 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1159, 9 February 2026 |
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Welcome to this year's 6th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
One of the more beneficial things computers can do is share information between them. Being able to send messages, documents, and media between computers has made the Internet one of the more impactful inventions of the past hundred years. There are a lot of methods for transferring files between computers and this week we begin with a look at some tools for sharing files across a network. Let us know what software you use for sharing data on your home network in this week's Opinion Poll. Of course, not all the information we keep on our computers is meant to be shared. Some bits of data are meant to be guarded and, in our Questions and Answers column, we talk about process isolation. Tools for process isolation prevent programs from interacting with each other, stealing data, and transmitting private information to other computers. Our Questions and Answers post this week talks about different approaches to protecting an operating system from information stealing programs and why Linux tends not to have many visible guards in place by default. In our News section we talk about the openSUSE project polishing the distribution's atomic update capability while the Linux From Scratch project narrows its scope to focus on systemd. We also talk about System76's new roadmap for the COSMIC desktop and share a post which explains why NetBSD is unlikely to adopt Rust code in the near future. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Sharing files on a home network
Sharing files between multiple computers (or mobile devices) can be challenging. However, it is also important if we want to be able to share photos across a home network, perform backup tasks, and exchange documents with friends. This week I want to explore a few quick and easy approaches to sharing files which should work on virtually any home or small office network. All of these require minimal effort, little configuration, and none of them rely on using third-party servers or cloud services.
Warpinator
Warpinator is probably the easiest tool to use for sharing files on a local network. The Warpinator application runs in most environments; it can be installed on most Linux distributions with native packages or using Flatpak. It is also available for Android, FreeBSD, and Windows.
When Warpinator is launched it scans the local network for other devices which also have the Warpinator application open. We can then tap on a discovered device and tap a button to select a file to send to that device. The person on the other end of the connection then receives a notification that a file is being sent to them and they have the option to accept or reject the file transfer.
The Warpinator desktop application connected to an available peer
(full image size: 29kB, resolution: 810x631 pixels)
Warpinator is ideal for single file transfers between any two people on a network. There are no pairing processes or credentials required. The transfer is a one-and-done experience with one person sending out a file to another person.
KDE Connect
Another option is KDE Connect which, despite its name, runs on all Linux desktop environments (and from the command line) and on multiple operating systems (including Linux, FreeBSD, Android, macOS, iOS, and Windows). When we run KDE Connect it will attempt to discover other devices on the network which are also running KDE Connect. We can then tap a device's name to request a pairing connection. The other device is then prompted to allow or deny the pairing.
Once two devices are paired they can share files. On a desktop computer or mobile device this is accomplished by opening the KDE Connect application and selecting the device to which we want to send a file. Then we click on the "Share file" button (on a desktop system) or the "Send files" button (on a mobile phone). A file selection window opens and we can pick the file (or files) we want to share.
KDE Connect is well suited to situations where two (or more) people are likely to want to share files or other data multiple times, such as in a family environment or when one person has multiple computing devices. This approach requires an initial pairing/authorization, but then files can be sent to a paired device at any time without requiring further permission.
KDE Connect -- Preparing to share a file
(full image size: 53kB, resolution: 990x720 pixels)
While it is possible to set up KDE Connect to share our entire filesystem to let someone else browse through it, I wouldn't recommend this approach. It opens us the host system to grant a wide range of access and should only be done when a person wants to share files between their own personal devices. KDE Connect can also be used to synchronize other pieces of information, such as notifications, the clipboard, and contacts. What is shared between devices can be adjusted through the KDE Connect settings page and is device specific. This means we can choose to share everything between our laptop and our phone, but only enable file transfers with a friend's phone.
Samba/Network shares
So far we have covered two approaches to sending files from a local device to another computer or device. This pushes a file from one machine to another. However, there are also situations in which we would want to pull a file from a remote computer to our local machine. One of the more popular approaches to providing files to be pulled/downloaded is Samba network shares.
There are several different ways to set up network shares and they can be accessed from virtually every operating system's file manager, making them quite convenient. To create a Samba share, open your Linux distribution's file manager and right-click on a folder you would like to share with other people on your network. When your right-click on the folder a context menu should appear which will have either the option "Sharing" or "Properties". If it is the latter, then once we select Properties there should be a tab in the Properties window called Sharing we can click to bring up Samba networking options.
Creating a shared folder with Thunar
(full image size: 21kB, resolution: 416x392 pixels)
We will have the option of setting a password on the network share or allowing anyone on the network to read its contents. It's a good idea to have a dedicated folder you can share that does not have any important or sensitive information in it, this protects you from people browsing your personal files.
At this point anyone using another computer on the network should be able to open their file manager, click on the option to browse the network (or browse network shares), and see our computer. Once they click on our computer's name, they will see the name of the folder we want to share. They can click on the folder to browse its contents and drag any file they want from your shared folder to their computer. This is a fairly simple approach for the person receiving the file because this approach integrates seamlessly into their existing file manager. It also works on virtually every file manager on most operating systems so, unlike the first two options, the person fetching a file does not need to install any extra applications.
Accessing a Samba share
(full image size: 58kB, resolution: 852x696 pixels)
OpenSSH
The above options have all been geared toward desktop usage, running graphical tools to send or receive files. I'd like to conclude with an approach which is ideal for command line use. The OpenSSH utilities are typically used to remotely access servers and perform administrative tasks. OpenSSH can also be used to transfer files (using the scp and sftp utilities). I also want to highlight one more tool called sshfs.
The sshfs command line tool communicates over OpenSSH to connect to a remote computer and mount a folder on its filesystem so we can access those remote files as though they were stored locally on our computer. This is quite useful in situations where we want to work on multiple files stored on a remote computer without copying them to our own machine; the files remain in place on the remote computer, they just appear to exist locally. This approach is also ideal for streaming audio files to a music player that only works with local files or with other tools which are designed to work on local files only. The network connection is transparent to local applications, tricking them into thinking the files are stored locally.
In the following example, my local computer is going to connect to a remote machine called "server" and I'm going to remotely mount its Shared folder. This Shared folder will be accessible on my local machine in a folder called Stuff.
$ mkdir Stuff
$ sshfs server:Shared Stuff
When we are finished working on documents in the Shared folder we should unmount it:
$ umount Stuff
Conclusions
Here we have four approaches to sharing files on the local network. Two for pushing files to other computers and two for receiving files - pulling them from other computers. There are several other approaches available, but these should work on virtually any operating system and across most operating system combinations, ideal for when we need to share documents with people who run systems different from our own.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
LFS to focus on systemd edition, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to integrate Rust code, System76 publishes COSMIC desktop roadmap
Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project which provides instructions, packages, and patches for building a working Linux distribution using source code. The project, which is educational and the basis for some "keep it simple" distributions, is making a change to future versions of the LFS handbook. Bruce Dubbs explains: "With some regret, LFS/BLFS will no longer be developing the System V versions of the books. There are two reasons for this decision. The first reason is workload. No one working on LFS is paid. We rely completely on volunteers. In LFS there are 88 packages. In BLFS there are over 1000. The volume of changes from upstream is overwhelming the editors. In this release cycle that started on the 1st of September until now, there have been 70 commits to LFS and 1155 commits to BLFS (and counting). When making package updates, many packages need to be checked for both System V and systemd. When preparing for release, all packages need to be checked for each init system.
The second reason for dropping System V is that packages like GNOME and soon KDE's Plasma are building in requirements that require capabilities in systemd that are not in System V. This could potentially be worked around with another init system like OpenRC, but beyond the transition process it still does not address the ongoing workload problem."
The mailing list post from Dubbs goes on to note what is being lost in this change from a learning point of view: "As a personal note, I do not like this decision. To me LFS is about learning how a system works. Understanding the boot process is a big part of that. systemd is about 1678 C files plus many data files. System V is 22 C files plus about 50 short bash scripts and data files. Yes, systemd provides a lot of capabilities, but we will be losing some things I consider important."
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The openSUSE project published its monthly update for the distribution's rolling release branch, Tumbleweed. One key component which has been updated for openSUSE is the transactional-update utility which should improve atomic updates. "transactional-update 6.0.6: This major version updates refines the reliability and usability of openSUSE's atomic system updates, especially for immutable and transactional systems like MicroOS and other flavours of the project's distributions. It fixes self-update logic to correctly fetch the right libtukit version, improves FIPS compliance by using package-native setup commands, and cleans up logging. The 'run' command now properly propagates exit codes and discards failed snapshots by default, while the --keep option allows preserving snapshots for debugging or reuse. Logging is overhauled with full journald/syslog support, SELinux handling is extended beyond /var, and soft-reboot behavior is stabilized."
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In recent years the Rust programming language has been adopted by more and more projects, making itself a part of the open source landscape. Rust is being used to create the COSMIC desktop, it is being integrated into the Linux kernel, and Rust is being used to re-write the core command line utilities used by Ubuntu. One project which will probably not make use of Rust in the near future is NetBSD and one of the NetBSD developers has explained why in a blog post. One of the main sticking points is Rust doesn't work on all of the many CPU architectures NetBSD supports, making it an impractical choice. "There are many architectures that NetBSD supports where Rust is not available. This is probably the most important argument against Rust. Today, even getting a Rust compiler running in the first place is hard. Keeping Rust working (in pkgsrc) is quite a bit of work, resting on the shoulders of a few developers...."
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People who are interested in the path the COSMIC desktop will take, on Pop!_OS and other distributions, will be interested in the desktop environment's roadmap. "COSMIC feature priorities are organized into Epochs, with each Epoch representing roughly six to eight months of focused development. As a rolling-release desktop environment, COSMIC delivers features and improvements on a weekly basis as work is completed and validated through QA. The roadmap highlights major planned initiatives, while ongoing enhancements and bug fixes are continuously triaged and added to the project board throughout each development cycle." The roadmap document outlines features coming to future versions of COSMIC, including tiling window exceptions, a welcome window, animations, and theme options.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Isolating processes on Linux
Missing-the-isolation asks: Why can't Linux distros lock down permissions on applications the way other platforms do? It seems really insecure having all apps have the same access to everything.
DistroWatch answers: I would like to address a technicality before diving into the details of this question. Desktop and server Linux distributions can set strict permissions on programs and isolate them in their own sandboxes. Most distributions do not put many of these restrictions in place by default, but the options are available for people who wish to enable them. Linux has a wide range of security options including sandboxing, containers, access controls, and process hiding.
Knowing this, it still leaves us with the underlying question: Why don't Linux distributions isolate applications and lock down permissions by default?
To understand why Linux distributions usually do not enable process hiding/isolation and put stricter permissions in place, I think it is illuminating to reverse the question: Why do other operating systems enable strict permissions and app isolation?
Most commercial operating systems are set up to run large quantities of third-party, proprietary applications. Whether you're running Windows, iOS, or Android the core operating system is there largely to run and manage third-party (often closed source) applications. These applications are often provided by publishers about which we know little, we usually cannot audit the source code, and (especially on mobile platforms) it is practically assumed a large portion of the apps a user downloads will track the user and send telemetry about the device's usage. In short, we know many of the applications we will run, and even sources of the applications we will install, cannot be trusted.
In such an environment, where it is impossible to audit source code of most applications and many are known to be hostile, it is critical for the operating system to intervene and isolate the untrusted applications as much as possible. With security there is always a balancing act between user convenience and trying to protect the user from potentially dangerous actions. On most commercial platforms it is important to block untrusted apps and grant them limited permissions, by default, until the user indicates they trust the application with greater access.
Most Linux desktop and server distributions work in an entirely different environment. The applications for most Linux distributions are open source and are collected into trusted repositories. The source code is available to audit, applications which spy on users are rare, and developers are often involved in some circle of trust with other open source developers. In such an environment, one where almost all applications are trusted to a degree and sources are audited or curated, the operating system does not need to do as much work to protect the user (or other applications) from the programs we install.
In other words, with Linux distributions the focus on security happens before software reaches the user's computer. With many other platforms, especially commercial ones, the bulk of the work to secure the system is done after untrusted software is installed. There are benefits and drawbacks to each approach; most Linux distributions focus on keeping the operating system open and convenient to use instead of locked down because it is rare malicious software will be installed.
While Linux distributions do tend to be fairly open in terms of their application permissions and try to not visibly get in the way of applications working, there are usually still layers of security at work. For example, SELinux and AppArmor will allow applications to perform most legitimate operations while blocking access to resources and to parts of the filesystem applications usually do not need to touch. There are some open source platforms, such as Qubes OS, which place a focus on process and task isolation for people who need it. There are also a lot of security tools which get enabled by default when we extend Linux distributions with third-party packages. For example, if you have used Snap or Flatpak portable packages, which are not curated by the host distribution, there is a degree of sandboxing, along with point-and-click permission tools, to lock down these applications.
In other words, Linux does have some non-invasive security tools to block blatant misbehaviour from applications and there are sandboxes and isolating security tools available for situations when we need to run third-party packages. However, for the most part, the untrusted software is filtered out before it reaches the user's computer which allows Linux distributions to maintain a level of security without sacrificing convenience. On platforms where the user is expected to install untrusted apps it is more important to erect barriers within the operating system to prevent apps from harvesting the user's contacts or secretly activating their camera.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Archcraft 2026.02.02
Aditya Shakya has announced the release of a new version of Archcraft, a lightweight, rolling-release distribution based on Arch Linux and featuring two window managers - Openbox (a stacking window manager) and bspwm (a tiling window manager with tiling, stacking and tabbing layouts). Then new release of Archcraft, version 2026.02.02, drops support for the XFS file system and disables the encryption option in its command-line installer. Some of the important component upgrades include Linux kernel version 6.18.7, bspwm 0.9.12, Firefox 147.0.2, Pacman 7.1.0, Python 3.14.2 and NVIDIA 590.48.01. "The February 2026 ISO image of Archcraft is now available for download. Changelog: support for XFS has been dropped due to bugs (GRUB fails to install); encryption does not work with ABIF (command-line installer) due to the Plymouth update (no plymouth-encrypt hook in new versions); updated ISO image profile to archiso 87-1; latest base with new packages; update all Archcraft and AUR packages; small improvements and bugs fixed." Here is the brief release announcement.
Helwan Linux 3.0
Saeed Badreldin has announced the release of Helwan Linux 3.0 "Dev" edition, the latest release of the project's Arch-based distribution designed primarily for developers. It features the Cinnamon desktop, a long-term supported Linux kernel, a range of compilers and interpreters, including PHP and Rust, and a number of custom utilities. "Released - Helwan Linux Dev Cinnamon LTS 3.0. The wait is over. Following our commitment to stability, we are proud to announce the immediate availability of Helwan Linux Dev Cinnamon LTS 3.0. This version is the culmination of our transition to the LTS Linux kernel, providing a rock-solid foundation for developers and power users. What's new in 3.0? LTS core - powered by the Long-Term Support kernel for maximum reliability; enhanced toolset - Full integration of hpm (Helwan Package Manager) with natural language support; system health - Momo diagnostics and Hel-Sync are now pre-configured and ready for action; developer-ready - a curated selection of compilers, editors and libraries are pre-installed to get you coding instantly; security - verified builds with GPG signatures and multiple checksum options (SHA256, BLAKE2B)." Read the complete release announcement for more information.
Helwan Linux 3.0 -- Running the Cinnamon desktop
(full image size: 403kB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Lilidog 26.02.06
The developers of Lilidog, a lightweight desktop Linux distribution based on Debian "Stable" and featuring a customised Openbox window manager, have announced the availability of a new release, version 26.02.06: "New release 26.02.06 for all editions. As noted in a previous thread, I'm pleased to announce that Lilidog has been added to DistroWatch. Current Lilidog and Beardog changes: added a Wine installer with Wine and Winetricks for easy GUI access, also adjusted several other installers for formatting; created ld-keys to show the keybinds for both Openbox and sxhkdrc, 'Super + F1' will show the current list for all builds; some keybinds have also been changed slightly to standardize the different builds moving forward, Mainly, Thunar changed to 'Super + t' and dmenu to 'super + F3'; added a full screen toggle to Openbox. (Super + f); created xdmenu, a wrapper for dmenu that cuts out all the extra cruft in the dmenu output, allows for opening terminal items, and shows scripts placed in ~/bin and ~/.local/bin for ease of use...." Continue to the release announcement for a full list of changes.
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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: 3,381
- Total data uploaded: 49.4TB
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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) |
What is your main method for sharing files between computing devices at home?
This week we began with a look at options for sharing files on a home network. There are a lot of possibilities, depending on whether we want to push (upload) or pull (download) files from one device to another. We'd like to hear what your preferred method is for transferring files between personal devices on your home network.
You can see the results of our previous poll on filesystem performance in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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What software do you use to share files on a home network?
| Bluetooth: | 56 (3%) |
| KDE Connect: | 138 (8%) |
| LocalSend: | 134 (7%) |
| NFS/Samba: | 455 (25%) |
| OpenSSH/sftp/scp/sshfs: | 203 (11%) |
| rsync: | 83 (5%) |
| Syncthing: | 103 (6%) |
| Warpinator: | 70 (4%) |
| Other: | 185 (10%) |
| Do not share files over the network: | 403 (22%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 16 February 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 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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blackPanther OS
blackPanther OS was a Hungarian Linux distribution which borrows features from other major projects, including Mandriva Linux (graphical configuration tools), Fedora (graphical user interface) and Ubuntu (driver management). The distribution was designed for use at school, home and work as it contains applications for common daily tasks, such as time management, office work or media playback.
Status: Discontinued
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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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