 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 933, 6 September 2021 |
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Welcome to this year's 35th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The world of computers and technology is complex. There are so many file formats, web browsers, distributions, and protocols that sometimes it's challenging to keep them straight, let alone get them all working smoothly together. This week we explore some projects which strive to make things more simple. We begin with a look at elementary OS, a desktop Linux distribution which tries to streamline the user experience and cut out clutter. Read on to learn more about elementary OS from our guest author, Jeff Siegel. Then, in our Questions and Answers column we talk about decluttering filenames. Different operating systems handle filenames in different ways, using their own special characters and rules. We talk about how to clean up filenames to make them more cross-platform friendly and easier to handle in scripts. In our News section we report on the Linux Mint team polishing their website and desktop themes while the GhostBSD project swaps out OpenRC for FreeBSD's service manager. Plus we talk about how the Qubes project is trying to make it possible for users to know that the project has not been compromised by government agencies. This week we are also pleased to share a list of recent releases along with the torrents we are seeding. Finally, for our Opinion Poll we tip out hat to 30 years of Linux development and ask how long our readers have been running the Linux kernel - either on servers, desktops, or mobile devices. Let us know how you got started with Linux in the comments. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: elementary OS 6.0 "Odin"
- News: Linux Mint polishes its look, GhostBSD swaps out OpenRC for FreeBSD's service manager, Qubes publishes a canary
- Questions and answers: Cleaning special characters out of filenames
- Released last week: Linux Lite 5.6, EndeavourOS 2021.08.27, Linux From Scratch 11.0
- Torrent corner: Alpine, Arch Linux, Bluestar, EasyOS, EndeavourOS, KDE neon, Linux Lite, Manjaro, Nitrux, Obarun, openmamba
- Upcoming releases: Tails 4.22
- Opinion poll: How long have you been using Linux?
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (by Jeff Siegel) |
elementary OS 6.0 "Odin"
Think of elementary OS as the distro that - in a perfect world - would carry Linux to desktop domination. It's slick, it looks good, it's surprisingly nimble, and its developers have only the best of intentions.
So why doesn't it come with a word processor?
One would think, in the second decade of the 21st century, that a word processor would be standard equipment, showing up next to the email, calendar, and other apps after installation. But not in the new elementary OS 6, code named Odin. Yes, with a little bit of command line keystroking, you can add LibreOffice or Calligra or even AbiWord.
But an office suite, just because almost everyone uses a word processor or a spreadsheet or a presentation app these days?
Nope.
And this, more than anything, points to the reason why elementary, despite its fame and accomplishments, makes so many of us install something else. Early on, I used elementary as my daily driver. It was that fresh and that amazing and even I began to wonder if it was the future.
elementary OS 6.0 -- The default desktop layout
(full image size: 1.9MB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
But as soon as it moved from Jupiter to Luna, I switched back to Xubuntu. I need a distro that helps me work - not one that sits on the screen so I can admire its beauty. And, sadly, Odin continues that tradition. Is it fast and mostly intuitive? Yep. Does it include terrific documentation and does it look gorgeous? You bet. Is it also annoying, frustrating, and even occasionally aggravating?
Of course it is.
The background
elementary starts with surprisingly simple recommended hardware: Just 4GB of memory, an i3 processor or equivalent, and only a 15GB hard drive. In fact, the installation directions, and even how to write the ISO download to a thumb drive, are well-written and easy to follow. In this, it may be the best how-to for accessing a BIOS boot drive I've seen.
Odin is based on the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS release and uses the 5.11 kernel. It includes a variety of changes, improvements, and updates from elementary 5.1 Hera, many of which make the distro even better looking and even smoother in use. Look for updates for many of its bespoke applications, like the web browser (GNOME's old Epiphany browser, relabeled Web) and the email app (Mail), as well as a new to-do app called Task. The other apps, like Music, Video, Calendar, and Camera, do pretty much what they're supposed to do.
elementary OS 6.0 -- The welcome window
(full image size: 1.6MB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
The installer has been streamlined and takes up only three screens once it appears - a most welcome change. My laptop booted in seconds, so quickly that I barely noticed. Battery life was good, too - some word processing, web browsing, emails, testing the video and music players, and the like, and I got about 3.5 hours on my well-used machine.
Multi-touch support has been improved, there's a firmware updater (also most welcome), and new wallpapers and app decorations have been added. Plus a dark mode, since everything has to have a dark mode these days.
elementary OS 6.0 -- Adjusting the theme of the virtual terminal
(full image size: 957kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
But perhaps the most important change? The App Center focuses on installing software using Flatpak and includes Sideload, a dedicated Flatpak installation app. This is a fundamental change in the way most Linux distros handle software availability and installation. Yes, you can use the command line to install LibreOffice or Firefox, or to pull down Synaptic to handle the chore; Odin still accesses the Ubuntu repos. And, depending on how the App Center updates (since it's buggy too, just like most software centres in the Ubuntu family), all of the available apps may not show up right away. In my case it took three boots for the App Center to populate.
elementary OS 6.0 -- Trying to fetch package updates
(full image size: 714kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
But the distro's developers would prefer you use their stuff - so much so that there's a warning if you try to install any other software: "Install untrusted/non-curated app? 'LibreOffice' is not curated by elementary and has not been reviewed for security, privacy, or system integration." Why this warning for major open-source software, which is certainly not anything like some phishing expedition on Android?
elementary OS 6.0 -- Installing untrusted applications
(full image size: 619kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
And, because it's elementary, the developers anticipate a variety of installation and use problems. There's a note in the FAQ outlining the App Center changes, as well a recommendation to only install software via Flathub, the Flatpak repository. There's also a mention of the distro's failure to install in VirtualBox (which I found to be spot on despite repeated attempts to make it work).
Installation, though, is not always easy and straightforward. If you don't use Etcher to put the ISO on a thumb drive, good luck. This is odd for an Ubuntu-based distro other than Pop!_OS; most typically install using any ISO writer. I have rarely had difficulties using Multi-System, for example.
And even if you use Etcher, there might be problems - hanging at "stdin: not a typewriter" on the initial installation screen, for example. And a Reddit post reported problems upgrading from Hera, which might even bork the box (which, to its credit, the FAQ says not to do in favor of a fresh install).
Getting some work done
This is where elementary reminds us that it can be so frustrating, even after "sudo apt-get ..." delivers a word processor.
The top panel, for all practical purposes, can't be changed. So no Nextcloud or Zoom icon. And if you don't use Bluetooth, which I don't, a grayed icon stares at you ... and stares at you ... and stares at you. There is, apparently, a third-party PPA workaround for this, but I didn't want to take the chance it would make matters worse.
A single click opens folders in the file manager (Files, also known as Pantheon), like KDE's Dolphin. But opening files in folders requires a double click. It's not so much that this is odd or that it can't be changed. The truly annoying part is that unless you know elementary, you double click on a folder and find yourself down two levels instead of one. It takes a half dozen or so double clicks before you can figure out what's going on.
Odin recognized my Canon MX-922 printer, which connects through Wi-Fi, but it wouldn't print. It still wouldn't print even after I used the tweaks that lets it print on Fedora and the Ubuntu distributions.
The Pantheon Tweak tool, a third-party app, enables changes in Files. This includes moving the close button to the upper right hand corner and adding a minimize button. But it doesn't fix the click/double-click thing.
Odin uses the Plank dock, but makes it more difficult to change settings - and it's not like changing Plank's settings are intuitive to begin with. Here, it's Ctrl-right-click, as opposed to right-click.
By themselves, these minor niggles are just part of the Linux experience. How many of us still hold a grudge because Unity isn't GNOME, and vice versa? The catch, though, is that these minor inconveniences add up. If I don't use Bluetooth, why should I be forced to look at the icon, but not see icons that I want, like Nextcloud and Zoom?
Finally, the non-elementary apps business may well be more than a minor niggle, despite good intentions and long explanations on elementary's website. It will scare away a lot of people who might want to try Odin because it is so pretty, works as well as it does, and gets such good reviews. The normal, intuitive thing to do is to look in the App Center for software; what will they think about Linux when there's a warning about using LibreOffice and Firefox?
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Hardware used for this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an HP EliteBook Folio 9480m laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4310u, 2.6GHz
- Storage: 240GB SSD
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Networking: Intel Wireless 7260 802.11ac dual band Wi-Fi + Bluettoh
- Display: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics
When he is not testing out new versions of Linux distributions, Jeff Siegel can be found writing about all things related to wine at Wine Curmudgeon.
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Visitor supplied rating
elementary OS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 5/10 from 170 review(s).
Have you used elementary OS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Linux Mint polishes its look, GhostBSD swaps out OpenRC for FreeBSD's service manager, Qubes publishes a canary
The Linux Mint team is working on polishing the look of the distribution - both its desktop themes and its website. In the project's monthly newsletter the team outlines some of the customizations available: "The Mint-Y Cinnamon theme will provide a light panel (though we'll still ship with Mint-Y-Dark by default). The theme will support dark applications. That last point consists in letting certain applications look dark even in the light theme. In Linux Mint 20.3 we will take advantage of this to ship some of the apps in dark: Celluloid; Xviewer; Pix; Hypnotix; GNOME Terminal. Each of these applications will have a setting in its preference window to disable/enable dark mode. Note that support for dark apps will work with Cinnamon, Marco (MATE's window manager) and Metacity, but not with Xfwm (which is used by default in Xfce)."
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The GhostBSD project is planning to shift from using the OpenRC service manager to running FreeBSD's RC service manager. While OpenRC offers some nice features and possibly some performance benefits, the overhead of maintaining alternative service management from GhostBSD's parent has proven too much work. "For those who are disappointed with this change, put your feet in my shoes. Maintaining FreeBSD services plus FreeBSD ports services for OpenRC is too much for one person. In addition, I do not have the adequate manpower to keep up with all new services and services changes. I have people helping, but it is not enough to keep up. So instead of trying to keep up with something that already works well, GhostBSD will focus on improving the FreeBSD desktop experience." Details on the migration can be found in the project's news post.
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People who are concerned about their privacy often use security-focused operating systems such as Qubes OS or Tails. However, when using these systems people might worry about whether the operating system itself has been compromised or whether its developers have been contacted by government agents to spy on their users. One guard against this sort of thing is called a canary - a document which, if changed, signals something has happened without explicitly stating what has happened as may be required by non-disclosure agreements. The Qubes project has such a canary document which is periodically updated to let users know the project's status. "No warrants have ever been served to us with regard to the Qubes OS Project (e.g. to hand out the private signing keys or to introduce backdoors). We plan to publish the next of these canary statements in the first fourteen days of December 2021. Special note should be taken if no new canary is published by that time or if the list of statements changes without plausible explanation." The full document can be found on the project's news page.
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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) |
Cleaning special characters out of filenames
Surrounded-by-chaos asks: Every time I download a file or get e-mailed a document from a colleague the file has spaces or weird characters in it like ()$!. How can I automate cleaning up filenames so I don't need to rename them in Nautilus every time?
DistroWatch answers: There is a tool which is ideal for this sort of work called detox. The detox command line utility accepts the name of a file (or a directory) and will rename each file you provide to make it easier to work with. This will transform files such as "Untitled (2) - blah#!.pdf" to "Untitled-2-blah#_.pdf".
The detox utility can accept a number of options and special flags, but there are probably just three ways you will want to use this program. The first is to rename a single file. This works by simply passing the name of an existing file to detox and the file will be automatically renamed. Here is an example of fixing the name of one file:
$ ls
Untitled (2) - blah#!
$ detox Untitled\ \(2\)\ -\ blah#\!
$ ls
Untitled-2-blah#_
The detox command can also rename all files in a directory tree. We can accomplish this using the "-r" flag. However, before renaming files you might want to see what the results will be from renaming potentially hundreds or thousands of files. We can perform a test run without changing any filenames by using the "--dry-run" parameter. Here we see what actions detox will take on a directory:
$ detox -r --dry-run Docs
Docs/Untitled (2) - blah#! -> Docs/Untitled-2-blah#_
Docs/a b c () - $%! -> Docs/a_b_c-%_
In the above example we see the original name of both files, followed by the new name detox will assign to the files. To actually perform the rename operation we can drop the "--dry-run" flag:
$ detox -r Docs
$ ls -1 Docs
a_b_c-%_
Untitled-2-blah#
People will typically use detox on files downloaded from the Internet or on files transferred from another operating system which uses different special characters in filenames.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
EndeavourOS 2021.08.27
Bryan Poerwo has announced the availability of EndeavourOS 2021.08.27, the latest stable version of the project's rolling-release Arch Linux-based distribution with Xfce as the default desktop. This release brings major changes to the Calamares system installer: "The changes for Calamares are the most significant ones made on this release. In comparison to our previous releases, this release brings us to a higher level and we are confident to say that this ISO image is a milestone step towards our future. The changes made are complete overhaul under the hood of Calamares with a significant speed increase in installation as the most stellar improvement. This was achieved by throwing our previous system entirely out of the window and building the ISO image from scratch, which resulted in an installer that is fast, light, easy to maintain, easy to add new features in and a hugely improved user experience. Test results did clock an online install time from three to fifteen minutes, depending on the available internet speed." See the release announcement for further information and screenshots.
Linux Lite 5.6
Linux Lite is a beginner-friendly Linux distribution based on Ubuntu's long-term support (LTS) release and featuring the Xfce desktop. The project's latest release, Linux Lite 5.6, is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and offers a number of conveniences and upgrades. Python 3 is now used by default, it is possible to install the distribution via the welcome screen on the live media, and the Lite Tweaks tool will offer to clean up temporary files used by the Brave browser. "Linux Lite 5.6 Final is now available for download and installation. This release includes updates to the Help Manual - our extensive, easy to follow Linux Lite guide, you can now install Linux Lite directly from Lite Welcome, an updated Papirus icon theme, 2 new features added to Lite Tweaks, the introduction of the 'Pay what You Want' digital download model, 7 new wallpapers, Python default version now set to Python3, and a host of bug fixes and enhancements for our target audience. If you're coming from Windows, you'll find this to be a solid, stable release that will help make your transition to a linux based operating system, user friendly." Details on the release, along with screenshots, can be found in the release announcement.
Linux Lite 5.6 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 138kB, resolution: 1360x768 pixels)
Linux From Scratch 11.0
Bruce Dubbs has announced the release of Linux From Scratch (LFS) 11.0, the latest version of the project's book that provides step-by-step instructions of building a Linux system from source code: "The Linux From Scratch community announces the release of LFS version 11.0. The reason for the major release number increment is that this version no longer uses the 'split-user' system. That is, like most current distributions, /bin is a symbolic link to /usr/bin. Likewise, /lib and /sbin are both symbolic links to their /usr counterparts. Additional major changes include toolchain updates to GCC 11.2.0, glibc 2.34, and Binutils 2.37. The Linux kernel has also been updated to version 5.13.12. In total, 40 packages were updated since the last release. Changes to the text have also been made throughout the book. In coordination with this release, a new version of LFS using the systemd package is also being released. This package implements the newer systemd style of system initialization and control and is consistent with LFS in most packages." Visit the project' news page to read the full release announcement. Beyond Linux From Scratch, a book which includes over 1,000 extra packages, is also available in version 11.0.
EasyOS 2.9
Barry Kauler has announced the release of EasyOS 2.9, an updated build of the project's minimalist Linux distribution with roots in Puppy Linux. This version has been completely recompiled in OpenEmbedded, a build framework for embedded Linux: "There has been a complete recompile in OpenEmbedded, with some package version upgrades. Also, SeaMonkey has been upgraded to 2.53.9 and the Linux kernel to 5.10.61. Release notes: OpenEmbedded project 20210828 uploaded; statically linked packages with musl in OpenEmbedded; OpenEmbedded Dunfell aarch64 rebuild; align Perl utility updated; 807 packages compiled in OpenEmbedded for EasyOS; OpenEmbedded Dunfell updated rebuild. Note, when I do a complete rebuild in OE, I bump the 'revision number', in this case from "r3" to "r4" - this is in the package names, note also, 'nocona' is the earliest x86_64 instruction set. Changes that usually go unannounced, I sometimes replace Busybox applets with the full versions, from 'coreutils' or 'util-linux', when I encounter an error due to the Busybox applet not supporting the required commandline options." See the release announcement and the release notes for more information.
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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: 2,580
- Total data uploaded: 39.8TB
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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) |
How long have you been using Linux?
The Linux kernel recently celebrated its 30th birthday. Over the years, Linux has grown from an open source hobby kernel to a strong ecosystem of software to a multi-billion dollar industry. Linux servers now power a large percentage of the Internet, Linux runs on most of the world's fastest super computers, Linux is at the heart of most smartphones, and the popular kernel runs on tens of millions of desktop systems. How long have you been running Linux systems? Let us know what your first taste of Linux was in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on your preferred virtual terminal software in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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I have been running Linux...
| Less than one year: | 34 (1%) |
| 1-2 years: | 81 (3%) |
| 3-5 years: | 157 (6%) |
| 6-10 years: | 433 (16%) |
| 11+ years: | 1915 (72%) |
| I do not use Linux: | 22 (1%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 13 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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| Archives |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Plamo Linux
Plamo Linux is a Japanese Linux distribution based on Slackware Linux. The installer, and many text-based and graphical tools have been updated to include Japanese language support.
Status: Active
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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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