 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 970, 30 May 2022 |
Welcome to this year's 22nd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
In a world increasingly full of companies and organizations spending great amounts of time and money to track Internet users, it can feel as though someone is always looking over your shoulder. There are a handful of Linux distributions which try to improve a person's privacy while they are on-line. One such distribution is Tails, a Debian-based project which filters its network traffic through the Tor network. We begin this week with a look at Tails and some of the new improvements which have gone into Tails 5. Do you use a privacy-focused distribution? Let us know which is your favourite in this week's Opinion Poll. Speaking of privacy, users of Linuxfx will be disappointed to learn the project exposed its database of users to the public and we share details on this in our News section. We also share plans the Budgie developers have for their desktop environment and talk about a configuration issue which is terminating processes on Ubuntu. While we often talk about minimal distributions where users can add extra software as needed, we rarely talk about the reverse process. In this week's Questions and Answers column we discuss taking apart a heavy distribution to make it smaller. We are then pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Tails 5.0
The Tails distribution, also known as The Amnesic Incognito Live System, is a Debian-based project which seeks to provide anonymous web browsing and on-line communication for its users. The project connects to the Internet through the Tor network, making it more difficult for other people to identify and track users running Tails.
Tails 5.0 (and later versions of the 5.x series - there are new releases scheduled at the rate of about one per month) are based on Debian 11 "Bullseye". There are some key changes in the 5.x series and I've picked out what I feel are the highlights. One is the introduction of the Kleopatra key and certificate manager:
We added Kleopatra to replace the OpenPGP Applet and the Password and Keys utility, also known as Seahorse. The OpenPGP Applet was not actively developed anymore and was complicated for us to keep in Tails. The Password and Keys utility was also poorly maintained and Tails users suffered from too many of its issues until now. Kleopatra provides equivalent features in a single tool and is more actively developed.
Another change concerns adding extra software to persistent installs of Tails:
The Additional Software feature of the Persistent Storage is enabled by default to make it faster and more robust to configure your first additional software package.
Another point which stuck out in the project's announcement was the use of driverless printing and scanning to support more devices:
The new support for driverless printing and scanning in Linux makes it easier to make recent printers and scanners work in Tails.
Tails is available in two flavours. One is a disk image disk (IMG) which can be written to a USB thumb drive and used for persistent storage. The other download option is an ISO file which can be burned to a DVD or more conveniently run in a virtual machine. Both files are approximately 1.2GB.
Early impressions
The Tails media boots to the GNOME desktop and opens a configuration window that offers to help us set the desktop's language, keyboard layout, and locale. There is also a button at the bottom of the window which opens a second settings panel. This one offers more toggles and options such as setting a root password, disabling networking, enabling/disabling MAC address spoofing, and enabling the Unsafe Browser - a browser that does not try to keep you anonymous, but can be used to sign into network portals (like the ones used by many businesses).
I discovered changing my preferred language also caused the keyboard layout to change. This is an inconvenience for me since my desired language is Canadian English, but my keyboard is US English.
The next page of the welcome window asks if we want to connect to Tor automatically or manually. The automatic approach may make it more apparent that Tor is being used if someone is monitoring our network traffic. Tails will attempt to connect to Tor and then let us know when our network connection is ready.
Tails 5.0 -- Connecting to the Tor network
(full image size: 120kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Tails runs the GNOME 3.38 desktop environment with a thin panel across the top of the display. This panel holds the Activities button, the system tray and two classic GNOME style drop-down menus called Applications and Places. These two menus provide access to a classic application menu and shortcuts which will open the file manager in commonly accessed areas. On the desktop we find three icons. One is called Trash and opens the GNOME Files application. The other two, labelled "Report an error" and "Tails documentation", open a web browser to provide access to documentation, support options, and bug reporting tips.
Tails 5.0 -- The Applications menu
(full image size: 65kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The bug reporting documentation mentions a convenient tool called WhisperBack which is installed on Tails. This tool helps us organize bug reports and collect system information we can include in issue tickets.
Tails 5.0 -- Collecting data for an error report
(full image size: 125kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Special applications
What makes Tails an interesting and useful platform is its collection of software designed to assist users in their efforts to communicate and browse the web anonymously. The distribution includes the Tor Browser, which is essentially Firefox under another name which connects to the Internet through the Tor network. This hides our IP address from websites we visit.
Tails 5.0 -- Testing the Tor Browser
(full image size: 142kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The distribution also ships with a useful file transmission and sharing tool called OnionShare. This application is split into three tabs. The first tab will allow us to select files we want to share over the network. The application then generates a unique URL for the file which allows the file to be accessed by other users through the Tor Browser. After the file has been transferred once OnionShare stops sharing it.
The second tab in the OnionShare application performs the opposite task, generating a unique address that will allow people to connect to our computer and send us a file. The third and final tab sets up a web server (again with a unique URL) which other people can access using the Tor Browser.
Tails 5.0 -- Sharing a file over OnionShare
(full image size: 62kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
OnionShare may be my favourite application included in Tails. It's wonderfully simple to use, it has a streamlined interface, and it automatically closes its connections after a file as been transferred. This is a great way to send or receive files over the Internet without requiring any additional software, opening firewall ports, or configuring anything. It's entirely a point and click experience and anonymous. As long as the other user has a copy of Tor Browser all that is required is sending them our unique Tor address in order to share files.
Tails also ships with a tool to open Veracrypt archives and access the encrypted volume's files. This is also a friendly point-n-click tool.
The distribution includes the KeePassXC password manager which is handy for keeping track of passwords in an encrypted vault. We're also given the GtkHash application which will generate multiple hash values for a given file. This helps us verify if a file has been corrupted or altered.
One final program which stood out during my trial was Kleopatra. This is a general purpose desktop application for generating security keys, signing files, encrypting data, and decrypting files. Kleopatra has evolved nicely in recent years and I found it pleasantly friendly to use while still offering a Swiss Army knife collection of encryption functions.
Tails 5.0 -- Generating security keys with Kleopatra
(full image size: 155kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Common applications
Along with its special collection of security and privacy tools, Tails ships with some common applications as well. These include the Unsafe Browser (which is essentially Firefox under a different name), Thunderbird, and LibreOffice. We're also treated to the GNU Image Manipulation Program, a simple image viewer, and the Brasero disc burning software. I found the Pidgin messaging software, the Totem video player, and Audacity for editing audio. The distribution includes media codecs, allowing Totem to play audio and video files.
Tails ships with the Synaptic package manager in case we need access to additional software. However, Synaptic's connection to remote repositories can be quite slow since its traffic is routed through Tor. We can also run the usual collection of GNU command line tools and read their accompanying manual pages. Tails runs the systemd suite and, in the background, we find version 5.10 of the Linux kernel.
Hardware
I experimented with Tails on my laptop and in a VirtualBox virtual machine. When running in the virtual machine Tails performed well. It was stable, desktop performance was okay (not great, but practical). When running on my laptop the distribution ran a bit smoother, offering average desktop performance and detecting my machine's hardware.
Something I found curious was system alerts and the Totem media player would both play audio perfectly, but the Tor Browser would not play audio when I tried watching videos on-line, even when launched in Unsafe mode. I'm not sure if this was intentional or a bug, but other applications played sound out of the box.
The Tails distribution consumed about 645MB of memory when sitting idle at the GNOME desktop. This is actually a little better than some other desktop distributions featuring GNOME that I've tried recently.
I ran into a few quirks with the live media. For instance, my laptop wouldn't boot from the ISO file, just the thumb drive image (IMG) file. I also discovered that, despite the IMG file being just 1.2GB in size, Tails will refuse to boot if the thumb drive it is stored on is less than 8GB in size. I suspect the extra space is required to support the persistent storage feature, but it's required even if we don't enable the persistent storage option.
Conclusions
In the past I've felt as though Tails was one of the better distributions available for people who wanted to communicate anonymously or visit websites without giving away their location. It was a solid tool, if somewhat held back by two issues. One was that some of the included software was either geared more toward technically experienced users or hadn't yet matured. Early versions of OnionShare come to mind as software which still had some problems when it was first introduced in Tails. The other issue was performance. GNOME is one of the heaviest open source desktop environments and early versions of GNOME 3 were particularly cumbersome, especially when run on lower-end hardware.
What I have appreciated about Tails 5 is it feels like a polished, evolutionary step forward without (as far as I can tell) any regressions from the 4.x series. GNOME 38 still isn't as responsive and smooth as later versions of GNOME (40 and newer) have been for me, but it feels a little better than past releases.
I really like the new Kleopatra tool which acts as a one-stop application for all our encryption key management, file signing, and encryption needs. Kleopatra is another tool I feel has become more polished in recent years and I enjoyed having it in Tails 5.
Both Tor Browser and OnionShare worked beautifully for me. I think Tor Browser has always been a solid experience and it continues to be good. OnionShare was a good idea in the past, but I sometimes encountered stability issues with it. The current version feels easier to use and entirely stable.
I like the initial configuration screen Tails displays when the distribution starts. The default settings lock down the system (using MAC randomization, locking the Unsafe Browser option, and locking admin functions). However, we can toggle these features if we wish to give more flexibility. This walks a careful line between being secure by default while allowing users latitude to perform more actions.
Last, but not least, I appreciate the detail and honesty of the Tails documentation. There are a lot of tips and guidelines on the project's website. I especially appreciate the project is transparent about both the features Tails offers and the limitations. Some projects boast they will prevent all viruses or will keep people safe on-line, or will keep you anonymous. Tails doesn't make wild marketing claims. The developers explain how their tools work and how they help, but also warn there are limits and nothing is guaranteed. I appreciate this balanced approach to keeping users informed.
In short, if you need to browse the web or want to share files without giving away your location, then Tails is probably one of the most secure and easiest to use distribution to do this.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an HP DY2048CA laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 512GB solid state drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Wireless network device: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + BT Wireless network card
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Visitor supplied rating
Tails has a visitor supplied average rating of: 5.4/10 from 21 review(s).
Have you used Tails? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Linuxfx exposes user database, Ubuntu users seeing processes terminated, Budgie team plans future of their desktop
The Linuxfx project makes a number of questionable claims. This Linux-based system reportedly runs Android applications along with its native GNU/Linux applications. The project's website also claims there are over one million Linuxfx users in the world with over 15,000 downloads per week. Unsurprisingly these claims are not true. One of Linuxfx's features is an on-line registration and activation process, similar to the one used by Windows. This registration process collects information, such as a license key, IP address, and e-mail address which it then uploads to a server. This information, until recently, was publicly exposed and one enterprising user pointed out the database of user information was available for anyone to read. The database lists about 20,000 entries for users. "The fxkeys table contains the metadata for all registered Pro licenses for Linuxfx, consisting of the license key, email address and some other stuff (expiration, quantity of machines licensed, etc.). The machines table contains the metadata for all Linuxfx installations that has phoned home for the first time. It contains the IP address of the machine, some other metadata ripped off a IP geo-location service (set by the client), and the license key (if activated). There are only over 20,000 entries in this file, a far cry from the 1M number claimed by the company. With this information, anybody can correlate an activated installation along with its IP address with its owner's email address, which is not good."
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Some people running the new 22.04 version of Ubuntu have reported a problem with the way the distribution now handles low memory situations. In the past, Ubuntu (like most Linux distributions) would allow processes to consume as much memory as they wanted. This would sometimes result in applications gobbling up memory and then swap space, resulting in more disk access and poor performance. Ubuntu now employs the systemd out of memory (OOM) service which will kill processes when memory gets close to full. Some people are feeling the side effects of this change, specifically finding applications (and their related processes) are suddenly terminating without warning. "Ubuntu 22.04 comes with the systemd-oomd service enabled by default, which has been 'helpfully' killing my IDE and/or terminals whenever I try to compile an application using an abundance of threads/memory. What is the right way to either turn this off, or configure the service to not shoot random processes in the face while I'm using them?" The new behaviour can be turned off using the command "sudo systemctl disable --now systemd-oomd" and a bug has been filed for this issue.
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While the Budgie desktop environment is mostly associated with the Solus project, the desktop has been picked up and packaged for other Linux distributions. Development of Budgie has been fairly quiet recently, but that looks to be about to change. Joshua Strobl has published an overview of plans for Budgie, both the current version (10) and the upcoming Budgie 11. Some of the plans involve switching from old technologies running behind the scenes to new ones: "Deprecate our use of libwnck and separate our 'Abomination' application tracking library into a dedicated library for use in both Budgie 10 and 11. The immediate priority will be supporting X11 directly in this library but an important objective for it for Budgie 11 is supporting Wayland. While it is not guaranteed to happen for Budgie 10.x, if we happen to be in a position with Budgie 10 and the library that we support both X11 and Wayland, with no other hard deps on X11, it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility to have a Budgie 10 under Wayland." The detailed report has a lot more information.
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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) |
Taking apart a Linux distro
Tear-it-all-down asks: Lots of Linux distros let you build from the ground up - LFS, Arch, Gentoo, etc - but I want to know about the reverse process. How hard is it to take a fully functioning distro like Ubuntu and deconstruct it? Any tips or common steps involved you can share?
DistroWatch answers: While it is possible to start with a full featured distribution and whittle it down to something smaller, the process is longer and often more tricky than starting small and working up. This is why it's more common to find distributions which start from scratch, or with a minimal base and encourage users to add more components, rather than having a large project offer tools to trim down the installation.
In fact, with most distributions it will be easier to start from a minimal base and work up. If you have the urge to reduce an Arch-based system you can start with Arch itself (or one of its many minimal children) instead. If you want to get a minimal version of Debian or Ubuntu there are net-install and Core editions of these two, respectively. The same applies for openSUSE with its network image. In fact, almost all of the major distributions offer some form of minimal install base, or have a parent distribution which does. This means it's rare someone would want or need to start with a large install and work backwards to minimize it.
While starting with a full install and trimming the fat from it is harder, it's certainly possible. I think there are three important things to keep in mind if you're going to try to slim down an existing distribution:
- Figure out why you want to remove something before you remove anything. Don't just rush in, slicing pieces out of the distribution. It's likely to break something and probably won't offer a practical benefit. Identify a specific problem or issue and then look toward addressing that issue. For example, if you want to improve boot times, don't just remove a handful of packages, you can accomplish just as much by disabling unwanted services or starting them later. If your desktop environment is taking up too much RAM, don't just remove it and replace it with something else. Look at what services the desktop is starting and disable or remove the extra components. You can make most systems faster and lighter without removing anything entirely. It's often more efficient to reduce the number of items which start automatically than replace them.
- Use the package manager. Some people want to dive in and remove items by hand, removing executable files or libraries they feel are no longer necessary. This usually leads to disaster. Most distributions include a package manager which can not only remove software cleanly, but it can also warn you if the package you are removing will break other components. You might believe you don't want or need the Samba software package since you don't use network shares, but your file manager might use it as a run-time dependency. Removing Samba might remove your file manager or cause it to stop working. Your package manager will warn you of this.
- Test your changes often. It can be tempting to start cutting out packages you don't want anymore and just keep slashing out the cruft. However, I recommend keeping notes of what you're doing and rebooting often to test each major change. You don't want to remove twenty different packages only to find out your system no longer boots and you don't know which change broke it. Try removing one or two packages, then restarting, then remove another package, then restart again. That way it'll be clear which package was necessary and caused the Jenga blocks to all come crashing down.
While these steps will allow you to shrink an existing distribution, your efforts will probably yield better (and faster) results if you start with a minimal spin of your distribution (or its parent) and add just the items you need.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Alpine Linux 3.16.0
The Alpine Linux is a lightweight distribution well suited to server and container workloads. The Alpine team have announced the first release of the 3.16 series. "We are pleased to announce the release of Alpine Linux 3.16.0, the first in the v3.16 stable series. Various improvements in the setup scripts: Better support for NVMe. Administrator user creation. Possibility to add SSH keys. New setup-desktop script for easy install of desktop environment. Go 1.18, LLVM 13, Node.js (current) 18.2, Ruby 3.1, Rust 1.60, GNOME 42, KDE Plasma 5.24 / KDE Applications 22.04 / Plasma Mobile Gear 22.04, Python 3.10, PHP 8.1, R 4.2, Xen 4.16, Podman 4.0. Significant changes: sudo has been moved to community repository, which means that only latest stable release branch will get security updates in the future. Suggested replacement is doas or doas-sudo-shim." This release also removed PHP 7 and Python 2. Additional details are available in the release announcement.
Clonezilla Live 3.0.0-26
Clonezilla Live is a Debian-based live CD containing Clonezilla, a partition and disk cloning software. The project's latest version, Clonezilla Live 3.0.0-26, is based on Debian's Unstable branch and includes version 5.17 of the Linux kernel. "The underlying GNU/Linux operating system has been upgraded. This release is based on the Debian 'Sid' repository as of 2022-05-22; Linux kernel has been updated to 5.17.6; Partclone has been updated to 0.3.20; this release supports APFS (Apple File System) imaging/cloning now; added LUKS support; a better mechanism than dd is implemented; it's recommended to encrypt the image when saving the LUKS device; updated the de_DE, el_GR, es_ES, fr_FR, ja_JP, hu_HU, pl_PL and sk_SK language files; added wavemon, memtester, edac-utils, shc and uml-utilities to the live system; removed s3ql from the live system; a better mechanism to check GPT/MBR format of a disk has been implemented - this is a workaround to deal with ChromeOS Flex partition table." Additional details are in the release announcement.
AlmaLinux OS 9.0
The AlmaLinux OS team have announced the release of a new version of their Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone. The project published AlmaLinux OS 9.0 which includes support for four CPU architectures and runs version 5.14 of the Linux kernel. "AlmaLinux OS 9.0 is based on upstream kernel version 5.14 and contains enhancements around cloud and container development and improvements to the web console (Cockpit). This release also delivers enhancements for security and compliance, including additional security profiles, greatly improved SELinux performance and user authentication logs. Other various updates include Python 3.9, GCC 11 and the latest versions of LLVM, Rust and Go compilers to make modernizing the applications faster and easier. You can read more about it by checking out the release notes." Additional details can be found in the release announcement.
LXLE Focal
Ronnie Whisler has announced the release of a brand-new version of LXLE, a lightweight distribution based on Ubuntu and featuring the LXDE desktop. The new version is based on the long-term supported Ubuntu 20.04: "After many weeks of tweaks, adjustments and issues addressed, the final version of LXLE Focal is being released for public criticism. This version is based on Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS with LXDE. This release concentrated on keeping the distribution light yet providing full-featured apps and utilities necessary to deal with today's computing demands. Issues addressed: Image Writer updated; Stick Formater updated; Driver Manager updated; Languages Installer updated; Input Method updated; PPA Library Additions updated; Xarchiver Contextual Menu fixed. Replaced Applications: Arista replaced with HandBrake; Pinta replaced with GIMP; Pluma replaced with Mousepad; SeaMonkey replaced with LibreWolf; AbiWord/Gnumeric replaced with LibreOffice; Mirage replaced with Viewnior; Linphone/Pidgin replace with uTox." Continue to the release announcement for a full list of changes, known issues and screenshots.
LXLE Focal -- Running the LXDE interface
(full image size: 5.7MB, resolution: 2560x1600 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: 2,727
- Total data uploaded: 42.1TB
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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) |
Favourite privacy-focused distro
We started this week with a look at Tails, a privacy oriented distribution which strives to make on-line web browsing and communication anonymous. While Tails is one of the better known privacy focused distributions, there are others. Which of the privacy oriented distributions is your favourite? Let us know yours best and worst experiences with anonymity protecting software in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on the Unity desktop environment in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Which is your favourite privacy-focused distro?
| Linux Kodachi: | 45 (3%) |
| Septor: | 24 (2%) |
| Tails: | 355 (25%) |
| Whonix: | 66 (5%) |
| Other: | 72 (5%) |
| I do not use privacy distros: | 855 (60%) |
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| Website News |
Donations and Sponsors
Each month we receive support and kindness from our readers in the forms of donations. These donations help us keep the web server running, pay contributors, and keep infrastructure like our torrent seed box running. We'd like to thank our generous readers and acknowledge how much their contributions mean to us.
This month we're grateful for the $84 in contributions from the following kind souls:
| Donor |
Amount |
|---|
| Robert H | $19 |
| Kevin W | $10 |
| Sam C | $10 |
| Greg M | $10 |
| Guilherme C | $10 |
| Warren C | $5 |
| John H | $5 |
| Chung T | $5 |
| DuCakedHare | $5 |
| J.D. L | $2 |
| P.B. C | $2 |
| Stephen M | $1 |
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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, 6 June 2022. 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 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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| Random Distribution | 
Arch Linux
Arch Linux is an independently developed, x86_64-optimised Linux distribution targeted at competent Linux users. It uses 'pacman', its home-grown package manager, to provide updates to the latest software applications with full dependency tracking. Operating on a rolling release system, Arch can be installed from a CD image or via an FTP server. The default install provides a solid base that enables users to create a custom installation. In addition, the Arch Build System (ABS) provides a way to easily build new packages, modify the configuration of stock packages, and share these packages with other users via the Arch Linux user repository.
Status: Active
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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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