DistroWatch Weekly |
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 75, 15 November 2004 |
Welcome to this year's 45th edition of DistroWatch Weekly. After moving to a new server, we have a pleasure to greet you from a brand new location, machine and operating system (more details below). Happy reading!
Content:
Gentoo Linux for G5 processors
A new version of Gentoo Linux was made available at exactly midnight GMT on November 15th. This was the fourth and final Gentoo release of the year 2004. In line with most major distributions, the frequency of future releases will be reduced to just two per year to reduce the pressure on the release engineering team. Frankly, four releases per year did seem rather excessive for a project that supports seamless and continuous updates of the included software, which is one of the main reasons why many users were attracted to Gentoo in the first place.
Those of you who did not read the official announcement, might have missed a very interesting part of it - the newly included support for the ppc64 processor platform. This means that, for the first time, there is a free Linux distribution specifically designed to take advantage of IBM's 64-bit PowerPC processors (such as those found in Apple's PowerMac G5 and iMac G5 systems). This is exciting news indeed and hats off to the developers at Gentoo who have made this possible. Although the Fedora-based Yellow Dog Linux 4 also claims to be compatible with G5 systems, Gentoo has an edge over Yellow Dog in terms of available online documentation, as well as its development model, which is completely open. Let's face it, Apple's hardware is much more affordable than it used to be, so it makes sense to invest in one of its good-looking and innovative machines, and dual-boot Linux with Mac OS.
Do any of you run Linux on a G5 or any other PowerPC machine? If so, what are you experiences? Please discuss below.
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ZDNet UK has published a short article introducing the upcoming release of Debian GNU/Linux, code name Sarge. The story quotes the Debian project leader Martin Michlmayr as saying that Sarge will be released "at the end of this year, or the beginning of next year, depending on how quickly the remaining bugs are fixed." The article also introduces some of the new features and included software, and also mentions another Debian derivative - Ubuntu Linux. You can read the full article here.
If you have been itching to try the latest X.Org release on your Debian system, but were reluctant to compile it yourself, you can grab the Ubuntu Hoary (the Ubuntu development branch) packages and install them on Debian Sid. This is, reportedly (article in Spanish), a workable and tested solution. All you need to do is to add the relevant Hoary repositories to your /etc/apt/sources.list file, then run "apt-get update" and "apt-get install xserver-xorg" to install X.Org 6.8.1. As always, only do this if you are capable of fixing any potential problems!
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Finally, for audio and video addicts, a quick message from StartCom Linux about the distribution's updated multimedia add-on CD: "The MultiMedia Productivity CD lets you transform your Linux system into a productive music recording studio by using your existing hardware (minimum a soundcard is needed) and the provided set of applications. It includes ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) drivers for most soundcards, Jack Audio Server for advanced application interaction, Audacity and Ardour Recording Studio, 24 Track Midi Sequencer, Hydrogen Drum Machine, various synthesizers and samplers for sound manipulation, to mention only the most important features." Read the rest of the announcement. The CD is meant to compliment StartCom MultiMedia Edition, a Red Hat-based multimedia distribution, which is available for free download from the distribution's web site.
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Featured distribution of the week: Yggdrasil Linux |
Yggdrasil Linux
No, we haven't been smoking anything unusual lately. The reason for including a long-defunct distribution in this section is to reflect on an interesting piece of history for the benefit of those readers who are relatively new to Linux, and for nostalgic reasons. After all, Yggdrasil Linux was one of the first Linux distributions in existence, while Yggdrasil Computing, established in California in 1992 by Adam Richter, was the first commercial Linux company ever created.
The distribution's initial release was produced in February 1993. Tentatively called "LGX Beta", the CD-ROM functioned as a live CD (in text mode), as well as an installation CD containing Linux 0.99.5 and the X-window system. It even claimed to have "multimedia capabilities", but we don't remember what those words used to mean in 1992. Here is the release announcement, together with the order form:
"Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated is now shipping a beta CDROM release of a bootable Linux/GNU/X-based UNIX(R) clone for PC compatibles, tentatively named LGX. The system uses version 0.99.5 of the Linux kernel, which is being developed from scratch by Linus Torvalds and an international group of skilled contributors working over the internet to complete the GNU project."
In the following years, Yggdrasil (incidentally, the term "Yggdrasil" was derived from a tree of life found in Norse mythology) continued to produce regular CD-ROM images containing all the latest and greatest software applications as written by Linux, GNU and other open source software developers. Although its ISO images were never released for free download, the content of some of Yggdrasil's CD was (and still is) available for download from some FTP mirrors. To compliment their software, the company also wrote what was probably the world's first comprehensive, commercially available Linux book - The Linux Bible.
Unfortunately, Yggdrasil's business of selling Linux CD-ROMs and books did not seem to result in sustained profitability. Its final attempt at achieving financial success came in the year 2000 when the company released a Linux Open Source DVD, containing some 23GB of compressed software and documentation:
"The value of every product we have ever shipped is convenience", said Adam Richter, President of Yggdrasil Computing. "The growth of free software has increased the size of our Archives product to eight CDs. If you have to switch among that many discs, it's not very convenient. So, we decided to really push the technology to address this problem."
After this, we never heard from Yggdrasil Computing again. The company's web site became dormant shortly after the DVD release and was eventually taken off-line. But despite its relegation to the dustbins of history, Yggdrasil's early contribution to the Linux movement is indisputable.

Yggdrasil's Plug-and-Play Linux.
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Released Last Week |
Mandrakelinux 10.1 PPC and X86-64 Editions
Mandrakelinux 10.1 for PowerPC systems has been released: "Finally there's a new Mandrakelinux to install on your fruity, metallic, white, black or beige PowerMac. 10.1/PPC has many new and updated programs, some new features, and probably also a few new bugs, so something interesting for everyone. Software updates include Linux kernel 2.6.8.1,X11R6.7, OpenOffice.org 1.1.3, Mozilla 1.7.2, GNOME 2.6, and KDE 3.2. A notable new feature is the ability to install on and boot from FireWire and USB devices." Read the full announcement at Mandrakeclub. The x86-64 edition of Mandrakelinux 10.1 has also been released: "Mandrakesoft has just released Mandrakelinux 10.1 for x86-64, a version of its Linux operating system that runs on AMD x86-64 and Intel EMT architectures. Linux has always been ahead of the competition in this area: it was the first operating system to support 64-bit architectures. This new release of Mandrakelinux, featuring EVP and mixed software support, will help ensure Linux is the only reasonable choice when it comes to 64-bit - the future of computing." For more information, please read the official press release and visit the product page.
Trustix Secure Linux 2.2
Trustix Secure Linux 2.2 is now available: "It's official! Linux is the world's fastest growing operating system, and with version 2.2, Trustix continues to demonstrate day on day why this is so. Bringing together enhancements in speed and security, Trustix Secure Linux 2.2 now offers support for Serial ATA disk drives and the leading open source antispam and antivirus solutions - SpamAssassin and ClamAV. Trustix remains committed to the open source community with Trustix Secure Linux 2.2 being the next step in the evolution of the world's most secure commercially supported Linux distribution." Read the rest of the release announcement for more self-glory.
Fedora Core 3
Fedora Core 3 has been released: "Fedora Core 3 is now available from Red Hat and at distinguished mirror sites near you, and is also available in the torrent. Fedora Core has expanded in this release to four binary ISO images and four source ISO images, and is available for both x86-64 and i386. Please file bugs via Bugzilla, Product Fedora Core, Version 3, so that they are noticed and appropriately classified. Discuss this release on fedora-list." See the release announcement on the Fedora Project page and read the release notes (i386) for more details.
SAM Mini Live Linux 1.1
SAM Mini Live Linux 1.1, a Mandrakelinux-based bootable live CD, has been released. What's new? "Included is the Firefox 1.0 (final) release, the first preview of GIMP 2.2, Gaim 1.0.2, some new and exchanged games (now 13), Ctorrent and some more updates. You can use 'transset' to check out the transparency effects of X.Org 6.8.1. Also new is Zenity to give bash scripts nice GUI dialogs. The first one included is a GUI for SAM's 'configsave'." Here is the full release announcement.
Kurumin Linux 3.31
Two new Kurumin Linux releases have been announced by the distribution's developers. The stable branch (kernel 2.4) has been updated to version 3.31, while the development branch (kernel 2.6) has a new alpha release of the upcoming version 4.0. Kurumin Linux 3.31, a maintenance and bug fix release with no new features, will be the last version from Kurumin 3.x series. Here is the release announcement (in Portuguese). The second alpha release of Kurumin 4.0 comes with newly included drivers for wireless networking and modems - read more in this announcement (also in Portuguese).
Damn Small Linux 0.8.4
The development of Damn Small Linux continues at a fast pace, with version 0.8.4 now available for download. Changes since the previous release: "New Siag Office word processor; new Siag Office spreadsheet; dropped Ted; dropped ABS; adjustments to smbclient GUI; adjustments control panel for backup; adjustments to mydslgui color legend; some cleanup and removal of old files." You can find the full release notes here.
RUNT Linux 4.0
Version 4.0 or RUNT (ResNet USB Network Tester), a Slackware-based distribution designed to run from a 128MB USB pen drive, has been released: "It's late in coming, but it's worth the wait. This is the biggest advancement RUNT has ever had! Here's a few of the new things RUNT 4.0 has to offer: new logo (thanks to Ken Elliot); scripts to make USB booting easier then ever; the bootdisk can be created from the pen drive, you don't need to download the floppy image separately; keyboard layout selection by typing keymap at the boot prompt; based on Slackware 10.0 with kernel 2.4.26; now has support for nForce built in ethernet devices; forum online; Bugzilla for bug reporting online." Read the release announcement and installation instructions on the project's home page.
OpenLab GNU/Linux 3.2
A new version of OpenLab GNU/Linux has been released: "It gives me great pleasure to announce the release of OpenLab GNU/Linux version 3.2. OpenLab is a different approach to the design of a GNU/Linux distribution, built on the premise of 'working out of the box'. Version 3.2 makes significant strides toward an ever greater user experience. For example, OpenLab makes the setup of a thin-client server easier than it has ever been before. All you need to do is say 'yes' when asked if you want it. No further user input is required. ... Our prime focus has always been, and will always be education, and OpenLab includes many unique innovations and designs that allow it to function ever better in school environments." Read the rest of the release announcement.
Gentoo Linux 2004.3
As reported in the latest issue of Gentoo Weekly Newsletter, Gentoo Linux 2004.3 has been released: "This is the fourth and final release of Gentoo Linux in 2004, with its main focus on bug fixes and making the release tools more robust and easier to use. Releasing for 2004.3 are all the major architectures supported by Gentoo: amd64, hppa, ppc, sparc, x86, and an initial ppc64 release. ... 2004.3 has been pushed to the mirrors in the past few hours, and is also available via BitTorrent. Delivered to the public as scheduled by 0:00 UTC on Monday, 15 November 2004, it marks the last version in the quarterly schedule adopted for 2004 that is going to be replaced by six-monthly releases next year, with 2005.0 and 2005.1 to be expected in early and mid-2005." More information on the release pages and ChangeLog.
Development and unannounced releases
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Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
ProMEPIS
The developers of MEPIS Linux have announced an internal beta release of ProMEPIS, a distribution designed for Linux enthusiasts and professionals. Besides standard software included in SimplyMEPIS, the ProMEPIS edition will come with a full complement of development and server applications, as well as GNOME packages. The internal beta test will be followed by a public release candidate. You can find out more about ProMEPIS in the beta release announcement.
Libranet GNU/Linux 3.0
A roadmap of the upcoming Libranet GNU/Linux 3.0 has been published on the distribution's web site. The current work revolves around package upgrades and improvements to the Adminmenu system administration module. The first beta release is scheduled for December 8, with a final release shortly after that.
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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Web Site News |
DistroWatch has moved
As many of you know, we moved DistroWatch.com to a new server late last week. The old Celeron 1.7GHz with 512MB of RAM was struggling during peak hours with over 70,000 visitors per day recorded on the main page during most working days in recent weeks. After evaluating several possibilities, we settled for a dedicated server by NetSonic.net, a company based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. The specifications of the new machine are impressive: dual Xeon 2.8GHz, 2GB of RAM, 160GB of hard disk space, and 1TB of bandwidth per month. This should last for a while.
We switched operating systems too - from Debian 3.0 Woody to FreeBSD 5.3-RELEASE. The reason? After pondering various options, we found a strong inclination towards a more recent version of an operating system, something that won't need a major upgrade for several years. Some would argue that Debian releases are easy to upgrade, so we could have continued using Woody and upgrade as soon as Sarge is released. However, doing a major upgrade on a remote server is always risky, especially if it includes a kernel upgrade (we would feel nervous about the possibility of ending up with an unbootable system with no physical access to the machine). Furthermore, the Woody installation on the old server was no longer "vanilla", it included several new packages from backports.org, such as PHP and Postfix, which could possibly complicate the upgrade.
This highlights a major problem with Debian - long times between stable releases. While a two-year release cycle is not unreasonable for a pure server environment, anything more than that is bound to make people hesitate about its deployment. The world of software development is moving fast, and excellent new features, designed to save time and effort required to accomplish our computing tasks, are being implemented all the time. With Debian developers now talking about stable Sarge coming out as late as in January next year, it would mean that nearly 2.5 years will have passed between Woody and Sarge. That's unacceptably long.
Luckily, we happen to be living in an era of plenty, at least in terms of great operating system software available to us at no cost. We shortlisted a few distributions with Ubuntu Linux as one of the strongest contenders, but it was the maturity of the FreeBSD project and its reputation for being an extremely reliable operating system that eventually won us over. DistroWatch.com is now served by Apache 2.0.50 (compiled with the worker.c module) with PHP 5.0.2, all running on top of FreeBSD 5.3.
Unfortunately, migrating our PHP and (especially) Bash scripts from Debian to FreeBSD wasn't as straightforward as one would expect, given that both are essentially UNIX operating systems. There are a number of important differences between them, which had us stumped for a while. Many commands have different switches and some of our Bash scripts containing "stat", "date", "sed" and other commands needed to be re-written to conform to FreeBSD's implementation of those commands. Crontab too behaves differently on FreeBSD - it does not care about user's environment variables, so commands that are meant to run by crontab need to be specified with their full paths or the variables have to be defined within scripts. We had other (non-OS related) issues with some of our PHP and Bash scripts - some old "features" in PHP 4 and Bash 2 were deprecated in PHP 5 and Bash 3, so these scripts also needed attention.
Overall though, things have worked out quite nicely and we are happy to serve your favourite distribution web site from such a powerful machine. As always, it is likely that some bugs still remain on the site, so please email us if you spot any.
New distribution additions
Because of the server move, no new distributions were added to DistroWatch last week.
New on the waiting list
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of Linux distributions in the database: 356
- Number of BSD distributions in the database: 9
- Number of discontinued distributions: 42
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 76
That's all for today; see you again next Monday!
Ladislav Bodnar
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Archives |
• 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 |
• Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
• Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
• Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
• Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
• Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
• Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
• Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
• Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
• Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
• Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
• Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
• Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
• Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
• Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
• Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
• Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
• Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
• Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
• Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
• Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
• Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
• Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
• Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
• Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20 |
• Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
• Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
• Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
• Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
• Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
• Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
• Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
• Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
• Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
• Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
• Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
• Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
• Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
• Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
• Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
• Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
• Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
• Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
• Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
• Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
• Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
• Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
• Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
• Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
• Full list of all issues |
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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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Random Distribution | 
Slackware Linux
The Official Release of Slackware Linux by Patrick Volkerding is an advanced Linux operating system, designed with the twin goals of ease of use and stability as top priorities. Including the latest popular software while retaining a sense of tradition, providing simplicity and ease of use alongside flexibility and power, Slackware brings the best of all worlds to the table. Originally developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991, the UNIX-like Linux operating system now benefits from the contributions of millions of users and developers around the world. Slackware Linux provides new and experienced users alike with a fully-featured system, equipped to serve in any capacity from desktop workstation to machine-room server. Web, ftp, and email servers are ready to go out of the box, as are a wide selection of popular desktop environments. A full range of development tools, editors, and current libraries is included for users who wish to develop or compile additional software.
Status: Active
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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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