 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1141, 29 September 2025 |
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Welcome to this year's 39th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Some desktop environments are quite extensive, growing to provide not just a graphical interface and configuration tools, but a whole suite of applications. A desktop environment can feel like it is nearly an entire operating system once enough functionality has been added to it. The GNOME and KDE projects seem to agree with this line of thinking because both projects have created their own family of applications and even their own Linux distributions: GNOME OS and KDE Linux. These two distributions showcase the latest software from the two desktop environments and give people a chance to test cutting-edge features. This week we take KDE Linux and GNOME OS for test drives and report on the experiences these two distributions offer. Let us know which distribution you think does a better job in this week's Opinion Poll. Then, in our News section, we report on Artix dropping the distribution's GNOME packages due to the GNOME desktop's increasing dependency on systemd. We also talk about Murena preparing to offer smartphones with physical hardware kill switches and report on Redox OS running on a smartphone (partially). Also on the topic of mobile operating systems, our Questions and Answers column talks about the state of Linux distributions on phones. This week we share a grateful note to people who sent us donations this month as well as talk about the releases of the past week and listing 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:
- Review: KDE Linux and GNOME OS
- News: Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS runs on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME over dependencies
- Questions and answers: Seeking mobile versions of Linux
- Released last week: SysLinuxOS 13, Kali Linux 2025.3, Neptune 9.0, ZimaOS 1.5.0, KaOS 2025.09, BSD Router Project 2.0
- Torrent corner: BigLinux, Kali Linux, KDE neon, TUXEDO OS
- Upcoming releases: FreeBSD 15.0-BETA1
- Opinion poll: Which is the better demo distro, KDE Linux or GNOME OS?
- Site news: Donations and Sponsors
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
KDE Linux and GNOME OS
Both the GNOME and KDE projects have, in recent years, been talking about making dedicated Linux distributions specifically for testing and showcasing new features in their respective desktops. These dedicated distributions would act as reference models for how the desktop environments could be configured while providing a vanilla workspace for developers to test and improve new features.
Both the KDE and GNOME projects have published Linux-based distributions this year which they claim are ready for testing, though both projects point out these distributions are not intended to be used by the general public. The GNOME team warns: "This is pre-release software. Bad things may happen if you use it in production." While KDE is more explicit in their warning: "KDE Linux is alpha software. Do not install it on your non-technical uncle's computer or across the accounting department at work. There are multiple known issues (make sure nothing in there is a deal-breaker for you). KDE Linux has only received limited testing so far, and there will be regressions and bad builds you'll have to roll back. Data loss has never been experienced yet, but anything is possible. Deploy a robust backup system. Expect some adventures."
I was feeling like having an adventure this week so I decided to install both distribution and see what the experiences such a trial would provide.
Installing KDE Linux
I decided to start with KDE Linux. The project provides a disk image file with a .raw extension and which is 5.1GB in size. This image can be written to a thumb drive or imported into a virtual machine manager.
I soon found KDE Linux will not boot in Legacy BIOS mode, it requires UEFI mode to start. The live session boots directly into the Plasma desktop with a thick panel placed at the bottom of the screen. A welcome window opens which provide us with a quick link for connecting to the Internet and we're given the chance to launch the project's system installer.
KDE Linux uses the Calamares system installer. The installer refuses to run unless we can provide it with a free partition which is at least 40GB in size. The installer walks us through picking our language, keyboard layout and timezone. We're given the change to partition the disk and then create a username and password for ourselves. The install process itself all went smoothly and there was a nice progress indicator in the Calamares window to show us an overview of the steps.
My only complaint with this initial setup was that halfway through answering Calamares' questions a pop-up appeared and advised me system updates were available. This isn't a helpful notification to have when running a live system since the distribution is not yet installed. Otherwise the experience went smoothly.
KDE Linux 2025 -- The welcome window
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When I booted into my fresh copy of KDE Linux I was presented with a graphical login screen. From there I could sign into the Plasma desktop. The only session option is to run Plasma on Wayland.
Upon signing in the welcome window appeared and offered to help me connect to the network. Additional screens in the welcome window showed off desktop elements, allowing me to move my mouse over a picture of the desktop to display an explanation of each widget's purpose. Another screen in the greeter explains key features of the Plasma desktop and then we're given the chance to launch the Discover software centre. The final step in the greeter asks if we would like to send automatic feedback about our experiences, with the default being to opt-out of data collection.
On the whole, the initial experience was mostly positive. There were a few minor rough edges and I noted that KDE is aiming for a "modern" experience exclusively (running Wayland on an UEFI-enabled machine), and this is in line with the distribution's experimental nature.
Installing GNOME OS
The GNOME OS distribution is delivered via a much smaller ISO file. GNOME's media is a 2.0GB ISO (compared to KDE's 5.1GB file). Like KDE's distribution, GNOME OS requires UEFI mode to boot.
The live media boots directly into the GNOME desktop where a thin panel is placed across the top of the display which holds the Activities menu and system tray. A configuration window appears as soon as we sign in and asks us a few questions. We're queried for our preferred language, keyboard layout, and whether to enable location services (by default, location services are enabled). We're also asked to pick our timezone and to make up a username and password.
At this point the configuration window went away and a new pop-up appeared and offered to give me a tour of the desktop. The GNOME Tour application doesn't provide a lot of information. It mentions the Activities button and that we can perform searches from the Activities screen and then switch between workspaces, but there isn't any demonstration or screenshots of this in workflow action. While I was taking the tour another pop-up appeared asking me for donations.
GNOME OS 49 -- The GNOME Tour application
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As I was dismissing the request for donations a fourth window opened and asked if I wanted to keep using the live session or install GNOME OS. I opted to run the installer. The installer asked which disk I wanted to use and then immediately wiped and installed the distribution on my disk without asking any further questions or waiting for confirmation. GNOME OS took over the whole disk and then offered to restart the computer. The install process was quick, requiring about 30 seconds.
In my opinion this sort of destructive behaviour should really come with a warning and, at the very least, a confirmation screen before destroying everything on the user's storage drive.
When my installed copy of GNOME OS booted, it presented me with a graphical login page. From there I was able to sign into GNOME Shell running on Wayland. As with KDE Linux, the Wayland session is the only option.
Applications included with KDE Linux
KDE Linux ships with the latest development branch of Plasma. During my trial this branch was to become the 6.5 release, and it was labelled 6.4.x. Exploring the Plasma environment, I found it uses a light theme by default, though a dark option is available.
The Plasma desktop is accompanied by several KDE utilities. These include the Dolphin file manager, the System Settings configuration panel, and KDE Connect for communicating with other devices. The Elisa audio player and Haruna video player are included along with media codecs. I found that the Haruna player could not play videos properly, I could hear audio from them, but the player displayed no visuals. Later, I downloaded VLC and it played video files properly.
I found the Firefox web browser was included, but KDE's own web browser (Falkon) was not. This seems like a strange choice - KDE highlighting Mozilla's web browser instead of their own, in-house alternative.
KDE Linux 2025 -- Exploring the desktop and application menu
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KDE Linux also ships with the Okular document viewer, the Kate and KWrite text editors, the Ark archive manager, and the Spectacle screenshot utility. Curiously, the KDE office suite (Calligra) is not included, leaving another strange hole in the line-up of applications. KDE Linux does not ship with the man utility either, so we do not have access to local manual pages.
The distribution ships with the GNU Compiler Collection and uses systemd for its init implementation. In the background we find version 6.16 of the Linux kernel.
This is an unusually small amount of software on display when we consider the KDE Linux disk image is 5.1GB in size. I'm not sure why it is so large when the resulting list of applications is so small. I'm also curious why a few key KDE projects are not featured. The point of this distribution is to test and demonstrate KDE software, but two key components, their web browser and their office suite, are missing.
KDE Linux 2025 -- System Settings
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Applications included with GNOME OS
My copy of GNOME OS shipped with the GNOME 49 development branch. The theme is, as is typical for GNOME, inconsistent, with some applications using a light theme and some using a dark theme. In the Settings application it is possible to request a consistent dark theme, but there doesn't appear to be any option to force a universal light theme.
GNOME OS does ship with the project's web browser, Epiphany (also called GNOME Web). The project further offers a calendar, file manager, text editor, calculator, and weather application. The GNOME Tour application I mentioned earlier is accompanied by GNOME Help for browsing the project's documentation. There is a webcam utility, a contact manager, and a map application.
The distribution ships with a music player and video player (Totem). Like KDE's video player, Totem was unable to display images and only produced sound. I was able to swap out this player for VLC later in my trial and the latter worked without any issues.
GNOME OS provides a system monitor, document viewer, and desktop settings panel. Like KDE Linux, this distribution does not include any productivity suite.
GNOME OS 49 -- Exploring the application menu
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Where KDE Linux did not include the man documentation viewer, GNOME OS does ship with man installed, but no manual pages are included. This feels like a step forward and a step backwards as there isn't any point in providing man if documentation is going to be omitted. GNOME OS does not ship with a compiler. We do find systemd is managing services and version 6.16 of the Linux kernel is installed.
I find launching new applications on GNOME to be an awkward experience, at least when using the desktop's default layout. To browse the application grid we end up visiting the Activities button in the upper-left corner of the screen, then down to the dock at the bottom of the screen, then clicking the Applications menu, then moving up to the middle of the display to select an application from the grid. Since some utilities are stored inside sub-categories we may need to click on these to browse sub-groups to find the software we want. This is several more steps and a lot more mouse movement than KDE's approach of having the application menu directly accessible in the bottom-left corner of the desktop.
Software management on KDE Linux
Despite being based on Arch, KDE Linux does not use the pacman package manager. The distribution runs on an immutable filesystem, preventing the use of traditional package managers. Or, at least some of the filesystem is immutable. The /usr directory is read-only, but we can still edit configuration files in /etc and create files in the root (/) directory.
KDE Linux ships with both Snap and Flatpak support enabled. By default there are no Snap packages installed and Snap is not integrated into the Discover software centre. Flatpak seems to be the preferred option. There are multiple Flatpak repositories enabled, including Flathub, a KDE runtime repository, and a handful of repositories for the nightly builds of various KDE applications. The Discover software centre pulls from these Flatpak repositories, almost exclusively, with the only other repository being for firmware.
KDE Linux 2025 -- Searching for new software with Discover
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The Discover software centre is accessible through a quick launch icon on the panel. I found Discover can apply updates, including system updates, which require a reboot to take effect. For people who prefer working from the command line, we can run the flatpak and snap programs to access applications and run "updatectl update" to fetch and apply new system updates.
Fetching my first wave of updates on KDE Linux required downloading 1.5GB of new packages and it was unusually slow. Download speeds from KDE repositories were about 20kB/s to 100kB/s, around a tenth or less of what I'd expect from most distribution mirrors. Perhaps the KDE infrastructure is not ready for the demand from new KDE Linux users.
It is worth noting there are daily updates for the system. Discover and updatectl cannot show the size of the low-level system updates, but it's the equivalent of a whole new system image, every day. This means we're probably looking at consuming a few GB per day just to keep up with new builds.
The KDE website says that we can use the Toolbox and Distrobox container managers to further extend the operating system and gain access to low-level packages. Both of these container technologies are installed for us. Toolbox shows a permission error whenever it is run as a regular user, but can work when run as root (or through sudo). By default, Toolbox installs the latest stable copy of Fedora in its container. By default, Distrobox tries to download a copy of Arch for its container. However, Distrobox also fails to create a container when run as regular user, though it doesn't reveal this until after attempting to download the requested image. So both technologies work, but it's not seamless, and will require running commands a the root user.
Software management on GNOME OS
GNOME OS is an independently developed distribution and it also does not offer any traditional package manager options. GNOME OS ships with one portable package framework (Flatpak) and it connects to just two repositories by default: Flathub and GNOME Nightly. We can access these repositories through the flatpak command line tool or through the GNOME Software application.
GNOME OS 49 -- Using GNOME Software to explore available applications
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Despite GNOME's Flatpak repositories being labelled "Nightly", it there not always new updates every day. Builds seem to be updated as new work is uploaded rather than on a fixed schedule. Unlike KDE Linux, GNOME OS does not ship with any container management utilities by default.
Hardware and resource usage with KDE Linux
The KDE Linux distribution was unusually heavy on system resources, especially when we consider how few applications are shipped with the distribution. A fresh install took up a massive 12GB of disk space (though the installer claims it needs at least 40GB, minimum) and signing into the Plasma desktop requires 1.4GB of RAM, almost double the average for most popular desktop environments. The distribution does not set up a swap file or swap partition by default, but it does create a compressed zRAM swap area in memory.
Despite its large size, Plasma's performance was quite good and the desktop was responsive.
Hardware and resource usage with GNOME OS
GNOME OS was quite a bit smaller on my disk, using 4.3GB of space (about a third of the size of KDE Linux), though its RAM usage was similar: 1.2GB of RAM was consumed when signed into GNOME Shell. Like its counterpart, GNOME OS sets up a zRAM swap device in memory rather than using a swap partition.
Like KDE Linux, GNOME OS uses a read-only /usr directory, but allows us to write to other parts of the filesystem, including /etc and the root directory.
Speaking of directories, while KDE Linux sets up the standard Documents, Downloads, Music, and Videos directories in the user's home, GNOME OS does not. Our home directory is empty, apart from a few hidden files and folders, when we sign into GNOME OS.
I found GNOME OS booted slowly, but once I had signed into the desktop, the interface was responsive and desktop performance was consistently good.
GNOME OS 49 -- Running the Epiphany web browser
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Conclusions
As I mentioned earlier, both the GNOME and KDE projects are quick to point out these distributions are experimental and currently intended to be used by testers and developers. They are distributions in their early stages and meant to assist in development, not to be used as day-to-day operating systems. We should expect a few rough edges and a few bumps in the road.
GNOME OS 49 -- The Settings panel
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Despite these warnings, I found that for the few days I was running GNOME OS and KDE Linux, the systems were stable and usable. They didn't feel particularly experimental or unreliable. Perhaps I was just lucky, running these systems during a calm period of development, but they felt about on par with using other cutting-edge distributions such as Fedora or Kubuntu.
What I find interesting about using these two distributions, which have very similar missions, is the differences in the cultures of the two projects. KDE and GNOME have different styles, different philosophies embedded in them, and those differences are on display in these two distributions, especially when the user is switching back and forth between them.
GNOME OS has a fairly specific, narrow focus. It exists to showcase the latest GNOME software and that is what it does. That's pretty much all it does. GNOME OS, one could say, has a specific mission and is sticking to it. The GNOME OS distribution is relatively small with no extras and no alternatives. GNOME is providing one tool per task and the tool going to be something the GNOME team provides.
For better or worse what GNOME provides tend to be relatively rigid, touch-oriented (rather than suited to desktop use), and it tends to feel "corporate". It all looks very polished, but uncoordinated (especially when it comes to themes). There are four pop-ups the first time we sign in with offers to enable location services and asking for money. The appearance is nice, but it's frustrating to use because of all the extra mouse movement and inconsistent menu styles. It's pretty more than functional.
Speaking of functions, having the installer wipe the user's hard drive without warning was a surprise and not the sort of thing I want to see from any distribution, let alone one which is geared toward technical users who tend to run multiple operating systems.
KDE Linux is, in many ways, the opposite of GNOME OS. Using the desktop is efficient without being pretty, it is flexible without offering as much functionality, it is clearly more user-focused in its design philosophy rather than corporate-focused. KDE doesn't enable location services or telemetry by default, it only showed me one pop-up window, and navigating the interface is pleasantly quick.
However, KDE Linux does not stay focused, it doesn't stay "on mission". KDE wants to offer multiple approaches to doing everything without mastering any one of them. There are two portable package formats, but one isn't integrated; it offers two container managers, but both have permission issues; KDE has a consistent theme, but it's not visually appealing. Further, KDE Linux misses the mark by not including (or recommending) key KDE applications such as Calligra and Falkon, instead shipping no office suite and providing Firefox. While Firefox may be the more popular option, this was a missed opportunity to give people a chance to test KDE's own web browser.
In short, I found KDE Linux to be flexible, powerful, but unpolished. GNOME OS seemed more on target, but its design philosophy doesn't suit my workflow. Both distributions have their strengths and some issues, and were (in general) more stable and performed faster than I had expected from young, experimental projects.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS runs on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME over dependencies
The Murena team have announced a partnership which will allow the company to ship their de-Googled /e/OS operating system on new mobile devices that feature hardware kill switches. "We are thrilled to introduce a new HIROH Phone Powered by Murena with a hardware kill switch! Simply enable its handy button to physically disconnect the cameras and microphone. This severs the electronic connection, ensuring hackers have no chance to access your data. With the HIROH Phone Powered by Murena you get: built-in privacy with /e/OS; hardware kill switch button for microphone and cameras created by its inventor; connectivity switch: a secure software-based toggle that instantly shuts down all wireless communication, including cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC; premium quality hardware with a fantastic 1.5k AMOLED display, 108MP rear camera and a 32MP selfie camera, 16GB memory and more." The announcement states the phone is available for pre-order and will go on sale in early 2026.
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A lot of people are interested in running a GNU/Linux distribution on their smartphones, but there are other mobile-friendly projects in the world. One open source operating system which has quietly gained ground in recent years is Redox OS and it can, to a point, run on some mobile devices. Paul Sajna writes: "I had the pleasure of going to RustConf 2025 in Seattle this year. During the conference, I met lots of new people, but in particular, I had the pleasure of spending a large portion of the conference hanging out with Jeremy Soller of Redox and System76. Eventually, we got chatting about EFI and bootloaders, and my contributions to postmarketOS, and my experience booting EFI-based operating systems (Linux) on smartphones using U-Boot. Redox OS is also booted via EFI, and so the nerdsnipe began. Could I run Redox OS on my smartphone the same way I could run postmarketOS Linux? Spoilers, yes." There are some serious limitations though as Redox OS lacks a driver to work with the phone's touch screen.
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With the release of GNOME 49 the desktop environment has increased its dependency on the systemd project. As a result, GNOME requires more work and patching to get it to run on operating systems which do not run systemd. As one Artix developer stated: "Some of you have probably seen the blog post a few months ago about how GNOME is more strongly depending on systemd. The changes mentioned there have landed into the latest stable versions of the mentioned software (GNOME 49) and do affect us. In particular, the main culprit is the removal of the non-systemd fallback code in gnome-session. This makes it currently impossible to launch gnome-shell/mutter on a non-systemd system. A fairly straightforward patch of using elogind, like what was previously done, no longer works either.
Since we don't have the time or interest to write a new non-systemd codepath for gnome-session, this means that all support for gnome-based desktops has to be dropped. In particular, the affected packages would be gnome-session, gnome-shell, mutter, and gnome-settings-daemon. For now, the old versions are still in the repos but because there is so much intertwining between other GTK/GNOME packages, there is no guarantee they actually work and will later be removed from our repos." This change will exclude GNOME from running on the approximately 90 Linux distributions which do not run systemd by default, unless the packages are patched to work with alternative dependencies.
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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) |
Seeking mobile versions of Linux
Returning-to-mobile asks: It's been a while since I was last in the Linux community. What is the state of Linux on mobile these days? Where should I start?
DistroWatch answers: Welcome back! When it comes to running Linux on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, there are two main categories of Linux distributions.
The first group of distributions are variants of Android. Basically these are Android with the Google-specific components removed or replaced with open source alternatives. Android-based distributions have an advantage in that they usually have a wide range of device compatibility, a familiar interface for anyone who has used an Android smartphone, and they can run Android apps.
Some of the key players in the de-Googled Android category are Murena (an organization which also sells smartphones with its operating system pre-installed), and CalyxOS (a general purpose Android flavour). There are additional Android-based distributions, most of which have a specific focus. For instance, iodeOS places a priority on monitoring and managing network traffic while GrapheneOS introduces security hardening modifications.
People who want to have a typical smartphone that runs Android apps, but do not want Google services and ads will want to use a project in this category.
The second category of mobile Linux distributions are close kin to traditional desktop Linux distributions. The UBports project continues the work Canonical started with Ubuntu Touch and it includes all of the usual low-level GNU/Linux utilities under the Lomiri graphical user interface. postmarketOS provides an Alpine-based distribution with three graphical interface options: Phosh (a mobile flavour of GNOME), Plasma Mobile, and the lightweight Sxmo interface.
The mobile operating systems which are akin to traditional Linux desktop distributions have the benefit of working with well established GNU/Linux utilities, the same command line tools, and package managers.
People who want their phone to run similar technologies to their Linux desktop system and who don't need to run Android apps* will want to select a distribution in this category.
Our search page lists some of the more popular mobile Linux distributions with a summary of each.
* - Some Android apps can be run on traditional Linux systems through compatibility layers, such as Waydroid, but some functionality may be missing and not all apps will work through the compatibility layer.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
SysLinuxOS 13
Franco Conidi has announced the release of SysLinuxOS 13, a major update of the project's Debian-based distribution designed for system integrators and network administrators: "SysLinuxOS 13 MATE released. SysLinuxOS 13 follows the release of Debian 13, code name 'Trixie', bringing with it the robustness and security of a stable Debian operating system. SysLinuxOS 13 is now available with several enhancements and new features. Some of these improvements are under the hood, providing additional functionality. SysLinuxOS 13 comes with the MATE desktop environment as the primary option, while the version with GNOME will be released next week. The MATE desktop environment comes with the usual Networking menu, which contains some of the tools for network analysis. Many others are available from the command line. There are many programs that help the user have a ready-to-use distribution, but above all one capable of interacting with Windows programs and systems. Wine is included." Continue to the release announcement for further details.
SysLinuxOS 13 -- Running the MATE desktop
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Kali Linux 2025.3
The Kali Linux team have announced the launch of Kali Linux 2025.3. The distribution, which is based on Debian's Testing branch, refreshes the Nexmon wireless firmware and drops support for armel CPUs. "Nexmon is a 'patched' firmware, for certain wireless chips, to extend their functionally to allow: Monitor mode - able to sniff packets; Injection mode - frame injection allows for custom raw packets to be sent, outside of the 'standard' stack ordering. Both are really useful when it comes to information security! For the record, it is possible to-do both of the features above without Nexmon, as it depends on the device's chipset and drivers. Now, Nexmon supported wireless chips are Broadcom & Cypress, which are in a various devices, including the Raspberry Pi's in-built Wi-Fi! In Kali 2025.1, we changed how we package our Raspberry Pi kernel, as well as bump to a new major version. Now Nexmon support is back as well as supporting Raspberry Pi 5! Other devices can also use Nexmon, its not limited to Raspberry Pis." A more complete list of changes and new tools which have been added to Kali Linux can be found in the release announcement.
Neptune 9.0
The Neptune project have announced a new release of their Debian-based distribution. The new version, Neptine 9.0, carries the codename "Maja" and ships with Plasma 6.3. The distribution has also introduces a refreshed system installer and runs on version Linux 6.12. The release announcement reports: "We're proud to announce the final release of NeptuneOS 9.0, codename Maja. This brand-new major version is based on Debian 13 Trixie and delivers the latest open source technology to your desktop: KDE Plasma 6.3 - modern, flexible, and elegant desktop experience; Linux Kernel 6.12 - improved performance and hardware support; updated applications and core libraries; new installer with refreshed slideshow; refined look and feel with a brand-new icon theme and many other tweaks. With NeptuneOS 9.0 we are taking a big step into the future, while staying true to Neptune's focus on stability and ease of use."
Neptune 9.0 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
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ZimaOS 1.5.0
IceWhale Technology has published ZimaOS 1.5.0, an updated release of the company's independently-developed, Linux-based operating system for personal servers and network-attached storage (NAS) devices. Apart from improvements and bug fixes, this release marks the launch of the project's commercial edition called "ZimaOS Plus": "Good News. ZimaOS hits 1,000,000+ downloads! It would not be here today without the continuous support of our community. For members who upgrade to this version promptly, this upgrade will automatically upgrade your current device to the ZimaOS Plus edition, allowing you to enjoy richer features in the future. New: the new Zima Backup app (on the dashboard) has powerful backup features and a new backup process; the new Apps start and stop status display on the App launch panel; added GPU option in App Setting; GPU can be allocated to the app if GPU is installed. Fixed: fixed an issue where setting a time zone with spaces (e.g., Hong Kong) caused abnormal display on the dashboard; fixed the issue where the App's memory limit display was inaccurate; optimized the App's display and startup speed during device restarts; fixed the issue with incorrect file attribution folder for the first sub-user; optimized the retrieval speed for cloud storage and local network connections...." See the full release notes for further details.
KaOS 2025.09
KaOS is an independent, rolling release desktop Linux distribution that features the latest version of the KDE desktop environment. The project's latest snapshot is version 2025.09 which ships with KDE Plasma 6.4.5: "For the Plasma desktop, the latest Plasma (6.4.5), KDE Gear (25.08.1), and Frameworks (6.18.0) are included. All built on Qt 6.9.2. News for KDE Gear 25.08 includes, reduced memory usage of various Akonadi resources by around 75% each, Dolphin now offers two search engines that will help you find that specific, but elusive file or folder you can't locate (File Indexing & Simple search) and NeoChat can now create polls and open a context menu for each individual thread of messages. The KaOS Plasma Midna theme has undergone a complete overhaul, this included a new icon set, changes in the Login and Ksplash screen, new default wallpaper, modernized window decoration and colour scheme." Additional information is provided in the project's release announcement.
BSD Router Project 2.0
Olivier Cochard-Labbé has announced the release of BSD Router Project (BSDRP) 2.0, a major update of the free and open-source software router distribution based on embedded FreeBSD. The new version brings support for UEFI boot and the AArch64 architecture: "BSDRP 2.0 is available. This release is based on FreeBSD 16-main and the ports tree as of Sept 25th. New installation will now support dual BIOS/UEFI boot and ARM architecture. It includes the following updates: bird 2.17, frr 10.4.1 (Lua scripting enabled), OpenVPN 2.6.15, strongSwan 6.0.1. Special instructions before upgrade: BSDRP 1.994 or later is required; upgrading will not add the dual UEFI/BIOS mode, neither the MBR to GPT conversion, a full reinstall is required for those new features. New features: the NanoBSD framework was replaced by poudriere-image, this brings support for both BIOS and UEFI boot and GPT partition type, packages are now built using the official poudriere method; new architecture available - aarch64; new packages - net/vpp, flashrom, mstflint, Mellanox NIC tools; removed packages - isc-dhcp44 (use dnsmasq), dhcprelya (use dnsmasq)." See the release announcement and release notes for further information.
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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: 3,297
- Total data uploaded: 48.4TB
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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) |
Which is the better demo distro, KDE Linux or GNOME OS?
In this week's Feature Story we talked about KDE Linux and GNOME OS, distributions deigned to test and show off the latest features from the GNOME and KDE projects. Which project do you think is doing the better job of creating a demo distro? Let us know about your experiences with these projects in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on running NetBSD in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Which is the better demo distro?
| GNOME OS: | 145 (14%) |
| KDE Linux: | 245 (23%) |
| KDE neon: | 173 (16%) |
| Other: | 112 (11%) |
| None of the above: | 382 (36%) |
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| Website News |
Donations and Sponsors
Each month we receive support and kindness from our readers in the form of donations. These donations help us keep the web server running, pay contributors, and keep infrastructure like our torrent seed box running. We'd like to thank our generous readers and acknowledge how much their contributions mean to us.
This month we're grateful for the $234 in contributions from the following kind souls:
| Donor |
Amount |
|---|
| Jerry B | $100 |
| J S | $50 |
| Anthony B | $12 |
| Jonathon B | $10 |
| Sam C | $10 |
| Joshua B | $7 |
| Brian59 | $5 |
| Chris S | $5 |
| Chung T | $5 |
| Joe Football | $5 |
| John B | $5 |
| TaiKedz | $5 |
| George E | $4 |
| J.D. L | $2 |
| PB C | $2 |
| aRubes | $1 |
| Colton D | $1 |
| Stephen M | $1 |
| Kai D | $1 |
| Lars N | $1 |
| Shasheen E | $1 |
| William E | $1 |
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 6 October 2025. 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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If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 1, value: US$5) |
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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| Random Distribution | 
Kalango Linux
Kalango Linux was a Brazilian Linux distribution designed for desktop use. It was based on KANOTIX and uses the Debian package management tools.
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.
|
| 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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