LinuxConsole is a

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

-based

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

independently developed by Yann Le Doaré. The distro is built from scratch by developers from France, and has support for multiple languages. It is not based on any other

Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...

and primarily focuses on being

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

and easily accessible. LinuxConsole can function as a

Live CD A live CD (also live DVD, live disc, or live operating system) is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading fro ...

and

Live USB A live USB is a portable USB-attached external data storage device containing a full operating system that can be booted from. The term is reminiscent of USB flash drives but may encompass an external hard disk drive or solid-state drive, thou ...

. It can also be installed as a complete modern operating system.

History

The earliest known verifiable release is documented as version 0.4 in 2004 on

Distrowatch DistroWatch is a website which provides news, distribution pages hit rankings, and other general information about various Linux distributions as well as other free software/open source Unix-like operating systems. It now contains information on ...

, and was based on

Mandrake Linux Mandriva Linux (a fusion of the French distribution Mandrake Linux and the Brazilian distribution Conectiva Linux) is a discontinued Linux distribution developed by Mandriva S.A. Each release lifetime was 18 months for base updates (Linux, syst ...

. Version 0.4 expanded upon the previous release by adding many applications, and tools making it useful for more than just games and multimedia. The list of added software included programs used for working with documents, playing music as well as other

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...

utilities,

firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spre ...

security, and printer/scanner tools. The first release confirmed to be independently developed was version 1.0.2007 released in 2007. It added full capability to work with

partitions Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

using the

NTFS New Technology File System (NTFS) is a proprietary journaling file system developed by Microsoft. Starting with Windows NT 3.1, it is the default file system of the Windows NT family. It superseded File Allocation Table (FAT) as the preferred fil ...

file structure via

Gparted GParted (acronym of GNOME Partition Editor) is a GTK front-end to GNU Parted and an official GNOME partition-editing application (alongside Disks). GParted is used for creating, deleting, resizing, moving, checking, and copying disk partitions ...

. This release was thoroughly tested on several old computers using only 16MB of RAM. LinuxConsole running the LXDE desktop

Release 1.0.2009 came out in 2009 with four distinctive versions. The first was a 200MB

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

image made for old computers with little free space, and came with a lightweight desktop and

file manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...

. The next was a CD image with a mid-sized desktop that added more features and games. The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

version was complete with all the features included. Lastly, there was something available called the "Jukebox", where users could custom build their own ISO and transfer the image to

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

with support for

UNetbootin UNetbootin (Universal Netboot Installer) is a cross-platform utility that can create live USB systems and can load a variety of system utilities or install various Linux distributions and other operating systems without a CD. Modes USB instal ...

. This release was available via BitTorrent. The next major release was version 2.0 in 2013 with a fast boot, support for both new, and old

video card A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer moni ...

s, Live CD and

support, and the ability to

dual-boot Multi-booting is the act of installing multiple operating systems on a single computer, and being able to choose which one to boot. The term dual-booting refers to the common configuration of specifically two operating systems. Multi-booting may ...

with

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. The release came with some games including OpenTTD,

Tux Paint ''Tux Paint'' is a Free and open-source software, free and open source raster graphics editor (a program for creating and processing raster graphics) geared towards young children. The project was started in 2002 by Bill Kendrick who continues t ...

BZFlag ''BZFlag'' (an abbreviation for Battle Zone capture the Flag) is a free and open-source, multiplayer online, tank game. Development Inspired by Battlezone, ''BZFlag'' was first written in C by Chris Schoeneman in 1992, as a part of his stud ...

Neverball is a 2001 platform party video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega. The game debuted in Japan at the 2001 Amusement Operators Union trade show as ''Monkey Ball'', an arcade cabinet running on Sega's NAOMI hardware and cont ...

Frozen Bubble ''Frozen Bubble'' is a free software clone of ''Puzzle Bobble'' for a variety of home and mobile systems. Gameplay ''Frozen Bubble's'' protagonist is a penguin a la Tux, the mascot of Linux and popular feature in many free software/ open-sour ...

, fooBillard, Freecraft,

SuperTuxKart ''SuperTuxKart'' (''STK'') is a free and open-source kart racing game, distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3. It features mascots of various open-source projects. ''SuperTuxKart'' is cross-platform, runn ...

, and Teeworlds to name a few. This release included support for Deb packages as well. Although this release is

deprecated In several fields, especially computing, deprecation is the discouragement of use of some terminology, feature, design, or practice, typically because it has been superseded or is no longer considered efficient or safe, without completely removing ...

, it can still be downloaded via the mirror links on the developer website. The release of version 2.3 in 2014 saw the advancement of the lightweight

opkg opkg (''open package management'') is a lightweight package management system based upon ipkg. It is written in C and resembles Advanced Package Tool (APT)/ dpkg in operation. It is intended for use on embedded Linux devices and is used in this ...

package manager. It offered a

gui The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

to install and run stable

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

packages in different categories including games, office, system, and education. The goal of this version was to run on old computers, and turn them into gaming consoles. It could work on systems with as little as 256MB of RAM, and had both PAE, and non-PAE versions available. It included support for multiple languages. This release is deprecated as well. The information page on the developer website still exists, but the download links are no longer active. However, version 2.3 is still available via the mirror site. Version 2.4 was released in 2015, has a tool for installing third-party software, and it comes with the LXDE lightweight

desktop A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

. It is compatible with

Debian Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of D ...

packages, and it can run apt-get.

The LinuxConsole 2.5 release added support for

UEFI UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI Forum. They define the architecture of the platform firmware used for booting and its interface for interaction with the operating system. Examples of ...

, and the 32bit version was the last one to support non- PAE hardware. LinuxConsole 2018 was released in December, 2017 with the updated ability to manage

bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

devices, as well as the ease of configuring

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

networks.

LinuxConsole 2019 supports installing an extensible set of software via modules, and some Windows software or games with the

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

virtual

emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run so ...

. Additional software or games can be installed using the

and

APT Apt. is an abbreviation for apartment. Apt may also refer to: Places * Apt Cathedral, a former cathedral, and national monument of France, in the town of Apt in Provence * Apt, Vaucluse, a commune of the Vaucluse département of France * A ...

package managers. LinuxConsole 2022 has been released in 2022.

System requirements

*32bit or 64bit PC with

i586 The Pentium (also referred to as P5, its microarchitecture, or i586) is a fifth generation, 32-bit x86 microprocessor that was introduced by Intel on March 22, 1993, as the very first CPU in the Pentium, Pentium brand. It was instruction set com ...

x86 or

x86-64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging mod ...

architecture. *PAE compliant CPU. (Version 2.5 may be used for non-PAE CPU.) *500MB RAM (Listed RAM usages are based on version 2.4 requirements.) **128MB for basic usage on the non-PAE versions. **500MB for normal browser usage. **1GB recommended for graphics intensive programs such as

*Can be installed to hard disk via Live CD, Live USB, Windows install, or net install.

References

External links

LinuxConsole HomepageLinuxConsole
on

DistroWatch DistroWatch is a website which provides news, distribution pages hit rankings, and other general information about various Linux distributions as well as other free software/open source Unix-like operating systems. It now contains information on ...

{{Linux distributions Light-weight Linux distributions Live Linux distributions X86-64 Linux distributions Linux distributions Linux

History

System requirements

See also

References

External links