Revamping Xandros Enterprise Linux in a Red Hat world

 With the situation with Red Hat Enterprise Linux many of our customers and partners have asked us what is our policy and commitment to our community as well as our business partners.  But before we get into that we are revamping Xandros Enterprise Linux.  From how the distribution is built, what is included and even some of our support tiers.  We are going to start permitting customers and users of Xandros Community Edition to add those deployments to their support contracts.  So by the fall we will have massive changes to the Xandros Enterprise Linux lineup.

But back to the Red Hat situation.  Many of our customers and users have had questions and we are going to answer those questions and address some of their concerns.

1.  What do you do with Red Hat Enterprise Linux

We resell RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) on servers and workstations for customers who work within the Red Hat ecosystem.  We resell RHEL 99.9% of the time as a vanilla install.  The only modifications we do make for a customer is installing drivers that they need but that is only done for 2 customers.  We do offer support for RHEL and we have about 20 customers who run RHEL.  We used to make a CentOS/Fedora based distro for some of those customers but when Red Hat started giving out free releases of RHEL we ceased production of that distribution.

2.  Our commitment to open source software and the open source software community.

We firmly believe in the open source ethos and we support the open source community wholeheartedly.  We will always contribute any of our work back to their respective projects.  We do donate money to certain projects and we embrace the community as without the open source community we would NOT have a business.  Open Source Software and the community has allowed us to work in an industry we are passionate about.  When we first launched in 2006, I said then we will always have a free product for our users that is free to distribute, free to use and free to modify.  We have lived by that for 17 years and we will continue to live by that for 17 more.  

3.  What are our products and how do we sell them

We have Freespire and Linspire which are our home user distributions.  Freespire is free of charge and can be redistributed and used on as many systems as the user see's fit.  Linspire is a paid product and contains proprietary software that we do license.  Xandros Enterprise Linux which is for businesses does have a free release that is called Xandros Community Edition (XCE) that is free to use, redistribute, modify etc. Xandros Enterprise Desktop and Xandros Enterprise Server are paid releases.  We take feedback from users and customers of the free releases and make those changes and add functionality to our paid releases.  We also offer more business related functionality in our Enterprise Linux releases.   We, like Red Hat, sell service and support to our customers.  Currently we have about 280 customers of our Enterprise Linux products.  

4.  Do we make the source code available

All of the source code to our products with the exclusion of proprietary code that we dont have the source code to is made available 100% of the time.  Even to non-paying customers.  That will never change nor will the source code be put behind a paywall and we will never ask customers not to make source code publicly available.

5.  Our thoughts on rebuilders

We support rebuilders 100%.  There are thousands of workload implementations that we cant produce products for and we fully understand the value of customers making rebuilds of Xandros Enterprise Linux and we have NO issues with customers who do.  We actually have a few of them that modify it to add their own code, deploy newer kernels and alternative desktops (currently we offer GNOME) and they also understand that they are self-supporting that custom build because we cant.   We do even assist them by helping them build code, recompile newer kernels and helping to deploy that system.

So in closing we believe in Open Source.  We believe that our customers, partners, users and the community are vital to a healthy and thriving ecosystem.  We believe rebuilders are essential to this industry and others.  People who modify code, build custom distributions, and deploy specialized code are essential to a thriving industry.  Whether its community distributions to commercial distributions as long as they are not being unethical or breaking the law we support them 100%

Black Lab Education software and hardware services

Today PC / Opensystems is pleased to announce a new set of hardware and software services for Black Lab Enterprise Linux for Education. Over the last year you have seen a ton of innovation come from PC/OpenSystems, in terms of the most usable Linux based desktop on the planet that blows away all of our competitors.  We have had a ton of innovation in terms of hardware and management and you have seen a ton of innovation in our service and support offerings and we are hoping to keep the innovation alive in 2016.  Since our academic customers are a very important segment of our business, we have made some corresponding changes to the services we offer them. PC / OS now has a dedicated web portal for our Education customers and 4 hardware selections : a desktop system, notebook and RAID solution all optimized for the academic sector, as well as the premier Linux backend solution, Black Lab Advanced Server for Education. With that being said, lets get started.  

1. Software – Black Lab Enterprise Linux for Education will offer the same certifications featured in its Black Lab Enterprise sibling : Microsoft Office 365, Oracle online and on-premise support, WebObjects and IBM Websphere. Black Lab Server for Education is available preinstalled on hardware only and will include OwnCloud support, Apache, Postfix e-mail server and Google Apps support. Black Lab Enterprise Linux for Education will also continue to include the unique application set which has separated it from the competition. When customers purchase an unlimited district license they will also get Black Lab Enterprise Linux with unlimited district licensing: two OSes for the price of one. Black Lab Enterprise Linux for Education is available in single-license format for is $75.00 US; unlimited district licensing costs $399.99 for the standard build, and custom builds for $500.00 US, which includes school branding, specialized applications, etc. 

2. Hardware - PC /OS presents 4 new offerings.

First : the Briq, our awesome Core i3 / 8 GB RAM / 128 GB SSD mini powerhouse, with a 3-year warranty and UPS, priced at $650.00. 

Second, a rugged Core i3-5010U 2.1GHz / 8 GB RAM / 1 TB hard drive notebook PC targeted towards schools, also with a 3-year warranty, priced at $699.99. Both ship with Black Lab Enterprise Linux preinstalled, or our Education release upon request. 

Third : a new server product line for education which has been on our drawing board for over a year. Schools tend to be very conservative on server choices, so PC/ OS presents our basic academic server : Black Lab Basic Server – based on our BriQ architecture, with an i5 Processor / 16 GB RAM / 256 GB SSD. Don't let the fact that it's based on the BriQ platform fool you : this is a full-featured, dedicated server platform with unlimited client licenses, a 4 year warranty and a UPS protection unit as standard options. This basic configuration can be expanded with our 4 drive rack-mounted USB-connected RAID system supporting up to 4 hard drives at 4 TB apiece. PC / OS also realizes that its academic customers may have some old Apple Xserves and Xserve RAID laying around : yes, these Xserve hard drive caddies can be integrated with our RAID, which ships with 4 1 TB hard drives by default. This full-featured basic Black Lab Server costs $1,299.99 USD with the default configuration : UPS, 4 year warranty and a backup hard drive preloaded with Black Lab Server for Education, keyboard, mouse and a monitor.    Black Lab Basic Server with RAID is $2,599.99 : this includes rack, UPS, powered USB hub, and 4 year warranty for both RAID and Server. 

Fourth: larger districts need a much more robust server. Black Lab Advanced Server is offered with a 6 core Intel Xeon processor, 16 GB of RAM (expandable to 192 GB), 4 HD bays that support up to 4 SATA HDs up to 4 TB each and ships with 4 1TB hard drives. The price for that system is $1,899.00 for the base model which includes UPS and 4 year warranty. For the Advanced Server with our USB-connected RAID device the cost would be $3,499.00 for rack, UPS and 4 year warranty on RAID and Server, and UPS. PC / OS is going to insure that its academic customers are fully protected, serviced and ready to go from day one; these solutions will be setup so you can plug them in, turn them on, and get to work immediately if not sooner.  Out of the box productivity, literally.

How are we going to service these systems? PC / OS offers on site service and support through our new SystemCare Product Service and Support  or you can self-service with the assistance of our SystemCare Parts Kit. PC / OS has examined our academic customer base, taken a hard look at their needs, and has put solutions in place that can be made to fit a wide variety of scenarios with few changes necessary.

You can find more information on our Black Lab Education Services website.

You can find out more about our hardware on the Black Lab Education Hardware site.

Q&A

Here we will answer some of the most common questions we encounter.  Please direct any queries outside of this Q&A to sales@pc-opensystems.com and they will be answered promptly.

1.  Why use PC/OpenSystems LLC and not Dell or Apple who are the tried and true leaders in academic IT?
A:  Since our founding in 2008 we have retained over 90% of our academic IT customers - in a space where change is so prevalent, this is practically unheard of.  PC/ OS believes we have the right formula, the right mix of hardware to match our long-running stable software base.

2.  What is the response to PC/OpenSystems' software products in the IT world?
A.  Very positive overall.  Among our clients we have a well-deserved and long-established reputation for responsive service and innovative products.  Black Lab Enterprise Linux is the most popular desktop Linux based operating systems for many major fortune 500 companies.  PC / OS clients include law enforcement, security agencies, factory, grocery and academia among its most frequent repeat customers; Black Lab is extremely popular in venues where a premium is placed on stability and security. When Google started giving Chromebooks away for free we lost 7 academic customers - after the pilot, 6 returned.

3.  Is this the first time PC/Opensystems has offered hardware in the academic space? 
A. No.  While we used to deal with academic customers and their hardware needs on a case-by-case basis, we have made these offerings in the past, and have evolved our approach to the marked based on feedback received and what hardware tiers schools have ordered from us before.

4.  What about service?  Will we have onsite service and support and  can we do onsite installation? 
A.  Yes and yes. Customers who order from us can arrange onsite installations on their schedule within a 4-hour-window in North Carolina, New York and California. PC / OS will be expanding that prerogative to other states based on demand.  For other academic customers who self-service, the SystemCare parts kit for the BriQ, Basic and advanced server and XRAID are available when needed.

5.  Will software upgrades come with the server systems for 4 years or does the customer have to buy the software with every new release? 
A.  Software has to be purchased yearly, unless a SystemCare software support plan is purchased, which relieves a customer of the obligation to constantly monitor software upgrades and licensing.  Purchasing our hardware without a SystemCare subscription requires the customer to purchase-upon- release every 12 to 18 months.

6.  Can the parts kits be ordered separately without having to enter a software subscription? 
A.  Yes.

7.  Can the Black Lab XRAID be ordered outside of academia and when will it be available?
A.  Yes and it will be made available on our Enterprise hardware site in a couple of weeks.

8.  Who can order the educational products?
A.  All primary and secondary schools.  Vocational schools, colleges and military academies.  We are also making our education products available to home schooled individuals.

9.  When can we start ordering hardware and software and what is the acquisition turnaround?  
 A.  You can order it today., January 19, 2016.  Software you have a 24 hour turn around, hardware is 7 to 10 business days.

Support licensing vs Community support: A Comparison

Some people have asked us, why a commercial Linux distribution? Why not go with a free distribution like Linux Mint or Elementary? There are some advantages to purchasing support from a company vs community support. Here we will outline the differences between a community supported distribution vs a distribution with paid support.

Community forums vs phone and e-mail support: 

Black Lab Enterprise Linux comes with 12 months of phone/e-mail/on-site support. Which means - call in or e-mail a support request, and the average initial response time will be 10 minutes. After this response time your issue, whether it be software or hardware related, will be diagnosed and then our support will assist you in fixing the issue. Support times range from 5 minutes for easy solutions to 2 or more hours for more complex issues. If its a longterm issue PCOS support will continue to work with you toward a resolution. Community forums are much more tedious. Community based forums can be difficult to navigate; then, someone who is willing to discuss your issue with you has to 1). offer their support and 2). actually be able to fix your issue. Finally, response time on a community forum depends on the schedules of its contributors, which can vary from several hours to several days – and the issue may just start being discussed.

Donations vs license costs : 

Donations to community based distributions are very important. Our own free and open source distribution, Black Lab Linux http://www.blacklablinux.org relies on donations to fund the distribution and keep it running. A donation is not a purchase of a product or service;it's not a requirement for support. It's viewed as a gift, enabling the free product that you use on a daily basis to be maintained and updated. PCOS has heard from its customers and users how they gave donations to certain other distributions receiving no support or lackluster service in return : this is not surprising, for the FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) model. A support license is completely different You are purchasing a product and/or service which comes with support for the term of the license.  Our length of support vary which are : 1 year for desktop, 2 years for server.

On-site service and installation support : 

A commercial distribution includes terms in their on-site service clauses which states that if the problem is severe enough, the customer can have a support tech to come and assist the user with the issue for a predetermined fee. The tech can also come on-site and assist in setup and installation of desktops and servers. Most free and community driven distributions don't offer those services, no matter how much they're offered in donations. Some consultants work with specific free and community driven distributions but they are at the mercy of the distribution provider; this means they rely on the software vendor for support issues. This also means that any security or application fixes are provided on an as-available basis – meaning, significant time can elapse, during which systems are vulnerable to data breaches, security issues and problematic operation. These are the comparisons between Black Lab Enterprise Linux, a commercial and licensed Linux distribution and community based distros like Linux Mint, Elementary OS and Ubuntu. What you use depends on your needs : if your data and applications are sensitive and mission-critical, then you need real support in real-time from paid Linux techs and Black Lab Enterprise Linux. If you take your chances using a distro with a community forum for support as a last resort in the event of problems, or have the in-house expertise and the desire to be held liable if something goes wrong, then a free distribution like Black Lab Linux might be your best bet.

At PC/OpenSystems LLC we provide you with the whole stack : hardware, software and the means to support both reliably. If you have any questions on how Black Lab Enterprise Linux can best service you and your organization's computing and data needs, please visit http://www.pc-opensystems.com or contact sales@pc-opensystems.com .

Thank you.

Black Lab Enterprise Linux 6.6 Released

Today we have released Black Lab Enterprise Linux 6.6.  Black Lab enterprise Linux 6.6 is a bug fix and application update for the Black Lab Enterprise Linux 6.x line.  With this release we added full Docker integration and it also includes the Black Lab SDK 2.0.  Black Lab Enterprise Linux 6.6 being based on LTS Technologies will continue to get security updates until 2021.  All current licensees will be able to update through the updater or you can request the ISO file.

With this release the following packages have been updated:

XFCE 4.12
GNOME 3.10
VirtualBox 5.0
Webmin 1.760
Firefox 39
Thunderbird Groupware Suite 31.8
LibreOffice 4.4
GLOM
GCC 4.9
Kernel 3.16.0-43
kernel 4.1.4 Installable
Docker 1.7

All security updates until August 1, 2015.

You can purchase Black Lab Enterprise Desktop through resellers or you can purchase directly from us

Black Lab Professional Desktop Subscriptions

1 seat 12 month Subscription $75.00 USD 2 Seat 12 month Subscription $99.99 USD 3 - 10 seat 12 month Subscription $500.00 USD 11 - 20 seat 12 month Subscription $950.00 USD Company Subscription - Unlimited Seats 12 month Subscription $4,500.00 USD Custom Configuration - 100 Seats 12 month Subscription $1,200.00 USD

Medium

XFCE Live USB Flash Drive XFCE Live SD Card XFCE Live DVD XFCE Live MicroSD GNOME Live USB Flash Drive GNOME Live SD Card GNOME Live DVD GNOME Live MicroSD

Order Notes:

When you purchase Black Lab Enterprise Desktop you also get a choice of a Black Lab T-shirt or Black Lab coffee mug.

As of today all systems can be purchased with Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6.6

Business Desktops

Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 SR4 released

Today we are announcing the availability of Black Lab Enterprise Desktop.  Black Lab Enterprise Desktop is a distribution that is commercially supported and targeted at small to medium sized desktops for businesses or home office users.  Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 is based on LTS technologies so it is supported until 2020.  Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 utilizes the KDE desktop so users have a modern, full featured desktop at their disposal and Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 can run all of your existing Linux based and Unix ported applications and can run commercially available applications and development tools from Red Hat, Oracle, Salesforce.com, RealVNC, Apple Web Objects among others and is the only commercially supported Mate and KDE based distribution on the market today.

Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 is also built for the cloud and can run many of your cloud based applications like Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps, Oracle, Salesforce etc.  Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 can be configured to run OpenStack and can be used with Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.

With this release Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 also comes with:

KDE 4.14.2
Mate 1.8.2 (RHEL 6 compatible desktop)
GCC 4.9.2
Firefox 38
Thunderbird 31.7
Skype 4.3
ScudCloud - Which is a Slack Client
Citrix Receiver
LibreOffice 4.3
Focus Writer
Timeshift restore facilities
Backup Utility
Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 also supports a wide variety of NAS and other enterprise capable devices
kernel 3.16.0-38 which has a ton of bug fixes and stabilized device drivers
Ubuntu LTS kernel 3.13.0-53 which is the default kernel included with Ubuntu 14.04

Also includes all security updates until May 25, 2015.  We have also synchronized all package version to Debian Jessie 8.0.

Using modern technologies such as LDAP, SAMBA 4, Active Directory and NFS.  Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 can be deployed in ANY environment with ease from Windows, Mac OS X, UNIX and other Linux based environments.

Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 is backed by 24/7 support and Black Lab Software has shown unprecedented ability in being able to patch, deploy and cure many security risks and deficiencies before they become a problem for our users. Over 20 corporate customers have deployed Black Lab Enterprise Desktop and Black Lab Software celebrates an unprecedented 98% client retention rate and 100% active customer satisfaction rating.

Pricing and Availability

Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 is available today, June 1, 2015.  While most companies charge per socket, we charge per machine.  

Single license  $75.00 USD
2 licenses $136.00
3 - 10 license pack $500.00 USD
11 - 20 license pack $950.00 USD
Unlimited Corporate License $4,500.00 USD

We can also customize your distribution with any desktop environment and targeted towards ANY hardware platform you desire from x86_64, PPC, SPARC.

Custom Configuration License comes with 100 licenses $1,200.00 USD

You can order Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 below

Black Lab Professional Desktop Subscriptions

1 seat 12 month Subscription $75.00 USD 2 Seat 12 month Subscription $99.99 USD 3 - 10 seat 12 month Subscription $500.00 USD 11 - 20 seat 12 month Subscription $950.00 USD Company Subscription - Unlimited Seats 12 month Subscription $4,500.00 USD Custom Configuration - 100 Seats 12 month Subscription $1,200.00 USD

Medium

KDE Live USB Flash Drive KDE Live SD Card KDE Live DVD KDE Live MicroSD

Order Notes:

You can also purchase Black Lab Enterprise Desktop 6 on our select hardware systems.

Black Lab Business Desktops

Black Lab Education Desktop 6.0 BETA 2 Released

Today we have released the second beta for the new release of our award winning education focused distribution, Black Lab Education Desktop.  The Black Lab Education Desktop 6 release focuses on the rock solid base of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, which also includes functionality and feature support until 2019 and security and bug fix support until 2021 and we include an application lineup for education users that is untouched by any other education focused Linux distribution.

Here are the new changes in the Black Lab Education Desktop.

GNOME 3.10.4, modified GNOME 3 desktop to make it easier for tradition users
Kernel 3.13.0-43.50
Parental Controls, we have brought back Parental and access controls that can be used to block websites and manage time spent on machines.
Thunderbird Suite 31.3 with built in Google Apps support and translation utilities
Firefox 34 with built in translation utilities
LibreOffice 4.3.4
Full NFS support
Updated nitroshare for passing files between systems
Synergy so instructors can take control of a students PC easily and efficiently
Tux suite of educational tools.
Kinect and Wii support

Along with 360 updates to the previous Beta for security and application updates.

Pricing:  We have worked very hard to be competitive on pricing and we follow trends on education spending, so the custom configuration  for education has changed.  So we have 1 and 2 seat licenses as well as custom configuration and unlimited licensing.  For custom configuration the price is $1,000.00 for unlimited licenses for your district.  For the stock build of Black Lab Education Desktop, the price is $300.00 USD for unlimited licensing.  Unlimited licensing means you can deploy it on as many machines as you would like and you have unlimited redistribution rights so you can give a copy to your teachers, to your students and they get the exact same 1 year Telephone and e-mail support that the schools get.  Upon final release we will have a digital download option where you can download it from a secure server for $40.00 USD for one license and you get the same one year support.

If you purchase hardware you will get the OS for free preinstalled as well as a free year of support licensing.

You will also be able to download it for free and get community forum support or as we call it self-support.  You also wont have the commercial application support, Oracle, IBM, Red Hat etc. or the Active Directory integration support.

To get the Beta you can download it from the Sourceforge page for x86_64 systems.

Black Lab Education Desktop 6.0 Beta 2 x86_64

Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.0 Service Release 2 Available Now

Today we are announcing the immediate availability of Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.0 SR2.  SR2 (Service Release 2) is a collection of all security updates for October and November 2014.

We also have some new additions to the /opt/Black Lab Extras/ folder:

Kernel 3.17.2 Installer
Skype 4.3
Black Lab SDK 1.9

Along with security updates we have also included:

Kernel 3.13.0-39
Appgrid 0.13
GNOME Clock
GNOME Weather
GNOME 3.10.3
Calibre 1.48
GNUCash 2.6

The Black Lab SDK 1.9 also installs and configures Docker for you for full container integration.

Users and current customers can install the updates via the terminal with the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Commercial customers who have support:  Your updated USB keys have been fully updated and shipped as of Friday November 14, 2014.

New comers can find out more about Black Lab Professional Desktop from here:

Black Lab Professional Desktop

Users that would like to subscribe to support or purchase Black Lab Professional Desktop on a preinstalled Hard Drive, you can purchase your licenses from the Buy it now page.

Buy It Now

Users who want to try Black Lab Professional Desktop on a 60 day evaluation basis or with forum and community support can download from our sourceforge page.

Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.0 SR2 x86_64

Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.0.1 released

Today we released a slight incremental update to Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.  This release, Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.0.1 addresses three issues that users have reported to us.

1.  Samba Networking - Some users filed issues where Files wasnt automatically picking up created shares.  This issue has now been fixed.

2.  Single Core - Some single core systems that were 64 bit capable would register an error during installation citing that the system could not be installed and continue with the installation anyway.  This was potentially negative for users so the error code was removed.

3.  Wifi Stability - When going into standby Wifi would disconnect and refuse to reconnect unless the user rebooted the system.  This issue was fixed with the 3.13.0-37 Kernel update.  This error is NOT present in the 3.17 Kernel Kit.

Among that we refreshed the system with the 3.13.0-37 kernel as well as the following:

1.  All October security updates have been applied to the system.
2.  Firefox 33 is now included
3.  All GNOME 3 UI enhancements from RC1 have been applied
4.  OpenSSH server has been installed but not enabled
5.  Skype 4.3 has been updated in the /opt/extras folder

For current users all you have to do is open the terminal and type "sudo apt-get update " and then "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade"

Or you can download the new ISO from the Sourceforge Page

Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.0.1 x86_64

If you wish to purchase a copy or a corporate subscription of Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.0.1 and get 12 months of phone and e-mail support as well as enable advanced features please visit our Buy It Now Page.

Purchase support Subscriptions for Black Lab Professional Desktop

Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.0 Released

Today we are pleased to release the next revision of the Black Lab Professional Desktop series.  Black Lab Professional Desktop 6 offers the stability and redundancy of the current LTS technologies, with the tools and functionality that enterprise desktop users would expect.   With this release we bring many new features that bridge the Linux desktop environment with your existing desktop environments.  We also include utilities for deploying web applications and current web technologies.

Here is a list of some of the great features you will find in Black Lab Professional Desktop.

1.  GNOME 3.10
2.  Firefox 32
3.  Modified Fogger web app utility with full Java and HTML5 support
4.  Thunderbird with full GOOGLE Apps for Business support
5.  Maps
6. LibreOffice
7.  GLOM Desktop Database system
8.  PostgreSQL 9.3
9. Calibre Ebook suite
10. Refrencer Document indexing system
11. Dropbox
12. Scribus
13. GNU Cash
14. Inkscape
15. Blender
16.  Full Oracle 12c support
17.  WinUSB Creator, allows you to create bootable Windows install USB keys with Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows Threshold support.
18.  Active Directory utility.
19.  Skype, installable from /opt/Black Lab Extras/

We are offering a download of Black Lab Professional Desktop 6.0 for evaluation purposes.  You can install it and run it and add apps and other utilities to it.  It doesn't include utilities like PBIS Active Directory, WinUSB, Oracle desktop support and it only includes Forum support.  For e-mail, remote and phone support you have to purchase a license from Black Lab Software Inc.

You can download the Black Lab Professional Desktop 6 ISO from Sourceforge for x86_64 bit systems only.

Black Lab Professional Desktop 6 x86_64

You can purchase a license from here

Black Lab Professional Desktops Subscriptions

1 seat 12 month Subscription $75.00 USD 2 Seat 12 month Subscription $99.99 USD 10 seat 12 month Subscription $700.00 USD 20 seat 12 month Subscription $1,500.00 USD Company Subscription - Unlimited Seats 12 month Subscription $5,700.00 USD Custom Configuration - 100 Seats 12 month Subscription $1,200.00 USD

Medium

Live USB Flash Drive Live SD Card

Or you can order Black Lab Professional Desktop 6 on any of our desktop or workstations that we sell.

Black Lab Software Professional desktop systems 

New support programs coming in January

Coming in January 2014 we are adding some features to our support contracts.  This is a change that will affect both the Black Lab Linux community and the Kubuntu community.

Starting January 2nd 2014 we will be adding support for the LTS releases of Kubuntu to our support subscriptions.  Now why are we doing this?

We use Kubuntu as a base for our Black Lab Linux KDE edition and since Kubuntu is not supported for enterprise deployment through Canonical  we are going to support it since we do support KDE and QT through the Enterprise release of Black Lab Linux.

Now, if your support subscription already calls for KDE support you will not be charged any extra for this addon and just let us know that you are deploying Kubuntu and it will be added to your support subscription contract.  The 2014 refresh of our support subscriptions are being worked on and will be announced through the month of December.

Some of the other changes that will be in the revised support subscriptions:

1. KDE 4.11, and QT 5.
2.  Application porting from SGI IRIX to Black Lab Enterprise Linux
3.  Kubuntu 12.04.x
4.  Black Lab Linux 4.2 KDE

On your support subscriptions for hardware we will be adding the following:

1.  Support for SGI MIPS architecture for a period of ONE calendar year
2.  Support for POWERPC architecture
3.  Support for the installation of Kubuntu 12.04.x on all hardware
4.  Support for the installation of Black Lab Linux KDE on all hardware

No specialized support subscription contracts will be drawn up to include these changes but they will be recognized as standard.