Vinux 4.0 now released

[Rob Whyte]

The Vinux team is pleased to announce the availability of Vinux 4.0 CD
and DVD images.

This is the first Vinux release featuring the Unity-2d Desktop which
improves on transition to Vinux and introduces newer and increasingly
stable accessibility features.
We now recommend that when possible users perform updates on a regular
basis. This will enable the Vinux team to update packages, and introduce
new features.

Some of the highlights in Vinux 4.0:
Brand new build process: Vinux now uses the same method to produce our
images as Cannonical produces Ubuntu.
Console speech just works. Much time and work has taken place to meet
our blueprint goal
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/vinux/+spec/vinux-4-functional-console-screen-reader
Voxin is easy to set-up. Vinux has taken one step further in making
Voxin easier to install.
Quantal kernel: We are using a newer 3.5 kernel back ported to Precise
offering better hardware support than ever.
Classic menu. Vinux now has a Classic menu indicator which provides the
old style menu whilst in a Unity environment.
Vinux wiki. Our community is highly committed to providing clear and
easy to follow documentation. http://wiki.vinuxproject.org/
Vinux easy install scripts converted to meta packages.
Pico voices. We are shipping with the Pico voices once again.

Fixes:
Images now work on optical and USB media instead of separate builds in
the past.
Weather indicator fixed, previously stopped working due to API changes.
Gnome login sound fixed, Ubuntu set to be disabled by default.
Fresh and clean sound theme added.
PC speaker beep removed from blacklist, console users can again use it.
Console branding. Vinux will identify itself at a virtual terminal and
upon login offer tips of the day.
Flite and Pico now available as separate packages.
Cicero moved to a separate package also, will stop loss of speech from
the curious.
Revised keyboard shortcuts.

Software:
unity-2d 5.14
LibreOffice 3.5.7 <DVD only>
Speech-dispatcher 0.8
 Gnome-orca 3.4.2
Espeak 1.47
Firefox 21.0
Thunderbird 17.0
Cry for help, remote assistance by Vinux gurus.
Just to mention a few.

Known bugs:
The indicator panel is not accessible from Firefox and Thunderbird.
Console speech has been completed, but it probably needs some stability
improvement.

Availability:
Vinux 4.0 is now available in the AMD64 and i386 architectures and
available in both CD and DVD versions.

DVD:
This contains everything necessary to install the Vinux operating system
and a collection of pre-defined packages aimed at visually impaired
users. This should be all you need if you can burn and use DVD-sized media.

CD:
This also contains everything necessary to install the Vinux operating
system and a collection of pre-defined packages aimed at visually
impaired users. Use this image if you can only burn and use CD-sized media.

Vinux 4.0 can be installed from optical media or from a USB memory
stick. The required files can be downloaded via HTTP as described below.

Support:
The Vinux development team currently plans on supporting 4.0 until June
2015.
Our mailing list has a supportive community on Google groups at
http://groups.google.com/group/vinux-support or you can subscribe by
sending an email to vinux-support+subscribe at googlegroups.com

Acknowledgments:
Rob Whyte,  Vinux project manager.
Mobeen Iqbal. website manager, Vinux project manager from October 2011
till May 2013.
Luke Yelavich. Development team leader.
Bill Taylor. Testing team leader.
The Vinux team would also like to thank Christopher Chaltain, Kendell
Clark, Burt Henry and members of the Vinux support mailing list for
their ongoing support.

MD5 Checksums:
fb79a7174f207ae5ff8a908d58c60363 *vinux-4.0-desktop-amd64.iso
b4e3ca80f16be3991db19261c663bda9 *vinux-4.0-desktop-i386.iso
2a5089976a0991aee516a14ff080b384 *vinux-4.0-dvd-amd64.iso
14e38b9701e388a45a5e4849323388be *vinux-4.0-dvd-i386.iso

Downloading Vinux:
The Vinux downloads page has links to our provided mirrors, the fastest
speeds will be atained by chooseing the Sourceforge mirror.
http://vinuxproject.org/downloads/

Thank you for supporting Vinux.

Kind regards
Rob Whyte