 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 597, 16 February 2015 |
Welcome to this year's 7th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Computers are not, by nature, intuitive devices to use. Using an operating system requires learning at least a few basics about how it works and how to interact with it. Different projects take different approaches to making their operating systems as easy to use as possible. Canonical, for example, tries to make its Ubuntu operating system work the same way across multiple devices, including desktops and the new Ubuntu phone. In our News section this week we talk a little about the new Ubuntu-powered phones and link to discussions on the new devices. Other projects, like PC-BSD, take pains to automate actions and keep the operating system running smoothly. This week we talk about PC-BSD's new upgrade procedure and how it avoids common problems. Another approach to making computers easy to use is to keep them consistent and familiar. The Xfce project has avoided making big changes, sticking to small improvements as opposed to the drastic changes introduced by GNOME and KDE. This week we link to a mailing list post about the Xfce project's imminent 4.12 release. Of course, often the best way to learn the ins and outs of an operating system is to read documentation. This week we share an excellent book for Linux users, Mark G. Sobell's A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux. Plus we discuss a change in how the elementary OS developers ask for donations, say a sad good-bye to m0n0wall and cover live patching coming to the Linux kernel. Our Feature this week is a review that explores the exciting and unusual MakuluLinux distribution. Also this week we list the open source torrents we are seeding and share with you the distribution releases of the past week. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Reviews: MakuluLinux 2.0 Cinnamon
- News: Ubuntu phones launch in Europe, PC-BSD's new upgrade process, elementary OS has a new approach to payments, Xfce plans new stable release, m0n0wall ceases development and Linux to get live updates
- Book review: A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux
- Torrent Corner: Network Security Toolkit, Rebellin, Robolinux, Univention Corporate Server
- Released last week: Network Security Toolkit 20-6535, Kali Linux 1.1.0, Univention Corporate Server 4.0-1
- Upcoming releases: Ubuntu 15.04 Beta 1
- New distributions: Arquetype, Crash Clinic Diagnostics, Pink Rabbit Linux
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
MakuluLinux 2.0 Cinnamon
MakuluLinux is a Debian-based distribution that attempts to provide an attractive, friendly desktop operating system. MakuluLinux (which I will refer to as simply Makulu for the remainder of this review) offers a number of editions featuring various desktop environments. There is a KDE edition, another for Xfce and one for Cinnamon. I decided to try the Cinnamon branch as I enjoyed my recent trial with Linux Mint's Cinnamon edition.
Makulu's Cinnamon edition is based on Debian's Testing branch and is available as a 32-bit build only. For people running computers with lots of memory, Makulu's kernel features PAE support. Looking through the project's release announcement we find a good deal of information. The latest release of Makulu's Cinnamon edition ships with the 3.16.7 version of the Linux kernel, new themes, new wallpapers, new desktop extensions, a recent release of the WPS (formally Kingsoft) productivity suite and the login screen is now powered by LightDM instead of GDM. Further, Makulu ships with the Steam gaming portal, PlayOnLinux and the WINE compatibility software. The release notes mention Makulu's build of WINE has been patched to provide users with better gaming performance: "Makulu Cinnamon offers "Patched WINE" with D3D and CSMT support. What this means is this version is specially built for gaming, with some games getting up to 800% improvement over the default version of WINE, there is also great improvement on a number of other areas including true type fonts. Users can now simply run Windows software out of the box simply by double clicking .exe or .msi files." The distribution also ships with a new device driver manager and desktop settings panel. The release notes let us know people running the distribution in a VirtualBox virtual machine should enable 3-D video acceleration and PAE support, otherwise the distribution will not run properly.
The ISO I downloaded for Makulu was 1.2GB in size and built for the i686 (32-bit x86) architecture. Booting from the project's live disc brings up a menu asking if we would like to run a live desktop environment, try Makulu in a text-only mode or launch a desktop in safe graphics mode. There is also an option for loading the distribution entirely into RAM for faster performance. Loading the project's live desktop environment brings up the Cinnamon interface. On the desktop we find wallpaper showing us a picture of a large shark, a digital clock and an inspirational quote. Icons on the desktop open the distribution's file manager and launch the project's system installer. The application menu, task panel and system tray sit at the bottom of the screen.
Makulu's system installer appears to be the same installer used by the Linux Mint Debian Edition distribution. The graphical installer walks us through selecting our language and country from a list. Then we are asked to select our time zone from a map of the world and, next, we are asked to confirm our keyboard's layout. Makulu incorrectly assumed my keyboard was French Canadian, but I was able to switch it to my actual (US English) layout. We are then asked to create a user account for ourselves. Partitioning our hard drive comes next. We can either ask the installer to create a default disk layout for us or we can click a button to launch the GParted partition manager application that will allow us to manually divide our disk. I tried the guided partitioning option and ended up with two partitions, a large swap partition and a root partition formatted with the ext4 file system. Taking the manual route was fairly straight forward and, once our partitions are created, we can click on a partition to assign it a mount point. On the next page of the installer we are asked where the GRUB boot loader should be installed. The final screen shows us a list of actions the installer will take and asks us to confirm we wish to proceed. Then the system installer copies its files to our drive and, when it is finished, we are asked to reboot the computer.
MakuluLinux 2.0 -- The application menu
(full image size: 930kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Our local copy of Makulu boots to a graphical login screen with a black background. Signing in we are presented with the Cinnamon desktop. The wallpaper changes on a regular basis. Many of the wallpapers provided are bright and colourful, making the desktop seem cheerful, but at the same time the bright colours, combined with semi-transparent components on the desktop, made it hard for me to see icons and read text on the screen. I went into the distribution's settings panel to change the wallpaper settings, but found the background continued to change and the settings panel did not have an option to stop rotating through background images. With a little looking around I found a program running in the system tray that auto-rotated background images and disabled it. This gave me a more static and customized interface.
Another icon I found in the system tray was a news feed reader. Clicking this icon brings up a list of recently posted news headlines on the Makulu website. Clicking on a headline opens our web browser to the news post. Actually, sometimes the news reader would show recent headlines, other times it would display an error saying it was unable to connect to the feed. Sometimes I had to wait a while for the reader to locate its news source. Yet another icon in the system tray indicates when software updates are available. Clicking on this icon opens the mintUpdate update manager. The update manager shows us a list of available software updates along with the version of the package currently installed, the new version of the package available in the repository and the size of the available package. Unlike the version of mintUpdate that ships with Linux Mint's main edition, Makulu's update manager does not display a safety rating for each package. During my trial I experienced a slow stream of updates. On the first day I installed 22 updates, totalling 52MB in size. As the week went on I averaged about two or three updates each day, all of them fairly small, less than 5MB each. All software updates downloaded and installed without any problems.
One of the first components of Makulu I explored was the System Settings panel. This panel allows us to control the look and feel of the desktop, our screen resolution, user accounts, desklets, applets and Cinnamon extensions. We can also adjust power management settings and change our wallpaper. I found the modules in the System Settings panel generally worked well for me. The configuration modules are easy to navigate and I found Cinnamon to be fairly flexible. The only module I had trouble with was the one controlling start-up applications. The start-up applications module shows a list of programs that will automatically run in the background and we can click a box to enable or disable each program. The problem I ran into was the field displaying the name of the program was too narrow and so the program names were not visible. Since the field width would not change, this meant enabling or disabling services became a sort of digital Russian roulette where it was impossible to tell what was being disabled. There is a second settings panel which, I found, provides links to the same configuration modules. I'm not certain why there are two configuration panels as their functions appear to be almost entirely overlapping. However, the second configuration panel has a different, and unusual, icon set, one which matches most of the rest of the distribution.
MakuluLinux 2.0 -- The System Settings panel
(full image size: 659kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Speaking of the icons, Makulu components use an unusual icon theme that makes most icons look wood-like or old-timey. For example, the icon to minimize all windows and show the desktop is not a flat picture of a monitor screen. Rather it is a 3-D drawing of a wooden desk. The panel icon looks like a stone tablet and the networking icon looks a bit like an eighteenth century globe. I'm not sure yet how I feel about this default icon theme. On the one hand I feel the purpose of icons is to be quickly recognizable and using unusual artwork slows navigation as the user is no longer immediately drawn to the proper launcher. On the other hand, the theme does have a certain charm; there's a warm feeling about it that the current design fad, involving flat-and-square icons, distinctly lacks.
Makulu uses the same software manager found in Linux Mint. This software manager shows us categories of software and we can browse through lists of applications. Each application is represented by a name and icon and we are shown a user supplied rating next to each item, making it easier to find popular applications. Clicking on an application's entry brings up an information page with a description of the application, user reviews and a screen shot. Installing or removing a package is just a button click away. The software manager installs and removes packages in the background while we can continue to browse available software. The software manager further enables us to search for software by name or description. Some modern package managers filter out command line programs and libraries, focusing exclusively on desktop applications. I was pleased to note Makulu's package manager allows us to find and install libraries, fonts and command line programs as well as desktop applications.
MakuluLinux 2.0 -- The software manager
(full image size: 1.2MB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
The distribution ships with a second package manager, Synaptic, for people who prefer a more traditional interface when it comes to dealing with software. Synaptic handles locating software, installing, removing and upgrading packages. Software is presented to us in simple alphabetical lists and Synaptic processes actions in batches, locking the user interface while it works. In the background, Makulu's package managers pull software primarily from Debian's Testing software repositories. Additional software is retrieved from third-party repositories. For example, Google Chrome and Skype packages come from separate repositories.
I tried running Makulu in a VirtualBox virtual machine and on a physical desktop computer. When running in the virtual environment, Makulu started up quickly, but the Cinnamon desktop was occasionally slow to respond. While sound and networking functioned as expected, I ran into several scenarios where the desktop would lock-up or applications would crash (more on the crashes later). When running Makulu on my physical desktop computer, everything functioned smoothly. The distribution booted quickly, the desktop was responsive and the operating system was stable. In either environment Makulu tended to use 250MB of memory when logged into the Cinnamon desktop.
The Makulu distribution ships with quite a lot of software. Digging through the application menu we find the Chrome web browser with Flash enabled, the Thunderbird e-mail client and the Pidgin instant messaging software. The Foxit PDF reader is installed for us along with the WPS (formally Kingsoft) productivity suite. The MyPaint drawing program is available along with the Nomacs image viewer and a screen recorder. The VLC multimedia player, the Rhythmbox audio player and the Brasero disc burning software are provided too. Makulu ships with a full range of multimedia codecs allowing us to play most media formats. The distribution ships with the Steam gaming portal, the WINE compatibility software for running Windows applications and the PlayOnLinux software for facilitating the installation of Windows programs. Makulu provides users with an archive manager, an ISO image mounter and the Leafpad text editor. We also have copies of Synapse, a Whatsapp registration program and the luckyBackup utility. Network Manager is available for helping us get on-line and the distribution ships with the GNU Compiler Collection. I did not find Java installed by default, though Java can be obtained via the project's software manager. In the background we find the Linux kernel, version 3.16.
There were a few aspects of Makulu which stood out while I was using it. For instance, when running the distribution in VirtualBox I found running the VLC media player would cause the desktop interface to lock-up. Forcing the VLC process to close would result in the operating system locking up and Makulu required a reboot to get back to a functioning system. While this was a consistent problem when running the distribution via VirtualBox, the same problem did not occur when running Makulu on physical hardware. On a similar note, I ran into a few problems with the Google Chrome web browser. Chrome crashed on me a few times and, on other occasions, would appear to shut down, but then report it had not closed cleanly the next time I opened the browser.
On a positive note, I very much enjoyed working with the luckyBackup utility. Using luckyBackup we can create backup tasks, then test and run these tasks. The luckyBackup tool is run as the administrative user so we can backup any part of the operating system. The luckyBackup program can schedule backups too with a good deal of flexibility. Despite its flexibility, luckyBackup has a nice interface and it carefully walks users through the steps required to make backups of our files.
Another utility I appreciated using was Synapse. Synapse looks like a simple program launcher, the kind you usually get on any Linux desktop when you press ALT-F2. However, Synapse doesn't just locate and launch applications, it can also be used to find documents, audio files and videos. When Synapse is launched we can start typing the name of a file or program we want and then filter items based on file type. Synapse is similar in functionality to Unity's Dash with scopes, but with a more compact interface.
I had mixed feelings at first about Makulu shipping the proprietary WPS productivity suite rather than an open source solution such as LibreOffice. However, WPS did win me over. While WPS does not handle ODF files (like LibreOffice does), the WPS suite does work well with Microsoft Office files and includes a word processor, spreadsheet and a slide show presenter. One feature I think many people will find handy is the on-line repository of templates WPS offers. When we open a WPS application we are shown a list of popular document templates (resumes and time sheets, for example). We can click on these templates to download them and start a new document. There are a lot of templates to choose from and they can make getting started on a form document much easier. Otherwise, WPS is generally a good office suite with the usual range of functions and a traditional menu interface.
Finally, there is the Whatapp registration program. I was not sure what to expect from this application. I thought it might be a desktop version of the popular mobile messaging software, or maybe just a sign-up application. When I tried to run it, I was told I would need Mono installed on my system. The system then downloads Mono and, once Mono was installed, a window appeared with a long list of instructions I should perform, including downloading software from a git repository. I was not sure what the end result was supposed to be, so I skipped the instructions and left the Whatapp program alone after that.
MakuluLinux 2.0 -- Running various applications (WPS, PlayOnLinux and Steam)
(full image size: 342kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Conclusions
I think it is easy to get excited about Makulu as the distribution offers a lot. Users are given a modern, feature rich desktop (Cinnamon), a lot of useful software, including VLC, the WPS suite, a rich settings panel and easy to use backup utility. Multimedia is well supported and the operating system (when run on a physical machine) performed well. Plus users have access to a huge supply of software in the Debian repositories. I was a little surprised at some of the choices offered. For example, offering us WPS over LibreOffice is an unusual choice for an open source operating system. It's not a bad choice necessarily, just uncommon. Likewise, the focus on gaming (providing Steam and PlayOnLinux) is an interesting choice. The theme, with its focus on rich, 3-D icons, is also strange, but a welcome breath of fresh air when compared against the stark utility of GNOME or the flat, washed out look of recent KDE releases.
I suppose what really stands out about Makulu is it is an open source operating system that does not shy away from including proprietary applications when the developers feel those are the right tools for the job. It is a philosophy that may disappoint proponents of free software, but I have to admit it seems a practical path, one which is likely to attract people transitioning from Windows to Linux.
While I did run into a few problems running Makulu in a virtual machine, the operating system performed very well on physical hardware. I greatly enjoyed using and exploring the distribution. There is so much software and functionality I don't feel I had enough time to discover it all. Most of the software worked well and there are many welcome features, such as the luckyBackup utility, that I think people will appreciate.
Makulu is, in my opinion, an unusual creation. It is a distribution which bucks current trends in visual themes, in default applications and in focus. It is a platform that is both fairly stable (thanks to its Debian base) and experimental. I am a little surprised a 64-bit build is not available, but for now a 32-bit build with PAE will probably suit the needs of most people. Makulu is, in my opinion, worth trying just because it is marching to the beat of its own drum and doing a pretty good job of being a general purpose desktop operating system too.
* * * * *
Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a desktop HP Pavilon p6 Series with the following specifications:
- Processor: Dual-core 2.8GHz AMD A4-3420 APU
- Storage: 500GB Hitachi hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111 wired network card
- Display: AMD Radeon HD 6410D video card
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Ubuntu phones launch in Europe, PC-BSD's new upgrade process, elementary OS has a new approach to payments, Xfce plans new stable release, m0n0wall ceases development and Linux to get live updates
The big news for many people this past week was the arrival of mobile phones running the Ubuntu operating system. The Ubuntu phones gained a lot of attention, especially for the way in which Ubuntu's mobile operating system focuses on scopes rather than applications for accessing data. For more information on the new Ubuntu phones, which are now available in select areas across Europe, interested readers may wish to browse last week's Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter as it contains links to many articles and blog posts about the Ubuntu powered mobile device. Are you interested in running Ubuntu on your smart phone or tablet? Leave us a comment letting us know how you feel about Canonical's move into the mobile market.
* * * * *
Upgrading an operating system from one version to the next can be an experience filled with surprises and problems. In recent years several PC-BSD users have reported issues when it came time to upgrade their operating system. Fortunately, the PC-BSD developers have been working on a solution that makes operating system upgrades cleaner and atomic. In a forum post Ken Moore addresses the work being done to insure safe, successful upgrades. "The reason we put so much time and effort into a new upgrade procedure with 10.1.1+ is that it is getting harder and harder to "shield" PC-BSD users from the "pkg upgrade" and "freebsd-update" breakages. Historically, Kris [Moore] has been spending tons of time trying to patch/fix those utilities before they get pushed out on the PC-BSD repos, but recently the issues are getting too large for us to simply patch away (such as infinite pkg SAT solver loops, interactive pkg prompts when running in non-interactive mode, freebsd-update files that do/do-not exist on some systems, improper file merges from freebsd-update, leftover files/pkgs, etc...). Once you finally get updated to 10.1.1 (either through the current 10.1 update procedures which just use pkg upgrade/freebsd-update, or by doing a fresh install), then you will be able to see the power/stability of the new update systems." Ken goes on to explain how new system upgrades will use boot environments to install packages without touching the existing operating system. This should prevent broken packages and make rolling back to previous versions of the operating system as simple as rebooting the computer.
* * * * *
The elementary OS distribution is an open source project which asks users, at download time, to donate money to the project. People wishing to try elementary OS are able to download the distribution for free by offering the project $0. In the past the distribution's website included a link users could click to download the open source operating system for free. However, the project's new website (currently in beta) requires potential users who want a free copy of elementary OS to explicitly type in "$0". The project's website explains: "We want users to understand that paying for software is important and not paying for it is an active choice. We didn't exclude a $0 button to deceive you; we believe our software really is worth something. And it's not an attempt to get rich quick; currently the only people who have received money for working on elementary OS have been community members through our bounty program.
It's about asking a fair price to offset the costs of development. It's about securing the future of elementary OS to ensure we can keep making software that millions of people love and use every day." According to the blog, over two million copies of the Luna edition of elementary OS have been downloaded, with just 0.125% of the downloaders offering donations.
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It has been over two years since the Xfce project released the most recent version of the middle-weight desktop environment. Xfce is popular among desktop users who like to strike a balance between features and performance and, in recent months, some have questioned whether Xfce might be losing momentum. Fans of the Xfce desktop will be happy to know that a new release, version 4.12, is in the works and should be released within the next month. In a mailing list post, Simon Steinbeib suggested the project set a firm launch date for 4.12. "We're writing to you proposing a concrete release date for 4.12 about a
month from now, the weekend of February 28 and March 1. As we have discussed the status and progress of core components with many of you individually, we feel confident that the state of Xfce is good enough to polish some final edges and push more translations until then. We're suggesting this specific date partly for pragmatic reasons (as both of us have time that weekend to support the release process) and
to have a goal in the not-too-far-away future so that we can focus on getting things done."
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For years the m0n0wall project produced an embedded firewall solution based on the FreeBSD operating system. We are sorry to report that m0n0wall development has ceased. Manuel Kasper posted a farewell message on the project's website last Sunday: "On this day 12 years ago, I released the first version of m0n0wall to the public. In theory, one could still run that version -- pb1 it was called -- on a suitably old PC and use it to control the Internet access of a small LAN (not that it would be recommended security-wise). However, the world keeps turning, and while m0n0wall has made an effort to keep up, there are now better solutions available and under active development. Therefore, today I announce that the m0n0wall project has officially ended. No development will be done anymore, and there will be no further releases." Kasper mentions in his post that other projects, such as pfSense and OPNsense exist, offering similar technologies and solutions for people who need to migrate off m0n0wall.
* * * * *
Sometimes kernel vulnerabilities or stability fixes come along and it is not convenient to take the operating system off-line long enough to apply the patch. These scenarios do not come along often, but for the system administrator in a hurry the idea of patching a running kernel without requiring a reboot is an attractive one. In the past the Ksplice technology offered Linux administrators the ability to apply security fixes to running kernels, but Ksplice is only available to Oracle customers these days. For people not running Oracle Linux there may soon be a solution. Developers from SUSE and Red Hat are working together to introduce live patching into the Linux kernel that anybody will be able to use. This code repository comment gives more background on the technology: "Originally, there was Ksplice as a standalone project that implemented stop_machine()-based patching for the Linux kernel. This project got later acquired, and the current owner is providing live patching as a proprietary service, without any intentions to have their implementation merged. Then, due to rising user/customer demand, both Red Hat and SUSE started working on their own implementation (not knowing about each other), and announced first versions roughly at the same time." With the basic functionality for live patching being merged into the kernel, it opens the doors for Red Hat, SUSE and other Linux providers to introduce their own implementations of live kernel patching.
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| Book Review (by Jesse Smith) |
Book review: A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux (Fourth Edition) by Mark G. Sobell
Books describing how to work with Linux-based operating systems are many and varied. Most technical texts have a focus, perhaps on using the desktop or setting up network services, perhaps configuring a firewall or trouble-shooting common problems. Relatively few technical tomes try to cover virtually every aspect of an operating system, such books would need to be huge. However, Mark Sobell likes to take the road less travelled and he writes massive volumes that cover virtually every aspect, nook and component of Linux distributions. Around this time last year I reviewed another of Mr Sobell's books, A Practical Guide to Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (7th Edition). It's an excellent text for people wanting to know everything about everything with regards to a Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system. But what about people who are more interested in Linux distributions based on Ubuntu, or distributions closely related to Ubuntu, like Debian and Linux Mint? For these people, Mr Sobell has written A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux (Fourth Edition).
Before I get into my impressions of this book, I want to mention two things. First, Mr Sobell is, in my opinion, one of the most talented educators writing Linux books today. I say educator because his books (particularly this one) take the form of a classroom text. Each chapter begins with a summary of what we will learn, the bulk of the chapter clearly explains the topic and provides examples and then the end of the chapter lists questions we should be able to answer once we have understood the material presented. This makes A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux as much a professor's tool as a guide for the curious. Mr Sobell has a talent for explaining complex topics. He explains concepts directly, not watering down the material, but neither does he throw in a lot of technical jargon. Technical terms in each chapter are accompanied by page numbers directing us to more detailed explanations. This means the flow of the text is not interrupted by tangent explanations and we can explore specific topics more deeply as needed.
The second point I would like to raise is, considering how massively thick some of Mr Sobell's books are, I am beginning to grow curious. I suspect Mr Sobell either has an army of writers working to complete his many mammoth books or otherwise he has robot minions that carry out all the routine tasks of his everyday life, leaving Mr Sobell to focus exclusively on his writing. Personally, I believe it is the latter.
Joking aside, A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux is a lengthy read. Amazon lists the book as having 1,416 pages of text while my e-reader claims the page count is over 3,000. Personally, I'm not going to take the time to count them manually. Either way, the table of contents for the text is over two dozen pages long. So what is included between the covers of A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux? Well, without taking up 30+ pages to list it all, I will try to sum up the book as featuring six general parts, with each part containing multiple chapters. These parts cover:
- An introduction to GNU, Linux, open source software and operating systems
- How to install Ubuntu, in its many forms and flavours
- The basics of the Ubuntu operating system, including key tools and file system layout.
- Tackling system administration tasks, including networking, security and package management
- Working with common clients and services, such as rsync, the Apache web server, FTP and Samba
- Shell and Python programming along with some database management
By the way, in case all of the above tasks sound very technical and server oriented, keep in mind there is an entire chapter dealing solely with how to use Ubuntu's graphical interface, including how to login, how to customize the desktop, how to find files, locating documentation and installing software through the operating system's graphical tools. Likewise, the section on installing Ubuntu includes a detailed walk through with screen shots of the project's graphical installer. This book is geared towards novice users as much as it is system administrators.
While it is hard to boil down the entire book into a few pages of review, there are some aspects of A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux that stand out. One characteristic I quite like is the placing of tip boxes. While the main body of the text provides us with knowledge, showing us how things work, the tip boxes provide wisdom. It's one thing to know how to use FTP to transfer files, it's another to know why using FTP might be dangerous. It's one thing to know how to configure a firewall, it's quite another to have the wisdom to create a way to access the operating system if a firewall rule locks us out. These little asides of hard won wisdom are welcome and will undoubtedly save many readers precious time as they explore Linux.
I also like how technical concepts and technologies are marked with references to other parts of the book. Some concepts, such as how a kernel interacts with processes, can get pretty complex and it is nice to have page numbers inserted into the text letting us know where we can get more detailed information on a specific topic.
Mostly though, I enjoy Mr Sobell's books for the examples. While Sobell presents topics clearly and precisely, nothing helps me learn quite like an example to follow. I like that A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux has a large number of screen shots, command line examples and shell scripts. Each example is explained and I find these examples give me the opportunity to experiment with concepts. Being told how the trailing slash (/) character in an rsync command affects the outcome is nice, but being shown how it affects the outcome and getting to verify that knowledge with an experiment is even better.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to get the most out of their Linux-based operating system. While the book deals primarily with Ubuntu, the knowledge included in these pages will apply to most Linux-based distributions, especially Ubuntu's community editions, Linux Mint and Debian. The book touches on a wide variety of subjects and explores each one just deeply enough to give us the practical knowledge we need to configure and maintain our Linux distribution.
* * * * *
- Title: A Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux
- Author: Mark G. Sobell
- Publisher: Prentice Hall
- ISBN: 0-13-392731-8
- Length: 1,416 pages
- Available from: InformIT and Amazon
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
Bittorrent is a great way to transfer large files, particularly open source operating system images, from one place to another. Most bittorrent clients recover from dropped connections automatically, check the integrity of files and can re-download corrupted bits of data without starting a download over from scratch. These characteristics make bittorrent well suited for distributing open source operating systems, particularly to regions where Internet connections are slow or unstable.
Many Linux and BSD projects offer bittorrent as a download option, partly for the reasons listed above and partly because bittorrent's peer-to-peer nature takes some of the strain off the project's servers. However, some projects do not offer bittorrent as a download option. There can be several reasons for excluding bittorrent as an option. Some projects do not have enough time or volunteers, some may be restricted by their web host provider's terms of service. Whatever the reason, the lack of a bittorrent option puts more strain on a distribution's bandwidth and may prevent some people from downloading their preferred open source operating system.
With this in mind, DistroWatch plans to give back to the open source community by hosting and seeding bittorrent files for distributions that do not offer a bittorrent option themselves. This is a feature we are experimenting with and we are open to feedback on how to improve upon the idea.
For now, we are hosting a small number of distribution torrents, listed below. The list of torrents offered will be updated each week and we invite readers to e-mail us with suggestions as to which distributions we should be hosting. When you message us, please place the word "Torrent" in the subject line and please make sure the project you are recommending does not already host its own torrents. We want to primarily help distributions and users who do not already have a torrent option. To help us maintain and grow this free service, please consider making a donation.
The table below provides a list of torrents we currently host. If you do not currently have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found here. All torrents we make available here are also listed on the very useful Linux Tracker website. Thanks to Linux Tracker we are able to share the following torrent statistics.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 20
- Total downloads completed: 2,999
- Total data uploaded: 1.3TB
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| Released Last Week |
Network Security Toolkit 20-6535
Ron Henderson has announced the availability of a new release of the Network Security Toolkit (NST) distribution. NST is based on Fedora and provides an extensive collection of open source network security utilities. "We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 20 SVN:6535". This is an interim release which includes all of the NST and Fedora 20 package updates since 2014-Feb-20 rolled into a fresh ISO image. This release is based on Fedora 20 using Linux Kernel: "3.18.5-101.fc20". If you are building your own NST YUM repository or have a subscription to the NST PRO YUM repository, you do not need this ISO image. You can simply "yum update" your NST system(s). A major effort was put forth in this release in the development of NST Mapping Tools to aid the end-user when working with geolocated network entities on Google Maps (See the NST Wiki article on: "NST Mapping Tools" for additional information)." The release announcement contains a full list of new features and a screenshot.
Kali Linux 1.1.0
Mati Aharoni has announced the release of Kali Linux 1.1.0, a point release of the project's Debian-based distribution with specialist software tools for penetration testing and forensic analysis: "After almost two years of public development (and another year behind the scenes), we are proud to announce our first point release of Kali Linux - version 1.1.0. This release brings with it a mix of unprecedented hardware support as well as rock-solid stability. For us, this is a real milestone as this release epitomizes the benefits of our move from BackTrack to Kali Linux over two years ago. As we look at a now mature Kali, we see a versatile, flexible Linux distribution, rich with useful security and penetration testing related features, running on all sorts of weird and wonderful ARM hardware. But enough talk, here are the goods: the new release runs a 3.18 kernel, patched for wireless injection attacks; our ISO build systems are now running off live-build 4.x..." Read the rest of the release announcement for upgrade instructions and to see a promotional video.
Kali Linux 1.1.0 -- Running the GNOME desktop
(full image size: 775kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Univention Corporate Server 4.0-1
Nico Gulden has announced the release of Univention Corporate Server 4.0-1, the first point update of the Debian-based enterprise-class Linux distribution for servers: "We are pleased to announce the availability of UCS 4.0-1 for download, the first point release of Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 4.0. It includes all errata updates issued for UCS 4.0-0 and comprises the following highlights: integration of the Debian 'Wheezy' 7.8 point update; extended the 'Free for personal Use' edition license to 50 users and 50 clients; simplified system installation and setup of cloud instances by improvements in the appliance mode; simplified join an Active Directory domain; multiple bug fixes and improvements related to Samba, e.g. in the printer support and using Microsoft Sharepoint; several enhancements and bug fixes in design and usability of the Univention Management Console." See the release announcement and release notes for more information.
Robolinux 7.8.1 "KDE"
John Martinson has announced the availability of a brand-new edition of Robolinux, a Debian-based distribution with a customised KDE desktop: "Robolinux is proud and excited to announce our newly released 'X-Treme Plasma Speed' Robolinux KDE version 7.8.1. A mind-numbing amount of time and effort went into optimizing the KDE core and boot-up speed in order to make it run faster and use less RAM so that Linux beginners and advanced users would be very pleased. We believe that Robolinux KDE 7.8.1 is the fastest and most customizable KDE operating system available today. Windows users are going to love it as it runs their Windows applications natively inside using Stealth VM. Robolinux KDE 7.8.1 does not require a video driver to run it in full plasma mode. The 32-bit 64-bit variants are based on the rock-solid Debian 7.8 kernel and source code. A brand-new comprehensive Robolinux KDE FAQ section has been created as well." Read this readme file on the project's SourceForge page for further information.
Rebellin Linux 2.5
Utkarsh Sevekar has announced the release of Rebellin Linux 2.5, a set of distributions with a choice of MATE or GNOME desktop environments - based on Debian 7 (the "Synergy" edition) or Debian "Sid" (the "Adrenalin" edition): "We're proud to announce the release of Rebellin Linux 2.5. Plenty of great news from the Rebellin project: you can now download Rebellin Linux 100% free of cost; Rebellin now features the MATE desktop environment along with GNOME Shell; the entire site has undergone massive overhaul. We're committed to making this project better and better in every way possible. Live chat module, new forum, SSL security, pro-active site scanning have been added to the Rebellin website. Rebellin 'Synergy' updates: now available in MATE and GNOME; Linux kernel upgraded to 3.16; SMXI script integrated; various package and driver updates..." Read the full release announcement for further information.
Parsix GNU/Linux 7.0r1
Alan Baghumian has announced the availability of the first revision release of Parsix GNU/Linux 7.0, a desktop distribution based on the stable Debian GNU/Linux 7 but featuring the GNOME desktop with GNOME Shell 3.12: "We are happy to announce that the first revision of Parsix GNU/Linux 7.0, also known as 'Nestor', is available now. Parsix GNU/Linux 7.0r1 ships with GNOME Shell 3.12.2 and an updated kernel based on Linux 3.14.32. This version merges all security and bug-fix updates into an updated ISO image. Key features of version 7.0: modernized kernel build system, enhanced live boot system and installer to support UEFI based environments, built on top of the rock-solid Debian GNU/Linux 'Wheezy' (7.0) platform. Highlights: X.Org Server 1.14.7, GRUB 2, GNU Iceweasel (Firefox) 35.0.1, GParted 0.12.1, Empathy 3.12.7, LibreOffice 3.5.4, VirtualBox 4.3.18..." Here is the brief release announcement, with technical specifications available in the more detailed release notes.
* * * * *
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 |
Distributions added to waiting list
- Pink Rabbit Linux. Pink Rabbit Linux is a Linux Distribution which facilitates making your own Linux Distribution. Pink Rabbit Linux is a collection of shell-scripts based on Linux From Scratch with an example ISO featuring a command line only interface.
- Crash Clinic Diagnostics. Crash Clinic Diagnostics is a Xubuntu-based distribution developed specifically for modern laptop and desktop diagnosis.
- Arquetype. Arquetype is a Fedora-based Linux distribution featuring additional developer utilities and 32-bit libraries in the default installation.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 23 February 2015. 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)
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Xfce (by GayeTurkan on 2015-02-16 05:06:32 GMT from North America)
I'm happy to hear that Xfce is still alive. I have been using it as my main desktop environment for a long time but I switched to Cinnamon lately because it is being constantly updated, more user friendly and more importantly it is light. I hope Xfce can come up with innovative developments with this release because it still has a loyal user base.
2 • ElementaryOS donation controversy (by eco2geek on 2015-02-16 07:25:04 GMT from North America)
As those of us who've downloaded the latest version from the Distrowatch link know, you can get it directly from Sourceforge:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/elementaryos/elementaryos-unstable-amd64.20150208.iso
Slashdot covered this, and their commenters weren't very kind:
http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/02/11/1753219/elementary-os-why-we-make-you-type-0
3 • @2 Money... So hard to get in free software world ! (by Frederic Bezies on 2015-02-16 08:03:51 GMT from Europe)
Since I started using free software (back in 1997, ending in linux-only computer in 2006), I've read about problems getting money to pay development.
Problem is for a number of people, free means : "I don't have to pay to get and use this software".
You're giving a link to download ISO without giving any money. But you can download eOS 0.3 beta 2 ISO without using this link.
There is a big problem giving money to free software project. Back in 2013, PearOS developer asked for money in order to work on its ubuntu-based distribution using indiegogo.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pear-linux-efficient-modern-and-free-operating-system
It needed 35000€ ($39970), it only received 115€ ($131).
Until somebody finds a working way to get money, a lot of project will suffer from lack of resources.
4 • XFCE (by Johnny on 2015-02-16 08:08:46 GMT from North America)
I love XFCE, and can't really think of anything else it *needs* to do offhand, so slow updates are fine by me. Software that updates quickly for the sake of updating quickly always seems to bring unwelcome/unnecessary changes.
5 • @3: Money to fund free software ... Answer: teamwork. (by gregzeng on 2015-02-16 08:41:42 GMT from Oceania)
Linux, Microsoft has many ego-publishers, asking for money for "development". If the person(s) have the proven, reputable team skills, goodies of all kinds will go to the competent, winning TEAM.
Money is just a small part of team health. Open transparency is more important. Alpha- & Beta-testers are also required, plus other team workers; not just coders and beggars. So many "engineers" (software coders in this case) lack team & people skills. Even Ubuntu's financiers have yet to convince myself & many other benefactors that they can make a better "Docky" than Linux already has.
6 • @Johnny (by Chris on 2015-02-16 08:51:06 GMT from Europe)
Absolutely spot on, Johnny - I completely agree. Why change for change's sake?
7 • Xfce % Cinnamon (by Glasiad on 2015-02-16 09:11:10 GMT from Europe)
Xfce has a lot to commend it, like a fast, snappy low-on-resources DE, but I have always shied away from using it as a main DE because it suffers from clunky permission access problems and procedures. I for one have no desire to go command line just to access a file on another partition. It's simply not time efficient.
Cinnamon is a worthy DE for those largely accustomed to Window OS's and those who prefer icons to text. Need I say more?
Which leads me to my question - why is it that modern Linux-based systems, on the whole, require ever more hardware resources to perform as well as pre 2010 Linux systems with much less resources. In many cases they are slower despite having 10 times the RAM and much faster dual core processors. What gives?
This is the road Windows seems to have gone down. Are open-source systems bound to follow the same mistake?
8 • @7 (by mandog on 2015-02-16 10:35:16 GMT from South America)
The answer to your Question is in your last paragraph If you want all the bells and whistles then you need more ram, Also since when did you need to to use the command line to access a file on another partition, there are several methods to give permanent mount permissions for xfce just read the distros wiki.
9 • @7 (by morgan on 2015-02-16 11:24:03 GMT from Europe)
It is simply not true, you really need to be more specific in 'what is slower'.
Most distro's load far faster than they used to thanks to upstart/SystemD, on the whole desktops require less resources to run than they did (including cinnamon) , for example Plasma 5.2 (kde) uses approx 20 - 40 % less RAM than KDE4 (however it uses more GPU processing power)
Do you have an intel GPU- I know for a fact that many intel GPU's have worse performance with Ubuntu 14.10 for example.
10 • Xfce 4.12 (by Charles Bos on 2015-02-16 12:03:09 GMT from Europe)
Very happy to hear about Xfce 4.12. In spite of competition from MATE and Cinnamon I still think Xfce is relevant. It's customisation is the least cumbersome of the three (in my opinion) and compared to Cinnamon at least it's much lighter - especially on the rather weak laptop I run it one. But that's not surprising seeing as Cinnamon started out as a fork of GNOME Shell.
@7 "I for one have no desire to go command line just to access a file on another partition."
Without more details I can't be certain of this but, I think the issue you are describing is not actually a problem with Xfce/Thunar per se. File managers like Thunar et al need a polkit authentication agent to display a graphical prompt for a password. Xfce doesn't come with its own polkit agent so this may be the root of your problem (again this is only a guess as I don;t have more details). Cinnamon and GNOME Shell have a polkit agent built into their shells and MATE has mate-polkit (a fork of the old polkit-gnome). What I do is just autostart polkit-gnome with the Xfce session and that's the problem solved.
11 • Xfce (by Corporal Lint on 2015-02-16 12:37:45 GMT from North America)
Graeme Gott's wonderful Whisker Menu plugin for Xfce appeared a couple of years ago, and has steadily improved while becoming the default menu/launcher for Xubuntu and Mint's Xfce variant. Even though it's not an official part of the Xfce project, it's been a wonderful and very noticeable, almost fundamental, addition to the environment. So, so me at least, Xfce hasn't felt stagnant, even if there hasn't been a new release in a couple of years.
12 • @3 (by Mike W. on 2015-02-16 13:34:43 GMT from North America)
@3 There is a way to try and get money from your user base, it is not calling them cheaters for using your DE that you have put over Ubuntu. I was there from the start, talking to devs on reddit who have since been trying to backpeddle and delete entire comment blocks all together.
Essentially they believe everyone who was not paying any money for their project was a cheater and at one point called a thief for having the audacity to download the ISO without paying. People linking directly to the sourceforge page had their comments deleted and were told to stop helping cheaters.
In a post that has since been deleted, I asked how much they contributed to the actual projects they rely on (Ubuntu or Debian) and they immediately went on the defensive about how they cant contribute upstream because this is their project and their team doing all the hard work and need money and not the teams working on Ubuntu or Debian.
With this scam team, I fully expect to see in future releases a limited functionality version released for people who want to use it for free, but you will need to pay to unlock access to everything. These people are simply doing this for a buck, they could care less about Linux users or the FOSS movement. The second they figure out how to legally make a version of Windows they can put their DE over and sell it, they will wave goodbye to Linux.
Luckily they accidentally exposed themselves for what they are now, and everyone I know that uses or recommends eOS has since switched out and is now actively campaigning against people using it as am I.
13 • 32 bit only? (by massysett on 2015-02-16 13:35:21 GMT from North America)
Makulu is 32 bit only--why? Everything else is going in the other direction, getting rid of the 32 bit binaries and going 64 bit only. These days even obsolete hardware is 64 bit.
14 • Xfce...couple of things (by Barnabyh on 2015-02-16 13:48:23 GMT from North America)
Similar to the comments #4 and #6, Xfce 4.10 and even 4.8 are still fine by me and I'll happily keep using them. There's nothing I could think of that's missing. Being a fan of the traditional menu that is spot on. Perhaps a menu editor would be nice, but why would you want to hide entries? It's easily done adding/deleting .desktop files anyway.
Cinnamon gets a lot more updates because it is younger and trying to achieve much more, a lot more comprehensive in its aspirations. Xfce otoh is mature, and why change something that's (almost) perfect for what it's supposed to do.
Not a fan of labelling projects 'dead' just because they haven't had a lot of updates or development going on on git for a few months. Some of us just want to use their computers and get work done.
@7: Never run into this issue. Most likely a problem with how your distribution implemented Xfce, or did you add it afterwards?
15 • 13 # Why only 32 bits? (by Pmulax on 2015-02-16 14:11:22 GMT from Europe)
Massyset, even though I use Mint KDE 64 bit on my 8 Gb desktop, my 32 bit only laptop cannot boot a 64 bit system, and even if it could it's 2 Gb RAM would have a higher overhead with a 64 bit system...and no "visible" benefits. I am not alone, as many users have similar CPU/RAM limitations...the present crisis has pardoned many "old" PC's from the scrapyard. Having in mind the potential users of Makulu, I too would have built first the 32 bit version.
16 • Netrunner 15 (by DblMtn on 2015-02-16 15:30:01 GMT from North America)
I love Netrunner 14, but Netrunner 15 does not seem to be ready for primetime. I think I will wait for a revision or two before replacing 14. Anyone else having problems with 15, or is it just my system?
17 • Makulu 32-bit (by Somewhat Reticent on 2015-02-16 15:40:23 GMT from North America)
The core developer addressed this issue in their forum. For 32-bit (i686+PAE) there's a rich accumulation of efficient debugged code. For those who so prefer, he pointed to an of-site guide for migrating an Ubuntu-based install to 64-bit ... though I doubt he wants to support it yet,
Perhaps advocates of 64-bit OSs should review the tradeoffs involved, other than bragging rights for 'more RAM' (and power consumption?), and describe appropriate applications or use cases.
18 • FOSS donations (by cykodrone on 2015-02-16 16:41:19 GMT from North America)
Let the market decide, as it does with proprietary anything. I've made donations to projects big and small, depending on if they were good, and-or useful. In-your-face demands turn me off, they make me go away, it's that simple. For example, testdisk has saved my butt numerous times (after doing stupid rookie idiotic $#1+, lol), I went out of my way to give Christophe Grenier $50CDN, it's not much but it's a monetary 'thank you'.
19 • @18 (by jadecat09 on 2015-02-16 16:52:15 GMT from Europe)
That's the way to do it.
BTW! I'm from England. UK if you must. Not Europe!
20 • Xfce 4.12 and beyond (by mark on 2015-02-16 17:05:10 GMT from North America)
I definitely agree with #11 that Xfce became dramatically more usable after Whisker Menu came around. It's one reason why I stick with Xfce in spite of the flurry of development that's been going on with LXQT.
There are practical reasons why we've gone so long between Xfce updates; it's reached the state where it meets the needs of its target audience. The Xubuntu and Mint versions of Xfce strike a balance between resource usage, simplicity and usability that I can be happy with.
With that being said, Xfce will need to evolve by replacing GTK+2 with GTK+3. We've seen how LXDE adapted to the deprecation of GTK+2, by switching over to Qt. Hopefully Xfce will become the lightweight GTK+3 desktop, in response to LXQT as the lightweight Qt desktop.
21 • So What? (by Ulf on 2015-02-16 18:45:55 GMT from Europe)
Comment deleted (off-topic).
22 • @13 (by gnnnnnnnnnew on 2015-02-16 18:49:36 GMT from Europe)
The dev's reasoning for keeping it 32 bit (for now):
"Now, I am all for building 64bit OS, BUT and here comes the BIG BUT, You arent the one who must offer support on it, I am. so all these little issues and niggles that 64bit suffers from, where do you think users go for support ? These forums will be filled with driver issues, software issues, wine issues, steam issues and all kinds of other crap. Take a look at Mint, Ubuntu, Debian and all the other forums, it is plagued with such shit….
686 PAE works out the box, detects all your ram, and look how little bugs we deal with, we get 2 or 3 bug posts a day, sometimes we go few days without any bug reports… ( this week being exception because its launch week ) And honestly, have you ever seen a linux with so much eye candy run so fast or smooth ? Ever seen software run so fast ?
So now, looking back at all this info, you still think it is a good idea to make a 64bit OS at this point in time when clearly linux is not ready for it ?
I will make 64bit when 64bit offers the same speed and reliability that the current 686 PAE does or when I have the man power to sit and offer support to hundreds of topics with issues. Until then, the logical thing to do is keep riding this awesome wave and keep putting out distro’s that performs as intended and looks great at same time"
(source: http://makululinux.com/forums/topic/64bit-version-of-makulu/)
23 • @22 Makulu 64bit. (by Jacque on 2015-02-16 19:28:35 GMT from Africa)
@22 - That is quite an old thread that was started a year ago and carried into new forums. Since then 64bit has come quite a way.
I am looking at moving to 64bit at some point this year, I must first do some research on Secureboot and UEFI, look at how to implement stable Steam and Wine, And then I also want to explore the possibility to make a hybrid 32/64 bit Edition so that you only download 1 ISO. I am surprised no one has even looked at this possibility. I am not saying it is possible, but its also never been explored before, so who knows. Point is there is a lot to look at than simply just following the trend like a blind sheep.
I have tried constantly to NOT be like every other linux developer, hence my releases are always colorful and always doing something out of the ordinary, take my latest KDE release for example, or the new Hybrid LXDE release i am working on. if i followed everyone else like a blind sheep you would have simply another distro with a plain wallpaper, top panel, and a menu...
My original statement still stands, compare Makulu forums to most others and ours look almost empty in comparison, and this is largely due to regular issues on 64bit systems.
Research is the key before i make any bold moves and commit to a course of action. For now PAE is good enough, it works on both 32bit and 64bit machines without issues.
24 • @21 (by jadecat09 on 2015-02-16 19:31:17 GMT from Europe)
Comment deleted (off-topic).
25 • Makulu (by Barnabyh on 2015-02-16 19:36:13 GMT from Europe)
^ As a fan of Slackware's philosophy I go with your conservative approach. People don't even know why they want 64 bit except that it's newer when in reality 32 bit might serve them better when their needs are Skype and Wine.
26 • @25 (by Jacque on 2015-02-16 19:46:35 GMT from Africa)
@25 Well, it not just the move to 64bit that is the problem, but largely it is Wine and Steam. Both have their issues with 64bit and what is the point on making a 64bit version if i remove those 2 applications. They are 2 of my favorite software and many of the current user-base i have. This leaves the messy option of 32bit libraries to get Wine working, and i know where users will run to with all their Wine problems ...
So really it is a big decision, and i do know i cant delay forever, but i cant also rush in blindly.
It is a VERY small percentage of users that actually need 64bit, there is one or two games and less than a handful of software that requires 64bit, and even then there is 32bit fixes or work arounds for those software.
The biggest reason anyone is really moving to 64bit is UEFI support... which to me is completely stupid, if you gonna run linux, why would you want to enable UEFI ? before UEFI was released ( which is not that long ago ) everyone was happy with how everything booted. but now MS implemented a new boot standard and suddenly everyone MUST support it on the fly ...
27 • Xfce and choice @10 @ @8 @9 (by Glasiad on 2015-02-16 19:49:24 GMT from Europe)
"In spite of competition from MATE and Cinnamon I still think Xfce is relevant."
I can't say I see it in a competitive sense. The great thing about open source is that people have choice and will make choices based on their needs and experiences.
Also the idea that the most popular DE / OS (the one with most appeal to the masses) is the 'winner' is odd.
Likewise I do not look forward to the day when Linux OS's become mainstream. I'm certain it would suffer as a result. Linux OS's are already in a decline and have been so for the past few years - (partly due to increased popularity I believe).
I was stating that my experiences with Xfce was bit awkward. Any DE where I have to read the wiki guides on how to do things I can accomplish on other DE's with ease is not ideal - at least for me. Perhaps I am simply getting old and get tired of learning new tricks for new OS's and DE's
If Xfce works for you and is your preferred DE, that's grand. I have no bones to pick.
At the end of the day, it's the choices and liberty to choose that's important and in that regard open source wins hands down. Popularity and uptake doesn't even come into the equation.
28 • Netrunner 15 (by JohnW on 2015-02-16 19:54:13 GMT from Europe)
@16 Maybe 2/3 months to early?
Did read some KDE developers blogs that KDE Frameworks 5, Plasma 5 and KDE applications are ready for distributions at April or May or maybe later.
29 • @27 XFCe and choice. (by Jacque on 2015-02-16 19:56:46 GMT from Africa)
What do you mean by not competitive ?
Xfce is still one of the best around, it has more features than most put together, far more functional, faster than most, able to run on almost any hardware and it can look prettier than even the most modern distro around if you know what you are doing.
Go take a look at the latest Makulu Xfce 7.1, you probably wont even recognize that it is Xfce running, it looks better than gnome and KDE put together, faster than most out there and it is very functional.
Xfce is still King and will be for quite some time.
Gnome 3 was the dark horse that had so much potential to be king, but o how they screwed that up...
30 • XFCE relevance (by linuxista on 2015-02-16 20:09:28 GMT from North America)
IMHO Xfce doesn't do anything particularly well. If I want a polished mouse oriented desktop I can use Gnome3, and if I need (or just want) something low on resources I think a well configured Openbox, like Crunchbang, beats the pants off of Xfce for usability and stability. And if I had to go for something in the middle, I'd probably try my luck with Mate or Enlightenment, or hold out for LXQt before settling for Xfce. If Xfce were already an excellent DE, then there would be no need to improve it, but it's only an adequate DE and it's not even rock solid. Sorry for the rain!
31 • @30 (by Jacque on 2015-02-16 20:14:53 GMT from Africa)
@30.
"If Xfce were already an excellent DE, then there would be no need to improve it"
WoW ... O_O ...
there is always room for improvement, hence EVERY os out there is getting daily updates. That does not make them very buggy or unusable. software and packages used on linux is constantly evolving and forcing the os to change and adapt along with it.
You clearly have no experience using Xfce, So i wont bother to educate you.
32 • majority versus minority (by Ulf on 2015-02-16 20:20:17 GMT from Europe)
Comment deleted (off-topic).
33 • Competition (by Charles Bos on 2015-02-16 20:29:35 GMT from Europe)
"I can't say I see it in a competitive sense."
"Also the idea that the most popular DE / OS (the one with most appeal to the masses) is the 'winner' is odd. "
I don't think I expressed quite what I was trying to say correctly in post 10. You seem to think I'm coming in here with some sort of corporate ideology whereby I feel that one software project must triumph over all others. That really wasn't what I was trying to say at all.
What I was getting at is that if there is situation where a number of projects are all producing something similar, one or more of those projects might consider merging with another project - much like with LXDE and Razorqt. I was just saying that I still feel Xfce has something to offer in and of itself, not that Xfce needs to 'embrace and destroy' or something like that!
For what it's worth, I genuinely like GNOME Shell and would use it much more extensively if I had better hardware.
34 • @33 (by Jacque on 2015-02-16 20:41:10 GMT from Africa)
@33
In a perfect world projects would merge, but its unlikely that will happen. I have worked on Gnome, Xfce, KDE, Cinnamon and now LXDE. and i dont mean from a user perspective, I have dug into code, packages, software, gotten my hands dirty where most would not venture... Been there and done that for 15 hours a day. I think i spent more time on Xfce in the last few months than the Xfce developers have spent most of their lives... And my goal was simple, to push boundaries. My point is i know most of these operating systems very well. and You are right in a sense, they all have pro's and con's. but from a functionality stand point, Xfce is the clear winner in terms of features and functionality.
Gnome 3 is a broken mess, Who in their right mind makes a Plug-in based OS which breaks almost every plug-in you have with every major update ? it is a headache to maintain and completely leaves the user stranded if the third party plugin developer decides to stop working on his plugin. Plugins should work on EVERY version of gnome, a plugin a developer makes for gnome 3.0 should still work on 3.12... I think this is originally how they intended it to be, because if it is not it is poor planning, and if it is then they screwed up somewhere. Gnome 3 reminds me of Mac os, except Mac os works better, there the actual plugins do carry over many versions of the os without issues.
35 • ElementaryOS (by JT on 2015-02-16 20:42:08 GMT from North America)
The big problem with ElementaryOS was that it held so much promise for creating a good UI to counter GNOME, in terms of beauty and usability (to be honest, GNOME isn't as usable as Pantheon). In my opinion, that's why everyone's so butt-hurt over the dev poor reaction for not getting any monetary gain.
Another thing, Pantheon was (and still is, I believe) being ported to many other distros (Arch & Fedora mostly). It could have very easily swept a lot of people away with its elegance (and it being easier to use than OSX UI).
That being said, calling your user-base cheaters, for doing something that is perfectly legal to do, is not something that I take lightly. Any money that I would have donated (thankfully I haven't), will be spent/donated elsewhere.
There are many more devs and projects that are far more deserving of the money, because they have contributed more to OSS/FOSS/FLOSS or simply because they have a better quality product at the end of the day.
@19 Us pesky Americans consider England apart of the European continent. ;)
36 • Gnome 3 (by Jacque on 2015-02-16 20:48:10 GMT from Africa)
Gnome is broken at the core... so until that is fixed its nowhere near the top 5 of best OS of the year.
it is a plugin based OS, therefore they need to find a way to stabilize the core from radical changes and have longer support for third party plugins. you CANNOT have a plugin that works only on the current version of the OS but not the next version. it kinda defeats the whole point of the os in the first place
If they find a solution for this problem, it could be a GREAT os. I can think of half a dozen great plugins written for gnome, all dead in the water now because plugin developers decided it was too much work having to keep the code updated with every new version of gnome. it is a huge weakness.
37 • @30 (by kernelKurtz on 2015-02-16 21:13:47 GMT from Europe)
"IMHO Xfce doesn't do anything particularly well."
As the Jacque implied, this opinion doesn't seem very informed to me.
What does it do well?
Customizability.
It is not only flexible in the extreme, but also quite easy to intuitively figure out how to get there. My DE of choice.
38 • @32 (by jadecat09 on 2015-02-16 21:40:34 GMT from Europe)
Comment deleted (off-topic).
39 • Desktops (by M.Z. on 2015-02-16 21:42:01 GMT from Planet Mars)
"Synapse doesn't just locate and launch applications, it can also be used to find documents, audio files..."
I just checked, & KRunner does all that as well, though I don't normally open files, folders, or mp3s that way.
@7
I have found that the exact opposite is true! I set up a separate /Data partition for my files when I started to boot multiple versions of Linux on the same machine, but XFCE worked better than any other DE. When I installed Mint 17 XFCE on my old PC it automatically showed my other hard drive with the /Data folder on it. All I have to do is click the semi-transparent drive on my desktop and boom, there is my data partition with all my files on it.
@29
It is just a matter of taste, but the KDE releases before the flat theme craze are by far the best looking DE's around in my opinion. XFCE fairly nice looking for a lighter weight DE though.
@30
Gnome 3? Really? I know some people use it & like it, but it is in no way comparable to XFCE if only because XFCE stays with a sane interface. It also is fairly useless with just a mouse, you need to know all sorts of special key combos and secret hand shakes just to minimize an application or turn the freaking thing off, or at least you did initially. I can't imagine how you could think Gnome 3 was comparable to any other DE, it is really off in a strange world of its own. If you like it fine, but it just can't be compared with anything else because of how odd it is. I find Gnome 3 beyond useless, but that's just me. If you like it call it something different, but don't compare it to a normal desktop, it is too different to be compared to any traditional DE.
40 • @34 (by Charles Bos on 2015-02-16 21:43:29 GMT from Europe)
My post wasn't meant to be an Xfce vs GNOME Shell debate. I was just saying that I like more than one project.
A few points in defence of GNOME extensions, I don't think it's fair to expect extensions to work all of the time with absolutely no maintenance at all. I think extensions were introduced in GNOME 3.2 so that would be around September 2011. Could you point to a Firefox extension that has received no maintenance since late 2011 and still works as expected in Firefox whatever version we're on now?
41 • XFCE (by Bonky Ozmond on 2015-02-16 21:43:52 GMT from North America)
I Don't really like any of the 2 big DEs Preference for me is DMs and on a number of machines I have Openbox, Fluxbox, Awesome, and 1 with Icewm. 1 with Pekwm.
I do have XFCE on my Gentoo box mainly for the sake of Marital bliss .
I have always thought that with XFCE the reason they don't update frequently is from the old addage " if it ain't broke don't fix it"....
Gnome had a great DE untill they decided to change it....now for many it's a disaster,, KDE the same.. admittedly i havent tried Mate...But i see no reason to either ...personally i just don't see the need for DEs
@21-35 England is No more part of Europe than Mexico is to USA..same problems with Immigrants though
42 • Xfce (by linuxista on 2015-02-16 21:53:14 GMT from North America)
Sorry. Xfce is not the most flexible or customizable DE by a longshot. I've tried to get xfce to an acceptable state on a number of distros over the years (Ubu, Deb, Arch, Manjaro), and, inevitably, after getting it as far as it will go toward acceptability for me, I say, "meh," and move on to something else. It just doesn't do anything particularly well. Maybe fans think it's great b/c they think the ultimate is something that behaves like XP out of the box, and don't want too much more. If I want scale and expo functionality, I have to use compiz, but compiz seems to work better with Mate. There are certain things the Xfce panel doesn't do in vertical mode that I've had to create other hidden panels for, and the applets are better with Mate.
If you want flexibility, Openbox is way better. The keyboard shortcuts are unlimited, and you can actually have a tiling and stacking WM at the same time, effectively. It's much more stable, uses far fewer resources, and looks just as good if not better. So like I said, I don't see what Xfce has to offer except for being a middling kind compromise.
I like the comment above @31 where if you critize Xfce you are ignorant by definition ("You clearly have no experience using Xfce, So i wont bother to educate you.") Lol!
43 • Xfce (by Diego Rodrigues on 2015-02-16 21:57:35 GMT from Europe)
All I wanted to say is:
Whooooooooohooooooooooo Xfce4 :)
While I have used many DE's and WM's over the years, Xfce4 has always been my one and only true love.
I can not wait to see what the new version will bring.
44 • @43 (by Jacque on 2015-02-16 22:05:13 GMT from Africa)
@43 have you tried the latest makululinux xfce 7.1 ? it is based on Xfce4 and it will blow you away ...
45 • XFCE4 (by kc1di on 2015-02-16 22:21:58 GMT from North America)
xfce4 is a good middle of the road DE that works for me. It's seems to be the one I always end up with.
preforms well on a vast variety of setups and is quite stable.
use it everyday here.
That's MHO :)
46 • Gnome is broken (by M.Z. on 2015-02-16 22:44:58 GMT from Planet Mars)
@40
Doesn't Firefox have the jetpack API which remains constant between releases? I think they have a way to prevent those breakages in Firefox, but Gnome breaks things almost intentionally.
@41
I agree with you about Gnome, but KDE seems to me to be a nearly perfect desktop. What is there to complain about, especially when you have lighter options for older hardware? XFCE is a good middle weight DE, but KDE seems to me to be perfect for recent hardware. KDE looks nicer & has more & better customization, effects, & desktop management features.
__________
Why am I from Mars instead of Florida, or N. America? Is it no script related, or just a glitch that generates a funny error message?
47 • Re: Elementary OS (by MoreGee on 2015-02-16 23:22:41 GMT from North America)
The same should be said for Robolinux. If uou don't pay the install stops at about 300mb. The upgrade tool will not update to the next release and your purchased keys won't work after upgrading.
48 • Personal favourite DEs/WMs (by Carlos on 2015-02-16 23:44:38 GMT from Europe)
This is IMO, so take it with a grain of salt.
1. Gnome 2 -> yes!!!
2. XFCE, Mate, LXDE, Openbox -> I can configure all these to my linking and find all of them a pleasure to use.
...
9. PekWM (not bad at all!!!)
...
99996. Cinnamon -> Tried it some years ago. Pretty but it had performance issues, even the mouse cursor couldn't follow a window being dragged around. It seems to be better now, but I lost interest.
99997. Enlightenment -> Can be configured to look awesome but I get tired fast. It's a pain to use for everyday computing.
99998. KDE 4 -> Never liked it, no matter what. And I tried. Many times. I feel like I'm on Windows.
99999. Gnome 3 -> Gnome who?
49 • XFCE (by alteschule on 2015-02-17 00:45:16 GMT from Europe)
check the history books....xfce in the older days: a stable working environment for unix users. not only linuxers. do not forget this.
then the change to GTK+
and years later to dbus and such things.
and remember: xfce has had a menu-editor in the past. it was stable & good.
50 • 32bit (by alteschule on 2015-02-17 00:52:37 GMT from Europe)
as said in most comments: 32bit and also the single-core-CPU. this is all there. all in function. nothing wrong. all is working.
laptops over 10 years old. smooth. no hurry, no worry.
51 • How much does ElementaryOS worth ? (by Kroy on 2015-02-17 00:59:00 GMT from North America)
If you use and love a given piece of software, you contribute to it either financially (i.e. pay for it, donation etc.) or anyway the development team calls for (e.g. translation, helping others in the forum etc.).
I have no problem ElementaryOS asking for money - I wonder how many suckers would find it valuable enough to pay for it though. :-0
52 • reminders (by alteschule on 2015-02-17 01:05:36 GMT from Europe)
no talk about monowall
no talk about pc-bsd updater
no talk about ksplice in kernel
this is desktop-watch??
53 • LXDE (by Jacque on 2015-02-17 01:05:59 GMT from Africa)
Wait till you see what i am doing with LXDE, now there is a OS i am taking and not only making it look out of this world, but i am turning it into a hybrid OS, adding a lot of the functionality of Xfce and adding some gnome elements as well. The end result will be a beautiful, very functional Os running on a mere 240mb ram, capeable on running on very old computers or very new computers and performing equally well on either. I have also written its own control center that ties many of these features into a single panel.
here is a preview video : http://youtu.be/6p1AU-be4bg
keep in mind its still quite a early build.
54 • Jacque (by alteschule on 2015-02-17 01:18:43 GMT from Europe)
about 240MB of RAM? on 32bit?
55 • Jacque (by alteschule on 2015-02-17 01:30:42 GMT from Europe)
do you start all services in background?
an LXDE on debian, buntus, etc, etc is about the 80MBs
56 • elementary OS- by butthurt devs, for butthurt users (by Milo on 2015-02-17 02:48:03 GMT from Europe)
"the new website is considered a beta and hasn’t replaced the old site yet for a reason: it’s still being worked on. The payment and download process could be tweaked before the final release of elementary OS Freya . . . currently the only people who have received money for working on elementary OS have been community members through our bounty program [www.bountysource.com/teams/elementary]."
I personally don't care for elementary OS as a deliverable; for me, Jupiter (0.1) was elementary's most interesting release. But I will hold off final judgment of elementary's website changes until those changes have actually gone live. Beyond that, since elementary is a private limited company seeking funding from users, it is not unreasonable to expect that the community manager/lead writer who wrote that users are "cheating the system" will be replaced in that capacity, as those kinds of comments don't make for quality community relations (petty bickering begets petty bickering). I say this as someone who doesn't have a stake in elementary LLC, elementary OS or the elementary community, and who really couldn't care less.
57 • elementary OS (by Hoos on 2015-02-17 04:32:37 GMT from Asia)
I donate to various Linux distros and other open source projects.
I've even donated to elementary Luna - AFTER I had used the FINAL version for a while and decided it was a nice distro worth supporting. Pantheon with its smooth desktop effects worked on my old desktop with weak graphics card while Gnome 3 could not due to its high resource requirement. So with elementary older hardware could get the sort of refinement and visual boost previously reserved for more powerful machines.
The thing is, most people understand requests for donations in the open source world. But NO ONE wants to be pushed into donating with manipulative guilt-tripping.
So someone in elementary absolutely messed up with the use of the phrase "cheating the system". Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!
Further, their request to "not cheat the system" is in respect of the Beta 2, not even the final version. Can you imagine, you're asking people to try this out for you, report bugs and give feedback, and you tell them they are cheating the system if they don't pay for it. Oh boy.
But I think it may not be too late to redeem themselves if they apologize officially and expressly and unreservedly. Grovel a little. Not just quietly edit away that phrase from their blog post and then removing blog replies they aren't happy with.
Say sorry to the people who supported you, put in place a donation system that is more palatable and move on. Don't let the the release of the final verson of Freya be tainted by this unpleasant episode with cheesed-off supporters having turned from you.
Will they do it? Who knows.
For me, I entered $0 and downloaded for free. I don't feel guilty at all. If I decide I like it and eventually install the final version, I'll contribute something. Otherwise, it's gone from my system.
58 • donations (by Dave Postles on 2015-02-17 09:31:54 GMT from Europe)
I'm an associate of Trisquel (direct debit), have made donations to the development of Mageia and Uberstudent. I make the donations for the common good. Some of us can afford to support stuff for the common good, but others don't have those resources. That's fair. IMHO, that's how it should be.
59 • @43 (by Cymru on 2015-02-17 13:20:22 GMT from Europe)
"Xfce4 has always been my one and only true love"
You should get out more often ;)
60 • Open source money matters (by Cymro on 2015-02-17 14:18:26 GMT from Europe)
It's interesting reading about the donations fiasco with Elementary which led me to think ...
Has anybody tried a OS project where instead of donating for use of the software you invest in the project and share the risks of a potentially profitable enterprise? It would blur the distinction between users and owners and could lead to who new was of organising in an open and transparent way. Along with crypto-currencies it could initiate a whole new way doing business on line.
61 • ElementaryOS (by Jericho on 2015-02-17 15:12:15 GMT from Europe)
They've made a bad choices of words in that post. They should focus on creating a cross-distribution Desktop Environment, because honestly I've tested their distro just once and never crossed into my mind to test it again. I felt locked inside Ubuntu with a poor choice of default programs.
What makes them shine is their DE, so they should focus just on that and stop demonizing users who want to spin-off another distro to see what it feels.
62 • Oracle Suing Opportunity (by Sasha on 2015-02-17 15:15:58 GMT from North America)
Very comforting to see businesses, such as RedHat and SUSE contributing to the ecosystem they are using to make money.
The new live kernel patch features sounds like a potential for Oracle to do to them what they did to Google about Java. I hope this does not give them an oportunity to start suing Linux vendors, both large and small, who ship the new feature.
63 • @46 Planet Mars (by cykodrone on 2015-02-17 16:02:17 GMT from North America)
This is just a wild guess but maybe if DW's server can't properly categorize an IP, possibly because of being behind a TOR or proxy, "Planet Mars" is a catch-all?
Somebody at DW has a sense of humour, lol. :D
64 • WM/DE preferences (by Corbin Rune on 2015-02-17 17:10:07 GMT from North America)
At this point, I'd have to stick with my usual "main" three: (no real order of preference, tbh.)
Openbox, Enlightenment, KDE.
No matter what else I try, I always go back to that combo. Past that, WM/DE preference is just like distro likes and dislikes ... everyone's got their options..
65 • ElementaryOS (by Alex on 2015-02-17 17:52:23 GMT from Europe)
Elementary OS has one simple problem; the arrogance of the developers. It looks like a fast responsive distro, but if you'd want to use popular browsers, such as FF or Chromium, you'd have to download a lot, the resulting distro would be larger. Then again, it doesn't have an office suite. Practically Elementary OS doesn't have much useful popular applications. Let's say Pantheon is good, but would it work with other popular apps, for example file managers, text editors, terminal emulators? Try and install Calibre and you'd see how much other dependencies it had to download. In other words, if you want to download any useful app, you'd have to download quite a lot of dependencies. What the use of such a distro?
66 • Elementary os (by Loup on 2015-02-17 20:32:51 GMT from North America)
So elementary want us to pay .... are they going to use a percentage of my money to pay their ' royalties ' to ubuntu / debian ?
67 • m0n0wall & DEs (by M.Z. on 2015-02-17 21:26:55 GMT from Planet Mars)
@52
I for one am glad that m0n0wall existed, even though I never used the distro directly. I guess it and pfSense are a bit like Ubuntu & Mint for me, as I've only really used the derivative distro rather than the original. If m0n0wall has done nothing else for me, it made it easy for the pfSense guys to create an outstanding firewall OS. I highly recommend pfSense, and am a bit curious about the pfSense fork mentioned in the post about m0n0wall. I feel much more secure running behind my BSD based firewall with snort turned on, so thanks to all the FreeBSD, m0n0wall, pfSense, & Snort folks who made that happen.
Also just to annoy you about desktops some more...
@48 - Carlos
KDE is too like Windows? Funny if I'm stuck on Windows for very long I start to miss the feature richness and customization options of KDE! For me I'd list my favorite DEs as
1. KDE - best overall full DE, with best features, look, & customization
2. Cinnamon - a great runner up for best full DE
3. XFCE - best middle weight DE
4. LXQT - (razor/LXDE) looks very promising & started as two projects I liked
...
9. Mate/Gnome 2 - I started on Linux with Gnome 2 & its decedent is still fairly solid
...
99. Unity - strange & Mac like bit of spyware with poor GUI interface (though they will remove the spyware soon... I think)
100. Gnome 3 - a bizarre thought experiment gone wrong, loses to Unity because of poor design & promises that Unity won't be spyware soon, while Gnome only promises to get worse
@63
Sounds about right to me ;)
68 • XFCE / Cinnamon / Mate (by Johannes on 2015-02-17 22:21:23 GMT from Europe)
I have tried all DE in the last 15 years, many times. Never could use KDE after the catastrophic switch to 4.x - that was such big mistake... Then they ruined Gnome year after year, and I'm really glad that Mint came up with Cinnamon and Mate. XFCE has always been great, but somewhat limited.
More instersting than my own experience: I have been keeping relatives and family PCs running on linux for the last 10 years. 5+ PCs, it's not huge, but still worth a comment. My relatives never really liked XFCE, but never complained about Mate / Cinnamon. It just works, fore everyone.
So IMHO, Cinnamon is a step further solving Bug #1...
69 • Flash-killer (by Marty's McFly's Mom on 2015-02-18 11:05:46 GMT from North America)
Mozilla's Flash-killer 'Shumway' appears in Firefox nightlies
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/16/mozillas_flashkiller_shumay_appears_in_firefox_nightlies/
"Open source SWF player promises alternative to Adobe's endless security horror"
70 • elementary OS & XFCE (by Georgia on 2015-02-18 13:54:46 GMT from North America)
@57 +1 I think they may put off a lot of potential supporters with a presentation that smacks of bait and switch.
@45 I like XFCE because it's clean, simple, and easy on resources. It works just fine for me.
PS Pink Rabbit Linux; what a great name for a distro?
:-D
71 • Elementary (by Bonky Ozmond on 2015-02-18 15:16:03 GMT from North America)
After reading about Elementary OS and its $10 fee ?? I thought i would try it out...not that I would generally try an Ubuntu based distro ..... I downloaded it freely without any hassle just by closing the payment window....
I guess its and OK OS..though it doesnt offer so much...very basic.. it didnt run too good in V box...for me anyway
would I pay $10-00 for it ....NO
72 • Why I like XFCE (by Jason on 2015-02-18 16:06:18 GMT from North America)
XFCE is great because it launches apps and stays out of my way, and I can easily change things that I want to change. I've generally wanted to like LXDE as I love using PCFileMan, but not as unified, pretty and worse of all, if you move the task bar to the top, it keeps blocking the title bar of your windows.
73 • Paying back a FOSS project by the users (by Transform Humanity on 2015-02-18 17:55:53 GMT from Asia)
I am not justifying my current inability to pay money to a FOSS project but am I not paying back just by say ...
1. using the project. (of what use is a FOSS project if you don't have users - even if only free (riding) users?)
2. Routinely applying patches so the project has a count of active systems.
3. Once in a while ask in the forums so you come across an issue that missed through the entire dev. process.
4. Beta testers, even unregistered ones.
5. I guess firefox is so good today, partly, only partly, because lots of us send crash reports?
6. For a moment assume, people like me go off eOS, the over million downloads they are talking of would vapourise soon enough.
I have been using free software for over 15 years now - no proprietary ones at all but never for once felt my $1 was more important than just using it. Tens of people I have converted and one of my students called me some time back to say he was finally impressed with my approach. He now develops entirely on a 100% open source stack.
For More than 3 billion people living in the developing/ under developed world, FOSS is the salvation that will allow them to leap frog decades of being behind ... centuries of oppression and exploitation.
I am not at all sure we should even feel the slightest guilt if we could not donate $1. Just the act of using it is contribution enough?
74 • self-inflicted (by Milo on 2015-02-18 18:49:57 GMT from Europe)
As mentioned in Miscellaneous News, elementary.io as it currently exists features a "Download Luna for free" option (underneath the blue download button), which doesn't require zeroing the payment amount. Via the current website, "Users have downloaded Luna over 2,000,000 times. Around 99.875% of those users download without paying. Of the tiny 0.125% who do, the most common payments are the default $10, followed by $1." beta.elementary.io features the proposed change, where 0 must be entered for those who don't wish to give payment; not exactly an Earth-shattering change. My sense is that most people who are upset are so because the original explanation given by the community manager was that users are "pretty much cheating the system when they choose not to pay for software". If elementary LLC doesn't want people to download elementary OS for free, they shouldn't provide that option. It's hardly cheating to make use of an option which is provided. "Cheating the system" sounds like the language of emotional blackmail.
To further quote, "elementary is under no obligation to release our compiled operating system for free download." While this is true, they should move to another revenue model if there is to be an expectation of payment. Donations are inherently voluntary. Furthermore, I can envisage that some unsavvy people (exactly the kind of new-to-Linux users to which elementary might cater) might be confused by the new website design into thinking that payment isn't optional.
Originally the explanation given for continuing gratis downloads was that, "While we could rightfully disallow free downloads, someone else could take our open source code, compile it, and give it away for free. So there’s no point in completely disallowing it." That has since been reworded to, "While we could rightfully disallow free downloads, we don’t want to." I think the community manager was being more honest with the originally worded explanation. That they still allow gratis downloads seems to be more driven by fear (of potential remixes or forks eating their lunch) than by a desire to be accommodating to their user base. Yet the poorly handled interaction with the community may in fact inspire rebranded derivatives, regardless of whether payment remains optional.
I have sympathy for their position, as well as for other developers seeking to make a living from their personal projects and to grow those projects, but this has been poorly handled by elementary LLC. There probably would have been less grumbling had they said nothing, and just rolled out the change, perhaps with a note in the blog that 0 can be entered for gratis downloads. As it is, they have needlessly antagonised some of their users. This situation was further inflamed when a director for SPI took it upon himself to unsolicitedly proposition elementary LLC, and then blog disapprovingly (now deleted) when his efforts weren't received enthusiastically.
elementary LLC didn't handle it well, some of the user response has been overblown, and the aforementioned director of SPI looked a bit like a resentful unrequited suitor. But it all started with poor community relations on the part of the elementary community manager (and by extension, elementary LLC). Not a good way to run a fledgling enterprise. elementary OS might have competition in its niche when Ozon OS is released. Hopefully the Ozon team will have learned from elementary's missteps.
75 • giving back (by M.Z. on 2015-02-18 20:22:34 GMT from Planet Mars)
@73
I think you forgot one of the most important parts of giving back to open source projects even though you mentioned doing it, encourage people to try open source projects. If you can get some folks to try open projects and more than a handful of them like it and stick with it, then the project has likely future donors. Perhaps it could take a few years, but I think many uses will feel a sense of debt to the projects that give them free & open software & eventually give back when they feel that they can. Users should be reminded of the importance of giving, but guilt tripping should be avoided if at all possible. Some projects seem to be able to get a decent amount of money with out the guilt trip. Mint raised over $14k in a month while PCLinuxOS received over $3500 in the past couple of months from their GoFundMe campaign:
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2764
http://www.gofundme.com/pclinuxos
76 • Acquired taste (by far2fish on 2015-02-18 20:59:43 GMT from Europe)
Personally I start liking any DE once I have used it long enough:
XFCE, Gnome 3, KDE, Unity, Cinnamon, Openbox, Gnome 2 (all in random order)
The only exception to confirm the rule is LXDE, which I for reasons unknown never have fancied.
77 • Donating to the cause (by John on 2015-02-18 21:06:13 GMT from North America)
First: I'm a KDE man. I find Gnome3 just harsh.
Second. Annually I for a subscription to the RedHat Desktop (now $50 a year0 and pay for/towards another distro. The last two years it has been Suse's Enterprise Desktop.. (although since they no longer KDE, I won't subscribe this year).
To me, it is $100 a year and well worth continuing to fund these projects. Not a ton of money, but certainly more than I was paying for Windows.
78 • @75 (by Milo on 2015-02-18 21:41:30 GMT from Europe)
Mint also gives monthly status reports via its Monthly News blog entries, something elementary could learn from, as the elementary blog, while full of entries, is somewhat lacking in this particular regard. That way elementary could keep users abreast of the project's status, both in terms of acknowledging donors, as well as expressing project needs and growth opportunities as these present themselves.
elementary should determine how much funding they need to keep the project going, as well as any additional funding for stretch goals, and perhaps provide a donations meter visual, similar to www.freebsdfoundation.org, www.openbsdfoundation.org/campaign2015.html & www.netbsd.org/donations.
More than anything, they need better communication with their users. Take the following quote: "Around 99.875% of those users download without paying [emphasis theirs]. Of the tiny 0.125% who do, the most common payments are the default $10, followed by $1." Tiny is an unnecessary adjective. People can grasp 0.125%, no adjectives needed. By placing emphasis on the 99.875%, and then stressing the meagreness of the donations received both in terms of percentage and monetary amount, as a whole it reads as if the donations that have been received, particularly of smaller amounts, are taken for granted, and that the focus in on monetising the remaining 99.875% of users. Rather than trying to shame 99.875% of their user base as freeloaders, they would be better off expressing that they genuinely need funds to keep the project in good health. The GNU/Linux ecosystem isn't the Mac ecosystem in terms of the average user profile, but that doesn't mean there are no opportunities to earn a living in the service of users. I'm not saying it's easy. Bryan Lunduke's experiments were interesting to watch. There are over 20 blog posts in his search for a viable model, beginning on 2012-05-28 ("Want to make this software Open Source? Now’s your chance.") and ending on 2013-12-02 ("Linux Tycoon is now Shareware… Again."). Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from them.
79 • KDE (by linuxista on 2015-02-18 23:34:33 GMT from North America)
It's taken me a long time to warm up to KDE, and I'm still not quite there. I have Plasma 5.2 installed right now, and it's definitely an improvement. It's still buggy in places (even 4.14 was), and you just seem to have to work around them. I hate that it won't recognize hyper or super keys as modifiers because I like to use keyboard shortcuts. It seems like desktop appearance changes don't take immediately, or only partially, or sometimes the various schema write over each other. It's frustrating. It's overly complex and lacking focus, which is why I never start newbies out with it.
If you think of KDE as a purely amateur project it's amazing, but as a professional, OSX competitor, it's not up to snuff. The closest thing linux has to that sort of polish is Gnome3 and Cinnamon at this point. I suppose Unity as well, but I've never warmed to it, though some newbies I've started with it seem to like it just fine.
80 • Netrunner 15 (by Herbert Thornton on 2015-02-19 04:55:52 GMT from North America)
I have an older (M58 series) Lenovo computer with 6 gb of RAM and an SSD hard drive.
A day or so ago - on the day I first noticed it here on Distrowatch - I downloaded and installed the new Netrunner 15 on it. The more I use Netrunner the better I like it.
I used Wine to install my favorite Photoshop (Elements 2) on it and I've found that it works better under Netrunner than under any other Linux version that I've ever used. It feels, to me, just the same as operating it under either Windows or Mac. The same goes for other programs - e.g. Faststone Image viewer.
But that's not all. Both my email and Internet operate faster too.
81 • Xfce (by Kazlu on 2015-02-19 10:44:11 GMT from Europe)
@34
" I think i spent more time on Xfce in the last few months than the Xfce developers have spent most of their lives...".
Don't you think that's *a bit* pretentious?
@37
"It is not only flexible in the extreme, but also quite easy to intuitively figure out how to get there. My DE of choice."
Very well said.
@42 Xfce
"It just doesn't do anything particularly well. Maybe fans think it's great b/c they think the ultimate is something that behaves like XP out of the box, and don't want too much more."
If it "behaves like XP out of the box", doesn't that mean it can do the essential quite well? This is a huge way from "doesn't do anything particularly well" don't you think?
"There are certain things the Xfce panel doesn't do in vertical mode that I've had to create other hidden panels for, and the applets are better with Mate."
Although I agree there is a greater variety of applets in MATE, vertical panels in MATE are terrible. You cannot even have horizontal text in applets such as the clock... So xfce4-panel has the upper hand here, but there are even more flexible ones, like lxpanel... which lacks applets a bit :) Yet another story about compromises!
82 • Vertical panels (by Carlos on 2015-02-19 11:11:32 GMT from Europe)
If you want vertical panels, try Enlightenment.
83 • @7 memory ressources (by Kazlu on 2015-02-19 11:45:49 GMT from Europe)
"Which leads me to my question - why is it that modern Linux-based systems, on the whole, require ever more hardware resources to perform as well as pre 2010 Linux systems with much less resources. In many cases they are slower despite having 10 times the RAM and much faster dual core processors. What gives?"
I noticed the same thing and I am also sad about it. It is particularly true when you try to keep an old PC (10-15 years old) and intend to do about the same things you did with the same machine before, but with up-to-date OS and software. From my experience there are two major points where you need way more resources than before to execute about the same tasks: Desktop environments and web browsers. In the first case, the situation is not too bad yet, since there are several totally usable super-light desktop environments that will run well on old machines. But when it comes to web browsers... Firefox is really heavy and slow on old machines. Midori is fine but prone to crash on some websites (and I noticed it crashed more often on an old machine than on a more recent one). Last time I tried, Chromium was also quite heavy and Qupzilla had about the same stability issues than Midori, but I admit it was some time ago. I have yet to find a stable and lightweight web browser.
One might also mention office work, but by using an older version of OpenOffice (which does not present the same security risk than using an older web browser), eventually on an offline older OS, you can still work. Abiword and Gnumeric may even be of some use on modern OSes, that depends on your work.
84 • I'll build my own distro, with blackjack and Xfce (by Milo on 2015-02-19 19:15:16 GMT from Europe)
@84
Unless Rick James has been reincarnated as a software developer, you shouldn't stay up nights worrying about it.
Moving on...
@20 "With that being said, Xfce will need to evolve by replacing GTK+2 with GTK+3."
On that front, Ikey Doherty has recently volunteered to help with porting Xfce to GTK+ 3 (and possibly rallying a few others to the cause), so maybe the core Xfce devs will take him up on his offer.
85 • @81 Xfce Mate (by linuxista on 2015-02-19 20:28:54 GMT from North America)
@81 If it "behaves like XP out of the box", doesn't that mean it can do the essential quite well? This is a huge way from "doesn't do anything particularly well" don't you think?
I don't think so. I can't stand the Windows desktop. It's about as much fun as driving a dump truck, whether XP or Win7. I've often wondered whether all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about Unity and Gnome3 wasn't about having a task manager in a panel. For me I don't use it, I like either scale mode or keyboard shortcuts, so I wasn't affected by Gnome3 taking it away (there's always classic mode, but I don't use that either.) And since Gnome3 and Cinnamon have that as a central functionality (and easily enabled in KDE), I find the changes an improvement in workflow and stability. IMHO, flamers. :-)
You're probably right about vertical panels in Mate. I don't know about Lxpanel, but one of the reasons I like Tint2 is I can have one panel with a single task manager for multiple desktops. That's when a task manager starts to become useful for me at least w/ WMs like openbox where I don't have (or want to jerry rig) scale mode.
86 • @87 correction (by linuxista on 2015-02-19 20:31:55 GMT from North America)
Sorry, I mean "so I wasn't affected by Gnome3 taking it [TASK MANAGER IN PANEL] away (there's always classic mode, but I don't use that either.) And since Gnome3 and Cinnamon have that [SCALE] as a central functionality..."
87 • @83 Old hardware, modern browsers (by cykodrone on 2015-02-19 20:48:32 GMT from North America)
I had the same experience a few years back, my main (more modern) machine was temporarily out of commission, I scrambled to slap together an 'emergency' machine from spare used parts (Pentium 4 1.7GHz OC'd to a stable 2GHz, on purpose, squeeze every last drop, lol), I did have to buy some hardware to get it going, I couldn't find an AGP video card so I had to settle for a GeForce 6200 512MB PCI (that's the old PCI, NOT PCIe, ack), an 80GB IDE HDD (smallest and cheapest I could find) and a 1GB DDR(1) stick of value RAM (again, smallest and cheapest). I tried to run EVERY so-called 'lite' distro I could find until I was blue in the face, most of them struggled just to get to the desktop (with the GPL video driver, the proprietary driver made it 10 times worse), then trying to run any fairly modern browser was painfully slow. Libre and Open Office did work but were really slow to open. I wound up having to dig out an old XP install disk, yep, that's right, I'm extremely sad to say XP ran 'lite' enough (tweaked to high heaven, tons of background garbage disabled of course) to decently run Firefox (late 2012 version), I was on pins and needles security wise the whole time, I was quite relieved to get back to Linux on my main machine. It's a familiar story, it helps to have hardware 'overhead' to run other things once the OS and GUI are loaded, I used to tell people over the years (MS users), "if you're going to run a firewall and antivirus, make sure you have enough 'horsepower' left over to do other things, like photoshop programs for example" (quite popular back in the 00s). IMO, there's no cure for this, increased security and application features have proliferated causing insane software bloat, unfortunately, there's no turning back the clock. Older hardware might be OK for a CL mini-server, etc, but that's about it, unless somebody has the time to strip out a kernel and only load the necessities, but is it really worth it, and how many cash strapped average Joes or Janes have that knowledge?
I'm not poo-pooing old hardware, I 'recycle' whenever I can, it's just a fact of life now, there's a usable hardware age cutoff point, I'm finding more than 10 years old, expect problems. I can hunt down (used), buy or build a basic office and browser machine for a couple hundred bucks (peripherals extra), sadly even USED hardware from most retailers comes with the MS tax, I tell them "no thanks, I'll take my business elsewhere".
88 • Love the way you include who is responsible for the Distros (by Aaron B on 2015-02-19 22:40:04 GMT from North America)
I love the way you start the release notice by saying "this person or team has announced the release "........
They should get credit for all the hard work they put in. Now if only other sites would credit the work that people put into other works like programs, when they write about them, that would be great.
89 • @89 Linux works fine for me on old hardware (by Joseph on 2015-02-19 23:20:28 GMT from North America)
I have an old laptop circa 2005 that someone gave me after I helped them pick out a replacement. It has a 32-bit, single core AMD Sempron at 1.8GHz, 512MB DDR RAM, a 4200RPM(!!!) 75GB IDE hard drive, and ATI (not AMD) graphics that benchmark to about a TNT2 Ultra from 1999.
I tried some lite distros on it - I abandoned them because they weren't worth it compared to what you lose. Right now I'm running normal OpenSUSE 13.2 on it, full KDE desktop! It's quite usable so long as you don't expect to multitask or have lots of browser windows open. Running one of JetBrains' Java-based IDEs is indeed (too) slow, but I had no problem running a python & Qt-based python IDE. I could even run XBMC on it. Granted, playing a 720p video comes close to 100% CPU usage :-) but it does work without any skipped frames. Similarly, Banshee is a bit heavy for music, but Clementine is light enough to work just fine without losing features.
I need to be out of town two or three times a year, and fine this old beast (almost 7 pounds!) is just fine for browsing the web, checking e-mail, watching a DVD or television episode, writing some code. As long as I keep in mind its graphics power is circa 1999, I can even play 1999 era Windows game via WINE such as Dungeon Keeper II and even Half Life!
If I wanted to I could get up to 2GB of memory in this laptop, upgrade to a faster 160GB IDE drive and even use its PC Card slot(s) for an SSD.
That said, yes, one shouldn't expect to be able to use old hardware *forever*. However, as hardware as improved, we're now at the point where even old hardware is "enough" to perform all the average tasks a user would want. I recently completely replaced my desktop PC, which last had a motherboard/CPU refresh in 2009 while some parts like the monitor/keyboard/mouse/case dated to 2005 and the speakers (which I kept) go back to 1999! Between 1999 and 2005 my CPU (K6-III 450MHz) had grown very outdated - ripping a CD took 65 minutes! But between 2009 and 2014 honestly my $100 CPU (with unlocked core and modest overclock) was still quite usable and not a bottleneck at all. This new reality is going to make older hardware usable for longer periods of time.
90 • @82 • Vertical panels (by James on 2015-02-20 14:45:12 GMT from Planet Mars)
@Carlos - Can you please suggest any other alternative to Enlightenment.
91 • 74 • self-inflicted by Milo (by Alex on 2015-02-20 17:06:00 GMT from Europe)
Let's consider Pantheon DE as a good DE, but the rest of the Elementary OS apps without menus as not that useful, let's redo this Elementary OS into a useful distro and give it out free.
92 • @91 (by Milo on 2015-02-20 21:29:53 GMT from Europe)
Pantheon is okay, but it's not amongst my top choices, in light of the alternatives. I could say that about much of elementary (Maya, Pantheon Files, Noise, Scratch, Pantheon Terminal). If someone wishes to fork elementary OS, I promise to donate as much to the fork as I have to elementary :) Of the over 2,000,000 elementary Luna downloads, who knows how many permanent installs those have actually result in. My guess is substantially less than 2,000,000. As I do with many other distros, out of curiosity and an interest in software development, I take a look at elementary OS with every release. elementary OS always leaves me feeling a bit underwhelmed, though it is somewhat sleek in its underwhelmingness. If they ever do something that strikes me as worthwhile, I will send some money their way. If that time ever arrives, hopefully by then their funding messaging will match their funding model. In the meantime, there are other projects that I feel have crossed the threshold of deservingness.
elementary OS's issues notwithstanding, I am NOT against developers seeking financial compensation, though the market may not value their work and thus may balk at their attempts. Even someone who only remixes Ubuntu with a different wallpaper and icon theme is free to seek payment from those willing to pay, though my hope would be those consumers are educated as to their options.
93 • @92 elementary's brass bahlz (by cykodrone on 2015-02-20 22:23:47 GMT from North America)
"who knows how many permanent installs those have actually result in"
Very true, I think I might have downloaded it once a long time ago, the DVD-R went in the garbage after a very brief live trial, borne from shear curiosity because of its page hit ranking, which incidentally was not really deserved, there are better Ubuntu remixes.
"Even someone who only remixes Ubuntu with a different wallpaper and icon theme is free to seek payment from those willing to pay"
That was funny, and oh so sadly true, I'm gunna whip together Schizzel-buntu and see if I can hold my hat and tin cup out, lol. Just kidding, I don't have that kind of time on my hands like some other people do.
94 • Supporting Freed Software, etc (by Somewhat Reticent on 2015-02-21 07:51:49 GMT from North America)
Many people simply don't know what it costs to provide development or distribution, and such ignorance fosters trust issues. Most agree that supporting Freed-Software developers (and forum mentors, documenters, etc) is good; few appreciate denigration, nasty surprises, or charging for tryouts/test-drives/demos (pig-in-poke). Clearly the ElementaryOS devs need to improve their human-relations skills or recruit related talent.
Current extremism in "rights" and licensing make balanced market negotiations unlikely, but not impossible. A decentralized self-regulating market (bids/bounties/bazaar?) has not yet been fully developed ... yet. The challenge of our time?
Page hits may show seeker interest and a combination of earned-reputation and marketing - not distro "better"-ness, however that may be measured. They certainly don't show installs, or how long installations persist.
95 • @ 92, 93 (by Alex on 2015-02-21 12:48:13 GMT from Europe)
Pantheon has that headache of not having minimize button and also you cannot right click the desktop. I'm going to install Elementary Trusty on a vacant partition and get rid of all these Maya, Pantheon Files, Noise, Scratch, Pantheon Terminal etc and put back the normal apps with menus, and also get rid of the unconfigurable Wingpanel, while keeping new Slingshot application finder, or put back the old Slingshot, which is much prettier.
You guys can do the same (or similar) thing, only if you can use it without the minimize button. Remastering this Ubuntu based distro is not a big problem. I'd be doing this for fun, and I won't ever use Elementary OS for daily work, as the whole concept of this OS is annoying.
96 • Ekiga (by imnotrich on 2015-02-21 23:47:01 GMT from North America)
Anybody know when Ekiga will issue an update to include Pulse compatibility? Pathetic to think Ekiga is in the Debian,Ubuntu and other distro's repos but...isn't compatible in the slightest with Linux right now. Takes 10-20 minutes to register with my provider's server, won't dial out or when it does the dtmf tones work during a call so I can't navigate any menus, most of the time just crashes and locks up my desktop - I can't even kill the process using the command window.
Currently had to switch to SFL phone, not a bad option but no silk. If I want the best audio quality for my voip calls, I have to use Skype on Linux. Seriously, a microsoft product!?
Really odd, because Ekiga for windows runs great. Most of the time. Scary to think Microsoft does something better than open source. What's this world coming to?
97 • DistroWatch Page Hit Ranking (by Greg Zeng on 2015-02-22 03:07:54 GMT from Oceania)
From Dw:
"The DistroWatch Page Hit Ranking statistics are a light-hearted way of measuring the popularity of Linux distributions and other free operating systems among the visitors of this website. They correlate neither to usage nor to quality and should not be used to measure the market share of distributions. They simply show the number of times a distribution page on DistroWatch.com was accessed each day, nothing more."
Could this be extended further? Allow a random duration of several seconds before the hit page is counted? Also perhaps a sensor trap, to notice if their is a surge of unusual "popularity" in one site or another? Perhaps this is already being done?
Comments section of Dw ....
if inserted on a Sunday, have very few readers to read it, and to comment if wished. Bulletin Boards & Forum technology has improved much further before the WWW was invented. Can Dw please be more up to date with these comments, and even allow Google to search these, please?
98 • XFCE Pimping Tutorial (by Arch Watcher 402563 on 2015-02-22 04:40:27 GMT from North America)
You didn't try hard enough to pimp XFCE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnH92h_QHf0
I use a minimalist WM and dislike GNOME, but all DEs deserve objective eval. I am glad someone is "minimizing" GNOME...the more the merrier.
99 • 97 • DistroWatch Page Hit Ranking - Greg Zeng (by Alex on 2015-02-22 14:48:52 GMT from Europe)
From Dw:
"The DistroWatch Page Hit Ranking statistics are a light-hearted way of measuring the popularity of Linux distributions and other free operating systems among the visitors of this website."
Well, should the words "the popularity of Linux distributions" be changed to "curiosity of the users?"
100 • Searching DW Weekly (by Somewhat Reticent on 2015-02-22 17:45:14 GMT from North America)
using [site:distrowatch.com {pattern}] yielded only a few results, from years ago (2013, 2011). Given the spam sent to email addresses posted here, perhaps that's for the best. Still, it would be nice to have some kind of search access to the comments knowledgebase.
101 • open source market (by M.Z. on 2015-02-22 20:28:12 GMT from Planet Mars)
@94
I think software tends to have the same problem that water does, it seems readily available and no matter how useful it is there is no sacristy so it isn't valued by many users. The whole song piracy thing sort of demonstrates the issue, if you know where to look you can find folks willing to distribute an infinite amount of copies to anyone who wants one. The fact is the ability to produce and distribute a near infinite number of copies of digital data like open source software is imbedded in the design of computers and the internet. This means getting people to value free software is like getting them to value water in the Amazon during a monsoon, its an extremely uphill battle. It is very difficult to prevent file sharing/piracy when something is copyrighted simply because of the ease of transferring data means you many users don't feel like they're doing anything wrong. Now with open source you compound that issue by creating a license that explicitly allows giving the stuff away so all users can get it guilt free. Is it any wonder that few users give back?
The successful models of distributing something free are generally about packaging and support. For water some companies bottle it and claim its filtered or from a better source. Consumer buy it even in developed countries where tap water is of a superior quality compared to bottled, although it makes no rational sense. In the case of Linux you can get a support model in Red Hat Enterprise Linux that makes a lot of sense for big businesses who want guaranteed support. For technically minded home users with decent support forums available it is a lot harder to sell. There are just so many free & open options a free rider issue is inevitable, but you can still hope for future generosity from users. There are also ways to embed some support funding into the distro as has been done by both Mint and Ubuntu. I think Mint did it right by putting a funding mechanism in a browser search box where you expect ad laden results to pop up after a search. On Ubuntu it was embedded in the HUD interface and sending info to third parties any time you used a search on your local machine whether you wanted to search the web or not. Done right as seen in Mint this seems to be a good solution.
I suppose the real issue here is getting enough support though either direct donations or some secondary funding mechanism like a browser search. I think the combination of the two seems like enough for big projects like Mint, but it may never be enough for smaller distros. The smaller projects either have so suffer through initial lean years, or they have to be personal labors of love. It is difficult to conceive of a way to fund open source projects, though I suppose someone could start distributing donations to the most downloaded projects. Perhaps something like Debian popcon could be used to compile a list of most used software within major distros, & a similar pool of donations could be given out to the most used projects. I'm not really sure how else a market could be created for donating to distros or open projects.
Number of Comments: 101
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| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Full list of all issues |
| 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 | 
Salix
Salix is a Slackware-based Linux distribution that is simple, fast, easy to use and compatible with Slackware Linux. Optimised for desktop use, Salix OS features one application per task, custom package repositories, advanced package management with dependency support, localised system administration tools and innovative artwork.
Status: Active
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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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