 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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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Ubuntu Studio (by Richard on 2020-05-11 03:42:17 GMT from New Zealand)
Interesting that they are going to KDE now. I guess if you are doing grunty studio / creative work, you have to have a grunty machine in terms of hardware. So then KDE fits that. I have tried several distros where the default is Xfce. This is just me, but I really don't like Xfce or its toolset (eg file manager, etc). I may be too used to having powertools?
Tom's Hardware did a comparison of several DEs (including two I had never heard of)
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/linux-desktop-environment-face-off
Its an interesting read, and an interesting choice of the ones they chose to test/review.
2 • KDE improving, watch out! (by randomly generated entity on 2020-05-11 04:37:52 GMT from United States)
It's about time to acknowledge that KDE Plasma is (OMG!!!) practically a lightweight DE nowadays. Its memory footprint can be as low as Xfce, even lower if properly tuned. I know it's hard to shake preconceived notions, but Gnome is now the hulking behemoth on the desktop, not KDE. Has been for quite some time actually, but folks are so attached to the idea of KDE being a complex labyrinth of interconnected bloat...
And it CAN be; if you install everything it's probably the most complete suite of software ever seen by mortals. Learn Japanese! Score music! Dive into the periodic table! But wait! There's more! Seriously though, nobody in their right mind would do this on purpose. It's pretty easy to pick and choose just the Plasma components one needs, eschewing the file-indexing and PIM stuff and making things lean and snappy. KDE Neon does this out of the box I believe (been a while since I installed that one), or you can get your hands dirty and piece things together in any of the major distros. Arch and Gentoo shine in this regard, as they are (or can be) up to the minute in terms of new stuff.
So, it's no shock that Ubuntu Studio is going the way they are, given that they're not aiming at the limited-specs crowd that Linux tends to attract in disproportionate numbers. I wish Ubuntu proper would follow suit. It's not like folks with older gear are gonna like what Gnome's gonna do to their user experience anyway...
(sorry, I know I say pretty much the same thing every time I comment - just getting tired of the Gnome-dominated nature of the currently rather stagnant distrospehere)
3 • Opinion Poll (by Justin R. on 2020-05-11 04:47:03 GMT from United States)
I use Splashtop Business for work so I can see my work computer desktop at home.
4 • Misconception about how much memory Gnome uses compared to KDE (by PasserBy on 2020-05-11 05:05:11 GMT from United States)
@2 Appearances are often deceiving: https://www.reddit.com/r/gnome/comments/d5f92l/why_are_those_system_monitors_gnomekde_showing/
5 • KDE and dolphin (by hotdiggettydog on 2020-05-11 05:19:05 GMT from Canada)
Nice to see positive comments for KDEplasma but what the heck did they do to Dolphin file manager? The file manager is the backbone of the OS and they de-knackered dolphin. What gives? Can't open anything as root or won't run as root. How do you get anything done?
Its been a few months but I remember having to install nemo or pcmanfm. Pretty sad considering dolphin was once king of file managers. My adventure with kde was shortlived.
6 • @4 (by randomly generated entity on 2020-05-11 05:25:13 GMT from United States)
Sure, I get that memory usage is a complex subject, and the numbers can be misleading, but based solely on my own, admittedly limited, experience with the major DE's on my machines, Gnome comes up short compared to basically everything else in terms of that nebulous, indefinable "snappiness" quality. Purely subjective, I know, but I'm much happier with Plasma, even on my 10-year-old Compaq cq61, than with Gnome. On that hardware, Xfce is marginally faster to load initially, but after that comparable to Plasma. Gnome doesn't play well at all on it.
Hey, I'm willing to admit a bias towards DE's that I find more logical in presentation than Gnome, but at this point I'm not alone in championing KDE as a lighter alternative. If the numbers can be interpreted to dispute that, so be it. For me, Plasma feels more responsive, period.
7 • @5 (by randomly generated entity on 2020-05-11 05:33:59 GMT from United States)
It's true, you can't really run Dolphin as root, though openSUSE and a few other distros work around that somehow. I was peeved at first too, but I've come to appreciate how this now works. You can open (almost) any file as user, make changes, then you're asked for the elevated privileges password upon saving. Much more elegant and secure. For me that's easier than starting a root instance of a file manager, drilling down to the file (again), etc. Anything else needs to be done as root? Midnight Commander (mc) ftw...
Someone should do a whole piece on mc someday here. It's a truly amazing and indispensable tool, the first thing I add to any distro.
8 • #2 KDE, #4 memory usage (by verndog on 2020-05-11 06:10:12 GMT from United States)
I too was surprised at the memory footprint my Kubuntu is. I remember long ago it was a memory hog. Its on par or even less than my Xubuntu.
As far as memory usage, I like to use 'vmstat -s' , look at free memry. Using 'free -m', and a few others gives an indication of truer memory usage.
9 • memory footprint (by Morton.F on 2020-05-11 08:37:03 GMT from Germany)
There is nice ps_mem script to accurately report and analyze the memory usage is
https://github.com/pixelb/ps_mem/
For eg I see now that in my LMDE4 Cinnamon
Private + Shared = RAM used
41.0 MiB + 30.8 MiB = 71.8 MiB Xorg
143.7 MiB + 15.1 MiB = 158.8 MiB cinnamon
666.0 MiB + 121.6 MiB = 787.7 MiB firefox-bin
10 • Endeavour and Fedora (by cousin emu on 2020-05-11 08:59:38 GMT from Australia)
I'm glad Endeavour tried following Antergos, but trashed the cnchi instrument of frustration. I'm not fond of online installers. They always take too long on my connections, and fail often, but cnchi was pure torture. As it is, for a few minutes I thought Endeavour was carrying on the cnchi tradition. Calamares froze at 22%. (Yes Houston, they had a problem.) I looked to see if others had problems. Some did, but were told to just wait (sure!), or to install offline, but I wanted Plasma with no XFCE cruft. It worked fine after running "pacman -Syu" though, so all is forgiven. Nice distro, but Manjaro still gets my vote.
Off-topic: I was wondering what they are up to at Fedora. Maybe regular users know, but that's the first time in many Linux years that I've seen the "Restart your computer to install updates" followed by "Installing updates. Do not turn off your computer" while the little circle thingy went round and round. What next? Bring back the BSOD? Nostalgia is well and good, but there are limits. I did have one of those on Pop!_OS, but it was brown, so maybe doesn't count.
11 • Desktop Sharing (by James on 2020-05-11 09:32:38 GMT from United States)
If any desktop or terminal sharing is included in an OS I install, the first thing I do after installation is remove it.
12 • KDE Plasma is better. (by Cor on 2020-05-11 12:58:37 GMT from United States)
This is a fact, KDE plasma ROCKS! It has always offered full customization and great apps. Now it is leaving the rest of the DEs in the dust regarding memory management. I have always wondered why so many users are gaga over Gnome and its derivatives. Gnome is so basic and bland. Gnome is what I started using over 20 years ago on Fedora. Then I discovered KDE and that was the end of Gnome as a DE on my computer. I have tried various flavors of Gnome over the years and I have yet to be impressed by a single feature.
13 • Screen Sharing (by Semiarticulate on 2020-05-11 13:03:02 GMT from United States)
I use desktop-sharing technology to assist friends, family and co-workers. I don't personally know anyone who knows what a terminal is.
This poll has made me realize how so very alone I am in this world. Thanks, Jesse. lol
14 • @10 Fedora updates (by Christian on 2020-05-11 13:20:40 GMT from Canada)
That behavior (installing updates during reboot), AFAIK, has been present in Fedora for a while. I think it's the default behavior for Gnome software and packagekit. You can still update using dnf without rebooting (but the first option is encouraged to avoid system breaks).
If, for instance, you decide to go with the KDE spin, the system will not prompt for reboots to install updates, but it may notify about installed updates that requires reboot to work (a kernel update).
15 • @14, Fedora updates (by cousin emu on 2020-05-11 14:17:26 GMT from Australia)
Live and learn, I guess. I've used Gnome on several distros over the years, but Fedora and I have never clicked, at least not for long. I doubt if I've ever used Gnome Software for an update, although I've used the updater provided by the distros sometimes. But I never ran into this behavior. It was one of the most annoying things about Windows for me. You're done and ready to go, and you get the 'Don't turn off your computer" bit for who knows how long. Still can be an annoyance in Windows although not as much these days.
16 • endeavor vs Manjaro (by rich on 2020-05-11 14:46:08 GMT from United States)
Been running Manjaro for over 5 years but have now switched to Endeavour OS. Runs real smooth and the updates to software packages are manageable from day to day where as Manjaro would hit you up with a couple hundred and the download and installation would give me corrupted packages and or out of date gpg keys that would have to be re-installed to correct deficiencies. Both are great distro's but now I'm giving Endeavour a run for it's money and it's been very good. The online installer is a little bit slow but the concept works as you can download which ever 'shell' you want during the install process. ..i.e. Gnome, Kde, Cinnamon, Deepin etc., Nvidia was a easy install also. This will work for me I think for some time until I once again find the need for some 'fresh' change. I'm pretty much done distro hopping as I've done this for 20+ years trying them all out.
17 • Dolphin or GUI vs CLI and TUI (by Ram on 2020-05-11 14:59:42 GMT from India)
@5 It's better not to use a gui file manager as root, unless you're the only user of the system and the system is just a playground. For that purpose you can use Krussader which is also a KDE app.
But I would rather recommend you to learn a little bit of commandline things, those little programs are more efficient and easy to maintain.
We are volunteer & we need your help, not money is everything here. This way or that way always you need to know more to be relevant in future. Even a GUI requires some practice, just remember your initial days with your computer.
@10 Don't you know, Red Hat is now a FRIENDLY COMPETETOR to Microsoft & Google !! So get ready to observe such nostalgia more & more in comming days ;)
@13 if your friends and relatives are using any GNU system, better introduce them about the commandline things as early as possible, that will make are community healthier. :)
18 • Right decision to go with KDE (by AT on 2020-05-11 15:41:00 GMT from Germany)
I agree with Ubuntu Studio developers that KDE is way more polished and offer better tools and support right away. May be it is just me, but I find Xfce to be a lot out dated recently. Both Gnome and KDE were already mature and quickly outpaced Xfce in terms of tools and usability, but now others like Budgie, DDE and LXQT have caught up with Xfce as well. Plus the niche point of Xfce of using less resources is no longer hold true, as other DE, mainly feature-rich KDE can compete with Xfce now.
19 • Dolphin weakened? Not here! (by Bobbie Sellers on 2020-05-11 16:10:53 GMT from United States)
Someone wrote: "KDE and dolphin (by hotdiggettydog on 2020-05-11 05:19:05 GMT from Canada)
Nice to see positive comments for KDEplasma but what the heck did they do to Dolphin file manager? The file manager is the backbone of the OS and they de-knackered dolphin. What gives? Can't open anything as root or won't run as root. How do you get anything done?
Its been a few months but I remember having to install nemo or pcmanfm. Pretty sad considering dolphin was once king of file managers. My adventure with kde was shortlived. "
Well I found that alarming so I did dolphin x 2 once from the user prompt and got it.
Logged in as Root via su- and got dolphin right away with the Root warning and configured for root.
i leave configuring Dolphin in Root until I need to use it for specific actions but the
point is that it depends on which distribution you are using if the Dolphin has been
castrated or not.
20 • Screen sharing with GNU screen and splitscreen (by Kingneutron on 2020-05-11 17:15:03 GMT from United States)
--I have actually done this (terminal-based remote support) with a friend that was several states away at the time. Had him boot a Knoppix livecd, enable sshd, set a password, and connect his PC straight to the highspeed modem.
PROTIP: If you're both working as root/need to issue commands, after you issue ' screen -xR ' you can then press:
Ctrl+AS (capital S) to Split the screen,
^ATab to switch between panes,
^Ac to create a new screen,
and then both of you can type on separate instances while still watching the other window. It's a decent way to collaborate using free software.
21 • @17 Dolphin or GUi vs CLI and TUI. @19 Dolphin weakened? (by Angel on 2020-05-11 17:48:39 GMT from Philippines)
"t's better not to use a gui file manager as root, unless you're the only user of the system and the system is just a playground." For that purpose you can use Krussader which is also a KDE app."
Some of us have poor eyesight, are bad typists, or dyslexic. I am all three. So let's say I need to enter: "~Downloads/.pia-linux-2.0.1-04518.run." or something longer and more complex, which is not unusual. It is much simpler to open the file manager, right-click for "Properties," copy, and paste the file name to the terminal. Just one example. There are many. I keep a list of more complex commands just so I can copy and paste. Fortunately, a lot of kind Linus users post instructions for many things on websites for copying. I really like KDE and will use it as long as I can, but if it were not possible to run the file manager as root, I would use something else. There are workarounds which I use.
"But I would rather recommend you to learn a little bit of commandline things, those little programs are more efficient and easy to maintain."
I will use my PC in the way I want. My concern is not to make it easy for you to maintain, but for efficiency and ease of use for me.
"if your friends and relatives are using any GNU system, better introduce them about the commandline things as early as possible, that will make are community healthier. :)"
Yes, the crippling of Dolphin is about protection. Krusader, by the way, is also crippled. Right now I am being "protected" where I live by needing a pass just to go grocery shopping on limited hours. Because I am older, I also require a letter from the local council. On a 5 km ride to the city, my temperature is taken 4 or 5 times and again on the way back. Never mind that the province I live in has not a single case of COVID-19, and hasn't for months. So I really don't need KDE to be a nurse, limiting Dolphin or other programs for my "protection" or for the health of "our community" for that matter.
@ 19, yes, there are some distros where Dolphin as root is available without hacks.
22 • Root for Dolphin (by verndog on 2020-05-11 18:37:32 GMT from United States)
I found this hack works on Kubuntu & Dolphin 20.04.0:
pkexec env DISPLAY=$DISPLAY XAUTHORITY=$XAUTHORITY KDE_SESSION_VERSION=5 KDE_FULL_SESSION=true dolphin
23 • This week's review of EndeavourOS. (by R. Cain on 2020-05-11 18:42:29 GMT from United States)
Jack Germain, of *LinuxInsider*, a very well-respected reviewer of Linux distributions, agrees, for the most part, with Jesse Smith's feelings about EndeavourOS. One of the most striking features--among many others--of Endeavor is its very light 'footprint'.
Of course, there will always be "the smartest person in the room" to contend with.
****************************************************************
https://linuxinsider.com/story/endeavouros-2020-possibly-the-best-arch-linux-option-86638.html --
"EndeavourOS 2020: Possibly the Best Arch Linux Option"
Jack M. Germain
*LinuxInsider*
May 11, 2020 02:21:59 PM
24 • KDE meh (by luppus on 2020-05-11 20:21:27 GMT from Germany)
To all those KDE Fanboys you're so oldschool after KDE Plasma I already landed on Pantheon for a short time, crossed over to budgie which was a better experience than both. But now I finally switched to Deepin which is I readily admit a little on the heavier side but without losing snappiness the contol centre on the right hand side of the screen to control all functions is brilliant. Also Deepin is configured nearly perfectly from th getgo. So no need pull a 'KDE' meaning to have to configure the hell out of my system in an overnighter. Btw. I never got used to dolphin, always stayed with Thunar which looks a bit weird in comparison but works far better for my needs.
25 • @24 - Deepin (by randomly generated entity on 2020-05-11 21:22:41 GMT from United States)
I agree that Deepin is an interesting DE, but it's changing from what you're apparently used to. The next version will have a more traditional Control Center. It still looks real pretty, but it's more like a happy medium somewhere between Gnome and Plasma, with less configurability than the latter, more than the former, and some oddball idiosyncrasies like dropping .__deepin.db files all over the place.
I've been playing with this new Deepin (v20) both from the beta (super-buggy for me) and on Arch, which is a very nice experience - not bug-free yet, but pretty much everything aside from the wallpaper-changer tool seems to work for me. It's also a shockingly small footprint space-wise - less than 6GB used, and that's with all my usual crap installed.
I'd also agree that KDE is poorly (or at least boringly) configured out of the box. I've yet to see even one distro make it look and act like I like it. Takes me 5 minutes to change it though, not an "overnighter".
26 • Screen Sharing & Remote Access (by Simon Plaistowe on 2020-05-11 21:38:54 GMT from New Zealand)
For remote support I use AnyDesk. In-house I use NoMachine to reach other workstations on my LAN. And ssh or https for my firewall/gateway and various routers, APs, etc. Keep it simple and it all just works!
27 • wow, linux is not windows (by Simon Belmont on 2020-05-11 22:25:00 GMT from Philippines)
wow its 2020 and people still measures "lightness" of distro based on ram usage. Linux is not Windows people.
Its surprising that Studio will use KDE. No offense to KDE, but it has indeed improved a lot, but i feel it still posses audio/video more latencies compared to other DE
28 • screen sharing with open source html5 browser apps (by jmichael2497 on 2020-05-11 23:58:29 GMT from United States)
desktop and mobile example of using meet.jit.si for instant video conference, no registration or personal info required, works in desktop and mobile (using desktop mode) in firefox and chrome.
can share screen or app or tab, but of course doesn't allow manual control, so it is an easy way to see what someone is talking about without hassle of installing, registering, configuring random closed source app.
(disclaimer i use win/and/lin not fruit company stuff, likely their desktop will work, but not their mobile)
29 • @24, KDE meh (by DE Hunter on 2020-05-12 00:51:53 GMT from United States)
I'll agree that in a beauty contest DDE wins hands down, but can it answer the hard questions? Less configurable than Gnome with limited context menus although it's better than Pantheon. Heavier than both. Does it occur to you that getting a desktop to look and behave just the way you like can be an enjoyment rather than a chore? Overnighters? Be real!!
@25 is correct. The sliding control center is gone in the next version. Maybe they din't find it so brilliant.
30 • kde and dolphin (by hotdiggettydog on 2020-05-12 00:57:23 GMT from Canada)
@17 Thanks for assuming linux is new to me and its a play thing. I've been using it long enough to know I don't want to fight the OS. I want to get things done. Do we want more people using linux or should we put up roadblocks to discourage them?
@19 Honestly, I did not spend a lot of time with kde plasma. Perhaps I will later on to be fair. I've been using the same distro for many years and my patience wains when trying to find something else that matches up.
@21 Thank you!
@22 Very helpful. I will file that away for future reference. Thanks.
31 • Artix is much more interesting (by Andy Prough on 2020-05-12 02:30:37 GMT from United States)
Hard to get excited about Endeavor or the other systemd based Arch spins, as they really don't have much unique to offer other than a handful of homemade tools here and there. They are really just different ways of installing Arch.
Artix is much more interesting, with the option of openrc, runit, or s6 for init, with its own repos prior to Arch's repos, and with the incredible speed and responsiveness it offers.
32 • Dolphin or GUI vs CLI and TUI (by Ram on 2020-05-12 04:36:11 GMT from India)
+
@21 Look, you can not please each & every body in this Universe. If you think for saving deer, tigers will fear you; think for tigers, deer will fear you. You have to keep a good balance.
My point is, why I will have to suffer to give some benefit to you ? Because, I am healthy, this is the sole crime I have done ? And I don't think majority of computer users are unhealthy.
Let us first make a system that works properly for the healthier people, then we obviously need to take care of the persons left behind. And that category includes various types of people: some can not see color, some can not see anything at all, some can not hear, some can not use their fingers or hand, some can not speak, some even can not use their brain.
I'm not saying to forget all and think for me only. We are not business tycoon with lots of money-power-time, we have to use our limited resource properly to benefit as much people as possible.
Just think, why those (earlier) going to space are tested for their fitness! We can send anybody to space according to your philosophy, right.
This way or that way, you need assistance from those who are healthier, however little that may be. Don't be so unrealistic, I have no intention to hurt you, don't take it wrongly. It's very unfortunate, that there is no body near you to help you.
The example situation you mentioned proves that you need to know some basic things about commandline usage, like using TAB completion,, Ctrl+Shift+V, Ctrl+R, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+D etc. I will suggest you to read the Slackware user manual first.
BTW, I'm not a fanboy of KDE or Dolphin, Ubuntu Studio is for the creators, although consumers can use that also if they find it good for them. I'm not a system administrator, anyway.
I like to use such programs which I know & can maintain better in my little time. There lies the security & freedom for me for which I use GNU based systems.
And Ubuntu Studio is not the only system I use. Infact, I like Thunar more than Dolphin and Xfce more than Plasma for regular use for different reason.
@5 @30 you probably overlooked, that I mentioned about Krusader. Nobody is stopping you from installing it in your system.
And @22 already mentioned a good hack of Dolphin. After all we are all hackers, isn't it ? We want maximum out of minimum, is not it?
"I don't want to fight the OS. I want to get things done."
-->GNOME3 is waiting for you. If you "don't want to fight the OS" then why do you want to be the superuser & spoil your works? Better let somebody else to configure your system as is the case in a typical office setup.
"Do we want more people using linux or should we put up roadblocks to discourage them?"
-->We need more users obviously. But not "consumers only users", we also need (future) contributors. You probably know why Archlinux is so successful without any great commercial support.
+
33 • @32Gui et al. (by Angel on 2020-05-12 05:10:27 GMT from Philippines)
"My point is, why I will have to suffer to give some benefit to you?"
You will suffer if Dolphin allows root access? How so? Are you delirious? What you do with your computer does not affect or have anything to do with what I do with mine. The Nemo devs allow root file manager with a simple right-click. I don't they or anyone else is suffering because of that.
Looks to me like you've got cli religion, and you expect others to "suffer" so they do as you think they should. I am not part of your "community" nor do I wish to be.
34 • WRONG decision to go with KDE (by Stefan on 2020-05-12 09:38:45 GMT from Brazil)
@18
"I agree with Ubuntu Studio developers that KDE is way more polished and offer better tools and support right away."
I totally disagree, like many distro makers who switched to XFCE after find out their numerous advantages over the vast majority of desktop environments.
"May be it is just me, but I find Xfce to be a lot out dated recently."
XFCE doesn't need to change in a fast pace just because it is the most complete and flexible. Other DEs seem to be evolving faster because they are still a work in progress.
"Both Gnome and KDE were already mature and quickly outpaced Xfce in terms of tools and usability, but now others like Budgie, DDE and LXQT have caught up with Xfce as well."
Not a single DE has ever get as functional and flexible as XFCE. And incredibly easy to configure.
"Plus the niche point of Xfce of using less resources is no longer hold true, as other DE, mainly feature-rich KDE can compete with Xfce now."
XFCE is not only very light on resources, but also incredibly fast. Differently from KDE/GNOME/Cinnamon/MATE, even an Intel Atom CPU with 1GB RAM can run it acceptably!
35 • @33 - Nemo root file manager - not anymore? (by Hoos on 2020-05-12 11:03:57 GMT from Singapore)
"The Nemo devs allow root file manager with a simple right-click...."
That might not be the case any more, unless a particular distro you use has chosen to maintain a version that continues to grant root access.
Nemo in Fedora and Arch has not permitted the opening of a root file manager for some time, and these 2 just follow upstream AFAIK.
In general, the move to restrict running graphical programs in root won't be that problematic for things like editing root text files, because you can open the file as user, make changes, and when you choose to save the thing, I believe Kate, gedit and possibly other text editors as well will give you the password authentication pop-up so you can get elevated privileges.
The main area where inconvenience sets in is when you want to carry out file management in root folders. While it's not something one should do carelessly or most of the time, I have found it useful for a few innocuous tasks like moving icons or gtk themes (from customisation web sites and not in your distro repositories) from your home folder into /usr/share/.... so that all users can use them.
Now I have to use cp or mv commands in terminal. Yes, I can do it that way, but I find it troublesome. Oh well.
36 • Dolphin or GUI vs CLI and TUI (by Ram on 2020-05-12 12:11:56 GMT from India)
+
@33 I am not religious at all, you probably have not read my post completely or was unable to comprehend or may be I am the handicap here to express myself :)
If there are enough developers & maintainers who care for your need they will obviously implement that feature while giving me a bug free & secure program.
But I am till now thinking, what great you want to do being a superuser now and then with the GUI app. I will advise you not to run any command without knowing what actually it will do with your main system.
@34 I am not Ubuntu Studio developer, so I don't know what they really want to do. Anyway, my view is as following:
1) Installing so much apps in a system itself makes it bloated. Rather this system can be used for learning or testing purposes as well as to show others what a good GNU Linux system can do. I use this for regular usage as Live OS as it serves my all daily needs (from text document reading & editing to little video editing) without tinkering much with my main system (Gentoo linux with Xfce).
I will obviously move on to my configured system when I will be that much mature. Ubuntu or RHEL themselves are too much bloated for latency sensitive tasks.
2) it already includes almost all KDE libraries, so the Xfce can not show efficiency here. And Xfce can not serve all multimedia production needs, it's not designed to be a complete system, you will need to depend upon KDE sooner or later. Right now there is no FLOSS competitor to Okular or KDE Connect or KATE or KHelpCenter in GNU world, also other KDE apps are not so bad. Plasma KDE can also manage other GUI libraries very well if needed.
3) If the developers are comfortable in maintaining Plasma KDE based system then it's better to go that way. My experience says, when users are developer or maintainer then we are more likely to get a better system rather than hiring or insisting somebody to work for me.
And there are till now five months to get the next release, so let us see what is in future :)
+
37 • @35 right clicks, @36, language (by Angel on 2020-05-12 13:43:53 GMT from Philippines)
@36 -Nemo root on right-click works on Manjaro, Kali, Parrot, KDE neon and Kubuntu. Those are just the ones the ones have installed. I have used it like that on others. In any case, one can use "sudo" or "su" for Nautilus, Caja, Thunar, et al. And if the devs in their all-seeing wisdom decide to cripple those I'm sure there will be plenty of hacks available. That's the beauty of open source. Just google "Dolphin as root" and see all the complaints and workarounds.
@36 -I worked for IBM as teenager many years ago.(1960s) I sold and consulted on business software independently for many years, I ran a computer service business here with my wife for the last 10 years. I have done hundreds if not thousands of Linux installs. So kindly don't tell me how I should use my computer. You want people to use their computers as you think they should, If you are going to preach to others about what they should do, you should at least learn their language well enough so you can understand what is said.
.
38 • another vote for meet.jit.si (by Teach. on 2020-05-12 17:57:46 GMT from United Kingdom)
As a teacher working from home I have used Jitsi for remote learning. Sharing my notes on xournal with pdfs of the textbook on one half and lined paper on the other half (thank you pdftk) makes things actually simpler than trying to use the windows pc and 74", 10 point touch screen (why!?) in my classroom. Colleagues have been using zoom and having to disable the private chat and loads of other "features" which can lead to some nasty trolling. In Jitsi it is all in the open, very much like a normal classroom. All it needs now is to allow another remote user to access the shared document, that would be a killer feature for teaching.
39 • Nemo root (by OstroL on 2020-05-12 20:49:04 GMT from Poland)
Nemo root on right click works on Ubuntu 20.04 default and on Unity, and on both Nemo takes over the desktop. The new Nautilus is uninstalled.
40 • DE (by Cheker on 2020-05-12 21:52:54 GMT from Portugal)
I stuck with Manjaro KDE for a whole year before I decided I wanted something else, visually anyway. KDE doesn't seem to play 100% straight with my graphics card, I saw some lag and some dumb effects in certain places.
So I gave Manjaro MATE a go. That was even worse - the proportions of everything were off, some things were huge, others were damn near invisible. So I gave Manjaro XFCE a go - that worked. I haven't seen any lag or dumb visual effects so far. It's not the beast KDE is in terms of customization, but I looked/am looking into it. I respect the hell out of XFCE and there's certainly a place for it.
You should'a seen the twists and turns it took to get thumbnails to generate on Nemo though. Configure it this way, did it work? No. Install this, did it work? No. Install that, did it work? No. Install this, did it work? YES. I'm not sure if it took everything or a weird combo but it's working now.
41 • EndeavourOS (by jimbo on 2020-05-13 00:08:35 GMT from United States)
Wow. This distro is amazing. I love EndeavourOS!
Easy to install. Encryption included with an easy check box.
Worked with all my modern drivers.
Definitely a bridge between Manjaro and Arch. Somewhere in between.
42 • Archman vs Endeavour, Nemo (by FedorafrFreak on 2020-05-13 11:07:00 GMT from United Kingdom)
Archman has offered a choice of desktops for some time now, installed from live iso, not online. Their main DE is XFCE, but they have frequent and recent snapshots of several others.
@35, You've been misinformed. Nemo can do root on right click on Arch and Fedora 32. The user can disable it if they want to. Nemo is very versatile without looking cluttered. Kudos to the developers.
43 • KDE vs. Gnome (by benevolent151 on 2020-05-13 12:33:00 GMT from United States)
I agree with previous comments on the quality of modern KDE/plasma. It looks great, works great out of the box (this is relatively new), and is very stable in my experience on Kubuntu LTS releases. 20.04 is rock solid so far.
I do like the way Gnome looks (always have), and the polish that goes into simple things like icons and effects. I don't like the way Gnome has tried to change the typical desktop workflow although I know some people who swear by it. As someone who used Windows through the 90's and eventually switched over to Linux in about 2005, I need my minimize buttons. KDE's default workflow is similar to Windows 10 (which I think is actually pretty good, and also lighter than Gnome), but without all the Windows BS like live tiles, action centers, etc.
For me, the biggest reason to use KDE is that I am almost always using a low-rent laptop, in this case a Pentium N5000 with 4GB of RAM. With KDE, I can watch streaming video at 1080p perfectly smoothly while the same computer with Gnome struggles to pull it off. Now if we could just get Netlfix and Prime to support Firefox at 1080p...
44 • @43 Gnome icons (by curious on 2020-05-13 13:23:23 GMT from Germany)
I agree with your comments on KDE vs. Gnome desktop workflow. For me, it is also important to have a proper application ("start") menu with categories instead of some dumbsmartphone style fullscreen monstrosity. In that context, Homerun Kicker is very nice.
But your comment about the icons seems strange to me. I think the standard "Gnome" and "Adwaita" icon sets are the most uninteresting, bland looking ones available. Any other icon set is "non-standard" and may break with the next Gnome version. "Oxygen" or "Breeze", on the other hand ...
45 • @43, @44 Gnome icons... (by randomly generated entity on 2020-05-13 16:20:06 GMT from United States)
I agree with both of you in general with regard to Gnome vs. KDE. Gnome does look pretty, but I tend to go with the Numix Circle icons, which I haven't noticed breaking with updates. There are a few icons that may need manual replacing via menulibre or the like (or .desktop file editing), but for the most part this theme covers everything. Looks great in Xfce and MATE too. Unfortunately it doesn't come close to covering all the needs of Plasma, so I stick with Breeze there.
46 • @44 Icons (by benevolent151 on 2020-05-13 18:55:10 GMT from United States)
Yeah I know what you mean about the Gnome icons, but I do kind of enjoy the minimalist neutral color idea. Really what I meant was just the overall "fit and finish" of Gnome is very nice because that is something they emphasize heavily. Plasma has gotten much better in this area too and they are even doing a pretty good job with GTK applications these days.
I used to greatly prefer Gnome back in the day when it's workflow still made sense to me. I used the Gnome install of SUSE Linux for a few years and loved it with the simple bottom bar only.
Honestly I think both desktops are miles above where they were 10 years ago and the continual pace of improvements are what I love about Linux.
47 • root file manager (by Jeff on 2020-05-13 23:33:32 GMT from United States)
With Thunar there is no need to open as root all the way at the top and drill down to find where you were.
Right click in the directory the file you want to work on is in and choose Open Root Thunar Here.
That and Thunar Custom Actions are two of the biggest reasons I find it very hard to switch to any other file manager. I find myself using it even when I am not using the rest of Xfce.
48 • root file manager, @47 (by FedorafrFreak on 2020-05-14 04:03:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
Nemo will open as root in any folder you select, no need to drill down. Even Nautilus will open root at your location. It needs "nautilus-admin" extension. But it's nice to know about the custom actions on Thunar. Thanks for sharing.
49 • Desktop GUIs and inits (by cykodrone on 2020-05-14 20:34:35 GMT from France)
It's not so much the bloat (well, kind of, bloat is annoying), it's the gradual lack of user control. This is the very reason I switched to Linux over a decade ago, (been Linux only for ten years), it's my machine, and I say what software on it can do or not do. Turning off unwanted 'features' to the point of breaking the desktop gui, and secretive, encrypted (binary vs ascii) logging is completely unacceptable, I might as well go back to the 'dark side' and have my hand held by 'wizards' and oodles of corporate spyware. Just 2% of a dollah.
50 • Advantage of Open Source (by M.Z. on 2020-05-14 21:20:13 GMT from United States)
@49
"...encrypted (binary vs ascii) logging is completely unacceptable, I might as well go back to the 'dark side' and have my hand held by 'wizards' and oodles of corporate spyware..."
I don't get that even a little, the promise of open source was always that the pros could understand what was really going on even if the vast majority of potential users can't. I use logs so little that practically no changes about how they are done can affect me; however, the fact that there was a big wide open source community did me proud when I thought there were serious problems. Canonical was forced to back down because experts could easily dig into how information was flowing between their desktop & corporate servers & people made noise. Part of that may have been an admission by the guilty party, but there were also audits of OpenBSD when someone claimed something suspect was happening.
The point has always been that anyone with the right knowledge could dig into to any issue they saw fit to look at & could raise flags as they saw necessary. And of course if the response is inadequate, well that's what forks are for. If you've got an issue that is taken seriously by the community there is likely already a fork or re-spin for that like TAILS for anonymity & Devuan for init. I don't see how anyone could pretend that this is even a little the same as the closed source world.
51 • @49, control? (by themadpanguin on 2020-05-15 00:32:59 GMT from United Kingdom)
Do you want control, or control without effort? If you wish to be a pilot rather than a passenger, you must learn to fly. You can buy the bread from the baker, or exercise control by buying the flour, leavening, shortening and seasoning, and baking it yourself.
Here are three links that address your concerns, and more, with degrees of control all the way up your bum. I'd wager there are a few more.
Arcolinux: https://arcolinux.info/choose-your-project/
Artix: https://artixlinux.org/
Devuan: https://devuan.org/
You could develop, pay a developer to create a bespoke OS to suit you, or you can sit and whinge, in which case you will always be as the last two syllables of your nick: a drone.
52 • @49 choices (by Hu Mee on 2020-05-15 07:10:30 GMT from Singapore)
I installed Obarun (no systemd) KDE from their jwm live iso. It came with one app: Konsole. Not even a web browser. How's that for choice?
53 • @48 nautilus-admin, file manager as root (by Hoos on 2020-05-15 14:50:49 GMT from Singapore)
Natilus-admin is not in the official Arch repos but the AUR. The AUR maintainer's source is a third party github.
To me that indicates that upstream Nautilus no longer allows it officially.
I believe the same is true for the latest Dolphin
https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=224&t=141836
For Nemo, apparently the developers still wish to provide the functionality, but from around 2018, dbus stopped the function from working unless a workaround is effected.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1810088#p1810088
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/nemo-open-as-root-does-not-work/61024
[this is very helpful to me, actually! I'm glad I checked up on this point]
I'm not saying root actions are no longer possible. Older versions of those file managers may still allow it.
But for newer versions of various file managers, it looks like it is up to the distro developers or third parties to find workarounds, create custom actions, or continue to maintain the relevant extensions that are no longer officially maintained.
Because it would appear that increasingly, the official developers of the file managers or the desktop environment they are part of don't provide official support for this.
54 • @53, nautilus-admin, file manager as root (by FedorafrFreak on 2020-05-16 00:22:37 GMT from United Kingdom)
Nautilus-admin has nothing to do with "upstream." It isn't an official part of Nautilus. Never was. It is available as an extension in GitHub. So is the Gnome tweak tool and the many extensions offered. Tweaks is also not in Arch official repos, but included in Debian/Ubuntu repos, as is nautilus-admin.
The problem you cite with Nemo in Arch was a missing package: dbus-x11. Again, it's in GitHub, and available in AUR. In Debian/Ubuntu it's automatically installed.
Arch devs may choose to exclude what they wish for their own reasons. Arch is part of Linux, but is is not all of Linux, nor is it necessarily an omen for the future. The reason these options are offered by distros is because users want them and ask for them. If "upstream" objects, there are always solutions. Remember that Cinnamon and it's Nemo file manager came about because of Gnome devs' intransigence. I still sometimes use Gnome, but without the extensions, never.
55 • 54 Nautilus Admin (by mandog on 2020-05-16 16:02:31 GMT from Costa Rica)
Gnome-tweak-tool or as its now called is a official gnome tool and in the Arch repro gnome-extra as its always been.
56 • Remmina, x2go and Gitso to Share Remotely (by stan reichardt on 2020-05-17 19:19:37 GMT from United States)
For remote screen and GUI session sharing I alternate between using Remmina and x2go client with x2go server (the man pages don't mention need for matching server).
Instead of propretary TeamViewer, I use Gitso to allow remote users to connect easily.
Number of Comments: 56
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| • 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 |
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Slackel is a Linux distribution and live CD based on Slackware Linux and Salix. It is fully compatible with both. It uses the current version of Slackware and the latest version of the KDE desktop. The Slackel disc images are offered in two different forms - installation and live.
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