucks, please consider ordering a CD set or maybe a high-speed download – this helps support not only our own project, but also our CD vendor/download and Web host, who have almost literally bent over backwards to help keep our project running (and they have my eternal gratitude for their seemingly endless generosity and fast, friendly support).

Special thanks with this release go to my family and friends, who suffered through all the long hard months – well, the one long hard month – and went out of their way to keep me from becoming completely obsessive. As always, MadTux.org has been extremely generous in spite of my best efforts, so they deserve quite a bit of thanks too. And last but by no means least, thanks (in no particular order) to vinnywright, Vakkotaur, Steve723, Tails, and all our other forum regulars, particularly those who stayed loyal even after over a year of nothing happening. All you guys rock!

Finally one last note: Due to the size of this project, it’s become somewhat tricky to keep the new releases coming, especially because of my painfully slow Internet connection – 384kbps uplink! – and the size of the ISOs, etc. (over 6GB total for this release). There’s also the minor detail of school, and not to mention funding. If you want to help, donations are welcome, but by no means mandatory – or, of course, just buy a CD set, which gets us a bit of cash, and gets you a nice, shiny set of Ultima Linux discs delivered right to your front door!

You may order/download your own copy of Ultima Linux now from the Get Ultima page, or look over the detailed release notes on our new wiki for more information.

Thank you for choosing Ultima Linux!