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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Make a virtual webcam device (by Noel on 2022-07-11 01:46:39 GMT from United States)
Why does Jesse call a v4l2loopback device "fake"? Perhaps "virtual" (or "emulated") is better, like a virtual PDF printer or a loopback network interface 127.0.0.1. From the point of view of software everything is real as long as it implements the interface of "real" phenomena.
Doesn't the "-r" switch of ffmpeg set fps for video streaming like it does for output video files? If it doesn't then the v4l2loopback kernel module should have a mechanism to block the producer thread as appropriate if it's writing too fast.
2 • Webcam (by Jesse on 2022-07-11 02:04:43 GMT from Canada)
@1: "Why does Jesse call a v4l2loopback device "fake"?"
Because it's not real. There is no physical webcam. It's just software pretending a webcam exists. The opposite of real is fake. Sure, you could call it emulated, I suppose, but fake works just as well. Would you call a cubic zirconia an emulated diamond?
3 • Nix (by Charlie on 2022-07-11 03:18:57 GMT from Hong Kong)
Not sure what happened to Jesse, but my Nix OS experience of upgrading from 21.04 to 22.05 is extremely smooth, and the system and package manager is smooth and normal as it's in the past.
Maybe it's the problem of the graphical livecd? It looks like the LiveCD copies files from the live system instead of making a new system as what we are doing with text mode install.
Btw the whole concept of Nix is really cool and fast, with one file to edit (in text mode) then the whole system finishes its install, and two lines of command the system finishes upgrade. It's a bit tricky since it does not use the traditional file system layout, but for installation and upgrade it truly saves a lot of time
4 • fake vs genuine (parody) (by manda on 2022-07-11 03:46:15 GMT from New Zealand)
emulated diamond - a great marketing term! :)
Cubic zirconia is also known as "sensible" as opposed to the De Beers diamond hype, which turns out to be the genuine fake.
5 • nixos (by john on 2022-07-11 08:07:01 GMT from United Kingdom)
Perhaps another choice of "do not use but would like to"
As sometimes we do not have the knowledge to use.
6 • nixos (by qwerty99 on 2022-07-11 12:53:56 GMT from United Kingdom)
@5 Another good option/choice would be OMDB (Over my dead body). nixos seems to be another case of poor quality reaching through into production; not really clear why Distrowatch wastes all of our time on this.
7 • Review (by dragonmouth on 2022-07-11 13:03:39 GMT from United States)
IOW, Nix OS is not ready for prime time.
8 • Reliability of NixOS (by mkingsley on 2022-07-11 13:45:45 GMT from United States)
In my experience, NixOS has been one of the more reliable distros for some of the more specialized setups like GPU to VM passthrough, or OCI or docker swarms. One of the nice things of having the entire system setup from a configuration file (including containers!) is versioning and upgrades are made that much more simple.
While I would not advise NixOS to anyone looking to try linux for a basic desktop system, someone looking for a distro to run servers, or containers, or wanting the ability to try new software and immediately roll back the changes, NixOS would be my go-to reccomendation.
9 • debian release (by tomaso on 2022-07-11 15:04:01 GMT from United States)
Kudos to Debian for their new updated release. Great support for 5 years. Commitment. Products that are used by serious users and developers. For years. Seriously reliable products for servers and desktop. This is choice the way it should be done.
10 • @9 (by Joe on 2022-07-11 15:53:46 GMT from Ecuador)
@9 Well said, 100% agreed. Kudos to Debian for just staying the course and keeping the drama to a minimum. When we talk about the legendary stability of Debian I would say that above all else we're referring to its predictability and reliability for long-term planning, because we have a pretty good idea of what Debian will look like in 5 years from now (hint: More or less like it is today. ;-) And that's a good thing in my opinion).
11 • my trouble with nixos (by rustam on 2022-07-11 15:58:36 GMT from Moldova)
for me nix seemed too complicated,
I tried it on another distro(kubuntu), and got it to install some packages..
But had trouble uninstalling a package.
seems to me that nix installed all my packages into some folder(or generation - i dunno the term nix is using)
and because of that I couldn't uninstall the package without uninstalling all other packages i needed
so for me nix seemed very hard to use, if you need advanced knowledge for simple things.
I didn't read the docs, but I used usual unix staff like 'command --help' and 'man command'
and still didn't catch how to use nix correctly.
So for me nix was an over engineered monster.
I still didn't figure out how to install a package in such a way that it dependencies shouldn't be touched when you want to delete it.
12 • my trouble with nixos (by rustam on 2022-07-11 16:43:12 GMT from Moldova)
Also,
I couldn't install a proprietary package from nix proprietary packages repo,
I couldn't figure it out, why nix didn't see things from this repo, even if I added the repo the way docs says,
IMHO It is way more complicated than with RPMFusion for fedora & co, or packman for opensuse & co.
so nix may be a cool dutch university research project, which has a lot of features,
but it is clearly too complicated for gorillas like me who have exp in classic package managers (apt, pacman ^_^, zypper, xbps, apk) and who use only man & --help, and don't read "NIX documentation" and expect that package management on linux should be easy...
13 • Nixos (by Hans Strijards on 2022-07-11 17:58:20 GMT from Netherlands)
I run have Nixos happily for years on end, without trouble. Shows how different experiences can be. It is one of the most stable installs compared to other distros. I use it for desktop purposes. It is one of the few distro's I can install on my particular laptop (hp compaq 6710b) without hassle. I use the iso without desktop environment, though, and edit the configuration.nix. I think calamares deserves some time to mature on Nixos. Jesse's review will help. There is no reason tot trash Nixos all at once.
14 • nixos (by dave on 2022-07-11 18:20:09 GMT from United States)
hard requirement for systemd? no thanks
15 • NixOS (by Terryn Serge on 2022-07-11 19:31:01 GMT from Belgium)
I downloaded the virtualbox kde image.
It's running perfect and very smooth. (8192GB ram, 4 cores)
The icon that don't work on the panel : nix-env -i discover and it will work.
It's a nice system :)
16 • Wanna try (by Arve on 2022-07-12 03:37:15 GMT from Sweden)
As a good nerd, I'd like to try using Nix, but I'm having a pretty big struggle trying to install it (Mint 20)... Meh, deb/apt-get does work as well as I need it to.
17 • NixOS, @15 NixOS VM (by Justme on 2022-07-12 04:35:07 GMT from United States)
I also tried the VM, and as you point out, installing Discover enables the icon, but that's it. Discover is useless since it's calling and not finding packagekit and associated services.
I'm always willing to invest time and effort in learning, but there must be a benefit. I've grown fond of apt over the years, and can usually fix problems with little effort. I don't see any improvement in Nix to warrant the learning curve.
18 • It's still fake to me (by CS on 2022-07-12 14:54:53 GMT from United States)
Fun Q+A this week.
According to another guide I looked up "Create Fake Webcam Streams" the -re switch causes the video to be read at native framerate which might make it play to the fake webcam in real time. Fun thing to try some day.
19 • Keep 32-bit Computers Running (by Roy on 2022-07-13 21:10:33 GMT from Canada)
Would Distrowatch please make a point of listing Linux distributions that still have a dedicated 32-bit OS in development so people can keep 32-bit computers running?
Thanking you in advance...
20 • 32-bit machines (by Jesse on 2022-07-13 21:15:14 GMT from Canada)
@19: We do provide easy access to a list of 32-bit distributions: https://distrowatch.com/search.php?architecture=i686#simple
21 • Please don't use nix-env (by hi there on 2022-07-13 21:42:33 GMT from Ukraine)
If you're using nix-env to install software, you're doing it wrong and there is no point in using nix package manager in this case. Just stick with apt/yum/pacman/whatever instead.
What nix is actually good at is _declarative_ package management and system configuration.
For nix on non-NixOS or macOS it's best to use https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/ to install and configure your packages. You write desired packages and configuration in your `home.nix` and run `home-manager switch` to apply your changes. That's it. You can copy your `home.nix` to another machine, run `home-manager switch` and get the same configured software. Mind blowing!
For NixOS it's even easier! You already have pre-generated `configuration.nix`. If you want your package to be in PATH, you add it to `environment.systemPackages`, run `nixos-rebuild switch` and boom, it's installed! You remove package from the list, run `nixos-rebuild switch` and it's gone, like it was never there.
You want to configure nginx with letsencrypt certificate? Easy! Add this to your `configuration.nix` and run `nixos-rebuild switch`:
```nix
{
services.nginx.enable = true;
services.nginx.virtualHosts."myhost.org" = {
addSSL = true;
enableACME = true;
root = "/var/www/myhost.org";
};
}
```
That's it! Your website is up and running with self-updating SSL certificate!
Here are some learning resources that I can recommend:
https://discourse.nixos.org/t/half-a-presentation-i-had-in-my-company-about-nixos/16467 (video link in the first post)
https://linktr.ee/nixos
https://github.com/mikeroyal/NixOS-Guide
22 • NixOS (by Qwert on 2022-07-14 17:05:14 GMT from United States)
How much research do I need to do to find out how install nix's grub to a dos extended partition.. Install error outs on grub install to /dev/sda1.
Thanks for any help you can provide...
23 • @21 (by Justin on 2022-07-14 18:17:22 GMT from United States)
Thanks for your comment. I want to try this with a Raspberry Pi. NixOS has some ARM support, and this might be easier than doing things like buildroot and TC for appliance applications or stripping down "lite" images for other distros.
Number of Comments: 23
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • 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 |
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Libranet GNU/Linux
The Libranet Linux Desktop was a production of Libra Computer Systems Ltd. Libra has been providing UNIX systems and software development since 1984. We are located in the Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada. We chose Debian as the base of Libranet. Debian GNU/Linux was solid and true to the spirit of GNU/Linux. We are a small team who see the future in GNU/Linux. We believe that Libranet was not only a solid replacement for Microsoft Windows, but surpasses it in almost all aspects. As GNU/Linux evolves and more and more hardware becomes supported, we find no need to run anything else. Libranet runs in our own office on both desktops and servers and fulfills all our business and personal computing needs. Our goal was to continue to produce a system to be proud of.
Status: Discontinued
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