 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 3, 23 June 2003 |
| How dead is a Linux distribution? |
Last week, I received an angry email from the makers of ELX Linux. The writer, who is the company's "Info Manager" complained that our information on the ELX Linux page saying that ELX Linux "appears to be dormant" was wrong and alleged that their company had "suffered lost reputation and monetary damage" as a result of this statement. The author of the email demanded that we "take corrective action immediately".
I have been a regular visitor at the ELX web site, its forums and mailing list since the launch of the distribution. It succeeded in attracting media attention and all looked very impressive in the beginning, but as time progressed, many aspects of the distribution started losing their glitter. The ELX Linux mailing lists and forums are the best indication of the general decline. Once active and vibrant, both have been deserted for some months and offers of Italian crafted Rolex watches now dominate the proceedings. You can count on fingers of two hands the number of forum posts over the last few months. You won't need any fingers to count how many times an ELX Linux representative responded to users' posts. Registering for a bugzilla account gives you an unusable password, a fact that was reported on the mailing list many months ago. The news section carries "tabloid" stories such as "ELX emerges as popular OS in Brazil" (do these guys really believe what they write?), while the release announcement of ELX 2.0 in January this year was restricted to two sentences and a link to the "Buy Now" button. The online store is excited to inform you that "last few days remain for this special offer", except that those last few days have already lasted for almost 6 months. The list goes on...
It's a pity. ELX Linux is actually a very nice distribution (at least the 1.0 BizDesk, which is the only freely available edition) and during the times where the mailing lists were still active, many users complimented the product. But a Linux distribution is not just a mass of programming code and the relationship between the distribution makers and users does not end with the moment of the CDs being handed over to a post office clerk. The term "Linux distribution" refers to a complete experience that includes interaction with the developers and other users long after the credit card transaction is concluded. Any commercial distribution that doesn't make an effort to create a community and doesn't interact with users, does not deserve your patronage. Who cares if ELX is popular in Brazil if my KOffice crashes at startup?
In retrospect, the Info Manager at ELX Linux was right - this site's information that their distribution appears dormant is indeed incorrect. It would be much more accurate to say that "ELX Linux does not bother with updates of their web site, does not respond on their mailing lists and forums, provides a bug tracker where nobody can log in, does not issue security advisories and bug fixes, makes no release announcements and delivers no information about planned releases". Until this company gets their act together, you'll be better off saving your money for a distribution that does value their users.
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| Released Last Week |
Source Mage 0.6 was one of the new releases last week. Source Mage GNU/Linux is a source-based distribution similar to Gentoo in its philosophy and implementation; its main advantage over Gentoo is simpler initial installation and setup, while most developers will find that creating bash-based spells, as opposed to Python-based ebuilds, is generally more straightforward. On the negative side, Source Mage doesn't quite have the same number of users and developers as Gentoo and the documentation has yet to reach the quality and wealth of its more famous counterpart. If you are interested in an overview of source-based Linux distribution, these two links might be helpful: Source Based Distributions, Part 1 and Part 2.
Two other stable releases were also announced last week. Bonzai Linux has reached version 2.0, covered in more detail in the "Web Site News" section below, while Cosix Linux announced the release of version 4.0. Cosix is a Beijing-based Linux company that has been around for several years, but the distribution is not particularly popular with Chinese users and version 4.0 offers little exciting to change that fact.
Several development versions were released last week; these include ROCK Linux 2.0.0 beta5, MoviX2 0.3.0rc1 and e-smith SME Server 6.0 beta2. A lot of activity has also been spotted on the Conectiva developer pages as the distribution prepares for the release of an "Update1" to their two months old Conectiva Linux 9. This version was reportedly less than spectacular in terms of stability, hence the reason for the unprecedented update. It is interesting to note that the upgrade process is done with apt-get - "apt-cdrom add && apt-get dist-upgrade" after inserting the update CD will bring your system up to the Update1 level. If you understand Portuguese, you can find more information on these pages.
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| Expected This Week |
It seems that we will see a new LindowsOS release this week, after all. The entire Lindows web site is currently shut down and the reason is that "our web site is down for a major upgrade to provide support for our exciting new LindowsOS 4.0 release." Originally, there was a message claiming that Lindows.com will re-open on Monday and LindowsOS 4.0 will be released on Tuesday, but this message has now been replaced with a more generic and less error-prone "soon" word. The latest Michael's Minutes (the original link before the site closed was here) dispenses many grand claims and "world's firsts" about LindowsOS 4.0, but if you read closely you will find that most of the "exciting new features" are rather ordinary. Then again, it might be because most of us are not in marketing... If you are interested in LindowsOS 4.0, check what other users are saying on this unofficial forum of Lindows users, before spending money on what looks like one of the more expensive Linux distributions around.
ARMA, formerly known as Omoikane GNU/Linux, has announced the release of version 2.2 later this week. ARMA is a Japanese Debian-based distribution which has turned completely commercial and no freely available editions have been provided since version 2.1. The ARMA 2.2 press release in Japanese is available here.
The first release candidate of Trustix 2.0 is likely to be announced on Monday. The ISO images were released last Saturday, so check out one of the Trustix mirrors if you are interested in beta testing.
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| Web Site News |
Last week's only new addition to the database was Bonzai Linux. What is Bonzai Linux? Developed by Marcus Moeller and formerly known as "miniwoody", it seems to be a modified version of the Debian "netinst" boot CD. This CD was introduced shortly before the release of Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (Woody) and was designed for FTP or network installation of the Debian distribution. There are several differences between the original Debian boot CD and Bonzai Linux. Firstly, the Bonzai Linux CD is a complete stand-alone distribution with the latest version of the Linux Kernel and KDE included. The installation is enhanced by the presence of "discover", which is Debian's hardware auto-detection program and it also has a much simplified package selection menu for software installation. Unlike Debian proper, Bonzai Linux boots straight into KDE by default.
Besides using Bonzai Linux as a stand-alone distribution, it is easy to convert it into full Debian after installation. As such, some users might find it a preferred method to install Debian due to its hardware auto-detection and simplified package selection. However, Bonzai Linux does not come with a newbie-friendly, point-and-click graphical installation program and most people who install Bonzai Linux will more than likely be able to install standard Debian as well. Nevertheless, it does save time by not having to wade through the Kernel modules dialog and Debian's archaic package selection program known as "dselect".
Some of you might have noticed a period of excessive downtime of DistroWatch over the weekend. This was due to a planned network upgrade and relocation by the hosting company - they physically moved all their servers into a new building. The expected downtime was 1.5 hours, but something obviously didn't go as planned and the downtime stretched to about 12 hours. This unfortunately broke the immaculate uptime record of the Debian server hosting DistroWatch. However, the hosting company promises much improved service and lightning-fast network after the change, so hopefully things will work out to everybody's satisfaction.
Three new distributions were added to the waiting list since last week's DistroWatch Weekly; these were Medialinux, Puppy Linux and System Down. If they are still active in 90 days, they will be included in this site's database. But the world of Linux distributions is also full of failed attempts and the web sites of Brazil's Luminux Linux and Spain's Linuxin have now been inaccessible for some time. If any of the readers have information about them, please email us, otherwise they will be moved into the "Discontinued Distributions" section next week.
DistroWatch database summary:
Number of distributions in the database: 150
Number of discontinued distributions: 18
Number of distributions on the waiting list: 33
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| Reader Feedback |
Many users reported last week that package lists for Gentoo's stable and unstable branches were missing for several days. All seems back to normal now, but these sort of things will happen from time to time. Gentoo's web site provides complete package lists, but these are split into many categories, which makes them hard to access. Fortunately, one of the Gentoo developers kindly agreed to supply DistroWatch with a one-page text-based list of all packages in both branches. A script generating this list was returning errors for a few days before it was fixed - hence the reason for missing package versions.
That's all for this week, see you next Monday,
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • 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 |
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| Random Distribution | 
Phayoune Secure Linux
Phayoune Linux was a live distribution based on Linux From Scratch and optimised for USB storage devices. Besides standard desktop software, it also includes a variety of server applications, including a firewall, web server, mail server, database server, file server and application server.
Status: Discontinued
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