 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 216, 20 August 2007 |
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Welcome to this year's 34th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Another busy week of beta testing ahead, with Mandriva, openSUSE and Ubuntu all readying their latest development builds to be released later this week. In the news section: the Ubuntu developers worry about regressions in Compiz Fusion, Puppy Linux introduces experimental features, NimbleX delivers a world's first 100 MB live CD with KDE, and Trustix Secure Linux finds itself being slowly abandoned - both by its developers and its users. In the featured article of the week we'll take a look at the current status of Gentoo Linux and question the project's ever increasing complexity. Happy reading!
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in mp3 (7.4MB) format (many thanks to Jim Putman)
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Editorial |
Gentoo Linux - power versus complexity
 Those readers who follow DistroWatch Weekly know that I replace my main production distribution every six months in order to better evaluate the different products on the market. Right now I am on Sabayon Linux; more so by accident than intention, but it has been working well, so I can't complain. However, as a general rule, I prefer to stay with larger, more prominent distributions rather than these small-team development efforts. The reason? All the big ones provide security and bug-fix updates, usually through an easy-to-use online update utility integrated into their desktops.
Unfortunately, building security updates for a distribution is often seen as a boring, unglamorous task that many developers would rather avoid. As a result, most distributions with small development teams (including Sabayon) don't provide any and if you are concerned about this, you have to find your own solution. The good news is that with Sabayon you aren't completely abandoned; since it is based on Gentoo and all the usual Gentoo tools are included, ensuring that your Sabayon system is up-to-date is not that hard - even if it isn't exactly a one-click proposition.
So after running Sabayon Linux 3.3 without any updates since about April, I finally decided last week to do some security and version updates on the system. Using Gentoo's "emerge" command, things went well and I was pleased with the outcome. Encouraged by this success (bear in mind that the last time I played with Gentoo was several years ago and many things have changed since then), I even attempted to upgrade the entire system - over a thousand packages. This didn't go as smoothly - a few packages (about twenty or so) refused to compile, although the vast majority upgraded just fine.
Unfortunately, a major disaster struck at a most inopportune moment. While the emerge upgrade was going on in the background, my screen froze! This -- as I found out later -- was caused by a faulty memory module, so it had nothing to do with either Sabayon or Gentoo, but a hard reset was still the only course of action I could take. After removing the faulty RAM block from the motherboard, I was finally able to start the machine - only to be greeted with a boot failure due to a missing libpam.so library!
I am not going to bore you with all the details of what I did next, but here is a short recap: I rebooted into my Fedora 7 installation on the second hard disk and tried (and failed) to repair the Sabayon/Gentoo system, before deciding that the best course of action would be to re-install Sabayon Linux. Or more precisely, install the latest version, since the developers have since released Sabayon Linux 3.4. This went fine and soon I was running and enjoying the very latest version of the distribution. After that I reached for the "emerge" command once again in order to install a few applications which I need on my desktop, but which are not present on the 4 GB Sabayon DVD: the Apache web server, Liferea, GnuCash, Gnumeric, Mutt, SpamAssassin, gFTP, etc.
I learnt a lot about Gentoo during the past week. I admired the well-oiled machinery of thousands of software applications neatly packaged to work together flawlessly. I appreciated the power of the emerge command, I marvelled at the ingenuity of the USE variables, I enjoyed the many configuration options and system utilities. On the other hand, I was also frequently lost, like a child walking through a toy store trying to decide what to buy. Those who have used Gentoo for years would probably disagree with me, but for a new Gentoo convert, the complexity of the operating system is nothing short of overwhelming and the famous Gentoo documentation, as I was to find out, is not without its flaws either.
Here is an example. It took me a while to install Apache with PHP and SQLite support. This was done with "emerge apache", followed by "emerge php"; however, before the latter command, I had to make sure that the USE variable included "apache2" and "sqlite". Now, why "apache2" if the package itself is called "apache"? The next question was - since there are about five (if not more) different ways to enable the said USE variables, which one should I choose? Sure, the Gentoo project provides a long document explaining in detail all the different options, but did I really want to spend an hour or two studying it? In the end I just randomly picked one of the options without really knowing what would be the correct or best in my circumstances. Various other "gotchas" accompanied several other installations and I often found myself recompiling a certain piece of software several times just to enable a needed functionality.
In the end, I have to admit that I enjoyed the experience. Although I barely touched the surface of Gentoo Linux, it's clear to me why so many power users prefer to run it - its customisability and sheer power are unparalleled anywhere in the world of operating systems. The ability to tweak and tune it to one's exact needs is another attraction that many Linux power users will enjoy.
That said, one has to ask the old question: is it all worth the time and effort? You can easily spend weeks learning Gentoo, but you still won't know everything. Worse, much of this knowledge is useless outside of Gentoo - if one day you find yourself in a situation where you have to run a different distribution, all those specialist Gentoo commands and the location of the Gentoo configuration files will mean nothing. Sure, this is also true -- to an extent -- of other distributions, but Gentoo has probably taken this specialisation further than any other operating system. And that's before we start talking about all the alternative, less often used tools that also exist in the Portage tree...
Gentoo hasn't always been this complex. But the nature of the distribution and its attractiveness to the more technical users and developers means that it is unlikely to regain its original simplicity again. This is not necessarily a bad thing. However, I do feel that the ever growing complexity, together with the increasing number of packages and features, are bound to introduce new bugs and incompatibilities. This in turn might discourage its wider adoption, especially beyond the developer and power user circles. The ever steeper learning curve is another factor that could drag Gentoo Linux further down in terms of deployment figures.
What do you think? Has Gentoo gone too far in making itself powerful? Has its complexity discouraged you from running it? If you run Gentoo Linux on your desktop, can you truly say that you know all there is to know about it? Has the famous Gentoo documentation ever let you down? Or do you enjoy its power so much that you would never consider another distribution? Please discuss below.
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| Statistics |
DistroWatch in Africa
Africa can hardly be considered a power house when it comes to interest in DistroWatch. The total number of visitors from this continent during the first seven months of 2007 barely surpassed 100,000 visitors, which is less than the number of visitors coming from Bulgaria or the Czech Republic. Furthermore, three quarters of all African readers of DistroWatch arrive here from just three countries - South Africa (42.6%), Egypt (20.2%) and Morocco (11.3%). The good news is that compared to the same period of the previous year, the readership has increased in almost all African countries, with the overall growth at 23.4%. More details below. (The figures are courtesy of the GeoLite Country IP-to-country database from Maxmind which claims an accuracy of 98%.)
| Rank |
Country/Territory |
2006 |
2007 |
% Change |
| 1 |
South Africa (ZA) |
41,630 |
45,866 |
+10.2% |
| 2 |
Egypt (EG) |
18,555 |
21,770 |
+17.3% |
| 3 |
Morocco (MA) |
9,803 |
12,164 |
+24.1% |
| 4 |
Algeria (DZ) |
3,829 |
6,820 |
+78.1% |
| 5 |
Tunisia (TN) |
1,364 |
3,283 |
+140.7% |
| 6 |
Kenya (KE) |
1,443 |
1,895 |
+31.3% |
| 7 |
Zimbabwe (ZW) |
1,227 |
1,863 |
+51.8% |
| 8 |
Nigeria (NG) |
1,367 |
1,662 |
+21.6% |
| 9 |
Ghana (GH) |
995 |
1,422 |
+42.9% |
| 10 |
Libya (LY) |
1,778 |
1,420 |
-20.1% |
| 11 |
Senegal (SN) |
1,103 |
1,140 |
+3.4% |
| 12 |
Côte d'Ivoire (CI) |
623 |
870 |
+39.6% |
| 13 |
Sudan (SD) |
164 |
736 |
+348.8% |
| 14 |
Namibia (NA) |
234 |
693 |
+196.2% |
| 15 |
Mali (ML) |
36 |
653 |
+1,713.9% |
| 16 |
Uganda (UG) |
561 |
627 |
+11.8% |
| 17 |
Cameroon (CM) |
169 |
581 |
+243.8% |
| 18 |
Malawi (MW) |
77 |
541 |
+602.6% |
| 19 |
Togo (TG) |
12 |
498 |
+4,050.0% |
| 20 |
Tanzania (TZ) |
587 |
498 |
-15.2% |
| 21 |
Madagascar (MG) |
225 |
454 |
+101.8% |
| 22 |
Zambia (ZM) |
66 |
315 |
+377.3% |
| 23 |
Mozambique (MZ) |
213 |
205 |
-3.8% |
| 24 |
Angola (AO) |
57 |
204 |
+257.9% |
| 25 |
Cape Verde (CV) |
69 |
198 |
+187.0% |
| 26 |
Ethiopia (ET) |
79 |
188 |
+138.0% |
| 27 |
Botswana (BW) |
171 |
178 |
+4.1% |
| 28 |
Réunion (RE) |
115 |
133 |
+15.7% |
| 29 |
Gambia (GM) |
69 |
131 |
+89.9% |
| 30 |
Eritrea (ER) |
17 |
120 |
+605.9% |
| -- |
Rest of Africa |
639 |
575 |
-10.0% |
| Total |
Africa |
87,277 |
107,703 |
+23.4% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| -- |
USA (US) |
6,045,984 |
7,135,032 |
+18.0% |
|
|
| Miscellaneous News |
Ubuntu on Compiz Fusion, Puppy goes experimental, NimbleX delivers a 100 MB live CD with KDE, Trustix in danger
 The upcoming release of Ubuntu 7.10 is less than two months away, but the developers have yet to decide whether to enable by default one interesting and controversial feature: the 3D desktop with Compiz Fusion. As Michael Vogt explains in this mailing list post, Compiz Fusion is not quite free of known issues and although none of them are critical, they can detract from the enjoyment of the distribution. Among the known regressions, he cites issues with video playback, window rendering artifacts, and performance problems with certain video cards and older processors. The author's suggestion? "What we need to do is to raise awareness to the users about this feature. If we decide to enable it by default, we should pop up something that explains that certain things may not work quite well. If we decide that we should not enable it, we should have a check that tests if it is likely that the system is able to run Compiz and if so, pop up a notification that tells them what to do to enable desktop effects."
In related news, Ubuntu 7.10 will reportedly include a graphical tool for configuring X.Org.
* * * * *
 Barry Kauler, the founder and lead developer of Puppy Linux, has announced that he is working on a new, experimental version of Puppy with a number of enhancements. Among them, Puppy Linux users will soon be able to enjoy faster boot times, optimised init scripts, faster searching for Puppy files at boot, better memory management with initramfs, and other improvements. The author concludes: "I have been testing booting from a USB pen drive, works nice, but quite a few things to work on still. I hope to upload v2.20experiment1 soon. Note, I have also started work on Puppy v3.00, but very premature to say anything about it." This is a highly technical document, but it is followed by a good discussion in the forum bellow the post, with further suggestions and explanations. If you enjoy this fast, light-weight and unique Linux distribution, read Experimental new puppy under development for more details.
* * * * *
 Bogdan Radulescu, the creator of the Slackware-based NimbleX mini live CD, has emailed to tell us about a new breakthrough: a fast-booting, 100 MB live CD with KDE: "It was just released - the smallest live CD in the world with KDE. It's just under 100 MB and gathers together Linux kernel 2.6.21, KDE 3.5.7, xine media player, XMMS, GIMP and other software. NimbleX sub100 is most likely the fastest distro to boot in KDE and from the tests that where performed so far the fastest boot time was 35 seconds. You can get it from nimblex.net and use it as your portable OS. ... This is not a new version of NimbleX; it's just a different edition that has the technology that will be at the base of the next version." More information can be found on this page. Download: NimbleX-sub100.iso (100MB).
NimbleX sub100 - a fast-booting 100 MB live CD with KDE
(full image size: 206kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
* * * * *
 Is Trustix Secure Linux in danger of being abandoned? It appears so, at least judging by this message from Christian Haugan Toldnes, a former developer of this excellent server distribution: "The main problem with Trustix Secure Linux is not that it's vulnerable to whatever the Comodo management decides, although this is also true. The main problem is that it's a distribution developed by one person, with an active community of about 15 people." Replying to the question of whether anybody is still reading the Trustix mailing list, he replied: "No, almost nobody is still reading tsl-discuss, and yes, the vast majority of the community has moved away to other distributions. Both Ubuntu and CentOS are decent alternatives to Trustix." Trustix, a server distribution launched in 2000 by a small Norwegian company, was acquired by Comodo some three years later. After releasing version 3.0 in 2005, all the original members of the development team left the project, which now finds itself in the hands of less experienced developers. Is this a sad end of a great server distro?
* * * * *
It was a slow week in terms of news, so let's close this section with a link to a light-hearted article entitled What Your Linux Distro Says About You: "The huge number of Linux distros is a familiar target of complaint from some who see it as a barrier to Linux adoption. But if you think about it as having a specific distro out there that's just right for you, it all makes something like sense. Consider the personalities who gravitate to these distros..." The author covers Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, Debian, Mandriva, Slackware, Gentoo and Puppy - in other words, something for everyone. Enjoy!
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| Released Last Week |
Pioneer Explorer 1.0
Technalign, Inc. has announced the release of Pioneer Explorer 1.0: "Technalign, Inc., developers of both the community and commercial Pioneer Linux operating systems, announced today the release of Pioneer Explorer 1.0 and the Programs Folder. The final release of Pioneer Explorer includes a rebuilt X.Org file and rebuilt Firefox coupled with additional changes. Pioneer Explorer 1.0 is available for download immediately and includes the final additions to the Programs folder including virtualization tools. Pioneer Explorer 1.0 includes a pleasant experience with additional hardware support including unprecedented wireless and WinModem support out of the box. Pioneer Explorer now has KDE 4.0 beta in the repositories and those wanting to test may do so. Pioneer Explorer includes the Programs folder that allows for individuals to open a simple folder, install what they want when they want it easily." Read the rest of the press release for full details.
Linux Mint 3.0 "KDE"
Clement Lefebvre has announced the release of Linux Mint 3.0 "KDE Community" edition: "The KDE Community Edition of Cassandra is finally out! This release is based on Bianca KDE and compatible with all Feisty repositories. It comes with KDE 3.5.6 and a Linux kernel 2.6.20. OpenOffice.org, Thunderbird and Sunbird replaced KOffice and Kontact. Beryl 0.2.1 is included with Beryl-Manager. The default software selection includes: Dolphin 0.8.1, Tasty Menu 0.8.2, Amarok 1.4.6, K3B 1.0, Scribus 1.2.5, KMyMoney 0.8.5, Sun Java 6, Digikam, GIMP.... This desktop-ready KDE Mint has all the usual Minty goodness for the web and media applications. I have made the choice to make the Mint KDE Community edition more pro-desktop and to mirror the main edition closer with respect to the main applications." Read the complete release notes for further details.
A KDE flavour of Linux Mint 3.0 was released last week.
(full image size: 224kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
sidux 2007-03
The developers of sidux, a live CD tracking the Debian unstable branch, have announced the release of sidux version 2007-03: "After less than three months of development, we are proud to announce the immediate availability of sidux 2007-03 'Gaia' for amd64 and i686 systems, shipping in a 440 MB lite KDE and a 700 MB full KDE flavors. Our third official sidux release concentrates on overhauling the SysV init sequence of the live CD, refactoring the installer backend, and laying the foundation for proper gettext localisations of our toolset, with additional efforts regarding general clean up and obsoleting the GTK+ 1.2 tools, while shipping kernel 2.6.22.3-rc1, using libata for most PATA chipsets, additional support for Intel IPW3945/4965, Realtek RTL8187 and RT2x00 wireless LAN devices has been added." Read the comprehensive release notes for more information.
Debian GNU/Linux 4.0r1
The Debian project has announced the availability of the first revision of Debian GNU/Linux 4.0, code name "Etch": "The Debian project has updated the stable distribution Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (code name Etch). This update adds security updates to the stable release, together with a few corrections to serious problems. As always, the first point release also corrects a few issues that have been noticed too late in the release process to stop the release, but still should be fixed. This point release for Etch also includes an updated release of the installer, which includes the following changes: kernels used in the installer have been updated to ABI 2.6.18-5; updated mirror list; support added for certain USB CD drives that were not being detected; incorrect setup of GKSu fixed when user chooses to install with the root account disabled...." Read the full release announcement for more details.
Parsix GNU/Linux 0.90r1
Alan Baghumian has announced the availability of an updated release of Parsix GNU/Linux 0.90: "An updated version of Parsix GNU/Linux 0.90, code name Barry, has been released. Barry r1 introduces the project's first ever 64-bit edition, both 32-bit and 64-bit editions have been built from scratch using debootstrap, several fixes have been made, and merged all published updates from Parsix and Debian testing repositories as of Aug 15, 2007. Highlights: GNOME 2.18.3, Linux kernel 2.6.20.1 with CK and Suspend2 patches, read/write mode is the default for NTFS partitions, improved hardware detection system and hard disk installer, VLC replaces Totem." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details.
Ark Linux 2007.1
Ark Linux 2007.1 has been released: "The Ark Linux team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Ark Linux 2007.1, the latest version of its multi-purpose desktop operating system. Ark Linux can be used for office/school work, desktop publishing, graphics, multimedia entertainment, editing, gaming, software development, and more. There have been many changes since the 2006.1 release - all components have been updated to current versions. For example, Ark Linux 2007.1 includes the KDE 3.5.7 desktop, the OpenOffice.org 2.2.1 office suite and the Amarok music player 1.4.7. It also includes the latest underlying technologies such as Linux kernel 2.6.22.3, glibc 2.6.1, and has been built completely with GCC 4.2.1, resulting in a faster system and quicker response times." See the full release announcement for further details.
Mutagenix 2.6.18.6-2
Dan Barber has announced the release of an updated version of Mutagenix, a Slackware-based live CD: "I'm happy to finally announce the release of Mutagenix 2.6.18.6-2. This release includes a rescue disk (without X) and a KDE disk. This is mostly a bug-fix release to address problems discovered in the installer, but there are several new options available. Of note are the USB installer and a re-worked remastering utility. Mutagenix Features: Slackware 11.0; rescue and KDE 3.5 versions; kernel 2.6.18.6; automatic hardware detection using libdiscover; supports SATA, SCSI and IDE drives; detects and mounts EXT2, EXT3, ReiserFS, XFS, JFS, VFAT and NTFS formatted partitions; customize CD with remastering script; slapt-get, with multiple rc files with different sources, is included; Gslapt, the GTK+ front-end for slapt-get; OpenOffice.org application suite; Mutagenix themes...." Here is the full release announcement.
Momonga Linux 4
The Momonga Linux development team has announced the release of Momonga Linux 4, a Japanese community distribution loosely modelled after the Fedora project. Code named "Izumi", the new version is the first Momonga release to introduce DVD spins with either the GNOME or the KDE desktop, as well as a minimal installation CD and a 2-DVD "Everything" set. New features of Momonga Linux 4 include: ability to create custom live and installation CDs with livecd-tool and Pungi; OpenVZ kernel for server virtualisation; Linux kernel 2.6.21, X.Org 7.3, GNOME 2.18.3, KDE 3.5.7, Compiz-Fusion 0.5.2; up-to-date Japanese language support and software localisation. Please read the release announcement and release notes (both links in Japanese) for further details.
Momonga Linux 4 - a Japanese community distribution based on Fedora
(full image size: 315kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Pioneer Basic 3.0, Pioneer Explorer 1.0 Server Community, Pioneer MigrationSERVER, Pioneer StageCoach, Pioneer Renegade 1.0, Pioneer Explorer 1.1
Technalign has published a detailed release schedule for all its upcoming products that are due later this month and in September. Among them, Pioneer Basic 3.0, Pioneer Explorer 1.0 Server Community, Pioneer MigrationSERVER and Pioneer StageCoach are expected later this week, while Pioneer Renegade 1.0 will enter a beta testing stage in late August and Pioneer Explorer 1.1 in the middle of September. Please visit the distribution's release schedule page for a complete list.
* * * * *
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
Translations of Top Ten Distributions page
Many thanks to Michael Eickenboom who has translated the Top Ten Distributions page into German. The article is now available in 14 languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish and Swedish. Translations to other languages are most welcome - if you'd like to help, please email your work to distro at distrowatch dot com (preferably in plain text format using UTF-8 encoding).
* * * * *
New distributions added to database
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- AMA Desktop Linux. AMA Desktop Linux is an Ubuntu-based distribution developed by AMA Computer University in the Philippines. It aims to provide an interface that is comfortable to existing Microsoft Windows users and to deliver the most innovative Linux Desktop available today.
- NicE Desktop. NicE Desktop is a Debian-based, live Linux distribution. It comes with many programs for both recreational and administrative purposes. Its main goals are to be useful and entertaining while maintaining user-friendliness, as well as to provide a "complete" temporary operating system for any PC user.
- Ratkaisu.net LiveCD. Ratkaisu.net LiveCD is a Finnish distribution based on Zenwalk Linux.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 27 August 2007.
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 | 
Flash Linux
Flash Linux was a customised Linux distribution designed to be run directly off a USB key or other (similar) forms of bootable flash memory. It should work within the constraints of 256MB of (flash) memory although larger devices may also be used. Flash Linux was based on Gentoo Linux and new versions and bugfixes should track the stable Gentoo tree. Whereas Gentoo was a source distribution, Flash Linux was a binary-only distribution.
Status: Discontinued
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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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