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1 • Heartbleed (by jg on 2014-04-14 10:02:54 GMT from Poland)
Wouldn't it be a great idea to organize and carry out a thorough screening of all the most popular linux distros, having in mind that probably nobody ever looked at them this way, trying to find any malicious spyware, backdoors and the like?
It turned out that when we said "open source software is safe, because everyone can see and check the code", we really meant "we don't know how safe the open source software is, bacause frankly, no one, even though they could, ever checked it anyway".
In the meantime, let's sing "Don't worry, be happy!"
2 • Ubuntu LTS community flavour (by Raphaël on 2014-04-14 11:51:58 GMT from Switzerland)
Hi! It would be great if you could have a look at Ubuntu Studio. How reliable is it for serious multimedia work?
3 • heartbleed (by mandog on 2014-04-14 12:05:59 GMT from Peru)
Unlike closed source that has dozens of vulnerabilities monthly and nobody cares or makes a big fuss over it. When open source gets the odd vulnerabilities it is jumped on like its the end of the world.
4 • Heartbleed (by Didier on 2014-04-14 12:09:50 GMT from France)
For Slackware a security advisory has been posted and an openssl-1.0.1g package has been released on Apr 8th.
I'm more worried about all the websites on which I have an account and of which I don't know the status and that didn't communicate on that topic yet, so I don't even know if/when I can safely change my password...
5 • Heartbleed (by corcaigher on 2014-04-14 13:04:07 GMT from United States)
"It turned out that when we said "open source software is safe"...
Yes, a opposed to the complete safe and secure Windows and Mac OSX, get a grip!
6 • Upgraded to Kubuntu 14.04 (by Leo on 2014-04-14 13:18:19 GMT from United States)
Hi, I ran an upgrade in a couple machines at home. Most stuff worked perfectly, as usual. On the main machine, HPLIP warned me that I needed to download a "driver" for one of the printers, which I did and worked fine. The only little things were that TV-Maxe is not working anymore, and sopcast-player is still not available for this release. Also, pitivi is segfaulting.
Other than that, muon is _still_ crazy slow on a superfast Haswell i5 with lots of ram and a fast SSD. I am using less and less of KDE, other than Plasma, Dolphin and System Settings.
Cheers!
7 • Chromebleed (by schultzter on 2014-04-14 13:21:52 GMT from Canada)
#4 there's a Chrome extension that checks web sites as you visit them, if there's an issue you get a notification (a toast) warning you. You can set the sensitivity so only absolute positives will trigger an alert or anything but an absolute negative.
8 • Linux umbrella or industry organization? (by gregzeng on 2014-04-14 13:25:02 GMT from Australia)
The first four comments seem to request a need for an industry association. AFAIK the existing industry associations seem to not care about Linux in its entirety. Who is the industry's spokesperson? To whom are they accountable? To which national security agency (ies) - NSA? Of the officer bearers of its governing body, which nations do they have person passports (n indication of NSA possible bias)?
If such persons or organizations exist, I have yet to see their press releases, industry announcement and industry awards. In my personal circumstances, I'm well suited to start such an agency, but my medical conditions & other priorities prevent this from happening.
9 • Heartbleed (by a lurker on 2014-04-14 13:25:43 GMT from United States)
Two points, we know who made the error with heartbleed and with open source when tend to know the full ramifications of the problem because others can analyze the source code. With proprietary code, one rarely knows who made the error and almost never knows the true extent of the problem from an independent source. We are left with a technical press release saying there is problem and it rated at this level of severity.
10 • @1 (by byku on 2014-04-14 13:01:52 GMT from Poland)
Adobe Flash isn't open source and is not safe (year by year is on top 10 list of vulnerable programs).
"we don't know how safe the open source software is, bacause frankly, no one, even though they could, ever checked it anyway"
Be free to check whole FLOSS code for us. Or you can always start a Kickstart project ;)
It is not easy task to check code. I belive that companies (like VUPEN Security) make some audits but they don't send their patches on git (bastards ;p) but sell to eg. NSA ;).
11 • Using cat to copy a file has a valid purpose (by Ben the Pyrate on 2014-04-14 18:12:55 GMT from United States)
You suggest that the following to lines are equivalent, but they're not.
cat old-file > new-file
cp old-file new-file
If new-file does not exist, then they will have the same effect. However if new-file already exist, the first form will preserve the permissions of new-file while updating the contents to match old-file. This is often a useful shortcut in build/install scripts. It's a common pattern in SlackBuild scripts in particular.
12 • RE #2 Ubuntu Studio (by Gee on 2014-04-14 18:49:29 GMT from United States)
I currently have a system that used to be able to run ArtistX and UE and now runs Ubuntu studio just fine and it handles all of my music and photo tasks just fine. I haven't worked it hard for video tasks as I have a faster machine for video tasks. The only issue I have with Ubuntu studio at the present time is a bit of repository chaos that seems to get a bit worse on very update. I'm getting ready to swap the drive out and virtualize the old XP on it with Robolinux. When I get done with that the 14.04lts should be out and I plan on reinstalling it on this machine. I also plan on testing lubuntu 14.04lts for a eee 1015 that loves lubuntu.
13 • @11 - copy vs cat (by Pearson on 2014-04-14 20:12:07 GMT from United States)
You are correct. For complete information, there is a (nonstandard, I believe) parameter to cp that will preserve the file permissions.
cp -p file1 file2
14 • @13 - copy vs cat (by greenpossum on 2014-04-14 22:14:44 GMT from Australia)
cp -p preserves the permissions of the old file, whereas cat > preserves the permissions of the new file. Also any hard links and SELinux context.
15 • OPen source errors (by Microsoft Bob on 2014-04-14 23:27:24 GMT from United States)
For those of you who think closed source bugs get a pass, but every little open source bug is made light of, consider that that might come from your perspective that open source is perfect and shouldn't be challenged.
Software is software, guys. It all has bugs. Linux is not your sense of identity. If someone points out a bug, its not meant as an insult to your mother.
16 • How is open source checked? (by dbrion on 2014-04-15 07:42:11 GMT from France)
At microsoft, source was checked the following way 4 years ago IIRC: when a programmer had typed some consistent code, another member of his team reviewed his code; then, someone from another team, with no links with the programmer, reviewed it. This can be achieved with a centralized way of producing code.
Open source programmers come from the same schools/universities, have about the same age than closed source ones (therefore, I would be very surprised if they were worse or ... better). I believe (but am not sure) RH reviews strategical code ; Debian (if Debian Packagers are not code authors : this is not systematic) can review code independantly. But I do not know the extent...
17 • cat is useful (by anon on 2014-04-15 08:25:17 GMT from United States)
cat <text file with tabs>
vs
more OR less <text file with tabs>
Try each and copy and paste the line with tabs. When dumped into the terminal I find that terminals preserve the tabs that cat dumps out, while other pagers transforms the tabs into spaces.
Likewise if you cat a text file with terminal commands, or certain escape sequences for your terminal type, you will see the proper output, since cat is just a raw dump and the terminal will interpret those sequences, where as pagers usually try to interpret those sequences themselves (just like tabs) before displaying
18 • @not bleeding (by greg on 2014-04-15 10:19:29 GMT from Slovenia)
well the hole was found, the hole was immediatelly patched. or at leats patches are available, but not all companies patched (which is a bigger problem than the hole itself).
in other news 5 year old boy figured out how to by pass MS security measures on xbox... took them longer to patch it. closed source FTW?!
19 • @18 closed source (by AliasMarlowe on 2014-04-15 11:55:51 GMT from United States)
"Closed source FTW?"
Well, that depends on who you're rooting for...
20 • Memory usage with 'free' (by Magic Banana on 2014-04-15 13:15:12 GMT from Brazil)
The tip to get the memory usage with 'free' is wrong. The number Jesse Smith indicates actually includes the buffer cache: http://www.thegeekscope.com/check-linux-memory-usage-using-free-command/
For more information about this cache: http://www.linuxintheshell.org/2012/06/05/episode-008-free-understanding-linux-memory-usage/
So, to get, from 'free', the real memory consumption of the system, two subtractions are required. It can be done with AWK if you wish:
$ free -m | awk '/Mem/ { print $3 - $6 - $7 "M used" }'
Notice that the value you get corresponds to the one the "GNOME System Monitor" (for instance) reports. However, and I believe that is the reason why Jesse Smith prefers 'free', such a graphical tool eats up a few MB by itself.
21 • Memory usage (by Jesse on 2014-04-15 13:25:14 GMT from Canada)
@20:
"The tip to get the memory usage with 'free' is wrong. The number Jesse Smith indicates actually includes the buffer cache:"
I think you misunderstood what I wrote. The value I report does not include buffers/cache. In fact, the awk script you provided gives the same value as the one I report. The first column on the second line of "free"'s output provides the same value you would get by running your awk script. Either you misunderstood my tip above or the articles you linked to, both which provide the same information I did above.
22 • FreeNAS as U1 replacement? (by DavidEF on 2014-04-15 14:28:10 GMT from United States)
I've been wanting to set up a home file server for a while. In fact, the last time Jesse reviewed FreeNAS, I commented that I was looking into doing a file server of some kind. I still haven't gotten around to it, mostly because I don't have hardware to dedicate to it yet. But, I'm trying to figure that one out with some old pieces laying around.
So, now that Ubuntu One is going away, I have another good reason to need/want some form of file service at home. What I'd like to know is whether it would be simple/easy to set up FreeNAS to do full synchronization versus just storage. I'd want to have my files automatically synchronized from any and all computers I may be using, whether at home or away, as long as I have internet connectivity, like it has been with Ubuntu One. I'd also like access to those same files by logging in from any connected computer via the web, like U1 does it.
23 • File syncing (by Jesse on 2014-04-15 14:35:08 GMT from Canada)
@22: David, I think what you want isn't a NAS, which is mostly used for storage and backups, but rather a server running file sync software. Your best bet for a DIY solution is ownCloud. it does the file synching and has a great web interface. Just set up one of the popular Linux distros and install the ownCloud package, that will take care of everything for you.
24 • Memory usage with 'free' (by Magic Banana on 2014-04-15 16:26:25 GMT from Brazil)
@21: I regret but that is not what you wrote. You wrote "The number which appears in my reviews is the number displayed in the first column of the second row of the free command's output".
To get the actual memory consumption, the two last numbers on the same row must be subtracted to "the number displayed in the first column of the second row of the free command's output". Indeed, they correspond to buffer and cache memory that can be easily reclaimed from the kernel whenever an application needs more memory.
25 • Free memory output (by Jesse on 2014-04-15 16:55:00 GMT from Canada)
@24: "I regret but that is not what you wrote. You wrote "The number which appears in my reviews is the number displayed in the first column of the second row of the free command's output"."
Yes, that is what I wrote and that corresponds exactly with the two articles you linked to. And, if you compare the number I provide with the awk script you provided above you will find the values match. Look at the first column of the second row of numbers output by "free". I'm not sure why you dont' see this, but we are saying exactly the same thing. We are both referring to the amount of memory used by the operating system, minus buffered data and cache. That is the first number on the second row, the one which follows the text "-/+ buffers/cache:".
Why do you keep insisting that isn't what I am talking about when we are both referring to the exact same value?
26 • Memory usage with 'free' (by Magic Banana on 2014-04-15 17:27:57 GMT from Brazil)
My bad. I actually interpreted "second row" as "second line" (that is, because of the headers, the first row). I did not know 'free' directly reported the actually used memory! I though we needed to do do the math! Sorry again for the misunderstanding and keep up the good work!
27 • Is Porteus really suspended? (by Marco on 2014-04-15 22:26:14 GMT from United States)
On both http://forum.porteus.org/ and http://www.porteus.org/ I get:
NOTICE
Porteus has been suspended by developers until further notice.
28 • Porteus (by Rex Culbertson on 2014-04-15 23:12:12 GMT from United States)
Yes Marco, I am shocked to find the same message today from the Porteus links. Just last night I was on their site and noticed nothing amiss. Then today- what?
Porteus is a fine distro in my opinion and I am not happy at such a loss.
29 • Ubuntu Studio 13.04 (by computergeek97308 on 2014-04-16 01:48:33 GMT from Mexico)
Ubuntu Studio is great for audio recording and light editing with Audacity, but practically every distro on the planet can handle that.
Most of the issues I've had with Ubuntu Studio relate to Pulse issues, Skype doesn't work even with the official Ubuntu "fix." Audio is horribly laggy with Ekiga. You constantly have to open pulse audio settings to get audio to work with various sources, it's not smart enough to recognize that yes, some audio would be appropriate here.Also zero audio in some flash or java based games or streams within Firefox (but they work fine with Chrome). There are also Pulse-related issues with audio in WINE. Running Radiosure in WINE you can't stream mp3 internet radio stations because pulse sends a "pulse" every 5 seconds that causes the audio to skip.
It would be nice to see working dvd ripper(s), video editors, and some other multimedia functionality in the repos or PPA's. Those which are available crash out, freeze up, basically a ridiculous waste of bits and bytes. Somewhat odd considering this distro touts itself as a "multimedia editing" type distro.
All things considered though Ubuntu Studio with XFCE does most tasks exceptionally well, far more stable than Debian, Mint or others in the top 5. On my desktop. But on my laptop Studio has major shortcomings with wireless hardware though and is totally not compatible with WPA2. Ubuntu still hasn'nt fixed the "valid password rejected as invalid loop" but which first appeared in forums maybe 5 years ago. Why is that?
30 • Strange Ubuntu Studio problems and Multimedia (by Garon on 2014-04-16 12:46:22 GMT from United States)
What I find really strange is that the parent distro, Ubuntu, does not seem to have those problems with Pulse or at least I haven't had any occur in the last several years. It must be problems with the build by the maintainers of Ubuntu Studio. As far as using Windows programs under WINE, you take what you can get and there are no guarantees nor should there be. All operating systems have problems with Flash and with some Java and that's always been the case. Chrome has Flash built in and Firefox does not so that's where the difference is with those two. Not the distro's problem. I have not experienced the WPA2 problem you speak of so I can't really comment on that one. A lot of the problems you list really fall back on the maintainers of those applications in my opinion. I only do casual work with video and audio and nothing really professional. Maybe a person who does professional work in multimedia would need something like special multimedia software made for dedicated hardware. Unless you build your own distro, Linux distros seem to try to work on everything and maybe that's where the problems are in that regard. What springs to mind, and I hate saying this, is maybe a Mac would better suit the purpose of a dedicated multimedia system for developers of multimedia. Remember that is just an opinion of someone who is not in that profession and an opinion that really is up for debate.
31 • Wowed By Makulu (by CharliesTheMan on 2014-04-16 13:00:12 GMT from United States)
I have to say, anyone that enjoys the tinkering/theming aspect of trying new distros, must try Makulu Mate. It's not only a beautiful distro that's VERY customizable, it also runs great and has an extremely easy to operate installer that will help new-to-linux users get a much better experience than some of the other high quality installers. It's as if the installer allows a noob to customize settings usually not in the other installers, and not realized/learned until the user has more experience.
Personally I enjoy the default theme and also make a theme that's way different, but those who don't enjoy the out of the box theme, don't let that dissuade you until you've at least tried it and looked at some of the other pre-installed out of the box themes.
Also, the wallpaper and widgets are a great introduction to conky and docks that new users might not start to experiment with so early in their experience if they hadn't discovered them in Makulu.
32 • Sound (by Somewhat Reticent on 2014-04-16 13:51:46 GMT from United States)
I'd expect AVLinux at bandshed to be good with sound. For sound-servers, isn't Jack the professional, and PulseAudio the swiss-army-knife-connector?
Depending on hardware, ALSA or OSS may be the better sound API.
Then there's the KXstudio toolset ... LinuxMusicians may be a good resource for advice ... DW also lists Musix, DreamStudio, ArtistX - depends on your purpose?
More generally, many issues are vintage-specific.
33 • Ubuntu search (by M.Z. on 2014-04-16 17:04:04 GMT from United States)
I for one am glad that Ubuntu is finally trying to get its act back together after a long train wreak of bad decisions regarding user privacy. If they actually fix all their problems I could actually recommend default Ubuntu as as 'this odd mac like version of Linux' if anyone was interested. They have still done alot to turn my initial indifference into active dislike of their distro & Unity is still a goofy unconfigurable mess, but I want the poster child for Linux to have a decent default configuration regarding privacy. I think that this is definitely something to keep an eye on.
34 • Opt in is good enough. (by Garon on 2014-04-16 17:48:42 GMT from United States)
Yes the changing from opt out to opt in is a lot better then it was before. (I know it hasn't changed yet.) My daughter who has two children of her own and teaches school loves the Amazon search mainly because she shops a lot on Amazon and was scared they were stopping that search function. I told her that it was going to be opt in and that was good enough. That's okay with her. Privacy is very important now more than ever before, so it's a step in the right direction. @33, I'm just curious about what you said concerning Unity. What is it exactly that you can't configure that you would want to? Granted with the scopes, and lenses, and hud, and such it is hard to get use to but I find it easy to configure in my case. I guess some people just doesn't like the configuration or actions of the interface and it's fine and dandy to feel that way. lol I feel the same way about KDE and its millions of configuration settings. ;)
35 • @27, 28: Porteus Linux having bandwith problems (by Pearson on 2014-04-16 18:19:43 GMT from United States)
From their Facebook page (I found it from DuckDuckGo -- didn't know they had one!): https://www.facebook.com/porteus.org
"Hi guys. As some of you probably noticed porteus.org is down as we are struggling with bandwidth related problem and some other things. Will post announcement and explain everything once it's up and running again. Apologize for the troubles and thanks for your patience.
- fanthom."
and this implies that their problem is from being too popular:
"Our server couldnt handle all the traffic and got nuked by 3.0 release. Now we look like a bunch of amateurs - thanks guys!
- fanthom"
36 • @34 - configurablility (by M.Z. on 2014-04-16 19:40:48 GMT from United States)
@34
I never really cared for many of the default UI element in Unity, like where the open & close buttons are on the windows, where the dock is, and how the GUI portion of their dash menu works. Using Dash as a normal GUI menu is an especially massive pain in the butt, which made me extremely cynical about all the privacy problems while searching the dash. The last time I checked all of these basic elements couldn't be changed by default, though I admit that I haven't played that much with Unity. There has to be a happy in between spot where a few basic changes in configuration are possible, but I think most of that kind of thing requires some independently created tool to be installed if you want to change Unity. Making those kinds of changes are fairly simple in both KDE and Cinnamon, although I think the defaults are so much better neither really needs many configuration changes anyway.
37 • Ubuntu/Amazon (by Dave Postles on 2014-04-16 20:30:08 GMT from United Kingdom)
I came to Linux to avoid corporates. I especially dislike Amazon which is dominant, has been one cause of the decline of local bookshops, and avoids UK tax. Any association between a Linux organization and Amazon is anathema to me, whether it's opt-in or opt-out. It smells wrong.
38 • Unity Tweak (by Garon on 2014-04-17 00:36:46 GMT from United States)
@36,
You are correct when you say not many things can be changed by default but I always install Unity Tweak and then you can change about everything. It is in the repositories. Also you can change the buttons, menu bars and so on. It just boils down to what a person likes and we do have a lot of choice.
@37,
In the U.S. more and more states are starting to collect taxes from Amazon as they do other corporations. As far as corporations and Linux goes, most corporations do have Linux on their servers so they do have a relationship. Also more and more distributions are starting to seek corporate sponsorship whether it's from search engines or other types. It does happen whether we realize it or not, whether we like it or not.
39 • Heartbleed - ref.: jg on 2014-04-14 10:02:54 GMT (by Anon on 2014-04-17 01:06:29 GMT from Norway)
The OP is undoubtedly right - it _is a good idea to somehow try to 'make sure' that Linux code is being inspected thoroughly and often. The question is how, and by whom. Literally nit-picking miles and miles of often complex code isn't for everyone and usually not something even the more competent do gladly.
Linux is very safe, in theory. Practice is a different matter, as we have seen a little too often over the last few years.
40 • Thanks Pearson (by Rex Culberson on 2014-04-17 03:26:22 GMT from United States)
Good news and Thank-you. Well not good news about bandwidth shortage but otherwise yes.
41 • Porteus is back (by Marco on 2014-04-17 12:46:56 GMT from United States)
Why: http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=35&p=23856#p23856
Feedback: http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=3355
42 • @38 - choices (by M.Z. on 2014-04-17 19:36:52 GMT from United States)
@38
I do like choices, but I prefer my desktop to have the config options that I need to get to a comfortable desktop built in. Otherwise it's just a flawed & uncomfortable design with options tacked on afterwards by unsatisfied users. That doesn't sound like something I want to use. I do feel the itch to make a few tweaks here and there in both Cinnamon & KDE, but the defaults are far more usable than Unity & everything I want is built in and done far more the way I want right from the start. I also think that a decent amount of configuration options is a sign of respect for the intelligence of me the user, giving me the ability to use things the way I find most productive rather than telling me how things must be done. I do think Unity has far better defaults than Gnome 3, but it is neither good enough nor configurable enough by default. I want a less flawed desktop that I actually like to use.
43 • WIFI connect (by WyndRyder on 2014-04-18 01:49:20 GMT from United States)
I'm going to try to be sane and civil about this but I think Linux folks(devs and the such) are going to shoot Linux in the foot.
I tried out MX-14 a few days ago and thought maybe it was a glitch on their part.
Just got done trying the new Lubuntu and, oooppppsss same problem
And it's this. Whatever happened to the box that would pop up, type in the password and WIFI would connect? Simple and easy.
Not with this complicated whatever box that wants all kinds of things that I have no clue what it wants. Even a semi-geek friend of mine was doing some serious head scratching about it and finally just said, "I have no clue."
Ain't no way to win newbies, folks.
44 • wifi support across distros (by M.Z. on 2014-04-18 04:55:00 GMT from United States)
@43
Those are both from the Debian/Ubuntu family. I think it is usually more helpful to try something with an entirely different base, for instance if Mint doesn't work in some situation I try PCLOS or vice versa. Both are good OSes, but different branches of Linux seem to have better or worse hardware support depending on the situation. I think both the Mint/Ubuntu family & PCLOS, (& possibly Mageia or another Mandriva clone), are known for good hardware support but are different enough that one is likely to work when another doesn't. I'd always try something from an entirely different branch of the family tree if one version of Linux doesn't work.
45 • @ 43 wifi support (by AleCon on 2014-04-18 07:37:29 GMT from Italy)
Your complain is perfect if you wanted just to get it out your chest, if you wanted to have your problem solved is perhaps not going to be any helpful.
You didn't even mention which network utility you were trying to use.
Anyway, seek for help in the distro forum after having learned a bit about your hardware or try another distro, most of them can run live allowing you to test your hardware before performing installation.
46 • @43 WIFI connect (by Kazlu on 2014-04-18 11:01:23 GMT from France)
Well, I don't know for MX-14, but in Lubuntu things are done so that it does what you expected: scan for wireless networks, attempt to connect to one and ask you for the password. It's been there for several versions, I used it myself. Si I guess if it's not working in your case, it's not because the devs haven't thought about including that option or removed it on purpose (hence "shooting themselves in the foot"). It seems your problem is related to hardware support, like #44 and #45 suggested. Often for a given distro a lot of hardware is recognized and some other isn't, it is impossible to make so that every piece of hardware is recognized. It's difficult to be more specific. I second #45 saying that to solve your problem your best option is to head for the forum of your distribution of choice.
That being said you're right, that kind of problems is a show stopper for a beginner. But again, it is impossible to make so that every piece of hardware is recognized. Particularly for new hardware, where no driver is available for Linux because OEMs do not care and the community has yet to develop a free driver for it. The only solution to be sure it works is to buy a PC with GNU/Linux, or to check the hardware is recognized before buying (seriously more difficult, especially for a beginner).
47 • No clue given (by Somewhat Reticent on 2014-04-19 12:24:35 GMT from United States)
An alternative interpretation of the complaint about a wi-fi connection issue encountered during a live test could consider the lack of communication, or (hyper?)links to useful information, regarding data desired.
Number of Comments: 47
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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DragonOS
DragonOS is a Lubuntu-based desktop distribution which is focused on software defined radio (SDR). The distribution provides a pre-installed suite of the most powerful and accessible open source SDR software. DragonOS has verified support for a range of inexpensive and powerful SDR hardware, including RTL-SDR, HackRF One, LimeSDR, BladeRF, and others.
Status: Active
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| Tips, Tricks, Q&As | | Tips and tricks: Command line weather, ionice, rename files, video preview snapshot, calendar, ls colour settings |
| Questions and answers: Debian, systemd and forks |
| Questions and answers: Deep diving into systemd |
| Questions and answers: Troubleshooting program launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, an easy to use independent distro |
| Questions and answers: Finding just the right software |
| Tips and tricks: UBports as a home server with media sharing |
| Tips and tricks: Gftp and Sftp - Like Peanut Butter and Jelly |
| Tips and tricks: Running Android applications on GNU/Linux with Anbox |
| Questions and answers: Navigating manual pages |
| Tips and tricks: Running the Linux-libre kernel |
| More Tips & Tricks and Questions & Answers |
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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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