DistroWatch Weekly |
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 666, 20 June 2016 |
Welcome to this year's 25th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Software continues to change and improve. Sometimes it is difficult to keep up with all the new features and new ways of performing tasks. Last month we published the results of an experiment where five open source operating systems were put through a live upgrade. This week we continue our experiment, putting four more projects through the live upgrade process and reporting on how well each one does. Plus we discuss educational resources which explore how Linux works in our Questions and Answers column. In our News section we talk about Ubuntu's snap packages being adopted by more distributions and Antergos dropping 32-bit installation media. We also cover Fedora's new upgrade method, openSUSE upgrading their compiler and GeckoLinux launching a new rolling release edition. In the Torrent Corner we share the torrents we are seeding and we provide a list of the distributions released last week. In our Opinion Poll we revisit the question of 32-bit verses 64-bit operating systems and we are happy to share some improvements to our Search page. Plus, we are pleased to donate money to Devil-Linux to help the project purchase a new server. We wish you all a joyous week and happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (25MB) and MP3 (38MB) formats
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Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Comparing more live version upgrade methods
At the end of May I set out to discover how well a handful of popular Linux distributions (and FreeBSD) would handle a live upgrade between major versions. The results were mostly positive with four of the five open source operating systems successfully upgrading to their latest version.
Following that article, some people asked if I would perform similar upgrade tests on other projects. This past week I set out to perform live upgrades on four more open source operating systems and report on the results.
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OpenMandriva 2013.0 to 2014
One of the distributions I was asked to upgrade was Mageia, a relative of the Mandriva family of Linux distributions. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a copy of Mageia's old version 4 release on the project's download mirrors. Apparently it was removed to save space following the release of Mageia 5 and I had to skip experimenting with Mageia.
In Mageia's place I decided to try upgrading OpenMandriva which is probably Mageia's closest relative in the Linux ecosystem. The release notes for OpenMandriva 2014.0 include a section on upgrading the distribution from earlier versions. I downloaded OpenMandriva 2013.0, which was a 1.5GB download. I went through the installation, taking all the default settings, which gave me a copy of OpenMandriva with the KDE desktop environment.
At first I planned to install a few packages and update the software which came with OpenMandriva 2013.0, but I found there were no software repositories set up by default. The release notes warn users about this possibility and I was able to go into the software manager, select media settings and add the missing repositories. At this point I checked for software updates again and was suspicious when the update manager reported there were only 12MB of available updates for the aging version of OpenMandriva.
I tried to install the waiting updates, several times. Each time the update process failed, reporting there was a missing locale package. Skipping this package, I found several other dependencies were missing and so no package updates could be applied to the out of date 2013.0 release.
At this point I decided to skip updating the individual packages and make the leap to OpenMandriva 2014.0. Following the provided instructions in the release notes, I removed the old repository information, enabled the new 2014.0 repositories and performed a command line upgrade. The upgrade process failed quickly, reporting many errors. Essentially, what I found looking through the error log was that most packages failed to upgrade due to missing dependencies.
In the end, the bad news was it was not possible to upgrade OpenMandriva 2013.0 to a newer version. However, the existing system remained usable. Attempting the upgrade did not damage or otherwise prevent me from being able to use the existing 2013.0 installation.
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Linux Mint 16 to 17.3
The next distribution on my list was Linux Mint. I was hesitant to cover performing a live upgrade of Linux Mint for two reasons. The first is that Mint's community documentation on version upgrades recommends against performing live upgrades. Instead, the documentation suggests backing up our files and list of installed packages, installing a fresh version of the operating system and then re-adding the packages we had previously installed. Their reasoning makes sense, but they do include a section on live upgrades too for people who really want to go that route. The second reason I almost skipped talking about Linux Mint is, at the time of writing, I only have the option to upgrade version 16 to version 17. However, as I write this, Linux Mint 18 is being beta tested and may be released around the same time as this article, making these comments seem out of date. I do note that the live upgrade process has not changed between the launch of Mint 16 and Mint 18, so what I cover here should be applicable to the latest version of Mint.
I downloaded the Cinnamon edition of Linux Mint 16. The ISO was a 1.2GB download and I installed Mint with all the default settings. After installing Linux Mint 16 I found the version was well out of date and there were no updates available. I could not install additional software as the Mint 16 repositories no longer exist.
Upgrading Linux Mint is a lot like upgrading Debian. We manually edit the APT configuration, changing the source repositories. This is the only tricky part as we need to know both the name of the new version of Mint and the code name of the Ubuntu release Mint's new release uses as a base. For example, Mint might use "Rosa" as a code name while Ubuntu will use "Trusty" for the corresponding version. Once the APT configuration has been updated to point to the proper Ubuntu and Mint repositories, we can refresh our repository information and perform the upgrade using the command line apt-get utility.
I performed the live upgrade in two stages, using "apt-get upgrade" and "apt-get dist-upgrade". In total, these two operations pulled in 890MB of new packages (409MB for the first upgrade and 481MB for the dist-upgrade). During the upgrade process, there were a few speed-bumps. For example, after running "apt-get upgrade" the Cinnamon desktop crashed. I was able to login again and resume the process, but Cinnamon was unstable until after the "apt-get dist-upgrade" command had concluded its work. Also, during the upgrade, the process paused several times to ask if APT should overwrite existing configuration files or leave the old files in place. This means we need to babysit the upgrade process, checking on it occasionally over the span of about four hours.
In the end, I found myself running Linux Mint 17.3,. The system was stable and the new version respected the configuration changes I had made prior to starting the upgrade. While Mint's live upgrade process may not be recommended, it did work.
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PC-BSD 9.2 to 10.x
The next project on my list was PC-BSD. The FreeBSD-based operating system does provide
some documentation on upgrading across major versions. One important thing to note is that PC-BSD 10.0 and newer require ZFS to be available, otherwise some of the system utilities will not work. This means we cannot live upgrade PC-BSD 9 to 10 if PC-BSD 9 was installed on an older file system such as UFS. The download for PC-BSD 9.2 was 3.4GB in size. I installed the operating system with all of its default settings, which gave me a copy of the operating system running on ZFS with the KDE desktop.
At first it looked as though PC-BSD would be quite easy to upgrade. Shortly after logging into my account, a notification in the system tray let me know software updates were available. The graphical update manager offered to upgrade the base operating system to PC-BSD 10.0 and update the pkg package manager. The update manager refused to update both components at the same time.
I soon found trying to upgrade either the base system or pkg would fail. The update manager did not provide details as to what had gone wrong and so I decided to attempt a manual upgrade by following the FreeBSD Handbook as I had when performing a live upgrade of FreeBSD back in May. At first the manual process seemed to work, downloading the necessary patches for FreeBSD 10 and getting me to resolve conflicts between my existing configuration files and the new versions. Part way through, we are asked to reboot and then continue the upgrade process using the freebsd-update command utility. PC-BSD failed to reboot and, in fact, the boot loader no longer found any operating systems to run.
The inability of GRUB to find the operating system was unfortunate, both because it meant the upgrade had failed, but it also meant I was unable to rollback the upgrade and use an earlier snapshot of the operating system. I had taken the time to save a snapshot of PC-BSD prior to starting the upgrade process and had hoped it would allow me to recover if anything went wrong. However, with the boot loader failing to find PC-BSD, my snapshot was lost.
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OpenBSD 5.8 to 5.9
The OpenBSD operating system was the last project on my list to explore. Though it does seem to be technically possible to perform a live upgrade of the highly secure operating system, the documentation recommends performing a hybrid upgrade where we update the base operating system from an installation disc and live update third-party software packages. The OpenBSD installation media is 220MB in size. I installed the operating system with X and a window manager, then added a few packages to customize the installation.
The documentation provided explains how to upgrade OpenBSD 5.8 to version 5.9 step-by-step and the instructions worked exactly as laid out. Upgrading requires two reboots, one to initiate the upgrade process and one to boot into the new version of OpenBSD. Upgrading the base operating system took approximately ten minutes, including the two reboots. Upgrading the third-party packages took another minute or two. The only quirk I ran into was that I had to manually update my repository mirror information to gain access to the new packages available for OpenBSD 5.9. If this step is not done, then the pkg_add package manager will continue to pull in packages from the old repository we set up for OpenBSD 5.8.
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Conclusions
In my previous trial I experimented with five operating systems and, despite a few issues, four of them successfully updated across major versions. I considered four out of five to be a success. This week I experimented with four operating systems and the results were split with two successfully completing live upgrades and two failing. OpenMandriva failed with a certain amount of grace, allowing me to continue to use the operating system. However, PC-BSD failed to upgrade in a way which left the operating system unable to boot even with file system snapshots in place. To a degree, PC-BSD failing to boot was my fault. When the update manager refused to perform the upgrade automatically, I could have left it at that. Attempting to push ahead with a manual install was what drove to the operating system over the edge and past the point of no return.
I had much better luck this week with Linux Mint. Though Linux Mint 16 was no longer supported and its repositories shut down, I was able to upgrade the distribution. I was quite happy to see Mint survived the live upgrade despite live updates not being the recommended path for upgrades. OpenBSD was probably the smoothest upgrade of the four. OpenBSD provides clear documentation, step-by-step instructions and the upgrade happens very quickly. The command line nature of the OpenBSD upgrade might be intimidating to newcomers, but it works as documented.
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Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Ubuntu's snap packages, Fedora presents new upgrade method, Antergos drops 32-bit media, openSUSE adopts GCC 6 and GeckoLinux unveils new Rolling edition
People who have been looking for a practical way to use Ubuntu snap packages are in luck. One pioneering developer has packaged a development version of LibreOffice (LibreOffice 5.2 Beta) as a snap. The snap package can be installed alongside a stable version of the productivity suite, tested and removed without affecting other versions of LibreOffice. "The upcoming LibreOffice 5.2 packaged as a nice new snap package. This is pretty much a vanilla build of LibreOffice 5.2 Beta 2, using snapcraft, which is making packaging quite easy. Contains all the applications: Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math, Base. Installs easily on the released current LTS version of Ubuntu 16.04. Allows you to test and play with the upcoming LibreOffice version to your heart's delight without having to switch to a development version of Ubuntu." Instructions for downloading and installing the LibreOffice snap package can be found on the Sky From Me blog.
Speaking of snap packages, it looks as though snaps will be showing up on multiple Linux distributions in the near future. The Ubuntu Insights website explains: "Developers from multiple Linux distributions and companies today announced collaboration on the snap universal Linux package format, enabling a single binary package to work perfectly and securely on any Linux desktop, server, cloud or device. This community is working at snapcraft.io to provide a single publication mechanism for any software in any Linux environment. This release quotes Dell, Samsung, the Linux Foundation, The Document Foundation, Krita, Mycroft, Horizon Computing, contributors to Arch, Debian, OpenWrt, Ubuntu, and several of their related distributions. According to the post, snap packages can currently be used on many distributions including Arch, Debian, Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions. Snap packages are being tested and should soon work on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Gentoo, and openSUSE. Further details can be found on the Insights website.
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Once Fedora 24 has been released (which should happen very soon), it will be possible for Fedora users to upgrade from version 23 to version 24 from within the distribution's graphical package manager. Fedora Magazine explains: "Shortly after the Fedora 24 release, you can upgrade to the newest Fedora Workstation using the built-in Software app (gnome-software). The Software app has always provided the ability to process updates. But to upgrade to the latest Fedora - for example, Fedora 22 to 23 - you had to use the command line. But that's about to change for users running a fully-updated Fedora 23 system. The Software app on Fedora 23 will soon let you upgrade your whole system to Fedora 24 without the command line." Details are available in the Fedora Magazine article.
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The Antergos project released updated installation media last week, making snapshot 2016.06.14 available for users to download. The Antergos blog post accompanying the new snapshot mentions this will be the last time the project will publish 32-bit installation images. "We are discontinuing the 32-bit versions of our install media. This will be the last release that includes 32-bit media. This change applies to the install media only. We will continue to maintain 32-bit packages in our repository for the foreseeable future."
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Antergos was not the only project last week to announce it is phasing out older technology. The openSUSE website features a post which says the distribution's rolling release edition (Tumbleweed) is migrating from version 5 to version 6 of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). "Tumbleweed 20160613 snapshot will be the last snapshot to be based on GCC 5, according to the openSUSE Project's Dominique Leuenberger. GCC 6 will become the new default compiler, but the release date of the snapshot is difficult to predict right now because Tumbleweed is competing with builds allocated for the next Alpha 2 release of openSUSE Leap 42.2, which is scheduled to be release next week before the openSUSE Conference." Additional information on changes coming to openSUSE Tumbleweed can be found in the project's announcement.
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The GeckoLinux project, which provides a desktop-oriented distribution based on openSUSE, has released a new version of GeckoLinux. The new version provides a rolling release model and is based on openSUSE's Tumbleweed branch. "GeckoLinux is pleased to announce the release of a new family of 'Rolling' spins, based on the openSUSE Tumbleweed distribution to complement the 'Static' spins that are based on openSUSE Leap. The openSUSE Tumbleweed branch is unique in the sphere of rolling Linux distributions thanks to the extensive and automated testing performed by the openQA. This results in a highly stable and yet extremely current Linux distribution, with multiple release snapshots every week. GeckoLinux 'Rolling' builds on the Tumbleweed base with all of the typical GeckoLinux configuration changes, a live installable ISO image, optimal software selection, polished defaults, and eight (8) customized spins for all of the major desktop environments." Specific information on each live spin can be found in the project's release announcement.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Getting to know how the system works
Digging-deeper asks: I want to learn how Linux works, how all the pieces fit together. I've been running Ubuntu for about a year and I'm pretty comfortable with it and the command line. Where should I turn to next to education myself on Linux? I've heard of Linux From Scratch, but I'm not sure I know enough programming to handle it. Do you have some suggestions?
DistroWatch answers: Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a fine resource and there is nothing wrong with exploring it. I don't think you will need any programming experience to build LFS, just patience while you wait for the components to build from their source code. The LFS guide will certainly give you a lot of insight into the low-level components of a GNU/Linux operating system and the work which goes into making a Linux distribution. However, I think if you want to learn how to use Linux instead of how to build Linux, you might consider some alternatives.
When learning how to use a GNU/Linux operating system, I think you can start exploring with any distribution, including Ubuntu. Each distribution uses slightly different names for packages and may place files in different locations, but they tend to work in similar ways. So if you're comfortable with Ubuntu already, feel free to start exploring there. Continue to explore the command line, look into automating tasks with scripts, maybe set up a home file server and see where the journey leads.
If you want a more intense educational experience then you might want to explore a distribution which does less for you, but still does not require that you compile packages from source code (like LFS does). The Arch Linux distribution would probably suit the task and the Arch wiki has some of the best documentation in the Linux community. The first time you install Arch Linux (or any other distribution) I recommend installing it in a virtual machine to avoid messing up your existing operating system.
Finally, I would suggest looking at a couple of educational books. Off the top of my head, How Linux Works, A Practical Guide to the Linux Command Line and Linux Bible all come to mind as excellent learning resources. These books will begin by exploring the basics of the command line, take you through shell scripting, setting up services and generally becoming adapt at running a Linux desktop or server. While it can be fun to dive into learning an operating system on your own, I have found following a textbook means benefiting from the wisdom (not just the knowledge) of the authors.
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Past Questions and Answers columns can be found in our Q&A Archive.
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Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
Bittorrent is a great way to transfer large files, particularly open source operating system images, from one place to another. Most bittorrent clients recover from dropped connections automatically, check the integrity of files and can re-download corrupted bits of data without starting a download over from scratch. These characteristics make bittorrent well suited for distributing open source operating systems, particularly to regions where Internet connections are slow or unstable.
Many Linux and BSD projects offer bittorrent as a download option, partly for the reasons listed above and partly because bittorrent's peer-to-peer nature takes some of the strain off the project's servers. However, some projects do not offer bittorrent as a download option. There can be several reasons for excluding bittorrent as an option. Some projects do not have enough time or volunteers, some may be restricted by their web host provider's terms of service. Whatever the reason, the lack of a bittorrent option puts more strain on a distribution's bandwidth and may prevent some people from downloading their preferred open source operating system.
With this in mind, DistroWatch plans to give back to the open source community by hosting and seeding bittorrent files. For now, we are hosting a small number of distribution torrents, listed below. The list of torrents offered will be updated each week and we invite readers to e-mail us with suggestions as to which distributions we should be hosting. When you message us, please place the word "Torrent" in the subject line, make sure to include a link to the ISO file you want us to seed. To help us maintain and grow this free service, please consider making a donation.
The table below provides a list of torrents we currently host. If you do not currently have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found here. All torrents we make available here are also listed on the very useful Linux Tracker website. Thanks to Linux Tracker we are able to share the following torrent statistics.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 205
- Total data uploaded: 37.4TB
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Released Last Week |
Baruwa Enterprise Edition 6.8
Andrew Colin Kissa has announced the release of Baruwa Enterprise Edition (also called BaruwaOS), version 6.8, a new release of the project's commercial distribution built from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux: "Today we are issuing Baruwa Enterprise Edition release - BaruwaOS 6.8. This release tracks the upstream base OS's update 6.8. Baruwa now supports the ACME client protocol. This allows for requesting of certificates from ACME compatible Certificate Authorities, such as CertBot formerly known as Let's Encrypt, a free and open CA which issues browser recognized certificates. Baruwa will now request Certbot certificates for the HTTPS and SMTP TLS services, if you do not have a CA issued certificate. Certbot certificates are supported by a wide range of browsers so you should no longer have the warnings generated when using the Baruwa CA auto generated certificates." Read the brief release announcement as well as the much more detailed release notes for further information. Free trial editions of BaruwaOS are available for download from the project's home page, while commercial variants start at US$58 per month.
Robolinux 8.5
The Robolinux project, a Debian-based desktop distribution, has announced the launch of Robolinux 8.5. The new release is available in four editions (Cinnamon, LXDE, MATE and Xfce) and is based on Debian 8 "Jessie". Past editions of Robolinux have been free to try, but required a purchase to install and this has changed with the latest release as the distribution is now free to install. "Robolinux is extremely pleased and excited to announce its new upgraded Robolinux 8.5 'Raptor' Cinnamon, Mate, Xfce & LXDE with 32- & 64-bit versions. Undoubtedly the biggest news is that all 16 Robolinux 7 & 8 Live versions now come with a free OS installer and can be downloaded for free on SourceForge. Please permit me to say it again: There is no more charge for our OS installer which was how we funded third party Linux application developers! Gaming enthusiasts will be thrilled because we added Steam to v8.5. We also updated Stealth VM and the Robolinux C Drive to VM for Windows XP, 7 & 10 so it works with VirtualBox 5.0 and above which is great news for Linux Mint and Ubuntu users! Please note: VirtualBox 5.0 is not yet compatible with Debian 8." Additional details can be found in the project's release announcement.
Parrot Security OS 3.0
Parrot Security OS 3.0 has been released. Parrot Security OS is a Debian-based distribution featuring a collection of tools designed for penetration testing, computer forensics, reverse engineering, hacking, privacy and cryptography. There is no release announcement about the project's major new release, but this features page provides useful information about the product: "'Forensic' boot option to avoid boot automounts; most famous digital forensic tools and frameworks out of the box; reliable acquisition and imaging tools; top-class analysis software; evidence management and reporting tools; disabled automount; software blockdev write protection system; custom anti-forensic tools; custom interfaces for GPG; custom interfaces for cryptsetup; support for LUKS, Truecrypt and VeraCrypt; NUKE patch for cryptsetup LUKS disks; encrypted system installation; AnonSurf; entire system anonymization; Tor and I2P out of the box; DNS requests anonymization...."
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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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Opinion Poll |
Revisiting 32-bit vs 64-bit OSes
About a year ago we asked our readers how many were using 32-bit operating systems verses 64-bit operating systems. Over the past year a handful of distributions have dropped (or are phasing out) 32-bit support. We would like to revisit the subject and find out how many of you are running 32-bit vs 64-bit operating systems.
If you are still using a 32-bit operating system, please let us know why in the comments. Is it a matter of having older hardware, trying to save space in memory or have you run into trouble using 64-bit software?
You can see the results of our previous poll on IPv6 adoption here. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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32-bit vs 64-bit x86
I use 32-bit only: | 233 (10%) |
I use 64-bit only: | 1293 (55%) |
I use a mix of 32- and 64-bit: | 819 (35%) |
I use another architecture: | 7 (0%) |
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DistroWatch.com News |
Improved package searches
One search feature people have been requesting for a while is the ability to find distributions which offer a package that is newer than (or older than) a given version. For example, perhaps you have wanted to find distributions shipping VLC 2.2 or newer or distributions which ship older versions of Wordpress.
Last week we updated our Search page to make package searches more flexible. People can now search for distributions which include a package newer than, older than, similar to or exactly equal to a specified version. The default continues to be finding packages of a similar version. When no version is specified, the system will try to find packages close to the upstream project's latest release.
We are continuing to make our Search page faster and more flexible, but with any new features come unexpected bugs. Please let us know if you experience any problems.
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June 2016 DistroWatch.com donation: Devil-Linux
We are pleased to announce the recipient of the June 2016 DistroWatch.com donation is Devil-Linux. The project receives US$400.00 in cash.
The Devil-Linux project describes itself as follows: "Devil-Linux is a distribution which boots and runs completely from CD-ROM or USB flash drive. The configuration can be saved to a floppy diskette or a USB pen drive. Devil-Linux was originally intended to be a dedicated firewall/router but now Devil-Linux can also be used as a dedicated server for many applications. Attaching an optional hard drive is easy, and many network services are included in the distribution. Because boot/OS and (optionally) configuration (in a tarball) are stored on read-only media, Devil-Linux offers high security with easy and safe upgrades, the system being fully configurable with no writeable system device.
Launched in 2004, this monthly donations programme is a DistroWatch initiative to support free and open-source software projects and operating systems with cash contributions. Readers are welcome to nominate their favourite project for future donations. Those readers who wish to contribute towards these donations, please use our advertising page to make a payment (PayPal, credit cards, Yandex Money and crypto currencies are accepted). Here is the list of the projects that have received a DistroWatch donation since the launch of the programme (figures in US dollars):
- 2004: GnuCash ($250), Quanta Plus ($200), PCLinuxOS ($300), The GIMP ($300), Vidalinux ($200), Fluxbox ($200), K3b ($350), Arch Linux ($300), Kile KDE LaTeX Editor ($100) and UNICEF - Tsunami Relief Operation ($340)
- 2005: Vim ($250), AbiWord ($220), BitTorrent ($300), NDISwrapper ($250), Audacity ($250), Debian GNU/Linux ($420), GNOME ($425), Enlightenment ($250), MPlayer ($400), Amarok ($300), KANOTIX ($250) and Cacti ($375)
- 2006: Gambas ($250), Krusader ($250), FreeBSD Foundation ($450), GParted ($360), Doxygen ($260), LilyPond ($250), Lua ($250), Gentoo Linux ($500), Blender ($500), Puppy Linux ($350), Inkscape ($350), Cape Linux Users Group ($130), Mandriva Linux ($405, a Powerpack competition), Digikam ($408) and Sabayon Linux ($450)
- 2007: GQview ($250), Kaffeine ($250), sidux ($350), CentOS ($400), LyX ($350), VectorLinux ($350), KTorrent ($400), FreeNAS ($350), lighttpd ($400), Damn Small Linux ($350), NimbleX ($450), MEPIS Linux ($300), Zenwalk Linux ($300)
- 2008: VLC ($350), Frugalware Linux ($340), cURL ($300), GSPCA ($400), FileZilla ($400), MythDora ($500), Linux Mint ($400), Parsix GNU/Linux ($300), Miro ($300), GoblinX ($250), Dillo ($150), LXDE ($250)
- 2009: Openbox ($250), Wolvix GNU/Linux ($200), smxi ($200), Python ($300), SliTaz GNU/Linux ($200), LiVES ($300), Osmo ($300), LMMS ($250), KompoZer ($360), OpenSSH ($350), Parted Magic ($350) and Krita ($285)
- 2010: Qimo 4 Kids ($250), Squid ($250), Libre Graphics Meeting ($300), Bacula ($250), FileZilla ($300), GCompris ($352), Xiph.org ($250), Clonezilla ($250), Debian Multimedia ($280), Geany ($300), Mageia ($470), gtkpod ($300)
- 2011: CGSecurity ($300), OpenShot ($300), Imagination ($250), Calibre ($300), RIPLinuX ($300), Midori ($310), vsftpd ($300), OpenShot ($350), Trinity Desktop Environment ($300), LibreCAD ($300), LiVES ($300), Transmission ($250)
- 2012: GnuPG ($350), ImageMagick ($350), GNU ddrescue ($350), Slackware Linux ($500), MATE ($250), LibreCAD ($250), BleachBit ($350), cherrytree ($260), Zim ($335), nginx ($250), LFTP ($250), Remastersys ($300)
- 2013: MariaDB ($300), Linux From Scratch ($350), GhostBSD ($340), DHCP ($300), DOSBox ($250), awesome ($300), DVDStyler ($280), Tor ($350), Tiny Tiny RSS ($350), FreeType ($300), GNU Octave ($300), Linux Voice ($510)
- 2014: QupZilla ($250), Pitivi ($370), MediaGoblin ($350), TrueCrypt ($300), Krita ($340), SME Server ($350), OpenStreetMap ($350), iTALC ($350), KDE ($400), The Document Foundation ($400), Tails ($350)
- 2015: AWStats ($300), Haiku ($300), Xiph.Org ($300), GIMP ($350), Kodi ($300), Devuan ($300), hdparm ($350), HardenedBSD ($400), TestDisk ($450)
- 2016: KeePass ($400), Slackware Live Edition ($406), Devil-Linux ($400)
Since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004, DistroWatch has made 145 donations for a total of US$46,081 to various open-source software projects.
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Distributions added to waiting list
- Escuelas Linux. Escuelas Linux is a Spanish language distribution based on Bodhi Linux. It is designed to be used in educational environments.
- LibraZiK. A French community-based distribution, oriented on audio creation, based on Debian Jessie.
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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, 27 June 2016. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
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Archives |
• 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 |
• 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 |
• Full list of all issues |
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Random Distribution |
GNU/Linux Kinneret
GNU/Linux Kinneret was an operating system and a variety of applications supplied in a single package that was easy to operate and use (CD). The system does not mandate installation and/or complicated setup, and includes automatic hardware recognition, a wizard that facilitates easy connection to the Internet, as well as a rich and high-quality range of applications with maximum Hebrew support (with more languages to be supported later on).
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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