 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1003, 23 January 2023 |
Welcome to this year's 4th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
In recent months there have been a few new projects entered into the DistroWatch database which attempt to take the Fedora Workstation distribution and make it more convenient to set up and use right away. One of these projects is risiOS, 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. This week we begin with a look at risiOS and report on how this young project performs. Then, in our News section, we continue talking about Fedora-related efforts. The Fedora team is working on their new, web-based system installer and the developers are seeking advice from the community about how to best handle disk partitioning. Plus we share news that Debian has entered the long process of releasing a new stable version while Ubuntu 18.04 nears the end of its supported life. In our Questions and Answers column we talk about different types of packages and whether it is safe to mix software from different sources or with different package formats. Do you make use of different types of packages, such as Flatpak and Snap? Let us know in this issue's Opinion Poll. This week we are pleased to add the DynFi Firewall project to our database. DynFi is a FreeBSD-based firewall solution and we share more information on this operating system below. Plus we share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
risiOS 37
risiOS is a young distribution which is based on Fedora. As with its parent, risiOS uses the GNOME desktop by default. Unlike its parent, risiOS uses the zsh command line shell instead of bash. The project also introduces a few key features which set it apart from Fedora in an attempt to make it easier to set up.
One of the main features of risiOS is a graphical utility which helps users set up third-party repositories and add codecs Fedora does not provide:
"risiWelcome helps first time users install drivers and codecs, setup FlatHub and RPMFusion, and find resources related to risiOS. We also have "quick setup" scripts that help you quickly install certain applications you may need for certain tasks.
The distribution also with a tool to tweak the desktop appearance, manage extensions, and adjust interface features like the touchpad's behaviour:
Use risiTweaks to change themes and layout settings, manage GNOME Extensions to make risiOS yours, manage risiScript installers, and enable experimental features from within risiOS.
The risiOS website briefly mentions a tool called risiScript:
risiScript allows us to generate a GUI wizard for bash/shell scripts and make things like installing third-party apps and system configuration easy.
We are also told about a utility to help us set up access to websites and web apps:
Make your favorite web apps feel native using our fork of Linux Mint's web app manager. This fork contains a store with loads of preset web apps to choose from in order to let you discover new web apps and conveniently add them.
risiOS 37 -- Running the GNOME desktop
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In short, risiOS is a Fedora spin with easy to use tools to help the user get started with more software, codecs, and tools to tweak the desktop environment.
In the following overview of risiOS's capabilities, I'm going to focus on the aforementioned features rather than a complete review of the distribution. risiOS, apart from the tools listed above, is basically Fedora. It uses the same core repositories, the same system installer, the same default desktop, and kernel. For an overview of
the parent distribution, I recommend reading Joshua Allen Holm's Fedora 37 review.
First impressions
At first, risiOS looks and acts very much like its parent. risiOS offers to perform a self-check of the install media, boots the GNOME desktop, and pops up a window asking if we want to try or install the distribution. Apart from the custom wallpaper, the experience feels exactly like Fedora at this point.
Likewise, the Anaconda installer offers the same experience on risiOS as it does on Fedora. We're asked to pick our language, then shown a hub screen where we can access modules to set our time zone and keyboard layout, and partition the disk. This stage is quite straight forward and, when taking automated partitioning, we can get through the installer's steps in under a minute.
The one odd aspect of installing the distribution came at the end when Anaconda finished and a notification popped up to tell me the desktop's theme had been changed, though no visual change occurred.
When a newly installed copy of risiOS first boots it starts up a graphical wizard which walks us through enabling location services, optionally enabling problem reporting, asks us if we want to set up third-party software repositories, and offers to connect us with on-line cloud accounts. The ultimate step asks us to make up a username and password for ourselves. So far, risiOS was acting just like Fedora.
The welcome window
The main differences between risiOS and its parent show up after the first-run wizard disappears and the GNOME desktop appears. Once in the GNOME session the risiOS welcome screen launches. Apart from a brief welcome message, the welcome window is divided into four tabs: First Steps, Quick Setup, Join The Community, and Contribute to risiOS.
The Contribute tab offers us links to where we can submit artwork and code to the distribution. We're also provided with a button to access the project's store where we can trade money for merchandise. Clicking any of the buttons in the Contribute tab launch the Chromium web browser to connect us with the on-line resources requested.
The Join The Community tab works the same way. It lists social media accounts and support forums, such as risiOS's Reddit page and user forum. Clicking a button next to each entry opens Chromium to connect us with the requested page. I did run into a problem where clicking the button to view risiOS's Twitter account failed, saying the account doesn't exist. The risiOS project does have a Twitter account so I think the link from the welcome window is simply broken.
First Steps
The First Steps tab of the welcome window includes a lot of options and I feel it deserves its own section. The First Steps page lists a number of options for setting up software repositories and acquiring new software packages. These options include enabling the RPMFusion repository and installing media codecs at the same time; enabling the Flathub repository; launching GNOME Software; creating shortcuts to web apps; and running risiTweaks.
The button to set up RPMFusion does enable the third-party repositories as requested, though reports failure when grabbing codecs. Upon further inspection, the repositories and the codecs had been installed. I believe the error occurs because I requested all codecs, except the "ugly" ones, while the script ultimately reports failure if the "ugly" codecs are not on the system. This seems to happen even if all requested codecs installed successfully. The error is cryptic and this behaviour may confuse users, but it seems the install function is working properly.
The tool to enable the Flathub repository worked without any issues. I find it interesting both this button and the RPMFusion button disappear after they have been used to avoid duplicating their efforts, even if the scripts setting up the repositories return an error.
The button to open GNOME Software works, though the software centre immediately reports a problem with a broken digest on a package. I also had GNOME Software crash a few times while it was working, though I suspect this was due to another issue I'll discuss later. Installing updates through GNOME Software also results in the system insisting on restarting the computer and performing a long upgrade process during the next start-up sequence. This feels like a step backwards from the way virtually all other Linux distributions handle upgrades.
risiOS 37 -- Browsing Flatpaks with GNOME Software
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The button to add web apps opens a tool which walks us through creating a launcher for websites. Basically we make up a name and provide a URL for a website, optionally set an icon for it, and we've created a launcher. It's like making a web browser bookmark for your desktop. The tool included in risiOS works almost exactly like ICE does in distributions like Peppermint OS.
risiOS 37 -- Creating shortcuts to websites
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Last, but not least, there is a tool which can be launched from the First Steps page called risiTweaks. This tool offers customizations for the appearance of the desktop, customizations to GNOME extensions, and the option to add more web browsers. I'm not sure why installing more browsers is a function of risiTweaks instead of the Quick Setup section of the welcome window where we fetch other types of software, but the option is there to fetch the Brave, Vivaldi, Edge, Opera, and Chrome browsers. These fetch functions worked for me without any issues.
risiOS 37 -- Adjusting the interface with risiTweaks
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The risiTweaks took works, but its interface is crowded. There are four tabs across the top of the window listing types of adjustments we can make. There are then sometimes four or five tabs down the left side of the window inside these top tabs for more fine-tuned access to settings. It's a bit overwhelming visually and I think it's going to be hard for newcomers to navigate.
This cluttered appearance aside, I did like the customizations the risiTweaks tool offered. Being able to adjust the clock, hot corners, touchpad settings, and desktop theme from one location was convenient. Some of these options can also be adjusted through the GNOME settings panel, but there isn't a lot of overlap between the two utilities.
Quick Setup
Earlier I mentioned a tab in the welcome window called Quick Setup. This tab lists categories of software we might want to install. These categories include gaming, office productivity, video production, audio consumption, and audio production. (As I mentioned earlier, web browsers are not a listed option. Browsers are handled separately in the risiTweaks tool.) Clicking a button next to these categories opens a window which offers to fetch specific applications. For example, the Gaming category offers to fetch the Steam client, a GOG launcher, Lutris, RetroArch, and DOSbox, along with a few other packages.
risiOS 37 -- Installing productivity software
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Selecting the other categories offer related choices too. The Office category will fetch LibreOffice or OnlyOffice. We also have the option of installing Zoom, Teams, Geary, Evolution, and Thunderbird. The first time I tried to grab office software (LibreOffice and Thunderbird) the system reported it had run a bash script, but not successfully. I went back and tried to install just LibreOffice, but it was already installed so the script reported success. I then tried to install just Thunderbird and it was also already installed and the script concluded with a successful message. I later confirmed the requested applications had been installed so the initial error appears to have been incorrect.
The scripts for fetching other collections of software worked for me without further issues.
Other observations
On the risiOS website one of the key features mentioned is a technology called risiScript which is intended to make it easier to add graphical elements to scripts. I couldn't find much information about this, but it looks like this is the technology which provides us with prompts and options when we install new software through the risiOS tools. For example, when we install a web browser or office suite, it seems the action is handled by risiScript.
While this is not specific to risiOS necessarily, I noticed after installing the first wave of package updates through GNOME Software that the distribution was slow to shutdown. Any time I brought down the system after performing this initial batch of updates, I'd run into the notorious issue of systemd waiting for a job to stop. When I first installed risiOS, the distribution would shutdown in two or three seconds, after the upgrades shutdown times increased to about a minute and forty seconds. When new system updates were being installed, start-up times would increase too.
Earlier I mentioned I ran into a number of session crashes. These mostly happened when I was using GNOME Software and, at first, I thought the underlying package manager was causing my GNOME session to crash. The crashes would usually close my applications and session, returning me to the login page. A few times the system simply showed me a blank screen and refused to respond to input. In both scenarios my work was lost.
This issue continued, showing up when I wasn't engaged in package management. Sometimes it happened when launching programs, other times it happened when browsing the GNOME settings panel and I began to suspect the crashes were random. At any rate, it was rare for me to be able to stay logged in more than 15 minutes and sometimes my GNOME session would bail out and return me to the login screen within 5 minutes. I tried switching from the default Wayland session to GNOME's X11 session. After this, the crashes stopped entirely.
Conclusions
There have been many Linux distributions over the years which have been based on Fedora. Several of these have tried to tackle common complaints with their parent distribution, particularly the lack of media codecs and certain desktop programs in the official Fedora repositories. Atomix, BLAG, FoX Desktop, Fuduntu, Fusion, and Korora being some of the prime examples.
Fedora, for all its cutting edge options and interesting technologies has tended to be a hassle to set up and turn into a full featured desktop operating system, at least when compared to other mainstream Linux distributions, and its derivatives reflect that. risiOS appears to be the latest project to try to take Fedora and make it easier to get up and running with popular repositories, media codecs, and desktop software. It's a popular concept and one which always seems to be in demand.
The implementation of this idea mostly works well. risiOS manages to provide a number of simple point-n-click solutions for accessing RPMFusion repositories, Flathub, fetching codecs, and tweaking elements of the GNOME desktop. These tools, mostly accessed through the welcome window, tend to work and make it quick and easy to fetch popular software packages.
In my mind, while risiOS mostly works well, there are two problems the distribution currently faces with its initial release. The first is some of the scripts could be polished. They sometimes report errors after succeeding. It seems the scripts expect a certain set of options to be selected or to be skipped and, if the user's choices do not match these expectations, the script will throw errors or bail out. This leads to some confusing messages that I think will throw off new users.
The second concern I have is that the tools risiOS provides are, well, full. The welcome window and risiTweaks have four or five tabs each, those tabs sometimes have four or five tabs. Some of those tabs have multiple sections for different options. It's as though the developers were so intent on making as many options available as possible they ended up with a giant collection that then got buried in the clutter.
To be fair, the clutter is usually organized, at least once the user gets to explore a little. But there are times when it feels inconsistent. For example, installing almost every form of software (gaming, office, and audio consumption) happens in the Quick Setup section of the welcome window. However, web browsers are installed from the risiScript section of the risiTweaks tool. I'm unaware of any logical reason for the exception.
These little issues can probably be attributed to risiOS being young and the developers trying to get it launched to test the waters. I think the distribution is young enough that users should expect a few rough edges and for things to shift and settle into a more polished product over the next release or two.
I suppose the important question here is whether the changes risiOS introduces improve upon its parent distribution. To that, my answer is: yes, a little. It's not a big shift, but risiOS makes the distribution a little easier to set up and makes GNOME a little more customizable. This is an improvement. Unfortunately most of Fedora's underlying issues (such as slow package manager, awkward updates, and problematic systemd shutdown delays) still shine through the patches offered by risiOS. I'm hoping risiOS will attempt to further improve upon its existing work in step with new Fedora releases.
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Visitor supplied rating
risiOS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 6.5/10 from 4 review(s).
Have you used risiOS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Fedora seeks feedback on web-based installer, Debian 12 enters development freeze, Ubuntu 18.04 nears end of life, SparkyLinux image writing tool offers persistence
As work continues on the new Fedora system installer, the team is hoping to gather feedback on how the new web-based installer should handle disk partitioning. "In general, partitioning is one of the most complex, problematic, and controversial parts of what Anaconda is doing. Because of that and the great feedback from the last blog, we decided to ask you for feedback again to know where we should focus." More information on the new installer and a link to the feedback form can be found in the Fedora Magazine blog post.
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The Debian project has a policy of waiting to publish new stable releases until they are ready and for taking a relatively long time between releases. Debian 12 "Bookworm" will likely be released around the middle of 2023 as the project has just entered its first stage of development freeze. Paul Gevers wrote to the Debian development mailing list: "We're pleased to announce that the freeze for Debian 12 'Bookworm' has begun. On January 12th we stopped accepting transition requests and we are working to complete the transitions in progress. We ask the maintainers of packages that are part of the toolchain to stop uploading those packages without prior approval from us. We remind everybody to stop uploading large or disruptive changes to Unstable, from here on Experimental is the place to do that." Further information on preparation for Debian 12 can be found in the mailing list post.
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Version 18.04 of Ubuntu is nearing the end of its supported life. After April this version of the distribution will no longer receive fixes and security updates. "Ubuntu 18.04 'Bionic Beaver' is reaching End of Standard Support this April, also known sometimes as End Of Life (EOL). This distribution of Ubuntu was installed by millions of users and powers up thousands of devices. From kiosks and appliances to IoT devices and robots, 18.04 helped many companies deploy innovations to the world. As with all other Ubuntu LTS releases that reach their end of standard support, Bionic Beaver will transition to Extended Security Maintenance (ESM). This blog post will help developers and companies evaluate their options for devices currently running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. It will also cover how you can enable ESM in case you choose to extend the support window with this service." The announcement provides further information.
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The SparkyLinux project is offering a new feature which will make portable computing easier for its users. The Sparky utility which writes USB disk images now includes the ability to offer persistent storage on the USB thumb drive: "The Sparky tool that creates Live USB disk (sparky-live-usb-creator) has gotten a new feature which lets you make a live USB disk with persistence. It means, you can boot Sparky Live system from a USB disk and save your work, new installed applications, etc. to the same USB disk. The sparky-live-usb-creator 0.2.1 is available to Sparky rolling users so far, and it works with Sparky 2023.01 MinimalGUI ISO image only so far." Details are offered through the project's blog post.
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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) |
Mixing package management methods
Mixing-and-matching asks: Can I install multiple software package utilities such as: GNOME Software Centre, snapd, and Flatpak? I want to be able to draw in apps from each, but don't want to break my system.
DistroWatch answers: In this specific example, using GNOME Software, snapd, and Flatpak together will not cause conflicts or break your system.
Stepping back from this specific example, this seems like a good opportunity to talk about the various elements of package management and why some combinations can cause conflicts which will break an operating system and some will not.
When it comes to managing software there are, generally speaking, two types of packages: traditional packages, such as Deb and RPM files; and portable packages, such as Flatpak, AppImage, and Snap bundles.
Traditional packages are typically pulled from a distribution's official repositories. These packages are the foundation of most Linux distributions and are usually tested to work well together. However, if you introduce another source of traditional packages or introduce another type of traditional packages, then your system is at high risk of being damaged.
For example, if you are running Debian, you'll find your system uses Deb packages, pulled from Debian's repositories. Any packages in Debian's repositories should work on the system. However, if you introduce packages from another Deb repository, such as from Ubuntu, then it may introduce a conflict and break things.
Also, if you are running Debian, which uses Deb packages, and you try to install an RPM package from Fedora or a package archive from Arch Linux then it's also likely to cause conflicts. Different types of packages will have different ways of declaring dependencies and may overwrite existing files on your operating system.
In short: avoid mixing different types of traditional packages (such as RPM and Deb) and avoid mixing sources of these packages.
Moving on to portable package formats. These include Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage bundles. Portable packages are designed to sit atop the operating system - they are additional pieces on top of the distribution rather than the foundation supplied by traditional packages. Portable packages are also intended to be somewhat self-isolating, meaning they should not conflict with each other or any traditional packages.
Put another way, while it's often dangerous to mix together traditional packages of different types and sources, it's almost always safe to add portable packages (of different types and sources) to your distribution. You can safely use both Flatpak and Snap on the same distribution and they won't conflict with the underlying traditional packages.
The question brought up the idea of using GNOME Software and I'd like to address that too. GNOME Software doesn't provide a specific type of software (RPM, Deb, or Flatpak) and it doesn't access a specific source of software, such as Flathub, Debian's repositories, or Fedora's repositories. GNOME Software is a graphical front-end package manager and it, like many package managers, are neutral when it comes to the source and type of software they handle.
Basically, package managers like GNOME Software and Discover are designed to provide a friendly way to manage software on your distribution. They are not tied to a specific type of package or source, but will manage any source or types of packages your system knows about.
Since these graphical utilities only put a user friendly face on top of the lower level software management tools, you can use multiple software centres on the same system. You can run GNOME Software, Discover, and other graphical front-ends on the same system without causing a conflict.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Plop Linux 23.1
Elmar Hanlhofer has announced the availability of version 23.1 of Plop Linux, an independently-developed distribution for desktops, servers and Raspberry Pi computers, designed primarily for advanced Linux users: "Version 23.1, release date 2023-01-16. Changelog: Linux kernel not updated because of hang problems with NVIDIA graphic cards; fixed 32-bit size of time on 32-bit systems - problems with GnuTLS causing 'The certificate has not yet been activated' on wget; build tools / update-os.tar.gz - to update glibc, also a static build for ARM added; Filezilla removed from 32-bit builds because of compile problem with the current GCC - float16 is not supported on this target; EFI directory to upper case; added EFI image to the ISO image - EFI/efiboot.img; build scripts updated; 183 packages updated." Here is the complete changelog. Plop Linux 23.1 is available for i486, x86_64 and armv6l architectures in "Standard" (live, with Xfce 4.18 as the default desktop), "Small" (without X.Org, GCC and Pythong) and "BRL" (for blind and visually impaired users) variants.
Lakka 4.3
Lakka is a lightweight Linux distribution that transforms a small computer into a full blown game console. The distribution is based on LibreELEC and runs the RetroArch console emulator. The project's latest release is Lakka 4.3 which updates RetroArch to 1.14.0 and adds support for the Orange Pi 4 platform. "New version of Lakka has been released! We are happy to announce the new and updated version of Lakka. Release summary - changes since version 4.2: RetroArch updated to 1.14.0. Cores updated to their most recent versions: fake-08 added new libretro core (Pico-8); mojozork: added new libretro core (Z-Machine); puae2021 added new libretro core (Amiga, less demanding version of the core). Mesa updated to 22.1.7. Added image for Orange Pi 4 LTS (Rockchip RK3399). Added support for more Nintendo Switch variants (Hekate 6.0.1+ is required, on Nintento Switch Lite use touchscreen to change the default input device: Settings - Input - Port 1 Controls - Device Index - top most item)." Additional information is provided in the project's release announcement.
Legacy OS 2023
Legacy OS, a distribution targeting older hardware, has returned after several dormant years. The distribution was once a member of the Puppy Linux family, but has shifted its base to antiX while maintaining the same IceWM user interface. A release announcement on the project's home page reads: "After a six year hiatus Legacy OS is back! Now based on antiX/Debian Bullseye 64-bit. After a long development period LegacyOS 2023 is now available for download. As with previous releases Legacy OS uses the Ice Window Manager (IceWM) and ROX/PCmanFM File Managers. All included Ice Window Manager themes have been created for this release. A useful selection of applications are included by default. VLC, MPV, Strawberry, Peek, FreetuxTV, OnlyOffice, Scribus, GIMP, Inkscape, Firefox-ESR, Thunderbird, and Transmission just to name a few. Also available for download through the Synaptic package manager are the Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge web browsers. Unlike previous releases Legacy OS 2023 will receive regular updates."
Legacy OS 2023 -- Running IceWM
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ArchLabs Linux 2023.01.20
Matt Dobson has announced the release of ArchLabs Linux 2023.01.20, an updated build of the project's minimalist, Arch-based distribution featuring the dk window manager (a tiling window manager similar to bspwm): "ArchLabs Release 2023.01.20 is now available. This is our first release of 2023 and it comes a couple of weeks after our 6th birthday. There isn't a lot new with this release; we have added dwm back to the installer and you will see that booting the ISO image no longer will take you to a live session. The live session was always just an experiment and to try something new, really. Our live session still exists, so for those of you who want to check out dk in all its glory, just type startx and hit enter. We have given the live session a nice tweak and some improvements. Also, an epic new default wallpaper from our own Will. We have tweaked the themes, updated the ArchLabs iconset, Tint2 has had some tweaks. Nate has been chipping away at dk making it better and better with each update. We now offer downloads from Cloudflare R2, please be aware that the download will start instantly. As usual, if you encounter any bugs or issues, please seek help at ArchLabs Forum." Visit the distribution's home page to read the complete release announcement.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,819
- Total data uploaded: 42.8TB
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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) |
Mixing portable package types
In this week's Questions and Answers column we talked about mixing different types and sources of packages. Portable package formats, such as Snap, Flatpak, and AppImage, make it safer to mix different software sources. The self-isolating mature of these packages means we can mix them together without endangering the underlying operating system.
We would like to hear if you use portable packages and, if so, do you mix multiple types to gain the functionality you want?
You can see the results of our previous poll on methods used to copy files between computers in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Do you use portable package formats?
| No: | 718 (49%) |
| Yes - one type: | 412 (28%) |
| Yes - two types: | 243 (16%) |
| Yes - three types: | 69 (5%) |
| Yes - more than three types: | 31 (2%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to database
DynFi Firewall
DynFi is a firewall platform based on FreeBSD. The project provides utilities for VPN, IDS, proxy, anti-virus, and packet filtering. Support is provided in several languages, including French, English, and German. DynFi is designed to be deployed on both physical hardware and in virtual environments.
DynFi 2.00.000 -- A sample of the web portal
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 30 January 2023. 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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| Archives |
| • Issue 1022 (2023-06-05): GetFreeOS 2023.05.01, Slint 15.0-3, Liya N4Si, cleaning up crowded directories, Ubuntu plans Snap-based variant, Red Hat dropping LireOffice RPM packages |
| • Issue 1021 (2023-05-29): rlxos GNU/Linux, colours in command line output, an overview of Void's unique features, how to use awk, Microsoft publishes a Linux distro |
| • Issue 1020 (2023-05-22): UBports 20.04, finding another machine's IP address, finding distros with a specific kernel, Debian prepares for Bookworm |
| • Issue 1019 (2023-05-15): Rhino Linux (Beta), checking which applications reply on a package, NethServer reborn, System76 improving application responsiveness |
| • Issue 1018 (2023-05-08): Fedora 38, finding relevant manual pages, merging audio files, Fedora plans new immutable edition, Mint works to fix Secure Boot issues |
| • Issue 1017 (2023-05-01): Xubuntu 23.04, Debian elects Project Leaders and updates media, systemd to speed up restarts, Guix System offering ground-up source builds, where package managers install files |
| • Issue 1016 (2023-04-24): Qubes OS 4.1.2, tracking bandwidth usage, Solus resuming development, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS offers preview of Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1015 (2023-04-17): Manjaro Linux 22.0, Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Arch Linux powering PINE64 tablets, Ubuntu offering live patching on HWE kernels, gaining compression on ex4 |
| • Issue 1014 (2023-04-10): Quick looks at carbonOS, LibreELEC, and Kodi, Mint polishes themes, Fedora rolls out more encryption plans, elementary OS improves sideloading experience |
| • Issue 1013 (2023-04-03): Alpine Linux 3.17.2, printing manual pages, Ubuntu Cinnamon becomes official flavour, Endeavour OS plans for new installer, HardenedBSD plans for outage |
| • Issue 1012 (2023-03-27): siduction 22.1.1, protecting privacy from proprietary applications, GNOME team shares new features, Canonical updates Ubuntu 20.04, politics and the Linux kernel |
| • Issue 1011 (2023-03-20): Serpent OS, Security Onion 2.3, Gentoo Live, replacing the scp utility, openSUSE sees surge in downloads, Debian runs elction with one candidate |
| • Issue 1010 (2023-03-13): blendOS 2023.01.26, keeping track of which files a package installs, improved network widget coming to elementary OS, Vanilla OS changes its base distro |
| • Issue 1009 (2023-03-06): Nemo Mobile and the PinePhone, matching the performance of one distro on another, Linux Mint adds performance boosts and security, custom Ubuntu and Debian builds through Cubic |
| • Issue 1008 (2023-02-27): elementary OS 7.0, the benefits of boot environments, Purism offers lapdock for Librem 5, Ubuntu community flavours directed to drop Flatpak support for Snap |
| • Issue 1007 (2023-02-20): helloSystem 0.8.0, underrated distributions, Solus team working to repair their website, SUSE testing Micro edition, Canonical publishes real-time edition of Ubuntu 22.04 |
| • Issue 1006 (2023-02-13): Playing music with UBports on a PinePhone, quick command line and shell scripting questions, Fedora expands third-party software support, Vanilla OS adds Nix package support |
| • Issue 1005 (2023-02-06): NuTyX 22.12.0 running CDE, user identification numbers, Pop!_OS shares COSMIC progress, Mint makes keyboard and mouse options more accessible |
| • Issue 1004 (2023-01-30): OpenMandriva ROME, checking the health of a disk, Debian adopting OpenSnitch, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1003 (2023-01-23): risiOS 37, mixing package types, Fedora seeks installer feedback, Sparky offers easier persistence with USB writer |
| • Issue 1002 (2023-01-16): Vanilla OS 22.10, Nobara Project 37, verifying torrent downloads, Haiku improvements, HAMMER2 being ports to NetBSD |
| • Issue 1001 (2023-01-09): Arch Linux, Ubuntu tests new system installer, porting KDE software to OpenBSD, verifying files copied properly |
| • Issue 1000 (2023-01-02): Our favourite projects of all time, Fedora trying out unified kernel images and trying to speed up shutdowns, Slackware tests new kernel, detecting what is taking up disk space |
| • Issue 999 (2022-12-19): Favourite distributions of 2022, Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releasing security patches for 16.04, Haiku working on new ports |
| • Issue 998 (2022-12-12): OpenBSD 7.2, Asahi Linux enages video hardware acceleration on Apple ARM computers, Manjaro drops proprietary codecs from Mesa package |
| • Issue 997 (2022-12-05): CachyOS 221023 and AgarimOS, working with filenames which contain special characters, elementary OS team fixes delta updates, new features coming to Xfce |
| • Issue 996 (2022-11-28): Void 20221001, remotely shutting down a machine, complex aliases, Fedora tests new web-based installer, Refox OS running on real hardware |
| • Issue 995 (2022-11-21): Fedora 37, swap files vs swap partitions, Unity running on Arch, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for more devices |
| • Issue 994 (2022-11-14): Redcore Linux 2201, changing the terminal font size, Fedora plans Phosh spin, openSUSE publishes on-line manual pages, disabling Snap auto-updates |
| • Issue 993 (2022-11-07): Static Linux, working with just a kernel, Mint streamlines Flatpak management, updates coming to elementary OS |
| • Issue 992 (2022-10-31): Lubuntu 22.10, setting permissions on home directories, Linux may drop i486, Fedora delays next version for OpenSSL bug |
| • Issue 991 (2022-10-24): XeroLinux 2022.09, learning who ran sudo, exploring firewall tools, Rolling Rhino Remix gets a fresh start, Fedora plans to revamp live media |
| • Issue 990 (2022-10-17): ravynOS 0.4.0, Lion Linux 3.0, accessing low numbered network ports, Pop!_OS makes progress on COSMIC, Murena launches new phone |
| • Issue 989 (2022-10-10): Ubuntu Unity, kernel bug causes issues with Intel cards, Canonical offers free Ubuntu Pro subscriptions, customizing the command line prompt |
| • Issue 988 (2022-10-03): SpiralLinux 11.220628, finding distros for older equipment and other purposes, SUSE begins releasing ALP prototypes, Debian votes on non-free firmware in installer |
| • Issue 987 (2022-09-26): openSUSE's MicroOS, converting people to using Linux, pfSense updates base system and PHP, Python 2 dropped from Arch |
| • Issue 986 (2022-09-19): Porteus 5.0, remotely wiping a hard drive, a new software centre for Ubuntu, Proxmox offers offline updates |
| • Issue 985 (2022-09-12): Garuda Linux, using root versus sudo, UBports on the Fairphone 4, Slackware reverses change to grep |
| • Issue 984 (2022-09-05): deepin 23 Preview, watching for changing to directories, Mint team tests Steam Deck, Devuan posts fix for repository key expiry |
| • Issue 983 (2022-08-29): Qubes OS 4.1.1, Alchg Linux, immutable operating systems, Debian considers stance on non-free firmware, Arch-based projects suffer boot issue |
| • Issue 982 (2022-08-22): Peropesis 1.6.2, KaOS strips out Python 2 and PulseAudio, deepin becomes independent, getting security update notifications |
| • Issue 981 (2022-08-15): Linux Lite 6.0, defining desktop environments and window managers, Mint releases upgrade tool, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 980 (2022-08-08): Linux Mint 21, Pledge on Linux, SparkyLinux updates classic desktop packages, Peppermint OS experiments with Devuan base |
| • Issue 979 (2022-08-01): KaOS 2022.06 and KDE Plasma 5.25, terminating processes after a set time, GNOME plans Secure Boot check |
| • Issue 978 (2022-07-25): EndeavourOS 22.6, Slax explores a return to Slackware, Ubuntu certified with Dell's XPS 13, Linux running on Apple's M2 |
| • Issue 977 (2022-07-18): EasyOS 4.2, transferring desktop themes between distros, Tails publishes list of updates, Zevenet automates Let's Encrypt renewals |
| • Issue 976 (2022-07-11): NixOS 22.05, making a fake webcam, exploring the Linux scheduler, Debian publishes updated media |
| • Issue 975 (2022-07-04): Murena One running /e/OS, where are all the openSUSE distributions, Fedora to offer unfiltered Flathub access |
| • Issue 974 (2022-06-27): AlmaLinux 9.0, the changing data of DistroWatch's database, UBports on the Pixel 3a, Tails and GhostBSD publish hot fixes |
| • Issue 973 (2022-06-20): openSUSE 15.4, collecting distro media, FreeBSD status report, Ubuntu Core with optional real-time kernel |
| • Issue 972 (2022-06-13): Rolling Rhino Remix, SambaBox 4.1, SUSE team considers future of SUSE and openSUSE Leap, Tails improves Tor Connection Assistant |
| • Issue 971 (2022-06-06): ChimeraOS 2022.01.03, Lilidog 22.04, NixOS gains graphical installer, Mint replaces Bluetooth stack and adopts Timeshift, how to change a MAC address |
| • Issue 970 (2022-05-30): Tails 5.0, taking apart a Linux distro, Ubuntu users seeing processes terminated, Budgie team plans future of their desktop |
| • Full list of all issues |
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