ConfigMgr 2012 VHD

Much like you had in the days of 2007, Microsoft has released a VHD of the SP1 of 2012.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36428

This means that you don't need to be a SQL or AD expert to create your own lab to do basic tests.  You can use this VHD for testing or even show other people how SP1 works on a very small scale.

Linux/Mac Clients now available for ConfigMgr 2012

Microsoft System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 Configuration Manager - Clients for Additional Operating Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36212

What is supported:

Mac
RedHat Linux
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Solaris

Feature Bullet Summary:
Mac Client:
The following Mac versions are supported in this release:

• Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
• Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion)

The following scenarios are supported through the Mac client in Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1:

• Discovery – Discovers Mac OS X system in Active Directory and through network discovery
• Hardware Inventory – Provides hardware inventory and auditing of computers running Mac OS X, including a list of installed software similar to add/remove programs for Windows systems.
• Settings Management – Ensures computers running Mac OS X comply with company policies using scripts and preference list management.
• Application Deployment – Distributes required software via app model.
• Software Updates Management – Distributes patches utilizing Software Distribution and Settings management features.

UNIX/Linux Client:
The following UNIX and Linux versions are supported in this release.

• RHEL Version 6 (x86 & x64)
• RHEL Version 5 (x86 & x64)
• RHEL Version 4 (x86 & x64)
• Solaris Version 10 (x86 & SPARC)
• Solaris Version 9 (SPARC)
• SLES Version 11 (x86 & x64)
• SLES Version 10 SP1 (x86 & x64)
• SLES Version 9 (x86)

For more information see the link provided at the top of this blog for the full offical post from Microsoft.

System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 – Configuration Manager Component Add-ons and Extensions

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36213

Micrososft has released a new toolkit for SC 2012 CM  SP1

The following tools are available:

• Client Spy - A tool that helps you troubleshoot issues related to software distribution, inventory, and software metering on System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager clients.
• Policy Spy - A policy viewer that helps you review and troubleshoot the policy system on System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager clients.
• Security Configuration Wizard Template for Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager - The Security Configuration Wizard (SCW) is an attack-surface reduction tool for the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Security Configuration Wizard determines the minimum functionality required for a server's role or roles, and disables functionality that is not required.
• Send Schedule Tool - A tool used to trigger a schedule on a client or trigger the evaluation of a specified DCM Baseline. You can trigger a schedule either locally or remotely.
• Power Viewer Tool – A tool to view the status of power management feature on System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager clients.
• Deployment Monitoring Tool - The Deployment Monitoring Tool is a graphical user interface designed help troubleshoot Applications, Updates, and Baseline deployments on System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager clients. This tool requires System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager or later.
• Run Metering Summarization Tool - The purpose of this tool is to run the metering summarization task to analyze raw metering data.
• Role-based Administration Modeling and Auditing Tool – This tool helps administrators to model and audit RBA configurations.
• Wakeup Spy – This tool shows network traffic and basic information about ConfigMgr wake up client state. This tool requires System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager or later.
• Content Library Transfer – This tool moves the content library from one drive to another drive.
• Content Ownership Transfer – This tool re-assigns orphaned packages to an active ConfigMgr site.