 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 934, 13 September 2021 |
Welcome to this year's 36th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The Arch Linux distribution is a popular, rolling release project that is well known for its detailed documentation and cutting edge software. Installing Arch Linux is usually approached as a manual process and, as a result, setting up the distribution is less convenient than installing other Linux distributions. This has led to the creation of several projects which present themselves as being Arch Linux, but with a graphical installer and pre-configured desktop environment. We begin this week with a look at one such project called Archcraft. The Archcraft distribution combines the Calamares installer with Arch and a lightweight graphical interface. Calamares has been showing up in more and more projects in recent years. What do you think of the Calamares system installer? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. In our News section we talk about a notebook which ships with the KDE neon distribution pre-installed and link to a review of this device. Plus we talk about a lingering bug that has been found in openSUSE's version of the unzip utility and link to an interview with Linux pioneer Pete Zaitcev. Then, in our Questions and Answers column we discuss Btrfs snapshots and how they work to revert the state of the operating system in case of problems. We are also pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Archcraft 2021.06.06
- News: KDE neon running on a SlimBook, openSUSE addressing unzip issue, Red Hat looks back on early Linux development
- Questions and answers: Dealing with Btrfs snapshots
- Released last week: Tails 4.22, Lakka 3.4, Finnix 123
- Torrent corner: ArcoLinux, BunsenLabs, CloudReady, Finnix, GhostBSD, KDE neon, Kodachi, Lakka, Live Raizo, Mabox, Tails, Thinstation
- Opinion poll: What do you think of Calamares?
- 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) |
Archcraft 2021.06.06
One of the young distributions I have been asked most often to review this year is Archcraft. Archcraft describes itself as a "pure" Arch distribution, meaning it only ships with software available through the Arch Linux software collection. Archcraft includes no desktop environment, shipping with lightweight window managers instead such as Openbox. The Archcraft distribution also includes the handy yay package management tool for easily adding software from the Arch User Repository (AUR). The project reportedly runs with a memory footprint of less than 300MB and includes a small collection of default software.
In short, Archcraft aims to be small, light on resources, compatible with Arch Linux, and is intended to be built up from a relatively small foundation. The project's single edition is available as a 1.6GB download. After downloading the ISO I performed a check of its hash, which passed, but when I followed the distribution's instructions for verifying the ISO's digital signature the project's verification key was nowhere to be found and the provided import instructions failed with a GPG error of "no data" from the key server.
Live environment
Archcraft's media boots to a graphical environment. A colourful panel is placed across the top of the display. This panel includes an application menu, virtual desktop switcher, system monitor, a media player widget, and a volume control. There are also buttons for signing out of the session and connecting to wireless networks.
Archcraft 2021.06.06 -- Checking memory statistics
(full image size: 145kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Shortly after the graphical environment loads a welcome window appears. This window offers a little background on what Archcraft is - a small, Arch-based distribution. The welcome window explains different ways to launch applications and there are several. We can right-click on the desktop to bring up a settings and applications menu. We can press Ctrl+Alt+Space to get another application menu or Super+Space to get an application menu. We can also click the launcher on the panel to bring up another free-floating menu with a list of applications in the middle of the screen. The welcome window can also show us a collection of screenshots to show us what the operating system can look like.
Apart from the initial welcome window, the live desktop is a curious combination of minimal and flashy. There aren't any other windows or pop-ups. The majority of the screen is fairly empty with understated wallpaper. However, the panel at the top of the display features bright colours and regular updates every second which constantly drew my eye.
Installing
The distribution uses the Calamares system installer which can be launched from any of the many application menus. Calamares is a streamlined, graphical installer which is similar in visual style to Ubuntu's Ubiquity or the Solus installer. On the first page of the installer we are offered buttons which will connect us to various on-line resources. The "Known issues" button opens the Midori web browser to show the project's GitHub issues page. The Support button opens a browser and displays an error page on the Discord website which indicates our "invitation has expired". A button labelled "Release notes" opens a document which lists a point-form collection of recent changes.
Calamares does a nice job of quickly walking us through choosing our language, keyboard layout, and time zone. The partitioning section of the installer offers both guided and manual options. The manual options are quite easy to navigate and are clearly displayed. The guided option defaults to setting up a single ext4 filesystem and we are given the option of enabling a swap partition or swap file. The final screen asks us to make up a username and password. Our user can be assigned administrative rights and is, by default, set to automatically login. Both of these settings can be toggled on or off.
Early impressions
My fresh copy of Archcraft booted to a graphical login screen. The login page offers us the option of signing into a bspwm or Openbox session. I chose to stick with Openbox for the purposes of this review.
While Openbox provided a fairly pleasant experience there are a few unusual aspects to using the window manager, along with the default panel and menus, and it took a while for me to adjust. For example, some of the items on the panel required that I double-click on them to access them. The logout and poweroff options, for instance, seem to always require a double-click. Sometimes the application menu button would open right away with one click, but other times seemed to need a double-click (or more) before it would open.
Openbox and its associated tools do not appear to have a single central settings panel. There is a panel, but it only gives us access to a handful of Openbox settings. There are independent settings modules for adjusting some aspects of the graphical environment, but some items need to be adjusted by editing text files. The Polybar panel, for instance, is configured using text files and I could not find a way to edit its widgets through the panel directly or through a graphical tool.
Archcraft 2021.06.06 -- Accessing mouse pointer settings
(full image size: 155kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Hardware
I began my trial with Archcraft in a VirtualBox virtual machine. The distribution ran well in the virtual environment. I encountered no issues, the user interface's performance was quite good most of the time, and the window manager resized dynamically to match to the VirtualBox window.
When I switched to trying Archcraft on my laptop, things got off to a good start. The distribution was able to boot in both UEFI mode and Legacy BIOS mode. Performance on my physical hardware was good, perhaps a little better than average, though the Polybar panel was sometimes unresponsive.
When run in live mode Archcraft consumed about 430MB of memory and when run from the hard drive the installed operating system required 285MB of RAM to sign into Openbox. As promised by the project's website, this places it under the 300MB line. A fresh install of the operating system consumed 5.1GB of disk space.
Applications
Despite having an application menu which is quite full of various shortcuts and configuration tools, Archcraft does not ship with many desktop applications. The lightweight Midori web browser is present along with the Lynx console browser. There is a launcher for an e-mail client though none is installed. The Atril document viewer is present along with the Thunar and PCManFM file managers. The Timeshift system backup software is included. There are a few text editors, an archive manager, and a simple image viewer installed. There are around a dozen configuration tools for dealing with the window manager's look and behaviour.
There are no media players and there is no office suite installed by default. These can be added later through the pacman package manager. The GNU Compiler Collection is installed for us. The systemd init software is used and version 5.12 of the Linux kernel runs in the background.
Archcraft 2021.06.06 -- Visiting the Archcraft website in Midori
(full image size: 171kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
There is a launcher in the application menus called About Developer which opens a large window that contains information about the leader developer. I couldn't find a way to close this window normally. I ended up killing its process which turns out to be a minimal instance of the Midori web browser.
Speaking of Midori, I ran into a curious bug where the web browser would not launch when run in the distribution's live mode. Any attempt to open the browser from the application menu or the command line resulted in the browser immediately terminating without an error. However, this issue only occurred when I was running Archcraft on my laptop. When the distribution was running in live mode inside VirtualBox the Midori web browser launched and ran as expected.
Software management
There isn't much to say about Archcraft's package management. The distribution does not appear to offer a graphical front-end for software management. The operating system relies on the fast and capable pacman command line package manager. While pacman has some of the most cryptic command line flags of any package manager I've used, it does work well and it presented me with no problems.
Archcraft 2021.06.06 -- Installing updates with pacman
(full image size: 254kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
The Archcraft website mentions the yay utility is installed for us. This is a command line program which can fetch and install software from the AUR. The yay utility is quite convenient to use. We can simply pass it the name of a program we wish to install. It will confirm which item we want from a list of matching packages and automate any steps required to set up the package. This is quite a bit easier than manually running commands to browse and fetch software from the AUR and I quite like it.
Other observations
The resource monitor on the Polybar panel shows CPU usage, memory consumption, and the amount of free disk space. This all sounds useful, but there are some quirks to the way the information is presented. The CPU usage widget actually shows CPU usage + disk I/O wait times which means the statistics shown are typically higher than what top or another system monitor would show. The memory stat shows cached memory rather than used memory, again making the resource usage seem much higher than it is. The disk space figure shows free space left on the root partition which isn't particularly useful most of the time since I'm concerned with my home partition's size rather than the operating system partition. So information is provided but not the information I'd expect to see or find useful.
The information shown on the panel is configurable and can be adjusted by editing a configuration file. We can also adjust the rate information is updated which I found useful as the rapid pace at which new information was displayed was distracting to me.
Conclusions
I feel that I don't have a lot to say about Archcraft and I feel this is because the distribution doesn't, for better or worse, attempt to do much. The project's website is understated, claiming to offer a minimal distribution based on Arch Linux with a lightweight window manager and yay for acquiring software from the AUR. This is what we get, along with the friendly Calamares system installer. There isn't much else to look at, out of the box.
This seems to be the point, really, of Archcraft - it delivers a fairly minimum base, low RAM consumption, and offers better than average performance. It isn't particularly flashy, convenient, or full of features. The idea appears to be that users can build their system from a small foundation and add the pieces they need. There isn't a lot of documentation and I suspect we are expected to seek out the Arch Linux wiki if we need help.
Most of the time Archcraft takes on this role fairly well. I did have a few complaints though. Personally, I'm not a fan of system monitors built into the panel or desktop. I find them distracting and the ones used by default don't provide information I find all that useful. There are a lot of little configuration tools and, oddly enough, some duplication in functionality in the application menu. I'm not sure why we need three application menus, two file managers, and a couple of text editors in what is otherwise a very minimal platform.
In short, Archcraft does what it sets out to do. It's basically Arch Linux with a window manager and yay pre-installed for us. This works and yet I don't feel the distribution distinguishes itself from the many other minimal Arch-installed-via-Calamares distributions currently available.
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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
Archcraft has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.5/10 from 55 review(s).
Have you used Archcraft? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
KDE neon running on a SlimBook, openSUSE addressing unzip issue, Red Hat looks back on early Linux development
While it is still relatively rare to see computers pre-installed with Linux distributions in retail stores, several companies have started providing computers bundled with Linux as an option. SlimBook is one such company which offers notebook computers with Linux pre-installed. One of their products is called the KDE Slimbook which ships with KDE neon installed on its hard drive. OSNews has published a review of the KDE Slimbook and notes that a portion of sales of the device are donated to the KDE project. "This is an excellent laptop. I have so few complaints, and the ones I do have are so minimal, I have no qualms about recommending the KDE Slimbook as an outstanding choice for both existing and new Linux users. The hardware is solid, fast, and attractive, the keyboard is great to type on, the touchpad is smooth and pleasant, and KDE Neon is an excellent Linux distribution for Linux users of all experience levels. If you are a KDE user looking for a new laptop, the KDE Slimbook is a massive no-brainer: it should be the yardstick all other laptops you might be considering should be measured against."
* * * * *
Kira Backes has raised concern about the unzip package which ships in openSUSE, reporting that it consistently corrupts data during the unpacking process. Curiously, this bug appears to affect openSUSE versions of the unzip package, but may not affect unzip on other distributions. "Summary for the bug: When you extract a zip archive where the files do not have explicit permissions set, around one in 10,000 files gets (reproducibly) converted into a symlink! The former content of the file then gets converted into the link target. This bug is fixed in the Debian/Ubuntu version of unzip so my guess is that it's fixed by one of the missing CVE patches. Usually I wouldn't be this alarmist but the basic and standard unzip program reproducibly and consistently breaking files on all Tumbleweed as well all Leap installations is pretty important I guess."
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The Linux kernel recently turned 30 years old and it has caused a lot of people to reflect on how software evolves and how they became involved in Linux. Red Hat is a company that has profited from Linux more than most and celebrated Linux's 30th birthday by interviewing early contributor Pete Zaitcev. "I do not remember what my first proper contribution was. I think it must have been a patch to fix pseudo-DMA in floppy.c in August 1995. Nobody cared who you were as long as the code was good." Zaitcev talks more about his early days with Linux in Red Hat's blog post.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Dealing with Btrfs snapshots
Travelling-back-in-time asks: I see you've been a big fan of Btrfs and the snapshots and boot environments that it provides for quick and easy system rollback. Just curious if you have any experience using them in systems with multiple hard drives? Does it rollback all drives to previous state? Or just the boot loader?
DistroWatch answers: I am a big fan of what advanced filesystems such as Btrfs and ZFS can do. Among the more powerful features these filesystems offer are snapshots. A snapshot is basically a copy or an image of the contents of the filesystem taken at a given moment. Having a snapshot means that if something goes wrong with a file or a package on your system you can then access the snapshot and restore a file (or the entire operating system) back to the state it was in when you took the snapshot.
Sometimes you might want to access a snapshot when you realize you've deleted a file. In this case you can browse an existing snapshot, just like you would a directory, and copy that one file back to its original location, restoring it. Other times you might realize upgrading your operating system failed and you may want to revert the whole filesystem back to its previous state. This latter scenario is commonly achieved using boot environments. A boot environment is a snapshot of your operating system you can access from your computer's boot loader. Older copies (snapshots) of your operating system can be accessed from the boot loader menu, allowing us to load an older version of the system. The openSUSE project has detailed documentation on restoring files from snapshots and booting from old snapshots to restore the system to a working state.
As to what gets restored when you access a snapshot, that depends on how the filesystem was set up. Another cool feature of advanced filesystems is they can use one or more disk drives, partitions, or even files as their underlying storage blocks. This means I can have a Btrfs or ZFS filesystem which is made up of a partition on one disk, an entire second disk that doesn't have any partitions, and maybe a partition or two on a third drive. Advanced filesystems (in a practical sense) do not care where the data is located. As far as the filesystem is concerned all these storage devices are treated as one big pool where you can put stuff. When you take a snapshot the filesystem takes an image of the files in it, regardless of where those files are stored physically.
This means if your Btrfs volume is on a single partition of one disk, the snapshot will be of that one partition. If your Btrfs volume spans one partition on one disk and then two more entire disks, the snapshot will include the files spread across all three devices.
Often times the boot loader will be stored on its own partition, rather than on the Btrfs or ZFS volume, and therefore it will be unaffected. However, if the boot loader is installed in the same filesystem it will become part of the snapshot and will be rolled back to an earlier state if you boot from an older boot environment.
Additional information on Btrfs and snapshots can be found in the Btrfs wiki which includes practical examples.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Lakka 3.4
Lakka is a lightweight Linux distribution that transforms a small computer into a full blown game console. The project's latest release is Lakka 3.4 and it updates RetroArch support, the Mesa package, DOS support, and popular console support. "New version of Lakka has been released! We are happy to announce new and updated version of Lakka. Changes since version 3.3: RetroArch updated from 1.9.7 to 1.9.9; added core option categories; updated translations; general stability improvements to enhance the user experience. Cores updated to their most recent versions: new core: upstream Duckstation core (Sony Playstation); new core: PCSX2 (Sony Playstation 2), available only on 64-bit PC; new core: DOSBOX-pure (DOS); fixed Play! (Sony Playstation 2) and available on more platforms; fixed Vulkan support in PPSSPP (Sony Playstation Portable); Mesa updated to 21.2.1; Fixed display of CJK characters." Further information can be found through the project's release announcement. Lakka supports multiple hardware platforms, including many ARM boards, generic x86 computers, and the Nintendo Switch.
Finnix 123
Finnix is a small, self-contained, bootable Linux CD distribution for system administrators, based on Debian. The project's latest release is Finnix 123 which is based on Debian 11. The new release provides the option of setting OpenSSH credentials at boot time, FTP client packages have been removed, the jove package has been installed, and the command line will now try to suggest available packages the user can install when a command is not found. "Today marks the release of Finnix 123, the LiveCD for system administrators. Expanding on Finnix 122 from six months ago, this release includes a number of fixes, new packages and new features. From the Finnix 123 release notes: Added kernel command line 'sshd' and 'passwd' options, example: 'sshd passwd=foo', 'sshd passwd=root:foo passwd=finnix:bar'. The machine ID is now, when possible, stable across reboots and being generated from the DMI. This is used for e.g. the DHCP client ID, so multiple reboots should no longer cycle through dynamic IPs on a network. The finnix command now has instructions for how to enable ZFS support. Added a basic command-not-found handler; e.g. trying ftp will point out lftp, and will provide instructions for installing if desired explicitly. Added manpages for Finnix-specific commands (wifi-connect, locale-config, etc). Added packages: jove. Removed packages: ftp, ftp-ssl, zile." Further information can be found in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
Tails 4.22
The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a Debian-based live DVD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user. The project's latest release introduces a number of polishing touches to the user interface. In particular, the system does a better job of checking to see if a Tor connection is possible and is more forgiving of slow network connections. "Reduce the timeout that determines whether we can connect to Tor at all from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Increase the timeout to start Tor entirely from 120 seconds to 600 seconds. Tor Connection now fails quicker when it's impossible to connect to Tor, while being more robust on slow Internet connections. Allow trying again to connect to Tor from the error screen. Unsafe Browser: Stop restarting Tor when exiting the Unsafe Browser. Only mention the Persistent Storage in the Unsafe Browser warning when there is already a Persistent Storage. Others: Make sure that automatic upgrades are downloaded from a working mirror." Additional information can be found in the release announcement for Tails 4.22.
GhostBSD 21.09.06
GhostBSD is a user-friendly desktop operating system based on FreeBSD. The project has published a new version, GhostBSD 21.09.06 which migrates service management from OpenRC to FreeBSD's rc.d approach. "What is new in 21.09.06? GhostBSD moved back to FreeBSD rc.d to start services. Github ticket completed: Disable access to home directories. ghostbsd-src opened by ghost. Leaving some fractured pastes about Update-Station and sudo pkg update update-station#21 opened by wb7odyfred. (GhostBSD-21.04.27.iso) package configuration file anomalies at /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/ ghostbsd-pkg-conf opened by grahamperrin. Empty list of packages software-station opened by simonsaman. Inappropriate connections to open Wi-Fi networks with 5.5 on FreeBSD networkmgr opened by grahamperrin. For Open Networks, /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file gets written without double quotes around SSID name. networkmgr opened by wb7odyfred. Automatic switchover networkmgr opened by Crushless. Minor cosmetic - authentication is spelled wrong networkmgr, opened by technics. Wired: DHCP: not gaining an address networkmgr opened by grahamperrin." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement.
Whonix 16
Patrick Schleizer has announced the release of Whonix 16, a major update of the project's Debian-based distribution designed for advanced security and privacy via fail-safe, automatic and desktop-wide use of the Tor network. The new release is based on the recently-released Debian 11: "After approximately two years of development, the Whonix project is proud to announce the release of Whonix 16. Whonix 16 is based on the Debian 'Bullseye' (Debian 11) distribution. This means that users have access to many new software packages in concert with existing packages. In addition, this release will serve as a development foundation for many exciting upcoming security enhancements, such as Hardened Malloc Kicksecure (HMK), Linux Kernel Runtime Guard (LKRG) and other items on the Whonix Security Roadmap. Major changes: switched back from deb.torproject.org tor package to packages.debian.org stable tor package; binaries-freedom package is deprecated; enable Debian fasttrack repository by default...." See the release announcement for further information, upgrade instructions and known issues.
Whinix 16 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 61kB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
* * * * *
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: 2,592
- Total data uploaded: 39.9TB
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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) |
What do you think of Calamares?
More and more distributions are turning to the independent Calamares system installer these days as a way to get the operating system installed without the requirement of developing a new installer from scratch. Calamares is especially popular in the Arch Linux community as a way to get Arch spins installed. What do you think of the Calamares graphical installer? Would you like to see it more widely adopted or do you prefer that most distributions still maintain their own, custom system installers?
You can see the results of our previous poll on how long our readers have been using Linux in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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What do you think of Calamares?
| I like it and want to see it used more: | 486 (31%) |
| I like it and also like the diversity of installers: | 501 (32%) |
| I do not like it but want to see a common installer: | 77 (5%) |
| I do not like it and do not want to see it used more: | 81 (5%) |
| I have not used it: | 425 (27%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 20 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 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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GeeXboX
GeeXboX was a free and open-source media centre oriented Linux distribution for embedded devices and desktop computers. It was a full-featured operating system that can be booted from a live CD, a USB key, an SD/MMC card or it can be installed on a regular hard disk drive. The GeeXboX distribution was lightweight and designed for one single goal - to embed all major multimedia applications in order to turn any computer into a home theatre personal computer. The GeeXboX project was a non-commercial organization founded in 2002.
Status: Discontinued
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TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
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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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0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
