 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 998, 12 December 2022 |
|
Welcome to this year's 50th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
People are often looking for the best operating system, with the category of "best" changing with a person's priorities. An operating system might be considered the best at being small, fast, feature-rich, modern-looking, or having the largest collection of software. Today we turn our gaze to an open source operating system which is arguably the best when it comes to security. OpenBSD has an impressive track record when it comes to both security and correct documentation. This week we begin with a look at OpenBSD 7.2 and report on some of its key features. Then, in our News section, we talk about Asahi Linux getting video hardware acceleration working, which offers much better performance for 3-D desktops and games. Plus we report on Fedora 35 reaching the end of its supported life and Manjaro adjusting its Mesa package to avoid proprietary codecs. In our Questions and Answers column we explore options for installing a Linux distribution without a user account set up by default. These userless, so-called OEM installs are relatively rare, but offered by a handful of Linux distributions. Does your current distribution offer an OEM install option? Let us know about it in this week's Opinion Poll. Plus we are pleased to list the new releases of the past week and share the torrents we are seeding. Finally, we are pleased to welcome the risiOS distribution to our database. risiOS is a Fedora-based project with a number of convenient tools included to help setup and customize the operating system. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
|
| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
OpenBSD 7.2
The OpenBSD project develops an operating system which is lean, clearly documented, and has a proactive approach to security. The project is also the source of such popular software packages as OpenSSH and LibreSSL which are included in many open source operating systems. OpenBSD's latest release was version 7.2 which can run on over a dozen CPU architectures.
The install media for OpenBSD is available in separate formats for optical media (ISO files) and USB thumb drives (IMG files). The ISO file for the x86_64 architecture is 556MB while the IMG file is 664MB. Booting the OpenBSD media brings up a text console where we are asked if we'd like to install a new copy of OpenBSD, upgrade the operating system, perform an auto-install, or run a command line shell.
The command line shell provided on the install media offers a limited environment. There is just enough command software available to perform some tests and get the system installed. There isn't a full array of tools provided like you'd get on a full install of OpenBSD or from most Linux live discs.
Installing
Choosing to run the installer brings up a series of text prompts where we are expected to type our answers, or simply press Enter to take the default option. The defaults are generally quite sensible and we can get through a lot of the installer's steps by simply pressing Enter.
The installer walks us through selecting a keyboard layout, hostname, and enabling network cards. We are also asked to make up a password for the root account. We're asked if we want to enable remote access through the OpenSSH service (the default is to run the service). We can then optionally create a regular user account. The installer also asks us to confirm our timezone.
We are next asked to select which disk will hold OpenBSD. We can then accept a default disk layout or manually divide up the disk. This is probably the most complex part of the installer, if we go the manual partitioning route, as there isn't a lot of help or any friendly graphical or menu-driven partition manager. In the last step of the installer we are asked to select which components to install. These include kernels, the base userland system, manual pages, games, and graphical (X) display software. Once these packages are copied to our hard drive the system offers to restart the computer.
Early impressions
OpenBSD boots to a graphical login screen, if we installed the X packages, or to a text console if we did not. I opted to use X and, upon logging in I was presented with a very minimal window manager in the form of fvwm. This is a simple window manager with just a console running on the desktop. We can access the fvwm menu by left-clicking on any black section of the desktop. There are virtually no other applications or desktop components installed. There's no application menu, dock, wallpaper, or system tray. There is a graphical calculator, but otherwise we're pretty much just left with a virtual terminal and a virtual desktop switcher.
There is no option to shutdown or reboot the computer from within the graphical environment. Both fvwm and the login screen lack these options. We can switch to a terminal and sign in as the root user to reboot from the command line.
Hardware
OpenBSD is unusually lean. The operating system consumes about 1.5GB of disk space, which is quite small compared to mainstream Linux distributions. The operating system uses about 70MB of RAM when logged into the text console and 83MB when signed into the window manager. It can be made even lighter if we're willing to disable the X display software entirely.
When I started exploring OpenBSD in a VirtualBox environment the operating system mostly performed well. It booted fairly quickly, it was stable, and it was able to automatically connect to my network. The one downside was I could not get OpenBSD to make use of higher screen resolutions. I experimented with a few video drivers, and some of them improved video output from 800x600 pixels, but none of them could make full use of my display size of 1680x1050 pixels with the default settings. I ended up manually tweaking the X display configuration to set higher, custom resolutions when running the operating system inside VirtualBox.
When running on my workstation's hardware, OpenBSD performed about the same. The system was light and responsive. My one serious issue was that OpenBSD didn't recognize my computer's wireless networking card. Wired connections worked out of the box, but wi-fi did not. I also found text output on the console was a bit misaligned. The left-most character of each line was displayed off the edge of the screen until my monitor settings were adjusted. I haven't encountered this issue with any other operating system to date on this equipment.
Another issue I ran into was I could install media players and play media files, including videos. However, OpenBSD didn't produce any audio. I installed a sound mixer and confirmed it detected the audio output of the application, but I didn't get any audio from the player. I ran into the same problem when trying to watch videos in Firefox - videos would play, but no sound output reached my speakers. I checked my sound settings using sndioctl as per the documentation and everything appeared in order, yet my system remained mute.
OpenBSD 7.2 -- Browsing the web with Firefox
(full image size: 297kB, resolution: 1600x1200 pixels)
Software management
OpenBSD logically splits its software into two distinct areas. The OpenBSD operating system is one cohesive unit, made by a unified team. Its kernel and utilities are treated, in a way, as an atomic unit. Security updates and other fixes to the core operating system (and its documentation) can be handled using a tool called syspatch. Running the syspatch utility with the "-c" flag, as in "syspatch -c", will check for any available updates to OpenBSD and list them on the command line. Running "syspatch" without any argument will install these waiting updates. I tested this, discovered four updates were waiting for me, and they were applied without any issues.
Third-party software, applications and utilities which are not part of the base operating system, are handled with a separate set of tools. Third-party software, sometimes referred to as ports, can be queried by running a tool called pkg_info and downloaded using a tool called pkg_add. In order to find a package we want we could run a command like "pkg_info -Q firefox" or "pkg_info -Q rsync" in order to find relevant matches. We can then install these matches using pkg_add, for instance: "pkg_add rsync". We can later upgrade these third-party applications using pkg_add with the "-u" flag: "pkg_add -u".
These tools for finding and installing ports are terse in their output and the syntax may be a bit unusual for people coming from most Linux distributions. However, they worked quickly and without problems during my trial.
Managing services
I could say the same thing about managing services on OpenBSD. The syntax and tools provided are terse and a little alien for people coming from a Linux background, but they work and are well documented. Service management is mostly handled by the rcctl command line program. Some simple commands to remember are "rcctl ls" to list available services, "rcctl start" to start a service, and "rcctl stop" to stop a service. A complete list of options is laid out in the rcctl manual page.
This seems like a good time to point out that OpenBSD is still, in many ways (perhaps most ways) still a command line and text file oriented operating system. Almost all configuration changes, package management, firewall setup, and user account management tasks are expected to be done at the command line level. Often we're running short, sometimes cryptic, commands or editing simple text files. You won't find much in the way of graphical tools or even menu-drive text tools on OpenBSD. The operating system is meant to be technically simple which gives it a light, clean approach, but does mean more of a learning curve for potential users.
Desktop environments
The OpenBSD documentation doesn't talk much about graphical environments or the steps required to set up a full featured desktop environment. If you're new to the process, a lot of the third-party guides for setting up a desktop environment on OpenBSD are out of date and refer to older desktops such as KDE4 and GNOME 2. However, there are guides out there, including a well written one for multiple versions of OpenBSD. It'll walk readers through setting up the Xfce desktop, though similar steps can be used to install other desktop environments.
OpenBSD 7.2 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 146kB, resolution: 1600x1200 pixels)
In short, we end up running the command "pkg_add xfce xfce-extras" and letting the package manager sort out the dependencies for us. Then we add a line to the ~/.Xsession file which will start the Xfce desktop, or another desktop we have installed. Should we wish to be able to shutdown the computer from within the desktop environment we should also add our user account to the operator group.
This will give us a bare bones desktop environment with just a panel, dock, and application menu. Adjusting the appearance, resolution, and wallpaper will be up to us to sort through. New applications we install will be added to the desktop's application menu - this happened automatically, in my experiment with Xfce.
Other observations
While on most Linux distributions people use sudo to perform administrative commands, OpenBSD offers different avenues. We can either log into the root account directly or run the doas command. The doas program works almost identically to sudo, but doas is smaller and uses a clearer configuration syntax in an attempt to reduce possible errors.
One of the few features I would have enjoyed seeing on OpenBSD, but didn't see (and probably won't see in the future), is support for ZFS. The advanced filesystem is supported almost everywhere, to some degree, these days but there are a number of reasons it isn't available on OpenBSD, even as a port.
Conclusions
When evaluating an operating system I think there are two different, key viewpoints to consider: Does the project meets its stated goals? And does the project fit my needs?
The OpenBSD project lists several goals on its website, though most of these are more "behind in the scenes" in nature. There are items on the list which talk about making source code available, which licenses to use, standards to be followed, and avoiding politics. All which are perfectly valid, but tell us little about the sort of operating system the project aims to produce. There are a few more practical goals such as "Try to be the #1 most secure operating system," "Support as many different systems and hardware as feasible," and "Make a release approximately every six months." Basically, OpenBSD is trying to make a highly portable, secure operating system, with new versions twice a year.
Since OpenBSD regularly puts on new releases on schedule, has a well deserved reputation for a default secure installation, provides unusually correct documentation, and runs on over a dozen CPU architectures I'd say the project is achieving its own goals remarkably well.
When it comes to looking at OpenBSD as an outsider the experience is perceived through a different lens. OpenBSD is an unusually niche operating system with a specific focus on code and documentation correctness. It is highly minimal, it is highly terse, it is highly portable. It does not hold the user's hand, it doesn't provide much in the way of default services, it has virtually no point-n-click components. The operating system is meant to be lean, out of the way, and modified using a combination of command line knowledge and text files. It's an operating system probably best associated with firewalls, routers, specific-purpose network servers, and professionals.
This is not a platform for beginners, or casual desktop users. If you want a desktop you better learn how to install it yourself. If you want to set up a printer, the same applies. If you want to enable a web server with PHP support, you'll probably want to read a manual or two. This is a platform created by security professionals, mostly for security professionals (or at least people who want security to be the primary focus of their platform). There isn't anything wrong with this, in fact OpenBSD has given birth to technologies many of us use daily, but potential users need to know they're walking into an environment that is minimal, without frills to the point of being sterile. OpenBSD is stable, secure, and will expect you to do almost all of the work.
* * * * *
Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Lenovo desktop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Hex-core Intel i5-10400 CPU @ 2.90GHz
- Storage: Western Digital 1TB hard drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 wired network card, Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe wireless adapter
- Display: Intel CometLake-S GT2
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
OpenBSD has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.8/10 from 51 review(s).
Have you used OpenBSD? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Fedora 35 reaches end of life, Asahi Linux enables hardware acceleration on Apple's ARM machines, Manjaro disables proprietary codecs in Mesa
Tomas Hrcka has published a reminder that Fedora 35 will be reaching the end of its supported life this week. People still running Fedora 35 are advised to upgrade. "Fedora 35 will go end of life for updates and support on 2022-12-13. No further updates, including security updates, will be available for Fedora 35 after the said date. All the updates of Fedora N being pushed to stable will be stopped as well. Fedora 36 will continue to receive updates until approximately one month after the release of Fedora 37."
* * * * *
The Asahi Linux project seeks to run GNU/Linux software on Apple's ARM-powered hardware. While the project has faced many challenges, one of the most visual hurdles has been proper video card support. The Asahi team has made great progress in this regard, enabling hardware acceleration. This allows users to run modern desktop environments smoothly and play 3-D games. "We're excited to announce our first public Apple Silicon GPU driver release! We've been working hard over the past two years to bring this new driver to everyone, and we're really proud to finally be here. This is still an alpha driver, but it's already good enough to run a smooth desktop experience and some games. Read on to find out more about the state of things today, how to install it (it's an opt-in package), and how to report bugs! This release features work-in-progress OpenGL 2.1 and OpenGL ES 2.0 support for all current Apple M-series systems. That's enough for hardware acceleration with desktop environments, like GNOME and KDE. It's also enough for older 3D games, like Quake3 and Neverball. While there's always room for improvement, the driver is fast enough to run all of the above at 60 frames per second at 4K." Additional details are provided in the project's announcement.
* * * * *
Following the examples of Fedora and openSUSE, the Manjaro Linux team have decided to disable proprietary codecs in the Mesa package. This change disables hardware acceleration for some video codecs on some video cards. "Mesa is now at 22.2.4. [It] includes a notable change which disables hardware acceleration for proprietary video codecs (most commonly H.264 and H.265) when using the Mesa drivers stack. Open video codecs (VP8, VP9, AV1 - based on your hardware capabilities) are unaffected and can still be hardware-accelerated out of the box. This change mainly affects AMD graphics cards. (Intel GPUs don't use Mesa for video acceleration, NVIDIA cards use the proprietary driver, and Mesa video acceleration mostly doesn't work properly with the open source Nouveau driver). You can read more about hardware video acceleration here and about that topic in general here."
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Install Linux without a user account
Sending-this-one-away asks: I'm soon going to be selling a computer and the new owners asked if I could install Ubuntu on it. Can I do that without creating a user account so it's a fresh install for them?
DistroWatch answers: I believe what you're looking for is called an OEM Install. Ubuntu, and some related distributions, display a boot menu entry when launched from live media which includes the option: "OEM Install (for manufacturers)".
Selecting the OEM Install option will walk you through the usual install process, except you won't be asked to create a username or password. These steps will be held in reserve until the first time the newly installed operating system boots.
The Linux Mint distribution also offers an OEM Install option. The Pop!_OS distribution treats all new installs like OEM installs, saving user account creation until one of the final steps of the setup process the first time the operating system boots.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
FreeBSD 12.4
Glen Barber has announced the release of FreeBSD 12.4, the fourth update to the project's legacy 12.x branch: "The FreeBSD Release Engineering team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 12.4-RELEASE. This is the fifth release of the stable/12 branch. Some of the highlights: the ena(4) kernel driver has been updated to 2.6.1; the if_epair(4) driver now allows multiple cores to be used to process traffic to improve performance; the unbound(8) utility has been updated to version 1.16.3; the telnetd(8) daemon has been deprecated; the tcpdump(1) utility now allow users to set a number on rules which will be exposed as part of the pflog header; OpenSSL has been updated to 1.1.1q; OpenSSH has been updated to 9.1p1; the LLVM toolchain suite has been updated to version 13.0.0; the dma(8) utility has been updated to snapshot 2022-01-27; the file(1) utility has been updated to version 5.43. FreeBSD 12.4-RELEASE is now available for the amd64, i386, powerpc, powerpc64, powerpc64le, powerpcspe, armv6, armv7, aarch64, and riscv64 architectures." See the release announcement and the release notes for further information.
Kali Linux 2022.4
Kali Linux is a Debian-based distribution with a collection of security and forensics tools. The Kali team have released Kali Linux 2022.4 which officially brings the distribution to the PinePhone along with several new utilities: "It would not be a Kali release if there were not any new tools added! A quick run down of what has been added (to the network repositories): bloodhound.py - A Python based ingestor for BloodHound; certipy - Tool for Active Directory Certificate Services enumeration and abuse; hak5-wifi-coconut - A user-space driver for USB Wi-Fi NICs and the Hak5 Wi-Fi Coconut; ldapdomaindump - Active Directory information dumper via LDAP; peass-ng - Privilege escalation tools for Windows and Linux/Unix* and macOS; rizin-cutter - reverse engineering platform powered by rizin. This is new tools, there are numerous updates to existing tools." Additional information and screenshots can be found in the project's release announcement.
Kali Linux 2022.4 -- Exploring the Kali menu application for tools
(full image size: 625kB, 1920x1080 pixels)
deepin 20.8
The deepin project has published a new update to the distribution's 20.x series. The new version, 20.8 introduces a number of key package updates and includes a new application called Deepin Home. "In deepin 20.8, a new application Deepin Home is added, which breaks the 'information barrier' between the deepin team and users, and will work on product quality, software and hardware ecology to better serve deepin users. What is more, we have upgraded Qt to version 5.15.6, updated the DTK development library, fixed the underlying vulnerabilities, and further improved system compatibility and security. Besides that, we have developed and integrated a great number of practical functions based on the community users' feedback. Welcome to try it! The new self-developed information-aggregation application Deepin Home, in V1.0.0, has gathered important information platforms, such as GitHub, Wiki, forum, and social media, which supports deepin ID login and sending messages. Here you can receive community news in real-time, interact and communicate with others, participate in questionnaires, etc. In the future, we will establish a perfect tracking system for requirements and bugs, and special feedback channels for software and hardware to make it better for community users." The release announcement offers further details.
Puppy Linux 22.12
The developers of Puppy Linux, a lightweight distribution which can be assembled to be compatible with a variety of parent distributions, have published a Slackware-based version of Puppy. The new version is compatible with the Slackware 15.0 and Salix software repositories. The project's release announcement shares key details: "S15Pup is built from Slackware-15.0 binary TXZ packages, hence has binary compatibility with Slackware and access to the Slackware and Salix repositories. It is available in both 64-bit and 32-bit versions. Features include: Traditional Puppy Linux look and feel and features. Kernels from the LTS branches of 5 series - 5.15 for 64-bit, 5.10 for 32-bit. Abiword and Gnumeric word processing and spreadsheet. FFmpeg and supporting programs including Pmusic and MPlayer. Joe's Window Manager 2.4.3 (JWM). LXDE addon by ydrv. Lightweight web browser in adrv. Browser installer for heavyweight browsers such as Chromium, Firefox and Palemoon. Samba, used to share files with Windows included. Evince PDF viewer."
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| 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: 2,802
- Total data uploaded: 42.7TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Does your distribution offer an OEM install option?
In this week's Questions and Answers column we talked about Linux distributions which can be installed without setting up a user account. This approach of installing an operating system without a default user account is referred to as an OEM install. Does your distribution include an OEM install option? Let us know which distributions you know of which offer OEM installs in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on removing special characters from filenames in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Does your distro offer an OEM install?
| Yes: | 290 (29%) |
| No: | 317 (32%) |
| Some distros I use do but not all: | 180 (18%) |
| Unsure: | 219 (22%) |
|
|
| Website News |
New distributions added to database
risiOS
risiOS is a Fedora-based Linux distribution which runs the GNOME desktop environment and includes a number of graphical setup and tweak tools to help initialize and customize the desktop experience. risiOS includes wizards for adding media codecs, Flathub repositories, and popular open source desktop applications.
risiOS 37 -- Running the GNOME desktop
(full image size: 365kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
* * * * *
New distributions added to waiting list
- Vanilla OS. Vanilla OS is an Ubuntu-based distribution with an immutable root filesystem, intended to lock down unwanted changes and problems due to updates.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 19 December 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)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 1, value: US$10) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • risiOS (by Frank on 2022-12-12 01:37:32 GMT from United States)
RisiOS it is a great distro, thank you for adding it to the database!!
2 • OpenBSD (by Jean on 2022-12-12 02:11:21 GMT from United States)
Is Wayland available for OpenBSD? It is considered more secure than legacy X.
3 • OpenBSD sound (by Xor on 2022-12-12 02:19:25 GMT from United States)
create /etc/mixerctl.conf, put in:
outputs.master=255,255
Reboot. Audio enabled and working.
4 • OpenBSD LiveCD! (by Frisky on 2022-12-12 02:28:09 GMT from Ukraine)
Someone should REALLY make an up-to-date OpenBSD LiveCD. And, no, I'm not talking about the ancient and dead projects you'll find in a web search. I'm suggesting a new, active project with determined individual(s). It would be one heck of a tool to use. I'd trust it a lot more than I trust the TAILS Linux distribution.
5 • OpenBSD and X (by anon on 2022-12-12 03:01:27 GMT from United States)
OpenBSD uses its own security-focused fork of X, known as Xenocara, which was forked from Xorg 7.3. The display manager is Xenodm.
6 • Tired of chasing my 'Tails'... (by Tom Joad on 2022-12-12 03:27:45 GMT from United States)
@4
There was a time I used Tails alot, like everyday. I found it useful, comforting in the ever increasingly sketchy internet. Tails seemed to allow me to do what I needed or wanted to get done.
But over time it became troublesome. There was the endless upgrades if one could smoothly do an upgrade. Many times upgrading a version for arduous and time consuming. Worse, one misstep in the process and back one went to square one.
Another issue was the time it took to load. And if you didn't do one step, like the persistence, one had to reboot and start over. And if you changed anything in persistence one had to reboot too to use whatever was changed. It was never possible to open and close persistence in the 'fly' either. Tails had some quirks in it that were just odd. One that truly annoyed me was the mac address change was never, ever truly random. Mint does that now.
Tails uses the dreaded SystemD. Everyone here knows the issues and controversy that swirls with using SystemD for anything. Tails uses the ever slow Gnome interface or whatever.
After a good bit of time using it, I just walked away for Tails.
These days I do a VPN and or TOR when ever I think I need something extra.
There is an increasing need for something like Tails to protect yourself online but Tails ain't it. Or Tails in its current configuration is not it. Tails is too slow, cranky and, worse, to slow to change and innovate.
I tried TENS but that was crankier than Tails. And very recently the USAF 'walked away' from the whole project. TENS now just lays dormant.
Ed Snowden pulled back the curtain so to speak. We know what we face online these days. It is like 'they' have tanks and 'we' have bows and arrows. As time passes privacy online, or the lack of it, will just get worse. We need more than bows and arrows. We need some seriously good armor.
Sorry about the rambling. Hopefully I was marginally coherent.
7 • Try FuguIta for OpenBSD-based live system (by Alex on 2022-12-12 09:13:23 GMT from Japan)
@4
https://fuguita.org/
It is an active project and there are some small tools bundled with it to make it easier to use (I guess, I never used it before). IIRC the project makes periodical releases, similar to the release schedule of OpenBSD.
8 • OEM install (by James on 2022-12-12 11:19:19 GMT from United States)
I haven't done and OEM install for years, but some used to be hidden.
(For BIOS/Legacy/CSM installs (untested in Ubuntu 20.04)) Press any key to interrupt the LiveCD/LiveUSB autoboot; then press F4 and select OEM Install, and then "Install Ubuntu"
9 • @6 - Heads? (by Uncle Slacky on 2022-12-12 11:31:54 GMT from France)
There is (or was) also "heads" (https://heads.dyne.org/) but it seems to have been abandoned. It was much like Tails, but it was 32-bit and could even be fitted on CD-ROM, and didn't use systemd.
10 • Install linux without user account (by Didier Spaier on 2022-12-12 12:43:09 GMT from France)
No need for OEM to do that.
Install Linux, then as soon as done remove the user account. This can be done from the installer, chroot-ing to the installed system before rebooting, or from a live system used to install (also using chroot), or from the installed system after having rebooted.
11 • OEM Install (by Jesse on 2022-12-12 14:20:45 GMT from Canada)
@10: "No need for OEM to do that. Install Linux, then as soon as done remove the user account."
Then how is the person who receives the computer supposed to set up their user and password? Do you expect the person acquiring the computer to be able to download a live disc, chroot into their new OS, and create a user account? Remember, if there is no account, there is no way for them to sign in and, using the above method, no first-run wizard to create an account for them.
12 • OEM Install (by Marco on 2022-12-12 15:42:46 GMT from United States)
@11 I assume @10 would share the root password. That works for some installers, but other installers disable root.
13 • OEM installation (by David on 2022-12-12 16:58:03 GMT from United Kingdom)
My mail computer runs PCLinuxOS which treats all installations like OEM: the root password and first user are set at first boot. My other has Debian which offers no OEM facility as far as I know; when do they ever choose the helpful option?
14 • OpenBSD and Desktop environments ... ditto for Linux (by tomas on 2022-12-12 17:36:12 GMT from Czechia)
In his review of OpenBSD Jesse writes that installing a desktop environment is not quite easy.
You have to read some third party guides, use the command line and edit configuration files.
As with software management, something "unusual for people coming from most Linux distributions".
This makes me remember my only objection to the information on Distrowatch.
There are 11 desktops displayed for OpenBSD there, while the guide from the link states that there are packages for Xfce, Gnome, Mate and KDE, that is 4.
I suppose that an expert can install any desktop on almost every Linux distribution, but for an ordinary user the information supplied should be more precise.
As there are different ways how to choose the desktop during installation, I would propose to make a distinction between:
- default desktop (a list for distributions providing individual images, just one for only live ISO)
- installable desktops (a list for desktops chosen in the installer application)
- (and maybe) provided desktops (for those in distribution repositories).
I will give 2 more examples of what makes me propose this:
Reading the last review on Void, I told myself again I should try it. From the list of desktops listed on Distrowatch MATE is the one I would choose, but on the download pages only Xfce is available.
When I installed RebornOS on my computer, I did not like the Gnome desktop of the live media (it is not made for me), but the installer offers you to install your favorite one (out of many). Distrowatch lists only Gnome, maybe this is the reason why it is rated so badly (rank 70) compared to EndeavourOS (rank 2).
15 • OEM Install (by Justin on 2022-12-12 17:40:44 GMT from United States)
I've seen the option but never knew what it meant. I'd be interested in this being more common. The Windows installer works this way. That installer does some disk partitioning, copies over all the files, then boots from the new system and runs what people more associate with the installer. FYI, you can manually copy files over yourself for weird corner cases like needing to install Win7 from a USB3 device (no drivers exist, so the installation media disappears).
I'm not suggesting giving up on chroot and delaying so much installation to first boot, but at least the option for deferred account creation is nice to have.
16 • 12 • OEM Install (by Marco on 2022-12-12 15:42:46 GMT from United States) (by DidierSpaier on 2022-12-12 21:07:22 GMT from France)
Yes. But I would not use a Linux system that disable root. Unless maybe if only designated users can run administrative commands using sudo (but if these users have to be created after installation, root has to be enabled). Anyway I find safer to allow sudo only if the password for root is requested, not the regular user's password. This is the default in the disribution I maintain, and also in OpenSUSE if I remember correctly.
17 • Tomas Hrcka wrong about Fedora 36 EOL (by El Cid on 2022-12-13 01:11:27 GMT from United States)
Tomas Hrcka:
'Fedora 36 will continue to receive updates until approximately one month after the release of Fedora 37.'
No it won't. One month after F37 is like, tomorrow. F36 will get update till May of next year.
https://endoflife.date/fedora
18 • Fedora EOL (by Jesse on 2022-12-13 01:24:07 GMT from Canada)
@17: I think that's a typo in the Fedora announcement. A few parts of it appear to be copy-pasted from the F34 EOL announcement and don't really make sense in the current context. It should probably say F36 will be supported until a month after F38 is released.
19 • Poor Admin Practice (by Trihexagonal on 2022-12-13 01:50:58 GMT from United States)
No, there are no ownerless accounts on FreeBSD or Kali GNU/Linux and should not be.
FreeBSD has you set u a root account then gives you the opportunity to set up one or more usr accounts during the build. I always make one for myself an that's it. A user can't mount a USB stick or do anything that will bork the System.
Kali has a usr account with sudo, which I never really cared for but have learned to like. Not love, like and I never make a root account on Kali. A user can have it set to automount a USB stick and with sudo can mess anything up they're not competent to undertake.
If they can install it first.
20 • @6 Tails (by penguinx86 on 2022-12-13 02:39:30 GMT from United States)
I agree with Tom Jode. Tails startup time is unacceptably slow. It seems to need an update every time I use it and it's very difficult to configure. Liberte' Linux had a much shorter startup time and didn't hound you with update messages. But unfortunatly, Liberte' hasn't had any updates for 10 years.
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=liberte
21 • openbsd (by matt on 2022-12-13 06:30:56 GMT from United States)
no mention of cwm? It's also installed by default, and it's extremely minimal. Might be my favorite WM.
I would also suggest anyone new to OpenBSD should check out the FAQ, it's updated with each new release and covers all the basics. OpenBSD is known for its documentation, so it's worth it, rather than googling like you would with (say) linux mint or ubuntu
https://www.openbsd.org/faq/index.html
22 • OEM Install (by Rocky Raab on 2022-12-13 18:16:58 GMT from United States)
Mint has an OEM option, but it is semi-hidden. You press any key during the "countdown" when booting live medium. That takes you to an install menu that deletes any temporary user/password you enter and places an icon on the desktop to ready the system for the end user to sign on.
I install Mint quite often for people. This OEM option works great. I wish other OS had it, Zorin in particular, which is my other install choice for newbies to Linux.
23 • OEM... (by Friar Tux on 2022-12-13 20:25:53 GMT from Canada)
@22 (Rocky) Never had occasion to use OEM install. When I install a new Linux OS, the user is usually there since a distro only take a few minutes to fully install. The user name and passwords are usually available on the spot. The one time I DID have to install a distro without the user present I was supplied with the name and password in writing. Since I'm the goto IT guy, anyway, I usually get to keep all the user names and passwords - at least until the user becomes proficient and changes their's to something different. And NO, I have never used this "privilege" to snoop into anyone's files. I have a very strong sense of other folk's privacy.
24 • MX Linux OEM (by Chris Whelan on 2022-12-14 11:21:41 GMT from United Kingdom)
Although not immediately obvious, MX Linux allows for making OEM installs. You need to start the installer from a terminal with a switch:
sudo minstall --oem
This is documented in the MX Linux Wiki.
25 • OpenBSD + X (by John on 2022-12-14 18:39:44 GMT from Canada)
One thing to note, when running X (xenodm), it is not run as "root" but under user ID "_x11". This has been the case for many years. This makes xenodm more secure than X under Linux, which I believe still has components executing with ID "root".
see: https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq11.html
26 • Survey_&_Review (by JBCD on 2022-12-14 21:19:43 GMT from Australia)
OEM? MX yes AntiX no, I think
Thank you Jessie for your OpenBSD review. I appreciate the warnings to potential users about the amount of work involved. I've great respect for BSD in general and have often tried to Distro Hop in their direction, not to be taken lightly, dedication and understanding (& time if understanding is low) is definitely required. Thanks for keeping up the good work DistroWatch.
P.S. I'd love to see a story or the like about User Id numbers, 1000 for Debian etc and why they're different across, sometimes, common platforms.
27 • @27 OEM? (by anticapitalista on 2022-12-14 22:11:50 GMT from Greece)
antiX is also Yes
28 • KDE Plasma version of Vanilla OS (by Elcaset on 2022-12-15 01:06:49 GMT from United States)
Too bad there isn't a KDE Plasma version of Vanilla OS. If they were to create one, I would definitely use it. Sure, a person could install Vanilla OS, then add KDE Plasma to it. However, there would be no support for it from the Vanilla developers.
29 • OEM nstall (by penguinx86 on 2022-12-15 03:45:58 GMT from United States)
Linux Mint offered an OEM install for a while. I NEVER used it, because it was incompatible with the wifi adapter in my laptop.
30 • Tails bloated whales (by Ben on 2022-12-15 20:41:56 GMT from Germany)
RE: Tails Linux
They should run XFCE and/or Fluxbox.
I don't care why they say they use Gnome instead of something lighter but it turns away many users because of the unnecessary bloat! And if you dig deeper you'll notice a lot of bloated programs which really shouldn't be on the system, it just increases the attack surface (among other things.)
Number of Comments: 30
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
| | |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| *NEW* NovaCustom |
NovaCustom PrivacyGuard Laptops - Escape from Big Tech
The NovaCustom PrivacyGuard Laptop is ideal for anyone who prioritizes privacy. Comes with Dasharo coreboot open source firmware and Zorin OS Pro, free from influence of Big Tech.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1169 (2026-04-20): Lakka 6.1, free software and source-based distributions, FreeBSD Foundation publishes compatible laptop list, Debian holds Project Leader election, Haiku progresses ARM64 port, Mint to extend development cycle, Linux 7.0 released |
| • Issue 1168 (2026-04-13): pearOS 2026.03, EndeavourOS 2026.03.06, which distros are adopting age verification, Arch adjusts its firewall packages, Linux dropping i486 support, Red Hat extends its release cycle, Debian's APT introduces rollbacks, Redox improves its scheduler |
| • Issue 1167 (2026-04-06): Origami Linux 2026.03, answering questions for Linux newcomers, Ubuntu MATE seeking new contributors, Ubuntu software centre is expanding Deb support, FreeBSD fixes forum exploit, openSUSE 15 Leap nears its end of life |
| • Issue 1166 (2026-03-30): NetBSD jails, publishing software for Linux, Ubuntu joins Rust Foundation, Canonical plans to trim GRUB features, Peppermint works on new utilities, PINE64 shows off open hardware capabilities |
| • Issue 1165 (2026-03-23): Argent Linux 1.5.3, disk space required by Linux, Manjaro team goes on strike, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA driver support and builds RISC-V packages, systemd introduces age tracking |
| • Issue 1164 (2026-03-16): d77void, age verification laws and Linux, SUSE may be for sale, TrueNAS takes its build system private, Debian publishes updated Trixie media, MidnightBSD and System76 respond to age verification laws |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Ichthux
Ichthux was a free Linux operating system aimed at Christian users. It was based on Kubuntu, which provides the easy-to-use KDE desktop environment with a variety of Christian software and settings, and was deemed suitable for use on computers in churches, Bible schools and Christian homes. The name Ichthux comes from the Greek word ichthus, which means fish.
Status: Discontinued
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
