Changes in the latest GNOME-liveslak ISO are plenty this time around, as I try to fill out missing pieces I’ve skipped over along the way. I’ve added the extra optional “GNOME-Flashback”, Metacity-based throwback Desktop as an option. Select “GNOME-Flashback (Metacity)” from your GDM gear menu to load the Desktop. Metacity will use the current set theme for light/dark mode, and it will pick up your icon set as well. Slackware’s adwaita-icon-theme is missing some icons, as such, I’ve added a re-pack to the repo which fixes this as it effected menus in Flashback. I don’t know if it’s Adwaita to blame or issues with Slackware’s provided package, as I’ve yet to look into it.
I’ve also added “orca” the GNOME screen reader for visually-impaired users. My logs have been cluttered for months complaining this isn’t there when I login, so this should provide a fix for that, as well as making GNOME-liveslak now usable for people with visual impairments. I happen to be visually-impaired, but I can’t say I want my computer to talk to me but I do hope it’s useful for those who need it.
Additionally I’ve added apostrophe, a WYSIWYG markdown editor which I’ve been too lazy to get building for months now. But this is an amazingly useful MD editor and since I’m still planning on moving this site to a MD-based site at some point, this will prove useful to me at least, maybe you as well!
The ISO has been updated with other package updates as well as the latest -current, now on kernel 6.1.8, Firefox 109, gstreamer 1.22 and more. As of today, Slackware has offically updated gjs,mozjs102, and polkit, and I couldn’t be more ecstatic about these changes finally getting in -current! I’m going to continue refining and doing housekeeping as I go, and we already have the 44 Alpha release in our hands so eventually the ISO will be brought to that branch. If you wish to stay on 43, the option will exist as well if you have an installation or just no longer update anything on the ISO. The 43 repo will still receive updates while we work toward 44.
Outside of all this, the nwg-shell repo has seen some updates in preparation for the ability to auto-update nwg-shell on Slackware. There are still a few kinks there, but it’s a very solid DE. I’ll soon have package sets for x86_64 15.0 and for aarch64-current in repos since it’s moved on from being a work-in-progress to a viable desktop option, so look out for those updates soon!