 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 854, 24 February 2020 |
Welcome to this year's 8th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
In a world where many distributions share the same base, whether it is Debian, Arch, or Gentoo, it can feel as though some projects are quite similar. The Void distribution, on the other hand, throws off convention and offers a series of unusual or unique features, including a custom package manager, its own init software, and multiple C libraries. We explore the Void project in this week's Feature Story and report on how it works in practise. Void's many special features are also the subject of our Opinion Poll and we would like to hear which, if any, of Void's key points appeal to you. In our News section we talk about a new, web-based tool for finding software to install on Manjaro Linux and report on the Fedora distribution running on a PinePhone. Plus we share thoughts from the IPFire team on WireGuard, a VPN technology. Then we offer a follow-up Questions and Answers column which addresses queries our readers had about the /e/ mobile operating system. 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: Void 20191109
- News: Manjaro launches web-based software portal, Fedora runs on PinePhone, IPFire discusses WireGuard option
- Questions and answers: Answering questions about /e/ phone
- Released last week: Netrunner 20.01, Untangle NG Firewall 15.0
- Torrent corner: Bluestar, EasyOS, KDE neon, Live Raizo, Netrunner, PCLinuxOS, Untangle
- Opinion poll: Void's unusual features
- New distributions: releax os, GalliumOS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (15MB) and MP3 (11MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Void 20191109
Void is a rolling release Linux distribution. The project offers a number of features which are uncommon in the Linux community, including a custom package manager (XBPS), two flavours of C library (the GNU C Library, glibc, and musl libc), and a custom init implementation called runit. If this were not enough to make the project interesting, the distribution can run on multiple architectures, including 32-bit (x86), 64-bit (x86_64), and several ARM boards, including the Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone.
Void is also the future base for Project Trident, which is migrating from TrueOS to Void, partially for more up to date hardware support. The Void project is available in a minimal, command line edition and six desktop editions: Enlightenment, Cinnamon, LXDE, LXQt, MATE, and Xfce. This, along with each edition being available in two C library flavours and multiple CPU architectures means the hardest part when getting started with Void is picking which option to download. I went with the 64-bit Xfce edition with the musl library. This edition was 757MB in size.
Booting from the live media brings up a menu asking if we would like to load the live desktop or transfer the operating system into RAM for improved performance and then load the live desktop. Either way, in short order the Xfce 4.14 desktop appears. The desktop's panel with an application menu, task switcher, and system tray appears across the top edge of the screen. A quick-launch panel appears centred along the bottom of the screen. Immediately after the desktop loads a pop-up message appears letting us know "Xfce PolicyKit Agent" has encountered an error. No further information is provided and all we can do is close this window. This PolicyKit error appears every time we sign in, both when running the live environment and when the operating system has been installed on the hard drive.
Void 20191109 -- The Xfce application menu and Thunar file manager
(full image size: 146kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Sometimes while I was running the live session the screensaver would kick in and prompt me for a password when I came back to my desk. The password to unlock the system is "voidlinux" which is shared on the distribution's download page. I recommend looking over the project's website, especially the download page, as there are a lot of tips and important pieces of information offered there. For example, there is no launcher for the Void system installer in the application menu. The download page tells us we can launch the installer using the command "sudo void-installer" from a command line.
Installing
Running the Void system installer opens a series of text-based menus. While we can go through the installer's options in the order of our choosing, I found it straight forward to go through the list from top to bottom. We are asked to pick our keyboard's layout from a list. Then enable a network interface and, optionally, enable DHCP to automatically get an IP address. We are then asked if we would like to install software packages from a local source (the DVD or USB thumb drive) or over the network. The Void website warns us we should use the local install media as the source when setting up a desktop environment. Though a reason is not given, I accepted the advice.
We are then asked to make up a hostname for our computer and pick our timezone from a list of options. We can then make up a password for the root account and create a username and password for our regular user account. We are then asked to pick a location for the system's bootloader.
Next the installer launches the menu-driven cfdisk partition manager to help us organize the hard drive. After the partitioning tool exits we are asked to assign filesystems to available partitions. The installer offers to format partitions with Btrfs, ext2/3/4, f2fs, and XFS. I decided to go with Btrfs in the hope of working with snapshots to safeguard the distribution's rolling release nature. The menu for assigning filesystems does not update to show when an area of the disk has been marked to be formatted. This makes it look like partitions will not be formatted, but otherwise the installer was pretty straight forward to navigate. Once we are done, the installer copies its files to the hard drive and offers to reboot the system.
While Void's installer feels like a throwback to the 90s in its style and resembles the installers of BSDs and Slackware in its approach, it works quickly and experienced users should have no problem navigating its options.
Early impressions
My new copy of Void booted to a graphical login screen where I could sign into the Xfce 4.14 desktop. When running in VirtualBox the initial screen resolution was unusually low, but could be adjusted in the Xfce settings panel without requiring any extra modules to be installed. When running on my workstation, Xfce used my display's full resolution.
The Xfce desktop was, as usual, very responsive and tended to stay out of the way. The default theme is a bit bright (and bland) for my taste, but it is easy enough to customize the desktop's appearance through the settings panel. I also found the quick-launch bar at the bottom of the screen took up real estate without providing me much benefit and it was easy to remove this second panel by right-clicking on it and removing it from the desktop settings.
Void 20191109 -- The Xfce settings panel
(full image size: 139kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
There were a few issues with programs missing that the desktop expected to be available. For instance, the application menu has a launcher for a mail reader, but there is no e-mail client installed by default. In a similar vein, pressing the PrintScreen key caused an error as Xfce's screenshot tool could not be launched. In other words, the short-cut had been defined, but the screenshot utility was not installed. These missing pieces are easy to remedy, but give a rough early impression.
Hardware
I began by trying out Void in VirtualBox and, apart from starting with a low desktop resolution, the distribution appeared to be working well. The system was responsive and running smoothly. When I switched over to the desktop machine I found Void could not boot in UEFI mode and could only be started in Legacy BIOS mode. Whenever I tried to launch the distribution with UEFI enabled the system would reboot and send me back to the boot loader screen.
When run in BIOS mode, Void performed smoothly on my workstation and Xfce offered top-notch performance. However, when running on either virtual or real hardware there was one serious problem: Void could not produce sound. When attempting to play music or videos, the distribution was silent. No audio mixer is included with the desktop environment so I installed both PulseAudio and ALSA, along with volume mixing tools. While the mixers confirmed desktop applications, like VLC and Firefox, were producing audio, none was ever sent to the computer's speakers, regardless of the output device or volume settings.
Void is a relatively light distribution out of the box. The Xfce edition used just 2.5GB of disk space for a fresh install and consumed about 240MB of RAM. This puts it on the lower end of the scale compared with most desktop distributions I have used over the past year.
When I first started using Void I noticed I could not power off the computer from the login screen. I had to sign in and then shutdown the system from the application or user menus. Early on I was able shutdown or restart the operating system from within the desktop environment. However, after the first wave of package upgrades, I could no longer shutdown the system using Xfce's menu options which had become disabled. To power off or restart the machine I had to open a terminal and type the appropriate shutdown command manually.
Void 20191109 -- Exploring a dark theme and running Firefox
(full image size: 136kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Applications
Void does not ship with many desktop applications. We are given the Firefox web browser, an image viewer and the Parole Media Player. The Thunar file manager is included along with a file renaming utility and the Xfce settings panel. These tools generally worked well, with the exception of Parole which would crash while trying to play a video and throw errors when playing audio files which indicate there is a problem with the player's backend not working. I swapped out Parole for VLC and found video files would display, but no media files would result in sound being produced.
Void does not ship with compilers or Java. At the time of writing this rolling release distribution ships with version 5.3 of the Linux kernel, though newer versions should regularly be made available. In the background the OpenSSH service runs, providing remote access. I was disappointed to discover Void's secure shell service allows remote root logins by default, a security concern that most other distributions disable out of the box.
One of Void's main claims to fame is its runit init software. The runit software is very simple, minimalist and light. It manages services a little differently than other init implementations and the details are well explained in the project's manual pages. It took me a little while to get used to how to start and stop services with runit, but once I got the hang of it I appreciated the flexibility. For instance, I like that the runit service manager will optionally either run a service just once, or start it and then monitor a service, restarting it if the service crashes.
Void 20191109 -- Exploring runit's features
(full image size: 136kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
I ran a few simple tests with runit on Void and compared it against SysV init running on MX Linux and systemd running on KaOS. These were crudely done tests, but I found it worth noting that SysV init and systemd booted and shutdown their operating systems in approximately the same amount of time. The runit implementation took half the time to boot Void and was faster shutting down. Its PID 1 process also used about 1% of the memory of SysV init, or less than half a per cent of systemd's memory usage. (These statistics are the same whether I was measuring virtual memory or resident memory).
Software management
Another of Void's special features is its XBPS package manager. While XBPS offers a lot of features, including mixing binary and source packages, I mostly focused on three main components: xbps-install for installing and upgrading packages, xbps-remove for deleting software, and xbps-query for finding packages in the repositories. There is no default graphical package manager for Void.
The XBPS utilities work well and very quickly, which is nice because Void's minimal nature meant I had to track down a lot of extra software. The syntax of the commands is sometimes a bit cryptic, but the tools worked and I encountered no problems while using them.
The first day of my trial there were about 200 updates, 400MB in size, waiting to be installed. Void does not notify the user when new packages become available, we are expected to check periodically.
One aspect of XBPS I appreciate is that we can find and install new repositories, such as community or non-free repositories, as though they were packages. For example, we can search for packages named "void-repo" and get a list of non-standard repositories the package manager recognizes. We can then install a repository package such as void-repo-nonfree to get access to software published under restrictive licenses.
Void 20191109 -- Adding new repositories with XBPS
(full image size: 142kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Conclusions
Void is quite an unusual project with a wide range of interesting features, such as multiple C libraries, many editions, support for lots of ARM devices, its own package manager, and its own init software. If you ever find yourself thinking that Linux distributions all feel too similar, Void will likely cure you of that feeling.
Being unique brings its own set of challenges. It means there is a learning curve for newcomers as there is a new package manager, a new service manager, and new approaches to understand. Void looks and acts a lot like other Linux distributions on the surface, but when you start poking at the details all sorts of differences become visible.
While I like Void's minimalist, unusual, and super fast nature, there are some drawbacks. Having a desktop distribution which cannot produce sound or boot on UEFI computers is a hard sell and a combination of problems which made Void impractical for me to use or recommend. There were a number of other, smaller issues too, like the persistent PolicyKit error that appeared at each login and the inability to shutdown the computer through the graphical interface after the first wave of updates. In short, I think Void is exploring a lot of interesting ideas, but it feels as though the project is spread thin and some issues are definitely leaking through the cracks.
This is a project that has a design I greatly appreciate and would like to explore further, but the quirks in the interface and problems with things like audio mean that I will have to keep appreciating Void from afar. I do wish more projects considered runit seriously though, it is a gem of an init system, very light, easy to understand, and flexible. I would be happy to see it adopted elsewhere.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a desktop HP Pavilon p6 Series with the following specifications:
- Processor: Dual-core 2.8GHz AMD A4-3420 APU
- Storage: 500GB Hitachi hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111 wired network card, Ralink RT5390R PCIe Wireless card
- Display: AMD Radeon HD 6410D video card
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Visitor supplied rating
Void has a visitor supplied average rating of: 9.3/10 from 190 review(s).
Have you used Void? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Manjaro launches web-based software portal, Fedora running on a PinePhone, IPFire discusses WireGuard option
The team behind Manjaro Linux have launched a new web portal for finding software that is available in their rolling release distribution. Manjaro users can make use of many different software repositories and packages, including Snap and Flatpak bundles. "You can find all our packages, Flatpak and Snaps at one website. In a future version we will enable also installation from web. " The web portal, Discover Software, provides quick access to all packages available to Manjaro users with a number of filters and search options.
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The PinePhone is an open hardware mobile device intended to be paired with Linux-based distributions, such as LineageOS and UBports. Nikhil Jha published a tweet in which the PinePhone is shown taking on a more mainstream distribution: Fedora running the GNOME desktop. The PinePhone is reportedly running Fedora with a custom build of version 5.6 of the Linux kernel. This porting attempt should pave the way for additional distributions to be ported to the mobile device.
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Usually we talk about distributions introducing new features and options, but sometimes a project avoids new changes or holds off on switching to new technologies and the reasons for those decisions can be just as interesting. The IPFire blog features a post which talks about the WireGuard VPN technology that was recently merged into the Linux kernel. While WireGuard offers some exciting possibilities, IPFire is currently not planning to use it to replace existing VPN options and the blog post explains why. "The latest thing that is getting a lot of attention is WireGuard - the new shooting star in terms of VPN. But is it as great as it sounds? I would like to discuss some thoughts, have a look at the implementation and tell you why WireGuard is not a solution that will replace IPsec or OpenVPN. In this article I would like to debunk the myths. It is a long read. If you are in need of a tea of coffee, now is the time to make it. Thanks to Peter for proof-reading my chaotic thoughts. I do not want to discredit the developers of WireGuard for their efforts or for their ideas. It is a working piece of technology, but I personally think that it is being presented as something entirely different - as a replacement for IPsec and OpenVPN which it simply is not."
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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) |
Answering questions about the /e/ phone
Last week I posted my initial thoughts on the /e/ operating system, an Android- and LineageOS-based platform that runs on a range of Android smart phones. Some of our readers had follow-up questions about the phone and my experiences with it. Below are their questions and my responses based on my ongoing experiences with the /e/ operating system running on a Samsung Galaxy S9.
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Question: Like many people, there are several smart phone apps that I am dependent on - such as my credit union and payment apps. To me the big challenge to any kind of open source phone is that unless they can provide access to the Play store, or provide an alternative for commerce based apps like Cube and banking apps, they are basically doomed from the start.
Answer: This is a big part of what /e/ tries to address. Since the operating system's base is Android, it can run all (or virtually all) Android applications, such as those used by your bank. Programs can either be downloaded from third-parties or you can request they be added to the /e/ software centre. In a pinch you can use a third-party software centre to download apps directly from the Play store. I have tested this and it works smoothly. Basically /e/ gives you access to all your Android applications without the requirement of having a Google account.
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Question: Nice review, but does it make phone calls? Receive texts? How is the sound quality? Is it compatible with all normal carriers?
Answer:
Yes, the /e/ phone makes calls and receives text. In this respect it works exactly like any other Android (or Android-based) phone. The /e/ operating system is basically Android with the Google bits removed, meaning calls, audio, texts, and such all work the same way as an Android phone.
When talking about alternative mobile operating systems I often encounter the question as to whether the new system is compatible with a carrier's network. Carrier and network compatibility is not a function of the operating system, it is a function of the phone's hardware. If the phone's hardware supports the frequencies your cell carrier uses then the phone will work to make calls, text, and use mobile data. In other words, if your phone connects to your carrier's network when running Android, it will also work when running /e/ or UBports. The operating system the phone is using makes no difference.
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Question: Please try F-Droid on the /e/ and see whether there are any conflicts or issues.
Answer: I did install the F-Droid software centre and installed a few applications through it. They all worked well and updates were delivered without any problems. Running F-Droid on /e/ was a positive experience for me and indistinguishable from running F-Droid on Android.
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Questions: 1. What about energy optimisation (eat battery)? 2. What about root access?
3. What about OS updates (major versions)? Can you update OS to analog Android version 9 and version 10?
Answers: 1. The /e/ platform consumes power at approximately the same rate as Android and can use the same battery saving options and apps. There might be a slight difference in favour of /e/ since it doesn't show ads and pop-ups as much as I tend to experience under Android. Otherwise their battery consumption (and options to reduce battery drain) are the same.
2. Root access is not enabled by default. However, you can turn on root access for applications through the Settings panel. In short, if you enable developer mode, then you can also enable root access.
3. No, you cannot update /e/ to Android 10. New updates do come out occasionally with security updates, but I have not encountered any way to jump ahead to newer versions of the platform.
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Finally, not a question, but some tips for using /e/ came from Sven:
- To establish a connection with your computer you must authorize the connection on the phone each time. This is an Android thing, not specific to /e/. After connecting the cable between phone and computer, swipe down from the top of the screen on the phone. Tap on "Android system - USB charging this device", then tap again on "Tap for more options", and finally pick the option "Transfer files". The phone will then be visible and accessible on your computer.
[Jesse's note: I confirmed this works. It is an awfully roundabout way to access a device that has been plugged in, but it does grant access to the phone's filesystem from the computer.]
- If you install the Nextcloud app you can access and, if you chose, synchronize the Documents folder, or any other folder of your choice.
[Jesse's note: This is true, though you should make sure you don't introduce conflicts between the existing sync options and the Nextcloud application.]
- Install the open-source Aurora app store (available from Apps) to get access to all apps from the Google Play store, but without needing a Google account. Almost but not all of them will work just fine on /e/. For example I use the Tangerine Bank, Kobo, Transit, and Communauto apps frequently without problems.
[Jesse's note: I used a different third-party tool to download and install apps from the Play store. However, I can confirm programs installed indirectly from the Play store work, essentially giving /e/ user's access to all Android apps.]
- I believe you can still use a Google calendar to do family coordination, by defining your Google credentials as an extra calendar in the Calendar app (which is a rebranded Etar), although I have not tried this myself.
[Jesse's note: I did try this and it works. This somewhat defeats the purpose of running /e/, as the point is to de-Google the Android experience. However, you can sync the Calendar app to your Google calendar if need be.]
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| Released Last Week |
Untangle NG Firewall 15.0
Fabio Angelosanto has announced the release of Untangle NG Firewall 15.0, a new version of the project's Debian-based firewall and network gateway designed for small to medium-sized enterprises. Some of the new features of this release are a "Threat Prevention App" and "Kidzsearch": "New Threat Prevention App analyzes web pages, web page associations, apps and files. It acts as a gatekeeper to determine what is or is not allowed, based on the assessed Threat Risk level. The technology even evaluates encrypted Internet traffic that today's threat actors can use to hide their malicious activities in, and that other types of security tools will not be able to see. Kidzsearch filtering for common search engines such as Google and Bing. This child-specific filter ensures that only age appropriate search results are returned to content-sensitive environments, such as schools and libraries. Flexibility for administrators to customize their NG Firewall email alerts. Administrators can format their alerts so that they can easily filter or flag them into the preferred email client application." Read the rest of the press release for further information.
Netrunner 20.01
Netrunner is a Debian-based desktop distribution with the latest version, Netrunner 20.01, based on Debian 10.3 "Buster". "Netrunner 20.01 ships with all the latest security updates provided by Debian and a polished Indigo Global Theme, making use of Kvantum theming engine. Firefox-ESR and Thunderbird were updated to the latest stable LTS (long term supported) versions, which get regular security updates provided by Debian security. Theming-wise, the switch to the Breeze Window decoration with its darker color increases the contrast and makes it easier to distinguish between active and inactive windows. The red colored cursor (RED-Theme) allows to quickly locate the cursor on the screen and has a retro vibe to it. As always we provide a uniquely drafted wallpaper, which fits the milestone of 10 years of Netrunner and the 20th version release." Further details and screenshots can be found in the distribution's release announcement. At this time a more minimal "Core" edition of Netrunner 20.01 is planned, though not yet available.
Netrunner 20.01 -- Running the Plasma desktop
(full image size: 654kB, resolution: 1280x720 pixels)
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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: 1,836
- Total data uploaded: 30.4TB
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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) |
Void's unusual features
In this week's review of the Void distribution we touched on a number of unusual features the project offers. These include the runit init software, the XBPS software manager, the musl C library, and using the LibreSSL library in place of OpenSSL. These features combine to make Void one of the more distinct Linux distributions in terms of underlying features and components. Which, if any of these features, appeals to you most?
You can see the results of our previous poll on using an /e/ phone in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Unusual Void features
| LibreSSL: | 60 (6%) |
| musl C library: | 110 (11%) |
| runit: | 419 (43%) |
| XBPS: | 69 (7%) |
| Other: | 20 (2%) |
| None of the above: | 302 (31%) |
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| Website News (by Jesse Smith) |
Distributions added to waiting list
- releax os. releax os is an independent Linux distribution featuring the Xfce desktop. Packages are installed from source code and separated into application-specific directories.
- GalliumOS. GalliumOS is a distribution built for ChromeOS devices which is based on Xubuntu.
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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, 2 March 2020. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
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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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