 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 299, 20 April 2009 |
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Welcome to this year's 16th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! It's the Ubuntu release week (or Ubuntu "circus", as some prefer to call it), a major event in the calendar of many open source software enthusiasts. What will the distribution's 10th official release be like? And will the download servers cope with the expected heavy demand? We'll have to wait until Thursday to find out; in the meantime, read below for a quick tip on reverting to an older kernel under Ubuntu and visit Canonical's ShipIt service to order your free CDs. In the news section, Mandriva gains support for hardware database known as Smolt, Easy Peasy ponders a few ideas concerning the distro's default user interface, and Fedora's Ricky Zhou points out the importance of innovation in Red Hat's community distribution. Finally, don't miss our feature article which calls for an implementation of a centralised bug-tracking database for all open source software projects. Happy reading!
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (32MB) and MP3 (33MB) formats
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Feature Story |
FOSS needs a central bug tracker (by Jesse Smith)
It happened again today. I was using one of my favorite applications when a familiar bug popped up its head and brought my work to a screeching halt. Determined to rid all of humankind of this pest, I went to the Help menu and selected "Report A Bug". Seconds later, I was on the project's bug tracking web page. Seconds after that, I determined that the only way for me to report this bug (to the upstream project) was to create yet another bug tracking account.
Usually I consider myself among the lucky; I generally use Linux and generally use one distro. Reporting bugs is relatively easy in that I just need the one bug-tracking account with one vendor. However, there are days, dark days, when I'm required to use other operating systems with no central bug-tracking system. This becomes a problem after a while. Sure, it takes very little time to set up one bug-tracking account with one open source project. But when a person uses dozens of open source applications across multiple operating systems, the amount of time and the number of username/password combinations grow at an alarming rate. As I mentioned, I usually live a sheltered, one-distro life, but what agony distro hoppers must go through, setting up a bug-tracking account for each and every Linux distribution they test drive! And for those people on other operating systems, imagine opening bug tracking accounts for GIMP, OpenOffice.org, Firefox, FileZilla, etc, etc, in an effort to get one's voice heard!
OpenOffice.org bug tracker
(full image size: 146kB, screen resolution: 1140x943 pixels)
Bug-tracking software is a wonderful tool and I applaud any software project that uses one, but therein lies the problem: so many software projects have this software and they all operate separately. Fedora has one tracker, Debian another, Ubuntu another; and there are thousands of upstream projects, many with their own trackers.
Now, let us think for a moment about these thousands of bug tracking systems and consider the amount of duplicated effort. Not just in the repeated bug reports when someone reports a problem to Slackware and another person reports it to Fedora and another to Ubuntu, but also in the effort of setting up these thousands of databases. We're talking a lot of man/woman/admin hours, here!
GNOME bug tracker
(full image size: 96kB, screen resolution: 847x568 pixels)
I think it would be a good idea to see a grouping of this talent and data into one place. Consider this: a project such as Debian is already a hub for reporting bugs and making feature requests for over 20,000 open source projects. In fact, as an open source developer, I often check the Debian bug tracker to see if anything has been reported against my projects. Wouldn't it be reasonable if we took this a step further and brought all of the various distributions' bug trackers under one system? Imagine if you found a problem in any open source project on any operating system and could report it in one place. Just one bug tracking account for each user and developer! When application XYZ crashes, I could go to, for example, opensourceoops.org and report the issue, regardless of whether I'm running a flavor of Linux, OS X or BSD. While the initial setup would be a large effort, the reduction in duplicated work over the long term would be fantastic. Also, it would lower the barrier to getting those pesky bugs reported by users who don't wish to register yet another username.
An all-in-one solution would also benefit the developers of open source software. As I mentioned previously, I maintain a few small, open source applications, which are packaged for various Linux distributions and BSDs. Though I certainly don't fault the busy package maintainers, problems and patches are very rarely forwarded from the distributions to our upstream developers. To try to fix everything in the upstream source, we (myself and other developers) have had to go to each distro we know of which maintains a package of our software and search their issue tracker for our package name. This is tedious work. Imagine how much easier it would be to find and integrate patches if a developer had to simply search one large issue tracker.
I would very much like to see an open source supporter, such as Red Hat, Canonical or Mozilla, for example, implement a large, inclusive issue tracker. While a large investment up front, the benefits to open source users, developers and package maintainers would be a great boon to the community. There is some precedent for this. As mentioned before, distributions, such as Debian, track issues for thousands of packages. On a similar vein, web sites such as SourceForge and Google Code already provide open source projects with a central location to save, present and contribute. A central bug tracker could work much the same way, providing open source developers and users with one location to report and work on problems.
Ubuntu's bug tracker, Launchpad
(full image size: 88kB, screen resolution: 860x630 pixels)
The greatest hurdle I see to adopting a central system is that people tend to stick with what they have. For a mega issue tracker to really be effective, most of the smaller, single-project and distribution-specific trackers would probably have to be phased out. People would have to be encouraged to adopt the single location method. As an alternative, perhaps the central tracker could be set up in such a way that it would pull issues from other sources. Distributions and upstream projects might see the benefit of having their trouble tickets uploaded to a central location where everyone could see them. This would also centralize issue tracking, without the problems of forcing people to use The One method. Change is often difficult, especially when we're looking at so many people spread out over the world. However, I think something needs to be done; we have hundreds of distributions and thousands of open source projects. Encouraging users to maintain separate accounts for each one is cumbersome and inefficient for everyone.
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| Tips and Tricks |
Reverting to older kernel under Ubuntu (by Ladislav Bodnar)
  As many regular DistroWatch Weekly readers will know, over the past year I've been experimenting with various Linux distributions on my ASUS Eee PC 900. This is one of the most popular netbooks on the market and many distributions have made efforts to provide out-of-the-box support for the little laptop and its hardware. Mandriva Linux was probably the first distribution offering full support for the Eee PC, but others soon followed. The recent release of Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04 RC as an *.img file, a format easily transferable to any USB storage media, has quickly become my preferred operating system on the Eee PC and it has now replaced the original Xandros-built distribution on its internal solid state drives (SSD).
The primary reason for my preference for Ubuntu Netbook Remix over other options is its extremely efficient use of the available screen real estate. While most other distributions provide more of the same interface as designed for desktops and laptops with large monitors, Ubuntu Netbook Remix goes out of its way to reduce the unnecessary clutter to a minimum. Gone are the taskbars and other such "luxuries"; instead, the distribution sacrifices parts of the applications' title bars to display icons of open applications (on the left) and important system information, such as date or network and battery status (on the right). This is a very clever way of fitting a working environment to a small, 9-inch screen, thus making Ubuntu Netbook Remix and excellent operating system for any small-screen device.
The efficient use of the screen real estate is the primary advantage of Ubuntu Netbook Remix.
Now for the bad news. The release candidate for Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04 doesn't work well on most Eee PC models. This is the result of a kernel bug that makes the distribution's home desktop barely usable due to the presence of "mouse-over" effects that temporarily freeze the cursor for a few seconds before jumping to a new position. While this erratic mouse movement can't be classified as a show-stopper bug, it is highly annoying, making the first impression of the distribution extremely negative. Additionally, there is no obvious way to disable the mouse-over effects and restore normal mouse operation. It also seems that this bug, reported on Launchpad as number 349314, won't be fixed before the final release of Ubuntu 9.04.
Fortunately, there is a workaround. Those of you who followed the development of Ubuntu 9.04 on an Eee PC since the beta release have probably noticed that, at one point, the "jerky mouse" problem disappeared, only to re-appear once again after the next kernel update. The patch which fixed the issue in kernel 2.6.28-11.40 was reverted in kernel 2.6.28-11.41 because it caused other problems. The short-lived happiness lasted only a couple of days and it resulted in some users asking how to restore a known working kernel under Ubuntu. If you don't mind opening the terminal and passing a few commands, the fix is actually fairly simple. Here you go:
- First, download the working kernel files:
wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/24767281/linux-image-2.6.28-11-generic_2.6.28-11.40_i386.deb
wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/24767282/linux-headers-2.6.28-11-generic_2.6.28-11.40_i386.deb
wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/24767280/linux-headers-2.6.28-11_2.6.28-11.40_all.deb
- Next, install the three downloaded DEB files with dpkg:
sudo dpkg -i linux-*
- Now, reboot your computer. Once booted up, you should see your mouse-over effects on the desktop working correctly, with smooth movements of the spinning icons when launching an application and nice notifications.
- The final step is to put your current kernel on hold (otherwise it would be upgraded once again during your next "aptitude update && aptitude safe-upgrade" routine):
sudo aptitude hold linux-image-2.6.28-11-generic linux-headers-2.6.28-11-generic linux-headers-2.6.28-11
Finally, a quick reminder for those who are about to install Ubuntu Netbook Remix (or any other Linux distribution) on a netbook with solid state drives. Since these drives have a limited life span that depends on the frequency of write access to the drives, you can greatly prolong their life span if you follow these two rules while installing your preferred distribution (here is the source of this information, although there are those who dispute this):
- choose a non-journalling file system (e.g. ext2)
- don't create a swap partition
The release candidate for Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04 can be downloaded from here: ubuntu-9.04-rc-netbook-remix-i386.img (846MB, MD5). Installation instructions can be found here.
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| Miscellaneous News |
Ubuntu takes pre-orders for Jaunty, Mandriva supports Smolt, Easy Peasy focuses on interface improvements, interview with Fedora developer
  The latest version of Ubuntu is almost upon us. Version 9.04 is dubbed Jaunty Jackalope and scheduled for release on 23rd April. The Ubuntu web site provides information on what this new version will bring over the previous release. The list includes GNOME 2.26, a new notification system, improved multi-display support, an upgrade to X.Org server 1.6, Linux kernel 2.6.28 and support for the ext4 file system and cloud computing. If you are happy to wait and don't have a fast Internet connection, the good news is that you can now pre-order CDs from Canonical's ShipIt service: Ubuntu is available free of charge and we can send you a CD of the latest version (9.04 Jaunty Jackalope) with no extra cost, but the delivery may take up to ten weeks, so you should consider downloading the CD image if you have a fast Internet connection. Ubuntu is, of course, free to distribute.
* * * * *
 Mandriva Linux is another one of those distributions which has greatly improved over the last couple of years. Since getting back to its roots, it has provided a mature and stable operating system. One area in which Linux is constantly improving is hardware support and recently, contributor Frederick Himpe has built packages for Smolt and uploaded them to Cooker, Mandriva's testing branch. He writes: "Smolt is a tool developed for Fedora which collects information about all your hardware and submits it to a central database. On the smolts.org web site, people can view all hardware entries and indicate which one is working OK for them. The database is also coupled with a Wiki, where extra instructions can be written to get the hardware working. Smolt is used by default already for some time in Fedora and also in openSUSE." Hopefully the inclusion of Smolt will help Mandriva solve issues within the distribution and increase the overall quality and stability.
* * * * *
 The upcoming release of Ubuntu will officially support netbooks for the first time, but that hasn't deterred derivatives of the operating system from maintaining their own approach. Easy Peasy (formerly Ubuntu Eee) is one such distribution. Lead developer Jon Ramci wrote on his blog about working on improvements to the default interface: "Just as we've made the Linux kernel and Easy Peasy as a whole, a thoroughly optimized operating system for netbooks, we want to take the netbook interface one step further. We want to move web down to the desktop, as you're using Easy Peasy on a netbook you shouldn't have to start Firefox to start surfing. We add an Easy Peasy profile on the top right. The desktop will be open and module-based, so anyone will be able to write the next great module. Default modules should include Facebook, Twitter, email, chat and RSS feeds."
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 The Fedora project has been gaining a lot of steam and positive reviews of their recent releases. The upcoming version 11, dubbed Leonidas, is set to continue the strong tradition of bleeding-edge technology on a solid foundation. This week we are including an interview with infrastructure team member Ricky Zhou, conducted by How Software is Built. In the interview they discuss: "identity of the Fedora community and its relationship with Red Hat, relationship between Fedora and other distributions, upstream projects as they relate to Fedora, public opinion about the Fedora project, open source involvement in the software industry and university sphere." When asked whether he feels that Fedora gets credit for pushing new technology, Zhou replies: "I think that Fedora definitely gets credit for that. If you look at some news sites, you'll see that a lot of people are fairly aware of how and where things have come from." He continues: "Overall, Fedora does have a good reputation for being an early adopter of many useful features. I've seen people mention in a few places that a lot of software has improved and stabilized a lot after being included in Fedora."
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| Released Last Week |
Sabayon Linux 4.1 "GNOME"
Fabio Erculiani has announced the release of Sabayon Linux 4.1 "GNOME" edition: "Dedicated to those who like order over chaos, to those who like simplicity over complexity, to those who think that less is more, to those that just want more for less. Sabayon 4.1, based on Sabayon 4 LiteMCE, represents the best of the out-of-the-box, GNOME, multimedia applications, and what you need for your daily tasks. Features: based on Sabayon Linux 4 LiteMCE; custom Linux kernel 2.6.29.1; ext4 is the default file system; complete GNOME 2.24 (2.26 available through Entropy); OpenOffice.org 3.0.1; Compiz and Compiz Fusion 0.8.2; X.Org 7.4 supporting the latest AMD and NVIDIA video cards; multimedia applications (audio, video, DVD ripping, file sharing); media center mode, transforming Sabayon into a complete multimedia platform thanks to XBMC...." Read the full release announcement for more details.
gNewSense 2.2
Karl Goetz has announced the release of gNewSense 2.2, an Ubuntu-based, 100% free GNU/Linux distribution as defined by the Free Software Foundation (FSF): "The gNewSense project is pleased to announce version 2.2 of its 100% FSF Free GNU/Linux distribution. This is the second point update to the release code-named 'deltah'. This release introduces GLX back into the default install. This enables hardware acceleration by default, meaning Compiz and 3D games will work once again. Short list of changes: installer now supports two more file systems; GLX re-introduced; changed description of -updates and -backports in Software Sources; lsb_release output corrected; GNU Icecat repository available via Software Sources; Builder - substantial code restructuring...." See the rest of the release announcement for more information.
gNewSense 2.2 - the "freeest" of all distributions
(full image size: 305kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
SliTaz GNU/Linux 2.0
Christophe Lincoln has released SliTaz GNU/Linux 2.0, a fast, independent mini-distribution and live CD: "SliTaz GNU/Linux 2.0 is released after a year of hard work. Based on version 1.0, SliTaz comprises of 1400 software packages easily installable via the 'tazpkg' package manager. The live CD can be fully configured to taste to easily create a custom distribution specifically for tasks such as multimedia, graphics or development. Some of the new features in this release include: better hardware support for WiFi, Windows drivers, NTFS and low memory systems; easier customization to roll your own distro; web boot support; Openbox replaces JWM as the window manager; more tiny graphical utilities for administration, setting preferences, system upgrade, etc. The distribution is available in English, German, French and Portuguese." Read the detailed release notes for further information.
SliTaz GNU/Linux 2.0 - a 30 MB mini-distribution featuring the Openbox window manager
(full image size: 91kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
FreeNAS 0.69.1
Volker Theile has announced the release of FreeNAS 0.69.1, an updated version of the FreeBSD-based operating system providing free Network-Attached Storage (NAS) services: "FreeNAS 0.69.1 (Omnius). Changes: upgrade Samba to 3.0.34, ProFTPD to 1.3.2, mDNSResponder to 1.08.6, lighttpd to 1.4.22, cdialog to 1.1.20080819, e2fsprogs to 1.41.4, nut to 2.4.1, Transmission to 1.51, Upgrade NTFS-3G to 2009.2.1, Bash to 4.0.10; upgrade 3Ware serial ATA RAID controller driver to 9.5.1; add 'SSL/TLS only' on 'Services, FTP' page to allow TLS/SSL connections only; add 'Reverse DNS lookup' on 'Services, FTP' page; add 'Authentication' checkbox on 'Services, BitTorrent' page to enable and disable authentication for TransmissionBT WebGUI...." Read the remainder of the release announcement for further details.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
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New distributions added to database
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New distributions added to waiting list
- Desktop Paraná. Desktop Paraná is a Debian-based desktop distribution created for the regional government of Paraná in Brazil.
- Lihuen. Lihuen is a Debian-based GNU/Linux distribution developed by the Faculty of Information at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata in Argentina.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 27 April 2009.
Chris Smart
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Full list of all issues |
| 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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| Random Distribution | 
2XOS
2XOS was a Debian-based GNU/Linux distribution with a small footprint, optimised for remote desktop computing. It features auto-detection capabilities similar to KNOPPIX. It boots directly to a login manager which, when coupled with the 2X Remote Application Server, redirects users to a remote RDP/ICA/NX desktop. The distribution can be booted via PXE, CD or installed to a hard disk or flash disk. Updates to the distribution are managed through the 2X Remote Application Server web interface. 2XOS requires 2X Remote Application Server to boot up; 2X Remote Application Server was a commercial product, though it was free for up to five thin clients. 2X Software was a company providing virtual desktop, application delivery and mobile device management solutions. It offers a range of solutions to make every organisation's shift to cloud computing simple and affordable.
Status: Discontinued
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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