 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 967, 9 May 2022 |
Welcome to this year's 19th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Getting one operating system to run applications crafted to work on other platforms is a difficult challenge, but one which many people want to see working. People running Linux desktop systems often want to run Android applications or Windows programs. Meanwhile people using an Android phone often wish they could run full featured GNU/Linux software on their mobile devices. This week we begin with a look at UserLAnd, a utility for running Linux command line and desktop software on mobile Android devices. UserLAnd will even run complete Linux distributions in an isolated environment on your phone and we share examples of this in action below. Is running GNU/Linux software on your phone something you find to be useful? Let us know your thoughts in this week's Opinion Poll. In our Questions and Answers section we discuss how to set up files and links automatically in the home directories of new users. Plus we talk about improvements coming to elementary OS as the project prepares for version 7 and we report on the Fedora team choosing to maintain Legacy BIOS support. We also share a link to a repository of useful Bash commands and shortcuts, ideal for command line veterans and beginners alike. Then we're pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Running desktop Linux software on Android
In the past we have spent some time talking about various ways to run Android applications on GNU/Linux distributions, typically by using sandboxing tools such as Anbox and Waydroid. This week we would like to explore the reverse and talk about running GNU/Linux software on a device which is already running Android.
There are a number of chroot environments and containers which can be installed on Android in order to run a minimal desktop Linux distribution on a phone or tablet. This week I want to focus on one project in particular: UserLAnd. According to the UserLAnd website, the project provides an easy way to set up and run desktop Linux distributions on a phone or tablet (Android is currently supported, but it looks like there are plans to work with iOS in the future). This is accomplished without requiring the user to root their phone. In fact, all we should need to do is install the UserLAnd app from the Play store and launch it.
Installing
I grabbed a copy of UserLAnd 2.8.3 which is a 16MB download and installed it on my Galaxy S9. UserLAnd claims to run on Android 5.0 (and newer) and I was running a de-Googled (/e/ OS) version of Android 10.
The UserLAnd application begins by asking if we would like to send bug reports to the developers to support their efforts in making the software more stable. We're then shown a screen with three tabs.
UserLAnd 2.8.3 -- Available applications we can install
(full image size: 211kB, resolution: 1440x2960 pixels)
The first tab is called Apps and it lists software, presumably items we can install. These options include five Linux distributions (Alpine, Arch, Debian, Kali, and Ubuntu). We are also shown two desktop environments (LXDE and Xfce). There are also eleven applications, including Firefox, Git, Zork, Gnuplot, R, GIMP, and LibreOffice. I'll come back to these options in a moment.
The second tab is called Sessions and begins with a blank page. There is a plus (+) sign in the upper-right corner which we can use to create new sessions, though I was lacking context for this option. It looks like a session is a combination of a remote control protocol (OpenSSH, VNC, or XSDL) and a filesystem. The filesystem brings me to the third tab.
The third tab is called Filesystems and is also blank, apart from a plus sign. Tapping the + gives us the chance to create a new filesystem which is protected by a username and password. We can then associate the filesystem with one of the five distributions from the first page.
To be honest, at this stage I was pretty sure the first tab would let me install a distribution and the second tab would probably sign me into a distribution, but I wasn't sure where the filesystem options fit in. I decided the best way to work this out was to dive in and try it.
Running a minimal distribution
Alpine Linux is the first option on the list and probably the lightest of the five distributions offered so I decided to begin with it. I tapped Alpine and was warned UserLAnd wanted to access my storage device. I was then told I'd need to set up a filesystem. I was asked to make up a username, password, and VNC password for Alpine. I was then asked to choose SSH or VNC as my connection method (XSDL is apparently not supported on versions of Android newer than 9 and I'm running 10 at the time of writing). I chose SSH and was told the system was downloading two new assets.
UserLAnd 2.8.3 -- Creating a new distribution session
(full image size: 188kB, resolution: 1440x2960 pixels)
About ten seconds later a console window opened and asked me to sign into my Alpine system. I entered my password and was presented with an Alpine text console and a welcome message.
I explored a little and found I seemed to have a completely functional Alpine installation, equipped with userland tools, network access, and APK package manager. I could exit the session and rejoin the running Alpine session through the UserLAnd Sessions tab. I could also stop the running session by tapping and holding the session listed in the Session tab.
I then found my Alpine installation showed up in the Filesystems tab and it seems here we can change our username, password and delete the installation.
The whole system was starting to make sense. I could install a distribution from the first tab, login to the distribution in the second tab and remove the software in the third tab. So far so good.
UserLAnd 2.8.3 -- Running Alpine on my phone
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Running a desktop distribution session
I next tried to install the Xfce session. This follows the same process as installing Alpine, except this time the only connection option was VNC (SSH was not available because we'd be accessing a graphical session). On my phone I did not have a VNC client installed and UserLAnd opens the application centre to install one, specifically one called bVNC.
At first I was unable to get signed into the desktop session using the VNC client. The connection was refused. With a little experimenting and searching I found that I had to change the VNC client's network port from the default 5900 value to 5951. This was not mentioned in the UserLAnd documentation, but it was shared in a review of the software in the Play store.
The first time I got signed into the VNC session there was no desktop, just a minimal window manager and a terminal window. The terminal window had a string of error messages which reported the session needed to be restarted. I followed this advice, stopping and restarting my Xfce session in the UserLAnd application, then tried connecting again using VNC. This time the session connected and displayed the Xfce desktop.
UserLAnd 2.8.3 -- Trying to start the Xfce session
(full image size: 421kB, resolution: 1440x1422 pixels)
The Xfce desktop looks very small on my phone's screen, of course, but I was able to bring up menus and tap launch icons. The Xfce session is running on a Debian Stable platform and we are able to install and run new software from the Debian repositories.
Trying to use the Xfce desktop on my phone was not practical, but I was able to sign into the desktop session using a VNC client on my workstation. This provided me with a minimal Debian system running Xfce which I could access at will.
Sharing files
The UserLAnd documentation mentions that it's possible to share files between the Android host operating system and the Linux distribution sessions we are running. On the Android side of things, a new storage location appears in the file manager called UserLAnd. We can copy files into this folder in the Android file manager to make them available to our GNU/Linux session. When we are running a UserLAnd session files in this location are made available through the /storage/internal and /storage/sdcard directories. We can also copy files we are using in the session to the /storage directories to "pass them back" to Android.
Having this set of directories set aside for sharing files between the two operating systems means transferring files back and forth nearly transparent.
Practical uses
On the surface it may not seem all that unusual to be able to run a standard Linux distribution in its own isolated environment on an Android device. This sort of technology has been around for a while in one form or another. However, I think what UserLAnd brings to the table which makes it attractive isn't its individual features, but how they all fit together.
UserLAnd 2.8.3 -- Running a terminal, text editor, and file manager on my phone through VNC
(full image size: 109kB, resolution: 1240x1024 pixels)
Unlike some of the alternatives available, UserLAnd doesn't require we root our phone or tablet before using it. The UserLAnd software doesn't require we use the command line (either on the host Android system or in the guest Linux distributions), and it will help us automatically set up OpenSSH and VNC clients if one isn't already installed. This, along with the guest distributions having remote access features enabled, makes getting started working with the guest systems convenient. UserLAnd also makes five different distributions immediately available to us which we can install (and then remove) with a few taps and minimal technical experience.
When you combine the above features with the shared storage directory we can easily access from both the guest and host file managers, we end up with a very convenient platform. One which allows us to share files between Android applications and Linux desktop applications with a few clicks.
What really appeals to me about UserLAnd is that I feel it is quickly approaching a better form of convergence so many companies have failed to deliver for the past decade. Organizations such as Microsoft and Canonical have tried pushing the idea of one user interface (Metro or Unity 8) which could adapt to any screen size and seamlessly act as either a touchscreen device or a full desktop system. These approaches generally haven't worked well because the applications either end up being cripplingly simplistic, and therefore not much use on desktop machines, or the interface becomes overly crowded and hard to use on mobile devices. Typically both. It is really hard to develop one desktop or one application which will work well across screen sizes and be useful when using touch screens and keyboard input.
UserLAnd offers a better solution. Rather than try to shoehorn everything into one user interface and one set of applications, UserLAnd makes it easy to set up the two separate interfaces and sets of applications side-by-side, allowing us to run one or both on the same device at the same time.
As an example, I can use my Android phone to take a photo and save the image in the shared directory. I can then instantly launch my Debian session running Xfce and connect to it through my workstation's VNC client. I can edit the image in the GNU Image Manipulation Program, save the result in the shared folder, pick up my phone and text the image to someone. The whole experience might take a minute and doesn't require transferring the file between computers, I just need a VNC client on my workstation.
This also means my phone can act as a super portable laptop. Using the VNC session I can be writing a document or downloading a torrent on my phone in a UserLAnd session at home. When it's time to go into work I can pause the session, drop the phone in my pocket, drive to the office, and then fire up a VNC session on my work computer to pick up where I left off. There's no need to synchronize files or use cloud storage, everything lives on the phone and goes with me wherever I am.
The only drawback at the moment is the limited performance of my mobile device. The Galaxy S9 is not a particularly fast device and it has just 3GB of RAM. It's fine for some minor image editing, writing documents, downloading torrents, and converting media files in the background. It's not a device on which I'd perform video editing or play games. Basically, with UserLAnd running, it's a really low-end laptop computer.
Conclusions
Working with UserLAnd was a pretty smooth experience. It takes less than a minute to set up new Linux distributions as guest sessions and we can connect to new sessions almost instantly using either OpenSSH or VNC clients. I particularly like how easy it is to share files between the host operating system and the guest distributions, which effectively allows us to use two sets of applications to manage one shared set of files.
The performance is pretty good, considering my limited hardware, and I like that UserLAnd basically turns my phone into a laptop that fits in my pocket. As I mentioned before, finding a way to bridge the gap between desktop computers and mobile devices is something several companies have tried without good results. UserLAnd seems to have found a better solution which, with a little polishing, could be useful for a wide audience.
I encountered just two drawbacks during my trial. The first is there isn't much documentation. Finding bits of information such as which network port to use with VNC required some searching and I didn't find any explanation as to how to use the various tabs in the UserLAnd app. We can work out most of the details through quick trial and error, but I'd like to see the documentation fleshed out more.
The second issue is the performance of most phones and tablets. A low-end phone just isn't going to have a lot of computing power (or memory) left over once it's already running Android and this reduces the desktop performance. The command line experience is excellent, even on my phone's limited hardware, but the desktop lags and will make more complex tasks cumbersome.
On the whole, this project is off to a good start and I hope to see it expanded and made increasingly convenient to set up over time.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Improvements coming to elementary OS, Fedora decides to keep Legacy BIOS support, a repository of Bash tips
The elementary OS developers have published a status update which provides an overview of recent changes to the distribution, along with short-term plans for the next release. "System Settings received quite a bit of attention last month. Thanks to a first-time contributor, you can now choose to use the super key to open Multitasking View in Keyboard settings. You can now also set the refresh rate for IMAP in Online Accounts settings. Offline firmware updates are now supported on the System page. In Sound settings, we now have more helpful placeholder text when no input devices are found. And the Language & Region page now has better support for locales with 3-letter language codes.
Our window manager also saw several fixes including more accurately using your chosen accent colour in the window switcher, and better handling window selections beneath the window switcher. We also do a better job of resizing the Multitasking View when display configurations change, and prevent a number of potential crashes." elementary OS 7 is expected to be launched later this year and will be based on Ubuntu 22.04.
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Last month we shared a proposal being considered in the Fedora project to phase out Legacy BIOS support in favour of using UEFI exclusively. After some discussion this plan has been dropped as most developers feel it is too soon to drop support for Legacy BIOS machines. One contributor summed up the situation as follows: "Removing support for doing something immediately is not a 'deprecation'. Better ways to handle transitioning away from BIOS boot support have been proposed on the list. It seems it's still too early to drop BIOS boot support for both desktop (weird or broken UEFI implementations by vendors) and server (no support for booting with UEFI on many cloud providers)."
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People who frequently use the command line often find themselves looking for shortcuts or more effective ways to perform tasks. Using simplified manual pages with examples of common program usage is one approach to finding better ways to use the command line. Another resource many people will probably find helpful is the Bash Oneliner collection. This repository holds a wide range of simple commands and shortcuts to make navigating the Bash command line interface more quick and effective. The collection also shows how to perform advanced filename matches, work with shell variables, and perform mathematical operations on the command line. It's an excellent resource for people learning Bash for the first time and for people who want a quick reference.
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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) |
Setting up home directory templates
Sharing-is-caring asks: I've got a shared computer and I want to place documentation and some links to forums and stuff on everyone's desktop. I can easily do that for users that already exist, but what about for new users? Is there a way when a new user logs in for the first time and their home folder is created that this file gets placed on their desktop?
DistroWatch answers: When new user accounts are created their home directory is set up right away. This happens before the user tries to login for the first time. When a new account is created most Linux account management tools, such as adduser, will make the user's directory and then copy the contents of the skeletal directory template into the new home directory.
This is a fancy way of saying there is a directory on your Linux distribution which has its contents copied into the home directory of each new user. Typically this template directory is stored in /etc/skel. If you look inside that directory now you'll probably find a collection of hidden files such as .bashrc for custom shell settings and maybe a directory called .config which will hold default desktop settings.
Any file or directory you create in this location (usually /etc/skel) will get copied into new users' home directories when they are created. In your case you will probably want to add a directory called Desktop inside /etc/skel and then place any documentation, links, or launchers you want to share inside the Desktop directory.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Tails 5.0
The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a Debian-based live DVD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user. The project's latest release, Tails 5.0, is the first version of the distribution to be based on Debian 11. "We are especially proud to present you Tails 5.0, the first version of Tails based on Debian 11 (Bullseye). It brings new versions of a lot of the software included in Tails and new OpenPGP tools. We added Kleopatra to replace the OpenPGP Applet and the Password and Keys utility, also known as Seahorse. The OpenPGP Applet was not actively developped anymore and was complicated for us to keep in Tails. The Password and Keys utility was also poorly maintained and Tails users suffered from too many of its issues until now. Kleopatra provides equivalent features in a single tool and is more actively developed." Additional information is provided in the project's release announcement. Tails is provided via two separate downloads for DVD and thumb drives.
Tails 5.0 -- Running the GNOME desktop
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Proxmox 7.2 "Virtual Environment"
Proxmox is a commercial company offering specialised products based on Debian GNU/Linux, notably Proxmox Virtual Environment and Proxmox Mail Gateway. The company has published a new release, Proxmox 7.2 "Virtual Environment" which includes an updated kernel, ZFS support, and Ceph Pacific upgrades. "Proxmox VE 7.2 (released on May 4, 2022) includes multiple enhancements: Debian 11.3 (Bullseye), but using a newer Linux kernel 5.15.30; QEMU 6.2.0, LXC 4.0.12, and ZFS 2.1.4; Ceph Pacific 16.2.7 and continued support for Ceph Octopus 15.2.16 (until mid 2022); support for the accelerated virtio-gl (VirGL) display driver; notes templates for backup/restore; VMID range in clusters: configuration of a desired range of VMIDs with upper and the lower boundaries is possible; pass the keyring secret to external Ceph clusters via GUI; enhanced backup restore dialog - override basic settings; and much more...." The release announcement also includes a video with an overview of the changes. Further details can be found in the distribution's roadmap.
OpenMediaVault 6.0.24
OpenMediaVault is a Network-Attached Storage (NAS) solution based on Debian GNU/Linux. The distribution's latest release is the start of the 6.x series which is based on Debian 11. "After a long development phase I am happy to announce the release of OpenMediaVault 6 (Shaitan). A big thank you goes to all translators, forum moderators and bug reporters for their contributions and support. The main new features of OpenMediaVault 6: based on Debian 11 'Bullseye'; completely new user interface written from scratch; added some new plugins that are based on containers - these are S3, OwnTone, PhotoPrism, WeTTY, FileBrowser, Onedrive (please note that not all platforms are supported because the upstream base containers are only available for specific CPU architectures); enhanced ISO installer; ensure that /media is unmounted to allow installation to USB devices - this will allow the installation from USB to USB device; /dev/disk/by-label filesystem device files are not supported any more because they are not unique and predictable." Additional details are provided in the release announcement.
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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: 2,719
- Total data uploaded: 41.9TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Running a full desktop Linux distribution on your Android phone
In this week's Feature Story we talked about UserLAnd, a tool which allows the user to run a full Linux distribution in an isolate environment on their Android while also being able to run desktop software and share files between the two operating systems. Is this approach to running two operating systems on one device something you would find useful? Does the idea of using your phone as your primary desktop computer appeal to you? Let us know what you think of UserLAnd in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on Ubuntu adopting more Snap packages in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Running desktop Linux on my Android phone is something I would do...
| Occasionally for rare tasks: | 351 (26%) |
| Frequently for common tasks: | 154 (12%) |
| Constantly as a primary workstation: | 78 (6%) |
| Never: | 753 (56%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- Txikilinux. Txikilinux is a lightweight distribution designed to run on older computers, including 32-bit machines. The distribution is intended to be run by young students (ages 5-9) in an educational environment with the option of working entirely off-line.
- AOS Security Operating System. AOS is a Chinese distribution which focuses on stability and reliability, especially under heavy work loads.
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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, 16 May 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 1021 (2023-05-29): rlxos GNU/Linux, colours in command line output, an overview of Void's unique features, how to use awk, Microsoft publishes a Linux distro |
| • Issue 1020 (2023-05-22): UBports 20.04, finding another machine's IP address, finding distros with a specific kernel, Debian prepares for Bookworm |
| • Issue 1019 (2023-05-15): Rhino Linux (Beta), checking which applications reply on a package, NethServer reborn, System76 improving application responsiveness |
| • Issue 1018 (2023-05-08): Fedora 38, finding relevant manual pages, merging audio files, Fedora plans new immutable edition, Mint works to fix Secure Boot issues |
| • Issue 1017 (2023-05-01): Xubuntu 23.04, Debian elects Project Leaders and updates media, systemd to speed up restarts, Guix System offering ground-up source builds, where package managers install files |
| • Issue 1016 (2023-04-24): Qubes OS 4.1.2, tracking bandwidth usage, Solus resuming development, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS offers preview of Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1015 (2023-04-17): Manjaro Linux 22.0, Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Arch Linux powering PINE64 tablets, Ubuntu offering live patching on HWE kernels, gaining compression on ex4 |
| • Issue 1014 (2023-04-10): Quick looks at carbonOS, LibreELEC, and Kodi, Mint polishes themes, Fedora rolls out more encryption plans, elementary OS improves sideloading experience |
| • Issue 1013 (2023-04-03): Alpine Linux 3.17.2, printing manual pages, Ubuntu Cinnamon becomes official flavour, Endeavour OS plans for new installer, HardenedBSD plans for outage |
| • Issue 1012 (2023-03-27): siduction 22.1.1, protecting privacy from proprietary applications, GNOME team shares new features, Canonical updates Ubuntu 20.04, politics and the Linux kernel |
| • Issue 1011 (2023-03-20): Serpent OS, Security Onion 2.3, Gentoo Live, replacing the scp utility, openSUSE sees surge in downloads, Debian runs elction with one candidate |
| • Issue 1010 (2023-03-13): blendOS 2023.01.26, keeping track of which files a package installs, improved network widget coming to elementary OS, Vanilla OS changes its base distro |
| • Issue 1009 (2023-03-06): Nemo Mobile and the PinePhone, matching the performance of one distro on another, Linux Mint adds performance boosts and security, custom Ubuntu and Debian builds through Cubic |
| • Issue 1008 (2023-02-27): elementary OS 7.0, the benefits of boot environments, Purism offers lapdock for Librem 5, Ubuntu community flavours directed to drop Flatpak support for Snap |
| • Issue 1007 (2023-02-20): helloSystem 0.8.0, underrated distributions, Solus team working to repair their website, SUSE testing Micro edition, Canonical publishes real-time edition of Ubuntu 22.04 |
| • Issue 1006 (2023-02-13): Playing music with UBports on a PinePhone, quick command line and shell scripting questions, Fedora expands third-party software support, Vanilla OS adds Nix package support |
| • Issue 1005 (2023-02-06): NuTyX 22.12.0 running CDE, user identification numbers, Pop!_OS shares COSMIC progress, Mint makes keyboard and mouse options more accessible |
| • Issue 1004 (2023-01-30): OpenMandriva ROME, checking the health of a disk, Debian adopting OpenSnitch, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1003 (2023-01-23): risiOS 37, mixing package types, Fedora seeks installer feedback, Sparky offers easier persistence with USB writer |
| • Issue 1002 (2023-01-16): Vanilla OS 22.10, Nobara Project 37, verifying torrent downloads, Haiku improvements, HAMMER2 being ports to NetBSD |
| • Issue 1001 (2023-01-09): Arch Linux, Ubuntu tests new system installer, porting KDE software to OpenBSD, verifying files copied properly |
| • Issue 1000 (2023-01-02): Our favourite projects of all time, Fedora trying out unified kernel images and trying to speed up shutdowns, Slackware tests new kernel, detecting what is taking up disk space |
| • Issue 999 (2022-12-19): Favourite distributions of 2022, Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releasing security patches for 16.04, Haiku working on new ports |
| • Issue 998 (2022-12-12): OpenBSD 7.2, Asahi Linux enages video hardware acceleration on Apple ARM computers, Manjaro drops proprietary codecs from Mesa package |
| • Issue 997 (2022-12-05): CachyOS 221023 and AgarimOS, working with filenames which contain special characters, elementary OS team fixes delta updates, new features coming to Xfce |
| • Issue 996 (2022-11-28): Void 20221001, remotely shutting down a machine, complex aliases, Fedora tests new web-based installer, Refox OS running on real hardware |
| • Issue 995 (2022-11-21): Fedora 37, swap files vs swap partitions, Unity running on Arch, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for more devices |
| • Issue 994 (2022-11-14): Redcore Linux 2201, changing the terminal font size, Fedora plans Phosh spin, openSUSE publishes on-line manual pages, disabling Snap auto-updates |
| • Issue 993 (2022-11-07): Static Linux, working with just a kernel, Mint streamlines Flatpak management, updates coming to elementary OS |
| • Issue 992 (2022-10-31): Lubuntu 22.10, setting permissions on home directories, Linux may drop i486, Fedora delays next version for OpenSSL bug |
| • Issue 991 (2022-10-24): XeroLinux 2022.09, learning who ran sudo, exploring firewall tools, Rolling Rhino Remix gets a fresh start, Fedora plans to revamp live media |
| • Issue 990 (2022-10-17): ravynOS 0.4.0, Lion Linux 3.0, accessing low numbered network ports, Pop!_OS makes progress on COSMIC, Murena launches new phone |
| • Issue 989 (2022-10-10): Ubuntu Unity, kernel bug causes issues with Intel cards, Canonical offers free Ubuntu Pro subscriptions, customizing the command line prompt |
| • Issue 988 (2022-10-03): SpiralLinux 11.220628, finding distros for older equipment and other purposes, SUSE begins releasing ALP prototypes, Debian votes on non-free firmware in installer |
| • Issue 987 (2022-09-26): openSUSE's MicroOS, converting people to using Linux, pfSense updates base system and PHP, Python 2 dropped from Arch |
| • Issue 986 (2022-09-19): Porteus 5.0, remotely wiping a hard drive, a new software centre for Ubuntu, Proxmox offers offline updates |
| • Issue 985 (2022-09-12): Garuda Linux, using root versus sudo, UBports on the Fairphone 4, Slackware reverses change to grep |
| • Issue 984 (2022-09-05): deepin 23 Preview, watching for changing to directories, Mint team tests Steam Deck, Devuan posts fix for repository key expiry |
| • Issue 983 (2022-08-29): Qubes OS 4.1.1, Alchg Linux, immutable operating systems, Debian considers stance on non-free firmware, Arch-based projects suffer boot issue |
| • Issue 982 (2022-08-22): Peropesis 1.6.2, KaOS strips out Python 2 and PulseAudio, deepin becomes independent, getting security update notifications |
| • Issue 981 (2022-08-15): Linux Lite 6.0, defining desktop environments and window managers, Mint releases upgrade tool, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 980 (2022-08-08): Linux Mint 21, Pledge on Linux, SparkyLinux updates classic desktop packages, Peppermint OS experiments with Devuan base |
| • Issue 979 (2022-08-01): KaOS 2022.06 and KDE Plasma 5.25, terminating processes after a set time, GNOME plans Secure Boot check |
| • Issue 978 (2022-07-25): EndeavourOS 22.6, Slax explores a return to Slackware, Ubuntu certified with Dell's XPS 13, Linux running on Apple's M2 |
| • Issue 977 (2022-07-18): EasyOS 4.2, transferring desktop themes between distros, Tails publishes list of updates, Zevenet automates Let's Encrypt renewals |
| • Issue 976 (2022-07-11): NixOS 22.05, making a fake webcam, exploring the Linux scheduler, Debian publishes updated media |
| • Issue 975 (2022-07-04): Murena One running /e/OS, where are all the openSUSE distributions, Fedora to offer unfiltered Flathub access |
| • Issue 974 (2022-06-27): AlmaLinux 9.0, the changing data of DistroWatch's database, UBports on the Pixel 3a, Tails and GhostBSD publish hot fixes |
| • Issue 973 (2022-06-20): openSUSE 15.4, collecting distro media, FreeBSD status report, Ubuntu Core with optional real-time kernel |
| • Issue 972 (2022-06-13): Rolling Rhino Remix, SambaBox 4.1, SUSE team considers future of SUSE and openSUSE Leap, Tails improves Tor Connection Assistant |
| • Issue 971 (2022-06-06): ChimeraOS 2022.01.03, Lilidog 22.04, NixOS gains graphical installer, Mint replaces Bluetooth stack and adopts Timeshift, how to change a MAC address |
| • Issue 970 (2022-05-30): Tails 5.0, taking apart a Linux distro, Ubuntu users seeing processes terminated, Budgie team plans future of their desktop |
| • Issue 969 (2022-05-23): Fedora 36, a return to Unity, Canonical seeks to improve gaming on Ubuntu, HP plans to ship laptops with Pop!_OS |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
Merdeka Trustix Linux
Trustix Merdeka was the first Indonesian Linux distribution. The main idea was to provide a desktop Linux distribution, which would be secure out of the box, easy to install, include minimum packages and multi-lingual. One of the main focus of Trustix Merdeka was mobile computing. Update: The distribution's web site became unavailable in March 2003.
Status: Discontinued
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| MALIBAL |
MALIBAL: Linux Laptops Custom Built for YouMALIBAL is an innovative computer manufacturer that produces high-performance, custom laptops for Linux. If your MALIBAL laptop is not the best Linux laptop you have ever used, you can return it for a full 100% refund. We will even pay the return shipping fees! For more info, visit: https://www.malibal.com
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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.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Free Tech Guides |
NEW! Learn Linux in 5 Days
In this FREE ebook, you will learn the most important concepts and commands and be guided step-by-step through several practical and real-world examples (a free 212-page ebook).
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