 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 926, 19 July 2021 |
|
Welcome to this year's 28th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
While attention tends to be drawn to the big, mainstream distributions such as Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, and openSUSE, there is a lot of interesting work happening in the smaller corners of the open source community. In our News section we talk about Haiku's team working toward a RISC-V port of the small, desktop operating system. We also talk about Redox OS, an alternative Unix-like operating system working on getting a port of the QEMU virtual machine software. Meanwhile Ubuntu and Debian were in the news this past week as a multi-year plan to support Zstandard compression for packages finally reaches its goal. Gamers got some exciting news too this week as Valve unveiled more details about the Linux-powered Steam Deck portable gaming device. We share details and links on the Steam Deck below. Before we share the details on these developments we first look at rlxos, a Linux distribution featuring the GNOME desktop. The rlxos project aims to make multiple versions of both packages and the underlying operating system live peacefully side-by-side and we talk about how this works from a practical point of view in this week's Feature Story. One method for running different versions of the same application is to install portable package formats such as Flatpak and AppImage. Let us know if you use portable packages in this week's Opinion Poll. In this issue's Questions and Answers column we talk about automatic updates and whether it is safe to run updates without supervision. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: rlxos 2106
- News: Haiku works on RISC-V port, Ubuntu adopts zstd package compression, Redox OS porting QEMU, Steam Deck to run Linux
- Questions and answers: Running a distribution with automated updates
- Released last week: EuroLinux 8.4, Tails 4.20, UBports 16.04 OTA-18
- Torrent corner: EuroLinux, KDE neon, Live Raizo, Mabox, PCLinuxOS, Proxmox, Tails
- Opinion poll: Running AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap
- New distributions: Martine OS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (12MB) and MP3 (10MB) formats.
|
| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
rlxos 2106
rlxos is an independent Linux distribution which currently provides a single desktop edition with the GNOME desktop for 64-bit (x86_64) computers. The project has an interesting approach to working with software packages and different versions of the operating system. "System boots from a single system image file just like a live boot and save unique cache on hard disk. Multiple version of system images reside together on same partition and you can select which version to use from boot menu."
rlxos also offers a digital assistant and an immutable filesystem. This means the base filesystem remains the same while changes the user makes are stored in a separate layer. This, in theory, means we can revert to a working system at any time by simply not loading the layer with our changes or upgrades. The distribution appears to have a focus on portable packages and its website mentions being able to work with Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage bundles.
Version 2106 is available as a 1.2GB download. Before getting started with rlxos, I think it's worth reading the documentation which covers installing the operating system, some key post-install instructions, and offers suggestions regarding how to find additional applications.
Booting from the project's install media loads a graphical environment. The distribution's graphical system installer immediately launches. The installer suggests we set up a single partition for the OS and offers a button which launches the GParted partition manager. Once we close GParted the next screen of the installer lists partitions it can detect and asks which one should be used for the root filesystem. We are then asked to select a boot disk, I believe so rlxos knows where to install a boot loader. Then we confirm we wish to install the operating system and the installer copies its files to the hard drive.
During the install process the screen locked. We need a password to access the desktop and installer again. I didn't find any mention of the default password in the project's documentation or on its website, but discovered the password is "liveuser". Once the installer finished its work, it terminated and turned me over to a GNOME desktop with a panel placed along the bottom of the screen. To logout or shutdown the computer we can click the system tray and select a shutdown option from the menu which appears.
Early impressions
The first time rlxos boots it launches a graphical environment and presents us with a first-run wizard. The wizard asks us to select our language from a list, confirm our keyboard's layout, and asks if we wish to enable location services. We are asked to confirm our time zone and then given the option to connect with on-line account services such as Nextcloud. The wizard concludes by getting us to make up a username and password for ourselves.
After the wizard is finished we are turned over to the GNOME desktop. A short time later another wizard pops up and gives us a tour of some of the distribution's features. We are told about customizing the desktop and the option of running portable AppImage packages. We are told that instead of installing updates in the usual fashion we can upgrade our system by downloading a new OS image from the project and saving this image in the /run/initramfs/rlxos/system directory, then updating GRUB. The tour window then closes, returning us to the GNOME desktop.
In the future, when we launch rlxos, it boots to a graphical login screen. We can then sign into our account and no welcome or tour window will greet us.
While GNOME Shell has typically placed its panel across the top of the screen with the Activities menu in the upper-left corner, rlxos takes a different approach. The GNOME panel is placed at the bottom. The Activities menu is still placed to the left. Then there is a gap, followed by the application menu, some quick-launch icons, and the system tray. If a lot of icons are placed on the panel, rather than expanding the space icons take, the panel makes it possible to scroll through the icons to the left and right by hovering the mouse over the first or last icon in the list.
The application menu opens a full screen grid of launchers. The icons are somewhat on the small side and the text descriptions under them are truncated if they get longer than a handful of letters. This means the "Clocks" label is always visible, but programs with names longer than Evolution tend to be cut short.
rlxos 2106 -- The application menu
(full image size: 722kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
The rlxos documentation tells us that following a fresh install we should perform a system update and then update our GRUB boot loader. The command to perform an update is "sudo appctl update". Running this command resulted in the system telling me it was already up to date.
rlxos 2106 -- Running the GNOME Web web browser
(full image size: 34kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
The default theme for GNOME uses a lot of white. Text is often grey on a white background and icons are often minimal and flat. This makes the screen bright and text and icons difficult to see, especially in the web browser. Curiously, some programs use a dark theme and are almost entirely black. This can make for a jarring transitioning moving between, for instance, the file manager or terminal (which are mostly white) and the Totem video player (which is almost entirely black).
rlxos 2106 -- White terminal and black video player
(full image size: 30kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Hardware
I started my trial with rlxos running in VirtualBox. The distribution ran smoothly and everything worked well. The GNOME desktop resized dynamically to fit the VirtualBox window and I encountered no stability issues. GNOME was uncharacteristically responsive running on rlxos. Often I find GNOME Shell runs slowly and consumes a lot of memory, but the desktop performed well and used less memory than usual on rlxos.
When I tried the distribution on physical hardware I had poor results. rlxos was not able to boot at all in UEFI mode. When I tried Legacy BIOS mode the operating system would start to boot, but then fail early on and drop to a rescue shell.
Earlier I mentioned rlxos is faster and lighter than most systems running the GNOME desktop I have used in the past. Typically I expect Linux distributions running GNOME to consume between 700MB and 1,000MB of memory. When initially logging in rlxos consumed 650MB. After a minute it would drop to 550MB. Sometimes the system would reduce its footprint to 490MB, about half what I usually see on other distributions (such as Fedora and Ubuntu) running GNOME. A fresh install of the distribution takes up about 1.3GB of disk space, well below average for most desktop distributions.
Applications
rlxos ships with a small collection of applications, virtually all of them from the GNOME family. The GNOME Web web browser, contacts manager, and system monitor are included. The Evolution e-mail client is installed for us along with the GParted disk manager. The Shotwell photo manager and the Totem video player are included. There is also a simple music player. rlxos does not include media codecs for playing audio or video files, though media support can be installed later.
The distribution uses systemd for its init software and runs version 5.8 of the Linux kernel. The distribution does include command GNU command line utilities, but doesn't include manual pages or a compiler.
rlxos 2106 -- Browsing the GNOME settings panel
(full image size: 184kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
While most administrative tasks require using sudo access, there are some tasks the first user can perform without sudo or a credentials prompt. For instance, my regular user could create and destroy user accounts and change the system clock without a password prompt or other form of elevating access. This appears to be a side effect of the user being part of the adm group.
Managing software
The rlxos website talks about using portable package formats, such as AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap. Because of this I was expecting to find a software manager with support for one or more of these technologies included. However, the Flatpak and Snap frameworks are not installed by default and there is no graphical software manager.
The documentation says we can use the appctl command to handle software packages. The appctl software manager is similar to DNF or APT in its style and syntax. We can search for specific software packages, list all available packages, install and remove software all using appctl and some plain English syntax. We can only install one package at a time, specifying multiple packages on the command line with the install keyword causes just the first item to be downloaded.
rlxos 2106 -- Searching for packages with appctl
(full image size: 259kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
There is a limited amount of software in the rlxos repository. There are about 600 packages available at the time of writing. Flatpak and Snap are two of the available packages.
I tried Snap first and, while it did install, the Snap command line tool failed to work. Trying to find or install packages or list available items just caused the command line Snap utility to lock up. I suspect part of the backend for Snap is either missing or not enabled, though the documentation implies we should be able to simply install and start using Snap.
Flatpak worked much better. The Flatpak package automatically sets up the Flathub repository and makes it immediately possible to search for, download, and run Flatpak packages. The syntax of Flatpak is still cumbersome, but it gives us access to a wide range of software. Flatpak packages could be run right away from the command line, but would not be added to the GNOME application menu until I had signed out of my account and signed back in.
The rlxos documentation mentions AppImage and appears to link to two AppImage repositories. One repository turned out to be a catalogue of software which had been packaged as AppImages elsewhere without links to download the listed items. The other repository contained a single AppImage for Firefox. In short, neither of the linked repositories was useful.
I also tried installing the man command and the manual database package from the appctl repository. These installed, but failed to find any manual pages.
Conclusions
I tend to be wary of distributions which reportedly place their focus on one style or type of technology. Whether it's a toolkit, package format, coding language, or philosophy I tend to see distributions with a singular focus as preferring idealism over practicality. There is nothing wrong with idealism, right up to the point where it makes my work more difficult.
For the most part, considering how young rlxos is (its release file says this is version 0.1.0), the distribution feels like it is off to a good start. It's relatively light, has a working package manager (though a sparse repository), and its implementation of GNOME is one of the best performing and least annoying I've encountered. There are certainly points in the distribution's favour and some of the theme issues or security quirks are probably items which will get polished over time.
Where I feel the distribution lacks somewhat is in the areas where, oddly enough, it claims to focus. Its focus is on portable packages and single-file upgrades. As far as I can tell there have been no system-wide upgrades yet for the theory to be tested and there is no portable package support installed by default. Once installed, Flatpak works fairly well, though could be better configured to add application launchers to the menu right away. I never did get Snap running.
The project's website also mentions providing a digital assistant, but this does not appear to be implemented yet. I never found evidence of a digital assistant and the tour wizard suggests it is a feature which is coming later.
There were a few false starts to begin with, but this is a very early release. To the project's credit, what I appreciated about rlxos the most was the documentation. A lot of developers add documentation as an afterthought, but rlxos seems to take documenting key features seriously. Setting up portable packages, installing system upgrades, and installing the operating system are all covered. It was nice to be able to try some of the proposed features without resorting to guesswork.
This project doesn't feel quite ready for daily use yet, but there is some promise in its style, documentation and easy installation process. I'm hoping that, in another year or two, this distribution will be worth visiting again.
* * * * *
As I was finishing this review the developer of rlxos e-mailed to say new install media has been published. The new media, called version 2107, reportedly fixed issues some people had with the boot process. I had hoped this new media would correct the issues I had trying to get rlxos to boot on my laptop. However, the operating system was still unable to boot on physical hardware. At a glance appears to have the same strengths and weaknesses as version 2106.
* * * * *
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
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Haiku works on RISC-V port, Ubuntu adopts zstd package compression, Redox OS porting QEMU, Steam Deck to run Linux
The Haiku team has been working towards a new beta release of their lightweight, desktop operating system. Some of the work being done currently improves support for the RISC-V hardware architecture. "Haiku Inc recently funded RISC-V hardware for two Haiku developers, X512 and kallisti5. They have both been working on the RISC-V port and X512 got it booting to the desktop on virtual machines. The next step is getting it to run on real hardware, and, as expected (if you already have done similar things), the virtual and real hardware don't behave in exactly the same way. Anyway, you can find progress reports on the forums if you want to know more about the low level details of this." The project's latest newsletter offers details on other aspects of the project, including better driver support and error recovery.
* * * * *
The Ubuntu distribution has been working toward getting its APT package manager to support Zstandard (zstd) compression for Deb packages. The work, which has been ongoing for a few years, should allow for smaller packages which can be installed faster. "When Julian Andres Klode and I added initial Zstandard compression support to Ubuntu's APT and dpkg in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS we planned getting the changes accepted to Debian quickly and making Ubuntu 18.10 the first release where the new compression could speed up package installations and upgrades. Well, it took slightly longer than that. Since then many other packages have been updated to support zstd compressed packages and read-only compression has been back-ported to the 16.04 Xenial LTS release, too, on Ubuntu's side. In Debian, zstd support is available now in APT, debootstrap and reprepro (thanks Dimitri!). It is still under review for inclusion in Debian's dpkg." The zstd compression for packages is expected to be used in Ubuntu 21.10 later this year.
* * * * *
The Redox OS project is a lightweight, Unix-like operating system written in the Rust language. The project is currently working to get the QEMU virtualization software running on Redox. This would allow Redox to host other operating systems, such as Windows and Linux distributions, making daily tasks and development easier on one machine without the need to dual-boot. A news post on the Redox website explains the situation: "QEMU: It is an emulator that is capable of emulating various hardware (like Intel or ARM processors) within a software environment (your OS) in order to help run software, that runs only on the above-mentioned hardware. It is capable of emulating entire machines, so that you can test your software in the emulator rather than using the actual machine. I am retrofitting it so that it is capable of running on Redox OS. 'Why?', you ask? It's because, I feel that every OS developer has the dream of making their OS 'self-host' capable. What I mean by that is, currently, the Redox OS toolchain uses one of a few supported Linux distributions to compile the OS code into a binary, after which it can either be run on QEMU or on one of the supported machines. What you cannot do (at the moment), is compile and run Redox OS on QEMU ON Redox OS."
* * * * *
Valve has announced a new portable gaming platform called the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck is expected to run SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system that runs the Steam software and community portals. While previous versions of SteamOS were based on Debian, it looks as through the Deck will run an Arch-based operating system with a KDE Plasma user interface. It has been reported the Deck will run Proton, enabling the Linux-powered device to run games originally developed for Windows.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Running a distribution with automated updates
Leaving-it-running asks: Many users can't be bothered to click a button or run a command to install updates. Is there a distro you can recommend which is stable enough to set up for family and have it auto-update without it breaking?
DistroWatch answers: Most of the major, long-term support distributions such as Debian, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (along with its clones), Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and openSUSE (along with SUSE Enterprise Linux) should all be stable enough and unchanging enough to set them up to automatically update for your family without introducing any surprises or breakages. You can typically do this by running a daily or weekly cron job in the background.
Before you do this though I would suggest stopping to consider a few things. One is that any operating system, no matter how stable, eventually runs into trouble during upgrades. It may not happen often, but virtually every operating system I've used (Linux-based or not) has eventually run into a glitch during an upgrade. Having a plan in place to recover when a system breaks may be more helpful in the long-run than picking a specific distribution and hoping it will remain running steadily.
Some approaches you might consider when it comes to recovering the distribution and files are filesystem snapshots (which are automated during package upgrades in openSUSE), and performing regular data backups to a remote location. Being able to rollback a system update or restore data files back to a fresh re-install of the operating system can save a lot of time.
Something else to consider is educating the people using the computer rather than finding a purely technical workaround to their lack of engagement. Explaining why updates are important and encouraging your family to install new packages when they become available might be better for them in the long term than looking for ways to make sure the system stays up to date in spite of them. The Linux Mint team announced a few months ago a new approach to notifying the user of updates to encourage them to keep the system up to date with security patches. This may be a tactic which will work for your family too, regardless of which distribution they run.
Finally, if you do choose to perform automated updates, try to keep your family's schedule in mind. Updating once a day or once a week in the background may work out just fine until the day someone restarts the computer mid-update. Find out how often they restart the machine and if they leave the computer running at night and maybe run upgrades then. Scheduling an update for when the machine turns on will work great for families who shut down their computer every day, but it will be terrible for people who leave their system running for months at a time. Likewise, people who restart their computer every day are more likely to interrupt daily updates.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
EuroLinux 8.3
EuroLinux is a commercial clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The project's latest release, EuroLinux 8.3, introduces no-cost download options and more open access to information with regards to updates. "EuroLinux 8.3 introduces a number of significant improvements over version 7. We have added new, key functionalities (such as the module streams) and distinguishing features in the form of the possibility of rebuilding the system from sources, or 1 to 1 compatibility with the RPM packages of the RHEL system. EuroLinux technological advantages and distinguishing features. We have modernized our software sharing model. From version 8.3, EuroLinux is available both as a paid subscription and for free in the Open Core model. The advantage of such a solution is to deliver as much value as possible to users and communities. It is a modern, transparent and responsible business model. From version 8.3, every user of EuroLinux and EuroLinux containers receives full system with updates released at the same time for both, paid and free users. The paid version of the system additionally provides: direct manufacturer support, access to errata files, access to additional intermediate packages (if the support service so requires) impact on product development." Further information can be found in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
EuroLinux 8.3 -- Running the GNOME desktop
(full image size: 1.3MB, resolution: 1920x080 pixels)
Tails 4.20
The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a Debian-based live DVD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user. The project's latest release, Tails 4.20, introduces a new way to connect to the Internet using the Tor Connection Assistant. "Tails 4.20 completely changes how to connect to the Tor network from Tails. After connecting to a local network, a Tor Connection assistant helps you connect to the Tor network. This new assistant is most useful for users who are at high risk of physical surveillance, under heavy network censorship, or on a poor Internet connection: It protects better the users who need to go unnoticed if using Tor could look suspicious to someone who monitors their Internet connection (parental control, abusive partner, school or work network, etc.). It allows people who need to connect to Tor using bridges to configure them without having to change the default configuration in the Welcome Screen. It helps first-time users understand how to connect to a local Wi-Fi network. It provides feedback while connecting to Tor and helps troubleshoot network problems. We know that this assistant is still far from being perfect, even if we have been working on this assistant since February." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
UBports 16.04 OTA-18
The UBports team has announced a new version of the project's mobile-focused operating system. The project, which continues the work of Ubuntu Touch, has published a new update: UBports 16.04 OTA-18. The new update focuses on improved efficiency. "Despite the seeming will of the internet to always have the latest and most powerful technology, we still have a lot of people using devices with just 1GB of RAM. The BQ E4.5 and E5 HD are old devices, sure, but they still work and make a lot of people happy. OTA-18 almost always feels faster than OTA-17 on the same device. Unless you know what to look for, though, it's hard to say why. We've made Lomiri's wallpaper rendering far more efficient in this release. Without going into gorey details, we've managed to coax QML's image loader into only loading one copy of your wallpaper. We've also made it scale down the wallpaper to reduce the number of pixels in RAM at any time. The amount of RAM saved by these changes varies depending on your device and whether you've set a custom wallpaper or not. If you have a custom wallpaper, you save at least 30MB of RAM on any device by upgrading to OTA-18. A larger-resolution wallpaper will use far less RAM on OTA-18 than on OTA-17, but the savings are greater for devices with a low screen resolution, so on an older device like the E4.5 with the default wallpaper, expect to save about 60MB of RAM. You'll also see better performance across the board. With a smaller background image, it's easier for Qt to put together the scene that is displayed on your phone. Faster scene rendering means higher frame-rates no matter what is happening on screen." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| 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: 2,525
- Total data uploaded: 39.0TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Running AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap
A few years ago we ran a poll asking whether our readers used portable package formats or if people preferred to use the software in their distribution's traditional package repositories. We've been asked to re-run this question to see if there has been any change in portable package popularity in the past few years.
Do you use any Flatpak, Snap, or other portable packages on your system? Let us know if you've found portable packages to be helpful in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on your favourite branch of Debian in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Running AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap
| I use AppImage: | 312 (15%) |
| I use Flatpak: | 316 (15%) |
| I use Snap: | 119 (6%) |
| I use another portable package: | 21 (1%) |
| I use a combination of the above: | 363 (18%) |
| I use none of the above: | 918 (45%) |
|
|
| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Martine OS. Martine OS is a Debian-based distribution which strives to run native Linux, Windows, and Android applications.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 26 July 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)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 0, value: US$0.00) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Full list of all issues |
| 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.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Ark Linux
Ark Linux was a Linux distribution designed especially for desktop use, primarily for people without prior Linux experience. Its main goal was ease of use, and the inclusion of many tools end users will need. Ark Linux was fully Open Source and Free Software, meaning, basically, you can freely redistribute it in both modified and unmodified form.
Status: Discontinued
|
| Tips, Tricks, Q&As | | Tips and tricks: Improved package stability coming to FreeBSD/PC-BSD |
| Myths and misunderstandings: Open source and central authority |
| Tips and tricks: Advanced file systems, network traffic, running a script at login/logout |
| Myths and misunderstandings: Wayland, Xorg and Mir |
| Questions and answers: Distributions not adopting systemd |
| Tips and tricks: A safer way to use dd |
| Tips and tricks: Basename, for loop, dirname, aliases, bash history, xsel clipboard |
| Tips and tricks: Void source packages |
| Tips and tricks: Using SQLite to manage ZIP files |
| Questions and answers: Checking the health of an external drive |
| More Tips & Tricks and Questions & Answers |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| 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.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
