 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 921, 14 June 2021 |
Welcome to this year's 23rd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
While the capabilities of hardware marches ever-forward, with computers becoming faster and more powerful each year, there is always a segment of the population which appreciates distributions which run on older hardware that continues to function. This week we begin with a look at Bodhi Linux, an Ubuntu-based distribution which features the lightweight Moksha desktop and a small resource footprint. Read on to learn how this distribution balances modern features while remaining suitable for older equipment. In our News section we visit a review of FreeBSD written from the perspective of a NetBSD developer. We also share news on Slackware upgrading its kernel, moving away from the current long-term support kernel while UBports expands to support more mobile devices. We also link to a public discussion with Fedora's Matthew Miller and report on Mageia 7 nearing the end of its supported life. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we explore how to treat multiple storage devices as one, big filesystem. Do you merge multiple drives together on your own computer? Let us know what method you use to combine storage space in this week's 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: Bodhi Linux 6.0.0
- News: FreeBSD from a NetBSD developer's perspective, Slackware updating to a newer kernel, UBports installs on more devices, Mageia 7 nearing its end of life, Matthew Miller answers community questions
- Questions and answers: Combining the storage space of multiple disks
- Released last week: GeckoLinux 153.210608, Redcore Linux 2101
- Torrent corner: Absolute, CloudReady, GeckoLinux, Mabox, MakuluLinux, Manjaro, PakOS, Redcore, SalientOS, Venom
- Opinion poll: Do you have a multi-device filesystem?
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (13MB) and MP3 (10MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Bodhi Linux 6.0.0
Bodhi Linux is a member of the Ubuntu family which features the Moksha desktop environment. Moksha is a fork of the popular Enlightenment window manager which has been customized to better fit with the Bodhi Linux project. The latest release of Bodhi is version 6.0.0 which is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Bodhi is available in several flavours, including one regular, fairly minimal edition; a hardware enablement (HWE) edition which features a newer kernel; and an AppPack edition with extra applications installed. A Legacy edition is planned which offers support for older, 32-bit machines with no PAE support, though at the time of writing the download link for the Legacy edition is not working.
I decided to download the default edition for 64-bit computers. The ISO I downloaded was 832MB in size. Booting from this media brings up a menu where we are invited to Try or Install Bodhi. There is also an option to try the live desktop environment in safe graphics mode.
Taking the Try option brings up a graphical environment. A window appears and shows us a list of languages accompanied with country flags. We are asked to pick one. Then we are shown another list of country flags and languages and asked to pick one that matches our keyboard's layout. After our selection is made the Moksha desktop loads.
The default theme uses a lot of flat, green icons on a charcoal background while text is mostly white on charcoal. I typically don't like flat icons, but Bodhi tends to make icons rather large and typically matches icons with text or tool tips which make the interface easier to navigate.
The Moksha desktop places a panel at the bottom of the screen with an application menu to the left and a system tray to the right. A list of open windows is displayed in the middle. Icons on the desktop offer to launch the system installer and provide help. Over to the right side of the desktop are two widgets, one for switching between virtual desktops and the other provides clock and calendar information.
Bodhi Linux 6.0.0 -- The Moksha desktop and application menu
(full image size: 1.2MB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
The Help icon on the desktop opens a web browser to display local documentation pages which explain what Bodhi is, how to navigate the Moksha desktop, and get connected to the Internet. The documentation offers additional helpful information pages and links to an on-line wiki. The documentation provided is clear and nicely laid out.
Installing
Bodhi uses the Ubiquity installer which is used by most Ubuntu-based distributions. The installer asks us to pick our preferred language and offers us a link to the project's release notes. We are then walked through confirming our keyboard layout. We're asked whether we wish to download available updates and third-part packages for wireless networking and media codec support. When it comes time to partition the hard drive we can take a friendly, straight forward manual partitioning screen. Alternatively we can use a guided option. The guided option offers to take over all available free space and set up an ext4, LVM, or ZFS volume. The default is to use ext4 and the guided option also sets up a swap file for us. We are asked to select our time zone from a map of the world and make up a username and password for ourselves. The distribution is then quickly copied to the hard drive and Ubiquity offers to restart the computer. The whole process with Ubiquity was pleasantly painless.
Early impressions
Bodhi boots to a graphical login screen with green wallpaper. Signing into the account we make through Ubiquity quickly loads the Moksha desktop. The desktop is pleasantly responsive, uses large icons, offers tool tips for most things, and features a classic tree-style application menu. There are not many applications installed, but I will explore what is available later in this review.
Hardware
I started my trial with Bodhi Linux in a VirtualBox environment. Bodhi ran quickly in this test environment. The distribution offered short boot times, the desktop was unusually fast to response, and tasks completed quickly. My only concern was that the Moksha desktop did not automatically resize to match the dimensions of the VirtualBox window. There is a display settings module in the application menu which will change the resolution of the desktop. This display resizing module appears to be available only through the application menu; I did not find it in the settings panel.
When I tried Bodhi on my laptop the distribution ran smoothly. All my hardware was detected, the distribution could boot in UEFI and Legacy BIOS mode, and the operating system was perfectly stable the entire week.
The Bodhi distribution is unusually lightweight. It requires about 160MB of RAM to login to Moksha and a fresh install only consumed 3.6GB of disk space, plus any swap area we enable. This makes Bodhi one of the smallest (in RAM) distributions I have used which also offers a feature-rich desktop environment.
The Moksha desktop
The Moksha desktop is different in a few ways from most other modern desktop environments. Some aspects, such as the panel, application menu, and system tray are similar. Unlike most other desktop environments clicking on the desktop opens an application menu.
Moksha makes use of desktop widgets, which it calls gadgets. These gadgets can be placed on the panel or around the desktop. Right-clicking on a widget usually provides access to settings and the option to move or close the selected widget. Sometimes when a widget is near the edge of a screen its menu is not displayed properly and this can make it difficult to adjust or remove the target gadget.
At first I had trouble finding a way to add new gadgets to the desktop. I never did find a way to do this directly. I discovered I could right-click on the desktop panel, then click "start moving gadgets", then select Contents, and then select a new widget to add to the panel. Then I could right-click on a gadget to move it to the desktop. This is quite indirect and I suspect there is an easier way to perform this action, but it was not immediately obvious.
Bodhi Linux 6.0.0 -- Adjusting the clock gadget
(full image size: 899kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Menus and options screens, particularly those for gadgets, work differently on Moksha than when using other desktop environments. Such windows often do not have a Close button. Instead, clicking outside of a widget usually closes its options window. However, if we end up clicking on an empty part of the desktop then it will open the application menu without closing the options window and then we end up with two components cluttering the screen. This takes some getting used to and I often found exploring application and widget menus awkward as a result. It's not that Moksha's approach doesn't work, but it works differently from virtually every other desktop interface and that takes a period of adjustment.
Applications
Bodhi ships with a small collection of applications. The Chromium web browser is included along with the Leafpad text editor and the Ephoto image viewer. The Thunar file manager is installed for us along with a bulk file renamer. The distribution provides manual pages and the GNU Compiler Collection. In the background Bodhi runs the systemd init software and version 5.4 of the Linux kernel.
The applications which ship with the distribution all worked for me. I did make a few notes during my trial of interesting aspects which stood out. For instance, the Terminology virtual terminal flashes red when the terminal bell sounds. This visual and auditory notification gets annoying quickly as it happens any time the terminal wants attention or the user presses Backspace one too many times at a prompt.
When running software from the command line, if a program we tried to run is not found on the system, Bodhi will try to find it in the distribution's repositories. When the proper package is found we will be shown the command required to install the missing package. This happens quite quickly and there is almost no delay most of the time.
Chromium's default home page shows local copies of the project's documentation. The provided documentation offers tips for, among other things, setting up network connections. This is a thoughtful touch - making sure people can get on-line when they want to use the web browser, and gives a good early impression of the distribution.
Bodhi Linux 6.0.0 -- Opening Chromium to find documentation
(full image size: 659kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Settings panel
The Moksha desktop includes a settings panel. This panel places categories of options across the top of the window. These categories include such items as Look, Screen, Windows, and Language. Clicking one of these category buttons shows settings modules listed below for that category. Clicking a module in the list opens a separate window to display the individual options.
Bodhi Linux 6.0.0 -- The settings panel
(full image size: 621kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Modules usually use text to convey information with check boxes to toggle a feature on/off. The modules have a sort of classic look to them which I think would feel at home in an operating system from the 1990s. It took me a while to get accustomed to the way some modules display information. There were times I wasn't certain if an indicator was meant to be clicked or was showing me status and was non-interactive. Despite these initial stumbles once I got used to the settings modules they all worked quickly and functioned properly.
Software management
Apart from the APT command line tools, Bodhi ships with two utilities for managing software packages. One is the Synaptic package manager. Synaptic is a classic package manager which gives us low-level access to working with software. It offers tools for updating, installing, and removing packages. It can also manage repositories. Synaptic mostly pulls software from Bodhi's package mirrors and it also grabs security updates from Ubuntu's repositories. Synaptic is a little awkward to use because of way it defaults to displaying massive amounts of low-level packages. However, it did work quickly and successfully.
The second tool included in the distribution is the Bodhi AppCentre. Clicking the AppCentre's launcher opens a web browser and brings us to a website that features 19 categories of packages, each one containing just a few applications. This website offers a mini curated repository with popular desktop applications. Available items include LibreOffice, Firefox, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, and the Transmission bittorrent client.
Bodhi Linux 6.0.0 -- The Bodhi AppCentre
(full image size: 676kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
We can click a category, then click an entry in the category, then read its description and click an Install button to download the item. Once we click the Install button, the browser asks us to confirm we want to open the item, then we are asked to confirm we want to install the package, and then we are asked for our password. This happens with each download and we cannot queue downloads. We need to wait for each one to finish before installing the next item. This makes working with the AppCentre slow, but the minimal number of programs and the clean interface means it is quite easy to navigate. One of my few complaints with the AppCentre is its text tends to be grey on white (or sometimes bright orange on white) which I find difficult to read.
The AppCentre appears to include programs available through Synaptic (and APT) so it doesn't offer additional software, just a more user friendly way to browse and find popular applications.
Conclusions
In the past, when I have reviewed Bodhi Linux, I've typically stated that whether you enjoy the distribution or not will depend largely on what you think of the Enlightenment (or these days Moksha) desktop. If you like Moksha, like its quirky approach, its super lightweight nature, and its unusual green-focused style then you will probably love Bodhi Linux. However, if you find using Moksha frustrating or just too alien compared to other desktops, then Bodhi will probably leave you with an unpleasant feeling.
I believe the above statement is probably still true - whether you enjoy Bodhi will depend largely on whether navigating Moksha feels like coming home or like you're trying to learn an alien language from a Martian with a lisp. However, maybe I'm warming up to Bodhi or maybe the distribution has polished some of its features because I found myself more at home with it this time around. I liked that Bodhi was so lightweight (with a surprisingly small resource footprint). I like that the distribution is easy to install, thanks to Ubiquity, and I like that an effort is made to provide access to popular applications through the AppCentre. I'm still not a big fan of Moksha, but I do think the new theme and default widgets are making it more appealing than the last few times I ran its parent desktop, Enlightenment.
All in all, Bodhi offers a lot of good things - ease of use, easy to install, light, fast, good hardware support - while having few negative points. I had a mostly good experience with the distribution and, apart from wrestling with Moksha's unusual approach to some tasks, enjoyed my time with the operating system. I especially think it is a good option for resurrecting older computers.
* * * * *
Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a de-branded HP laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: Intel i3 2.5GHz CPU
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 700GB hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Wired network device: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast
- Wireless network device: Realtek RTL8188EE Wireless network card
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
Bodhi Linux has a visitor supplied average rating of: 9.1/10 from 67 review(s).
Have you used Bodhi Linux? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
FreeBSD from a NetBSD developer's perspective, Slackware updating to a newer kernel, UBports installs on more devices, Mageia 7 nearing its end of life, Matthew Miller answers community questions
Most of the time we talk about differences in technology and style between Linux distributions. It is less common for us to read comparisons of the various flavours of BSD. This week we are able to share a rare treat of a NetBSD developer test driving FreeBSD and comparing the two. "FreeBSD Jails are very nice. NetBSD doesn't really have a comparable feature, although it does have hardened chroots which are commonly used as sandboxes. On NetBSD, there is a surprising amount of tooling for working with chroot sandboxes - my favourite is sandboxctl. It is really quite amazing for what it is, with a few commands you have a NetBSD/i386 8.0 shell on a NetBSD/amd64 9.2 host machine. It even automatically handles downloading the operating system. With FreeBSD it seems recommended to use the bsdinstall tool (this is just the normal FreeBSD installer program) to set up jails, which is quite surprising." The full article has several more comparisons between the two operating systems.
* * * * *
In the past Slackware Linux has typically shipped with versions of the Linux kernel which were tagged for receiving long-term support. For instance, Slackware 14.2 shipped with version 4.4 of the Linux kernel which was expected to be supported from January 2016 through to February 2022. Originally it was thought the next stable release of Slackware would ship with Linux 5.10 (supported from December 2020 through to December 2026). However, issues with the 5.10 kernel have caused this approach to be reconsidered. "Probably the highlight of this update set is that we've decided to abandon the 5.10 LTS kernel in favor of following the latest one. We've never really had a policy that required LTS in a stable release although that is how it has been done for years, but based on comments from the Slackware
community it seems like 5.10 LTS isn't getting a lot of love and lacks hardware support that people need now. Conversely, the reports on 5.12 have been almost entirely positive, so we're going to provide what we think is the best available kernel. It's unlikely that we'll see another LTS prior to release, so the plan for maintenance is to keep following the latest kernels as needed for security purposes." Further information on this situation can be found in the Slackware changelog.
* * * * *
The UBports team has published a new blog post in which the developers talk about efforts and hurdles involved in upgrading UBports to version 20.04. There is also some information on new phones being added to the list of devices the UBports automated installer can handle. "Some new devices are starting to come onstream. Six in total in the installer, in the past couple of weeks. Ari has ported the LG G4. The Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL are both now in there. Those are courtesy of Florian. The Pixel 3aXL was done by Alfred. The OnePlusFive/5T has been done by Vince. Also the Xiaomi Poco F1 by Joel is in, together with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 by Nikita." The growing list of ported devices can be found on the project's Devices page.
* * * * *
The Mageia team have announced that, following the release of Mageia 8 earlier this year, Mageia 7 will soon reach the end of its supported life. "Mageia 8 was released Feb 26th, 2021.
Mageia 7 will receive updates up until the 30th of June, including security updates. It is then highly recommended upgrading to Mageia 8 as soon as possible. As usual, before the upgrade, do a thorough backup of your data and documents." Upgrading tips are offered in the announcement.
* * * * *
Matthew Miller is the Fedora Project Leader. In what has become a semi-regular tradition, Miller has taken to Reddit to answer questions put forward by the community. Questions put to him along with his answers are available for viewing in this thread.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Combining the storage space of multiple disks
Bringing-it-all-together asks: I have a 1TB SSD and a 750GB mechanical drive. Is there any way I can combine the storage of the two so I've got 1.75TB of space without fussing about with which files are on which drive?
DistroWatch answers: Yes indeed, you can merge the available storage space from both drives into one filesystem volume. On Linux there are two main approaches to treating multiple drives or partitions as one collective storage space that is accessed as one big disk.
The first approach is to use Logical Volume Management, which is typically referred to as simply LVM. LVM is the traditional way to treat multiple storage devices as one big disk on Linux and it's relatively complex. LVM essentially consists of three layers. These three layers are physical volumes (PV) which are the actual disks or partitions you want to use. We initialize these and then combine them into Volume Groups (VG). A Volume Group is a bit like one big, virtual hard drive you can then partition into sections. These sections are called Logical Volumes (LV). A Logical Volume is like a regular partition, but it can span across multiple devices inside the Volume Group.
In short, LVM allows us to group a bunch of separate physical devices together into one big, virtual hard drive. Then divide that merged drive into separate filesystems, like we would normally divide a single drive into partitions. You can see tutorials on how to set up LVM and install Linux on a LVM in past articles we have published.
If LVM seems unnecessarily complicated, by modern standards it is. Some Linux distributions have system installers which make the process of using LVM easier, but it's still more complex of a concept than most people need to deal with.
Modern systems are typically better off using a filesystem specifically designed to handle working with multiple storage devices. Btrfs and ZFS are both advanced filesystems which can easily span multiple hard drives and do not require several special commands or extra layers to manage.
The system installers of some distributions will handle setting up ZFS for you, but for those that do not, it's possible to set up multi-disk volumes with relatively little effort. With ZFS all we need to do is run the zpool command like this:
zpool create pool-name /dev/device-name1 /dev/device-name2
Where device-name1 and device-name2 are the names of the disks or partitions we want to add to the ZFS storage pool. Then the pool is treated as one big directory on your system and can span as many disks as you like. The FreeBSD Handbook has some great examples for working with ZFS.
While Btrfs uses a slightly different approach, the overall concept is similar. With Btrfs usually the system installer sets up the initial disk volume for us on one device and then we can add new disks to the storage volume as needed. For example, if the system installer set up our root partition on the first disk (/dev/sda), then we could add our second disk to the volume by running the command:
btrfs device add /dev/sdb /
At this point you would have two disks both acting as one big filesystem. We can also add new disks as desired or swap out old disks for newer ones using Btrfs and ZFS's built-in commands.
Whichever approach you take, LVM or an advanced filesystem like Btrfs, the operating system will treat your two physical storage drives like one big disk, allowing for seamless 1.75TB storage in one joined filesystem.
* * * * *
Answers to other questions can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
GeckoLinux 153.210608
GeckoLinux is a Linux spin based on the openSUSE distribution, with a focus on polish and out-of-the-box usability on the desktop. The project's latest release is based on openSUSE 15.3 which offers binary compatibility with SUSE Linux Enterprise. "GeckoLinux is pleased to announce the 153.210608 update to its full range of STATIC and NEXT editions. These updated editions are now based on the new openSUSE Leap 15.3 release, which in turn is built from SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) packages. The Linux kernel is still at version 5.3.18, but additional backports are included for better compatibility with newer hardware. GeckoLinux in turn continues to refine its package selection and unique configuration to provide a simple, clean system that works out of the box. For this GeckoLinux STATIC release, the Calamares installer is now at version 3.2.36, and has been configured to use the Btrfs filesystem with LZO transparent compression by default for the guided partitioning options, although of course all other modern Linux filesystems are also available with the custom partitioning option." Additional information can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
Redcore Linux 2101
Ghiunhan Mamut has announced the release of Redcore Linux 2101, the latest stable release of the project's Gentoo-based distribution whose goal is to "bring the power of Gentoo Linux to the masses": "More than a year after our previous stable release, I'm happy to announce that Redcore Linux Hardened 2101 ('Orion') has reached the stable milestone. Changelog: rsync with Gentoo's testing tree as of 2021-05-31; built using Gentoo's new profiles, for details read here; Linux kernel 5.11.22 as the default, 5.10.40 LTS and 5.4.122 LTS Legacy in repositories; glibc 2.32, GCC 10.2.0, Binutils 2.35 and&& LLVM 12.0.0 toolchain; Mesa 21.1.1, libdrm 2.4.106, X.Org Server 1.20.11 graphics stack; ALSA 1.2.5, PulseAudio 13.0, GStreamer 1.16.3 audio stack (no pipewire, as per our testing it breaks audio or bluetooth or both); KDE Plasma 5.21.5, KDE Frameworks 5.82, KDE Applications 21.04.1 desktop stack; rich web browser selection with Firefox 89.0, Chromium 91.0.4472.77, Google Chrome 91.0.4472.77, Opera 76.0.4017.154, Vivaldi 3.8.2259.42, Microsoft Edge 91.0.864.37, Falkon-3.1.0; Flatpak is supported out of the box, just enable Flathub in Discover (do not follow any 'flatpak on Gentoo' guides you find online, Flatpak support is built-in in Redcore); no more passwords for the live environment, the ISO image will boot straight into Plasma...." Continue to the release announcement for a full changelog and errata.
* * * * *
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: 2,483
- Total data uploaded: 38.3TB
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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) |
Do you have a multi-device filesystem?
In this week's Questions and Answers column we talked about a few approaches to spanning one filesystem across multiple storge devices. These days using multiple hard drives as one big storage pool is often accomplished using advanced filesystems like ZFS and Btrfs. However, there are other approaches. Do you have a filesystem that extends across multiple drives? Let us know about your setup in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on writing ISO files to thumb drives in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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To span multiple devices I use
| Btrfs: | 104 (8%) |
| LVM: | 131 (10%) |
| HAMMER: | 7 (1%) |
| ZFS: | 80 (6%) |
| Another approach: | 98 (7%) |
| I do not have multi-device filesystems: | 906 (68%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 21 June 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 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 |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Kubuntu
Kubuntu is a free, user-friendly Linux distribution based on KDE's desktop software and on the Ubuntu operating system. It has a biannual release cycle. Besides providing an up-to-date version of the KDE desktop at the time of the release, the project also releases updated KDE packages throughout the lifetime of each release.
Status: Active
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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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