DistroWatch Weekly |
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 255, 2 June 2008 |
Welcome to this year's 22nd issue of DistroWatch Weekly! One of the best-known and most widely-used features of FreeBSD, its CVS infrastructure designed to store all of the operating system's and userland's source code, was finally given boot last week when it was replaced with Subversion. What will this major switch mean for the FreeBSD user community? While on the surface not much will change in the foreseeable future, eventually everybody will need to get used to a new way of performing source updates. In other news, Novell reports better than expected revenue from its Linux business, Ubuntu plans universal connectivity in Intrepid Ibex, Fedora reports on the progress of integrating KDE 4 into the distribution, and BLAG's Jeff Moe explains why he continues to remove all non-free "blobs" from the Linux kernel. Also not to be missed, a first-look review of openSUSE's Zypper, probably the most advanced and comprehensive package management utility on the market. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the recipient of the DistroWatch.com May 2008 donation is the FileZilla project. Happy reading!
Content:
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Feature Story |
openSUSE package management with Zypper
Although openSUSE (and SUSE Linux before) has had a comprehensive package management infrastructure for years, a brand new package management option was introduced in openSUSE 10.3. Called Zypper, this command-line utility has all the ingredients of other successful package managers, such as apt-get, urpmi or yum. Not only is it much faster than any graphical tool can ever be, it has the additional advantage of being available for use in scripts. I tested the utility on the current development versions of openSUSE 11.0 by using it exclusively for synchronising an installed openSUSE system with the distribution's "Factory" tree in regular intervals.
The installed system was the third beta release of openSUSE 11.0, the i386 edition, installed from the standard installation DVD. I expected to be able to use the distribution's normal upgrade mechanisms for synchronising the installed system with Factory, but surprisingly, this didn't work as expected. The reason was that, unlike Ubuntu or Fedora which automatically configure their update utilities to point to their respective development branches, openSUSE's beta releases aren't set up to follow the development in this manner. Instead, the openSUSE update sources all point to an (as yet unavailable) 11.0 final update directory.
That said, it isn't particularly difficult to modify the relevant configuration in openSUSE in order to make it point to the Factory tree. First, remove all the existing repositories (type zypper repos to see a full list) with zypper rr alias . When done, adding the Factory repositories can be accomplished with the following commands:
• zypper sa http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/SL-OSS-factory/inst-source/ oss
• zypper sa http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/SL-Factory-non-oss/inst-source-extra/ non-oss
Now if you run zypper repos again, you should get an output similar to the one pictured below:

Zypper lists all package repositories in a nice tabular format.
Once setting up the Factory repositories is completed, updating the entire distribution to the latest development build is done with the following commands:
• zypper refresh
• zypper dist-upgrade
As is often the case with command-line package management tools, they come with a large number of options and arguments that can make the update process go so much smoother. As an example, if your installation includes non-free software, you will need to agree to their software licenses before installing (or upgrading) any such packages. This can be avoided with the zypper update --auto-agree-with-licenses command. Similarly, you can avoid having to confirm certain tasks with zypper --non-interactive update . Some of the other available options include searching for packages or exporting a complete package list into a text file in order to re-import it on another computer. Many of the commands come with extra options, which can be found in the program's comprehensive online documentation.
During my usage of Zypper over the past couple of weeks, I've learnt to appreciate the convenience it provides to the end user. There is not doubt in my mind that Zypper is the most powerful package management utility available today, with many useful options and arguments that do not exist elsewhere. While its apparent complexity could be seen as discouraging at times, once you take the time to learn the tool and to understand its intricacies you will undoubtedly appreciate the effort openSUSE developers have put into creating Zypper. It's an excellent tool for all those who wish to follow the development of openSUSE 11.0 without having to re-install the system after each alpha or beta release.
For more information:
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Miscellaneous News |
FreeBSD moves to Subversion, Novell reports growing Linux business, Ubuntu plans universal connectivity, Fedora outlines KDE plans, BLAG and Granular interviews
 There can't be many FreeBSD users who are not familiar with the project's omnipresent CVS infrastructure, including its famous "cvsup" and "csup" commands. Times are changing, however. Last week, after some 12 years of usage and nearly 180,000 commits, the FreeBSD project officially switched to Subversion: "The day has finally come - FreeBSD is using Subversion instead of CVS for the base source tree! Congratulations to everyone involved, especially Peter Wemm. This move was discussed extensively during the DevSummit at BSDCan 2008; there have been many issues with CVS over the years, most of which are minor enough to be overlooked, but some of which are just nasty (the inability of CVS to move/rename files, bad handling of branching in the event of constant new development and additions to the directory tree, non-atomic commits) and have frequently required manual interventions in the CVS repository." Of course, the big bang switch to Subversion doesn't mean that "cvsup" and "csup" will stop working instantly, but those users who are just starting with FreeBSD or those who wish to move ahead with times should start learning about "svnsync" and other, more modern tools.
* * * * *
Reporting the financial results for its second fiscal quarter of 2008, Novell announced that its Linux business was up by 31% when compared to the same period of the previous year: "Novell saw its Linux business top US$29 million in its second fiscal quarter of 2008 (US$30 million in total Open Platform Solutions revenue), up 31 percent over the same period a year ago, with other business units also seeing healthy growth. Only its Workgroup business unit continues to founder, down 1 percent in the period that ended April 30." In the meantime, the continued rivalry between Novell and its main Linux competitor, Red Hat, continued to generate some interesting exchanges. Replying to a question about Red Hat's exit from the desktop market, Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian remarked last week: "I wouldn't attribute any of it to them exiting the market because technically, they would have had to put a product out there to enter the market, which they never got done." Both vendors continue to focus on the established enterprise business, rather than attempting to develop offerings for a mass-market, commercially-supported Linux desktop for consumers, concludes InternetNews in its report.
* * * * *
Barely a few weeks have passed since the release of Ubuntu 8.04, but ITWire has already launched a discussion about the likely features in Intrepid Ibex, Ubuntu's next release, due in October 2008: "Ubuntu, arguably the most popular Linux distribution today, came out with its 8.04 release last month, dubbed Hardy Heron. That's passé now; here's the low down on what the future holds this October with Ubuntu 8.10, Intrepid Ibex." So what is likely to receive plenty of attention? Universal connectivity: "The intention of pervasive Internet access on trains and the like also suggests support must be included for increasingly-popular 3G modems. I struggled to make my Telstra NextG modem work with my ASUS Eee PC; it required a lot of 'modprobes' and recompiling of kernel sources. Imagine how tremendous it would be to replace the custom ASUS edition of Xandros with Intrepid Ibex and have a tiny super-light ultra-portable laptop that works anywhere."
* * * * *
The KDE desktop implementation in Fedora has been a hit and miss in all of its recent releases, but never more obvious than in Fedora 9 where the only option is the feature-incomplete KDE 4.0.3. Luckily, the Fedora developers are aware of the problems and keep working on acceptable solutions. Rahul Sundaram: "The many interface changes bring their own set of problems. Icons and files on the desktop only have rudimentary support by design, yet there is no better replacement ready. You cannot drag and drop or copy paste files, nor can you use the context menu to open a file with a alternative program. When you delete icons from the desktop, they are not actually deleted but merely hidden for the current session and reappear on your next login. Panel widgets cannot be relocated within the panel easily. There is no way to remove the plasmoid handler from the desktop. With the Oxygen theme, the difference between an active window and the passive windows are too subtle."
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Finally, two interviews with the project leaders of two distributions which don't often find themselves featuring in the headlines, but which certainly have their dedicated followers. The first one is a talk with Jeff Moe, the founder of the Fedora-based BLAG Linux And GNU: "Jeff Moe is a 37-year old self-employed father. Better known as 'jebba', he is the main developer behind the 100% free distribution BLAG (for BLAG Linux And GNU). He is also leading a couple of other Free software projects." One of the special features of BLAG Linux And GNU is its kernel, specially modified to remove any non-free "blobs": "Q: gNewSense has just released a new version based on Ubuntu Hardy Heron. They chose to replace Ubuntu's kernel with 'linux-libre'. Has any other distribution (Ututo maybe?) shown interest in using your kernel? A: Alexandre Oliva (Red Hat compiler engineer) has shown interest in getting it into Fedora. I'm not sure what's up with Ututo, but dyne:bolic will almost certainly use it in their next main release. I talk to 'jaromil' from dyne:bolic and Brian Brazil from gNewSense frequently."
* * * * *
The second interview is with Anurag Bhandari, the founder and project leader of the PCLinuxOS-based Granular Linux: "Q: What exactly is Granular Linux? What does the name Granular signify?A: Granular is an easy-to-use Linux distribution aimed at desktop users and newbies in the world of Linux. It can also be a good choice for regular Linux users. The name 'Granular' signifies one of the reasons behind the creation of this distro, that is, 'customizability'. Granular was intended to be able to get easily customized by the end user. An overall customization can only be achieved by customizing the individual components (granules). And for that, KDE is an excellent option, combined with the various options provided with Granular. Hence the word Granular." And a little personal info about the founder of Granular Linux: "I am a computer engineering student heading towards my fourth and last year at the National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, India. I am pursuing my B.Tech degree there. I am a resident of Jalandhar, Punjab."

Granular Linux 1.0 preview offers a sneak peek at the upcoming version 1.0, due for release next month. (full image size: 308kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
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Released Last Week |
Bluewhite64 Linux 12.1 "Live DVD"
Attila Craciun has announced the availability of the "LiveDVD" edition of Bluewhite64 Linux 12.1, an unofficial port of Slackware Linux to the x86_64 architecture: "I am delighted to announce the availability of Bluewhite64 Linux 12.1 'LiveDVD' and Bluewhite64 Linux 12.1 'LiveUSB'. The new Bluewhite64 Linux 12.1 LiveDVD includes the stable SMP Linux kernel 2.6.24.7 with advanced features and performance. The LiveDVD is designed to bring a modern Linux desktop to the AMD64/EM64T architectures; it includes a modularized X.Org 1.4.0.90 (7.3) with Compiz, the award-winning KDE 3.5.9 in 65 languages, OpenOffice.org 2.3, Firefox 2.0.0.14 (Flash-ready) and Konqueror (Flash and Java-ready) web browsers, Thunderbird 2.0.0.12 and KMail 1.9.9 mail clients, Swaret 1.6.3 and Qtswaret 0.1.5 package managers, IA32 emulation to run 32-bit programs, and many more server and desktop programs and tools." Here is the full release announcement.
SystemRescueCd 1.0.3
SystemRescueCd 1.0.3, a Gentoo-based live CD designed for disk partitioning and data rescue tasks, has been released. From the changelog: "Updated the default kernel to Linux 2.6.25.4 with Reiser4; updated the alternative kernel to Linux 2.6.24.7 with Reiser4; switched from Unionfs to Aufs (another union file system); boot from network via PXE or with docache now works with as little as 256 MB of RAM; updated the btrfs file system support to 0.14 (kernel patch and utilities); updated the graphical environment to xorg-server version 1.4; updated NTFS-3G to 1.2506 (NTFS full read and write support); updated GParted to 0.3.7; improved fonts in the graphical environment (X.Org and Xvesa); added support for 256-byte inode in ext3 file system in GRUB 0.97; added a PDF viewer (ePDFView); fixed shell problem with the serial console."
Epidemic GNU/Linux 2.1
Epidemic GNU/Linux is an easy-to-use, Debian-based desktop distribution created in Brazil. An updated version 2.1 was announced yesterday. With this release, the project's developers focused primarily on bug fixes, stability and speed improvements, and general polish. Some the improvements include: Easy Channel, a graphical utility for installing proprietary applications and non-free media codecs; Enetwork, a network configuration tool; a new version of the Epidemic installer; integration of Compiz Fusion with several 3D plugins; an i686-optimised Linux kernel 2.6.24 with a number of patches for wireless network cards and other hardware devices; improved support for webcams; Aufs file system on live CD; read-write support for NTFS partitions; various artwork and theme updates. Please visit the distribution's home page (in Portuguese) to read the release announcement and to take a look at some screenshots.

Epidemic GNU/Linux - a Brazilian desktop distribution based on Debian's testing branch (full image size: 1,816kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Foresight Linux 2.0.2
Ken VanDine has announced the release of Foresight Linux 2.0.2, an rPath-based desktop distribution featuring the latest GNOME technologies: "Announcing the release of Foresight Linux 2.0.2 GNOME edition. Some highlights: GNOME 2.22.2; GNOME Display Manager 2.22; 2.6.25.4 kernel; NetworkManager, more stable than ever; Mono 2.0 beta (now uses less memory); Banshee 1.0 beta. Foresight GNOME edition is a Linux distribution for your desktop that features a rolling release schedule that always keeps your desktop up to date; a revolutionary package manager, Conary; the latest GNOME desktop environment and an innovative set of excellent, up-to-date packages." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details.
DeLi Linux 0.8.0
Henry Jensen has announced the release of DeLi Linux 0.8.0, a light-weight desktop distribution designed for computers with as little as 32 MB of RAM: "DeLi Linux 0.8.0 is the next big step and the first release of the 0.8.x branch. The main focus of the 0.8.x series will be internationalisation. The biggest changes are: switched to UTF-8 as the default encoding; dropped GTK+ 1.x, switched to GTK+ 2.x (2.10); switched to the 'pacman' package manager (from Arch Linux); Netsurf or Skipstone as web browsers; AbiWord 2.4.6 with ODT plugin and Gnumeric 1.6.3; Linux kernel 2.4.36.4, now with LSI Logic support (important for VMware guests). Unfortunately, the hardware requirements had to be raised: for running the GUI at least 32 MB of RAM are recommended; a MMX capable processor is recommended for multimedia applications; a full installation with all applications requires about 750 MB space on hard disk." Here is the full release announcement.
Myah OS 3.0
Jeremiah Cheatham has announced the release of Myah OS 3.0, a complete desktop Linux distribution with Xfce and a variety of administration tools: "The long-awaited Myah OS 3.0 is here. 3.0 has been in development since 2006 right after the release of version 2.3. This release is a complete Linux solution for personal computers. It is created to do just about anything right out of the box without any hassle. There is full support for watching and editing videos. If you like music you can tune into online stations or even record your own. You can also write you own web pages or even use the IDE to start developing software. Myah OS also comes with a complete set of system tools to help with administration. Adding packages is a simple and easy task. Myah will also let you know when there are updates available." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information.

Myah OS 3.0 - a complete desktop Linux distribution with excellent package management infrastructure. (full image size: 373kB, screen resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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DistroWatch.com News |
May 2008 donation: FileZilla receives US$400.00
We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the May 2008 DistroWatch.com donation is FileZilla, a cross-platform, open-source FTP client for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, released under the General Public Licence. It receives US$400.00 in cash.
Developed in Germany by Tim Kosse, the FileZilla client provides an impressive list of useful features, including the following: "Support for FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP); available in many languages; supports resume and transfer of large files (4 GB and above); powerful site manager and transfer queue; drag and drop support; configurable speed limits; file name filters; network configuration wizard; remote file editing; keep-alive; FTP proxy support." FileZilla is an excellent replacement for some of the traditional open-source FTP clients which are no longer in active development, such as gFTP. Linux.com published a good overview of FileZilla in August 2007.
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 FileZilla.
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), Damn Small Linux ($350), NimbleX ($450), MEPIS Linux ($300), Zenwalk Linux ($300)
- 2008: VLC ($350), Frugalware Linux ($340), cURL ($300), GSPCA (Linux webcam support) ($400), FileZilla ($400)
Since the launch of the Donations Programme in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$17,683 to various open source software projects.
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- BSDanywhere. BSDanywhere is a bootable live CD image based on OpenBSD. It consists of the entire OpenBSD base system (without compiler) plus graphical desktop (Enlightenment), an unrepresentative collection of software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices as well as other peripherals. BSDanywhere can be used as a productive UNIX system for the desktop, educational CD, rescue system or hardware testing platform.
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DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 9 June 2008.
Ladislav Bodnar
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Archives |
• Issue 974 (2022-06-27): AlmaLinux 9.0, the changing data of DistroWatch's database, UBports on the Pixel 3a, Tails and GhostBSD publish hot fixes |
• Issue 973 (2022-06-20): openSUSE 15.4, collecting distro media, FreeBSD status report, Ubuntu Core with optional real-time kernel |
• Issue 972 (2022-06-13): Rolling Rhino Remix, SambaBox 4.1, SUSE team considers future of SUSE and openSUSE Leap, Tails improves Tor Connection Assistant |
• Issue 971 (2022-06-06): ChimeraOS 2022.01.03, Lilidog 22.04, NixOS gains graphical installer, Mint replaces Bluetooth stack and adopts Timeshift, how to change a MAC address |
• Issue 970 (2022-05-30): Tails 5.0, taking apart a Linux distro, Ubuntu users seeing processes terminated, Budgie team plans future of their desktop |
• Issue 969 (2022-05-23): Fedora 36, a return to Unity, Canonical seeks to improve gaming on Ubuntu, HP plans to ship laptops with Pop!_OS |
• Issue 968 (2022-05-16): Quark 21.10.2, finding a phone for running Linux, Haiku imports new wireless drivers, NVIDIA open sources kernel modules |
• Issue 967 (2022-05-09): Running Linux distros on Android with UserLAnd, setting up fiels in new home directories, Fedora keeps BIOS support |
• Issue 966 (2022-05-02): Ubuntu 22.04, running applications from a data partition, EndeavourOS publishes hot fix, Unity desktop revived |
• Issue 965 (2022-04-25): Peppermint 2022-02-02, Mint tests new upgrade tool, the state of firmware on Debian, splitting and merging files |
• Issue 964 (2022-04-18): postmarketOS 21.12, running macOS software on Linux, EndeavourOS tests new window manager, running a Raspberry Pi without non-free firmware |
• Issue 963 (2022-04-11): dahlioOS 220222, defining storage terms and finding parent distros, Gentoo revitalizes live media, Fedora to phase out BIOS support, Mint's new upgrade tool |
• Issue 962 (2022-04-04): MassOS 2022.03, Neptune 7.0, Debian begins Project Leader election, new sandbox tools for FreeBSD, tracking Linux installs, home directory permissions |
• Issue 961 (2022-03-28): Zenwalk GNU Linux 15.0, working with doas and Nextcloud, measuring gaming performance on Fedora, GNOME publishes new desktop release |
• Issue 960 (2022-03-21): Pardus 21.1, tracking filesystem changes, changing FreeBSD's root filesystem live, Univention offers new client management tool |
• Issue 959 (2022-03-14): Hos OS 3.1, getting updates without a network connection, OpenBSD running on M1 chips, Haiku gains wireless USB support, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
• Issue 958 (2022-03-07): XeroLinux, rolling back package updates, Mint prepares for desktop changes, making minimal application images on Alpine |
• Issue 957 (2022-02-28): Pop!_OS 21.10, transferring bookmarks to new formats, Zorin offers new documentation, installing Debian on an Apple M1 computer |
• Issue 956 (2022-02-21): Running guest distros in Distrobox, how the BSDs work, managing software on Fedora Silverblue, new features in UBports |
• Issue 955 (2022-02-14): Slackware Linux 15.0, imaging a drive and compressing it, a tool for gathering system information, installing an OS on the Raspberry Pi over the network |
• Issue 954 (2022-02-07): PlagueOS and Ultramarine Linux, running UBports as a home server on the PinePhone, System76 launches tool to improve desktop performance |
• Issue 953 (2022-01-31): CalinixOS and HefftorLinux, Ubuntu MATE running on GPD Pocket 3, Polkit vulnerability, UBports gets web browser video chat |
• Issue 952 (2022-01-24): UBports on PinePhone, basic and practical security tips, openSUSE offers multi-distro support, Mint updates hardware support |
• Issue 951 (2022-01-17): instantOS Beta, where to learn about Linux command line, Mint streamlines Firefox packaging, Fedora to get new Anaconda installer |
• Issue 950 (2022-01-10): The Common Desktop Environment, preventing logins at specific times, Haiku runs WINE port, Dolphin gains privileged file actions |
• Issue 949 (2022-01-03): Top Picks of 2021, answering questions about PinePhone, UBports introduces new fixes and features, CentOS Linux 8 reaches its end of life |
• Issue 948 (2021-12-20): PinePhone running Manjaro and Plasma Mobile, protecting family computers from children, using Wayland for gaming, getting Linux on Apple's M1 |
• Issue 947 (2021-12-13): JuNest, the year of the Linux desktop, Fedora to adopt Wayland for all video cards, Zorin OS provides Lite edition |
• Issue 946 (2021-12-06): OpenSnitch application firewall, review of a textbook of Coreutils examples, UBports gets new apps, T2 SDE starts bug bounty program |
• Issue 945 (2021-11-29): LockBox 1.0, dealing with low memory issues, Debian makes APT safer, MX Linux offers advanced hardware support |
• Issue 944 (2021-11-22): Fedora 35, running custom login scripts, FreeBSD publishes status report, AlmaLinux team answers questions |
• Issue 943 (2021-11-15): Waydroid, comparing LXDE, LXQt, and Xfce, Pop!_OS to get its own desktop environment, porting games to OpenBSD |
• Issue 942 (2021-11-08): MX Linux 21, comparing kernel efficiency, Linux Mint polishes desktop applications, Rocky Linux team answers community questions |
• Issue 941 (2021-11-01): Brave web browser, finding words and truncating audio files, TruneNAS SCALE launched, DragonFly BSD can create FAT volumes |
• Issue 940 (2021-10-25): Ubuntu 21.10, sandboxing Steam, setting up a firewall, AlmaLinux OS launches ELevate |
• Issue 939 (2021-10-18): Auxtral 3, virtual terminal speeds, Ubuntu speeds up Snap, Qubes experiments with Debian's reproducible builds |
• Issue 938 (2021-10-11): Pyabr OS, benefits to compiling your own kernel, an alternative to Snap, Redcore provides fix for Portage issues |
• Issue 937 (2021-10-04): Getting started with Ansible, Wayland and clearing history, exploring the status of Btrfs, projects dealing with certificate issues |
• Issue 936 (2021-09-27): Martine OS 2.0 and Airyx 0.2.2, creating document with a virtual PDF printer, UBport working on Miracast, FreeBSD switches default shell |
• Issue 935 (2021-09-20): Obarun 2021.07.26, keeping an application window above others, Solus to replace GNOME components, Ubuntu to ship Firefox as a Snap |
• Issue 934 (2021-09-13): Archcraft 2021.06.06, working with Btrfs snapshots, KDE neon running on a SlimBook, openSUSE addresses unzip issue |
• Issue 933 (2021-09-06): elementary OS 6.0, using detox to clean up filenames, GhostBSD swaps out OpenRC for RC.d, Mint polishes its look |
• Issue 932 (2021-08-30): Zorin OS 16, continuing Linux development, accessing a shell without a virtual terminal, Linux turns 30 |
• Issue 931 (2021-08-23): Debian 11, keeping up with news, Haiku turns 20, Asahi Linux being ported to Apple's M1 |
• Issue 930 (2021-08-16): EasyNAS 1.0.0 and Solus 4.3, comparing CentOS alternatives, Debian releases new Hurd version, Zorin OS to offer Pro edition |
• Issue 929 (2021-08-09): SME Server 10.0, defragmenting Btrfs, Mint developing new website, OpenBSD running systemd fork |
• Issue 928 (2021-08-02): Pacstall - AUR for Ubuntu, Debian on M1, 20 years of Haiku, finding performance bottleneck |
• Issue 927 (2021-07-26): OviOS 3.11, making sense of memory statistics, Gentoo's download options, FreeBSD's new installer |
• Issue 926 (2021-07-19): rlxos 2106, running a distro with automatic updates, Haiku boots on RISC-V, Valve previews Arch-based distro for Steam Deck |
• Issue 925 (2021-07-12): siduction 21.1.1, navigating multiple shells, UBports working toward 20.04 base, Nitrux shows off new installer look |
• Issue 924 (2021-07-05): Bedrock Linux 0.7.20, porting OpenBSD features to Linux, AlmaLinux supports ARM, Ubuntu runs on RISC-V |
• Issue 923 (2021-06-28): Ubuntu MATE 21.04, why there are so many command line shells, Canonical to support Bledner, NixOS creates reproducible builds |
• Full list of all issues |
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Slo-Tech Linux
Slo-Tech Linux was a Slovenian desktop Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux and Morphix.
Status: Discontinued
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