 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1040, 9 October 2023 |
Welcome to this year's 41st issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
There are hundreds of Linux distributions in the world. One thing they all have in common, whether the distribution is independent or a grandchild of another project, is they share at least some components. It might just be the Linux kernel and a few command line components, or it might be a compiler and desktop environment, but all members of the Linux family share and build on some common elements. Sharing pieces of software means less work for the developers as modules can be snapped into place, but it also means issues in one distribution are often shared across others. This week, in our News section, we talk about a flaw in the commonly used glibc software which affected most Linux distributions. We also talk about Linux Mint addressing limitations in new versions of GTK-based applications while the team publishes new install media. Plus we discuss Debian publishing updated install media while Murena begins crowdfunding a new, privacy-focused smart phone. Do you like the idea of having a phone with privacy-focused hardware switches? Let us know in the Opinion Poll below. First though, we begin with a look at CROWZ, a Devuan-based distribution which offers a minimal, efficient approach. Jeff Siegel took CROWZ for a test drive and reports on his experiences in our Feature Story. In our Questions and Answers column we discuss changing the locations of default directories. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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| Feature Story (By Jeff Siegel) |
CROWZ 5.0
Is CROWZ, a distro with a 1.0GB ISO and based on Devuan, one of the best minimal distros available today?
It sure seems that way, and running it for a week didn't change my mind in the least. CROWZ isn't perfect, but it leverages a selection of light-weight window managers and the PCManFM file manager to produce a user experience that isn't overly intimidating for first-timers nor too dumbed down for those who think GUIs are a waste of coding.
CROWZ isn't quite as polished as MX Linux, but it's more useful than Puppy Linux or EasyOS, two quality minimal distros with their share of eccentricities. CROWZ has those certainly, starting with a surprising lack of documentation, a sometimes troublesome installation process, and what is either a bug or design flaw surrounding Network Manager.
But none of that really gets in the way - which may be the most surprising thing about CROWZ. Most of these kinds of distros, which are put together by small groups of volunteers, seem to have difficulty getting past the hobbyist stage. But CROWZ can function as a daily driver, especially for older hardware. Believe it not, there's even a word processor (sort of) in the installation ISO.
Getting started
CROWZ comes in three 64-bit versions, featuring the Fluxbox, JWM, and Openbox windows managers. There are 32-bit versions, but they date from 2020 and there's no indication on the download site if they're still supported. There also aren't any system requirements listed, save for a line that says CROWZ is based on Devuan GNU+Linux 5.0. The latter is based on Debian 12 Bookworm, and Bookworm's documentation suggests at least a Pentium 4, 1GHz system to run a desktop, plus 2GB of RAM and a 10GB hard drive.
CROWZ 5.0 -- Running the Openbox window manager
(full image size: 45kB, resolution: 1368x768 pixels)
I worked with the 64-bit Openbox spin of the latest CROWZ release, version 5.0, which uses the 6.1.0-1 kernel and, according to the release notes, includes mostly minor changes from 4.0 (which was released about 14 months ago). The notes highlight its dark theme, its Calamares installer, and that it's systemd-free, though it doesn't say what it does use. SysV init was the answer, after a little command line hunting and pecking. There are a couple of pages of documentation covering the last few releases and a link to a forum with ten posts, none less than a year old; otherwise, we're on our own.
All of this makes CROWZ sound less than appealing. And CROWZ in VirtualBox doesn't inspire much confidence, either. The CROWZ display doesn't resize to match the VirtualBox window, and trying to change the resolution offers four screens. Trying to load the current Firefox ESR (version 102.15), the default web browser, uses all the available memory and almost two-thirds of the CPU, and never does load.
CROWZ 5.0 -- Running CROWZ in VirtualBox
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The initial impressions on my 11-year-old Asus test laptop (older hardware, yes?) weren't much better. This seems to be a combination of a design flaw and how the Calamares installer works. The installer needs an Internet connection to complete successfully (though this is never really mentioned anywhere). But the theme is so dark that it's almost impossible to see the network manager icon in the upper-right corner of the panel, next to the audio icon. Plus, WiFi is turned off by default on the live session, so if the installation tries to connect (which it sometimes did), it won't find the network and fail.
Meanwhile, setting the display resolution is an adventure in trial and error; some of the listed screen resolutions don't exist. You need to right click the desktop and go to Settings/Display to find the display manager settings, which use the ARandR Screen Layout Editor. ARandR is not only less than intuitive, but it doesn't use the saved settings in a new session. That means the saved setting needs to be applied after boot, every time.
Still, lean and quick
So, given all of this, why is CROWZ so impressive? Because once you navigate these obstacles, it's lean and quick, with nary a wasted motion. Even Firefox loads in about a second. The entire installation took up 10GB of disk space on the Asus; by comparison, a fresh install of Xubuntu 22.04 recommends we have about 20GB.
Openbox (version 3.6.1-10), which sometimes gets lost in the shuffle when it's used elsewhere, is the star here. Everything is literally a desktop right-click away, whether it's adding software with Synaptic, running the Google Docs web app, configuring Conky, or using the PCManFM file manager (version 1.3.2).
CROWZ 5.0 -- Exploring directories with the file manager
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Given that the trend in desktop design today is to become more complicated (yes, that means you, GNOME), Openbox is - despite its long tenure among Linux distros - almost a revelation. Its use here is an example how to build a quality, 21st-century Linux desktop without a bit of bloat. And it does so without sacrificing functionality. As long as I remembered to right-click instead of Ctrl+Space to launch something like Albert or Kupfer, I was as comfortable working with CROWZ as my usual Xubuntu.
CROWZ 5.0 -- The welcome window
(full image size: 50kB, resolution: 1368x768 pixels)
Among the CROWZ features
- CROWZ-welcome, a GUI/command line hybrid that pops up on after booting (or that can be run from the command line) that allows you to check updates, add LibreOffice, install Chrome or Chromium, and to add a couple of command line apps, including the Poor Man's Radio Player. Plus, there is the ability to add development tools such as version control software.
- CROWZ-welcome provides access to CUPS and printing, which doesn't come with the installation. The option adds the basic printer GUI, as well as offering access to CUPS via localhost. This is the only other annoyance; sometimes it detected the Canon MX920 on my home network, and sometimes I had to go through the entire, brain crushing, adding a printer process.
- An Applications folder within PCManFM, with sub-folders for Accessories, Games, and so forth for those who want a more traditional menu. Know that, for the live version, the installation icon is in the System Tools sub-folder under Applications (and the password to launch it is "live" (one of the few bits of necessary information in the documentation).
- Laptop support. CROWZ-welcome says the distro doesn't support laptops, though I didn't notice any particular difference. But it does offer the option of adding ACPI support, as well as the Xfce power manager.
CROWZ 5.0 -- A chance to view the release notes
(full image size: 21kB, resolution: 1368x768 pixels)
Lots of choices
The software assortment is more than thorough, which shouldn't be surprising given the distro's intentions. They include FileZilla (version 3.63), which doesn't crop up much on the distros I work with; GParted; the Mousepad text editor; the Mirage image viewer; Atri document viewer; and DeaDBeeF for music, Parole for videos, and MPV for good measure. I especially liked the addition of a LXTerminal launcher which opens the terminal as root, and (of course) there are two other terminals.
If you want an e-mail app, you'll have to add one via Synaptic, though I imagine the typical CROWZ user doesn't much care (or runs Mutt). The only other thing lacking are icons, themes, and wallpapers. The handful that are included are mostly various shades of dark, and adding anything lighter from Synaptic and then substituting for what's there messes with the screen equilibrium. It sort of looks OK, but that's about it. But again, I don't think theming is the point of what the distro's developers are trying to do.
Finally, a word about Devuan and how it works here. I'm neutral on the init controversy. Yes, systemd seems like an attempt to solve a problem that doesn't exist, but as long as it does what it's supposed to do, I'd rather worry about other Linux and FOSS issues. Having said that, I didn't notice any difference between how the Devuan base ran in the background here and the Debian-based systemd distros I normally use.
In the end, CROWZ does what so many try to accomplish but don't quite deliver - a quality effort from what seems to be just a handful of developers. Would that this happened more often.
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Hardware used for this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an Asus UX31A laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Core i5-3317U, 1.7GHz
- Storage: 128GB SSD
- Memory: 4GB of RAM
- Networking: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless
- Display: Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000
When he is not testing out new versions of Linux distributions, Jeff Siegel can be found writing about all things related to wine at WineCurmudgeon.com.
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Visitor supplied rating
CROWZ has a visitor supplied average rating of: 7.1/10 from 8 review(s).
Have you used CROWZ? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Linux Mint updates Edge media and addresses theme issues with some GTK apps, Murena begins crowdfunding a privacy-focused phone, Linux distributions patch glibc vulnerability
The Linux Mint team have published new "Edge" ISO files for the Linux Mint 21.2 series. The Edge media provides updated software, in particularly a newer kernel is offered for improved hardware support. "This is a quick announcement to let you know an Edge ISO image is now available for Linux Mint 21.2. This image is made for people whose hardware is too new to boot the 5.15 LTS kernel included in Linux Mint 21.x. It ships with kernel 6.2 instead. For information on Edge ISO images visit https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/edge.html. Note: This ISO also brings back support for Secure Boot."
The Mint team also published their monthly newsletter which provides an overview of changes to the distribution. One of the items mentioned is dealing with breaking updates in a few GTK applications. "While working on LMDE 6 we came across applications written with GTK4/libAdwaita. These applications are designed for GNOME only and do not support themes. This makes them look different than all other apps and out of place within the desktop. We solved this issue in LMDE 6 by removing one of them and downgrading the other apps back to their GTK3 versions. Going forward we'll need to come up with a decision on how to handle this long-term. This is something that will need to be done in preparation for Linux Mint 22."
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Murena, an organization which develops a de-Googled branch of Android called /e/OS, has announced the development of a new device with enhanced privacy features. The new device, called the Murena 2 (or Murena Two), ships with the usual collection of privacy features other Murena phones provide. These include privacy ratings for applications, widgets to hide the user's location and IP address, and the ability to block commonly used trackers in apps.
The new device's key feature is a set of physical privacy switches - one which will turn off the camera and microphone, and another which will disable networking, audio, and GPS. "Privacy shouldn't be a complication. It needs to be accessible for everyone. The Privacy switch allows you to control your microphones and cameras directly, with only an action from your finger! Move it down and your cameras and microphones are switched off and move it up to turn them back on. Not only is this a convenient and swift way to increase your privacy, but also a solid guarantee that your life is not being snooped around anymore." The Murena Two can be pre-ordered on Kickstarter.
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The Debian team have announced the availability of new install media for Debian version 11 and version 12. The new media includes bug fixes for packages which have been discovered and patched since the original release. "The Debian project is pleased to announce the second update of its stable distribution Debian 12 (codename bookworm). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available. Please note that the point release does not constitute a new version of Debian 12 but only updates some of the packages included."
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This past week a number of news sites covered an overview of a severe security issue in the glibc software. This library is a common component across most Linux distributions and the discovered flaw could result in an attacker being able to run programs as the root user. Cyber Kendra reports: "The vulnerability was introduced in glibc version 2.34 released in April 2021. The Qualys researchers discovered that by overwriting a specific function pointer in memory, they could control the ld.so loader's library search path and force it to load a malicious shared library under their control. This library can then execute arbitrary code with the privileges of any setuid or setgid binary on the system." The vulnerability worked on Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu and is expected to work on most mainstream distributions. Projects such as Alpine Linux, which run alternative C libraries, like musl, are not affected. Most projects have patched glibc and recommend users update their systems with the new fix using their distribution's package manager.
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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) |
Changing default directory locations
Finding-a-new-place-for-everything asks: How do I go about changing the default location for where things are saved? All my applications default to opening Downloads or Documents, but I want to organize stuff in a different folder.
DistroWatch answers: Depending on whether you want to use the Documents and Downloads directories for other things or not, there are at least two fairly easy approaches you can take.
Let's say that you want to keep the Documents and Downloads directories (and their contents), but just do not want them to be the default location for opening and saving files. You can change the default locations most applications use by opening the file ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs in a text editor. Here you will see a list of variable names and corresponding locations. It looks like this:
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
Here we see the default locations for the desktop, download directory, and documents. Changing the path name on the right side of the equals sign (=) will change the default location for files and applications. Let's say I want to store new items I downloaded through my web browser in a directory called WebStuff, I could change the above entries as follows:
XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Desktop"
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/WebStuff"
XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Documents"
Then I would save the ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs text file and, in the future, applications would treat "WebStuff" as my default place for saving downloaded files.
Earlier I mentioned another approach we can use. If you do not want to keep the default directories, we can delete them and replace them with symbolic links to new locations. For example, here I create the "WebStuff" directory and move my downloads to it. Then I delete the Downloads directory and replace it with a link to the new location. This makes applications treat Downloads and WebStuff as if they were the same location.
mkdir ~/WebStuff
mv ~/Downloads/* ~/WebStuff/
rmdir ~/Downloads
ln -s ~/WebStuff ~/Downloads
The first approach is probably the more proper, clean way to do things. However, either should work equally well from the point of view of your desktop applications and where they store files.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
SpiralLinux 12.231001
SpiralLinux is a selection of desktop spins built from Debian, with a focus on simplicity and out-of-the-box usability across all the major desktop environments. The project's latest release focuses on audio output, touchpad input, and placing reasonable limits on Btrfs snapshots. "For this release all editions of SpiralLinux are now using PipeWire with a proper out-of-the-box configuration for low-latency (5.3ms by default) JACK-compatible live audio applications, even on standard consumer hardware. The default configuration is unique to SpiralLinux and includes overrides to the default PipeWire configuration as well as a number of low-level system tweaks as recommended by rtcqs. This makes SpiralLinux an excellent base system for professional live audio production JACK workflows while simultaneously offering compatibility with normal PulseAudio consumer applications. To take full advantage of the low-latency JACK compatibility simply run 'sudo systemctl enable cpupower' to enable the optimal performance CPU governor." Additional details can be found in the release notes.
SpiralLinux 12.231001 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
(full image size: 1.9MB, resolution: 1920x1200 pixels)
elementary OS 7.1
elementary OS is an Ubuntu-based distribution which features the Pantheon desktop environment. The project has updated its 7.x series, code name "Horus", with a number of new features and improvements. One focus of the new 7.1 release is privacy: "Today, we're proud to announce that OS 7.1 is available to download now and shipping on several high-quality computers. This release represents the sum of our work over the last several months as a single major update to the OS 7 series and includes all of the monthly OS updates we've detailed since the OS 7 release. One of the most prevalent problems we face in our current digital lives is the violation of our privacy and the lack of consent when interacting with our devices each day. Portals seek to provide a safe and consensual way for apps to interact with the operating system and ensure that they only get access to the data and features that you want them to. One of the ways that apps may become intrusive is by automatically starting themselves or running in the background without your permission. In OS 7.1, we now provide the Background & Autostart Portal which alerts you when apps are running in the background and makes sure that apps ask your permission before they can automatically start up when you turn on your device." Additional details are provided in the project's release announcement.
Slax 15.0.3, 12.1.0
Tomáš Matějíček has released two updated builds of Slax, the project's minimalist, Slackware- and Debian-based live distributions: "I am thrilled to introduce the newest version of Slax, your only pocket operating system. This update is available for both of its bases: one that's built on Debian (version 12.1) and the other one on Slackware (version 15.0.2-current). One of the most notable enhancements of this release is the improved session handling, especially when running Slax from writable devices, like USB drives or hard disks. In the past, Slax didn't offer an easy method to manage multiple sessions. All modifications were simply stored in the /slax/changes directory, providing just one session in general. However, with this update, you can now maintain multiple sessions. Each session is neatly saved in its own subdirectory within /slax/changes/. At boot time, you are presented with options: you can either start a new session, resume a previous one, or select a session of your choice from a menu." The release announcement offers a full list of new features and enhancements.
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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: 2,911
- Total data uploaded: 43.6TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Do you like the idea of using a smart phone with hardware privacy switches?
In our News section we talked about Murena's upcoming privacy-focused phone which features two hardware switches. These switches will block audio/video listening and electronic emissions, respectively. What do you think about using a phone with privacy switches? Let us know if you've used a phone with privacy switches in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on using the Reiser filesystem (ReiserFS) in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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When it comes to using a phone with hardware privacy switches...
| I have used one and liked it: | 66 (5%) |
| I have used one and did not like it: | 8 (1%) |
| I would like to use one: | 822 (66%) |
| I would not like to use one: | 112 (9%) |
| Undecided: | 229 (19%) |
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|
| Website News |
Wednesday's network disruption
A few people wrote to us on Wednesday of this past week indicating they were unable to access the DistroWatch website and wondering if there was a problem or if we were blocking ranges of IP addresses. What had happened was a problem occurred with some of our DNS records for DistroWatch.com (DistroWatch.org, which points to this same website, was unaffected).
This was an unusual situation in that everything on our web server was running fine, but traffic was getting directed to the wrong place for a little while and not reaching us. We quickly contacted the proper people and got our DNS records restored to working order. However, these things take time to propagate throughout the Internet and get around to all the ISPs. So, for some people, the fix was almost immediate while for the others the fix took several hours.
We'd like to thank the people who reported the issue and appreciate everyone's patience while we waited for the various service providers to update their records. Your assistance and understanding were very helpful.
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 16 October 2023. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1033 (2023-08-21): MiniOS 20230606, system user accounts, how Red Hat clones are moving forward, Haiku improves WINE performance, Debian turns 30 |
| • Issue 1032 (2023-08-14): MX Linux 23, positioning new windows on the desktop, Linux Containers adopts LXD fork, Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ form OpenELA |
| • Issue 1031 (2023-08-07): Peppermint OS 2023-07-01, preventing a file from being changed, Asahi Linux partners with Fedora, Linux Mint plans new releases |
| • Issue 1030 (2023-07-31): Solus 4.4, Linux Mint 21.2, Debian introduces RISC-V support, Ubuntu patches custom kernel bugs, FreeBSD imports OpenSSL 3 |
| • Issue 1029 (2023-07-24): Running Murena on the Fairphone 4, Flatpak vs Snap sandboxing technologies, Redox OS plans to borrow Linux drivers to expand hardware support, Debian updates Bookworm media |
| • Issue 1028 (2023-07-17): KDE Connect; Oracle, SUSE, and AlmaLinux repsond to Red Hat's source code policy change, KaOS issues media fix, Slackware turns 30; security and immutable distributions |
| • Issue 1027 (2023-07-10): Crystal Linux 2023-03-16, StartOS (embassyOS 0.3.4.2), changing options on a mounted filesystem, Murena launches Fairphone 4 in North America, Fedora debates telemetry for desktop team |
| • Issue 1026 (2023-07-03): Kumander Linux 1.0, Red Hat changing its approach to sharing source code, TrueNAS offers SMB Multichannel, Zorin OS introduces upgrade utility |
| • Issue 1025 (2023-06-26): KaOS with Plasma 6, information which can leak from desktop environments, Red Hat closes door on sharing RHEL source code, SUSE introduces new security features |
| • Issue 1024 (2023-06-19): Debian 12, a safer way to use dd, Debian releases GNU/Hurd 2023, Ubuntu 22.10 nears its end of life, FreeBSD turns 30 |
| • Issue 1023 (2023-06-12): openSUSE 15.5 Leap, the differences between independent distributions, openSUSE lengthens Leap life, Murena offers new phone for North America |
| • Issue 1022 (2023-06-05): GetFreeOS 2023.05.01, Slint 15.0-3, Liya N4Si, cleaning up crowded directories, Ubuntu plans Snap-based variant, Red Hat dropping LireOffice RPM packages |
| • Issue 1021 (2023-05-29): rlxos GNU/Linux, colours in command line output, an overview of Void's unique features, how to use awk, Microsoft publishes a Linux distro |
| • Issue 1020 (2023-05-22): UBports 20.04, finding another machine's IP address, finding distros with a specific kernel, Debian prepares for Bookworm |
| • Issue 1019 (2023-05-15): Rhino Linux (Beta), checking which applications reply on a package, NethServer reborn, System76 improving application responsiveness |
| • Issue 1018 (2023-05-08): Fedora 38, finding relevant manual pages, merging audio files, Fedora plans new immutable edition, Mint works to fix Secure Boot issues |
| • Issue 1017 (2023-05-01): Xubuntu 23.04, Debian elects Project Leaders and updates media, systemd to speed up restarts, Guix System offering ground-up source builds, where package managers install files |
| • Issue 1016 (2023-04-24): Qubes OS 4.1.2, tracking bandwidth usage, Solus resuming development, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS offers preview of Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1015 (2023-04-17): Manjaro Linux 22.0, Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Arch Linux powering PINE64 tablets, Ubuntu offering live patching on HWE kernels, gaining compression on ex4 |
| • Issue 1014 (2023-04-10): Quick looks at carbonOS, LibreELEC, and Kodi, Mint polishes themes, Fedora rolls out more encryption plans, elementary OS improves sideloading experience |
| • Issue 1013 (2023-04-03): Alpine Linux 3.17.2, printing manual pages, Ubuntu Cinnamon becomes official flavour, Endeavour OS plans for new installer, HardenedBSD plans for outage |
| • Issue 1012 (2023-03-27): siduction 22.1.1, protecting privacy from proprietary applications, GNOME team shares new features, Canonical updates Ubuntu 20.04, politics and the Linux kernel |
| • Issue 1011 (2023-03-20): Serpent OS, Security Onion 2.3, Gentoo Live, replacing the scp utility, openSUSE sees surge in downloads, Debian runs elction with one candidate |
| • Issue 1010 (2023-03-13): blendOS 2023.01.26, keeping track of which files a package installs, improved network widget coming to elementary OS, Vanilla OS changes its base distro |
| • Issue 1009 (2023-03-06): Nemo Mobile and the PinePhone, matching the performance of one distro on another, Linux Mint adds performance boosts and security, custom Ubuntu and Debian builds through Cubic |
| • Issue 1008 (2023-02-27): elementary OS 7.0, the benefits of boot environments, Purism offers lapdock for Librem 5, Ubuntu community flavours directed to drop Flatpak support for Snap |
| • Issue 1007 (2023-02-20): helloSystem 0.8.0, underrated distributions, Solus team working to repair their website, SUSE testing Micro edition, Canonical publishes real-time edition of Ubuntu 22.04 |
| • Issue 1006 (2023-02-13): Playing music with UBports on a PinePhone, quick command line and shell scripting questions, Fedora expands third-party software support, Vanilla OS adds Nix package support |
| • Issue 1005 (2023-02-06): NuTyX 22.12.0 running CDE, user identification numbers, Pop!_OS shares COSMIC progress, Mint makes keyboard and mouse options more accessible |
| • Issue 1004 (2023-01-30): OpenMandriva ROME, checking the health of a disk, Debian adopting OpenSnitch, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1003 (2023-01-23): risiOS 37, mixing package types, Fedora seeks installer feedback, Sparky offers easier persistence with USB writer |
| • Issue 1002 (2023-01-16): Vanilla OS 22.10, Nobara Project 37, verifying torrent downloads, Haiku improvements, HAMMER2 being ports to NetBSD |
| • Issue 1001 (2023-01-09): Arch Linux, Ubuntu tests new system installer, porting KDE software to OpenBSD, verifying files copied properly |
| • Issue 1000 (2023-01-02): Our favourite projects of all time, Fedora trying out unified kernel images and trying to speed up shutdowns, Slackware tests new kernel, detecting what is taking up disk space |
| • Issue 999 (2022-12-19): Favourite distributions of 2022, Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releasing security patches for 16.04, Haiku working on new ports |
| • Issue 998 (2022-12-12): OpenBSD 7.2, Asahi Linux enages video hardware acceleration on Apple ARM computers, Manjaro drops proprietary codecs from Mesa package |
| • Issue 997 (2022-12-05): CachyOS 221023 and AgarimOS, working with filenames which contain special characters, elementary OS team fixes delta updates, new features coming to Xfce |
| • Issue 996 (2022-11-28): Void 20221001, remotely shutting down a machine, complex aliases, Fedora tests new web-based installer, Refox OS running on real hardware |
| • Issue 995 (2022-11-21): Fedora 37, swap files vs swap partitions, Unity running on Arch, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for more devices |
| • Issue 994 (2022-11-14): Redcore Linux 2201, changing the terminal font size, Fedora plans Phosh spin, openSUSE publishes on-line manual pages, disabling Snap auto-updates |
| • Issue 993 (2022-11-07): Static Linux, working with just a kernel, Mint streamlines Flatpak management, updates coming to elementary OS |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Zephix
Zephix is a live Linux operating system based on Debian's stable branch. It runs totally from removable media without touching any files stored on the user's system disk. The aim of Zephix is to provide a free modular operating system that users can carry with them and use wherever there is a laptop or a desktop system available. The default ISO image comes without any graphical interface, but several desktop modules are available separately, together with other various popular application modules. Users can also create their own modules using built-in scripts.
Status: Active
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| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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