User:Sheriffjms/AV Linux

AV Linux is a free operating system based on Debian designed for creative users 32-bit x86 based hardware architectures. Using Physical Address Extension, AV Linux can address up to 64 GB of RAM on machines that are built using 64-bit hardware. It is intended to allow a user to build a full-featured multimedia Linux workstation quickly and easily, with the main limiting factor being the available hardware. One of the main sources of inspiration for developing AV Linux was another multimedia-focused distribution that was built on Ubuntu: Ubuntu Studio. As a result, the first version of AV Linux was originally built using a customized Ubuntu Linux 7.10 distribution as a base. Eventually, the author switched to Debian as his base, with AV Linux 2.0 based on Debian 5.0 (Lenny).

Since AV Linux is distributed with a free software license, anyone with a 32-bit or 64-bit x86 based computer can install it on their computer in a single boot or multi-boot configuration. AV Linux may be booted and installed from a LiveDVD, or a bootable USB flash drive.

Differences with Debian
The major differences between this distribution and basic Debian are a custom kernel with realtime patches applied, some pre-configuration and the Synaptic package management system. Other packages may also be modified to some extent, as are the basic LXDE desktop themes. A few other desktop environment and window manager options are available.

AV Linux also makes extensive use of the Remastersys imaging system, which allows users to create a bootable ISO image (maximum size: 4 GiB) of their machine prior to upgrading to a new version of AV Linux.

Numerous Linux multimedia tools have been built from source and packaged for AV Linux. A list of available packages may be found in the release notes.

Releases
The project released the first version of AV Linux, version 1.0, in 2007.

Version 2.0 was the first version to be built from Debian instead of Ubuntu, and it was released December 11, 2007.

Version 4.0 was built from a beta version of Debian 6.0 (codenamed: Squeeze), and was released on June 13, 2010.

Version 4.1 was also built from a beta of Debian 6.0, and was released on September 24, 2010.