 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 218, 3 September 2007 |
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Welcome to this year's 36th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! If you have only recently discovered this web site and the joy of testing the hundreds of different distributions and live CD available on the market, then you need to learn one essential skill: how to correct a faulty screen resolution that many of these products fail to set up correctly. Today's featured article lists the necessary steps. In the news section, Canonical has announced Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" LTS, FreeBSD has unveiled the first alpha of its all-new point-and-click system installer, Debian has updated the backend of its package database infrastructure, and the German Mandriva user community has released the first English issue of "MagDriva", a magazine dedicated to all fans and users of Mandriva Linux. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the recipient of the DistroWatch.com August 2007 donation is the lighttpd project. Happy reading!
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in ogg (4.1MB) and mp3 (4.1MB) formats (many thanks to Jim Putman)
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Tips and tricks |
Correcting screen resolutions
 Those of you who frequently install new distributions or test Linux/BSD live CDs will probably agree with me: one of the biggest annoyances of some of these products is their failure to detect and set up the correct screen resolution. This usually results in unsightly fonts and reduced screen real estate, both of which contribute to the negative first impressions. Since many computer users are discovering the wonderful world of open source software for the first time, I thought I'd run through the necessary steps to correct the screen resolution in case your distribution fails to do so.
The bad news is that if a distribution or live CD does not set up your monitor's screen resolution correctly, there is usually no other way to fix it than to manually edit the xorg.conf file - from the command line. The good news is that the fix does not require a degree in Information Technology and after completing this task a few times, you'll be able to do it in any Linux or BSD distribution - with your eyes closed. So let's get going.
The task of correcting the screen resolution consists of three steps: launching the terminal, logging in as root, and modifying a pair of values in xorg.conf.
- Launching the terminal. There are many ways to do this - the most logical way is to hunt down the application from the desktop menu; KDE's Konsole and GNOME's GNOME Terminal are usually easy to find, while a terminal application may also be available from a right-click context menu on certain desktops. Personally, I find that the fastest way to access a terminal session is to press Ctrl+Alt+F2, which will take you to one of the available virtual terminals. To get back to your graphical desktop, you normally press Ctrl+Alt+F7 (although some distributions place the graphical desktop into other virtual terminals; if Ctrl+Alt+F7 doesn't work, you might have to go through several of the F-keys on your keyboard to find the right one).
- Logging in as root. After launching a terminal window, you might be already logged in as a user, logged in as root (use the "whoami" command to find out) or not logged in at all. In the first case, you log in as root by typing "su -". In the third case, you will have to type "root" at the command prompt. The next step is to guess the root password; some live CDs provide passwordless root accounts, which log you in straight after typing "root", but if this is not your case and you are prompted to enter the root password, try one of the common password variations, such as "root", "toor", "linux" or the name of the distribution you are running. Some live CDs (e.g. Knoppix, Ubuntu and their derivatives) allow you to change the root password via a sudo command - simply type "sudo passwd", then type and retype a new root password. If all fails, you can, of course, visit the distribution's web site and search its documentation for hints about the root password.
- Modifying xorg.conf. After you've logged in as root, the final step is to open the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and replace a pair of incorrect values. To open the above-mentioned file you can use one of the beginner-friendly console editors, such as nano; simply type "nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf". When the file opens, look for the line containing the words "DefaultDepth". This is often set to a conservative 16 (65,536 colours), but if you have a reasonably recent monitor, it's safe to change this to a more eye-pleasing 24 (16 million colours). Edit the line so it reads as follows:
DefaultDepth 24
Next, you'll need to edit another line which is often just a few lines below the one you've just edited. Look for a line that says "Depth 24". Directly below it (within the same subsection delimited by the words "Subsection "Display"", you will find a line containing the word "Modes" (see the screenshot below). Edit this line so that it corresponds to the correct screen resolution for your monitor, e.g.:
Modes "1280x1024"
When done, save and close the xorg.conf file (in nano, simply press Ctrl+O to save the file and Ctrl+X to close it). Later, once you are familiar with this procedure, you might also check that the xorg.conf file contains the correct driver for your video card (e.g. driver "ati" for ATI cards, driver "nv" for NVIDIA cards, etc.; here is a full list), rather than the general purpose "vesa" driver. These days, however, it seems that only a few Slackware-based distributions still prefer to set up your xorg.conf file with the "vesa" driver, instead of trying to detect the video card present in the system and set it up with a corresponding X.Org driver.
Modifying the xorg.conf configuration file from the command line
That's it in terms of X.Org configuration, so all that remains to be done is to restart the X window system. This can be done by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace (note: this doesn't work with Knoppix and some Knoppix-based live CDs, where logging out of an X window session will automatically shut down the system). If you have set up your screen resolution correctly, you should now be able to see the login screen or the distribution's desktop in a more eye-pleasing fashion. If you don't, chances are that you've made a typo editing the xorg.conf file, in which case you should re-open it and make sure that everything is correct. For hints about possible errors you could also open the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file and look for error messages. But generally speaking, I find that in 95% of cases, the above steps are all that's needed to fix the incorrect screen resolution on today's Linux/BSD distributions and live CDs.
While on the subject of screen resolution, here is one more note: some distributions and live CDs (e.g. Knoppix and most Knoppix-based ones) provide an easy way to set a resolution at the boot prompt, usually by typing something like "knoppix screen=1280x1024" at the boot prompt (these distributions usually provide a help screen, accessible by pressing one of the F-keys, with hints on what exactly to type).
If some of our readers have their own tips and tricks on how to set up the screen resolution or other related topics, feel free to share them in the forum below.
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| Miscellaneous News |
Ubuntu's Hardy Heron, FreeBSD's graphical "finstall", Debian's new packages database, MagDriva
The week that marked the beginning of September was exceedingly quiet in terms of distribution releases, but certainly eventful on the open source software front. The issue of the OOXML (Office Open XML) standard, developed and presented by Microsoft, appears to be doomed in many parts of the world - thanks to the continuous lobbying by the open source community; visit Groklaw.net for extensive coverage. In the meantime, the BSD and Linux kernel developers engaged in a verbal exchange concerning certain device driver code released under a dual BSD/GPL licence. On the desktop, both X.Org and KDE announced delays in their upcoming releases; while X.Org 7.3, originally scheduled for release last week, will be postponed by just a few days (September 5th), the highly-anticipated KDE 4.0 has now been delayed by two months (December 20th). As a result, many distributions are revising their plans to include KDE 4.0 in their upcoming releases; the Fedora project has already indicated that it would not ship the new KDE in Fedora 8 and other distributions are expected to follow suit. Nevertheless, those users who are interested in beta testing KDE 4.0 might be offered an option to install one of the preview releases, with Kubuntu and openSUSE the most likely candidates for such an arrangement.
* * * * *
 Although Ubuntu's upcoming release, version 7.10 and code name "Gutsy Gibbon", is still in alpha testing, Canonical has already announced details about the next version of the popular distribution. Scheduled for release in April 2008 and code-named "Hardy Heron", this will be Ubuntu's second release carrying the LTS (Long Term Support) label. Jono Bacon: "I am delighted to have the pleasure of announcing the Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04), the next version of Ubuntu that will succeed Gutsy Gibbon (Ubuntu 7.10, due for release in October 2007). Not only will the Ubuntu community continue to do what it does best, produce an easy-to-use, reliable, free software platform, but this release will proudly wear the badge of Long Term Support (LTS) and be supported with security updates for five years on the server and three years on the desktop. We look forward to releasing the Hardy Heron in April 2008."
* * * * *
 Xubuntu, one of Ubuntu's official sub-project that features the increasingly popular Xfce desktop, seems to be going through an identity search. While clearly an excellent alternative for those users who prefer a less bloated desktop environment, some users believe that Xubuntu's growing preference for GTK+ applications will eventually marginalise the distribution: "If this 'Gnomeward' trend is followed, then the only difference between Ubuntu and Xubuntu is going to be the desktop manager. Even the layout is already the same. Everything else -- the session manager, the utilities, the applications and so on -- are probably going to be borrowed from the GNOME edition. ... So in total, we have a complete and full distro which has a slim following, that is almost indistinguishable from the most popular edition, contains the same software as its bigger brother, and incurs some sort of expense -- bandwidth, server space, whatever -- to somebody somewhere, probably in an office on the Isle of Man."
* * * * *
 Following Debian's introduction of a point-and-click system installer into "Etch", the project's most recent stable release, it seems that FreeBSD is the next major open source operating system that will incorporate a graphical installer, alongside its tried and tested "sysinstall". Scheduled for inclusion in FreeBSD 7.0, the first alpha release of "finstall", the FreeBSD installer, was announced last week: "I've created an ISO image with the installer embedded in it that can be used primarily for testing. The live CD is a fully working FreeBSD 7-CURRENT installation (i386) with X.Org 7.0, Xfce 4.2 desktop environment, Firefox, Thunderbird and a couple of supporting utilities. The installer version included in this live CD is a test version, more like a technology preview than a usable application. It can only install the system on a blank, unpartitioned drive and has only been tested on VMware so far." Interested alpha testers can download the live CD image with "finstall" from here: freebsd7-finstall-alpha.iso.bz2 (427MB). Now, any chance that Slackware might also be persuaded to include a graphical system installer into its next release?
An alpha release of a graphical installer for FreeBSD 7.0 is now available for testing (see here for more screenshots)
(full image size: 115kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
* * * * *
 The Debian GNU/Linux project has announced a major upgrade to its package database infrastructure at packages.debian.org, with dynamically generated content and improved search features. Highlights: "Almost all pages are generated dynamically now instead of creating them all statically in one run; this code also finally replaces grep as the tool for full text search with a real search engine (Xapian) which should speed up these searches considerably; most searches now allow more than one keyword; improved, more compact page layout; includes information about packages from the following archives: ftp.debian.org, security.debian.org, volatile.debian.org, amd64.debian.net (sarge), gnuab.org (kfreebsd, armel), backports.org; basic debtags support (display of tag information and backend use to improve search results for full text search and 'similar packages')."
* * * * *
 Finally, Karsten Kurze has sent us a quick email to announce a new issue of MagDriva, a community magazine designed for the users and fans of Mandriva Linux: "We have completed our first international issue of MagDriva in English. Wolfgang Bornath, the administrator of MandrivaUser.de made the following release announcement: MagDriva is the community magazine of the German user community at MandrivaUser.de. For a long time we had requests about an international issue (more so because the international Mandriva magazine, Inside Mandriva, went belly-up after Gaël Duval left the company). MandrivaUser.de proudly presents the first international issue of their community magazine MagDriva. For a start, it features some articles translated from the current German issue, including a nice report of our time at LinuxTag (with pictures). Hopefully we get enough feedback to encourage us to go on with the next issue." The first English issue of the MagDriva magazine is available (in PDF format) for download from here: MagDriva_Int_1.2007.pdf (8.2MB). Happy reading!
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| Released Last Week |
ALT Linux 4.0 "Personal Desktop"
The ALT Linux development team has announced the release of ALT Linux 4.0 Personal Desktop edition, a Russian desktop Linux distribution. ALT Linux 4.0 Personal Desktop is designed for home and office use, providing the user with a convenient environment for undertaking common computing tasks. The product includes ALTerator - an intuitive system setup and configuration utility, OpenOffice.org - an office suite with support for popular office formats, WINE - an emulator designed to run Windows applications under Linux, and a variety of software packages for vector and raster graphics, multimedia, dictionaries and educational applications. One of the strong points of ALT Linux 4.0 is support for the latest hardware and technologies from the world's leading manufacturers, including wireless networking. For further details please read the full press release (in Russian).
ALT Linux 4.0 "Personal Desktop"
(full image size: 188kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Linux From Scratch 6.3
Bruce Dubbs has announced the release of Linux From Scratch 6.3, a book whose purpose is to teach the steps necessary to build a basic Linux-based operating system: "The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of Linux From Scratch (LFS) Version 6.3. This release includes numerous changes to LFS 6.2 (including update to Linux kernel 2.6.22.5, GCC 4.1.2, glibc 2.5) and security fixes. It also includes a large amount of editorial work on the explanatory material throughout the book, improving both the clarity and accuracy of the text. You can read the book online, or download to read locally." Visit the project's news page to read the brief release announcement.
Vyatta 2.2
An updated version of Vyatta, a Debian-based firewall distribution, has been released: "Vyatta is pleased to announce that Vyatta Community Edition 2.2 (code name Camarillo) has been released to the main repository. This release adds the following enhancements: Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) enhancements - Per-peer BGP routing policies and MD5 authentication for BGP; NAT usability enhancements - the 'type' and 'translation-type' options have been consolidated into a single attribute for ease of configuration and the Configuration Guide has been enhanced with a greater number and variety of examples for NAT; improvements to DHCP server and DHCP relay; new options for 'show version', enhanced to provide additional information about packages; bug fixes - over 100 issues (bugs and enhancements) have been resolved with this update." Read the rest of the release announcement for a more detailed list of new features.
* * * * *
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 |
August 2007 donation: lighttpd receives €290.00
 We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the August 2007 DistroWatch.com donation is the lighttpd project. It receives €290.00 in cash.
Although not nearly as famous as its large cousin, the Apache web server, lighttpd is nevertheless growing in stature as an alternative, fast and light-weight application for serving web pages. From the project's description: "lighttpd is a secure, fast, compliant, and very flexible web server which has been optimised for high-performance environments. It has a very low memory footprint compared to other web servers, and it takes care of CPU load. It has an advanced feature set that includes FastCGI (load balanced), CGI, Auth, Output-Compression, URL-Rewriting, SSL, and much more." Currently in version 1.4.17, lighttpd is developed by Jan Kneschke in Germany.
As always, this monthly donations programme is a joint initiative between DistroWatch and two online shops selling low-cost CDs and DVDs with Linux, BSD and other open source software - LinuxCD.org and OSDisc.com. These vendors contributed US$50.00 each towards this month's donation to lighttpd.
Here is the list of projects that received a DistroWatch donation since the launch of the programme (figures in US dollars):
- 2004: GnuCash ($250), Quanta Plus ($200), PCLinuxOS ($300), The GIMP ($300), Vidalinux ($200), Fluxbox ($200), K3b ($350), Arch Linux ($300), Kile KDE LaTeX Editor ($100) and UNICEF - Tsunami Relief Operation ($340)
- 2005: Vim ($250), AbiWord ($220), BitTorrent ($300), NdisWrapper ($250), Audacity ($250), Debian GNU/Linux ($420), GNOME ($425), Enlightenment ($250), MPlayer ($400), Amarok ($300), KANOTIX ($250) and Cacti ($375)
- 2006: Gambas ($250), Krusader ($250), FreeBSD Foundation ($450), GParted ($360), Doxygen ($260), LilyPond ($250), Lua ($250), Gentoo Linux ($500), Blender ($500), Puppy Linux ($350), Inkscape ($350), Cape Linux Users Group ($130), Mandriva Linux ($405, a PowerPack competition), digiKam ($408) and SabayonLinux ($450)
- 2007: GQview ($250), Kaffeine ($250), sidux ($350), CentOS ($400), LyX ($350), VectorLinux ($350), KTorrent ($400), FreeNAS ($350), lighttpd ($400)
Since the launch of the Donations Programme in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$14,490 to various open source software projects.
* * * * *
New distributions added to database
- Draco GNU/Linux. Draco GNU/Linux is a distribution based on Slackware Linux and pkgsrc, a package management system developed by NetBSD. It is distributed in the form of a minimal base system, but a range of additional software packages is available for installation from the project's FTP server.
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 10 September 2007.
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1173 (2026-05-18): Sylve on FreeBSD, the benefit of BleachBit, Debian commits to reproducible builds, Debian publishes updated install media, Haiku introduces SMP support on ARM64 processors, Rocky Linux creates opt-in security repository, Fedora reconsiders AI tools, KDE receives generous donation |
| • Issue 1172 (2026-05-11): Fedora 44, dealing with extra fonts, Fedora plans to provide AI tools, problems with Ubuntu's new coreutils, TrueNAS extends its development cycle, postmarktetOS improves the boot splash screen, Redox ports tmux |
| • Issue 1171 (2026-05-04): Xubuntu 26.04, extending memory with VRAM, Ubuntu plans AI features, Devuan developer forks GTK2, Mint introduces hardware enablement builds, Linux running on a PlayStation 5, local kernel exploit found in Linux |
| • Issue 1170 (2026-04-27): ENux 5.2.1, picking a second distro, AlmaLinux expands CPU support, FreeBSD publishes Status Report, Ubuntu MATE skips 26.04 release |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • 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 | 
Honeywall CDROM
Honeywall CDROM was a CentOS-based distribution with the goal of capturing the activities of cyber threats and analysing the captured data. It has a GUI-based interface for system configuration, administration, and data analysis, and supports the new 3.x branch of Sebek. The CD, release under the General Public License, was a product of the Honeynet Project, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the security of the Internet by providing cutting-edge research for free.
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.
|
| 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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