 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 277, 3 November 2008 |
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Welcome to this year's 44th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! It was the Ubuntu week, with much of the Linux-related coverage on many web sites dominated by the brand new "Intrepid Ibex", the project's latest. A plethora of reviews followed almost instantly, but some subtle hardware issues and lack of real breakthrough features have left some of the users and reviewers unimpressed. In other news, Fedora has unveiled Plymouth, a new flicker-free boot process, Sabayon has hinted at a large number of never-seen-before features for the upcoming 4.0 release, Yellow Dog Linux has launched a beta testing period for its forthcoming version 6.1, and NetBSD is about to branch version 5.0 with some unexpected improvements. Also in this week's issue - Ubuntu has published a draft release schedule for "Jaunty Jackalope" or Ubuntu 9.04. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the recipient of the October 2008 DistroWatch.com donation is GoblinX, a slick Slackware-based live CD made in Brazil. Happy reading!
Content:
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| Editorial |
An overview to Ubuntu editions
The big Ubuntu release week has come and gone. While many download servers suffered from heavy access rate, the release event proved fairly orderly with no nasty surprises. This was the first time DistroWatch made five Ubuntu release announcements in one day, providing all the relevant links to the latest versions of Ubuntu, as well as Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and Mythbuntu. Although the latter four are effectively nothing more than specialist editions of Ubuntu, they had all started up as independent community projects and only became official Ubuntu subprojects at a later stage. Besides, some of these editions are highly interesting products which some users might even find preferable over the main Ubuntu edition. Let's take a brief look at what exactly Ubuntu delivered last week.
Not much needs to be said about the project's flagship product. There is little doubt that Ubuntu has become the world's most popular desktop Linux distribution and the latest release is likely to confirm this status. There aren't many revolutionary features this time around, but the release should suit anybody who is looking for an up-to-date, but reasonably stable Linux distribution with a highly mature and familiar GNOME desktop environment. A server edition is available too, although most users would probably prefer to stay with the 8.04 LTS version which comes with a free 5-year security support (in contrast, 8.10 will only be supported for 18 months). The reviews so far have been mixed - various hardware compatibility issues and lack of real killer features might be discouraging factors when considering an upgrade from version 8.04.
Ubuntu 8.10 comes with familiar and stable GNOME desktop environment.
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Kubuntu 8.10, on the other hand, is a completely different beast from version 8.04. Although the Kubuntu developers gave its users the first taste of KDE 4.x in a semi-official, "community-supported" edition of "Hardy Heron", this time around there is no ambiguity as to where the project's desktop preference lies - the Kubuntu development team considers KDE 4 a stable and usable desktop. While this might be true, there are clearly many users who are not yet prepared to abandon the familiarity and configurability of KDE 3.5 or who are not ready to go through the painful process of a paradigm shift, which is what a major switch like this would require. We haven't seen any reviews of Kubuntu 8.10 yet, so we don't know how well KDE 4 has been integrated into the product, but given the limited resources Ubuntu traditionally allocated to its KDE fans, it's unlikely to have matched the work done by openSUSE or Mandriva in this respect.
Kubuntu 8.10 with KDE 4.1.2 represents a major paradigm shift
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Next, Xubuntu 8.10. Now in its 6th release, this alternative for those who like neither GNOME nor KDE is an excellent option. Xubuntu is not a lightweight distribution, however, and it is definitely not in the same league as some of the slick distros designed to run comfortably on computer systems built in the late nineties, such as Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux or MEPIS AntiX. Nevertheless, it's a well-balanced distribution, integrating the Ubuntu core with some of the lighter applications, e.g. GNOME Office instead of OpenOffice.org, and providing an attractive, GNOME-like user interface that doesn't get in the way. A very good *buntu, as long as -- and that needs to be stressed again -- one doesn't expect the speed of light from it. After all, it's still powered by some heavy GTK+ code.
Xubuntu 8.10 offers an attractive desktop with less resource-hungry applications.
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Ubuntu Studio is a distribution that is bound to gain more popularity in the coming months. It is the only one of the five Ubuntu editions that doesn't come as a live CD, but rather as a traditional "alternative" installation DVD with a text-mode installer. This could possibly detract some users - after all, the distribution is targeted at creative artists, rather than computer techies. But once installed on the hard disk, Ubuntu Studio provides a well-equipped atelier with an excellent collection of open source software designed for musicians, graphics designers, video production specialists, and anyone who enjoys creative work. One big warning, however - the latest release does not come with a real-time kernel by default due to various issues that came up during testing. This means that those music producers who are already using Ubuntu Studio, might want to postpone their upgrade until these problems are addressed.
Ubuntu Studio 8.10 comes with an attractive dark theme.
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Finally, a Linux for your lounge. Yes, Mythbuntu is one of the growing number of projects that turn the excellent, but complex MythTV into a highly intuitive suite with a point-and-click user interface and a variety of configuration options. Mythbuntu can help with organising your digital entertainment, recording television, playing music and videos, creating DVD and photo collections, browsing the Internet, making phone calls, delivering news and whether reports, and playing games - all from the comfort of your lounge suite. A great way of showing off the capabilities and power of open source software at zero cost!
Mythbuntu 8.10 has a potential to enrich anybody's digital life at no software cost.
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Besides the official Ubuntu products, a number of Ubuntu-based distributions have also started working on new releases based on "Intrepid Ibex". The first among them was nUbuntu, a project integrating a variety of hacking, cracking, networking and forensics tools into the Ubuntu core (with Fluxbox as the desktop), which released an alpha version late last week. The project's developers don't seem to believe in publishing changelogs or release notes, so we don't know what's new since the last stable release, but from what we've seen, nUbuntu seems similar to Backtrack or Helix in terms of providing users with a double-edge sword of security tools. Worth a try if you are interested in cracking user passwords or identifying security threats.
nUbuntu 8.10 provides a great variety of hacking and cracking tools
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| Miscellaneous News |
Fedora unveils Plymouth, Sugar spin, Sabayon hints at major new features, Yellow Dog launches beta testing, NetBSD prepares to branch 5.0, CrossOver Linux
 Although the release of Intrepid Ibex largely overshadowed every other Linux-related event, it wasn't the only interesting development that happened during the week. One of the other topics worth mentioning was Plymouth, a new flicker-free boot process that is being integrated into the upcoming release of Fedora 10. Phoronix has published a 5-page overview (with several videos) of what could soon be a new standard in booting Linux-based systems: "The current version of Plymouth is 0.6.0 and development on this RHGB replacement began in May of 2007 by Red Hat's Ray Strode. However, it wasn't until earlier this year with Fedora 10 that development of Plymouth kicked into full swing. The code to Plymouth is hosted on the FreeDesktop.org git server. As a forewarning, Plymouth is not a solution that can just be built for your distribution of choice, but it must be fully integrated into the distribution. However, once kernel mode-setting is in the mainline Linux kernel, we will hopefully see more distributions use Plymouth or develop their own richer boot programs." Covering the same topic, Fedora Magazine has published an interview with Adam Jackson and Ray Strode, two Fedora developers responsible for the new graphical boot process.
Fedora 10 Preview (expected on Tuesday) comes with updated desktop artwork
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Still on the topic of Fedora, Sebastian Dziallas has announced the release of Fedora Sugar Spin, a distribution featuring the Sugar desktop from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project on a Fedora live CD: "I'm proud to be announce the availability of our Fedora Sugar Spin, which incorporates the Sugar Desktop Environment on a Fedora live CD. With this spin, you'll be able to run Sugar, which is developed by Sugarlabs and the desktop environment used on the OLPC, directly from a live CD! You'll find several activities on the image including most notably sugar-browse, a web browsing activity based on XULRunner, and sugar-write, a word processor based on AbiWord, among several other applications. We will be importing further activities into Fedora, which might be installed using 'yum install sugar-*' at a later time."
* * * * *
 What's happening with Sabayon Linux these days? Fabio Erculiani, the distribution's founder and lead developer, has published some interesting hints about the upcoming release of version 4.0, promising to deliver exciting, never-seen-before goodies by the end of this year: "I am coding as hell. What you will see within a month is something nobody else has. I am not joking, it's about Entropy and the web. The funny thing is that it will just be the tip of the iceberg related to what I want to build up. So, an appetizer in one month, then Sabayon 4, featuring a LOT (I mean, a LOT) of new thingies. Some of them are: KDE 4, GNOME 2.24, 2.6.27/28 kernel, i686 CHOST, new theme, Entropy 0.24. To sum up, it's something I've been working on since January 2007, more than 150,000 lines of code, AI. Expected date: before Christmas 2008, as usual. In the meantime, we're almost ready to release 3.5.1, which can be easily updated to the current 4.0 branch using Entropy." You've got to love the Italians (and the enthusiasm that permeates Fabio's every blog post)!
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 Yellow Dog Linux, the world's sole distribution that specialises in delivering Linux operating system to the PowerPC processor, including the popular Sony PlayStation 3, has announced the start of a new beta testing period for the forthcoming Yellow Dog Linux 6.1: "It's that time again! We are looking for beta testers to test the latest, greatest version of Yellow Dog Linux. There are lots of great new improvements that everyone will surely enjoy, so here's your chance to see and test the distribution. As with Yellow Dog Linux 6.0, 6.1 will support IBM Power architecture systems, Apple G4 and G5s, Sony PlayStation 3, and the Yellow Dog Linux Powerstation. Owners of any of the above hardware can email myself with a description of what they have and a brief sentence or two of what they use the system for."
* * * * *
 Still on the subject of upcoming releases, the NetBSD project has published a mailing list post entitled Plans for NetBSD 5.0: "Just a quick heads-up that, after an official 'freeze period', NetBSD-current is almost at the stage where we can branch the repository for 5.0. Much has changed since 4.0; some highlights are: during the development of NetBSD 5.0, the kernel version was bumped 73 times, the previous record was 29; there is a new kernel threading model which has better performance than the previous implementation; we have introduced the file system journalling (WAPBL) functionality, kindly donated by Wasabi Systems; much work has been done in the file system arena; the Xen port has updated to Xen 3.3, and has support for PAE domains and amd64 domains (both dom0 and domU); X.Org is now a part of our base system; providing multilib functionality (64-bit platforms such as amd64 and sparc64 can now compile and run 32-bit binaries seamlessly); many more device drivers are present in tree...." As always, testers are most welcome.
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Finally, a topic that will hopefully trigger an interesting discussion in this week's comments section. As widely publicised during the second part of last week, CodeWeavers released its US$40 CrossOver Linux Standard edition, an application that allows running popular Windows software in Linux, as a free download for a limited period. This caused substantial excitement in the Linux community, with several DistroWatch readers commenting on the news in last week's DistroWatch Weekly. Personally, I don't have a need for CrossOver Linux, so I never downloaded the software, but I was surprised by the level of noise this announcement caused on many Linux community sites. So the question for this week's discussion is this: Did you download the free CrossOver Linux last week? If so, what do you use it for? Are there any specific Windows applications that you wish to run on Linux? What are your experiences with the software so far? Please discuss below.
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| Released Last Week |
Ubuntu 8.10
The long-awaited stable release of Ubuntu 8.10, code name "Intrepid Ibex", is now out: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop and Server, continuing Ubuntu's tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. New Features since Ubuntu 8.04 LTS: GNOME 2.24; X.Org 7.4; Linux kernel 2.6.27; encrypted private directory; guest session; Network Manager 0.7; Samba 3.2; PAM authentication framework; Totem BBC plugin; server virtualization; Ubuntu as a Xen guest; JeOS is now an option in the server installer; notable inclusion in the main repository - Sun's Java OpenJDK 1.6, Apache's Tomcat 6, ClamAV, SpamAssassin; boot degraded RAID setting...." See the release announcement and release notes and features overview for further information.
Kubuntu 8.10
Kubuntu 8.10, an Ubuntu variant featuring the latest KDE desktop version 4.1.2, has been released: "Today sees the release of Kubuntu 8.10 featuring the KDE 4 desktop. The Kubuntu developers have been hard at work, bringing you the latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. KDE 4 reworks your system with a major new revision of the desktop. This Intrepid release lives up to its name by including many changes, but there are some features that are not yet available in KDE 4. If you would rather stay with what you know then remember that Kubuntu 8.04 is still fully supported, see KDE3-KDE4Migration and Is KDE 4.1 for you? for more information on deciding. You can try it first with the Kubuntu Intrepid Live CD to see for yourself whether or not it really is 'for you'." Read the detailed release announcement for additional details, list of features and known issues.
Xubuntu 8.10
Next, the release of Xubuntu 8.10, a desktop distribution designed for users and fans of the Xfce desktop: "The Xubuntu team is happy to bring you the latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. This is their latest result: Xubuntu 8.10, which brings a host of excellent improvements built on the rock solid Xfce 4.4.2 desktop environment. New Features since Xubuntu 8.04: newest AbiWord 2.6.4 word processor with tons of bug-fixes and new features; improved multimedia experience by including the Listen multimedia player; light-weight search front-end called Catfish; Seahorse - a GTK+ front-end for GnuPG; X.Org 7.4; Linux kernel 2.6.27; encrypted private directory; Network Manager 0.7; DKMS; Samba 3.2; PAM authentication framework; Totem BBC plugin...." Read the complete release announcement for further information.
Ubuntu Studio 8.10
Ubuntu Studio 8.10, a multimedia-oriented Ubuntu derivative, has been released: "The Ubuntu Studio team is proud to announce its fourth release: Ubuntu Studio 8.10. With this release, Ubuntu Studio offers a pre-made selection of packages, targeted at audio, video and graphics users. Ubuntu Studio greatly simplifies the creation of Linux-based multimedia workstations. For Ubuntu Studio 8.10 we have continued to update packages and fix critical bugs to improve the Ubuntu Studio user experience. We are sad to announce the real-time kernel won't be installed by default in Ubuntu Studio in this release. This means that for the time being, we recommend our users that depend on the real-time kernel to stay with 8.04. Features: new Ardour version; Audacity fully working; update of all software packages." Here is the full release announcement.
Mythbuntu 8.10
Mythbuntu 8.10, a distribution featuring a standalone MythTV system and the last of the official Ubuntu variants, is now also available: "After a long and tedious process with many new features and bug fixes the Mythbuntu team is proud to introduce Mythbuntu 8.10 'Intrepid Ibex'. Features: Mythbuntu-log-grabber - this application grabs specific log files into a single area and can upload them to pastebin for easy troubleshooting; automatic partitioner now creates an XFS file system for recordings; mousepad, a graphical editor is now installed by default; Wubi now supports Mythbuntu; Apple trailer plugin is now packaged and available; web site now has link to Mythbuntu in the news. Changes from Mythbuntu 8.10 RC: Wubi now included on CD image; install documents for 8.10 included on CD image; Windows autorun now links to documentation and Wubi." Read the release announcement and release notes for further details.
OpenBSD 4.4
Theo de Raadt has announced the release of OpenBSD 4.4, a BSD operating system with a strict security philosophy and advanced security features: "We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 4.4. This is our 24th release on CD-ROM (and 25th via FTP). We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of more than ten years with only two remote holes in the default install. As in our previous releases, 4.4 provides significant improvements, including new features, in nearly all areas of the system: new or extended platforms for sparc64, socppc, landisk; improved hardware support; new tools and functionality; assorted improvements and code cleanup; install and upgrade process changes; OpenSSH 5.1; over 4,500 ports, minor robustness improvements in package tools (Firefox 3, GNOME 2.20.3, Inkscape 0.46, KDE 3.5.8, OpenOffice.org 2.4.1, Xfce 4.4.2...." Read the release announcement and release information for a detailed list of changes and improvements.
Puppy Linux 4.1.1
Barry Kauler has announced the release of Puppy Linux 4.1.1, a bug-fix update of the recently released version 4.1: "Puppy 4.1.1 released. Fixes and improvements include: mouse detection, touchpad tapping, loading extra SFS files, DVB USB firmware, old Network Wizard, GPRS message, desktop drive icon renaming, desktop drive icon realigning, check dependencies of installed PET packages, ALSA shutdown, ROX error message when copying from Linux to VFAT file system, improved support for widescreen resolutions, remaster-CD improved, rxvt terminal pasting, and many network setup fixes especially for wireless (including NDISwrapper)." See the release announcement and release notes for a more detailed list of fixes and improvements.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Ubuntu 9.04
The Ubuntu developer team has published a draft release schedule of the project's next stable release - version 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope". The work is about to start, with the first alpha build expected to be ready for testing later this month. As with version 8.10, the development will comprise six alpha builds, a beta and a quick release candidate before the final release scheduled for 23 April 2009. For more information please visit the Jaunty Release Schedule page on Ubuntu Wiki.
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
October 2008 donation: GoblinX receives US$250.00
 We are pleased to announce that the recipient of the October 2008 DistroWatch.com donation is GoblinX, a Slackware-based distribution and live CD made in Brazil. It receives US$250 in cash.
The timing of the donation coincides with the project's 4th birthday, also celebrated last week. Although GoblinX has been struggling to become a household name in the Linux distro world, its founder, Flavio Pereira de Oliveira, has been patiently working on the project, providing regular releases, quality weekly newsletters, and timely web site updates. And just recently, our friend Béranger (who can hardly be accused of being overly positive when writing about Linux distributions ;-)) has given GoblinX a Best One-Man Effort award, along with a US$30 donation: "The 'Best One-Man Effort Award 2008' goes to Flavio Pereira de Oliveira for the continuous effort of developing the Slackware-derived GoblinX distribution. Without being perfect or bug-free, GoblinX is currently the unique distro to have so many GUI configuration tools written by a single person, such a large selection of packages and desktop environments, and such a flexible way of running and of remastering it. Play with it. Experiment. Support it. Buy its value-added editions, such as GoblinX Mega Flash 2008.2."
Flavio Pereira de Oliveira has emailed DistroWatch to say that he was honoured by being a recipient of a DistroWatch.com donation.
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 GoblinX.
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 ($400), FileZilla ($400), MythDora ($500), Linux Mint ($400), Parsix GNU/Linux ($300), Miro ($300), GoblinX ($250).
Since the launch of the Donations Programme in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$19,433 to various open source software projects.
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DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 10 November 2008. Until next week,
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Plamo Linux
Plamo Linux is a Japanese Linux distribution based on Slackware Linux. The installer, and many text-based and graphical tools have been updated to include Japanese language support.
Status: Active
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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