 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 421, 5 September 2011 |
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Welcome to this year's 36th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! You might be forgiven if you think of Plop as something other than a Linux distribution. But this independently-developed project has been around for more than two years - first as a utility live CD with some useful tools for data recovery and backup, and recently also as a more user-friendly graphical desktop with GNOME. Jesse Smith takes the project's latest release for a spin and reports his findings. In the news section, Red Hat involves customers and partners in the decision-making process prior to the development of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, openSUSE and other distributions drop Sun/Oracle Java packages after Oracle's licence change, Mageia sets up security updates, package fixes and backports, and Syllable's lead developer Kaj de Vos explains the rationale of developing the non-Linux Syllable Desktop and the Linux-based Syllable Server. Finally, we have a pleasure to announce that the recipient of the August 2011 DistroWatch.com donation is the OpenShot video editor project. Happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (21MB) and MP3 (25MB) formats
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
A distro that goes Plop
 I usually keep a few live discs around in case I need to do data recovery, help someone hunt down a driver for their proprietary operating system or perform a password reset. Quite often any of the mainstream distributions will do for this sort of thing. A Fedora live CD is typically just as effective as an Ubuntu or KNOPPIX disc for those sorts of things. Though sometimes, when dealing with older equipment, it's nice to have access to a super light live disc. Previously I've mentioned SliTaz GNU/Linux and Finnix as possibilities for working on low-end hardware. So here's a question: On the one side we have large general purpose distributions and on the other we have small, more guru-oriented distributions. Where is the middle ground? What if I want to do data recovery or password resets and don't have an Internet connection for downloading the required software? What if I want the benefits of both a lightweight system and a nice GUI? Well, that's where the flexibility and diversity of Linux really shines because there is a distro for just those cases, it's called Plop Linux.
According to the project's website, Plop Linux is designed to be a rescue disc, a backup/restore tool, a platform for running anti-virus, a network scanner and a tool to reset Windows passwords. The latest stable release, 4.1.2, comes with two desktop environments, Fluxbox and GNOME 2.
Booting off the 643 MB ISO brings up a boot menu which allows us to load Plop normally, load Plop into memory for faster performance (and to free up the CD drive), boot from other drives or install a boot manager. By default Plop boots quickly into a text prompt and automatically logs us in as the root user. We're given instructions on how to launch a desktop environment and how to choose between GNOME and Fluxbox. Simply launching a graphical environment defaults to the GNOME 2.30 desktop.
Plop Linux 4.1.2 - getting help and tips
(full image size: 157kB, screen resolution 1024x768 pixels)
I spent most of my time with Plop running in GNOME, so let's take a quick look at that environment. As is common in other distributions, the GNOME menus are placed at the top of the screen and the task switcher sits at the bottom. There are a handful of icons on the desktop for launching a terminal window, Firefox and GParted. There are also icons for browsing the file system and opening the project's website. The background is a dark grid pattern which brings to mind classic 8-bit video games.
In case you're interested in installing Plop Linux, the distro does come with an installer.... technically. There is a simple text-based program that asks the user a few questions, such as which device should Plop install to, do we need to format the destination partition and should Plop use DHCP for networking? Then the installer says its copying files over to the local drive (though no progress is shown) and about ten minutes later the installer announces it's finished. In my case rebooting and trying to launch a local install of Plop didn't work. Your mileage may vary, but I think it's best to consider Plop to be a rescue & utility CD only, not a day-to-day operating system.
Plop Linux 4.1.2 - the project's website
(full image size: 85kB, screen resolution 1024x768 pixels)
Looking at the application menu we find a mix of software, some of it aimed at trouble shooting and other packages are typical desktop software. Firefox 5 is included, there's a network scanner and secure shell & VNC browsers. There's a hex editor, the Cheese webcam utility and a disc burner. A multimedia player is included, along with a sound recorder. GParted is available, as is htop, a system monitor and a collection of network tools (featuring traceroute, port scanning, pinging and netstat). The usual array of GNOME apps is available for changing the look and feel of the system and there are little apps for editing text and managing archives. There are accessibility applications too, including the Orca screen reader and an on-screen keyboard.
The real power of Plop lies on the command line where we find a strong collection of programs for aiding in system recovery. There is a copy of the ext3grep file recovery tool. Also for file recovery, we're provided with the versatile photorec program and its companion app, TestDisk. There are file system check (fsck) programs. There's even a Btrfs file system checker, though I found trying to run it would cause the program to immediately crash. The chntpw app is included for resetting Windows passwords. Also available are the lynx text-based web browser, the Midnight Commander text-based file manager. For network scanning there's a copy of Nmap. In case you want to get rid of files rather than restore them, a copy of wipe is included. The rsync command is available for making backups. Though the GNU Compiler Collection isn't available, people who need to make their own tools can do so with awk and Perl. The mutt e-mail client is included, as is the nano text editor. For people working remotely the full range of secure shell, secure FTP and secure copy commands are installed, as is the screen command for people needing to take breaks while working remotely. Really, there's just about everything here you could want for responding to those panicked "I think I just lost everything!" calls. A copy of WINE is included in case the user needs to run Windows software and PartImage is available for backing up and restoring partitions.
The distro includes codecs for playing common multimedia formats, including mp3 and some types of videos. Despite these codecs I wasn't able to get any sound from the speakers. Any attempt to turn up the volume control resulted in errors. So the copy of MPlayer lost some of its usefulness on my systems. Plop doesn't have Flash, nor Java. It does come with a modern Linux kernel, version 3.0.1, and several network services. Enabled out of the box are a secure shell server, FTP server and Samba. Remote users are able to login anonymously to Plop via FTP and send/receive files. The FTP account is limited to using the space under the /home directory which is, by default, empty. These settings keep the lines of communication open without posing a large risk to system files. During my trial I found there aren't any man(ual) pages and there doesn't appear to be any package manager. This makes Plop Linux a what you see is what you get distribution.
I ran Plop Linux on two machine, my HP laptop (dual-core 2 GHz CPU, 3 GB of RAM, Intel video card) and a desktop box (2.5 GHz CPU, 2 GB of RAM, NVIDIA video card). Plop ran fairly well on both machines. Boot times were short, both the Fluxbox and GNOME desktops were responsive and my screens were set to reasonable resolutions. There were a few problems. Sound didn't work on either machine. It's not a big deal for a rescue disc, but it was unfortunate the CD includes a multimedia player and no sound support. My laptop's wireless card wasn't picked up, again not a big deal in most cases, but slightly inconvenient.
Plop Linux 4.1.2 - checking network ports
(full image size: 163kB, screen resolution 1024x768 pixels)
For the most part my experiences with Plop were good. The backup/restore tools, rescue programs and network applications all worked as expected. Plop fills an important niche in that it's both lightweight, but also includes lots of rescue software. Most live CDs are geared toward showing off a distribution and testing hardware compatibility and it's nice to have a distribution that's small, focused and easy to use. Further, I liked that Plop didn't try to automatically mount local hard drives, taking a safe "hands off" approach. I did have a few complaints. For instance the website and help documentation mention being able to use the anti-virus software suites AVG, F-prot and Avast. Trying to run the setup programs for each of these applications gave me errors and no anti-virus.
>
The system installer didn't work for me and Plop probably doesn't need an installer anyway since it's a rescue disc. Most importantly, I think Plop should include the man pages for its software, or at least for key items like Nmap, ext3grep, PartImage and PhotoRec. These aren't the sort of programs a person wants to use by trial and error. Even with these problems, Plop is one of the best rescue utilities I've used. It's flexible, it's got the important software a person needs without relying on repositories, it gives the user the option of running in a bare bones text environment or in a GUI and it typically offers one application per task, avoiding the clutter of some other rescue discs. If you haven't already, I recommend adding Plop to your collection; you never know when it will come in handy.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
Red Hat asks for customer input before RHEL 7, openSUSE and others bin non-free Java, Mageia sets up security updates, Syllable for desktops and servers
 Over the years Red Hat, Inc. has established itself as a leading enterprise Linux vendor. Perhaps one of the reasons behind this success is the company's customer oriented approach - it was once rated as the number one enterprise software vendor in terms of customer value. Extending this recognition, the world's largest Linux company and the maker of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has now launched an interesting initiative - expanded customer involvement in the development of RHEL 7: "Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today invites Red Hat Enterprise Linux users to help discuss features for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the next major planned release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux enterprise operating system. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Ideas discussion group on the Red Hat Customer Portal is now open to all Red Hat subscribers to share use cases and discuss features. 'Having a formal process that allows customers to influence new features and overall product direction can be beneficial for vendors and customers alike,' said Elaina Stergiades, research manager, Software Support Services, at IDC.'"
* * * * *
 The arrival of openSUSE 12.1, the next major version of the popular Linux distribution, is scheduled for just over two months from now (10 November). This can only mean the upcoming months will be characterised by accelerated development, intensive testing, urgent bug-fixing and all the usual pre-release activities. Andreas Jaeger reports about the current status of "Factory", the openSUSE development branch, including a note about the removal of the Sun/Oracle Java packages which are no longer distributable due to a recent change of licence by Oracle: "Up to now, openSUSE users had the choice of using OpenJDK (GPL with classpath exceptions) or Sun/Oracle's Java. The Sun/Oracle Java was licensed under the 'Distributor's License for Java (DLJ)', which allowed Linux distributors to package and redistribute Sun/Oracle Java. Recently, Oracle announced that OpenJDK 7 is the new official reference implementation for Java SE7. They no longer see the need for the DLJ-licensed Java implementation and so have retired that license. openSUSE chooses to proceed with distributing the GPL-licensed official reference implementation, OpenJDK. We will no longer distribute newer versions or updates of the now proprietary Sun/Oracle JDK." Similar notices have been recently published by Debian GNU/Linux (see sun-java6 packages removed soon from Debian/Ubuntu) and Arch Linux (see Removal of jre/jdk and jre6/jdk6).
* * * * *
 Mageia is still a comparatively new distribution, at least in terms of its development and support infrastructure which had to be set up from scratch after the project was established last year. Now, with the first stable release out of the way, the developers finally have the time to focus on other important issues, such as security updates, post-release bug fixing, backports, and other relevant tasks. Stew Benedict reports: "If you've been using Mageia 1, you may have been wondering where all the updates are. It's customary to get quite a few updated packages in the first month or so of a new distribution to correct bugs and address security issues. Don't worry, we've been working on that too. As a new organization, and a community-driven one, we first had to work out how to do the updates. While some of us have experience from previous lives, we weren't entirely satisfied with the old process and wanted to make sure our new community of users and packagers had an input into how we'll do things. So, after discussion and some work behind the scenes for the mechanics of issuing an update, we have now have a process where the security team, the QA team, and the packager maintainer will all work together to build, test, and issue new updates."
* * * * *
 Many readers following this website are probably familiar with some of the alternative free operating systems available on the Internet. One of them is Syllable Desktop, a free and open-source system forked in 2002 from AtheOS. But perhaps some readers are unaware that the Syllable project also provides a Linux-based distribution called Syllable Server. Syllable lead developer Kaj de Vos explains the differences and the rationale in an interview with Australia's TechWorld: "There are currently two flavours of Syllable. The original version is Syllable Desktop, an end-user OS intended to offer 'best practices in desktop system design'. 'It is meant to improve on mainstream user-oriented systems, that we feel are failing to meet these goals,' de Vos says. There is also Syllable Server; however, unlike the desktop version it is a Linux-based system. 'Part of the reason for the creation of the desktop system is our criticisms of user-oriented Linux systems, but Linux server systems are often superior to others.' Despite this difference between the two versions, there is some synergy: 'We routinely develop a component first on Syllable Server, because third-party projects already make sure it works on Linux. When that integration work is done, we can continue by making it work on Syllable Desktop, which is often a greater challenge due to its unique characteristics.'"
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
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Building live CDs and compiling source code
Live-and-on-the-CD asks: Is there a reason that some distros do not publish live CDs? If so, is it technical, in that their configuration simply won't allow it; or is it administrative, in that they simply do not have the volunteer developers to do it?
DistroWatch answers: Usually projects not providing live CDs is a matter of resources. It's not difficult, technically, to take a distribution and put it on a live disc, but it takes time and effort. Some projects just don't have enough volunteers to put out additional editions. With other projects, having a disc with a full desktop environment on it may just be outside of their goals. Slackware Linux and OpenBSD come to mind as projects which have the resources to create a live disc with a graphical environment, but it may not be something they think will benefit their users.
* * * * *
On a different topic, I'd like to bring up something that's been bothering me the past few weeks. I've been working on a project recently that has required me to download and install several other projects from their source code. With one exception, each of these installs has been a frustrating disaster. The configure and build systems have been flaky, the documentation typically doesn't include a complete list of dependencies and one project doesn't include any build & install instructions. Another developer and I have spent hours patching and recompiling just to get the software installed. Why has this been such a trial? I think the answer is that developers don't move around enough.
Almost all of the errors we've been working to correct appear to have sprung from the same issue, the developer(s) wrote their software to work on one platform. One was written for Ubuntu and assumed certain packages and structures were in place, another assumed a specific compiler, yet another relied on other software programs being in place. All easy assumptions to make, especially if the developer isn't testing their software on different platforms.
At this point in time there really isn't an excuse for not occasionally testing software on different distributions or even different operating systems. Virtual machines are easy to configure and most distributions are available free of charge. And testing on other platforms isn't just good for users and other developers, it can also uncover bugs in the software making it more resilient. I've noticed since I started testing my own projects in a FreeBSD virtual environment I've managed to make my software more flexible and I'm catching more issues before the software reaches end-users.
Which is why when I read about developers like Lennart Poettering say, "I don't think BSD is really too relevant any more, and I think that this implied requirement for compatibility with those systems when somebody hacks software for the free desktop or ecosystem is a burden, and holds us back for little benefit," it makes me cringe. Writing software to standards and making sure it runs on multiple systems is a good way to keep the code in a correct, healthy and (relatively) bugless state. It also opens up development to people on other distros and platforms. Open source projects are more attractive when the developers don't fall back on the "it works for me" attitude.
But it's more than that, more than the questionable benefit of more eyes on the code and happy developers. There's also a principle at stake in this issue. For years Linux users (and users of other open source operating systems) have been driving the idea that it shouldn't matter what web browser a person uses, web sites should be coded to standards. Likewise, it shouldn't matter what operating system a person runs, networks should use standard protocols so the OS is irrelevant. And open source users around the world have said it shouldn't matter what document viewer they utilize, governments should release papers in open formats. Now that some projects and distributions are gaining traction we're seeing posts like this and this and this. I think developers are losing sight of the open standards and "one for all" attitude which helped get us this far. We're seeing more software being written specifically for Ubuntu, Fedora and Mandriva and less being created for GNU/Linux. We are being divided and conquered by our own community.
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| Released Last Week |
ALT Linux 6.0.0
ALT Linux 6.0.0, an independently-developed Russian Linux distribution, has been released. The new version comes in two editions - "Simply Linux", which is an installable live medium featuring the Xfce 4.8 desktop environment, and KDesktop, which is a live and installation DVD image centred around the KDE 4.6.5 desktop. Both editions are built on top of the Linux kernel 3.0.3 and include X.Org Server 1.10.3 and LibreOffice 3.4.2. Other features of this release include hybrid ISO image that can be used either as a DVD image or transferred to a bootable USB drive, GRUB 2 as the default bootloader, simplified installation of third-party applications, and seamless integration with the Dropbox cloud storage system. Read the full press release (in Russian) for more information.
ALT Linux 6.0.0 - a major new release from Russia's leading distributions
(full image size: 699kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
BackBox Linux 2
Raffaele Forte has announced the release of BackBox Linux 2, an Ubuntu-based distribution developed to perform penetration tests and security assessments, and containing some of the best and most widely-used ethical hacking tools: "The BackBox team is proud to announce the release of BackBox Linux 2. BackBox 2 features the following upstream components: Ubuntu 11.04, Linux kernel 2.6.38 and Xfce 4.8.0. What's new: system upgrade, performance boost, new look and feel, improved start menu, Bug fixes, hacking tools new or updated. Three new section: vulnerability assessment, forensic analysis and VoIP analysis. System requirements: 32-bit or 64-bit processor, 256 MB of system memory (RAM), 2 GB of disk space for installation, graphics card capable of 800x600 resolution, DVD-ROM drive or USB port." For more details please see the full release announcement.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
- LFS 7.0-rc1, the release announcement
- FreeNAS 8.0.1-rc1, the release announcement
- Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Mythbuntu 11.10-beta1, the release announcement
- openSUSE 12.1-milestone5, the release announcement
- Puppy Linux 5.1.4.1 (Wary)
- Alpine Linux 2.2.3
- Tiny Core Linux 3.8.4
- Scientific Linux 5.7-rc1
- Clonezilla Live 1.2.10-9
- Zorin OS 5.1
- AriOS 3.0.1
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
August 2011 DistroWatch.com donation: OpenShot
We are happy to announce that the recipient of the August 2011 DistroWatch.com donation is OpenShot, an open-source video editor for Linux, built with Python, GTK+, and the MLT framework.
Developed by Jonathan Thomas and licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), OpenShot was started in August 2008 with the objective to provide a stable, free, and easy-to-use video editor. The list of features and supported video formats is rather long so if you are interested take a look at the project's features page. Some descriptive screenshots can be seen here, while a large number of excellent videos illustrating the application's power and capabilities are available here.
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), gtkpod ($300)
- 2011: CGSecurity ($300), OpenShot ($300), Imagination ($250), Calibre ($300), RIPLinuX ($300), Midori ($310), vsftpd ($300), OpenShot ($350)
Since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$29,040 to various open-source software projects.
* * * * *
New distributions added to database
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- Estobuntu. Estobuntu is an Estonian Ubuntu-based desktop distribution. The project's website is in Estonian.
- EveryDesk. EveryDesk is an Ubuntu-based desktop distribution that is designed to run from a 4 GB USB storage device. As a special feature, EveryDesk allows the execution of native Windows applications (through the integrated VDI layer).
- Likinux. Likinux is a Greek Ubuntu-based desktop distribution. The project's website is in Greek.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 12 September 2011.
Jesse Smith and Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Full list of all issues |
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ESUN Linux
ESUN Linux was an Ubuntu-based distribution containing free software for enterprise management. Developed at the University of Tarapaca in Chile, the project's goal was to deliver a new alternative to students, teachers and the community at large. The distribution includes software for enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), project management, accounting, electronic commerce, human resources, office and database.
Status: Discontinued
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Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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