 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 949, 3 January 2022 |
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Welcome to this year's 1st issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
We are pleased to be back, sharing news and reviews on Linux and other open source operating systems. A fresh new year is an opportunity for trying new things and for reviewing what we've learned over the past twelve months. This week we begin with a look back at Jesse Smith's favourite distributions of 2021. Are there any surprises on the list? Any fantastic Linux distributions you'd like to add to the list? Let us know what you think in the Opinion Poll below. Also in this week's edition we answer questions about the PinePhone running Manjaro and talk about improvements to the device once a bug which blocked updates was fixed. In our News section we discuss new features and fixes coming to the UBports mobile distribution. We also talk about siduction trimming down its collection of desktop editions while the Chakra project shuts down its servers. CentOS Linux 8 has reached the end of its supported life, though with some exceptions, and we have the details below. Plus we're pleased to share a list of releases from the past two weeks and share the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading.
Content:
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) |
Jesse's Top Picks Of 2021
Generally speaking, when I review a distribution the experience exists in a sort of bubble for me. That is, I'm very interested in the operating system while it is in front of me. I'm intrigued by its features, I'm curious about its infrastructure, and I try to slide into the workflow of its desktop environment and tools. However, when my week with the distribution is over I tend to put it out of my mind. I don't often dwell on a particular problem or special feature of the distribution once I've started trying something else, unless the distro presented a feature or concept that was especially useful for me.
This year though I started making an effort to keep certain distributions in mind - bookmarking them in my brain, in a manner of speaking. Recently I've had more people ask me about which distributions are my favourites or which projects I'd be more likely to recommend for someone new. I've also felt like it would make it easier for me to evaluate some projects if I had a "high water mark" of quality against which I could compare new distributions.
With this in mind, starting in the early days of 2021, I began making note of when a distribution impressed me. Sometimes a distribution would just not do anything wrong or annoy me. Other times a distribution offered a particularly nice feature or seemed unusually user friendly. As we march into 2022 I'd like to take a look back at some of the distributions which stood out this past year as especially pleasant or interesting to use and explain why. This list is more or less in chronological order (the order in which I used the distribution) rather than by alphabetical order or in order of quality.
* * * * *
The first distribution to really stand out in my mind, in fact a big part of the inspiration for starting this list in the first place, was Artix. This distribution grew out of a combination of Arch Linux and Manjaro community projects which wanted to replace systemd with OpenRC. The project later added support for other lightweight init implementations such as runit and s6. I reviewed Artix back in March and it was the first distribution I used in 2021 which really impressed me.
Artix is available in many desktop flavours and, combined with the three init options, there are over 20 editions from which to choose. I ran Artix's runit edition featuring the KDE Plasma desktop and the experience was blissfully smooth. The distribution doesn't really do anything eye-catching or cutting-edge, but it worked flawlessly for me. As I mentioned at the time: "Artix Linux is one of those distributions I really enjoy using and yet struggle to review in a meaningful way because it doesn't really go out of its way to introduce new or exciting features and everything works smoothly. The distribution is wonderfully easy to install, offers top-notch performance, and is unusually light on resources. Artix is somewhat minimal, but still ships enough software to be immediately useful right out of the gate."
Artix Linux 20210101 -- Browsing the application menu
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I wouldn't recommend Artix for a Linux newcomer. Its many editions and its lack of a graphical package manager, or really any hand-holding tools, make it a distribution better suited to more experienced users. However, it was one of my few really rock solid, error-free experiences of 2021 and I liked it a lot.
* * * * *
The second distribution to impress me this past year was Manjaro Linux. Like Artix, Manjaro is a member of the Arch Linux family, a rolling release which is available in multiple desktop options. I tried the KDE Plasma edition for my review back in April.
I know Manjaro has been controversial over the span of its life. Some people don't like its extra testing stage which slightly slows down updates, some people don't like that the project has experimented with non-free software or web applications in order to appeal to a wider audience. The Manjaro team has occasionally caught flak for their handling of security certificates. However, those are both issues of the past and, in the case of trying various features, a sign of a healthy attempt to experiment to make the distribution appealing to newcomers. So I'm not going to hold Manjaro's past decisions against it and instead focus on the present.
Manjaro Linux 21.0 -- The welcome window
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Manjaro running KDE Plasma provided a very pleasant, friendly experience. The system offered a solid graphical package manager, a feature-rich desktop, and an easy installer. I encountered one desktop crash during my trial, but otherwise Manjaro was solid and very friendly. I especially liked the way searching for programs in the menu would offer to install items I wanted that were not available on my machine but could be fetched from the software repositories.
I'm not sure if I'd give Manjaro to a complete newcomer as it is a rolling release and prone to change from time to time, but it's fairly beginner friendly and probably ideal for most people who want to try their first rolling release distribution.
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To be honest, I was surprised to find myself adding Bodhi Linux to this list. A member of the Ubuntu family, Bodhi and I have never got along well together in the past. Frankly, I don't like the Enlightenment desktop (or Bodhi's fork of the desktop, called Moksha). I wasn't looking forward to test driving Bodhi 6.0.0 in June 2021, but I gave it a shot.
Two things impressed me about Bodhi Linux. The first was that it was so amazingly small and fast. The distribution is incredibly lightweight and quick to respond. It's like driving a sports car after months of using the aging mini-vans of KDE Plasma and GNOME. The other feature I appreciated was it was really easy to install Bodhi and then add software to the system using the distribution's web-based software centre.
Bodhi Linux 6.0.0 -- The Moksha desktop and application menu
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I'm still not a fan of the Enlightenment/Moksha desktop, but Bodhi's other features make up for my personal discomfort with the desktop environment. As I wrote back in June: "Whether you enjoy Bodhi will depend largely on whether navigating Moksha feels like coming home or like you're trying to learn an alien language from a Martian with a lisp. However, maybe I'm warming up to Bodhi or maybe the distribution has polished some of its features because I found myself more at home with it this time around. I liked that Bodhi was so lightweight (with a surprisingly small resource footprint). I like that the distribution is easy to install, thanks to Ubiquity, and I like that an effort is made to provide access to popular applications through the AppCentre. I'm still not a big fan of Moksha, but I do think the new theme and default widgets are making it more appealing than the last few times I ran its parent desktop, Enlightenment."
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The fourth entry on my list is yet another member of the Arch Linux family: EndeavourOS. When I took this rolling release distribution for a spin using the Xfce desktop, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked. In the past, when I'd used Antergos, EndeavourOS's spiritual predecessor, the experience was often plagued by installer issues. Endeavour's installer worked well, in both off-line and net-install modes.
EndeavourOS 2021.04.17 -- The welcome window
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Despite being one of the younger projects on this list, Endeavour performed beautifully, offered good performance, flexibility, and a pleasantly uncluttered default configuration.
The one drawback I ran into was Endeavour doesn't ship with a graphical package manager, but this was (for me) a minor concern. The project is producing a quick, sparse, rolling release that felt remarkably stable and error-free. As with Artix, I wouldn't recommend EndeavourOS to Linux newcomers, it expects a degree of familiarity with Linux software and the command line, but it's a great platform for people who want to run Arch while enjoying an easy setup process.
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So far the distributions I've mentioned have been ones which I personally felt were useful and well-suited to the needs of many distro-hoppers, but not ones which were particularly good fits for Linux beginners. Ubuntu MATE breaks this trend by being one of the most beginner-friendly distributions I used in this past year.
When I reviewed the distribution, I found Ubuntu MATE to be very easy to set up. It has a friendly welcome screen, offers a simplified software manager which is ideal for newcomers, and it runs on a variety of hardware platforms. The desktop performance offered by MATE was excellent and I like that Ubuntu MATE ships with alternative desktop layouts, allowing the user to quickly switch between eight different desktop styles.
Ubuntu MATE 21.04 -- The welcome window
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The only drawback I could come up with when using Ubuntu MATE was that there wasn't a lower-level package manager, but this is something which only affects people like me (who can install an alternative like Synaptic) and not something which will bother newcomers. I'd definitely recommend Ubuntu MATE to less experienced computer users and people looking to try Linux for the first time.
* * * * *
Also on the subject of beginner friendly distributions, I'd like to touch upon Zorin OS. I took the Pro edition of Zorin OS 16 for a test drive in August and it was a fantastic experience.
Zorin offers just a few editions: a Lite one for older hardware, a Core edition that offers a nice desktop experience, and a Pro edition which is sold in exchange for support. Zorin OS is based on Ubuntu and benefits from its parent's hardware support and massive software repositories.
There were two aspects to Zorin OS which greatly appealed to me. One was the newcomer-friendly desktop environment. The desktop is set up to be familiar to Windows users by default, but it can be adjusted to use alternative themes and layouts which imitate other desktop environments. The other point of interest was the wonderful amount of useful software included in the distribution.
Zorin OS 16 -- Creating an account in the settings panel
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Zorin's application menu doesn't feel particularly crowded, but it does have a number of applications which are either rare to find or which I have not encountered installed on a distribution before out-of-the-box. Some of these are quite useful and likely to appeal to a wide audience. The Zorin Connect application to sync files and contacts with an Android phone, the Xournal++ note taking and document editing tool, there is a tool for using networked displays, and a tool called Barrier which allows multiple desktop machines to share a keyboard and mouse. All of these are ideal for a number of people I know, especially those who work from home, and yet it's a combination I haven't encountered in any other distribution.
To top it all off, Zorin OS ships with both Snap and Flatpak support and I could find virtually nothing wrong with the distribution. It was fast, solid, super user friendly, familiar for newcomers, and shipped with polished applications the general public (not just techies) will appreciate. For the general public, Zorin OS is easily my pick of the year.
* * * * *
So far I've talked about distributions which I feel are ideal for people who want to be on the cutting edge, people who like a wide range of options, and newcomers who want a super easy first experience with Linux. But what about what I want? Personally, the distribution I felt most at home with this year was MX Linux.
While I didn't write a review of MX Linux, Jeff Siegel reviewed the distribution back in November. He and I agree on our impressions of this Debian-based project: "That MX 21, codenamed Wildflower, is such a joy to use speaks volumes about Linux and its potential on the desktop, the dedication of its users, and why so many of us never want to boot a Big Tech operating system ever again. It's not so much that MX 21 just works, but that its developers have made a serious effort to identify what would make it work even better."
MX Linux 21 -- The Xfce desktop
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MX Linux offers a relatively small number of editions (Fluxbox, Xfce, and KDE Plasma) and, on paper it might not seem to stand out from the crowd of Debian's children. MX Linux doesn't appear to do anything especially innovative or unusual, which actually might be its secret. MX Linux is, in my opinion, basically Debian customized to be specifically a desktop operating system. It has the same large package selection as Debian, plus some updated desktop applications. It has the same hardware support and performance, but without all the dozens of confusing download options. MX Linux provides an installer we can get through with about five or six mouse clicks instead of the approximately two dozen it takes to install Debian.
MX Linux is virtually unique in that it allows users to select which init system they want to run at boot time rather than at install time. The distribution uses SysV init by default, but users can select to run systemd from the boot menu if they need systemd-specific features or Snap package support. This gives MX a feature which is either rare or maybe unique in the Linux ecosystem.
MX Linux manages to share Debian's stability and responsiveness while adding polish and conveniences. It is pleasantly boring, predictable, solid, and fast. All while requiring less technical knowledge and experience than vanilla Debian typically demands of its users.
The Xfce edition of MX Linux isn't perfect, its dark theme doesn't play well with some applications and, while I like it a lot, not everyone is thrilled with the vertical desktop panel. For me, MX Linux was the distribution I decided to keep running for a while after I finished test driving it.
* * * * *
Finally, I'd like to take a moment to tip my hat to Bedrock Linux. While Bedrock isn't really a Linux distribution, it is a fascinating project. Bedrock is a meta-distro which allows the user to merge together multiple distributions. Let's say you want the stability of Debian, but the cutting edge packages of Arch, then you can use Bedrock to marry the two together.
This allows the user to use the package managers of two distributions as well as their command line tools and desktop applications. Some people complain about there being no one perfect Linux distribution and how they need to make trade-offs, choosing between using openSUSE's YaST or Arch's vast community repository. With Bedrock you can have both! Bedrock glues multiple distributions together so you can use your favourite features from each.
Bedrock Linux 0.7.20 -- Running the Arch package manager on a Void-based system
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The concept of Bedrock can take a little getting used to, and it can take some adjustment in thinking before having multiple distributions co-existing on the same partition starts to feel natural. However, for people who want to have the best features of two (or more) distributions without dual-booting, Bedrock is the way to go.
I talked more about Bedrock Linux in a review back in July and, if combining components of multiple distributions appeals to you, I suggest you take a look at my notes from the experience.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
UBports introduces new fixes and features, siduction trims array of desktop editions, Chakra shuts down its servers, CentOS Linux 8 reaches its end of life
The UBports team have been making a lot of progress on their mobile operating system. Some of the key changes include being able to re-download media from text messages, and synchronizing information with Google accounts has been fixed. "MMS patches have finally been applied. Josele and Lionel Duboeuf are thanked for their work on that. This will allow operation of a re-download, try again button when an MMS comes in and fails to download correctly. That was a complicated process to manage, involving many different components, which needed to operate together.
There has been some work done on mediahub client. This is the main mechanism for video and audio playback. Alberto has changed the media client library for it so that it is fully implemented in Qt and C++. In the future it will allow for simultaneous playback of videos. An obvious application for that would be in TELEports, where in a channel containing a lot of videos, they could auto play as you scroll. There are several more steps needed for implementation of a feature like that but what has been done provides the foundation.
Sensorfw for Android 9 has been included now. It now covers magnetometer and compass. It has already been established that it works with Waydroid. Microphone access has been incorporated into the browser. The permissions dialog has been implemented, allowing it to function.
Google accounts have been restored, allowing sync of contacts and calendar." These and other improvements are detailed in the project's blog post.
* * * * *
A situation which many Linux distributions struggle with is finding enough developers (and time) to accommodate all the requests and features their users want. The siduction team has found themselves stretched thin while maintaining multiple editions and have decided to narrow their focus. The changes regarding which editions will be supported is discussed in one of the project's recent announcements: "Those who have read our call for collaboration in the forum know that we lack the time to adequately maintain siduction in its current incarnation. Therefore, we have decided to stop publishing some desktop variants for the official release for the time being. We will stop shipping Cinnamon and LXDE in addition to MATE, which was already missing in the last release, and concentrate on KDE Plasma, LXQt, Xfce, Xorg and noX."
* * * * *
The Chakra GNU/Linux distribution was an independent, rolling-release distribution which gained a reputation for providing a customized, cutting-edge KDE desktop experience. The project has been relatively quiet in recent years and its lead developer has decided to wind down the distribution. In an e-mail to DistroWatch the Hans Tovetjärn (totte) reported: "The open source Chakra Linux operating system is no longer in development and I am in the process of terminating accounts and related services. There hasn't been much activity since November 2019, if I recall correctly."
* * * * *
The CentOS team have announced that CentOS Linux 8 has reached the end of its supported life. However, there are some exceptions which will keep a measure of activity going with the 8.x branch. "CentOS Linux 8 will reach End Of Life (EOL) on December 31st, 2021. Here's what that means. In line with the EOL of previous releases, we will NOT be automatically migrating anyone to the next version (which is CentOS Stream 8 in this case). We will be shipping a rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.5 once it is released, even if that means that this is released slightly after the EOL date. The release of a RHEL point release is often accompanied, immediately afterwards, by a set of zero-day updates. We will be providing this content as part of the final CentOS Linux 8 release. There will, however, be no more updates to the CentOS Linux 8 content after that time." People who wish to continue running CentOS Linux can downgrade to version 7 or migrate to another branch of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux family.
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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) |
Answering questions about the PinePhone
At the end of 2021 I shared my experiences with my new PinePhone. The trial had its ups and downs and it left some people with lingering questions about the device. This week I'd like to answer your questions about the PinePhone.
Can-you-hear-me-now asks: Terrific piece, Jesse. I've been waiting for years to find an open source phone that works, and I think you hit the nail on the head. And I assume you didn't try to make a call? Which, of course, I still have to use my phone for.
Jesse answers: Thank you. Yes, you're right, I didn't make any calls with the PinePhone running Manjaro and Plasma Mobile. In theory it should be able to. It looks like Plasma Mobile should support making and receiving calls, so long as your phone carrier supports the proper frequency range of the hardware. (See an update to this below.)
However, by the time I got around to that part of the test I was finding it hard to keep the device's screen on long enough for me to launch an application let alone dial a number. The phone kept shutting off its screen to conserve battery power, even when there was over 80% charge left and the interface would lock up if I had more than one application open. Basically, the system wasn't stable or fast enough for me to try using it to make calls.
At the time of writing I'm testing the PinePhone running UBports and, according to the project's device information, calls should work with supporting carriers. I haven't tried it yet, but the device is much more stable and responsive when running UBports. I'll report back once I've tried texting and phone calls.
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Getting-up-to-date says: I enjoyed your review of the PinePhone. It uses Manjaro Linux. If you had connectivity, it would have been to your advantage to launch a terminal and run: "sudo pacman -Syu" and update to latest.
Jesse answers: I did try that. As I mentioned in the review, trying to update the Manjaro operating system resulted in an error due to missing dependencies. This occurred whether I was using the Discover software centre or the terminal.
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Making-it-work says: Thanks for this honest review of Plasma Mobile from March 2021. We looked into the update issue and provided a fix for it. Simply use Discover and try to update again. We would be glad to hear a follow-up on the improvements you may see after updating the system.
Jesse answers: I was curious to see if this fix would allow me to upgrade. The first time I opened Discover and selected updates I made the mistake of trying to continue using the phone to run other applications and the system locked up hard and had to be restarted. The next time I stayed in Discover and asked it to acquire the 1.1GB of available updates which are bundled together as one item. No dependency errors appeared this time. It took about five minutes before the update's progress bar started to move, but then the updates started pouring in. Once the update completed Discover advised a restart of the phone.
There were some immediately notable changes. The user interface became more responsive after the update. Actions such as opening drawers and switching between applications were much smoother after the package update. The Discover software centre still reports there are over 500 updates waiting, though a check showed a total of zero bytes of packages pending. Some programs, such as the Angelfish web browser were more responsive. The settings drawer was especially faster to respond.
Some aspects stayed the same though. I didn't notice any key differences in the settings panel, for example, and I was still unable to find a way to do away with the lock screen PIN prompt, even though I had no PIN set on the device. I couldn't get Waydroid to run. Applications were still a bit slow to load, though they felt snappier once they had finished loading.
After the update completed I tried using the device as a phone (making calls and sending/receiving texts). The PinePhone running Manjaro failed both of these tests. The device showed it had a connection to my mobile network, but it failed to send texts, reporting the network wasn't available. When I tried to place a call the dialer interface reported calls could not be made "at this time" and then the phone would ring, showing the number I just called as the incoming number. Trying to answer the call would cause the phone app to immediately close the connection. In short, the device does detect an available mobile network along with its signal strength, but cannot use it for texting or calling.
The biggest issue though which I still faced after the update was the phone would immediately put itself to sleep if it was not plugged into AC power. No matter how much charge the battery was holding, Manjaro would put the phone to sleep a second after it woke up. This meant I always had to have the device plugged in when running Manjaro (an issue UBports does not share) and it made it virtually impossible to use the device as a mobile phone. It was more like a Raspberry Pi computer with a built-in screen.
In short, there have definitely been improvements in the past nine months which, thanks to the developers, I can now access through the Discover software centre. However, there are still some key limitations with regards to access and the way the phone constantly puts itself to sleep, even when going to sleep has been disabled in the settings panel.
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Earlier I mentioned I've been testing the PinePhone with an alternative operating system: UBports. I will share my experiences using the device with UBports in more detail next week.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
elementary OS 6.1
The elementary team have announced the release of elementary OS 6.1 which carries the codename "Jolnir". The new release features the same base operating system as 6.0, though with a number of evolutionary improvements. Some of these changes affect the distribution's software centre: "AppCenter continues to fill out with apps from developers - and since the move to Flatpak, all apps that have been released for OS 6 will continue to be available on OS 6.1 and beyond. You can currently find over 90 curated apps in AppCenter, and developers have continued to push out rapid and frequent updates to their apps with new features and bug fixes, as they're in control of their own update schedule. Our shift from Debian packages to Flatpak for both curated and non-curated apps also means we're able to lean more on Flatpak features, and we've been using this as an opportunity to make AppCenter much more engaging and informative right from the start - directly addressing feedback about the discoverability of the wide variety of apps in AppCenter." Additional information is available in the project's release announcement.
IPFire 2.27 Core 162
IPFire is a lightweight Linux distribution for firewalls, routers, and other security-sensitive appliances. The developers have released a new version, IPFire 2.27 Core Update 162 which will be the last version to support 32-bit x86 machines. "Once a few releases after upgrading to Linux 5.10, we have now rebased the IPFire kernel on Linux 5.15. Due to dropping or upstreaming our patchset this was a lot easier than the previous step to 5.10. The new kernel is long-term supported by the Linux kernel developers and comes with various new drivers and performance improvements. Noteworthy are various performance improvements on 'zero copy' for increased throughput and lower latency; Core Scheduling (for safer Hyperthreading), and a new drivers for NTFS. We have continued our work to take advantage of improvements in the kernel that help to decrease CPU usage when forwarding large numbers of packets. In certain environments, this enables IPFire to significantly more throughput and lower latency since more CPU resources are available when needed. This is the last release supporting 32-bit Intel-compatible processors - in our case i586 and older. Having announced this plan a year ago, the time has finally come." Additional information can be found in the release announcement.
Manjaro Linux 21.2.0
Philip Müller has announced the release of Manjaro Linux 21.2.0, an updated version of the project's rolling-release distribution featuring the continually-improved Calamares installer and the latest versions of Xfce, GNOME and KDE Plasma desktops: "Since we released Pahvo Mid-Season this year all our developer teams worked hard to get the next release of Manjaro out there. We call it 'Qonos'. This release features major improvements to Calamares, including filesystem selection for automatic partitioning and enhanced support for Btrfs. For Btrfs installations, the default subvolume layout has been improved for easier rollbacks and less wasted space on snapshots. Additionally, swapfiles on Btrfs filesystem are now supported. The GNOME edition has received a major rework - update to GNOME 41.2. The default layout has been redesigned to follow more closely upstream defaults, with some adjustments to reduce the pointer travel for users who prefer using mouse with gnome." Here is the full release announcement.
siduction 2021.3.0
The siduction distribution is a desktop-oriented operating system and live medium based on the 'unstable' branch of Debian. The project's latest snapshot is version 2021.3.0 which introduces improvements for wireless network handling, includes OpenDoas as an alternative to sudo, and offers many package upgrades. "The flavours and versions we offer for siduction 2021.3.0 are KDE Plasma 5.23.4, LXQt 1.0, Xfce 4.16, and the X.Org and noX images, where X.Org comes with the window manager Fluxbox, while noX does without X altogether. The released images of siduction 2021.3.0 are a snapshot of Debian 'Unstable' from Dec. 23, 2021, enriched with some useful packages and scripts, a Calamares-based installer and a customized version of the Linux kernel 5.15.11, while systemd is at 249.7. The iNet Wireless Daemon (iwd), which we already shipped with siduction 2021.1.0 for the flavors X.Org and noX, is now also responsible for WiFi on Plasma, LXQt and Xfce. iwd is lightweight and establishes connections to WiFi faster than was possible with wpa_supplicant. iwd works stand alone or together with NetworkManager, systemd-networkd and Connman." Additional changes can be found in the release announcement.
siduction 2021.3.0 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
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Rescuezilla 2.3
Rescuezilla is a specialist Ubuntu-based distribution designed for system rescue tasks. The project's latest release offers file image verification and an option to override filesystem errors. "The main additional feature for Rescuezilla v2.3 is basic image verification, as well as a new 'rescue' option to force filesystem errors to be ignored. Virtually all Partclone-based tools other than Clonezilla always ignore errors using Partclone's --force option, which I think is a bad idea. Some bugs and important feature requests from Rescuezilla v2.2 continue to remain yet-unaddressed, including unfortunately the highly requested 'persistent partition' feature as it still requires further changes and testing. Here is a partial list of what has changed in Rescuezilla v2.3: implemented image verification feature; added 'Rescue' option to ignore filesystem inconsistencies and bad sectors; replaced Ubuntu 21.04 'Hirsute' build with build based on Ubuntu 21.10 'Impish' for best support of new hardware; added ability to restore and explore images created by 'Apart Partclone GUI; improved image scanning; fixed display of LVM shutdown error message...." The release announcement offers further details. The distribution is presented in two editions, one based on Ubuntu 21.10 "Impish" and one based on 20.04 "Focal".
NuTyX 21.10.12
NuTyX is a French Linux distribution (with multi-language support) built from Linux From Scratch and Beyond Linux From Scratch, with a custom package manager called "cards". The project's latest release offers more advanced manual installation options and a more complete automatic install option. "GRUB Installation: GRUB is now setup by default on EFI machine. Automatic installation: Version 21.10.12 introduces a first version of the installer in automatic mode. If all the conditions are met, the partitioning, formatting and installation of GRUB will be done automatically. The conditions being a single and blank hard disk therefore having no partition table. New mode of installation in live - full customable installation: If you choose the 'LIVE' mode when launching the IOS, you can now use the command 'KERNEL=your_favorit_kernel install-nutyx' to install NuTyX in a full manual mode. Partitionning, formatting, mounting the partitions are up to you. Please check the documentation. Dependency of a package are proctected: The 'cards remove' command will not let you remove a package used by another. Means it's a dependency." Additional details are provided on the project's news page.
Slackel 7.5 "Openbox"
Happy New Year! Dimitris Tzemos has announced the release of Slackel 7.5 "Openbox" edition, the latest version of the project's a desktop Linux distribution based on Slackware's "current" branch, available for both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms: "Slackel 7.5 'Openbox' has been released. It includes the Linux kernel 5.15.12 and the latest updates from Slackware's 'current' tree. The wicd utility has been removed and NetworkManager is now the default application for connecting to networks. Slackel can now be installed on an external 16 or 32 GB USB stick or SSD disk so you can have a portable, fast system always with you. You can also upgrade it to have the latest programs. It is a real installation. You will not notice that you run Slackel from a USB device. The system is fast. Persistence becomes slow after installing some programs. but doing a real installation on an USB stick or external SSD disk will get you a portable Slackel USB in your pocket." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information and screenshots.
Neptune 7.0
Leszek Lesner has announced the release of Neptune 7.0, a major new version of the project's desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's latest stable release and featuring the KDE Plasma desktop: "We are proud to announce the release of Neptune 7 'Faye' named after the member of the Bebop crew in the Cowboy Bebop anime. This version comes with a new Debian base (11 'Bullseye') that offers newer and better hardware support as well as newer software and applications. KDE Plasma 5.20.5 ships with a new Neptune-specific theme that embraces the Breeze widget style for maximum compatibility and it also introduces a new subtle but modern flat look and feel to Neptune. We also updated the icon theme to our own variation of the Tela icon theme to fit with the new look of the system. The default panel has been modernized to allow pinning more apps and tasks to it as well as offering a new bigger and easier look to the eyes. Besides that, Linux kernel 5.10 offers modern hardware support as well as bug fixes." Here is the complete release announcement with screenshots.
Neptune 7.0 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
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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: 2,666
- Total data uploaded: 41.4TB
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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 is your top pick for 2021?
In this week's Feature Story we outlined some fantastic distribution releases of the past year. The Linux ecosystem is varied and has something to offer virtually everyone. Which distribution did you have the most success with in 2021? Did any distributions surprise you with how good (or bad) they were this year? Let us know your favourite and worst pick for 2021 in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on sharing a family computer in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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My favourite distro of 2021 was
| Artix: | 199 (8%) |
| Bedrock: | 20 (1%) |
| Bodhi Linux: | 25 (1%) |
| Endeavour OS: | 171 (7%) |
| Manjaro Linux: | 299 (12%) |
| MX Linux: | 428 (17%) |
| Ubuntu MATE: | 98 (4%) |
| Zorin OS: | 117 (5%) |
| Other: | 1197 (47%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Circle Linux. Circle Linux is a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It is intended to be an alternative to the recently discontinued CentOS Linux 8 series.
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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, 10 January 2022. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
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| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 1, value: US$8.62) |
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
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| Archives |
| • Ussye 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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| Random Distribution | 
Rails Live CD
Rails Live CD was a specialist distribution providing a pre-configured and fully operating Ruby on Rails development environment on a bootable CD. The distribution was derived from PCLinuxOS.
Status: Discontinued
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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