 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 697, 30 January 2017 |
Welcome to this year's 5th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
There is usually a trade off to be made between convenience and security. Signing into a user account without a password is easy, but not at all secure while running every application in its own virtual machine is secure, but not at all convenient. This week we explore Subgraph OS, a project which attempts to juggle both security and convenience, providing its users with a friendly desktop environment with many powerful security features. In our Tips and Tricks column this week we look at the steps required to install Ubuntu Touch onto an Android phone and the resulting experience. Plus we discuss Arch Linux phasing out support for 32-bit computers, talk about the Budgie desktop using Qt for future development and Linux Mint updating its Debian Edition. We also share the releases of the past week and provide a list of the torrents we are seeding. In our Opinion Poll we talk about installing alternative ROMs on smart phones and we hope you will share your experiences, good or bad, in the comments section. This week we are pleased to announce we are hosting a new resource, simplified manual pages with straight forward examples detailing how to use command line programs. Plus we welcome the storage-focused OviOS Linux distribution and the web-focused CloudReady distribution to our database. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (65MB) and MP3 (42MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Subgraph OS 2016.12.30 Alpha
The Internet can seem a scary place, full of organizations monitoring our every on-line move and waves of attackers trying to gain access to our systems. A number of projects have been created with the aim of making Linux distributions safer and protecting our privacy. Tails, for example, routes Internet connections through the Tor anonymizing network to make it more difficult to track its users. The Qubes OS project isolates tasks, helping the user to essentially compartmentalize their applications and data.
Another Linux distribution which tries to protect the user and their files is Subgraph OS. The Subgraph distribution is based on Debian and includes several security features to keep the operating system locked down and our on-line browsing anonymous. The following excerpts from the Subgraph website give us a taste of the project's features:
Subgraph OS ships with a kernel hardened with Grsecurity, the best set of Linux kernel security enhancements available. Grsecurity includes PaX, a set of patches to make both the userland and the kernel more resistant to exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities.
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Subgraph OS's application containment mechanism creates sandboxes around at-risk applications, such as the browser, e-mail client, PDF viewer, and IM client. The objective of this is to contain the impact of a successful attack against these applications, preventing compromise of the entire system. Each application within a container has a limited view of the host system and limited set of capabilities such as limiting access to the file system or the network.
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Subgraph OS includes features to enforce application network policies such as Subgraph Metaproxy and the application firewall.
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Metaproxy is configured to redirect outgoing connections to the Tor network based on a white-list of approved applications. Each application is automatically relayed through a proxy that will use a different Tor circuit.
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The application firewall will restrict which applications can connect to the network based on the name of the application or the destination. Users will be prompted to set temporary or permanent policies as outgoing connections are made.
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Subgraph OS users who install the operating system must have encrypted file systems. It is not optional in Subgraph OS.
Subgraph OS 2016.12.30 -- Running the Tor web browser
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Subgraph OS is available for 64-bit x86 computers exclusively. The ISO I downloaded for Subgraph was approximately 1.3GB in size. Booting from the Subgraph installation media brings up a menu asking us if we would like to start the distribution's live desktop mode, run a system installer or start a graphical installer.
I experimented with running Subgraph in a VirtualBox virtual machine first. When trying to launch the live mode in VirtualBox, the distribution displayed a graphical boot screen for a while, then switched to a text screen where I could watch status messages scroll by. The system eventually locked up, displaying a series of blinking messages which all read "Started Session # of user user."
I next tried to install Subgraph in VirtualBox. The distribution did install successfully, but once Subgraph was installed, trying to boot the distribution in VirtualBox resulted in the same issue with Subgraph displaying flashing text (this time the final, flickering boot message indicated Subgraph was trying to start the GNOME display manager) and failing to reach a login screen.
Subgraph OS 2016.12.30 -- Launching software from GNOME's Activities menu
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I then tried running Subgraph on a laptop computer. On the laptop, booting from the installation media and selecting the live environment loaded the GNOME desktop environment. The desktop was responsive and I noticed sound was muted by default. I found my wireless card was properly detected and everything seemed to be working well in the live environment so my next step was to install the distribution. There does not appear to be a way to launch the distribution's system installer from the live environment, but we can reboot and select the Install or Graphical Install options from the boot menu.
Subgraph uses the Debian system installer. I used the graphical installer which walks us through selecting our preferred language and our region. We can then confirm our computer's keyboard layout and create a password for our user account. Disk partitioning comes next, which is a little cumbersome. Subgraph offered to set itself up with a LVM volume by default, but I changed this and opted for install the distribution on a ext4 partition. Subgraph's packages are then installed on our hard drive and we are given the option of installing the GRUB boot loader. When the installer is finished, it automatically reboots the computer.
Subgraph's default desktop environment is GNOME 3.22. The desktop is mostly empty with a panel across the top of the display. The left side of the panel contains the Activities menu where we can launch applications and search for programs. Over on the right side of the panel is a system tray and user's menu. From the tray we can configure networking, manage the firewall, access system settings and logout.
On my laptop, Subgraph ran smoothly. The desktop was responsive, my hardware was properly detected, my screen was set to use its full resolution and the operating system was stable. The distribution, when logged into GNOME, used a modest 350MB of memory.
Subgraph OS 2016.12.30 -- Exploring options in the settings panel
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By default, Subgraph disabled GNOME's history logging and turned off location services. All network traffic, even to specific local network addresses, is routed through the Tor network. Using Tor to anonymize traffic means it is harder (though not impossible) for others to track us on-line, but it also means our network connection is slower. Websites tended to take anywhere from five to ten times longer to load when I was using Subgraph. Speaking of web browsing, Subgraph uses the Tor web browser which includes some nice security features and defaults to using DuckDuckGo as the primary search engine.
Subgraph ships with the Icedove e-mail client, which is a re-branded version of Thunderbird. Icedove's ability to auto-detect server configuration settings while create new e-mail accounts has been disabled to avoid leaking identifying information. This means we need to manually configure our e-mail account. The version of Icedove which ships with Subgraph features Enigmail, a tool which makes encrypting messages and reading encrypted messages straight forward. Enigmail will run automatically when we set up our first account and launches a wizard to help set up our encryption keys.
Subgraph OS 2016.12.30 -- Creating encryption keys with Enigmail
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Icedove is not the only application that has extra security features. The file manager has two additional features baked into it. The first scrubs selected files of identifying meta-data when we right-click on a document. I tested this function and it seemed to mostly work, but there was some remaining exif data left behind in images.
A second feature the file manager gives us the opportunity to share files with other people over the network using a service called OnionShare. When we right-click on a file and opt to share it, a window opens and gives us the chance to share the selected files over the Tor network. When we click a button OnionShare should provide us with a unique URL which we can then send to other people. Those people can then use the URL to download the files we share, at which point the OnionShare service stops sharing those files in order to prevent others from finding the link and downloading the data too. I tried using OnionShare on a few files, but the service was never able to supply me with a unique URL which meant I could not provide a link to my files to anyone else.
Another feature which I suspect will come in handy is the virtual keyboard. Having a virtual keyboard can be helpful if we either want to work with an on-screen keyboard on a touch screen or if we want to side-step equipment which could be logging our keystrokes.
Subgraph OS 2016.12.30 -- Using the on-screen keyboard
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I noticed printing services were not available in Subgraph. Selecting the printer module in the distribution's settings panel displays a message indicating the CUPS printer service is not available. We could install CUPS from the project's software repositories. Connecting to a local network printer probably will not work as our network traffic is redirected through Tor, but I have not tested this idea.
One feature of Subgraph I appreciated a lot was the firewall. When we try to connect to the Internet using the Icedove e-mail client or the Tor web browser, the connection goes through as expected. But most other applications, when they try to connect to a remote server, cause a warning to be displayed on the desktop. Outgoing connections are blocked and we are given the chance to allow the application to talk to remote servers either just for the duration of our current session or permanently. I have encountered several people over the years who want an application-focused firewall on Linux with an easy to use GUI and Subgraph provides this service.
Subgraph OS 2016.12.30 -- Filtering network traffic from applications
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One final application I found intriguing was the Ricochet messaging service. Ricochet looks a bit like other instant messaging programs, like Pidgin. However, Ricochet provides users with an anonymous, randomly generated handle we can share with others. I did not get into using Ricochet to chat with others, but I like the concept of a semi-anonymous chat service with connections redirected through Tor.
Subgraph OS 2016.12.30 -- The Ricochet messaging application
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Apart from the applications mentioned previously, Subgraph ships with a fairly standard collection of GNOME software and the LibreOffice productivity suite. The distribution also includes systemd 232 and version 4.8.15 of the Linux kernel. Should we wish to install additional software we can use the package manager to draw in new packages from the Debian Stretch repositories. Some extra packages are provided by a custom Subgraph repository.
Conclusions
The Subgraph distribution is still in an alpha state and I think it is worth keeping that in mind when attempting to evaluate the project's usefulness. The distribution has a few rough edges, for example the OnionShare service did not work for me. I also had trouble running the distribution in a VirtualBox environment. However, apart from those issues, Subgraph worked well for me. The distribution played well with my laptop's hardware and the Tor network and web browser worked for me.
I think Subgraph ships with several interesting features that people will find useful. The application level firewall worked really well for me and I liked that I was able to allow or block outgoing connections as they happened. This dynamic, user friendly approach to managing the firewall was easy to use and I think it will appeal to people coming from a Windows background especially. I also liked the way Enigmail is integrated with Icedove and the extra functions built into the file manager.
I think what impressed me most about using Subgraph was that, apart from the reduced network performance, using the distribution was much the same as using mainstream Linux distributions which ship with the GNOME desktop. Running Subgraph feels approximately the same as using Debian or Fedora in the way things are arranged. The performance and ease of use are fairly similar too. Often times security-focused distributions are more difficult to use or put up barriers the user needs to work with or around. With Subgraph there are few hurdles, but some nicely integrated security features I think privacy-minded people will enjoy.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a de-branded HP laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: Intel i3 2.5GHz CPU
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 700GB hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Wired network device: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast
- Wireless network device: Realtek RTL8188EE Wireless network card
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Arch to phase out 32-bit, Solus to use Qt for Budgie development, Linux Mint testing updated LMDE media
Barttomiej Piotrowski has announced through the Arch Linux developer mailing list that the popular rolling release distribution will be phasing out support for computers running 32-bit CPUs. "Due to the decreasing popularity of i686 among the developers and the community, we have decided to phase out the support of this architecture. The decision means that February's ISO will be the last that allows to install 32-bit Arch Linux. The next 9 months are deprecation period, during which i686 will be still receiving upgraded packages. Starting from November 2017, packaging and repository tools will no longer require that from maintainers, effectively making i686 unsupported." The discussion can be found on the Arch Linux mailing list.
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The Solus project, home of the Budgie desktop environment, is looking to make some significant changes to the technology underlying Budgie. The Budgie desktop is currently integrated with GNOME and GNOME's applications. However, as GNOME evolves the Budgie developers have had to adjust their software to match. Ikey Doherty explains: "Originally, Budgie intended to integrate with GNOME applications. What actually happened is that it then fully integrated into the GNOME stack. We got our integration, but at a heavy cost. Over time, as GNOME has evolved, every single major release of GNOME has caused issues for Budgie. This is from 3.10, when Budgie first began, all the way through to GNOME 3.22. Whether it's API or ABI changes, components eating other components (such as Mutter folding in cogl and clutter), many, many theme and widget breakages, GdkScreen APIs no longer functioning the same, or even segfaults caused due to the behaviour of GSettings relocatable schemas being changed.. You get the idea. Let it be known, this post is not designed to insult or belittle GNOME. The fact of the matter is, as a project, I have tremendous respect for GNOME. They have a vision and intend to see it through. Unfortunately, this has made it difficult for a project with the complexity of Budgie to then reuse those same components of GNOME." Looking ahead, the Budgie project will migrate to the Qt framework for future development. Qt is a popular toolkit for desktop development and is currently used by the KDE Plasma, Lumina and LXQt desktop environments.
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The Linux Mint project maintains several editions of its distribution, most of them based on packages provided by Ubuntu. However, the Linux Mint team maintains a separate branch based on Debian Stable which is appropriately called Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). Linux Mint Debian Edition, version 2, was released back in 2015 and is based on Debian 8 "Jessie". The Mint team is working on updated installation media for LMDE 2 to make installing and updating new copies of the distribution easier. The new media, labelled LMDE 2-Beta, is not a new version of the Debian-based operating system, but presents users with installation media that has been updated with available security fixes. "LMDE 2 received many updates in the last two years, including many improvements which were ported from Linux Mint as well as all the new versions of MATE, Cinnamon and the Xapps. This release provides a new set of installation images for LMDE 2 which includes all these updates." People who are already running LMDE 2 can get the same security updates through their package manager.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Tips and Tricks (by Jesse Smith) |
Running Ubuntu Touch on an Android phone
Last year I got my hands on an Ubuntu phone, specifically a Meizu Pro 5, and spent a few weeks with the device to see how the Ubuntu Touch operating system compared to other mobile platforms, particularly Android. Following my review and follow-up Questions and Answers column, I alternated between using the Ubuntu phone and my Android phone. I liked the design of the Ubuntu Touch operating system with its quick messaging replies, informative scopes and lack of advertisements. On the other hand, the Ubuntu device would occasionally wake up and vibrate in the night and I experienced some connection problems with mobile networks. I reported these issues to the developers and, about once or twice a month, I'd switch phones to keep up to date with developments.
By late 2016 the Ubuntu developers had fixed the issues I was experiencing with the Pro 5. Meanwhile I was becoming increasingly frustrated whenever I used the Android Moto G phone. The regular nag screens, advertisements and pop-ups asking me to update components made the platform more cluttered and distracting than I would have liked. I found myself regarding the Android device as something that made my mobile experience more complicated while the Ubuntu device was making my life easier. As a result, for the past two months I have been using the Ubuntu phone exclusively.
At this point I have grown to like using the Ubuntu phone and other people who have seen it in action usually express an interest in the device, but there is a big barrier to people getting their hands on an Ubuntu phone: no one is currently selling them. There is some good news though, it is possible to take some existing Android phones and install Ubuntu on them, much the same way many of us purchase a laptop bundled with Windows and install our preferred Linux distribution on it. One project which strives to make installing Ubuntu on mobile devices a better experience is UBports. The UBports project works to get Ubuntu running on phones and provides install images and instructions for getting Ubuntu running on a small number of Android devices. I decided to explore the process, see what steps are involved and how well the UBports software works.
I purchased a Nexus 5, one of the three devices currently listed as supported on the UBports website. The Nexus 5 was second-hand and arrived in the mail with a rubber bumper and about 60% battery charge. No USB cable or charger was included.
The Nexus 5 arrived in its factory reset state, running Android 6.0.1. I used the phone with its default Android operating system for a while to establish a base-line for how well the phone worked. For the most part, the Nexus 5 performed well. It ran smoothly and all its functions worked. The battery drained a little quicker than I'm used to, but not too badly. The one unwelcome quirk was that it sometimes took four or five taps on the power button to get the phone to start once it had been powered off. The power button would activate the screen when the phone was sleeping on the first try and the power button issue only seemed to manifest on cold boots. Not a big problem for me as I rarely turn off phones, but the power button was a minor annoyance.
Android 6.0 -- The Settings screen
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Using the Nexus 5 with Android quickly reminded me why I planned to wipe the phone and install a different operating system. Between the initial set up and launching three applications, the device showed me six nag screens to sign up for services or provide my e-mail address, plus a notification asking me to install software updates. I was eager to get started with my experiment.
UBports provides brief installation instructions and an install image for the Nexus 5. The code name for the install image is Hammerhead. The project indicates the functions of the Nexus 5 should all work, with the exception of Bluetooth.
The installation instructions can be performed from any computer running a recent version of Ubuntu Desktop or one of its derivatives, such as Ubuntu MATE or Linux Mint. The install steps can be performed from either an installed copy of the operating system or a live medium. This means if we have Ubuntu 16.04 on a USB thumb drive, we can use it to install Ubuntu Touch on a phone.
The installation steps on the UBports website make a few assumptions and I want to address those. For example, the UBports documentation assumes our desktop operating system is a modern derivative of Ubuntu and has the Universe repository enabled. The tools we install require the Universe repository to be activated, which can be handled in Ubuntu's Software & Updates application. The UBports documentation also assumes we have already unlocked our phone. If you have not done this ahead of time, the installation of Ubuntu Touch will fail. I will cover these extra steps below.
To recap, we need the following to install Ubuntu on the Nexus 5 (or similar phone):
- A computer running Ubuntu 16.04 (or newer). We can also use a derivative of Ubuntu and the desktop operating system can be running from live media, it does not need to be installed on the hard drive.
- A USB cable to connect the phone to the computer.
- The phone, in my case a Nexus 5. The phone should have a full battery charge.
The first thing we need to do is unlock the phone. On the Nexus 5, this can be done by booting the phone into its Android operating system. Then go into the Settings panel and scroll down to the bottom entry, About Phone. On the About Phone settings page, near the bottom, is an entry labelled Build Number. Tap the Build Number label six times, this will enable Developer Options. Go back a page to the main Settings screen. There will be a new entry called Developer Options. Go into Developer Options and turn on the USB Debugging switch.
Next we switch over to the desktop computer. From the desktop environment, launch the Software & Updates application. Make sure the Universe repository is enabled and close the window. Next, open a virtual terminal and run the following two commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-device-flash phablet-tools
The above commands will download approximately 49MB of packages and set up the necessary tools on your computer. Now, reboot the Nexus 5 and (as the device powers on) hold down the power button and the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons. (The UBports instructions mention the power button and Volume Up, but the Volume Down button must be held too.)
This should cause the Nexus 5 to boot into fastboot mode. We will see a menu come up with boot options. Plug the phone into the computer, via the USB cable. Then run the following command from the computer's virtual terminal:
sudo fastboot oem unlock
The phone should now display a prompt asking if we want to unlock its boot loader. On the phone, press the Volume Up or Volume Down button to select "Yes". Then press the power button to confirm the action. The phone should now be unlocked. From here, we can run a single (though long) command to download a new installation image and copy it to the phone:
sudo ubuntu-device-flash --server=http://system-image.ubports.com touch --channel=ubuntu-touch/stable --device=hammerhead --bootstrap
The above command downloads the Nexus 5 image, called Hammerhead, copies the operating system to the phone and attempts to reboot the phone. If all goes well, the Ubuntu logo (or the UBports logo) should appear on the phone's screen, followed by a reboot. The process takes a few minutes and, if it is interrupted, the installation will fail. The first time I tried this process, something went wrong when files were copying to the phone and the ubuntu-device-flash command reported a problem pushing files to the device. Re-running the above command fixed the issue.
Ubuntu Touch -- Apps scope
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After a few minutes, the phone will reboot and display the Ubuntu loading screen. The Ubuntu first run wizard will then appear on the phone and walk us through connecting to a wireless network, selecting our location and choosing our time zone. We are then shown the Ubuntu Apps scope and the Unity 8 desktop environment. Additional applications and scopes can be accessed through the App Store icon at the bottom of the screen and settings can be accessed via a drop-down panel at the top of the screen. Should we wish to install new software or check for package updates we will need an Ubuntu account.
The Nexus 5 was fairly responsive when running Ubuntu, offering similar performance to when it was running Android 6. The model I purchased has 16GB of internal storage and had 12GB of space left over after the installation was finished. The device offers about 1.8GB of RAM, 1GB of which was used by Ubuntu. These resource consumption numbers matched my experience running Ubuntu on the Meizu Pro 5.
Up to this point we have covered how to get Ubuntu Touch on an Android phone, but what works and what doesn't? The answer is a bit complicated because there are actually multiple branches of UBport's installation media. There are three development (Devel) branches, an RC branch and a Stable branch. What works and what does not will vary depending on which installation image we use.
When I tried running the Stable and RC branches, the phone properly connected to wireless networks, Bluetooth didn't work and (according to reports I read on UBport's forum) receiving phone calls will not work. The phone's settings panel, installing new applications and using scopes all worked. The camera worked and the device could detect and use its SIM card. I found that trying to launch the default web browser (or any other web browser I installed) would cause the browser to immediately crash. The inability to browse the web appears to be the result of a security feature working a little too well.
When I ran the various development branches, I found the web browser would work, but I was unable to connect to password protected wireless networks. Open networks could be accessed, but no encrypted wi-fi networks. When I ran the Stable branch the phone would not shut off completely and the screen would glow, slowly draining the battery. When running the Devel branches, the phone powered off all the way. Everything else appeared to work the some under both the Stable and Devel branches.
For people who want to try alternative images to the default, Stable image, change the name of the channel parameter in the ubuntu-device-flash command during the installation. So instead of
sudo ubuntu-device-flash --server=http://system-image.ubports.com touch --channel=ubuntu-touch/stable --device=hammerhead --bootstrap
Use this:
sudo ubuntu-device-flash --server=http://system-image.ubports.com touch --channel=ubuntu-touch/devel_rc-proposed --device=hammerhead --bootstrap
Ubuntu Touch -- Settings panel
(full image size: 151kB, resolution: 1080x1920 pixels)
After playing with the various install images for the Nexus 5, I had to conclude the Ubuntu Touch port was not quite ready for daily use. Most of the desired functionality is present, but a few key pieces are missing. As the UBports website shows, the project has most of the features working. The phone suspends, the touch screen works, the device detects mobile and wi-fi networks. Screen rotation works as do the camera and GPS. These are all important features and it is good to see the small UBports team has made so much progress. Unfortunately, the phone's installation branches make the user decide between accessing protected wireless networks and being able to browse the web. And, with the older images at least, receiving calls appears to be an issue. Bluetooth capabilities are detected by the operating system, but not usable yet.
The work UBports has done is impressive, but right now the Nexus 5 port is only close to being usable on a day-to-day basis. Almost all the pieces are in place, but there are still a few key pieces missing, whichever installation channel we use. The port continues to progress and, hopefully, the final few rough edges will be polished in a few months.
The Nexus 5 is not the only port in the works. The Fairphone 2 and OnePlus One devices also have mostly working ports and it looks as though the Fairphone can already be used to make calls. (I contacted the Fairphone project and asked if I could test their device, but they did not have any phones to spare at the time and I could not find any to purchase.)
At this point I wouldn't recommend using UBports on a person's main phone, but if you have a spare device lying around and want to test Ubuntu on it, the project is making installing Ubuntu Touch fairly easy. The entire process of unlocking the phone and installing Ubuntu takes about 15 minutes. At the current rate of development, I think the UBports images may be complete enough to use on a primary mobile device later this year.
As for the Nexus 5 I was using, I'm considering putting a fresh install of Ubuntu Touch on the device and auctioning it off if there is any interest. Please leave a comment if the idea of having an experimental Ubuntu phone appeals to you.
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Additional tips and tricks can be found in our Tips and Tricks archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Tails 2.10
The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) distribution is a Debian-based project which focuses on security and anonymity. Tails includes tools for removing meta data from files and routes Internet traffic through the Tor anonymizing network. The project's latest release, Tails 2.10, now includes the OnionShare utility for sharing files from the user's computer over the Tor network. The Tor web browser now features a circuit viewer which will show the nodes a person's web traffic is routed through as it makes its way through the Tor network. Other changes include: "Upgrade Tor to 0.2.9.9. Upgrade Tor Browser to 6.5. Upgrade Linux to 4.8. This should improve the support for newer hardware (graphics, Wi-Fi, etc.) Upgrade Icedove to 45.6.0. Replace AdBlock Plus with uBlock Origin. Configure the APT package manage to use Debian's Onion services. Install the AMDGPU display driver. This should improve the support for newer AMD graphics adapters. Renamed the Boot Loader Menu entries from "Live" to "Tails", and replaced the confusing "failsafe" wording with "Troubleshooting Mode". Add support for exFAT. Remove Nyx (previously called arm). Rewrite Tor control port filter entirely. Now Tails can safely support OnionShare, the circuit view of Tor Browser, and similar. This also enabled Whonix to replace their own similar piece of software with this one." Further information and a list of known issues can be found in the project's release announcement.
Parsix GNU/Linux 8.15
Parsix GNU/Linux is a desktop distribution based on Debian's Stable branch. The Parsix project has released an update to their 8.x series, Parsix GNU/Linux 8.15r0. The new release features the GNOME 3.22.2 desktop environment and version 4.4.44 of the Linux kernel. The Parsix news page reads: We are proud to announce the final release of Parsix GNU/Linux 8.15 code name Nev. Parsix 8.15 ships with GNOME 3.22.2, an updated kernel based on Linux 4.4.44 and tons of updated and upgraded packages. It has been built on top of rock solid Debian Jessie (8.0) platform and all base packages have been synchronized with Debian Jessie repositories as of January 23, 2017." Addition information and key package versions can be found in the project's release notes.
Scientific Linux 7.3
Pat Riehecky has announced the release of Scientific Linux 7.3, a new version of the project's distribution built from the source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and enhanced with scientific applications. The changes in this version include: "The 4.7 GB install disk for Scientific Linux 7 has been discontinued. We have retained the dual-layer install media. We have also produced an 'Everything' image which exceeds dual-layer sizes, but contains the entire tree. OpenAFS has been updated to version 1.6.20, the latest upstream stable. There is a new Scientific Linux End User License Agreement (EULA). The EULA now contains information about the U.S. Government contract under which Fermilab produces Scientific Linux. The Scientific Linux context plugin has been altered to be less aggressive in its use of network resources." See the release announcement and release notes for further details.
Linux Mint 18.1 "KDE", "Xfce"
The Linux Mint team has announced the availability of two new editions of Linux Mint 18.1. The two new editions, KDE and Xfce, feature Mint's X-Apps, desktop applications which are designed to look and act the same across multiple desktop environments. The update manager has been updated to make kernel updates more visible and installing additional language support has been improved: "The Language Settings checks are more exhaustive than before. In previous versions, full support for a particular language included its language packs and localized versions of popular applications such as Thunderbird and Firefox. This now includes a lot more packages such as dictionaries, help packages, fonts, and optional components which depend on the list of applications you installed." The Xfce edition ships with the Xfce 4.12 desktop environment while the KDE edition ships with KDE's Plasma 5.8 desktop. Further information, including system requirements, can be found in the project's release announcements (KDE, Xfce).
Linux Mint 18.1 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
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Bodhi Linux 4.1.0
Jeff Hoogland has announced the availability of a new stable version of Bodhi Linux. The new version, Bodhi Linux 4.1.0, is an update to the project's 4.x.x series and is mostly a bug-fix release. "Today I am happy to announce the first scheduled update release of the Bodhi Linux 4 branch - Bodhi Linux 4.1.0. This release serves to package up the fixes for a few bugs that slipped through the cracks in the 4.0.0 release, as well as provided updated package sets for the install ISO images. Most notably these ISO images come with EFL 1.18.4, Linux Kernel 4.8, and a new Moksha Theme based on the 'Arc Dark' theme. Existing Bodhi 4.0.0 users already have the bug fixes incorporated into these ISO images, but they will need to manually install the newer kernel and theme if they wish to utilize them." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement. The Bodhi release is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavours, and it provides two specialist editions - "AppPack" with a large number of pre-installed applications and "Legacy" for older computers.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not 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: 286
- Total data uploaded: 54.5TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll |
Running alternative phone operating systems
Many of us like to tinker with operating systems and are as likely to place an alternative operating system on our phone as we are to install a new distribution on our desktop computer. This week we would like to explore whether our readers install alternative or custom operating systems on their smart phones. If you do, please leave us a comment mentioning which operating systems you have installed on your mobile device.
You can see the results of our previous poll on running desktop applications remotely here. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Running alternative phone operating systems
| I stick with the default OS: | 1037 (67%) |
| I install an alternative OS on my main phone: | 312 (20%) |
| I install an alternative OS on a spare phone: | 199 (13%) |
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| DistroWatch.com News |
Simplified manual pages
Most Linux distributions, along with flavours of BSD and Unix, ship with local manual pages, commonly called "man pages". These manual pages document the programs included with the operating system and list the functions and options supplied by each program. While manual pages are a very valuable resource, they often act better as quick references for people who already understand how a command works rather than an introduction to the available utilities. The documentation in manual pages is often technical and many manual pages do not include examples of how programs are to be used.
The TLDR team has put together a large collection of simplified manual pages. While many manual pages are dozens of pages long and feature complex explanations of a program's options, the TLDR documentation is brief and more accessible to newcomers. The TLDR versions of manual pages include a plain language explanation of each program along with a few examples of how a program is most commonly used.
DistroWatch now hosts these simplified manual pages (along with a handful of our own pages). We hope this will provide our readers with a quick and easy way to discover what a program does and how it is to be used. The collection of manual pages can be found in our Simplified Manual Pages section.
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New distributions added to database
OviOS Linux
OviOS Linux is an independent, storage OS which combines open source technologies to provide a dedicated, performance-oriented storage system. The goal is to keep OviOS Linux a pure storage, appliance-like OS. It targets users and admins who need a stable out-of-the-box iSCSI, NFS, SMB and FTP server. The distribution features a special command line shell called "ovios shell" which strives to simplify system management.
CloudReady
CloudReady is an operating system built and maintained by Neverware. Based on Google’s open source Chromium OS, CloudReady uses web apps and cloud storage instead of traditional software and local storage. The CloudReady distribution is available in free and commercially supported versions.
CloudReady 54.1.25 -- Running the Chromium web browser
(full image size: 553kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 6 February 2017. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
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If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 1, value: US$20.00) |
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • phone os (by Jordan on 2017-01-30 00:26:13 GMT from United States)
Feh... see no reason to mess with the phone much. Did root my android phones off and on. But the stock os remains with a tweak or three.
2 • Phone OS (by Ant on 2017-01-30 02:17:07 GMT from Australia)
My main phone is a Galaxy S2, so without Cyanogenmod it'd be running an outdated version of Android. Same goes for my previous phones - the only way to extend their lives was custom OS usage.
3 • question regarding SubgraphOS application firewall (by gh on 2017-01-30 02:23:44 GMT from United States)
"application firewall will restrict which applications can connect to the network based on the name of the application"
Does it employ filter rules based on application name or full PATHstring of the executable? I haven't found docs explaining which
4 • Phone OS Poll (by Rev_Don on 2017-01-30 02:36:07 GMT from United States)
You need to add a fourth option, I don't use a Dumb Phone. There are still a lot of us out there that use old fashioned cell phones that don't have a touch interface/OS. Phones like the legendary Razr V3 series or similar. Whole the first response of sticking with the stock OS would be essentially correct, it would be extremely misleading
5 • Multiple (by Chris on 2017-01-30 02:44:39 GMT from United States)
SubgraphOS:
I am extremely happy to see a distro in development that focuses on equal defaults of both security (hardened kernel, default encryption, exposed application sandboxing, etc.) and anonimity (TOR system-wide). I look forward to giving it a try once it is past the alpha phase. It has a very high potential to become my daily driver one day, hopefully soon.
While TAILS has been a great distro, its focus has been primarily on anonimity with only some security added by default. Inversely and equally great, QubesOS has focused on security with a little added anonimity. And then there are the pleathora of quality penetration distros (i.e., Kali) who have a little of each (security and anonimity) but, understandibly, with their focus on various testing and forensic applications. Each is great in its niche, but hardly daily-drivers like SubgraphOS could be.
My only major problem with TAILS, QubesOS, and now SubgraphOS is their focus on 1st World hardware (e.g., 64-bit multi-core processors, multi-gigs of memory, etc.) and large desktop environments (e.g., Gnome, KDE, etc.). YMMV; however...
I have said it here before and I shall continue to tilt at this proverbial windmill, but what about the people, who's lives are literally at risk, in some 3rd World country (or maybe higher) who can only obtain a 32-bit single core computer with at-best one gig of memory? Is their computer security and network anonimity irrelevant?
I highly encourage these security and anonimity distro developers to create and maintain minimal spins (e.g., 32-bit, lite DEs/WMs [e.g., Mate, Xfce, LXDE, LxQt, Openbox, etc.], etc.) for as long as such hardware is prevalent in the communities most desperite for their products.
Poll:
I would love to remove iOS and Android (I have switched back and forth, unhappy either way) from my life but I currently only have one phone at a time and I cannot risk it based on unfinished and unpolished alternatives. But when the day comes where I can load an equally functional and polished linux distro onto my smartphone it will be done quickly!
6 • Mint, Ubuntu stats disguised, as usual on Distrowatch (by Greg Zeng on 2017-01-30 03:05:27 GMT from Australia)
This comment will be seen as another positive, realistic statement of factual improvement for Distrowatch, I hope.
Mentioned before (years ago) here in Dw "Comments", that the top Linux distros have had their popularity ratings disguised. This week's new release of Mint is actually the release of two versions of Mint (KDE, XFCE), not just the one distro.
Similarly the supposed releases of Ubuntu are disguised separately rather than combined. So Xubuntu, Ubuntu Gnome, Ubuntu MATE, Kubuntu, etc are treated extremely opposite to Mint, PCLOS, etc. If the Ubuntu family (officially known as "family" were treated as fairly as the Mint family, then it would be the NUMBER-ONE on Distrowatch.
Fanboy of either the "official families": Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, Puppy, etc: NO. I just want Linux's strengths to be stronger than the two main operating systems on the Desktop (Windows & Apple), for well-deserved reasons. Off the Desktop, Linux already is the leader: IOT, servers, cloud, etc.
Generally SOME derivatives of the "official family" are not bound by the puritanical, legalistic strictures of the "official". In contrast, the adventurous renegade distros do "treacherous" things like mixing GTKx, QT and "non-free" applications. These teenage youngsters are not at all PC (politically correct), and far too user friendly. A few dare try new Linux installers like Calamares.
Hopefully, a true record of Linux usage might accurately reflect actual usage, of both Family members, and renegades, equally. One of my favorite distros is Ubuntu MATE, which is part of an official family. As such, it too suffers from the usual family "genetic" diseases ("memetic"). BlackLab (another "family", which is part of the wider Ubuntu family) is an improvement imho, on U-MATE. Lite might be my favorite Linux distro, atm.
There are many other memetic disease through-out the Linux families. That is why the BSD-derived families exist. Generally the RPM families (Redhat, Centos, Fedora, PCLOS, etc) have more disorders than the even bigger, more popular DEB families: Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Lite, BlackLab, Neon, Watt OS, etc.
Because these families of cognitive-emotional disorders are part of my human behavioural studies, I really need to publish the results of my multi-disciplinary research elsewhere soon. But this web-site might only be interested in the how & why its official statistics are not (YET) reflecting how the Linux world really operates imho.
7 • Simplified manual Pages (by Michael5 on 2017-01-30 03:11:05 GMT from Australia)
A great addition to find simplified examples not overloaded with {} () etc.
8 • Ubuntu phone date of last update (by Bob on 2017-01-30 07:09:46 GMT from Italy)
I can see _Ubuntu phone is back to the future! (last updated in '71 :)
9 • Phone OS (by Alexandru on 2017-01-30 08:39:49 GMT from Romania)
I have Samsung Galaxy S II phone as my main phone. I am happy with it, but the stock Android 2.3 is really old and bloated. So, Cyanogen images solved both problems.
As I have experience of playing and switching of my desktop OS, including the realistic expectations about the functionality, I tried many different images on the phone. The key idea to not be afraid to flash the phone is save/restore functionality, which I tested first. After that, whatever happens I can always restore the stock OS. After playing with different images, I choose Cyanogenmod based on Android 4.4.4.
Advantages:
- Light and more responsive phone;
- All functions are working.
Disadvantages:
- Sometimes it loose the signal, reboot helps;
- Sometimes SMS application crashes after successfully sending SMS. Annoying, but not a really a problem as it doesn't lead to data loss and the SMS application is still available.
I would like to see real Linux on tablet / phone.
10 • Open Phone (by John on 2017-01-30 09:01:56 GMT from United States)
Thanks for you incisive work on Ubuntu Phone.
Glad to see where progress on getting a really open phone is.
Won't it be nice when I can buy a cheap TracFone and plug it into my laptop and browse the web using whatever radio signal happens to be around.
And plug the same TracFone with an adapter into my 'normal' house telephone wiring and make regular telephone calls.
John
11 • Multiple (by Dave Postles on 2017-01-30 09:21:00 GMT from United Kingdom)
@5 Kali has 32-bit version - at the download page from its website. I've just installed it on an old netbook as well as on a usb.
Parrot, if I remember correctly, has no print facility - can't even connect to localhost:631.
Slowness of TOR: appreciate the issue; my response is to un-complicate websites; they are now beyond information. I have to reiterate the importance of demonstrating to governments even more so now that, e.g., IP Act in UK, is a nonsense. Requiring ISPs to retain metadata for a year and submit it to the UK govt solves no problems. It's an intrusion on freedom, is likely to capture all and sundry, and will not capture those whom they seek. Govts shd rely on traditional methods of intelligence not stupid blanket approaches.
12 • Parrot 32-bit (by Dave Postles on 2017-01-30 09:23:13 GMT from United Kingdom)
I shd also have mentioned that there is 32-bit version of Parrot.
13 • Ubuntu Phone (by Marcel on 2017-01-30 09:37:55 GMT from Netherlands)
Of course I would love to try the ubuntu phone!
The only thing I might be missing is whatsapp.
The usability of an alternative phone-OS stands or falls with the availability of the mayor apps. Some of them can be replaced by accessing the website with a browser (Facebook, twitter, .....) but others will be missed.
Can't wait to test it!
14 • Phone OS (by Dave on 2017-01-30 11:32:19 GMT from United Kingdom)
Have SailfishOS installed on a Nexus 7 after smashing the screen on my original Jolla Phone. Only thing I miss not having the Android compatibility (alien-dalvik) part is OSMand maps. Can't go back to the clunky Android way of doing things after a proper touch only system. Pity that Jolla seem incapable of putting out any new hardware in Europe. Have tried flashing it with Ubuntu Touch but unlike my M10 tablet too many things just don't work.
15 • Nexus 5 Ubuntu Touch (by silent on 2017-01-30 12:04:21 GMT from Hungary)
Ok, let's start the auction with an opening bid of 40 USD ;)
16 • KDE - really that bad? (by Bob on 2017-01-30 12:35:50 GMT from Austria)
Tried a few installations, but KDE's fuzzy behavior drives me crazy. Sometimes just a few quirks but after a couple of reconfigurations disaster usually looms. XFCE and LXDE seem to work on the same hardware without problems but Win95 looks almost modern in comparison to them. Gnome (including all variants) is not made for me. So I am pretty clueless how to waste my time in the near future. Linux desktop market share has recently risen to a whopping 2% thanks to the fact that many MS customers have dumped their desktops and laptops in favor of smartphones. Even Linus Torvalds seems to have doubts that Linux will ever be able to take over the desktop market. I can only agree :-((
17 • Phone OS... (by Vukota on 2017-01-30 12:53:55 GMT from Montenegro)
I would never tinker with new, working and well supported phone, unless there is some serious reason to do so. With older, more deprecated, and not well supported phone (or the one that has so many updates that it can't work), its a different story. From the experience, I rarely saw "alternative" firmware that works 100% as it is supposed to, and it is always question can you live with it, and it usually involves some kind of hacking of the phone with the exploits and software that are shady to begin with, and not to mention app stores with questionable things/sources in them.
About simplified man pages, I think it is a great thing, as usually it is the only thing I need.
About @6 & "popularity ratings disguised", yes it was never about objectivity, but rather consistency. People's reviews and ratings OTOH (introduced last week), may provide more objective picture if DW wishes to tackle this problem, as people tend to complain about things that doesn't work and in contrast praise things that does work, so one can create more objective picture what does and what doesn't work and why it may be important and when (which use case). Only dangerous thing that may skew those numbers/reviews would be weird population of people visiting DW and participating, but then again, it would be consistent with this population of people (visitors of DW). It would be nice to see there somehow reviews in particular "timespan", like we have on the home page for ratings, so we (readers) can see the trends, and what is "in" and why.
18 • @11, @12, and @16 (by Chris on 2017-01-30 13:09:23 GMT from United States)
@11 & @12: Understood, Kali and Parrot do have 32-bit builds and even lighter desktop environments available (default or spins); however, both are primarily penetration testing distros, not general security/anonimity ones like TAILS, QubesOS, and now SubgraphOS, which are the focus of my complaint.
@16: While I have little experience customizing LXDE; with various themes, one can make Xfce look at least equal to, if not better than, W95. Search "Xfce Themes" and have some fun.
19 • @4 phone OS (by Any User on 2017-01-30 13:37:58 GMT from United States)
Got that back-words. Either:
"You need to add a fourth option, I don't use a Smart Phone."
OR
"You need to add a fourth option, I use a Dumb Phone."
20 • desktops (by Tim Dowd on 2017-01-30 14:19:56 GMT from United States)
@ 16
I've had great luck with MATE. I don't think saying Linux is poor on the desktop without mentioning it or Cinnamon is too accurate.
21 • @16 KDE gripes (by Sam on 2017-01-30 14:26:28 GMT from United States)
I used to alternate between KDE and Gnome back in the olden days (pre KDE 4 or Plasma or Neon or whatever; and that weird "everything is full screen, you MUST use full screen" tablet-ized Gnome). I haven't used KDE for several years - and every time I've tried it out after reading about some new great feature, I found most distros with a KDE version were just using a vanilla KDE over the underlying OS (for which, much more love was given to Gnome, or Cinnamon, or Unity).
I downloaded the latest Linux Mint KDE distro this weekend and have been impressed with small touches that help make the interface (to me) more logical, snappier.
22 • Application firewall, poll (by a on 2017-01-30 15:28:43 GMT from France)
Thanks for the review of Subgraph OS Jesse. I will not use it since it uses systemd and Gnome 3, but their application firewall and Tor router are very interesting. I hope they make these applications easy to install in other distributions. I would really like a firewall that tells me when closed source programs try to access the net and lets me block them.
About the smartphones OS, I’d like to install one but it’s simply impossible on my phone, as it’s not one of the most popular ones. Android sucks but there is no way to root my phone and alternative OSes have no support for it. I didn’t answer the poll because saying "I stick with the original OS", while true, would not express my sentiment.
23 • Subgraph OS firewall (by a on 2017-01-30 15:41:44 GMT from France)
After a bit a searching I found the source code for the application firewall of Subgraph OS: https://github.com/subgraph/fw-daemon
Good surprise: it’s written in Go! And at first sight it seems to depend only on iptables, so it should be fairly easy to use it in any distro.
24 • Phone OS (by Francesco Turco on 2017-01-30 15:43:28 GMT from Italy)
On my Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100 smartphone I installed LineageOS (previously known as CyanogenMod).
25 • KDE et al (by Bob on 2017-01-30 15:51:22 GMT from Austria)
Thanks guys for your feedback.
Mate, Cinnamon: tried them at an early stage - promising but not fully convincing.
XFCE: never had the patience to reconfigure it until it worked for me.
LXDE: tried to boost it with KDE applications, unsurprisingly some of them did not work as hoped for.
Mint KDE: Printer configuration sent 2 windows above screen edges (Alt-F4 helps), otherwise no major hick-ups so far. Compares favorably to another KDE distro which I don't want to mention here ;-)
26 • Phone OS (by paperman on 2017-01-30 16:02:24 GMT from Iran, Islamic Republic of)
I've installed LineageOS on my phone without gapps so I only use open source apps on it. FREEDOM!!!
27 • desktops (by Tim Dowd on 2017-01-30 16:24:50 GMT from United States)
@16 @ 25
I guess where I'm concerned about your comments are that MATE and Cinnamon are great desktop experiences, and have been since at least 2014 when I switched first to Cinnamon and then MATE after using LXDE for several years.
It's perfectly ok to say that you've had frustrating experiences with Linux on the desktop, but your comment in 16 implies that Linux in general can't get the desktop right. It can, and has for several years.
28 • @19 Phone Poll (by Rev_Don on 2017-01-30 16:32:40 GMT from United States)
My Razr will run for 4+ days of medium use and 3 days of hard use between charges. It will also get a signal allowing me to make/receive a voice call or text message while most "so called" smart phones can't get a signal at all. Now tell me, which is the real smart phone. Sorry, but I got it right the first time.
29 • @16 look and feel (by far2fish on 2017-01-30 17:18:38 GMT from Denmark)
It takes from a few hours to a day to learn the basics for styling your window manager or desktop environment or you can download themes to get up to speed faster.
Few distros seems to style out of the box though, which at first sight looks like something the cat dragged in. Some nice exceptions though. KDE Mint have already been mentioned. For XFCE I will recommend having a look at Manjaro.
30 • Phone poll (by Poet Nohit on 2017-01-30 18:33:57 GMT from United States)
Where's the "I don't use a phone that needs an OS" option?
31 • Phone OS (by Steve on 2017-01-30 18:37:52 GMT from United States)
You need another choice in the poll:
I don't have or want a "smart" phone
...and maybe one more:
I don't have or want a cell phone
32 • Phone OS (by argent on 2017-01-30 18:48:36 GMT from United States)
Certainly welcome any real change other than Android, not even going to be negative but would welcome a good solid based distribution that isn't as intrusive. Good thing on one aspect of offering so many apps, but really the constant notifications make owning a phone unattractive.
Eventually believe there will be some real change and be more user friendly without the clutter. Approach computing with a minimalist attitude and would prefer a phone in the same regards.
Best regards to DW and the awesome job of having such a resourceful site as it is, thanks.
Special Kudos to Questions and Answers, solved a lot of mysteries on this end.
Thanks again!
33 • Phone OS (by Laubster on 2017-01-30 19:14:40 GMT from United States)
When my flip phone died 12 months ago I would have gone with another, but wanted to play with convergence. I purchased a Nexus4, and opted for the dual boot option even though I spend 100% of my time in Touch. With no Android experience I can't compare them, but I've found the Touch solidly capable for typical use, and a pleasure to use, though I'm far from a power user. I can recommend Touch on a Nexus4 to others.
34 • KDE (by havenchaz on 2017-01-30 19:44:21 GMT from United States)
@21 Maui is the slickest version of Plasma out there. Very stable with enhancements to the menu making it an easy OS to use as soon as it is installed.
Also it is Semi-Rolling and uses Ubuntu LTS and KDE Neon for the latest and greatest that Plasma has to offer.
35 • Phone OS (by blabber on 2017-01-30 19:58:47 GMT from Sweden)
I use a feature phone. No way android or ios will ever be allowed in my pockets!
36 • Tracking distros just for fun (by M.Z. on 2017-01-30 21:31:26 GMT from United States)
@6
It sounds to me like you've got an axe to grind about how distros are tracked & want to anoint you preferred distro 'king of the hill' because it gives you some warm fuzzy feeling like you'd be winning some popularity contest. Tracking clicks doesn't give any objective measure of distro popularity & it never has, it measures interest of people on the DW site. If you want the most popular desktop OS then use Windows, but if you want the best for you then dig through the options here on DW. Of course you could blindly download the most popular distro here on DW & call it a day, but the point of the site is to give potential users information about distros & their project objectives. If it was an objective of Ubuntu to offer all major desktop options as official versions, then they would publish all releases as official announcements the same way they do with their Unity desktop & they would own the number one spot on DW.
The project obviously felt that there were reasons to do things in a different way & do 'community versions' rather than release more official desktop versions. A very similar situation exists with Mint Debian and the SolydXK distro, so it isn't as though the situation is unique to Ubuntu. Either project could inflate their numbers on DW at least a little bit more by centralizing all releases, but they don't care about that so why should the rest of us?
Also I use both RPM & Deb distros regularly & have no idea what you could mean by "...the RPM families ... have more disorders..". The only gripe I have is that Chrome was easier to install (especially security signatures) on Mint than on Mageia & made watching Netflix easier. Of course Fedora's delta-RPMs could be said to be far superior to the default setup on any major Deb based distro I'm aware of, but there are other reasons I'm not to interested in using Fedora as my main OS. Anyway, the point is both RPM & Deb have some strengths & weaknesses, though most users will hardly notice as they both work more than well enough to go unnoticed in my experience.
If you want something that can "..accurately reflect actual usage..." then never look at DW numbers, because they are unofficial & only reflect the interests of DW visitors. I'll admit that I felt good back when Mint became #1 on DW, but the truth is it doesn't mean any more than DW visitors are more interested in Mint & perhaps there is a good buzz about the distro. That actually doesn't mean anything huge & was never meant to be any kind official or statistically valid count of anything.
37 • trivialities (by jos on 2017-01-30 21:57:59 GMT from United States)
Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Mubuntu... listed separately because their respective devs ASKED to have them listed separately? Maybe lack of clarity around that is what led to #6's wonderment.
When "cub linux" showed up on the list, I'd never seen it on the waiting list & so posted to ask "poof. where dat come from?"
Similar questioning might arise if a reader doesn't realize TrueOS is actually FreeBSD in sheep's clothing, but whatchagonna do? List both the old name(s) and current name for each distro/project?
Wait, what was the question? Did we gather here to chase windmills, or molehills?
38 • man pages and application firewall (by Joe P on 2017-01-30 22:13:33 GMT from United States)
I have long hoped that man pages with common examples become available. I recall the dos help file from DOS 6.2 had hyperlinks and examples. If you loaded the correct driver you could use a mouse with it back in the pre Windows days.
I have also hoped to find a good application firewall like the old WRQ Atguard program from the Win 98 days. You could even drag and drop the order of the rules. Netfilter has similar capabilities but no GUI as friendly as Atguard was then.
39 • Organization (by Jesse on 2017-01-30 22:57:40 GMT from Canada)
>> "Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Mubuntu... listed separately because their respective devs ASKED to have them listed separately? Maybe lack of clarity around that is what led to #6's wonderment."
@6, @37: We get asked this enough that it is on our FAQ page: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=faq#ubuntusplit
40 • Phone OS and more (by mikef90000 on 2017-01-30 23:06:31 GMT from United States)
@Jesse, no nag screens on my new Moto G4 Play with Android 6.0.1; perhaps the Nexus has an extra crap layer installed. :-(
@25, I'm always puzzled with folks who have difficulties with customizing Xfce - you must be Extra Picky about something. IMO it is extremely easy to customize if your right mouse button works .....
41 • @6 Re:Mint, Ubuntu stats disguised, as usual on Distrowatch (by Greg Zeng on 20 (by ArchUser on 2017-01-31 00:24:05 GMT from Norway)
Distrowatch does not track distros' underlying technologies, but individual distro projects and the numbers on the right are just how many people viewed that page on Distrowatch. It indicates nothing of install base or real world popularity. That Linux Mint divides its resources to different DEs and even the Debian edition does not mean that it isn't one distro project, but Ubuntu is just Ubuntu with Unity, while the official respins are separate projects that cooperate and contribute back to Ubuntu. Distrowatch only claims to track page views of individual distro projects which is in fact what they do. That people sometimes do not understand what these statistics are do not make them false.
42 • Ubuntu Phone (by jasonmm1979 on 2017-01-31 00:31:43 GMT from United States)
I've always used Android smartphones (with the exception of Nokia WAY back), I'd be interested in seeing how an Ubuntu phone operates.
43 • PhoneOS (by Dave Postles on 2017-01-31 13:43:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
I was fortunate enough to get an Alcatel onetouch FireE with Firefox OS before Mozilla abandoned the project. I love it and it cost (if I remember correctly) just over £60. There are enough apps available for my interest (mainly languages).
44 • Weekly (by Andy Mender on 2017-01-31 15:58:42 GMT from Austria)
Very well done on this week's DW Weekly, Jesse! Though a grumpy person by nature, I was delighted to read this week's edition.
I never tried Ubuntu Touch as it's quite literally out of my touch (pun intended). However, seeing as Android is getting more bloated by the day, I might hazard a switch at one point.
Shame to see Arch's i686 going away, as I found it (apart from Debian) to be THE distribution to run on Pentium IV computers. The KISS-centered minimalism shines on legacy PCs, truly.
Finally, I've tried this Super Hardening called Grsecurity via Gentoo's "hardened" profile. It's great on a server, but can prove problematic on desktop systems.
Wonder how OpenBSD or FreeBSD would compare to a hardened Linux system?
45 • my phone (by dave on 2017-01-31 18:08:53 GMT from United States)
lol I'm still using a Palm Pixi
(outdated, double-discontinued webOS)
I'm the last holdout.
46 • Man pages (by Martin on 2017-01-31 21:29:40 GMT from United Kingdom)
Thank you so much for providing these man pages, I have long felt this was something that should be available. Please keep up your good work.
47 • Looking forward to Ubuntu on smartphones (by RJARPCGP on 2017-01-31 22:25:39 GMT from United States)
Still looks like a WIP.
48 • New listener (by Eric Reed on 2017-02-01 06:17:12 GMT from United States)
I've given up the ship on Windows and am pretty well settled in with Mint 18.1. I've been a visitor to your site for a while but it was not clear to me that there was a podcast. One of the best I've come across. You asked about ditching Android, and I've had some small experience there. I put Cyanogenmod on a Galaxy III and for the most part it worked very well. I bricked it twice in the process though. Not a process for noobs like me. I subscribe to you now and would really like a good source for Linux lessons. I have fits dealing with gz.tar kind of stuff. .deb files install with no problem. FYI the trailer music made me get up to see if I downloaded Frampton for some reason. (Well I guess I did). Nice touch.
49 • My Old Android Phone... (by cykodrone on 2017-02-01 06:44:21 GMT from Canada)
...is now a $650 solitaire player. I dumped the carrier and yanked out the SIM card (leaving it in still bounces the phone off local towers). With the carrier dumped but SIM still in, no Google Play or updates with wifi, same with the SIM card yanked. I just go so sick of the background spyware trying to tell endless amounts of corporations what I look at or where I go, etc. You shouldn't have to white knuckle fight with your devices to maintain even a small degree of privacy. FYI packet data users, when you are not on wifi, YOU are paying for the data all those background snoopware processes use, the carriers love you, and your wallet/purse. I was going to Hiemdall it but then I would have lost a ton of old favourite games in the process, that and my new pay-as-you-go cell carrier uses different call/data frequencies anyway, so I was told (I purposely downgraded to an old school snoopware free flip-phone). I voted stuck with default.
Passwords, hmm, my BIOS password is set to ask on boot (you're not getting to either grub without it), I never allow auto logins, anything that needs root permissions, I create gksu launchers (remember password unchecked). I know the BIOS password can be cleared (jumper and/or battery removal) but that would set my finely tuned machine back to all the garbage default settings, and actually make my Linux installs dysfunctional in the process, lol, so if a thief were to steal it, good luck with that. If your machine has an internet connection, password laziness (convenience) is asking for trouble, especially with elevated privileges. It's almost as if some entity out there wants us to let our guards down, do so at your own risk.
50 • @36, 39, 41. Life-spans of distributions, including DW. (by Greg Zeng on 2017-02-01 09:37:00 GMT from Australia)
distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=faq#ubuntusplit "Frequently Asked Questions".
Thanks for the FAQ. It is recent, and undated. Since 31 May 2001, https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=about DW guidelines have changed, and hopefully will continue to change.
Levels of Linux communities
(1) Meta-structures (eg Unix), which then create:
(2) Isolated coders (or forked).
(3) Teamed coders (or forked).
(4) Incorporated group (or forked).
(5) Community of Corporations (or forked).
(6) Buy-out or Sell-out.
(7) Dying.
8) Dead (Abandon-ware?)
There are several types of Linux coders. They generally start & finish in the order 1 to 8, above.
In Level (5), only some distros are officially accepted as Ubuntu-derivatives by Canonical. Not all the coders in any sub-community feel happy about being part of the larger community. Many Lower Levels (One to Five) want to be recognized (or NOT) as part of any Level-Five consortium.
To officially join the official community, there are several "MUSTS", similar as being listed in any way for listing in DW. These "MUSTS" change over time, and they also have insider-secretive operations as well.
Interesting to see Microsoft (Level 4) sneaking into the official Linux Foundation (Level 5), Ubuntu (Level 4). This planet's chief Windows reverse-Windows-engineer noticed that Ms is unofficially "borrowing" Linux structures since Windows 8.1 (or earlier).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Ykla27FIo&t=1427s "The Linux Kernel Hidden Inside Windows 10" Published on Nov 22, 2016
by Alex Ionescu, from BLACK HAT, USA. July 22-27, 2017. Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas blackhat.com/
My comments on that YouTube:
@1:57 Windows fan-girl correctly comments that the Linux kernel is not (YET) hidden in Windows 8.1. Just some of the Ubuntu & Android structures (@40 mins 30 secs).
@11:19 Linux subsystems mentioned
@13:18 Ubuntu & SystemD mentioned
Windows-10 is the Microsoft's self-proclaimed last operating system, since it will probably buy out Ubuntu, and then release it, like their purchases of Nokia,to "replace" the Microsoft phone, imho.
This is Microsoft last operating system, since it will probably buy out Ubuntu, and then release it, like their purchases of Nokia,to "replace" the Microsoft phone.
Linux, BSD and later operating systems ... ? History, or very deliberate software engineering, right now, will determine the futures. Theoretically, some claim "open-democracy" is the best way to evolve. Witness "The Linux Foundation" and Wikipedia? Or the 2016 USA election results, which now have created an anti-rationality Leader of the "Free" world.
Then we are so lucky that DW is at: "Physical Address: ... Wanchai, Hong Kong SAR ... E-mail: distro@distrowatch.com https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=about
51 • @50 Why? (by curious on 2017-02-01 10:36:03 GMT from Germany)
You say that Microsoft "will probably buy out Ubuntu". How do you know that Canonical / Shuttleworth will sell it (or be able to)? And what about the Ubuntu community and the GPL? Do you really think they would just disappear?
"Open Democracy" - do you mean Debian? It is clear that they - after long and sometimes bitter discussions - just follow the corporate developments made by others (Redhat).
For software development, it would appear that the "benevolent dictator" (NOT like the malevolent Trump) is the most promising model, as long as it is combined with a libre license that allows forking, so that others, who might disagree with the direction, can follow their own path and develop alternatives.
Btw, the DW server that I see appears to be in Denmark.
52 • FF OS you are missed (by Justinian on 2017-02-01 14:59:33 GMT from Philippines)
@43
Too bad Mozilla discontinued Firefox OS for phones. I got one the other year in Manila for not even $25 and have used it as a backup ever since. Mozilla conceded that they could not raise the user experience competitively. Was hoping they could come up eventually with a Linux system compatible with low-mid-range units, not just a few supported phones.
53 • The GPL makes that notion irrelevant (by M.Z. on 2017-02-01 18:43:35 GMT from United States)
@50
"..it will probably buy out Ubuntu, and then release it, like their purchases of Nokia..."
Now that's just totally off the rails pointless paranoia. On the off chance that both MS & Canonical are actually interested in the deal, the only possible gain in folding Canonical completely would be setting back all the projects based directly on Ubuntu by whatever amount of time it would take to switch their base to Debian proper & port all their custom tools. Debian & Ubuntu are mostly the same, so it wouldn't really take all that much effort & some projects like Mint Debian Edition show that it is fairly doable. Also all the things MS would control in that scenario would likely be forked like LibreOffice was from OpenOffice, & the code would remain in the hands of the community as the GPL creators intended. It would also be a sure bet that many Canonical employees would move swiftly to other parts of the Linux community, creating a 'hydra' type problem for anyone who would try to take over a Linux company. Also there would be legal issues with anti-competitive behavior.
I'm not a huge fan of Canonical especially after their former privacy issues, but that's just nonsense.
54 • Alternative phone OSes (by Дмитрий on 2017-02-01 20:08:20 GMT from Russian Federation)
I've tried literally every OS that are available for my Nexus 5: Ubuntu Phone, Sailfish OS, Firefox OS, some lightweight desktop distros on Bochs and even some old Windows (3.1? I don't remember), not to mention uncountable number of Android variants.
The ability to try different OSes was one of the main reasons why I chose Nexus and not some Samsung or whatever.
Anyway, now I use (good old) Android 5.1.1 ROM called Cataclysm. Although it's just a stock Google ROM with some neat features, it's definitely not default OS.
55 • mainline Linux kernel version 3.4 (by FOSSilizing Dinosaur on 2017-02-01 22:16:15 GMT from United States)
So W'8.1+ uses (perhaps independently-developed) code compatible with Linux kernel 3.4 ? (And/or ARM-related forks thereof?)
Like Google's Android, not using Linux libraries or applications?
(Also in EOMA68 plans, for similar reasons?)
(I thank our devoted curmudgeon(s) for bringing this up)
56 • Cloudready (by adam on 2017-02-02 08:22:30 GMT from Canada)
"other than Windows are not supported for dual-boot with CloudReady."
Any reasons?
57 • Alt OS on phone (by Vytas on 2017-02-02 09:51:27 GMT from Lithuania)
I am interested to get used phone and to play around with OS reinstall. Maybe actually use it if all goes well.
58 • Gaming on Linux. Best current sources, all Linux distros. (by Greg Zeng on 2017-02-02 13:47:14 GMT from Australia)
Late in this week's Comments. Holidays, so few readers? Viewing the best video I've seen on GAMING IN LINUX.
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhcQ7jibiC4 "My Top Linux Gaming Distros", Don't Call Me Lenny!
Cover most Linux distros, i3 & i7 CPU, etc. Many resources given. Comparisons, like & dislikes, limitations, with well explained reasons.
59 • Phone masochism (by PJ on 2017-02-02 15:47:59 GMT from Ireland)
I rooted my HTC phone in order to be able to back it up properly with the Titanium app. That worked for a year or so and then it stopped getting software updates, after which it became gradually more and more flakey. Searches in the phone's contacts triggered a crash more often than not. I could play around with different distros or reset it to the factory default but I'm unlikely to revert to it; had already moved on after a couple of years. Back then I used the spare battery frequently. Now I carry a spare external battery.
Lesson learned: unless you've got the time to spare and you're willing to spend it may not be worth the trouble to root the phone. I'd rather spend the time on Linux.
My next phone was and still is a Nexus 5 running Android 6.0.1. I prefer the UI. It's been reliable, apart from losing signal more often than my wife's Galaxy 5. Not convinced the Pixel is worth the money so sitting tight for now.
60 • Phone OS & OBRevenge OS (by GiantBoyscout on 2017-02-03 10:25:42 GMT from France)
Phone OS: Currently, using default OS, but would looooove to install Sailfish OS, with Ubuntu Touch as a second choice.
OBRevenge OS: OBRevenge OS is here...OBRevnge OS is here!! Excellent distro, definitely worth a spin or install (Arch Base) rolling, with "easy" config. tools. A future DistroWatch review would be great.
Peace out.
61 • Alt Phone OSs (by M.Z. on 2017-02-03 23:08:00 GMT from United States)
I'd have to empathize in part with #59s reading of the issues with smart phone OSs. With PCs there seems to be plenty of fairly compatible slightly older hardware floating around that makes it fairly safe cheap & easy to try another OS on. Well at least in the case of Linux it generally goes without compatibility issues, though I do have issues with the BSDs. If I thought there were smart phones floating around that were as easy & reliable to try new OSs on I'd probably do it, but at present there seem to be hurdles. Even the most compatible phones that the review linked to had issues with either GPS or Bluetooth, & if you don't have one of those what's the chance anything will work? For now stock Android is the most open phone option that is still reliable, though hopefully that will change in the future.
62 • Arch vs Windows-10, on high-end hardware (4K graphics, etc). (by Greg Zeng on 2017-02-04 23:14:48 GMT from Australia)
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ke_CnTsJlM&t=612s
Windows 10 Vs Arch Linux ★Geeking Off★
My comment is there as well. If he chose a Ubuntu-derivative, instead of Arch, then it could beat Windows-10? He has yet to reply to my comments.
63 • 62 • Arch vs Windows-10 (by mandog on 2017-02-05 13:53:10 GMT from Peru)
No way Ubuntu is slow and sluggish compared to Arch.
64 • wm/de/tk (by FOSSilizing Dinosaur on 2017-02-05 18:55:15 GMT from United States)
Wouldn't Subgraph_OS find their development base less challenging if they chose a (less unstable) window-manager/desktop-environment like OpenBox or Qt/Xfce on which to build? Why did they commit to GNOME (and not just Gtk - or Qt)? How stable a base for development is that likely to be long-term?
Number of Comments: 64
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GNU/Linux Kinneret
GNU/Linux Kinneret was an operating system and a variety of applications supplied in a single package that was easy to operate and use (CD). The system does not mandate installation and/or complicated setup, and includes automatic hardware recognition, a wizard that facilitates easy connection to the Internet, as well as a rich and high-quality range of applications with maximum Hebrew support (with more languages to be supported later on).
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