 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 993, 7 November 2022 |
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Welcome to this year's 45th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Some Linux distributions take an unusually minimal approach, providing the bare necessities in order to accomplish a task. One such streamlines distribution is Static Linux, a project which is not only small, but takes an unusual approach to installation. This week we begin with a look at Static Linux and how this curious project performs. In our News section we report on changes coming to Linux Mint which will simplify package management, especially when dealing with Flatpak packages. Plus, in this week's Questions and Answers column we explore what a distribution could do if it included just a kernel with no other utilities. All Linux distributions include some userland tools, software beyond the kernel, and in this week's Opinion Poll we'd like to hear from you. How many packages are included in your distribution? Plus we are pleased to share the torrents we are seeding along with the releases of the past week and details of the new versions below. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Static Linux
One unusual project that was recently added to the DistroWatch waiting list is Static Linux. The project's website doesn't offer much information or documentation, but it does share the following description of what Static Linux is:
[A] Linux distribution based on Alpine Linux, musl libc, and Busybox. It comes with JWM, Firefox, Transmission, data recovery tools ddrescue, testdisk, [and] photorec. Kernel and the root filesystem are assembled in a single file to boot on systems with UEFI (Secure Boot is not supported).
Static Linux is available in two editions, X.Org and Wayland, which are sometimes referred to by the project as simply X and W. The download images for these editions are 222MB for the X.Org edition and 66MB for the Wayland edition. The difference in sizes, I feel it worth mentioning, are not just due to the display server software. The lists of included applications in the two editions vary too, which accounts for the bulk of the size difference.
Along with the available media, the distribution provides 206 packages (at the time of writing) which have been compiled for Static Linux. These packages cover a number of utilities and development tools, most of them intended for command line use. I'll talk more about the packages and working with them later.
Installing
Static Linux doesn't use a normal install method, such as running an installer from a live desktop or unpacking an archive. The downloads we're offered are designed to be booted directly from the hard drive. To set up Static Linux, we format a disk (either a hard drive or USB thumb drive) and place a partition on the disk formatted with the FAT32 filesystem. We then copy the Static Linux archive we downloaded, saving it on the formatted partition as /efi/boot/bootx64.efi. When our computer boots, it automatically locates this file and expands it into memory. The archive contains the Linux kernel, Busybox utilities, and other basic items required to launch the operating system.
I feel it's important to note Static Linux can be booted on machines running in UEFI mode only. The distribution will not be found and launched on computers running in Legacy BIOS mode.
Early impressions
I tested both editions of the Static Linux distribution. I started with the X.Org (X) edition which boots to a text console at first and then attempts to launch X.Org and Joe's Window Manager (JWM). The graphical environment failed to load, apparently due to either a permission or a missing driver issue. (Possibly both, based on a quick glance at the error log). Since JWM didn't successfully load I was left with a command line prompt. The system logged me in as a regular user, appropriately called "user". The sudo utility isn't included, but we can switch to the root account by using su and the password "root".
The distribution has around a gigabyte of utilities packed into its single-file archive and we can use remaining free space to download files and install packages. The distribution is quite light, requiring less than 100MB of RAM.
Static Linux's X.Org edition ships with version 5.15 of the Linux kernel. Version 5.18 of the kernel is included in the Wayland edition. The Busybox utilities are included too, though not much else. There are a few rescue utilities, such as photorec and ddrescue. There are no manual pages, meaning any help we receive will need to be found on-line. Though I didn't get to use it due to the lack of graphical interface, the project's website points out the X.Org edition of Static Linux ships with the Firefox web browser.
One interesting quirk of the distribution is exiting the command line shell will halt the system and power off the computer.
Wayland edition
When I switched to the Wayland (W) edition of Static Linux, the experience started out much the same way. The distribution's image file was placed on my drive, the system booted successfully to a text console, but then the system successfully and automatically launched the Lab Wayland Compositor (labwc). The labwc environment is basically a very minimal desktop environment with a panel at the bottom of the display with a few quick launch buttons and an open desktop space where we can right-click to open a terminal or exit the session. Like the X.Org edition, the Wayland edition (even when running labwc) consumes less than 100MB of RAM.
Static Linux 2022 -- Using Static Linux to download itself
(full image size: 25kB, resolution: 1024x768 pixels)
Unlike the X.Org edition of Static Linux, the Wayland edition does not ship with the Firefox web browser or bittorrent software, which probably makes up the bulk of the difference between the sizes of the two editions. The Wayland edition offers us a virtual terminal, the testdisk, photorec, and ddrescue software along with the Busybox utilities. That is about all that is available by default. If we want more software we need to turn to the Static Linux repository.
Software management
Earlier I mentioned the Static Linux project provides 206 packages in an archive on their website. These packages are simply listed, one per line, with their name and version, but no description. We're left to figure out for ourselves what atk, bison, and pcre are and whether we need these items. Each package is an APK file which is basically a tar archive.
I had thought, since Static Linux is reportedly based on Alpine Linux, the distribution might include the Alpine Linux package manager, but this does not appear to be the case. I could not find a package manager, documentation for installing packages, or a web browser (graphical or text-based) included with the distribution.
Since the APK packages are tar archives, I was able to download an index of the available software using wget, fetch specific files, and then unpack them with the tar program. The archives, when unpacked from the root directory, will install software into the /usr directory and other appropriate locations. Some programs are set with permissions which only allow them to be run as the root user and may need to have their permissions (or ownership) changed in order for them to be executable.
The base operating system resets when it is restarted. Which just means any changes we make to the system are lost when we reboot. We can get around this by setting up another partition, either on the USB thumb drive or on a local disk drive, and mounting it. For instance, I set up a persistent partition and mounted it under my home directory. This partition could then include hand written scripts to perform some basic actions, such as installing a package. The persistent partition can also hold programs which can be installed there to survive reboots. For instance, I set up a partition called disk in my Static Linux home directory. At each boot I could mount disk and add ~/disk/usr/bin to my user's path to run any programs I'd installed in past sessions.
Conclusions
While it is possible to work with this manual approach to persistence, I feel it worth noting Static Linux does not appear to be intended to be used across reboots. It's not an operating system which we install or on which we set up users. Static Linux is specifically geared toward accessing and rescuing data from local disks. Typically without many tools or conveniences. It's super light, highly portable, and (despite a weird setup process) is pretty easy to get started using.
The distribution offers virtually no documentation, no package manager, and on the Wayland edition there is no web browser. This makes the distribution quite limited. However, its small size and performance are appealing and I'm intrigued by the idea of the entire operating system booting from a single file. This is an unusual approach, but it seems to be working. While I had a few issues with the X.Org session, the Wayland edition worked well and, if the project would add a web browser (even a text-based one) to the Wayland session I could see it being a handy rescue tool that can be dropped on any thumb drive.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Mint streamlines package management, elementary OS provides upgrades through Flatpak
The Linux Mint team has published their monthly newsletter which includes information on component updates and a streamlining of package management, especially when Flatpaks are used. "The code which lets you remove applications from the main menu was reviewed and password prompts were removed in situations where administrative permissions weren't required. Removing a Flatpak will no longer require a password to be entered. Same goes for simple shortcuts and local applications (i.e. applications which aren't installed system-wide). Synaptic and the Update Manager will now also ask pkexec to remember your password so you won't have to enter it every single time if you perform multiple operations. Flatpak support was added to the Update Manager. This allows Flatpak applications and runtimes to be updated like any other supported types of software."
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The elementary OS team has pushed their monthly newsletter which provides insights into changes coming to the distribution. Some of these changes include upgrades to Flatpak and, through Flatpak, GNOME packages. These upgrades will be available for elementary 6.1 users as well as people installing the upcoming 7.0 release. "Also to be expected soon is the latest Flatpak platform. Platform 7.1 is based on the GNOME 43 platform and brings a number of improvements for GTK 4. We're excited to get it published and available for use in your apps right away as well as updating the GNOME apps we ship to their latest releases. Thanks to the magic of Flatpak, OS 6.1 users can expect to receive this update as well."
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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) |
What can you do with a kernel on its own?
Trying-understanding-the-kernel asks: Let's imagine that a computer has only the kernel installed and nothing else. What would work on the computer and what would not? To what extent could you use this computer? Would it be possible to communicate with the kernel? Would it be possible to install other programs?
DistroWatch answers: When an operating system is booting, the kernel is typically the first program that gets loaded into memory (with a few key exceptions like the computer's boot loader). The kernel has a special status. It typically gets locked into memory and is able to act as a controller for the entire operating system. The kernel in a modern operating system typically handles memory allocation, scheduling which programs run, passing information between processes, low level networking tasks, and talking to the computer's hardware.
The kernel acts as a middle layer between the hardware and the applications we run. It handles allocating resources, passing information between components, and talking to devices such as video cards.
The kernel, at least on modern operating systems, doesn't interact directly with the user. It doesn't prompt us for input, interpret commands, display a desktop, manage windows or any of the other things you actively interact with when you're using your computer.
If you had a computer with nothing but the kernel installed (for example, the Linux kernel) the computer would likely boot and its hardware would technically be initialized. But then the system would likely "panic", or lock up. The reason being the kernel needs to launch services in order for the operating system to be able to do anything useful. The kernel expects there to be programs - such as init, likely a service manager, and a command line shell - in order to accomplish anything. When no programs are installed, in particular the init software or a suitable substitute, then the kernel will bail out and bring the system to stop.
In short, a system with just a modern kernel installed on it can start-up, but then won't do anything. You wouldn't be able to interact with it, load programs, or install new software. There would be no software you could use or run and therefore you couldn't accomplish anything with the system. To do anything you'd need to add other programs to the hard drive. At the very least you would need a command line shell that would allow you to type commands. For a really minimal system you might want to set up something like Busybox which would give you a small core set of commands that would help you actually do some basic things on your system.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Linux Lite 6.2
Linux Lite is an Ubuntu-based distribution intended to be easy for Linux beginners to use. The latest version of the distribution, Linux Lite 6.2, features an improved upgrade manager, new Papirus icons, and Openshot has been replaced by Shotcut in the Lite Software utility. Other changes include: "Fixed dialogue lengths of many Linux Lite applications. Fixed hostname bug in Lite Tweaks. Many updates to the Help Manual. The Hardware Database now has over 75,000 submissions. 100k here we come! Fixed bug in Lite Sources not populating the codename. Purging even more logs in Lite Tweaks, freeing up space. Latest stable versions of Chrome, LibreOffice, Lite applications, etc. New wallpapers. Task Manager (System Monitoring Center) right click now works everywhere, updated icon. Microsoft Teams removed from Lite Software, no longer maintained by Microsoft, instead, they will offer a PWA version only for Linux. Fixed Kernel Removal in Lite Tweaks...." Additional information and screenshots can be found in the project's release announcement.
Linux Lite 6.2 -- The welcome screen and application menu
(full image size: 231kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Nitrux 20221101
The Nitrux developers have published a new release which features updates to KDE Plasma, the Firefox browser and includes NVIDIA's proprietary video driver. "We've updated the following components of the distribution. For other information, see Notes. KDE Plasma to version 5.26.2, KDE Frameworks to version 5.99.0, and KDE Gear to version 22.08.2. Firefox to version 106.0.2. We've decided to add the NVIDIA Proprietary driver to the default installation, currently version 520.56.06, along with NVIDIA Prime, but not our X11 configuration. We've decided to change our policy about including this particular piece of proprietary software to make this distribution more accessible to users and to avoid creating a separate ISO file. The minimal ISO does not include the NVIDIA Proprietary driver, as we want to keep the size of the ISO image small. We're aware that NVIDIA had released an open-source driver, too; however, it only supports a handful of professional graphics cards and almost none of their consumer graphics cards." Additional information is provided in the distribution's release announcement. The announcement refers to the new version of Nitrux as 2.5.0 while the provided media is labelled using the date of the release: 20221101.
TrueNAS 13.0-U3 "CORE"
Will Soteros has announced the availability of a third update of TrueNAS CORE 13, version 13.0-U3. Formerly known as FreeNAS, TrueNAS CORE is a FreeBSD-based, open-source and community-supported software designed for NAS (Network-Attached Storage) computers. It uses the self-healing OpenZFS filesystem and is extensible by a variety of free plugins: "Building on the Enterprise quality of prior versions, the third update of TrueNAS 13 was released today. In addition to greater maturity and test coverage, Globally Distributed Storage provided by iX-Storj is also now included in this release. Compared to TrueNAS 12, TrueNAS 13 includes significant new components and has improved performance, scalability, and reliability in subsequent releases. In the two months since TrueNAS 13.0-U2 was released, it has already become the 2nd most deployed version of TrueNAS. TrueNAS 13.0-U3 builds on the maturity of the prior version with 30 bug fixes and security updates. It also includes enclosure management updates for the TrueNAS R50 Gen3, which was announced two weeks ago." See the release announcement and the release notes for detailed information about the product.
GParted Live 1.4.0-6
Curtis Gedak has announced the release of GParted Live 1.4.0-6, an updated build of the project's Debian-based specialist live CD designed for disk partitioning and data rescue tasks. This release updates the Linux kernel to version 6.0.6 and expands the included software with various useful items, such as Nmap or Samba client: "The GParted team is happy to announce a new stable release of GParted Live. This release includes GParted 1.4.0, updated packages and other improvements. Items of note include: based on the Debian 'Sid' repository as of 2022-11-03; Linux kernel image updated to 6.0.6; more packages added - this includes vim, pv, htop, bmon, nmon, zutils, pigz, xz-utils, zstd, zip, unzip, colordiff, xxd, vbindiff, cifs-utils, smbclient, nmap, xrdp, rdesktop, usbutils, vlan, parallel. This release of GParted Live has been successfully tested on VirtualBox, VMware, BIOS, UEFI and physical computers with AMD/ATI, NVIDIA and Intel graphics." Visit the project's news page to read the release announcement.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,788
- Total data uploaded: 42.5TB
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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) |
How many packages are installed on your distribution?
In this week's review of Static Linux we talked about a remarkably minimal distribution. Static includes very few packages, but there are smaller Linux distributions in the world. There are also many larger distributions, full of packages and features. This week we'd like to find out how many packages are currently installed on your distribution. Is it more than 1,000? More than 5,000? Let us know which distribution you are running and how many software packages are installed in the comments.
If you're unsure how to find out how many packages are installed on your system, please refer to our package management cheatsheet page to learn how to get a listing of packages on your distribution. Then run the result through the wc command. For example, you'll get a rough idea of how many packages are installed on Debian-based systems by running "dpkg -l | wc -l". The equivalent in the Arch Linux family is "pacman -Q | wc -l" and on RPM-based systems like Fedora you can use "rpm -qa | wc -l".
You can see the results of our previous poll on home directory permissions in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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How many packages are installed on your distro?
| 0-500: | 77 (5%) |
| 501-1000: | 134 (9%) |
| 1001-2500: | 575 (38%) |
| 2501-5000: | 300 (20%) |
| 5001-10000: | 47 (3%) |
| More than 10000: | 25 (2%) |
| I do not know: | 312 (21%) |
| I am not running a Linux distro: | 23 (2%) |
| I am not running a distro with traditional packages: | 11 (1%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 14 November 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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| Archives |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • 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.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Corel Linux
Discover Linux power built specifically for the desktop with Corel LINUX OS. Featuring a four-step graphical installer and a KDE-based, drag-and-drop environment, this Debian-based operating system was incredibly easy to install and configure. Access local and network drives and the Internet with an innovative browser-style file manager. Get system updates over the Web. Plus, enjoy outstanding file compatibility and network integration. Corel LINUX OS - combining renowned Linux performance and stability with intelligent simplicity. Update: Xandros Corporation has announced that it has signed a strategic licensing agreement with Corel Corporation, giving it access to Corel's Linux desktop OS and related technologies. The newly formed company will focus on developing the desktop and server markets with assistance from its founding parent, Linux Global Partners.
Status: Discontinued
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| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| 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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