 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 967, 9 May 2022 |
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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
(full image size: 214kB, resolution: 1440x2960 pixels)
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 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
Synex
Synex is a GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian's "Stable" branch, developed with the official Debian Live Build tool. It offers four separate desktop options with GNOME, LXDE, KDE Plasma and Xfce, all of which are composed of a rather frugal set of applications in its default state, without any development tools or offices suites. Some of the distribution's main features include Calamares installer with support for both BIOS and UEFI, CUPS integration for printing and network support, out-of-the box support for Flatpak applications, official NVIDIA driver installation assistant with support for both X11 and Wayland, and additional repositories containing Microsoft Edge, OnlyOffice and Zabbix.
Status: Active
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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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| 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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