 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 926, 19 July 2021 |
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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.
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| 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.
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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.
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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
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| 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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
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.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| 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.
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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: 2,525
- Total data uploaded: 39.0TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
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.
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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%) |
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| 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.
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DistroWatch database summary
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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)
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Portable package formats (by Leanne on 2021-07-19 00:36:49 GMT from Portugal)
I use a mix of snap and flatpak images on my linux install in addition to the traditional repositories. Some apps are better supported with a portable format so I tend to discount distros that don't allow me to install these formats.
2 • Re: Snap, Flatpak, AppImage (by Romane on 2021-07-19 00:40:53 GMT from Australia)
I use FlatPak for just the one package not in the Distro repositories that I consider necessary for my daily use.
As for the past, I have never had any success with anything from the Snap repositories, and no longer even consider Snap.
Appimage - have tried with mixed success (mostly success, but a few "dramatic" failures) various applications in the days before FlatPak and Snap. I just find that these days using FlatPak is easier, more reliable and simpler for me.
3 • On the waiting list (by DaveW on 2021-07-19 00:49:32 GMT from United States)
Another distro recently added to the waiting list is Archcraft. It looks interesting, and I would like to see a review of it.
4 • appimage of LibreWolf (by Andy Prough on 2021-07-19 01:47:13 GMT from Switzerland)
I use the appimage of the LibreWolf browser, of which I'm a big fan. It actually uses less resources to run than other modern browsers installed from a repo. Anyone looking for a greatly improved version of firefox with far less bloat should give the LibreWolf appimage a spin.
5 • AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap: Linux's universal package managers. (by Greg Zeng on 2021-07-19 01:52:57 GMT from Australia)
The 3 package types are the reasons why third party coders avoid the 274 Linux brands (in today's Distrowatch "Search" database). There are not yet any universal package managers for Linux. Debian announced their very new but poorly recognized DUR system, perhaps similar Arch's AUR, which tediously compiles raw source code into tight binary code, needing patience, & good hardware to do the compilation, determined by the "recipe".
If 3rd party coders do prepare binary code, they might choose DEB format, because the 125 Linux brand-names can use this format, without difficulty. https://distrowatch.com/search.php?package=DEB
Second favorite, RPM, has just 41 Linux brands. RPM is inferior also because most of these brands will not be able to use the RPM compilations. https://distrowatch.com/search.php?package=RPM
Other Linux package managers (also-rans) are:
Flastpak: 40. Snap: 35 Puppy (Pet): 3 Pacman: 23 Portage: 6 TGX (tarball, WINE ?): 18
The three competing "winners" share "features": poor usage by application coders, poor sensitivity to user's settings (theme, fonts, display settings, sounds, notifications), unpredictable handling of updates, breakages & integration into the system's menu listings.
6 • rlxos (by Andy Figueroa on 2021-07-19 03:32:27 GMT from United States)
RLXOS seems hardly worth reviewing. Looks like a security hot mess.
7 • Running AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap (by Gosh on 2021-07-19 03:33:36 GMT from Bulgaria)
I use simple Appimages only, without any additional framework service jam on my systems
8 • Portable Packages (by Andy Figueroa on 2021-07-19 03:46:42 GMT from United States)
In the poll I indicated that I do not use. I've actually been using an appimage occasionally for only one package, but I'm going to stop doing so. Trust is low.
I have, however, put together a flash drive with multiple versions of all the major Linux office suites in portable format; three LibreOffice, two OnlyOffice, and one FreeOffice. But, I don't actually use it. It's just been an interesting project.
9 • @3 Archcraft (by Jyrki on 2021-07-19 03:51:31 GMT from Czechia)
unfortunately this distro is runnnig systemd. I think they are contradicting themselves - lightweight vs. systemd...
As for the poll, I vote that I use none of the vote options. I don't see a reason why. Is there any killer soft that is not available in standard repositories?
10 • Portable Packages (by John on 2021-07-19 04:47:26 GMT from United States)
I use Flatpaks on my OpenSUSE Tumbleweed Gnome desktop home computer. Generally I've found Snaps to be dysfunctional and/or unreliable. But Flatpaks are almost flawless. They give me access to innumerable applications that I find critical in today's world. Love Flatpaks!
11 • appimage (by Hank on 2021-07-19 06:04:32 GMT from Ukraine)
Rub Librewolf as appimage on antiX, great browser, like firefox could be, light fast stable an not
pinging home like crazy and data sharing with google and others.
Also has no sneaky hidden extensions.
12 • Package forms (by Moddit on 2021-07-19 06:09:53 GMT from Germany)
I now refer to snap as crap, seems to never work.
Agree with other user comments on LibreWolf. The only portable
application I an using at present.
13 • Flatpak (by Microlinux on 2021-07-19 06:13:00 GMT from France)
I'm using Flatpak on OpenSUSE Leap for all the potentially troublesome stuff like Teams, Skype and Spotify. The only downside (if you can call it that) is that is uses quite much disk space. On the other hand, all the potentially intrusive stuff like Skype gets sandboxed in the Flatpak subsystem, which is nice.
14 • portable packages (by Björn on 2021-07-19 06:50:08 GMT from Romania)
I switched to appimage from flatpak/snap, a single file to run something without runtimes and forced isolation is the way to go. Sick and tired of all the intrusiveness and bloat provided by the other "portable" options. I also never liked the idea of multiple package managers running on the same system, it makes things so confusing to new users.
15 • 3rd party programs (by Trihexagonal on 2021-07-19 07:09:06 GMT from United States)
I only use programs in the FreeBSD ports tree and with the exception of having used pkg to install programs during the build of a desktop on one occasion always compile all my programs using:
# cd /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/portmaster && make install clean
Then use portmaster to compile everything else as it will pull in a list of dependencies for my perusal before I begin the build.
16 • re: portable packages (by Arve on 2021-07-19 07:12:18 GMT from Norway)
@14 Indeed, flatpak and snap seems to be less "portable" than even debs?
17 • try not to but flatpak last resort (by papapito on 2021-07-19 07:41:34 GMT from Singapore)
i use flatpak as a last resort for a few apps. The last few times I tried snap, it was slow and more cumbersome than it should be.
I like not being the only one using librewolf appimage. I felt cheap not compiling it on my laptop but it felt faster operating (I thought it was just me) and seeing others mention it, validating.
18 • Graphic failures (by denk_mal on 2021-07-19 07:49:41 GMT from Germany)
None of the portable packages have IMHO solved the integration with DE's . Neither the app icons problematic for Desktop and DE Menus nor the theme/font problematic has been solved in a way that I prefer a portable package over a package from the repository.
For now I use one (AppImage) app that is not in the debian repos.
I know that I can use tools like AppImageLauncher to minimize the drawbacks but portable packages are still not seamless integrated.
19 • Defeating good engineering. (by salparadise on 2021-07-19 09:08:01 GMT from United Kingdom)
The whole point of a distro using a specified repo was to maintain good security practice. This was a deliberate engineering choice. It is not en encumbrance. So no, from the first time of hearing about flatpacks, snaps, and appimages I've always thought the same thing - this defeats the "known and curated software source" feature and as such is, at best, poor engineering, and at worst, outright malice. It is not a surprise to me after the embrace of systemd, that such ideas are seen as acceptable.
Having said all that, the only time I've had a computer that has not had umpteen known and unpatched critical vulnerabilities was when I was running FreeBSD. Linux is a mess in this regard. The fragmentation that multiple distros creates helps this mess go unchecked. So much time wasted selecting wallpapers, themes and icons for "my brand new distro" (some respin of Arch/*buntu), instead of fewer distros receiving more bug/CVE fixing.
20 • auto update and other packages (by James on 2021-07-19 09:29:47 GMT from United States)
I use Ubuntu Mate which has a update manger that updates and upgrades automatically. One of the first things I do after installation is disable it. I prefer to update and upgrade when I want to do them.
I don't use app images, flat packs or snaps, but realize more and more software is only being packaged that way, and eventually I will probably be forced to use what I do not want.
21 • AppImage - Portable Apps (by Roger on 2021-07-19 10:08:41 GMT from Belgium)
On GNU/Linux I use only AppImage namely Etcher.
But I have always a USB stick with portable apps for Windows, which I update on a GNU/Linux machine.
This I use now for a long time, more than 15 years and is very helpful.
When I was in Australia in 2013 that was the only thing I was using on university because they did not have any GNU/Linux computers on site and they where using an image system of Win7 that was restarted every time on their computers.
This way I could have my on programs on those computers and easily save my work.
22 • Portable Software (by kc1di on 2021-07-19 10:29:09 GMT from United States)
Like others have mentioned here I only use Appimage of a couple programs not available via regular repositories. Snaps are just cumbersome and don't work well. Flatpacks are good but again I don't need them for most software. I still like to repository method but if I had to choose right now it would be appimages.
23 • I don't need Appimage, Flatpak and Snap packages (by Nero on 2021-07-19 11:30:20 GMT from Italy)
I use Debian Stable. I only install .deb packages from the official repositories. I've never had problems with unsatisfied dependencies. I don't need software updated to the latest version available and I don't feel any need to resort to Appimage, Flatpak or Snap packages.
24 • Snap, reluctantly (by uc50ic4more on 2021-07-19 12:41:44 GMT from Canada)
By default I use a small, small handful of snaps on Ubuntu systems; but much prefer the use of Flatpak when the opportunity/ necessity presents itself.
25 • snap as a last resort (by wally on 2021-07-19 12:55:13 GMT from United States)
Don't want to use any of them, but sometimes there is no alternative.
26 • Appimage, Flatpack and Snap (by Tech in San Diego on 2021-07-19 12:57:02 GMT from United States)
It's been so long since these alternative app managers were introduced that I don't seem to remember why they were developed to begin with. With that being said, I only used AppImage for one application, OpenShot, but have found a better alternative to video editing as my knowledge of multimedia as far outpaced that of what OpenShot provides.
All the Best!
Tech in San Diego
27 • Portable packages (by Cor on 2021-07-19 13:12:08 GMT from United States)
These are nice options but not solutions. If given an option, I choose my distros software over the portable managers.
28 • @26 Tech in San Diego: (by dragonmouth on 2021-07-19 13:41:02 GMT from United States)
"why they were developed to begin with"
Each was developed as THE "universal" software installers that would work on most, if not all, Linux distros. There already was a universal software installer. It was called AppImage. But, this being Linux with its "if one app is good, five apps are five times better" Red Hat and Canonical each created their version of THE "universal" installer, wanting their product to be take over. Unfortunately, all they did was add to the balkanization of Linux. So now we have three competing "universal" software installers. I would not be surprised if more are not developed and announced in the near future.
29 • only if necessary... (by Tad Strange on 2021-07-19 14:08:42 GMT from Canada)
....do I use the flat snap apps.
It's for if it's not in the repo. No different than some freeware utility distributed as a tar.gzp.
They have their place, and that place is not to replace existing methods, but to add options.
30 • steaming pile of portables (by fonz on 2021-07-19 14:21:56 GMT from Indonesia)
appimages are literally the only truly (ish) portsble format, not too much bloodshed if youre using a mainstream distro with many required libs already installed. flatpaks and snaps dont work the way appimages do so IMHO (and others) they arent even portable...
i feel steam shot themselves in the foot. interneting is the way to go, gaming on clouding (like nvidia now and gulag stadia). rumours have it amazon and facebook may hop on that bandwagon soon enough.
buying a PC in console form feels like buying a future console with PC features, i dont see much point in that.
now on the sinking ship. why buy a PC thats actually a phone? im so hoping gulag fuchsia, FUCHSIAS you good wandows *ba dum tsk* oh wandows you si11y goose -_-
31 • Portable packages (by DachshundMan on 2021-07-19 15:17:56 GMT from United Kingdom)
I agree with @19 in that I do not trust the security of snap, flatpack etc whereas the Mint team review the packages in the repository to make sure they are safe. Who knows what could be hidden in the portable packages ? Also, I think that they are bloatware as they package all required libraries even when 95% of the used libraries are already on my system. Like @25, I only use them as a last resort.
Of course, I can appreciate from a developers point of view it is really good to be able to package your software only once and be pretty sure it will work on many Linux systems. Also it takes less work by them and probably making packages is not what most joined the project for.
My satnav manufacturer say they do not provide a map updater that works under Linux because they do not want to have to produce versions for many different linux flavours and as a commercial decision it is probably reasonable and is the same one that others have made.
32 • appImages (by gplcoder on 2021-07-19 15:56:04 GMT from Canada)
I don't trust or use any so-called portable format. @30 you are forgetting about the giant flaw in appImage that no one wants to fix. Any appImage that is a packaged Electron app (there are tons of these) flags a sandbox error (Google imposed) when launched from a Debian (and siblings) older kernel. I have encountered this with Joplin, Standard Notes and SpiderOsk Crossclave. This design flaw has been around for years and no one wants to fix it and very few want to talk about it. There is a work around which consists of suppressing the security (not recommended for obvious reasons).
33 • When I have to (by mvario on 2021-07-19 16:22:33 GMT from United States)
I'll use appimage or flatpak when the program I want to use isn't in the repository, or when the version in the repository is out of date. Ideally I wouldn't have to.
34 • Poll (by mchlbk on 2021-07-19 16:48:03 GMT from Denmark)
I use whatever is available, ie. all of them. My daily OS is MX, fortunately it's possible to boot it in systemd mode in order for snap to work.
35 • nope (by dave on 2021-07-19 17:37:15 GMT from United States)
I tried AppImage a couple times, years ago, just to see how it worked. Wasn't impressed. I think I also tried Flatpak once when I first started using MX, again-- just to try it out. And again-- not impressed.
Of the three attempts I remember, only 1 program successfully installed and then, on top of being enormous, it had crash-inducing bugs; insecure, bloated and buggy is what I expect from AppImage, Flatpak and Snap.
When I really want something not provided by the repositories, I have better luck compiling from source. And I'm very far from being an expert in that field. I can understand the allure of convenience, but are these 'solutions' really that convenient?? What is the cost for this (illusion of) convenience??
I agree with @19
Every year, I feel the same urge to jump ship to BSD, as I was feeling back when I left Windows XP for Linux, but I know if a quasi-normie/brainlet such as myself is considering BSD, then the absolute dregs of society won't be far behind and the same problems that are destroying Linuxland will migrate to BSDtopia. Plus, I don't know enough about BSD to really be confident that the same design mistakes don't already exist there.
36 • Re-inventing the wheel... (by Friar Tux on 2021-07-19 18:10:26 GMT from Canada)
@35 (dave). And here I am totally the opposite. I see "compiling from source" as reinventing the wheel. Why not simply grab an AppImage, Snap, or Flatpak (if they work) that someone has already put together. By the way, I added the bracketed "if they work" as I have found that some don't always work for everyone. In my case AppImage seems to be the best of the lot for two reasons - both out-of-box. AppImage, on my laptop is the only one of the three that will take on my global theme. Flatpak and Snap do their own theme, usually not what I'm using. AppImage works every time with no issues. Flatpak and Snap sometimes don't even install correctly.
Re: Q & A - Running auto-updates... in our house, I've trained folks to manually update every Friday right after turning on their computers. Yup, manually. There ARE times when you need to uncheck a recommended update before running the Update Manager (in our case - Linux Mint/Cinnamon). Case in point:- with the upgrade to Mint 20.2 the Orage Calendar update pulls in a wrong file version, which breaks the calendar. To save a lot of hassle, we simply, manually, uncheck that update (xfce4-panel 4.16.2-1~20.04) before clicking on the update button. (I believe the actual program is looking for ver. 4.14.) Anyway, my point is that manual updates are just a habit like most other things in life.
37 • external packages (by Titus_Groan on 2021-07-19 19:15:26 GMT from New Zealand)
given the choice, I would always install from repos over external.
However, when not given the choice, I have installed an Appimage from a reputable supplier: Ultimaker_Cura for my 3D printer.
Do I care that it does not match my desktop theme?
No!, because my computer is a tool to do a job (or many).
38 • Portable packages. (by Tuxedoar on 2021-07-19 19:33:59 GMT from Argentina)
So far, the only portable package format I've used, is the AppImage one. I did it once and I don't even remember for which software. In general, I don't have a need for using these alternative package formats. In fact, I haven't even tried the other ones. I didn't participate on poll, since it'd give the wrong impression that I use any of those regularly, which as I've said, is not the case at all!.
Cheers!.-
39 • to get new features - repo vs snap/flatpak/etc (by a newer version exists on 2021-07-19 20:12:33 GMT from New Zealand)
I run a distro that depends on the Debian/Ubuntu line. This tends to be rather conservative upstream, apart from weekly Firefox version updates.
In several cases I would find the standard repos have say v1.45, but the software's website says the latest is 4.16, and I want some new feature or they fixed something important to me. No ppa, but maybe you find a flatpak, snap or worse, appimage of v4.08 in the software manager.
This leads to a crossroads. I dont necessarily want to engage with snap/flatpak/appimage but I have work that needs done and the only way to reach the features is to compromise. So much for "user choice" in Linuxland.
And then you have the contrast to the Arch family. For that hypothetical software, you can find v4.15 in AUR and it might need quite a massage before working.
40 • Oh Snap! (by penguinx86 on 2021-07-19 21:57:50 GMT from United States)
I really hate the way all the Snaps show up when I type the 'df' command in Ubuntu. 'df' is supposed to show disk space usage, not a bunch of running processes. This is why I use Linux Mint instead of Ubuntu. No Snaps!
41 • AppImage (by StephenC on 2021-07-20 04:05:30 GMT from United States)
On main system - AppImage with Firejail when the package manager doesn't have an up to date version
On USB stick - AppImage of KeepassXC + Windows portable KeepassXC + password file. That's portable, not something you can do with flatpak or snap. I've never bothered with flatpak, I don't see any advantage over AppImage. I helped a friend who had installed Ubuntu 20.04. Icky! (both Ubuntu and snaps).
42 • rlxos (by tuxy on 2021-07-20 04:33:49 GMT from Indonesia)
Really curious with this immutable distro, however I am unable to open heir website since last month..
Suggest if Distrowatch may host the iso file in its torrent archive.
43 • pacman / dnf + nix + AppImage (by Terry Wang on 2021-07-20 04:46:36 GMT from Australia)
Distro's own native package manager, nix package manager (CLI utils) and AppImage (for desktop GUI apps mainly).
44 • Opinion Poll... (by Tech in San Diego on 2021-07-20 04:54:49 GMT from United States)
Being the curious type I decided to do some research on the topic of these portable package managers and came across this interesting comparison in the GitHub Wiki.
https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageKit/wiki/Similar-projects#comparison
All the Best!
Tech in San Diego
45 • Portable packages... (by Vukota on 2021-07-20 10:15:53 GMT from Serbia)
I try not to run them, unless there is no other option and I really need that application/version and there is low risk exposing my system by using particular package. These portable packages often have at least some problems with my local settings/configuration/customizations/system services and are security concern (who can ensure me that their dependencies are being updated with same agility as underlying distribution I am using).
46 • Portable packages (by Cheker on 2021-07-20 14:55:08 GMT from Portugal)
I use flatpaks and snaps on Debian. That's where I'm most likely to want something that the repos have too old of a version for my tastes. Specifically, I want the latest Firefox, not ESR, and if I want Brave then the only non-PPA option is the snap. They *are* slower, but I can't say I've ever had problems regarding their functionality.
I favor flatpaks over snaps where possible. I've played around with AppImage before as a curiosity and it worked. I favor the native repos over all of these.
47 • + (by Cheker on 2021-07-20 14:57:12 GMT from Portugal)
@46 should note that they're slower TO START, and only the first time. After that they feel the same as everything else.
48 • Missing option in survey (by Will on 2021-07-20 15:16:06 GMT from United States)
I despise *pack *snap and remove any and all from any system I manage. Litter everywhere. I didn’t see an option for hating it, but would have picked it if I had :)
49 • Portable packages (by Robert on 2021-07-20 15:50:42 GMT from United States)
I like the idea of flatpak and would like to use it more. It's just lacking a bit in applications and reliability.
I use flatpak versions of vlc and libreoffice, which work well for me. Also gkraken to control my aio.
Failure cases have been firefox and steam. Firefox worked, but I couldn't figure out how to migrate my profile and open tabs from a native install so I reverted. For flatpak steam I couldn't get my controller to work so I gave up on that as well.
None of the other applications I use have flatpak versions.
50 • building from source (by salparadise on 2021-07-20 18:06:02 GMT from United Kingdom)
@35
As a rough yardstick - my machine is a Dell Precision T5500 with an SSD as primary drive and 4GB of memory. FreeBSD - from install to a system running something like windowmaker/fluxbox with a file manager, firefox, text editor and a media player, built from source code, took me about 17 hours. Firefox took the longest by far.
You can install the base system and then use pkginstall package.name and build the system that way - far quicker obviously. Gnome, Plasma, xfce, openbox, fluxbox, blackbox, MATE and Cinnamon are all available. There's a ton of Linux stuff that can be added. Lots of similarities, many differences.
In terms of the config of the system it's very simple - Slackware is the same, as is Arch if you go pure.
GhostBSD offers a "linux distro-like experience". It has MATE as Desktop and comes with most basic, day to day, type apps you'd need. Based on FreeBSD.
Get a spare hard drive and give it a go.
I went back to Linux because functionality. There are some good BSD channels on youtube and some great step by step guides on the FreeBSD forums.
51 • Questions and answers - automatic updates (by Chris Whelan on 2021-07-20 20:04:01 GMT from United Kingdom)
MX Linux offers users the chance to permit automatic updating by setting a checkbox in MX Updater.
18 months ago I set up a machine in this way for a family. Due to the pandemic, I have been unable to get back to the machine until last week. It has performed perfectly in the intervening period, and all updates have been successfully completed.
52 • Updating (by Moddit on 2021-07-21 07:28:11 GMT from Finland)
Found adding a bash alias helps to get users to update, they just
enter that word in the terminal, press enter, key in password.
Failed updates, using antiX which very rarely has any issues,.
Versions 19 and the new runit beta have been extremely reliable in all respects
up to now, I expect that to stay the same. Have a number of happy users.
53 • Portable formats (by Kazlu on 2021-07-21 08:14:02 GMT from France)
When I really want a piece of software that is not in my distro's repositories (extremely rare, thank you MX/Antix/Debian), well I use whatever is available cause this is necessarily a niche. Should I have the choice of any portable format though, I would go for Flatpak.
54 • Haiku (by Quazatron on 2021-07-21 16:58:58 GMT from Portugal)
Seems a bit weird to me that Haiku is spending the few resources it has on porting to RISC-V instead of providing a Raspberry Pi port.
Think about it, a ultra-lightweight desktop like Haiku seem like a perfect match for those tiny machines.
And before you ask, I do support Haiku, and they are free to spend their resources as they see fit.
55 • Automatic Updates (by Paul on 2021-07-21 17:13:29 GMT from United States)
For what it's worth...
I have been running Debian Stable for almost a decade and have never had anything break during an update. Debian Stable is rock solid.
OTOH, when I was running Ubuntu.... the updates would frequently break something - ranging from programs crashing to having a unbootable system!
56 • @54 (by Denethor on 2021-07-21 21:51:05 GMT from Bosnia and Herzegovina)
RISC-V is open archtecture! Glad they are porting to it.
57 • Haiku & others (by Fairfielder on 2021-07-21 23:52:54 GMT from Canada)
the trouble with alternative OS's - haiku, reactos, redox, minix, kolibri, etc - is that they need many contributors and a fan base to get significant desktop usage. Otherwise they are just tinkering OS's.
58 • Portable(ish) (by TheTKS on 2021-07-22 00:41:53 GMT from Canada)
I don’t use portable formats if I don’t have to.
Some snaps are forced on the *buntus, the only ones and places I use them. I think there’s a way around that for some to install a .deb, but I couldn’t be bothered. They are still slower to load than native packages - but also not enough that I could be bothered to switch.
Tried Flatpak for awhile, but like Snap found no advantage to them for. Couldn’t be bothered.
I still have one AppImage on a *buntu derivative (but haven’t run it in awhile) for a package I wanted to try out but didn’t want on my drive (AppImages aren’t installed, they’re executables that you launch when you want to run them.) I think that package is now available as a .deb.
Other / none of the above:
Nothing portable on my Slackware installations. If a package is not in the base installation and not in AlienBob’s repository (a source I trust,) then I’ll install it using a Slackbuild script.
I also looked at 0install packages, but don’t think I ever ran one.
One of the CADs I used for awhile had their own installer - QCAD, I think.
I get why packagers would like one format. It would make life easier for them. But we have many, not one, so it hasn’t.
TKS
Number of Comments: 58
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| • 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 |
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| Random Distribution | 
Holon Linux
Holon Linux was a Japanese Linux distribution for Intel and PPC architectures. It uses the RPM package format with APT.
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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