DistroWatch Weekly |
Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip. (Tips this week: 0, value: US$0.00) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Why review broken stuff? (by Roger Brown on 2023-04-10 01:39:37 GMT from Australia)
I can accept that an important part of the Distrowatch function is to explore the new stuff as it appears. But is there any point in publishing reviews that simply report that the distro or software in question failed?
I suggest that detracts from the site. I'd rather see reviews of stuff that DOES work.
2 • "if a specific process is running" (by Greg Zeng on 2023-04-10 02:16:19 GMT from Australia)
In the old Linux, CLI only, this current Distrowatch gave the correct answer. For the current users, the answer is: Graphic User Interface (GUI) users: NO !! This arrogance explains why most users of Linux based systems, avoid Linux. The best GUI based system is Gkrellm. A very crippled version exists for Windows. In Linux, the best version is available only in PCLOS, a spastic version of an unpopular RPM based system, IMHO. GKrellm however only allows the top three processes to be displayed, instead of the default top two processes. HTOP and its versions is extremely difficult to use. It is available for most (all?) Linux systems. However clumsy it is, it uses only alpha-numerics, because GUI & graphics are not used in old Linux systems. Linux coders are too negligent and lazy to care about the potential bulk of operating system users, as the history of Linux shows, in my professional opinion.
3 • system reviews. (by Bobbie Sellers on 2023-04-10 02:30:48 GMT from United States)
Jesse kindly tries out everything in order to write the column and to tell us which distributions are not yet working as advertised. How can you tell if a distribution is not working unless you try it. If is not yet working very well then that information is quite useful.
I used to try out distributions for SF-LUG so that I could post notes to the members about what was not working.
4 • @1 Why review broken stuff? (by Greg Zeng on 2023-04-10 02:35:32 GMT from Australia)
Australia, New Zealand read Distrowatch first, world-wide. Distrowatch is mainly a lone, weakly resourced publication, that cannot use any multi-talented publishing team of researchers and writers, at these current times. There are other web sites trying to slowly move into the Distrowatch niche, but also lack the necessary management talent. My fellow Australian is expecting a level of technical journalism that does not yet exist in the computer world. The wealthier technical areas (armaments & finances) do have this. The lesser talents prefer only commenting, in a "nice" way, about the small fry. Less litigation, less likely to handle any kind of hostility & backlash. Linux has very major flaws, obvious to all Chief Information Officers. Linux cannot handle GUI, User-friendliness, advanced hardware, nor needs of real human users. Hence the extreme popularity of the alternatives to Linux: Windows, Apple and Android. Senior technical writers know that these lesser Linux operating systems show the weaknesses and necessary cures that might bypass the major Linux brands. Some of these writers dare to allow the general public know about the serious flaws in Linux operating systems. Snap, appimage, BTRFS, NTFS, EXT 4, htop, gkrellm, RPM, X and Wayland display systems, etc. Privately we know this. Publically we are afraid to tell this to the open world.
5 • Kodi (by denflen on 2023-04-10 02:40:36 GMT from United States)
I have been using Kodi on my linux desktop (Lubuntu) for several years. I don't use the package from Lubuntu, prefering to get the PPA from the Kodi website. And, yes, it is confusing at first. But like everything else, it gets easier from usage. Adding and removing addons can be time consuming and redundant. But there are plenty of helpful websites to be found. I have never found anything that comes close to a full feature media center when finally set up and configured to my taste and need.
6 • Response to denfien's comments on Kodi (by Steve K on 2023-04-10 03:03:11 GMT from United States)
Have you tried Jellyfin? It's a totally awesome media center and runs on on Linux, Windows and MacOS. I absolutely love it and it's way better and more intuitive than Kodi which I've used in the past, with a lot of frustration!
7 • More on Jellyfin media center (by Steve K on 2023-04-10 03:11:45 GMT from United States)
P.S. Jellyfin is very adaptable and the Jellyfin client software can run on Linux, Windows, MacOS, Smart TV's, Amazon Fire Stick and Roku!
8 • Distribution (by Linuxseekers on 2023-04-10 03:29:04 GMT from Malaysia)
Lately, only Leap and Tumbleweed are the best for all old and new desktop PC and notebooks. Religiously use MATE because i can resize icon folder individually AND ESPECIALLY stretch .png or .jpeg files as big as possible to refer to tables of information swiftly, so that my customer would think that i have all the info at my fingertips.
9 • Re: Kodi KDE Connect controls (by Pat on 2023-04-10 05:15:16 GMT from United States)
You do not need to use KDE Connect to control Kodi from a mobile device - the developers maintain their own remote control application called Kore which can be found in all major app stores, including F-Droid. Kore gives you full control over playback, as well as the rest of the user interface.
10 • grep (by Any on 2023-04-10 05:21:58 GMT from Spain)
pgrep bash 3359
ps aux | grep bash hp 3359 0.0 0.0 9860 3680 pts/1 Ss 07:20 0:00 /bin/bash hp 3366 0.0 0.0 8748 644 pts/1 S+ 07:20 0:00 grep bash
11 • Kodi (by Dave on 2023-04-10 05:34:04 GMT from Australia)
I have, since the olsd Windows Media Cente days, tried pretty much every configuration of media PC used for watching live TV or streamed movies.
The conclusion? What I use now, a PC with a web browser. Don't worry about addons, apps with ads etc. Forget Android, LibreElec, Mac Mini, just get a generic x86_64 PC. Put your OS and your browser of choice on it with an ad blocker and everything will just work. And without ads. Use an air mouse style remote with a keyboard on it and you're sorted.
12 • LibreELEC & Kodi (by Simon Plaistowe on 2023-04-10 06:29:09 GMT from New Zealand)
Well I definitely recommend Kodi as a set-top media player. My household runs three LibreELEC boxes (two old desktop boxes & one old laptop with the screen amputated). One for the lounge & one for each bedroom TV. Our music & movies are stored on my server for common access from all 3 boxes, also we get on-demand & live TV via add-ons. Easy to install, configue, upgrade & duplicate once you know what you're doing. Never had any major issues for many years now, although Jesse has obviously proven that "mileage may vary".
13 • To Peeking Behind The Curtain (by Dan on 2023-04-10 07:56:55 GMT from United States)
There is another distro that does everything besides MX Linux (which I don't use), and that one is Salix.
14 • @4 Why review broken stuff? (by Roger Brown on 2023-04-10 09:26:53 GMT from Australia)
@4 You say "Linux cannot handle GUI, User-friendliness, advanced hardware, nor needs of real human users" however I disagree. There are many distros that do all these things and THEY are the ones we should feature with our DW reviews.
There are also distros that are not really ready for public consumption and IDEALLY they should not even be listed on the DW site, far less reviewed.
I do however recognise that fully vetting every potential new listing may not be possible for the site owners though the IDEAL situation would be that if it doesn't work, it doesn't get listed.
15 • Broken Stuff (by DachshundMan on 2023-04-10 09:32:18 GMT from United Kingdom)
@1: I am happy to have Distrowatch review broken stuff sometimes. It means that I know (1) not to try it or (2) if I have tried it and had a problem then I am not alone. Hopefully the developers of the broken distros read Jesse's reviews and say to themselves, Houston we have a problem.
As a more general point, broken distros do not help the cause of trying to convert people to using Linux.
@4: Linux distros are not always perfect but neither is Windows. However, I find it does all I need and given that it is used to run most of the internet so do many professional organisations.
16 • LibreELEC (by Peter on 2023-04-10 10:26:44 GMT from United Kingdom)
I've been using LibreELEC for years and years, without major issues (On R-Pi's). I tend to wipe and reinstall at every major release ...My rating would be 10/10 actually ... all the best, Pete
17 • Kodi (by James on 2023-04-10 11:46:52 GMT from United States)
Tried Kodi, don't use it. For myself I just didn't see a need for it.
18 • Kodi (by Dr.J on 2023-04-10 13:13:33 GMT from Germany)
I tried Kodi on a Lubuntu computer for some time years ago and was also quite enthusiastic about the look and operation at the beginning. The playback of HiRes audio files was also convincing. But in the long run, the programme had too many weaknesses at that time, if you compare it with good Windows programmes like Media-Monkey or JRiver. In particular, the administration of large collections was very weak (creating and managing playlists, checking the consistency of the MediaTags, adding artwork, etc.). In addition, the handling of all the add-ons was annoying, skins suddenly no longer existed, etc. Unfortunately, typical Linux programmes (from Amarok to Foobar to VLC) have not convinced me either, so today I have a combination of MediaMonkey (for administration via a Windows10 virtual box) and NeutronMP (for playback on an Android tablet).
19 • Kodi (by Friar Tux on 2023-04-10 13:21:31 GMT from Canada)
@11 (Dave) Good to see I'm not the only one to use the PC/browser combo. Like @17 (James), I tried Kodi - even before it was called Kodi - but found it quite overbearing and complicated for what it was supposed to be. (It did seem to do well as a separate, unique desktop environment, but would require a bit of re-learning to properly use.) LibreELEC I have not heard of till now. I'll check it out when I'm done here. For offline media, I use VLC media player (Audacious for offline music only). For online media it's Vivaldi browser on my laptop. I also have/use the Spotify app (of course), and an AppImage app that plays YouTube music videos. Finally, if I'm working on my laptop and still want music, I have an old laptop hooked up to a speaker set that can play offline, from my collection of music, or online with one of the mention apps. (It's a great little system, if I say so myself.)
20 • Linux Media Player SMPLAYER works well on Fedora (by Jeffersonian on 2023-04-10 14:40:18 GMT from Poland)
Linux Media Player SMPLAYER (mplayer frontend) from rpmfusion-free (fedora repos) works quite well on Fedora for several years.
Once in a while it creates ffmepg dependencies issues, then the brute force solution to remove it reinstall later works. The subtitles feature is great but does not always work, then do it manually. Now I rarely use VLC, still a great app.
21 • RPM packages issues (by Jeffersonian on 2023-04-10 14:54:40 GMT from Poland)
1) They don't always work well across RPM based linux distros. Why an RPM package for OpenSuse (for example) would not work on Fedora ? (Often) It seems that dependencies and softlinks are part of the issue.
2) Is anyone aware of an RPM validator program ? If it does not exist it would be useful.
3) Many Linux related magazines and very popular commercial Linux apps now don't even support RPM packages, which is a shame, because (my opinion) RPM based Linux Distros are often the best, the easiest to to use, maintain, update etc... Note that this relate to #2, where OpenSuse was in the past a good activist (Is it still true?)
4) It was a (long) time when creating a reliable RPM package from a tarzipped file using checkinstall worked very well. No so true anymore.
5) Would "distrowatch" care to write about this? Ideally do a bit of follow up on apps, (foss & corprate) as it does for distros etc... ?
22 • RPM packages (by David on 2023-04-10 15:53:05 GMT from United Kingdom)
@21: If APT packages generally work on different distros, it's because the dirstos that use it have based their repositories on Debian's. RPM distros are a diverse bunch that have been independent since the last century, even if they started as forks in the first place. The problem is that dependencies are naturally given not as the files needed but as the packages which contain them. Thus the Suse and Red Hat families may both contain a particular library, but it comes in differently-named packages. There's no way to solve this, other than persuading all RPM distros to co-ordinate their package names. At server level this happens, with Suse and Red Hat using the Linux Standard Base, but it's never going to happen with the vast amount of software used on PCs.
23 • Using TAB TAB autocompletion to see running processes (by K.U. on 2023-04-10 16:11:35 GMT from Finland)
Try this:
killall TAB TAB
Doing this shows the names of the running processess which can be killed in concise format.
One can use this trick just to see the running processes even in case one doesn't want to kill anything.
24 • psgrep (by Steve on 2023-04-10 16:47:04 GMT from United States)
If you have access to psgrep the suggestions above have potential.
I didn't even know the command existed as I created a simple script a while back to accomplish a somewhat similar task that fits my needs (and maybe yours as well). I suppose the key line could be simplified in some way but it does what I want the way it is so I've never bothered to tweak it further
I stick this in the /usr/local/bin/ sub-directory and fix ownership and permissions as needed, though other options work too:
#!/bin/bash # # ps2 # # list filtered process status with correct column headers # # Author: Steve # Date: 17 Oct 2006 # #------------------------------------------------------------------------- # 17 Oct 06 - v1.0 - sml - initial creation # 20 Oct 06 - v1.1 - sml - remove grep and ps2 from output # 01 Aug 12 - v1.2 - sml - made grep case insensitive #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
echo "" if [ $# = 2 ];then ps $1 | head -1 ; ps $1 | grep -v grep | grep -v ps2 | grep -i $2 exit 0 else echo "Usage: $0 SWITCHES STRING" echo "" echo " SWITCHES - i.e. -aux or -ef" echo " STRING - string to filter ps command on, i.e. mail" echo "" exit 1 fi
#---eof---
25 • psgrep (continued) (by Steve on 2023-04-10 16:53:29 GMT from United States)
When I saved my comment above the indenting in my script was lost when leading spaces were deleted. Honest... the indents were there when I pasted the script in the comment field... 8^(
26 • Broken Distro's (by bittermann on 2023-04-10 17:35:34 GMT from United States)
I have to agree with some of the other comments. If a distro is truly broken just trying to install it I say don't waste the website/author's valuable and finite time. Just a sentence or two in the weekly about the fail and move on. There are plenty of others to test.
27 • distro reviews (by rolls up sleeves on 2023-04-10 22:10:06 GMT from New Zealand)
I find the reviews useful as reading about the struggles and pitfalls borders on entertainment. However, the reviews I really dig into are those where a serious distro gets a new release given a workout.
The hey-look-i-built-my-first-iso cases, fraught with comedic failures, get old after about the third laugh. And yet sometimes these crazy edge case distros have some good ideas that could advance Linux and which some mainstream ones could learn from.
I agree with @26 that a short set of notes would be useful, much like the ideal reviews - list pros, list cons... and then let us move on to feast on the good distros (in the top 50 at least).
My 2c, now 4c due to inflation..
28 • defining a Broken Distro (by Simon Plaistowe on 2023-04-10 22:29:29 GMT from New Zealand)
Stuff's been said about broken distros & wasted review time. All valid points I'm sure, but my point is this: should I bypass a distro because it's received a "broken" verdict from a reviewer? For example, after reading Jesse's review in this issue of DW, many of you may have decided not to bother trying Kodi or LibreELEC. Yet my entire household has been using LibreELEC daily for many years, also I've on occasion used Kodi on a Linux Mint desktop. I'd rate it highly, fulfils my needs and never had any problems to speak of. No "broken" distro in sight. So... mileage may vary!
29 • ouch words (by 8-ball on 2023-04-11 02:49:28 GMT from New Zealand)
@4 : "Distrowatch is mainly a lone, weakly resourced publication, that cannot use any multi-talented publishing team of researchers and writers, at these current times."
That is very harsh Greg. Maybe you should then make some effort and go and create something better. Methinks very soon you will find out just how much hard work and long hours go into such a labour of love.
A review of a broken distro serves all of us as a warning beacon. The tests are not all that demanding, so a distro should at least meet these minimum standards. Many don't.
Jesse & team - thank you for keeping this valuable resource going all these years.
Just this month the Ferengi Monster of Acquisitions has dumped two websites that were the industry go-to in their fields: DPReview (photography) and BookDepository (books). May DW never get acquired and absorbed by some conglomerate.
30 • DW Reviews, Linux Satisfaction (by Otis on 2023-04-11 20:27:36 GMT from United States)
@4 What an arrogant crock. Listed in that post are all the successful aspects of many Linux distros. That post up there has an air of attempting ot herd users away from Linux in the direction of Windows, Mac, and Android.
Those are fine OSs in their own right, for the most part, so enjoy. But coming here to tear down the distro family that is the focus (with BSD) of this site is arrogant indeed.
As to the review(s) of some distros that are not (yet) up to snuff, good on Jesse et al for providing that to us, serving the obvious purpose of a bit of a warning, and in addition, serving the community at large one of the best aspects of DW: Showcasing the full range of what is offered out there in the Linux/BSD world. Why on Earth whittle it down to just fully polished fully functional works? Let it all be shown.
31 • Linux and DW reviews (by Albert on 2023-04-11 23:03:43 GMT from United States)
I fully agree and support the opinion expressed by @29 and @30. Every week I look forward to reading the DW issue which I've come to like very much. Good job, Jesse, please keep on this and thank you so much.
32 • Reviewing the good AND the Not quite ready (by artytux on 2023-04-12 10:55:44 GMT from Australia)
It's great to read Jesse's reviews about the not ready Yet distros, as many other have commented, knowing Jesse had a storm within the distro helps all of us here,
Recently 2 weeks ago got to install MXLinux and this desktop computer finally complied, why now and not several times in the past few years, Don't know why, just grateful. Hardware IS a big factor in Linuxland.
Some of the above comments do read as trying to get Linux user to move away from Tux, not likely.
To all the DistroWatch team Thank You. =- "Keep on keeping on doing what you do best !"
33 • As promised... (by Friar Tux on 2023-04-12 13:16:37 GMT from Canada)
As promised in @19, I gave LibreELEC a quick run around the block. It appears, as advertised, to be a minimal OS to just run Kodi, which appears to be used as the desktop environment. Cool. I found that out before I even knew what LibreELEC actually was. I liked playing with Kodi as a file manager and DE, but I prefer my "daily driver" DE to be of a more traditional type. I only spent a short time on LibreELEC and Kodi - I'll leave a more detailed review to Jesse and Company. And, yes, I also think DW does a fantastic job of reviewing Linux, BSD, etc.. The good and the "not-ready-yet". I look forward to Sunday night (here in Regina, Canada), at about 7:30, when the new "DW Weekly" pops in. Keep up the great work DW, a lot of us actually DO appreciate it.
34 • @4 What? (by Kazlu on 2023-04-13 14:12:40 GMT from France)
"Linux cannot handle GUI, User-friendliness, advanced hardware, nor needs of real human users. Hence the extreme popularity of the alternatives to Linux: Windows, Apple and Android."
I *strongly* disagree. You talk about Linux as if it was still in the same state as in the early 2000s. This time is long gone. In my personal experience (IT profesional as well, using both Linux and Windows), most big Linux distributions are better than Windows on all the aspects you mention. Yes, you read that right!
- handling GUI: Windows graphical environment crashes so much more than any Linux equivalent. It cannot handle its own, unique GUI, while most big Linux distributions are stable despite the fact that they handle several desktop environments.
- user-friendliness: this is a subjective area. However I find that since Windows 7 (which was very fine), Windows' user-friendliness has decreased. Every instance of Windows since 8 seems to be the old one with new elements stacking on top of it, sometimes duplicating functionality, sometines generating conflicts. It becomes a mess to adjust settings as simple as power management.
- advanced hardware: you are right... as long as we are talking about *new* hardware. And, well, that hardware is generally designed for other operating systems, so Linux developpers need time to retro-engineer what has been done for Windows for example (except in the rare cases where Linux drivers are also provided by the manufacturer, but that is not very frequent). During that period of time, sure, Windows works better. But in my experience, for almost every piece of hardware Linux support gets better and better over time while Windows support gets dropped, up to the point where the hardware is better managed in Linux than in Windows. And then the intrinsically better resource management of Linux VS Windows enables you to do more than with Windows with the same hardware.
- needs of real human users: what do real human users need, in your opinion? I am a real human user and I find my needs are far better covered by Linux than by any other operating system.
I can see only three situations in which you would feel limited by Linux, compared to Windows:
- You absolutely need some software only available in Windows
- You absolutely need to use some very recent hardware, you cannot use a replacement that would be 2 years or so older and you are ready to see support be dropped 5 years after.
- You have decades of experience with Windows and have only used Linux for a couple of days.
Now you may have noticed I mostly spoke about Linux VS Windows. That is because Linux is generally used on hardware designed for Windows. MacOS and Android work way better than Windows but have their own application environment that makes comparrison harder. Android does a pretty good job at being a quality operating system working well on a large variety of hardware (thank you, Linux kernel!), but I feel the available software is still not enough to fully replace a Linux computer. One day, maybe. MacOS is very good quality but you have very little choice of hardware and software is all or nothing: either it's great or it does not exist for Mac. And when support for your Mac is dropped, you're in dire straits.
"Snap, appimage, BTRFS, NTFS, EXT 4, htop, gkrellm, RPM, X and Wayland display systems, etc."
I don't understand. Are you quoting every Linux item that has ever been criticized by at least one person? Oh, well, no, you are mentioning NTFS which is actually a Windows technology... So what do you mean? And what could you possibly have to hold against ext4, or even btrfs or X?
"Privately we know this. Publically we are afraid to tell this to the open world."
It is fine if you think that yourself. But again, I strongly disagree.
Number of Comments: 34
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.
|
Archives |
• Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
• Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
• Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
• Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
• Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
• Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
• Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
• Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
• Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
• Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
• Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
• Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
• Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
• Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
• Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
• Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
• Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
• Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
• Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
• Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
• Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
• Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
• Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
• Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
• Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
• Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
• Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
• Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20 |
• Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
• Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
• Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
• Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
• Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
• Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
• Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
• Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
• Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
• Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
• Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
• Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
• Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
• Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
• Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
• Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
• Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
• Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
• Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
• Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
• Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
• Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
• Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
• Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
• 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 | 
Window Maker Live
Window Maker Live is a Debian-based Linux distribution that applies the Window Maker window manager as the default graphical user interface and integrates well-known open-source components in an attractive and usable user interface. The distribution includes integrated GNOME components.
Status: Active
|
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.
|
|