 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1136, 25 August 2025 |
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Welcome to this year's 34th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Smartphones are virtually everywhere these days, with an ever-growing number of services and companies supplying apps to offer functionality either alongside or in place of websites. With the amount of data our phones and their apps collect and share, it is increasingly important to keep track of what data is being sent out over the network and to whom. In recent years there have been a rising number of de-Googled flavours of Android launched to help people control their privacy and manage their network traffic. This week we begin with a look at CalyxOS, a de-Googled flavour of Android which seeks a middle-of-the-road approach to features and security. Then, in our News section, we talk about the launch of the illumos Cafe - a place for fans of illumos-based projects to gather and share tips. We also report on the Arch Linux team battling a denial of service attack which is impacting traffic to their infrastructure. This week we talk about the best distributions for running containers and, in our Opinion Poll, ask how many people among our readers are using containers. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. Finally, we share a grateful note to the kind readers who have sent us donations. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
- Review: CalyxOS 6.8.20
- News: illumos Cafe launched, Arch battles denial of service attack, CachyOS launches web-based package search
- Questions and answers: Best distributions for running containers
- Released last week: Besgnulinux 3-0, MiniOS 5.0.0, CachyOS 250824
- Torrent corner: Crunchbangplusplus, Tails, TUXEDO OS
- Upcoming releases: Ubuntu 25.10 Snapshot 4
- Opinion poll: Do you have any containers running on your computer?
- Site news: Donations and Sponsors
- New additions: Archriot, Catbird Linux, Kamuriki Linux, Ventoy LiveCD, Xebian
- New distributions: VailuxOS
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
CalyxOS 6.8.20
Earlier this year I took the GrapheneOS project for a test drive. My experiences with the security-focused, mobile operating system were mixed. On the one hand, GrapheneOS was the only operating system of the three I tried on the Pixel 6a which installed successfully and its web-based installer worked wonderfully. On the other hand, GrapheneOS is a locked down, hardened platform. As a result, some tasks took longer to perform, some services needed extra steps to get working, and some features just didn't work out of the box. It was a relatively restricted experience when compared next to offerings from Murena and iodeOS.
Following my review of GrapheneOS someone suggested I try CalyxOS as it is a project with similar goals and wider hardware support.
Like GrapheneOS, CalyxOS is a de-Googled flavour of Android which strives to replace common proprietary apps with open source alternatives. The project also provides a number of security tools to help users maintain their privacy, both on-line and against local third-parties. While GrapheneOS supports Pixel devices only, CalyxOS runs on Pixel devices, Moto G phones, and recent models of the Fairphone. A list of supported phones is provided on the project's Install page. The project's website reports we can also get a device with CalyxOS pre-installed if we join the Calyx Institute. The offered device is a Pixel 8a and joining the institute costs $700 USD for the first year of membership, followed by $10 per year afterwards.
Installing
There are two install methods for getting CalyxOS onto a smartphone. The first and most convenient is through the project's web-based installer. As with GrapheneOS and the Murena project, the CalyxOS website will attempt to detect any unlocked phone attached to our computer via a USB cable and offer to install its operating system for us with a few clicks.
After I unlocked my phone and enabled connecting over USB, I tried the Calyx web installer and it was unable to detect my Pixel 6a. I confirmed the phone was working and detectable through my web browser by visiting the Murena and GrapheneOS websites and they both detected the Pixel 6a. (GrapheneOS's web installer offered to install its operating system, Murena reported it could detect the device, but my phone was not eligible for web-based installs.)
Calyx offers an alternative approach which involves downloading a program onto our computer (Linux running on x86_64 computers, macOS, and Windows are all supported). We then unlock our phone, attach it to our computer using a USB cable, and run the installer. The installer will then automate most of the process and guide us through any manual steps. This approach is less friendly as it requires running a command line program and it requires more manual steps than a web-based installer, but it worked in my case. The local installer set up CalyxOS on my device and rebooted the phone for me.
First-run wizard
The CalyxOS first-run wizard appears the first time the phone boots after the install process has completed. The graphical wizard asks us for our preferred language and asks if we would like to enable mobile data. We are also given an opportunity to connect to a local wireless network. We are asked if we want to enable location services and prompted to create a PIN or password for our device.
The following screen gives us the option to enable microG services (an alternative to Google's Play services) and then to choose a light or dark theme. (Both themes use a touch of green for buttons and check boxes.) We are given the chance to install optional applications. These add-on apps include a VPN, the OnionShare private file sharing tool, the Briar secure messaging client, Signal, and the F-Droid software centre. These third-party applications can be fetched by toggling a button next to their names. Finally, we are asked if we want to navigate the phone's interface using swipe gestures or buttons which will be placed at the bottom of the screen.
Early impressions
The first thing I noticed about CalyxOS is that it uses a colour I'd call "poison green" or maybe "eye-murdering-bright green" for its wallpaper. This makes the interface distinct, but it also makes it hard to read any text under the app icons, or even look at the screen directly if the brightness level is turned up. The phone only ships with one wallpaper so we will need to download a new image to change the background.
CalyxOS 6.8 -- The home screen with default wallpaper
(full image size: 181kB, resolution: 1080x2400 pixels)
CalyxOS takes a slightly more minimal approach than Murena's /e/OS. There is no built-in cloud service or file synchronization service and there are no built-in utilities to block trackers. CalyxOS doesn't provide one-tap location spoofing or IP address hiding, though it does offer the Tor Browser and OnionShare to help us browse the web and share files anonymously.
While there isn't any tool for detecting trackers there is a firewall application which can help us lock down network access on an application-by-application basis and I will touch upon this feature later.
CalyxOS 6.8 -- The home screen with alternative wallpaper
(full image size: 2005kB, resolution: 1080x2400 pixels)
Like GrapheneOS, Calyx requires multiple software centres (Aurora and F-Droid) to give us access to a full range of both open source software and Android applications. However, I was pleased to find CalyxOS needed just two software centres to give me a full range of package options, compared against the three software centres (F-Droid, Aurora, and App Store) I needed to use to acquire all of my applications on GrapheneOS, so Calyx's approach is slightly streamlined. However, it's still more cumbersome than Murena's all-in-one unified software store.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that CalyxOS was visibly faster and more responsive than GrapheneOS when running the same applications on the same hardware. I suspect this is a result of GrapheneOS's security hardening practices while CalyxOS seems to be closer to "stock" Android. Whatever the reason, switching from GrapheneOS to CalyxOS made my phone perform like it had received a hardware upgrade.
CalyxOS 6.8 -- The settings panel
(full image size: 170kB, resolution: 1080x2400 pixels)
Battery life appeared to be about the same on CalyxOS has it had been with Murena's /e/OS and GrapheneOS. My Pixel 6a could be used regularly throughout the day, for about 16 hours, and still have 65% of its battery charge remaining.
For the most part, my early experiences with CalyxOS were smooth. The one issue I ran into involved software repositories. On my second day of using CalyxOS my Signal app told me it was out of date and should be updated. I went into the F-Droid software centre and checked for updates - none were available. I refreshed by repository information and checked again - there was still no Signal update. I checked which version of Signal I was running and confirmed there were newer releases, including one available through the F-Droid website.
I eventually discovered CalyxOS sets up F-Droid with four repositories: F-Droid, The Guardian Project, Calyx Institute, and a local repository. Priority was given to the Calyx custom repository which had the older version of my app. Disabling this repository and making F-Droid's repository the highest priority caused the new version of Signal to show up in the software centre and I was able to install the update.
CalyxOS 6.8 -- Adjusting repositories in F-Droid
(full image size: 171kB, resolution: 1080x2400 pixels)
One improvement I noticed while using CalyxOS was that my text messaging app, QUIK, was stable. While I had been using GrapheneOS the app would crash regularly, usually every time I tried to open or send a text message. QUIK was perfectly stable while running on CalyxOS.
Features
The Calyx website highlights some key features of the project's mobile operating system. The main features are, in no particular order:
- Firewall - CalyxOS ships with a firewall application. This utility lists third-party applications and system services. We can then enable or block network access for each application. Further, we can choose to block specific applications from accessing one specific network type. For example, we might want our web browser to work only over a local wireless network and not use our mobile data. The firewall is pleasantly simple and easy to navigate.
CalyxOS 6.8 -- Blocking network access for applications
(full image size: 230kB, resolution: 1080x2400 pixels)
- Custom VPN - The operating system provides a custom VPN solution through the Calyx institute. This gives us an alternative to commercial VPN services.
- microG - As mentioned above, we have the option of enabling microG, an alternative to Google Play services. The CalyxOS website has a nice overview of how microG works and how it replaces Google Play services, improving privacy and battery life.
CalyxOS 6.8 -- microG settings
(full image size: 130kB, resolution: 1080x2400 pixels)
- non-Google location services - Along with microG and its own VPN, Calyx also provides alternative location services, intended to avoid protect against large companies collecting your location data.
- Hide sensitive/private numbers - Calyx has a feature to hide sensitive phone numbers your device has called. These include calls to abuse hotlines and self-harm prevention numbers.
- Encrypted backups - CalyxOS includes an application which will create encrypted backups of our data which we can then upload to remote storage. Backups are protected by seed words and the app can also restore our data from past backups.
- Work profile - CalyxOS supports working with multiple profiles, optionally separating our work life from our personal life. There is an app installed by default which helps us set up our work-focused persona.
- Signal or Briar as dialer/messenger - At install time we can choose to use private messaging tools such as Briar and Signal. These tools can be used in place of text messaging and traditional cellular phone calls, encrypting our communications.
- Cromite and Tor Browser - In place of Chrome, CalyxOS provides its users with two alternative web browsers. We can enable the Tor Browser for communicating over the Tor network. This essentially funnels all of our web traffic through the Tor privacy network, like an anonymous VPN. The distribution also provides the Cromite browser which is essentially Chromium, but with advertisements and trackers disabled.
- Software centres - The mobile operating system strips out Google's Play store and replaces it with two alternatives. F-Droid, the free and open source software store is available. We are also given the Aurora software centre for anonymously accessing apps from the Play store. I'm not a fan of having multiple software centres (plus system updates) to manage, but this does give us workable alternatives to Google Play.
CalyxOS 6.8 -- Finding new apps in F-Droid
(full image size: 232kB, resolution: 1080x2400 pixels)
- Auto-reboot - CalyxOS provides an optional security feature which can reboot the device, locking it after a set amount of time. This improves the chances that the phone, if lost, will lock itself before someone else finds it and attempts to use it.
- K-9 for e-mail - The mobile operating system offers to set up K-9/Thunderbird for us to handle e-mail during the first-run setup process.
Conclusions
After using CalyxOS for a week I would say that, of the de-Googled members of the Android family I have tried in the past few years, CalyxOS feels the most vanilla. By which I mean it doesn't feel like CalyxOS has a specific speciality, it feels more middle-of-the-road compared to other projects.
Most open source, de-Googled Android flavours have a niche or a particular focus. Murena, for example, tries to make the experience beginner friendly. They have cloud storage, the security features are enabled with a single-tap, there is one unified software centre. Everything is designed to be easy for newcomers. iodeOS is highly focused on monitoring and filtering network traffic. With iodeOS we have tools to see where our data is going and we can respond to these spying and telemetry concerns. GrapheneOS is strongly security focused with low-level hardening and most features disabled or locked by default. GrapheneOS starts us off with a minimal system and we need to confirm each new app and permission we allow.
In contrast to the above three projects, CalyxOS doesn't feel like it is trying to focus on any one area or any one feature. It's not as convenient to set up as Murena's /e/OS, it doesn't take nearly as much work as GrapheneOS, it doesn't include as many network monitoring tools as iodeOS. CalyxOS feels more general purpose - the master of none, but pretty good at everything. It has some security tools, some conveniences, there is a little manual work to do to get everything set up, and it has some nice privacy-protecting features.
For someone like me, someone who doesn't mind a crafting and customizing a little, but wants it to be as painless as possible, CalyxOS is a good fit. It isn't something I would hand to a beginner, someone new to exploring custom ROMs for Android devices, at least not yet. But the project is providing a good, solid experience with very few issues. I also appreciate the extra performance I have experienced since installing CalyxOS, it has made my phone run faster and that is always a nice perk.
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As an update, shortly after finished this review, but before it was published, I noticed CalyxOS had not received any updates. I'd been using it for a few weeks and this seemed odd. I went back to the project's website and found a notice that install options and security updates were paused. The Calyx Institute's founding member had left and the remaining team were scrambling to fill in the gaps, including putting together updated builds, and replacing the project's security keys. (It seems their founder left in a hurry and the transition is likely to be rocky.)
To fulfill our community pledge and foster collaboration, information sharing, and inclusivity, we are engaging with our peers, partners, and security experts to ensure the delivery and integrity of all changes made during this process. After conducting a thorough inspection of the work required for successful completion of the above priorities, we have determined that it may take up to four to six months for us to provide the level of security maintenance we aim to deliver.
We will be switching to new signing keys along with the overhaul of the signing and verification process. As a result, current CalyxOS users will not be able to receive further security software updates until this process is in place.
The Calyx project is still active, its team still attending conventions, but updates as temporarily on pause.
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Visitor supplied rating
CalyxOS has a visitor supplied average rating of: N/A from 0 review(s).
Have you used CalyxOS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
illumos Cafe launched, Arch battles denial of service attack, CachyOS launches web-based package search
Stefano Marinelli has announced the creation of a new project called the illumos Cafe. The project provides a place for people interested in illumos, OpenIndiana, Tribblix, and other members of the illumos family to connect, share resources, and celebrate their preferred operating systems. Marinelli writes: "The illumos Cafe is a project similar to the BSD Cafe (though perhaps less complex, at least initially). It shares the same spirit of positivity and inclusivity and aims to provide services running on illumos-based operating systems to demonstrate that there are no reasons not to use them. Just like with the BSD Cafe, diversifying the operating systems we use - even while using the same platforms - is fundamental to improving the reliability and resilience of the Internet. The Internet was born as a decentralized network, but for most people, it has sadly become just a tool to access the services of big players."
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The Arch Linux project reported on August 19th that its infrastructure is experiencing a denial of service attack. This is causing some elements of the website to be unreachable or slow. "As you might be aware some of our services (AUR, Forums, main website) are currently affected by a DDoS attack. We are aware of the issue and are actively working on mitigation efforts. We are working with our data center operator and various network security providers, and we are aware of the community offers to help. We appreciate your patience and will provide periodic updates while keeping technical detail internal for security reasons."
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The CachyOS project included some new features on their website this month. One of the key additions to the project is a web-based package browser. "First, we're introducing our new service, packages.cachyos.org - a dashboard that provides a comprehensive overview of the current versions of packages used in CachyOS. You can list by architecture, repository, package name, update time, and more. For each package, the PKGBUILD source is clearly shown, providing transparency about which PKGBUILDs come from Arch Linux and which we've modified. Packages without a listed 'Source' are pulled from the AUR. There's also a binary download link for each package so you can inspect the binary or install it manually." The on-line package information can be browsed on the new dashboard.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Best distributions for running containers
Boxing-it-up asks: I want to learn more about containers and work toward getting a job admining Linux. Which distro do you recommend for me to start with?
DistroWatch answers: I'm going to treat this as two separate questions - one about learning containers and another about getting into a system administration job that involves caring for Linux machines.
I receive this style of question a lot, describing scenarios where someone wants to start using Linux and wants to know which distribution is ideal for gaming / virtual machines / programming / graphic artist work / audio recordings. My answer is that, when you're starting out, any of the mainstream, beginner-friendly distributions will be good. Almost every Linux distribution (with a few niche exceptions) will run containers, development tools, audio editing software, and games equally well. The main barrier to overcome is not the specific technology the user wants to run, it's the ease with which the user will be able to install the distribution and find the applications they want using its software centre.
In a similar vein, people learning to read start with an approachable book like "See Spot Run", not something specialized, such as "The Lord Of The Rings". Alternatively, when you're learning to drive, you typically start with an inexpensive, safe vehicle, not a Formula One car. The focus at the beginning isn't how advanced the technology is, it's how easy the technology is for a beginner to use.
In short, whatever task or skill you are looking to explore, I suggest starting with an approachable Linux distribution such as Linux Mint or Ubuntu. Those are mainstream, beginner-friendly distributions which can perform just about any Linux-based task.
Later, if you graduate from running a few containers to wanting to run a thousand containers on a virtual private network, then you might want to look at an alternative distribution. But, by then, you'll be deep enough in your knowledge (and probably involved with a community of like-minded learners) to know which distribution you need to run for your specific scenario.
Moving on to the question about getting a job working in Linux system administration, those jobs typically involve working with one of three families of enterprise Linux distributions: SUSE Linux Enterprise, Ubuntu, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Which means you'll probably want to explore, at some point, running the freely available community flavours of these distributions: openSUSE, Ubuntu, or Fedora. Once you become familiar with running these platforms, then I'd recommend looking into specific certification classes. Having certifications goes a ways toward proving you know your way around a Linux system and they can help you get your foot in the door at places hiring system administrators.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Besgnulinux 3-0
Besgnulinux is a lightweight, desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's Stable branch and using the JWM window manager. The project's latest release is version 3-0 and based on debian 13. "The background image changer has been updated. A colour changer feature has been added to the image manager. The GRUB manager has been made simpler and easier to use. Two more features have been added to the 'Enable tools' tool and its interface has been changed. Added menu controls to the 'Manage panels' tool. A separate tool was made for JWM opacity. A new tool has been made to change the window title buttons or colour. It has been made available to be used with JWM to change the icon and system theme colour. The loading of the system menu and the creation of the local language at the opening have been made extremely fast, within 2 seconds. In addition to the usual software, a few useful programs have been added. Because the Brave browser took too long to open, its base browser, Chromium, was made the default. The touchpad driver has not yet been found, so it has not been added. Third-party software such as Virtualbox and Flatpak cannot be installed yet...." Additional details can be found in the project's release announcement.
MiniOS 5.0.0
MiniOS is a Debian-based Linux distribution which strives to be lightweight, modular, versatile and customisable. The project's latest version, 5.0.0, is based on Debian 13. "New foundation - now based on Debian 13 Trixie. Completely redesigned utilities with modern graphical interfaces: MiniOS Installer - installation made even easier! MiniOS Configurator - more configuration possibilities. Drive Utility - universal tool for working with storage devices. Session Manager - session management. Kernel Manager - easy switching between kernels. Architectural improvements: Transition to live-config instead of minios-boot. Standard Debian kernel with Secure Boot by default. MiniOS custom kernel with AUFS available via Kernel Manager. Interface became even more beautiful: Updated icon theme with 20+ new application icons. GRUB now supports multilingual interface. General visual improvements. Localization: Added Indonesian language support. Updated translations for 7 languages. Expanded documentation" Additional details are offered in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
MiniOS 5.0.0 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 2976kB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
CachyOS 250824
The CachyOS team has announced the release of the distribution's August snapshot. The new release adds an option to install the Niri window manager and automated Btrfs boot environments. "The installation medium (ISO) now also uses the LTS kernel instead of the latest stable kernel, since the ISO needs to boot reliably without graphics-related issues. Using the LTS kernel could cause future compatibility gaps - for example, when new AMD or Intel GPUs require a newer kernel. If needed, we'll consider bundling a second kernel in the ISO to ensure users with the latest hardware can boot and install smoothly. We've added a new desktop option to the online installer: Niri WM. We maintain a small set of dotfiles to provide a good out-of-the-box experience. Choosing the GRUB bootloader with Btrfs as the filesystem will now automatically enable bootable snapshots, matching the behavior we already provide with Limine. This improves user experience and stability in case a package update doesn't play nicely with your hardware." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 3,273
- Total data uploaded: 48.1TB
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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) |
Do you have any containers running on your computer?
In our Questions and Answers column we talked about running containers. A container is an isolated environment for installing software that is not meant to be a part of the host operating system. Containers provide guest environments for running software from other distributions, experimenting with new packages, and doing development work we might want to port to another system. This week we would like to know if you are running any containers?
If you are running containers, let us know in the comments which container manager (such as Podman or Distrobox) you are using.
You can see the results of our previous poll on running Debian or one of its children in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Do you run any containers?
| Yes - one: | 102 (7%) |
| Yes - many: | 272 (19%) |
| No - none: | 1052 (74%) |
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| Website News |
Donations and Sponsors
Each month we receive support and kindness from our readers in the form of donations. These donations help us keep the web server running, pay contributors, and keep infrastructure like our torrent seed box running. We'd like to thank our generous readers and acknowledge how much their contributions mean to us.
This month we're grateful for the $118 in contributions from the following kind souls:
| Donor |
Amount |
|---|
| J S | $50 |
| Jonathon B | $10 |
| Sam C | $10 |
| Joshua B | $7 |
| Brian59 | $5 |
| Chris S | $5 |
| Chung T | $5 |
| Joe Football | $5 |
| John B | $5 |
| TaiKedz | $5 |
| J.D. L | $2 |
| PB C | $2 |
| aRubes | $1 |
| Colton D | $1 |
| Stephen M | $1 |
| Kai D | $1 |
| Lars N | $1 |
| Shasheen E | $1 |
| William E | $1 |
* * * * *
New distributions added to database
Archriot
Archriot is a project developing various tools that combine the Arch Linux distribution with the Hyperland tiling window manager into an Archriot operating system. Its features include a Go binary installer with atomic operations and instant rollbacks, privacy (with no telemetry tracking or corporate data harvesting), carefully crafted dark themes, and modern development tools and environments, such as Fish shell, Zed editor and Neovim. Archriot provides a small-sized ISO image with an automated installer program that downloads and installs all the necessary components of the distribution. It can also convert an installed Arch Linux-based system into Archriot with the help of an installation script.
Catbird Linux
Catbird Linux is a desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's "Unstable" branch and featuring the minimalist dwm window manager. It is designed for more technical users with needs for media creation, web scraping or software programming. The distribution includes content creation software (Audacity, GIMP, ImageMagick, Inkscape, OBS-Studio, Shotcut, LibreOffice), various data science and artificial intelligence tools, Go and Lua programming languages, and many powerful command-line tools. Catbird Linux is built primarily to run as a live environment from a flash drive, although various options to install it to hard drive are also provided.
Kamuriki Linux
Kamuriki Linux is a Debian-based, desktop-oriented distribution designed for lightness and ease of use. It deploys the LXQt desktop environment with a classic Windows-like look and feel and it also provides the Wine compatibility layer which enables some Windows applications to run under Linux. The distribution supports English and Japanese languages.
Kamuriki Linux 3.11 -- Running the LXQt desktop
(full image size: 4.6MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Ventoy LiveCD
Ventoy LiveCD is a minimalist, single-purpose live CD designed to install the Ventoy application on Windows system. It is based on Porteus Kiosk and uses the Openbox window manager. It can be useful in cases where the standard installation of Ventoy on Windows fails due to Windows-specific restrictions on some low-level operations. Ventoy, an open-source application that facilitates the creation of bootable USB drives from ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x) and EFI files, is a useful utility for those who frequently install or test Linux distributions or other open-source operating systems.
Ventoy LiveCD 1.1.07 -- Running the Openbox window manager
(full image size: 517kB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Xebian
Xebian is a Linux distribution based on Debian's "Unstable" branch and featuring the Xfce desktop. It comes with a slightly modified default configuration, inspired by Xubuntu, and a third-party icon theme. Xebian closely resembles a Debian blend, with only a thin layer for artwork and configuration that differs from Debian.
Xebian 2025-08-11 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 317kB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
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New distributions added to waiting list
- VailuxOS. VailuxOS is an Ubuntu-based distribution running the GNOME desktop with a minimum amount of applications. The desktop uses a theme and layout meant to feel familiar to former Windows users.
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 1 September 2025. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
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| Archives |
| • Issue 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 |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Bluewhite Linux
Bluewhite Linux was an unofficial port of Slackware Linux to the x86_64 processor architectures.
Status: Discontinued
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