 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 82, 10 January 2005 |
Welcome to this year's 2nd edition of DistroWatch Weekly! If you haven't had a chance to try out SUSE LINUX 9.2, now is your chance as the entire Professional edition is now available for download on a mirror site near you. We'll also talk about the new product line from MandrakeSoft and introduce ASP Linux as the featured distribution of the week. Enjoy!
Content:
SUSE LINUX 9.2 released mirrors
 The biggest news last week was the appearance of SUSE LINUX 9.2 on download mirrors just before the weekend. Unlike any of the SUSE versions released in the last few years, things were a bit different this time as SUSE made available not only the traditional network installation ISO image, but also a full DVD image containing the complete SUSE LINUX 9.2 Professional (both i386 and x86_64 editions), except, of course, any commercial and non-free applications. Although coming later than usual (SUSE LINUX 9.2 was formally released early in November 2004), this is a great news for all who wanted to try the latest SUSE before parting with their hard-earned cash.
Some of the mirrors in Germany started offering the ISO images late on Friday, but most overseas mirrors only caught up on Sunday morning. Some readers who learnt about the release, but were unable to find the ISO images on their favourite mirrors expressed disappointment. If you were one of them, you need to remember that we are talking about several gigabytes of data that needed to be transferred from the main server to dozens of mirrors world-wide, so things took time. Another frequent complaint revolved around the fact that some users were unable to download the large DVD image. This happened because older versions of certain FTP and HTTP servers have a 2GB limit on the size of any single file that can be transferred. If this happened when you attempted to download the ISO, your best bet would have been to search for a different mirror site. Alternatively, some of the mirrors took the initiative to split the ISO image into two (see this Italian mirror as an example). After downloading both parts, you could then re-assemble them with 'cat', like this:
cat SUSE-Linux-9.2-FTP-DVD.iso.part1 SUSE-Linux-9.2-FTP-DVD.iso.part2 > SUSE-Linux-9.2-FTP-DVD.iso
As always, be sure to check the file's md5sums before burning the image to a DVD. Most importantly, have a lot of fun - you will no doubt enjoy SUSE LINUX, which is one of the most mature distributions on the Linux market!
A full DVD image with SUSE LINUX 9.2 Professional is now available for free download
(full image size: 687kB)
* * * * *
Mandrakelinux for corporations
 Early last week, MandrakeSoft announced the availability of Mandrakelinux Corporate Server 3.0 and Corporate Desktop: "Although Mandrakesoft's main focus has been to make Linux available to the largest number of users, the company has also acknowledged, very early, that Linux required specific adaptations to be functional in a business environment. Mandrakesoft introduced the first version of Corporate Server in September 2000, followed by a second version in early 2003 - two products which have received quite an enthusiastic response."
By releasing products specifically geared towards businesses that require long-term support contracts, MandrakeSoft is attempting to compete with much better established players in this field - Red Hat and Novell. An ambitious move, to say the least - for two reasons. Firstly, MandrakeSoft's marketing budget and sales force are no match compared to Red Hat or Novell, both in terms of available funds and sales experience. Secondly, MandrakeSoft's limited human resources will be further diluted into developing and supporting several new products, rather than concentrating on improving the existing ones. If you take a critical look at MandrakeSoft's confusing collection of web sites and domain names, all with different themes and design attributes, you will notice how badly they are in need of an overhaul, especially if they want to attract large enterprise customers. (You certainly won't find Google AdSense advertisements on Red Hat's or Novell's sites!) Shouldn't this be a priority, instead of producing new editions of Mandrakelinux?
What do you think? Wouldn't it be better if MandrakeSoft concentrated on what they do best - provide a great distribution for home users and first-time Linux converts, rather than trying their luck with the corporate world? Or do you believe that the company is moving in the right direction? Please discuss below.
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| Featured distribution of the week: ASP Linux |
ASP Linux
Looking through some of the online user forums over the last week, I noticed a fair amount of praise for ASP Linux 10, a Fedora-based Russian distribution released just before Christmas. Users who installed it not only found the product very stable and bug-free, they were also impressed by the inclusion of many packages that are normally missing from the standard Fedora Core, such as MPlayer, xine, libdvdcss, the NVIDIA driver, and other similar applications that might invite potential trouble for US-based companies. Although the distribution's web site and support resources are in Russian only, users can install ASP Linux in English or several other languages.
Despite releasing their products as freely available ISO images, ASP Linux is a commercial company. It was established in May 2000 in Singapore, with its main development office in Moscow. In late 2001, the Moscow office took full ownership of ASP Linux and merged with the Ukraine-based Black Cat Linux, a company developing embedded Linux solutions. The first product of ASP Linux appeared in March 2001 when version 7.0 (based on Red Hat Linux 7.0) was released. New product releases, all based on Red Hat Linux and, later, Fedora Core, followed in regular intervals.
ASP Linux supplies several editions of ASP Linux for the domestic market; these include Greenhorn, Express, Standard, Deluxe and Server editions. The company also offers a range of Linux-related services and training courses, as well as various support options and free community resources for Linux users. As such, ASP Linux has established itself as a leading Linux company in Russia.
ASP Linux 10 - a much-praised Russian distribution based on Fedora Core
(full image size: 1,273kB)
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| Released Last Week |
dyne:bolic 1.4
A new version of dyne:bolic, a bootable live CD with advanced multimedia applications, has been released: "This release provides a major upgrade to software included and adds new useful applications, plus fixes some important outstanding bugs. Since the enormous success of the previous release, the suggestions of a growing number of users and the dedication of currently active developers Jaromil and Smilzo lead to this very stable release. Everyone is encouraged to upgrade!" See the release announcement and features list for further details.
Devil-Linux 1.2.2
Devil-Linux 1.2.2 has been released: "I'm proud to announce v1.2.2 of Devil-Linux. The changes include nss_ldap support, ifenslave, fixed init scripts, many program updates and many other changes. See changelog for details." Read the release announcement and changelog for additional details.
Knoppel 0.5
Knoppel is a Knoppix-based live CD designed for Greek speakers. The newly released version 0.5 is now available for download; the main changes include the following: the default encoding has changed to UTF-8; kernels have been updated to 2.4.27 (default) and 2.6.9; most packages have been synchronised with Knoppix 3.7; KDE has been upgraded to 3.3.1 and OpenOffice.org to 1.1.3. The distribution now includes FreeNX 0.2.5, Firefox 1.0 and Thunderbird 0.9, as well as support for many wireless network cards. Here is the complete release announcement (in Greek).
Knoppel - a well-designed Knoppix variant for Greek speakers
(full image size: 796kB)
Damn Small Linux 0.9.2
A new release of Damn Small Linux is out. From the release notes: "Added new iwconfig GUI and updated control panel; added back smbtree; Added 'qemu' boot time option to use shared pseudo hard disk (see 5-way); new dsl-embedded version now supports 5 ways to boot your pen drive, see its readme; corrected bug with tcc; linked some libraries to better support extensions; fixed some typos and general cleanup; Syslinux version also available for older machines."
YES Linux 2.0.13
An updated version of YES Linux is now available: "YES Corporation would like to announce the immediate availability of YES Linux 2.0.13. This release of YES Linux features many updates. One such update is a complete rewrite of the administration application in PHP. The new administration application features a simplified user interface, easier third party integration, up to 80% performance improvement, relocation to /yesadmin from /admin. YES Linux now features Java 5, latest updated kernels from Fedora Legacy, updated PostgreSQL with daily database cleansing and removal of OIDS from the default tables allowing PostgreSQL to run at top performance, updated squirrelmail, updated web statistics." Read the rest of the announcement here.
Lineox Enterprise Linux 3.055
This is a new release of Lineox Enterprise Linux (a distribution built from source RPMs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or RHEL), incorporating all RHEL 3 Update 4 packages: "Always Current Lineox Enterprise Linux 3.055 with Update 4 available. Note that the changed package list in both release notes lists all packages. The correct list can be found in Changelog.txt on Always Current Lineox Enterprise Linux 3.055 CD #1 or DVD. In the version 3.055 the installation environment was rebuilt, so it offers better hardware support during the installation." Here is the full release announcement.
Games Knoppix 3.7-0.2
A new release of Games Knoppix (version 0.2 based on KNOPPIX 3.7) is now available: "Games Knoppix 3.7-0.2 released. The Three Kings Release is ready for download (this time as German and English versions). The following games are included: Marble Blast Gold Demo, Mutant Storm Demo, Space Tripper Demo, Think Tanks Demo, Ufo AI (XMas Special).... For the games marked with OpenGL, you will need hardware acceleration in order to play them. I included 2.4.28 and 2.6.10 kernels, but the NVIDIA driver does not work with 2.6.10." Read the announcement on the distribution's home page for a complete list of included games and other changes.
Turkix 3.0
Turkix 3.0 has been released. The new version of the Mandrakelinux-based live CD comes with the following new features: a unique XP-style control panel - a merge of KDE Control Center, Mandrakelinux Control Center and 3rd party configuration tools; Windows-style file hierarchy, more stabilised - programs can be uninstalled by entering the relevant directory and clicking the 'Uninstall' icon; port of Mac OS X Expose; highly patched and enhanced KDE; Grpmx - a new Qt-based RPM installation wizard; Turkix configuration tools (netwizard, rpmwizard, uninstallwizard...) have been ported to Qt; apt-get integration; graphical enhancements. See the release announcement (in Turkish) and screenshots for more information.
Turkix 3.0 - making migration from Windows XP easier
(full image size: 962kB)
Buffalo Linux 1.6.1.1
A new version of Buffalo Linux is out: "Buffalo version 1.6.1.1 has been released. Some of you may have downloaded version 1.6.1. It was placed on the FTP sites while the upgrade from 1.6.0 was being put together. During this process several BUGS were encountered -- hence 1.6.1 was never officially announced -- effectively making it a release candidate. These bug fixes resulted in the patch version 1.6.1.1 as the official announcement release. Included in 1.6.1.1 are a new desktop icon selection (Buffalo IceWM), several new Buffalo Themes, updated Acroread and Opera, plusmany new desktop window manager 'bundle' packages: Blackbox, Fluxbox, GNOME, KDE, WindowMaker, XFce." Read the announcement on the distribution's home page.
Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Asianux 2.0
As reported by The Korea Herald, the developers of Asianux are preparing for the distribution's second release, version 2.0, later this year: "'By June, we will be able to come up with an open-source system that is comparable to SUSE and Red Hat,' said a Hancom spokesman. 'The date of release was rescheduled considering the Korean government's adoption of NEIS, a database of the country's high-school population, which will be around the second semester next year, apparently a huge opportunity to introduce a new open-source solution.'" Read the full story here.
* * * * *
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Web Site News |
New distributions addition
- Amber Linux. Amber Linux is a Latvian Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux. It aims at being the first business desktop Linux distribution that is tailored specifically to the needs of Latvian users. Features include automatic hardware detection and storage device mounting; GNOME as the default desktop environment; OpenOffice.org as the default office applications suite; Hansa Financials accounting software.
- SphinxOS. SphinxOS 4.0 is a Debian- and MEPIS-based Linux distribution targetted at German speakers. It is a commercial desktop distribution that comes in Personal and Standard editions, the latter of which comes bundled with CrossOver Office and Cedega. The package also includes a printed manual, email support, and access to support forum and product updates.
New on the waiting list
- Knosciences GNU/Linux. Knosciences is a Knoppix-based bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. It is designed for use in educational institutions.
- Linuxo Live!. Linuxo Live! is a Serbian Linux live CD based on Knoppix.
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of Linux distributions in the database: 373
- Number of BSD distributions in the database: 9
- Number of discontinued distributions: 47
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 84
That's all for today, see you all next week!
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1033 (2023-08-21): MiniOS 20230606, system user accounts, how Red Hat clones are moving forward, Haiku improves WINE performance, Debian turns 30 |
| • Issue 1032 (2023-08-14): MX Linux 23, positioning new windows on the desktop, Linux Containers adopts LXD fork, Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ form OpenELA |
| • Issue 1031 (2023-08-07): Peppermint OS 2023-07-01, preventing a file from being changed, Asahi Linux partners with Fedora, Linux Mint plans new releases |
| • Issue 1030 (2023-07-31): Solus 4.4, Linux Mint 21.2, Debian introduces RISC-V support, Ubuntu patches custom kernel bugs, FreeBSD imports OpenSSL 3 |
| • Issue 1029 (2023-07-24): Running Murena on the Fairphone 4, Flatpak vs Snap sandboxing technologies, Redox OS plans to borrow Linux drivers to expand hardware support, Debian updates Bookworm media |
| • Issue 1028 (2023-07-17): KDE Connect; Oracle, SUSE, and AlmaLinux repsond to Red Hat's source code policy change, KaOS issues media fix, Slackware turns 30; security and immutable distributions |
| • Issue 1027 (2023-07-10): Crystal Linux 2023-03-16, StartOS (embassyOS 0.3.4.2), changing options on a mounted filesystem, Murena launches Fairphone 4 in North America, Fedora debates telemetry for desktop team |
| • Issue 1026 (2023-07-03): Kumander Linux 1.0, Red Hat changing its approach to sharing source code, TrueNAS offers SMB Multichannel, Zorin OS introduces upgrade utility |
| • Issue 1025 (2023-06-26): KaOS with Plasma 6, information which can leak from desktop environments, Red Hat closes door on sharing RHEL source code, SUSE introduces new security features |
| • Issue 1024 (2023-06-19): Debian 12, a safer way to use dd, Debian releases GNU/Hurd 2023, Ubuntu 22.10 nears its end of life, FreeBSD turns 30 |
| • Issue 1023 (2023-06-12): openSUSE 15.5 Leap, the differences between independent distributions, openSUSE lengthens Leap life, Murena offers new phone for North America |
| • Issue 1022 (2023-06-05): GetFreeOS 2023.05.01, Slint 15.0-3, Liya N4Si, cleaning up crowded directories, Ubuntu plans Snap-based variant, Red Hat dropping LireOffice RPM packages |
| • Issue 1021 (2023-05-29): rlxos GNU/Linux, colours in command line output, an overview of Void's unique features, how to use awk, Microsoft publishes a Linux distro |
| • Issue 1020 (2023-05-22): UBports 20.04, finding another machine's IP address, finding distros with a specific kernel, Debian prepares for Bookworm |
| • Issue 1019 (2023-05-15): Rhino Linux (Beta), checking which applications reply on a package, NethServer reborn, System76 improving application responsiveness |
| • Issue 1018 (2023-05-08): Fedora 38, finding relevant manual pages, merging audio files, Fedora plans new immutable edition, Mint works to fix Secure Boot issues |
| • Issue 1017 (2023-05-01): Xubuntu 23.04, Debian elects Project Leaders and updates media, systemd to speed up restarts, Guix System offering ground-up source builds, where package managers install files |
| • Issue 1016 (2023-04-24): Qubes OS 4.1.2, tracking bandwidth usage, Solus resuming development, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS offers preview of Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1015 (2023-04-17): Manjaro Linux 22.0, Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Arch Linux powering PINE64 tablets, Ubuntu offering live patching on HWE kernels, gaining compression on ex4 |
| • Issue 1014 (2023-04-10): Quick looks at carbonOS, LibreELEC, and Kodi, Mint polishes themes, Fedora rolls out more encryption plans, elementary OS improves sideloading experience |
| • Issue 1013 (2023-04-03): Alpine Linux 3.17.2, printing manual pages, Ubuntu Cinnamon becomes official flavour, Endeavour OS plans for new installer, HardenedBSD plans for outage |
| • Issue 1012 (2023-03-27): siduction 22.1.1, protecting privacy from proprietary applications, GNOME team shares new features, Canonical updates Ubuntu 20.04, politics and the Linux kernel |
| • Issue 1011 (2023-03-20): Serpent OS, Security Onion 2.3, Gentoo Live, replacing the scp utility, openSUSE sees surge in downloads, Debian runs elction with one candidate |
| • Issue 1010 (2023-03-13): blendOS 2023.01.26, keeping track of which files a package installs, improved network widget coming to elementary OS, Vanilla OS changes its base distro |
| • Issue 1009 (2023-03-06): Nemo Mobile and the PinePhone, matching the performance of one distro on another, Linux Mint adds performance boosts and security, custom Ubuntu and Debian builds through Cubic |
| • Issue 1008 (2023-02-27): elementary OS 7.0, the benefits of boot environments, Purism offers lapdock for Librem 5, Ubuntu community flavours directed to drop Flatpak support for Snap |
| • Issue 1007 (2023-02-20): helloSystem 0.8.0, underrated distributions, Solus team working to repair their website, SUSE testing Micro edition, Canonical publishes real-time edition of Ubuntu 22.04 |
| • Issue 1006 (2023-02-13): Playing music with UBports on a PinePhone, quick command line and shell scripting questions, Fedora expands third-party software support, Vanilla OS adds Nix package support |
| • Issue 1005 (2023-02-06): NuTyX 22.12.0 running CDE, user identification numbers, Pop!_OS shares COSMIC progress, Mint makes keyboard and mouse options more accessible |
| • Issue 1004 (2023-01-30): OpenMandriva ROME, checking the health of a disk, Debian adopting OpenSnitch, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1003 (2023-01-23): risiOS 37, mixing package types, Fedora seeks installer feedback, Sparky offers easier persistence with USB writer |
| • Issue 1002 (2023-01-16): Vanilla OS 22.10, Nobara Project 37, verifying torrent downloads, Haiku improvements, HAMMER2 being ports to NetBSD |
| • Issue 1001 (2023-01-09): Arch Linux, Ubuntu tests new system installer, porting KDE software to OpenBSD, verifying files copied properly |
| • Issue 1000 (2023-01-02): Our favourite projects of all time, Fedora trying out unified kernel images and trying to speed up shutdowns, Slackware tests new kernel, detecting what is taking up disk space |
| • Issue 999 (2022-12-19): Favourite distributions of 2022, Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releasing security patches for 16.04, Haiku working on new ports |
| • Issue 998 (2022-12-12): OpenBSD 7.2, Asahi Linux enages video hardware acceleration on Apple ARM computers, Manjaro drops proprietary codecs from Mesa package |
| • Issue 997 (2022-12-05): CachyOS 221023 and AgarimOS, working with filenames which contain special characters, elementary OS team fixes delta updates, new features coming to Xfce |
| • Issue 996 (2022-11-28): Void 20221001, remotely shutting down a machine, complex aliases, Fedora tests new web-based installer, Refox OS running on real hardware |
| • Issue 995 (2022-11-21): Fedora 37, swap files vs swap partitions, Unity running on Arch, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for more devices |
| • Issue 994 (2022-11-14): Redcore Linux 2201, changing the terminal font size, Fedora plans Phosh spin, openSUSE publishes on-line manual pages, disabling Snap auto-updates |
| • Issue 993 (2022-11-07): Static Linux, working with just a kernel, Mint streamlines Flatpak management, updates coming to elementary OS |
| • Issue 992 (2022-10-31): Lubuntu 22.10, setting permissions on home directories, Linux may drop i486, Fedora delays next version for OpenSSL bug |
| • Issue 991 (2022-10-24): XeroLinux 2022.09, learning who ran sudo, exploring firewall tools, Rolling Rhino Remix gets a fresh start, Fedora plans to revamp live media |
| • Issue 990 (2022-10-17): ravynOS 0.4.0, Lion Linux 3.0, accessing low numbered network ports, Pop!_OS makes progress on COSMIC, Murena launches new phone |
| • Issue 989 (2022-10-10): Ubuntu Unity, kernel bug causes issues with Intel cards, Canonical offers free Ubuntu Pro subscriptions, customizing the command line prompt |
| • Issue 988 (2022-10-03): SpiralLinux 11.220628, finding distros for older equipment and other purposes, SUSE begins releasing ALP prototypes, Debian votes on non-free firmware in installer |
| • Issue 987 (2022-09-26): openSUSE's MicroOS, converting people to using Linux, pfSense updates base system and PHP, Python 2 dropped from Arch |
| • Issue 986 (2022-09-19): Porteus 5.0, remotely wiping a hard drive, a new software centre for Ubuntu, Proxmox offers offline updates |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
FuguIta
FuguIta is an OpenBSD live CD featuring portable workplace, low hardware requirements, additional software, and partial support for Japanese. This live CD is intended to be as close as possible to the default OpenBSD when installed on a hard disk.
Status: Active
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| Star Labs |
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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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