 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 803, 25 February 2019 |
|
Welcome to this year's 8th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Whenever we connect our computers to the Internet they transmit data which gives away information about ourselves such as what operating system we are running, what our interests are, who we associate with, and what software we use to communicate. In recent years more people have been turning to operating systems which attempt to limit the amount of data we leak to the Internet with Septor being one of the available options. This week we begin by sharing Joshua Allen Holm's review of the Septor distribution. In our News section we talk about Nitrux and NetBSD exploring new virtual machine options that should offer better performance and we talk about Project Trident's feature for syncing local packages with software repositories. Plus we share plans to upgrade pfSense to use version 12 of FreeBSD as its base. In our Opinion Poll we talk about how to reduce distractions on the desktop by preventing window focus stealing and, in our Opinion Poll, we ask you what the best method is for making sure focus doesn't shift to a new window. Plus we are thrilled to share the releases of the past week and list to the torrents we are seeding. We wish you a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Septor 2019
- News: NetBSD and Nitrux explore new virtual machine options, Project Trident enables syncing packages with repositories, future pfSense versions to be based on FreeBSD 12
- Questions and answers: Preventing applications from stealing window focus
- Released last week: Kali Linux 2019.1
- Torrent corner: BackBox, EasyOS, Elastix, Kali, KDE neon, Manjaro, PBXware, PCLinuxOS, Slax
- Opinion poll: Preventing a window from stealing focus
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (11MB) and MP3 (8MB) formats.
|
| Feature Story (by Joshua Allen Holm) |
Septor 2019
Septor is a security-focused distribution based on Debian Testing (Debian "Buster" at the time of writing). Its focus is to provide programs connecting to the Internet with the ability to use the Tor network, along with a few other privacy/security focused applications. Unlike Debian, Septor's ISO does not provide a choice of desktop environments; it comes with the KDE Plasma 5.14 desktop environment with some layout and theme customization. The ISO also comes with non-free firmware, unlike the standard Debian ISOs, so various wireless adapters and other devices work automatically. Septor's 1.9GB ISO functions as both a live image and as installation media, so for this review I tried out both ways of using the ISO.
Septor 2019 -- KDE Plasma desktop
(full image size: 680kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Running Septor as a live image
I started by trying the live desktop. I had to disable Secure Boot first, but other than that I had no issues booting the flash drive and starting up the live desktop. The time to get to a working desktop was not particularly quick, nor was it extremely slow, but the length it did take makes Septor a less than ideal candidate for a quick, emergency "I need a secure Linux desktop NOW" flash drive.
The problems with the live image are not limited to boot speed. The version of LibreOffice included on the ISO will not start. I tried LibreOffice Calc, Impress, and Writer and they all produced a Signal 11 error. The problem persisted after installing Septor to my hard drive, but went away after updating the packages.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing with the live image is the fact that it includes Tor Browser Launcher, which is used to install the Tor Browser, but there is no alternative browser installed. Until Tor Browser Launcher installs Tor Browser, there is no way to browse the web. And because the live image lacks any sort of permanency, Tor Browser needs to be reinstalled every time the live image is run. Because of that issue I tried using the live image on several local public wi-fi networks to see how long it would take to get Tor Browser installed and running. Times ranged from approximately 5 minutes using the wi-fi at my local public library to almost 15 minutes using the wi-fi at a small local restaurant. Suffice it to say that Septor's live image is not an optimal choice for using on an emergency, secure OS flash drive.
Installing Septor
Once I was done trying out the live image, I rebooted my computer and selected the install option from the boot menu. This started a Septor-themed variant of the standard Debian graphical installer. Just like with standard Debian's graphical installer, my trackpad was not detected/did not work, so I had to just use the tab key to navigate through the install process. I also could have rebooted and selected the text install option instead, but using Tab and Enter was easy enough.
Septor 2019 -- Installer language selection
(full image size: 52kB, resolution: 800x600 pixels)
I ran into a few additional problems when trying to install Septor. I had to be connected to the Internet in order to complete the installation. I was able to skip over the network configuration step by canceling, going to the overview of install steps, and selecting the next step, but problems arose again when it came time to configure the timezone/date & time options. I was also able to cancel, go to the overview of install steps, and skip that step, but that was tedious. The biggest problem came when the installer tried to install GRUB, which failed completely. I ended up needing to switch my computer from EFI to Legacy Boot mode, before Septor would successfully install.
Septor's default settings and software selection
Once I got Septor successfully installed on my computer I started looking at the default software selection. Most of it is fairly typical: various KDE applications and utilities, GIMP, LibreOffice, and VLC media player, but the Internet applications are somewhat atypical. Instead of Firefox, Septor uses Tor Browser (which, like I noted about is not actually installed until the Tor Browser Launcher application is run the first time), Thunderbird, HexChat, OnionShare, QuiteRSS, and Ricochet IM. All the default Internet applications either use the Tor network by design or are configured to use Tor. For example, Thunderbird comes with the TorBirdy extension pre-installed.
Septor 2019 -- Application menu showing Internet applications
(full image size: 625kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Septor also comes with a few utilities designed to assist the user with security. The Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit provides a way to strip metadata, that could potentially be used to identify a user, from various file types. The tool is straightforward and easy to use, simply select a file and if it is a supported file type it can be stripped of problematic metadata by clicking the Clean button. Septor also includes VeraCrypt, but like a few other applications included in Septor, it is almost unusable because of theme and color issues. In the screenshot below you can see how VeraCrypt has GUI elements that are impossible to read or can only be read when the mouse is hovering over them.
Septor 2019 -- VeraCrypt with theming problems
(full image size: 496kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
The graphical issues present in VeraCrypt and other programs seem limited to GTK-based programs and can be fixed by changing the settings for what themes are used for GTK applications from Adwaita to Breeze. However, given how broken VeraCrypt and other applications are using the default settings, this issue should have been fixed by the developers, not by end-users needing to change settings. In the process of trying to find a fix for the display issues with GTK applications, I tried various other look & feel options and also discovered that selecting the Septor Look And Feel with the option "Use Desktop Layout from theme" checked does not correctly restore the default Septor panel layout and desktop background. I could easily change the background back to the Septor one manually, but I ended up copying various files from /etc/skel to my home directory to get the default Septor panel layout back.
Septor 2019 -- Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit
(full image size: 562kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Personally, I had no issue with the default software selection. Septor comes with a well-rounded collection of software. The only thing I ended up adding was a second web browser, Firefox ESR, so I had a browser that was not tied into the Tor network. There are various settings and theme issues that I noted above, but no issues with the default software selection itself.
Installing and updating software
When it comes to installing and updating software, Septor is exactly like Debian. On the command-line packages can be installed using apt or dpkg, and the Synaptic package manager and gdebi are the pre-installed GUI tools for graphical installation of packages. Septor uses Debian's repositories for most of its packages, but there is also a Septor repository with Septor specific packages. The Debian packages come from Debian mirrors and the Septor repository is hosted on SourceForge. Septor comes with the apt-transport-https package installed, but the repositories listed in /etc/apt are all still configured to use plain HTTP connections.
Septor 2019 -- The Synaptic package manager
(full image size: 95kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
While the default selection of software is well-rounded, there is plenty of software in the Debian repositories, so replacing one of Septor's default applications with something different should not be a problem. However, the Septor specific repository only contains a small list of packages, with over half installed by default, so there are not a lot of extra Septor exclusive applications for Septor that are not in standard Debian.
When I first installed Septor about three weeks after the ISO was released, I ended up needing to install a sizable number of packages with my first "apt upgrade." These packages fixed many of the problems I had when using the live image, but there were a lot of updates, and there continued to be updates almost every day. It looks like /etc/apt/sources.list is tracking Debian "Buster," not "Testing," so hopefully things will calm down once Debian 10 "Buster" is released.
Final thoughts
Septor's concept is good, but the implementation needs some work. Like I noted above, the live image has numerous issues that make it a poor choice to use as an emergency flash drive. A refreshed ISO would fix some of the problems, but not all. Once installed and updated Septor is better, but there are still the issues with some applications being almost unusable because of issues with the themes and colours. Those are fixable by tweaking a few settings, but the user should not need to make those fixes themselves.
Overall, I did not dislike Septor, but I have a hard time recommending it over Tails or any distribution with Tor Browser installed. However, once a few more of the issues I experienced get fixed, Septor might make a good choice to put on a spare laptop for privacy-focused web browsing. Septor is interesting, it just needs more polish.
* * * * *
Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Lenovo Ideapad 100-15IBD laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: 2.2GHz Intel Core i3-5020U CPU
- Storage: Seagate 500GB 5400 RPM hard drive
- Memory: 4GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8723BE 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter
- Display: Intel HD Graphics 5500
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
Septor has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.6/10 from 5 review(s).
Have you used Septor? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
NetBSD and Nitrux explore new virtual machine options, Project Trident enables syncing packages with repositories, future pfSense versions to be based on FreeBSD 12
Hardware accelerated virtual machines are coming to the NetBSD operating system. The NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor (NVMM), which can support up to 128 virtual machines, is available for testing. "The NVMM driver provides hardware-accelerated virtualization support on NetBSD. It is made of an ~MI front-end, to which MD back-ends can be plugged. A virtualization API is provided in libnvmm, that allows to easily create and manage virtual machines via NVMM. Two additional components are shipped as demonstrators, toyvirt and smallkern: the former is a toy virtualizer, that executes in a VM the 64-bit ELF binary given as argument, the latter is an example of such binary." Technical details, build instructions and screenshots can be found on the project's website.
* * * * *
Another project which is working to provide high performance virtual machines is Nitrux. The Nitrux developers are using technology called VMetal to run copies of Microsoft Windows in order to provide more games and applications to Nitrux users, ideally with very little performance impact. "Over the past weeks, we have published videos about a new feature that we want to add to Nitrux 2.0 called VMetal. With VMetal we hope to bring our users the ability to run Windows software to their Nitrux systems. Although we mainly want to add VMetal to Nitrux for the gaming aspect of it, it is without a doubt the best way to make use of Windows software without the need for dual booting Microsoft’s operating system. What is VMetal? VMetal allows users to run Windows in parallel to Nitrux with the aim to provide users of access to Windows software meanwhile they can still use their Linux desktop at the same time." Additional information on VMetal and other Nitrux projects can be found in this blog post.
* * * * *
Project Trident is rolling out a series of new features in the operating system's latest round of updates. One of the features enables the administrator to synchronize installed packages with those in the Project Trident repositories. This allows packages to be either upgraded or rolled back as needed to keep the system in sync. "When starting updates, there will now be a prompt about whether to perform a 'full' update (forcibly resync your system with the versions of packages in the repository). This option takes a bit longer to download/perform the updates, but is very useful if your system has gotten out of sync with the repo from manually testing packages or you are moving backwards to an older version of the package repository." More details about new features coming to Trident can be found in the project's blog post.
* * * * *
Netgate, the company behind pfSense, has reported via their newsletter that their operating system for firewalls and routers is about to get a version bump and future releases will be based on FreeBSD 12. "pfSense 2.4.5 snapshots have been shut down so that we can prepare for the master branch to be switched over to pfSense 2.5.0 running on FreeBSD 12.x. The version bump to 2.5.0 was warranted due to the operating system moving to a new major version. This post on the Netgate forum will cover the major details on the next release of pfSense that you need to know."
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Preventing applications from stealing window focus
Trying-to-stay-focused asks: Is there a desktop environment in Linux which prevents, through an option, applications in the opening state/phase from stealing the focus from the running/current one? I want a newly launched application to start "behind" or "under" the current window. Even if an input is required, for example a password, this should still open "behind" or "under" the current window. Such a required activity should only be displayed in the panel (for example, by flashing). Stealing focus is very annoying!
DistroWatch answers: There are desktop environments with built-in options that help prevent an application from stealing focus from the currently active window. Typically the desktop's window manager can be set to discourage focus stealing, at least from applications which are already open. (New application windows almost always grab focus when the window first opens, on any desktop.)
When using KDE Plasma, for example, you can go into the System Settings panel, open the Window Management module and select the Window Behaviour page. There you should find a tab called Focus with an option called Focus Stealing Prevention. By default this is typically set to "Low", but you can raise the value to "High" or "Extreme" to block windows from stealing focus.
If you are running the Xfce desktop, the focus stealing feature is a little harder to deal with because elements of it are located in two different places. First open the Window Manager settings tool. Click the Focus tab and remove the check from the box labelled "Automatically give focus to newly created windows". Then open the Window Manager Tweaks tool, again click the Focus tab. Make sure "Activate focus stealing prevention" is checked/enabled. Then disable the "Honor standard ICCCM focus hint". Finally, under the title "When a window raises itself", set the value to "Do nothing".
The Cinnamon desktop has a settings module called Windows. In the Windows module, click the Behaviour tab. Then enable the option "Prevent focus stealing".
I suspect other desktop environments have similar options - GNOME does, though I think it is only accessible through a command line tool - but these are the ones I can think of at the moment. Unfortunately, none of them are perfect. Newly opened windows and highly stubborn windows can still steal focus away from the window you are currently using. There is another approach you can use, if you plan to keep using the same window for long periods of time. If you right-click in the title bar of a window, in nearly every Linux window manager and desktop environment, you should see an option called "Always on top" or "Keep above others". Enabling this option will keep the current window above all the others, in almost every situation. The only down side is you need to either minimize the window or right-click the title bar again and disable the "Always on top" option to allow other windows to move to the top of the window stack.
I tend to find this last option the most useful (and the most portable across desktop environments) when I am working in the same window for long stretches and do not wish to be distracted.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
Kali Linux 2019.1
Kali Linux is a Debian-based distribution with a collection of security and forensics tools. The project's first release of 2019 offers wider support for ARM devices and an updated version of Metasploit: "Welcome to our first release of 2019, Kali Linux 2019.1, which is available for immediate download. This release brings our kernel up to version 4.19.13, fixes numerous bugs, and includes many updated packages. The big marquee update of this release is the update of Metasploit to version 5.0, which is their first major release since version 4.0 came out in 2011. Metasploit 5.0 is a massive update that includes database and automation APIs, new evasion capabilities, and usability improvements throughout. Check out their in-progress release notes to learn about all the new goodness. Kali Linux 2019.1 also includes updated packages for theHarvester, DBeaver, and more. For the complete list of updates, fixes, and additions, please refer to the Kali bug tracker changelog." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
Kali Linux 2019.1 "Lite" -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 845kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
EasyOS 1.0.8
Barry Kauler has announced the release of EasyOS 1.0.8. EasyOS is an experimental Linux distribution which uses custom containers along with many of the technologies and package formats pioneered by Puppy Linux. The new version offers up new network utilities, French and German editions along with the default English edition, and some bug fixes. "It has arrived, a new release of EasyOS! The previous x86_64 release was version 1.0, and it is essential to read that announcement. Most important, as explained in above link, do not download the ISO file, unless your PC is unable to boot from USB. Preferred option is to download easy-1.0.8-amd64.img.gz and write it to a USB stick. If you don't know how, simple instructions here. Lots of little improvements since then, and some not-so-little, such as adoption of Alex Suykov's minibase network utilities, which is now the default network manager, given the name 'UltraSNS'. There are two non-English builds, French and German, with considerable input provided by L18L and esmourguit (names on the Puppy Forum). There were some other languages built for 1.0." Further details and information on known issues can be found in the project's release announcement.
* * * * *
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: 1,266
- Total data uploaded: 23.9TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll |
Preventing a window from stealing focus
In our Questions and Answers column we discussed how to prevent application windows from activating and taking focus away from the window we are currently using. We would like to know what method our readers use to prevent focus stealing. Please leave us a comment with your solutions.
You can see the results of our previous poll on types of stability in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Preventing a window from stealing focus
| I set my window to keep above others: | 115 (11%) |
| I use the Prevent Focus Stealing feature of my desktop: | 136 (13%) |
| I only use one application at a time: | 82 (8%) |
| I use another method to block focus stealing: | 43 (4%) |
| I do not block focus stealing: | 692 (65%) |
|
|
| DistroWatch.com News |
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 4 March 2019. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 1, value: US$58.22) |
|
|
|
 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.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • 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 | 
Featherweight Linux
Featherweight Linux was an installable live CD based on Feather Linux. It was a full featured distribution with a small foot print that was light and fast, even on older machines, but still carries a knockout punch. It comes with a minimal KDE desktop and several favourite applications.
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.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
