 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1163, 9 March 2026 |
|
Welcome to this year's 10th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The Linux community is large, varied, and always on the move. At times, reviewing one distribution per week is not enough to keep up with new and exciting developments happening in the world. With this in mind, our Feature Story this week quickly touches upon three projects: KaOS, Tiny Core Linux, and NuTyX. Each of these distributions has published new releases recently and Jesse Smith takes a look at what each project is doing, focusing on new features. In our News section we talk about more changes coming down the chute, including Guix System introducing support for 64-bit builds of the Hurd kernel. Do you run a non-Linux open source kernel on any of your computers? Let us know in the Opinion Poll. We also discuss Linux Mint's new Cinnamon screensaver, which is Wayland compatible. Recently, some regions around the globe have been creating laws which will require operating systems to report the age of the user. The Fedora and Ubuntu communities have started discussions on how to address the new laws and we link to these talks below. The Redox OS team have ported new features to their open source platform and we share highlights from their progress. This week we also respond to a query about creating a single, giant repository for Linux software and explore the benefits and problems with such an idea in our Questions and Answers section. Plus, we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
- Review: Quick looks at three Linux distributions
- News: Guix System offers 64-bit Hurd option, Ubuntu and Fedora communities discuss age declaration laws, Linux Mint unveils new Cinnamon screensaver, Redox OS introduces new COSMIC features
- Questions and answers: Would one big collection of packages help?
- Released last week: Security Onion 2.4.210, Origami Linux 2026.03, RELIANOID 7.9.0, PrismLinux 2026.03.04, Linux From Scratch 13.0, iodéOS 7.3, Zenclora OS 2.0, CachyOS 260308
- Torrent corner: CachyOS, KDE neon, TUXEDO OS
- Opinion poll: Non-Linux open source kernels
- Site news: Operating systems can have multiple kernel options
- Reader comments
|
| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Quick looks at three Linux distributions
Most weeks, when I sit down to scribble a review, my plan is to try out a new distribution and attempt to use it regularly throughout the week. I want to see if the project can perform basic tasks, such as getting on-line, playing media files, and creating documents. I also want to see if it has the applications I want to use and how it will perform while I go about my normal digital routine. Shaking out a distribution and exploring its nooks and crannies takes a few days and might last most of the week, if the trial goes well.
Sometimes what I am interested in exploring is not the distribution as a whole, but specific new features or changes the developers have introduced. Sometimes I have reviewed a project recently and, generally speaking, know of its capabilities, but want to try out a new tool or package the developers have unveiled. This takes considerably less time and, sometimes, I don't bother writing about these mini-adventures. This week though I found myself curious about small aspects of three separate projects and decided to share what I learned.
* * * * *
KaOS 2026.02
The KaOS distribution made an interesting announcement in February. Well, it was basically two announcements wrapped into one. The project announced it was considering a move away from the systemd software with plans to introduce Dinit. The Dinit project offers both basic init software (like SysV) and service management (like OpenRC and systemd), with the added bonus of being portable. Dinit runs on Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD.
Up to this point, KaOS has been a distribution which focused on shipping KDE software and applications created with the Qt toolkit. However, since KDE's announcement that its new login manager (PLM) would rely on systemd, this left the KaOS developers with a few choices: either drop plans to adopt Dinit, use an alternative login manager, or use an alternative desktop environment. The KaOS chose to, for the moment at least, experiment with an alternative desktop in the form of Noctalia which runs on the Niri window manager. Noctalia uses a Wayland session.
All of this sounded fascinating and I downloaded the demonstration ISO the KaOS project provided. The ISO file was 3.8GB in size. I booted from the ISO and was presented with a blank screen. The system seemed to get stuck at this point, showing nothing but an empty screen. With a little experimenting I found that I was able to switch to a text console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2 and login from the terminal.
From the text console I was able to determine KaOS had launched Niri, apparently on terminal #1, though that terminal remained blank. I could also see, thanks to a process monitor, the distribution had launched a welcome window or greeter which was consuming a lot of CPU. I killed the welcome window, and CPU usage dropped to idle, but the Niri window manager was unable to display anything.
I attempted to terminate the existing Niri session and launch a new Niri process from my console. A message appeared indicating Niri was reading its configuration file and then the terminal stopped responding.
I tried booting a few more times with various graphical settings, but without success. Each time Niri seemed to launch and then not draw anything on the screen.
At the moment it is unclear whether this test with the Noctalia/Niri combination will be a one-time experiment for the KaOS team or if they will revert back to using the Plasma desktop as the default in future ISO snapshots. At the moment, my experience suggests the new desktop isn't ready and isn't as mature as Plasma, but perhaps there are just a few issues to fix before the team makes the transition official.
* * * * *
Tiny Core Linux 17.0
I decided to shift my focus from one project which was introducing big changes to another project which, as far as I could tell, had not changed much in recent years. Tiny Core Linux has been quietly churning out new versions on a regular basis with little fanfare. Around fifteen years ago I was hearing about people setting up small projects with Tiny Core, testing it in unusual environments, and there was even a book about what the project could do. However, for the past decade, I hadn't heard of anything big (pardon the term) happening with Tiny Core. It seems the distribution has been mostly receiving small package updates. I decided to take a quick look at Tiny Core to see what, if anything, had been introduced in recent years.
Tiny Core Linux is available in a few editions, for x86 and x86_64 CPUs. The truly minimal edition is 24MB and offers users a command line interface only. The main edition includes a window manager (Flwm) and is 41MB in size.
Tiny Core Linux 17.0 -- Running the package manager and settings panel
(full image size: 79kB, resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
Tiny Core boots almost instantly, logs us in automatically, and displays a graphical interface. There is a dock at the bottom of the display we can use to launch applications. Alternatively we can click on an empty portion of the desktop to see a small pop-up menu which helps us launch programs and settings panels. Window controls and titles are displays on the left side of application windows rather than on top.
Since the main focus of Tiny Core is to be, as the name suggests, tiny, not many applications are included. There is a terminal, a text editor, a graphical package manager, and a settings panel. There are some core command line utilities and that is about all we get by default.
What is impressive about Tiny Core is how minimal it manages to be. When the desktop is idle it uses just a few dozen megabytes of RAM. Even when I opened the package manager, a terminal, and the text editor the system was consuming less than 100MB of RAM. At that size, I could run about 80 instances of Tiny Core in parallel on a Raspberry Pi 5 before I ran out of memory.
Despite shipping with a very small selection of software, the distribution does include a graphical package manager. This simple software manager presents us with a list of packages in the distribution's repository. We can then download these modules and (optionally) activate them, making the software available. Tiny Core makes a distinction between simply downloading a package and activating it (making it available to run), I suppose to make the packages transferable to another instance. I downloaded a few items from the (relatively) small repository and confirmed the installed packages worked. Tiny Core might have a smaller collection of applications than mainstream distributions, but what it has worked for me.
There were a few areas where the distribution did not work well for me. Earlier I mentioned Tiny Core includes a settings panel, but it is limited. In particular, I was unable to find a tool for connecting to wireless networks. Tiny Core has a tool for linking to wired network interfaces, but as far as I could tell, nothing for managing wireless networks. This seems like a big oversight in today's world where many people have only wireless connections.
On a related note, I also didn't find any tool for adjusting desktop resolution, either in the graphical control panel or on the command line, and this left my desktop at an unusual resolution that was lower than normal.
I came away from my time with Tiny Core Linux 17.0 thinking it was nearly identical to my trials with the distribution thirteen years ago when I was testing Tiny Core versions 4 and 5. The project has worked to keep its packages up to date, but it doesn't seem to have evolved to handle newer devices and situations. It's still delightfully small, but it doesn't appear to be keeping up with the changes in minimal computing. As far as I could tell Tiny Core isn't available for ARM-powered devices, which is where the focus of most minimal distributions is these days. It doesn't seem to have wireless support or an easy to use installer. It feels like Tiny Core is stuck in time and no longer meeting minimal computing enthusiasts where they are today.
* * * * *
NuTyX 26.02.2
Moving on from one project which has remained largely unchanged for the past decade to a project which is making some significant changes, I turned my attention to NuTyX. NuTyX is based on Linux From Scratch (LFS) and features a custom package manager called cards. Following, and perhaps as a result of, Linux From Scratch dropping SysV support in favour of systemd NuTyX is also migrating from using the classic init software to systemd.
This adjustment appears to go hand in hand with a trimming of the distribution's editions. In the past, NuTyX offered a Base (command line only) edition, plus about a dozen desktop variants. The project's download page, at the time of writing, showcases the Base edition and just three desktop flavours: GNOME, Plasma, and Xfce. I decided to download the 1.8GB Xfce edition. I was curious to see if switching init software would have any noticeable effect on the distribution.
Booting from the ISO brings up a boot menu where we are offered the chance to install the distribution or launch the live desktop mode. Both options bring up a series of text menus where we are asked to pick our language, keyboard layout, and create a username and password. The only difference I noticed between the two choices is the Install option asks if we want to install a boot loader. Both choices then present us with a graphical login screen.
The similar behaviour might strike people as odd, it certainly seemed strange to me the first time I experienced it. Both the Live and Install options ask us to configure the system, but the Live option (as the name suggests) runs from the removable medium. The Install option quietly takes over the hard drive and installs NuTyX to the disk without asking us any questions about filesystems, mount points, or formatting. This is unusual and destructive behaviour and it has been the distribution's approach for a few years, at least.
Once the distribution has been installed and we sign into the Xfce desktop we are presented with a fairly lightweight and sparse operating system. A relatively small number of applications are installed - just Xfce, its associated tools, and Firefox are present in the application menu. The desktop works quickly and the default dark theme looks nice, in my opinion.
The distribution is fairly light on resources, using 5.5GB of disk space (which is less than the average, mainstream Linux distribution) and consumes about 450MB of RAM when logged into Xfce. This is also below the normal range for most distributions running medium or full-featured desktop environments.
Something odd I noticed while exploring NuTyX is the distribution includes the man command line tool for viewing manual pages, however no manual pages exist on the system. I also noticed that the root account is not accessible by default (no password is set); we can use the sudo command to perform administrative tasks.
As I mentioned earlier, the current version of NuTyX runs the systemd init and service management software instead of SysV init. For most practical purposes this change did not have any positive or negative effects on the distribution, at least for day-to-day operation. The commands for managing services are different and most log entries are in binary format rather than in text files. A person will also notice more mount points when running tools such as df or mount, though that seems to be where the practical differences end.
While my question about how the migration to systemd would affect the distribution had been answered (the impact was mostly small and behind the scenes), I still wanted to take a tour around NuTyX and explore further. In particular, I wanted to try out the distribution's unique cards package manager.
NuTyX 26.02.2 -- Running the cards package manager
(full image size: 279kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The cards command line package manager has a nice syntax, using clear words such as sync, upgrade, install, search, and remove. Running cards without any parameters shows a helpful summary of available commands. I appreciated the text cards displayed on my system was in English, despite the fact NuTyX is primarily a French distribution (merci).
The Flatpak software is not installed by default, but it is available in the NuTyX repositories if we wish to install Flatpak bundles.
On the whole, despite the big under-the-hood chances to NuTyX, this was probably one of my best trials with the distribution. Part of that was probably due to my past experiences, as I was ready for NuTyX's quirks. Part of the good impression this time around was from me using a more mainstream desktop (Xfce) rather than a more obscure one like CDE. However, part of the good experience was, I believe, a result of the developers handling the transition from one service manager to another, making the migration smooth. As a result, the switch from SysV to systemd does not appear to have had much impact, good or bad, unless you need to go digging through log files.
For the most part, NuTyX worked well for me. It is minimalist, it has a limited default software repository, but it offers a lightweight environment and excellent performance. On the whole, it is a decent experience for someone who wants a minimal operating system without a lot of features or clutter.
My big concern with NuTyX has nothing to do with its migration from one init implementation to another, but its install process. Specifically the way it takes over a disk without warning or confirmation. I ran into this same behaviour three years ago:
What took me by surprise is, at first, I still thought I was engaged in part of the install process from the live media. However, when I signed into the desktop and was greeted by no more prompts or questions I checked and confirmed NuTyX was now running from my hard drive. On one hand, it is very impressive that NuTyX installed and then rebooted so quickly that I didn't notice it had happened. I don't believe that has ever happened to me before. In the time it takes some distributions to merely load their installer or present package selection options, NuTyX finished its install process.
On the other hand, I'm concerned about the fact NuTyX took over my hard drive, wiping the entire disk clean, without warning. I didn't see any prompt asking me about partitioning or erasing data. NuTyX simply took the nuclear option without fanfare. This is not going to make for a great first impression for most users.
I am surprised that this behaviour continues to be the default for NuTyX and the developers still haven't placed any warning or confirmation or other prompts in the experience to let the user know part of their disk is about to be consumed by the operating system. It's an oddly aggressive approach by what is otherwise a fairly solid, minimalist distribution.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Guix System offers 64-bit Hurd option, Ubuntu and Fedora communities discuss age declaration laws, Linux Mint unveils new Cinnamon screensaver, Redox OS introduces new COSMIC features
People who are interested in microkernels received some good news this week from the Guix System project. People running Guix System can now make use of the GNU Hurd kernel, which now has support for 64-bit CPUs. "Fifteen months have passed since our last Guix/Hurd on a Thinkpad X60 post and a lot has happened with respect to the Hurd. And most of you will have guessed, unless you skipped the title of this post, the rumored x86_64 support has landed in Guix!" The announcement goes on to explain how to install the 64-bit build of Hurd on the Guix System platform. There is also an option in the operating system's installer for Hurd to install 32-bit or 64-bit Hurd kernels.
* * * * *
The State of California in the United States of America has passed a law which will require operating systems to collect and provide the birth date or age of the person using the computer. This legislation has caught the attention of Linux distribution developers who will need to address this law, particularly if they do business in the USA. Aaron Rainbolt has started a discussion on the Ubuntu developer mailing list about this issue: "Recently, a new law was passed in California that requires OS vendors to provide some limited info about a user's age via an API that application distribution websites and application stores can use. Colorado seems to be working on a similar law. The law will go into effect January 1, 2027, it is no longer a draft. I do quite a bit of work with an OS vendor (working with the Kicksecure and Whonix projects), and we aren't particularly interested in blocking everyone in California and Colorado from using our OSes, so we're currently looking into how to implement an API that will comply with the laws while also not being a privacy disaster."
A similar discussion is underway in the Fedora community. Other countries and regions are planning to pass similar laws, making this a global issue rather than one specific to California.
* * * * *
The Linux Mint project has announced that the Cinnamon desktop is getting a new screensaver. The new screensaver should offer smoother transitions and it works with Wayland. "The biggest gain of course is the full compatibility with Wayland. Whether or not we want to default to Wayland in the future is a different topic, but we certainly want to have the option on the table. With this new screensaver, the next Cinnamon release will be Wayland compatible. Screensavers are very important. They need to look good, they need to work well, and they cannot under any circumstance fail to protect the user's privacy. If the screensaver was to crash, the session still needs to be locked. There's an extra process dedicated to hiding the screen when that happens. It worked well with cinnamon-screensaver but it took a lot of testing to make sure it did. It works well with the new screensaver also, but it will take time to make sure it's tested properly both in Xorg and in Wayland." Further details on the new screensaver utility are provided in the distribution's monthly newsletter.
* * * * *
The Redox project has published a newsletter in which the team highlights progress and new developments. Some of the key changes include porting the COSMIC settings panel to Redox OS, booting Redox OS on a Lenovo IdeaPad, and a port of NodeJS running on the Rust-based operating system. Another step forward is that programs with multiple threads now execute more reliably: "Wildan Mubarok successfully executed the os-test test suite on multiple QEMU CPU cores without hangs! Previously, when running multi-core, os-test had been triggering some kernel bugs and other hangs, which we have been working hard to fix." Details on these and other improvements are covered in the Redox OS February newsletter.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Would one big collection of packages help?
Unifying-packages asks: Why doesn't Linux have one big package repository all distros can use?
DistroWatch answers: The idea of having one giant repository that everyone can use as a basis for building their distributions and then allow users to install extra packages from it is, at first glance, an efficient idea. Instead of Fedora having one set of packages, Debian having another, Slackware having its own set, and Arch building their own, could we have one giant repository that everyone could pull from? Assuming, of course, that you could get everyone to agree to use the same packaging format and the same package manager, it seems like this should work, in theory, and reduce duplication of work.
Where the theory runs into a hurdle is the vast amount of diversity and number of niches filled by the Linux community. I don't just mean diversity in terms of software and design, but also the supported hardware and philosophies.
A repository of all Linux software in one place would be huge, because there wouldn't just be one package of each piece of software (such as the kernel, desktop environments, LibreOffice, and web browsers). There would need to be separate builds for each supported CPU architecture, which would mean around a dozen different builds of each package. It gets worse though, because if you wanted an all-in-one repository you would need to support old CPUs (ie. provide packages without CPU optimization levels), but if you want your repository to be used by enterprises then you also need to provide highly optimized packages. There are around 100,000 different source packages which have been ported to Linux, which means (at this point) we're looking at about 1.5 million packages just to cover the range of CPU architectures.
It gets worse. There are long-term support releases which are maintained for 15 years and other distributions which use the latest stable versions of packages, plus cutting edge distributions. Which means, at a bare minimum, three versions of each package (though more likely you'd be building new versions every six months, plus the cutting edge versions). This is assuming you don't also have a testing and development repository, which most projects will want. By the end of one year the repository packagers would be maintaining about 9 million binary packages.
It gets still worse because some people want lightweight builds of packages (with no suggested dependencies and add-ons) while other distributions cater to people who want every optional feature enabled, and many distributions take the mid-level defaults. At which point we're up to around 27 million different builds of packages.
Let's say you get together enough people, funds, infrastructure, and build servers to support churning out about 27 million packages per year. It's certainly doable with the right motivation and contacts. And let's assume you can get everyone in the world to agree on a single format and package manager - which might be harder. At this point you still have some tricky philosophical differences to navigate. For example, is this repository going to include free software only or provide non-free packages too? If it is the former then someone is going to create their own fork of your repository and include non-free elements for practicality. However, if your repository includes non-free packages then strictly free software distributions will refuse to use it and create their own fork. You may run into similar mutually exclusive debates over whether packages are static or dynamically linked, whether dependencies are bundled (making the packages portable) or shipped separately.
In the end, you're going to end up with around six different types (or copies) of the main repository with at least three versioning branches (plus a testing branch), for a dozen CPU architectures (totaling a minimum of 162 million packages), and you will need to provide the infrastructure, ongoing funding, and documentation for users to find the right fit for their wants. Alternatively you will come to realize that the super expensive, mega-meta repository is really just duplicating the same thing the Linux community already does organically by dividing itself into separate distributions with their own repositories.
Another factor is, even if you managed to build this giant meta repository, you'd still need to convince people to use it, to trust a single, central hub and authority over their own communities. The open source community generally knows better than to take centralized, single-point-of-failure solutions over diverse and locally managed options. Most people are not going to want to put the well being of the entire Linux ecosystem in the hands of one organization that they need to trust to keep churning out millions of packages with no benefit in return.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
Security Onion 2.4.210
Doug Burks has announced the release of Security Onion 2.4.210, the latest stable version of the project's Oracle Linux-based distribution designed to perform threat hunting, enterprise security monitoring and log management: "Security Onion 2.4.210 now available with updated components and new features, including local model support for Onion AI. For Security Onion Pro customers, we've made major improvements for our popular new Onion AI Assistant. Many folks have been asking for local model support. If your local model has an OpenAI compatible endpoint, then this release can connect to it. Onion AI is a huge leap forward in leveraging AI to assist you in triaging alerts, working incidents, and tuning your deployment. This release updates several components including: Zeek to 8.0.6, Elasticsearch to 9.0.8, Docker to 29.2.1, Saltstack to 3006.19. This version of Salt has a configuration option minimum_auth_version for the Salt master. By default, this value is set to 3 and only minions on version 3006.12 or later support that version and are able to authenticate with the salt-master service." Continue to the release announcement for more details.
Origami Linux 2026.03
John Holt has announced the release of Origami Linux 2026.03. Freshly out of beta, this updated version of the project's immutable Fedora-based distribution ships with the CachyOS Linux kernel 6.19.3 and the COSMIC desktop 1.0.8: "We are thrilled to announce a massive milestone for the project - Origami Linux is officially out of beta. Over the past months, we have relentlessly refined our automated daily builds, perfected our immutable base, and tuned our kernel for maximum performance. Today, we are proud to say the system is rock-solid, incredibly fast, and ready for everyone. To mark this milestone and help our growing community track our progress, we are introducing our new release model, starting today with Origami Linux 2026.03. ... For those just discovering Origami Linux, we are bringing something unique to the Linux desktop by combining the ultimate stability of an immutable system with bleeding-edge performance. Origami Linux 2026.03 ships with Fedora 43 atomic base, the absolute gold standard for atomic/immutable Linux, ensuring your core system is virtually unbreakable." See the complete release announcement as published on the distribution's GitLab pages.
RELIANOID 7.9.0
RELIANOID is a load balancing operating system based on Debian. The project's latest release is version 7.9.0 which introduce patches for critical bugs. In addition, backup management has been streamlined and the distribution performs some automatic clean-up of temporary lock files. "Several system-level improvements have been introduced to enhance robustness and operational stability. RELIANOID now performs automatic cleanup of stale lock files every hour, reducing the risk of blocked operations caused by unexpected interruptions or abnormal process termination. Backup management has also been streamlined through the removal of obsolete parameters, simplifying configuration and improving long-term maintainability. Additionally, the Web UI server now shuts down gracefully, ensuring clean service stops during restarts, upgrades, or system shutdowns." Additional details can be found in the project's release announcement.
PrismLinux 2026.03.04
PrismLinux 2026.03.04 has been released. PrismLinux is a minimalist, Arch-based distribution optimised for speed. It boots into the River Wayland compositor and launches a custom system installer which provides a number of popular desktop options available for installation. This major new release overhauls the installer and introduces many significant improvements: "We're excited to announce PrismLinux 2026.03.04, a major release packed with installer improvements, a full migration to Electrobun, system enhancements, and significant backend upgrades. What's new? The installer has been overhauled from the ground up: localization fix - fixed localization during system installation; better password support - improved handling of passwords with special characters; more packages - additional packages now available in the installer; default browser - Firefox is now the default browser for all desktop environments; lighter system - reselected packages for a lighter and faster out-of-the-box experience; new languages - added German and Russian language support; SSH on live CD - enabled sshd on live CD via liveuser@localhost for configuration-based installs...." Read the rest of the release announcement for a full list of changes.
PrismLinux 2026.03.04 -- Running the River interface
(full image size: 3.7MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Linux From Scratch 13.0
Bruce Dubbs has announced the release of Linux From Scratch (LFS), version 13.0. The new version includes several package updates, including the Linux kernel, which is now at version 6.18.10. "The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of LFS Version 13.0 (systemd) and BLFS Version 13.0 (systemd). This release is a major update to both LFS and BLFS. The LFS release includes updates to binutils-2.46 and glibc-2.42. In total, 36 packages were updated since the last release and extensive updates to the text have been made throughout the book to improve readability. The Linux kernel has also been updated to version 6.18.10. Overall there have been over 100 commits to LFS since the previous stable version of the book. Packages that have security updates include: glibc, coreutils, expat, Perl, Python, systemd, xz, and vim." Various formats of the LFS and Beyond Linux From Scratch (BLFS) books are available on the project's downloage page.
iodéOS 7.3
iodéOS is an Android-based operating system (in the LineageOS family) which ships without Google trackers or proprietary software. The project has released version 7.3 which is based on LineageOS 23.2. "This month, iodéOS 7.3 arrives with a thrilling evolution-blending Material 3 Expressive design with unparalleled customization. Built on LineageOS 23.2, this update transforms your interface with dynamic colors and intuitive interactions. Every swipe and tap now feels more alive and personal. Meet the smarter Quick Settings panel! Swipe down to discover customizable tiles that adapt to your workflow. Expand icons for labels, then collapse them once familiar. And unlike mainstream Android, iodéOS offers you the option of separate Wi-Fi and cellular controls - because you deserve precision. Enjoy a richer dark theme and enhanced file utilities for private spaces - because your data deserves both beauty and security. The LineageOS team has revamped Twelve (music), DeskClock, and ExactCalculator with the new design, with more apps on the way!" Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
Zenclora OS 2.0
Zenclora OS, a desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's "Stable" branch with a customised GNOME desktop, has been updated to version 2.0. Code-named "Ardenweald", it now features a unified package management system called Zen Package Manager (ZPM). "This major release marks the transition to Zen Package Manager (ZPM), unifying software installation, system management and utility tools. Core changes: transitioned from 'Zenclora Commands' to the unified Zen Package Manager (ZPM); package installation, system management and utility tools are now centralized under zpm. Zen Package Manager (ZPM) expansion: added support for external packages - librewolf, mullvad-browser, signal, mullvad-vpn, rust, docker, pacstall, nvidia-driver; new bundle installs - gaming-pack, editor-pack, producer-pack, office-pack, dev-pack; new system management - optimize, mitigations, info, services, packages, logs, netfix, aptfix; integrated utility tools: formatusb, debinstaller, filemanager; added automatic NVIDIA driver installation support. System and aesthetics: full visual redesign: updated login screen, Plymouth and Debian Installer themes; significant desktop changes for better usability and a more refined appearance; improved kernel-level optimizations...." Visit the distribution's releases page for a complete changelog.
Zenclora OS 2.0 -- Running the GNOME desktop
(full image size: 3.2MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
CachyOS 260308
The CachyOS team have announced the release of a new version of their Arch-based Linux distribution. The new version places a focus on making the system installer more friendly, particularly when selecting which desktop environment to use. "First, the installer now shows animated GIF/WebP previews in the Desktop Selection to showcase each desktop environment. This is currently enabled for Plasma, GNOME, Niri and COSMIC, giving users a much better idea of what to expect before making their choice. And also, added support for JPEG XL in the Desktop Selection to reduce image sizes. The Desktop Environment list has also been sorted from easy and accessible setups to more advanced ones like window managers. Cachy-Update is now enabled by default for GNOME and KDE installations. The microcode installation logic has been improved - it will now detect the hardware and install the proper microcode instead of installing both and then removing the unneeded one. The error message when the EFI partition is too small has also been improved." The project's release announcement lists additional changes and fixes for the new snapshot.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| 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: 3,398
- Total data uploaded: 49.6TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Non-Linux open source kernels
The Linux kernel has become widely recognized throughout the open source community. It is a piece of technology which is virtually everywhere, from servers to smartphones, from home appliances to desktop computers, from super computers to handhold gaming consoles. While the Linux kernel receives the lion's share of attention in the open source community, there are several other kernels which are open source and used around the world. The illumos kernel, the BSD kernels, Hurd, and MINIX are also widely deployed.
This week we would like to hear if you run one of these non-Linux open source kernels on any of your devices.
You can see the results of our previous poll on running a firewall at home in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Do you run a non-Linux open source kernel?
| Yes - one: | 149 (10%) |
| Yes - multiple kernels: | 89 (6%) |
| No - I run Linux only: | 1143 (80%) |
| No - I only run proprietary kernels: | 42 (3%) |
|
|
| Website News |
Operating systems can have multiple kernel options
Most open source operating systems have one kernel. By this we mean one brand of kernel (such as Linux, Mach, kFreeBSD), though usually with multiple versions or builds available.
For most of the life of DistroWatch this has remained true and so we've only ever tagged projects with one kernel type. However, some open source operating systems experiment with multiple kernels (some of them even in an official capacity) and so we've made it possible to tag each operating system in our database with multiple kernels.
At the moment, just Guix System and Debian have multiple kernels (Linux and Hurd) associated with them. However, we're prepared to expand this in the future as more projects experiment with alternative kernels.
On a related note, our Search page now has an option to search for projects which offer the Hurd microkernel.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 16 March 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)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 0, value: US$0.00) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
|
| 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.
|
| *NEW* NovaCustom |
NovaCustom PrivacyGuard Laptops - Escape from Big Tech
The NovaCustom PrivacyGuard Laptop is ideal for anyone who prioritizes privacy. Comes with Dasharo coreboot open source firmware and Zorin OS Pro, free from influence of Big Tech.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • 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 |
| • 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.
|
| Random Distribution | 
4MLinux
4MLinux is a miniature Linux distribution focusing on four capabilities: maintenance (as a system rescue live CD), multimedia (for playing video DVDs and other multimedia files), miniserver (using the inetd daemon), and mystery (providing several small Linux games). The distribution includes support for booting on UEFI-enabled machines.
Status: Active
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
