 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 238, 4 February 2008 |
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Welcome to this year's 5th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! It's tough to be a developer of a desktop operating system these days. Not only are we seeing increasing usability and user-friendliness from the major Linux distributions, the BSD world now also wants its share of the market, while there are those who believe that even Solaris can be a viable desktop alternative to the more established operating systems. But how far has Sun Microsystems' flagship product progressed since the opening up of the source code in the form of OpenSolaris? Our featured story looks at Nexenta, Indiana, BeleniX and other OpenSolaris-based distribution and asks whether they can compete on the desktop. In the news section, Debian edges closer to "Lenny", Slackware announces plans to move to KDE 4, François Bancilhon defends the code-sharing agreement with Turbolinux, and Ars Technica investigates the latest release of NetBSD. Finally, we are proud to announce that the recipient of the DistroWatch January 2008 donation is the VideoLAN VLC project. Enjoy the read and happy Chinese New Year to all our readers!
Content:
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Featured Story |
Solaris on the desktop
Of all the "real" UNIX operating systems ever built, Sun Microsystems' Solaris is probably the most famous. This is mostly due to its reputation as a reliable workhorse of large data centres and other mission-critical systems, but also because of its special security, file system, troubleshooting and self-healing features that the Sun developers have coded into the Solaris kernel and userland over the years. But with the rapid advances of Linux and its increasing acceptance as a more affordable alternative to UNIX, Sun's flagship operating system has lost market share - that's despite the fact that it is now available free of charge and under a license approved by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Solaris faces an uphill struggle against other free operating systems.
In recent years, Sun has been trying to revive the interest in Solaris by means of opening up its source code through the OpenSolaris project. This worked reasonably well and it didn't take long before a variety of community projects based on the OpenSolaris code sprang into life. Jörg Schilling's Schillix became the first OpenSolaris-based live CD designed primarily for developers, but it was the effort of the Sun Microsystems' development team in India and its BeleniX live CD (with hardware detection, Xfce window manager and a variety of desktop applications) that finally convinced the sceptics that the idea of Solaris running on end users' desktops is feasible.
However, the most ambitious and promising desktop Solaris project was Nexenta, first announced in November 2005. The goal of this semi-commercial distribution was to deliver a full desktop operating system by combining the OpenSolaris kernel and userland with Debian utilities and Ubuntu packages. It released seven alpha builds - all in the form of installable live CDs with the GNOME desktop, Ubuntu installer, and thousands of popular open source applications available for installation over the Internet. Disappointingly, the last of these alpha builds was pushed out in May 2007, after which the project appeared to be rethinking its strategy, with a focus on a developing a much less ambitious product called NexentaCP (Nexenta Core Platform).
Has Nexenta abandoned its plans for producing a complete desktop Solaris solution? DistroWatch has exchanged a few emails with Nexenta to find out and the answer is, unfortunately, "yes". Erast Benson, a Nexenta developer, explained the reasons: "We had to face the problem with inability to maintain various GUI applications and environments which are included by default in Ubuntu. It was very difficult to make them stable and we eventually gave up."
This seems to suggest that OpenSolaris on the desktop is a concept similar to fighting windmills - a complete waste of time. No, not quite, argues Benson: "GUI is not a strong side of OpenSolaris - server is, storage is, virtualisation is, but not desktop. Really, OpenSolaris as a server - a perfect find, while on the desktop there are different requirements which are not yet met by the OpenSolaris community. My prediction is that it will match the Linux desktop by about 2010, probably with the push of Indiana." He added another thought: "Linux also started as a server platform. User-friendly desktops appeared way later. We expect the same for OpenSolaris. Desktop OpenSolaris will happen, but it is not the time yet."
With a self-funding project like Nexenta, another problem is, of course, money: "It is very difficult to make money from a desktop solution these days. People somehow expect desktop software to be available for free in the UNIX world. However, server UNIX software is for $$$... so we have a chance to survive only if we capitalise on the right technology at the right time." So what exactly can we expect from the Nexenta project in the next few months? "There will be four distinct products," Benson continued. "Two of them already exist: NexentaCP, a stable OpenSolaris core, and NexentaStor, a commercial appliance distribution functionally similar to FreeNAS or OpenFiler, but obviously based on OpenSolaris. There are two more products in development: NexentaXfce (yes, wit GUI) and NexentaWeb, scheduled to appear this year."
Does this all mean that we are unlikely to see a Nexenta desktop in the near future? "Well, we are trying to stimulate other projects around NexentaCP to produce more desktop-oriented distributions," explained Benson. "Such distributions could be initiated by anyone who is a talented artist and a bright developer. NexentaCP should be an excellent starting point to produce such distribution as it can be redistributed with no obligations. After all, it's designed as a 'core' for other distributions to reuse for their custom projects. At the same time, we are focusing our efforts on ZFS and storage-related technologies. In my opinion, NexentaCP is a perfect solution for the servers and once the stable 1.0 is out, we should expect many support companies and individuals to offer their support services."
So there you have it. Despite its original focus, Nexenta is not going to replace your current desktop distribution any time soon - a somewhat disappointing, though understandable fact. Nevertheless, with the current effort Sun is putting into Project Indiana, it is entirely possible that many of the compatibility problems Nexenta has failed to overcome, will be resolved in the next couple of years, if not months. This could entice more Solaris fans to give a desktop OpenSolaris solution another try and possibly be drawn into the development process. The user and developer communities should grow.
As for Indiana itself, how far is Ian Murdock's brainchild at the start of 2008? It seems that the project is progressing as planned. Following the first preview released in early November 2007, the second preview is about to be announced too. In fact, a "pre-preview" was released for testing last weekend, so those interested in giving it a spin can start downloading the live CD straight away: in-test-199.iso (645MB, MD5, torrent). No release notes are available as yet, but Phoronix has published a good first-look review, noting a number of interesting improvements, including a better detection of wireless network cards and other hardware, and an improved graphical installer. But on the negative side, the article has also found a limited set of desktop applications and media codecs, and a lack of a graphical package manager.
Indiana Preview 2 - an installable live CD with GNOME and a handful of desktop applications
(full image size: 400kB, screen resolution: 1280x800 pixels)
So what does all this say about the prospects of a widespread deployment of Solaris on the desktop in 2008? Things certainly don't look very bright at the moment. Nexenta has changed its focus, while Indiana is nowhere near ready. BeleniX has started well and is currently ahead of all other projects in delivering a decent desktop solution based on OpenSolaris. But the problem with all these distributions is rather obvious: while all of them have got the basics right in producing usable live CDs with automatic hardware detection and a basic desktop, none of them have given us compelling enough reason to abandon our Linux (or even BSD) systems in favour of OpenSolaris. As such, desktop Solaris will continue to thrive on the workstation of some Solaris developers and perhaps make a brief stop on the hard drives of a few curious distro hoppers, but anything more that that is unlikely in the foreseeable future.
| Operating System |
% Share |
| Windows |
54.77% |
| Linux |
37.04% |
| Mac OS |
2.97% |
| BSD |
0.32% |
| Solaris |
0.06% |
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Operating systems market share, taken from the web logs at DistroWatch.com in January 2008
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| Miscellaneous News |
Debian "Lenny" plans, Slackware on KDE 4, Linux Magazine and Mandriva Powerpack, NetBSD interview
 Let's start this week's news section with a couple of interesting updates from the Debian project. First, the development of Debian's next release, code name "Lenny", is proceeding according to the plan, which is to have it finalise for release in September 2008: "As we are progressing in our release preparations, we have reviewed the original schedule for 'Lenny' to check for any imminent problems, and at the moment are quite content with the current state. We are, as always, concerned about the large number of release-critical issues still unfixed in testing, so please help do something about it." The message, published be Marc Brockschmidt on the project's devel-announce mailing list, also includes information about new release assistants, release blockers, release architecture re-qualification, bug squashing parties and other topics related to Lenny.
On a related subject, Moritz Muehlenhoff has announced that Debian's upcoming release could include a number of optional security hardening features: "The Debian archive is the biggest of all distributions and although there's security support for all security issues being found, there's still room for improvement and a need for increased resilience against flaws not yet discovered." These security improvements will focus on two main areas: tool chain features preventing the exploitation of some vulnerability classes (e.g. stack protector, fortify source, format warnings) and tool chain features enhancing the effectiveness of Address Space Layout Randomization (e.g. relro, Position Independent Executables, experimental wrapper package). If all this sounds a little too technical, don't despair; the announcement is actually very readable and further documentation and relevant links are also available in the Debian Wiki.
* * * * *
 After a brief holiday break, the Slackware changelog has once again started seeing blocks of new entries. Among them, KDE was the subject of a longer post, with hints that the upcoming release of Slackware Linux 12.1 will still ship with KDE 3.5, but once KDE 4.1 is out and most of the current bugs are squashed, it will likely make a prompt appearance in the "current" tree. Patrick Volkerding: "The next Slackware release will contain KDE 3.5.9, but we're targeting KDE 4.1.x for the one after that. The application end of things doesn't quite fully cover KDE3's functionality yet, but by then it will." The founder of Slackware Linux is clearly fond of the new KDE: "The look of the new desktop is stunning, and the use of SVG and hardware acceleration gives (IMHO) even something like Mac OS a run for its money in terms of appearance and user-friendliness. We look forward with great anticipation to merging KDE4 when it is mature enough (and it's getting there fast), and then watching it just get better and better."
* * * * *
 The recent Mandriva - Turbolinux collaboration deal has been interpreted in the media with a controversial twist due to Turbolinux's extensive patent-protection agreements with Microsoft. Linux Journal was curious about the deal so it interviewed François Bancilhon, the Mandriva CEO, about the implications of the agreement: "First of all, let me clarify that we are initially only unifying the core components of the distribution, roughly 100 RPMs. So there will still be 2 different distros: Mandriva Linux and Turbolinux. But because they have the same base components, they will run on the same hardware hardware platforms and they will support the same ISVs. This is good for customers: a stronger, sounder distribution, more hardware and software compatibility; this is good for ISVs and IHVs: they need only one certification for the 2 distros."
Mandriva Linux 2008 has received positive reviews in the media and has been well-accepted by the greater Linux community. The distribution is stable, mature and, in case of the Powerpack edition, contains all that one could possibly need for a functional desktop. But what do you do if you are a poor student or if you just don't have the €50 it takes to buy the product? Simple: get the March 2008 issue of Linux Magazine. The full Powerpack edition of Mandriva Linux 2008 is included on the cover DVD, while the printed pages are packed with interesting distro-related articles, such as the 17-page story on creating your own distribution, a comprehensive review of Puppy Linux, a 3-page article on the ASUS Eee PC, and the regular "Ask Klaus Knopper" column. The magazine currently offers a get-3-issues-for-the-price-of-one deal that allows you to receive three trial issues for as little as US$9.95, depending on your location. (And no, this paragraph is not an "advertorial"; it simply serves as an alert to the easy availability of the Mandriva 2008 Powerpack DVD and the low-cost subscription offer).
* * * * *
 NetBSD has a reputation of being the hardest of all BSDs to set up and use, perhaps finding some interest only among the users who want to run an operating system on their kitchen toasters or other exotic hardware. The project has recently released a major update, version 4.0, with a number of new features and, as usual, support for several new processor architectures. But what exactly is NetBSD and who develops it? Ars Technica has sat down with several leading developers of the project for an exhaustive 9-page interview: "The NetBSD community announced last month the official release of NetBSD 4.0, the latest version of the UNIX-like open source operating system. Version 4.0 includes significant new features like Bluetooth support, version 3 of the Xen virtual machine monitor, new device drivers, and improvements to the Veriexec file integrity subsystem. NetBSD, which is known for its high portability, is capable of running on 54 different system architectures and is suitable for use on a wide range of hardware, including desktops, servers, mobile devices, and even kitchen toasters.".
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| Released Last Week |
Finnix 91.0
Ryan Finnie has announced the release of Finnix 91.0, a specialist, Debian-based live CD for system administrators: "Finnix 91.0 released. Finnix 91.0 includes a new Linux kernel (2.6.24), automatic 32-bit/64-bit detection on the x86 platform, stackable RAID/LUKS/LVM detection and setup, and several bug fixes. If you press 'enter' at the boot screen of Finnix 91.0 x86, the boot loader will now detect if you have a 64-bit capable CPU, and will load the appropriate kernel. You can still force 32-bit or 64-bit by entering the 'finnix' or 'finnix64' boot profiles. While RAID, LUKS (encryption) and LVM detection have been in Finnix for awhile now, they were loaded in a certain order, and some configurations were not detected as a result. With Finnix 91.0, most configurations should be detected. For example, an encrypted LVM set on top of two RAID disks should be set up automatically." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information.
UHU-Linux 2.1
UHU-Linux is an independently-developed Hungarian distribution, designed primarily for Hungarian speakers. A new release, version 2.1 and code name "Bumm", was announced earlier today. The fifth stable UHU-Linux release includes a number of new features; worth mentioning among them is the inclusion of Totem and Exaile as the default video and music players, updated system installer, read and write support for NTFS partitions, new external media automount features, and the latest versions of Pidgin, Skype and Firefox with Java and Flash plugins. UHU-Linux 2.1 is built on top of Linux kernel 2.6.23.9, uses glibc 2.6.1 and is compiled with GCC 4.2.2. The default desktop is GNOME 2.20, with KDE 3.5.8 and Xfce 4.4.2 also available. Hungarian and English are the only two supported languages. For more information please see the release announcement and technical details pages (both links in Hungarian).
UHU-Linux 2.1 - the default desktop
(full image size: 948kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
GoblinX 2.6 "Mini"
Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has announced the release of GoblinX 2.6 "Mini", a light-weight, Slackware-based live CD featuring the Xfce window manager and GTK+ applications: "GoblinX Mini 2.6 is released. Main upgrades since the release candidate 1: Added the SLAX firewall; added more options to the isolinux menu; rebuilt the Gtkdialog interfaces to prevent resize action; corrected a few errors and bugs; corrected the Kill button in media manager interfaces; added Ghdcpd, xrefresh, Gnome-utils and Bluez packages; upgraded some libraries and packages including xorg-server; changed z.Goblix for z.Mini, a different GoblinX module for the Mini edition; corrected some sudo issues; removed X.Org default resolution; removed some libraries; added more services to boot." Visit the distribution's news page to read the release announcement.
X/OS Linux 5.1
Jos Vos has announced the release of X/OS Linux 5.1, a free distribution built by recompiling the source RPM packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux: "X/OS Linux 5.1 is now available for public download. The X/OS Linux 5.1 package set is identical to the combined package sets of RHEL 5.1 Client and RHEL 5.1 Server, with the following exceptions: all Red Hat Network (RHN) related packages are not included with X/OS Linux; a few updates released for RHEL 5.1 have been included; the yum package has been updated to version 3.2.1, the version included with the RHEL 5.1 beta release. Besides these additions and name changes, the following modifications were made to the original packages: an installclass has been added to Anaconda, supporting various alternatives for installing X/OS Linux 5; Red Hat trademarks and logos have been removed..." Here are the complete release notes.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
- Frugalware Linux 0.8-rc1, the release announcement
- rPath Linux 2-beta1, the release announcement
- Musix GNU+Linux 1.0r3-test5, the release announcement
- Absolute Linux 12.1-beta2, 12.1-beta3, the changelog
- Endian Firewall 2.2-beta3, the release notes
- Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Ubuntu Studio 8.04-alpha4, the release announcement
- Myah OS 3.0-beta1, the release announcement
- NimbleX 2008-beta, the release announcement
- Damn Small Linux 4.2.5
- SchilliX 0.6.1
- trixbox 2.6-beta
- paldo 1.13
- FreeNAS 0.686.1-beta2728
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
January 2008 donation: VLC receives US$350.00
We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the January 2008 DistroWatch.com donation is VideoLAN's VLC media player project. It receives US$350.00 in cash.
VideoLAN Client (VLC) is a media player, streamer, and encoder for UNIX, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, QNX, and PocketPC. It can play most audio and video codecs (MPEG 1/2/4, DivX, WMV, Vorbis, AC3, AAC, etc.), has support for VCD, SVCD, and DVD (with menus), and can read or dump streams from a network source (HTTP, UDP, DVB, MMS, etc.). It can also act as a server and send streams through the network, with optional support for audio and video transcoding. For more information please visit the project's features page and check out the screenshots.
As always, this monthly donations programme is a joint initiative between DistroWatch and two online shops selling low-cost CDs and DVDs with Linux, BSD and other open source software - LinuxCD.org and OSDisc.com. These vendors contributed US$50.00 each towards this month's donation to VLC.
Here is the list of projects that received a DistroWatch donation since the launch of the programme (figures in US dollars):
- 2004: GnuCash ($250), Quanta Plus ($200), PCLinuxOS ($300), The GIMP ($300), Vidalinux ($200), Fluxbox ($200), K3b ($350), Arch Linux ($300), Kile KDE LaTeX Editor ($100) and UNICEF - Tsunami Relief Operation ($340)
- 2005: Vim ($250), AbiWord ($220), BitTorrent ($300), NdisWrapper ($250), Audacity ($250), Debian GNU/Linux ($420), GNOME ($425), Enlightenment ($250), MPlayer ($400), Amarok ($300), KANOTIX ($250) and Cacti ($375)
- 2006: Gambas ($250), Krusader ($250), FreeBSD Foundation ($450), GParted ($360), Doxygen ($260), LilyPond ($250), Lua ($250), Gentoo Linux ($500), Blender ($500), Puppy Linux ($350), Inkscape ($350), Cape Linux Users Group ($130), Mandriva Linux ($405, a Powerpack competition), Digikam ($408) and SabayonLinux ($450)
- 2007: GQview ($250), Kaffeine ($250), sidux ($350), CentOS ($400), LyX ($350), VectorLinux ($350), KTorrent ($400), FreeNAS ($350), lighttpd ($400), Damn Small Linux ($350), NimbleX ($450), MEPIS Linux ($300), Zenwalk Linux ($300)
- 2008: VLC ($350)
Since the launch of the Donations Programme in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$16,243 to various open source software projects.
* * * * *
New distributions added to database
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- Maryan Linux. Maryan Linux is an unofficial variant of Linux Mint, featuring the Enlightenment window manager.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 11 February 2008.
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a Linux distribution developed by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server editions for x86, x86_64, Itanium, PowerPC and IBM System z architectures, and desktop editions for x86 and x86_64 processors. All of Red Hat's official support and training and the Red Hat Certification Program centres around the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. Red Hat uses strict trademark rules to restrict free re-distribution of its officially supported versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but still freely provides its source code. Third-party derivatives can be built and redistributed by stripping away non-free components.
Status: Active
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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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