 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1098, 25 November 2024 |
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Welcome to this year's 48th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Most software grows and takes on new features, new capabilities, and new options. This makes most software packages expand to require more resources. However, some software projects seek to slow the rapid pace of growth or even reverse it, providing more efficient programs. This week we begin with a review of a distribution which strives to balance modern features with efficiency. Read on to learn more about Jeff Siegel's experiences with Linux Lite, a beginner friendly distribution in the Ubuntu family. In our News section we talk about the Arch Linux system installer getting a new, curses-based text interface which should make navigating the installer experience easier. We also report on one of Ubuntu's security tools being exploited and patches being issued to fix it. Plus we share details of a deal being offered by Murena and their Fairphone partner to try to provide sustainable and repairable mobile technologies. This week we also offer tips on backing up specific regions of a user's home directory in our Questions and Answers section. Plus we are pleased to share the recent releases from the open source community and list the torrents we are seeding. Finally, we open this week's Opinion Poll to ask if we should include desktop-specific distributions which exist only to showcase new developments in major desktop environments. Let us know what you think in the comments. 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) |
Linux Lite 7.2
Put the word "light" - in any form, spelling, or meaning - in the name or description of a Linux distribution, and I'm ready to download the ISO (yes, even Damn Small Linux). Maybe it's because I used MS-DOS in the late 1980s, when 640KB of RAM was considered more than sufficient. Maybe it's because I'm a minimalist in much of my life, be it cars or home décor or good cheap wine. Or maybe it's because I've just never grasped the idea of desktop bling, be it intricate, character-based wallpapers or the spinning cubes of olden days.
So, not surprisingly, I was eager to review the latest release in the Linux Lite 7.0 series, 7.2. I ran it for a week, with my goal - as always, for these reviews - to see if it would work as the daily driver for my freelance writing business. Was it designed well enough to learn easily? Was it quick and snappy? Did it have the software I needed, whether installed or in its repositories, to handle writing, web research, e-mail, accounting and invoicing, music and videos, Zoom conferences, and accessing my home server? Was the package manager modern and straightforward?
And Linux Lite 7.2 delivered on almost all of that. The documentation, often a problem with independent distros, was especially impressive, on a par with Fedora and Ubuntu. There were a couple of hiccups, mostly with software and package management, but it did what I needed, as well as what it promised to do - "Linux Lite is a 'gateway operating system.' Your first simple, fast and free stop in the world of Linux."
The basics
Linux Lite 7.2 is an update from the 7.0 release in June, and it's based on Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS and will receive five years of support. The distro comes with the Xfce 4.18 desktop and the 6.8 kernel, while the ISO is 2.9GB in size. System requirements are 1.5Ghz or better processor and a 64-bit system, 1GB of RAM, and at least 20GB for the hard dive. It also needs a screen that can handle at least 1366x768 resolution. So yes, very light. By comparison, MX Linux's Xfce version and Xubuntu each recommends 2GB of RAM, and Linux Mint Xfce recommends 4GB and requires 2GB.
As such, Linux Lite seems to occupy a space between MX's Xfce and Zorin OS Lite on the one hand and Xubuntu and Linux Mint Xfce on the other. This is neither good nor bad; rather, it speaks to the goal of each distro. In this, Linux Lite is more straightforward than MX if not quite as streamlined as Zorin, if not quite as polished as the latter two (Mint and Xubuntu). For example, Linux Lite does offer a home-made software store, but with just three dozen or so apps, it's nothing like the Ubuntu or Mint software centres. But for someone looking to switch from Windows or to experiment with Linux, it's probably sufficient.
Linux Lite 7.2 -- The Xfce desktop
(full image size: 172kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
The "Do you want to switch from Windows?" approach can be seen throughout the Linux Lite ecosystem. It's especially evident in the manual and documentation, which offers a step-by-step tutorial on downloading the ISO, using Rufus in Windows to burn the ISO to a thumb drive, and then installing the distro from the thumb drive. Almost every imaginable question is covered, complete with pictures and diagrams.
Getting started
Running a VirtualBox instance offered mixed results. The live desktop was laggy, and Chrome (the default web browser) sometimes failed to open. Clicking the help icon on the desktop didn't do anything, either. Given that, I skipped the VirtualBox installation and moved to my test machine.
The same sort of thing happened when I booted the ISO to run the live version of 7.2 on my test machine - no help after clicking the icon, sluggish behavior, and Chrome failing to open (which pointed to a distro error and probably not a VirtualBox problem). However, once I installed 7.2 (eight minutes from beginning to end, with the older Ubiquity installer) all was well.
The Linux Lite welcome screen, after the desktop appears, again seems to cover every eventuality - updates, theming, drivers, setting a restore point, plus help for hardware and booting and a link to the forums. Clicking the Drivers button brings up the Additional Drivers tab on the Software & Updates screen, which looks to be the same one that's available on Ubuntu.
Default software, besides Chrome, includes Xfce utilities (Xfburn for CDs, Catfish search, Mousepad text editor), the Shotwell photo manager, GIMP, Thunderbird for e-mail, VLC for music and videos, and the entire LibreOffice suite. There is also the Linux Mint Timeshift backup app and Red Hat's firewalld.
Linux Lite 7.2 -- The settings panel with Lite modules
(full image size: 140kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
In addition to the Lite software store, there are a variety of Lite-specific apps that aim to make specific tasks, or sets of tasks, easier. Lite Theme Manager, new this release, takes the standard Xfce theme manager and fine tunes it. Lite Sounds makes it ridiculously simple to add system sounds - just open the app and click a box. Lite Tweaks is designed for system configuration, allowing easy access to cleaning browser caches, fiddling with the kernel, and fine tuning the numlock status (among many others). The Lite Updates app has been re-written in Yad for more flexibility, but may still need some work as will be noted.
Linux Lite 7.2 -- Using Lite Tweaks to perform tasks
(full image size: 155kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Along with Linux Lite 7.2 the project has added an AI chatbot feature to its website, which actually offers value and just doesn't regurgitate an Internet search. I used it check system requirements and how long the release would be supported, and the answers came back quickly, but not always correctly. Sometimes the chatbot offers good suggestions and troubleshooting tips, but other times it confidently produces inaccurate information.
Through all of this, as mentioned, the distro is firmly aimed at those curious about switching from Windows and to make the transition as comfortable as possible. It's as easy to install Microsoft's Edge browser as it is to install Firefox, which is hardly a priority for most Linux distros. Many of the apps have been renamed to describe what they do, which makes perfect sense given the emphasis on converting Windows users. It's much easier to figure out what an app called Backup does, instead of its actual name, Deja Dup. In addition, the Xfce Whisker menu is in the lower left-hand corner, and it pops up and looks just like the Windows 10 menu. And yes, there is a My Computer entry in the Whisker menu.
A few problems?
Ironically, given all of this, package management remains very Linux - and almost old-fashioned at that. The only GUI, save for the minimal Lite app store, is Synaptic, and I actually used APT on the command line to do a fair amount of installing and updating. Plus, neither Snap or Flathub is installed. Both need to be added using the same commands as in Ubuntu, and this includes the GNOME repository for Flathub.
In one respect, this probably eliminates a lot of confusion for new users, and the Lite app store offers a decent spread of software (Spotify, Kodi, Handbrake, and Steam among them) that seems to have much of what a Windows user might want. But it can't be used to install something - or remove it later - that isn't listed. So I had to install Nextcloud and Plank with Synaptic.
Linux Lite 7.2 -- Accessing the terminal
(full image size: 124kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Also, the update process isn't as smooth as it could be. If you turn on the computer and try to update before the built-in Lite updater is ready, it won't update. Use the Lite updater before then - or even APT - and it just hangs. Plus, the update manager can be slow to set itself up after booting; it once took four minutes before it showed updates.
Despite the polish elsewhere, Lite 7.2 suffers from that most annoying of bugs - the CUPS "failed to connect to server" error when trying to add a printer using the GUI. Even though this is a CUPS problem, it doesn't always show up and I was hoping it wouldn't here. But no luck, so there will lots of head-scratching when a Windows user does a web search and is told to go to the browser, type "localhost:631" and then navigate the CUPS site to add a printer - when, of course, adding printers is one of the few things Windows does well.
In the end, Linux Lite 7.2 is a terrific example of what the Linux community does best - a straightforward, works out of the box distribution that is focused on a specific use and doesn't try to do too much or to be too many things to too many people. Yes, there are some annoyances, but they aren't big enough problems to make someone start pounding the keyboard and wishing they were still using Windows. And don't all of is want to avoid that?
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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: 256 GB 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
Linux Lite has a visitor supplied average rating of: 7.9/10 from 131 review(s).
Have you used Linux Lite? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Murena offers Fairphone perk, Arch Linux installer gets new text interface, an Ubuntu security tool patched against exploits
Murena is an organization which offers a privacy-enhanced build of Android called /e/OS. Along with /e/OS, Murena also sells phones with the operating system pre-installed. The devices Murena sell are intended to have low environmental impact and are typically either refurbished Android phones or Fairphone devices. The Fairphone series of devices are intended to be maintained for several years (offering software updates and a warranty for five years), plus the phones are both repairable and upgradable. The two organizations, Murena and Fairphone, have an unusual plan for this year's Black Friday sales event: "Rather than reducing prices, from 25th November - 2nd December the brands will be donating €40 for every Fairphone smartphone purchased through murena.com to a Fairmined-certified Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) project in Huila, Colombia." People interested in supporting Murena and Fairphone can browse the available devices in Murena's on-line store.
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The Arch Linux project has a system installer, though it rarely gets talked about and is not used often; Arch is famous for its manual install process. Still, the system installer software continues to evolve and it now offers text-based menus through the curses interface. "TUI has been reworked and now uses curses, which allows us to do more complex layouts as well as give a new but familiar look and feel." Additional details and a screenshot are available via the project's announcement.
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In an ironic twist of fate, a utility which was developed to help keep Ubuntu systems secure has been revealed to include multiple security vulnerabilities which allow local users to gain root access. The needrestart tool checks to see if the dependencies of a program have been updated, implying the program or service should be restarted. Bleeping Computer reports: "Five local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerabilities have been discovered in the needrestart utility used by Ubuntu Linux, which was introduced over 10 years ago [and included in Ubuntu] in version 21.04. The flaws were discovered by Qualys and are tracked as CVE-2024-48990, CVE-2024-48991, CVE-2024-48992, CVE-2024-10224, and CVE-2024-11003. They were introduced in needrestart version 0.8, released in April 2014, and fixed only yesterday, in version 3.8. needrestart is a utility commonly used on Linux, including on Ubuntu Server, to identify services that require a restart after package updates, ensuring that those services run the most up-to-date versions of shared libraries." People running Ubuntu should make sure they are running the new, 3.8 version of needrestart.
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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) |
Backing up specific folders in the user's home directory
The-important-stuff asks: I'm trying to backup just important files/folders from my laptop to a workstation. I've got an rsync command which looks like this, to try and backup just key folders:
rsync -a --include='Documents/' --include='Pictures/' --include='Music/' --exclude='\*' ~/ workstation:Backups/
But when I run this it copies everything from my home to the other computer. What is the proper way to do this?
DistroWatch answers: For people who have not used the rsync command before, let's break down the process. The rsync program synchronizes or copies files and directories between two locations. The two locations can be on the same computer or on different machines.
In its simplest form, an rsync command might look like this, copying the contents of our Documents directory to a Backup directory:
rsync -a ~/Documents/ ~/Backup/
When we want to copy files to another computer over the network we can do this by specifying the name of the computer in the destination. For instance, here we copy our Documents directory to a remote computer called workstation and save our documents in the Backup directory on the remote computer. As long as the remote computer has the OpenSSH service running, this should work:
rsync -a ~/Documents/ workstation:Backup/
Individual directories can be included or added to the files rsync will work with, that's what the "--include" parameters in the original instance are doing. We can also tell rsync to skip over specific files and directories by using the "--exclude" directive. This "exclude" feature can be handy when we want to copy almost everything, but wish to skip configuration files or hidden directories.
In the above question the person is telling rsync to make sure it includes the Documents, Pictures, and Music directories while skipping anything (any file or directory) that matches "\*". When a filter matches both an "include" and an "exclude" rule, I think the "include" rule wins. So the intention here is to make sure the Documents, Pictures, and Music directories are copied to the remote machine, while excluding any other files or directories in the user's home.
In this case, the fix is fairly straight forward. In the "--exclude='\*'" section of the command, we just need to remove the backslash. The proper command ends up looking like this:
rsync -a --include='Documents/' --include='Pictures/' --include='Music/' --exclude='*' ~/ workstation:Backups/
Why is the backslash a problem? The star (or asterisk, if you prefer) is a special character that means "match with anything". In most instances, using a backslash ("\") in a shell command means "treat the next character literally, not like a special shell character". But in this case, the asterisk was already being treated literally because it was surrounded by single-quotes.
In other words, the shell saw the single-quote characters and told rsync to exclude files with the sequence "\*", a backslash followed by anything. Virtually no files or directories would have a backslash in the name, resulting in no files matching the exclude rule.
When we take the backslash out of the command, and ask rsync to just exclude the asterisk (match anything), it dutifully ignores everything that is not explicitly listed in the "include" list. In other words, the contents of Documents, Pictures, and Music are copied over to the workstation while everything else matches the "exclude" rule and is ignored.
I'd like to note that when creating rsync commands, even simple ones, it is a good idea to test them before using them in earnest. Using the "-v" flag turns on verbose output, showing us what rsync is doing. Using the "--dry-run" flag tells rsync not to actually make any changes, just to tell us what it would do. The "--dry-run" flag avoids copying or deleting any files which might be affected by the rsync command. For example, here we tell rsync to synchronize our Documents directory with the Backup directory, removing any files from Backup that are not also in the source (Documents):
rsync -av --dry-run --delete ~/Documents/ ~/Backup/
Once we have tried it and confirmed rsync is behaving properly, we can drop the "--dry-run" flag:
rsync -av --delete ~/Documents/ ~/Backup/
This is a helpful way to test scripts without risking deleting files we want to keep.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
AlmaLinux OS 9.5
The AlmaLinux OS project has published a new stable release, AlmaLinux OS 9.5. The new version focuses on security improvements and performance enhancements. The release announcement states: "The AlmaLinux OS Foundation is announcing the general availability of AlmaLinux OS 9.5, code-named 'Teal Serval'. AlmaLinux 9.5 aims to improve performance, development tooling, and security. Updated module streams offer better support for web applications. New versions of compilers provide access to the latest features and optimizations that improve performance and enable better code generation. The release also introduces improvements to system performance monitoring, visualization, and system performance data collecting. Security updates are directed at strengthening cryptography, while SELinux policies enforce stricter access controls. Additionally, crypto-policies offer stronger encryption, improving the overall security of the system. You can read the full release notes for this version on the wiki, AlmaLinux OS 9.5 release notes."
Rocky Linux 9.5
Rocky Linux is a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux which strives to be "bug-for-bug" compatible with upstream. The project's latest release is Rocky Linux 9.5 which features updates to administrative tools such as Podman, Cockpit, and development tools. "Notable new features and changes: Podman - Rocky Linux 9.5 ships with the latest and greatest Podman version 5.0; Podman 5.0 introduces exciting new features like fast Podman machine boot times, Podman Farm for multi-platform image building, greater compatibility for volumes in podman kube play, Quadlet enhancements and a more performant default networking stack; Cockpit, the web console for easy remote server management, now provides file management capabilities via the Cockpit Files plugin, this feature requires installing the cockpit-files package; dynamic programming languages, web and database servers - Apache HTTP Server 2.4.62, Node.js 22; system toolchain - GCC 11.5, Annobin 12.70; performance tools and debuggers - GDB 14.2, Valgrind 3.23.0, SystemTap 5.1, elfutils 0.191, libabigail 2.5...." Additional information is offered through the distribution's release announcement and release notes.
Oracle Linux 9.5
Gursewak Sokhi has announced the release of Oracle Linux 9 Update 5, the latest stable release of Oracle's Linux distribution built from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). This new version updates the OpenJDK Java platform to version 17 and the .NET development platform to version 9.0. "Oracle is pleased to announce that Oracle Linux 9 Update 5 for the 64-bit Intel and AMD (x86_64) and 64-bit Arm (aarch64) platforms is now generally available. This release is packaged with the following kernel options: Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) Release 7 Update 3, 5.15 for the x86_64 and aarch64 platforms; Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK), 5.14 for the x86_64 platform. The following highlights select features, enhancements and changes introduced in this Oracle Linux 9 release: the default Oracle Linux 9 Java is changed from OpenJDK 11 to OpenJDK 17; .NET is updated to version 9.0 which enables the C#13 and F#9 programming languages; GCC Toolset 14 is available as an Application Stream in the form of a Software Collection in the AppStream repository...." See the release announcement and the release notes for further details.
Proxmox 8.3 "Virtual Environment"
The Promox Virtual Environment (VE) distribution is is a Debian-based, open source virtualisation platform for running virtual appliances and virtual machines. The project's latest release, Proxmox 8.3 Virtual Environment, improves its software-defined networking while also updating its kernel and ZFS packages. "This version is based on Debian 12.8 (Bookworm), but uses the Linux kernel 6.8.12-4 as stable default, and allows for opt-in use of kernel 6.11. The software includes updates to the latest versions of leading open-source technologies for virtual environments like QEMU 9.0.2, LXC 6.0.0 , and ZFS 2.2.6 (with compatibility patches for Kernel 6.11). Alignment of the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) stack with the firewall: The SDN technology allows users to create virtual zones and networks (VNets), enabling them to effectively manage and control complex networking configurations and multitenancy setups via the web interface of Proxmox VE. The SDN stack is now more closely integrated with the firewall, with the ability to automatically generate IP sets for VNets and virtual guests managed by the IP address management plugin. Referencing IP sets in the firewall rules simplifies their creation and maintenance. In addition, the opt-in firewall based on nftables now has the capability to filter forwarded network traffic at the host and at the virtual network (VNet) level. For example, this can be used to restrict SNAT traffic or traffic flowing from one Simple Zone to another." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
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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: 3,116
- Total data uploaded: 45.9TB
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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) |
Should we include GNOME OS and KDE Linux?
Last week we talked about KDE Linux, an upcoming distribution which will combine an Arch Linux base with the latest KDE software. This project will provide a similar experience to KDE neon, showcasing new developments from the KDE team. The GNOME project already has its own distribution, GNOME OS, which features the latest developments in GNOME desktop software. The GNOME OS project explicitly warns that it's not intended for regular use: "This is pre-release software. Bad things may happen if you use it in production." KDE Linux, with its immutable base, is likely to be more stable, but also experimental.
Should DistroWatch list these highly specific, possibly (and intentionally) unstable projects? Or should KDE Linux and GNOME OS be considered perpetual beta testing platforms for internal use by their own communities?
You can see the results of our previous poll on running AlmaLinux OS or Debian at home in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Should DistroWatch feature GNOME OS and KDE Linux?
| Yes - both: | 1141 (35%) |
| Just GNOME OS: | 37 (1%) |
| Just KDE Linux: | 218 (7%) |
| No - neither: | 1842 (57%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 2 December 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 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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| Random Distribution | 
WOMP!
WOMP! was a micro Linux distribution focused on multimedia. It takes only 13 to 30MB depending on the selected options on a bootable CD, and allows playing a wide range of multimedia files (video/audio/image) without installing any software on the computer's hard drive. Additionally, WOMP! can also be installed on the hard drive - either to run in memory just like a bootable CD, or to run from a read-only loopback file which was interesting for machines with low memory. It can then be booted either by a floppy boot disk or by a bootable CD. WOMP! uses FrameBuffer for playing videos and X for interacting with the user. Hardware acceleration was provided by vidix. Cards that support vidix include nearly all ATI and Matrox cards, and more recent NVIDIA cards.
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!
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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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