 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 869, 8 June 2020 |
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Welcome to this year's 23rd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Operating systems have a tendency to get larger and applications tend to become more complex over time. This means that while computers are becoming more powerful, they also need to work harder to accomplish the same tasks. Some software projects fight against the tide of complexity and software growth, striving to make software simpler and lighter. One such project is KISS, an independent project that combines the Linux kernel with streamlined userland tools to make a fast and light operating system where the user performs most tasks manually. Read on to learn more about this unusual project. In our News section we link to an open discussion with the CentOS team and talk about a new tool that simplifies writing disk images to removable media. Then we talk about the Linux Mint team's plan to avoid Snap packages. Plus we report on the elementary OS developers streamlining their distribution to reduce the number of password prompts the user sees. If any of these features sound appealing then stay tuned for our Questions and Answers column in which we talk about merging the software and features of one distribution into another. Our exploration of merging characteristics from multiple distributions continues in our Opinion Poll and we would like to hear how you approach getting all the features you crave on one system. Plus we are pleased to share the new releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: KISS 1.9.11
- News: EasyOS publishes tool for writing disk images, Linux Mint plans to avoid Snap packages, elementary OS team streamlines updates, CentOS team answers questions
- Questions and answers: Importing features from one distribution into another
- Released last week: Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0, MX Linux 19.2, Greenie Linux 20.04
- Torrent corner: Arch Linux, Archman, Devuan, Greenie Linux, IPFire, Karoshi, LibreELEC, KDE neon, MX Linux, Runtu, Septor, SparkyLinux, Tails
- Opinion poll: What is your preferred method for sharing features across distributions?
- New distributions: Functional OS, snakeware, openEuler
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (15MB) and MP3 (15MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
KISS 1.9.11
This past week I had a chance to look at a project I have been hoping to find time to try for a while now, KISS. The project's website describes KISS as follows:
An independent Linux distribution with a focus on simplicity and the concept of less is more. The distribution targets only the x86-64 architecture and the English language.
The website goes on to list a number of key features the KISS project provides:
- Uses a plain-text package system which is
language agnostic and parseable with basic UNIX
utilities.
- Uses a package manager written in 600 lines of
POSIX sh (excluding blank lines and comments).
- Based on musl libc, BusyBox and the Linux kernel.
- All shell code is linted by and passes shellcheck
(including each and every repository package).
- All packages are compiled from source by the
package manager which automatically handles
dependencies, patches, etc.
The KISS project appears to be aiming to create a very minimal operating system with a simple design. One that is transparent and can be both audited and understood relatively easily. The default environment is quite small and minimal in terms of features. Default tools tend to be written in shell scripts rather than binary programs, making it possible for administrators to quickly view and edit the utilities.
KISS seems to be crafted in such a way that the operating system will do very little automatically, leaving the user to build, install, and configure software in a mostly manual process.
Installing
The KISS project does not provide bootable ISO or IMG files. To install KISS we need another Linux distribution, or a live CD that can download a package and set up the KISS operating system in a chroot environment. First we download an archive that contains the KISS userland utilities. Then we can use the existing operating system or live CD to partition the disk, compile our own kernel, and install a boot loader.
The KISS environment is a 27MB download and we can optionally download a companion tool which sets up the chroot environment for us. We need to format a partition to use for KISS, mount it under a directory such as /mnt, unpack the KISS archive into this directory and then run the KISS chroot tool. This locks us into the KISS environment where we can run a series of commands listed in the project's documentation to set up the operating system.
From there we need to use the project's package manager, called kiss, to download, build, and install additional tools. These include filesystem support, the Linux kernel, optionally wireless networking tools, and a boot loader.
What I found was, after setting up a new partition and mounting it, all I was doing was copying and pasting commands from the KISS website into a terminal. In essence just running "kiss build package ; kiss install package" over and over. It feels like this could all have been handled by a simple, one-page shell script which could have acted as a system installer for KISS.
Some people may read that above paragraph and conclude that I have entirely missed the point of KISS. The idea seems to be that the project does not do any hand holding and the user should do everything manually. After all, everything can be customized. However, I think there are three arguments against this line of thinking - and in favour of having a scripted installer. The first is that virtually everyone who installs KISS needs to run the same handful of commands, and will need to do so every time they go through the setup process. There is no variety or flexibility in the required commands, meaning there is no benefit to doing them manually. The second reason I would like to see this process scripted is it is easy for humans to make typos (which I did during one run-through) while a script never mis-types. My third argument is KISS provides a script to set up the initial chroot environment to assist users and avoid mistakes. If creating the chroot can be scripted, then why not the unchanging commands that immediately follow?
The philosophy of scripting installs aside, one of the few really manually parts of setting up KISS is downloading, configuring, and building the Linux kernel. We may optionally also need to download firmware blobs. How to do this is briefly covered in the KISS documentation, enough to probably get beginners through the process. However, customizing the kernel or enabling extra hardware support is not covered.
After that we need to install a boot loader (examples using GRUB to boot the operating system are shared in the documentation) and then we can exit the chroot and reboot the computer. Assuming we completed all the steps correctly and we do not need any special hardware support, then we should be able to boot into our new KISS operating system.
Early impressions
Assuming all went well during the setup process, KISS successfully boots into minimal, text-based environment where we can sign in as the root user. To be honest, the first time through I made a typo while installing GRUB and KISS (understandably) did not boot for me, but I was able to use the live environment and chroot to fix GRUB and get things working. Once we sign into the root account we can explore an environment that is mostly provided by BusyBox. There are no manual pages, virtually no user accounts, background services, or a working network connection.
We do have access to a working compiler (thanks to the GNU Compiler Collection) and a small repository of software through the kiss package manager. We can use the dhcpcd command to enable networking, even setting this script to run at start-up to make our lives easier. Then we can use kiss to install new packages we need.
A fresh install of KISS used about 20MB of RAM on my machine and 3.2GB of disk space, including the kernel sources and firmware I had saved to the filesystem during the initial install. Once I had removed the source code and firmware packages KISS consumed about 1GB of disk space.
Software management
One of the few utilities the operating system includes is kiss, the package manager. The kiss utility can search for software in the project's repositories, download, build, and install new packages. It can also upgrade existing packages and list installed items. New packages are always built from source code.
The default repositories are quite small and this meant most of my searches for new packages returned no results. I found it easiest to browse the on-line repository from the project's GitHub account. If we need additional software there are third-party, community repositories with more software.
As KISS is a minimal operating system, the user is left to build on it and develop what they need. We can turn KISS into a platform for just about anything, assuming we have the time and skills to install and configure the necessary software. There is virtually no hand holding though, we are expected to know what we are doing without manual pages, on-line support, or (for the most part) automation.
Conclusions
KISS is a project people will probably only want to use if they have a particular project or goal in mind. It is not particularly practical as a day to day operating system and, I would argue, it is not meant to be. The philosophy, work, and approach on display at the KISS project are all very interesting, and I will come back to those in a moment, but first I want to address the elephant in the room.
KISS, while described as a Linux distribution on the project's website, is not a Linux distribution by any definition I have encountered and I'd question whether it should be considered an operating system. There are three reasons I make this observation. The first is that KISS cannot bootstrap itself, it needs another operating system to get it up and running. Most operating systems can be booted from a DVD or USB thumb drive and install themselves. KISS requires we have a Linux distribution on hand to install it. This makes me question whether KISS is an operating system or, more likely, a meta operating system.
The second reason I believe KISS should not be considered a complete operating system (or a Linux distribution) is it does not include a kernel. Userland and package management tools are included, but there is no kernel by default. A kernel must be added separately by the user and it is hard to consider any project an operating system if it does not have a kernel included.
Which brings me to my third reason KISS is not a Linux distribution: the project does not distribute Linux. The KISS archive does not include Linux, and the package manager does not recognize any Linux package. KISS in no way provides or manages the Linux kernel which makes it very difficult to consider KISS a Linux distribution. Or even Linux-related, except that its userland is unlikely to work out of the box with any other kernel.
All of that is to say I do not think we can regard KISS as a Linux distribution or expect it to work like Linux distributions generally do. There is no direct apples-to-apples comparison we can make between a project like KISS and other do-it-yourself projects like Arch Linux or Tiny Core Linux. An argument could be made that KISS is a meta distribution similar to Gentoo where users are expected to compile and customize their operating systems in detail with very little assistance. KISS provides a distribution-like framework, like Gentoo, to help us craft our own operating system.
With all that being said, I do think KISS is a very interesting project and one worth looking at, especially if you are among those who feel operating systems are too bloated or enable too many features. KISS is really striving to trim the fat off Linux-based operating systems and related open source software, removing optional features and cutting out unnecessary tools. There is a patch provided in the KISS documentation, for example, which removes the need to have Perl installed before building Linux which nearly cuts the time required to perform the initial setup process in half. That is the sort of efficiency I can support.
The KISS project is always looking at ways to remove extra stuff users do not need, or that end-user programs do not require. The KISS blog often reports on changes to packages which greatly reduce their size, like this one which mentions Python's package size was trimmed by about 90-100MB. This work does not only benefit KISS users, the work is open source. Any distribution, whether it is Fedora, Debian, or Arch can benefit from this kind of refinement. Upstream projects can also look at the work KISS is doing and cut out libraries or options which are not needed and which, when removed, do not negatively affect users.
All of this is to say that I am very intrigued and in support of the work the KISS project is doing. I would certainly not want to run KISS on a workstation or server I was using day to day - the manual effort involved would drag my work to a crawl. However, the work to reduce software size and improve performance that KISS is engaging in (and which is explained on the project's blog) will almost certainly benefit all of us in the long run. I hope the packagers of mainstream Linux distributions are paying attention to KISS because we can all appreciate faster, slimmer software, especially if the features we use are still maintained.
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Visitor supplied rating
KISS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 10/10 from 3 review(s).
Have you used KISS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
EasyOS publishes tool for writing disk images, Linux Mint plans to avoid Snap packages, elementary OS team streamlining updates, CentOS team answers questions
Barry Kauler, the developer behind such interesting distributions as EasyOS and Puppy Linux has announced the availability of a helpful tool for writing operating system images to USB thumb drives and SD cards. The new tool is called EasyDD and can work in either command line or graphical desktop modes. The utility detects available removable drives and can transfer both regular and compressed images to a USB thumb drive. The utility is designed to be highly portable with minimal dependencies. "There is no problem with using EasyDD in CLI mode, in fact that is the author's preferred mode. However, if you are running some Linux distribution other than a Puppy-derivative, there is also a "portable" version, similar to an AppImage, with everything bundled into a single executable, including 'gtkdialog'. In fact, EasyDD-portable will run in GUI mode on any linux, x86 32-bit or 64-bit, and only needs some basic utilities in the host system, such as 'gzip', 'tar', 'realpath', 'mkdir', 'cd', 'tail' and 'cp' -- and it would be a pretty weird distribution that doesn't have those."
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With Linux Mint version 20 planned for release later this year the Mint developers are testing our some features, including themes and driver support. The project is also addressing concerns users have about Snap packages. The project's base, Ubuntu, ships with Snap by default and trying to install some packages through APT can cause Snap packages to be installed instead. The Mint team wants to avoid this, insuring users only get the packages they want. "I'm happy to confirm that Linux Mint 20, like previous Mint releases will not ship with any snaps or snapd installed. Second, to address this situation we'll do exactly what we said we would: In Linux Mint 20, Chromium won't be an empty package which installs snapd behind your back. It will be an empty package which tells you why it's empty and tells you where to look to get Chromium yourself. In Linux Mint 20, APT will forbid snapd from getting installed. You'll still be able to install it yourself and we'll document this in the release notes, but by default APT won't allow repository packages from doing this on your behalf." Further information on the upcoming release of Linux Mint 20 can be found in the project's newsletter.
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The elementary OS team has published an update on work going into their operating system, in particular focusing on streamlining the user experience. One new change coming to the distribution is removing the need to enter a password to install software updates. "We continued our steady iterative improvements to AppCenter with new features and fixes. The big quality-of-life one: users can now install updates without administrator permission. Since an administrator had to approve the original installation and we provide clear expectations around curated versus non-curated apps, it didn't make sense to make users authenticate just for updates. This is part of our ongoing work on reducing authentication fatigue and only elevating permissions when necessary. Since by default on elementary OS Flatpak apps are already installed as user apps, installing and updating them does not require authentication, either." Further information on changes coming to elementary OS can be found in the project's blog post.
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Members of the CentOS team took to Reddit last week to field questions from the public. The CentOS team talked about Python, bug reports, sharing progress reports and more. The questions and answers session features eight CentOS team members who fill a variety of roles with the project. The entire discussion can be browsed on Reddit.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Importing features from one distribution into another
Managing-a-merger asks: I am using Debian 10.3 and see features in Kodachi I would like in Debian. They are described below. Could these feature be imported in to Debian?
- I see a feature to use Nord VPN via GUI - Protonmail VPN and few others
- I see a feature to use different DNS servers via GUI
- I see a feature to change MAC address via GUI
I noticed a few other features but don`t remember them at the moment but assume they could be imported.
I heard any feature in Linux can be imported into a different Linux distro - true or false?
I don't know the packages names but is there any way to find out and where to get them?
* * * * *
DistroWatch answers: First, the good news is that Linux Kodachi is a member of the Debian family of distributions. There will be some small differences between them, but the two projects are closely related and mostly compatible. That is, most software that runs on one will run on the other. In fact, most of the software you run on Kodachi is probably already in the Debian software repositories.
Regarding Nord VPN (and similar products), the Nord VPN website has a tutorial for installing and setting up their service on Debian and related distributions.
Debian includes a graphical tool, called Network Manager, which will let you adjust DNS servers and your MAC address. You should find this tool works the same on Debian as it does on Kodachi. Typically Network Manager is installed on Debian by default. Assuming the Network Manager tool is running you can right-click its icon, select Edit Connections, and then assign DNS and MAC values to any network your system recognizes.
As for whether any feature of one Linux distribution can be imported into another Linux distribution, the answer is not entirely clear cut. In theory, the answer is yes. Virtually any program which runs on one Linux distribution could be made to run on another.
However, in a practical sense, the answer is often no because of the amount of time and effort involved in porting the software. Linux-based distributions are a diverse bunch and software that is built with one project, or collection of tools, in mind will often not work on another distribution without a lot of work.
For instance, the openSUSE YaST administration tool is widely regarded as being powerful and useful, but it is virtually unused outside of openSUSE because it would require a lot of time and effort to port it to another distribution. As another example, the Snap portable package framework relies on systemd, which means any distributions running another init implementation (SysV, runit, OpenRC, etc) cannot use Snap packages without introducing some sort of compatibility layer.
Typically, software can be shared between similar distributions, ones which are closely related. Most software that runs on Ubuntu also runs on Debian, or can be made to work with a little effort, because Ubuntu is based on Debian. However, you should not necessarily expect tools made for a distribution in one family of projects to run on a distribution from another family. It is unlikely you will see any Ubuntu servers running openSUSE's YaST configuration panel any time soon or Slackware Linux running Snap packages.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
MX Linux 19.2
The MX Linux development team has announced the release of MX Linux 19.2, a new stable version of the project's desktop Linux distribution based on Debian (stable) and antiX. This release includes bug fixes and software updates: "We are pleased to offer MX 19.2 for your use. MX 19.2 is the second refresh of our MX 19 release, consisting of bug fixes and application updates since our original release of MX 19. If you are already running MX 19, there is no need to reinstall. Packages are all available through the regular update channel. The standard MX 19.2 releases (32-bit and 64-bit editions) feature the latest Debian 4.19 Linux kernel and, unlike in the past, the kernel will now auto-update along with Debian sources by default. The AHS (Advanced Hardware Support) ISO image features a Debian 5.6 Linux kernel, MESA 20, as well as a new updated firmware package. As usual, this release includes the latest updates from Debian 10.4 and MX repositories: Xfce 4.14, GIMP 2.10.12, MESA 18.3.6 (20.0.7 ahs), updated firmware, Firefox 76, VLC 3.0.10, Clementine 1.3.1, Thunderbird 68.6.1, LibreOffice 6.1.5 (plus security fixes)." Read the complete release announcement for more information.
Greenie Linux 20.04
Greenie Linux is a Slovak desktop distribution based on Ubuntu and optimised for users in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The project's latest release is based on Ubuntu 20.04 and ships with the KDE Plasma desktop, version 5.18. Previous versions of the distribution used the MATE desktop. An English translations of the original release announcement reads: "Greenie 20.04 with KDE Plasma. New in 20.04: change environment to KDE Plasma; new, current versions of programs; Linux kernel 5.4, KDE Plasma 5.18. Changes compared to Kubuntu 18.04: presence of Slovak and Czech language packages; a number of added fonts with full support of Slovak and Czech characters; popular tools for any activity; aliases for quick program installation; added missing keyboard shortcuts in LibreOffice and GIMP; removed Asian and various specific fonts and documentation; tools for working with translations, reading and editing books; more software installation options (classic Synaptic); added a few Bash aliases; added tools like Focuswriter and Calibre to work with e-books; switch from Chromium to Firefox (Chromium is available for installation as a SNAP package)."
Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0
Mark Hindley has announced the release of Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0, code name "Boewulf". Devuan is a Linux distribution originally forked from Debian in order to provide alternative init software to systemd (SysV, OpenRC or runit). This version of Devuan is based on Debian 10: "Devuan developers are delighted to announce the release of Devuan 'Beowulf' 3.0.0 as the project's new stable release. This is the result of many months of painstaking work by the team and detailed testing by the wider Devuan community. What's new in Beowulf 3.0.0? Based on Debian Buster (10.4) with Linux kernel 4.19; support for ppc64el in addition to the existing i386, amd64, armel, armhf and arm64 architectures; runit optional alternative /sbin/init; openrc optional alternative to sysv-rc service and runlevel control; standalone daemons eudev and elogind to replace aspects of monolithic systemd; new boot, display manager and desktop theme." See the release announcement and release notes for further details. Devuan 3.0.0 is available in the form of live ("Minimal" or "Desktop" with Xfce) or installation images ("Desktop", "Server" and "Netinstall").
Devuan GNU+Linux 3.0.0 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 116kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
IPFire 2.25 Core 145
IPFire is an independent Linux distribution designed to help administrators easily manage network security and traffic. The project latest release introduces new monitoring and logging options as well as starting the random number generator earlier in the boot process. "OpenVPN will from now on collect metrics about connected clients. On an extra page, it will be shown which client has connected when and for how long it was connected. The random number generator will be launched earlier in the boot process to see the kernel's pseudo-random number generator as soon as possible. On some systems, this could have blocked the boot process for a couple of minutes. Firewall: Connections that are being NATed will now always be logged in the filter chain, too. vnstat, the tool behind the net traffic graphs on the IPFire web user interface has been updated to use a new database format and refreshes its graphs more often, for more detailed and accurate data. Pakfire correctly uses upstream proxies now." Further information can be found in the project's release announcement.
Network Security Toolkit 32-11992
Network Security Toolkit (NST) is a bootable live CD based on the Fedora distribution. The project's latest release is based on Fedora 32 and includes a number of new tools and features for analyzing network traffic. "We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: NST 32 SVN:11992. This release is based on Fedora 32 using Linux Kernel: "kernel-5.6.15-300.fc32.x86_64". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 32. Here are some of the highlights and new tools added for this release: A new NST WUI page for displaying Wireshark tshark Statistics Conversations has been developed (See the example: tshark Statistics Conversations page shown below.). This page focuses on displaying network conversations between two specific endpoints in tabular format and results can be further analyzed with the NST Network Tools Widgets. One can choose a Conversation Type and Display filter to isolate traffic of interest. The table output also contains the ability to create stream display filters for packet capture decode analysis. Many other actions and features can be found on this page. Added a new NST WUI page for the next generation the Kismet Wireless Surveillance application. This new version features a massively rewritten code base, a new web UI, support for non-WiFi capture types, and much more." Further details can be found on the project's home page.
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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: 2,012
- Total data uploaded: 32.1TB
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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) |
What is your preferred method for sharing features across distributions?
In our Questions and Answers column we discussed merging features from one Linux distribution into another and why this is sometimes not practical. People often find the software they want on one distribution is not available, or not up to date, on another. When you want to make use of a specific feature or package that is not available on your main distribution, how do you work around that limitation? Do you run another distribution in a virtual machine, run a portable package, make use of a container to run the desired software, dual-boot and switch between two distributions? Let us know how you get the features you need in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on keeping /home on a separate partition in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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I gain access to non-native features using
| Bedrock Linux: | 15 (1%) |
| Chroot: | 21 (2%) |
| Containers: | 52 (4%) |
| Dual-booting: | 193 (16%) |
| Portable packages: | 139 (12%) |
| Virtual machines: | 221 (19%) |
| Other: | 105 (9%) |
| I am not missing any desired features: | 445 (37%) |
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| Website News (by Jesse Smith) |
Distributions added to waiting list
- Functional OS. Functional OS is a 64-bit, desktop distribution based on Debian's Testing branch and Ubuntu. Functional OS uses the Budgie desktop environment as the default interface.
- snakeware. snakeware is a Linux-based distribution that uses a Python-based userspace environment and graphical desktop. It uses a custom window manager without X.Org.
- openEuler. openEuler is a CentOS-based distribution developed and supported by Huawei.
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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, 15 June 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 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Full list of all issues |
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pfSense
pfSense is a free, open source customized distribution of FreeBSD specifically tailored for use as a firewall and router that is entirely managed via web interface. In addition to being a routing platform, pfSense includes a long list of related features and a package system which allows further expandability.
Status: Active
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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