 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 53, 14 June 2004 |
Welcome to this year's 24th edition of DistroWatch Weekly. It was another quiet week with only Xandros disturbing the distribution scene with its Open Circulation Edition. Have you download it yet? If so, what are your impressions?
Content:
Xandros goes freeware, Lindows goes bundle
The release of Xandros's Open Circulation Edition (OCE) came as a surprise to many, not only because the company gave no advanced warnings about it, but also because the product is freely distributable and completely free for non-commercial use. It even comes bundled with the Xandros NTFS partitioning tool, which as many of you will recall, is absent from the company's US$39 Xandros Desktop Standard edition. The only functional restriction of OCE is in the integrated CD burner which only supports very low burning speeds. This, however, shouldn't be of much concern (you do use the command line to burn CDs anyway, right?) and the OCE seems like an excellent deal. It also removes the often heard argument by some users who maintain that they won't buy a Linux distribution unless they can try it first. Overall, a very good move by Xandros, especially now that many distributions seem to be moving away from being "free".
Xandros OCE - a free edition of Xandros Desktop for home use
(full image size 229kB)
While we found the announcement by Xandros very exciting, we were surprised that a different announcement, by Lindows.com, received much more attention in the Linux media. In case you've missed it, Lindows.com is now bundling 8 CDs with Linspire 4.5, Mandrakelinux 10.0 and Fedora Core 2, and selling the bundle for US$39.95. This is designed to to give us an opportunity to evaluate different distributions and choose the one that fits our needs best.
But is this news?
If some of you are tempted by the offer, then let us remind you that you can get Mandrakelinux 10.0, Fedora Core 2 and SUSE LINUX 9.1 Professional, a total of 13 CDs, for US$25.88 at LinuxCD.org. Even better, get their LinuxCD Pack - 22 CDs of all major distributions for US$35. Of course, there is nothing wrong with Lindows.com selling their bundle. But there is something seriously wrong with the journalists who found the Lindows.com's announcement a newsworthy topic to cover in so much depth.
Tips and tricks: multiple distros HOWTO
A reader wrote in asking for a feature about setting up multiple Linux distributions on a hard disk. "You probably do this more than anybody in the world making you the most qualified to do this," he claimed and, as the 25 Linux and BSD partitions on my two hard disks would be happy to confirm, he probably wasn't too far from the truth. If I was to set up a multiple distribution hard disk now, this is how I'd go about it:
- Partition your hard disk. If you have a new, empty hard disk, you can partition it with a tool like Partition Magic, or more cheaply, with QTParted included with SystemRescueCD, Knoppix or other distributions. SystemRescueCD is particularly suitable for this - it is a small download and it doesn't mount any of your existing hard drives or partitions by default. QTParted is a graphical tool, so if you can drag a mouse, you can partition hard disks. I normally create my first primary partition (/dev/hda1, about 10GB) right at the beginning of the hard disk (reserved for my primary OS), followed by another primary partition (/dev/hda2, also about 10GB) reserved for /home, followed by another primary partition (/dev/hda3, around 1GB) reserved for swap. The rest of the drive is then taken up by a large extended partition (/dev/hda4), which can be sliced up to contain up to 64 logical partitions (/dev/hda5, /dev/hda6, /dev/hda7, and so on). Since most modern distributions seems to be quite large nowadays, I'd recommend giving the logical partitions around 4 - 6GB each.
- Consider the OSs. Linux is particularly easy about where it resides on the hard disk, but other operating systems are much more picky. If you intend to keep Windows on your system, remember that it must be installed on the first partition of the first hard disk (at least that's how it was with Windows 2000 and earlier versions, I am not sure about Windows XP). FreeBSD is not that strict, but it definitely wants to be placed on a primary partition, rather than a logical one. If you still need Windows, you'll be wise to install it first, before installing any Linux distribution or BSD.
- Install distributions. Once your system is partitioned, you can start installing the distributions you want. Even the simplest installers (such the one that comes with Linspire) will give you an opportunity to specify where to install the distribution, although you might have to select an "advanced installation" option to do so. Let's say you have installed Debian on /dev/hda1 (with its /home partition on /dev/hda2) and now you are adding Mandrakelinux to /dev/hda5, Fedora Core /dev/hda6, Linspire on /dev/hda7, and Slackware on /dev/hda8. Since your hard disk is already partitioned, you can safely skip any partitioning questions the installer might provide.
- Keep the same swap partition. No matter how many Linux distributions you install on your hard disk, you only need one swap partition. Many distribution installers will detect and set it up automatically, but if not, you will have to specify it manually (in our case it's at /dev/hda3). It is safe to format the swap partition - no important data are kept on it after you end your current Linux session and reboot the system.
- Don't keep the same home partition. As convenient as this might sound, sharing the same home partition among multiple distributions is asking for trouble. The reason is that each distribution comes with a slightly different set of application versions, the settings of which might not always be compatible with another distribution's set. Yes, you might very well get away with it, especially if all your distributions are reasonably recent, but I would still advise against this. If I want to share data between different distributions (e.g your email folders), I normally use symbolic links - just mount your main home partitions (in our case 'mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/home' then link your mail directory with 'ln -s /mnt/home/Mail ~/Mail'). As for application settings (e.g. bookmarks, browser settings, etc.), I normally copy them from my main distribution's home partition to any new distribution's home partition.
- Choose a boot loader. Historically, lilo was the only bootloader on Linux, but this has changed and nowadays you are more likely to see grub as the recommended boot loader on most distributions (although lilo might still be provided as an option). It doesn't matter which one you choose (it is one of those vim vs emacs battles), both can serve equally well for your purpose. The important thing is to place the boot loaders of different distributions in the correct place, while placing your main distribution's boot loader into the master boot record (MBR). In our case, we'll place the Mandrakelinux boot loader on /dev/hda5, (not /dev/hda), the Fedora boot loader on /dev/hda6, the Linspire boot loader on /dev/hda7 (Linspire is a bit more troublesome than most; more on this in the next paragraph), and the Slackware boot loader on /dev/hda8. Again, it doesn't matter which boot loader you use - you can have lilo in /dev/hda, but use grub in /dev/hda5 and vice versa.
- Reset your main boot loader. Some distributions' installers are particularly inflexible in the way they set things up. Ark Linux and Linspire are among those that insist on overwriting your master boot record without any consideration for your other partitions. If that happens, don't panic - the fix is quite simple. Boot into Linspire (alternatively, boot any live CD, such as Knoppix), log in as root, create a temporary directory with 'mkdir /mnt/tmp', mount the partition occupied by your main distribution (in our case /dev/hda1) with 'mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/tmp', and chroot into it with 'chroot /mnt/tmp'. If your main boot loader on that partition is lilo, then simply execute 'lilo' on the command line; if it is grub, then execute 'grub', then type 'setup (hd0)'. That should restore your master boot record to what it was before you installed Linspire. However, you still need to make changes to the Linspire boot loader, so type Ctrl + D (to get out of the chroot-ed partition), then open /etc/lilo.conf with your favourite text editor. Change the line that reads 'boot=/dev/hda' to 'boot=/dev/hda7' (that's because Linspire is installed on /dev/hda7 in our case), save the modified file, then execute 'lilo' on the command line.
- Install new distribution. Every time you add a new distribution to your hard disk and install its boot loader on the same partition as the distribution itself, you will need to add the two lines to the /etc/lilo.conf of your main distribution's (Debian in our example) lilo, but you won't need to modify /etc/lilo.conf of your newly added distribution. For example, after installing Mandrakelinux on /dev/hda5, you will add these two lines to your Debian's /etc/lilo.conf:
other=/dev/hda5
label=Mandrake
Later you'll decide to install Fedora Core in /dev/hda6, which will mean that you will add another two lines to your Debian's /etc/lilo.conf:
other=/dev/hda6
label=Fedora
Don't forget to execute 'lilo' after any change you make to /etc/lilo.conf.
- Don't panic. If all of the above seems complicated at first, rest assured that after you've installed your 20th distribution, you'll be a multiboot expert advising all of your local LUG members on these matters. As always, practice makes perfect :-)
Get free SUSE LINUX 9.1 direct from Novell
If you don't have the bandwidth or the patience to perform a SUSE LINUX FTP install, you can get the entire distribution (and other Novell products) for free as part of Novell's Linux Technical Resource Kit:
"The Novell Customer Communities organization provides tools and resources to technical professionals all over the world. In order to continue to provide effective Linux resources from Novell, please answer the following questions to help us understand your Linux experience - and operating environment. Please be as thorough and accurate as possible in your response."
Interested? Then visit this page to find out more.
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| Released Last Week |
SystemRescueCD 0.2.14
A new version of SystemRescueCD is out. From the changelog: "Added menu that helps choosing boot options; allow to boot harddisk and floppy at prompt; compressed bootdisk images (saved a lot of space); Partimage available in two versions (with or without SSL); updated hotplug and hardware detection; updated e2fsprogs to 1.35; added joe (editor); added telnet (cchangeent and server); added tcpdump (network analyser); removed the warning at startup; many minor updates."
Linux LiveCD Router 1.9.4
A new version of Linux LiveCD Router has been released. From the changelog: "Version 1.9.4 Jun 2004. Added Frottle (Freenet Throttle) Packet Scheduling and QoS for Wireless Networks and Mesh WiFi at /opt/frottle; new default config for MRTG graphical network statistics; updated documentation."
Xandros 2.01 Open Circulation Edition
Xandros has released a free edition of Xandros Desktop, called Open Circulation Edition (OCE): "The Open Circulation Edition is a limited version of Xandros Desktop OS that can be downloaded at no charge and freely distributed to others. It is strictly for non-commercial use, and no e-mail installation support is included." Read the full release announcement and the product pages for more information.
SoL 18.00 Desktop
A desktop edition of Server optimized Linux (SoL) 18.00 has been released: "antitachyon - Manalo & Willner OEG proudly announces the release of SoL-desktop 18.00, the desktop expansion package for the SoL 18.00 series. With this package SoL will convert into a powerfull workstation for development, home, and office use. Features of SoL-desktop 18.00: KDE 3.2 desktop environment + security patches, GNOME 2.4 desktop environment, Mozilla 1.8a1, OpenOffice.org 1.1.1..." The full announcement.
BLAG Linux 10000
A new version of the Fedora-based BLAG Linux is out: "BLAG10000 has been released. BLAG10000 (borrow) is the next major branch of BLAG. It is based on Fedora Core 1. It uses packages from DAG, FreshRPMS, Newrpms, Dries and ATrpms. BLAG is a single CD GNU/Linux distribution based on Fedora Core 1. It includes everything a desktop user would 'expect' on a system and more. It has common server packages and handy utils that admins like." Read the complete release notes for further information and download locations.
Basilisk Live CD 1.3
The newly released Basilisk 1.3 (formerly known as RPM Live CD) is possibly the first live CD based on Fedora Core 2: "This is version 1.3 of the linux4all basilisk workstation live CD. Please consider this release to be currently in testing stage. The 1.2 live CD was ported to Fedora Core 2 packages, 2.6 kernel as default (with 2.4 as fallback), and the X server changed from XFree86 to XOrg due to recent license changes of the XFree86 Project. The disc contains KDE 3.2 like the previous version." Read the rest of the announcement.
knopILS 0.6
knopILS is an Italian variant of the Knoppix live CD. Version 0.6 was released earlier today with the following changes: synchronised with the latest available version of Knoppix 3.4; updated knopILS HOWTO; updated index.html, knoppix-cheatcodes and readme-SECURITY (all Italian versions), new method of compressing the files on the ISO image. Read the full announcement on the distribution's home page (in Italian).
knopILS - the Knoppix live CD in Italian
(full image size 315kB)
Feather Linux 0.5.1
A new version of Feather Linux has been released. From the changelog: "Changes from 0.5 to 0.5.1: reincluded Chipmunk Basic and iftop; the command "xterm" is now functional; added script to download Brag; added cdparanoia; fixed Opera and HD install scripts; fixed xpdf; fixed all scripts that require the dpkg structure."
Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Knoppix 3.5
Knoppix 3.5 is in the works: "Announcing KNOPPIX 3.5 LinuxTag 2004 DVD Edition. LinuxTag 2004 is the leading conference and expo about Linux and Free Software in Europe, and takes place in Messe- und Kongresszentrum Karlsruhe/Germany from 23.-26. June. LinuxTag e.V. is producing, exclusively for this event, a maxi edition of KNOPPIX as conference DVD. Features of the LinuxTag 2004 edition: over 5 GB of live Software from the Debian distribution, running directly from DVD; updated hardware autodetection (based on kernel 2.4.26 and 2.6.6 with ACPI); m23 software distribution system as boot option; talk papers from the free conference program of LinuxTag 2004, lots of LinuxTag-featured software, online books & videos. The KNOPPIX 3.5 LinuxTag DVD Edition is only available at the entrance of LinuxTag within a kit containing the LinuxTag 2004 collector's pin and an entry ticket for the free conference and exhibition. The kit can be obtained for a fee of 10,- EUR (including funding of the free project booths), as long as supply lasts." Find out more on the Knoppix home page.
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| Web Site News |
New distribution additions
- HKLPG Linux. HKLPG (Hong Kong Linux Player Group) Linux is a Linux distribution based on Mandrakelinux (version 2.0 is based on Mandrakelinux 10.0 Official), but with improved support for Chinese, browser plugins and other enhancements (web site in traditional Chinese).
- Freedows. Freedows is a Brazilian commercial distribution based on Fedora Core. Several editions are available, including Lite, Standard, Thin Client, Professional, and SMB. Among them only the Lite edition is available for free download via BitTorrent.
- K-DEMar. K-DEMar is a live CD distribution based on Knoppix and fully translated into Catalan (included messages and help files).
New on the waiting list
- CHAOS. CHAOS is a CD or PXE-based Linux and openMosix cluster distribution. The CHAOS distribution fits on a single business card-sized CD-ROM. This tiny disc will boot any i586-class PC (that supports CD or PXE booting), into a working openMosix node, without disturbing (or even touching) the contents of any local hard disk. Ideal for large-scale adhoc clusters, once booted, CHAOS runs from memory allowing the CD to be used on the next node (and allowing for automated rebooting into the host OS). CHAOS aims to be the fastest, most compact, secure and straight-forward openMosix cluster platform available.
- CCux Linux. CCux Linux is a German distribution project, targeting desktop users. It should be easy to use, especially for users with no prior Linux experience. CCux is optimised for i686 processor architectures.
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of Linux distributions in the database: 306
- Number of BSD distributions in the database: 7
- Number of discontinued distributions: 32
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 79
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| Reader Feedback |
The "Get the Facts" ads on DistroWatch
As a response to our last week's criticism of Linux sites that accept money for displaying anti-Linux messages on their web sites, a reader in Canada pointed out that Microsoft's advertisements also appear on DistroWatch:
"The ad on the upper left of the attached screenshot has appeared on the site from time-to-time (here in Canada at least). Google seems to be the culprit in this case. Ad placement based upon some contextual idea, where there are relatively few advertisers for the placement service (Google in this case) will cause this."
Here is the screenshot:
Desperation? Fear? Whatever it is, we have only limited control over the advertisements that Google's contextual ads places on the site and Microsoft owns many domain names in various countries around the world. If you happen to spot any more of their infamous "Get the Facts" ads, please let us know so that we can put those particular domains on the list of blocked advertisers.
That's all for this week, see you all 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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| Random Distribution | 
REMnux
REMnux was an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution with a toolkit for reverse-engineering and analysing malicious software. It provides a curated collection of free tools created by the community. Analysts can use it to investigate malware without having to find, install and configure the tools.
Status: Discontinued
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