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1 • Distribution updates. (by R.Cain on 2018-11-19 02:10:55 GMT from United States)
I am not a fan of applying. or even paying attention to updates--even when all Linux distros went crazy issuing all manner of kernel updates...and updates...and updates...because of the 'Spectre' and 'Meltdown' issues. And please don't bother to respond with your doomsday scenarios. I've been running Mint 17.3 ever since installing it when it became available, have never installed any updates, and have *never* had to perform a 're-install' (perhaps I didn't have a 'Spectre' or 'Meltdown' problem *precisely because* I never updated my system when it really didn't need to be updated?).
The ONLY downside are the damnable nagware banners across the top of the screen from Yahoo occasionally telling me that DIRE things are getting ready to happen to me because my browser is "...CRITICALLY out of date...". The only dire things that have happened is that this nagware keeps showing up. Why haven't I updated to something beyond 17.3? Because that was the last, BEST version of Mint. And then Mint went stupid. And lost its #1 ranking. See the latest DistroWatch 7-day rolling average, if you need convincing. Mint has turned into nothing more than an Ubuntu clone--'Ubuntu with Cinnamon', as it were.
Mint 17.3 will stay on this machine as long as the machine lives. When I get a new, or different, machine, it appears as though the only distro with all the good qualities of 17.3 Mint is now MX Linux. And I'll continue with MY strategy regarding updates. Which works beautifully.
2 • Distribution updates (by Moat on 2018-11-19 03:39:42 GMT from United States)
I tend to agree with R.Cain, above - the fervor to update as largely provoked by a current culture of runaway Security Nannies seems to often introduce more everyday end-user disadvantages than it's worth, for such extremely remote likelihoods of related security issues (for home desktop use, that is; business use = an *entirely different story*). And indeed, the Mint 17.x series was pretty much the pinnacle of an OOTB "everything works", trouble-free distro. The Mint 18/19 series are still nearly as excellent, but both definitely represented a bit of a step backwards in relation to issues/bugs/papercuts (mostly minor stuff).
But, R.Cain - I *would* suggest updating your browser, at least, to relieve yourself of that Yahoo (and other sites, I'm sure) "out of date" page nagging. Unfortunately, the internet is a rapidly moving & developing target - and browsers have to be constantly updated in order to keep up with those changes. A sad fact of web use... but unavoidable at this point.
Either that, or look into disabling that "nagging" within the browser, itself (for example, I use Firefox, and within it are many available background tweaks/customizations via it's hidden "about:config" settings).
FWIW...
3 • updates (by Trihexagonal on 2018-11-19 03:52:16 GMT from United States)
I use ports exclusively on my FreeBSD boxen so updating 3rd party programs for me consists of keeping the ports tree up to date and checking for vulnerabilities on a daily basis. Patches need to come from upstream so the time that passes between an exploit being found and patched can vary.
If it's only a version bump for a program I may or may not update depending on the program. I keep the number of programs I install to a minimum and always use the same ones.
Updates for the base system are separate. Those are checked for daily and addressed as needed.
4 • Mint and updates (by RV on 2018-11-19 05:34:11 GMT from Romania)
@1 Whilst I can only echo your opinion on the current state of affairs in Mintlandia, I don't think your approach with regards to security updates is adequate. Even if you're wary of performing frequent system-wide updates, nothing's stopping you from updating your web browser (with Firefox it's as easy as untarring the official archive and overwriting /usr/lib/firefox) .
One of the great things about Linux is that it offers uncanny amounts of choice and freedom. Just like you, I had been using Mint exclusively for a number of years, and thought that 17.3 was the epitome of operating systems. It wasn't until I got out of my comfort zone and started testing various other distros that I've found that several of them (antiX/MX, Antergos, Artix) were nothing short of brilliant and, in fact, met my needs even better that the old Mint 17.3 ever did.
5 • Updates (by Bin on 2018-11-19 05:46:43 GMT from United Kingdom)
I have been running unattended upgrades on my systems since as long as it has been possible to do so.
It all got a bit silly with systemd based stuff but that was because the .timer files were in need of a tweak.
That aside it just works. OK the 50unattended file takes a bit of sorting when you're using PPAs or other additional sources. I've used linux since October 1998 and in all that time have only ever had one update issue with an xserver upgrade.
Seeing all the fun our Windows using colleagues have with their latest distro I do feel a bit sorry for them.
6 • Updates, easy peasy! (by Brad on 2018-11-19 06:05:35 GMT from United States)
I've been through the gauntlet of many distros, distro-hopping etc. I used Mint/PcLinuxOS for a few years. Then took the plunge w/ bleeding edge; ArchLinux... Cut my teeth on Manjaro, enjoyed it so much, went arch proper and haven't looked back in years.. one command.. "pacman -Syyu" and "yay-syyu" updates everything.. no ppas, no forcing installs, no mess.. unless you DO NOT read the homepage and see if there's any interventions you must do or what to watch out for.. I'm NOT saying Mint/hand-holding distros don't have their place, they do... I'm only saying once I went Arch, I've never looked back and anything else is no longer "comfortable" for me to use.. but YMMV. I say use what you can figure out, what you can understand, what you can install and what makes you use your computer the way you want and the way you like..
7 • bash commands (by vern on 2018-11-19 06:50:13 GMT from United States)
I enjoy reading your bash examples.
One of my newest commands deals with getting all the currency from the end of every line and adding the results. The problem is each line has multiple tabs spaces, etc. Hence the command:
grep \\$ ~/TheFile | tr -d "$," | paste -sd+ | bc
grep gets the currency which begins with the dollar sign ($) the '\\' escapes the EOL character '$'
tr removes all "," and the dollar sign for use in adding
piping into paste get a "+" (add) to each value, and
bc adds up the value. For example:
$1,134.25
$1,583.90
$267.99
$2,520.55
$178.36
$6.98
$283.02
$178.36
gets this
1134.25+1583.90+267.99+2520.55+178.36+6.98+283.02+178.36
then 'bc' will add that up and post the results (6153.41).
8 • To update or not, that is the ? (by Sondar on 2018-11-19 08:25:50 GMT from United Kingdom)
Agree about Mint17.3, I still have it and run it. And Mint 18 & 19. And MX as well as a few minor players (but not Manjaro - don't like it). Suppose it was the hated systemd that set the feline loose amongst the birdies?
The answer is caddies. Have as many distros as hard discs you can handle - they're so cheap these days. Tidy folks could use one of those letter cabinets to hold discs, all neatly labelled, like in a server repository. I don't bother, just mark them with a permanent pen and stack them on top of the box.
9 • NetBSD (by pin on 2018-11-19 08:44:16 GMT from Sweden)
I was happy to see a review on NetBSD 8.0 this week. I'm currently using NetBSD as a daily driver on a laptop running awesome wm :-)
Must say I haven't experienced any of the issues with sound and/or video, everything works as expected. Didn't try to set-up xfce though.
I really like this OS and how minimal and effective it can be. In case anyone would be interested, I've written a little guide for newcomers that you can find here, https://unitedbsd.com/t/netbsd-a-little-guide-for-newcomers/261
Regards.
10 • Updates, what updates? (by Griffin MacAuley on 2018-11-19 09:21:44 GMT from United States)
I am little bit confused with variety of updates in Linux with thousands security holes and moles right from boot-loaders, bloated-back-doored kernels, home dialing browsers, apps and shutdown.
There are plenty of boot-loaders, variety of system initialization, tons of similar applications,
But, only one kernel that all distros normally stick to.
Is it not really strange?
Does anyone ever think of forking linux main stream kernel apart from libre-linux?
My head starts spinning with variety of updates.
11 • bash commands (by greenpossum on 2018-11-19 09:44:10 GMT from Australia)
How could you write about previous arguments and miss a very common case, reusing the last argument of the previous command?
ls somefile
ls -l !$
12 • Updates (by John on 2018-11-19 10:11:49 GMT from United States)
I agree - use old proven distros that come on CD/DVD.
Gotta try mint 17.3. This box uses old AntiX.
Just works. What a concept.
If there were just a decent browser!! I generally use dumbed down Dillo which is still way to smart. Forget about the latest encryption. What a sad joke.
I am reading distrowatch on dillo. Nice :).
More browser junk and bloatware: All so the Google Giggle gets bigger and more obtuse.
John
13 • netbsd (by Tim on 2018-11-19 10:46:40 GMT from United States)
Nice job this week Jesse I really enjoyed the review. I used NetBSD 6 to keep an old iMac G4 going a couple of years ago and really learned to like it. I need to think of another project to get me using it again. I actually learned to kind of love twm from it.
As for the rest of you, update your systems. The idea it’s some sort of a burden is nonsense. I just shut down the computer by updating apt and then sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo poweroff.
14 • Size and frequency of package updates (by jim on 2018-11-19 11:05:20 GMT from United States)
This week opinion poll seems pretty worthless. Opinions will vary on what is small and what is large. Same with what is frequent and what is infrequent, I don't know my chosen Distros opinion on how their update schedules are released. It also seem updates have more to do with discovered bugs and vulnerabilities as to when released and size. Point releases and distribution upgrades can be quick or take a long time on the same Distro over time.
15 • Command line parameters (by SuperOscar on 2018-11-19 12:02:31 GMT from Finland)
I don’t like “bang history”, I find it too difficult to remember (or recheck) the numbers. Instead I created the following Zsh function and bound it to a shortcut key:
LBUFFER=$(fc -ln -1)
This copies the whole of the previous command line in the present position. This is extremely useful if you just forgot to “sudo”: type “sudo”, press the shortcut key, and hey! There’s the command in its correct form.
16 • @15, correction (by SuperOscar on 2018-11-19 12:03:21 GMT from Finland)
Oops, sorry, meant:
LBUFFER+=$(fc -ln -1)
17 • @11 reuse last parameter of command (by Marjorie on 2018-11-19 14:07:50 GMT from United States)
Had not heard of !$ before. I often use the alt-dot keystroke which will print the last parameter of the previous command into the one you are typing. Surprised no one mentioned this tip.
18 • package updates (by dogma on 2018-11-19 15:08:50 GMT from United States)
I always avoided anything like rolling release because I’d read a million experiences of how common it was to have a broken system (esp. in the case of Arch — where it seemed to be brought up almost as a point of pride, as in basically “I’m manly enough to handle this. But probably you aren’t!” kind of young man idiocy.)
But then I switched package from quarterly to latest on freebsd quite a while ago when I wanted some particular security update that wasn’t getting propagated, and it’s been going well so far.
19 • NetBSD: the documentation is scattered (by petras on 2018-11-19 15:42:44 GMT from Switzerland)
Thank you for reviewing NetBSD 8.0. I think you're right saying that « the (NetBSD) documentation is scattered ». Yes, NetBSD Guide isn't comparable as the beautiful and powerful FreeBSD handbook.
NetBSD has really good documentation in ... manpages and directly in source code as comments.
Maybe someone is interested updating the online NetBSD documentation, building a nice User Guide inspired by FreeBSD handbook plus the tons of NetBSD documentation available in manpage and source code.
20 • 8 • To update or not, that is the ? (by Sondar) (by CountryYokel on 2018-11-19 18:47:00 GMT from United Kingdom)
Totally agree with Sondar including the permanent marker - HDs are so inexpensive now that swapping one rather than multi-booting is the way to go.
That way experimenting with a distro is a no-risk proposition.
21 • Updates (by Rooster12 on 2018-11-19 19:59:47 GMT from United States)
It would be safe to say the bigger the iso, would generate more apps updates along with the kernel. Systemd is growing in size and adds substantially to a bloated distribution.
On the other hand, security is important, so whatever it takes to stay secure I'm for but let's not allow exploit code into Linux, then we are nothing more than what we are trying to get away from with Windows.
Have been watching that arc with Linux, full circle toward being a Windows-like OS.
We don't need or want that folks, it's should be about FOSS and KISS, keep it minimal and unbloated!
22 • Windows (currently w10) EasyBCD Grub4Dos Easy2Boot Linux Live ISOs (by jmichael2497 on 2018-11-19 20:44:01 GMT from United States)
that is my current setup on "for fun" living room tv laptop was w7p64 currently w10p64.
install and run EasyBCD to add NeoGrub entry then retitle to Grub4Dos.
delete C:\NST\NeoGrub.mbr
delete C:\NeoGrub
delete C:\NST\menu.lst
md C:\grub
copy _ISO\docs\linux_utils\grldr.mbr to C:\NST\NeoGrub.mbr
copy \grldr to C:\
copy \menu.lst to C:\grub\menu.lst
xcopy /herky _ISO\*.* C:\_ISO\*.*
drop linux live ISOs in the linux subfolder, use wincontig to defrag that folder, reboot and have fun trying linux live distros that make proper isohybrid bootable images.
(so this doesn't work for quickly testing LibreELEC without wasting actual flash drive life cycles on their non-standard image, but that is what vbox is for)
i use windows zsync script to grab current Lubuntu LTS every friday, and deltas for puppy bionic, or for those who don't bother to offer zsync updates to reduce everyone's bandwidth costs, then i will at least use linuxtracker for bittorrents of smaller distros.
i like trying Antix, Bodhi, Slax, Porteus, Puppy, and even the Android x86-64 8.1 works (so why doesn't LibreELEC use isohybrid?) but generally stick with Lubuntu since that one already has Fx with DRM watching ability required by legit streaming sites (easy for the roomie so i can avoid adding a profile on my windows).
Heads and Tails both don't seem able to get TOR running but only tried on this device in this network (but at least Heads was the one that seems to allow non-TOR), so ymmv.
hope that helps.
23 • Windows (currently w10) EasyBCD Grub4Dos Easy2Boot Linux Live ISOs (by jmichael2497 on 2018-11-19 20:47:22 GMT from United States)
oops forgot to specify all those commands are relative from the root of Easy2Boot folder, such a handy set of scripts intended for external usb drives, but this is how i use it on my internal hdd and mostly works just fine without having to waste usb flash drive life cycles.
24 • Voyager GE (by Any on 2018-11-19 21:05:43 GMT from Netherlands)
Just tried Voyager GE in VirtualBox and it's too slow (with 2GB RAM). I liked the distro and it's site but I've never liked GNOME Shell. I tried (using it) many times but every time it is a no go. Very nice job, Voyager, though.
Updates - I don't like updating. Once I have the OS installed (and maybe updated) I disable the updates if the system has the shape I want, and leave it. I'm a bit conservative - if a thing works fine, then do not touch it!
Jesse, very nice tips and tricks. Thank you.
25 • @15 Command line parameters (by greenpossum on 2018-11-19 21:10:46 GMT from Australia)
Or in bash just uparrow and ctrl-A to move to the beginning of the command to prepend sudo.
26 • updates (by Friar Tux on 2018-11-20 00:49:43 GMT from Canada)
The Wife and I, both, run Mint 18.3 and love it. Not sure why folks are haling the praises of 17.3 but that's their choice (maybe someone can clarify in another comment - do a comparison). As to updating, The Wife never remembers to update (or purposely forgets). I update when I'm not going to be on my laptop for a while - mealtime, nature calling, and such. And, you know, 'R.Cain' in comment #1 may have a point. I have found NO difference in either Mint 18.3 OS. Both seem to operate at about the same speed and usability. And speed and usability are the only important factors for the two of us, that's why we switched to Linux in the first place.
27 • @R.Cain (by Sam on 2018-11-20 05:54:50 GMT from Australia)
I love people like you. They make my job as a pen tester super easy. Customers love it when my report shows I got root access and importfiles in less than 3 minutes.
Protip: updates are important
28 • Linux Mint versions (by Morton on 2018-11-20 10:18:49 GMT from Ukraine)
Linux Mint 17 is the most stable desktop OS I ever seen. I have been running Mint 17 since it first showed in 2014 on several laptops and desktops without any problem. I installed it on the external 'pocket' HDD and the same '17.3' is starting promptly on different hardware. It's a shame that support will end next spring. Anyway I ran several systems every day including Linux Mint 17, 18 and 19 and it's a pleasure to use all of them, sometimes choice depends on newer software base. Mint 19 is built on Ubuntu 18.04 and making the most of it in usability department. Cinnamon DE and its standard apps are constantly improving and it is still one of the best full-featured Desktop available. So I see no logic in negative comments regarding Mint 18 and 19 which are based paradoxically on a great success of Linux Mint 17.
29 • @25 Command line parameters (by SuperOscar on 2018-11-20 12:29:26 GMT from Finland)
Of course you can do that in Zsh too, but I find it’s the wrong way around.
Actually I first created a “sudoing function” that just prepends “sudo” to the last command and runs it. Bind the following function to a shortcut key:
sudo $(fc -ln -1)
But then I found many more prepending needs that just sudoing.
30 • Bash (by phil on 2018-11-20 14:43:07 GMT from United Kingdom)
#11 already mentioned it, but I use !$ all the time.
You can also use !^ to substitute the first parameter (not the command)
I also set shopt -s histverify in my .bashrc which means the substitutions will be made in the command prompt rather than just executing. It does mean you have to hit return twice but you get used to it pretty quickly.
Ctrl-R is something else I would struggle without.
31 • Post # 4 and Post # 12 (by Winchester on 2018-11-20 14:48:18 GMT from United States)
Regarding post # 4 , you can (and some recommend) extracting the latest official FireFox to /opt/ instead of to /usr/lib/.
Then, you just execute /opt/firefox/firefox.
Since in this case FireFox is already installed with any dependencies.
You can also create a new desktop file or launcher the same as the original only changing the exec= line to exec=/opt/firefox/firefox. Save it as Mozilla_FireFox.desktop or some other alternate name instead of just firefox.desktop which should be the original file.
Just be aware that sometimes while using MATE and Caja,when you create a new desktop file by editing an existing one,it might end-up being named .desktop.desktop unless you are careful.
Regarding post # 12,whether or not a distribution comes on a CD or DVD is irrelevant. The vast majority of them can be burned to CD or DVD or just put on a USB flash drive.
Old distribution,not really a good idea. A proven distribution is just that. Less popular distributions work fine also. Some of them do,anyway. And some have good features and qualities missing in more popular distributions. The experience often depends on your specific hardware.
32 • Firefox (by Morton on 2018-11-20 15:45:05 GMT from Ukraine)
More to post 31:
After extracting the latest FireFox to /opt/ you may
execute
sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox-latest
and create launcher pointing to /usr/bin/firefox-latest
Additionally installing FireFox ESR from
mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/
and extracing it to /opt/firefoxESR/
execute
sudo ln -s /opt/firefoxESR/firefox /usr/bin/firefox-ESR
and create launcher pointing to /usr/bin/firefox-ESR
To use both Firefox intermittently you need to create separate profile directories and edit your profiles.ini accordingly in /home/user/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini
To start both versions simultaneously use in launcher switch
--no-remote -p profile_name
33 • Agree with @14 (by Dxvid on 2018-11-20 21:15:16 GMT from Sweden)
I think you need to define large, small, frequent and infrequent for the poll to give a relevant result. Also my distro sometimes send out a small diff/incremental update of a few kB, and sometimes a 10+MB update. Most weeks there's new updates 4 days/week but it depends on if there are security problems found or not. Also it depends on the repo's you're getting your stuff from, if the repo tries to be very stable or have the latest stuff. In the distro I'm using I can choose stable or latest.
34 • Reply to @1 @2 and others who don't apply updates (by Dxvid on 2018-11-20 21:30:49 GMT from Sweden)
If you're using Linux on a desktop/laptop for personal use and have a firewall with no open ports you're not at very high risk. I believe most patches/security updates in the Linux world are targeted for servers with ports open to the internet, important corporate servers which need to be both stable and secure, important corporate desktop installations for improving productivity and security, etc... The distros targeted for less important usage (private home use, hobby projects, etc) mainly apply security patches because someone else fixed the issues and made them available for free (SUSE, RedHat, Ubuntu, Debian, or Linux kernel devs) and it might please some users to have the latest patches.
On a desktop Linux installation it's more important to have security updates in browsers and email programs and other things accessing the internet and running stuff locally (javascript or other client side scripts).
35 • @ 27--Sam from Australia (by R. Cain on 2018-11-20 23:59:27 GMT from United States)
So, you get "...root access and importfiles in less than 3 minutes...", do you?
What takes you so long? Why are your customers happy with *this*?
It would be a really good topic for DistroWatch to somehow work the subject of *real* Forensic Software into their normal flow of important topics. Then you could be immensely more efficient (and, by the way, you'll *never* compromise my system. You'll never know *how* I know that, either).
ProTip: Have all facts. Don't shoot self in foot. Then comment.
36 • Updates, @9 netbsd for newcomers (by saravanan on 2018-11-21 03:39:30 GMT from United States)
Receiving Updates seems to be not that frequent on some distribution. In some distributions which "keep it simple stupid" or "keep it simple secure" principles receive updates regularly due to the dependency on the lightness of number of packages installed and patches they receive. Linux community is contributing and updating is good.
@9 netbsd for newcomers
Thank you for sharing the link.
37 • @26; @28; Linux Mint. (by R. Cain on 2018-11-21 18:00:48 GMT from United States)
"...Not sure why folks are haling the praises of 17.3..."
"...So I see no logic in negative comments regarding Mint 18 and 19 which are based paradoxically on a great success of Linux Mint 17."
Because 17.3 was, and still is, one of the best Linux distributions, period. Linux Mint 17.3 Xfce was judged to be *THE BEST* Linux distribution of *ALL LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS* going into 2017.
Mint's decline started when it tied itself to Ubuntu 16.04 (which was , coincidentally, when Ubuntu started using 'systemd'--ABSOLUTELY no correlation implied) and has continued to slide ever since.
Mint's blogs--regarding Mint 19--are filled with comments similar to "...I reported this bug to you, and even filled out a bug report back when I started using Mint 18.1. You STILL haven't fixed it...".
Consider over three thousand bugs reported in Mint's blogs--at Mint's request of its users--with the beta releases of Mint 19 and Mint LMDE3 (these comments have now been taken down, of course. I still have copies, of course).
It's not hard; simply read Mint's blogs regularly. Make absolutely certain that your 'fanboy echo chamber filter' is enabled...
38 • Why copies? (by Garon on 2018-11-21 18:33:45 GMT from United States)
@37
You stated,"Consider over three thousand bugs reported in Mint's blogs--at Mint's request of its users--with the beta releases of Mint 19 and Mint LMDE3 (these comments have now been taken down, of course. I still have copies, of course)."
I was just curious as to why you kept copies. Are you a Mint user and just trying to prove a point? I know that some of Mint users are fanboys and some are not. The fanboys are the ones who blame all of Mint's problems on Ubuntu it seems. I see that as kind of comical. If you are a serious developer and maintainer of a distro then you should maintain it and not past the buck. Of course if you are an Ubuntu hater then you would blame all the bad bugs of distros based on Ubuntu as being Ubuntu fault. So strange.
I'm not a Mint user. I use Ubuntu Mate and MX Linux mostly. I would still be an Ubuntu user if they hadn't caved in to the elitist Linux community and dropped Unity. Not a good place for innovation is it?
Number of Comments: 38
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| 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 |
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ByzantineOS
ByzantineOS was a software Internet Appliance with a home entertainment bias. It was based on a networked Linux distribution/bootable system with Mozilla providing access to a range of services and applications. ByzantineOS fits on a 32MB (or 48MB) media and should work on any PC. With ByzantineOS CD-ROM, there was no need for hard-disks or floppy drives.
Status: Discontinued
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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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