News Releases

Athene 2004 Now Available

27 July 2004: Rocklyte Systems is pleased to announce the latest release of its commercial operating system, Athene 2004. Athene is a Linux based operating system with a unique desktop environment and commercially developed support for all modern graphics cards. Affordable and easy to use, Athene is designed for computer users of any level and can be used in home and office environments. Features include:

Optimised for Intel Pentium and compatible processors.
Backwards compatible with all Linux X11 applications.
Advanced graphics card support and accelerated user interface.
Linux Kernel 2.6.7
Free online support and no ongoing maintenance or subscription fees.
Included software:

Konqueror & Firefox Web Browsers
GIMP, MPlayer, CDR Tools
GAIM, GFTP, XChat
KDE 3.2.3 with KDE Application Suite
KDE Office 1.3
Open Office 1.1
Games: Barrage, Exodus, LBreakout 2, LTris, Patience, Mahjongg and more.
CUPS Printer Support
The GCC 3.3.3 compiler, plus tools and applications for developers.

The latest release of Athene includes support for more graphics cards, USB cameras, automated partition detection, a new installer, improved file management and many more new features.

Athene Desktop Edition 4.0

In conjunction with the release of Athene 2004, the Athene Desktop Edition is now available for Windows and Linux systems and is free for non-commercial use. The Desktop Edition supports the same functionality as Athene 2004, which allows programs developed for Athene to be used on Windows, Linux or the Athene OS.

The most exciting addition to Athene 4.0 for Linux is the arrival of VESA graphics drivers, allowing users to replace their X11 graphics server with the Athene desktop. Athene's client-based graphics system and optimised graphics drivers provide a much faster and responsive environment in comparison to both X11 and Microsoft Windows interfaces. Benchmarks undertaken earlier in the year demonstrated a graphics throughput advantage as high as 33% in comparison to X11.

Accelerated support for all graphics cards is provided in the commercial version of the Athene Desktop Edition. The VESA graphics drivers featured in Athene 4.0 are provided courtesy of SciTech Software.

For more information:

Home Page: http://www.rocklyte.com/athene/

Screenshots: http://www.rocklyte.com/athene/screenshots.html

Download: http://www.rocklyte.com/downloads.html

Change Log: http://www.rocklyte.com/athene/changelog.html

About Rocklyte Systems

Rocklyte has a principal interest in the research and development of new products for the operating system industry. Established products include the Athene Operating System, a versatile kernel independent OS architecture; the Pandora Engine, an object based development suite; and the Dynamic Markup Language, an XML based language for the construction of graphical interfaces. More information is available from the Rocklyte web site, www.rocklyte.com or email contact@rocklyte.com.