 DistroWatch Weekly |
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 2, value: US$36) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Legacy vs Bleeding Edge Software (by Rev_Don on 2018-03-26 00:38:36 GMT from United States)
I've been burned way too many times by newer buggier software that constantly crashed, ran slower, and offered fewer options compared to their older and more mature version to blindly rely on it (think the abomination that is Gnome 3). I evaluate each and every new version on a test system prior to installing it on a production system. I value stability, reliability, usability, and performance over new, untested, and buggy technology infesting with the next big thing (like LED everything).
I just don't have the time or patience for alpha/beta testing these days. I have things I need to get done.
2 • New vs Legacy (by dhinds on 2018-03-26 00:56:22 GMT from Mexico)
"Do you embrace new options like GRUB2, GNOME Shell, KDE Plasma and systemd or do you prefer familiar software like GRUB Legacy and the MATE desktop"?
Since I don't build systems from scratch, my preferences don't fit into either category.
Grub2 is over 8 years old and is practically universal.
I prefer fast and stable desktop environments (or their substitutes) like Openbox, LXQt and Xfce (in that order) to either KDE or Gnome.
I will customize them a bit but use whatever works best and breaks least. What that means in practice is Sparky Multimedia (w/ Openbox), Gecko Leap 42.3 LXQt and Calculate or RedCore LXQt.
I use the xfce4-panel w/ 10 desktops on all of them along with either the Tint2 or LXQt panels.
So I prefer new but fast and stable over eye candy and complex.
3 • Legacy or .. (by MikeOh Shark on 2018-03-26 01:43:01 GMT from France)
I voted legacy only because too many developers like new for it's own sake and if it breaks WiFi, sound, and other important things, it's not worth the hassle to hunt down the fixes. New needs to be better.
I hate to admit but the service manager in Windows XP is what systemd needs to make it tolerable.
4 • The best of all worlds (running legacy / new technologies) (by Sofia Smith on 2018-03-26 01:57:46 GMT from Spain)
On my laptop, now, I run multiboot.
1. Fedora: Gnome, Uefi, Secure, rpm.
2. Debian: Cinnamon, stable, universal system, +50000 pkgs, deb.
3. Arch: Plasma, cutting edge, fast, pacman.
Usually, my prefered option is ThePerfectArch.
5 • I Evaluate Everything (by Darryl on 2018-03-26 04:06:27 GMT from United States)
I'm not a Linux n00b but I'm also not what I would consider an expert. I've seen a lot of things change since I first downloaded Linux. Some of it has been good, some not - I'm sure a lot of people like Gnome 3 but I personally hate it, it massively slows down my workflow. It's what drove me to XFCE and KDE.
New is not necessarily better. Functionality is much more important. Especially for people who need to get things done. That said, if the new shiny object can get the job done faster with less errors, then I'm all for it.
My desktop has 4 hard drives - Currently: Debian Testing (going on 3 years or so), Kubuntu, Windows 10, Windows 7. The drive currently holding Kubuntu Beta 18.04 gets a new distro generally weekly - sometimes daily - occasionally a little longer, but rarely.
6 • init: how is Void conservative? That and bleeding-edge vs conservative (by Brenton Horne on 2018-03-26 04:15:47 GMT from Australia)
I found the article by Jesse on his init work interesting, I also found it odd that he wasn't contributing code at the GitHub repo for SysV init he set up (https://github.com/slicer69/sysvinit) I thought he might have received so few donations he said, "Oh to .... with this!" But now I know why. Likewise I also found it odd that he was talking about how he likes conservative distributions and then mentioned a bleeding-edge rolling distro like Void as being commonplace on his drives. I suppose if you're looking for lightweight systemd-free distros you don't have a lot of choice, especially if compiling with Gentoo is out of the question.
As for bleeding-edge vs conservative, well I like to try out the latest technology (especially new GNOME and KDE releases), but I also like to keep a distro with conservative software versions, few surprises, i3 (which I find a very stable GUI) and my preferred i3 configs (https://github.com/fusion809/i3-configs) installed on my hard disk. Presently this distro is Debian.
7 • MATE because the passing of Ubuntu 10. (by Roy on 2018-03-26 05:03:57 GMT from United States)
I am really satisfied with UbuntuMATE. I will be glad when a fix comes to the GTK for webmoid but cheese is really all I need.
8 • SysV (by Florin on 2018-03-26 05:59:16 GMT from Romania)
Thank you for the info about the new beta release. I'm working to a OpenRC based version of Lunar Linux (a source based distro - see lunar-linux.org).
9 • choices galore (by samuel on 2018-03-26 06:23:53 GMT from United States)
> if you're looking for lightweight systemd-free distros
without-systemd.org
looks like more than 100 to choose from, up to you to decide what qualifies as 'lightweight'
10 • @9 Fair point (by Brenton Horne on 2018-03-26 06:59:21 GMT from Australia)
Fair point, but some require compiling, others have tiny repositories (and yes Jesse reviews a few from time to time it might be good to have reasonably-sized repos), small communities (including dev communities, to fix packages when issues occur, also minimal help in the case of problems, granted he's likely to be able to fix many of them, but we all need help from time to time), strict on open-source (e.g. Parabola), bleeding edge (as opposed to conservative like Jesse wants), etc. But I take your point well, there are more than I probably thought of, I was really thinking of more well-known ones. Thanks for correcting me, if I ever get the itch to kick systemd to the curb I'll know of more options :).
11 • Package lists on Distrowatch (by Andrew Yeomans on 2018-03-26 08:45:20 GMT from United Kingdom)
Many thanks for all your work collating the package lists.
Would it be possible to additionally upload the "raw" full package lists, such as generated by "dpkg -l"? That would allow people to manually compare the other packages that you don"t track in your database.
12 • Old vs New, SysV init - Init's alive (by Alexandru on 2018-03-26 09:13:18 GMT from Romania)
I voted "I evaluate each on a case-by-case basis", because I didn't find the more appropriate option. I don't try new software for the sake to see what it has to offer. I only use new software alternatives when they have a feature I need, which is not available in old software and has no visible regression from old one.
I want to praise Jesse for involvement in SysV Init project. This is the most straight-forward way to support the software. Congratulations!
13 • SysV (by X-Hacker on 2018-03-26 09:15:40 GMT from Greece)
Thank you, Jesse for the beta update, It's essential to keep SysV alive & hopefully it can evolve with a steady pace. Linux is about choices, after all!
14 • Legacy vs. bleeding edge? (by M. Edward (Ed) Borasky on 2018-03-26 10:00:18 GMT from United States)
Are you kidding? I run Arch Linux ;-)
15 • @6 - Void linux is conservative? (by Hoos on 2018-03-26 10:05:51 GMT from Singapore)
Void is a rolling distro and the packages are pretty new, but it is surprisingly stable even if you don't update for weeks, even months.
I installed Void+pre-installed cinnamon from an 11-month old live image, then downloaded and installed all 11 months' worth of updates at one go. It was super fast and problem-free.
Initiating updates in Void does feel like updating a Debian Stable installation - I don't read any update news or warnings, and just update "brainlessly" with a terminal command without needing to do anything else.
On that basis I guess you could consider Void conservative once you've got it up and running the way you like. However, the initial setting up did take some time as I was unfamiliar with it.
16 • @15: Void (by Brenton Horne on 2018-03-26 10:29:35 GMT from Australia)
I've installed Void too, several times too, initial set up was tedious for me too. It was fairly stable, except for two major problems:
* Flatpak had a bug that made it unusable. Tried installing packages with it and it failed. Needed Flatpak as Void's repos were too small to meet my needs. The funny thing is when I went into the #voidlinux IRC channel people were essentially saying if I wanted to use Flatpak I shouldn't be using Void Linux.
* A weird issue with the 4.15.x series kernel wherein while it would boot it would freeze up very quickly and become unusable.
Conservative to me means keeping old, well-tested, yet secure versions of software in its official repos. So I'm using it similarly to the term "legacy", in that way Void isn't.
As for the lack of need of frequent updates I've found Arch is just as safe and easy to update after months of being left to collect dust. Just because it's stable after such a while without updates doesn't mean it's secure to do so. After all some (and after months this would add up to quite a few) updates are security updates.
17 • Happy Voidlinux user (by mcg on 2018-03-26 11:13:57 GMT from Finland)
Voidlinux is not a fork, rolling release, runit, libressl. Extremly fast and stable. xbps pkg manager is fast. Whole installation really takes less space than any other distro out there. I am long time Void linux user and I will never go back to systemd distro. Void linux is best of all! Sure it is not for beginners but even the beginner can install it following the wiki. whats more Void linux community forum is really friendly. Have a nice day!
18 • new vs legacy (by DaveT on 2018-03-26 11:20:04 GMT from United Kingdom)
I have always run debian unstable on my laptops so mainly 'new and cutting-edge' software. The changeover from GRUB to GRUB2 would break my system daily but that settled down and since then nothing has broken in a big way. I dislike bloat so I abandoned KDE and Gnome many years ago.
Everything else runs nicely stable devuan ascii or OpenBSD or NAS4Free.
19 • Void Linux (by nano-me on 2018-03-26 11:57:03 GMT from United Kingdom)
@15,16: I too have started using Void Linux [again] as it offered a flexible way to get Spectre-Meltdown aware verions of Firefox, GCC and a recent [4.14.18+] kernel [compiled with up-to-date GCC]. The Runit init system is robust and accessable. XFCE4 completes. The xbps package manager is as "cool" as Debian's APT.
Of course, I really use a sinit-based init scheme, custom module-free "libre" kernels, Openbox as a DE, etc etc. However the base live XFCE4 system that comes with Void is entirely workable, and I retain the boot-time option of using vanilla Void.
Yes, Void uses a rolling release model. However, I would not call it "bleeding-edge". We are dependent on upstream package creators not releasing "still wet" versions of their code into the wild.
20 • New / legacy (by Bonky Ozmond on 2018-03-26 12:33:08 GMT from Nicaragua)
I generally use new... I use Gentoo / Calculate and void , but i am not someone who updates that regular,, I have rarely had any issues in the last 3 / 4 yrs
I also have a Slackware distro running which is as legacy as it gets and keeps plodding on
I did have Manjaro which did cause me problems a couple of times which was odd as the same updates didnt have same issues with Gentoo
21 • Full package lists (by Jesse on 2018-03-26 13:13:01 GMT from Canada)
@11: "Would it be possible to additionally upload the "raw" full package lists, such as generated by "dpkg -l"? That would allow people to manually compare the other packages that you don"t track in your database."
We have been doing this for a while. In each project's release announcement on our front page there is a link to the distro's "pkglist", that's the full package list. In addition, if you visit a distro's information page, right above the list of tracked packages there is a field called "Full Package List" with links to a full package dump for each version of the distro. Here is the package list for NuTyX 10.1, for example: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=nutyx&pkglist=true&version=10.1#pkglist
22 • init and Void (by |Jesse on 2018-03-26 13:47:21 GMT from Canada)
@6 "I found the article by Jesse on his init work interesting, I also found it odd that he wasn't contributing code at the GitHub repo for SysV init he set up"
Very early on in development of the fork (on GitHub) I updated the project's page (readme file) to mention all work had been upstreamed and future development was happening there with links to the Savannah repo.
"Likewise I also found it odd that he was talking about how he likes conservative distributions and then mentioned a bleeding-edge rolling distro like Void as being commonplace on his drives."
Void uses cutting-edge packages, but its approach to technology is conservative. It's much like PCLinuxOS in that respect. Void doesn't usually have the latest bells and whistles (Wayland, Snapd, etc). It's up to date, but in a technologically simple way. I'd also like to point out I didn't list Void as an example of a conservative distro, I listed it as an example of a low-resource system.
23 • systemd vs other init (by Carson on 2018-03-26 15:23:39 GMT from Canada)
As a user, I've never noticed a difference when using one distro with a traditional init, and another with systemd. It boots, I see my login manager, and then I'm in.
24 • INIT (by rel on 2018-03-26 15:53:27 GMT from United States)
Jesse,
Kudos for picking up the torch for SysV init... may it have many years of life ahead of it.
Is there a way to donate a specific amount to your efforts (one time), other than the patreon method?
rel
25 • Many a question of Distrowatch doesn't offer sufficient choice of answering to (by Gerhard Goetzhaber on 2018-03-26 16:18:39 GMT from Austria)
The current poll appears outstandingly tricky:
1. As far referring the basic system, me, I always try to get the latest version run, and this is even more true concerning the very latest kernel available from a certain distributor by fairly easy installing - which opinion exactly originates my clear current preference to Fedora Rawhide.
2. Regarding the great modern desktop environments' sad tendency towards endless imperfection, I have found my personal golden way with Xfce, evenly on my powerful workstations. I will never leave!
3. What belongs to certain software packages I frequently use, more and more I have come to compiling their most recent versions at least into rather conservative distributions (as for example OpenSUSE Leap) from source. For I have seen this better done with RPM based distros there is one more reason for me to prefer Fedora and SUSE before Debioids.
26 • Init software (by Jesse on 2018-03-26 16:21:03 GMT from Canada)
@24: Yes, indeed. If anyone wants to send a one-time donation they can send it to my e-mail address through PayPal. Anything going to jsmith at resonatingmedia dot com will come to me. Thank you.
27 • Bleeding edge or conservative approach? Difficult to answer (by Jyrki on 2018-03-26 17:10:27 GMT from Czech Republic)
I like it the way Void does it. Apps are up to date but technologically it's matured and proven. But I don't like their package manager (pacman rulez) and also they don't have enough apps in repos too.
As for destkop I left KDE long time ago and I use Xfce everywhere. It's flexible, customisable enough, it's rock stable and easy to use.
As for init - I always favoured bsd style init (not the one used in Slackware, I loved init in the good old Arch), I use OpenRC nowadays.
Since Manjaro openrc is dead, I run Artix on all PCs but some thing break from time to time, last time it was networkmanager so I am seeking an alternative.
I tried DragonflyBSD on some machines and I like it more and more.
28 • New or legacy software? (by Sam Crawford on 2018-03-26 17:35:16 GMT from United States)
I've settled on Debian stable as my operating systems, especially as I run it on a laptop, as well as a desktop, and i just works.
That said I run Chrome that gets updated often, and a few backports. So I guess I like a stable OS but current software for programs I use daily.
29 • Absolutely Both (by Carl on 2018-03-26 17:47:17 GMT from Austria)
I've tried to avoid KDE as much as I could some time ago. Gnome was a no-go, stumbled over XFCE, didn't like it, Then LXDE, tried to like it but it felt quite a bit outdated. Now I am back to KDE with the upcoming openSuse Leap 15.0. Fastest boot times I have seen so far on any KDE based system and surprisingly stable. Never liked their Tumbleweed approach though - alpha testing is not my thing. My approach is to stay conservative with the OS but selectively install the newest versions of some programs as deemed necessary.
Maybe there is someone out there who can answer the following queston: Fedora and openSuse used to be amongst the major distros for a long time. But lately both of them dropped dramatically in the DistroWatch ranking. Any clue why?
30 • Support SYSV development (by Kingneutron on 2018-03-26 17:50:26 GMT from United States)
If you don't like SystemD (like me) I'm only working part time at the moment but I can afford $5/month to support Jesse's efforts. I switched from AntiX to MX17 and it's running well with ZFS -- and no systemd. Join up with the rest of us and help Jesse out!
31 • cutting edge (by Tim Dowd on 2018-03-26 18:28:10 GMT from United States)
I answered "evaluate each on a case-by-case" but I mostly want to stick with software I know and have used as long as possible. I only want to upgrade if there's been a major bug fix or a major advance in functionality. In the past 5 years for me that's been exactly two things: XBMC/Kodi as it has gotten more and more stable and LibreOffice5. Other than that my MATE desktop in 2018 looks a lot like my GNOME desktop in 2012. For me that's a positive thing.
32 • The Poll doesn't have my answer! (by Gary on 2018-03-26 18:33:21 GMT from United States)
My answer isn't up there. My answer would have been to get the best software that is able to do the thing I need it to do, legacy or not. I feel that I am in the majority here if people had been offered that option. Someone might have said that i could have pick a certain option, and that would have been close enough. But, that would be like an airline in Los Angeles saying to me that the closest they could get me to Miami is Atlanta. That is still too far away, in fact, not even close.The polling options don't come close to my answer (how I feel). So, I couldn't participate in the poll this week.
33 • Your Review on NuTyX and Jesses'opignon about sysV (by Tnut on 2018-03-26 18:42:04 GMT from Switzerland)
In behalf of my team, I would like to thanks you for this very honest and very true test on NuTyX. It's realy appreciate. Here are a few comments on my side:
- the install-nutyx script can in fact be used without any option which in that case will install in the default folder "/mnt/hd", using the stable branch, download from the standard depot server., installing the standard set of packages.
- The website is render by cards software as well that's why we enjoy this packages searching tool
- The issue with password will be fixed this week ;) thanks for reporting
- Thanks for reporting all the small missings apps they will be added in the next MATE ISO.
- The documentation process is a huge work, It's actually a continue process which can only be done by me it look like.
- Personaly I would like to thanks the team of DW for the amazing work you are doing to publish all thoses reviews.
- And last but not least, Thanks to Jesse for his effort on sysV project, we need that. I will most probably join. Even systemd is bigger, you probably notest they use the same method as sysV
for launching services ... the link :)
34 • new and old packages (by a on 2018-03-26 19:10:58 GMT from France)
It’s strange to add libdvdcss to your packages list when DVDs have been obsolete for quite a few years. Meanwhile I still use gFTP and would use vsftpd if I needed an FTP server... (gFTP isn’t great, though, but I don’t know of anything better.)
35 • @34 Re: DVDs (by Rev_Don on 2018-03-26 20:34:16 GMT from United States)
DVDs aren't even close to being obsolete.
36 • Needed 'feature' (by Kragle von Schnitzelbank on 2018-03-26 20:48:52 GMT from United States)
@16 "Needed Flatpak as …'s repos were too small …" … "… if I wanted to use Flatpak I shouldn't be using …"
…
If you need packages not included in a distro's repository(ies), there are several choices - build from source (and consider contributing packages), import binaries (via ABI adaptation like alien?), or use one of several methods that trade vast storage space for 'convenience' - AppImage (generic), or Flatpak or Canonical's Snap (sandbox-ish, FreeDesktop etc) - by including runtime libraries and other 'standard' features, trying to avoid some dependency issues inherent in complex systems while creating others. Flatpak usage is only one option.
…
If the distro development community in question prefers a more robust, efficient and secure approach, and your priority is that some perceived convenience is more important, then I would agree you should only use other distros that agree with your choices.
Trying to wag a tiger by the tail is just too risky.
37 • @16, @36 (by Hoos on 2018-03-27 04:00:45 GMT from Singapore)
To be fair to @16, Flatpak has a Void wiki entry and would appear to be an all-in-one-bundle+sandbox format that Void accepts.
https://wiki.voidlinux.eu/Flatpak
It's not as if the wiki entry said, DON'T USE FLATPAK!
From my limited use, some Flatpak packages work better than others. I have no idea whether it's the packager's fault or a flaw/weakness of the whole Flatpak system.
38 • Flatpak (by Brenton Horne on 2018-03-27 11:50:27 GMT from Australia)
@37 Ya it does seem odd for a distro to have a package, a wiki entry for the package and yet people say one shouldn't be using the distro if one wants to use said package.
@27 Have you tried just putting up with XBPS? I find if you put up with something long enough it begins to not irritate you as much. XBPS seemed odd to me too but I decided to just deal with it and eventually I got used to it enough for it not to be so bad any more. Some things are nigh impossible to just put up with (like when you've got programs you just have to have) but package managers are seldom ever one of them. XBPS isn't too different from pacman (e.g. they both have syntaxes that take a bit of getting used to, they're both written in C and Shell, they're both very fast), the main difference is that pacman uses just one program (/usr/bin/pacman) to do almost everything (but packaging), while XBPS has several different programs (e.g. /usr/bin/xbps-install, /usr/bin/xbps-query, /usr/bin/xbps-remove, etc.) to do everyday package management stuff. Once you get used to that (which can be simplified by using shell aliases) it's not all that different from pacman.
39 • Artix (by Jake on 2018-03-27 21:02:11 GMT from United States)
@27: Yeah, Artix kind of breaks stuff a lot. I've moved on to Void because of it.
I also hate how their default grub menu is a large resolution (not 640x480) because it forces my VMs to display on a different monitor and doesn't fit into a nice size like my other "app" VMs. They do have some cool tools to build custom ISOs, but it's not documented, and I haven't found where the grub stuff is being pulled in (hopefully they will continue to improve the tool; I still like the idea of Artix and every so often try to make it work again, if only in a VM).
40 • Turning into a bearded sandals and socks guy (by Matt on 2018-03-28 03:45:08 GMT from United States)
I grew tired of trying the latest and greatest software. It wastes my time fixing things. Now I just want a few applications that work. That is why I run Debian stable on every computer I use. Part of that may be due to the fact that the older, stable stuff works a lot better than it did 15 years ago. The other reason is that I am probably slowly turning into one of those grumpy, bearded, sandals-and-socks kind of guys.
41 • @34 & 35 Re: DVDs (by elcaset on 2018-03-28 05:40:36 GMT from United States)
@34 & 35 Agreed, I still use optical discs fairly often watching DVD & Bluray movies, listening to music CDs, backing up data using BD-Rs, DVD-RWs, etc. Way more reliable for me than using hard drives & SSDs for backup.
42 • First stupid Distrowatch poll I've seen (by ned on 2018-03-28 08:03:10 GMT from Austria)
Just leaving a choice between the options
* new
and
* legacy
.....
how about
* working
??
Or would that be too revolutionary?
43 • Legacy (by Nick on 2018-03-28 09:51:48 GMT from United States)
I use SysV init for my daemon processes systemctl will never be on any of my systems until force.
As for KDE - I was forced to use plasma 5 because kde 4 broke down too much and is no longer maintained.
So in short - I use legacy for as long as I can until I see it as too much work to fight for.
44 • @34 @40 and happy to hear about Jesse's work (by StephenC. on 2018-03-28 19:48:37 GMT from United States)
@34 CDs and DVDs are a long, long way from being obsolete. Especially if you are dealing with someone like "Janitor Joe down the street" who works a minimum-wage night job and can't get email to work because Windows keeps crashing. Even peripherals like thumb drives never seem to cross their radar. They take it for granted that TV shows have lots of exciting computer magic used by smart people with lots of money, but never imagine that a lot of it could be possible at their own level.
@40 Somehow that happened to me also. I run Debian stable + some AppImage apps and everything else rarely gets beyond experimental VMs.
Best wishes to success in Jesse's work on SysV init.
45 • legacy vs new (by Jordan on 2018-03-28 22:23:06 GMT from United States)
Hey, today's new is tomorrow's legacy.
I run the new and take my chances. Within reason. ;)
46 • Sysvinit (by Wally on 2018-03-29 14:54:01 GMT from United States)
Thank you, Jesse, for taking up the maintenance of SysV init. I've drunk the koolaid of systemd because I use RHEL7 at work and Fedora at home primarily. But I also use Devuan on a few systems because I want to make sure I can still use SysV init. I plan on setting up sending a little money for you on an ongoing basis later this week. This will be the first time I contribute $$ to open source development, because it matters so much to me.
47 • SysV Init and bootchartd (by Jake on 2018-03-29 16:51:59 GMT from United States)
I'm not sure if this is a feature of SysV Init or not, but I like the compatibility with bootchartd. It's nice to be able to generate a graphical plot of boot times. I know part of this feature is something that systemd integrated into it, but it's nice.
48 • NuTyx (by RJA on 2018-04-01 16:52:57 GMT from United States)
At a glance, it appears to be another KISS distro from Switzerland, just like good ol' SliTaz!
But the review by Robert Rijkhoff, reported bad documentation, which starkly reminds me of Lunar Linux! (which I didn't even try, because of their bad documentation, IIRC)
It's disappointing that the GUI password utility, don't even point to the correct directory.
This is another distro that deserves a chance.
I would like to see those bugs squished!
Number of Comments: 48
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
| | |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Lonix
Lonix was a console-based full Linux system which runs from a live CD. It includes a lot of useful utilities for students and developers, along with some servers like Apache, Proftpd, sendmail, and sshd (all pre-configured). It can also be used as a partition tool (featuring fdisk, parted, and partimage) or as a rescue CD.
Status: Discontinued
|
| 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.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
