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1 • Monitoring of file changes (by Leo on 2022-09-05 00:52:37 GMT from United States)
I am disapointed a bit that the answer does not mention the established dedicated programs for detecting changes to files by comparison of cryptographic hashes. There are Tripwire and AIDE.
For /boot directory specifically, we have got Secure Boot and signed kernel images and modules. If you are really serious about security or locking down the system then you should consider Intel IMA (Integrity Measurement Architecture) or similar solutions. At least the administrator can use a dedicated read-only filesystem for /boot.
The superuser can "chattr +i" files to prevent ordinary users or system daemons (those running with reduced capabilities) from modifying files and to prevent accidental modification by privileged processes.
2 • File changes (by Jesse on 2022-09-05 01:05:16 GMT from Canada)
@1: The original question specifically mentioned Secure Boot and that it wasn't what they wanted. It also wasn't clear to me, based on the context of the question, that the person wanted to locked down their system. It seemed they were interested in detecting changes more than preventing them. Or maybe both.
Using tools to prevent changes, like putting /boot in read-only mode or using Secure Boot, come with their collection of issues the person may want to avoid. They can be useful tools, but aren't great for monitoring directories in general.
3 • Ubuntu Unity and Deepin (by Guido on 2022-09-05 01:11:01 GMT from Philippines)
I just learned that the main developer of this new distro is just 10 years old. I am impressed.
But I will probably not use it and surely not Deepin from China. In the past the Arch version of this desktop was very unstable.
https://ubuntuunity.org/
4 • Ubuntu Unity (by Jesse on 2022-09-05 02:18:02 GMT from Canada)
@3: "I just learned that the main developer of this new distro is just 10 years old. "
Something I find interesting about this person (and their project) is the developer keeps getting reported as being younger and younger. When I first heard about the project two or three years ago they were 14 reportedly . Last year someone told me the main developer is 12. Today it's 10. The kid is ageing backwards!
5 • New package formats (again) (by Charlie on 2022-09-05 03:49:40 GMT from Hong Kong)
Not sure why they reinvent the wheels again while we have Flatpak and Snap already.
That said, I know some still oppose to the new cotainer format of packagers while preferring the traditional one (rpm, deb etc.), but Flatpak has really begun showing its advantages.
I can now have wine on my 64bit system easily installed without adding a bunch of 32bit libraries as dependencies, and I am more willing to try some apps without worrying about cleaning the dependencies when I no longer want to use it. It's really handy.
6 • Debian DDG Chromium (by fenglengshun on 2022-09-05 03:51:38 GMT from Ireland)
I'm a little bit confused - why DDG? I guess 2 years ago, they seem like a trustworthy alternative to Google. But recently it has come to light that they have secret deals with Microsoft whose Bing search index is the provider for DDG search index. They only disclosed the deal after getting caught redhanded and even now they still do not disable certain Bing things.
In my mind, it is trading the devil we know with a new devil we know less about. Sure, it's probably better than Google, but at least Google's well documented and you can't argue that on average they bring the best search results for you. But we don't know what else DDG have in the background, and that makes it a questionable decision for me.
While I also understand that people don't like Brave, if the issue is with Google, then why not use a SearX or Whoogle instance? Heck, use Ecosia which at least does something decent with their profit or Startpage which is basically DDG but uses Google so it serves the same purpose but without the baggage that DDG has.
7 • Linglong (by penguinx86 on 2022-09-05 03:54:42 GMT from United States)
No, I won't use Linglong. I never heard of it before and the name sounds like it could contain Chinese spyware. I'll stick with Synaptic and Apt, because I'm more famaliar with them.
8 • Ubuntu Unity (by Rudra Saraswat on 2022-09-05 06:03:02 GMT from India)
@3 and @4: I'm the dev of Ubuntu Unity, and am 12 and will be turning 13 on September 25 (created Ubuntu Unity when I was 10). Hope it's clear now :)
9 • Linglong (by Pete on 2022-09-05 08:00:41 GMT from United Kingdom)
Anything to do with China......no chance. I couldn't trust any of it.
10 • I don't mind using a Chinese Linux distro (by Andrei Kim on 2022-09-05 08:49:28 GMT from South Korea)
South Korea, the country where I live in doesn't respect open source software that much and Chinese software engineers are much better training-wise. I might install deepin 23 with this new package system in my spare laptop eventually.
We software engineers are not politicians nor diplomats, so let's stop with boycotting new software introductions.
11 • Linglong and Deepin (by Kazlu on 2022-09-05 09:14:58 GMT from France)
I am already not using Flatpak, I have no reason to try Linglong. Should I need something of the sort one day, I would go for Flatpak because it is not designed for any specific distribution and therefore aims to be universal. I would not use Snap for exactly the same reason.
About Deepin, I must admit I have some reserves using software from a Chinese company. I don't know what ties there are with the Chinese government. I went through the deepin EULA, just to try to get the philosophy of the company. I found two elements that I found weird:
"this Agreement does not allow you to redistribute (including but not limited to software sales, pre-installation, bundling, etc.) the software or its components for any commercial purpose, regardless of whether the software or its components have been modified."
This means nobody is allowed to sell computers with deepin preinstalled. Or nobody is able to provide IT services that would include installation of deepin. That seems strange, since that can only enlarge the user base and potentially sell support... or does the company sell support? I don't know how they make money.
"If you fail to comply with the above provisions, Deepin Community does not take any liability, and has the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate, completely or partially suspend, or limit its normal function of the software, and reserves all rights to pursue your actions."
Am I reading that the "deepin community" grants itself the right, "in its sole discretion" to stop the deepin software on your computer from working???
I might not understand all this properly, so outside opinion on this would be appreciated.
12 • deepin to buntu unity (by linglong & prosper on 2022-09-05 10:33:01 GMT from Canada)
@11, it's also strange that the devs use a live-&-install script to boot deepin, but don't offer the live boot option - you have to edit the boot script yourself. why do they want users to only install deepin, and not use it live?
@3, @4, well the 14 year old dev doesn't make buntu unity all by himself - he has a team - probably all 14 year olds too.
13 • Deepin, Linglong, @8,Unity (by Dr. Hu on 2022-09-05 11:21:55 GMT from Philippines)
@Jesse, It's too bad you decided to forgo the fashion and effects. Without those, Deepin is just another DE, no better more efficient than KDE, XFCE or Cinnamon. It's really all about eye-candy, and I assure you, it doesn't look like KDE. I've installed it a couple of times, but as they say, beauty is only skin-deep, and it hasn't stayed long on my hardware. Strictly a VM for now.
The 23 preview is still quite rough around the edges. I've been Deepin 20 on a VM and it's much more polished. Don't really know what the independent upstream and Linglong are all about. Maybe like some in China they are retreating across a digital moat and pulling up the bridges. The web store only has 24 or so apps, of which some are Windows apps like Photoshop. Downloading from the store can call up Wine to install the Windows apps. Download and install takes a bit of time. For now, no Linglong for me. Maybe at some future time.
@8, Read some stuff about you. Congratulations on Unity. I've tried it, and it's excellent. So you are 12? Practically an old man, then. I read somewhere that Unity will be one of the Ubuntu community editions on 22.10. If so, more congratulations are in order. Try not to pay much attention to what is said in forums like this, or you may end up with gray hair before you are 18.
14 • Linux developers (by James on 2022-09-05 11:22:03 GMT from United States)
Seems Linux developers are more interested in re-inventing the wheel than improving Linux.
15 • Watching for changes in directories (by Jeffrey on 2022-09-05 11:45:52 GMT from Czechia)
Others already mentioned Tripwire and the like, so I'll only add the BSD utility `entr`. It is relatively simple, so one has to build their own solution on it, but it also means it is lightweight and that it can be used in many ways. (It can be found in the repositories of Debian and its derivatives, e.g. https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/entr .)
16 • Unity dev, Linglong (by Dr. Hu on 2022-09-05 11:46:05 GMT from Philippines)
The Unity dev does have a team: https://ubuntuunity.org/team/
And for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcwyb_LUVjY
Ling long means "exquisite" in Mandarin. Reading some of the posts, seems like for a technology forum we still have our share of knuckle-draggers.
17 • @ 6 DDG (by kc1di on 2022-09-05 12:18:18 GMT from United States)
One of the things that make Debian so stable is it takes so long for them to update. But the flip side of that is that they also miss some of the changes that come to light from the time something is purposed till it's enabled.
Two years from being purposed to finish is a long time in search engines today.
What you mentioned is one reason I've changed to Start Page. But I suppose they will find fault with it in some way sooner or later.
18 • @5 Charlie: (by dragonmouth on 2022-09-05 12:51:43 GMT from United States)
"Not sure why they reinvent the wheels again while we have Flatpak and Snap already."
Not sure why they reinvent the wheels again while we had AppImage already. Is it because they want to have things THEIR way?
@17 Dr.Hu:
IF one knows Mandarin. If one doesn't, then "linglong" is just a nonsense word much like "dingdong". Considering that there are hundreds of languages/dialects in the world, it is certain that a perfectly good word in one is a curse or a derogatory term in another. That's not knuckle-dragging, that's linguistics.
19 • @8 Ubuntu Unity (by Greateffort on 2022-09-05 13:03:16 GMT from Australia)
@8 well done on your efforts - it is mind-boggling for me to think someone so young is leading the way in doing this. You're an inspiration to some of us much older people...
20 • @19 dragonmouth (by Dr. Hu on 2022-09-05 13:06:08 GMT from Philippines)
Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its structure, including the study of morphology, syntax, phonetics, and semantics. Where in there is the disparagement and dismissing of something or someone's name in another language because it sounds funny to you.
21 • Linglong (by Multiget on 2022-09-05 13:17:16 GMT from Italy)
I don't trust Linglong, Flatpak, Appimage and Snap. Only .deb and .rpm (with the only exception of "balena etcher" in appimage format).
22 • @22 China (by Justme on 2022-09-05 14:26:19 GMT from United States)
"Boycott China on what? Software? Phones? Computers?" Futile indeed. But first, it puzzles me that people think they have such valuable secrets that everyone from China to Microsoft wants to spy on them. I know some people who are afraid of vaccines because they think Bill Gates or someone like him have designed a chip which is inserted and by which they can track them. These are otherwise seemingly normal people. Why?
Most phones (including iPhones), laptops, desktop PCs, CCTV cameras, and just about every other gadgets are put together in China, including installing the OS and/or firmware if any. Wouldn't China take this golden opportunities to put their spy stuff in there. Wouldn't they be rather dumb to put the spyware on their own OS, where it can be easily laid at their door?
Last week I posted the website of Linux Foundation members. Here are some of them for your perusal: Tencent, Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu, WeBank, Allwinner, and of course Uniontech, which owns Deepin. These are some of the evil corporations on the Chinese side that fund the Linux kernel. And this is not nearly an exhaustive list. Seems to me that those who have strong objections to Chinese (or western) evil spying should probably go talk to trihexagonal, who posts here, about switching to BSD.
23 • What's the point? (by Appalachian on 2022-09-05 16:00:52 GMT from United States)
Linglong does the same thing as Flatpak, and it does it in the same way. So, if a person wanted that kind of thing on their system, then why not just use Flatpak in the first place? Linglong doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table which would justify its existence.
24 • Deepin, Linglong, and Unity (by Friar Tux on 2022-09-05 16:17:40 GMT from Canada)
I'm curious why the angst about government intrusion in Deepin and linglong. If it's toted as being open source, I'm sure someone in the know can check out the source code (or already has) to see if there is any "suspicious" coding. Otherwise, or until someone can point at something suspicious, wouldn't it be more appropriate to hold off with the conspiracy silliness?
Of the three, Flatpak, Snap and AppImage, I prefer AppImage as, so far, I find it is the only one that works best, on my machine. And it is truely portable - "one file = one app". (It is also the only one of the three (now four) that will use MY chosen theme, and has all the features/options of the version from the default repository.)
Rudra Saraswat, as said elsewhere, you are an inspiration. My hat comes off to you. While I, personally, do not like Unity (it make my laptop look ,ridiculously, like a giant cell phone), I DO like the idea of choice. And to think that someone as young as 12 in taking on developing/maintaining Unity, I think is fantastic. Keep it up.
Dragonmouth, your comment on linguistics - a good, normal word in one language is a curse word in another - is absolutely dead on. I speak three languages (English, French, German) and in just those three I find lots of examples of this (no, I won't quote them, here, as DW will feel the need to cancel this post, and I can't blame them.)
25 • @22 "Seemingly normal people" (by TFC on 2022-09-05 17:24:20 GMT from United States)
There is your explanation ...
The story goes on like, 99 % ('normal people') uses their preinstalled OS, 1 % uses something else, and of those 1 %, again 1 % goes to forums.
Those last ones really have and share a big secret -- almost all of them need a really good (psycho-) doctor, and they know it -- just refuse to visit one to get some help ...
As of 'good-looking' Deepin, if I take a look at the first screenshot in the review above, there's nothing good to see on that panel and start menu ...
As of the 'strange license terms', as much as I know, Deepin Desktop is a commercial product, but everybody is allowed to use it for free. Someone explained that here once in the past.
As of 'trusting Chinese', I'd be more scared to use the EU & USA distributions. They both are collecting data about everybody and everything -- and they are even trying to undermine encryption to spy on messengers, building the backdoors in HW ...
BTW, good luck with rejecting everything Chinese -- even US medicaments are produced there -- that this is also truth for the US cars, or for the US houses, is the smallest problem ...
26 • 2 Years for a simple search engine change (by Hank on 2022-09-05 17:38:06 GMT from Germany)
At the rate Debian is moving I will be dead before they fix a regression to NVidia drivers .
The install fails as one part of X points to a library which does not and never has existed.
Was declared fixed a few weeks ago and promptly broken again with a recent update.
Debian Quality assurance and user orientation are sadly lost in space these days.
27 • @22, @25 On the subject of trust (by Leo on 2022-09-05 20:17:17 GMT from United States)
Corporations usually do not "spy" on specific people, they collect as much bulk data as they can because it can increase their profits. These immense amounts of data can be and often are abused, compromised or shared with governments and various virtually unknown partners.
Free Software should provide transparency to avoid need of trusting software vendors. However this depends on people reviewing the code. The amount of code is such that it is reviewed poorly. Explicit backdoors and anti-features are catched, but subtle intentional vulnerabilities are very difficult to find.
So going independent is a reason to avoid Deepin, it was more trustworthy when it was more closely based on Debian, the established and widely used community distro.
28 • @22 - Deepin owned by UnionTech (by Andy Prough on 2022-09-05 21:08:48 GMT from New Zealand)
I read the post by @22, and having not heard of UnionTech I looked them up and their relationship with Deepin.
I'm not passing judgment, I'm just noting that Deepin is owned by a company that is developing an OS for the Chinese government. Some people may see that as either a good or a bad thing. On the good side, they are trying to replace MS Windows with a Linux distro, so there's that. From Wikipedia:
"The development of Deepin is led by China-based Deepin Technology Co., Ltd. The company generates revenue through the sale of technical support and other services related to it.[3] As of 1 January 2020, Deepin Technology is a wholly owned subsidiary of UnionTech (统信软件)."
"Unity Operating System (also known as Unified Operating System[2] or UOS, Chinese: 统一操作系统) is a Chinese Linux distribution developed by UnionTech (Chinese: 统信软件) based on Deepin,[3] which is based on Debian. It is used in China as part of a government initiative beginning in 2019 to replace foreign-made software such as Microsoft Windows with domestic products."
If a half-billion people start using a Linux distro instead of Windows, you could make an argument that this is a positive development. Of course, any government project by its nature is suspect, so you could argue the other side.
29 • buntu unity (by linglong $ prosper on 2022-09-05 22:33:30 GMT from Canada)
The buntu unity dev is young in the tech world - he's 10?...12?...13?...14? - already you can't even pin down his proper age. He's probly already had plastic surgery, and dated one or two of the Kardashians. :) (But the Unity distro does look good.)
30 • buntu unity dev (by Titus_Groan on 2022-09-05 22:53:41 GMT from New Zealand)
@29, "already you can't even pin down his proper age"
maybe read comment @8
looks like Rudra has a great future ahead in software development
31 • Deepin desktop @25 (by Dr Hu on 2022-09-05 23:12:56 GMT from Philippines)
"As of 'good-looking' Deepin, if I take a look at the first screenshot in the review above, there's nothing good to see on that panel and start menu ..." As I said earlier, it is unfortunate that the reviewer decided against fashion look and effects. It misses the transparencies and floating dock and menu effects. (Screenshots are available online by googling.) My DDE doesn't look anything like Jesse's screenshots. As shown, deepin looks like a stock KDE or Cinnamon, which will probably be better choices in that case. Maybe the icons are prettier, but that's it. The menu is versatile. It can be a category-based menu in the corner, or a full-screen dashboard like Gnome's or scrollable full-screen series of category panels.
"As of the 'strange license terms', as much as I know, Deepin Desktop is a commercial product, but everybody is allowed to use it for free. Someone explained that here once in the past." Deepin is a community distro. The commercial version is UOS, which is used, among others, by Huawei. As broadcast widely on the news a couple of years ago, Huawei is under sanctions by the US government, and cannot use Windows on their PCs or Google services on their phones. So China's corporations are looking for, and coming up with alternatives.
32 • Deepin license (by Justme on 2022-09-05 23:41:06 GMT from United States)
deepin is published under the GPL v3. Going back and forth about the EULA might be entertaining, but means nothing. Anyone with a vested interest would need to contact the FSF and let their lawyers decide if deepin is in compliance. For practical purposes, it doesn't matter unless one is in China, as the EULA is only enforceable there.
33 • @32 Deepin license (by Leo on 2022-09-06 01:30:00 GMT from Austria)
Of course they are not in compliance if their EULA supercedes GPLv3 in mainland China and if it has no provisions like "notwithstanding all of the above nothing herein shall supercede or modify the terms of any separate license agreements..." (of individual open source software components).
34 • @33 license (by Leo on 2022-09-06 02:00:34 GMT from France)
Hmm, it looks like clauses 1 and 7 of their EULA effectively cancel all of the additional restrictions from other clauses. So it looks like at least for Deepin (I have not looked up the UOS EULA) they are in compliance.
35 • @34 (by Leo on 2022-09-06 02:16:18 GMT from Austria)
However it is not clear from their EULA whether GPLv3 applies to software components developed solely by UnionTech or whether these components (if there are any) are governed by contradictory "EULA + GPLv3" nonsense mix. Maybe Chinese language version is more clear.
36 • Salix release this week (by Kazlu on 2022-09-06 08:42:13 GMT from France)
I'm reading the Salix release annoucement. I remember trying it a little less than a decade ago, worked very well but eventually I stayed with Debian-based distros because it's more widely used which has advantages in termes of QA, bug/vulnerability hunting/correction and software availability. But I am wondering, and honestly asking users of a Slackware based distro here: what is the drive to a Slackware-based distro? What do you find more appealing in a Slackware base than a Debian base (I am only mentioning Debian because I also see it as a stable, slow moving base)? This is an honest question here, I am absolutely not trying to criticise the choice of a Slackware-based distro, I am wondering this out of curiosity, because maybe I am missing something.
37 • Unity (by JS on 2022-09-06 10:21:02 GMT from Germany)
I can only congratulate the Unity team. This is really a great achievement. The project is going in a promising direction. I wonder about the comments regarding Rudra S.'s age that keep coming up. If I remember correctly, Mozart made his first concert tours at the age of 6 and started writing down his significant compositions at about 8. Would anyone refuse to listen because of that?
38 • @36 (by Simon on 2022-09-06 10:32:42 GMT from New Zealand)
Yes, I appreciate the fact that it's a genuine question. I've run far more Debian-based (including Ubuntu) systems than Slackware systems over the years, but genuinely preferred Slackware when I had the time to set it up (I don't these days).
Slackware is heaven for control freaks because it's so simple: Debian is a convoluted mess by comparison. Debian (and most other distros) pile an enormous amount of automation onto everything to make it easier to do stuff with minimal effort. Slackware is (or at least was, when I last used it) so simple that it's possible for a relatively unskilled administrator like me to understand most of what it's doing, just from reading the simple text files it uses for configuration. Everything is clean, tidy and straightforward... at the cost of requiring more time and effort to set up initially.
Debian's more like a chainsaw, Slackware's more like an old-fashioned hand saw: a chainsaw user might scoff at the "ridiculous" effort involved in sawing things manually, but there's a clean simplicity to Slackware that can make it more trustworthy in some circumstances, in roughly the same way that your arm's more trustworthy than a chainsaw's engine. I always felt like I knew what was going on in my Slackware boxes: perhaps the fact that it was basically the product of one man's oversight limited its complexity, in order to keep it comprehensible in its entirety by one person. I've never had that experience with the likes of Debian: it's so complex that it's a case of "well, I don't really understand what's going on here, but it seems to be working so I'll trust that others have configured this stuff wisely". Obviously there are degrees of that, and I've never come close to being able to say (without looking anything up) what every single file was doing, even on a Slackware box... but you can get a lot closer to that with Slackware than Debian.
Also, as a result (and again, after some effort to configure it), it was much faster in the old days, especially at booting up... breathtakingly fast ("what the heck, we're at the desktop already?!?!") compared to other distros. These days with systemd, a properly configured Debian-based box can boot very quickly, and I don't notice as much sluggishness in desktop responsiveness and so on either (with a few exceptions like launching Ubuntu's horrible default snap version of Firefox): there aren't as many practical arguments for Slackware as there used to be. It has an excellent long support life (many years, like Ubuntu LTS), but a much smaller official package set so there's a higher chance you'll have installed a bunch of your own stuff (and slackbuilds from slackbuilds.org or whatever) that won't be getting timely (or any) security fixes. Basically you're probably right to stick with Debian-based distros... to answer your question I don't think you're "missing" anything in that respect... but I'll always have a soft spot for Slackware's tidy simplicity.
39 • @Jesse - Deepin Review (by Linux Revolution on 2022-09-06 16:06:16 GMT from United States)
Way to exercise your diplomacy of Deepin. My paranoia compels me to read between the lines! LOL...
40 • Where is the source code for linglong? (by source-code-seeker on 2022-09-06 17:40:53 GMT from United States)
Sounds like flatpak, is it a fork or just another UI over the whole ostree stack? And where's the source code, so we can find out the answer? In any case we really don't need another packaging format. Unless a certain country wants to maintain a software stack independent of other certain countries.
41 • @38 (by Kazlu on 2022-09-07 07:57:51 GMT from France)
Thank you very much for this thorough and very clear description! The chainsaw VS hand saw image is particularly well chosen and helps getting your point. I guess I get it, I could even be interested in this especially on an older backup machine or a server, but like you I am already (s)lacking time to invest in it anyway. I suppose there is some appeal to Salix implementing Flatpak, to get additional packages from another source than slackbuilds and in a way that does not mess with your base OS, but you lose in snappiness... Anyway, it's good to know this is an option.
42 • @38 (by kc1di on 2022-09-07 09:58:40 GMT from United States)
Thank you for your good description. I found slackware about as you discribe it. Used it for many years, was my first distro when getting into Linux many years ago. Just got lazy and now use Debian distros mostly.
I have soft spot for the now discontinued Vector Linux - Which was a nice slack base system.
Have tried Salix yet. Kinda wish the has a live version.
If you have the time Slack is a good system. And will serve you for many years.
43 • Salix etc. (by Barnabyh on 2022-09-07 16:17:13 GMT from United Kingdom)
Nice to see Salix is back and has a new version out. Although these days I am tempted to stay with Linux Mint/ LMDE or try MX KDE if feeling adventurous.
Not keen on installing anything anymore though as the current systems have been running well for over three years. Getting old I guess. I leave it to the young folks to distrohop and try everything now.
Still, if ever a reinstall should be needed Salix will be on my list, as is AlienBob's Slackware live for thumb drives.
44 • Post 2 Years for a simple search engine change from Hank (by Lo Han Kuo on 2022-09-08 09:11:40 GMT from Germany)
Debian has it seems fixed the NVidia drivers. Installed Tesla 470 version without error yesterday.
Wonder if the post from Hank moved the issue in to focus.
Anyways I am very grateful for the fix.
Unfortunately open drivers are vastly inferior on some NVidia cards. On mine screen tearing and glitches are awful.
45 • Debian: open drivers VS manufacturer drivers (by Kazlu on 2022-09-08 13:58:35 GMT from France)
Since there are many comments about the poor hardware support of open drivers (and the implications for Debian), I'd like to add my 2 cents here.
My experience is different. Mostly for ecological reasons, I do not buy new hardware anymore, I make it last as much as possible and when I really need a new machine, I always go for second hand, refurbished if possible. So my hardware is never brand new. And I don't need that. Most od the time my needs are simple, but I am still doing some gaming or even video editing on occasion. These are resource intensive activities and I need capable hardware. But I don't need brand new hardware. I often end up with 2-4 years old hardware and that's plenty enough.
Why am I saying this? Well, in several occasions, on 2-4 years old Nvidia graphics card, the open drivers work better than the Nvidia drivers! Less crashes, even better resolution sometimes. And it makes sense: when a new graphics card comes out, the previous model goes out of fashion and manufacturer support slows down, before eventually ending. But open drivers continue to progress as long as there are developpers using the hardware, and they eventually catch up, even go beyond manufacturer drivers in terms of quality. So I actually feel much better with hardware that is a few years old, muuuuuuch less hassle. The only times I had issues was when I got hardware that didn't reach the 2 years old mark yet!
That being said, this is true for graphics. Wireless adapters are a whole different story. They don't evolve that much over time. And even the best retro-engineers have trouble getting them to work to create an open driver.
So my point is: don't associate open drivers with bad drivers.
46 • dev ages (by linglong & prosper on 2022-09-09 22:58:51 GMT from France)
Quote for the week:
"A 12 year old tech is better than an adult tech who acts like a 12 year old."
Number of Comments: 46
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| • Issue 1172 (2026-05-11): Fedora 44, dealing with extra fonts, Fedora plans to provide AI tools, problems with Ubuntu's new coreutils, TrueNAS extends its development cycle, postmarktetOS improves the boot splash screen, Redox ports tmux |
| • Issue 1171 (2026-05-04): Xubuntu 26.04, extending memory with VRAM, Ubuntu plans AI features, Devuan developer forks GTK2, Mint introduces hardware enablement builds, Linux running on a PlayStation 5, local kernel exploit found in Linux |
| • Issue 1170 (2026-04-27): ENux 5.2.1, picking a second distro, AlmaLinux expands CPU support, FreeBSD publishes Status Report, Ubuntu MATE skips 26.04 release |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| 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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| Random Distribution | 
Ubuntu Studio
An official variant of Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio is a Linux-based operating system for creative individuals in the areas of audio production, video production, graphics design, photography and desktop publishing. It makes professional audio accessible on Linux; it uses the JACK sound server and a kernel built with a low-latency patch. Up until version 20.10 Ubuntu Studio shipped with the Xfce desktop environment, but this was replaced by KDE Plasma in October 2020.
Status: Active
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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