 DistroWatch Weekly |
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 0, value: US$0.00) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Partition Cloning (by dhinds on 2020-02-10 01:32:26 GMT from Mexico)
dd is fine for burning an installation iso to a flash thumb drive. (Or Suse Image Burner, if available).
Gparted has produced a few errores and CloneZilla or Parted Magic are probably worth a try.
2 • unity, debian, tablets, phones yeah right (by koolaid guzzler on 2020-02-10 01:34:33 GMT from United States)
Unity is a trash heap. It's astounding that these people keep regurgitating Canonical's putrid, rotten marketing fluff about 'unified' this and that. Oh yeah?? it works on all these different platforms you say? Which ones? Which Tablets are you installing Debian on? Which phones are you installing Debian on? You're not. Stastistically NOBODY is. Hackers and wannabe developers simply don't count.
It's a joke that people keep insisting that this day will come when it clearly will not-- at least not anytime soon. There may be a few corner cases where someone has specifically tailored this or that distro to run on this or that particular device, but to continue to push this lie about how 'convergent' Unity supposedly is such a bald faced lie, I don't know why more people don't call them out for this nonsense.
Look, whether it's systemd or some equally proven disaster like Unity, the people pushing these unwanted projects have identical hatchet-wielding strategies to push their lies. They market the software first, then try to develop a round peg through a square hole. When your only tool is a hammer, suddenly everything looks like a nail!
Amazing how a previously cool project like Debian has fallen so far in to the rat's nest-- cutting out things people actually like and use while laying prostrate to accept stuff nobody asked for that will not work out in the long run. Real dumb.
3 • dd, GParted (by DaveW on 2020-02-10 01:38:33 GMT from United States)
In Linux Mint dd and GParted are the obvious, easy choices.
4 • #2 - unity, debian... (by Andy Prough on 2020-02-10 04:20:51 GMT from United States)
I also had to laugh. The same people who can't be bothered to support multiple init systems are going to fix the Unity convergence problem? I'm sure that this developer, sunweaver, is a very fine person. But I highly doubt they are going to get the support they need from the broader Debian developer community to pull this off.
If I were sunweaver and I really wanted to get this done, I'd be working with the UBports community - they at least seem to be willing to role up their sleeves and get things done without bogging down in endless developer tribal warfare.
5 • Whenever cloning a whole partition one should be well conscious of every detail! (by Gerhard Goetzhaber on 2020-02-10 04:58:41 GMT from Austria)
That said and because I'm used to get my OSs driven on XFS exclusively I do all FS cloning with xfsdump and xfsrestore which even allows me to simply set the UUID of any partition by myself.
6 • Tools for cloning hard drives and partitions (by Andy Figueroa on 2020-02-10 05:01:53 GMT from United States)
Users should realize that one doesn't NEED a cloning tool with Linux. One can actually cp -a /sda1 /sdb1 where sda1=the source partition and sda2=the destination partition. After the copy, adjust /etc/fstab and set up your boot manager (i.e. grub) and it will just work. Ideally, using cp -a, first boot from a CD, DVD, or flash drive, but you can also do it from a live system. It seems a little messy, but the reboot will clean up the mess automatically.
One can also tarball (preferably compressed) an installed system and un-tar to another partition. With a little thoughtfulness, one can exclude certain portions of the source system that don't need to be copied to the destination, those thinks like /dev/* /sys/* and /proc/*
With some distributions, i.e.MX-Linux, one can make a snapshot of the running system, create a live-usb from the snapshot.iso, then install it onto a different partition or computer. This works really well in MX.
Or, you can use a cloning tool and let the cloning tool developers do the technical work.
7 • Ghost4Linux (by Microlinux on 2020-02-10 08:34:41 GMT from France)
I'm using Ghost4Linux and a local FTP server for disk cloning. Works great.
8 • D Ebian or will it be Potterbian (by hank on 2020-02-10 08:35:25 GMT from Germany)
When will the new name be announced, looking at the viral spread of Potterings lunacy it should come soon.
Debian was once called the universal operating system and really deserved the name, now we get system d rammed down our throats, a growing number of packets compiled with system D as a requirement. Gnome ever harder to avoid.
I tried it and hate it by the way, it is as transparent and flexible as systemD with its idiotic binary files to improve the user desaster when things go wrong which the Disease spread makes more likely.
9 • Partition cloning (by fox on 2020-02-10 13:12:31 GMT from Canada)
#5 - conscious of every detail. Being able to set the UUID of any new partition would be a useful feature in Clonezilla. I frequently clone a partition on an external device and have the new and old partitions connected at the same time. This "confuses" grub (or Refind, which I use on Macs). I have to go in manually and change the UUID of one of these partitions, and also fix its fstab to make both of them operational.
10 • Cloning (by brad on 2020-02-10 14:21:26 GMT from United States)
@6 - The need for cloning becomes apparent for those of us who run Win(10) and Linux on the same physical machine. In my case (and in my case only?) Clonezilla does the job, especially when I want to move from a smaller drive to a larger drive, or if I *really* screw up, and need to re-install the OSs to the machine (it happens - not for a few years now).
Acronis makes a Windows-only solution that allows you to clone all partitions from on disk to another, but I've never gotten it to successfully re-image my machine, when I tested it. It also costs money, whereas Clonezilla if free. What more could I ask?
11 • Debian, Unity, Systemd (by Otis on 2020-02-10 15:10:12 GMT from United States)
@2 : "Amazing how a previously cool project like Debian has fallen so far in to the rat's nest-- cutting out things people actually like and use while laying prostrate to accept stuff nobody asked for that will not work out in the long run."
Well... yep. And, speaking of the long run and thinking back to discussion about "core" linux distros years and years ago, we were fighting about what would become of them as time (and original devs of those distros) left, died, were purchased, went back to Windows, joined convents, etc.
Here we are. Systemd won. Canonical won. There is some struggle, a few voices here and there posting links to the non-systemd distros and talking in here and a few other places about all this.. but.. I ask: what made this happen? Money? Influence? Were we wrong about something?
Linux has either evolved or degenerated over time. Take your pick. After you do that, please explain. Honest.. I want to know how this came about.
12 • Easy OS @ Jesse (by OstroL on 2020-02-10 15:31:13 GMT from Poland)
"EasyOS is an experimental Linux distribution which uses many of the technologies and package formats pioneered by Puppy Linux. "
This tells everything about Easy OS. It is Barry Kauler's experimental project after he retired from Puppy. Interestingly, Puppy Linux gets developed by the community. One of the most interesting Linux distros ever created.
An interesting reading, https://easyos.org/about/how-and-why-easyos-is-different.html
13 • Partition cloning (by JimM on 2020-02-10 15:44:09 GMT from United States)
I've successfully used REDO Backup and Recovery on both Linux and Win7. Much easier than Clonezilla and others mentioned.
14 • Unity/cloning (by Gary on 2020-02-10 18:16:08 GMT from United States)
Tried Unity when it was first used in Ubuntu. Quickly switched yo Kubuntu. Unity was more divisive than unifying.
Use Clonezilla and Gparted depending on the work I need to do on a disk. Don't have to worry about problems when I use them.
15 • Cloning (by vern on 2020-02-10 19:52:01 GMT from United States)
I use to use CloneZilla, but now only use FSArchiver, as I can restore from a larger partition to a smaller one as long as the data fits, which CZ can't without a lot of effort .
The difference from CZ to dd, is 'dd' copies everything including non-used sectors, but CZ has within its program, Partclone witch copies only used sectors. Much faster.
16 • Another Advantage of Clonezilla (by Ben Myers on 2020-02-10 19:54:22 GMT from United States)
As a service provider, I am often called on to take care of failing hard drives, not dead yet, but with defective sectors, in the worlds of Linux, Windows and Mac OS. I use several packages to clone hard drives. Most others have GUI interfaces to make the job easier. But when I find a hard drive with bad sectors, I turn to Clonezilla which has the option to continue the cloning process even after finding defective sectors. Most other packages do not offer this option, so I then use Clonezilla which is only marginally more difficult to use.
One feature Clonezilla lacks, but available in other disk management/cloning utilities, is the ability to resize partitions on the target drive when the target has less capacity than the source.
17 • Clonezilla handles drives with defective sectors (by Ben Myers on 2020-02-10 20:01:34 GMT from United States)
As a service provider, I clone a lot of drives in the Windows, Linux and Mac OS worlds. Some source drives are error-free, but others have defective sectors. I use several free packages, some with GUI interfaces to make the process easier. I have never used Acronis so I cannot speak for it.
Whenever I encounter a drive with defective sectors, I trot out Clonezilla, which has an option to continue the process even when it encounters a bad sector. My other choices do not offer this possibility, but they do have a small advantage over Clonezilla, allowing the user (me) to change partition sizes so I can squeeze the contents of a larger drive onto a smaller one.
18 • Clone or no (by Friar Tux on 2020-02-10 22:27:42 GMT from Canada)
I voted "I do not use any cloning tools." as I find it just as easy to do a clean install and use my backups to reload all my stuff. Usually takes me about a half hour or less depending on how fussy I want to be, post install. Mind you, I don't usually change any of the default 'tools' as I find I like them fine. My backups are usually quite up to date, so no problem there, either. Also, if, by chance, I do happen to need a special tool most of the software managers make it very quick and easy to add what I need. About the only tool I find is a 'must-have' is Giuseppe Penone's Cherrytree program. I CANNOT do without that one. In fact, when I try out any new distro the first place I go to is the software manager to see if it's offered. If it's not there and I cannot install it by some other means, that distro is gone.
19 • Cloning (by Vukota on 2020-02-11 00:06:09 GMT from Serbia)
dd can cope with defective sectors as well if given proper switches, and can be used with other tools/commands in combination like gzip/ftp/..., but for some use cases you need live distro to boot from.
Clonezilla is probably easiest well documented way to perform cloning using live distro, but can't deal with all scenarios, like BitLocker protected drives. Parted Magic is equipped/configured better for some of these tasks.
There are other valid choices as well, depending on the use case and personal preferences.
20 • @19 - Bitlocker (by brad on 2020-02-11 00:27:06 GMT from United States)
I was able to recover using Clonezilla - I just had to use the BitLocker key to unlock the drive after recovery.
I do like all the different endorsements of cloning tools, and even the concept of not cloning - as long as you have a separate /home partition, or you only use Windows to test updates, then not cloning is a legitimate option...
21 • Cloning (by OstroL on 2020-02-11 07:24:05 GMT from Poland)
It must be strange, but I just cloned the whole hdd to an ssd one to one with EaseUS Todo Backup from Windows. The hdd had Windows 10 and 6 Linux distros plus 2 data partitions, ntfs and ext4. It was done in few minutes and everything was cloned as is. Replaced the hdd with ssd and laptop worked just the same, only very much faster. And, the app EaseUS Todo Backup was free.
Usually, if I need to clone a Linux distro with all the changes I had made to it, I use rsync to create a one file. But, using this Windows app was nice and surprisingly easy.
22 • EasyOS (by bob_hayden on 2020-02-11 08:13:03 GMT from United States)
Thanks for the review. I do not use any Puppies on a day to day basis but every machine has some version installed plus I have boot CDs. For me this is the replacement for ye olde DOS boot disk that you use when the GUI OS has tanked a machine. For that purpose running as root is a valuable feature as you can fix (or break) anything. So far, in many years of using various Puppies in this way, I have managed not to break anything.
23 • Cloning (by Angel on 2020-02-11 09:53:07 GMT from Philippines)
@21, Not so strange. I've used AOMEI Backupper for years for backup images and cloning. Quite versatile, simple and quick; and a bootable disc can be created in Windows PE or Linux. Free for home use, although, as with EaseUS Todo, a "pro" version is available for a fee.
24 • uNITY (by Jessica on 2020-02-11 13:28:37 GMT from United States)
@2: Unity is not that bad as a desktop other then the lack of custom settings. Even that is no longer an issue as Chanonicle can't break it any more. Gnome 3 is worse for many of us who don't like the workflow. I use XFCE my self do to RAM. As for Unity's code most of us could not tell as we are not programers. eOS has a good mac like desktop, but XFCE is better for that if you want to customize it. Unity might not be for you but it is not as bad as gnome 3. It does not need endless addons that need to be updated and can break. As for Debian what do you expect with there funding and programer issues. They can't even support Debain/bsd and so dropped it. To many people care about things that don't matter. As for System D who really cares. It is needed to use snaps in the first place. Even FreeBSD is working on there own version of SystemD. Linux is better then BSD so why not force them to use our standards. That is the only reason to keep int at all. Who cares about the int system. As for the OS in an OS thing who cares as most of you don't use PowerPC and stuck to intel's X86. Kind of useless complaining about some thing so useless. Also we do have linux powered phones for awhile now. All we need is to get it working on android phones. As for the smart tv thing with Ubuntu TV who will even want one anyway.
@4: They should take over all of Ubuntu as UBports would be better at it. That is the whole reason why we need PPA's.
I don't care what Desktop they use any way for Debian as it is Debain where you can just do what you want if you have the patance to modify the system.
25 • The Sweet Messy Truth about Freedom (by M.Z. on 2020-02-12 02:21:49 GMT from United States)
@11 "... Systemd won."
I'd argue there has been no victory at all. If you mean that most Distros don't use your preferred init system, well welcome to reality - which is a place that will never do exactly as you want. If on the other hand you want choice in init systems, well Devuan and other systems exist - so you are in fact winning every single day and will continue to do so for as long as options exist.
If on the other hand you want to take some hard line all or nothing position, you'll never win & you'll just annoy others along the way. If you want to purity test everything you adopt a self defeating mind set, and cut yourself off to converts. You do get to complain more, but you make people care about you position less & take you less seriously, especially if you move the goal posts.
Why not take the fact that init choice exists as a win, rather than worrying about how many distros are doing what you want? If you do that you can start to focus on actually out performing other options in some way, like finding a lighter, leaner init system that does all the important stuff systemd does, but does if faster, better, & without the cruft. If you find projects to support that do what systemd does but better & leaner, then you may actually get projects to convert & start winning in the way you seem to care about. Of course, if you want to purity test things and use the existence of systemd distros as some goal post, then you'll never win.
@11
"Linux has either evolved or degenerated over time. Take your pick. After you do that, please explain. Honest.. I want to know how this came about. "
Why A or B? That's far too simplistic a way too look at any bigger picture. The truth is that Linux doesn't have systemd at all just as much as it has systemd, all you have to do is pick your version. The truth is that Linux is always evolving in 12 different directions at once, and that while a few of those directions will go nowhere, multiple other will certainly stick around as options. When you chose free/open software you chose an OS family that offers lots of options & lets you do things in lots of different ways, you can get all worked up about the freedom of others not to do what you want the way you want, or or could perhaps ignore, accept, or even celebrate it. Regardless of if you want some version of Linux to exist or not, chances are someone will fork it to create the option and that's the sweet & messy truth about software freedom.
26 • Cloning by means of a Windows LiveDVD (by Stefan on 2020-02-12 05:13:49 GMT from Brazil)
@10 (brad) "... Acronis makes a Windows-only solution that allows you to clone all partitions from on disk to another, but I've never gotten it to successfully re-image my machine, when I tested it. ..."
@21 (OstroL) "... I just cloned the whole hdd to an ssd one to one with EaseUS Todo Backup from Windows. ..."
@23 (Angel) "... I've used AOMEI Backupper for years for backup images and cloning. ..."
___________
I have never used anyone of those Windows-based solutions for cloning an HDD/SDD device. But there are a bunch of other options to choose from in the Microsoft realm. One of the older and most versatile is "Active Boot Disk Creator" ( http://www.boot-disk.com/boot_disk_creator.htm ). It is an executable (".exe" file) which generates a LiveDVD of "Windows PE 5.1" containing free utilities to clone/recover disk partitions. A must-have in those situations when you are forced to rely on a DVD-RW. And it works beautifully, although quite slow to boot up. (Of course, we are not speaking of a lightning-fast Linux LiveUSB...)
27 • minority is always right (by win10 sucks on 2020-02-12 10:23:05 GMT from United States)
Linux noob here. Yup, Linux is cool and there are smart guys like:
@2 "When your only tool is a hammer, suddenly everything looks like a nail!"
@4 "The same people who can't be bothered to support multiple init systems are going to fix the Unity convergence problem?"
@11 - "Linux has either evolved or degenerated over time. Take your pick. After you do that, please explain. Honest.. I want to know how this came about."
And then are "smart" guys like:
@26 "I have never used anyone of those Windows-based solutions" but "Of course, we are not speaking of a lightning-fast Linux LiveUSB..."
@25 "welcome to reality - which is a place that will never do exactly as you want"
All the Distros are made for geeks who know their way around, but are full of junk like office, gimp, cups, etc. that any guy with more than 2 neurons can easily add after install using soft manager. I wander way?
28 • Drumming your own beat... (by Friar Tux on 2020-02-12 13:54:17 GMT from Canada)
Hmmm... it appears we have a few drummers wanting to drum their own beat creating a cacophony of noise but no real music. Folks, Linux is perfect as-is. I see it like General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Under each, there are/were a number of brands of cars. As a driver you simply pick the car you felt you liked best. Maybe my memory is failing me, but I don't remember people having heated discussions, in the marketplace, as to which brand to keep and scrap-the-rest. Sure, we teased each other about what choice of vehicle was better. They were cars, they got us from point A to point B, and those of us so inclined, 'souped the coupe' up to our liking. This is Linux, folks, same difference.
29 • disk copy (by Paul on 2020-02-12 15:23:52 GMT from Germany)
i could make disk copy with windows program MiniTool Partition Wizard Free
30 • Drumming your own beat... (by a tux but not a friar on 2020-02-12 21:37:38 GMT from United States)
@28 "Linux is perfect as-is" ... Wanna bet?
"As a driver you simply pick the car you felt you liked best" ... What if the major car manufacturer will suddenly decide to use a squirrel wheel instead of an engine, put sunroofs, spinner rims, bike & skis stand, extreme hydraulic suspension, huge rims and many other "useful" gadgets?
31 • @30 30 • Drumming your own beat.. (by Titus_Groan on 2020-02-12 22:15:30 GMT from New Zealand)
"What if the major car manufacturer will suddenly decide to use a squirrel wheel instead of an engine"
Likely that model would be a very poor seller and be pulled from the market, and the designer team pulled up for an explanation, if not shown the door.
any in the used car market would likely be only for enthusiasts whom have swapped out that enviro-friendly squirrel wheel power unit for something more useful.
back to the topic at hand:
Clonezilla is my cloning tool of preference, both as a backup tool, whole drives with multiple partitions, or, just a single partition, and then restoring back to the original drive or installing a system onto to a new drive. much faster than any live install method as you also benefit from not having to install extras.
Caveate: video cards will always get you, but any good system will let you setup a different graphics driver before presenting the desktop.
sometimes grub needs to be installed to the new drive - so a method for grub installation should be in your emergency kit.
32 • Cloning partitions & drives (by Simon Plaistowe on 2020-02-13 00:48:26 GMT from New Zealand)
Clonezila works well for imaging drives and partitions. If the target dive is smaller than the source drive (eg: replacing an old HDD with a new but smaller SSD), I just use GParted to resize the source partitions first, before cloning them. GParted itself works well for cloning partitions, but you'll need to sort out your bootloader separately. Or try fsarchiver, I've had good success with that too, and it can restore to a smaller target partition.
33 • @28 Ford or Chevy (by Tom on 2020-02-13 15:11:37 GMT from United States)
"Maybe my memory is failing me, but I don't remember people having heated discussions, in the marketplace, as to which brand to keep and scrap-the-rest."
You clearly haven't talked to a Ford owner or a Chevy owner. Put one of each in a room and pro-wrestling wouldn't be able to come close.
34 • Systemd won, etc (by Otis on 2020-02-13 17:46:10 GMT from United States)
@25 .. nice try, Professor WanderMind. But sytemd has won as it moves through and is accepted by the linux distro devs more and more. Debian? Who would have thought. MX is next, just watch.
My question is not "did this happen," but "why did this happen?" What's so good about it? What's so economical about it (as to developers' work)? Canonical? Why?
That about choices is a point I make all the time, so it's not necessary here (I used distros irrespective of the init system; I've got just about all of the top 100 of the DW PHR list (with, happily, the notable exceptions of Sabayon and OpenSuse). They all have merit, each in their own ways, and more importantly, systemd is appearing in updated versions of more of them each year.
I do not have a favorite init to brag about, but I do wonder (again) why this systemd thing happened at all; I thought for years that the spread would be about even as to all the init choices across distros.
But, no.. systemd won, despite there still being other inits out there.. systemd is spreading and the others are not.
35 • Clonezilla (by Jay on 2020-02-13 18:24:35 GMT from India)
I use Clonezilla but have had problems with it recently. The latest versions have some "drive detection" script that is effectively running `watch` and requires Ctrl-C for me to actually get to the cloning part. The detection only and cloning on the two laptops I tried took much longer than older versions. I also ran into more annoyances that caused me to restart the process a few times. It helped to know the command line to workaround whatever was wrong.
I ended up reverting back to 2.4.x because it worked much faster and didn't have the annoyances. Unfortunately, that version does not correctly support btrfs cloning, which I learned the hard way. The kernel does not support btrfs correctly, so partclone gets fooled and will say everything is fine... until you try to restore the image. It "restores" but then doesn't actually work. I ended up having to do `dd`, and then tried upgrading Clonezilla and ran into problems above.
I normally favor clean installs, but when it comes to Windows, I have to be extra careful. I like the Win10 now stores a digital entitlement on their server so that you can do clean installs and not lose your pre-install key. That coupled with continuous updates makes it more like Linux. I don't like it as a daily driver, but it's nice to see the concepts I like in Linux showing up elsewhere.
36 • From A Straight To C... (by M.Z. on 2020-02-13 23:57:52 GMT from United States)
@34
"...My question is not "did this happen," but "why did this happen?" ..."
Sure, you can always be right if you frame the question a certain way. That's called a leading question & considered a bad moving in polling & various other places. In this case you're jumping from point A - the existence of some bit of code you don't like straight to point C - some big victory/defeat. Guess what lives a point B along that street? A fork in the road filled with things like Devuan & PCLinuxOS, where in you can chose the main road others don't care about taking or pick that side street.
As to the why question, it seems fairly obvious that the main Linux init choice of today provides something of a real benefit to devs & packagers, while not bothering a majority of users nearly as much as you. No real mystery there, the only question is how many of the complainers will get off there butts & find a way to support the distros they should be dying to use. The road to init choice is perfectly open regardless of how many people take it, there just has to be some form of support to keep it open.
@33
"You clearly haven't talked to a Ford owner or a Chevy owner..."
Funny, most of the people in my immediate famiyl have owned both & don't have any issues getting along regardless of who is driving what at the moment. Of course there have been some die hard loyalists over the years who take meaningless smack talk waay too far & make too big a deal about stuff. One has to wonder how many of the init hard liners can step back and ask themselves how they compare to such overblown shenanigans & talk.
37 • Tiny Core (by Germany)
Is there any distro smaller than Tiny Core? I've heard of tinywm, could there be something which uses tinywm by default?
38 • @ 37 • Tiny Core (by Germany) (by zcatav on 2020-02-14 11:43:46 GMT from Turkey)
May be Kolibri OS (http://kolibrios.org/en/index) is smaller than Tiny Core.
39 • EasyOS (by Rooey on 2020-02-14 14:54:37 GMT from Australia)
"..and the distribution seems geared to be run from a thumb drive".
EasyOS is a full install. If bigger, mainstream distros, can't be both fully installed & updated on both internal drives & thumb drives, it shouldn't be assumed that EasyOS is as limited.
40 • Unbelieveable (by Otis on 2020-02-14 18:08:10 GMT from United States)
@36 .. I'm not trying to be "right" or wrong or anything other than inquisitive. My gosh is it all about combat in here? Hope not. Systemd is increasing its influence in the linux world. Agreed?
Now: Why?
41 • Disk cloning, Debian (by cykodrone on 2020-02-14 20:13:54 GMT from Canada)
Cloning-->whatever works, usually use the most popular/stable. Get informed before you start, avoid a disaster.
How's the whole 'democracy' thing at Debian going? Have they started removing 'bullying through software dependencies' systemd yet?
42 • Re #36 (by M.Z. on 2020-02-14 22:26:28 GMT from United States)
@40
I though that 'Why' thing you keep coming back was covered quite reasonably. You're outside the mainstream of users who aren't bothered by some GPL init code, while devs see benefit to it as per @36.
Also, regardless of your intent, and mine was never combative, you are clearly very set on your views & ignoring how things are evolving outside the major distros & what community forks are doing for the situation at hand.
A vast array of options & branches exist in the Linux world & if you care about any particular issue you should use & support whatever distro/project you think tackles that issue best. Just because most people look at the issue different doesn't mean multiple Linux branches can't exist & give you the freedom to have things the way you want them, or that the way things are is set in stone.
Number of Comments: 42
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
| | |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • 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.
|
| Random Distribution | 
AgarimOS
AgarimOS is a desktop Linux distribution based on Void. It comes in several popular desktop flavours, including Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE and Xfce, all with a limited set of applications in their default states. Like its parent, AgarimOS does not use the systemd service manager, relying instead on the runit init scheme. It employs the XBPS package management system, together with a graphical front-end called OctoXBPS. The distribution also includes various optimisations, custom themes and some interesting software selection, such as the WezTerm terminal emulator, the Neofetch system information utility, the hBlock ad blocker, and the aria2 download tool.
Status: Active
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
