| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1155, 12 January 2026 |
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Welcome to this year's 2nd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Often times we receive requests from readers to recommend Linux distributions to them. People who are new to Linux or want to take on a new project occasionally reach out for advice, asking which Linux distribution will best suit their needs. This week we handle a similar, but rarely asked question: Which flavour of BSD is ideal for a novice? We discuss the BSD families and make a recommendation in this week's Questions and Answers column. Over the winter holiday Jesse Smith collected suggestions from readers about which projects he should try. Three of the suggested favourites are covered in this week's Feature Story and they make for an unusual collection of experiences. One of the projects discussed is CDE, a Unix desktop environment from the 1990s which has been revived and ported to modern Linux distributions. Are there any legacy desktop environments you still enjoy using? Let us know which one in this week's Opinion Poll. Then, in our News section, we talk about Debian seeking new members for the project's Data Project Team while Canonical reminds people Ubuntu 25.04 is reaching the end of its supported life. Plus we talk about Google further limiting the source code releases for Android while Fedora plans to replace the login manager for its Plasma-flavoured editions. We are also pleased to share the new 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:
- Review: MenuetOS, SparkyLinux with CDE, iDeal OS 2025.12.07
- News: Debian seeks new Data Protection Team and updates install media for "Trixie", Ubuntu 25.04 nears end of life, Google limits Android code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM with new login manager, Budgie migrates to Wayland
- Questions and answers: Recommending a flavour of BSD
- Released last week: VailuxOS 1.6, IPFire 2.29 Core 199, Omarchy 3.3.0, ArchBang Linux 100126, MODICIA O.S. 6.12.63
- Torrent corner: Debian, Debian Edu, KDE neon
- Opinion poll: Revived desktop environments
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
MenuetOS
Going into the holiday break I was hoping to try something new or at least something unusual. I put out a request for suggestions about open source projects I either hadn't reviewed yet or hadn't reviewed in a while. One of the early nominations was MenuetOS and it certainly sounded interesting.
MenuetOS is not a Linux distribution or even a part of the Unix family tree in the way the BSDs and illumos are. MenuetOS is independent and, in an unusual move for a modern operating system, it is written in Assembly language.
MenuetOS is an operating system in development for PC, written completely in 64-bit Assembly language, which produces faster and more compact applications and kernel code than any other language.
Why this unusual combination of low-level code and a move away from established operating systems? The project's website explains:
Menuet isn't based on other operating system nor has it roots within UNIX or the POSIX standards. The design goal has been to remove the extra layers between different parts of an OS, which normally complicate programming and create bugs.
Menuet['s] kernel is written in Assembly, which gives speed advantages over systems written in other languages. For example, GUI with transparency is calculated in [the] main x86-64 CPU, avoiding compatibility problems with graphics cards.
The project's website mentions MenuetOS supports multi-tasking, workloads spread across multiple CPUs, networking, and a graphical desktop. I couldn't find any install instructions so I was not clear on whether the operating system is meant to be run from removable media or installed on a hard drive.
I clicked the download link on the project's website and was taken to a Google Drive page which told me the file or resource was no longer available. I'm not sure if this is a temporary issue or if the download has been removed. In either case, I had to put aside my curiosity about MenuetOS and focus on something else while I waited for the project to provide an ISO file.
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SparkyLinux 2025.09 running CDE
Another project I was asked to explore was SparkyLinux running the Common Desktop Environment (CDE). For people unfamiliar with CDE, it was a desktop environment which was somewhat popular in the 1990s on Unix machines. Chances are if you ran Solaris with a desktop environment during that decade you probably got to see CDE in action.
What is interesting about CDE is that it takes the concept of a "desktop" interface literally. The panel at the bottom of the screen looks like a physical office desk with drawers. To access applications we open the drawers and select the programs or settings we want to manage. Minimized windows are placed on the desktop, usually toward the top (or "away") from the user. The effect seems to be designed to make people who are accustomed to working in offices, but who might be new to using computers, feel like they are in a familiar environment.
People who are curious about CDE can check out my earlier review of the desktop running on the NuTyX distribution.
SparkyLinux is available in many flavours, including several desktop editions, a command line only edition, and a minimal graphical edition that runs Openbox. I downloaded the 1.8GB ISO for the Minimal GUI flavour. Having the basic graphical software installed, but not a full desktop environment, seemed like the easiest option for getting set up with a new desktop. My plan was to install Sparky first, then replace Openbox with CDE.
SparkyLinux 2025.09 -- Running Openbox
(full image size: 187kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
SparkyLinux's live media booted to Openbox with a panel across the bottom of the display. An application menu which displayed a full screen of launchers could be accessed by pressing a button in the bottom-left corner of the display. When launching a program the application menu did not close automatically, but it could be closed by clicking its button on the panel again.
Sparky uses the Calamares system installer which provides a friendly, streamlined approach to gathering information about our keyboard, timezone, and how we want to divide our disk. One problem I ran into was with the account creation screen of Calamares. Sparky is set up with some password requirements, but doesn't tell us exactly what they are. As a result my first password was rejected for being too short, the next couple for being too close to dictionary words. The next random combination of letters and numbers was also deemed to be a dictionary word, and the next not complex enough. It took about ten tries before I found one with enough upper-case letters, special symbols, and numbers to be accepted.
In my opinion this approach to enforcing strong passwords (without
telling the user in the error message what the specific requirements
are) is a poor practice. I think it's a good idea to warn the user when their password is weak, but the developers don't know in what sort of environment their distribution is being run. This could be a simple test machine in a virtual environment, it could be a work computer, it could be run on a laptop for someone with limited dexterity. In any event, I think guiding the user is a good idea in these situations, but forcing them to play a guessing game is not.
After a few minutes of working, Calamares reported it had successfully completed the installation and offered to restart the computer. Unfortunately, the freshly installed distribution failed to boot. In fact, a closer look at the disk indicated a boot loader had not been set up, rendering the machine unbootable.
Since I had, as mentioned earlier, already explored CDE in another review, I decided to move on to another distribution on my list.
* * * * *
iDeal OS 2025.12.07
The iDeal OS distribution is based on MX Linux and its latest release is founded upon MX Linux 25 and Debian 13. The project makes a few claims about its performance and what sets it apart from MX Linux:
iDeal OS Emerald Edition runs smoothly and performs well on PCs with a quad-core CPU, 8GB of RAM and an SSD hard drive.
This is almost certainly true, but it is also true for virtually all Linux distributions. A quad-core CPU and 8GB is more than enough for any mainstream Linux distribution with resources to spare. It does make for a good soundbite though and I suspect it is meant to draw in people who are migrating away from Windows 10 and concerned about whether they need to purchase a new computer.
The main goals of iDeal OS are privacy and security: you can surf, shop, trade and bank on-line with complete peace of mind, without annoying ads, tracking, logging, bugs, viruses or unwanted disclosure of personal information.
This claim (or claims) bother me a bit. While I do believe Linux distributions (in general) and perhaps iDeal (in particular) are good for security and privacy compared to commonly used alternatives, the absolute nature of the above claims concern me. iDeal may do things to reduce tracking and remote logging (the distribution maintains its own internal logging) and it may be able to avoid many viruses, but there is no such thing as a complex operating system which cannot be tracked on-line, doesn't have bugs, and is immune from viruses. Saying people can use iDeal OS and have "complete peace of mind" sounds nice, but I think it lulls people into a false sense of security.
Nit-picking aside, what specific key features does iDeal OS offer? The website is short on technical details, but it mentions a tool called "DNS Switcher" for changing our domain lookup service and tools for blocking unwanted content. The website also mentions iDeal OS runs the KDE Plasma desktop.
The live environment
Booting from the distribution's live media launches the Plasma desktop. A panel is placed across the bottom of the screen. On the desktop we find several icons. One opens a local copy of the MX Linux FAQ document and another opens the MX Linux User Manual. Other icons open iDeal-specific documents, including a Legal Notice, a Welcome message, and the project's Privacy Policy. These documents all hold standard statements that notify us about a lack of warranty for the operating system, show a quick welcome message, and assure us the project isn't harvesting our personal information.
Early impressions
iDeal uses the MX Linux system installer which works well and operates quickly to install the operating system. I had no problems with getting the distribution installed and booted on my local disk.
There are some initial impressions I'd like to share. For example, iDeal runs Plasma in a Wayland session by default. This seems to be the only session option, at least with the default packages.
The iDeal logo looks so much like Manjaro's logo that, before I started using the distribution, I assumed iDeal was a member of the Manjaro/Arch family. There are some differences, but the three green bars in the logo do seem familiar.
The distribution uses transparency a fair amount. The login screen, some application windows, and the application menu are transparent. This makes some text appear faded or fuzzy, especially when white text is displayed over a light background.
iDeal OS 2025.12.07 -- Exploring the application menu
(full image size: 173kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The distribution is relatively large in memory, requiring about 1.6GB of RAM to sign into the Plasma desktop. It's not the heaviest distribution I have run in the past twelve months, but it's close.
When new software updates become available a pop-up window notifies us. Clicking on this pop-up launches the Discover software centre which offers to download updates. Discover pulls from the MX Linux and Debian repositories, including MX's advanced hardware support repository which offers newer versions of the kernel.
iDeal OS 2025.12.07 -- The Discover software centre
(full image size: 158kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Despite selecting correct locale and keyboard settings in system installer, my keyboard was not configured properly once OS was installed. When typing in a desktop application or in a text console the characters which appeared on the screen did not match what I was typing. When I examined my keyboard options in KDE's System Settings panel I found the correct keyboard layout was in use. Digging deeper I found my layout was correct, but no language was associated with it. Once I had added English as a language option my keyboard worked properly as long as I was in a Plasma session. However, the keyboard's input continued to be misrepresented when I was typing in a text console.
iDeal OS 2025.12.07 -- Adjusting keyboard language settings
(full image size: 97kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Special features
Apart from running Plasma with up to date hardware support, the two main features which set iDeal apart from MX's main (Xfce) edition are a custom DNS tool and content blocking. I decided to focus on those differences.
The first tool I looked at was the iDeal DNS Switcher, a utility which can be found in the distribution's application menu. This program features two tabs: Settings and DNS Manager. Under the Settings tab we can select which local service or daemon connects us with the Internet. This defaults to Network Manager on iDeal. From the Settings tab we can also check boxes to enable IPv6 networking and start the DNS Switcher automatically when we login. There is also a button to restore the default settings.
iDeal OS 2025.12.07 -- The iDeal DNS Switcher
(full image size: 124kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The second tab, called DNS Manager, has a few elements. At the top of the tab is a drop-down menu where we can select a DNS provider. There are about a dozen unique options in this list. Once a DNS provider has been selected then its IP addresses are shown below the menu. Under this information we find two buttons. The first button applies the new DNS settings to our system, changing the servers our computer uses to look up how to connect with remote servers.
The second button opens a web page which will check our network settings for DNS leaks. Basically, the page tries to find our DNS information and location. When connecting to the Internet directly this page will show our normal networking information, but when we are using a VPN this page will help us detect if our VPN is protecting us successfully.
The DNS Switcher application worked as expected. It is easy to navigate and its elements clearly labelled. This isn't a tool I'd recommend for most people, because many computer users are unfamiliar with what DNS is or why they would want to change their DNS settings. However, for people who want to use a custom DNS service (perhaps for privacy or filtering reasons) this tool works quickly and easily.
The iDeal website talks a bit about content blocking as a feature, but it is vague about how this is achieved or what technical components are involved. As far as I could tell from a browse through the operating system, the only content management involved is handled by the uBlock Origin extension in Firefox. It is installed by default and, apart from that, there doesn't appear to be any special filtering, security, or content blocking built into iDeal.
iDeal OS 2025.12.07 -- Firefox extensions
(full image size: 145kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
I was disappointed to find that while Samba and LibreOffice are set up with sandboxing profiles (thanks to AppArmor), Firefox is not. The browser isn't isolated at all and has full access to the filesystem.
Apart from these two features the distribution appears to be identical to MX Linux 25, which I reviewed toward then end of 2025.
Conclusions
On the positive side of things, iDeal OS is an attractive spin of MX Linux and it shares the same strengths as its parent distribution. Like MX Linux, iDeal provides a huge collection of software (thanks to its Debian grandparent), the useful MX Tools collection of administration utilities, and the system worked smoothly for me. The DNS Switcher utility worked well, easily switching my DNS service on the fly and making it possible to quickly test the results. For people who want to change their DNS service, this is an ideal tool for it (please excuse the pun), at least assuming we want to use on the of dozen or so providers listed.
On the negative side of things, I had three complaints while using iDeal:
- Transparency is, in my opinion, used too much, especially when paired with such dynamic wallpaper. It makes for patchy areas in the application menu and other windows without a benefit.
- My keyboard was not properly set up with this distribution. It worked properly on MX Linux 25 so there seems to be a change or a configuration adjustment specific to iDeal which broke typing for me until I added the proper keyboard language in the settings panel.
- This project feels like it is long on hype, but short on features which set it apart from its parent. It promises lots of privacy and a lack of logging and a lack of tracking and added security. What it delivers is a single network settings tool for changing DNS settings and a web browser extension which would take a few seconds to install. It would have been nice if the web browser was at least sandboxed or some isolation tools were included to go along with the security talking points. Alternatively, shipping the Tor Browser to protect the user's location would have been a good option which matched the project's promises.
Focusing on the last point, having a custom DNS switcher can be useful and having the uBlock Origin extension pre-installed is certainly a welcome feature. However, for small changes like this creating a whole new distribution feels like overkill. In this case, possibly over-hyped overkill. It's not that iDeal is doing anything technically incorrect (apart from handling my keyboard settings), but it feels like it's claiming a lot (in terms of protection from logging, tracking, and malware) while providing two small conveniences which (while they do help), do not provide the complete protection suggested.
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
iDeal OS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 6/10 from 9 review(s).
Have you used iDeal OS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Debian seeks new Data Protection Team and updates install media for "Trixie", Ubuntu 25.04 nears end of life, Google limits Android code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM with new login manager, Budgie migrates to Wayland
In Andreas Tille's most recent Bits from the DPL newsletter, the Debian Project Leader mentioned a gap in the Debian project's staffing. Specifically, Debian currently has no Data Protection Team: "As you may have read in my recent call for volunteers, Debian currently has no active Data Protection Team. All previous delegates have stepped back, and the delegation has therefore been revoked. This leaves Debian without a dedicated team to handle data protection and privacy-related matters, which is not a sustainable situation. I would very much welcome volunteers who are interested in data protection and privacy to help re-establish the team." One of the hurdles in finding members for the team is the position is open to Debian Developers only due to the amount of trust required for the role.
This week the Debian project published updated media for version 13 of the Linux distribution. Debian 13.3 "Trixie" is not a new version, but offers install media which include fixes and security patches. "The Debian project is pleased to announce the third update of its stable distribution Debian 13 (codename trixie). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available." A similar update for Debian 12 "Bookworm" is also available.
* * * * *
Florent Jacquet has sent out a reminder that Ubuntu 25.04 is nearing the end of its supported life. "Ubuntu announced its 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) release almost 9 months ago, on 17th April 2025 and its support period is now nearing its end. Ubuntu 25.04 will reach end of life on 15th January 2026." People who run Ubuntu 25.04 (or distributions based on this release) should upgrade to a supported version.
* * * * *
Google has announced changes to its Android source code releases which are likely to make life harder for developers of Android-based, open source distributions. Google has stated that source code updates for Android will now be released just twice a year, greatly limiting developers' access to the code. Android Authority reports: "Since beginning the project, Google released the source code for nearly every new version of Android for mobile devices, typically doing so within days of rolling out the corresponding update to its own Pixel mobile devices. Starting this year, however, Google is making a major change to its release schedule for Android source code drops: AOSP sources will only be released twice a year. Google told Android Authority that, effective 2026, Google will publish new source code to AOSP in Q2 and Q4." This will place limitations and time crunches on open source developers who create mobile distributions such as GrapheneOS, Murena, and iodeOS.
* * * * *
The Fedora project is planning to change the distribution's login manager for the KDE edition from SDDM to the newer Plasma Login Manager (PLM). The distribution's change proposal states: "A new integrated login manager will be released alongside the upcoming KDE Plasma 6.6 release. As part of shipping this, the Fedora KDE variants will be switched to use it instead of SDDM. This will change the Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop Edition, Fedora KDE Plasma Mobile Spin, and Fedora Kinoite." The experience for the user is expected to be almost exactly like it was with SDDM, though the new PLM login page does not support QML themes.
* * * * *
The Budgie desktop environment was originally developed for the Solus distribution. While Budgie is now an independent project it continues to be the flagship desktop for Solus and available on several other distributions. The latest release of Budgie (version 10.10) migrates the desktop from running on X11 to Wayland. "Budgie 10.10 is a brand new release series for Budgie Desktop, marking our first release to migrate Budgie from X11 to Wayland. This release series brings to a close just over a decade of Budgie 10 development; we are formally putting Budgie 10 into maintenance mode to focus our efforts on Budgie 11." Details on the migration to Wayland can be found in this Budgie blog post.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Recommending a flavour of BSD
Seeking-a-BSD asks: You mentioned before your recommendations for a Linux distro for newbies. Could you weigh in on the best BSD project for a first timer?
DistroWatch answers: I will be happy to talk about BSD and make some suggestions. Roughly speaking, there are three main branches of the BSD family: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD. Each of these projects provides a general purpose operating system which can be used in all sorts of situations. Each of these three branches also has its own spins and forks which specialize or experiment in specific areas.
In a very general, big-picture manner of speaking, each of the three main branches of the BSD family have an area of specialization. NetBSD is highly portable and runs on a wide range of different types of CPUs. It is ideal if you need to run an operating system on exotic or low-powered hardware. OpenBSD is highly security focused and aims to provide precise documentation. If you plan to run a firewall, or any device that handles a lot of network traffic, OpenBSD is secure and virtually unbreakable. FreeBSD tends to be more mainstream in its style and is commonly deployed on servers and network attached storage (NAS) systems.
While all three of the BSD families I just mentioned can also be used as desktop systems, desktop use isn't a primary focus of any of these three. If you are hoping to run one of the BSDs in a desktop role then I'd recommend looking at a spin that sets up a desktop environment for you. The GhostBSD project takes FreeBSD and uses it as a base. It then provides a graphical system installer and a pre-configured desktop environment on top of the FreeBSD foundation.
In short, my recommendation would be to determine which role or focus you want your BSD installation to have. If it needs portability then you probably want NetBSD; if you need top notch security then look at OpenBSD; if you're setting up a server then FreeBSD is a good place to start. In situations where you are planning to set up a desktop operating system or if you want a friendly point-and-click introduction to BSD then I'd start with GhostBSD.
We have a longer list of BSD systems available on our search page.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
VailuxOS 1.6
VailuxOS, a German desktop Linux distribution with a customised KDE Plasma desktop, has been upgraded to version 1.6. While the previous releases were based on Ubuntu's latest long-term support branch, VailuxOS 1.6 is based on Debian 13: "We are pleased to announce that VailuxOS 1.6 is now officially available. Key new features: Plasma 6 - fully updated desktop environment for modern functionality and stability; optimized Start menu - redesigned, more intuitive interface; automated weather display - new, elegant and dynamic integration; modern window design - fresh look with light/dark mode selection; floating taskbar - enabled by default for a clean desktop layout; enhanced customisation - more options for customising your system. Performance and stability: conflict-free packages - completely cleaned-up dependencies; maximum optimisation - significantly improved performance and responsiveness; new Plymouth boot - attractive, animated boot screen; graphical GRUB - user-friendly boot menu interface; Calamares installer - enhanced with additional installation methods...." Here is the full release announcement (in German).
IPFire 2.29 Core 199
The IPFire project has a new release, version 2.29 Core 199, which introduces improved wireless networking performance and enhances the intrusion prevention system: "IPFire now supports WiFi 7 and WiFi 6 for wireless access points. Although the hardware has been supported before, IPFire can now take advantage of the features that these new WiFi standards are bringing. The most notable features are: It is now possible to select the preferred WiFi mode, and IPFire will figure out the rest. 802.11be and 802.11ax are joining support for 802.11ac/agn. Channel bandwidths of up to 320 MHz will give you a bandwidth of over 5.7 Gbps for two spacial streams, or even a whopping 11.5 Gbps over four spacial streams. Over the air. IPFire will now automatically detect and enable any supported capabilities that the hardware supports. This used to be manually configurable as 'HT Capabilities' and 'VHT Capabilities'. Whereas that used to be a tedious and difficult process, we can now take advantage of all features that your hardware supports for a much more stable and faster WiFi network." Additional details can be found in the release announcement.
Omarchy 3.3.0
David Heinemeier Hansson has announced the release of Omarchy 3.3.0, an updated build of the project's Arch-based Linux distribution with Hyprland as the preferred window manager. It is intended for more advanced Linux users and developers. Besides a long list of additions and fixes, the new release also brings important updates to dictation, hibernation and themes: "Voxtype offers a variety of different local AI dictation models. You can install it using Install, AI, Dictation where the default is a 150 MB base English model. After it's installed, you can start dictating using Super + Ctrl + X. While dictating, you'll see a red microphone in the center of the top menu, which you can click to pick another model (or just run 'voxtype setup model' from terminal). Or right-click to edit the entire Voxtype configuration. With Linux running on a million different systems, there is varying levels of support for system sleep, so by default Omarchy will only show the options that work everywhere: lock, screensaver, restart, shutdown. But plenty of systems do support hibernation and suspend, so now you can enable both via Setup, System Sleep. Hibernation requires a swap subvolume of the same size as your physical RAM allotment. That'll automatically be set up when you run the 'Enable Hibernate' option. So too will configuration for suspend-to-hibernate after 30 minutes on systems that support it." Read the full release notes for a complete list of changes.
ArchBang Linux 100126
ArchBANG Linux has been through many changes in recent times, including the renaming of ArchBANG, to GreenBANG and back to ArchBANG again. The most recent update involves a new desktop user interface, moving from the Openbox window manager to the labwc Wayland compositor. Inspired by Openbox, labwc is a window-stacking compositor for Wayland. The latest release of ArchBANG also comes with a new wmenu: "Quick post, have built and uploaded a new ISO image. Mostly package updates, also added wmenu which is the Wayland version of dmenu application launcher. If you want to pull up an application quicker than searching labwc root menu then this is for you. It is tied to Alt+F3, now this might seem odd, but bear with me. If as some of you might have a keyboard, laptop, MacBook, Chromebook that does not really have a Super (Windows) key, then this might just be a way in. From wmenu you can open a terminal/editor and make changes to labwc configuration, to change Super key to Alt if the need be. It is not as feature-rich as Rofi but light enough to get the job done. Now that I am happier with everything in ArchBang, time to break stuff. Will start working on making installer easier with fewer options. Over the coming weeks, look at giving ArchBang a new look." Here is the brief release announcement.
ArchBang Linux 100126 -- Running the labwc window manager
(full image size: 5.0MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
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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.
| Operating System |
Torrent |
SHA256 checksum |
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: 3,366
- Total data uploaded: 49.0TB
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Revived desktop environments
Over the years several classic desktop environments have been revived and ported to modern operating systems. Some excellent examples of legacy desktops carrying on with new life and new developers include CDE (which we talked about in our review this week), Haiku's BeOS desktop, the Trinity desktop which continues the KDE 3 design, and MiDesktop which restores the KDE 1 design. What is your favourite desktop which was once abandoned, but has since been brought back to life?
You can see the results of our previous poll on preferred ways to learn Linux in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Favourite revived desktop environment?
| CDE: | 88 (6%) |
| Haiku/BeOS: | 169 (11%) |
| MiDesktop/KDE 1: | 5 (0%) |
| Trinity/KDE 3: | 279 (19%) |
| Does MATE count?: | 423 (29%) |
| Other: | 109 (7%) |
| None of the above: | 409 (28%) |
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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, 19 January 2026. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
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 Archives |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Full list of all issues |
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<<Hack|Track GNU/Linux
<<Hack|Track GNU/Linux is a specialist Linux distribution designed for penetration testing. It is based on Debian's stable branch and comes with the MATE desktop environment. The distribution includes over 200 penetration testing tools split into several categories, such as information gathering, vulnerability analysis, exploitation tools, wireless attacks, forensics tools, stress testing, password attacks, hardware hacking, reverse engineering and several others. <<Hack|Track GNU/Linux is meant to be used in "live" mode, booted either from an external USB drive or from a DVD.
Status: Active
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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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