 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 296, 30 March 2009 |
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Welcome to this year's 13th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! After last week's interview with Tiny Core's Robert Shingledecker, the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly takes a first look at the world's smallest desktop Linux distribution. Can a 10 MB distro be turned and tweaked into a powerful desktop replacement? Read on to find out. In the news, PCLinuxOS has seen developers leave the popular distribution over internal conflicts due to issues around the latest release. This has also caused ripples as TinyMe decides to move away from PCLinuxOS as their base. In the meanwhile, the administrator of a PCLinuxOS community web site has announced that he will no longer be involved with PCLinuxOS and will instead work on a new distribution called Unity. In other news, OpenSolaris posts major improvements to their package management system, Fedora calls for testing the open-source Nouveau driver, and the founder of Qimo 4 Kids explains the purpose of the young distribution designed for children. All this and more in this issue of DistroWatch Weekly - happy reading!
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (30MB) and MP3 (23MB) formats (many thanks to Sonny Chauvin)
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Feature Story |
Review of Tiny Core Linux 1.2 and 1.3 RC2
Introduction
Normally I judge a distribution on what it claims to achieve as set out in the project's goals. Tiny Core Linux is a mini distro, but founder Robert Shingledecker claims it's not just designed for use on older hardware. The distro sets up a small, clean base running completely in memory which the user can then customise by adding extra packages (also called extensions). The system can use two types of packages, either standard compressed tarballs (TCE) which are extracted over the live system, or compressed ROM files (TCZ) which are loopback-mounted. It is designed to run as a live CD (with the potential to install to hard drive, but still run in RAM) and has the ability to save data and packages to a hard drive upon shut-down. When the computer is later booted back up, it can restore data and applications to the live environment. Can it be used as a decent desktop replacement? I sought to find out.
Installation
'Installation' is a bit of a misnomer as Tiny Core doesn't really 'install' to your hard drive. Instead, it has four modes of operation. The first mode (Cloud/Internet) basically is just a live environment, where both the core system and all applications are running and stored in system memory (RAM), which is the default. Then there are three different methods for using Tiny Core from a hard drive. The first two are examples of what is called a Persistent Personal Repository (PPR), essentially a local repository for the install files, which will be loaded on boot. You simply specify a partition on a hard drive for Tiny Core to store any packages you install, which will then be loaded each time you boot. The first PPR uses TCE packages (which are extracted over your RAM system), while the second uses TCZ (which are loopback-mounted to save RAM). The final method is called Persistent Personal Installation (PPI), which is more like a conventional Linux install. The packages you have installed are actually extracted and written out to disk, rather than having the install files loaded on boot. In each variation, the core system remains running entirely in RAM.
I chose to use the PPR/TCE method to begin with and downloaded both the current stable 1.2 release, as well as the recent 1.3rc2 version. I could have run Tiny Core from the live CD; however, I wanted to be able to test operations using the optical drive, so I 'installed' it to the hard drive instead. The installation process is relatively simple for someone with some technical knowledge - you just copy the kernel and initial RAM disk to a drive and add a GRUB entry. While an extremely simple concept, it can be tricky as it's done manually. Fortunately, there are some instructions on how to do it. I plugged in a spare 40 GB IDE hard drive into the computer, which is an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ with 1 GB RAM, ATI Radeon 9600 AGP video card, NVIDIA nForce 2 chipset mainboard. From within the booted Tiny Core environment of the live CD I installed GRUB via the package manager, partitioned and formatted the hard drive, mounted it, as well as the CD, and created a boot/grub/ directory on the mounted device. Next, I copied over the GRUB application from the live environment to the drive, copied the kernel and initramfs from the CD, created a GRUB configuration file (adding tce=hda1 to my kernel line to enable the PPR) and installed the boot loader to the hard drive's master boot record. Simple! :-) Now all I had to do was take out the CD and reboot. Now Tiny Core could boot freshly from my drive, rather than the CD. Excellent.
Using the system
The system boots up very quickly without any custom applications running, taking 15 seconds and using 30 MB of memory. During boot-up, Tiny Core detects your hard drive partitions and automatically populates /etc/fstab with entries for them. It scans your partitions to see if you have a PPR and if so, loads any applications stored there. It then checks for a tarball of your home directory and restores that too. It loads Xvesa rather than a full blown X server such as X.Org, but it is possible to configure this if you like (although it will take some manual configuration to enable it). Finally, the system automatically logs you into an environment running Joe's Window Manager (JWM), which is very light and quick. It has multiple desktops, as well as the ability to layer application windows. There is also an OS X-like quick launch bar at the bottom, courtesy of wbar (yes, it does the whole magnification thing). There is a terminal and various BusyBox commands at your disposal. Apart from that, the default applications selection is pretty slim, and it's meant to be that way!
Tiny Core boot process
(full image size: 13kB, screen resolution: 720x400 pixels)
I had added the boot option tce=hda1 to my kernel line in the GRUB menu.lst file to enable the PPR/TCE. This means that any programs which I install will be stored locally and then automatically re-loaded on boot. Tiny Core uses a simple package manager, which lists all available applications. There is a simple search feature which lists any results. Simply select the package and hit the Install Selected button. This will download the package and any required dependencies, store the packages on the local drive and then install them into the live environment which is always running in RAM. As far as I can tell, there is no complex database keeping track of what you have installed, it's just a simple 'extract into root' process. To remove what you have installed, you simply need to delete the tarball from your PPR partition and reboot (assuming you are using a PPR).
Tiny Core package manager
(full image size: 15kB, screen resolution: 693x429 pixels)
By default, the system is configured to use Open Sound System (OSS) version 4 for sound, which can be enabled through the entry in the application menu. You can easily install ALSA, but I found that the configuration for my sound card was lost after each reboot and required re-running the command sudo alsaconf. Presumably this is because the changes to the configuration files are not saved on shut-down, so the original settings are restored on boot-up and it remains unconfigured. The first application I wanted to get working was a web browser. Searching for firefox returned minefield, a non-official version of Mozilla's Firefox built from source. This worked very well and I was able to install various addons like Download status, Adblock Plus, Flashblock, Firebug and Greasemonkey. There is a package for Flash player 9, which is actually a script to download the player directly from Adobe and install the player. This worked well and I was able to watch YouTube without any hassle. Currently the latest version of Firefox is 3.0.8, but Tiny Core only offers 3.0.4. I'd be more comfortable if this was the most recent browser, as security issues are most likely to come from the Internet through the browser. However, this is part of the beauty of the Tiny Core ideology - every boot results in the system being completely refreshed! If the computer was indeed compromised and changes were made to the system (live environment), they would be lost on next boot. Pretty neat, huh?
Once I had a web browser, I wanted to install packages for other everyday usage. Firstly, I wanted to get a graphical file manager and settled on ROX-Filer. The system did not have VLC, so I installed MPlayer to handle video and audio. As instructed by the package manager, I manually downloaded the codecs package from mplayerhq.hu and extracted it to the respective directory. I downloaded some movies in different formats and, to my pleasure, most played successfully. Optical burning was handled by KDE's brilliant K3b application, while OpenOffice.org 2.3.1 handled my documents and GIMP was there for my image manipulation requirements. I was also able to install other essentials, Git and Vim, while rsync was included in the base environment. I did have a few issues with missing libraries, like GTK+ which was a dependency of Vim, libglade was needed by ROX-Filer and Gitk was missing Wish. It was not hard to fix, but it would be good if the package manager would more strictly enforce required dependencies (or rather, the package maintainer correctly specify them). The package selection itself does appear rather limited, with most of the applications on offer being reasonably old versions. Even though there are some great applications, there often appears to be only one choice for each task. K3b for burning, MPlayer for video, Firefox for browsing, etc. It would be good if there were more, which I'm sure will happen over time as more developers get involved in the project. Tiny Core does provide source code to all the packages included in the system, as well as a build toolchain (including the compiletc extension) to create your own packages.
With a wider range of more recent software and the ability to easily tweak the boot process, I think Tiny Core could be a killer distribution, even for beginners. Presently the main stumbling block is the limited range of packages and lack of complete suites of software. Perhaps also an easy way of enabling and disabling software from the PPR. If I install a package for temporary use, I don't necessarily want it to always be loaded, but I may not want to delete it either. A list of all programs in the PPR, where you could disable them if desired would be a great addition. Taking this a step further, this should work for dependencies too. If I remove K3b, how do I know what dependencies should also go? Even if I delete K3b, the dependencies are still going to be loaded on boot which seems like a waste of resources and makes the system feel less clean. I have discovered that there is currently a way to install applications temporarily, by clicking the Download Only button within the package manager. This package is then placed in the tce/optional directory on your hard drive which will not be automatically loaded on boot. To load it within your live environment, select File -> Install Optional from the package manager's menu. If the system does become too cluttered (after installing lots of packages you no longer need) Tiny Core has an ability to boot to a clean system without loading any packages, by adding the base boot option to the kernel line. This will bypass the loading of any extensions which will then allow you to set up the system afresh using File -> Install Local from the package manager. These current features appear to be a decent compromise for now, and I'm informed that the ability to remove packages is currently in the works.
Tiny Core comes with a control panel which lets you configure certain aspects of your system, including network (there is no GUI for wireless, but wireless-tools and wpa_supplicant packages exist), set your background, and various others, like a mounting tool to mount your devices and turn on a few essential services, including SSH, Cron and DHCP client. It would be great if there was a section to start and stop all detected services, rather than just being limited to a few. Still, it's a neat little tool which helps you easily configure those on offer.
Tiny Core control panel
(full image size: 43kB, screen resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
The distro also includes a few tools for configuring your system, accessible through the desktop menu. These include tools to configure the Xvesa resolution and colour depth, a graphical kill program, synchronise the clock with an Internet server, set up Tiny Core terminal server, encrypt home files, add executables to the local boot script and more. While very simple, these tools are a welcome addition to the desktop and help to make life a that little bit easier.
Tiny Core system tools
(full image size: 30kB, screen resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
Using PPR/TCE with all these applications loaded, the system now uses over a gigabyte of RAM and takes 35 seconds to load. Quite a considerable difference, but still not slow. Plus, once the system has loaded, everything is in RAM and lightning fast! On top of this, it feels like I have a fresh system every time I boot, which is nice. I can really see why Shingledecker likes this way of computing. If you are using the fourth method, where packages are actually extracted onto disk rather than into RAM, then you will not have the issue of a slower boot as there are no packages to extract. Likewise, if you use the third method (PPR/TCZ) the packages are loaded on boot, but quickly mounted as loopback rather than extracted into RAM. This means they are loaded when needed, saving precious resources and time. For me, if you are going to use this distribution as your default desktop, go the TCZ route as it seems to provide the best balance between speed and Tiny Core features.
Conclusion
I have to admit that I never really saw the point of these mini distributions in the past where you had to use a cut-down set of applications which made life harder. Sure, they were small, but in a time when computers are really fast and powerful, who cares about little tiny systems that can't do everything out of the box? Well I never liked big bloated systems either and I'm a fan of simplicity. My time using Tiny Core has really opened my eyes to a completely different way of computing, and I love it. It's not a crippled tiny system with hopeless applications, but rather an excellent framework which you can then build into anything you want. The packages on offer are on the old side, however, and there is a limited range of software available. To me, this seems like the only thing holding Tiny Core back and is something that I'm sure will change over time. After having used Tiny Core for a short time, it does appear to have everything I need to work with out of the box. I can't wait to see what else I can discover.
Tiny Core custom desktop
(full image size: 292kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
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| Miscellaneous News |
Developers quit PCLinuxOS to start Unity Linux, OpenSolaris package management improvements, Fedora tests Nouveau driver, interview with founder of Qimo 4 Kids
 Internal issues have rocked the world of PCLinuxOS, with numerous developers quitting the project. The issues appear to have started when project lead, Bill Reynolds (Texstar), took a year-long break from running the distribution and left the distro's primary system administrator, Solis, in charge. Without input from the project founder, development of PCLinuxOS 2009 by the community continued but just before release, Solis halted it so that Reynolds could overview it. The release was then delayed two weeks while it was finalised. It appears that many developers were not happy with the way this was handled and have consequently left the project.
Writing on her blog, Solis explains: "He [Reynolds] left me in charge of his 'baby' while he was on hiatus... The only problem was the 'boys'. They didn't realize the trust that the big jefe had placed in me as he handed me the keys to his 'Kingdom'. He not only handed over all the keys, but made me admin over all he had. Why couldn't they just accept his trust in me, instead of going 'behind closed doors' to plan what direction they were headed in next? It all boiled down to me stopping the release of this year's offering until 'the man' had a chance to look it over. He wasn't totally happy, and it took almost two weeks to get it in suitable shape for release. In the meantime they stomped out the door, and took a lot of people with them based on lies." The project has now started the task of "opening up to the community whereas before everything was done or controlled by a small group. Tasks are being divided up into sections, and teams are being assembled so this very thing cannot happen again (hopefully)," writes Solis.
JMiahMan, former admin of the PCLinuxOS hardware database and developer of EeePCLinuxOS, voiced his dismay at the announcement: "Not hearing from Texstar for more than a year, development [by the community] continued, then the moment before release passwords were changed on servers and suddenly Texstar is back and now not only halting the release, but saying all the hard work the community did for a year wasn't good enough. That's leadership suicide." More information is sure to come to light as former developers switch to other projects.
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 The issues within PCLinuxOS have rippled across other distributions which are derived from it. TinyMe, a PCLinuxOS based distribution for older hardware, has decided to break away from the their parent distro due to irreconcilable differences: "I and many others who have packaged and/or developed for PCLinuxOS are leaving the dev team due to disagreement with individuals within it. This action was taken with no ill will intended toward PCLinuxOS and Texstar. A compromise was attempted but not achieved. I'd like to thank all the PCLinuxOS community members for their support and all TinyMe community members for their constant enthusiasm, supportive comments, and continued support/use of the distribution." According to project lead, KDulcimer, the next release will not use the official PCLinuxOS repositories and, as such, an upgrade from previous versions may not be possible. As yet it is unclear whether the project will base itself off another existing distribution, or build their own base from scratch. Either way, the project aims to continue on developing: "As it is now, TinyMe will continue development with even more vigor than in past releases," writes KDulcimer. Other derivatives which are expected to re-base and leave PCLinuxOS are, EeePCLinuxOS, Granular, PCe17OS, PCFluxboxOS, Producer Edition (previously PELinuxOS) and Tinyflux.
In related news, Derrick Devine, former administrator of the community project site MyPCLinuxOS, recently handed over control of the project and announced work on a new Linux distribution, called Unity, with many of the other former PCLinuxOS developers: "What it will be is a new Linux distribution that takes an incremental approach to desktop Linux. It will provide a central core and use the mklivecd scripts that PCLinuxOS uses and it will provide a base from which to build just about any desktop you want out there." Currently the distro is being developed behind closed doors, but more information should come to light soon. Either way, it is clear that no animosity exists on the side of former PCLinuxOS developers, who remain grateful to the distribution for everything they have been able to achieve over the years. Derrick continues: "You won't hear us say anything bad about PCLinuxOS, its leadership, or the direction it is going. We are very proud to have been members of the PCLinuxOS community... some of us for almost six years. Nothing can take away our gratitude."
* * * * *
 The way in which Sun Microsystems has turned their closed-source Solaris operating system into an open source distribution has been quite impressive. Each new release brings something new and exciting, such as ZFS snapshot support built right into GNOME, as with OpenSolaris 2008.11. The next version is set for release in June this year and one particular area of major work is the package management system. While OpenSolaris has already incorporated decent package management, the developers have been busy implementing new features. Michal Pryc writes on his blog about two such improvements - speed and remote searching. Using Sun's DTrace technology, some bottlenecks in the start-up performance were identified but it was the introduction of caching which has made the biggest improvement. John Rice blogs about some nice new features, start page and web install.
By default, opening the "start page gives us a way to point you at useful online resources, to find the latest packages, help and support. Just click on links in the Start Page to launch the page in Firefox. The start page is also something that can be updated and the system will check for updates daily as its refreshing the IPS image catalog on the system, falling back to the default installed page if no updates are available. For instance, when an interesting new repository is available, we could point you to it from here." This leads to web install, which is a way to automatically add and configure online repositories, similar to openSUSE's one-click install. Further improvements are planned for releases down the road: "We also plan to add auto discovery feature for new repository publishers, whereby repository managers can list related URLs of other repositories that might be of interest to a user. Using the Update Manager Notifier process we will check for these updates and give users the option to add them, again using the Web Install," Rice concludes.
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 The upcoming release of Fedora 11 will ship with many new features, including the 2.6.29 kernel. This will allow for more video cards with support for kernel-based mode setting to be enabled, which will provide a flicker-free boot process, thanks to Plymouth. Using such a system allows the splash screen to contain fancy animations and means that the computer does not need to change video modes when switching between the console and X server. The result? A nice, clean and flicker-free boot process. Currently Fedora ships with the nv driver (which is developed by NVIDIA) for such video cards, but with this upcoming release will switch to the open-source, community-developed Nouveau driver: "Users should have a more responsive desktop, due to more operations being accelerated on the GPU. GeForce 8/9 users will gain XVIDEO support out of the box. People on earlier chipsets will gain proper multi-monitor support." The Nouveau driver is now reaching a point where it is more useful than the nv driver and even provides 3D support for some cards, while the latter does not.
Recently, the new driver was merged into Rawhide (Fedora's testing branch) and therefore made available to the entire Fedora community. Because this is a major shift, March 26th was set aside as a day devoted to testing the new driver. Users were asked to upgrade their system to Rawhide, configure it to use the driver and then run a suite of tests. Reporting the results required a bug entry to be lodged in Fedora's bug tracker, along with the computer's Smolt profile (a method of gathering and recording your system's hardware). The results are then posted to the Wiki entry and, from a quick glance, it appears most cards are working correctly. Due for release in just two more months, with the help of the community, Fedora will hopefully make a successful switch to Nouveau. From there perhaps other distributions will follow suit. There is no doubt that kernel-based mode setting is the future, and the more cards which support it the better!
Phoronix has also tested the Nouveau driver and found that "oh yes, it works! Nouveau kernel mode-setting should work in Fedora 11 for those using the GeForce 8 series hardware or newer. KMS support for the older NVIDIA hardware should come later on. One problem we ran into though was with the GeForce 8600GT and using a 30-inch Samsung SyncMaster 305T LCD, the Fedora live CD had mode-set to 1280 x 800 instead of the 2560 x 1600 for this dual-link DVI monitor. We ran into this problem with and without kernel mode-setting."
* * * * *
 Qimo 4 Kids is a Linux distribution derived from Ubuntu, but aimed squarely at the younger generation. The distro comes pre-installed with various open-source educational programs for children three years and above. Built on the Xfce desktop environment, the interface has been tweaked to reflect the intended audience with a simple launch bar at the bottom. The distro caters for children up to twelve years, so it also includes more complex applications for when they need some more challenges. The latest version comes as an installable live CD, runs on a 400 MHz computer and requires 256 MB of memory. Unlike Edubuntu, Qimo is designed to run as a standalone machine for younger children, rather than across a classroom network.
Technical website has published an interview with Michelle Hall of Qimo about the project: "We selected a mascot that is child-appealing; he's friendly, and likeable, but not so engaging that a child can not tune him out in favor of the games. Additionally, we've stripped out any and all administrative privileges from the child's user account. While this may not make the computer any more child-friendly per se, it takes away some of the apprehension of the parent, and so the child gets more of a chance to actually use a computer." The distribution is also used by the team to reuse old equipment for needy children. "Additionally, any and all developers are encouraged to join us on our campaign to get computers into the hands of needy children. We run a small grass-roots charity, QuinnCo Inc., that recycles computers, loads them with Qimo, and places them with children within our community in Lakeland."
Qimo 4 Kids 1.0 - a distribution for children aged between 3 and 12 years.
(full image size: 426kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
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| Released Last Week |
SUSE Linux Enterprise 11
Novell has announced the release of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Server 11: "Novell today announced the availability of SUSE Linux Enterprise 11, the operating system designed for the next-generation data center. The platform contains major enhancements to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Desktop and delivers two new extensions - SUSE Linux Enterprise Mono Extension, the only product that enables customers to run fully supported Microsoft .NET-based applications on Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension, a clustering product that ensures uptime for mission-critical applications while slashing the cost of ownership for high availability." Here is the full press release. For detailed information about new features and enhancements please consult the release notes, prepared separately for SLED 11 and SLES 11.
Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 - a desktop distribution for the enterprise
(full image size: 583kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Scientific Linux 5.3 "Live CD/DVD"
Urs Beyerle has announced the release of the live edition of Scientific Linux 5.3: "Just one week after releasing Scientific Linux 5.3, I'm pleased to say that Scientific Linux Live CD/DVD 5.3 has been released for i386 and x86_64 architectures. Features: live CD/DVD can be installed to local hard disk; live CD runs from USB key; changes can be stored persistently on an external device; live CD can be mounted over NFS (diskless client). Software: Linux kernel 2.6.18, OpenAFS client 1.4.7, X.Org 7.1, 3D desktop with Compiz and AIGLX, ALSA sound libraries 1.0.17, GNOME 2.16.0 (standard desktop), IceWM 1.2.37, GIMP 2.2.13, OpenOffice.org 2.3.0, Firefox 3.0, KDE 3.5.4 (only on live DVD). Software added compared to standard Scientific Linux: NTFS-3G, ntfsprogs, GParted...." Read the release announcement for more information.
Puppy Linux 4.2
Warren Willson has announced the release of Puppy Linux 4.2, a fast, user-friendly desktop distribution in 100 megabytes: "Both the 'Standard' and 'Retro' editions of Puppy Linux 4.2 are now available. Puppy 4.2 is the first official version of Puppy Linux without Barry Kauler making the final choices. Features: many tastes catered for with a choice of window managers, either IceWM or JWM, with extra themes, including Clearlooks GTK+ theme engine; optimized SeaMonkey web browser with MonkeyMenu extension; efficient management with Puppy Control Panel; elegant, graphical GRUB boot loader using gfx-boot; stay informed with Pwidgets running desktop programs; audiophiles will be pleased with AlsaPlayer and Pmusic for audio entertainment using the latest audio codecs for .flac, .ogg and .mp3 files; access to Internet radio using streamtuner...." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details.
Puppy Linux 4.2 - the first official release built under a new community management
(full image size: 957kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
- Jibbed 5-rc3, the release announcement
- Resulinx 3.0-test1, the release announcement (in Portuguese)
- Moblin 2-alpha2, the release announcement
- Musix GNU/Linux 2.0-alpha1, the release announcement
- Elive 1.9.24, the release announcement
- Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and Mythbuntu 9.04-beta, the release announcement
- trixbox 2.8-beta, the release announcement
- PC-BSD 7.1-RC1, the release announcement
- Absolute Linux 12.2.3
- PC/OS 8.4 (OpenServer)
- g:Mini 3.0-rc1
- Easy Peasy 1.1-rc2
- Big Linux 5.0-alpha1
- Clonezilla Live 1.2.1-50
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
New distributions added to database
- Zeroshell. Zeroshell is a small Linux distribution for servers and embedded devices with the aim to provide network services. It is available in the form of live CD or compact Flash image and it can be configured using a web browser. The main features of Zeroshell include: load balancing and failover of multiple Internet connections, UMTS/HSDPA connections by using 3G modems, RADIUS server for providing secure authentication and automatic management of encryption keys to wireless networks, captive portal to support web login, and many others.
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- Noys. Noys is a new Fedora-based distribution aimed at web developers.
- Unity Linux. Project Unity, created by some of the former PCLinuxOS developers, aims at providing a common core system and a community-oriented development model. It will mostly be based on Mandriva, though other RPM-based distribution could also provide some technologies. The core of Unity Linux will have no desktop environment.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 6 April 2009.
Chris Smart
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Full list of all issues |
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