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1 • Linspire / Freespire (by Terry on 2018-01-08 01:05:13 GMT from United States)
I have heard from the past that these either cost to use them or if free then when you want packages or applications then you got to get them from their online store. I don't think it right to charge for something if it is suppose to be free. That is why I stay away from those linux OS distress that want money or charge for something. If we want donate then that is our choice. Free open source and not charge like the stores. Just my 2 cents worth.
2 • Is Linspire/freespire even necessary? (by brad on 2018-01-08 01:39:12 GMT from United States)
With all the great "hand holding" distros.. ie: Mint, Manjaro, Sabayon, PcLinuxos that make it less worrisome to use ubuntu/debian, arch, gentoo, mandriva variants etc.. why is Linspire/freespire even needed any more.. just wondering..
3 • Freespire (by Tony on 2018-01-08 01:39:25 GMT from Bulgaria)
I newer used Freepire in the past I checked the system because I was curious. For me that's just pure Ubuntu/Xubuntu, nothing on top of that. Tried the distro on Virtualbox and bare metal and it works just fine, but nothing special really. Also I don't like the idea of reviving distros - if it's dead then it's dead, creating something new is a better choice in my opinion. Can't say the same for Linspire, but I don't plan to pay for something that just showed up. Maybe that's some kind of a experiment from PC/OpenSystems...
4 • Linspire Second Reincarnation : No, thanks. (by Tran Older on 2018-01-08 01:48:07 GMT from Vietnam)
Linspire 5.0 was a Debian distro based on KDE 3.5.x (Second Reincarnation: the Trinity Project) plus the Wine layer. Linspire 7.0 is based on Xubuntu LTS.
If we want a true continuation of Linspire 5.0 then download Q4OS, add the Wine layer and some retro icons, themes and some wallpapers.
Selling FOSS apps at online store did not work in the past (Lindows/Linspire), at the present (Endless OS) or in the foreseeable future.
5 • Open Vs 'Free' (by M.Z. on 2018-01-08 01:55:33 GMT from United States)
@1
"...I don't think it right to charge for something if it is suppose to be free. "
That's the funny thing about GPL software, it is 'Free as In Speech', not 'Free as in Beer' at a party. Companies were always meant to be able to generate a fair profit; however, there have also always been community projects giving away the same basic product for free. That of course hurts potential desktop Linux companies, because if you can get the same basic thing for free you won't be likely to gravitate to the paid version. At any rate Red Hat has proven that there are certain markets that are happy to get a paid version of Linux so long as it comes with good technical support.
There seem to be some decent reasons for business customers to consider looking into Linspire on their website given the warranty, available support, & apparent deployment in many areas of government. That being said, I don't see many people that have an easy to use desktop Distro like Linux Mint or PCLinuxOS paying $79.99 US when their currently preferred solution is free. I know I sure won't.
6 • Repository System and FreeSpire / Linspire (by Earth Hawk on 2018-01-08 02:50:37 GMT from United States)
Lindows Click n' Run system started it all. I remember how revolutionary this concept was. All corresponding libraries and dependencies were installed. Ubuntu picked it up and ran with it. Now it is a standard. Debian, Arch, Fedora, and all the other distributions out there that uses a software repository system, owes this concept that Lindows started.
7 • "windows would continue to slide around..." (by OS2_user on 2018-01-08 03:15:01 GMT from United States)
"... after I moved them with the mouse, as if the windows were skidding on ice."
Heh, heh. THAT is why I'm now here only for humor.
NO ONE has ever wanted windows to drift on, that's just a bit of "cool" that occurred to a programmer, like a thousand other nuisances that users must then remove, if can.
But: "I could not get GhostBSD's installation media to boot."
You are killing products with "ideas", people. Just make dull clunky stuff that's simple and works: the IBM philosophy.
... Well, then I read the "AppImage" section. -- It's certainly clunky to manually make a ".desktop" file! Surely there's a happy medium... Look, seriously, get a virtual image of Windows 3.1, and STUDY it. Then imitate both its minimal convenience and LACK of fancy "features".
8 • AppImage (by tim on 2018-01-08 03:35:42 GMT from United States)
Jesse, thanks for covering AppImage. (I'm not affiliated with the project, just an interested user.)
@7 i've seen that an "appimaged" daemon exists, but would need to be packaged by (or for) individual O/S. Although a single appimaged.deb might suit across all of Debian+Ubuntu land, I don't know for sure. Do we know, can we take for granted that each O/S using .deb packaging follows XDG and that their menumaker reads .desktop from an identical path? (/usr/share/applications) The way I understand it, appimaged uses something like "watch" + "inotify", watches for new *.Appimage files to appear in ~/Downloads directory and pops up a dialog asking whether to create a .desktop file -- for all users, for current user only (/~share/applications) or none. Personally, I would not want that scenario. Instead I would prefer the flexibility to choose download destination and the permanent path location of the (presumably large) downloaded file and, besides, am not using an XDG-compliant menu builder. I would manually create a menu entry and altogether skip the creation of a .desktop file.
9 • Lindows...I reviewed it long ago (by Matt on 2018-01-08 03:59:03 GMT from United States)
I wrote and published a review of Lindows about 10 or 15 years ago. At the time, I was an inexperienced Linux user frustrated by WIndows. I was not impressed by the approach Lindows had taken. The problem I had with it was that Lindows was trying to be WIndows, including adding a bunch of proprietary stuff. You were driven from the start to register a credit card number and pay for software that was essentially re-branded open source programs. The people running the Lindows operation did not understand how the open source community worked. The value proposition (in terms of cost, utility, and freedom) was minimal compared to WIndows. I was not surprised when the operation failed. I honestly didn't follow it after the name change to Linspire and Freespire.
The developers of Linspire really need to make a case for what makes it better for users. If they are trying to sell hardware with Linux pre-installed, there are a lot of distributions to choose from. What would make someone choose a proprietary version of Linux?
In 2018, there are many easy to use distributions that work on all kinds of hardware. My opinion is that the best way to make money from Linux is with services, support, or training. You can do all that with Mint, Ubuntu, or Debian. Of course, I have never earned a penny in the software industry, so what do I know?
10 • PC/OpenSystems (Linspire) (by Calin Brabandt on 2018-01-08 04:05:58 GMT from United States)
I just visited the PC/OpenSystems webpages. Linspire, Freespire, and Black Dog Linux iso files appear to all be available for free download. Buying their hardware, technical support services, or even just supporting their efforts with the purchase a live USB or memory card is entirely optional.
I've used the old Freespire in the past and I appreciate what the new company is still trying to commercially achieve (reliable, turn-key, GNU/Linux hardware and software right out of the box), though this certainly not a unique effort or market niche.
Furthermore, I appreciate that PC/OpenSystems' embraces Commander Adama's (Battlestar Galactica) computer security model. ;) From the PC/OpenSystems "Why" page:
In the world now privacy is a major concern : records are made public and sensitive data leaked. How does PC/OpenSystems LLC protect customer data?
This data is kept on an unreachable server. Unreachable how? It's not hooked up to the internet or any network whatsoever, its hard drive is encrypted and it is kept locked and chained to a rack. All removable drives and external drives are kept in a fireproof safe. All possible measures are taken to secure customer data and can only be accessed in person. In any case of legally tested and court ordered subpoena by law enforcement officials, a chain of custody form is filled out and we pick it up from the appropriate agency. Look for us on Thumbtack.com In terms of experience.
Love it!
11 • Freespire/Linspire (by rooster12 on 2018-01-08 04:12:03 GMT from United States)
Gather these pay to play distros have already been kicked around the block a few times and not worth the effort or money.
Haven't used either or will in the future, prefer the open source project and donate regularly to two applications I use a lot and two distributions.
Think those who can make a dime should if they have something to offer but from what I've read is just a zombie distribution. Support the people who deliver for free and take pride in what they do.
12 • @1,2,3,4,5,7 LindowsOS aka: "Linspire". (by Greg Zeng on 2018-01-08 04:20:35 GMT from Australia)
Old timers here will remember: "In 2002, Microsoft sued Lindows, Inc.... " (Wikipedia entry: "Linspire"). @6: Ubuntu perhaps did not copy Lindows (2001), but greatly improved on Debians' "apitute" utilities.
This feature of Debian is the reason why RPM and most (all?) other package managers fail to be successful on the Linux desktop: poor handling of dependencies of applications, specially installations, removals, updates & regressions. Ubuntu's package handling is so admired, that more Linux distribution creators used it, than any other Linux package manager.
The "failed" package managers are still trying to equal he quality & reliablity of Ubuntu's "success". The Linux "failures", imho are all those that do not use the Ubuntu method: RPM, Arch, Manjaro, Java, appimage, Pacman, Flatpak, etc. Nine of the twelve package managers are listed on the Distrowatch "search" web pages. Some of these twelve are still trying to recruit application writers to their own unique compilation packages. Without much success, but much blind faith & hope.
The Linspire "licencees" (owners?) on their website seem to not fully claim open ownership of Linspire, which is a competing comercial Linux distribution to their main commercial Linux products: commercial sales of hardware, services, & their family of commercial "Black Lab" Linux operating systems.
Personally, I think that "Black Lab" Ubuntu-based operating systems have the easy safety, stability, and easy package management that only the Ubuntu-based operating systems can offer. Like all Ubuntu-based systems, they can very easily & quickly upgrade to the latest, safest & most hardware-optimal Linux kernel, every week, or more often, as each is released by "The Linux Foundation". As soon as the "Meltdown antidote" to the Intel-based operating systems was available (3rd January, 2018), the Ubuntu-based systems could install it in seconds, reboot, and be first in the world to "safe".
13 • Goodbye, Parsix. Hello again, Linspire/Freespire. (by eco2geek on 2018-01-08 05:46:23 GMT from United States)
Parsix was always a class act. I'm sorry to see them go. They will be missed.
I read the "new" Freespire/Linspire FAQs and downloaded Freespire. I'm running Freespire live right now. Its repositories are all from Ubuntu 16.04, except for one from Skype. Unless the installer adds a Freespire repository that isn't there when running from the live media, Freespire is completely based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. It does have some proprietary software for download in its "software store" (aka "gnome-software").
As for Linspire, PC/OpenSystem's FAQ clearly states that there's no "CNR" or "Click 'n' Run" store from which you have to purchase software. You do have to pay for a license in order to get Linspire. In order to upgrade from one version to the next, you have to pay for a new license. You can't download Linspire for free (although you could on Christmas day; those links are now dead).
It's curious that a company would want to resurrect a brand that was so controversial in the day.
14 • GeckoLinux 4.23 with KDE's Plasma 5 (by Bobbie Sellers on 2018-01-08 05:46:48 GMT from United States)
My hardware is a salvaged Dell E6420 and it usually is running PCLinux64 and now
at version 2018.01 at least that was in the last updates with KDE's Plasma 5.
I downloaded the cited version of Gecko last night and wrote it to disk at a LUG
meeting today. Then I tried to boot it up on my hardware which has Intel graphics.
My first standard test of the KDE Plasma 5 GUI is to move the default task bar
to the top of the screen(you would have to be a former AmigaOS user to understand
why.) I tried that on Gecko this AM and it would not work. The keyboard and the
mouse locked up, the three finger salute would not work and the machine had to be
rebooted via power button.
I wish it were not so. I will be downloading another version with Mate shortly.
Gecko sounds very hand for portability.
bliss
15 • Free versus Paid OSes (by Bobbie Sellers on 2018-01-08 06:10:53 GMT from United States)
I essentially started out with Mandriva 2006 on the advice of a dear online friend.
I paid $50/for each version that included all the proprietary stuff for entertainment.
I paid happily. But we started out with a dual 32/64 bit versions on separate
disks and ended up with a single version that you had to download.
I paid for and tried to run 2011 but my laptop of the time could not deal
with it.
I searched for similar distros settling on PCLinux which answered my needs
until that old computer stopped working. Then I went to Mageia 4.1 for
a couple of years then back to PCLinux when it began to support UEFI
I started making donations to PCLinux when it showed up with UEFI.
Software can be free and open source but the software worker who helps
put it together does not get free food, free machines to work with, free
ISP service or even electricity so if you find a distribution that answers
your needs then it is best to donate to that publisher lest it go away
or start to charge a fixed fee for its releases.
The correct genealogy for the Mandriva forks by the way
goes: Mandrake sued over the name, early images taken
by PCLinuxOS. The Connectiva merged with Mandrake
to produce Mandriva!
Images were taken from Mandriva a couple of times by
PCLinuxOS,
Mandriva failed about 2012. Poor business model.
Mageia took images and started in Europe.
OpenMandriva took images and started in Russia, I believe.
PCLinuxOS continued its development in the USA.
Mageia cannot take US dollars in its donations.
PCLinuxOS is happy to settle for my $5 US though
it may be foreign currency in some states.
If I ran a business and needed non-MS operating
systems I would go with Red Hat Enterprise Edition.
Free is nice but we all have to eat,
bliss
16 • Ubuntu and so on... (by OstroL on 2018-01-08 07:47:40 GMT from Poland)
"Steve Langasek has announced the supported life of Ubuntu 17.04 is drawing to a close. "Ubuntu announced its 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) release almost 9 months ago, on April 13, 2017. As a non-LTS release, 17.04 has a 9-month support cycle and, as such,.."
Th problem is that Ubuntu uses Debian Unstable packages, and those unstable (sid) don't stay too long in the unstable repos and move to Testing (buster) and finally land on the Debian Stable (Stretch) repos. So, to hold on to the Debian Unstable packages for 9 months is too hard. There is also a problem of maintaining such packages, and whether Ubuntu (Cannonical) has enough paid developers.
17 • @ 12 Greg Zeng (by OstroL on 2018-01-08 08:02:40 GMT from Poland)
"Ubuntu-based operating systems have the easy safety, stability, and easy package management that only the Ubuntu-based operating systems can offer."
The package management is Debian's not Ubuntu's.
18 • Package managers & kernels (by M.Z. on 2018-01-08 08:34:40 GMT from United States)
@17
Yeah, I don't really see the big difference there myself. Nor do I really notice the other complaints #12 makes against other package managers.
Perhaps I don't dig enough to notice the difference, but they all seem to work reasonably well to me. I'm not sure how many problems were package related, but I've had issues, generally minor, with both deb based systems & rpm based distros. Not every thing is perfect all the time & there are no silver bullets, but if things generally go well most users will be happy. The only big advantage package related I see deb based distros having that most users would notice is the size of the repos in Debian & its relatives.
@12
"...easily & quickly upgrade to the latest, safest & most hardware-optimal Linux kernel..."
Funny, I've always found Fedora to have some of the best kernel upgrading around, at least if you like the latest & greatest. The updates to the latest kernels are automatic, & there are always a couple of backup kernels just in case. They seem quite cutting edge to me, though on the whole I've come to prefer the way PCLinuxOS gets me to newer kernels. It's a bit more manual, but I like that level of control.
19 • Parsix's demise (by Hoos on 2018-01-08 08:37:37 GMT from Singapore)
Sad news.
I enjoyed using Parsix when it was running Gnome 2 and Debian Testing. It was light, quick, and I didn't have much problems updating with Synaptic.
That was some time ago though, and of course Gnome 2 was deprecated. I stopped using Parsix when it moved to Gnome 3 and Debian Stable.
20 • Linspire/freespire (by OstroL on 2018-01-08 09:01:52 GMT from Poland)
Both these "distros" are based on Ubuntu and use Debian and Ubuntu repos. Everything in Debian and Ubuntu repos are free, so why pay any money to Linspire/Freespire and to use "their" packages? The so-called Linspire/Freespire packages are freely available in Debian and Ubuntu repos.
21 • @ 20 (by Per on 2018-01-08 09:08:07 GMT from France)
It'd be a waste of time, even downloading those distros. Xubuntu is there, Voyager is there. If you want live installable Debian Xfce distro, you can get it here freely. https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/9.3.0-live+nonfree/amd64/iso-hybrid/
22 • GhostBSD (by RoboNuggie on 2018-01-08 09:42:11 GMT from United Kingdom)
It's great that someone is attempting to do this, BUT, the best way to experience FreeBSD is from scratch..., install the base system, install Xorg, then your WM/DE of choice..followed by the programs you want to use.
This way, it makes fixing anything that goes wrong easier because you know what went in and where.
Besides, TrueOS is making a bold inroad in their own way, so why replicate...? (I know, different wm, but still)...
23 • Keep your mouse on the ice? (by Somewhat Reticent on 2018-01-08 12:51:23 GMT from United States)
window keeps moving after letting up on mouse - one of several effects popular with touch-screen UI, such as moving through long list or flinging window to other display. Shutting off compositing seems overkill - should have required tweaking a few effects at most. (Didn't Google Maps have an issue with this at first?)
…
UFS, Custom UFS, or ZFS - any of these allow just using one partition?
24 • @21 about Debian (by debianxfce on 2018-01-08 13:01:47 GMT from Finland)
Debian stable has years old buggy software and it will break when using packages from other distributions. Debian testing Xfce is a stable, light, fast, compatible (f.ex with Oibaf ppa Mesa latest ubuntu version) and freely configurable rolling release OS.
https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/
Use the fimware tarball if needed, more information at the end of the page.
25 • Freespire, ETC. (by kc1di on 2018-01-08 13:25:50 GMT from United States)
I can't see where freespire or linspire bring anything new and improved to the table. so will pass on them.
26 • Intel bugs (by Paul W on 2018-01-08 13:32:15 GMT from Moldova, Republic of)
Does anyone know if we only use apps from our distro and it's repositories, and we only run our internet facing apps (Thunderbird, Firefox) in a firejail, are we relatively safe from the Spectre and Meltdown bugs?
27 • @14 GeckoLinux (by Sam on 2018-01-08 14:04:30 GMT from United Kingdom)
@14: Hi there, GeckoLinux creator here. Sorry it froze on you. That sounds like a graphics driver bug, which can indeed still happen under Plasma. Try opening the compositor settings and changing the compositor method or disabling the effects.
28 • Post # 14 : Gecko Linux (by Winchester on 2018-01-08 14:40:48 GMT from United States)
I recommend the LXQT Rolling Gecko Linux with a couple of minor adjustments.
I installed "File Roller Archive Manager" instead of "Engrampa Archive Manager". PCmanFM-QT broke so,I have the regular PCmanFM file manager, Nautilus, and SpaceFM installed. Last,and perhaps most important,the "Packman" repository was causing conflicts so,I transitioned to the official OpenSUSE repositories exclusively .... following the Tumbleweed upgrade instructions on the OpenSUSE web-site.
That's about it. No problems since making those moves,and the Gecko Linux fonts,splash screen etc. are retained.
29 • @26 Intel Bugs (by dragonmouth on 2018-01-08 14:46:53 GMT from United States)
Spectre and Meltdown are hardware-level exploits so no O/S and/or software is safe.
30 • @12 Greg Zeng: (by dragonmouth on 2018-01-08 15:00:16 GMT from United States)
I will take Synaptic Package Manager any day over package manager from Canonical (*buntu). I'll grant you that Software Manager looks prettier than Synaptic and it lists user rankings of various packages, which Synaptic does not but it has limited functionality in comparison to Synaptic. Synaptic will update existing software, install new software, uninstall old/unwanted software and fix broken packages, all in one execution. Ubuntu Software Manager,, OTOH, requires a separate execution for each of those activities. AFAIAC, functionality trumps eye candy and glitz any time.
31 • TrueOS vs GhostBSD (by Jesse on 2018-01-08 16:26:57 GMT from Canada)
@22: "Besides, TrueOS is making a bold inroad in their own way, so why replicate"
GhostBSD and TrueOS have very different approaches and different target audiences. TrueOS is a workstation and server OS that is always on the cutting edge (running FreeBSD's -CURRENT branch). TrueOS goes through massive changes about once per quarter and you can expect themes, desktop and major version changes in packages. Stuff is likely to break. The tools are more geared toward sysadmins rather than end users. Their focus is on sysadmins and developers who want to be on the cutting edge.
GhostBSD is designed to be stable, beginner friendly and static. Where TrueOS uses a custom, new desktop (Lumina), GhostBSD uses a tried and true desktop (Xfce or MATE). GhostBSD remains static during its five years of support. GhostBSD has config tools geared toward home users and assumes people want their system to run the same day-to-day.
There is almost no replication going on here because the developers are working on entirely different tools for different audiences.
32 • Bad Bugs (by M.Z. on 2018-01-08 16:56:59 GMT from United States)
@26
FYI, it's not just Intel, AMD & ARM are also affected. It's worth noting though that what are likely to be the worst affected systems you encounter are anything you log into via the Internet. From the experts at Ars Technica:
"In the immediate term, it looks like most systems will shortly have patches for Meltdown. At least for Linux and Windows, these patches allow end-users to opt out if they would prefer. The most vulnerable users are probably cloud service providers; Meltdown and Spectre can both in principle be used to further attacks against hypervisors, making it easier for malicious users to break out of their virtual machines.
For typical desktop users, the risk is arguably less significant. While both Meltdown and Spectre can have value in expanding the scope of an existing flaw, neither one is sufficient on its own to, for example, break out of a Web browser."
From here:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01/meltdown-and-spectre-every-modern-processor-has-unfixable-security-flaws/
33 • GhostBSD vs FreeBSD (by DaveT on 2018-01-08 17:10:11 GMT from United Kingdom)
@22 I have a basic CLI install of FreeBSD up and running on a laptop but the pain of trying to set it up the way I want it means that some months later it is still a basic CLI setup. Hence the need for GhostBSD and TrueOS.
34 • Just the trademarks, ma'am (by Kragle von Schnitzelbank on 2018-01-08 20:08:33 GMT from United States)
FreeSpire and LinSpire - distros are not being resurrected (and nobody outright made any such claim, did they?) after so many years dead - it's trademarks - it's about marketing - if it attracts attention long enough to pick up a few more, it serves the purpose.
Not great, not evil, just is what it is.
35 • Freespire/Linspire (by Steve L on 2018-01-08 22:35:13 GMT from United States)
When ever I consider a possible distro to try I do a quick check for the systemd virus. Both of these use that, so called, init system that wants so desperately to be the whole operating system... so it's an easy choice... NO.
36 • CPU bugs (by Paul W on 2018-01-08 23:18:25 GMT from United States)
@29 Thanks, I understand that these are hardware level bugs. But if all of your software is from the repositories and pre-dates wide disclosure of the bugs, isn't it unlikely that you will run code that takes advantage of the hardware bugs?
@32 Thanks for the link. I was hoping that with firejail, it will be less likely that a browser or mail client would be able to access the resources necessary.
I got a new processor when the original Pentium 60 flaw came out. Back then it was in a ZIF socket and took a few minutes. Now it's a laptop and not replaceable.
37 • @7 @8 AppImage (by StephenC. on 2018-01-09 00:27:12 GMT from United States)
@7 - The tip on manually creating a .desktop file will work for any distro, but most XDG compliant desktops also have a way to use it via gui - boring just like you wanted. For example, in XFCE just right-click on a panel, click add a new item, choose "launcher" and fill out the fields.
@8 - you asked, "can we take for granted that each O/S using .deb packaging follows XDG and that their menumaker reads .desktop from an identical path?" The documentation at https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageKit lists the locations where it will register the AppImage. Personally I don't use appimaged; downloading and creating an XFCE shortcut is fine for me. I prefer it to Flatpak and Snap.
38 • Posts # 12 and # 18 : Kernel Management (by Winchester on 2018-01-09 14:35:00 GMT from United States)
In my view,the kernel management approach in Solus is the best way of doing it.
You get the latest "LTS" kernel and the latest "Current" kernel. 2 versions of each are kept.
The "vmlinuz" and "initrd.img" symlinks point to the latest "LTS" kernel by default.
The Ubuntu kernel management once physically destroyed an old hard drive of mine. I was using SalentOS 14.04 LTS a couple of years back when it was based on Ubuntu. It went fine with the default 3.13.x kernels but,Synaptic listed a 4.1.x LTS kernel as an option. Official Ubuntu kernel packages. Once I booted into the newer kernel,the splash screen was changed and then the computer would not power-off without cutting the power. I tried the log-out GUI , the command line, Control-Alt-Delete , Control-Alt-Backspace, etc.. Nothing would work to poweroff the computer under the new kernel so,I had to cut the power which ended the life of that hard drive. Maybe this is why Mint developed its policy on kernel upgrades?? This never happened to me before or since using upwards of 40 different distributions with 12 of them physically installed.
The method used by Solus is much more smooth and practical as far as I am concerned. As mentioned above,the PClinuxOS approach is great for manually selecting kernels.
39 • requiem for zesty (by Tim Dowd on 2018-01-09 17:10:19 GMT from United States)
After years of using Debian family OSs, I've come to like the Ubuntu approach of interim and LTS updates as what's for me the best balance of stability and freshness.
I think the debates about which closely related distro is "the best" miss a key point- each release of Debian, or Mint, or Ubuntu, or anything else is a choice to freeze a collection of software at a certain place in development, and that this inherently means that some releases will be awesome for any given user and their hardware and preferences, and some less so.
For me, Ubuntu MATE 17.04 was the perfect operating system. I didn't encounter a single bug on any of my 3 computers during its life cycle. The packages were up to date, and everything just worked. 17.10 has been good for me, but not as perfect. I'd use 17.04 for many years if that were an option.
But it's not, and I understand why. Like I said, I think the frozen release with frequent updates is the best compromise. I just keep my /home on a different partition and do a fresh install every 6 months. Sometimes I'm happier to do that then others.
40 • Totally Lost in Tech Jargons Jungle (by Totally Lost on 2018-01-09 21:53:42 GMT from Canada)
H J Lu (Intel), Jeff Law (RedHat) and Florian Weimer (RedHat) are patching GCC 8 for mitigation variant #2 of the speculative execution vulnerabilities on x86 processors identified by CVE-2017-5715, aka Spectre. May be in next release or May be who knows?
With BuGGY CPUs,
With BuGGY Compilers,
With BuGGY boot-loaders, and OS kernels,
With injected Web Browsers...
ARE WE THERE YET? I AM TOTALLY LOST, IN TECH-JARGONS.
JUST, TELL ME, WHERE ARE WE? AND WHAT SHOULD I TRY?
I MEAN DEBIAN, UBUNTU, LinSpire or FreeSpire?
Jessie please feel free to delete this one as well,
As to me, these BuGs are nothing but just expected as a chain of sequential executable commands. These BuGs are having none to absolute-zero effects.
41 • meltdown / spectre (by pengxuin on 2018-01-09 23:38:02 GMT from New Zealand)
I read today that Mageia are granting limited support for their just EOL Mageia-5 (new kernel and microcode). Obviously know that not every user upgrades by the EOL and are supporting their users.
42 • some good stuff (by mandatory on 2018-01-10 04:50:06 GMT from Australia)
It's not all bad news on the security front. Coming this year is the improved WPA3 wifi protocol, that promises to keep hackers staring into space :)
* Protection from brute force password attacks - even with poor passwords.
* Protection from deauthentication network attacks.
* individualized data encryption for safer connections.
43 • @13 (and any interested in recent history) (by Daniel on 2018-01-10 06:05:33 GMT from United States)
"It's curious that a company would want to resurrect a brand that was so controversial in the day."
Yes to the point about controversy (perhaps any attention is considered better than no attention?), but purchasing or attempting to co-opt brands and logos is not new to PC/OpenSystems. The "Black Lab Linux" name was purchased from Fixstars; the original Black Lab Linux was a Yellow Dog Linux derivative. The Black Lab Linux logo as currently shown on the Black Lab Linux homepage and its Facebook and Twitter pages (#1) is clearly adapted (cropped to the head and flipped horizontally) from Yellow Dog Linux's logo (#2), which I assume Fixstars still owns as it appears at #3. I have also seen a Black Lab Linux logo (#4) that looks very much like it took design elements from a couple of Lycos's logos over the years (a head similar to #5 put on a body similar to #6).
PC/OpenSystems flirted with branding "Amiga OpenLinux", even temporarily using the Amiga Boing Ball logo (original posts deleted, but the blog at #7 has a few of the banner images), then a version of the Boing Ball flipped horizontally and colored blue (#8), but I don't believe PC/OpenSystems ever acquired rights for Amiga branding. Later PC/OpenSystems announced "Ami/LX" but that died a crib death.
Before these rebrandings there was "OS4" (later stylized "OS/4" and "OS/4 OpenLinux"), #9, but of course PC/OpenSystems couldn't help but toy with a logo (#10, which was created prior to the settlement with IBM, although I don't think it was ever officially used) based on one of the IBM OS/2 logos (#11).
I don't contest PC/OpenSystems buying these dustbin brands ("Black Lab Linux", "Linspire, "Freespire"), but the new distros are not real continuations of their predecessors. Of all the names PC/OpenSystems has used over the years as well as the ones that never quite came to fruition (e.g. "Ami/LX" and "eXDE"), I wish they would have stuck with their "PC/OS" Linux branding of years gone by. But even more so, I wish PC/OpenSystems would forge its own path rather than what seems to be trying to trade on the memories of past operating systems. At least they haven't purchased Mandriva/Conectiva branding (in so far as I know; give it a few months :p).
References:
1) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNzN9WbXUAAlsmg.jpg
2) http://yellowdog.linuxfreedom.com/images/YellowdogLogo.png
3) http://www.fixstars.com/en/technologies/linux/
4) http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jR3H2QtEXOI/U9ybvm-SB9I/AAAAAAAAEe8/ODpDqiUyLfM/s1600/blogger_pcos.png
5) https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/554933778636742656/bjlyCu4d.jpeg
6) https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/logopedia/images/1/1d/Lycos%2C_meet_you_there.png
7) http://gustavo.pimentel.eu/2013/06/os4-su-linea-de-productos-se-convierte-en-amiga-2/
8) http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sWb59ltuqEs/U9ycAD_Ka5I/AAAAAAAAEfE/-dhbFqetl24/s1600/munu1st.png
9) http://www.pc-opensystems.com/2014/04/os4-trademark.html
10) https://www.facebook.com/os4online/photos/a.271746089604440.55120.220932544685795/416409295138118/?type=3&theater
11) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fe/Os2logo.svg
44 • @ Jessie Linspire, freespire and stuff like that... (by OstroL on 2018-01-10 13:22:48 GMT from Poland)
I suppose DWW should do a survey as done by #43, before announcing "supposed to be distros" from PC / Opensystems. When "OS4" was "released," it just copied PinguyOS, or tried hard to copy PinguyOS.
Anyway, why should anyone want to pay for packages that are available free in Ubuntu and Debian repos?
45 • Linspire Freespire (by bigsky on 2018-01-10 14:21:40 GMT from Canada)
@44 I have both installed and it's a fine OS and runs like a top. Both where free as Linspire was offered for free over the holiday's. It would be my decision to purchase it if I chose to. Similar to sending in a donation to DWW or any other OS for the cause ?
46 • @45 (by trujilo on 2018-01-10 16:23:41 GMT from France)
"I have both installed..." joke?
"It would be my decision to purchase it if I chose to..." Really? It is your money, so throw it away! Good luck!
47 • Re: Bad Bugs (by M.Z. on 2018-01-10 18:00:18 GMT from United States)
@36 & @41
Yes, the Mageia weekly post linked to a more comprehensive Ars Technica article on the subject from a few days ago. There was also some important & highly relevant stuff from Mint recently. They encouraged the following upgrades among other things:
"Firefox 57.0.4
...
NVIDIA 384.111
...
Linux Kernel
Please use the Update Manager to upgrade your Linux kernel.
The following versions were patched:
3.13 series (Linux Mint 17 LTS): patched in 3.13.0-139
3.16 series (LMDE): patched in 3.16.51-3+deb8u1
4.4 series (Linux Mint 17 HWE and Linux Mint 18 LTS): patched in 4.4.0-108
4.13 series (Linux Mint 18 HWE): patched in 4.13.0-25"
So the latest versions of Firefox, NVIDIA video drivers, & the Linux kernel all have patches designed to mitigate issues with Meltdown & Spectre. From what I understand other added layers of protection like Firejail, SELinux/AppArmor, & MSEC (Mageia & PCLinuxOS) should all help as well & certainly can't hurt, though I don't know to what degree each would help.
From the following on the Mint Site on the 9th:
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3496
48 • Spectre and Meltdown (by edcoolio on 2018-01-10 23:10:31 GMT from United States)
So, it would seem that many are in "emergency mode" over these possible exploits.
Here is my issue: As primarily a desktop user, I don't know if I care enough about the CURRENT astronomical possibility that one or both of these will be dangerously exploited and attacking common end-users on a regular basis. I just do not see it happening anytime soon for number of technical reasons.
Frankly, I'm more worried about even another chunk of my precious processing power being burnt away, in particular with what I consider a non-issue.
I guess I would like to see the updates as clearly marked and not packaged with all of the "normal" updates and security patches. I don't want to hunt for it, I want it obvious, and I want it easy. This way, I could easily install the patch, test, and rollback if I felt the performance hit was too high compared to what I consider a very low risk (again, currently). Easy.
I would love to see someone do a bunch of basic end-user performance benchmarks on random system processors, going back to a Pentium M and up. Maybe one test per architecture. Benchmarks on Chromium, Firefox, LibreOffice, and a synthetic or 2 would do the trick.
Anyways, I'm not trying to convince anyone to delay their updates, but rather communicate what I'm thinking and maybe get some constructive feedback. I know the issue inside and out, as much as anyone can, but without before and after benchmarks on daily use scenarios I'm leaning towards playing the waiting game before my decision.
Thanks everyone.
49 • TX (by Fantomas on 2018-01-10 23:34:17 GMT from France)
Thank you DistroWatch for the work you do. We enjoy the Website, the simple way it is. Always have the joy, surfing your WebS. Reading the Comments is another pleasure. Thank you all. Happy new 2018. I know its late to say this. But I am hibernating under a rock and waking up from time to time.
Thank your FanT.
50 • dreamlinux (by camducka on 2018-01-11 02:27:52 GMT from Australia)
@43 Impressive research on brands & logos (& flippy floppy images). And it seems that PC/OpenSystems was also responsible for dreamlinux - another blast from the past.
51 • BUG FIXED WITH PERFORMANCE HIT (by Sloppy Slow on 2018-01-11 07:41:41 GMT from Canada)
@ 48
already said that...
"Frankly, I'm more worried about even another chunk of my precious processing power being burnt away, in particular with what I consider a non-issue.
I guess I would like to see the updates as clearly marked and not packaged with all of the "normal" updates and security patches. I don't want to hunt for it, I want it obvious, and I want it easy. This way, I could easily install the patch, test, and rollback if I felt the performance hit was too high compared to what I consider a very low risk (again, currently). Easy."
BUG FIXED WITH PERFORMANCE HIT, NOT CONVINCING AT ALL.
52 • tried patched kernel (by Sloppy Slow on 2018-01-11 07:48:52 GMT from Canada)
already tried patched updated kernel but there is significant performance hit and rolled-back.
What they are pushing to linux users are new hardware(s), Firefox 57.0.4, NVIDIA 384.111, and patched Linux Kernel.
53 • RE: 43 & @50 (by Daniel on 2018-01-11 09:22:47 GMT from United States)
RE: 43
Substitute 'PC-UX' for 'eXDE' in my post above. eXDE was a "special variant of the XFCE desktop" PC/OpenSystems announced, while PC-UX was an OS that PC/OpenSystems announced in 2016. As per Wikipedia, "PC-UX is a discontinued NEC port of UNIX System III for their APC III and PC-9801 personal computer", so that brand isn't original to PC/OpenSystems either. I also forgot to include netOS (also stylized as "net/OS") in recounting PC/OpenSystems' various distributions.
Given the number of discontinued projects over the years (Progeny Componentized Linux, Yoper Linux, Foresight Linux, etc.), PC/OpenSystems has a ready selection of carrion options from which to choose, and I wouldn't be surprised if it acquires more necrobrands in the future.
@50
Dreamlinux originated out of Brazil and was discontinued in 2012, but PC/OpenSystems must have acquired the name after Dreamlinux was discontinued, as "DreamLinux" is included in PC/OpenSystems' list of "legally enforceable" trademarks and copyrights on the About Us page of the PC/OpenSystems website. When Dreamlinux was discontinued, PC/OpenSystems offered to sell 12 month support contracts to existing Dreamlinux users and migrate them to PC/OpenSystems' own OS4 OpenDesktop (the blog post is available on the Black Lab Linux blog, dated 2 October 2012). My guess is that the number of Dreamlinux users who purchased these contracts from PC/OpenSystems can be counted on one hand of a fingerless man.
54 • PC/Open-necrobrands-Systems (by trujilo on 2018-01-11 13:58:28 GMT from France)
A change of name, PC/Open-necrobrands-Systems...
55 • FreeBSD (by silent on 2018-01-11 16:38:51 GMT from Hungary)
I agree that it is fairly easy to set up a desktop environment on vanilla FreeBSD. It is going to be more robust, more transparent and lighter than TrueOS (PCBSD). As for GhostBSD, it is indeed like Mint or Ubuntu LTS for *BSD.
56 • Patching that kernel (by edcoolio on 2018-01-11 18:19:51 GMT from United States)
@51,@51
Thanks for the news. That is exactly what I was afraid of.
I'm with you:
"bug fixed with performance hit, not convincing at all"
I also suspect, like you, that they are just pushing new hardware. Of course, this isn't even touching the Microsoft and Intel collusion that many believe has been going on for years.
I had to laugh and shake my head when I started reading reports of machines with AMD processors taking the update and not being able to boot into Win10.
Then I cried with the knowledge that some kind of scam was going on (that would never be brought out in the open) when Microsoft blamed AMD!
So, let me get this straight. A technology company worth hundreds of billions of dollars (Microsoft) didn't bother testing a patch to the processor brand that has, by far, the least exposure to these two bugs?
Sure. Right. What a coincidence.
There is also this bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you...
57 • conspiracy (by tinfoil hats on 2018-01-11 18:57:49 GMT from Portugal)
I have a tinfoil hat that will protect you from this kind of thing.
58 • Fix quick, fix often & disclose why & give other options (by M.Z. on 2018-01-11 20:06:49 GMT from United States)
I think the performance his is very much a case of 'Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good'. The exploit needed some sort of fix immediately & many would consider a performance hit to be an acceptable trade off for security, though obviously not everyone. Hopefully a way to patch & keep or improve performance can be discovered down the line; however, if a reasonable solution existed & they didn't make it available that would be a big problem with many.
I think the way the upstream Linux team is handling the problem is a good solution. They told everyone about the performance hit upfront & let people know they could go back to an older & less secure solution if the needed. The Apple way of fixing your iPhone problem by hurting performance & never telling anyone till you get caught is the wrong way to implement any patch that hurts performance.
Of course the Ubuntu team seems to have messed up their 4.4.0-108 kernel patch & had to go back & fix it again with 4.4.0-109. I guess they needed a little more time to test things more thoroughly. Getting things right quickly can be a tough balancing act.
59 • technological patches and upgrades (by Sloppy Slow on 2018-01-11 20:35:23 GMT from Canada)
@ #56
Let me make you laugh in these Tech Jargon Jungle.
Technology now a day is no better than Charlie Chaplin - Eating Machine - A clip from Modern Times on youtube /watch?v=n_1apYo6-Ow
URL : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_1apYo6-Ow
But, it is way more worse than that where every tech-users is victim and condition is worse than Charlie.
@ #57
If you have tested your tinfoil hat perfectly, think about going Global.
60 • Linspire, and why so many Linux distros ? (by Jeffersonian on 2018-01-12 06:03:24 GMT from United States)
@ 12: Greg Zeng
Linux, is a kernel, not an operating system.
When the kernel is "packaged" with a set of useful programs, it becomes an operating system, which allows human (or automated) interactions with the kernel.
The beauty of open source, is among other things, the freedom to enhance a set of software, an O/S etc..
There are many Linux distros because lots of creatives programmers, decided to experiment, create their own distro, better, or simply better suited to a given use.
Because Linux (or FreeBSD) Unixes have, thanks to open source, reached an amazing level of stability, perfection that the corporate world could never provide (Apple O/S was build on open source), then today it may be less need for so many "me too" distros, but who knows for sure?
For example with lots of memory, and powerful CPU's OpenGL could be used to develop a "super-sexy" and features rich "Desktop" interface, with 3D graphics.
And I bet that could happen with superb Qt, based framework.
Now for the package managers, Debian (not Ubuntu !) is not bad, (I have used it a lot!), but frankly the RPM packages, used with DNF provide much better flexibility, performances, and reliability, features too, than good old AR based Debian used by Ubuntu.
I have recently installed Ubuntu 17.x on a recently acquired high end Notebook.
After seven months, I decided to remove Ubuntu, now 17.10, and install instead KORORA 26 MATE , an excellent "enhanced version of Fedora, and boy, what a difference a better bistro does !
An an old Unix timer, I have used several Linux distros.
Now many are quite incredibly good, but why so many distros?
Why do people climb to the top of a mountain... to finally go down ?
Same thing: to enhance it, for the challenge, to try to do it better, faster, etc..
Or simply for the learning experience.
So please, welcome new "distros" of Linux, because each could bring something good.
Even if "in fine" we will only use a few.
Happy new "Linux distro" year.
Jeff.
61 • Freespire/Linspire (by David Knight on 2018-01-12 06:23:53 GMT from Canada)
Freespire was my first introduction to the world. Im glad to see they rebooted the OS as it brings back wonderful memories for me. Thank you.
62 • @58 "& give other options" (by curious on 2018-01-12 09:11:43 GMT from Germany)
You hit the nail on the head with that last part.
From the arstechnica article you quoted further above, it appears that both Meltdown and Spectre are probably not a significant risk for the average desktop user. ("While both Meltdown and Spectre can have value in expanding the scope of an existing flaw, neither one is sufficient on its own to, for example, break out of a Web browser.")
Therefore, if your personal computer is yours only (NO untrusted users), the drawback of a 5-30% performance hit very much outweighs the slight gain in security.
Therefore, any distro or OS targeting desktop users should provide means for avoiding these slowed down kernels.
Of course, if there are untrusted users, the situation is totally different. It all depends on the actual situation of the computer operator - that is why CHOICE is important.
63 • Patch your systems (by CS on 2018-01-12 22:22:29 GMT from United States)
Patch your systems! Don't do the math. Don't blame cosmic conspiracy theories. Don't think it can't happen to you. It won't be long before malicious javascript is stealing logins. Remember CoinHive and how it leaked its way onto dozens of government and corporate sites? Yes we get it. You use Linux so you're the smartest guy in the room: smarter than the hackers, smarter than the A/V companies, smarter than Intel and AMD. Even so, taking the risk is just not worth it.
64 • Adding an AppImage to the application menu - updates? (by TheTKS on 2018-01-13 17:13:54 GMT from Canada)
I'm trying out AppImages in elementary. There was no icon in the app finder, so I created a krita desktop icon that launches krita.
Success! Thanks for the tips, Jesse.
Now there's a newer krita appimage.
Question: if I will always keep only one version of an appimage, is there a way to create a krita.desktop so that it will always launch the version that I have, without having to update it with the current version number? I think this should be trivial, but after poking around I must be missing something.
I know, the proper place for this kind of question is not here, but it might make a good followup Tips & Tricks post: updating appimages and the appimage desktop icons that you had to create yourself.
65 • AppImage updates (by Jesse on 2018-01-13 17:29:55 GMT from Canada)
@64: If you want to keep using the same krita.desktop file for future versions of the AppImage, you can just save the AppImage under the same name you used before.
When you download Krita-5.0.appimage or Krita-5.1.appimage, just change the name of the downloaded file to Krita.appimage. Then make sure your .desktop file points to Krita.appimage. I do this with new versions of the QupZilla AppImage. I always save the new download as qupzilla-latest.appimage and the .desktop launcher always works.
66 • Patches and patches (by Patchy Patcher on 2018-01-13 17:59:11 GMT from Canada)
I also wanna do some patch works. I am thinking what and where should I patch?
How long do these patches gonna hold? Do I need a wine bottle cork?
If it is working in first shot, it is well and good. but chances are very less due to tech-idiots.
If it not working, keep patching.
67 • AppImage Updates (by TheTKS on 2018-01-14 00:38:00 GMT from Canada)
@65 Jesse, thanks, that's a good, simple idea. In any case, you're manually downloading or updating at least one thing. Works for now.
Looking around, I see work is happening on AppImage updater and desktop integration tools, as well as self-updating AppImages.
I still have questions around security & trust, so not convinced AppImages are for me. *If* that can be satisfactorily answered, *and* AppImages displaced packages, then *if* developers used the time saved for things like improving code quality and security, and then making more apps or features (or just more free time for living a full life) - that's a positive outcome.
68 • Smart Updates & Security Issues (by M.Z. on 2018-01-14 08:11:20 GMT from United States)
@62 & @63
There is certainly one instance where you need never consider patching security issues, which is of course when you aren't connected to an outside network. Other than that it is always far safer to update any security issues; however, if you are willing to take the risk that is at least in part your business. You can still cause issues for others though if you are compromised (eg. being in a botnet), so it's still better to avoid running something vulnerable if there is any serious risk at all. I certainly think reasonably timely upgrading is key to better security for everyone, but users deserve a fair amount of control even though they should be strongly encouraged to upgrade.
"...Yes we get it. You use Linux so you're the smartest guy in the room..."
I for one hope that attitude isn't too pervasive in our community. It sounds like a problem waiting to happen & unfortunately I've heard a few statements here & there that indicate a lax attitude. I for one always do all security updates for every program on my system & I'm thankful that Linux makes it so easy & puts me a step ahead of other OSs with less robust upgrade systems. It is part of the reason Linux is a small step ahead of other options, but it's well worth upgrading in order to maintain the small security lead we have over other OSs. Of course part of the reason it so important to take is because honestly I think that lead has shrunk a fair amount. If we weren't so small on the desktop & more likely to be patched &/or using a wide mix of other security measures we likely would be hit just as hard as other desktop systems. Of course if we actually are the smartest users in the room we will make it hard for the bad guys to get ahead of us by staying fairly well updated & exploring other security tools like SELinux, Firejail, & MSEC. I also hope the devs use every incident like Meltdown and Spectre as an excuse to find ways to deploy more of those sorts of security tools on their distros by default.
69 • Linspire - Freespire (by gabbman on 2018-01-14 13:07:37 GMT from Canada)
Welcome back, I for one missed you while you were gone.
Number of Comments: 69
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| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
GeeXboX
GeeXboX was a free and open-source media centre oriented Linux distribution for embedded devices and desktop computers. It was a full-featured operating system that can be booted from a live CD, a USB key, an SD/MMC card or it can be installed on a regular hard disk drive. The GeeXboX distribution was lightweight and designed for one single goal - to embed all major multimedia applications in order to turn any computer into a home theatre personal computer. The GeeXboX project was a non-commercial organization founded in 2002.
Status: Discontinued
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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