 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 19, 13 October 2003 |
The "New Releases" Season
It happens about twice a year that all major commercial distributions are lining up to entice us with their brand new releases. Red Hat will be a slightly late this year due to all the structural changes currently taking effect, but both MandrakeSoft and SUSE LINUX are expected to announce their latest and greatest later this week. Mandrake is rumoured to get their long awaited version 9.2 out of the door tomorrow, with priority access given to its Club members, but pre-orders are now also being taken by MandrakeStore. Three editions of Mandrake Linux 9.2 will be available - Discovery (US$39), PowerPack (US$69) and ProSuite (US$199). Also this week, SUSE will release its new SUSE LINUX 9.0 in Europe, while the rest of the world will have to wait slightly longer; in North America, the Personal (US$36.99) and Professional (US$64.99) editions can now be pre-ordered from Amazon.com. Whichever brand you prefer, the increasing competition between the main Linux integrators should result in some of the best product releases ever!
Vector Linux 4.0
In sharp contrast to all the upcoming excitement, last week was a particularly quiet one. From among the better-known distributions, only Vector Linux announced a new release - version 4.0. It is based on Slackware 9.0, a distribution which itself released a new version during Vector's 2-month beta testing period, making Vector 4.0 slightly obsolete in the process. Even more worrying though is the departure of Tony Brijeski, from the distribution's development team for family reasons. Tony Brijeski, also known as "tigger", was the Chief Architect of the SOHO branch of Vector Linux. As a result, Vector Linux is now looking for new developers; interested parties can find more information in this forum thread.
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| Released Last Week |
Vector Linux 4.0
Vector Linux 4.0 was released: "After two release candidates we have finally released the final version of Vector Linux 4.0. This release is based on Slackware 9.0 and the 2.4.22 kernel. It comes with auto hardware configuration and enough software to make your day to day computer chores a breeze. We think you will find our alternative desktop system easy to use and very quick. I'm not going to give the full run down here but see the features page for more information. Interested and want to try it out? Your wish is my command....:)" See the full release announcement of the distribution's web site.
Blin Linux 1.3 (GNOME2 Edition)
The developers of Blin Linux released Blin Linux 1.3 GNOME2 Edition. This is the distribution's first release based on GTK+2 and GNOME2, with updates of all GNOME applications. It is based on the 2.4.23-pre2 Linux kernel, glibc 2.3.2 and XFree86 4.3.0, a good combination for most modern hardware. Version 1.3 comes with office applications, support for popular printers, Java (jre-1.4.3) and Flash Player. See the full release announcement (in Russian) and the package list for further details. Blin Linux is an independent live CD distribution with excellent support for the Cyrillic alphabet, as well as English.
Unannounced Releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Mandrake Linux 9.2
It seems that the much awaited Mandrake Linux 9.2 will finally be available to members of the MandrakeClub later this week. From Mandrake's TWiki: "Mandrake 9.2 has been sent to manufacturer! ISO images will be available for Mandrake club members starting October 14th, 2003, and worldwide by the end of October.". The same source informs us that Mandrake Linux 10.0 is scheduled for release in March 2004.
Fedora Core 0.95
Expect a new Fedora beta release, version 0.95 and code name "Severn", which should be announced later today.
Freeduc 1.4
A new version of the Knoppix-based educational distribution Freeduc, currently in its 7th beta, is to be released at the end of this moth.
LRs GNU/Linux
Once again, the LRs GNU/Linux has been resurrected "LRs/GNU - Linux is alive, we have found a lot of Developers from www.linuxforen.de and we Develop again for one of the fastest distros ever seen :-). I think in one or two months we release 'Creme-13.'" The above comes from this mailing list post. As soon as "creme" is released, we'll add LRs back to the list of active distributions.
OpenNA 1.0
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| Web Site News |
Many thanks to Thomas Blechinger for updating the German translation.
New on the main page: news headlines are now clickable. The resulting page will display a single story, with further information related to the specific distribution - click on any of the headlines to see for yourself. As always, if you find any bugs, I'd appreciate your email telling me about them.
I have fallen behind the schedule of adding new distributions due to my working on the LindowsOS review, which should have been done a long time ago, but there was always something more important to do. I'll hope to catch up with adding Burapha Linux, NBROK ZIP-drive-Linux, Zeus Linux, AbulEdu, ThePacketMaster, Drinou-Linux, guadaLINEX, Berry Linux, Locust Mesh AP Linux, BlackRhino GNU/Linux, Kix and Pilot Linux by the end of this week.
New additions
- Pequelin. Metadistro-Pequelin is a Knoppix-based Spanish live CD distribution designed specifically for children and educational use.
Discontinued distributions
- According to this story at MozillaZine.org, OEone has discontinued its Linux distribution called HomeBase Desktop: "OEone, the company that gave rise to Mozilla Calendar and Mozilla Sunbird, has ended distribution of their Homebase DESKTOP product, the UI of which is written entirely in XUL. While they had said earlier that development was being frozen for a time, and they are still selling the full distribution HomeBase SUITE, I hate to see this truly-different desktop vanish. Any chance they could open-source the full desktop without killing the Homebase ANYWHERE (server storage space) revenue stream?"
New on the waiting list
- CEMF Linux is a new Brazilian distributions based on Slackware.
- PHLAK is a modular security distribution, geared to be used as a live CD.
- Viper Linux is an operating system that is perfect. No flaws, no cracks in the code, just perfection.
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of distributions in the database: 180
- Number of discontinued distributions: 24
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 69
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| Reader Feedback |
- "I wanted to let you know that the font size is a tad too big now. I adjusted my font size on my browser to accommodate, but I have to change it back after leaving your site because the other site's words are then way too small."
- "Why all of a sudden has the fonts gotten so big? I can't see the whole page with out reducing my font size. Happens only on this site."
I am afraid to report that the font experiment turned out to be a disaster. Those who used to complain about the font sizes being too small were happy after all font-size specifications were removed from CSS files, but as you can see from the above comments, a new, fonts-are-too-large group of complainants quickly replaced them.
I looked at other web sites using UTF-8 encoding to see how they solve the problem. MandrakeClub.com goes around the font issue by specifying the font size at 12 pixels. I did the same here, so everybody who hasn't overridden the font size in their browser preferences should get the same font size - 12 pixels high.
Please let me know how things look now. This is yet another experiment on the road to a perfect, flawless and bug-free web site full of useful information and no reasons for any complaints what so ever :-)
That's all for this week, keep well and see you next Monday :-)
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Full list of all issues |
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DuZeru
DuZeru was a Brazilian Linux distribution based on Debian's "Stable" branch. It features thes Xfce desktop environment.
Status: Discontinued
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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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