 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1035, 4 September 2023 |
Welcome to this year's 36th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
In issues of DistroWatch Weekly we mostly talk about Linux-based operating systems. However, we're a fan of all sorts of open source software, including alternative kernels and the options they bring to the world. This week we begin by talking about a special branch of the Debian project which swaps out the Linux kernel for Hurd, a microkernel developed by GNU. Have you ever tried running a Hurd-based operating system? Let us know what you thought of the experience in this week's Opinion Poll. We also share a quick look at a recent snapshot of the rolling PCLinuxOS distribution and report on how this unusually stable rolling release operating system performs. In our News section we discuss AlmaLinux introducing new repositories as the project adjusts to no longer having access to Red Hat's source code packages. Rocky Linux is taking a more conservative approach compared with AlmaLinux and we share details on Rocky's plans below. We also share happy news of a NetBSD machine that ran with almost a full decade of unattended uptime and link to an art contest run by Armbian. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we ponder whether home users need to run a software firewall to protect themselves. Read on to learn why a person might (or might not) want to set up a firewall. Plus we list last week's releases and share the torrent we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Debian GNU/Hurd 2023
While Debian is primarily known as a Linux distribution, the Debian project includes a number of offshoots that run alternative collections of software. These branches of the Debian project are called ports and run alternative kernels, such as the FreeBSD kernel (called kfreebsd) and the GNU Hurd microkernel.
The Debian Hurd page describes the port as follows:
The Hurd is a set of servers running on top of the GNU Mach microkernel. Together they build the base for the GNU operating system.
In other words, this branch of Debian runs the GNU Hurd kernel and services (instead of Linux) along with GNU userland tools, making it a more "pure" GNU experience. The Hurd port received an update recently to compliment the Debian 12 release earlier this year.
It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2023. This is a snapshot of Debian Sid at the time of the stable Debian Bookworm release (June 2023), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release. "
The announcement goes on to report the Hurd port can run about two-thirds of the software the main Linux branch of Debian can run:
"Debian GNU/Hurd is currently available for the i386 architecture with about 65% of the Debian archive, and more to come! APIC, SMP, and 64-bit support was improved a lot: they now do boot a complete Debian system, but some bugs remain to be fixed.
The hardware support for Hurd is lacking for the most part. Modern computers and their devices generally are not supported. This has led to some people suggesting Hurd's small nature and focus on modularity would make it a good match for cloud computing instances. In fact, the project's README suggests a few ways we can run Debian GNU/Hurd in virtual machines.
I started by downloading the project's 364MB ISO file which is labelled as being compatible with i386 CPUs. According to the GNU project, 64-bit support is a work in progress for Hurd. I couldn't find a checksum for the Debian GNU/Hurd ISO file, so decided to dive right in and see what would happen.
The media brought up a boot menu where I could choose to run a text installer, a "pseudo graphical" installer, a graphical installer, an automated install process, or run the expert install. There is also a rescue mode. I tried the pseudo graphical installer, the graphical option, and the text option. Each time the media would boot for a few seconds then display a status message which read: "start ext2fs". The boot process would then stop and lock-up.
I did some reading up on this error and, on various forums, I found a suggestion to make sure the virtual machine was using IDE controllers instead of SATA controllers. I confirmed I was already using the IDE setup.
Since the regular ISO was not working in VirtualBox, I decided to follow the Debian project's instructions for making the Hurd IMG file run in VirtualBox. I downloaded the 4.9GB IMG file and followed the README file's steps for importing the image file into VirtualBox.
Unfortunately, I didn't get further with the provided image. After showing me a boot menu, the system tried to load and displayed a message which said: "skipping probing disks". After that, nothing happened, the system just locked up.
This is unfortunate. In the past I successfully ran Debian's Hurd port in VirtualBox. Back in 2015 I wrote about what it was like to run Debian GNU/Hurd as a desktop system in a virtual environment. It seems compatibility with virtual machines has stumbled since then and I hope future releases iron out the issues.
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PCLinuxOS 2023.07 "KDE"
PCLinuxOS grew out of the Mandriva family around 20 years ago. The distribution is now independently developed and offers a rolling release platform with three main desktop editions: KDE, MATE, and Xfce. The PCLinuxOS project rose to fame early in its life by being an unusually easy to use distribution. Like its parent, PCLinuxOS shipped with a lot of convenient tools and a friendly installer. Unlike its parent, it also offered a rolling release platform which helped users stay up to date (fairly stable, rolling releases were an uncommon combination at the time). I downloaded the KDE edition and confirmed its checksum.
Booting from the live KDE media brought up a boot menu. From the menu we can choose to boot PCLinuxOS's live session normally or without a splash screen (when there is no graphical splash screen status messages are displayed in text). There are also options for booting into a safe graphics mode or into a console.
When I tried booting the distribution normally in VirtualBox the operating system almost immediately locked up and failed to boot. When I tried booting without the splash screen the distribution booted successfully. I was then shown a graphical configuration wizard where I was asked to select my keyboard layout. Afterwards, the KDE Plasma desktop was displayed.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- The application menu
(full image size: 3.3MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
When I tried booting PCLinuxOS on my laptop, the system booted normally in the default mode (with a splash screen) and asked me for my keyboard layout. However, once this information was provided the screen locked up and the KDE Plasma session failed to load. After a few minutes with the interface locked up, I managed to terminate the graphical session (using Ctrl+Alt+Backspace) and was shown a login screen. From there I could sign into the live desktop environment. In was unusual to run into two separate issues in two test environments while just booting the live disc, but both problems were overcome with minimal effort.
When the live Plasma session loads we find icons on the desktop for launching the Dolphin file manager and a system installer. A thick, dark panel sits at the bottom of the display. The panel holds a classic, tree-style application menu, some quick-launch buttons, and the system tray. PCLinuxOS doesn't enable many visual effects, providing a responsive, snappy desktop experience.
Installing
PCLinuxOS ships with a graphical system installer. The installer asks us to select our language from a list of country codes and languages. We're also asked to pick our keyboard layout and our timezone from a map.
We're then asked to select automated or manual partitioning. In the automated mode we can toggle an optional swap partition on/off and set its size. The manual approach launches the GParted partition manager and leaves us to divide up the disk as we see fit. The next screen of the installer asks us to assign mount points to the partitions we created. Then we are asked to make up a username and password. The installer goes to work copying files and reports when it is finished.
The first time I tried setting up PCLinuxOS I took the guided approach. The installer almost immediately aborted its work and reported it was unable to create a /dev/sda2 partition. I later found out why. I had selected to have a swap partition, 1GB in size. What the installer had done was create a swap partition (/dev/sda1) the same size as the entire drive. Then, when it went to make a second partition for root, there was no space left on the device.
I restarted the install process and took the manual partitioning option, setting up a swap and a root partition on an ext4 filesystem. This worked well. The PCLinuxOS installer copied its packages in under five minutes and offered to reboot the computer.
Early impressions
My fresh copy of PCLinuxOS booted to a graphical login screen with a strong blue theme. Accounts are listed horizontally on this screen and we can flip through them. Signing into my account brought up the KDE Plasma 5.27 desktop.
The Plasma desktop has a classic look to it, with the tree style menu, thick panel along the bottom, and large icons. There are no distractions when we first get started. There is no welcome window, no notification of updates, and no first-run wizard. The assumption seems to be that we already know what we're doing and do not want any speed bumps along the way.
Hardware
When I tried running PCLinuxOS in VirtualBox everything worked smoothly, apart from trying to boot the live media with a splash screen. Apart from that approach causing the system to lock up, the distribution ran quickly and smoothly in the virtual environment. Likewise, PCLinuxOS worked well with my laptop. Apart from locking up the graphical session on the live media, the distribution ran quickly on the laptop and detected all of my hardware. The distribution is unusually snappy, entirely stable, and could boot in both UEFI and Legacy BIOS modes.
A fresh install of PCLinuxOS took up 7.7GB of my hard drive, plus swap space. When signed into the Plasma desktop the distribution only consumed 420MB of RAM. This is fairly light by the standards of almost any of the major Linux desktops, and unusually light for KDE Plasma.
Included software
The distribution includes a lot of software and presents us with a full application menu. Among the many menu items we find the Firefox web browser, FileZilla file transfer client, and LibreOffice. The Thunderbird e-mail client is included along with the KTorrent bittorrent software, and multiple file sharing clients for services such as NitroShare and MEGA.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- Running LibreOffice and the Dolphin file manager
(full image size: 521kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
There are multiple media players and media editors, including mpv, Celluloid, Audacity, Spotify, HandBrake, Imagination, and the Kdenlive editor. The GNU Image Manipulation Program is included along with the Okular document viewer. I found the Dolphin file manager installed along with some disk cleaning utilities such as BleachBit and Sweeper. Timeshift is installed to help backup files and Grsync is included to synchronize files between locations.
Digging further we find Java is installed on the distribution along with the GNU Compiler Collection. The GNU command line tools are provided. The man utility is installed, but most manual pages are not on the system. For example, the manual pages for the GNU utilities are not present, but a few utilities like RPM and APT do have manual pages. I'm not sure why the distinction is made, with some command line tools having manual pages while others do not.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- Searching for manual pages
(full image size: 2.4MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Also on the topic of popular software that is not included, PCLinuxOS does not include the sudo utility for elevating user access. Instead, when we want to perform administrative functions we can use the su utility to become the root user. The root account uses the same password as the first user we create. This approach of using su over sudo is less common these days, but it worked for me.
PCLinuxOS ships with the SysV init software and the current snapshot of the distribution uses version 6.4 of the Linux kernel.
Software management
PCLinuxOS is an unusual distribution in that it uses RPM packages and ships with the rpm low-level package manager. However, the distribution uses the APT mid-level package management tools and the corresponding Synaptic front-end for APT. While this is a strange (maybe unique) combination, there is little practical effect for the user. We can simply fire up the Synaptic package manager and use it to find, add, remove, and upgrade packages. We can also use the APT command line tools to do the same.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- The Synaptic package manager
(full image size: 1.4MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
There does not appear to be any modern software centre on PCLinuxOS and there is no built-in support for Snap or Flatpak. We can add Flatpak from the default package repositories. I tried this and discovered there were no default repositories enabled for Flatpak once the framework was installed. I manually added the Flathub repository.
Once Flatpak was set up, there were still problems. Regular users were unable to install Flatpak packages, even after the recommended reboot. Mount errors were shown anytime a non-root user tried to install a package from the command line. Once I used the root account to install new Flatpak packages regular users could run the installed applications without any issues.
The Control centres
PCLinuxOS ships with two configuration panels. The system's settings are managed through Control Centre while desktop settings are handled through the System Settings panel. (This is one of those unfortunate naming situations which feel completely normal once a person has been using Linux for a while, but is confusing to newcomers.) The System Systems panel worked well for me. It uses the two-pane layout used by many distributions running the Plasma desktop. I found the Plasma settings were generally easy to navigate and there is a search function to help us locate specific modules. I like that PCLinuxOS enables a minimum amount of visual effects and features and that file indexing is turned off. This might explain why the distribution was so responsive during my trial.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- The System Settings panel with a dark theme
(full image size: 1.7MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The Control Centre offers a friendly, point-n-click approach to managing the underlying operating system. Through the Control Centre we can launch the Synaptic package manager, set up network shares, set up printers and scanners, change the system clock and configure network connections. We can also manage background services, set up a firewall, manage user accounts and enable automatic logins. There are a lot of modules in the Control Centre and I did not have cause to use them all. However, for the most part, the ones I did use worked beautifully. The Control Centre is wonderfully easy to navigate and provides a beginner friendly approach to system configuration.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- The Control Centre panel
(full image size: 2.0MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Some of the Control Centre modules need to install extra packages before they can be used. When I enabled the OpenSSH service, for example, the extra packages required to set up the secure shell service were installed without any problems.
Conclusions
While many rolling release distributions constantly chase after the latest technologies, themes, and cutting edge packages, PCLinuxOS is unusual in that it has a strongly conservative approach. The distribution does provide up to date packages, but it feels like a lot of effort has been put into keeping the distribution stable and running smoothly via older approaches. PCLinuxOS doesn't move with the latest trends. This is a project which doesn't enable a lot of visual effects, doesn't leap on newer technologies, doesn't attempt to package every new desktop that comes along. It's still running SysV init (instead of systemd), it's still using an X11 session for Plasma instead of Wayland, it still offers MATE over GNOME, and it is still using the Synaptic package manager over more modern software centres like Discover.
In short, despite the regular flow of updated packages flowing into the distribution's repositories, not much seems to be changing with PCLinuxOS. It's reluctant to adopt new ways of doing things, like portable packages and welcome windows, and advanced filesystems. Most of the tools, approaches, and system administration modules still look and behave the same way they did ten years ago.
This might appeal to a lot of users, particularly ones who were getting started with Linux around the time PCLinuxOS reached the top of the DistroWatch page hit ranking charts, nearly 20 years ago. People who have been comfortable with Linux for a long time and don't feel the urge to roll with the times will probably enjoy this distribution a lot. There is a strong sense when using PCLinuxOS that if something isn't broke, then they don't fix it.
However, on the other side of that coin, there are some tools and approaches which have become so commonplace these days that it feels odd to not see them included in this distribution. It feels odd to be missing so many manual pages (though not all of them), it feels a bit strange to be manually adding and troubleshooting Flatpak at this point, it feels a bit alien to not have access to sudo (or doas) on a modern Linux distribution. PCLinuxOS is unusually static for a rolling release, to the point I was able to copy/paste some of the paragraphs in this review from a previous article I wrote about the distribution over four years ago.
Basically, for the past decade, PCLinuxOS has been upgrading its packages to keep up with upstream, but it doesn't appear to have tried anything new or introduced any custom tools. This probably appeals to existing PCLinuxOS users as they can continue to feel comfortable, but it is a project unlikely to draw new users who expect to have access to certain modern tools or resources.
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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
PCLinuxOS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.2/10 from 113 review(s).
Have you used PCLinuxOS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux stays committed to compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian offers devices as prizes in wallpaper competition
The AlmaLinux team have announced the creation of two new package repositories. Now that AlmaLinux OS is no longer committed to being 1:1 bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (following Red Hat's policy change regarding source code distribution), the AlmaLinux project is introducing new ways for users to get bug fixes faster and access to a wider range of software packages. "As we mentioned last week, the Testing repository contains security updates that AlmaLinux OS is now able to release without waiting for the patches to be released upstream. As these packages require additional testing before being released, we invite the community to help test them and provide feedback. Note: The Testing repository is recommended only for non-production machines."
The second repository provides extra software not yet available upstream: "The Synergy repository is designed for any possible package that is not present in RHEL or EPEL yet, but has been requested by a member of the AlmaLinux community, for the community. While we do encourage and welcome contributions, as soon as the package appears to be in EPEL it will be removed from the Synergy repository. Moreover, this repository can be enabled for other distros in the Enterprise Linux Ecosystem like RHEL, CentOS, etc."
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While AlmaLinux is looking at improving and expanding the project's distribution to include new packages and features, the Rocky Linux project is taking a more conservative approach. Rocky Linux published a statement indicating the distribution remains dedicated to being 1:1 compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). "It is important to note that Rocky Linux is completely stable, due to the amazing community that supports the project and the unwavering support of CIQ and the rest of our sponsors. Rocky Linux remains absolutely committed to our mission: we will remain a 1:1 fully compatible, drop-in alternative to RHEL. OpenELA supports our mission by providing additional assurance that the open source base for Rocky Linux will always be available, via a vendor neutral and community driven collaboration."
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Operating systems in the BSD and Linux families are often regarded as being stable, reliable platforms. One such example of this stability comes from a blog post which discusses a NetBSD server which was left to run unattended for nearly a decade. "What surprised me the most was its uptime. Sadly, I didn't take note, but the last restart had been in 2012 after the Emilia Romagna earthquake. They had a backup generator, so the server always had an efficient uninterrupted power supply. Nine years of uptime for a server set up in a few hours, on consumer-grade hardware, and left largely unattended for years." It's an impressive feat, both for the hardware and the operating system, and a testament of the skill of the NetBSD team.
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The Armbian distribution runs on a series of ARM development boards and single-board computers. The project is on the search for new wallpaper artwork and is offering prizes for the best submissions. "We're excited to announce the second edition Armbian Desktop Wallpaper Contest. This is a great opportunity for anyone passionate about design to have their work featured on Armbian. You'll receive a reward if our judges decide your art is in the top 3." Contest details can be found in the project's forum post.
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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) |
Do home users need a firewall?
Locking-the-door asks: Do regular home users need to run a firewall on Linux?
DistroWatch answers: My short answer is, for most people running a desktop distribution at home, a firewall is probably not beneficial.
A firewall is software which monitors network traffic coming into, and flowing out from, your computer. The firewall has a set of rules it follows to determine whether it allows network traffic to pass into (or out from) the computer.
A firewall's rule might say, essentially, "Block all traffic leaving this computer, unless it looks like it's going to a web server." This is a semi-common rule in business offices where companies want to block chat clients or games from connecting to the outside world. Alternatively, a rule might say, "Allow connections to my secure shell port, but only from my laptop's IP address." This should prevent anyone who is not using your laptop from attempting to login to your computer remotely.
A firewall is often useful on a server or on any computer which needs to provide some sort of network service. A firewall can prevent some common network attacks and is one layer of defence against information leaking out from the computer to the rest of the world.
Since firewalls are useful in those aforementioned instances, why might they not be recommended for home users? There are three main reasons firewalls tend to do more harm than good on desktop machines running on a home network:
- Most home computers are already behind a firewall provided by the household's Internet service provider's router. Typically, computers on the Internet cannot see and attack personal computers running on a home network directly.
- Most home computers do not run network accessible services, such as a web server, e-mail service, or file storage. Without one of these services running, there isn't anything to attack. In turn, there is nothing for the firewall to protect.
- While our home computers typically do not run Internet accessible services, they do often communicate over the network. If you're trying to run a multi-player game over the local network, synchronize files with your phone, or set up a shared printer then the most common problem you're going to run into is a firewall standing in the way. A firewall will almost always interrupt traffic passing between devices you own and trust. Often times troubleshooting a networking issue will result in either shutting down the firewall or looking up which network ports need to be opened so that the firewall's rules can be modified.
In short, home computers are almost always already behind a firewall which protects the local network, home computers rarely have services which need to be protected, and (on a home network) firewalls regularly get in the way of performing common tasks. Firewalls, while an essential security tool on servers, rarely provide benefits (and often cause frustrations) for desktop users at home.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Emmabuntüs DE5-1.00
Emmabuntüs is a desktop Linux distribution with editions based on Debian's Stable branch. The project's latest release, Debian Edition (DE) 5-1.00 is based on Debian 12 "Bookworm". "This Emmabuntüs DE 5 release includes the following changes or features: Based on Debian 12.1 Bookworm; kernel 6.1.27; Xfce 4.18.1; LXQt 1.20.0; LibreOffice 7.4.5; Firefox ESR 102.14.0; Falkon 22.12.1-2; Thunderbird 102.14.0; Added a script to run OS-prober; improved startup time in live mode and installation of Calamares under WMware; removed PlayOnLinux and WINE to save space following the activation of a new ISO compression mode; disabled info message on non-free-firmware repository; replaced zram-tools by systemd-zram-generator; updated Scratch 3.29.1 to 64-bit version; updated of the Emmabuntüs Debian Edition 5 installation tutorial in French version. Emmabuntüs comes with a large number of software to allow beginners to have all the tools they may need without having to look for them and install them, see the list of all the software available on Emmabuntüs DE 5. We fully assume this choice, which also allows us to provide a complete ready-to-use solution within the framework of our activities of computers re-use and training for computer classes under GNU/Linux, as for example in Togo within the framework of our collaboration with the associations YovoTogo and JUMP Lab'Orione." The release announcement has additional details.
OpenMandriva 23.08 "ROME"
The OpenMandriva distribution is a full-featured Linux desktop and server. The project maintains a rolling release branch called ROME which was recently updated. The new snapshot, version 23.08, includes several package upgrades: "Many packages have been updated, including: KDE Frameworks 5.109, Plasma Desktop 5.27.7, KDE Applications 23.04.3 (KDE Gear 23.08.0 expected on 24/08/2023 update will be available as soon as it's released). Kernel 6.4.11 (built with Clang). Mesa 23.2. LLVM/Clang 16.0.6, glibc 2.38, systemd 253.8. Chromium browser 116.0, with JPEG XL support patched back in. LibreOffice suite 7.6.0.3, Krita 5.1.5, DigiKam 8.1. The latest LibreOffice builds introduce LibreOffice Qt 6 integration, making LibreOffice fit in with the Plasma 6 desktop preview as well. Flatpak support. Note: We have no plans to abandon or reduce native packages. Flatpak, appimage and the likes are a useful addition in particular for packages we can't package for licensing reasons. neovim 0.9.1. More software upgraded to the most recent version available in repositories. GNOME desktop 44.3. LXQt desktop 1.3.0." Additional information can be found in the release announcement and in the release notes.
antiX 23
The developers of antiX, a systemd-free Linux distribution based on Debian's "stable" branch, has announced the release of antiX 23. This is the project's first version based on Debian 12: "antiX 23 'Arditi del Popolo' is a new release based on Debian 'Bookworm'. As usual, we offer completely systemd-free and elogind-free flavours for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. Available ISO images files with SysVInit or Runit. The 32-bit edition uses a non-pae kernel. Note: after installation of the antiX-23_x64-full editions, the default kernel will be 'Modern' 6.1 even if 'Legacy' 5.10 was booted during the live boot. Changes: based on Debian 12 'Bookworm', but without systemd/libsystemd0 and elogind/libelogind0; eudev instead of udev; customised 5.10.188 Linux kernel; customised 6.1.42 Linux kernel (x64 full only): LibreOffice 7.5.5; Firefox 102.14.0esr (antiX-full); SeaMonkey 2.53.17 (antiX-base); Claws Mail 4.1.1; CUPS for printing; PipeWire/WirePlumber on full editions; ALSA on base and core editions..." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
antiX -- Exploring the application menu
(full image size: 2.3MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Pardus 23.0
TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM (The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey and The National Academic Network and Information Centre) has announced the release of Pardus 23.0, a major new update of the project's Debian-based Linux distribution with a choice of Xfce and GNOME desktops. Pardus 23, code-named 'Ay Yıldız' or 'Crescent and Star', which is one of Turkey's national symbols, aims to offer the most up-to-date technology, ease of use with new applications, a long-term support program and a stable Linux kernel 6.1 version. The release offers various innovations, such as Pardus GNOME Welcome, Xfce Fine Settings and Pardus Updater. In Pardus 23, Xfce 4.18 is used as the default desktop environment. Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems; while being visually attractive and user-friendly, it requires low system resources and makes the system fast. The release comes with Linux kernel 6.1.38 as well as many popular, up-to-date applications, such as Firefox 102.14.0esr, LibreOffice 7.4.7, Evolution 3.46.4 and VLC 3.0.18. See the brief release announcement and the more detailed release notes for further information.
Linux From Scratch 12.0
Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system. The project has published Linux From Scratch 12.0 and a corresponding Beyond Linux From Scratch which offers tips for extending the operating system. The release announcement mentions key new upgrades: "This release is a major update to both LFS and BLFS. The LFS release includes updates to binutils-2.41, gcc-13.2.0, and glibc-2.38. In total, 38 packages were updated since the last release. The Linux kernel has also been updated to version 6.4.12. Other significant changes include: Addition of libxcrypt as a separate package. Previously this package was included with glibc. For the sysV version of the book, udev is now extracted directly from the systemd tarball. This change also requires building the Python modules jinja and markupsafe. The new package pkgconf is now used instead of pkg-config because the later package is no longer maintained. The new Python module flit-core was added as a new required dependency for the wheel module."
Armbian 23.8.1
The Armbian team has announced the release of Armbian 23.08, a Debian-based Linux distribution designed primarily for ARM development boards, supporting a large range of popular armhf, aarch64, and riscv64 devices: "We are very pleased to announce the public availability of Armbian OS 23.08, the Linux distribution, and 23.08 package set, under the codename 'Colobus'. After the complete rework of our build framework, we proceeded with refreshing repository management and automation processes. We have significantly stabilized both our framework and many hardware platforms we are taking care of. Changelog: add Crust to Allwinner boards to enable power management functions; add support for most recent memory chips on BPi M5; backport Bananapi CM4 to kernel 6.1 LTS; provide official distro upgrades; adding armbian-gaming as extension; introduce grub-with-dtb extension...." See the release announcement and the release changelog for further details.
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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: 2,902
- Total data uploaded: 43.5TB
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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) |
Have you tried running Hurd?
In this week's Feature Story we talked about Debian's Hurd port, an operating system which runs the Hurd kernel and services instead of the Linux kernel. While Hurd has been in development a long time, it hasn't matured or gained nearly as much driver support as some other open source operating systems.
Have you tried running a Hurd-based operating system, either in a virtual machine or on physical hardware? Let us know your thoughts on GNU's Hurd kernel in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on running distributions with the musl C library in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Have you tried using Hurd?
| Yes - on physical hardware and liked it: | 36 (3%) |
| Yes - on physical hardware and did not like it: | 24 (2%) |
| Yes - in a virtual machine and liked it: | 12 (1%) |
| Yes - in a virtual machine and did not like it: | 24 (2%) |
| No - have not tried it: | 1193 (93%) |
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| Website News |
Partnering with The Linux Shop
These days it is more and more rare to find DVDs and USB thumb drives which provide install media for Linux distributions. While there were once many on-line shops and vendors selling physical media, the spread of high-speed Internet access has largely replaced physical media vendors. This makes it more difficult for people with slower (or metered) Internet connections to obtain Linux install media. It also means people who are not familiar with burning install ISO files to a removable drive face higher hurdles.
With this in mind, DistroWatch has partnered with The Linux Shop, a vendor of physical install media. The Linux Shop is based in the United Kingdom (UK) and ships Linux install media all around the world. Most media is available for under 20 UK pounds (about $25 USD).
When you visit a distro's information page on the DistroWatch website, if The Linux Shop sells install media for this distribution under the "Where To Buy or Try" field.
We hope this will make it easier for people to find convenient install media and try Linux distributions.
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DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 11 September 2023. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. 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)
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
| 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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| Random Distribution | 
Dynebolic
Dynebolic is a GNU/Linux distribution running from a CD and able to recognise most of your devices and peripherals: sound, video, TV, network cards, firewire, USB devices and more. It is shaped on the needs of media activists, artists and creative individuals, a practical tool for multimedia production. You can manipulate and broadcast both sound and video with tools to record, edit, encode and stream, all using free software!
Status: Active
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| 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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