 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 18, 6 October 2003 |
Turbolinux turns 10
Turbolinux still has a name behind it. After reporting about the upcoming release of Turbolinux 10 Desktop, many other English language news sites picked up the story and deemed it newsworthy enough to run it on their own sites. This was somewhat surprising, considering that Turbolinux is now nothing more than a Japanese distribution catering almost exclusively for their domestic market (and China). Gone are the days when Turbolinux was a respectable player on the global market place (last time I heard, the company's US office was reduced to one support person). However, even in Japan, the distribution is an increasingly marginal player -- that's despite their effort to develop specifically for high-end users, while focusing on server and AMD64 editions of Turbolinux.
Will Turbolinux recover their former glory? A careful look at the release announcement shows signs of desperation. Firstly, Turbolinux went from version 8 (released in July 2002) to version 10, skipping 9 altogether and giving themselves a dubious honour of being the first well-known distribution to enter the era of double-digit versioning schemes. Secondly, they have made a risky decision to ship with a pre-release 2.6 Linux kernel (2.6.0-test5 to be exact). While Linux enthusiasts will no doubt applaud the decision - after all the product is a less critical "Desktop" edition - there will be those who will call it irresponsible to base the product on a poorly tested, pre-release kernel version. Thirdly, the release announcement goes out of its way to stress that the product is the ultimate Windows-to-Linux migration tool, clearly targeting those businesses which have never used Linux on their desktops before.
All in all, Turbolinux's version 10 marks a critical point in the distribution's long history. A quality release, coupled with effective marketing could indeed revive the distribution. Failing that, the first double-digit distribution version might be Turbolinux's last.
Distributions playing name games
Last week, the parent company of the Trustix Secure Linux distribution announced bankruptcy. This is an extract from a story, as told by one of the main Trustix developers, Erlend Midttun: "On July 25, Christian [Haugan Toldnes] got laid off and I went down to a 25% position. About a month later, I got laid off too. We have since maintained Trustix Secure Linux totally on a voluntary basis. The distribution as such is open source but the name is the property of Trustix AS, so we must continue the development under another name. We have found Tawie Server Linux (aka TSL :) to be the name we prefer." It is always a pleasure to report that a project is still alive and well, even if the company behind it goes out of business. This is one of the wonders of GPL.
But Trustix wasn't the only distribution undergoing a name change last week, even the much more popular SUSE AG found a valid reason for a name adjustment - from SuSE Linux to SUSE LINUX: "As part of the overall effort to update our look, it was felt that upper casing all of SUSE LINUX brought more attention to the name.", asserts Joseph Eckert, SUSE's VP of Corporate Communications. Let's take a look at some other distributions that have changed their names, continued under a new name or where the developers of an original project were forced to start a new project under a different name:
- Best Linux --> SOT Linux
- Caldera Open Linux --> SCO Linux
- Enoch Linux --> Gentoo Linux
- FreeLoader Linux --> eLearnix
- Kondara MNU/Linux --> Momonga Linux
- miniwoody --> Bonzai Linux
- Red Hat Linux --> Fedora Project
- Redmond Linux --> Lycoris Desktop/LX
- SuSE Linux --> SUSE LINUX
- Trusted Debian --> Adamantix
- Trustix Secure Linux --> Tawie Server Linux
If you know of any others, please mention them bellow.
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| Released Last Week |
Dyne:bolic 1.1
The Dyne:bolic project has released a new bugfix version of Dyne:bolic GNU/Linux: "Version 1.1 is already out as a bugfix release, including fixes to the nesting mechanism and to the openmosix clustering, encryption support back in the mail program and better handling of X resolutions. Every user is encouraged to upgrade thru the 'spawn' tool present in dyne:bolic." See the announcement on the distribution's web site and a complete changelog in this mailing list post.
Definity Linux 2.0
The final version of Definity Linux 2.0 has been released. That's according to very brief messages on the distribution's home page and its mailing list (both links in Portuguese). Definity Linux is a commercial Brazilian distribution based on Slackware Linux.
Quantian 0.4
Quantian 0.4 has been released: "The most recent version 0.4 is the result of three test releases since version 0.3, and corresponds to the last release 0.3.9.3." From the ChangeLog: "Comprises newer 2.4.22 kernel, a new OpenMosix patch and updated software throughout. Added RPy, ipe, giac, gap-character-tables, kile, lush, felt, mpb, wajig for the Gap CAS, kile, ent, added fonts for texmacs, and removed comedi as we do not have a matching kernel module for it." Check out the Quantian web site for more information.
Oralux 0.05
Oralux, a Knoppix-based distribution for visually impaired persons, is now available: "Based on Knoppix 3.3 (2003-09-24). Emacspeak Festival MBROLA (EFM) is included. It supplies an English or French software synthesis. The Castillan Spanish or German files of the DECtalk software can be automatically installed. If the alsa driver is required, the alsa cheatcode will be typed once, and will be automatically restored for the following boots. The introductory menu is now available in 4 languages (Castillan Spanish and German have been added). Selecting another item in the menu: up or down arrow keys. Repeating an item: left or right arrow keys." See the announcement on the distribution's web site.
CRUX-PPC 1.1+
A community contributed, PPC edition of CRUX 1.1+ is now available. From the README file: "CRUX 1.1 for PowerPC platform with packages updated to September 2003. Some packages are added or modified to support special PPC features and some others are added from the CRUX 1.2 tree (e.g. gtk2, atk, pango and xchat2). The system boots on NewWorld machines. Updated install.txt to reflect the needed changes. Note that CRUX-PPC includes support for cvsup and httpup because it can use cvsup for the clc ports or zhware ports, but httpup is needed for the official 'base' and 'opt' ports."
stresslinux 0.2.6
stresslinux is a new distribution in out database: "stresslinux is a minimal Linux distribution that runs from a bootable CDROM or via PXE. It makes use of some utilities such as stress, cpuburn, hddtemp, lm_sensors, etc. It is dedicated to users who want to test their system(s) entirely on high load and monitor the health of these systems." Version 0.2.6 is now available; visit the distribution's web site for more information and its changelog for a complete list of changes.
Development Releases
Unannouced Releases
- Sorcerer 20030930; this is a new Install/Rescue ISO image, Sorcerer's first stable release since May 2002.
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Turbolinux 10
Turbolinux has announced the release of Turbolinux 10 Desktop. Skipping version 9 and inventing a term "High Windowsability" in the process, some of the notable features in Turbolinux 10 include complete Japanese support, interoperability and file sharing with Windows, and Turbo Update. Turbolinux 10 is the first distribution shipping with the new 2.6 kernel series (2.6.0-test5) as the default kernel and it also comes with KDE 3.1.3 and GNOME 2.4 desktop environments, as well as a number of commercial applications, including Acronis Partition Expert, StarSuite 7, ATOK X Japanese input server and a range of Japanese true type fonts. Turbolinux 10 will be available in two editions - Desktop, retailing at ¥15,800 (US$143) and Desktop Basic, selling for ¥3,980 (US$36); both editions are available for pre-order. Find out more in the official press release, on the distribution's product page and in this brief review with screenshots by ZDNet (all of the above links are in Japanese). Turbolinux 10 Desktop will start shipping on 24 October 2003.
SuSE Linux 9.0
SuSE Linux has officially announced the release of SuSE Linux 9.0, which will become available on 15 October in Europe and 24 October in other parts of the world. What's new? "Q: What are the three most important new features of SUSE LINUX 9.0? A: The installation tool of SUSE LINUX now enables resizing of hard disk partitions containing Windows 2000 and XP systems in order to make room for Linux. OpenOffice.org has made a giant leap ahead, and the support of Athlon 64 brings the advantages of 64-bit computing to your home office." The above comes from a brief interview with SuSE's Director of Distribution Development, Chris Schläger (also available in German). Read the official press release - in English or German.
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| Web Site News |
Many thanks to Eric Roosendaal for his effort to translate parts of the site into Dutch. The popularity page of the statistics section has now been updated to include the latest side-by-side page hit ranking statistics. This section be updated automatically every Saturday. There is an issue which prevents the main page from being displayed correctly on screen resolutions of 800x 600 pixels. Please bear with us while we are trying to find a suitable solution to accommodate both the visitors and the site's sponsors.
New additions
- Aurora. Aurora SPARC Linux is Red Hat-based Linux distribution ported to the Sun Microsystems' SPARC architecture.
- stresslinux. stresslinux is a minimal Linux distribution that runs from a bootable CDROM or via PXE. It makes use of some utilities such as stress, cpuburn, hddtemp, lm_sensors, etc. It is dedicated to users who want to test their system(s) entirely on high load and monitor the health of these systems.
New on the waiting list
- DietLinux is a distribution based on dietlibc. It contains a 2.4.x/2.6.x linux kernel, minit as init, embutils and some GNU stuff.
- The BBLCD Toolkit is a toolkit for building your own bootable Linux CD from your favourite distribution.
- knopILS is an Italian modification of Knoppix.
Removed from the waiting list
- MiniCD - its web site has not been updated since 17 March 2003.
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of distributions in the database: 179
- Number of discontinued distributions: 24
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 67
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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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Imagineos
Imagineos (formerly GoblinX) was a bootable live CD distribution based on Slackware Linux. The primary goal for Imagineos was to create a more pleasant and functional desktop, standardising all icons and themes to make it easy for novice users to learn about available applications.
Status: Discontinued
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