 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 558, 12 May 2014 |
Welcome to this year's 19th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! In the open-source ecosystem there is always something new being developed. The past few weeks presented technology enthusiasts will all sorts of exciting new releases, expanding the software we have on hand to work and play with. This week we explore new developments, new programs and new directions in the Linux community. We start with a first look at Red Hat's release candidate for Enterprise Linux 7. Red Hat is a giant in the open-source community and many developers and system administrators are eager to see what the company has been working on over the past few years. In the News section this week we cover Ubuntu's move to support the systemd init system and the results of the Ubuntu app competition. Plus we talk about Fedora's expanding collection of Docker containers, PC-BSD's new unified package manager and a new desktop environment that resulted from the merger of LXDE and Razor-Qt. We also examine a new desktop environment which is being developed specifically for the PC-BSD project and talk about why a new open-source desktop environment may be needed. In addition, we link to an interview with Haiku developer Paweł Dziepak. As usual, we cover new releases from the past week and look ahead to fun new developments to come. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Initial impressions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 "Workstation"
 It is not often that I download beta releases or release candidates. Usually I prefer to experiment with new distribution releases the same way I play hide-and-seek: giving everyone a chance to get into their proper positions before I go looking around. That being said, Red Hat is one of the biggest fish in the open-source pond. Red Hat has been very successful (and profitable) and their dedication to open-source development has made them a key player in the field of operating systems. So it was with some excitement that I broke my rule of waiting for a final release and downloaded the release candidate for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. What follows are some of my first impressions and opinions on the release candidate. This will be less of a formal review and more of me musing on things which caught my attention.
At this time there are at least three branches of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), which include a Server edition, a Workstation edition and a Client edition. A fourth edition, called Atomic Host, is in the works. I opted to try the Workstation branch which is said to be targeting application developers. The download for the Workstation installation image is approximately 3.9GB in size and features two desktop options, GNOME 3 and KDE 4. As the download is quite large I had time to browse through the release notes. Red Hat has a tendency these days to go a bit heavy on the marketing lingo and their announcements contained phrases like "only operating system crafted for the open hybrid cloud" and other gems such as "We are on the cusp of bringing an exciting new release to the market -- one that we expect will redefine the enterprise operating system." Digging beyond these comments we find some of the interesting new features coming to RHEL. Some of the key points are:
- Expanded Windows interoperability capabilities, including integration with Microsoft Active Directory domains
- Including XFS as the default file system, scaling to support file systems up to 500 TB
- Virtual machine (VM) migration from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 hosts to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 hosts without downtime or VM modification
- Docker containers
Booting from the RHEL media brought up a graphical system installer. RHEL uses the same new Anaconda installer Fedora has been using in recent releases. The installer has a hub-based navigation system that walks us through configuring the system, partitioning the hard drive and creating a user account. Personally, I feel as though the new installer is a step backward from the installer which shipped with RHEL 6. Partly because I feel the interface is a bit awkward and partly because hub navigation makes sense if it doesn't matter which order we visit each screen. With this installer some functions are unlocked on one screen which are then used on another. For example, the time zone selection screen allows us to enable network time synchronization. However, trying to enable the network time service gives an error saying no time servers have been configured. (A quick check shows default servers are indeed configured.) The network time service cannot be activated until we visit the networking node of the installer and set up our network settings, then we can go back and enable the network time synchronizing service.
The RHEL system installer defaults to setting up our hard drive with logical volumes (LVM) combined with XFS. We have the option of using traditional partitions or Btrfs if we prefer. The installer allows us to select which desktop environment (KDE 4 or GNOME 3) we want, though for some reason we cannot select both desktops. While the installer copies its files to the hard drive a slide show plays, mentioning benefits to using Red Hat products. One slide in particular seems to sum up Red Hat's business model of selling support nicely when it states "When is free more expensive? When you have an enterprise to run." After the installer finishes copying its files the system reboots and we are asked to accept the product's license agreement. Most of the license is fairly typical legal protection for the company, though it does include some amusing turns of phrase such as "Red Hat may distribute third party software programs with the Programs that are not part of the Programs. These third party programs are not required to run the Programs." Once we accept the license we can opt to enable the kdump service and we are asked to register our copy of RHEL in order to gain access to software updates. Then the operating system reboots again and, when it comes back on-line, we are brought to a graphical login screen.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 - desktop settings panel and LibreOffice
(full image size: 340kB, screen resolution 1280x960 pixels)
I chose to install the KDE 4.10 desktop on my copy of RHEL and found the desktop came with a fairly standard collection of software. LibreOffice, Firefox, Dragon Player and Empathy were all present. There were text editors, an archive manager and other common desktop apps. There were configuration applications for managing printing and the system's firewall. I especially liked what Red Hat has done with their firewall utility as it is more flexible and powerful, allowing administrators to easily set up zones. Network Manager is included to help us get on-line. RHEL runs a secure shell service in the background which allows remote root logins. Personally, I am not a fan of having remote administrative access enabled by default, but it can be convenient for administrators setting up new systems. I did not find any compiler, version control software or debugging tools included by default, but I did find Java was included. In the background RHEL was running version 3.10 of the Linux kernel. As is typical for Red Hat releases there is no support for popular multimedia formats by default, video playing and mp3 support must be added later.
Another component I felt was missing was a graphical package manager. I found RHEL still uses the YUM command line package manager, which I feel is a fine tool, but I did not find any graphical front-end for handling software. Speaking of working with software packages, getting software updates and new packages requires having a Red Hat subscription. Trying to access software repositories will bring up a message informing us we first need to register our computer using a program called Subscription Manager. I went into the application menu and tried to launch the Subscription Manager application and nothing happened. After trying to launch it a few times from the graphical interface I dropped to a command line and launched the service. From the command line Subscription Manager ran without complaints. However, the Subscription Manager did tell me I could not register an account directly, I would need to visit Red Hat's website. This I did, created a new account, verified it and then tried to register my computer again. Subscription Manager failed without giving a clear explanation as to why it was not able to link my computer to my account. At time of writing the issue is ongoing.
Another problem which bothered me was that most times I logged into KDE a notification would appear letting me know the GNOME Shell had crashed and I had the option of filing a bug report. This puzzled me a bit as the system installer allows us to install either GNOME or KDE, but seemingly not both. Also, why would GNOME Shell be running when I signed into KDE? I'm not sure. What I did find was that trying to file a bug report walked me through several steps before I was told that the bug report could only be submitted if I had Red Hat support credentials. I am not sure why Red Hat requires this when other distributions, such as Ubuntu, simply accept all bug reports from their distribution's crash reporter, but it does make the process of filing bugs more roundabout.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 - automated crash reporting
(full image size: 371kB, screen resolution 1280x960 pixels)
In general, while I was using RHEL I found that it performed well. While the operating system was a touch slower than average to boot, the desktop was responsive and the system remained stable during my time with it. The applications included ran smoothly (with a few exceptions mentioned above) and, though the distribution used more RAM than any other desktop distribution I have previously run (approximately 560MB of memory was used at login) I found RHEL quickly handled any task I threw at it.
Conclusions
At first glance there are a few improvements in this version of RHEL when compared against the previous release. The firewall configuration utility, in particular, stands out as a more powerful tool this time around. Performance with this release has been good and I appreciated that KDE's file indexing service was disabled by default. The desktop was subdued, focusing more on performance than flare. Primarily, I was pleased to see Btrfs support in this release of RHEL. While the advanced file system is not used by default, it is good to see Btrfs being made available. Docker, the Linux container management software, is a great piece of technology. I suspect in the next few years most developers and system administrators will be relying heavily on Docker for testing and deploying software. It is good to see Red Hat include support for Docker in RHEL 7.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 - administration utilities
(full image size: 243kB, screen resolution 1280x960 pixels)
Other aspects of RHEL seem to be staying the same between releases. Most of the system configuration tools, the YUM package manager and general layout of the operating system appear to have remained the same. Red Hat is focused on the enterprise market and they do not want to rock the boat, for obvious reasons, so it makes sense most day-to-day functions will remain the same between releases. The systemd init service was included in this release and it does not appear to have made any significant difference in performance, service management or logging.
Unfortunately there were a few aspects of the system which feel like regressions when we compare RHEL 7 next to RHEL 6. The installer would be one example. While the new Anaconda system installer works, it feels slower and just plain awkward compared to previous versions. Having the Subscription Manager utility not work was disappointing. I remember signing up for an account with Red Hat when I tried RHEL 6 and the process then was completely painless. Trying to get up and running this time so I could access the package repositories was cumbersome. Further, this version of RHEL appears to use approximately three times more memory than the previous version. I do not think I have ever before used a Linux-based operating system which required more than 500MB of RAM to get logged into the desktop, so I hope the extra memory usage is due to debugging symbols being left on in the release candidate. Though not a problem exactly, I found it odd that the talking points for this release mention a workstation environment designed for application developers and yet the Workstation edition of RHEL did not feature a compiler or source control utilities.
Mostly though, I found myself comparing RHEL 7 to other stability-oriented distributions such as SUSE, Debian and Ubuntu LTS. And, not to sound alarmist, but I wonder if Red Hat is falling behind in terms of attractive features. Red Hat is still the clear winner when it comes to duration and quality of support, but I feel RHEL is lacking in other areas. SUSE, in particular, has fantastic administration tools and SUSE is leading the charge in providing Btrfs support. Ubuntu has great utilities for getting the operating system installed and services enabled, plus Ubuntu already has support for Docker. Debian has great stability and performance and recently gained long term support releases. Using this release candidate of RHEL makes me wonder if Red Hat is putting all of its eggs in the support contract basket and whether that is really a good idea.
Seven years ago everyone I knew in the "real world" used Red Hat Enterprise Linux or a member of the Red Hat family, such as Fedora or CentOS. Whether on the desktop or in the server room, at work or at home, all the Linux users I knew were running a member of the Red Hat family. Today, virtually everyone I know personally has migrated to members of the Ubuntu family. I know one administrator who is sticking with CentOS, but everyone else has moved on or is in the process of migrating. Red Hat is highly profitable and, certainly they are doing good things in the enterprise market, they are a powerful force in open-source. Still, I wonder if the tide has turned. This release of RHEL feels less like an effort to "redefine the enterprise operating system" and more of a holding pattern, a release catering to Red Hat's conservative enterprise business clients and, for better or worse, perhaps only to the enterprise market.
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Last week, in my review of Xubuntu, I mentioned the Parole media player would display an error whenever I attempted to play a video. The error, which indicated Xv output could not be initialized, can be corrected using a one-time command line fix. Dropping to the command line and running the command:
parole --xv false
This one time will fix the initialization issue permanently. Thanks to David McCann for writing in with this tip.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Ubuntu adopts systemd, Fedora expands Dockerfiles support, LXQt announces debut beta, PC-BSD unveils unified package manager, Haiku interview
 Following the release of Ubuntu 14.04, the distribution's developers are hard at work on new features for future releases. One of the big behind-the-scenes features expected in upcoming versions of Ubuntu is the migration from the Upstart init service to the systemd init technology. How is the migration from one init service to another going? The Martin Pitt blog reports: "I think systemd in current utopic works well enough to not break a developer's day to day work flow, so we can now start parallelizing the work of identifying packages which only have Upstart jobs and provide corresponding systemd units (or SysV scripts)." The post goes on to say that the effort to migrate to systemd is still a work in progress and there is no set release date or deadline for the migration.
The results of the Ubuntu App Showdown competition are in and the judges have announced the winners. The winning applications varied a great deal in scope and included a developer's project dashboard, a game, an application to help people navigate around Belgium and a document reader which includes a Chinese/English dictionary. Congratulations to the winners -- Boren Zhang, Jelmer Prins, Michael Spencer, Shengjing Zhu and Victor Thompson -- for their outstanding work in such a short time frame.
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 Back in March, Scott Collier posted on his blog that he had amassed a collection of Dockerfiles (essentially build scripts for the Docker container technology) and had made them available to Fedora users. "This package provides a community contributed set of examples that can assist in learning about Docker containers. Use these examples to set up test environments using the Docker container engine." Since then, the collection of available containers has grown from a small group of examples, to a large list of useful services and applications. The list of available Docker recipes now includes the Apache web server, the Nginx web server, Python, OpenSSH, Wordpress, various databases, a DNS server and many others. People interested in trying these fine examples can install the collection of Docker files by installing the fedora-dockerfiles package.
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 The open-source community is full of projects which have forked and branched away from other open-source projects. Productivity suites, desktop environments, distributions, games and media players are regularly splitting away as developers take their visions in new directions. Rarely do we get to see two separate projects come together to merge and combine resources, but that is exactly what LXDE-Qt and Razor-Qt have done. "The LXDE and Razor-qt teams are proud to announce LXQt 0.7.0, the first release of LXQt, the Qt Lightweight Desktop Environment. This beta release is considered a stable continuation of the Razor desktop." The LXQt desktop environment is a lightweight, fast desktop which combines the design of LXDE with the Qt toolkit. The first beta release of the new desktop appeared last week with packages for Ubuntu, Arch Linux, openSUSE and siduction already available. Support for FreeBSD is in the works.
LXQt 0.7.0 - the first beta release
(full image size: 309kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
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 Users of the PC-BSD operating system have, in the past, faced confusion when it comes to installing and managing software packages. PC-BSD offers several methods for acquiring software, including Push Button Installer (PBI) bundles, Pkgng packages and FreeBSD ports. This, combined with multiple software repositories and package management utilities has brought about some clutter and uncertainty. The PC-BSD team is in the process of reworking their AppCafe package manager to unify the way packages from multiple sources are handled. The PC-BSD blog states, "The biggest thing you might notice right away is the 5-star rating system in the top left corner under "Firefox". In the new AppCafe clicking the stars will immediately pop-up the app’s wiki page allowing you to rate the program. We are also looking into the ability to add comments as well that will also populate into AppCafe. Also many programs (especially GUI based applications) will have screen shots in AppCafe to allow you to check them out before you download them to your system." The blog post includes screen shots of the new AppCafe layout.
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 Haiku is an open-source project which continues the development of BeOS, an operating system which focuses on having a responsive, intuitive user interface. Last week an interview with Haiku kernel developer Paweł Dziepak was posted on the project's website. The interview covers a good deal of behind-the-scenes information about Haiku, the project's progress, strengths and weaknesses. Dziepak talks about the project's decision to use its own kernel, rather than adopt a third-party solution such as Linux, the pace of development and the project's outlook. "With the package manager and improvements in WebPositive system is now much better suited to everyday use. I hope that soon we will release something more official than the nightly builds. In regards of long-term development, a lot depends on how long Adrien will be able to work on WebPositive and whether it will be possible to start other contracts. Haiku has a group of loyal fans, but with no noticeable progress in the works, they will wane rather than arrive. The interview is unusually frank and realistic, benefitting from a low-level view of the Haiku project.
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| Mini Feature (by Jesse Smith) |
First impressions of the Lumina desktop environment
 A few weeks ago DistroWatch reported that the PC-BSD project would be gaining a new desktop environment. The new desktop, called Lumina, has been designed to run on PC-BSD (and related operating systems such as FreeBSD). Lumina uses Fluxbox as its default window manager and is designed to be lightweight. Developer Ken Moore reports the Lumina desktop will be highly flexible. Following the announcement of Lumina, the first question a lot of people asked was "Why make another open-source desktop environment?" There are several reasons for the PC-BSD project to create its own desktop environment. One of the primary motivations behind the new project is the amount of time and effort it takes to port popular open-source desktop environments from Linux to the BSDs. Getting projects such as KDE and GNOME to run on the BSDs is often a labour involving of months of work. Increasingly, desktops built to work on Linux rely on functions or background services which are specific to Linux only. This means BSD developers must work around these dependencies or port additional software to their preferred operating system. Lumina is designed from scratch to work with PC-BSD and therefore avoids unwanted dependencies and clutter on the operating system.
Following the release announcement I decided to try out Lumina in its native PC-BSD habitat. At this point in time Lumina can be installed either from source code or from the PC-BSD project's Edge package repository. I chose to install Lumina from source code and, once I had sorted out the desktop's dependencies, I found Lumina was added as a session option on my login screen.
PC-BSD 10.0 - running the Lumina desktop environment
(full image size: 413kB, screen resolution 1220x978 pixels)
At this time, Lumina presents a fairly bare bones environment. Along the top of the screen we find an application menu (called the user menu), a favourites menu and a clock. Along the bottom of the screen we find a task switcher bar and a menu where we can configure this bottom bar. The background is mostly dark with some streaks of golden light. The menus are simple, grey and blocky in this early alpha release. Clicking on the user menu brings up a tree of options that are divided into three categories. At the top of the menu we find the Applications sub-menu which contains a list of installed desktop software. Below the Applications entry we find a list of folders in our home directory. At the bottom of the user menu we find menu entries which allow us to manipulate Lumina's settings or logout. At the time of writing there are not many configuration options for Lumina. We can change the desktop's wallpaper and configure the screen saver, but otherwise the environment is fairly static. Next to the user menu is the favourites menu, identified by a gold star. This menu contains links to programs and files which, in other graphical environments, would be represented by icons on our desktop. Lumina sweeps these desktop shortcuts into their own menu to make it easy for users to find their programs without cluttering up the interface.
It may be fair to say that, at this stage, Lumina does not yet look particularly feature rich or, in the case of the user menu, pleasing to the eye. However, the new desktop environment does have a few things going for it. One point in Lumina's favour is performance; Lumina is very fast to load and highly responsive. Lumina also has a few nice features, such as the favourites menu, which keep the interface from becoming cluttered. The release I tried was an early alpha and, based on my experience thus far, I have high hopes for Lumina. Right now, on my machine, it is fast, stable and easy to navigate. As far as memory consumption is concerned, Lumina seems to be roughly in the mid-range. When running the new desktop environment on PC-BSD 10.0 I found the underlying operating system and Lumina, combined, used approximately 170MB of active memory. For the sake of comparison, the LXDE desktop, running atop PC-BSD, uses approximately 120MB of active memory on the same machine.
Lumina is developed using the Qt toolkit which makes it easy to port the desktop environment to other UNIX-like operating systems. I found that with a minimum number of changes to the source code I was able to get Lumina running on Ubuntu. The modifications I made were graciously accepted back into the Lumina project which means it should be possible to build and run the new desktop environment on most Linux distributions.
At this stage it is probably too soon to tell whether Lumina will become popular. There are a lot of desktop environments and window managers available in the open-source community (most of them already available to PC-BSD users) and so Lumina faces a lot of competition. At the moment I think the project has made a good start. It is stable and usable at this point and, with some new features and configuration controls, I think it could be a capable desktop environment.
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| Released Last Week |
OpenELEC 4.0
Stephan Raue has announced the release of OpenELEC 4.0, a major new update of the distribution designed for media centres and built for several specialist devices, such as Raspberry Pi and Apple TV: "The OpenELEC team is proud to announce OpenELEC 4.0. The team has made a huge effort to make this one of our best releases yet. Since the OpenELEC 3.0 and 3.2.x releases, we have worked hard to improve OpenELEC in a number of areas. Some of these are visible changes, others are backend changes that aren't as visible to every user but are certainly worth mentioning. Since OpenELEC 3.2 the underlying OS and the build system have been completely reworked. One aspect of the builds that isn't visible to most users is the buildsystem; it is one of the most fundamental building blocks for OpenELEC." Read the full release announcement for more details.
Robolinux 7.5.1
John Martinson has released Robolinux 7.5.1, a new version of the Debian-based distribution with pre-configured VirtualBox for running Windows as a "guest" operating system. What's new in version 7.5.1? "Announcing the Robolinux C: drive to VM support package. This is the single most important Robolinux update in the history of Robolinux as it will significantly increase the world's number of successful Windows XP and 7 migrations to Linux. Tens of thousands of desperate Windows XP and 7 Users around the world asked Robolinux this question: 'Can you help me move my existing Windows C: drive with all its programs on my hard disk into a virtual machine?' The new Robolinux C: drive to VM support package includes everything the user needs to successfully move their existing Windows XP or 7 C: drive quickly into a highly flexible .vdi file." Visit the project's page on SourceForge site for a detailed description of the new release.
GoboLinux 015
Lucas Villa Real has announced the release of GoboLinux 015, a distribution with a custom file system hierarchy that differs considerably from the traditional UNIX layout. This is the project's first stable release since March 2008. From the release announcement: "It is with pleasure that I announce the release of GoboLinux 015 - the alternative Linux distribution. After a hiatus of 6 years, we have returned with an updated set of packages and some infrastructure changes that have come for the better. Some of the major points of this release are: migration from the /System/Links hierarchy to /System/Index; embracing 'root as super user name - that should make recipes more simple to write and soften the task of preparing new releases; live USB support off the shelf; adoption of Enlightenment as the desktop environment for the first time."
GoboLinux 015 - the project's first release that features Enlightenment instead of KDE
(full image size: 1,220kB, screen resolution 1024x768 pixels)
Ubuntu Privacy Remix 12.04r1
Andreas Heinlein has announced the release of UPR (Ubuntu Privacy Remix) 12.04r1, the new stable release of the project's Ubuntu-based live CD which provides an isolated environment for personal work and for storing sensitive data: "The UPR team has published the first stable release of Ubuntu Privacy Remix 12.04r1 (code name 'Protected Pangolin'). UPR is a live system to protect from spying and data theft. The new release will be presented at LinuxTag 2014 in Berlin. UPR 12.04r1 is designed to boot on newer machines with UEFI + SecureBoot and it supports lots of new hardware, but keeps running even on old machines by using the traditional and lightweight GNOME Classic desktop environment. The goal of Ubuntu Privacy Remix is to provide an isolated working environment where sensitive data can be dealt with safely. The system installed on the computer running UPR remains untouched, UPR is not intended for permanent installation on hard disk." Here is the full release announcement.
Pidora 2014
Pidora 2014 has been released. Pidora is a Linux distribution designed for the Raspberry Pi single-board computer and based on Fedora 20. It offers a interesting and more modern alternative to the mostly Debian-based distributions that dominated the Raspberry Pi market. From the release announcement: "We're excited to announce the release of Pidora 2014 - an optimized Fedora remix for the Raspberry Pi. It is based on a brand new build of Fedora for the ARMv6 architecture with greater speed and it includes packages from the Fedora 20 package set. There are some interesting new features we'd like to highlight: rootfs-resize now works with logical partitions; Raspberry Pi kernel-devel package has been added; new Pidora 2014 splash screen and logos; improved headless mode can be used with setups lacking a monitor or display; much faster boot speed...." The release notes provide further important information.
Pidora 2014 - a Fedora-based distribution for the Raspberry Pi single-board computer
(full image size: 1,667kB, screen resolution 1920x1080 pixels)
Slackel 4.10.5 "KDE Live"
Dimitris Tzemos has announced the availability of a new Slackel release - a live DVD image featuring KDE 4.10.5 and based on Slackware Linux: "Slackel Live KDE 4.10.5 has been released. Slackel Live KDE 4.10.5 includes the current tree of Slackware Linux and KDE 4.10.5 accompanied by a very rich collection of KDE-centric software. Linux kernel is 3.10.30. Firefox 24.5.0esr is the web browser, KMail and KTorrent are the main networking applications included in this release, followed by Akregator, an RSS reader for KDE, Kopete, the KDE instant messenger and more. It comes also with OpenJRE 7u51, Rhino, IcedTea-Web, GParted. The wicd utility is used for setting up your wired or wireless networking connections. In the multimedia section, Dragon multimedia player, Clementine 1.2.1 and K3b 2.0.2 are included. The Salix codecs installer application can be used to install patent-encumbered codecs." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details.
Sabayon Linux 14.05
Fabio Erculiani has announced the release of Sabayon Linux 14.05, the latest version of the Gentoo-based distribution available in GNOME, KDE and Xfce desktop flavours: "Sabayon 14.05 is a modern and easy to use Linux distribution based on Gentoo, following an extreme, yet reliable, rolling-release model. This is a monthly release generated, tested and published to mirrors by our build servers containing the latest and greatest collection of software available in the Entropy repositories. Sabayon developers have the funny habit of packaging all the latest stuff that is in the Gentoo repositories and make it available as soon as possible to our users. If you are looking for the latest KDE, GNOME or LibreOffice, the chances that it's in the repos already are very high." Here is the complete release announcement.
wattOS R8
Ron Ropp has announced the release of wattOS R8, a set of minimalist Debian-based distributions with a choice of LXDE, MATE or Openbox desktop user interfaces: "The wattOS team is pleased to announce the release of the new version of wattOS - release 8 - (also known as R8). After 5 years of being an Ubuntu-based distro, we have made the change to Debian. Specifically Debian 'Wheezy' as the base, with some backports thrown in (for example a newer kernel), and in a couple of small places a little 'Jessie' where warranted. But for the most part, its Debian 'Wheezy' as a base to build from. The additional tweaks include the addition of the expected things to make it easy to use as a live CD or install CD. So a reasonably complete desktop for all editions that includes things like support for multiple wireless chipsets, Flash inclusion, printing support...." See the release announcement for more information.
wattOS R8 - the "Microwatt" edition now comes with Openbox
(full image size: 1,491kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
Greenie Linux 14.04.1
Stanislav Hoferek has announced the release of Greenie Linux 14.04.1, a Lubuntu-based desktop Linux distribution with special focus and tools designed for book writers: "Greenie, a Slovak/Czech distribution based on Ubuntu (okay, this time on Lubuntu) is back. At approximately 1 GB it uses Linux kernel 3.13, the LXDE environment, a few common programs (VLC, Firefox, etc) and of course those programs which are the reason this system was built for. The new Greenie, named internally as 'MoReWrite' which is a strange acronym for 'Modify, Read and Write', focuses mostly on ebooks and documents. If you read, edit, write, translate or convert books, all the necessary tools are on this single medium. We can mention the LibreOffice suite, PDF viewers (including programs for editing PDF), programs for undisturbed writing, tools for converting various kinds of ebooks, and everything for production of ebooks, such as creating cover and formatting." Here is the full release announcement with a screenshot.
IPFire 2.15 Core 77
Michael Tremer has announced the release of IPFire 2.13 Core 77, a new version of the specialist Linux distribution designed for firewalls. This is the project's first release of the 2.15 series and it's a major update. From the release announcement: "This is the official release announcement of IPFire 2.15 (Core Update 77). It is the release with the most changes since the beginning of the IPFire 2 series. Those changes include major work on the base of the system, security has been improved in lots of ways and there are many changes regarding the user interface. The firewall GUI has been in development for over a year now and has been massively extended so that almost everything is possible now. There are groups which make creating rules for multiple hosts or services very easy and help you to hold your nerves, even with complex rule sets. All your rules will be automatically converted, but we recommend to double check that everything works as intended."
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| DistroWatch.com News |
New distributions added to database
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New distributions added to waiting list
- Blu Linux. Blu Linux is an Ubuntu-based distribution for the desktop.
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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, 19 May 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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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
| 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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| Random Distribution | 
Blue Linux
The Blue Linux Project was an association of individuals who are interested in creating a free operating system for educational use. This operating system that we are working on was called Blue Linux. Linux was a completely free kernel started by Linus Torvalds and now currently supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. Of course, the thing that people want was application software: programs to help them get what they want to do done, from editing documents, keeping school administration information, to playing games. Blue Linux comes with thousands of packages (precompiled software that was bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine) -- all of it free.
Status: Discontinued
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| 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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