A major update to the one of the free software world’s most popular desktop environment, GNOME has been released.

The new version bumps GNOME to 2.24 and this new release boasts some significant new features and updates many core GNOME applications to new versions. Read the release notes.

Among the new additions is a brand new instant messaging client called Empathy, a new release of VoIP client Ekiga, updates to the file manager (including tabbed file management), accessibility features and a whole host of developer stuff.

It also introduces the new GNOME Mobile platform, designed for bringing the GNOME desktop environment to portable devices such as mobile phones.

New Empathy IM client

Depending on your operating system distribution, you might be seeing GNOME 2.24 fairly soon, or it may be some time before it is packaged up for your system. Alternatively, check this list for distributions that are shipping 2.24 (will be updated as they do), or grab the live CD (at the time of writing, not yet updated for the new release).

[image from release notes]

Ever wondered what that MD5sum and SHA1sum things are when you are downloading ISO images? Whether it’s a Linux distro, or any other file, you might have seen these ‘checksums’ floating around.

Their purpose is to allow you to verify that you have a complete and uncorrupted copy of a file. If you can generate the same checksum with your copy of the file, then the file must be a true copy.

So, how do you verify these checksums?

Read the rest of Command Line Tip - Verify Downloaded Files

Yesterday, I reported on Adobe AIR for Linux. What I didn’t do in that post is show how to install it and applications built with AIR.

NOTE: I should mention again, AIR itself is not open source, but is free of charge. Just a quick heads-up.

In this FOSSwire video special, I walk you through the process of installing the new Adobe AIR beta. I also show you how to download and install an application written in AIR and how to uninstall applications once you’re done. Finally, I’ll show you how to uninstall the entire AIR platform if you want to rid your computer of it completely.

You can find the sample applications, including Fresh at the Adobe Samples site.

Watch Video