 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 752, 26 February 2018 |
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) |
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 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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| Random Distribution | 
Star
Star is a desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Devuan GNU+Linux. Star is available in a range of editions, each featuring a lightweight desktop environment. Star is small enough to fit on a CD and uses SysV init software.
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.
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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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