 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 236, 21 January 2008 |
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Welcome to this year's third issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Continued efforts to resolve the leadership issues in Gentoo Linux, a controversy following the Manbo Labs deal between Mandriva and Turbolinux, and the unexpected purchase of MySQL by Sun Microsystems were the main headlines of the past week. But much has happened behind all the high-profile announcements too: openSUSE released the first prototype of its new, Qt4-based installer, Ubuntu published a free, 400-page desktop course, KDE continued to defend its decision to release version 4.0.0 in a seemingly unfinished state, and Dreamlinux announced the upcoming version 3.0 of its Mac OS X-like desktop distribution. Finally, don't miss our feature story, a hands-on report about Linux in Vietnam. Happy reading!
Content:
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| Featured Story |
Linux in Vietnam
One of the benefits of running a site like DistroWatch is the enormous network of "cyberfriends" -- either distribution makers or just passionate Linux/BSD fans -- that I have acquired over the years in just about every country in the world. So when I found myself in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam, in December last year, it didn't take me long to remember that I had a friend there too. Nguyen Quang Truong, the founder of Hacao Linux and the director of a company of the same name, was happy to welcome me at the brand new Tan Son Nhat international airport in Vietnam's commercial capital. And what a welcome it was! Holding a large sign with the words "DistroWatch" printed on it, the young man was soon driving me around the bustling city in style - on a motorbike!
 "Getting around Saigon is much faster if you ride one of these two-wheel machines," explained Truong (pictured on the right) while passing long rows of stranded cars. (If I ever needed a shot of adrenalin, then navigating the Saigon traffic on a motorbike ridden by a local provided more than I could handle, but that's another story). In the next few hours we visited a number of computing hotspots in the city, stopping a few times in between to sample some local delicacies. Despite the obvious presence of Christmas advocated by shops and department stores, the temperatures stayed well above the 30 degree mark in the tropical south of Vietnam. It was only in a cool, trendy coffee shop that we eventually found some respite from the heat and bustle and I was eager to find out all there was about Linux in Vietnam in general and Hacao Linux in particular.
"I started Hacao Linux as a hobby, but I registered it as a company in 2006 in order to be able to bid for Government contracts." Introducing his young start-up, Truong continued: "We have about 15 employees, mostly technical, but also some sales staff. In the early days, much of the work concentrated on the localisation of Puppy Linux into Vietnamese and on adding some local specialities, such as Vietnamese fonts, input methods and even a media player capable of delivering a range of local TV stations live." Yes, Hacao is based on Puppy Linux, a light-weight distribution especially suitable for older hardware and under-powered systems in educational institutions.
That's when Hacao's trump card came out. "Right now we are bidding to supply Hacao Linux to 100,000 Intel Classmate PCs that the Vietnamese government has ordered for children in primary schools. Imagine if that contract came our way!" Does Hacao run on Intel Classmate, I asked. Pulling out a sample piece of hardware from his laptop bag, Truong replied: "Of course, it runs like magic! And what's even better, this is one sturdy machine - look!" He proved his words by dropping the laptop from the table to the tiled floor, then booted it up again as if nothing happened. "Very good, huh? Try that with an ordinary laptop and you might as well go to a shop to pick up a new one."
 Sipping on a refreshing coconut juice, I spent a few minutes playing with the laptop running Hacao Linux. It was really fast, even OpenOffice.org opened up in just a few seconds. The usual open source applications were all neatly arranged in Vietnamese menus, running under the IceWM window manager. And the many local TV channels were all playing without a glitch - even over the wireless network connection provided by the drinking establishment. I was impressed; much more so than when I investigated Red Hat's OLPC machine a few months previously (admittedly though, the two laptops are in a somewhat different price range). So this is the laptop that a hundred thousand of Vietnamese school children will soon receive as part of their education.
But will they be delivered with Hacao Linux pre-installed? "Well, it has yet to be decided," explained Truong. "The government runs an institute called "Open Lab", an organisation in charge of evaluating different software solutions. They've been also looking at Windows, Ubuntu, and other options, but Hacao seems to be a front-runner right now. At least, it has been placed on a shortlist of possible deployment candidates."
What is Hacao's business model, I asked. "We sell Hacao Linux in software shops around the country, but the CD only costs the equivalent of US$2, so there isn't much money in it. Nevertheless, we've sold around 50,000 copies already." Truong continued: "The biggest opportunity right now is the small business. With the Vietnamese government and police cracking down hard on illegal software, it has become a lot easier for us to sell Linux solutions. All we have to do is to visit these businesses and show them what our product can do. Often they are in a shock - all that software for only US$2? Incredible!" The company also offers technical support contracts if needed. "Making money with Linux is very easy," asserts Truong enthusiastically. "Look at all this fantastic software that costs virtually nothing. How can Microsoft or anybody else compete with us?"
 In the course of the day we visited a number of other interesting companies in Saigon. We spent a few minutes talking to Pham Thien Nghe (pictured on the right), President of Khai Trai, the importer of Intel Classmate PCs to Vietnam. We then called on the headquarters of Intel Vietnam, where we had a productive discussion with Bui Trong Hinh about Intel's role in the rapidly developing Vietnamese IT industry. Intel is very supportive of Linux, we were assured; in fact, the microprocessing giant had just donated a powerful Quadron server to the Saigon Linux User Group, which would serve as a local repository of open source software. "Linux is good for us," explained the Intel representative. "Just look how successful the Linux Eee PC has been so far. And it runs on Intel!"
It has often been said that Linux is a more interesting platform for countries whose IT infrastructure is not yet well developed. Not having to explain the cost of migration from established document formats and proprietary software to free alternatives is certainly a big bonus for Vietnam. As such, the country's government can make a more objective decision (assuming that the proprietary software vendors don't resort to "dirty tricks" in order to win contracts) about the direction of its IT future and about the best solution for its educational system. Indeed, Linux and open source software do seem to have a bright future in Vietnam; the country has a well-educated population and the few hotbeds of Linux activity, such as Hacao Linux and the Linux user groups in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, should provide enough reasons for Linux to prosper.
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| Miscellaneous News |
Gentoo discusses Foundation issues, Mandriva launches Manbo Labs, openSUSE unveils new installer, Ubuntu delivers desktop course, Geubuntu becomes OpenGEU
 Gentoo Linux and the status of Gentoo Foundation continued to make headlines on many Linux news sites. Is Gentoo on the verge of collapsing? Or is the fact that nobody seems to be in charge of the project just a small inconvenience that can be brushed aside? As always, opinions varied, and in line with tradition, many were directed at the "incompetent" media (DistroWatch too received a fair amount of "how dare you write negatively about the great Gentoo" type of emails). However, a good proportion of opinions were positive, with the consensus being that although the status of Gentoo Foundation is indeed unclear and the planned release of Gentoo Linux 2007.1 had been cancelled, the project itself continues working as normal.
One of the more sensible articles on the subject was the post by Donnie Berkholz entitled Is Gentoo in crisis? as published by Linux Weekly News. The author cited lack of communication as the main reason for the current status; while the distro developers continue to work as hard as ever, their failure to connect effectively with its users and media has created a negative perception among those not directly involved in Gentoo. A more factual article was later published by Grant Goodyear under the title of Foundation Updates. Here, the author summarises the current state of affairs at the foundation and outlines a possible action plan that needs to be taken in order to resolve the situation. Furthermore, the main page of Gentoo Linux received no fewer than six updates during the week, the first time the page was updated in nearly three months. A lot more has probably happened behind the scenes.
(Can you still say that the Linux media (even if it's critical at times) doesn't have a positive effect on some projects? If only more users and developers admitted to problems instead of blindly dismissing critical media reports as being wrong...)
* * * * *
 Mandriva Linux was another distribution that found itself in the headlines during the past week. The reason? An innocent-looking announcement about a cooperative project with Turbolinux called Manbo Labs. As explained by Mandriva's Oliver Blin, this is a purely technical project: "The initial goal is to merge our base system components, so that we can share these same base system packages between Mandriva and Turbolinux." But Pamela Jones from Groklaw found a problem with the deal: "Turbolinux signed a patent deal with Microsoft, joined Ecma to help out with MSOOXML, participates in the Interoperability Vendor Alliance, uses Windows Media and made Live Search the default. Since Mandriva and Turbolinux are sharing code now, I don't trust the code." In response, François Bancilhon, the Mandriva CEO, has rejected the accusations: "Our position about software patents is that software should not be patented and we have supported in Europe the fight against software patents. ... The agreement is written so that Mandriva can fully maintain its commitment to Free Open Source."
* * * * *
 But let's get away from politics and focus on real development work instead. As announced by openSUSE last week, a new alpha release of the project's upcoming version 11.0 was made available for testing. The most interesting part of the release is the new-look installer, now ported to Qt 4, the same toolkit used by the new KDE 4.0.0. As a result, the installer looks radically different. Modern and stylish, it certainly has the potential to become the best-looking installation program on the market, giving the user that all-important good first impression. If you haven't tried it yet, do yourself a favour and download one of the installation CDs from the project's download page. Happy testing!
The new-look openSUSE 11.0 installer (screenshot courtesy of openSUSE News)
* * * * *
 Ubuntu has announced the availability of the Ubuntu Desktop Course, a free, 400-page training manual for the desktop: "The long-awaited Ubuntu 7.10 desktop course is ready, waiting and all yours for the taking! Thanks to all the community members who slogged over writing, reviewing, editing, proof-reading and fixing the layout. This is just the beginning of the project which we hope will live and evolve with each new Ubuntu release. Yours to develop, enhance and branch off to your heart's content! There are 10 lessons in total. The course is modular - 2 days if all lessons are covered, however, topics and lessons can be selected as required. There are 2 versions of the course: an instructor's guide, and a student guide." The student's guide (in PDF format) is available for free download from here: student.pdf (72.5MB).
* * * * *
 Geubuntu, a new Ubuntu-based distribution that uses the Enlightenment 17 window manager, has announced the change of its name to OpenGEU: "Geubuntu had to change its name to OpenGEU because of the trademark restrictions adopted by Canonical. This is because for Canonical, only a 'remix' can have 'buntu' in its name without violating any of Canonical's trademarks. A remix is an Ubuntu derivate using only software available in the official repositories, without any third-party or customized software. Geubuntu, however, uses custom repositories and tools created by the OpenGEU team. That's why we asked Canonical a permission to use the Ubuntu name but after several weeks we received no answer at all. Therefore, to avoid violating any of Canonical's rights, we have changed the name to OpenGEU."
* * * * *
 The gOS distribution (sometimes erroneously referred to as Google OS), is a new entrant on the Linux distribution scene, but this fact hasn't stopped it from receiving a lot of attention in the media. But who is behind the development effort? And who runs the company that also produces the low-cost Everex gPC? Computerworld gives all the answers in the article entitled The 22-year-old behind Everex CloudBook's Linux OS: "A little more than a year ago, David Liu was sitting in a lecture hall at UCLA. After graduating, Liu worked as an IT contractor for several months before starting Good OS. Today, the young native of West Covina (a suburb 30 miles east of Los Angeles) is heading development for a flavor of the Linux operating system that is, in its own small way, throwing down a big challenge to Windows Vista."
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| Released Last Week |
Scientific Linux 5.1
Troy Dawson has announced the release of Scientific Linux 5.1, a Red Hat-based distribution with additional software for scientific and educational purpose: "Scientific Linux 5.1 is finally out. This release has the ability to easily make sites (customized Scientific Linux distributions). The ability to make sites was missing from SL 5.0. We also managed to add back some of those packages that didn't make it into SL 5.0, as well as a few packages new for this release. Scientific Linux release 5.1 is based on the rebuilding of RPMs out of SRPMs from Enterprise 5 Server and Client, including Update 1. It also includes all errata and bugfixes up until January 16, 2008." Some of the extra software added to Scientific Linux include 915resolution, Alpine, CFITSIO, dropit, FUSE, Graphviz, IceWM, Intel wireless firmware, Java, MadWiFi, GStreamer plugins, NdisWrapper, NEdit, NumPy, OpenAFS, R and others. Read the release announcement and release notes for a detailed list of features.
Zenwalk Linux 5.0
Jean-Philippe Guillemin has announced the release of Zenwalk Linux 5.0: "Zenwalk Linux 5.0 has been released! Version 5.0 is the first Zenwalk release to introduce the Freedesktop HAL system. Noticeable enhancements found in version 5.0 are numerous software updates, including the latest X.Org 7.3 suite of X servers, drivers, fonts and other software. Other updates include the latest version of the Iceweasel web browser, the Icedove email client and hundreds more! WiFi support in Zenwalk 5.0 is probably the very best of what you can expect to find in the GNU/Linux world. The modern and powerful Wicd WiFi browser replaces WiFi Radar, while the Intel wireless device firmware is provided out of the box. Following tradition, Zenwalk's default desktop environment is based on Xfce, which is now at version 4.4.2." Further details can be found in the release announcement.
Zenwalk Linux 5.0 - a major update of the Slackware-based distro
(full image size: 189kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
FreeBSD 6.3
FreeBSD 6.3 has been released: "The FreeBSD Release Engineering Team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 6.3. This release continues the development of the 6-STABLE branch providing performance and stability improvements, many bug fixes and new features. Some of the highlights: KDE updated to 3.5.8, GNOME updated to 2.20.1, X.Org updated to 7.3; BIND updated to 9.3.4; Sendmail updated to 8.14.2; lagg driver ported from OpenBSD / NetBSD; Unionfs file system re-implemented; freebsd-update now supports an upgrade command. FreeBSD 6.3 is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Junichiro Hagino for his visionary work on the IPv6 protocol and his many other contributions to the Internet and BSD communities." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information.
SystemRescueCd 0.4.3
SystemRescueCd 0.4.3, a Gentoo-based live CD designed for hard disk partitioning and data rescue tasks, has been released. From the changelog: "Updated the kernel to Linux 2.6.23.14 with Reiser4; updated the alternative kernel to Linux 2.6.22.16 with Reiser4; patched the kernel with a fix for sis190 network driver; updated the build files to Catalyst 2.0.5 and genkernel 3.4.9; patched GParted (refreshing the devices crashed the program); fixed the LVM initscript; added boot option 'dodebug', enables verbose messages in the linuxrc script; added boot option 'lowmem', prevents non-critical things to be loaded into memory; added ATI and NVIDIA drivers; added ksh and tcsh shells; added pbzip2 (Parallel bzip2 compression for SMP computers); added lzma-utils (compression tools based on LZMA); added the missing mount-cifs tool."
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Dreamlinux 3.0
The developers of Dreamlinux have announced the dates for the upcoming beta release (to be made available this week) and the final release of version 3.0: "Just to let you know that the final release date for Dreamlinux 3.0 will be the 27th February. Main changes: kernel 2.6.23.12; support for a large variety of wireless cards; two window managers - Xfce and GNOME, sharing the same Dreamlinux exclusive themes; Dreamlinux is now a completely independent modular system, based on Debian, no more Morphix or KNOPPIX dependencies, no KANOTIX kernel; the installer was improved technically and visually; the proprietary codecs were removed from the distro, but are easily installed at any time by Easy Install; AWN (advanced window navigator) was included, together with the traditional Engage." More details can be found in the announcement.
* * * * *
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- iloog. iloog is a Gentoo-based live CD produced by the Ioannina Linux User Group (ILUG), targeted mainly at students and scientists.
- VAFEO. VAFEO is a project developing a set of easy-to-use Debian-based distributions covering most computing needs for businesses and individuals. VAFEO is distributed as a set of live CDs with graphical installers and multi-lingual features.
- XtreemOS. The XtreemOS project aims at investigating and proposing new services that should be added to current operating systems to build Grid infrastructure in a simple way. XtreemOS targets the Linux operating system, extending it to Grid with native support for virtual organisations.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 28 January 2008.
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
MUMi-LinuX
MUMi-LinuX was a Linux distribution for dedicated servers and desktops, developed by Muammer Altuntas, Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus. It uses TAR.GZ packages and was optimised for the i686 architecture. MUMi-LinuX Desktop was an easy-to-use Live CD with an option to install it on hard disk.
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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