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1 • Wanting-a-different-version (by Andy Prough on 2020-03-23 01:38:29 GMT from United States)
Jesse said: "In cases where you are using a more cutting edge distribution, such as Gentoo or a member of the Arch Linux family, you can install a new version of an application and then "pin" or "lock" it using your package manager. This causes the package to no longer get updated, letting you stick with the version you like for as long as you want."
Tumbleweed allows you to lock packages as well.
This is something I need to try on Artix, as there are a few packages for which a more conservative approach would be nice.
The ability to easily install different versions of packages is something I like about MX. In the MX Package Installer, you've got the conservative stuff from Debian Buster for the most part, but MX also makes the Debian Backports plus MX's own testing repo available with more recent packages.
2 • Anarchy Linus Review (by Vern on 2020-03-23 01:45:02 GMT from United States)
It's been a while since I use Anarchy Linux. I recently forgot all about it. Been using another distro. Thank you for a great review. I think I moved away from Arch type installs because of all the constant updates. Athough I sure one can limit that to a minimum.
3 • Software versions (by DaveW on 2020-03-23 01:54:34 GMT from United States)
I am running Linux Mint 18.3. I have 6 versions of LibreOffice installed in parallel, from 3.3 to 7.0-alpha. They are all usable, and I have applications for each. Just one example of what can be done with Linux.
4 • Anarchy review and related thoughts (by randomly generated entity on 2020-03-23 02:05:15 GMT from United States)
I'm sure Anarchy is a fine way to more easily install Arch, with the assorted gotchas encountered by the reviewer to be expected. Arch is about as bleeding edge as it gets after all, and installing it via any non-"Arch Way" is bound to require a little extra effort/research. Might as well just do it their way in the first place if you ask me...
What I find odd is that Plasma/KDE is not one of the default desktop options. Instead we find three different flavors of Gnome-ishness (Budgie and Cinnamon are both, to my mind, just Gnome made less inherently insane), Openbox(!), and Xfce. Why the heavy lean towards GTK and away from QT, which Arch does just fine with?
I wouldn't mind seeing a more KDE-centric simplified Arch (anyone else remember Bridge?). One that's genuinely up to date (unlike Manjaro) and perhaps offers the user an easier way to strip out some of the less useful bits (all the PIM stuff, Kmail, baloo, etc.). There's so much to the whole KDE experience that it just begs for a way to more specifically fine-tune the install.
5 • A Fair & Balanced Anarchy Linux Review (by David on 2020-03-23 02:26:49 GMT from United States)
Joshua -
Thanks for your insightful review of my favorite Arch installer, which I have used with regularity over the past few years, after having failed to succeed repeatedly by doing it "The Arch Way."
I would hesitate to call it a distro though, since it installs virtually plain vanilla Arch without the bloated proprietary repositories that all of the Arch offspring distros such as Manjaro and Arco include in their ISO files, also including the Zen Installer in that category, which falls just short of Anarchy in that regard.
I'd recommend that anyone interested in using Anarchy do just the base installation first, then add desired packages post-installation. I always use the Packages tool to uninstall any packages that I do not need or want during post-installation as well, with a word of caution to keep an eye on any possible broken dependencies that might crash the system. I've learned which packages I can dump, and those that I must retain via trial and error during my first several installation attempts.
I've never had the requirement to do a server installation, so the issues that you encountered have never had any bearing on my single-user status, but it is a responsible consideration for any potential server user to have a clear perspective on the installation problems that you encountered.
Using Anarchy Linux eliminated the intimidation factor that Arch can impose on some potential users, as it did for me, and I know there are those that will never use it because of SystemD, but for anyone that is interested in learning about and evaluating pure Arch for themselves, Anarchy Linux will provide the fastest and easiest startng point.
JMHO
6 • Anarchy (by Rick on 2020-03-23 12:07:34 GMT from United States)
Thanks for reviewing Anarchy! I eased into using Arch with other Arch based distro (Antergos) to see if it was for me before installing the "Arch way". Anarchy fills the niche left by Antergos by providing a near stock Arch install to get a user started.
I recently tried Anarchy and found it a rather good way to get going with an Arch-based install that has a nearly stock configuration.I found that removing theming gave me a very close to vanilla Arch install.
I did not try the advanced install and revisited it after reading the review. It is a very nice option and also provides a way for KDE lovers to install a plasma desktop,
This is a great way to test the Arch Linux world and see if it is for you! Thanks!
7 • Arch Linux installers (by OstroL on 2020-03-23 13:01:49 GMT from Poland)
It is good that there are developers/users, who care enough to create an installer for Arch Linux, because that way an ordinary user an install Arch Linux. Once, Arch Linux is installed, there's no need to install again, or wait for a periodic release. Simply update your installation once in a while. That's the beauty of Arch Linux.
8 • Anarchy (by Bob on 2020-03-23 13:06:13 GMT from United States)
...meh...I'll stick with current Archman and Manjaro install styles. It isn't that difficult to remove unwanted features and add my preferred applications. Nuff said.
9 • Arch installer - Archlab (by Simon on 2020-03-23 13:35:43 GMT from Switzerland)
I've never used Anarchy Linux and I cannot say how good it is.
But, recently, I've tried Archlab, which uses its own installer to install Arch. It is very good. You end up whit a slick Arch install with very little customization. Archlab works very well on my Asus laptop: the only point which bothers me are the endless Arch updates. But lets see hot it goes.
10 • Doesn't matter which Arch installer (by Lin on 2020-03-23 14:49:38 GMT from United Kingdom)
Doesn't matter which Arch installer, as far as it installs pure Arch Linux. After that, it is just a question of periodical updating of the installed system.
11 • Anarchy lost in the crowd (by Vern on 2020-03-23 15:22:18 GMT from United States)
I'm a bit confused. I used Anarchy in the distant past, and have forgotten about it because its not on the top 100. Once I found it, it appears to show that it first release is Jan 2020. that's not so:
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=anarchy
12 • RockSolid Signage (by Alexandru on 2020-03-23 15:26:08 GMT from Austria)
We were already witnesses of Oracle Unbreakable Linux, which silently changed its name into Oracle Linux. Such strong names are an invitation for crachers to test just how unbreakable / rock solid is the distribution.
13 • Anarchy releases (by Jesse on 2020-03-23 15:45:17 GMT from Canada)
@11: The page you linked to isn't indicating Anarchy's first release was in January 2020, only that the first one since DistroWatch started tracking it occurred in January. Release information is not retroactively added once a project gets put in the database.
14 • Anarchy (by Jeffrydada on 2020-03-23 18:45:10 GMT from United States)
@6 If you liked Antergos try RebornOS it is the spiritual successor to Antergos. Find in on the waiting list
15 • EarlyOOM service in Fedora 32 (by vasea on 2020-03-23 22:22:28 GMT from Republic of Moldova)
besides other there should be "I use BSD" option in the poll,
cause BSD has such functionality implemented ages ago.
I always was frustrated by linux running OOM, this was the only one feature in windows i missed.
Until I found BSD systems.
16 • #13 Tracking Anarchy (by Vern on 2020-03-23 23:31:40 GMT from United States)
Jesse, I didn't realize Distrowatch only started tracking Anarchy in 2020. I used it over a year ago. Seems to me there was a name change along the way, as Arch Linux didn't like its first naming.
17 • EarlyOOM (by Hoo Da Hell on 2020-03-24 03:13:42 GMT from Brazil)
In a desktop PC with 16GB RAM, like mine, EarlyOOM serves to nothing.
18 • @16 (by Hoos on 2020-03-24 05:44:20 GMT from Singapore)
'Twas called Arch Anywhere.
I do like its installer, but I can see why Arch objected to its original name, since they disagree that a system installed via any installer tool remains pure Arch. It's their right, as the IP owner of the name.
19 • Early OOM (by hank on 2020-03-24 07:12:06 GMT from Germany)
Early OOM, is this the answer to the Gigabyte Log files System D was writing to my SDD, slowing down my system and finally leaving me with no more space for files.
Thank you Mr Pottering, this issue encouraged me to try a system death free Distro.
I will NEVER install a Distro with that crap again.
20 • If EarlyOOM would stop me from opening one more tab, maybe (by Ole 1-2 GB Laptops on 2020-03-24 09:48:34 GMT from Austria)
I already know opening too many browser tabs is what causes my OOM swapping. So EarlyOOM will kill my browser so I don't have to cycle power...Maybe that's a small improvement, but not much. If it would pop up a "No More Tabs" warning when approaching the limit, that would be helpful.
21 • @4 (by James on 2020-03-24 11:14:16 GMT from United States)
The Anarchy installer offers KDE as an option in the non-customized desktop section. Meaning it installs the vanilla KDE Plasma desktop without any Anarchy customization. You can install every other supported DE in the same way if you don't want the Anarchy customization.
22 • Anarchy (by pavlos on 2020-03-24 17:12:46 GMT from Poland)
@ Joshua Allen Holm
Please be so kind and correct the very first sentence of the article - Anarchy is definitely NOT an Arch-based distribution. This is pure Arch distribution with the Anarchy installer add-on. Which is also bolded out on the Anarchy website.
Anarchy does NOT offer its own repository or any other distribution than Arch's own. During installation pacstrap pulls everything from original Arch repos.
By the way, such installers are against Arch purists. I would rather agree with them - proper manual installation may be tricky, but offers the fastest possible learning curve for newcommers. First, you can practice it as many times as necessary on a VM, then how frequently you need trepeating the process? Maybe if you work at a datacenter... This was also my case - I have tried all Manjaros, Antergoss's, all Architects, Archmans etc in VM... Finally I have finished with pure Arch installation. Knowing and understanding much more...
Do you have a brain? You'd better use it - doesn't pain, and brings a lot of fun,,, :)
23 • @21, @22 (by randomly generated entity on 2020-03-24 17:57:31 GMT from United States)
Yes, I gathered that KDE was an option if one were to go the "Anarchy-Advanced" route. I mean... that's fine, but if you're gonna do that, is an "Arch Way" install really that much more difficult? Furthermore, I wonder what the "customized" actually entails with the less advanced desktop options. If, as @22 claims, Anarchy is "a pure Arch distribution", why/how would anything be changed from what Arch provides?
Look, I'm well aware of the "btw, I use Arch" thing and how elitist it appears, but it seriously ain't all that hard to do a real Arch install, especially now that wifi-menu has been added. I can remember beating my head against the old fashioned way of getting wifi working from the install iso (before I became a chroot aficionado) and that was really the only sticking point. It's worth the minimal extra effort to gain a bit more understanding of what makes Arch's implementation of Linux tick.
24 • Anarchy status (by Jesse on 2020-03-24 20:19:58 GMT from Canada)
@22: "Please be so kind and correct the very first sentence of the article - Anarchy is definitely NOT an Arch-based distribution. This is pure Arch distribution with the Anarchy installer add-on. Which is also bolded out on the Anarchy website."
Anarchy Linux meets all the qualifications of a distribution. The developers may not see it that way, but they meet all our criteria of a distro, based on Arch. Holm's observation is accurate.
25 • EarlyOOM and Anarchy (by Bill on 2020-03-24 20:26:59 GMT from Australia)
Doesn't the kernal already do what EarlyOOM does?
I would be interested to try it on one of my lower power laptops anyway.
Arch is pretty easy to run and rarely breaks these days, while I wouldn't recommend it to a newcomer, anyone who has been using Linux for a few months should be able to manage it and there is no reason not to have a simple installer in 2020. Thanks Anarchy for saving me precious time.
26 • Arch Installer (by Justin on 2020-03-24 21:08:45 GMT from United States)
Having an Arch installer is the same reason to have automated build scripts for LFS... to save time for those who have done it several times before (but don't have it memorized) and want to stand up another machine efficiently (i.e., do other work while waiting for the install).
I agree with the reasoning that the manual install scares away newbies that will be over their head, and going through the process manually does teach you a lot. At the same time, I understand the process, I understand what the choices mean, I just want to set and forget an install, not babysit it for 15-20 minutes (and forget to install the bootloader and so have to do it all again). Having DE options is a nice perk so that, again, I avoid stupid mistakes like forgetting to install xorg-xinit because I'm in a hurry.
27 • Arch way no way. (by Vern on 2020-03-24 23:14:57 GMT from United States)
I've installed Arch, the Arch Way several. Never again. I would now prefer a distro like Anarchy to do the mundane tasks so I don't skip a step.
On the same note, I have in the past compiled my kernels. It takes a lot of time, and in the end, for me, not worth it. It was a learning experience while I was doing it.
28 • Anarchy status (by pavlos on 2020-03-25 00:36:55 GMT from Poland)
@24: I wouldn't agree that Anarchy meets all qualifications to be a separate distribution.
After the DW glossary: "A project which ships an operating system that includes the Linux kernel is said to be a Linux distribution.". This project does NOT ship any other operating system and any other Linux kernel than Arch's own.
Archman ISO is just the installer, doesn't ship anything important to your finally installed system. As I said, during the install all OS core contents is pulled directly from Arch repo, especially the kernel. You simply can't install it without the Internet - can you?
@26: I can fully understand that such an installer may facilitate a lot and our life becomes much easier... This is nothing wrong about the installer in itself... Yes, I have made my own notes to not to forget about xorg-xinit during installing a desktop environment...
And some of us have also tried gentoo, a hardcore DIY distro... Linux From Scratch?... No, I didn't, didn't have to. Life is too short to spend hours/days/weeks on recompiling every piece of code with each update... On the other hand, it really may be so interesting to know "how the hell it works" :-)
29 • Anarchy (by Jesse on 2020-03-25 00:53:04 GMT from Canada)
@28: "This project does NOT ship any other operating system and any other Linux kernel than Arch's own."
This isn't entirely true. As pointed out in the review, Anarchy customizes their supported desktop environments. You don't end up with pure Arch if you use the anarchy installer. Also, if you claim Anarchy isn't a distribution then Antergos, EndeavourOS, and Reborn aren't distributions either. Basically almost no Arch-based projects could be considered distributions.
Anarchy provides an operating system, Linux kernel, customized packages, an installer and independent ISO. It has its own website, dev team and support resources. That makes it a separate distro by my standards.
30 • The 'Feynman Disease'. (by R. Cain on 2020-03-25 02:49:54 GMT from United States)
@27--
"...On the same note, I have in the past compiled my kernels. It takes a lot of time, and in the end, for me, not worth it. It was a learning experience while I was doing it. "
***************************************************************************************
"You know how, after doing something, the Universe says to you, 'Don't do that again'? That's called a 'learning experience'."--Douglas Adams
31 • Anarchy installation: true distro? (by Hoos on 2020-03-25 04:51:54 GMT from Singapore)
It's been a while since I tested an anarchy install (VM), but I seem to recall that the installer gave the user the option to only have the Arch repos, or to also include their customised DE. The latter would include their choice of gtk theme and icons, and also their wallpapers. Certainly the wallpapers don't come from pure Arch repos.
Looks like you have a choice; in fact, there were lots of options in the installer for your setup, as I recall. That's distro-ish enough to me. Nothing wrong with that, IMO.
32 • What is best? (by One year-old newbie on 2020-03-25 09:45:24 GMT from United States)
@3 "Just one example of what can be done with Linux"
Compaq Armada 110 that come with Millennium, today runs XP 32bit OS with Office XP, Office 2007 & Office 2010 (no internet of course, because of the browsers not the OS)
As W7 refugee newbie I tried Antix, MX, Netrunner & after PCLinuxOS bricked a 32GB USB stick, I moved to Arch-based, since SistemD-free distros don't like to run on my old machines.
Arch-way was to much, so I installed Anarchy, thanks to its installer. After a short while with Manjaro, I moved to Arco, installed on a 64GB USB stick. (even if installed on its own HDD, runs way slower than W7, freezes and "gives" me a myriad of updates, so I don't like it too much, either.)
33 • EarlyOOM (by Ankleface Wroughlandmire on 2020-03-25 13:14:23 GMT from Ecuador)
I use EarlyOOM on my openSUSE laptop with 8GB of RAM to keep me out of trouble when I have to run Windows 10 in a VM. Frankly, I hate the idea of a user-space process being in charge of such a fundamental function as memory management, but it is unfortunately necessary. In my experience, the Linux kernel has laughably poor memory management for desktop usage patterns. It doesn't manage swap space well, leaving junk in the swap space even after manually closing processes to free up plenty of RAM. And even if there is no swap space configured, it still thrashes the disk, I don't remember the exact technical explanation of what it's exactly doing, but it brings the system to its knees. And that's the problem, in my opinion, the kernel should never *ever* allow a user-space process to bring down the system. Sure, the kernel and the daemons are technically still running, but anything that requires user interactivity with the mouse is rendered useless, and everything goes into a death spiral unless you SysRq out of it to manually invoke the OOM killer. Hence the necessity of EarlyOOM.
34 • @33 (by Justin on 2020-03-25 15:50:33 GMT from United States)
I ran into the disk thrashing with kwapd0 eating up 100% CPU on an old netbook with no swap configured. The problem is that the file cache is being purged to free up memory for programs. The kernel uses your excess RAM to cache files from disk to speed up performance. This is why when you open Firefox the first time it is one speed and closing and reopening is much faster. All the files to load from disk are already in memory.
What bugs me is that this thrashing can happen even with a fair amount of free memory. I was experimenting with KDE Neon so that I had a modern KDE experience (supposedly the latest KDE has lower memory requirements, and Trinity is just so old, a bit slow, and I question the security). With 1.1GB/1.7GB used, the browser thrashes like crazy if I open more than 2 or 3 tabs. Apparently so much memory is needed for KDE and the browser that the kernel loads one file, does its thing, then unloads it to load another file, run a little more code, then go back to the first... you can see where this is going.
Incidentally, I like how KDE Neon looks, but KDE on this netbook runs like Windows 7 (looks as good if not better, but all the lag is there unfortunately). I wish there were more nice looking desktops like KDE that were lighter (not just memory but CPU; I could buy more memory if I really cared). I'd love to show off this KDE setup, but it lags too much. Showing off JWM+ROX just doesn't do it for anyone any more. I wish there were a foundation, distro, or someone that we could donate to so that they could hire some artists to update icons, do more HiDPI, etc., that would benefit the entire Linux ecosystem / desktop selection.
35 • Arch/Anarchy (by Otis on 2020-03-25 18:16:41 GMT from United States)
Is Anarchy a distro? Not according to the Anarchy home website:
Anarchy Linux
A simple and intuitive Arch Linux installer
In nice bold font.
But, as pointed out by the DW site operator/maintainer, Anarchy fits his standards/definition of a distro in and of itself.
So, we have to agree to disagree.
36 • To Be a Distro or Not Be a Distro (by David on 2020-03-25 20:22:34 GMT from United States)
I think the point is a valid one that the only true "pure" Arch distro is that which is constructed manually - "The Arch Way."
While I am guilty of having characterized Anarchy as installing pure Arch, I usually describe it as being 99.99% pure Arch, which I feel is generally accurate. I must confess that I now regard Anarchy Linux as fitting the description of a distro.
I do, however, differentiate Anarchy, and find it unique and separate from the rest of the Arch-based distros, in the fact that the installation process draws directly from the default Arch repositories. It installs ZERO proprietary repositories, as virtually all of the Arch re-spins do. If you want all the packages in those proprietary repos, then that is your option. If you want reduce system bloat, and get access to ONLY the Arch default repos, then Anarchy is the installation option that you should consider. In my work, I require a relatively small number of packages, and I've never installed any packages from the AUR, which are not always properly vetted. The only serious breakage I've ever had running Arch was caused by a defective LightDM update that crashed one of my systems sometime last year. Otherwise, Arch has run virtually error-free for me for several years.
@23
From one "elitist" to another, I'm just a guy that prefers Arch to whatever distro(s) you like, which I've probably already tested and moved on from. After a couple of years with Mint/Cinnamon, I started distro-hopping like a psychotic bunny rabbit on steroids. I tried Slackware, Gentoo and many of their offspring, like Calculate. Debian, Ubuntu, OpenSuse, PCLOS, you name it, I tried it, motivated by pure curiosity. I wasn't until I finally and painfully was able to successfully install Antergos, that I gained my positive perspective on Arch. After having run virtually every Arch offspring distro on the DW/HPD list with varying success, I ran across Anarchy, and it's "as close to pure Arch as you can get" installer. It lead me to the distro that fulfills and optimizes my work flow. While I'm still reviewing the only viable non-SystemD Arch alternative, Artix Linux, in both Runit & OpenRC flavors, I've still found "plain vanilla" Arch to be the most stable & powerful distro I've every rolled with.
So, yes, I am an Arch user. If that makes me an elitist, then so be it.
I've also have been to "reverse-engineer" my Arch knowledge by reviewing some of the many Arco Linux YouTube tutorial videos produced by the Arco lead developer Erik DuBois, so any potential Anarchy users should check those out to get up to speed with Arch in a hurry.
JMHO
37 • @36 and Arch "elitism" (by randomly generated entity on 2020-03-25 21:50:54 GMT from United States)
@36 - My experience is similar to yours in many ways. Like you, I've tried just about any distro you could name - I have most of the major ones installed as a matter of fact, and wander from one to another as I get bored or my mood changes. I'm a curious guy, and I like keeping up to date on the current state of the distro world.
My first Arch-ish distro was probably Chakra, though Archbang is another possibility. But once I figured out how to do the "Arch Way" install, I found no reason to bother anymore with the various "make Arch easier" distros. I guess if I had to constantly deploy Arch on multiple machines, maybe I'd go another way, but I only have two machines, so that number of installs was trivial. Rolling release means no reinstalls and all that...
The "elitist" thing is really only important when it comes to support (if needed), because as we all know Arch's forum folks can be rather unforgiving in general, downright ornery if one hasn't installed Arch as opposed to one of their offspring distros. And they have every right to be! Unless you go through the install guide step by step and do your research and all that, why should they be expected to handhold anyone through the same issues over and over again? Is this elitism? Maybe. I call it protecting the brand and ethos of what has grown to be one of the most important distros in existence.
Arch and Arch-based distros are leaps and bounds more popular now than they were even a few years ago, which is a good thing if you ask me. I just hope that all the "I made an installer!" distros - and there are more of these every day it seems - are prepared to do user support, because it isn't Arch's problem if you don't follow their rules.
38 • Doing It The Arch Way (by David on 2020-03-25 22:40:33 GMT from United States)
@37
In between my last Arch offspring distro test - EndeavourOS - which I like very much because of it's XFCE4 ISO exclusivity (my favorite DE), and reduced system bloat, I was determined to install Arch manually, which I was able to accomplish exactly once, after about my fourth try. It was painful & time-consuming. The primary conclusion that I carried forward from that learning experience was that I'll never do another manual install.
I run as many as six PC's on my home network, and after I discovered the Anarchy installer, Arch became the standardized computing platform on all of my production PC's.
I'd still like to effectively ditch SystemD at some point, which is why I'm running two Artix init versions on my test boxes right now.
I've never encountered an Arch breakage that I couldn't fix myself by finding a solution in either reading the Arch Wiki, or by watching an Arco/Arch system recovery tutorial video on YouTube. I'm aware of the attitude of some of the Arch forum members, which as you say is probably justified. I have never asked a question of any of them, nor do I intend to start now.
Maybe I am an elitist, because I have no requirement for the forum member's back and forth advice or disdain.
JMHO
39 • @38 Further curiosity (by randomly generated entity on 2020-03-26 01:57:55 GMT from United States)
Wow, it sounds like you'd be someone ideally suited to being able to do an Arch Way install easily! I've probably done it 7-8 times over the years and, while I've certainly had to follow the instructions closely each time, it's never gotten me too frustrated - aside from back before wfi-menu removed that particular obstacle. Granted, things do get a little fuzzy between getting the base system installed and getting a DE/X up and running. They sure could make that more clear by putting it all in fewer jumps to other parts of the wiki, but I've never ended up with anything less than success. I don't think I ever even had to use my now-favorite trick of chroot-ing into installs to do fixes/updates/maintenance.
Can you recall at which point it caused issues for you? I'm not pointing fingers or anything, just genuinely curious. I mean, if you were able to get Gentoo (my current distro of choice with a lean and mean plasma) up and running, Arch should be much much easier. I've had some definite moments of confusion with Gentoo! Mainly due to having an older nvidia graphics card requiring the 340 series driver, but not always. For a while I was having trouble even getting a bootable kernel from genkernel!
Anyway, thanks for the back and forth, and happy distro-ing. I hope you find your perfect fit soon.
40 • @34 lxqt DE, or Knoppix KDE Plasma (by Elcaset on 2020-03-26 02:27:58 GMT from United States)
I prefer KDE Plasma, but you might enjoy the lxqt DE. It's fast on netbooks. Knoppix is also fast on netbooks, even when running KDE Plasma. I don't know how Klaus makes that happen!
41 • Transparency & Full Disclosure (by David on 2020-03-26 02:38:12 GMT from United States)
@39
In the interest of transparency and full disclosure, I mentioned Calculate because I used it as an introductory on-ramp to the Gentoo branch, which proved to be too much of a culture shock, and too much work to get up & running fast and efficiently. My interest in the Gentoo branch evaporated rapidly. The Calculate ISO also irretrievably corrupted the thumb drive upon which the image was burned, so buh-bye to Gentoo and its offspring.
I think @26 and @27 and @28 said it best -
"And some of us have also tried gentoo, a hardcore DIY distro... Linux From Scratch?... No, I didn't, didn't have to. Life is too short to spend hours/days/weeks on recompiling every piece of code with each update... On the other hand, it really may be so interesting to know "how the hell it works" :-) "
I don't recall where I went wrong with my manual Arch install attempts, I'm sure the bootloader omission crashed me at least once.
The point is Anarchy just works - for me, the installer is bulletproof, and has never failed me as a user. Non-SystemD Artix is promising, but I'm not ready to fully commit to it yet.
Over and out...
JMHO
42 • OOM/BSD (by Otis on 2020-03-26 16:05:21 GMT from United States)
@15 I don't know about the OOM thing.. yet, but I can tell you that GhostsBSD is one cracking operating system. 20.02 has no hitches or glitches that I can detect at this point (second day of use).
BSD in general could be the way to go for much of the expressed anxieties about the direction Linux distros have been heading.
43 • oom-killer and EarlyOOM (by CS on 2020-03-27 14:15:22 GMT from United States)
Sorry BSD fans, oom-killer is not new to Linux. oom-killer has been around since, I don't know a long time ago and in my experience works well on server workloads where usually just 1 process goes out of control.
I agree with what Ankleface says that if you ever hit oom-killer in a desktop environment your system will never behave quite right again till you reboot it.
https://github.com/rfjakob/earlyoom is a userspace implementation, the author went this route because you can make it behave however you want, e.g. to kill things earlier before all swap is gone. Maybe that will be better.
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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.
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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| Random Distribution | 
NomadBSD
NomadBSD is a 32-bit and 64-bit live system for USB flash drives, based on FreeBSD. Together with automatic hardware detection and setup, it is configured to be used as a desktop system that works out of the box, but can also be used for data recovery.
Status: Active
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
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.
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