 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 841, 18 November 2019 |
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Welcome to this year's 46th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
While new software and new technologies are constantly being tried out and explored, older technology tends to get left behind, either due to a lack of maintenance or because it is no longer deemed necessary. This week we touch on this treadmill of software's progress, reporting on Debian's process of phasing out Python 2 and publishing updated install media. We also talk about Chrome OS updating their GNU/Linux application support and a Slackware volunteer providing up to date live media. This week we also touch on a distribution designed to help keep older hardware running. The Emmabuntüs distribution runs on a Debian base and is intended to be run on lower-end hardware. We have more details on this project in our Feature Story. Plus we explore the topic of remapping keys on a keyboard in our Questions and Answers section. Remapping keys can help work around dead or stuck keys and we provide a demonstration of how this works. Then we talk about running community spins versus main editions of distributions in our Opinion Poll. Let us know whether you are running a spin or a default edition in the comments. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00
- News: Debian phasing out Python 2, Chrome OS updates Debian containers, Debian releases updated media and debates init software diversity, live spin of Slackware with updated packages
- Questions and answers: Swapping keys in a keyboard's layout
- Released last week: IPFire 2.23 Core 137, PCLinuxOS 2019.11, Oracle 8.1
- Torrent corner: Archman, Bluestar, Clonezilla, Debian, Debian-Edu, IPFire, PCLinuxOS, Void, Volumio
- Opinion poll: Running community spins
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (19MB) and MP3 (14MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00
It was recently pointed out to me that I have never written a review of the Emmabuntüs distribution and I was asked to address this oversight. With that in mind, I downloaded the latest version of this Debian-based, desktop distribution. Emmabuntüs features the Xfce desktop and runs on packages provided by Debian 10 "Buster". The project, which is designed to be run on older or used computers in order to extended their usefulness, is available in 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x86_64) builds.
The distribution strives to lower the bar for trying Linux by providing support for multiple languages and using the friendly Calamares installer to set up the operating system. I downloaded the 64-bit version of Emmabuntüs which is a hefty 3.1GB.
Booting from the Emmabuntüs media brings up a boot menu asking us to pick our preferred language from a list. Then we are asked if we want to try the distribution's live desktop or launch either a text-based or graphical installer. The installer options launch Debian's text and graphical installers, respectively. The Try option launches a live desktop environment running the Xfce 4.12 desktop. I decided to use the live desktop to test the distribution before installing it.
When the Xfce desktop first loads we are shown a series of welcome windows. The first one just displays a short greeting. The next one invites us to change our keyboard's layout (the default mapping is US). Another pop-up asks if we want to turn on a number of features. These include enabling a dock, activating the taskbar, activating the workspace, and enabling a dark theme. To be frank, I'm not sure what the utility means by activating the workspace and none of the options are explained. Enabling the dock gives us a macOS style launcher at the bottom of the screen and the other two options did not appear to have any significant effect whether turned on or not.
The next window offers to install Flash and media codecs. It will then try to download and install these packages while we wait. When it is done, another welcome window appears. This one displays a grid of buttons that provide short-cuts to on-line documentation and a forum, a local PDF with tips on using Debian, and quick access to the software manager, settings panel, and some convenience tools. I will talk about these features later.
A panel at the top of the Xfce desktop holds the application menu, task switcher, and the system tray. In the upper-right corner is a menu we can use to logout or shutdown the computer. Icons on the desktop offer to run the Calamares installer, run an uninstaller, launch the Disks utility to partition the hard drive, and open a tool to change the keyboard layout. There is also an icon for opening a tool to repair the boot loader. The concept of an uninstaller intrigued me since usually people do not remove operating systems so much as remove their partition or install over them. I tested this tool and found the uninstaller will search for partitions with an operating system installed and then offer to format the selected partition with either the NTFS or ext3 filesystem.
The live environment, once we navigate through the welcome windows, worked well for me. Xfce was responsive and straight forward to use. My hardware was working well with the distribution and I was happy to move ahead with running the installer.
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00 -- The Xfce desktop and Classic menu
(full image size: 540kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Installing
While taking the installer option from Emmabuntüs's boot menu launches the Debian system installer, launching the installer from the live desktop opens Calamares. The graphical Calamares installer begins by offering to show us the release notes and put us in touch with on-line support. Clicking either of these buttons produces a pop-up error indicating the web browser cannot be launched. (Manually opening the Firefox web browser works, meaning the issue is with the installer's configuration rather than the browser.) The following screens walk us through the usual steps of selecting our time zone, keyboard layout, and making up a username & password. The partitioning section allows us to use a smooth, manual partitioning tool or take an automated partitioning option. The automated choice uses available space to create a single ext4 filesystem and no swap space. Apart from its first page with the broken links, Calamares worked well for me and offered to restart the computer after it finished setting up the operating system.
Early impressions
The freshly installed copy of Emmabuntüs boots to a graphical login screen. From there we can sign into the Xfce 4.12 desktop. Once again we are greeted by a series of welcome screens, though this time with a few differences. After the initial greeting we are asked if we would like to use the Classic application menu or the Whisker menu. Examples of these are not displayed so the user needs to guess which one will suit them better. I kept the Classic menu to start. We also also asked to "Please select the most appropriate image version for your needs." We are shown an image, but not told what it will decorate. At first I assumed it was a wallpaper selection, but the next choice we make is to pick our wallpaper from a drop-down menu. Even after picking the first image, I do not know where it was used.
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00 -- Customizing the distribution through the welcome windows
(full image size: 479kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
We are also asked if we would like to enable text-to-speech and auto-login, two valuable convenience functions. The window asking if we want to activate a dock, taskbar, and workspace appears next. Then a new window offers to install extras like Flash and codecs, but with additional options available. Now we can also install Microsoft fonts, TeamViewer, and Skype. The following window offers to remove any language packages we do not need. Then the welcome window with links to documentation, tools, and settings is shown.
This is a lot of upfront configuration to get through - twice. Sometimes I don't mind performing customizations up front, it can help newcomers take control of their operating system right away. However, several of the options are not clearly explained and some more descriptions of the options would be beneficial. New users are unlikely to know whether they need a task switcher, or TeamViewer, for instance.
When new software updates become available a notification appears in the upper-right corner of the screen. There is an update icon in the system tray. Something I found curious was that while I was using the live desktop session (on the install media) clicking the update icon would open the update manager which would let me select which updates I wanted to install. When Emmabuntüs was running from my hard drive clicking the update icon would not do anything. Right-clicking the icon would let me select how often the system should check for new package updates.
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00 -- Checking for software updates
(full image size: 575kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Something else I noticed early on is the application menu is very full. I started off using the Classic application menu, which uses a traditional tree-style menu. The Classic menu lists programs by name, without a description. Because the menu is packed with many launchers (some categories have more than a full page of entries) and there is no search box, this makes finding some programs difficult. For instance, when I was trying to find the update manager, I first located GNOME Software, the repository manager, the Packages and the Synaptic package managers, and a launcher for accessing Flatpaks. All of these were encountered before I finally found the update manager.
Since browsing the many entries in the Classic menu was not an efficient use of my time, I switched over to the Whisker menu. This menu uses a two-pane layout, which is still very full, but it includes a search box that helps us find programs quickly by typing their name or description.
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00 -- The Whisker application menu
(full image size: 631kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Software management
Emmabuntüs ships with multiple tools for managing software packages on the system. GNOME Software is included, along with the Synaptic package manager, and the Packages graphical front-end. On the command line we have access to the APT package manager and the Flatpak command line tools. This gives the user a range of utilities to use and, depending on our preference and what we are looking for, each of them can be helpful. GNOME Software is handy for when we wish to find desktop applications, organized into familiar categories. The Packages utility helps us find specific programs, also divided into familiar categories. While Synaptic helps us work with lower level packages and can be used to apply all sorts of filters. Each seems to work well, leaving the user to pick whichever tool suits their needs.
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00 -- GNOME Software, Synaptic, and Packages
(full image size: 300kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
There is a Flatpak launcher in the application menu, and in the Tools panel (which I will discuss later). Clicking the Flatpak launcher merely opened the Firefox browser and took me to the Flathub website. I found it odd that, once I had reached the website, none of the bundle's description pages would open for me. Even with Firefox's extensions disabled the browser always locked up trying to load information about the available software bundles.
Included software
Emmabuntüs ships with a surprisingly large collection of software. There are so many applications in the menu, I was tempted to simply say Emmabuntüs includes all the possible software, but that would be a slight exaggeration. The distribution does tend to ship two or more applications for each category of task though. The usual flagship applications, such as Firefox, Thunderbird, Transmission, and LibreOffice are included. The Thunar file manager and VLC media player are provided too. We also have AbiWord and Gnumeric for office work, multiple image viewers, multiple media editing tools, lots of educational programs and games. There are a couple of chat programs, a few file transfer programs, like FileZilla, and a couple of e-book readers/managers, like Calibre.
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00 -- AbiWord, LibreOffice, and Gnumeric
(full image size: 197kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
We are also given copies of WINE and PlayOnLinux to run Windows software. Media codecs are easy to install during the initial configuration and there are launchers in the menu to fetch codecs and non-free programs. Emmabuntüs ships with Java and the GNU Compiler Collection. I found systemd is used as the init software and the distribution runs on version 4.19 of the Linux kernel.
Something I found interesting is the application menu includes a launcher that opens a window and offers to install the LXDE desktop. I don't think I have ever before encountered a distribution which made installing an alternative desktop a two-click process.
When working from the command line I discovered making a typo would result in a Python crash report appearing. This report indicates the command-not-found software has crashed while trying to find programs matching the typo. Seeing this message each time a mistake is made becomes frustrating quickly as the long crash report pushes most of the terminal's content up off the screen.
Hardware
I began by testing Emmabuntüs in a virtual machine. While running in VirtualBox the distribution performed well, integrating with the virtual environment and working smoothly. The Xfce desktop was responsive and I encountered no hardware-related issues. When trying the distribution on a physical workstation, Emmabuntüs worked well again. All my hardware was detected, the distribution ran quickly, and both the Xfce and LXDE desktops were highly responsive.
The distribution requires about 330MB of RAM when signed into the Xfce desktop, which is pleasantly light. However, the distribution requires 8.5GB of disk space, just for the root filesystem. That does not include swap space or user files.
In the project's release announcement Emmabuntüs claims to install and run in Secure Boot mode. However, when I tried running Emmabuntüs on my workstation, the distribution was only able to boot in Legacy BIOS mode, not in UEFI mode, with or without Secure Boot enabled.
Extra tools
Earlier I mentioned Emmabuntüs provides access to extra tools. These can be accessed through the welcome screen or the application menu. The special Tools application displays a panel where we are shown categories of launchers that perform common administration tasks. For instance, there are a few tools for writing disk images to USB thumb drives. There are a couple of tools for managing or setting up printers. There is a tool for handling local disk partitions, and another button that launches Firefox and opens the Flathub website.
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00 -- The Tools panel
(full image size: 470kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
These extra utilities are mostly small, single-purpose configuration modules which worked for me. I'm not sure why they have their own, separate panel when we can access them through other ways. Perhaps it is just to keep things organized. However, this means that Emmabuntüs not only doubles down on most types of applications, but also settings panels. There is a separate control panel filled with modules for adjusting the look and behaviour of the Xfce desktop, the window manager, sound settings, drivers, and other aspects of the underlying operating system. There are a lot of these modules and the ones I used functioned smoothly.
Emmabuntüs DE3-1.00 -- The settings panel
(full image size: 511kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Conclusions
The word which kept coming to mind while I was using Emmabuntüs was "overwhelming". The distribution includes so many options, applications, tools, settings, and welcome windows that I often felt like I was not only spoiled for choice, but flooded under a torrent of options. This is a distribution which has at least six tools for managing packages, three system installers, two office suites, four tools for setting up printers (or printer drivers), a long series of first-run tools, and launchers for adding all sorts of extras, including codecs, Flash, and an entire alternative desktop environment.
The use of the Whisker menu certainly helps the situation as it makes it easier to find and filter programs we may wish to use. However, even then it can take a surprising amount of looking around and scrolling through options to find what we are hoping to use.
Usually, I'm not one to complain about too much choice. I do, after all, celebrate the range of hundreds of Linux distributions available. I'm never one to say "Option B should not exist because we already have Opinion A." However, the caveat to my philosophy of "The more the merrier" is I don't want all the options all at once. To put it another way, I love that my local corner store has 32 different flavours of ice cream. I don't want to try to eat all 32 at once in one bowl. Emmabuntüs, for better or worse, puts all of the options in one bowl.
To be fair, to some people this may be appealing. If you are running a computer that has a slow (or non-existent) Internet connection, I can see why having a lot of software installed locally would be appealing. Emmabuntüs is targeting lower-end hardware and it is not always convenient to stop what you are doing and download AbiWord because LibreOffice is too big. I can see why having a very full bowl, with all the available options, would appeal in a situation where trying new options is difficult.
Perhaps the bigger concern I had was the welcome screen, while it allows for a lot of customization up front, does not do a great job of explaining the available options. What does it mean to activate a workspace? Why does the user need to decide up front whether to have a dock and whether that dock should use OpenGL? Should the user really need to know whether they need extra fonts before they even start using the distribution? Again, I see how having these options is a good idea, however the lack of on-screen documentation explaining these options may leave users confused.
Having spent a while complaining about the distribution's design choices, I think it is important to also highlight what Emmabuntüs does well. Apart from offering the user lots of choice, the distribution uses a lean and stable base (Debian 10). The project enjoys several years of support as a result, along with predictable behaviour, and a huge collection of additional software in case the user wants more. Emmabuntüs ran very quickly during my tests, the default applications (the ones I got around to using anyway) all worked. Emmabuntüs, once we get through the initial configuration steps, provides a very smooth, responsive experience.
It takes some getting used to all the options, and I tend to prefer to build up from the ground rather than trim down, but for people on slower connections I think this distribution would offer a welcome array of functionality.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a desktop HP Pavilon p6 Series with the following specifications:
- Processor: Dual-core 2.8GHz AMD A4-3420 APU
- Storage: 500GB Hitachi hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111 wired network card, Ralink RT5390R PCIe Wireless card
- Display: AMD Radeon HD 6410D video card
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Visitor supplied rating
Emmabuntüs has a visitor supplied average rating of: 9/10 from 30 review(s).
Have you used Emmabuntüs? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Debian phasing out Python 2, Chrome OS updates Debian containers, Debian releases updated media and debates init software diversity, live spin of Slackware with updated packages
Version 2 of the Python programming language will reach the end of its supported life at the beginning of 2020. This leaves developers is a tricky position where they need to either migrate to the incompatible Python 3 language or continue to use unsupported software. Most Linux distributions are in the process of removing their old Python 2 packages in preparation for the language's transition. Debian is about halfway through removing Python 2 packages in preparation for the distribution's next stable release, Debian Bullseye. Ondřej Nový writes in a mailing list post: "We are aiming to remove Python 2 for the Bullseye release, or at least remove as many Python 2 related packages as possible. Python 2 is discontinued upstream, but crucially, more and more providers of Python modules don't support Python 2 in either the current or future upstream version.... With about 3,300 py2removal bugs filed and 1,500 closed, we are now almost done with half of the removals."
Google's Chrome OS operating system runs a Debian container which allows the platform to run GNU/Linux applications. Up to this point Chrome OS used a Debian 9 "Stretch" container and, according to xda-developers, the software is being updated to run Debian 10 "Buster". "At Google I/O last year, Google announced Linux app support for Chrome OS. This is made possible thanks to installing a GNU/Linux distribution, specifically Debian 9 'Stretch', in a Linux container. Earlier this year, the Debian project announced Debian 10 'Buster', but Google wasn't ready to upgrade the default Linux container on Chromebooks just yet. Now, after months of testing and bug fixing, Google is ready to enable Debian 10 'Buster' as the default Linux container in Chrome OS. According to a recently merged commit we spotted in the Chromium Gerrit, new Crostini (the code-name for Linux apps on Chrome OS) installations will get Debian 10 by default. The commit doesn't mention how Chromebooks with existing Debian 9 'Stretch' installations will be migrated to the newer version, but users can easily upgrade the container themselves by running a few commands."
The Debian project has released updated install media for Debian 10 "Buster". The new media includes bug fixes for existing packages, but does not represent a new version of the distribution. A news post on the Debian website states: "The Debian project is pleased to announce the second update of its stable distribution Debian 10 (codename Buster). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available. Please note that the point release does not constitute a new version of Debian 10 but only updates some of the packages included. There is no need to throw away old buster media. After installation, packages can be upgraded to the current versions using an up-to-date Debian mirror."
Finally, the Debian project is revisiting the idea of init diversity and which init implementations should be supported. Right now Debian uses systemd by default with some developers trying to support alternative init implementations such as SysV and OpenRC. This attempt to maintain multiple packages can cause some conflicts and this is giving rise to a new Debian resolution which will be voted on by the developers. The options available now are: to officially support init diversity, support systemd while trying to encourage support for additional implementations, and focusing on systemd exclusively. This decision is likely to impact not only Debian, but also distributions based on Debian, such as MX Linux which support multiple init options.
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It has been over three years since the most recent release of Slackware Linux and the venerable distribution is not known for providing live desktop environments for users to test. One popular Slackware community member, Eric Hameleers (aka AlienBob), is addressing both of those concerns by releasing an up to date live disc based on Slackware's development branch and running KDE Plasma 5. "Yesterday I uploaded a new DVD-sized ISO for the Plasma 5 variant of Slackware Live Edition based on the liveslak scripts version 1.3.3. The ISO contains Slackware-current 'Tue Nov 12 23:08:45 UTC 2019' with my KDE-5_19.11 and boots a Linux 4.19.83 kernel." Further details can be found in the Alien Pastures blog post.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Swapping keys in a keyboard's layout
Working-around-dead-keys asks: I reckon it would help a lot of folks if you could outline the code for swapping (dead or otherwise) keys, especially a problem with laptops. In my case I have a dead "A" key which is particularly problematic. There are some tutorials on the InterWeb, but mostly concerning swapping Control and Function keys and they don't all agree. In my case a switch for "A" to "grave-accent" would be acceptable. It would also help if I could load a file prepared elsewhere via a file on USB fob since typing in the terminal is bound to require an "A"!
DistroWatch answers:
The first thing you are going to want to do is find out what keycodes are assigned to the keys you want to swap on your keyboard. A keycode is a numeric identifier which basically lets the system know which physical key on the keyboard is being pressed. We can learn the keycode of any key on the keyboard by running the xev command. Running xev from a terminal will open a mostly blank little window. Typing while the little xev window is active will cause the keycodes of any key we press to be displayed in our terminal. Here is some sample output from xev:
KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x5e00001,
root 0x674, subw 0x0, time 201862773, (-343,-80), root:(229,355),
state 0x0, keycode 28 (keysym 0x74, t), same_screen YES,
XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (74) "t"
XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (74) "t"
XFilterEvent returns: False
KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
root 0x674, subw 0x0, time 131533515, (-227,311), root:(345,746),
state 0x0, keycode 34 (keysym 0x5b, bracketleft), same_screen YES,
XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (5b) "["
XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (5b) "["
XFilterEvent returns: False
KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3600001,
root 0x674, subw 0x0, time 131533851, (-227,311), root:(345,746),
state 0x0, keycode 35 (keysym 0x5d, bracketright), same_screen YES,
XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (5d) "]"
XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (5d) "]"
XFilterEvent returns: False
In the above example I pressed the "T" key. Then I tapped the "[" and "]" keys. The keycodes of these three keys are displayed in bold above. We can see that plain "T" is associated with keycode 28. The "[" and "]" symbols are 34 and 35, respectively. This gives me enough information to cause the system to interpret pressing any of these three keys as producing another symbol.
How do we perform the reassignment for these keys? We use the xmodmap command line tool to replace the mapping of a key to another symbol. We can do this using what is called an expression. Here we can cause the remapping of "[" to "A". We do this by telling the system that anytime the physical key "[" is pressed, which is associated with keycode 34, we want it to behave as though we pressed "A".
xmodmap -e "keycode 34 = A"
Now whenever I press the "[" key it will cause an "a" to be typed in my window. Whenever I press Shift and the "[" key it will cause an upper-case "A" to appear.
Be careful with these mappings because it can be hard to clear them once a key has been remapped. (Once you reassign the "[" key to produce another character, how do you type it into the terminal to reassign it?) Once you have reassigned a key, it will stay that way until you sign out of your desktop session or remap your keyboard using a utility like your desktop environment's keyboard layout tool.
To avoid typing in this remapping command every time you login you can put the line
xmodmap -e "keycode 34 = A"
in your shell's start-up file, such as .bashrc (for the Bash shell). Then it will automatically run each time you login.
If you cannot type the command, due to a missing or damaged key, then you can write the command on another computer, transfer it to your local computer on a thumb drive and copy/paste the line into your terminal or shell's start-up file using the text editor of your choice.
Something else you might consider if you have a computer with a keyboard where you cannot completely type some commands (for instance commands which require the letter 'A') is using a virtual keyboard. This allows you to type normally most of the time, while clicking the icon for the missing key using your mouse pointer. Some desktops, such as GNOME, ship with a virtual keyboard as an accessibility option.
Once you get your physical keyboard fixed or replaced, you can remove the remapping by deleting the "xmodmap" command from your shell's start-up file and logging out of your account. The next time you sign in, with the mapping instruction removed, your keyboard will use its default map and keys will perform normally.
Some people may be interested in changing their keyboard mapping under a Wayland session. This is tricky since different desktop environments use different implementations of the Wayland protocol. This means you may be able to change your keyboard mapping under one desktop, but another desktop may not have the feature implemented. The best solution I have found so far is for GNOME users. The GNOME Tweaks tool will allow the user to perform some remappings of keys, but I have not found an equivalent for KDE Plasma.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
IPFire 2.23 Core 137
IPFire is a Linux distribution that focuses on easy setup, good handling and high level of security. It is operated via a web-based interface which offers many configuration options for beginning and experienced system administrators. The project has released a new stable update, IPFire 2.23 Core Update 137, which includes improved Quality of Service performance and updates the Linux kernel. "We are happy to announce the release of IPFire 2.23 - Core Update 137. It comes with an updated kernel, a reworked Quality of Service and various bug and security fixes. Development around the Quality of Service and tackling some of the bugs required an exceptional amount of team effort in very short time and I am very happy that we are now able to deliver the result to you to improve your networks.... As explained in detail in a separate blog post from the engine room, we have been working hard on improving our Quality of Service (QoS). It allows to pass a lot more traffic on smaller systems as well as reduces packet latency on faster ones to create a more responsive and faster network. To take full advantage of these changes, we recommend to reboot the system after installing the update." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement.
PCLinuxOS 2019.11
The PCLinuxOS distribution has released updated install media which carries the version number 2019.11. The new media feature kernel and desktop environment updates for each edition. The project's release announcement offers further details: "The KDE versions both Full and the minimalistic Darkstar contain kernel 5.3.10 plus a fully updated KDE Plasma desktop. Plasma desktop 5.17.3, Plasma Applications 19.08.3 and Plasma Frameworks 5.64.0. The MATE ISO was refreshed with kernel 5.3.10 and the applications and libraries were updated to their most recent stable versions from the previous release. The Xfce ISOs were updated to kernel 5.3.10 including Thunar updated to 1.8.10, xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin to 2.3.4, xfce4-screenshooter 1.9.7 and xfburn-0.6.1 and fully updated from the software repo from the past month. All ISOs received a theme update across the board from GRUB, bootsplash and the desktop. Bluetooth got some work this month and may work better."
Oracle Linux 8.1
Simon Coter has announced the release of Oracle Linux 8.1, the first update in the new 8.0 series of the project's enterprise-class server distribution built from the source code of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1. This release deprecates the Virtual Machine Manager application (virt-manager), among many other changes: "Oracle is pleased to announce the general availability of Oracle Linux 8 Update 1. Individual RPM packages are available on the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and the Oracle Linux yum server. Notable new features: udica package added - you can use udica to create a tailored security policy, for better control of how a container accesses host system resources, this capability enables you to harden container deployments against security violations; SELinux user-space tools have been updated to release 2.9; SETools collection and libraries have been updated to release 4.2.2; new boltd_t SELinux type added (used to manage Thunderbolt 3 devices); new bpf SELinux policy added (used to control Berkeley Packet Filter); SELinux policy packages have been updated to release 3.14.3...." See the release announcement and the release notes for more details.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 1,701
- Total data uploaded: 28.7TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
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| Website News (by Jesse Smith) |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 25 November 2019. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
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1 • Other (by Roy on 2019-11-18 00:45:43 GMT from United States)
I am content with Feren.
2 • Emmabuntus (by Glenn Condrey on 2019-11-18 00:59:07 GMT from United States)
Jesse,
Many thanks for the review.
I'm interested in your take on this distribution.
I've been searching for the best distro for me...which right now seems to be Peppermint Linux.
Great review as always sir!
3 • ChromeOS (by TuxUser on 2019-11-18 01:46:12 GMT from Canada)
Google with ChromeOS instead lost his time developing a container that supports debian 10 for install linux applications. Google should instead make the bios easier to deactivate lock. Them give the buyer of this PC the possibility to do what he wants with his pc.
4 • Emmabuntüs review (by David on 2019-11-18 02:10:56 GMT from Serbia)
Great review of Emmabuntüs. I guess that the main reason for so much preinstalled software is the fact that this distribution is primarily designed for refurbished computers given to humanitarian organizations (there is a list of organizations on their site), so if there is a problem with internet connection availability or lack of it, you have all you need preinstalled. I was using it for a while few years ago, and imho it's a very good, stable distribution.
5 • Opinion Poll (by Frank on 2019-11-18 02:32:56 GMT from Canada)
Is unofficial Debian a secondary edition or a community spin?
6 • Opnion Poll (by Leanne on 2019-11-18 03:22:52 GMT from Ireland)
I use Ubuntu Mate on my desktop which is what I spend the majority of my time on, This would be an officially supported spin / secondary release of Ubuntu. I also use Debian Buster on my laptop and a netbook which would be an official (main) release.
7 • main/spin (by wally on 2019-11-18 03:29:52 GMT from United States)
I use several OS, and rum Mate whenever possible, so some are main, some are spins.
8 • Linux Mint (Main or Spin) (by Ganesh on 2019-11-18 03:39:40 GMT from India)
The only Default edition I prefer is Linux Mint. But other than that I use Arch on daily basis.
9 • Mains & a spin (by TheTKS on 2019-11-18 04:38:07 GMT from Canada)
Voted community spin to highlight that, but would have voted "Multiple" if that were an option, which I don't think "Other" captures well: Mains: Slackware, OpenBSD, sometimes elementaryOS, occasionally Puppies, TinyCore. Community: Xubuntu (used Ubuntu 18.04 regularly for many months, just not a fan of Gnome and like Xfce.)
TKS
10 • Main or Community spins (by Wally Johnn on 2019-11-18 04:43:27 GMT from United States)
Before PCLOS Xfce was a main DE it was a Community spin, and I have been running it for years. I've run Linux Mint Mate and Cinnamon as Main DEs and Linux Mint Xfce as a Community Spin. One Secondary distro I gave up on was Linux Mint Debian Edition as it is only available in Cinnamon and now, iirc, uses systemd. The other distro I gave up on was Makalu Linux LinDoz Cinnamon, which I eventually dropped because they are too cutting edge for my taste, with each iteration having too many new features. Along with PCLOS Xfce I also run PCLOS KDE, although I did use the Main PCLOS Mate for awhile and their LxQt Community spin at one time. I try over a dozen Distros a year and always end up staying with PCLOS, and Linux Mint (because I support family members new to Linux who dropped Windows).
11 • Running community spins (by voidpin on 2019-11-18 04:52:35 GMT from Sweden)
Other. I prefer distros that offer a base-system install that you can build upon. I can then add my prefered terminal, browser, file manager, text editor, etc... and glue them all together the way I like it. Keeps bloat to minimum and I know exactly what is inside.
12 • poll - well, it depends (by Notebook on 2019-11-18 06:49:57 GMT from New Zealand)
My answer depends as I have several machines. The main rig runs Linux Mint Cinnamon (main edition) and a background server (does one simple potato task, so the OS is immaterial) runs an unmodified default MX install. However, the machine linked to my scanner is running Manjaro, but Cinnamon (a community spin), not the default xfce.
13 • Emmabuntüs and Framasoft (by Luca on 2019-11-18 07:47:43 GMT from Italy)
From the screenshot above, there is apparently a relation between Emmabuntüs and Framasoft. Framasoft is an extremely interesting project that collects and makes freely available a large (yes, overwhelming) set of open source cloud, decentralized services and social networks, with the aim of providing a free software alternative to the "big names".
14 • Main or spin? (by Roy Davies on 2019-11-18 08:23:31 GMT from United Kingdom)
Generally, I install the main edition but, occasionally I do try a community spin. Some I like, some I don't. But that's Linux.
My number one is MX-19. On other laptops I am running Xubuntu and Solus (Mate). Other favourites are Linux Lite, Linux Mint, and Peppermint, i.e. generally based on Debian and Ubuntu. I avoid those distros that need lots of unnecessary faffing about to get cloud and printers working, e.g. Manjaro and Fedora,
15 • Keybored(sic) Lament (by Someguy on 2019-11-18 08:24:41 GMT from United Kingdom)
Jesse - you are a gem! Laptops are a perpetual curse - screen and keyboard failures main issues, apart from sucking the vents out with the vacuum cleaner to alleviate overheating! Why do laptop keyboards fail prematurely when all my plug-ins, even older PS/2 types seem to last indefinitely? Even finding a replacement unit can be difficult and expensive - they are country-specific, size matters, so does layout and, most importantly, positioning of the retaining studs on their underside. Did I mention batteries?! Sometimes I muse about designed obsolescence & co.
16 • Debian Init Vote, Laptops (by He on 2019-11-18 09:24:19 GMT from Germany)
One of many who hopes debian will return to supporting inits other than System D which drives me mad by seeming like the main operating system with all pervading dependency tree instead of just starting my OS.
I have been running AntiX for about 6 months, no more hanging shutdowns or other quirks, low footprint fast running and stability like debian of old. The experience is good on both old, no really old computers up to my modern graphics monster which had delayed shutdown sound and graphics issues on debian vanilla.
I consider AntiX to be a very good exasmple of the lesser amount of crap the lesser the admin has problems.
Laptops a perpetual curse, well we use T series Lenovo, spares are easily available and reasonably priced. Just needed nearly none in last 4 years with exception being a battery pack where one cell died. I wish the pack was screwed not securely glued in to a destroy to open package. I could have replaced the dud with a selected cell.
Now I have more than enough perfect cells for torches etc. Just added a button top protection circuit. If you recycle cells pls take precautions, a burning cell is not funny. I know after my daughters Samsung Phone popped open, luckily I was home. We watched the foreworks and poisonous smoke cloud in the garden
17 • My distro isn't a distro (by Morgan Cox on 2019-11-18 10:27:13 GMT from United Kingdom)
According to KDE Neon.
18 • dead keys (by Jeff on 2019-11-18 10:58:49 GMT from United States)
Work around dead keys?
Why not just replace the keyboard?
You can find them on auction and sales sites (or computer parts sellers though they are more expensive).
You can easily find written instructions and often videos on how to replace them.
Sometimes the problem is as simple as a kinked or loose cable, or it might be lint under the key.
19 • Community spins (by silent on 2019-11-18 13:05:39 GMT from Hungary)
Is there a default edition (desktop environment) for Arch Linux? Or every user is running his own community spin?
Is it a community spin If I use Fedora with Mate DE? I mean I originally installed the Gnome version long-long time ago, and then I got fed-up (FEDora-UPgrader) for the new releases and once I installed mate and I removed gnome a couple of years later. Now I no longer get fed-up, because it is obsolete nowadays, so I used the DNF system upgrade plugin for Fedora 31.
20 • Init poll (by Canfurneiro on 2019-11-18 14:06:04 GMT from Spain)
Of course, Debian should, in as far a reasonable, always support freedom and diversity.
I am progressively migrating all my computers from Mint to MX, which is currently at the top of Distrowatch's popularity list. By far and for good reasons.
Systemd implemented a number of design choices not everyone agrees with. If Debian still wants to use it as a default init system (even if it is much more than an init system), fine, but the users should have the choice to switch to at least one script-based alternative (and a pure init system) at install time or anytime afterwards.
MX offers such possibility (along with low memory and CPU footprints, sane defaults, stability, user-friendliness, etc). Debian, with many more resources, doesn't. Why?
21 • Emmabuntus (by Artur on 2019-11-18 14:17:25 GMT from Moldova, Republic of)
Emmabuntus,
The massive amount of preinstalled software is too much for my netbook, more than 8 Gig installation and 330 MB ram with idle desktop, start a browser and Iḿ out of business. Right now while writing this my memory usage is hovering at about 500 MB with Tor, i.e. Firefox running. Close the browser to compare gives 110 MB idling Ram usage.
I started to slim Emmabuntus down then gave up. I know nothing to beat Anti x for a no functional compromise installation on older computers like the one I am using right now, rescued from trash.
It was much easier to add than to remove so much bloat.
As usual if you like a distro with as many apps as possible that is fine, just seems weird to me.
22 • Community spin (by Geo. Savage on 2019-11-18 14:44:03 GMT from Canada)
If it weren't for community teams, Mepis/MX and Puppy would not have survived.
;-)
23 • The C in CentOS (by Microlinux on 2019-11-18 14:50:10 GMT from France)
My distro for servers is a community spin of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. :o)
24 • Slackware (by bison on 2019-11-18 15:25:05 GMT from United States)
There appear to be Xfce and MATE ISOs in the same directory as the Plasma image linked above.
25 • Keybored(sic) Lament (by Someguy on 2019-11-18 08:27:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
Jesse - you are a gem! Laptops are a perpetual curse - screen and keyboard failures main issues, apart from sucking the vents out with the vacuum cleaner to alleviate overheating! Why do laptop keyboards fail prematurely when all my plug-ins, even older PS/2 types seem to last indefinitely? Even finding a replacement unit can be difficult and expensive - they are country-specific, size matters, so does layout and, most importantly, positioning of the retaining studs on their underside. Did I mention batteries?! Sometimes I muse about designed obsolescence & co.
26 • Community spin (by Ram on 2019-11-18 15:59:17 GMT from India)
I have used different distros through out my last 10yrs of adventure in Linux world (yes I'm Linux only person for the last 10yrs). My first exposure to GNU Linux was with KNOPPIX, then learned about GUI desktops & apps from Ubuntu, then tried Slackware (thanks to it's well written unbiased user manuals & installation system I learned about the real Linux/UNIX system internals), then moved on to others.
Presently, my main installed system is Gentoo (Xfce). For internet access and little bit video editing I use Ubuntu Studio (live). I also use Android for my Mobile phone as personal digital assistant.
Yesterday, I tried the Slackware (Plasma5) Live (great to see one of my first teachers is still alive). It is working fine, just one lack is there is no KDevelop & QtCreator, while it included everything of Plasma KDE + some Qt & Gtk apps.
27 • community spin (by Marti on 2019-11-18 16:38:20 GMT from United States)
I have Peppermint on my desktop, but I wish I was brilliant enough to create an Openbox only edition of LTS Ubuntu.
28 • Keyboard (by David on 2019-11-18 17:05:21 GMT from United Kingdom)
One way of altering the keyboard is to alter one of the files used to create it, like /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/latin. There you could swap the entries for and to swap the [{ and aA keys. That technique is also useful if your laptop has Backspace or Delete in a place which leads you to press it by accident: just swap it with Scroll Lock or Pause.
29 • Community Spin a ramma (by Charels Shore on 2019-11-18 18:20:53 GMT from Canada)
Jesse...how dare you program the masses with a new phrase lol
"Community Spin"
Its like you threw down a fresh bail of hay, and they all just come a runnin.
Well done sir !
30 • Poll (by Jim on 2019-11-18 19:54:19 GMT from United States)
I use Ubuntu Mate, so it is a Community edition, and an official edition, but the poll wouldn't let me vote twice. LOL
From the DistroWatch website: The project began its life as an Ubuntu "remix", but starting with version 15.04, it was formally accepted as an official member of the Ubuntu family of Linux distributions.
From the Ubuntu Mate website: A community developed, Ubuntu based operating system that beautifully integrates the MATE desktop.
31 • Ubuntu MATE (by rubbled on 2019-11-18 20:42:48 GMT from New Zealand)
@32 Jim - ah, Ubuntu MATE. I had run away from Ubuntu since 08.04 until MATE 16.04 came along and made it useful again. But then better distros exist with MATE as an option (Mint, Manjaro). Ubuntu are a lot like Debian - suppliers of a raw unfinished base. Think a plank of wood which still needs to be made into a lovely piece of useful furniture. MATE at least puts Ubuntu through finishing school.
32 • Spins (by BarneyRubble on 2019-11-18 21:18:56 GMT from United Kingdom)
I keep coming back to Mint Cinnamon 64 bit. Tried Manjaro (Cinnamon), SUSE, Ubuntu until Unity happened, Linux Lite, and various Mate (yuk) and XFCE versions.
Mint Cinnamon just works for me on an i5 laptop and an AMD Athlon II based desktop.
Can't understand why Mate is a popular desktop, It feels like I bought the cheapest thing in the shop.
33 • Poll (by Some Random User on 2019-11-18 21:20:09 GMT from United States)
I use Lubuntu, so I selected "I run a supported secondary edition:"
If that answer is not correct, I am sorry.
34 • Spins (by Cheker on 2019-11-18 23:04:35 GMT from Portugal)
My main computer has Manjaro w/ KDE, so technically not the default. If it was today though, I might've actually stuck with XFCE, I've grown to like it after using it elsewhere.
35 • Ubuntu Mate (by Jim on 2019-11-18 23:57:13 GMT from United States)
@rubbled I ran Debian stable for years, but got tired of having websites telling me my software was out of date. I tried Manjaro years ago, and at least then it did not have the software I wanted in it's repository. I have tried Mint, and while it is okay it was just not for me. I run Ubuntu Mate as my main Distro,and Parrot Mate Home Edition when I need privacy and security. I acknowledge Ubuntu has it's issues, but found Ubuntu Mate LTS works best for me. The only improvement I would like to see from Ubuntu Mate is 5 years, rather than 3 years of support on it's LTS edition.
36 • Poll (by Tim on 2019-11-19 00:39:30 GMT from United States)
I didn't know what to put for Debian running MATE. It's an option at install, but it isn't the standard.
@31
All operating systems are as you describe. They're well designed for everything the developers thought you'd be doing and unfinished elsewhere. You find what works for you and stick with it. For me that's Debian and Ubuntu, and specifically right now Debian Buster.
Frankly that's better than what's going on in the rest of the world of computing where different walled gardens are made to deliberately not work together. What OS people are running is increasingly irrelevant... It's whether your company uses Google, Microsoft, Amazon or Apple. All of whom work less well together now than they used to.
37 • Community spins (by Alan on 2019-11-19 02:04:31 GMT from United States)
An inveterate distr-hopper for over 20 years, I've settled on Manjaro i3 edition, for maybe 2 years, and have little reason to even consider moving on. Well, that needs restating: Arch has my attention, and has been my main distro for more than 4 years. So why slide down the slope to Manjaro? 2 reasons. Let me explain.
When I had sickened from the excruciating daily rhthym of updating Genoo, and Gentoo's previously incredible documentation had started to decay---perhaps 6 or 7 years ago---Arch Linux picked up the slack. The balance of pre-compiled binaries for many of the core packages together with the "ports"-like AUR (reminiscent of Gentoo's system) satisfied my desire to stay in close touch with upstream source. And while I really, really liked Arch's hardcore encouragement to learn the system the hard way, to achieve working knowledge of the system, even after dozens of such learning expeditions, I had not yet grasped the totality of the structure and function of the Linux OS.. Gradually I began experimenting with "Arch-based" systems that were easier to install. None of the ones that are reasonably stable provides a shortcut to an exactly Arch OS; but Manjaro got close enough, and at the end of the rather simple and quick installation, AUR was already on board! Not only that: development tools are standard. It is unnecessary, since this is an Arch based distro, to install a ppa everytime one wishes to install a slightly off mainstream package.
With Manjaro, I can install an Arch GNU/Linux system---as close to authentic Arch as any other "-based" distro---in a relatively short time. It might take me a couple of weeks to get it into fairly good "fighting shape," however, during this time, I am working.
This is where the hard-nosed approach of the Arch developers breaks down for me: I have completed dozens of Arch installs, to where it almost had gotten to be second nature; however, I still hadn't mastered the system! If not by now, it is almost counter productive to keep hitting my head against the wall. I don't have a single-minded interest in learning Computer maintenance. I live on the edge. Not the bleeding edge, the edge of survival. Each time I experience a breakdown, I either reinstall, or descend into the labyrinthine word of online support. This often serves well enough. This works well enough for me. It is optimal. For me.
That's pretty much the first reason, the reason I use Arch. I was satisfied with xfce4 for a long while. Somewhere along the line, I stumbled upon i3. I have tried other tiling window managers, never with any expectation to make sense of it. But this time, it was easy.
Manjaro's i3 "spin" (if that is indeed the correct term) is exceptional.
i3 itself is understated. Zero fluff. A learning curve within the limits of reason, and enough online help to enable one to get a fully functional system installed, and develop a speedy workflow. And! Fast! Even on an 8 year old laptop---albeit one with a mobile i-7 processor---I only notice lag with firefox or editing a file approaching 1GB in size on Emacs; and even then it is usually bearable.
Manaro's i3 "spin" comes with a few nice features, many of which I am not knowledgeable about. One thing that makes it super easy to learn is the conky that comes installed by default. On the root window is a help screen with keybindings. A constant tutor. I have converted it into a reminder of my OWN keybindings by editing the basic files.
My own take on i3 Manjaro community edition. Very thoughfully lain out, atop Manjaro, an expertly assembled OS. I would prefer to be pedal to the metal, with Arch itself. I don't need to repeat the detailed assembly. Besides, Arch's touted learning pathway has been gradually simplified, as certain steps have been allocated to the installation scripts.
38 • Running community spins (by Flavio on 2019-11-19 02:22:48 GMT from Brazil)
I run both main/default editions and community spins.
Slackware by AlienBOB is one of them.
39 • distro review/poll questions (by matt on 2019-11-19 04:57:15 GMT from United States)
I just tried out emmabuntus on virtualbox. It's a well put together distro from a group of people who seem to have a good cause in mind. I'm not sure that much sets it apart from other debian based distros, but it seems a good choice for old hardware. Lots of configuration options too, probably good for users new to linux.
I usually just run Debian stable, no community spins, although i tend to use xfce or mate instead the default gnome.
40 • Deban poll (by Prophet on 2019-11-19 05:37:07 GMT from Poland)
If you've read carefully Debian's CEO words, the purpose of this poll is not maintaining diversity, its purpose is to remove all other init options, and to have an excuse for that "Hey, we wanted other options, but majority voted against". And blame other init systems developers for that.
41 • Openbox on Ubuntu (by Roy Davies on 2019-11-19 08:17:41 GMT from United Kingdom)
@27 Have a look at htpps://help.ubuntu,com/community/Openbox. Alternatively, open 'Synaptic Package Manager' and search for "openbox".
42 • Spins... (by OstroL on 2019-11-19 08:45:26 GMT from Poland)
I have several distros installed in few laptops.
Arch is a spin, for that's the only way to say about it. Once installed, it stays that way. You can even forget about it for 2-3 months and come back and update/upgrade it to the present state. Answers to any questions can be found in the Wiki or in the forum, or in the 'net. If you are somewhat lazy, you can find a script to install it in the 'net and get pure Arch.
Distros based on Debian and Ubuntu are only spins, my spins. Some are being updated/upgraded since few years, from one development/testing to another and does't carry anything "default."
The only default distros are Fedora 31 with Gnome and OpenSuse Tumbleweed with KDE Plasma, installed to keep an eye on what goes on with them. Out of all distros, I find OpenSuse is the best of all in the context of user friendliness - there's nothing to beat YaST.
43 • Spins I won't be using (by akoi on 2019-11-19 11:26:40 GMT from United States)
I won't be using Solus Budgie, even to check how it works. There was a time, when it was interesting. But, it was created by a guy, who just cannot stay with any project he starts, and after a while gets angry with the community or himself and drops it, leaving the users and run away. After a while, he starts another, now something called Lispy Snake. But, he won't even mention Budgie or Solus in it. Strange!
44 • manjaro i3 community edition (by trinity on 2019-11-19 14:51:38 GMT from Moldova, Republic of)
manjaro has a great i3 distribution, and a bunch of other less traditional desktop editions
like openbox one.
as for specialized spins of some distribution like astronomy or education spin or any other domain,
i think that better to use a specialized distribution for this domain than a spin,
for example parrot/kali/blackarch for security,
tuxtrans for translation,
edubuntu for schools
than to use spins which are less polished.
45 • systemd biggest problem is ignoring posix (by ionel on 2019-11-19 15:04:14 GMT from Moldova, Republic of)
the biggest problem with systemd is that it kills diversity.
It developers insist on using linux only system calls, and even if someone will send a patch
to use posix system call, it will be ignored.
so there is no way to port systemd to freebsd for example.
Other init systems like openrc work without problem.
Debian as a project which insists from beginning that it an operating system and not a mere linux distribution.
and which insists on systemd as its only init system
it is a very strange project.
p.s: linux seems like a prodigal son, which sits on shoulders of giants.
it was built using gcc, x11, gnu utils.
but it didn't gave back anything:
wayland is linux only,
systemd is linux only,
pipewire is linux only,
46 • i3 on Arch (by Ooss on 2019-11-19 15:17:49 GMT from Netherlands)
Well, you can have i3 on Arch your way, without someone else's way, for example Manjaro way. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/I3
47 • Main vs Community Spin (by WolfLand on 2019-11-19 16:10:40 GMT from United States)
I don't use either the main or community spin as I make my own Ubuntu based spins.
So I voted "Other".
48 • Spins (by Erik on 2019-11-19 17:18:36 GMT from Canada)
The only community spin I've run is a version of PCLinuxOS. I've never tried any others.
49 • Main or Community? (by pengxuin on 2019-11-19 19:33:33 GMT from New Zealand)
" One of the few downsides to a community spin is it tends not to get the same attention and support as a distribution's main edition."
you probably would be better to determine Main or Community.
I understood that all Mint (Ubuntu) community editions got the same love and attention from the developers.
50 • @40 Introducing IBM System 4 (by koolaid guzzler on 2019-11-20 03:02:28 GMT from United States)
At every turn, Sam Hartman lamely attempts to hide his party's cold and obvious agenda behind feeeelings. I don't think people are appreciating what a SHTF moment this is for the entire System D debacle.
They had to wait until the Trump impeachment show had officially begun in earnest, to begin the impeachment hearings for System D over at D-D-Debian.
Also interesting that D is the 4th letter of the alphabet and the System D zit didn't truly come to a head until we reached Linux 4. Maybe we should just start referring to the whole mess as 'System 4' so it feels truly as IBMesque as it probably deserves.
51 • System 7 ?? (by koolaid guzzler on 2019-11-20 03:15:21 GMT from United States)
I forgot about Apple System 7.. so it's even more perfect because 4 and 7 go together so well. Maybe Apple can buy something to suddenly 'own' Linux overnight and we can have Apple System 47
52 • Community spins (by GreginNC on 2019-11-21 13:22:32 GMT from United States)
I currently run PcLinuxOS Trinity community spin although to be honest I use Enlightenment on it 99% of the time. I don't like "modern desktops" with their flat 2D windows and icons so alternatives are the way for me.
Number of Comments: 52
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| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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| Random Distribution | 
RancherOS
RancherOS was a tiny Linux distribution that runs the entire operating system as Docker containers. This includes system services, such as udev and rsyslog. RancherOS includes only the bare minimum amount of software needed to run Docker. This keeps the binary download of RancherOS very small. Everything else can be pulled in dynamically through Docker.
Status: Discontinued
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TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
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| 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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