 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 971, 6 June 2022 |
Welcome to this year's 23rd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
A big part of software development is trying to make computers more useful and more friendly for the people operating them. In our News section this week we share some examples of efforts going toward making computers more accessible. The NixOS project has adopted a graphical installer which provides an alternative to the text-based configuration file NixOS users worked with in the past. The DragonFly BSD project introduces labels for network interfaces, making it easier to keep track of which network devices are used for which tasks. We also share news from the Mint team that they are switching to a more universal Bluetooth implementation and taking over maintenance of the Timeshift utility. We share details of these changes in our News section, along with a notice that Ubuntu 21.10 is nearing the end of its supported life. First though we talk about two distributions on our waiting list. The first is ChimeraOS, an Arch-based operating system for dedicated gaming computers. Do you have a dedicated gaming machine in your home? Let us know in this week's opinion poll. We also take a quick look at the Debian-based Lilidog project which strives to offer more efficient performance by running the Openbox window manager. Then, in our Questions and Answers section, we discuss changing a network interface's MAC identification. A computer's MAC address can help track a specific computer or block access to network resources and we discuss side-stepping these restrictions below. Plus we welcome the Murena project to our database. Murena provides both a de-Googled, open source implementation of Android for mobile devices and a collection of cloud services built on Nextcloud. We are also pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We hope you all have a fantastic week and wish you happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
ChimeraOS 2022.01.03
ChimeraOS is an Arch-based system for 64-bit machines that specializes in running games. It's primarily intended to be easy to set up (it automates the installation and takes over our entire hard drive). ChimeraOS then boots into a console-style interface. The project's FAQ page says it works as a portal to Steam, Epic Games Store, Flathub, and GOG.
According to the Chimera website the distribution offers virtually no install options, no desktop environment, and no traditional package manager. The distribution strives to work with common console game controllers out of the box.
Chimera is available as a 704MB ISO for 64-bit (x86_64) computers exclusively. The project's website recommends 4GB of RAM and at least 20GB of disk space. Additional space will be required for games. While Chimera is intended to be used like a living room console, the operating system requires a keyboard for the install process.
Booting from the Chimera media brings up a text installer which immediately asks which disk it should take over. We are warned that the disk will be entirely erased to make room for the new operating system. The installer then downloads a system image from somewhere. We're not told how big the system image is or where it is hosted, but it's downloaded and copied to the local disk.
In situations where the computer uses a wireless network, the system installer offers to run a network configuration tool which will assist us in connecting us to local networks before attempting the download.
Once the installer finished copying its image to the disk it offers to restart the computer. At this point I ran into a bit of a wall with this distribution.
ChimeraOS booted to a blank screen. At first it looked like there was some disk activity, but after a few minutes this died down and nothing happened. I could use the Ctrl+Alt+F keys to switch between virtual terminals. These showed me a login prompt, but I didn't know the default credentials, or even if there would be a default account set up at this point in the initial experience. The remaining virtual terminal was the blank screen which held no text, windows, or even mouse pointer.
I tried a booting a few times with various boot parameters to adjust video driver settings, but nothing got me further along in the process. Maybe the distribution just doesn't work well with my equipment because I'm running a lower end Intel video card, not one intended for mainstream gaming. Which is a shame, my system is great for playing lots of games available through Steam and Flathub, but it seems the default interface ChimeraOS uses isn't compatible with my system.
I like the approach ChimeraOS takes - the concept of a super easy, automated installer with direct access to gaming portals sounds great. Unfortunately the implementation didn't work for me.
Update: After writing this review, just three days before this was published, a new snapshot of ChimeraOS was released. I have not yet had a chance to test it to see if it overcomes the issues post-install reported in this review. I did check the website and ChimeraOS's social media accounts and found no mention of this issue being addressed.
* * * * *
Lilidog 22.04
The next distribution on my list of projects to review was Lilidog. This distribution is based on Debian with Openbox as the default window manager. The project is available in three editions. The first is a full, 64-bit edition which features Openbox along with a collection of popular open source applications. These include Firefox, Thunderbird, and the Synaptic package manager. This full edition is a 1.6GB download. There is also a 32-bit version of this edition which is also 1.6GB. The third edition is a "minimal" edition which offers the same user interface, but almost no desktop applications. We're simply provided with the Thunar file manager, the Xfce virtual terminal, and a text editor. This minimal edition is still fairly large, 1.2GB in size. I suspect not many computers are old enough to be 32-bit while still being able to run DVDs or boot from USB thumb drives, but this edition does have five downloads at the time of writing.
Live media
Booting from the Lilidog media brings up a menu asking if we'd like to start a live session or launch the system installer. The live session boots to the Openbox environment with a dark theme - most elements are grey, or dark green on a black background. I found this low contrast theme with small text makes it difficult to read prompts and menus.
Lilidog 22.04 -- Exploring the live environment
(full image size: 124kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The system displays a brief welcome message in the middle of the screen. Over to the left we see a list of shortcut keys we can use to navigate Openbox. Across the bottom of the display is a thin panel. This panel holds a lot of items, including the application menu, quick-launch buttons, a virtual desktop widget, a task switcher, and a system tray.
The Openbox interface is light and quick. Running it on top of Debian in the live environment takes about 265MB of RAM only. The system is light and snappy. One of the few problems I ran into was that I wanted to adjust the system clock and time zone, but clicking on the clock only brought up a calendar and right-clicking the clock offers to create new timers. Adjusting the clock requires another module or a trip to the command line.
Also on the subject of the system tray there is an icon in the tray we can click to open a terminal and check for software updates. Right-clicking this same icon immediately launches the Synaptic package manager.
Included software
The Lilidog application menu is presented in a classic tree style with nested (sometimes deeply nested) categories. The items don't seem to be in alphabetical order, but rather are seemingly sorted by the length of the launcher's name. This results in sub-menus with launchers which make bell-curve style waves. This has a sort of visual appeal, but it makes it difficult to find anything. The application menu does not have a search feature and the lack of any useful approach to sorting means the user needs to spend a lot of time scanning sub-menus to find something. This is further complicated by a whole sub-menu dedicated to "Debian" software, meaning we basically have two sets of menus, but no clear indication of what qualifies software as being related to Debian versus what is specific to Lilidog.
Digging through the menu I found a lot of software, some of it popular open source applications and other, smaller programs. Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, and the Thunar file manager are included. The GNU Image Manipulation Program and a smaller image viewer are included. We are given the SMPlayer and an audio player. A text editor is available along with Network Manager.
Lilidog ships with GNU command line utilities along with manual pages and the systemd init software. Version 5.10 of the Linux kernel runs in the background.
If we dig deep into the application menu (under Utilities ->Extras) there are a bunch of icons for installing things like custom kernels, Discord, and the Steam gaming software. These launchers open a virtual terminal and offer to fetch the selected software. This seems to work, at least for the few items I tried.
Installing
I did not find a launcher for opening the system installer while running the live session. I rebooted and chose the installer from the boot menu. This opened Debian's graphical installer with Lilidog's branding and dark theme.
The installer walked me through the usual steps of selecting a region and creating a user account. Then we got to partitioning and I was offered the choice of using manual or guided partitioning. I went with the guided option, which said it would wipe the disk and set up an ext4 root filesystem with a swap partition. Accepting this arrangement caused an error message to appear saying the ext4 filesystem could not be created.
Lilidog 22.04 -- Running the system installer
(full image size: 17kB, resolution: 800x600 pixels)
I backed up and tried the manual partitioning option, setting up one root partition, formatted for ext4. Again, the installer failed to proceed, reporting the root filesystem could not be created.
Conclusions
This inability to proceed with partitioning, something which has not impacted me while using vanilla Debian, largely brought my trial to a halt. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm disappointed. There are a lot of lightweight, Debian-based distributions, including several which feature the Openbox window manager. Lilidog doesn't seem to provide anything new or engaging that isn't already covered by SparkyLinux, Star, or even Debian itself. Star even offers a similar dark theme.
In short, Lilidog doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table, no unique spin to the concept of Openbox on Debian, other than its oddly organized application menu.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
NixOS adopts a graphical installer, DragonFly BSD adds network interface descriptions, Ubuntu 21.10 nears its end of life, Mint replaces its Bluetooth software
Traditionally the NixOS distribution has been installed by editing a text file which holds Nix's configuration and then running a command to implement the rules inside the configuration file. While efficient, from a technical point of view, this approach raised the barrier for new users to experiment with NixOS. One of the changes in NixOS 22.05 is the inclusion of the Calamares graphical installer. Both the Plasma and GNOME editions of NixOS can launch Calamares in order to provide a friendly, graphical install experience. The previous approach is still available and the default approach for installing NixOS from the Minimal edition's media.
* * * * *
The DragonFly BSD team has introduced a handy new feature which allows users to assign descriptions to network interfaces. This will help administrators identify which interfaces are used for specific tasks or situations without needing to refer to documentation. The announcement was brief, though enlightening: "You can now set a description for a network interface on DragonFly. Don't use ETH0, please."
* * * * *
Version 21.10 of the Ubuntu distribution, along with its community editions, will reach the end of its supported life in July. An announcement was published, letting users of Ubuntu 21.10 know it is time to upgrade: "Ubuntu announced its 21.10 (Impish Indri) release almost 9 months ago, on October 14, 2021, and its support period is now nearing its end. Ubuntu 21.10 will reach end of life on July 14, 2022. At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 21.10." Upgrade instructions are provided in the Ubuntu documentation.
* * * * *
The Linux Mint team has published its monthly newsletter which outlines changes coming to the distribution. One of the key changes involves Blueman taking over from Blueberry due to changes in the way GNOME's Bluetooth support is handled. "Starting with version 42 GNOME Bluetooth is no longer compatible with Blueberry. Blueberry would need to undergo significant changes to work with it. There is also frustration upstream from the GNOME Bluetooth development team who simply does not want to have users from other desktops than GNOME and so Blueberry will probably get discontinued. Blueman on the other hand welcomes users from all desktop environments. It does not rely on GNOME Bluetooth. It's a GTK frontend for the Bluez Bluetooth stack." The newsletter also reports the Mint developers will be taking over maintenance of the Timeshift utility as its original author, Tony George, has decided to focus on other projects.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Changing a network interface's MAC address
A-leopard-changing-its-spots asks: Is there a way to change my MAC address every time I go on-line?
DistroWatch answers: A MAC address, for those wondering, is a unique code which identifies a network interface. A MAC address is typically tied to a specific piece of hardware (like a network card). A computer's MAC address is often used to identify the machine on a network and can be used to filter at the router which devices are allowed to join a network and which are not.
As an example, a router might be given a list of MAC addresses which are allowed to connect to its wireless network and it will ban all other devices, refusing to assign them IP addresses.
It is possible to adjust a network interface's MAC address. The easiest way to do this on Linux is probably through Network Manager, which is available on most distributions. If you open Network Manager (in most desktop environments you can right-click on the network icon and select Edit Connections) you can then select a network name. Highlight the network you will be joining and click the Settings button.
Network Manager 1.30 -- Adjusting MAC settings
(full image size: 57kB, resolution: 645x588 pixels)
In the network settings window which comes up, click the Wi-Fi tab and look near the bottom of the tab. One of the fields will be labelled "Cloned MAC address". Set this field to "Random". This will cause the interface to be assigned a random MAC address each time it connects to the wireless network.
To check the current MAC address for a device, open a virtual terminal and run the command
ip link show
The above command will display a list of active interfaces. The last line of each entry will display the connection's MAC address. The output will look like the text below. In my example the MAC address is in bold text:
$ ip link show
wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
link/ether c6:cc:d0:b6:40:f0 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff permaddr 30:c9:aa:c4:f4:a7
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
NixOS 22.05
The NixOS team have announced the launch of NixOS 22.05, the latest version of their distribution which is built around the advanced Nix package manager. "A highlight of the release is Nix 2.8, which brings experimental flakes support for the default installed Nix version, along with tonnes of fixes, features and general improvements. Of course, these are just two things I want to highlight here. Not to mention the countless improvements, bug fixes and new features that have also gone into this release. I would like to thank every single contributor who has contributed to this release. Every NixOS release is an improvement over the previous one and I am already looking forward to the improvements of 22.11. Please remember that the new release also means that 21.11 channel is now obsolete and will only be updated for an another month." Additional information is provided in the release announcement and in the release notes.
Linux Lite 6.0
Jerry Bezencon has announced the release of Linux Lite 6.0. The distribution, which is geared toward providing a user friendly experience on an Ubuntu base, is focusing on bringing assistive technologies to users. "It's a well known fact that we target Windows users. Out of the box, Windows offers a fairly complete system. That includes tools for the hearing and sight impaired. In this release you can zoom in on the desktop, have a screen reader talk to you and complete tasks with an onscreen keyboard. We've made all of these functions highly configurable. The onscreen keyboard application is Onboard. On-screen virtual keyboard is an alternative input method that can replace a real hardware keyboard. Virtual keyboard may be a necessity in various cases. For example, your hardware keyboard is just broken; you do not have enough keyboards for extra machines; your hardware does not have an available port left to connect a keyboard; you experience difficulty in typing on a real keyboard; or you are building a touchscreen-based web kiosk. Orca is a free and open-source, flexible, extensible screen reader from the Gnome project for individuals who are blind or visually impaired." Additional information along with screenshots are available in the project's release announcement.
Linux Lite 6.0 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 370kB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Murena 1.0
The Murena project has published version 1.0 of its /e/OS operating system for mobile devices. The project includes a new application installer and a number of new improvements and features: "We are proud to deliver the /e/OS v1.0. Enjoy all the new features and improvements it embeds. We embedded some new features! You are now able to limit your data exposure once you have installed third party apps on your devices. It allows you to manage in app trackers, IP address and location. App Lounge, the new application installer! Our new application installer lets you search and download all the applications you want directly from the smartphone. It connects you to millions of Android apps but not only. It also includes Progressive Web Apps and even open-source applications, all in one place. Safetynet test pass (/stable devices only): it allows more applications to run properly on /e/OS. You are now able to see your account details in a widget (including your aliases!) A new user interface for Mail, Message and Camera. The file synchronization now offers real time synchronization, from device to server. Improvement in BlissLauncher colors, and also a removable weather widget. Translations were improved thanks to the work of our community." Addition information is provided in the release announcement. A complete list of supported devices and associated install instructions can be found on the project's devices page.
deepin 20.6
deepin is a desktop distribution based on Debian and featuring the custom Deepin Desktop Environment. The project's latest release, deepin 20.6, features a number of updates to its software centre, disk partitioning, and search features. An English translation of the Chinese release announcement reads: "In deepin 20.6, we have developed and integrated a great number of practical features from the functional level based on the community users' feedback, synchronized with the upstream kernel version, fixed underlying vulnerabilities, upgraded the stable kernel to V5.15.34 and further improved system compatibility and security. Welcome to try it! App Store supports filtering and classifying the search results with Linux native applications, Windows applications, and Android applications distinguished directly so that you can quickly find your desired application and save time in searching and retrieving. The newly added settings and management in clearing the browser data automatically and the default encrypted cookies feature enhance your browser data security greatly. The new logical volume management feature effectively improves the scalability of the system and the convenience of disk management. You may allocate the root partition size manually as needed during full-disk installation."
* * * * *
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: 2,730
- Total data uploaded: 42.1TB
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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) |
Dedicated gaming machine
In this week's Feature Story we talked about ChimeraOS, a distribution aimed at gamers with the intention of having a dedicated, gaming operating system. Do you have a dedicated machine in your home for gaming, whether it's a PC, hand held device, or console? Let us know what devices you use for gaming in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on favourite privacy-oriented distributions in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Dedicated gaming machine
| I have a dedicated console machine: | 102 (7%) |
| I have a handheld gaming device: | 25 (2%) |
| I have a dedicated gaming PC: | 164 (11%) |
| I have a combination of the above: | 224 (15%) |
| I have none of the above: | 977 (65%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to database
Murena
Murena is an umbrella name for the /e/OS operating system, associated open source powered smartphones, and cloud-based services. The Murena project provides open source images for common smartphones, open source cloud-based storage, calendar, and backup solutions, and sells phones with /e/OS pre-installed. The project's operating system is based on LineageOS, itself based on Android. The Murena team removes closed source applications, trackers, and Google-specific elements of Android and replaces them with open source alternatives.
Murena -- The Murena launch screen
(full image size: 1.4MB, resolution: 1440x2960 pixels)
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 13 June 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 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 |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1033 (2023-08-21): MiniOS 20230606, system user accounts, how Red Hat clones are moving forward, Haiku improves WINE performance, Debian turns 30 |
| • Issue 1032 (2023-08-14): MX Linux 23, positioning new windows on the desktop, Linux Containers adopts LXD fork, Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ form OpenELA |
| • Issue 1031 (2023-08-07): Peppermint OS 2023-07-01, preventing a file from being changed, Asahi Linux partners with Fedora, Linux Mint plans new releases |
| • Issue 1030 (2023-07-31): Solus 4.4, Linux Mint 21.2, Debian introduces RISC-V support, Ubuntu patches custom kernel bugs, FreeBSD imports OpenSSL 3 |
| • Issue 1029 (2023-07-24): Running Murena on the Fairphone 4, Flatpak vs Snap sandboxing technologies, Redox OS plans to borrow Linux drivers to expand hardware support, Debian updates Bookworm media |
| • Issue 1028 (2023-07-17): KDE Connect; Oracle, SUSE, and AlmaLinux repsond to Red Hat's source code policy change, KaOS issues media fix, Slackware turns 30; security and immutable distributions |
| • Issue 1027 (2023-07-10): Crystal Linux 2023-03-16, StartOS (embassyOS 0.3.4.2), changing options on a mounted filesystem, Murena launches Fairphone 4 in North America, Fedora debates telemetry for desktop team |
| • Issue 1026 (2023-07-03): Kumander Linux 1.0, Red Hat changing its approach to sharing source code, TrueNAS offers SMB Multichannel, Zorin OS introduces upgrade utility |
| • Issue 1025 (2023-06-26): KaOS with Plasma 6, information which can leak from desktop environments, Red Hat closes door on sharing RHEL source code, SUSE introduces new security features |
| • Issue 1024 (2023-06-19): Debian 12, a safer way to use dd, Debian releases GNU/Hurd 2023, Ubuntu 22.10 nears its end of life, FreeBSD turns 30 |
| • Issue 1023 (2023-06-12): openSUSE 15.5 Leap, the differences between independent distributions, openSUSE lengthens Leap life, Murena offers new phone for North America |
| • Issue 1022 (2023-06-05): GetFreeOS 2023.05.01, Slint 15.0-3, Liya N4Si, cleaning up crowded directories, Ubuntu plans Snap-based variant, Red Hat dropping LireOffice RPM packages |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Your own personal Linux computer in the cloud, available on any device. Supported operating systems include Android, Debian, Fedora, KDE neon, Kubuntu, Linux Mint, Manjaro and Ubuntu, ready in minutes.
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| Random Distribution | 
Linux XP
Linux XP Professional Edition was a universal and secure operating system for Russian speakers designed for home and business use. It was based on freely available sources from Red Hat Linux and Fedora Core.
Status: Discontinued
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
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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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