 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1084, 19 August 2024 |
Welcome to this year's 34th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Many distributions these days seek to offer an experience which can be described as an easy-to-use Arch Linux. One such project is Liya, an Arch-based distribution that uses the Calamares system installer and the Cinnamon desktop. Jeff Siegel recently took Liya for a test drive and reported on his findings. Read on to learn his thoughts on the distribution in our Feature Story. In our News section we share new performance improvements coming to the Haiku project along with an announcement Gentoo is dropping IA-64 processor support next month. Plus we talk about a major collection of updates coming to Redcore users and challenges this project is facing. This week we also talk about encryption, particularly how to encrypt multiple filesystems on the same hard drive. Do you use full disk or home directory encryption? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. Plus we are pleased to share the new releases of the past week and list the torrents 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 Jeff Siegel) |
Liya 2.0
Look upon Liya, a rolling release distribution based on Arch Linux, and prepare to be amazed. It's slick. It's snappy. And it somehow manages to give Arch an intuitive graphical interface for those of us who don't need to use the command line to be fulfilled as a human being.
Liya 2.0 -- The Cinnamon desktop
(full image size: 455kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Most amazing, it's a one-person operation, the work of Sayed M. Hisham, who seems to have put his heart and soul - and who knows what else - into producing Liya. Who else would offer this warning? "Liya Is Not For Users Who ... Are distro-hoppers." The ISO, download, and installation procedure are as capable as anything from Fedora or Ubuntu, and that's not necessarily easy to do.
So why isn't this this a completely positive review of Liya 2.0 (codenamed Aadnya), after a week or so tinkering with Liya? Because it took me a week to navigate the balky software updater/installer, which kept throwing errors related to a series of corrupted keyring PGP signatures. The instructions for fixing the problem were incomplete and contradictory; I'd do one thing, which didn't work, and then have find another approach, which also didn't work.
And if one takes a week to figure out how to install new software and update the existing installation, that kind of puts a damper on using Liya, doesn't it?
Nevertheless, Liya is worth writing about because - assuming Hisham can clean up the documentation - it offers something that seems to fill a need. He understands this, writing that Liya's goal is to provide an Arch-based distro that isn't bloated, works on lower-spec hardware, and combines a clean and efficient interface with quality performance.
Where's the update?
The update and installation flummox was about the last thing I expected after running Liya without any trouble in VirtualBox and then installing it on my test machine. Both went off without a hitch; in fact, it was one of the smoothest VirtualBox sessions I've had when writing a DistroWatch review. The live version of Liya didn't hang up, make the screen go goofy, or any of the rest. It just worked.
Even better: it took just seven minutes to install the 64-bit Cinnamon desktop edition, which is provided through a 3.6GB ISO (there is also a 4.1GB MATE desktop edition). Requirements are 4GB of RAM, a dual core CPU, and 20GB of hard drive space - hardly overwhelming specs. Liya comes with systemd 256, Cinnamon 6.2.2 and it updates to the 6.10.0-rc6-1 mainline kernel after installation.
The Calamares installer did what it was supposed to do without any problems, even giving the option to install the distro on an ext4 or Btrfs filesystem (I chose the latter), In fact, it restored my wireless connection and remembered my screen resolution, as well as rebooting without a problem while removing the installation media, which sometimes hangs up with other distros.
Liya 2.0 -- The Calamares system installer
(full image size: 615kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The trouble started when I went to update the system after installation. I ran the Pamac software updater/installer, and got an error: "Failed to commit transaction/Failed to retrieve some files." I messed around with the settings, figuring a repository was set up incorrectly. No joy there, either. So I clicked the Forum desktop icon, which took me to the distro's wiki. Listed were three terminal commands to run after installation: refreshing the mirror list and keyring and then updating the system with "sudo pacman -Syu".
Liya 2.0 -- Failing to update packages
(full image size: 249kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
"Ah," I thought, "it's based on Arch, so my Debian-centric mind just didn't understand what needed to be done." But the provided commands from the wiki didn't work, either - the terminal kept spitting out lines about untrusted software keys and didn't do any updating.
At this point, I thought about moving on, but - to be completely honest - I didn't want to admit that an Arch-based distro had beaten me. So I put Liya away for a day or so, planning to return with a fresh mindset and to undertake some intensive DuckDuckGo-ing.
This process went on for about a week, with no more success. The only related entry in the Liya forum was more than a year old, but didn't offer a solution. And nothing turned up during various Internet searches, save for some hints that the same problem existed with Kali Linux,
And then, for no particular reason, I looked yet again at the almost too spartan Liya website. At the very bottom of the home page, there was an 11-step installation guide. I had not paid much attention to it before, since it said to use Rufus to install Liya, and I don't use Windows. But the 11th step was the difference: "After the installation, run fixpacrepo from the terminal." Which I did, and - save for one remaining annoyance where clicking "shut down" on the menu only logs out - Liya was ready to run as a daily driver.
Software and apps
The Cinnamon desktop works nicely in Liya - no stutters, no hang-ups, and a minimum of spinning wheels after launching an app. Cinnamon extensions are added through a dedicated app, and I installed the weather extension without trouble. And it is light to use, with only 8% on the CPU and 1,400MB of memory used while a YouTube video was running at the same time as a song played on the music player.
Liya 2.0 -- The Cinnamon application menu
(full image size: 339kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
The default applications are a mix of Cinnamon, Arch and its underpinnings, including access to the AUR, and Hisham's selections. Cinnamon contributions include the Nemo file manager and its Actions Centre; the Pix photo viewer; xed text editor; the GNOME Terminal; and the Celluloid video player. Hisham has chosen Brave as the browser, Geary as the e-mail client, and the free version of OnlyOffice as the office suite. Also included are the Ulauncher application launcher; Vim, for those who prefer that sort of thing; Deluge for BitTorrent; Bleachbit (for the intrepid); and Exaile for music.
Brave and OnlyOffice are intriguing choices, though Ulauncher and Geary aren't common, either. Brave seemed to work as it was supposed to, though it didn't seem any lighter than Firefox. I know OnlyOffice a little (I've worked my way through most office suites, free and paid, in a vain attempt to liberate myself from LibreOffice's annoyances), and it's fine, but not appreciably different from LibreOffice. Geary, thanks to Google's security witchcraft, wouldn't recognize the Gmail account I use for these reviews, so it was easier to set up a Brave progressive web app (PWA) and run Gmail through it. Ulauncher was a pleasant surprise, though I wish it was as easy to set up to access files and documents as it is on the Albert launcher.
Liya 2.0 -- Running OnlyOffice
(full image size: 113kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
One word here about Hardinfo2, a system information and benchmark utility. Usually, one of the Neofetch clones suffices for my purposes, but Hardinfo2 is much more complete, offers the information in a user-friendly way, and allowed me to run fun, if useless, benchmarks for my older test machine.
In the end, the problems with Liya aren't about the distro itself, which is so simple to use it's almost as if it's not based on Arch. Believe it or not, there's as little need to use the command line as there is on Ubuntu. And yes, I can see using it on my older hardware as a daily driver, even though it likely does far more than I need it to do. That it was a rolling release also didn't seem to matter. Once I got everything working, nothing gummed up or to acted wonky.
Rather, the problem is - sadly - typical of so many one-person and small group Linux efforts. There's so much to do in just building the damned thing that so much else falls through the cracks. Yes, I probably should have found the instructions to run fixpacrepo to rebuild the repos and update the GPG keys sooner than I did. And, almost certainly, an Arch devotee would have known to do it as matter of course.
On the other hand, for anyone coming to Arch from elsewhere, which seems to be one of Liya's goals, one set of accurate and complete instructions located in every place anyone would look - home page, wiki, forum, whatever - is necessary, even if it's a lot of work. That's one of the basics in running a distro. Hopefully, Hisham can take that next step, since Liya deserves all the attention it can get.
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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 Wine Curmudgeon.
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Visitor supplied rating
Liya has a visitor supplied average rating of: 5/10 from 4 review(s).
Have you used Liya? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Haiku introduces performance improvements, Redcore merges major upgrade, Gentoo dropping IA-64 support
The Haiku project has been making progress on multiple fronts. Developer x512 recently posted they have a mostly-functioning port of the Firefox web browser and offered screenshots of Firefox running on the open source operating system.
Meanwhile the project's monthly newsletter talks about performance and profile improvements: "Haiku has a built-in CPU time profiler (just called profile.) Unfortunately, it's been rather broken for years, regularly outputting data that was either empty or just didn't make any sense. In order to use it to try and track down some of the other bottlenecks, I spent a bunch of time fixing various bugs in it, as well as the debugger support code that it relies on to function, including to stack trace collection, buffer flushing, symbol lookup, scheduler callbacks, image load reporting, and more. I also implemented userspace-only profiling (ignoring kernel stack frames entirely), fixed some output buffer sizing issues, and fixed a race condition in thread resumption that also affected strace. While it isn't perfect, it's much better than before, and can now be used to profile applications and the kernel to see where CPU time is being spent; and notably it now checks the thread's CPU time counters to detect if it 'missed' profiling ticks, and if so how many."
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People who run Redcore Linux should prepare for a major upgrade of the rolling release project. Part of the flood of updates, for new and existing users, comes from time constraints. " I have promised I will merge all the changes from branch next and release an ISO at the same time, however I cannot keep that promise and I apologise. Producing an ISO image is a time consuming endeavour. It takes 3 hours to spin, followed by days of testing. If something goes wrong, I have to start from scratch. I understand many of you would prefer not to go through a lengthy update, however, for the time being, I cannot dedicate a few days to produce a new release. Branch master is, as of this post, almost 3 months behind, and it falls even further behind each time I push updates into branch next. As mentioned above, pushing frequent updates is easy, producing a new release, not so much. At the same time, holding a branch behind with the hope I might get some time to produce a release, is unreasonable. As a result, I have decided to merge all the goodies from branch next, into branch master, aka Plasma 6, LXQt 2.0, new system profile, and a new binary format." Instructions for how to handle the new flood of updates are covered in the project's blog post.
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The Gentoo project has announced it will be dropping support for the IA-64 CPU architecture in the near future, following the Linux kernel phasing out support. "Following the removal of IA-64 (Itanium) support in the Linux kernel and glibc, and subsequent discussions on our mailing list, as well as a vote by the Gentoo Council, Gentoo will discontinue all ia64 profiles and keywords. The primary reason for this decision is the inability of the Gentoo IA-64 team to support this architecture without kernel support, glibc support, and a functional development box (or even a well-established emulator). In addition, there have been only very few users interested in this type of hardware." The change will take place in early September 2024.
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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) |
Dual boot with encryption
Shields-up asks: How can I make it so the files from one Linux distro on my laptop can't be accessed by another distro on the same laptop? I only have one hard drive in the laptop.
DistroWatch answers: When you are trying to protect one operating system from another on the same hardware, you pretty much need to use encryption. Depending on which files you want to protect, you might take different approaches to using encryption. For instance, if you are only worried about protecting your user's files (data stored under your home directory) then you could use user directory encryption or encrypt the /home partition only. However, if you are worried about one operating system compromising another, not just reading the contents of private data on the filesystem, then you'll need full disk/partition encryption.
The challenge we then face is few distribution system installers make it easy to set up multiple distributions on the same hard drive, both with encrypted root filesystems. Some projects, such as Ubuntu, make it easy to wipe an entire drive and encrypt the operating system's disk, but they don't really offer a smooth way to install two operating systems side-by-side, with both of them encrypted. It's generally assumed that if you want to protect your operating system's data using encryption, then you won't install a second operating system which might be used to compromise it.
There are a few suggestions I can make for working around this assumption.
The first and easiest option is to set up your preferred distribution normally with full disk encryption. Then install your second distribution inside a virtual machine running on the original (host) distribution. This won't, technically, provide dual boot capabilities, so if that is something you really need this won't help. However, in the vast majority of cases, installing a distribution in a virtual machine and using full disk encryption in the VM is the most practical way to go. The host won't see the encrypted files inside the virtualized guest and the guest won't see the host's files.
The only situations where this will not work are if you really need the second operating system to have direct access to the hardware or you have an extremely limited amount of RAM available.
Another option would be to plug in an external hard drive to your laptop. Then install one distribution per drive, each of them using full disk encryption. Most laptops will boot from an external drive and that way each distro can have its own disk. For added security, when not using the distribution on the external drive, you could unplug it, guaranteeing the distro on the internal drive can't see the second distro at all.
The performance of the distro on the second drive will be reduced when reading from the disk, and you'll have some up front costs for the external drive, but this is probably the easiest approach if you absolutely need to dual boot.
Since most system installers do not handle setting up dual-boot, encrypted operating systems gracefully, a third option is to do the disk partitioning and encrypting ourselves. We can set up encrypted disk partitions manually and then try to install our distribution of choice into the encrypted volume. This usually only works well with highly manual distributions, such as Arch Linux or in cases where the user knows how to set up a distribution manually using a live media. However, for those who are brave enough to go this route and want full control, the Arch wiki has tutorials for setting up encrypted partitions, ZFS, and LVM volumes.
This last option is certainly the most complex and involves the most work. However, if the situation really requires dual booting, full filesystem encryption, and cannot involve a second hard drive, this is probably the best option left to you.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
RebeccaBlackOS 2024-08-12
RebeccaBlackOS is a Debian-based live distribution which can be used to run Wayland desktop sessions. The project's latest release features a number of upgrades, including swapping out Qt5 for Qt6 and dropping support for 32-bit processors. "New in these ISOs since 2023-01-16: Only 64-bit ISOs are made as QtWebEngine refuses to build in 32 bit chroots. Config files in packages built by checkinstall are correctly marked as config files. Files from the build process are all part of packages, and are not ophaned. The number of potential file conflicts with unintalled packages from the tier 1 Debian repo has been vastly reduced. The few that remain are properly handled by dpkg-divert. Linux 6.10 is built, and drm_panic is enabled. The ttynull driver is enabled. Linux is patched directly to use /dev/ttynull as the default console device. This allows systemd to correctly log to /dev/console. The tier 1 packages are now Debian Bookworm. Qt5 is now removed in favor of Qt6." Additional information can be found in the project's release notes.
Tails 6.6
The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a Debian-based live DVD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity. The project's latest release, Tails 6.6, is focused on fixing issues and improving the persistent storage experience. "Fixed problems: Persistent storage: Increase the maximum waiting time to 4 minutes when unlocking the Persistent Storage before returning an error. Made the creation of the Persistent Storage more robust after starting a Tails USB stick for the first time. Prevent the Persistent Storage settings from freezing after opening a link to the documentation. Prevent Additional Software from crashing when installing virtual packages. Networking: Fix connecting to the Tor network using default bridges. Allow enabling multiple network interfaces again." The release announcement offers additional information.
deepin 23
The deepin distribution is based on Debian and features the custom-made Deepin Desktop Environment (Deepin DE). The project's latest release is version 23 which introduces atomic updates and support for a wider range of CPU architectures. The new CPU support includes install media and packages for ARM and RISC-V processors. "The system repository packages have been comprehensively upgraded to enhance stability and security, and better support new hardware and architectures such as ARM64, RISC-V, and LoongArch64. Established a new V23 repository for the upgrade of over 8,000 core packages. Introduced a new installation and upgrade mechanism to reduce disk space occupation during whole disk installation. Provided a flexible upgrade backup mechanism to ensure user rollback capability in case of upgrade anomalies, and offered users the ability to manage multiple versions. Optimized system backup solutions to reduce disk space usage compared to the previous A/B partition scheme. Added the "Atomic Update" capability, allowing users to flexibly roll back or switch system versions based on backup restore points." Additional details can be found in the project's release announcement.
deepin 23 -- The Deepin desktop and application menu
(full image size: 2.6MB, resolution: 1920x1440 pixels)
ExTiX 24.8
ExTiX is a distribution in the Debian family which offers alterative desktop environments. The project's latest release, ExTiX 24.8, is based on deepin 23. "New functions etc. in ExTiX 24.8 'Deepin': 1. VirtualBox Guest Additions are not pre-installed. No real need for them since you can run ExTiX in full screen in VirtualBox by just changing the screen resolution. 2. You can run ExTiX from RAM. Use boot alternative 2 (load to RAM) or Advanced. A wonderful way to run Linux if you have enough RAM. Everything will be super fast. When ExTiX has booted up you can remove the DVD or USB stick. 3. You can use Deepin Installer as an alternative to Refracta Installer. Use Deepin Installer preferable on UEFI computers if you want/need to install or reinstall GRUB. 4. I have installed Google Chrome 127.0.6533.119-1 as a replacement for Deepin's Browser, which suddenly can be in Chinese. 5. I've added Synaptic Package Manager. A must I think. Watch a screenshot when Synaptic is running. 6. You can watch Netflix while running Google Chrome...." Additional details can be found 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: 3,055
- Total data uploaded: 45.1TB
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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) |
Do you encrypt your root filesystem or home directories?
In our Questions and Answers column we talked about disk encryption. When it comes to protecting data there are a few approaches people can take. One is to encrypt everything on the disk, including the operating system and user files. Some people prefer to just encrypt the data files under their account. Others may not encrypt any parts of the filesystem and, instead, use encrypted file vaults for sensitive information. We'd like to hear which approach to encryption you use.
You can see the results of our previous poll on types of smartphones our readers use in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Full disk encryption or home directory encryption?
| I use full disk encryption: | 417 (12%) |
| I encrypt home directories only: | 90 (3%) |
| I use file vaults: | 100 (3%) |
| I use a combination of the above: | 89 (3%) |
| I use another approach: | 69 (2%) |
| I use none of the above: | 2595 (77%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- BredOS. BredOS is a user-friendly Arch-based Linux distribution specifically designed for ARM-based single board computers (SBCs).
- Red OS. Red OS is a Russian distribution for servers and workstations. The distribution offers KDE, GNOME, and MATE editions for the x86_64 architecture.
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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, 26 August 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 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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| Random Distribution | 
Voodoo Linux
Voodoo Linux employs a customized version of the Red Hat Anaconda installer with enhanced hardware support and the Ext3 Journaling file system. Our focus has been to implement our own Windows(r) API layer, to seamlessly use Windows(r) based applications. We understand that the majority of new Linux users have investments in such applications and to make the switch to Linux easier we have come up with a working way to get this done. So don't give away your Windows software just yet!
Status: Discontinued
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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.
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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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