 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 995, 21 November 2022 |
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Welcome to this year's 47th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Progress happens all across the open source landscape, sometimes in small ways, sometimes in highly visible and practical ways. This week, in our News section, we explore a number of areas where developers are seeing useful progress and open source projects are growing. We talk about the Unity desktop getting ported to more Linux distributions, particularly the Arch Linux family of distributions. We also talk about the lightweight Haiku project improving USB detection and support while UBports calls for testers to try out new features. Plus we talk about Murena adding support for five new mobile devices which can be made to easily run the /e/OS platform with a simple installer. Before we dive into these stories, Joshua Allen Holm takes Fedora 37 for a test drive and reports on his experiences with the project. Read on to hear his impressions of the latest version of Fedora. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we explore the pros and cons of using a swap file versus a swap partition. Both can be useful and both extend a computer's memory with on-disk storage, but there are situations where one works better than the other and we talk about these scenarios. Do you use a swap file or a swap partition? Let us know in our Opinion Poll which best suits your environment. Plus we are pleased to share details of the many releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Joshua Allen Holm) |
Fedora 37 Workstation and Silverblue
A little later than originally intended, Fedora 37 was finally released on November 15th. Like always, there are a lot of different Fedora 37 images to choose from. The official versions are Workstation, Server, IoT, Cloud, and CoreOS. The experimental versions are Silverblue and Kinoite, which feature the GNOME and KDE Plasma desktop environments respectively. There are also a selection of "spins" featuring different desktop environments and "labs" that focus on specific functions.
For this review, I will be looking at Workstation and Silverblue, which both use GNOME 43 as their desktop environments. All variations of Fedora 37 ship with version 6.0.7 of the Linux kernel and a plethora of updated packages providing up-to-date development tools for many programming languages.
Installing Fedora Workstation
I opted to start with the Workstation version. I downloaded the 1.9GB ISO and copied it to a flash drive. Rebooting the computer and starting it from the flash drive brought up a live desktop with a dialog giving me the options to try or install Fedora. I opted to start the installation process right away.
Fedora 37 Workstation -- Live desktop with Try or Install options
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The installer for Fedora is Anaconda, and in Fedora 37 the process has been much the same as it has been in recent Fedora releases. Anaconda handles only a small subset of the configuration, namely keyboard layout, date & time, and partitioning. Networking can be configured using the live desktop's Settings application. A new user with administrative rights is created when booting the installed system for the first time. There is no option to customize the software selection during installation, so Fedora's curated selection of software is what every installation of Workstation ends up with. For my installation I let the install automatically handle the partitioning options, so I ended up with an ext4 formatted /boot partition and a Btrfs partition with sub-volumes for root and home.
Fedora 37 Workstation -- Anaconda installation options
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On first boot, the initial setup process configured privacy settings for location services and automatic problem reporting, gave the option to enable third-party repositories, connect Google, Nextcloud, and Microsoft online accounts, and create a new user and password. After the initial install and user configuration, but before downloading package metadata and installing updates, Fedora Workstation used 3GB on the Btrfs partition.
Fedora 37 Workstation-- Post-install user setup
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GNOME desktop and default software in Fedora Workstation
Fedora 37 Workstation comes with a selection of GNOME applications and utilities, most of which are version 43, and a small selection of other applications. The included web browser is Firefox 106. LibreOffice Calc, Impress, and Writer 7.4.1.2 are pre-installed. LibreOffice Draw and Math seem fully functional, but there are no icons for those components. Installing the libreoffice-draw and libreoffice-math packages only installs two additional packages of a little over 20kB each. Adding in the LibreOffice Base component installs more packages. I can understand not including Base and all its dependencies, but not including the Draw and Math packages saves less than 50kB on the install image.
Fedora 37 Workstation -- Default software
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GNOME 43 brings a few interesting changes. The most notable of these are the Quick Settings panel and the new Device Security panel in the Settings application.
Fedora 37 Workstation -- Quick Settings panel
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The Quick Settings panel enhances the functionality of the upper right menu. Large buttons provide quick access to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Power Saving, Nightlight, Dark Mode, and Airplane Mode. Smaller buttons display the battery status (which will also open the Power panel in Settings), open the screenshot tool, open Settings (which will bring up whichever panel in Settings that was last used, unlike the Battery button, which always opens the Power panel), lock the screen, and power off/log out. There are also sliders for adjusting screen brightness and volume.
Fedora 37 Workstation -- Device Security settings panel
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The new Device Security panel in GNOME Settings shows if Secure Boot is active and displays which of three security levels the device meets the requirements for. My laptop shows "Not Valid" for the Intel Management Engine Version, so my device is not even level 1 compliant.
Beyond these two major changes, there have been plenty of improvements and enhancements throughout the various GNOME applications and desktop. For the most part, these changes improve the user experience, but I am still confused why in recent GNOME releases the default sort order for applications in the full applications list is seemingly random. Reading from left to right, the top row of applications currently on my system are Contacts, Weather, Clocks, Maps, Photos, Fedora Media Writer, Videos and Calculator, but that order can change. I cannot understand why they are in that particular order, and the other rows are likewise jumbled. If there is a pattern, I am not seeing it. The change that allowed users to reorder their applications by dragging them around was nice, but when that was first introduced, the icons were still in alphabetical order by default. Now, if I want to alphabetize my applications to facilitate finding less often used applications quicker, I have to manually alphabetize all of my icons.
The default software included in Fedora Workstation is a well rounded collection, but Fedora cannot include certain patent encumbered packages, so to get full functionality out of Fedora it is almost a requirement to install the RPM Fusion repositories and the various multimedia codec packages from those repositories. Fedora has little choice in the matter, but this requirement still makes setting up Fedora a little more complex than some other distributions.
Installing additional software on Fedora Workstation
Fedora Workstation comes with repositories for traditional RPM packages and a Fedora-specific Flatpak repository enabled by default. The Fedora Flatpak repository contains a selection of GNOME applications, several popular open source games, and a few other common applications. Aside from the games, most of the Fedora Flatpaks are for software that is pre-installed on Fedora Workstation from RPM packages. If third-party repositories are enabled, a Copr repository for PyCharm, a repository for Google Chrome, two limited RPM Fusion repositories that only offer Steam and NVIDIA drivers, and a filtered Flathub Flatpak repository are added to the software sources. The filtered Flathub repository only offers Bitwarden, Postman, Microsoft Teams, Minecraft, Skype, Zoom, and various FreeDesktop platforms and SDKs.
Fedora 37 Workstation -- GNOME Software
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Installing additional software on Fedora can be accomplished in a few ways. GNOME Software can be used to install packages using a graphical user interface. It is even possible to install the RPM Fusion repositories using GNOME Software to install the RPMs downloaded from the RPM Fusion site, though some of the RPM Fusion instructions for installing appstream metadata and codecs are easier to do on the command line. To install additional packages from the command line, the dnf command is used to install RPM packages and the flakpak command can be used to install Flatpaks.
Even without adding additional repositories, Fedora 37 comes with a lot of packages available. I am sure some people will be able to list one or two must-haves that Fedora does not offer, but chances are those applications, assuming they are Linux applications, provide some form of RPM package that is compatible with Fedora. Failing that, enabling the full Flathub repository instead of Fedora's limited one would probably provide access to some of the missing applications.
Installing Fedora Silverblue
After trying out Workstation, I wanted to give Silverblue a try. Silverblue features the same GNOME 43 desktop, so much of the user experience is identical to Workstation, but there are some notable differences underneath.
Fedora 37 Silverblue -- Terminal with toolbox information
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Silverblue makes use of an immutable core layer that is updated as a single unit. Flatpak is the preferred way of installing individual applications. If needed, RPM packages can be layered on top of the base image, and Toolbox can be used to install development tools, libraries, and other packages in a containerized environment. Overall, the experience is similar to the standard Workstation version, but different enough to probably require most users to make some workflow adjustments.
Silverblue's ISO is 2.8GB, which does make it a little larger than Workstation. I copied the image to my flash drive, rebooted, and started installing Silverblue. Even the installation experience for Silverblue is almost the same as Workstation. The end result of the partitioning and installation process will be different, but the Anaconda experience is practically identical. The only key difference is that Silverblue's ISO does not have a live desktop. There is only an install option. Post-install and user setup, but before updating anything, Silverblue used 4.4GB of its Btrfs partition.
GNOME desktop and default software in Fedora Silverblue
As already noted, Silverblue and Workstation are near identical in their graphical user interface features, so I am not going to rehash those things. However, there are a few key differences in the bundled applications. Silverblue lacks several applications that come with Workstation. Silverblue is missing Photos, Videos, Document Scanner, LibreOffice, Boxes, Rhythmbox, and Cheese. However, it adds a graphical program for managing GNOME Shell extensions. Unlike Workstation, most of Silverblue's are applications from the Fedora Flatpak repository. The only non-Flatpak GUI applications are Firefox, Files, Software, Tour, Settings, System Monitor, Terminal, Help, and Disks.
Installing additional software on Fedora Silverblue
Installing additional software on Silverblue is almost the same for users who use GNOME Software, but only Flatpaks are available. On the command line, the rpm-ostree command can be used to install additional RPM packages, which is what you will want to do if you want to install RPM Fusion's repository packages and codecs. For packages that do not need to be layered in, the toolbox command will create a toolbox container that behaves more like the traditional RPM-based Fedora experience. Packages can be installed in a toolbox using the dnf command just like on Workstation. The toolbox can be used just like a normal Fedora command line environment, but changes to packages in the toolbox do not alter the base system. Technically, toolbox is pre-installed on Workstation, and works the same way there, but on Workstation it is not a necessity. Because of the way Silverblue works, any updates to the base OS or new layered RPM packages require a restart before they become available, so adding additional RPM packages is not something you can do as casually as you can on Workstation. Flatpak applications can be updated and used without a restart.
Fedora 37 Silverblue -- Software updates
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Final thoughts
Fedora 37, both Workstation and Silverblue, are very well done. The only drawback to using them is the extra work needed to get around the issues with patent encumbered software. If I had to pick one truly negative thing to say about Fedora 37, it would be that the default volume level for system beeps is way too loud, and it does not help that the default beep is the FreeDesktop default bell instead of the nicer sounding options in GNOME Setting's sound options. Once I changed the sound to one of the GNOME options it was less grating, but 100% volume for system sounds and the overall volume set to somewhere around 75% was still too loud for my system. When the worst thing I can say is that the system beep sound annoys me and the default volume is too loud, I can safely say I am very happy with Fedora 37.
The choice between Silverblue and Workstation depends entirely on the needs of the individual user. There are plenty of people who will probably want or need to stick with the more traditional Workstation version. Others might be perfectly happy with Silverblue. For me, I think Silverblue with RPM Fusion's codecs (so even non-Flatpak applications have access to them) and the full Flathub repository installed with the pre-installed Fedora flatpak replaced with their Flathub versions (so all the Flatpak applications come from one source) might be an ideal configuration for the laptop I use for writing and other general purpose tasks.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an ASUS VivoBook E406MA laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Pentium Silver N5000 CPU
- Storage: 64GB eMMC
- Memory: 4GB of RAM
- Networking: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
- Display: Intel UHD Graphics 605
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Visitor supplied rating
Fedora has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.3/10 from 358 review(s).
Have you used Fedora? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Unity desktop running on Arch, Haiku improves USB support, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for five new devices
One of the common complaints against the Unity desktop was that it was not particularly portable, relying on custom patches to make it work on its native Ubuntu distribution. Now that Unity is a separate community project, work is progressing which will allow the desktop to run on other distributions, particularly Arch Linux and its many children. The Unity website now offers instructions for installing Unity on the Arch family of distributions.
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The Haiku team have published their monthly newsletter for October. The newsletter features key updates to the project and work going into applications, drivers, and infrastructure. One of the key changes mentioned is an adjustment to detecting USB devices. "korli switched all the USB host drivers (i.e. USB1/2/3 interface drivers) to use the 'new'-style driver model (which has really been around in the Haiku kernel for many years) instead of the 'legacy' one inherited from BeOS that they were using until now. He then made their 'explore' thread always get invoked when new USB busses are attached (which mostly happens during early boot), to ensure as many devices as possible are detected in case the boot device is far down, and export all devices to the 'new'-style device manager (which means USB devices finally appear in the Devices application now.)"
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The UBports team have put out a call to get help testing the next update of their mobile operating system. The project has outlined some of the key changes coming in the next over the air (OTA) update: "Fingerprint reader: Prevent locking with too many failed attempts; Lomiri: Improve drawer performance with interactive blur; headset media buttons work now; Upgrade QtWebEngine to 5.15.10; initial gesture support (double-tap to wake screen) on capable devices; Messaging app: various improvements for MMS and SMS." Additional details are presented in the project's blog post.
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The Murena team have announced their installer now works to install the Murena /e/OS operating system on five new mobile devices. "We have just released the /e/OS Easy Installer for five new phones! The Easy Installer is a desktop application that helps to install /e/OS on your phone with a few clicks. No need for command line or other complex processes to switch to /e/OS. Just install the right package depending on your computer, follow the steps on screen, and you'll be all set in minutes. This tool runs on Linux, macOS and Windows OS. The newly supported devices are: Fairphone 4, OnePlus 8, OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus Nord, Pixel 4A 5G." A complete list of supported devices can be found in the project's announcement.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Swap files versus swap partitions
Swapping-one-for-the-other asks: I've heard the modern approach to doing swap is to use a file, not a partition. What are your thoughts on the difference? What do you recommend?
DistroWatch answers: Swap space, for people unfamiliar with the term, is an area of the disk that is used to store information that was in memory, but is not currently needed. Usually swap space gets used when the computer's RAM is nearly full. Instead of the kernel terminating a process and kicking information out of memory entirely, information from RAM is copied to the disk. Swap space can be thought of as an extension of RAM, but tends to be a lot slower and therefore not something to be used more than absolutely necessary.
The traditional way to set aside disk space to hold overflow from memory is to use a disk partition. A disk partition sets aside a fixed amount of swap space to be used and keeps the swap information away from the rest of the operating system's filesystem. A swap partition is usually convenient as it's typically a set-and-forget experience and there is relatively little to think about when setting up the swap partition, either than selecting a size.
On a side note: traditionally people tended to recommend swap space should be double the size of the computer's RAM. In other words, if you had 1GB of RAM, people would suggest making a 2GB swap partition. As memory gets larger though, outpacing the memory requirements of most computing tasks, swap space tends to get used less often. A modern computer with 16GB or more of RAM might never need to dump data out to a swap partition. Because of this, these days administrators tend to set up smaller swap partitions, typically equal to or sometimes even smaller than the size of RAM.
In recent years the idea of using a swap file has become more popular. A swap file performs the same role as a swap partition, holding overflow from RAM on the disk. However, a swap file offers a few benefits. One is that it doesn't require the use of a separate partition. When using a swap file we can set up the entire disk in one big partition for the distribution which simplifies the initial setup of the operating system.
Another benefit to using swap files is it simplifies changing the size of swap space. If, at some point, we realize we need more swap space, we can just create a new, large file and add it to our system's pool of swap space. On the other hand, if we want to lower the amount of disk space dedicated to swap, we can do that too by removing the old swap file from the pool, deleting it, and then making a new, smaller swap file. This can all be done while the system is running. Replacing swap files is a lot more flexible than trying to resize a swap partition which typically needs to be done when the operating system is off-line.
In short, swap partitions are typically less flexible, involve more care when setting up the operating system, and the performance should be the same whether we're using a swap file or a swap partition. Which raises the question: why someone would want to use a swap partition rather than a file?
In most cases it makes sense to use a swap file. However, there are a few filesystems, particularly advanced filesystems such as Btrfs and ZFS, where there have been problems with the filesystem features not working well with swap files. The swapon manual page mentions considerations for working with swap files on Btrfs. There have also been reports of swap on ZFS volumes causing lockups.
It is also worth considering the space requirements of multiple swap files if you're running multiple operating systems on the same computer. If your machine runs one operating system, then a single swap file will be the same size as a swap partition and more flexible. However, if you're running six Linux distributions, you probably don't want each one to hold a separate, multi-gigabyte swap file on its root partition. You're going to save a lot of space if you set up one swap partition to share among all the different distributions. In theory, you could set up a swap file on a separate data partition that is shared between all the operating systems, but that brings us back to the issue of juggling more partitions and sharing mount points between the operating systems. In short: a swap partition will be less work to set up and require less total space when dual-booting.
To summarize the situation: swap files are usually ideal when running a single distribution on a traditional filesystem, such as ext4 or XFS. When using an advanced filesystem (such as Btrfs) or when booting multiple distributions on the same computer then it is more convenient to use swap partitions.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Fedora 37
Matthew Miller has announced the release of Fedora 37. The latest release includes two new editions: Fedora CoreOS, which replaces Atomic Host, and Fedora Cloud returns. "Fedora Workstation focuses on the desktop experience. As usual, Fedora Workstation features the latest GNOME release. GNOME 43 includes a new device security panel in Settings, providing the user with information about the security of hardware and firmware on the system. Building on the previous release, more core GNOME apps have been ported to the latest version of the GTK toolkit, providing improved performance and a modern look. With this release, we've made a few changes to allow you to slim down your installation a bit. We split the language packs for the Firefox browser into subpackages. This means you can remove the 'firefox-langpacks' package if you don't need the localization. The runtime packages for gettext - the tools that help other packages produce multilingual text - are split into a separate, optional subpackage." Additional details can be found in the release announcement and in the release notes.
Fedora 37 -- Running the GNOME desktop
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EuroLinux 8.7
The EuroLinux team have announced the release of EuroLinux 8.7, a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.7 with binary compatiblity. The new version includes a number of updates and new packages: "General updates and improvements: Among the others, the following packages were updated and enhanced: Qt5 toolchain and utilities were updated from 5.15.2 to 5.15.3; Opencryptoki was updated to version 3.18.0 from 3.17.0; Libva was updated to version 2.13.0 from 2.5.0; Chrony was updated to version 4.2 from 4.1; Unbound was updated to version 1.16.2 from 1.7.3; Fapolicyd rebased to 1.1.3 from 1.1; Mariadb-java-client rebased to version 2.7.1 from 2.2.5; open-vm-tools rebased to 12.0.5 from 11.3.5" Addtional information can be found in the distribution's release announcement and in the release notes.
BackBox Linux 8
BackBox Linux is an Ubuntu-based distribution developed to perform penetration tests and security assessments. The project's latest release is BackBox Linux 8 which is based on Ubuntu 22.04. The release announcement lists the short list of new features: "The BackBox team is happy to announce the new major release of BackBox Linux, version 8, code name 'Sara'. As usual, this major release includes many updates. These include new kernel, updated tools and some structural changes with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. What's new: updated Linux kernel 5.15; updated desktop environment; updated hacking tools; updated ISO Hybrid with UEFI support. System requirements: 64-bit processor; 1024MB of system memory (RAM); 20GB of disk space for installation; graphics card capable of 800x600 resolution; DVD-ROM drive or USB port (3GB)."
BackBox 8 -- Running the Xfce desktop
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Rocky Linux 8.7
Rocky Linux is a community enterprise operating system designed to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The project's latest release is Rocky Linux 8.7. The distribution's release announcement coveres the new version's highlights: "Notable changes: NetworkManager has been rebased to 1.40. Notes for this version of NetworkManager are available here. New module stream versions include node.js 18, mercurial:6.2, maven:3.8, and ruby:3.1. New compiler toolset versions include GCC 12, LLVM 14.0.6, Rust 1.62, and Go 1.18. The default value of the LimitRequestBody directive in httpd has been changed from unlimited to 1GiB to fix CVE-2022-29404. SSSD now supports direct integration with Windows Server 2022. Cloud images: Official Rocky Linux images are now available on Oracle Cloud Platform. Artifacts behind all images built are now exported for development use. LVM variants of the generic, EC2, and Azure images are now available." Further details can be found in the project's release notes.
AlmaLinux OS 9.1
AlmaLinux OS is a clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux which strives to be entirely compatible with its upstream parent. The distribution's latest release is AlmaLinux OS 9.1. "The AlmaLinux 9.1 Stable provides a more stable foundation for open hybrid cloud innovation, new enhancements and features to deliver workloads, applications and services for multiple environments more efficiently, security features and updates for risk reduction and better compliance maintenance. This release also includes PHP language updates and new features. New automation and management functionality provided to make additional manual tasks automation, performing standard deployment processes at scale easier and simplify day-to-day system management. These enhancements include adding several system roles and the web console new options and features. As for containers, Sigstore technology was built into the container tooling. You can read more about this release by checking out the release notes." Information on available editions of the distribution can be found in the release announcement.
ALT Linux 10.1
The developers of ALT Linux, an independent Russian distribution originally from the Mandrake Linux family, have published version 10.1 of their project. The new release includes both Live and Install editions, offers the systemd out of memory monitoring service, and offers Btrfs support at install time. "New features [in] 10.1: Support for installing the system by the Ventoy added. Webkiosk mode added: it is possible to install the system for limited use where only a web browser is available to the user. LiveCD added to the install image for opportunity to check the operability of the bootloader before installation. The distribution includes the systemd-oomd free memory monitoring service. It is a component that improves system behavior related to lack of memory. At the same time, for the convenience of tracking oomd actions a user notification is implemented when applications are aborted by the oomd service. BTRFS subvolume support during installation. It is a modern copy on write (CoW) filesystem for Linux aimed at implementing advanced features while also focusing on fault tolerance and easy administration. The security benefit of using BTRFS is the creation of a restore point before updating the system. Automatic disk partitioning profile for Timeshift added. This program is designed to create snapshots of system files and settings. In the event of a system failure system files are restored, and user data remains up to date, if it was not damaged. Discover App Center can launch System Restore when upgrade failure is detected." Additional information is provided in the distribution's release announcement.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1
Gil Cattelain has announced the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9.1: "RHEL 9.1 builds upon the previous enhancements introduced in version 9.0, including advanced automation and management features, such as the RHEL web console and system roles, which make it easier for customers to automate manual tasks, standardize deployments at scale and simplify the day-to-day administration of their systems. Enhanced capabilities added to RHEL 9.1 help simplify how customers manage system security and compliance when deploying new systems or managing existing infrastructure. Organizations can now take advantage of new Ansible tooling, access RHEL systems using identities stored in an external source, implement multilevel security (MLS) to match their needs and remotely verify the integrity of their operating system's boot environment. RHEL now gives you more time to plan your life cycle needs by supporting upgrade paths for two-year Extended Update Support (EUS) periods." Read the rest of the release announcement and the detailed release notes for more information.
wattOS R12
Ron Ropp has announced a new release of wattOS, the first in several years. The new version, wattOS, is based on Debian 11 and features access to many extra software repositories, including Debian's Backports and Flatpak. The project's release announcement provides an overview of the distribution's features: "wattOS has been rebuilt in 2022 with Debian 11 Bullseye as the basis for the OS. Giving you a stable and reliable foundation. Based on Debian 11 Bullseye - Stable release. LXDE 11 as a lightweight desktop. Kernel 5.10 for 64bit PC installation. Flatpak support out of the box. Debian backports added to apt so you can add newer packages and firmware if needed. Contrib and non-free added to APT to ease installation of other items if needed. Calamares as the installer for a simple streamined install from a live session. Inclusion of gdebi ease install of .deb packages. Inclusion of GParted to ease disk partitioning and management. Additional configuration to enhance the out of the box experience."
wattOS R12 -- Running the LXDE desktop
(full image size: 2.4MB, 1918x1436 pixels)
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,793
- Total data uploaded: 42.6TB
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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) |
Swap file versus swap partition
In this week's Questions and Answers column we talked about the differences between using a swap partition and a swap file. Both options provide an area on the disk to temporarily hold information that was stored in memory, and each have pros and cons. We'd like to hear if you use a swap file or a swap partition on your computer.
You can see the results of our previous poll on testing done with a distribution before installing it in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Swap file vs swap partition
| I use a swap file: | 297 (20%) |
| I use a swap partition: | 834 (56%) |
| I use both: | 95 (6%) |
| I use neither: | 273 (18%) |
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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, 28 November 2022. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Swap file on traditional hard disks (by Explorer09 on 2022-11-21 01:48:37 GMT from Taiwan)
Just to say one personal experience: I used to like the swap partition approach as used in Linux operating systems rather than the swap files as used in Windows. Today it no longer matters, but the dynamic size of the swap file in Windows often fragmented my hard disk partition, and I had defragmented my disks a lot of times. The fixed size of the swap partition prevents fragmentation of the disk partition, which could matter if you are still using an old, CMR hard disks. Modern SMR hard disks and SSDs do not need defragmentation (actually defragmenting on them would do more harm than good). So it's more free to use swap files today. Note that it's preferred to set up swap files on SSDs than hard disks, if you have SSDs available.
2 • Swap and hibernation (by swaponoroff on 2022-11-21 02:52:16 GMT from Australia)
I only use a swap partition because of the hibernation feature (I have enough RAM so it doesn't need to be used for anything else) but is this also possible with swap files, given they are on that partition that is hibernating?
3 • Grub2 /boot partitions are EFI(fat/vfat) formated not ext4 (by Scott on 2022-11-21 03:23:52 GMT from United States)
I think the Fedora 37 review has an error.
The UEFI interface needs a EFI system partition that is typically mapped to /boot:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/EFI_system_partition#Typical_mount_points
4 • Fedora 37 boot partition (by K. Engels on 2022-11-21 04:30:04 GMT from United States)
/boot and /boot/EFI are two separate partitions in Fedora. /boot is Ext4 like noted in the review.
5 • swap resize (by Titus_Groan on 2022-11-21 05:35:12 GMT from New Zealand)
just for the record I just tried this.
using the Distros' system GUI disk management tool* on a running system:
unmount the swap partition - check.
resize swap partition to a smaller value - check.
format swap partition - check.
remount swap partition - check.
reboot and not have a 90sec timeout for fstab partition mismatch - check.
unmount the swap partition again- check.
resize swap partition to original value - check.
format swap partition - check.
remount swap partition - check.
reboot and not have a 90sec timeout for fstab partition mismatch - check.
how hard is that.
Note: it is also possible to mount a swap partition (if it exists) in a Live system, should the system be *lite* on RAM, to allow the GUI desktop to work. or create one on a USB stick for use.
* not gparted!
6 • Swap file/partition (by Romane on 2022-11-21 07:10:10 GMT from Australia)
The way that have structured my systems (3 with multi-boot) is that each system has its own dedicated swap partition. Probably all wasted space, as I have 20Gb of memory and only light usage of the system, so swap never gets touched/used.
i run with an NVME drive for the system, and a rust-disk for /boot and swap (my motherboard is to old to boot from anything except a drive at /dev/sda, and this arrangement means that the system itself can run from the PCIe drive), which all still leaves me heaps of spare disk-space once up and running.
7 • @Jesse Smith about swap files (by DidierSpaier on 2022-11-21 09:24:53 GMT from France)
Hello,
There is no inconvenience setting up a swap file in a BTRFS filesystem properly configured as indicated in their documentation: https://btrfs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Swapfile.html
In Slint that I maintain, when using BTRFS by default copy on write and zstd compression are enabled, however the main volume contains a swap subvolume as shown by "findmnt /swap":
TARGET SOURCE FSTYPE OPTIONS
/swap /dev/sda4[/@swap] btrfs rw,noatime,compress=zstd:3,space_cache=v2,subvol
Inside this subvolume a swap file of size 1G is set up this way during installation (the varaible SLINT is the mount point of the to be installed system):
mount -o subvol=/@swap,compress=zstd:3,noatime $ROOTNAME $SLINT/swap
truncate -s 0 $SLINT/swap/swapfile
# +C=no copy-on-write
# +m=no compression
chattr +C +m $SLINT/swap/swapfile
dd if=/dev/zero of=$SLINT/swap/swapfile bs=${MEGA}c count=1024 status=none
chmod 0600 $SLINT/swap/swapfile
mkswap $SLINT/swap/swapfile
Additonally, a "swap in zram" ram disk is set which practically more than double the usable RAM vs the physically installed as shown below:
root[/]# swapon
NAME TYPE SIZE USED PRIO
/swap/swapfile file 1024M 0B 5
/dev/zram1 partition 15,3G 0B 32567
root[/]# LANG=C free -th
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.7Gi 1.3Gi 4.3Gi 281Mi 2.0Gi 5.8Gi
Swap: 16Gi 0B 16Gi
Total: 23Gi 1.3Gi 20Gi
I keep a small swap file to let user know that the system being less responsive in the unlikely case that the swap in zram becomes full and thus the swap file be used, the OOM killer will soon kill some processes if nothing is done to avoid that.
No issue found or reported bu users os far.
8 • Shared swap file (by John on 2022-11-21 09:41:20 GMT from United Kingdom)
I run multiple distros, sharing the same partition for data. I have a shared swap file on this partition. It took a couple of minutes to set up.
9 • Firefox on Fedora 37 (by Appalachian on 2022-11-21 11:02:00 GMT from United States)
Lately I've been thinking of trying Fedora on my main machine so this week I tried out a couple of versions of it (flagship Gnome and the i3 spin) on a test machine. Everything works well enough, with the exception of Firefox. No matter how I launch it (could be from a launcher or command line), I can't get it to run.
When I use the launcher there is no response at all. Firefox never appears on the screen. When I launch from command line there is no output of any sort, and eventually I have to kill the process. Once again Firefox is never seen on the screen. Neither updating, nor uninstalling and reinstalling the app, did anything to fix the problem. I had to resort to removing Firefox and installing the Flatpak version to make it work.
10 • Fedora 37 Workstation (by Fedora 37 Workstation on 2022-11-21 11:02:19 GMT from India)
I prefer Fedora 37 Workstation because of it offers a vanilla GNOME experience. It includes all work flow improvements in in GNOME 43 - instead of customizing some parts.
11 • Swap partition / files (by DaveT on 2022-11-21 12:02:04 GMT from United Kingdom)
I stopped bothering with swap partitions on the desktop years ago, never had any problems.
If you do use swap and find it is getting used a lot than you need more RAM!
Servers are a different kettle of fish. Use a swap partition.
12 • swap (by James on 2022-11-21 12:10:15 GMT from United States)
I put both, depends no the age of the machine and the installed hardware.
13 • zram/ZRAM/ZRam/zRam (it is written lots of ways) (by Tim on 2022-11-21 13:19:22 GMT from United Kingdom)
Garuda linux uses zram for swap. Probably discussing its pros and cons needs a column of its own but any brief thoughts?
14 • swap partition, but I don't use it (by Matt on 2022-11-21 13:40:44 GMT from United States)
My new workstation has 64 GB of ram and a discreet GPU. It has a 1 GB swap partition, which was the swap partition size the OS installer chose for me. The swap partition will probably never be used. My old workstation had a lot less memory as well as an integrated GPU that took up some memory, so the swap partition was bigger (equal to memory size).
15 • @13 Tim about zram (by Didier Spaier on 2022-11-21 13:46:56 GMT from France)
Same in Slint, but I also install a 1GB swap file, see post #7 for the rationale.
16 • zRAM (by Jesse on 2022-11-21 14:35:36 GMT from Canada)
@13: We did publish an article on zRAM, how to set it up, and some of the considerations involved: https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20201012#tips
17 • swap partition or file and size etc (by Otis on 2022-11-21 14:42:52 GMT from United States)
Modern new machines still ship with swap as OEM. It's there and seems to be reported by system monitors as full as RAM does too, but mainly as a sort of "high tide" mark like we see on the beach or rocks. Honestly it does a simple but good service to the system. Set and forget or even forget in the first place unless you're trying to breathe life into a pretty old machine with small storage space and anemic RAM/CPU/GPU etc. In those cases you're likely going to be doing a bit of regular maintenance to keep it fresh as possible anyway (the old 2 x RAM was my credo early on).
18 • Swap (by Roger on 2022-11-21 18:34:05 GMT from France)
It depends what hardware I am using and which distro, sometimes file or partition or both or no swap.
Because we use mostly Linux Mint Mate and it's only for office work there is a swap file on the same SSD.
For older PC with a HD there will be a swap partition, sometimes on a second HD.
Other way around for a newer PC with enough Ram there will be no swap.
For testing it's a matter of choice and what we want to find out.
19 • Swap (by Crackly Dan on 2022-11-21 20:09:04 GMT from Canada)
On a laptop I make a swap the same size as RAM for hibernation. On the desktop I use whatever the installer chooses. I manually set sysctl variable vm.swappiness=10 to limit swap usage. My desktop has 32GB RAM and with the sysctl variable I thought I'd seen the last of swap usage so I was surprised the other day when it was using almost 10MB. I wasn't concerned and in fact I read the kernel can decide to store things in swap even with a ton of RAM at hand. Lastly, I have run my desktop without swap in the past and it didn't seem to impact performance.
20 • WattOS (by MrSparkleWonder on 2022-11-21 20:53:43 GMT from Mexico)
At long last, this fantastic distro is back, and just in time as I was distro hopping looking for 'my' distro. I thought I had found it in SpiralLinux LXQT but there is just something i don't like with LXQT, the feel or themeing is weird and then WattOS was revived. I am now happily running this distro, and recommend it to anyone with older hardware.
One thing i had to install which was missing was dbus-x11 as i encountered an error while trying to open a file as sudo. But otherwise, it is running great, bare bones, customizeable lean and mean LXDE distro.
love it
21 • Linux's useless Apppendix....I think.... (by tom joad. on 2022-11-21 22:26:37 GMT from Norway)
faceinthecrowd@galaxy-hp:~$ free -htl
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 11Gi 3.0Gi 6.5Gi 654Mi 2.1Gi 7.7Gi
Low: 11Gi 5.1Gi 6.5Gi
High: 0B 0B 0B
Swap: 975Mi 0B 975Mi
Total: 12Gi 3.0Gi 7.4Gi
That is what I have at the moment. And about every time I looked at that the results of that command...I have had a f$%^&*(g swap file! No partition, just a file. And I used to dump just remove the swap file. And after a bit I gave up doing that. I never, ever noticed a performance hit after I did that either. I am running Mint Cinnamon.
I have 12 gig of RAM on my laptop. My tower has 16 gig of RAM. I don't need a swap. As near as I can tell I never, ever use it. That file is totally pointless, a wasted use of RAM IMHO.
Why doesn't Linux, on the new install, check how much RAM is out there. And if that amount is over a certain required limit don't make a swap file. Or, during the install, ask if the user wants a swap file.
Yes, yes, I know one can during the install do a custom partition. That is a lot of work when the programmer could set it up my way. Not to mention a lot of users don't know how or will ever attempt doing that custom install.
22 • I trust Debian (by Ted E. Bear on 2022-11-22 00:28:46 GMT from Denmark)
@20:
One can easily make a minimal Debian install into whatever customized DE/WM they want. Debian's always around, vs. "other" distros which are here one day and gone the next.
I trust Debian.
23 • Swap (by penguinx86 on 2022-11-22 05:12:55 GMT from United States)
I've tried both swap files and swap partitions. Swap files seem to have better performance on a lightweight desktop system. I tried 8 and 16gb swap partitions, but it seems like barely 3gb ever gets used. Even running Virtualbox clients, I've never seen more than 4gb swap space used. I think a combo of a 4gb swap file and an 8gb swap partition is optimal. If you have the system resourses, why not? Better safe than sorry?
24 • @22, WattOS, I trust Debian (by Harry the Lizard on 2022-11-22 10:07:54 GMT from United States)
WattOS is Debian. Just like SpiralLinux, all the repositories are Debian. Sometimes people want to avoid the Debian installer and configuration and get something ready-to go. It's still Debian.
25 • Asus eee pc 4/8gb and swap (by MInuxLintEbianDedition on 2022-11-22 11:47:22 GMT from United Kingdom)
On the 3.73 GiB ssd of the eeepc 700, a 501 MB swap is most satisfying, leaving 3.23 GB for LMDE stripped down, and it's eversosatisfying those times (approx half) when they hibernate successfully.
Of course, if you still have your two 8MB bios boot boost partitions, you go for the 483MB swap option.
With bios boost, boot times of 40 seconds are a good mark.
Hibernate is less likely to succeed with bios boost, but can give you a 20 second resume.
Fastest I ever got these to boot to desktop is around 30 seconds, so a ten second time saving if hibernbating, Btw, shutdown is under 5 seconds, into hibernate more like 15.
With the 7.5GiB eee 701sd, Ive had three systems, i.e. lmde, debian, and devuan, each with own swap large enough to hibernate in, Had to make them share their /usr/share/icons partition though, because I ran out of inodes.
26 • Debian isn't always Debian... (by Otis on 2022-11-22 14:03:46 GMT from United States)
...despite the repos offered (and often relied upon).
Analogies can be distracting, but perhaps this one is not: I have a 1982 Harley Davidson (belt drive) frame, front assembly, frame, and customized rear spring hub. Other than that it's all Super V and other parts and systems.
Is it a Harley? Nope. Just the frame and a few other important pieces. It's my 40 year motorcycle project. Yes I get Harley parts when needed, but also many others as things wear out or need upgrading. Similarly many linux users have Knoppix or DogLinux or Feren or Siduction. Not Debian.
If they had Debian they'd have Debian and not those other distros "based" on Debian.
27 • swap (by brad on 2022-11-22 17:14:56 GMT from United States)
Most of the comments about swap do not seem to address the "usefulness" of hibernating a system when not in use. Perhaps I'm overstating the case, but it seems a "greener" solution than putting a device to sleep, and faster to wake than shutting the device off when not in use?
28 • @22 (by MrSparkleWonder on 2022-11-22 17:44:47 GMT from Mexico)
Debian has a lot of bloat. WattOS is de-fatted.....and based on Debian.
29 • @21 • Linux's useless Apppendix....I think.... (by tom joad) (by Leonie on 2022-11-22 18:48:39 GMT from France)
"I don't need a swap. ... Why doesn't Linux, on the new install, check how much RAM is out there."
Because Linux can't think and because it can't know who is gonna use it, nor what for.
YOU (eventually really) don't need swap, but your system (suspend to disk), or your applications (Blender, Hugin, GIMP etc., etc.) might very well need it.
Have you ever asked yourself why professional workstations with 256 GB RAM have one or more dedicated swap SSDs?
Each time you click on that 'undo' button in Photoshop (Blender, Hugin, GIMP etc., etc.) you load a previous full copy of the file.
For easier understanding, take some small image, 50 MB for example, open 300 layers, and in each one change only one single pixel, and then check the memory usage and a swap file size again.
Working on a 1.5 MB image (end size) used more than 12 GB RAM while working on it, and some people sometimes even work on some real photos, and are not just toying around ...
https://petapixel.com/2015/05/24/365-gigapixel-panorama-of-mont-blanc-becomes-the-worlds-largest-photo/
30 • Some interesting readings, in regard 'to swap, or not to swap' ... (by Leonie on 2022-11-22 18:56:55 GMT from France)
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/190398/do-i-need-swap-space-if-i-have-more-than-enough-amount-of-ram
https://artisticrender.com/memory-optimization-for-rendering-in-blender/
https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-swap-space.html
31 • @26, Debian isn't always Debian (by Harry the Lizard on 2022-11-23 01:55:20 GMT from United States)
You analogy doesn't fit. Debian is a collection or repos. A Debian installer gives you a bootable medium with access to the repos and the choice to install what you want. Distros like WattOS and SpiralLinux offer convenience, saving you the work of configuration.
Assume Harley gives you the option of choosing a frame and configuring your bike with engine, etc. to your liking. That would be akin to Debian. But what if someone orders the frame and all parts from Harley and puts the bike together so you can go pick up your shiny new machine all done and ready. If Harley did not own the rights, they could badge it as a Yamaha, but it would still be a Harley. If you need parts and repairs, it would be no different than any other Harley.
In the case of WattOS and SpiralLinux, should the developer quit, you can update, upgrade, and do anything that can be done on any installation of Debian. And it will remain so as long as Debian exists. They are Debian no matter what the badge says..
32 • There is only one Debian (by There can only be one on 2022-11-24 06:51:18 GMT from Luxembourg)
@28:
"Debian has a lot of bloat. WattOS is de-fatted.....and based on Debian."
I can tell you've never performed a minimal installation. Debian doesn't have a lot of bloat if you do a simple and minimal install and build what you want from there. Try this for yourself if you're so inclined and you'll see. I've tried WattOS, it is not "de-fatted", it's someone's spinoff distro built the way THEY want it. YOU have the same power to create the environment you want by installing from the simple, minimal install method. But it sounds like you're just here to advertise.
@31:
"Debian is a collection or repos"
Debian is Debian.
"Distros like WattOS and SpiralLinux offer convenience, saving you the work of configuration."
Debian spinoff distros often rely on the Debian repos, and often modify/customize programs according to their wishes. Some sponoffs also go further and add custom repos and/or custom programs outside and apart from the Debian repos. I could take Debian and make TurdOS but in the end, it's still TurdOS and not Debian. Spinoffs are also usually ran by different people made up of organizations or companies, sometimes an simply an individual. Completely different team, motives, wants and needs. Some developers choose to remain anonymous. I don't like this.
If I want Debian, I install Debian. Not someone else's vision.
"In the case of WattOS and SpiralLinux, should the developer quit, you can update, upgrade, and do anything that can be done on any installation of Debian."
Except usually it's much more than that. It's not just Debian, it's a customized and often heavily modified version of what someone else wants Debian to be. It is not the same people, it's more often than not the same design.
"And it will remain so as long as Debian exists."
Unless they contain additional packages, stuff outside of the Debian repos and/or extreme modifications, forks, tweaks requiring unique old libraries or what not.
"They are Debian no matter what the badge says"
No, they most certainly are not. They are spinoffs made by others. Stick to Reddit.
33 • Debian (by Romane on 2022-11-24 12:09:00 GMT from Australia)
A few interesting comments above regarding the Debian offering,
I have been running Debian Testing for about 12 years now. Every once in a while I have the urge to try another distro, but not one satisfies what I want from my operating system except Debian, so I always return to it (usually within less than a week).
I have found that the best way to install it is as another person (I think it is @22) stated above - install a minimal base, and build what you want from there. As I am in general lazy, for me this means installing one of the ready-made desktop environments after the minimal system is installed. At the moment that is KDE Plasma running on Wayland.
Just to mention about running a full desktop environment on old tehnology, My laptop runs the same system, Debian Testing with KDE Plasma on Wayland. About 20 to 25 years old this machine is. Yes, booting is noticeably slower than my desktop (so just wander off and do something else briefly), even with an SSD in it, but that slowness is due, not to the OS but to the now-ancient technology. Once up and running, performance is eminently acceptable. In fact, for its age and etc. I would call it quite snappy.
I have found over the years that Debian "Just Works", whereas with other Distro's and Debian-based distro's, there has alway been "something" such that they do not, for me, live up to "Just Works", no matter how good and well-supported these other distro's are.
34 • @32, one Debian (by Harry the Lizard. on 2022-11-24 14:28:22 GMT from United States)
"Debian spinoff distros often rely on the Debian repos, and often modify/customize programs according to their wishes. Some sponoffs also go further and add custom repos and/or custom programs outside and apart from the Debian repos."
Sure they do, except when they don't. No one was talking about all spin-offs. The distros in question are WattOS and SpiralLinux. Nothing else was mentioned. No programs are "customized". Nothing is added from outside the Debian repos. Maybe it's not Reddit that's needed, but reading lessons.
I can install all those exact packages by customizing Debian to suit me using the Debian installer, or I can install something that already has the packages I want, and be done with it in a few minutes. I have installed Debian several times. This time I decided to try SpiralLinux with Plasma. I then changed to the testing repos. I now have Debian testing with nothing "customized" or from outside repos except for what I installed myself afterward: VBox from Oracle, Librewolf, and Chrome browser. Oh yes, I changed the green wallpaper.
35 • They like spinoffs *shrug* (by Goose on 2022-11-25 01:22:45 GMT from Germany)
@34:
Sigh. Some people like to argue just for the sake of arguing.
"No one was talking about all spin-offs. The distros in question are WattOS and SpiralLinux."
I'm sorry, are you god? You never defined the *rules* of discussion. These ARE spinoffs.
"Nothing else was mentioned."
I'm so glad you alone dictate what responses can contain.
"No programs are "customized".
Often with spins, many things are. Maybe not the two referenced, but in general.
"Nothing is added from outside the Debian repos."
Again, often in spinoffs, unique modifications and/or forks are made. Maybe you have the interest/patience of verifying every package as the same/legit but other's don't.
"Maybe it's not Reddit that's needed, but reading lessons."
That's why it was said, "stick to Reddit" for useless arguments. You sound like the type of person who likes to have the last word, no matter how wrong or right it may be. If you need reading lessons, surely there's a subreddit for that at Reddit. Best of luck to you and your education.
"I can install all those exact packages by customizing Debian to suit me using the Debian installer, or I can install something that already has the packages I want, and be done with it in a few minutes."
If you want to install a spinoff, that's your choice. A spinoff is generally commanded by one or more users, usually not developers of the distribution they pull packages from. They each have different goals, purposes, and so on. They are not Debian. You're more than welcome to jump on /r/Debian @ Reddit or the Debian mailing lists and try and talk about spinoffs, but you'll likely be informed that they aren't Debian and will probably be pointed in the right direction, which is the spinoff's respective mailing lists or forums.
I see the response in whole wasn't quoted/commented on, and with good reason, because they can't be argued against successfully.
"I now have Debian testing with nothing "customized" or from outside repos except for what I installed myself afterward"
You have a spinoff with different leader(s). Debian is Debian. If you want it, install it. If you don't, don't. But please do not confuse spinoffs with the real thing.
36 • It's still there! (by Richard GopherHeart on 2022-11-25 02:30:48 GMT from United States)
> The distros in question are WattOS and SpiralLinux
I've seen smaller distributions come and go for longer than you've probably been alive.
Debian is always there. Their "team" is always there and not cowards hiding under nicknames.
I wouldn't choose anything less than REAL DEBIAN!
37 • @36, It's still there! (by Harry the Lizard on 2022-11-25 11:32:20 GMT from United States)
"I've seen smaller distributions come and go for longer than you've probably been alive." Been alive for 76 years, so I seriously doubt it.
No point continuing, since you and @35 will just keep building straw-men to knock down. Spiral Linux can go away tomorrow, but it will not affect the system I'm running. I will not have to do anything to continue using it as long as Debian repos are there.
There are very popular, damn good and well respected distros such as MX and AntiX which are based on Debian. There are specialty distros such as Kali and Parrot. (I run Parrot) If these distros cease to exist, one needs to find an alternative. That is not the case if the distro is solely using Debian's repos. Neither the MX, Parrot, antiX, Kali, SpiralLinux or WattOS devs are "cowards". They are trying to provide usefulness and convenience to Linux users. They do this at no cost to the user, and deserve better than epithets.
38 • Swapping. (by Friar Tux on 2022-11-25 13:26:28 GMT from Canada)
Well... we've spent the week swapping swap stories. Interesting.
Me? I just use whatever is default in my OS. Hasn't failed me, yet.
As for this whole Debian "discussion", I use Linux Mint/Cinnamon. When I tested straight Debian, it was a pain in the undercarriage to get working. Then I tested Ubuntu, based on Debian, but "but much improved" (or so they claimed). It, too, was a pain to get working. Finally, I tested Linux Mint, which claimed to be an improvement on Ubuntu. It was the only distro that, on my HP laptop, worked out-of-box every time I installed it afresh, which was quite a few times. So while I do test/try/play with other distros, Linux Mint/Cinnamon will always be my workhorse.
As for starting minimal and building your system to your own specs, What Mint offers as default can easily be changed out to what I prefer. It takes no more time than "building my system".
39 • Eliminated my swap file... (by tom joad on 2022-11-25 16:31:51 GMT from Germany)
I posted as @21 about the overall value of a swap file when large amounts of RAM are freely available.
So I turned off my swap file a few days ago. That was several reboots ago. See?
munchkin@jupiter-hp:~$ free -htl
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 11Gi 1.4Gi 7.7Gi 342Mi 2.5Gi 9.5Gi
Low: 11Gi 3.9Gi 7.7Gi
High: 0B 0B 0B
Swap: 0B 0B 0B
Total: 11Gi 1.4Gi 7.7Gi
lothario@nemesis-hp:~$
I honestly can discern no difference in performance..zero. Sure your 'mileage may vary' as they say. But for me, I don't need no swap anything.
Sorry for the second comment in a week.
40 • How much swap space? (by penguinx86 on 2022-11-25 17:49:46 GMT from United States)
In the old pre-Y2k Unix days, the recommended swap space was 2x to 3x the amount of RAM. But in those days, most systems had less than 1gb of RAM and hard drives were much smaller. I worked on old HP/UX systems running CAD software that had 512mb of RAM and two 1gb hard drives.
One of the 1gb hard drives was used for the OS and the other drive was used entirely for swap space. Yes, back then 1gb was a lot of storage.
These days, my laptop with 16gb of RAM and a 1tb SSD rarely ever swaps. I question if I really need the swap space or not. It seems like Linux Mint usually installs a swap file about 2gb by default. This default swap file seems good enough, if not overkill. Sometimes I add an extra swap partition, just to be safe.
That other OS from Redmond usually installs a swap/page file about 1.3x the amount of RAM. But it's probably needed on a bloated OS like that. Increasing the swap/page file to 4gb doesn't really seem to make much difference on that OS.
There seems to be lots of conflicting information about swap files and partitions. For example, some people say to NEVER use swap on an SSD due to premature wear. I contacted Samsung support about this. They said it's not an issue and just use their SSDs the same as an HDD.
Number of Comments: 40
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| • 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 |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Full list of all issues |
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| Random Distribution | 
KnoppiXMAME
KnoppixMAME was a bootable arcade machine emulator with hardware detection and autoconfiguration. It works automatically on all modern and not-so-modern hardware, including gameports and joysticks. It was powered by Knoppix Debian GNU/Linux, X-MAME, and gxmame.
Status: Discontinued
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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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