 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 317, 24 August 2009 |
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Welcome to this year's 34th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Despite the ever increasing power of modern computer hardware, lightweight distributions designed for older or underpowered systems continue to flourish. One of them, Puppy Linux, has become a rather popular choice in recent years, mainly due to its optimised performance and careful choice of integrated applications. This week's issue of DistroWatch weekly takes a look at the latest release of Puppy Linux, version 4.2.1. In the news section, the openSUSE project has decided to return to its roots and make KDE the default desktop on its installation media once again, Novell continues to promote SUSE Studio as the best tool for creating custom Linux-based appliances, Mandriva integrates Plymouth into its boot process and removes all traces of KDE 3 from its distribution, and Sabayon Linux launches the first development build of its upcoming 5.0 release in the form of an internal test. Finally, take a critical look at the updated layout of our distribution pages - as always, any feedback and suggestions are most welcome! Happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story |
First look at Puppy Linux 4.2.1 (by Jesse Smith)
 Puppy Linux created a splash a while back when it first came bounding onto the Linux scene. It's a small distro which tries to be both small and easy to use and, to date, it's been successful at both those goals. This week I took Puppy for a spin to see if this dog has learned any new tricks. The current release of Puppy, which came out in May 2009, is 4.2.1. It's still small, weighing in at a light 100 MB download. This barely gives one time to read through the highlights of the web site before the install image is downloaded and checked for errors. The site is well laid out and easy to navigate. The developers have taken the time to carefully explain what Puppy is and how to use the system. The project's Wiki comes across as friendly, informal and informative.
With the latest version of Puppy downloaded, I decided to give it a test drive on my desktop machine. This isn't an old machine; it's a generic box running along at 2.5 GHz, but it's a bit short on memory for a modern desktop, with just 2 GB of RAM. Puppy booted off the CD and started a wizard to detect my hardware. Puppy didn't do a very good job at guessing what my hardware was (both the recommendations for video and mouse were incorrect), but the hardware wizard explains what's going on and lets the user over-ride the defaults. With that out of the way, I was given an unusual desktop.
I say unusual, by Linux standards, because the desktop is half-full of icons. I'm used to near-empty screens with dull backgrounds. Puppy puts icons for most common applications and tasks right on the desktop with a bright background. This seems in keeping with their newbie-friendly approach -- no hunting through menus required. Puppy didn't set up my network connection automatically, but there is a big "Connect" button on the desktop, which runs a wizard that walks the user through connecting to the net. This process, like just about everything else I found in the Puppy distribution, is done in a friendly step-by-step manner. Also on the desktop are programs for drawing, web browsing, chatting and configuring the system. Most importantly there is a "Help" button with an introduction to the Puppy way of doing things, which seems to be aimed at Windows users.
There are two places I've found where the newbie-friendly image seems to fall apart. One of those is the application menu, which is full of cryptic program names. There are brief descriptions after each name, but I think newcomers would find application names like "XF-Prot" and "GTKLPQ" a bit confusing. The other place is in the Puppy installer. There are still the helpful information boxes, but there were a few problems. There isn't any disk partitioning or package selection during the install, which caught me a bit by surprise. Puppy just tries to install into whatever partition you select without any formating or questions. Playing with this for a while I found the installer would suggest the user run GParted to fix partitions if things seemed "not sane". After that, the installer walks through setting up GRUB, which also comes with all kinds of useful documentation. I managed to get through everything without any problems (or so I thought), but this install struck me as being different from anything I've seen before. This is probably because the installer supports putting Puppy on so many different locations such as USB sticks, CDs or internal drives; it's designed for flexibility of position more so than content.
Puppy Linux 4.2.1 - menu and system installer
(full image size: 147kB, screen resolution 798x597 pixels)
After the install was finished, I rebooted and Puppy's kernel panicked. Thinking there must have been a conflict between the last system I'd installed on the drive and the new Puppy installation, I went back and started from scratch. This time I used GParted to re-format the partition before running the installer. Once again everything appeared to go smoothly during the install and I was able to boot into Puppy Linux. One of Puppy's weak points seems to be hardware. Sound was properly set up and worked without any problems. However, aside from my video card and mouse, my mobile modem also wasn't detected. This isn't a problem on my desktop machine, but it means I won't be using Puppy on my laptop.
A concern I had while running Puppy is that, by default, the user runs as root. There's no warning regarding this. During the install and first boot there's no option to change the root password nor create another user account. This strikes me as a poor practice. Furthermore, there's no option to manage user accounts in the Setup or Control Panel applications. As far as I can tell, there is no graphical tool for changing or setting the root password either. The system just automatically logs in to the desktop as root. This is, in my eyes, a serious lapse in security. I realize Puppy tries to make things easy on new users, but having a password on a modern operating system should be standard practice. I set up a new password for myself and then went on to other things.
One of Puppy's really strong points is its ability to pack so much functionality into a little space. The download for Puppy is a mere 100 MB and, once installed, this grows to just 300 MB of hard disk space. This is tiny considering the amount of software that's included with the system. The user has modern web browsing (via SeaMonkey), word processing, spreadsheets, PDF handling, instant messaging and a variety of server and admin software. And it all looks modern. I'm not referring simply to the version numbers, but the overall look and feel of the system. For the most part, the applications look polished and work in a way the user would expect. The look isn't cutting edge, but comfortable. As I mentioned before, there's a pile of documentation which is actually helpful and explains concepts in a language non-experts can understand.
Puppy Linux 4.2.1 - custom system administration tools
(full image size: 73kB, screen resolution 800x599 pixels)
The system is also fast. Boot time on my machine was under twenty seconds. Applications and folders opened very quickly. The system is snappy and light. This was true when running from the CD as well as from the hard drive and shows Puppy's ability to run on older systems. To test this, I created a small virtual machine and ran Puppy with 256 MB of RAM from its CD. The operating system continued to perform very well.
Another problem I ran into after installing Puppy to my hard drive was that I couldn't browse the web. I could connect and ping IP addresses, but found that browsing to any URL gave me an error. It turned out that Puppy wasn't resolving any addresses via DNS. I tried to open my resolv.conf file and was given an error. Puppy, apparently, makes /etc/resolv.conf a short-cut (symbolic link) to /etc/ppp/resolv.conf, which loops back around to link to /etc/resolv.conf. I deleted the links and created my own resolv.conf file with some known name servers and web browsing became possible again. This wasn't a problem on the live CD, just on my hard drive install. Not being able to browse the web strikes me as a pretty big bug for a distro which tries to be newbie-friendly.
Along with getting web browsing back came the potential to add software packages, called PETs. These packages can be installed with the Puppy package manager and work much the same way (from an end user's perspective) as a Debian package or RPM file. The PETs downloaded and installed without any problem. There aren't very many in the official repository, but more are available from third parties. My only complaint was that the package manager didn't show how big a package was. It could be a few kilobytes or a few hundred megabytes, it'll look the same until the download starts. Other than that detail, the package manager is well laid-out and worked as expected.
Puppy Linux 4.2.1 - the package manager
(full image size: 75kB, screen resolution 795x568 pixels)
As far as I can tell, there is no package updater built into Puppy. During my time using it, I neither found a manual update application nor was I notified of any available updates. I gather that the developers see Puppy more as a live CD tool than a distribution to be installed on the local hard disk. A stripped-down version of the RPM package manager is installed on Puppy by default. This probably isn't very useful, since installing RPM packages and manually wading through their dependencies is likely to drive anyone mad in short order. But the tool is there for the brave at heart. Another thing I found odd is the manual pages. While Puppy comes with a fine collection of documentation, the man pages (common on most Linux systems) aren't included. Instead, running the man command re-directs the user to a web page which displays an error. This was unexpected, unwelcome and unhelpful.
Puppy Linux 4.2.1 - missing man pages
(full image size: 51kB, screen resolution 764x597 pixels)
After using it for a few days, I have to say Puppy is a mixed bag. Some things are done really well, but other things are disappointing. On the positive side, Puppy has a clean look, is lightning-fast and very small, making it ideal for older hardware. It has a wide selection of tools which should take care of the needs of both everyday users and desktop administrators. On the negative side, Puppy has virtually no security, having the user run as root without a password and, near as I can tell, no package updates. There are relatively few PET packages to be had from the official repositories and Puppy doesn't connect to other repositories, such as Debian's or Slackware's.
My conclusion is that Puppy is an interesting live CD. It strikes me as a tool I could hand to a student taking a system admin course as a demo, or perhaps a Windows admin that needs the functionality of a Linux live CD. It's a tool which could be used to test old hardware; perhaps to wipe or backup drives. It's not a distribution I'd recommend installing on a hard disk or using as a day-to-day operating system or even connecting to the Internet. Its strengths lie in its small size and friendly approach to Windows users, not everyday use.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Chris Smart) |
KDE becomes default in openSUSE, Novell promotes appliance building tool, Mandriva switches to Plymouth, Sabayon starts testing 5.0, interview with kernel hacker Greg Kroah-Hartman
 openSUSE remains one of the most popular Linux distributions. Originally it was very much a KDE focused project, but since it was purchased by Novell the development team has also put a lot of effort into GNOME. However, one problem for new users is that the installer does not default to one or the other, but rather forces them to make a decision between the two. This issue was raised on openFATE suggesting that the installer should default to KDE. This would make openSUSE one of the only major distributions to default to KDE and might give it an edge over the others. The topic was heavily debated among the community with this week Michael Loeffler announcing that the motion was passed. He writes: "After consideration of the project discussion I discussed the feature request further with the openSUSE Board and other leaders within the openSUSE project and came to the decision to follow the request: we will default the radio button to KDE in the DVD installer." The team is adamant that this does not mean GNOME will become a second-class citizen. What it does mean is that new users will simply no longer need to choose a desktop, but the choice still remains.
* * * * *
 Interested in creating your own custom Linux distribution, or perhaps a virtual server image? Novell recently released a new service called SUSE Studio, which allows registered users to easily create their own appliances. As Koen Vervloesem discovered in an article for LWN.net, SUSE Studio can be used for much more. The web application which powers the service is closed-source, although it uses the open Kiwi tool in the backend. There are rumours that this will be open-sourced at some point; however, in the mean time Novell plans to sell SUSE Studio directly to companies for use in their own data centres. Koen concludes: "All in all, compared to its competitors, SUSE Studio is without doubt the most easy-to-use, the most well-engineered, and the most efficient appliance builder. Even someone without any previous experience can build a software appliance in fifteen minutes. If it would only offer more distributions than just the SUSE family for the operating system base, it would be even more interesting." Naturally, Novell only wants to support its own distribution, but this might change if the source is opened at some point.
Still on the subject of Novell and openSUSE, we link to a short interview with Greg Kroah-Hartman, a Novell employee and Linux kernel developer. He is passionate about getting as many drivers into the kernel as possible and two years ago offered free driver development to encourage vendors to provide specifications for their hardware: "In return, you will receive a complete and working Linux driver that is added to the main Linux kernel source tree. The driver will be written by some of the members of the Linux kernel developer community (over 1,500 strong and growing). This driver will then be automatically included in all Linux distributions, including the 'enterprise' ones. It will be automatically kept up-to-date and working through all Linux kernel API changes. This driver will work with all of the different CPU types supported by Linux, the largest number of CPU types supported by any operating system ever in the history of computing." In the interview, Greg talks about his work on the Linux Driver project, working with Git and how to become a kernel developer. He writes: "The best thing that everyone can do to help Linux kernel development is to tell the developers if something does not work properly. Let us know if you have problems with the latest kernel builds and especially if something that used to work, now stops working, as we need to resolve that as soon as possible."
* * * * *
 Those of you following the development of Mandriva Linux as it marches resolutely towards its next stable release will appreciate the regular "Cooker" updates by Frederik Himpe. The latest one was published over the weekend and includes many welcome improvements, such as the integration of Plymouth, an improved version of "netprofile", and Pidgin 2.6: "Mandriva's boot splash is now provided by Plymouth, the same technology used by Fedora - together with kernel mode setting (currently enabled for Intel graphics chipsets in the standard Mandriva kernel), this will provide a high resolution bootsplash and high resolution virtual consoles and seamless switching between virtual consoles and X; a new, vastly improved version of netprofile makes it possible to define different networks, firewall and proxy settings and urpmi media for different networks; GNOME 2.28 beta 1 (2.27.90); Pidgin 2.6, now with video and audio support for XMPP (Jabber); OpenOffice.org has a new icon set which integrates nicely in the KDE 4 environment; KDE 3.5 is being removed completely from the distribution."
* * * * *
 Finally, an update on Sabayon Linux 5.0, an interesting Gentoo-based distribution. Currently at version 4.2, the distro is busy working on the next stable release, with the first beta of version 5.0 now available for internal testing: "Another update here on the release cycle of 5.0 for all our thrilled fans. Beta 1 of GNOME and KDE images has been released to testers. We will be in this phase till about September 2nd as Fabio Erculiani is taking a vacation till then. Once he gets back, we will then look at the issues to hammer out a beta 2." The final release is expected at the end of September: "So we are looking at least the middle of September before a final version will be out and for sure by the end of September, knock on wood." A promotional video has also been made by a community member to promote the distro and upcoming release.
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| Released Last Week |
CentOS 4.8
Johnny Hughes has announced the release of CentOS 4.8. This is a new version of the project's older, legacy branch built by the recompiling the source package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8: "The CentOS development team is pleased to announce the release of CentOS 4.8 for i386 and x86_64 architectures. New in this release: there is a technology preview of OpenOffice.org 2.0 included in the updates directory. Known issues: there is a requirement to swap in CD-1 during the install phase of CD-4 during some installs when the comps RPM is required to be installed; an upstream bug with the 3c59x Ethernet driver has been encountered during testing; there are issues with the i586 support on the AMD K6II processor...." See the release announcement and release notes for more details.
* * * * *
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 |
New layout for distribution pages
With the last week being unusually slow in terms of interesting releases, I took the opportunity to implement some changes on the distribution pages. The main new feature is the addition of a screenshot; as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and since we have collected quite a few distro screenshots over the years, adding them to the distribution pages was something that I have had on my to-do list for some time. This also gave me an opportunity to make some other changes. The key information about each distribution is now displayed next to the screenshot, followed by a brief description. I hope you'll like the new layout, but as always, all criticism and suggestions are welcome. Most importantly, if you spot any bugs, please report them - preferably by email (otherwise please mention them in the comments section below).
* * * * *
New distributions added to database
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- ÆrieBSD. The ÆrieBSD project strives to produce a free, multi-platform UNIX-like operating system, including the best possible free development environment. This includes (in addition to traditional BSD environment) free compilers, assemblers, linkers and other tools for various architectures as well cross-building capabilities.
- Gordux GNU/Linux. Gordux GNU/Linux is a desktop oriented distribution and live DVD built from Linux From Scratch.
- juntaDados. juntaDados is a Brazilian multimedia distribution based on Ubuntu. It offers a selection of audio, video and graphics packages to simplify creation of Linux-based multimedia workstations for social projects in Brazil. It also features a well-tested 2.6.30.5 real-time kernel for low-latency audio work. The project's web site is in Portuguese.
- VENENUX GNU/Linux. VENENUX GNU/Linux is a Debian-based distribution created in Venezuela and designed primarily for the Spanish-speaking Latin American market. The project's web site is in Spanish.
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DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
And this concludes the latest issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 31 August 2009.
Chris Smart and Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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| Random Distribution | 
Ubuntu Kylin
Ubuntu Kylin is an official Ubuntu flavour whose primary goal is to create a variant of Ubuntu optimised for Chinese users (using the Simplified Chinese writing system), although it also supports other languages. The default desktop is called UKUI (Universal Kylin User Interface) which is based on MATE desktop and is developed with the Qt toolkit. UKUI strives to adhere to the friendly-and-simple design concept. The distribution also includes more than 20 applications developed in-house, including Kylin Assistant, Kylin Video, Kylin Screenshots and Software Center.
Status: Active
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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.
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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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