 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 447, 12 March 2012 |
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Welcome to this year's 11th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Sabayon Linux is an invitingly pleasant distribution to review. With its cutting-edge features, latest software and a variety of editions, it rarely ceases to amaze and the project's latest release, version 8, is no exception. This week's feature article takes a look at the distribution's Xfce edition which combines a wide range of excellent software with a more traditional desktop look and feel. In the news section, Arch Linux developers celebrate the distro's 10th birthday by recalling the beginnings of their involvements in the project, Klaus Knopper announces the upcoming release of KNOPPIX 7.0 featuring a recent Linux kernel and updated software packages, and Mark Shuttleworth thanks the Ubuntu user community for support during the distribution's ambitious transition from a desktop-focused system to a more consumer-oriented entity. Also in this issue, an update in the Secure Boot saga, an introduction to a security and hacking distribution from India, and the usual round of new distro submissions, including a renewed effort showcasing the latest Window Maker in a live CD. Happy reading!
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
A look at Sabayon Linux 8
 The Sabayon Linux distribution is a Gentoo-based project which attempts to provide a cutting-edge user experience which "just works". The project provides several editions, the main ones being the GNOME, KDE, Xfce and Core flavours. Each edition is available in 32-bit and 64-bit builds so the hardest hurdle to cross is figuring out which ISO we want to download. I opted for the Xfce edition which, if you've been following my reviews of late, you'll notice is becoming a bit of a trend. Recently I've been finding GNOME 3 too unpleasant and cumbersome to use and, while I enjoy the features of KDE, I'll be the first to admit it's a bit on the heavy side. More and more I'm finding Xfce provides my ideal balance of features and performance.
The 32-bit Xfce Sabayon Linux ISO image is fairly large, weighing in at 1.4 GB. Booting from the disc brings up a menu asking if we'd like to try the live environment, launch the graphical installer, launch a text installer or boot from the local drive. I opted to try the live environment and was brought to an Xfce desktop. There's a lot of grey in evidence. The application menu sits at the top of the screen and the task switcher sits at the bottom. On the desktop we find icons for navigating the file system, donating to the project, opening a web page to the project's documentation and launching the installer.
Sabayon Linux uses the Anaconda system installer, the same one used by the Fedora project. It starts off asking us which language we prefer to use, then it gets us to confirm our keyboard layout. We're asked to enter a hostname for our computer and then select our time zone. The next screen prompts us to set a password for the root account and then we're asked to create a regular user account. Then we get into partitioning. Anaconda supports a wide range of disk layouts and we can use it to set up RAID environments, LVM and most Linux partition types, including Btrfs. Unlike recent Fedora releases Sabayon's installer doesn't force us to use the ext4 file system for the root partition, nor are we required to set up an extra partition for GPT. The final screen of the installer asks us to confirm we want to install a boot loader and then the installer begins copying its files to the local hard drive.
Sabayon Linux 8 - the system installer
(full image size: 196kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
Once the installation is complete we can boot into Sabayon Linux and we're presented with a graphical login screen. Logging in we find the same Xfce environment, but with the installer's desktop icon swapped out for the distribution's package manager. The Xfce desktop largely stays out of the way and leaves us to explore without distractions. The only notifications I ever saw were to let me know when wireless network connections were available and when security updates were ready to be downloaded. The environment uses a good deal of grey, making for a somber, no-nonsense interface.
The Sabayon Linux distribution comes with a collection of popular applications. Peering into the application menu we find the Midori web browser, the Transmission BitTorrent client and the XChat IRC chat client. The menu also includes an entry for opening Midori in private browsing mode, convenient for those who don't want to leave a trail of browsing history behind them. We find a copy of LibreOffice, a PDF viewer, the Cheese webcam utility, the Exaile audio player and the Totem video player. The distribution comes with popular media codecs giving us the ability to play most multimedia files out of the box. The Flash browser plugin is included too. We're given the GNU Image Manipulation Program, the Shotwell photo manager and a text editor.
There is a sub-menu dedicated to providing links to various parts of the project's website, including the forums, bug tracker and documentation. Network connections are handled by Network Manager and the GPPP dialer is included in the application menu. Further digging turns up a graphical firewall configuration tool, a printer manager and the distribution's "Entropy Store" package manager. Looking further we find WINE is included for running Windows applications and the GNU Compiler Collection is installed for developers. Some Java packages are installed, but trying to run Java programs results in an error and it appears as though the Java installation isn't complete. There is a menu entry for an e-mail client, but the launcher points to a program which isn't installed. All of this sits on top of the 3.2 version of the Linux kernel.
Sabayon Linux 8 - running various applications
(full image size: 212kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
I ran the distribution on two machines, my HP laptop (dual-core 2 GHz CPU, 3 GB of RAM, Intel video card) and a desktop box (2.5 GHz CPU, 2 GB of RAM, NVIDIA video card). In both cases Sabayon Linux correctly detected and handled all of my hardware. My display was set to its maximum resolution, my Intel wireless card was picked up and a notification appeared on the desktop letting me know the operating system had detected networks within range. Sound volume was turned down to a low setting on both machines, but audio worked without any problems. Generally I found logging into the desktop used around 150 - 160 MB of memory. Boot times were a bit slow on both machines, however once the user was logged in desktop responsiveness was very good.
The Sabayon package manager is called Entropy Store, though the "store" doesn't sell anything, all of the software is freely available from the project's repositories. The package manager has a simple layout with buttons or tabs across the top of the window and an information pane at the bottom. Clicking on the various buttons will show us pending updates, all available packages, search results and queued operations. Add, remove and update actions are collected and then launched in batches. While the software manager works and provides all the required functionality, I didn't take to it. Part of this was due to the application's speed, or lack of. Start-up times were slow and calculating actions took longer than I would expect from most other package managers. When I first started using Sabayon I'd try to open the Entropy Store and kept getting put off as the system was syncing the repositories and wouldn't allow any use of the package manager until it finished its current task. I also found the process of right-clicking on items to select/unselect them to be less intuitive than the usual left-click used by other managers. Everything in the package manager works, it just takes some time to get used to Sabayon's way of doing things.
My general impression of Sabayon Linux 8 is that it lives up to its stated goal of "just works", at least most of the time. My hardware was properly detected, all the codecs, Flash and applications for common tasks are included. I had no trouble with the installer nor the Xfce desktop. Boot times were a bit slow, but otherwise performance was good. I like that the distribution comes in many flavours and fans of GNOME, KDE and Xfce are provided for -- as are people who want to start with a core install and build from there. I'm not thrilled about the Entropy Store as I find it to be a bit sluggish and the array of colours, tabs and data packed into the application feels like overkill. Otherwise my only complaint came from some applications not being provided with the default Xfce desktop. Having a volume control in the system tray would be nice, as would having a graphical tool for managing user accounts. I didn't see an archive manager in the application menu either and the launcher for the e-mail client doesn't work. Little touches like that would move Sabayon from being a good experience to being an excellent experience. Not having these items isn't a big deal, missing software can be installed, but it would be nice to have these things straight out of the gate.
Sabayon Linux 8 - connecting to and browsing the net
(full image size: 376kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
Still, if I'm going to pick at the minor scratches on this gem I feel it's only right to praise some of its nicer aspects too. For instance, on the application menu there's a sub-menu containing links to various parts of the Sabayon Linux website. This makes it easy to find documentation, go directly to the bug tracker and open the forums. There's also a link which will open a connection to the project's IRC support channel, which is a nice touch. I like they've made it possible for Anaconda to select any Linux file system for the root partition, even when we're installing from the live environment. The distribution is fairly cutting edge with lots of new software and it all appears to work, I didn't run into any stability problems. All in all, I think Sabayon 8 is a good release. I feel it improves on the previous releases and does a good job of being user-friendly. As I mentioned above there are some minor things I'd like to see added or improved, but I didn't encounter any serious bugs. It's a distribution well worth giving a try.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
Ten years of Arch Linux, KNOPPIX 7.0, Ubuntu marketing talk
 Arch Linux has always been a modest, unpretentious project, almost completely void of marketing, hype and dramatic claims - yet, it has managed to turn into an important and respected piece in the Linux distribution ecosystem. Yesterday (Sunday) the project celebrated ten years since the inaugural release of version 0.1 by Judd Vinet, the distribution's founder and lead developer at the time. Although Judd is no longer with Arch, the current developer team has been celebrating the birthday with a succession of posts on Planet Arch Linux. Allan McRae: "Today marks the 10 year anniversary since the first release of Arch Linux. I have been involved in Arch for only about half that time, but I thought it might be quite interesting to make a time-line of the major things I remember being involved with in my history with Arch Linux." Dave Reisner: "Arch Linux turns 10 today. It's pretty spunky for a pre-teen!" Pierre Schmitz: "Ten years ago Judd released the first version of Arch Linux. This is quite an age for a Linux distribution and we are still rolling." Ionuț Mircea Bîru: "Happy birthday Arch Linux!" Andrea Scarpino: "Today Arch celebrates its 10th birthday. Allan had a very nice idea writing something about his years as archer; Pierre already did the same, and I'm going to do write something about mine years in this great distro." Daniel Isenmann: "Ten years ago Judd Vinet released the first public version of Arch Linux."
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 The days when KNOPPIX was the only live CD with automatic hardware detection and configuration are long gone, but the project's developer, Klaus Knopper, continues to provide new versions on a regular basis. The next update will be version 7.0, but unless you are a Linux Magazine subscriber, you'll need to patiently wait for a public release. What can we expect in the new KNOPPIX 7.0?: "Version 7.0 of KNOPPIX is based on the usual picks from Debian stable ('Squeeze') and testing ('Wheezy'), with newer package versions especially for desktop applications. It uses kernel 3.2.4 and X.Org 7.6 (core 1.11.3.901) for supporting current computers; experimental free Nouveau graphics modules supporting NVIDIA cards, accelerated graphics via kernel mode settings (KMS); LibreOffice 3.4.5; Chromium 16.0.912.77 and Firefox/Iceweasel 10.0 web browsers; optional 64-bit kernel via boot option 'knoppix64', supporting systems with more than 4 GB of RAM and chroot to 64-bit installations for system rescue tasks; boot option "grub", for starting a bootloader shell in system rescue tasks; ADRIANE version 1.4 of the audio desktop framework, now using cuneiform as engine for text recognition of scanned texts, enhanced support for several cellphone models via gammu (SMS function)."
KNOPPIX 7.0 - a publicly available version is expected shortly
(full image size: 595kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
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 Ubuntu's Unity interface has received a fair amount of coverage in the computing media, both positive and negative. However, as one might expect, project founder Mark Shuttleworth prefers to focus on the superlative characteristics of his brainchild, always happy to claim some interesting "firsts": "For the first time with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, real desktop user experience innovation is available on a full production-ready enterprise-certified free software platform, free of charge, well before it shows up in Windows or Mac OS X. It's not 'job done' by any means, but it's a milestone. Achieving that milestone has tested the courage and commitment of the Ubuntu community – we had to move from being followers and integrators, to being designers and shapers of the platform, together with upstreams who are excited to be part of that shift and passionate about bringing goodness to a wide audience. It's right for us to design experiences and help upstreams get those experiences to be amazing, because we are closest to the user; we are the last mile, the last to touch the code, and the first to get the bug report or feedback from most users."
Not everybody agrees with the above assessment, though. As Bruce Byfield notes in "Watching the Future of Canonical", the increasing focus on marketing talk emanating from the project's leader is a radical departure from the community-oriented approach in Ubuntu's early days: If Canonical has larger plans for some unique money maker, for obvious reasons it has yet to reveal what that might be. Instead, Canonical seems intent on exploring every possible niche, with an interface usable on every hardware platform, a cloud carrier, Ubuntu TV, an Android port, and probably several others that I haven't immediately remembered. This is a strategy I have seen before in other companies seeking profits. Often, it is a last-ditch strategy of desperation, and I see no reason to think Canonical is an exception, especially since announcements of Canonical's entry into these niches appear to be coming faster and faster. Why is this strategy desperate? Because, in many of the niches being explored by Canonical, major competitors are already established -- for instance, Amazon in the cloud, and Apple TV in smart televisions."
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
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An update in the Secure Boot saga
Last year we covered the concept of secure booting, its challenges and potential issues to open-source operating systems. At the time there was concern the Microsoft Windows 8 certification process would make it very difficult for consumers to install alternative operating systems, such as Linux, on their computers. Last week the Free Software Foundation sent out an update and it contains both good and bad news.
"In December, Microsoft apparently conceded to public pressure by quietly updating the Windows 8 logo certification requirements with a mandate that a desktop computer user must be able to control (and disable) the Secure Boot feature on any Windows 8 computer that is not based on ARM technology. This looks like a victory for free software users, as it will allow a person to install GNU/Linux or other free software operating system in place of Windows 8.
But, this is no time for celebration, because Microsoft has also added a treacherous mandate for makers of ARM-based computers -- such as a tablets, netbooks, and smartphones -- requiring them to build their machines with Restricted Boot technology. Such computers are designed to lock a user into only being able to run Windows 8, absolutely preventing her from being able to install a free software operating system on her computer. Since smartphones and tablets are some of the most commonly used computers, it's vital that we get straightforward and clear information about this threat out to the public."
A more complete statement and explanation on the potential benefits and problems associated with secure boot technology can be found on the Free Software Foundation's website.
As the FSF's statement says, computers using the ARM architecture are becoming much more common. Cell phones, tablets and energy efficient servers use ARM and these devices are likely to become more popular with time. The requirement demanded by Microsoft's hardware certification (page 116) would mean many devices would be locked down and it would be nearly impossible to install alternative operating systems on purchased hardware. As the Free Software Foundation rightly points out, secure booting is desirable, but restricted booting is not. They invite concerned individuals to sign a statement which would ask hardware manufactures to respect the freedoms of their customers.
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| Released Last Week |
IPFire 2.11 Core 57
Arne Fitzenreiter has announced the release of IPFire 2.11 Core 57, the latest update of the project's specialist distribution for firewalls: "Today, we are releasing Core Update 57 for IPFire 2.11. It is again a minor bug-fix and security update. These components have been updated to address various security issues or potential DDoS attacks - PHP security update to 5.3.10, Apache security update to 2.2.22, Squid, update to 3.1.19. Miscellaneous changes: a bug in the GUI of the outgoing firewall which automatically disabled a rule after it has been edited was fixed; Vim now works better on remote consoles like PuTTY; the welcome banner that is shown to Cisco's Road Warrior VPN client is now customized and says 'Welcome to IPFire - An Open Source Firewall Solution'." See the complete release announcement for more information.
CentOS 5.8
Johnny Hughes has announced the release of CentOS 5.8: "We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of CentOS 5.8 for the i386 and x86_64 architectures. CentOS 5.8 is the eighth update to the CentOS 5 distribution series. It contains a lot of bug fixes, updates and new functionality. Known issues: as of CentOS 5.7 the installation kit is split into two DVDs; there is a MultiLib issue with dbus-1.1.2-16 (i386 and x86_64) - they can not be installed at the same time due to a conflict of the file /etc/dbus-1/system.conf; there is a known issue with the tg3 kernel driver using VLANs (802.1q) and at least one Broadcom chipset; there is a known issue with the smartmontools and the 2.6.18-308 kernel where 'hard drives behind a SAS controller can get dropped'; there is a known issue with the latest nfs-utils in EL 5.8 where invalid warnings are given on NFS mounts for rpc.idmapd and/or rpc.gssd." Read the release announcement and the more detailed release notes for further information.
Linux Mint 12 "LXDE"
Clement Lefebvre has announced the release of Linux Mint 12 "LXDE" edition, a fast and lightweight variant of the popular Ubuntu-based distribution: "The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 12 LXDE. Linux Mint 12 LXDE comes with updated software and brings refinements and new features to make your desktop even more comfortable to use. This is the first release of Linux Mint using hybrid ISO images. Traditionally, tools such as 'Startup Disk Creator' or 'UNetbootin' were needed to install Linux Mint via USB. With hybrid images, you can simply use the 'dd' command or a graphical front-end to make a bootable USB which acts exactly like a live DVD. Linux Mint 12 features the following upstream components: Ubuntu 11.10, Linux kernel 3.0, LXDE 0.5.0." Read the brief release announcement and the more informative what's new page for further details.
Skolelinux 6.0.4
Petter Reinholdtsen has announced the release of Skolelinux 6.0.4, a Debian-based specialist distribution for schools, also known as "Debian Edu": "The Debian Edu Team is pleased to announce the release of Debian Edu 'Squeeze' 6.0.4+r0. Debian Edu (aka 'Skolelinux') is a Debian Pure Blend specifically targeted at schools and educational institutions, and provides a completely configured school network environment out of the box. It covers PXE installation, PXE booting for diskless machines, and setup for a school server, for stationary workstations, and for workstations that can be taken away from the school network. Several educational applications like Celestia, Dr. Geo, GCompris, GeoGebra, Kalzium, KGeography and Solfege are included in the default desktop setup. Besides including everything provided by the fourth update of Debian 'Squeeze' (6.0.4), this new release of Debian Edu introduces some interesting improvements." Continue reading the release announcement to learn more.
Skolelinux 6.0.4 - a major new release from the Debian Edu team
(full image size: 311kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
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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 |
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New distributions added to database
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New distributions added to waiting list
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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, 19 March 2012.
Jesse Smith and Ladislav Bodnar
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
MODOS
MODOS is a minimalist Linux distribution featuring the Cinnamon desktop and based on Debian's "Stable" branch. It is meant to be run as a live Linux system from a USB drive. The distribution also includes a collection of in-house utilities called #DODOS tools.
Status: Active
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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