DistroWatch Weekly |
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 568, 21 July 2014 |
Welcome to this year's 29th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Running cutting-edge software is exciting. There is a certain thrill to testing new applications, trying new code and new kernels. Many of us distro hop looking for new features to try and new bugs to report. This week we are focused on cutting-edge distributions and new developments. We begin with a review of Antergos, an Arch-based project that tries to be simple in design while also being user-friendly. In the News section this week we discuss the Linux Mint team's debate as to whether to base their "Debian Edition" on Debian's Stable repository instead of Debian's Testing branch. Speaking of Debian, the project released its final update for the Squeeze branch last week. We also share news of Fedora's cutting-edge kernel testing repository and talk about feedback gained from OpenBSD's LibreSSL project. Plus we share a website with tutorials and resources for Linux users which offers clear, beginner friendly information. As usual we bring you the distribution releases from the past week and look ahead to exciting developments to come. We wish you all a marvellous week and happy reading!
Content:
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Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Revisiting Antergos
In June I began a review of the Antergos distribution. While it looked promising at first, I ran into trouble with the project's system installer and had to abort my review. Shortly after my (very) brief review of Antergos appeared on DistroWatch, I received an e-mail from one of the distribution's developers, Dustin Falgou. Mr Falgou explained what had gone wrong, that there was a workaround available and that a new ISO image, with a fix for the installer issue, could be downloaded:
"I am one of the core developers of Antergos Linux. I apologize for the trouble you experienced while attempting to install our latest release. A recent kernel update introduced a bug that just about crippled our installer. There was information available in our forum to workaround the issue until we could get new images built. We should have made that information more prominent, sorry about that. I hope you will consider giving Antergos another try using the latest ISO (linked below). You should not have any problems completing installation."
I very much appreciate developers who care so much about the quality of their software and the user experience. Following the link Mr Falgou provided, I downloaded the Antergos distribution a second time and soon found the problem had, in fact, been fixed. With that in mind, I would like to present (again) my experiences with the Antergos distribution.
Antergos, formally called Cinnarch, is a distribution derived from Arch Linux. In fact, Antergos claims to be compatible with the Arch Linux software repositories. The project, which carries the adorable motto "Ready to KISS", supports a range of desktop environments, all of which are available at install time from the project's software repositories. The distribution is available in 32-bit and 64-bit x86 builds and comes in just one edition. The download for Antergos is approximately 740 MB in size.
Antergos 2014.06.24 - Activities overview in GNOME Shell (full image size: 429kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Booting from the Antergos media brings up the GNOME Shell desktop environment. On the desktop we are presented with a window which enables us to launch the distribution's system installer or close the window to experiment with the live environment. Jumping straight into the distribution's graphical system installer we find that the Antergos installer looks a lot like Ubuntu's system installer, though with navigation buttons placed at the top of the window instead of the bottom. It is important to note the installer will not work if we do not have an active Internet connection as it needs to download software from the project's repositories. We are walked through selecting our preferred language, choosing our country/location and choosing our time zone from a map of the world. Next we are asked to select our keyboard's layout from a list. The following screen asks us to select our preferred desktop environment. Available desktops include Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE, MATE, Openbox and Xfce. There is also an option to skip installing any desktop environment and use a text console only.
Unfortunately users are limited to installing just one desktop environment, we cannot select multiple desktops from the installer. We are then asked which packages or services to install. Available options include LibreOffice, Bluetooth support, third-party multimedia support and enabling the Arch User Repository. Next we are given the choice of manually partitioning our hard drive or using a guided option. We can give the guided partition creation utility hints, such as asking it to create LVM volumes, use encryption or set aside a separate partition for our /home directory. The next screen asks us to create a user account and then the installer begins to copy its files to our local disk. Packages are downloaded from the project's software repositories and installed on our machine. The download can take a while depending on the speed of our Internet connection and the number of services we opted to install. Once all the required files are in place, we are prompted to reboot the computer.
Booting into Antergos brings us to a graphical login screen with a digital clock placed in the centre of the display. Clicking this clock unlocks the login screen and we can sign into our account. By default the Antergos installer selects GNOME Shell for our desktop environment and this is the desktop I decided to use during most of my trial. Antergos supplies GNOME 3.12 and I was curious to see how GNOME Shell had progressed in recent months as I believe GNOME 3.8 was the last release I spent any significant amount of time with. GNOME Shell, running atop Antergos, performed faster than previous versions I'd tried and the desktop was generally responsive. There was occasional sluggishness, usually when bringing up the list of available applications or performing searches for items. However, for the most part, GNOME Shell worked well for me.
Since I had been away from GNOME for a time, it took me awhile to get accustomed to windows disappearing without a trace when they were minimized or not being able to press ALT+Tab to bring minimized windows back to the foreground. Otherwise, I was pretty happy with the GNOME desktop. Version 3.12 of GNOME Shell looks a bit more polished than early releases of GNOME did and I was happy with the desktop's performance and general appearance. For a brief time I also experimented with running KDE on Antergos and found the desktop worked fairly well. The version of KDE which ships with Antergos has, by default, a somewhat cluttered application menu. I also found KDE shipped with visual effects enabled and these effects added a delay when switching between tasks. However, once visual effects were disabled, KDE ran smoothly and quickly.
Antergos 2014.06.24 - running the alternative KDE desktop (full image size: 264kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Antergos ships with the PacmanXG graphical package manager. This graphical utility acts as a front-end to the pacman software manager and features an unusual layout. PacmanXG begins by showing us a menu screen where we can choose to proceed to one of several other screens. Options include moving on to managing individual software packages, perform other actions relating to packages, downloading news or viewing logs. The News screen gives us access to announcements from Arch Linux, Manjaro, Antergos, Chakra and the PacmanXG project itself. The Tasks screen provides a range of functionality including upgrading all installed software packages, installing a package from a local file, clearing the package cache, finding fast mirrors, removing orphaned packages and backing up a list of installed software. The screen which lets us actually deal with individual packages displays a simple list of available software in alphabetical order.
We can use toolbar buttons or right-click on package names to install or remove highlighted items. Over on the right side of the screen we find a variety of filtering options to help us find specific items. I used PacmanXG to install a few new packages, remove unwanted items and download upgrades. Each of these tasks completed cleanly. During my trial the Antergos repositories provided over 400 MB of software upgrades and these all downloaded and applied cleanly. One feature of PacmanXG I really liked was that if the package database is locked PacmanXG will tell us about the lock and offer to bypass it. I feel this is a very welcome feature as most package managers, upon detecting a lock on their database, will refuse to proceed until the lock is manually removed (usually involving a trip to the command line). Having PacmanXG place the choice to proceed in my hands was a nice touch.
Antergos 2014.06.24 - package management with PacmanXG (full image size: 657kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
The applications Antergos provides will vary a good deal depending on which desktop environment we install and what extras we choose to add to our system at install time. When running the GNOME desktop I found the distribution shipped with a small, but useful collection of software. We are given the Chromium web browser, the Empathy messaging client and the Xnoise music player. LibreOffice is available along with the Brasero disc burner, the Cheese webcam utility and the Transmission bittorrent client. Antergos supplies a collection of small games, a control centre that allows us to change the look and feel of the desktop environment, an image viewer, text editor and virtual calculator. The GNU Compiler Collection is featured and Antergos provided the Linux kernel, version 3.15. When I experimented with alternative desktop environments I found Antergos supplied different applications built with different toolkits, but the functionality provided remained approximately the same.
I tried running Antergos in two test environments, a desktop computer and a VirtualBox virtual machine. In both cases Antergos performed well. Sound and networking functioned out of the box, my screen was set to its maximum resolution and the system was quick to boot. With the default settings I found the desktop environments worked well, sometimes offering a slight delay when bringing up the application menu or performing searches for programs, but otherwise the interface was responsive. I found Antergos, when logged into GNOME Shell, used approximately 410MB of memory. When logged into KDE the distribution used about 430MB of memory.
Antergos 2014.06.24 - GNOME settings panel (full image size: 683kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Conclusions
I am happy to have had a second chance to play with Antergos. The distribution looked interesting and I was curious to see what had happened to Cinnarch after their name change. For the most part, I was happy with what Antergos had to offer. The system installer (in the latest release) worked well for me and I like that the user is able to select a variety of add-ons and desktop environments during the initial configuration. The system worked fairly quickly and remained stable during my time with it. Antergos ships with a clean and attractive implementation of GNOME Shell. The desktop is fairly easy to navigate and worked well for me. By default there are not a lot of applications available right away which is part of the "keep it simple" principle Antergos follows, though I found lots more software in the project's repositories.
I had mixed feelings about the PacmanXG package manager. The package manager works well and has lots of features and I liked that. On the other hand, I think the PacmanXG interface might be a bit busy for novice users. My one gripe about the distribution (and this is a personal preference issue) is that the system installer requires an Internet connection as packages are downloaded at install time. This means Antergos is really suitable only for people who have reliable, high-speed connections. I have a pretty good Internet connection and, even so, performing multiple installations to test different configurations became tedious.
Generally speaking, I think Antergos is a good desktop distribution for people who have previous experience working with Linux and want flexibility. Antergos is not a distribution I would recommend for newcomers, I feel the available options and system administration tools might put off beginners. Not because these administration tools are unfriendly, but because new users may not be familiar with the options being presented. However, for Linux users who want to combine convenient features and graphical utilities with speed and flexibility, Antergos is a good option. The distribution appears to be trying its best to put control and decision making in the hands of the user while making the experience as visually appealing and friendly as possible. I feel Antergos is similar in this fashion to other Arch-descendant projects such as Chakra, but where Chakra is focused on one desktop environment and one toolkit, Antergos casts a wider, more flexible net, catering to a wider audience. If you like variety, customization and rolling-release distributions then Antergos is well suited to your needs.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a desktop HP Pavilon p6 Series with the following specifications:
- Processor: Dual-core 2.8 GHz AMD A4-3420 APU
- Storage: 500 GB Hitachi hard drive
- Memory: 6 GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111 wired network card
- Display: AMD Radeon HD 6410D video card
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Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith and Ladislav Bodnar) |
Mint considers "Debian Stable" edition, Fedora to provide bleeding-edge kernel, OpenBSD patches LibreSSL vulnerability, Debian releases final "Squeeze" update, articles on upgrading CentOS and installing Arch
The Linux Mint blog shared some news last week that many fans of the distributions have been hoping to hear. According to this post, the Mint team is considering making an adjustment to the project's "Debian" edition, switching the operating system's base from Debian's Testing branch to Debian Stable. This potential change comes on the heels of the Mint team basing their main edition on Ubuntu long-term support releases only, dropping the faster-paced release cycle which included releases based on interim Ubuntu versions: "The same strategy could be applied to LMDE by basing it on Debian Stable, essentially migrating it from a snapshot cycle to a frozen one, like in Linux Mint. The two distributions would then be more similar to each other. LMDE would gain in quality and attention to detail while requiring less maintenance. The pros and cons are being assessed at the moment."
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The Fedora distribution is well known for being a cutting-edge project, always adopting new technologies. The project is now making it easier for users to test out experimental kernels and gain exciting, new features as soon as possible. To accomplish this a new repository is being created which will feature "kernel-playground" packages, unsupported kernel builds with the latest features from the upstream Linux kernel: "Basically, this is a repo for users that want to try out some new and shiny (yet not ready for prime time) kernel features in Fedora, such as the overlayfs "union" file system, and kdbus (the in-kernel d-bus replacement). It is important to note that this new kernel-playground is an "unsupported" kernel, designed for developers of the new features they include, as well as curious users that want to test out these bleeding edge features."
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When the Heartbleed bug surfaced earlier this year the OpenBSD developers took it upon themselves to fork the vulnerable OpenSSL library and create the LibreSSL project. LibreSSL is a trimmed down, audited fork of OpenSSL. Recently a development release of LibreSSL was made public for testing and auditing. As it turned out, there were some potential problems with LibreSSL when running on Linux-based operating systems. Andrew Ayer reported two issues with LibreSSL and has said the OpenBSD developers have already patched one of the bugs.
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Last week the Debian GNU/Linux project released the tenth and final update to the Debian "Squeeze" branch. Squeeze, also known as "oldstable" has reached the end of its officially supported life cycle and the newly released media contains Squeeze along with up to date security packages: "The Debian project is pleased to announce the tenth and final update of its oldstable distribution Debian 6.0 (code name 'Squeeze'). This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the oldstable release, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories were already published separately and are referenced where available." People who wish to continue receiving security updates for Debian 'Squeeze' may be able to do so via the Debian LTS project.
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CentOS remains a highly popular distribution, particularly on servers, where it offers the stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to those who don't need or can't afford Red Hat's support packages. Now, with the recent release of CentOS 7, many administrators will be considering an upgrade. The good news is that it's possible, even on a remote server. Fedora's Roland Wolters (better known as "liquidat") explains the process: "I've already posted the procedure to Vexxhost's blog and wanted to share it here as well. But beware: don't try this on production servers! CentOS 7 was released only few weeks after Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, including the same exciting features RHEL ships. Besides the long awaited Systemd and the right now much discussed Docker this release also features the possibility to perform upgrades from version 6 to version 7 automatically without the need of the installation images. And although the upgrade still requires a reboot and thus is not a live upgrade as such, it comes in very handy for servers which can only be reached remotely."
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Arch Linux is one of those few distributions that don't come in the form of an easy-to-use live CD with a great graphical installer. Instead, its developers continue to insist on a certain level of expertise for those who want to use their product. Perhaps that's the reason why there has always been a prominence of Arch Linux installation tutorials on Linux websites and blogs. The latest one, entitled "Build a Flexible and Powerful System with Arch Linux", comes from Linux Voice's Ben Everard: "With Arch, you're on your own. In a world where technology is taking your personal responsibility and giving it to the cloud or to an Internet search filter or the device manufacturers, getting your hands dirty with an operating system can be a revelation. Not only will you learn a great deal about how Linux works and what holds the whole thing together, you'll get a system you understand from the inside-out, and one that can be instantly upgraded to all the latest packages. You may also learn something about yourself in the process. And despite its reputation, it's not that difficult."
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Tips and Tricks (by Jesse Smith) |
System monitoring and storage information
I am always on the lookout for new Linux resources, be they websites, books or videos. This week I am happy to share a website that carries a good deal of helpful tips concerning Linux distributions, coding and command line usage. The website is called BinaryTides and it features how-tos and walk-throughs for coding, setting up network services and gathering information. In particular, the website covers how-tos for CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Linux Mint, openSUSE and Ubuntu, along with some tips which are distribution-independent.
Two articles on BinaryTides in particular caught my attention. One is on dealing with file systems and hard drive partitions. It is not always easy to know how to get the unique identity of a hard drive or a device and it isn't always easy to know how to format or partition a disk. Some distributions don't exactly make this information easy to find. This first tutorial talks about managing partitions, checking available disk space and getting a list of storage devices and their identifiers.
Another article I quite enjoyed reading was the one on monitoring system processes. As a system administrator I am regularly checking CPU usage and load averages, looking for processes which are consuming too many resources. If you need to hunt down bottlenecks in performance or manage running processes, then this second article is a good read. It shares many useful tools for monitoring system processes, memory usage and network traffic.
I recommend BinaryTides for anyone who is interested in jumping into Linux, either for desktop or server use. BinaryTides does not provide courses or textbooks, but it is a good learning resource and can provide starting points for further learning.
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Released Last Week |
Zorin OS 9
Artyom Zorin has announced the release of Zorin OS 9, a new version of the Ubuntu-based user-friendly distribution designed for newcomers to Linux: "We are excited to announce the release of Zorin OS 9 Core and Ultimate. The main focus for Zorin OS 9 has been on stability and the refinement of Zorin OS' wide array of incredible features. Firstly, Zorin OS 9 includes a myriad of updated software and bug fixes to ensure that your computer runs better than ever. New applications such as the Firefox web browser and Rhythmbox music player have also been included in this release. EFI boot support has been added, making it easier to get Zorin OS on newer computers (64-bit only). In addition, we have introduced a new Blue desktop theme to the Zorin Theme Changer in complement to the Light and Dark themes. As Zorin OS 9 is based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS you can expect to receive continuous software updates until 2019." Read the full release announcement which includes a screenshot of the Zorin desktop.
Zorin OS 9 - a long-term support release (full image size: 1,318kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
FreeBSD 9.3
FreeBSD 9.3, the latest update to the project's legacy branch, has been released: "The FreeBSD Release Engineering team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 9.3-RELEASE. This is the fourth release of the stable/9 branch, which improves on the stability of FreeBSD 9.2-RELEASE and introduces some new features. Some of the highlights: the zfs(8) filesystem has been updated to support the bookmarks feature; the uname(1) utility has been updated to include the -U and -K flags, which print the FreeBSD_version for the running userland and kernel, respectively; the fetch(3) library has been updated to support SNI, allowing to use virtual hosts on HTTPS; several updates to gcc(1) have been imported from Google." See the release announcement and release notes for further information.
CRUX 3.1
Fredrik Rinnestam has announced the release of CRUX 3.1, a lightweight, x86-64 optimised Linux distribution designed for experienced Linux users: "The CRUX team is happy to announce the release of CRUX 3.1 for the x86_64 architecture. CRUX 3.1 comes with a multilib toolchain which includes glibc 2.19.0, GCC 4.8.3 and Binutils 2.24, Linux kernel 3.12.24. CRUX 3.1 ships with X.Org 7.7 and X.Org Server 1.15.1. Important libraries have been updated to new major versions which are not ABI compatible with the old versions: libpng has been updated to version 1.6; libjpeg has been replaced by libjepeg-turbo; libmng has been updated to version 2.0. We strongly advise against manually updating to CRUX 3.1 via ports, since these changes will temporarily break the system. Important notes: udev has been replaced by eudev; the upgraded eudev will rename your Ethernet devices like udev...." See the full release notes for more information.
UHU-Linux 3
UHU-Linux 3, an independently developed Hungarian Linux distribution designed for the domestic market and featuring the GNOME 3.12 desktop with GNOME Shell, has been released. It comes nearly four years after the project's last stable release, version 2.2. The distribution's home page (in Hungarian) announced the new release yesterday, providing some basic information about UHU-Linux 3. What's new? The SysVInit init system has been replaced by systemd; includes the latest NetworkManager 0.9.10 for network management; includes the latest versions of Firefox (with Flash and Java plugins) and Thunderbird (Chromium is available in repositories); the release comes as a live DVD image with an option to transfer it to a USB storage device. The main components: Linux kernel 3.15.5, GCC 4.8.3, glibc 2.19, GNOME 3.12 (KDE 4.13 and Xfce 4.10 are available in repositories), LibreOffice 4.3, GStreamer 1.2.4.
UHU-Linux 3 - the project's first release in nearly four years (full image size: 727kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Robolinux 7.5.5
John Martinson has announced the release of Robolinux 7.5.5, the latest update of the Debian-based distribution that comes with a pre-configured VirtualBox for running Windows as a "guest" operating system: "Robolinux version 7.5.5 adds more privacy and safety for its users on the web. A large number of Robolinux users are extremely concerned about privacy so Robolinux has partnered exclusively with Spider Oak Cloud which is the only fully encrypted cloud service available with 'zero knowledge' privacy. Not even governments can access your uploaded data. Even with physical access to the storage servers, the SpiderOak staff cannot see even the names of your files and folders. Since they never store your password on their servers that means your data is always private. So please do not lose your password." Visit the project's SourceForge page to read the full release announcement and to learn about all the new features.
GParted Live 0.19.1-1
Curtis Gedak has announced the release of GParted Live 0.19.1-1, the latest stable release of the Debian-based live CD with specialist utilities designed for disk management and data rescue tasks: "The GParted team is proud to announce a new stable release of GParted Live. This live image contains GParted 0.19.1 which includes a critical bug fix to prevent GParted from crashing and potentially losing data. Items of note include: based on the Debian's 'sid' repository as of 2014-07-16; updated Linux kernel to 3.14.12; updated syslinux to 6.03-pre18; includes GParted 0.19.1 which includes a bug fix to prevent a crash caused by a cross thread race condition. This release of GParted Live has been successfully tested on VirtualBox, VMware, BIOS, UEFI, and physical computers with AMD/ATI, NVIDIA and Intel graphics." Here is the brief release announcement.
UberStudent 4.0
Stephen Ewen has announced the release of UberStudent 4.0, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution that includes specialist software for learning and teaching: "I'm pleased to announce the release of UberStudent 4.0 (LTS) 'Socrates' Xfce edition. UberStudent is a Linux distribution for learning, doing and teaching academic success at the higher education and advanced secondary levels. Much more than just an operating system, UberStudent aims to be a complete, ready-to-go out-of-the-box learning platform for education that facilitates not only immediate user-friendly productivity but cross-platform computer fluency among its users. System: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS base; Linux 3.13 kernel; Xfce 4.10; 32-bit and 64-bit ISO images for trying and installing; 32-bit and 64-bit OVA images for trying and running in VirtualBox." Read the release announcement and the more detailed release notes for further information.
UberStudent 4.0 - a distribution that helps you with learning (full image size: 435kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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DistroWatch.com News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
New site feature: Introducing complete package listing
As our regular visitors of DistroWatch will know, the individual distribution pages contain just a brief list of components - mostly base packages and some popular ones that are often requested by the readers. We sometimes receive requests for adding more packages to the tables. This is clearly not practical as maintaining very long tables with package versions would be an arduous and time-consuming task.
But I thought that perhaps there was another way of satisfying the demand. As I have kept the package lists of most distribution releases since the beginning of DistroWatch, I could simply add a feature that would give full software listing for those readers who would like to check the availability and version number of some less common packages. This feature is now part of the distribution pages - just scroll down to the "Full Package List" row in the tables, then click on the corresponding version number to generate a page with full package listing for that version. Then do a quick Ctrl+F (or backslash, if your browser supports it) to search for a package name you'd like to find. Please beware that some of the pages generated in this way will be very very long - for example Debian's "unstable" repository now contains nearly 50,000 binary packages!
There might still be rough edges - some package lists have gone missing or have been misnamed, so they won't be linked in the tables. I am still working to iron out the quirks, but most of the lists are now available for viewing, including many historical data. You can even see a package list of Slackware Linux 2.0.1 released in September 1994! It came with Linux kernel 1.1.19, XFree86 2.1, Bash 1.13.5, GCC 2.4.5, Perl 4.036 and, of course, SlingShot 2.0.
If you spot any errors or problems, please let me know (see contact email at the very bottom of this page). Ditto for further suggestions.
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New distributions added to the waiting list
- Huayra GNU/Linux. Huayra is a Debian-based distribution designed for use in Argentina's education system.
- Aghanux. Aghanux is a command-line-only Linux distribution based on Debian "Wheezy".
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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, 28 July 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)
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Archives |
• Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
• Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
• Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
• Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
• Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
• Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
• Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20 |
• Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
• Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
• 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 |
• Full list of all issues |
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Random Distribution |
FoX Desktop
FoX Linux was a single-CD desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Fedora Core, with KDE as its preferred desktop, main components recompiled for the i686 architecture and out-of-the-box support for popular multimedia formats.
Status: Discontinued
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Star Labs |
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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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