 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1168, 13 April 2026 |
|
Welcome to this year's 15th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
One way to make the transition between operating systems easier is to have the new desktop environment resemble the user's original setup. There are a few Linux distributions which do this, setting up the desktop environment to mimic commercial operating systems such as Windows and macOS. This week we begin with a look at pearOS, a Linux distribution which strives to look like macOS. Do you like a desktop which imitates commercial desktops? Let us know your thoughts in this week's Opinion Poll. We also touch upon recent changes to EndeavourOS and its system installer in this week's Feature Story. In our News section we talk about Arch Linux updating its firewall packages, which may require some manual work on the part of system administrators. We also talk about the Linux kernel dropping support for i486 processors while Red Hat extends its commercial support to 14 years. We also report on new features in Debian's APT package manager and work being done to Redox's scheduler. We have received some more questions about age verification laws and our Questions and Answers section talks about which projects are adopting age reporting software. We then share a summary of last week's releases 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:
|
| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
pearOS 2026.03
pearOS is an Arch-based desktop Linux distribution which features a macOS-like theme and icons on top of the KDE Plasma desktop. The latest version of pearOS is called "NiceC0re" (it also carries the version number 2026.03) and it features a new installer based on Electron. The distribution runs on x86_64 processors only.
I downloaded the 3.6GB ISO file for pearOS and, booting from it, was given the option to run the distribution's live environment with FOSS drivers enabled or proprietary NVIDIA drivers. I don't have any NVIDIA hardware so this was an easy choice and I went with the default FOSS option.
The distribution's live session boots to a busy Plasma desktop which has been customized to loosely resemble the macOS desktop. There is a transparent menu bar at the top of the screen and a macOS-style dock is placed at the bottom. On the desktop we find a few widgets: one is a calendar and the other shows weather conditions in Bucharest. A single icon sits in the desktop's upper-right corner and can be used to launch the project's system installer.
Two windows open on the desktop automatically. One is titled "What's New" and displays news posts from the pearOS project. It keeps loading posts and adjusting the position of its text endlessly, making it virtually impossible to read any of the news items. This window seems to be constantly refreshing itself.
The second window presents us with multiple rows of action buttons. These buttons can be used to launch the system installer, open a menu to change the desktop resolution (only a few resolutions are supported), fetch package updates, and change the package manager's mirror list. There are also buttons for donating to the pearOS project and more buttons for visiting on-line resources, such as the distribution's GitHub page and Discord channels. There is a button for switching to a dark theme and another for opening (or re-opening) the What's New window.
Shortly after the desktop loaded a black blob appeared in the upper-centre section of the screen. This looks like it might be another widget that doesn't display anything, but it does not appear to have any controls or a method for dismissing it from the screen.
pearOS 2026.03 -- Running the Plasma desktop
(full image size: 622kB, resolution: 1280x800 pixels)
The live desktop environment, when sitting idle, uses 100% of every available CPU core constantly. It also uses around 2GB of RAM. This unusually heavy and resource intensive desktop makes it virtually impossible to navigate the desktop or open applications. Even trying to open a new file manager window takes around 30 seconds and trying to open the settings panel sometimes worked, but sometimes brought the system to its knees, effectively locking the desktop. My laptop got so hot at one point, while just sitting idle at the desktop, I had to shut it off to avoid automatic power-off.
I found that I could switch to a text console and sign into the root account without a password. This gave me a chance to explore what was running on the system and what was causing so much strain on my processors.
One thing which stood out was the pear-welcome desktop process was constantly using at least 25% of my CPU, even when I was signed into a text console. This application seems to be stuck in an ongoing loop, even when it is not being drawn on the screen. I also noticed the Qt web engine was running constantly, even after the pear-welcome and What's New windows were closed. It seems some elements on the system are running Electron instances and effectively running active web browsers even when the desktop is empty. Another process, called pearos-notch, for which I could find no documentation, was also running constantly and gobbling up available CPU resources.
Seeing what a terrible state the live session was in and calculating that it would take longer to install the distribution than it would take my laptop to shut itself down to avoid overheating, I decided to look at another project.
* * * * *
EndeavourOS 2026.03.06
It wasn't my plan to review EndeavourOS this year. I had enjoyed the distribution last year and Endeavour had even made it into my top picks for 2025. Given my recent positive experiences with the distribution, I didn't feel a pressing need to revisit it. However, Endeavour's latest, Arch-based snapshot did introduce a few interesting features and I wanted to test drive the latest version of the installer:
Improved mirror ranking support, including providing an optimised mirror list when the installer is off-line. Added hardware detection for all GPUs and VMs. We are now installing additional drivers for all GPUs, including Vulkan drivers and the needed packages for hardware-accelerated video decoding when applicable GPU drivers are now being loaded early by default. This release also introduces a new tool, eos-hwtool. This is the tool being used by the installer, and it is also available now to all EOS users to install and remove GPU drivers whenever needed.
The project's ISO size has increased a bit, from 3.0GB (this time last year) to 3.4GB in 2026. This appears to be mostly due to increased driver support.
EndeavourOS 2026.03.06 -- The welcome window
(full image size: 1.0MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The Endeavour medium boots to the Plasma desktop. A single panel is placed across the bottom of the screen. The desktop is mostly empty and uses a dark theme. There is a welcome window which appears on the desktop and will assist us in checking for fast package mirrors and launching the system installer.
The installer begins by asking if we'd like to perform an on-line or off-line install. More importantly, this prompt explains what these two options do in a practical sense. The off-line installer uses local packages and sets up the KDE Plasma desktop on our computer. The on-line option pulls in packages from remove repositories and gives the user a choice of which desktop will be installed.
EndeavourOS 2026.03.06 -- Selecting a desktop in the installer
(full image size: 803kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Endeavour OS uses the Calamares graphical system installer. The installer begins by asking us for our timezone and giving us the chance to select our language and keyboard layout. I used the on-line installer which provides several desktop options: No desktop, Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, Cinnamon, MATE, Budgie, LXQt, LXDE, and i3. We can select one desktop only and I decided (by a dice roll) to go with the Cinnamon option.
The next page of the on-line installer shows us a list of package groups and asks us which ones should be installed. Most of them are enabled by default and are listed as: Desktop-base, Endeavour applications, Recommended applications, Firefox, spell checker, firewall, LTS kernel, Printing support, HP printer/scanner support, and the desktop we selected (Cinnamon, in my case). Each of these groups can be expanded to show individual packages we may wish to install or exclude.
While I was using it, the installer locked up for about a minute after package selection. The installer window stopped responding for a bit and then it recovered on its own and asked if I wanted to install a boot loader (GRUB) or to skip installing a boot loader. We can then go through the disk partitioning steps or take a guided option which will set up an ext4 root partition with no swap space. We have the option of selecting an alternative filesystem and enabling swap. The installer then asked me to make up a username and password and downloaded the necessary packages to my hard drive.
First impressions
When I booted into my new copy of EndeavourOS the login screen offered me Cinnamon on X11 and Cinnamon on Wayland sessions. Both worked well and offer reasonable performance. In my opinion, the default dark theme looked nice and the desktop was responsive.
When I reviewed Endeavour in 2025 I stated that the distribution performed unusually well and it was one of my favourite distributions of the year. The one drawback I felt Endeavour had was the lack of a graphical software centre. This is still somewhat true, but with a condition/exception. Endeavour does ship with a simple application which will help the user install popular software. This tool can be launched from the welcome window and lists categories of desktop software. We can expand each of the categories and select specific popular applications to install by clicking a checkbox next to an application's name.
EndeavourOS 2026.03.06 -- Selecting additional packages to install
(full image size: 962kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
This tool is not a full featured software centre. It can be used to fetch new applications from a specific list, but we cannot update or remove packages. We also cannot search through the repositories to find alternative packages. In short, Endeavour is providing some easy access to new packages, but most software management will still need to happen from the command line (using pacman) or via a software centre we install ourselves.
Speaking of command line tools, Endeavour includes a shell program called eos-update which will fetch software updates for us. It will optionally also check the Arch User Repository (AUR) for any updates and fetch them for us. This is a welcome tool for me because I find it easier to remember "eos-update" than "pacman -Syu" along with the equivalent of whichever AUR manager I happen to have installed.
Conclusions
Otherwise, EndeavourOS appears to have remained the same as it was when I reviewed it last year. The packages are a little newer, but otherwise the distribution appears to retain its usual good performance and stability.
EndeavourOS 2026.03.06 -- Exploring the Cinnamon application menu
(full image size: 900kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
I can't say that I noticed any difference in features when I was using the system installer. The improvements and driver support do not appear to have impacted me one way or another. This seems, to me, to be a good thing. The team have managed to add some additional support and features without them showing up on the surface. I did try out the new eos-hwtool and it did detect my system's equipment. It didn't provide me with much information, and nothing I couldn't get from other tools, but it did work and I like it when new tools function properly without causing any problems.
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
pearOS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 6.7/10 from 3 review(s).
Have you used pearOS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Arch Linux adjusts firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its lifecycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves CPU scheduler
The Arch Linux project is making a change to the distribution's firewall packages, reflecting the evolving backend for firewall rules. An announcement by the project reports: "The old iptables-nft package name is replaced by iptables, and the legacy backend is available as iptables-legacy. When switching packages (among iptables-nft, iptables, iptables-legacy), check for .pacsave files in /etc/iptables/ and restore your rules if needed: • /etc/iptables/iptables.rules.pacsave • /etc/iptables/ip6tables.rules.pacsave. Most setups should work unchanged, but users relying on uncommon xtables extensions or legacy-only behavior should test carefully and use iptables-legacy if required."
* * * * *
The i486 CPU architecture has been around for over 35 years. While a popular CPU in its day, the architecture has long since been replaced by more modern 32-bit and 64-bit processors. Kernel developer Ingo Molnar has suggested it is time to drop i486 support from Linux. "In the x86 architecture we have various complicated hardware emulation facilities on x86-32 to support ancient 32-bit CPUs that very very few people are using with modern kernels. This compatibility glue is sometimes even causing problems that people spend time to resolve, which time could be spent on other things."
* * * * *
The recent news that Linux may be dropping support for the i486 CPU architecture has some people contemplating just how long software should be supported. Red Hat has an answer for this query: up to 14 years. "The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended Life Cycle, Premium subscription provides extended maintenance, offering up to a 14-year lifecycle for a major version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Extended maintenance: Beyond the standard 10-year support and maintenance lifecycle, this offering provides an additional 4 years of extended maintenance after the last minor release of a major version."
* * * * *
The Debian project (and its child distributions) use the APT package manager for handling classic Deb packages. The APT tool has received a significant update, with version 3.2 including rollback, undo, and redo functionality. The Linuxiac website shares details: "APT 3.2 is now the latest stable version of Debian's package manager. The primary enhancement is expanded history functionality, which introduces several new commands: apt history-rollback - rolls package changes back to an earlier transaction; apt history-list - shows a list of previous package transactions; apt history-info - shows detailed information about a specific transaction; apt history-undo - reverses a specific transaction; apt history-redo - repeats a previously undone transaction." A complete list of recent changes to the APT package manager can be found in the utility's changelog.
* * * * *
The Redox project has published its monthly newsletter for March 2026. There have been a number of significant changes in Redox OS over the past month. One of the changes is an improvement to the process scheduler: "Akshit Gaur implemented a new CPU scheduler to reduce idle processes stealing CPU time from active processes, and to improve system performance with better CPU time distribution. He enabled nice from uutils, and implemented a Redox version of renice to allow changes to process priority. Here's an article about his work." The newsletter contains a detailed look at the key changes to the operating system.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Which distributions are adopting age verification?
Never-ask-a-user-their-age asks: Which distributions have implemented age verification? How can we tell which ones are likely to do so?
DistroWatch answers: At the time of writing, so far as I know, there are no Linux distributions running age verification code*. The relevant laws are still fairly young (and haven't taken effect), so it will likely be a few more months before we start seeing many new releases with any sort of age verification code enabled. The MidnightBSD project has committed code which can be used for age declaration and it is one of the few open source operating systems to include age declaration code in a new release.
I'd like to clarify something about the new age tracking laws and the code meant to comply with them. While all of these new laws (and new software changes to comply with the laws) tend to get lumped together under the umbrella term of "age verification", there are some key distinctions to be made.
Age declaration is what happens when the computer's operating system reports whatever age the user tells it to share. If I say that I was born in the year 2000 then the operating system's age declaration code will report that I am 26.
Age verification is age declaration with an added step. Age verification requests proof from the user rather than just blindly accepting and reporting what the user tells the computer. Age verification typically requires the user to supply some form of identification (photo ID, birth certificate, or passport) in order to confirm the user's age.
While both age verification and age declaration are problematic because they track users and reduce privacy, the former is much more invasive. It will also have a higher level of fallout when the databases holding the age verification information are breached. Some users may not care if an app knows their age, but a user will probably care about hackers having a copy of their driver's license with their photo, and address.
I'd also like to point out that a distribution may include age declaration (or verification) features, but use of those features might not be enforced. The systemd project has come under fire in recent weeks for implementing code for storing age information in response to the new laws. This code provides a mechanism for reporting, but it will be up to the individual distributions whether they enforce the use of the collection and reporting of age-related information or other identifying details about the user.
Put another way, a Linux distribution can include the ability to declare the user's age, but this does not mean it enforces the practice. Soon all distributions running systemd will have the capability of providing age declaration tracking for applications, but the distributions can decide whether they want to use it, just like any other of the dozens of systemd features.
As to which distributions are likely to implement some form of age declaration in the future, it's difficult to say with any certainty. It's likely that all commercial distributions will implement age declaration and/or verification eventually as they will want to continue doing businesses in regions with age verification laws. Probably most distributions based in the United States and Brazil (two leaders in age verification laws) will implement some form of age declaration.
People wishing to run distributions that are unlikely to implement age verification will probably want to look at community-run projects which do not have lead developers living in the aforementioned countries. Community projects, particularly smaller ones, do not have a financial incentive to enable spying on their users. Those projects outside of Brazil and the United States are not bound by the laws of those countries, making their developers immune from the non-compliance fines.
* - After writing this I discovered BigLinux has created age declaration tools.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
deepin 25.1.0
The deepin project, which develops a Debian-based Linux distribution with a custom-built Deepin Desktop Environment, has announced the release of deepin 25.1.0. The new build upgrades the Linux kernel to version 6.18 and introduces new artificial intelligence features: "As an open-source operating system that shines in the global rankings on DistroWatch and is widely recognized by users worldwide, deepin has been continuously listening to your feedback since the release of deepin 25. We've been refining details, fixing issues, and introducing innovations. Today, we are excited to announce that the deepin 25.1.0 images are officially released. This update deeply empowers productivity, bringing a system-level reconstruction and ecological expansion to UOS AI. The newly launched system-level native Claw mode fully integrates with mainstream IM application interfaces such as Lark, DingTalk, and QQ. Users can use natural language commands to let AI automatically control the computer to complete complex system tasks. AI writing agent reconstruction: deep feeding and outline first - supports directly uploading local reference materials and document outlines...." Continue to the release announcement, available in simplified Chinese and English, for further details.
Trisquel GNU/Linux 12.0
Rubén Rodríguez has announced the release of Trisquel GNU/Linux 12.0, a major update of the project's "libre" distribution built for home users, small enterprises and educational centers. The new version is based on the long-term supported Ubuntu 24.04: "We are proud to announce the release of Trisquel 12.0 'Ecne'. After extensive work and thorough testing, 'Ecne' is ready for production use. Trisquel 12.0 ships with APT 3.0, enabling us to fully adopt the modern deb822 repository format across all installation paths. The 'netinstall' (for text-based installation and advanced users), Ubiquity (for graphical installation from a live system), as well as Synaptic and other package-management tools have been updated to use the new repository formats. The kernel remains one of our biggest engineering challenges with every release. For 'Ecne', we focused on making our kernel changes more modular, substantially reducing breakage in the udeb components used during installation." See the release announcement for more details.
Trisquel GNU/Linux 12.0 -- Running the MATE desktop
(full image size: 3.4MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
* * * * *
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: 3,420
- Total data uploaded: 49.9TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
What desktop layout do you prefer?
This week, in our Feature Story, we touched upon pearOS. This distribution is one of a few which tries to copy the desktop style of macOS. Other distributions, such as Zorin OS seek to copy the Microsoft Windows layout and theme. Meanwhile some distributions run desktops which are distinctly different from either of these commercial designs. This week we would like to hear about your preferred desktop style - which is your favourite?
You can see the results of our previous poll on age verification's impact on distribution choice in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
What is your preferred desktop layout?
| Something like macOS: | 222 (10%) |
| Something like Windows: | 733 (32%) |
| A different (non-commercial) style of desktop: | 813 (35%) |
| A tiling window manager: | 234 (10%) |
| A minimum window manager: | 252 (11%) |
| CDE: | 56 (2%) |
|
|
| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 20 April 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 1173 (2026-05-18): Sylve on FreeBSD, the benefit of BleachBit, Debian commits to reproducible builds, Debian publishes updated install media, Haiku introduces SMP support on ARM64 processors, Rocky Linux creates opt-in security repository, Fedora reconsiders AI tools, KDE receives generous donation |
| • Issue 1172 (2026-05-11): Fedora 44, dealing with extra fonts, Fedora plans to provide AI tools, problems with Ubuntu's new coreutils, TrueNAS extends its development cycle, postmarktetOS improves the boot splash screen, Redox ports tmux |
| • Issue 1171 (2026-05-04): Xubuntu 26.04, extending memory with VRAM, Ubuntu plans AI features, Devuan developer forks GTK2, Mint introduces hardware enablement builds, Linux running on a PlayStation 5, local kernel exploit found in Linux |
| • Issue 1170 (2026-04-27): ENux 5.2.1, picking a second distro, AlmaLinux expands CPU support, FreeBSD publishes Status Report, Ubuntu MATE skips 26.04 release |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • 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 |
| • 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 | 
Santa Fe Linux
Santa Fe Linux was a commercial desktop distribution with advanced hardware auto-detection and some of the best desktop applications open source has to offer. Santa Fe Linux was a Debian-based live CD and features X.org with automatic binary driver configuration for NVIDIA and ATI video cards.
Status: Discontinued
|
| 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.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
