 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 314, 3 August 2009 |
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Welcome to this year's 31st issue of DistroWatch Weekly! The most controversial news of the week was the open letter written by several developers of CentOS, one of the distributions on the DistroWatch's top ten list, to the project's co-founder, pleading for the resolution of a number of key issues. This was taken to the public as a way of getting attention after failing to resolve the issues internally. It turned out to be a good solution; by the end of the week all has seemingly returned to normal in the CentOS land. Another piece of news that stirred much interest on the Internet was the Debian announcement about its planned switch to a time-based freeze model. This was often incorrectly misinterpreted as a switch to a time-based release model, but as many Debian developers were quick to point out, nothing has changed in the "released when ready" Debian release strategy. As for our feature article this week, it is a quick look at the "Core" edition of Slax, a minimalist distribution in 50 MB, which can be a surprisingly good rescue and educational tool. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the recipients of the DistroWatch.com June and July 2009 donations are LiVES and Osmo. Happy reading!
Content:
 Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (21MB) and MP3 (20MB) formats(many thanks to Sonny Chauvin)
 Join us at irc.freenode.net #distrowatch
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| Feature Story |
A look at Slax 6.1.1 "Core" (by Jesse Smith)
 My very first Linux distribution was called Pygmy Linux, a mini-distro based off Slackware. It had no graphical desktop, no compiler, no office suite, no package management and it didn't recognize my modem. Obviously it didn't qualify as a replacement for my main desktop system at the time. Nor was it supposed to. But it did do what I wanted it to and that was to teach me the UNIX command line and the structure of a UNIX file system. It did those things very well and I learned a lot. It has been ten years since I plunged into the Linux depths. To celebrate ten years with Linux, I decided to give a mini-distro based on Slackware a test drive. Pygmy is long gone, but others live on. This week I installed Slax on my system and put it through its paces.
I'd never tried Slax before, but I'd heard good things about the project and I can understand why. Right from the start, I noticed the Slax website is very pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. It's a small thing, but first impressions have a way of sticking. Furthermore, the Slax team has something most other distros do not: Slax allows visitors to their website to roll their own version of Slax with a few mouse clicks. The default Slax download is about 200 MB, a fairly compact size considering it comes with a complete KDE desktop, office applications and development tools. However, I wanted something more bare-bones for this trip down memory lane. I selected the core packages only, bringing my download down to about 50MB; a small size, even for people working off slow Internet connections.
Slax's boot screen
Slax booted off its CD and I was given a fairly typical list of boot options. I wasn't fast enough to change the default and the CD tried to boot into a KDE desktop. Since I didn't have any desktop packages, the system crashed and I had to reboot. The second time I was paying better attention and selected a text-only boot option. The text-only mode is well done with a helpful welcome message, which includes the live CD login information and some common commands for quick reference.
Poking around the system, I found things pretty much where I'd left them ten years ago. No graphical desktop, no office suite, no compiler; just me and a command line. It made me a bit nostalgic, honestly. My network connection was detected and enabled automatically, which was a nice touch. Sadly, the Lynx web browser wasn't installed in the core packages. But it is available as an add-on. Any downloads would have to be handled by wget or the FTP client.
There isn't any system installer included in the core packages, but there is a handy tutorial on the Slax forum explaining how to get Slax working directly from the system's hard drive. This takes a few minutes to go through, but worked flawlessly in my case. The important thing I learned from this, more so than how to install Slax to a hard disk, is that the live CD also makes for a good rescue tool. Most common file systems are supported and one can easily mount local drives and work with the files.
Logging into Slax
With Slax installed, it was easy to get a regular user account set up and play around without the risk of damaging anything important. I was able to manage files with Midnight Commander, a text-based file manager, and write some awk scripts just to see that they worked.
Remote log-in via secure shell was disabled by default, but enabling it allowed me to remotely log in to my new Slax box and work (or play) from another computer. I couldn't help but think that considering Slax's small footprint (about 125 MB once installed) it would be an ideal home file server, especially on older hardware.
Earlier I mentioned that the Lynx browser was available as an add-on. One of the more interesting features of Slax is the way it manages packages. Packages are distributed as "modules". A module can be added to the initial ISO image download or downloaded and installed later. The modules are broken down into categories on the Slax web site and include such goodies as graphics, Internet applications, console applications, drivers, languages, security and multimedia packages, as well as many others. Installing a new module is as simple as downloading the package you want and typing "activate module" on the command line. The only downside to this system is, as far as I can tell, that there is no update utility, nor dependency checking in the core install. I tried a few modules and everything worked without any problems.
Running the Lynx web browser
Though the core utilities haven't changed a lot over the past ten years, it's easy to see that there have been improvements. Things feel smoother, the documentation is more user-friendly and the system is rock solid. Actually, to get a real idea of how far Linux has come since I started using it, consider that I decided to also run Slax in a virtual machine on my main desktop. I was able to play with Slax, take screenshots, perform word processing, listen to music, browse the web and run updates from my regular desktop all at the same time. I couldn't have imagined doing these things all together when I first got into Linux a decade ago.
In conclusion, I have to say that Slax is an excellent tool. The ability to create a custom live CD is wonderful and easy and I sincerely hope other distros adopt this feature as it vastly reduces the bandwidth required to download the project's ISO images. Slax comes across as polished and clean. It's very flexible and everything worked as advertised. The core install is obviously not for a regular user, though the default live CD would be ideal for someone who wants to take a secure operating system with them wherever they go. The core system is an excellent utility for someone getting into a system administration course and wants to learn the Linux way. Slax has a lot to offer the curious and makes for a handy system rescue live CD. I heartily recommend it.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Chris Smart) |
CentOS developers plead with founder, Debian adopts time-based freeze process and publishes "Squeeze" planned feature list, Novell releases SUSE Studio 1.0
 Perhaps the biggest news of the past week was the publication of an open letter from key CentOS developers to co-founder Lance Davis. The letter revealed the sad state of the project from a management perspective, claiming that Davis had "crawled into a hole," not passed on promised funds, failed to hand over control of the domain, and numerous other issues. The story is all too common among Linux and open source projects, especially those with a single leader and no proper organisational structure. The letter pleads: "Please do not kill CentOS through your fear of shared management of the project. Clearly the project dies if all the developers walk away." The good news is that the project is now reporting that many of the major issues have been resolved, following a meeting with Davis in response to the letter. The site reads: "The CentOS Development team had a normal meeting today and Lance Davis was in attendance. In the meeting a majority of issues were resolved right away and a working agreement was reached with deadlines for any unresolved issues. There should be no impact to any CentOS users moving forward." This is great news and no doubt a relief to many users and fans of the operating system. Here's hoping that the project can now move from strength to strength!
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 Reports have surfaced that Debian would be switching to time-based releases, similar to those of Ubuntu. At least, that was the news as interpreted around the Internet. However, core members of the world's largest free software community project had a completely different story to tell. The announcement was in fact, only in relation to having a time-based freeze process and the distro will still be released "when it's ready". As such, this is good news for many who love Debian. While the constant delays between stable releases may be frustrating at times, users know that this is an important aspect to ensuring the system will indeed be stable when it is finally released. It's a fine balance between latest features, timely releases and a stable environment.
Ubuntu developer Matt Zimmerman put it well when he said: "The difference is that they will schedule the freeze date in advance. This means that there is a bounded time period available for new development, where things sometimes need to be broken in order to make progress. Once the freeze point is reached, Debian developers will minimise breakage and focus on stabilisation. Once the release-critical bug count drops to zero, they'll release as usual. That could happen soon after the freeze, or it could take a long time, depending on how many bugs are introduced during development." As Debian is one of the only major Linux distributions without a commercial entity rushing it to release, it has the ability to work at its own pace. It would be a shame if Debian was to settle for anything less, but then as Linux becomes more popular how can Debian compete with others when it only has a stable release every two years?
In other Debian news, the project has published the goals for their upcoming stable release, version 6.0 and code name "Squeeze". This will be the first release to implement the new policy of timed release freezes, as mentioned above. Planned for inclusion in the new release are a dozen major features, such as multi-architecture support, full IPv6 support and several package related changes. The page also list improved boot performance: "Improved boot performance using Dash as the new default shell, and a dependency-based boot system that will both clean up the boot process and help performance through parallel processing." Could this mean that Debian is finally following Ubuntu's lead and switching to Upstart? Another major update is support for the FreeBSD kernel, which will makes its official début in "Squeeze", heralding the first non-Linux architecture for the project. Debian GNU/kFreeBSD will be a coupling of the GNU toolchain and user space with the FreeBSD kernel. With GNU/Hurd still as elusive as ever, this might offer yet another good option for the free software world as it mixes the familiar GNU tools with BSD.
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 The openSUSE Build service has become a valuable community tool for developers to develop and maintain packages for a variety of distros. Now, SUSE Studio 1.0 has been announced, an online project which enables the assisted creation of appliances. Nat Friedman writes: "SUSE Studio is a web service that makes it fun and easy for anyone with a couple of years of Linux experience to build a software appliance, or your own custom Linux distribution, in less than ten minutes." The service is designed to provide an easy way of creating a custom virtual machine for a specific set of tasks, ready to deploy straight into a production system. The service currently provides images in a variety of formats, including live CD, hard disk and USB images, as well as virtual machines ready for VMware and Xen. Support for KVM does not yet exist, but will it? Given that it's Red Hat's virtualisation technology of choice, it's unlikely. Novell plans to displace the number one Linux vendor and this latest piece of technology is one more tool which the company hopes will help it achieve that goal. The service certainly appears to be popular, with almost five thousand appliances having been built this last week. Will it revolutionise the creation of Linux servers and help Novell secure much needed market share?
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| Released Last Week |
SLAMPP Live 2.0
SLAMPP is a Zenwalk-based distribution and live DVD designed for use as an instant home server. After over three years of inactivity, the project released version 2.0 of the distribution yesterday: "Today I am glad to let you know that SLAMPP 2.0 is available for public download. There are a lot of enhancements in this new release, some of them are the following: Linux live kernel 2.6.28.7, provides pre-configured servers and related utilities to ease your work in setting up an instant home server; provides full web and Linux development environment: LAMPP and Ruby on Rails, IDEs, frameworks, compilers, interpreters, utilities; equips with fancy bootsplash and progress bar, nice desktop wallpaper, complete OpenOffice.org suite, multimedia, graphics, audio and video applications; maintains the Slax modularity; can be installed on hard disk or USB storage device; supports persistent partitions on USB devices...." Here is the full release announcement.
Tiny Core Linux 2.2
Robert Shingledecker has released Tiny Core Linux 2.2, a minimalist desktop distribution in 11 MB: "Tiny Core 2.2 is now posted. Change log: new boot option 'embed' to stay on initramfs; upgraded ISO now using isolinux 3.8.2 to easily support isohybrid; upgraded upgrade_tce.sh fixed false error warning and added to 'Tools' menu section; upgraded upgrade_tce.sh to support microcore's .core. elements; upgraded usbinstall with 'need root warning' also added to 'Tools' menu section; upgraded tce-load to use -c 'continue' option of wget to better support downloading; upgraded BusyBox, replaced missing dc applet, also added 'Length' to wget applet output; upgraded boot time F2 to display better message regarding kmaps; upgraded boot time F3 to display missing options, no icons and laptop...." Read the rest of the changelog as published on the project's user forum.
NetBSD 5.0.1
Soren Jacobsen has announced the release of NetBSD 5.0.1: "The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce that version 5.0.1 of the NetBSD operating system is now available. NetBSD 5.0.1 is the first security/critical update of the NetBSD 5.0 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed critical in nature for security or stability reasons. Please note that all fixes in security/critical updates (i.e., NetBSD 5.0.1, 5.0.2, etc.) are cumulative, so the latest update contains all such fixes since the corresponding minor release. These fixes will also appear in future minor releases (i.e., NetBSD 5.1, 5.2, etc.), together with other less-critical fixes and feature enhancements." See the detailed release notes for a complete list of all changes, security fixes and known issues.
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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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| DistroWatch.com News |
June and July 2009 DistroWatch.com donations: LiVES - US$300.00, Osmo - €200
We are happy to announce that the recipient of the June 2009 DistroWatch.com donation is LiVES, a free and open-source video editor and VJ tool, while the July 2009 DistroWatch.com goes to Osmo, a personal information organiser. LiVES receives US$300 and Osmo gets €200.
Both projects have been nominated for donations by DistroWatch readers. LiVES is a well-known application designed for video editing and other related tasks: "LiVES combines real-time video performance and non-linear editing in one professional-quality application. It will let you start editing and making video right away, without having to worry about formats, frame sizes, or frame rates. It is a very flexible tool which is used by both professional VJs and video editors - mix and switch clips from the keyboard, use dozens of real-time effects, trim and edit your clips in the clip editor, and bring them together using the multi-track timeline. You can even record your performance in real time, and then edit it further or render it straight away."
Osmo, on the other hand, is a GTK+ tool for managing and organising personal information: "Osmo is a handy personal organiser, which includes calendar, tasks manager and address book modules. It was designed to be a small, easy-to-use and good-looking PIM tool to help to manage personal information. In its current state the organiser is quite convenient to use - for example, the user can perform nearly all operations using the keyboard. Also, a lot of parameters are configurable to meet the user's preferences. On the technical side, Osmo is GTK+ based tool which uses a plain XML database to store all personal data." The program was reviewed by Susan Linton in January 2009.
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 the donations to LiVES and Osmo.
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 Sabayon Linux ($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), Dillo ($150), LXDE ($250)
- 2009: Openbox ($250), Wolvix GNU/Linux ($200), smxi ($200), Python ($300), SliTaz GNU/Linux ($200), LiVES ($300), Osmo ($300).
Since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$21,533 to various open source software projects.
* * * * *
New distributions added to database
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- ArchOne. ArchOne is an Arch-based live CD designed to run on the Acer Aspire One netbook.
- LiveAndroid. LiveAndroid is a live CD for Android, a mobile operating system developed by Google, designed for a standard i386 computer.
- Mesk Linux. Mesk Linux is an Arch-based distribution with an intuitive system install and optimised for Arabic-speaking users. The project's web site is in Arabic.
- Nexradix. Nexradix is an Ubuntu-based distribution specifically designed to be easily and freely usable and redistributable, even for commercial purposes.
- Omega. Omega is a completely free and open-source Linux-based operating system. It is an installable live CD that includes comprehensive multimedia functionality out of the box. Omega is 100% compatible with Fedora, only including packages from Fedora, RPM Fusion and Livna software repositories.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 10 August 2009.
Ladislav Bodnar and Chris Smart
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Hedinux GNU/Linux
The goal of Hedinux GNU/Linux was to develop an easy-to-use Linux operating system, accessible to all users, irrespective of whether they are computer savvy or not. Hedinux will come in two editions - one for Linux beginners with an intuitive graphical installer and easy system administration tools, while the other will be "from source", designed as a modular system with binary packages built by the user directly from source code. Hedinux was an independently developed distribution inspired by the Linux From Scratch and Beyond Linux From Scratch books.
Status: Discontinued
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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