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1 • package count (by JeffC on 2022-11-07 01:17:14 GMT from United States)
When comparing different distros package count is very misleading.
Arch does not break up packages so one package will be quite large and contain many parts that the average user will never need.
Debian breaks up packages, so if you do not need debugging symbols you do not need to install them.
But Arch users will point to their neofetch and brag about how few packages they have installed, claiming how small Arch is compared to Debian.
2 • Pkgs installed (by Myst on 2022-11-07 01:29:18 GMT from Austria)
According to my package wrapper "sisyphus-gui", Redcore Linux (a Gentoo Flavour) 1804 pkgs,installed, that includes both binary & Src pkg's.
3 • Australia (by Richard on 2022-11-07 02:33:34 GMT from Australia)
Debian Plasma and BSPWM - 2238 packages
4 • Flatpak, Appimage and Snap: Linux's universal package managers. (by Greg Zeng on 2022-11-07 02:46:50 GMT from Australia)
Thank you for the link: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=package-management It might need updating. > "However, experimental versions of Ubuntu use the new snap package manager." Twenty "package managers" are listed for Linux (239 Linux brands), plus that for BSD (14 distributions in total, not just FreeBSD in the link).
The RPM confusion is disguised as usual. PCLOS is my preferred RPM based system. It uses the Synaptic Package manager, but it is probably one of the three RPM systems (urpmi).
Debian is the preferred Package manager (115 or 116), preferred by about half of the Linux system creators. https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=Linux&category=All&origin=All&basedon=Debian¬basedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=All&package=All&rolling=All&isosize=All&netinstall=All&language=All&defaultinit=All&status=Active#simple https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=Linux&category=All&origin=All&basedon=All¬basedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=All&package=DEB&rolling=All&isosize=All&netinstall=All&language=All&defaultinit=All&status=Active#simple
The three RPM systems are Red Hat (12, 5%) and others disguised in the Distrowatch listings as "Independent" (44, 18%), Total other RPM is about 28, 12%.
Flatpak initiated from Red Hat fans show 40 brands (17%) using this, by default, perhaps. https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=Linux&category=All&origin=All&basedon=All¬basedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=All&package=Flatpak&rolling=All&isosize=All&netinstall=All&language=All&defaultinit=All&status=Active#simple
Snap initiated by Canonical fans has 30 brands (13%).
Several other systems seem unknown to Distrowatch: AppImage & "compiling from source code". The most famous system of compiling is the Arch AUR system. Some Arch based systems do not completely trust this AUR system, so prefer to have their own independent repositories.
Distrowatch lists only three "Puppy" based systems are "alive". My private listings show as many as eleven, but not all are still alive.
Most Linux operating systems can be forced to use Flatpak, Appimage and Snap. Snap is limited because only "authorized" applications are allowed, similar to the locked jails offered by Apple. Most of the nine package managers recognized by Distrowatch, plus those ignored, are "open" for independent application publishers.
My research into computer applications which are published in the open market shows that creators are very confused about Linux operating systems. Linux is experimenting with three "universal" package managers. Only Flatpak might appeal. The other two have poor choice of selections.
Linux has yet to decide how-to organize many "updates": applications, kernels, dependent packages, choices of display managers, and complying with the user's preferred settings on update frequency and display interfaces.
The computer industry leader remains as Microsoft Windows. Notification, settings etc. are varied and optional. Installing and removal is so easy & quick, however, that computer malware can so easily be introduced. Application creators however like the bigger market place, and avoid the minority users on the "also-ran" operating system called Linux. Instead, application creators prefer (in numerical order): Windows, Apple, Android, and then perhaps the Debian compilation of Linux.
Other than the three preferred Linux containers, Linux has the problem of dependent packages, with their complex incompatibilities. The Debian package, the most preferred by the independent creators, is not perfect. This might explain the slowly increasing popularity of Flatpak.
5 • Just a kernel? (by uz64 on 2022-11-07 03:15:13 GMT from United States)
Not to mention, if you mean that TRULY *just* a kernel is installed... the kernel won't even boot if you don't have a bootloader installed and properly set up!
6 • package count (by Neil on 2022-11-07 03:41:20 GMT from United States)
Computer I'm using tonight is running Debian with KDE desktop, 3285 packages reported.
7 • packages Installed. (by Bobbie Sellers on 2022-11-07 03:49:50 GMT from United States)
On PCLinuxOS Forum the question was recently asked by the Packager with directions as to using our update tool Synaptic to determine the matter. A simple matter of clicking the Status Button in the lower left side of the interface. Then answer is printed out in the border under that set of buttons. I had 2134 packages installed. The packager and some of the testers and coders had over 4000 packages installed. It proved by the way to be a very popular topic and may be so for some time to come as quieter members of the forum get to the site and review the older posts.
bliss
8 • Re: package count (by Dennis on 2022-11-07 04:25:22 GMT from Hong Kong)
That's exactly how I feel (after steadily rebuilding WSL distros on multiple machines for the last few months)!i
In my case, Manjaro & Devuan (Debian sans SystemD) shares almost the same set of packages (331 pacman v.s. 378 dpkg according to neofetch) as I hand-pick the packages and maintain an initial setup script, and Devuan even has a few more packages (exclusive to Debian-like like apt-listbugs, apt-listchanges, command-not-found, needrestart etc), yet the VHDX volume of Devuan is always (say, 0.4GiB) smaller than the Manjaro one.
The package count is even more misleading by slightly indicating the (wrong) fact that a smaller number means a smaller disk usage of installed packages. The most clutter-free distro among my GNU/Linux collection is... a Linux from Scratch (LFS) I built backed in September, and its size is over 3GiB (almost double of Devuan!). But I assure it is the fastest one as everything including building toolchain has maximum optimization... yet it actually only includes less than 100 packages.
9 • PKG counts VS distro type (by rb on 2022-11-07 05:06:45 GMT from United States)
I have used Linux for over 20 years. Debian/apt based mostly. I currently use ARCH as it meets my needs right now. I have 1296. That is not because ARCH lumps multiple packages into one huge package and Debian breaks them apart. That comment is just not true. You can easily have a leaner system on Arch than Debian based: With Ubuntu, I have no choice but to keep most of KDE Plasma installed by default. Try to remove Elisa or Dragon Player for example to just use VLC, and apt tries to remove the whole Plasma desktop and then some because of dependencies. On Arch, I simply install the packages I need for Plasma, nothing else. No bloat. Lean and hand selected. Nothing is installed by default. Try removing Discover if you don't use it for updates on Ubuntu. I found on Debian that hand picking which Plasma packages you want installed is not easy nor well documented. You have to literally go thru each Plasma meta package & make note of which packages that encompasses, then make a list.
10 • No. of pkgs (by 0323pin on 2022-11-07 06:07:08 GMT from Sweden)
On my Distro, Void with musllibc, 600 pkgs. On my main machine, NetBSD current, 180 pkgs.
11 • packages (by Chris on 2022-11-07 06:12:06 GMT from South Africa)
Ubuntu MATE 22.10 (desktop, dual booting W10) 2565 packages (cw snap) Linux Mint 21 (Lenovo Ideapad 300, dual booting W10) 2162 packages Openmediavault (Thinkpad T520) 533 packages
12 • Lean, bloated or just right, Goldilocks? (by Trihexagonal on 2022-11-07 07:27:26 GMT from United States)
I only install the minimum ports/packages on my FreeBSD boxen that I deem necessary for general desktop purposes and one box varies little from the next. Occasionally installing something on one I don't need on them all or to try something else out.
On Kali GNU/Linux I install the full set of tools they have available and do not consider that bloat since they're programs I chose to install.
Of the three running right now, according to screenfetch, this Thinkpad W520 running FreeBSD 13.1 has 528 pkg installed. The W520 running FreeBSD 13.0 I use offline as my multimedia machine has 543 pkg,
The Thinkpad T400 running Kali 2022.3 has 4201 packages installed, according to screenfetch. The majority of them I've never used, and may even never look at, but are there at my convenience should I decide to.
On FreeBSD I mix ports and pkg as I see fit to install programs and never have an insurmountable problem doing so. On Kali I use apt and apt-get and have never had a problem I couldn't work through with them either.
All 3 have 8GB RAM. The T400 shows 6784M RAM free according to top. This W520 shows 3407M Free with YouTube video running in another tab. The offline W520 at idle shows 3853M RAM free.
However, the two different OS allocate free RAM differently. FreeBSD seeing free RAM as wasted RAM.
13 • package count (by speedytux on 2022-11-07 08:26:07 GMT from France)
1831 with Arch+KDE and 6 Flatpak's apps
14 • Number of Packages (by Dr.J on 2022-11-07 09:47:18 GMT from Germany)
Counting packages makes sense on the one hand, but on the other hand it doesn't. Why? I always try to keep the system lean, avoiding any unnecessary packages, because that reduces dependencies and potential bugs, so the number of packages is an end in itself. The other side is illustrated by just one example: Arch with systemd contains only three systemd packages. But I use runit instead of systemd and currently have 22 packages installed there. The reason is that runit separates individual services; they have to be downloaded, installed and enabled individually. In this respect, the sheer number of packages is not a good indicator of the simplicity of a system, because of course the bottom line is that runit is much simpler than systemd.
15 • how many packages (by eb on 2022-11-07 10:16:16 GMT from France)
on Slackware : cd /var/log/packages/ && ls | wc -l (1182 for me). Thanks to Distrowatch.
16 • Package count (by DachshundMan on 2022-11-07 10:25:11 GMT from United Kingdom)
Mint 21 Mate: 2594, so rather more than @11 found on his Mint but he did not specify the desktop installed.
17 • Boot loader (by Jesse on 2022-11-07 12:24:17 GMT from Canada)
@5: "Not to mention, if you mean that TRULY *just* a kernel is installed... the kernel won't even boot if you don't have a bootloader installed and properly set up!"
This is true in a lot of situations, but not all. In fact, take a look at this week's review of Static Linux to see a distro that loads without a typical boot loader package installed.
18 • Package count (by Tim on 2022-11-07 13:04:51 GMT from United States)
I'm on Arch Linux and my package count is 726. This installation is a little over two years old and I have installed many extra packages for this or that.
19 • pkgcount (by brad on 2022-11-07 13:30:18 GMT from United States)
1398 - Manjaro
20 • 757 packages (by MInuxLintEbianDedition on 2022-11-07 14:57:32 GMT from United Kingdom)
757 is the number on my perfect model slimmed down lmde 5 for the asus eee pc 2G surf. Anything up to 1300 packages on the lmde 5 asus eee pc 4G. 1554 on my main machine, because this one plays music AND movies.
21 • @#4 (by TexasJoe on 2022-11-07 15:48:12 GMT from United States)
Flatpak, Appimage and Snap
22 • No edit button (by TexasJor on 2022-11-07 15:53:08 GMT from United States)
Name three things I will never use.
Flatpak, Appimage and Snap
Some distros try to force these. But there are lots of distros.
23 • Package count (by David on 2022-11-07 17:14:15 GMT from United Kingdom)
On my PCLinucOS desktop I have 1912 packages; on my Debian laptop, 2233; both run Xfce. The Debian install has had default packages remove, while the PCLinuxOS has had extras installed — I don't know whether it would be reasonable to draw conclusions, though.
24 • package count (by Dennis on 2022-11-07 18:00:36 GMT from Sweden)
Currently 939 packages on my Gentoo install
25 • Arch Openbox (by Leo on 2022-11-07 20:18:22 GMT from Greece)
A mere 813 count. And I feel it's bloated
26 • Does package count really matter? (by Moat on 2022-11-07 20:50:12 GMT from United States)
Personally, I don't care too much re; "package count" - it's really only data taking up space on the hard drive. What matters more IMHO are the number of services/processes installed along with "packages" and enabled during boot-time to run in the background, as those are the things that will ultimately effect the computer's performance (CPU cycles, RAM, etc)... correct?
IOW; I'd rather have an application installed and not need it, rather than need it and not have it installed. Consequently, my installed systems end up pretty "bloated" in that regard, with lots of stuff added after the initial install. After all, it's my desktop computer, and I want to actually "do things" with it!!
What I'd *really* like to see, tho, is a universal GUI app to control (turn "on/off") said processes - for systemd as well as other inits. (Puppy had such an app included, IIRC). Yes - I'm terrible with the CLI and don't have the time/energy to learn it much (i.e.; typical desktop user).
Maybe an interesting poll would be the number of services/processes running after boot on user's systems...
Also, @12 re; free RAM as wasted RAM - I've always thought that makes sense. So a system showing relatively high RAM usage is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe... One thing I *have* noticed over the years is how well Android handles (allocates, releases) RAM. I spend quite a bit of time doing general browsing/email/texts/etc on a cheap Android tablet with only 2 Gb RAM and am constantly impressed with how well it runs with such limited RAM and how quickly and completely it releases RAM when things fill up. I believe Linux in general may be able to learn a thing or two from Android in that respect.
27 • Service/process GUI app... (by Moat on 2022-11-07 21:04:01 GMT from United States)
What I mean above ^^^ re; a GUI app for controlling services/processes would be something roughly equivalent to the native services.msc in Windows (or optionally, the powerful Autoruns tool).
28 • Another example (by wdt on 2022-11-08 03:58:59 GMT from Canada)
I wonder if StaticLinux is a offshoot of OneFileLinux.efi, the latter is about 30M, cli only
29 • package count (by grapejuice on 2022-11-08 03:46:09 GMT from New Zealand)
Running RebornOS on an HP dv7, and neofetch reports 1745 packages installed.
30 • @24 nice number (by MInuxLintEbianDedition on 2022-11-08 05:12:56 GMT from United Kingdom)
any palindromic odd number with an odd number of digits is good :)
31 • Minimul Linux Distros (by penguinx86 on 2022-11-08 07:36:42 GMT from United States)
My main Linux distro is Linux Mint Xfce. I usually install a doxen packages after installing Mint. I have no idea how many packages are instralled by default. There are many packages that I never use, like Thunderbird email. I'd love a minimal distro where I can pick and choose what gets installed. But I choose Linux Mint because it's the ONLY distro that is compatible with the Wifi adapter in my laptop out of the box. Just give me a minimal distro with Gparted, Xfce, Wifi, sound, video, touchpad support and Synaptic and I can install everything else myself. But no Wifi is a dealbreaker. I tried installing many distros, only to find they are incompatible with my laptops Wifi adapter. That's why I always come back to Linux Mint
32 • Package count (by kc1di on 2022-11-08 14:16:53 GMT from United States)
My PCLinuxOS XFCE 1924 installed My Kubuntu 22.04 KDE 2492
33 • # of Packages (by CSRoad on 2022-11-08 15:50:18 GMT from Canada)
Devuan Ceres, 2051 packages installed.
34 • how many packages (by thym on 2022-11-08 17:30:22 GMT from Greece)
In my Slackware box, 1602 packages installed.
But comparing number of packages between very different distros and very different individual setups does not add any great information. Any single user may add a ton of packages he supposedly needs for his special workflow.
"Bloat" has very little (or nothing) to do with the number of installed packages. What is installed matters and what it runs. As long as there is enough free disk space.
35 • Pakidge (by Cheker on 2022-11-08 18:25:51 GMT from Portugal)
Manjaro - 1553 (pacman) Artix - 1283 (pacman)
Q4OS - 2256 (dpkg), 8 (flatpak)
These installs aren't the same 1:1 but I do try to use the same programs as much as possible across everything. Interesting to see that disparity between the Archs and the Debian.
36 • Pakidge 2 Electric Boogaloo (by Cheker on 2022-11-08 18:27:34 GMT from Portugal)
Forgot the DEs, might also help paint the picture... Manjaro and Artix XFCE, Q4OS Trinity.
37 • Peter Piper picked a peck of Packages (by Harry the Lizard on 2022-11-09 09:47:11 GMT from United States)
How many packages in my distro? Enough.
38 • #37right on (by Jimmy Blake on 2022-11-09 16:59:54 GMT from United States)
I'm with you. I have enough packages to run my system the way I need to. Don't understand everyone giving the exact numbers. What's the point. I have more than you or look how few packages I have installed.
39 • agree (by enough on 2022-11-10 00:37:46 GMT from Australia)
@38 agree with you and the comments made by @12 @26 and @37 as well - seems to be another measuring competition because 'bloat' and 'minimalism', whatever the latest definitions of those are (those definitions seem to be in the eye of the beholder).
I have everything I need on my system, and probably a few things I don't use but who knows, maybe one day I will and they'll be there (and if I need anything else on top of all that I'll just install it).
I couldn't care less, the computer runs well and I can use it for whatever I need. Even with my old low-spec machine, I'm not worried about a gigabyte or three - the distro itself takes up a small enough part of what I have on here (a couple of movies take up more space by themselves).
Likewise with RAM as @12 and @26 suggested - if it's there to be used, then I'm happy it is. @26 makes a good point about Android and how good a job it does in releasing RAM if you need it.
40 • Gentoo Packages Installed (by Andy Figueroa on 2022-11-10 04:35:27 GMT from United States)
My primary desktop. Command should not require root.
$ emerge -cp | grep -i installed Packages installed: 1296
41 • Microsoft/Intel Roadblocks... (by Jim Mulkey on 2022-11-10 21:33:04 GMT from United States)
I recently bought a Dell 7060 with an i5-8500 and an HP 800 with an i7-8700. Both were refurbished Windows machines. I ran into more trouble than I expected when I tried to install Linux. I used Ubuntu 22.10 but it took 15 or 20 tries to get it installed, then it wouldn't boot! It all seemed to relate to Microsoft and Intel roadblocks to prevent installing Linux. I tried again with Ubuntu 20.04 and finally got the Dell working. I haven't tried 20.04 on the HP, but I may get it working, too. I've done this hundreds of times, and it keeps getting harder with each new generation of Microsoft and Intel.
42 • @41, Microsoft/Intel Roadblocks... (by Harry the Lizard on 2022-11-11 08:55:47 GMT from United States)
Have no idea what roadblocks you are talking about. I run 7th, 8th and 10th generation Intel machines without issues either installing or running. I am writing in an Intel NUC with Debian and Windows 11 running happily side by side. It's run Ubuntu, Manjaro and EndeavourOS previously.
Number of Comments: 42
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Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
PHLAK
PHLAK (Professional Hacker's Linux Assault Kit) was a modular security distribution, geared to be used as a live CD. PHLAK was created to become the only tool security professionals would need to perform security analysis, penetration testing, forensics, and security auditing. PHLAK comes with two light GUIs (fluxbox and XFCE4), packages for printing, publishing, a little multimedia, many security tools, and a file cabinet full of security related documentation for your reading/educational purposes. This distro was based off of Morphix.
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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