 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 898, 4 January 2021 |
Welcome to this year's 1st issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The Linux community is full of new approaches and new styles. Developers are always trying out fresh ways to solve persistent problems. To kick off the new year we begin with a look at MocaccinoOS, a distribution that experiments with a new package manager called Luet. MocaccinoOS includes a few other unusual features, including its lightweight C library and runit init software. Our Feature Story offers more details about this young project and its multiple editions. In our News section we talk about Fedora speeding up package management via the Btr filesystem and managing low-memory situations using a systemd utility. Plus the Haiku project has been improving its desktop and the appearance of text. We are also pleased to report the HAMMER2 filesystem can now span multiple local volumes and we share more on this feature below. Last year iXsystems merged the FreeNAS and TrueNAS projects and we have updated our information pages to track this change. Late last year Red Hat announced CentOS Linux is being phased out and our Question and Answers column is a response to people who wrote in asking about alternative long-term support platforms. Then we are pleased to share the releases of the past two weeks and list the torrents we are seeding. Going into the new year we have been decluttering a bit and are curious to know how many packages people have installed on their Linux machines. Let us know how many pieces of software you have installed in the Opinion Poll. We wish you all a wonderful start to the new year and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: MocaccinoOS
- News: Fedora using Btrfs to speed up package upgrades, Haiku improves text contrast, HAMMER2 gets multi-volume support, FreeNAS merges with TrueNAS
- Questions and answers: Longest supported distribution
- Released in the past two weeks: 4MLinux 35.0, Parted Magic 2020_12_25, deepin 20.1
- Torrent corner: 4MLinux, Arch, ArchBang, deepin, Gardua, KDE neon, Nitrux, OSMC, Rescuezilla, Septor, Slackel
- Opinion poll: How many packages are installed on your main computer?
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (14MB) and MP3 (11MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
MocaccinoOS
MocaccinoOS is a young Linux distribution which is experimenting with a new approach to package management. In particular, Mocaccino uses the Luet package manager which acts as a front-end for container-based software.
Luet uses container technologies (Docker) to build packages. It provides an abstraction over the Dockerfile format introducing relation and versioning of images. Versioned rootfs as layers, delivered as upgrades or multiple single packages.
Though it is not explicitly stated, it looks like the idea here is to provide new applications and dependencies through containers to better handle dependencies and allow for for more stable upgrades.
At the time of writing there are two editions of Mocaccino. The first is Mocaccino Micro, a distribution which runs on the musl C library. It is stated to be based on Linux From Scratch using Luet for package management. Micro is minimal and reportedly suited for cloud and Docker, deployments. The second edition is Mocaccino Portage, a Gentoo-based operating system suited for desktop environments. At the moment it appears Mocaccino Portage is available in one desktop flavour: GNOME.
The Mocaccino website repeatedly warns us development of the project is still in its early stages. The distribution is not, the developers tell us, ready for production. We should regard Mocaccino, therefore, as an interesting work in progress. This approach is reflected in the documentation which is sparse and mostly talks about how to migrate from an existing Sabayon installation to Mocaccino and set up the new project's software repositories.
I downloaded both editions of Mocaccino. The Portage edition with the GNOME desktop is a 2.2GB ISO file while the Micro edition weighs in at a relatively small 334MB.
Portage edition with GNOME
I started off trying the Portage edition, with the idea that it would be easier to begin with a pre-configured desktop edition. Unfortunately this edition failed to load properly. During the early boot sequence the system displayed several errors declaring "Device device name has no proper overlay structure." This was followed by a message saying, "Rootfs not found." At this point the operating system gave up and dropped to an emergency shell prompt. No services were running, there were no recognized network devices, and no way to access the desktop. I tried loading the Portage edition a few times and it always ended up with me at a shell prompt with a minimal, recovery environment.
I was a little disappointed, but not really put off by this turn of events. After all, the distribution is still very much in its early development stages and the website is clear about not expecting things to work yet.
Micro edition
I had better luck with the Micro edition. This edition booted successfully and brought me to a text-based login screen. From there I could sign into the console using the username "root" and by guessing the password "mocaccino".
Exploring the Micro edition I discovered a few things about its minimal, command line only environment. Pleasantly, if a wired network connection is available, Mocaccino will automatically connect to it for us. The distribution mostly uses Busybox for its command line tools. For example, the ls, grep, and man commands are all links to Busybox. Unfortunately the man command does not work and was unable to show me any documentation for installed programs.
The Micro edition uses runit for its init software and runs on version 5.4.0 of the Linux kernel. It looks like the kernel package is provided by the Sabayon project. A newer version of the kernel, 5.7.0, is available if we want to upgrade. The distribution appears to be set up to run on 64-bit (x86_64) machines only.
The Micro edition boots and shuts down very quickly, taking only a few seconds to get going or stop. This is probably due to a combination of runit which is blazingly fast and the distribution running very few services by default. In fact, Mocaccino only consumed about 30MB of RAM when I was logged into the console.
Package management
As I mentioned earlier, Mocaccino uses a new package manager called Luet. While Luet works a bit differently and acts as a front-end for container-based packages, the commands Luet recognizes are mostly familiar. The key commands most people will want to use are "search", "install", "uninstall", and "upgrade" which are pretty self-explanatory. There are other Luet sub-commands for managing repositories, building and packaging software, and getting helpful tips on how to use Luet.
When we install or upgrade software through Luet the output from the package manager is very verbose and scrolls across the screen quickly. This meant I usually did not know what was going on, apart from it looked like package data from each repository is being downloaded. This happened every time I performed a search for a package; it seems Luet downloads repository information every time we do a search and that slows down the package manager a lot. Presumably caching in future versions will remove the need for the frequent pulls from the remote servers.
To be fair, while searches are slow with Luet, compared to other package managers, the refresh and search functions probably take less than ten seconds. It only adds up a lot when we perform multiple searches back-to-back. Also on the topic of searches, Luet appears to search for items by name, but not by description. This means a search for "ftp" returns nothing, but searching for "cur" returns curl, the FTP and web client, along with the ncurses package.
Installing new software worked smoothly and, from the user's perspective, works exactly the same as command line package management on other distributions. I was wondering if using containers behind the scenes might complicate things, but everything was seamless. The only quirk of Luet I ran into come when installing software. I needed to specify the category of software I was installing along with its name. For example, I had to run "luet install development/make" to get the make package and "luet install utils/curl" to get the curl program. The category is provided in search results so we immediately know which category to use, it's just a little extra typing.
At first I couldn't find any way to show which software was installed on the system. I get the impression most of Mocaccino is meant to be considered an atomic whole, rather than a collection of packages, so listing installed packages in the default system is not an obvious procedure. That being said, I did find I could list all the packages I had installed by listing the contents of the /var/cache/luet directory. This directory keeps a cache of software we have downloaded.
Installing
I could not find instructions for installing fresh copies of either edition of Mocaccino. The project's documentation does explain how to convert an existing Sabayon install into the new Mocaccino Portage distribution. The documentation also mentions that the Micro edition can be run as a Docker container. However, I have not found a method to do a clean install of either edition to a hard drive.
Conclusions
As I mentioned before, MocaccinoOS is very much in its early stages. Its core operating system and package manager are closer to proof-of-concept creations than complete tools. However, I do think there may be promise here, at least with the Micro edition. It's small, light, and fast. It feels akin to Alpine Linux with its tiny footprint and I suspect it could be used as a practical base for container management.
Luet, while still in its early stages, looks like it could be very useful with a little polish and faster searches. I can't say I have, as of yet, found a practical difference between Luet and, for example, DNF or APT, but perhaps this will change as the distribution matures and its container-focused approach takes on more distinct features. I wouldn't recommend using Mocaccino yet, but I feel it will be worth watching and trying again in a year.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Fedora using Btrfs to speed up package upgrades, Haiku improves text contrast, HAMMER2 gets multi-volume support, FreeNAS merges with TrueNAS
The Fedora developers are working on new changes expected to arrive in Fedora 34. Some of the proposed alterations include using the systemd out of memory process killer, which would replace EarlyOOM, and using Btrfs copy-on-write features in parallel with the package manager to change the way new updates are applied to the system. The new approach to package management could greatly improve upgrade times on systems using Btrfs. "Ballpark performance difference is about half the duration for file download+install time. A lot of RPMs are very small, so it's difficult to see/measure. Larger RPMs give much clearer signal."
* * * * *
The Haiku team published a newsletter which outlines work being done to their lightweight, desktop operating system. The project is doing quite a bit of clean-up, improving their ARM port, and polishing the user interface. One immediately practical feature is the attempt to make text always visible, even when the background colour has changed. "nephele and PulkoMandy modified the algorithm to decide the text colour on the Desktop and in other Tracker windows. Now the document background and foreground colours are used by default, and the text automatically switches to white or black when needed to make sure the text remains readable with a custom background color (for example on the desktop)."
* * * * *
The DragonFly BSD developers have been working on making their HAMMER2 advanced filesystem more flexible. The second version of HAMMER is now able to span multiple physical volumes. This allows the HAMMER2 filesystem to be spread over multiple local hard drives, expanding its storage space. "This commit adds initial multi-volumes support for HAMMER2. Maximum supported volumes is 64. The feature and implementation is similar to multi-volumes support in HAMMER1." More detailed technical information on this change and HAMMER2 can be found in this mailing list post.
* * * * *
Back in March of 2020 we reported that the FreeNAS project would be merging with TrueNAS. The idea was for FreeNAS to become the no-charge, community-oriented branch of TrueNAS and would carry the name TrueNAS Core. Meanwhile the existing TrueNAS product, backed by iXsystems, would be branded TrueNAS Enterprise. As the transition appears to be complete and a new version of FreeNAS/TrueNAS Core has been released under the new name, we have updated our information pages to match on DistroWatch. All old ratings, news stories, and release announcements can now be found on our TrueNAS page.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Longest supported distribution
Here-for-a-long-time asks: I'm looking to set up a system that is minimal and requires minimal maintenance, meaning a static OS so no rolling releases. Which distros have the longest support?
DistroWatch answers: The answer to which distribution has the longest support cycle, meaning you will not need to upgrade your operating system during that time, will depend on whether you are planning to pay for support or not. Both Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise have been providing at least ten years of support for their commercial distributions for a long time. I say at least ten years because these companies also offer extended support contracts. SUSE offers three year extensions, making for a total of thirteen years of support. Canonical also offers paid support for some versions of Ubuntu for ten years.
However, if you are looking for a non-commercial distribution then the maximum time span you are likely to get is from Springdale Linux which provides about ten years of support, courtesy of Red Hat's upstream patches. Some other distributions provide five years of support, though sometimes the timeline is unofficial. Ubuntu, along with many of its descendants, and Debian provide five years of support for free. The openSUSE distribution receives about three years of free support.
Though not a Linux distribution, FreeBSD supports major releases for five years.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
4MLinux 35.0
Zbigniew Konojacki has announced the release of 4MLinux 35.0, a quarterly update of the project's minimalist desktop and server distribution featuring "four Ms": maintenance (as a system rescue live CD), multimedia (for playing video DVDs and other multimedia files), mini-server (using the inetd daemon) and mystery (providing several small Linux games). As usual, the new release updates many of the base packages, but it also includes some new ones, such as Inkscape and Dangerous Dave (a game): "The status of the 4MLinux 35.0 series has been changed to stable. As always, the new major release has some new features. Inkscape (vector graphics editor) is now available as a downloadable extension. Dangerous Dave has been added to the collection of games which can be played via DOSBox. Notepad++ (advanced code editor) has been included in the 4MLinux WINE package. Nmap (network scanner) and ircII (IRC client) have been added to the 4MLinux Server." Here is the complete release announcement as published on the project's Blogspot pages.
Parted Magic 2020_12_25
Parted Magic is a small live CD/USB/PXE with its elemental purpose being to partition hard drives. Although GParted and Parted are the main programs, the CD/USB also offers other applications, such as Partition Image, TestDisk, fdisk, sfdisk, dd, and ddrescue. The project's latest release updates the desktop to Xfce 4.14 from 4.12. "This version of Parted Magic comes with a huge number of package updates and improvements. Most notable is the upgrade to Xfce 4.14. I spent a lot of time tweaking the general look and feel. It looks significantly better than the last version. The boot menus have some changes so it's easier for people the find the more common booting work-a-arounds. Fcitx has been added to further improve input support. A menu allows you choose between Fcitx and Ibus. The old PXE version download has been discontinued. I highly suggest using the new method to boot Parted Magic via PXE: https://partedmagic.com/pxe/. If you really need to use the old slow PXE method you can build it with the included script: boot/pxelinux/pm2pxe.sh." The project's news page has more information. Parted Magic can be purchased from the distribution's online store for US$11.
deepin 20.1
The deepin project has published a new update to the distribution's 20.x series. deepin 20.1 features a new kernel, Linux 5.8, along with bringing the rest of the operating system up to date with Debian 10.6. There have also been a number of performance improvements. "In deepin 20.1, the operating efficiency of processors, network transmission and response, file reading and writing, and graphics display has been significantly enhanced by overall optimization of kernel configurations and codes; and conventional operations have been fully optimized. You will enjoy smoother experiences and faster responses from these improvements. Control Center: The new power settings - Power Plans supports three modes: Balanced, Power Saver, and High Performance. When ultimate performance is required, the high-performance mode offers smoother user experiences." Further details and screenshots can be found in the distribution's release announcement (Chinese, English).
Slackel 7.4 "Openbox"
Dimitris Tzemos has announced the release of Slackel, a Slackware-based distribution. The project's latest release is Slackel 7.4 which brings the distribution up to date with Slackware's Current development branch. It also introduces support for 64-bit UEFI systems. "The new version is available in 64-bit and 32-bit builds. The 64-bit ISO image support booting on UEFI systems. ISO images are isohybrid. ISO images can be used as installation media. It is good to read the Slackel Startup Guide before install Slackel. What is new: Slackel can be installed (real installation) in an external 16GB or 32GB USB stick or SSD disk and have a portable fast system always with you. You can upgrade it also having the latest programs. It is a real installation. You will not notice you run Slackel from a USB. System is fast. In details: Slackel Live Installer (SLI) now can do a real installation to an external USB stick or USB SSD or USB hard disk, creating the necessary initrd for booting...." Further details can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
Slackel 7.4 "Openbox" -- Exploring the application menu
(full image size: 1.3MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Septor 2021
The Debian Srbija project has announced the release of Septor 2021, a brand-new version of its Debian-based distribution with a focus on preserving the anonymity and privacy of users. Unlike the versions of Septor released last year, which were all based on the stable Debian 10 "Buster" version, this latest release is based on Debian's testing branch, which will eventually become Debian 11 "Bullseye". This means a complete upgrade to the distribution's based systems and applications, including Linux kernel 5.9.15 and KDE Plasma 5.20.4, the default desktop. Browsing is done with the Tor Browser and most internet applications connect to the outside world through the Tor network - this includes Mozilla Thunderbird, the qTox internet messenger, HexChat, QuiteRSS and the OnionShare file sharing utility. The live image also comes with a variety of productivity, graphics and multimedia applications as well as general-purpose utilities. See the release announcement (in Serbian, with a video and a number of screenshots) and also visit the project's home page on SourceForge for further information.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,285
- Total data uploaded: 35.6TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
How many packages are installed on your main computer?
Modern operating systems are made up of hundreds, often thousands, of individual packages and components spread across tens of thousands of files. Typically these files are tracked and maintained by a package manager as staying on top of updates for every component manually would be a full time job.
We would like to hear how many packages are currently installed on your Linux distribution. If you are uncertain how to get this information, then visiting our Package Management page may be useful. Listing the installed packages on your system and running the result through the wc command will give you the number of installed items.
Here are the commands for checking the number of installed packages on distributions in the Fedora, Debian, and Arch Linux families:
Arch Linux:
pacman -Q | wc -l
Debian:
dpkg -l | grep "^ii" | wc -l
Fedora:
rpm -qa | wc -l
You can see the results of our previous poll on migrating away from CentOS Linux in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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How many packages are installed on your Linux system?
| Less than 100: | 58 (4%) |
| 100-500: | 68 (4%) |
| 501-1000: | 102 (7%) |
| 1001-2500: | 734 (47%) |
| 2501-5000: | 363 (23%) |
| Greater than 5000: | 38 (2%) |
| Unknown: | 151 (10%) |
| I am not running a Linux system: | 34 (2%) |
| My Linux distro does not have a package manager: | 8 (1%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 11 January 2021. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. 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)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • 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.
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| Random Distribution | 
Dr.Parted Live
Dr.Parted Live is a bootable GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian Testing. It is a live CD/USB featuring a lightweight Openbox window manager and useful applications for data backup, restore and recovery.
Status: Active
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| 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.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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