 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 870, 15 June 2020 |
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Welcome to this year's 24th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
New distributions get submitted to DistroWatch at an average rate of about one a week. Some of these projects are respins of existing distributions, some are experimental proof-of-concept operating systems, and some combine open source technologies in exciting new ways. This week Jesse Smith explores two projects, Regolith Linux and distri, currently on our waiting list. Regolith merges Ubuntu, GNOME, and i3 window management in an effort to create a special user interface while distri explores modular package management concepts. Read on to learn more about these two distributions. In our News section we talk about UBports shipping on the Pinetab tablet as the project makes it easier for developers to find and fix problems in mobile applications. The Tails project shared some updates and known issues in their monthly newsletter and we link to those details below. Linux has come a long way over the years and we conclude our News section with a look back at a classic: Softlanding Linux System from 1994. Then we explore methods for tagging files in our Questions and Answers column. Tools for tagging files on Linux tend to be rare or require work to set up and we would like to hear if you use any tagging utilities in our Opinion Poll. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Regolith Linux 19.10.0-R1.3 and distri
- News: UBports makes fixing apps easier and ships on the Pinetab, Tails shares known issues and workarounds, revisiting SLS
- Questions and answers: Tagging files and searching for files using tags
- Released last week: SuperGamer 6, 4MLinux 33.0
- Torrent corner: 4MLinux, ArcoLinux, AUSTRUMI, Endless OS, Haiku, KDE neon, pfSense, SuperGamer, SystemRescueCd, Volumio
- Opinion poll: Tagging files on Linux
- New distributions: Split Linux, Mobian, GamerOS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (14MB) and MP3 (10MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Regolith Linux 19.10.0-R1.3
This week I was in the mood to try something different and turned my focus to the DistroWatch waiting list to try out a couple of projects at random. The first distribution I selected was Regolith. The project describes itself as follows:
Regolith is a modern desktop environment designed to let you work faster by reducing unnecessary clutter and ceremony. Built on top of Ubuntu, GNOME, and i3, Regolith stands on a well-supported and consistent foundation.
I was intrigued by the idea as it sounds a though both GNOME and i3 window manager components are run together. The distribution's website goes on to share some other key features, including:
- Delivers a desktop with a functional yet minimal user interface that can be customized and expanded as needed.
- Combines GNOME's system management features with i3-wm's productive workflow.
- Enables new users a fast and fun way to try out a tiling window manager.
I was sceptical about what it would be like to mix these two (i3 and GNOME) desktop approaches, but I thought the result might be interesting. Regolith is available in two versions, one is based on Ubuntu 18.04 and the other on Ubuntu 19.10. I took the latter one, which is the latest release. Regolith appears to run on 64-bit (x86_64) machines only and its ISO file is a 2.2GB download. Alternatively, we are told existing Ubuntu installs can be converted into Regolith by adding a PPA to our package sources and performing an upgrade.
After downloading Regolith, I booted from the live media and, with the default settings, the distribution failed to start. The system displayed a message indicating it was applying a Spector security fix and then locked up, unable to continue or respond.
Restarting the computer I brought up the boot menu and selected booting to the live desktop in Safe Graphics mode. This time the operating system seemed to boot successfully and presented me with what appeared to be the i3 window manager with a panel at the bottom of the display and a menu to the right. This menu includes options for switching between windows and launching programs, such as a terminal, the web browser, and a file manager. Selecting any of the menu options did nothing as the graphical environment almost immediate locked up and refused to respond to mouse or keyboard input.
The third time I started the computer and booted Regolith I missed the boot menu and ended up with the default option. This time the system completed booting and loaded a graphical environment. However, instead of the i3 environment I experienced when running in Safe Graphics mode, I ended up looking at Ubuntu's welcome window with a prompt to Try the live environment or Install the operating system. Unfortunately the interface was not responsive and I was unable to use the mouse or keyboard. I was also unable to even switch to a text terminal.
Given the system's inconsistent and non-functioning nature in each of the three boot attempts, I put Regolith aside and selected a second project from the waiting list.
* * * * *
distri
The other project which caught my attention this week is distri, an experimental distribution which explores fast, modular package management. The project's documentation describes the projects succinctly as: "a Linux distribution to research fast package management." It goes on to warn: "Note that due to its research project status, it is NOT RECOMMENDED to use distri in ANY CAPACITY except for research. Specifically, do not expect any support. distri is published in the hope that other, more established distributions, will find some parts of it interesting and decide to integrate those."
It appears as though distri runs on 64-bit (x86_64) computers exclusively, though there are many approaches we can take to test drive the distribution. There are installation instructions for containers and virtual machine options along with options for downloading more traditional install media. The generic download is compressed and weighs in at 1GB in size. When this file is uncompressed it expands to 7GB. We can then copy this image to a thumb drive or convert it to a virtual machine disk image.
The distri operating system boots to a text screen where we can login using the username "root" and the password "peace". The distribution runs a very minimal shell. In fact, minimalism is one of the project's key characteristics in most aspects of its design. There are just seven user accounts (root, nobody, three systemd accounts, messagebus, and sshd). One of the few services running is OpenSSH which allows regular users to sign in while also blocking remote root logins if they use a password. As far as I could tell there is no vi text editor, in fact there may be no text editor at all. There is no pager either, such as more or less, which means we can only see the last few paragraphs of manual pages.
The operating system does ship with Python 3 and systemd. It also features some common command line tools such as cat, man, and grep. It runs on version 5.1 of the Linux kernel. One oddity of distri is that it creates a lot of system mounts. When I first started running the distribution it mounted 36 filesystems (much of it temporary storage or cgroup related) and it appears to mount more whenever we run commands from installed packages. (More on packages in a second.) All of this takes up about 285MB of RAM when signed into the text console and consumed 2.7GB of disk space.
The key feature of the distri project is its package manager which is also called distri. I was unable to find much documentation, either on the project's website or locally, explaining how distri works. The project's on-line documentation says we can run a command like "distri install <package-name>" to install new software. However, I could not find information about removing or upgrading packages. I could not find any manual page for the package manager either. Running the distri command without arguments (or with a keyword and no following parameters) will display a brief usage text. However, this text rarely explains arguments and seems more geared toward helping the developers than end-users.
I did not find any way to search for available software from within the package manager, however there is a list of packages on the distribution's GitHub account. We can then run a command such as "distri install vim" to download a new package or "distri install -root /home/jesse/bin vim" to install the vim package in my home directory.
The distri package manager downloads software very quickly. With the possible exception of Alpine Linux's package manager, this may be the fastest package manager I have encountered. I suspect this is in part because of the way distri packages are organized. The packages appear to be entirely self-contained, bundling their dependencies inside a single SquashFS archive. (I could not confirm dependencies are bundled, but it seemed this way in the packages I downloaded.) This means the package manager can skip resolving dependencies and unpacking the archive. Instead it seems the bundle is downloaded as a single file and then mounted or accessed as needed. Whenever I ran a new command, such as vim or bash, a message would appear on the console indicating the software was being mounted.
Again, there is not much documentation on how distri works, but it looks as though new software is downloaded into the /roimg directory. Then unpacked or accessed through the /ro directory. Symbolic links are set up in /sbin which point to the executables. For instance, when I install the vim package, the SquashFS archive appears under /roimg and a directory containing the bundled programs is placed in /ro. A symbolic link, called vim, is placed in /sbin which points to the appropriate program in /ro. This may seem a little complicated, but it works and appears to side-step dependency issues. This makes distri an interesting alternative to other portable packaging approaches, such as AppImage and Flatpak as distri integrates software into the rest of the operating system more seamlessly.
Most of the available packages appear to be simple command line tools or developer utilities. There are a handful of graphical utilities and applications, but most are low-level command line programs.
As the project's website warns, distri is not intended to be used as a day to day operating system. It is an experimental platform and one that does not offer support or much in the way of documentation. Some interesting ideas are presented (such as fast, minimal, portable package management). I certainly can get behind the idea of transferring programs and their dependencies through SquashFS archives. It is fast, portable and, with the use of symbolic links, seems to avoid breaking conventions the way other distributions like GoboLinux do. I'm curious to see if distri can complete with alternatives like AppImage, though first I suspect the interface and documentation will need to expanded.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
UBports makes fixing apps easier and ships on the Pinetab, Tails shares known issues and workarounds, revisiting SLS
The UBports team is trying to make it easier to develop and test applications on their mobile operating system. One of the changes to application bundles is the option of including debug information to help developers find memory errors. "Jonny is an active member of the app development team and he came along to speak about some major improvements in development infrastructure. Clickable is the name of the package used when building apps for UT. In a huge step forward, debugging functions have now been built into the Clickable package itself. GB shell works and you can analyze memory leaks etc. This really is a fundamental change if you work on apps. Many of the new functions can be run either on the desktop or on the device. Some, such as the memory leak tests are limited to the desktop side for now." Further details on Clickable, along with details on UBports shipping on new phones, can be found in the project's blog post.
In other UBports-related news, the operating system is now shipping by default on the Pinetab, a tablet made by PINE64. The new tablet ships with an optional keyboard, 2GB of memory, and a 1.2GHz ARM processor. Details on the tablet can be found in the PINE64 store.
* * * * *
The Tails project published their monthly newsletter this week and shared some known issues their users have reported and workarounds: "We saw more problems for Mac computers this month, some users could not use their keyboard and touchpad, and others could not start Tails. If you plan to use a laptop for Tails, try to test it before buying it. Many Electrum users had to restore their wallet as explained in our documentation. Some ATI Radeon cards have problems to start Tails 4.7."
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One of the world's first Linux distributions was Softlanding Linux System (also known as SLS). The project had its humble beginnings in the early 1990s and was, for many people, the first taste of what a Linux-based operating system could look like. SLS was largely responsible for the birth of other distributions such as Slackware Linux and Debian. The NCommander YouTube channel has a video review showing what it was like to run SLS. The distribution's capabilities, and problems, are outlined in this video. We hope you enjoy this visit to Linux's early days.
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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) |
Tagging files and searching for files using tags
Tag and release asks: Please recommend to me some Linux distributions with feature "tags" as in macOS (where I can search or/and organise files by tags in Finder).
DistroWatch answers: Tagging files in a generic way is something that is possible in Linux distributions, but has not really caught on as a popular feature. As such I am not aware of any distributions which ship with a file manager that includes tagging as a standard or default feature.
I think there are two reasons tagging is not generally presented as an option through the file manager on Linux. The first is that individual applications typically each handle tracking and tagging associated files. For example, the Rhythmbox audio player can use, edit, and search through tags in audio files. LibreOffice and GIMP both track recently opened and created files on their start-up screens or through the File menu. Thunderbird can tag and flag e-mails. Since each application is managing its data and files, there usually isn't a need to have a generic tagging system that works through the file manager.
The second reason that files which are used in a more generic way are not tagged is files in those situations typically get organized in directory structures. Library files, source code files, archives, etc all get set up in a directory hierarchy which largely removes the need for tagging. Likewise, many miscellaneous files on a Linux system are text and can be parsed when looking for specific data.
Tagging certainly has its uses, but it is less common on Linux due to the other ways in which files can be organized, tracked, and managed.
With that being said, there are ways to tag files on Linux. Most Linux file systems allow a type of tagging through extended file attributes. This allows programs to associate meta data (or tags) with a given file. However, most of the tools to work with extended file attributes are command line utilities and probably not what you are looking for.
There are ways to cobble together a tagging system using database or text files in directories, but this is, again, overly complicated and probably not what you had in mind.
Assuming you are looking for a graphical program that will help organize, tag, and track files with a minimal amount of effort, there are a few options. The first one I found is called TagSpaces. It is a graphical program that runs on a variety of operating systems (including Linux distributions). The project provides multiple install options, including AppImage and Deb packages. TagSpaces looks very friendly and polished and its website seemed promising. However, I was unable to get either the AppImage or the Deb package to run on my distribution so I cannot comment on the program from first-hand experience.
One program which I did get to run is TagFlow. The TagFlow application is also graphical and is available as a portable AppImage or as RPM and Deb packages. The software did install and launch for me. It offers a friendly interface for adding files or directories we wish to tag and track.
The TagFlow interface is fairly straight forward to navigate and I like that we can edit tags, perform fast searches, and mark selected files as favourites for quick access later.
TagFlow 0.5.1 -- Searching for files using tags
(full image size: 62kB, resolution: 806x656 pixels)
There is one weird aspect to TagFlow and that is the files it tracks are not, by default, the original files in your filesystem. When we add files to TagFlow to track them, the program effectively copies the files and tags copies of them. We can then "download" files from TagFlow later if we wish to access or edit them. I suspect the idea here is that TagFlow can work over networks and may be better suited to office environments. The down side to this is that TagFlow seems to need to copy files (using more disk space) and it cannot tell us the original path to a file if we want to work with the original copy. This is not necessarily bad, but it is more awkward than working with files in a file manager directly.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
SuperGamer 6
SuperGamer is an Ubuntu-based distribution intended to showcase gaming capabilities and options on Linux. The distribution's latest release, version 6, is based on Ubuntu 20.04 and includes new NVIDIA vieo drivers. The release announcement on the project's forum reads: "I am proud to announce the release of the SuperGamer v6. This is using the new 20.04 base. I have included some Games as well as Game Manager Installers. This release is going forward with the 5.6.14 kernel built for Low Lattency and unpatched. NVIDIA drivers work from the Installer on this Kernel. I also included some more wallpapers and fixed some of the Ryzen 3 onboard graphics issues. This should work for both Legacy and UEFI but as always your mileage may vary with different motherboards and BIOSs." The project's ISO file is available as a compressed ZIP archive.
SuperGamer 6 -- The default desktop layout and application menu
(full image size: 191kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
4MLinux 33.0
4MLinux is a miniature Linux distribution which includes tools for data rescue, multimedia, network services, and games. The distribution's latest version is 4MLinux 33.0, which now provides the TFTP daemon, improved font rendering, and the Palemoon web browser as an optional add-on. "As always, the new major release has some new features. Support for Brotli compressed data streams has been added. PCManFM in is now able to create thumbnails of PSD (Photoshop) documents. The 4MLinux server comes with a new TFTP daemon. Font rendering in JWM has been improved. Palemoon web browser is now available as a downloadable extension, while nnn (small yet powerful file manager) is included out of the box. Finally, all the 4MLinux ISO images are now hybridized, meaning that you can use the dd command to create a live USB. This should work for both BIOS and UEFI systems." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement.
* * * * *
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: 2,022
- Total data uploaded: 32.2TB
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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) |
Tagging files on Linux
We talked about ways to tag files in our Questions and Answers column. Tagging files is relatively rare on Linux, for various reasons, and most file managers that ship with Linux distributions either do not support tags, or require some extra work from the user to effectively tag files.
We would like to know if you use file tagging on Linux. If you do, let us know which program or utility you use to tag files in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on sharing features across distributions in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Tagging files on Linux
| I tag files in my file manager: | 62 (6%) |
| I tag files in another utility: | 39 (4%) |
| I do not tag files: | 957 (90%) |
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| Website News (by Jesse Smith) |
Distributions added to waiting list
- Split Linux. Split Linux is a Void-based distribution which strives to provide additional security both for on-line environments and physical access.
- Mobian. Mobian is a specialized build of Debian for mobile devices, such as the PinePhone.
- GamerOS. GamerOS is an Arch Linux-based distribution which boots into Steam's Big Picture mode to provide a dedicated, console-like gaming experience.
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DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 22 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 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
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| Random Distribution | 
Linux Kamarada
Linux Kamarada is a general-purpose Linux distribution based on openSUSE Leap. It uses a customised GNOME desktop environment. The project's main goal is to spread and promote Linux as a robust, secure, versatile and easy-to-use operating system, suitable for everyday use, be it at home, at work or on the server.
Status: Active
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
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Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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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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