 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 84, 24 January 2005 |
Welcome to this year's 4th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! We comment on why we believe that there is no reason to worry about the future of Slackware Linux, reveal a new RPM package resource for SUSE users, and point out a fresh controversy occupying some of the Debian developers - XFree86 versus X.Org. Also, don't miss the newly released Linux+ Live DVD and a new distribution for Farsi (Persian) speakers - Parsix GNU/Linux. Enjoy!
Content:
The future of Slackware Linux
 With the imminent release of Slackware Linux 10.1 and recent serious health problems affecting Patrick Volkerding, the distribution's founder and maintainer, it is time to look at the possibilities that lie ahead of the world's oldest surviving Linux distributions. Let's be honest about it, there is a concern in the community that if Patrick is no longer able to maintain the distribution, it will simply die. This is witnessed by the discussion forums on these pages and our inbox with regular messages by Slackware users who, as much as they love the distribution, are reluctant to make a long-term commitment to using Slackware. "What happens if Pat gets hit by a truck?" is a question often accompanying such emails.
Worry not, folks, for Slackware will survive, even if the worst happens and Patrick is no longer able to maintain the distribution. There are two reasons for it. Firstly, despite its appearance of being a low-profile project, Slackware Linux is by no means a small distribution. It has substantial following of die-hard Slackware users who spend less time bickering about the distribution's merits on public forums and more time supporting it with help and cash. In fact, Patrick mentioned several times in the past that the sales of Slackware CDs and merchandise are profitable to the extent that he is able to make a living from developing Slackware and still give it away for free download. Also, the history of Linux distributions is a good indication that a sudden end of Slackware is highly unlikely. As an example, did you know that Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian, left the project even before Debian's first stable release? Last year, Daniel Robbins, the founder of Gentoo, also retired from the organisation. Have Debian or Gentoo died because their respective founders decided to pursue some other interests? Of course not!
The second reason why I believe that Slackware will survive its current crisis is that, despite the appearance of its being developed single-handedly by Patrick, the truth is that Slackware has many contributors. Just look through its current changelog and you will notice a large number of names who help with the development, if not always directly, at least by reporting bugs. These are people who not only have a vested interest in seeing that Slackware Linux continues its existence, but who, sharing the philosophy behind Slackware, would undoubtedly be able and willing to take over the project, in case the current leader is unable to continue his work.
But perhaps the most valid argument comes from Patrick himself, as expressed in the most recent entry of the Slackware changelog: "Also, in case of emergency I've left instructions with some very trusted people, so nobody should have to worry that if something happens to me that their Slackware systems will be orphaned and unsupported. It may be a long road back for me, but there will be people taking care of security issues as they crop up (like the folks at GUS-BR and SlackSec), and if I should make an unplanned departure there is a basic plan of succession in place."
So there you have it. Even though Patrick is seriously ill with a rare disease that many doctors have been unable to diagnose, let alone cure, the Slackware maintainer is still concerned about you and I, the users of his distribution so that we don't have to run an operating system with no security updates in place. How many of us would be able to do the same? How many of us would be able to unselfishly put the interests of total strangers above those of our own?
Here is a link to the Slackware Store. If you can, support the man who is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the greatest ambassadors of the Linux movement.
The world's oldest surviving Linux distribution is preparing a new release - version 10.1.
(full image size: 431kB)
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SUSE increases community involvement
 Browsing a SUSE mirror over the weekend, something caught my attention - a new folder called supplementary (correction: as several readers pointed out, this directory has existed on SUSE mirrors since SUSE 8.2, so it isn't exactly new). In it, you can find the following message: "Dear SUSE LINUX user. Generally, we do not provide update packages with newer versions in the official update tree. Our high quality standard forces us to keep to the versions originally published with a product to maintain the overall system in a consistent state with regards to cross-dependent packages (think of a linux system like a building, built with packages like bricks one on top of another). Fixing a problem in a package with a new version will most certainly bring about malfunctions in other parts of the system."
Not much new in the above statement, but the tone of the message suggests that there will be a "but" somewhere later on, explaining the purpose of the new directory: "The directory contains RPM packages that originate from SUSE build engines and that are built for the specific distribution as visible in the directory path that leads to the package. Some of the packages have been built by their respective package maintainer at SUSE in his/her spare time. The packages are usually signed with the SUSE build key build at suse.de, or at least by the personal key of a SUSE employee so that you can verify that the packages really are from SUSE sources."
Now, this sounds more promising, with more good news later on: "We publish these packages as a service to the community (you) because many users of the SUSE LINUX operating system wish to use newer versions of specific packages due to feature or hardware support constraints in older SUSE LINUX versions without the obligation to upgrade the entire system."
Here, SUSE is addressing a concern that has been frequently raised by users of distributions with fixed release schedules, such as Mandrakelinux, Fedora or SUSE, who often wish to take advantage of new features of certain packages, but they normally have to wait for 6 months or longer before their distribution maker produces a new release with that particular package version. With today's SUSE, this problem is being addressed, at least on an unofficial, voluntary basis, but it is a step in the right direction. Although it is likely that Novell uses the attraction of these giveaways to increase SUSE's market share before rolling out the true income earners - the enterprise editions of SUSE/Novell Linux, the nature of the above message indicates that SUSE developers do this for fun, as a no-strings-attached community service. And that's great news, not only for the fans and users of SUSE LINUX, but also for the Linux community as a whole.
You can read the full message about the SUSE LINUX "supplementary" directory on this page.
* * * * *
X.Org for Debian - ready or not?
 How ready is X.Org for Debian GNU/Linux, the only major distribution that has yet to make the transition from XFree86? Well, it seems that the Debian developers themselves are not quite sure, with a couple of for and against arguments published on Planet Debian over the weekend. Why X.Org is not ready for Sarge by Erich Schubert: "The much-called-for gimmics such as transparency and shadows worked more bad than good for me. They were really slow. ... Now for the bad parts: due to all the low-level work going on in X.Org, it has its rough edges. For example, X.Org locks up with DRI on my (older) Radeon Mobility FireGL 7800."
As always, not everyone agrees. X.Org isn't ready? by Daniel Stones: "In fact, I think you will find the amount of hardware support in X.Org (out of the largest three vendors, all have new chipsets supported in X.Org that aren't supported in XFree86 4.3 -- ATI's r4xx series, NVIDIA's GeForce 6 series of chips, and Intel's i9xx series, are totally unsupported) is so vastly improved that, even if the 'everything is broken and no-one noticed until now' allegation is true, the staggering weight of hardware supported under X.Org but not under XFree86 would be enough to counter this. Also, with Ubuntu, Fedora Core, Mandrake, SUSE, FreeBSD, Gentoo, and everyone else on the planet using X.Org at this stage, I think if it had massive problems, then it would be *very* well-documented."
What do you think? Is Debian behind the times, or is their patched version of XFree86 4.3.0 good enough for most users? Please comment below.
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| Released Last Week |
Hakin9 Live 2.4
A new version of Hakin9 Live is now available. What's new? "Total rebuild - now based on Aurox Live 10.1; new kernel - 2.6.7 with patches; installer (beta); ndiswrapper - better WiFi support; ipw2100 - drivers for Centrino chipsets; two desktop environments available - Fluxbox (default) and XFce 4.2RC3 (optional); updated stuff - Firefox, Psi, ettercapNG and others; amusing text games - moon-buggy, nethack, netris, overkill...; more intuitive menu, refreshed look." Visit the distribution's home page for more details and download links.
LinEspa 0.22
LinEspa is a Spanish live CD based on Knoppix and featuring the XFce desktop. A new version was announced last week, but it has only now become available for download. New features in version 0.22: boot speed improvements; elimination of boot menu selection; better hardware autodetection; the addition of gnome-system-tools for configuring various system settings; kernel upgrade to 2.6.8.1; many package upgrades, including Firefox 1.0, Thunderbird 1.0, OpenOffice.org 1.1.4, GIMP 2.0.... Read the release announcement (in Spanish) for more details.
Evinux 0.2
Evinux is a French live CD based on Knoppix, but with light-weight desktop environments - XFce (default) and Fluxbox. Version 0.2 has been released with the following changes since rc2: new boot logo and wallpaper; improved xcdrom - a script to help burning CDs. Here is the full release announcement (in French). The next version of Evinux is already in a planning stage, with several new features, including an option to install it on hard disk and support for English.
CentOS 3.4 (Single CD Server)
The developers of CentOS have released a special edition of CentOS 3.4 with a collection of server-specific software on a single CD: "The CentOS Team is pleased to announce the official release of a new single CD Server version of CentOS 3.4 for i386. This single CD ISO should be ideal for use in data centres for installing servers and it has also been designed for cover mount magazine use. This version includes all of the packages that can be chosen to be installed during a 'Server' install. Once installed yum can be used to install additional packages from mirrors and yum groupinstall can be used to install additional package groups. This release includes all relevant RHEL 3 updates (for U4) and errata up to January 20th, 2005." Read the full release announcement for more information.
LiVux 2.0
LiVux is a Debian-based live CD created by the Linux community in Valencia, Spain. Version 2.0 was announced a few days ago and today it was made available for download. The new version, based on Debian Sarge, comes with the following new features and software packages: KDE 3.3; kernel 2.6.9 and 2.4.29; autodetection of ALSA drivers; a new boot system with a menu for selecting the desired boot mode; new version of Blender with support for generating games; update of Scribus to version 1.2.1 with a complete translation into Spanish and many new features; update of KOffice with improved compatibility for importing documents; new Mozilla and OpenOffice.org 1.1.3.... More details in the release announcement (in Spanish).
Development and unannounced releases
- CentOS 4.0-beta, the release announcement
- UHU-Linux 1.2-rc2, the release announcement (in Hungarian)
- SME Server 6.5-beta1, the release announcement
- YES Linux 2.1.0-preview, the release announcement
- ClarkConnect Broadband Gateway 3.0-rc, the release notes
- Ubuntu Linux 5.04-array3, the release announcement
- SAM Mini Live Linux 2005-1-beta, the release announcement
- Yoper Linux 2.2-prerelease, the announcement
- Slackware Linux 10.1-beta1, the changelog
- Gnoppix 0.9.3.b3
- Mandrakelinux 10.2-beta1
- Kurumin Linux 4.1-alpha2
- Lormalinux Samba Fileserver (beta1), the release announcement
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
As reported by a large number of technology web sites, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 is rumoured to be released on February 14, 2005, during the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in Boston, USA: "The upcoming release of RHEL will also include security enhancements derived from the U.S. National Security Agency's Security Enhanced Linux project, as well as improved device and power management capabilities, said Collings, who has examined the beta code. ... This launch will come on Feb. 14, according to a spokeswoman for Red Hat's public relations agency." Read more in this story by InfoWorld and find out about some of the new features in this article by Red Hat Magazine.
PHLAK 0.3
The developers of PHLAK (Professional Hacker's Linux Assault Kit) have announced that version 0.3 will be released in May 2005, during the DallasCon Professional Cyber Defence Conference 2005 in Dallas, USA: "We are pumped about 0.3. We have some great ideas for it. Yes the 2.6 kernel will be included in this release. Also… (whispering) there will be 42% more sneaky. We are going to weed out some old documents, add some new, and add a section for the beginners. We have also discussed a newb manual, though not confirmed, it is a possibility." Here is the full announcement.
* * * * *
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Web Site News |
New distributions addition
New on the waiting list
- cdlinux.pl. cdlinux.pl is a small live CD based on Debian GNU/Linux. It is developed by a group of professors and students at the Information Centre of TASK, a university in Gdansk, Poland.
- Parsix GNU/Linux. Parsix GNU/Linux is a live CD based on Knoppix and Debian. It uses GNOME as its default desktop environment. Parsix GNU/Linux supports Persian keyboard and user can switch to Persian with Alt+Ctrl or Ctrl+Shift keys. We also included xFarDic English-Persian dictionary and Persian free fonts from FarsiWeb and FPF projects.
DistroWatch database summary
- Number of Linux distributions in the database: 377
- Number of BSD distributions in the database: 9
- Number of discontinued distributions: 47
- Number of distributions on the waiting list: 85
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 | 
How-Tux
How-Tux was a Slackware-based, desktop-oriented Linux distribution with the installer translated into Italian and most applications localised for the benefit of Italian speakers. Compared to Slackware, How-Tux was enhanced by GWARE GNOME, OpenOffice.org, and several extra multimedia and graphics applications.
Status: Discontinued
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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