 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 13, 1 September 2003 |
Cool Linux - not just a cool name
Cool Linux is an excellent live CD. If you are getting tired of the endless stream of "new", modified Knoppix-based bootable CDs , then you might be pleasantly surprised by the latest release candidate of Cool Linux, version 2.3. It is based on Red Hat Linux, but it excludes KDE and GNOME, while providing the light-weight IceWM as its only graphical environment. As a result, the CD includes many applications that tend to be left out from other live CDs due to space limitations, such as Blender and VMware (trial edition). Cool Linux also includes the NVIDIA drivers, it has superior hardware auto-detection and it comes with a choice of two Linux kernels to boot from. Cool Linux is an expertly designed distribution for general purpose workstations.
And it comes from Russia. Created by Andrei Velikoredchanin, Cool Linux originally started as an after-hour Linux experiment on the computers that belonged to the author's employer. According to an older interview, Andrei couldn't afford to buy his own computer, so he stayed at work late to create what he called "Emergency CD", a command-line-only, bootable rescue tool kit based on Red Hat Linux. This he later expanded into a general purpose live CD with a cool name. You can find the project's descriptions, screenshots and download locations on this page.
Konnichiwa, LindowsOS
Those of you who find the Lindows.com marketing strategies and the company's constant barrage of press releases a little too omnipresent at times might not know that Lindows.com has recently turned its attention to the Japanese consumer. Yes, Lindows.com is expanding and Japan has been deemed fit for a mass migration to LindowsOS. These days, hardly a day goes by without a Lindows.com announcement in the Japanese Linux media with last week's launch of the Japanese edition of LindowsOS 4.0 dominating many headlines. As always, a picture is worth a thousand words so check out this photo essay to get the feel of the launch atmosphere and to see what the excitement is about.
Will Lindows.com succeed in generating a decent income from its Japanese operation? Japan is not the easiest market to conquer during the best of times, which these are clearly not, and many domestic Linux companies are struggling to attract paying consumers. Sure, Japan is a technologically advanced nation, so it is hardly surprising that Linux is so big over there; the country's publishing houses produce no fewer than six different monthly magazines with exclusive Linux content and accompanying CDs and DVDs. The bookstores are well stocked with books on Linux. But like most people in many other parts of the world, the Japanese are also more likely to download a free distribution from the Internet than to subscribe to Click-N-Run. Still, you have to give Lindows.com credit for boldly going where so many others have failed. We will keep an eye on the company's progress in the land of the rising sun and revisit the subject in a future issue of DistroWatch Weekly.
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| Released Last Week |
Damn Small Linux 0.4.5
Damn Small Linux 0.4.5 was released. Changes: "For 0.4.5, there is now generic printer support. Fluxbox and most X applications are running under user 'damnsmall' instead of root. For convenience, I added sudo. I also added Microcom (a very small serial terminal emulator). And for the kids, I added Oneko. 0.4.5 has a bug fix; now the swap partition should be properly recognized which makes DSL more compatible with low ram systems. There is another browser added in 0.4.5, a tabs and frames enabled, patched version of Dillo (still only 335k and very fast!). Finally, there are a few small desktop enhancements...I remapped the icons so that they fit in the smallest resolution setting. I made the enhance feature smarter, so that it will not launch duplicate applications, but will bring bbpager into theme compliance. There is a new theme: FoggyNight..."" Find out more from the release notes and package list.
Kurumin Linux 2.02
A new bug fix release of Kurumin Linux came out last week. New in version 2.02 is the inclusion of ALSA 0.9.4 drivers, libraries and modules, updates to glibc 2.3.2, cdrtools 2.0a16, k3b 0.9 and xine 1-rc0a and a downgrade of samba to version 2.2.3a, among other changes. See the Kurumin 2.02 page (in Portuguese) for further information about what else is new in this version.
MoviX 0.8.0
MoviX 0.8.0 was released: "After exactly 8 months of tests and prereleases, the stable 0.8.0 version of MoviX is finally available! Hope it won't take 9 months for 0.9.0 ;-) There are a few important changes from 0.8.0rc2: better remotes support; reduced system size; Italian translations (thanks to Walter Sammarchi). Till now only Hauppauge and Logitech remotes are supported. Everyone is invited to send to me or post on the forums configuration files for more remotes. This should be trivial for (Win)Lirc users, and I'll post soon a tutorial for all others. A new pre-release series should be out by the weekend, less stable but with new nice features, so stay tuned!" Find out more on the distribution's project page.
Development Releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Aurox Linux 9.1
Aurox Linux has been expanding its web site, creating multi-lingual user forums and translating parts of it into other languages, including English. A new version is currently under development: "Aurox Linux is a European Linux distribution, published in 5 languages and available in 11 countries. Aurox Linux 9.1 will be available in September."
Red Hat Linux Beta
Red Hat has announced that new information concerning the Red Hat Linux project will be made available before 15 September 2003. This came as a reaction to a lengthy thread on the beta mailing list where some testers expressed dissatisfaction with Red Hat's failure to adhere to the original beta release schedule and lack of openness about the delay, despite the initial intent. According to some comments on the list, one of the reasons delaying the second beta version, originally scheduled to be released on 18 August, was a planned inclusion of the new GNOME desktop environment, version 2.4.
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| Web Site News |
RE: Page Hit Ranking changes
Thank you all for comments regarding the Page Hit Ranking changes. The idea of only ranking those distributions which have been around for at least one year has met with plenty of resistance and has been discarded. Everything is back to the original format. But the experiment did serve a useful purpose - if in the future there are still people who complain that the ranking is unfair, at least I have a page where I can direct them to read your opinions.
Discontinued distributions
- Beehive Linux is no more: "If you got redirected here trying to get to beehive.nu, well it's gone. For good. Really. Probably. My primary reason for starting a Linux distribution at the time (late 2000) was simply that RedHat, SuSE, and yes Debian were full of crap in the base install that we didn't need or want when building servers in a server farm. That and darn little was optimized for hardware built in this millennium. So fine, I'll make my own. It was a huge amount of work for one guy (you have no idea how much), but it was mostly fun - except for compiling Gnome, which is a tangled nightmare. And it was rewarding to steadily climb up the world rankings at distrowatch.com to a high of #9 in the world. My reasons for stopping Beehive are 1) Mac OSX simply kicks ass as a desktop. Been using it as my only desktop since 10.0 came out. No more futzing with configs, things just work. 2) Gentoo works well enough, and it's reasonably easy to mod the build configs for a given package (Apache, MySQL, Postgres, etc) to put the install where I want it. Overall it's 'good enough' and the Portage tool is really nice. So there you have it. It was fun, but I have better things to do with my life."
- Dynasoft Linux, a Chinese distribution has also been moved to the "Discontinued Distributions" section. It's web site has been inaccessible for several weeks.
New additions
- Freepia is small GNU/Linux distribution designed to run on VIA EPIA-M mainboards. It currently only runs on the M-9000 and M-10000 (ezra and nehemia CPU) but with some modifications like kernel and X11 modules it should run on others too. The main goal of this project is to build a full-featured, low-noise media box to play movies, MP3s, images, etc. It uses freevo as its media viewer, but in the future there may be support for others, like mythtv or vdr.
New on the waiting list
- DebToo is Debian, Gentoo-style or Debian recompiled for your system. Why?
You get Debian's benefits, like their stellar package management, with *completely* optional optimization.
- Gentoox is Gentoo for the Xbox.
- Navaho Linux is a Linux distribution, loosely based around Red Hat Linux, that has been tuned to provide a platform with the highest performance, stability and security to support the Navaho Server Suite.
- Overclockix is a new Knoppix-based live CD.
- Plan B is a bootable Linux environment based on a basic, stripped installation of Red Hat Linux and the fundamental workings of the SuperRescue CD.
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of distributions in the database: 169
- Number of discontinued distributions: 24
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 63
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| Reader Feedback |
Reader's comments will return next week.
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 | 
GALPon MiniNo
GALPon MiniNo was a lightweight, Debian-based distribution designed for PCs that are 10 years old (or more), though it's also perfectly usable on modern computers and netbooks. It contains a carefully tuned selection of applications that try to maintain a balance between features, ease of use and speed. IceWM with ROX-Filer and PCManFM provides the desktop. The distribution has full support for three languages (English, Galician and Spanish) and it also comes with "magic icons" - a set of tools that automate repetitive or system tasks (e.g. rotate or resize hundreds of digital images, convert audio or video files into other formats or burn an audio CD with a simple drag & drop).
Status: Discontinued
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TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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