 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 932, 30 August 2021 |
Welcome to this year's 34th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
There are not many commercial Linux distributions in the world. While many projects accept donations, not many commercial offerings exist outside of companies like Red Hat and SUSE. This week we look at one of the exceptions: Zorin OS. The Zorin OS distribution is available in multiple flavours, some of which are available free of charge and one flavour which is provided as a commercial offering to help support the project. We look at the Zorin OS Pro edition this week and report on its features. Then, in our News section, we talk about how Debian manages and updates so many packages while Haiku receives a number of updates both on the desktop and behind the scenes. We are also pleased to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Linux kernel being publicly announced to the world. On the subject of the kernel, this week's Questions and Answers column addresses the future of Linux development as well as how to access a command line when your desktop's virtual terminal is not available. Do you use a virtual terminal to access the Linux command line? Let us know which one you prefer to use in this week's Opinion Poll. We wrap up this issue by sharing the releases of the past week and listing the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Zorin OS 16
- News: How Debian imports new package versions, Haiku publishes progress report, Linux celebrates its 30th birthday
- Questions and answers: Continuing the Linux kernel and alternative access to the terminal
- Released last week: Ubuntu 20.04.3, Voyager Live 11, Clonezilla 2.7.3-19
- Torrent corner: Alpine, Archman, Clonezilla Live, CloudReady, KDE neon, Manjaro, OpenMediaVault, Robolinux, Ubuntu, Voyager
- Upcoming releases: Linux Lite 5.6
- Opinion poll: Which virtual terminal do you use?
- New distributions: Hanh Linux, AlpsOS, CutefishOS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (15MB) and MP3 (11MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Zorin OS 16 Pro
Zorin OS is an Ubuntu-based distribution designed to be usable by people migrating from other operating systems. Zorin features multiple desktop layouts and themes which are designed to look like the desktops of popular commercial operating systems and some popular open source desktops.
Zorin OS is available in a few different editions. There is a free Core edition which offers a basic desktop experience for modern hardware. There is a Lite edition for older computers. Both the Core and Lite editions are available free of charge. This week I'll be reviewing the Pro edition which is similar to the Core edition, but offers commercial support, more desktop layouts, and a few bundled applications that offer additional features. The Pro edition, which replaces the project's Ultimate edition, is a 4.8GB download which costs $39 USD.
The Pro edition includes eight desktop layouts and some special features, such as a customized version of KDE Connect (called Zorin Connect) that makes it possible to share notifications, a clipboard, and files between your computer and an Android phone. There is also a tool called Barrier which allows the user to use one keyboard and mouse across multiple devices.
Some of the other new features are listed as follows:
Create with the same apps the pros use. Zorin OS Pro includes an advanced video editor, PhotoShop-compatible image editor, illustration software, audio workstation, animation software, and the same 3D graphics & effects software used by Hollywood studios, just to name a few.
Take notes or annotate images & PDF documents effortlessly with the Xournal++ app. Pick up a pen to write naturally, draw diagrams with automatic shape recognition, or simply type with your keyboard. It can even record audio from the microphone while taking notes
The Network Displays app allows you to share your desktop with other displays seamlessly and wirelessly. It connects over your local network and works with Wi-Fi Display or Miracast-compatible devices, like most modern TVs or Wireless Display Adapters.
Booting from the Pro media results in Zorin performing a self-check to confirm the media has not been corrupted. We are then shown a window asking if we want to try the distribution or launch the system installer. This initial window also gives us the chance to select our preferred language from a list.
Taking the Try option from the window brings up the GNOME desktop with its panel placed along the bottom of the screen. The thick panel holds an application menu, quick-launch buttons, a task switcher, and system tray. The application menu is presented in a two-pane style similar to Windows 7. On the desktop we find a single icon for launching the installer.
Zorin OS 16 -- The default desktop theme and layout
(full image size: 1.0MB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Installer
Zorin uses the Ubiquity graphical installer. The installer walks us through the usual questions of picking our time zone, creating a username and password, and selecting a keyboard layout. We also have the option of authenticating through Active Directory. Ubiquity asks if we would like to set up a Normal or Minimal install with the latter offering just a desktop environment, a few utilities, and a web browser. We can optionally install third-party software such as media codecs. We are also asked if we would like to participate in a hardware survey which will send some basic information about our computer to the project's developers.
The installer, I feel it worth mentioning, will only perform a Normal install if we have a root partition that is 28GB (or larger) in size. I'll come back to this point later, but unlike the arbitrary size restrictions of some other installers, this one is a hard requirement.
Disk partitioning can be done manually through a pleasant, friendly interface. Alternatively we can take a guided option which will use free space to set up a ext4, LVM, or ZFS filesystem. The guided approach sets up a swap file for us. With its questions answered, Ubiquity installs the operating system and we can then restart the computer.
Early impressions
My new copy of Zorin booted to a graphical login screen where I could sign into a light-themed GNOME Shell desktop. The desktop starts out with a distinctly Windows-like layout. A welcome window opens and offers to give us a feature tour.
Most screens of the brief feature tour include a button to launch an associated tool. For instance, one screen offers tips for changing the desktop's appearance and it includes a button to launch the Zorin configuration module that changes the desktop layout, theme and fonts. Another screen offers to set up Zorin Connect to let our desktop communicate with an Android phone and this screen also features a button to run the setup tool. The same can be said for the screen that offers to connect us with on-line accounts like Google Drive and Nextcloud as well as the screen which offers to install either LibreOffice or OnlyOffice. (LibreOffice is set up for us by default when installing a Normal install.) When run inside VirtualBox the welcome window will offer to install VirtualBox add-ons.
Once I completed the feature tour and the welcome window closed I noticed the update manager had opened and was sitting quietly in the task switcher. There was just one update available the first day I was using the distribution. The update manager shows us which new packages are available and we can select which ones we wish to download. The update manager worked for me without any problems.
Hardware
I started my trial with Zorin in a VirtualBox instance. At first the distribution was a little sluggish - usable, but slow to respond. Once I had disabled visual effects on the desktop the system became much more responsive and ran smoothly.
When running on my laptop, Zorin was able to run in both UEFI and Legacy BIOS modes. The distribution detected all of my hardware and ran quickly. Desktop performance was good, typically about average or a little better. The distribution automatically set up my network printer, something most distributions do not do. In fact, some distributions have trouble with the printer even when manually setting it up through CUPS, so to have it set up automatically was a pleasant surprise.
Memory usage varied quite a bit. Sometimes when signing into GNOME Zorin would use about 650MB of RAM. Other times, when sitting idle at the desktop, memory usage would climb as high as 960MB. Usually the system averaged out around 800MB. A fresh install with the Normal package set consumed 27GB of disk space, plus additional room for a swap file. This is about four times more disk space than what I typically see from mainstream distributions and it's a result of the amount (and type) of packages installed, which I'll touch on shortly.
Applications
Zorin ships with the GNOME 3.36 desktop environment. The Normal install also features a lot of open source applications. These include Firefox, Transmission, Feeds, the Remmina remote desktop client, LibreOffice, and Evolution. There are applications for managing contacts, and a calendar application. The Xournal++ note taking application is included along with drawing and animation programs such as Blender, FreeCAD, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, Inkscape, and Krita. The distribution is also host to OpenToonz, LibreCAD, and Scribus.
Zorin OS 16 -- Running Firefox and the GNOME Files file manager
(full image size: 172kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
For dealing with media files we find the Audacity audio editor, both the Kdenlive and PiTiVi video editors, the Brasero disc burning software, the Handbrake converter, and Cheese web cam tool. Zorin includes the Rhythmbox audio player, Totem video player, and VLC. These application are accompanied by media codecs for audio and video formats.
Deja Dup is featured for performing simple backups and the GNU Compiler Collection is installed. The systemd init software and version 5.11 of the Linux kernel can be found behind the scenes. WINE is not installed by default, but can be added through the project's repositories for people who need compatibility with Windows applications.
The distribution includes the GNOME settings panel which makes it fairly easy to browse through and adjust options. The two-pane settings panel makes navigation smooth and I found it straight forward to find most settings I wanted to adjust.
While I did not get around to using all of the software included with Zorin, I did get to play around with many of the open source applications and they worked well. I could browse the web, play media files, write documents, tweak settings, and things went smoothly.
One minor issue I ran into concerned the account manager. While it does work and can be used to set up and adjust user accounts, the password requirements it imposes were frustrating, especially when trying to set up a guest account. Ideally I'd like my guest account to have some token password that is easy to remember and type. However, the account manager rejected a dozen different suggestions I made, claiming each password was too short, not complex enough, too similar to dictionary words, too similar to my username, or used sequential numbers. Eventually I gave up, created an account without a password, then used the passwd utility to set a simple password.
Zorin OS 16 -- Creating an account in the settings panel
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Software management
Zorin uses the GNOME Software utility to manage applications. The Software application is divided into three tabs: one for browsing available items and performing searches, one tab to show and remove installed items, and one for displaying available updates. The tab for browsing software begins by showing us popular or recommended items with a list of categories we can browse at the bottom of the window. We can type simple searches to locate additional software by name or description.
While Software worked fairly well, I often found searches would either never complete (showing the "busy" symbol endlessly) or searches would be slow. Sometimes performing the same search two or three times would be required before a result would be shown.
Zorin OS 16 -- Checking which package formats are available for Inkscape
(full image size: 371kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
One aspect of Software I appreciated was that it can work with Deb packages, Flatpaks, and Snap packages. Available package formats for an application are displayed in the upper-right corner of the window when we are looking at a specific program. This means we can both choose which package format to install and we can optionally remove one type of package and replace it with another, if alternatives are available. In short, Software does a decent job of interacting with all three package formats seamlessly.
The Software application will also allow us to adjust sandboxing options if any are available for the application. Such sandbox options may include granting network access and the ability to save files in our home directory. These options are not available for all packages, or even all portable packages, but are present for some and we can toggle these permissions on/off through a simple options window within the software manager.
While both Flatpak and Snap frameworks are installed by default, there are no Snap packages installed out of the box. There are about 50 Flatpaks installed though. This, along with the massive collection of software in the application menu, helps explain why Zorin's Normal setup takes 27GB of space.
Special features
Zorin offers a number of special features which are either unique to Zorin or usually not seen enabled by default on other distributions. I'd like to spend a little time covering these.
Zorin Connect
The Zorin Connect tool is basically KDE Connect but with an interface which better fits in with GNOME, particularly the GNOME settings panel. The options are more clearly organized. Zorin Connect is a great tool for connecting to an Android phone for the purposes of sharing files, remote control options, and getting text messages on the desktop. I'm a big fan of KDE Connect and appreciated seeing this more polished version of the interface.
Zorin OS 16 -- Adjusting permissions in Zorin Connect
(full image size: 640kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Barrier
Barrier is a tool which a person sets up on one computer to be the main machine or server. Other computers, or clients, can then also install Barrier and connect to the server. The user can then sit at the "server" machine and use its keyboard and mouse to send input to other connected devices running Barrier.
Zorin OS 16 -- Setting up the Barrier service
(full image size: 492kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
The idea here is to be able to use one keyboard and mouse to manage multiple machines, much like classic server room switches. The difference is Barrier handles everything in software, side-stepping the need for an additional hardware hub. This is a useful tool to have if you often have two or three laptops on your desk or in a lab and want to manage them all without moving to another mouse or keyboard.
Changing the theme/layout
Zorin ships with a utility specifically for adjusting the desktop layout, theme, and fonts. This tool can be launched from the application menu or welcome window and is quite easy to navigate. I tried out a handful of layouts as well as the light and dark themes. I like the flexibility this tool provides in offering desktop layouts that look and act like Windows, macOS, Unity, and other popular desktops.
Zorin OS 16 -- Exploring the dark theme
(full image size: 625kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Networked displays
There is a tool for casting the local display to networked interfaces like televisions. I didn't have any compatible devices available for testing this concept, but I do have friends who like to cast shows and movies from their phones to a TV. I suspect they would find the ability to do the same from their laptop with a few clicks convenient.
Xournal++
The Xournal++ application is a note taking tool. This application allows us to add free-form notes, audio, images, drawings, and text to a document. We can also add a layer of notes to existing PDF documents. I usually don't use anything more complex than a text editor for note taking, but I see the appeal of Xournal++. It facilitates adding multiple types of input and highlights to documents in a way that feels quite natural. Combining the free hand drawing tool with a touch screen I think would be quite handy when taking notes in meetings and lectures.
Zorin OS 16 -- Doodling in Xournal++
(full image size: 719kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Conclusions
Zorin is a distribution which I feel is doing a lot of things right, both technologically and from an infrastructure point of view. The project is offering three main editions: Lite for people with less capable machines, Core for users who want basic desktop features, and Pro for people who want more options and commercial support. The project offers both full features and minimal installs and also offers to collect hardware information while making it easy to skip this step in the installer.
Once we have picked an edition the installer is easy to navigate, the welcome screen offers access to several key features without being long and tedious. The default layout will be familiar to most computer users while still being blissfully easy to adjust.
There is a lot of software included in the Normal collection of packages, most of it easy to use, beginner friendly, and fairly mainstream. There are a lot of nice features in the Pro version such as the note taking application, screen casting, Barrier tool for multi-device coordination, and Zorin Connect. The Software portal, while a touch slow to respond at times, does a good job of connecting us with classic Deb packages along with optional Snap and Flatpak packages. This gives us a huge range of up to date software.
I was pleasantly impressed with Zorin's performance, hardware detection, ease of setting up the distribution, and convenient settings. Perhaps best of all, I didn't run into any serious issues or errors. Zorin was stable, fast, and solid. The distribution does what it says in the documentation and release announcement, and does it well without any hiccups. This is probably the best distribution I have run so far this year for most Linux users, but particularly those new to Linux. Zorin OS tries to make the migration from Windows (or macOS) as painless as possible as does a good job of being both familiar and offering a better experience than the platforms it seeks to replace.
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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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Visitor supplied rating
Zorin OS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.4/10 from 233 review(s).
Have you used Zorin OS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
How Debian imports new package versions, Haiku publishes progress report, Linux celebrates its 30th birthday
The Debian project maintains tens of thousands of packages, each of which gets updated across multiple branches of the Debian project. To help with the maintenance of all these thousands of upstream packages a number of automated tools have been put into place to help the developers. Some of this automation is discussed in Jelmer Vernooij's blog post. "Linux distributions like Debian fulfill an important function in the FOSS ecosystem - they are system integrators that take existing free and open source software projects and adapt them where necessary to work well together. They also make it possible for users to install more software in an easy and consistent way and with some degree of quality control and review. One of the consequences of this model is that the distribution package often lags behind upstream releases. This is especially true for distributions that have tighter integration and standardization (such as Debian), and often new upstream code is only imported irregularly because it is a manual process - both updating the package, but also making sure that it still works together well with the rest of the system."
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The Haiku project has published a status report which details progress made over the past two months. The project has made advances in its hardware ports, driver support, and font rendering. There have also been small improvements to a variety of applications: "HaikuWebKit received a major update, fixing many bugs and bringing it more in line with modern web standards. There are still a lot of problems to solve, however. Zotyamester added an eject button to eject CDs and DVDs from MediaPlayer. PulkoMandy improved the size computation of People window, making sure there is no scrollbar and the whole list of attributes is visible, unless it can't fit on screen. Jessicah made the 16 base colours in Terminal customizable, so that light and dark colour schemes can automatically configure them as appropriate to have readable text in all cases." Further details can be found in the project's blog post.
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This week, 30 years ago, Linus Torvalds announced the creation of his open source kernel which would later become known around the world as Linux. "I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since April, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things). I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months." That August 25th, 1991 post is often seen as the birth of modern day Linux and we are pleased to celebrate 30 years of Linux advancement and accomplishment. Linux currently powers most of the world's smart phones, super computers, a vast number of servers, and many million desktop computers. Happy birthday, Linux!
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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) |
Continuing the Linux kernel and alternative access to the terminal
Already-missing-him asks: What would happen to the Linux kernel if Linus Torvalds passed away? Who gets to decide what happens to the Linux kernel then?
DistroWatch answers: In the event Torvalds passes away or simply retires then the most likely person to take over the official Linux branch would be Greg Kroah-Hartman. He has stepped in to run things in the past when Torvalds has stepped away from kernel development for periods of time.
I see this question get asked a lot in various Linux-related forums and I suspect it comes from an outdated idea that Linux is worked on by Torvalds and a small band of independent programmers. This has not been true for over two decades. The kernel is currently worked on by hundreds of developers, many of them professionally employed by large technology companies like Red Hat, Microsoft, and Intel. Chances are very little would change for Linux development. The kernel's infrastructure and support base are huge and there are several multi-billion dollar companies with a strong incentive to keep things running smoothly, whoever is currently signing off on the final official releases.
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Missing-my-shell asks: I accidentally uninstalled my desktop's terminal. Is there another way to access the terminal?
On most Linux distributions, at least all of those which still install the X.Org display software, you can run the command xterm to get a simplified terminal emulator. On most desktops you can press Alt+F2 to run any command, including xterm. It's not fancy, but it will give you shell access and allow you to re-install your usual terminal.
Alternatively you can use the Ctrl+Alt+F2 keyboard combination to switch from graphical mode to a terminal. This will give you a text console where you can sign in and perform rescue operations or install missing packages. You can return to the graphical environment by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F7 or, on some distributions, Ctrl+Alt+F1.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Voyager Live 11
Rodolphe Bachelart has announced the availability of Voyager Live 11, a major new release of the project's Debian-based desktop Linux distribution with a customised GNOME desktop. This version is derived from the recently-released Debian 11 "Bullseye" and it comes with a variety of non-free firmware pre-installed. It ships with the GNOME 3.38 desktop, Linux kernel 5.10, Firefox 78.13 and LibreOffice 7.0. This time the release preserved the internal structure of Debian 11 to avoid any security issues and all the package updates come from official Debian mirrors. It is also a more international release as all languages and translations have been preserved. Voyager has improved the "Box" with new scripts, such as the "Switch" script which allows a one-click switch between the environment of Debian 11 and Voyager 11. Other scripts provide ways to modify various Conky options, install GNOME extensions, switch to a PC Tablet mode with one-click screen rotation, Voyager wallpapers, restore options, installation of Wine Staging, among many others. Read the detailed release announcement (in French) for more information, video presentation and screenshots.
Voyager Live 11 -- Voyager's default desktop layout
(full image size: 940kB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Clonezilla Live 2.7.3-19
Clonezilla Live is a Debian-based live CD containing Clonezilla, a partition and disk cloning software. The project has published a new stable version with updated kernel, hardware support, and better judgement of whether a device is a disk or partition. "This release of Clonezilla Live includes major enhancements and bug fixes. Enhancements and changes since 2.7.2-39: the underlying GNU/Linux operating system has been upgraded - this release is based on the Debian 'Sid' repository as of 2021-08-17; Linux kernel has been updated to 5.10.46; ocs-restore-mdisks - support wildcard for device name; ocs-restore-mdisks - 'all' can be used as all non-busy local disks, it will countdown 15 seconds, not 7 seconds before the device name is assigned as 'all'; update USAGE about the option -j2 for ocs-sr; add warning messages about skipping option '-j2' (clone_hidden_data) when it's in restoreparts. the python3-crypto package has been removed since it's not used in Clonezilla Live; add short options -bm and -em for the beginner and expert modes in drbl-ocs, ocs-live-feed-img, ocs-onthefly, ocs-restore-mdisks and ocs-sr...." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement.
Ubuntu 20.04.3
The Ubuntu team has announced a new update to the distribution's install media and community editions. The new version is 20.04.3 and it includes bug fixes that have become available since 20.04 was launched along with support for additional hardware. The release announcement reads: "Like previous LTS series, 20.04.3 includes hardware enablement stacks for use on newer hardware. This support is offered on all architectures. Ubuntu Server defaults to installing the GA kernel; however you may select the HWE kernel from the installer bootloader. As usual, this point release includes many updates, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS." Additional information can be found in the release notes.
LibreELEC 10.0.0
Version 10 of LibreELEC, a specialist Linux distribution that runs the Kodi media centre on many popular minicomputers, has been released: "The final version of LibreELEC 10.0.0 has been released, bringing Kodi (Matrix) 19.1 to LibreELEC users. Users of LibreELEC 10 Beta or RC1 get an automatic update to the final version. LibreELEC 9.2 setups will not be automatically updated, you will need to manually update. We can offer stable and good working versions for Allwinner, Generic and Rockchip devices. The RPi4 is also in good shape but the codebase is rather new, so it is not polished yet (keep reading for details). Despite a long development period, there is still a major bug remaining. When you use profiles, LibreELEC's Settings Add-on can crash while switching to another profile. The issue is known, but we have currently no fix for it. So if you depend on profiles, you cannot properly use LibreELEC 10." Read the full release announcement for more details and known issues. LibreELEC 10.0.0 is available for Raspberry Pi, Allwinner, Rockchip, Amlogic, NXP and "Generic" devices.
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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: 2,569
- Total data uploaded: 39.7TB
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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) |
Which virtual terminal do you use?
In this week's Questions and Answers column we talked about gaining access to a terminal when the desktop's virtual terminal has been removed. We would like to know, assuming you do use the Linux terminal, how do you access it? Do you use one of the popular desktop environment terminals such as Konsole or GNOME Terminal? Do you use a classic virtual terminal such as xterm or even the local text console? Let us know your preferred terminal environment in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on running Debian and its children in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Hanh Linux. Hanh Linux is based on Artix. It features the OpenRC service manager and strives to provide a minimal, better performing operating system.
- AlpsOS. AlpsOS is a Debian-based desktop distribution.
- CutefishOS. CutefishOS is an Ubuntu-based distribution which strives to offer a friendlier desktop experience.
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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, 6 September 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 • terminal (by Bob on 2021-08-30 00:27:32 GMT from United States)
Termite terminal is a favorite of mine.
2 • Terminal use. (by vmclark on 2021-08-30 01:09:19 GMT from United States)
Don't see a lot of differences between xfce, gnome, kde, etc as far as using a terminal. I use bash, and all my aliases work the same. I do know about the split screen and all the other features. I normally don't use those features.
3 • Terminal (by Guido on 2021-08-30 01:37:37 GMT from Philippines)
At the moment I use Tilix, which has many options for different profiles, tabs, bookmarks etc. But the others are also good.
4 • Linus (by Charlie on 2021-08-30 02:11:06 GMT from Hong Kong)
For someone who are new to Linux, Linus himself seldom writes codes nowadays. His main job is reading mailing lists and doing code review.
Development job of the kernel has been shifted to different dvelopers for a long time.
5 • Where's URxvt (by aaro on 2021-08-30 02:27:58 GMT from Venezuela)
How's that URxvt is not in that list? Got QTerminal? Got Terminology? but not URxvt? Come on!!!...
6 • Micromanagement details are going, thank goodness. (by Greg Zeng on 2021-08-30 03:02:00 GMT from Australia)
With each new technology, Linux included, the pioneers are micro focused. When these details are settled (which terminal, which personnel, etc), automatic details (systems, legal structures, management succession, etc) are automated enough to remove micro uncertainties.
Linux did this well. Will Apple or Microsoft "buy" Linux, the way that IBM bought Redhat? Hopefully, these macro-management details will not kill the philosophical dreams that avoid short term materialism.
Loyalists to Distrowatch now are concerned about the important role that this publication plays in the Linux world. What will happen next, in developments & future management? Are there similar protections?
7 • Which Linux Terminal (by Jules on 2021-08-30 03:16:11 GMT from Australia)
I use Xfce terminal as I like Xfce Desktop Environment as a whole.
When I install a linux distro in a VM with or without Xfce DE,
I always install a Xfce Terminal to see if it runs. If I have issues,
then I throw the towel in.
I am always willing to tryout new terminals where possible.
Gnome terminal is 2nd best favourite.
Cheers
Long Live Linux..
8 • Yakuake & such (by M.Z. on 2021-08-30 03:36:25 GMT from United States)
My main terminal is Yakuake, so I decided to vote for Konsole, which is what it is based on from what I can tell. Maybe not enough for that to not be counted as 'other' in the pole, but I think that could go either way.
@6 "...Will Apple or Microsoft "buy" Linux, the way that IBM bought Redhat?"
Doesn't the entire question miss the point of the GPL software license? What on earth would be the point if it could just be forked by the kernel devs from other parts of the project, given the hundreds of devs mentioned in the QA section? Such a fork would be legally required to maintain a GPL license & organizations like the Free Software Foundation would certainly sue if corporate players tried to keep what was developed in part by the free software community out of the hands of the community.
If contract laws & previous legal precedents involving the GPL mean anything, then GPL software like Linux is distributed under a license that protects the rights of its users to own the code as much as anyone could. So long as there are devs in the kernel team who care about the rights of users to ensure that they can still access Linux, or organizations like FSF who care, or courts protecting licenses like the GPL, users will have access to Linux. If those all magically disappear, you may be too busy with a time machine or space ship or some such thing to worry about that for the moment, or you're in a post apocalyptic wasteland & no longer care anyway.
9 • Guake + Fish Combo (by Jimbo in NZ on 2021-08-30 03:43:34 GMT from New Zealand)
Guake + Fish combo - is the standard for me
Guake is old school HUD style prompt (like Quake).
Fish auto senses better than Bash.
10 • Terminal (by kekePower on 2021-08-30 04:51:27 GMT from Norway)
At the moment I use Kitty. It works just as I like it, has tabs, no annoying bugs, is in active development and is quick enough.
11 • Terminal (by yetanothergeek on 2021-08-30 04:52:22 GMT from United States)
@5: Agreed.
Depending on resources and availability, either rxvt-unicode or mrxvt for me.
12 • Terminal (by Black_Codec on 2021-08-30 05:00:36 GMT from Italy)
I like terminator, tab and multi window on same tab (like tmux with split screen option).
13 • Terminal (by nsp0323 on 2021-08-30 05:02:10 GMT from Sweden)
Voted xterm but, that's not the whole truth, as I use alacritty as well.
14 • Terminal (by adi on 2021-08-30 05:18:31 GMT from Indonesia)
I don't mind what Terminal is as long as it has clean interface and a "paste" on right click.
15 • Terminal (by Romane on 2021-08-30 06:01:03 GMT from Australia)
Xfce terminal. but simply because that comes default with Xfce. Have tried Termit as that came defaulted with one of the distro's have trialed. Have used the standard terminal in KDE/Plasma, and other terminals (just from curiosity) at various times. Only really one thing that can say - for _my use-case_, a terminal is a terminal is a terminal
16 • Zorin (by Valsu on 2021-08-30 06:01:54 GMT from Germany)
As good a distribution as Zorin may be, I really wish they would rework their branding. The default theme is bland and uninspired and their logo - frankly speaking - looks quite amateurish (imo).
17 • Terminal (by Kazlu on 2021-08-30 08:00:19 GMT from France)
I voted Xfce terminal, but a more accurate answer would have been "whatever is my distribution's default". Considering my basic usage of the terminal, I don't really care which virtual terminal I use as long as the job is done. I don't look for alternatives. I manage my wife's computer (Linux Mint MATE) with the default terminal installed there, which is not the same. Absolutely fine.
18 • Debian - Wayland - Gnome (by tomas on 2021-08-30 09:24:43 GMT from Czechia)
I must come back to last weeks' review on Debian.
Some of us here would prefer that the review took some other desktop than Gnome.
Having tested my prefered ones I found out that Gnome seems to be the only one running on Wayland. Those that I have tried run on X.
So I can understand the choice for the review.
On the other hand I'd like to know if there are any distributions running other desktops on Wayland.
There was also some discussion on the role of the installer program.
I was rather surprized to find out that, depending on the media used, giving the same input (whenever asked) I got three quite different results.
19 • Terminal (by James on 2021-08-30 10:01:33 GMT from United States)
I use the default terminal for whatever OS I am using, which right now is the MATE Terminal, default terminal for Ubuntu Mate.
20 • XFCE terminal (by Simon on 2021-08-30 10:01:38 GMT from New Zealand)
I'm interested to see that this is now such a widely used terminal...which (as a guess and also judging from the posts) simply suggests that XFCE is now a very widely used desktop. When I first switched to it, it was a fairly obscure light desktop for people who liked GTK but found GNOME (2 in those days, I think) too heavy. I guess I was still expecting to see GNOME terminal or Konsole as the main terminals because my perception was the GNOME and KDE were still the main desktop environments for Linux...but maybe that's no longer the case? I have noticed XFCE being used more and more as a distro default. Anyway it's been my DE, and its terminal my terminal, for many years now, and across many years on different distros: as others have commented, I like its terminal but am not sure that I'd have chosen it if it weren't part of XFCE. Maybe...it does, like other components of XFCE, feel about right to me in terms of the balance between simplicity and useful features...so maybe if I were cobbling together a GTK desktop from various (not integrated as a DE) bits and pieces, I'd still opt for xfce4-terminal.
21 • zoring (by fonz on 2021-08-30 10:40:41 GMT from Indonesia)
zorin is pretty underrated IMHO, its a much better starting point than most mainstreamers. along with the usual 3 Ms (mint MX, and manjaro) i often also suggest zorin. truth be told i havent used zorin for ages, but i did remember having a better experience than when upgrading ubuntu to 16. oh and look endeavor sharply rose on the PHR, grats to them, i was never lucky when trying out antergos, but hopefully endeavorll actually install (calamares FTW). wonder if haikus ready for noobs too....
back then i used to love terminator because of all the bells and whistles, now im just using boring old st, but with tmux. yeah its like vim, lots of 'unique' defaults, but it does make transitioning (like using another PC) without my configs much easier that way.
22 • Terminal (by Tim on 2021-08-30 12:14:08 GMT from United States)
I have been using zutty for the past couple of months. Prior to it, I had used rxvt-unicode for many years.
23 • terminal (by wally on 2021-08-30 12:53:16 GMT from United States)
I run Mate, so Mate-terminal
24 • Terminal (by Dan on 2021-08-30 13:19:22 GMT from United States)
The different terminals all seem the same to me, but since I use Bodhi Linux, it's Terminology all the way.
25 • Terminal (by Aladár on 2021-08-30 14:37:53 GMT from Hungary)
Other: Tilda drop-down terminal
26 • terminal (by Gavin on 2021-08-30 14:44:20 GMT from Chile)
@5 Quite right. Urxvt on i3 for those of us who live in the shell!
27 • Terminal (by Nathan on 2021-08-30 15:28:25 GMT from United States)
I've been enjoying alacritty on i3 for a while. Never been a fan of built-in tabs and such in a terminal emulator; that's what the desktop's for! My only beef with alacritty is actually with most distros' /etc/profile, which typically have a hardcoded list of acceptable $TERM strings in order to enable certain shell features such as color. Since alacritty is too new to the scene to be part of that elite list, I just export TERM=xterm and call it a day.
28 • Terminal Choice (by sananab on 2021-08-30 15:35:23 GMT from Canada)
I use XFCE terminal even when I'm not using XFCE because it starts up quickly and has a few features involving fonts and colours that I like. There was another one I used to use, but it was written in Java and took a few seconds to start. Things may be different now, though, since it's been a few years since I've tried anything else.
29 • Terminal (by Robert on 2021-08-30 15:46:40 GMT from United States)
I use the guake dropdown terminal. Voted 'other' but I don't know if it runs gnome terminal under the hood or does it's own thing. Similarly I use yakuake when on KDE.
They all run bash (or zsh or whatever) so one terminal emulator is much the same as another as far as I'm concerned. As long as I can get a drop down I'm happy.
30 • Terminal? What terminal? (by Friar Tux on 2021-08-30 16:31:35 GMT from Canada)
And now a word from the other side of the coin. I DON'T use a terminal. Caution:- personal opinion ahead... I think terminals are like jungle drums - old and primitive. I can do more quicker and easier with an app/program than constantly typing commands and hitting Enter (and having one wee typing error screw it all up). In my book, if it can't be done with a GUI, it doesn't need doing. After all, we are in the twenty-first century. There's an app/program for everything. Point and click, the only way to go. /end of rant.
31 • Terminal (by DaveT on 2021-08-30 16:52:44 GMT from United Kingdom)
xterm for routine stuff but I always install the Mate Terminal too for working in multiple terminals controlling multiple servers. You can easily switch between different profiles. I have tried lots of other terminals over the years, Mate wins!
32 • Zorin (by ED on 2021-08-30 17:12:13 GMT from United States)
I tried the latest Zorin. Not bad but Mint is much better and more configurable to mimic Windows, which ultimately is what they are striving for in getting Win users to migrate. Coming along quite nicely though,
33 • Zorin (by Mike Simms on 2021-08-30 17:41:00 GMT from United Kingdom)
I installed Zorin on my Parents PC a couple of years ago and haven't had any major complaints about it from them or complications to deal with. The previous core version which is what they have featured highly integrated emulation for Windows software that meant a program installer would work by simply double-clicking on the EXE and I'm surprised the latest build doesn't.
Regarding Zorin Connect, if you use standard GNOME on any distribution there is an equivalent called GSConnect, it's not quite as polished as Zorin Connect but it works fine. Both interface very nicely with KDE Connect on Android.
34 • terminal (by dave on 2021-08-30 17:43:54 GMT from United States)
used to use xterm or urxvt but when I'm using Xfce (like nowadays) I tend to just use its default terminal.
35 • Terminal (by buckyogi on 2021-08-30 18:52:00 GMT from United States)
Terminator since very soon after I adopted Linux, but a few have been mentioned here I haven't heard of, and I will check them out.
36 • terminal (by Postertom on 2021-08-30 19:22:59 GMT from United States)
MATE terminal is simple but capable. The defaults are just right - setting don't have to be tweaked. System Monitor says that it uses 41 MiB. Is 41 MiB a lot for a terminal?
37 • Terminal (by Tad Strange on 2021-08-30 19:37:04 GMT from Canada)
most popular subject line ever?
I use whatever comes default, which is usually Konsole. I just use it for simple maintenance tasks.
I prefer the old green on black look, personally
38 • The XFCE desktop. (by luvr on 2021-08-30 19:37:41 GMT from Belgium)
@20 I assist four families to maintain their laptops, and after trying out a few distributions, I settled on Xubuntu. Initially, I went for Ubuntu with GNOME2, later on I tried Debian with GNOME2, Debian with XFCE, Mint with Cinnamon, Ubuntu with Unity. I quickly dropped Ubuntu with Unity, since that got the least favourable reaction of them all.
One of the issues that mainly elderly people seemed to have, was understanding the directory hierarchy (or "folder" hierarchy, if you will). They kept getting confused about the idea of having folders containing folders containing more folders, etc. They kept asking me where again their "Documents" or "Videos" or their "Holiday Videos" were to be found, and I really couldn't keep coming up with inspiration to explain the hierarchy to them in yet another way, in the hope that they would finally understand.
Then I decided to try XFCE for a change, to see how they would react to that. I placed the "Directory Menu" item on the panel, and casually mentioned it to them when I introduced this new desktop environment to them, ... and lo and behold: the directory hierarchy suddenly caught on!
Personally, I had never thought much of that "Directory Item" until then and I found it superfluous, but out of curiosity, I began to use it too, and frankly: it's a great idea once you get used to it!
Lastly, about the choice between Debian with XFCE and Xubuntu: they found Debian quite nice, but when I introduced them to Xubuntu, it really wowed them.
39 • Terminal (by Alessandro di Roma on 2021-08-30 20:33:36 GMT from Italy)
I use Xubuntu with all the Xfce tools, included Xfce Terminal, with one exception only: as a file manager I like Nemo more than Thunar because its integrated search capability.
40 • Terminal (by Daniel Martinez on 2021-08-30 21:17:37 GMT from United States)
I chose Konsole in the poll because I mainly use KDE. But I'm not partial to any particular terminal emulator, just what ever works.
41 • Default terminal (by Frenchie on 2021-08-30 22:11:53 GMT from France)
I mostly use Linux (Ubuntu) as an enduser environment at home. So i rarely need to open a terminal. I mostly do so just for fun, to do stuff i can and most usually do with the default graphical tools.
Consequently the default terminal app (GNOME Terminal) is just enough for me. And probably for any user. After all, what you need most to run a shell is the shell and command manual pages. Any kind of Unix/Linux shell will probably run with the default terminal app of any desktop environment.
You probably only *really* need to use another app :
- if you are a shell power user (then you may find specific splitiing-screen terminal apps more convenient than running several windows or tabs of the default terminal app)
- or if you need to connect to some very exotic systems like old-technology mainframes (they often require specific page mode terminal emulators, but i donot know if there are open source tools of this kind on Linux because my colleagues who work on mainframes use commercial Windows terminal emulators).
42 • XFCE (by Mike Simms on 2021-08-30 22:38:32 GMT from United Kingdom)
@38 check out Zorin Lite. It may be a handy alternative to have in your collection for introducing new users to linux and assisting them going forwards. It's based on the same K.I.S.S. principles as Zorin Core but uses a highly polished XFCE desktop environment (it actually makes XFCE look modern)
43 • AlpsOS (by namish on 2021-08-30 23:45:31 GMT from Canada)
AlpsOS - nice Debian-based distro by a techish company. Though its only included "security" features seem to be Firefox ESR & a couple of encryption apps.
44 • Terminal (by Beastie on 2021-08-30 23:56:16 GMT from Switzerland)
I don't use the Xfce desktop anymore (switched to LXQt) but I kept using xfce4-terminal in drop-down mode as my default terminal. I just works and it's really convenient.
45 • Terminal (by Al Per on 2021-08-31 01:58:03 GMT from United States)
I think that the terminal subject is related to the Destop Environment preferred which in my case is Xfce. I have a multi-boot setup which also includes OS's with Mate or KDE (I definitely can't stand Gnome; it's too rigid to my taste) and in each of them I add both the Xfce4-terminal and Thunar without deleting the original terminals (mate terminal or Konsole).
I like KDE, but my complaint with it is that Dolphin can't run as root whereas Thunar can.
I like the Mate Desktop too, but as I keep my personal files in an external disk, I've found that Thunar presents this disk in a handier position (more easily accessible) than Caja does.
46 • openSUSE has Dolphin running as root, it's SYSTEM > File Manager Super User Mode (by SlantFan on 2021-08-31 04:53:15 GMT from United States)
The KDE version of openSUSE has Dolphin running both as the regular user as well as the root user. You go to the System menu and it's called File Manager Super User Mode. It's very handy and I use it frequently.
47 • Another vote for mate-terminal (by AdamB on 2021-08-31 05:36:06 GMT from Australia)
Most of my machines with a Desktop Environment are running MATE, and I am very happy with mate-terminal. One of the choices on my multi-boot machine is Q4OS-Trinity, and I use Konsole on that, though I have to do some configuring to make it work in a familiar way.
There are circumstances where I regularly use a "real text console", directly or indirectly:
- accessing any machine via SSH;
- accessing virtual machines which are running a GUI-less server distribution;
- temporarily connecting a keyboard amd monitor to one of my Raspberry Pis which are running Raspbian Lite.
48 • Happy 30th Birthday Linux! (by penguinx86 on 2021-08-31 10:13:49 GMT from United States)
I use Xfce terminal with Linux Mint Xfce. I like Linux Mint because it's the only distro that works with the Wifi adapter in my laptop. I would consider using other distros, if they provided better laptop hardware compatibility.
49 • Which terminal do you use? (by R. Cain on 2021-08-31 10:58:15 GMT from United States)
guake.
50 • Re: Poll (by Dave on 2021-08-31 13:33:18 GMT from United States)
In Linux I used Gnome Terminal, because my desktop is Gnome. Terminal is okay, but I so wish it were more like iterm2 that I use on my MacBook.
51 • Why emulate when you could use hardware? (by Kyle on 2021-08-31 14:06:21 GMT from United States)
This week's poll reminded me of a YouTube video, "Using a 1930 Teletype as a Linux Terminal" by CuriousMarc. He built an interface device to convert between low-voltage RS232 and high-voltage Baudot, started a terminal session on the serial port, and had a working mechanical terminal. It was horribly limited by the character set, but it worked!
As for me, I usually stick with whichever software terminal emulator integrates best with my desktop environment. Lately, that has been KDE Plasma and Konsole. I did recently give Alacritty a try, and while I admire its simplicity, it didn't offer as pleasant of an interaction with the GUI as I have come to expect from windowed terminal emulators.
52 • Terminal (by far2fish on 2021-08-31 14:28:38 GMT from Denmark)
Terminator or Gnome Terminal.
53 • Terminal (by Tony Agudo on 2021-08-31 17:17:46 GMT from United States)
As I like to use MATE as a preferred desktop environment, I use MATE Terminal with a green on black theme, so I voted "other". It would be nice though to have a login session option rather than a keystroke to bring up the text console for those times I wanna work with zero graphical distractions.
54 • terminal emulator (by Trihexagonal on 2021-08-31 17:26:36 GMT from United States)
I use urxvt as a terminal emulator and have an instance open with the desktop that stays open as long as it's up.
When I compile ports I exit Fluxbox to the login terminal and work from there.
55 • Konsole (by Mike Simms on 2021-09-01 18:56:38 GMT from United Kingdom)
I use Konsole very occasionally which is standard for KDE Plasma. I tried Yakuake in the past as an autostart item but didn't really need drop down access to a terminal running all the time on my machine so ditched it.
I don't mind switching tty and using terminal itself but it is more comfortable for me to use Konsole now for the reason below.
The font used in any terminal or emulator window is more important to me these days as I've lost sight in one eye. I have settled on the Airbus cockpit derived B612 Mono font. It has very clear and easily distinguishable glyphs and decent spacing which means I'm not straining to read it with the sight I have left in the other eye.
56 • no love for CRT? (by Laubster on 2021-09-02 00:16:18 GMT from United States)
I love running "cool retro term" for my terminal app. Its appearance closely resembles hardware I used decades ago.
57 • CRT (by Mike Simms on 2021-09-02 00:44:58 GMT from United Kingdom)
If I could, I would use something like that. However, I still have the real thing in the attic and drag it out occasionally to make sure it's not rotting up there and to have a bit of fun with it. An AMSTRAD CPC6128, that consumed some of my misspent childhood and taught me programming via the instruction manual games and also some magazines written specifically for it. CPC World and AMSTRAD Action...
58 • CRT (by Tad Strange on 2021-09-02 14:21:19 GMT from Canada)
Ah, a great reminder of why I junked that old gear and never looked back. They were bad enough back then, never mind now when I'm into progressive lenses.
Must admit that I never gave Zorin a look. I tend to take a hard pass on these "commercial" distributions.
I spun up a VM of Core and of Lite and through the lens of a new user, they both seem to get one going.
I had previously been playing with Mint XFCE and Theme Twister on a 2011 Acer Celeron laptop that I just threw an SSD and memory at to make it usable. The fake Windows look/feel works well enough, and is good for a giggle, but that's a crutch compared to something that has been well thought out to provide a smooth platform transition.
Well done.
59 • Mint and themes... (by Friar Tux on 2021-09-02 17:00:19 GMT from Canada)
@58 (Tad) "I had previously been playing with Mint XFCE and Theme Twister..." Twister must only work with XFCE as I'm on Mint/Cinnamon and can't seem to open it. HOWEVER, I do use the Oomox Theme Builder on Cinnamon and love the results. I absolution despise those ugly dark grey themes trending these days. Quite hideous looking. I prefer a bit of colour. Oomox does a great job and I wouldn't be without it. (Though, if you want more prominent borders, you'll manually have to edit the .css, .scss, and .xml theme files.)
60 • @59 (by Tad Strange on 2021-09-03 13:26:45 GMT from Canada)
Yes - Twister is an XFCE only thing. I had been trying it on the Raspberry Pi and figured I'd give it a go on x86. It's really a gimmick, unless you like Windows and Mac desktops throughout the past 25 years. I tend to prefer Plasma desktop anyway these days.
I'm on the fence with dark themes. Whatever it is, it has to be easy on the eyes, so far as eyestrain goes. Too dark is just as bad as too light.
The neutral, more corporate grey, type (generic 1990's desktops) might have been dull and industrial looking, but they certainly were kind to the retinas.
Number of Comments: 60
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| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Clusterix
Clusterix was a modular Linux live CD based on Morphix, Knoppix and Debian GNU/Linux. Clusterix features the openMosix clustering software for setting up clusters without much effort.
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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