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1 • Several security strategies (by Andy Prough on 2021-04-19 01:55:51 GMT from United States)
I use a combination of apparmor, sandboxing, and virtual machines to segregate data from programs. This is one of the main advantages in using a Linux distro over Windows, is the ability to guard the system and the data better in multiple ways.
2 • protecting files (by Andy Alt on 2021-04-19 02:03:57 GMT from United States)
>Becoming-more-cautious asks: The other day I nearly wiped out my entire Documents folder. Luckily I just trashed it instead of deleting it and could get it back. Is there a way I can guard my important directories against accidentally deleting them, like forcing the system to ask for my password first?
This isn't quite the solution for what OP asked, but some may find it useful. I maintain an open source project called rmw.
rmw (ReMove to Waste) is a safe-remove utility for the command line. Its goal is to conform to the FreeDesktop.org Trash specification and therefore be compatible with KDE, GNOME, XFCE, and others. Desktop integration is optional however, and by default, rmw will only use a waste folder separated from your desktop trash. One of its unique features is the ability to purge files from your Waste/Trash directories after x number of days.
3 • Xubuntu tweaked (by Lola Ada Borg on 2021-04-19 02:20:29 GMT from Netherlands)
My comment is not specific to the new Linux distro being reviewed Peux OS.
XFCE is great and it works on many distro's, from Debian, Ubuntu to whatever :)
Years ago I gradually switched to Linux and it was a steep learning curve = through Slackware based stuff (Zenwalk and ... ) until I settled with Xubuntu 11
As a nerd I worked with a tweaked Win98 for a few years. That is decades ago indeed.
SystemRescue (has switched to Arch) and Bootrepair (based on Lubuntu) are essential tools for me at home. Gosh, I have lost count of how much PC's I have worked with, most of them were or are 2nd hand. And is just a hobby, simple.
Regarding bloatware, no further comment. Recently me installed Xub20LTS and removed the [software center] to replace it with synaptic. The default web browser is Firefox, Falkon is an option.
Is Gparted part of Ubuntu - or GSmartControl? Yups, old hardware here and 2 of 5 old hard disks almost failed. Never mind, managed to save all data.
Now I am just an average nerd from Europe ... There are new distro's on the waiting list.
Building a new distro, that is beyond my knowledge and experience. ReactOs is an interesting project, they have been working on it for years. My idea is for an even more basic version of Xubuntu - let's call it Zubuntu? Lola is not a coder, she has done webdesign.
Reviewing a new (version of) of any distro may take a few days. Hardware here is a second hand desktop PC [Lisa] with 2 modern hard disks. No laptop yet, though that could be nice.
By the road, Lola is a Dutch transgendered person and a geek.
4 • 128GB of music mounted @home/Music... (by eee shepherd on 2021-04-19 02:47:03 GMT from United Kingdom)
Accidentally deleted entire /home.
Sadly with 128 gb music sdcard attached, Takes forever to restore from identical backup copy
5 • Protecting yourself from shooting your own feet (by Love Bami Goreng on 2021-04-19 04:55:06 GMT from United States)
I haven't used ext4 attributes much, but I think you can set the immutable attribute (see chattr). This might make the files a little too immutable for your purposes, though.
Another way would be to create hard links to the files using ln. This kinda creates a poor man's backup. I used to do this in the days when you had to write your own XF86config file, and in those days, I would occasionally find files were somehow mysteriously deleted, and having to redo all those modelines was annoying. Saved me once. Of course, the links have to be on the same partition as the files.
If I were doing it, I probably wouldn't use either of these methods, though.
6 • Hello System (by matt on 2021-04-19 05:00:18 GMT from United States)
I've tried the hello system in a VM and on an old thinkpad. Never had a problem installing. I like the idea behind it and I hope it takes off. I don't think I would use it over my preferred OS (debian) but hello system has some good ideas and I hope it grows.
7 • Protection (by Sondar on 2021-04-19 07:03:41 GMT from United Kingdom)
None of us mere humans are immune from our own actions. Only one computer? Surely not - get another one gratis from the local tip; if necessary renovate two (several?!) into one working box. Can stack two on top of each other under the desk. [Spousal objections are not relevant where the family's wealth & knowledge base are concerned.] Got a laptop? Never touch them; unreliable, prone to accidental damage, tedious repair options, over-stressed components, theft risk, you-name-it. Then there's multiple discs, rotating & SSD, Clonezilla, caddies, external self-powered, USB-powered and separately powered. As for risks from external forces, flood, fire, pestilence, theft, etc. with caddies and stored clone discs - only need to grab one of them with your wallet and trousers...
8 • Protect home? (by Jan K. on 2021-04-19 07:09:45 GMT from Denmark)
Sorry, but nothing on my systems are in any way or form protected against me. I'm the user, administrator and what-not... everything's on my mercy! :)
But I do keep multiple backups of everything...
9 • file protection (by James on 2021-04-19 09:59:20 GMT from United States)
Not only don't I protect my files, I also use the optional "delete" command in my file manager rather than the "move to trash". The best protection is paying close attention before you delete anything!
10 • Protecting my files (by burdi01 on 2021-04-19 10:22:47 GMT from Netherlands)
Over here the same as in #8. As an aside: the poll does not mention the multiple backups option. :D
11 • Protecting against accidental deletions (by Scott Dowdle on 2021-04-19 11:51:59 GMT from United States)
The only real protection against accidental deletion is backups. If you are using other methods thinking it'll save you, think again. Drive failure and accidental deletions... has had a solution for decades... and didn't need some new technology to come around and save you. Backup the stuff you care about. No really, backup the stuff you care about.
12 • How I backup (by John on 2021-04-19 12:10:41 GMT from United States)
Hi All,
I just lost a 32GB SD card with a 3 weeks of work on it.
Yesterday I backed up a whole SD card to a USB magnetic disk.
Gotta remember to do this more regularly.
John - NH USA
13 • Protect against data loss (by Will on 2021-04-19 12:45:43 GMT from United States)
Two things - Git and ZFS. Git for specific stuff and ZFS for everything. Haven’t lost a file or part if a file this way other than through my own stupidity (delete, delete snapshots, overwrite disk!)... ever.
14 • Protecting File in a Users Home Directory (by Rick on 2021-04-19 13:32:21 GMT from United States)
Ha! Feeling that pain right now, how ironic. "Oh! That was a symlink back to ~/subfolder?" while cleaning cruft from my backup.
15 • Protecting files (by Robert McConnell on 2021-04-19 13:38:26 GMT from United States)
Each workstation has a cron job that calls rsync for multiple file trees every night, even on the Raspberry Pi's. The file servers used as a destination all have multiple drives in RAID-1 configurations. I occasionally prune the destination drives of files that have been untouched for over a year, but I am more likely to use mv than rm. Not letting my fingers get too familiar with the latter command helps make me think about it more closely when I do need to use it.
16 • Midnight Commander (by Kingneutron on 2021-04-19 13:31:13 GMT from United States)
If you want to be extra careful when deleting multiple files or a directory tree, use Midnight Commander instead of the GUI. Can tag multiple files and F8 to delete, it will even prompt you yes/no. Safest way I know of to delete a directory.
I protect my files with ZFS snapshots and have a script to move /home to zfs here:
https://github.com/kneutron/ansitest/tree/master/ZFS
The best way to really protect your files is to have a backup schedule. If you can't put it in cron then do it every Friday or Saturday, as long as it's the same day each week.
17 • Protecting user files using chattr? (by Kyle on 2021-04-19 13:39:24 GMT from United States)
Upon reading the Q&A about protecting user files, I immediately thought about the chattr command and file attributes. The only attribute I have personally used up to this point is the immutable ('i') flag, but as @5 mentioned, that might make things too unchangeable. So I looked at the documentation and found two seemingly promising alternatives, append only ('a') and undeletable ('u').
Without changing any of my (default) access control settings, applying the 'a' attribute required switching to the superuser, which is generally not a good idea when trying to protect files from mistakes. This would also mean that you would need the ability to either log in as root or at least use sudo/doas to run chattr, which makes this solution impossible for non-administrator users. For the sake of testing how well this would work assuming that superuser permissions are available, I proceeded to set the 'a' flag on a test file where I had written a couple lines of text. I expected to be able to add text to the end of the file, but not between existing characters, and that I would not be able to delete the file. It was indeed protected from deletion and modifications between existing characters, but I was not able to append to it either! This was true of both my unprivileged account and the superuser. So on my system, this attribute would not even be acceptable for log files where data is only added to the end.
The 'u' attribute was similarly disappointing. I set that attribute on another test file, and I was still perfectly capable of editing and even deleting it. When I looked for the command to undelete the file, though, I quickly found that my kernel does not support that attribute on the ext4 filesystem. This was set forth plainly in my local man page for chattr, a reminder that it is always a good idea to consult your system's documentation before trying something new.
The failure of the undeletable attribute was purely a limitation of my kernel and filesystem choices; perhaps it would work on yours, but you will need to read the documentation and do some tests of your own. I wonder if my observation of the append-only attribute behaving as immutable was also implementation-dependent, but that would still require some configuration so that non-superuser accounts would be able to access it.
18 • Poll (BACKUPS) (by Andy Figueroa on 2021-04-19 20:21:11 GMT from United States)
How is it that BACKUPS didn't make it into the choices of this week's pool?
19 • backups (by Jesse on 2021-04-19 20:25:02 GMT from Canada)
@18: Backups don't protect files. They just give you a method of recovery after the files have been lost.
20 • Protection against failing OS (by Jan on 2021-04-19 23:43:47 GMT from Netherlands)
I always have a few of the latest bootable live linux DVD's. To access a failing OS. And I have always the latest GParted-CD.
21 • PopperOS Gnome mods (by Dave on 2021-04-20 05:39:02 GMT from United States)
It's hilarious to watch these Gnome 3 users discovering all these hip new ways to pretend that they're not wishing Gnome Shell worked like Gnome 2; a sane, conventional work environment. I imagine long about the time somebody twists Gnome Shell in to something resembling a usable desktop, the Gnome devs will release Gnome 4 and they'll have to start all over again.
22 • backup (by denk_mal on 2021-04-20 07:21:06 GMT from Germany)
@19 sure, a backup won't protect files and folders directely but it is the better method of protecting files and folders. With a good backup strategy (and good mediums of course) you need not really a file protection.
23 • File/OS protection (by Cheker on 2021-04-20 15:33:18 GMT from Portugal)
It wasn't always like this but at some point I started doing the more questionable/risky browsing and software testing inside Virtual Machines. It's probably overkill in a lot of cases, too, but I got used to it and I have a good amount of RAM to spare for it. Shoutouts to Mutahar for making it worse
24 • overlayfs (by Justin on 2021-04-20 21:32:40 GMT from United States)
VMs are excellent. I also use overlayfs on a laptop. It was mainly for browser malware protection, but being able to reset each time into a clean state is very useful!
25 • Hello and more (by mikef90000 on 2021-04-20 22:43:43 GMT from United States)
I had no problem booting Hello* in virtualbox after I found that it needed 4GB of memory AND legacy BIOS. As far as backing up personal files, the usual belt and suspenders: a) local USB HDD and b) RAID 5 array on file backup server.
26 • Protection (by penguinx86 on 2021-04-21 02:12:22 GMT from United States)
I backup my important data to a WD Passport external drive. if I screw something up on my Linux PC, I just reinstall the OS and restore my data from the external drive.
27 • File protection (by Kazlu on 2021-04-21 10:00:23 GMT from France)
I am joining the backup clan here. I am past the days where I had time to try out and setup tons of fancy pieces of software to improve this or that aspect of my computing needs. I now try to streamline it as much as possible so I don't forget too much about what I setup. If a tool/procedure covers multiple needs, it's better that seting up several.
The risk associated with incorrect manipulation of files from the user is data loss. Data loss scenario is already covered by a backup strategy: files synchronised with a local nextcloud server, manual backups on an offline HDD every now and then and another distant workstation is syncing (on manual request, offline otherwise) important files from the nextcloud server, should my house be burned or robbed. Whatever the source of data loss, be it hacking, accident at home, hardware failure, software upgrade failure or wrong user manipulation, the situation is already covered by the backup strategy. Adding file protection would add an extra layer of complexity for the sole purpose of speeding up the recovery process of an event that is very, very rare. Not worth it in my case.
28 • Accidental Removal (by Wanderer By on 2021-04-21 17:29:50 GMT from Canada)
Testdisk and photorec have come in handy several times in the past for me to recover deleted files.
29 • Backups (by Mandatory Name on 2021-04-21 20:03:47 GMT from Canada)
I keep most files on a seperate physical hard drive. And regularly create a backup. Worst case scenario, installing an OS takes a few minutes.
@21 "about the time somebody twists Gnome Shell in to something resembling a usable desktop" That just sounds like Cinnamon.
30 • Protection vs. Restoration (by Kyle on 2021-04-22 17:52:01 GMT from United States)
I think that the arguments for backups being the ultimate (or only) method of protecting files miss the point of this Q&A as I understand it. There is no substitute for a proper backup when data gets overwritten, wiped, or corrupted, but a backup must be isolated from the rest of the system by design. I do not think that it is unreasonable for somebody to ask about preventative measures that would, in certain situations, eliminate the need to resort to a slower storage area to restore what was lost.
Consider a case where somebody enters a malformed rm command, causing some unintended files to get caught up in the delete operation. In most implementations I have seen, rm succeeds silently, so the user may not notice this mistake for some time. When they do, they can restore the files from their latest backup; hopefully they have not made too many changes since then! This could be a significant setback if changes have been made rapidly. Even the most disciplined of users have a limit to how often they will (or can) make a backup of their work.
Now suppose that some of these files had been protected from deletion, such as by setting the immutable attribute. rm would have given the user an error message such as "operation not permitted," alerting them immediately that something had gone wrong. Not all of the unintended files would be safe, but presumably the most "important" (relatively speaking) would have been protected, and thus remain intact. Only the "unimportant" files would need to be restored from the backup, if at all. Importantly, the user had a chance to specify that some files were important enough to get an extra layer of protection.
Is the immutable attribute an odd choice for a file that would be modified so rapidly? Of course it is. But that just serves to highlight why this question is valuable: Maybe somebody would come forward with a better alternative. Out of curiosity, I tried the append-only and undeletable attributes to see if they would work. They did not, but at least I learned about a shortcoming of my filesystem before that fact had the chance to cause any harm.
What may seem like an unnecessarily complicated feature to you might be a lifesaver to somebody who has a different use case.
31 • om gnome gnome (by TS on 2021-04-22 18:01:59 GMT from Canada)
@21 I don't have a problem with Gnome being what it is, but what boggles me why any distribution would choose what is really a touch-centric interface for their flagship desktop OS, relegating traditional environments to secondary status, re-spins, community editions, etc..
Even Microsoft figured out their error of forcing that touch-first model with the steaming turd that was Win8, and backpedaled.
32 • gnome (by fred on 2021-04-22 21:59:28 GMT from Portugal)
Gnome is a leap avant of our time. Earlier than later traditional keyboards will have a touch-centric real state. Just my 2cts, may be wrong and Gnome too :)
33 • GNOME (by M.Z. on 2021-04-23 02:56:06 GMT from United States)
I saw the Pop!_OS thing about Gnome as well, as I remember it's a whole new shell called Cosmic. The System76 team found a majority of desktop users actually wanted a dock & all the basic functionality stuff that Gnome tossed out by default. I've been wondering since version 3 came out why they weren't just making things easier on users to begin with by adding more sane defaults that desktop users expect & apparently its still an issue, which surprises virtually nobody.
@21 "...I imagine long about the time somebody twists Gnome Shell in to something resembling a usable desktop, the Gnome devs will release Gnome 4 and they'll have to start all over again."
Too late, they pulled a Chrome versioning scheme about 3 weeks ago & jumped straight to version 40. Apparently bigger numbers solve everything... or so they're hoping. They really ought to have moved toward what the new Cosmic shell is doing a long time ago, get user feed back & put in the improvements people want by default.
Personally I didn't really like any of the defaults System76 was offering up till now, but I've got a spare partition on the system they sent me that I'll be happy to try their reworked DE on.
34 • GNOME (and Debian) (by Barnabyh on 2021-04-23 11:15:55 GMT from Germany)
GNOME and Debian used to be the stalwarts of freedom and free software. As time went on younger developers joined and took over, had their own ideas and increasingly shaped these projects, many of the original or older developers retired, passed away, were forced out or chose to leave (--> Devuan, for instance). Apart from the name, these are not the same projects they were 10 or 20 years ago. The GNOME project in particular do not seem interested in changing their desktop vision to anything remotely sane that would work for people that do not use a touch screen. Debian has other problems with their politics, having released the buggiest version yet with Debian 10 and no longer being quite that synonimous with stability for many users. Choice of packages is still great though. Fortunately there are enough forks and derivatives.
35 • @ 34 (by kaczor on 2021-04-23 12:17:23 GMT from United States)
No one, my friend, makes you use Gnome, or Debian. There are so many DEs, WMs in the stew.
36 • @34, @35 (by Justin on 2021-04-23 16:24:40 GMT from United States)
I agree with @34. Debian was my default for so long because it filled the niche of stability (some call it "staleness") of software and security updates. Many new features just aren't useful to me. But without security updates, you leave yourself vulnerable. I just want to fix the lock on my door, not replace the entire entryway.
@35, yes no one forces us to use them. However when your friend stops being the person you used to know, do you not regret the loss of that friend?
37 • Of crashes, hiccups and life boats... (by tom joad on 2021-04-23 19:05:05 GMT from United States)
I had an issue with my laptop just this week. The laptop had been booting fine. But I attempted to load the xscreensavers. I used synaptic but nonetheless I jacked up the computer. The computer rebooted just fine. Only when I attempted to log into my everyday account I got a message that the xscreensavers were not loaded and that the default would be used. I clicked ok but nothing ever happened. I tried to get to the terminal but that was gone too. I tried the sudo account but got the same silly message about loading the defaults only it didn't.
It was Timeshift to the rescue. Bing, bang, boom...everything was back to normal in a jiffy.
No, I didn't write the message down. Whatever. I will stay away from those silly xscreensavers but on to compiz in another attempt to jack up my computer.
Lastly I was in no danger. I have back ups and I have constant cloud storage too. And I have a number of 'rescue' usb's at the ready if I had needed them. Luckily, I didn't. But the hiccup was a bother and would have been a real *pain* had I had to reload the whole bloody computer.
Isn't Linux fun?!?!?!?
Number of Comments: 37
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Archives |
• 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 |
• Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
• Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20 |
• Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
• Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
• 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 |
• Full list of all issues |
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Random Distribution | 
Granular Linux
Granular Linux was an easy-to-use, desktop Linux distribution based on PCLinuxOS. Its main features are a carefully selected set of applications for common tasks, the ability to customise the distribution, and the inclusion of two popular desktop environments - the flexible KDE and the lightweight Enlightenment.
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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