 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1062, 18 March 2024 |
Welcome to this year's 12th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The beginning of March has been an exciting time for fans of Qt-based desktop environments. With LXQt adding Wayland support and KDE Plasma 6 launching and then quickly being showcased in the KDE neon distribution. This week we begin with a look at Plasma 6 running on KDE neon as Joshua Allen Holm takes the new desktop for a spin. While Plasma 6 has resulted in a flood of bug reports in the KDE issue tracker, distributions are quickly packaging the software. openSUSE has been one of the first to replace Plasma 5 in its Tumbleweed repositories with Plasma 6 packages. We discuss openSUSE's Plasma packages and known issues in this week's News section. We also talk about Pop!_OS getting a new software centre to match its new COSMIC desktop environment and celebrate Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, turning 20 years old this month. One of the ways Canonical spread its Ubuntu distribution in the early days was by shipping free CDs to potential users. While physical media with Linux pre-installed has become less common over the years, some people continue to purchase thumb drives and DVDs with Linux on them. Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll if you still purchase physical install media. Plus we discuss some easy ways to adjust file permissions when multiple users are placing files in a directory. We're also pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you a wonderful week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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| Feature Story (By Joshua Allen Holm) |
KDE neon 20240303 and 20240304
KDE neon is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution released by the KDE project. It features the latest KDE Plasma desktop environment and applications on top of an Ubuntu long-term support base. This means that the current releases of KDE neon feature the brand new KDE Plasma 6.0 desktop with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS providing the base, non-KDE package selection. KDE neon uses Ubuntu's Hardware Enablement (HWE) Linux kernel, which is currently at version 6.5.
KDE neon 20240304 -- Live desktop with welcome centre
(full image size: 796kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
KDE neon comes in four versions: User, Testing, Unstable, and Developer. This review focuses on the User edition, which advertises itself as "[f]eaturing the latest officially released KDE software on a stable base. Ideal for adventurous KDE enthusiasts." I should note that the "adventurous" part is an extremely recent revision for reasons that will become clear shortly. It used to say "Ideal for everyday users." The other editions are aimed more at testers and developers.
The first release of KDE neon User Edition with KDE Plasma 6.0 was version 20240228. There was also a revised ISO pushed out with a 20240229 date stamp. The first version I downloaded for this review was 20240303, which had a bug in the installer. I was finally able to complete an install and write this review using the 20240304 ISO.
Live desktop
I began by copying the 2.8GB KDE neon 20240303 ISO to a flash drive. I booted to a live desktop environment that looked very nice and had some nice enhancements over Plasma 5.27, but seems to extremely lacking in pre-installed software. I will cover the included applications in more detail later in this review, but the lack of applications left me with little to explore. Most of the categories in the application menu only had one or two entries. Honestly, for this distribution being a showcase for KDE projects, I was shocked at how slim the software selection was, but I figured maybe the installer would let me add applications of my choosing while installing. Sadly, that turned out to not be the case.
KDE neon 20240304 -- The Plasma 6 System Settings panel
(full image size: 206kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Failed installation attempt
My first attempt to install KDE neon failed because of a bug in Calamares related to networking. Getting a big "Installation Failed" message does not make a good first impression. The full error message was: "Main script file /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/calamares/modules/networkcfg/main.py for python job networkcfg raised an exception."
After confirming that this error was a known bug, I had the choice between trying some workarounds or waiting for fixed installation media to be released. I opted for the second option and tried again when the installation media with a 20240304 date stamp came out.
Installing KDE neon
After copying the 20240304 image to a flash drive, I was ready to make another attempt at installing KDE neon. This time everything worked as intended, but like I noted above, there was no option to pick additional software. The installation process was a very standard experience of setting location and keyboard layout, partitioning and formatting, and creating a new user. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the fact KDE neon defaulted to creating an 8GB swap partition, which was twice the size of the RAM in my computer. I cannot recall any distribution I have installed in recent memory that wanted to create a swap partition or swap file that large.
KDE neon 20240304 -- Calamares system installer partitioning screen
(full image size: 717kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Plasma 6 defaults to running on a Wayland session and this is what I used for the majority of my review. One odd thing I noticed post-install was that the various standard directories were not created in my home directory by the installer. I had to manually run xdg-user-dirs-update to create the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Public, Templates, and Videos directories.
Default software selection
KDE neon has one of the smallest selections of pre-installed software that I have ever seen. Only Ubuntu's Minimal desktop install and Fedora Silverblue come to mind for desktop-focused distribution with a similar lack pre-installed software. By category, the complete list of graphical applications is as follows:
- Development: Kate, UserFeedback Console
- Graphics: Gwenview, Okular
- Internet: Firefox Web Browser, KDE Connect, KDE Connect SMS
- Multimedia: VLC media player
- Office: Okular
- Settings: System Settings
- System: Discover, Dolphin, Info Center, Konsole, Menu Editor, System Monitor
- Utilities: Ark, Emoji Selector, Kate, KWrite, Spectacle, Welcome Center
KDE neon 20240304 -- The application menu
(full image size: 859kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
In the root of the application menu, alongside the above categories, there is also a Help application.
Even counting double entries, this is less than two dozen items. There is no music player. VLC media player can play music, of course, but it does not fill the same niche as iTunes and Rhythmbox do in their respective environments. KDE has applications that fills that niche, namely Elisa and JuK, but they are not showcased by KDE neon pre-installing them. Even VLC media player is an odd choice. KDE's own Dragon Player is good application, and after I installed it myself, it worked much better than VLC media player did. VLC media player would not switch to full screen mode and had audio hiccups after resuming from pause, but Dragon Player had none of these issues. (The VLC full screen issue could be fixed by switching to Plasma's X11 session.) There is no office suite, not KDE's Calligra suite or the near ubiquitous LibreOffice. There are also no games, despite there being a good number of polished games published under the KDE brand. KPatience, KDE's version of solitaire, would have made a welcome addition to the default software selection, if only to provide a diversion for the user while the installer was working its way through the non-interactive parts of the install processes.
The version of Firefox installed, currently version 123, comes from the Mozilla Team Personal Package Archive (PPA), but even that had issues. The Widevine DRM plugin crashed constantly. And in yet another sign that KDE neon shipped before everything was ready, the Plasma Integration Firefox extension, which the Plasma desktop prompts the user to install, is not compatible with Plasma 6. The browser extension and the plasma-browser-integration package cannot communicate with each other.
There are so many issues, both little and big, with just the small selection of pre-installed applications. Some were solvable, like VLC media player correctly going into full screen once I changed KDE Plasma 6's scaling to 100% from its default of 125% (not that I have any idea why KDE Plasma 6 and/or KDE neon decided I needed 125% scaling by default on my 1080p display), but others were not. VLC media player still has audio issues, Calligra still has no spell check, and so on. I have honestly had better experiences with Ubuntu daily images for releases that were still pre-beta than I have with this KDE neon release that came out part of the Plasma 6 mega release.
Installing additional software
Because it is built on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, KDE neon comes with access to a sizable selection of software. Most of this comes from Ubuntu's archives, but KDE applications come from KDE neon's repositories and the Mozilla Team PPA provides Firefox. The Snap command line application is installed, but no Snaps are pre-installed. Flatpak is also pre-installed and Flathub is already pre-configured. Being Ubuntu-based, KDE neon includes the standard dpkg and apt command line tools for managing packages, but the KDE neon website recommends using pkcon when updating the system from the command line.
KDE neon 20240304 -- The Discover software centre
(full image size: 348kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
KDE neon uses KDE's Discover as its graphical tool for installing applications and updating the system. However, Discover has issues just like many of the other pre-installed applications. I tried searching for LibreOffice and Discover crashed every single time. I could successfully search for other specific applications (e.g., NetBeans) and search terms that produced a large number of results (e.g, DOS) without crashing, but Discover really, really, really does not like LibreOffice for some reason. Message received, I tried to install Calligra Words instead, which worked, but Calligra Words claimed there was "[n]o backend found for spell checking". Nothing I did seemed to provide Calligra with a working spell check backend, so I gave up and installed LibreOffice from the command line.
In order to get a system that was (mostly) usable, I ended up installing Dragon Player, the Calligra office suite (in an attempt to prefer KDE applications for this review), and LibreOffice. That is not a huge amount of added software, but the KDE neon ISO is smaller than some other distributions, so they could have easily released a slightly larger ISO with more KDE software.
Honestly, the choice of preferring VLC media player over Dragon Player is the thing that confuses me the most. Installing Dragon Player only required downloading the Dragon Player package itself because all the required libraries were already installed. Installing both Dragon Player and VLC media player would barely increase the size of the ISO. I am not sure if VLC media player can be fully removed without breaking things, and I am hesitant to try given how broken some things are already, but I would assume that shipping only KDE's own Dragon Player should be possible, should the developers wish to do so.
Final thoughts
KDE Plasma 6 shows a lot of promise, but I have a very hard time recommending KDE neon in its current state. So many things are broken to the point of being unusable. Some of this can be attributed to version X.0 newness of Plasma 6, but that only applies to KDE specific things. Shipping an unusable Calamares installer was not good. The staggering number of bugs and things that are just not ready is disappointing. As much as I like KDE Plasma 6's design, I cannot recommend using KDE neon as anything more than a way to try out Plasma 6 while waiting for an updated version of KDE neon or some other distribution to release a more stable experience. I look forward to trying KDE Plasma 6 when it hits Fedora and Kubuntu in upcoming releases, and might give KDE neon another try when Plasma 6.1 comes out, but this experience did make a below average first impression.
KDE neon 20240304 -- The desktop cube
(full image size: 272kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Though, to end on a more positive note, the desktop cube is back. It is an optional feature that needs to be enabled, but it is a nice bit of nostalgia.
Follow-up
Between this review being written and publication, things have changed quickly with KDE neon. The latest ISO refresh/batch of package updates does start fixing things. I can now make VLC go full screen under Wayland with 125% scaling and the Firefox Plasma Integration is now functioning. So, thankfully, anyone who does decide to try out KDE neon after reading my review will not suffer as much as the early adopters
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Hardware used for this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an Asus L510MA laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Pentium Silver N5030 CPU @ 1.10GHz
- Storage: 128GB eMMC
- Memory: 4GB of RAM
- Networking: Intel Gemini Lake PCH CNVi WiFi
- Display: Intel UHD Graphics 605
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Visitor supplied rating
KDE neon has a visitor supplied average rating of: 7.7/10 from 131 review(s).
Have you used KDE neon? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6
It has been 20 years since the Canonical company was formed and started work on the Ubuntu distribution - itself nearing its 20th anniversary. Canonical entered the desktop space around the same time Red Hat had announced it was discontinuing Red Hat Linux (a popular desktop distribution at the time) in favour of focusing on its more business-oriented Red Hat Enterprise Linux product. Canonical came along and filled this void, creating what quickly became the most commonly used desktop Linux distribution. ZDNet takes a look back at Canonical's beginning: "From the get-go, Canonical's mission was audacious: To create an operating system that was as feature-rich, user-friendly, and accessible as its proprietary counterparts. Released in October 2004, Ubuntu Linux quickly became synonymous with ease of use, stability, and security, bridging the gap between the power of Linux and the usability demanded by end users."
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Jeremy Soller from System76 has announced that the COSMIC desktop being developed for Pop!_OS will include a new software centre. "COSMIC Store is coming along quickly, though there is still a lot left to do. It loads nearly instantly, because it uses bitcode to cache appstream data in an optimized format. It uses very little memory compared to the Pop Shop. Searches can be performed live as they are done in parallel. Searching for "e" takes 5.5ms on my desktop and returns 4,601 results."
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About a week ago we saw the initial release of KDE's Plasma 6 desktop, a major update for the desktop and its associated software produced by the KDE project. The new desktop is quickly being packaged by multiple distributions, particularly rolling releases. This may cause a bumpy ride for users as Plasma 5 and Plasma 6 are not designed to be installed side-by-side. Fabian Vogt comments on Plasma 6 entering openSUSE's Tumbleweed branch: "The next TW snapshot 20240311 contains KDE Plasma 6.0.1, Gear 24.02.0 and Frameworks 6.0.0. Plasma 5 will be replaced, it is no longer part of the repository. There are a few minor issues in this snapshot found by openQA but not considered severe enough to actually block the snapshot from getting published. They'll all be fixed with Plasma 6.0.2 in one of the next snapshots, also for those installing or upgrading now." Known Plasma 6 issues are included in the mailing list post. The update has not gone well for some Tumbleweed users.
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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) |
Set access permissions for all new files in a directory?
Reading-is-for-everyone asks: I have a cron script that scans through files placed in the /media/upload directory. These files should all have permissions 644 so my script can read them. Is there a way to set these file permissions automatically for every file?
DistroWatch answers: There are a few ways you can approach making sure files deposited in a directory have a specific set of permissions. In this case the 644 permission values indicate the owner of the files can read them and edit them. Other users (members of the file's group ownership and anyone else on the system) will be able to read these files. The 6 indicates read and write permission for the owner while the two 4s each indicate read-only access for others.
One approach you may be able to take - assuming you have some control over the user accounts of each user who will be uploading, creating, or moving files into your /media/upload directory - is to set the default permissions for new files. This will cause all new files created or uploaded by users on the system to have specific permissions. The tool to set default file permissions is called umask.
The umask utility sets which permissions are not granted on newly created files and directories for a specific user. The umask command accepts an octal permission number (in the same format as the chmod command) and causes new files to have the given permissions removed. For example, on most systems the umask value is set to 022. This means the owner doesn't have any permissions removed (they can do anything they like with new files). However, members of the file's group and other users on the system have their access to edit the file (permission 2) removed.
The umask value is usually set in the start-up configuration file for a user's shell (such as in /etc/bash.bashrc or ~/.bashrc). On some distributions, particularly those in the Debian family, the umask value is set in the /etc/login.defs file.
You probably want all users to have a umask value of 022, which is a fairly common default across distributions.
With that said, if you already have the users' umasks set to 022 and they're changing the permissions on their files or something else is changing the permissions or you do not have access to change their umask then what can you do? An alternative would be to change file permissions just before your cron job runs. You can accomplish this by having the root user run the following chmod command to grant all users read access to the files under your /media/upload directory:
chmod -R a+r /media/upload/
Placing the above line at the start of your existing script or having it run from your root user's crontab before your script is launched will provide read access on all files and sub-directories under /media/upload.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
CachyOS 240313
CachyOS, a user-friendly and highly-optimised Linux distribution based on Arch Linux, has received a significant update. Its version 240313 features the brand-new KDE Plasma 6 desktop with Qt 6 and the Wayland display server by default: "This is our third release in 2024 and brings quite big changes. We are dropping our GNOME ISO image due to a lack of maintenance and double testing for every release. Also, this should avoid confusion among users about the net-installation, and supported desktop environments, since we are providing most desktop environments directly in the netinstall. This ISO image is based on Plasma 6 and will also have Wayland enabled by default. This should not have a big impact on NVIDIA users since X11 can still be used after the installation. Plasma 6 seems Wayland-wise in really good shape and as soon wayland-protocols and NVIDIA provide the explicit sync protocol, this should also be the case for most NVIDIA users. Features: Plasma 6 is now shipped in the ISO image and uses Wayland as default, GNOME ISO image got dropped to avoid confusion about netinstall; Calamares - rebased for Qt 6; refind - add f2fs and zfs as option including luks2 encryption...." Continue to the release announcement for further details.
CachyOS 240313 -- Running KDE Plasma 6
(full image size: 1.6MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Univention Corporate Server 5.0-7
Univention Corporate Server (UCS) is an enterprise-class distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux. The project has published an update to its 5.0 series which introduces blocklists for the Univention Directory Manager. "A new feature in UCS is "blocklists" for the Univention Directory Manager (UDM). This feature allows UDM to block previously used values for specific attributes. One possible use case would be preventing the unintentional reuse of an email address, which could potentially lead to one user accessing another user's emails: a user had the email address "smith@company.com," then leaves the company, and their account is deleted. Shortly after, a new user "smith" is created. Now, UDM can prevent the creation because "smith@company.com" would be used as the email address again. Blocking old email addresses occurs automatically when the feature is activated (it is initially deactivated) and the corresponding blocklists are created. The blocklists can also be managed with a UMC module." Additional information can be found in the distribution's release announcement and in the release notes.
Void 20240314
The Void project produces an independent, rolling release Linux distribution. The project's latest snapshot provides a keyboard layout selector on the login screen, enables the chrony network time daemon, and supports Raspberry Pi 5 computers. The distribution's release announcement shares the details: "Some highlights of this release: A keymap selector is now shown in LightDM on XFCE images. The chrony NTP daemon is now enabled by default in live images. Raspberry Pi images can now be installed on non-SD card storage without manual configuration on models that support booting from USB or NVMe. Raspberry Pi images now default to a /boot partition of 256MiB instead of 64MiB. rpi-aarch64* PLATFORMFSes and images now support the Raspberry Pi 5. After installation, the kernel can be switched to the Raspberry Pi 5-specific rpi5-kernel." Void is available in glibc and musl C library editions.
ALT Linux 10.2
ALT Linux is a project which produces multiple editions of an independent distribution for Russian speakers. The project's latest release, version 10.2, enables installing the distribution to Btrfs pools, includes Timeshift for working with filesystem snapshots, and includes an OEM install mode. "Computer manufacturers will be interested in the preinstallation mode (OEM mode). Added Timeshift 23.12. This program is designed to create snapshots of system files and settings. In the installer, at the disk preparation stage, it became possible to create subpartitions of the BtrFS. This file system uses accelerated operations with any files thanks to copy-on-write technology which affects fault tolerance and ease of administration. A security benefit when using BtrFS is the creation of a restore point before updating the system. A module has been added to the System Control Center (Alterator) for remote configuration of the system via the alterator-fbi network (Form Based Interface) which provides a web-based management interface. Changes have been made to the text of the license agreement." Additional details can be found in the project's release announcement.
4MLinux 45.0
4MLinux is a small, indepedent distribution which focuses on four areas: network services, games, multimedia, and system rescue. The project's latest release, version 45.0, offers video scaling, new games, and upgrades the OpenSSL version to OpenSSL 3 from 1.1. "As always, the new major release has some new features. Lots of new printing drivers have been added. FFmpeg in 4MLinux now offers improved support for video scaling (resizing) via zimg library. Additionally, FFmpeg and MPlayer make us of Bauer stereophonic-to-binaural DSP effect library (libbs2b) for better handling of stereo audio. Classic CHAMP Kong game has been added to the 4MLinux DOSBox package. Basilisk web browser is now available a downloadable extension. And finally, OpenSSL in 4MLinux has been system-wide upgraded to its version 3." Additional details are available in the project's release announcement.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,975
- Total data uploaded: 44.1TB
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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) |
Purchasing physical media
This week, in our News section, we marked Canonical's 20th anniversary. One of the methods Canonical used to spread the company's Ubuntu distribution in its early days was shipping Ubuntu CDs to potential users free of charge. This helped get the Linux distribution to people who did not have access to high-speed Internet.
With fast internet connections more common these days, the sales of CD, DVD, and USB media have decreased, but some people still prefer to acquire install media this way. For some people it's a way to get around limited Internet connections, for others it is a way to sponsor projects, or a way to acquire media to hand out at events.
Do you still purchase or otherwise acquire physical media with a Linux distribution pre-installed?
You can see the results of our previous poll on using a smart phone as a workstation computer in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Do you purchase Linux media?
| Yes - CDs: | 20 (1%) |
| Yes - DVDs: | 53 (3%) |
| Yes - USB thumb drives: | 68 (4%) |
| Yes - Other: | 22 (1%) |
| No: | 1546 (90%) |
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| Website News |
New projects added to database
Dr.Parted Live
Dr.Parted Live is a bootable GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian Testing. It is a live CD/USB featuring a lightweight Openbox window manager and useful applications for data backup, restore and recovery.
Dr.Parted Live 24.03 -- Exploring the Openbox environment
(full image size: 85kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
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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, 25 March 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 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 |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1033 (2023-08-21): MiniOS 20230606, system user accounts, how Red Hat clones are moving forward, Haiku improves WINE performance, Debian turns 30 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
GhostBSD
GhostBSD is a user-friendly desktop operating system based on FreeBSD. Its default desktop is MATE, but a separate community edition with Xfce is available too. It also features a selection of commonly used software, a rolling-release development model, and a bootable live image with an intuitive graphical system installer.
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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0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
