 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 761, 30 April 2018 |
Welcome to this year's 18th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
This week we witnessed the release of Ubuntu 18.04 and its many community flavours. The 18.04 launch is a long term support (LTS) release for most of the Ubuntu editions and therefore will be around for several years. The 18.04 release will also form the base for many related projects for years to come. We begin this week's issue with a look at Ubuntu 18.04 and its customized GNOME desktop from Joshua Allen Holm. In our News section we talk about work being done to get UBports (the community continuation of Ubuntu Touch) running on the Librem 5 phone. Plus we discuss Slackware's efforts to make PulseAudio an optional component and link to a series of educational drawings for people who want to learn about how Linux works. In our Questions and Answers column we talk about how to access a ZFS snapshot which was created on another computer. Plus we are pleased to provide a list of last week's releases and share the torrents we are seeding. In our Opinion Poll we ask if our readers preferred Ubuntu running the Unity desktop or the new default GNOME Shell interface. Let us know what you think of the change in the comments. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
- News: UBports to run on Librem 5, Slackware makes PulseAudio optional, educational Linux comics
- Questions and answers: Accessing ZFS snapshots
- Released last week: Ubuntu 18.04, Kubuntu 18.04, Xubuntu 18.04
- Torrent corner: Kubuntu, Lubuntu, OpenIndiana, Pisi, SwagArch, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, Voyager, Xubuntu
- Upcoming releases: Fedora 28
- Opinion poll: Ubuntu running GNOME Shell versus Unity
- New distributions: Manjaro WebDad, Alien-OS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (23MB) and MP3 (30MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Joshua Allen Holm) |
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is the latest long term support release of Ubuntu. While LTS releases are traditionally fairly conservative, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS represents a major change for the distribution, especially for users who only use LTS releases. Starting with Ubuntu 17.10, the Unity desktop has been replaced with a slightly tweaked version of GNOME. With only one non-LTS release to develop the new GNOME experience, there are reasons to be cautious about such a radical change, but Ubuntu's GNOME desktop, while different from Unity and standard GNOME, provides a functional desktop environment with a few good points and, admittedly, a few minor things that could be improved. Below, I take Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for a trial run and share my thoughts about Ubuntu's GNOME desktop and some of the other new features.
Ubuntu 18.04 -- The default GNOME desktop
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Installing Ubuntu
The installation process is largely unchanged from recent Ubuntu releases. Boot from a DVD or flash drive, choose Install, and walk through the various steps. Any user upgrading from either Ubuntu 17.10 or Ubuntu 16.04 LTS by doing a fresh installation of 18.04 LTS should be familiar with the process. However, there are two significant changes worth mentioning - a minimal installation option has been added and the encrypt home folder option has been removed.
Ubuntu 18.04 -- The Ubiquity installer
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I first installed Ubuntu 18.04 LTS when it was still in development and the process was already very smooth. Installing using Ubiquity is always a good experience on my testing machine. I had no issues when I installed the pre-release version, and starting over with a fresh install once the final media came out was also incident free. I made selections when prompted, filled in information when requested, and rebooted my laptop when the process was complete. The process, both times, was completely unexciting.
Overall, there is not much to say about the Ubuntu installation experience. Ubiquity works very well, so there is no reason to make major changes to the process. The minimal installation mode is a welcome addition, but the only change to the installation process is the addition a radio button, so it really does not alter the familiar Ubiquity experience. Granted, the home folder encryption option being removed since the previous LTS is a pretty major change for some users, but full disk encryption is still an option.
Desktop environment
Rebooting my system after installation, I logged in and was greeted with a modified GNOME desktop that has an always-visible dock instead of the usual dash. A first-run welcome screen popped up and introduced the new Ubuntu experience. The first screen explained that "Ubuntu 18.04 works differently from older versions." However, the screen only provided a single image highlighting the basics of the new GNOME environment. The image is okay, but it could have provided more details about how things work. The next screen provides an option to enable a new Livepatch feature, which can apply updates that usually require a restart without needing to restart the system, but the feature requires an Ubuntu Single Sign-On account. After that, the user can "help improve Ubuntu" by sending some system information to Canonical. Finally, the welcome screen explains that "Software" can be used to install apps with several applications shown as examples and a button to "Open Software now."
Ubuntu 18.04 -- Welcome to Ubuntu
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Like most modern Linux distributions, the default software selection includes some of the most common applications. Firefox 59 is the web browser. Thunderbird 52 is the e-mail program. LibreOffice 6.0, except for LibreOffice Base, is installed for editing documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Rhythmbox and Videos serve as the default music and video players respectively. The rest of the default software is mostly the standard GNOME and Ubuntu utilities, plus a few games: AisleRiot Solitaire, Mahjongg, Mines, and Sudoku.
Users of Ubuntu 17.10 should not expect many changes when updating to Ubuntu 18.04 beyond newer versions of applications. Most of the GNOME applications have been updated to their 3.28 releases, but the upgrade to 3.28 bring mostly polish, not major change. However, unlike Ubuntu 17.10, Xorg is the default display software instead of Wayland. Since, Ubuntu 18.04 is an LTS release, it makes sense to be a little more conservative, but a Wayland session is still available for those who prefer it.
At one point there was talk about switching to a new graphical theme, but that did not happen for 18.04 LTS. While this is understandable, even the current, supposedly mature, theme has some problems. The default applications are fine, but there were a few instances of dark text appearing on a dark background and light text appearing on a light background when I installed some other applications. Some apps I had slight problems with were GNOME Boxes and the Enigmail plugin for Thunderbird. Most of these issues were minor, but there were still noticeable. Hopefully, they will get cleaned up before 18.04.1 comes out, if the issues have not already been fixed by the time this review is published.
As someone who typically uses standard GNOME, I found that Ubuntu 18.04's GNOME experience has some nice things and a few annoyances. At first I though I would find the dash annoying because my laptop's screen is only 1366x768, but after using it for some time, I came to like it. It was nice having simple, clear indicators for how many windows I had open for an application, file transfers, and unread messages. It was also nice that the dock was polished enough to always have the "Show applications" button visible. No matter how many applications I had running, I could always click on "Show applications." The other icons scrolled automatically if I moved the cursor over the top or bottom of the dock. I could also scroll though the applications using my touchpad when the cursor was over the dock. However, unlike the Unity dock, there is no trash can. Instead the trash can is on the desktop, which is handled by Files. Because GNOME Files 3.28 removed the code to handle desktop icons, Ubuntu uses GNOME Files 3.26, which means some new features are not available just so Ubuntu can have a trash can on the desktop. While some might dislike the removal of the desktop icon feature from Files 3.28, I found the desktop icons to be so broken that I would rather be required to open Files to handle the trash and mounted media. Every single time I mounted or remove a drive flash drive, I had to right click on the desktop and select "Organize desktop by name" because all the icons would stack on top of each other or not resort themselves to remove blank spaces after a drive was removed. Even worse, if I selected the option to hide the dock in the dock settings panel, the trash can and other icons end up being shifted so they appear half under the dock, which does not count the desktop as a window for hiding purposes.
Installing software
Software installation in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is done using Ubuntu Software. While not as "power user" friendly as Synaptic or using apt on the command line, Software is functional. It does a good job of presenting a well organized selection of applications. However, I really dislike how many proprietary applications appear as "Editor's Picks" and "Recommended Applications." Yes, I am more Stallman-esque than most, but I would very much prefer the promotion of applications that are open source over Slack, Skype, and some of the other "Editor's Picks."
Ubuntu 18.04 -- Ubuntu Software
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The proprietary applications are all snaps, which is fine in itself, but there is no quick and easy way to disable proprietary snaps or stop all snaps from showing up in Ubuntu Software. The Software & Updates application provides a tool for disabling various repositories (in 18.04 LTS it even has a new option for enabling the Livepatch feature), but there is no graphical way to stop snaps from showing up in Software. Removing the gnome-software-plugin-snap package using apt on the command line is an option, but more robust GUI options are really needed. As is, I could disable all package repositories except for "main" and the "security" and "updates" options and end up with a selection of snap applications in Software that would not conform to my desire to not run things that are proprietary or that have legal issues. I am certainly not opposed to the concept of snaps, but it would be nice to have a little more control over what kinds of apps appear as options to install on my computer. The current option is all or none, and none requires using apt to remove a package, which I can do, but is not as new user friendly as a checkbox in Software & Updates.
Using snaps
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS comes with four utilities as snaps: Calculator, Characters, Logs, and System Monitor. These four applications work just fine as snaps, but I found it odd that an LTS release was used as a testing ground for switching that many apps over to snaps. Granted, should a user not want to run these applications as snaps, they are also available as standard packages. I have left the snap versions installed, but I dislike the fact that I have a visible folder named snap in my home directory. Maybe having a visible directory is useful for other applications, but for the four default applications, I have never needed to browse the snap folder.
I also tried a few other snaps and the experience was somewhat mixed. Some applications ran perfectly, but others had some issues. When I tested out the Atom and Visual Studio Code snaps they worked great. The SuperTuxKart snap also worked wonderfully. However, I did have some issues with the ScummVM snap. ScummVM worked for the most part, but I could not set it to use OpenGL graphics. Whenever I tried to set the graphics to OpenGL, ScummVM would crash. The ScummVM snap appears to have the same OpenGL snap permissions as SuperTuxKart, but I could never get it to work right.
One of the other snaps I tried was the communitheme snap, which is a community developed new theme for Ubuntu. While it is still a work in progress, and I fully understand the need to be more conservative with LTS releases, I really like the theme and wish it could have been the default in 18.04 LTS. As I write this, it still has some issues with working with snap applications, but those should be fixed soon enough. The theme provides a very nice look, and it appears as a separate session on the login screen, so be sure to try it out, if you want something a little different.
Minimal installation
Before I finish, I want to touch briefly on the new minimal installation option that provides a way to start with a smaller selection of packages. It removes everything from the default installation except for Firefox and the standard utilities. If you are setting up an computer lab where the everything the users do will be based in a browser, the minimal installation is a great way to easily set that up. It also provides a way for users who want different applications to customize their systems without having to take the time to remove a large number of unwanted packages. I find the minimal installation too minimal for my personal tastes (I find the standard installation's software selection to be just about perfect), but I am glad the option was added in and hope other users find it useful.
Ubuntu 18.04 -- Minimal installation applications
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Final thoughts
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is not perfect, but it is very good. Users who are super conservative about change might want to stick to 16.04 LTS with Unity for now, but 18.04 LTS is a good desktop distribution that provides an excellent selection of default software for doing general tasks like checking e-mail and writing documents, and there is plenty of other software in the repositories for users who want to do more advanced things. There are a few rough edges that may, or may not, get cleaned up by the time 18.04.1 comes out, but none of them are bad enough to make Ubuntu 18.04 LTS unusable. At worst, the issues are minor annoyances. I realize that GNOME may not be for everyone, and may in itself be a reason to look elsewhere, but I do like Ubuntu's implementation of GNOME with the exception of the various issues with handling desktop icons. However, if GNOME is not for you, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS's other flavors provide the same Ubuntu base with other desktop environments, so check out those if GNOME is not to your liking.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Lenovo Ideapad 100-15IBD laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: 2.2GHz Intel Core i3-5020U CPU
- Storage: Seagate 500GB 5400 RPM hard drive
- Memory: 4GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8723BE 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter
- Display: Intel HD Graphics 5500
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Visitor supplied rating
Ubuntu has a visitor supplied average rating of: 7.7/10 from 293 review(s).
Have you used Ubuntu? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
UBports to run on Librem 5, Slackware makes PulseAudio optional, educational Linux comics
Purism is an organization working to develop a smart phone which will run a completely free and open source operating system, specifically PureOS. The Purism team have announced that they are working with the UBports team to get the modern version of Ubuntu Touch running on the phone's hardware: "Purism and UBports are partnering to offer Ubuntu Touch as a supported operating system on Purism’s Librem 5 smartphone. Being able to work with Purism and focus on the Librem 5 hardware platform ensures that the Ubuntu Touch mobile operating system developed by UBports will be well supported, tightly integrated, and that future compatibility will remain. When the Librem 5 is delivered to pre-order customers, it will become one of just a few smartphones that support the free and open source operating system." This means when the Librem 5 phone launches in 2019 it should be able to run PureOS with GNOME or KDE's Plasma Mobile desktop, or run UBports with the Unity 8 interface. The Purism blog has more details.
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Slackware is often conservative in adopting new technologies, waiting until upstream projects have time to mature before packaging them for inclusion in the distribution. One component Slackware was especially slow to adopt was PulseAudio, a sound system that most mainstream Linux distributions have been using for about a decade. Still, while PulseAudio is now available in Slackware, the developers are making it optional. The Slackware ChageLog states: "Don't like PulseAudio? Well... I hear you. Personally, it works for me, and it makes it easier to switch between multiple audio inputs and outputs compared to using plain ALSA. PulseAudio got off to a rocky start in the Linux world, where it found itself adopted before it was ready (it was even billed on its own website at the time as "the software that currently breaks your audio"). It's my opinion that the reputation that PulseAudio acquired due to problems back then isn't deserved any longer. If your hardware supports the sampling rate of the audio data you're trying to play, PulseAudio will not resample it (and if your hardware doesn't support that rate, resampling can hardly be avoided). The increased latency has not been an issue here. Nevertheless, I recognize that there are use cases where PulseAudio is still a detriment. While I don't generally recommend removing PulseAudio, I'm not going to cram it down your throat. So, if you'd like to be rid of PulseAudio, head over to the new extra/pure-alsa-system directory and follow the instructions in the README file there, and you'll have a PulseAudio-free pure ALSA system."
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We are always on the lookout for new resources which will help people get into and explore Linux. This week we would like to share a great series of web comics drawn by Julia Evans. The comics quickly provide overviews to such technical topics as file permissions, virtual memory, BASH scripting, task scheduling and using pipes. The comics provide readers with very quick, practical summaries of Linux-related topics and the illustrations assist in showing how components relate. The entire collection of comics is freely available on a page called Julia's Drawings.
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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) |
Accessing ZFS snapshots
Looking-inside-the-snapshot asks: I'm creating backups by taking a ZFS snapshot, creating a tarball out of it and copying it to a remote server for safe keeping. Can I check, on the server, that my snapshot is intact? I don't have enough hard drive space to create a new partition for a ZFS pool on the server. So I was thinking maybe I could mount the snapshot directly and browse through the files? How would I go about mounting a ZFS snapshot file?
DistroWatch answers: The tricky part of verifying a ZFS snapshot is, as far as I know, a ZFS snapshot is not made up of just raw data like an image (or clone) of an ext4 or UFS file system would be. The ZFS snapshot will include instructions or other meta data which means it cannot (based on my experience) be mounted directly as a loopback device.
The good news is you do not need a separate partition acting as a dedicated ZFS volume in order to access your ZFS snapshot. It is possible to create a new ZFS volume from a file inside your existing file system. This allows you to create a new ZFS volume which essentially acts as a loopback device. Then you can import your snapshot into your temporary ZFS volume. As long as you have enough disk space to hold a copy of the data in your snapshot, you should be fine.
Let's walk through an example. Here we assume you are logged into an account on the backup server. The first thing we need to do is create a file that is big enough to hold all the data in your snapshot. Here we create a 100MB file to hold our ZFS loopback system, adjust the size up to match your snapshot's size:
dd if=/dev/zero of=zfsloopback count=100000 bs=1000
Next, we turn this loopback file, called zfsloopback, into a ZFS volume. The volume will be called backups. This assumes you already have ZFS support installed and enabled on the remote server.
zpool create backups /path/to/zfsloopback
We now have a ZFS volume called backups which exists inside the empty zfsloopback file. At this point we can import the data from your backup archive into the ZFS volume.
cat my-backup-archive | zfs receive /backups/mybackup
In your backups ZFS volume you should now find all the files from your original ZFS snapshot. When you are done verifying the snapshot's contents, you can delete the temporary ZFS storage pool and remove the loopback file.
zfs umount backups
zpool destroy backups
rm zfsloopback
This is not as straight forward as mounting a loopback file directly, but it can be done fairly quickly and does not require the use of a separate partition or disk drive. As long as you have enough space to hold another copy of your archived files (the snapshot) there should not be any trouble in using this approach.
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More answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Ubuntu 18.04
Adam Conrad has announced the availability of Ubuntu 18.04 "Bionic Beaver". The new version is a long term support (LTS) release featuring the GNOME Shell desktop and version 4.15 of the Linux kernel. "The Ubuntu team is very pleased to announce our seventh long-term support release, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core. Codenamed "Bionic Beaver", 18.04 LTS continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, introducing new features and fixing bugs. The Ubuntu kernel has been updated to the 4.15 based Linux kernel, with additional support for Linux security module stacking, signing of POWER host and NV kernels, and improved support for IBM and Intel hardware enablement from Linux 4.16. Ubuntu Desktop 18.04 LTS brings a fresh look with the GNOME desktop environment. GNOME Shell on Ubuntu is designed to be easy to use for people upgrading from 16.04 LTS and presents a familiar user interface. New features for users upgrading from 16.04 LTS include assistance with logging in to public Wifi hotspots and the Night Light feature to reduce eye strain in the evenings." Further details can be found in the release announcement and in the release notes.
Ubuntu 18.04 -- Running GNOME Shell
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Ubuntu MATE 18.04
Martin Wimpress has announced the release of Ubuntu MATE 18.04, the latest version of the popular Ubuntu variant featuring the MATE desktop environment. This new version comes with the new MATE 1.20.1: "The MATE Desktop has transitioned from the GTK+ 2.24-based MATE 1.12 to the very latest MATE 1.20.1 based on GTK+ 3.22. This migration has been several years in the making, and most of 2016 and 2017 was spent refining the GTK+ 3 implementation. The move to GTK+ 3 has made it possible to introduce many of the new features you'll read about below. Support for libinput has been added and is now the default input handler for mouse and touchpad, which has resulted in much improved responsiveness and support for multi-finger touch gestures. Thanks to our friends at Hypra.fr, accessibility support (particularly for visually impaired users) has seen continued development and improvement. MATE Desktop is proud to provide visually impaired users the most accessible open-source desktop environment. MATE Desktop 1.20 supports HiDPI displays and if you have one then Ubuntu MATE will automatically enable pixel scaling, presenting you with a super crisp desktop and applications." See the detailed release announcement for further information and screenshots.
Ubuntu Budgie 18.04
David Mohammed has announced the release of Ubuntu Budgie 18.04, a desktop Linux distribution featuring the refreshingly simple Budgie desktop that aims to provide a "familiar, modern and functional experience": "We are pleased to announce the release of a new version of our distribution, the third as an official flavor of the Ubuntu family and our very first LTS. The LTS version is supported for 3 years while the regular releases are supported for 9 months. Based on 17.10 experiences, feedback and suggestions we have received from our users, the new release comes with a lot of new features, fixes and optimizations. Here is what you can expect with the new release: more customisation options via Budgie Welcome; lots more Budgie applets available to be installed; dynamic workspaces, hot-corners and Window shuffler; brand-new GTK+ theme called Pocillo; new applets as standard in the panel or available to be added via Budgie Settings." Here is the short release announcement with links to much more detailed release notes and screenshots.
Kubuntu 18.04
Kubuntu 18.04, an official Ubuntu flavour that features the powerful and customisable KDE Plasma 5 desktop, has been released. The new version introduces a number of notable changes, such as an updated theme, new video and music players, and extensive software upgrades throughout the system: "The Kubuntu Team is happy to announce that Kubuntu 18.04 LTS has been released, featuring the beautiful KDE Plasma 5.12 LTS - simple by default, powerful when needed. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, introducing new features and fixing bugs. Under the hood, there have been updates to many core packages, including a new 4.15-based kernel, KDE Frameworks 5.44, Plasma 5.12 LTS and KDE Applications 17.12.3. We've made some notable changes since 16.04 LTS. VLC is the default media player and Cantata Qt5 the default music player. Muon is now shipped by default for those who prefer a package manager as an alternative to the Plasma Discover software store. See the release announcement and release notes for additional details.
Xubuntu 18.04
Version 18.04 of Xubuntu, an Ubuntu variant that ships with the popular Xfce desktop, is now ready for download: "The Xubuntu team is happy to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 18.04. Xubuntu 18.04 is a long-term support (LTS) release and will be supported for 3 years, until April 2021. Highlights: some GNOME applications are replaced with corresponding MATE applications for improved consistency with almost identical set of features; the Sound Indicator plugin is replaced with the Xfce PulseAudio plugin in the panel, improving the control of volume and multimedia applications from the panel; the new xfce4-notifyd panel plugin is included, allowing users to easily toggle 'do not disturb' mode for notifications as well as view missed notifications; significantly improved menu editing with a new MenuLibre version; better support for HiDPI screens, better consistency and other improvements from the Greybird GTK+ theme." Read the release announcement and release notes for a detailed list of changes and known issues.
Xubuntu 18.04 -- Running the Xfce desktop
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Ubuntu Studio 18.04
The Ubuntu Studio team has published version 18.04 of their distribution. While Ubuntu Studio shares packages with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, this release is not a long term support (LTS) version and offers support for nine months. The distribution's release announcement states: "We are happy to announce the release of our latest version, Ubuntu Studio 18.04 Bionic Beaver! Unlike the other Ubuntu flavors, this release of Ubuntu Studio is not a Long-Term Support (LTS) release. As a regular release, it will be supported for 9 months. Although it is not a Long-Term Support release, it is still based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS which means the components will be supported as usual for a LTS release. Since it's just out, you may experience some issues, so you might want to wait a bit before upgrading. Please see the release notes for a complete list of changes and known issues." Further details can be found in the project's release notes.
Ubuntu Kylin 18.04
Ubuntu Kylin is a community edition of Ubuntu developed for Chinese users. The project has released a new version, Ubuntu Kylin 18.04, which ships with the Kylin Video media player, Kylin Assistant to help configure the operating system and Burner, a customized version of the Brasero disc burning software. "Ubuntu Kylin Software Store includes Ubuntu Kylin Software Centre, Ubuntu Kylin Developer Platform and Ubuntu Kylin Repository. Its interface is simple but with powerful functions and it supports both Ubuntu and Ubuntu Kylin repositories. It is especially convenient for quick installation of Chinese characteristic software developed by Ubuntu Kylin team. Kylin Assistant, a system management and configuration tool we developed for Linux users, could show system information, clean up system garbage and beautify system. It makes your desktop more smooth, more user-friendly, and enriched with personality. In this release, we optimize the framework to reduce the resource usage, add file shredder, UD SSO, Spanish supporting and configuration for Cinnamon, and improve the task manager." The release announcement (Chinese, English) offers more information.
Lubuntu 18.04
Simon Quigley has announced the release of Lubuntu 18.04, a desktop distribution featuring the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment (LXDE). The release of the "Lubuntu Next" variant, with the Qt-based LXQt desktop instead of LXDE, was once again postponed. "Thanks to all the hard work from our contributors, Lubuntu 18.04 LTS has been released. With the code name of 'Bionic Beaver', Lubuntu 18.04 LTS is the 14th release of Lubuntu, with support until April 2021. New features: Ubuntu 18.04 ships with a version 4.15-based Linux kernel, enabling the latest hardware and peripherals available from IBM, Intel and others; OpenJDK 10 is the default JRE/JDK, once OpenJDK 11 reaches general availability in September 2018, it will become the default in 18.04; GCC is now set to default to compile applications as position independent executables (PIE) as well as with immediate binding, to make more effective use of Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)." Read the release announcement and release notes for more details.
Lubuntu 18.04 -- Running LXDE
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OpenIndiana 2018.04
Alexander Pyhalov has announced the release of a new version of OpenIndiana, an open source operating system which is a continuation of OpenSolaris. The new version, OpenIndiana 2018.04, features a rebuilt userland using version 6 of the GNU Compiler Collection. The GNOME 2 desktop has been removed in favour of MATE. The release announcement reads: "We have released a new OpenIndiana Hipster snapshot 2018.04. The noticeable changes: Userland software is rebuilt with GCC 6. KPTI was enabled to mitigate recent security issues in Intel CPUs. Support of GNOME 2 desktop was removed. Linked images now support zoneproxy service. MATE desktop applications are delivered as 64-bit-only. Upower support was integrated. IIIM was removed." Further information can be found in the project's release notes. The operating system is available in three editions: Graphical (GUI), Text and Minimal.
Voyager Live 18.04
Voyager Live is an Xubuntu-based distribution and live DVD showcasing the Xfce desktop environment for French users. The project latest release, Voyager Live 18.04, is a long term support release offering three years of support. An English translation of the original French release announcement reads: "I present you with Voyager 18.04 LTS with three years of long-term support (LTS), until April 2021. A variant based on Xubuntu 18.04 (Bionic Beaver) with the Xfce desktop and version 4.15 of the Linux kernel. This project is done by a team who I wish to thank for their valuable work. Attention, Voyager is only a pushed variant of Xubuntu. The entire internal structure of Xubuntu 18.04 LTS is left by default to avoid any security issues and packages. All updates come from official Ubuntu. Voyager 18.04 LTS is multi-profile and multitasking in an aesthetic and immersive environment as much as possible and this, since the origins of Voyager, is so that the time spent on your machine is more enjoyable."
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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: 826
- Total data uploaded: 19.2TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll |
Ubuntu running GNOME Shell versus Unity
This week Canonical launched the first long term support (LTS) version of Ubuntu using the GNOME Shell desktop as the default graphical interface. Previously Ubuntu has used the Unity 7 desktop and, before that, GNOME 2. This week we would like to hear what you think of this change. Do you think cooperating with GNOME makes for a better experience, do you miss Unity, or would you like to see Ubuntu using another option?
You can see the results of our previous poll on dual booting versus virtual machines in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Ubuntu running GNOME Shell versus Unity
| I like the change to GNOME Shell: | 427 (25%) |
| I preferred Unity: | 248 (15%) |
| I preferred GNOME 2/MATE: | 495 (30%) |
| I would like them to use another option: | 318 (19%) |
| No preference: | 189 (11%) |
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| DistroWatch.com News |
Distributions added to waiting list
- Manjaro WebDad. Manjaro WebDad is an unofficial re-spin of Manjaro Linux featuring the Just Another Desktop Environment (JADE) made with Web technologies.
- Alien-OS. Alien-OS is a Linux distribution based on Kubuntu for German users.
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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, 7 May 2018. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
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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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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • 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 | 
LormaLinux
LormaLinux was developed by the MIS Department of Lorma Colleges in the Philippines. It was built on top of Red Hat Linux - recompiled and optimized for the i686 computers, so it was faster and leaner. Perfect as a workstation and it comes on only 1 CD. It also contains software from the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) for setting up diskless workstations. It uses KDE for its desktop environment and was constantly being updated. LormaLinux was a full-featured Linux distribution specifically made for ease of use and functionality.
Status: Discontinued
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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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0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
