 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 790, 19 November 2018 |
Welcome to this year's 47th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
NetBSD is an operating system famous for being able to run on a wide variety of processor architectures and in many different environments due to its small, portable nature. This week we begin with a look at the operating system's latest stable release, NetBSD 8.0, and how well it performs a variety of tasks. Read on to learn about this operating system's perks and drawbacks. In our News section we link to a test which pits Fedora's networking performance against FreeBSD's and talk about plans for changes coming in Ubuntu 19.04. We also discuss automatic updates and desktop performance improvements coming to Endless OS. Plus we cover comments Mark Shuttleworth has reportedly made indicating Ubuntu 18.04 will be getting a full ten years of support, double the usual five years of other LTS releases. We are also pleased to share some handy Bash shell shortcuts which can save time when working on the command line. As usual, we share last week's releases and provide a list of torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: NetBSD 8.0
- News: Fedora networking benchmarked against FreeBSD, Ubuntu team makes plans for 19.04, Ubuntu 18.04 to get extended support, Endless OS offers improved desktop performance
- Tips and tricks: Bash command line shortcuts and tips
- Released last week: Void 20181111, deepin 15.8, Slax 9.6.0
- Torrent corner: ArcoLinux, deepin, Hyperbola, Kodachi, Omarine, Qubes OS, Raspbian, Robolinux, Slax, SystemRescueCd, Void, Voyager
- Upcoming releases: FreeBSD 12.0-RC2, UBports 16.04 OTA-6
- Opinion poll: Size and frequency of package updates
- New distributions: Bentoo
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (20MB) and MP3 (15MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
NetBSD 8.0
NetBSD is a highly portable operating system which can be run on dozens of different hardware architectures. The operating system's clean and minimal design allow it to be run in all sorts of environments, ranging from embedded devices, to servers, to workstations. While the base operating system is minimal, NetBSD users have access to a large repository of binary packages and a ports tree which I will touch upon later.
I last tried NetBSD 7.0 about three years ago and decided it was time to test drive the operating system again. In the past three years NetBSD has introduced a few new features, many of them security enhancements. For example, NetBSD now supports write exclusive-or execute (W^X) protection and address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect programs against common attacks. NetBSD 8.0 also includes USB3 support and the ability to work with ZFS storage volumes.
Installing
I downloaded the 64-bit (AMD64) build of NetBSD. The build is offered in two versions, one for burning to optical media and one for USB devices. The optical media download is about 716MB in size. Booting from this media brings up a menu-driven screen where we can launch the installer or drop to a command line shell. Taking the installer option brings up a series of text-based menus. We are asked to select our preferred language from a list, select our keyboard's layout and decide whether to install, upgrade, or re-install the operating system with different packages. I opted for the fresh install.
The installer asks us on which hard disk it should place NetBSD and we are then walked through a multi-step partitioning section. First we need to set up partitions, creating space for NetBSD and potentially other systems, such as Linux or shared FAT-formatted space. Then we further divide the NetBSD partition into sections for swap space, the root file system and other mount points. Then we select the amount of space that will be given to each mount point. It can take a while to get used to the way the BSDs set up storage space if you're coming from a Windows or Linux background. The BSDs tend to place mount points inside a partition on the disk, so the operating system is somewhat self-contained in one section of the disk. While this adds a layer for us to think about, it offers an added degree of portability.
We then move on to deciding what kind of install we want to perform: Full, Without X11, Minimal, or Custom. I went will the Full option that, despite its name, provides a relatively lightweight operating system with a bare bones graphical environment. We can then select where the installer can find packages (on a CD or from a network service).
Once the packages have been copied to our hard drive we can go through a number of configuration options. These all seem to be optional, but it is probably easier to do them up front, using the installer, rather than wait and perform these steps later. The installer provides quick configuration screens for setting up networking (including a DHCP method), setting the time zone, creating a password for the root account and enabling the administrator to install binary packages. We can also download the pkgsrc ports framework (for building packages from source code), enable OpenSSH connections, enable graphical logins (using xdm), and enable network time synchronization. We can also set up a new user account and make some file system tweaks.
In the end, NetBSD has a long initial install process, but it gives us a lot of control over the initial state of the operating system. When we are done, we are advised to read the afterboot manual page which includes tips for further customizing the operating system. The afterboot page suggests changing the root password, and offers tips on blocking remote logins, setting up wired networking and connecting to wireless networks.
Early impressions
Since I had set up NetBSD with a Full install and enabled xdm during the setup process, the operating system booted to a graphical login screen. From here we can sign into our account. The login screen does not provide options to shut down or restart the computer. Logging into our account brings up the twm window manager and provides a virtual terminal, courtesy of xterm. There is a panel that provides a method for logging out of the window manager. The twm environment is sparse, fast and devoid of distractions.
NetBSD 8.0 -- The twm interface
(full image size: 10kB, resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
Software management
NetBSD ships with a fairly standard collection of command line tools and manual pages, but otherwise it is a fairly minimal platform. If we want to run network services, have access to a web browser, or use a word processor we are going to need to install more software. There are two main approaches to installing new packages. The first, and easier approach, is to use the pkgin package manager. The pkgin utility works much the same way APT or DNF work in the Linux world, or as pkg works on FreeBSD. We can search for software by name, install or remove items. I found pkgin worked well, though its output can be terse. My only complaint with pkgin is that it does not handle "close enough" package names. For example, if I tried to run "pkgin install vlc" or "pkgin install firefox" I would quickly be told these items did not exist. But a more forgiving package manager will realize items like vlc2 or firefox45 are available and offer to install those.
The pkgin tool installs new programs in the /usr/pkg/bin directory. Depending on your configuration and shell, this location may not be in your user's path, and it will be helpful to adjust your PATH variable accordingly.
The other common approach to acquiring new software is to use the pkgsrc framework. I have talked about using pkgsrc before and I will skip the details. Basically, we can download a collection of recipes for building popular open source software and run a command to download and install these items from their source code. Using pkgsrc basically gives us the same software as using pkgin would, but with some added flexibility on the options we use.
Once new software has been installed, it may need to be enabled and activated, particularly if it uses (or is) a background service. New items can be enabled in the /etc/rc.conf file and started or stopped using the service command. This works about the same as the service command on FreeBSD and most non-systemd Linux distributions.
NetBSD 8.0 -- The Fluxbox interface and application menu
(full image size: 11kB, resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
Hardware
I found that, when logged into the twm environment, NetBSD used about 130MB of RAM. This included kernel memory and all active memory. A fresh, Full install used up 1.5GB of disk space. I generally found NetBSD ran well in both VirtualBox and on my desktop computer. The system was quick and stable. I did have trouble getting a higher screen resolution in both environments. NetBSD does not offer VirtualBox add-on modules. There are NetBSD patches for VirtualBox out there, but there is some manual work involved in getting them working. When running on my desktop computer I think the resolution issue was one of finding and dealing with the correct video driver. Screen resolution aside, NetBSD performed well and detected all my hardware.
Personal projects
Since NetBSD provides users with a small, core operating system without many utilities if we want to use NetBSD for something we need to have a project in mind. I had four mini projects in mind I wanted to try this week: install a desktop environment, enable file sharing for computers on the local network, test multimedia (video, audio and YouTube capabilities), and set up a ZFS volume for storage.
I began with the desktop. Specifically, I followed the same tutorial I used three years ago to try to set up the Xfce desktop. While Xfce and its supporting services installed, I was unable to get a working desktop out of the experience. I could get the Xfce window manager working, but not the entire session. This tutorial worked beautifully with NetBSD 7.0, but not with version 8.0. Undeterred, I switched gears and installed Fluxbox instead. This gave me a slightly more powerful graphical environment than what I had before with twm while maintaining performance. Fluxbox ran without any problems, though its application menu was automatically populated with many programs which were not actually installed.
Next, I tried installing a few multimedia applications to play audio and video files. Here I ran into a couple of interesting problems. I found the music players I installed would play audio files, but the audio was quite slow. It always sounded like a cassette tape dragging. When I tried to play a video, the entire graphical session would crash, taking me back to the login screen. When I installed Firefox, I found I could play YouTube videos, and the video played smoothly, but again the audio was unusually slow.
NetBSD 8.0 -- Running the Firefox web browser
(full image size: 139kB, resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
I set up two methods of sharing files on the local network: OpenSSH and FTP. NetBSD basically gives us OpenSSH for free at install time and I added an FTP server through the pkgin package manager which worked beautifully with its default configuration.
I experimented with ZFS support a little, just enough to confirm I could create and access ZFS volumes. ZFS seems to work on NetBSD just as well, and with the same basic features, as it does on FreeBSD and mainstream Linux distributions. I think this is a good feature for the portable operating system to have since it means we can stick NetBSD on nearly any networked computer and use it as a NAS.
Conclusions
NetBSD, like its close cousins (FreeBSD and OpenBSD) does not do a lot of hand holding or automation. It offers a foundation that will run on most CPUs and we can choose to build on that foundation. I mention this because, on its own, NetBSD does not do much. If we want to get something out of it, we need to be willing to build on its foundation - we need a project. This is important to keep in mind as I think going into NetBSD and thinking, "Oh I'll just explore around and expand on this as I go," will likely lead to disappointment. I recommend figuring out what you want to do before installing NetBSD and making sure the required tools are available in the operating system's repositories.
Some of the projects I embarked on this week (using ZFS and setting up file sharing) worked well. Others, like getting multimedia support and a full-featured desktop, did not. Given more time, I'm sure I could find a suitable desktop to install (along with the required documentation to get it and its services running), or customize one based on one of the available window managers. However, any full featured desktop is going to require some manual work. Media support was not great. The right players and codecs were there, but I was not able to get audio to play smoothly.
My main complaint with NetBSD relates to my struggle to get some features working to my satisfaction: the documentation is scattered. There are four different sections of the project's website for documentation (FAQs, The Guide, manual pages and the wiki). Whatever we are looking for is likely to be in one of those, but which one? Or, just as likely, the tutorial we want is not there, but is on a forum or blog somewhere. I found that the documentation provided was often thin, more of a quick reference to remind people how something works rather than a full explanation.
As an example, I found a couple of documents relating to setting up a firewall. One dealt with networking NetBSD on a LAN, another explored IPv6 support, but neither gave an overview on syntax or a basic guide to blocking all but one or two ports. It seemed like that information should already be known, or picked up elsewhere.
Newcomers are likely to be a bit confused by software management guides for the same reason. Some pages refer to using a tool called pkg_add, others use pkgsrc and its make utility, others mention pkgin. Ultimately, these tools each give approximately the same result, but work differently and yet are mentioned almost interchangeably. I have used NetBSD before a few times and could stumble through these guides, but new users are likely to come away confused.
One quirk of NetBSD, which may be a security feature or an inconvenience, depending on one's point of view, is super user programs are not included in regular users' paths. This means we need to change our path if we want to be able to run programs typically used by root. For example, shutdown and mount are not in regular users' paths by default. This made checking some things tricky for me.
Ultimately though, NetBSD is not famous for its convenience or features so much as its flexibility. The operating system will run on virtually any processor and should work almost identically across multiple platforms. That gives NetBSD users a good deal of consistency across a range of hardware and the chance to experiment with a member of the Unix family on hardware that might not be compatible with Linux or the other BSDs.
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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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Visitor supplied rating
NetBSD has a visitor supplied average rating of: 5.8/10 from 9 review(s).
Have you used NetBSD? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Fedora networking benchmarked against FreeBSD, Ubuntu team makes plans for 19.04, Ubuntu 18.04 to get extended support, Endless OS offers improved desktop performance
For years there has been a general acceptance of the idea that the FreeBSD kernel uses networking code which is more mature and higher performing than its Linux counterpart. Matteo Croce set out to test this idea, putting Fedora 29 up against FreeBSD 11.2 to see how each would perform in a number of networking scenarios. "I work on the networking subsystem of the Linux kernel and I find networks rather fascinating. Often I read statements about the FreeBSD networking stack being faster and more mature than the Linux counterpart, but I didn't find any comparative tests between the two OS, and I was so curious that I decided to do some tests myself." Croce walks us through the various configurations used and trouble-shooting steps introduced to make the test as fair as possible between the Linux and FreeBSD kernels.
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The development process for Ubuntu 19.04 is just getting started, but already some key information on the underlying system has been published. Matthias Klose has sent out an e-mail detailing the Python, Perl and OpenSSL versions to be featured in the next version of Ubuntu. Klose also has some guidelines for dealing with merged-usr systems: "Merged-usr is now the default in Disco for new installations only. It means that /bin is a symlink to usr/bin, similarly /lib and /sbin. Existing systems, upon upgrade, will not be reconfigured for merged-usr. Care needs to be taken to ensure that both merged-usr and split-usr systems are continued to be supported. For example AppArmor rules may need to be adjusted to use {,/usr}/bin/touch and similar."
According to an article on ServerWatch, Canonical's CEO, Mark Shuttleworth, announced that Ubuntu 18.04 LTS would receive support for ten years, through to 2028. Originally Ubuntu 18.04 was scheduled to receive Ubuntu's typical five years of support and security updates. "'I'm delighted to announce that Ubuntu 18.04 will be supported for a full ten years,' Shuttleworth said. 'In part because of the very long time horizons in some of industries like financial services and telecommunications but also from IOT where manufacturing lines for example are being deployed that will be in production for at least a decade.'" The announcement from Shuttleworth has not yet been reflected on the Ubuntu website and the distribution's support schedule still shows Ubuntu 18.04 LTS reaching its end of life in April of 2023 at the time of writing.
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A while back the Endless OS distribution introduced automatic updates in order to make sure its users always had the latest available security updates. While this move made the distribution's desktop software more secure, it had an unfortunate side effect: the user interface would sometimes become unresponsive while security update were being installed. The Endless OS team is now addressing desktop performance by switching process schedulers and making the update process run with a lower priority. "In Endless OS, we switched the I/O scheduler from CFQ to BFQ, and set the I/O priority of the threads doing Flatpak downloads, installs and upgrades to 'idle'; this makes the interactive performance of the system while doing Flatpak operations indistinguishable from when the system is idle." Details on the change can be found in this blog post.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Tips and Tricks (by Jesse Smith) |
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Bash command line shortcuts and tips
The Bash shell is the default command line interface for most Linux distributions and available on virtually every Unix-like operating system. The Bash command line is well known for its flexibility and impressive list of features which make it a powerful tool. This week we will explore some Bash command line tips and shortcuts.
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I often find myself performing multiple actions on the same file. I might want to copy a file to another computer and then move my local copy to another directory. Rather than typing the file's name each time, we can use a shortcut that refers to the file. The shortcut takes the form of the exclamation mark, followed by a colon and the position of the command line argument we want to use again. Let's look at an example. Here, I use the scp program to copy a file to a remote location and then move my local copy of the file into my Archives folder:
scp myfile.tar.gz remote-computer:
mv myfile.tar.gz ~/Archives
Using the Bash shortcut mentioned above, we can substitute the name of the file for "!:1" in the second line.
scp myfile.tar.gz remote-computer:
mv !:1 ~/Archives
The "!:1" shortcut looks at the previous line and grabs the first parameter from the previous command to use. In this case it is the myfile.tar.gz filename.
In the following example, we use the same substitution to sync two folders and then move into the destination folder, ~/Backup:
rsync -av ~/Documents/ ~/Backup/
cd !:3
When the above two commands are finished, we will have changed to the ~/Backup directory. A related shortcut uses double-exclamation marks (!!) to repeat an entire command line. The following example displays "Hello World" twice:
echo Hello World
!!
One of the situations where we might want to use the !! shortcut is when running a command the first time fails because we did not prefix it with sudo to get elevated access. In the below example, we try to mount a USB drive and it fails. We then run the same command again with sudo to get the proper access:
mount /dev/sdc Disk
sudo !!
It is important to be very careful when mixing command line shortcuts with sudo. We could find ourselves very quickly executing the wrong command if we are not paying attention.
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Have you ever run a command which was going to take a long time and then realized you wanted to perform a second action once the first command was finished? Maybe we want to copy a local directory to a remote server and then delete our local copy to free up space. Typically we could do this by running rsync and rm, joined by the && symbols. The two & symbols together indicate the second half of the command should be performed only if the first part completed without errors:
rsync -a MyFiles/ remote-computer:MyFiles/ && rm -rf MyFiles
The above command would be useful because the rsync command would copy our files to the remote machine and then, if rsync finished successfully, the remove (rm) program would clean up the directory. If the files do not all copy successfully then the directory is not erased.
But what if we only wrote the first part of the command and hit Enter before filling in the second half?
rsync -a MyFiles/ remote-computer:MyFiles/
Now the synchronization is going to happen, but our local directory will not get cleaned up afterwards. We don't want to sit around and wait for the task to finish, so what can we do? We can use a few special commands to pause the current job (the rsync command) and then resume it with an addition. This takes place in three steps. First we run the original command:
rsync -a MyFiles/ remote-computer:MyFiles/
Now, once we realize the command is running and we did not type the second half, we can press Ctrl and Z (Ctrl+z) to pause the job. Now the rsync command is waiting in the background. We can resume the job and add on a new command by using the foreground (fg) command. In this case fg effectively sits in as a short-hand for the paused job.
fg && rm -rf MyFiles
The fg command unpauses the last job and brings the synchronization back into the foreground. It then tacks on the "&& rm -rf MyFiles" command which will clean up our local directory if, and only if, the rsync command succeeds.
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While the && set of symbols will cause a second command to run when the first one completes successfully, the double-pipes (||) symbols will cause a second command to run only if the first one fails. In the following example, we check for the existence of a made-up word in the system's dictionary. If the made-up word was found, it would be displayed on the screen. But if the word is not found, we report as much on the screen:
grep berowm /usr/share/dict/words || echo No match found
Running the above command results in "No match found" being displayed on the screen. This is because grep failed to find our pretend word (berowm) in the dictionary.
The && and || symbols can be used in the same command. Here we try to perform the same dictionary search and then play different sounds depending on whether the word is found:
grep berowm /usr/share/dict/words && mplayer success.ogg || mplayer failure.ogg
In the above example the grep command fails to find our word. Therefore Bash skips over the successful option and skips ahead to playing the failure.ogg audio file.
These are just a few of the shortcuts and helpful tricks Bash supplies. Let us know what one of your favourite time saving command line tricks is in the comments.
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More tips can be found in our Tips and Tricks archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Void 20181111
Void is an independently-developed, rolling-release Linux distribution with a number of interesting specifics, such as its own package management system (called XBPS), a native init system (runit), integration of LibreSSL instead of OpenSSL and support for several popular ARM-based devices. The latest release, version 20181111, provides a large number of updates and fixes: "New x86 and ARM images are now available. The x86 images come with multiple flavours: Base system, Enlightenment, Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce, LXDE and LXQt. As usual we also have a supply of ARM images including: BeagleBone and BeagleBone Black, Cubieboard 2, Odroid U2/U3, RaspberryPi (armv6), RaspberryPi 2/3 (armv7). Void also comes in musl C flavors, which use the musl C library, a lightweight alternative to the popular glibc library." Here is the brief release announcement.
Void 20181111 -- Running the Cinnamon desktop
(full image size: 59kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
deepin 15.8
A new version of deepin, a Debian-based distribution featuring the Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE), has been released. Version 15.8 brings a re-designed control centre, a full disk encryption installation option and various other improvements and bug fixes: "Compared with deepin 15.7, the ISO image size of deepin 15.8 has been reduced by 200 MB. The new release features newly designed control center, dock tray and boot theme, as well as improved native applications, hoping to bring users a more beautiful and efficient experience. Dock - fashion or efficient mode. In fashion mode, a hide/show button is added in the new designed dock tray, click it to hide the icons in tray area and save the dock space. And the power button is separated from the tray area to reduce the clicks and to avoid the function confusion. In efficient mode, the right corner is set to show desktop and the previous 'Show Desktop' icon is removed to meet user habits. In the new control center, the weather page, system widgets and bottom tools are removed and the layout is re-designed to improve the efficiency. What's more, the new control center is adaptive to different resolutions and languages." See the release announcement for further information and screenshots.
Slax 9.6.0
Tomáš Matějíček has announced the availability of a new release of Slax, a distribution formerly based on Slackware Linux, but recently re-designed and built on top of Debian's stable branch. The new version, Slax 9.6.0, is the latest build; it brings the usual round of security and bug-fix updates, including a fix to the PXE boot support: "Slax 9.0 released. I am happy to announce that a new version of Slax Linux is available for download. It features updates for all included packages, and fixes PXE boot support, so it is now possible to boot Slax over network again. There is also a 'pxe' script included, which you can execute on a running Slax to start a pxe server (it will auto-assign a random IP address from range 10.0.0.x). In order to download Slax, visit the newly redesigned website at www.slax.org. Enjoy the new release!" Here is the brief release announcement as published on the project's newly re-designed website.
Raspbian 2018-11-13
Simon Long has announced the availability of a new release of Raspbian, a Debian-based distribution for the Raspberry Pi single-board computers. One major change in this release is the addition of the VLC media player: "When I first joined Raspberry Pi, back in the dim and distant past (in reality 2014, but it does seem a long time ago now) and I started looking at Raspbian, I made a list of the additional features and applications that I thought it needed to be a 'complete' modern desktop operating system. Over the years, we've managed to tick off most of the items on that list, but one glaring omission has been nagging at me all this time: a decent media player. Windows has Windows Media Player, MacOS has QuickTime Player and iTunes, but we've had a big hole where something similar ought to be for Raspbian. It has been a common request on the forums and while we've had bits and pieces that do some of the job, we really wanted a nice GUI-based media player." See the release announcement for more details and screenshots.
Voyager Live 18.10
The Voyager Live team has announced a new version of their Ubuntu-based distribution. The new release, Voyager Live 18.10, switches from using the Xfce desktop to using GNOME Shell as the default interface. An English translation of the original French release announcement reads: "I present to you for the first time: Voyager - GE 18.10 based on the GNOME Shell desktop and Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish). Why GNOME Shell now? Because Voyager had abandoned the GNOME Shell desktop 10 years ago for Xfce, because of its youth and especially a lack of flexibility and extensions was problematic at the time. Now, after several tests, the conclusion is that part of the GNOME Shell system is again ergonomic, customizable and more flexible than it was in the beginning. So it was considered to make a version named GE for GNOME Shell." The new release offers nine months of support.
Voyager Live 18.10 -- Running the GNOME Shell desktop
(full image size: 277kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not 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 in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 1,127
- Total data uploaded: 22.1TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll |
Size and frequency of package updates
Downloading a steady stream of package updates, whether to acquire new features or security fixes, is a regular part of running any modern operating system. The size and frequency of new updates varies a lot from one distribution to the next. We would like to know how you feel about the rate of updates you receive? Do they tickle in at a comfortable rate, or do you feel as though your computer is drinking from a firehose?
You can see the results of our previous poll on Fedora's Silverblue in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Size and frequency of package updates
| My distro provides small and infrequent updates: | 104 (8%) |
| My distro provides small and frequent updates: | 668 (48%) |
| My distro provides large and infrequent updates: | 30 (2%) |
| My distro provides large and frequent updates: | 306 (22%) |
| My distro offers an experience in the middle: | 225 (16%) |
| My distro does not offer updates: | 11 (1%) |
| Other: | 35 (3%) |
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| DistroWatch.com News |
Distributions added to waiting list
- Bentoo. Bentoo is a Funtoo-based distribution with optional pre-configured GNOME and Plasma desktop editions.
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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, 26 November 2018. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. 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.
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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| Random Distribution | 
UberStudent
UberStudent was an Ubuntu-based distribution on a DVD designed for learning and teaching academic computing at the higher education and advanced secondary levels. UberStudent comes with software for everyday computing tasks, plus a core set of programs and features designed to teach and make easier the tasks and habits common to high-performing students of all academic disciplines. Lifelong learners, as well as any sort of knowledge worker, will equally benefit. UberStudent was supported by a free Moodle virtual learning environment.
Status: Discontinued
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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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0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
