DistroWatch Weekly |
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1035, 4 September 2023 |
Welcome to this year's 36th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
In issues of DistroWatch Weekly we mostly talk about Linux-based operating systems. However, we're a fan of all sorts of open source software, including alternative kernels and the options they bring to the world. This week we begin by talking about a special branch of the Debian project which swaps out the Linux kernel for Hurd, a microkernel developed by GNU. Have you ever tried running a Hurd-based operating system? Let us know what you thought of the experience in this week's Opinion Poll. We also share a quick look at a recent snapshot of the rolling PCLinuxOS distribution and report on how this unusually stable rolling release operating system performs. In our News section we discuss AlmaLinux introducing new repositories as the project adjusts to no longer having access to Red Hat's source code packages. Rocky Linux is taking a more conservative approach compared with AlmaLinux and we share details on Rocky's plans below. We also share happy news of a NetBSD machine that ran with almost a full decade of unattended uptime and link to an art contest run by Armbian. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we ponder whether home users need to run a software firewall to protect themselves. Read on to learn why a person might (or might not) want to set up a firewall. Plus we list last week's releases and share the torrent we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Debian GNU/Hurd 2023
While Debian is primarily known as a Linux distribution, the Debian project includes a number of offshoots that run alternative collections of software. These branches of the Debian project are called ports and run alternative kernels, such as the FreeBSD kernel (called kfreebsd) and the GNU Hurd microkernel.
The Debian Hurd page describes the port as follows:
The Hurd is a set of servers running on top of the GNU Mach microkernel. Together they build the base for the GNU operating system.
In other words, this branch of Debian runs the GNU Hurd kernel and services (instead of Linux) along with GNU userland tools, making it a more "pure" GNU experience. The Hurd port received an update recently to compliment the Debian 12 release earlier this year.
It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2023. This is a snapshot of Debian Sid at the time of the stable Debian Bookworm release (June 2023), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release. "
The announcement goes on to report the Hurd port can run about two-thirds of the software the main Linux branch of Debian can run:
"Debian GNU/Hurd is currently available for the i386 architecture with about 65% of the Debian archive, and more to come! APIC, SMP, and 64-bit support was improved a lot: they now do boot a complete Debian system, but some bugs remain to be fixed.
The hardware support for Hurd is lacking for the most part. Modern computers and their devices generally are not supported. This has led to some people suggesting Hurd's small nature and focus on modularity would make it a good match for cloud computing instances. In fact, the project's README suggests a few ways we can run Debian GNU/Hurd in virtual machines.
I started by downloading the project's 364MB ISO file which is labelled as being compatible with i386 CPUs. According to the GNU project, 64-bit support is a work in progress for Hurd. I couldn't find a checksum for the Debian GNU/Hurd ISO file, so decided to dive right in and see what would happen.
The media brought up a boot menu where I could choose to run a text installer, a "pseudo graphical" installer, a graphical installer, an automated install process, or run the expert install. There is also a rescue mode. I tried the pseudo graphical installer, the graphical option, and the text option. Each time the media would boot for a few seconds then display a status message which read: "start ext2fs". The boot process would then stop and lock-up.
I did some reading up on this error and, on various forums, I found a suggestion to make sure the virtual machine was using IDE controllers instead of SATA controllers. I confirmed I was already using the IDE setup.
Since the regular ISO was not working in VirtualBox, I decided to follow the Debian project's instructions for making the Hurd IMG file run in VirtualBox. I downloaded the 4.9GB IMG file and followed the README file's steps for importing the image file into VirtualBox.
Unfortunately, I didn't get further with the provided image. After showing me a boot menu, the system tried to load and displayed a message which said: "skipping probing disks". After that, nothing happened, the system just locked up.
This is unfortunate. In the past I successfully ran Debian's Hurd port in VirtualBox. Back in 2015 I wrote about what it was like to run Debian GNU/Hurd as a desktop system in a virtual environment. It seems compatibility with virtual machines has stumbled since then and I hope future releases iron out the issues.
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PCLinuxOS 2023.07 "KDE"
PCLinuxOS grew out of the Mandriva family around 20 years ago. The distribution is now independently developed and offers a rolling release platform with three main desktop editions: KDE, MATE, and Xfce. The PCLinuxOS project rose to fame early in its life by being an unusually easy to use distribution. Like its parent, PCLinuxOS shipped with a lot of convenient tools and a friendly installer. Unlike its parent, it also offered a rolling release platform which helped users stay up to date (fairly stable, rolling releases were an uncommon combination at the time). I downloaded the KDE edition and confirmed its checksum.
Booting from the live KDE media brought up a boot menu. From the menu we can choose to boot PCLinuxOS's live session normally or without a splash screen (when there is no graphical splash screen status messages are displayed in text). There are also options for booting into a safe graphics mode or into a console.
When I tried booting the distribution normally in VirtualBox the operating system almost immediately locked up and failed to boot. When I tried booting without the splash screen the distribution booted successfully. I was then shown a graphical configuration wizard where I was asked to select my keyboard layout. Afterwards, the KDE Plasma desktop was displayed.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- The application menu
(full image size: 3.3MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
When I tried booting PCLinuxOS on my laptop, the system booted normally in the default mode (with a splash screen) and asked me for my keyboard layout. However, once this information was provided the screen locked up and the KDE Plasma session failed to load. After a few minutes with the interface locked up, I managed to terminate the graphical session (using Ctrl+Alt+Backspace) and was shown a login screen. From there I could sign into the live desktop environment. In was unusual to run into two separate issues in two test environments while just booting the live disc, but both problems were overcome with minimal effort.
When the live Plasma session loads we find icons on the desktop for launching the Dolphin file manager and a system installer. A thick, dark panel sits at the bottom of the display. The panel holds a classic, tree-style application menu, some quick-launch buttons, and the system tray. PCLinuxOS doesn't enable many visual effects, providing a responsive, snappy desktop experience.
Installing
PCLinuxOS ships with a graphical system installer. The installer asks us to select our language from a list of country codes and languages. We're also asked to pick our keyboard layout and our timezone from a map.
We're then asked to select automated or manual partitioning. In the automated mode we can toggle an optional swap partition on/off and set its size. The manual approach launches the GParted partition manager and leaves us to divide up the disk as we see fit. The next screen of the installer asks us to assign mount points to the partitions we created. Then we are asked to make up a username and password. The installer goes to work copying files and reports when it is finished.
The first time I tried setting up PCLinuxOS I took the guided approach. The installer almost immediately aborted its work and reported it was unable to create a /dev/sda2 partition. I later found out why. I had selected to have a swap partition, 1GB in size. What the installer had done was create a swap partition (/dev/sda1) the same size as the entire drive. Then, when it went to make a second partition for root, there was no space left on the device.
I restarted the install process and took the manual partitioning option, setting up a swap and a root partition on an ext4 filesystem. This worked well. The PCLinuxOS installer copied its packages in under five minutes and offered to reboot the computer.
Early impressions
My fresh copy of PCLinuxOS booted to a graphical login screen with a strong blue theme. Accounts are listed horizontally on this screen and we can flip through them. Signing into my account brought up the KDE Plasma 5.27 desktop.
The Plasma desktop has a classic look to it, with the tree style menu, thick panel along the bottom, and large icons. There are no distractions when we first get started. There is no welcome window, no notification of updates, and no first-run wizard. The assumption seems to be that we already know what we're doing and do not want any speed bumps along the way.
Hardware
When I tried running PCLinuxOS in VirtualBox everything worked smoothly, apart from trying to boot the live media with a splash screen. Apart from that approach causing the system to lock up, the distribution ran quickly and smoothly in the virtual environment. Likewise, PCLinuxOS worked well with my laptop. Apart from locking up the graphical session on the live media, the distribution ran quickly on the laptop and detected all of my hardware. The distribution is unusually snappy, entirely stable, and could boot in both UEFI and Legacy BIOS modes.
A fresh install of PCLinuxOS took up 7.7GB of my hard drive, plus swap space. When signed into the Plasma desktop the distribution only consumed 420MB of RAM. This is fairly light by the standards of almost any of the major Linux desktops, and unusually light for KDE Plasma.
Included software
The distribution includes a lot of software and presents us with a full application menu. Among the many menu items we find the Firefox web browser, FileZilla file transfer client, and LibreOffice. The Thunderbird e-mail client is included along with the KTorrent bittorrent software, and multiple file sharing clients for services such as NitroShare and MEGA.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- Running LibreOffice and the Dolphin file manager
(full image size: 521kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
There are multiple media players and media editors, including mpv, Celluloid, Audacity, Spotify, HandBrake, Imagination, and the Kdenlive editor. The GNU Image Manipulation Program is included along with the Okular document viewer. I found the Dolphin file manager installed along with some disk cleaning utilities such as BleachBit and Sweeper. Timeshift is installed to help backup files and Grsync is included to synchronize files between locations.
Digging further we find Java is installed on the distribution along with the GNU Compiler Collection. The GNU command line tools are provided. The man utility is installed, but most manual pages are not on the system. For example, the manual pages for the GNU utilities are not present, but a few utilities like RPM and APT do have manual pages. I'm not sure why the distinction is made, with some command line tools having manual pages while others do not.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- Searching for manual pages
(full image size: 2.4MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Also on the topic of popular software that is not included, PCLinuxOS does not include the sudo utility for elevating user access. Instead, when we want to perform administrative functions we can use the su utility to become the root user. The root account uses the same password as the first user we create. This approach of using su over sudo is less common these days, but it worked for me.
PCLinuxOS ships with the SysV init software and the current snapshot of the distribution uses version 6.4 of the Linux kernel.
Software management
PCLinuxOS is an unusual distribution in that it uses RPM packages and ships with the rpm low-level package manager. However, the distribution uses the APT mid-level package management tools and the corresponding Synaptic front-end for APT. While this is a strange (maybe unique) combination, there is little practical effect for the user. We can simply fire up the Synaptic package manager and use it to find, add, remove, and upgrade packages. We can also use the APT command line tools to do the same.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- The Synaptic package manager
(full image size: 1.4MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
There does not appear to be any modern software centre on PCLinuxOS and there is no built-in support for Snap or Flatpak. We can add Flatpak from the default package repositories. I tried this and discovered there were no default repositories enabled for Flatpak once the framework was installed. I manually added the Flathub repository.
Once Flatpak was set up, there were still problems. Regular users were unable to install Flatpak packages, even after the recommended reboot. Mount errors were shown anytime a non-root user tried to install a package from the command line. Once I used the root account to install new Flatpak packages regular users could run the installed applications without any issues.
The Control centres
PCLinuxOS ships with two configuration panels. The system's settings are managed through Control Centre while desktop settings are handled through the System Settings panel. (This is one of those unfortunate naming situations which feel completely normal once a person has been using Linux for a while, but is confusing to newcomers.) The System Systems panel worked well for me. It uses the two-pane layout used by many distributions running the Plasma desktop. I found the Plasma settings were generally easy to navigate and there is a search function to help us locate specific modules. I like that PCLinuxOS enables a minimum amount of visual effects and features and that file indexing is turned off. This might explain why the distribution was so responsive during my trial.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- The System Settings panel with a dark theme
(full image size: 1.7MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The Control Centre offers a friendly, point-n-click approach to managing the underlying operating system. Through the Control Centre we can launch the Synaptic package manager, set up network shares, set up printers and scanners, change the system clock and configure network connections. We can also manage background services, set up a firewall, manage user accounts and enable automatic logins. There are a lot of modules in the Control Centre and I did not have cause to use them all. However, for the most part, the ones I did use worked beautifully. The Control Centre is wonderfully easy to navigate and provides a beginner friendly approach to system configuration.
PCLinuxOS 2023.07 -- The Control Centre panel
(full image size: 2.0MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Some of the Control Centre modules need to install extra packages before they can be used. When I enabled the OpenSSH service, for example, the extra packages required to set up the secure shell service were installed without any problems.
Conclusions
While many rolling release distributions constantly chase after the latest technologies, themes, and cutting edge packages, PCLinuxOS is unusual in that it has a strongly conservative approach. The distribution does provide up to date packages, but it feels like a lot of effort has been put into keeping the distribution stable and running smoothly via older approaches. PCLinuxOS doesn't move with the latest trends. This is a project which doesn't enable a lot of visual effects, doesn't leap on newer technologies, doesn't attempt to package every new desktop that comes along. It's still running SysV init (instead of systemd), it's still using an X11 session for Plasma instead of Wayland, it still offers MATE over GNOME, and it is still using the Synaptic package manager over more modern software centres like Discover.
In short, despite the regular flow of updated packages flowing into the distribution's repositories, not much seems to be changing with PCLinuxOS. It's reluctant to adopt new ways of doing things, like portable packages and welcome windows, and advanced filesystems. Most of the tools, approaches, and system administration modules still look and behave the same way they did ten years ago.
This might appeal to a lot of users, particularly ones who were getting started with Linux around the time PCLinuxOS reached the top of the DistroWatch page hit ranking charts, nearly 20 years ago. People who have been comfortable with Linux for a long time and don't feel the urge to roll with the times will probably enjoy this distribution a lot. There is a strong sense when using PCLinuxOS that if something isn't broke, then they don't fix it.
However, on the other side of that coin, there are some tools and approaches which have become so commonplace these days that it feels odd to not see them included in this distribution. It feels odd to be missing so many manual pages (though not all of them), it feels a bit strange to be manually adding and troubleshooting Flatpak at this point, it feels a bit alien to not have access to sudo (or doas) on a modern Linux distribution. PCLinuxOS is unusually static for a rolling release, to the point I was able to copy/paste some of the paragraphs in this review from a previous article I wrote about the distribution over four years ago.
Basically, for the past decade, PCLinuxOS has been upgrading its packages to keep up with upstream, but it doesn't appear to have tried anything new or introduced any custom tools. This probably appeals to existing PCLinuxOS users as they can continue to feel comfortable, but it is a project unlikely to draw new users who expect to have access to certain modern tools or resources.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an HP DY2048CA laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 512GB solid state drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Wireless network device: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + BT Wireless network card
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Visitor supplied rating
PCLinuxOS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.2/10 from 113 review(s).
Have you used PCLinuxOS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux stays committed to compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian offers devices as prizes in wallpaper competition
The AlmaLinux team have announced the creation of two new package repositories. Now that AlmaLinux OS is no longer committed to being 1:1 bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (following Red Hat's policy change regarding source code distribution), the AlmaLinux project is introducing new ways for users to get bug fixes faster and access to a wider range of software packages. "As we mentioned last week, the Testing repository contains security updates that AlmaLinux OS is now able to release without waiting for the patches to be released upstream. As these packages require additional testing before being released, we invite the community to help test them and provide feedback. Note: The Testing repository is recommended only for non-production machines."
The second repository provides extra software not yet available upstream: "The Synergy repository is designed for any possible package that is not present in RHEL or EPEL yet, but has been requested by a member of the AlmaLinux community, for the community. While we do encourage and welcome contributions, as soon as the package appears to be in EPEL it will be removed from the Synergy repository. Moreover, this repository can be enabled for other distros in the Enterprise Linux Ecosystem like RHEL, CentOS, etc."
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While AlmaLinux is looking at improving and expanding the project's distribution to include new packages and features, the Rocky Linux project is taking a more conservative approach. Rocky Linux published a statement indicating the distribution remains dedicated to being 1:1 compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). "It is important to note that Rocky Linux is completely stable, due to the amazing community that supports the project and the unwavering support of CIQ and the rest of our sponsors. Rocky Linux remains absolutely committed to our mission: we will remain a 1:1 fully compatible, drop-in alternative to RHEL. OpenELA supports our mission by providing additional assurance that the open source base for Rocky Linux will always be available, via a vendor neutral and community driven collaboration."
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Operating systems in the BSD and Linux families are often regarded as being stable, reliable platforms. One such example of this stability comes from a blog post which discusses a NetBSD server which was left to run unattended for nearly a decade. "What surprised me the most was its uptime. Sadly, I didn't take note, but the last restart had been in 2012 after the Emilia Romagna earthquake. They had a backup generator, so the server always had an efficient uninterrupted power supply. Nine years of uptime for a server set up in a few hours, on consumer-grade hardware, and left largely unattended for years." It's an impressive feat, both for the hardware and the operating system, and a testament of the skill of the NetBSD team.
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The Armbian distribution runs on a series of ARM development boards and single-board computers. The project is on the search for new wallpaper artwork and is offering prizes for the best submissions. "We're excited to announce the second edition Armbian Desktop Wallpaper Contest. This is a great opportunity for anyone passionate about design to have their work featured on Armbian. You'll receive a reward if our judges decide your art is in the top 3." Contest details can be found in the project's forum 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) |
Do home users need a firewall?
Locking-the-door asks: Do regular home users need to run a firewall on Linux?
DistroWatch answers: My short answer is, for most people running a desktop distribution at home, a firewall is probably not beneficial.
A firewall is software which monitors network traffic coming into, and flowing out from, your computer. The firewall has a set of rules it follows to determine whether it allows network traffic to pass into (or out from) the computer.
A firewall's rule might say, essentially, "Block all traffic leaving this computer, unless it looks like it's going to a web server." This is a semi-common rule in business offices where companies want to block chat clients or games from connecting to the outside world. Alternatively, a rule might say, "Allow connections to my secure shell port, but only from my laptop's IP address." This should prevent anyone who is not using your laptop from attempting to login to your computer remotely.
A firewall is often useful on a server or on any computer which needs to provide some sort of network service. A firewall can prevent some common network attacks and is one layer of defence against information leaking out from the computer to the rest of the world.
Since firewalls are useful in those aforementioned instances, why might they not be recommended for home users? There are three main reasons firewalls tend to do more harm than good on desktop machines running on a home network:
- Most home computers are already behind a firewall provided by the household's Internet service provider's router. Typically, computers on the Internet cannot see and attack personal computers running on a home network directly.
- Most home computers do not run network accessible services, such as a web server, e-mail service, or file storage. Without one of these services running, there isn't anything to attack. In turn, there is nothing for the firewall to protect.
- While our home computers typically do not run Internet accessible services, they do often communicate over the network. If you're trying to run a multi-player game over the local network, synchronize files with your phone, or set up a shared printer then the most common problem you're going to run into is a firewall standing in the way. A firewall will almost always interrupt traffic passing between devices you own and trust. Often times troubleshooting a networking issue will result in either shutting down the firewall or looking up which network ports need to be opened so that the firewall's rules can be modified.
In short, home computers are almost always already behind a firewall which protects the local network, home computers rarely have services which need to be protected, and (on a home network) firewalls regularly get in the way of performing common tasks. Firewalls, while an essential security tool on servers, rarely provide benefits (and often cause frustrations) for desktop users at home.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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Released Last Week |
Emmabuntüs DE5-1.00
Emmabuntüs is a desktop Linux distribution with editions based on Debian's Stable branch. The project's latest release, Debian Edition (DE) 5-1.00 is based on Debian 12 "Bookworm". "This Emmabuntüs DE 5 release includes the following changes or features: Based on Debian 12.1 Bookworm; kernel 6.1.27; Xfce 4.18.1; LXQt 1.20.0; LibreOffice 7.4.5; Firefox ESR 102.14.0; Falkon 22.12.1-2; Thunderbird 102.14.0; Added a script to run OS-prober; improved startup time in live mode and installation of Calamares under WMware; removed PlayOnLinux and WINE to save space following the activation of a new ISO compression mode; disabled info message on non-free-firmware repository; replaced zram-tools by systemd-zram-generator; updated Scratch 3.29.1 to 64-bit version; updated of the Emmabuntüs Debian Edition 5 installation tutorial in French version. Emmabuntüs comes with a large number of software to allow beginners to have all the tools they may need without having to look for them and install them, see the list of all the software available on Emmabuntüs DE 5. We fully assume this choice, which also allows us to provide a complete ready-to-use solution within the framework of our activities of computers re-use and training for computer classes under GNU/Linux, as for example in Togo within the framework of our collaboration with the associations YovoTogo and JUMP Lab'Orione." The release announcement has additional details.
OpenMandriva 23.08 "ROME"
The OpenMandriva distribution is a full-featured Linux desktop and server. The project maintains a rolling release branch called ROME which was recently updated. The new snapshot, version 23.08, includes several package upgrades: "Many packages have been updated, including: KDE Frameworks 5.109, Plasma Desktop 5.27.7, KDE Applications 23.04.3 (KDE Gear 23.08.0 expected on 24/08/2023 update will be available as soon as it's released). Kernel 6.4.11 (built with Clang). Mesa 23.2. LLVM/Clang 16.0.6, glibc 2.38, systemd 253.8. Chromium browser 116.0, with JPEG XL support patched back in. LibreOffice suite 7.6.0.3, Krita 5.1.5, DigiKam 8.1. The latest LibreOffice builds introduce LibreOffice Qt 6 integration, making LibreOffice fit in with the Plasma 6 desktop preview as well. Flatpak support. Note: We have no plans to abandon or reduce native packages. Flatpak, appimage and the likes are a useful addition in particular for packages we can't package for licensing reasons. neovim 0.9.1. More software upgraded to the most recent version available in repositories. GNOME desktop 44.3. LXQt desktop 1.3.0." Additional information can be found in the release announcement and in the release notes.
antiX 23
The developers of antiX, a systemd-free Linux distribution based on Debian's "stable" branch, has announced the release of antiX 23. This is the project's first version based on Debian 12: "antiX 23 'Arditi del Popolo' is a new release based on Debian 'Bookworm'. As usual, we offer completely systemd-free and elogind-free flavours for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. Available ISO images files with SysVInit or Runit. The 32-bit edition uses a non-pae kernel. Note: after installation of the antiX-23_x64-full editions, the default kernel will be 'Modern' 6.1 even if 'Legacy' 5.10 was booted during the live boot. Changes: based on Debian 12 'Bookworm', but without systemd/libsystemd0 and elogind/libelogind0; eudev instead of udev; customised 5.10.188 Linux kernel; customised 6.1.42 Linux kernel (x64 full only): LibreOffice 7.5.5; Firefox 102.14.0esr (antiX-full); SeaMonkey 2.53.17 (antiX-base); Claws Mail 4.1.1; CUPS for printing; PipeWire/WirePlumber on full editions; ALSA on base and core editions..." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement.
antiX -- Exploring the application menu
(full image size: 2.3MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Pardus 23.0
TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM (The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey and The National Academic Network and Information Centre) has announced the release of Pardus 23.0, a major new update of the project's Debian-based Linux distribution with a choice of Xfce and GNOME desktops. Pardus 23, code-named 'Ay Yıldız' or 'Crescent and Star', which is one of Turkey's national symbols, aims to offer the most up-to-date technology, ease of use with new applications, a long-term support program and a stable Linux kernel 6.1 version. The release offers various innovations, such as Pardus GNOME Welcome, Xfce Fine Settings and Pardus Updater. In Pardus 23, Xfce 4.18 is used as the default desktop environment. Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems; while being visually attractive and user-friendly, it requires low system resources and makes the system fast. The release comes with Linux kernel 6.1.38 as well as many popular, up-to-date applications, such as Firefox 102.14.0esr, LibreOffice 7.4.7, Evolution 3.46.4 and VLC 3.0.18. See the brief release announcement and the more detailed release notes for further information.
Linux From Scratch 12.0
Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system. The project has published Linux From Scratch 12.0 and a corresponding Beyond Linux From Scratch which offers tips for extending the operating system. The release announcement mentions key new upgrades: "This release is a major update to both LFS and BLFS. The LFS release includes updates to binutils-2.41, gcc-13.2.0, and glibc-2.38. In total, 38 packages were updated since the last release. The Linux kernel has also been updated to version 6.4.12. Other significant changes include: Addition of libxcrypt as a separate package. Previously this package was included with glibc. For the sysV version of the book, udev is now extracted directly from the systemd tarball. This change also requires building the Python modules jinja and markupsafe. The new package pkgconf is now used instead of pkg-config because the later package is no longer maintained. The new Python module flit-core was added as a new required dependency for the wheel module."
Armbian 23.8.1
The Armbian team has announced the release of Armbian 23.08, a Debian-based Linux distribution designed primarily for ARM development boards, supporting a large range of popular armhf, aarch64, and riscv64 devices: "We are very pleased to announce the public availability of Armbian OS 23.08, the Linux distribution, and 23.08 package set, under the codename 'Colobus'. After the complete rework of our build framework, we proceeded with refreshing repository management and automation processes. We have significantly stabilized both our framework and many hardware platforms we are taking care of. Changelog: add Crust to Allwinner boards to enable power management functions; add support for most recent memory chips on BPi M5; backport Bananapi CM4 to kernel 6.1 LTS; provide official distro upgrades; adding armbian-gaming as extension; introduce grub-with-dtb extension...." See the release announcement and the release changelog for further details.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,902
- Total data uploaded: 43.5TB
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Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Summary of expected upcoming releases
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Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Have you tried running Hurd?
In this week's Feature Story we talked about Debian's Hurd port, an operating system which runs the Hurd kernel and services instead of the Linux kernel. While Hurd has been in development a long time, it hasn't matured or gained nearly as much driver support as some other open source operating systems.
Have you tried running a Hurd-based operating system, either in a virtual machine or on physical hardware? Let us know your thoughts on GNU's Hurd kernel in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on running distributions with the musl C library in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Have you tried using Hurd?
Yes - on physical hardware and liked it: | 36 (3%) |
Yes - on physical hardware and did not like it: | 24 (2%) |
Yes - in a virtual machine and liked it: | 12 (1%) |
Yes - in a virtual machine and did not like it: | 24 (2%) |
No - have not tried it: | 1193 (93%) |
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Website News |
Partnering with The Linux Shop
These days it is more and more rare to find DVDs and USB thumb drives which provide install media for Linux distributions. While there were once many on-line shops and vendors selling physical media, the spread of high-speed Internet access has largely replaced physical media vendors. This makes it more difficult for people with slower (or metered) Internet connections to obtain Linux install media. It also means people who are not familiar with burning install ISO files to a removable drive face higher hurdles.
With this in mind, DistroWatch has partnered with The Linux Shop, a vendor of physical install media. The Linux Shop is based in the United Kingdom (UK) and ships Linux install media all around the world. Most media is available for under 20 UK pounds (about $25 USD).
When you visit a distro's information page on the DistroWatch website, if The Linux Shop sells install media for this distribution under the "Where To Buy or Try" field.
We hope this will make it easier for people to find convenient install media and try Linux distributions.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 11 September 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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Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Firewall (by Jason on 2023-09-04 03:10:00 GMT from Australia)
Really you cant be serious, you don't think in 2023 we need a firewall for home computers. Wow this is the first step in any type on computer setup that anyone should do, please Enable your Firewall. Anyone that thinks that Linux is that secure it doesn't need a firewall is kidding themselves and are at serious risk of being hacked.
Hell even windows has one turned on by default, at least blocking incoming connections. You say most computers are safe as there sitting behind a router, home routers are notoriously one of the most un-secure devices on any given network.
2 • Don't need a firewall umm Really (by artytux on 2023-09-04 03:57:41 GMT from Australia)
If firewalls cause problems and are not needed why then do some Linux distros supply the firewall enabled when the distro is installed , a second line of defence in these times is not a wasted effort. If firewalls cause problems and are not needed why then do they maintain and upgrade them.
3 • Firewall (by M.Z. on 2023-09-04 04:25:42 GMT from United States)
Sometime in the past few years I remember feeling much more secure with my firewalls always enabled, because one of the few major bugs to hit Linux only hit users in a default config that didn't have a firewall enabled. I think it may have been Shellshock? Regardless I still turn on firewalls & recommend others do as well, whether they are just a desktop user like me or otherwise.
4 • Firewall (by Michael on 2023-09-04 05:20:03 GMT from Australia)
For a Linux machine sitting behind a properly configured home router, I think not running a firewall is a reasonable approach. However, the corporate world has long since given up the fantasy that a corporate firewall will protect their corporate network, since people will freely connect personal devices to the corporate network, or take their corporate device and connect it to other networks, then bring it back to the corporate network.
Many people now use laptops, and take them out of their (somewhat protected) home environment to other environments with Internet connectivity (mobile wireless, mobile hotspot, free Wi-Fi etc), and you're running a much greater risk without a firewall on the laptop.
For laptops running Windows, the risk is greater still.
5 • Agree host based firewall is uneeded (by JustawOpinion on 2023-09-04 05:47:18 GMT from Australia)
A firewall is only as useful is its configured to be. A better solution is to shut down externally open services that are unnecessary. NAT on your router will block traffic from the internet -> local unless you are port forwarding to allow it through.
In many cases firewall + AV can create a false sense of security for users
6 • PCLINUX (by Mike Sonic on 2023-09-04 06:10:33 GMT from United States)
PCLINUX is my RPM distro of choice; it just works well, it was a very easy and very fast install in my 9 year old i3 laptop. I have been using PCLINUX on and off since 2007, less the times I where I tried Mageia, Fedora, Gecko and openSuse; PCLINUX has worked the best in my equipment.
PCLINUX is a KDE distro first and XFCE second. MATE was a community DE incorporated into the distro. The distro has all the packages I need/use.
If I want to try out a DEB only package, currently I have .DEB in an i7 with MX and in an i5 running Mint LMDE and dual boot with Sparky. A close tie between MX and Mint. It all depends which DE one prefers; Cinnamon, Mate, Xforce or KDE plasma.
PCLINUX works very well with Dell minus the time I received equipment with a Xeon processor, it took long to load and slow to react.
My only real negative observation is with the description of the packages in Synaptic. Sometimes it is so poor that I question if I should install it.
7 • Firewall (by Dr.J on 2023-09-04 06:51:07 GMT from Germany)
a wrong question cannot get a right answer. The question about a firewall definitely falls short. A firewall is ultimately just one of many tools you can use to control what happens when you connect to the Internet. And that's what it's all about: control. Of course I don't want anyone to access my computer directly, but I also don't want anyone to do hardware fingerprinting, read IP and MAC addresses, profile my web searches, start phone-home attempts. I don't want programs to send release notes, crash logs or whatever to their home server without my consent, etc. In this respect... Should home users just turn on their Linux PC and go online? Definitely not. To that extent: I like my Whonix gateway - with firewall.
8 • ...a firewall? Yes. And some additional networks too. (by Udo Burghardt on 2023-09-04 06:51:30 GMT from Germany)
Several of the large service providers infiltrate a LAN as intense as they can. And having a multitude of IoT (Internet of Targets) "things" inside my one and only network at home is really a no-go. Such services often "need" to talk to the mothership. Often this mothership is in far Asia, but for me being in a European country the same is true for the US - I am looking at you, Google/Amazon/and-so-on.
A "firewall" on a local computer does not help improving this situation.
Personally I am able to segregate my networks at home into several of the same: I have a LAN for computers/laptops; I have a media-Network for streaming from e.g. Amazon Prime and using a so called "smart" TV; I have a DMZ for some services I want to reach from the outside. All in all there are nearly 10 networks in my house. They are isolated first, but of course I want to actually use the services living in them ;-) So to glue them together again I had to learn implementing routing and packet filtering.
What I hate as much as I can are CDNs (content delivery networks). It is simply impossible to allow the media-LAN to access only a few servers per service. There is no single Amazon-Prime streaming server. There is no single Microsoft-Update server. All are replaced by CDNs.
I've tried to build a whitelist for external service provider's servers, multiple times. Last time I gave up when I reached 16 MILLION(!) addresses in ~ 20 networks (in CIDR-notation) in approximately two hours of analyzing the outgoing connection requests. And that would be only the beginning. (And only the IPv4 setting, IPv6 doesn't make it easier.)
This approach (a whitelist) is just not feasible. I can not successfully limit connectivity of my "smart" TV and getting updates and streams. The result is that my large TV from LG is just physically disconnected from Ethernet - which is also a non-acceptable approach for most people.
9 • Problems with PCLINUX?!? (by Ennio on 2023-09-04 06:59:38 GMT from Netherlands)
Times change and here it is the very novel news that PCLINUX gives some grinding during the install process, whereas PCLINUXOS has always been - *for me* - a distribution "install and forget". It was the distro I used to check for alternatives to Elive in the usecase of the Enlightenment WM; in fact, there is a vibrant community offering many possibilities about WM in in the Community section. Jesse, it is true that PCLINUX starts conservative but you can see from their frontpage that you can install the heck out of the latest packages.
Kudos to the devs of discontinued Connectiva to give - maaany years ago - the APT solution for the then infamous RPM-hell.
Out of Topic - Last week I missed to point that Tiny Core Linux is THE small thingy to be portably installed on a 64MB penstick (if are there any left) to amaze your friends. In March they released version 14. And... Enter the Void is movie worth downloading, Void Linux was conceived in 2008, the film was released in 2009 and there might be that the devs didn't miss the chance. There is a thing I cannot find: one day I found a serie of pages where Void Linux was educating to the usage of command line tools, something like "a low-level command line program a day". Anyone knows?
10 • Properly configured firewall? (by Ennio on 2023-09-04 07:10:29 GMT from Netherlands)
@4 Householods connetc to the Internet via the modem/switch coming with the provider's box. Is not difficult to find news of compromised devices spreading spam or DDOS because of the blatant lack of security updates, while the provider and the manifacturer points finger at each other - if any, given that ignoring the whole issue is the norm. Life in a electronic gadgetry waste...
And, the heavens forbid, better not to know what kernel is used.
11 • PCLinuxOS (by TBS on 2023-09-04 09:02:12 GMT from Germany)
After adventures with SuSE 5.1, Gentoo, and Ubuntu, I've been using PCLinuxOS since 2007, beginning with KDE 1.9, and now looking forward to Plasma 6.0.
Sure, there were a few hiccups along the way, but solutions were quickly provided. And the efforts put into each stable rolling release were admirable. Many came to PCLinuxOS, mentioning easy installation, great hardware detection, and a very helpful community.
Under the guidance of Texstar, this has never changed. Thus, my commitment to this distro has never wavered.
12 • Firewalls (by MrPotatoHead on 2023-09-04 09:55:34 GMT from Australia)
>Firewalls, while an essential security tool on servers, rarely provide benefits (and often cause frustrations) for desktop users at home.
Dropping the ball on this one Jessie. tsk tsk tsk
Even if the firewall does not do that on a users home network, we always leave our home networks. So if you have a phone or laptop and taken outside, having a firewall running already on the deice WILL provide protection.
But you know what, people don't care about privacy or security. So it is a null question anyway.
13 • pclinuxos (by Rebecca on 2023-09-04 10:18:54 GMT from New Zealand)
I had been looking for an alternative to windows and stumbled across PCLinuxOS which seemed to work great. I tried various other distros but nothing came anywhere close to the ease of use and the great forum community that can solve any problems i came across.
14 • Firewall (by Tux Raider on 2023-09-04 11:16:31 GMT from United States)
yes, since Linux already has IPTables preinstalled i just add a rc.firewall script to /etc/rc.d/ (slackware) and add a stanza entry to rc.local to activate it every time the system boots up,
15 • Firewalls (by Jesse on 2023-09-04 11:39:13 GMT from Canada)
@1, @12:
"Anyone that thinks that Linux is that secure it doesn't need a firewall is kidding themselves and are at serious risk of being hacked"
This is true only if you are running network services which accept connections from any IP address. If you don't have any active network ports listening for connection, then a firewall won't do anything to help you.
I don't need a firewall on my phone or laptop for example because there are no open network ports to defend.
16 • PClinuxOS (by kc1di on 2023-09-04 11:44:36 GMT from United States)
I have a fond spot in my memory of PCLinuxOS and still keep a usb drive with it burn on it. I use other Distros and enjoy them but for some reason PClinusOS has always been a go to Distro when I need a quick and easy install. It's never failed to produce a good result. Though sudo is not installed by default it can be install and set up. The community around this distro is great and it will be used here whenever I feel the need to have a quick install that just works. Enjoy the reviewed.
17 • firewall needs (by MikeOh Shark on 2023-09-04 12:03:31 GMT from United States)
Several posters have mentioned the possibility that you will connect your portable device to someone elses's network so you need a firewall.
I try to make my firewall as tight as possible because I also don't trust my router manufacturer. They haven't had an update in awhile and all consumer companies disclaim all liability and tell you there is only a limited support before they expect you to buy a new one.
My goal is to have the firewall so tight that I can connect my cable modem directly to the laptop if I need to bypass the router temporarily for test purposes.
18 • PCLinuxOS (by ChrisR on 2023-09-04 12:48:45 GMT from United States)
I have been using this distro for years. Extremely dependable and the community support is the best. It is one of the few distros remaining that does not use systemd. I appreciate it so much that I make a voluntary monthly contribution to try to help keep it going.
As to the poster with the issues about the firewall, PCLinuxOS has the ability to run one very easily. Jesse above has it correct. If you are competent enough to open ports then you should be able to easily accomplish any firewall protection you need in PCLinuxOS.
I would recommend anyone use this distro in general. Many choices as to desktop environment and there are quite a few ISOs created by the community. Take a look and I think you will like it.
19 • PCLinuxOS (by K J Petrie on 2023-09-04 13:02:29 GMT from United Kingdom)
I moved to this distro from Mandriva in early 2007 after a contact pointed out it was rolling release and does not need regular reinstalling. I have had to reinstall from a standard ISO just twice - once in 2009 before Texstar learned how to build the toolchain from scratch to make it a standard upgrade, and a second time in 2012 to migrate from 32-bit to 64. Since then I have kept the same installation going except when messing something up required a reinstall from my own remaster, which restores the system to the last time I upgraded my USB backup, so is still derived from that 2012 install.
PCLinuxOS is stable, reasonably up-to-date, and stays that way if upgraded via Synaptic on a regular basis.
Unless you need an exotic piece of software not in the repository and can't find a way to install it yourself, PCLInuxOS is a good choice for a typical desktop user.
20 • PCLinuxOS (by dragonmouth on 2023-09-04 13:15:40 GMT from United States)
PCLinuxOS has been my daily driver for at least 10 years. Never had problems installing it or running it that I did not cause myself. I have used pretty much all the desktop versions (official and community) available. I did automatic installs, manual installs and installs to preconfigured partitions. One install I never did is in a Virtual Box.
"...modern package manager..." In comparison to Synaptic's capabilities/features, I find "modern package managers" woefully limited. Yes, they look pretty and provide useless features such as User Ratings but will not do everything in one execution. Form rather than function.
If you are so enamored with Flatpaks, you can always install FlatHub using Synaptic. :-) I have never used Flatpaks and do not plan to. They, like systemd, is something that Red Hat (IBM) is pushing to gain control of Linux.
21 • PCLinuxOS (by newmikey on 2023-09-04 13:46:03 GMT from Germany)
I ran PCLInuxOS as my daily driver for over 12 years and still have no hesitation in recommending it to first-time or more advanced Linux users. Even though I have long since moved to Manjaro (because of reasons...) I still keep a live version on a Ventoy USB stick to run now and then. I also keep following the PCLinuxOS forum which is one of the nicest and most helpful communities I know.
22 • PCLinuxOS (by Alie on 2023-09-04 14:03:04 GMT from United Kingdom)
I love this distro, It just works for me, no issues personally, the new installer is a great step forward. I like it so much that I've been building community respins featuring Trinity and Openbox since 2016. There isn't anything that could make me swap. The forum is informal and friendly where any questions asked will get an answer.
23 • Exploits Without Firewall? (by Cackle Dan on 2023-09-04 14:23:39 GMT from Canada)
Honest questions:
Are there any current or past exploits of a desktop Linux machine that is not running any network services that would allow a bad actor to infiltrate or take control of the machine?
Can a firewall prevent browser fingerprinting?
How does a firewall protect your privacy while surfing the web?
24 • Exploits without firewall (by Jesse on 2023-09-04 14:31:32 GMT from Canada)
@23: "Are there any current or past exploits of a desktop Linux machine that is not running any network services that would allow a bad actor to infiltrate or take control of the machine?"
Probably not take control of a machine, but some remote attacks can still be disruptive. In the past some operating systems have been vulnerable to network attacks which didn't involve network services (ie the machine had no open ports), but those attacks would also usually work through normal firewall rules too. Things like ping attacks, for example. Those usually won't take over a machine, but might disrupt network activity or knock the machine off-line. Since pings often aren't filtered by normal firewall rules some of these will work, regardless of whether a default firewall is enabled or not. Windows 95, for example, would crash if sent a "ping of death".
However, apart form some very specific cases where pings could disrupt a kernel, there usually aren't any attacks that will remotely crash or take over a remote OS unless it is running a network service. In other words, if there is nothing running which can be attacked, then it doesn't matter if a firewall is in the way, because there is nothing to exploit.
"Can a firewall prevent browser fingerprinting?"
No, not at all.
"How does a firewall protect your privacy while surfing the web?"
It doesn't. A firewall filters out network traffic, usually from coming into your computer from remote, untrusted sources. When you're surfing the web you're opening a connection to the outside world and voluntarily sending data. A firewall doesn't come into play.
25 • PCLinuxOS (by Otis on 2023-09-04 14:32:24 GMT from United States)
I hung that up years ago even as an experimental ("distro hopping") choice several years ago when I saw what was going in in the forums at their site. There was a core of folks who got along fine with each other, it appeared, but newbies or people who asked questions some thought were dumb or otherwise unworthy of attention were not treated so nicely.
I have no need for such a "community." I've since seen users post here and there that the forums at PCLinuxOS helped them and were user friendly, so perhaps there's been a shift in attitude or moderators, etc. The one response to me that really pushed me over the cliff was "google is your friend" when I asked about having an audio issue with the distro.
The distro itself seemed okay, but something "heavy" about it, maybe clunky is a better word, as compared to others of the day (and as compared to MX Linux and many others now days I'm sure, but I don't know as I've moved on).
26 • PCLinux OS (by exploder on 2023-09-04 14:48:25 GMT from United States)
I have always liked Texstar's work and the community surrounding it. PCLinux OS is the only rolling release I would ever use. It is built exactly the way the community expects it to be and their are user's that have installs that have been running for years without issue. Texstar participates in the forum and I like his sense of humor! It's a solid rolling release with a terrific community!
27 • No firewall? Are you nuts? (by tom joad on 2023-09-04 14:56:47 GMT from Germany)
About the first thing I setup on a new install is setup a firewall. And like @17 I crank it down as much as I dare. If there are issues I walk it back some. I do the same think with my NAT.
To me it seems like good old common sense.
As for Hurd, I ain't never heard of no Hurd so I guess I don't need it.
28 • PCLinuxOS (by cdquarles on 2023-09-04 14:57:34 GMT from United States)
I love this distro. I didn't do much distro hopping a couple of decades ago. Most didn't work well for me. When I started looking at Linux again a couple of years ago, I ran across PCLinuxOS. It just worked. I subsequently rebuilt my computer and switched from legacy BIOS to EFI. The distro just worked. In my opinion, if you are ditching Windows to get into Linux, I highly recommend PCLinuxOS.
29 • firewalls (by Mark E on 2023-09-04 15:02:14 GMT from United Kingdom)
I'm pretty sure Jesse is correct in what he says about firewalls. I used to block incoming traffic with UFW, but as my desktop doesn't run network-accessible services, I don't bother anymore. No open TCP ports = no attack surface, unless I'm mistaken?
30 • PCLinuxOS (by COGwatcher on 2023-09-04 16:19:44 GMT from United States)
I have several Lenovo Thinkpads and have personally used the Thinkpad T-series and L-series exclusively since 2007. The Thinkpad series has traditionally been a very Linux friendly line of laptops. I was able to install PCLinuxOS from a DVD on almost all of them except for my current Thinkpad T490 and my test Thinkpad L430. I even tried 5 PCL releases going back to 2019. Only the 2019 edition installed on the T490 from a DVD but I could not change the display resolution which was stuck at 1020X1920, way too small for my old eyes.
So unless I want to go with UEFI, which I don't, I will pass on using PCLinuxOS for the foreseeable future. It was really good in its heyday but no more. Through the years I have always had problems with installing or using PCL. Most other distros installed just fine from a DVD on my T490, including Fedora 38/37, LMDE5, Debian, Sparky, MX Linux, etc. It seems that more and more distros are going with installs using USB Flash Drive/EFI mode only.
31 • PCLinuxOS (by David on 2023-09-04 16:41:55 GMT from United Kingdom)
Yet another satisfied user! I'm not one of the long-term users, but a refugee from CentOS. The rolling release model means that I don't have the regular upheavals that one gets from distros like Debian, whilst it's conservatism mean that I don't need the repair skills that I'd need for Arch.
As for Snap and Flatpack, many consider them a mindless imitation of Windows. Snap is difficult to use without systemd and it is blocked by Linux Mint for being too much controlled by Canoncal.
Incidentally, the combination of apt and rpm is not unique to PCLinuxOS: it's also found in two enterprise-class distros which most English speakers won't know — the Russian ALT and the Japanese Vine.
32 • PCLinuxOS (by kalwisti on 2023-09-04 17:06:29 GMT from United States)
PCLinuxOS has been my primary distro since 2007. Although I've distro-hopped some, PCLinuxOS has never been wiped from my hard drive/SSD. As an "average" desktop user, this distro has all the packages I need for my daily work. IMHO its advantages are: stability; the friendly, helpful community (including Texstar's regular presence in the user forum to assist with problem solving); its independence (freedom from Systemd, not being "based on" any other distro); and its semi-rolling release model without succumbing to the "bright and shiny" syndrome.
Although some think of PCLinuxOS as being KDE-centric, its other DE releases are also of high quality. I've tried all of them at some point: MATE, Xfce, LXQt, Trinity DE and even Openbox. (I've mainly been using the LXQt Community Release since 2021).
I would disagree with Jesse's impression that PCLinuxOS is somehow 'stagnant' or reluctant to adopt new ways of doing things. The "mylive-install" GUI installer is brand new as of July 2023. (It still has some glitches to work out with regard to automated partitioning, as Jesse experienced. Manual partitioning works perfectly). Texstar is revamping the PCLinuxOS Control Center; he shared a proof-of-concept video in the user forum showing how he might adjust the tool's functionality. Updated kernels are provided regularly for users who wish to upgrade.
There is a list of custom GUI utilities specifically written for PCLinuxOS, that is available at:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,143298.0.html
I think that PCLinuxOS is not as well-known as some larger distros because it is community-driven and has no wealthy corporate sponsors. Due to its rolling model, there are no 'major releases' to garner publicity in the Linux press. However, I am very grateful that it exists. New users willing to search and discover PCLinuxOS will experience that it provides a comfortable and safe Linux home.
33 • The Linux Shop (by Otis on 2023-09-04 17:26:14 GMT from United States)
Congratulations on setting up a relationship with https://thelinuxshop.co.uk/ as a way to allow easier access to Linux install media. The blurb about it in the Website News area here was a pleasant surprise to see.
34 • PCLinuxOS (by Pablo on 2023-09-04 18:06:53 GMT from United States)
I've been using PCLinuxOS since 2007, after "distro hopping" for a while. I started with Ubuntu, then moved to Kubuntu, tried Lubuntu, OpenSuse, and countless other distros who's memory is lost to time. PCLinuxOS. Just. Works. It has always recognized my hardware when the "other" distros would not. It has always been extremely stable, while maintaining a good amount of "leading edge" packages in its repository. There are exceptionally few Linux distros out there where you have total access to its founder, and in this case, it's Texstar. He will jump into an issue and offer up his wisdom on how to fix the problem at hand. I have stuck with PCLinuxOS ever since stumbling upon it. The PCLinuxOS community is second to none, with helpful and cheerful friends willing to do whatever they can to help you with whatever issue you may be having. PCLinuxOS is a rolling distro, so users can keep their installation going as long as they keep it updated regularly. PCLinuxOS is also systemd free ... THANK GAWD! Systemd was a good idea when it was "just" a replacement for the Linux init system, but then, like Hydra from Greek mythology, it just kept growing new heads and invading non-init portions of Linux. Thank you very much, but I'll take my Hydra-free version of Linux any day of the week, by sticking with PCLinuxOS.
35 • PCLinuxOS (by K J Petrie on 2023-09-04 19:03:52 GMT from United Kingdom)
Before anyone tries to point out the obvious in a disparaging way, anyone who compares the code will see that mylive-install is a much-adapted fork of Debian's live-install. It's new to PCLinuxOS, replacing the older Mandrake-derived draklive-install, Yes, it still needs a few tweaks, especially for reinstalls of existing systems, but is good for installing new systems already, which is its main purpose.
As for the forum, it is helpful and friendly. When problems arise with newcomers they usually have one of two causes:
1. Someone with an "entitled" attitude forgetting Linux is a self-help system and treating it as if it were a consumer product, or
2. Forum members (including moderators sometimes) forgetting a newcomer on a first post might not be familiar with their sense of humour or a running joke from other areas of the forum.
The second one is sad when it happens, but no harm is intended by those who slip up.
36 • BSD Server Uptime (by PhantomTramp on 2023-09-04 19:22:22 GMT from United States)
Here's a nickel, now go buy yourself a real operating system.
The Tramp
37 • Firewall (by John on 2023-09-04 19:50:04 GMT from Canada)
If the Desktop is the only system connected to the ISP Router, then yes I agree. This assumes your ISP patches your router for you. Where I am, you are lucky the ISP even knows what the default settings are in the router they supplied you. So I have a firewall up and running on my desktop.
38 • PCLinuxOS (by Andreas on 2023-09-04 19:54:01 GMT from Germany)
I've been using PCLinuxOS on all my family's computers since 2010 and I really love the rolling release politics.
The system has always been stable on my 'business' labeled, usually refurbished ThinkPads, Dell, or HP machines.
The forum has always been helpful and friendly and it seems that few people have ever left the forum (and thus the distro) since I have joined 13 years ago. It's a nice bunch of people and one gets a feeling of "home" on the forum.
The new installer that will install the system in your chosen language right away instead of having to run a localization tool after the install. This will make it a bit easier for non-english speakers. Generally, speaking English is a plus, but not a must for using PCLinuxOS.
So, if you're looking for a straightforward, easy to use, maybe easy-to-switch-to-from-Windows distro, PCLinuxOS is the #1 choice.
39 • HURD (by Hurd on 2023-09-04 19:54:21 GMT from Canada)
It is one of those things, like the BSDs, were would we be now if HURD was ready before Linux was started.
It would be a very different world I believe, by now HURD would probably be under some kind of GPL3. Makes you wonder if Companies would have gotten behind HURD like they did with Linux.
40 • PCLinuxOS 64 (by Bobbie Sellers on 2023-09-04 21:36:53 GMT from United States)
Well I started by using Mandriva in about 2006. For several years I supported this distribution and then in 2011 the paid for iso file could not be usuably installed on the machines I had then. I had the advantage that as a librarian for a LUG I tried lots of distros as they came out. I liked Mageia but trying to run in a dual-boot situation came up with problems as Windows does not tell you when they are doing kernel updates which mess up the Linux startup coding. So I had tried PCLinuxOS earlier and when they had mastered uefi and GTP I came back to it in 2016 and have been using it since. The Forum is terrific reminding both of the old Usenet groups where I learned to use an Amiga and the BBSes of the day which I frequented.. KDE has been very flexible allowing to roughly imitate the old Amiga Workbench.
Recently got a Used(very lightly), Refurbished Dell Precision 7730 6 cores advanced graphics for <$500. Installing PCLinuxOS was not as easy because we have a brand new tool for assigning partitions. For various reasons I tried to keep the Windows install but It proved incompatible with my intentions and as soon as I gave the machine the whole disk PCLinuxOS went right on with few problems since.
bliss - Dell Precision E7730- PCLinuxOS 64- Linux 6.4.14- KDE Plasma 5.27.7
41 • PCLinuxOS (by bluebird on 2023-09-04 22:06:32 GMT from United States)
Been using PCLOS with XFCE4 for over a year, for remote work and leisure, it's been awesome on my HP laptop from 2012. No issues with drivers, no issues with OpenVPN/Wireguard, and most of all the forum is a jewel. Have any problems? Something to share or celebrate? Go and make a new topic!
42 • PCLinuxOS (by Keltonix on 2023-09-05 05:06:45 GMT from United States)
In my opinion, PCLinuxOS is a "newbie's paradise" Linux distribution because:
(01) PCLinuxOS Forum denizens are generally treated well by the PCLinuxOS maintainers (and other forum members)
(02) Are given lots of tips about acquiring, installing, configuring, and personlizing PCLinuxOS.
For instance . . . We've been told how to set aside some RAM (for those of us who have loads of RAM) to use as "/tmp" to help reduce the amount of R/W cycles to/from our SSDs.
How to properly use "su -" (rather than "su" or "sudo").
(03) Forewarned about important changes and events that are about to happen to PCLinuxOS.
(04) Our esteemed distro-leader and friends work hard to keep the PCLinuxOS kernel up-to-date.
(05) Our esteemed distro-leader and friends work hard to incorporate all the most recent KDE Plasma and other Desktop Environment elements into the various spins of PCLinuxOS.
43 • PCL & fw (by grindstone on 2023-09-05 07:10:22 GMT from United States)
PCLOS has always filled an important space to aid users considering moving to linux because it fosters the feeling that the user is in control and because it just works (tm).
And +1 on the firewall comments--I think you're missing one, Jesse. Yes, it's always convenience tradeoffs, but...layers.
44 • Hurd is a toy (by Aqua on 2023-09-05 11:09:03 GMT from United States)
A few years ago I installed Hurd in a virtual machine. after I run the "apt update" command, the kernel panic and reboots, and even causes filesystem corruption. Hurd has been in development for decades, but so far there are many problems. Without Linus, BSD would have replaced Linux as it is now, because GNU could not develop a working OS kernel.
45 • PCLinuxOS, APT-RPM and Synaptic (by linux_kde on 2023-09-05 11:30:35 GMT from Brazil)
It is unusual to see "apt" and Synaptic in an RPM-distro, but note that we are talking on "APT-RPM", developed by Conectiva Linux, before it joined Mandrake and become "Mandriva" - and Synaptic was a Conectiva GUI frontend to its "APT-RPM".
Now, I use to manage packages mainly with CLI commands, in most of my distros, but I still prefer Synaptic in DEB-distros and in PCLinuxOS, because it is the best GUI tool I have ever found for this. Synaptic is just powerful and fully reliable. - Yes, I (still) don't use Flatpak, Snapd or AppImage.
Unhappily, I got late to Linux and lost the chance to try Mandrake, which was the most user-friendly distro back in early 2000's. So, I have PCLinuxOS and Mageia in my hardware.
PCLinuxOS' Control Center (PCC) and Mageia's Control Center (MCC) really deal with the "system" (as YasT2 in openSUSE), while "KDE System Settings" deals with DE's options. - Indeed, this name "system settings" is not the best name that KDE could find.
As people said here, PCLinuxOS Forum is the best thing that every user could find. The distro's team takes care of the distro's users. I could compare it with MX Linux' Forum and Mint Forum - each one, for a different users' profile.
46 • Debian Hurd in Gnome Boxes (by Tim on 2023-09-05 12:01:35 GMT from United Kingdom)
Every setup is different but on my laptop with MX LinuxEebian Hurd ran in a couple of clicks in Gnome Boxes, logged in with root and no password and goes to some sort of desktop with startx. Doesn't seem very useable for me though and I'm not brainy enough to play with it.
47 • Stable, rock solid PCLinuxOS (by Cat on 2023-09-05 13:22:44 GMT from Switzerland)
If you wanna break your machine, lose your work, or have a bloated system, just follow the author's advice and install a distro that "moves with the latest trends"! I did that and broke my system... that's what the big corporations want you to do, to become a lab rat to test new "trends" and, once they become stable, they'll release them through their *paid* Linux distros. Mine - PCLinuxOS - is as stable and rock solid as an enterprise Linux system, it's constantly updated, has a fantastic support through its forum, and all for free. But if you want, go ahead and install one of those distros that "adopt new ways of doing things." But when your system breaks (and it will), it's too late, and then you'll understand why large organizations and experienced Linux users prefer stable and "conservative" distros!
48 • Stable, rock solid PCLinuxOS (by Cat on 2023-09-05 13:22:44 GMT from Switzerland)
If you wanna break your machine, lose your work, or have a bloated system, just follow the author's advice and install a distro that "moves with the latest trends"! I did that and broke my system... that's what the big corporations want you to do, to become a lab rat to test new "trends" and, once they become stable, they'll release them through their *paid* Linux distros.
Mine - PCLinuxOS - is as stable and rock solid as an enterprise Linux system, it's constantly updated, has a fantastic support through its forum, and all for free.
But if you want, go ahead and install one of those distros that "adopt new ways of doing things." But when your system breaks (and it will), it's too late, and then you'll understand why large organizations and experienced Linux users prefer stable and "conservative" distros! ;-)
49 • @44 GNU developers (by Andy Prough on 2023-09-05 15:48:46 GMT from United States)
>"Without Linus, BSD would have replaced Linux as it is now, because GNU could not develop a working OS kernel."
The GNU developers jumped in and contributed a lot of the early development work in and around the Linux kernel. Within the first 2-3 months Linus changed the license to the GPL in order to conform to the needs of the GNU project, as you can see from his kernel 0.12 release notes.
GNU Hurd was still an infant project when the Linux kernel was released, having begun initial attempts at development just a few months before initial development of Linus's kernel. So it was natural for the GNU developers to choose one kernel to prioritize for support (Linux), and for the other kernel to then languish for lack of development (Hurd).
50 • Linux for Newbies (by why-oh-why on 2023-09-05 16:06:35 GMT from Netherlands)
Newbies should avoid PCLOS and XFCE4 at any price. PCLOS could be compared to MX Linux—if someone can somehow make some wrong preset, there's where you'll find it. As for XFCE4, there is only 1 (one) single good reason why XFCE4 shouldn't be deleted for good—Azenis.
https://postimg.cc/qg5QXMgr https://postimg.cc/v1ht1GCp https://postimg.cc/67MCWYvK
I've been using Fedora with Gnome for basically a decade for remote work and leisure, and it's been awesome on my Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13s Ultrabook 360° touchscreen laptop from 2012. There are no issues with drivers, no issues with upgrades, and most of all, one doesn't even need to look for help in some forums. It just works. Have any problems? Something to share or celebrate? Go and make a new topic!
51 • Still there (by Friar Tux on 2023-09-05 17:55:16 GMT from Canada)
@50 (why-oh-why) In case you're interested you can get "Azenis" for GTK3 on GitHub by Aravisian. It will also be good with XFCE4. Aravisian has a bunch of really good themes there. Hope it's OK to mention this here.
52 • home routers (by sweethome on 2023-09-05 19:32:42 GMT from Germany)
@17 "...I also don't trust my router manufacturer. They haven't had an update in awhile and all consumer companies disclaim all liability and tell you there is only a limited support before they expect you to buy a new one."
Do you already know openwrt? (openwrt.org) It is a free firmware that can be used for many home routers.
I don't know about other countries, but in Germany you don't have to use the home router provided by the isp. Everyone can decide for themselves which device should be used, full compatibility must of course be available.
53 • PCLinuxOS (by John Cate on 2023-09-06 08:02:11 GMT from United States)
"if something isn't broke, then they don't fix it"
That's completely accurate. And that is a virtue, not a cause for criticism. Anything I want to run PCLOS on, I can install it and it WILL work, first time, every time. You're not the first person to report it not playing nice with VMs, but it always works with real hardware, and I've probably installed it on about 20 different chipsets over the years.
I rely heavily on my PCs for both work and for entertainment, and at work I have tight deadlines and can't be bothered with a computer running some new "feature" messing up. No, just give me old reliable PCLinuxOS instead. Never failed me once!
54 • Home Firewalls (by Woodstock69 on 2023-09-06 08:10:55 GMT from Australia)
For those doubting Jesse, check your system / firewall with "Shield's Up!" from Steve Gibson Research - grc.com
Satisfy yourself with the results. Turn your firewall off then check again.
I've got SSH and network shares setup for my home network. All connections to the internet are "Stealth" according to Shields Up.
I do however use PortMaster. Not because I'm worried about incoming connections, but because I don't want outgoing leaks. The above results are with PortMaster off by the way.
It's not the incoming connections you need to worry about per se. It's the reverse shells you might allow due to suspect emails, attachments, or software you run.
55 • Firewalls (by picamanic on 2023-09-06 13:49:25 GMT from United Kingdom)
I am sure you are right in what you say. Still, I remember the first time I used the internet with Redhat 6.0 in [I think] 1999/2000, connecting with a slow dialup modem. I don't think I was even using a web browser at the time. And yet, I watched as my computer was taken over by a route kit, which was replacing the commands that would ultimately allow it to be seen. Then I unplugged the computer!
I later discovered that the rootkit was famous for attacking corporate servers, but in those days they were the computers running Unix/Linux.
At the time, I had not heard about Firewalls. Since then, I always the best firewall I can find. Since then zero malware. 23 years wasting my time installing firewalls. Silly me!
56 • GNU Hurd (by Klaus Schilling on 2023-09-08 00:02:03 GMT from Germany)
I would use GNU Hurd if there was a documented way to install it with Suckeless or OpenBSD-like userland on top.
57 • PCLinuxOS and Wicd (by Matheus on 2023-09-08 21:51:00 GMT from Brazil)
Recently, in my work environment, I had to use a laptop with PCLinuxOS preinstalled. This computer was located outdoor and receiving such a weak RF signal, that I lost the Wi-Fi connection dozens of times within just a couple of hours... So I got crazy about it and immediately replaced the buggy NetworkManager with the reliable Wicd. Since then, NO MORE Wi-Fi CONNECTION FAILURES.
And now, this is my suggestion to TexStar: Forget the stupid newbie-friendliness. Bring Wicd back (in lieu of NetworkManager), for the sake of MY sanity!
Number of Comments: 57
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