 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 217, 27 August 2007 |
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Welcome to this year's 35th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! There is little doubt about it - Ubuntu is the most popular desktop Linux distribution on the market. But the great variety of available statistics, usage surveys and web long analyses means that it's often impossible to estimate the true usage figures and switching habits of individual users. Does it all really matter? Read our editorial on the subject and comment in the forums. In the news section, we link to a handful of interesting articles covering the openSUSE package management, Gentoo overlays, and Debian boot process with initng. Finally, the KDE development team has revealed that its official KDE 4 release party will only take place some four months after the release of version 4.0. The reason? Read on to find out.
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in ogg (6.1MB) and mp3 (5.6MB) formats (many thanks to Jim Putman)
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Editorial |
How popular is a distribution
No matter how futile the matter is, many of us seem obsessed with the idea of determining the popularity and market share of Linux distributions. Whether its through public polls on popular web sites, download trackers, web server log analyses, or Netcraft-style OS detection of web servers, the results continue to baffle the Linux-using population. The reason? They all give different results.
Last week's conclusion of Desktop Linux Survey 2007 was another attempt at collecting information about the usage of desktop Linux distributions and major software applications. The results were not particularly surprising - Ubuntu walked away with over 30% share of the votes, ahead of openSUSE (nearly 20%) and Debian GNU/Linux (just under 12%). All three are highly popular distributions with a broad mindshare, even among less technical computer users who don't follow the Linux distro market very closely.
But some of the DistroWatch readers might have been surprised by the poor performance of the three distributions that are fairly new and relatively small in terms of mindshare, but have been hot on the DistroWatch's Page Hit Ranking (PHR) statistics: PCLinuxOS, Sabayon Linux and Linux Mint. Here is what Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols had to say on the subject while analysing the results:
"Perhaps the most surprising result of our survey was that PCLinuxOS showed so poorly. On DistroWatch, PCLinuxOS has been at the top of the site's page hit ranking for the last 30 days. Frankly, we're not sure why this popular, easy-to-use community distribution didn't do better. The site supporting it had recently had problems, but that problem's long been history. Perhaps, it's simply that unlike the other popular community distributions -- Ubuntu, openSUSE, and Fedora -- PCLinuxOS doesn't have corporate backing. Canonical, Novell, and Red Hat all provide support and hardware partnerships for their community distributions that PCLinuxOS can't match."
Granted, the DistroWatch Page Hit Ranking doesn't mean all that much and we have been saying this for years. However, our web log analysis of DistroWatch.com visitors' user agent strings indicates that PCLinuxOS represents 6.2% of all Linux-using visitors, which makes its the third most popular Linux distribution (after Ubuntu and Debian). openSUSE, which received nearly 20% of votes in the DesktopLinux survey, is used by less than 5% of those DistroWatch visitors who visit these pages with Linux.
To make these figures more digestable, here is a tabular comparison of the three indicators mentioned above: the DesktopLinux survey, DistroWatch web log analysis and DistroWatch PHR. Bear in mind that some distributions, notably Slackware and Gentoo, do not provide custom browser strings, which makes it impossible for the web server to account for them. In case of the DistroWatch PHR, the percentage figures were calculated using the top 100 distributions only and the Ubuntu figure also includes those of Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, etc, since the DesktopLinux survey also grouped them together. The last column represents the average of these three (or two, in case of missing browser string identifiers) indicators.
No matter which indicator we take for the most representative, one thing is clear - Ubuntu is the top desktop Linux distribution at the moment. Beyond that assertion, it's anybody's guess; openSUSE and Debian seem also highly popular, but Fedora does not do particularly well in any of the statistics or surveys. Some newer and smaller distributions, such as PCLinuxOS, Linux Mint and Sabayon Linux are rising in terms of popularity, but as the DesktopLinux survey indicates, none of them has reached sufficient mindshare to penetrate into the wider market. The enterprise class products, such as CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise are probably not used much on the desktop or their users care little for either DistroWatch or Linux market surveys.
At the end of the day, we still know little about the popularity of distributions. That said, these figures aren't completely useless - they produce an endless string of entertaining discussions on various forums and deliver evidence that most of us care about these issues, even if we'll never find the correct answers.
But there is one set of figures that is perhaps more important than any of the distro market share surveys. When I started DistroWatch in 2001, 95% of the visitors used Windows and Internet Explorer to access the site. Some six years later, only 19% of you read this site with Internet Explorer. As for operating system statistics, the usage of Linux to access the site has risen from a near-zero to a whopping 36% today! While various market share surveys are entertaining and sometimes even useful (for companies like Dell in order to determine what to put on their computers), there is no denying that the usage of Linux has risen rather dramatically over the last few years. And that's all that matters.
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| Statistics |
DistroWatch in Europe
The final stop on our statistical journey of DistroWatch readership takes us to Europe (after publishing similar sets of data for Africa, Asia, the Americas and the South Pacific). The purpose of these statistical analyses was to show the year-on-year change in the number of DistroWatch visitors from different countries and territories.
Like all other continents, Europe also experienced strong growth in terms of DistroWatch visits during the past year, with the overall increase of 25%. Interestingly, the only country where the number of visitors dropped from a year ago (ignoring the tiny Andorra) is Finland, the birthplace of Linux! Luckily, this was generously compensated for by visits from all other countries, with Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, Greece and Ireland in particular recording very strong growth. (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 |
Germany (DE) |
981,339 |
1,238,727 |
+26.2% |
| 2 |
Italy (IT) |
732,517 |
912,876 |
+24.6% |
| 3 |
United Kingdom (GB) |
722,519 |
891,039 |
+23.3% |
| 4 |
France (FR) |
638,583 |
720,702 |
+12.9% |
| 5 |
Poland (PL) |
359,428 |
518,088 |
+44.1% |
| 6 |
Spain (ES) |
353,994 |
429,769 |
+21.4% |
| 7 |
Netherlands (NL) |
357,566 |
420,609 |
+17.6% |
| 8 |
Sweden (SE) |
271,589 |
310,838 |
+14.5% |
| 9 |
Finland (FI) |
231,817 |
215,551 |
-7.0% |
| 10 |
Romania (RO) |
158,888 |
212,941 |
+34.0% |
| 11 |
Switzerland (CH) |
118,325 |
199,998 |
+69.0% |
| 12 |
Belgium (BE) |
179,174 |
195,456 |
+9.1% |
| 13 |
Portugal (PT) |
127,878 |
184,753 |
+44.5% |
| 14 |
Hungary (HU) |
135,017 |
160,099 |
+18.6% |
| 15 |
Norway (NO) |
120,686 |
158,505 |
+31.3% |
| 16 |
Russia (RU) |
87,469 |
144,113 |
+64.8% |
| 17 |
Greece (GR) |
80,304 |
134,045 |
+66.9% |
| 18 |
Denmark (DK) |
113,974 |
132,253 |
+16.0% |
| 19 |
Austria (AT) |
93,427 |
123,491 |
+32.2% |
| 20 |
Czech Republic (CZ) |
78,684 |
115,986 |
+47.4% |
| 21 |
Bulgaria (BG) |
90,392 |
113,901 |
+26.0% |
| 22 |
Slovakia (SK) |
64,292 |
76,937 |
+19.7% |
| 23 |
Estonia (EE) |
67,472 |
72,145 |
+6.9% |
| 24 |
Slovenia (SI) |
42,059 |
52,179 |
+24.1% |
| 25 |
Ukraine (UA) |
21,480 |
39,999 |
+86.2% |
| 26 |
Croatia (HR) |
30,752 |
39,709 |
+29.1% |
| 27 |
Ireland (IE) |
25,533 |
39,656 |
+55.3% |
| 28 |
Lithuania (LT) |
32,738 |
37,007 |
+13.0% |
| 29 |
Latvia (LV) |
23,500 |
31,031 |
+32.0% |
| 30 |
Serbia (RS) |
11,264 |
30,797 |
+173.4% |
| 31 |
Luxembourg (LU) |
10,547 |
13,782 |
+30.7% |
| 32 |
Belarus (BY) |
4,987 |
9,329 |
+87.1% |
| 33 |
Macedonia (MK) |
5,034 |
9,302 |
+84.8% |
| 34 |
Iceland (IS) |
7,938 |
8,692 |
+9.5% |
| 35 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA) |
5,691 |
7,740 |
+36.0% |
| 36 |
Moldova (MD) |
1,830 |
6,037 |
+229.9% |
| 37 |
Cyprus (CY) |
4,239 |
4,772 |
+12.6% |
| 38 |
Malta (MT) |
3,291 |
4,453 |
+35.3% |
| 39 |
Andorra (AD) |
2,349 |
1,816 |
-22.7% |
| 40 |
Faroe Island (FO) |
814 |
1,162 |
+42.8% |
| -- |
Rest of Europe |
3,278 |
3,353 |
+2.3% |
| Total |
Europe |
6,402,658 |
8,023,638 |
+25.3% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| -- |
USA (US) |
6,045,984 |
7,135,032 |
+18.0% |
|
|
| Miscellaneous News |
openSUSE package management, Gentoo overlays, Debian with initng, KDE 4.0
 Ever since the infamous openSUSE 10.1 release (with new, but buggy and poorly tested package management backend), the openSUSE developers have been working on improving the experience of managing software for its users. The upcoming openSUSE 10.3 will be no exception as a number of major new features are being introduced into the distribution. Chief among them are improvements in zypper, a command line tool, and openSUSE updater, a software update notification applet. Duncan Mac-Vicar Prett explains the reasons behind the work in this article at openSUSE News: "For 10.3 we sat down and discussed how to improve the situation, in a reasonable time-frame. What we did was concentrate mostly on the 20% that caused 80% of the unhappiness, both for the users and for the developers. The task involved lot of profiling (with lot of help from other teams), designing and trying prototypes and proof of concepts. Then we branched and created a zypp2 library where we started to re-create all parsers, the cache engine, downloaders, etc from scratch, and unit tests for them. Later everything was integrated with the main library and zypp2 was removed. Then the next step was to port zypper and the YaST glue."
* * * * *
 Last week's editorial about Gentoo Linux, while predictably generating a wide range of opinions, also produced one clear message - Gentoo is a distribution that is much appreciated by those Linux users who enjoy tailoring their operating system to their exact needs. But even with the variety of available tools and with the flexibility of Portage, there are still limitations in terms of installing some of the more cutting-edge packages on Gentoo Linux. This is where the Portage overlays come in: "One of my biggest issues with Portage is lack of support for 'new' and emerging (no pun intended) software. What do I mean by that? I mean some of the most-hyped and off-the-wall cool programs that have come out in the last year or so: Compiz Fusion, Avant-Window-Navigator, KDE4, XMMS2, amongst others. I'm not entirely sure why Gentoo developers or managers choose not to support newer software. Supporting it would give these projects more feedback, thus making them stable faster. It would be a contribution to the open source community to offer basic package support for these programs. There's an easy way around this now, without having to compile the source on your own: portage overlays."
* * * * *
 Over the last year or so we have seen much effort among Linux distribution to replace the ancient init system of booting Linux/UNIX with a more modern, faster implementation of the boot process. One way of increasing the boot speed of Debian GNU/Linux (and other distributions) is by replacing its SysVinit system with initng: "The old init system loads services one after the other; initng makes booting faster by loading services in a parallel fashion. There is no reason that process X can't use the CPU while process Y is reading data from disk. Installing initng on Debian 'Lenny' was as simple as installing any other software package. Here are installation instructions for most distributions, installing initng won't mess up the old init systems and you can easily go back when initng doesn't suit you or if it doesn't work. The speed increase I got from booting wasn't that awesome but it was nice. The old init system booted my workstation to the KDM login manager in 23.9 seconds. Booting using initng took 13.2 seconds, so it's nice but nothing jaw-dropping."
* * * * *
 When exactly is the long-awaited KDE 4 going to be released? And once it's out, will it be stable enough for production use? As if reading the minds of testers who have found the recently released first beta of KDE 4 barely usable, the KDE development team has come up with a new plan. Yes, they will release KDE 4 on October 23rd as planned; however, they won't really announce it until January 2008: "For quite some time the KDE team thought about having a KDE 4 release party some months after the original KDE 4.0 release. According to that plan the KDE 4.0 release in October will be official, but not press-release-official - that one will be celebrated some months later." If this goes ahead, probably the hardest part will be explaining the unusual decision to the media: "Most distributions (especially the KDE-centric ones) are not going to pick up KDE 4 as default in the 4th quarter releases. But this issue has to be explained to the industry and to the press and I wonder how these will take it. The KDE team will definitely have to work out some good explanation."
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| Released Last Week |
SmoothWall Express 3.0
SmoothWall Express 3.0, a free firewall distribution that includes its own security-hardened GNU/Linux operating system and an easy-to-use web interface, has been released: "Express 3.0 is our latest version of the long running and successful SmoothWall Express firewall. Headline new features relative to 2.0: supports a 4th network card for Wireless Access Points; 64-bit support; based upon Linux 2.6 kernel; new realtime traffic graph shows traffic bandwidth usage over time (AJAX); per-IP address traffic statistics collection in all traffic stats pages; Instant Messenger proxy with logging and filtering abilities; SATA and SCSI support; streamlined installer and setup; outbound filtering; new update mechanism which can download and install all pending updates with a single click...." Read the comprehensive release notes for full details.
PAIPIX 7.0
PAIPIX is a Debian-based live DVD with focus on scientific applications. A major new version, now based on Debian 4.0 "Etch", was released yesterday: "The new PAIPIX 7 keeps its focus on scientific software but drops the emphasis on a pure live DVD to integrate installation, live and upgrade systems. The new main use cases are: LIVE - starting PAIPIX in the live mode, one has access to complete system including KDE, office and development; INSTALLATION - by starting PAIPIX in the installation mode one has access to the standard Debian installer system; UPGRADE - as part of the entire system, the DVD includes a Debian CD-ROM repository that includes all necessary packages. The PAIPIX ISO images are available in English and in bilingual editions that support both English and one of the following languages: Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and German." More details in the release announcement.
PAIPIX 7.0 - a Debian-based live and installation DVD with scientific applications
(full image size: 403kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Absolute Linux 12.0.3
Paul Sherman has released an updated version of Absolute Linux, a Slackware-based distribution with the IceWM window manager and graphical configuration utilities. From the changelog: "Updated slapt-get 0.9.12, gslapt 0.3.18, GnuPG 1.4.7 (which can co-exist with the installed GnuPG 2.x); kernel source header versions corrected, compiles NVIDIA driver OK; adjusted mime handlers in ROX for WMA and WAV files and added conversion scripts in SENDTO menu - wav2mp3, wma2mp3 and flv2avi; fixed error in DevTray where data DVDs were not auto-mounting; fixed modules install to properly match custom kernel; updated to Firefox 2.0.0.6, also updated Xpdf, mkinitr, and the ati, nv and vesa X modules; developer documentation for Qt and xdialog moved to CD2 to make space; Frostwire package added; AbScreen updated to 2.2."
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix 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 Weekly podcast returns
Good news for all those readers who have missed the podcast edition of DistroWatch Weekly since it was discontinued a few months ago. Thanks to an effort by Jim Putman, the weekly audio (in MP3 format) that includes most of the content from each DistroWatch Weekly is now available once again. Please subscribe to the RSS feed here. If you have any comments or suggestions please email them to Jim (linuxcaster at gmail dot com). Happy listening!
* * * * *
New distributions added to database
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- BlackRoute. BlackRoute is a Slackware-based security and forensics analysis Linux distribution for x86-compatible architectures. The goal of the project is to create a GNU/Linux distribution for advance users, texttool enthusiasts, network and security specialist, and system administrators.
BlackRoute 0.1 RC1 - a Slackware-based distribution for forensic analysis tasks with WindowMaker
(full image size: 341kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
- Embun. Embun is a Malaysian desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu.
Embun 2.0 RC1 - a Malaysian Linux distribution based on Ubuntu
(full image size: 1,586kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
- Lapwing-Linux. Lapwing-Linux is a light-weight desktop distribution based on Slackware Linux.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 3 September 2007.
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| 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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| Random Distribution | 
GNUstep Live CD
GNUstep live CD was a Debian-based Linux distribution containing GNUstep, network tools, multimedia software and games. GNUstep was an implementation of the OPENSTEP and Cocoa frameworks.
Status: Discontinued
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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