 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 501, 1 April 2013 |
Welcome to this year's 13th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! We'll start with first look reviews of the recently-released KANOTIX 2013, a Debian-based distribution with excellent hardware support and a large number of applications on its live DVD, and GhostBSD 3.0, a FreeBSD-based operating system for desktop computing with multiple desktops and window managers to suit several tastes. In the news section, openSUSE offers a new rescue CD variant for its 12.3 version, Debian Project Leader candidates present their visions of the world's largest Linux distribution, Haiku starts work on improving its package management system, and Oracle Linux lures new customers by providing advantages over other enterprise Linux systems. Also in this issue, links to resources offering help in the domain of computer forensics and related tasks and news about a much-needed update of the DistroWatch distribution database. Finally, we are happy to announce that the recipient of the March 2013 DistroWatch.com donation is the GhostBSD project. Happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (18MB) and MP3 (32MB) formats
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
First looks at KANOTIX 2013 and GhostBSD 3.0
 This week I would like to quickly shine a light on two projects which generally don't get a lot of attention, but I find them interesting nonetheless. The first project on my list this week is KANOTIX, a live DVD which is designed to showcase the latest and greatest products in the open source community. KANOTIX is based on the Debian project and is generally used as a demo disc to show off new software. In addition the KANOTIX disc can be used to recover software from damaged systems or assist in the removal of malware. The latest KANOTIX release features modern versions of WINE, the Valve Steam client, LibreOffice 4.0, the Linux kernel (version 3.8) and Iceweasel 19. The live disc is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit builds, plus there is a two-architectures-in-one download which combines both 32-bit and 64-bit builds. I opted to download the 32-bit build of KANOTIX which is 1.3 GB in size.
Booting from the KANOTIX disc brings up a GRUB 2 boot menu and lets us load the distribution using either German or English as the system's language. From there we are brought to a KDE4 desktop. The application menu and task switcher rest at the bottom of the screen. On the desktop we find an icon for launching the distribution's IRC client which automatically connects us with the project's chat room. This direct link to live help provides us with a convenient way to get assistance.
Though KANOTIX is typically used as a live disc rather than a locally installed operating system the project does provide a graphical system installer. I tried running the installer and found it starts us off by asking us to run a partition manager. Three partition managers (GParted, cfdisk and fdisk) can be launched from within the installer. I found attempting to launch the graphical utility, GParted, would cause the partition manager to immediately crash, however both console based utilities (fdisk and cfdisk) ran without any problems. Once we have divided up the disk we are asked to select one of our local partitions to use as a location for KANOTIX's root file system. I tried running the installer three times, dividing up the hard disk in different ways, but the KANOTIX installer was never able to detect my partitions and I was therefore unable to assign mount points. This prevented me from completing an installation and the remainder of my time with KANOTIX was spent running the distribution from the live DVD.
KANOTIX 2013 - applications and settings
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KANOTIX uses KDE 4.8 for its desktop environment. By default desktop effects are enabled and search indexing is turned off. The interface is pleasantly lacking in applications and notifications which might demand attention. This makes for a clean, responsive and attractive user interface. Tucked away in the distribution's menu we find a goldmine of software, most of it recent releases. We're given the Iceweasel web browser and Icedove e-mail client. The Skype voice over IP software is included as is the Pidgin instant messenger client. LibreOffice is included in the application menu as are a PDF viewer and the GNU Image Manipulation Program. We're further given the K3b disc burning software, the VLC multimedia application, the Amarok music player and the Kaffine media player. To accompany these multimedia programs the operating system includes popular media codecs and Flash.
A small collection of games is included in the menu along with the Steam gaming portal. There are control panels for managing ATI and NVIDIA video drivers, a graphical user account manager and the GParted partition utility. The Midnight Commander file manager is included on the disc and we also find a collection of small apps for editing text and handling file archives. The WINE compatibility layer is included, allowing us to run many Windows applications and Java is available on the disc. KANOTIX comes with the KDE user documentation along with command line manual pages. Network Manager is provided to help us get on-line and the system runs on top of the Linux kernel, version 3.8.
The KANOTIX distribution will allow users to install additional software using the Synaptic graphical package manager. Software packages are pulled in from a variety of sources, most notably the Debian project's repositories. The KANOTIX project also maintains its own repositories for custom packages and Synaptic will download updates to the Steam client from the Steam Powered package repository. This gives us access to well over 30,000 packages and adds to the long list of roles KANOTIX can be used to demo.
Despite my inability to get KANOTIX installed locally on my computer I still have to say I like what the distribution is doing. It's a really good demo disc with modern hardware support, cutting-edge software, a massive supply of packages from the Debian repositories and a wide range of functionality, including Flash, Steam and WINE. The user interface is attractive and quick to respond. All of these features combined make KANOTIX a good platform for demonstrating the power of a Linux-based operating system.
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 The GhostBSD project provides a desktop-oriented approach to running the FreeBSD operating system. GhostBSD takes the FreeBSD base, adds a graphical installer and ships with various graphical interfaces pre-configured for our use. The latest release of GhostBSD, version 3.0, comes in three flavours -- GNOME, Openbox and LXDE. Each build is available in 32-bit and 64-bit architectures and rests atop the FreeBSD 9.1 operating system. Each flavour comes with a number of improvements over previous GhostBSD releases including ZFS upgrades, easier wireless network configuration and improved Intel and NVIDIA video card support. I opted to try the LXDE edition of GhostBSD and the download image was 695 MB in size.
Booting from the GhostBSD media quickly brings up a desktop environment supplied by LXDE with scenic wallpaper. At the bottom of the screen we find the application menu, task switcher and system tray. On the desktop is a single icon for launching the project's installer. The graphical desktop is quite light on resources and I found it to be very responsive. There aren't any notifications or desktop effects enabled in the LXDE edition of GhostBSD which gives us a fast, clean environment in which to work.
GhostBSD 3.0 - system installer and virtual terminal
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The GhostBSD system installer is a graphical application with a simple, yet attractive, layout. We are asked for our preferred language and we are then asked to confirm our keyboard layout. Next the installer asks us to select our time zone from a list. The following screen gives us a few partitioning options, including manually setting up partitions for GhostBSD or letting the operating system take over one of our local hard disks. With that done we are asked to provide a password for the root account and create a regular user account for ourselves. The installer then displays a summary of actions it will take in case we'd like to change our minds. Once we confirm our choices the installer starts copying files to our hard drive. This was as far as I got. I ran the installer several times with various partition layouts. I found that after the installer had copied about 2GB of data to the hard drive it would run into a problem, report it was unable to continue and exit. I tried running the installer both in a virtual machine and on physical equipment and encountered the same issue in both environments. As a result my time with GhostBSD, as with KANOTIX, was limited to running the operating system from live media.
The GhostBSD live media comes with a small collection of useful software. We are provided with the Firefox web browser, the Pidgin instant messaging client and the XChat IRC client. The Transmission bittorrent client is included on the disc too. The application menu features the AbiWord and Gnumeric productivity applications alongside a PDF viewer. GhostBSD comes with a video player, the LXMusic audio player and an image viewer. We also find a text editor, an archive manager and an optical disc burner in the application menu. One application which sets GhostBSD apart from most other BSD projects is the inclusion of a graphical package manager. This package manager is divided into two tabs, one which shows installed software and the second tab shows software available in the FreeBSD ports collection. Using this graphical front-end we can add and remove software from our system using a fairly simple interface. The organization of the ports collection may take some getting used to as the ports tree categorizes software a bit differently than we typically see in the Linux community, but much of the same software is available.
GhostBSD 3.0 - desktop applications and virtual keyboard
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Despite the drawback of not being able to install GhostBSD to a local drive I'm glad to see this project is still in active development. The BSD family of operating systems has a great deal to offer in both design and technology, however there aren't many beginner-friendly avenues by which to approach the BSD projects. GhostBSD, with its multiple desktop editions and its ability to fit on a single CD, is perhaps the easiest BSD project to simply pick up and try. The operating system is light, it comes with a handful of useful applications and the project's lead developer, Eric Turgeon, responds to emails from users in a quick and friendly manner. My experience prevents me from forming an opinion as to how well GhostBSD holds up to long term use, but as a demo disc it is a great way to introduce people to FreeBSD.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
DistroWatch database changes, openSUSE Rescue-CD, visions of DPL candidates, Haiku package management, Oracle Linux advantages
 Over the years DistroWatch has emerged as the premier database of free operating systems on the Internet. It started as a simple site covering just 12 Linux distributions, but as the time progressed and Linux became more popular, we have seen a rapid proliferation of derivative Linux distributions. As a result this site's database has swollen to a whopping 746 free operating systems and is growing every week! Clearly, this is unsustainable. It's great to have a choice, but imagine walking into an ice cream shop that offers 746 ice cream flavours! Even the biggest ice cream parlours offer perhaps 25 different ice creams - anything more than that would be just plain costly and inefficient for the owners of the business. As a result, we have decided to cut down on the number of distributions tracked in our database - from the current 746 to just 25. That's right, starting today, all superfluous distributions will be removed and no longer tracked - these include anything below number 25 in our page hit ranking statistics, such as Fuduntu, Kubuntu, Gentoo Linux, PC-BSD or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. These distributions are clearly not very popular, so why bother? We hope the DistroWatch readers will appreciate the streamlined way of choosing the best free operating system, but if some of you have any objections, feel free to comment below.
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 With the release of openSUSE 12.3 last month, some savvy downloaders might have noticed a new "Rescue-CD" ISO image available in the distribution's repository. So what exactly is the openSUSE Rescue-CD? This blog post, entitled "What is the openSUSE 12.3 Rescue CD?" gives an excellent insight: "Although I've been an openSUSE user for a few years now, I haven't tried the brand spanking openSUSE 12.3, which looks to be one of the better releases of the SUSE team. The openSUSE 12.3 Rescue CD, released along with the KDE, DVD, and GNOME editions, is not designed to be installed but rather to run as a live CD or live USB for use with workstations or home desktops for repairing or recovering data. Although the openSUSE 12.3 Rescue CD doesn't have the reputation of easy-to-use specialized rescue live CDs such as SystemRescueCd, Clonezilla, or even KNOPPIX (which has had a long history of being the Swiss army knife of Linux distributions), there are advantages in using openSUSE over other recovery live CDs. I myself have used KNOPPIX for more than half a decade for accessing files from Windows and Linux systems, saving Linux distributions, and fixing GRUB. However, considering that my systems run openSUSE, having an openSUSE recovery system seems like a no-brainer."
* * * * *
 As the annual DPL (Debian Project Leader) elections get closer, it is interesting to question the status and the direction of the world's largest community software project as viewed by the potential candidates. Last week bits.debian.org ran a series of interviews with the three DPL candidates (Moray Allan, Lucas Nussbaum and Gergely Nagy) who were asked to present themselves and their visions for the project. So what do the three candidates think are the biggest challenges ahead of the distribution? Moray Allan: "I think the biggest challenges are for free software in general. End-users are moving to more closed hardware -- will our software be able to run on the phones and tablets people are shifting towards? At the same time, end-users and server users are moving to 'the cloud', and often depending more heavily on non-free infrastructure outside their own control." Lucas Nussbaum: "I often have the impression that the project is losing momentum, positive energy, and slowing down. It feels like we are living on the benefits of the past. A lot of very cool things happen in the Debian ecosystem, but very often outside the Debian project (in derivative distributions)." Gergely Nagy: "The biggest challenge is growing up, to become more than a group of computer geeks creating an amazing distribution. To become a community of a wide variety of people, where both computer geeks and art geeks feel equally at home."
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 Haiku, the free operating system that emerged as the successor of BeOS, has been growing rapidly in recent years. Still, the project has a long way to go, especially technically, as documented by this blog post on Haiku package management: "Last Friday Oliver and I met up to discuss the state of things and how we intend to proceed. The run-time support for package management in Haiku (in the package management branch, of course) is in pretty good shape already. With the system itself and all the third-party software living in packages the system boots and is fully functional. So first of all we're going to focus on the package building side of things. ATM all third-party packages are just repackaged versions of the ZIP files Haiku used before. Back in 2011 I started to extend haikuporter to produce actual packages instead of ZIP files and update the BEP files (build recipes) for some fundamental tools accordingly. My first task, now, is to continue updating BEP files until at least all the packages needed for building packages can be built this way. Then I will have enough packages to complete the work on libsolv and the dependency solving."
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 As far as enterprise Linux goes Oracle Linux is sometimes a little misunderstood (maybe even mistrusted) as a possible solution for medium-size companies and data centres. Last week Monica Kumar, a young senior director at the company, has shed some light on the Oracle Linux releases in this article entitled "Q&A About the Latest Oracle Linux Releases". Why is Oracle Linux better than the distribution it's derived from -- Red Hat Enterprise Linux? "Oracle Linux including the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel is developed to provide high performance and stability for mission-critical applications. Users benefit from the innovations and improvements occurring in the mainline Linux community, which we deliver rapidly with Oracle Linux. In addition, Oracle Linux is the most well-tested distribution for enterprise workloads, especially Oracle workloads. We conduct over 100,000 hours/day of testing at Oracle using Oracle Linux. Additionally, support of Oracle's Engineered Systems plus the enterprise application knowledge that we have, is unmatched by our competitors. The technical support we provide with Oracle Linux also includes important bug fixes that Red Hat may choose not to release. For our customers, these fixes are critical and it is one of the many reasons they choose Oracle Linux."
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Resources for learning about computer forensics
Sifting-through-the-wreckage asks: I've been seeing forensic distributions being announced or updated recently. At work I've installed SIFT Linux from the SANS Institute. I'm far from an expert but it looks interesting. What are some good, modern, resources for learning about computer forensics? Why do many of the forensic distributions seem to favor running in a virtual machine?
DistroWatch answers: There are a lot of good resources and books out there to help people get started in the art of retrieving and analyzing digital data. In fact there are so many resources out there it can be difficult to know where to begin. My recommendation for getting started would be to visit the CERT Forensics website. There you will find papers and podcasts introducing forensic concepts, a repository of utilities for Fedora and CentOS users and training resources. It's a good first-step portal into the world of digital forensic investigation. Should you be interested in finding a book which will introduce the technical side of digital forensics (as opposed to the legal side of the business) then you may want to read Digital Forensics with Open Source Tools which covers the use of forensic tools which can be used to investigate both Windows and Linux-based operating systems.
As to why forensic distributions might recommend running their software in a virtual machine I believe there are three reasons for favoring that approach as opposed to running the tools directly on physical hardware. The first is that running in a virtual machine adds a layer of security. People who work in forensics tend to be security conscious and running software inside a virtual environment places one extra barrier between potential attackers and the host operating system. A second reason is consistency. Once you've set up a virtual machine you can take a snapshot of that machine and save it, treating the snapshot as a known state. You can be fairly certain the snapshot is not compromised and that it is working properly. We can then make copies of the virtual machine or restore the snapshot if we need to get back to that pristine condition. It's much easier to verify the condition of a virtual machine than it is to verify the condition of a operating system which is installed on physical hardware. It's also faster to restore a virtual machine back to its pristine condition than it is to restore an operating system installed on physical hardware. The third reason is focus. When a utility has been shown to work in a virtual environment, such as VirtualBox, the authors of the utility don't have to worry about additional hardware support. They can focus on improving the utility without wondering if their product will work on other hardware. Encouraging people to run their utility in a virtual machine can reduce the amount of time they need to send trouble shooting hardware related problems.
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| Released Last Week |
ZevenOS 3.0 "Neptune"
Leszek Lesner has announced the release of ZevenOS 3.0 "Neptune" edition, a Debian-based desktop Linux distribution for 64-bit computer systems with a customised KDE as the default desktop: "The Neptune team is proud to announce the release of Neptune 3.0 'Brotkasten'. This release features the Linux kernel 3.8.4 and is exclusively meant to run on 64-bit CPUs. We switched the Debian base from 'Testing' to 'Wheezy' to provide a more stable and better experience. The KDE Plasma Desktop ships with version 4.10.1. Chromium was updated to version 25, Icedove to version 10.0.12, GIMP 2.8.2, Kdenlive 0.9.4, Amarok 2.7, VLC 2.0.5. We ship the latest and greatest multimedia codecs pre-installed as well as the Flash Player. For wireless diagnosis we ship Wireshark, Aircrack-ng and kismon." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details, screenshots and changelog.
Pardus Linux 2013
Pardus Linux 2013 has been released. This is the first stable release of the "new" Debian-based Pardus Linux with GNOME and KDE desktops, currently available in Turkish only. From the release announcement: "Pardus 2013 Corporate is released and available in four flavors. GNOME (x86, amd64) and KDE (x86, amd64). Currently the distribution is only available in Turkish, but this situation will change in the future. Pardus 2013 has many new features inside out. First and most important, Pardus is now based on Debian 'Wheezy' and built using tools provided by the debian-live project. Other features include but not limited to: installable live images for peaceful exploration; integrated and simplified installer for easy installation; Firefox 17esr and Thunderbird 17esr for stable internet experience; complete multimedia tools for hassle-free multimedia experience."
Pardus Linux 2013 - a Turkish Debian-based distribution with GNOME or KDE
(full image size: 894kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
SparkyLinux 2.1 "GameOver"
Paweł Pijanowski has announced the release of SparkyLinux 2.1 "GameOver" edition, a Debian-based distribution with a customised LXDE desktop and a good collection of games: "Brand new, two-egged SparkyLinux 2.1 'GameOver' is out. It's the second, special edition of SparkyLinux 'GameOver' released for Easter 2013. It has been directly built on SparkyLinux 2.1 'Eris' and Debian 'Wheezy'. All packages have been synchronized with the Debian testing repository as of 2013-03-24. I made a few big changes so the system features: Linux kernel 3.2 i386 for old PCs and Linux kernel 3.8-liquorix (option) i686-pae for modern PCs designed for multimedia and gaming; glibc has been updated up to 2.17 from the experimental repository; Iceweasel, VLC, Leafpad, Pidgin, Transmission, XChat...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more info and screenshot.
Scientific Linux 6.4
Pat Riehecky has announced the release of Scientific Linux 6.4, a distribution built from source package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 and enhanced with software suitable for use in scientific and academic environments: "Scientific Linux 6.4 is officially released. The OpenAFS kernel module package has changed - with SL 6.0 we started packaging the OpenAFS client's kernel module according to the guidelines from TUV's Driver Update Program. Due to unanticipated changes with the 6.3 kernel, we've had to revisit the process. With the 6.4 release, we modified the packaging to provide a dedicated build of the module for each minor SL release, instead of one kernel module (kmod) for all SL6 kernels. Since the EL kernel ABI is supposed to be kept stable within a minor release, this should avoid the problems some SL users experienced." Read the rest of the release announcement for other important notes.
Bodhi Linux 2.3.0
Jeff Hoogland has announced the release of Bodhi Linux 2.3.0, a new version of the Ubuntu-based distribution with the latest Enlightenment window manager: "After almost exactly three months since our Bodhi 2.2.0 release the Bodhi team and I are happy to announce the next update release for our 2.x.y series - Bodhi Linux 2.3.0. Again because this is a minor update release people who are already using our 2.x.y branch can simply upgrade to this release via their package manager. As with our 2.2.0 release there are three disc downloads for this version: 32-bit featuring a current PAE enabled kernel, 32-bit featuring a non-PAE kernel with older hardware support, 64-bit featuring a current kernel. Software wise we see the following updates with this release: Linux Kernel 3.8, Enlightenment 0.17.1, Midori 0.4.9, Terminology 0.3.0, eCcess system tool, Ubiquity 2.12." Here is the full release announcement with screenshots.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
March 2013 DistroWatch.com donation: GhostBSD
We are happy to announce that the recipient of the March 2013 DistroWatch.com donation is GhostBSD, a FreeBSD-based operating system with a desktop focus. It receives C$350.00 in cash.
A brainchild of Eric Turgeon, GhostBSD is a relatively new project, with the first stable release, version 1.0, only arriving on the scene some three years ago. As such, it is a niche operating systems, perhaps hoping to attract users who are somewhat fed up with the rapid (and sometimes controversial) development in the world of Linux and who are seeking an alternative to the other desktop FreeBSD - the well-established PC-BSD. GhostBSD is also one of the very few operating systems that still ship the good-old GNOME 2 (as well providing separate edition with the LXDE desktop and another with the Openbox window manager). Another indication of the project's underachievement is its inability to raise funds - while, for example, Linux Mint generates monthly donation and sponsorship income that exceeds or is close to a 5-digit figure, the GhostBSD project has managed to raise just C$91.17 in the first three months of this year. But all projects have to start somewhere and hopefully we'll see a better future for one of the few FreeBSD-based operating systems that target desktop computing. For more information about GhostBSD please visit the project's about page.
Launched in 2004, this monthly donations programme is a DistroWatch initiative to support free and open-source software projects and operating systems with cash contributions. Readers are welcome to nominate their favourite project for future donations. Those readers who wish to contribute towards these donations, please use our advertising page to make a payment (PayPal, credit cards and Bitcoins are accepted). Here is the list of the projects that have received a DistroWatch donation since the launch of the programme (figures in US dollars):
- 2004: GnuCash ($250), Quanta Plus ($200), PCLinuxOS ($300), The GIMP ($300), Vidalinux ($200), Fluxbox ($200), K3b ($350), Arch Linux ($300), Kile KDE LaTeX Editor ($100) and UNICEF - Tsunami Relief Operation ($340)
- 2005: Vim ($250), AbiWord ($220), BitTorrent ($300), NDISwrapper ($250), Audacity ($250), Debian GNU/Linux ($420), GNOME ($425), Enlightenment ($250), MPlayer ($400), Amarok ($300), KANOTIX ($250) and Cacti ($375)
- 2006: Gambas ($250), Krusader ($250), FreeBSD Foundation ($450), GParted ($360), Doxygen ($260), LilyPond ($250), Lua ($250), Gentoo Linux ($500), Blender ($500), Puppy Linux ($350), Inkscape ($350), Cape Linux Users Group ($130), Mandriva Linux ($405, a Powerpack competition), Digikam ($408) and Sabayon Linux ($450)
- 2007: GQview ($250), Kaffeine ($250), sidux ($350), CentOS ($400), LyX ($350), VectorLinux ($350), KTorrent ($400), FreeNAS ($350), lighttpd ($400), Damn Small Linux ($350), NimbleX ($450), MEPIS Linux ($300), Zenwalk Linux ($300)
- 2008: VLC ($350), Frugalware Linux ($340), cURL ($300), GSPCA ($400), FileZilla ($400), MythDora ($500), Linux Mint ($400), Parsix GNU/Linux ($300), Miro ($300), GoblinX ($250), Dillo ($150), LXDE ($250)
- 2009: Openbox ($250), Wolvix GNU/Linux ($200), smxi ($200), Python ($300), SliTaz GNU/Linux ($200), LiVES ($300), Osmo ($300), LMMS ($250), KompoZer ($360), OpenSSH ($350), Parted Magic ($350) and Krita ($285)
- 2010: Qimo 4 Kids ($250), Squid ($250), Libre Graphics Meeting ($300), Bacula ($250), FileZilla ($300), GCompris ($352), Xiph.org ($250), Clonezilla ($250), Debian Multimedia ($280), Geany ($300), Mageia ($470), gtkpod ($300)
- 2011: CGSecurity ($300), OpenShot ($300), Imagination ($250), Calibre ($300), RIPLinuX ($300), Midori ($310), vsftpd ($300), OpenShot ($350), Trinity Desktop Environment ($300), LibreCAD ($300), LiVES ($300), Transmission ($250)
- 2012: GnuPG ($350), ImageMagick ($350), GNU ddrescue ($350), Slackware Linux ($500), MATE ($250), LibreCAD ($250), BleachBit ($350), cherrytree ($260), Zim ($335), nginx ($250), LFTP ($250), Remastersys ($300)
- 2013: MariaDB ($300), Linux From Scratch ($350), GhostBSD ($340)
Since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$34,975 to various open-source software projects.
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New distributions added to waiting list
- RŌNIN. RŌNIN is a Linux security distribution (based on Lubuntu) that provides a platform for training and conducting professional data forensics, penetration testing and incident response.
- VelsaOS. VelsaOS is a UNIX-like clone of MikeOS written in Assembly Programming Language.
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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, 8 April 2013. 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 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 |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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FoX Desktop
FoX Linux was a single-CD desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Fedora Core, with KDE as its preferred desktop, main components recompiled for the i686 architecture and out-of-the-box support for popular multimedia formats.
Status: Discontinued
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