 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 902, 1 February 2021 |
Welcome to this year's 5th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The big news this past week related to a vulnerability in sudo, a program included in most Linux distributions which is typically used to grant regular users administrative access. We talk about this exploit and the major distributions responding to it in our News section. Plus we share news that the next version of Ubuntu will default to using a Wayland session while FreeBSD demotes the i386 CPU architecture. First though we talk about two distributions which follow the keep-it-simple (KIS) principle. This style of distribution strives to keep the technical aspects of the operating system less complex, though it sometimes means more work for the computer's user. We talk about these two projects, Kwort and SulinOS, in this week's Feature Story. How do you feel about KIS distributions? Do you run one of these complex-avoiding operating systems? Let us know in our Opinion Poll and tell us about your experiences with KIS distributions in the comments. In our Questions and Answers column, we switch gears and talk about project licensing, specifically how the Qt toolkit is licensed and distributed. Qt is the backbone of several desktop environments, including KDE Plasma, and many desktop applications. This week we are pleased to share a list of recent releases and link to the torrents we are seeding. We are also thrilled to welcome the Diamond Linux-TT, a Debian-based desktop distribution, to our database. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Kwort Linux 4.3.5, SulinOS
- News: Serious sudo vulnerability patched, new Tails media published, Ubuntu tries Wayland as the default display manager, FreeBSD demotes i386
- Questions and answers: Qt licensing concerns
- Released last week: Tails 4.15, Zentyal Server 7.0, Clonezilla Live 2.7.1-22
- Torrent corner: 4Mlinux, Alpine, Bluestar, Clonezilla, Endless OS, GParted Live, OPNsense, Tails, Zentyal Server
- Upcoming releases: FreeBSD 13.0-BETA1
- Opinion poll: How do you feel about KIS distributions?
- New additions: Diamond Linux-TT
- New distributions: RoshanOS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (8MB) and MP3 (11MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Kwort 4.3.5
In the opening weeks of 2021 I decided to engage in a search for technological simplicity and dived into a series of distributions with a keep it simple (KIS) philosophy. This week I decided to try Kwort, which is described on the distribution's website as follows:
Kwort is a Linux distribution based on CRUX; we make use of their port system to build a set of minimal packages. While Kwort uses binary packages, we offer the users this port system as well. Looking for the best tools aligned to Kwort's philosophy is an on-going task during the whole year. Because of all this, Kwort is [an] extremely simple and straight forward Linux system.
The Kwort distribution is available in one edition for 64-bit (x86_64) computers. The ISO file is a 1GB download. According to the project's latest release announcement, the recent 4.3.5 release mostly focuses on package updates, bringing the compiler, Linux kernel, and web browsers up to date with their upstream versions.
Booting from the live media brings up a menu offering to boot in normal or "Without RMS" modes. Taking either of these options results in a kernel panic with an error message reporting the root filesystem could not be found. After verifying the media's checksum again, I tried choosing both boot options again and confirmed both resulted in kernel panics early in the boot process. There are some similar reports on the Kwort forum so it seems the problem isn't limited to my environment. This brought my trial with Kwort to an early conclusion.
* * * * *
SulinOS
The second distribution on my KIS list this week was SulinOS. The distribution's website describes the project as follows:
SulinOS [is] faster than standard distributions. For example, every package was compiled without SELinux or AppArmor. Also the kernel is configured for better security, without compromise. SulinOS never uses sudo (You can use 'su -c command' [instead of] sudo). SulinOS is oriented towards advanced Linux users, who know what they're doing.
The website reports SulinOS ships with both regular and libre variants of the Linux kernel. OpenRC is used for service management and the distribution provides a custom package manager called inary. The distribution runs on 64-bit (x86_64) machines exclusively and is available in several editions. The are four main desktop editions: GNOME, Xfce, LXDE, and MATE. There are two editions, KDE and Pantheon, which are currently listed as being in a testing phase. In addition to these desktop flavours there is a smaller Minimal edition. It looks as though most of these editions were last updated back in November of 2020. The Minimal edition is 360MB in size while the desktop editions vary from about 1.3GB (for the LXDE download) up to about 1.7GB for the MATE and GNOME editions.
I decided to download the MATE edition and launching the live media brings up a boot menu offering to start the distribution with Turkish, English, or Spanish language support. The operating system then loads a graphical login screen where we can sign in with the credentials "user" and "live". (The credentials for the live disc are presented in the distribution's download page.) Signing into the default account starts a desktop session with MATE 1.24.0 arranged in a two-panel layout.
SulinOS 20201112 -- Exploring the MATE application menu
(full image size: 360kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
There are no desktop icons and very few graphical applications included. There is no web browser, no office suite, no graphical partition manager. There are a few small applications such as a terminal, system monitor, and image viewer. The Caja file manager is also included. Running from the live media, the MATE desktop was responsive and I went looking for a system installer.
Installing
I found the launcher for SulinOS's system installer under the MATE System menu in the Administration section. When launching the installer we are prompted for a root password which is "live". SulinOS appears to use the system installer from Linux Mint Debian Edition. We are guided through screens which ask us to select our language and location, time zone, and keyboard layout. We are asked to make up a username and password and then given the choice of proceeding with guided or manual partitioning. The manual approach is fairly straight forward and even makes a good suggestion as to how to set up the disk. The default disk layout uses a single ext4 partition for the operating system and a second partition for swap space. Once we assign mount points to the partitions the installer copies its files to the hard drive.
I ran into two issues during the install process. The first was that I could not find my country or language preference on the first screen of the installer. None of the language codes I would usually select appeared to be available. I went for the next best option I could find which was the language option paired with the flag icon of the United States, which I hoped would provide me with an English-focused desktop. This worked out in my favour.
The other problem I ran into was the screensaver kicked in after five minutes, locking the live desktop session. This meant I could not see the progress the system installer was making. When I tried to unlock the desktop I discovered the password I used to sign into the live session did not work to unlock MATE. I could switch to a terminal and sign in with the "user" and "live" credentials, but not unlock the desktop with them. This meant I had to force the screensaver process to terminate to return to the desktop.
Early impressions
The freshly installed operating system boots to a graphical login screen. Signing to my account brought back the MATE environment, this time with launchers for opening the Caja file manager on the desktop. There were no initial pop-ups and no welcome screen. As before there were very few applications available through the menu.
The distribution was relatively light on resources, consuming 250MB of RAM when signed into MATE and using up 5.3GB of disk space, not including the swap partition. The desktop was quick and responsive, making for a minimal, though mostly positive first impression.
Included software
The distribution ships with version 5.8 of the Linux kernel and uses SysV init. The OpenRC service manager runs on top of the classic init implementation. OpenRC brought the system on-line quickly.
I noticed early on SulinOS ships with manual pages, but the documentation pages for many common commands were missing. Looking into this I found Busybox provides most of the core userland command line tools and these commands do not have accompanying manual pages. However, low-level tools that are not part of Busybox, such as init or the parted command, do have accompanying manual pages.
True the to the SulinOS website's word, the sudo command is not included and we should run the su command (or login to the root account directly) when we wish to perform administrative tasks.
One problem I ran into while using the root account was I could not always shutdown the operating system. Sometimes running a command like poweroff or shutdown would simply leave the system running and, when that happened, I could not restart from the login screen either. Typically I would shutdown SulinOS from within the MATE desktop which always worked.
Package management
SulinOS ships with a custom package manager called inary. While this package manager includes a lot of options and appears to be set up for working with source code, repositories, and both local and remote packages, the main features most people will want are pretty easy to remember. Running inary with key words such as install, remove, or search followed by a package name is pretty straight forward and should work much the same as DNF or pkg on other platforms.
Unfortunately I could not get inary to work for me. Any command that I tried to run as the root user terminated with an error which said: "unsupported locale setting". It seems running with the chr_US.UTF-8 locale is not supported. I looked through the documentation for both the distribution and the package manager and could not find any mention of this issue or a workaround. I also could not find any tools for managing locales in the settings panel.
I mentioned before the screensaver would activate after five minutes and failed to recognize my password. This problem happened again once the distribution had been installed. I had to sign into a terminal and kill the screensaver process to get back to the desktop. I then disabled the screensaver. I mention this because I suspect the language settings which prevent the lock screen from recognizing my password may be related to the locale issues I had with the package manager. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any documentation on dealing with these issues.
Conclusions
Unfortunately this left me with a distribution that included virtually no software, no working package manager to install new applications, and no documentation that would help me address these issues. This again brought my trial to an early end.
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
Kwort has a visitor supplied average rating of: 10/10 from 1 review(s).
Have you used Kwort? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Serious sudo vulnerability patched, new Tails media published, Ubuntu tries Wayland as the default display manager, FreeBSD demotes i386
The week began with an announcement about a serious vulnerability found in the sudo tool. The sudo command is installed on most Linux distributions and is used to allow one user to run commands as another. Typically this allows the owner of a computer to run commands as the root user, performing admin tasks while still logged in under their regular account. The sudo website explained the issue: "Fixed a potential buffer overflow when unescaping backslashes in the command's arguments. Normally, sudo escapes special characters when running a command via a shell (sudo -s or sudo -i). However, it was also possible to run sudoedit with the -s or -i flags in which case no escaping had actually been done, making a buffer overflow possible." Most major distributions quickly patched vulnerable versions of the sudo tool with some, including Slackware, also provided additional details on the exploit.
* * * * *
While most Linux distributions are installed to a hard drive and can be updating in place, live distributions, those run from DVDs and USB thumb drives, are usually static once released. In the wake of the recent sudo exploit live distributions, such as Tails, rushed to publish new media. Tails, for instance, published Tails 4.15.1 just days after the 4.15 release in order to address the sudo bug.
* * * * *
A little over three years ago the Ubuntu developers experimented with making Wayland the default display server for their distribution. While, at the time, Wayland proved to be problematic resulting in a return to using X.Org as the default display server, work on Wayland has continued. Now it is expected Ubuntu 21.04 will use GNOME running on Wayland as the default desktop session. "In the Ubuntu 17.10 cycle we tried Wayland as the default session but we didn't feel confident at the time it was ready yet for a LTS. Things improved since, some of the blockers we found back then got resolved (desktop sharing), and that's where the upstream focus is going. We believe now is the right time to try again, it should give us enough time before the next LTS to get proper feedback and sort out issues. Since we decided to not upgrade our GNOME version this cycle it should also make things a bit easier. Note that NVIDIA users are still going to default to X.Org for now but hopefully that situation will be resolved before the LTS."
* * * * *
The next major release of FreeBSD, FreeBSD 13.0, will demote the 32-bit x86 (i386) architecture to Tier 2 status. This means FreeBSD will continue to run on 32-bit machines, but supporting it will be a lower priority for the developers. John Baldwin explains in a mailing list post: "FreeBSD is designating i386 as a Tier 2 architecture starting with FreeBSD 13.0. The Project will continue to provide release images, binary updates, and pre-built packages for the 13.x branch. However, i386-specific issues (including SAs) may not be addressed in 13.x. The i386 platform will remain Tier 1 on FreeBSD 11.x and 12.x."
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Qt licensing concerns
Keeping-everything-on-the-QT asks: Qt has always had cryptic licensing, and recently they've moved to make LTS releases commercial only. What kind of an impact will this have on Qt-based desktop environments, such as Plasma? Also, should the FLOSS community be thinking about moving away from Qt? Is forking an option?
DistroWatch answers: Unlike some development toolkits (such as GTK), the Qt project has always tried to walk a tightrope between being open source and being commercially viable. Basically, the Qt project tries to be financially self-supporting by providing commercial support for its product while also providing the source code under an open license so it can be used and developed in the FLOSS community. In particular the Lumina, LXQt and KDE Plasma desktop environments have been developed on the basis of the open source Qt libraries while commercial vendors can purchase and distribute the commercially licensed version of Qt.
The Qt team has accomplished this tightrope walk by dual-licensing their software. The project's licensing page offers a general overview:
Qt for Application Development is dual-licensed under commercial and open source licenses. The commercial Qt license gives you the full rights to create and distribute software on your own terms without any open source license obligations. With the commercial license you also have access to the official Qt Support and close strategic relationship with The Qt Company to make sure your development goals are met.
Qt for Application Development is also available under GPL and LGPLv3 open source licenses. Qt tools and some libraries are only available under GPL.
The Qt licensing situation isn't really cryptic, it's just using two licenses, which is semi-common with development libraries. Last year the Qt project announced some changes. Specifically that while each new release and most minor updates would remain open source and freely available, long-term support of Qt would only be available under the commercial license. In short, Qt is still open source and still freely available. However, if you want the Qt developers to provide long-term support then you need to pay for it. The announcement summarizes the change:
Starting with Qt 5.15, long term support (LTS) will only be available to commercial customers. This means open-source users will receive patch-level releases of 5.15 until the next minor release will become available. This means that we will handle Qt 5.15 in the same way as e.g. 5.13 or 5.14 for open source users.
In other words, the long-term support versions are still available under the open source license, but the extra support won't be once newer versions of Qt become available.
The announcement goes on to mention that the development branch of Qt will get bug fixes so that people running recent releases will get the same fixes developers on the long-term support releases will get.
We are changing our process in R&D to push all bug fixes to the main development branch first, and then backport selected bug fixes back into stable release branches. This process ensures that the latest version of Qt will always contain all bug fixes.
All of this is to say, very little is changing with Qt. There is a small change here in an effort to encourage developers to stick to the newer releases, or pay to stay on older versions, but for open source developers very little has changed.
Returning to the original questions - what kind of impact will this have on open source desktops, such as Plasma? Virtually nothing, if anything, will change for them. For desktops developers and Linux package maintainers it is unlikely anything will change. Major versions of Qt are backward compatible so there is no downside to upgrading the Qt library used by your distribution's desktop or applications.
Should the FLOSS community consider moving away from Qt? Personally, I don't think there is any reason to migrate. This move doesn't really affect open source developers. Most open source projects stick to a pretty recent version of Qt already and it is rare for open source developers to linger on long-term support releases of their toolkits.
Is forking an option? It is certainly possible to fork Qt, but there would be virtually no benefit to doing so. The only feature open source developers are missing out on right now is the long-term support feature, they still get every release under the existing open license. Which means the only reason to fork would be to add long-term support to Qt. This would require not only maintaining the fork and keeping up with Qt development, but also providing long-term support free of charge in order to make the fork at all worth while. I'm not sure there would be much benefit to that since as far as I know most developers aren't using the long-term support releases for their projects.
However, if it does get to a point where the open source version of Qt is discarded or is no longer viable, then the KDE project already has a plan to fork the software. The KDE team has a legal agreement with the owners of Qt that if Qt ever ceases to be open source, KDE can legally fork the toolkit, develop it, and distribute it under a BSD-style license. This insures that projects like KDE Plasma cannot be cut off from using Qt. In short, basically Qt cannot become a closed or commercial-only product because if it did, then KDE gets to take over its development and the open source community would simply switch over to KDE's fork.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Tails 4.15
Version 4.15 of Tails (The Amnesic Incognito Live System), a Debian-based live image designed for anonymous browsing of internet websites, has been released. As usual, the new version fixes a handful of security issues: "Tails 4.15 is out. This release fixes known security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible. New features: add a 'Don't Show Again' button to the security notification when starting Tails in a virtual machine. Changes and updates: update Tor Browser to 10.0.9; update Thunderbird to 78.6.0; update Linux kernel to 5.9.15 - this should improve the support for newer hardware (graphics, Wi-Fi). Fixed problems: fix support for the Ledger hardware wallets in Electrum; fix sharing mobile data, also called USB tethering, on iOS 14 or later; clarify the error message when starting from a USB stick that is too small. Known issues: none specific to this release. Tails 4.16 is scheduled for February 23." See the release announcement and the changelog for further information.
Zentyal Server 7.0
Zentyal Server is an Ubuntu-based server distribution that aims at offering an easy-to-use Linux alternative to Windows Server. The project's latest release is Zentyal Server 7.0 which is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. "Zentyal Development Team today announced the availability of Zentyal Server Development Edition 7.0. This is a new major community release of the Zentyal Linux Server, based on Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS. This version comes with the most recent versions of all the integrated software, including Samba 4.11 and the latest stable SOGo version. Zentyal Server provides an easy-to-use Linux alternative to Windows Server. Thanks to the integration of Samba, Zentyal provides native compatibility with the Microsoft Active Directory and allows transparent management of Windows clients. It is used by companies and public administrations mainly as a domain and directory server and a file server. The graphical user interface that Zentyal offers helps to make Linux server management easier for all and specially for new Linux users." Further information can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
Clonezilla Live 2.7.1-22
Clonezilla Live is a Debian-based live CD containing Clonezilla, a partition and disk cloning software. The project's latest release, Clonezilla Live 2.7.1-22, updates the kernel for better hardware support, includes new package updates from Debian's Unstable branch, and improves exFAT support. "The underlying GNU/Linux operating system was upgraded. This release is based on the Debian Sid repository (as of 2021/Jan/27). Linux kernel was updated to 5.10.9-1. Include exfatprogs instead of exfat-utils. Include package glances, ipv6calc, atop, usbtop, bashtop, python3-psutil, vnstat and iperf3. Add package f3 in Clonezilla/DRBL/GParted live. Thanks to timgmooney at hotmail com for this suggestion. ocs-sr: make --rescue work for ocs-onthefly to call ocs-sr. Thanks to huh for reporting this issue. prep-ocsroot: add an option to fsck repository file system before mounting local one. Thanks to Bohdan for this idea. Better mechanism to find LIVE_MEDIA in function get_live_media_mnt_point of ocs-functions. This allows persistence in the live-boot to work with Clonezilla live. Thanks to Bohdan for asking persistence feature." Further information can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
OPNsense 21.1
OPNsense is a HardenedBSD-based specialist operating system (and a fork of pfSense) designed for firewalls and routers. The project's latest version is OPNsense 21.1. This new release introduces a number of improvements to firewall configuration and monitoring. "21.1, nicknamed Marvelous Meerkat, is the relentless continuation of open source dedication. The last 6 years were not always easy, but we are happy to be where we are now and have the community to thank for it. New and improved are the firewall rules and NAT categories, the traffic graphs supporting IPv6 along with a visual refresh, intrusion detection rule management by policies, an alias for MAC addresses and NAT over IPsec with all phase 2 you could ever want. Last but not least, the serial image now supports UEFI as well. For those wondering, the WireGuard plugin has been available since 2019 and receives continuous improvements by its maintainer and various users alike. And that is unlikely to change in the future. As we continue to deprecate custom configuration inputs for a number of reasons, Dnsmasq has been switched to a pluggable file-based approach with Unbound to follow in the upcoming 21.7 series." Further details are available in the release announcement.
OPNsense 21.1 -- The OPNsense dashboard
(full image size: 595kB, resolution: 1028x522 pixels)
GParted Live 1.2.0-1
GParted Live is a business card-size live CD distribution with a single purpose - to provide tools for partitioning hard disks in an intuitive, graphical environment. The newest release from the project, GParted Live 1.2.0-1, features exFAT support, an updated kernel, and a systemd fix. The release announcement provides the following details: "This release includes GParted 1.2.0, updated packages, and other improvements. Items of note include: Includes GParted 1.2.0; add exFAT support using exfatprogs.Wait for udev change on /dev/DISK when erasing signatures; don't try to mask non-existent systemd xe2x97x8f.service; based on the Debian 'Sid' repository as of 2021-01-26; Linux kernel updated to 5.10.9. Known issue: boot option 'Other modes of GParted Live, GParted Live (Failsafe mode)' fails to enter graphic mode when booting from UEFI mechanism, while it's OK when booting from legacy BIOS. This release of GParted Live has been successfully tested on VirtualBox, VMware, BIOS, UEFI and physical computers with AMD/ATI, NVIDIA and Intel graphics."
* * * * *
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: 2,315
- Total data uploaded: 36.0TB
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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) |
How do you feel about KIS distributions?
In this week's Feature Story we mentioned keep it simple (KIS) distributions. These projects try to keep the engineering of the operating system simple so that developers and system administrators can more easily understand the inner workings. This approach often comes at a trade off that requires the end-user to know more about the system and perform tasks manually.
Are you a fan of KIS-style distributions? Do you run one? Let us know in the comments
You can see the results of our previous poll on preferred parent distributions in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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When it comes to KIS distributions I...
| I like them and run one: | 381 (31%) |
| I like them but do not run one: | 499 (40%) |
| I do not like them but run one: | 11 (1%) |
| I do not like them and do not run one: | 354 (28%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to database
Diamond Linux-TT
Diamond Linux-TT is a desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's Stable branch. The distribution features the KDE Plasma desktop with an eye toward making the interface look more familiar to former Windows users.
Diamond Linux-TT -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
(full image size: 691kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
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New distributions added to waiting list
- RoshanOS. RoshanOS is based on Linux Mint and features the Cinnamon desktop. It bundles more applications and features a layout adjusted to resemble Microsoft Windows.
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DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 8 February 2021. 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 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Bio-Linux
Bio-Linux was a full-featured, powerful, configurable and easy-to-maintain bioinformatics workstation. Bio-Linux provides more than 500 bioinformatics programs on an Ubuntu base. There was a graphical menu for bioinformatics programs, as well as easy access to the Bio-Linux bioinformatics documentation system and sample data useful for testing programs. Bio-Linux packages that handle new generation sequence data types can also be installed.
Status: Discontinued
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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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0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
