 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 211, 16 July 2007 |
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Welcome to this year's 29th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! As you might know Ladislav is taking a much needed vacation and we hope he is having a wonderful and relaxing time. I'm Susan Linton and some of you may remember me from when I filled in for Ladislav last summer. Perhaps some others might know me from my website or articles published here and there. Although I can't adequately fill Ladislav's shoes, I will be writing this and next week's DistroWatch Weekly. So here we go. Happy reading!
Content:
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Featured Story |
Mini-Reviews: CentOS 5.0 LiveCD, Berry 0.82, and AntiX "Spartacus"
 The CentOS team released a liveCD based on version 5.0 on July 10. It's a 679MB download and was created so that a prospective user can test it on their hardware. It comes with enough applications that it could be used as a portable workstation as well.
After descending into the labrynth they call a boot menu, I gave up and just hit enter at the boot screen. The boot process locked up when trying to start the graphics on my Hewlett-Packard dv6105 laptop with NVIDIA Go 6150 graphics. I had a bit better luck on my desktop with an NVIDIA 6800 as the system didn't fully lock up. I was able to ctrl+alt+F2 and edit the xorg.conf file to start X. Afterwards, CentOS looked fairly attractive with a professional quality background and tidy desktop and menus.
The CentOS 5.0 liveCD ships with GNOME 2.16 and IceWM. In the menus one finds ample applications for basic tasks. For example for internet and communications we have Firefox and Thunderbird 1.5.0.10, gFTP, Gaim, Ekiga, and XChat. For graphics they have included gThumb, Xsane, and The GIMP. Server applications include php 5.16, MySQL 5.0, and Apache 2.2. Office tasks can be handled by OpenOffice.org 2.0 and Scribus. Multimedia apps are CDPlayer, K3b, Totem, and Sound Juicer. Some system tools include Baobab, Network Tools, NmapFE, QTParted, and Traceroute. Under the hood we have Linux 2.6.18-8, Xorg 7.1.1, and no GCC.
CentOS also ships with AIGLX and Compiz for those with graphics chips that are supported. NVIDIA owners won't be able to use it as neither the kernel source nor headers are included, and most of the booted system is read-only, precluding any hope of installing the NVIDIA 3D graphic drivers.
Hardware detection hit a sour note with me with its poor graphics detection and configuration. I found their boot menu very confusing even for an old Linux user like myself. There's no install option (that I could find) and given my luck with Anaconda, the installer is the main thing I'd like to test. Otherwise, it was fast performing and stable while providing a decent starter application stack to test. Some of the applications are quite long in the tooth, but the server apps are newer versions. All in all, I wasn't really impressed. For the Red Hat, Fedora, or CentOS fan, it might make a nice portable system. As far as newcomers, this liveCD will not likely result in new CentOS users.
CentOS 5.0 LiveCD Desktop
(full image size: 173kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
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 Berry Linux is an installable liveCD based on Fedora. I've looked at Berry Linux several times in the past and always liked it. Berry .82 is no exception. Since I hadn't tested it in a while I couldn't resist looking at the latest released on July 10. Although I still like it, it doesn't seem to be evolving very much. This could be an advantage to true fans, but I believe they have gotten their money's worth out of that kitty cat wallpaper.
The fruity start sequence is still there as well. There are lots of boot options such as English, Rasp, or Vaio. Most of my hardware was detected properly and working including sound, but excluding my winnic. They include the NVIDIA 3D graphics drivers, but for some reason, I was still logged into a 1024x768 desktop. Thinking I could easily adjust that in the xorg.conf file and restart X backfired on me. Silly me clicked on "Logout" in the menu which proceeded to shut the computer completely down. Deeper in the menu is the "Restart or Change Desktop" option that I should have used. So, upon restart I used the cheatcode screen=1280x800 and was given just that. Then I was able to use Ndiswrapper, wpa_supplicant, and dhclient to bring up my internet connection. Inserting removable media results in an error, but are mountable at the commandline.
Berry comes with a limited control panel containing only options for changing the computer name and some simple networking details such as ip or nameserver. The main desktop is KDE 3.5.7, although not all the usual KDE applications are included. In the menus we find Firefox and Thunderbird 1.5.0.11, Gaim, Sylpheed, OpenOffice.org 2.2.1, Planmaker, and Textmaker. In Graphics we find DigiKam, Inkscape, KPDF, Showfoto, and The GIMP. There are a few games such as Miss Driller, Pacman on SNES, and Winemine. Multimedia applications include Audacious, K3b, Kaffine, MPlayer, TVTime, and Xine. I was able to play video files at will. The browser comes with most expected plugins such as flash and multimedia support. Also included in Berry is Wine and Beryl. I wasn't able to figure out how to actually use Beryl without Googling to remind myself of the files I'd need to manually edit, but surely the option was there... somewhere. Berry also ships with the Rasp desktop environment, which looks like a Windows 98 flashback. Under the hood we find Linux 2.6.21.6, Xorg 7.2, and GCC 4.1.2.
All in all, Berry is very much as I remembered. It's stable and has fairly good performance. I did experience a bit of menu hesitation when using the liveCD, but nothing more serious. Hardware detection was good enough and the software selection was adequate. Overall, it remains a solid and respectable Linux distribution choice.
Berry 0.82 LiveCD Desktop
(full image size: 224kB, screen resolution: 1280x800 pixels)
* * * * *
 AntiX is an installable liveCD based on SimplyMepis geared toward older computers of lesser resources. The developers released "Spartacus" this past week, just little over month since their last. They have done a lot of work in this month. Although I was quite taken with AntiX, I expressed a few issues I had with "antics" and the developers have addressed most them. However, those issues aside, this release finds AntiX improved on many levels.
The most noticeable improvement is in the appearance of AntiX. With an updated background, hipper theme, and more complete menu, AntiX seems less like a distro for older computers than a major contender. The default background is a bit lighter in color than the previous making the desktop easier to use, and it has a much nicer bubble-like logo. In fact, AntiX ships with several background choices. The theme is updated to feature a much nicer 3D windec. The menu is more complete with most applications available listed, but its appearance is much more attractive as well. It has 3D highlighting of items and features translucency and rounded corners. Even the terminal emulators now feature pseudo-transparency to blend with the background of desktop. AntiX is looking great.
Being an off-spring of SimplyMepis, AntiX has superior hardware detection for the basic things. My sound worked at login, as did my touchpad and add-on usb mouse. My graphics were detected properly and I was taken to my desired 1280x800 resolution. But even more appreciated was the fact that my internet connection worked out of the box. This is inherited from SimplyMepis as well and to date they are the only two distros to enable my HP dv6105's winnic out-of-the-box. No fussing around at the commandline for that. However, cpu scaling is still not automagic. I still had to load the modules and set the profile myself. In addition, I'm still having to monitor battery life through the /proc file. Suspend/resume work from the commandline as well. None are a big deal. When installed I can set up the cpufreq to be enabled at boot and add battery monitoring to Conky. The important things are that support is available in the kernel and the tools are included.
But even if some application or utility wasn't included, it would probably be available through Synaptic. SimplyMepis repositories are already set up for the user. Also included are some of the Mepis tools such as the harddrive installer and user, X, and net configuration wizards. In that same area one finds lots of networking and system tools.
AntiX comes with lots of great software. The primary desktop is Fluxbox and it ships with applications to accommodate about any machine. From Firefox, through Dillo, to Links there are about five browsers available. It includes Sylpheed for email, Abiword for word processing, Gnumeric for spreadsheets, and The GIMP for image manipulation. Multimedia can be enjoyed through XMMS, Audacity, and Xine. There are CD/DVD creation tools too. There is Irssi, XChat, Gaim, Pan, gtk-gnutella, and Mutt. It even comes with a few games and much more. The undercarriage has remained the same with Linux-2.6.15-27, Xorg 7.1.1, and GCC 4.0.3.
AntiX now has their very own webpage for announcements and important information, including user and password. Opening any of the browsers takes one to their forum. Helpful Tips appear on the desktop at login.
I just really like this mini-Mepis. It looks great and works really well. It comes with a well-rounded suite of applications and it did exceptionally well on my hardware. Two thumbs and two big toes up!
AntiX 6.5 "Spartacus" LiveCD
(full image size: 208kB, screen resolution: 1280x800 pixels)
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| Miscellaneous News |
Mandriva 2008 details, Gobuntu announced, Sabayon tidbits, Debian Menu, Fedora 8 Features, and CUPS
 The Mandriva Wiki has been updated with the latest information on the upcoming 2008 release. Not only will Mandriva 2008 ship with the latest GNOME in the 2.20 development tree and KDE 3.5.7, but also a preview of KDE 4. They are planning on using Linux 2.6.22 for their kernel-base, Xorg 7.3 with RandR 1.2, and GCC 4.2.0. Other tidbits include OpenOffice.org 2.20, Compiz Fusion, IcedTea, and complete XDG menu migration. We can expect beta releases to start appearing by the end of the month with final being planned for September 27, 2007.
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 Mark Shuttleworth announced a new project on his blog that will produce an all open sourced version of Ubuntu in the ilk of gNewsense. The first priority will be drivers and hardware support, but he is hoping to rally developers for all aspects of distribution production. Of course the announcement soon brought the freedom vs. functionality argument that could have been the precursor to Mr. Shuttleworth's next challenge. After the Gobuntu news, he then announced a project to create a high-end laptop that will run free software perfectly including suspend and hibernate. Softpedia ran a nice story on how to install Gobuntu.
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 There have been quite a few exciting developments in the Sabayon camp this past week. First is the announcement that Sabayon Linux 3.4 should be released within the week now featuring Linux Kernel 2.6.22. I'm sure I'm not the only one looking forward to that. In other news, they are now including a Sabayon Linux Core Install Method. This will allow users to install a very minimalistic system. As they put it, "Just you, our super fast and stable kernel, and a VT." They have also updated their screenshot gallery with lots of 3.4 screenshots. And in related news, Wine-Doors, a package management tool for windows software on Linux systems, has discreetly announced a partnership with Sabayon Linux. No word from Sabayon yet if and when it will appear in the distro, but community reactions are overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
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 The Fedora Project has been taking suggestions over the last six weeks for the upcoming Fedora 8. The list is beginning to come together and look exciting. Joining OpenSUSE and Mandriva, Fedora plans to include KDE 4 in its next release, with the goal being not as an aside, but as the only KDE desktop. There are currently some test packages in Rawhide for those brave early testers. Another interesting development is improved laptop support. Their main concentration is on making suspend/resume "just work" out-of-the-box for every laptop possible. Developers are also planning to use Pulseaudio as the default sound server. There are packages available currently for this as well, but there are still issues. Another development in discussion is the idea of using the YUM plugin Presto to download deltarpms by default to decrease package download size. Some other areas of improvement include the Startup process, Network Manager, and the elimination of XFS. See the full Feature List for more details.
* * * * *
 Debian developers have been revamping the Debian menu system lately. Software developers are now trying to update their programs to correspond accordingly. Some of the changes include the removal of Apps > Tools, Games > Sports, and Screen > Root-window. Some of the new sections are Applications > File Management, Applications > Science > Science/Astronomy, Applications > Video, and Games > Tools. Several sections have been renamed or split as well. You can review this debian mailing list post for more specifics.
In other Debian news, the Debian GNU/kFreeBSD porters are pleased to announce that there is now a Debian GNU/kFreeBSD amd64 machine available to the Debian developers. See that announcement for more details. Developer accounts are now being reviewed for "inactive" status. If you are a developer, please see this post for more information.
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 OpenSUSE developers recently took a survey to find out how much some proprietary applications are used. As a result, ARCAD will be removed completely and Planmaker, SEPsesam, TextMaker, TeXlive, and Moneyplex will likely be removed. Andreas' response to the survey results sparked lots of discussion on the subject of TeXlive. The (tentative) final deposition was that TeXlive would remain in the DVD9 box set and in the ftp tree, removed from the 1 CD images, and determinant on space in the 5 CD/DVD5 format. On another topic Andreas asked, "What's the point of still creating the 5 CDs / DVD5 if we now have the 1 CD GNOME/KDE images?" Yikes.
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Another development in the Free and Open Source Software world that gave me a moment of pause was the announcement that Apple Inc. had purchased CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System). We are assured that the lead developer, Michael R. Sweet, now in the employ of Apple, will continue to develop, update, and provide code to the community under the existing GPL2/LGPL2 licensing terms. The frequently asked questions page was updated with some further information as well. Perhaps this is the time for a fork.
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| Released Last Week |
antiX MEPIS 6.5
Warren Woodford has announced the release of antiX MEPIS 6.5, a light-weight MEPIS derivative designed for older computers: "MEPIS has announced the 'Spartacus' release of antiX, a lightweight derivative of MEPIS. AntiX is built and maintained by MEPIS a community member, as a free version of MEPIS for very old 32-bit PC hardware. AntiX is built using the MEPIS Linux 6.5 core including the MEPIS 2.6.15 kernel and utilities, but mostly it has a different set of default user applications: Fluxbox and IceWM, AbiWord, Gnumeric, Leafpad, Scite, Nano, GIMP, Firefox 2, Sylpheed-claws, Dillo.... AntiX is designed to work on computers with as little as 64 MB RAM and Pentium II or equivalent AMD processors." For more information please read the press release and visit the project's web page.
Berry Linux 0.82
Yuichiro Nakada has announced the release of Berry Linux 0.82, a desktop live CD based on Fedora: "Berry Linux 0.82 released." This is the first Berry release based on the new Fedora 7, with corresponding package updates. The distribution uses kernel 2.6.21.6 with SMP, ndev/udev and bootsplash patches, while glibc has been updated to version 2.6, GCC to version 4.1.2 and Busybox to version 1.5.1. The desktop is powered by X.Org 7.2 with optional Beryl 3D desktop features and KDE 3.5.7. Other notable package upgrade include K3b 1.0.1, Digikam 0.9.1, OpenOffice.org 2.2.1, Flash Player 9.0.31, ATI driver 8.33.6, Samba 3.0.25, WINE 0.9.39, NDISwrapper 1.47 and MadWiFi 0.9.3.1. See the complete Berry changelog for more details.
CentOS 5.0 Live CD
Johnny Hughes has announced the availability of CentOS 5 Live CD for i386 processors: "The CentOS Development team is pleased to announce the availability of the CentOS 5 i386 Live CD. This CD is based on our CentOS 5.0 i386 distribution. It can be used as a Workstation, with the following software: OpenOffice.org 2.0.4, Firefox 1.5.0.10, Thunderbird 1.5.0.10, Gaim 2.0.0, Scribus 1.3.3, XChat 2.6.6, K3b 0.12.17 and GIMP 2.2.13. It can also be used as a rescue CD with the following tools: full set of LVM and RAID command line tools; QTParted; Nmap and NMapFE; graphical traceroute; Samba 3.0.23c with CIFS kernel support to connect to Windows file shares; system log viewer; GUI hardware device manager." For more details please read the full release announcement.
EnGarde Secure Linux 3.0.15
Guardian Digital has announced the release of EnGarde Secure Linux 3.0.15: "Guardian Digital is happy to announce the release of EnGarde Secure Community 3.0.15. This release includes many updated packages and bug fixes, some feature enhancements to Guardian Digital WebTool and the SELinux policy, and a few new features. What's new? Due to popular demand, we've made mod_proxy for Apache available via the 'libapache-mod_proxy' package; we addressed a bug in the Snort graph generation subsystem which would cause high CPU load; three new instructional documents were written by Ryan W. Maple and added to the EnGarde Secure Linux Wiki; several new packages such as Dovecot, MySQL++, pptpd, rkhunter...." Please read the release notes to learn more about the latest version.
Endian Firewall 2.1.2
A bugfix release of the Red Hat-based Endian Firewall is now available, with several minor yet significant new features: "The 2.1.2 is built up from the 2.1.1 version, fixing the SATA support system and allowing for a wizard after installation that asks to set up the passwords (root and administrator). In addition, this new release enables the possibility of restoring a backup directly after installation, and of blocking incoming connections coming through the VPN. Moreover, the Endian Firewall Community now includes a 1:1 NAT (for ALL port-forwarding protocol types) and provides added support for EFW as a XEN domU instance. Kernel, glibc, clamav and havp have all been upgraded, and the proxy authentication can now be bypassed for specific ip/mac addresses." More details in the release notes.
Pardus Linux 2007.2
The Pardus developers from Turkey have announced the availability of Pardus Linux 2007.2: "Pardus 2007.2 Caracal caracal released! It is possible to install Pardus 2007.2 in French, Italian and Catalan besides Turkish, English, Spanish, German, Dutch and Brazilian Portuguese. Pardus 2007.2 now introduces KDE 3.5.7 for better stability, translations and eye candy for Pardus users. Network manager application now comes bundled with PEAP-MSCHAPv2 support. Now Pardus clients can authenticate with wireless devices using this protocol, benefiting from strong encryption possibilities." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details.
Bluewhite64 Linux 12.0
Linux, a complete pure 64-bit GNU/Linux distribution that can be deployed on a single or multi core 64-bit AMD64 Athlon, Opteron, Sempron, Turion and Intel EM64T based servers and desktop computers, now reaches version 12.0: "Bluewhite64 Linux 12.0 includes the Linux 2.6.21.5 kernel with the IA32-emulation enabled, the testing Linux 2.6.22 kernel in the testing/ directory with support for IDE, SATA, SCSI and RAID controllers, Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, XFS and IBM's SGI filesystems, SCSI and ATA RAID volume, Software RAID, LVM2 (the Logical Volume Manager), KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) and encrypted file systems." Find more on the news page.
BeleniX 0.6.1
A bugfix release of the OpenSolaris Live CD BeleniX is available: "This is primarily a bugfix release fixing some of the bigger bugs in 0.6 though there remains some more to fix in 0.6.2. Here is a list of the changes that have gone in: Upgraded to OpenSolaris Build 67; Upgraded GIMP to 2.2.16; New revamped ddcxinfo utility that can uses Xorg to probe the Monitor and extract EDID information from the logfile. So ddcxinfo now works again; A solution to the Math library SSE2 issue that haunted earlier BeleniX releases has been put in place..." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information.
Helix 1.9
Helix is a KNOPPIX-based live CD with a large collection of tools dedicated to incident response and forensics. Drew Fahey has announced the availability of version 1.9: "Version 1.9 has been officially released. This is not a large update due to work going on for version 2.0 but many of the tools have been updated. NTFS-3g has been update to 1.710, Sleuthkit 2.09, Autopsy 2.08, Scalpel 1.60 to carve data, EnCase Linen 6.01, AFFlib 2.3.0 and libewf-20070512 for image acquisition. The Kernel was also updated to 2.6.18.7. In addition several tools on the Live Windows side have been updated/added: WFT 3.01 and Nigilant32." Read the announcement and changelog for more information.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix 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 |
DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. Please remember that the opinions expressed in this week's DistroWatch Weekly are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of DistroWatch.com or its owner, Ladislav Bodnar. The next installment will be published on Monday, 23 July 2007. Until then,
Susan Linton
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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 |
| 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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| Random Distribution | 
WOMP!
WOMP! was a micro Linux distribution focused on multimedia. It takes only 13 to 30MB depending on the selected options on a bootable CD, and allows playing a wide range of multimedia files (video/audio/image) without installing any software on the computer's hard drive. Additionally, WOMP! can also be installed on the hard drive - either to run in memory just like a bootable CD, or to run from a read-only loopback file which was interesting for machines with low memory. It can then be booted either by a floppy boot disk or by a bootable CD. WOMP! uses FrameBuffer for playing videos and X for interacting with the user. Hardware acceleration was provided by vidix. Cards that support vidix include nearly all ATI and Matrox cards, and more recent NVIDIA cards.
Status: Discontinued
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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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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