 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 865, 11 May 2020 |
Welcome to this year's 19th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Open source software constantly moves forward, evolving, changing, taking on new shapes as ideas are tried and refined. One concept which keeps coming up is the idea of taking the popular Arch Linux distribution and pairing it with a friendly system installer to facilitate the initial setup process. We begin this week with a look at EndeavourOS, an Arch-based project which strives to fill the shoes of the now-discontinued Antergos distribution. We talk about EndeavourOS and how it compares to its spiritual predecessor in our Feature Story. In our News section we share plans from Ubuntu Studio to switch their desktop environment from Xfce to KDE Plasma and Gentoo reviving the project's Bugday. We also talk about new Debian install media and changes to the openSUSE Leap release schedule due to an effort to more closely merge openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise. This week we also provide tips on how to share a terminal session between two users and ask about your favourite screen sharing software in our Opinion Poll. Plus we are pleased to list the releases of the past week and provide links to the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: EndeavourOS 2020.04.11
- News: Ubuntu Studio plans move to KDE Plasma desktop, openSUSE Leap release rescheduled, Gentoo resumes Bugday event, Debian publishes new install media
- Questions and answers: How to share a terminal session
- Released last week: Turnkey Linux 16.0, OpenIndiana 2020.04, Tails 4.6
- Torrent corner: ArchLabs, Clonezilla, Debian, DragonFly BSD, KDE neon, Linuxfx, NethServer, OpenIndiana, PCLinuxOS, RebeccaBlackOS, SparkyLinux, Tails, Ufficio Zero, Volumio, Zentyal Server
- Opinion poll: Sharing screens and terminals
- New distributions: instantOS, BlueOS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (24MB) and MP3 (17MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
EndeavourOS 2020.04.11
EndeavourOS is based on Arch Linux and is considered a spiritual follow-up to the Antergos distribution. Like Antergos, Endeavour provides a live desktop along with a friendly, graphical installer to assist users in getting started with the distribution. Beyond the initial set up, Endeavour mostly tries to provide a vanilla Arch experience with just a few custom tools. I reviewed Endeavour last year and, at the time, it performed fairly well. Back then one of the main features which set Endeavour apart from Antergos was the former used an off-line installer and automatically set up the Xfce desktop environment. Antergos, on the other hand, used an on-line installer and could configure one of about a dozen desktop environments.
Endeavour's latest snapshot, 2020.04.11 at the time of writing, now provides two main installation methods. We can choose an on-line or off-line installer. The latter still sets up Xfce as the default desktop while the on-line installer can download and configure nine different desktops (Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, GNOME, i3, KDE Plasma, LXQt, MATE, and Xfce). We can choose any number of these to install in case we want to try more than one. I wanted to try the new, live version of the distribution, along with some of its new custom utilities. With this in mind I downloaded the 1.7GB ISO file. Endeavour runs on 64-bit (x86_64) machines exclusively and provides one live edition.
Booting from the live disc provides us with the option of booting into the Xfce desktop normally or doing the same with non-free NVIDIA drivers enabled. Once Xfce loads a small welcome window appears. The window is packed with buttons that open links or programs. For example, some links open a web browser and point us to the distribution's install tips or other on-line support resources. One link updates and relaunches the welcome window. One button is labelled "Initialize pacman keys" and appears to re-fetch verification keys for packages. There is a button for launching the GParted partition manager and another for launching the system installer. There is a Help button, but it only shows command line usage for launching the welcome window, no information about the distribution or the welcome window's features are mentioned.
EndeavourOS 2020.04.11 -- The welcome window
(full image size: 260kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Installing
Launching the system installer from the welcome window brings up a new window asking if we would like to run the on-line or off-line installer. A brief description of the options is provided. We are told the off-line installer will set up the operating system with Xfce using local packages while the on-line installer allows us to pick our preferred desktop and related software. I had tried the off-line option in my previous review and decided to focus on the on-line option.
EndeavourOS 2020.04.11 -- Choosing our install method
(full image size: 244kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Both options launch the Calamares graphical installer. Calamares is a popular, distribution-neutral installer which is especially popular with Arch-based projects. It quickly walks us through picking our preferred language, confirming our keyboard layout, and selecting our time zone from a map of the world. We are asked if we would like to use guided or manual partitioning. The guided option takes over available disk space with one large partition for root and /home. The manual option offers a good deal of flexibility and can work with most Linux filesystems.
Package selection comes next. We can optionally install the base system (which is recommended) along with any of nine desktop environments. Clicking a desktop option brings up a list of some optional components, allowing us to further customize the initial software selection. The software selection screen further gives us the chance to install printing support, accessibility software, and non-free NVIDIA drivers. I decided to install the MATE desktop and printing support.
EndeavourOS 2020.04.11 -- Selecting software at install time
(full image size: 244kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
The installer then asks us to make up a username and password for ourselves. With these steps completed it begins downloading and unpacking software packages. A virtual terminal window opens on the desktop and shows a steady stream of updates, letting us know which package is currently being downloaded or installed to the disk. When the installer completes it offers to restart the computer.
Early impressions
My fresh copy of Endeavour booted to a graphical login screen where I could sign into the MATE desktop. The desktop offers a fairly generic theme with two panels, one across the top of the desktop and the other aligned along the bottom edge of the screen. Upon logging in the first time a welcome window appeared and a second window opened, asking if I would like to change the desktop's wallpaper.
EndeavourOS 2020.04.11 -- Welcome window and wallpaper prompt
(full image size: 106kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
The welcome window that appears has three tabs. The first, General Info, offers links to the project's website, wiki, and contribution options. The second tab, After Install, offers suggestions of tasks we may wish to perform and buttons to launch the appropriate tools. The third tab is called Add More Apps. The third tab displays five buttons. Two which install Bluetooth support, one to install LibreOffice, another which installs Chromium, and one which installs the gufw firewall tool. I find this to be an odd combination and further think it's curious the welcome window makes us install these tools one at a time rather than letting us check boxes to indicate which items we want and then processing them all at once.
The second tab of the welcome window is a little odd in that the buttons seem to carry category names or vague actions rather than specific tasks. For instance, one button is called "Detect system issues". Which sounds useful, but when I clicked it I was told there were no issues. This is probably good news, but I have no idea what checks were performed. Is it looking for weak passwords, missing codecs, security updates? This tool should probably list the checks it is performing with a Good or Bad status indicator.
Two other buttons that caught my attention were "Update System" and "EndeavourOS to latest?". Clicking the latter brought up a window telling me I was up to date. Clicking the "Update System" button indicated there were kernel updates available and asked if I wanted to install them. Once again I'm not sure what "EndeavourOS to latest?" does since it does not appear to check for package upgrades. Another button that surprised me was called "Package management", which I thought would open a package manager. Instead Firefox was opened and showed me documentation on what package management tools Endeavour supplies.
In short, I think it is good Endeavour supplies a welcome window, but this good idea was somewhat undone by the options and button actions often not being helpful or not doing what I thought they would do, or not being clear on what they were doing.
Default software
Endeavour provides the MATE 1.24 desktop along with a handful of applications from the MATE ecosystem. The distribution ships with the Atril document viewer, the Eye of MATE image viewer, the Pluma editor, and Celluloid media player. Celluloid is able to play popular video and audio formats out of the box. The distribution includes the Caja file manager. We are also given the Firefox browser, Htop, a graphical system monitor, and the mpv media player.
EndeavourOS 2020.04.11 -- The settings panel for the MATE desktop
(full image size: 233kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
There are two launchers in the Applications menu which are labelled "Software Token". When I clicked on the launcher a new window opened and displayed an error which said "Missing Token" and, underneath a suggestion was shared to run a command line program to import a new "seed". There was no information provided to indicate what tokens or seeds are being managed.
Endeavour uses the systemd init software and, at the time of writing, uses Linux 5.6 as the kernel. As Endeavour is a rolling release platform package versions will gradually get updated over time.
In the release announcement for Endeavour 2020.04.11, one of the new custom tools that was mentioned was eos-log-tool which is supposed to gather system information for users to make reporting bugs easier. This tool is not installed by default. The log tool can be installed from the Endeavour repositories. The log tool brings up a graphical window and asks us which logs we want to include and we can check boxes next to each one. The logs can optionally be saved with personal information, such as our username, scrubbed from the text. I tested this and it worked well. The log utility can also upload the combined logs to a public website and provide us with a link to the page in case we want to share our log information on a forum or in a bug report. The tool works quickly and I like the concept.
Hardware
I started experimenting with Endeavour in a VirtualBox environment where I found the system ran smoothly. The desktop performance was about average, as were boot times and application load times. The distribution integrated smoothly into the virtual machine and I was happy with how it performed. I then switched to running Endeavour on my workstation and found it ran quickly. The desktop was highly responsive and the system was quick to boot. All of my hardware was properly detected and used.
Something I found interesting was both the live environment, running the Xfce desktop, and the installed system running MATE both used about 300MB of RAM. A fresh install of the distribution uses 7GB of disk space for the base system, MATE and printing support.
Software management
Endeavour offers a few options for software management. In the Applications menu there is a launcher for opening a tool called Packages. This opens a graphical package manager which allows us to look for software by name. There are also a few software category filters displayed to the left of the window. The categories are mostly focused around mainstream desktop environments (there are categories for GNOME, KDE Plasma, and Xfce). There are also category filters for multimedia packages, system tools and programming. There is a general category for "Other desktops" and this seems to group together the other six desktops Endeavour supports installing.
EndeavourOS 2020.04.11 -- The graphical package manager
(full image size: 247kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
We can queue packages to be installed or removed in a batch. The package manager works quickly and I did not have any problems while using it.
There is another graphical tool for managing updates. The utility's launcher is labelled Packages Updater and will do a simple check for new software upgrades. I did not get a chance to properly test this utility, but it appears to work in a similar manner to other graphical update tools.
For people who do not mind using command line programs we can also manage software using the pacman package manager to access software in the Endeavour and Arch Linux repositories. There is also a tool called yay for accessing the Arch User Repository (AUR) which supplies software provided by third-party community members.
Conclusions
When I first downloaded EndeavourOS 2020.04.11 my intention was simply to try out the new on-line installer and then move on to another distribution, maybe something on the DistroWatch waiting list. I had thought I would run through the install process a few times to see how it worked (it was a smooth process) and how the experienced compared to the old Antergos installer (favourably, the trial with Endeavour's on-line installer was much better). However, once the distribution was up and running on my system I found a handful of new features, like the welcome window, that I wanted to try. Then some settings I hoped to try. Then I found some programs I didn't recognize and the unusually organized package manager and, the next thing I knew, I was halfway through the week and I hadn't moved on to the next distribution on my list.
All of that is to say Endeavour held my attention while I was using it. Not because it did things particularly well or poorly, but because it does some things that are unusual or odd. Endeavour is one of the few projects I have used that offers both on-line and off-line install options side-by-side on the same media. Other distributions sometimes provide both options, but one is usually a less polished, fallback option, and they are usually offered as separate ISO downloads. Endeavour does a nice job of presenting both approaches on equal footing and on the same disc.
One thing I noticed over and over that struck me as odd is Endeavour seems to be regularly trying to get users to operate from the command line instead of from graphical utilities, which seems to be the opposite approach of most mainstream distributions. For instance, when we close the welcome window, a message appears and tells us how we can open the welcome screen again from the command line. However, there is a short-cut to the welcome screen in the application menu, making a trip to the command line unnecessary.
In a similar fashion, the documentation regularly tells us to use the pacman command line tool to manage software. In fact, this happened several times and I assumed there was no graphical package manager until I stumbled across it while browsing the application menu mid-week. Another example is the Software Token graphical tool which gives no indication of what it does and suggests we use the command line to import a "seed" for it to use, then exits. I got the impression Endeavour developers would prefer their users use the command line instead of the graphical tools bundled with the distribution, which makes me wonder why these graphical tools are included.
I was also a bit surprised that one of the new tools, designed to help people share system information on-line, is not included by default. It is mentioned in the release announcement, but notably absent. It is a good tool and easy to use and I hope it gets included on the install media in the future.
One last oddity was the welcome window which offered more confusion than assistance. Some of the available tools work, some pop-up vague messages, and a few (like the system health check utility) I'm still not sure what they actually do. Granted some of the welcome window features work quite well, such as the quick access buttons for tools like LibreOffice and Bluetooth support, and I hope that screen gets further polish and options in the future.
While Endeavour was frequently strange to me, I will admit the distribution does some things well. It is fast, it is light on resources, and it has a great installer. The Arch base offers a lot of software and is constantly kept up to date. People who want to try Arch with minimal effort to get up and running will probably like Endeavour as it makes getting started with a variety of desktop environments blissfully straight forward. I also like the fairly minimal collection of software in the default install. This distribution does some things in a curious way and could benefit from more documentation, but the core features - providing both on-line and off-line easy install options to get an Arch-based desktop experience - are solid.
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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
EndeavourOS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.5/10 from 377 review(s).
Have you used EndeavourOS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Ubuntu Studio plans move to KDE Plasma desktop, openSUSE Leap release rescheduled, Gentoo resumes Bugday event, Debian publishes new install media
Following the release of Ubuntu Studio 20.04 the project's developers announced they would be switching their default desktop from Xfce to KDE Plasma. Ubuntu Studio is unusual in that it is a community flavour of Ubuntu whose purpose is not tied to a specific desktop environment, but rather focuses on making specific tasks easier. The team commented on the move to the Plasma desktop: "Future versions of Ubuntu Studio, beginning with 20.10, will be using the KDE Plasma Desktop Environment by default. Plasma has proven to have better tools for graphics artists and photographers, as can be seen in Gwenview, Krita, and even the file manager Dolphin. Additionally, it has Wacom tablet support better than any other desktop environment. It has become so good that the majority of the Ubuntu Studio team is now using Kubuntu with Ubuntu Studio added-on via Ubuntu Studio Installer as their daily driver. With so many of us using Plasma, the timing just seems right to focus on a transition to Plasma with our next release."
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We previously mentioned openSUSE will be merging more closely with SUSE Linux Enterprise in order to allow the two distributions to share most of their code. As a result of this transition, the next openSUSE Leap release has been pushed back from early May 2020 to July 2020. "openSUSE Leap 15.2 has a slightly different roadmap than usual, since the enterprise variant SLE and openSUSE Leap will be moved closer together (Closing the Leap Gap)." Additional information on openSUSE's release cycle can be found in the project's roadmap.
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The Gentoo developers are reviving one of the project's traditions: Bugday. Gentoo Bugday events gather users and developers together to discuss problems and offer solutions. Gentoo enthusiasts are invited to gather on June 6th, 2020 in an IRC channel and discuss ways to fix packages and improve documentation. Details on how to participate can be found in the Gentoo wiki.
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The Debian project has published updated install media for Debian 10 "Buster". The new media is not a new version of the distribution, however it includes security updates and bug fixes for packages included in Debian 10. "The Debian project is pleased to announce the fourth update of its stable distribution Debian 10 (codename Buster). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available. Please note that the point release does not constitute a new version of Debian 10 but only updates some of the packages included. There is no need to throw away old buster media. After installation, packages can be upgraded to the current versions using an up-to-date Debian mirror." Details on the changes in the new media can be found in the project's announcement.
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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) |
How to share a terminal session
Wanting-to-a-share asks: Is there a way for me to ssh into a friend's computer and have us share the same terminal? Like he can see what commands I type on his screen and what he types comes up on mine?
DistroWatch answers: It is possible to share a terminal session using the screen command. How this works is both people log into the same system, usually under the same username. One person runs the screen command without any arguments. Then the second person runs:
screen -xR
This tells screen to attach to an existing terminal session and run it in "multi display mode". In short, both people end up looking at the same terminal session from different displays. Anything either person types, and any command output, will appear on both your screen and the other person's screen at the same time.
When you want to stop sharing a terminal, press Ctrl-A followed by the "D" key. This will detach your screen session from the experience while leaving the other person in the session. They can run the "exit" command to terminate the screen session.
Be careful when sharing a terminal session in this way. Since both people can type and interact with the session at the same time, any stray keystrokes one of you types can interfere with what the other person is doing. Try to set up a way to let each other know when it is their turn to type.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Turnkey Linux 16.0
Jeremy Davis has announced the release of TurnKey Linux 16.0, a new stable version of the project's specialised, single-purpose server appliances. This is the distribution's first release based on Debian 10: "With great excitement and a sense of relief, it is my immense pleasure to announce the highly anticipated and well overdue first batch of version 16.0 stable TurnKey Linux appliances. These may well be our best appliances yet, although we'll allow you to be the judge of that. Most of the significant changes in version 16.x have occurred under the hood. As noted in the release candidate announcement the main changes have generally been at the software level, although much of the work will likely not be immediately obvious to an end user. In some instances, we have moved from our own forks of software (e.g. Casper for live ISO functionality) to Debian defaults ('live-boot' and 'live-tools'). In other instances, our custom software has been ported to a newer version of the language." Read the complete release announcement for further information.
OpenIndiana 2020.04
OpenIndiana is a community project which maintains a continuation of OpenSolaris. The project's latest release, OpenIndiana Hipster 2020.04, migrates from Python 2 to Python 3 and upgrades the compiler to the GNU Compiler Collection 7. The release announcement reports: "We have released a new OpenIndiana Hipster snapshot 2020.04. The noticeable changes: all remaining OpenIndiana-specific applications have been ported from Python 2.7 to 3.5, including Caiman (slim_source) installer; installation images no longer ship Python 2.7, however some software can still depend on it; GCC 7 is now used as the main system compiler; LibreOffice 6.4 has been added. PKG has been updated to use rapidjson instead of simplejson for json processing which reduced memory consumption on operations with large package catalogues; many packages have been updated; VirtualBox has been updated to version 6.1.6 - there are some issues with direct and VNC consoles with non-EFI guests; VLC has been updated to 3.0.1; ntfsprogs has been updated to 2017.3.23AR.5; 32-bit versions of basic X.Org tools have been dropped; hplip has been updated to 3.19.12...." Further details can be found in the release notes.
Tails 4.6
The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a Debian-based live DVD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user. The project's latest release fixes a number of vulnerabilities and introduces some changes. One of the key adjustments is a reorganization of the application menu which introduces new programs and removes the virtual terminal application launcher from the Favorites list: "Tails 4.6 is out. This release fixes many security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible. Changes and updates: update Tor Browser to 9.0.10; add support for Universal 2nd Factor USB security keys; update the list of applications in the Favorites applications submenu; to make it easier for new users to discover some of the core features of Tails, we added Configure persistent volume, Tails documentation, WhisperBack Error Reporting and Tails Installer, and removed Terminal; change the input method for Japanese from Anthy to Mozc. Known issues: none specific to this release. Tails 4.7 is scheduled for June 2." Further details and screenshots can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
Clonezilla Live 2.6.6-15
Steven Shiau has announced the release of Clonezilla Live 2.6.6-15, a new stable version of the project's Debian-based utility live CD designed for partitioning, backups and disk-cloning: "Stable Clonezilla Live 2.6.6-15 released. This release of Clonezilla live includes major enhancements and bug fixes. Enhancements and changes from 2.6.4-10: the underlying GNU/Linux operating system has been upgraded - this release is based on the Debian 'Sid' repository as of 2020-04-28; Linux kernel has been updated to 5.5.17; neglect the 'last-lba:...' line for the GPT partition table - this allows cloning of something like a 64 GB disk with a 20 GB NTFS to a 20 GB disk; the pax package has been included; add scdaemon; the ufsutils package has been removed since it's not available from the Debian Sid repository; the pxz package has been removed and replaced by pixz; add batch mode - instead of countdown, pause it when rc is not 0 for ocs-run-boot-param; add ocs-live-swap-kernel program which can be used to swap Linux kernel and modules in Clonezilla Live; add -z9p in the TUI menu of beginner mode - pzstd is now replaced by zstdmt when the option -z9p is chosen..." Here is the complete release announcement.
SparkyLinux 2020.05
The SparkyLinux team has published a new snapshot of the distribution's semi-rolling branch. The new snapshot, SparkyLinux 2020.05, is based on Debian Testing and features updates to both the kernel and the system installer. "The May snapshot of Sparky 2020.05 of the (semi-)rolling line is out. It is based on Debian Testing 'Bullseye'. Changes: upgrade from Debian testing repos as of May 5, 2020; Linux kernel 5.6.7 (5.6.10 & 5.7-rc4 in Sparky Unstable repos); Calamares 3.2.23; added additional support of Sparky installation on UEFI machines with Secure Boot: the live system should be launched with Secure Boot off as before, but after installation the Secure Boot can be turned on, both installers: Calamares and Sparky's Advanced provides support of such installation; disabled package list updating, during installing Sparky via Calamares, even you install Sparky with active Internet connection, the Debian or Sparky server can be temporary off, so it could stop the installation." Further details can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
SparkyLinux 2020.05 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 147kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Zentyal Server 6.2
Zentyal Server is a unified network server that offers easy and efficient computer network administration for small and medium-size businesses. The company's latest release is Zentyal Server 6.2 which is based on Ubuntu 18.04.4, offers several package upgrades, improved DNS management, and updated anti-virus tools. "Important enhancements to Zentyal Server Development Edition 6.2 include: Based on Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS. DNS - Improved management of the DNS records. CA - Improved management of CRLs. Webmail - Integration of the latest SOGo version (4.3.2). Antivirus - Integration of latest version of ClamAV (0.102.2) available for Ubuntu 18.04, updated collection of signatures. AppArmor - Installed by default. Virt - Improved management of hard disks. DHCP - Improved management of network interfaces. See the full changelog for all the details." Further information on Zentyal Server 6.2 can be found in the distribution's release announcement. Commercial options for Zentyal Server users are expected to be available later this month.
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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: 1,967
- Total data uploaded: 31.7TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Sharing screens and terminals
In our Questions and Answers section we talked about sharing a terminal session between two people. There are a lot of shared desktop and shared session technologies, often used to help train new users or troubleshoot problems. We would like to know how many of you run screen or session sharing applications. Let us know about your preferred shared desktop, VNC, or terminal sharing program in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on impressions of Ubuntu 20.04 in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Sharing screens and terminals
| I use a desktop sharing application: | 247 (24%) |
| I use a terminal sharing application: | 32 (3%) |
| I use both: | 83 (8%) |
| I use neither: | 680 (65%) |
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| Website News (by Jesse Smith) |
Distributions added to waiting list
- instantOS. instantOS is a Manjaro-based distribution that works out of the box, but is still aimed at power users. Everything is intended to be lightning fast and work out of the box.
- BlueOS. BlueOS is a Linux distribution based on Xubuntu and featuring the Xfce desktop. The distribution aims to make it easy to use both Flatpak and AppImage packages, as well as a mixture of Qt and GTK applications.
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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, 18 May 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 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 |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
gOS
gOS was an easy-to-use, Ubuntu-based distribution designed for less technical computer users. Its main features are the use of Enlightenment as the default desktop and tight integration of various Google products and services into the product.
Status: Discontinued
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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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