DistroWatch Weekly |
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 129, 5 December 2005 |
Welcome to this year's 49th issue of DistroWatch Weekly. New major releases of KDE, Firefox and Apache have prompted us to take a closer look at the major distribution's handling of package updates, the availability of backports and other related issues. Does your distribution provide backports for popular new software? Or do you have to wait for the next version bump to enjoy recently released packages? Also in this issue: an introduction to a GNOME-based Windows XP clone from Russia and a quick look at the excellent Archie Live CD. Finally, our November 2005 donation goes to the often-nominated KANOTIX project. Happy reading!
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in ogg (5.17MB) or mp3 (5.44MB) format (courtesy of Shawn Milo).
Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
Content:
Backporting major software packages
One of the perceived qualities of a distribution is the willingness of its developers (or contributors) to provide "backports" of popular new applications for existing stable versions of their products. After all, many of us love to run the latest software - even if the only reason is to satisfy our curiosity about what's new and what has been improved. Last week's release of KDE 3.5 was one of those must-have versions for all fans of the popular desktop.
Of course, upgrading such a major piece of software is no small task. A universal method for installing new applications on Linux (and UNIX) is to compile them directly from source code. The advantage of this approach is that you can install a new version as soon as the source code is released, without having to wait for your distribution to provide pre-compiled binary packages. The disadvantage, besides the fact that compiling a large application suite might kill a whole day, is that the newly compiled application will by-pass the distribution's package management structures and might even introduce subtle bugs. Also, unless you are using a dedicated source-based distribution, such as Gentoo Linux, it is often difficult to uninstall a locally-compiled application.
If you are not a seasoned Linux user or if you don't run a source-based distribution, your best option is to wait for your distro's developers to release binary packages specifically compiled for your distribution. This is not always guaranteed, however. If you look through the KDE 3.5 FTP directory, you will notice that only three distributions have so far provided KDE 3.5 binary packages; these are Kubuntu, Slackware and SUSE. Of these, Kubuntu packages are only available for the most recent release (version 5.10), Slackware provides them for the two most recent releases (versions 10.1 and 10.2), and SUSE has built binary packages of KDE 3.5 for their four most recent releases (versions 9.1, 9.2, 9.3 and 10.0).
Although some would consider the above a very simplistic way to rate a Linux distribution, it does give an indication about the level of commitment a company or a project exerts to satisfy their users. Ironically, with all the recent rumours about Novell abandoning KDE in favour of GNOME, the reality is that SUSE remains one of the most KDE-centric distributions, with unmatched service of delivering the freshest KDE packages for as many as four most recent SUSE releases!
Of course, some distributions might provide alternative upgrade paths - Mandriva could use its Club structures to allow priority access to Club members, while Fedora contributors will probably make the new KDE 3.5 packages available from third-party repositories. Gentoo users can, of course, upgrade immediately by "emerging" KDE and users of Arch Linux can invoke "pacman" to get the latest KDE binaries. But if your distribution doesn't provide timely package upgrades, do you mind? Does this fact influence your distro choice? Or are you happy to just wait for your distribution's next release, perhaps with a better tested and bug-fixed KDE 3.5.1? Please discuss below.
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Miscellaneous news: Interview with Branden Robinson, Linux XP
TuxJournal has published a 3-page interview with Branden Robinson, the current Debian GNU/Linux Project Leader: "When I finally got a computer capable of running the Linux kernel (read: an 80386-compatible or better processor), I immediately installed Slackware Linux on it from a cigar box full of 3.5-inch floppies that my dad had made for me. This was January of 1996. By February I had switched to Debian GNU/Linux, because I knew there were multiple distributions out there, and I wanted to exercise my freedom of choice. Debian appealed to me from the outset because of its affirmative commitment not just to producing a great operating system, but to assurance that that system would remain Free, so that people like me could learn how it worked and customize it to suit their needs." And while on the subject of Debian, here is a good article about the correct usage of the root account and sudo while administering a Debian system.
Ever since Linux has become a viable option to use on desktop computers, all sorts of attempts have been made to emulate the look and feel of the ubiquitous Windows desktop. One of the more recent efforts in this respect comes from a Russian project called Linux XP. This distribution has been around for a couple of years, but it appeared discontinued with no new releases and no site updates for a long time. However, its latest version is probably one of the best efforts to clone Microsoft Windows XP and emulate its look and feel (see screenshot below). Based on Fedora Core and complete with a heavily modified GNOME desktop and custom icon set, a single-CD release of Linux XP should be formally announced later this week (an older ISO image is available for download from this server). Warning: this is a Russian-only distribution.

Linux XP 2005 - if familiarity is essential (full image size: 620kB)
A new user forum for Linux users was unveiled today. Called TuxForums.org, the new online arena hopes to attract a large community of Linux users to discuss current issues and solve support problems on all major distributions. TuxForums.org provides discussion platforms for Debian, Gentoo, Fedora, Knoppix, Mandriva, Slackware, SUSE and Ubuntu, as well as more general hardware, software, installation, networking and programming topics. Whether you are looking to join a new Linux community or just wish to read through current discussions, TuxForums.org might be the perfect site to visit.
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Featured distribution of the week: Archie Live CD |
Archie Live CD
If you suspect that Archie Live CD has something to do with Arch Linux then you are not far from the truth. Formerly known as AL-AMLUG, the project has changed name in order to make the parent-child relationship more obvious and perhaps to attract users and developers who have been enlightened by the simplicity and purity of Arch Linux.
Archie is unique in the sense that it is not based on any of the big "top-level" distributions with their live CD offshoots, such as Debian/Knoppix, Slackware/SLAX or Mandriva/PCLinuxOS, which currently dominate the live CD scene. Also, since Arch is optimised for the i686 architecture, so is Archie, as its developers use the same binary packages that make up the current Arch Linux package tree. And like its parent, Archie also uses the simple, but fast and efficient "pacman" package manager, a good compromise between the complexity of Debian's APT and Slackware's bare-bones "pkgtool".
The most recent version of Archie Linux is 0.6rc2. It is based on the current pre-release of Arch Linux 0.7.1, so the package set making up the distribution is very up-to-date. The only available edition at the time of writing is a light-weight one with XFce and a relatively small collection of general-purpose desktop applications with a slight bias towards graphics manipulation (GIMP, Inkscape). There is no office suite or universal media player, although users can write documents in AbiWord and listen to music in Beep or XMMS. Firefox, Sylpheed, Gaim and XChat provide all the Internet tools most users will ever need and the distribution also ships with a good collection of wireless network drivers and ndiswrapper. The latest NVIDIA graphics driver is also included.
We found Archie 0.6 an impressive and versatile live CD with good hardware detection and a solid collection of essential applications. The developers chose an interesting theme with extra toolbar icons for pinning and shading windows (see screenshot below) - a nice, user-friendly touch. The live CD also includes a graphical hard disk installer, similar to the ones that ship with the most recent versions of MEPIS or PCLinuxOS, while power users will enjoy the availability of Archie-scripts designed to create a customised Arch-based live CD.
For more information about Archie Live CD please visit the project's home page at archie.dotsrc.org.

Archie - an intriguing live CD based on Arch Linux (full image size: 150kB)
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Released Last Week |
Turbolinux 11
Turbolinux 11, code name "Fuji", has been formally released in Japan. The new version is based on kernel 2.6.13 with KDE 3.4.2 as its default desktop. It features improved compatibility with Windows for seamless integration into mixed-OS environments, better support for Japanese input and fonts, StarOffice 8, and real-time virus protection against Windows viruses. Turbolinux FUJI retails for ¥16,800, although a "Basic" edition (without StarOffice, ATOK Japanese input and anti-virus software) is also available for ¥5,800. An international edition of Turbolinux 11 is expected to be launched shortly. More information is available in an earlier product announcement, while the Turbolinux web site provides more comprehensive product pages (in Japanese) about the new release.
RR4 Linux 2.65.1
A new bug-fix release of the Gentoo-based RR4 Linux live DVD is out: "Ladies and gentlemen, geeks and hackers, Greeks and Romans, RR4 Linux 2.65.1 is spreading on the net! RR4 Linux is a powerful and installable Gentoo GNU/Linux live DVD based on kernel 2.6.14, KDE 3.4.3, GNOME 2.12.1, XFce 4.2.2 and Fluxbox 0.9.13, with extraordinary features like Internet Kiosk capabilities (using FreeNX), state of the art hardware detection, fast boot time, multimedia cutting edge support, 'Klik' unofficial support, and DVD to hard disk installation." The release announcement includes a complete list of changes since the earlier version 2.65.
Tao Live 4.03
A new version of Tao Live 4, a live CD based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, has been released: "A new version of the Tao Live CD is available. Version 4.03 features: documentation for beginners (French and English); support for English (Canada and USA), French (Canada) and Spanish (Mexico) locales; kernel 2.6.9-22.0.1.SquashFS1; support for USB storage of userspace (still experimental). Tao Live uses a Squash filesystem to fit 2 GB of programs into a standard bootable CD. OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Gaim, XMMS, K3B and many other programs are included. A few boot options are currently available." Here is the full release announcement.
Wolvix 1.0.4
The Wolvix live CD has been updated to version 1.0.4: "Wolvix Desktop Edition 1.0.4 released. Release highlights: XFce 4.2.3.2, OpenOffice.org 2.0.0, Evolution Groupware Suite 2.4, Mozilla Firefox 1.5, Azureus 2.3.0.6, GnomeBaker 0.5.0, GnomeMeeting 1.2.2, lots of packages have been added from the Freerock GNOME project giving the release a more unison GTK look; better mime handling in Firefox and Xfe; many upgraded applications and libraries. I hope you all like this release, I've been working on it nonstop the last few weeks. The base is still SLAX 5.0.6 with the 2.6.12.2 kernel...." See the full release announcement for more information.
Linux From Scratch 6.1.1
Linux From Scratch 6.1.1 has been released: "The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of LFS 6.1.1. This release includes fixes for all known errata since LFS-6.1 was released 4 months ago. You can read the book online, or download to read locally." Besides the usual book, the project also released a new Automated LFS (ALFS) profile, as well as an LFS 6.1.1 LiveCD: "The LFS LiveCD team is proud to announce the release of the x86-6.1.1-1 version of the LFS LiveCD. This version is built using LFS 6.1.1 and BLFS packages from the svn branch. Other new features include: XFce Terminal with helpful menus, including copy and paste; jhalfs 0.2 included; nALFS LFS 6.1.1 Profile; more new packages: rsync, sudo, wireless_tools."
Scientific Linux 4.2
Scientific Linux 4.2 for i386 and x86_64 processors is out: "Scientific Linux 4.2 was officially released. We want to thank all those tested, re-tested, and worked with the developers. This release might have taken longer than usual to be released, but it hopefully is one of the more stable. Scientific Linux release 4.2 is based on the rebuilding of RPMs out of SRPMs from [Red Hat] Enterprise 4 AS, including Update 2. Its biggest improvement over 4.1 would be the new yum 2.4, Yumex (a graphical front end for yum), and the various yum plugins." Find more details and links to release notes in the official announcements for i386 and x86_64 architectures.
Zenwalk Linux 2.0.1
Zenwalk Linux 2.0.1 has been released: "This release is based on the 2.6.14.2 kernel, with Reiser4 filesystem support and many enhancements and updates. Zenwalk 2.0.1 is the biggest jump in Zenwalk evolution since the beginning of the project. Main software updates are XFce 4.2.3.2, xine 1.1.1, Firefox 1.5, KDE 3.5 available from 'netpkg'. GTK has been updated to version 2.8.7, based on the Cairo library designed for a better use of display hardware acceleration. All GTK applications that can take advantage of Cairo were rebuilt or upgraded. Zenwalk 2.0.1 includes full OpenOffice.org 2.0...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
ParallelKnoppix 2005-12-02
A new, security enhanced version of ParallelKnoppix was released over the weekend. From the changelog: "Passwords are reset for 'root' and 'knoppix'; RSA keys are regenerated; the 'knoppix' user is removed from /etc/sudoers. The cluster is secure for connection to the internet using a second network interface on the master node, and can be reached by ssh, scp, etc. The cluster is not secure from damage by malicious / incompetent users with physical access to the nodes, since they can still easily get root access (or hit the nodes with a hammer!) The security enhancements are new and only lightly tested. Please report means of gaining root access from hosts outside the cluster." Visit the project's home page for further details about the new release.
Nonux 2.1
The development of Nonux, a Slackware-based distribution designed for office use and optimised for Dutch speakers, continues at a rapid pace. The new version 2.1 comes with an updated kernel 2.6.14.3 and the latest Firefox browser 1.5. Several bug fixes and additional display options for NVIDIA graphics drivers have been implemented. Users who experience problems starting up the graphical part of the system can now try new boot parameters as documented on the distribution's web site. For more information please consult the release announcement on the project's news page (in Dutch).
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Development and unannounced releases
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Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Frugalware Linux 0.4 and Haansoft Linux 2006
Frugalware and Haansoft have published roadmaps leading towards their respective stable releases. Frugalware Linux 0.4, code name "Wanda" is scheduled for release at the end of March 2006, with the first preview release expected later this week. Similarly, Haansoft is also aiming (page in Korean) for a late March release of its Workstation edition of Haansoft Linux 2006. The product's first beta was formally released last week; this will be followed by two more betas and two release candidates.
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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Web Site News |
November 2005 donation: the KANOTIX project receives €210
We are pleased to announce that, based on the reader feedback during the past month, the recipient of our November 2005 donation is the KANOTIX project.
Although KANOTIX is primarily a Linux distribution and live CD, its unique features, superior hardware support and usability enhancements have turned it into one of the best-loved Knoppix-based derivatives available today. Indeed, KANOTIX is now used as a base for other distributions (e.g. Auditor Security Linux, Linux-EduCD, Tilix) while several other open source projects now use the heavily-patched KANOTIX kernel to power their own distributions (e.g. Kurumin Linux and its derivatives). Even the Knoppix developers have backported some KANOTIX innovations, such as the hard disk installer, into their own product. As such KANOTIX has proven itself to be a valuable distribution and live CD not only to those who use it, but also to the wider Linux community.
As always, our monthly donations programme is a joint initiative between DistroWatch and two online shops selling low-cost CDs and DVDs with Linux, BSD and other open source software - LinuxISO.co.uk and LinuxCD.org, each of which contributed US$50 towards this month's donation. Both stores have an excellent selection and latest releases at very reasonable prices. Next time you need to order your favourite Linux or BSD CDs, get them from LinuxCD.org or, if you are in the United Kingdom, from LinuxISO.co.uk.
This is the PayPal receipt for the donation to KANOTIX:
Dear DistroWatch.com,
This email confirms that you have paid donate -at- kanotix.com 210.00 EUR using PayPal. The exchange rate for this purchase is 1 USD = 0.832260EUR.
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Payment Details:
------------------------------
Transaction ID: 7GX84073YA9309016
Sales Tax: 0.00 EUR
Total: €210.00 EUR
Item/Product Name: KANOTIX
Buyer: DistroWatch.com
Here is the list of projects that received a DistroWatch donation since the launch of the donations programme:
Since the launch of the DistroWatch Donations Programme in March 2004, we have donated a total of US$5,855 to various open source software projects.
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New on the waiting list
- Bentux Linux. Bentux Linux is a new Brazilian distribution for desktop and server computers. Based on Knoppix.
- Movitos USB Linux. Movitos is a new USB and CD live Linux distribution for desktop users. Focusing on desktop usage, and making it easy for Windows users to try Linux, Movitos includes all the tools you need daily for checking your email, browsing the web, writing documents, doing calculations, and planning your time, as well as listening to music, watching movies and playing games. Movitos is multi-lingual (English, French, German).
- OCSID. OCSID (Open Community Slackware Installation DVD) is a DVD with all the official Slackware packages untouched, with Freerock GNOME and some other packages that usually people want but aren't included in Slackware (amaroK, Postfix, etc). OCSID uses kernel 2.6 by default.
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DistroWatch database summary
And with this we'll say good-bye until next Monday. We hope you've enjoyed this issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Ladislav Bodnar
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Archives |
• 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 |
• Issue 985 (2022-09-12): Garuda Linux, using root versus sudo, UBports on the Fairphone 4, Slackware reverses change to grep |
• Issue 984 (2022-09-05): deepin 23 Preview, watching for changing to directories, Mint team tests Steam Deck, Devuan posts fix for repository key expiry |
• Issue 983 (2022-08-29): Qubes OS 4.1.1, Alchg Linux, immutable operating systems, Debian considers stance on non-free firmware, Arch-based projects suffer boot issue |
• Issue 982 (2022-08-22): Peropesis 1.6.2, KaOS strips out Python 2 and PulseAudio, deepin becomes independent, getting security update notifications |
• Issue 981 (2022-08-15): Linux Lite 6.0, defining desktop environments and window managers, Mint releases upgrade tool, FreeBSD publishes status report |
• Issue 980 (2022-08-08): Linux Mint 21, Pledge on Linux, SparkyLinux updates classic desktop packages, Peppermint OS experiments with Devuan base |
• Issue 979 (2022-08-01): KaOS 2022.06 and KDE Plasma 5.25, terminating processes after a set time, GNOME plans Secure Boot check |
• Issue 978 (2022-07-25): EndeavourOS 22.6, Slax explores a return to Slackware, Ubuntu certified with Dell's XPS 13, Linux running on Apple's M2 |
• Issue 977 (2022-07-18): EasyOS 4.2, transferring desktop themes between distros, Tails publishes list of updates, Zevenet automates Let's Encrypt renewals |
• Issue 976 (2022-07-11): NixOS 22.05, making a fake webcam, exploring the Linux scheduler, Debian publishes updated media |
• Issue 975 (2022-07-04): Murena One running /e/OS, where are all the openSUSE distributions, Fedora to offer unfiltered Flathub access |
• Issue 974 (2022-06-27): AlmaLinux 9.0, the changing data of DistroWatch's database, UBports on the Pixel 3a, Tails and GhostBSD publish hot fixes |
• Issue 973 (2022-06-20): openSUSE 15.4, collecting distro media, FreeBSD status report, Ubuntu Core with optional real-time kernel |
• Issue 972 (2022-06-13): Rolling Rhino Remix, SambaBox 4.1, SUSE team considers future of SUSE and openSUSE Leap, Tails improves Tor Connection Assistant |
• Issue 971 (2022-06-06): ChimeraOS 2022.01.03, Lilidog 22.04, NixOS gains graphical installer, Mint replaces Bluetooth stack and adopts Timeshift, how to change a MAC address |
• Issue 970 (2022-05-30): Tails 5.0, taking apart a Linux distro, Ubuntu users seeing processes terminated, Budgie team plans future of their desktop |
• Issue 969 (2022-05-23): Fedora 36, a return to Unity, Canonical seeks to improve gaming on Ubuntu, HP plans to ship laptops with Pop!_OS |
• Full list of all issues |
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Random Distribution | 
Adamantix
The Adamantix project (formerly known as Trusted Debian) aims to create a highly secure but usable Linux platform. To accomplish this, the project will use currently available security solutions for Linux (like kernel patches, compiler patches, security related programs and techniques) and knit these together to a highly secure Linux platform.
Status: Discontinued
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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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