 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 160, 17 July 2006 |
Welcome to this year's 28th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! As you may recall, Ladislav is on vacation in Fiji. When he asked if I'd like to write DistroWatch Weekly in his absence, I admit I was a bit intimidated. So, be gentle with me kind readers, it's my first time. In the news section the big news this week was Novell's decision to rename SUSE Linux to openSUSE, a Debian server was hacked, and PCLOS is still logo shopping. Released this week was BLAG Linux and GNU 50000, PC-BSD 1.2, and SUSE Linux 10.2 Alpha 2. This week we are presenting an in-depth interview with our own "keeper of the record." Oh, and as Ladislav always says, "Happy reading!"
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG format (13MB)
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in MP3 format (13MB)
(The Podcast edition is provided by Shawn Milo.)
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Miscellaneous News |
SUSE Linux renamed, Mepis delayed, Debian Conference and server hacked, PCLinuxOS logo
 SUSE Linux 10.2 alpha 2 was released on July 13. The biggest change to accompany this release was the decision to rename the open source version to openSUSE. This change was attributed to internal and external confusion between the openSUSE project and Novell's Linux business products. The upcoming community version will be named openSUSE 10.2. Effective Alpha 3, they should have a fully renamed distribution by Beta 1 in November.
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 Mepis released rc3 of their upcoming SimplyMepis 6.0 on July 11, and announced that the final will be delayed until around July 18, 2006 due to a license audit. Warren Woodford said, "We are in the process of making sure that 6.0 will be in compliance with the GPL and other licenses. It appears that the lame source code is originally licensed under the GPL and the LGPL. Lame incorporates algorithms that could to be subject to patent claims and licensing fees. It is my understanding that the GPLv2 license is incompatible with software that is subject to licensing fees and therefore it is not legal under the GPLv2 for us to download the source code or distribute binaries of lame." The audit is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
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 It was announced in the July 11th Debian Weekly News, that the Next Debian Conference will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was chosen over Sarajevo for several reasons, but perhaps primarily because Edinburgh is home to a well-known debian community and several developers. Other priorities included affordability, network connectivity, and good food.
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In other Debian news, James Troup reported Wednesday in an email to the debian-devel-announce mailing list that one of their servers, gluck.debian.org, had been compromised. They promptly took that server off-line for investigation and subsequent reinstall. In further response, they tightened security on the others limiting access to DSA only. Minimal to no damage was sustained by the gain of root access due to the kernel vulnerability CVE-2006-2451, although now all servers have had or will have kernel updates performed.
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 PCLinuxOS has been looking for a new logo for their upcoming highly anticipated release. A contest began in May and over 270 entries were received. Elimination voting narrowed the running to 13 semi-finalists and two wildcard spots were awarded by developers. Final voting begins today at mypclinuxos.com. Six finalists will be chosen by user votes then developers will pick the ultimate winner. The winning logo will be submitted to a patent attorney for evaluation and trademark registration. Good luck to all the entries.
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| Interview |
Ladislav Bodnar - Keeper of the Record
 While Ladislav is vacationing in sunny Fiji, I figured this would be the perfect time to talk about him behind his back. I'm sure no one reading this is clueless to the fact that Ladislav Bodnar is our benevolent 'keeper of the record.' One can find some nice introductory information on DW's about page. However, as informative as that page is, I wanted to know more. I'm not the typical female found about. Linus Torvalds is "The King." Some of my favorite bands are SUSE, PCLOS, and of course, Gentoo. New distros headline my Saturday night rave. Distrowatch is my Rolling Stone magazine. As such, I've always found Ladislav to be of particular interest. We've had a few email exchanges and I've monitored Distrowatch closely over the years. I found the Distrowatch Weekly offered a bit of an insight to the personality of Ladislav, but I had no idea the depths of this gentleman until he reluctantly agreed to answer my interview questions. I hope you find him as fascinating as I do.
Ladislav Bodnar, who will turn 41 next month, was born in eastern Czechoslovakia and spent most of his formative years in Kosice. He "studied metallurgy at the Technical University in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, majoring in metallurgy of non-ferrous metals" and subsequently worked in Prague. In 1991 he moved to South Africa where he "spent ten years working for several mining/metallurgical companies." In 2001 he relocated to and currently resides in Taipei, Taiwan with his wife and "two naughty parrots."
Outside of the realm of computing and Linux, some of Ladislav's hobbies include travelling, foreign languages, and physical fitness. There are many places I am planning to visit in the next few years - I especially enjoy visiting places that are off the beaten track. Just to give you an idea - I'd like to see Antarctica, trek in the Pamir mountains in Tajikistan, or check out the amazing wildlife on the Galapagos islands near Ecuador. Recently I read a book by a 60-year old Frenchman who walked from Turkey to China - this is the kind of adventure that really attracts me.
I also exercise quite a bit these days - I go jogging about once a week, swimming twice a week and I also practice yoga 2 - 3 hours (my wife is a part-time yoga teacher, so I don't have a choice).
Most fascinating to me is his love of languages. Perhaps because I've always been tone-deaf to the nuances of foreign languages, it amazes me when someone can not only learn, but become fluent in other languages. English is Ladislav's second language and no one had a clue. His use is flawless. Besides being fluent in Slovak and English, he can "comprehend simple text in French, Spanish, Hungarian, Russian and most other Slavic languages, Chinese and Japanese." In addition, he plans "to start learning Arabic one of these days" when time permits.
Living in Taipei doesn't lend itself well to owning and operating a motor vehicle. As such, Ladislav's interest in automobiles is practically nonexistent. His favorite foods include anything spicy, but more specifically Thai and Mexican. Being health-conscious, his preferred drink is a bottle of Perrier. He likes popular music and enjoys "listening to some of the popular Asian pop stars from around" Taipei. Of television and movies Ladislav said, "Just about the only thing I watch on TV is sports (especially cricket). Movies? I avoid anything made in Hollywood and Hong Kong, but find myself attracted to the kind of movies that never break any box office records - you know, the ones made in Iran, Russia or Colombia, depicting lives or ordinary people in distant countries."
Like most of us, computers and, more specifically, Linux is probably Ladislav's main focus. What distro does Ladislav run on his personal computer?
Ladislav began using Linux in the year 2000. His first installation was Corel Linux. Due to hardware capability issues, it was soon replaced with Mandrake Linux, which Ladislav states, "was a completely different story!" However, he "was mostly a Windows user until about the middle of 2002" when he "finally switched to Linux full time and removed Windows from [his] computers."
The Bodnar household currently accommodates three functioning computers. They consist of:1. My main production box - a self-assembled AMD64 3500+ machine with 2GB of RAM and 370GB of hard disk space, an NVIDIA graphics card, CD/DVD burner and a 19" monitor. I use it for all my work + testing the various 64-bit distros.
2. My test box - a self-assembled 5-year old machine with Intel Pentium 4 1.4GHz with 384 MB of RAM and two hard disks; the first one has 27 Linux partitions, while the second one has just one - I keep it for testing those distros that insist on taking over the entire hard disk.
3. A Toshiba satellite laptop, used mostly by my wife. It has Windows XP (it came with the thing) + Ubuntu Dapper. My wife doesn't care so much which operating system she uses, but she does need Windows for work sometimes.
So which linux distribution does Ladislav run on his personal computer? He tells us, "Right now it's Ubuntu Dapper." Interestingly, he runs the distrowatch.com server on "FreeBSD. Before that it was running on Debian "woody"."
DistroWatch went live 31 May 2001 and contained detailed information on 12 Linux distributions: "CLE (a community project from Taiwan), Caldera Open Linux, Corel Linux, Debian GNU/Linux, Libranet GNU/Linux, Linpus Linux (my employer at the time), Mandrake Linux, Progeny Debian, Red Hat Linux, Slackware Linux, SuSE Linux and Turbolinux." An early snapshot of the site can be found at web.archive.org.
DistroWatch began as a task for Ladislav's then employer. He recalls, I needed to create a comparison matrix of all the main distributions and identify some strong points of ours. To save time, I started with searching for a usable resource on the Internet, but to my surprise, I couldn't find any page that would provide a comprehensive and up-to-date comparison of the main Linux distributions. So I spent the next few days compiling the data from each distro's web site. Once it was done I thought that there might be others who would find such a comparison useful, so I registered a free web page with an ISP and uploaded the data.
Soon, the page was getting more visitors than the free web service could handle, so I registered the distrowatch.com domain name and moved the site to the domain registrar's web hosting service and later to a web server hosted by the Linux From Scratch project. But DistroWatch.com was growing so fast that less than two years since I started it I found myself renting a dedicated server to keep up with all the traffic!
SL: Did you have any idea that your site would become the enormous success that it has (i.e., sheer number of visitors, extensively quoted, and even relied upon as a necessary tool)?
Ladislav: Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that one day the site would be visited by 80,000 - 100,000 people every day!
SL: Your site appears to be php (is that right?), yet I've not seen another like it. Did you write all the code for DistroWatch yourself or is it a cms (or other)?
Ladislav: Yes, it's all PHP, which I wrote myself. Initially the pages were static HTML, but about a year after launching the site I switched to PHP. It's not really what you'd call a CMS - for example, there is no web front for submitting stories or updating the pages. Most of the work is still done by editing text files, uploading them to the server and running a few bash scripts. I don't think it's a very elegant system, but since it ain't broken....
SL: Which database do you use on the backend?
Ladislav: The general distribution data are in a handful of SQLite tables, while all the package version data are in plain text files. There is no SQL server running on the server hosting DistroWatch.
SL: What do you think about the explosion in the number of distros past few years?
Ladislav: I don't want to think too much about that. My first priority is to report about them, so it doesn't matter if there are just a dozen distributions or if there are a thousand of them.
That said, the fact is that there _are_ too many distributions. Not because there are 500+ of them, but because the lifespan of most of them can be counted in months rather than years. That means that many distribution projects start with great enthusiasm just to die after hitting the first obstacles or after completing their first release. Especially creating a Linux live CD is so pathetically easy these days that every Tom, Dick and Harry has one.
As a result, one of my new responsibilities is to try to differentiate between really good, unique distro projects that might make an impact on the Linux/BSD scene, and the many vanity distros that will probably disappear after a couple of months. Developers' enthusiasm is no longer enough to make a correct call; there needs to be something truly unique that would arouse curiosity - perhaps a new way of presenting the desktop or a new combination of software + kernel (good examples are Symphony OS, Nexenta or PC-BSD).
SL: How does a distro gets added to your waiting list?
Ladislav: There are several ways. Many distro creators email me to let me know about their new baby. I also log what visitors type in the search box on DistroWatch and if a word appears regularly then it probably is a new distro. Of course, I also monitor dozens of Linux news sites for news about new distributions.
SL: What are the criteria for then being included in your Linux distro database?
Ladislav: There are no firm criteria. Obviously it would be great if I didn't have to maintain a "waiting list" and if all new distros could be added straight into the main database - but then I'd be doing nothing else than listing new distros! So I look at each new distro with a critical eye of somebody who has been monitoring the world of distributions for 5 years and try to judge if it is worth the time it takes to create a new page. There are many subtle criteria that hint at the usefulness of the distro: Does it offer anything unique? Does it have a logo? Does its web site look respectable? Are there spelling errors or broken links on the site? Does it offer mailing lists, user forums, wikis...? Does it offer free downloads? Does it have enough mirrors?
Creating a live CD is dead easy. Creating a complete project infrastructure for users to enjoy is not.
SL: How do you keep up with all the happenings in the Linux world?
Ladislav: One word: Liferea. A fantastic tool! Liferea, email, DistroWatch search box logs and a handful of bash scripts that crawl FTP and HTTP servers in regular intervals.
SL: What is the first website you visit upon rising each day? Second?
Ladislav: Well, obviously my first concern after I wake up in the morning is whether I missed any important distribution release while I was enjoying my sleep. So the first thing I do is to check my email. Many distribution maintainers email me to let me know about a new release, but there might also be emails generated by some scripts that traverse FTP and HTTP servers of many distributions and warn me if there is any interesting activity. Then I shift my attention on to Liferea, which has a collection of about 300 RSS feeds from various Linux and BSD web sites from all over the world. Again, the first thing I do is to scan the feeds from distribution web sites to see if there were any release announcements.
If I had to name two web sites that are my first stops on my morning routine then it would have to be OSNews and Tuxmachines (no, I am not kidding!). Both of them adhere to a publishing philosophy similar to DistroWatch - namely that they are very fast with publishing stories and that they often publish stories not found on other news sites. The fact that both run original stories from time to time is a bonus. OSNews has lost some of its luster since Eugenia gave up her day-to-day responsibilities on the site, but it's still worth checking out.
I used to enjoy visiting the Linux/UNIX section on Digg.com, but lately I find the whole concept somewhat flawed - many readers don't bother checking if a story has already been published and are happy to submit the same story over and over, while others keep "spamming" the place - I am really sick and tired of all the silly "screenshot tour" stories that keep popping up over there. Digg.com carries good stories too, but it's a pity that some people are not disciplined enough to keep it clean and useful.
SL: Are you associated with any other sites?
Ladislav: Not really associated. I write (or used to write) for LWN.net and Linux Format, but it's all strictly on a freelance basis.
SL: Have you ever entertained notions of starting another site? What would it be like?
Ladislav: Yes, a couple of years ago I was thinking about creating a general Linux news site. For various reasons I was dissatisfied with the existing ones and thought that the community deserved a better coverage of Linux news - from a community viewpoint, if you like. But before I had a chance to think it over, Lxer.com came into existence and it filled the gap very nicely.
SL: Do you have anybody helping out with the maintenance of dw?
Ladislav: DistroWatch started as a one-man project and it's still 95% one-man project five years later. That said, there a few regular contributors - WT Zhu who keeps a close eye on spelling and grammar on the site, Robert Storey who writes occasional articles, and Shawn Milo who narrates the podcast edition of DistroWatch Weekly. There is also a legion of volunteer translators, some more active than others and irregular contributors of articles, corrections and bug reports. But the meat of the site, i.e. the news section, the distro pages and DistroWatch Weekly are all maintained and written by myself.
SL: Do you still enjoy working on dw as much as in the beginning?
Ladislav: It depends on what time of the day you ask me :-) If it's in the morning when I am still fresh and enthusiastic, then the answer is yes. But if I am just about ready to retire for the night and suddenly there are two new announcements in my mailbox, then you'd probably hear some swearing if you were in the same room!
But seriously, it's hard to compare 5 years ago with now. In the beginning, you couldn't get me away from the computer - that's how much I wanted to work on the site, look for news, write stories... I think I must have spent 12 - 16 hours a day working on DistroWatch during the first 2 - 3 years. Nowadays, things are a bit more settled - I try not to work more than 8 hours a day, except for the days when there are important releases or when I have an article deadline. In the beginning, I replied to every single email I received, but now I can't - otherwise I'd be still working 12 - 16 hours a day!
*
Working at the Nuclear Research Institute in Prague and for diamond mining companies off the Atlantic Ocean coast of South Africa and Namibia is a long way from IT and maintaining DistroWatch. After the seven year stint on diamond mining ships, Ladislav became "interested in computing and decided to enroll in a distance course in computer programming (C and Visual Basic)" and later became interested in Linux. Wanting to work in IT, he "came across a job with a Taiwan-based Linux company called Linpus Technologies." Starting in 2001, he remained with Linpus Technologies for approximately 18 months before leaving to work on DistroWatch fulltime. Ladislav also does some freelance writing for Linux Weekly News (lwn.net) and Linux Format (www.linuxformat.co.uk).
Linux Format magazine is a very popular monthly Linux publication. Ladislav states of his duties there, "My relationship with Linux Format started about a year ago when the magazine's editor Nick Veitch emailed me to ask whether I'd be interested in maintaining a 2-page "Distrowatch" section in the magazine. Since I really enjoy the publication (I have been a subscriber for over 5 years), I agreed and that's why you can now see my face in every issue of the magazine."
What started as a hobby has become an icon for Linux distribution information in the Linux community and beyond. Many have found it to be an indispensable resource, while many others have found it a tremendous help in choosing a new operating system. It caters to the full spectrum of users, from newcomer to highly experienced. Its data are quoted on numerous websites and its Page Hit Rankings have become a gauge of Linux distribution success.
Ladislav has said time and time again not to take the distribution Page Hit Ranking too seriously, but still it is considered by many to be, at least somewhat, authoritative. I, myself, use it as an indication of community interest. Although specific numbers can be manipulated to an extent, it still makes for a good starting point.
More importantly, as a Linux website editor, Distrowatch is my main tool for learning of new releases and deciding about which distros to write. In fact, it is also my greatest resource in finding the websites for the individual distributions and a shortcut to downloading. It is my one-stop shop for Linux and BSD distros. My site wouldn't exist, at least in its present incarnation, without DistroWatch. What would we do without Ladislav?
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| Quick Look |
Kate OS 3.0 Beta 1
Kate OS 3.0 Beta 1 was released a few days ago and is well on its way to final release. I've long been a fan of Kate OS and very much enjoy seeing it evolve and mature. On the surface, one never knows what the next release will bring. For me that's part of its charm. Underneath, it updates and improves, yet remains stable and true to its goals.
Kate OS is a Linux operating system once based on Slackware Linux. It expands the Slackware installer to include not only extra software package groups, but adds options to aid in the configuration of the system. It doesn't complicate the process, yet when the new system boots, it is ready to work and play.
The default desktop is Xfce4. Kate OS includes other desktops such as fluxbox or windowmaker, and separate module downloads can provide Gnome or KDE. It comes with all the standard applications expected and sometimes a bit of the unexpected. In addition, Kate OS has its own package management system to simplify the installation of software called updateos.
This release is looking great. The theme this time consists of a fruity gel motif. The wallpaper features a lovely rendering of strawberries accompanied by the os name. The background is a blending of darker yellows to sunshine orange. The windec is a brownish or perhaps a dark bronze, in a raised 3D effect with tasteful inlaid buttons. This is a bit of a departure from the mascaline sci-fi theme of version 2.3. As stated, one never knows what look and feel will come in the next release of Kate OS. I find this to be an exciting element of their whole philosophy. It's an indication of the attention to detail applied to the distro. It adds polish and a sense of completion. Not only that, one never gets bored. There's always a reason to download the new release of Kate OS, even it's just to see the new theme.
New themes aren't the only reason to download new releases of Kate OS. They are constantly updating and improving their operating system. This release brings the very latest in versions of our favorite applications such as Firefox 1.5.0.4, OpenOffice.org 2.0.3, Mplayer 1.0pre8, Xorg 7.1, and Xfce 4.3.90.2. Also with this release one can now write to their NTFS partition.
  
Some exciting new developments are taking place with Kate OS. Quoting lead developer Damian Rakowski, "Inside the Kate OS project, three subprojects have been created - libsmarttools (basic classes/functions used in updateos2 ), libupdateos (provides simple API for remote operations on TGZex packages), and updateos2 (CLI interface for libupdateos). These projects will simplify the process of creating new system tools, and are intended to underlie a uniform package management system."
I am very much looking forward to final release of Kate OS 3.0 and testing more extensively. For now we can see some wonderfully exciting new looks, the software versions, and improvements to original tools. Kate OS is always rock solid and stable with better than average performance. If this beta is any indication, I'm sure Kate OS will stay on my top 10 list for many years to come.
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| Released Last Week |
BLAG Linux And GNU 50000
Jeff Moe has announced the final release of BLAG Linux And GNU 50000 - a single-CD, Fedora-based distribution with multimedia support and extra applications: "BLAG 50000 ('grass') has been released. BLAG 50000 is based on Fedora Core 5 and uses packages from Extras, FreshRPMS, Dries, and ATrpms. It includes all Fedora updates as of time of release." The new version is built on top of the Linux kernel 2.6.17, with glibc 2.4, X.Org 7.0, GNOME 2.14.1, Firefox 1.5.0.4, the latest GNOME Office, and a collection of multimedia applications, codecs and libraries. Please see the release announcement for further details and download links.
BeleniX 0.4.4
BeleniX 0.4.4 has been released. What's new in the latest version of the OpenSolaris-based live CD? "This release marks one more important step for live CD performance. After a couple of months of hacking and testing, this release includes an enhancement to the HSFS filesystem module that improves CD-ROM access time by up to 30%. The source code for the modified HSFS module along with context diffs can be downloaded here. In addition, a bunch of work is going around packaging so the next major release should be complete with packaging based on Pkgsrc." Visit the project's home page to read the full release announcement.
Devil-Linux 1.2.10
Bruce Smith has announced the release of Devil-Linux 1.2.10: "I'm proud to announce v1.2.10 of Devil-Linux has been released. This release includes many new packages, updates to newer versions for many existing packages, and various bug fixes." The Linux kernel in the new version of the popular firewall/server live CD has been upgraded to version 2.4.32 (patched with Grsecurity), while the list of newly added packages includes Awstats, Curl, DSPAM, Logwatch, mod_perl, Nmap and NUT. Read the release announcement and changelog for further details.
BSD Release: PC-BSD 1.2
"PC-BSD software is pleased to announce the immediate availability of PC-BSD 1.2 for x86 based processors. PC-BSD 1.2 now utilizes the FreeBSD advanced ULE scheduler and is compiled with optimizations for 686 processors (all support for 386, 486 and 586 microcode is disabled in kernel). This release of PC-BSD ushers in a new era of stability and simplicity for desktop operating systems based on UNIX, making it a solid release for home and business usage. Version 1.2 is powered by the latest FreeBSD 6.1 OS and integrated with the popular KDE 3.5.3 desktop environment." Read the press release for more information.
dyne:bolic 2.1
Jaromil has announced dyne:bolic 2.1, an updated version of the recently released version 2.0 of the distribution targetting media producers and artists: "Version 2.1 is out with an updated kernel, important fixes and new audio applications." Updates and fixes since 2.0 include: "upgrade to kernel 2.6.17; fix to dock and nest on USB storage; support for LVM and raid volumes; network file system tools; new in audio: Seq24, SooperLooper, Rosegarden, Icecast; fixes to MuSE (updated to development version); better VGA detection; miscellaneous fixes to desktop usability." See the release announcement for a more complete list of changes.
Endian Firewall 2.0
Endian Firewall 2.0 "Community" edition is out: "Endian Firewall 2 released! Endian Firewall is a 'turn-key' Linux security distribution that turns every system into a full-featured security appliance." From the release notes: "HTTP Antivirus now supports video/music streaming useragents, so HTTP virus scanning does not prohibit streaming; ClamAV anti-virus engine updated to the latest release, now configurable via web administration Interface; outgoing firewall enhancements; SMTP proxy now supports authentication against IMAP server...."
Dreamlinux 2.0 Works
The version 2.0 of the Dreamlinux distro is available, called WORKS and it brings the most known Linux apps for a production environment, like OpenOffice, Inkscape, Gimp, etc. Full support to multimedia, automatic detection of video cards and monitors, and the version 2.5 of MKDistro, tool for distros' building. More info and links for download can be found at the project's homepage.
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Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
DistroWatch database summary
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Thanks!
I just want to thank everyone for tuning in this week while our fearless leader is on vacation. I can not even dream of trying to fill his shoes, but I hope this week's newsletter can somewhat keep you up-to-date with the happenings in our Linux community. Also, I hope you enjoyed our in-depth interview with Ladislav Bodnar. I want to thank him for participating. I'll be here with you for two more weeks, and as I don't have the resources and connections Ladislav has, I'd welcome any pointers to the latest in news around the community. If you'd like to contribute, please feel free to email me with links. Thank you again, and have a great week!
Susan Linton
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Haydar Linux
Haydarlinux was aimed to be the first Arabic Linux distribution that has the full Arabic support, by supporting Arabic in both localized and enabled faces. Haydar Linux will give all Arabs the best way to enter the Linux world with ease and stability.
Status: Discontinued
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View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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