DistroWatch Weekly |
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 570, 4 August 2014 |
Welcome to this year's 31st issue of DistroWatch Weekly! It can be difficult to keep up with our rapidly changing technology. With so many new developments coming out each month coders, system administrators and end users all benefit from friendly tools, documentation and automation. In this issue of DistroWatch Weekly we explore some of the cutting edge development work currently happening in the open source community as well as some of the tools, distributions and resources which make using Linux distributions easier. We begin with a look at Neptune, a Debian-based desktop distribution that strives to be user friendly. Plus, in our Questions and Answers column this week, we explore distributions and resources for system administrators new to Linux. In the News section this week we focus on new technologies and cutting edge development. First we talk about the Kubuntu distribution introducing KDE Plasma 5 and we discuss some of Debian's plans for the project's next big release. We also talk about openSUSE's new rolling release branch, FreeBSD's progress toward supporting Secure Boot and welcome the seL4 microkernel to the open source community. As usual, we discuss distribution releases from the past week and look ahead to new arrivals on the horizon. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (26MB) and MP3 (31MB) formats
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Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
First impressions of Neptune 4
The Neptune distribution, formerly called ZevenOS "Neptune" edition, is a Debian-based Linux operating system with the goal of being easy to use. As the project's website states: "Neptune is a ZevenOS distro based fully upon Debian Wheezy, except for a newer kernel and some drivers. It's basically a modern version of ZevenOS shipping with a modern KDE 4 desktop and turning its main point on a system which is flexible and very useful on USB sticks. Neptune tries to get the BeOS message to a next generation of users."
The latest version of Neptune features the KDE 4.13 desktop, the systemd init software and uses the advanced Btr file system by default. The new Neptune release also features improved device driver management and support for a wider range of video cards. Neptune 4 is available in a single edition and is available as a 64-bit x86 build only. The download image for this lone edition is 1.8GB in size. Booting from Neptune's media we are greeted with a menu which asks us to select our preferred language from a list. The live media then brings us to a KDE desktop. Icons on the desktop provide us with links to documentation (in English and German), another icon launches the system installer and another opens the Dolphin file manager. The documentation provided explains, in brief, the steps Neptune's system installer will go through.

Neptune 4 - running the live desktop from removable media (full image size: 649kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Neptune's graphical installer begins by asking us to create a password for the system's root account and then asks us to create a regular user account for ourselves. Next we are asked where the installer should place Neptune on our hard drive. If no suitable location is available we can click a button to launch the GParted partition editor. When we close GParted we are returned to the system installer where we are asked if we would like to use the Btrfs or ext4 file system for our primary partition. We then have the option of placing our personal data on a separate /home partition or keeping all data on the primary partition. The final screen of the installer shows us a list of steps the installer will take and we can look over and confirm these settings. Files are then copied to our hard drive and, a short time later, Neptune's installer asks us to reboot the computer.
Neptune boots to a graphical login screen with a plain grey background. Signing in brings us back to the KDE 4.13 desktop which is presented to us in a classic layout. The application menu, task switcher and system tray sit at the bottom of the screen. There are icons on the desktop for accessing the file system, launching the distribution's package manager and pointing our web browser to the project's support forum. The desktop was fairly quick to respond and I found the enabled visual effects added some nice eye candy without being overly distracting. Neptune's default application menu is, in my opinion, cluttered and its animations did more to hinder my navigation than help it. Eventually, I replaced the default application menu with KDE's classic menu.

Neptune 4 - desktop settings (full image size: 295kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Neptune ships with two graphical package managers, Apper and Muon. Both package managers display simple lists of alphabetically-sorted software when we browse categories of packages. Both Apper and Muon can handle installing, upgrading and removing packages and perform their tasks quickly. Both package managers performed their actions in batches, locking the interface while they worked and both package managers worked well for me. I feel Apper might be slightly more beginner friendly with its nice, colourful icons to aid in navigation. On the other hand, I believe Muon supports more filters, giving a slightly more fine-grained level of control.
The only complaint I had with either of these package managers was that Apper would sometimes stall and report it was waiting for background tasks to finish before it would proceed. This happened a few times early on in the week, but in the following days Apper worked without any delay. The Neptune distribution pulls software from a few locations. Most packages appear to come from Debian's Wheezy (Stable) repository, while a few others come from Neptune's custom software repository. During my time with Neptune the project offered up 86 software updates totalling about 74MB in size. These updates all downloaded and were applied to my system without any problems.

Neptune 4 - downloading software updates with Apper (full image size: 282kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
The distribution ships with a large collection of desktop applications. Digging through the application menu we find the Chromium web browser and accompanying Flash plugin. Neptune comes with the Icedove (Thunderbird) e-mail client, the KGet download manager, a remote desktop client, the KTorrent bittorrent software and the Wireshark network monitoring tool. The distribution supplies Network Manager to help us get on-line and the KPPP dial-up networking software. The application menu further contains the LibreOffice productivity suite, the Okular document viewer and the ReText document editor. The GNU Image Manipulation Program is included for us along with the KolourPaint drawing program and the Gwenview image viewer. In the Multimedia category we find the Amarok music player, a desktop video recorder, the Ardour audio editor, the k3b disc burning software and the VLC multimedia player. Neptune ships with popular media codecs allowing us to play most formats out of the box. The distribution supplies an application called Encode which enables us to convert media files from one format to another.
The Games category was surprising as there is not much there, but the Hedgewars 2-D shooter is included. Neptune further ships with several administration utilities including a user account manager, the Back In Time backup application and the TrueCrypt volume encryption software. Neptune also supplies the ZevenOS Hardware Manager to assist us in finding and installing third-party hardware drivers. The application menu contains an archive manager, text editor, virtual calculator, screen magnifier and virtual keyboard. Behind the scenes we find Java is installed for us, as is the GNU Compiler Collection. Neptune 4 runs on the Linux kernel, version 3.13.
As I was trying out the many applications Neptune provides I noticed a few things. One is that, despite choosing English as my preferred language, I found a folder in my home directory which contained German (and only German) documentation for the distribution. Another, more welcome, feature I noticed was that when we open a virtual terminal the system offers to give us a command line tutorial. The interactive tutorial covers some command line basics such as navigating through directories, copying files and listing the contents of directories.
One of the few problems I ran into while using Neptune came when I tried to use TrueCrypt. Using the encryption program I tried to create a couple of protected volumes, one formatted with the ext2 file system and the other with the FAT file system. TrueCrypt was unable to create the encrypted ext2 volume, reporting errors saying it could not use a loop device. The application was able to create the encrypted FAT volume, but was unable to mount the new volume, again reporting it was unable to set up a loop device. While the error appears to be an issue with permissions this seems odd since TrueCrypt prompts for the system's root password prior to the loop device error appearing.

Neptune 4 - searching for drivers with the Hardware Manager (full image size: 413kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
I tried running Neptune on a desktop computer and in a VirtualBox virtual machine. In both instances, the distribution ran smoothly. All my physical computer's hardware was detected and properly utilized. Neptune offered a stable, responsive environment in which to work. I found Neptune took a little longer to boot than other Linux distributions I've tried recently, but not by a significant amount of time, probably about an extra thirty seconds on average. Memory usage varied a bit during my trial with Neptune. With desktop effects and file indexing enabled I found the distribution required approximately 500MB of memory while sitting at the KDE desktop. With these features disabled and the application menu switched to the classic layout Neptune used around 330MB of memory upon login.
Conclusions
My general feelings about Neptune, having used the distribution for a week, are that it does not stand out as having any particularly unique or intriguing features, but neither does Neptune appear to contain any serious flaws. While using the distribution I found that the installer, the default desktop environment, almost all the applications and package managers worked as expected. Neptune worked well with my hardware and generally provided a (pleasantly) boring experience. The default grey background is quite appropriate for Neptune as it reflected the calm experience the distribution provided. This is what I typically like in a desktop distribution: lots of useful software and uneventful operations. Aside from having trouble with TrueCrypt, my only complaint is a matter of personal preference. Specifically, I didn't like the default application menu, however this was easy enough to change.
Neptune's website mentions trying to get the "BeOS message" to new users and I found this odd. Nothing about the distribution really struck me as being similar to BeOS (or the more modern Haiku operating system). Neptune looks and acts very much like other Debian-based desktop-oriented Linux distributions. The one feature Neptune really seems to be pushing is multimedia support. The multimedia codecs, the media converter and audio editing tools all suggest a focus on enjoying and working with audio files.
All in all, Neptune offered me a pretty good experience. It was welcoming in its stable (some might say bland) approach. The Debian Stable base means Neptune will continue to receive support for a few years to come and the underlying operating system is likely to be rock solid during that time. The modern kernel and desktop environment provide a good, fairly up to date experience atop the solid base. In short, Neptune provides a solid desktop system that is friendly and stable. There are a minimum of surprises and fuss with this distribution.
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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) |
Kubuntu introduces KDE Plasma 5, openSUSE turns Factory into rolling release, Debian announces kernel roadmap for "Jessie", FreeBSD improves UEFI support, seL4 releases its microkernel as open-source software
Good news for KDE fans, the KDE Plasma 5 technology is coming to Kubuntu and test images are available for download. The Kubuntu blog reports: "Kubuntu Plasma 5 ISOs have started being built. These are early development builds of what should be a Tech Preview with our 14.10 release in October. Plasma 5 should be the default desktop in a future release. Bugs in the packaging should be reported to kubuntu-ppa on Launchpad. Bugs in the software to KDE." KDE 5 and its associated technologies are expected to be an evolutionary step forward from KDE 4, as opposed to the disruptive jump users experienced when moving from KDE 3.5 to KDE 4.
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The openSUSE project maintains a testing repository where new packages are uploaded for testing and eventual inclusion in the next release of openSUSE. This special testing repository is called Factory and, in the past, was recommended for use only in bleeding-edge testing environments. That is changing and the Factory repository is becoming a proper rolling-release distribution. The openSUSE blog contains more details: "We are proud to announce that we have just switched our beloved development distribution, openSUSE Factory, to be an independent distribution using the "rolling release" development model. openSUSE Factory is now a tested, reliable and bleeding edge Linux distribution! This change will shorten the stabilization process for our major releases (next up: 13.2) and eliminate the need for pre-releases and milestones." The blog post goes on to explain changes to the openSUSE testing practices and the technologies used to test new packages.
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The next stable release of Debian, code name "Jessie", is still several months away, but the Debian developers have made some decisions concerning the project's next release. Debian 8 will ship with version 3.16 of the Linux kernel and Debian's current Testing branch will reach "freeze" status on November 5th. A freeze will mean no new features will be added to Debian's Testing repository and the developers are urging package maintainers to make sure their software is compatible with Linux 3.16. "If you maintain a package that is closely bound to the kernel version - a kernel module or a userland application that depends on an unstable API - please ensure that it is compatible with Linux 3.16 prior to the freeze date (5th November, 2014). Incompatible packages are very likely to be removed from Testing and not included in 'Jessie'." Using Linux 3.16 is an interesting choice as that version of the Linux kernel will not receive long term support from the Linux development team. Instead Debian will be maintaining their kernel package with the help of Ubuntu and Ben Hutchings. "The Linux 3.16-stable branch will not be maintained as a long term branch at kernel.org. However, the Ubuntu kernel team will continue to maintain that branch, following the same rules for acceptance and review, until around April 2016. Ben Hutchings is planning to continue maintenance from then until the end of regular support for 'Jessie'.
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The FreeBSD Foundation released its July newsletter last week. One of the items discussed is FreeBSD's support for machines featuring UEFI, the technology which is replacing the legacy BIOS. One of UEFI's controversal features is Secure Boot, a method of preventing untrusted or unregonized software from running on UEFI-enabled computers. FreeBSD is attempting to support UEFI and Secure Boot, but has run into some delays implementing the latter. "The basic UEFI boot process is now complete and integrated into FreeBSD HEAD. The vt-based framebuffer driver is automatically selected for UEFI boot. Nathan Whitehorn contributed some final integration components, including UEFI support in the FreeBSD installer. Our Secure Boot implementation is delayed, as our plan relied on a Microsoft-signed shim loader, and Microsoft has added new requirements to the process. We do remain committed to providing a Secure Boot implementation, and will adapt the plan as necessary. We plan to merge all of the UEFI boot and vt console changes to the release branch to be ready to ship in FreeBSD 10.1."
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seL4 is a little known microkernel project which strives to provide a high-performance kernel that is verified to work properly against the project's specifications. The seL4 project provides a minimal kernel which helps to provide verified security and performance. The seL4 kernel was released as open source software on July 29, licensed under the GNU GPL version 2. The project's userland utilities are being released as well, most of them under a BSD-style license. People interested in playing with this modern microkernel can visit the project's download page.
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Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Getting started with Linux servers
In-the-dark asks: I need a Linux server distribution that can act as a simple DHCP server, provides a level of security (firewall, anti-virus, & anti-spyware) that utilizes best practices in the industry, simple to set up with minimal command line. It needs to have the capability of being managed remotely, and it needs to be secure and stable, with the ability to work with Windows, Macintosh, Android, and Amazon tablet clients. It needs to have automatic updates, some sort of web based GUI if possible, and offer some sort of bandwidth management. I don't need a file server, or RAID, e-mail, or printer sharing as none of these applies. Most of all, the Linux server software needs to be free.
Could you please advise me on how to proceed as I am literally in the dark! I need to get up to speed on Linux basics before I dive headfirst into this, but I need some direction. Most e-mails I've sent have gone unanswered, or I have been told I'm too old to start this. I thought about Ubuntu or CentOS, but in all honesty, I don't know one from the other. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.
DistroWatch answers: What you are probably looking for is the Zentyal distribution. It is based on Ubuntu (giving it up to date hardware support), it is fast, can be administered through a web interface and is designed to be set up with a few mouse clicks. It really does not get any easier than this. Zentyal will handle setting up anti-virus, firewall and DHCP servers with just a few mouse clicks during the initialization process. You can learn more about the project from their website.
The Zentyal project offers a free edition along with several paid support options. Try out the free version and, chances are, it will do everything you need and do so fairly easily. The project has a forum in case you get stuck too.
Both CentOS and Ubuntu are fine server distributions, but both assume a level of comfort with the command line and low-level concepts. Zentyal has their same excellent technology under the hood, but everything can be managed through a nice web GUI.
Once you get up and running and have more time to learn, I highly recommend the book "The Official Ubuntu Server Book" by Kyle Rankin. It is one of the better texts (in my opinion) for dealing with Linux servers in general and Ubuntu-based systems in particular. On the other hand, if you do end up using CentOS or a related distribution, I strongly recommend "A Practical Guide to Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux" by Mark G. Sobell. It is really good at covering both the technical side of things as well as the business side of server management.
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Released Last Week |
Bio-Linux 8.0.2
Tim Booth has announced the release of Bio-Linux 8.0.2, an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution with a collection of specialist software designed for use in bioinformatics: "Bio-Linux 8 is a powerful, free bioinformatics workstation platform that can be installed on anything from a laptop to a large server, or run as a virtual machine. Bio-Linux 8 adds more than 250 bioinformatics packages to an Ubuntu 14.04 LTS base, providing around 50 graphical applications and several hundred command-line tools. The Galaxy environment for browser-based data analysis and workflow construction is also incorporated in Bio-Linux 8. Bio-Linux 8 represents the continued commitment of NERC to maintain the platform, and comes with many updated and additional tools and libraries. With this release we support pre-prepared VM images for use with VirtualBox, VMWare or Parallels." Visit the project's home page to read the full release announcement.
Zorin OS 9 "Educational"
Artyom Zorin has announced the release of Zorin OS 9 "Educational" edition, an Ubuntu-based distribution packed with specialist software suitable for use in educational environments: "We are pleased to release Zorin OS 9 Educational. Zorin OS 9 Educational brings the latest and greatest software into the hands of students and teachers. Updated software and bug fixes ensure that your computer runs better than ever while improved hardware support and entirely new software ensures that you're getting the best experience you can, no matter which computer you use it on. All Zorin OS 9 editions are long-term support (LTS) releases which means that you'll continue to get software updates and security fixes until 2019, making it the ideal choice for large-scale deployments." Here is the brief release announcement.
Simplicity Linux 14.7
David Purse has announced the release of Simplicity Linux 14.7, a set of lightweight, Puppy-based Linux distributions in four editions: "Simplicity Linux 14.7 is now available for everyone to download for free. Obsidian is our cut-down edition, pretty much just Firefox 30, a network manager and not a lot else. Netbook is our lightweight edition of Simplicity Linux; it has a few local applications, but most of the hard work is done by Cloud-based applications. Desktop is our heavyweight release; it features LibreOffice, Skype, Dropbox and a lot of other software. If you're used to using Windows but it annoys you, Subdivision is designed for you; it comes with LibreOffice, Firefox, Java, Flash, and a Minecraft installer, so you can begin playing familiar games on Linux straight out the box." Here is the brief release announcement.

Simplicity Linux 14.7 - the Welcome screen (full image size: 413kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
SolydXK 201407
Arjen Balfoort has announced the release of SolydXK 201407, an updated build of the project's Linux distributions with a choice of Xfce (SolydX) or KDE (SolydK) desktops, based on Debian's "Testing" branch: "The Home editions were upgraded to the latest upgrade pack and the Business editions were upgraded with the latest security updates. This time I will not list the version changes of the major applications, but limit myself to the most important changes. Debian has started to move 'Testing' to systemd. The Home editions use systemd while the Business editions continue to use sysvinit. For the Home editions, you will notice the difference during boot, but especially during shutdown which now takes a lot less time. We may still need your help to improve boot time, though. As from the last update, 'kdenext' was removed from SolydK. We are now tracking Debian KDE." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
IPFire 2.15 Core 80
Michael Tremer has announced the release of IPFire 2.15 Core 80, a new stable release of the project's specialist Linux distribution for firewalls: "This is the official release announcement for IPFire 2.15 Core Update 80. It comes with lots of new features, some bug fixes and some minor security fixes. There has been a crowd-funding on the IPFire wishlist which raised money for implementing a DNSSEC validating DNS proxy. The DNS proxy service that is running inside of IPFire has been forked and some features that were dropped in the upstream version have been backported. IPFire now validates every DNS response of zones that are signed. If the DNSSEC signatures do not validate a DNS error is raised and therefore spoofing attacks are not longer possible. However, it is not sufficient for the internal DNS proxy to have DNSSEC enabled. Client systems should validate DNSSEC records." Continue to the release announcement for full details.
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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 distributions added to waiting list
- Medical Linux. Medical Linux is a Linux-based operating system (Xubuntu) that features applications specifically used in medicine and health.
- Minimal Linux Live. Minimal Linux Live is a set of Linux shell scripts which automatically build minimal Live Linux OS based on Linux kernel and BusyBox.
- Play Linux. Play Linux is a distribution based on Ubuntu designed for gamers. The distribution features the Cinnamon desktop environment, PlayOnLinux and Valve's Steam gaming portal.
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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, 11 August 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 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 |
• Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
• Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
• Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
• 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 |
• Full list of all issues |
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Random Distribution | 
Bluewall GNU/Linux
Bluewall GNU/Linux was a Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux with a twist - instead of apt, it uses NetBSD's pkgsrc as its package management software.
Status: Discontinued
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Star Labs |

Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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