 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1055, 29 January 2024 |
Welcome to this year's 5th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Two of the main tasks a distribution takes on are packaging new software for users and supporting those packages with security fixes. This can lead to some distributions maintaining hundreds, even thousands, of patches and customizations. While some projects attempt to stay close to the upstream source and introduce few changes, others need to patch software heavily in order to meet their goals. In this week's Questions and Answers column we talk about which distributions apply the most patches. A lot of distribution patches are applied to security issues, especially in long-term support projects. Does your distribution offer a predictable support cycle, indicating how long a version will receive fixes? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. First though we talk about a young project called CNIX OS. The CNIX distribution is based on Debian and runs the Xfce desktop environment. We have details on this young distribution in this week's Feature Story. Then, in our News section, we talk about work happening in the Gentoo and UBports projects as both distributions plan their tasks for the year ahead. Plus we link to an interview with Haiku developer "Waddlesplash" and cover changes happening in the open source, BeOS successor. We are also pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. Finally, we say a grateful thank you to the people who continue to donate to DistroWatch to help us keep the website running. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
- Review: CNIX OS 231204
- News: Gentoo presents ongoing work happening in the project, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, Haiku developer gives interview
- Questions and answers: Distributions patching packages
- Released last week: MX Linux 23.2, Parrot 6.0, BunsenLabs Linux Boron, Gnoppix 24.1.15
- Torrent corner: BunsenLabs Linux, KDE neon, MX Linux, Parrot
- Upcoming releases: Vanilla OS 2 Beta, Linux Lite 6.8, FreeBSD 13.3-BETA1
- Opinion poll: Does your distribution have a scheduled support life span?
- Site news: Donations and Sponsors
- Reader comments
|
| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
CNIX OS 231204
The CNIX OS distribution has been recommended to me a few times in the past month. This project, which was added to our waiting list in December of 2023, is based on Debian and features the Xfce desktop environment. While information on what the project does or what goals it seeks to achieve are missing from the project's website, the feature highlights mention some generic Linux features such as being open source, a lack of tracking software, and improved privacy compared to commercial operating systems.
The CNIX website also mentions the Nix package and system management utility a few times. The distribution's home page mentions CNIX OS uses "Nix-based security", though I could find no explanation as to which parts of the operating system are pulled from Debian and which are pulled from the Nix repositories or which aspects of the distribution make use of Nix. In fact, apart from a brief FAQ page and the default login credentials for the live media, there is no documentation for CNIX OS. I decided to find out for myself what the highlights of the distribution were and how it made use of Nix.
CNIX is available in a single edition for computers with x86_64 processors. The ISO file is about 1.8GB in size. Booting from this media brings up a text screen briefly which indicates we're running Debian 12 and then the Xfce 4.18 desktop loads.
The Xfce desktop is arranged with a thin panel placed across the top of the screen. This panel holds the application menu and system tray. At the bottom of the screen we find a dock with three launchers on it - one for the Thunar file manager, one for the Firefox web browser, and one for a virtual terminal. On the desktop we find icons for launching the file manager and the Calamares system installer.
CNIX OS 231204 -- Browsing the application menu
(full image size: 1.7MB, resolution: 1680x1050 pixels)
I explored the live media and it appears to be running vanilla Debian software with no custom repositories. There was no evidence of the Nix package manager or its repositories on the live media.
Installer
When I tried to launch the Calamares system installer from its desktop icon a warning popped up on the desktop letting me know this executable file was untrusted. I was asked if I wanted to accept the risk and proceed. No other application launchers cause this warning on the live media. Assuming we proceed, the install experience is typical of the graphical Calamares installer. We're quickly walked through selecting our preferred language, time zone, and keyboard layout.
Disk partitioning can be automated or handled manually with a friendly point-and-click interface. The automated process sets up an ext4 root partition with an optional swap file or swap partition. The installer asks us to make up a username and password for ourselves and then copies its files to our hard drive. The installer notes, while it is working, that CNIX OS is "100% compatible with Debian". This makes sense as it appears to use Debian 12 packages exclusively.
When the installer finished its work it offered to restart the computer. CNIX failed to shut down properly, locking up once the Xfce desktop terminated. I had to force a restart to start exploring my new copy of CNIX.
Early impressions
The CNIX OS distribution boots to a graphical login screen where we can sign into the Xfce desktop. There are no pop-ups, welcome windows, or first-run wizards when we get started. Like Debian running Xfce, CNIX is content to stay out of the way and let us navigate the environment on our own.
On the project's website, there is a comment: "CNIX comes with Telegram Messenger pre-installed on the desktop." This line is mentioned a few times in the FAQ, and I feel it is slightly misleading (depending on one's interpretation). Telegram is installed and available in the application menu, but its launcher is not on the desktop.
The Xfce desktop is snappy, clear of distractions, and doesn't do anything flashy. The experience feels very clean and minimal.
Something I noticed early on is there is a symbolic link in our first user's home directory called "cnix". This link points to /usr/share/cnix which contains icons, branding, and Calamares configuration information. Since this material appears to all be specific to the live desktop and installer, it looks like the cnix directory is left behind by accident.
Hardware
I tested CNIX in a VirtualBox environment and on my laptop. In both environments the distribution ran smoothly, quickly even. The Xfce desktop is pleasantly responsive, the operating system is stable, and the included software all worked as expected. The distribution detected and worked with all of my laptop's hardware. The one issue I ran into was Xfce did not resize itself automatically to fit VirtualBox's window, but I could set the resolution manually through the desktop's settings panel.
CNIX OS 231204 -- The settings panel
(full image size: 1.2MB, resolution: 1680x1050 pixels)
CNIX is unusually heavy, taking up 825MB of RAM just to login to the Xfce desktop. This is about twice as much RAM as Xfce typically uses and I didn't find any immediate culprits which would explain the unusually high memory consumption. A fresh install of CNIX uses 6.1GB of disk space, which is fairly typical for a mainstream Linux distribution these days.
Included software
The distribution ships with a mostly typical collection of open source applications. These include Firefox, LibreOffice, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, FileZilla, and Transmission. There are a few image and document viewers, the Xfburn disc burning software, and the Asunder disc ripping application. The Telegram messaging client is installed for us.
CNIX OS 231204 -- Transferring files with FileZilla
(full image size: 834kB, resolution: 1680x1050 pixels)
CNIX ships with a few media players - including SMPlayer, Audacious, and mpv - and codecs for most media formats. I found the BleachBit disk cleaning software, the Timeshift snapshot program, and Grsync for transferring files between computers. The Xfce settings panel is available to help us customize the environment and it does its usual excellent job.
There were a few surprises. For example, DOSBox is included to help us run old DOS games, though this seems to be the only concession for gamers. The zuluCrypt encryption software is included too along with a user account manager.
CNIX OS 231204 -- Running DOSBox
(full image size: 1.0MB, resolution: 1680x1050 pixels)
Beneath the surface we find the GNU Compiler Collection, the GNU userland utilities, and a full complement of manual pages. CNIX uses the systemd init software and version 6.1 of the Linux kernel, matching its Debian parent.
Throughout my trial the included software worked well and as expected with no problems.
Software management
Despite the CNIX website mentioning Nix multiple times, I could find no indication the distribution is built with or uses Nix. The short documentation page doesn't mention it, all software is pulled from vanilla Debian 12 repositories (and Debian Backports) and there are no Nix management tools on the system. I'm not sure how CNIX might be connected with Nix, but it's not obvious.
The website also mentions both GNOME Software and Synaptic are included with the distribution and this is accurate. Both the GNOME Software application manager and the low-level Synaptic package manager are included. I was able to use both to find, install, remove, and upgrade packages on the system. Both worked smoothly and without problems. For people who prefer working from the command line the APT package manager is included.
CNIX OS 231204 -- Browsing applications in GNOME Software
(full image size: 972kB, resolution: 1680x1050 pixels)
By default, Flatpak and Snap support are not included, though we could add these frameworks from the Debian repositories if we wished.
Conclusions
I was hoping CNIX OS (as its name and website suggest) would provide a Nix-based environment, complete with procedural configuration and package snapshots. However, there do not appear to be any Nix utilities included with the distribution and no packages which were pulled from the Nix repositories, as far as I could tell.
While that was disappointing, what the distribution did provide was a solid, Debian-based experience. This experience is somewhat enhanced by the Calamares system installer which makes setting up the distribution pleasantly straightforward.
On the positive side, CNIX is stable, fast, and provides us with access to Debian's huge repositories of software. On the other hand, as far as I could tell, apart from the system installer, CNIX doesn't appear to add anything to the Debian experience. Running Debian with the Xfce desktop would be virtually indistinguishable from running CNIX OS, apart from the latter using a larger amount of memory.
In short, CNIX is a perfectly fine, desktop operating system. However, apart from speeding up the install process, I'm not sure it offers anything beyond what we'd already enjoy with Debian (or other close relatives of Debian). This makes for a good experience, but not a distinct one. I'm hoping the project develops its own identity and beneficial features over time.
* * * * *
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
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Gentoo presents ongoing work happening in the project, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, Haiku developer gives interview
The Gentoo project has published an overview of recent accomplishments along with plans for the 2024 calendar year. Some of the items the developers want to work on include expanding binary package support, creating new profiles of presets and configurations, helping upstream projects migrate to modern C standards, and expanding .NET support. "Binary package hosting: Gentoo shockingly now also provides binary packages, for easier and faster installation! For amd64 and arm64, we've got a stunning >20 GByte of packages on our mirrors, from LibreOffice to KDE Plasma and from GNOME to Docker. Also, would you think 9-year old x86-64-v3 is still experimental? We have it already on our mirrors! For all other architectures and ABIs, the binary package files used for building the installation stages (including the build tool chain) are available for download. New 23.0 profiles in preparation: A new profile version, i.e. a collection of presets and configurations, is at the moment undergoing internal preparation and testing for all architectures. It's not ready yet, but will integrate more toolchain hardening by default, as well as fix a lot of internal inconsistencies. Stay tuned for an announcement with more details in the near future." Additional information can be found in Gentoo's newsletter.
* * * * *
The UBports team have published a newsletter in which the team discusses device support, progress in Snap package compatibility, and energy savings. Some of the new changes should improve cell connectivity and battery life: "Some progress has been made on stopping UT from dropping out of connection with cell towers. There have also been some battery enhancements. Most of the changes are not dramatic but make small improvements to the overall performance of UT."
* * * * *
The Haiku project maintains a modern, open source successor to the BeOS platform that gained popularity in the 1990s. One of the project's lead developers goes by the name Waddlesplash. In an interview with Desktop On Fire, Waddlesplash talks about the future of the project and some of the challenges the team faces. "a lot of the 'old guard' that shaped the project into what it is today have far less time to contribute than they did 10 or even 5 years ago. A lot of the kernel & driver hackers I watched and learned from when I first joined are mostly dormant today, only occasionally responding to emails, tickets, or other messages when there are questions, or perhaps contributing a few patches a year. So, I'd say the biggest challenges at the moment and in the next two years are maintaining momentum and interest in development of the core parts of Haiku." The rest of the interview is available on Desktop On Fire.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Distributions patching packages
Does-this-look-different asks: Which distributions patch their software the most? Is there a tool, like a script, I can run to see how many changes my distro makes to the kernel?
DistroWatch answers: First, I'd like to address detecting the number (or size) of patches a distribution might apply to a package. The good news here is you don't need a script to go through a piece of software, like the kernel, looking for changes. Most distributions make patches to their packages publicly available, making it easy to count the number of changes and see how many lines of code have been affected. We just need to search a bit for the list of patches and configuration changes.
For example, if we visit the Debian package tracking page it will lead us to the Debian source code for the kernel where we can find a list of patches. Likewise, Gentoo's ebuild scripts list the patches which will be fetched when building the project's generic kernel. The Fedora project involves a little more digging to find the proper repository, but it has a section of the source tree which is dedicated to customizations specific to Fedora and Red Hat. In a similar vein, we can see a list of differences introduced by Canonical to the Ubuntu kernel package. Meanwhile the Arch Linux patches for the kernel can be found relatively easily on the project's GitHub page under the Releases section.
In short, if we're willing to explore the source repositories of our distributions the patches and custom configuration changes are available for us to browse. How you want to measure the amount of changes (by number of patches, number of lines changed, or number of source code lines adjusted) is up to the researcher.
As to which distributions apply the most patches to their software, I'm not sure. However, past experience suggests to me that it's either a mobile operating system (such as postmarketOS or UBports) which requires a lot of adjustments to run properly on custom hardware, or a long-term support (LTS) distribution. Linux distributions which are supported for five years or more usually end up patching software long after it is no longer maintained upstream and LTS distributions need to provide their own security patches. This means distributions such as SUSE Linux Enterprise, Ubuntu Pro, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux often end up supplying up to ten years of security packages for hundreds or even thousands of packages.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
MX Linux 23.2
The MX Linux project, a Debian-based, desktop distribution has published a new update to the distribution's 23.x series. MX Linux 23.2 is based on Debian 12 "Bookworm" and includes a number of fixes and improvements. "Some highlights include: installer updates addressing fstab generation, GUI simplification, and fixes for users of 'toram' live feature. New tool 'MX Locale', for management of system locale information, system default language, etc. New tool 'papirus-folder-colors', which is a fun little tool for making papirus-family themes with different folder colours. AHS Xfce release features the 6.6 liquorix kernel, updated firmware and mesa libraries. An opt-in option for auto-updates is in MX-Packageinstaller -> Popular Apps -> Kernels. The KDE Plasma ISO replaces webcamoid with kamoso. the Xfce and fluxbox isos replace webamoid with guvcview. Fixes to the mx-comfort-themes for some apps that had white text on white backgrounds and black text on blackgrounds. 'build-essential' packages now included on ISO, for those users that might need to compile some driver and not be able to get on-line. Pipewire 1.0." Additional details can be found in the project's release announcement.
Parrot 6.0
Parrot is a Debian-based, security-oriented distribution featuring a collection of utilities designed for penetration testing, computer forensics, reverse engineering, hacking, privacy, anonymity and cryptography. The project's latest release is based on Debian 12, uses version 6.5 of the Linux kernel, and improves wireless networking support. "Debian 12: The system has been updated to be based on the newly released Debian 12, offering enhanced stability and features. Linux Kernel 6.5: Incorporates the latest Linux kernel with additional patches for network sniffing and injection, enhancing cybersecurity capabilities, and of course better performance and native support for the latest Intel and AMD CPUs. Advanced DKMS and Wi-Fi Drivers: Includes backported DKMS modules for Linux kernel 6.5, covering extra Wi-Fi drivers for improved network analysis and the latest Nvidia drivers for better hardware compatibility. Pentesting tools updated: All penetration testing tools have been updated, ensuring users have access to the latest methods and techniques." Additional information can be found in the distribution's release notes.
Parrot 6.0 -- Exploring the MATE application menu
(full image size: 2.0MB, resolution: 1920x1440 pixels)
BunsenLabs Linux Boron
John Raff has announced the release of BunsenLabs Linux Boron, a major new release of the project's lightweight, Debian-based distribution featuring a customised Openbox window manager. This is the project's first build based on Debian 12: "The BunsenLabs team are pleased to announce the release of BunsenLabs Boron. Based on Debian 'Bookworm', this is the best BunsenLabs so far, in our opinion. Some of the new features are: a beautiful graphical user interface by our graphics team, taking Juliette Taka's Debian Emerald wallpaper as a starting point, windows have round corners, the menu has icons and the panel is vertical, as usual, all these details are easily adjusted to users' preferences; alternative GUI themes are easily selected from our BLOB utility, under 'User Preferences' in the menu, there is a dark Boron theme with red highlights, a horizontal panel and no menu icons, users who liked earlier BunsenLabs themes can easily switch to the Beryllium, Lithium, Helium or other desktops; an optional utility will monitor package upgrades and inform the user if any are available; various bugs and annoyances have been fixed throughout the system." Read the release announcement and the release notes for further information.
Gnoppix 24.1.15
Gnoppix is a Debian and Kali Linux-based distribution which can be run from a DVD, USB thumb drive or from a local drive. The project's latest release, Gnoppix 24.1.15, focuses on polishing the Xfce desktop experience and making Tor networking more accessible. "Our Xfce edition features a traditional desktop layout with a bottom panel and Whiskermenu as the application menu. It is using the Qogir GTK theme (vinceliuice) with the Papirus icon theme for a sleek and modern look. Blueman comes installed for all of your Bluetooth needs. The impementation of the Gnoppix AI installer is completed too, you'll be able install hundrets of AI tools with the 1-click option. This edition has taken a lot of work, and we are excited to share it with you all! To earn its privacy credentials the distro routes all Internet-bound traffic through the Tor anonymous network. Earlier, the distro used a launcher script to fetch the latest Tor release from the Internet, but now bundles it by default." Additional information is provided in the project's release announcement.
Redcore Linux 2401
Redcore Linux is a desktop-oriented distribution based on Gentoo. The project's latest release, Redcore Linux 2401, brings updated hardware support through newer kernels and switches the default sound system to PipeWire. "resync with Gentoo Linux' testing tree as of 21.01.2024; Linux kernel v6.6.13 LTS as default, v6.1 LTS and v5.15 LTS available in repositories, for those who want an older kernel; glibc v2.37, gcc v13.2.0, binutils v2.40, clang/llvm v17.0.6, rust v1.74.1 based toolchain; latest mesa, xorg, xwayland and wayland based graphical stack; PipeWire is now the default sound server implementation, replacing both PulseAudio and JACK, modernising the sound stack; OpenSSL v3 is now default, moving away from the good old OpenSSL v1; FFmpeg v6 is now default, moving away from the good old ffmpeg v4." Additional details can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
Redcore Linux 2401 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
(full image size: 1.8MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Slackel 7.7 "MATE"
Dimitris Tzemos has announced the release of Slackel 7.7 "MATE" edition, a Slackware and Salix-based Linux distribution featuring the MATE 1.26.1 desktop and various graphical utilities developed by the Slackel project. "Slackel 7.7 'MATE' has been released. Includes the Linux kernel 6.6.11, MATE 1.26.2 and latest updates from Slackware's 'Current' tree. Also includes salixtools borrowed from Salix. This release is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. The 64-bit iso supports UEFI/EFI systems as well. This release includes Mozilla Firefox 121.0.1, Mozilla Thunderbird 115.6.1, LibreOffice 7.6.2, GIMP 2.10.36, SMTube 21.10.0, SMPlayer 23.12.0, mpv 0.34.1, MPlayer 20221009, Exaile 4.1.1, Brasero 3.12.2, isomaster 1.3.13, Pidgin 2.14.12, Transmission 2.94; it includes Flatpak so the user has access to dozens of apps to install. GUI tools developed in house also included: instonusb to create a live Slackel USB stick with persistent encryption file; multibootusb to create a live USB including 32-bit and 64-bit live editions of Slackel. SLI (Slackel Live Installer) to install Slackel to internal or external USB SSD or USB stick." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details.
SystemRescue 11.00
SystemRescue, a specialist live Linux distribution based on Arch Linux and designed for administrating and repairing computer systems and rescuing files, has been updated to version 11.0. The new release introduces the 6.6 LTS Linux kernel, provides some bug fixes, and adds several new utilities: "Updated the Linux kernel to the long-term supported Linux 6.6.14; added option 'ssh_known_hosts' in yaml configuration to trust SSH CAs signatures on host keys; fix the 'findroot' boot option when /sbin/init is an absolute symlink; fix the 'findroot' loop when the password to any encrypted device is unknown; update Xfce configuration (enabled screen saver, added battery icon); package 'dstat' has been replaced with 'dool' which is a fork of dstat; added bcachefs-tools (file system utilities for bcachefs, no kernel module yet); added blocksync-fast (block device sync tool for block-based backups); added sleuthkit (tools for raw file system inspection); added timeshift (snapshot-based backup program)." Continue to the changelog for further information.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| 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: 2,954
- Total data uploaded: 44.0TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Does your distribution have a scheduled support life span?
This week, in our Questions and Answers column, we touched on long-term support distributions and how they often need to maintain security patches for packages, often for several years in accordance with their official support schedules.
This week we'd like to hear whether your distribution has a published support schedule? Do you know for how long your distribution will continue to receive updates?
You can see the results of our previous poll on tools for writing ISO files to USB thumb drives in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Does your distro have an official support schedule?
| Yes - there is a published schedule: | 638 (49%) |
| No - there is no schedule: | 93 (7%) |
| Unsure: | 78 (6%) |
| I use a rolling release: | 377 (29%) |
| I use some distros with and some without a support schedule: | 112 (9%) |
| I do not run a Linux distro: | 17 (1%) |
|
|
| Website News |
Donations and Sponsors
Each month we receive support and kindness from our readers in the form of donations. These donations help us keep the web server running, pay contributors, and keep infrastructure like our torrent seed box running. We'd like to thank our generous readers and acknowledge how much their contributions mean to us.
This month we're grateful for the $279 in contributions from the following kind souls:
| Donor |
Amount |
|---|
| J Basham | $100 |
| M Singh | $25 |
| J Sherman | $18 |
| R Roddy | $15 |
| B Karsdorp | $10 |
| S Trading | $10 |
| L Freyr | $5 |
| J S | $50 |
| Jonathon B | $10 |
| Sam C | $10 |
| Chung T | $5 |
| Darkeugene7896 | $5 |
| DuCakedHare | $5 |
| J.D. L | $2 |
| PB C | $2 |
| Peter M | $2 |
| c6WWldo9 | $1 |
| Stephen M | $1 |
| R Brooks | $1 |
| Shasheen E | $1 |
| William E | $1 |
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 5 February 2024. 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)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 2, value: US$156) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
Hikarunix
Hikarunix ["hee-kah-roo-nix"] was a Linux live CD based on Damn Small Linux and dedicated to Go - a popular Asian strategy game. It was known as Baduk in Korea and Wei Qi in China where the game started somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago. Today it was played in nearly every country in the world and has even been played in space. This CD was designed especially for Go players of all levels. Whether you've been playing for decades or have never heard of the game until now, this CD was for you. Any machine that can boot to CD can boot to Hikarunix instead of the computer's regular operating system. Since it boots entirely in RAM and only borrows the peripherals, Hikarunix doesn't touch the host machine at all.
Status: Discontinued
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| 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.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
