 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1016, 24 April 2023 |
Welcome to this year's 17th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The April release season is now well underway with several of the major distributions publishing new versions. This week saw the launch of Fedora 38 and Ubuntu 23.04, along with new versions from other well known projects such as deepin and Tails. We share details on these releases and other new versions of Linux distributions below. In addition to these new releases, the Solus team announced their plans to start publishing new install media in the near future and overhaul the project to avoid issues like the ones which took the distribution off-line earlier this year. We link to their plans in our News section. We also report on Canonical's efforts to speed up Snap packages while Manjaro fixes issues in their installer. Plus we share highlights from FreeBSD's latest quarterly status report while KaOS celebrates its tenth anniversary. This week we begin by sharing a review of Qubes OS, an unusual project which strives to isolate a user's tasks and data, preventing a problem with one component or file from affecting the rest of the operating system. Jeff Siegel shares his experiences with Qubes OS in our Feature Story. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we discuss monitoring how much data flows through a computer's network card and how to track this information. Do you use any tools to monitor network bandwidth? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. Plus we are pleased to share the torrents we're seeding. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: Qubes OS 4.1.2
- News: Ubuntu improves Snap performance, Solus plans to resume development, Manjaro fixes installer bugs, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS celebrates tenth anniversary
- Questions and answers: Tracking bandwidth usage
- Released last week: Fedora 38, Ubuntu 23.04, deepin 20.9
- Torrent corner: Fedora, KDE neon, Lubuntu, Tails, Ubuntu
- Opinion poll: Monitoring network usage
- New distributions: PorteuX, GetFreeOS
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (by Jeff Siegel) |
Qubes OS 4.1.2
Paranoia, as a general rule, is not a good thing. Yet, somehow, when it comes to Linux, the word takes on a shade of meaning that seems less, well, paranoid - more about security and privacy than tin hats and radio waves from the ether.
In this, it's not so much about looking under the bed to see if some nefarious government agency is spying on us. Rather, we want to keep our systems safe from the prying algorithms of corporate capitalism; stop the avalanche of spam that overwhelms so many others; and protect ourselves from the chance that some hacker with time on her hands would get a giggle from taking over our machine.
Hence, the varied and assorted Linux distros and apps designed to safeguard privacy and security, be it the Tor Browser or Qubes OS. The latter project describes itself as a "Free and open-source, security-oriented operating system for single-user desktop computing."
Which, after a week or so of playing with Qubes, I can say, "Damn right it is!"
It takes a lot for a distro to impress me, and I'm hardly in Qubes OS's target audience - a freelance writer whose Internet privacy was compromised years ago with my first AOL e-mail address. But the distro both fascinated and transfixed me, and one bit of progress in making it work made me want to move to the next bit, and then the next and the next. I don't know that I'd ever use Qubes as my daily driver, but I'm glad it's there if I do need it for that purpose.
The caveat here - and it's a big one: Qubes is not for the faint of heart. It's complicated and demanding, and it needs to be run in just such a way or you won't be able to use it effectively. This is not because, like some interesting projects (EasyOS comes to mind), that it's a work in progress. It isn't. Qubes is just that hard-wired and focused on security. How many other distros require user permission to get a USB mouse to work?
Qubes OS 4.1.2 -- The default desktop environment
(full image size: 29kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Getting started
This version is Qubes 4.1.2, a patch release aimed at consolidating all the security and bug fixes, as well as upstream template operating system upgrades, that have occurred since the Qubes 4.1.0 release in February 2022. It includes the 5.15.94-1 kernel and the ISO is 5.7GB.
And why do "template operating system upgrades" matter? Because Qubes uses a series of virtual machines, which revolve around templates for Fedora, Debian, and a Windows-like system (called Whonix) to isolate each portion of the user's work. Want to work with Fedora? Then there is a virtual machine that uses a Fedora template (in this case, Fedora 37), or "Qube", that can be set up to separate business, home, hobby, and side gigs - so that personal information, applications, e-mails and all the rest are kept contained in the Qube used for just that one purpose.
Yes, it sounds convoluted, but it's supposed to be, the idea being that if you browse the Internet for your business, the browsing data will be kept apart from any browsing data you accumulate for personal use. At its most simple, this means your boss won't know you're looking at football scores while you're working. At its most sophisticated, it's the kind of security that journalists at the Free Press Foundation need to keep their sources private and away from the prying eyes of a secret police snoop. The snoop might be able to pick up the reporter's trail during an Amazon shopping visit, but that's as far as the snoop would get - the information in the personal Qube, while the reporter's contacts would be isolated in another Qube.
As such, instructions and documentation are important when installing and operating the Qubes OS. Fortunately, it's straight forward, well-written, and easy to follow, even for those of us who don't normally approach a distro in this way. So do not - at the risk of frustration and aggravation - try to install Qubes without reading first, and reading carefully.
How do I know this? Because I assumed Qubes was like other distros, and had to go back and start over again three times.
First, your machine must support IOMMU-based virtualization, which is turned on in the BIOS. If it's not there or if it isn't turned on, Qubes OS won't install. My HP laptop's Intel board had the proper setting (Intel VT-D), but when I checked the BIOS, I didn't tick the box. So the distro failed to install, with a warning that my equipment wasn't compatible. So, once more, I went into the BIOS and (after reading the installation instructions more carefully to know which box to tick) Qubes OS loaded.
But the installation menu didn't have an option to run a live distro, which is supposed to be possible. Once more to the instructions, where I found it's not possible to run a live distro under Linux unless you use the command line and use dd to put the ISO on a thumb drive. Whoops, so much for using Etcher.
One would think, by this time, that I would have learned my lesson. But no - I ended up installing all three templates even though I really only needed one and which took an extra 20 minutes. Frankly, I was so flustered by this time that the Anaconda installer, which usually irritates me, seemed little more than a minor annoyance.
Finally...
Once the desktop appears, Qubes mostly looks like a typical Xfce desktop distro (but don't forget to input the disk password before you get to the desktop). There isn't much software, save for the Xfce system tools, Firefox, Tor Browser, and Thunderbird e-mail client, but that's by design. Adding software, like everything else, is containerized to keep the system secure. In this, the Xfce tools play a much more important role than normal. For instance, the panel's hardware icon is used to see what's mounted, including webcams and the mouse, as well as thumb drives. And it's used to mount the thumb drives to the necessary VM. The update icon is probably the best way to handle updates, since the various VMs are each updated separately.
Qubes OS 4.1.2 -- Connecting to the Tor network
(full image size: 82kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
It's also worth noting here that the system boots to what's called Dom0, which controls the hardware and hosts the user interface. Dom0 is separate from the various VMs; think of it as the center of the OS and the various VMs work off of it. For instance, if you take a screen shot of the Xfce desktop in Dom0, you'll need to copy the file to a VM so you can move it to a USB thumb drive - which can only be attached to a VM, and not to Dom0 - to use in a review like this. And while you can right-click in Thunar to move files between VMs, you need to use the command line to move them from Dom0 to a VM.
Yes, it's complicated, but do it a couple of times and it makes perfect sense (even if it's never completely intuitive).
Qubes OS 4.1.2 -- Browsing the Internet in Firefox
(full image size: 203kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Adding software takes the same secure approach. It uses packages and default repositories and the command line, but the software has to be installed to a specific VM using that VM's template. One size does not fit all; putting LibreOffice in a work VM will not install it to a home VM. If you have a series of Fedora and Debian VMs, you will need to install the software using the appropriate method, APT or DNF. It's also possible to add software from other than the default repositories, but the documentation doesn't mince words: How do "risky" and "not recommended" sound? Needless to say, adding software is done by proxy, without a direct network connection.
Qubes OS 4.1.2 -- The Qubes Manager utility
(full image size: 145kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
As with moving files, the package installation process is not necessarily as straightforward as it sounds.
Finally, a few words - and much high praise - for the documentation and the user forums. I had no trouble finding answers to my questions, even when I used DuckDuckGo to search (since it was a Qubes OS story). The website instructions were written clearly and the screenshots illustrated the process exactly. I had no problem deciphering how to move files from Dom0 to a VM using the command line, which can be as confusing as trying to read a book without wearing my glasses.
In the end, Qubes OS is not for everyone. Even those who might need it have to be well acquainted with how an operating system works, as opposed to how to use an operating system. But if you have the knowledge and want to be secure, there are few better ways to be do just that.
Qubes OS 4.1.2 -- Adjusting the look of the desktop
(full image size: 202kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
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Hardware used for this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an HP EliteBook Folio 9480m laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4310u, 2.6GHz
- Storage: 240GB SSD
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Networking: Intel Wireless 7260 802.11ac dual band Wi-Fi+Bluetooth
- Display: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics
When he is not testing out new versions of Linux distributions, Jeff Siegel can be found writing about all things related to wine at Wine Curmudgeon.
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Visitor supplied rating
Qubes OS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.8/10 from 36 review(s).
Have you used Qubes OS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Ubuntu improves Snap performance, Solus plans to resume development, Manjaro fixes installer bugs, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS celebrates tenth anniversary
Canonical has been addressing one of the key concerns people express about the company's Snap package format. Specifically, start-up performance of Snap packages, such as Firefox, is a common problem people discuss. Canonical has been trying to address the load times of Snap packages, particularly Firefox, in a number of ways. One of the approaches involves an improvement to how the kernel deals with squashfs archives which are how Snap packages are distributed. "Ubuntu 22.10 introduced a new kernel configuration that enables the use of multi-threaded CPU decompression for squashfs. This should add further reductions to Firefox start up times. The benefits of this change will vary depending on the specs of your machine, with newer CPU generations seeing the biggest gains. This change was also recently backported to Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS. Please let us know if you experience a significant improvement in our Firefox Snap performance discourse thread."
* * * * *
The Solus project has had its share of problems in recent months. The distribution's website was knocked off-line around the beginning of 2023 and it took weeks to resurrect the project's infrastructure. This, coupled with some communication issues and a lack of new install media for the rolling release project in the past 20 months, has raised a lot of concerns about the future of Solus. The Solus team has rallied though and reports they are trying to get the project back on track. In a blog post the team has outlined new roles, plans to make maintenance flexible, and announced their intention to publish new install media. "In the context of the above aims, the primary focus for the foreseeable future will be on delivering new ISOs with updated -lts and -current kernels, as well as new desktop environment / stack / framework releases. This will enable Solus to once again be installed on more recent hardware. In terms of tooling and features, we are currently focusing on maintenance and quality-of-life tweaks to the developer / packager experience. Discussions are ongoing regarding the current workflows and how to improve them going into the future. As we will be focusing on the next-generation of Solus, in the coming weeks we intend to evaluate our existing custom tooling and will come up with an individual plan for each."
* * * * *
Following our brief review of Manjaro Linux last week, some people were wondering what went wrong - whether the issues with getting a popular distribution like Manjaro installed were a hardware issue, user error, or a fault of the configuration used. One of the Manjaro team members reached out to gather more information and later reported they believe issues with the Calamares installer have been identified and fixed. The corrections are included in the latest development snapshots of Manjaro 22.1.0 which have since matured into a stable release.
* * * * *
The FreeBSD project has published a status update which outlines changes and ongoing work in all aspects of the FreeBSD operating system and infrastructure. The report talks about kernel and driver improvements, porting efforts, and work going into improve cloud-init support for FreeBSD. Work has also gone into making FreeBSD an OpenStack host: "This project aims to port key OpenStack components so that FreeBSD can function as an OpenStack host. In 2023 Q1, the big news is that we're able to spawn FreeBSD instances with bhyve(8) on the OpenStack platform. But there are still some major limitations regarding the capabilities of the spawned instances that need to be resolved: No self-service networks (only support the flat network); no network connectivity inside the instance; only support FreeBSD raw images (FreeBSD-13.1-RELEASE-amd64.raw tested); no disk resize; no console integration (need to use cu(1) command manually)." Additional information can be found in the project's status report.
* * * * *
The KaOS distribution is celebrating ten years of development. The project is marking the occasion by not only updating its regular install media, but also providing a development snapshot which includes a preview of KDE Plasma 6. "Not only is there a new stable ISO released, but to look forward to the next ten years, there is also a Plasma 6 preview ISO available. This ISO is not installable, only meant to test in Live mode. The installer Calamares is not ready for Qt 6/Plasma 6, nor are there many KDE Applications available in their Qt 6 version. Plasma 6 This ISO is only linked in the News item, not available from the Download page. Auto-login is not enabled, since it varies greatly, depending on hardware whether X or Wayland is the better session. So, SDDM will show you an empty username. Login name and password are live/live. Download Plasma 6 ISO." Additional information is provided in the project's news 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) |
Tracking bandwidth usage
Watching-the-packets-go asks: I want to find out how much total data I am using over my Internet connection. Is there a tool to monitor this?
DistroWatch answers: There are tools which will let you know how much data has been sent through your Internet connection since the interface was created, which typically happens when the computer boots.
On most distributions network data transfer can be tracked using either the ifconfig or ip commands. Running the ifconfig command with no arguments will list all of the network devices attached to the computer. Under each device we will see lines which look like this:
RX packets 424153 bytes 552060234 (526.4 MiB)
TX packets 74722 bytes 12435255 (11.8 MiB)
The RX line indicates received data, in this case 526MiB of data has been downloaded. The TX line indicates transmitted or sent data. In this case 11.8MiB of data has been uploaded.
In situations where we have several network devices attached to the computer, we can specify one device on the command line to see traffic statistics specific to just that one device. For instance, here I check the data statistics for my wireless card (wlan0):
ifconfig wlan0
Distributions which use the ip command can display data transmission statistics by running:
ip -s link
When we use the ip command the amount of information is shown in bytes (and packets). Here is a simplified example showing the relevant output of "ip -s link". It displays the name of the network device, wlan0, and both incoming and outgoing traffic:
wlan0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
| RX: bytes | packets |
| 545172803 | 417572 |
| TX: bytes | packets |
| 12103151 | 71810 |
The limitation of both of these commands is the traffic statistics are reset each time we reboot the system. If you are someone who shuts off their computer every day, you'll find each new day your traffic numbers will return to zero. For this reason, you might want to save the output from these commands in a text file prior to restarting the computer and then add them up later to get a total spanning the entire month.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
deepin 20.9
The deepin distribution has been updated to version 20.9. This is largely a bug-fix release from the project that develops a desktop Linux distribution based on the latest stable Debian and featuring the Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE): "The core goal of deepin 20.9 is to provide users with a stable system. This version does not integrate new system functions, it mainly focuses on fixing and optimizing stability issues present in the 20.8 version, in order to ensure system stability. Additions and optimizations: upgraded Qt to version 5.15.8; optimization of the height of the window tube title bar from 40 pixels to 24 pixels; updated system log viewer application; updated system photo album application; updated system drawing board application; updated system software package management application; supported devices with a boot partition and undamaged terminals to automatically repair the root file system in case of damage during the boot process; updated log collection tool; updated software package installer; updated terminal application; optimized the high-performance mode/balance mode strategy." Read the detailed release announcement, in Chinese or in English, for more details.
Fedora 38
The Fedora team have announced the release of Fedora 38. The new release offers the GNOME 44 desktop in the project's Workstation edition. The distribution now features shorter timeout delays when services shutdown, which makes shutting down or restarting the system faster. The DNF5 package manager has been introduced as a technology preview and users are invited to try it out and report on their experiences. "Fedora Workstation focuses on the desktop experience. As usual, Fedora Workstation features the latest GNOME release. GNOME 44 includes a lot of great improvements, including a new lock screen, a 'background apps' section on the quick menu, and improvements to accessibility settings. In addition, enabling third-party repositories now enables an unfiltered view of applications on Flathub. With this release, we've shortened the default timeout when services shut down. This helps your system power off faster - important when you need to grab your laptop and go. Of course, we produce more than just the Editions. Fedora Spins and Labs target a variety of audiences and use cases, including Fedora Comp Neuro, which provides tools for computational neuroscience, and desktop environments like Fedora LXQt, which provides a lightweight desktop environment. And, don't forget our alternate architectures: ARM AArch64, Power, and S390x." The release announcement and release notes offer additional information.
Fedora 38 -- Running the GNOME desktop
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Ubuntu MATE 23.04
Martin Wimpress has announced the release of Ubuntu MATE 23.04. The project's new version is a gentle upgrade from the previous short-term support release and includes version 1.26.1 of the MATE desktop. "Ubuntu MATE 23.04 is the least exciting Ubuntu MATE release ever. The good news is, if you liked Ubuntu MATE 22.10 then it is more of the same; just with better artwork! I entered this development cycle full of energy and enthusiasm off the back of the Ubuntu Summit in Prague, but then I was seriously ill and had a long stay in hospital. I'm recovering well and should be 100% in a couple of months. This setback and also changing jobs a few months ago has meant that I've not been able to invest the usual time and effort into Ubuntu MATE. I'm happy to say that I've been able to deliver another solid release with the help of the Ubuntu community. What changed since the Ubuntu MATE 22.10? Both MATE Desktop and Ayatana Indicators have seen some version bumps that fix an assortment of minor bugs; Flatpak is no longer installed by default, but can still be installed should you want to use it...." This release also includes the PipeWire media stack installed by default and offers version 6.2 of the Linux kernel. The release announcement and release notes offer additional details.
Kubuntu 23.04
Version 23.04 of the Kubuntu distribution has been announced. The project's latest release includes the KDE Plasma 5.27 desktop and PulseAudio has been replaced by PipeWire as the default audio server. "The Kubuntu team is happy to announce that Kubuntu 23.04 has been released, featuring the 'beautiful' KDE Plasma 5.27 simple by default, powerful when needed. Codenamed 'Lunar Lobster', Kubuntu 23.04 continues our tradition of giving you Friendly Computing by integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. Under the hood, there have been updates to many core packages, including a new 6.2-based kernel, KDE Frameworks 5.104, KDE Plasma 5.27 and KDE Gear 22.12. Kubuntu has seen many updates for other applications, both in our default install, and installable from the Ubuntu archive. Krita, Kdevelop, Yakuake and many many more applications are updated. Applications for core day-to-day usage are included and updated, such as Firefox, VLC and LibreOffice. PipeWire also replaces PulseAudio as the default audio server." The distribution's release announcement and release notes offer additional details.
Ubuntu 23.04
Canonical has announced the launch of Ubuntu 23.04 which carries the codename Lunar Lobster. The new release receives nine months of support and features the GNOME 44 desktop. This release also introduces a new system installer with Subiquity replacing the old Ubiquity installer. "Astrologers will be excited to discover a new constellation has appeared in the night sky ahead of the Ubuntu 23.04 launch next month. A rising Lunar Lobster is rumoured to bring good luck to IT managers looking to deploy and manage Ubuntu Desktop at scale. Also ascendant are Ubuntu gamers as the Steam snap moves closer to a stable release. The legacy Ubuntu Desktop installer is beginning its descent this year to be replaced by Subiquity, a new installer that aligns the desktop and server codebases alongside a refined first time user experience. Finally, the desktop environment will soon complete its transition to GNOME 44 to ensure good health and usability improvements for all users." Additional information and screenshots can be found in the company's release announcement and in the release notes.
Ubuntu 23.04 -- Running the GNOME desktop
(full image size: 2.7MB, resolution: 2880x1800 pixels)
Ubuntu Budgie 23.04
The Ubuntu Budgie team have announced the availablity of a new release, version 23.04, which will be supported through to January 2024. The new reelase features software from the GNOME 44 sack, version 6.2 of the Linux kernel, and Budgie 10.7.1: "This is a standard release supported for 9 months packed full of all sorts of new capabilities. If you want a well tested and longer term support then our 22.04.2 LTS version is supported for 3 years. New with this release is a full backport of all the budgie components for our 22.04 LTS user community. We warmly recommend this combination - great stability with the very latest 'everything budgie'. The new release has many new core updates as well as the latest version of budgie itself: The kernel is v6.2; GNOME 44 stack with mutter 12; budgie-desktop is 10.7.1; enhanced hotcorner capabilities with edge support; superb and intuitive tiling support using either/both mouse and keyboard." Further information is provided in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
Ubuntu Cinnamon 23.04
The Ubuntu Cinnamon project has published its eighth release and its first release as an official Ubuntu community edition. Ubuntu Cinnamon 23.04 offers nine months of support, ships with Cinnamon 5.6.7, and polishes the user interface. "The 23.04 release is Ubuntu Cinnamon's eighth release (I had to count). Here's to another eight! Ubuntu 23.04 as a base contains the Linux Kernel 6.2 (with Rust modules, yay!), systemd v252.5, an updated Ubuntu font, Firefox 111, LibreOffice 7.5.2 and Thunderbird 102.10, to name a few. Ubuntu Cinnamon ships with Cinnamon 5.6.7 and the rest of the desktop suite. Overall, not much new, but a handful of quality of life and bug fixes. Here are the notable changes: Cinnamon 5.6.7 - (Full Cinnamon changelog). Bug fixes: keyboard navigation in the Scale and Expo view; GWL app reloading; themes will show up in the theme menu, even if they don't have GTK 2 support; app switcher reverse mouse scroll." More information is provided in the distribution's release announcement and in the release notes.
Ubuntu Studio 23.04
Ubuntu Studio is a multimedia-focused commuity edition of Ubuntu. The project has published a new release, Ubuntu Studio 23.04, which offers nine months of support. The new version includes KDE Plasma 5.27 and the PipeWire audio server. The distribution also includes a new system installer: "Ubuntu Studio Installer has been completely rewritten from the ground-up and works better on high-DPI displays. It utilizes the Zenity GTK interface to give users a choice of package selection and is even capable of uninstalling entire groups of packages. Ubuntu Studio Installer can still be used to add or remove the Ubuntu Studio Backports PPA as well as switch between the new PipeWire configuration or the traditional PulseAudio/JACK configuration of past releases (which also installs Studio Controls). Wayland is available and installed by default to select upon login and test but is still unsupported. We have done this at the request of KDE so that it can gain more testing and bug reports. We have done our best to configure it with the default theming and to make sure it picks up your settings, but it is possible some things will be missed and not work quite right. However, it has undergone extensive real-world testing and works well on non-NVIDIA systems." Additional details are presented in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
Ubuntu Cinnamon 23.04 -- Running the Cinnamon desktop
(full image size: 1.1MB, resolution: 2880x1800 pixels)
Xubuntu 23.04
Sean Davis has announced the release of Xubuntu 23.04, the latest version from the project integrating the Xfce desktop with a base Ubuntu system. This release revives the concept of a "minimal" Xfce system (formerly known as "Xubuntu Core"): "The Xubuntu team is happy to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 23.04. Xubuntu 23.04 features the latest Xfce 4.18. Xfce 4.18 delivers a stable desktop environment with a number of performance improvements and new features to enjoy. In particular, the Thunar file manager benefits from a new image preview feature, undo and redo functionality, file highlights and recursive search. Xubuntu 23.04 also welcomes Xubuntu Minimal as an official subproject. Xubuntu Minimal is a slimmed-down version of Xubuntu that only includes the bare essentials: the desktop, a few Xfce components and the Xubuntu look and feel. Long-time Xubuntu fans may better know this as Xubuntu Core. After nearly eight years of being a supported, but community-built project, we're happy to finally publish downloads along with the main Xubuntu edition." See the release announcement and the detailed release notes for more information.
Edubuntu 23.04
Amy Eickmeyer has announced the availability of Edubuntu 23.04, a brand-new release from the project that seeks to bring the freedom of the Linux desktop and the vast library of open source education software into the classroom. Edubuntu has been revived after a 9-year hiatus. The release announcement, which includes several screenshots, lists some of the more interesting features: "By default, Edubuntu's application overview is alphabetized, which makes it a learning tool out-of-the-box so students can see an example of alphabetization and cataloging. Additionally, educational applications are grouped into folders by subject, making the application overview easy to navigate. Using Edubuntu Installer, you can configure the system for a certain age group, whether that be preschool, primary (elementary), secondary (middle/high school) or tertiary (college/university). Each configuration comes with a different set of applications and a different layout and default wallpaper. Using Edubuntu Menu Administrator, administrators can configure which applications are hidden for non-administrator users with the check of a box."
Ubuntu Unity 23.04
Rudra Saraswat has announced the availability of Ubuntu Unity 23.04, a new version of the official Ubuntu flavour featuring the Unity desktop. The new release upgrades Unity to version 7.7: "Ubuntu Unity 23.04 'Lunar Lobster' has now been released. It is the first distribution to ship Unity 7.7 out of the box, and brings many improvements to the table, including: a brand-new dash, similar to that displayed in the concepts designed for Ubuntu 16.04; a slightly bigger panel, that is translucent by default and looks much better in light mode; indicator-notification is installed by default, and allows you to see any notifications that may have popped up while you were away; the official widgets implementation, UWidgets, is now supported. And some changes: the Settings app's shell UI has been drastically improved; the launcher BFB is now half-transparent, and fits in with the rest of the default Yaru icons, similar to Ubuntu Unity's custom BFB for Unity 7.5 in 21.04." Continue to the release announcement for further information.
Lubuntu 23.04
The Lubuntu team have announced the launch of Lubuntu 23.04, an interm release which will receive nine months of updates. Several of the changes in version 23.04 include the visual look and effects offered by the LXQt desktop: "Lubuntu previously used the PulseAudio audio system to provide rich audio functionality to our users. However, recently Ubuntu and its flavors have been gradually shifting to using the PipeWire audio server in place of PulseAudio. PipeWire offers several advantages over PulseAudio, including improved Bluetooth support, and more powerful management features for complex audio-related workloads. In order to offer these improved features to our users, Lubuntu has replaced the PulseAudio audio system with PipeWire in Lubuntu 23.04. Since Lubuntu 20.04, the default screensaver has been 'Flurry'. Due to reports of screensaver glitches on certain hardware, we have switched the default screensaver in Lubuntu to GL Matrix. This screensaver features a 3D 'digital rain' effect that we have found to be aesthetically pleasing. If you have changed the screensaver yourself, you will probably not notice this change. If you find the new screensaver unappealing, you can change it back to the original 'Flurry' screensaver (or to any of the other pre-installed screensavers) using the Screensaver application. Lubuntu 22.10 and earlier run with no X compositor by default. (An X compositor is an application that can help provide various graphical effects and possibly smooth out screen tearing.) For those who benefited from X compositing, the Compton compositor was provided. We began also providing the Picom compositor (which is based on Compton but is more well-maintained) in Lubuntu 21.04. Starting with Lubuntu 23.04, we have switched entirely to Picom, and have enabled X compositing by default. This will allow effects like panel transparency to work out of the box rather than requiring that the compositor be manually enabled." Additional information is provided in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
Lubuntu 23.04 -- Running the LXQt desktop
(full image size: 2.8MB, resolution: 2880x1800 pixels)
Ubuntu Kylin 23.04
Ubuntu Kylin is an Ubuntu community edition optimized for Chinese speakers. The project's latest release, version 23.04, offers nine moths of support, version 6.2 of the Linux kernel, and an updated Mesa graphics driver. The release announcement (Chinese, English) reads: "On April 21, 2023, the Ubuntu Kylin team announced the release of Ubuntu Kylin open source operating system version 23.04. As a short term support release, Ubuntu Kylin 23.04 comes with Linux 6.2 kernel and Mesa 23.0 graphics driver by default, and is fully upgraded with a series of core system software and base libraries. This version is mainly used to provide a development and testing platform for developers, and you are welcome to download and use it. Full core software upgrade: Mozilla Firefox 111; Thunderbird 102; LibreOffice 7.5; Shotwell 0.30.17; Remmina 1.4.29; Transmission 3.0. Comprehensive upgrade of the base libraries: Python 3.11; binutils 2.40; Ruby 3.1; golang 1.20; glibc 2.37; GCC 13; LLVM 16."
Voyager Linux 23.04
Voyager Live is an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the GNOME and Xfce desktop environments. The project's latest release merges its two desktop editions into one which allows the user to select their session at login time. An English translation of the French release announcement reads: "This version is based on the Linux kernel 6.2 and the Ubuntu distribution 'Lunar Lobster' with its novelties. Voyager 23.04 has been compressed with zstd instead of xv for more speed on USB keys. 23.04 is an intermediate release with 9 months of support that prepares for the future 5 year LTS (long-term support) release that will arrive shortly for GNOME and Xfce. With integrated options grouped in the box like Conky Control, Effects, Repair, Screencast, Switch Ubuntu, WINE development and Steam gaming, and GNOME extensions selected according to PC needs. A Special Gaming type GS profile has been created in Xfce. With numerous themes and wallpapers and essential software. This release contains Software - GNOME Software, which was preferred over Ubuntu's, to manage Deb, Snap and Flatpack packages together. Firefox was installed as a Deb package for better compatibility with GNOME extensions and many other new features to discover like Scrcpy to have your smartphone screen on the PC."
Manjaro Linux 22.1.0
Philip Müller has announced the release of Manjaro Linux 22.1.0, an updated build of the project's rolling-release distribution set with a choice of KDE Plasma, Xfce and GNOME desktops, as well as several community flavours (with Budgie, Cinnamon, i3, MATE and Sway): "Since we released 'Sikaris' in December 2022, we worked hard to get the next release of Manjaro out there. We call it 'Talos'. The GNOME edition has received several updates to GNOME 43 series. It includes a lot of fixes and polish when GNOME 43 was originally released in September 2022. It comes with a redesigned system status menu, which allows quickly changing commonly-used settings. Settings which previously required digging into menus can now be changed with a click of button. The new design also makes it easy to see the status of your settings at a glance. Our in-house Layouts Switcher application has gained some new features as well as various improvements and fixes - now you can create your own dynamic wallpaper. With Gradience you can customize your theme from within the application. There are many presets available to choose from or you can create your own." Continue to the release announcement for more information.
blendOS 2023.04.22
blendOS is an Arch Linux-based, rolling release distribution which automates installing software from supported distributions (Arch, Fedora, and Ubuntu) into containers. The project's latest snapshot replaces distrobox containers with podman. It is now also easier to install software from Arch straight onto the host distribution. "In addition to the apps available in containers, it's now possible to install apps straight from the system Arch repos and the Chaotic-AUR repository, on the base itself. This is extremely useful if you want to install a third-party VPN app, for example, or some missing drivers. distrobox has been replaced in favor of our own implementation, using podman directly, built as part of blend, as it was impossible to implement certain features mentioned below using distrobox. Applications and binaries installed in containers now automatically and instantaneously appear on the base system, as expected from a blend of distributions. Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
* * * * *
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: 2,857
- Total data uploaded: 43.2TB
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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) |
Monitoring network usage
In this week's Questions and Answers column we discussed monitoring network usage to see how much bandwidth is being used on a single computer. Do you track your computer's network usage and, if you do, how do you monitor it? Do you track bandwidth consumption from your local operating system, from a router, from your Internet service provider's account statements? Let us know in the comments what you do to monitor how many bytes are flowing through your Internet connection.
You can see the results of our previous poll on using filesystem compression in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Tracking Internet bandwidth
| I track usage at the OS/device level: | 153 (14%) |
| I track bandwidth at the router: | 115 (10%) |
| My ISP tracks bandwidth usage: | 59 (5%) |
| Other: | 29 (3%) |
| I do not track bandwidth usage: | 747 (68%) |
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| Website News |
New distributions added to waiting list
- PorteuX. PorteuX is a Linux distro based on Slackware, inspired by Slax and Porteus. It is pre-configured for basic usage, including lightweight applications for each one of the six desktop environments available. No browser is included, but an app store is provided so users can download the most popular browsers, as well as Steam, VirtualBox, NVIDIA drivers, office suite, multilib lite, messengers, and emulators.
- GetFreeOS. GetFreeOS is an Arch Linux-based distribution with a focus on performance and gaming. The distribution is available in KDE Plasma and i3 editions.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 1 May 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 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • 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.
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| Random Distribution | 
NuTyX
NuTyX is a French Linux distribution (with multi-language support) built from Linux From Scratch and Beyond Linux From Scratch, with a custom package manager called "cards". The package manager can install individual binary packages, a group of related binary packages (e.g. desktop packages, such as KDE or Xfce), and compile source packages from "ports". The distribution is designed for intermediate and advanced Linux users.
Status: Active
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| 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.
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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