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1 • AV Linux review (by Andy Prough on 2024-03-04 01:55:42 GMT from United States)
I'm impressed that you could get AV Linux and all those beefy multimedia programs running at all on a 12-year old laptop with 4gb of ram, Jeff. Modern video editing and audio editing takes a lot of resources. Bravo to Glen MacArthur for getting all that working for some of our older machines.
2 • Chroot (by learner on 2024-03-04 02:01:37 GMT from Australia)
Great tutorial on chroot Jesse - easy to understand for novices like me (the kind who make these types of mistakes in the first place)
3 • chroot (by DaveW on 2024-03-04 02:46:25 GMT from United States)
This is the simplest and best description of the chroot process I have ever seen, and I've been a linux user for more then 15 years.
Thanks
4 • AV Linux (by John C on 2024-03-04 02:51:33 GMT from United States)
It's a fair criticism of a distro to point out when they promise something and it doesn't work. If there's a SysVinit option, then it should work. They need to either figure out why it failed and fix it, or put a warning that AV sometimes doesn't work with SysV. There are some modern tools that expect systemd, and while this can be worked around, care must be taken or problems can arise. MX does this, but AV adds stuff to MX.
Criticism for not offering something when the distro never says they offer it in the first place is not fair. AV Linux does a great job offering an MX configuration for AV-specific work, but if a bug is found, they need to be made aware.
5 • @4 AV Linux (by Andy Prough on 2024-03-04 03:02:22 GMT from Switzerland)
>"It's a fair criticism of a distro to point out when they promise something and it doesn't work."
The AV Linux website does not make specific promises for Jeff's hardware, and the 6.6 Liquorix kernel in use would be most comparable to the MX Linux "Advanced Hardware Support" release which says it's "For Newer Hardware". Jeff's is not "newer hardware". Again, I'm impressed that it ran and did all that great video and audio editing at all.
6 • AV Linux (by zephyr on 2024-03-04 03:42:58 GMT from United States)
I'm running MX AV and get a very fast boot, nothing wrong at all with MX. Maybe Jeff Siegel prefers an Ubuntu distro.
7 • To enable wired (Vbox) networking, I simply use dhcpcd or udhcpc (by Jjanel on 2024-03-04 04:37:26 GMT from United States)
I enjoy playing with crazy-minimal (as Vbox VMs).
To enable networking, I simply use dhcpcd or udhcpc
mll has only busybox & uses udhcpc (applet).
My tiny 81 pkg (http://termbin.com/ht1k) Slackware uses dhcpcd
IDK a lot, but I once used nmtui to setup WiFi permanently! I guess Deb-derived use NM or systemd
My wild-guess is that a manual run of a DHCP client would bring up wired networking.
Again, IDK much.... And even 1 distro may have several ways to enable networking: yikes!
8 • Opinion Poll (by Trevor on 2024-03-04 07:39:50 GMT from Canada)
I chose other, because I'm excited on each Linux release. It's always interesting to see the differences between each distro and how they operate.
9 • Opinion Poll - Other (by NULL on 2024-03-04 08:43:33 GMT from Germany)
I chose other, because for me the immutable Linux distributions are more exciting/interesting.
It's more of a compliment for the regular Fedora & co. distributions, they published high quality distributions constantly within the last few years.
10 • Installing a package offline (by Mike on 2024-03-04 09:09:02 GMT from The Netherlands)
You can always download a deb or rpm package on another computer, put it on a usb-stick and install it on your computer.
11 • This release season I am most excited for... (by James on 2024-03-04 10:50:50 GMT from United States)
The one I use of course, Ubuntu Mate LTS. I am looking forward to 12 years of support.
12 • init (by sergio on 2024-03-04 12:04:59 GMT from Brazil)
The same with MX. Fair enough, it was a couple of years ago I tried it live.
But systemd is so much better in terms of hardware recognition, so much more trovle free to boot, that also antix/MX have a lot of options to create bootable pendrives, the insistence in not using systemd keeps bringing bugs , ljke not detecting hardware that any other modern distro detects, that cancels the goods.
13 • init software (by Jesse on 2024-03-04 12:10:47 GMT from Canada)
@12: "But systemd is so much better in terms of hardware recognition"
The init system doesn't detect hardware. That's the kernel's job.
"so much more trovle free to boot, "
Not in my experience. I've never had SysV init (or runit) fail to boot for me. systemd has borked boots and shutdowns multiple times.
"the insistence in not using systemd keeps bringing bugs , ljke not detecting hardware that any other modern distro detects,
Again, init doesn't detect hardware. The Linux kernel detects and manages hardware. You're probably seeing a side effect of MX's default version using an older kernel. The AHS edition will probably work fine.
14 • @9 eagerly awaiting Fedora 40 (by Ed on 2024-03-04 12:11:01 GMT from Sweden)
I agree.
Fedora releases are very good and of high quality. I have used Debian-based distributions for a long time and have high regards for them especially Debian.
But quite recently I decided to have a look at Fedora and I am still there. Fedora represents a perfect balance between stability and newness. I want to express my deepfelt gratitude to the Fedora Project for consistently providing good releases. And I am enthusiastically awaiting Fedora 40.
15 • Poll (by Ken Harbit on 2024-03-04 12:18:24 GMT from United States)
I checked the "other" box because I use MXlinux. I always wait at least 2 months after a new upgrade to read the forums and Distrowatch type of sites so that I can see if there are any problems and anything I should avoid doing or anything I should do when installing. I always do a fresh install of an upgrade. I also have a 15 year old laptop but have not had any problems since I switched to MXlinux. A big "Thank You!" to all the folks that make MXlinux possible.
16 • init or ain't it (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-03-04 12:26:22 GMT from Australia)
Bravo to AV for not going down the SystemD black hole.
Most people don't care what init they use, as long as their system works, but for those who do care, there are options at least.
SystemD users can be safe in the knowledge that their lead dev now works for Microsoft, which is probably why he is implementing the blue screen of death during the boot process in the event of a boot fail. Ironic, how we use Linux to get away from MS but will soon have one of its signature features.
Maybe it will be useful, maybe not, time will tell.
Personally I think Linux has lost its way. From a massively bloated kernel, to Torvalds who doesn't give a cr@p or care to clean it up, to SystemD not being an init system, but a system in itself doing way more than it should and potentially causing system halts, to the endless fragmentation and elitism amongst users.
As soon as Redox OS has its stable release, I am ditching Linux. Simplicity is the way.
17 • This release season I am most excited for... (by Geo. on 2024-03-04 14:20:08 GMT from Canada)
I love the many in the Top 50, but the ones I watch for each week are Bohdi and WattOS. They never cease to surprise me.
The other I watch is # 100, BunsenLabs, because I think it has so much potential and I really want to see it do well.
18 • Network Connection and Poll (by Robert on 2024-03-04 15:01:16 GMT from United States)
Before going to all the trouble of setting up a live environment and chroot, I think it would be worth checking if something like wpa_supplicant was still installed after removing NetworkManager. I know the question said "no tool" but without more information I think it's highly plausible this user doesn't know anything beyond NetworkManager.
On the poll, I picked OpenSuse. Really what I'm waiting for is for Tumbleweed to get Plasma 6 rather than any discrete release. I plan to switch from Arch as soon as that happens.
I do use Leap on my server, but it doesn't do anything that would make a new release exciting.
19 • Network Connection Suggestion 2 (by Robert on 2024-03-04 15:06:16 GMT from United States)
Now that I think of it, the easiest way would to check if NetworkManager is still in the package cache, assuming the distro has one.
I haven't really had trouble accidentally uninstalling things, but I have had to roll back package versions using the cache several times.
20 • Poll (by Jerry on 2024-03-04 15:22:12 GMT from United States)
I indicated FreeBSD because, perhaps naively, I want to see BSD in general catch up to Linux as to development and popularity, especially GhostBSD.
21 • Unpopular Opinion - I don't like MX Linux (by Justin R. on 2024-03-04 16:35:36 GMT from United States)
I know everyone talks about how great MX Linux is as a distro. I've tried it and I'm in more of the "meh" camp on my review. I honestly don't see where its tools are that much more useful. Unpopular opinion, I know. Just wanted to get this off my chest.
22 • @16 init (by Sohl on 2024-03-04 16:46:24 GMT from United States)
I share your sentiment on Linux loosing its way, but I'm rooting mostly for SerenityOS.
23 • Ever forward we must go (by grindstone on 2024-03-04 17:54:01 GMT from United States)
We all have our issues and most of the jobs are thankless. I'd just like to thank everyone who is working on improving things. THANK YOU. Maybe we might inspire someone else to work on reporting and fixing bugs or docs etc--or find the time ourselves?
24 • @10 Installing a package offline (by Titus Groan on 2024-03-04 18:10:59 GMT from New Zealand)
My thinking as well, except I considered booting the Live media to get the required package, and saving it on the internal partition.
with Linux, always more than one way.
25 • MXLinux (by Friar Tux on 2024-03-04 19:12:12 GMT from Canada)
@21 (Justin) You ain't the only one. I tried MXLinux a while back, and yeah, meh. Nothing to write home about. But my point is you're not alone.
26 • Exitement (by Hank on 2024-03-04 19:36:23 GMT from Germany)
As we approach the first release season of 2024 we'd like to hear from which project you're most excited to see a new release or new features.
Well I wrote about development around antiX, and it was never published... This site seems only
to publish opinions...
Anyway I am most excited about developments and for now an in development init
freedom release which will eventually include.
SysV
runit
S6
S6 66
27 • A distro to write home about? (by Jerry on 2024-03-04 19:37:09 GMT from United States)
@25 @21 What in a distro would you want to write home about? What would stand out so much that you'd shout about it from the rooftops? Not week-in and week-out month-in and month-out stability? Not deep (or shallow, your choice) configurability? Not a years-long pedigree and dedicated, full time devs? Not an amazing public access forum? Not window manager choices? Not... well, I'm sure you get the point.
Admitadly not all top rated distros are for everyone (I can't stand Ubuntu et al for example), but ..... ??
28 • Poll (by Jan on 2024-03-04 23:07:47 GMT from Poland)
I used Mepis and a while later MX for the last 10 years or so. Last year I bought a gaming laptop with Ryzen 7 6800, and two graphic cards - Rembrandt and RTX 3070. Happily installed MX AHS only to realize I have problems with both boot, stability and using the graphics I want. WIlly nilly I had to find a distro that just works - so I took the number 2 from the Distrowatch list - yes, Linux Mint indeed. Everything just works, the distro supports all Nvidia drivers and there is a nice system tray GUI tool where you can choose your graphics card when you need it. So now I'm excited about the incoming new Mint version, and maybe later this year, the new LMDE edition.
Yes, on principle, I don't like systemd, and I truly liked MX - but sometimes you cannot expect everybody to just cater to your needs. I know the MX people work really hard and I thank them so much for the years of great experience I had with their distro. As for now, a big thank you for the Mint people as well. When you realize that your hardware is the most important factor to your distro, you realize there is an infinite number of usecases that just need different solutions. To me, linux is doing fine, better than ever. Somebody mentioned that the kernel is bloated - it may be bloated for people with minimal needs, that's for sure.
29 • A distro (by Mr. Pat on 2024-03-05 03:22:43 GMT from Canada)
I think that the biggest problem isn't Linux per se. Every distro developer and community has their own vision. What get's my goat is all the user reviews that dis distros for being and doing exactly what the devs set out to achieve. It isn't bad marks for the devs if their vision isn't the same as the reviewer's. Not every distro will appeal to everyone. When the devs specifically state not to try to run the distro in a virtual machine and you do it anyway and it gives a bad result, it is the reviewer who looks bad more than the distro. Most websites will give the user a fairly good indication of what their goals are and what to expect. Downloading and testing a distro that is a 3+ gig ISO and expecting it to be the minimalist distro of your dreams is patently absurd! For whatever technical reason distro hopping I have found many times that an ISO that won't boot or install with the internal optical drive will install perfectly from an external USB optical drive. When NVME came out, I had a hell of a time finding a distro that would run stable on one. I would say that most devs don't have unlimited budgets or sufficient man power to buy every conceivable hardware configuration and thoroughly test it. Virtually all of their websites also caution to "use at your own risk". It is as though all too many reviewers apparently think that all Linux devs have the manpower and finances of the proprietary OSes. We left that rat's nest yet over and over again we see distros trying to and users wanting Linux to look and behave like that appalling proprietary mess. But then, Linux is and always has been about choice. It was mentioned that one of the main devs of SystemD is now at Microsoft. Go look at the documentation for KDE Plasma! You can't get any more in bed with Microsoft than they are! I can see a major problem in the future as SystemD becomes more and more tightly integrated into more and more software till very few "big" programs will run without it.
30 • Letter to Mom... (by Friar Tux on 2024-03-05 03:30:52 GMT from Canada)
@27 (Jerry) Actually, you hit one dead on... "Not week-in and week-out month-in and month-out stability?" Now that, I WILL write home about. And the winner of that one is Linux Mint. (As I see @28 (Jan) can attest to.) When I first tried out Linux, way back when, I could not find a distro that was stable enough to make it worth using. Not one - and I tried about two dozen or so. Then, along came Mint, and in the ten years I've used it, it has not even hiccuped once. AND, it worked out-of-box every single time I installed it, on various machines. I have continued to test hundreds of distros but none are as stable as Mint has been so far. Now, THAT is something to write home about.
31 • OpenBSD blog post (by Anthony on 2024-03-05 16:35:50 GMT from Austria)
Thanks for the blog post, it was interesting. Actually, I
put the blog's RSS link into my news feeds. (newsboat ftw :D)
32 • MX Linux stability (by Jerry on 2024-03-05 21:09:40 GMT from United States)
@30 I've sure never had a stability over the long haul issue with MX Linux. No issues at all, and remain happy with it after about two solid years as daily driver (off and on before that as interest in getting rid of systemd came and went).
I do think about hardware and user differences when I see people opining in opposite directions about the same distro. Nobara is on my test machine now, and reading down the review list here at DW I see that opposite thing right away with some giving Nobara a 3 and some (like me) giving it a 10 as it has done nothing but my bidding since I installed it off live thumby several days ago.
33 • year of redox (by rustytek on 2024-03-06 01:09:50 GMT from Argentina)
"...which project you're most excited to see a new release or new features."
Another vote for Redox:
* Rust (systems) language provides a fresh new take on how an OS can be designed.
* Rust language means converting & updating existing apps, as well as creating new apps.
* New porting policy for apps should make Redox a fuller OS.
Out of the alternative OS's it seems to have the most potential. Although a microkernel design is yet to be proven adequate in a desktop OS.
34 • "Modern" hardware (by Sandra on 2024-03-06 03:17:19 GMT from United States)
> "However, no one using modern hardware should have to struggle to boot a modern Linux distro anymore"
Jeff, you're using a mid-range processor from 12 YEARS AGO with 4GB RAM... It's not ancient, but it's definitely not "modern." Also consider that you're testing out a multimedia processing-focused distro, a workflow that, especially nowadays, requires some horsepower. I don't think you can criticize AV Linux for this without testing it on capable hardware. Honestly, I'm amazed you got that far on integrated graphics.
35 • Other distribution which I remain excited about... (by Bobbie Sellers on 2024-03-06 04:55:35 GMT from United States)
I use a rolling release, PCLinuxOS. I was very excited when the packager was
finally able to get past 6.5.13. This weekend we got 6.6.17 then the next day
6.6.18 and before Saturday was done we got 6.6.20. Yesterday I downloaded
updates to Firefox and today to Thunderbird. We also got a bunch of Mesa
and Poppler updates.
I was having problems with NetworkManager having to start it via root
terminal and i mentioned this in the online Forum for PCLinuxOS users and
within a day got the fix which I finally applied this afternoon. I also got
a lead, I think on my rather slow boot problem.
Got a clue as to why I like this distribution and my fellow users?
bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2024.03- Linux 6.6.20-pclos1- KDE Plasma 5.27.10
36 • @33 year of redox (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-03-06 05:35:35 GMT from Australia)
Redox built from rust with its microkernal architecture is the future I think.
How Linus let the Linux kernel become so obese is beyond me, considering he spends all his time on the kernel.
Anyway, i am looking forward to Redox, now that they are incorporating a "port GTK and Qt to Orbital, which will allow us to port many Linux GUI apps."
Seems like a normal user/dev will have everything they need. Gamers have Wine, but Redox will probably port Steam too in the future for the gamerz.
If you have the hardware, microkernel should be no problem. I wouldn't expect the latest hardware to run on Redox, but a trusty Thinkpad Carbon, or T480 absolutely.
37 • Systemd-free distros, future? (by Jan on 2024-03-06 12:37:09 GMT from The Netherlands)
@35
Read in Distrowatch "Latest Headlines" the message from PostMarketOS about migrating to systemd.
With the motivation given in that message, particularly the increasing effort to keep modern applications made for systemd keeping to work, I wonder about the future of real systemd-free distros.
Among others PCLinuxOS, despite the perfect continuity and peformance of this distro ???
38 • AV Linux Review clarifications (by AVLinux on 2024-03-06 17:26:11 GMT from Canada)
Hi DW, I'm the maintainer of AV Linux, thanks for taking the time to do a review, ironically AV Linux has been around since 2008 and your review has fallen on a radically new release from the ground up and now that it is in the wild I'm still discovering some issues which I will be fixing in an updated ISO. I would like to speak to the black screen issue, it only affects certain hardware and is the result of a default setting in Enlightenment that sets the backlight to '0', with sysvinit on affected systems after installing the lightDM login will be there but completely dimmed appearing as a blank black screen.. As you noted booting systemd will mitigate it and also setting Enlightenment's compositor to "Don't fade backlight" reportedly also works, this issue did not affect my test hardware so it got out of the corral on me, also the system print dialog got missed in the initial ISO builds, this will also be fixed. Thanks again for the review, I hope it can be revisited when AV Linux on Enlightenment has found it's legs and these initial bugs have been flushed out in the open..
39 • Nobara (by Jerry on 2024-03-06 20:32:04 GMT from United States)
Just to clarify I'm running/testing Nobara 39, a couple version releases newer than the reviewed Nobaras here (36,37). I do believe the devs there are quite responsive to posted issues detected. This Nobara 39 has had zero issues live or as installed on this Acer A-517.
40 • dont undrstand point of Gparted distro (by Jay on 2024-03-06 21:17:39 GMT from United States)
dont undrstand point of Gparted distro just install gparted utility am i missing somthing?
41 • @26 excitement (by revolution on 2024-03-06 22:46:47 GMT from Greece)
Totally agree with post @26
antiX is one of the few distros based on an established version (Debian) that is truly innovatory.
Have a look at their supported init-diversity iso which includes 4 init options in a live environment. - sysVinit, runit, s6, s6-66. (The last 3 are poorly supported/implemented by upstream Debian)
What other linux provides this?
42 • @37 (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-03-07 04:55:24 GMT from Australia)
If an app requires systemD to function, the linux is truly f'd in the a$$. What a sad sorry state of affairs Linux has become.....free software, so much choice but you must use systemD or your app won't work.....how in the world did we get to this?
43 • Makulu, Elive, openmanba Linux (by Ennio on 2024-03-07 07:58:33 GMT from The Netherlands)
Off topic... Checking the announced release updates of the above distros, I have seen the first two are now showing a dramatic new focus - or shift of it - in their "exposed" identity. Playing with the Wayback machine, having lot of time in my hands, it was fun to see how their frontpages (or in the case of Makulu, the intended userbase) have changed. About openmamba I remember this distribution as quite conservative in package versioning, instead the 20240227 snapshot is almost "cutting edge". New people onboard? Zeitgeist?
44 • postmarketOS announcement (by Jerry on 2024-03-07 13:55:47 GMT from United States)
@42 I too felt concern, especially seeing the bit about KDE and Gnome needing that init schema for the noted reasons.
But is this that influential as "linux is (screwed).." etc? Being as: "postmarketOS is an Alpine-based distribution for mobile devices." And not across all Linux distros.
45 • KDE Neon 7-march-version (by Jan on 2024-03-07 22:06:45 GMT from The Netherlands)
I have tried KDE-Neon 6 from its first version to the 2-nd and now the 3-th, in a live version from a Ventoy-USB-stick.
Some bugs in the first version seem to be solved.
However one bug seems un-detected (un-solved)
I could install QMPlay2 (Flatpack), for only 1 purpose: internet-radio streaming (uncheck all widgets except Information and Internet-radio). Then there are 3 windows inside QMPlay2.
The bug is that I can not change the inside-windows-borders. I have the habit to be able to do that. It is possible that it is a quirk of the Flatpack, but I think it is a Neon-bug.
46 • @44 (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-03-08 00:02:52 GMT from Australia)
PostmarketOS switching to systemD is just a symptom of a wider rot within Linux.
The outlier OS's that don't use systemD like Alpine, Devuan, Void, Artix and others, who don't buy into the systemD philosophy of managing everything, will probably slowly wither and die as a result of users who are unable to run apps that require systemD.
Imagine the scenario where for whatever reason, that LibreOffice requires systemD to function (for some reason like background process blah blah). What happens then to anyone using Void? They can't run LibreOffice. What happens then? People have to decide to stop using Void as their system just so they can run Office? What kind of Linux world is that?
Perhaps one way around this is Flatpaks and Appimages, but the point is that making a program dependent on systemD is a slippery slope towards a Linux ecosystem that espouses freedom and choice, but which is in fact just an illusion.
This is why I stated, that RedoxOS and also FreeBSD (or variant BSD) may be the way to go for people who really do value freedom in their software.
47 • Systemd (by Jerry on 2024-03-08 02:24:29 GMT from United States)
@46 do you fancy MX Linux an outlier?
48 • @47 (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-03-08 07:05:04 GMT from Australia)
MX Linux is not an outlier. Supposedly non-systemD distros that use udev and elogind aren't really systemD-free, its more of a workaround and MX as well as others fit into that slot, simply because to be totally systemD free means breaking the system comparability, such as with Gnome or even KDE, which is why PostmarketOS capitulated and has gone full systemD so that their system will work with KDE.
What is the future for Linux desktop with systemD, who knows, who cares, is the attitude of most people anyway, they just want a system that runs, don't care that their lead dev works for Microsoft or that systemD does way too many things which it shouldn't. Put your head back in the sand and don't talk about it.
Originally systemd was positioned by Lennart Poettering as a drop-in replacement for the System V init subsystem with the goal of speeding up system startup by parallelizing service startup where possible.
Main issues:
systemD has too many dependencies
systemD is bloated
systemD does too many things
systemD is too complex
My problem with systemD today is that it has turned into a kind of Trojan horse. Red Hat first released systemD an alternative init system. Then it suddenly turned into "a suite of software that provides fundamental building blocks for a Linux operating system". Red Hat then launched a campaign in order to influence all the other major Linux distributions and pressure them to adopt systemD.
The method deployed was that the systemd developers addressed several third party projects and tried to convince them to make their projects depend upon systemD. Other tactics deployed by Red Hat was to hire developers from GNOME and other Linux distributions, such as Debian, and then have these people promote systemD.
Anyway, time to stick my head in the sand.
49 • systemD (by picamanic on 2024-03-08 08:38:35 GMT from United Kingdom)
In 2015,when Debian 8 switched to systemD we were told that it was "optional". That didn't last. As systemD grew from 500,000 lines of C to almost 2 million lines of C, it assimilated more and more of the Linux userland. The methods used to persuade distros to adopt it have been highly suspicious. Only the distros with strong community ethos or "niche" status can survive. Those that removed systemD from their base distros [eg Devuan, Artix] will face a growing battle to keep pace with developments as applications come to depend on systemD. If you are OK with this distopian Microsoft/Redhat/Poettering vision for the future of Linux then good luck with that.
50 • @49 (by ThomasAnderson on 2024-03-08 11:20:11 GMT from Australia)
You get it, that's great, one of the few.
If only more people were out there and did a little research into the matter, perhaps Linux wouldn't be where it is today.
51 • @ThomasAnderson: (by dragonmouth on 2024-03-08 12:28:57 GMT from United States)
SystemD is an Init that wants to be a distro.
SystemD is the next step in Window-izing Linux, i.e. making Linux into a Windows-like monolith.
52 • SystemD (by anticapitalista on 2024-03-08 12:37:28 GMT from Greece)
and SystemD is spelt systemd
53 • systemd (by kc1di on 2024-03-08 13:21:27 GMT from United States)
It you want a truely systemd free system give PCLinuxOS a spin.
No Systemd there and it works fine.
54 • And in the end... (by grindstone on 2024-03-08 22:16:24 GMT from United States)
...there will still be Slackware :)
55 • Slackware (by Jerry on 2024-03-08 23:33:33 GMT from United States)
@54 … and all eleven people using it will forever beam with pride.
Number of Comments: 55
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
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| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Full list of all issues |
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The Official Release of Slackware Linux by Patrick Volkerding is an advanced Linux operating system, designed with the twin goals of ease of use and stability as top priorities. Including the latest popular software while retaining a sense of tradition, providing simplicity and ease of use alongside flexibility and power, Slackware brings the best of all worlds to the table. Originally developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991, the UNIX-like Linux operating system now benefits from the contributions of millions of users and developers around the world. Slackware Linux provides new and experienced users alike with a fully-featured system, equipped to serve in any capacity from desktop workstation to machine-room server. Web, ftp, and email servers are ready to go out of the box, as are a wide selection of popular desktop environments. A full range of development tools, editors, and current libraries is included for users who wish to develop or compile additional software.
Status: Active
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