 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 206, 11 June 2007 |
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Welcome to this year's 24th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! This week marks the start of a slower season on the distribution release calendar; all major new versions are now out and many users have been enjoying their newly updated Linux desktops. But is there still anything exciting going on the distro scene? You bet! This week's DistroWatch Weekly asks the readers to comment on their "distro hopping" habits, reports about Linux Format's annual distribution mega-test, links to an open source software article in The Economist, and reports about the new linuX-gamers live DVD. Finally, don't miss your chance to suggest new packages to be tracked after the upcoming DistroWatch's package database update later this month. Happy reading!
Content:
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| Featured Story |
Distro hopping
How many distributions have you run on your main desktop system during the past two years? If your answer is "more than one", then you are probably not alone. It seems that the current trend among Linux users -- or at least among those of you who frequent DistroWatch -- is to change a distribution every few months.
Take a look at this piece of statistical evidence from this site's web logs:
The two tables compare the percentage of distributions used to visit DistroWatch.com during the last month (May 2007) and the first 10 days of this month (June 2007), as logged by the web server. The last column of each table represents the percentage of visitors using a certain distribution; as an example, among the Linux users who visited DistroWatch during May 2007, 28.7% used Ubuntu to browse these pages.
Now let's observe the trends. As we can see, some distributions recorded significantly higher market share during the first 10 days of June than during May; most notably Fedora (up from 3.6% to 6.0%), PCLinuxOS (up from 5.6% to 6.5%) and Linux Mint (up from 1.8% to 2.8%). It can't be a coincidence that all three of them released new major versions towards the end of last month (PCLinuxOS 2007 was released on 21 May, Linux Mint 3.0 on 30 May and Fedora 7 on 31 May).
These figures seem to suggest that many of you who visit DistroWatch regularly switched to a new distribution in the last couple of weeks. openSUSE seems to be the biggest victim of this trend (down from 5.8% to 5.3%), but all other distributions that did not release a new version recently also dropped in terms of market share.
So here are a few questions for this week's discussion: Did you switch to a new distribution recently? If so, why? Did you just test one of the new releases and liked it so much that you decided to keep it? Or did you find it exciting to run an operating system with more up-to-date software? If you switched from openSUSE to Fedora or PCLinuxOS, what was your main reason? Are there any readers who have used the same distro for the past two years? Please discuss below.
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| Miscellaneous News |
Distributions enter "shoulder season", Linux Format's distro showdown, The Economist on Ubuntu, Xandros - business as usual
With the release of Fedora 7 in late May, we have now entered the "shoulder season" of the distribution release calendar. With the possible exception of Slackware 11.1 (or will it be 12.0?), no major project is expected to publish a new version before around late September or early October 2007. Last week was a perfect example of this slow-down - only two stable versions (one of which was a regional distribution catering for a specific language group) were announced during the week. Nevertheless, there is still a lot to look forward to before the next major release wave generates new excitement; the upcoming SabayonLinux 3.4 is in heavy development and should be out before long, while the openSUSE project is about to complete its fifth development build of the forthcoming version 10.3. So don't stop visiting DistroWatch even if things are slightly slower than usual - we'll keep bringing you news about any interesting ideas and exciting projects as we learn about them!
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  Linux Format has published its annual "distro showdown", a comprehensive test of the most popular desktop Linux distributions available today. This year's evaluation included eight distributions -- Debian GNU/Linux 4.0, Fedora Core 6, Mandriva Linux 2007, PCLinuxOS 2007 TR4, SabayonLinux 3.3, Slackware Linux 11.0, openSUSE 10.2 and Ubuntu 7.04 -- and covered various aspects, such as security, hardware compatibility, performance, community and software selection. The review gives preliminary standings in each category before concluding the test with a final ranking. And the winner? Ubuntu, which won three of the five categories, finished as the top distribution, ahead of openSUSE and Debian. The only categories that Ubuntu did not win was security (openSUSE was rated the best here) and performance, where the top prize was snatched by PCLinuxOS.
It is always a pleasure to see a mainstream, non-technology publication reporting about Linux and open source software. The latest issue of The Economist caries a long article entitled Bringing free software down to earth, in which the author introduces the readers to Mark Shuttleworth and his vision of the world of software: "Rather than seeing open-source software as one of two competing ideologies and focusing on the struggle, Ubuntu thinks about the user. Ubuntu is a complete bundle of software, from operating system to applications and programming tools, that is updated every six months and, says Mr Shuttleworth, will always be free. Taking the hassle out of open source is intended to move adoption beyond politically motivated enthusiasts and encourage mass adoption of the software on its merits." Read the rest of the article here.
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 Xandros, a company which was created from the ashes of Corel Linux in 2002, but which has failed to excite the Linux community in recent years, has finally entered the headlines of Linux publications. Unfortunately, for the wrong reasons. After concluding a business, technical and Intellectual Property collaboration deal with Microsoft, many free software enthusiasts expressed their dismay over the agreement (see this article by Groklaw or this one by ITWire). But even before this deal, Xandros had never been a community player (it has failed to release a single piece of its own software under a free licence) and the only raison d'être of this Canadian company was to profit from free software. And while its first two releases of Xandros Desktop brought some interesting advancements into desktop Linux, the company later abandoned its innovative spirit and desktop enthusiasm to focus on business Linux instead. Disappointing, to say the least, from a company that held so much promise in its early days....
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Here at DistroWatch we have talked about the so-called Linux web sites that happily disseminate sponsored anti-Linux propaganda from their pages. Last week, the Free Software Magazine published a parody on the subject of Microsoft's ongoing smear campaign against Linux, targeting Linux news sites: "...you want to place your ad on articles and pages that relate to your competitors, so you can have that juxtaposition sitting right there. An article about your opponent? YOU NEED TO BE THERE. My suggestion is to target all of your opposition sites as well, and offer huge sums for advertising space on their sites. Some of them will go for it because they can't afford not to." Even if you disagree with the DistroWatch position that accepting such advertisements for publishing on Linux news sites is an insult to the community of Linux developers and users, this is still an entertaining article to read. Enjoy!
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| Released Last Week |
STUX GNU/Linux 1.0
STUX GNU/Linux 1.0, a live CD based on Slackware's "current" tree, has been released: "STUX GNU/Linux 2007 (version 1.0) released." From the changelog: "Upgraded to Slackware current as at 1 June 2007 and KNOPPIX live CD 5.1.1 (kernel 2.6.19); fixed problem with installation on SATA hard disks; all STUX utilities deeply reviewed; NVIDIA proprietary driver updated to 1.0-9755 + legacy driver 1.0-9631 for old cards; save live CD persistent configuration on ReiserFS partitions; install compressed image on ReiserFS partitions; Acx wireless firmware upgraded; fully integrates with other pre-installed operating systems; Compiz 0.5.0; fully VMware/QEMU compatible." Visit the project's news page to read the release announcement and changelog.
Càtix 1.3
Càtix is a Debian-based live DVD with support for Catalan, a widely-used language spoken in Spain's Catalonia and some neighbouring regions. Càtix 1.3 was announced earlier today; some of the important changes and new features include: read and write support for NTFS partitions; X.Org 7.2, pre-configured for 3D desktop effects with AIGLX and Beryl; use of Unicode as the default character encoding; Unionfs 2.0 overlay file system compressed with Squashfs, providing 4.5 GB of software on a 1.6 GB DVD images; auto-detection of USB storage devices; Linux kernel 2.6.21 with KDE 3.5.7, GNOME 2.18.1, OpenOffice.org 2.2.0, Iceweasel 2.0.0.3 and many other applications. Please read the comprehensive release notes (in Catalan) for detailed information about the new release.
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Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
The annual package database update
As has become customary, June is the month when the list of packages tracked by DistroWatch gets updated to include new packages that you would like to see listed in the distribution tables. If you have a package that you believe is worth tracking on DistroWatch, please either email us directly (email address at the bottom of this page) or leave a comment in the forum below. Please note, that not all requested packages will be added, but those that receive the most requests will be considered for inclusion.
One set of packages that have been requested frequently during the past few months are the various 3D desktops, especially Compiz and Beryl, but also Metisse. However, with the ongoing merge between Compiz and Beryl, it isn't quite clear what the end result will be; will Compiz and Beryl still exist after the two projects have merged or will there be a new package? Maybe some of our readers who follow the project can provide suggestions as to which package(s) to track. Also, does anybody use Metisse? Is it worth listing?
Several packages have undergone a name change or have been forked due to various issues and these will be renamed in the DistroWatch tables shortly; here is the list:
The new package list will be finalised and announced next Monday, 18 June.
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New distributions added to database
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New distributions added to waiting list
- Enlisy. Enlisy is a Linux distribution optimised for i686 processors (Pentium II or better), with InitNG as its init system and Apport as its package manager. It is currently aimed at the more experienced Linux user.
- Linux For Clinics. Linux For Clinics is an Ubuntu-based distribution with the goal of providing a Linux-based OS with a complete software package aimed at medical professionals and hospitals as a free and complete alternative to proprietary software.
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DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 18 June 2007. Until then,
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 | 
Parrot
Parrot (formerly Parrot Security OS) is a Debian-based, security-oriented distribution featuring a collection of utilities designed for penetration testing, computer forensics, reverse engineering, hacking, privacy, anonymity and cryptography. The product, developed by Frozenbox, comes with MATE as the default desktop environment.
Status: Active
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