 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 264, 04 Aug 2008 |
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Welcome to this year's 31st issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Things slowed back down this week, but there has been some interesting news. The Debconf8 schedule has been posted, CNET published an interview with Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst, and Foxconn has posted an update to the BIOS that made so much news week before last. I test drove the latest release from Parsix GNU/Linux. In Reviewed Last Week FOSSwire examined Pardus 2008 and several sites tested Linux ultraportables. All this and more in this week's DistroWatch Weekly - happy reading!
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in ogg (7.0MB) and mp3 (7.1MB) formats (many thanks to Russ Wenner)
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Feature Story |
First Look - Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5r1
Parsix GNU/Linux is a distribution based on Debian and reminds me a lot of Ubuntu. It features a pretty GNOME interface with lots of handy applications and uses APT with Synaptic as the package manager. Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5r1 was released on July 30 and I thought I'd give it a little test run.
Parsix comes as an installable live CD. At the boot screen several choices are available such as Start or Install Parsix, Start or Install Parsix in Widescreen, or Start or Install Parsix in safe graphics mode. It hails from Persia but English is the default language and it uses a US keyboard layout. It boots up with most hardware preconfigured. My Internet was available, a start-up sound greeted me, and CPU Scaling was enabled. Partitions and removable media are auto-mounted.
The installer is from Kanotix and is rather user-friendly, to a point. The interface is a bit unconventional, but easily deciphered. It begins as a list of tasks such as Configure Installation, Start Installation, Update Installation, and Partition. Choose Partition if you need to partition your drive, otherwise choose Configure Installation. It's a short sweet configuration wizard asking only for a user name and password, root password, hostname, and where to put GRUB. It finishes in short order with no problems.
At the new boot screen there were two Parsix choices with the only distinguishing characteristic between them being the word: (Default). Parsix usually detects most if not all other operating systems and adds them to the GRUB menu. I had no trouble booting and I didn't see any output to raise alarms.
The Desktop and Software
The desktop is an attractive GNOME 2.22.3 with a nice theme consisting of a green landscape, dark window colors and panels, and a green window decoration. The wallpaper is a depiction of a landscape, but it really reminded me of army fatigues. Version 1.5r1 retained the Parsix orangy icons and logo. Not to say it wasn't a nice look, because it was. In fact, I think it's an improvement over their last release. It's much easier on the eyes.
In the menu are lots of handy applications. In Accessories you'll find Bluetooth File Sharing, a calculator, dictionary, CHM Viewer, Multisync, and xFarDic (a Persian dictionary and translator). System Tools is full of utilities for managing and monitoring hardware aspects of the system. Parsix comes with some original tools to configure your printer and network if needed, found in the Parsix subdirectory of the menu. There are lots of great GNOME games too.
Parsix's Configurations
(full image size: 173kB, screen resolution: 1280x800 pixels)
Under Graphics is Cheese, Evince, GIMP, gThumb, Inkscape, and XSane. The OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 suite is available under Office, as well as Grisbi Accounting and a fax manager. Sound & Video contains Sound Juicer, Brasero Disc Burning, GNOME CD Player, Exaile Music Player, Gnash SWF Viewer, VLC media player, and XawTV. I was able to enjoy common audio and video formats locally as well as YouTube and Google videos over the Web.
Balsa Email Client, Firestarter firewall, Gwget download manager, Liferea news reader, Pidgin instant messenger, Transmission Bittorrent client, XChat, and Iceweasel 3.0.1 are the bulk of the Internet menu. Compiz Fusion is available too for those with supported hardware. Some other extras include APTonCD and Update Manager. Under the hood is Linux 2.6.24, Xorg 7.3, and GCC 4.1.3.
Hardware Support
As stated, most hardware is supported and auto-configured at boot. As with the live CD, sound, basic graphics, touchpad, USB mouse, CPU Scaling, battery monitoring, and the wired Ethernet were up and running.
However, Hibernation and Suspend didn't work for my NVIDIA-based system out of the box. Those features would require the proprietary drivers from NVIDIA. Fortunately, Parsix makes them available through Synaptic.
My wireless chip isn't supported by the Linux kernel or most distributions. With Parsix I could use the Windows Wireless Drivers tool found in the Preferences menu. Afterwards, I could use Parsix Network Configuration to set up my WiFi Protected Access passphrase and connect.
Conclusion
Parsix is a nice solid little distro, but I'm finding it difficult to list one hard compelling reason why someone should switch to it. If you prefer the Persian language and keyboard, then Parsix is definitely for you. If you'd like a nice Debian derivative with a pretty GNOME desktop that works good, comes in one CD, and uses APT/Synaptic, then perhaps give Parsix a try.
For someone with Linux experience the installer is user-friendly, but for someone coming straight from Windows it may not be. However, the system is as easy to use as any other. It has handy features and applications, and the Parsix software repositories have lots more.
Parsix's Synaptic Package Manager
(full image size: 144kB, screen resolution: 1280x800 pixels)
It's just a good little distro. I think if you were looking for an alternative to Ubuntu, then Parsix is a good choice. In fact, that's the feeling I get every time I test Parsix - it's Ubuntu for folks who don't want to use Ubuntu.
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| Miscellaneous News |
Fedora 10 Codename, Interview with Red Hat's Jim Whitehurst, and Debconf8 Schedule
 Recently Fedora held a vote in order to choose a codename for the upcoming Fedora 10 release. Names such as Terror, Whiskey Run, and Saltpetre were on the ballot, but Cambridge was the favorite by a slight margin. Full details can be found in this post from Nigel Jones, election coordinator.
In other Fedora news, the Unofficial Fedora FAQ has been updated for Fedora 9. In this update content has been revised for accuracy as relating to features found in Fedora 9, as well as made a bit easier to use and understand. Some topics covered include implementing Wine and Java, how to edit menus, and how to install software. The full FAQ is located here.
* * * * *
 The schedule for this year's Debian developer conference, Debconf8, was posted this past weekend. One of the opening keynotes will be given by Steve McIntyre as he discusses Debian's fifteen birthday and the next 15 years. Mark Shuttleworth is scheduled to appear on the third day to discuss the state of collaboration between Ubuntu and Debian, how it has improved since the last Debconf, and prospects for the future. Margarita Manterola and Joerg Jaspert will be big hits as they lead the fifteen birthday party scheduled for August 13. Luciano Bello will discuss Debian's OpenSSL debacle on August 15. The full schedule is available here.
In related news, a call for Debconf10 locations was put out as well. Some things to consider are public service facilities such as supermarkets, electronic equipment shops, event halls and cost, as well as network connectivity, food costs, hotel accommodations, free time activities, and local Debian team participation. The full checklist is located here. This year's Debconf will be held in Argentina and Debconf9 is planned for Extremadura, Spain.
* * * * *
 Despite little background in software, free or otherwise, Jim Whitehurst has lead Red Hat to 6.6% profit increase for 1Q09 and stock is currently trading for around 21.50 USD per share. CNET's Stephen Shankland spoke with Whitehurst about Red Hat's position as a company both in the Open Source community and as a profit minded business and some of the their strategies for future growth. The article received quite a bit of buzz last week titled, Red Hat's new CEO aims Linux at the cloud along with the one summary quote, "The clouds will all run Linux." One quote that can sum up their business model was, "We see very little fee-to-free. We see quite a bit of free-to-fee, when customers get bigger, wake up, and say, "We probably need that support and certifications."" Whitehurst also spoke of their competition with Microsoft as well as Canonical and Novell. The interview ended with Whitehurst's thoughts on Open Source advocacy. You can read the full article here.
In other Red Hat news, Bill Nottingham posted a two-part article on what's next in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The first part outlines plans for display handling, changes in security updates, and exciting developments in power management. Part two goes into network handling, encrypted devices, Pulseaudio, virtual file systems, and virtualization. If you're a Fedora user, you've seen most of these enhancements before but it's still an interesting read.
* * * * *
 Mandriva sent out a call for partnerships last week. "Mandriva is looking for companies which can officially represent Mandriva's products & services mix in their countries." We've recently seen Mandriva offered on the Gdium netbooks as well as low-cost desktops from Precedent Technologies. They have had their ups and downs over the years, but always managed to stay in the game. It's nice to see them doing so well. More on the partnership program can be found here.
* * * * *
 This week we have somewhat of a resolution to the brouhaha in which a vocal Ubuntu user accused Foxconn of deliberately sabotaging the BIOS of their motherboards for Linux operating systems. It was discovered to have been an unintentional bug by AMI and present in several boards from other manufactures as well. Heart Zhang from Foxconn China posted the test results of a new BIOS update to the Ubuntu Forums this past Saturday in which he states, "Almost [all] bugs are fixed by this BIOS." See that thread for more information and links to the update.
* * * * *
 The biggest newsbyte last week wasn't exactly about Linux but one of those things that make Linux much more enjoyable - the graphical interface. KDE announced the newest update, version 4.1, of their sometimes controversial new desktop. The feeling permeating throughout the web about this release seemed to characterize 4.1 as the "release 4.0 should have been" and "KDE is back." Some of the more prominent reports include KDE 4.1 rocks the desktop from Linux.com, The Rocky Road of the New KDE at Earthweb.com, and EFYtimes declares it Better Than Any Mac Or Vista. Many bloggers also expressed their thoughts as well, such as this succinctly titled post, KDE 4.1 - Wow! Of course, some reports weren't as positive. As one might expect, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, self-professed Cyber Cynic and KDE 4 critic, found KDE 4.1 still wasn't for him.
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| Released Last Week |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.7
Red Hat announced the official release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4.7: "Red Hat is pleased to announce the availability of 4.7 (kernel-2.6.9-78.EL) for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 family of products. This release includes the following improvements: Virtualization Enhancements, Encryption and Security Enhancements, Tuning and Debugging: systemtap, Tools Enhancement, Networking and IPv6 Enablement, Storage Improvements, Platform Enhancements, Kernel Improvements, Laptop and Desktop Enhancements. The following Technology Preview features are new or enhanced in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.7: frysk; gcc4." Read the complete release announcement and release notes for details.
Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5r1
Alan Baghumian today announced the release of Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5r1, a Debian-based desktop distribution and live CD with Persian support: "An updated version of Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5 code name `Viola` is available now. Viola r1 is synchronized with Parsix and Debian testing repositories as of July 24, 2008. This version contains several bug fixes, updated kernel drivers, updated documentation and updated X.Org. Highlights: GNOME 2.22.3, GNU Iceweasel 3.0.1, Pidgin 2.4.3 and OpenOffice.org 2.4.1. Viola officially supports Compiz-Fusion, VirtualBox-OSE and GNU Flash Player. For more information see release notes and Viola screenshots." Read the release announcement and release notes for more information.
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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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| Reviewed Last Week |
It was a bit slow in the reviews department last week too, but Red Devil was at it again, this time looking at Absolute Linux 12.1.05. Avid gamers, Headshotgamer.com, took Mandriva's new 2009 Beta 1 for a test drive, and FOSSwire tested Pardus 2008.
* Absolute Linux is a Slackware derivative aimed at making installing and using Slackware a bit easier. I've tested it myself and found it to be a nice alternative to Slackware. Red Devil said, I found Absolute to be very quick on my old machine and I have so far not encountered a single freeze-up, bug or instability - which is pretty much what you would expect from a distribution based on Slackware. I have some issues with the usability of IceWM, plus some serious concerns about Absolute's root policy. Those things aside, this is a very interesting distribution with a commendable remit - to make Slackware easier for new users - and Paul Sherman has done an extremely good job.
* * * * *
* Headshotgamers.com tests developmental releases quite often because they say gamers need the latest in kernel and software updates. This past week they tested the newest Mandriva, 2009 Beta 1. They concluded: As for a cutting edge distro ready for gaming, it does have a huge selection of games on tap, most of which are the latest versions though it just lacks the overall polish of Ubuntu. When the dust settles, I'd still pick Ubuntu 8.10 over Mandriva 2009 - it's a close call though.
* * * * *
* FOSSwire tested the latest Pardus last week saying that it invokes one main thought - Polish. They concluded: Pardus 2008, to a green user, is your average desktop environment. Many of the gems of the system lie under the hood in utilities like TASMA and PiSi. It's an easy system to get started with, but has some odd quirks such as PolicyKit problems and the somewhat hidden root account. In the end, it's clear that a lot of effort went into making Pardus a usable desktop for anyone.
* * * * *
In addition to the distribution reviews, several sites published reviews of Linux ultraportables.
* Digital Life gave a nice detailed review of Acer's Aspire One. Chin Wong said "It's difficult to write about the Aspire One from Acer without gushing. Out of the box, this mini-notebook is the perfect traveling companion for anyone who simply needs to surf the Web, send e-mail and perform typical office tasks such as typing up documents, working on spreadsheets or giving a presentation. The Aspire One comes with a good selection of free software, starting with the operating system, Linpus Lite, a version of Linux based on Fedora. Remarkably, the Aspire One boots up and is ready to use in less than 30 seconds."
* Laptop Mag said the ASUS "Eee PC 1000, like the 1000H, is a compelling mini-notebook with a good-size screen and a spacious keyboard. We appreciated its zippy performance and nearly 5 hours of battery life, and the Linux interface remains refreshingly simple."
* Australian PC World tested the Acer Aspire One ZG5 and concluded, "This Linux version of the Aspire One is easy to use and has a solid-state drive, but the Windows XP version has better memory and storage capacity for only $100 more. Furthermore, Acer will also release versions with built-in 3G modules. It's really a case of waiting for the new versions to arrive, unless the portability and ease of use of this unit catches your fancy."
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| DistroWatch.com News |
This is our last week together here at Distrowatch Weekly as Ladislav should be back with you next week. I'm sure you join with me in welcoming him back and hoping he feels rested and refreshed. I want to thank Maurice and Steven for their contributions, Dr. W T Zhu for his invaluable assistance, and you for your continued support.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next installment will be published on Monday, 11 August 2008.
Thanks,
Susan Linton
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • 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 |
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OzOs
OzOs was a Xubuntu-based Linux distribution that uses a heavily-customised Enlightenment 17 desktop, built from the latest development (SVN) sources. The distribution offers a minimal number of pre-installed applications, but additional ones can be added later - either via standard Debian utilities or by using the project's online package repository. It also includes optional extras - small applications, themes and eye candy for the desktop.
Status: Discontinued
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