 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 942, 8 November 2021 |
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Welcome to this year's 44th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
MX Linux is a Debian-based project which provides a mid-weight, desktop distribution with a collection of custom configuration utilities. The project has attracted attention in recent years for its unusual desktop layout and out of the box functionality. This week Jeff Siegel takes MX Linux 21 for a test drive and reports on his impressions of the distribution. In our News section we share improvements coming to the Linux Mint project along with changes to Mint's Firefox package. We also talk about changes to Haiku's driver compatibility and link to an open forum held by the Rocky Linux team. The Rocky developers talked about what makes their distribution special, how it came to be, and their relationship with other members of the Red Hat family of distributions. Then we discuss kernel efficiency and what factors to consider when trying to measure kernel performance. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. One of last week's releases was Fedora 35, a project which uses a predictable (if often flexible) schedule. Do you like it when distributions run on a fixed schedule or do you prefer a "wait until it's ready" approach to new versions? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: MX Linux 21
- News: Mint polishes desktop tools, Rocky Linux team answers questions, Haiku makes kernel build adjustment
- Questions and answers: Comparing kernel efficiency
- Released last week: Fedora 35, Voyager Live 21.10
- Torrent corner: Arch, Archman, Fedora, FuguIta, KDE neon, LibreELEC, PrimTux, Voyager Live
- Upcoming releases: FreeBSD 12.3 RC1
- Opinion poll: Predictable release schedules
- New distributions: Itd OS, DragonOS, Potabi
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (13MB) and MP3 (10MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jeff Siegel) |
MX Linux 21
There is no reason why MX Linux 21, the newest version of yet another of Linux's seemingly infinite number of community-based operating systems, should be this well done. This is, after all, a mostly volunteer operation, just like all the other of Linux's seemingly infinite number of community-based operating systems.
But it is that well done.
That MX 21, codenamed Wildflower, is such a joy to use speaks volumes about Linux and its potential on the desktop, the dedication of its users, and why so many of us never want to boot a Big Tech operating system ever again. It's not so much that MX 21 just works, but that its developers have made a serious effort to identify what would make it work even better.
That means terrific documentation, a surprisingly effective installer, and the much-ballyhooed MX-Tools. In this, it tries to be self-contained; that is, you won't have to search for a Deb package file on the Internet to add something that you need because MX already has software for almost every contingency. Plus, MX is so tweakable that you'll probably get tired of tweaking it. How does 25 installed themes sound?
MX Linux 21 -- MX Tweak
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A distinguished history
MX has its roots in users of the discontinued MEPIS Linux distro, as well as antiX, a top-notch, low-end hardware distro that is similar to Puppy Linux, but can be installed on a hard drive without making your brain hurt. The two groups found common ground and released the first MX, MX-14, in 2014. It has always been based on the Debian Stable branch and has always featured the Xfce desktop. MX-21 uses Debian Bullseye, Xfce 4.16, and the 5.10 kernel, in both 32- and 64-bit versions. There are also 32- and 64-bit Fluxbox versions (which were added for the first time for this release) as well as a 64-bit KDE version. MX-21 is supported until June 2024.
I purposely used a 7-year-old laptop - a Dell Inspiron 11 3147 with a touchscreen - to test the 64-bit Xfce desktop. That's because MX describes itself as a mid-weight operating system, so it's not as frugal as antiX but should still be able to work on less modern hardware than Ubuntu or Fedora. As such, the system specs call for at least 1GB of RAM (2GB recommended), 6GB of hard drive space (20GB recommended), and a "modern" Intel i686 or AMD processor.
In this trial everything worked out of the box, including the touchscreen. Which, frankly, was surprising, given Linux's consistent inconsistency with touchscreens. The older processor slowed down boot times, as well as how long some software took to load, including Firefox. But it was still quicker with Firefox by three of four seconds than on my Windows 10 box with its Intel Core 2 Duo processor from 2008.
MX Linux 21 -- The Xfce desktop
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There also wasn't too much trouble running MX-21 in VirtualBox, save for Firefox. The system loaded quickly, I was able to resize the windows and run through a variety of tasks, including testing LibreOffice, with ease. Then I loaded the browser. The CPU monitor showed 100% and the virtual instance crashed. Similarly, the live boot works as it should - a little laggy at times, but nothing to cause you to bang the keyboard in frustration. And it remembered my Wi-Fi settings after installation.
MX Linux 21 -- Running Firefox
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MX-21 uses its own installer, so you'll need to pay more attention than if you're used to something like Ubuntu's click-and-forget Ubiquity. That means several things: First, read the instructions on the left side of the installer, which explain what to do if you need to deal with UEFI. Second, there's an option to set up a user and as well as a root password, which might confuse those who just want to set up a one-person system, and which could lead to locking themselves out of root. Finally, the installer asks how to deal with the home and root partitions; stick with the default choice and you'll be OK.
MX Linux 21 -- The MX installer
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On the desktop
The MX-21 experience is its great strength, both in its design and in its vast assortment of system utilities. It's simple and straightforward and, as noted, there seems to be a specific tool for almost anything anyone could want to do. Yes, the look and feel of most of the MX-designed apps is nothing more than basic, without any of the glitz and polish so many others deliver. But all of it works, and what more can we ask for?
MX Linux 21 -- MX Tools
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The highlight is MX Tools, which expands Xfce's system settings to include bunches of mini-apps, including boot repair, installing NVIDIA drivers, a codec installer, disk cleaner, and my favorite - a USB formatter. Would that Xubuntu had this, so I would never have to deal with GParted ever again. And there is also MX Tweaks, which offers a variety of simple changes, including disabling single click on the desktop and in the file manager.
Also terrific: Copying error information to the clipboard automatically formats to the proper style for the MX forums.
MX Linux 21 -- Copying system information
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And none of this includes the Midnight Commander file manager, the Timeshift system restore app, and luckyBackup, which seems to be the most simple and straightforward backup and sync utility I've seen. Plus, no digging in the repositories for dconf and gdebi, both of which are installed by default. You'll still have run gdebi from the command line, though. But even there MX has been able to fix the GUI problem, where gdebi will launch but won't install the Deb file.
The most obvious design difference - for Xfce, anyway - is the panel and taskbar on the left hand side. It's not quite as obtrusive as the GNOME left-hand panel; plus, it can be changed, modified, and edited without any trouble. The half dozen or so icons and indicators on top of the menu button at the bottom of the panel offer quick access to printers, the clipboard, Bluetooth, mounted volumes, and even Nextcloud and Zoom. The menu button accesses an even more complete version of the Xfce Whisker menu.
MX Linux 21 -- The application menu
(full image size: 1.5MB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Conky - the system monitor that was desktop bling a decade ago - makes a most welcome appearance. I've never really thought about using it on Xubuntu, but it fits nicely here and, thanks to MX Conky, you can conk to your heart's delight. That even means the option of adding accurate weather information, which has long been an Xfce weakness.
The software collection is most of the usual - Firefox 93, Thunderbird 78.13, LibreOffice 7.0.4.2, and VLC for music and videos. gThumb is the image viewer, Clementine is the music player, and qpdfview is the PDF reader. There is also the Foliate e-book reader and webcamiod to take pictures and videos with a webcam. If it's not as streamlined as Cheese, I didn't find it glitching or hanging up the way Cheese can.
Does it all work?
Yes, it does. My music played. The system found my Canon MX- 922 printer and scanner and it printed and scanned. The network manager did what it was supposed to do, something else that Xfce can have trouble with. I was able to add Nextcloud without any problems and access my home network files easily. Nothing crashed and nothing happened that I didn't expect to happen. That's about as good as Linux - or any OS - gets, yes?
A word here about systemd, which MX uses - sort of. Technically, it ships with systemd present but disabled by default. So you can enable it if you want to replace SysV init, which is the default init. This strikes me as a suitable compromise to the entire systemd controversy. And it's worth noting that I didn't experience any appreciable differences between the MX version of Xfce, without systemd, and the Xubuntu version, which uses it.
In other words, MX-21 can serve as a production machine without any trouble, and something I've done with earlier versions. That I don't use it today is not so much about MX (save for the less polished look of the home-grown apps) as it is about how much effort I want to put in to get my machine just the way I want it. As noted again, there is almost too much tweaking possible with MX. How's that for the biggest drawback in an operating system?
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Hardware used for this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Dell Inspiron 11 3147 laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Pentium N3530, 2.16GHz
- Storage: 465 GB HDD
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Networking: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 802.11 b/g/n/ Wi-Fi+Bluetooth
- Display: Intel HD Graphics
When he is not testing out new versions of Linux distributions, Jeff Siegel can be found writing about all things related to wine at Wine Curmudgeon.
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Visitor supplied rating
MX Linux has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8/10 from 783 review(s).
Have you used MX Linux? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Mint polishes desktop tools, Rocky Linux team answers questions, Haiku makes kernel build adjustment
The Linux Mint team have published an update, reporting on progress made over the past month and upcoming changes to their distribution. Improvements are being made to the distribution's custom desktop tools as well as the crash report tool. The Firefox package is also getting a modification: "Following some of the discussions we had here on this blog and your feedback in the comments section, the upcoming versions of Xed and Xreader will feature an option to hide the menubar. When it is hidden the application uses less space and fits in a smaller screen resolution. Pressing the Alt key makes the menubar visible momentarily. Xed also gained the ability to switch between opened tabs using Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab. The System Reports tool will check systems to ensure they're merged (i.e. according to usrmerge specs) and warn users when this isn't the case. In LMDE 4, Firefox 78 ESR will be upgraded to version 94. LMDE will no longer follow the ESR version. It will use the same version of Firefox as Linux Mint." Further information can be found in the project's monthly newsletter.
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Rocky Linux is one of the community editions of Enterprise Linux which came into being after Red Hat announced it would be phasing out CentOS Linux. The Rocky Linux team have taken to Reddit to engage the community in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. "We're the team behind Rocky Linux. Rocky Linux is an Enterprise Linux distribution that is bug-for-bug compatible with RHEL, created after CentOS's change of direction in December of 2020. It's been an exciting few months since our first stable release in June. We're thrilled to be hosted by the /r/linux community for an AMA (Ask Me Anything) interview!" The resulting questions and answers can be found in the team's conversation thread.
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The Haiku team has been working on a new toolchain for building the Haiku kernel. The kernel was previously built with the GNU Compiler Collection, version 2. With an upgrade to version 8 of the compiler, backward compatibility with BeOS drivers may be lost. However, it seems no one is using old BeOS drivers with Haiku anymore. "Waddlesplash made the kernel always build with GCC 8, even on 32-bit systems. It was built with GCC 2 until now, but it was not possible to use BeOS drivers anymore since the introduction of SMAP and other features, which led to slight changes in the driver ABI. No one complained, so there is no reason to preserve BeOS driver compatibility further. This should result in performance improvements for 32-bit installations, as the new compiler is much better at optimizing code. And it will allow kernel developers to use more modern C++ features." Additional changes coming to Haiku are covered in the project's newsletter.
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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) |
Comparing kernel efficiency
Seeking-efficiency asks: Which kernel of these operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS) is more efficient? How could I justify this answer?
DistroWatch answers: It's an interesting question and one where you could take a number of approaches to trying to sort out which kernel will be more efficient. I suppose before you could really answer this question you'd need to decide two things:
First, in what way do you want the kernel to be more efficient? Are you interested in application speed, networking performance, memory size, developer effort in porting, loading drivers, avoiding context switches, blocking attacks on the kernel, pushing functionality out to userspace utilities? There are a lot of different ways a piece of software can be more or less efficient and several ways in which a kernel could be optimized. Deciding what you want to measure to determine relevant efficiency would be the first step.
Second, how do you plan to measure efficiency? The three kernels mentioned are quite different in their design and approach so you'd need to figure out how you plan to measure the parameters you selected in the first step. Are you looking at size on disk, size in memory, CPU resource consumption, counting context switches, performance of specific applications, monitoring network traffic rates? Are you going to make a feature table and compare what each kernel can do on its own versus what it relies on userspace to provide?
Once you can answer those two questions you will be able to outline what you mean by "more efficient" and have a way to test the three kernels to determine which one is best for your situation. This wouldn't mean one kernel is always more efficient in every way, but it would mean you could say confidently that one kernel is more efficient in a given way and show evidence as to why that is true.
Something I suspect you will find if you dive deep into testing kernel efficiency from various angles is that the Linux kernel will vary a lot in its benchmarks depending on how it is configured. Linux has a lot of build-time options, allowing for the addition (or removal) of countless drivers, different CPU and disk schedulers, CPU security mitigations, and video drivers. Each of these will vary its disk consumption, memory usage, CPU performance, and latency. You may end up finding there is a bigger gap between two Linux kernels with different build options in some of your tests than between a Linux kernel versus commercial kernels.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Fedora 35
The Fedora team have announced the launch of Fedora 35. The new version of Fedora ships with GNOME 41, the PipeWire audio system, and the WirePlumber session manager. "We switched the default audio system to PipeWire in Fedora Linux 34, and now we're improving this by adding the new WirePlumber session manager. WirePlumber allows for more customization of the policy and rules for audio and video. It provides a richer development experience and adds bindings for most languages. If you enable the third-party repositories that ship in Fedora Linux desktop variants, those repositories are now immediately available. Additionally, enabling third-party repositories now makes selected Flathub applications available via a filtered Flathub remote. This eases access to a curated list of applications that will not cause legal or other problems for Fedora to point to, does not overlap Fedora Flatpaks, and works reasonably well." The release announcement offers further details.
Fedora 35 -- Running the GNOME desktop
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Voyager Live 21.10
Voyager Live is an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the GNOME desktop and with French language support. The project has released Voyager Live 21.10 which offers the GNOME 40 desktop and nine months of support. "I introduce you Voyager 21.10 GE which continues the adventure with the GNOME Shell desktop version 40 by introducing new features, support for new systems and technologies and a whole new layout with visual changes for applications and virtual desktops. Improved support for AMD GPUs. A new security module called Landlock with the promise finally realized, to have a light, fast, modern, fluid, secure and efficient GNOME system in a hybrid environment for PC and Tablet. This version is based on the Linux 5.13 kernel and the Ubuntu distribution"Impish Indri" 21.10. It is an intermediate version with 9 months of updates that prepares for the future 5 year LTS - Long-Term Support version which is coming soon. With integrated, options like Conky Control, Repair, Switch Ubuntu, WINE-staging and Steam Gaming in the Box Voyager and 39 GNOME extensions selected according to PC needs." Further information is available in the project's release announcement.
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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:
- Peers connected: 1,289
- Total torrents seeded: 2,646
- Total data uploaded: 40.8TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Predictable release schedules
Some Linux distributions stick to a fixed release schedule. Projects such as Ubuntu and Fedora try to put out regular releases on a predetermined schedule, making upgrades a predictable part of running the operating system. Other distributions don't follow a set schedule, but release new versions when the developers feel the software is mature enough to use. Slackware and Debian famously "release when ready". This makes upgrading less predictable, though hopefully results in a more stable experience for the user.
Do you prefer one method over the other? Which approach does your chosen distribution use?
You can see the results of our previous poll on favourite web browsers in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Fixed versus when-ready release schedules
| I prefer a fixed/predictable schedule: | 381 (23%) |
| I prefer a when-ready schedule: | 849 (52%) |
| No preference: | 406 (25%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Itd OS. Itd OS is an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the KDE Plasma desktop. The distribution ships with preload which caches commonly used files in memory for faster launch times.
- DragonOS. DragonOS is based on Lubuntu and features tools for people who wish to work with software defined radios.
- Potabi. Potabi is a fork of FreeBSD which ships with the Lumina desktop. The project intends to offer alternative designs and implementations which are not present in other UNIX-like operating systems.
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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, 15 November 2021. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Full list of all issues |
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TrueBSD
TrueBSD was a general purpose live media based on FreeBSD. It includes Xfce and Ion window managers, media players and codecs, several server applications, and other useful tools.
Status: Discontinued
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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