 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 400, 11 April 2011 |
Welcome to the 400th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! With the release of GNOME 3 last week, many distributions are hard at work not only integrating the radically redesigned desktop into their products, but also considering their options with respect to the end user. These are a complex decisions, especially since opinions about the changes in the most popular desktop environment tend to vary widely. For those who dislike GNOME 3, there are other options, including the subject of today's feature review - Openbox running on top of CrunchBang Linux or the new Unity on Ubuntu; see the interview with Mark Shuttleworth in the news section. Also in the news, CentOS is facing an uphill battle trying to regain the trust of its users, Mageia's Anne Nicolas doesn't fear fragmentation in the Linux developer communities, Canonical discontinues its free CD shipping service, and openSUSE devises a new versioning system for its distribution. Also not to be missed is the regular Question and Answers section which deals with package signing and related security implications. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the recipient of the March 2011 DistroWatch.com donation is the Imagination project. Happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (29MB) and MP3 (28MB) formats
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
First look at CrunchBang Linux 10
 The CrunchBang Linux distribution is a Debian-based project with a focus on providing a light, alternative desktop environment. The distro is offered in both 32-bit and 64-bit builds and comes in Openbox and Xfce editions. Looking at the project's website and screenshots suggests that CrunchBang is, in style, a cousin to ArchBang Linux. Both projects have dark interfaces and provide a simple layout. For my trial I grabbed the Xfce 32-bit flavour of CrunchBang. The download page has a colourful description of the distribution: "CrunchBang Linux is not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. CrunchBang Linux could possibly make your computer go CRUNCH! BANG!" I thought this was interesting as the distro is based on Debian "Squeeze", a distribution known for its stability. The website also features a forum with active users and, from my brief time spent there, they seem to be a helpful bunch.
The CrunchBang live CD boots into a mostly-black Xfce 4.6 desktop. A task switcher sits at the bottom of the screen and a Conky status panel takes up the right-hand side. Moving over to the left of the display we find a quick-launch bar with icons for starting commonly used programs. There's no traditional application menu button; right-clicking on the desktop brings up the menu. I didn't find a system installer in the menu and so rebooted and requested the graphical installer from CrunchBang's boot menu.
CrunchBang Linux 10 - finding application and changing settings
(full image size: 99kB, resolution 1366x768 pixels)
The CrunchBang system installer is basically the same installer that comes with Debian "Squeeze". We select our preferred language and give our location. Once we have confirmed our keyboard layout we're asked to create a user account and set our time zone. The next series of screens guides us through partitioning the hard drive. Manually partitioning is a bit longer and, I found, the process is less intuitive than in most other installers. We then wait while the operating system is copied to the hard drive. We're next given the option to install GRUB. Unlike Debian's installer, we're not asked if we want to connect to repositories or install software to track package popularity.
The first time we login to CrunchBang a virtual console window appears and asks us if we'd like to customize the system. What follows is essentially a text wizard walking us through updating our package repository information, installing any available security updates and then adding optional software to the operating system. We're given the opportunity to install printer support, Java, a Zen-based kernel, OpenOffice.org (AbiWord and Gnumeric are already included at install time), FUSE file system support, and developer tools. Each screen gives a short description of each optional item and we're given a simple yes/no prompt as to whether we want the software. After the wizard finishes we're shown a list of links to the project's documentation.
Assuming we don't install any new software using the first-run wizard, CrunchBang still comes with a good collection of software for common tasks. We're given Chromium 9 for web browsing, the Transmission BitTorrent client, gFTP and the XChat IRC client. We find AbiWord, Gnumeric and Orage in the Office section of the menu, along with the GIMP and an image viewer in the Graphics category. The distro comes with VLC, a disc burner program, GParted and the Synaptic package manager. We're given access to the Xfce configuration tools for adjusting the look & feel of the system. We also get programs for editing text files, working with archives and crunching numbers. CrunchBang additionally comes with the ability to play most video and audio files out of the box and the Adobe Flash player comes pre-installed. At install time the distro doesn't run any network services. Behind the scenes the Linux kernel, version 2.6.32, keeps things running smoothly. In total, the software takes up about 2 GB of disk space.
CrunchBang Linux 10 - office software and the GIMP
(full image size: 121kB, resolution 1366x768 pixels)
Being based on Debian, CrunchBang uses the APT family of programs for package management. The distro is also equipped with the aptitude command-line application. For users who prefer a graphical front-end to software management, CrunchBang features the Synaptic package manager. During my time with the distro I had no problems adding, removing and updating software. Something I found interesting is that CrunchBang is based on Debian "Squeeze" and, unlike its parent, CrunchBang did not require me to remove the installation media as a software source before I could use the on-line repositories. I also found it odd that by default my software sources were set to pull from servers in Germany, rather than the main servers or locations in Canada (where I live).
I ran CrunchBang on two machines, a generic desktop machine (2.5 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, NVIDIA video card) and my HP laptop (dual-core 2 GHz CPU, 3 GB of RAM, Intel video card). The distro detected and used all of my hardware on both machines. My screen resolution was set properly, audio volume was set to a reasonable level and wireless networking was a point-n-click setup. The one quirk I ran into was that the shortcut keys (listed on the Conky panel) didn't work on my laptop. They did, however, work on the desktop machine and in a virtual machine running on the same laptop. CrunchBang doesn't require much RAM, using approximately 75 MB upon logging in and I found that most simple tasks could be performed with 128 MB or less. Responsiveness was good, not amazing, but typical for the Xfce desktop.
Considering the relatively sparse look presented in the project's screenshots and the low-resource attributes of Xfce it may seem odd that my biggest complaint when using CrunchBang was that I found myself disabling so many features. The most obvious unwanted feature is probably the Statler Says pop-up which displays fortunes a few minutes after logging in. Some other things that annoyed me until I turned them off included the pop-up quick-launch panel, the Conky status display, the flashing terminal cursor and faux window transparency. Each of these items has its place, but I felt they were in uncomfortable contrast with what could have been a simple, minimal environment.
CrunchBang Linux 10 - browsing the web and using Heybuddy
(full image size: 98kB, resolution 1366x768 pixels)
Preferred desktop layout & look aside, I didn't run into any serious problems with CrunchBang aside from a few application crashes. The VLC player crashed once trying to open a file and my terminal window was killed during a desktop theme change. CrunchBang does have some good things going for it: the distro has side-stepped the repository problem I faced with plain Debian while keeping the parent project's vast collection of software; the non-free components I wanted were installed by default and I liked the first-run wizard, which gives us the option to add common extras. All of my hardware was picked up and there are applications provided out of the box for common tasks. I would have liked to have seen more applications pre-installed (an email client, dedicated music player and Pidgin come to mind), but I suppose there's only so much room on the CD. Once the system was up and running and looking the way I wanted it to, the experience was pleasantly boring. Nothing really jumped out at me as being great or terrible. Thus far I haven't found any niche CrunchBang fills -- its resource usage, install process and user-friendliness seems to be about on par with plain Debian, so I'm not sure who this project is targeting. My conclusion is CrunchBang appears to be a good tool, I just haven't found any task for it.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
CentOS updates legacy branch, openSUSE creates new versioning scheme, Ubuntu discontinues free CD service, interviews with Mark Shuttleworth and Anne Nicolas, GNOME 3 on Arch Linux
 The developers of CentOS, the most popular among the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) clones, have finally released version 5.6, some three months after the upstream release. This has alleviated some of the pressure the project's user community has been putting on the developers in recent months. However, CentOS 6 is still nowhere to be seen and as long as this situation persists, there will be critics (the CentOS mailing list is a rather rough place to be at the moment). LWN's editor-in-chief Jonathan Corbet summarises some of the issues facing the project: "The real problem is not delayed gratification; it is that there have been no CentOS 5 security updates since January 6, and only one since December 14, 2010. During this time, RHEL 5, on which CentOS 5 is based, has seen updates for dbus, Exim, Firefox (twice), GCC, hplip, OpenJDK, kernel (thrice)... Since these updates are based on the 5.6 release, CentOS cannot easily pass them on to its users until they, too, have a 5.6 base. Since that base has been slow in coming, all those security updates have been blocked." So what's the solution to the problem? According to LWN, it's the web hosting industry that could help: "One suspects that the hosting industry is getting a better deal than many. Now would be a good time for the top beneficiaries of the CentOS project to roll up their sleeves and put some serious time into making it better."
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 In recent weeks the openSUSE has been discussing the way its distro releases are numbered, with an effort to create some sort of a logical system that would be easy to understand. Now, following a poll and feedback, the project has reached a consensus - the next release will be openSUSE 12.1: "Recently, the project took these discussions to a poll, to gauge community feeling about the different options. Generally, the community expressed that they wanted a scheme that was uniquely openSUSE's and reflected our release methodology. We looked at other distros for examples, and while we felt many had come up with excellent versioning schemes for their distros, none properly reflected our own cycle. From this discussion and results of the poll, we have come up with the following scheme: The .x shall henceforth reflect the month of release: 1 = November, 2 = July, 3 = March. We will no longer ship a .0 version. This solution brings a meaningful rationale to the scheme, without completely revising the look. And thus, our next release in November will be 12.1. In July 2012, we will ship 12.2 and in March 2013, we will ship 12.3. Then in November 2013, we will ship 13.1."
With the recent release of openSUSE 11.4, many users have welcomed the new repository, called Tumbleweed, which allows the more experienced among them to run openSUSE as a rolling-release distribution, similar to Arch Linux. As such, they no longer need to wait for the project's next major release before running the latest software applications. Anastasios Ksouzafeiris shares his experiences with upgrading to and running Tumbleweed: "Tumbleweed is the name of the repository that, once added to your openSUSE installation, allows the whole system to be regularly upgraded to the latest and greatest software, without the need of ever upgrading the OS to a newer, major version of the distribution. The good news is that 'latest and greatest' doesn't mean 'bleeding edge'. That may be the case with the openSUSE Factory repository, but not with Tumbleweed. The bad news is that by turning openSUSE into a rolling distro you'll find yourself re-compiling and re-installing any closed-source drivers you rely on more often than you're probably used to -- and in most cases that entails some extra labor. But that couldn't possibly stop me from trying Tumbleweed, so I set off to a quest for transforming a local openSUSE 11.4 VMware virtual machine (GNOME edition)."
* * * * *
 Ubuntu's dramatic rise to fame was always heavily "sponsored" by the deep pockets of the distribution founder, Mark Shuttleworth. This is especially true when one considers the project's willingness to ship official CD sets to users across the globe - free of any charge. Unfortunately, this unusual generosity has now come to an end: "Today it was announced that ShipIt, the free CD service that Canonical has been running since the inception of Ubuntu, will be discontinued. Why? A few reasons. Firstly, CD distribution is not really as effective as it used to be, and it is expensive. These days, particularly with the availability of low-cost, hi-speed Internet growing across the world, more and more people are simply downloading the ISO images and burning them to a CD or installing from a USB stick. Canonical felt like it would make better sense to reduce the investment in snail-mail CD distribution and focus it more on LoCo Teams and use those savings to invest in other areas of the project." Does this mean that local Ubuntu communities will still get the free CDs? The answer is positive: "We are still going to provide approved LoCo Teams with CDs!"
One more on Ubuntu - a link to an interview with Mark Shuttleworth as published by Linux User, where the Ubuntu founder talks, among other things, about the forthcoming changes in the distribution: "On the enterprise front, the biggest changes have been in cloud computing and virtualisation. We were the lead distribution to adopt KVM, and that has now become an industry standard in Linux. Ubuntu has taken off on EC2 and Rackspace public clouds, where people are doing amazing innovation, and we've added some features just for cloud deployments that make it easier to keep your infrastructure in the cloud up to date and manageable. We also shipped the only free and open cloud infrastructure, which lets you create your own cloud with a few servers and the standard Ubuntu Server CD. On the desktop front, we introduced Unity, the brand new desktop experience that is designed and tested for usability and efficiency. We will make that our default desktop in 11.04 this April, and we have an implementation both for high-end computers with OpenGL and for low-end computers where memory and graphics are less advanced, in Qt."
* * * * *
  Among the frequently expressed opinion on many Linux websites and blogs is the topic of excessive "fragmentation" in the Linux community. Too many distributions, too many applications designed for the same task, not enough collaboration between different groups... Speaking to Toolinux, Anne Nicolas, the former vice president of engineering at Mandriva Linux and the current head of the Mageia project (a fork of Mandriva), believes that there is no need to fear fragmentation (article in French): "It's not fragmentation that one should fear, but rather repetition, exclusivity and stagnation. We launched Mageia to give the project keys back to the community, to build a community around healthier and more dynamic operating rules and to allow the community to organise and innovate within the distribution." The interview also expands on the reasons for forking Mandriva Linux, touches on the subject of collaboration with the Mandriva developers, details the work which has received most of the developers' focus, and covers other related topics.
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 The last item in today's news section is about the biggest event of the past week by far - the release of GNOME 3. While the first major GNOME update of the popular desktop project since July 2002 brought many diverse opinions, it's unlikely that many end users would have tried the release since it will take some time before it appears in any of the big distributions. Apart from trying one of the live CDs with GNOME 3, only those users who follow the development or experimental branches of the main distributions, such as the Arch Linux testing tree, had a chance to experience the brand-new desktop: "GNOME 3.0.0 packages are now available in the [testing] repository. These bring with it an update to GTK+ 2, as well as the new GTK+ 3. This is a major update and you should take note of a couple of things: GNOME 3 will replace GNOME 2 once it gets moved to [extra]; GNOME 3 has two modes, 'standard' mode (gnome-shell) and 'fallback' mode (gnome-panel + metacity); panel applets using Bonobo aren't supported any more and packages depending on it will be dropped; PulseAudio is now required to run the GNOME desktop; some packages exist in separate versions for GTK+ 2 and GTK+ 3, these typically have a name like 'packagename3'." More information and upgrade instructions are available on the Arch Linux Wiki.
The visual look of GNOME 3.0 is rather different from its predecessor
(full image size: 1,744kB, resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
All about package signing
On-the-dotted-line asks: Over the past few weeks there has been a bit of an upheaval with regards to package signing (or the absence of it) in the Arch Linux project. For those of us who don't touch source code too much, what exactly is package signing, how does it work, and what are the security implications to not using it?
DistroWatch answers: Over the past month I've been feeling increasingly sympathetic toward the Arch Linux developers. They've been cruising along fine for years, doing what they do so well. Then a few people point out that Pacman, the Arch Linux package manager, doesn't feature package signing and suddenly there are thousands of people up in arms as if the Arch people kicked a puppy. (I mean the cute little animal, not the cute little distribution.) As much as I like the practice of package signing I don't think the Arch team deserves all the flak they're getting.
At any rate, let's talk about signing. What is package signing? Digitally signing a package or a message is a little like putting an ink signature on a document, as you would with a personal cheque. It's a way of verifying the item (message, package, cheque) came from the person you think it came from. A person's digital signature should be unique, letting us know where the package originated. Signing also incorporates a method by which we can verify whether a package or document has been altered since it was signed by the author.
For example, let's say I create a package called FooBar. I sign FooBar with my digital signature, which puts my unique identifier on it and additionally takes a "fingerprint" of the file. Then I send the file to you. Given the included signature (and fingerprint) you can verify that the package came from me and that it has not been altered. Assuming that you trust me, you can then install the package. Were someone to intercept the package before you get it and were they to modify the package, the signature would no longer be valid and you would know not to install the package. Or, if the person who intercepted the package replaced my signature with their own, you'd know it wasn't from me and wouldn't trust it. In short, package signing tells you where an item came from and that it hasn't been tampered with. This is useful when we're installing software because we can be fairly certain that the software in our distribution's repository is trustworthy. When software isn't signed we're at risk of someone breaking into the repository server and replacing software with malware. It's also possible for an attacker to intercept our network traffic and send us the wrong package and, without signing, we might not be able to tell the difference.
In theory the only way someone can send you a package that looks like it came from me is if they get their hands on my signing key, a bit of data that's kept private. If you'd like to experiment with signing your files and messages I recommend trying KGpg which is a graphical front-end for GnuPG. KGpg makes it easy to create your own keys and sign messages. You may also want to read this document on how to use GnuPG to sign and verify files.
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| Released Last Week |
Zenwalk Linux 7.0 "Core"
Jean-Philippe Guillemin has announced the release of Zenwalk Linux 7.0 "Core" edition, a minimalist, but extensible distribution based on Slackware Linux: "Zenwalk Core 7.0 is ready. Zenwalk Core 7.0 is the base foundation of Zenwalk - everything except the X server and desktop environment. Installation process takes about 10 minutes and then you are free to install just the packages you need to create your very own desktop environment or your highly optimized and secured server. Zenwalk Core features the 2.6.37.4 kernel with BFS scheduler, KMS and many performance tweaks. Two kernels are available - the standard one supporting SATA or PATA disks, and a bigger kernel supporting any disk technology from SATA to SCSI. Note: the next version of Zenwalk Core will most probably be included in Zenwalk Standard edition as an installation option." Here is the brief release announcement.
Linux Mint 201104 "Xfce"
Clement Lefebvre has announced the release of Linux Mint 201104 "Xfce" edition, a Debian-based rolling-release distribution: "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint Xfce. Linux Mint Xfce is rolling on top of a Debian 'Testing' package base and uses the same repositories as Linux Mint Debian edition. This offers the following advantages to Linux Mint Xfce: a huge performance boost; a continuous flow of updates which allows users to keep their system up to date without waiting for new releases; a more mainstream desktop and software selection; an easier maintenance for the team which makes it easier to release in both 32-bit and 64-bit with every Linux Mint Debian edition release." See the release announcement for full details.
SystemRescueCd 2.1.0
François Dupoux has released an updated version of SystemRescueCd, a Gentoo-based live CD containing a collection of utilities for disk management and data rescue tasks. What's new in version 2.1.0? "Updated standard kernels to 2.6.35.12 (long-term kernel: rescuecd + rescue64); alternative kernels re-based on linux-2.6.38.2 (most recent kernel); patched alternative kernels with loop-aes-3.6b (encrypt disks using AES); updated Testdisk to 6.11.3 (checks and undeletes partitions + PhotoRec); updated hdparm to 9.36 (utility to change hard drive parameters); updated the Xfce desktop environment to new major version 4.8; updated gDisk to 0.7.1 (the package has been renamed gptfdisk); 32-bit kernels (rescuecd + altker32) compiled for i586 instead of i686." Here is the complete changelog.
CTKArch 0.7
CTKArch is a minimalist, Arch-based Linux live CD (with a hard disk installation option) using the Openbox window manager. A new update of the distribution, version 0.7, was released yesterday: "CTKArch 0.7 released. It took some time because I've implemented something quite interesting: the possibility of turning your live CD into a 'nomad installation', by saving all system changes to the persistent data partition. The script for add-on creation and the installer have required quite big changes to support this and the add-ons without conflicts. Read the documentation, it's full of interesting info! If you have already installed 0.7 with the RC1 ISO image, don't even think of reinstalling - it will give the same result on your hard disk. However, you will certainly want to update the live image on your Flash memory stick or CD/DVD-RW." Here is the release announcement in English and French.
CTKArch 0.7 - a minimalist desktop system with Openbox, based on Arch Linux
(full image size: 1,744kB, resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
CentOS 5.6
Karanbir Singh has announced the release of CentOS 5.6, a Linux distribution built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6: "We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS 5.6 for i386 and x86_64 architectures. CentOS 5.6 is based on the upstream release EL 5.6 and includes packages from all variants including Server and Client. All upstream repositories have been combined into one, to make it easier for end users to work with. CentOS 5.6 is the sixth update to the CentOS 5 distribution series; it contains a lot of bug fixes, updates and new functionality." Read the release announcement and release notes for further information.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
March 2011 DistroWatch.com donation: Imagination
We are happy to announce that the recipient of the March 2011 DistroWatch.com donation is the Imagination project, an open-source DVD slideshow maker. It receives US$250.00 in cash.
Developed by Giuseppe Torelli, Imagination is "a lightweight and simple DVD slideshow maker written in C language and built with the GTK+ toolkit." The author writes on the project's website: "I noticed a lack of a user-friendly DVD slideshow maker for GNU/Linux, so I started developing Imagination. True, there are some other GUIs which do the job, but they usually require a lot of dependencies to be installed first and often their interfaces are bloated. Imagination has been designed from the ground up to be fast, light and easy-to-use. It requires the FFmpeg encoder to produce the movie file and libsox to handle the audio. That's correct, you don't need any other third-party software, I like the KISS principle."
Included with the software are many transition effects: "Imagination at present features 69 transition effects, random function to automatically set a random transition on all of the selected slides, cut, copy and paste ability on the slides, Ken Burns ability, text on the slides with some text animations, ability to add an empty slide with a gradient editor and export of the slideshow as OGV Theora/Vorbis, widescreen FLV video and 3GP for mobile phones." Visit the project's screenshot page to see Imagination in action.
Giuseppe Torelli has emailed DistroWatch with a brief thank-you note: "Thank you so much for your generous donation! I've never received a so big an amount of money for Imagination!"
Launched in 2004, this monthly donations programme is a DistroWatch initiative to support free and open-source software projects and operating systems with cash contributions. Readers are welcome to nominate their favourite project for future donations. Those readers who wish to contribute towards these donations, please use our advertising page to make a payment (PayPal and credit cards are accepted). Here is the list of the projects that have 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), LMMS ($250), KompoZer ($360), OpenSSH ($350), Parted Magic ($350) and Krita ($285)
- 2010: Qimo 4 Kids ($250), Squid ($250), Libre Graphics Meeting ($300), Bacula ($250), FileZilla ($300), GCompris ($352), Xiph.org ($250), Clonezilla ($250), Debian Multimedia ($280), Geany ($300), Mageia ($470), gtkpod ($300)
- 2011: CGSecurity ($300), OpenShot ($300), Imagination ($250)
Since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$27,480 to various open-source software projects.
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New distributions added to waiting list
- Liquid Lemur Linux. Liquid Lemur Linux a Debian-based distribution. It uses the latest Xfce desktop, the latest Zen Kernel from Liquorix, Cairo-Dock, and all the usual everyday applications.
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 18 April 2011.
Jesse Smith and Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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| Random Distribution | 
OSMC
OSMC (formerly Raspbmc) is a Debian-based minimal Linux distribution that brings the Kodi media centre software to a Raspberry Pi, Apple TV and Vero devices. This device has an excellent form factor and enough power to handle media playback, making it an ideal component in a low-cost HTPC (Home Theatre Personal Computer) setup, yet delivering the same Kodi experience that can be enjoyed on much more costly platforms.
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!
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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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0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
