 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 281, 8 December 2008 |
|
Welcome to this year's 48th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
This week's feature story takes a first look at VectorLinux 6.0 beta 2. Following up on last week's feature story about the impact of
the global financial crisis on Linux distributions, Mandriva CEO Hervé
Yahi responds to the community regarding the recent dismissals at the
Paris-based distribution while Novell posts mixed sales results for SUSE Linux. In other
news, Phoronix publishes the results of benchmark tests comparing the
performance of the newly released OpenSolaris 2008.11 with the previous
version, 2008.05, Ars Technica names Foresight Linux and openSUSE as its
distributions of the year, and DragonFly BSD gets a closer look. Finally,
we get progress updates on Linux Mint 6 and a preview
release of Fedora-based Omega 10 Desktop. Happy reading!
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in ogg (14MB) and mp3 (12MB) formats (many thanks to Russ Wenner)
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
|
| Feature Story |
First Look: VectorLinux 6.0 beta 2
For my final DistroWatch Weekly feature (at least for now) Ladislav
suggested that I reviewed VectorLinux since it's
what I've used as my primary desktop on and off for many years. In the
interest of full disclosure I must mention that I do some volunteer work
for VectorLinux, including packaging, repository maintenance, and
testing. However, anyone who read my reviews of
Vector
Linux 5.9 SOHO or Vector
Linux 5.9 Standard for O'Reilly knows I don't shy away from pointing
out any issues or problems with the distro.
VectorLinux (VL) is a decade-old Slackware derivative
and VL 6.0 is loosely based on Slackware 12.1. I say loosely because
most of the packages have been upgraded or rebuilt. VectorLinux
developers seem to have two goals in mind: to create a
distro that is very user-friendly and to optimize it for speed and
performance wherever possible, all while retaining the reliability of
Slackware. On previous releases they have succeeded very well with the
performance goal while having decidedly mixed results at best in making
it newcomer-friendly. This is the area where the developers have made
the most improvements in version 6.0.
For this first look I used a pre-release copy of the 32-bit edition of
the second beta. A public release is waiting on a fix to the installer
and should be available this week. There is a 64-bit edition as well,
but it just had its
first
public alpha release last week. In addition, VectorLinux Light,
designed for older, legacy and limited hardware, is currently
at alpha
14.
Installation and Configuration
If you've read the
development release announcements for VectorLinux 6 on DistroWatch, you know that
the developers are touting a new GUI installer which was written from
scratch. Previous releases had an ncurses/text-based installer which is
still available for those who prefer it. A live CD is not available at
this time.
VectorLinux 6.0 beta installer - opening screen
(full image size: 132kB, screen resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
The opening screen of the installer allows you to choose your language for the
installation process. As of now the choices are English and Spanish. A
Portuguese translation is in the works, but it is not clear if this will
be completed in time for the VL 6 release. The left hand panel on the
installer shows you all of the steps in a clear, concise fashion. Disk
partitioning is handled by GParted. ReiserFS, XFS, ext3 and ext2 are
all supported. VectorLinux uses LILO for the bootloader and the option to
pass custom parameters to the kernel is offered.
Hardware detection in VectorLinux is on par with major distributions.
The installer correctly detected both my wired and wireless network cards.
The one area that still doesn't work quite as it should for me is X
configuration. On my Toshiba laptop, if I allow vxconf to probe my video
chipset and monitor, I am left with a small display in the middle of my
screen surrounded by lots of black space. If I choose the default
xorg.conf-fbdev file, that does work correctly with my laptop. Printing
isn't handled by the installer and has to be configured after the system
boots up for the first time. The installer allows the user to include or
exclude large blocks of software: development packages, kernel sources,
and even X, but does not allow individual package selection within these
groups. A number of optional packages are then offered which can be
individually selected.
The new installer is more intuitive than the older
text-based version but it still offers a great deal of flexibility. It
also assumes more knowledge on the part of the user than the
Ubuntu installer, for example, and there are parts
that may still seem a bit daunting to a Linux newcomer.
Running VectorLinux 6.0 beta 2
One important change is visible immediately once installation is done.
GDM, rather than KDM, is now the login manager. GDM offers the ability
to set language and locale either on a session-by-session basis or as
the default for a given user on the system. Previous versions of VL
had no such ability and users had to edit configuration files and set
at least four variables. Now VectorLinux can speak your language
easily. The only remaining issue is the fact that only a very limited
subset of the fonts normally provided with X.Org are installed by
default. If your chosen language uses other than Latin glyphs, you may
need to install font packages before changing this setting.
VectorLinux 6.0 beta - the default desktop
(full image size: 385kB, screen resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
VectorLinux Standard 6.0 uses Xfce 4.4.3 by default, if that desktop
isn't deselected during installation. LXDE is the other desktop
environment offered in the ISO image. KDE 3.5.10, GNOME 2.22, and a variety
of lightweight window managers are available in the repository.
Applications include Firefox 3.0.4, SeaMonkey 1.1.13, and Opera 9.62
web browsers, AbiWord 2.6.4, Gnumeric 1.8.2, GIMP 2.6.3, MPlayer 1.0rc2,
VLC 0.9.3, K3b 1.0.5, and Pidgin 2.5.2. OpenOffice.org and Scribus are both
available in the repository. Multimedia codecs are installed by default.
While I've only been able to do a limited amount of testing with this
beta, everything multimedia I've tried so far just worked out of the
virtual box.
Graphical wireless configuration is handled by wicd, which will be
familiar to anyone who has used Zenwalk Linux.
WiFi Radar, which was used in previous versions of VectorLinux, is
still available in the repository. A lightweight GUI
front-end to the Vector wireless scripts, vwireless, is also installed by default,
as is a new lightweight graphical tool for WPA configuration. vasmCC,
the VectorLinux control center, is the graphical system configuration
utility. The older, menu-driven vasm is also available in both GUI and
text editions.
vasmCC - the VectorLinux Control Center
(full image size: 58kB, screen resolution: 604x426 pixels)
Package management is handled by slapt-get at the command
line, or the graphical GSlapt. Anyone who has used Synaptic on a
Debian-based distribution should find GSlapt to be
quite familiar. These tools have matured to the point that dependency
checking and resolution is no more of an issue in VectorLinux than in
any of the major distributions. The repository of additional software
for VectorLinux has grown with each successive release. The 6.0
repository isn't fully populated yet, but it already appears that it will
be at least as large as the 5.9 repository by the final release. It's
probably now larger than most second-tier distributions. If you're used
to the huge repositories offered by Ubuntu, Debian,
Fedora, or openSUSE, you will
probably find the VL repository lacking, however.
An innovative way to add more software is vpackager, a remarkably easy-to-use graphical tool to build packages from source. I suspect a lot of
relatively new Linux users who looked at compiling software as beyond
their capabilities will be surprised at just how easy it can be. An
experienced user can edit the build script that backends vpackager, in
effect allowing just as much control over the compilation process as is
available at the command line. In addition to building packages from a
compressed source tarball, vpackager also works as a graphical front-end
for CruxPorts4Slack. It checks the repositories for both the
CRUX distribution and a library of ports contributed
for VectorLinux.
vpackager - GUI package building tool
(full image size: 34kB, screen resolution: 642x426 pixels)
Under the hood, VectorLinux 6.0 beta 2 sports a 2.6.27.7 kernel which is a significant upgrade from beta 1. The decision to upgrade after
the initial code freeze was due to the superior hardware support offered
by the newer kernel, including support for popular netbook hardware and
a wider variety of Atheros wireless chipsets.
This is beta software and I have run into a variety of interesting
little bugs. Rather than detailing them here, I'll point you to the
appropriate place in the
VectorLinux forum.
Conclusions
Even with the new graphical installer, VectorLinux still requires a bit
more knowledge and effort to install and configure than some of the
friendliest of the major distributions. Once set up, it's as easy to use
as any distro out there. Internationalization and localization, which
were sorely lacking in previous versions, have improved dramatically.
The software repository still is nowhere near what the major
distributions offer, however. The compelling reason to run VectorLinux, for
me, is speed and performance. VL 6.0 is noticeably faster than the
major distributions, particularly on older hardware. Only the final 6.0
release will determine if VectorLinux is finally ready to go toe to toe
with the DistroWatch top 10. Right now things
look very promising.
|
| Miscellaneous News |
News: Mandriva CEO responds to community, Novell/SUSE sales, OpenSolaris benchmarks, Ovatio awards, Omega 10 Desktop, DragonFly BSD overview
Part of last week's DistroWatch Weekly feature report on the effect of the
global economic crisis on Linux distributions covered firings by
Mandriva, which has been struggling financially. The community reaction
towards new Mandriva CEO Hervé Yahi's decision to dismiss
Mandriva Community Manager Adam Williamson and Oden Eriksson, maintainer
of the LAMP (Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack and other related packages, was
nearly uniformly negative. This week Yahi responded to the community in
the official Mandriva Blog, in both English and French.
"We recently had to let some valuable members of
staff go, notably amongst community members and distribution. It's
always a difficult decision to make and I would like to thank them for
the contribution they made to Mandriva during all these years. Once we are through this arduous passage, we plan to re-think and reinforce the community template. Mandriva-based solutions are coming through the pipeline,
ready to target our community, a world-wide market and the ensemble of
Mandriva's partners. Mandriva is brimming with new ideas aimed at the
whole community." Since nobody knows how long "this arduous passage" will last, it appears
Mandriva will not be focusing on the community, at least for now.
* * * * *
On Thursday, Novell released the company's quarterly financial results.
The
VAR Guy interpreted the results and what they mean for SUSE Linux.
According to the Novell
press release, revenue from Open Platform Solutions, mainly SUSE Linux Enterprise, was up 33% from
the same period last year. The VAR Guy's reaction: "Thirty-three
percent growth is impressive in a horrendous economy." His
take on the full report: "The business that matters
most to Novell's future -- SUSE Linux -- continues to grow. And the
Microsoft relationship, however controversial in the open source
community, has restored Novell's credibility with quite a few CIOs,
The VAR Guy believes." The question he doesn't answer is how
Novell regains credibility with the open source community in light
of the Microsoft relationship.
* * * * *
The most significant release of this past week was OpenSolaris 2008.11, the second official release of Sun Microsystems' new desktop operating system intending to compete with Linux.
Incredibly, Sun has forgotten to tell the world about it - the word OpenSolaris is nowhere to be found on the
Sun
News Center page and the product didn't even rate a mention on the
OpenSolaris
announce mailing list and forum. Only the OpenSolaris.org
has been updated to reflect the arrival of the new version.
On Friday, Phoronix
published a series of benchmark tests comparing the performance of
OpenSolaris 2008.11 with the previous version, 2008.05. The conclusion?
"While we had just ran a few benchmarks in this
article, from the looks of it, the performance level between OpenSolaris
2008.05 and 2008.11 is mostly the same, but there's just a few areas
where it was different, which could even be attributed to the
upgraded Sun Java stack for some of the results."
OpenSolaris 2008.11 - nearly all the packages have been upgraded
(full image size: 342kB, screen resolution 1280x960 pixels)
* * * * *
On Wednesday, Ars Technica handed out their annual
Ovatio
Award. This year two distributions share the honor: openSUSE and
Foresight Linux. Ars Technica staff felt that both distros made "significant advancements" during 2008. Their comments on the lesser known Foresight Linux, in part:
"It's an impressive up-and-coming Linux distribution
that has lots of potential. It vaulted into the mainstream this year
when it was adopted by Shuttle for the KPC and other products. It
leverages Conary, an innovative package management system, with
compelling features like file-based dependency resolution and support
for rollbacks." They were equally effusive in their praise of openSUSE:
"Under Novell's stewardship, openSUSE has become
significantly more inclusive and community-driven. The distro announced
its first community-elected board this year and has grown its base of
contributors considerably. The distro has also made major technical
advancements, including major improvements to its package management
system and support for installation from a live CD. openSUSE delivers a powerful user experience and is one of the few
distros that provides equally outstanding support for both GNOME and
KDE..."
* * * * *
On Thursday, a posting to the Fedora
announce
list touted a community remix, Omega 10 Desktop, which includes
multimedia codecs: "Omega is a Linux-based
operating system and a Fedora remix suitable for desktop and laptop
users. It is a installable live CD for regular PC
systems (i686 architecture). It has all the features of Fedora 10 and a number of
additional multimedia players and codecs by default. You can play any
multimedia content (including MP3) or commercial DVDs out of the
box." A preview release CD image can be downloaded from here:
omega-10-desktop-preview.iso (634MB). If no major bugs are found, this could become the final release.
* * * * *
 On Tuesday, Steven Rosenberg, writing for Inside
SoCal, took a long look at DragonFly BSD. He discovered excellent
hardware support, a large software repository, and an operating system that is easy to
use. "...even a thick-headed guy like me could
install and deploy the OS on the server or desktop. DragonFly BSD -- itself derived from FreeBSD -- shares
the NetBSD package system and, as a result, has a
very extensive repository with thousands of desktop-friendly applications. Like
most developers, those who work on DragonFly BSD keep an eye on the other
BSDs, and they borrow from FreeBSD and NetBSD when appropriate."
The community-built DragonFly BSD live DVD, version 2.1, is a good entry point into the word of BSDs.
(full image size: 1,070kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
|
| Released Last Week |
grml 2008.11
Michael Prokop has announced the release of grml 2008.11,
a Debian-based live CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software
\ especially for users of text tools and system administrators:
"grml version 2008.11 has been released and is
currently being uploaded to the mirrors. What's new? New grml-scripts:
grml-chroot - wrapper around chroot with proc/sys/pts/dev file system
handling; swspeak-setup - activating software speak(up) features. The
grml-live build system: several new packages in the different flavour
classes; improved error handling; improved checks for LZMA for different
Squashfs tools; automatically activate grml-testing repository for
development releases and daily snapshots. Special new features:
integration of vcs_info within Zsh prompt; moved from syslog-ng to
rsyslog..." Read the full
release
announcement and release
notes for more details.
OpenSolaris 2008.11
The OpenSolaris project has updated its web
site to reflect the release of OpenSolaris 2008.11, the project's
second stable release. The final live CD remains unchanged from the
second release candidate (RC2), so users who have downloaded the RC2
don't need to re-download the final release. "The
OpenSolaris 2008.11 operating system is a point of integration for the
installation, desktop, and package management system projects on
OpenSolaris.org. Today, the OpenSolaris 2008.11 live CD is available
with the following feature updates: ZFS Time Slider and Songbird;
suspend/resume and CPU power management; Distribution Constructor and
Prototype Automated Installer; WebStack with 64-bit MySQL, CherryPy,
and DTrace for Ruby; GNOME 2.24, OpenOffice.org 3.0, and Firefox 3;
Many F/OSS applications added, including top, sudo and Emacs; 700
additional man pages and Package Manager online help." Visit the
project's home page to
read the release overview; the more detailed release notes are
available
here.
Finnix 92.1
Ryan Finnie has announced the release of Finnix
92.1, a small, self-contained, bootable Linux CD distribution for system
administrators, based on Debian testing: "Today
marks the release of version 92.1 for the x86/AMD64, PowerPC, and
UML/Xen platforms. Finnix 92.1 is a regular maintenance release. New
features include Linux kernel 2.6.26, updated upstream software, and x86
boot menu cleanups. Changes: dist-upgrade; upgraded kernels to 2.6.26
(Debian 2.6.26-7); added space after boot parameters in x86 boot menu,
to add extra boot parameters, simply select a menu item, press Tab, then
start typing extra parameters; re-added F2 cheat codes x86 boot screen,
which did not carry over in the menu transition; removed dvdrtools;
added Emad, an action adventure side-scrolling RPG platformer about a
boy and his loving pet pig in 38th-century Scotland." Read the
release
announcement and
release notes
for additional details.
SystemRescueCd 1.1.3
An updated version of SystemRescueCd, was released today. What's new? "Updated the standard kernels to Linux 2.6.27.7 with Reiser4; updated the alternative kernels to Linux 2.6.27.7 with Reiser4; updated Squashfs with LZMA support (kernel driver and tools) to version 3.4; updated GParted to version 0.4.1; updated the Memtest86+ floppy disk image to version 2.10 (Memtest86+ boot entry); updated NTFS-3G to version 1.5130 (NTFS full read-write support); FSArchiver to version 0.1.6 (tool to backup Linux file systems); backported ext4 file system support from Linux 2.6.28-rc; added ISCSITarget and Core-iSCSI-tools version 3.5; fixed bug with the permissions which prevents thttpd from working; fixed bug in the PXE network boot to get a dynamic address." Here is the complete changelog.
Puppy Linux 4.1.2
Barry Kauler has announced the release of Puppy Linux 4.1.2, the latest update to the 4.1 series of the popular mini-distribution: "Puppy 4.1.2 released. Puppy 4.1.2 is a bug-fix release for 4.1 and 4.1.1. In summary, I fixed a bug when looking for USB drives at boot-up, ohci-hcd USB driver was not loading in the initial ramdisk so some interfaces were not working at that stage, bug fix for .deb package extraction, /tmp/version clean-up fix at version upgrade, Pmetatagger bug fix, some modem detection improvements, tweak for network connection at boot-up, can now load 3 SFS files, fixed a Pmount crash, prevented invalid RAM-save-interval, fixed recognition of PCMCIA in the initrd." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Linux Mint 6
Last Monday, Clement Lefebvre posted a status update on the forthcoming
release of Linux Mint 6 "Felicia" to the
Linux Mint blog:
We're now in December and Linux Mint
traditionally release in the end of November, so although we don't
stick to a fixed schedule we're considering ourselves a bit late. Having
said that, I've already started analysing the feedback the community gave
since the release of RC1 and it looks like the quality of the RC release
was very good. It's missing Wubi support and there probably will be a
few bug fixes between RC1 and the stable release, but I'm confident that both
releases will be quite similar and there's still a possibility RC1 users
might not need to upgrade (in other words, if most changes affect the
CD itself, RC1 could be considered fit for usage)."
* * * * *
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| DistroWatch.com News |
|
New distributions added to database
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- CentServer. CentServer is an extremely small, lighting-fast and super secure server distribution based on CentOS.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next
installment will be published on Monday, 15 December 2008.
Caitlyn Martin
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Tuquito
Tuquito was a Ubuntu-based distribution and live CD made in Argentina. It features automatic hardware detection, excellent support for scanners, web cams and digital cameras, and compatibility with MS Office file formats. It was designed for beginners and intermediate Linux users.
Status: Discontinued
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| Tips, Tricks, Q&As | | Questions and answers: Distributions not adopting systemd |
| Questions and answers: Virtual PDF Printer |
| Tips and tricks: Command line weather, ionice, rename files, video preview snapshot, calednar, ls colour settings |
| Myths and misunderstandings: ZFS |
| Tips and tricks: A journey to get Falkon 3.1.0 running and problems with portable packages |
| Questions and answers: Restricting commands to specific users |
| Myths and misunderstandings: The spread of systemd and launchd |
| Questions and answers: Command line word processors |
| Tips and tricks: Check free disk space, wait for a process, command line spell-check, shutdown PC when CPU gets hot |
| Questions and answers: The future of OpenSolaris |
| More Tips & Tricks and Questions & Answers |
| 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.
|
| 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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