Key Release Changes

Package Management

Full Package Management

You can now easily add packages to the NST distribution using standard yum and rpm commands. This allows you to start with a initial NST distribution and then enhance it for your custom purposes.

This is only recommended after performing a hard disk installation of the NST.

Live Systems Can Be Updated

You can perform package management commands using yum and rpm commands even if you boot NST Live (off of a DVD). However, since the media is not writable, new packages which are downloaded and added will consume RAM.

Because of this, you should only install a few packages at a time for experimental purposes. If you were to attempt a full system update on a Live system, it is likely it will run out of memory.

Distribution Size

In order to update the NST distribution to support full package management, the full ISO distribution has increased significantly in size.

The full distribution can no longer be burned to CD media (you must burn it to a DVD or a USB memory stick).

If you have a system which can only boot from CD media (it can't read DVD media and does not support booting from a USB memory stick), you will not be able to run a full NST Live distribution.

However, it is still possible to perform a hard disk installation of the full NST distribution by starting with the NST Minimal ISO image. See the NST Minimal page if this applies to you.

Initial Boot

Default Password

In prior releases, you were forced

The default password is still nst2003.

Services Disabled

When you boot NST Live, the https and sshd services are now disabled until you set the system passwords using the nstpasswd script.