Chakra 2013.05 gets graphical package manager - Update

Chakra 2013.05 is the third edition of the independently developed distribution to come with KDE 4.10 – the latest version uses KDE 4.10.3 – and makes use of more applications built for the Qt-based desktop environment. For example, the default package manager is now Oktopi, a graphical frontend for pacman that has only recently made its way into the stable package repositories. The Akabei tool, a similar tool that the Chakra developers have been working on, is still unfinished. The new release also includes kio-mtp, which ensures that file manager Dolphin is able to access mobile devices that use the MTP protocol.

For its desktop applications, Chakra continues to rely on KDE. Konversation replaces Quassel, which was used in the previous version, as the IRC client. Chakra 2013.05 also does away with "bundles", previously used to install GTK-based programs such as GIMP, Firefox and Inkscape in the distribution. Instead, the new Extra repository delivers such programs as standard packages which are installed in a separate /extra path. This repository is deactivated by default; to use it, users with administrator privileges need to uncomment the corresponding line in the /etc/pacman.conf file.

The ISO file for Chakra 2013.05 is 1.6GB in size and available to download from the Chakra web site. Users can try out Chakra as a Live system and can then install it on a hard drive using the Tribe graphical installer.

Update 04-06-13 12:25: An earlier version of this article mistakenly stated that Chakra is based on Arch Linux. While Chakra was originally based on Arch, it has since been forked and the distribution now maintains its own package repositories. Chakra is not directly compatible with Arch Linux packages or software from the Arch User Repository (AUR).

(fab)