DistroWatch Weekly |
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 813, 6 May 2019 |
Welcome to this year's 18th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Maintaining privacy and security is a tricky task in today's world where computers are almost always on-line and sharing data. Our operating systems are large, complex and often keeping track of what we do, and it can be challenging to keep our information safe. With that in mind, our Questions and Answers column talks about how to wipe the information and changes an application writes to the disk. We also ask for our readers' preferred methods of removing an application's data from the filesystem in our Opinion Poll. In our News section we discuss members of the Ubuntu 14.04 family, and related projects like Kubuntu and Linux Mint, reaching the end of their supported lives. Plus we share news that FreeBSD developers are testing managing their operating system's core files with the pkg package manager and share a call for help from the MX team in maintaining systemd-shim. We also link to an interview with Mandrake Linux founder Gaël Duval. First though we share a review of ROSA Fresh R11, a distribution which grew out of the Mandrake Linux family of projects and which continues to provide a modern, user-friendly desktop. We are also pleased to list the releases of the past week and share the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: ROSA Fresh R11
- News: Linux Mint 17 and Kubuntu 14.04 reach end of life, MX asks for help with systemd-shim, FreeBSD testing base updates through pkg, interview with Gaël Duval
- Questions and answers: Wiping web browser changes from the system
- Released last week: Fedora 30, KaOS 2019.04, SuperX 5.0
- Torrent corner: 4MLinux, Arch, ClearOS, Fatdog64, Fedora, FuguIta, GuixSD, KaOS, Live Raizo, Runtu, SparkyLinux, SuperX, SwagArch, Ultimate
- Opinion poll: Wiping an application's changes after use
- New distributions: Recalbox
- Reader comments
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Feature Story (by Robert Rijkhoff) |
ROSA Fresh R11
ROSA is one of a number of forks of the discontinued Mandriva distribution (another notable fork is Mageia). Apart from a free desktop operating system ROSA also produces various enterprise server editions and a number of commercial solutions for "top-secret related data". For this review I tried the free home edition.
Installation
The first hurdle I had to overcome was downloading an ISO image. ROSA originates from Russia and, when I first visited rosalinux.ru/en I found that the English section of the website is rather limited. For instance, the main page for the home edition shows the release notes for old ROSA releases (R8 and R9) and the download link took me to a page written in Russian. Luckily, the names of the available desktop environments on the download page are in English, so getting the right ISO image isn't too difficult.
About halfway through my trial I stumbled upon a separate ROSA domain for the English-speaking market: en.rosalinux.com. The downloads section on that domain is in English but it doesn't list ROSA Fresh R11 (the most recent version is R10). Similarly, the most recent news article is from December 2017. It appears the website is no longer maintained (which might also explain why the domain doesn't have an SSL certificate).
ROSA offers ISOs for four different desktop environments, and for each version you can download a 32- or 64-bit image. Interestingly, the desktop environment that is listed first is KDE4 (which had its last stable release in August 2015). KDE Plasma is listed next, followed by LXQt and Xfce.
I opted for the 64-bit Plasma ISO, which is 2.2GB in size. Booting from the ISO image presents you with a graphical boot menu in which the first option is "Boot from local drive". That option tries to boot your computer's existing operating system, which in my case resulted in a "boot failed" error. It seems odd that not booting ROSA is the default option - when you boot from an ISO you presumably want to test and/or install the image.
After rebooting my laptop I next tried to run ROSA as a live environment. Everything worked as expected and I quite like ROSA's custom theme ("ROSA Desktop Fresh"). It is clean and somewhat traditional, with a single panel at the bottom of the screen. The application menu can be launched either by clicking on the ROSA logo in the panel or by hitting the super key. The menu itself lists applications in a traditional tree and includes a search field that automatically gets focus (so you can start searching the menu straight away).
ROSA R11 -- ROSA's live desktop environment
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The installer can be launched from within the live environment. The first step is partitioning the hard drive (perhaps best to get the most scary part out of the way first). You can use existing partitions, let ROSA take over the entire disk or create custom partitions. When you let ROSA eat the whole disk you will get a swap partition (4GB, in my case), a 20GB root partition and a home partition that spans the remaining space. Both the root and home partitions use the ext4 file system.
One thing I didn't notice when I first installed ROSA is that the option to encrypt your hard drive is only available when you create custom partitions. As I was installing ROSA on a laptop I wanted to use encryption and I therefore reinstalled ROSA shortly after the installer had finished. The custom partitioning was fairly intuitive: I could create a boot partition and physical LVM volume in which I could set up my swap partition and XFS partitions for root and home.
ROSA R11 -- Disk partitioning
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After the partitioning has been done ROSA starts copying files to the hard drive. While the installer is busy you can watch a handful of slides. Most distros use such slides to tell new users where to find help or what applications they might want to install but ROSA simply displays slogans such as "A Russian Linux developer company" and "Russian distro of European origin".
You next need to choose where you want to install the boot loader (the default option is likely to be correct) and set the number of seconds after which the default image will be loaded (the default is five). On the remaining screens you set the root password, create a user account and choose if you want to enable CUPS, Samba and SSH. I found that the installer strikes a good balance between keeping things simple and offering various advanced options.
First impressions
ROSA's boot sequence is mostly graphical. The GRUB menu uses ROSA's branding and if you chose to encrypt your hard drive you are presented with a pretty input field to enter your pass phrase. The boot process isn't all eye candy though; shortly after Plymouth (the application that provides a graphical boot process) was launched I got lots of white text on a black background. Once I got to the login screen everything was prettified again.
The login screen gives you all the usual options (select desktop environment, power off/suspend, etc.) and you will see a pleasant animation while the desktop loads. One thing I like about the login screen is that your brightness and volume keys work as expected. Some desktop environments still lack that feature, which means that you need to be logged in to change the screen brightness or adjust the volume.
The desktop you get after installing ROSA is almost exactly the one you saw in the live environment. The only difference is that the install icon on the desktop has been replaced by a Home icon that pre-dates the material design era but other than that everything is the same. As said, I like the look of ROSA's Plasma desktop: it looks traditional and functional. The one thing I am not sure about are the Windows-like window controls. For those who prefer a more modern look and feel, both the Breeze and Oxygen themes are available.
Shortly after logging in I also encountered the first of many minor annoyances: a notification appeared at the top of the screen to tell me that I should enter my LUKS password to decrypt the hard drive. The warning clearly was nonsensical as I wouldn't have been able to use ROSA had I not decrypted the hard drive during the boot process. Yet, this warning would keep popping up regularly during my trial.
ROSA R11 -- The local system message service wants me to enter my LUKS password
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A more pleasant surprise was that the screen saver only kicks in after 60 minutes of inactivity. Every other distro I have tried sets the default to something like five minutes, which I personally find mildly irritating.
Software
ROSA's selection of pre-installed software is pragmatic. You mostly get KDE/Qt applications, such as the Dolphin file manager, Clementine music player, Kwrite text editor and Kdenlive video editor. Other applications are presumably included because they are considered to be the best tool for the job: you get the Firefox and Chromium web browsers, the GIMP (for image editing) and the full LibreOffice suite. You also get multimedia support out of the box, including Flash plugins for Firefox and Chromium. I am not too keen on the latter but I was pleased that I could play any media file without having to hunt for codecs.
The Plasma desktop and most applications are from late 2018. For instance, ROSA ships with Plasma 5.14.4 and LibreOffice 6.0.7 (both released in November 2018). The Linux kernel is version 4.15.0 (January 2018) and systemd is at version 230 (March 2017). I am not sure why the kernel and init system are that old - my best guess is that it is a result of ROSA being focused primarily on enterprise customers.
I should mention that ROSA also ships three of its own applications: ROSA Media Player is a fork of MPlayer, ROSA ImageWriter is a basic tool for writing ISO images to a USB device and ROSA Freeze is an application that is described in the repository as "an old file compressor and decompressor that is not in common use anymore". It actually appears that the other two ROSA applications are also rather old - both haven't had any updates for several years.
ROSA R11 -- The ROSA Media Player
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Software management
Software can be managed via Rpmdrake or the command line. Rpmdrake does the job but isn't anywhere near as user friendly as what other distros nowadays call an "app centre" or "software boutique". Rpmdrake organises packages in categories and you can limit searches to types of packages such as "Packages with GUI" or "Meta packages". You can get more information about an individual package by clicking on its name and you can select packages for installation by ticking a box.
Searching for packages can be a little awkward. You often get a very large number of results, which made it difficult to find what I was looking for (in particular if you are not quite sure of the exact name). Other times searches returned no results - for instance, a search for "password" doesn't find a single password manager, even though applications such as KeePassX are available. I couldn't find a way to search for strings in both the package name and description, and selecting 'Help' from the 'Help' menu returned an "unknown error".
ROSA's repositories are quite large - any package I wanted to install was available. Installing software didn't always work though. For instance, I was unable to install VLC because one of its dependencies couldn't be resolved and the Tor browser couldn't be launched because of of a missing module. Other software would install but come with unwelcome surprises. When I installed DigiKam I also got an application called Marble (I'm not sure why a "virtual globe" is a dependency of a photo manager) and the KMail email client came with 175 dependencies and added six different entries in the application menu.
ROSA R11 -- Marble is one of DigiKam's many dependencies
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I was keen to manage software via the command line but there I encountered another issue: I had no idea what package manager ROSA uses. ROSA ships with very little documentation and, as already noted, its website has a rather limited English language section. Only after I got the bright idea to check what package manager Mandriva used did I learn that ROSA uses the urpmi package manager. I was not familiar with urpmi but after a bit of reading I was able to avoid Rpmdrake.
As far as I can tell ROSA has no support for Snap and Flatpak packages. I could install some simple AppImage packages but larger applications such as DigiKam, Geany and VLC would invariable fail to launch.
While on the subject of software management, ROSA shows a notification when software updates are available. Updates are applied via Rpmdrake and I encountered no issues with system updates. During my trial I got updates for about 50 packages, all of which were applied quickly and cleanly. A nice touch is that Rpmdrake tells you that you should reboot your system when the kernel has been updated.
ROSA R11 -- Updating software via Rpmdrake
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ROSA uses its own software sources. The list of repositories includes "Main", "Testing", "Non-free" and "Restricted" repositories. As far as I can tell ROSA only uses mirrors in Russia (my system gets all its software from mirror.rosalab.ru/rosa/rosa2016.1/repository/ and the only alternative mirror I could find was a yandex.ru repository).
Quirks and annoyances
Earlier I mentioned that I ran into a few annoyances. None of them were major issues but, together, they made using ROSA not as smooth as I had hoped it would be. To give a handful of examples:
- SELinux is installed but the kernel has been compiled without SELinux support. I suspect that ROSA's enterprise editions do ship with a kernel that supports SELinux, though I have no way of telling.
- When I connected an external encrypted drive ROSA didn't prompt me for the password to unlock the drive. The only way to decrypt the drive was by navigating to it in the Dolphin file manager. Similarly, the pass command line password manager kept asking me for my GPG2 password every time I used it - on other distros I have to enter the password just once during a session.
- When you boot ROSA it will automatically connect to your wi-fi but it will only do so after you have entered your KWallet password. In the process you get three notifications: one to say that your wireless network is deactivated, one to say that "no secrets were provided" for your wireless interface and, after entering your KWallet password, a notification to say that your wireless network has been activated. I would much prefer ROSA to simply connect to the wireless network I had configured.
- Notifications sometimes stay on the screen until you give them focus (by clicking on the notification) and then clicking somewhere else (or hitting the Esc key). Other times notifications are displayed for a few seconds.
ROSA R11 -- Checking SELinux support
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Some of these issues are related to security and encryption, which doesn't appear to be a first-class citizen in ROSA. The other issues I encountered were likely to be Plasma-specific. I suspect there may be a setting in Plasma that alters the behaviour of, say, notifications. For new users, though, finding settings in Plasma can be akin to Hansel and Gretel looking for bread crumbs in the woods. For instance, I found an "Event Notification and Actions" menu by searching for "notifications" in the main menu. The window lists "event sources" such as "Archive Mail Agent", "KDE e-mail client" and "KMail" and for each source you are presented with a "State", "Title" and (sometimes) a "Description". I honestly don't understand most of the settings and gave up trying to tweak how notifications are displayed.
Conclusions
From what I have read about ROSA I gather the distro's aim is to be a user-friendly system for everyday users. If that is indeed what ROSA aims for then it largely achieves that goal. It does have some rough edges though; there is plenty of polish and a lot to like but it never took long for some cracks to appear.
For me, the main area where ROSA fell short is software management. Rpmdrake is awkward to use and the urpmi package manager is likely to be daunting for most new users. A software centre with some curated applications and/or support for package formats such as Snaps and Flatpaks would be a welcome improvement.
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Hardware used for this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Lenovo Thinkpad X220 with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Core i3-2520M, 2.5GHz
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Wireless network adaptor: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205
- Wired network adaptor: Intel 82579M
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Visitor supplied rating
ROSA has a visitor supplied average rating of: 7.8/10 from 26 review(s).
Have you used ROSA? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Linux Mint 17 and Kubuntu 14.04 reach its end of life, MX asks for help with systemd-shim, FreeBSD testing base updates through pkg, interview with Gaël Duval
In their monthly newsletter, the Linux Mint team reported that Linux Mint 17.x has reached the end of its supported life. The newsletter links to a tutorial which guides readers through testing newer versions of the distribution on their hardware and upgrading to a supported release.
The newsletter also mentions work being done to make setting up network shares easier, using the nemo-share utility. Now nemo-share will help the user set up firewall rules that will allow Samba to work, check directory permissions and warn the user about potential problems if the user's home directory is encrypted.
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One of MX Linux's interesting features is the ability to run either the systemd init software or SysV init - the user can select which one at boot time. Part of what allows this approach to work is a package called systemd-shim which has recently been dropped from MX's parent distribution, Debian. "Our understanding is that the current state of systemd-shim does not work correctly with the version of systemd in Debian Buster, so we are exploring options for the future of MX. To that end, one thing we want to explore is the possibility of continuing development of systemd-shim (and whatever systemd patches may be necessary for the systemd-shim to work properly)." The MX project is looking for help in maintaining the systemd-shim package.
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Kris Moore has published an update on work being done to handle updating FreeBSD's base operating system using the pkg package manager. Unlike most Linux distributions, FreeBSD separates the core operating system from third-party packages and uses different tools to keep the separate pieces up to date. The new system, which is already used by TrueOS, would allow FreeBSD administrators to use one tool to keep all software on the system up to date. Moore put out a call for testing (CFT) to see how well the new system works: "I'm pleased to announce a CFT for builds of FreeBSD 12-stable and 13-current using 'TrueOS-inspired' packaged base. These are stock FreeBSD images which will allow users to perform all updating via the pkg command directly. Rather than trying to answer all questions in this announcement, we've created a FAQ page with more details. Please refer to this page, and let us know if you have additional questions that we can include on that page going forward."
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The Kubuntu team has published an announcement reminding people that Kubuntu 14.04 LTS (and related projects in the Ubuntu 14.04 family) have reached the end of their supported lives. "As the newly released Kubuntu 19.04 makes its way into the world, inevitably other things come to their end. Kubuntu 14.04 LTS was released in April 2014, and reaches End of Life for support on 25th April 2019. All Kubuntu users should therefore switch to a newer supported release. Upgrades from 14.04 to a newer release are not advised, so please install a fresh copy of 18.04 or newer after running a backup of all your data."
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Gaël Duval is the creator of Mandrake Linux, which later became Mandriva and was the base for many modern spin-offs, including ROSA, OpenMandriva and Mageia. Duval is also the creator of /e/, a smart phone operating system that strips out Google applications and services from Android. Duval gave an interview to FOSS Force in which he discussed Mandrake Linux and his current project to make smart phones more pleasant and more secure to use. "At this point it appears as if the phone is ready for it's prime time launch. According to the project's website, the OS can now be installed on over 80 different devices. By default, the phone now comes with at least 17 apps pre-installed by default - with none of them being Google apps that are normally pre-installed in Android. Included in the mix: a calendar and task manager that can be configured to function together, a maps app that's intended as a replacement for Google Maps, an e-mail client forked from K-9 Mail, and an app for recording screen and voice."
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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) |
Wiping web browser changes from the system
Cleaning-up-after-surfing asks: I want to set up my web browser in a virtual machine and have the VM wipe any changes clean when it reboots. Is there a way to do this automatically?
DistroWatch answers: There are a few ways you can approach resetting your environment after using a web browser. I will cover three options which I think will all accomplish what you want to do.
To do specifically what you asked, reset a virtual machine that runs a web browser, you can use virtual machine snapshots. On VirtualBox, for example, you can select a virtual machine, go into the Machine Tools menu and select Snapshots. You can then click the Add button to create a snapshot of your virtual machine as it is now. Once this has been done, you can use the virtual machine, browse the web, create files and so on. When you shut down the virtual machine, you can click on your original snapshot and click the Restore button. This rolls back your virtual machine to its previous state.
This approach is not entirely automated, but it does require just a few clicks. An unfortunate down side is any software updates for the guest operating system will also get rolled back. If you use the guest system a lot, this will make it increasingly vulnerable over time.
The second approach I would suggest is to set up a virtual machine with an operating system that has a guest account. A guest account is wiped clean after the user signs out, so any changes (including those made while browsing the web) are erased.
On the positive side of things, this approach requires less work and your virtual machine can still receive security updates. The down side is you need to use an operating system that enables a guest account or you need to set up such a guest account manually.
A third approach, and the one I recommend the most, is to not use a virtual machine at all. Running a virtual machine to browse the web will use a lot of extra resources and create another operating system to maintain. Instead, I would suggest you use a sandbox tool, like Firejail. Sandboxes require very few resources and can be set up to wipe any changes your web browser makes when you close the application. This requires fewer resources, less time to set up, and you will not need to revert snapshots manually.
To use Firejail to run a web browser and then clean up afterwards, run Firejail with the "--private" flag. For instance:
firejail --private firefox
The Firefox browser will run normally, let you bookmark pages, download files and, when the browser is closed, everything you have done is erased, resetting everything back to normal. Of course if you do not want everything to be reset, you can launch the browser normally, without Firejail.
While this third approach does not use a virtual machine, it is easier to work with and requires less effort to set up and use. It should also run faster since your computer does not need to spend resources running a second operating system in the virtual machine.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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Released Last Week |
Elive 3.0.4
Samuel F. Baggen has announced the availability of a new stable version of Elive, a desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Debian 7 "Wheezy", with a customised Enlightenment 17 desktop. This is likely the last update in the Elive 3 series as the focus of the developer has shifted to the next release which will be based on Debian 10 "Buster". "Elive 3.0 has been updated and it will probably be the last updated build for the 3.0 release. This updated release includes multiple internal improvements that have been developed for the next version of Elive and I backported these improvements to 3.0. There are too many internal code improvements to list all the details but I can at least summarize some important points. Persistence - overall improvements for saving the desktop configurations based on different hardware profiles and improvements for the option to encrypt persistence; Elive Health tool - improvements for the critical temperature detection feature; USB recorder tool - now supports compressed images; Sound - support for PulseAudio in the Elive internal mixer tool, in case the user installs it...." Here is the full release announcement.
KaOS 2019.04
KaOS 2019.04 has been released. KaOS is a highly KDE-centric, rolling-release distribution that uses Arch's Pacman for package management tasks. The new version brings an updated toolchain together with the usual round of package and library upgrades: "A nice way of celebrating the sixth anniversary of this distribution is releasing KaOS 2019.04 with fully updated Midna theme, a new toolchain and Qt 5.12.3. As always with this rolling distribution, you will find the very latest packages for the Plasma Desktop, this includes Frameworks 5.57.0, Plasma 5.14.4 and KDE Applications 19.04.0. All built on Qt 5.12.3. A new glibc 2.29, GCC 8.3.0 and Binutils 2.32 toolchain is among the many changes to the base of the system. Updates to systemd, LLVM, MariaDB, Protobuf, MESA, Polkit and Qt required the rebuild of a large percentage of the KaOS repositories. The removal of Python2 from the KaOS repositories is ongoing. Many more packages are now build on Python3 exclusively. Highlights of KDE Applications 19.04 include an extensive re-write of Kdenlive as more than 60% of its internals have changed, improving its overall architecture." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information, screenshots and known issues.
Fedora 30
Matthew Miller has announced the release of Fedora 30. The new version of the Red Hat-sponsored distribution ships with GNOME 3.32, PHP 7.3 and version 9 of the GNU Compiler Collection. There is also a new feature called Linux System Roles to help administrators set up modules through Ansible: "Fedora Workstation features GNOME 3.32 - the latest release of this popular desktop environment. GNOME 3.32 features an updated visual style, including the user interface, the icons, and the desktop itself. New to Fedora Server are Linux System Roles - a collection of roles and modules executed by Ansible to assist Linux admins in the configuration of common GNU/Linux subsystems. No matter what variant of Fedora you use, you're getting the latest the open source world has to offer. GCC 9, Bash 5.0, and PHP 7.3 are among the many updated packages in Fedora 30. We're excited for you to try it out." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement.
Fedora 30 -- Running the GNOME desktop
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ClearOS 7.6.0
ClearOS, a CentOS-based distributions designed for servers, has been updated to version 7.6.0: "ClearFoundation and ClearCenter are proud to announce the general release of ClearOS 7.6.0. This is a minor release of ClearOS; it focuses on important security updates as well as new applications in the ClearCenter Marketplace. New Features included in the 7.6.0 release and since 7.5.0: NextCloud for business; annotation libraries and support for some Cyrus annotations; iLO management (iLO 5); AMIBIOS management (specifically for the HPE MicroServer Gen10). New upstream features and improvements include: additional container support with new tools such as Podman (a container management tool) that complements the previously released tools such as Buildah and Skopeo; policy-based decryption (PBD); GnuTLS support hardware security module (HSM); OpenSSL now works with CPACF; nftables enhancements and the nft command for greater packet filtering insight; OpenSC support for new smart cards; greater support for kdump, network and timesync; integration of Extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF)...." See the release announcement for further details.
SuperX 5.0
Wrishiraj Kaushik has announced the release of SuperX, a desktop distribution based on KDE neon. The new version, SuperX 5.0 "Lamarr", offers a number of visual changes and updates: "With this release, we highlight our approach to innovation, while maintaining our friendliness and focus on design and beauty. Keeping the focus on design Like our previous release, we have tried to make Lamarr a beautiful desktop with design elements being minimal and clean. It features a contrasting and sharp design theme inspired and derived from the Nitrux desktop. In Lamarr, we have simplified Plasma 5 by removing many controls which may confuse the everyday user. New welcome screen: Lamarr features a re-designed welcome screen with a heartbeat animated logo. The desktop: The desktop design has been kept traditional and minimal with modern design cues featuring a white color scheme by default. The panel: The Plasma 5 panel has been modified to keep a minimal set of configuration options, which we feel is helpful to new Linux users, who may otherwise get overwhelmed by the power of customization Plasma offers out of the box." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement.
SuperX 5.0 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
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GuixSD 1.0.0
The Guix System Distribution (GuixSD) is a Linux-based, stateless operating system that is built around the GNU Guix package manager. The operating system provides advanced package management features such as transactional upgrades and roll-backs, reproducible build environments. The project's new release is GuixSD 1.0.0 which introduces a new system installer, easier keyboard and X.Org configuration and over 1,000 new packages were added to the distribution's repositories. "What's new since 0.16.0: For those who've been following along, a great many things have changed over the last 5 months since the 0.16.0 release—99 people contributed over 5,700 commits during that time! Here are the highlights: The ISO installation image now runs a cute text-mode graphical installer—big thanks to Mathieu Othacehe for writing it and to everyone who tested it and improved it! It is similar in spirit to the Debian installer. Whether you're a die-hard GNU/Linux hacker or a novice user, you'll certainly find that this makes system installation much less tedious than it was! The installer is fully translated to French, German, and Spanish. The new VM image better matches user expectations: whether you want to tinker with Guix System and see what it's like, or whether you want to use it as a development environment, this VM image should be more directly useful." Further details can be found in the release announcement.
Fatdog64 Linux 810
Fatdog64 Linux is a small, desktop, 64-bit Linux distribution. Originally created as a derivative of Puppy Linux with additional applications. The project has published a new version, Fatdog64 Linux 801, which is mostly a bug-fix and maintenance release following version 800. However, the distribution also includes some new features: "xtrlock to lock screen without blanking (e.g. for watching movies etc). magdock: home-grown screen magnifier by SFR. UExtract and PackIt are now included in the base by popular demand. JWM now uses dynamic menu (sort of) using jwm-xdgmenu. LXC sandbox now supports network (proxy ARP or NAT), and more secure desktop emulation. UML sandbox now supports NAT (previously only supported proxy ARP). lxqt-panel-qt5 now includes temp sensor. VLC: ability to stream-out to chromecast devices, and stream-in from DLNA/NAS. Various infrastructure changes to better support running other WMs, other desktops (other than Rox), and nvidia optimus. efiboot.img/grub2-efi: support UEFI PXE booting (thanks to gcmartin's insistence)." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
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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: 1,391
- Total data uploaded: 25.3TB
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Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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Opinion Poll |
Wiping an application's changes after use
In our Questions and Answers column we discussed methods a person can use to erase any changes a program makes from the system. Common methods for doing this include virtual machines, containers and sandboxes, as well as separate guest accounts. We would like to know if you use any of these methods to prevent an application from changing the filesystem, whether it is for security, privacy or to avoid damage from untrusted applications.
You can see the results of our previous poll on using a web proxy in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Wiping an application's changes after use
I use a virtual machine to wipe changes: | 95 (10%) |
I use a container to wipe changes: | 22 (2%) |
I use a sandbox to erase changes: | 49 (5%) |
I use a guest account to avoid lasting changes: | 28 (3%) |
I use a live disc to prevent lasting changes: | 132 (14%) |
I use SELinux/AppArmor to block changes: | 25 (3%) |
I use another method: | 101 (10%) |
I do not block application changes to my filesystem: | 514 (53%) |
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DistroWatch.com News |
Distributions added to waiting list
- Recalbox. Recalbox is a Linux distribution for playing classic video games. It ships with the Retroarch emulation software and the Kodi media centre.
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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, 13 May 2019. 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 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 |
Freedows
Freedows was a Brazilian commercial distribution based on Fedora Core. Several editions are available, including Lite, Standard, Thin Client, Professional, and SMB. Among them only the Lite edition was available for free download via BitTorrent.
Status: Discontinued
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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!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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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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