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1 • Live distributions (by Bobbie Sellers on 2023-08-21 04:14:23 GMT from United States)
Well MiniOS might be nice but if you are going to need such a portable OS you have
two other prominent ones, EasyOS and Knoppix. Both have a lot of tools. Knoppix
will still boot on 32-bit systems and I chose Knoppix 9.1 to test the capabilities of
two other computer. I bought a Dell Precision 7730 17.3-in Laptop with a 6 core i7
refurbished to like new condition and I reduced the Windows 10 on it as much as
possible then created partitions, UEFI/GDP, and installed my favorite Linux distro
but it failed to boot. Last night I updated that on one of the machine a E7450 which I
had messed up and did very little work on it this morning to create some needed
bookmarks. Then I plugged it into the 7730 and verified that my bookmarks worked
and that the camera was functional. I hope I do not have to use the Knoppix for
this for long but I have a LUG meeting on jit.se coming up so I needed to be sure
that I had a working machine. This one look great right now but it suffers from
shaky video and I have not been able to get the Audio working in some time.
That is why I bought a used Refurbished device though a major online retail
shop.
But such distributions as Knoppix and EasyOS can be extremely useful when
problems arise. I don't know about MiniOS but if it can be configured with
persistent memory on the Flash Drive it can join the ranks. Knoppix
is also based on Debian by the way and EasyOS has containers.
bliss - Dell E6540- PCLinux 2023.07- Linux 6.4.11- KDE/Plasma 5.27.7
2 • logins (by logmeout on 2023-08-21 04:30:04 GMT from Singapore)
logins and passwords are the oldest method of security on a computer. As such they have been thoroughly worked-over by hackers for decades. To the point where it seems trivial for some hackers to obtain login credentials. So 2factor authentication was required to improve security. But now that's not considered secure enough anymore, and we need an expensive security key with either 2fa or multifactor authentication.
Isn't it time that the login-password system was completely redesigned? What about an option to have a "nologin" set for remote sign-ins, while keeping local sign-ins functional? Or what about a mini-login-VM, that's isolated from the rest of the system and network?
3 • logins @2 (by BlsckCode on 2023-08-21 04:45:48 GMT from Italy)
Check allowedisers for ssh...
4 • logins (by BlackCodec on 2023-08-21 04:47:10 GMT from Italy)
Sorry @2 I have some problema with keyboard, check AllowedUsers in sshd_config
5 • How many user accounts ? (by eb on 2023-08-21 07:41:29 GMT from France)
Only 2 physical users on my Slackware (without desktop),
but when I run 'wc -l /etc/passwd' the result is 40 !
I answered 2 to the poll : was I right ?
6 • @2 passwords (by Jeffrey on 2023-08-21 09:29:44 GMT from Czechia)
@2 Nothing in general is trivial about obtaining passwords, unless they are easy to guess and/or they are handled carelessly -- which is *not* the password's fault. (And by the way, "criminal" ain't spelled "hacker". Get your nomenclature straight.) Long, random, unique passwords stored in an offline, encrypted password manager are safe for most uses. (Master passwords/passphrases can be stored "in your head" or on password cards.) Please don't spread misinformation.
7 • User accounts (by James on 2023-08-21 09:49:53 GMT from United States)
I am the only one that uses my laptop, but always have 2 user accounts, both with sudo privileges. I almost never use the second account unless I have problems with the first account I that I need the second account to fix the first account. That has rarely happened to me, but has been a life saver a couple of times early in my Linux life when I was more prone to stupid mistakes.
8 • Knoppix? (by e bye on 2023-08-21 10:36:10 GMT from Italy)
@1 I'd like to know Knoppix is an option, I've used that as a live distro lots and lots of times... Until it was alive and fresh. If DW states that as Dormant, there's very good reason for that.
P.S.: I presently use Debian Live, it's nice, but it would be nicer if only I could get a weekly release just as for testing.
9 • puzzle me this; who is 'nobody?' (by tom joad on 2023-08-21 14:22:32 GMT from Austria)
I am using Mint. I ran Jesse's command which gave me a result of 50!!!! Only three are mine. Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot!?!?!?!? One is 'nobody.'
Who is 'nobody?"
I have long known 'nobody' is there...WHY??????
Tell me who is 'nobody' and what does *he* or *she* do on my laptop that is important?
And don't tell me Linux has its 'own' pronouns!!!!!!!! Also, don't tell me 'nobody' is on First Base!!!!!
10 • Number of users (by Denis on 2023-08-21 18:45:53 GMT from Canada)
You should count your users with something like this.
I see no reason to count "system" users...
sudo cat /etc/shadow | grep -v "[!\*]" | wc -l
This should only count users that can login.
My 2 cents...
11 • Nobody's somebody with no body (by Friar Tux on 2023-08-21 19:31:07 GMT from Canada)
@9 (Tom) I think it's a case of, "Who's using that account?" "Nobody." I haven't checked my Mint/Cinnamon, because, well, I really don't care, though I think "Kicking-out-unwelcome-guests" in Q+A has a legitimate question if he has a lot of folks with accounts on the machine. I think the absolute simplest way would be the list on the log in screen when you first log on, or the Account Details screen in Settings. (At least in Mint/Cinnamon.)
Re: minios... I think it would be interesting if it used, instead of XFCE, the desktop app called Eagle Mode. This lets you zoom into the file you want. It took me about a day to get used to but it's quite a bit of fun. There's this little "universe" and you simply zoom into what ever you want. If it could be turned into a WM it could really reduce the OS size. (I'm guessing here.)
12 • logins (by logmeout on 2023-08-22 07:23:27 GMT from Singapore)
@6 " Nothing in general is trivial about obtaining passwords."
Some countries in WWII thought their encrypted messages were foolproof, but early computers were able to break them.
Early Wireless developers thought that WEP password encryption was satisfactory, but now it's considered easily cracked. That was replaced with WPA - but now that's considered too week. The latest iteration is WPA2 - but how long will that last?
And quantum computers are expected to be able to break today's encryption methods - rendering them useless. How useful will the login-password system be then?
@6 "(And by the way, "criminal" ain't spelled "hacker". Get your nomenclature straight.)...Please don't spread misinformation. "
Please don't be sanctimonious, even the media uses the term "hacker" for ppl who break into computer systems.
There are many tricks to breaking into systems: keyloggers, screengrabbers, CCTV hacks to overlook workstations, hacks via smartphones, etc. Today, there's even an ex-convicted hacker-cracker who demonstrates that he can hack into any wireless system using a (readily available) hacking device and an antenna.
Computer security is a moving target, and it needs to improve with the times. And the login-password system could do with some clever reworking. One can't remain an old-school hacker die-hard forever.
13 • Mini OS checksum?? (by Gary on 2023-08-22 13:40:47 GMT from Canada)
re: MiniOS
I was looking for checksums to verify against their .iso to download. I found none!
I looked here: https://minios.dev/en/#downloads
I looked here: https://github.com/minios-linux/minios-live/releases/tag/v3.2
I shrug and back away!!
14 • Making changes to minios.conf in MiniOS Linux when running from ISO (by crims0n on 2023-08-22 08:39:28 GMT from Russia)
In MiniOS it is possible to change the contents of the ISO with the minios-geniso command. It is necessary to make changes in /etc/minios/minios.conf and then run the command without parameters, it will create ISO with changed data.
15 • @12 - hackers (by Andy Prough on 2023-08-22 20:23:58 GMT from United States)
>"Please don't be sanctimonious, even the media uses the term "hacker" for ppl who break into computer systems."
The media is very very wrong to do that, we should not be the ones who are forwarding their terrible lies which have resulted in disasters like the vilification and untimely death of Aaron Swartz. Every time we try out a new config option or write a small bash script we are hacking. GNU/Linux usage is all about hacking, and we should be holding it up as something for young people to aspire to.
16 • Off Topic: Grub's os-prober disabled since 2021 in Ubuntu? (by Ennio on 2023-08-23 06:32:16 GMT from Netherlands)
Reading Bodhi's release notes it seems that, following Ubuntu security settings, Grub no longer offers a multiboot menu out of security concerns. Julian Andres Klode at Canonical talks about this in "os-prober is disabled in grub 2.06 and where to go from here". I didn't know - and would not have imagined - because my limited hopping here and there didn't touch Ubuntu-derived distros. But, darn!, how could I miss such a news?
Did anybody stumble on that already?
PS Also Debian [unstable] did the trick???? It seems so... Need to start hopping more!
17 • @16 (by Cheker on 2023-08-23 10:45:02 GMT from Portugal)
Yes, several distros switched the prober off by default, you can just turn it on again though.
In theory it can be used to execute malware when it goes looking for other OS', but I think the odds of that happening compared to the multi-boot systems you're gonna temporarily break... the whole thing was a little silly in my opinion
18 • Hackers/Criminals (by Otis on 2023-08-23 18:17:02 GMT from United States)
@15 I see the "hackers" term, as used by news media, similar to when they say whatever tool may have been used to either break in to a target (building, car, etc) or to rescue someone from such a place. Hacking = Tool(s)
Criminally hacking is its own category, similar to criminal damage via hammer or crowbar to burgle a location, etc.
19 • @ 16 • Off Topic: Grub's os-prober disabled (by lincoln on 2023-08-23 19:36:19 GMT from Brazil)
Thank you very much, now I have a probable cause of why, in the update to Devuan5, the multiboot menu of grub only shows the Devuan option.
20 • 16 OT grub's os-prober (by jon on 2023-08-24 02:15:36 GMT from United States)
+1 Thank you Ennio.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2021-December/041771.html
21 • How many user accounts are on my desktop system? (by nicetoknow on 2023-08-24 20:16:11 GMT from Germany)
In total, 23 user accounts are on my distribution - Arch Linux, the arch way
22 • Counting user accounts (by pepa65 on 2023-08-25 00:35:34 GMT from Thailand)
People who answered 1-10 (63% as of now) obviously didn't understand the idea of the question and didn't follow the instructions to do `wc -l /etc/passwd`... Oh well.
Number of Comments: 22
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Definity Linux was a Brazilian Linux distribution based on Slackware Linux.
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