Debian Live 5.0 Beta 1 released

This week, Beta 1 of Debian Live 5.0 bootable CD image was made available for download. This is the first official release of a Live 5.0 build for the OS also known as "Lenny."

The Debian Live team has been working for over two years on its initiative to create the definitive live Debian framework that runs on as many architectures as possible, consisting of unchanged and official packages and an unaltered Kernel.

Live systems such as "Lenny" are operating systems that are not installed on a system's hard drive and can be executed when the system boots. These first images are meant to be booted from a CD, but because it is the first beta, some of the pre-built images (Gnome and KDE desktops) are not included due to space constraints. The Xfce desktop environment and Live Magic are included. A later release for DVD will be comprehensive.

Since the final release candidate was originally scheduled for September, this first beta is expected to be quickly followed by a second. Debian Developer Daniel Baumann expects Beta 2 will be released in less than two weeks. Depending upon the level of participation from contributors, more betas may follow.