 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 848, 13 January 2020 |
Welcome to this year's 2nd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
While proprietary operating systems eventually reach their end of life and new versions need to be purchased, Linux distributions are usually provided free of charge and with free updates between new versions. This makes Linux an excellent choice for people looking to replace their aging proprietary operating systems. One distribution which is especially geared towards Linux newcomers is elementary OS, an Ubuntu-based distribution which uses a macOS-style interface. Joshua Allen Holm takes elementary 5.1 for a test drive and reports on his experiences in our Feature Story. Then we discuss NetBSD developers expanding Wayland support in their software ports and Fedora phasing out legacy Python packages. We also remind Ubuntu users that version 19.04 is nearing the end of its supported life. Plus we discuss how to gain direct access to USB ports as a regular user, particularly when running applications under WINE. We continue the discussion on giving users access to raw storage devices in our Opinion Poll and would like to hear your comments about whether this is a good idea. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: elementary OS 5.1
- News: NetBSD expanding Wayland support, Fedora phasing out legacy Python packages, Ubuntu 19.04 nearing its end of life
- Questions and answers: Accessing USB ports under WINE
- Released last week: Tails 4.2, IPFire 2.23 Core 139, Archman 2020-01
- Torrent corner: Archman, ArcoLinux, AryaLinux, Bluestar, EasyOS, Endless OS, IPFire, SparkyLinux, Tails
- Opinion poll: Allowing regular users to access storage drives
- New distributions: PsychOS, theshell OS
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (by Joshua Allen Holm) |
elementary OS 5.1
elementary OS 5.1 "Hera" is an Ubuntu-based distribution with its own custom desktop environment known as Pantheon. Built upon Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS, elementary OS uses its Pantheon desktop and applications to create a desktop experience that draws more inspiration from macOS than it does from Windows.
For this review I began by heading to the elementary OS website to download the ISO. The website is clean and well organized with the download option right at the top of the main page. The download is "pay what you want" and the default price is $20 (that price should be in US Dollars, but the page does not make that clear, and I have no idea if the prices change for people in other countries). Setting the price to zero (resulting in a free download) is an option, which is what I did for this review.
elementary OS 5.1 -- The live desktop
(full image size: 1.8MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
I downloaded the 1.47GB ISO, copied it to a flash drive, and used that flash drive to boot my computer. The boot options were very similar to Ubuntu with options to try a live desktop or skip right to installing elementary OS. I opted to try the live desktop for a little while before running the installer. Everything seemed to work fine in the live desktop so I moved on to installing the operation system.
Installing elementary OS
The installation process for elementary OS is the same as Ubuntu. The Ubiquity installer handles the process and prompts the user for all the typical information: language, keyboard layout, timezone, whether to download updates while installing, partition the hard drive, create a new user, and the like. The process was uneventful; there were no issues and the installation went as smoothly as it does whenever I use an Ubuntu-based distribution that uses Ubiquity. When the installer finished its work, I rebooted my computer and began using elementary OS.
elementary OS 5.1 -- The Ubiquity installer
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The Pantheon desktop environment
From the login screen to the desktop environment, everything is custom developed for elementary OS. Sure, you can get Pantheon on some other distributions, but this is the distribution it was designed for, which means everything fits together seamlessly. I will get to some flaws shortly, but overall the Pantheon desktop experience is extremely well polished. It is obvious that a lot of care was taken in making sure everything followed the same rules in order to provide a consistent user experience.
elementary OS 5.1 -- First run greeter
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The first time I logged in I was presented with a welcome screen/greeter that helped me finish setting up my system. The greeter prompted me about configuring location services, night light settings, automatically deleting files in the trash and temporary files, and provided information about getting applications. The experience was not far removed from GNOME's initial setup screens, but elementary's provided a slightly cleaner and somewhat more informative process.
First run setup completed, I explored the desktop in more detail. The desktop is best described as macOS-inspired with some GNOME influence. There is a dock at the bottom the screen and a top panel with an Applications menu, date and time with calendar applet, and a selection of items for controlling sound, networking, Bluetooth, power/screen brightness, notifications, and logging out/shutting down. What really cements the macOS inspiration is the use of the Command key symbol in many of the short-cuts. In most Linux desktop environments this key is called the Super key, and on standard PC keyboard it usually has the Windows flag logo, but elementary's keyboard short-cuts show the Command key symbol, which could be a little confusing to some because the symbol does not appear on a standard PC keyboard.
elementary OS 5.1 -- Keyboard short-cuts
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When it comes to keyboard short-cuts, elementary's are somewhat atypical. The Super/Command key brings up a screen showing the short-cuts when pressed on its own. On some other desktop environments Super alone opens the application menu, but to do that on elementary the shortcut is Command-Space. There is a consistent logic to the Command key short-cuts, but they are not what users of other desktop environments are probably familiar with.
The System Settings application provides a way to tweak the system to a user's needs. In some ways this application is more user friendly than the equivalent in other desktop environments, but in other ways it is more restricted. For example, the Online Account panel only provides options for Last.fm, FastMail, and generic IMAP e-mail accounts. There is also a Parental Controls panel that, at least in theory, allows parents to restrict the times their kids can user the computer and disable applications and websites, but nothing I tried would make the settings actually work. I gave up after only 30 minutes, and a search on-line confirms that other people are having the same problem, but this feature should work without having to put in extra effort to try to make it work.
When it comes to default software packages, elementary OS comes with a small selection of software, mostly basic utilities. The Applications menu has short-cuts for AppCenter, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Code (an elementary OS text editor similar to gedit), Epiphany, Files, Mail, Multitasking View, Music, Photos, Screenshots, System Settings, Terminal, and Videos. The dock has a subset of these as the default items. There are also a few other utilities, like a PDF viewer, that do not have short-cuts in the application menu or dock.
Most of the default applications are elementary/Pantheon applications and follow elementary's user interface guidelines. This typically means a streamlined user experience with some applications only having a small handful of settings that the user can configure. One other feature of most of these applications is that they remember what the user was doing the last time the application was used. For example, if the user was using the Terminal application and the last working directory they were in was /home/[username]/Videos, that directory will be the current working directory when starting a new Terminal.
Installing additional software
While the default elementary OS applications are nice, they are somewhat lacking. Thankfully, AppCenter contains a large number of other applications. The software available is everything from Ubuntu 18.04 plus a selection of elementary applications. The elementary OS applications are classified as "curated" and are mostly "pay what you want" applications; $0 is a valid option, but some are always free.
elementary OS 5.1 -- AppCenter
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AppCenter gets a little awkward when trying to install non-curated applications. It provides a warning about the software and asks the user to confirm if they want to install it. In theory this is okay, but this extends to software like Firefox and LibreOffice, which have packages maintained by Canonical. Yes, elementary does not maintain the packages, but the "it may not receive bug fixes or feature updates" warning for packages that do get updates might intimidate new users. Granted, the "feature updates" warning does apply apply to LibreOffice because elementary is using LibreOffice 6.0, not the latest release, but the older version is to be expected when the distribution is based on an Ubuntu LTS release.
elementary OS 5.1 -- Installing non-curated application
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The extra warning when I tried to install Firefox and LibreOffice was not the only odd issue with AppCenter. LibreOffice is broken down into several entries. There is a LibreOffice entry and then separate entries for each component application. I started by selecting the LibreOffice entry in the hopes that it was a meta-package that installed the entirety of LibreOffice, but it only install the core of LibreOffice, which was unusable without also installing Calc, Writer, etc.
Elementary OS 5.1 also comes with Flatpak pre-installed, but the Flathub repository is not enabled by default. Heading over to Flathub and installing a package using the link provided on the applications page installed the desired application and enabled the entire repo. After I did this, all the Flathub applications showed up in AppCenter and were treated as non-curated applications with the associated warnings when trying to install them.
Because elementary is based on Ubuntu, the typical Debian-style command line applications, apt and dpkg, are available for managing packages. Flatpak can also be managed from the command line. Snap support was not installed by default when I installed elementary OS 5.1 (a subsequent update brought it in as a dependency, but that might have been caused some of that additional software I installed), but it too can be used to install additional software.
Final thoughts
There is a lot to like about elementary, but it is not perfect. The Parental Controls are advertised as a key feature on the distributions website, but it just does not work. There are open bugs about it, but open bugs about a non-working feature still means that the feature does not work. Until it does, it should not be a selling point for the distribution. Aside from that, elementary is wonderfully polished. I personally find the use of the Command symbol in the Keyboard Shortcuts window to be a little odd, and think that the non-curated software warning should be toned down or rephrased for packages that are supported by Canonical (i.e. these packages are not directly supported by elementary, but do receive fixes), but other than a few odds and ends like those examples, elementary OS 5.1 is very well put together. If you are looking for a solid distribution for yourself, or are searching for a distribution to recommend for users coming from macOS, this distribution is an excellent choice.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an ASUS VivoBook E406MA laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Pentium Silver N5000 CPU
- Storage: 64GB eMMC
- Memory: 4GB of RAM
- Networking: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
- Display: Intel UHD Graphics 605
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Visitor supplied rating
elementary OS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 5/10 from 148 review(s).
Have you used elementary OS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
NetBSD expanding Wayland support, Fedora phasing out legacy Python packages, Ubuntu 19.04 nearing its end of life
Usually when we hear about the Wayland display software it is in the context of Linux distributions and their desktops. However, Wayland has gradually be making inroads in the BSD communities too. The NetBSD community is starting to get more Wayland support through the pkgsrc repository. A mailing list post outlines software ports which can now run with Wayland support enabled: "This is just a heads up that the Wayland option is now turned on by default for NetBSD 9 and Linux in cases where it peacefully coexists with X11. Right now, this effects the following packages: graphics/MesaLib, devel/SDL2, www/webkit-gtk, x11/gtk3. The WebRTC option has also been enabled by default on NetBSD 9 for two Firefox versions: www/firefox, www/firefox68. Please keep me informed of any fallout. Hopefully, there will be none."
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Distributions are gradually phasing out support for Python 2 releases, which are no longer supported upstream as of the start of 2020. While Python 2 does not receive official upstream support, package maintainers of Linux distributions continue to keep the old versions running and patched as best they can, at least for a time. Fedora is planning to remove an older version of Python (2.6) when Fedora 33 launches. "The python26 package will be retired without replacement from Fedora 33. Python 2.6 has been End of Life since October 2013 and was kept around only to test software targeting RHEL/EPEL 6. The removal is aligned with EPEL 6 EOL." Further details can be found in the Fedora change proposal.
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Adam Conrad has posted a reminder that Ubuntu 19.04 and its related community editions will reach the end of their supported life on January 23rd, 2020. "Ubuntu announced its 19.04 (Disco Dingo) release almost 9 months ago, on April 18, 2019. As a non-LTS release, 19.04 has a 9-month
support cycle and, as such, the support period is now nearing its end and Ubuntu 19.04 will reach end of life on Thursday, Jan 23rd. At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 19.04." People wishing to upgrade to version 19.10 are encouraged to read the upgrade instructions.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Accessing USB ports under WINE
The-glass-is-half-full-of-wine asks: I am a Linux user and this problem eludes me. I have never been able to get Windows programs that run under WINE to use the USB comports. Could you explain how to use comports, when running a Windows program under WINE?
DistroWatch answers: When we run an application under WINE it can see hardware ports, such as parallel and USB ports, through a translation process which maps the local Linux device names into Windows device names. We can see a complete list of these translated devices in the .wine/dosdevices directory under our home folder. If we get a long directory listing of that location we will see something like this:
ls -l ~/.wine/dosdevices
lrwxrwxrwx 1 jesse jesse 10 Dec 1 13:00 c: -> ../drive_c
lrwxrwxrwx 1 jesse jesse 8 Dec 1 13:02 f:: -> /dev/sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 jesse jesse 1 Dec 1 13:00 z: -> /
Here we can see the C, F, and Z drive mappings. C and Z are special cases and link to locations in our filesystem. In my case the F drive is linked to the device /dev/sdc which is a USB thumb drive.
Any mappings which show up in this location should be available to all Windows programs we run through WINE. If a device mapping is missing, we can add it. For example, if my optical drive, /dev/sr0, is missing from the listing, I can create it as the W drive by running:
ln -s /dev/sr0 ~/.wine/dosdevices/w::
wineserver -k
The above two commands create a symbolic link for the new device mapping and then shutdown the existing WINE service, effectively restarting WINE so the change will take effect.
Let's say the symbolic link to your USB device is linked in the ~/.wine/dosdevices directory and you still cannot access it from your application. The problem is likely that WINE is running under your user account and only has access to the directories and devices your user has permission to read. On most Linux distributions regular users are not allowed to access raw USB ports or storage devices, not directly anyway. The devices are usually mounted by the administrator who can determine who can browse the devices.
We can address this lack of permission by looking at which group has access to the device and then making our user a part of that group. For example, up above I pointed out WINE considers its F drive to be my /dev/sdc device, which is a USB drive. I can confirm which device this is by running lsusb or lsblk to get a listing of my USB and storage devices, respectively.
When I check the permissions of my /dev/sdc device, I see the device is owned by the root user, which is typical, and members of the disk group can also access the device.
ls -l /dev/sdc
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 32 Dec 1 14:28 /dev/sdc
My regular user account, called jesse, is not a member of the disk group, therefore I cannot access the /dev/sdc device directly. I can fix this by adding my user to the group and then logging out of my account and signing back in. I add myself to the disk group by running the following command:
sudo adduser jesse disk
From now on, when I run a program under WINE, it is able to access the USB drive called /dev/sdc. On other distributions the device may be associated with another group, such as sys, but whichever group owns it, adding our user to that group allows us to access it.
Of course, since most storage devices are owned by the same group we need to be careful. If we assign our user to a group that owns storage devices it opens up the possibility we (or a program running as our user) will also be able to access any drive attached to our computer. It is probably best to either remove the extra group permission later, or set up one special user that is only used to run WINE. That way it reduces the risk we will accidentally access or destroy data on the storage device. I can remove myself from the disk group by running the following command:
sudo deluser jesse disk
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Tails 4.2
The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a Debian-based live DVD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user. The project has released a new version of the distribution, Tails 4.2, which makes several improvements to the upgrade process: "We worked on important improvements to the automatic upgrade feature, which is still one of your major pain points when using Tails: Until now, if your version of Tails was several months old, you sometimes had to do two or more automatic upgrades in a row. For example, to upgrade from Tails 3.12 to Tails 3.16, you first had to upgrade to Tails 3.14. Starting with 4.2, direct automatic upgrades will be available from all prior versions to the latest version. Until now, you could only do a limited number of automatic upgrades, after which you had to do a much more complicated 'manual' upgrade. Starting with 4.2, you will only have to do a manual upgrade between major versions, for example to upgrade to Tails 5.0 in 2021. We made automatic upgrades use less memory. We optimized a bit the size of the download when doing automatic upgrades." Additional information on Tails 4.2 can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
Archman GNU/Linux 2020-01
Demiray Muhterem has announced the release of Archman GNU/Linux 2020-01 "Xfce" edition, the latest stable build of the project's Arch-based distribution featuring the Xfce desktop. This release introduces an alternative package installation program called tkPacman: "Archman Xfce 2020-01, code name 'Lake Van' stable release is ready to use. As of this release, Archman repositories use packages with the extension tar.zst. In this release you will see a 70% centered panel at the bottom of the screen. With this panel's smart hiding feature, the entire screen will be available for use. We also grouped window tasks as icons only in the panel. We have made many other cosmetic changes. We set the Papirus icon set aside and decided to use the Surfn Arc icon set. In Sample Files, we place information and visual files about Lake Van which we introduce in this release. We've fixed many bugs you've detected in earlier release. As an alternative package installer, we have added tkPacman to Archman repositories and we recommend you to try it." See the full release announcement for more details and screenshots.
Archman GNU/Linux 2020-01 -- Running the Xfce desktop
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IPFire 2.23 Core 139
IPFire is a lightweight Linux distribution for use on network devices such as firewalls. The distribution is managed through a web interface for easier access. The project's latest update is IPFire 2.23 Core Update 139 and the project's release announcement provides an overview of available improvements: "It is time for the first release of the year, IPFire 2.23 - Core Update 139. It is packed with improvements, software updates, and many many bug fixes. Improved booting & reconnecting: Dialup scripts have been cleaned up to avoid any unnecessary delays after the system has been handed a DHCP lease from the Internet Service Provider. This allows the system to reconnect quicker after loss of the Internet connection and booting up and connecting to the Internet is quicker, too. Improvements to the Intrusion Prevention System: Various smaller bug fixes have been applied in this Core Update which makes our IPS a little bit better with every release. To take advantage of deeper analysis of DNS packets, the IPS is now informed about which DNS servers are being used by the system. TLSL: IPFire is configured as securely as possible."
AryaLinux 2.1
AryaLinux is a source-based GNU/Linux distribution that has been put together using Linux From Scratch (LFS) as a guide. The AryaLinux distribution uses a source/ports style of package management and a custom package manager called 'alps'. The distribution's latest release, AryaLinux 2.1, is available in four desktop editions: GNOME, KDE Plasma, MATE, and Xfce. "Listed below are some of the changes that have made it to this release of AryaLinux. Apart from package updates and upgrades, there are several things that make this release different from our other releases. Release for all supported desktop environments: Xfce, MATE, KDE and GNOME. Linux kernel major version update from 4.x to 5.x. All package versions in line with package versions of LFS and BLFS stable book version 9.0. A complete rewrite of AryaLinux took place before this release which resulted in few regressions. We are working on the same. Please click here for known issues in this release." Further information can be found in the release notes.
AryaLinux 2.1 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 72kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
SuperGamer 5
David Nickel has announced the release of SuperGamer 5, a brand-new version of the project's Ubuntu-based distribution designed for gamers. Although the live image does not come with any pre-installed games, it includes scripts for downloading and installing a number of popular gaming platforms, such as Steam, Lutris (an open-source gaming platform for Linux) and PlayOnLinux (a Wine software compatibility layer for installing Windows-based video games and other software on Linux). The new release of SuperGamer is based on Ubuntu 19.10, featuring a recent Linux kernel (version 5.3) and an Xfce 4.14 user interface with a Whisker menu. "The SuperGamer version 5 has arrived. It is based upon the Ubuntu 19.10 base, is 64-bit ONLY, and it has the 5.3 kernel and Xfce 4.14. I have included installers for Steam, Lutris and PlayOnLinux as well as cleaned up the look and feel of it. UEFI support is still hit and miss with the new GRUB, but it does work in Live mode." Visit the project's home page to read the brief release announcement.
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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: 1,767
- Total data uploaded: 29.7TB
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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) |
Allowing regular users to access storage drives
In our Questions and Answers column we talked about security restrictions which prevent most users from directly accessing storage devices. Typically users are limited to accessing specific filesystems on a device, rather than the raw data of the device itself. This prevents all sorts of accidental (and malicious) tampering with regards to data on the disk.
We would like to know if your regular user account has permission to access raw storage devices, such as disk drives and thumb drives, or if you need to access these devices through sudo or the root account.
You can see the results of our previous poll on disk encryption and file vaults in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Allowing regular users to access storage drives
| My regular account can access all storage devices: | 595 (56%) |
| My regular account can directly access some storage devices: | 187 (17%) |
| My regular account can only access storage devices through sudo: | 174 (16%) |
| My regular account cannot access storage devices: | 44 (4%) |
| My regular account is root: | 53 (5%) |
| Other: | 16 (1%) |
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| Website News (by Jesse Smith) |
Distributions added to waiting list
- PsychOS. PsychOS is a Devuan-based distribution customized for an out of the box desktop experience.
- theShell OS. theShell OS is an Arch Linux-based distribution featuring a desktop environment called theShell.
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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, 20 January 2020. 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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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Happy new year. Thanks for the good work. (by eco2geek on 2020-01-13 01:32:36 GMT from United States)
To Jesse Smith, Ladislav Bodnar, and everyone else who produces this web site: Before it gets too far into the new year, I'd like to express my appreciation for your work on DistroWatch and DistroWatch Weekly over the past year, and hope you keep up the good work in the new decade.
2 • elementary OS just isn't tweakable enough (by eco2geek on 2020-01-13 01:49:13 GMT from United States)
While elementary OS has a nice looking user interface, it reminds me of a piece of electronic equipment with a sticker on the back that reads, "Do Not Open. No User-serviceable Parts Inside."
Want to pick or fine-tune the fonts the UI (or the terminal application) uses? Don't like the fact that there isn't a "minimize" control on application windows? Too bad.
However, (when I tried out the 5.1 "Hera" beta) there's a utility named "elementary-tweaks" that's meant for elementary OS 5.0 "Juno" that still worked. It alleviates many of the "bolted-down" aspects of elementary OS's user interface. It's available here:
https://github.com/elementary-tweaks/elementary-tweaks
It can also be installed via a PPA, although in true elementary OS fashion, you can't install software from PPAs out of the box. You'll have to install the "software-properties-common" package before you can use PPAs. (And, of course, the terminal application will nag you about your use of the sudo command.)
3 • Elementary OS is no longer good anymore... (by Torsten on 2020-01-13 03:11:34 GMT from Germany)
Infact, for me, Elementary OS also has become a big disappointment.
Their very first release was quite good, stable and outstanding, but all the upcoming releases were getting worse (in my view). I don't know why, but it seems that the staffs of Elementary OS doesn't listen to their users very much and only wants to make their own things, regardless to the users. And the current release of Elementary also is quite buggy. No Firefox and no LibreOffice - no way!
For me, it's really better to stay with Debian or a Debian derivate. With Debian you know what you get: stability!
4 • Allowing regular users to access storage drives (by Flavio on 2020-01-13 04:13:09 GMT from Brazil)
A personal desktop is very different from a server.
Since the unique user is the Admin, there is no reason to ask password each time he needs to check some file.
5 • Elementary & Regolith (by Andi on 2020-01-13 04:14:58 GMT from Indonesia)
I am agree with Torsten. How good the first release of elementary, but after that its going downhill. It used to be light, fast, and beauty.
6 • Elementary (by Arkhenstone on 2020-01-13 11:03:24 GMT from France)
I'll have to agree with the review and other comments concerning Elementary OS.
There is nice visual work, indeed, it's sleek from end to end when it comes to the system and curated apps.
But on the functional part, I'm really worried because the team have objectives they cannot reach with the means they have now. They're not much, but they develop Elementary OS as if it is an actual OS instead of a distribution. Elementary has access to Firefox, LibreOffice, and whatever else deb package canonical maintain. How the hell can they affirm we might not get updates or it'll break ? If ubuntu breaks, so is elementary os, since it's the same underlying system, it's just not gnome. On the other side, we get pay what you want software that is more likely to not get updates since it's mostly ONE developper doing its own thing. So, it's totally presomptuous from elementary to not play the safe route.
Do people needs another yet music player ? Another text editor ? Maybe yes for elementary OS perspective of an all round experience, but we needed them plain, simple, like do once and never touch again.
The picture software is slow because it manage an internal database of photos and stuffs. Music player does the same, but indexing is a pain. Code is ridiculous at that point. I saluate the effort, but such tool needs a dedicated team. VS Code is already the simplest modular code editor, yet one of the more powerful also. Epiphany, although working nicely, breaks sometime, especially video content or gifs, or even due to the adblocker. It's not for everyone. It shouldn't be the default browser. It's not even so on Ubuntu for the same reasons : Firefox is a way more stable alternative.
Out of that, double screen is pain. You can't use multiple virtual desktop because it only applies on principal screen, pantheon doesn't recognize your wallpaper color anymore to adjust the top bar color/opacity.
All of this to say, I was on elementary for a full year. I like what they are doing for their system, but it's taking long, long, long time to get something all round for the experience they aim, while within one year, it could be a system simple enough to let you get the best looking DE in a simple but perfect workflow.
FIX. DAMN. ISSUES. DONT. WASTE. EFFORTS.
7 • Elementary OS (by R. Cain on 2020-01-13 11:43:35 GMT from United States)
What's the point?
One MORE Linux 'distribution' which does not (now) "bring anything to the party", and gives all indications (lack of basic capabilities; lack of support; lack of response from *DEVELOPER) of being--in the not TOO distant future--yet another addition to the mountain of abandoned "distros". Read DistroWatch's 'Reader Reviews'. There are far too many negative comments to objectively support the rating of 7.9. ("... It looks stuningly beautiful, but there is too much breakage, and nothing ever get's fixed. Everytime they release a new version, I try it out, and the same things are all still broken...")
As one well-known tech writer has said: "Linux, now, has become nothing more than a sandbox for nerds." This is a good example of that sentiment.
8 • @7 the point? (by OstroL on 2020-01-13 13:38:20 GMT from Poland)
>> What's the point?
One MORE Linux 'distribution' which does not (now) "bring anything to the party"
Elementary OS brought "something" around 2014, but after that nothing much, really.
9 • elementary OS (by grog on 2020-01-13 13:47:04 GMT from Sweden)
I love elementary OS and recommend it to all my friends.
It's UI is really beautiful, consistent, intuitive and easy to navigate. Way better than Gnome, KDE, etc. Sure, it is not very customizable but that is by design in order to cater to folks coming from M$/UnnamedFruitCompany that want their computer to browse the web, check email, etc and do not care about tweaking. Stabilitywise I'm having no problems.
They cater very well to app developers as well. There is a streamlined development- and distribution framework. Also, the pay-what-you-want feature in the appcenter makes it easier for app developers to fund their projects.
Sure, I like to tweak and experiment with UI but for that I have another laptop running Openbox.
To each his own. Damn I'm grateful for the freedom of choice that FOSS grants me.
10 • @7 (by Arkhenstone on 2020-01-13 13:55:41 GMT from France)
What's the point ?
It brings 2 things on the linux table that seems to have disappeared since long, despite the lot of issues :
They have design guideline from end to end. You might like or dislike the look, but when you install a fresh elementary OS, everything follows the guidelines they did set up for it. That's refreshing. And although it's really bad for usability, they have a store that put things made for elementary OS first.
They also have a pay what you want system. I won't argue on whether it's good or bad, but I don't see anything else serious enough doing that.
11 • Distro reviews: (by dragonmouth on 2020-01-13 14:35:45 GMT from United States)
Many of the DW distro reviews tell us how hard or easy it is to install additional software. However, no review tells us how hard or easy it is to UNinstall default software. (unwanted packages, unneeded hardware drivers, unneeded language packs, etc.) Some distros, once installed, are monoliths. Not a single package that was installed by default can be uninstalled because all the packages are welded to the system files. Other distros allow up to 1.2 GB of unwanted/unneeded packages to be uninstalled depending on a distro. IMO, the ability to uninstall packages is as much a part of reviewing a distro as the ability to install packages.
12 • Paresseux Developers (by William Renolyds on 2020-01-13 16:06:42 GMT from Canada)
I am all about trying new distros when I see them pop up on the Distrowatch page, such as elementary OS...IF and Only if it passes the 'Love' test.
To me, a distro needs to be something unique, it needs its own personality crafted by the developer(s). It needs to reflect the passion put into it, so that when I use it, I feel the passion flow forth.
That is why, the First thing I do when entertaining the prospect of a new distro, is to go to its Distrowatch page, scroll down, and look at the Init software used.
If it contains systemd, then imho it is a low effort distro without a developers passion or love placed in the code. It is a quicky mickey, a carbon copy of all the other systemd offerings other than a different color paint job... and, I put that distro out of my mind and move on.
Sometimes, I will download an older version of the distro when it used a different Init variant just to see how they started out before they got lazy and headed down that wide, well traveled road full of potholes and ruts.
I do not want to open my fridge to see nothing but 1 carton of milk, or 1 type of car to buy, or 1 television station to watch, or 1 government to rule the world and I certainly do not want 1 variant of linux yet with many names.
One is the number of stagnation, and I refuse to promote it.
Sorry (1) ... Not now, Not ever.
13 • @11 Unneeded packages (by OstroL on 2020-01-13 17:00:28 GMT from Poland)
"However, no review tells us how hard or easy it is to UNinstall default software. (unwanted packages, unneeded hardware drivers, unneeded language packs, etc.)"
Excellent observation!
Maybe the luckiest users are those who run Arch, Crux or Gentoo. No (or very little) unwanted packages.
With the so-called mainline distros, such as Ubuntu, you can uninstall the unwanted packages, if you really try. Of course, the developers won't tell you how, even try to hide any apps that can do that, such as Synaptic Package Manager. These "mainline" are created through a meta package. You can find out the dependencies of that meta package, and manually reinstall the packages you want, and then uninstall the meta package. Sometimes they have meta packages linked to each other, so the work is somewhat tedious. But, you can get it done, if you really want to.
Sure, it'd be nice to have a review as you mentioned.
14 • Removing packages (by Jesse on 2020-01-13 17:04:55 GMT from Canada)
@11, @13: "Many of the DW distro reviews tell us how hard or easy it is to install additional software. However, no review tells us how hard or easy it is to UNinstall default software. "
I always try to remove a couple of default packages from a distribution while I'm running it. Just to see what happens. If it works as expected, I don't mention it. I only write about it if removing a default package breaks something or results in a lot of other packages getting removed (ie through a meta-package removal).
It is very rare I run into a problem removing default packages so it almost never comes up.
15 • @14 Removing default packages (by OstroL on 2020-01-13 19:15:51 GMT from Poland)
"It is very rare I run into a problem removing default packages so it almost never comes up."
See what happens, when you try to uninstall Nautilus from Ubuntu default. Nautilus is the default file manager of Gnome, but as a user, you might like to use another file manager, and also you might not like to keep Nautilus in your system, that is considering it as unwanted. Just see what happens?
16 • @14: (by dragonmouth on 2020-01-13 21:05:22 GMT from United States)
The Ubuntu-based distros are the worst for removing software that was installed by default. Try removing "cowsay" or "fortune" from Ubuntu or Mint or elementary. Every package or program, no matter how insignificant, has ubuntu-minmal file as a dependency. Once that is removed, the system is inoperable. Maybe there is some magical way of removing packages but I have not found it yet.
17 • Uninstall packages (by Otis on 2020-01-13 21:06:41 GMT from United States)
@11
"Not a single package that was installed by default can be uninstalled because all the packages are welded to the system files. Other distros allow up to 1.2 GB of unwanted/unneeded packages to be uninstalled depending on a distro. IMO, the ability to uninstall packages is as much a part of reviewing a distro as the ability to install packages."
I am asking something because I don't know, not to be snarky or sarcastic. Does that package "welding" to the system files have anything to do with systemd?
18 • Nautilus (by Jesse on 2020-01-13 21:56:45 GMT from Canada)
@15: Since Nautilus is a key component of GNOME, why would you try to remove it from a GNOME installation? It's not just another end-user application like Firefox or a text editor, it's a core component. It's like trying to remove the C library and still expecting your shell to still work.
@16: " Try removing "cowsay" or "fortune" from Ubuntu or Mint or elementary. "
I've done that, a few times. In fact, I think we've had conversations about this in past years. It hasn't posed a problem for me.
19 • The Whys & Why Not Let'ems Of Distros (by M.Z. on 2020-01-14 00:47:14 GMT from United States)
To be clear about the most reasonable position of "why make this distro?", is in truth because someone wanted to and the GPL which all Linux versions are licensed under was made to allow just that. If you think there are too many options you can easily use some proprietary OS & accept that you and all others have no real control & get the one official version, though why that's better than choice & freedom is beyond me.
----------
"What's the point?" of Elementary...
Well beyond the above point there is of course a number of fairly obvious things:
1) A whole different DE
2)A different set of design aesthetics to go with #1
3)A different take on how opensource could be funded
Frankly it seems odd to ask when a Distro has so many obvious ambitions and is clearly doing things different than others in lots of important ways. They aren't doing anything I'm too interested in, but I can see & respect the effort.
@12
"If it contains "{X}" then imho it is a low effort distro without a developers passion or love placed in the code. "
Regardless of what X is that's a rather silly & arbitrary claim. You could sub in anything for your hated project & it would be equally invalid. I for one really don't like Gnome 3, but rather than ragging on any project that uses it I move on to something else rather than attacking it based on my perceptions of what is good.
The fact is people can be passionate & caring no matter what bits of open source software they use, and if they use something you don't like it just means they have passions that lie elsewhere from yours. If a projects creators use Gnome or something even odder like Ratpoison WM, then they clearly don't care about desktops for normal users like I do. That doesn't make their project or passion any less valid, though it gives me reason to move on. It would be a lot more thoughtful to simply move on as well rather than painting everyone who does care about the same things as you with some broad brush because they didn't do things the way you want.
20 • Elementary OS (by Sean Greenhalgh on 2020-01-14 01:16:02 GMT from Australia)
I really like the interface of Elementary, I will give them that. It does have a lot going for it... They have a really nice website too. Their icon set is really good.
Why I don't use it:
- The system requirements are too high
- Epiphany browser is a hit or miss with GPU's. YouTube in particular. And somehow they have made Firefox feel inferior to the OS.
- It doesn't have a solid base set of apps like Firefox, Thunderbird and Libreoffice.
- It's very beautiful, but doesn't feel like a workhorse. It's more like a casual computer use OS - it feels like a toy. It doesn't feel like an OS you would want to do real work on. Other OS's like Ubuntu and Xubuntu feel like you can get in and grind. They feel really stable and work-ready and so does Mint.
But Elementary, it's too trendy or something... for my own liking.
21 • Elementary OS - Mac OS X user here (by mmphosis on 2020-01-14 06:01:42 GMT from Canada)
I really try to lower my expectations. Elementary OS is supposed to be macOS-like which is a great goal for a Mac-hanger-on like me, but some things are not going to be the same. I use Debian with XFCE, and to bring back the Command key where my muscle memory expects it to be on a PC keyboard, I have this bash alias readily available:
alias x='/usr/bin/setxkbmap -option ctrl:swap_lalt_lctl'
This makes most of the "Mac" hot keys work as I expect: Command-Z X C V B N A S F G Q W R U I O P -- Undo Cut Copy Paste Bold New Select-All Save Find Find-Again Quit Close Refresh Underline Italics Open Print. Cycle windows is Command-Tab. XFCE Settings > Window Manager let's you set and clear hot keys. It also allows a Mac-hanger-on like me to put Close Minimize Maximize (there is no Zoom) where I expect them in the left side of title bars.
XFCE allows me to put network, audio, power, date (format: %a %-I:%M %p) at the right side of a panel at the top of the screen that looks suspiciously like a menu bar. Rather than an Apple menu, I have my own custom "Debian" menu, with "About this Linux..." "Firefox" "Mail Reader" "File Manager" "MousePad" "Calculator" "Terminal Emulator" "Settings Manager" and pretty much nothing else. Everything else that I rarely use is in the "Applications" folder which is /usr/share/applications/ which is in Places in the side pane of Thunar the File Manager.
I have a bunch of phrases in AutoKey 0.95.9 to make Terminal keys work as I expect: ^C-interrupt-kill-SIGINT ^D-send-EOF ^Z-send-SIGTSTP-signal and Cut and Paste (Command-C and Command-V) work as I expect.
I saw an AutoKey request to make Command arrow keys work in text boxes like on the Mac, but I think that is pretty much a non-starter without seriously modifying X Windows internals.
I seem to remember using KDE and I think one of the options is to have a single menu bar at the top of the screen like the Mac instead of many menu bars at the top of every window like Windows. XFCE is based on GTK so I live without the single menu bar.
There are always compromises, and there are many many things about Linux that are huge improvements over the Mac: speed, open source software, customization, and above all... choice.
22 • @ "Default" applications? (by OstroL on 2020-01-14 08:30:23 GMT from Poland)
"Since Nautilus is a key component of GNOME, why would you try to remove it from a GNOME installation?"
Because, Nautilus is now featureless, for example. Maybe, the user still needs to have a file manager, which is much more full featured, such as Nemo.
The matter still is that if you try to take one "key" part off, the whole thing somehow breaks. The thing is, Gnome as a shell, or just a menu system, should be allowed to be installed separately. But, it is not. They add dependencies, which are not really absolutely necessary for the functioning of the shell/menu. Ubuntu tightens it more with their 2 extension forks.
But, Nautilus can be uninstalled, and for example Nemo be installed and take up the desktop. When Nemo takes up the desktop, the user can place icons on the desktop. The desktop is a pretty good place to work, after all. (Windows and Apple people knows that.)
On the whole, Linux distros try hard to not to let the users uninstall so-called default apps. What's default for one is not default for the others.
23 • "Key components" (by curious on 2020-01-14 09:53:19 GMT from Germany)
To different people, different programs may be important.
But the integration of a file manager, shell, menu system and window manager (and possibly more) is what makes something a "desktop environment", as opposed to a loose collection of non-integrated tools. So, Nautilus is a key component of GNOME, just as Thunar is a key component of XFCE, or Dolphin a key component of Plasma. It should be no surprise that removing them breaks things.
So, if a user needs a file manager with different features from Nautilus, he can install an additional one that is more useful to him.
But if he wants to replace Nautilus completely, the much more logical step would be to replace the whole desktop environment. In other words - if you don't like the GNOME user experience, don't use GNOME. There are plenty of better desktop environments.
24 • Install Storage (by Jim on 2020-01-14 10:37:18 GMT from United States)
I am the only one that uses my computer, so I allow all users to access storage drives.
I also love distros that offer minimal installs. I think every Distro should offer a minimal install. I would rather install what I need or want than uninstall what someone else thinks I just have to have.
25 • @13 unneeded packages (by Akoy on 2020-01-14 11:57:55 GMT from United States)
"Maybe the luckiest users are those who run Arch, Crux or Gentoo. No (or very little) unwanted packages."
True. They are the luckiest Linux users!
I could very easily uninstall Nautilus and its dependencies and install Nemo and make Nemo take over the desktop in Arch. I only needed the Nemo file manager, not the whole Cinnamon. I could use some goodness of Gnome that way.
Ubuntu, Fedora most probably won't allow that.
26 • Unneeded Packages (by dragonmouth on 2020-01-14 14:55:13 GMT from United States)
@17:
" Does that package "welding" to the system files have anything to do with systemd?"
I think it has more to do with design philosophy. Ubuntu, and distros based on it, have been monoliths since day one. Ubuntu came on the scene long before systemd was even a twinkle in Lenard Poettering's eye.
@19:
"If you think there are too many options you can easily use some proprietary OS & accept that you and all others have no real control & get the one official version"
You DO realize that there is (or should be) a middle ground between the current balkanization of Linux and the proprietary systems.
As if users had any real control with vast majority of distros. Most distros are some developer's arrogant idea of what is best. The only real control users have in Linux is to use a DIY distro (LFS, Gentoo, Arch).
"though why that's better than choice & freedom is beyond me."
For all intents and purposes, the hundreds of Linux distros are just as proprietary as Windows or OS/X. What is the difference between Gates' Windows and Shuttleworth's Ubuntu? OK, Ubuntu is free.
27 • Linux Rainbow (by Otis on 2020-01-14 18:59:48 GMT from United States)
@26 Thank you for your learned response to my query about systemd's possible influence on default package uninstalling. I think I see what you mean, but those stated notions, which we've seen before in these discussions, always trigger a feeling of why I'm using Linux distros in the first place: All of the choices.
Of course, some of those choices are visceral in nature and have to do with what we want to see and where to click (icons, menus, etc). But other choices aren't even in our field of mental vision until we learn more about the distro we have, and of course Linux in general.
Having spent year after year hopping from distro to distro and from TYPE of distro to others, I am still amazed at how vast the differences are between these works, all generally built over the same kernel.
What philosophy I might have about all this is still evolving, but I'm sure that it has a lot to do with exploration and Ubuntu allows just as much of that as Arch or Debian.. and then there are the offshoots/siblings of all the main ones. Systemd or not, if I want to remove default software from any Linux distro I'm going to find out how to do that, as I have, and remove it. Can't do that much on Windows.
28 • Storage access // ElementaryOS (by Cheker on 2020-01-15 23:31:51 GMT from Portugal)
We all have our own computers in the house so my user has access to everything. Perhaps this shouldn't be the case. Maybe someday I'll change it.
I don't like ElementaryOS because I have an unhealthy hatred for everything Apple and it's Debian (nothing wrong with Debian) but trying to look like macOS as much as possible. This is a perfectly valid reason for the distro existing though. It fills a spot, it has a purpose, which is to feel familiar to macOS users and help them transition to Linux.
29 • Reply to Checker (by Peter on 2020-01-16 00:08:03 GMT from Germany)
@28 ElementaryOS is Ubuntu-based, not based on Debian!
30 • Todays Menu (by Tech in San Diego on 2020-01-16 13:32:52 GMT from United States)
If you have no program experience and just want to browse the web or get email, then stick with Windows. If you truly want a minimalist distro that you can customize then install Arch. You will gain a tremendous amount more respect for Linux developers and how things work in the Linux eco-system.
Their are plenty of distros that run perfectly fine out-of-the-box from beginner to advanced. If you have never built a distro, or contributed to one, you should try it. If you want something pre-packaged then install Windows and quit bitching! Have you ever tried removing software from Windows? It's really quite simple.
My personal taste for over 15 years is Arch. It's like the EverReady battery of GNU/LINUX, it just keeps going and going and going.
Go with Arch or go back to Windows, I'm certain you will find Windows quite enjoyable.
One last comment... Try taking a snapshot of your system before making any tweaks to it, that way you will always have a known good backup should something go wrong. I'm certain that everyone has a back-up plan in place, right?
31 • Freedom is Messy (by M.Z. on 2020-01-17 00:02:34 GMT from United States)
@26
"You DO realize that there is (or should be) a middle ground between the current balkanization of Linux and the proprietary systems."
Why exactly do you find it necessary to talk like controlling others right to fork is some great good that the Linux community should embrace? You do realize that forks waste only their creators time & not yours, right? There is no harm done in another fork, & if people try it enough something widely useful usually comes up eventually.
"As if users had any real control with vast majority of distros. Most distros are some developer's arrogant idea of what is best. The only real control users have in Linux is to use a DIY distro (LFS, Gentoo, Arch)."
Every single product you own is just as much a product of some 'arrogant idea' of what the right way to do something is, be it making a toaster or a car. Depending on others to do most of the grunt working in making most all the things we own & use is part of being in a society, & it odd that you think there is a way to magically make it otherwise.
Of course there is a big difference with Linux Distros, and that is the ability many users to find almost exactly what they want by digging through their options & finding something that appeals to them.Linux Distros are like 1000 different little hot rod shops making a vast array of cars off similar basic blueprints & from what I can tell there should be a good enough option for nearly all users. You have the power to support any Distro of your choice in any way that you can & try to get others to support it as well. Also devs fork stuff & wii contine to do so regardless of the useless complaints about freedom.
"For all intents and purposes, the hundreds of Linux distros are just as proprietary as Windows or OS/X."
So you both want to complain about the consequences of freedom (more Distros than you can shake a stick at), & you also want to claim that said freedom doesn't exist? That makes no rational sense.
"What is the difference between Gates' Windows and Shuttleworth's Ubuntu?"
How about the fact that Ubuntu is as much Clément Lefèbvre's Linux Mint as it is Shuttleworth's Ubuntu? How about the fact that there are about 50 other versions that are someone else's vision of a better Ubuntu type distro tracked here on DW?
There is no rational way to pretend to be liberal/libertarian enough to complain about lack of freedom & to simultaneously be authoritarian enough to act like we should be able to stop devs from forking Distros. Freedom is messy & it involves accepting that others will do what they want. All I need to see for proof that the GPL causes freedom of software is another nice messy fork of some Distro gaining an audience & surviving long enough for control mongers to complain about.
32 • @30, Today's Menu (by Angel on 2020-01-17 01:14:03 GMT from Philippines)
Actually, for just web browsing and emails, there is a much better choice than Windows: it's Chrome OS, built on the Linux kernel. Don't care for a PC but still want to surf and email? There's always Android. In fact, Linus Torvald's little 1990 project is the gift that keeps on giving, able to run anything from your doorbell to the Matrix, from stuff here's stuff for DIY fans to easy set-and-forget things like Elementary and Endless.
"Go with Arch or go back to Windows, I'm certain you will find Windows quite enjoyable."
Unless that is a direct and enforceable order, I think I will continue my activities including surfing and emailing using what I please. At the moment I'm running Kali and KDE neon. That may change when I feel like it. You and your archaic peers can go on dabbling along while others can do whatever they feel like doing with their preferred distros.
And BTW, I'm typing this on Windows.
Number of Comments: 32
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| • 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 |
| • 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 | 
VLOS
VLOS (Vidalinux Desktop OS) was a powerfull, stable and easy-to-use Linux distribution. The desktop components are based on the best projects of the open source community including the GNOME desktop environment, Firefox browser, Evolution mail and calendar client, Gentoo Linux system and portage package manager. VLOS includes additional multimedia and productivity applications for the home user including media players, browser plugins for Flash, RealPlayer, PDF viewer, media, graphics design and administration tools.
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!
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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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0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
