 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 752, 26 February 2018 |
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Welcome to this year's 9th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Most of us have a lot of data - documents, family photos, movies, e-mail archives and maybe a collection of Linux installation disc images. In order to keep all this data, and preferably backups of it, we need a place to store all of these files. This week we begin with a look at OviOS, a Linux-based storage system which includes support for ZFS volumes. Our Feature Story takes a look at setting up OviOS and exploring its options. In our News section we talk about elementary OS developers working to make disk encryption a safe, default option. We also talk about UBports getting more Ubuntu Phone devices to test and Redcore Linux working to improve their security features. Plus we cover Mageia's reaction to a breach of one of their user databases and link to a tool for testing distributions through a web browser. In our Questions and Answers column we talk about options for off-line upgrades. We then supply a list of the distributions released last week and share the torrents we are seeding. In our Opinion Poll we talk about where people like to find helpful documentation or technical assistance. Finally, we are pleased to welcome the ArchMerge distribution to our database. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (21MB) and MP3 (30MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
OviOS 2.31
OviOS is a Linux-based distribution which is designed to act as a storage appliance. OviOS can be thought of along similar lines as a network attached storage (NAS) device, a box dedicated to holding and sharing files over a network. Where OviOS differs from most NAS solutions is OviOS does not feature a graphical or web-based interface. Everything on OviOS is managed from a command line shell, typically over a secure shell (OpenSSH) connection. The OviOS distribution ships with its own, custom shell which should streamline administration. The central idea behind the project appears to be making file storage and sharing as minimal as possible, without any unnecessary features such as web-based control panels.
OviOS ships with ZFS support, giving us the ability to create multi-disk storage volumes, compress files at the file system level and create snapshots of our data. The distribution currently does not support booting on UEFI-enabled computers and runs on 64-bit x86 machines which support booting in legacy BIOS mode only.
Installing
I download OviOS 2.31 which is available as a 430MB ISO file. Booting from the project's media brings up a text console where we can sign in using one of two accounts. There is a root account and a regular user account called ovios. Both accounts are protected by the password ovios. To run the system installer we need to login as the root user and then run the setup command.
OviOS's system installer runs in a curses text environment and contains just two significant steps. In the first step we are given the option of setting our system clock and selecting our time zone from a list. The second step asks us to select which hard drive will be used to hold the operating system. Once we have selected a disk, the installer creates a partition, formats it with the ext4 file system and copies its files into place. The installer takes over the entire drive, wiping anything else we had on the disk. The installation takes just a few minutes and, when it is over, we can reboot the computer to try out our new copy of OviOS.
Early impressions
Launching our new install of OviOS brings us to a text console. The root and ovios accounts which existed on the installation disc are still in place, protected with the same password. Once we get signed in, we can create new passwords using the passwd command. OviOS is a minimal operating system, using about 1.5GB of disk space and 30MB of RAM with the default configuration. The system includes version 4.9 of the Linux kernel, SysV init, the standard collection of GNU userland tools and the Pacman package manager. Pacman is not configured with any repositories, meaning we cannot, with the default settings, install any new packages or upgrade existing software.
When we sign into OviOS's root account, the custom OviOS command line shell starts up. This shell is minimal and just grants us access to a few dozen commands which deal with storage, networking and sharing files. We can type "?" to see a full list of the available commands or run linuxcmd to switch to a Bash command line shell. A quick overview of key OviOS shell commands can be found in the project's documentation.
Using OviOS shell
I started out by setting up my OviOS system with a static IP address so I could use secure shell to access the server and later backup my files to a known address. Running the netsetup command walks us through configuring the network card with an address, network mask and gateway. However, there is no option in netsetup to choose a DNS server. The netsetup command assumes our gateway will also act as a DNS server, incorrectly in my case. This meant I was unable to connect to remote systems using hostnames (like google.com) at first. I was able to work around this problem by running a Bash shell and adding my real DNS servers to the /etc/resolv.conf file.
Since OviOS takes over an entire disk with its root partition we are left to set up data volumes on our remaining hard drives. From the OviOS shell we can set up new ZFS storage pools using the pool create command. This command basically acts as a wrapper for the zpool command line tool. It takes the names of devices we want to use (such as /dev/sdb), gets us to select the RAID layout of the disks and asks us to provide a name for the pool. Newly created pools are mounted under the /ovios directory.
There is an OviOS shell command called zfs-admin which I had assumed would act as a wrapper for the zfs command. However, I found zfs-admin would only enable and disable the ZFS module, more or less turning ZFS support on/off, and display the status of mounted file systems. A separate shell command, snap, manages ZFS snapshots on our mounted volumes.
Two of the more useful commands in the OviOS shell are options and services. The options command displays (and can alter) variables the system recognizes. For example, there is an option to determine which port the OpenSSH service listens on, another option controls whether we set the system clock using NTP, a third option determines whether we send logs to a remote server. There are several of these options the shell gives us quick access to. The only problem I had with the options command was there were so many options some would scroll off the screen if I was using a local terminal. When logged into the server remotely, I could use my virtual terminal's scroll function to scan through options.
The services command works almost exactly like other distributions' service or systemctl commands. OviOS's services shows us the status of daemons (ie whether they are running or not) and gives us the option of starting or stopping background services. By default, most services are disabled with just OpenSSH running. While using the OpenSSH service to login remotely I found I could sign in as the ovios user, but root logins are blocked. Once we sign in as ovios we can switch over to the root account using the su command. I like this feature as it gives us an extra layer of security against brute force attacks.
While the services, pool and options commands worked fairly well for me, many other built-in shell commands did not. For example, when I tried to create a Samba user to share my files, the OviOS shell reported the volume where I wanted to make my user's home directory did not exist. I confirmed the directory did exist, and tried a few alternative locations, but each time the user creation command failed.
Later, when I tried to create anonymous Samba shares to browse over the network, the OviOS shell gave me the unhelpful error: "DIALOG: command not found" and then the screen was wiped clean.
I ran into a similar problem when I tried to enable the FTP service. The FTP daemon doesn't work because it is configured to share files in the /home/ftp directory, which does not exist. The shared location not even in the same directory tree where storage volumes get mounted. We need to exit the shell and manually adjust the FTP services's configuration to get it working.
The OviOS documentation mentions a command called autosnap which will take scheduled snapshots of a ZFS volume. This seems like a good idea as having regular snapshots will help users avoid accidental data loss. However, the autosnap command is not recognized by the shell. There is a snap command for manually creating file system snapshots and it works in a similar matter to using zfs snapshot from the Bash command line.
Conclusions
I generally like appliance style distributions which focus on doing one thing well and streamlining the process. When I first started using OviOS things looked promising. The distribution has a small ISO, a very simple system installer and a dedicated shell for working with (and sharing) storage volumes. Having ZFS support built into a Linux distribution was another nice touch.
However, once I got OviOS installed I ran into one frustration after another. Many of the custom shell commands presented to the root user simply did not work, or were configured in ways which made it necessary to dig through configuration files to get things working properly. I don't mind doing away with the typical NAS web-based control panel, but the trade-off should be a system where the few controls presented work without fuss and that is not what I got with OviOS. I had to manually tweak DNS settings, manually set up network shares, and manually configure FTP access to use the proper directory.
What I found most odd though was that OviOS's custom shell tended not to simplify administrative tasks. Using the shell's built-in zfs-admin, pool and snap commands are not, in my opinion, easier and more streamlined than using the standard zpool and zfs programs, but OviOS's method provides less documentation.
OviOS's minimalism and easy setup are to be commended, but I think the project trades away too much functionality in its shell. I found most of the time I had to exit the OviOS shell and switch to Bash to get things working and it's not a great sign when the user is working around the provided features rather than using them. I was also concerned that there doesn't appear to be any way to apply security updates to the operating system. The Pacman package manager does not connect to any remote servers and I did not find any documentation on the project's website addressing this issue. The project's website claims, "OviOS Linux excels in its simplicity and packages can be installed or upgraded easily with pacman," but Pacman is disabled with the default setup. The website's FAQ, Documentation, Features and forum do not discuss which, if any, Pacman repositories OviOS can use. This is likely to be a significant security risk for systems which are designed to run network services and share files.
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Visitor supplied rating
OviOS has a visitor supplied average rating of: N/A from 0 review(s).
Have you used OviOS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
elementary OS team plans disk encryption by default, UBports gets more test devices, Redcore team working to harden their distro, Mageia reacts to user database breach, testing distributions in a web browser
The elementary OS team is working with System76 to come up with a better, more user friendly way to protect user data with disk encryption on OEM installs. "The problem in the past has been that, as a desktop Linux OEM, you cannot encrypt the installation before it's in the user's hands because then there is no guarantee that the encryption key is unique to that user. So customers would reinstall the entire OS from scratch immediately after receiving their computer - downloading the latest release of the OS, digging up a USB drive, flashing the drive, rebooting their computer, walking through the installer, and finally rebooting to finally use the computer. That's not ideal." The blog post goes on to discuss ways of enabling secure encryption by default while giving people the ability to opt-out of using encryption. Additional information on elementary OS's upcoming installer changes can be found in another blog post.
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The UBports team, which is continuing the development of Canonical's Ubuntu Touch operating system for mobile devices, has received a gift from Canonical. The UBports developers received a collection of mobile devices which already run Ubuntu Touch which should make it easier for the UBports team to port, improve and support their software on a wider range of devices. A tweet from the UBports team reads: "Look at what we found in the mail today! Ubuntu Legacy devices, fresh from the Canonical vault. We are extremely happy that they gave us this gift. We are going to port, crack and flash the heck out of these devices. Stay tuned!"
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Redcore Linux is a Gentoo-based rolling release distribution featuring the LXQt desktop. The Redcore team is working to improve the security of their distribution, carrying forward the work done by the Gentoo Hardened project. Redcore users will benefit from position independent executables (PIE), stack smash protection (SSP) and address space layout randomization (ASLR), among other security enhancements. "Additionally, we will move the kernel to the hardened patchset for much improved ASLR. And while at it we will bump the toolchain to GCC 7.3.0, Glibc 2.27, and Binutils 2.30 in order to become fully protected against all Spectre/Meltdown variants. Upgrading older installations will be possible. However the process will replace all installed packages and it will take, depending on Internet speed and machine configuration, a few hours." Further details can be found in the project's blog post.
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The Mageia project has reported that someone was able to gain access to their LDAP database and the information the project had on users for the identity.mageia.org website. The information accessed includes names, e-mail addresses and hashed passwords. Mageia has reset the passwords of users of their identity.mageia.org service and are advising anyone who has reused their password on another website to change their password. "The passwords stored by the Mageia LDAP server are hashed and salted, meaning that the full decryption of the password, if they have actually been leaked into a human-usable format, would require significant computing power for safe and complex passwords. Despite the leaked data only appearing to be names and e-mail addresses of identity.mageia.org users, we strongly urge users to be cautious if the password used for their Mageia account is used elsewhere, and we recommend changing passwords wherever else it is used."
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People wanting to get an idea of what a distribution is like without downloading it now have a new tool they can use to test drive operating systems. DistroTest is a website which allows visitors to run Linux distributions in a virtual machine, remotely through a web browser. This allows DistroTest users to try out open source operating systems without downloading the live disc. While performance through the remote desktop session is slow, it allows the visitor to explore the system's desktop, included packages and features. At the moment 54 operating systems are available for testing, plus there are several extra editions with alternative desktop environments.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
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Performing off-line upgrades
Installing-new-packages-differently asks: Are there any distributions which only let the user perform upgrades when they are off-line?
DistroWatch answers: There may be a few different distributions that will suit your needs, depending on why you want to install upgrades when you are off-line. For instance, if you want to have software updates installed atomically (in a way which avoids corrupting software in case of power outage or hardware failure), then there are several options. NixOS uses the Nix package manager which places upgrades in snapshots and allows the user to instantly switch between snapshots (or "generations") of package versions. The openSUSE distribution, along with FreeBSD and other FreeBSD-based systems, use a file system feature called snapshots to do approximately the same thing. On these operating systems we can take a snapshot of the operating system, saving its state. We can then upgrade it and, if anything goes wrong, simply reboot to restore the snapshot, rescuing the operating system.
The Fedora Workstation distribution has a software manager which, when new upgrades are installed, will reboot the system, taking it off-line, to complete the upgrade. This insures that all services, the kernel and running programs are upgraded to their latest versions and no old software is kicking around in the computer's memory.
If you are looking for improved security, rather than atomic upgrades, and wish to prevent users from changing packages on a running system then you could look at running a regular distribution in read-only mode. If you set up your system carefully, placing /etc and /usr on the root partition with /home and /var on another partition, you could mount your root partition in read-only mode. This would prevent software upgrades. It might also cause some other unexpected side-effects, but it would mean the administrator would need to remount the operating system in read-write mode before upgrades were performed. Though for the purposes of security, it would be easier to limit the access of user accounts on the system so they cannot use the package manager rather than completely locking down the file system. To restrict access I recommend looking into how to configure access-granting tools, such as sudo.
On the other hand, if what you are looking for is the option of installing packages after downloading them, possibly using another computer to perform the download, then most package managers will allow this. Most package managers have an option which will just download new packages without installing them and the new packages will be stored somewhere under either your current directory or the /var directory. You can then copy these files to a USB drive or DVD and install them on other computers which are running the same distribution.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Calculate Linux 17.12.2
Calculate Linux is a Gentoo-based rolling release distribution which is available in several desktop and server editions. The project's latest version, Calculate Linux 17.12.2, features fixes for the Spectre and Meltdown CPU bugs, restores functionality for LXC containers, permits renaming of network interfaces and makes it possible to use a file for swap space in place of a disk partition. "We are pleased to announce the release of Calculate Linux 17.12.2, based on Gentoo 17.0. Therefore, the whole of the packages were rebuilt and some fixes done. Eight flavors are now available for download: Calculate Linux Desktop supplied with the KDE (CLD), Cinnamon (CLDC), Mate (CLDM) or else Xfce (CLDX) environment, Calculate Directory Server (CDS), Calculate Linux Scratch (CLS), Calculate Scratch Server (CSS) an Calculate Container Scratch (CCS). We moved to the new Gentoo 17.0 profile. All binary packages were rebuilt, in the repo as well as on Live DVDs/USBs. All currently available Meltdown and Spectre patches were included. grub.d privileges are safe now. Restore functionality supported for LXC containers file capabilities. Network interfaces can be once again renamed and saved..." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found 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: 746
- Total data uploaded: 18.0TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll |
Documentation sources
We all get stuck eventually while trying to use an application or command line program. When this happens there are many helpful resources available to assist us. This week we would like to find out where our readers turn first to get help. Do you automatically turn to the local manual pages, search on-line for whatever comes up first, ask on a forum, or check your favourite wiki?
You can see the results of our previous poll on sources for third-party applications in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Documentation sources
| I use local man(ual) pages: | 511 (27%) |
| I use local info pages: | 21 (1%) |
| I use other local documentation: | 35 (2%) |
| I use a web search: | 964 (52%) |
| I use a wiki: | 157 (8%) |
| I ask for examples on forums: | 51 (3%) |
| I ask for help in IRC chat rooms: | 12 (1%) |
| I use other on-line documentation: | 30 (2%) |
| I ask for help using other on-line resources: | 2 (0%) |
| I use paid technical support: | 9 (0%) |
| I use free technical support: | 2 (0%) |
| Other: | 68 (4%) |
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| DistroWatch.com News |
New projects added to database
ArchMerge
ArchMerge is a distribution based on Arch Linux. The ArchMerge project features two editions, one includes the Xfce, Openbox and i3 user interfaces. The second edition is a minimal, command line platform. ArchMerge features video tutorials on its website and places a strong focus on learning how to use and customize the operating system.
ArchMerge 6.4.1 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 1.8MB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
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Distributions added to waiting list
- Pegasus OS GNU/Linux. Pegasus OS GNU/Linux is a 32-bit, Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the Xfce desktop.
- Delta Linux. Delta Linux is a portable distribution, designed to run as simply as possible by default, aimed both at beginner users, and users that wish to get the most out of limited hardware.
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 5 March 2018. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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| Random Distribution | 
Legacy OS
Legacy OS (formerly TEENpup Linux) is a distribution based on antiX (prior to 2023 the distribution was based on Puppy Linux). Although the original concept was to create a flavour of Puppy Linux with more applications and a more appealing desktop aimed at teenage users, Legacy OS has now grown to become a general purpose distribution. It comes with a large number of applications, browser plugins and media codecs as standard software. Each new release of Legacy OS is about providing a lot of software which will work smoothly on older computers (about a decade in age).
Status: Dormant
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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