 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 999, 19 December 2022 |
Welcome to this year's 51st issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
As we approach the end of 2022, we'd like to take a moment to look back and reflect on this past year. There have been a lot of developments in the open source community recently, in particular the expanding adoption of up and coming technologies. Wayland and PipeWire in particular are seeing more use in cutting edge distributions. We are also seeing a rising in interest in immutable operating systems, beyond their usual deployments on mobile devices and container servers. This week we would like to begin with a look back at some favourite Linux-based operating systems of 2022. Jesse Smith walks us through his top picks for the year, covering a range of categories in our Feature Story. Which category of Linux distributions interests you the most? Let us know what types of projects you like to hear more about in this week's Opinion Poll. In our News section we talk about Fedora planning a spin featuring the Budgie desktop. We also report on UBports releasing a security update for its mobile operating system and Haiku building new ports of popular open source applications. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we share tips on recovering from a situation where the main user account has lost sudo access and is no longer able to perform administration functions. Also in this issue we share a list of people who are sponsoring DistroWatch with their donations and share our appreciation for their support. Plus we are pleased to list the new distribution releases of the past week and share the torrents we are seeding. This will be our final DistroWatch Weekly of 2022, we will resume publication on January 2, 2023 and hope you're join us then. We wish you all a wonderful week, a safe holiday for those who celebrate, and happy reading!
Content:
|
| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Favourite distributions of 2022
Over the span of a year I end up reviewing about 50 Linux distributions here, on DistroWatch, and often try various others to get a feel for what is happening in the open source ecosystem. As I browse the open source community for new gems I make note of projects which are particularly good at delivering a great experience. A year ago I shared my top picks of 2021 and this year I'd like to repeat the experience, sharing my favourite distributions and the projects which I feel are the most polished of all the operating systems I reviewed in 2022.
Last year my cup overflowed with promising, powerful, and solid experiences. I identified seven distributions which performed very well and which I'd recommend for either beginners or, in some cases, more experienced users looking for a smooth experience. Plus, I talked about a cool meta-distribution: Bedrock Linux which, while not a Linux distribution in the usual sense, I found quite useful.
This year was less fruitful as I searched for the best and most interesting open source operating systems; I identified just three of the projects I reviewed which I felt performed well enough for me to, without reservation, recommend. While my list of favourites is short this year, it does cover a wide range of computing situations.
* * * * *
Linux Mint 21
Without a doubt, the best general purpose, desktop distribution I ran this year was Linux Mint 21. Mint has a well earned reputation for being easy to set up. It offers a consistent, traditional desktop layout across its three edition - Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce - and the project provides five years of security updates.
Linux Mint is sometimes referred to as "Ubuntu done right", meaning it takes the strong base of Ubuntu with its huge software repository and wide range of hardware support and tweaks it to better suit desktop users. I find this view to be consistently accurate. The Mint team is highly responsive to community feedback and frequently identifies and fixes problems with its Ubuntu parent distribution. This allows Mint to publish an operating system which benefits from Ubuntu's strengths while avoiding issues the community raises with Ubuntu.
As a result, Mint tends to be lighter, faster, and include more useful desktop applications than its parent. It includes utilities which its users have helped improve over the years through feedback and ships with a desktop layout most computer users (particularly those migrating from Windows) will find familiar.
Linux Mint 21 -- The welcome screen
(full image size: 710kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
One of the things I enjoy about Mint is it checks a lot of feature boxes. If we were to draw a Venn diagram with long term support, backports, user friendliness, expansive hardware support, a friendly setup experience, support for filesystem snapshots, Flatpak built-in, and useful custom utilities then Linux Mint would sit comfortable in the centre of this diagram.
What is perhaps more impressive though is I've been testing Mint releases for a dozen years and each one has fit this description. Mint is unusually consistent in its high quality. Most Linux distributions have some good releases and some less stellar ones as new technologies are introduced or new approaches are tried. Mint has, at least in my test environments, always performed well and usually offers one of my best experiences of the year whenever there is a new release. It is almost always the distribution I recommend to both new and experienced Linux users.
* * * * *
Tails 5.x
The next distribution on my list is Tails and it is in an entirely different category of distribution from Mint. The Tails project aims to provide anonymous web browsing, communication, and file sharing. There are a few characteristics which set Tails apart from other distributions. Tails tries to provide privacy by default, rather than having the user manually set up a VPN, Tor browser, or file sharing tools. Tails provides these features out of the box.
The Tails distribution is typically run from live media rather than being installed on the hard drive of a computer and disconnecting the DVD or USB drive from the computer effectively wipes the user's tracks from the machine.
While Tails deals with some complex topics (such as anonymous web browsing, file sharing between computers on the Tor network, and private communication) the distribution is unusually easy to use. The provided tools are all set up with sane defaults and are designed to be point-n-click easy, even by less experienced users. With Tails you can plug in the USB stick, boot the computer, and everything should just work.
Tails isn't foolproof, of course, and I appreciate the project is up front about this in their documentation. Some Linux distributions make bold claims about being immune to viruses, impossible to track, or anonymous when on-line. They are not, of course - at least not entirely, but their websites often over-hype the claims. The Tails project is much more responsible in their claims, explaining what the distribution's tools do, but also what they do not do and what the weak points of the experience are.
Tails 5.0 -- Tails running the GNOME desktop
(full image size: 65kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
I tried out Tails earlier this year and found the included utilities all worked as advertised, the distribution's defaults were mostly geared toward being both secure and useful, and all the included software was easy to use. In the past, I've occasionally had problems with earlier versions of Tails. Typically where secure file transfers were concerned or sometimes with unusually sluggish desktop performance. With the launch of Tails 5.x, I tried the distribution again and found all the problems I'd had in the past were cured and everything ran smoothly.
I was impressed with Tails 5.x, its documentation, its features, and its stability. This is not a general purpose desktop distribution, but it is user friendly and ideal for people who need to communicate or access information on-line while remaining anonymous.
* * * * *
Murena /e/OS 1.0
So far in my list I've covered general purpose desktop computing and secure on-line communication. I'd like to shift focus again and talk about a mobile operating system which impressed me in 2022. The Murena project published /e/OS 1.0 this year (followed by a number of point releases) and made their mobile operating system available on a range of Android phones, including OnePlus, Fairphone, and Pixel devices.
There are a lot of positive things I can say about the Murena project. Perhaps the easiest way to sum it up is that earlier I referred to Linux Mint as "Ubuntu done right". In the same vein Murena is Android done right. Murena is open source, swaps out Google apps and services for open source alternatives which do not track the user or phone home with telemetry, and provides private alternatives to Google's on-line storage, e-mail, and file sync options. In short, Murena is what Android would be like if it was a mobile operating system for users rather than a cluttered ad platform which happened to run apps.
Murena 1.0 -- Browsing widgets and privacy settings
(full image size: 372kB, resolution: 1080x2340 pixels)
At its core, Murena's /e/OS is Android, meaning it runs Android apps. It has the same settings panel, runs on most of the same devices, and can install applications from F-Droid and the Play store. However, it does away with the ads and tracking. Plus, it offers anonymous browsing options out of the box. It's a cleaner, faster, more privacy focused phone operating system.
I've tried each /e/OS release from 1.0 through 1.4 and each one has proven to be fast, stable, and efficient. Sometimes I find myself borrowing Android or Apple phones from friends, or helping troubleshoot issues on other mobile devices. The Murena experience is so much cleaner and pleasantly distraction free in comparison.
* * * * *
This was my list of favourite projects for 2022. It's a shorter list than last year's, mostly because (I feel) I had the opportunity to run fewer projects in 2022 which didn't have some odd problems or quirks. For instance, Void and Redcore Linux might have made my list had sound worked out of the box on these distributions - I feel they deserve honourable mentions for being interesting, unconventional, and pretty good despite being outside of the mainstream.
What was your favourite distribution of 2022? Let us know in the comments.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releases security patches for 16.04, Haiku builds new application ports, Debian updates install media
Fans of both Fedora and the Budgie desktop received some good news this week. The Budgie desktop was packaged for the Fedora distribution fairly recently, making it possible to install the sleek desktop environment on an existing Fedora installation. Ben Cotton has announced that Fedora may soon get an official Budgie spin, making it easier for people to get started with Budgie right out of the box. "Budgie Desktop and its respective components (Budgie Desktop View, Budgie Control Center, Budgie Screensaver) is officially maintained by Joshua Strobl, the lead of the Buddies of Budgie organization and a newly proposed Budgie SIG. Budgie Desktop was introduced in Fedora 37. A Fedora Budgie spin would be a valuable addition to Fedora's existing spins, providing Budgie Desktop users with the ability to use their favorite desktop environment with a leading operating system."
* * * * *
The UBports team is nearing the release of a major upgrade, transitioning the base operating system from Ubuntu 16.04 "Xenial" to Ubuntu 20.04 "Focal". While the focus is on moving to the newer base, the older 16.04 platform continues to receive updates, including security fixes. "OTA-25 will arrive very soon and will consist almost solely of security fixes for Xenial. Although Xenial is end of life, there are some upgrade packages which can still be applied and we will aim to import all of those to the latest versions for that distribution. It will therefore be quite a big download. After this, there will be only Focal development. Our aim is to get Focal out around the end of December or perhaps into January. There is no absolute promise, so go easy on us. At this stage, we only have certainty about a small number of devices being able to run it but we are confident that the list will grow." Additional information on changes coming to the mobile platform and the upgrade to 20.04 can be found in the project's blog post.
* * * * *
The Haiku team have been working on bringing new software and features to their lightweight, graphical operating system. The project is adding a few new applications and key software packages, including Audacity and the Epiphany web browser: "davidkaroly did a lot of work on the recipe for Audacity, which more or less works at this point and might appear in HaikuDepot before too long. 3dEyes committed recipes for the new Wayland compatibility layer written by X512, and adjusted GTK3 to build against this instead of against waddlesplash's X11 compatibility layer. He then updated or added a lot of other GTK-related recipes, culminating in the addition of gtkwebkit and Epiphany (aka. GNOME Web), which is the most capable browser seen on Haiku yet: it is much more stable than Falkon, and supports complex but common websites with YouTube without much ado (and without crashing or hanging frequently like the other browsers available before this were generally prone to.) It does require installing quite a lot of packages (as GTK is not especially lightweight), however. Other GTK-based applications have been trickling in to HaikuPorts as well." A complete overview of work going into Haiku can be found in the project's newsletter for November 2022.
* * * * *
The Debian project has published updated install media for Debian 11 "Bullseye". The new media, labelled Debian 11.6, includes security fixes, but is not a new version of the distribution. "The Debian project is pleased to announce the sixth update of its stable distribution Debian 11 (codename bullseye). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available."
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Recovering sudo access
Locked-out asks: I made a typo and accidentally removed my user from the sudo group when trying to add myself to another group. Now I can't boot into recovery mode and don't know how to rescue the situation. My root account is locked.
DistroWatch answers: Basically it sounds like you don't have access to the root account, your distribution's recovery mode isn't working, and you've effectively disabled sudo access for your user? That's a tough position in which to find yourself.
You probably have three options at this point. One is to reboot your computer and, at the boot menu, edit the default entry. (Usually you can edit the selected entry by pressing Tab.) At the end of the boot command, add the text:
init=/bin/sh
Then press the Enter key.
On most systems this will boot you into a limited shell as the root user. From there you can run commands to restore the system. This could involve adding your user to the /etc/sudoers file or adding your user back to the sudo group. The latter is probably the better option and can be done on most systems with the adduser command, for example this would add my user, Jesse, to the sudo group:
adduser jesse sudo
When you are finished making changes, you can run the reboot command to restart your computer and confirm the change worked.
Another approach you can take is to boot your computer from a live disc or USB thumb drive. When your live system loads, you can open your file manager and use it to mount your local hard drive. Then edit the /etc/sudoers file to add your user. This bit is trickier to walk people through the process because each live disc will use a different set of tools and your hard drive will be labelled differently depending on how you set up your distribution.
The key though is that you will have root access on the live disc and this will allow you to browse your computer's hard drive and make changes as the root user. This assumes your hard drive isn't encrypted though.
The third option I mentioned is to re-install your operating system and restore your files from a backup. This is probably the most time consuming option, but it's one that will work when every other possibility has been exhausted.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
Kaisen linux 2.2
Kaisen Linux is a rolling release, Debian-based desktop distribution. The project aims to be useful for IT professionals and includes a set of tools for system administration. The project's latest release is version 2.2 and it rolls back or simplifies a few features: "zsh is no longer the default terminal for Kaisen Linux! It was since the first release of Kaisen Linux the default terminal, but the majority of users asked for the return of Bash by default, which has been done on this release. Several polls on the different social network pages have been done for this. However, it is still installed as it was before (with oh-my-zsh), and it is possible to reset it to the default. The documentation is here: ZSH on Kaisen Linux. The Conky theme is no longer installed by default with the GUIs, but is a separate package named kaisen-conky, which is no longer installed by default. The reason for this is that user feedback was not unanimous about the default presence of Conky on Kaisen Linux and therefore it is now considered a 'goodie' and can be installed optionally." Additional details can be found in the project's release announcement.
Kaisen Linux 2.2 -- Running the MATE desktop
(full image size: 139kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
XeroLinux 2022.12
XeroLinux, a distribution added to DistroWatch recently, has been updated to version 2022.12. XeroLinux is based on Arch Linux and uses KDE Plasma as the preferred desktop. Some of the features of the distribution include the Calamares installer, various under-the-hood tweaks and optimisations, built-in support for community-built AUR packages as well as Flatpak packages, and the availability of various desktop and bootloader themes developed in-house. The project's files page on SourceForge lists some of the recent changes: "A new ISO image is now live. Important changes: MHWD (Manjaro's Hardware Detection) removed due to issues; Grub is now being used for booting the live ISO image, no more systemd boot; major under-the-hood performance optimizations made to KDE Plasma; XeroLinux Hello updated with more packages and drivers now using a script. System and package updates: Arch Linux kernel updated to version 6.0.12; Qt updated to 5.15.7; KDE Plasma updated to 5.26.4; KDE Frameworks updated to 5.101, including all packages; KDE Gear tools have been updated to 22.12."
TrueNAS 22.12.0
TrueNAS SCALE is a Deban-based network attached storage (NAS) operating system. The project's latest release, TrueNAS 22.12.0 "SCALE" introduces a bulk upgrade feature and improves upon rootless logins. "TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.0 has been released and includes many new features and improved functionality. SCALE 22.12.0 features include: Improvements to rootless login authentication methods that allow you to specify the username to connect to the remote NAS while automatically setting up keychain SSH connections. It makes /home/admin always exist and stores the SSH authorized keys in this directory. It adds API authentication when using Directory Services. This feature is a first step toward improving the local accounts feature and additional improvements are being planned for future SCALE updates. Adds a bulk Upgrade operation that updates installed applications that have available updates, adds new apps to the Available Applications catalog, and implements the overlayfs driver for Docker which improves performance over the Linux Kubernetes driver." Further details are available in the release notes.
AVLinux MX-21.2.1
Glen MacArthur has announced the release of AV Linux MX-21.2.1, the latest version of the project's Debian and MX Linux-based distribution for "content creators". Some of the changes in this version include: "The Openbox window manager is gone, replaced by native xfwm; Nitrogen is gone replaced by native xfdesktop; SLiM login manager is gone replaced by lightDM; the LXDE-based ISO build of MXDE is gone, the classic GTK+2 LXDE/Openbox is fading into oblivion; all 32-bit ISO builds are gone, I simply don't have the time for a use-case that has dwindled down to almost nothing; AVL-MXE Assistant has been broken into unbranded component utilities to be shared by AVL-MXE and MXDE-EFL; Liquorix kernel 6.0; full Xfce desktop with Compton compositing; Jeremy Jongepier's graphical RTCQS utility; added Auburn Sounds Lens plugin (free version); added Socalabs plugins; added Blender from blender.org at version 3.4.0...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
Daphile 22.12
Daphile 22.12 has been released. Daphile is a Gentoo-based Linux distribution whose primary focus is in storage and playback of a digital music library. It also enables the best possible audio quality and future-proof flexibility by providing plug-and-play support for USB connected digital-to-analog converters (DAC). The new release updates the Linux kernel and ads several new features: "2022-12-17 version 22.12 (x86_64, x86_64-rt and i486) changes: new feature - metadata editor for the CD Ripper; option to change audio device settings without restart; backup and restore for Daphile settings; Now Playing' screen - access via 'Audio Player' tab or nowplaying.html; keyboard and touch controls - arrow keys or swipe up/down for volume and left/right for rewind/forward, space or tab for play/pause; Gracenote support for CD ripping metadata removed due to license expiration; LMS update to 8.3 branch; Linux kernel update to 5.15.83 and 5.15.83-rt54; Perl upgrade to 5.34 version; Daphile built with GCC 11.3; bug fixes and component updates." Here is the complete changelog. Daphile 22.12 is available for the i486 and x86_64 architectures, with the latter one also provided with a real-time kernel option.
ExTiX 22.12
ExTiX is an Ubuntu-based distribution which is regularly released with alternative desktop environments. The latest release of ExTiX, version 22.12, features the Deepin desktop. "I've released a new version of ExTiX Deepin today (221218). This ExTiX Build is based on Deepin 20.8 released by Deepin Technology 221208. Using Refracta Snapshot (pre-installed in ExTiX) you can make your own live installable Deepin version with ExTiX 22.12 as groundwork. New functions: 1. You can run ExTiX from RAM. Use boot alternative 2 (load to RAM) or Advanced. A wonderful way to run Linux if you have enough RAM. Everything will be super fast. When ExTiX has booted up you can remove the DVD or USB stick. 2. You will have the opportunity to choose language before you enter the Deepin 20.8 Desktop. All main languages are supported. 3. I have replaced Deepin Installer with the Reborn version of Deepin Installer. Works better in every way." Additional details can be found in the release announcement.
postmarketOS 22.12
postmarketOS is an Alpine-based Linux distribution for mobile devices. The project's latest release is postmarketOS 22.12 which includes upgrades for the mobile operating system's three user interfaces: Sxmo, Phosh, and Plasma Mobile. "Sxmo 1.12.0 replaces version 1.9.0 from v22.06. This version and previous release Sxmo 1.11.0 introduced quite a few improvements for deviceprofiles and explicit support for the OnePlus 6/6T, Pocophone F1, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 (2015) and Xiamo Redmi 2. There's other cool changes too, read the original announcement posts for more information. Originally it was planned to do a Sxmo 1.10.0 release specifically for v22.06 SP3, but that version was skipped and now you're just getting all of the great improvements at once. Phosh 0.22 brings another style refresh and 10% steps for the battery info icon, as well as actions for notifications on screen. Previously we had 0.21 in v22.06 SP2. Additionally we changed the default text editor from gedit to gnome-text-editor for new installs, and ship phosh-mobile-settings. If that is too many settings apps for your taste, we hear you and have been brainstorming on how to consolidate them." These and other changes are discussed in the project's release announcement. A list of supported devices and download options can be found on the postmarketOS download page.
* * * * *
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: 2,807
- Total data uploaded: 42.7TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Which category of distribution excites you the most?
In our look back at favourite distributions of 2022, we covered three different categories of Linux distributions. One focused on mobile devices, one for private on-line communication, and one for desktop computing. We'd like to hear which category of distributions interests you the most as we stride into 2023. Is there a field of Linux development, such as gaming, desktop usage, or penetration testing that particularly holds your focus? Let us know what area of Linux development excites you in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on distributions with OEM install options in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Which distro category interests you?
| Desktop: | 1311 (68%) |
| Free Software: | 75 (4%) |
| Gaming: | 67 (3%) |
| Immutable: | 70 (4%) |
| Mobile: | 81 (4%) |
| Multimedia: | 53 (3%) |
| Penetration Testing: | 16 (1%) |
| Privacy: | 144 (7%) |
| Rescue/Forensics: | 15 (1%) |
| Server/Cloud: | 52 (3%) |
| Other: | 37 (2%) |
|
|
| Website News |
Donations and Sponsors
Each month we receive support and kindness from our readers in the forms 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 $123 in contributions from the following kind souls:
| Donor |
Amount |
|---|
| Linux Lite | $50 |
| Sam C | $10 |
| Steve W | $20 |
| Giuseppe T | $10 |
| Chung T | $5 |
| DuCakedHare | $5 |
| Matt | $5 |
| Adiel ARD | $5 |
| Joe H | $3 |
| Vory | $3 |
| J.D. L | $2 |
| PB C | $2 |
| c6WWldo9 | $1 |
| Stephen M | $1 |
| William E | $1 |
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- Shiny OS. Shiny OS is a desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. The project ships with the GNOME desktop, a traditional Firefox package, and swaps out Snap for Flatpak support.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 2 January 2023. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 5, value: US$74) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
|
