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1 • Kubuntu (by Vern on 2019-04-15 00:09:20 GMT from United States)
Please review Kubuntu. I have been using 19.04 for a while now and it is the best KDE that I've used in a long while. The older PC I used Lubuntu because Kubuntu wouldn't work because of nvidia.
2 • Ubuntu (by brad on 2019-04-15 00:25:43 GMT from United States)
Please review Ubuntu - the other variants (DE's) have better distros to showcase their strengths; KDE (Neon, Manjaro); XFCE (MX); Budgie (Solus); MATE (Mint). Ubuntu's default DE (Gnome) would be an interesting contrast against Fedora. You could even have someone review whatever distro uses Unity nowadays...
3 • DE Showdown Please, rather than Buntu Showdown (by BeGo on 2019-04-15 00:52:47 GMT from Indonesia)
Rather than Ubuntu Showdown, I prefer to see Desktop Environment Showdown.
My reference already too ancient, from Plasma 4 Era, when KDE won "Memory Voracity Award" :P
https://l3net.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/a-memory-comparison-of-light-linux-desktops/ https://flexion.org/posts/2014-03-memory-consumption-of-linux-desktop-environments/
4 • Contrasting distro reviews (by Joe on 2019-04-15 01:32:01 GMT from New Zealand)
I think for reviews, to get the "original intent" it would be best to go with the "main" edition. For Ubuntu the Gnome default, for Manjaro the Xcfe, etc. I like the idea Brad(USA) suggested above, review Ubuntu against Fedora. Such reviews could get people's blood pressure up, but such reviews could be useful for people to decide which distro suits them best. I also like the idea of a desktops shootout. I think Manjaro now supports the widest range of desktops. Between their main editions and the community ones, must be over half a dozen. This would be an enormous amount of work, but have the Manjaro core as a base so the desktop vs desktop tests would not be affected by distro A doing something different to distro B. Sigh. Have I just suggested content for DW #811 through #2999?
5 • review preference (by denflen on 2019-04-15 01:45:24 GMT from United States)
I could be wrong, but I think Lubuntu is the distro undergoing the biggest change at the moment. Lubuntu 18.10 started the evolution of switching from lxde desktop to lxqt desktop. I would like to know if the rough edges have been ironed out or not. I am a big fan of Lubuntu, but quite sure about it using lxqt.....
6 • newphone (by bOK on 2019-04-15 02:01:47 GMT from Australia)
looking forward to the pinephone release, and hope it does for phones what the raspberry PI did for SBCs
7 • Mate or XFCE ... predictably stable. (by Greg Zeng on 2019-04-15 02:38:31 GMT from Australia)
So stable, that I expect the reviewer to be bored. For typical users, that is what we want. The operating system should be like the road in a highway: to not be noticed, to not interfere with our interests in eith fun or work. I'd be interested in its performance on a 4k screen (television set, etc), and use with WINE.
8 • Lubuntu for review (by albinard on 2019-04-15 02:58:18 GMT from United States)
The 19.04 release of Lubuntu is the second Lubuntu using the LXQt desktop. In my experience with the Beta version it is handling Libreoffice pages faster than all the GTK+ desktops do. If you handle a lot of LibO documents, that becomes a huge plus. I plan to replace one of my Xubuntu 18.04 desktops with this Lubuntu: the benefit even outweighs the stability of an LTS, for me.
9 • Poll: Ubuntu to review (by saltygreysoup on 2019-04-15 03:03:58 GMT from Australia)
Lubuntu for review, is my vote...now with the LXQT desktop, moving on from the light but aging LXDE desktop. 'sigh' I think I am bias in my view and would appreciate an objective look at the new Lubuntu.Thank you
10 • Ubuntu (by Andy Figueroa on 2019-04-15 03:21:01 GMT from United States)
Ubuntu? Yawn! Lubuntu, I guess. :-)
11 • Issues with SolydX (by Alburgheiro on 2019-04-15 04:40:22 GMT from Russia) The reported issue with the wallpaper and as well as the annoying Chromium password requests also appear in Linux Mint 19 Xfce.
In Mint, the default wallpaper configuration works out of the box but if the users set a wallpaper from a different location they won't be able to set a wallpaper again.
In addition, last week I trying to post a comment explaining that Flakon compiles without issues or extra configuration steps in Debian Testing but my comment didn't go through.
12 • Ubuntu (by UkPete on 2019-04-15 07:11:21 GMT from United Kingdom)
As a Lubuntu user and having tried the lxqt version.(Don't like). Be interesting to see what you think. May be a move to Antix for me.
13 • @ 12 Lubuntu-Qt (by OstroL on 2019-04-15 08:49:26 GMT from Poland)
Agreed! There's no way to "develop" Lubuntu other than staying with Openbox and LXDE. Moving to LXQt is like being a little brother to Kubuntu. The strangest part of new Lubuntu-Qt is that it uses more memory than Kubuntu at idling.
14 • Ubuntu Reviews (by Jim on 2019-04-15 10:04:39 GMT from United States)
I don't really care which Ubuntu is reviewed, but I will say this, Ubuntu 19.04 will be found all over the Internet, on multiple sites, both Tech and Linus sites. Why not do a flavor to be different? (I am a Ubuntu Mate User)
15 • Which Ubuntu? (by steve on 2019-04-15 10:50:14 GMT from Switzerland)
Who cares! They are all Ubuntu.But you can make a general review of Ubuntu 19.04 looking at what is new, including all the flavors.
16 • Poll (by Fox on 2019-04-15 11:17:06 GMT from Canada)
Ubuntu; I'm interested in a review of the new Gnome stack. But if possible, include a mini-review of a few other flavours.
17 • SolydX, XFCE wallpaper changing (by Hoos on 2019-04-15 11:43:31 GMT from Singapore)
It's not a SolydX bug, but the non-intuitive way that XFCE 4.12 goes about the process of changing wallpaper.
You have to choose the wallpaper folder, not the individual picture files within the folder (which are greyed out in the file chooser dialogue window).
Once the folder is chosen and you are returned to the main Desktop Settings window, all the picture files in the folder will be displayed. You then click on the wallpaper you want displayed on the desktop.
18 • Bedrock (by Jim on 2019-04-15 12:48:01 GMT from United States)
I was thoroughly intrigued with your review of Bedrock Linux! What an interesting concept?! I think I have similar outlooks/viewpoints as you (the reviewer) and would probably be interested in Bedrock for similar reasons. The only thing you failed to investigate or report, which I would have liked to have seen, is what type of system resources/overhead Bedrock "layers" may add to the system. I think a fair comparison would be to report the RAM usage at idle, from a cold boot, of the underlying "host" or base system. Then a report of the RAM usage at idle, from a cold boot, of the same system after Bedrock installation. By extrapolation, I think this would be a reasonable approximation of Bedrock resource consumption.
Other than that, you have whetted my appetite. I'm off to learn more about Bedrock and mull the different ways I may integrate this software into my workflows?! THANK YOU!
19 • 'buntu review(s) (by Jordan on 2019-04-15 12:49:04 GMT from United States)
@10 .. You beat me to it. :oD
No, "None Of The Above" choice.
20 • Ubuntu Reviews (by Jim on 2019-04-15 12:52:00 GMT from United States)
I agree with the other Jim in comment #14. IMO, Lubuntu seems to be undergoing the most drastic changes right now, in a very accelerated manner. I'd like to know more about THAT distro, and how the maturation of LXQt is coming along! JMO...
21 • @17 (by Hoos) (by NoBody on 2019-04-15 13:03:15 GMT from Switzerland)
"It's not a SolydX bug, but the non-intuitive way that XFCE 4.12 goes about the process of changing wallpaper."
Right click on some image and choose "Set as wallpaper" is "non-intuitive way"???
https://ibb.co/dGXys2c
22 • Lubuntu lxqt (by james on 2019-04-15 13:04:50 GMT from Switzerland)
@13 "there is no other way..." no, there is an other way as we all can see (using the lxqt desktop, which btw. does include openbox!) but you can allways install the lubuntu lxde desktop, if you like it better. So no worries!
23 • @21 - XFCE wallpaper chooser (by Hoos on 2019-04-15 13:28:07 GMT from Singapore)
My post was a response to Jesse's SolydX review above, where he talks about his problems setting wallpaper (the last paragraph in the section called "Early Impressions") and posts a screenshot of the XFCE Desktop Settings and the greyed out picture files in the selected folder.
Clearly his trouble was with the interface of the Desktop Settings tool in XFCE.
24 • Bedrock - interesting but never mainstream (by Kingneutron on 2019-04-15 13:35:05 GMT from United States)
Bedrock is an interesting thought experiment, but will be inherently unstable. Plodging together different packages from distros -and- package managers is nightmare fuel.
Even running Knoppix installed to HD (mix of stable, unstable and testing packages) a few years ago, I ran into irreparable package conflicts after a few months - and that was within the same "family"!
In Mac-land, having both Macports and brew installed can be a little bit tricky. Although doing that saved my butt when brew's Geeqie broke for El Capitan 10.11 -- I was able to get it working again with Macports (and Imagemagick as well)
I believe the way forward will be Flatpak and Snap.
25 • @24 (by voidpin on 2019-04-15 14:16:18 GMT from Sweden)
Hopefully, you'll be proven wrong. Flatpak and snap are a security nightmare and system bloat. I'm already running *BSD on a second machine. If you're right, I'll ditch Linux and move full time tog *BSD.
26 • Ubuntu Studio dying? (by Heavy Metal Guitar God on 2019-04-15 14:34:55 GMT from United States)
I’ve been a Ubuntu Studio user for years, but recently things seem to be on the verge of falling apart, with the dropping of LTS, the coming change to a fat desktop, and near revocation of official flavor status. This is sad because, despite the existence of other media production distros, none of them have the turnkey usability of Ubuntu Studio. I am on the verge of buying a Mac if things don’t improve. I’d love for you to show me that my fears are misplaced and Ubuntu Studio is better than ever.
27 • Wallpaper (by Jesse on 2019-04-15 14:49:06 GMT from Canada)
@17: "It's not a SolydX bug, but the non-intuitive way that XFCE 4.12 goes about the process of changing wallpaper.
This is incorrect. I tried this on other distributions and the wallpaper folder selection tool on other distributions works. The bug only exists in SolydXK.
@23: "Clearly his trouble was with the interface of the Desktop Settings tool in XFCE."
The problem with the solution you suggested is that I could not browse into _any_ folders, not just bottom-level ones. Let's say, for example, I go into Desktop Settings and choose the button to select a new wallpaper location. If I click the breadcrumbs button at the top to switch to the /usr/share folder, it is then impossible to browse into _any_ directories under /usr/share. I can't even get back to the backgrounds directory as they are all greyed out. Every folder in every directory is blocked.
The folder selection dialog is broken and blocks navigating to any/all sub-folders, even if they have their own folders inside them.
Again, this only happens for me on SolydXK. If I use any other distro with Xfce I can browse into sub-folders.
28 • What to review... (by Friar Tux on 2019-04-15 14:52:22 GMT from Canada)
I was hoping for something different. Most of us know the 'buntus, and the write-ups (here on DW) are fairly accurate. I'd like to see a review of a dead/inactive OS and why it should be brought back. I think there's a treasure trove of past OS's that were gems in their day and could be again. @11, the Chrome/Chromium password request nuisance appears to be with the browser itself as the same issue happens in a few other OS's and DE's. One thing I have noticed is the when I don't sign out of my gmail account Chromium stops asking for a password (not sure about Chrome). @17, who still changes their wallpaper using the settings dialog? Just go to the picture you like , right click, and pick 'Set As Wallpaper' from the menu. The only time I still go to settings is if I want to change the timing on the 'slideshow' settings.
29 • @ 22 taken out of context.. (by OstroL on 2019-04-15 15:04:20 GMT from Poland)
"there is no other way..." and "There's no way.." are 2 different things. The "other" takes away the meaning. Goes out of context...anyway...
When Lubuntu came by quite some time ago, it added a desktop to Openbox, and most importantly, Lubuntu would allow any old computer some more life. Also, Lubuntu ran swiftly in a newer compter. The former Lubuntu developers have gone now, most probably not wanting to change the ideas, not wanting to move to Qt.
Now, if you read the official Lubuntu web site, you'd find that they are not offering the Lubuntu-Qt for older computers. The Lubuntu idea is dead, and Lubuntu is dead. Only the name is still there. You are better of using Kubuntu.
30 • chrooted in opposite corner (by Echo from the void on 2019-04-15 15:01:55 GMT from Norway)
@24 not really.
Their FAQ says it uses various virtual filesystem layer tools
31 • PinePhone (by Geo Savage on 2019-04-15 15:21:15 GMT from Canada)
Encouraged by PinePhone, but I still long for the day when I can run private and secure Linux on a phone.
Yes, I know about UBPorts, but It would be nice to have something new than a Nexus 5 and with auto install.
CyanogenMod was so close. Maybe I can get LineageOS to work on my phone.
32 • chrooted in opposite corner (by Echo from the void on 2019-04-15 15:46:55 GMT from Norway)
@24 not really. Their FAQ says it uses various virtual filesystem layer tools
33 • ubuntu review (by Hank Slackman on 2019-04-15 16:14:36 GMT from Belgium)
I voted xubuntu, because I find it the most suitable edition for me. But really main Ubuntu edition should be reviewed first. All other editions are part of the same ecosystem, with a different interface and/or framework. I just don't like gnome (lack of customization, bloated, etc)
But let's be realistic, all editions will probably get exposure here, since it generates traffic.
34 • Bedrock, MX Linux, Ubuntu MATE, Fedora (by Roy on 2019-04-15 17:18:14 GMT from United States)
I downloaded and tried MX Linux. I prefer Mate over XFCE. Especially, Ubuntu MATE's version of Mate. But really liked MX Linux's calendar over Ubuntu MATE's. I was intrigued with Bedrock. Would be nice to see some respins of Bedrock like Fedora does.
35 • Poll (by dragonmouth on 2019-04-15 17:32:40 GMT from United States)
None of the Above. Everybody and his brother is going to be reviewing the *buntus as soon as the new versions are released. I'd like to see a DW review of any distro that has no chance of ever being covered by the me-too mainstream tech pundits. (i.e. something else besides Fedora or *buntu family)
36 • Distro Review (by M.Z. on 2019-04-15 17:40:48 GMT from United States)
I've never been much of an Ubuntu fan, but the main edition & where that is at in terms of the Gnome 3 transition seem to be the version with the most impact on the Linux Desktop generally, so it gets my vote. I found Unity to be a fairly mediocre step up from Gnome 3 initially, though an improvement nonetheless. Now they've moved back toward a DE that constantly has me saying 'but do you really think most users want a design like THAT?', though Ubuntu seem to be moving half a step towards the Unity way of doing things.
Regardless of my personal feelings toward Ubuntu & Gnome 3, the Ubuntu name is still one with a lot of wider exposure compared to most distros & it's something that could very much affect the general impression of Linux to the wider world. That's why I think their main edition matters a lot even if I never use their distro or its community versions directly.
37 • Can't you use Bedrock to review all those Ubuntu flavors at once? (by CS on 2019-04-15 19:25:14 GMT from United States)
Picking an Ubuntu flavor is like playing Russian Roulette with 5 chambers loaded. Seriously all I want to know is which one is Ubuntu least unstable and is least likely to fry my laptop UEFI.
38 • Ubuntu MATE (by Roger on 2019-04-15 19:41:46 GMT from Belgium)
Ubuntu MATE for me please, Mate that's the one I use daily on Linux Mint.
39 • @37 stability (by Sim card on 2019-04-15 20:28:53 GMT from Brazil)
As with any distribution, Xfce variant is always the rock solid one.
"Stick with Xfce"
40 • Bedrock Linux (by Jessica on 2019-04-15 20:31:47 GMT from United States)
@28 well Linspire came back and look at what happened to it. It is just a Xubuntu clone that you can pay and get support. Boo! The Amiga never died as we got AROS, OS 4, and Morph OS. DOS never Died as we got FreeDOS, Arca OS, and Ecomstation. Be OS is alive in Haiku. Mac OSX is stil alive and you can now download the Open Darwin ISO images As for the Linux side who would care other then Lunduke fans like me. I would like to see EasyPeasy brought back with a QT based Unity CUDE (Classic Unity Desktop Envionment). Bringing back EDEbuntu would be cool as the last version was on 14.04 or CDEbuntu would be niece. Debian BSD (NO I AM NOT GOING TO LET IT GO!). Cub linux is needed but got killed off and Cloudready and clones do not replace it as they removed the chrome app launcher. Solus OS was cool as it had a custom desktop that was not based on Gnome like current Bundgi is. Pear OS had cool icons but who knows who bought it (I think it was eOS who bought the project)? Moebuntu would be cool to get a new full iso. Commodore OS was neat to use back in the day of Commodore USA (not to be confused by Commodore Internation run by Gold during the 80's). Blue-eyed OS was neat of a concept and so was tilt OS. Seeing love for the sequal to Web OS would be good.
@24 & 25: Universal apps are not reliable and suck. Snaps only work on X86 and that makes them garbage. I can't use them on my PowerMac or my PI so what is the point of them. Most apps can't be ported because they are closed source. I would move over to FreeBSD if the PowerPC support and app support did not suck right now. No one can run any code on the PS3 so why have PPC built for that when they would run it on a Mac. Power 9 is a diffrent architeure so you don't even have to worry about that. You can't use them on your Pi ether and as that is the way both Microsoft and Apple are going you should be scared. Also XFCE is better then Mate so why is it not the default for GhostBSD?
41 • Vote for next review (by eznix on 2019-04-15 22:00:55 GMT from United States)
Ubuntu? Why bother? All of the flavors will be covered ad nauseam. There is no need to review any of *buntu flavors. Same base, different desktop, boring!
42 • Review Which Ubunto Flavour (by Rev_Don on 2019-04-15 22:50:23 GMT from United States)
Considering that Lubuntu with it's switch to LXQT from LXDE and dropping 32 bit support will more than likely be the "Buntu with the biggest changes it would probably make the most sense to review it. As many have stated previously there will be more than enough coverage of Ubuntu Prime, U-Mate, Kubuntu, and the rest that DWs time would seem to be better spent focusing on Lubuntu, at least for this cycle.
At least that is the way I see it. Other folks mileage may vary.
43 • Lubuntu (by Jesse on 2019-04-15 23:03:42 GMT from Canada)
In response to all the suggestions of a review of Lubuntu to compare the newer LXQt against the old LXDE flavour, we did that for version 18.10. There probably isn't a lot of new ground to cover there. The 18.10 review is here: https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20181029#lubuntu
44 • ubuntus (by Gary W on 2019-04-16 01:16:10 GMT from Australia)
I wasn't able to respond to this poll. As others have suggested, the latest Ubuntus are not the milestone that they once were. Although it is a slick family, and easy to work with, hence rather good for newbies, the gloss has worn off for me. This release is not even an LTS. The Ubuntus I've tried still appear to be prone to regressions, and the less said the better about the Init-That-Should-Not-Be-Named.
45 • bedrock linux (by Tim on 2019-04-16 02:28:04 GMT from United States)
I visited the bedrock site, and one question I couldn't find an answer to is whether you can add strata from different versions of an OS. Like if I wanted to run Ubuntu 19.04 but with some packages from 16.04, is that possible?
46 • Uy Uy (by Xi Dhum Thuat on 2019-04-16 05:49:40 GMT from Greece)
Unbuntu Kylin in Chinese, and all of @ 40's favorites.
47 • Ubuntu and the derivatives - review (by Akoy on 2019-04-16 07:03:39 GMT from United Kingdom)
If at all, a review is needed, it should be done on the default Ubuntu, and on weather it is better than the last Ubuntu with Unity 7. Gnome shell is usually slow and stutter. The windows move with a jump, not like it was in 16.04 or 17.04. The default snap packages are much slower than the deb ones. And, so on...
Most of the "derivatives" ar eone-man shows -- Ubuntu-budgie, Lubuntu-qt (won't call it Lubuntu, for it is not!), Ubuntu-mate. Xubuntu has few developers, but is so old fashioned, not worth a review -- any old review 2-3 years ago would give the same results. If one really wants to review a modern derivative, it would be Kubuntu.
Cannonical has no interest in the desktop, so few community developers are still looking after the default Ubuntu, for they are somewhat Gnome shell lovers. Some are still paid by Cannonical, so they'd be there until the pay check arrives. Most of the community developers would leave in time, a natural happening in Linux.
48 • Reviews (by Friar Tux on 2019-04-16 13:52:50 GMT from Canada)
@40 (Jessica) Now we're talkin', folks. Reviewing these should keep DW employed for a while. By the way, talking about wallpaper issues, I haven't seen anything in Linux that allows you to use a gif loop, or such, as the wallpaper. Who's dropped that ball?
49 • Re Ubuntu Studio (by Maik on 2019-04-16 15:17:22 GMT from Belgium)
@26 Ubuntu Studio isn't dying. The project is in need of volunteers to help with development as has been clarified in this blogpost last year. https://ubuntustudio.org/2018/05/clarification-on-non-lts-status-of-ubuntu-studio-18-04/
If there were enough people to help out they wouldn't have to drop the LTS version. You can't expect 3 to 4 people to maintain various releases, build and maintain packages plus document everything too. Not to forget the work on the website and artwork stuff.
The reason Ubuntu Studio is still around is because Erich Eickmeyer stepped up and got involved. I myself joined in a couple of days ago because the guys need all the help they can get especially when it comes to testing isos for the new release.
We are all volunteers who have a job, family, go to school and what not. We don't get paid for doing this. We do it because of our love and passion for open source and linux projects.
I'll just quote what Erich said on IRC: "In the open source community, there's no excuse for being upset about your favorite project dying. If you don't want it to happen, get involved. "
Simple as that.
50 • Lubuntu-LXQT and recent review (by saltygreysoup on 2019-04-16 20:19:23 GMT from Australia)
@43 thanks for the reminder Jesse, I mean no disrespect to Simon Quigley either, I appreciate Lubuntu is still alive and being developed. I use a $70 (AUD) 2nd hand computer, Intel Core i7-3770 with 8gb RAM and an SSD. I just feel nostalgic for my first Linux experience. Changing my vote for Ubuntu 18.10, last Distrowatch review was 18.04.
51 • @50 Lubuntu (by OstroL on 2019-04-17 07:31:38 GMT from Poland)
"I mean no disrespect to Simon Quigley either, I appreciate Lubuntu is still alive and being developed."
Simon is developing Lubuntu-Qt, which is not Lubuntu, the one that we knew. Lubuntu is gone, so are the developers. Lubuntu-Qt is a buggy one, which Lubuntu never was. It is also quite slow and uses more memory than Kubuntu. They should change the name to Lubuntu-Qt, or Qubuntu.
52 • @51 Lubuntu-Qt (by James on 2019-04-17 08:00:40 GMT from Switzerland)
Well well well...let's see: things change, big news! Did you think once, Mr.Ostrol, why Lubuntu should use a DE which is Gtk2-based and not actively developped, whit the prospect of not having any future in a constantly changing computing world?
Also I would sugest you first try Lubuntu-Qt bevor anoncing how buggy and slow it is.
53 • @52 (by OstroL on 2019-04-17 10:42:00 GMT from Poland)
"Also I would sugest you first try Lubuntu-Qt bevor anoncing how buggy and slow it is."
Don't worry about that. I've been trying Lubuntu-Qt from the day 1. So, I know that it is buggy and slow. Much slower than the elder brother Kubuntu. It should be named Qubuntu or Qtubuntu, rather than Lubuntu. All the original developers have long time gone, the idea is gone, so the name too.And, it is no longer "light," so the "L" letter has no value any more.
54 • @52 Lubuntu or Lubuntu-Qt (by Pierre on 2019-04-17 11:15:59 GMT from United Kingdom)
There's a reason not to use the "new" Lubuntu-Qt, that is the availability of another, better Qt distro around, based on KDE, which uses just 336MB memory at idle, and also boots, responds faster than the "new" Lubuntu-Qt.
True that PCMan is behind the PCManFM-Qt, but it is slower than the PCManFM that many of us are used to.
55 • What to review. (by Garon on 2019-04-17 12:04:17 GMT from United States)
I would vote for a review of Kubuntu. Since Canonical dropped Unity I can't seem to warm up to Gnome shell. I just don't like the work flow. I'm sure that whatever is picked to review, the review will be good.
56 • LXQT (by Vern on 2019-04-17 18:02:57 GMT from United States)
I have zero problems with the new Lubuntu-QT. I personally like it much better, and it is faster than the old LXDE version.
I read a lot of complaints, but I haven't experienced them. Hardware, graphics, etc may be more the issue.
I glad they went from LXDE to LXQT.
57 • So what is the name of the distro that you think is better? (by Ted H in Minnesota on 2019-04-17 19:54:47 GMT from United States)
54 • Lubuntu or Lubuntu-Qt (by Pierre on 2019-04-17 11:15:59 GMT from United Kingdom) "There's a reason not to use the "new" Lubuntu-Qt, that is the availability of another, better Qt distro around, based on KDE, which uses just 336MB memory at idle, and also boots, responds faster than the "new" Lubuntu-Qt."
You left us hanging...You didn't name the distro you think is better. So... What is it, already?!
58 • @ 61 (by Pierre on 2019-04-17 20:25:52 GMT from United Kingdom)
How many KDE based distros are there in the Ubuntu family of derivatives?
59 • buntora (by brOK on 2019-04-19 00:41:49 GMT from Moldova, Republic of)
When Fedora is released which one of the desktop spins do you review? You normally review the official release which is a gnome spin. So probly should be the same for buntu.
Happy Easter
60 • LXQT, @54 (by WhoamiOS on 2019-04-19 02:17:38 GMT from France)
I use the Plasma DE because it suits me better, but lighter and faster than LXQT it is not, at least on my hardware and my Virtualbox. I prefer Kubuntu becuse it suits me better. I get more like 410MB at idle, which is still pretty good, but Lubuntu is lower at around 330. I also don't see it as being any slower. Admittedly, Lubuntu uses more resources than it used to, but that can't all be blamed on LXQT. Try Sparky Linux with LXQT, which is also still available in 32 bit.
61 • @60 Sparky Linux (by Akoy on 2019-04-19 07:36:08 GMT from United Kingdom)
"Try Sparky Linux with LXQT, which is also still available in 32 bit." That's different. Sparky is based on Debian Testing, meaning on pure Debian. Also, Sparky's main distro is/was always on LXDE. Pavroo had been there for a long time. LXQT is one of Sparky's "derivatives."
Sparky is one of the still surviving Linux distros, based on Debian Testing. And, still the best. By the way, if you are interested in the history of Linux distros, BSD, DOS, Solaris etc have look here https://archiveos.org You'd be surprised at what you'd find there!
62 • LXQT, @61 (by WhoamiOS on 2019-04-19 15:47:26 GMT from France)
"That's different." Precisely the point. In a different distro, LXQT can be lighter. Does not need to be Debian. The lubuntu-qt-desktop package installed on Bodhi (Ubuntu-based) runs at around 200MB.
63 • @62 (by OstroL on 2019-04-20 08:54:45 GMT from Poland)
Interestingly, if you get rid of Lxqt, obconf-qt and all the kde/qt packages from Lubuntu-Qt, them reinstall lxde, you'd get a much snappier desktop environment. If you need kde packages, you should install Kubuntu, or any other KDE based distro. What the use of having a second-rated KDE?
64 • LXQT on older PC (by Vern on 2019-04-20 14:35:42 GMT from United States)
@63, reason being, I could not run Kubuntu using my 10 year old computer, but Lubuntu-QT ran just fine and was snappy.
65 • @62, (by Qutiepi on 2019-04-21 02:55:50 GMT from United Kingdom)
"What the use of having a second-rated KDE?" What's the use of having a second-rated XFCE?
66 • MXLinux (by Jordan on 2019-04-21 13:10:16 GMT from United States)
Manjaro just dipped to the #2 spot on the PHR list, with MXLinux taking over #1.
Users get a choice as to systemd or not, with MXLinux, as it is present but not enabled. I'm wondering if that is one of the reasons for the rise of that distsro. There are a lot of other reasons to install and keep MXLinux, but one of my reasons for keeping it as my main OS is that choice.
67 • Pop Trends (by Vern on 2019-04-21 14:43:34 GMT from United States)
@66, MX Linux popularity is only here, and it very well may be their forum users coming here everyday. I did a Google Trends on several operating systems, and MX Linux didn't even show up. Manjaro, Arch, Ubuntu, Debian, etc showed lots of data.
At Manjaro they discourage such discussions, but MX Linux even has topic on the matter.
68 • MX-Linux is popular ONLY on DistroWatch. (by R. Cain on 2019-04-21 20:34:47 GMT from United States)
@66--
MX-Linux has occupied the #1 spot for more than six months. Simply refer to DistroWatch's "Page Hit Ranking" page (menu at the top of the Home Page), where there are four columns: "Last 12 months" through "Last 1 month". Because of this lack of granularity, MX-Linux has probably occupied the #1 slot for more than the last six months. And yes; being "systemd"-free, as well as being a FULL-FEATURED, light-to-mid-weight distribution certainly has a lot to do with MX-Linux's rise. See...
"MX Linux MX-18 & 10-year-old Nvidia-powered laptop" Updated: April 13, 2019 | Category: Linux -- https://www.dedoimedo.com/ "MX Linux MX-18 & 10-year-old EeePC netbook - Fantastic" Updated: April 1, 2019 | Category: Linux -- https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/eeepc-mx-linux.html ["..MX Linux MX-18.1 Continuum has restored life to my netbook. It runs beautifully fast, it's elegant, loaded with real, practical goodies. The tremendous part is really the speed. This mini-laptop was weak even when I bought it, but to be able to keep using it in a nice fashion a decade later is truly an achievement. I want to thank all of you for your suggestions, and the MX Linux team for their excellent little product...."]
@67--
In this day and time, it stretches credulity to realize that some otherwise knowledgeable people do NOT realize that Google manipulates the data which it returns to the requesting party.
"...MX Linux popularity is only here...". Fanbois much? Read much? Start with the first part of this post.
"...At Manjaro they discourage such discussions, but MX Linux even has topic on the matter."
Is this supposed to be a *positive* for Manjaro? Inclusion of this red herring seems to prove that Manjaro does not understand--or more to the point, does not WANT--open, transparent, objective discussion of their product and, at *least* just as importantly, comparison with other distributions.
69 • @66 Jordan: (by dragonmouth on 2019-04-21 20:53:27 GMT from United States)
If systemd is not enabled in MX 18 then why is it installed by default, and why can it not be uninstalled without trashing the system?
70 • Google Trends must be biased. (by Marcos Pereira de Sousa on 2019-04-21 21:59:33 GMT from Brazil)
I suspect that Google* will NOT show ALL the options in the table.
Number of Comments: 70
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
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Archives |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Damn Vulnerable Linux
Damn Vulnerable Linux (DVL) was a Slackware and Slax-based live DVD. The distribution, purposefully stuffed with broken, ill-configured, outdated and exploitable software, began life as a training system used during the author's university lectures. Its primary goal was to design a Linux system that was as vulnerable as possible -- in order to teach and demonstrate a variety of security topics, including reverse code engineering, buffer overflows, shell code development, web exploitation, and SQL injection.
Status: Discontinued
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