 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1052, 8 January 2024 |
Welcome to this year's 2nd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Over 20 years ago, when Linux was still a relatively young platform, there were not many distributions which catered to desktop users. Mandrake Linux was one of the first distributions to try to make Linux a point-and-click experience, with a friendly system installer and easy to navigate graphical configuration tools. While the original Mandrake Linux has since faded into the shadows of history, its descendants continue its work. This week we take a look at OpenMandriva, one of Mandrake's surviving heirs, and report on how this community distribution performs. One of the key elements to keeping a distribution alive is money and different projects take different approaches to collecting funds to keep the lights on and the servers running. In our Opinion Poll we ask if our readers are paying for their distro, either through direct purchases, donations, or affiliate purchases. We also share updates coming to the Linux Mint and Vanilla OS projects in this week's News section. Meanwhile Canonical is working to make Snap packages more cross-platform. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we discuss how to keep applications launched from a terminal running when the terminal window closes. Plus we are pleased to share details of last week's releases and share the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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| Feature Story (By Jeff Siegel) |
OpenMandriva Lx 5.0
OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, in both the Plasma and LXQt editions, installs in about a minute and half.
Unfortunately, that's the highlight of running two of the distro's desktops for about a week. The LXQt edition, thanks to a D-bus error, was mostly unusable, and the Plasma variant, though as slick and as cool as Plasma is supposed to be, had its own share of irritating -- and sometimes more than irritating -- bugs that also make it a poor choice for a daily driver.
Perhaps the most disappointing part about my week with the new release of OpenMandriva 5.0 (which is the latest release of the stable "Rock" branch and carries the code name "Iodine"), was I really wanted to like the LXQt version; I prefer lighter, less complicated desktops, and have never seen the need for features like KWallet and all those windows that pop-up. But I had to switch to the Plasma 5 version for this review when my attempts to run LXQt failed over and over.
The other irony here? That OpenMandriva is one of the oldest and most venerable Linux distributions. Its roots date to 1998 and Mandrake Linux, which was perhaps the most user-friendly distro of that era. That OpenMandriva has released a desktop that doesn't work and another that doesn't work well enough is especially disappointing, given its history.
System requirements
OpenMandriva Lx is developed by the French, community-supported OpenMandriva Association, which also publishes a rolling release, called ROME. I worked with the 64-bit Rock, which came in a 1.7GB ISO for LXQt and 2.8GB ISO for Plasma 5. (There's also a Plasma ISO for modern AMD processors (Ryzen, ThreadRipper, EPYC) as well as one for the GNOME desktop.) The OpenMandriva repositories also include "alternative desktops", including MATE, Xfce, and Cinnamon, and these are available as community spins.
OpenMandriva Lx 5.0 -- Gathering system information
(full image size: 173kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Rock version 5.0 replaces version 4.3, which was released about one and a half years ago. There doesn't seem to be any indication how long 5.0 will be supported. The minimum system requirements are at least 2048MB of memory and at least 10GB of hard drive space, with 20GB recommended for a full Plasma desktop installation. In addition, the Plasma desktop requires a 3D graphics card that supports OpenGL 2.0 or above, so the distro recommends using AMD, Intel, Adreno or VC4 graphics chips.
The new release, which will be the final OpenMandriva to feature Plasma 5, is based on the 6.6 LTS kernel, and there are a variety of other KDE and Plasma upgrades under the hood. Version 5 also merges the / and /usr filesystems and patches all recent security vulnerabilities, including those with glibc and curl.
What hasn't been fixed or updated is the LXQt D-bus error, which showed up when I was installing the desktop in VirtualBox. Technically, it's a warning that says "The DBus Activation Environment wasn't updated. Some apps might not work properly." I ignored it, figuring it was probably some sort of VirtualBox glitch, but, sure enough, some apps didn't work properly. For instance, Latte, the Plasma dock, would install but not run, not even throwing an error message when I ran it from the command line. Updating the system didn't help, either.
OpenMandriva Lx 5.0 -- A persistent D-bus error
(full image size: 17kB, resolution: 748x543 pixels)
The error was also there when I installed LXQt on my Dell test machine, and no amount of updating made a difference. Even more frustrating: There is no mention of the D-bus problem in the release notes or the errata accompanying the release notes, and the only apparent reference to it in the OpenMandriva forum is a report of a D-bus error from June for the rolling release, but which was marked as a low priority.
There also wasn't any apparent way to get printing; there is no printer section in the System Settings panel. CUPS is installed, but trying to access it via the command line and the CUPS local website didn't do much. There are instructions in the otherwise excellent OpenMandriva wiki, but they're vague and seem to be written for another desktop.
Trying another desktop
So I switched to the Plasma edition, and all seemed much better. It installed quickly, and was easily the best experience I've had with the Calamares installer. There was no D-bus message, Latte worked as it should, and my networked Canon printer was recognized immediately. It even printed and scanned.
OpenMandriva Lx 5.0 -- The welcome window
(full image size: 208kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
As noted, I prefer desktops without bells and whistles, but that's a preference and not something to judge a release by. In this, most of what I needed to run my freelance writing business was in OpenMandriva 5.0, and the welcome screen offered to install accounting software such as Homebank and the much underrated Zim, a note-taking application that I use extensively. And the desktop was quick and responsive about three-quarters of the time.
In addition, the Plasma 5 edition comes with LibreOffice 7.6.3.2, the Konsole text editor, QMPlay2 for videos and music, KDE Connect, the Okular document viewer, and a host of other KDE-specific applications.
But much else was frustrating, not unlike a car that runs well enough, but where the windows don't always close all the way, the dashboard lights flicker for no apparent reason, and the rear view mirror never stays in the same place.
Here are some examples:
- The on-line accounts installer in System Settings failed to install Nextcloud -- said it didn't recognize the URL. But when I installed Nextcloud using the desktop method, all went well. The on-line accounts installer also failed in Fedora 39.
OpenMandriva Lx 5.0 -- The Discover software centre
(full image size: 198kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
- The Plasma version offers at least five ways to install or update software, which is confusing, not especially intuitive, and most of which don't seem to work all the time. There is DnfDrake for installation; dnfdragora, the Fedora equivalent to the Debian family's Synaptic; the KDE Discover store; System Update in the control center; and the command line. Meanwhile, the official instructions advise using the command line for system updates, and it seems to be the best approach to installing software as well.
OpenMandriva Lx 5.0 -- The Control Centre
(full image size: 184kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
- Zoom, which comes installed as a Flatpak, crashed when I tried to use it. The icon would appear briefly on the panel and then vanish. It never did work. The RPM file I downloaded from the Zoom website wouldn't install -- a "conflicting requests" message was shown, which seems to be part of a known Zoom bug involving ibus.
- Random screen lags and freezes. This was especially annoying when I used the control center's system update. (I tried that because using the command line returned several 404 errors for extra OpenMandriva repositories.) I'd click the control center icon to update the system and nothing would happen. I would click again, and then two instances would try to load.
Finally, I'm not quite sure why the KDE Falkon browser is installed as default. It's adequate, I suppose, but still has some problems handling multimedia, like screen tearing on YouTube. And its extensions inventory isn't anywhere as complete as Firefox, which is also open source.
OpenMandriva Lx 5.0 -- Exploring the KDE Plasma System Settings panel
(full image size: 184kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Yes, it's easy enough to install another browser, and Discover lists at least a couple of dozen. But using Falkon as the default speaks to the choices the OpenMandriva developers have made -- that philosophy takes precedence over usability. That approach likely won't bother long-time users, who know how to tweak this and adjust that to get the operating system to do what they want it to do. But for those of us who want a distro where the windows always close, the dashboard lights don't flicker, and the rear view mirror stays put, it's probably not enough.
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Hardware used for this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Dell Latitude E7440 laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel i7-4600U
- Storage: 256GB SSD
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Networking: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485
- Display: Intel HD Graphics 4400
When he is not testing out new versions of Linux distributions, Jeff Siegel can be found writing about all things related to wine at ** https://winecurmudgeon.com/ Wine Curmudgeon.
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Visitor supplied rating
OpenMandriva has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.1/10 from 46 review(s).
Have you used OpenMandriva? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Linux Mint upgrades Edge edition kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes for the distribution's second version, Canonical working to make Snap packages cross platform
The Linux Mint team have published their newsletter covering developments and updates from the month of December. The project has identified some issues via its Edge testing media which has resulted in upgrading the development media: "During beta testing we identified compatibility issues between Linux Mint and new hardware devices (recent AMD graphics but also wireless chipsets and SSD controllers used in Acer laptops). These are solved by upgrading the kernel series from 5.15 to 6.2. We'll therefore prepare a new EDGE ISO for Linux Mint 21.3 shipping with a kernel 6.2."
* * * * *
The Vanilla OS project develops an immutable distribution in the Debian/Ubuntu family. The project is gearing up for its second major release (codename Orchid) with a long list of changes. One of the more user-facing changes is removing reliance on the sudo utility: "This extensive work also includes system configuration, systemd units, containers (which play a crucial role in Orchid), and Polkit rules. Speaking of Polkit, we removed sudo, a task that took a considerable amount of time to implement. We had to create Polkit policies to let users use tools requiring administrative privileges without using sudo; we have written a paragraph on this." The project's news post offers additional details.
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There are a few portable package bundle formats in the Linux community. One of them is Snap and another is Flatpak. While Snap packages have been declared a universal, cross-distribution package format for both desktop and server software, the implementation has been limiting. Snap packages are tied to one repository (owned by Canonical), require systemd to run, and rely on AppArmor for sandboxing permissions. As Flatpak does not have these limitations, it has been more widely adopted in the Linux community. Canonical is hoping to improve Snap adoption by making their technology work better across a wider range of distributions. In a Fosstodon post, a former Canonical employee says he will be returning to the company to work on making Snap more portable: "I will be returning as a snap developer later this month. My main focus will be cross-distribution support. Unlike in the past this will be my full time job. I'm very excited for what is ahead for snaps."
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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) |
Keeping shell commands running when the terminal closes
When-one-terminal-closes-another-opens asks: When a shell session ends does it kill all processes run from that shell? What if I want to keep something running after closing my terminal window?
DistroWatch answers: When a shell session ends, whether it's running locally in a virtual terminal or on a remote machine over a secure shell session, programs which were launched from the shell will receive a hangup signal. This hangup signal (also known as HUP or SIGHUP, for "signal hangup") usually results in the program launched by the shell terminating. The idea being that if there isn't a shell running anymore then there is no way for the running program to interact with the user and it isn't needed any longer. In other words, it's often a convenient way for processes to be cleaned up when we are no longer logged in.
There are times though when we want programs to keep running, even when our shell session is finished. In these instances we will want to tell the shell not to terminate programs that we have launched from within the shell session. There are a few ways to do this.
When we are about to launch a program we know we do not want to be terminated when the shell session ends, we can prefix the command with the word nohup, which is short for "no hangup". This makes the running program immune from the shell session ending. In the following example we run the Firefox web browser and use nohup to make sure it continues to run after our shell exits:
$ nohup firefox &
The above approach of using nohup is useful when we know ahead of time we want a process to keep running after our shell closes. However, what if we run a program and then decide, after the fact, we want to close our shell session while leaving a program running? In these scenarios we can use the disown command. In bash and compatible shells, the disown command tells the shell to not send a specific process the hangup signal when the shell terminates.
To use the disown command we need to know the process identification number (PID) of a program. In the following example I run the Firefox application, then use the ps command to find Firefox's PID. Then prevent Firefox from receiving the hangup signal by using disown:
$ firefox &
[1] 22250
$ ps
| PID | TTY | TIME | CMD
|
| 21194 | pts/1 | 00:00:00 | bash |
| 22250 | pts/1 | 00:00:00 | firefox |
| 22271 | pts/1 | 00:00:00 | ps |
$ disown 22250
In this above example, we launch Firefox which is assigned the PID 22250. This process identification can be seen in the first column of the ps command's output. We then run disown to make sure our shell doesn't send Firefox the hangup signal. Now, when the shell session ends, Firefox can continue running in the background.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Emmabuntüs DE5-1.01
Emmabuntüs, a Debian-based desktop Linux distribution originally designed to facilitate the reconditioning of computers donated to humanitarian associations, has been updated to version DE5-1.01. The new release is based on Debian 12.4: "On January 2nd 2024, the Emmabuntüs Collective is happy to announce the release of the new Emmabuntüs Debian Edition 5 1.01 (32-bit and 64-bit variants), based on the Debian 12.4 'Bookworm' distribution and supporting both XFCE and LXQt desktop environments. This new release of our distribution mainly concerns updates to its embedded software, except for the replacement of VeraCrypt by ZuluCrypt, made necessary by the fact that VeraCrypt no longer supports the creation of TrueCrypt volumes, and the update of the English installation tutorial for Emmabuntüs Debian Edition 5. Concerning the activity around our refurbishing USB stick, we have written a small computer reconditioning manual for people who spend a fair amount of time refurbishing computers." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
Relianoid 7.1
Relianoid is a Debian-based Linux distribution for load balancing. The distribution offers a load balancing oriented operating system for testing, development, and quality assurance environments. The project's latest release is based on Debian 12.4 and introduces a number of small improvements, documentation updates, and offers a streamlined ISO for a lighter install experience. "Under the hood, the v7.1 release brings core improvements, including an upgraded static code analysis that fortifies the system against potential vulnerabilities. Addressing user feedback, RELIANOID has diligently fixed Perl documentation syntax, enhancing readability and code consistency. This commitment to core excellence is a testament to Relianoid's dedication to providing a robust and secure platform for developers and users alike. Version 7.1 introduces API 4.0.3, accompanied by an updated API documentation available here. The release signifies a move towards deprecation by removing the outdated API 3.1, encouraging users to leverage the latest capabilities." Additional details are provided in the distribution's release announcement.
* * * * *
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: 2,947
- Total data uploaded: 43.9TB
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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) |
Do you pay money for your Linux distribution?
While most Linux distributions are offered to the public free of charge, it costs money to develop, host, and maintain a distribution. This means a lot of projects ask for donations and some charge money, either for downloads or for support. We'd like to hear whether your main distribution is one you paid for, donated to, or use cost-free.
You can see the results of our previous poll on distro-hopping in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Did you pay for your distro?
| Yes - it is a commercial product: | 29 (2%) |
| Yes - I sent a donation: | 369 (19%) |
| Yes - indirectly purchased items which support them: | 49 (3%) |
| No - I am using my distro free of charge: | 1473 (77%) |
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|
| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Oreon Linux. The Oreon Linux project is based on Fedora, with additional software repositories enabled. Oreon strives to offer three years of support by backporting package fixes from newer versions of Fedora.
- ExelentOS. ExelentOS is an Arch-based distribution featuring the KDE Plasma desktop.
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DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 15 January 2024. 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 |
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| Random Distribution | 
SharkLinux
SharkLinux was an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the MATE desktop. The distribution automatically upgrades packages on the system to apply security patches. The distribution also enables sudo access by default without requiring a password for user convenience. SharkLinux features the Ubuntu Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel by default.
Status: Discontinued
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TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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