 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 982, 22 August 2022 |
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Welcome to this year's 34th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
In a world in which new software features and components are frequently added to our operating systems, it's nice to occasionally see projects perform housecleaning tasks, throwing out old software and features which are no longer needed. In this week's News section we talk about the rolling KaOS distribution trimming out old features, including PulseAudio and Python 2. We also talk about the deepin distribution moving away from its relatively conservative Debian base in favour of becoming an independent distribution with its own package management tools. First though, we talk about Peropesis, a distribution which strives to be a simple, minimal tool that eschews complex features in an effort to just work. Plus we report on Canonical introducing native .NET packages for Ubuntu and talk about how to get security notifications when new packages become available. Do you prefer to apply new security updates manually or have them handled automatically? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. Then we are pleased to share an overview of last week's new releases and share the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Peropesis 1.6.2
The Peropesis distribution has been on my radar for a while, but not a project I'd dedicated any time to trying, until this past week. Peropesis is an unusual project in that it seems to downplay what it delivers rather than hyping itself up. From the project's website:
Peropesis is a small-scale, minimalist, command-line-based Linux operating system. It's an incomplete system, but it's constantly being improved. Also, it is a free operating system created from free software.
I thought it interesting that the term Peropesis is a shortened version of "personal operating system".
The project offers just one edition, which is intended to be run from a CD, DVD, or USB thumb drive:
This is Peropesis live edition. This edition is not intended to be written to the hard drive, but is intended for to be loaded in the computer's memory. Peropesis is compatible with x86 64-bit architecture processors. The volume of this distribution is approximately 88MiB.
The distribution is designed to be small and command line focused. It includes some console tools for e-mail, web browsing, and data recovery. The distribution can reportedly be used for educational purposes, run on limited hardware, and used to fix broken operating systems installed on the same computer.
The project includes a short documentation page which highlights some key points, such as how to login, how to shutdown the system, and how to connect to both wired and wireless networks.
One of the Peropesis distribution's key features is its small size. The ISO file is just 88MB in size. This mini live media boots to a text console where we can sign into the root account without a password. If we wish, we can later set a root password, but it's not necessary.
Getting started
Exploring the command line interface we find several GNU command line utilities are included, though certainly not all of the ones we usually find on a Linux distribution. Tools like ls, pwd, and mount are present. However, other popular items such as top and free are not included. This makes it harder to get memory usage statistics.
The S-nail software for sending and receiving e-mail is included as is the Links web browser. We can use tools such as lsblk, mount, find, and chroot to explore local disks, repair installed operating systems, and rescue files. Transferring any files off the system may be tricky as common utilities for transferring files such as OpenSSH, cURL, wget, FTP and rsync are not included. We are also given tools for connecting to local networks, including wireless networks. I was pleased to find Peropesis automatically connects to local wired networks.
There are local manual pages for most commands, and even some manual pages for commands which are not present. For example, the manual page for the GNU Compiler Collection is installed, but the compiler itself is not. Peropesis features the SysV init software and version 5.17.5 of the Linux kernel.
For the most part, I enjoyed exploring the Peropesis distribution. I was able to use it to mount drives, run commands in chroot environments, test networking, and move files around. The text-only browser was, of course, limited. However, it did work and I could download files as long as they were on a text-friendly website.
Problems
There were a few issues I ran into. The distribution ran in VirtualBox and on my workstation well enough, for most purposes. However, Peropesis could not detect my workstation's wireless card. I was limited to a wired-only network environment, something that I encounter less and less these days.
Another issue is Peropesis seems geared to be a single, fixed appliance. It doesn't have a compiler, it doesn't have (as far as I can tell) a package manager, or a ports tree. It also doesn't include download utilities (wget and cURL are absent). This, along with the limited web browser, means it's quite difficult to get any additional software onto the system. Things like Snap won't work (systemd isn't present), Flatpak is for desktop software only, Nix requires a download utility, most port trees need a compiler, etc. In short, what we get with Peropesis is a pretty static, minimal, live disc. It can do a few things, like manage chroot environments to rescue other distributions, but its limited hardware support and its limited suite of Internet tools means we rely heavily on accessing command line tools on other (installed) distributions in order to fill in gaps.
Overview
There is a certain charm to Peropesis. It is exactly what the project's website says it is: a somewhat incomplete, lightweight, cleanly organized Linux distribution. It can be used for a few things - education, rescuing installed systems, and checking e-mail. But that's about it, that is all it seems to be intended to do, and that's what it does. There is no hype, no package manager, or extension modules. It's just... a super minimal Linux system which works pretty well and very quickly.
This makes Peropesis quite limited, there aren't many situations where I'd use it instead of the live media of a desktop distribution to do similar tasks. However, there is something nice about its simplicity. It's not often I get to run a distribution that does what it says it will and nothing else. This may not be a practical distribution for almost any situation, but I kind of like it nonetheless.
Adding extras
I would like to add that, if we really want to extend Peropesis, we can, technically. Just to confirm I could, I downloaded a static build of the Busybox userland utilities for i686 (which also runs on x86_64 systems). This can be done using the Links browser which comes with Peropesis and is actually fairly easy because the Busybox website is surprisingly text-friendly.
Once Busybox is installed it gives us the ability to run many command line tools, including the free command which reveals Peropesis requires less than 100MB of RAM, even when running Busybox. Having a copy of Busybox also means we can run a limited version of wget to fetch scripts and other files which the Links browser would display as text.
Once we've got Busybox and its utilities such as tar, wget, and decompression tools, we can do all sorts of other things. We can start downloading compilers, ports, maybe a package manager. (Actually, I believe Busybox has RPM built-in so we could start installing RPM packages if we felt brave.)
I don't want to digress down this path too far, but my point is that we can (if we are determined) use Busybox to extend the functionality of Peropesis which we could then use to install just about anything we wanted on the distribution. We probably wouldn't do this as it's basically duplicating the userland functionality most other distributions include by default and it would be easier to just download one of those. However, it was an interesting experience for me to confirm that Peropesis can be extended and built upon if we really feel like it.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Lenovo desktop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Hex-core Intel i5-10400 CPU @ 2.90GHz
- Storage: Western Digital 1TB hard drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 wired network card, Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe wireless adapter
- Display: Intel CometLake-S GT2
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Visitor supplied rating
Peropesis has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8/10 from 2 review(s).
Have you used Peropesis? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Canonical packages .NET for Ubuntu, deepin becomes independent, KaOS removes Python 2 and PulseAudio
Canonical is working to bring the .NET programming experience to Ubuntu as a natively packaged experience: "Canonical is proud to welcome the .NET development platform, one of Microsoft's earliest contributions to open source projects, as a native experience on Ubuntu hosts and container images, starting in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. .NET developers will be able to start their Linux journey with Ubuntu, benefiting from timely security patches and new releases. .NET 6 users and developers can now install the .NET 6 packages on Ubuntu with a simple 'apt install dotnet6' command. Optimised, pre-built, ultra-small container images are also now available to use out of the box. .NET as an Ubuntu .deb package is the result of a close collaboration between Microsoft and Canonical. The two companies are working together to deliver timely security patches and new releases to Ubuntu. This is the foundation for more capabilities to follow for the open-source framework on Ubuntu, for hosts and minimised container images." Details on how to access the new .NET packages can be found in the company's blog post.
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The deepin project is going through a number of important and key changes. The distribution released a new technology preview this past week which departs from its previous releases in significant ways. The distribution will no longer be based on Debian, shifting to being independently developed. The deepin project will feature atomic package updates for its next release along with a new package format. "The atomic update is a new idea for system updates, which regards system updates as atomic operations - if packages are installed successfully, system updates are finished; if system updates fail, the system can be reverted to the previous version with no changes, which effectively avoid the trouble that some dependencies are installed but the system is not fully upgraded. Atomic updates do not rely on system installation methods and specific partitions and support system rollback after an upgrade. Independent upstream: relying on the core packages and some optional components, a brand-new v23 repository is built in the Preview stage." It is an ambitious shift and details can be found in the project's announcement.
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The KaOS developers have published a new snapshot of their independent, rolling release distribution. A few of the interesting changes involve components removed from the operating system rather than new features added: "This is a release where quite a few changes that have long been wanted finally can be implemented. The longest wanted of those is the final removal of Python 2 from KaOS. The default install has been Python 2 free for quite some time, but some major packages had still required it to build, now the last one of those, QtWebEngine, has been patched to build against Python 3, so now KaOS is completely Python 2 free. Second is the move to Pipewire (away from PulseAudio) as the default sound/low-level multimedia framework." A complete overview of changes can be found in the project's announcement.
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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) |
Getting notification of security updates
Keeping up with security asks: How do I update my Linux system so patched software is running? Android phones tell me "There is an update, tap here to install." Should I have a scheduled job running updates once a day or something?
DistroWatch answers: Most of the major Linux desktop distributions include a background service or system tray widget which will notify the user when software updates become available. Typically either a notification or pop-up window will appear when an update is waiting to be applied and it will provide a button to click to perform the upgrade. This process basically works the same as it does on Android.
Not all desktop distributions offer this convenience and most server distributions do not automatically notify the user when security updates are waiting. In these situations it is a good idea to have a scheduled job running daily to check for updates and notify the user when they are available.
Depending on how "hands on" you want to be with updates, you may also wish to automate the update process, not just the check for new packages. Our Package Management page lists the commands required to refresh package information and upgrade software using a range of package managers. These commands can be scheduled to run daily or weekly to make sure your system stays up to date.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Neptune 7.5
Leszek Lesner has announced the release of Neptune 7.5, an updated build of the project's desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's latest stable version and with KDE Plasma as the preferred desktop environment: "We are proud to announce the release of Neptune 7.5 'Ada', the first service release of the Neptune 7 series. This version comes with the updates provided by Debian 11.4 'Bullseye' that offer the latest and greatest in terms of security. We updated the Linux kernel to version 5.18 to provide better support for modern hardware and fixed some bugs with existing hardware support. We put effort in optimizing the performance of Neptune by providing tweaks to kernel that improve the write speed on USB thumb drives. Neptune 7.5 also provides a new solution for a complete system backup called Timeshift. It allows you to save a whole snapshot of your system and restore it even if your system is totally broken. You can even restore from a live system as long as you have the backup saved somewhere accessible. Some slight tweaks make it easier to work on the terminal." See the release announcement for further information.
Mabox Linux 22.08
Daniel Napora has announced the release of Mabox Linux 22.08, a refreshed version of the project's Manjaro-based, rolling-release distribution featuring a customised Openbox window manager: "The 2022 August ISO refresh is ready for download. Built from Manjaro stable branch as of 2022-08-20. Available with the latest LTS Linux kernel 5.15 or the slightly older one, 5.4 LTS. This release is exciting because it marks the debut of a brand new tool, Colorizer, in development for half a year, now in beta. What is Colorizer? A set of scripts that allow you to easily and conveniently adjust the colors of many elements of the desktop, in the form of a set of dynamically generated menus. Current functionalities: Openbox theme coloring; coloring of the menu, panels and the entire set of Mabox tools; Conky coloring (as well as managing the Conky set and easy position change); creating themes for PyRadio; interactive HTML help; and finally, everything above can be generated automatically after each wallpaper change according to its color palette." Read the rest of the release announcement for further information and screenshots.
Mabox Linux 22.08 -- Openbox theme colouring
(full image size: 926kB, resolution: 1600x900 pixels)
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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: 2,758
- Total data uploaded: 42.4TB
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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) |
Receiving notifications about security updates
In our Questions and Answers column this week we talked about receiving notifications when software updates become available. Some people like to automate the update process, others want to be notified when updates become available so they can manually apply them. Still others want the check for updates and their application to be entirely manual. What is your preference when it comes to detecting and applying updates?
You can see the results of our previous poll on reasons to use a plain window manager as a user interface in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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When it comes to update notifications I want...
| To have everything silently automated: | 41 (2%) |
| To have everything automated and then inform me: | 61 (3%) |
| To be notified of updates so I can apply them: | 1530 (72%) |
| To manually handle checks and updates myself: | 496 (23%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- astOS. astOS is a distribution based on Arch Linux. It uses an immutable (read-only) root filesystem. Software is installed and configured into individual snapshot trees, which can then be deployed and booted into.
- ravynOS. ravynOS is a FreeBSD-based project which strives to recreate a macOS-style user interface.
- piCorePlayer. piCorePlayer is a minimal Linux-based operating system for Raspberry Pi computers. The distribution turns a Raspberry Pi into a dedicated music player.
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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, 29 August 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)
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • pipewire (by dave on 2022-08-22 01:45:46 GMT from United States)
Even though it feels really good to see another project ditching Polypaudio, I'm not going to pretend that Pipewire is without its share of problems. I will withhold my glee until we know whether Pipewire will simply become another Pulseaudio or if it will exceed expectations. I have not tried it myself but have seen some mixed results from others.
I still occasionally go rawdawg ALSA/JACK-only, on some systems. I have a couple of old machines that are set up purely for virtual instruments and those have always worked a zillion times better by just totally ripping out pulse (or in one of those examples, never installing it to begin with) I will try to remain optimistic about Pipewire for the time being and pray that its developer(s) have agreeable attitudes and good practices, though I'm assuming there is going to be some overlap with the Pulse devs.
2 • Updates... (by Friar Tux on 2022-08-22 02:00:05 GMT from Canada)
I voted "To manually handle checks and upates myself". Since day one, I have always set Fridays aside to manually update and backup my stuff. For me, because of habit, notifications mean nothing.
3 • Command Line Only! (by schhibba on 2022-08-22 02:47:45 GMT from United States)
I have been using rarspios on pi's for the past 6-7 years in command line mode only -- use it to run python programmes ... and control embedded hw .. runs git etc. the regular software management toolchain -- so this is Preopesis -- is not such a novely -- that's how we were using Unix 40 years back .. with a terminal running over a modem @1200 (oh yes even 300 bauds)!
4 • Updates and peros (by Dr. Hu on 2022-08-22 03:22:26 GMT from Philippines)
Updating: I dislike nagging popups and such. Notifications as done by Linux Mint and MX are fine. Otherwise, I do it manually and disable any nags.
Peropesis: Whoever came up with the name should be fired, or at least spanked. Sounds like a disease. Google agrees, I googled peropesis, and it asked: Did you mean proptosis? Don't have a use for either one, but whatever floats someone's boat. . . However, it would have been nice to see a comparison to TIny Core.
5 • software updates (by Trihexagonal on 2022-08-22 03:32:21 GMT from United States)
When using FreeBSD I manually check for software vulnerabilities using pkg audit -F.
Depending on the situation I may update using ports, which are quickest to update a vulnerable port, or wait till an updated pkg is issued if it's going to be less work. Mixing port and pkg routine for me.
When using Kali GNU/Linux, a rolling-release, I update every 2-3 days using apt or apt-get.
6 • Notified of updates? Not for the general public! (by Greg Zeng on 2022-08-22 03:49:57 GMT from Australia)
The readers of Distrowatch are not at all normal. Most computer users have other "real life" concerns, other than the hidden infrastructures of living.
Distrowatch interests seem so focussed on minority, small & perhaps petty uses, rather than normal "real life" issues.
Most humans are wanting our autonomic systems to be silently autonomic. Babies & oldies like myself experience badly functioning autonomic systems. We need the autonomic doctors, the Distrowatch specialists, to try to diagnose our autonomic breakdowns, our "dysautonomia", to use the correct medical term.
The mainstream is Microsoft & Apple. With Android sometimes being noticed by the general public. Updates and infrastructure stuff? Leave that to the Distrowatch geeks and the politicians, like Xi, Trump, Putin or whoever.
Meantime Microsoft (Github, "The Linux Foundation", as documented under "Microsoft & open source", Wikipedia), Alphabet (Google, Android, etc), Meta (ex-Facebook), Apple & other Big-Money lobbyists are trying (.Net, Direct-X, Java, etc) to mold minorities like Linux and open source into the mainstream systems.
Distrowatch & Linux are trying to stay relevant with evolving update systems, in "Snap" & "Flatpak" for some larger applications. On the side of these minority idealists are a few non-commercial interests: the European Union, the International Standards Organization, and a few other vaguely effective lobbyists.
7 • Conky: 12/24 hour format (by Leon on 2022-08-22 05:10:18 GMT from France)
@61 (by MXgogo from South Africa)
"... but on none of them does the Conky clock show the time in 24-hour format. And I can't figure out what needs to be changed in the Conky configuration file."
Swap %H for %I (inside .conkyrc file in your home directory) or vice versa to swap between 12/24 hour format.
8 • Updates (by Bin on 2022-08-22 05:59:24 GMT from United Kingdom)
Unattended upgrades - been using it for years
Computers are supposed to make life easier by automating things, and no I'm not going the scan the source code for every update, so just do it!
Once UA is configured (which can take a little while) all it takes is a single crontab entry and 3 minutes after every boot, updates are applied.
9 • Updates (by Operius on 2022-08-22 06:44:33 GMT from Netherlands)
@8 (Bin)
Would it not be better to update your system at shutdown or reboot? When updating silently 3 minitues after boot there is a good chance that you'll end up using out of date software mixed with software that depends on the newer versions that got silently installed. For example, you could run firefox after boot. 3 Minutes later it gets an security update, but you will still be using the old version until firefox gets restarted. Then even if you restart firefox it might not work because the newer version depends on newer software that is not in use yet because of the same reason. Maybe this is a bad example, but I hope you'll get what I'm trying to say.
10 • .Net on Canonical Ubuntu (by borgio3 on 2022-08-22 07:15:08 GMT from Italy)
Another piece is added to Microsoft's plan to conquer and buy Linux. Canonical + Microsoft .Net is a disgrace to the whole open-source world. Yet another small step to the destruction of the Linux ideal.
11 • Debian unattended-upgrades (by Alexandru on 2022-08-22 07:25:30 GMT from Romania)
It is worth mentioning that Debian by default notifies users about new software availability but does not install it. However, this behavior can be changed by installing unattended-upgrades package. After that, Debian will silently install new software as soon as it becomes available. Of course, as usual with Debian, almost any aspect of such updates can be configured.
I use this package on my wife's computer. I myself prefer to install software manually.
12 • .NET on Ubuntu.... (by Marc Visscher on 2022-08-22 09:42:52 GMT from Netherlands)
Ubuntu is becoming Microsoft's b*tch by adding even more Microsoft bloat into their system. Microsoft got Canonical under their influence entirely, and that's a very bad thing (my opinion!)
I used to be an Ubuntu fan a couple of years ago, but Canonical stooped so low I can't even consider (and see) Ubuntu as "Linux" anymore. I stay away from it as far as I can, and I'm really starting to dislike the distro, and therefore Canonical also.
Linux Mint is still using Ubuntu as a base, but for how long? The LM boys and girls already made some prediction by maintaining LMDE next to the "normal" version. They already knew that if Ubuntu was drifting away from everything it used to stand for way back in the days, they still can rely on Debian as a base. A very wise decision, and well thought of Clement.
I think the time has come very soon that Linux Mint is going to leave "the parent" and go a seperate way. Mark my words (no pun intended)...
I still have one Ubuntu installation on a laptop. This afternoon that distro is gone! Because that is what I need to do to remove unwanted software. Bye Bye Ubuntu! Enjoy your master from Redmond. And never call yourself "Linux" anymore please!
13 • @10, .net and buying Linux (by Justme on 2022-08-22 09:49:52 GMT from United States)
Funny how lovers of free and open source software complain whenever anyone uses that same software in ways that these freedom lovers don't approve of. I have no idea how Linux can be "conquered and bought" since its free for the taking by Microsoft or anyone who want to use it in any manner they see fit as long as they comply with the terms of the license.
14 • update notifications (by 0323pin on 2022-08-22 10:26:21 GMT from Sweden)
IMO, notifications are the most annoying and disruptive invention.
I switch them off on all devices including my android phone. So, thanks but, no thanks when comes to notifications.
15 • Updates (by fenglengshun on 2022-08-22 10:26:48 GMT from Indonesia)
I prefer to be informed when there's an update. It's part of why I'm somewhat okay with Manjaro - I don't want to think about it, but if I have to update, then I want it in a predictable time, where I can monitor it for issues. I left Windows because of Windows Updates, so I think I have a weird paranoia against them even if I do want them. Auto-update sounds nice, but I don't trust them, and I still remember the days of having limited internet quota that I prefer not having any surprise big data use.
16 • Updates (by Sidney Skinner on 2022-08-22 11:00:33 GMT from Barbados)
I do updates manually when notified. Notice Deepin is Chinese, mainly used in the Peoples Republic of China and gets automatic updates.Very suspicious Under normal situations automatic updates are fine.
17 • updates (by wally on 2022-08-22 11:36:34 GMT from United States)
One of my first tasks each day is to check the status of my main system, then run a small script to check, optionally update, and remove packages.
For my many other systems which are only booted as needed, the same script is manually run right after boot.
18 • Updates (by Otis on 2022-08-22 13:26:29 GMT from United States)
I don't have a rule about it across all distros I use. Some auto and some I check using the shell.
19 • Microsoft (by Semiarticulate on 2022-08-22 14:04:29 GMT from United States)
@13 Microsoft has been caught red-handed in the past making use of open source software in their operating system while not complying with the terms of the license. Coming as a surprise to literally no one, Microsoft hasn't exactly been a champion of free and open software. They are a corporation in the business of making money. Perhaps a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted.
@3 You gave me terrible flashbacks of networking over a 300 baud modem! Ouch.
20 • @19, MS and open source (by Justme on 2022-08-22 14:31:07 GMT from United States)
"Perhaps a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted." Count me as a healthy skeptic, so when you make accusations, I expect evidence.
If you are referring to things like this:
https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/inside-story-how-microsofts-open-source-code-theft-was-discovered
Then you better read past the headline. This was back in 2009, BTW. MS has been contributing to open source for some years.
https://opensource.microsoft.com/
There is in some cultures something referred to as "the crab mentality." It is rampant in the Linux world. When crabs destined for the kitchen are placed in a container, some try to climb and escape. But when a crab is near reaching the top, the lower crabs pull it down. If anyone reaches any financial success with Linux, such as Red Hat and Canonical, they get demonized by the have-nots. There is nothing wrong with making money, or even getting very rich from open source. It's just very difficult to achieve due to the licenses.
21 • @13 hostile takeover of an OS (by Cynic on 2022-08-22 15:01:04 GMT from Ghana)
It really isn’t that complicated..
Get your closed source development tools and accompanying utilities like Teams running on the target OS.. then encourage and hire developers to expand the platform till major programs run on it that industries make a required standard.
Once you’ve taken over the 3rd party app market because you have thousands of developers churning things out, you flip the switch and make the use of .net on the OS a paid service OR force the company (Canonical) to charge money for its “compliant” system.. you’ll then end up with something so close to Windows that the difference won’t matter. Consider Ubuntu “Linux” killed for all intents and purposes at that point..
22 • @21, hostile takeover (by Justme on 2022-08-22 15:27:58 GMT from United States)
Delusions of grandeur. Say Ubuntu takes up 10% of Linux desktop share. That's 10% of maybe 2%, or .2%. Do you really think that Satya Nadella is staying up nights trying to figure out how to get that slice of the pie? Back in the Ballmer days, he and MS were really worried that Linux was going to take over the desktop. Obviously, that hasn't happened, nor is it likely to. The world has moved on. MS, Google, Oracle, et al. get loads of benefits from open sourced with little or no cost or effort because the licenses say it must be freely shared. Why in the world would they want to upset the apple cart?
Here's something different: MS is trying to protect the developers of paid open source software on it's store from having their apps "stolen," cloned, etc. it's a thankless task, for obvious reasons.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/15/dissecting-microsofts-delayed-policy-to-ban-commercial-open-source-apps/
23 • Open Source, the Windows/Canonical "takeover" (by Otis on 2022-08-22 15:33:57 GMT from United States)
My goodness we do have extremists in the Linux world, just as in the rest of the world and political world these days. I hope I'm not one of those extremists by opining that open source licensing and just about every other aspect of computing was predicted long ago to be exploited to the hilt by any entity that had the resources to do so.
It does not mean a "takeover" unless the majority or a large minority of users need and deploy the
elements exploited by the big companies. Then all you have is the (predictable.. predicted) market
speaking back to us. Read 'em and weep, as they say in the smoke filled rooms.
24 • Capitalism in all it's manifestations (by Someguy on 2022-08-22 15:52:23 GMT from United Kingdom)
"...nothing wrong with making money, or even getting very rich..." - classic attitude from across the water, and can't entirely dismiss where they learnt such misplaced delusions, cf Boris et al.
We were taught that it is better to give than to receive. There is genuine pleasure in helping fol-ks for nil reward. Not a classics scholar like aforementioned gent's bogus claim, but didn't the Greek philosophers outline the principles for equity, stability and happiness. Be sure covetous-ness and greed will destroy us all.
25 • Updates (by Pogi Americano on 2022-08-22 16:22:24 GMT from United States)
I must be blessed by the Great Linux God and Linus Torvalds because I've never had an update problem. I've been using Linux since you could purchase a book with Red Hat CDs attached to the covers. My first distribution was Slackware. After a lot of "on the job learning" I figured things out and haven't had a problem since...Well, nothing that I couldn't figure out anyway. I use the "automatic" stuff wherever I can get it. If something does go wrong I look at it with an attitude of learning and not one of "this update sucks". ... Yeah, I realize that not everyone has the time to learn their particular system, but I also realize that those who are working to improve Linux are mostly doing so without pay (except Red Hat and a few others) just because they like the idea of Open Source software. ... I also use automatic stuff because I'm basically lazy.
26 • Update notifications (by JeffC on 2022-08-22 16:25:37 GMT from United States)
I voted to be notified of available updates so I can apply them myself.
A small icon on the panel changing color is not an obnoxious nuisance.
My favored web browser needs to be restarted right after updated or it becomes unusable, so updating needs to be at my convenience not silently done in the background.
I have done manual checking for updates in the past and could go back to it, but computers like other machines are intended to make our lives easier, not for us to serve them.
27 • @4 Peropesis disease (by corona on 2022-08-22 16:42:52 GMT from United States)
"Peropesis: Whoever came up with the name should be fired, or at least spanked. Sounds like a disease. Google agrees..."
Very funny comment. They need to have a more catchy name:
"personal operating system". POS wouldn't work;we know what that means already.
28 • got crabs?? (by dave on 2022-08-22 17:18:24 GMT from United States)
@20 How does the 'top crab' reach the point of escape? By climbing on the backs of the
other crabs. If only a few crabs are able to do this before there are not enough crabs to climb on, then what happens to the crabs that are unable to escape? They get cooked and eaten.
As usual, you portray an unrealistic situation in which everyone who criticizes Red Hat,
Google, etc (the 'have-nots', as you callously put it) is simply driven by envy and jealousy;
that there is no legitimate reason to criticize their passive-aggressive 'My Way Or The
Highway' business model and how they leverage their increasingly consolidated power to
steer the entire Linux sphere in to a position that solely benefits them-- keeping them on top..
or again, to refer to your hyperbolic crabs, positions them to 'escape the container' at the
expense of everyone else.
Much like @6 you seem to consistently imply that the only way for Linux to exist is for it to
emulate Windows or OSX, or to be totally absorbed by Microsoft, Google, etc; that the
megacorps are the only stewards capable of guiding Linux development. Greg Zeng also
implies that older people can't be bothered with system updates, despite the fact that
Friar Tux (who, no offense, I think has previously mentioned being an older fellow) just said
that he prefers to do them manually. Also, Greg.. what the heck does Xi, Putin and Trump
have anything to do with system updates? You sound a bit preoccupied and maybe next
time you could do us all a favor and check your political hatchet at the door.
I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm wrong (lol) but I don't believe Ballmer ever once expressed
concern that Linux would take over the desktop. In those days, Ballmer was heavily
advocating for Windows to be used in the server market and he knew that he was fighting an
uphill battle because Linux was gobbling up the marketshare from the failing Sun
Microsystems. Ballmer's animosity toward Linux had little or nothing to do with the desktop
market and I would expect that a person like you who is always pointing out Linux's
insignificant desktop marketshare, would grasp that fact.
Funny how in virtually every sociopolitical setting, the average person screeches about the
rights of minorities, but when it comes to technology, suddenly the average person demands
that the minority should bow in absolute, unquestioning subservience to the majority; that
the minority should conform or be extinguished.
Linux, BSD, etc have existed for a long time without kowtowing to the majority of computer
users and they will continue to do so, despite the repeated cries of those who demand that
they be 100% assimilated in to the corporate collective. Even if some brand of Linux
achieved widespread, mainstream adoption, there would remain a 'fringe' userbase who
would continue to do things their own way. You should get used to that and stop trying to
portray it as a problem.
It's also 'funny' how there seems to be a small handful of regular commentators on DW that
seem to hate the site, hate its readers and hate Linux. We don't need to be bludgeoned over
our heads with your weekly diatribes extolling the corporate behemoths and insisting that we
all should worship at the same altar.
29 • @24, @28 Utopia and crabby ones (by Justme on 2022-08-22 18:03:36 GMT from United States)
@24, "Be sure covetous-ness and greed will destroy us all." Ah, yes! Utopia. I think the last of those dreamers, small but idealistic, were the kibbutzim. Where are they now? Doesn't a little light bulb back of your thinking wonder why all the movements based on mutual sharing, all the ones that succeed end up as oppressive dictatorships? Every single one. How many people does MS employ? How many did Mother Teresa?
@28, "you seem to consistently imply that the only way for Linux to exist is for it to emulate Windows or OSX" I'm lost. You may want to point me to where I imply such a thing. Maybe you think of Linux as this smallish limited thing. but it is much more. My phones and tablets use the Linux kernel, so does my router and some other gadgets. Linux is massive server farms and state of the art supercomputers. It is tiny things like watches and single board computers like Pi. Desktop Linux is only a small part, and also a small part of the desktop PC universe.
I have no stake in Canonical or Red Hat, but if they succeed, more power to them. And they don't do it on my back, or yours. Don't want to use them? Fine. There's Arch, Debian/Devuan, Void, Slackware, et al., or roll your own with LFS or some other. That's what freedom is.
30 • Auto updates (by Hank on 2022-08-22 19:00:52 GMT from Netherlands)
all it takes is a single crontab entry and 3 minutes after every boot, updates are applied.
Great about three days ago, uatomagically wrecked my install when Nvidia driver update came along.
Never ever again. It is one thing being reckless and just updating, no control anymore is nuts...
31 • deepin goes proprietary (by dipin on 2022-08-22 19:14:32 GMT from Moldova)
seems to me that deepin is going to be a proprietary distro path, cause no source code of package manager was presented. it is not available on their https://linglong.dev site, and neither in their github.
p.s:
Still, I am glad that they are doing well, if can afford to throw away all the work Debian project is doing in creating a great distro, and Ubuntu with patching some rough edges left in Debian.
32 • .NET and GNU/Linux (by Edward on 2022-08-22 19:17:09 GMT from Austria)
.NET was in vogue in 2008-2009 for Linux application development.
Do you remember Banshee, Beagle, F-Spot and Tomboy? Back then Novell embraced Mono, now Canonical adopts MS .NET.
Let's see what the next iteration will bring to us.
33 • nagging updates (by Rincewind III on 2022-08-22 19:18:48 GMT from New Zealand)
as a user of a mainstream distro, the system is, by default, set to check for updates 5 minutes after login and then every 3 hours after.
Both these update time checks are adjustable by a GUI slider to a maximum of 30min or 24hrs respectively.
if an update is available, there is a popup for a few seconds and an icon appears in the system tray. it is not a "nagging" notification. just an icon, same as the wifi, bluetooth and speaker. If that is "nagging", I guess your system tray has no icons.
I choose to proceed or not with any update, either by clicking the icon or via virtual terminal
34 • also deepin new store ignores IP rights and has piracy (by dipin on 2022-08-22 19:26:44 GMT from Moldova)
Seems to me that deepin new store is all about piracy.
cause it has some proprietary apps packaged by them.
and there is no info at all about who packaged them, when etc.
https://store.linglong.dev/
If you scroll to page 6 in the store: you can find Adobe Photoshop CS 6 packaged as a linux app.
+ IntelliJ Ultimate
+ Onenote
+ Sublime Text
So something is spooky here...
35 • Updates (by bittermann on 2022-08-22 20:14:52 GMT from United States)
Mint system tray icon lets me know when there are updates. Nothing in your face, just click and look what updates there are. Easy peasy!
By the way I voted notify and let me choose when to update. Prefer that method over others.
36 • Manual updates. (by Friar Tux on 2022-08-22 20:33:33 GMT from Canada)
@30 (Hank) I have an ongoing similar issue which would create problems at every update (so far), By manually updating I solve the issue before it loads the new files. (I use Orage Calendar on my laptop but every new update wants to load on the latest version of “xfce4-panel”. This, however, holds a file, of files, that break Orage Calendar to the point that the system thinks I've uninstalled the calendar. By manually dropping the last version of xfce4-panel from the update list and leaving the old version I save a lot of work each update trying to reinstall Orage. As I mentioned above, I update weekly.
@28 (dave) No offence taken I'm 70 for those that are interested.
37 • Updates (by Ken on 2022-08-23 03:03:46 GMT from United States)
When I used a distro using a standard release model and updates only came every few days, I appreciated having a notification that new updates were available.
Now that I use distros using a rolling release model and there are multiple package updates a day, I don't need a notification. The first thing I do when I log in for the day is update the system.
38 • Updates (by Dr.J on 2022-08-23 06:28:56 GMT from Germany)
my Arch system has been running for over ten years now and is updated every day. But manually. I
have automated many processes via cronjobs, but no updates. These are the reasons: 1) Critical
updates (kernel, xorg, runit etc). If an update is pending here, I always take a snapshot of the (virtual) system beforehand, because who knows.... 2) Minor updates: I don't always go with them. 3) Blocked
updates. I have blocked quite a few updates via pacman.conf, such as virtualbox. Experience shows
that new updates often make problems here and to x.x-2 versions. I don't have to go along with
that.
39 • Deepin, @31, @34 (by Dr. Hu on 2022-08-23 12:13:02 GMT from Philippines)
Deepin already has a commercial OS it's called UOS, deepin is the community release. Past versions used to come with a license that applied to both,and one was supposed to ignore the parts that applied to those in mainland China. They are not just a little distro trying to make it big, they are already big in China. Wuhan Deepin Technologies is a subsidiary of Union Tech, and they partner with Huawei.
Linglong looks like a work in progress. (Deepin v23 is still a preview.) Since they are making it available to other distros I expect it is open source and the code should be available. Their forums might be the best place to ask. Everything else is on GitHub.
The store is just a place you download from. Maybe they need to improve oversight of the store, Since i had deepin running in a VM, I downloaded Photoshop. It is not 'packaged' by anyone. It a download of a Windows installer. Takes very long to download. What Linglong is bring up Wine for installation. It is in Chinese, and as soon as it opens an Adobe popup tells you that the license is expired. So if it's piracy, it's really quite sloppy. In this part of the world, piracy is pretty efficient. If I want Photoshop, I can go down to the nearest PC shop and get one which will show as licensed, or I can download a copy.
For now, to use Windows apps it's simpler just to install Wine and PlayOnLinux and download from the proper website.
40 • updates (by James on 2022-08-23 17:23:39 GMT from United States)
I generally run sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade every morning when I boot my laptop.
Only takes a few seconds, and I can see what needs updating and do it right away or wait until it is
convenient. No forced updates.
41 • Update policies vary with distro (by AdamB on 2022-08-23 22:41:39 GMT from Australia)
I am currently dependent on Devuan, Arch and Void.
I have a couple of older laptops running Mint and Ubuntu MATE.
I was quite quite happy with Mint showing a notification icon in the system tray.
I was less happy when Ubuntu MATE went to popping up an update utility.
A system tray notification icon would work for Devuan, but, as #37 points out, doesn't make sense for a rolling-release distro.
I am quite happy to manually update my Devuan, Arch and Void machines - not that I need to do it very often on Devuan.
Doing updates manually gives me the most information about what is happening.
42 • Update notifier (by Brezel on 2022-08-24 07:23:30 GMT from Germany)
Update notifiers and update tools are useful. I also can't imagine anyone in a serious professional environment who has the time or inclination to open the Linux terminal to perform syntax acrobatics. If you are interested in Linux becoming a serious alternative for everyone, you really welcome every step towards work economization. I also don't see it critically when software developers cooperate.
43 • Tightwire Typist (by Trihexagonal on 2022-08-24 09:11:52 GMT from United States)
@42 " I also can't imagine anyone in a serious professional environment who has the time or inclination to open the Linux terminal to perform syntax acrobatics."
The Syntax Acrobats are the people in IT you would be calling when your Linux workstation shut down.
44 • Software updates (by Kazlu on 2022-08-24 09:39:49 GMT from France)
I am used to and appreciate the "be notified of updates so I can apply them" behaviour. Whenever I am very busy for several days I can forget about updates, so it's good that I am discretely reminded (the MX Linux popup is just fine). And at the same time, I don't want updates to disrupt my workflow, so I want to be able to finish whatever I was doing and then process updates before doing something else (critical with Firefox if you are shopping online or logged in your banking website or whatever needs time to be done).
However, I also take care of the computer of a relative, who never thinks of software updates, even with notifications on, no matter how many times I explained the necessity to do them. They just won't remember it, and whenever they do there are so many updates to process that applying them is seen as a nuisance (just like Windows updates...). But since I got them Linux Mint and set up Timeshift along with automatic updates, things have completely changed. It is very easy to do since you are guided through the set up process from the welcome window. And since then, their computer is always up-to-date. Over a handful of years, there was a critical problem maybe once that justified the use of Timeshift to rollback, identify and solve the problem that was, in this case, not very complicated to my enthusiast-but-far-from-professional knowledge. The Linux Mint way of guiding you through a very robust and efficient set up is remarkable. Only now can I start thinking about doing auto updates for myself. I am not there yet, but at least it has become viable in my opinion.
45 • Updates and .NET (by Miki on 2022-08-24 10:39:05 GMT from Serbia)
I voted "I like to be notified". Truth to be told, I prefer it the way Linux Mint does it... There are no intrusive notifications and you have an option to make updates automatic on the computers where that is the only sane option (mostly due to the users using them).
Related to the .NET and Ubuntu I don't see reasons for hate, though I agree with Linux Mint's (Clem's) reasoning to stick with pure deb packages. Microsoft is not an evil corporation it used to be 10-15 years ago and they are very vested in open source these days (especially server side). If we look at JAVA and Linux "open source" implementations, .NET is a first class open source citizen on Linux and if Microsoft ever decides to discontinue support for it, it can be forked on a good starting base.
46 • ravynOS (by Miki on 2022-08-24 11:05:13 GMT from Serbia)
Interesting project... It seems that ravinOS is trying to become not just "FreeBSD-based project which strives to recreate a macOS-style user interface" but as in their own words "ravynOS is explicitly trying to be compatible with Mac software at a source and eventually a binary level, without losing support for FreeBSD/X11 software, and to implement a very similar experience on the desktop and at the command line". Idea might be more feasible than ReactOS is, but we'll see how much progress and traction project gets.
47 • Topics (by Cheker on 2022-08-24 19:44:56 GMT from Portugal)
Everything manually. I genuinely like to do it and look at what's going on and see if anything went wrong afterwards.
@28 Good post. As long as there's someone out there that doesn't like the big boys' OS, there will be Linux and BSD.
48 • offline software updates/upgrades (by MS does it better on 2022-08-24 21:17:24 GMT from United States)
Recently, Ubuntu released with a caveat that no offline upgrade is possible (or something similar).
MS (enterprise, I think) has had the option of offline upgrades/updates for a long time, why can't we have that?
The internet is an unfortunate evil, and it would be best to abolish it as soon as possible, however, in the short-term, minimizing our connection to it as much as possible is the best policy. MS gets this.
Maybe it's a bandwidth thing. Debian (for example) should ask Cloudflare for help, if they have bandwidth issues.
49 • ravynOS (by linux hater on 2022-08-24 21:54:00 GMT from United States)
Props for using BSD instead of Linux.
(RedHat has almost completely destroyed Linux, and along with Ubuntu trying to become not-debian as much as possible (and turning into a broken mess much of the time), Linux is really a wasteland nowadays.)
That said, as much as I don't like Linux nowadays, I really, REALLY don't like Apple.
I haven't tried the Solaris clones, but it might be nice to have a different GUI, that isn't praise to a price-gouging, harmful monopoly. On a finer, hair-splitting note, some of the earlier GUI ideas of macOS, before Tim Cook's destruction of Apple (virtual textures instead of simple traffic lights on grey), were pretty cool (I think this might've also been a Windows Me thing).
Also, Wayland? Really?
Please, no.
Wayland hardly works on Linux and is the source of many showstopping bugs.
(After reading up on it, I can see some slight improvements to X, but, really, still not ready, IMHO.)
50 • Ravyn/Airyx/OS (by fickle facts on 2022-08-24 22:14:56 GMT from France)
@46, @49: "RavynSoft, The home of RavynOS (formerly airyxOS) open desktop operating system and related projects"
AiryxOS was covered on distrowatch some weeks ago? They've changed the name already - not a great sign. Apparently some ppl were complaining that the name "AiryxOS" was difficult to read or understand. By trying to emulate Apple's OS, they could have named it something more appropriate, like maybe "StrudelOS".
51 • @45, @48 Evil (by Sebastian on 2022-08-24 22:59:19 GMT from Iceland)
@45: "Microsoft is not an evil corporation it used to be 10-15 years ago"
Its evilness just increased in this time period. It got good PR by being "open source friendly" but their adoption of open source is purely pragmatic.
@48: "The internet is an unfortunate evil ..."
No, it is not. It is an evolved pile of mess but it's useful and it can be tolerated
"... Ask Cloudflare for help" - I wouldn't touch it with a kilometer-long pole. That's real evil.
52 • Offline upgrades, evil internet, pragmatism (by Justme on 2022-08-25 04:29:44 GMT from United States)
@48, "MS (enterprise, I think) has had the option of offline upgrades/updates for a long time, why can't we have that?" And how do you get the package, by courier? There's apt-offline, and of course you can download the ISOs, or have them delivered if you choose.
"The internet is an unfortunate evil" The internet is just the internet. Only people and their actions can be good or evil. Every human invention and advance can be used for evil purposes: fire, the wheel, explosives, gun powder, knives, straight razors, the printing press, and on ad nauseam. Abolish the internet, and whatever you replace it with will have just the same or more potential to be used for evil purposes.
@51, "but their (MS) adoption of open source is purely pragmatic." My use of open source is purely pragmatic. If a proprietary system or app will do a superior job and is affordable, I will use that. I'm typing on Debian testing, but I do keep a (nameless) proprietary system at the ready for those times when open source just won't do.
All this talk about 'evil" corporations. Maybe some people think Linux and open source rain down like manna from heaven. But it is these evil corporations that provide paying jobs. How do you think free software developers live? Donations? Gimme a break! DW publishes a list of donations sometimes. Take a look at the fortunes they gather. Charge for their apps? How, if they can be redistributed at will, and anyone with a modicum of knowledge can clone and rename them?
I started using Linux Mint in 2006, and I remember Clem having to move for a new job, because he had to work someplace so he could have the time and money for his project. I certainly hope that with the success of Linux Mint these days, he not only makes enough from it, but a lot more than enough. He deserves it.
Some people see companies like Red Hat and Canonical as growing monsters trying to spoil their toys. I see them as places where people work and get paid, where they can earn enough to sustain themselves and their families and maybe also have the leisure time and wherewithal to follow pursuits they enjoy, such as open source software. The more success they have, the more jobs they create. Starving is for artists.
53 • Linux funding (by Justme on 2022-08-25 07:28:31 GMT from United States)
In case anyone wonders how Linux is funded, these are the members of The Linux Foundation:
https://www.linuxfoundation.org/our-members-are-our-superpower-2/
From this funding, Linus Torvald, as benevolent dictator for life gets around 1.5 million USD per year. His net worth is about $50 million. No complaints from this corner. He has earned it, and more. His moral fiber does not suffer because he does not live on donations and in some roach infested tenement.
So it's no secret. Development of the Linux kernel is funded by a bunch of corporations, some or all of them will be considered "evil" by some.
54 • Linux Kernel Funding (by Otis on 2022-08-25 11:58:24 GMT from United States)
I want to understand. We can all read the list of donors/enablers of the Linux Foundation, but with what do we walk away from that list? Thoughts of infiltration of a once rebellious alternative to Microsoft and Apple? Benevolent exploitation for a good cause that just needs money? Etc.
For 2% of the desktop market?
55 • @54, Linux Kernel Funding (by Justme on 2022-08-25 14:07:18 GMT from United States)
"Benevolence or infiltration." It doesn't have to be either. @51 used the proper word: "pragmatic." They do it because they benefit. Google is a prime example. They took the kernel, put an OS on top, and gave it away. Because of their business model which thrives on ad revenue, it became a goldmine. Funny that people complain about Linux desktops imitating Windows, but don't see how much the Windows desktop has learned from Linux: multiple workspaces, the new control center, for examples.
Years ago, MS was mostly Windows and Office, and they saw Linux as an existential threat. How were they going to charge for their OS when PC manufacturers could get something for free? As it turns out, it didn't happen and it's not likely to, due to the nature of the GPL. And MS is now a different company with other revenue streams. In the end, even Windows may go open source, not because they have become altruists, but because they may see a benefit in doing so.
Corporate culture is top-down, and all work to achieve as set goal. This can result in more polished products, but it can stifle creativity. Open source is a free-for-all, and while it can be incoherent and patchy, it is a more fertile ground for new ideas. Since these can't be patented, they are free to corporations to learn and adapt to their use. Some corporations use Linux directly because it may be of advantage to them.
The moral interaction between men/women, is not to give with no reward expected, nor to take without expecting payment. It is to trade value for value.
Number of Comments: 55
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| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
HandyLinux
HandyLinux was a French distribution designed for novice Linux users. It was based on the latest stable version of Debian GNU/Linux and it uses the Xfce desktop environment. The main feature of the distribution was a custom start menu with applications and Internet bookmarks grouped in tabs. HandyLinux integrates the latest versions of the Chromium web browser, LibreOffice office suite, Skype conferencing and messaging client, VLC video player and other popular applications with the stable Debian base.
Status: Discontinued
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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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