 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 817, 3 June 2019 |
Welcome to this year's 22nd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
We start the month of June with a review of one of the most popular distributions of Linux among our visitors - the Cinnamon edition of the rolling-release Manjaro Linux. The article, written by Ivan Sanders, not only examines various aspects of the distribution and project, it also offers solutions to several (minor) problems that the author encountered during his testing. In the news section, we link to a story about the underrated but highly useful Ubuntu Security Podcast, examine the recent announcements from Dell and System76 about their powerful line of Linux laptops, visit the newly-released Condres Control Centre, and present the lightweight QtFM file manager that has been recently introduced into the SparkyLinux distribution. And speaking about Linux notebooks, we also have mouth-watering review of Entroware Apollo, an exciting piece of hardware produced by the UK-based company which specialises in Linux solutions. Last but not least, as we celebrate the 18th birthday of DistroWatch, we have a quick survey and a simple question: How long have you been visiting DistroWatch? Happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Ivan Sanders) |
Manjaro Linux 18.0.4
Manjaro has truly come of age. Since its inception, the community behind Manjaro has endeavored to make an Arch-inspired Linux distribution that works out of the box, and I think they have hit a home run with the release of 18.0.4. The Manjaro hardware detection (mhwd) service is the real star of the show and gets almost any computer up and running straight from the installation.
What is Manjaro?
Manjaro is the increasingly popular Linux distribution based on Arch Linux which aims to be a free and open-source replacement for Windows or macOS. According to their website Manjaro, "Provides all the benefits of cutting-edge software combined with a focus on getting started quickly, automated tools to require less manual intervention." Let's break that down.
As written above, Manjaro is Arch Linux-based and Arch Linux means cutting edge. What Manjaro adds to that equation is stability while still being Arch based. If you take the bleeding edge that is Arch Linux and you take a small step back from that edge, you get Manjaro). Manjaro does this by having its own repositories where it tests packages for a time (about two weeks, give or take). Manjaro has a stable branch, which I tested, a testing branch, and an unstable branch. Manjaro's unstable branch, "Usually runs inside of three days behind Arch package releases & are modified as necessary to suit Manjaro using the unstable branch may consequently break your system!" Arch-based does not mean the same thing as Arch Linux.
Selection of desktop environments
Manjaro comes in four flagship editions and seven community editions. The flagship editions available are Xfce, KDE Plasma, the GNOME desktop environment, and the fourth flagship edition is Manjaro-Architect. Manjaro-Architect is is a text based net-installer which downloads the latest packages and enables the user to 100% completely customize their Manjaro experience from kernel to desktop environment. The community editions offer Manjaro in the following desktop environments (and some window managers): Cinnamon, Openbox, Awesome, Budgie, MATE, i3, and Deepin. I'm quite impressed with the selection available.
Manjaro Linux 18.0.4 -- Running the Firefox browser with Netflix
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For the purposes of this review I used the Cinnamon desktop environment, for no other reason than I happen to like Cinnamon. Yes, it is a little RAM heavy, but it is modern and easy. If you are interested in a light version of Manjaro I recommend Xfce or MATE for a fully functional desktop environment or Openbox or i3 for a super-lightweight window manager. Any Manjaro experience you choose, Manjaro promises to be Manjaro whether you are on a community edition or a flagship. Each desktop environment has its own benefits and drawbacks, and we won't go into that here.
Installation
Before you install Manjaro, the fancy boot menu allows you to select drivers for your install. If the user has NVIDIA graphics, it is generally recommended to select non-free drivers. After the boot screen, Manjaro detects your hardware and properly configures the system before booting into a live desktop environment where you can try out the system or move into the installation.
Manjaro uses the modern Calamares installer. Calamares is an independent installer framework; it is a fully functional installer and features an advanced partitioner that can do all the work for the user or allow partitioning manually. Many other distributions also use the Calamares installer and it is well documented across the Linux community. I had no issues with the Calamares installer. It was great. I did not dual boot. I installed the root (/) onto my NVMe SSD and mounted my /home filesystem onto my HDD.
Manjaro Linux 18.0.4 -- Displaying information about the system
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Settings
There are two main settings areas, the classic system settings with almost everything a user would be looking for, and then there is the Manjaro Settings Manager. The Manjaro Settings Manager is a very useful tool that enables the user to install drivers, select open source options or proprietary, auto-install drivers, and change the kernel being used. Using the auto-install proprietary drivers setting worked well with my hardware. Initially, I was using kernel 4.19.32-1, which is LTS and recommended. I was eager to see the process and update the kernel to the newest Linux kernel 5.0.5 through the Manjaro Settings Manager, but I was also terrified that this would break my system, NVIDIA, X.Org, or something along the way. To my surprise, updating the kernel worked very well and I was able to use the new kernel on my next restart. Manjaro defaults to the newest kernel installed but the user has the option of selecting kernels from the boot screen if the user wants to use a different kernel.
The ease of Manjaro is what really stood out to me throughout the entire review process.
Manjaro Linux 18.0.4 -- Installing a new kernel
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Hardware
Lets take a moment to talk about laptops with NVIDIA and integrated Intel graphics processors, a set-up known as Optimus. Optimus laptops have been notoriously difficult to work with in Linux and many distributions have problems or difficulties setting up and installing on those laptops. Most notably is the black screen on boot. I had this issue years ago when I first tried Manjaro and I was sure this would happen again, but it did not. I am blown away by the good job Manjaro does in managing a computer's hardware.
Manjaro Linux 18.0.4 -- Browsing settings modules
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Manjaro uses a tool called mhwd, or Manjaro Hardware Detection. mhwd, "Enables the automatic detection and configuration of computer hardware the system is running on," and it is run during the installation process. This tool really does a great job at installing the operating system and making sure it works with the hardware presented. On my Optimus laptop, I had no problems running programs with my NVIDIA card when I wanted to by using primusrun, a command which uses Bumblebee to, "Offload rendering to the NVIDIA GPU." To fully use the NVIDIA graphics card, however, some users may prefer to run the entire system on the NVIDIA card and disable the Intel card at times. This can be done by using the program optimus-manager and the instructions for doing this are very simple to follow on the Manjaro wiki.
Manjaro Linux 18.0.4 -- The Manjaro Settings Manager
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Software
Typically on Linux distributions I use the terminal quite a bit, especially when installing software. Manjaro uses Pamac as its primary package manager but Arch's command line package manager - pacman - is still available. Pamac is able to build from the Arch User Repository (AUR), which gives the user an even greater selection of software to choose from. I found, however, that Pamac's graphical user interface (pamac-manager) was fast and clean. I even resorted to using Pamac in its graphical form more than using the command line. I feel like this is almost taboo for most Linux users to admit, but pamac-manager is an excellent software manager. It is easy to use, clean, and concerning users who may be coming from a different operating system, it is more familiar and less daunting than the command line.
Manjaro Linux 18.0.4 -- Downloading a collection of updates
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Manjaro (with the possible exception of the Architect edition) comes pre-installed with around 1,000 packages (at least on the Cinnamon edition, Ubuntu usually ships with more than 1,600 packages, for reference). Firefox, GIMP, Thunderbird, the LibreOffice suite, and VLC are just a few notable examples. I was very impressed with the dark theme and its usage across every program I used (the pre-installed Cinnamon theme is Adapta-Nokto-Maia). Not a single program loaded the theme wrong or in a broken state (many of Ubuntu's programs installed from the Snap store is an example of GTK themes not working).
Manjaro Linux 18.0.4 -- Available themes
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Forum / Wiki
I realize the forum and wiki aren't actually a part of a Linux distribution. That being said, the wiki helped me in every situation where I needed it and it was clearly written. Additionally, the forum is very easy to maneuver, search works well, and it is available in many languages (some are more active than others). The community behind Manjaro was a positive experience.
Manjaro Linux 18.0.4 -- Transferring files over Bluetooth
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Conclusions
I've always been a big fan of Ubuntu because of ease of use and it always seemed to work with my hardware, but I've always had a desire to use a rolling release and have more control over my system. Manjaro really impressed me with how well it worked on my computer, even with pretty new hardware (mhwd gets the credit here). Other things about Manjaro that seal the deal are Pamac, Manjaro Settings Manager, and the community. I don't think I can ever go back to the release model that Ubuntu uses and I will be using Manjaro as my distro of choice for the foreseeable future.
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Hardware used in this review
- Laptop - Lenovo Legion Y530
- Processor: Intel Core i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz x 6
- Storage: 256GB NVMe SSD Samsung and 1TB HDD
- Memory: 16GB
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411
- Display: 1920x1080 @ 60Hz
- Graphics: Intel Corporation UHD Graphics 630, NVIDIA Corporation GP106M [GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile]
At startup, Manjaro Cinnamon used 772MB of RAM.
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Post Script: Problems and technical considerations
The problems I had with Manjaro were very few and exceedingly easy to fix. The community and wiki were helpful in troubleshooting the problems I had. I will list the problems I had which were probably specific to my hardware:
I have a newer Lenovo computer, so I had to manually blacklist the ideapad_laptop module to use wi-fi.
The standard, non-free drivers installation was impressive, but primusrun did not enable my HDMI port. The only way I could get my HDMI port to work was when only using the NVIDIA graphics card and optimus-manager, which I prefer anyways. I wrote a simple, one line script to switch graphics using optimus-manager and connected it to a launcher on my panel:
optimus-manager --print-mode | grep -q intel && gnome-terminal -- optimus-manager --switch nvidia || gnome-terminal -- optimus-manager --switch intel
This one line command basically states, "Hey computer, what GPU am I using? Is it the Intel integrated GPU? If that is correct, change to NVIDIA. Otherwise, change to the Intel GPU." Setting this simple script to a launcher on my panel made switching graphics as easy as clicking on the icon (I used the NVIDIA icon). When I want my battery to last, I use the Intel GPU. When I want to game, I use the NVIDIA GPU. The GPU applet indicator on the panel indicates what GPU I am using; if it is using the NVIDIA GPU it displays the temperature. Otherwise the applet does not display the temperature because the NVIDIA GPU is unreachable. Setting up optimus-manager was as easy as reading the relevant wiki page.
I was never able to get audio through HDMI to work, even with pavucontrol. Not an issue if you use speakers that are not in your monitor, but for use with a TV with integrated speakers, the sound only works through the computer or the aux port. This may be an issue specific to my hardware. I was troubleshooting this issue for approximately 15 minutes.
My computer hangs for approximately 1.5 minutes on shutdown (and during the shutdown process of reboot) nearly every time. This happened on kernels 4.19.34, 5.0.5, and 5.0.7. I was troubleshooting this issue for approximately 25 minutes before I found a fix. Running the following command fixed the shutdown hang on kernel 5.x.x.
sudo systemctl mask lvm2-monitor
According to forums this is only a temporary fix until the kernel or package/service is fixed.
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Visitor supplied rating
Manjaro Linux has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.1/10 from 411 review(s).
Have you used Manjaro Linux? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
Ubuntu presents Security Podcast, Dell and System76 unveil powerful Linux laptops, Condres OS introduces new control centre, SparkyLinux adds QtFM file manager
Ubuntu developer Alex Murray has published an article about Ubuntu Security Podcast, an initiative that has been around for several months, but it hasn't perhaps garnered as much attention as the project's security team would like to see. It is published every Monday and is available via many popular channels: "The Ubuntu Security Podcast is a weekly podcast covering all the latest news and developments from the Ubuntu Security team. Each week the team also discuss a topical Ubuntu and/or general Linux security item of interest. Past episodes have discussed new speculative execution attacks, responsible disclosure practices, Ubuntu security hardening guides and more. The team also welcome your feedback and suggestions for ideas on security topics to discuss, and look forward to answering your questions in future episodes. Special mention of current vacancies within the Ubuntu security team are also announced when open positions are available. The Ubuntu Security Podcast is available via iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe via your favourite podcast application and each week you will receive the latest Ubuntu security news as soon as it is published. Happy listening!" The Ubuntu Security Podcast has its own web site at UbuntuSecurityPodcast.org.
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Barton George, senior architect at Dell's chief technology office, has unveiled a new range of Ubuntu laptops designed primarily for developers. The powerful Precision systems, classified as "mobile workstations", follow last month's release of entry-level machines: "Earlier this month we introduced the entry-point system in Dell's next generation of Ubuntu-based Precision mobile workstations. Today we are announcing the rest of the line: the Precision 5540, Precision 7540 and Precision 7740. If mobile power is what you're looking for, you've come to the right place. And if AI is your need, the Precision 7540 and 7740 might just be what you've been looking for." The three systems differ in specifications, with the most powerful of the range, the Precision 7740, featuring a large PCIe SSD storage capacity - up to 8TB: "This mobile monster has been updated to feature up to the latest Intel Xeon E or 9th Gen Intel Core 8-core processors. The 7740 comes with up to 128GB of ECC memory, and a large PCIe SSD storage capacity (up to 8TB). It also boasts the latest NVIDIA Quadro RTX graphics, up to the RTX5000, delivering real-time ray tracing and graphics-based AI acceleration. Additional options include next-generation AMD Radeon Pro." Read the rest of the blog post for detailed specifications of the three Dell Precision laptops.
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Still on the subject of Linux laptops, System76 has also announced a new range of 15- and 17-inch laptops called "Gazelle". The laptop will feature a 9th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU: "In case you missed it, we recently announced that a new Gazelle laptop will be released soon. Gazelle has both 15" and 17" options and comes loaded with a 9th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, an NVIDIA 16-series GPU, and up to 64GB RAM. Gazelle's trifecta of CPU, GPU and Memory gives content creators, gamers, animators and designers a machine that can keep up with their graphics-heavy workloads." All System76 products come pre-loaded with the Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS distribution (developed in house) which also includes a number of recent enhancements: "The ability to disable mouse acceleration has been added to GNOME Settings in Pop!_OS 19.04. Disabling mouse acceleration allows for the increased precision of mouse movements desired by PC gamers, artists, and designers for their unique use cases that depend on mouse accuracy. This patch was previously submitted upstream to GNOME by Mathew Bouma, but was not accepted. However, we've decided to include the patch as an option in Settings rather than through the GNOME Tweak Tool utility, as this feature has been highly requested among Pop!_OS users." See the May newsletter for other recent news covering both hardware and software aspects of System76's products.
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The developers of Condres OS, a set of desktop-oriented distributions based on Arch Linux and featuring a number of popular desktop environments, has introduced a new graphical control centre. Although still labelled as a "beta", the Condres OS Control Centre has now replaced Condres Settings Manager and Octopi in all of the project's distributions: "We have released an important update concerning our control center, which now completely replaces the Condres Settings Manager and Octopi. There are many added features, starting from the control center itself that has been revised and has now reached beta 2. The beta 2 required a massive code rivalry and finally the system tray gets updates in real time. Here is the news from the control center: added the sharing section with Samba and NFS sharing; Samba is automatically supported - in fact all the shares can be made without using any line of code, same thing for NFS; the other section concerns the user account that allows you to create an account and delete it or change the password; support for language and date and time has also been added. This release, in addition to adding a lot of features, even though still in beta, has reached maturity to allow its primary use on the system." Read the full announcement for further information and screenshots.
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If you are still looking for that ideal file manager for Linux, consider giving QtFM a try. This lightweight, customisable and cross-platform application (available for Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD and macOS), has recently landed in the repository of SparkyLinux, a Debian-based distribution featuring the LXQt desktop: "There is a new tool available for Sparkers: QtFM. What is QtFM? A lightweight desktop-independent Qt file manager for Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and macOS. Features: XDG integration; customizable interface; powerful custom command system; customizable key bindings; drag & drop functionality; tabs support; removable storage support; system tray daemon; extensive thumbnail support. The package is built and tested on Sparky 5 and Debian 'Buster' 64-bit and 32-bit only. The project developers are Ole-André Rodlie, Michal Rost, Wittfella; it is licensed under the GNU GPL-2." Here is the brief blog post as published on the SparkyLinux website. The QtFM home page can be found at QtFM.eu and the source code is provided at GitHub. The latest stable version is 6.1.9, released in April 2019, but a more recent beta build is currently in a testing phase.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Hardware review (by Robert Rijkhoff) |
Entroware Apollo
Entroware is a UK company that sells laptops and desktop PCs that come with Ubuntu or Ubuntu MATE pre-installed. I recently bought the Apollo laptop, which is Entroware's 14-inch "Ultrabook". The company ships to just six countries in the EU but fear not; this model is the same as System 76's Galago Pro and ZaReason's UltraLap. The laptop itself is made by Clevo - the vendors choose the exact components and install Linux on the machines.
The starting price for the Apollo is £650 (roughly US$830). I decided to upgrade the processor from an i3 to an i7, increase the amount of memory from 8GB to 16GB and swap the 120GB SSD drive for a 1TB SSD. The laptop comes standard with a backlit keyboard, a high definition display and all the ports you would expect, including a good ol' Ethernet port. The laptop also comes with a three year warranty, although the mouse print states that the warranty on parts is just one year. The total cost, including shipping, was £1,050 (US$1,340).
Ports galore on the Entroware Apollo
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First impressions
The delivery was rather slow, which was partly because I preferred to pay using a card rather than a PayPal account - Entroware delays non-PayPal orders by a full week as "a counter-fraud measure". The laptop did arrive after about ten days, together with a few Entroware and Ubuntu stickers, a notepad and ballpoint pen.
The Apollo, with accessories
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The laptop doesn't have any branding and the Windows/Super key features the Entroware logo. The chassis is made of aluminium and feels solid. The keyboard is fine but the trackpad feels a little rough; if you have got dry fingers it sounds like you are polishing the trackpad with sandpaper. I found that the battery life is average - you are likely to get five or six hours out of the battery, depending on your work load.
The hard drive(s), memory cards and battery can all be replaced (the laptop can opened by removing twelve screws) but there are no instructions on how to do so. Getting started with the laptop itself is self-explanatory and doesn't require a manual. When you switch on the laptop for the first time you are presented with a system configuration window; after selecting your preferred language / keyboard layout and creating a user account you are ready to go. There is no option to partition or encrypt the hard drive (you will get a single ext4 partition).
The back of the laptop, with the Clevo model number (N141ZU)
(full image size: 2.2MB, resolution: 1600x1064 pixels)
The laptop boots very fast. Decrypting the 1TB hard drive takes about four seconds, and loading the desktop after entering my user password takes roughly the same amount of time. I am also very impressed with the high definition screen - everything looks super sharp. Compared with other laptops I own the sound is poor though - it is tinny and shrill at the same time.
Customisations
Entroware ships with a fairly vanilla Ubuntu desktop. The only non-standard application is the "Entroware Support Hub", a simple application that lets you create a diagnostic file with lots of information about your system which you can then send to Entroware's support team.
The Entroware Support Hub
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The support hub is one of nine packages in the Entroware repository that is enabled by default. The purpose of most of the packages is obvious but there were three packages I was curious about: audio-el09r2, entroware-base and entroware-nvidia. The description for the packages are vague at best - for instance, the description of the audio-el09r2 package is "EL09R2 audio". I asked Entroware about these packages but all they would tell me is that they are not intended for the Apollo laptop and that they are "used for enabling/optimising hardware on Entroware's other systems."
Exploring the Entroware repository
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Other operating systems
I wanted to try at least two other operating systems on the laptop. I first tried Trisquel, which is a fully libre, Ubuntu-based distro. The experiment was a failure. When I tried to run Trisquel as a live distro I ended up with completely black screen and when I launched the non-graphical installer I got the same black screen with 24 tiny windows aligned horizontally across the top. As far as I could tell the windows were the text-based screens the installer would normally display one after the other but they were too small to be sure.
I next tried GhostBSD, which is a desktop operating system based on TrueOS. GhostBSD correctly handled the screen resolution and I was able to install the system. There were a few things I couldn't get to work, including wireless Internet, the web cam and some of the Fn keys (for instance, the keys to change the screen brightness didn't work).
Just to make sure that the laptop is at all capable of running anything but Ubuntu I next tried Fedora. Everything worked out of the box, so the morale seems to be that most major Linux distros are likely to work just fine. Entroware told me that they only test and ensure compatibility with Ubuntu and Ubuntu MATE, but that they will provide assistance to get you up and running with your desired distro.
Conclusions and final observations
I like the Entroware Apollo. Looking back I went a little overboard while configuring the laptop but the performance is outstanding and compared to laptops with similar specifications the price is very reasonable. The machine is compact (though the "ultra" description is a bit of a stretch) and the aluminium body makes it look classy. Plus, as you would expect from a company that ships Linux laptops, the most important parts are replaceable.
It is disappointing that Trisquel wouldn't run on the hardware and that GhostBSD worked only partially. Another disappointment is that Clevo is not taking part in the Linux Vendor Firmware Service programme. Until that changes your laptop will not get firmware updates, and I gather it is unlikely that Clevo will sign up to the project any time soon.
If compatibility with hardware and getting firmware updates are high on your list with priorities then a better option would be to buy a (refurbished) Thinkpad. The Apollo is a nice machine though, and I feel it is important to support companies like Entroware and System 76 - if anything, it is nice to not have to pay the Windows Tax. It is also worth mentioning that Entroware gives back to the Linux community; among others they were one of the sponsors of last year's Oggcamp "unconference" here in the UK.
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| Released Last Week |
MX Linux 18.3
An updated build of MX Linux, version 18.3, is out. MX Linux is desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Debian 9.9 and featuring a customised Xfce desktop. The new version is a minor release, bringing updated MX applications and an improved MX manual: "We are pleased to offer MX Linux 18.3 ISO image for your use. MX 18.3 is a refresh of our MX 18 release, consisting of bug fixes and application updates. Updated packages - the latest updates from Debian 9.9 'Stretch', antiX and MX repositories. New and updated mx-apps: mx-installer (based on gazelle-installer) - the installer workflow has been reworked to allow the user to enter system configuration selections while the major system copy is proceeding, speeding up the actual installation time for the user. This is in addition to the encryption cipher options and select-able ESP install location that were previously added. Improvements to the UEFI boot installation routines have been added as well, along with a ton of of other bug fixes. The kernel has been updated to 4.19.37. So-called 'zombieload' patches are included." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details.
GParted Live 1.0.0-1
Curtis Gedak has announced the release of GParted Live 1.0.0-1, a milestone release from the project that develops the GParted partition management tool as well as this bootable CD/USB image that also contains various disk management and data rescue utilities. From the release announcement: "The GParted team is pleased to announce a new stable release of GParted Live. This release includes GParted 1.0.0, updated packages and other improvements. Items of note include: includes GParted 1.0.0; port to Gtkmm 3; port to GNOME 3 yelp-tools documentation infrastructure; enable online resizing of extended partitions; add F2FS support for read disk usage, grow and check; fix slow refreshing of NTFS file systems; based on the Debian 'Sid' repository as of 2019-05-30; Linux kernel updated to 4.19.37; the boot menu has been sorted; a menu using large font for console has been added; the menu about local OS booting has been improved; a menu about entering UEFI firmware setup has been added; he info about GParted live has been added to the boot menu; bug fixed - PXE booting with FQDN tftp server name is now working. This release of GParted Live has been successfully tested on VirtualBox, VMware, BIOS, UEFI and physical computers with AMD/ATI, NVIDIA and Intel graphics."
4MLinux 29.0^
Zbigniew Konojacki has announced the release of 4MLinux 29.0, a new stable version of the project's independently-developed distribution for desktops (32-bit with JWM) and servers (64-bit with a complete LAMP stack). The new version comes with updated Linux kernel version 4.19.41, updated desktop and server packages (LibreOffice 6.2.4, GIMP 2.10.10, DropBox 73.4.118, Firefox 66.0.5, Chromium 74.0.3729.108, MESA 18.3.1, Apache 2.4.39, MariaDB 10.3.14, PHP 7.3.5 and Python 3.7.1), as well as several new features on both desktops and servers. From the release announcement: "The status of the 4MLinux 29.0 series has been changed to 'stable'. As always, the new major release has some new features: Audacious available out of the box, a new desktop sub-menu called 'Office' (with AbiWord, Gnumeric, LazPaint), spellcheck functionality added to Sylpheed and HexChat, improved LibreOffice installation script, better support for MINIX file system (via util-linux and GParted), much improved 3D acceleration in Quake2. And finally, the 4MServer now includes PHP 7.3 with NaCl cryptography support."
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Survey (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
How long have you been visiting DistroWatch?
As we celebrate DistroWatch's 18th birthday (see the Website News section below), we wonder how many of our faithful DWW readers have been with us since the very beginning (starting way back in 2001) and how many discovered us relatively recently. Also, have you ever stopped visiting for a while before becoming regular again? Feel free to comment if you'd like to provide further explanations.
So this week's "poll" is more of a survey than an opinion poll, but we'll be very curious about the outcome.
You can see the results of our previous poll on enabling a firewall on your computer in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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How long have you been visiting DistroWatch?
| Since 2001: | 389 (13%) |
| Since 2002-2005: | 768 (26%) |
| Since 2006-2010: | 916 (31%) |
| Since 2011-2015: | 605 (21%) |
| Since 2016-2019: | 252 (9%) |
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| Website News (by Ladislav Bodnar) |
DistroWatch reaches adulthood
Yes, it was exactly 18 years ago last Friday, on 31 May 2001, that DistroWatch was first published. It wasn't quite the comprehensive website covering free operating system that it is today, but it was a start - a single page comparing a dozen Linux distributions in a table format, with major features and package versions. Many of the projects popular in those days, such as Caldera OpenLinux, Corel Linux, Progeny Debian or Libranet GNU/Linux died long time ago, but others, like Slackware Linux, Debian, Red Hat or openSUSE continue to thrive in various forms to this day. If you'd like to see what this website looked like in 2001, please take a look at this snapshot provided by Archive.org. From this modest start listing just 12 Linux distributions DistroWatch evolved, adding BSDs and other free operating systems to the ever-growing DistroWatch database. Organising the information of this chaotic bazaar of open-source products into a structured and logical way continues to be a challenge even today - our database currently contains a total of 899 operating systems of which nearly 300 are considered active. Before opening a bottle of champagne, I'd like to say a big thank-you to all our readers who continue to provide valuable suggestions and corrections, as well as our past and present contributors - notably Jesse Smith, currently the main site maintainer, but also Dr W T Zhu, Susan Linton, Caitlyn Martin, (the late) Robert Storey, Chris Smart and many others who have helped with great articles and valuable insight over the past 18 years. So cheers to all as we look forward to many more years of covering the world of free operating systems!
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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, 10 June 2019. 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 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 |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • 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 | 
BlankOn
BlankOn was an Debian-based distribution developed by the Indonesian Linux Mover Foundation and BlankOn developer team. It was an Indonesian distribution that includes a variety of software that was widely used by consumers in general, such as office programs, financial applications, Internet applications, drawing (both vector and bitmap), support for various multimedia file formats, as well as other interesting programs.
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 
