 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 67, 20 September 2004 |
Welcome to this year's 37th edition of DistroWatch Weekly. We have a screenshots galore for you in this edition after an exciting week which was marked by the birth of Ubuntu Linux and arrival of Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community, among several other interesting releases. Enjoy!
Content:
Birth of Ubuntu Linux, release of Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community
 Lots of interesting things have been happening lately on the Linux distribution scene. Ubuntu Linux has stormed into public consciousness like no other distribution before. Within the first four days of its existence, the ubuntu-users mailing list generated over 700 posts, many of which came from well-known open source developers, now working on Ubuntu Linux. This is a high-profile mailing list you want to subscribe to, even if you are not interested in the distribution itself. We'll have more on Ubuntu Linux in this Thursday's edition of Linux Weekly News.
Ubuntu Linux, with GNOME 2.8, has stormed into public consciousness like no other distribution before
(full image size 97kB)
 In the meantime, everybody's favourite desktop Linux distribution has done it again - Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community was released last week. If you are a Mandrakeclub member you can get the installation ISO images via BitTorrent, otherwise you will need to do an install/upgrade over the network. The Spidertools web site is the first one with a review of Mandrakelinux 10.1; as expected, they've found a few bugs, but nothing too serious to spoil the enjoyment from the new release. As always, the Community edition is for those who are capable of solving a few problems that weren't caught during the beta cycle, so if you prefer a rock-solid product, you should wait for the release of the Official edition, which is expected in about a month from now.
 Slackware's package browser is now working again: "For some time now the Package Browser at Slackware.com has not been working.... This is no longer the case and we now have a shiny new Package Browser to use, courtesy of Andreas Liebschner. I talked to Andreas via email to get some background and info on both PB and himself. The story goes like this...." See this userlocal.com article for more information. The newly refurbished Slackware Package Browser can be accessed here.
 Two interesting Gentoo-related news items appeared last week. Firstly, a Gentoo Survey was announced "to get some feedback from Gentoo Linux users and give us a feel on how Gentoo is being used and what we can do to improve". Secondly, if you find the Gentoo installation procedure too tedious, there is a new independently developed option, courtesy of the Gentoo Installation System (GIS) project: "GIS (Gentoo Installation System) is a menu-based boot disk or boot CD that installs the Gentoo Linux distribution on your PC almost automatically. It intends to be compliant with the Gentoo Handbook installation." GIS is still in development, but the first stable version is now in sight.
 It has not been announced on Linare.com, but Linare Linux 2.0 has been uploaded to Ibiblio.org and its mirrors, and is available for free download. Linare Linux is a commercial Linux distribution based on Fedora Core. It is sold through the distribution's online store for US$40, or as a pre-installed operating system on some low cost PCs. Linare Linux is "a complete coalition of Internet software that offers you intuitive communications capabilities. Built-in tools let you be productive immediately. Linare provides a luscious, glossy look, across every application and the utilities you need to control and customize your system. Best of all, it just works." Visit Linare's product pages for more information.
Linare Linux 2.0 - a commercial, Fedora-based distribution, now available for free download
(full image size 1,082kB)
 OpenBSD's Theo de Raadt has been talking to Computer World Australia about software security: "Microsoft’s security problems have to do with its web client which probably has 300 to 500 vulnerabilities in it which a firewall will never block as they are all in http, all inside a TCP session and a packet filter does not help you. And when you get to some of the more obscure things like the way it does ActiveX and the way it does cookie handling and the way it does zones. These things are a continual trap for the company and all the security knowledge that is protecting us in the UNIX world is useless for it." Read the interesting interview here.
Finally, a note on Ibiblio.org. We have seen it happening over and over again in recent weeks: many of the distribution's ISO images on Ibiblio.org are corrupt or incomplete. As the world's largest repository of Free Software, many Linux users turn to Ibiblio to download the latest distribution releases. Unfortunately, we have been getting many complaints about unbootable or uninstallable ISO images downloaded from Ibiblio.org. It is always a good idea to check md5sums of any large download, but in case of Ibiblio.org it is a must that might save you much frustration later.
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| Featured Distribution of the Week: Lycoris Desktop/LX |
Lycoris Desktop/LX
Although we have been critical of some of the Lycoris practices over the past few months, it is hard to deny the technical qualities of its distribution. Lycoris Desktop/LX is a product worth considering by any novice or non-technical user for its ease of use and all the magnificent eye candy. Its recently released version 1.4 brings Lycoris back into direct competition with other distributions in this target market, such as Xandros Desktop or Linspire. We haven't seen any reviews yet, but most users who have upgraded their existing Desktop/LX installation to the latest version seem to be impressed.
The company behind Desktop/LX came into existence in the year 2000 under the name of Redmond Linux: "I'm starting a project called Redmond Linux that will be a new distribution developed in the backyard of Microsoft. The first edition, Redmond Linux Personal, will be catered to new computer users and will be as easy to use as possible. This project will be free software. We are looking for developers, testers, and technical writers; if you want to contribute, or just look to see what we are doing, please visit our web site." The company was later renamed to Lycoris and the distribution to Desktop/LX, which is no longer free software.
The commercial release of Desktop/LX 1.4 comes with a number of unique features. For starters, the FreeType font rendering engine has been replaced with a commercial product called btX2 by Bitstream, claiming faster font rendering and crispier fonts. These are further complemented by new icons and wallpapers, giving the desktop a very pleasant look. The icons have also been integrated into enhanced versions of the Mozilla browser and Mozilla Mail, (called Lycoris Web Suite in Desktop/LX), while the Konqueror file manager has been modified to more closely resemble the Explorer in Windows XP. Furthermore, the ability to log in to the desktop as root has been disabled, but users can perform any administrative tasks by providing the superuser password whenever needed. The company also touts a new Advanced Application Integration Infrastructure for installing new applications, and much improved hardware auto-detection and auto-configuration.
We would highly recommend Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 to any users trying to migrate away from Microsoft Windows, especially those who are not interested in deeper technical knowledge about their operating system. To buy it, visit the Lycoris Store; at US$40, the Personal Edition is an excellent value for money.
Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 - a polished release with plenty of eye candy
(full image size 1,165kB)
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| Released Last Week |
Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4
Good news for all those who have been patiently waiting for the new Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 release - it is finally shipping: "Lycoris, the worldwide Desktop Linux leader, today announced that it has commenced shipping Desktop/LX 1.4 to customers after a brief delay in the original release schedule. Desktop/LX 1.4 is now available in Personal, Deluxe and PowerPak editions from all Lycoris resellers and direct from the Lycoris Store." Here is the full release announcement. Existing Lycoris installations can be updated via the distribution's update wizard, while new packs can be purchased from the Lycoris Store. Prices for individual editions are as follows: Personal - US$40, Deluxe - US$50, PowerPak - US$75.
Kurumin Linux 3.21
An updated release of Kurumin Linux, version 3.21, is now available. The most noticeable change is the size of the ISO image - the sub-200MB image has now swelled to 323MB. This is because of newly included OpenOffice.org 1.1.2, (called KuruminOffice in the distribution due to a trademark dispute in Brazil), Java and Ndiswrapper for wireless networking support. Additionally, a "magic icon" for installing FreeNX Server has been added. Besides all the technical changes, the project's lead developer Carlos Morimoto announced that, from now on, he would devote much less time to the development of Kurumin Linux and releases will therefore be less frequent. Read the announcement and changelog (both links in Portuguese) for further details.
Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community
Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community Edition has been released: "Mandrakesoft is proud to announce the release of its newest and most advanced operating system to date: Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community. The enhanced usability, hardware support and performance make this release a milestone on the way to widespread Linux adoption. Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community is designed for those who want the best and latest software and want it as soon as possible. The release of Community is soon to be followed by the release of a rock-solid Mandrakelinux 10.1 Official, on which Mandrakesoft's range of products for home users will be based." Read the full press release and visit the distribution's product page to find out about Mandrakesoft's latest release. Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community Edition is currently available for download to Mandrakeclub members; alternatively, it can be pre-ordered from Mandrakestore (US$59.90).
Mandrakelinux 10.1 Community has hit the streets
(full image size 216kB)
Vector Linux 4.3
Vector Linux 4.3 has been released: "The Vector Linux team is proud to announce the release of Vector Linux 4.3. This small 326MB download provides you a complete and fast desktop solution, even suitable for older hardware. It features Kernel 2.6.7, support for ext2/3 and ReiserFS file systems, and XFce 4.0.6, Fluxbox and IceWM as window managers. In this release you will also find the Mozilla suite with Java and video streaming working out-of-the-box! Plus, applications covering most, if not all, of your daily tasks: email client, IRC chat, instant messaging, FTP access, P2P sharing, video and music playing, word processing, spreadsheet, CD burning, printing... even some excellent games." The full announcement.
Feather Linux 0.5.9
Feather Linux 0.5.9 has been released. What's new? "Changes from 0.5.8 to 0.5.9: added wmapm again; now both APM and ACPI dockapps are included; added reiserfsck; made dnsmasq.conf writable; reverted USB boot to previous settings - users whose systems cannot boot Feather will need minirt24.gz; included madwifi v.20040308; added new penguin background - use the 'notux' option to use a normal one." See the full changelog for details.
LinuxConsole 0.4.5.1
A new version of LinuxConsole has been released: "This is a new 0.4 ISO, with many bug fixes and some improvements. Boot messages updated and boot commands added; Patch 5.1 enabled; now English, French, Italian are German languages are available in IceWM, GNOME and Freevo; NVIDIA files have been moved from 'xfree_drivers' to 'nvidia' module; NVIDIA licence must be accepted before using those drivers, otherwise XFree86 drivers are used (without 3D acceleration); video module update - MPlayer now supports Real Media stream; development module updates - cvs and headers; PartGUImodule update - dosfs tools added; Mozilla module update - Mozilla 1.6." Read the announcement on the distribution's home page.
Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Fedora Core 2.91
The second test release of Fedora Core 3 (also known as FC3-test2, or version 2.91) will be released later today. According to the release notes, the most important changes since test 1 include the following: "GCC 3.4; GNOME 2.8; KDE 3.3; SELinux - this includes a new 'targeted' policy that monitors specific daemons with less intrusion than the strict policy in use before; IIIMF - evolution of this new input framework continues; Indic language support; various desktop-related features, including, but not limited to Pango support for Mozilla, remote desktops using VNC, printing improvements, Evolution 2.0." Keep an eye on DistroWatch as we bring you the official release announcement with the usual links and download locations.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Beta
A new directory has appeared on Red Hat's main FTP server over the weekend. Inaccessible at present, it is inside a directory that was previously used to hold beta ISO images for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 3 and its name is "nahant". If our presumption is correct, "Nahant" will be the code name for the first beta of RHEL 4, scheduled for final release in the second quarter of 2005. As always, we'll keep you updated with more details as they become available.
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| Web Site News |
New distribution additions
New on the waiting list
- BURNIX. BURNIX is a Knoppix-based live CD with support for Catalan, Spanish and English.
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of Linux distributions in the database: 338
- Number of BSD distributions in the database: 9
- Number of discontinued distributions: 35
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 80
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| DistroWatch in the News |
Get back your boot loader - a mini HOWTO
This is an all too common scenario after installing a new Linux distribution, as expressed by a reader in last week's forums:
"Please be advised that Linare Linux automatically installs the boot loader into the Master Boot Record (MBR). Most other distros (MEPIS, SUSE, Libranet, Vector to name a few I've tried) give you a choice of MBR or root partition, but not Linare. It screwed me up real bad because I run V-Com's System Commander for OS selection, and I had to reinstall all my OSs over again from scratch. Really irritating!"
I don't know much about System Commander, but surely, reading up on the LILO or GRUB documentation should take a lot less time than reinstalling several operatins systems!
Since this situation happens frequently when you install new distributions, what follows is a step-by-step mini HOWTO to solve the problem and to restore your Master Boot Record to what it was before that give-no-choice distribution lovingly took it over. I have used LILO for years and it serves me perfectly well, but nowadays many distributions (and users) seem to prefer GRUB. Whatever your choice, both are perfectly capable of restoring your MBR.
This is the scenario: you have a Windows installation on /dev/hda1, a data partition on /dev/hda2, then your primary Linux distribution on /dev/hda5 (with your main LILO or GRUB boot loader installed in the Master Boot Record). Then you decide to install Linare and it will go to /dev/hda6. Linare has overwritten your Master Boot Record giving no choice of booting your other two operating systems. If you use LILO, follow these steps:
- Boot into Linare and log in as 'root'.
- Fire up a terminal, such as "Konsole".
- Create a temporary directory, for example "mkdir /mnt/tmp". It doesn't matter where you create it - even somewhere within your home directory is fine.
- Mount your primary Linux partition like this: "mount /dev/hda5 /mnt/tmp".
- Chroot (change root) into your newly mounted partition with this command: "chroot /mnt/tmp".
- Type "lilo". This will restore your Master Boot Record to its original condition.
- Of course, you probably want to add your newly installed Linare to the boot loader, in which case you need to open /etc/lilo.conf in your favourite text editor and add the following two lines to the end of the file:
other=/dev/hda6
label=Linare
- Save the changes and execute "lilo" on the command line. Press Ctrl+D to get out of the chroot-ed partition. Now, next time you boot, you will be able to choose between three operating systems.
For those who prefer the GRUB boot loader, things are slightly different:
- Boot into Linare and log in as 'root'.
- Fire up a terminal, such as "Konsole".
- Create a temporary directory, for example "mkdir /mnt/tmp". It doesn't matter where you create it - even somewhere within your home directory is fine.
- Mount your primary Linux partition like this: "mount /dev/hda5 /mnt/tmp".
- Chroot (change root) into your newly mounted partition with this command: "chroot /mnt/tmp".
- Type "grub". You will enter GRUB's interactive mode to perform further actions.
- Type "root (hd0,4)".
- Type "setup (hd0)". This should restore your Master Boot Record to its original condition.
- Type "quit".
- To add Linare to the boot menu, you will need to modify /boot/grub/menu.lst by adding a few lines to it - your best action is to copy them from Linare's own /boot/grub/menu.lst and paste them into your main Linux distribution's menu.lst.
- Save the changes, then press Ctrl+D to get out from the chroot-ed partition. That's it, next time you boot, you will see your usual GRUB menu inclusive of the newly added Linare option.
In case you are unable to perform the above steps from your newly installed distribution, you will need to boot from a good live CD, such as Knoppix. The steps are exactly the same as above. If you get stuck, there are plenty of tutorials on both LILO and GRUB on the Internet - one of the best GRUB tutorials I've seen is Getting to know GRUB by Gentoo's Daniel Robins.
That's all for this week. Happy "Linuxing" and "BSDing" and see you again next Monday!
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
ObsidianOS
ObsidianOS is a set of Linux distribution based primarily on Arch Linux. Its main feature is an A/B partition style (as used by Android or Chrome OS) so if an update causes some issues, it is possible to reboot into the first partition and restore the second one. It uses the ext4 filesystem exclusively. ObsidianOS offers three variants of the product - "Base", "KDE Plasma" and "COSMIC".
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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