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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • No preference, absolutely. (by Otto Ouster on 2020-02-03 00:45:39 GMT from Canada)
I have voted no preference, as a matter of fact I have tried almost all sort of distro,
and ended-up discarded distro from archiveOS which do not serve any other specific purpose, but, it does serve my minimal purpose. I have used Arch, Gentoo, OpenSUSE, CentOS, Ubuntu(s), PCLOS, MX/ANTIX, Debian, Devuan, Tails, Void and many others.
As long as it works out-of-the box, I have absolutely no preference(s) either for systemd or init, even for any DE(s).
May be, I am the only one here who has absolutely no preferences at all.
2 • Special-purpose vs. general-purpose Linux distributions. (by R. Cain on 2020-02-03 00:47:31 GMT from United States)
Why in the *WORLD* would someone choose to be absolutely constrained by a special-purpose distribution? Talk about placing all your faith in the distro developers! As the British would say: "...a fool's errand...".
3 • Special-purpose vs. .... (by R. Cain on 2020-02-03 00:58:48 GMT from United States)
...forgot to add that, as of right now, "I prefer a single focus distro" stands at 3%.
That's where it will end... and that's too high.
4 • single focus distros only work when... (by greenpossum on 2020-02-03 01:15:22 GMT from Australia)
The intended use is narrow, like firewall, NAS, VPN, and it just works out of the box. Maybe even headless and operated by a web interface. Otherwise eventually they accumulate features and then why didn't they just use a GP distro in the first place. When these projects fade they leave behind orphaned users. Better for the effort to have been put into customisations for existing distros. Devs, please ask yourselves before launching yet another distro, does the world need it, especially if it's just a respin of an existing one?
5 • single focus distro (by Ted on 2020-02-03 01:26:38 GMT from Australia)
I only use KDE+qt on a 64 bit processor, so I want a distro that offers a well setup, curated experience for that.
6 • Poll Question Musing (by A.F. on 2020-02-03 01:40:13 GMT from United States)
I suspect that this week's subject of review will act as a red-herring for a lot of responses to this week's poll. A desktop OS/distro is meant to be a platform for the user's other work or tasks. Whether you're using a general-purpose desktop distro (your Debians and Ubuntus of the world), or something that's very obviously tailored to a certain hardware platform, desktop layout, internal architecture, or even just its own personality (your KaOSs and NixOSs, Peppermints and Puppys), at the end of the day that distro still has to accommodate all of the workflow tasks that a user may need. I'm sure many fans of this-or-that distro will (quite justifiably!) disagree with this, but: once you get out from under the hood, a lot of these distros tend to be very homogenized, because as an operating system, that software is acting as a canvas for other tasks, rather than a task unto itself.
As a result, the way this poll is phrased, it's hard not to see it as a leading question: unless a user knows exactly what workflow or environment they want, and on what platform they need it, it's hard to justify a distro that only accommodates one hyper-specific use case, when so many others can accommodate that scenario plus many others. The trouble is, any power user who's so confident (or, depending on your perspective, picky) about what they want will probably also have the expertise needed to modify their system to suit their needs. Hence, the enduring popularity of distros like Arch and Gentoo (which are so vague as distros that you'd be hard pressed to find two identical users of either), even when other projects seek to take their work and simplify or pre-package it. To take one popular example, Manjaro makes Arch much easier to use, but it also cuts away some of its parent's raison d'etre, its KISS-ness and customizability, in the process.
I would suggest, then, that it's more productive to use/discuss "single-focus" distros not in terms of their installation applicability (except in cases where there really is a specialized need, such as supporting old/nonstandard architectures), but rather in terms of their actual use case: for unique projects such as embedded tasks, network storage, thin clients, and the like. Distros such as Alpine or WebConverger justify themselves by serving specific tasks, and are a vital part of the Linux ecosystem.
A specialized-desktop distro like KaOS, on the other hand, is at the mercy of the user's tastes being compatible with its creator's. It justifies itself to its own developers, who make that distro "in their own image," and the fact that such a project can exist exemplifies just why the Linux ecosystem is still so valuable in this day and age of lowest-common-denominator computing. Still, the side effect of that personalized project is that its reach will likely be limited to the devs themselves, plus a few odd users/distro-hoppers here and there.
7 • What ever (by Otto Ouster on 2020-02-03 01:55:22 GMT from Canada)
Butter Pecen, Chocolate chips, Pistachio, Strawberry or Raspberry does not matter for those who prefers plain vanilla. Exactly same as-in for GNULinux/FreeBSD, Enterprise/Desktop, KDE/GNOME, Mate/XFCE/LXDE, GCC/Clang or X/No-X or what so ever.
8 • single purpose vs general purpose (by Jeff on 2020-02-03 02:24:04 GMT from United States)
For all around use obviously general purpose, but that does not mean a single purpose distro is useless.
Gparted, Clonezilla, Tails (or Heads), Puppy...
Single purpose distros when you need one specific thing done they are the best tool for the job.
9 • Never needs winding never needs winding (by Trihexagonal on 2020-02-03 02:36:42 GMT from United States)
While FreeBSD may be considered for use as a server, firewall, etc. it fits my needs best as a desktop OS. When installed on a Thinkpad X61 makes the best dedicated .mp3 player I've ever had.
10 • Single focus v general purpose @8 (by pengxuin on 2020-02-03 03:56:35 GMT from New Zealand)
agree
single focus for a specific task - Clonezilla specifically.
otherwise GP for everyday computing. (web browsing, music / video playback or editing / processing, document creation.)
desktop agnostic, whatever the day brings ;-)
11 • EarlyOOM (by Andy Figueroa on 2020-02-03 05:04:44 GMT from United States)
Out of memory issues: really? I'm a Gentoo user, and I've installed and maintained Gentoo on low memory systems, as low as 512M, and occasionally used a little bit of swap, but never ran out of memory. If one has enough RAM (2 GB for most), it won't ever swap to disk. I think this is a non-problem. Admittedly, I'm currently running 16 GB, with 3 GB free, and if I do heavy compiling, it still never swaps to disk. Linux kernel has excellent memory management if left to default settings.
12 • Linux Kernel (by Otto Ouster on 2020-02-03 06:02:44 GMT from Canada)
Linux Kernel - 5.6
In addition to connectionless protocol, WireGuard VPN protocol is being merged into linux mainline kernel as a kernel-networking-tunnel operator as a companion to UDP.
13 • Linux kernel perfect fit for IoT Devices. (by Otto Ouster on 2020-02-03 07:58:14 GMT from Canada)
Latest Linux kernels with embedded broadcom-sta, zero-conf networking, systemd, wayland client and server, tons of tcp/ip protocols, UDP, and WireGuard VPN protocol makes it well-equipped & perfect-fit for IoT devices.
With latest Linux Kernel, users can get rid-off network manager completely.
I hope, it will be perfectly alright and in-line with European Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Regulations in some other countries.
14 • Single or dual purpose (by Jim on 2020-02-03 10:50:30 GMT from United States)
I install dual purpose distros, but keep single purpose like Parted Magic and Ubuntu "boot-repair-disk" in my arsenal.
15 • I prefer General Purpose distros (by TuxRaider on 2020-02-03 14:59:38 GMT from United States)
i can always git the newest packages from github and build any specific software i like to focus on, like SDR radio software, i have the newest builds running, the only special purpose SDR radio distro is Skywave Linux which is basically ubuntu 16.04 with older SDR software installed, and i dont think the developers of Skywave linux has built a new ISO with an updated Linux distro and the newest SDR packages in several years, besides that i dont like depending on somebody else to put it all together for me if i dont actually have to
16 • Distro Focus (by Ken Harbit on 2020-02-03 15:44:18 GMT from United States)
I voted for general simply because it fills my need, which is a desktop that can handle any kind of document and email/web connection. But if you have a specific need, and there is a distro focused on that need, by all means use and support the focused distro. Having all these disros, both general and focused, is one of the things that make Linux great. If one distro doesn't do it for you, do some research, find one that does what you want then support it. So, the question is missing a checkbox, it needs one that says "The Linux world needs both."
17 • Distos should be good at what they do (by Dxvid on 2020-02-03 16:51:25 GMT from Sweden)
I prefer if distro's are good at what they do. It's better to do a few things well than to do everything halfhearted. If I select KDE or Gnome or LxQt I want everything to run smoothly and optimized for that environment. If I run on ARM or POWER instead of Intel/AMD, I expect everything to run perfectly on that CPU arch. If providing Wayland, make sure it works first. If distro maintainers aren't able to provide this, then don't waste our time trying out for countless hours finding support is limited. It's better to be good at what you do than to provide everything halfhearted. I selected middle ground because of this. However I really only genuinely like distros who provide a lot of choice, and do it well at the same time. So I stick with the big ones: OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, and sometimes if needed i use RedHat or Debian if the customer requires it.
18 • Special purpose distros are needed. (by Garon on 2020-02-03 17:24:12 GMT from United States)
Contary to what some others may say, general purpose distros, can for the most part, not do it all. Only someone on a "fool's errand" would believe a GP distro could do it all very well. I'm sure some may come close. I do use a GP distro for my daily computing needs but sometimes nothing but a specialized distro will do the job I need. I dare say that is what most people do. Futhermore there is nothing wrong with a person wanting to stick to a certain platform like KDE or Gnome or even headless. That's what is so great about being in this eco system. All the choices.
19 • General and task-specific (by Gary on 2020-02-03 19:17:00 GMT from United States)
Since most people I have contact with are still using Windows or are new-bees to Linux, I use a general purpose distro. There are several desktops I prefer over others such as KDE and Cinnamon. The task specific type distros that I use regularly are Clonezilla and GParted.
20 • General purpose distro (by voidpin on 2020-02-03 19:42:29 GMT from Sweden)
I voted general purpose but, actually this is not the whole true.
I only use systems that provide a base-install, no DE. I don't want a DE, just a tiling WM and then configure my system with my own choice of applications.
21 • Dealing with low-memory performance (by John Crawford on 2020-02-03 19:49:26 GMT from United States)
I use Xubuntu and have to watch pretty carefully that my old system with 4 gigabytes of memory doesn't consume all memory, as well as all swap, when I have multiple Firefox tabs open. I don't understand why there has been a movement in recent years to reduce the size of, or even eliminate, swap partitions. Is it just based on the performance hit from using swap? Personally, I need tens of gigabytes of swap to prevent my system from becoming completely unresponsive.
22 • xPUD (by Justin on 2020-02-03 20:05:38 GMT from India)
xPUD was one of my favorite single-purpose distros. It was very lean, both in ISO size and RAM usage, and did what I needed it to do. It was designed for netbook users, but I found it useful for VMs and a portable OS when visiting friends. There is something appealing about distros that do so much with little. At the time I was also into Puppy, DSL, and later TCL and Slitaz.
Unfortunately, times change and these types of distros either get heavy or get unsupported (TCL is still around, but its software packaging makes it a non-starter). I loved xPUD's interface and wish I could create a spin of it with just updated packages (e.g., the latest Firefox). Trying to make my own kiosk spins just aren't the same, and kiosk distros are too limiting (I don't need public use).
It reminds me of other projects like Xombrero. That was an OpenBSD attempt at writing a browser that was so small, more secure, better/simpler privacy controls, etc., that I would have made it my daily driver... if it hadn't been discarded a few years before I found it.
I guess if you're going to make your own special-purpose distro, at least leave an easy recipe for people to replicate your work. I don't mean publish a repo on github, have some convoluted magic scripts that you run. I mean make a recipe. Work on your build system early and then make that available. Do yourself that favor by thinking about your own maintenance burden and keep it small.
23 • memory usage by distros (by Fred on 2020-02-03 21:26:18 GMT from New Zealand)
RAM is cheap. Even low-level old machines I find being sold in my area used have 4GB. The occasional one has 2GB, but those are a joke anyway. I have 8GB of which 6 mostly sit there and sleep. This is very unlike W7/W10 where memory gets sucked up for all sorts of nonsense. With Linux I am always pleasantly surprised at memory usage into 700-1100MB range, even with a couple of apps open. So that fits without issue even on the lowest rung laptops having 2GB.
Now what would you fellow readers do in the opposite scenario - say a machine with 16GB or even 64GB of RAM, running any one of today's memory-efficient Linux distros?
24 • Mostly General, & Some Tailored To The Task Distros (by M.Z. on 2020-02-04 00:31:16 GMT from United States)
I chose the middle ground option, because I use some fairly general purpose distors like Mageia & to a lesser extent Mint (which is very focused on the desktop & a bit Gtk focused for programs), & then sometimes I use a very specific distro for a firewall OS. If you have a specific task for a specific pice of hardware or want to multi-boot a computer to do one specific thing some of the time I think it could be a lot smarter & easier to explore a few purpose built distros. It could save time & create far better results than fighting to configure a general distro to do a specific thing less well than a pre configured alternative would have done it.
25 • My personal choices and flavors. (by Otto Ouster on 2020-02-04 06:28:23 GMT from Canada)
n latest or decent hardwares, I prefer:
PCLOS -> KDE (somehow get PCLOS link was not working last time!) - Mirrors were OK.)
CentOS/Ubuntu -> GNOME
LinuxMint -> Cinnamon
Devuan/MX -> XFCE
Debian -> XFCE/LXQT
OpenMandriva -> KDE Plasma - Clang compile is bit faster distro.
Antix -> IceWM/JWM/Fluxbox
Gento -> Many Flavors - Robust Distro.
Puppy -> Many Endless Cute Flavors.
My current hardware does not like what I like.
Second, How hard or How easy it is to convert GP Disto(s) into Specialized ones, or, a specialized distro into GP one?
26 • Did I just forget Slackware? (by Otto Ouste on 2020-02-04 06:38:06 GMT from Canada)
Yes, Slackware mostly XFCE.
A very few derivative(s) of Slackware has multiple choices of DEs, but, they are fast enough.
27 • middle grounds..? (by fonz on 2020-02-04 17:19:02 GMT from Indonesia)
voted for middle grounds, since i think my preferred choice of using debian testing cd xfce covers (all?) major platforms, and starts us off with a minimal working gui with not a lot of stuff installed. sure i did some cleanup after that, but its been years since ive last felt like installing an os. modern distros IMHO tend to offer too much fluff.
28 • * (by Cynic on 2020-02-06 06:36:41 GMT from Ghana)
@26 - Not sure what exactly that means.. XFCE, KDE, and about 5 window managers come with Slackware by default..
Only reason(s) it doesn't have gnome:
1. They don't have "stable" releases - and even if they "do", they require constant patching which doesn't fit the Slackware focus on stability.
2. They made the choice to jump on the SystemD bandwagon, with no regard for init systems. (I say init systems because SystemD does far too much to fall into that category alone.)
It was a very anti-*NIX decision..
There is a project called dlackware which offers gnome and SystemD but I have never used it.. nor to I know anyone who does.
@Topic of Specialized OSs:
It boils down to the same question every developer (myself included) must ask when releasing almost any piece of software:
" Am I reinventing the wheel or am I providing a solution no one has either thought of or publicly released? "
My question would be how this differs in concept of a KDE/QT showcase more than Neon itself..
I would also wonder why in a world of choice, the concept behind the distro in question seems to be that a reduction in said choice is the "answer".
If KDE wasn't included in Slackware by default I would have stopped using it entirely by 3.2.something. QT (imo) is far too plastic and glossed for my liking, and I'm not a huge fan of large all-inclusive suites. That being said, I know many are and as such I would never make software which prevents, hides, or disables the choice to install well.. anything?
Gparted, systemrescueCD, Kali, tails, all examples of perfectly viable specialized OS's.
This system.. unless they make GTK an option.. most likely will be unsustainable due to simple user frustration.
29 • distro reviews - thank you (by David on 2020-02-07 00:50:18 GMT from New Zealand)
I continue to be amazed that every week you guys (mostly Jesse it seems) do quite an in-depth review of a distro. These are very helpful and an interesting read. The issues, shortfalls and caveats are numerous and help us the readers understand what lies ahead. Hopefully too, the distro teams read these, and make improvements!
Number of Comments: 29
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1176 (2026-06-08): Redcore Linux 2601, the problem with minimal system requirements, Red Hat account linked to compromised npm repositories, COSMIC to get frosted glass effect, openSUSE shows off system extension manager, Origami merges with RakuOS |
| • Issue 1175 (2026-06-01): PineTab2 with various distros, less common words of wisdom, Canonical shutting down Ubuntu's Pastebin, Murena nears 100k users, DistroWatch turns 25 |
| • Issue 1174 (2026-05-25): Solus 4.9, Linux tablets, Haiku boots on Apple M1 machines, Fedora drops Deepin packages, Mint improves Nemo performance |
| • Issue 1173 (2026-05-18): Sylve on FreeBSD, the benefit of BleachBit, Debian commits to reproducible builds, Debian publishes updated install media, Haiku introduces SMP support on ARM64 processors, Rocky Linux creates opt-in security repository, Fedora reconsiders AI tools, KDE receives generous donation |
| • Issue 1172 (2026-05-11): Fedora 44, dealing with extra fonts, Fedora plans to provide AI tools, problems with Ubuntu's new coreutils, TrueNAS extends its development cycle, postmarktetOS improves the boot splash screen, Redox ports tmux |
| • Issue 1171 (2026-05-04): Xubuntu 26.04, extending memory with VRAM, Ubuntu plans AI features, Devuan developer forks GTK2, Mint introduces hardware enablement builds, Linux running on a PlayStation 5, local kernel exploit found in Linux |
| • Issue 1170 (2026-04-27): ENux 5.2.1, picking a second distro, AlmaLinux expands CPU support, FreeBSD publishes Status Report, Ubuntu MATE skips 26.04 release |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
Hymera
Hymera was an Italian desktop Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux. Its main features are ease of installation and out-of-the box support for 3D desktop effects. The distribution was developed by Hymera Engineering and released under the GNU General Public Licence.
Status: Discontinued
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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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