 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 61, 09 August 2004 |
Welcome to this year's 31st edition of DistroWatch Weekly. Although a somewhat slow week, there were several exciting stories, so without further ado...
Content:
Sun Mulls Buying Novell - Shop Till You Drop?
It's either too early or too late for April Fool's, so this has to be taken seriously - Sun Microsystems wants to buy Novell. At least, that's according to a story on ZDNet (and ZDNet doesn't usually kid around). Why is this so funny? Mainly because Sun can't afford it. There are a number of credible sources - like this one and this one - who seem to believe that Sun is setting fast. A quick look at Sun's share price is certainly not encouraging.
But first let's backtrack and take a look at Sun's survival scheme over the years. Certainly, most readers of DistroWatch are familiar with Sun, even if only a small percentage of you have actually used Sun's hardware and software. For those who need a refresher course, Sun came into existence in 1984, and went on to become king of the server business. Sun's main product lineup includes servers and workstations (traditionally based on SPARC processors, though Sun is now dabbling with the x86). Aside from rock solid hardware, Sun's other great claim to fame is the Solaris operating system.
Even today, a significant portion of the Internet runs on SPARC boxes, but Sun's market share has been eroding steadily mostly thanks to the increasing performance of low-cost x86 machines. On the software side, no one doubts that Solaris is a very powerful server-oriented OS, but Windows, Linux and *BSD have all become increasingly capable and feature-rich. Given that home hobbyists can now slap together a powerful server for US$500 or less, and run a free OS, where does that leave Sun?
Apparently, with a shrinking market. Which is a pity, because compared to many other big IT companies, Sun has been a decent corporate citizen. Sun offers a Linux-friendly license for Java (though it is not GPL), and the company generously donated large chunks of code from Sun StarOffice to create OpenOffice. And Sun just recently announced that Solaris 10 will comply with the Linux Standard Base (LSB), thus allowing Linux apps to run on Solaris. On the other hand, Linux users were miffed to learn that Sun was quietly paying a hefty licensing fee to SCO (though it pales in comparison to Microsoft's contribution to SCO's war-chest).
Evidently, it has dawned on Sun that the company needs to reinvent itself. With that in mind, the Sun Java Desktop System was launched in December 2003, and version 2 was released in May 2004. Despite the name, Sun JDS has little to do with Java - it's a reworked version of SUSE Linux. JDS costs US$100 and includes the StarOffice suite. When JDS was first announced, many had high initial expectations that Sun would become a formidable Linux competitor. However, JDS has been through two releases now and has received some scathing reviews. Even relatively friendly reviews have been lukewarm at best. One can only hope that Sun will get it right next time.
Growing your business by purchasing a competitor is a time-honored tradition in corporate America, but it's an expensive hobby. Novell bought SUSE last year for a mere US$210 million, but Novell itself is currently valued at a cool US$2.64 billion. Sun has estimated reserves of US$7.61 billion, a legacy from the dotcom bubble days. So Sun could come up with the cash, but the resulting Sun-Novell Microsystems had better be a highly profitable business, or there are going to be a lot of ticked off shareholders.
A more interesting question would be to ask why Sun is so keen to take over SUSE. I can think of several other excellent commercial distros on the market that Sun could probably acquire for a fraction of the price. The real motive behind the proposed Novell buy-out would appear to be to challenge IBM. There is no doubt that in the hardware business, IBM is Sun's chief competitor. Sun's COO (Chief Operating Officer), Jonathan Schwartz, always seems to have not-nice things to say about IBM - take a look at Jonathan's Blog if you need to be convinced. Schwartz speculates that IBM might very well try to buy up Novell first. IBM does have its own Unix-based operating system, AIX, but increasingly IBM is relying on SUSE Linux. Thus, if Sun took over SUSE, it would be seen as a major blow to IBM.
Or would it? How long would it take IBM to pick up another Linux partner? A lot of struggling Linux vendors out there would kill to get a contract with IBM. Of course, IBM needs more than just code - there is the support infrastructure which provides the bread and butter for both Red Hat and SUSE. Nevertheless, it seems hard to believe that IBM couldn't build the support services that are needed.
Until very recently, Sun seemed to believe that Microsoft was the enemy. After all, Sun fought Microsoft in the courts for seven years. However, those lawsuits were recently settled, and Sun got a cool US$1.6 billion out of the deal. Now Sun seems ready to use up its dwindling cash reserves in a fraticidal war with IBM. And IBM might well decide to launch an offensive itself and make a bid for SUSE. Two big companies fighting to take over a third business tends to drive up the share price, and thus the expense.
Is this any way to run a Linux business?
Novell Linux?
The annual Linuxworld Conference and Expo was held in San Francisco this week (Aug 3-5). This year's LWCE boasted 190 exhibitors and more than 90 educational sessions. One of the first talks was by Red Hat's CEO Matthew Szulik, which he ended with Mahatma Gandhi's famous quote: "First they ignore you, then laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." NewsForge has some good coverage of the show here and here.
One of the little surprises at the show came from Novell, which demonstrated a prototype of their upcoming new operating system, Novell Linux Desktop. This comes despite the fact that Novell already owns and markets SUSE Linux. Note that Novell has not finalized the name for their new OS, so it's possible that the finished product will bear a different official label (perhaps just Novell Linux). Whatever it's called, Novell expects to release the new OS sometime this autumn. Some details of the announcement can be found here.
How will Novell Linux differ from SUSE Linux? Probably the most obvious change will be that Novell Linux (like Red Hat) will focus on the Gnome GUI, as opposed KDE which is SUSE's default desktop. Unlike Red Hat, Novell will not be adopting the "Blue Curve" theme, but will instead concentrate on adopting Ximian's Gnome as the default interface. Novell acquired Ximian in August, 2003, and then acquired SUSE in January, 2004.
Novell Linux is being targeted at enterprises. One reason for adopting Gnome appears to be licensing, as it is licensed under the LGPL which some corporations prefer. Licensing is a contentious and complex issue - for RMS's take on the LGPL, you might want to take a look here. In any event, we will be looking forward to seeing just what Novell will come up with.
Coming Soon - The Xandros Server
Meanwhile, back at the Linuxworld Conference and Expo, one of the more highly-anticipated press conferences came from Xandros, which gave a sneak preview of the Xandros Desktop Management Server (xDMS) - Xandros' first attempt at building a server OS. It's still in the beta stage, but Xandros hopes to have the product ready for market by October. There are, of course, heaps of other Linux and BSD-based server operating systems around, but Xandros wants to distinguish itself from the field by offering good integration with the Xandros Desktop OS.
Entering the server business represents a big shift for Xandros, which until now has concentrated on creating a user-friendly desktop OS with built-in CodeWeavers CrossOver Office. At the conference, there was a demonstration of the newly released Xandros Desktop 2.5. There were few surprises with version 2.5 - it's basically an interim update release - but Xandros will soon be rolling out version 3.0. The release date has not been announced yet, but Xandros developers indicate it should be "later this year".
Sarge in September?
"Debian is released when it's ready." That's long been the mantra, repeated countless times on Debian mailing lists whenever anyone dares to ask, "When is the next release due out?"
Among major Linux distros, Debian has the slowest release cycle, often measured in years rather than months. The current stable distribution of Debian is Woody 3.0r2, released November 21, 2003. Even that release date is a little deceptive, because the minor point releases don't change much - Woody 3.0 was released on July 19, 2002. Everyone agrees that Woody is hopelessly out-of-date.
Those who like to live on the bleeding edge don't bother with Woody, but rather go for "Sid" - otherwise known as "Unstable" - which is the development release. Sid is in perpetual motion and it's exciting to run it - until a package breaks.
The next stable release is code-named Sarge, and Debian enthusiasts are straining at the bit to get their hands on it. But when? The developers finally broke their silent vigil and published the following schedule on Debianplanet:
- 2 August 2004 - Hard freeze of base+standard
- 3 August 2004 - Debian Installer RC1
- 8 August 2004 - Security support for Sarge begins
- 13 August 2004 - Last call for low urgency uploads to unstable
- 24 August - Freeze
... Bug squashing like crazy ...
- 15 September - Release
Debian fans are salivating at the prospect.
Munich - Disaster or Clever Strategy?
If you've been reading any of the tech-oriented web sites this week, you've no doubt already heard the news that the city of Munich, Germany, has suspended it's migration from Windows to Linux. The reason is because the city fears it could face legal liabilities due to software patents. If you did somehow miss the story, you can find all the relevant details here.
What's been missing from this story so far has been an analysis - it's a disaster for open source, right? Well, maybe not. Software patents are definitely a disaster for open source, but Europe does not yet have software patents. However, that will change unless EU members reverse the May 18 vote by the EU Council of Ministers to support a "Patent Directive". Such a vote reversal is still possible. The Netherlands has changed it's position, and only one more country needs to do the same in order to kill the Patent Directive.
On June 16, the municipal council of Munich voted to migrate 14,000 city computers to SUSE Linux despite intensive lobbying by Microsoft to stick with Windows. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer even flew to Munich for a personal visit with the mayor hoping to change the city council's mind - to no avail. So it seems ironic that the person who stopped the Linux steamroller was Green Party alderman Jens Muehlhaus, an opponent of software patents. Obviously, Muehlhaus is employing some clever strategy here - namely, to fire a loud warning shot which will, hopefully, wake up the German government which has so far supported software patents.
Few readers of this list get to vote in the EU parliament, but perhaps we should vote with our dollars? The companies most actively lobbying the EU to legalize software patents include Nokia, and members of the Business Software Alliance (see their membership list at the BSA web site. At least next time I'm in the market for a cell phone, I definitely know who I won't be buying it from.
Time to Lighten Up?
Like many readers of DistroWatch, I participate in a number of online forums, though not always under my real name. In general, I avoid political forums (unless they deal directly with technology), as people tend to get overly emotional, resulting in considerable unwarranted hostility and name-calling. Besides, technology is "my thing" - I really don't want to waste my time debating the world's many other problems. So I tend to stick to geek forums.
Unfortunately, I've seen plenty of rudeness and bickering in geek forums as well. It's amazing what some people will say online, even though they would never talk that way to your face. Protected by the anonymity of the Internet, they lose their inhibitions. One of the most common types of online abuse is directed at newbies, who wander onto geek mailing lists to ask basic questions. Almost invariably, some of the "mailing list police" strike back with a "RTFM" reply. Not surprisingly, some of the newbies decide to depart, and we never hear from them again. Which is a pity - did they deserve to be lynched? Weren't we all newbies once?
Of course, newbies aren't the only targets - I've occasionally found myself on the receiving end, though I always laugh it off. In one geek forum I expressed my views on package management (APT vs. RPM), and in return was called "a big, fat, ugly pervert." Of course, it's hardly true - I'm not big, fat or ugly (not sure how he found out about the "pervert" stuff, but let's not go there).
With the above in mind, it was with much pleasure that I stumbled upon this delightful article, Geek Battles: A Call for Perspective by Daniel R. Miessler. It's one of those articles that every online warrior ought to read. I must admit that after reading it over, I had to take a look in the mirror. If I could go back and re-read all the messages I've posted online over the years, I wonder if I wouldn't be appalled at some of the things that I've said.
So take a few moments to read the article. I found it to be good therapy.
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| Released Last Week |
Feather Linux 0.5.6
Feather Linux 0.5.6 has been released. From the changelog: "X
settings can now be autodetected - boot with "knoppix detect"; Updated
Firefox to 0.9.1, meaning that now only 6Mb is downloaded; Fixed
Firefox profile bug; Fixed Synaptic and nAIM icon bugs; Added support
for serial mice on all 4 ports; Fixed PPP root problems; Removed
e2undel (recover included already), and added stress + cpuburn; Added
link in Tools -> Scripts menu to stop the Getting Started document
appearing on boot; Fixed Midnight Commander bugs..." Download: feather-0.5.6.iso (61.7MB) and feather-0.5.6-usb.zip (60.8MB).
Hiweed-Debian Server 0.3beta1
Hiweed-Debian
GNU/Linux is a Chinese Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux.
Currently it has two branches: Desktop and Server. The Server edition
is a pre-configured server with Apache, PHP, MySQL, mail, DNS, and FTP.
Server 0.3 beta1 now supports customised installaion (but without auto
configuration yet). For example, you can choose either MySQL Server or
PostgreSQL Server to serve you database. FTP server candidates are
ProFTPd, pureFTPd, vsFTPd, and wu-FTPd. Mail server candidates are
Exim4, Postfix, and Sendmail. Apache2 are provided with optional
support of PHP4, Perl, and Python. If you choose to install Webmin, the
following modules will be auto installed according to your
customisation: apache, bind, mysql, postfix, postgresql, proftpd,
samba, sendmail, and wu-ftpd. The announcement (in Simplified Chinese). Download: hiweed-server_0.3beta1_i386.iso (118MB).
Vine Linux 3.0
Vine Linux 3.0 (code name "Valandraud") has been released: "This
is Vine Linux version 3.0. Since this is not the commercial version
(Vine Linux CR), non-free applications and fonts are not included in
the CD. Instead of proprietary Wnn7/VJE Japanese inputs and Ricoh
fonts, this FTP version contains Canna and free TrueType fonts."
Vine Linux 3.0 contains the Linux kernel 2.4.26, XOrg 6.7.0, GNOME 2.4,
Mozilla 1.7.1 and other applications. For further details and upgrade
information please see the official announcement (in Japanese) and the release notes. Download: Vine30-i386.iso (648MB).
Aurox Linux 9.4.2
Aurox Linux 9.4.2 has been released: "On our mirrors
you can find Aurox 9.4.2 - Aurox with reduced number of packages. The
whole distribution is placed on one CD. Two versions are available:
German and Polish. However, it's still possible to install and use this
version also in English. Aurox 9.4.2 contains KDE 3.2.2 (no GNOME),
multimedia, office and most popular applications. You can also download
other Aurox 9.4 packages using apt-get or yum after the installation.
The full list of packages can be found here. Note: This is NOT an upgrade release." The full announcement. Download: aurox-9.4.2-1.iso (690MB).
Development and unannounced releases
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of Linux distributions in the database: 315
- Number of BSD distributions in the database: 7
- Number of discontinued distributions: 32
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 84
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| Tips, Tricks and Hints |
Steganography
Paranoia runs in my family. It practically gallops. My grandparents (all four of them) never flew on an airplane. My father did fly, but first got himself a job developing bird-proof windshields for airplanes. One of my brothers sews velcro tabs on his pants pockets so he won't lose his wallet or keys. My other brother was the first person on his block to buy a paper shredder. And me? I'm the security nut who encrypts the swap partition of my hard disk so that the Thought Police won't be able to read it - you know, they really are out to get me.
Which brings me to the topic of this week's Tips, Tricks and Hints - steganography. As a devout paranoid, I've got things to hide. Nothing nasty, mind you, just things like credit card numbers, bank accounts, passwords, my address book, phone numbers, and those incriminating emails...well, enough said. Using the techniques of steganography, I can hide things in places where people simply don't expect to find them.
Consider this analogy - I have a big bar of gold that I want to keep hidden inside my house. Is there really any secure place where I could put it? The conventional wisdom would be to buy a safe, but burglars would surely look there first. Maybe I could hide the gold inside a wall, but I would have to wreck the wall to accomplish this. But what if I could hide the gold by placing it right out in the open, but obscure it to make it look like something not valuable? For example, I could melt the gold and cast it into door hinges or coat hangers, then spray paint them black. Any burglar entering my house would see the gold, but not recognize it as such, and thus it would be safe. (Hmmm..., now that I've said this, I suppose somebody will break into my house and steal all the door hinges. Oh well...)
Taking this analogy back to the computer world, steganography allows you to hide data by putting it into another file where nobody expects to find it. The data is hidden, but there is no need to hide that file. To be more specific, we can take an important ASCII text file and hide it inside a benign-looking graphic image file. If done properly, people viewing the graphic file would not even suspect that they were looking at top-secret data. Actually, we needn't limit ourselves to graphic files - the technique would work just as well with an audio or video file. The file which contains the hidden data is called a "stegofile".
In order to hide text in a stegofile, you need specialized software. And not surprisingly, there are some excellent open source steganographic tools that work equally well on Linux and BSD, which we'll now take a look at.
Outguess
Outguess supports the popular .jpeg file format, and the seldom seen .pnm and .ppm (the latter is not even supported by Gimp, so go figure). You can download the Outguess source tarball from the Outguess web site. Debian users can simply run "apt-get install outguess", and some distros offer RPM binaries. FreeBSD and OpenBSD users will find can install the port from /usr/ports/security/outguess. Documentation includes the Outguess man page, plus README files in /usr/share/doc/outguess/ (or for BSD users, /usr/local/share/doc/outguess/).
As a simple example of how to use Outguess, I'm going to hide an ASCII text file inside a picture. My original image file (the "coverfile" as its called) is named butter.jpg and the text file is quote.txt. In order to perform the hiding operation, I use the following syntax:
outguess -d quote.txt butter.jpg butterfly.jpg
The -d switch specifies the name of the datafile to be hidden, which in this case is quote.txt. The filename butter.jpg is my unaltered image file (coverfile), and butterfly.jpg is name of the stegofile.
Can You Find the Hidden Message?
In the above photo, you can see the resulting stegofile. The image looks pretty normal - in fact, compared side by side with the original coverfile, I can hardly tell the difference, but my hidden message is there. If you'd like to see it, you'll need to install Outguess. Once you've done that, copy the image to your hard disk (right-click the image, save it as file butterfly.jpg). You can now extract the text file with the following command:
outguess -r butterfly.jpg quote.txt
This photo was not passphrase-protected, but I could have done that as well with the -k switch. The passphrase can have spaces in it, so you are not limited to a single word. Had I chosen to use passphrase-protection, the syntax for creating the hidden image file would have been like this:
outguess -k "my passphrase" -d quote.txt butter.jpg butterfly.jpg
Extracting the text file, I would also have needed to include the pass phrase:
outguess -k "my passphrase" -r butterfly.jpg quote.txt
Steghide
Another open source steganography tool is Steghide. The most important difference it has compared to Outguess is that Steghide supports different file formats, specifically .bmp, .wav and .au files. The syntax for encryption/decryption is also different, and I personally find it more elegant than Outguess.
The Steghide source tarball can be found on the Steghide web page at SourceForge. Again, Debian users can simple "apt-get install steghide", and FreeBSD users will find a port at /usr/ports/security/steghide. Currently, there is no port for OpenBSD. Again, see the steghide man page, or look into /usr/share/doc/steghide/ (or /usr/local/share/doc/steghide/).
Steghide uses different switches from Outguess. The man page explains all the switches, but the three essential ones are as follows:
- -pf plainfile
- -cf coverfile
- -sf stegofile
We also have two essential commands, embed and extract. Using the same example as for Outguess (but this time with .bmp files), this is how we would go about hiding our ASCII text file:
steghide embed -pf quote.txt -cf butter.bmp -sf butterfly.bmp
Enter passphrase:
Re-Enter passphrase:
wrote stego file to "butterfly.bmp".
Notice that we get prompted for a passphrase. If you don't want a passphrase, just hit enter. The syntax for extracting our data is very simple:
steghide extract -sf butterfly.bmp
Enter passphrase:
wrote plain file to "quote.txt".
Some additional reading about steganography can be found here.
That's all for this week.
Robert Storey
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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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| Shells.com |
Your own personal Linux computer in the cloud, available on any device. Supported operating systems include Android, Debian, Fedora, KDE neon, Kubuntu, Linux Mint, Manjaro and Ubuntu, ready in minutes.
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| Random Distribution | 
openmamba GNU/Linux
openmamba GNU/Linux is a distribution for personal computers (Intel i686-compatible) that can be used on notebooks, desktops and servers. It works as an installable live CD, offering out-of-the box support for proprietary graphics drivers and wireless network cards, a variety of media codecs and 3D desktop with KDE. The distribution, which has roots in the discontinued QiLinux project, uses APT for RPM and Synaptic as its package management tools.
Status: Active
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| TUXEDO |
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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