 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 448, 19 March 2012 |
Welcome to this year's 12th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! MINIX, an operating system created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum back in 1987, is a project that has had a reputation for being a student's toy rather than a serious system with practical implications. Although the developers are now trying to present MINIX as a potential alternative for the embedded systems market, the competition is tough and success stories rare. Yet, the system continues to thrive in academic environments. Jesse Smith finds the recently-released MINIX 3.2.0 "small, modular and clean", which are positives that many widely-used operating systems nowadays lack. In the news section, Anonymous-OS shoots to instant fame amid controversial media reports about the project's goals, Mythbuntu announces a new release cycle tracking Ubuntu's LTS releases, and IBM developerWorks publishes an article celebrating the advances Linux has made over the last two decades. Also in this issue, a command-line tips and tricks session presenting a number of handy one-liners, and the usual regular sections, including the addition of OpenMediaVault to the list of distributions tracked by DistroWatch. Happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
MINIX 3.2.0 - the little operating system that could?
 The MINIX operating system, I'm sorry to say, is probably best known in open source circles as the inspiration behind the creation of Linux rather than for its own accomplishments. While MINIX certainly has been a useful aid in inspiring developers and giving them a place from which to start, I feel it deserves a good deal more recognition. MINIX first appeared in the late 80s and the first two major versions focused on being ideal teaching projects. They were small, modular and presented a working microkernel which would be theoretically more stable and more secure than traditional monolithic kernels. MINIX 3, which is the most recent descendant of MINIX, keeps these same virtues, it is still a small, modular microkernel. However, MINIX 3 is also trying to be more practical and willingly adopts technology from other open source projects. This makes it an attractive operating system for people hoping to revive old hardware or who are working on embedded systems.
Going over the MINIX release notes we find version 3.2.0 is a big change from the 3.1.8 release that came out a year and a half ago. And it seems as though this release has been "BSDed" somewhat. Besides featuring a BSD-style license, MINIX now uses the NetBSD C library, experimental SMP support has been added, some FUSE file system support has been added and MINIX now uses the Clang compiler, which is becoming popular in BSD circles. A proc file system has been added and several command line utilities have been imported from NetBSD.
All of this sounds good, but there is a catch. MINIX, being a small project, has a limited amount of hardware support. The operating system doesn't come in a 64-bit build yet and requires a Pentium level processor or higher to run. Though some projects have been started to add USB support to MINIX the operating system still doesn't support USB peripherals and the range of support for network cards is limited. Unfortunately these restrictions meant I wasn't going to be able to run MINIX properly on my physical hardware and I turned to creating virtual machines for the purposes of this review.
The MINIX CD image comes in a compressed format. Unpacking the ISO presents us with a 654MB CD image. Oddly enough it appears as though the checksums provided on the MINIX website are for the compressed file and not the ISO itself, meaning if something corrupts the uncompressed file we don't have a checksum for comparison.
My usual virtual environment of choice is VirtualBox and, as the MINIX website lays out easy to follow steps for installing the operating system inside VirtualBox, I started there. After creating the virtual machine and launching it the MINIX boot menu appears and then the operating system almost immediately crashes. I went back, checked through the documentation, confirmed with another user MINIX would run in my version of VirtualBox (version 4.1), but I failed to get any further. I tried downloading the image again in case my first copy was corrupted, but again couldn't find a way to make MINIX boot in the VirtualBox environment.
Next up I tried running MINIX in a QEMU environment. This went better as MINIX was able to boot cleanly from the CD. When the boot process is finished we're presented with a text login screen. We can login as root without any password and run the command "setup" to begin an installation.
The MINIX text-based installer will probably be most familiar to people who have worked with OpenBSD. As with the OpenBSD installer we're shown an explanation of the step we're currently on, asked to type in our selection and provided with a sane default. One could almost get through the MINIX installer by rapidly pressing the Enter key, assuming there is no important information on the hard drive we would risk losing. The first step in the installer is confirming our keyboard layout. Then we get into partitioning where most people can probably get by with the defaults, but there is an "expert" option which will give the user enough rope to hang themselves in the cryptic text-based interface. Some questions we may be asked are how big to make the /home partition, what block size to use and what region/partition of the hard disk to set aside for MINIX. With partitioning complete we wait while the installer copies files to the local drive, during which time we're shown detailed progress information. When all required files have been copied over we're asked to select our network card from a short list of supported cards and asked whether we want to manually configure network access or use DHCP. We're then advised to reboot the system and customize the operating system as we see fit.
I'd like to point out that, unlike most Linux installers, the MINIX installer does not create user accounts, does not set a root password and it doesn't handle things like package selection or setting up a graphical interface. What we get when we boot from the hard drive is a very plain UNIX-like environment with a command line interface. If you're not already familiar with MINIX it's a good idea to have a copy of the documentation nearby.
Poking around the system my first impression is that it feels much the same as working with the BSDs, not surprising considering how much MINIX has borrowed from NetBSD for this release. After setting a root password and creating a user account I found a full compliment of man(ual) pages were available. The Clang compiler is installed and the usual command line tools for handling files, manipulating text and getting on-line are included. What is more obvious is what is not included. For instance, we have no graphical environment.
This seems like a good time to bring up the package manager. MINIX uses a software manager called "pkgin" for handling binary packages. It works in a similar manner to Linux command line software managers such as apt-get or YUM. The pkgin utility allows us to quickly synchronize our package database with the one on the MINIX servers, we can search for items by name or keyword, we can install, upgrade and remove items, list all available software or list all locally installed packages. The tool comes with a useful help page and uses intuitive keywords like "install", "search" and "available". I found pkgin to be quite fast and it provides us with progress information while it's downloading items.
It is possible to install software using source code and a ports framework. Doing so gives the user some flexibility, but, as the documentation points out, building software from source code takes a lot more time than installing binary packages. The documentation also points out that to build software from source will probably require installation of the GNU Compiler Collection and over 1 GB of free disk space and not all items in the ports tree will necessarily build properly. In other words, you can install packages from source, but you should have a good reason for going that route.
Getting back to the graphical desktop issue, there is a pre-compiled X11 package in the repositories, that's the good news. The bad news is the documentation appears to be out of date on the subject of getting a graphical interface up and running. The documentation suggests running X should automatically give us an environment with a window manager, however that was not the case during my trial. In fact I didn't find any window manager in my default install, nor in the project's package repository. I certainly got X itself running, but beyond that expect to do a bit of digging and manual setup if you're determined to run programs from a window manager. I suspect, however, most people interested in MINIX aren't overly worried about the prospect of working from a command line.
Here are a few other observations I had while playing with MINIX, in no particular order... Aside from the rare piece of documentation which looked to be for an older version of MINIX I found the project's User Guide to be very helpful. MINIX is a small, clean system and that style is reflected in the simple, no nonsense documentation. It's terse and easy to navigate, characteristics I'm sure new users will appreciate. Perhaps because I was running MINIX in a virtual machine I found the system to be strangely slow to respond. When running a new program or printing large amounts of text to the screen the display tended to stutter a bit, something I usually don't see when running Linux or the BSDs in a virtual environment. An odd quirk which came and went was sometimes my keyboard layout would change, for no apparent reason. I'd be typing away and suddenly I'd be typing gibberish, which would keep up until I rebooted. Upon reboot I'd usually be fine. This happened on a few different occasions, but stopped after a while and didn't come back -- cause and resolution unknown. And, finally, MINIX has a fairly small (yet friendly) community and their repository is similarly small. This makes MINIX an interesting operating system to study, even fun to play with, but it does have limited functionality as most open source software hasn't been ported to it yet.
Thus far in the review I've compared MINIX quite a bit to Linux and to the BSDs which isn't really fair to MINIX. It's a smaller project with different goals and it's going to lose out in most side-by-side comparisons. MINIX just doesn't have the performance, developers, software and drivers the big open source operating systems have. So why would you be interested in MINIX? Well, for work you probably wouldn't, unless you're an embedded developer. But in the realm of education I think MINIX is still king. It's small, it's modular, and it's clean. MINIX 3 isn't as old as the BSDs and it doesn't carry the weight of hacks and features Linux does. The MINIX project strikes me as an ideal teaching tool for people interested in system administration, kernel development or software porting. If you're the sort of person who likes operating systems for the sake of operating systems and likes tinkering with them then MINIX is a good choice. It hasn't climbed out of its educational niche and I think that may be good, we need projects which stay small and simple. We need tools which are easy to learn just like we need textbooks and chemistry sets -- MINIX continues to fill that role.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
Anonymous-OS, Mythbuntu to lengthen release cycle, "Linux is everywhere"
News about Anonymous-OS, an Ubuntu-based distribution supposedly released by the Anonymous movement, started circulating around the Internet early last week. Tom's Hardware was one of the many websites reporting about the new hacker's distro: "Anonymous has released an operating system based on Ubuntu 11.10 called Anonymous-OS." Upon closer investigation it turned out that the freely available live DVD was not build by Anonymous and, worse, it was reportedly riddled with malware: "Anonymous this week warned against downloading the new Anonymous OS, suggesting it was full of malware that could harm your system and steal your personal information." SourceForge, the popular open-source software repository where the DVD images were originally hosted, reacted by closing down the project's page and removing the files from its servers: "By taking an intentionally misleading name, this project has attempted to capitalize on the press surrounding a well-known movement in order to push downloads of a project that is less than a week old. We have therefore decided to take this download offline and suspend this project until we have more information." The project itself has denied any wrongdoing: "If any user believes that Anonymous-OS 'is wrapped in trojans' or 'backdoored by any law enforcement company or hacker' please don't download it! But don't mislead the world that Linux is dangerous and has trojans!" Even though SourceForge no longer provides the DVD images, it is still available from other sources, including Linux Tracker.
Anonymous-OS 0.1 - an Ubuntu-based hacker's tool of dubious origins
(full image size: 808kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
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 Mythbuntu, an official Ubuntu sub-project providing a distribution with an easy-to-use MythTV front-end, announced late last week that it was switching to a less frequent release schedule, tracking Ubuntu's LTS release only: "The Mythbuntu team would like to announce that, starting with the 12.04 release, we will be moving to LTS-only releases. Mythbuntu ISO images will only be released for LTS releases. MythTV packages will still be provided in the Ubuntu and Mythbuntu repositories for every Ubuntu release (both LTS and non-LTS). This means that going forward, there will no longer be Mythbuntu ISO images for releases that are not deemed LTS. The Mythbuntu team will still provide MythTV packages for non-LTS releases in the standard Ubuntu repositories and the Mythbuntu repositories. The only thing that changes is that Mythbuntu ISO images will not be available for non-LTS releases. Install the 'mythbuntu-control-centre' package and configure from there. The Mythbuntu team provides Mythbuntu repositories which contain the latest MythTV release for LTS releases. Using this method, you can stay up-to-date with the latest version of MythTV while staying on the stable underlying LTS release."
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The Internet is an open and unregulated information medium which means that, by nature, it is easy for just about anybody to express views and opinions and sometimes present them as facts. In the world of Linux, we've seen misleading information ever since Linux came into existence. And even though it has been around for over 20 years during which it has been able to conquer large segments of the computing market, there are still people who choose to ridicule the popular open-source operating system at every opportunity. For those, here is a great article published last week by Tim Jones at IBM developerWorks, entitled "Look at Linux, the operating system that is an universal platform": "Where Linux is might be harder to answer than where it isn't. Linux, with its ability to morph and scale, can be found in all computing segments (and even some that are not yet fully defined)." With the exception of the desktop market, Linux is a dominant platform in just about any other area of computing, reaching as much as 90% market share in some specific areas: "Supercomputers are a constant arms race to hold the title of fastest, from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Jaguar supercomputer (2009) to the Chinese Tianhe-I (2010) to the current leader, Japan's RIKEN Kei computer (2011). What each of these supercomputers has in common is that they all run Linux. Linux is not only efficient, it's also adaptable to the various hardware platforms that push its performance. This shouldn't be surprising at all, given that more than 90% of supercomputers run Linux."
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Simple command-line tricks
It has been a while since we had a column dedicated to useful command line tips. This week we will cover some simple, but often useful, command line tricks.
This first command will play all of the MP3 files in my Music directory, including all of the files found in sub-directories. It uses the find program to locate all MP3 files in the music directory and passes them off to the mplayer multimedia program to be played. The "-iname" flag tells find to ignore the case of the file name so that myfile.mp3 will be treated the same as MyFile.MP3. The braces, {}, toward the end of the command represent a file located by the find program which will be handed over to mplayer.
find ~/Music -iname "*".mp3 -exec mplayer {} \;
Sometimes people send me archives or CDs which contain files with improper access permissions. The first of the following two commands locates all folders in the current directory and grants my user full access to them. The second command locates all files in the current directory (and sub-directories) and provides read and write access to them without making them executable. The "-type" flag lets us select whether we are operating on a (d)irectory or on a (f)ile. The chmod program then applies the proper permissions to each directory and file.
find . -type d -exec chmod 700 {} \;
find . -type f -exec chmod 600 {} \;
When we first install our operating system we sometimes need to change the system date. Or, if our computer clocks don't automatically change to accommodate daylight saving time we might need to make adjustments. From the command line this is fairly straight forward. The following command sets the current system time to noon.
date -s "12:00"
Please note we will need to have administrator access to change the date and time. The next command tells the machine to change the clock to March 24, 12:30.
date -s "Mar 24 12:30"
They say timing is everything and it is useful to be able to schedule commands to be run at a later point in time. The following command will cause the sound file alarm.wav to play at 5pm.
echo mplayer alarm.wav | at 17:00
The at command can also be used to run scripts at a given time as in the following example where we run my_script at 11:40.
at 11:40 < my_script
Last, but not least, this is a very handy command to have when an application needs to be terminated. Let's say we have the VLC multimedia player running and, for some reason, we need to close it. Rather than look up its process ID and terminate the program with the kill command we can use a program called pkill to shut down the process by name.
pkill vlc
The command line is very flexible and often useful, not only for complex tasks and processing information, but also for common day-to-day activities.
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| Released Last Week |
Guadalinex 8
The Council of Economy, Innovation and Science of the Government of Andalucía has announced the release of Guadalinex 8, an Ubuntu-based, easy-to-use, desktop Linux distribution developed to facilitate the access to information technology for all citizens. With a 40% improvement in boot speed and a complete redesign of the default desktop, the distribution incorporates the latest free software technologies, such as GNOME Shell, which provides for a more productive working environment while allowing high levels of customisation thanks to a multitude of extensions downloadable from the Internet. Most applications included in the default install have been upgraded to newer versions; this includes LibreOffice 3.5.0, Firefox 10, GNOME 3.2 and Linux kernel 3.0. Hardware device drivers have also been updated, while a brand-new "centro de software de Guadalinex" provides an easy way to install extra applications from the Internet. See the complete release announcement (in Spanish) for more details.
Guadalinex 8 - with a highly customised GNOME 3 user interface
(full image size: 915kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Calculate Linux 11.15
Alexander Tratsevskiy has announced the release of Calculate Linux 11.15, a Gentoo-based distribution for desktops (with KDE, GNOME 3 or Xfce) and servers: "We are pleased to announce the release of Calculate Linux 11.15, a Gentoo-based distribution fully compatible with the original Gentoo, but using its own installer, configuring your system with Calculate utilities and providing an all-ready heterogeneous client-server solution for rapid deployment in corporate environment. The major change in Calculate Linux 11.15 is the migration to GNOME 3 and to GNOME Shell, while the desktop interface of Calculate Linux remains visually the same." Read the rest of the release announcement which includes screenshots of the customised GNOME desktop.
Salix OS 13.37 "Live KDE"
Salix OS 13.37 "Live KDE", a Slackware-based live DVD featuring the KDE 4.5.5 desktop, has been released: "The Salix Live team is proud to announce the immediate release of Salix Live KDE 13.37. Following Salix Live Xfce 13.37, this release is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. This release is also built using SaLT (Salix Live Technology), a new system of Live tools for Slackware-based distributions, developed in-house, in order to build live CDs in a more dynamic fashion with very little modifications from the host system. SaLT offers considerably more power when creating a live system compared to other tools that were used previously and is the reason that it is now possible to produce 64-bit images to complement the collection of Salix live images. The software included in this release is exactly the same as that present in the standard Salix KDE 13.37 release." See the release announcement for more information.
Vinux 3.0.2
Mobeen Iqbal has announced the release of Vinux 3.0.2, the latest update of the project's 3.0 series of the Ubuntu-based distribution designed for visually impaired users: "We are happy to announce the release of Vinux 3.0.2, based on Ubuntu 10.04.4. Changes in this release include: Linux kernel 2.6.32.39; Orca XDesktop 3.1.19; Firefox 10.0.2; Thunderbird 10.0.2; minor package changes as well as Vinux-specific console branding GRUB configuration; Vinux tips on console log in; Orca customizations and man text scripts; easy install scripts optimized; extra system sound schemes added; USB install script included; Luke's speak-up DKMS package included, you no longer need to run 'restorespeech' after a new kernel is installed; CFH, OpenSSH and CPU frequency daemon installed by default; Remastersys no longer deletes SSH keys; YASR is no longer included, encountered frequent errors and not used...." Visit the project's news page to read the release announcement.
Linpus Linux 1.7 "Lite Desktop"
Linpus has announced the release of Linpus Linux 1.7 "Lite Desktop" edition, a distribution for desktops and notebooks featuring GNOME 3 and a number of usability enhancements: "Linpus announced today the release of Linpus Lite Desktop Edition 1.7. Linpus Lite Desktop is the notebook and desktop-specific edition from the highly successful Linpus Lite product series. Linpus Lite Desktop Edition is based on GNOME 3.2, but has a significant array of enhancements that make it the ideal choice whether you require productivity, entertainment or lead an extremely social, connected online life. Features: it is now possible to drag the dock to both sides of the screen; open windows now appear as thumbnails on the dock and can be previewed and launched from there; smart icons displaying number of incoming and unread messages from your email and social networks; two additional panels; Linpus YouTube, LiveDesktop and Ereader applications...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details.
Ultimate Edition 3.2
Glenn Cady has announced the release of Ultimate Edition 3.2, an Ubuntu-based distribution on a DVD with extra applications and desktop environments: "Ultimate Edition 3.2 was built off Ubuntu 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot'. All updates fully upgraded, old kernels purged, new initrd and vmlinuz rebuilt. Ultimate Edition 3.2 is unlike any Linux distro I have seen. Ultimate Edition 3.2 has GNOME 3, GNOME Classic, GNOME fallback, Unity, Unity 2D, and XMBC selectable via login screen. A crisp new GTK+ 3 theme and a comprehensive software list. Ultimate Edition 3.2 gives you the freedom of choice in the realm of operating environments and the opportunity to check out new and upcoming technologies. I hope you appreciate the hard work involved in this release. I highly suggest the Ultimate Edition 3.2 specific release info above; getting environments to co-operate is no easy task." See the release notes for more info and screenshots.
Ultimate Edition 3.2 - based on Ubuntu 11.10
(full image size: 864kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Toorox 03.2012 "KDE"
Jörn Lindau has announced the release of Toorox 03.2012 "KDE", a Gentoo-based distribution and live DVD featuring the KDE 4.8.1 desktop: "A new version of the KDE edition has been finished. Toorox 03.2012 contains the Linux kernel 3.2.2-gentoo and the recent desktop environment, KDE 4.8.1. All packages are up-to-date. The nm-applet was replaced by the KDE NetworkManager for your network connections. Also contains: X.Org Server 1.11.4, Mesa 8.0.1, IceCat 10.0.1, WINE 1.4, VLC 2.0, LibreOffice 3.4.5, Audacious 3.2.1, Mixxx 1.10.0. Major change: Toorox now supports 11 languages: German, English, Czech, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Romanian, Russian and Turkish. Toorox 03.2012 'KDE' is available now in the download area as 32-bi and 64-bit variants." Here is the brief release announcement.
Toorox 03.2012 - featuring the brand-new KDE 4.8.1 desktop
(full image size: 917kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Tiny Core Linux 4.4
Robert Shingledecker has announced the release of Tiny Core Linux 4.4, a minimalist but extensible and fast distribution for the desktop: "Team Tiny Core is proud to announce the release of Core 4.4. The major theme for Core 4.4 is kernel and modules update and improved extension searching via tags. Changelog: minor kernel update to 3.0.21; updated tc-config with syslog/rsyslog patch; updated Xprogs.tcz: scmbrowser and smc-fetch.sh tweaks; updated search.sh added -t option for tag search; updated provides.sh for CLI use; updated appbrowser for new tag search; updated ab keyword is now a tag search; updated tce-size with date check on sizefile update; updated tce-setup fixed when base boot code is used with missing /tmp/tce/optional directory; updated tce-setdrive with a required readlink; updated filetool.sh with a required readlink when used after tce-setdrive...." Find the complete changelog in this forum post.
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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 |
New distributions added to database
- OpenMediaVault. OpenMediaVault is a Network-Attached Storage (NAS) solution based on Debian GNU/Linux. It contains services like SSH, (S)FTP, SMB/CIFS, DAAP media server, rsync, BitTorrent and many more. Thanks to a modular design it can be enhanced via plugins. OpenMediaVault is primarily designed to be used in home environments or small home offices, but is not limited to those scenarios. It is a simple and easy-to-use out-of-the-box solution that will allow everyone to install and administrate a Network-Attached Storage without deeper knowledge.
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New distributions added to waiting list
- Icaros Desktop Live. Icaros Desktop is a pre-configured AROS desktop environment for the PC platform, distributed on a bootable live medium. The AROS Research Operating System is a open-source, lightweight, efficient and flexible desktop operating system, aiming at being compatible with AmigaOS 3.1 at the API level, while improving on it in many areas.
- JoldzicOS. JoldzicOS is a desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu and Linux Mint.
- Live! Server! (USB Sharer). Live! Server! (USB Sharer) is a minimalist Debian-based live CD which provides an easy way to share the content of USB devices once plugged into a computer. If a USB Flash drive or a USB hard drive is inserted into a PC while Live! Server! (USB Sharer) is running, USB media content will be automatically shared with browsers, FTP clients, Windows shares and UPnP players. Live! Server! (USB Sharer) is a zero-install solution which eliminates the need to install server programs on a host, to configure them and to copy files onto a PC.
- Mystras. Mystras is an unofficial derivative of Xubuntu built around the Compiz window manager. It is intended to be a simple and elegant desktop environment, capable of providing users with everything needed for a pleasant browsing and an amusing productive experience. The goal is to offer the best and most attractive user interface that a light and powerful desktop environment, like Xfce, can offer.
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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, 26 March 2012.
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 |
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Fusion Linux
Fusion Linux was a Fedora remix that adds all the best software that was available for Linux (free, non-free and even some non-open source firmware and applications for better user experience). It was an installable live DVD image that includes multimedia functionality out of the box, with added desktop tweaks for better usability, and additional software. Fusion Linux was 100% compatible with Fedora, including packages from Fedora and RPM Fusion software repositories.
Status: Discontinued
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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 
