 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 8, 28 July 2003 |
The birth of the Red Hat Project
The releases of Red Hat's new beta versions last week were overshadowed by the upcoming changes at Red Hat, notably the creation of a more community oriented distribution and withdrawal from retail sales. While clear policies and guidelines have yet to be specified, there is little doubt that this is a good move, a win-win situation for both parties - the Red Hat developers on one hand and the company's customers and users on the other.
The developers on Red Hat's payroll will be able to concentrate on the more lucrative Red Hat's offerings - the development and support of the enterprise class products, as well as custom solutions for companies. Let's face it, the twice-a-year release schedule of an extremely popular operating system does put a strain on those responsible for quality control, so giving part of this responsibility to the user community makes a lot of sense. The users should also benefit by seeing the often requested features, which until now were hitting the stubborn wall of Red Hat, Inc and the company's interests. In fact, LinuxCompatible.org reports that an RPM front-end called yum (Yellow dog Updater, Modified) has been spotted in the latest Rawhide, the Red Hat's development branch, and it will more than likely be part of the next beta release. Red Hat's reluctance to include and support any dependency resolving installation utility meant that users had to install one of the third-party applications (yum, apt4rpm) to avoid dependency nightmares often associated with installation of binary packages on a Linux system. Similarly, the out-of-the-box multimedia support on any recent Red Hat release was less than satisfactory and this is another area which could change in the near future.
Gone from the shelves?
Red Hat's withdrawal from retail sales means that those bright red (and white) boxes will no longer occupy shelves of software stores. Is this a trend? Mandrake's recent history suggests that the French company is also less than enthusiastic about getting their boxes out to retailers, relying instead on the MandrakeClub and online sales for most income. Other consumer-friendly distributions such as Xandros, Lycoris and Lindows don't seem particularly keen to use the traditional brick-and-mortar way of selling their products either. This leaves SuSE as the only distribution relentlessly pursuing this route. It will be interesting to see whether this will continue in the future, especially since SuSE has been increasingly successful in getting large enterprise accounts. Surely, these high-profile, large-volume deployments will have to take precedence over high-cost and low-profit options generated by sales of retail boxes. On the other hand, being the only brand left on the shelves could be a strong motivator to continue producing them. What do you think?
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| Released Last Week |
LinuxInstall.org 1.4
LinuxInstall.org 1.4, a single CD, Red Hat-based distribution for novice users was released: "Here is a list of major changes from last release: First of all, release number has been changed back to 1.x to respect other distro cycles; Mozilla 1.4 RPM packages have been re-compiled to make sure they are fully compatible with existing plugins; as a new plugin family, QuickTime Movies can now be played in Mozilla with the help of MPlayer; Evolution 1.4.3 RPM packages are included; OpenOffice.org 1.1RC RPM package comes with custom design Gnome Office Menu icons for easy launching; Scribus 1.0 RPM package, which is a desktop publishing software, is included..." LinuxInstall.org 1.4 can be ordered from here (US$5 - 10).
Arch Linux 0.5
The Arch Linux 0.5, code name "Nova" was released: "Over the last seven months we've added a million package updates, PAM support, LVM support, GRUB support, and a ton of other little things that you may not notice, but are working behind the scenes to make your Arch Linux experience as smooth as possible. We've provided two ISO images with this release: the full-size image contains all official packages and the base-only image contains only base packages needed to get your system up and running." A review of Arch Linux 0.5 is in the works and this will be preceded by an interview with Judd Vinet, the creator of Arch Linux later this week. If you still have any questions you'd like to ask Judd, please mention them in the discussion forum.
Damn Small Linux 0.4.1
The developers Damn Small Linux, which is full CD-based distribution on a business card size CD, released version 0.4.1: "Now in 0.4.1 there is the choice of two X servers -- Xvesa and Xfbdev. Xfbdev uses the framebuffer provided by the Linux framebuffer device. That means it may be a much better choice for older laptops. In fact I have a couple of old laptops (Pentium I) that were completely incompatible with Xvesa but worked very well with the framebuffer server. The key is to use a FB that your laptop can support -- this has to be selected at boot time. In the case of these two Pentium Is fb800x600 did the trick. (If your hardware supports it, Xvesa is still preferred because it is more flexible and faster.) Also new for 0.4.1 is the emelFM file manager. I liked worker a lot, but emelFM is simpler and has practically no learning curve. Also, emelFM is smaller than Worker, and I needed the room!"
Knoppix 3.2-2003-07-26
Not one, but three releases of Knoppix 3.2 appeared last week, the most recent is version 3.2-2003-07-06. See the changelog for information on what's new.
Development Releases
- Red Hat Linux 9.0.93, code name "Severn" - the first beta of the next stable version of Red Hat Linux, which will be known as "Cambridge" (version number has yet to be decided).
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.9.5AS (Advanced Server), code name "Taroon", see the release notes.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.9.5WS (Workstation), code name "Taroon", see the release notes. Both enterprise class products come on 3 CDs of which the second and third CDs are identical. Download from mirrors.
- Mandrake Linux 9.2 Beta 1 "has arrived to offer you the opportunity of an entertaining summer bug squashing". See the beta information page for details.
- ClarkConnect Broadband Gateway 2.0rc2. The beta page provides the full changelog.
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Gentoo Linux 1.4 for PowerPC
The PowerPC edition of Gentoo Linux 1.4 is now available for pre-order: "Our new Gentoo store is now accepting pre-orders for Gentoo Linux 1.4 for PowerPC, PowerPC G3, PowerPC G4, and the KDE/GNOME PowerPC LiveCD, which now contains both desktop environments on one CD. Thanks to the Gentoo PowerPC team for their excellent work!"
Lorma Linux roadmap
The developers of Lorma Linux, a Red Hat-based, i686-optimised Linux distribution, have produced a road map and expected feature lists for their upcoming releases of both desktop and server editions. Version 4 is expected before the end of this year and version 5 about one year later.
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| Web Site News |
New additions
Five new distributions, three of which are live CDs, were added to the DistroWatch database last week:
- FIRE, formerly known as DMZS-Biatchux, is a portable bootable CD-based distribution with the goal of providing an immediate environment to perform forensic analysis, incident response, data recovery, virus scanning and vulnerability assessment.
- Onebase Linux is a new source distribution with a web-based interface for software installation. Although still in early development and a little rough around the edges, it promises to be user-friendly and powerful.
- Phayoune Linux is a Thai Linux distribution based on Linux From Scratch. Available editions include Desktop, Secure Server, Secure Firewall and Live CD editions.
- RPM Live Linux CD is a 120MB RedHat-based distribution that runs completely from CD, fits into around 80MB of RAM and is nearly indistinguishable from a system installed on a hard disk.
- Slackware Live CD is a 200MB Slackware-based live Linux distribution on CD. It features many add-ons, including scripts to create your own live CD.
New on the waiting list
Another bumper week of new submissions - six new distributions were added to waiting list:
- Dux Linux - the web site lacks information about the project, although Dux Linux 0.1beta is now available for download.
- Flonix - a French derivative of Knoppix.
- Kinneret - an Israeli Linux distribution for schools, fully localised.
- OpenSlackware GnuLinux - a Romanian Slackware-based distribution with security as its primary goal.
- Penguin Sleuth Bootable CD - a CD-based distribution with tools for data forensics.
- SPB Linux Bootable CD - a mini distribution running from a USB memory stick.
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of distributions in the database: 161
- Number of discontinued distributions: 21
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 53
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| Reader Feedback |
On DistroWatch icons, logos and banners
- "I have created a banner, not sure where i should send it in to, I'll give you a link, tell me what you think."
One more logo was submitted last week - time to make a decision?
Banner 1:
Banner 2:
Banner 3:
Banner 4:
Banner 5:
Banner 6:
Logo 1:
All opinions are welcome.
That's all for this week, keep well and see you next Monday,
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
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| Random Distribution | 
Grafpup Linux
Grafpup Linux was a desktop Linux operating system based closely on Puppy Linux. Its goal was to be as useful to graphic designers and other imaging professionals as possible while still remaining extremely small and fast. Grafpup was a live CD of only 75MB with current versions of GIMP, Cinepaint, Inkscape, and Scribus. Grafpup was also very user-friendly, with wizards for doing most system tasks like connecting to the internet and installing to hard disk or USB drive. There was also a powerful package management system, "pupget", with a very extensive and ever increasing list of additional packages available for easy installation.
Status: Discontinued
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View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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