 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 730, 18 September 2017 |
Welcome to this year's 38th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Earlier this year, after several delays in its development, Mageia 6 was released. Mageia is one of the community forks of the now-discontinued Mandriva operating system. Mageia is well known for its user friendly configuration tools and, in this week's Feature Story, Joshua Allen Holm test drives Mageia 6 to see what else the distribution offers. In our News section we discuss Manjaro Linux being bundled with laptop hardware, KDE's Plasma Mobile on Purism's open phone and DragonFly BSD allowing people to set up HAMMER2 volumes from inside the project's system installer. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we discuss the practical benefits and drawbacks of completely free operating systems. Plus we are happy to share last week's releases and provide a list of the torrents we are seeding. In our Opinion Poll we ask if our readers prefer to adjust settings from a control panel or by setting parameters directly in text files. Finally, we are pleased to welcome the Star distribution to our database. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Mageia 6
- News: Manjaro coming pre-installed on laptops, KDE's Plasma on Purism's phone, HAMMER2 coming to DragonFly BSD's installer
- Questions and answers: Benefits and drawbacks of using completely free operating systems
- Released last week: CentOS 7-1708, Parrot Security 3.8, Univention 4.2-2
- Torrent corner: ArchLabs, AUSTRUMI, CentOS, Manjaro, NuTyX, Parrot Security, Q4OS, SmartOS, Univention
- Upcoming releases: Fedora 27 Beta
- Opinion poll: Graphical control panel vs text files
- New additions: Star
- Reader comments
|
| Feature Story (by Joshua Allen Holm) |
Mageia 6
Mageia is one of the many forks of the now defunct Mandriva Linux. The latest release, Mageia 6, ships with version 4.9 of the Linux kernel, KDE Plasma 5.8 LTS, GNOME 3.24, and a wide selection of other up-to-date software. Like many distributions, it ships most of the common open source packages and supports all the common desktop environments, so what, if anything, sets Mageia apart from its competitors? To find out, I tried out Mageia 6 for a couple of weeks and I share my thoughts about the experience below.
Installing Mageia 6
Mageia offers a wide selection of installation media. There are Live images for KDE's Plasma desktop, GNOME, and Xfce. There is also an image that Mageia refers to as the classical installer, which is a traditional non-live install image. The classical installer is much larger than the live images, but comes with a wider selection of software and has a custom install option that lets the user pick what they want to install. The classical installer is 3.9GB, the KDE Plasma live image is 2.6GB, GNOME live is 2.2GB, and the Xfce live image is 2.0GB. For this review, I used the classical installer.
Booting the USB drive brings up a GRUB menu with options to install Mageia or to boot into a basic rescue mode. The rescue mode can re-install Mageia's boot loader, restore Windows' boot loader, mount the hard drive's partitions, or start a console interface. The console interface provides a handy list of commands for installing modules, listing partitions, and getting the system logs from the last 24 hours. Not the most advanced rescue tool available, but handy enough.
Mageia's installer, known as DrakeX, asks for the same information and provides the same functions as just about every other Linux installer out there. There are really no surprises. Walk through the prompts, make choices, and enter information when prompted. Using the classical installer gives the option of installing KDE's Plasma desktop or GNOME as the primary options. Using the custom options provides more desktop environments and lets the user tweak their package selection. For this review, I selected Plasma and let Mageia install its default selection of software.
KDE Plasma
Mageia's implementation of Plasma 5 is pretty standard, but does come with a few minor tweaks. Widgets are locked by default, there is a tiny lock and logout widget to the right of the clock in the bottom panel, and the application menu is organized to put more common categories and applications at the top, instead of alphabetizing everything. Other than those things, Mageia's KDE desktop is pretty standard and comes with all the typical software. Firefox 52 ESR, LibreOffice 5.3, GIMP, VLC media player, and the standard selection of KDE software come installed by default. Pretty typical, really, but still very nice. I did not need to add much to the system to get things customized to my liking. Most non-developer users could probably get by with using Mageia as-is with the possible exception of needing to install patent-encumbered codecs for media playback.
Mageia 6 -- The Plasma desktop
(full image size: 184kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
As I have noted in past reviews, I am a GNOME user. I use GNOME shell without any extra tweaks and I like it. However, I have to admit that KDE's Plasma desktop is really growing on me. This review is the second time that I have really had the chance to use a current version of Plasma for all of my daily tasks for a couple of weeks. (The first time was for my recent openSUSE Leap 42.3 review.) I doubt I will be switching desktop environments on my own computers, but I will be recommending Plasma to people switching from Microsoft Windows. It is familiar enough and polished enough (though, like most open source software, not entirely free from rough edges) that anyone looking for a traditional style of desktop could use it comfortably. Mageia's implementation, in particular, is very nice.
Mageia's welcome screen
The first thing that really sets Mageia apart from many of its competitors is its really nice welcome screen. The window appears the first time the user logs in (and every time thereafter, if the user doesn't uncheck the “show this window at startup” checkbox) and gives the user an excellent overview of the distribution. It provides quick access to documentation and support, explains how to use Mageia's Control Center to configure the system, and describes how to install and upgrade software.
Mageia 6 -- The welcome screen
(full image size: 213kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
The welcome screen also provides an applications page that helps the user add common packages to the system without having to use the more robust/complicated tools for package management. Many of the most common packages are included in the list, so a novice user who just wants to add a few common packages could easily do so using just the welcome screen. Simply check a few boxes, click on “Install selected” and wait for the process to finish.
Mageia 6 -- The welcome screen's application list
(full image size: 236kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Mageia Control Center
Mageia's Control Center is the core of what sets Mageia apart from other distributions. Much like openSUSE's YaST, Mageia's Control Center provides a centralized location for configuring a wide variety of options. Control Center can be used to update and install software, configure hardware, change system and network settings, and it can even be used to import documents and settings from Microsoft Windows. Sadly (or not so sadly, depending on your perspective) I was not able to test out that last option, but being able to copy documents and settings from Windows would be very, very useful for users taking their first foray into Linux.
Mageia 6 -- The Control Center
(full image size: 92kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Installing software
In addition to accessing it using the Control Center, the graphic tool for installing software, known as Rpmdrake, can be run directly, or packages can be installed from the command line using either urpmi or dnf. Like many distributions, Mageia splits free (in the Free Software Foundation's sense of the word) and non-free packages into separate repositories. The non-free repository contains proprietary drivers for video cards and firmware for various wireless cards. The firmware for my wireless card is in Mageia's non-free repository, so I had made sure that I enabled that repository when I installed the distribution. The most common non-free packages are included on the install image, so there was no problem with getting my system working, networking and all. (The sole exception was my laptop's built-in webcam, which does not work correctly on any distribution.) In addition, Mageia has a repository named Tainted that has packages with patent issues. Enabling the Tainted repository is a requirement if various media codecs are required, though even without the Tainted repository, many media codecs are included by default. Honestly, the process of getting non-free and patent encumbered packages with Mageia is much, much easier than it is for Fedora or openSUSE. While I fully understand why it has to be the way it is for those distributions (and I fully agree with the decisions made by Fedora and openSUSE to not ship various packages), I have to admit Mageia's approach is easier and more user friendly.
Mageia 6 -- The Rpmdrake software manager
(full image size: 119kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Final thoughts
Mageia 6 is very nice. While not much different from many of the other modern distributions, it comes with enough polish and extra features to make it worth checking out. The Welcome to Mageia application and Control Center make the distribution very friendly for new Linux users. Similarly, the ease of enabling non-free and tainted packages also makes it a good choice for anyone looking to quickly set up a fully functional system. While I cannot personally attest to their usefulness, users switching from Windows might find the various importing tools helpful for making their transition to Linux. If you are looking for a new distribution to try out, or want to take your first foray into the world of Linux, give Mageia 6 a try, you will not be disappointed.
* * * * *
Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Lenovo Ideapad 100-15IBD laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: 2.2GHz Intel Core i3-5020U CPU
- Storage: Seagate 500GB 5400 RPM hard drive
- Memory: 4GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8723BE 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter
- Display: Intel HD Graphics 5500
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
Mageia has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.3/10 from 120 review(s).
Have you used Mageia? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Manjaro coming pre-installed on laptops, KDE's Plasma on Purism's phone, HAMMER2 coming to DragonFly BSD's installer
The developers of Manjaro Linux are the latest Linux team to partner with a hardware seller to provide Linux pre-installed on laptop computers. "OK, community - we have now worked on this for months, and the results are simply astounding. In association with Station X the Manjaro Team is very proud to announce our first Laptop, together with a hardware manufacturer especially designed for our beloved community. If you're looking for the sleekest Linux laptop in existence, then look no further. The Spitfire is a head turner - with lots and lots of muscle. Powered with 7th Generation Intel Core Processors, up to 32GB RAM and dual drive bays, the Spitfire can take whatever you can throw at it. And keep going." Specifications for the product are listed on Manjaro's website. Ordering will be available starting in October.
* * * * *
Back in August we reported that the Purism organization is working to develop a mobile phone which features both open hardware and open source software. The phone is intended to run Linux distributions and, if the project is completed, there are plans to have the device run KDE's Plasma Mobile user interface. A post on the KDE website states: "It is true that Purism has not committed to any given platform yet. What they have done is agreed to help KDE adapt Plasma Mobile to their device, and for that they are committing resources, human and otherwise. This is a win on both sides. KDE gets to try out Plasma Mobile on a device without having to go through all the guesswork of reverse engineering undocumented hardware. Purism gets to test-run Plasma Mobile on their device and help steer its development so it is fully supported. This gives Plasma Mobile a good chance of becoming the default interface for the Librem 5, although that decision is ultimately one Purism has to take." Purism is running a campaign in order to raise funds to complete the project.
* * * * *
In August we reported DragonFly BSD was making it possible for users to test the new HAMMER2 advanced file system. At the time, it was possible for DragonFly BSD users to create and explore HAMMER2 storage volumes, but the new file system was not available as an install-time option. This is changing and the next version of DragonFly BSD will feature the ability to create HAMMER2 volumes during the installation process. Matthew Dillon posted an update, reporting: "HAMMER2 can now be selected as a file system in the installer. Note that we still, for /boot, use UFS. The boot loader can access a HAMMER2 /boot, but the small size of the file system makes it too easy to fill up when doing installkernel or installworld."
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Benefits and drawbacks of using completely free operating systems
Exploring-freedom asks: I am interested in exploring purely free Linux distributions, like Parabola. Is there any practical drawback or benefit to running one of the GNU-supported Linux distributions?
DistroWatch answers: For people interested in seeing which Linux distributions the GNU project views as respecting users' freedoms, the project maintains a list. We also maintain a list of projects which strive to use free software exclusively on our Search page. These are distributions which ship with no proprietary software and do not provide a method for users to install non-free packages. The Debian distribution, I feel it is worth noting, is not on GNU's list. While Debian ships only free and open source software by default, the Debian project maintains a non-free repository its users can enable, which excludes the distribution from GNU's list of completely free operating systems. Fedora is another distribution with a firm stance in favour of software freedom, but Fedora ships some non-free firmware, excluding it from GNU's list. I believe it is worth keeping in mind that several distributions do a lot to respect users' freedoms, but may not make GNU's list.
From a practical point of view, there are a few benefits to running a completely free operating system. One benefit to having a completely free system means you can audit the entire operating system's source code to look for flaws, security issues and potential back doors into the system. The other benefit is, with a completely free software system, it is possible for developers to fix any problems they discover in the operating system, given the required time and skills.
Again, from a practical point of view, there are probably just two drawbacks when running a completely free operating system. The first is that some hardware will not be supported. A completely free system will not feature closed firmware and closed drivers. A lot of the time this is not an issue, but some hardware still requires non-free components. Often times video cards will work with open source drivers, but may require non-free drivers for high performance tasks like gaming. The other potential drawback is non-free applications will not be easily available. If you wish to use closed source components such as the Chrome web browser, Skype, or the Steam gaming client then these will not be easily available. It will still be possible to find and install these items, but they will not be in your distribution's repositories when you are running a exclusively free software distribution.
There are other reasons, apart from strictly practical ones, to run free software distributions. Some people are ethically opposed to non-free software, some want to encourage hardware vendors to write open drivers, others want to showcase how powerful a completely free operating system can be. If you are interested in running a purely free Linux distribution, I would recommend starting with Trisquel as it is probably the most friendly, desktop oriented distribution dedicated to free software.
* * * * *
More answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
Univention Corporate Server 4.2-2
Nico Gulden has announced the release of Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 4.2-2, a new build of the Debian-based server distribution featuring a web-based management system for central administration of servers. "We are pleased to announce the availability of UCS 4.2-2 for download, the second point release of Univention Corporate Server (UCS) 4.2. It includes all errata updates issued for UCS 4.2-1 and provides various improvements and bug fixes especially in the following areas: The portal is now also easily usable in cloud setups. The services installed on UCS, for example, are directly accessible without further configuration steps. For this purpose, the portal converts existing links into relative links. For portal entries with multiple links, heuristic procedures are used to determine the best link. The usability of the management system has been further improved. This allows users and groups to be copied, the error handling has been improved in several places, as did the performance." There have also been improvements to help app providers quickly create UCS appliances. Additional information can be found in the release announcement and in the release notes.
Parrot Security OS 3.8
Parrot Security OS is a Debian-based, security-oriented distribution featuring a collection of utilities designed for penetration testing and computer forensics. The project's latest release, 3.8, is based on Debian's Testing branch ("Buster") and includes support for working with ZFS storage volumes. "I am proud to announce the official release of Parrot 3.8, that introduces many new features and updates. A quick look at our changelog will immediately spot the most important changes: First of all, the new Parrot 3.8 is now based on Debian 10 Buster (current Debian Testing release) with Linux 4.12, ZFS support, better wireless drivers support and the introduction of the new MATE 1.18, GCC 6.4 and 7.2, Java 9 and so on, and all the Parrot flavors now include Electrum, a lightweight bitcoin client. We have not only fixed the previous DNS resolution issues, but also introduced a new round-robin model between both the default DNS servers provided by DHCP and our new OpenNIC DNS nodes hosted on our servers to prevent DNS censorship. Our OpenNIC nodes were not yet added to the OpenNIC server list but we would love to add them in the future." Additional information can be found in the project's release notes.
CentOS 7-1708
CentOS is a distribution built from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The CentOS project has announced the availability of a new update to the distribution, releasing CentOS 7-1708 which is derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4. The list of changes in this update to version 7 is fairly conservative: "Since release 1503 (abrt>= 2.1.11-19.el7.centos.0.1) CentOS-7 can report bugs directly to bugs.centos.org. You can find information about that feature at this page. Various new packages include among others: python-gssapi, python-netifaces, mod_auth_openidc, pidgin and Qt5. SSH1-support has been removed from the SSH-server. Along with this move, all cryptographic protocols and algorithms which are considered insecure have been deprecated. OpenSSL now supports DTLS (TLS via UDP) and ALPN. NVMe Over Fabric is now supported in the NVM-Express kernel driver. There have been various changes/enhancements to cryptographic abilities of various packages. I.e. sendmail now supports ECDHE, OpenSSH now using SHA2 for public key signatures, among others. All changes are too numerous to mention here, so please take a look at the upstream release notes..." The release announcement and release notes contain further information.
ArchLabs 2017.09
ArchLabs is an Arch-based Linux distribution featuring the Openbox window manager. The project's latest snapshot, ArchLabs 2017.09, introduces several new changes, including a welcome script which runs when the user first logs in: "Mínimo has under-gone some fine tuning, mainly with the addition of a brilliant Hello/Welcome script written by Nate. Known as AL-Hello, this script will aid in (for those of you who are in a hurry, or just can't be bothered installing one by one) the addition of extra software that we don't include out of the box. You can install up to 60 different apps and utilities, including image and video apps, web browsers, editors office apps and many more. As well as installing apps with the new AL-Hello script you can choose your default panel, be it Tint2 or Polybar. Install NVIDIA or Bumblebee drivers as well. Super easy." A detailed list of changes, along with screen shots showing off new features, can be found in the project's release announcement.
ArchLabs 2017.09 -- Default desktop interface
(full image size: 341kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| 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 in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 571
- Total data uploaded: 15.6TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll |
Graphical control panel vs text files
Most modern operating systems provide convenient, point-n-click control panels to help us adjust the desktop environment, background services and printers. However, these flashy, graphical tools are often front-ends for text files which we can edit from the command line or in any text editor.
This week we would like to find out if our readers prefer to adjust their system settings from a graphical user interface or by editing text files.
You can see the results of our previous poll on streaming home media in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Graphical control panel vs text files
| I prefer to use a control panel: | 988 (44%) |
| I prefer to edit text files: | 253 (11%) |
| I use both methods: | 1011 (45%) |
| I do not change any settings: | 11 (0%) |
|
|
| DistroWatch.com News |
New projects added to database
Star
Star is a desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Devuan GNU/Linux. Star is available in a range of editions, each featuring a lightweight desktop environment. Star is small enough to fit on a CD and uses SysV init software.
Star 1.0.1 -- Running the JWM environment
(full image size: 61kB, resolution: resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 25 September 2017. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 2, value: US$5.44) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Text window (by John on 2017-09-18 00:44:03 GMT from United States)
I wonder when Android will put a text window back in?
2 • Mageia (by Winchester on 2017-09-18 02:56:04 GMT from United States)
Just to put it out there,using Mageia,I recommend XFCE or KDE.
Mageia 5 with Gnome was very problematic. I haven't tried the latest Mageia 6 with Gnome and likely will not because, XFCE and KDE work so well under Mageia. There are plenty of other options for Gnome .... CentOS,Fermi,Debian,FrugalWare etc.and the much underrated PALDO .
3 • Spitfire Laptop (by Tran Older on 2017-09-18 04:10:50 GMT from Vietnam)
Never before in the fields of FOSS conflict, so much is coded for so many by so few.
4 • welcome (by tim on 2017-09-18 04:45:51 GMT from United States)
MageiaWelcome is nice, but isn't it similar to (or even identical to) the welcome included in Mint LMDE, SparkyLinux, LinuxLite, PCLinuxOS and others?
I'm reacting to this, mentioned in today's DW review: "The first thing that really sets Mageia apart from many of its competitors is its really nice welcome screen."
In my memory, a couple welcome apps stand out as being especially memorable. Deepin Linux had (past tense b/c I haven't booted it during the past year) an over-the-top, highly graphical, presentation ~~ like animated (javascript?) featurettes covering each of several pre-installed applications. Another standout in my memory is puppyLinux welcome include a button which opened a locally-installed html page which listed LOTS of preinstalled apps. Each was a hyperlink, leading to the application's project page. That clickthru ability to learn (read docs, from the horse's mouth) about each of the various applications was hugely helpful to me.
To me, the UNappealing aspect of many of these welcome apps is that they employ qtwebkit & pop open various web-resident pages into a stripped-down viewer. No urlbar, no toobar; can't read a page, follow a link to read another page then navigate backwards. (Um, maybe you can, maybe I'm expected to realize that Control+LeftArrow kb press performs this action?). To the creators of these "apps": Hello? Please ask my permission/consent before connecting to internet webservers. (ps: seems wrong to presume a net connection will be available at time of welcome) Also, PLEASE provide a way for me to know (copy/bookmark) the url of a reference page, so that I might revisit it using regular web browser.
Has anyone (anyone reading this) run across a "welcome" app that incorporates gamification aspect (badges, checkoff list)? I haven't, and expect it would be both effective and well-received. A checkoff list (state retained across sessions) wouldn't "too kiddy-ish" -- there's probably (hopefully) way more gettingStarted documentation available than I can wade through in one sitting. I would appreciated it if the "welcome app" helped me to keep track of "where I left off, where I intended to continue reading".
5 • Station X (by Dave Postles on 2017-09-18 06:47:49 GMT from United Kingdom)
Really? Starting price at £850?
6 • Station X (by lupus on 2017-09-18 07:11:22 GMT from Germany)
I just recently bought a Laptop, now I wish I hadn't cause for 500,-€ I didn't get my moneys worth for this Acer can't handle Linux quite as well as I'd hoped. And it's only i3 no RJ-45 jack no 8 Gigs of Ram and no M2 SSD and no Tux Key.
So overall I wish I had known of Station X before!
7 • DWW thoughts... (by claudecat on 2017-09-18 07:59:14 GMT from United States)
I've been blessed/cursed with lots of free time lately, and one of the things I've found myself doing is traveling down memory lane by (re)reading ancient DWW's and in some cases the comments. What's become apparent to me is that things have sort of become... I dunno... predictable? Don't get me wrong, I find Jesse's reviews and other input as informative as ever, but there's a certain editorial sameness to it all.
Compare that to the old days, when writers like Caitlyn Martin or Robert Storey (or others) would shake things up a bit with their respective styles, be they abrasively factual or think-outside-the-box hilarious (I just read the Storey piece on the economic collapse and how that could benefit Linux - brilliantly absurd or chillingly accurate?).
I miss reading even the over-the-top elitist ramblings of self-proclaimed clinical psychology PhD/FLOSS blowhard Landor! OK, perhaps that's stretching things, but there doesn't seem to be the same level of camaraderie/combativeness in the comments that there once was, which makes things a little... boring? Static anyway. Not as much fun, for me at least.
Maybe this reflects changes in the Linux/FLOSS landscape over the years. Gone are the heady days pre-Gnome 3/Unity, that little window of time during which it seemed like Ubuntu might just make major inroads on the desktop as Microsoft struggled to follow up XP's success. People just don't seem to get as excited as they once did about individual distros or the prospect of taking down the megalomaniacs in Redmond and Cupertino. Maybe, like me, most have settled into their lives, continuing to use their favorite FLOSS software but no longer being quite so vociferous in their evangelism.
Forgive the long post! I guess my point is that I'd love to read some DWW features that have a bit of that old-time flavor. Some humor, some excitement, some enthusiasm. A little less dryness in the writing (no offense Jesse!). Heck, I'd be happy to write something myself. I do have over a dozen distros currently installed, a few of which I don't believe have been reviewed recently.
Or not... Just seems like there's a bit of a lull in the comments (at least) here over the past few years, which I hadn't really noticed until taking this recent trip in the wayback machine. I'd like more fun, that's all. Unless that means we have to start keeping our sticks on the ice again. That got annoying real fast.
8 • Graphical control panels (by Mike W. on 2017-09-18 10:17:23 GMT from United States)
I use both text and graphical control panels when available. I like the idea of graphical because you can have many more settings readily available, especially if you can get a tabbed interface.
Ideally, a graphical panel would also present the command line in at the bottom so users could learn the command line. This is important because it would then allow you to script or schedule the commands.
9 • Mageia 6 review (by Erick BR on 2017-09-18 13:11:27 GMT from Brazil)
Does this latest version make it easy to set up full disk encryption on install? Once I've tested the version 4 in my notebook. I've liked it, looked stunning, but had to replace it because couldn't set it properly to fully encrypt the disk, as I can't afford to let my work data to fall in bad hands in case my machine is lost or stolen. When Distrowatch makes a review, I would suggest also to be checked if the distro installer has a straighforward option to encrypt the disk, or at last the home folder, as it is probably a critical feature for many users out there too.
10 • Archlabs and Nelumbang (by lenn on 2017-09-18 13:37:42 GMT from Canada)
Its nice to see "another" Openbox based distro coming up. It looks like a copy of Nelumbang, which is based on Debian and uploaded in May 2016. There are many Nelum distros around, that are based on Debian and Devuan, and most of them feature the good old Skippy-XD.
And, "Minimo" sounds like something from PCLinuxOS some years ago.
11 • Mixing this up (by Jesse on 2017-09-18 14:32:11 GMT from Canada)
@7: "What's become apparent to me is that things have sort of become... I dunno... predictable? Don't get me wrong, I find Jesse's reviews and other input as informative as ever, but there's a certain editorial sameness to it all. "
I like the way your present your thoughts. Come write for us! Express yourself, get paid, shake things up. We can always use a fresh perspective on the Linux landscape.
12 • Mageia 6 review (by Likeme on 2017-09-18 14:46:08 GMT from Netherlands)
Concerning Mageia and Full Disk Encryption: Yes, it's very easy to setup FDE during installation, and actually it was pretty easy to do this in Mageia 4 as well. You can use a variety of schemes, including LVM, and the Mageia installer is perhaps the most thorough you can find. Regarding FDE, I can't think of a distro that does it better and easier than Mageia.
Mageia has an excellent and very friendly community as well.
13 • GUI without graphical control panel is broken (by curious on 2017-09-18 14:47:11 GMT from Germany)
A desktop environment or GUI is obviously not complete if it can't even provide the graphical tools to configure its own graphical elements.
That said, I like the idea of *also* being able to adjust things in a text-based config file. But that should not be the only way.
14 • @4 and 11: How about tabulate some parts? (by OS2_user on 2017-09-18 15:13:41 GMT from United States)
Like so:
Booted without trouble:__Real_hardware__VM
Graphical installer___:__Yes
Partitioner___________:__Gparted
and so on. It's a bit late to start, but would yet help.
I starting tabulating on distros I tried, but trends soon became clear: many didn't get up to booting.
Anyhoo, I've solved most of my Linux troubles with an old distro called Windows 7. Of late, only advantage Linux had over XP was handles drives over 2T -- formatted w NTFS 3G, which 7 of course initiated.
I'd still like to take an interest in "Linux", but I doubt you want MY perspective here.
15 • Posts 7 & 11 . . . DistroWatch Articles . . (by GregA on 2017-09-18 15:18:02 GMT from United States)
YES! . . . I'm looking forward to Claude's first official article on DW! (really - - he seems to have his pulse on what makes reading more interesting . . ). Perhaps and article about the ABC's of how to submit an article or review in an upcoming DW? Generate more interest . .
16 • RE: #5. Station X and Linux Laptops (by Sam on 2017-09-18 15:22:43 GMT from United States)
Yeah, that is pricey. But so are offerings from System76. The problem I have with these pre-loaded Linux laptops from smaller companies is that they tend to have poor to "meh" build quality and you pay a premium for little more than a Linux distro "guaranteed" to work with your laptop. Most users would be better off buying a mid-grade laptop new or a nice laptop used and installing the distro of their choice (depending on hardware compatibility).
17 • Benefits and drawbacks of using completely free operating systems (by Tim on 2017-09-18 15:33:03 GMT from United States)
Kudos for a well written and balanced little article on free (as in liberty) distros. I have not tried a purely free distro, but I run Arch Linux on my desktop and Fedora Linux on my notebook PC, and I do as much as I can to keep them completely free.
18 • Station X and Linux Laptops (by tonny on 2017-09-18 16:21:10 GMT from Indonesia)
Pricey. I'm content with ~$280 second-hand thinkpad series. Have two (E330 & X220) that have zero problem running linux.
19 • New article submissions (by Jesse on 2017-09-18 16:29:43 GMT from Canada)
@15: Anyone interested in submitting a new article can check out our tips for doing so on our contributing page: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=contributing#writing
20 • Free Distros (by Justin on 2017-09-18 17:07:04 GMT from United States)
I noticed Gentoo isn't on the GNU list. Where do distributions like Gentoo, Linux From Scratch, etc., fall? I'd think they would be okay because you are building software from source yourself, but now I'm not sure.
21 • Control Panel Poll (by cykodrone on 2017-09-18 17:14:44 GMT from Canada)
I voted both. As a rule I'm a lazy bum so if I can point and click, I will, but occasionally there's a tweak or configuration that's not available in the control panel, only then do I dig around. That being said, I use Geany because it can create backup file copies and open/edit practically anything (Gedit went downhill). If I don't like a distro's feature or behaviour (or lack of), I have no problem using a search engine to find out how to change/add/remove it and use the command line if I have to. I remember a very steep learning curve with Windohs, getting it under control and secure was no walk in the park, to me now, Linux distros are a breeze.
Speaking of configuration and settings, I forgot to mention a few things in my review of Devuan a while back, I installed all relevant firmware (this really helps for those struggling with wifi) and Qt 4 Settings for a more uniform Xfce look in apps that utilize Qt. So for those struggling with not working wifi chips, etc, maybe download the full DVD so those firmware packages are available offline before you get completely up an running. I don't use proprietary video drivers, they rarely work perfectly and are always bloated, I much prefer to just use the video chip's firmware and the distro's FOSS graphical server. Debian has never been for skittish n00bs, neither is Devuan, Devuan is just Debian without systemd, other than that, there's very little difference between the two and skill level required to run/tweak them.
22 • Free distros (by Jesse on 2017-09-18 17:18:41 GMT from Canada)
@20:
> >"I noticed Gentoo isn't on the GNU list. Where do distributions like Gentoo, Linux From Scratch, etc., fall? "
The GNU project also maintains a list of popular distributions and lists the reasons why they are not endorsed: https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html
Gentoo doesn't make the cut because they offer non-free options. Same with Debian. LFS probably does not qualify as an operating system by GNU standards since it's instructions for building an operating system, not an OS you can install.
23 • reviews. how well the distribution can share hardware. (by Bobbie Sellers on 2017-09-18 18:55:36 GMT from United States)
I generally like the reviews and they save me a lot of time
avoiding some distros. I wish that the reviewer could look
at how well the distros share the same hardware.
On my test bed a salvaged Dell E6420 I have had some
experience with conflicts between otherwise fine distributions.
I have multiple distros installed in order to show them
off at LUG meetings.
Sometimes the various distros will try to seize control of Grub.
Last month I installed the Debian/Edu version 9 and it seems
to have a powerful installation script for the Grub2 boot tool.
When I replaced the aged drive I used Debian/Edu as the base
and have to run it in order to get Grub to recognize the latest
installation. Currently I have tried twice to install Manjaro
with very great care and failed twice to get a bootable installation.
It seems to be a very nice distribution but I guess the LUG will
have to be shown from the bootable disk of
manjaro-kde-17.0.4-stable-x86_64.iso. or maybe this disk
too is getting too old having been in use nearly as long as
the disk it replaced. By the way way I am reading Kernel
panic: Kernel Offset disabled - not syncing: VFS: Unable
to mount root fs on unknown block-block(0,0).
Gotta fix my lunch now before I faint.
bliss on PCLinuxOS64 kde(Plasma 5) 2017.07
24 • @20 (by azuvix on 2017-09-18 20:13:27 GMT from United States)
I think a lot of people misunderstand where the FSF is coming from with that list. Plenty of GNU/Linux distros can be made completely free. Gentoo even has a guide for doing that if you want to, and Slackware can be liberated easily using FreeSlack. I think LFS isn't included because it doesn't come pre-packaged, not many people use it as their sole operating system, the instructions recommend a vanilla Linux kernel (with binary blobs), and software freedom isn't an explicit goal of the project.
The issues come in when you install software from official repositories and/or if the base system already contains non-free software. A well-meaning user can end up with non-free software pulled in as a dependency or have small programs they never use that are non-free on their system without their knowledge. One of the main points of having completely free distros that package software carefully to maintain freedom is so that the user doesn't have to maintain constant vigil over that process. It's much easier if project leaders share your philosophy and you don't have to work against their decisions.
25 • Welcome Screens and Settings Changes (by M.Z. on 2017-09-18 20:29:55 GMT from United States)
@4
"MageiaWelcome is nice, but isn't it similar to (or even identical to) the welcome included in Mint LMDE,..."
I rather like both Mint & Mageia & I can state definitively that the Mageia welcome screen is far more comprehensive & powerful than the Mint welcome screen, although they both contain several similar options. While the Mint equivalent is nice & far more simple, the Mageia welcome screen is far more powerful & quite a bit closer to being a comprehensive guide to set up & admin of the system. The Mint welcome screen launches a couple of important apps & links to some important documentation & while the Mageia version does all that it has quite a few more options spread across several pages & is has setup & configuration hints built in to help you configure repositories, learn about & launch the very comprehensive Mageia Control Center & as DW Weekly mentioned, you can install many of the most popular programs directly in the welcome screen even without launching MCC.
Having played with both I find the Mageia version far more powerful, though Mint certainly has other tools that I like better than the nearest Mageia equivalents.
-------------------------------------------
On the subject of changing settings I chose that 'I prefer to use a control panel', although by the wording I could have easily said that I use that & editing text files. For me the direct editing of files is always plan b & not at all something I prefer, even if I do it on occasion. That being said I do like how digging into the guts of Linux seems to be a more inviting process that it ever felt like on Windows. It could just be my perception, but tweaking things seems to be far more popular & widely done among Linux users & the process digging in & learning seems to far more encouraged. That's something I really like about the Linux community.
26 • 19 • New article submissions -- subject to editorial control. (by OS2_user on 2017-09-18 21:48:39 GMT from United States)
I've already stated that my review -- call it complaint if you wish -- of PCLinuxOS -- didn't get in after three attempts. The ratings numbers go from 1 to 9, but probably anything below a 7 gets tossed. That's simply falsifying.
And I'm now sure that in 2014-2015 my comments here were shadow-banned: after a few, none got out. Also falsifying.
If doesn't fit your notions of promoting Linux -- cheerleading -- you don't want it. Up to a point I'd agree. **But when it's sheerly facts, you are in the wrong to suppress.** So why would anyone with a truly different perspective (than cheerleading) put in effort when certain won't be used?
That attitude of falsifying on top of bad trends in Linux (mostly GUIs) doesn't help your cause. The ill will created likely pops up in forums that you don't control. -- Indeed, if I was a regular anywhere, I'd now be a firm anti-Linuxer, though was promoting it when overjoyed with the 2007 version of PCLinux. -- Read some of the comments in the Linux kernel piece at The Register today. Linux forums are pretty much regarded as toxic.
Now, I'm OUT, and not even going to read responses until maybe next week. Or perhaps never, as there's no reason for me to even check in here anymore, now that I've HAD TO switch to Windows 7. I'm just not able to put up with the nuisances / bad design in Linux.
27 • Poof (by Arch Watcher 402563 on 2017-09-19 00:20:34 GMT from United States)
@7 "taking down ... Redmond and Cupertino" is why I contribue, not forgetting RedTeamBlackHat.
28 • Free OSs (by Bonky Ozmond on 2017-09-19 00:45:45 GMT from Nicaragua)
I haven't tried any of the FSF listed distros for a long time....
For some reason i started to feel conscientious about using one but there was a huge set back
Nothing worked right for me, so i couldnt use it for work.due to some issue couldn't watch movies etc due to codecs and graphics card stuff. needed flash,
I was having to use GFs windows to get things done...
They sound like things have improved a bit so I may give it a go again
I don't know if Manjaro have knocked out a different OS but it sounds a very expensive way to get a OS then you can put the same on a 200gbp laptop for free...
I guess through habits of old but i like to edit settings but i do use graphical tools ...maybe more so when i first install any distro...then when i tinker a bit more i tend to edit text files
29 • begs to be said (by tim on 2017-09-19 02:32:46 GMT from United States)
Hey, I didn't need to look far to debunk the accusation that "ratings less than 6 are deleted". Plenty of 5 (and under) ratings are present in the example I just checked
http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=ratings&distro=devuan
ps: dear Sourdough, I too have occasionally returned to find that a comment of mine on the dwWeekly has been deleted. (Never a long rant; maybe some silly or overly-sarcastic oneliner) No hard feelings -- i defer to the site owners' judgement on what may, or may not, stand.
30 • @14 (by OstroL on 2017-09-19 08:59:36 GMT from Poland)
>> Anyhoo, I've solved most of my Linux troubles with an old distro called Windows 7. <<
Really? You must be having a very special Windows 7 that can 'see' inside Linux.
Actually, I solve most problems of Windows 10 from Linux.
31 • Too Soft (by Garon on 2017-09-19 12:16:39 GMT from United States)
@26,
And you call yourself an OS_2 user. You just keep thinking that young gun.
32 • Mageia (by Carlos on 2017-09-19 16:14:30 GMT from Portugal)
Mageia is very nice, I'm using it for years.
One improvement that I'd like to see implemented is to scroll up/down through the packages in Rpmdrake with the mouse wheel.
The people at Mageia are fantastic, IME.
33 • Graphical control panel / contributing page (by simpleSimon on 2017-09-19 16:17:17 GMT from Germany)
I voted both methods in "Graphical control panel vs text files" but like to say that I first look for a graphical variant. I think it's important to know what the command line is, how it works and generally use of a text editor, also for Linux beginners like me.
@Jesse
Some weeks ago I downloaded the German translation txt-file, but it looks complete and could
not find any translation errors, that's nice ;)
34 • FSF approved = no codecs (by M.Z. on 2017-09-19 22:43:57 GMT from United States)
@28
"I haven't tried any of the FSF listed distros for a long time....
...For some reason i started to feel conscientious about using one but there was a huge set back
Nothing worked right for me, so i couldnt use it for work.due to some issue couldn't watch movies etc due to codecs and graphics card stuff. needed flash,"
If you want codecs & flash than you don't really want an FSF approved distro. They may be worth trying to see if alternatives like Gnash work well enough for you, but otherwise you have no codecs & hardware compatibility will suffer unless you are sure you use only free drivers.
If you want all the codecs & great hardware compatibility out of the box I suggest PCLinuxOS, but if you don't mind enabling repos or want something that's not a rolling release then Mageia is a great alternative. And of course there is always Mint, which I think is a little bit less secure than Mageia, but has more software & can very easily pull in yet more software.
There are of course plenty of other alternatives & many would likely work very well with minimal extra config time like Mint & Mageia; however, FSF approved distro just seem like a total non starter for me. Their creators have very good intentions, yet they hit a wall when it comes to practical daily driver solutions. FSF distros are like some crazy hippie commune that seem better for the world overall, but those hippies really need to figure out how to get some form of solar power & modern medicines into that place before they will be able to convince many people to try it their way. In the same way every time I read about an FSF type distro I come away with the impression that it's not there yet as a daily driver & may never really be.
35 • FSF (by Bonky Ozmond on 2017-09-20 01:38:00 GMT from Nicaragua)
@34
I have been with Linux For many years and have used almost all of the different distros at some time or another some for the duration of running the live CD up some for many years....
I was a Mandrake user ( the origin of PClinuxOS and Mageia)
I Tried my FSF distro as i sort of agreed with a lot of the ethos behind it...but for me it wasn't going to be a usable option if i needed to use a computer....and without the computer i wouldnt have had any work etc...
I have Gentoo / slackware and or derivatives on most of my burgeoning heap of computers which have served me well and given me pretty much trouble free usage
I could now probably use a FSF Distro with a lot less issues than before as need and whats on offer are a lot closer now
36 • Post # 14 (by Winchester on 2017-09-20 11:41:45 GMT from United States)
This character is obviously just trying to get a reaction.
Either that or has some very odd hardware that can't boot Linux distributions.
He / she has all of these problems that nobody else has.
Constantly railing against PClinuxOS without giving any real legitimate reason. (Not being able to figure out how to change the command terminal color scheme theme is not a legitimate issue for anyone who is half-way computer literate.) How does one even encounter this problem if the distribution will not boot??
Why is PClinuxOS so popular if it can't boot??
If it really can't boot on given hardware,maybe use a different distribution or different hardware. You don't have to use security porous operating systems such as Windows XP or even Windows 7.
37 • Legitimacy (by Kragle von Schnitzelbank on 2017-09-20 13:06:39 GMT from United States)
@36 • @14 • @26 • When vintage hardware is "deprecated" and dropped from say, kernel support, without advance warning … a confessed Luddite (2010) may become a bit bitter, and lack appreciation for a loss of polish in a distro, especially after an initially pleasant (2007?) experience brings false hope.
…
Loyal opposition? A persistent grating whine may indicate a need\\\\market-opportunity for some polish/grease/discipline, however irksome to a dev. Serves a legitimate, if unpopular, purpose - gadfly. Contrarian.
How many would begin to believe their own marketing hype without one? Or at least believe their audience does?
…
(Vintage rules - for vintage hardware, vintage distro ISO?)
…
For some, the best way to try out a distro is via Qemu …
38 • hardware (by Tim Dowd on 2017-09-20 16:01:29 GMT from United States)
Someone above said something about "maybe you had very different hardware" and I'm starting to think that might be at the root of a lot of the angst and fighting that goes on in the "which distro is the best" genera.
I have an older desktop that is completely happy with Mint 18.1 (Ubuntu Xenial based.) I have a laptop that will crash if anything related to Xenial is put on it. I have a newer desktop that doesn't work well with any kernel before the one currently in Ubuntu 17.10, and a second laptop that's happily running Ubuntu 17.04.
I have no explanation for the differences. I suppose I could look into what hardware is different, and look at the release notes for every distro or software component. I've learned it's much quicker to keep my /home folder on a separate partition and just keep trying APT based distros until I get one that works the way I want to.
But anyway, if someone genuinely hates the OS you love, consider that it might really be a hardware difference. And vice versa, if someone loves what you hate, it might be the same reason.
39 • hardware and Win vs *nix (by TheTKS on 2017-09-20 21:59:21 GMT from United States)
@38 http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20170918#comment-38
Yes, your mileage may vary. My experience is similar, having dual or triple boot installed (and tried live DVD) several Linuxes and BSDs on several desktops and laptops, just since January this year. Oh, yeah - OpenIndiana and Haiku, too.
Today I'm happy running Slackware, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, elementary and Mint on three machines and rarely use Windows at home anymore (work: only Win 10 possible, and I've no problem with using it there.) Would still like to successfully install a BSD with GUI.
Then settle on 1 or 2 (ok, maybe 3) OSs/distros.
Does someone want to tell us here why Windows is better? Fine, but I went to Linux after too many hours fixing Windows problems and (the last straw) the Oct '16 Win 10 update that messed up a family member's computer.
I would say to other newbies to try as many as you have time for, and on more than one machine if you can. What you like best is the best OS and distro for you.
40 • Hardware support (by RJA on 2017-09-20 22:07:06 GMT from United States)
@38 XX's nouveau and possibly XX's X.Org, hates my GeForce GTX 1060!
IIRC, noveau don't even recognize it and X.Org refuses to give me a desktop, despite an updated XX ISO!
So if you were told that additional support was added and expect the GTX 1060 to be usable, you will be wrong! Unfortunately, it feels more like Windows 2000 SP4 in a bad way, where you're stuck up the creek without a paddle!
41 • Quo vadis, Mageia? (by Andy Mender on 2017-09-21 12:51:30 GMT from Austria)
It's nice that we have so many different open-source projects, though not sure how Mageia fits in anywhere. Of the rpm-based distributions there is already Fedora and openSUSE, which cover most if not all expectations one might have. Both are fairly user-friendly and welcoming, and offer more applications than Mageia.
Again, it would be nice to see more distributions that disfavor "bloat". We've got the user-friendliness covered quite well. To the brim even. Maybe it's time for a step back?
42 • Hardware support and the Linux kernel (by cykodrone on 2017-09-21 15:29:04 GMT from Canada)
The newer the kernel, the more hardware it supports (or should). Not all hardware chip firmwares or drivers are in the standard Linux kernel, that's where separate firmware packages (in the distro's repo) come in. If a distro and its installer is worth its salt, it should detect what you have (properly) and install those extra firmware and driver packages for you. Some distros won't automatically install firmware blobs because they have proprietary licenses (free to use but not change the code and then redistribute). Beginner friendly distros are more likely to automatically install proprietary firmware blobs for you, and more likely to offer fine tuned video driver packages for installation once you're up and running.
In my experience over the years, it's been exotic hardware component makers (never heard of or lesser known names) used by the big proprietary PC and laptop builders (corporations) that are the problem. Sure, the name on the front of the device is big and well known, but they shopped for the cheapest components they could find and made deals with that monopoly OS company to make sure generic drivers for those cheap and lesser known components were supplied. That and the latest bleeding edge hardware could be a problem too, this is why I build my own PCs and research if components are supported by Linux or not before I buy. Search engine suggestion, 'Linux compatible (plus) *motherboard model*/*video card chip*/*wifi card*/*laptop model*', etc.
43 • Text file configs (by nkuitse on 2017-09-21 18:54:14 GMT from United States)
While I understand the value of GUI interfaces for system settings, it's incredibly frustrating to jump (click) through a gazillion hoops, trying every which way to accomplish something, when the solution is (or should be!) a one-line config file change clearly documented in a man page.
Of course the converse is true as well -- the key to a good text config file is clear documentation, and obviously that's not always what we get.
44 • Mageia etc. (by M.Z. on 2017-09-21 20:32:17 GMT from United States)
@41
"there is already Fedora and openSUSE, ... Both are fairly user-friendly and welcoming..."
Perhaps I'm biased because I've used Mageia & PCLinuxOS more than Fedora & openSUSE; however, I personally find Mageia far superior in terms of everyday usability & ease of setup compared to either Fedora or openSUSE. On the openSUSE front, there may be equally powerful setup & config tools in SUSE, but the control center in Mageia is far more usable & useful without feeling quite as obtuse & obscure as what I remember of YAST.
As for the Fedora comparison, well Fedora is a nice secure, cutting edge distro; however, the installer seemed like a bit of a nightmare, especially custom partitioning, up till the most recent releases. In addition there is the necessity of bringing in outside repos to get full media support, while Mageia builds everything you could need for that into the optional repos that are very easy to configure from the greeter. As another point of comparison, I would say that I had massive problems with something as basic as package management via the GUI in the previous releases of Fedora XFCE. It would have been one thing if themes on Yumex were the only thing broken in Fedora 24-25 XFCE, but I also got errors every single time I tried to use Yumex just to do basic updates. Ironically enough, the Fedora team seems to agree with my assessment because they decided switch to Mageia's new DNFDragora package manager on Fedora 26 Cinnamon.
Anyway, as nice as somethings about Fedora are I think Mageia is a far better desktop distro. Its also worth noting that given its history as a child of Mandriva who took most of the former dsitros devs, the Mageia team has been working at making a nice polished distro that is desktop ready for a very long time. And of course if you want to complain about too many distros there is a lot more going on in the debian family of distros. It seems like there are always 1001 Deb distros poping up & disappearing, while Mageia has been around for 6+ years & was built by a team that had over a decade of experience under Mandriva before creating Mageia.
-----------------------
@35 So you think the FSF hippie distro commune has all the basic utilities worked out (aka hardware support & other basics), they just don't have modern steaming media services?
45 • The point of Mageia. (by Antony on 2017-09-23 13:49:52 GMT from United Kingdom)
Still scratching my head about Andy's comments @41.
Over the course of 20+ years, I don't think there are that many distro's that I've not tried. The advent of Mandrake was my biggest joy in Linux. Mandrake was the original 'user-friendly' distro. For me, Mageia is the best way of connecting to that.
Do you think Mageia is less relevant than ROSA, OpenMandriva or even PCLinuxOS? You say that there is no need for Mageia because fedora are openSUSE "fairly user-friendly". Well, if I were not using Mageia, then I would use openSUSE. However, I have used both openSUSE and fedora for long periods, but hey are not as user-friendly or 'smooth' as as Mageia 6. I would not class the fedora installer as being very friendly at all, and I much prefer openSUSE's (the most comprehensive installer there is). You also refer to bloat, but a default openSUSE is a bit of a 'kitchen-sink' distro.
I normally have 2, maybe 3 distro's side by side but with Mageia 6, I have not felt the need to do that. It gives me all I need, and it is a very smooth experience. I have dusted off my 32bit laptop as well, and Mageia runs very nicely on that too. In just over 2 months of using only Mageia 6, I have had not once had to 'roll my sleeves up', and I have had zero issues. Plug-and-play, as they say. Oh, and the community is the icing on the cake for me.
As M.Z. said, if you are concerned about excess/pointless distro spawn, then I think you are focussing on the wrong camp. You said Mageia is pointless, but you didn't say "I don't see the point in distro's like Mageia, OpenMandriva, ROSA, or perhaps even PCLinuxOS - because we have a 'fairly' user-friendly openSUSE and fedora". How come?
Back to the good old days? For me, that is the point of Mageia.
46 • Star Linux (by rooster12 on 2017-09-24 10:57:03 GMT from United States)
Star Linux has been something I tried out some time back, still running Star ob and i3 on my desktop. What I'm impressed with is the resources being extremely low. Desktop running 140mb of memory at login is something to marvel at.
Very streamlined distro, yet has everything you need to customize and simply be quite efficient OTB.
Devuan certainly has attracted a multitude of users over the last couple of years, would guess it will end up with the lion share of Debian users. Much like Manjaro has done with Ubuntu.
The Star developer has many Window manager distros to pick from, and xfce as well. Well worth anyones interest with trying out one of the very best Devuan derivatives. One of the very few distros that everything works...and inviting!
Star seems to receive constant attention with frequent updates and upgrades, changes. A developer who cares about his distributions. Kudos! Thank you Ozi!
47 • 140mb of memory at login (by tim on 2017-09-24 20:23:45 GMT from United States)
That "140mb of memory" is most likely a byproduct of cumulative autostarted services (and/or session-autostarted applications: clipboard manager, etc). Throughout my distrohopping (including Star, a few months back), I'm still finding/expecting only 78--92Mb overhead at the start of a i3, fluxbox, icewm, jwm, or openbox session.
48 • Star Linux (by dick on 2017-09-24 21:40:21 GMT from Canada)
Just installed Star 586 with JWM,
93 Megs used at start-up,
all the programs I use have been added OK.
Only 1 problem encountered...
the Splix printer-driver in repos is broken.
49 • Debian Vs. Devuan (by M.Z. on 2017-09-24 22:15:49 GMT from United States)
@46
“Devuan certainly has attracted a multitude of users over the last couple of years, would guess it will end up with the lion share of Debian users.”
The idea that Debian will lose a majority of anti-systemd users to Devuan seems like a bit of a given; however, the idea that a majority of all Debian users would care seems highly dubious. It certainly seems clear that there are a number of very vocal people that care a lot about their init, but what reason is there to believe that there was a large enough majority of Debian users interested in there init that it would count as a 'lions share'? Just because the anti-systemd crowed is vocal doesn't mean its base includes anywhere near a majority of Debian users.
That being said, the right to fork because of something you didn't like is a huge part of why the GPL exists. I wish Devuan luck, though I'm not really interested in it or a derivative unless they can make a compelling case that they have a good alternative to Mint on the desktop. I do find both PCLinuxOS & Mageia to be good desktop distros & I'm open to the idea of another good desktop distro, but it'll take more than a rant on init to get me to try a distro.
As for a 'lion's share' of Debian users, well taking those will probably entail creating a truly great & flexible/universal OS with a big community & lots of good stable open source software. That's a lot easier to say than to actually do & a compelling case will have to be made.
Number of Comments: 49
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
| | |
| 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.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • 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.
|
| Random Distribution | 
paldo GNU/Linux
paldo is a hybrid (source and binary), Upkg-driven GNU/Linux distribution and live CD. Besides aiming to be simple, pure, up-to-date and standards-compliant, paldo offers automatic hardware detection, one application per task, and a standard GNOME desktop.
Status: Active
|
| 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.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
