 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 543, 27 January 2014 |
Welcome to this year's 4th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! There are a lot of Linux distributions out there, hundreds of them, filling just about every niche of personal and corporate computing in existence. But who makes these distributions and why? What motivates them to create? This week contributor Tomasz Niedzielski sits down with the creator of Bridge Linux, Dalton Miller, to find out how his Arch-based distribution came into existence. In this week's feature review Jesse Smith takes the latest release of the Korora distribution for a spin and reports on his findings. How does the latest version of Korora perform and how does it compare to its parent, Fedora? Read on to find out. This past week was a fun one for fans of servers and modern desktop systems alike. The Ubuntu team announced they will include GNOME 3.10 in their software repositories for their next release and the FreeBSD project celebrated the launch of FreeBSD 10.0. Be sure to check out the News section for further details. Also this week Valve gives back to Debian and Carla Schroder raises the question of which Linux distribution is the most beautiful and offers an enlightened answer. As usual, we cover the distribution releases of the past week and look ahead to exciting new launches to come. We wish you all a great week and happy reading!
Content:
- Reviews: First impressions of Korora 20
- News: FreeBSD 10.0 launches, Fedora debates DNF, Ubuntu upgrades GNOME, Valve gives Debian developers games, ZFS rescue CD, Bodhi Linux in media
- Interviews: Bridge Linux, its founder and genesis
- Released last week: FreeBSD 10.0, Tiny Core Linux 5.2, Semplice Linux 6
- Upcoming releases: Zorin OS 8, Mageia 4, OpenMandriva 2014.0 Alpha
- New distributions: Gigastrand OS, Oikyo Linux
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (22MB) and MP3 (36MB) formats
|
| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
First Impressions of Korora 20
 The Korora distribution is a Fedora-based project which tries to make the underlying Fedora operating system easier for new users to set up and operate. The Fedora distribution has a strict policy when it comes to licensing and this results in a distribution which does not support much in the way of multimedia, Flash and other proprietary (or questionably licensed) software. Korora takes the latest Fedora release, adds multimedia support and configures a number of third-party software sources (such as Google's Chrome repository, Oracle's VirtualBox repository and RPMFusion's third-party repositories). All of this hopefully results in an operating system which will "just work" for most users and provide easy-to-access software for everyone without requiring additional set up time.
The latest Korora release features some cutting edge software including GNOME 3.10 and KDE 4.11. Browsing the release notes we find Korora 20 comes with some new features too. There is a new application installer for GNOME users, a new Network Manager applet for KDE fans and a virtual machine manager which supports easy snapshots. There are three new desktop spins for this release (MATE, Cinnamon and Xfce) in addition to the existing GNOME and KDE flavours. Each edition is available in 32-bit and 64-bit x86 builds. This release features a new third-party driver manager called Pharlap which replaces Jockey. I opted to try the MATE edition of Korora, the download for which was 1.6 GB in size.
Booting from the Korora media brings up to the MATE desktop. A welcome screen appears giving us links to documentation, release notes and the system installer. Dismissing the welcome screen reveals a traditional desktop interface with icons for browsing the file system and launching the installer sitting on a neutral blue background. The interface's menus sit at the top of the screen next to a system tray and the task switcher rests at the bottom of the display. As everything appeared to be working normally I launched Korora's graphical system installer.
Korora 20 - the welcome screen with information links
(full image size: 902kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
Korora makes use of Fedora's new graphical installer. The application uses a hub-based navigation system that allows us to go through most of the configuration steps in the order of our choosing. We are asked to select our preferred language from a list, we confirm our time zone and, if we wish, we can confirm our keyboard's layout. Partitioning with the Korora system installer is a strange process. We are first asked to select which disks (or special devices) we want to use in the installation. This step struck me as unusual as highlighting a device isn't enough to insure it is used, we also need to make sure the device has a check displayed next to it. The installer asks if we wish to use LVM volumes, Btrfs volumes or traditional disk partitions.
From there we can choose to use guided/automated partitioning or manual partitioning. The partitioning screen uses an odd combination of hyperlinks and buttons and I found it was not always clear what I could/should interact with and what was merely text. I eventually went with the automated installation option and asked for Btrfs volumes to be used. The installer set up a few partitions for me, a /boot area formatted with ext4, a swap partition and separate root (/) and /home volumes formated with Btrfs. Next we are brought to a second hub screen where we can set a password on the root account and create a regular user account. From there we wait while files are copied from the live media to the local hard drive.
There are a few aspects of the installer which bothered me, apart from the unusually complex partitioning screen. One is that navigation isn't consistent. Sometimes we proceed to the next screen by clicking a button at the bottom-right of the screen, other times the button is in the upper-left. When putting in a password on our account (or the root account) a password the installer deems too weak results in the user needing to click a button to apply settings multiple times. (A warning about the password displays at the bottom of the window while the button to proceed is at the top of the display.) I also noticed that, at a couple of points, the installer appeared to hang for a few minutes while transitioning between screens. Leaving the system alone for a few minutes caused the installer to sort itself out and proceed. The process wasn't all bad. The hub style of the installer is starting to grow on me as it means the installer can work on copying files while we do other things, saving time.
Korora 20 - MATE's application menu and Firefox's extensions
(full image size: 633kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
After the install completes, launching Korora brings us to a graphical login screen. Signing in returns us to the MATE 1.6.1 desktop and the project's welcome screen appears the first time we sign in. The first time I logged in I noticed there was no active network connection. Clicking the Network Manager icon in the system tray allows us to connect to any available networks. The MATE interface I found to be fairly pleasant. There are few notifications or pop-ups (after we dismiss the welcome screen), the environment is responsive and MATE remained stable during my trial. I tried running Korora on a laptop (dual-core 2 GHz CPU, 4 GB of RAM, Intel video card, Intel wireless card) and found everything worked smoothly. My desktop was set to its maximum resolution and networking worked once it was enabled via Network Manager. I also tried running Korora in a VirtualBox virtual machine. In the virtual environment Korora was a bit sluggish, certainly usable, but there was noticeable lag when operating on the MATE desktop. The distribution used approximately 160 MB of RAM when logged into MATE, a fairly light footprint for a modern graphical interface.
Korora comes with quite a bit of software, about 5.8 GB of packages in total. We are given the Firefox web browser with support for Flash and an extension for blocking unwanted advertisements. The project ships with the Deluge bittorrent client, the Filezilla file transfer application, the Gwibber micro-blogging software and the TigerVNC remote management software. We find the Ekiga software phone in the application menu along with LibreOffice, the Claws Mail e-mail application and an e-book reader. The Graphics sub-menu is populated with Inkscape, the Shotwell photo manager, the GNU Image Manipulation Program and a document viewer. We find the Audacity audio editor installed for us along with the VLC multimedia player and the Rhythmbox music player. Korora ships with the HandBrake media converter and the OpenShot video editor.
Digging through the application menu we find a virtual keyboard, an archive manager, a virtual calculator and a text editor. Korora ships with the SELinux access management software and a policy generation tool which makes point-n-click creation of SELinux rules possible. We are given an ownCloud file synchronization client, Java and the GNU Compiler Collection. Korora comes with a full range of multimedia codecs for playing video and audio files. The distribution also ships with some great system administration tools, including a firewall configuration app, a user account manager, a system services manager and a printer configuration utility. In addition there is a handy Samba network share configuration tool. The MATE desktop comes with a full range of configuration apps for changing the look and feel of the user interface. Under the hood Korora runs on the Linux kernel, version 3.12.
Korora 20 - the distribution's system administration utilities
(full image size: 678kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
For the most part, navigating the Korora menu and the distribution's applications went well. The software generally worked for me, the applications are all nicely modern and I found the combination of the cutting-edge software with the classic MATE desktop to be a pleasant mix. I found just a few minor issues. One is that some programs in the application menu are labeled using a description of what they do, "Power Management", "Users and Groups", "Eye of MATE Image Viewer" while others are labeled only with the program's name, for example, "Pharlap", "systemadm" and "FBReader". I don't mind locating programs based on their name only, but newcomers to the Linux scene might find themselves opening programs in a trial-and-error approach.
The other thing I noticed was, shortly after installing Korora, I tried to launch the Pharlap driver manager to see if my experience could be improved by using alternative hardware drivers. Clicking the menu item labeled "Pharlap" didn't accomplish anything, no window opened and no error message was displayed. Switching to a command line and running Pharlap resulted in some error messages seemingly related to missing repository information and the Pharlap program shutting down. Going on a hunch, I used the distribution's package manager to download package repository information and applied all waiting software upgrades. Following this I found Pharlap worked. The driver manager didn't find any alternative hardware drivers for me to use, which surprised me as I had expected to find some on this equipment. Still, my experience with the operating system was generally good so I cannot fault the lack of additional driver options.
On the subject of software management, Korora ships with the YUM command line package manager and its graphical front-end, Yum Extender. Working with the command line tool was a positive experience for me. YUM works fairly quickly, shows lots of human-readable output and has an intuitive syntax. Running Yum Extender was somewhat less pleasant, which surprised me as I've generally been a fan of Yum Extender in the past. On my systems, actions such as loading Yum Extender and performing searches for software were unusually slow. Even switching between viewing installed software or available packages took a long time. I also found any attempt to access Yum Extender's transaction history would cause the graphical package manager to lock-up and I needed to terminate the application. All that being said, Yum Extender does have its perks. Like YUM itself, Yum Extender shows lots of useful information and I find the program's controls easy to navigate. During my time with Korora I had to download several hundred megabytes of software updates and I found Yum Extender handled the load easily.
Korora 20 - the settings panel and the Yum Extender package manager
(full image size: 327kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
One final observation I made while working with YUM was that I could not install the Apache web server using YUM, either via the command line utility or through Yum Extender. Any attempt to install the httpd package failed with an error indicating there was a problem with the pre-install script. All other software transactions went smoothly so I suspect there is something specifically wrong with the httpd software as it is packaged.
Conclusions
I feel as though there are places where Korora and, by extension, the underlying Fedora distribution, could be improved. The system installer is an obvious place to start as it is part of the distribution's important first impression. The new Fedora installer still comes across as unusually slow and the interface feels uncoordinated. I think this latest version was better than the previous two, but the installer could still use some polish. The Pharlap device driver utility worked for me after a while, but it would have been nice if, when it didn't work, it had displayed an error message on the desktop letting me know why it was not working. As for package management, YUM worked well for me, but Yum Extender was really slow and stopped working whenever I clicked the program's History button. I feel bad as I am one of the people who pushed for Korora to adopt Yum Extender and, now that it is here, I admit I was wrong. Yum Extender is not an ideal package management solution; I think the Korora project needs to find a better front end for software management.
Still, most of my time with Korora proved to be a pleasant experience. The distribution's MATE edition is stable, it performs fairly well and it comes with a lot of useful software out of the box. The distribution stays pretty close to the cutting edge and appears to do so without a loss of stability, at least not in the underlying operating system. Typically my biggest complaint that comes from using Fedora is it takes a while to set up the Fedora distribution as a full featured desktop system. With Korora that work is done for us and it means we can perform an installation and get straight to working or playing without pausing to set up additional repositories and adding codecs, Flash and other items. In that sense Korora is certainly a success as it takes the general purpose base of Fedora and turns it into a cutting edge desktop operating system.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith and Ladislav Bodnar) |
FreeBSD 10.0 launches, Fedora debates DNF, Ubuntu upgrades GNOME, Valve gives Debian developers games, ZFS rescue CD, Bodhi Linux in media
 Last week brought exciting news for fans of server operating systems as FreeBSD 10.0 was officially announced. The FreeBSD project is usually known for being conservative, but the 10.0 release contains several important advancements. Among the significant changes are a move from the GNU Compiler Collection to the Clang compiler and a switch from FreeBSD's make utility to NetBSD's bmake. This release drops FreeBSD's traditional binary package management utilities in favour of pkg (sometimes referred to as pkgng), adds TRIM support for solid state drives running under ZFS and adds LZ4 compression to ZFS. As a bonus, this is the first version of FreeBSD to offer support for the Raspberry Pi mini computer.
* * * * *
 One of the possible changes that await the Fedora users in the near future is a switch to a new package manager called DNF. Although the change is likely to be smooth (it looks like DNF might even be renamed to YUM, with a syntax identical to the current package manager), the technical issue behind the new utility are currently undergoing serious debates. LWN's Jake Edge summarises the issues and complaints in "DNF and Yum in Fedora": "Harald Reindl noted an announcement from DNF project lead Aleš Kozumplík that invited Fedora users to start trying out DNF in place of Yum. Reindl is concerned that various important Yum features are getting left by the wayside and that DNF will replace Yum without being ready. In another post, he likened it to the GRUB2 and systemd transitions, which were done before those components were ready, he said. In particular, Reindl believes that the kernel package should be treated specially, as it is in Yum, rather than treated like any other package, as DNF does." Read also the lively discussion that follows the article for some more insight.
* * * * *
 Back in December we mentioned that Ubuntu developers were forking the GNOME control panel in an effort to allow them to continue offering a wider range of features without being stuck on older versions of GNOME packages. This work by the Canonical team has paid off as new GNOME desktop packages can (and have) been imported into the Ubuntu repositories. The next release of Ubuntu, version 14.04, is expected to ship with GNOME 3.10 packages. This not only benefits Ubuntu users who like the GNOME desktop, it will also allow Ubuntu-based projects, such as Ubuntu GNOME, to offer upgraded versions of the GNOME interface.
* * * * *
 The Valve company has been hard at work recently developing a Linux-based platform for gaming. The new Steam gaming console is powered by a Debian-based operating system, giving Valve a great deal of flexibility and performance. In a gesture of appreciation to the Debian development community Valve is offering Debian developers free games, a lot of free games. Neil McGovern posted the following to a Debian development list: "Valve are keen to contribute back to the community, and I'm discussing a couple of ways that they may be able to do that. Immediately though, they've offered a free subscription to any Debian Developer which provides access to all past and future Valve produced games!"
Still on the subject of Debian GNU/Linux, here is something for advanced users who prefer a powerful file system, such as ZFS. Last week Debian developer John Goerzen announced the availability a Debian rescue CD with specialist tools for repairing the ZFS file system in case of trouble: "Before I build a system, I always want to make sure I can repair it. So I started with the Debian live rescue image, and added the zfsonlinux.org repository to it, along with some key packages to enable the ZFS kernel modules, GRUB support, and initramfs support. The resulting image is described, and can be downloaded from, my ZFS rescue disc wiki page, which also has a link to my source tree on github. In future blog posts in the series, I will describe the process of converting existing Debian installations to use ZFS, of getting them to boot from ZFS, some bugs I encountered along the way, and some surprising performance regressions in ZFS compared to ext4 and Btrfs."
* * * * *
 As the calendar turns from December to January it is common for people to ponder which Linux distribution best fits a particular niche. The Ubuntu family typically stands near the top of the "best of" lists for desktop systems while Red Hat dominates in server and enterprise environments. Carla Schroder adds a few extra categories to her list of favourite Linux distributions, adding the entries such as "best fighting the man distro" (an award which goes to Tails) and "most beautiful distro" (which goes to Bodhi Linux). Schroder writes: "This is an easy choice: Bodhi Linux. Bodhi Linux uses the Enlightenment window manager, which has always occupied a unique niche. The team has done a great job of taming Enlightenment and giving users a beautiful, ready-to-use implementation. Bodhi Linux is based on Ubuntu LTS and takes a minimalist approach: minimum system requirements are 300+ MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, and 2.5 GB hard drive space, and it installs with a bare minimum set of packages. Then you make it your own. Sharing artwork is a big part of the Bodhi community, with something for everyone."
The above article wasn't the only one that talked about the Ubuntu-based distribution with Enlightenment last week. Tech Republic's Jack Wallen seems equally impressed with the unusual desktop interface in "Bodhi Linux could easily become a desktop distribution contender, even though he also has a few suggestions for improvement: "When you complete the installation of Bodhi and log into the desktop, you're presented with simple wizard to set up Enlightenment. This needs to go away. Yes, it's awesome that Enlightenment can be configured more than probably any other desktop interface. I was weaned on such window managers, but for users not accustomed to such configurations, this can be an issue. And since everything about Enlightenment is drastically different than any other window manager ever used by the average person, much of this is going to be confusing at best. With that in mind, it would be smart of Bodhi to eliminate this step in the process. Instead, it needs to have a default configuration, one that both shows off the incredible power and flexibility of Enlightenment, yet makes the whole of the environment easy for new users."
|
| Interview (by Tomasz Niedzielski) |
Bridge Linux, its founder and genesis
 On the 17th of November 2013, Bridge Linux became a two-year old. This operating system is an Arch-based distro, developed by an American, Dalton Miller. Miller, who is the leader of the Bridge distro, gave a short interview in which he tells us about his history and the beginning of Bridge Linux.
* * * * *
DistroWatch: Tell something about yourself. What do you do in life for work or study?
DW: Tell us about your first computer? Did it have Linux installed? When did you start using Linux? How did it happen?
DW: When did you experience Arch Linux for the first time? Why did you choose it as a base of your distro?
DW: How did it happen that you decided to make own distro? When was its first release?
Bridge Linux 2013.06 - the default Xfce desktop
(full image size: 1,331kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
DW: Did you take any inspiration from existing distros? If so, which?
DW: Why did you name it Bridge Linux? Did you think about any other names?
DW: Did you expect that it would gain any popularity? When did you start to believe it would become popular?
DW: What are your expectations about Bridge Linux in the future?
DW: And the plans for your distro?
DW: Are you the only developer of Bridge Linux now? Do you try to get anybody to help you?
DW: Are you afraid it may die one day, if there isn't a person to continue your job?
DW: Does it take a long time to prepare a release of Bridge Linux? Which are the biggest problems in creating a release?
DW: What about the Bridge Linux community? Is it big in your opinion?
DW: Thank you very much for your time and we wish you all the best with your work on Bridge Linux.
|
| Released Last Week |
Endian Firewall 3.0
Endian has announced the immediate availability of Endian Firewall 3.0, a new "bleeding-edge" release of the Linux-based distribution designed for firewalls and routers: "Finally the Endian Firewall Community 3.0 has reached its final stage. This release includes the following changes: HTTPS filtering; SMTP proxy - domain management and SMTP delivery status notification configuration; OpenVPN - support for TUN mode, connections page for VPN users; user management and authentication - user management for OpenVPN, integrated certificate authority, external certificate authority support, user password and certificate management (two-factor authentication); logging and reporting - live network traffic monitoring (powered by ntopng), system status graphs are not lost at every reboot, images for SMTP mail statistics graphs...." See the release announcement and release notes for further information.
FreeBSD 10.0
Following a long development process, FreeBSD 10.0, the latest stable version of the popular UNIX-like operating system, has been released: "The FreeBSD Release Engineering team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE. This is the first release of the stable/10 branch. Some of the highlights: GCC is no longer installed by default on architectures where clang(1) is the default compiler; unbound has been imported to the base system as the local caching DNS resolver; BIND has been removed from the base system; make(1) has been replaced with NetBSD's bmake(1); pkg(7) is now the default package management utility; pkg_add(1), pkg_delete(1) and related tools have been removed; major enhancements in virtualization...." See the release announcement and release notes for a detailed list of changes.
Tiny Core Linux 5.2
Tiny Core Linux 5.2, the latest stable build of the distribution that prides itself to be as small and light as technically possible, has been released: "Team Tiny Core is pleased to announce the release of Core 5.2: Change log: rebuildfstab - do not replace fstab entries for a device that does not have 'Added by TC' on the line; init - increase the default inode count; ondemand - don't list extensions under subdirs in onboot maintenance; ldd - add wildcard to support both x86 and x86_64; BusyBox updated to 1.21.1 plus wget patches and split suid/nosuid for better security; ldd - added quotes for binaries with spaces in their names; /etc/services - modified to suit rpcbind rather than portmap; tc-functions - removed the getpasswd stars to allow backspace to work. Notes: rootfs64.gz available for corepure64; a new nfs-utils extension has been issued to work with Tiny Core Linux 5.2." Here is the brief release announcement.
Tiny Core Linux 5.2 - the live desktop environment
(full image size: 60kB, screen resolution 1024x768 pixels)
SolydXK 201401
Arjen Balfoort has announced the release of SolydXK 201401, the latest version of the project's set of desktop Linux distributions with a choice of Xfce (SolydX) or KDE (SolydK) desktops, both based on Debian's "testing" branch: "New ISO images include the latest update pack: KDE has been updated to version 4.12.1; LibreOffice has been updated to version 4.1.4; Firefox has been updated to version 26.0 and Thunderbird to version 24.2.0; these community packages were added to the community repository - grub-customizer, kdeconnect, plasma-mediacenter, xfce-theme-manager, xfwm4compositeeditor. The 'Business' editions will follow later." Other interesting package updates include FreeType 2.5.2, GCC 4.8.2, Linux kernel 3.11.10, NVIDIA driver 319.76, OpenSSH 6.4p1 and VLC 2.1.2. Read the brief release announcement here.
Semplice Linux 6
Eugenio Paolantonio has announced the release of Semplice Linux 6, a lightweight GNU/Linux distribution with Openbox, based on Debian's "unstable" branch: "It's our pleasure to announce the release of Semplice Linux 6, code-named 'Stairway to Heaven'. This release brings many important performance-related changes, such as systemd as the default init system, a new desktop-optimized kernel and compressed memory. Also, we have rewritten our menu builder. With this release, the central part of the system, the menu, is faster than ever. Other noteworthy changes are the support to window snapping and an easy-to-use tool to add launchers to the panel. The Semplice live system cointains: Openbox 3.5.2, Linux kernel 3.12.7; Chromium web browser 31.0.1650.63, Exaile 3.3.2 and GNOME MPlayer 1.0.8, Abiword 2.9.2 and Gnumeric 1.12.9, Pidgin Internet messenger 2.10.7...." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| DistroWatch.com News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Gigastrand OS. Gigastrand OS is a general-purpose desktop operating system which draws inspiration from Linux Mint.
- Oikyo Linux. Oikyo Linux is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution that comes with three desktop environments (Unity, KDE and GNOME) on the installation media.
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 3 February 2014. To contact the authors please send email to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, suggestions and corrections: news, donations, distribution submissions, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (feedback and suggestions: podcast edition)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 0, value: US$0.00) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
|
| 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.
|
| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Icepack Linux
Icepack linux was an independent Linux distribution built from scratch. Our objective was to offer you a user-friendly full-featured operating system, pre-configured, well structured and easy to work with, and filled with the latest stable versions of great Linux applications. You don't need a profound Linux knowledge to install and use Icepack - our install manager guides you safely through the installation process, and the desktops and menus are self-explanatory!
Status: Discontinued
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
