 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 383, 6 December 2010 |
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Welcome to this year's 49th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! The feature story of this week's issue is a first-look review of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 from a point of view of businesses wishing to deploy a Linux desktop with many years of security support. Is Red Hat's latest and greatest as solid, dependable and easy-to-maintain as the excellent 5.x series? Read on to find out. In the news section, CentOS developers find themselves under pressure to release a version based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Linux Magazine announces a special, 10-year anniversary release of KNOPPIX, Ubuntu comes under increasing criticism over its Unity desktop, and openSUSE announces Tumbleweed, a rolling-release repository of stable software packages. Also in this issue, a Q&A section that explains the reasons why Debian sometimes feels "out-of-date" and compares package update handling on Linux and FreeBSD. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the recipient of the DistroWatch.com November 2010 donation is the Mageia project. Happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Desktop edition
 Red Hat may be one of the few companies in the world that really get open source. Red Hat builds its products on open source, is very liberal with its source code and actively supports important projects with developer hours. On top of that, Red Hat has proved to be profitable in a market where commercial offerings usually struggle to break even. For years the Red Hat brand was widely viewed as "the Linux", rather than "a Linux" distribution. Even Hollywood recognizes the name. It's been nearly four years since the last major Enterprise Linux release (5.0) came out and I've been curious to see what Red Hat has been quietly working on these past several months. To that end, I got in touch with my local account manager who kindly set me up with a copy of RHEL 6 (Desktop Edition).
The data on the install DVD takes up approximately 2.8 GB of space and boots into a simple boot menu that offers the user the options to install RHEL, rescue the system or boot from the local disk. Taking the installation option brings up a screen asking if we would like to perform a media check to insure the disc is uncorrupted. Once the check passes, the Red Hat graphical installer, Anaconda, loads and begins the usual series of questions. We're asked to supply our preferred language, keyboard layout and to provide a hostname. Anaconda asks for the local time zone and a root password before moving on to partitioning. I found the partition manager to be both intuitive and flexible, allowing us to work with regular partitions, LVM and RAID configurations. The list of supported Linux partitions is limited to the ext family (ext2, ext3, ext4) with no sign of XFS or Btrfs.
Encrypting any of these partitions is as straight forward as putting a check in the appropriate box. Once the drive is divided up we're given the option to tweak the boot loader settings and then we move on to package selection. There are three different pre-configured bundles on the package screen (Desktop, Minimal Desktop and Minimal). I selected the Desktop bundle and then accepted the option to further customize the selection, adding a few packages and the KDE desktop. I found it interesting that GNOME is not listed by name, but is in the package list as "General Purpose Desktop". Additionally, the package screen allows us to add third-party repositories, but I put that aside for the moment. All that is left for the installer to do is copy over the requested software to the local drive and then we can reboot.
Upon rebooting I discovered that, if the DVD is left in the drive, selecting "Boot from local drive" from the boot menu results in an error, apparently the disc has trouble handing control over to the installed boot loader. Removing my DVD caused my freshly installed system to boot normally and I was passed on to the first-run Setup Agent. This wizard walks us through the Red Hat license agreement, creating a regular user account and setting the date & time. With this all done, we're presented with a graphical login screen. Signing in brings us to a GNOME (2.28) desktop with the menu bar along the top of the screen. A task switcher sits at the bottom of the display and a few navigation icons are displayed on the desktop. The background reminds me of a sunset viewed through a streaked windscreen. Up in top-right corner of the screen is a network status icon which indicated to me that I was off-line. Clicking the icon and selecting my network interface enabled the connection. A quick check of the Network Manager settings showed that my wired connection was set to not automatically connect, which is a bit unusual for Linux distributions.
RHEL comes with the usual collection of popular open-source software. The application menu contains Firefox (3.6.9), OpenOffice.org 3.2, Evolution, Pidgin, a CD ripper, disc burner, webcam app, a video player, a music player and system monitor. Though multimedia players are provided, most popular codecs are not supported out of the box. Nor do we find Flash (or Gnash) on the system. Further these items don't appear in the repository. I had hoped to find these additions in RPMFusion, but that repository and Fedora's Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux don't support Enterprise Linux 6 at time of writing. Also in the application menu there's a bug reporting program, the GIMP and a document viewer. We also find an archive app, calculator and text editor. The GNOME desktop comes with its regular array of configuration tools for adjusting the look & feel of the desktop. Under the Administration menu are Red Hat's handy management programs for working with user accounts, configuring services, setting up printers, tweaking the firewall and dealing with packages.
Also included in the menu are Red Hat's release notes. These notes are surprisingly detailed compared to most other distributions and the notes frequently refer to other manual pages on Red Hat's website. As an example, when reading about storage and the Logical Volume Manager there is a link to further Red Hat documentation on the subject, which goes into deeper detail. Underneath it all, we find the Linux kernel, version 2.6.32. Though old news to many community distributions, 2.6.32 carries improvements over the 2.6.18 kernel found in Enterprise Linux 5.0 such as the Completely Fair Scheduler. Users who work in mixed operating system environments will no doubt be happy to learn that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 includes the ability to easily authenticate against Active Directory. And, further simplifying the entry into mixed networks, the Evolution e-mail program comes equipped to talk with both Exchange servers and GroupWise accounts.
RHEL 6 - working with the bug reporting application
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By default Red Hat uses the GNOME desktop, however KDE 4.3 is also included on the DVD. I logged into KDE a few times and found the experience to be well balanced against GNOME. Sometimes installing multiple desktop environments on a distribution will result in full and poorly organized menus, but Enterprise Linux handled the duality well. KDE's menus were laid out in the same fashion as GNOME's and I found performance to be similar under both environments. This made switching between the two as seamless as possible. The sole feature I didn't find while logged into KDE was a graphical package manager.
Before getting into package management on RHEL, the administrator is first required to register the system with the Red Hat Network. It's important to perform this registration, otherwise the system will not receive security updates. Of course we can only register as many systems as we have subscriptions. If we want to move our installation from one machine to another then we'll have to login to the Red Hat Network and remove the old entry. Registration is performed via a GUI app that asks the user for their RHN login information and a nickname for the machine. The whole process takes just a few seconds. Once registration is completed, packages can be installed or upgraded using YUM from the command line, or through Add/Remove Software (gpk-application) if the administrator prefers a graphical interface. There's a software update tool which will place a subtle notification of available updates on the menu bar and walk the user through applying those updates.
On a default installation the distribution runs the secure shell and Sendmail network services. A firewall is in place, blocking most incoming connections, the exception being connections to secure shell. I found that secure shell accepts root logins out of the box, but (unlike RHEL's close relation, Fedora) remote users are not allowed to shutdown the system unless they have administrator privileges. The SELinux technology is installed and enabled right out of the box, though there aren't any GUI configuration tools in the application menu. Programs to manage SELinux can be added later via the package repositories.
RHEL 6 - adding packages and configuring services
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During my trial I found RHEL handled my hardware well. I ran the distribution on two physical machines, a generic desktop machine (2.5 GHz CPU, 2 GB of RAM, NVIDIA video card) and my HP laptop (dual-core 2 GHz CPU, 3 GB of RAM, Intel video card) and all of my hardware was picked up and worked fairly well. I didn't perform any benchmarks, but I found that the operating system was a little more responsive on the desktop machine. I also tried RHEL in a VirtualBox virtual environment and found it worked well there too. The operating system doesn't integrate with VirtualBox, meaning the guest OS would capture the mouse and didn't automatically pick up my host's screen resolution. While using VirtualBox I tried running Enterprise Linux with lower memory resources. I found the system would run smoothly doing most day-to-day tasks with 512 MB of RAM. When attempting to run with 256 MB of RAM Anaconda refused to attempt an install. However, if installed with a higher amount of RAM the distro would later boot and operate with just 256 MB of RAM (logged into either GNOME or KDE). Though it would work, trying to run with such limited resources caused the machine to rely on swap and performance degraded. This release of RHEL supports fingerprint readers and smart cards for account authentication. I don't have either of these items on my machines, so I was unable to test the features. Nonetheless, it was good to see the alternative login methods offered.
There are some who say Red Hat isn't interested in the desktop market and I don't think that's true, not entirely. Red Hat has shown itself to be uninterested in the consumer home desktop market and with good reason. There isn't much money to be made from home users. Most of them are either content with their proprietary solutions or are tech-savvy enough to hunt down free alternatives -- a lesson several commercial Linux vendors have learned the hard way. What Red Hat does focus on is the enterprise desktop market, a field where their combination of conservative packages, excellent documentation and support is desired. It occurs to me that Red Hat doesn't have much competition in this arena. Ubuntu's long term support release almost fits the bill, but Ubuntu is a much more dynamic platform than Enterprise Linux, a trait not often valued in the business ecosystem. Ubuntu's three years of support also fall short of Red Hat's (up to) ten years. Novell has their SUSE Linux Enterprise product, but with Novell's future in the balance their distribution becomes less attractive. In fact, right now, I think Red Hat's closest enterprise desktop competitor is CentOS, which offers the same technology without the cost/support that comes with it.
RHEL 6 - documentation introducing the new release
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After a week of running Red Hat's latest offering there are some aspects I've really enjoyed. For instance, I think the product is a good mixture of modern and tried-and-true. Nothing here is cutting edge, but the included software is new enough for me to get work done without any problems. Following that line of thought, the stability has been top-notch and I have yet to experience a system or application crash. The documentation is well laid out and the administrative programs are excellent. The Red Hat Network is a great asset and can be useful for monitoring machines. In some ways the RHN is proactive. For instance, one day during my trail I lost my Internet connection during a storm and, the next day, I received an e-mail letting me know one of my machines hadn't checked in during the past twenty-four hours. A helpful thing to know if you're maintaining a large network of machines.
Anaconda continues to be one of the best installers in the Linux community, combining flexibility with ease of use. It looks like Red Hat has done some work with their fonts since the 5.x series and I found reading text on this release to be easier on the eyes. Though I didn't encounter any bugs while running RHEL, there were a few items which bothered me. The graphical package manager is sluggish and performing tasks with it feels like trying to run though water. Fortunately it's not a problem shared by the command line package manager, YUM. My other complaint is concerning the lack of multimedia and Flash support. Some might argue these are technologies better suited to home users, but I have yet to work in an office which doesn't occasionally make use of Flash or videos for training and presentations. It's a gap I'm hoping will be filled by RPMFusion in the near future.
Now that I have spent some time with RHEL 6 I have to say that, over-all, it's a good release. It's solid, polished and comes backed by a great support infrastructure. Home users may be put off by the smaller repository, older packages or, for that matter, the price tag. Businesses though, Red Hat's target customers, should be very happy with this release.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
CentOS 6, ten years of KNOPPIX, Ubuntu Unity coverage, openSUSE Tumbleweed rolling-release repository
 With the recent release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6, many eyes of the Linux community have turned to distributions that "clone" the popular commercial product into a freely available alternative. Among them CentOS is the most widely-used by far. So when will CentOS 6 arrive? According to this article at Linux.com by Brian Proffitt, it could happen before the end of this year: "For the CentOS developers and users, Christmas Day may bring more than the usual presents under the tree. If past experience holds, it should take the CentOS development and QA teams about 45 days from the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 to get CentOS 6 ready for release... which puts the projected release date on December 25." Unfortunately, the story turned out to be pure speculation. CentOS developer Russ Herold in "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it": "That writer went to press with a piece that expresses a date not of any formal CentOS origin or estimate. His words, his choice, his opinion, and nothing more. Here is a statement which is perhaps more accurate: CentOS really doesn't do pre-release interviews as to release dates and process, other than what anyone may read in and infer from the 'centos-devel' mailing list. Any CentOS 6 series will ship when it is ready and will be available when it is announced." So there you have it....
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 Good news for the fans of the KNOPPIX live DVD: the most recent issue of Linux Magazine includes a cover DVD with KNOPPIX 6.4, a brand-new version of the popular live distro: "KNOPPIX 6.4 - the popular KNOPPIX is the quintessential Live troubleshooting tool for admins, developers, and desktop Linux users. The latest release, which includes more than 3,000 packages and improved support for NVIDIA graphics cards, is currently available only through this magazine under an exclusive arrangement with KNOPPIX creator Klaus Knopper." The KNOPPIX website has a few more details about the release: "Linux Magazine presents the 10-year anniversary of KNOPPIX, version 6.4.2, in its publication. Shortly before Christmas, the new release will also appear on the public mirrors (we are still working on the miniaturized CD and the ADRIANE edition). This time, due to the anniversary, non-free or otherwise non-distributable software (such as Flash) has been banned from the magazine DVD, but of course it is possible to install such software later. Also, this edition is again more 'experimental', and contains a lot of software from the current Debian testing and unstable pools, Linux kernel 2.6.36 and the new nouveau graphics modules." For those who can't wait for the public release of KNOPPIX 6.4 the latest issue of Linux Magazine is available here.
KNOPPIX 6.4 - a 10-year anniversary release
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 In terms of visual appearance, the next release of Ubuntu will mark a significant departure from the established Linux desktops as we know it. But is a completely new user interface such a great idea? Judging by opinions expressed on a number of popular Linux blogs recently, the new Ubuntu Unity desktop is coming under increasing criticism from many users. As an example, Dedoimedo gives it 2.5 points out of 10 in "Unity - What is it good for?": "I think Unity might work on netbooks, mobile and ultra-mobile devices, but it's not ready for the mainstream desktop governed by the vast majority of clueless, conservative users." Phoronix in "The State Of Unity In Ubuntu" seems to agree: "In 'Maverick' the Unity experience is very disappointing and using its netbook interface was far slower than just using the GNOME or KDE desktop." ZDNet comes to a similar conclusion in "Why I don't recommend Ubuntu, for now": "Ubuntu Netbook edition is cramped, slow and unconfigurable, and I don't think it should have been released in that state. There has been a vast amount of talk about Unity, the new desktop for Ubuntu, and the fact that it is due to be shipped with 11.04 Narly Narwhal. The potential problem is, will this move obscure the cadence, design and quality which Shuttleworth is so passionate about?" Of course, these are still very early days of the desktop that will ship with Ubuntu 11.04, so things will certainly change. But as Unity stands now, it's hard to find any users who are impressed by it.
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 How does a well-established distribution gain instant attention by users and media? Well, these days, it seems, it's sufficient to mention the words "rolling release" and the community will do the rest. After a week when Ubuntu hinted (and then denied) a possible move to a rolling-release style update mechanism, it was the turn of openSUSE to pull a similar trick last week. OStatic reports in openSUSE to Offer a Rolling Release Repo: "Greg Kroah-Hartman, openSUSE kernel developer, described openSUSE Tumbleweed as, 'a repository that is a rolling updated version of openSUSE containing the latest stable versions of packages for people to use.' In a post to the opensuse-project mailing list Kroah-Hartman offered further information in the form of a Q & A. The first question tried to distinguish between Factory and the proposed Tumbleweed. Factory is much like Mandriva's Cooker, in that it contains many bleeding-edge and potentially unstable packages. Tumbleweed would offer packages that have been declared stable and found to work properly. As to which packages should be included, K-H explained that would primarily be up to developers and maintainer of any given package. He added that this project would particularly help with major projects whose release do not coincide with openSUSE release such as GNOME 3.0, which may be released, for example, one month after an openSUSE release."
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Why is Debian "out-of-date"?
With Debian "Squeeze" marching on its way toward a final release, the Debian project has been increasingly in the spotlight and on people's minds. This in turn raises the commonly asked question: why is Debian so slow-moving and out of date?
The thing to keep in mind when talking about Debian is the amazing size and scope of the project - it's vast. Debian isn't just a kernel and some operating system tools, the project includes approximately 36,000 packages, about sixty languages and twelve architectures. And that's just their GNU/Linux branch, Debian also has a sub-project dedicated to running the GNU tools on top of the FreeBSD kernel. These points in themselves probably make Debian the world's largest Linux/FreeBSD distribution, but what makes it even more impressive is that Debian provides a consistent environment using the same applications across each of these architectures. So if you have a mobile device running Debian's GNU/Linux ARM edition it should function much the same as the i386 edition on your home desktop or the SPARC edition running on your server.
To put all this into context, the Debian developers need to patch, build and test approximately 430,000 packages. It's a lot of work, even if you just want to push something out the door. But the Debian developers don't just rush a release out to the public to meet a deadline, they want their stable repository to live up to its name. Once a freeze has been announced there is a long (generally a few months' time) process of stomping on bugs and re-building and re-testing packages. Which means, yes, the Linux kernel in Debian's stable repository will be a year old by the time "Squeeze" is released. But people who run Debian stable aren't looking for the latest and shiniest, they're looking for rock-solid and dependable. People who install "Squeeze" will be using a kernel (and application set) which has been under scrutiny for months. It implies a certain reliability which is nice to have when you're the sysadmin they call if the server goes down.
Its huge size, flexibility and stability are what makes Debian such a great parent and grandparent distribution. Without it, many of the more cutting-edge (and novice-friendly) distributions wouldn't have a foundation on which to build.
While I'm on the topic of packages and their version numbers there is something else I'd like to mention. In Linux community there is an on-going debate about release schedules and practices. Some people prefer to have rapid release cycles, about once every six months. Others want a rolling release with a steady stream of small updates, insuring they remain on the cutting edge. Of course, as I just mentioned, there are those who want a stable release with only security updates. Recently there has been talk from the Ubuntu quarter of trying to find a solution that will fit somewhere in the middle where developers will be able to stay on the cutting edge while maintaining a stable base platform -- perhaps as an extension to their current PPA system.
What I find strange about all of these Linux distributions taking so many different approaches to the stable versus current question is that the BSDs have had a good solution in place for over a decade. For example, the FreeBSD team released FreeBSD 8.0 about a year ago and the follow-up, 8.1, around six months ago. Their base system remains stable and reliable while their ports collection contains up to date end-user packages. At the time of writing the latest version of VLC (1.1.5), the latest stable release of Firefox (3.6.12) and multiple versions of OpenOffice.org (including the stable release 3.2.1 and the development version 3.4.20101122) are available in the ports collection. This means that FreeBSD users are able to enjoy the latest and greatest desktop applications while maintaining a solid base system. It's an approach largely avoided in the Linux community and I have to wonder why. Technically it's possible to perform this sort of separation between the base system and application packages on a Linux box, but it's not an approach one generally sees. Certainly the package managers aren't set up in such a way as to encourage a conservative base and a cutting-edge software repository. I'm hoping we'll see this change soon so we can stop wasting time on the rolling versus stable issue and move forward to more interesting challenges. Should Ubuntu manage to turn their PPA system into a full-scale packages collection it might lead the rest of the Linux community into a better way of handling software.
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| Released Last Week |
Vine Linux 5.2
Daisuke Suzuki has announced the release of Vine Linux 5.2, a Japanese general-purpose community distribution. This is mostly a security and errata update of the free distribution which does not contain any proprietary components, non-free applications or non-free fonts. Some of the more interesting changes include: miscellaneous package version updates (Firefox 3.5.15, Pidgin 2.7.5, Sylpheed 3.0.2, Thunderbird 3.1.6); improved video card support for various Intel, NVIDIA and ATI cards; system installer fixes, including improved detection of FAT file systems, support for SD cards and Firewire controllers, and better detection of wireless network cards; updated list of APT mirrors; the DVD edition now includes the Vine Linux manual. Read the release announcement (in Japanese) and release notes for more details about the new version of Vine Linux.
Superb Mini Server 1.5.4
Superb Mini Server (SMS) version 1.5.4, a Slackware-based mini-distribution for small servers, has been released: "Superb Mini Server version 1.5.4 released (Linux kernel 2.6.35.7). This release brings new kernel and glibc so you need to put your machine in single-user mode in order to upgrade from previous versions of SMS. New packages include gdk-pixbuf2, ca-certificates, slacktrack, libmpc, libnl, libelf and mcelog. In SMS.Native.CD-Extra added httpd_vm, a version of httpd compiled for virtualmin with --with-suexec-docroot=/home and Ruby 1.8.7 for compatibility issues with many Ruby on Rails applications. Also on SMS64 added 64-bit packages for Asterisk, util-linux-ng with full PAM support and Postfix with vda patch which already existed in SMS." The release announcement includes a changelog of updated packages.
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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 |
November 2010 DistroWatch.com donation: Mageia
We are happy to announce that the recipient of the November 2010 DistroWatch.com donation is the Mageia project, a new Linux distribution set up by former Mandriva employees and volunteer contributors. It receives €350.00 in cash.
The Mageia project was created on 18 September when the project published the following statement on the project's new web site: "As you may have heard, the future of the Mandriva Linux distribution is unclear. Most employees working on the distribution were laid off when Edge-IT was liquidated. We do not trust the plans of Mandriva SA any more and we don't think the company (or any company) is a safe host for such a project. Many things have happened in the past 12 years. Some were very nice: the Mandriva Linux community is quite large, motivated and experienced, the distribution remains one of the most popular and an award-winning product, easy to use and innovative. Some other events did have some really bad consequences that made people not so confident in the viability of their favourite distribution. People working on it just do not want to be dependent on the economic fluctuations and erratic, unexplained strategic moves of the company." The result of this uncertainty was Mageia, a fork of Mandriva Linux and a non-profit organisation which is getting closer to its first release expected early in the new year. For more information please see the Mageia Values page. For updates and the current status the project's official blog is a good place to keep an eye on.
Launched in 2004, this monthly donations programme is a DistroWatch initiative to support free and open-source software projects and operating systems with cash contributions. Readers are welcome to nominate their favourite project for future donations. Those readers who wish to contribute towards these donations, please use our advertising page to make a payment (PayPal and credit cards are accepted). Here is the list of the projects that have received a DistroWatch donation since the launch of the programme (figures in US dollars):
- 2004: GnuCash ($250), Quanta Plus ($200), PCLinuxOS ($300), The GIMP ($300), Vidalinux ($200), Fluxbox ($200), K3b ($350), Arch Linux ($300), Kile KDE LaTeX Editor ($100) and UNICEF - Tsunami Relief Operation ($340)
- 2005: Vim ($250), AbiWord ($220), BitTorrent ($300), NDISwrapper ($250), Audacity ($250), Debian GNU/Linux ($420), GNOME ($425), Enlightenment ($250), MPlayer ($400), Amarok ($300), KANOTIX ($250) and Cacti ($375)
- 2006: Gambas ($250), Krusader ($250), FreeBSD Foundation ($450), GParted ($360), Doxygen ($260), LilyPond ($250), Lua ($250), Gentoo Linux ($500), Blender ($500), Puppy Linux ($350), Inkscape ($350), Cape Linux Users Group ($130), Mandriva Linux ($405, a Powerpack competition), Digikam ($408) and Sabayon Linux ($450)
- 2007: GQview ($250), Kaffeine ($250), sidux ($350), CentOS ($400), LyX ($350), VectorLinux ($350), KTorrent ($400), FreeNAS ($350), lighttpd ($400), Damn Small Linux ($350), NimbleX ($450), MEPIS Linux ($300), Zenwalk Linux ($300)
- 2008: VLC ($350), Frugalware Linux ($340), cURL ($300), GSPCA ($400), FileZilla ($400), MythDora ($500), Linux Mint ($400), Parsix GNU/Linux ($300), Miro ($300), GoblinX ($250), Dillo ($150), LXDE ($250)
- 2009: Openbox ($250), Wolvix GNU/Linux ($200), smxi ($200), Python ($300), SliTaz GNU/Linux ($200), LiVES ($300), Osmo ($300), LMMS ($250), KompoZer ($360), OpenSSH ($350), Parted Magic ($350) and Krita ($285)
- 2010: Qimo 4 Kids ($250), Squid ($250), Libre Graphics Meeting ($300), Bacula ($250), FileZilla ($300), GCompris ($352), Xiph.org ($250), Clonezilla ($250), Debian Multimedia ($280), Geany ($300), Mageia ($470)
Since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$26,380 to various open-source software projects.
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New distributions added to database
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New distributions added to waiting list
- LibreWRT. LibreWRT is a GNU/Linux "libre" distribution for computers with minimal resources, such as the Ben NanoNote, ath9k-based WiFi routers, and other hardware that respects software freedom.
- Newtoos. Newtoos is a lightweight, Lubuntu-based distribution built by the creators of Greenie Linux. Meaning "New To Open Source", it is primarily aimed at new Linux converts who prefer a more familiar user interface and applications (VLC, OpenOffice.org, Skype etc). Newtoos also serves for testing new ideas and for deployment on older PCs.
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 13 December 2010.
Jesse Smith and Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
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LiVux
LiVux was a live CD with a collection of educational software. Based on Knoppix and created in Valencia, Spain.
Status: Discontinued
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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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0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
