 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 277, 3 November 2008 |
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Welcome to this year's 44th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! It was the Ubuntu week, with much of the Linux-related coverage on many web sites dominated by the brand new "Intrepid Ibex", the project's latest. A plethora of reviews followed almost instantly, but some subtle hardware issues and lack of real breakthrough features have left some of the users and reviewers unimpressed. In other news, Fedora has unveiled Plymouth, a new flicker-free boot process, Sabayon has hinted at a large number of never-seen-before features for the upcoming 4.0 release, Yellow Dog Linux has launched a beta testing period for its forthcoming version 6.1, and NetBSD is about to branch version 5.0 with some unexpected improvements. Also in this week's issue - Ubuntu has published a draft release schedule for "Jaunty Jackalope" or Ubuntu 9.04. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the recipient of the October 2008 DistroWatch.com donation is GoblinX, a slick Slackware-based live CD made in Brazil. Happy reading!
Content:
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| Editorial |
An overview to Ubuntu editions
The big Ubuntu release week has come and gone. While many download servers suffered from heavy access rate, the release event proved fairly orderly with no nasty surprises. This was the first time DistroWatch made five Ubuntu release announcements in one day, providing all the relevant links to the latest versions of Ubuntu, as well as Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and Mythbuntu. Although the latter four are effectively nothing more than specialist editions of Ubuntu, they had all started up as independent community projects and only became official Ubuntu subprojects at a later stage. Besides, some of these editions are highly interesting products which some users might even find preferable over the main Ubuntu edition. Let's take a brief look at what exactly Ubuntu delivered last week.
Not much needs to be said about the project's flagship product. There is little doubt that Ubuntu has become the world's most popular desktop Linux distribution and the latest release is likely to confirm this status. There aren't many revolutionary features this time around, but the release should suit anybody who is looking for an up-to-date, but reasonably stable Linux distribution with a highly mature and familiar GNOME desktop environment. A server edition is available too, although most users would probably prefer to stay with the 8.04 LTS version which comes with a free 5-year security support (in contrast, 8.10 will only be supported for 18 months). The reviews so far have been mixed - various hardware compatibility issues and lack of real killer features might be discouraging factors when considering an upgrade from version 8.04.
Ubuntu 8.10 comes with familiar and stable GNOME desktop environment.
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Kubuntu 8.10, on the other hand, is a completely different beast from version 8.04. Although the Kubuntu developers gave its users the first taste of KDE 4.x in a semi-official, "community-supported" edition of "Hardy Heron", this time around there is no ambiguity as to where the project's desktop preference lies - the Kubuntu development team considers KDE 4 a stable and usable desktop. While this might be true, there are clearly many users who are not yet prepared to abandon the familiarity and configurability of KDE 3.5 or who are not ready to go through the painful process of a paradigm shift, which is what a major switch like this would require. We haven't seen any reviews of Kubuntu 8.10 yet, so we don't know how well KDE 4 has been integrated into the product, but given the limited resources Ubuntu traditionally allocated to its KDE fans, it's unlikely to have matched the work done by openSUSE or Mandriva in this respect.
Kubuntu 8.10 with KDE 4.1.2 represents a major paradigm shift
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Next, Xubuntu 8.10. Now in its 6th release, this alternative for those who like neither GNOME nor KDE is an excellent option. Xubuntu is not a lightweight distribution, however, and it is definitely not in the same league as some of the slick distros designed to run comfortably on computer systems built in the late nineties, such as Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux or MEPIS AntiX. Nevertheless, it's a well-balanced distribution, integrating the Ubuntu core with some of the lighter applications, e.g. GNOME Office instead of OpenOffice.org, and providing an attractive, GNOME-like user interface that doesn't get in the way. A very good *buntu, as long as -- and that needs to be stressed again -- one doesn't expect the speed of light from it. After all, it's still powered by some heavy GTK+ code.
Xubuntu 8.10 offers an attractive desktop with less resource-hungry applications.
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Ubuntu Studio is a distribution that is bound to gain more popularity in the coming months. It is the only one of the five Ubuntu editions that doesn't come as a live CD, but rather as a traditional "alternative" installation DVD with a text-mode installer. This could possibly detract some users - after all, the distribution is targeted at creative artists, rather than computer techies. But once installed on the hard disk, Ubuntu Studio provides a well-equipped atelier with an excellent collection of open source software designed for musicians, graphics designers, video production specialists, and anyone who enjoys creative work. One big warning, however - the latest release does not come with a real-time kernel by default due to various issues that came up during testing. This means that those music producers who are already using Ubuntu Studio, might want to postpone their upgrade until these problems are addressed.
Ubuntu Studio 8.10 comes with an attractive dark theme.
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Finally, a Linux for your lounge. Yes, Mythbuntu is one of the growing number of projects that turn the excellent, but complex MythTV into a highly intuitive suite with a point-and-click user interface and a variety of configuration options. Mythbuntu can help with organising your digital entertainment, recording television, playing music and videos, creating DVD and photo collections, browsing the Internet, making phone calls, delivering news and whether reports, and playing games - all from the comfort of your lounge suite. A great way of showing off the capabilities and power of open source software at zero cost!
Mythbuntu 8.10 has a potential to enrich anybody's digital life at no software cost.
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Besides the official Ubuntu products, a number of Ubuntu-based distributions have also started working on new releases based on "Intrepid Ibex". The first among them was nUbuntu, a project integrating a variety of hacking, cracking, networking and forensics tools into the Ubuntu core (with Fluxbox as the desktop), which released an alpha version late last week. The project's developers don't seem to believe in publishing changelogs or release notes, so we don't know what's new since the last stable release, but from what we've seen, nUbuntu seems similar to Backtrack or Helix in terms of providing users with a double-edge sword of security tools. Worth a try if you are interested in cracking user passwords or identifying security threats.
nUbuntu 8.10 provides a great variety of hacking and cracking tools
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| Miscellaneous News |
Fedora unveils Plymouth, Sugar spin, Sabayon hints at major new features, Yellow Dog launches beta testing, NetBSD prepares to branch 5.0, CrossOver Linux
 Although the release of Intrepid Ibex largely overshadowed every other Linux-related event, it wasn't the only interesting development that happened during the week. One of the other topics worth mentioning was Plymouth, a new flicker-free boot process that is being integrated into the upcoming release of Fedora 10. Phoronix has published a 5-page overview (with several videos) of what could soon be a new standard in booting Linux-based systems: "The current version of Plymouth is 0.6.0 and development on this RHGB replacement began in May of 2007 by Red Hat's Ray Strode. However, it wasn't until earlier this year with Fedora 10 that development of Plymouth kicked into full swing. The code to Plymouth is hosted on the FreeDesktop.org git server. As a forewarning, Plymouth is not a solution that can just be built for your distribution of choice, but it must be fully integrated into the distribution. However, once kernel mode-setting is in the mainline Linux kernel, we will hopefully see more distributions use Plymouth or develop their own richer boot programs." Covering the same topic, Fedora Magazine has published an interview with Adam Jackson and Ray Strode, two Fedora developers responsible for the new graphical boot process.
Fedora 10 Preview (expected on Tuesday) comes with updated desktop artwork
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Still on the topic of Fedora, Sebastian Dziallas has announced the release of Fedora Sugar Spin, a distribution featuring the Sugar desktop from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project on a Fedora live CD: "I'm proud to be announce the availability of our Fedora Sugar Spin, which incorporates the Sugar Desktop Environment on a Fedora live CD. With this spin, you'll be able to run Sugar, which is developed by Sugarlabs and the desktop environment used on the OLPC, directly from a live CD! You'll find several activities on the image including most notably sugar-browse, a web browsing activity based on XULRunner, and sugar-write, a word processor based on AbiWord, among several other applications. We will be importing further activities into Fedora, which might be installed using 'yum install sugar-*' at a later time."
* * * * *
 What's happening with Sabayon Linux these days? Fabio Erculiani, the distribution's founder and lead developer, has published some interesting hints about the upcoming release of version 4.0, promising to deliver exciting, never-seen-before goodies by the end of this year: "I am coding as hell. What you will see within a month is something nobody else has. I am not joking, it's about Entropy and the web. The funny thing is that it will just be the tip of the iceberg related to what I want to build up. So, an appetizer in one month, then Sabayon 4, featuring a LOT (I mean, a LOT) of new thingies. Some of them are: KDE 4, GNOME 2.24, 2.6.27/28 kernel, i686 CHOST, new theme, Entropy 0.24. To sum up, it's something I've been working on since January 2007, more than 150,000 lines of code, AI. Expected date: before Christmas 2008, as usual. In the meantime, we're almost ready to release 3.5.1, which can be easily updated to the current 4.0 branch using Entropy." You've got to love the Italians (and the enthusiasm that permeates Fabio's every blog post)!
* * * * *
 Yellow Dog Linux, the world's sole distribution that specialises in delivering Linux operating system to the PowerPC processor, including the popular Sony PlayStation 3, has announced the start of a new beta testing period for the forthcoming Yellow Dog Linux 6.1: "It's that time again! We are looking for beta testers to test the latest, greatest version of Yellow Dog Linux. There are lots of great new improvements that everyone will surely enjoy, so here's your chance to see and test the distribution. As with Yellow Dog Linux 6.0, 6.1 will support IBM Power architecture systems, Apple G4 and G5s, Sony PlayStation 3, and the Yellow Dog Linux Powerstation. Owners of any of the above hardware can email myself with a description of what they have and a brief sentence or two of what they use the system for."
* * * * *
 Still on the subject of upcoming releases, the NetBSD project has published a mailing list post entitled Plans for NetBSD 5.0: "Just a quick heads-up that, after an official 'freeze period', NetBSD-current is almost at the stage where we can branch the repository for 5.0. Much has changed since 4.0; some highlights are: during the development of NetBSD 5.0, the kernel version was bumped 73 times, the previous record was 29; there is a new kernel threading model which has better performance than the previous implementation; we have introduced the file system journalling (WAPBL) functionality, kindly donated by Wasabi Systems; much work has been done in the file system arena; the Xen port has updated to Xen 3.3, and has support for PAE domains and amd64 domains (both dom0 and domU); X.Org is now a part of our base system; providing multilib functionality (64-bit platforms such as amd64 and sparc64 can now compile and run 32-bit binaries seamlessly); many more device drivers are present in tree...." As always, testers are most welcome.
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Finally, a topic that will hopefully trigger an interesting discussion in this week's comments section. As widely publicised during the second part of last week, CodeWeavers released its US$40 CrossOver Linux Standard edition, an application that allows running popular Windows software in Linux, as a free download for a limited period. This caused substantial excitement in the Linux community, with several DistroWatch readers commenting on the news in last week's DistroWatch Weekly. Personally, I don't have a need for CrossOver Linux, so I never downloaded the software, but I was surprised by the level of noise this announcement caused on many Linux community sites. So the question for this week's discussion is this: Did you download the free CrossOver Linux last week? If so, what do you use it for? Are there any specific Windows applications that you wish to run on Linux? What are your experiences with the software so far? Please discuss below.
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| Released Last Week |
Ubuntu 8.10
The long-awaited stable release of Ubuntu 8.10, code name "Intrepid Ibex", is now out: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop and Server, continuing Ubuntu's tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. New Features since Ubuntu 8.04 LTS: GNOME 2.24; X.Org 7.4; Linux kernel 2.6.27; encrypted private directory; guest session; Network Manager 0.7; Samba 3.2; PAM authentication framework; Totem BBC plugin; server virtualization; Ubuntu as a Xen guest; JeOS is now an option in the server installer; notable inclusion in the main repository - Sun's Java OpenJDK 1.6, Apache's Tomcat 6, ClamAV, SpamAssassin; boot degraded RAID setting...." See the release announcement and release notes and features overview for further information.
Kubuntu 8.10
Kubuntu 8.10, an Ubuntu variant featuring the latest KDE desktop version 4.1.2, has been released: "Today sees the release of Kubuntu 8.10 featuring the KDE 4 desktop. The Kubuntu developers have been hard at work, bringing you the latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. KDE 4 reworks your system with a major new revision of the desktop. This Intrepid release lives up to its name by including many changes, but there are some features that are not yet available in KDE 4. If you would rather stay with what you know then remember that Kubuntu 8.04 is still fully supported, see KDE3-KDE4Migration and Is KDE 4.1 for you? for more information on deciding. You can try it first with the Kubuntu Intrepid Live CD to see for yourself whether or not it really is 'for you'." Read the detailed release announcement for additional details, list of features and known issues.
Xubuntu 8.10
Next, the release of Xubuntu 8.10, a desktop distribution designed for users and fans of the Xfce desktop: "The Xubuntu team is happy to bring you the latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. This is their latest result: Xubuntu 8.10, which brings a host of excellent improvements built on the rock solid Xfce 4.4.2 desktop environment. New Features since Xubuntu 8.04: newest AbiWord 2.6.4 word processor with tons of bug-fixes and new features; improved multimedia experience by including the Listen multimedia player; light-weight search front-end called Catfish; Seahorse - a GTK+ front-end for GnuPG; X.Org 7.4; Linux kernel 2.6.27; encrypted private directory; Network Manager 0.7; DKMS; Samba 3.2; PAM authentication framework; Totem BBC plugin...." Read the complete release announcement for further information.
Ubuntu Studio 8.10
Ubuntu Studio 8.10, a multimedia-oriented Ubuntu derivative, has been released: "The Ubuntu Studio team is proud to announce its fourth release: Ubuntu Studio 8.10. With this release, Ubuntu Studio offers a pre-made selection of packages, targeted at audio, video and graphics users. Ubuntu Studio greatly simplifies the creation of Linux-based multimedia workstations. For Ubuntu Studio 8.10 we have continued to update packages and fix critical bugs to improve the Ubuntu Studio user experience. We are sad to announce the real-time kernel won't be installed by default in Ubuntu Studio in this release. This means that for the time being, we recommend our users that depend on the real-time kernel to stay with 8.04. Features: new Ardour version; Audacity fully working; update of all software packages." Here is the full release announcement.
Mythbuntu 8.10
Mythbuntu 8.10, a distribution featuring a standalone MythTV system and the last of the official Ubuntu variants, is now also available: "After a long and tedious process with many new features and bug fixes the Mythbuntu team is proud to introduce Mythbuntu 8.10 'Intrepid Ibex'. Features: Mythbuntu-log-grabber - this application grabs specific log files into a single area and can upload them to pastebin for easy troubleshooting; automatic partitioner now creates an XFS file system for recordings; mousepad, a graphical editor is now installed by default; Wubi now supports Mythbuntu; Apple trailer plugin is now packaged and available; web site now has link to Mythbuntu in the news. Changes from Mythbuntu 8.10 RC: Wubi now included on CD image; install documents for 8.10 included on CD image; Windows autorun now links to documentation and Wubi." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details.
OpenBSD 4.4
Theo de Raadt has announced the release of OpenBSD 4.4, a BSD operating system with a strict security philosophy and advanced security features: "We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.4. This is our 24th release on CD-ROM (and 25th via FTP). We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of more than ten years with only two remote holes in the default install. As in our previous releases, 4.4 provides significant improvements, including new features, in nearly all areas of the system: new or extended platforms for sparc64, socppc, landisk; improved hardware support; new tools and functionality; assorted improvements and code cleanup; install and upgrade process changes; OpenSSH 5.1; over 4,500 ports, minor robustness improvements in package tools (Firefox 3, GNOME 2.20.3, Inkscape 0.46, KDE 3.5.8, OpenOffice.org 2.4.1, Xfce 4.4.2...." Read the release announcement and release information for a detailed list of changes and improvements.
Puppy Linux 4.1.1
Barry Kauler has announced the release of Puppy Linux 4.1.1, a bug-fix update of the recently released version 4.1: "Puppy 4.1.1 released. Fixes and improvements include: mouse detection, touchpad tapping, loading extra SFS files, DVB USB firmware, old Network Wizard, GPRS message, desktop drive icon renaming, desktop drive icon realigning, check dependencies of installed PET packages, ALSA shutdown, ROX error message when copying from Linux to VFAT file system, improved support for widescreen resolutions, remaster-CD improved, rxvt terminal pasting, and many network setup fixes especially for wireless (including NDISwrapper)." See the release announcement and release notes for a more detailed list of fixes and improvements.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Ubuntu 9.04
The Ubuntu developer team has published a draft release schedule of the project's next stable release - version 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope". The work is about to start, with the first alpha build expected to be ready for testing later this month. As with version 8.10, the development will comprise six alpha builds, a beta and a quick release candidate before the final release scheduled for 23 April 2009. For more information please visit the Jaunty Release Schedule page on Ubuntu Wiki.
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
October 2008 donation: GoblinX receives US$250.00
 We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the October 2008 DistroWatch.com donation is GoblinX, a Slackware-based distribution and live CD made in Brazil. It receives US$250 in cash.
The timing of the donation coincides with the project's 4th birthday, also celebrated last week. Although GoblinX has been struggling to become a household name in the Linux distro world, its founder, Flavio Pereira de Oliveira, has been patiently working on the project, providing regular releases, quality weekly newsletters, and timely web site updates. And just recently, our friend Béranger (who can hardly be accused of being overly positive when writing about Linux distributions ;-)) has given GoblinX a Best One-Man Effort award, along with a US$30 donation: "The 'Best One-Man Effort Award 2008' goes to Flavio Pereira de Oliveira for the continuous effort of developing the Slackware-derived GoblinX distribution. Without being perfect or bug-free, GoblinX is currently the unique distro to have so many GUI configuration tools written by a single person, such a large selection of packages and desktop environments, and such a flexible way of running and of remastering it. Play with it. Experiment. Support it. Buy its value-added editions, such as GoblinX Mega Flash 2008.2."
Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has emailed DistroWatch to say that he was honoured by being a recipient of a DistroWatch.com donation.
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 GoblinX.
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), Frugalware Linux ($340), cURL ($300), GSPCA ($400), FileZilla ($400), MythDora ($500), Linux Mint ($400), Parsix GNU/Linux ($300), Miro ($300), GoblinX ($250).
Since the launch of the Donations Programme in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$19,433 to various open source software projects.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 10 November 2008. Until next week,
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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OpenLab GNU/Linux
OpenLab GNU/Linux was an easy-to-use Slackware-based distribution featuring innovative and user-oriented design. Developed in South Africa since 2001, the product takes shape in the form of an installable live CD. It also includes OLAD (OpenLab ADministration tool) and many other innovations ranging from backend systems, such as the hyperdrive suite which simplifies the handling of removable media, to user-level enhancements, such as the highly integrated desktop theme complemented by the award-winning Nuvola icon set.
Status: Discontinued
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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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