 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 137, 6 February 2006 |
Welcome to this year's sixth issue of DistroWatch Weekly! With all eyes on the final stages of development of Fedora Core 5 and SUSE Linux 10.1, other distributions are not resting either; we bring you interesting information about the upcoming releases of Novell Linux Desktop 10 and Kubuntu 6.04. Interested in network security and penetration testing? The brand new BackTrack live CD provides an amazing collection of tools just for this purpose; we'll take a quick look at the first beta released over the weekend. Also in this issue: try the new smart-urpmi for Mandriva and read how a vice president of a large financial firm fell in love with Gentoo. Finally, our January donation, the largest DistroWatch.com has ever made, goes to Gambas and Krusader. Happy reading!
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in ogg (5.93MB) or mp3 (7.15MB) format (courtesy of Shawn Milo).
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
Content:
Miscellaneous news: NLD 10 preview, Kubuntu distro sprint, smart-urpmi, Gentoo at E-Trade, FC5 slips
 Novell has launched a media campaign ahead of the upcoming release of its desktop Linux product - Novell Linux Desktop (NLD) 10. Although the release date has not been announced, the company presented a demonstration video of the new product at a Linux conference in Paris last week. Some of the participants have recorded the presentation and released their videos on the Internet - you can find them on Linux Edge. From the videos it looks like the developers of the new NLD have been focusing on the consumer desktop as the product features much eye candy, 3D window manipulation and other effects, which will almost certainly require a powerful processor and heaps of RAM. Nevertheless, the videos provide an interesting preview of what we can expect from Novell (and SUSE) on the desktop Linux front in 2006 and beyond.
 Besides Novell, the developers of Kubuntu have also published a handful of preview screenshots from the upcoming Kubuntu 6.04. Most interesting among them is a new graphical installer that will make it possible to transfer the Kubuntu live CD to one's hard disk. Also included are screenshots of Konqueror showing the /media folder, NetworkManager, and a simplified application installer. These were presented during last week's Ubuntu distro sprint, a developer meeting in a London hotel. See Jonathan Riddell's blog for details and screenshots.
 With no public release expected until the second half of this year, Mandriva hasn't been featured much in the news lately, but that doesn't mean that the popular distribution's user community is inactive. In fact, the German Mandriva user group has just released a useful improvement to the urpmi package management tool. Called smart-urpmi, the main purpose of this web-based application, released under the GPL, is to end headaches associated with updating Mandriva software packages from outdated mirrors. Just visit the smart-urpmi web site and select your version of Mandriva to get a neat list of available mirrors (inclusive of "contrib", Java and PLF mirrors), with the most recently updated mirror on top. The script then generates a list of urpmi.addmedia commands which you can execute in the terminal and which will update your /etc/urpmi/urpmi.cfg file. For more information please see this introductory announcement.
 Is Gentoo Linux only for people who have too much time on their hands? Not so. In an interesting article describing a move to Linux at E-Trade, one of the world's largest online securities trading firms, the company's Vice President Lee Thompson reveals his distribution preference: "I did a deep dive on open source at this particular time. I started running lots of different distros. I ended up running Gentoo. Personally, I run the Gentoo distro." That was a few years ago when the "geeky" vice president experimented with Gentoo on the company's servers, but due to several "issues", they are now powered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux: "So, here I am, the guy who's trying to push change. I work on a Gentoo box, while our production system is Red Hat AS 3.4, which is very stable. And so that's kind of a good way of balancing aggressive change and stability, in our mind." It's a long and fascinating story showing how Linux can be deployed in a high-security, high-volume server environment to reduce costs.
 According to this post by Jeremy Katz, the third test release of Fedora Core 5 is set to be delayed by a week: "Although I hate to do it, it looks like we're going to have to slip Fedora Core 5 test3 by a week. There is an ABI change in the gcc/glibc stack that requires a rebuild of the entire distribution. Given that, there is no way that we'll be able to make a freeze date of Monday. So, test3 will now freeze on Monday, 13 February with a release date of Monday, 20 February. We'll adjust the final schedule sometime next week based on the progress of the rebuilding efforts." There is no word about how this delay will affect the release date of Fedora Core 5 final which is set to March 15th.
* * * * *
Commentary: Don't believe the "goomours"
Have you noticed the astonishingly high number of Google rumours (or should we say "goomours") that have been dominating the headlines of various media on the Internet? First it was a Google browser, then a Google office suite, now a Google operating system, all interspersed with further "news" about Google buying Opera, Google acquiring Napster, Google purchasing AOL... The never ending "goomour" mill has now gone as far as saying that Google is planning to launch its own Internet, version 3.0(!) separate from the one we know! What's next? Google buying Microsoft? Or the moon?
So who is fuelling these rumours? There has to be a sophisticated individual, or maybe a small group that has a keen interest in seeing Google in the headlines with most unlikely claims, circulating widely in the media. Perhaps a group with a stake in Google? Somebody who can benefit financially from the increased publicity and a share price that has already grown way out of proportion? Because if not, how else do you explain the reasons behind all these Google claims that are turning more and more outrageous by the week?
Of course, the many tech sites, gullible and always looking for sensationalist headlines to draw traffic, are partly to blame. A "goomour" normally starts on one big web site, but it doesn't take long before it propagates to hundreds of small and regional sites where the original rumour is often presented as a fact. Sure, the professionalism of many of these publications is questionable, but that's easy to understand, since the Internet made it possible for many of us to become "journalists" without any professional training. Still, it is amazing to see how easily they manipulate the public; last week, a reader sent us an email asking, in an angry tone, why DistroWatch hadn't published the news about Goobuntu? After all, isn't DistroWatch here to inform readers about such important developments on the Linux distribution market?
Yes, it is. And we can assure you that as soon as Goobuntu is released and publicly available, we'll be one of the first sites you'll hear it from. But until then, don't hold your breath. Goobuntu, if it exists at all, is probably just a figment of imagination of a few unscrupulous individuals with vested interests in the big Internet company, just as all the other daring "goomours" you are going to hear for the rest of this year. Don't believe any of it.
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| First Look: BackTrack 3.0 |
First Look: BackTrack 3.0
Among the distributions specialising in security and penetration testing, the SLAX-based WHAX (previously Whoppix) has always been one of the most in-demand live CDs. In recent months, however, its developers combined their knowledge and resources with those of Auditor Security Linux to produce a new live CD, called BackTrack. After a brief period of testing, the first beta of the new distribution was released last week. So what is BackTrack like?
Like SLAX, the BackTrack live CD boots into a command line prompt with instructions to log in as root. Although most security tools are accessible from the terminal, the real power of BackTrack comes in after starting the graphical interface. This is done by typing "startx", a command that will launch the KDE desktop (you might want to update the /etx/X11/xorg.conf file to replace the default "vesa" driver with the proper driver for your video card, and change the screen resolution, if necessary). Networking is not enabled by default, but if your network card has been detected correctly and you use DHCP, you can activate it by typing "dhcpcd" in a terminal window. Wireless networking is also supported.
Once on the desktop, you will immediately notice the "BackTrack" submenu on the KDE panel. This is the most exciting part of this distribution, a place were all the specialist utilities can be accessed from. It is pointless to list them all here, but let me assure you that the collection is truly astonishing and includes tools for sniffing remote router traffic, cracking Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), "bluesnarfing" (a method of hacking into Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones), scanning networks for vulnerabilities, uncovering weaknesses in the Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol (PPTP), decrypting SSL traffic and recovering passwords. The usual forensic analysis tools, such as Autopsy and Sleuthkit are further complimented by more exotic utilities, such as "fuzzers" (scripts that attempt to find buffer overflows and other program vulnerabilities) or "stripe-snoopers" (to capture data from magnetic stripe cards). A comprehensive database of known exploits in software (both open source and proprietary) is also included.
If you are not familiar with the available utilities, there is no need to panic. The project's web site provides a selection of tutorials, some in Flash videos, together with links to relevant documentation on each tool's home page. Many "readme" files can be found on the CD and accessed from the BackTrack submenu.
As you can see from this brief description, BackTrack is not just an innocent tool designed to uncover vulnerabilities in networks and software, it can just as easily be used by crackers and other unsavoury individuals intending to commit fraud or launch attacks on the Internet. In fact, Remote-Exploit.org, the web site behind Auditor and BackTrack, has recently been suspended from the Google AdSense programme, after the search engine giant determined that the product offered on its web site was a cracking tool! At DistroWatch.com, we periodically receive emails requesting to remove these kinds of distributions from our list.
However, while we certainly don't condone the use of BackTrack for malice, we don't believe that hiding information is a valid solution to the problem either. It is important to realise that these tools are freely available elsewhere - all that BackTrack does is that it combines them into one compact live CD. Besides, although BackTrack may indeed be used by crackers with malicious intentions, it can also aid security professionals to research current cracking tools and provide better security products for the rest of us.
For more information about BackTrack and the included utilities please visit Remote-Exploit.org.
BackTrack - a SLAX-based live CD with a comprehensive collection of security and penetration testing tools.
(full image size: 397kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
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| Released Last Week |
SystemRescueCD 0.2.16
Nearly 18 months since the previous release, a new version of SystemRescueCD is now available for download. What's new? "Updated the kernel to Linux-2.6.15.1; updated the system (udev 080, hotplug, coldplug); updated LVM tools (evms, device-mapper); added Reiser4 support (support in the kernel and reiser4progs); updated NTFS support (improved support in the kernel, and ntfsprogs); updated Parted to 1.6.23; updated bootloader support; updated file systems tools; updated bootdisks (memtest+ and 'Offline NT Password and registry editor'); updated ClamAV virus definitions." See the changelog for further details.
Mini-Pentoo 2006.0
Pentoo is a Gentoo-based live CD with a collection of tools designed for penetration testing. A new "mini" edition, fitting on a 256 MB USB storage device and featuring the Enlightenment 17 window manager, has been released: "I'm pleased to announce the immediate availability of Mini-Pentoo 2006.0 final version. This version is only 186 MB fat and fits on mini CD or a 256 MB USB pen drive. It features the bare minimum tools for penetration testing and supports module addition ala SLAX, allowing you to add some more stuff as you see fit. You can also save your /etc, /root, ExploitTree and Nessus on a USB pen drive." Find more information in the release announcement and download page.
Mini-Pentoo - a Gentoo-based live CD with the latest Enlightenment 17
(full image size: 644kB, resolution: 1154x864 pixels)
BLAG Linux and GNU 30002
The Fedora-based BLAG Linux and GNU distribution has been updated to version 30002: "BLAG 30002 (Johannesburg) has been released. BLAG is a single CD distro with everything desktop users 'expect' from a desktop, plus a collection of nice server applications. BLAG 30002 is based on Fedora Core 3 plus updates, adds applications from Dag, Freshrpms, NewRPMS, and includes custom packages. BLAG 30002 is the latest update to the BLAG 30k series, using the last updates from Fedora before moving to the Fedora Legacy project. New CD packages include kiax (VoIP softphone), netcat and xvid4conf." Read the full release announcement for further information.
Underground Desktop 022
A new version of Underground Desktop is out: "I'm seeding a torrent of Underground Desktop 022. The new ISO contains updates to most software, including the just released KDE 3.5.1, and X.Org 7.0. Apart from this, the file system is now ReiserFS v3 instead of Reiser4 - which seems not stable and fast enough - and the bootloader is GRUB instead of LILO. Also included in the ISO are wireless drivers for Ndiswrapper supported and prism2-based cards. This release is still experimental and not much tested, so don't expect everything to work out of the box - use at your own risk." Here is the full release announcement.
Bluewall GNU/Linux 1.2
Bluewall GNU/Linux is a Debian-based Linux distribution with a twist - instead of apt, it uses NetBSD's pkgsrc as its preferred package management software. Version 1.2 was released: "After a long time, a new Bluewall has been released. This is a transient release - after the maintainer change, this version tries to be a testing release, but feel free to report bugs! This new version updates the base debian to Debian unstable and also integrates the current CVS tree and some 541 i386-binary pkgsrc packages like GNOME 2.12.2, GIMP 2.2.10, X.Org 6.8.1...." Find more details on the distribution's home page.
* * * * *
Development and unannounced releases
- Nexenta Alpha2, the download page
- SimplyMEPIS 3.4-3-rc4, the release announcement
- Grafpup Linux 1.0.2-rc1 and 1.0.2-rc2, the release announcement
- Frugalware Linux 0.4-pre2, the release announcement
- SUSE Linux 10.1-beta3, the release announcement
- rPath Linux 0.99.4, the release announcement and 0.99.5, the release announcement
- Pingwinek 1.0-pre3, the release announcement
- RR4 Linux 3.0-beta0, the release announcement
- BackTrack 3.0-beta, the release announcement
- eduKnoppix 2.1.6
- Asterisk@Home 2.5
- Kurumin Linux 6.0-alpha5
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
January 2006 donations: Gambas and Krusader
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is our pleasure to announce that we have just broken our all-time donation record. Thanks to the increasing number of visitors and a growing demand for advertising on this site, we have been able to set aside a total of US$500 for donations in January! Furthermore, we would like to welcome our newest contributing member - BuyLinuxDVD.com, an India-based Linux disc vendor which has joined our donation programme by contributing US$50.00 towards the January donation.
With US$500 at our disposal and the ever-growing list of projects nominated for financial assistance, we have decided to give not one, but two equal donations - to Gambas and Krusader.
Gambas is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) similar to MS Visual Basic: "Gambas is a free development environment based on a Basic interpreter with object extensions like Visual Basic (but it is NOT a clone!). With Gambas, you can quickly design your program GUI, access MySQL or PostgreSQL databases, pilot KDE applications with DCOP, translate your program into many languages, create network applications easily, and so on...." Developed by Benoît Minisini, Gambas is released under the GPL and available for free download from the project's web site. The latest stable version is 1.0.14, but version 2 is currently under intensive development.
The Gambas Integrated Development Environment
(full image size: 132kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Krusader is a fast and light-weight file manager for KDE: "Krusader is an advanced twin panel file manager for KDE and other desktops in the *nix world, similar to Midnight or Total Commander. It provides all the file management features you could possibly want. Plus: extensive archive handling, mounted file system support, FTP, advanced search module, an internal viewer/editor, directory synchronisation, file content comparisons, powerful batch renaming and much much more." The increasingly popular application is developed by the Krusader Krew (led by Shie Erlich and Rafi Yanai) and released under the GNU General Public License.
The Krusader file manager
(full image size: 218kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Our monthly donations programme is a joint initiative between DistroWatch, which contributes 10% of its advertising revenue, and two online shops selling low-cost CDs and DVDs with Linux, BSD and other open source software - BuyLinuxDVD.com 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 India, from BuyLinuxDVD.com.
These are the PayPal receipt for the donations to Gambas and Krusader:
Dear DistroWatch.com,
This email confirms that you have paid gambas -at- users.sourceforge.net 200.00 EUR using PayPal.
------------------------------
Payment Details:
------------------------------
Transaction ID: 20W44797E74816547
Total: €200.00 EUR
Item/Product Name: Donation by DistroWatch.com
Buyer: DistroWatch.com
Dear DistroWatch.com,
This email confirms that you have paid OSDN / VA Software $250.00 USD using PayPal.
------------------------------
Payment Details:
------------------------------
Transaction ID: 8JP022936E678894C
Total: $250.00 USD
Item/Product Name: Donation to Krusader
Buyer: DistroWatch.com
Here is the list of projects that received a DistroWatch donation since the launch of the programme:
Since the launch of the DistroWatch Donations Programme in March 2004, we have donated a total of US$6,730 to various open source software projects.
* * * * *
New distribution additions
* * * * *
New distributions added to the waiting list
- Slak. Slak is a new Russian live CD based on Slackware Linux and Linux-Live scripts.
- Sork Linux Music Studio. Sork is a live CD based on Debian GNU/Linux and Morphix. It is usefull for recording music either as a complete software studio or as a part in a more complex setup.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
That's all for today. The next issue of DistroWatch Weekly will be published on Monday, 13 February 2006. See you then :-)
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
NomadBSD
NomadBSD is a 64-bit live system for USB flash drives, based on FreeBSD. Together with automatic hardware detection and setup, it is configured to be used as a desktop system that works out of the box, but can also be used for data recovery.
Status: Active
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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!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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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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