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1 • Paying for distros (by name on 2024-01-08 01:45:14 GMT from France)
I have voted for “using my distro free of charge”, but in reality I have invested a lot of time in the community development of the distro through pushing code to their repo. There is no financial transaction but arguably bug fixes and code exploration are normally invaluable for any distribution.
2 • Paying for distros (by Vinfall on 2024-01-08 02:05:02 GMT from Hong Kong)
I'd only pay if the distro offers a transparent financial report and is running low on their balance. For example, when I switched from Debian to Devuan I wished to donate and went to https://www.devuan.org/os/donate.html, only to find that they have more than enough funding than I imagined XD. In the end I donated that money to another free software.
If the distro is not open enough (in the sense of their funding source & usage), I probably wouldn't do that since I can't make sure whether it's sustainable. Naturally I don't want to use a distro that would stop developement as soon as I just started using a few months ago...
3 • Donation (by mnrv-ovrf-years on 2024-01-08 02:14:27 GMT from Puerto Rico)
I wish I could pay. Get in line after Slackware...
I do not believe in "patronage", sorry, I would go for once if I could. I don't believe in "supporting programmers for a living", whatever that means. Right now I'm looking for employment, so I have to go with totally free software without strings attached. Bad enough there are many developers out there which don't really know what "free" means. Free as in download link without caring who downloads it, and not even asking e-mail address, and whoever gives his/her address gets daily letters that aren't wanted. Don't tell me there are "opt outs" because the worst of the insecure ones use that as trigger for their "alternate, alternate" accounts because they already know my e-mail address and it's all they need to know, and the only solutions, neither of which is practical is either to sign up somewhere else or avoid online access completely.
The price of bread and milk is becoming too high for "patronage" which is what I'm trying to get at. While I struggle to make ends meet per month, I don't wish to see somebody else "getting it easy" or giving the appearance of it. I'm not being facetious, I pointed out items I have to buy almost everyday.
At one time I was able to contribute financially, but I was totally unable to get through PayPal. I attempted to explain it at my end to somebody who ran his/her own site but their ignorance about it permanently turned me off about greedy developers and their lackeys running their own sites. How could I show them that "you do not need an account with PayPal to donate" did not work in my area? Because that site in decade-2000 recognized only one city in my area and I needed to have a postal code only for that city? Because trying to get a postal code address for my area required me to get into a line and it would have been at least a year before my request were answered?
One more thing. I reeeeeealy hate "begging" on some sites, how they almost push people into contributing. At least two distros based on Debian/Ubuntu having caretakers who distinguished themselves brilliantly such that I don't care how popular or reliable those operating systems are. Also a particular site which is a lot like Arch Linux official site but is more impressive about their excuses...
There are a few exemplary developers which I believe their creations should have been sold if only each developer had better luck about business. I would have donated to those people.
4 • Paying for Main Distro (by Otis on 2024-01-08 02:42:48 GMT from United States)
I've gone all routes on that poll, even purchased more than one commercial distro. Also used one for months without donating. Also have visited distro websites and clicked their "donate" button and sent payments. Done the whole lot. My policy now is to support my main distro with annual donations, and to contribute money here and there with distros I fool around with.
5 • Do you pay? (by zephyr on 2024-01-08 03:16:20 GMT from United States)
Leaving Windows was a troubled road, first with Xandrox and I bought it. Later attached myself to Crunchbang as my long term distro, and VSIDO. Later on with Star and later on started my own distro called Zephyr, then Crowz. I have bought a few distro's to try them out. I like to see what others are doing. Furthermore, I don't have any notions or negative thoughts about anyone charging for their work. If they can make a few bucks, I'm happy for them, but it's a tough market out there with so many Linux and Unix like free distributions to be in competition with.
Many users I have noticed behave and express themselves that it's an entitlement for a free distro and customized to their taste and likening.
6 • Mandrake (by denflen on 2024-01-08 03:42:36 GMT from United States)
It was very interesting (and sad) to read the review of what became of Mandrake Linux. It was the very first Linux distro that I ever got to work on my desktop computer many years ago. I came from Windows ME and decided to try out Linux just for fun. And Mandrake was fun. I have tried and moved on to many other distros since then, but it is a shame to hear about how it has devolved since then.
7 • Money for distros (by Andy Prough on 2024-01-08 03:56:45 GMT from United States)
I've been using GNU/Linux distros for about 26 years now, and I've pretty much always paid into it. I've purchased support, purchased boxed sets of installation media, made supportive payments to help get certain features added, purchased CDs and DVDs and Live USBs, purchased branded merchandise, etc.
I've spent more on GNU/Linux over that time than I would have if I had been using a proprietary OS and paying for an updated license once every 3-4 years.
8 • Paid for it (by Friar Tux on 2024-01-08 04:54:59 GMT from Canada)
I originally bought Mandrake 3.1 from a company in California (I live in Regina, Canada). I installed it and it worked for a couple of days, then it went belly up and scared me back to Windows 95. I gave the Mandrake CD to one of my nephews. Used Windows as my main driver till Windows 10 - though I played with various Linux distros over the years on a separate laptop. Most distros never lasted more than a couple of days, some bombed at install.
Finally, I was working with Windows XP and loved it, until one day, Windows 10 just loaded itself onto my laptop - no questions asked - it took about an hour and it was full screen with no way to exit out. I shut off my laptop, pulled the battery and left it for the day. I grabbed The Wife's laptop and downloaded Linux Mint/Cinnamon onto a USB stick. Finally, I rebooted my laptop and installed Mint and haven't looked back since. The very next day, The Wife's laptop started installing Windows 10 right while she was in the middle of some work. Again, full screen with no way to exit. I installed Mint on her laptop and she, too, hasn't looked back. We've been on Mint/Cinnamon for the last 8 years with no regrets. I haven't ever paid any moneys out to any distro, yet, but I've been thinking about it lately. So THAT may happen soon.
9 • Paying for distros (by Harald on 2024-01-08 05:21:11 GMT from Norway)
My comment is same as #1,
I give back by contributing as much as possible.
10 • Mandrake (by Roger Brown on 2024-01-08 07:07:29 GMT from Australia)
@6 OpenMandriva is not the only Mandrake derivative.
The best is Mageia which released a new version last year. It's always been solid if somewhat conservative. If you want a Mandriva style distro, that's the one to try.
I've always found OpenMandriva somewhat buggy (when tested in a VM) - the present review is not especially surprising.
There's also Rosa, from which OpenMandriva was forked, but that distro hasn't released a new version for some years
11 • Mandrake offshoots and Donations (by Bobbie Sellers on 2024-01-08 07:27:16 GMT from United States)
I started with Mandriva, the result of the union of Connectiva and Mandrake.
Right off the man behind the innovative distribution, Gael Duval and so we
should not mourn the collapse of Mandriva too much. I paid about $50 a year
for originally 2 DVDs with a explanatory manual. PCLinuxOS was a fork
from Mandrake originally with later images from Mandriva. Mageia was organized
to move forward with the Mandriva Code and aside from adding systemd they
do pretty well. I have never seen a good image from OpenMandriva and they
did the same thing adding systemd. I used Mageia and it was a good continuation
of Mandriva and the cost of the download was a lot less. Mandriva charged me
$50 for the 2011 release, a single DVD-sized iso, and it was somehow unable
to run on my machine of the time. I was not able to get useful help online
and then the company was out of business. I used PCLinuxOS in 2013 but
the machine I was running it on developed some problems as though the
connections of the SATA chip had developed solder problems. The new
machine had UEFI and Mageia had adopted that. I see the related changes
to the disk formatting useful. Now when I first used the PCLinuxOS I did
not donate but after I came back to it when it managed to integrate UEFI.
I got into the PCLinusOS Forum and that source of good advice is worth
every penny of the small donation I make. Plus I get to use one of the
best descendants of Mandrake. I paid for Mandrake because it
incorporated licensed software to deal with various image formats.
PCLOS is not standing still though and has changed some install tools
as the diskdrak was needing a whole rewrite and GPartEd is a standard.
bliss - Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2024.01- Linux 6.5.13- KDE Plasma 5.27.10
12 • Did you pay for your distro? (by Dawid on 2024-01-08 08:02:02 GMT from Germany)
No, only donations to KDE
13 • Donations (by Someguy on 2024-01-08 09:02:43 GMT from United Kingdom)
Tried at least three times to donate to Mint but their payment options don't coincide with any of the secure systems I use to protect my financial dealings. That includes refusing to use any mobile phone or systems demanding one (not necessarily involving Mint).
14 • Falkon (by Lioh on 2024-01-08 09:35:21 GMT from Switzerland)
imho Falkon can be a good choice. Maybe not for a general purpose distro, but, e.g. when you primarily target low spec machines, like I do with SpaceFun e.g. it really makes sense.
15 • Donations (by Dino on 2024-01-08 12:18:37 GMT from Denmark)
I have given donations to several distros: Devuan, Linux Mint, Ubuntu MATE, and Debian.
16 • Mandriva/paying (by Dave Postles on 2024-01-08 12:28:50 GMT from United Kingdom)
Like others, Mandriva was one of the first distros to which I committed. I also bought the usb stick with Mandriva from them (an innovation at the time, I think). I'm sad that OpenMandriva seems lacking. In fact, I recently used it for a little time. Contributing to distros: I have done so in the past (in particular the late lamented Uberstudent). I donated to Mageia - a one-off. I am a regular direct debit to Trisquel (I'm not using it currently, but continue to support).
17 • Alphabetical listing of DW database. (by 2³bit on 2024-01-08 13:12:01 GMT from United States)
"Number of all distributions in the database: 959" Is there a way to get this list in alphabetical order? Thanks for your time.
18 • All distributions (by Jesse on 2024-01-08 13:16:47 GMT from Canada)
@17:
Alphabetically? Not directly. But you can get a complete listing from our search page: https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=All&origin=All&basedon=All¬basedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=All&package=All&rolling=All&isosize=All&netinstall=All&language=All&defaultinit=All&status=All#simple
Once you have the list you can drop it into a text file or spreadsheet and sort it in whatever order you like.
19 • Mandrake and Paying for Distros (by John on 2024-01-08 13:22:11 GMT from Canada)
I started off way back with Slackware, but Mandrake Linux was the first distro I actually purchased. Full retail package - and it worked great!
Unfortunately, I find that most distros these days are not worth purchasing. Buggy, unstable and unreliable for a daily driver. If you want me to pay, then make it worth it. Of the most polished distros like Ubuntu or Mint, so far I haven't paid, but now that I've centralized on LMDE, perhaps I will send something their way to let them know their work is appreciated.
20 • donations (by Mark E on 2024-01-08 14:49:45 GMT from United Kingdom)
I donate to Mint. They make a nice distro and I'm happy to pay for it. I don't have the inclination to contribute to the development of the distro so it's good that I can contribute financially and just use it. I also like how they are upfront about the fact they want donations, with a prominent button on their main page. You know what's expected of you.
21 • Paying for distros (by Pal N on 2024-01-08 17:03:08 GMT from Sweden)
I use my distro for free. I translate free software and occasionally distro specific files to my native language. I imagine one could say I pay by donating time.
22 • Donations (by Sam Crawford on 2024-01-08 19:33:06 GMT from United States)
I donate to LinuxMint and Distrowatch monthly.
LinuxMint because I use it and it has value to me and this website because I enjoy it and want to see it continue.
23 • Donations (by 0323pin on 2024-01-08 20:27:27 GMT from Sweden)
I've donated several times in the past but, since a few years back, I contribute by packaging software.
24 • Did you pay for your distro? (by Geo. on 2024-01-08 20:39:04 GMT from Canada)
Yes, if it's a permanent install, I always pay/donate. I have paid/donated for Slackware, Mepis, Puppy, Antix, and Mint. People work hard for these distros. I'm not going to freeload. Next will be Bohdi.
25 • Donations (by Rodrigo on 2024-01-08 20:48:01 GMT from Spain)
Like some other users, I donate monthly (using patreon) a small amount of money to support Linux Mint. I really ike the distro (actually, I use it everyday), and I know that if users did not support the developers (specially in cases like this -Linux MInt is not supported by a company-), the distro would disappear. I feel that if you use a product developed by a small team, and this product makes your life much easier, the least you can do is support that small team, either financially or by helping them (with translations, package development...)
26 • Mandriva and successors (by John C on 2024-01-08 21:17:11 GMT from United States)
Strange that OpenMandriva is adding new versions if they have unresolved bugs in what they already put out. But there are at least five extant distros from the Mandrake/Mandriva family that still operate. ALT, PCLinuxOS, ROSA, Mageia and OpenMandriva are all either direct or indirect successors of Mandrake/Mandriva.
The one most like the original is PCLOS, which Distrowatch bashed them for a few months ago because they do a lot of stuff the old way. If you want a take on Mandriva with "updated" tools from people who helped make the original, Mageia is the best way to go.
27 • Mandriva and successors (by Roger Brown on 2024-01-09 00:09:18 GMT from Australia)
Unfortunately, the reason why Mandriva type distros are fading into obscurity is that their "killer" feature - those wonderful configuration utilities - are largely unnecessary now that Linux has become largely self configuring.
28 • Donations (by HipsterSix on 2024-01-09 00:36:22 GMT from United States)
Back in the day I willingly and happily purchased LibraNet.
Nowadays the wife and I run Mint (for her) and Slackware (for me). I give monthly to Slackware via Patreon and donate to Mint with every production release.
You’re not obligated to give anything, of course, but I see a lot of rationalization on here. Infrastructure to host and in some cases to fund a full time employee or two cost money; if your favorite distro goes down flames and you could have given a couple of dollars/Euros, don’t snivel.
29 • One man team distros (by One man team distros on 2024-01-09 01:15:23 GMT from Singapore)
It would be nice to show the size of the development team of the various distros.
I am wary when choosing a distro which has only one man in the "team".
30 • on sending donations (by Ted H in Minnesota on 2024-01-09 05:52:15 GMT from United States)
Monday 11-8-24
I'm not equipped to send a donation electronically, but if an OS I use has a postal address drop in the US posted on their website, I will send them a U.S. Postal Service money order.
Ted in Minnesota
31 • Paying for a Distro (by James on 2024-01-09 10:58:40 GMT from United States)
I am using my distro free of charge. I have tried to pay for a Distro, but refuse to use Pay Pal or cyrpto currencies. I asked if they would take a check and the answer was no. No distro I tried took credit cards either.
I also will not pay for a download. I have tried to many distros that did not fit my need, and never used them after trying them. Why would I pay for them?
32 • @27 Roger Brown: (by dragonmouyj on 2024-01-09 12:24:16 GMT from United States)
"Linux has become largely self configuring. "
Unfortunately Linux is getting to be more Windows-like every day. I, for one, want to set up My distro the way I want, not the way some developer thinks is the "best". My daily driver is PCLOS and it will be so until something more suitable comes along and by that I do not mean some Windows wannabe distro.
33 • 29 • One man team distros (by Jan on 2024-01-09 12:48:13 GMT from The Netherlands)
I agree with the disadvantage of one man or small team distros.
They are almost certain to disappear, which I regrettably have experienced several times.
There are a few remarkable exceptions, among others AntiX and PCLinuxOS (after circa 2010).
However I would like to know how their continuity is guaranteed if the main developer/team stops (because of new other priorities or a team explosion).
34 • @33 • 29 • One man team distros (by Geo on 2024-01-09 14:05:02 GMT from Canada)
I'm so glad Mepis came back as MX Linux. Mepis was my first successful daily driver. I learned more on it than any other distro. I'm always happy when a previous distro comes back. All these small teams are to be lauded. So much work for so little recognition. 🏆
35 • Paying for free software (by zetamacs on 2024-01-09 15:38:57 GMT from United States)
You know, I'm a firm advocate for financially supporting free software projects. The authors have already done something deserving of a reward in making software that you can freely run, modify, and pass on to others, and so much the more if it's good software.
The fact that whole operating systems are crafted and given to others with little or no restriction is still just phenomenal to me, after years of using such systems. A bit of gratitude and some money to keep the lights on is a fitting response.
36 • one man team (by John on 2024-01-09 18:05:41 GMT from United States)
@29 @33 -
Depends upon the distro and the person, officially Slackware is a "one man team", but the BDFL has had many volunteers helping out over the years. Right now there is an official Volunteer Team. And it is the oldest still being developed distro.
And there were periods early on that people were paid to work on Slackware for the BDFL. IIRC a couple ended up at Red Hat.
FWIW, I believe Slackware is most stable. I do not remember the last time I had a panic type issue using Slackware. On RHEL Workstation I have at work, the last panic I had was about 2 years ago.
So in some cases, "one man" depends upon the development infrastructure.
37 • OpenMandriva, Mandrake (by frc on 2024-01-10 05:26:16 GMT from Brazil)
I have tried about 25 or 30 distros, last 10 years, and keep using permanently Mageia since 2017 and PCLinuxOS since 2018, from the Mandrake / Mandriva "branch", formerly in a 2 x Core2 Duo with 4 GB RAM, and now in a 6 x i5-9th with 16 GB RAM.
Back in 2017, I was still "ubuntunized", and did not understand Mageia (6) completely. Then I (re)installed Mageia (7) and finally learned better. Now, instead of reinstall or upgrade Mageia (8 to 9), I just upgraded it to Cauldron, and it keeps working fine.
Mageia offers many upgrade tools, too: - 2 Mageia's GUI tools, 1 icon in the Panel, 1 Plasma Discover, and 2 CLI tools ("urpmi" and "dnf", at least; but it is not recommendable to use both). Well, since 2018 I use only "urpmi", and I have had none problems. I have never used its MCC (Control Center) to update it.
I have faced some problems to install PCLinuxOS in my old hardware, back in December 2017, but once I learned how to round them, it works fine to me, since 2018. I have never used its PCC (Control Center) to any update, nor its "apt" (APT-RPM). I have always used Synaptic, which is a GUI for APT-RPM, created by old Conectiva.
I have installed ROSA, too, some years ago, but I gave up, due to low download speed from its mirrors (no mirror in my country). Also, Mageia and PCLinuxOS were enough to me, in order to know Mandrake's heritage.
I have tried to install OpenMandriva 2 or 3 times, but its ISOs / installer have never worked to me, so I gave up and stoped trying.
38 • Support through opt-in ads (by far2fish on 2024-01-10 11:26:36 GMT from Denmark)
I'd be happy to support a Linux distro finansially through ads as long as the following requirements are there:
- No ads by default. Must be opt-in.
- Easy to opt-out (for instance a toggle in a control panel)
- Ads runs sandboxed, so any "flaw" in the ad system doesn't spread to the system in general.
- No tracking of any kind; I'd be fine with generic ads.
39 • @32 Linux self configuring (by Roger Brown on 2024-01-11 08:24:52 GMT from Australia)
I wasn't thinking about pre-configured desktop settings. I use Archlinux and very much value the ability to set up things exactly as I wish.
But you should remember the bad old days when you often had to configure Xorg by hand - especially if you changed hardware after the initial install. Mandrake's utiliries, which ran from the command line as well as under the graphic interface, were an absolute life saver when (for example) you hooked up a new monitor only to be confronted with an "out of range" error.
But that's now a thing of the past.
40 • Ads (by Clem Fandango on 2024-01-11 18:04:45 GMT from Denmark)
@38
No.
Ads everywhere is what's wrong with this world. Distros serving ads belong in the bin.
41 • Keeping shell commands running when the terminal closes (by fenglengshun on 2024-01-12 09:16:20 GMT from Indonesia)
If I want to have command continue own detached from the terminal, I usually just use Ctrl+Z, then do `bg && disown`.
42 • Why not... (by Helvetia on 2024-01-12 12:40:09 GMT from Switzerland)
gimp &
exit
... and simply close the Terminal?
Number of Comments: 42
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
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| Random Distribution | 
openKylin
openKylin is a Chinese desktop Linux distribution which runs the Kylin and UKUI desktop environments. Both Wayland and X11 sessions are available out of the box. The project is a member of the Debian family and can use APT package management tools. It also features a custom package format which is combined with a software centre. openKylin is also a proving ground for custom utilities which assist the user in managing the operating system.
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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