 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 669, 11 July 2016 |
Welcome to this year's 28th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The Linux Mint distribution has been sitting at the top of our page hit ranking charts for a while now. Mint is probably one of the more popular Linux distributions, or at least one of the more attractive ones to Linux newcomers. This week we take the project's latest release, Linux Mint 18, for a spin to find out how the new version performs. In our News section we discuss efforts to replace OpenSSL with LibreSSL in FreeBSD, link to talks regarding how long 32-bit computers will be supported by Ubuntu and look at the current status of the pfSense project. We then explore the topic of whether it is possible to prove a computer system is uncompromised and share the torrents we are seeding. We then cover the distributions released last week and, in our Opinion Poll, ask how our readers get technical support. Finally, we are pleased to welcome the DuZeru distribution to our database. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (25MB) and MP3 (37MB) formats
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Linux Mint 18
The Linux Mint project has been sitting at the top of our page hit ranking statistics for quite some time now. The project attracts a lot of attention, particularly from Linux newcomers who are looking for a familiar and friendly computing experience. The main edition of Linux Mint is based on the Ubuntu distribution with the latest release, Linux Mint 18, using Ubuntu 16.04 as a package base.
Linux Mint 18 is a long term support release and will receive security updates through to the year 2021. The project's release notes (Cinnamon, MATE) mention several new features. Some of the key items mentioned in the distribution's documentation include the introduction of the Cinnamon 3 desktop environment, updated themes and support for the Btr file system. The documentation mentions Mint supports booting on UEFI-enabled computers, but does not work with Secure Boot. Personal Package Archive (PPA) repositories can be added and removed from the command line as well as through the project's graphical repository manager.
The release notes mention Mint's update manager now makes update policies more clear. Mint users have historically been able to instruct the update manager to balance package stability against constant security updates. Mint marks some packages as safe to upgrade, others as risky and some neutral. The user has always been able to choose whether to install all security updates, most or just the ones which have been tested and shown to not adversely affect stability. With Mint 18, the update manager makes the available policies more clear to assist the user in selecting the update policy which best suits their needs.
Perhaps the most significant change though is the introduction of X-Apps. The Mint developers have noted that some GNOME applications have unusual interface designs and will not properly integrate with non-GNOME desktop environments. X-Apps are forks of GNOME applications which have had their interfaces tweaked to work consistently across multiple desktop environments.
Mint 18 is available in Cinnamon and MATE editions, with 32-bit and 64-bit x86 builds offered. I decided to try the 64-bit build of the Cinnamon edition. The download for this edition was 1.6GB in size. Booting from the live media brings us to the Cinnamon desktop. The wallpaper is dark and features the Mint logo. The application menu, task switcher and system tray sit at the bottom of the screen. Icons on the desktop can be activated to launch a file manager or the distribution's system installer.
Linux Mint 18 -- The welcome screen
(full image size: 641kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Mint uses a graphical system installer which is nearly identical to its parent's installer. On the first screen we select our preferred language from a list and we are given the option of viewing the on-line release notes in the Firefox web browser. The second screen asks if we would like to install third-party software, such as Flash and multimedia support. The next screen gives us the chance to select automated or manual disk partitioning. I went with the manual option and found Mint's installer has a very friendly and streamlined partition manager. The partitioning page supports working with Btrfs, JFS, XFS and the ext2/3/4 file systems. We are then asked to select our time zone from a map of the world, confirm our keyboard's layout and create a user account. While entering our user account's name and password we have the chance to encrypt our home directory's contents. When the installer has finished copying its files to our hard drive it offers to restart the computer. Alternatively, we can return to the live desktop environment and continue to explore the live distribution.
Our fresh copy of Mint boots to a graphical login screen where we can sign into the user account we created during the installation process. From the login screen we can change our locale information and desktop session. It is also possible to launch an on-screen keyboard and type our password using the mouse and the virtual keyboard. This means a user can still login even without a working keyboard, or if we want to avoid keylogger attacks.
Once we get signed into the Cinnamon session, a welcome screen appears. This screen provides links to many Mint-related resources, including the project's release notes, the distribution's on-line chat room and documentation. Other buttons launch the device driver manager and software manager, both of which I will talk about later.
Shortly after signing into Cinnamon, an icon in the system tray indicated there were software updates available to download. Clicking the notification icon launches Mint's update manager. The first time we launch the update manager we are given an explanation on how the update manager balances system stability with software security. We are given three options: only install software updates which will not affect system stability; default to installing stable updates while displaying all available updates; and install all security updates, even those which may negatively affect system stability. Once we make our choice, we are shown a list of available software updates. There were several updates available the day Mint 18 was launched. I did not get an exact count, but the new packages all downloaded and installed without any problems.
Linux Mint 18 -- Selecting an update policy
(full image size: 537kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Mint's application menu is divided into three vertical columns. On the left we find quick-launch buttons for common tasks. Down the middle we find application categories and the right column features specific applications in the selected category. There is a search box available to help us locate applications using either the program's name or a description. For example, searching for the term "Word" brings up the LibreOffice Writer application, a suitable alternative to Microsoft Word.
Speaking of applications, Mint ships with a relatively small, yet useful collection of software. Digging through the application menu we find the Firefox web browser, the Thunderbird e-mail client, the HexChat IRC software, the Pidgin instant messenger and the Transmission bittorrent client. The LibreOffice productivity software is featured along with the Xreader document viewer. The GNU Image Manipulation Program is included along with the Pix image viewer/image browser. The Banshee audio player, Brasero disc burning software, VLC media player and Xplayer video player are included. Mint optionally provides us with multimedia codecs and the Adobe Flash player, providing us with the ability to play just about any media file. Mint ships with a calculator, archive manager, text editor and USB image writer. In the background we find systemd 229 and version 4.4 of the Linux kernel.
I explored using Mint in two test environments: a desktop computer and VirtualBox. When running in VirtualBox everything worked well. Mint automatically integrates with VirtualBox and can make use of the host computer's full screen resolution. The Cinnamon desktop can be a bit sluggish when running in a virtual environment (a problem Mint's MATE edition does not share), but the sluggishness can be mostly negated by enabling 3-D effects and providing the VirtualBox instance with more video memory. When running on the physical desktop computer, Linux Mint performed very well. Networking and sound worked out of the box, my display's full resolution was used and Cinnamon performed well. In either test environment, Mint required from 360MB to 370MB of memory when logged into Cinnamon.
The only issue I ran into came about when I was trying to boot the live media on my desktop computer. While Mint would boot on the desktop computer, the display was left blank. I could hear the login sound play and the computer responded to keyboard input, but I was unable to see anything. Rebooting the computer and selecting Safe Graphics mode from the live disc's boot menu solved the issue and allowed me to use the live media without further problems.
One of the nicer features of Mint 18 is the System Settings panel. This control centre provides the user with easy access to most desktop and operating system settings. From the System Settings panel we can access modules which help us alter power management settings, set up printers, add or remove user accounts, configure the firewall and access the device driver manager. We can change the look and feel of the desktop, install Cinnamon extensions and Desklets (desktop applets). I found the System Settings modules worked well for me and I encountered no problems.
Linux Mint 18 -- Adjusting system settings
(full image size: 423kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Earlier I mentioned the device driver manager, which we can access from either the welcome screen or from the System Settings control panel. The driver manager will search our computer for devices which could benefit from downloading additional or third-party drivers. These extra drivers are described along with the hardware they support and can be enabled or disabled with a click. I quite like the device driver manager which ships with Mint 18, it is pleasantly easy to understand and navigate.
Mint 18 provides us with two graphical package managers, both which act as front-ends to APT. The first graphical front-end is called Software Manager. It begins by displaying a screen of software categories, each one represented by a large icon. Selecting a category presents us with a list of available applications. Each entry includes the name of a program, an icon, a brief description and a user-supplied rating. Clicking on an entry brings up a full page description of the selected software along with screen shots and an Install/Remove button. Clicking the Install button causes the software to be downloaded in the background while we continue to browse the available items.
Linux Mint 18 -- Browsing available software
(full image size: 522kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
The second graphical package manager is Synaptic. The Synaptic application displays all available software items in a long, plain-text list. We can apply filters to the list or search for items with a specific name. Clicking on a package's name will display a summary of the package at the bottom of the Synaptic window. We can queue up multiple packages to install or remove and process them all at once. While Synaptic is installing or deleting packages, the interface is locked. Though Synaptic may seem less user friendly in some aspects, it is useful for quickly finding specific packages, especially low-level dependencies.
Conclusions
During my trial, Mint 18 provided me with a stable, friendly and problem-free experience. The distribution has a installer which is simple to use, a good collection of documentation and an excellent selection of default software. The configuration tools are straight forward to use, the software manager is easy to use and everything generally just worked the way I wanted it to. The one problem I ran into during my whole trial was the video display issue when running from the live disc, and that was quickly solved by switching to the fail-safe graphics mode from the live disc's boot menu.
I was curious to try X-Apps and I generally found these to be an improvement. I dislike the mobile-style interfaces GNOME applications tend to use and how they break consistency with other applications. X-Apps provide the same functionality as their GNOME counterparts, but improve the interface to work the same as all the other desktop applications. Most of the changes are small, but make working with the text editor or video player a much less frustrating experience.
Linux Mint 18 -- Comparing GNOME's Totem to Mint's Xplayer
(full image size: 430kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
The one complaint I think people may have with Mint's Cinnamon edition is the desktop tends to be sluggish if suitable video drivers are not available. This may be a problem for people running Mint in a virtual environment or on hardware without solid driver support. This issue can be side-stepped by using Mint's MATE edition which is more forgiving where video cards are concerned and which offers a very similar desktop experience.
On its own, Mint 18 impressed me with its ease of use, array of software, media support and friendly utilities. However, where I think Mint really shines is when we compare Mint to its parent. Mint and Ubuntu mostly use the same packages and both strive to provide friendly desktop environments. When Ubuntu 16.04 launched a few months ago I tried it and found the desktop regularly crashed, the software manager would lock-up, Ubuntu failed to integrate with VirtualBox and the desktop was incredibly slow to respond. While Mint shares a lot of software with its parent, the Mint developers have managed to avoid all of the problems I encountered with Ubuntu and I was very pleased with this.
I was quite happy with Mint 18 and I would recommend it for most people, particularly Linux newcomers. The distribution manages to deliver a feature-rich, friendly experience with a minimal amount of problems.
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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 2.8GHz AMD A4-3420 APU
- Storage: 500GB Hitachi hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111 wired network card
- Display: AMD Radeon HD 6410D video card
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Merging LibreSSL into FreeBSD, Ubuntu discusses phasing out 32-bit support and pfSense publishes status report
Attila Gyorffy embarked on an interesting experiment recently, exploring how difficult it would be to replace FreeBSD's OpenSSL security library with the LibreSSL library. LibreSSL is a fork of OpenSSL that was created by the OpenBSD developers. The LibreSSL fork removes older code and strives to be more secure. Gyorffy experimented with swapping out FreeBSD's copy of OpenSSL to see how the base system and FreeBSD's ports would work with LibreSSL. "Thanks to Bernard Spil and the HardenedBSD team's ongoing efforts to increase security in the FreeBSD operating system we are now at a point where incorporating LibreSSL into the FreeBSD base system is a relatively straight forward option." While a few packages failed to work with LibreSSL, the experiment was mostly a success. Details of Gyorffy's trial with LibreSSL can be found in his blog post.
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Lately we have been seeing more Linux distributions dropping support for 32-bit x86 architectures. While many people still run 32-bit operating systems, the practice is slowly eroding. Dimtri John Ledkov recently opened the topic on the Ubuntu developer mailing list, making a case for phasing our 32-bit support slowly over the next two and a half years. "Building i386 images is not 'for free', it comes at the cost of utilizing our build farm, QA and validation time. Whilst we have scalable build-farms, i386 still requires all packages, autopackage tests, and ISOs to be revalidated across our infrastructure. As well as take up mirror space & bandwidth. Thus the question is what can we and what should we do to limit i386 installations before they become unsupportable?" Ledkov's proposal and the resulting discussion can be found here.
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Jim Thompson posted a status update for the pfSense firewall project last week. In his post, Thompson talked about some of the great achievements the pfSense project has made in the past six months. Some of the project's impressive new features include fine-grained updates, a new and more responsive web interface, and performance improvements. Thompson also reports the project will be losing one of their key developers, Chris Buechler. "As we enter this new era, Chris Buechler has informed us that he will be leaving the project to pursue a career outside of pfSense and Netgate. On behalf of the company and community, I thank Chris for his passion and dedication to the pfSense project. He worked hard to help build pfSense into an open source project that is recognized and respected worldwide as the best-in-class open source firewall and router based on FreeBSD."
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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) |
Proving the system is secure
Checking-all-the-locks asks: Linux's claim to fame, or one of them at least, is that is it secure. Is it possible to prove, really prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that my system has not been compromised?
DistroWatch answers: It may be possible, but unless you built your own computer from scratch and wrote all of its software yourself, it will be very difficult to completely prove the system was never compromised. The problem is it is quite a challenge to prove a negative (ie I have not been hacked), while it is relatively easy to prove something has happened.
As an example, if I want to know whether my software is spying on me, I can set up a program like Wireshark to monitor the network and listen for outgoing data that should not be there. Assuming I see data leaving the system that should not be there, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that the system is spying on me. My security has been compromised. But if I do not see any unnecessary network packets, is it because my system is clean or is the malware waiting long periods of time before reporting, or is the spyware sneaky enough that it manages to disguise its traffic as something legitimate?
The same problem arises when scanning a hard drive for malware. If my anti-virus scanner recognizes a malicious file on my drive, then I know my system was compromised. But if the anti-virus scan turns up nothing, is it because my system is clean or is the malware hiding in memory? Is there a new and unknown virus the scanner doesn't know about, or could it be my operating system was hacked and is blocking the anti-virus from working properly?
I am sure you can see how a paranoid mind could drive a person mad trying to prove that their applications, their compiler, their kernel, their hardware and the developers of their software are all trustworthy and secure. Which is why most reasonable people will satisfy themselves with being mostly sure their computer is secure.
For the most part Linux users run software that has been vetted and placed in a distribution's repositories. We run operating systems built with open source tools where it is unlikely a backdoor will be covertly introduced. We might run anti-virus software and occasionally check our network traffic to see if anything looks out of place. And, when these security checks come up negative, we take it at face value that we are probably secure. It is not definite, it is not a 100% certainty that the computer is uncompromised, but it is as close as we are likely to get while spending a reasonable amount of time on the subject.
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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: 213
- Total data uploaded: 39.6TB
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| Released Last Week |
Network Security Toolkit 24-7977
Ron Henderson has announced the release of Network Security Toolkit (NST) 24-7977, the latest version of the project's Fedora-based distribution featuring a large collection of network security applications: "We are pleased to announce the latest NST release - 'NST 24 SVN:7977'. This release is based on Fedora 24 using Linux Kernel 4.6.3. This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 24. Here are some of the highlights for this release: NST will now be delivered as a 64-bit image only, 32 bit images have been retired; a new multi-traceroute (MTR) networking tool has been developed for NST 24, this tool provides an interactive traceroute visual using Scapy; a new interactive 3D pie chart depicting the results from a ntop Deep Packet Inspection (nDPI) is now an integral part of the NST WUI Network Packet Capture protocol decode; added the SSLyze project for analyzing a server's SSL configuration to the NST Networking Tools Widget; a darkness/lightness Google Map control has been added the NST Map Tools...." Read the full release announcement for more details.
KDE neon 5.7
Following the release of KDE's Plasma Desktop 5.7 earlier today, a new version of KDE neon is now also available. KDE neon is distribution based on the latest stable Kubuntu, but it is developed at a more rapid pace and it features a cutting-edge desktop stack, including the latest Plasma. From the release announcement: "KDE neon 5.7. When version numbers merge to a singularity we reach the perfection that is KDE neon 5.7. Featuring the newly released Qt 5.7 and the freshly built KDE Plasma 5.7. If you're using KDE neon 'User' edition you can just update as normal. Those who have yet to allow it to take over their computer can download the images to fix that pronto." KDE Plasma 5.7 delivers a large number of improvements, including better support for kiosk, much improved integration with the Wayland windowing system and a new system tray and task manager; see the Plasma 5.7 announcement for further details and screenshots. KDE neon 5.7 is available for x86_64 systems only.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll |
Finding technical support
Every operating system has its flaws or its unintuitive corners that are difficult to navigate. We all need help at some point to sort out technical problems or learn how to perform tasks.
This week we would like to know where our readers turn when they need technical support. Do you use your distribution's forum, visit mailing lists, type the question into a search engine, ask a friend? Please let us know how you approach trouble-shooting issues in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on preferred command line shells here. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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I primarily get my technical support
| On distribution forums: | 367 (23%) |
| On mailing lists: | 19 (1%) |
| From web searches: | 957 (59%) |
| Distribution documentation/wiki: | 204 (13%) |
| By asking a friend: | 6 (0%) |
| From books: | 16 (1%) |
| Support chat rooms: | 26 (2%) |
| Other: | 36 (2%) |
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| DistroWatch.com News |
Distributions added to the database
DuZeru
DuZeru is a Brazilian Linux distribution that is based on Debian's Stable branch. DuZeru ships with the Xfce desktop environment and is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit x86 builds.
DuZeru 2.3 -- Running the Xfce desktop environment
(full image size: 371kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
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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, 18 July 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 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 |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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| Random Distribution | 
ArcoLinux
ArcoLinux (previously known as ArchMerge) is a distribution based on Arch Linux. The development takes places in three branches - ArcoLinux, ArcoLinuxD and ArcoLinuxB. ArcoLinux is a full-featured distribution that ships with the Xfce desktop (as well as Openbox and i3 window managers). ArcoLinuxD is a minimal distribution that includes scripts that enable power users to install any desktop and application. ArcoLinuxB is a project that gives users the power to build custom distributions, while also developing several community editions with pre-configured desktops, such as Awesome, bspwm, Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, GNOME, MATE and KDE Plasma. ArcoLinux also provides various video tutorials as it places strong focus on learning and acquiring Linux skills.
Status: Active
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
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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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