 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 171, 2 October 2006 |
Welcome to this year's 40th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! The unusually long development of Slackware Linux 11.0 continues with an ever growing changelog and more bug fixes. Will we see the final release this week? As Mandriva prepares to unveil its latest and greatest, some of the company's developers are found questioning the suitability of Linux for the desktop. Also in the news: Fedora quietly releases an unscheduled testing set of CD and DVD images of Fedora Core 6, Debian finds itself in a position of not being able to comply with the Mozilla trademark, and Ubuntu's Mark Shuttleworth talks about Dapper and the future of the project. A quick introduction to Instalinux.com is followed by a statistical titbit from our web logs, before we conclude the issue by awarding the September donation to Inkscape and Cape Linux Users Group. Happy reading!
Content:
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|
| Miscellaneous News |
 Those who follow the development of Slackware Linux 11.0 will no doubt agree: the upcoming version is an equivalent of a Caesarean birth - at least, by Slackware's own development standards. While the project's previous two stable releases were limited to one short beta test each, the "Current" branch seems to be going through endless levels of bug-fixing steps and package recompile stages. The recent flurry of security issues with OpenSSL, OpenSSH and Mozilla products did not help the matters. So the wait goes on, with no indication whether the current tree will become stable tomorrow or in three weeks.
| Version |
Release Date |
Beta/RC |
Days |
| Slackware 11.0 |
2006-10-?? |
5 |
49+ |
| Slackware 10.2 |
2005-09-15 |
1 |
6 |
| Slackware 10.1 |
2005-02-07 |
1 |
15 |
| Slackware 10.0 |
2004-06-23 |
2 |
7 |
| Slackware 9.1 |
2003-09-26 |
4 |
14 |
| Slackware 9.0 |
2003-03-18 |
3 |
15 |
|
Table 1: List of recent Slackware versions and their development times.
Of course, Slackware Linux has a reputation to defend. As an oldest surviving Linux distribution, it has always been considered the simplest, most transparent and most stable of them all. It is also extremely conservative; by reading the changelog, one gets an impression that Patrick Volkerding does not particularly welcome advances in the Linux kernel or the availability of more modern packages. It's a fact that Slackware remains the only major Linux distributions that keeps using the LILO boot loader, does not provide an alternative to the age-old Sendmail mail server, and still prefers the 2.4 kernel series - that's nearly three years after the first stable release of the 2.6 kernel!
And yet, this conservative approach is probably the most important feature of the distribution, especially appreciated by those old UNIX hands who do not care for learning new technologies, but would rather just run a worry-free setup on their server and desktop computers. In this respect, Slackware remains true to its roots. By providing a tried and tested distribution for those who value this approach, it has succeeded in maintaining a large group of dedicated followers who wouldn't consider switching to another distribution or operating system. Just take a look at the number of contributors mentioned in the Current ChangeLog for a proof that Slackware is alive and well.
A few more days, perhaps?
* * * * *
 You wouldn't expect something like this to happen at any time, let alone on the eve of Mandriva Linux 2007 release. Last week, two Mandriva developers went on record saying that "Linux is not ready for the desktop". In a web log post entitled Why I'll never use Linux for my main desktop, Vincent Danen concluded: "This kind of thing is precisely why, for me, Linux belongs on the server. Now if those kernel-developing idiots would get their act together and give us a 2.6 kernel that was a) stable and b) supported for more than a week, then I'd really be pleased." Another Mandriva developer, Fabrice Facorat, agreed. In a post called Linux ready for Desktop? Of course not!, he had this to say: "For me when you have control over the environment and the hardware, Linux is ready: think servers, workstations, thin clients, kiosks. However when you have no control on the hardware, Linux is not ready because it somewhat lacks flexibility."
There you have it, right from the horse's mouth! From two guys who have been working for a Linux company, developing a popular desktop Linux distribution, for years! Yes, that's right, Mandriva Linux is not ready for your desktop! Don't waste your money buying it!
One really has to wonder about the future of a company which happily asks Gaël Duval to leave, yet is quite pleased to keep developers who publicly hint that they consider Linus Torvalds, Alan Cox and other kernel developers "idiots"! A perfect pre-release PR, non?
* * * * *
 It looks like the developers of Fedora Core have decided to release an unscheduled test build of Fedora Core 6, labelled as "FC6 Pre-release (Test4)". This was in response to a rather large number of bugs found in Test3 and to do some last minute de-bugging before the final release, scheduled for 11 October. To save time, the CD and DVD images are only available from Fedora Project's BitTorrent server and will not be distributed to public FTP/HTTP mirrors. For more information please see these two mailing list posts by Will Woods: FC6 Pre-release (Test4) and FC6Pre images released.
* * * * *
 openSUSE, one of the most ardent sponsors and supporters of ReiserFS, is about to break with its past and say good bye to the popular file system: "We've been using ReiserFS as our default installation file system for the last 6 - 7 years now, and it's served us well in that time. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with it, some purely technical, some more related to maintenance." This is a message by Jeff Mahoney from SUSE Labs. He goes on explaining why ReiserFS has fallen out of favour with the openSUSE developers and suggests that it be replaced with -- you've guessed it -- ext3. Read this web log post for a detailed list of reasons. Of the major distributions, Slackware Linux is now the only one that uses ReiserFS as its default root file system; will it follow openSUSE in reconsidering its file system strategy?
* * * * *
 Is Debian Weekly News in danger? Following a recent controversy over the funding of certain Debian developers, some disagreeing members of the Debian developer community continue to show signs of rebellion. In the latest issue of Debian Weekly News, Joey Schultze, the newsletter's editor, comments: "As Debian experiments with funding, the editor and main author of DWN is going to experiment with spending less time on Debian. Please understand that due to this there may be no future issues of DWN in the current form or that they will only be released less frequently." Still no signs of a compromise and an amicable resolution of the dispute?
On a separate note, the Debian project has now decided to rename the Firefox browser and other Mozilla products to different names to comply with the Mozilla Foundation's trademark policy. An excellent write-up on the controversy and its history is available in last week's edition of Linux Weekly News (subscribers only until Thursday).
* * * * *
 You might be getting tired of the endless string of news releases, articles and reports about Ubuntu and its founder, but if you can bear one more, then read this interview with Mark Shuttleworth, originally published in the September issue of Linux Format: "One of the things we've noticed is that the size of our community doubles from release to release - which means we get bug reports about things we never used to get bug reports about, because people are now using Ubuntu in ways they never used to use it. So that continually pushes the edges of the envelope. We're going to have to grow our development community to keep up with that." The South African entrepreneur also touches on the subjects of Ubuntu artwork, the growing number of sister projects, competition from other distributions, proprietary software, future of Ubuntu, Easter eggs in Dapper, and many other popular topics.
|
| Web Sites |
Instalinux.com
Chris Slater has sent us a short summary of Installinux.com, a web site he created with an idea to design a unified way of installing a number of popular Linux distributions:
"No matter what distribution of Linux you choose to try out, the first step is usually downloading one or more 700 MB ISO images and burning them to a CD. Instalinux has a better option. Using the great tools available in the open source LinuxCOE project, we've created a slick tool that not only minimizes the initial download, but performs a 'hands-free' install.
It's pretty simple. First, you pick which distribution you want (the choices right now are Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Debian and CentOS, with a few versions of each and the option to install for i386 or x86_64). From there, you walk through a few more steps, picking a network mirror to install from, setting your time zone, picking packages to install (in some cases), and setting an initial - and temporary, we hope - root password.
Click 'Go for it!' and the system starts assembling your custom ISO image. The images are less than 30 MB, which makes them an easy download. Once you burn that to a CD, you put it in your system, boot from it, and type install at the prompt. Then you go get a coffee, or some other beverage and come back in a little while to a system that's built and ready to go.
The site is free for anyone to use. We mostly put it out there as a showcase for the awesome work the LinuxCOE folks have done - though the ads do help to cover hosting and such. If you have any feedback, please send an email to chris at instalinux.com.
Enjoy!"
An interesting idea. Have any of our readers tried Instalinux? If so, what are your experiences? Would you recommend it to others? Please discuss below.
|
| Statistics |
United States versus European Union
Although DistroWatch tries to be as international a web site as possible, the truth is that the majority of our visitors -- that's almost three quarters of you -- come from either the United States or the European Union. In fact, during the 6 months' period between 1 April and 30 September 2006, we recorded a total of 13,758,107 visits on our main page, of which 5,246,452 (38.1%) visits were from readers located in the United States, while 4,961,219 (36.1%) were visits from readers residing in one of the 25 countries of the European Union. Just over a quarter of all visitors came from outside these two regions.
The following table ranks the 25 most visited distribution-related pages on DistroWatch by readers located in the United States and the European Union. Although the differences are not significant, it is interesting to note that our European readers tend to visit the Ubuntu, Mandriva, Debian, Zenwalk and Arch pages more often than their US counterparts, while the PCLinuxOS, CentOS, Puppy, Xandros and Freespire pages are able to draw noticeably more interest in the USA then in Europe.
| USA |
|---|
| Rank |
Distribution |
Visits |
Percent |
| 1 |
Ubuntu |
103,127 |
7.78% |
| 2 |
openSUSE |
76,442 |
5.77% |
| 3 |
Fedora |
54,586 |
4.12% |
| 4 |
SimplyMEPIS |
46,916 |
3.54% |
| 5 |
Damn Small |
37,621 |
2.84% |
| 6 |
PCLinuxOS |
37,530 |
2.83% |
| 7 |
Mandriva |
36,722 |
2.77% |
| 8 |
KNOPPIX |
31,531 |
2.38% |
| 9 |
Debian |
29,086 |
2.19% |
| 10 |
Gentoo |
26,005 |
1.96% |
| 11 |
Slackware |
25,334 |
1.91% |
| 12 |
FreeBSD |
21,977 |
1.66% |
| 13 |
CentOS |
20,071 |
1.51% |
| 14 |
Puppy |
19,860 |
1.50% |
| 15 |
Kubuntu |
19,331 |
1.46% |
| 16 |
Xandros |
18,605 |
1.40% |
| 17 |
Zenwalk |
17,008 |
1.28% |
| 18 |
SLAX |
16,987 |
1.28% |
| 19 |
Xubuntu |
16,476 |
1.24% |
| 20 |
VectorLinux |
14,601 |
1.10% |
| 21 |
Freespire |
13,207 |
1.00% |
| 22 |
PC-BSD |
13,080 |
0.99% |
| 23 |
KANOTIX |
13,043 |
0.98% |
| 24 |
SabayonLinux |
11,535 |
0.87% |
| 25 |
GParted |
10,891 |
0.82% |
|
| EU-25 |
|---|
| Rank |
Distribution |
Visits |
Percent |
| 1 |
Ubuntu |
139,054 |
8.12% |
| 2 |
openSUSE |
96,258 |
5.62% |
| 3 |
Fedora |
61,320 |
3.58% |
| 4 |
SimplyMEPIS |
55,027 |
3.21% |
| 5 |
Mandriva |
50,606 |
2.95% |
| 6 |
Debian |
45,107 |
2.63% |
| 7 |
Damn Small |
44,342 |
2.59% |
| 8 |
PCLinuxOS |
39,142 |
2.28% |
| 9 |
Gentoo |
34,644 |
2.02% |
| 10 |
Slackware |
32,991 |
1.93% |
| 11 |
KNOPPIX |
32,222 |
1.88% |
| 12 |
Kubuntu |
30,863 |
1.80% |
| 13 |
Zenwalk |
26,194 |
1.53% |
| 14 |
FreeBSD |
25,514 |
1.49% |
| 15 |
Xubuntu |
25,262 |
1.47% |
| 16 |
CentOS |
22,128 |
1.29% |
| 17 |
KANOTIX |
21,456 |
1.25% |
| 18 |
SLAX |
21,409 |
1.25% |
| 19 |
Puppy |
20,569 |
1.20% |
| 20 |
Arch |
17,917 |
1.05% |
| 21 |
VectorLinux |
17,897 |
1.04% |
| 22 |
SabayonLinux |
17,081 |
1.00% |
| 23 |
Xandros |
16,789 |
0.98% |
| 24 |
PC-BSD |
14,578 |
0.85% |
| 25 |
GeeXboX |
13,055 |
0.76% |
|
Table 2: Top 25 most visited distro pages by readers in USA and EU.
Disclaimer: The origin of visitors is generated by using Maxmind's GeoLite Country database, which claims 97% accuracy of its data. As always, please don't take the data too seriously. They are simply provided as an indicator of interest in DistroWatch (and, by extension, in Linux and other open source operating systems) in various countries, but they certainly don't represent physical installations or distribution downloads.
|
| Released Last Week |
SAM Linux Desktop 2006-3
A new version of the PCLinuxOS-based SAM Linux Desktop has been released: "SAM 2006-3 is ready for the public. Again based on PCLinuxOS software and XFce 4.3.90.2, SAM offers you a complete desktop environment for your older hardware. With more than 1,000 packages it's smaller than the previous version, but now the complete OpenOffice.org 2.0.3 is back on the live CD with full support for English and German languages. A new 'welcome' dialog introduces you to the usage of the desktop and gives you direct access to the Internet connection wizard and installation tool. The new installation tool, an enhanced version of Mandriva's Draklive Install, speeds up the installation time even on older systems." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details.
Ubuntu Christian Edition 1.3
A new version of Ubuntu Christian Edition has been released: "We have just released Ubuntu Christian Edition v1.3. There have been some changes made to the web content filtering. The Firefox proxy settings have been 'locked down' to prevent users from bypassing the filtering. Three new programs have been added to this release. They include Planner project scheduler, Scribus desktop publisher, and Nvu web authoring system. Three games have also been added. They include Frozen Bubble, Breakout, and Sudoku. These were added by user request. Other changes include the addition of wallpapers provided by CarriedCross.org, new Usplash and Bootsplash, customized default Firefox homepage and bookmarks, some minor graphical adjustments, and a minor bug fix in the Ubuntu CE Installer." The release announcement.
Rocks Cluster Distribution 4.2.1
Rocks Cluster Distribution has been updated to version 4.2.1: "Rocks v4.2.1 is released for i386 and x86_64 CPU architectures. This is a maintenance release to Rocks v4.2 which contains bug fixes and usability enhancements." New features in this version include the following: "During Roll selection, the disk ID for CD/DVD-based rolls is displayed under the 'Selected Rolls'; during a front-end install, the IP settings that are provided on the first text-based screen are used as defaults for the graphical screens; minimum memory requirement for compute nodes has been reduced to 512 MB; Bio Roll: Glimmer source and GROMACS v3.3.1 is added and compiled with MPICH support." More details can be found in the release announcement.
Cross Linux From Scratch 1.0.0
Jeremy Utley has announced the release of Cross Linux From Scratch (CLFS) 1.0.0, a book that teaches how to make a cross-compiler and the necessary tools to build a basic system on a different architecture: "The CLFS Development team is pleased to announce the final release of CLFS 1.0.0, code-name 'Bender'. This release features Glibc 2.4, GCC 4.1.1, Binutils 2.17, and supports the x86, x86-64, SPARC, PowerPC, PPC64, MIPS, MIPS64, and Alpha, including multilib on those architectures that support it. Cross-building is also supported, even from non-Linux host systems such as Solaris, *BSD, and OS X." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details.
redWall Firewall 2.2.1
A major new version of redWall Firewall has been released. Unlike the 0.x and 1.x series, which were based on Red Hat Linux, the new version is now built from Gentoo. From the release announcement: "redWall Firewall version 2.2.1 has been released and is available for download. Major changes include: kernel 2.6.17.1; udev device management; Unionfs-based configuration and data 'management'; Unionfs-based root file system if enabled using 'union_root' as kernel boot parameter; completely rewritten save-config and restore-config mechanism; configurations sent by email are now 'pre-formated' to be put on a floppy and work right away if booted from that floppy; hard disk install script now supports 'USB Disk installs'; a 'maintenance' menu has been implemented during boot...."
SabayonLinux 3.0 "miniEdition"
Following the recent DVD release of SabayonLinux 3.0, its smaller cousin, called "miniEdition", is now also out: "SabayonLinux 3.0 miniEdition is the CD release of the latest SabayonLinux x86/x86-64 DVD. New features and bug fixes since 3.0 DVD: extraordinary AIGLX support thanks to NVIDIA 1.0-9625 beta drivers, Beryl and Emerald pre-release; 2.6.18 kernel; r1000 Ethernet device support; added VIA Technologies graphics cards automatic configuration; ATI Drivers 8.29.6; fixed a library problem that prevented most open source graphics drivers to work properly with DRI enabled; added Konversation 1.0; updated Gwenview to 1.4.0; installer - many bugs fixed and added support of AIGLX." The release announcement.
PUD GNU/Linux 0.4.6.6
PUD GNU/Linux, an Ubuntu-based mini-distribution with the XFce desktop and support for traditional Chinese, has been upgraded to version 0.4.6.6: "We are glad to announce the release of PUD v0.4.6.6. New features: Squashfs 3.1 with LZMA algorithm; Ultimate - because you can install PUD on an USB drive, we've launched a whole new branch called 'Ultimate, this 256MB edition of PUD contains additional applications like OpenOffice.org, GnomeBaker, Firestarter, GParted; boot entire CD to RAM (experimental); upgraded plugin system - Opt-Get now uses a more proper way to handle Unionfs, the plugins compressed in Squashfs, and you can create a plugin within a command." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
UHU-Linux 2.0
The UHU-Linux project has announced the immediate availability of UHU-Linux 2.0, an independently developed Hungarian distribution for home and office use. According to the release announcement (in Hungarian), the project's fourth stable release listens to the code name "Igen", and comes either as a single-CD desktop distribution with GNOME, or a DVD containing the complete tree of UHU-Linux packages and their source codes. The main new feature of this release is transition to the UTF-8 character encoding, supporting central European languages. Other notable new features include improved network handling, automatic mounting of external storage devices, and new keytable selection procedure. UHU-Linux 2.0 also provides many up-to-date software packages, such as Linux kernel 2.6.17, X.Org 7.1, GNOME 2.14 and KDE 3.5.3.
UHU-Linux 2.0:
(full image size: 1,755kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
BLAG Linux And GNU 50002
An updated version of BLAG Linux And GNU, build 50002, was released earlier this week: "The second update to the Fedora Core 5 based, single-CD, 100% Free distribution has been released. Highlights for this release are the latest kernel 2.6.17, the 'promotion' of BitlBee (an IRC to other chat networks gateway application) and Irssi (a terminal-based IRC client) from the repository onto the main CD, and updates to such major packages as Firefox 1.5.0.7, with BLAG's unique set of activist and independent media bookmarks), GIMP 2.2.13, Inkscape 0.44.1, Scribus 1.2.5, Thunderbird 1.5.0.7 and XChat 2.6.6. BLAG continues to have range of tools and software for the desktop user, media activist and those searching for the properly 'free' GNU/Linux experience. This includes BLASTERISK - the free BLAG telephone service for Free Software users, developers and Indymedia activists." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
* * * * *
Development and unannounced releases
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| DistroWatch.com News |
September 2006 donation: Inkscape US$350.00, Cape Linux Users Group US$130
Continuing the DistroWatch.com donations programme, we are pleased to announce that the recipients of our September 2006 donation are Inkscape (US$350) and Cape Linux Users Group, Cape Town, South Africa (R1,000).
Inkscape is a relatively new applications on the open source software scene, but it is a much needed one - an excellent vector drawing package similar to some of the expensive proprietary software suites available on Windows: "Inkscape is an open source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats. Inkscape's main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards."
The default user interface of Inkscape 0.44
The second donation goes to the Cape Linux Users Group (CLUG) in Cape Town, South Africa. The group recently asked for donations to cover the cost of taking part in Futurex, a popular exhibition and conference for Information Technology specialists in South Africa. It was Cape Town where your DistroWatch maintainer first installed and took early tentative steps in Linux, hence a somewhat personal reason for this donation. The CLUG donations call was a huge success - although the group needed to raise only about R10,000 (US$1,293), the fund-raising effort generated more then twice the required amount, proving that many companies and individuals see a great value in promoting the use of alternative operating systems in the country.
As always, the monthly donations programme is a joint initiative between DistroWatch, which allocates 10% of its advertising revenue, and three online shops selling low-cost CDs and DVDs with Linux, BSD and other open source software - LinuxISO.co.uk and LinuxCD.org and OSDisc.com. The three CD/DVD vendors contributed US$50.00 each towards this month's donations to Inkscape and Cape Linux Users Group.
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$10,130 to various open source software projects.
* * * * *
|
New distributions added to waiting list
- Sauver. Sauver is a new Slackware-based live CD designed for file recovery tasks.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
And that concludes our latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next issue will be published on Monday, 9 October 2006. Until then,
Ladislav Bodnar
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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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| Random Distribution | 
PakOS
PakOS is a Debian-based, desktop Linux distribution. The project aims to supply software and tools that will be useful for the people of Pakistan, though the distribution runs well in other regions and includes multi-language support. The project ships with LXQt as the default desktop and pre-installs many desktop applications and security tools.
Status: Active
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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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