 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 553, 7 April 2014 |
Welcome to this year's 14th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
One of the great benefits inherent in open source software is the way distributions can be customized. Users of open source operating systems do not need to bow to the idea of "one size fits all". This means people who want lots of features running on powerful hardware can find a matching operating system. Others, who are using older hardware and require efficiency, can find smaller distributions to suits their needs. This week we focus on a wide range of projects filling many different niches. We start with a review of Puppy Linux, a small, user-friendly distribution that targets lower-end hardware. In our News section this week we talk about openSUSE's new KDE software repositories, Ubuntu's future plans for their One file synchronization service and Slax's quest to find a new default desktop environment. DragonflyBSD, a powerful server operating system, may be going through some exciting changes this year. The project is looking at expanding its virtualization support and there are plans to release a new version of the advanced Hammer file system. We also cover an interview with a Gentoo developer and discuss pop-ups recently seen by Android users on this website. In our Tips and Tricks column this week, guest writer Richard White provides a tutorial for working with GNU Privacy Guard, a useful tool for securing private documents. As usual, we cover the distribution releases of the past week and look ahead to fun new developments to come. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
First Impressions of Slacko Puppy 5.7
There were concerns last year when Barry Kauler announced he was retiring from the Puppy Linux project. People wondered how the Puppy project would do without the founder at the distribution's helm. Well, the good news for fans of the Puppy distribution is that there is an active community surrounding Puppy and the project is continuing to put out new releases. The most recent release of the distribution is Slacko Puppy 5.7. Slacko Puppy is an edition of Puppy Linux put together using packages from the Slackware distribution. This means Slacko Puppy is binary compatible with Slackware 14.0 and can use packages built for the Slackware and Salix distributions.
The latest version of Slacko Puppy is available in two 32-bit flavours. One build includes PAE support and the other does not, allowing Puppy to run on older hardware. Both download images are approximately 160MB in size. Booting from the Puppy media brings us to a graphical environment running atop Joe's Window Manager (JWM). An initial configuration screen appears, presenting us with a single, compact collection of options. From this window we can make initial adjustments to our preferred language, set our time zone, enable the distribution's firewall, adjust the resolution of our display and set a hostname. Once we look over the options and dismiss the configuration window, the distribution plays a barking sound, confirming the sound system works. Then a welcome screen appears, explaining where we can find local help files, how we can get on-line and we are offered a link to Puppy's control centre. The distribution's graphical user interface is presented in a traditional manner with an application menu, task switcher and system tray placed at the bottom of the screen. Several icons sit on the desktop, presenting us with short-cuts to Puppy's system installer, a web browser, e-mail client, productivity software and more. Sitting in the system tray we find icons for managing the firewall and network configuration.
Slacko Puppy 5.7 -- Accessing Puppy's documentation
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Puppy can be installed a few different ways and on a variety of storage media. The distribution recommends installing Puppy using what is called the Frugal method. This essentially allows Puppy to be installed on the partition of another operating system and saves the user from the hassle of rearranging their hard drive partitions. Puppy may also be installed in a more traditional manner with the distribution getting a dedicated hard disk partition. I opted to use the latter method and found the Puppy system installer did a nice job of walking me through the steps. The graphical installer provides a short, quick method of getting Puppy onto the local hard disk. We set up partitions using the GParted partition manager, select whether we want a Full (traditional) or Frugal installation. We select the partition we want to use, the installer copies its files and, at the end, we are advised to manually run the GRUB boot loader setup wizard.
I ran into two problems during the install process. The first was that Puppy's installer claimed there was already an installation of the distribution on my hard drive (there was not). I was offered the choice of upgrading the non-existent installation or wiping it and performing a fresh installation. I took the latter option. The first time through the install process I ran the GRUB setup application in its basic mode. Upon rebooting the GRUB menu came up with three options (Puppy, Ubuntu and Windows), though only the first operating system in the list existed on the drive. None of the options would cause Puppy to boot. I launched Puppy from the live media again and re-ran the GRUB setup script in Expert mode. This time, when I rebooted the machine, selecting "Puppy" from the GRUB menu caused my local copy of Puppy to boot properly.
At least Puppy booted properly when I ran it in a virtual machine powered by VirtualBox. When I tried running Puppy on physical hardware the distribution was unable to boot. Puppy operated smoothly in the virtual environment. Programs opened quickly, the desktop was responsive and Puppy managed to get by with less than 100MB of memory. The only problem I had with Puppy when running in a virtual machine was with the mouse pointer. The Puppy mouse pointer did not integrate well with my host operating system's mouse pointer and this sometimes made clicking on buttons (particularly small ones) difficult.
Slacko Puppy 5.7 -- Managing software packages and system settings
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Software management on Puppy is an unusual affair when compared against other Linux distributions. At first things seem similar with Puppy's graphical package manager giving us the ability to browse categories of software and see lists of packages matching our searches. Where Puppy's package management differs from many mainstream distributions is the steps we take once a package has been marked for installation. Puppy will give us the option of resolving dependencies or simply installing software without dependencies (which seems unlikely to be productive). Then we are asked to manually select a repository mirror from a list of servers. Slacko Puppy generally pulls software from Slackware repositories, providing us with a large range of packages. Each package download is then processed one at a time, each package resulting in a new console window opening to display its progress. If we are just downloading one or two packages this approach works well, but if we need twenty packages the steady flood of new console windows popping up prevents us from using the desktop for anything else while packages are downloading. I had mixed results using Puppy's package manager. Most of the time it worked, but I did run into a few instances of package dependencies not downloading or installing with errors. I also found, once new software had been installed, it could be challenging to hunt down the new item in Puppy's very full application menu.
Speaking of applications, Puppy comes with a lot of utilities. In fact, the tiny distribution packs a surprising amount of software into a tiny space. Puppy ships with the Firefox web browser and Sylpheed e-mail client. By default there was no Flash plugin for Firefox, but there is a program in the application menu which downloads and installs Adobe's Flash player. The AbiWord and Gnumeric productivity applications are featured, along with the XChat IRC client. The application menu contains a PDF viewer and a program which converts various document types to PDF files. The GNOME front-end to MPlayer is included and I found Puppy could play all multimedia files I threw at it. The distribution ships with disc burning software, a multimedia file converter, a handful of games, the Transmission bittorrent client and some drawing programs. We are given a calendar app, a calculator and a text editor. There are system administration utilities as well, including a log viewer and programs to display hardware information. There is a program for setting up the distribution's firewall and a task scheduler which appears to be a graphical front-end to the venerable cron daemon. In the background Puppy supplies the Linux kernel, version 3.4.
Slacko Puppy 5.7 -- Various desktop applications
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One topic which tends to come up whenever Puppy is discussed is the project's approach to security, or perhaps its lack of security. The distribution is, by default, effectively a single-user system. When the distribution boots we are automatically logged into the system as the root (administrator) user. As the only user on the system has full control and there is no password to get in the way, Puppy has earned a reputation as either being quite convenient or reckless, depending on one's feelings toward recommended security practices. Personally, while running as the root user all the time makes me uncomfortable (mostly because one false keystroke or mouse click could wipe out a portion of my operating system), I will acknowledge that Puppy appears geared mostly toward being used as a live CD, not as a primary operating system. The distribution appears to be trying very hard to make things as easy for the user as possible. Apart from the lack of passwords or user restrictions, the distribution ships with icons on the desktop for popular end-user applications. These icons are labeled based on a task rather than with an application name. This should make it fairly easy for new users to locate the software they need. It is easier for a new user to find and select "email", "write" or "draw" than to understand the significance of "Thunderbird", "Kate" and "GIMP". Puppy's utilities also come with a lot of built-in documentation. The system installer, for instance, and the initial configuration wizard both give a good deal of on-screen explanation as to what they do and how the user should interact with these tools. I like this approach as it lowers the bar for using Puppy and saves the user from hunting for on-line assistance. In short, while Puppy's approach to user accounts is unusual, it does fit consistently with the project's other characteristics and user-friendly focus.
A few other thoughts stood out in my mind during my time with Slacko Puppy. One is that the organization of the application menu takes some adjustment if we are coming from another Linux distribution. The menu is organized differently and uses different names for categories of software. It is not hard to find most items, but there is a period of adjustment. Everything runs quickly on Puppy, the distribution runs surprisingly fast and most programs open almost instantly. I like Puppy's small memory footprint and I am regularly impressed by the amount of functionality Puppy can squeeze into such a small download image. Many of the default programs which come with Puppy seem to be selected for their small size rather than their popularity or functionality. Luckily, for us, if we need additional software it can usually be found in Puppy's package manager, which pulls from the full range of Slackware packages.
Puppy is an interesting distribution. It contains perhaps the best balance between functionality, friendliness and small size I have seen to date. The distribution appears to be more of a secondary operating system, something I would travel with on a thumb drive in my pocket, rather than a primary operating system that I would install on my desktop. Still, the distribution's small size and friendly nature are impressive and, had I older hardware I wanted to resurrect, Puppy would be on a short list of possible operating systems I would want to use.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a desktop HP Pavilon p6 Series with the following specifications:
- Processor: Dual-core 2.8GHz AMD A4-3420 APU
- Storage: 500GB Hitachi hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111 wired network card
- Display: AMD Radeon HD 6410D video card
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
New KDE packages coming to openSUSE, plans for DragonflyBSD's next release, Ubuntu announces the end of their One service, an interview with a Gentoo developer, an interview with Slax's lead developer and reported pop-up ad on DistroWatch
Good news for openSUSE users and fans of the KDE project! The openSUSE distribution will soon have access to multiple KDE software repositories which will help desktop users keep up to date with the latest developments in the KDE community. Raymond Wooninck announced the new options last week, saying: "With the release of KDE 4.12.4 (expected coming Tuesday), the openSUSE KDE:Release:xy Repositories will be consolidated into a single KDE:Current repository, where you can find the current KDE SC Release. We believe that with this step, it would be easier for people to track the current KDE SC release and stay up-to-date without the need to change repositories." The four repository options will include staying with the stable, traditional repositories which come with openSUSE, using a Current repository that is always up to date with the latest KDE releases and there are two testing repositories for people who like to keep on the cutting edge of desktop software development.
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DragonflyBSD originally started as a fork of the FreeBSD operating system, but the project has developed some powerful technologies and a community of its own. Justin Sherrill has some ideas for changes and features that he wants to see in the next release of DragonflyBSD and he posted these concepts last week. Some of Sherrill's plans involve improving virtual machine support, an improved package management experience for the user and PAM support. Sherrill also put forward the idea of dropping 32-bit x86 builds of DragonflyBSD in the future. "I think we're on the edge of where it can be dropped. PC-BSD and FreeNAS are both dropping i386, for example. My instinct -- and this can certainly change -- is to say the earliest we'll drop it is for the 4.0 release, which will hopefully also be the first user-testable version of Hammer 2. That's two releases from now at the soonest."
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In a move some suspected was a April Fools joke, Canonical announced last week that it is closing down the Ubuntu One storage service. "As of today, it will no longer be possible to purchase storage or music from the Ubuntu One store. The Ubuntu One file services will not be included in the upcoming Ubuntu 14.04 LTS release, and the Ubuntu One apps in older versions of Ubuntu and in the Ubuntu, Google, and Apple stores will be updated appropriately. The current services will be unavailable from 1 June 2014; user content will remain available for download until 31 July, at which time it will be deleted." Canonical has promised to release the code running Ubuntu One as open source software which would allow further competition and allow people to run their own One storage services.
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Each month the Gentoo project publishes a newsletter in which one of the distribution's developers is interviewed. This week we hear from developer Tom Wijsman as he recounts his first experiences with Linux, what path guided him to work on Gentoo, his dream job and his views on Gentoo's strengths and weaknesses. "What I think Gentoo could use more is more manpower; what made Gentoo powerful is its community, and its community is formed by users who contribute. And to this extent the amount of contributions determine how powerful Gentoo becomes."
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Czech website root.cz recently ran an interview with the Slax project's founder, Tomas Matejicek. Matejicek republished the interview, translated into English, on his blog. In the interview he talks about Slax's current development challenges, issues with Slax's default KDE desktop, the search for a new desktop environment and what makes for a good desktop interface. "[An] ideal desktop environment starts within few seconds (I mean two) and gives the user a simple way to run programs and switch between them. That's it, it's nothing special at all."
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Last week DistroWatch published an article discussing the possibility of migrating our web host to Ubuntu Server from Debian. This article was intended to be light humour and our way of participating in the tradition of April Fools. The truth is we are quite happy with Debian and plan to stick with the venerable operating system. However, what was not a joke was the pop-up some Android users were seeing upon visiting DistroWatch. This pop-up, which suggested the user's mobile device was infected with a virus, caused some of our readers concern last week. Some people worried our website was infected with malware, others thought it was a misguided attempt by DistroWatch to scam our readership. The truth is the ad appears to have come from one of our ad partners and was only displayed to a handful of Android users visiting this site. We have worked to find the source of the malicious pop-up and are trying to get it removed from the advertising network in question. If you see notifications warning of a virus infection on this website, please close the pop-up and do not follow any links provided.
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| Tips and Tricks (by Richard White) |
File encryption with GNU Privacy Guard
Encryption ensures that files are stored in an encrypted form whether you are transmitting it over the Internet, backing it up on a server, carrying it on USB or on your laptop. Encrypting your data makes it unreadable to anyone but you or intended recipient, thus preventing unwanted access to it.
GPG (GNU Privacy Guard)
GPG stands for GNU Privacy Guard. It is a key-based encryption method which means that a pair of keys is used to encrypt and decrypt a
message so that it arrives securely. Initially, a user receives a public and a private key pair from a certificate authority. Any other user who wants to send an encrypted message can get the intended recipient's public key from the public directory. They use this key to encrypt the message, and then send it to the recipient. When the recipient gets the message, they decrypt it with their private key,
which no one else should have an access to.
GPG gives you the public key and the private key.
A public key is a key that you share with the public. It can be given to anyone you wish to received encrypted messages from. They would encrypt the message with your public key. They cannot decrypt their own message after they encrypt it. Only you, who hold the private key, can decrypt the message. A private key is your own personal password. Your private key will be used to decrypt messages encrypted in your public key, If you give someone your private key he can decrypt and read all your messages written in your public key.
Using GPG from the terminal
Today most Linux distributions include GPG by default. To find out if this is the case, open up a terminal and type:
$ gpg --version
You should get version number. If so, you don't need to do anything, if not you can install GPG from your distribution's repositories.
Key Generation
To use GPG to encrypt your communications, you need to create a key pair.
Launch your terminal and run the following command to get started:
$ gpg --gen-key
You will be prompted back with the following:
Please select what kind of key you want:
(1) DSA and Elgamal (default)
(2) DSA (sign only)
(5) RSA (sign only)
Your selection?
Select number 1, as it can be used for encryption and decryption, the second and third choices are only allowed to sign messages. To do so, press the number 1, and then press Enter.
You then will be prompted with the following:
1 DSA key-pair will have 1024 bits.
2 ELG-E keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.
3 What key-size do you want? (2048)
You will want to enter "2048" here, as recommended by GPG.
If you don't want your key to expire (for the next prompt, select 0).
Answer Yes if the information is correct, when prompted, and then enter your real name, your email address, and a comment (which is optional). If everything is correct, press "o" (for OK) and then Enter.
After that, you will be asked to enter a pass-phrase. This process will be repeated. As usual, make a strong password which will be difficult to crack. Do not enter a name/address/birth date or word from a dictionary as your password.
After entering your pass-phrase, follow the instructions in the terminal:
We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the disk) during the prime generation; this gives the random number generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.
When you have successfully finished generating your key, you will see a message similar to the following one:
gpg: key 083C39A4 marked as ultimately trusted.
public and secret key created and signed.
Key Servers
Key servers are used to distribute your public key to other key servers so that other users can easily look up your name (or the e-mail address) in the database and find your public key to send encrypted messages to you. This eliminates the process of physically or insecurely giving your friend your public key, and allows others to be able to find you on the on-line database.
Uploading your public key to the key server:
$ gpg --send-keys --keyserver [keyservers.address.com] [yourpublicid]
You should replace keyservers.address.com with key server of your choice (or use mit.edu which syncs it with other servers) also replace yourpublicid with yours.
In the end it would look as follows:
$ gpg --send-keys --keyserver hkp://pgp.mit.edu 083C39A4
To Encrypt a File
If you wish to encrypt a file for your friend with his public key, run the command in the following format:
$ gpg -o encrypted_file.gpg --encrypt -r key-id original.file
Explanation:
-o encrypted_file.gpg = Output to the following filename.
--encrypt = Encrypting a file
-r = Recipient. KEY-ID would be your friends KEY-ID here.
original.file = The file that you will be encrypting.
To Decrypt a File
If someone has sent you a file that has been encrypted with your public key, you can decrypt it with following command:
$ gpg --decrypt filename.gpg
Symmetric Encryption
With GPG you can do a symmetric encryption where you encrypt a file with a pass-phrase. This is not a key based encryption. In symmetric cryptography, the same key is used for both encryption and decryption. This approach is simpler in dealing with each message, but it is less secure since the key must be communicated to recipient.
To encrypt a file with a pass-phrase, use:
$ gpg -c filename.txt
To decrypt this type of file, just use:
$ gpg filename.txt
You will be prompted for the pass-phrase and it will decrypt the file.
Clearsign a Document
Clearsigning is very similar to adding your signature to the bottom of a letter or an important document. It signifies that it actually comes from you. By clearsigning, it generates a SHA1 hash of the entire file's contents and adds the SHA1 sum to the bottom of the signature. If the file has been tampered with, the signature verification will fail, which can be used to spot the forgery.
If the user edits the file after it has been signed, the verification of the signature will also fail, because the SHA1 sum will not match the one of the actual content.
To clearsign a document or file, run the following:
$ gpg --clearsign filename.txt
Generating Revocation Key
A revocation key is used to revoke your public key if your private key has been compromised in any way, or you suspect that it may be compromised. To create a revocation key, run the command:
$ gpg --output revoke.asc --gen-revoke keyid
Keep the revocation key in a safe place, anyone who gets a hold of it can use it to disable your key. (You could use symmetric encryption on your revocation file.)
Tips for using GPG from terminal
To list the Keys you have imported into GPG, you can issue the following command:
$ gpg --list-keys
A list of the keys registered with your e-mail should appear (and since there should be only one, it will only list your key.) Then, you can obtain your KEY-ID and run the command above in order to submit it to the key servers.
To display the private or public keys on your key ring
$ gpg --list-public-keys # will list public keys
$ gpg --list-secret-keys # will lists private keys
Importing Keys
$ gpg --import KEYFILE
Keyfile would be the filename of the public key in your home folder. (If it is not in your home folder, use the cd command to go to the proper directory first, and then run the above command.)
Exporting your Public Key
To export your public key in the ASCII Armored fashion, run the following command:
$ gpg --export -a > publickey.asc
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About Richard White
Richard is technology enthusiast, on more than one occasion he was called a geek, he is also the author of three books, his most recent, Privacy in Digital Era is forthcoming in hardcover in May 2014. He is also the head editor and the driving force behind Digital Era website. The purpose of Digital Era is to present and give resources and tools to achieve and maintain anonymity, security and privacy. Richard regularly writes about privacy related issues and is hard at work on The Art of CLI, a collection of command line, open-source software. For more information on GNU Privacy Guard works and how to use graphical front-ends to the GPG software, you can find further reading on White's Digital Era website.
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| Released Last Week |
Grml 2014.03
Michael Prokop has announced the release of Grml 2014.03, a Debian-based live CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software designed for system administrators and suited for administrative tasks including system rescue: "We just released Grml 2014.03 - Ponywagon. This Grml release provides fresh software packages from Debian testing (a.k.a. jessie). As usual it also incorporates up2date hardware support and fixes known bugs from the previous Grml release. New features: new boot option vlan; grml-debootstrap. Important Changes: forensic mode - the readonly boot option was renamed to read-only (caused by change in upstream's live-boot). Bits and bolts: Linux kernel is based on 3.13.6...." See the release announcement and release notes for further information and various links.
Trisquel GNU/Linux 6.0.1
Rubén Rodríguez Pérez has announced Trisquel GNU/Linux 6.0.1, an upgrade release of the Ubuntu-based distribution that uses strictly free software only (as defined by Free Software Foundation's guidelines): "This is an incremental upgrade release which includes all of the maintenance updates and bugfixes since the publication of Trisquel 6.0. Users that already have 6.0 installed don't need to reinstall. Just use the update manager or apt-get dist-upgrade. The 6.0.1 release comes with several new features and updates: Support for UEFI installation (amd64); Abrowser upgraded to v28, with improved Facebook integration; Linux-libre updated to 3.2.0-60, 3.5 and 3.11 branches available in the repositories; Added open-ath9k-htc firmware to the images; Added all free firmware files to the netinstall images so they can be used over wifi. Trisquel can now be installed on UEFI based computers by disabling the security system in the BIOS setup. We do not sign our kernels or boot managers as that would require us to request permission from Microsoft, something that shouldn't be needed in any case." Here is the release announcement.
Clonezilla Live 2.2.2-32
Steven Shiau has announced a new stable release of Clonezilla Live, a Debian-based live CD designed primarily for partition and disk imaging/cloning tasks: "This release of Clonezilla live (2.2.2-32) includes major enhancements and bug fixes. The underlying GNU/Linux operating system was upgraded; this release is based on the Debian Sid repository (as of 2014/Mar/31). Linux kernel was updated to 3.13.7-1. Partclone was updated to 0.2.70; an issue about restoring image file to raw format has been fixed; thanks to quaid for reporting this issue. Syslinux was updated to 6.03-pre9. Package drbl was updated to 2.8.6-drbl1, and clonezilla was updated to 3.9.49-drbl1. Two options were added to makeboot.sh: -L and -U; patch provided by Ceasar Sun. A boot parameter 'ocs_prompt_mode' was added so some of the prompt could be shown in TUI or CMD mode." See the entire release announcement for a full changelog.
Robolinux 7.4.2
John Martinson has announced the release of Robolinux 7.4.2, a user-friendly, Debian-based distribution featuring integrated virtualisation software (for running another operating system in an application window as a "guest"). From the distribution's download page on SourceForge: "What's new in Robolinux version 7.4.2? First, we updated our Robolinux Debian based operating system. Second, we are also announcing two new software programs: Robolinux Stealth VM Software for Linux Mint and Ubuntu operating systems! Since Robolinux invented 'Revolutionary Stealth VM' inside our Debian operating system we decided to create specific versions that work on all Linux operating systems so now anyone can run Windows XP or 7 inside Linux Mint or Ubuntu virus free! Please note the Robolinux Stealth VM for openSUSE and all RPM based operating systems will be available in April, 2014...." Check Robolinux web site as well as the project site for further information.
pfSense 2.1.1
Jim Thompson has announced the release of pfSense 2.1.1, a free network firewall distribution based on FreeBSD with a customized kernel and third party free software packages for additional functionality: "I'm happy to announce the release of pfSense 2.1.1. The largest change is to close the following security issues / CVEs: FreeBSD-SA-14:01.bsnmpd / CVE-2014-1452; FreeBSD-SA-14:02.ntpd / CVE-2013-5211; FreeBSD-SA-14:03.openssl / CVE-2013-4353, CVE-2013-6449, CVE-2013-6450. Other than these, the em/igb/ixgb/ixgbe drivers have been upgraded to add support for i210 and i354 NICs. Some Intel 10Gb Ethernet NICs will also see improved performance." Follow the release announcement and the detailed release notes for further information.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Wh1t3 C4t. Wh1t3 C4t is a Linux-based desktop operating system which offers GNOME and KDE desktop environments.
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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, 14 April 2014. 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 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 |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Ubuntu Studio
An official variant of Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio is a Linux-based operating system for creative individuals in the areas of audio production, video production, graphics design, photography and desktop publishing. It makes professional audio accessible on Linux; it uses the JACK sound server and a kernel built with a low-latency patch. Up until version 20.10 Ubuntu Studio shipped with the Xfce desktop environment, but this was replaced by KDE Plasma in October 2020.
Status: Active
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TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
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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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