 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1142, 6 October 2025 |
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Welcome to this year's 40th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The openSUSE distribution tends not to be the parent of a lot of forks or derivative distributions. The project has a lot of its branches and editions of its own which live under the openSUSE umbrella, but not many child distributions the way Debian and Arch do. This week we look at one rare exception, Linux Kamarada which is based on openSUSE's Leap. Read on to learn more about this rare derivative. Also on the topic of openSUSE, the project released a new version of its Leap branch this week and some people have reported surprise at the lack of a central control centre on the desktop. The graphical version of the YaST control centre has been dropped for openSUSE 16.0 and we would like to hear how our readers feel about the switch to the web-based Cockpit alternative in our Opinion Poll. In our News section we talk about how open source repositories like F-Droid could be impacted by Android's new third-party software policy while Alpine Linux moves to implement a merged /usr directory. We also talk about Cinnamon's new application menu design and extended keyboard layout support. Plus, this week we share some less practical tips for managing a file archive as though it were a database - read on to learn how to merge your database and backup skills! We are also pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Linux Kamarada 15.6
Linux Kamarada is a desktop Linux distribution based on openSUSE Leap. It uses a customised GNOME desktop environment. The project's stated goal is to spread and promote Linux as a robust, secure, versatile and easy-to-use operating system, suitable for everyday use, be it at home, at work or on the server.
On the website I could not find much information about what sets Kamarada apart from its parent, openSUSE Leap, other than the narrowed focus on one architecture (x86_64) and one desktop (GNOME). I did note that the project reportedly has its own package repository which I will explore later in this review.
I downloaded the Kamarada ISO file which was 2.5GB in size. Booting from the media brings up a boot menu where we are given the options of booting into a live desktop, launching the live session in "failsafe" mode, or performing a media self-test.
The live session boots to the GNOME desktop where a pop-up appears and asks if we'd like to use Brazilian Portuguese or English. We are then asked if we want to try the live session or install the distribution.
The Try option runs the GNOME desktop (version 45) with an unusual layout. The typical GNOME panel is placed across the top of the screen with the Activities button to the left and system tray to the right. This part of the layout is normal. What is unusual is a vertical panel with launcher icons is placed on the left side of the desktop. At the bottom of this panel is a button for opening the application menu. The distribution places icons on the desktop which open the GNOME Files file manager and launch the system installer.
Despite the unusual layout, the GNOME live desktop worked pretty well for me. I did run into a few minor issues. One presented itself when I opened the Settings application and selected Help from its menu. This launched a document viewer with a "document not found" error. The document viewer was able to find other GNOME Help documents to display, just not the one associated with the settings panel.
Installing
Kamarada uses the Calamares graphical system installer. This installer walks us through the usual steps of selecting our language, keyboard layout, and timezone. When it comes to partitioning we can take an automated option or use a point-and-click interface to manually divide the drive. The automated approach sets up a single ext4 root filesystem with no swap space. There is a drop-down menu to enable swap, but there is no option for selecting an alternative filesystem. This surprised me a one of openSUSE's main features is Btrfs and its associated snapshots (and rollback boot environments), but Kamarada sticks to using ext4, nullifying some of openSUSE's key features.
After we make up a username and password for ourselves, Calamares copies the distribution's packages to our hard drive and offers to reboot the computer.
Something which bothers me about using this distribution in particular, and any distribution running GNOME in general, is the lack of an obvious logout/shutdown option. There is no poweroff button on the panel, on the desktop, or in the application menu. There isn't a visible icon for logging out in the system tray either. To sign out we need to click on the system tray which opens a new menu where we can click a power button which opens a second menu where we can choose to sign out, restart, or poweroff. This process is unusually opaque for a desktop environment.
First impressions
My new copy of Linux Kamarada booted to a graphical login screen. There are several session options: GNOME (on Wayland), GNOME Classic (on Wayland), GNOME Classic (on X11), Kiosk Script Session (on Wayland), Kiosk Script Session (on X11), and GNOME (on X11). I tried the Kiosk Script Session options and they do not work. They present a vague error message which says "Oh no, something went wrong" and then return us to the login screen.
The two GNOME Classic sessions work. These sessions place the standard GNOME panel across the top of the screen and a task switcher horizontally across the bottom of the display. This provides the legacy GNOME 2/MATE style desktop layout. The two plain GNOME (X11 and Wayland) sessions provide the same layout of GNOME Shell we experienced on the live media.
When I first signed into GNOME there were no pop-ups, no welcome window. We are presented with the desktop and left to explore on our own. The performance of the desktop is pretty good and I like that it is mostly distraction-free.
Hardware
I tested Kamarada on my laptop and in a VirtualBox environment. In both test scenarios the distribution offered pretty good desktop responsiveness and booted in a reasonable amount of time. The speed isn't super, but it's about average for a Linux distribution running a full featured desktop.
The distribution performed well in VirtualBox with audio, networking, and adjusting desktop resolution all working properly. When I ran Kamarada on my laptop I ran into a number of issues and annoyances. On the positive side of things, the distribution booted and provided a desktop environment and wireless networking functioned. On the negative side of things, audio failed to work on my laptop, even when the volume was set to 100%. I checked my sound settings and discovered the distribution did not even detect my sound card. I don't think any other Linux distribution has entirely failed to find this laptop's sound card so this was a strange, new problem. (Audio did work in VirtualBox, just not on the physical laptop.)
Linux Kamarada 15.6 -- Trying the desktop's dark theme
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My laptop's display was set to a very dim light level. This has become a common issue with modern Linux distributions. Luckily this can be fixed through the user menu on the panel or by using my keyboard's shortcut keys for adjusting screen brightness.
My laptop's touchpad registered taps as clicks (as desired), thought GNOME enabled inverted scrolling by default. I'm not a fan of this behaviour and changed it in the Settings application. Mouse movement when using the track pad was also unusually slow and this could also be changed in the settings panel.
The distribution took up 7.6GB of my disk space, plus a little extra I set aside for swap space. When signed into GNOME Shell the distribution consumed about 1.1GB of memory, putting its resource usage a bit above average, but in the normal range for the GNOME and Plasma desktops.
Included software
Linux Kamarada uses a full screen grid of icons in place of a classic application menu. There are a lot of applications installed by default, about three pages worth, plus some sub-folders inside the grid of icons.
Linux Kamarada 15.6 -- The GNOME application menu
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Looking through the distribution's collection of applications we find the Firefox and Chromium web browsers, the LibreOffice suite, and Evolution is provided as the e-mail client. VLC is installed to help us play media files and the Transmission bittorrent application is installed for us. The Linphone VoIP client and Pidgin messaging client are installed for us. Brasero is present for burning optical discs.
The distribution includes the KeePassXC password manager, the htop process monitor the GNOME process monitor, and the lftp file transfer client. We also find the usual collection of GNOME applications, such as Clock, Weather, Calendar, Photos, Maps, and Document Viewer.
Kamarada ships with several small games, such as chess and reversi. WINE is installed to help us run Windows applications and Microsoft's Notepad is installed alongside GNOME's gedit text editor.
Linux Kamarada 15.6 -- The Linphone and lftp applications
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The GNU command line tools are present and manual pages are included. This distribution's man command has unusual behaviour where, if it detects multiple pages with a similar name, it will pause as ask us in which category our desired page is located. This is probably better than man's behaviour on most platforms, where it will take the first match it finds. However, the behaviour on Kamarada is only useful if the user knows what the manual page category numbers mean. Being asked if we meant the manual page in section "1, 2, or 7" won't be useful unless the user knows "1" means command line programs, "2" is system calls, and "7" represents misc pages. If nothing else, the names of the categories should be presented next to the numbers.
I found Java is installed for us, there is no compiler installed by default, and systemd handles service management. In the background Kamarada runs on version 6.4 of the Linux kernel.
I ran into a few more odd characteristics while exploring the available applications. For example, Firefox refused to launch for me in the live environment. Once Kamarada had been installed then Firefox opened and operated normally. Even when launched from a terminal, Firefox gave no errors in the live environment; the process would simply hang. The Chromium browser worked in both the live environment and once the distribution had been installed.
Another quirk of the distribution is the /usr/sbin directory is not in the user's PATH variable, meaning the regular user account does not "see" programs in this directory. There are a few distributions which do this, "hiding" system administration tools from the user, though these days most distributions put both /usr/bin (regular programs) and /usr/sbin (administrative programs) in the user's PATH to give easy access to all programs. What makes Kamarada really unusual though is that if we try to run a program which resides in /usr/sbin, instead of showing an error saying that the program can't be found in our PATH, the shell will locate the program and tell us it resides in /usr/sbin and suggest we run the command with sudo.
This means that the shell is locating the program we just asked to it run and, instead of running it (as the user requested), it simply tells us to run the command with sudo or by typing the whole path name. This feels wasteful as, if the shell is going to go to the trouble of finding the program we just asked it to run, why not run the program? Why demand we type the same command another way? This adds nothing to the experience and just slows down command line usage.
This might be hard to visualize, so I will share an example. Imagine we want to get a list of swap devices on the system. This does not require any administrative access and can be accomplished on most distributions by running "swapon -s". On Kamarada, running "swapon -s" results in an error saying this tool resides at /usr/sbin/swapon. We can then type the whole path name or run "sudo swapon -s" to execute the command. The latter is especially silly since the command doesn't require sudo access to work properly.
Software management
When it comes to managing software on Kamarada we have a few options. The GNOME Software application is available. This software centre provides access to Flatpak packages (provided by Flathub). By default there aren't any Flatpak packages installed, but by using GNOME Software we can browse for new applications, update them, and later remove them.
Linux Kamarada 15.6 -- The GNOME Software application
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GNOME Software provides access to Flatpak packages only, not lower level packages. To manage low-level packages available in openSUSE's repositories we can use the YaST Software Manager. The YaST package manager offers access to specific low-level packages and several filters and views for finding programs. YaST is probably overly complicated (or powerful, depending on one's point of view) for most users, but it works.
People who prefer using the command line can use the Flatpak command line tool and the zypper package manager to access Flatpak and openSUSE's repositories, respectively.
I noticed there was no warning or notification when new software updates became available. The user needs to check for new packages manually, and in the right software manager.
Linux Kamarada 15.6 -- The YaST package manager
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Other observations
When I was trying to create a guest account I started by using the Settings panel. GNOME Settings did allow me to create an account, but it was overly strict concerning what sort of password I could use. Passwords had to be long, complex, and not use any sequential numbers or dictionary words. This is ridiculous for a guest account. We can set any password we like using the command line passwd program.
Linux Kamarada 15.6 -- Creating a new user account
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The Kamarada distribution does not appear to have the graphical YaST settings panel installed. It does, however, have the text console equivalent and it includes several YaST system configuration modules. These modules help us manage software repositories, packages, and authentication.
I was curious what was in Kamarada's custom software repository since most packages were provided by openSUSE and Flatpak. Almost all of the packages in the custom repositories were wallpapers, extensions (for the desktop and applications), and logos or branding add-ons. In short, there doesn't appear to be much in the way of additional applications, but there are several extensions and distro-specific branding.
Conclusions
Let's talk about how Kamarada performs as a desktop distribution and what it bring to the table compared to its parent, openSUSE Leap. Generally speaking, Linux Kamarada is a functional desktop operating system. It has a working live session (with a few quirks), a working installer (with some minor limitations), a focus on providing GNOME sessions (most of which work), and provides a collection of applications (which mostly work). Software management generally works okay (despite system updates being hidden behind a complex package manager), desktop performance is about average, and the interface layout (while unusual) is functional.
As you've probably noticed, I really need to hedge my observations and praise for Kamarada. The main reason for this is that, while the distribution performs mostly well as a desktop distribution (broken sound system aside), it makes a number of unfortunate design choices. Further, each design choice which separates it from its openSUSE parent, is (in my opinion) a step in the wrong direction.
The openSUSE distribution provides Btrfs, automatic filesystem snapshots, and boot environments by default - Kamarada does not, defaulting to ext4 instead. openSUSE offers support several CPU architectures - Kamarada focuses on x86_64 only. openSUSE provides multiple desktop environments - Kamarada offers one. openSUSE mostly offers one application per task while Kamarada occasionally doubles down and features a few odd choices like a terminal-based FTP client in the application menu. In short, to me, Kamarada feels like running openSUSE with fewer features, duplication of applications, less functional hardware support, and more rough edges.
Looking through the project's custom repository, apart from some branding and extensions to customize the desktop, I didn't find much, which raise the question of why would I pick Kamarada over openSUSE Leap? The distribution, on its own, offers a decent (though not exceptional) experience, but it regularly falls short of its parent.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an HP DY2048CA laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 512GB solid state drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Wireless network device: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + BT Wireless network card
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Visitor supplied rating
Linux Kamarada has a visitor supplied average rating of: N/A from 0 review(s).
Have you used Linux Kamarada? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
F-Droid warns of impact to open source repositories on Android-based operating systems, Alpine moves forward with plans for a merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu
Google announced recently that it will be rolling out changes to Android which will prevent users from loading applications onto their phones, unless those applications are distributed through the Google Play Store. Loading third-party applications (called "side-loading") has long been one of the attractive features of Android and part of what made the platform more appealing to people seeking an operating system more open than iOS. With this locking down of Android, alternative software centres, such as F-Droid, will no longer work. F-Droid has offered easy access to open source apps on Android (and Android-based operating systems) for 15 years and Google's change may make it impossible for F-Droid to continue. "The F-Droid project cannot require that developers register their apps through Google, but at the same time, we cannot 'take over' the application identifiers for the open-source apps we distribute, as that would effectively seize exclusive distribution rights to those applications.
If it were to be put into effect, the developer registration decree will end the F-Droid project and other free/open-source app distribution sources as we know them today, and the world will be deprived of the safety and security of the catalog of thousands of apps that can be trusted and verified by any and all."
People who wish to be able to run third-party, open source apps on their phones are advised to contact their government representatives to ask them to protect the open source ecosystem.
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The Alpine Linux team have put forward their plan to merge root level directories with /usr directories, following in the footsteps of other major Linux distributions. "The Alpine Linux Technical Steering Committee (TSC) has decided to change the base filesystem hierarchy. In the future, /lib, /bin, and /sbin will be symbolic links to their /usr counterparts, and every package shall be installed under the /usr paths. For now, /usr/bin and /usr/sbin will continue to be independent paths, but that might change if the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) gets updated." An outline of the steps involved, the reasons for the change, and potential side-effects are covered in the project's detailed implementation document.
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The Linux Mint team have unveiled plans for the next version of the Cinnamon desktop environment. The upcoming Cinnamon release will improve Wayland support, expand keyboard layout support, and redesign the application menu. "The Cinnamon application menu was redesigned and given a new layout. It features a sidebar with sections for your avatar, places and favorite applications. The system buttons were moved to the top on the right of the search bar. In the applications section, the description appears underneath the app name. The category section was made smaller and less noticeable to keep more focus on the apps. In the preferences it is possible to hide some of the elements to make the menu smaller or to dedicate the sidebar to only show places, bookmarks or favorite apps." A detailed description of the changes, along with screenshots, can be found in the project's September newsletter.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Tips and Tricks (by Jesse Smith) |
Using SQLite to manage ZIP files
SQLite is incredibly portable, powerful, and lightweight database software that works anywhere from servers to smartphones. Part of what makes SQLite so popular is it works on self-contained database files which can be stored or transferred anywhere. Many database technologies use multiple files and involve setting up network services to allow clients to remotely access the databases. In contrast to this traditional approach, an SQLite database is stored in a single file which can exist anywhere and can be accessed without a dedicated daemon. The SQLite project provides libraries and command line tools for working with these database files, making it easy to access and share the database without setting up extra infrastructure. This makes SQLite ideal for use in desktop applications, phone apps, and small websites. Chances are the web browser you are using to view this article makes use of SQLite libraries and uses an SQLite database.
The SQLite website further explains its software as follows:
SQLite is a C-language library that implements a small, fast, self-contained, high-reliability, full-featured, SQL database engine. SQLite is the most used database engine in the world. SQLite is built into all mobile phones and most computers and comes bundled inside countless other applications that people use every day.
Today I want to talk about a feature of SQLite which is lesser known, but impressively flexible and convenient in some situations. Specifically, I want to talk about how SQLite's command line tool is able to work, not just with database files, but also ZIP files.
Usually when we work with ZIP archives it is through either a simple command line tool with cryptic syntax that creates and extracts the ZIP files, or it's through a desktop application dedicated to the task. SQLite provides a third option: a command line tool which can use SQL statements to create archives, display information about the archives, and extract files.
I want to share some examples of SQLite in action, working with a simple ZIP archive to show how pleasantly flexible SQLite is. Also, I think using SQL database commands to manage a ZIP file is pleasantly weird and this sort of thing is just plain fun.
First, let's create a super simple ZIP archive the old fashioned way, on the command line. I start by creating four text files: abc, def, xyz, and mnop:
$ echo "Line one" > abc; echo "Line two" > def; echo "Line three" > xyz; echo "Line four" > mnop
Now that we have four text files, each with a line of text in them, we can create our ZIP archive and store the first three text files in it. This is accomplished with the appropriately named zip command:
$ zip myarchive.zip abc def xyz
adding: abc (stored 0%)
adding: def (stored 0%)
adding: xyz (stored 0%)
We can confirm the archive was made successfully by listing its contents on the command line using the unzip program:
$ unzip -l myarchive.zip
Archive: myarchive.zip
| Length | Date | Time | Name |
| --------- | ---------- | ----- | ---- |
| 9 | 2025-08-12 | 15:21 | abc |
| 9 | 2025-08-12 | 15:21 | def |
| 11 | 2025-08-12 | 15:21 | xyz |
Now that we have our little ZIP archive, let's explore how SQLite can help us explore and manage this archive. We can do this by running the sqlite program and passing it the name of our ZIP file:
$ sqlite3 myarchive.zip
SQLite version 3.46.1 2024-08-13 09:16:08
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite>
Now the SQLite program has our ZIP archive open and we can start exploring. Since we are going to treat the archive like a database, SQLite assigns the various features of the file with database field names, as we can see here by using the ".schema" command:
sqlite> .schema
CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE zip USING zipfile('myarchive.zip')
/* zip(name,mode,mtime,sz,rawdata,data,method) */;
As we can see from the output of our ".schema" command, each entry (file or directory) in the archive has a name, mode (type of file and permissions), modified time, and size. Each entry also has rawdata (the compressed information), data (the uncompressed information), and method (compression level). Most of the time we are likely to be interested in just the name, size, and data fields.
Let's say we want to see a list of files in the archive along with the uncompressed size of each file. We can see all the files in the archive along with their sizes (in bytes), using a "select" command:
sqlite> SELECT name, sz FROM zip;
abc|9
def|9
xyz|11
In the above command we request that SQLite show us (select) the name and size of each file from our ZIP archive. The result is a listing for the three files we initially placed in the archive, along with each file's uncompressed size.
Next, what if we want to see the content of just one of our text files without extracting it from the archive? We can do this with another "select" command, specifying we want to see the data contained in a file. In this case we will request the contents of the second file, def:
sqlite> SELECT data FROM zip WHERE name='def';
Line two
The output is the "Line two" text we originally placed in the text file.
Perhaps we want to remove one of the files from our archive. In this case we can use the SQL command "delete" to erase it from our ZIP file. In this example we are removing the def file from the archive with the "delete" command and then confirming it is gone using a "select" command:
sqlite> DELETE FROM zip WHERE name='def';
sqlite> SELECT name FROM zip;
abc
xyz
As we can see from the above list of names, the def file was successfully removed.
I would like to mention at this time that SQL commands are case-insensitive. This means that the command "SELECT name FROM zip;" and "select name from zip;" will both work. Key words like "select" and "delete" are often shown as upper-case in examples to make the different elements of the command more visible.
Next, what if we want to add a new file to our archive? We can do this by specifying the name of the new file and its contents. This means we can make up the contents on the fly, but chances are what we want to do is read in the data from a file. We can load a file into the archive using the "readfile" function. Here we read the mnop file into memory and insert it into the archive:
sqlite> INSERT INTO zip(name, data) values('mnop', readfile('mnop'));
The above command tells SQLite that we want to "insert" a new file. We let it know we are going to provide the name and data for the new entry in the archive. Then we need to supply two values, the name of the new file and its contents. The content of mnop is loaded in using the "readfile" function. We can confirm the new entry has been added using "select" again:
sqlite> select name, sz from zip;
abc|9
xyz|11
mnop|10
We can see the contents of the newest entry by requesting the data field from the archive stored under a specific filename:
sqlite> select data from zip where name='mnop';
Line four
As we can see here, the mnop file contained one line of text, which reads "Line four".
One of the great features about SQLite is that the command line tool can be run like a classic database client, as shown above where we interactively give it commands. The command line tool can also run a single query against a specified database or archive. This allows us to use SQLite in non-interactive scripts or to extract information from an archive and dump it elsewhere. For instance, if we wanted to extract the contents of the abc file from myarchive.zip and dump it into a new text file, we can do that from the command line, specifying the archive's name and the SQL command we want to run:
$ sqlite3 myarchive.zip "select data from zip where name='abc'" > newabc.txt
$ cat newabc.txt
Line one
In the above example we use the sqlite3 command to run a single SQL command against the myarchive.zip file. This will output the contents (data) of the abc text file stored in our archive. We then direct our shell to dump the text into a new file called newabc.txt. In the second line we display the contents of the new file to confirm it worked.
This command line functionality allows us to perform quick queries, either interactively or from a script. For instance, the following command will tell us how many files are in an archive. This is achieved using the SQL "count" function:
$ sqlite3 large-archive.zip "select count(name) from zip;"
240
We can see there are 240 files and directories in the ZIP archive large-archive.zip Alternatively, we could get the total (uncompressed) size of all the files in the archive using this command to get a sum of each file's size in bytes:
$ sqlite3 large-archive.zip "select sum(sz) from zip;"
235771456
Some might argue as to whether using SQLite is more practical than other tools, such as zip and unzip. The standard command line tools (and desktop applications) for working with archives are efficient and practical. However, when it comes to portable, scriptable commands that can be used to query or manipulate the contents of archives, it is hard to beat SQLite in terms of reliable formatting and the readability of its commands.
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Additional tips can be found in our Tips and Tricks archive.
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| Released Last Week |
FydeOS 21.0
The FydeOS project has announced the release of FydeOS 21.0, a new stable release of the lightweight operating system that carries a Linux kernel, a browser platform and a container technology driver. It provides a Google Chromebook-like experience, and it is also able to run Android and Linux applications (by activating the included Android and Debian subsystems). "We are delighted to announce the release of FydeOS 21 'Sunlit Epiphany'. This update introduces a host of new features, enhancements and stability improvements - all designed to deliver a more refined and efficient experience for you. This version includes an upgrade of the underlying Chromium OS platform from r132 to r138, ensuring you have the latest performance and security updates. New features and enhancements: enhanced launcher search with filtering - finding what you need is now faster and more intuitive, the Launcher search has been upgraded to include filters, allowing you to narrow down your search results by categories such as Apps, Files and more, for a more precise and efficient search experience; Quick Insert panel - express yourself more easily with the new Quick Insert feature, by simply pressing Windows/Command + f." Continue to the release announcement for more information and screenshots.
FydeOS 21.0 -- Running the ChromeOS desktop
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UBports 24.04
The UBports team have announced the release of a new major version of their mobile operating system which is a continuation of Canonical's Ubuntu Touch. The project's latest release is version 24.04 which is a long-term support (LTS) release. One of the big features in this release is the introduction of personal data encryption: "Ubuntu Touch now contains an experimental support for encrypting personal data on the device. This adds an additional layer of protection in case the device is stolen. Once enabled, your data will be encrypted using your passcode or passphrase. On boot, your device will enter a minimal UI where you'll be prompted your passcode or passphrase. Once your passcode or passphrase is entered, your device will open encrypted personal data and start the rest of the system. This feature has to be enabled per-device. To check whether this feature is enabled, go to System Settings > Security & Privacy and see if 'Encryption (Experimental)' is available." A complete list of changes is available in the project's release announcement.
openSUSE 16.0
The openSUSE project ha released a new version of the distribution's stable (Leap) branch. openSUSE 16.0 Leap offers support through to 2032 and fixes the year 2038 date bug. This release also include a new system installer and provide parallel package downloads: "Leap 16 as a community-supported platform will shape open-source development breakthroughs and real-world solutions in the years ahead. The release is 2038 safe and comes with 32-bit (ia32) support disabled by default. It gives users the option to enable it manually and enjoy gaming with Steam, which still relies on 32-bit libraries. The hardware requirements have changed. Leap 16 now requires x86-64-v2 as a minimum CPU architecture level, which generally means CPUs bought in 2008 or later. Users with older hardware can migrate to Slowroll or Tumbleweed. Leap 16 channels community and enterprise distribution code by building on the foundation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), bringing source and binary identicality with it. Users have the option to seamlessly migrate from openSUSE Leap 16 to SLES 16. Developers can use openSUSE Leap to create, test and run workloads for later deployment on SLES. Leap 16 ships with the new Agama installer, which offers a more modern setup experience over the deprecated YaST-based installer." Additional details can be found in the release announcement.
openSUSE 16.0 -- Running the GNOME desktop
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Raspberry Pi OS 2025-01-10
Simon Long has announced the release of a major new update of Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi range os single-board computers. This is the project's first release based on Debian 13; it introduces a new theme and a new control centre applications: "We've made some changes of our own in the 'Trixie' release. The most obvious is that we have updated the theme for the desktop - we have a completely new set of icons, a new font, new desktop backgrounds, and some other small tweaks to refresh the appearance of the system. This should be apparent as soon as you launch it. Another change we have made to tidy things up is to replace all the old preferences applications - Raspberry Pi Configuration, Appearance Settings, Mouse and Keyboard Settings, Screen Configuration, Printer - with a single new Control Centre application. All the settings that were in the preferences applications listed above can now be found in Control Centre." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information and screenshots.
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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: 3,301
- 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) |
openSUSE Leap drops YaST control centre
The release of openSUSE 16.0 Leap this week included a new change: the removal of the graphical YaST control panel which has been a keystone of the openSUSE desktop experience for decades. In its place, the project is offering the web-based Cockpit configuration tool which has been used successfully by Red Hat for the past few versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. What do you think of openSUSE's decision to discontinue YaST's graphical configuration modules? Let us know if you prefer the classic YaST tools, the command line YaST tools, or the new Cockpit web-based solution best.
You can see the results of our previous poll on demo distributions for KDE and GNOME in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Which is your preferred configuration tool on openSUSE?
| YaST desktop tools: | 409 (28%) |
| YaST command line tools: | 37 (3%) |
| Cockpit (web-based): | 28 (2%) |
| Editing text files manually: | 44 (3%) |
| Other: | 16 (1%) |
| I do not use openSUSE: | 923 (63%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 13 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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| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • 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 | 
Ultimate Edition
Ultimate Edition, first released in December 2006, was a fork of Ubuntu and Linux Mint though recent versions (starting in 2024) have been based on Arch Linux. The goal of the project is to create a complete, seamlessly integrated, visually stimulating, and easy-to-install operating system. Single-button upgrade is one of several special characteristics of this distribution. Other main features include custom desktop and theme with 3D effects, support for a wide range of networking options, including WiFi and Bluetooth, and integration of many extra applications and package repositories.
Status: Active
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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