 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 963, 11 April 2022 |
Welcome to this year's 15th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Being able to run applications designed for one operating system on another platform is a popular idea which drives a lot of development and has given rise to a lot of different approaches. Virtual machines, containers, and compatibility layers have all been put forward as good (though never perfect) ways to make specific applications run anywhere. This week we begin with a look at dahliaOS, a project strives to support running programs, and even kernels, from various operating systems. Read on to learn about Jesse Smith's first impressions of this young project. In our News section we discuss Gentoo revitalizing its live media running the Plasma desktop. Plus we report on Fedora discussing when to drop support for older Legacy BIOS computers in favour of UEFI-enabled machines. We also share early reports on Linux Mint's new version upgrade tool which should simplify the process of migrating between major versions of the distribution. Then, in our Questions and Answers section, we talk about different storage media terms and how they relate to each other. We also share a tip on how to find independent Linux distributions, ones which do not have a parent distribution. In this week's Opinion Poll we'd like to hear how many of our readers still use spinning hard drives as opposed to solid state drives (SSDs). Which are you running in your main machine? Plus we're pleased to bring you a summary of this past week's releases and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
dahliaOS 220222
One of the more interesting projects to show up in the DistroWatch waiting list in recent months is dahliaOS. Unlike many of the projects we talk about here, dahliaOS is not focused on desktop or server work. It is also questionable, based on the project's description, whether it is entirely intended to be a Linux distribution.
dahliaOS provides a fast and stable experience on nearly every computer, from a 2004 desktop tower to the latest generation of mobile notebooks. Our dual kernel approach allows users with new(er) hardware to take advantage of the Zircon kernel, while maintaining support for older devices using the Linux kernel.
The Zircon kernel is a component of Google's Fuchsia operating system. Though Google has been somewhat coy about its plans for Fuchsia, chances are we will eventually see mobile devices running Android applications with Fuchsia and its Zircon kernel under the hood.
Apart from experimenting with the stated dual kernel approach, why might one want to run dahliaOS? The project's website has this to say about the young operating system:
dahliaOS keeps things light by only including apps you need, and you can add all of your favorites from other operating systems using the Containers app. dahliaOS also provides a curated marketplace for third-party native Flutter applications, so you can use nearly every application within one system!
I was curious to see how this minimal platform running applications from multiple operating systems would work and so I looked at the download options. I'd expected to find two separate editions for the Zircon and Linux kernels. What I found instead was two editions: one for EFI machines and one for Legacy BIOS machines. Both downloads are presented as Zip files which can be expanded. The EFI edition expands to a 3,477MB (3.4GB) USB disk image file. The Legacy edition expands to a 438MB ISO file which can be written to a CD, DVD, or thumb drive.
As far as I could tell during my trial, both editions work exactly the same way once they are booted. I tried running the operating system on both my workstation and in a VirtualBox environment and did not notice any differences in software, tools, or behaviour.
Early impressions
Booting from either version of the live media brings up a desktop with a bright orange background. A panel at the bottom of the screen holds an application menu, some quick-launch buttons, and a system tray. The launchers are not labelled and do not offer tool tips so we need to guess what they do. Most of them I could recognize as being similar to Android launchers, with one exception. The exception turned out to be an application called Media which displayed many copies of the dahliaOS icon. This program has tabs for displaying pictures and videos which I think makes it a media library and launcher tool, though there isn't any About or Help buttons to confirm this. The other launcher icons access the file manager, terminal, calculator, and web app store.
dahliaOS 220222 -- The application menu
(full image size: 353kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Opening the application menu brings up a full page grid of icons. The grid has a search bar at the top where we can type the names of programs. There is a menu button also near the top of the window which closes the grid of launchers. At the bottom of the application menu are three buttons. One is a button to power off the computer and one opens the Settings window. The third icon looks like the typical "user" icon and clicking it does nothing.
There aren't many launchers present in the menu. We have access to mostly the same tools as we find on the desktop panel with a few additions like a text editor, a clock app, and a Welcome program. The clock just shows the current time and clicking its settings menu brings up a message saying the feature hasn't been implemented. We get much the same treatment with the Welcome window which shows us some links and licensing information, but the Getting Started section is currently empty. There is a web browser, but it is very minimal and only opens to show us the DuckDuckGo search page. The browser has no settings, bookmarks, no address bar, or even a Back button. It is just a simple browser that allows us to search the web and click links.
dahliaOS 220222 -- The default web browser
(full image size: 368kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
I found both the EFI and Legacy editions of dahliaOS ran the Linux kernel (version 5.17). According to the project's website it should be possible to boot into Zircon, at least on modern hardware. I did not find a method for doing this. The boot menu just shows one entry, for the Linux kernel. I dug into the dahliaOS documentation and it indicates the Zircon/Fuchsia experience is something we need to download separately and run in a virtual environment. Which makes it sound like Zircon isn't actually part of dahliaOS, but something we can run in a virtual machine on top of dahliaOS (or any other Linux distribution).
On the subject of included software and features, I found dahliaOS runs the zsh shell by default. It includes no manual pages, but does offer the Busybox userland tools, and init is provided by Busybox. There are relatively few command line tools available. As far as I can tell, there is no system installer and we are able to run the operating system in live mode only.
Performance and settings
Something I noticed early on was that dahliaOS would consume 30% of my host computer's CPU when it was running in VirtualBox. This happened even when sitting idle at the desktop with no applications open. This is unusually high processor consumption in a virtual machine. When running directly on physical hardware the operating system only consumed about 1% of CPU. Despite the high CPU usage in VirtualBox, dahliaOS was highly responsive in both test environments. The operating system was fairly light in memory, using 215MB of RAM when sitting at the desktop.
Clicking anywhere in the system tray brings up a widget offering quick access to settings. In particular we're shown controls for volume, networking, Bluetooth, and the desktop theme. These mostly seemed to work, but I couldn't get the network tool to connect to wireless networks in the area. I brought up the full Settings application and found it holds six pages (or tabs) for networking, connected devices (like Bluetooth), the theme, display, sound, and locale. The last three pages are all blank and offer no options.
The networking tab indicated wireless networking was disabled, which would explain why I couldn't see local wi-fi networks. Enabling the wireless card still didn't provide me with access to local networks. None were detected and toggling the network connection on/off didn't cause the system to detect (or as far as I can tell) scan for wi-fi options in my area.
dahliaOS 220222 -- Browsing network settings
(full image size: 535kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
The theme tab lets us change the colour of some screen elements, though the background remains a persistent blinding orange.
Software management
The operating system ships with a simple software centre called Web App Manager. This window offers just six entries: Discord, Visual Studio Code, Google Search, Townscaper (a game), Documentation, and Minecraft. There is virtually no description or icon for each entry and no screenshot. There is just an Install button next to each entry. Clicking the Install button appears to do nothing - visually nothing happens on the screen. However, I later found launchers for each item I clicked were added to the application menu.
dahliaOS 220222 -- The software centre
(full image size: 436kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Items installed from the Web App Manager are all added to the application menu under the Internet category. This is probably an accurate reflection on the status of the new items as web apps, but it means items like the Townscaper game don't show up under the Gaming tab, only under Internet.
I wanted to install more software, apart from these six items. The dahliaOS website mentions a Containers application which can be used to install software built for other operating systems. I did not find any Containers app installed or in the software centre. I did find a tool called Graft which looked promising at first. According to the Graft documentation it is: "The system's hub for installing virtualized and guest operating systems on top of dahliaOS Linux.". It provides quick access to virtual machines, emulators, and chroot environments.
dahliaOS 220222 -- The Graft environment manager
(full image size: 444kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Graft lists Linux, Macintosh, and Windows as some of the possible options, which seemed like a great start. Clicking these entries did nothing. Likewise, clicking the New button to create a new virtual machine did nothing. I tried starting and stopping the default virtual machine and this also had no effect. It seems the interface for Graft isn't functional yet.
Other observations
The entire operating system feels quite minimal. It has a small set of command line tools, it has very few applications, and it appears to be a single-user system. Everything is run as the root user. The desktop feels like it is intended to be used on tablets or laptops with touch screens as the controls are all large and seem more geared toward taps rather than keyboard and mouse input.
Conclusions
The dahliaOS platform feels like it is very much in its early stages. Most of the tools included, particularly the Graft tool for guest operating systems, the welcome window, the settings panel, and the software centre feel like placeholders. Often the controls don't work or display a message saying the feature will be implemented at a later time. The utilities are there, we can see them, but they don't do much, yet.
dahliaOS 220222 -- The welcome window and terminal
(full image size: 389kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
I feel as though the dahliaOS website doesn't really convey what the project is trying to do. It says things like "Our dual kernel approach allows users with new(er) hardware to take advantage of the Zircon kernel," which I think implies there are two kernels present we can boot into, but this doesn't seem to be the case. We're told dahliaOS "Provides a curated marketplace for third-party native Flutter applications," but there are just six options in this collection, two of them games. For that matter, even several links (like the How It Works and The Goal) in the website's menu don't go to documentation yet, they just take us back to the top of the home page.
All of this is to say dahliaOS looks like it's trying something interesting. There is a sense here that it'll eventually be a minimal platform on which we can run web apps, containers, and even other operating systems with minimal effort. This could certainly be useful, both for people who want to experiment and for people who want to collect useful features from multiple sources.
For now the system feels incomplete, a blueprint rather than a building, a design with potential without the functionality. I think in a year or two it'll be interesting to see what the developers of dahliaOS have accomplished, but it's not ready yet.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Lenovo desktop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Hex-core Intel i5-10400 CPU @ 2.90GHz
- Storage: Western Digital 1TB hard drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 wired network card, Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe wireless adapter
- Display: Intel CometLake-S GT2
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Gentoo revitalizes live media, Fedora to phase out Legacy BIOS support, Mint plans new graphical upgrade tool
The Gentoo project, which creates a source-based meta-distribution, is bringing back their weekly live DVD images. The live media features the KDE Plasma desktop and gives new users a chance to explore the project before committing to an installation. "After a long break, we now have again a weekly LiveGUI ISO image for amd64 available! The 4.7GB download, suitable for DVD burning or USB stick, boots directly into KDE Plasma and comes with a ton of up-to-date software. This ranges from office applications such as LibreOffice, Inkscape, and GIMP all the way to many system administrator tools. Now, we need your help! Let's make this the coolest and most beautiful Linux live image ever. We're calling for submissions of artwork, themes, actually anything from a desktop background to a boot manager animation, on the topic of Gentoo! The winning entry will be added as default setting to the official LiveGUI images, and also be available for download and installation."
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The Fedora team is exploring an option which will phase out support for Legacy BIOS systems, limiting new installations to UEFI-enabled hardware. "Make UEFI a hardware requirement for new Fedora installations on platforms that support it (x86_64). Legacy BIOS support is not removed, but new non-UEFI installation is not supported on those platforms. This is a first step toward eventually removing Legacy BIOS support entirely." It is hoped dropping Legacy BIOS support will result in other elements of the distribution being removed, such as VESA drivers. Details of the proposal can be found in the Fedora wiki.
* * * * *
The Linux Mint team has published an update for the month of March. Some of the key work going into the Mint distribution focuses on making upgrades across major versions easier. "Linux Mint follows a 6 months release cycle, with a new major version every 2 years followed by 3 point releases. As detailed in the user manual, upgrades towards a point release within the same major version of Linux Mint are quite simple and easy to perform. Upgrades towards the next major release however are much more complex. They require an advanced level of knowledge and experience and they are performed using the command line. We are working on an upgrade tool which will make this significantly easier in the future." The new upgrade tool will be entirely graphical, offer to create snapshots prior to starting upgrades, and try to address common problems. Details can be found in the project's newsletter.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Defining terms and searching for parent distributions
Getting-everything-defined asks: What's the difference between these common terms: drive, virtual drive, storage drive, removable drive, and partition?
DistroWatch answers: For the most part the terms drive, storage drive, and disk drive can usually be used interchangeably. The terms drive, storage drive, and disk drive all refer to a storage device attached to your computer where data can be stored persistently. In other words, data saved on a drive will survive a reboot or the power going out. A removable drive is a storage device that can easily be plugged into or unplugged from the computer while it is running. Typically people are talking about external hard drives, DVDs, or USB thumb drives when they talk about removable storage.
A partition is a section of a drive that has been set aside for a particular use. When you save something on your computer the operating system needs to know how to organize information on the drive. We don't want separate operating systems getting jumbled together. To avoid getting all the files tangled together, the drive is logically split into different sections. These sections are called partitions.
Typically a disk will be divided into multiple partitions. One for the operating system, one for swap space, and one for your /home directory. Each partition can hold its own filesystem which determines how files are organized within the partition.
A virtual drive is a bit of an odd concept. It's a form of storage, often a large file, which the operating system can treat as if the file were a storage drive. Basically, it's usually a file pretending to be a disk. Why would you do this? Typically a virtual drive is used to test something, like a new filesystem or a virtual machine. It's handy to have when you don't want to actually run the risk or cost of using a real hard drive. A virtual drive can also be useful when storing encrypted data. In situations where you don't want to encrypt your entire hard drive, but do still have sensitive information, people will often place their secure files inside a virtual drive which is encrypted and/or hidden. The virtual drive (which is typically one big file) can then be copied or deleted easily.
In short, a drive or storage drive is typically a physical disk that is in your computer. A removable drive is a storage drive that can easily be unplugged. A partition is a fenced off section of a drive. A virtual drive is something pretending to be a hard drive - typically a file which is organized internally like a disk drive.
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Looking-for-things asks: You already have "based on" and "not based on" filters. How about one that hides all spin offs but the original?
DistroWatch answers: Assuming I understand the question correctly, you want to use the DistroWatch Search page to find distributions matching specific criteria. And you want to make sure all the results are original (or parent) distributions, not spins or child distributions?
This can be done by setting the "Based on" field to Independent. For instance, if I wanted to find all original/parent distributions that are actively maintained and which offer the KDE Plasma desktop then I could do that with this search. As you can see, all the results are upstream distributions such as Fedora, openSUSE, and Solus which are not spins or based on another distribution.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Q4OS 4.8
Q4OS is a Debian-based desktop distribution which offers two editions: Trinity and KDE Plasma. The project's latest release, Q4OS 4.8, is based on Debian 11.3 and offers security fixes, an updated installer, and the latest version of the Chromium browser. The release announcement states: "An update to Q4OS 4 Gemini LTS has been released. The new 4.8 series receives the recent Debian Bullseye 11.3 update, updated Debian stable kernel and important security and bug fixes. This update brings along significant Q4OS specific improvements, fixes and a cumulative upgrade covering all the changes from the previous stable Gemini release. Among other improvements, localization and languages support API library for the Desktop profiler as well as for other Q4OS tools has been rewritten and vastly improved, Setup tool gets polished and installation process has been more secured."
NuTyX 22.04.1
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 snapshot is NuTyX 22.04.1 which features updates to the major desktop environments along with updated web browsers and new versions of the Linux kernel. "The NuTyX team is happy to announce the new version of NuTyX 22.04.1 and cards 2.5.0. New toolchain GCC 11.2.0, glibc 2.35 and binutils 2.38. The xorg-server graphics server version 21.1.3, the Mesa 3D library in 22.0.1, GTK 4 4.6.2 and Qt 6.2.4. The Python interpreters are en 3.10.4 et 2.7.18. The Xfce desktop environment is updated to version 4.16.0. The MATE desktop environment is a 1.26.0 version. The GNOME desktop environment is also updated to version 41.5. The KDE desktop environment is available in Plasma 5.24.4, Framework 5.92.0 and applications in 21.12.3. Available browsers are: Firefox 99.0, Chromium 100.0.4896.60, Epiphany 41.3, etc." Additional information can be found on the project's news page.
SELKS 7
Stamus Networks has announced the release of SELKS 7, the latest version of the company's specialist, Debian-based distribution with focus on security and threat detection. It features the open-source Suricata threat-detection engine. Besides the usual live ISO image, the new version is also available as a Docker Compose package. "Stamus Networks, a global provider of high-performance network-based threat detection and response systems, today announced the general availability of SELKS 7 - a major upgrade to the turnkey system based on the Suricata intrusion detection/prevention (IDS/IPS) and network security monitoring (NSM) system with a built-in network threat hunting console and graphical ruleset/threat intelligence feed manager. SELKS is now available either as a portable Docker Compose package or as turnkey installation images (ISO files). Each option includes five key open-source components that comprise its name - Suricata, Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana and Scirius Community Edition (Suricata Management and Suricata Hunting from Stamus Networks)." See the full press release for further details.
SELKS 7 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 1.1MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
EasyOS 3.4.5
Barry Kauler has announced the launch of EasyOS 3.4.5. The EasyOS distribution is an experimental platform with a focus on user-friendly container technology. The project's latest release provides a dark theme, updated web browsers, a new kernel, and updated video support. "Version 3.4.5 has a stark jet-black theme. This is continuing an experiment with themes that are a bit more radical than expected with an official distro release. Easy 3.4.4 has a vivid orange-red theme. Easy continues to ship with two web browsers, Firefox and the SeaMonkey suite. The latter is retained as some users like the Mail & News module and/or the WYSIWYG HTML editor. An attempt has been made to improve compatibility with fairly recent Ryzen-based computers, with upgraded Xorg and mesa packages, and more firmware. The kernel has been upgraded from the 5.10.x series used prior to Easy 3.4.4." Further information is provided in the release announcement and in the release notes.
Raspberry Pi OS 2022-04-04
Simon Long has announced an availability of the latest stable release of Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based distribution for Raspberry Pi range of low-cost mini-computers. The latest version, labelled as 2022-04-04, removes the default "pi" user from the system and makes the "setup wizard" compulsory: "Up until now, all installs of Raspberry Pi OS have had a default user called 'pi'. This isn't that much of a weakness - just knowing a valid user name doesn't really help much if someone wants to hack into your system; they would also need to know your password, and you'd need to have enabled some form of remote access in the first place. But nonetheless, it could potentially make a brute-force attack slightly easier, and in response to this, some countries are now introducing legislation to forbid any Internet-connected device from having default login credentials. So with this latest release, the default 'pi' user is being removed, and instead you will create a user the first time you boot a newly-flashed Raspberry Pi OS image." Here is the full release announcement. The Raspberry Pi OS IMG files are available for both armhf and arm64 architectures in standard, "full" and "lite" flavours.
MX Linux 21.1
The MX Linux team have published an update to their 21.x series. The new update, MX Linux 21.1, includes a refreshed Debian base, a new tool for configuring Samba shares, and updated hardware support. The release announcement reports: "We are pleased to offer MX-21.1 for your use. MX-21.1 is the first refresh of our MX-21 release, consisting of bugfixes, kernels, and application updates since our original release of MX-21. If you are already running MX-21, there is no need to reinstall. Packages are all available thru the regular update channel. Highlights include: Debian 11.3 Bullseye base; new and updated applications; Disk-manager returns to the official ISOs; mx-samba-config for a desktop-agnostic way of configuring Samba/CIFS usershares; mx-installer received several improvements; All kernel updates: AHS now uses 5.16 kernel. And all the goodness from the original release of MX-21."
* * * * *
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: 2,707
- Total data uploaded: 41.8TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Spinning disk or solid state drive (SSD)
In our Questions and Answers column this week we talked about the various terms for drive storage and places to save files. We'd like to hear on what kind of medium you run your operating system. Do you have a classic spinning hard drive or a solid state drive (SSD)? Perhaps you do all your computing from a live DVD or a USB thumb drive? Let us know on what sort of device your main operating system is running.
You can see the results of our previous poll on locking down home directories in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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My primary OS runs on a...
| Spinning hard drive: | 511 (24%) |
| Solid state drive: | 1548 (73%) |
| Live CD/DVD: | 7 (0%) |
| USB thumb drive: | 34 (2%) |
| Other: | 22 (1%) |
| Unknown: | 2 (0%) |
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|
| Website News |
New distributions added to database
SysLinuxOS is a Debian-based GNU/Linux live distribution designed for system administrators and system integrators. It offers a complete networking environment that is organised to integrate various software tools and has a friendly graphical interface using the MATE desktop. SysLinuxOS was built to work right out of the box, with all networking tools already installed by default. It includes all major Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), several remote control clients, various browsers, as well as Wine, Wireshark, Etherape, Ettercap, PackETH, Packet Sender, Putty, Nmap, Cutecom, Packet Tracer, tools for serial console, and the latest stable Linux kernel.
SysLinuxOS 11.2 -- Running the MATE desktop
(full image size: 465kB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
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New distributions added to waiting list
- Fienix. Fienix is a Debian-based distribution specifically built to run on PowerPC-powered workstations.
- EXERGOS RED. EXERGOS RED is a Debian-based distribution featuring the Cinnamon desktop and pre-configured access to Flatpak packages.
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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, 18 April 2022. 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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| Random Distribution | 
easys GNU/Linux
easys GNU/Linux (previously pocketlinux) was a Slackware-based distribution developed by former developers of the now-discontinued Bonzai Linux. Its main features are a simplified Slackware installer, one application per task, and KDE Light desktop.
Status: Discontinued
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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 
