 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 115, 29 August 2005 |
Welcome to this year's 35th issue of DistroWatch Weekly. Plenty of media hype about Asianux last week, but is the project worth the attention? We doubt it and we'll tell you why. We have not done a book review before, but we couldn't resist one in this edition after we found ourselves infatuated with Dru Lavigne's BSD Hacks, an excellent collection of superb tips for administering BSD operating systems. Also in this issue: an interview with Jay Klepacs, the founder and lead developer of aLinux, and the usual regular departments. Happy reading!
Content:
Asianux - is the hype justified?
 The launch of Asianux 2.0 last week has attracted much attention in the Linux and computing media around the Internet. This is easy to understand - the idea of creating a common base and unified standards, with support for the complex writing systems of the countries of East Asia, Asianux certainly looks like a step in the right direction. The project has also been embraced by Oracle and some hardware manufacturers as one of the key Linux players, alongside Red Hat and Novell, to include in the testing and support infrastructure.
But is Asianux really what it claims to be - a pan-Asian panacea for high cost of proprietary software licenses and a universal solution for Asian computer users? As it stands now, we highly doubt it - for two reasons: lack of openness and non-participation of other important Linux players in Asia.
The lack of openness is most alarming. The Asianux web site is a haphazardly designed portal, with broken links, annoying Flash animation, badly formatted press releases, and plenty of self-praise for being an "extreme success" and for becoming "one of the three major Linux server distributions in the world". Similar unfounded statements litter the Asianux web site - while, at the same time, its Success Story page remains amazingly bare.
Despite a so-called "release" of Asianux 2.0 last week, the distribution is nowhere to be had. Its download page still links to Asianux 1.0 ISO images and no public beta testing process preceded the product launch. Similarly, there is no depository of RPM packages and no source code available for download. Even worse, with the exception of the self-glorifying and poorly formatted press release, the Asianux web site provides no information about the product's features. Bug reporting facilities and security notification infrastructure are also absent from the site.
Granted, Asianux is meant to serve as a base system upon which the three participating companies - Red Flag Software, Miracle Linux and Haansoft - build their own products. Yet, one cannot but feel disappointed about the secrecy with which the project presents its development work - instead of openly inviting Asian users, developers and companies to participate in the development process, all work on Asianux takes place behind closed doors. This not only goes against the spirit of Linux and Free Software, it is also against the interest of Asian Linux users.
Thus the only publicly available product based on Asianux 2.0 at this time is a beta release of Red Flag Linux 5.0, released last week. Downloadable from a single (i.e. extremely slow) FTP server, this is a desktop Linux distribution where Red Flag stubbornly continues in its effort to turn Linux into a Windows clone (see screenshot below). That's not to say that it is a bad product; perhaps somewhat outdated and without a good office suite, but nevertheless very usable, with solid support for simplified Chinese and other conveniences that make Red Flag Linux just about as usable as Microsoft Windows on the desktop - and that can't be a bad thing.
Red Flag Linux 5.0 - the first distribution release based on Asianux 2.0
(full image size: 2,065kB)
The beta release of Red Flag Linux 5.0 Desktop aside, the sad truth is that Asianux is not one of the three major Linux distributions in the world, not even close. In its current state, Asianux is little else than hype spread by the three commercial companies involved in the project. And unless the responsible parties fix their half-broken web site, open up the project for public participation, and invite other major Asian players to join in, Asianux is unlikely to become anything but overhyped and glorified vapourware, a fate so similar to the failed United Linux.
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| Book review: BSD Hacks by Dru Lavigne |
BSD Hacks by Dru Lavigne
 Unlike books about Linux, those devoted to the BSD family of operating systems tend to be much less plentiful on the shelves of book stores. Luckily though, they also tend to be written by authors who are not only well-known experts possessing a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge about the BSDs, but who also emanate genuine love for their chosen operating system. Such is the case of O'Reilly's BSD Hacks by Dru Lavigne.
Published in May 2004, BSD Hacks promises to deliver 100 industrial-strength tips & tools. These are divided into 9 chapters, starting with customising the user environment, then continuing with tips for file management, booting, backups, and networking. Next is the all-important chapter on improving security of your BSD-based server, before the book dwells into more advanced topics and a software update chapter.
But the order of chapters is not important, for this is one book that few people will read from cover to cover. Rather, it is a reference book, a collection of amazingly good tips that make your life with a BSD operating system so much more enjoyable and productive. Even if you are not looking for a particular tip, it is always fun simply to open up the book on a random page and go through the hack on the page - you are bound to learn something and, more often than not, you'll find yourself rushing towards your computer to put your newly-acquired knowledge into practice.
I found the login and security chapters particularly valuable. The login chapter has an excellent discussion on how to protect system passwords with Blowfish or how to use crack to monitor your user's compliance with the password policy. Another valuable tip teaches you how to create and use one-time passwords. The security chapter goes further into these topics by presenting tips on protecting files with flags and mandatory access control, encryption, generating automated firewall rules, and securing wireless networks. These tips are not only excellent in educating users and system administrators, they are also well explained and easy to follow.
One hundred hacks might look like not much, but in reality, many of them are composed of several sub-hacks and related information, and they represent a complete chapter. After all, the book has more than 400 pages. The vast majority of tips are command line hacks, with only the very last tip dealing with some of the utilities that ship with XFree86 or X.Org. The hacks are general enough to apply to all BSD systems, but if a certain hack is only applicable to one or two of the BSDs, it is clearly stated.
There is very little that we didn't like about this book. BSD Hacks is an amazing collection of excellent tips and timesavers, presented in a clear style and the usual superb readability of O'Reilly's books. It has plenty to offer to anybody, except perhaps seasoned BSD experts, although even they would probably discover a few valuable tips. And Linux users don't have to shy away from this book either; although many of these tips might not be applicable (without modification) to a Linux system, much can be learned from the philosophy and security practices of the three main BSD operating systems.
I highly recommend Dru Lavigne's BSD Hacks. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most valuable and indispensable books I bought in quite a few years.
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| Interview: Jay Klepacs, aLinux |
Interview: Jay Klepacs, aLinux
aLinux (formerly Peanut Linux) is an interesting distribution that has been getting increased coverage in recent weeks. With its superb multimedia support, bleeding-edge software packages, and controversial desktop wallpapers, aLinux has succeeded in attracting interest of a diverse group of people - from Linux hackers to Microsoft lawyers. Jay Klepacs, the founder and lead developer of aLinux, was kind enough to answer a few questions about aLinux - in his typical eccentric and verbose fashion.
* * * * *
DW: Jay, thank you very much for your time. First, can you tell us a bit about yourself? We know that you live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and that you dislike Microsoft Windows, but that's about it. How old are you? And what do you do for living?
JK: I have lived my life in Steel City Canada for a little over 33 years - born in the sun sign of Libra on October 16, 1971.
For a living, good question. Nothing much, just living by the hand of God is all I require. We have a blues band here in Hamilton, we call ourselves "Star Angel", but hardly play much now that I'm crazily infatuated and fascinated with computers (O: ...... but we still seldom get to play and dig it when we do. Nothing updated but here's some Musical Jams of us collecting dust now - hence the name *Jam* has nothing to do with it :O).
Computer speak: Microsoft - I do like. I love everyone. Life would have been mad without MS-DOS (p: that they made my life more enjoyable. I used Microsoft Windows right up until 1996 (the beginning of the USB era). Win95 4.00.950a to be exact was my last purchase, then retired back full-time to Unixes again that same year.
Differences though, sure. Nothing major. I myself, in general, am extremely open-minded and giving, which is naturally leading me further to unite with Open Source communities. I try always to achieve positive up-front relationships with software authors, be it Microsoft, etc. I have many friends and colleagues who still happily work for the well-established Microsoft Corporation. Sure, we joke around both ways in good sense but bashing MS versus Unix nonsense never happens, no hatred from either side. I know too well that Microsoft loves to use our Open Source variety of Unixes, this mainly includes Solaris but Linux as well! Any well experienced phreaker or hacker knows this.
P.S. Hope I did not hurt anyone by that comment. I really believe in being true to our nature. We should never hide the truth, even so - if it means less monopoly. Did i say that out loud ;-p *just kidding*.
DW: aLinux (and Peanut Linux before that) has been around since 1999 (correct?). Please tell us about the beginnings of your distribution.
JK: The name Peanut Linux evolved in late 1996 but was not licensed and released until early 1999. Comparable to an all-time favorite inspiring MINIX operating system, which set the bases in mind for Peanut Linux, this indulged me to base Peanut Linux on the next best thing - Debian GNU/Linux, which right away become Peanut's basis for that initial release with the full-fledged KDE desktop. Later I started basing to DOSLINUX which is now called LOOPLINUX and over time removed all remnants of Debian SystemV to what we fully utilize today in aLinux is the BSD style script. This change was necessary to help new users understand and modify their Unix/Minix-like system with ease. Not that the developer is a dummy :O), but BSD is just easier to understand.
DW: With hundreds of distributions around, the lifespan of most of them is measured in months rather than years. Luckily, aLinux is different. What motivates you to keep developing new versions? Have you ever thought about giving up and doing something else?
JK: I've always been content building aLinux with strict 386 compiler optimizations stripping all debug code from every aspect so we end up with the smallest stable binary available. No other operating system I've seen even attempts this. Well, Debian sort of does but it's very unique to aLinux. Our kernel is built for 586 because OpenGL video acceleration cards require this, but a simple rebuild of aLinux kernel using 386 math co-processor support will allow anyone with a 386-386SX/DX computer and 24MB RAM to fully run the system without KDE. Sure, KDE will boot with a large swap but it's still too slow to multi-task so FVWM, Fluxbox, IceWM or XFce become the perfect choice. Disable any services like MySQL, etc. and you have yourself a killer totally up-to-date system running on the old 386 with full usable server/client solution HTTP/FTP/SSH running out of the box. KDE is comparable to Microsoft Windows so requirements are more CPU and memory but the stock aLinux 12.5 kernel runs on a 486DX right now. In the past, I built strictly for 686 optimization and I've never seen any speed inscreases, just many people posed problems not being able to run it on their 586.
Just like I always wondered what had happen to Storm Linux, etc. myself. Who they were, what are they now and what-not. I have seen some other interests over time and wondered myself about the future. But hey, now without a doubt it's the "thing that's just in" L i n u x! The future is now and the software is at its brightest prime ever. It's pulling on the conglomerates' wallet now, e.g. Microsoft". The open source movement says it all. Hardware vendors really need to trust and support us for the product is now for it to really kick in full tilt. We can't all be greedy.
Unity shall prevail, but vendors need patience with us too - API changes so much in Linux and this is part of our plague too. I'd love for things in this order to slow or remain still [1.] kernel 2.6, [2.] glibc, [3.] GCC - so hardware vendors can catch-up and in turn Linux is success. We also need fewer distributions, yes no aLinux, no blah blah distributions so corporate vendors don't feel so claustrophobic when it comes to managing hardware. We should focus one kernel - this scares me myself and all I do is try to figure out which is the best fit for desktop users. Seems 2.6 is perfect for desktops, 2.4. for servers, the others dropped now or drop all and keep either 2.4 or 2.6 just one to help vendors and find an API!!! Anyways - yes i blab for hours but something needs to be done and hopefully kernel developers see this. I usually just get hate mail from some when confronting issues - suggestions. Open Source = Open Minds as well.
DW: Possibly the best-loved feature of aLinux is its pre-configured ability to play a large range of media files out of the box, even within the Mozilla browser. Can you tell us more about this?
JK: Entertainment studio - watch DVD/TV on your PC today!
Sure, with me being the media nut, I've come to be - I've always had this "I want it all now media attitude". So our goal and key focus with aLinux is to deliver to the user the same on-going experiment. Online/offline multimedia explosion, i.e. let's start with having the best of what we can to meet or exceed needs of what a regular desktop Windows or Mac user has already.
We achieve this by using some 500 or more jam-packed popular media based libraries available to us online!
In brief, these static streams run inside Konqueror web browser using the KMPlayer front-end for our well-known and transparent to user Win32 DLLs which help us with Sorenson1, 2, 3, QuickTime, DiVX/WMV Windows Media, Real Player G2, 10x, Plus, Shockwave/Flash and tons more. Some backends used transparently with KMPlayer include MPLayer, Xine, GSTreamer, liveMedia, Xmms, so-on.
Some might say - big deal, my computer is too slow to playback audio and music - how about latencies with audio/video? Well, for even the slowest of computer systems and for us, professionals, who need a box to record, play, stream, burn just say VCD, DVD, MP3, CDA, etc., we give that user every available audio/video input/output plug-in to control this in a efficient way. This meets and exceeds many multimedia boxes available for free or purchase out there now and is more for the experienced then anything, but the power is there, so let's use it!
DW: Many of these media players, libraries and media formats (e.g. the libdvdcss library for playing encrypted DVDs on Linux) are either illegal or may be patented in the USA and some other countries. What is your opinion on this? Do you worry that some day a law firm will contact you and demand that you comply with the law, or even worse, sue you?
Very good question. Proprietary software patents have been plaguing us with an on-going battle thus far. As is their right to do so. My belief in freedom is to give whatever you have to someone else if you already have plenty or can spare it. I answer many emails and give CDs away at an alarming rate freely to third-world and under-developed countries or just anyone who cannot afford but sparks interest in Peanut/aLinux.
Something like this. I barely sell my distribution as it is since I don't act on marketing. It's a hobby. But with some "proprietary" data inside of aLinux that is not GPL - most is well-known and patented as "Free Software" and given the license terms and conditions, most is our right to distribute/sell any which way we decide, as long as the original authors' names are included in contact, etc. The reality is that this, in turn, creates sales and donations for them, period. Sorry, I have no control over other countries' jurisdiction, but everybody still goes ahead, gets what they want, unless they are insanely religious. No offence in any way to those filled with God's love and peace - but never let the devil rob you blind!
If a license changes and I'm asked to remove a certain piece of software - bang, it's gone and re-packaged for download with details to install from my site. You see, by including such software in a distribution you help minimize the pain of installing it later - for instance, if it's not in a distribution, users are going to get it one way or another, since it's all known as free software anyhow. This also saves the original authors the heartache and pain of questions users would ask on how to install certain software and configure it with the various distributions.
Sorry if I come across as naive and/or narrowminded on this matter but i feel we should all give if we have something to give whether it slightly infringes but not harms the other physically in any way.
DW: Why Mozilla and not Firefox?
JK: Yes, Firefox/Thunderbird has some really nice features we can't build into Mozilla like its better tabbed browsing, but I've grown accustomed to Mozilla and still use features like:
- HTML Composer Editor - quickly fixes my syntax errors (O:
- IRC Chatzilla - comes in handy for certain web content.
- News/Mail Reader - I use these a lot still and am trying to merge myself into KNews/KMail clients but keep going back and forth. Yes, Firefox/Thunderbird are even nice choices, some will say.
That and Firefox is still inside Mozilla - there really is no Firefox source available - it's mozilla-src* and the default build is always Mozilla, although they've been pushing Firefox for some time now, but building Firefox requires Mozilla source (O: not a big deal.
--enable-application=suite (gives us Mozilla, Mail, News, Composer, Chatzilla, Calendar)
--enable-application=browser,mail (gives us Firefox, Thunderbird)
If I even had one request to date, I would have added Firefox/Thunderbird, but nobody has mentioned it to me until now :o), if I'm remembering correctly -hehe.
DW: What other features do you think are the most attractive part of aLinux?
JK: Our small and tiny, but friendly community we can call home and hang/chat it up: irc://irc.freenode.net/aLinux
Oh and 'mc', our Midnight Commander - text-based file management utility. Yes it has been there since day 1 and has become a tradition. Hey, we can even play every video and audio right from 'mc' - bet some people didn't know that :o)
DW: Does aLinux use a stock kernel or do you patchit? If you use patches, which ones?
JK: Standard patches designed to improve system response time. In order of choice:
- CK Set. Con Kolivas. Well-known brilliant kernel hacker and practicing doctor in Australia.
- CK(O) Set. Currently used in aLinux 12.5, Con Kolivas patched into overload, but I can't find the author now, seems to have left the project. But the extra patches provide no speed enhancements just some eye-candy.
- Once in a while when available and known stable, I will try the NITRO set, which is very similar to CK (Overloaded) but he's disappeared or works for Gentoo now, I believe.
DW: aLinux (and Peanut Linux) has always been a curious mix of applications, some of the pretty outdated, while others straight from the developers' bleeding-edge CVS repositories. Why is this?
It's on my to-do list of chores, thank you. This mixed nut = mixed apps :-p, it's generations of madness in the RPM repository which really shows up even scarier now with Synaptic :O). However, a clean-up is starting to happen, but slow as usual.
CVS - yes, an addiction that's finally fading from me. Really, I just browse changelogs and if i see something like over a stable version or the author recommends to me to go with CVS/Subversion, I listen. Why not, well, for an enterprise system I would never do such a thing even I'd make sure drivers are certified, but desktop Linux systems - what better place then to run bleeding-edge once in a while :) You, see, we all know stable apps have bugs too sometimes so CVS has them too ;O)
DW: Anything you wish to say to our readers? Do you need help with developing or promoting aLinux? What is your preferred communication medium with your users? If I find a bug where do I report it?
JK: Yes, yes and more YES :O). I'd be grateful for any help like people we can get together to tone down API changes, my words mean nothing or anything you can think of to key vendors talking to kernel/glibc/GCC to slow it down or I'll turn 100 tomorrow and still not have my hardware running ;-) OK i sounded like my German foreign background there (really, it's not that bad - most computers run Linux without a hitch but vendors are crying for help only we can't give it because things change so quickly in open source) yes it's super, but ...kay I'm going to shush now ... lol...
Communication (+1 (905) 524 3805) mailto:alinuxorg@yahoo.ca. Bug reports to the address above plus help forum or the IRC channel which can be found on site. Yes - newbies, young, old, inexperienced, experienced, crazy or just curious about Linux are welcome into our small, friendly community. There are no qualifications - we are all very simple helping people. I myself have split personalities (manic depression) and so on, but I'm harmless to say the least and love God!
I'd like to end by gracefully thanking you, Ladislav, for listening and giving me the time to express. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Peace, grace, happiness and a God bless all!
I'd also like to mention some friends who really help out if you don't mind. They would be grateful and all have something to do with Linux/aLinux:
- Clint Christopher, Canada (wanderer on the aLinux forum) working on: pnutproject (co-developer)
- Craig Squires (videoguy on the alinux forum) working on: pnutproject (founder)
- Galen Thurber (sponsors and hosts the aLinux forum)
- SPOVER by Bengt Lundmark hosting and linux reviews started in 1998
- India Idew Solutions, I can't find their email address but they help us
DW: Jay, thank you very much for talking to us and good luck with your project!
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| Released Last Week |
Gibraltar Firewall 2.3
Gibraltar Firewall 2.3 has been released. From the changelog: "This is a feature release with two major new features now being fully supported by the web interface: briding (a.k.a. as transparent firewalling) and traffic shaping. Both can be enabled with the respective modules in the web interface. Other changes in the web interface include a quick configuration save link, new service definitions that can now span different protocols (e.g. an IPSec service that include UDP, ESP and AH), the possibility to configure an email relay (e.g. a smart host by the ISP), and some enhancements when integrating a hard disk drive for /var."
Knopperdisk 0.3.1
Knopperdisk is a Gentoo-based distribution designed to run from a USB storage device. A new version was released today: "Knopperdisk 0.3.1 released! This is a huge update with package updates everywhere. The kernel version being used is 2.6.12.5, no X-server has been added yet, for those wondering. Short summary of changes: added Screen; updated Gentoo's baselayout package which improves configuration a lot (network, wireless); updated Bash (3.00), udev (058), ClamAV + recent virus definitions, Samba (3.0.14a), iptables (1.3.2), links (2.1pre17), Nmap (3.81); updated several file system tools (ext2/ext3, XFS, JFS)." Find more details on the project's news page.
Monoppix 1.1.8
A new version of Monoppix, a Knoppix-based live CD with the goal to showcase and spread the Mono technology, has been released. From the release notes: "The main new features of v1.1.8 are: mono 1.1.8, libgdiplus 1.1.8, xsp 1.0.9, monodevelop 0.7. Additions: MPlayer to allow viewing our tutorials from Monoppix, hello world video tutorial included in the image. Notes: native mono Windows.Forms class libraries are available without WINE thanks to Mono's v1.1.8 implementation."
Overclockix 3.79
Overclockix 3.79 has been released: "An all new Overclockix ISO hits the net today! This one features prelinking, KDE 3.4.2, and many new tools. Build 3.79 is the first Overclockix ISO ever with the boinc DC project, also now with apt-build and the beginnings of optimizing select packages for i686. This ISO has the LTSP/wine folding service found in Overclockix LTSP_2.1, with many improvements thanks to co-developer Overdoze. Also included is my own Linux folding@home service, which you can try out as an alternative. I skipped on some of the more recent Knoppix builds due to bugs with Unionfs and broken captive-ntfs support, but I have been planning a limited edition DVD release based on Knoppix 4.0." Read the rest of the release announcement on the project's home page.
A new version of Overclockix was released last week
(full image size: 783kB)
B2D Linux 20050825
B2D Linux is a Taiwanese Linux distribution and live CD with a complete support for the traditional Chinese character set. Two new editions were released yesterday - "PureGNOME" with GNOME 2.8.1 and "PureKDE" with KDE 3.3.2. Rather than updating software packages, most of the development effort focused on fixing existing bugs; these include some software-related problems after hard disk installation and after creating non-root users. New kernel modules for wireless networking were also added. The "PureKDE" edition comes with a Windows-like desktop theme, while the "PureGNOME" edition defaults to a theme resembling Mac OS. Read the full release announcement (in Chinese) for further details.
B2D Linux 20050825 "PureGNOME" edition with a MacOS-like desktop theme
(full image size: 603kB)
IPCop Firewall 1.4.8
A new version of IPCop Firewall has been released. What's new? "Installer: fix ata_piix SATA support, fix PCMCIA installation and network card detection with floppy boot, nn floppy boot install, shift search to allow usage of mounted loop ISO. Changes in update: fix modules.conf is more recent than modules.dep, fix support with SMP new kernel and SCSI driver, complete the menu options for the old kernel like for the most recent kernel, workaround for flash disk with limited /boot size...." Read the release notes for a complete list of changes.
Linux-EduCD 0.5
Linux-EduCD is a KANOTIX-based live CD developed by Poland's SIMP Studium Techniki. It focuses on education, graphics, office and multimedia use and is designed specifically for use in Polish educational institutions. A new updated version was released yesterday. Most important changes include: upgrade to kernel 2.6.11.11, improved installer, better data compression with SquashFS, improved support for ADSL modems and laptops, new scripts for installing NVIDIA and ATI graphics drivers, KDE 3.4.1 from Debian's experimental repository, OpenOffice.org 1.9.121.... Read the release announcement (in Polish) for more details.
pocketlinux 1.2
pocketlinux is a new Slackware-based distribution created by former developers of the Bonzai Linux distribution. Its main features are a simplified Slackware installer, one application per task, and KDE Light desktop. Version 1.2 was released over the weekend: "pocketlinux 1.2 has been released. There are only minor changes so there is no real need to upgrade: added ppp and rp-pppoe packages for easier ADSL setup; added sudo to make system shutdown possible for users within the system group 'users'; added shutdown button to the panel start menu; removed unnecessary build overhead...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
* * * * *
Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Slackware 10.2
Slackware Linux 10.2 is now available for pre-order from the Slackware Store. The product description has not been updated and there is no information about the release date, but we know the price of the official 4-CD set: US$39.95.
NetBSD 2.1 and 3.0
Matthias Scheler has published an updated release schedule for the upcoming releases of NetBSD: "On behalf of NetBSD's release engineering team I would like to provide you with an update on our current estimated timelines for the NetBSD 2.1 and NetBSD 3.0 releases." NetBSD 2.1 is scheduled for release on 10th or 17th September, while NetBSD 3.0 is expected in October.
Games Knoppix DVD
The Games Knoppix project has announced the upcoming release of a Games Knoppix DVD, scheduled to be released "during the next three week": "There will be a new DVD-sized release of the Games Knoppix during the next three weeks. I'll post the list of included games as soon as possible." Visit the project's home page to read the announcement.
* * * * *
Summary of expected upcoming releases
- 2005-08-30: Progeny Debian 3.0 PR4
- 2005-08-31: NetBSD 2.1 Release Candidate 1
- 2005-09-01: SUSE Linux 10.0 beta4
- 2005-09-08: Ubuntu Linux 5.10 Preview
- 2005-09-09: SUSE Linux 10.0 RC1
- 2005-09-10: NetBSD 2.1 Release Candidate 2
- 2005-09-15: Frugalware Linux 0.3rc1
- 2005-09-15: Mandriva Linux 2006 Official
- 2005-09-17: NetBSD 2.1
- 2005-09-19: Progeny Debian 3.0 RC1
- 2005-09-26: Progeny Debian 3.0
- 2005-09-28: NetBSD 3.0 Release Candidate 1
- 2005-09-29: Frugalware Linux 0.3rc2
- 2005-09-XX: FreeBSD 5.5
- 2005-09-XX: FreeBSD 6.0-RC1
- 2005-09-XX: FreeBSD 6.0
- 2005-09-XX: SUSE Linux 10.0
- 2005-10-01: Symphony OS Beta 1
- 2005-10-06: Ubuntu Linux 5.10 Release Candidate
- 2005-10-13: Frugalware Linux 0.3
- 2005-10-13: Ubuntu Linux 5.10
- 2005-10-XX: NetBSD 3.0
- 2005-11-07: Fedora Core 5 Test1
- 2005-12-12: Fedora Core 5 Test2
- 2006-01-09: Fedora Core 5 Test3
- 2006-02-13: Fedora Core 5
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| Web Site News |
New distribution additions
New distributions on the waiting list
- CrisTuX. CrisTuX is a Spanish Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux, with Free Software and links related to Christianity.
- JaCL Linux. JaCL Linux (Just a Command Line Linux) is a Knoppix-based live CD distribution of the Linux operating system. JaCL Linux is designed to be run as a command line-driven server or utility system. Most major command line applications and server software available in a standard Linux distribution are available in JaCL Linux. Examples of server and utility uses for JaCL include web server, FTP server, DNS server, Samba server, rsync server, syslog server, local disk mirroring utility, remote rsync disk mirroring utility and hardware diagnostics utility.
- Myah. Myah is a Linux live CD based on Slackware and SLAX, enhanced by many popular desktop applications.
DistroWatch database summary
That's all for this week. We hope you've enjoyed this issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| 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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| Random Distribution | 
Astra Linux
Astra Linux is a Russian commercial Linux distribution based on the "Stable" branch of Debian, developed by Russia's Astra Group. It was originally created to meet the needs of the Russian army and intelligence agencies, but was later widely adopted by the educational, healthcare and other state institutions, as well as many industrial companies, in order to reduce dependence on Microsoft Windows and other Western software products. Astra's flagship "Special" edition is a commercial product available for desktops, servers, mobile and embedded devices; it comes with support options and the highest level of security certification. The company also provides the unsupported, free-to-use "Common" edition which is based on an older version of Debian.
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!
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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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