 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 6, 14 July 2003 |
Linux Journal Reader's Choice Award - a Joke?
Are you going to vote in this year's Linux Journal Reader's Choice Award? Unlike many other web sites which bend over to send visitors to vote in the survey, I say don't bother. Why? Because the choices given in the survey were put together several years ago and the Linux Journal editors haven't kept up with the ever changing Linux world - instead they mostly maintain the same survey choices as last year and the year before. Take the "Favorite Distribution" section as an example. No less than 16 (that's over one third!) of the distributions listed are long dead or unmaintained (Antarctica, Armed, Caldera, Corel, Jurix, Progeny, Stampede, Storm...) and should have not been kept on the list, while others have changed names (Best, Redmond), but their names have not been updated. Some extremely popular distributions (such as Knoppix) are missing and so are some reasonably widely-used ones (Xandros, LindowsOS). Curiously, a new Knoppix-based distribution called Mepis has somehow managed to sneak onto the list!
Similarly, the "Favorite Linux Web Site" section lists sites that no longer exist (Linux Applications, segfault.org), while last year's most popular "write-in" site - PCLinuxOnline - has still not been given a proper voting option. All this shows that the Linux Journal editors don't take the Reader's Choice Award seriously enough to give it a thorough revision each year and neither should we. If you are going to submit a vote, I suggest you scroll down to the bottom of the page and give the magazine a wake-up call - a two-year old survey is not the way to go!
Categorising Linux Distributions
One excellent way of categorising Linux distributions (at least the binary ones) is by their package management. This document offers a comparisons of all main package formats - RPM, DEB and TGZ, together with Stampede's SLP (no longer in development) and UNIX's PKG formats. The table compares many aspects of each format, including security features, usability and metadata, to name a few. Certainly worth a bookmark.
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| Released Last Week |
DeLi Linux
One of the more interesting distributions released last week was DeLi Linux. Immediately after the announcement on the front page, the page hit count on the DeLi Linux page soared spectacularly, approaching levels that Mandrake or Red Hat pages get shortly after new releases. This makes me wonder - is the old PC a neglected market? How many of us have an old computer lying idly in the cupboard? Unfortunately, Red Hat 9 won't even install on anything with less than 64MB of RAM (double that for a graphical install) and many other distributions no longer bother with these low-end systems. Has anybody tried DeLi Linux 0.3? Any opinions are welcome.
SuSE Linux
On the other end of the spectrum is the latest SuSE Linux 8.2 for AMD Athlon 64, the beta of which was released last week and, unlike SuSE's ix86 branch, it is freely downloadable. Out of curiosity - are these 64 bit systems getting deployed? Anybody has any experience with them? Most importantly, would you like to see future release announcements about them on the front page? Let us know...
LindowsCD
Lindows has released a live CD distribution called LindowsCD. The US$30 price tag is disappointing - a couple of weeks ago there was a message on the Lindows user forums indicating that this CD would be offered to all as a free download. However, users report that there is a way to obtain it for free - all you have to do is to sign up for the 15-day trial, which gives you download access to the LindowsOS installation CD, live LindowsCD and unlimited access to Click-N-Run for the duration of the trial. You do need a credit card to sign up, but it won't be charged if you cancel within the trial period. Sign up by visiting this page and creating an account - it's a risk-free way of trying out LindowsOS without a commitment.
Other Releases
Two new releases were announced last week - Morphix 0.4 and Plamo Linux 3.2. This release of Plamo Linux was specially prepared for inclusion in the August issue of the Nikkei Linux magazine, which also features a comprehensive review (in Japanese) of this distribution. Plamo Linux is a Slackware-based distribution, which has been in development since 1998; visit the distribution's web site (Japanese only) for more information.
Development Releases
- Arch Linux 0.5 beta - a quiet release, the ISO is available from the download page.
- Vector Linux 4.0 beta was announced on the Vector Linux announcement list - if you'd like to test it, get the ISO image by following the download link on Vector's web site.
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
LinuxInstall.org 1.4
"LinuxInstall.org would like to make two announcements. Firstly, LinuxInstall.org is re-organizing release numbers. Release 1.0 becomes Release 1.1, Release 2.0 becomes Release 1.2 and Release
3.0 becomes Release 1.3. Secondly, LinuxInstall.org 1.4 will be released on July 21st. It will include Mozilla 1.4 and Evolution 1.4 as well as OpenOffice.org 1.1RC. Mozilla 1.4 RPM package included in this release was recompiled only with xft option to be fully compatible with existing FlashPlayer, RealPlayer and Java plugins. In addition, MPlayer
will be added with QuickTime Plugin enabled for Mozilla. For current LinuxInstall.org users, these new core packages will be available for free."
Mandrake 9.2 Beta
According to a rough schedule released last month, the first beta of Mandrake Linux 9.2 should be released shortly, while the 9.2 final release is expected in the middle of September.
Red Hat X?
An observant member of a Red Hat mailing list spotted a new item on the Barnes & Noble.com list of new books - Red Hat Linux X Bible. Scheduled for publication in October this year, the title has given rise to usual speculations about future naming schemes and release schedules of the Red Hat distribution. Unfortunately, Red Hat has become a lot less predictable when it comes to various aspects of their distribution, so the book might just be a publisher's guess, subject to last minute changes. But what about the release date? Red Hat indicated some time ago that a less frequent (annual?) release schedule might be a more practical way of producing community releases. If we don't see a new beta version within the next month or so, it will be fair to say that this is indeed the case.
Xandros Desktop 1.1
According to this forum post, Xandros Corporation has apparently informed their resellers about a new upcoming release - Xandros Desktop 1.1. The product will retail for US$39 and will include Crossover Office 2.0, OpenOffice.org 1.0.3, Mozilla upgrade to version 1.3.1 and Active Directory authentication. A Spanish OEM version will also be available. A Xandros employee confirmed the release in a later post and explained some of the raised concerns: "There is no reason for current users to purchase this upgrade unless you want the new CrossOver. Everything else on the CD is either already available through Xandros Networks (device drivers, etc..), or will be available quite soon (we're working on that right now). This is essentially equivalent to a service pack. This is not a major release that requires news posted all over the website." I suspect that most Xandros users and fans will strongly disagree with the last sentence.
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| Web Site News |
Site updates
The package list has been updated. A total of 22 new, frequently requested packages have been added to the database and these will be tracked from now on in the usual manner; the new packages are: apt4rpm, BitTorrent, blender, cinelerra, coreutils, db, eclipse, exim, freetype, ipvsadm, jakarta-tomcat, k3b, lftp, libvorbis, NetBeans, qtparted, quanta, scribus, synaptic, tcpdump, vsftpd and zlib. (A hint to all those readers who have requested the addition of quanta and other packages - there is no reason why you should delay your joining the Timesavers now, right?) The number of tracked packages has risen to 174. Additionally, a new feature giving a brief package description has also been implemented - if unsure about the purpose of a package, just hover your mouse over its name on any of the distribution tables and a pop-up message will give a brief hint (this feature should work in most browsers).
The related links page has also been expanded. It presents long lists of links to Linux distributions and projects that are currently excluded from being listed on DistroWatch, such as floppy-based or embedded Linux distributions. The page will be continuously updated and if you know of a distribution that should be listed there, please email me directly or mention it in the discussion forum below.
Discontinued distributions
- LRs Linux has been discontinued: "LRs GNU/Linux is no longer available, this project is closed. Thanks to all our user and developer it was a nice time with you. Bernd Eller aka berell."
- Madeinlinux has also been moved onto the Discontinued Distributions page. Although their web site is still reasonably active and it has been promising a new version 5.0 for over 6 months, their last release dated January 2001 is just too outdated to be usable.
New additions
No new distributions have been added to DistroWatch last week.
New on the waiting list
Another good week for new distribution submissions; the following projects have been added to the waiting list:
- AbulEdu - a French educational distribution based on Mandrake.
- Berry Linux - a Japanese live CD project based on Red Hat 9 and Knoppix 3.2.
- Drinou-Linux a French project, a minimal distribution based on Slackware 7.1.
- guadaLINEX - a live CD developed by the Spanish regional government of Andalucia, based on LinEx and Debian.
- Locust Mesh AP Linux - a live CD project, currently in development.
- stresslinux - a minimal linux distribution running from a bootable cdrom or via PXE. It is designed for users who want to test their system on high load and monitor its health.
- ThePacketMaster (TPM) Linux - a live CD distribution with security and forensic utilities.
DistroWatch database summary
Number of distributions in the database: 154
Number of discontinued distributions: 20
Number of distributions on the waiting list: 48
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| Reader Feedback |
About the waiting list
- "The waiting list is growing and growing. Distros are blooming, some of them very small and specific. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised to see more distros in the waiting list than being tracked some time soon. Do you have any ideas on this respect?"
Based on my experience, about half of them won't survive the 3-months waiting period. As an example, take the PlumpOS project at - the author emailed me with a request to list his distribution, but 3 months later, the project page has a blurb about some other interesting projects taking priority over PlumpOS. This is usually the first sign of the project being on life support, so don't be surprised if the current release candidate never matures into a final release. Other projects appear to be in a similar situation. I'll keep them on the waiting list for another 3 months and if I don't see any new activity, I'll drop them from the list.
On DistroWatch icons, logos and banners
- "I have created a banner, not sure where i should send it in to, I'll give you a link, tell me what you think."
The banners:
 
Anybody else with some ideas? Having a choice would be nice :-) All reasonable efforts will be rewarded with a free access to DistroWatch Timesavers, so if you have a graphics design talent, please fire up your favourite image editor and get creative! Thanks a lot :-)
That's all for this week, keep well and see you next Monday,
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1033 (2023-08-21): MiniOS 20230606, system user accounts, how Red Hat clones are moving forward, Haiku improves WINE performance, Debian turns 30 |
| • Issue 1032 (2023-08-14): MX Linux 23, positioning new windows on the desktop, Linux Containers adopts LXD fork, Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ form OpenELA |
| • Issue 1031 (2023-08-07): Peppermint OS 2023-07-01, preventing a file from being changed, Asahi Linux partners with Fedora, Linux Mint plans new releases |
| • Issue 1030 (2023-07-31): Solus 4.4, Linux Mint 21.2, Debian introduces RISC-V support, Ubuntu patches custom kernel bugs, FreeBSD imports OpenSSL 3 |
| • Issue 1029 (2023-07-24): Running Murena on the Fairphone 4, Flatpak vs Snap sandboxing technologies, Redox OS plans to borrow Linux drivers to expand hardware support, Debian updates Bookworm media |
| • Issue 1028 (2023-07-17): KDE Connect; Oracle, SUSE, and AlmaLinux repsond to Red Hat's source code policy change, KaOS issues media fix, Slackware turns 30; security and immutable distributions |
| • Issue 1027 (2023-07-10): Crystal Linux 2023-03-16, StartOS (embassyOS 0.3.4.2), changing options on a mounted filesystem, Murena launches Fairphone 4 in North America, Fedora debates telemetry for desktop team |
| • Issue 1026 (2023-07-03): Kumander Linux 1.0, Red Hat changing its approach to sharing source code, TrueNAS offers SMB Multichannel, Zorin OS introduces upgrade utility |
| • Issue 1025 (2023-06-26): KaOS with Plasma 6, information which can leak from desktop environments, Red Hat closes door on sharing RHEL source code, SUSE introduces new security features |
| • Issue 1024 (2023-06-19): Debian 12, a safer way to use dd, Debian releases GNU/Hurd 2023, Ubuntu 22.10 nears its end of life, FreeBSD turns 30 |
| • Issue 1023 (2023-06-12): openSUSE 15.5 Leap, the differences between independent distributions, openSUSE lengthens Leap life, Murena offers new phone for North America |
| • Issue 1022 (2023-06-05): GetFreeOS 2023.05.01, Slint 15.0-3, Liya N4Si, cleaning up crowded directories, Ubuntu plans Snap-based variant, Red Hat dropping LireOffice RPM packages |
| • Issue 1021 (2023-05-29): rlxos GNU/Linux, colours in command line output, an overview of Void's unique features, how to use awk, Microsoft publishes a Linux distro |
| • Issue 1020 (2023-05-22): UBports 20.04, finding another machine's IP address, finding distros with a specific kernel, Debian prepares for Bookworm |
| • Issue 1019 (2023-05-15): Rhino Linux (Beta), checking which applications reply on a package, NethServer reborn, System76 improving application responsiveness |
| • Issue 1018 (2023-05-08): Fedora 38, finding relevant manual pages, merging audio files, Fedora plans new immutable edition, Mint works to fix Secure Boot issues |
| • Issue 1017 (2023-05-01): Xubuntu 23.04, Debian elects Project Leaders and updates media, systemd to speed up restarts, Guix System offering ground-up source builds, where package managers install files |
| • Issue 1016 (2023-04-24): Qubes OS 4.1.2, tracking bandwidth usage, Solus resuming development, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS offers preview of Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1015 (2023-04-17): Manjaro Linux 22.0, Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Arch Linux powering PINE64 tablets, Ubuntu offering live patching on HWE kernels, gaining compression on ex4 |
| • Issue 1014 (2023-04-10): Quick looks at carbonOS, LibreELEC, and Kodi, Mint polishes themes, Fedora rolls out more encryption plans, elementary OS improves sideloading experience |
| • Issue 1013 (2023-04-03): Alpine Linux 3.17.2, printing manual pages, Ubuntu Cinnamon becomes official flavour, Endeavour OS plans for new installer, HardenedBSD plans for outage |
| • Issue 1012 (2023-03-27): siduction 22.1.1, protecting privacy from proprietary applications, GNOME team shares new features, Canonical updates Ubuntu 20.04, politics and the Linux kernel |
| • Issue 1011 (2023-03-20): Serpent OS, Security Onion 2.3, Gentoo Live, replacing the scp utility, openSUSE sees surge in downloads, Debian runs elction with one candidate |
| • Issue 1010 (2023-03-13): blendOS 2023.01.26, keeping track of which files a package installs, improved network widget coming to elementary OS, Vanilla OS changes its base distro |
| • Issue 1009 (2023-03-06): Nemo Mobile and the PinePhone, matching the performance of one distro on another, Linux Mint adds performance boosts and security, custom Ubuntu and Debian builds through Cubic |
| • Issue 1008 (2023-02-27): elementary OS 7.0, the benefits of boot environments, Purism offers lapdock for Librem 5, Ubuntu community flavours directed to drop Flatpak support for Snap |
| • Issue 1007 (2023-02-20): helloSystem 0.8.0, underrated distributions, Solus team working to repair their website, SUSE testing Micro edition, Canonical publishes real-time edition of Ubuntu 22.04 |
| • Issue 1006 (2023-02-13): Playing music with UBports on a PinePhone, quick command line and shell scripting questions, Fedora expands third-party software support, Vanilla OS adds Nix package support |
| • Issue 1005 (2023-02-06): NuTyX 22.12.0 running CDE, user identification numbers, Pop!_OS shares COSMIC progress, Mint makes keyboard and mouse options more accessible |
| • Issue 1004 (2023-01-30): OpenMandriva ROME, checking the health of a disk, Debian adopting OpenSnitch, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1003 (2023-01-23): risiOS 37, mixing package types, Fedora seeks installer feedback, Sparky offers easier persistence with USB writer |
| • Issue 1002 (2023-01-16): Vanilla OS 22.10, Nobara Project 37, verifying torrent downloads, Haiku improvements, HAMMER2 being ports to NetBSD |
| • Issue 1001 (2023-01-09): Arch Linux, Ubuntu tests new system installer, porting KDE software to OpenBSD, verifying files copied properly |
| • Issue 1000 (2023-01-02): Our favourite projects of all time, Fedora trying out unified kernel images and trying to speed up shutdowns, Slackware tests new kernel, detecting what is taking up disk space |
| • Issue 999 (2022-12-19): Favourite distributions of 2022, Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releasing security patches for 16.04, Haiku working on new ports |
| • Issue 998 (2022-12-12): OpenBSD 7.2, Asahi Linux enages video hardware acceleration on Apple ARM computers, Manjaro drops proprietary codecs from Mesa package |
| • Issue 997 (2022-12-05): CachyOS 221023 and AgarimOS, working with filenames which contain special characters, elementary OS team fixes delta updates, new features coming to Xfce |
| • Issue 996 (2022-11-28): Void 20221001, remotely shutting down a machine, complex aliases, Fedora tests new web-based installer, Refox OS running on real hardware |
| • Issue 995 (2022-11-21): Fedora 37, swap files vs swap partitions, Unity running on Arch, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for more devices |
| • Issue 994 (2022-11-14): Redcore Linux 2201, changing the terminal font size, Fedora plans Phosh spin, openSUSE publishes on-line manual pages, disabling Snap auto-updates |
| • Issue 993 (2022-11-07): Static Linux, working with just a kernel, Mint streamlines Flatpak management, updates coming to elementary OS |
| • Issue 992 (2022-10-31): Lubuntu 22.10, setting permissions on home directories, Linux may drop i486, Fedora delays next version for OpenSSL bug |
| • Issue 991 (2022-10-24): XeroLinux 2022.09, learning who ran sudo, exploring firewall tools, Rolling Rhino Remix gets a fresh start, Fedora plans to revamp live media |
| • Issue 990 (2022-10-17): ravynOS 0.4.0, Lion Linux 3.0, accessing low numbered network ports, Pop!_OS makes progress on COSMIC, Murena launches new phone |
| • Issue 989 (2022-10-10): Ubuntu Unity, kernel bug causes issues with Intel cards, Canonical offers free Ubuntu Pro subscriptions, customizing the command line prompt |
| • Issue 988 (2022-10-03): SpiralLinux 11.220628, finding distros for older equipment and other purposes, SUSE begins releasing ALP prototypes, Debian votes on non-free firmware in installer |
| • Issue 987 (2022-09-26): openSUSE's MicroOS, converting people to using Linux, pfSense updates base system and PHP, Python 2 dropped from Arch |
| • Issue 986 (2022-09-19): Porteus 5.0, remotely wiping a hard drive, a new software centre for Ubuntu, Proxmox offers offline updates |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
BunsenLabs Linux
BunsenLabs Linux is a distribution offering a light-weight and easily customizable Openbox desktop. The BunsenLabs distribution is based on Debian's Stable branch and is a community continuation of the CrunchBang Linux distribution.
Status: Active
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View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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