 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 25, 24 November 2003 |
SUSE LINUX 9.0 FTP Edition
Several users have suggested that DistroWatch should be slightly more "newbie-friendly" by providing some more basic content in an easy-to-understand language. Since SUSE has just released their complete 9.0 distribution to the FTP servers (and mirrors), perhaps a simple installation walk-through for those who have never done it will be useful.
Firstly, you have to meet some basic conditions before you can start:
- You have to have a broadband connection. There is no way to install the FTP edition of SUSE LINUX via a modem connection, even if you have plenty of patience.
- If your broadband connection is of a PPPoE type (i.e. requires username and password to log in), you will not be able to proceed with installation. A good workaround is to buy a broadband router with a built in DHCP server; they are inexpensive, easy to setup in a web browser and save you plenty of time and hassles.
Now follow these steps:
- Find an available, complete mirror before you start the installation (SUSE provides a list of German and international mirrors). Once you find one, you need to get its IP address by "pinging" the FTP server. This you can do by typing 'ping ftp.suse.com' (replace 'ftp.suse.com' with the mirror of your choice) on the command line (this command works both in Linux and in DOS) and record the numerical string you receive (in the ftp.suse.com example, this would be 195.135.221.130). Write it down, because you will need this number later. Be smart and don't use the main SUSE FTP server to install SUSE Linux.
- Besides recording your chosen mirror's IP address, you will also need to write down the exact path of the 9.0 directory on the server. In case of SUSE's main FTP server at ftp.suse.com, this would be 'pub/suse/i386/9.0', but each mirror is different, so get the right path from the mirror you chose to use. Write it down.
- Download the boot.iso image which you can find in 9.0/boot directory of your chosen mirror. On ftp.suse.com this image would be here. Its size is 22,708,224 bytes.
- Burn the ISO image onto a CD. In case you don't have a CD burner, you can initiate the installation from a set of floppy disks downloadable from the same directory as the ISO image. The process is considerably more involved, so read the README files (also available in the same directory) before you proceed.
- Boot from the CD, select the "Install SUSE LINUX" option and follow the instructions. They are logical with the only "gotcha" being the need to load the correct kernel module (hardware driver) for your network card. This is done from the main menu, but you will need to know the exact name of your network card's kernel module. Get out the relevant documentation and be prepared to search the Internet to find the answer.
- Once your network card module is loaded, you will be able to access the FTP server you chose previously. Just select "Network" as your type of installation, select "FTP" as your source, fill in the IP address and path you have written down in the first two steps and you are ready to go.
If you've never installed Linux before, you will be pleased to know that SUSE's 9.0 installer is now able to resize a Windows XP partition, create some empty space and setup your boot loader to dual boot Windows and SUSE. Once you get to a stage where the installation program starts downloading and installing the necessary files, you can take a long break - even with a broadband connection and a fast mirror, count on at least 3 hours before the default installation with KDE and OpenOffice completes. Also please note that SUSE no longer ships the NVIDIA driver, which you will have to download and install separately if you want 3D capabilities. The NVIDIA module compiles cleanly on SUSE Linux 9.0, but you will have to install the kernel sources (with YaST, SUSE's configuration utility) before attempting to compile the NVIDIA drivers.
Once you get to know and enjoy SUSE, and end up using it on a regular basis, consider buying the full boxed product. Those in North America can take advantage of Amazon's current special on the SUSE Linux 9.0 Professional edition at US$38.95 (update: this special is no longer available and the price is back at US$64.99), which includes the most comprehensive documentation of any Linux distribution by far. SUSE LINUX is also rapidly rising in terms of usage, especially due to recent unpopular policy changes at Red Hat and apparent lack of quality control at MandrakeSoft.
Whatever you do, have a lot of fun :-)
Screenshot: SUSE LINUX 9.0 Download Edition
(full image size 264kB)
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| Released Last Week |
ADIOS 2.00
The ADIOS project has released ADIOS 2.00, a Red Hat-based live CD developed by the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane: "ADIOS boot CD version 2.00 November 2003 now has support for LIDS (Linux Intrusion Detection System) and SELinux. The ADIOS live CD uses a compressed loopback filesystem and has support for UML (User Mode Linux) virtual machines. It is a custom installation of Red Hat 9 running kernel 2.4.22 and supporting X11 windows desktop environments of KDE, Gnome and IceWM. The ADIOS live Linux boot CD ISO images are located at the download site /iso/adios. Previous versions of ADIOS and addendums are also available. Before starting, read the ADIOS BootCD Installation Guide. Here is as example of ADIOS BootCD Resource web page."
Knoppix 3.3-2003-11-19
A new version (3.3-2003-11-19) of the Knoppix live CD has been released. From the changelog: "V3.3-2003-11-19 (Updates) - vpnc (Open Source Cisco client); prelink; qt3-designer; lots of updated packages; removed, for space reasons: selfhtml, sodipodi, abiword, karbon."
SystemRescueCd 0.2.8
A new version of SystemRescueCd has been released. From the changelog: "The system can be installed on an USB stick (128 MB or better); added network tools: iptraf, nmap, pppoeconf, netcat; added support for i810-FrameBuffer (for Dell laptops); updated QtParted to 0.4.1_pre4 (many bugfixes), QtEmbedded to 3.2.3; DAR (Disk Archiver) to 2.0.0; Clam-AntiVirus to 0.65; Ntfsprogs to 1.8.0, ChkRootKit to 0.42b; removed the warning at kernel boot about cud driver; added testdisk, unace, smartmontools, ren, rename; made ISO smaller (removed translation files); an HTML version of the manual is available from the CD-ROM; fixed problems in the FI (finish) keymap." See the distribution's web site to find out more about the project.
Puppy Linux 0.7.8
This is a new release from the Puppy Linux project: "Puppy live-CD version 0.7.8 uploaded. The ISO is now 41MB, and has the 'kitchen sink' in it, including Mozilla web browser and Scribus desktop publishing. Release notes: To run Puppy, just burn the cd-puppy.iso to CD and boot up your PC from the CD. This version of Puppy runs in a 48M ramdisk. Yes, Mozilla, Scribus, everything, the entire filesystem, is in the ramdisk, so no application has to ever be loaded off the hard drive. This means speed, speed, speed! Puppy so far has been developed on a Redhat 8.0 host, however I am now going to investigate rebuilding Puppy from scratch using Slackware 9.1. Slackware is designed to run on a minimum 586 class CPU. Also, I plan to design Puppy to run on PCs with very little RAM, as little as 32M. I'm reluctant to predict anything, as this is basically a fun project and I follow whims, but roughly this is what to expect in the next release." See the complete release announcement.
Debian GNU/Linux 3.0r2
The second revision of Debian Woody has been officially released: "This is the second update of Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (codename 'woody') which mainly adds security updates to the stable release, along with a few corrections of serious bugs. Those who frequently update from security.debian.org won't have to update many packages and most updates from security.debian.org are included in this update. Please note that this update does not produce a new version of Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 but only adds a few updated packages to it. There is no need to throw away 3.0 CDs but only to update against ftp.debian.org after an installation, in order to incorporate those late changes. Upgrading to this revision online is usually done by pointing the 'apt' package tool to one of Debian's many FTP or HTTP mirrors." See the the official announcement for a complete list of changes.
SUSE LINUX 9.0 Download Edition
As reported in last week's DistroWatch Weekly, SUSE LINUX 9.0 is now available for FTP/HTTP installation directly from remote servers. The usual download rush has made many mirrors hard to access, but you can try your luck by searching for an available one on these lists of German and international mirrors. Installation is not difficult; first download the boot.iso (21.7MB) and burn it onto a CD, then boot from it and let the installation program guide you through the process. If you get stuck, you can refer to our earlier review of SUSE LINUX, which includes instructions for FTP installation and other helpful hints.
Development Releases
Unannounced Releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
College Linux 2.5
College Linux has announced an imminent release of version 2.5, based on Slackware Linux 9.1: "CollegeLinux 2.5. is scheduled to be released on the 30 November next. Still finishing the last details, but it will be worth the wait."
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| Web Site News |
New additions
- ViruX. ViruX Linux Live CD is a Swedish distribution based on Linux from Scratch and Knoppix. The ViruX web site is in Swedish. The addition of ViruX has brought the number of distribution in the DistroWatch database to 200.
New on the waiting list
- AnNyung. AnNyung is a Korean Linux distribution based on Red Hat Linux.
- LIIS Linux. LIIS Linux is a Latvian Linux distribution based on Skolelinux.
- gnUserLinux. gnUserLinux is a new Debian-based distribution by Bruce Perens. It's pronounced "User Linux", the gn is silent but present in the written form. The name is meant to mean "GNU Linux with the User in the middle." Find out more in What Would UserLinux Look Like? and UserLinux – The Leaning Linux Tower of Babel? by LinuxWorld.
- Correction: KDLC is a Vietnamese Linux live CD based on Mandrake, not on Knoppix as we incorrectly reported last week.
Removed from the waiting list
- BlueSock Linux has not updated their web site since the release of beta 1 on 20 June 2003.
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of distributions in the database: 200
- Number of discontinued distributions: 25
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 71
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| Reader Feedback |
On categorising distributions
This is an updated list which will be used to create a searchable database of distributions based on various categories. Some of the suggested categories have been rejected; as an example, categorising distributions based on memory requirements is difficult since many distributions provide minimum requirements for various usage scenarios. Other rejected suggestion was an "ease of use" category, which is too subjective to have any useful meaning and "speed" category, which would require some extensive benchmarking (and watch for the flames if Gentoo happens to end up on any position other than the very top :-)).
- Package management (RPM, DEB, TGZ, SRC...)
- Parent distribution (Red Hat, Debian, Slackware...)
- Architecture (Intel, PowerPC, Alpha, AMD-64...)
- Target hardware (i386, i586, i686, old hardware...)
- Target focus (Server, Desktop, Firewall, Security, Multimedia, Educational, Children...)
- Language (Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese...)
- Installation type (text mode, graphical, live CD, floppy-based...)
- Free download (yes, no)
- Default desktop environment (KDE, GNOME, IceWM, Fluxbox...)
If we left out any category that you would like to see included, please comment below.
On Timesavers
Last week's call for a volunteer coder to take over Timesavers has resulted in 4 applications. One of the applicants has already started investigating the file layout and he seems to have accepted the challenge, so things should start moving forward shortly. We'll keep you up-to-date with the progress.
That's all for today, 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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Slavix
Slavix was an operating system based on Debian, KNOPPIX and Morphix. Its purpose was to make it easy for anyone to switch to GNU/Linux and start using free (as in freedom) software. Slavix was oriented towards a home computer user. It was a live CD system so it was possible to run it CD-ROM without having to install anything to a hard drive. All you need to do was burn the Slavix image file to a CD, put it in your CD-ROM and reboot. It will start up, auto configure itself and in about 3 - 5 minutes it's ready to use. Slavix will not touch your hard drive or mess with you data. A hard disk installer was included and it was fairly easy to use.
Status: Discontinued
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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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