 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 485, 3 December 2012 |
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Welcome to this year's 49th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Creating new distributions is a popular pastime nowadays and many developers are happy to hack around to build something that would incorporate their unique and interesting ideas. This week's feature story looks at a trio of lesser-known Linux distributions - the Debian-based Snowlinux 3, the Arch-based Manjaro Linux 0.8.2 and the CRUX-based Kwort Linux 3.5. Can they compete on the already highly crowded free operating system market? Read on to find out Jesse Smith's findings. In the news section, Linux Mint releases a set of re-spun DVD images to address critical issues discovered in version 14, Fedora continues to work on the redesigned Anaconda system installer, and Debian fine-tunes the upcoming "Wheezy" release with focus on bug-fixing. Also in this issue, how would you define a "distribution" and how is one different from a re-spin? Finally, don't miss the link to an interview with Canonical's Jane Silber where she talks about the future of Ubuntu. Happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (36MB) and MP3 (37MB) formats
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Quick looks at Snowlinux 3, Manjaro Linux 0.8.2 and Kwort Linux 3.5
 The Snowlinux distribution is an odd sort of project. For one thing, it has multiple bases (Debian and Ubuntu). Further, each base has multiple editions, featuring desktop environments such as MATE or Cinnamon & GNOME. To add to the mix each edition comes in 32-bit and 64-bit builds. This means there are a lot of different options for the user to choose from, depending on their taste and hardware. But what really struck me as unusual about Snowlinux was the relative small amount of documentation. There isn't a whole lot on the website about the purpose of the distribution or what sets it apart (aside from the multitude of builds). Going into my review of Snowlinux I was spoiled for choice and, until I booted from the project's ISO, had very little idea about what was in store for me.
It has been a while since I had last tried the Cinnamon desktop and so I decided to try Snowlinux's 32-bit build of version 3 called "White", "Cinnamon" edition. Or, as I grew to think of it, the "Spicy Snow White" edition. The ISO for this edition was approximately 725 MB in size. Booting into Spicy Snow White brought me to a traditional looking desktop environment. The background is mostly white and there are icons on the desktop for browsing the file system and launching the system installer. At the bottom of the screen we find the application launcher and task switcher. The system installer is borrowed from Ubuntu, as is the underlying system.
Unfortunately my trial with Snow White did not last long. It seems the distribution comes with the same graphics performance issue as the latest Ubuntu release. Specifically, navigating the desktop was painfully slow and my CPU was constantly working hard, just to move windows around the graphical interface. Launching small programs, such as a virtual terminal, could take half a minute and trying to open the system installer took nearly a minute. Faced with this sort of performance penalty I realized I could either switch to a different edition (such as the project's MATE edition) or switch to a different distribution. Given that Snowlinux didn't appear to have any unique characteristics, I decided to move on to another project I had been asked to try: Manjaro.
* * * * *
 Manjaro Linux is a distribution based upon the Arch Linux project. It has the goal of maintaining a simple, clean base (like Arch) and includes install scripts and configuration tools to help new users get up and running. The Manjaro project offers both 32-bit and 64-bit builds of their distribution and we find that Manjaro comes in many different flavours. The default edition comes with the Xfce desktop, but there are other builds featuring LXDE, KDE and Cinnamon/GNOME. I opted to try the Xfce edition. The ISO for this build is fairly small, just 520MB in size.
Booting from the Manjaro Linux media brings up a menu asking which language we would like to use and then we can opt to start the live media in the normal graphical mode or in text mode. We can also choose to boot into the graphical mode with the added benefit of non-free video drivers. Regardless of which option I selected I was brought to a text console with a login prompt. Above the prompt is a brief message letting us know the login credentials for both a regular user and the administrator account. I was able to login without any problem, but trying to launch the graphical desktop environment failed and this turned out to be a problem. The Manjaro documentation assumes the user will attempt to launch the installer from the desktop. Starting the system installer from the command prompt isn't covered and searches for combinations of "manjaro", "system" and "install" from the command prompt didn't return any matches. This brought me to a bit of a dead end without a graphical environment and without an installation script. Once again I shifted my focus, this time visiting the Kwort website.
* * * * *
 According to the Kwort Linux project's website the distribution "is a modern and fast Linux distribution that combines powerful and useful applications in order to create a simple system for advanced users who finds a strong and effective desktop. Kwort is based on CRUX, so it's robust, clean and easy to extend." The project offers a 32-bit build which can be downloaded as a 340 MB ISO. At the moment there isn't any 64-bit build, but the project's notes suggest the next version will include a 64-bit option.
Booting from the Kwort Linux media brings up a boot loader prompt and we are encouraged to provide any desired kernel parameters and then press Enter. We're then taken directly into the system installer which is a series of text screens and menus. We're asked to provide our desired keyboard layout and then handed over to the cfdisk disk partitioning utility. Next we are asked to confirm which (if any) partition we wish to use for swap space. Then we select our root partition from a list of on-disk partitions and choose which file system to use. File system options are limited to ext2, ext3 and ext4. Next, the installer copies its files to the local hard drive and then walks us through installing and (optionally) configuring the LILO boot loader. The last step in the install process is setting a password for the root account.
With the installation complete we reboot the computer and we are brought to a text console where we can login using the root account. Here is where we find out what the distribution's description meant when it referred to "advanced users". Creating new user accounts, creating directories for those accounts, setting up user groups and setting passwords are separate processes and performed manually from the command line. Trying to launch a graphical environment failed by default and caused the machine to lock up. I ended up configuring X to get the graphical interface working and then spent several minutes more trying to get the graphical environment, Openbox in this case, to launch without locking up the machine. Luckily the project provides a good deal of useful documentation on trouble shooting common problems and most of my issues were covered.
Once I got logged into Openbox I browsed through the distribution's application menu. Included were the Chrome web browser, a text editor, virtual terminals, Pidgin for instant messaging and the Transmission BitTorrent client. The MPlayer multimedia player and the Midnight Commander file manager are also included. In the background I found the GNU Compiler Collection is installed and, underneath it all, Kwort runs on the Linux kernel, version 3.5.4. There were also a handful of menu items which, curiously, didn't link to available software. For example, there are a number of configuration tools and the LibreOffice suite listed in the application menu, but clicking on these items brings up an error indicating these programs are not installed.
Furthering Kwort's do-it-yourself approach, we must manually configure and activate our network connection and, by default, the system's package manager does not work. The package manager, Kpkg, uses APT-like syntax and contains no package or repository information out of the box. This data must be downloaded and enabled manually. Once the default repository was enabled I found I could download updates and install software, however very few packages are available for us. In fact, almost all searches I performed for software, whether for the desktop or command line, returned no matches. With very little software available out of the box and little in the default repository, I eventually had to give up on using Kwort as a desktop distribution.
* * * * *
Usually when I set out to do multiple reviews in a week it is with a particular theme in mind. Either obscure distributions or ones which fill a particular niche. This time around I ended up trying three different projects, not because it was planned, but because the problems I ran into with each distribution caused me to move on to the next project on my list. With Snowlinux the big issue was the same problem I had with Ubuntu 12.10, the desktop performance was far too slow and gobbled up a huge amount of CPU resources. That, combined with an unusual lack of documentation as to what Snowlinux is and what it does, turned me off the project right away. Manjaro Linux, at first glance, was better. The project is quite up front about what it does and why, it fits a clear purpose and has a little documentation to assist users. Unfortunately, in my case, there was not enough documentation to get the system installed when things went off the rails.
Which brought me to Kwort Linux which, out of the box, didn't really do anything. There was no desktop, I experienced regular lock-ups once I got the desktop running and there was no working package manager. The primary difference, in my mind, between Kwort and the other two projects I downloaded this week was documentation. The Kwort team is aware running an CRUX-based distribution can leave people feeling lost, they are aware it's not always intuitive and that things can go wrong and they have taken steps to guide people through these potential setbacks. That is what kept me plugging away with Kwort while the other two distributions were tried and quickly discarded.
What I hope people will take away from this is not that Snowlinux, Manjaro and Kwort should be avoided. These particular distributions not working for me shouldn't discourage other people from trying them. Manjaro certainly looks interesting and I suspect, had it worked, the light base (Arch) and the light desktop (Xfce) would have made for a very rewarding experience. What I would like people to consider this week, especially those working on software projects, is this: all software projects need documentation. This is something a lot of open source projects, Linux distributions in particular, tend to overlook. No software works perfectly and no software is intuitive to all people, things will always go wrong, someone will always get lost. The Kwort team recognizes this, that people will run into problems, and they have done a good job of covering those issues in their Wiki. I think many open source projects could benefit from their example.
* * * * *
 Last week I wrote a review of the Superb Mini Server (SMS) Live edition. A short time after the review appeared I received an e-mail from the project and the note clears up some of the questions and concerns I had with the distribution. Since they took the time to form a thorough and helpful reply to the review I felt it only fair to share the message with you, the readers, as the more information you have the easier it is to make informed decisions about which distributions to try. The e-mail I received from the SMS team is copied below with their permission.
First I want to thank you for taking time to review SMS, even if it was a quick one and left a bad taste to you and to your readers, I really appreciate it.
I feel I should clear your doubts regarding your issues you experienced, as the maintainer of the SMS project...
Permission denied from Webmin: Webmin's modules use start-up scripts to start/stop services from /etc/rc.d, so if a service is disabled (light) it's logical to complain about "permission denied" as it is not executable. During live boot you choose what you want to test with modes and cheat codes During Native installation you choose which services you want to start at boot. You can of course enable/disable services anytime with smsconfig from the terminal which is even easier for a non-Unix user.
Dual boot installation: The wiki has video tutorials and screen shots of native installations, as you can see it includes modified a Slackware installer so in LILO configuration you can switch to Slackware manual installation, to dual or triple boot.
Services don't work one day, next day do: Now that I haven't experienced, not for me on several installations even from the live CD nor any user in the forum, even the newbies, I don't say that it hasn't happened to you, it's just weird. Maybe you played with slapt-get and upgraded a service which had, by default, a start-up script executable, or your installation was corrupt, don't forget that the live CD installation just copies a running system, with "cp -a" actually.
Issues that do exist in SMS-2.0.1: Live CD PXE booting doesn't work due to kmod and missing /lib/modules/3.2.33-lcd/modules.pcimap, I realize two days ago, and fixed it, it will work in SMS-2.0.2. The packages avahi, PyQT and dbus-python were rebuilt against python-2.7, although that didn't affect their functionality.
Last but not least DistroWatch lists two more reviews, in which they didn't have any of your issues.
Once again I really wanna thank you for your time in reviewing SMS, and I wish you could take a second chance to test SMS, not for reviewing it for DistroWatch, but to clear up any doubts you may have about SMS.
Best Regards,
gerasimos_h
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
Linux Mint releases updated images, Fedora redesigns Anaconda, Debian intensifies "Wheezy" bug fixing, Ubuntu defends Unity
 Linux Mint has become a bright star and a graceful winner, especially among users sceptical about the current wave of experimentation that goes into desktop user interfaces. And, based on online articles and community talk, it's clear that the project's insistence on retaining the classic desktop design is hugely successful. The first reviews of the new Linux Mint 14 seem to support this view. MakeTechEasier's Damien Oh clearly prefers Mint to Ubuntu: "One thing that I noticed for both Linux Mint and Ubuntu is that one of them put their users first, while the other focuses on new features development rather than user experience." In a similar fashion, Linux User's Rob Zwetsloot believes that Mint 14 is the best desktop Linux: "An absolute pleasure to use thanks to its Ubuntu base and alternate desktop environments, Linux Mint is one of the great examples of how Linux can be shaped by the community for the better. Perfect for home use on a main PC, and still great in an office or development environment." Also on a positive note, TheVarGuy's Christopher Tozzi explains the reasons behind Mint's growing acceptance: "Offering these alternative interfaces to users unhappy with the default choices in other Linux distributions is a central component of Mint's popularity."
With all this positive talk, let's not forget that Linux Mint is a software project and bugs occasionally find their way into the system. In a rare move, project founder Clement Lefebvre released a new set of Mint 14 re-spins to address some of the critical issues found after the release: "The ISO images for Linux Mint 14 'Nadia' were updated and labelled '14.1'. All the links were updated on the website and in the announcements to point to the new ISOs. If you're already running Linux Mint 14, you don't need to reinstall. The new ISO images provide fixes for the following issues: high CPU usage, low performance on Intel GPU - this was caused by a race condition between Plymouth and X.Org and affected owners of Intel cards in particular; no DNS resolution, Internet not working in virtual machine - Linux Mint now uses OpenDNS as a fallback for DNS resolution; installer fails to install grub-efi - a bug was fixed and the installer now successfully installs the grub-efi packages in EFI installations." Linux Mint 14.1, being just a re-spin that address certain post-release bugs, is not considered a new release, therefore it wasn't announced on the front page of DistroWatch last week.
* * * * *
 Anaconda, referring to the system installer developed by Red Hat and used in CentOS, Fedora and many Fedora-based distributions, is a familiar beast, especially among system administrators and power users, many of whom likely go through the installation steps with closed eyes. Things are about to change, however. The upcoming release of Fedora 18 will surprise the unprepared with a completely redesigned system installer, or more precisely, its user interface. Nicu Buculei "guides you through the steps in this visual tutorial": "The most important and most visible feature in Fedora 18 is going to be the new user interface for the installer, Anaconda. It was a major change and it needed a major fixing effort, which was the cause for repeated schedule changes (the final release will come with an over two-month delay). Since the beta version was released earlier this week, anyone can perform an install and experiment with the new look and feel. Below is a series of screenshots (click for large size view) captured during my install of the Xfce spin (the steps should be identical for the other spins). I repeat: this is the beta release."
Fedora 18 Beta - the redesigned Anaconda system installer
(full image size: 43kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
* * * * *
 Besides Fedora 18, another much-anticipated release scheduled for 2013 is that of Debian GNU/Linux 7.0, code name "Wheezy". Currently in a state of "freeze", the distribution is being attended to with minute detail in order to remove even the most inconspicuous bugs. Steven Rosenberg looks at the improvements in "Wheezy" and the upgrade process from "Squeeze": "Debian is boring. Releases happen every two years, give or take. Developers spend months and months chasing bugs while other Linux distributions crank out release after release. But Debian gets better as it inches toward release. And if you're running the stable distribution (Squeeze instead of Wheezy, still in testing) you can enjoy the goodness for the next two years — or three if you wish, as Stable gets an extra year of security patches as Old Stable after a new stable version is released. Debian isn't quite as boring as it is conservative. Even though Debian's testing is more stable than many other distributions' actual releases, you can expect some bugs. And if you follow testing, as I am at the moment, you get to see some of those bugs get fixed. One of my problems has been the menu in the Chromium and Google Chrome web browsers. Only in GNOME (and not Xfce), trying to access the menu would freeze the browser and cause a crash."
* * * * *
 While there are signs that the GNOME developers are starting to acknowledge the users' dissatisfaction with the GNOME 3 interface (see this mailing list post as an example), Ubuntu stubbornly continues to throw all its weight behind the Unity desktop. In a recent interview with Linux Format, Canonical CEO Jane Silber argues that Unity is the result brought about by extensive testing: "User research and user testing became a core plank in our approach to the design. So, from the beginning of Unity development we've done a variety of different user testing and research. From exploring initial concepts with paper prototypes to actually getting people in and having them use the software - both during development and afterwards. Even after something's been released, we continue to test it and do milestone checks by repeating some of the same testing." Furthermore, many of these tests are opened to public scrutiny: "We absolutely release results of user testing, and will continue to do that. A lot of it comes up first on our design blog, so if you're interested go there first. But we're quite public in those. There are some things we keep private in the early stages of development for competitive or customer reasons, but in general we'll do as much of that design work in the open as possible, and release the user testing results as well."
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
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Defining a distribution
Working-for-Webster's asks: What is the difference between a distro and a re-spin? Are they the same, what goes into each if there is such a distinction to make?
DistroWatch answers: This is one of those subjects where if you ask five different Linux users you will probably receive five different answers. It never ceases to surprise me how many specific and arbitrary rules people can come up with for defining a distribution. Personally, I take a very simple, dictionary approach to defining a Linux distribution. The way I see it, if a project is distributing a GNU/Linux operating system, then they qualify as a GNU/Linux distribution. As for a re-spin, I would say any time a distribution is created using the same set of repositories as another distribution, that would constitute a re-spin. For example, Fedora is a unique project which distributes a GNU/Linux operating system. That makes Fedora a distribution. There are a number of community projects attached to Fedora which pull packages from the same set of repositories to make Fedora-based media. Some Fedora spins include their KDE, Xfce and LXDE spins. These spins draw from the same collection of packages, but result in an operating system with a different style. This makes them re-spins of Fedora.
Even if a person agrees with the above definitions (and many don't), it still raises some questions as to where to draw the line. For example, is Linux Mint a distribution or a spin? Mint's editions are based off either Ubuntu or Debian. It uses their repositories, making it look like a spin. However Mint also has its own unique programs and its own repositories, making Mint a super-set of its bases. The CentOS project always raises some interesting questions when searching for a definition. CentOS tries to stay as close to its upstream base as possible while just changing the branding of the software and a few configuration files. Since it uses the same source packages, that makes it sound like a re-spin. However, in keeping its own project repositories, with its own unique configuration and branding, it acts like a distribution. In such cases I suspect the issue becomes more a philosophical debate than a technical one.
Should you be interested in seeing the family tree of a distribution to find out from where it comes, you can visit its DistroWatch page. For example, if we visit the Peppermint page, it tells us the project is based on Lubuntu and, in turn, Debian. Clicking on the Lubuntu link shows us Lubuntu is based on Ubuntu's repositories and, in turn, Debian's. The Debian page let's us know Debian is an independent distribution without parentage.
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| Released Last Week |
Salix OS 14.0 "Xfce"
George Vlahavas has announced the release of Salix OS 14.0 "Xfce" edition, a Slackware-based distribution featuring the Xfce 4.10 desktop environment: "Salix Xfce 14.0 is ready. With Xfce 4.10 being the centerpiece of this release, CD images for the i686 and x86_64 architectures are available for immediate download. Apart from Xfce 4.10, software that comes installed includes Linux kernel 3.2.29, Midori 0.4.7 as the default web browser, Claws-Mail 3.8.1 as the application to use for accessing your e-mail accounts, LibreOffice 3.6.3 for all your office needs, GIMP 2.8.2 for everything that has to do with image editing and manipulation, Viewnior 1.3 as the default image viewer, Parole 0.3.0.3 as the default movie player, Exaile 3.3.0 as the application to use for managing your music collection and more." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional details and MD5 checksums.
Salix OS 14.0 "Xfce" - a Slackware-based distro with Xfce 4.10
(full image size: 659kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Clonezilla Live 2.0.1-5
Steven Shiau has announced the release of Clonezilla Live 2.0.1-5, a new stable build of the project's live CD with specialist open-source software for disk backup and cloning tasks: "Stable Clonezilla Live (2.0.1-5) released. This release of Clonezilla Live includes minor enhancements and bug fixes: the underlying GNU/Linux operating system was upgraded, this release is based on the Debian 'sid' repository (as of 2012-11-26); Linux kernel was updated to 3.2.32; package drbl was updated to 2.1.34-drbl1, and Clonezilla was updated to 3.1.22; a KMS mode was added in the boot menu; Partclone was updated to 0.2.56; packages tcplay and mpg123 were added; boot parameter 'ocs_lang' is now replaced by 'locales' from live-config; boot parameter 'ocs_live_keymap' is now replaced by 'keyboard-layouts' from live-config...." Read the full release announcement for a detailed changelog.
Tails 0.15
A new version of Tails, a Debian-based live system with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user, has been released: "Tails, The Amnesic Incognito Live System, version 0.15, is out. All users must upgrade as soon as possible. Changes: Tor upgrade to 0.2.3.25. Major new features: persistence for browser bookmarks; support for obfsproxy bridges. Minor improvements: add the Hangul (Korean) Input Method Engine for SCIM; preliminary support for some OpenPGP SmartCard readers; support printers that need HPIJS PPD and/or the IJS driver; optimize fonts display for LCD; update TrueCrypt to version 7.1a. Bug fixes: Fix gpgApplet menu display in Windows camouflage mode; fix Tor reaching an inactive state if it's restarted in 'bridge mode', e.g. during the time sync process. Iceweasel update to 10.0.11esr." Read the rest of the release announcement for a full list of new features.
Rocks Cluster Distribution 6.1
Philip Papadopoulos has announced the release of Rocks Cluster Distribution 6.1, a CentOS-based open-source toolkit for real and virtual clusters: "The latest update of Rocks, code name 'Emerald Boa', is now released. Emerald Boa is available for CentOS 6.3 (Rocks 6.1). The Rocks-supplied OS rolls have all updates applied as of November 27, 2012. New features: host-based SSH authentication is now the default, this eliminates the requirement the users have password-less SSH keys and/or mounted home area on remote nodes; two-factor SSH authentication using Google Authenticator Apps for Android and iPhone is supported for all users; New ZFS Linux roll to support the ZFS file system via the ZFS on Linux; new kernel roll to more easily support vanilla Linux kernels." See the release announcement and release notes for further details.
OS4 13.1 "OpenDesktop"
Roberto Dohnert has announced the release of OS4 13.1 "OpenDesktop", an updated build of the project's desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu: "Today the OS4 team is pleased to announce the much-anticipated update of OpenDesktop 13 with OS4 OpenDesktop 13.1. With this release we bring new features and bug fixes to OpenDesktop. OS4 OpenDesktop 13.1 still continues to revolutionize the Linux user experience with an excellent interface and easy-to-use applications, and it comes with new options to enhance your OS4 user experience. Superior functionality with some great new options. Some of the new features include: the Xfce workspace has been upgraded to 4.10 with Thunar upgraded to 1.5.3; we are introducing a revolutionary deskbar interface, enhanced icon set and window manager theme users will find familiar from our early days...." Read the rest of the release announcement for additional notes a video presentation.
aptosid 2012-01
Stefan Lippers-Hollmann has announced the release of aptosid 2012.1, a new version of the project's desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's unstable branch. From the release notes: "New features in aptosid 2012-01 are Linux kernel 3.6 and numerous integration and stabilisation fixes. Special focus has been cast upon improving system compatibility with new hardware platforms like AMD Bulldozer or Intel Ivy-Bridge and reworking the live system environment. Kernel 3.6 doesn't only improve and stabilise hardware support for newer devices, it also adapts ASPM heuristics for better power-saving and improved battery runtimes. Another topic has been the kernel's entropy gathering framework, both improving its performance and quality for systems providing little entropy by themselves."
aptosid 2012-01 - a Debian-based distribution with KDE 4.8.4
(full image size: 976kB, 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 |
New distributions added to database
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- Cylon Linux. Cylon Linux is an Ubuntu-based desktop Linux distribution with the GNOME Classic user interface and a large selection of software for everyday needs.
- Rebellin. Rebellin is a desktop Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 10 December 2012. To contact the authors please send email to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, suggestions and corrections: news, donations, distribution submissions, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (feedback and suggestions: podcast edition)
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Phinx Desktop was a PCLinuxOS-based live CD. It uses a pure Xfce desktop environment with recommended or default Xfce applications, settings and configurations only.
Status: Discontinued
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