Release of ArchivistaBox 64Bit for public download
Pfaffhausen, 1 December 2010: after fixing all known bugs and working for weeks with ArchivistaBox 64Bit, we are very happy to be able to release the ArchivistaBox 64Bit today for public download.
64Bit for the ArchivistaBox and ArchivistaVM
When we started development on the ArchivistaBox 64Bit in the spring we didn’t know when or how we would finish it. All we knew was, that after more than five years of ArchivistaBox, we wanted to have a complete and entirely renewed version at 64 bit.
We put various Linux systems through their paces for this purpose. We compiled many millions of lines of code and even in the late summer of 2010 it appeared as if we would not complete the new release until 2011 at the very earliest. None of the Linux systems we tested entirely satisfied us. T2 seemed too tough (always the newest source codes), while Debian seemed too old-fashioned at times. With ArchLinux we would have been entering completely unknown territory, and for TinyCore Linux we missed the approach with 64 bit.
Finally, we decided to put the ArchivistaBox together from different sources. To do so, we had to re-write some components (in particular the installation program) from scratch. Interestingly, it took us less time to write the components than it took to decide on which horse to bet.
The result was the new ArchivistaBox 64Bit. It contains the entire existing ArchivistaVM solution, but otherwise behaves like a grown-up ArchivistaBox, i.e. with the exception of the new installer, you hardly notice that you are working with the 64-bit version. We think that’s a good thing. After all, why reinvent the wheel?
At this point, we would like to publish the link for downloading the new version. An insight into the new release is offered by the lecture, which was given last Saturday at the linuxday.at event in Dornbirn, Austria. The script for the lecture is available here (in German). Additional information on the new release is also available in the last blog entry.
Update and postscript: ArchivistaVM also with GUI
As we already speculated in the script for the lecture, we have equipped the small release (ArchivistaVM, without GUI, so far approx. 200 MB) with an X server, as well as a browser, so that you can work locally at all times. This increases the installation time by approx. 5 to 10 seconds. We think, compared to the comfort of a graphic GUI, this is completely negligible. The new size of the small release is approx. 320 MB.
P.S: If you wish to work without the GUI, you can disable the ‘gdm’ service as a root user at a terminal. This can be accomplished with sysv-rc-conf gdm off. This starts ArchivistaVM without the X server.
