 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1074, 10 June 2024 |
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Welcome to this year's 24th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
One of the big challenges when designing user interfaces is finding the right balance between streamlining the experience with familiar defaults, versus making the interface flexible and customizable. This week we explore situations in which distributions flavour one position or the other. We begin with a look at a streamlined distribution with a simplified interface, Endless OS. The Endless OS distribution features a modified GNOME desktop with a mobile-like interface and a number of commonly used applications, along with some educational software. Our Feature Story shares some highlights of this distributions. Endless is an example of an immutable operating system, one which features a read-only root filesystem and portable applications added on top of the base system. Do you prefer this immutable approach or the classic, writable root filesystem with traditional Linux package management? Let us know in the Opinion Poll below. Then, in our Questions and Answers column, we explore the opposite end of the spectrum to talk about distributions which allow even low-level components like init to be changed. Read on to learn which projects allow this high level of customization. In our News section we discuss two distributions offering new options - Linux Mint is hiding unverified Flatpak packages by default with an option to show all available Flatpak bundles. Meanwhile, the Debian team talks about adding an option for installing the systemd-boot bootloader in future versions of the distribution. Debian is also revisiting how to handle temporary files and we share details on that debate. Plus we report on Redox OS adopting elements of the COSMIC desktop, OpenBSD adding a new security feature to OpenSSH, and Ubuntu 23.10 nearing the end of its supported life. We are also pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Endless OS 6.0.0
Endless OS is a Linux-based operating system which provides a simplified and streamlined user experience using a customized desktop environment forked from GNOME. Rather than using a traditional Linux package management system, Endless OS uses a read-only root filesystem managed by OSTree with application bundles overlaid on top. The project's website goes on to mention support for older machines: "It's designed to work efficiently on older or low-end hardware due to its resource-efficient design and read-only file system."
There are several editions of Endless OS for x86_64 computers. I suspect most people with access to an Internet connection will focus on the Basic edition which is about 3.8GB in size. There are other, language-specific editions which range from about 12GB to 23GB in size. There are also ARM builds for the Raspberry Pi 4, Pinebook Pro, and other ARM-powered boards.
The live environment
I downloaded the Basic edition which booted to a graphical desktop environment. The desktop is based off GNOME Shell, with some customizations and desktop icons. A thin panel is placed across the top of the screen. This panel holds an Activities button, Applications button, and a system tray. The Applications button doesn't open an application menu as on other desktops, instead it hides any open windows so we can see the icon launchers on the desktop. The desktop holds a search box where we can type the name or a description of applications we want to find. Beneath this search box are icons for opening applications and the settings panel. A dock sits at the bottom of the screen which we can use to launch programs.
A welcome window appears when the live desktop loads and asks us a few questions to help get the desktop set up. We are asked to pick our language from a list. We are then asked if we want to try Endless OS or reformat the drive and install Endless OS. If we choose to try the live environment then we are also asked to select our keyboard layout and accept the Endless license terms. If wireless networks are detected, we are given the chance to connect to one. Then we are asked if we wish to enable location services and telemetry. With these steps completed the welcome window vanishes and a new window pops up and offers to give us a tour of the desktop's key elements.
Endless OS 6.0.0 -- The default desktop
(full image size: 2.3MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Endless Key
One of the icons on the desktop is called Endless Key and I think it is an application worth exploring. Clicking the Endless Key icon opens an application which asks is if we want to be an Explorer, Artists, or Scientist. Then offers to download a Starter Pack once we make our choice. As I wasn't sure what the purpose of this application was I turned to the project's documentation. The Endless OS website explains:
Endless Key, [is] a completely free and safe app for ChromeOS, Windows, and Linux. Learners can explore dozens of educational resources that are carefully curated to provide extended learning, academic enrichment, and interest-based options like coding, arts & crafts, cooking, and career exploration. Endless Key works both on-line and off-line after downloading, ensuring all learners, no matter where they are, can access the same resources. This levels the playing field and helps bridge the digital divide by giving learners equal access to educational resources, regardless of Internet connectivity.
Endless Key is available for other Linux distributions via a Flatpak package, which is available on Flathub. The application is also available through Google's Play store.
Installing
Endless OS ships with a custom system installer which can be launched by clicking the Reformat button on the dock. This graphical installer has very few options. The first screen of the installer confirms which version of Endless OS we are going to install. The second screen asks which disk on our computer we want to let Endless OS take over. We then click a checkbox to confirm we really want to wipe the selected disk and the installer goes to work. Once the operating system has been copied to the disk the installer asks us to click a Power Off button and remove the USB thumb drive once the machine finishes shutting down.
This is about as streamlined as an installer can get, which is probably ideal for less experienced users who don't need to set up dual-boot environments. The first time we boot into our new copy of Endless OS a desktop environment loads and displays a first-run wizard. We are again asked to pick our preferred language, confirm our keyboard layout, and to accept the project's license terms. The wizard also offers to connect to wireless networks, enable location services and send usage data. Then we're given the chance to connect to cloud accounts (Microsoft, Google, and Nextcloud are supported). Optionally we can enable parental controls on the account. Then, once more, a pop-up offers to start a tour of the GNOME-based desktop.
In the future when the distribution boots it presents us with a graphical login screen. The login page lists user accounts we can click and sign into.
Early impressions
Earlier I mentioned the Applications button and how it doesn't open an application menu. There is also a Show Applications button on the dock which confused me at first. It looks like a typical application menu button. Clicking it when no windows are open hides the launchers on the desktop, and shows an empty rectangle in the middle of the desktop. This seemed odd. Then I found when application windows were open, clicking Show Applications would hide open windows so we can see the icons on the desktop. So it, along with the Applications button on the panel, are basically Show Desktop buttons with different labels.
There are just five icons on the desktop (including two container icons that hold additional software). There are two circles above the dock we can click to switch between two virtual desktops. The second desktop holds just two more icons: a container for Utilities and a Settings icon. I'm not sure why the icons are spread across two desktops since, in total, there are only seven icons. When we open a container it opens a new grid of icons showing what is in the container. Some containers have multiple pages of icons too we can navigate using buttons that appear at the edge of the grid. The Endless OS interface feels like a very mobile/touch focused sort of desktop.
Hardware
I started my trial by testing Endless OS in a virtual machine. The distribution ran well. Desktop performance was acceptable, not great, but good enough allow me to work without frustrations.
I had bad luck with Endless OS on my laptop. The first time I tried to launch the distribution it got stuck on the splash screen and, after five minutes, would not respond to keyboard input. The second time I got along further, reaching the desktop and making it through the first-run wizard. The wizard took eight minutes to get through (in the VirtualBox environment the same process took about 30 seconds). Once I had the system set up, my user account configured, and I had confirmed Endless was working with my hardware, I still ran into problems. The GNOME-based desktop was unusually slow to respond on my laptop and some applications, such as Chromium, failed to launch at all. A few times the distribution locked up and stopped responding to mouse input and the desktop would go blank. In these situations I could switch to a local terminal and sign in as my user. The underlying operating system was still working and not under heavy load, but the desktop simply stopped drawing itself and responding to input.
Endless OS 6.0.0 -- The Files file manager and virtual terminal
(full image size: 1.2MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The distribution consumed about 1.1GB when logged into the desktop without any applications open. This makes Endless OS one of the heavier distributions I have used. It also takes up 12GB of disk space, which is well above the average for a mainstream distribution. I feel this contradicts the project's claim of being efficient ("designed to work efficiently on older or low-end hardware due to its resource-efficient design"). Endless OS isn't huge by modern standards, compared to some proprietary operating systems, but it is quite large when compared next to most other Linux distributions.
Earlier I mentioned one of Endless's features is a read-only filesystem. I confirmed that most core locations on the filesystem are read-only. This gives Endless an immutable base on which we can then add our user files and Flatpak bundles. (Later, I'll talk about Flatpak management.)
Applications
Despite its large size, Endless OS doesn't ship with many desktop applications. We're given the Chromium and GNOME Web browsers, GNOME Videos (also known as Totem) for playing media files, LibreOffice, and the Evolution e-mail client. Shotwell is present for managing photos, and we're also given an image viewer and a document viewer. The Endless Keys applications mentioned earlier is installed for us.
Endless OS 6.0.0 -- The VLC media player and GNOME Web browser
(full image size: 1.5MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
In the background we find the GNU command line utilities, manual pages for installed packages, and systemd. Endless OS runs on version 6.5 of the Linux kernel.
The Settings icon on the desktop opens what appears to be an unmodified copy of the GNOME Settings panel. This works well and helps us customize the look and feel of the desktop.
Endless OS 6.0.0 -- The settings panel
(full image size: 1.9MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Something I found curious is there are two icon containers called Utilities - one on each virtual desktop. The second Utilities container holds a subset of the launchers from the first one, but no unique launchers of its own. This seems to make the second Utilities group redundant.
Software management
When it comes to managing software on Endless OS the main focus is on a graphical software centre with a three-tab layout. These three tabs (Explore, Installed, and Updates) allow us to install, remove, and update packages, respectively. The software centre appears to pull all packages from the Flathub Flatpak repository. I was able to fetch and remove Flatpak bundles without any problems.
Endless OS 6.0.0 -- The software centre
(full image size: 1.3MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
I noticed the Videos (Totem) application was marked with a warning which indicated the application was no longer receiving updates. I'm not sure why, perhaps the Flathub maintainer is no longer active. I was able to remove Totem and replace it with VLC which worked well.
While the operating system is based on Debian 12 and APT is present on the operating system, we cannot use APT to install new Deb packages. We can use APT to search Debian repositories, but any attempt to install new software from Debian's mirrors returns in an error when trying to lock the package database. I believe this is intentional as Endless is meant to be used as an immutable platform with Flatpak packages layered on top.
Conclusions
Several years ago I tried an earlier version of Endless OS and, in my 2016 review wrote: "The things which are likely to make Endless appealing to people who like Android and Chromebook computers are the same things which make the distribution unappealing to people like me who want a general purpose operating system. There are standard GNU command line tools available, but no low-level package manager. The distribution appears to have a Debian heritage, but no working APT package repositories. We cannot simply install video codecs, they must be purchased. This blocks us from having Firefox, VLC, Chrome or other popular applications."
I feel as though the first half of the above statement is still true in that Endless OS still appears to be targeting people who want a mobile-style operating system, something similar to a Chromebook or Android. Something that is, in other words, super easy to set up and provides a very straight forward, touch-like interface. This will probably make Endless OS ideal for less experienced computer users, students, and people who just need to run some popular desktop applications. People like me, who like to work with low-level elements and customize our environments, might feel a bit limited.
With that said, what stands out about my trial this week is how much more polished the Endless OS experience is, particularly where the second half of my above statement is concerned. A lot of this is thanks to the software centre and the advancement of Flatpak packages. Eight years ago Flatpak still wasn't great and there were not nearly as many applications available through the portable format. Now Flathub has a lot of applications, games, and educational tools. This greatly expands Endless's capabilities and makes it a much more complete experience.
I also want to say that the GNOME-based desktop has progressed a bit since my last trial with Endless OS. While the desktop worked poorly with my laptop, it did run smoothly in my virtual machine and offered pretty good performance and stability. In short, while the nature of Endless OS has remained much the same over the past eight years, the speed, software selection, and desktop polish have improved.
Endless OS is now at the point where I feel like I would recommend it for people who want a platform primarily for web browsing and cloud storage. Endless OS can do more than these tasks, much more, but the simple style and mobile-like interface are well suited to people who just need a few basic applications and a web browser.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was an HP DY2048CA laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 512GB solid state drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Wireless network device: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + BT Wireless network card
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Visitor supplied rating
Endless OS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 6.2/10 from 25 review(s).
Have you used Endless OS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Mint filtering unverified Flatpaks, Debian adding a systemd-boot option and debating temporary file handling, Redox OS adopts COSMIC desktop components, OpenSSH gains new security feature, Ubuntu 23.10 nears its end of life
The Linux Mint team have published their monthly newsletter which outlines work happening in the Mint project. One of the more visible changes coming to the distribution is filtering unverified Flatpak bundles. "The mintInstall Software Manager received some welcome changes. It loads faster than before and the main window appears instantly. Unverified Flatpaks are disabled by default. A warning explains the security risks associated with them in the newly added preferences window. When enabled, these Flatpaks are clearly marked as unverified. Note that unverified Flatpaks also do not feature any reviews and do not have a score."
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Luca Boccassi has announced plans to add support for the systemd-boot bootloader in Debian's system installer. "I've created a udeb that adds an expert menu item to allow choosing systemd-boot." The new option only shows up in expert mode, but may become available in non-expert mode too, following testing. For now, GRUB remains Debian's default bootloader.
The Debian project team has also been discussing the /tmp directory, used for storing temporary files, and how to best manage this location for years. Many other distributions now treat /tmp as part of memory, storing files in RAM for better performance and easier clean-up. Some distributions go a step further and automatically clean /tmp, purging it of any files periodically. The Debian project has, to date, kept /tmp on disk and avoided deleting files without warning. This may change soon: "Debian Developer and systemd contributor Luca Boccassi recently decided it was time to revisit the topic of /tmp as a tmpfs, and start deleting temporary files in /tmp and /var/tmp.
On May 6 Boccassi resurrected a discussion from Debian's bug tracker that started in 2020 and that had trailed off in July 2022 without resolution. The bug was submitted by Eric Desrochers, who complained that Debian's systemd implementation did not clean /var/tmp by default. Michael Biebl wrote that this was a deliberate choice to match Debian's pre-systemd behavior. After a long period of inactivity, Biebl suggested in October 2021 (and again in July 2022) that Desrochers raise the topic on the Debian devel mailing list. That never happened.
In reviving the topic, Boccassi declared that it was time to bring Debian's defaults in line with upstream and other Linux distributions by making /tmp a tmpfs, and cleaning up /tmp and /var/tmp on a timer." LWN has the rest of the story and its outcome.
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Redox is a Unix-like Operating System written in Rust, aiming to bring the innovations of Rust to a modern microkernel and full set of applications. The project has made a change to its graphical utilities, importing key elements from the COSMIC desktop which was developed by System76 for its Pop!_OS Linux distribution. "COSMIC Files, COSMIC Editor and COSMIC Terminal are now a permanent part of the Redox desktop! Jeremy has replaced the Orbital file manager, text editor and terminal with their COSMIC counterparts! We still have a few bugs around exiting the apps, but otherwise, they are working smoothly and they look great!" Additional information on the work going into Redox OS can be found in the project's monthly newsletter.
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The OpenSSH suite is getting a new security feature which will assist administrators in blocking connections from pesky client machines. Damien Miller shares the highlights: "When PerSourcePenalties are enabled, sshd(8) will monitor the exit status of its child pre-auth session processes. Through the exit status, it can observe situations where the session did not authenticate as expected. These conditions include when the client repeatedly attempted authentication unsuccessfully (possibly indicating an attack against one or more accounts, e.g. password guessing), or when client behaviour caused sshd to crash (possibly indicating attempts to exploit sshd).
When such a condition is observed, sshd will record a penalty of some duration (e.g. 30 seconds) against the client's address. If this time is above a minimum threshold specified by the PerSourcePenalties, then connections from the client address will be refused (along with any others in the same PerSourceNetBlockSize CIDR range).
Repeated offenses by the same client address will accrue greater penalties, up to a configurable maximum." The new feature is expected to be enabled by default in OpenBSD 7.6, which will likely be publicly available in October 2024.
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Graham Inggs has published a reminder that Ubuntu 23.10 will reach the end of its supported life on July 11, 2024. "Ubuntu announced its 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur) release almost 9 months ago, on October 12, 2023 and its support period is now nearing its end. Ubuntu 23.10 will reach end of life on July 11, 2024. At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 23.10. The supported upgrade path from Ubuntu 23.10 is via Ubuntu 24.04 LTS." Tips for upgrading to newer releases can be found in the distribution's documentation.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Distributions which provide init diversity
This question came up a few weeks ago in the comments, following my comparison of init software, and I answered it there. I have also received some similar queries elsewhere, so this seemed like a good topic to discuss more visibly in the Weekly.
Seeking-init-diversity asks: I seem to recall coming across a distro that offers a choice of init (including OpenRC and runit) during install. Might have been MX? (Do recall that MX does at least offer a choice of whether you want to use systemd.)
DistroWatch answers: There are three approaches distributions can take to offer init options to the user. These are:
- Separate ISO downloads for each init. This allows the user to select their init software before they download the distribution, similar to the way many distributions offer different desktop spins.
- Selecting the init software at install time. Allowing the user to choose which init software to use during the initial install process is one option, typically implemented by source-based distributions.
- Boot time selection. It is possible to give the user the option of picking their init software at boot time from the GRUB menu.
The MX Linux distribution is one of the few (perhaps the only) which provides init selection at boot time. By default, MX Linux boots using SysV init. However, if the user needs systemd-specific features (such as Snap package support) then they can select systemd from the boot menu.
Picking which init software to use at install time is also relatively uncommon, at least among binary distributions. The Linux From Scratch and Gentoo projects allow the user to pick their init implementation during the initial build. Though I haven't tried it, this support thread says the Devuan-based branch of Peppermint OS allows the user to select SysV init, OpenRC, or runit as the distribution's init software at install time. (Peppermint also provides a Debian-based branch which runs the systemd init software.) I believe Devuan can offer install-time init selection too, though from what I've read it requires using the net-install ISO to set up the distribution.
This leaves us with distributions that allow the user to pick an init implementation at download time. Off the top of my head, I can think of just two distributions which offer separate editions and allow us to pick our init software at download time. One is antiX which offers SysV init and runit flavours. The other is Artix Linux which provides separate ISOs for dinit, OpenRC, runit, and s6 editions.
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Additional queries and answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
FreeBSD 14.1
Colin Percival has announced the release of FreeBSD 14.1, the latest stable version of the popular operating system used to power modern servers, desktops and embedded platforms: "The FreeBSD Release Engineering team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE. This is the second release of the stable/14 branch. Some of the highlights: the C library now has SIMD implementations of string and memory operations on amd64 for improved performance; improvements to the sound subsystem, including device hotplug; initial native cloud-init (configuration drive) support compatible with OpenStack and many hosters; OpenZFS has been upgraded to version 2.2.4; Clang/LLVM have been upgraded to version 18.1.5; OpenSSH has been upgraded to version 9.7p1. FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE is now available for the amd64, i386, powerpc, powerpc64, powerpc64le, powerpcspe, armv7, aarch64 and riscv64 architectures. Based on the new FreeBSD support model, the FreeBSD 14 release series will be supported until at least January 31, 2026." See the release announcement and the release notes for further details.
Parrot 6.1
Lorenzo Faletra has announced the release of Parrot 6.1, the latest stable version of the project's Linux distribution that ships with an arsenal of tools, utilities and libraries designed for IT security professionals. It is based on Debian's "Testing" branch: "We are excited to announce the release of Parrot 6.1, the new version of our operating system that includes in it numerous improvements and updates that makes the system more performing and stable. This new release brings with it a lot of improvements and an update of several packages, as well as libraries, in particular the following ones: Anonsurf 4.2 - improved stability and fixed issues in the launcher script for better anonymity and user experience; re-introduction of parrot-updater - the update reminder popup was re-introduced to the system to assist keeping the system up to date; nmap - patched to fix several errors in its mssql scanning lua script; burpsuite 2024.2.1.3 - updated to the latest version and fixed a Java version inconsistency on some machines; sqlmap 1.8.3 - upgraded to the latest version for better SQL injection detection and testing capabilities...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information and upgrade instructions.
Parrot 6.1 -- Running the MATE desktop
(full image size: 2.6MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Kali Linux 2024.2
Kali Linux is a Debian-based distribution with a collection of security and forensics tools. The project has published its second release of 2024 which brings fixes for the 2038 time bug along with updates to the GNOME and Xfce desktops: "Roughly every half-year, there is a new version bump for the GNOME desktop environment. Of which, Kali 2024.2 brings the latest version, GNOME 46. As you would expect, this is a more polished experience following the work introduced in previous versions. All themes and extensions have been updated to support the new shell. Xfce desktop changes: We are excited to announce updates to the Xfce desktop, specifically for Kali-Undercover and HiDPI modes. These updates enhance stability and include several minor bug fixes, ensuring better support for the latest desktop improvements. New tools in Kali: There has not been a single Kali release without any new shiny tools added, and this release is no exception. We are overjoyed that there have been multiple tools packaged up from the community, which are now in Kali too!" The project's release announcement offers additional details and screenshots.
NixOS 24.05
NixOS is an independently developed GNU/Linux distribution that aims to improve the state of the art in system configuration management using the Nix package manager. The project has published NixOS 24.05 which includes updates to GNOME (version 46), Plasma (version 6), and the Linux kernel (version 6.6). "In addition to numerous new and upgraded packages, this release has the following highlights: The default kernel package has been updated from 6.1 to 6.6. All supported kernels remain available. For each supporting version of the Linux kernel, firmware blobs are compressed with zstd. For firmware blobs this means an increase of 4.4% in size, however a significantly higher decompression speed. NixOS now installs a stub ELF loader that prints an informative error message when users attempt to run binaries not made for NixOS." Additional information can be found in the project's release announcement and in the release notes.
NixOS 24.05 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
(full image size: 1.1MB, resolution: 1920x1440 pixels)
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 3,012
- Total data uploaded: 44.6TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Immutable with portable packages or traditional package management?
This week we started with a look at Endless OS, a distribution which layers a custom desktop environment and Flatpak packages on top of an immutable base. All of the commercially backed Linux distributions are experimenting with atomic or immutable filesystems with portable packages installed on top of them. Meanwhile, most community run distributions are sticking with writable filesystems and traditional packages. This week we'd like to hear which approach our readers prefer. Do you like the traditional approach with a writable filesystem and packages which are installed directly into the base system or do you like immutable filesystems with portable applications layered on top?
You can see the results of our previous poll on lightweight desktop environments in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Writable or immutable filesystems?
| I prefer classic writable filesystems: | 1902 (83%) |
| I prefer immutable/atomic filesystems: | 159 (7%) |
| No preference: | 228 (10%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 17 June 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)
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • redox (by redmond-ox on 2024-06-10 00:45:04 GMT from Australia)
Redox is about to make their next release 0.9. They've got some rust apps, have integrated some COSMIC stuff, and have a plan to port apps from unix/linux to fill the repository. This could be the birth of a new OS + ecosystem - that is riding a tech wave provided by the Rust programming lanuage. Or it could be another promising tech wave that fizzles.
2 • @1 - supporting redox os (by J.D. Laub on 2024-06-10 02:24:26 GMT from United States)
I've liked what I read in the redox documentation enough to throw a few bucks per month their way, for many months now. I find the microkernel design appealing.
3 • Distribution which layers Gnome environment and Flatpak on top of immutable base (by Tran Older on 2024-06-10 03:37:46 GMT from Vietnam)
openSUSE Aeon is based on openSUSE Tumbleweed. However, it intentionally supports only a subset of the packages available in Tumbleweed.
One of the standout features of Aeon Desktop RC2 is the inclusion of Linux Kernel module zram by default. This feature significantly improves system performance by avoiding the need to swap data to slow hard disk drives (HDDs) or wear-limited solid-state drives (SSDs). Aeon is the only openSUSE distribution that automatically downloads and updates x86_64_v3 optimized libraries if supported by the hardware. Users don’t need to take any action to enjoy a faster system with these optimizations. The system is tailored for gamers and specific SELinux configurations support gaming while maintaining robust security policies. This unique feature sets it apart from other openSUSE distributions.The use of Btrfs compression by default is a game-changer for Aeon. It not only decreases SSD wear but often improves performance and saves more than 40 percent of disk space used by a standard installation.
4 • immutable filesystem (by user on 2024-06-10 05:20:53 GMT from Bulgaria)
I cannot breathe the immutable filesystem bs. I even ditched my once favourite openSUSE distro for their blatant mandatory enforcement upon users. Immutable fs bs is a distro lock-in with an anti-linux mindset. As one of its architects arrogantly stated - Linux is not about choice, but what we developers of the distro consider fit users should be delivered as software.
5 • Debian adds support for systemd-boot (by 0323pin on 2024-06-10 07:38:05 GMT from United States)
Another sad day. One step closer to the end of choice, one step closer to monoculture and one step further away from portability.
Time to call it GNU-systemd-Linux, at least there's no reason to lie anymore.
6 • endless ended (by v8 on 2024-06-10 07:41:19 GMT from New Zealand)
Good to read the review of Endless. I too gave it a spin, in a VM, recently. It is a locked-down 'immutable' system. You get almost no space to wiggle and customise. Which, if you are setting up a system for an error-prone or overly-curious user, good! I recall one nightmare where a friend nuked most of their system directories and was wondering why the system was "not working." So for such, immutable is super. The keyboard warrior, or random drunken parrot, can _not_ go and nuke the core of the system.
But then if you want to _remove_ a font they deemed part of the base install, no can do. The donkey of Immutable brays loudly and you don't get anywhere. So for people who like to customise their system, this is a bad, bad idea and not a suitable distro in any way.
7 • Writable or immutable filesystems? (by Kazlu on 2024-06-10 08:59:47 GMT from France)
I voted "writable", since I have a slight preference for this concept. It brings better performance on the table.
However, to me it's not that important. Security is more important. The immutable filesystem brings something security wise (harder to tamper with the OS) but the current state of Flatpak/Snap package repositories brings its lot of problems since packages are less scrutinized than traditional packages in software repositories. When we can find a Flatpak repository that is as reliable as Debian repos (for example) when it comes to vetted software, then we can look at other aspects such as interoperability/compatibility of the software, performance, etc.
For what it's worth, technically, I thinx Nix brings together the best of both worlds: you share dependancies with software that uses the same ones instead of having packages bundling all their dependencies themselves (performance gain thanks to mutualisation) while also offering the possibility of installing software not especially built for your distribution, with different versions of dependancies. Ideal setup? The Nix system, with the choice of software offered by Flathub and the trust of Debian repositories. Can we dream???
8 • Debian's /tmp-est in a teapot (by Georg on 2024-06-10 09:52:32 GMT from Czechia)
Luca Boccassi -- remember the name, people. Another inconsistent, arrogant clone of Lennart Poettering (accidentally also employed by Microsoft), if we ever needed one. (Seriously, read the comments and pay special attention to his ones at https://lwn.net/Articles/977108/ .)
9 • Coming back to Linux? (by Ostro on 2024-06-10 10:30:05 GMT from Poland)
After so many years with Linux, last year I bought a used MacBook Pro to check on macOS, which is UNIX and based on FreeBSD. Tried Monterey, Ventura and now Sonoma. In the meantime installed few distros in my 'Windows' laptop, thinking that if they will pull me back to Linux. Atm, I have Arch and Deepin 23 in that. But, the pull is gone. The FreeBDS based macOS had taken over.
10 • Redox (by Otis on 2024-06-10 11:16:43 GMT from United States)
https://www.redox-os.org/
@1 @2 You made me look. That evolved livepatching feature caught my eye, along with the microkernel core. You can work with it and not have to reboot (mostly) after deep modifications.
Alpha/Beta at the moment, after 9 years of development.. so, let's watch.
Makes me worry a bit less about the apparent Linux entropy thing, systemd and all.
11 • Immutable or traditional package management? Traditional. (by Alvaro on 2024-06-10 12:34:26 GMT from Italy)
"commercially backed Linux distributions are experimenting with atomic or immutable filesystems, while most community run distributions are sticking with writable filesystems and traditional packages." Immutable operating system projects are killing Linux in the name of savings and profit. God protect community distributions!
12 • Redox (by mandatory on 2024-06-10 13:02:31 GMT from United States)
@10 "Makes me worry a bit less about the apparent Linux entropy thing, systemd and all."
Same here!
13 • Thats ok? (by Osmo on 2024-06-10 13:41:20 GMT from Sweden)
@9 I don't see the value of your comment. I mean its ok, theres no judgement, use what you like the best. I really do enjoy a nice ham sandwich over a grilled chicken but I don't feel the need to go to a forum for people who like chicken drumsticks to tell people about it.
Just enjoy whatever OS you prefer my man... its fine.
14 • Immutable with portable packages or traditional package management? (by Miko Bootstraps on 2024-06-10 15:25:57 GMT from United States)
I think it really depends on what I am using the distribution for. For example, my personal server runs Linux Mint with primary traditional packages. But I use SteamOS for gaming and I have to say that I actually quite enjoy the fact that the OS is immutable and having the portable packages.
15 • init-diversity (by grindstone on 2024-06-10 16:33:21 GMT from United States)
There are unofficial init-diversity "spins" of antiX, Devuan, etc.
https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/antix-23-1_init-diversity-edition-sysvinit-runit-s6-rc-s6-66/page/14/
https://archive.org/details/Devuan-5.0_xfce_init-diversity-edition_amd64_UNOFFICIAL_20240319/
16 • init-diversity (by anticapitalista on 2024-06-10 17:38:09 GMT from Greece)
There are also some community init-diversity spins over at antiX forums too.
17 • @5, systemD boot choice (by Kilroy the Great! on 2024-06-11 01:19:46 GMT from United States)
"One step closer to the end of choice, one step closer to monoculture and one step further away from portability." Devuan has been around for about 10 years now. Since it offers the same Debian repos, the same installer and choice of init, doesn't it make you wonder why there haven't been throngs of users migrating? Users have choice. They have made their choice. And they will continue to choose. Portability? Why it that relevant?
18 • Endless (no) Love and The Immutables (by Mr. Moto on 2024-06-11 02:17:47 GMT from Philippines)
I have no interest in Endless because of the "immutable" desktop, nothing against immutable root. Same reason I don't use Budgie, Pantheon, Deepin, etc. In the 20 years or so I've been using Linux, I've come to appreciate the ability to sit down at a pleasant-looking desktop configured for my own ease of use. By coincidence, I spent some time last week trying some immutables.
Started because of a question asked last week about running two versions of Firefox. A little Googling, and I installed podman and distrobox on my Ubuntu, put in a Debian container, and: Presto! Firefox and Firefox-ESR running side-by-side. Which led me to "The Immutables" to see if I could do the same. Turns out they are not so limited after all. I tried Vanilla OS and BlendOS both of which died a quick death. Nitrux I had tried before and didn't care for it. Ended up with Silverblue and Aeon (mentioned by @3) both running on KVM flawlessly. Aside from the requisite flatpaks and/or appimages, I can install apps using apt, pacman, dnf, etc. I like it.
Cons: As some would say, there's "bloating". No concern for me, since storage is cheap and plentiful. Can't "_remove_ a font" (@6), but I haven't removed a font before, so who knows. Also, the Aeon image and installer are quite strange, but they work. Silverblue comes with toolbox, which is not as easy to use as distrobox, but distrobox can be installed rootless.
@3, "saves more than 40 percent of disk space used by a standard installation." This is of course anecdotal, but I didn't see any savings compared to the others.
@11,"most community run distributions are sticking with writable filesystems and traditional packages" That is true, but misleading. There are a lot more community distros than commercial. In absolute numbers there are more immutable community editions than commercial.
19 • antiX init-diversity spin (by Hoos on 2024-06-11 05:35:58 GMT from Singapore)
This spin actually allows the user to install 3 or 4 different init systems all at once, and from the grub menu you can choose which to boot into anytime you reboot.
20 • init diversity-spins (by New User on 2024-06-11 07:14:37 GMT from Canada)
@15 grindstone & @19 Hoos
Thanks - This was exactly what I've been searching for.
The link to the announcement (which contains the iso download links) is (at time of posting):
https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/antix-23-1_init-diversity-edition-sysvinit-runit-s6-rc-s6-66/
For anyone wanting more details. This takes you to page 1 with the direct link, rather than page 14.
The actual iso's end being downloaded off Google Drive rather than something like Sourceforge, but at least they are available.
Following the author's development thread about this project also makes for interesting reading if you like to get into the "guts" of how things work.
21 • Writable or immutable filesystems? (by James on 2024-06-11 09:49:20 GMT from Latvia)
I can understand immutable filesystems for servers, but that is about it.
22 • @18 Mr. Moto, Firefox+Firefox-ESR (by Jan on 2024-06-11 10:41:31 GMT from The Netherlands)
I was the one with the question last week. Thanks for the investigation.
I found out that with MX-KDE-linux, tested in live modus, the MX-software-repository offers both FF and FF-ESR.
FF is already installed, I could additionally install FF-ESR, without any trick.
FF and FF-ESR ran both without problem (I think have seen).
Mullvad is also a FF-ESR version, so could run beside FF. However it is a strange beast (tested in Windows).
PS I prefer software offered/maintained by large management/organizations, because of the multi-eyes principle (security/continuity)
23 • @22, Jan, Firefox=Firefox-ESR (by Mr. Moto on 2024-06-11 12:12:10 GMT from Philippines)
"the MX-software-repository offers both FF and FF-ESR" Installing is no problem, and you don't need MX. I can install Firefox-latest on Debian by just downloading from Mozilla's website, extracting and adding to the menu. Running both is when the quirks can arise and you might get the "Firefox is already running" message. I avoid that by using distrobox.
24 • MacOS/Linux etc (by Otis on 2024-06-11 18:30:17 GMT from United States)
@13 (Osmo's response to @9) I see plenty of value in that post. I could have posted something similar (and likely have over the years). Difference 'tween me and Ostro is that I still love Linux distros and keep MX and otherwise distro hop many others.
I've got a MacBook Pro (my go-to for work and some play), a Windows 11 machine, and two other laptops for said distro hopping.
Plenty of room for all of it. And Distrowatch is a blessed website for us all to express these things. ;o)
25 • Writable or immutable filesystems? (by MR. Carnaval on 2024-06-11 19:48:26 GMT from Brazil)
Writable is the way, if sudo become too obsolete and everything become sudo the path is to separate the system mods from never should change components that will require authentication, this should make the user do not need to use sudo for all applications and separate the things that do really need it.
The security related aspect of immutable filesystems to me is a exaggeration that should be used only for high security problems. I believe most people use Linux distros because of true flexibility and ownership.
If I could really develop something meaningful like to solve this problem... I would try to do a easy to use app isolation mechanism, something that really can allow for permission based activity or even by request to use X service if configured to do so, in a sense what I have in mind is a android like permissions system, but that really work and is more easy to manage and native, or even a good firewall something maybe that resembles OpenSnitch, but for like permissions. There is some solutions, but not so easy to config so mainly time consuming, even more for distro hoppers.
26 • Writable or immutable filesystems? (by Kilroy the Great! on 2024-06-12 00:00:29 GMT from United States)
@25 MR. Carnaval- We get ahead of ourselves. These immutable things are works in progress:
"It is NOT for everyone. Your highly customizable Tumbleweed & Leap Desktops are safe and will remain the best choice for those who want to tinker with their Desktop. It should be perfect for lazy developers, who no longer want to mess around with their desktop and just ”get stuff done”, especially if they develop around containers. It should also appeal to the same audience now more used to an iOS, Chromebook or Android-like experience where the OS is static, automated & reliable and the Apps are the main thing the user cares about. "
https://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Aeon
You'll find pretty much the same attitude at Fedora.
As of now, the installers for these things are rather rigid, and don't easily lend themselves to multi-boot and customization. (Or even to installing in some cases.:-)) I'm running some on VMs and removable drives for curiosity. I'm fond of the idea, but won't yet risk trying an install to my main system, which has some distros I very much enjoy, plus Windows. We shall see!
A couple of things: You can still access the root file system. It just becomes more limited and convoluted. (See the link above.) You can still install and use containers to run anything from single apps to whole systems isolated from root in your run-of-the-mill Ubuntu/Fedora/Alma/Arch, et al.
27 • @26 Container mindset for the desktop (by Pomme de Terre nouvelle on 2024-06-12 08:23:21 GMT from Germany)
I'm with you. However, getting to root on the "immutables" is not only convoluted but unnecessary unless you need to tinker with hardware-related stuff. As you said, everything else is in containers, moreso on Aeon than on Silverblue.
Just for perspective, I, for one, had a hard time when docker came around and we would no longer use our configuration management system to change running instances but would make the change offline, push it to a repo, build a new version and layer it on top of the running instance or blue-green it. "Immutables" are almost the same (they have persistent storage for userspace configurations) only on the desktop and it should not come as a surprise that the developers of distributions used to containerized workflows see the benefits and try to bring them to the masses.
28 • Firefox-regular + Firefox-ESR both installed/usable (by Jan on 2024-06-12 10:43:37 GMT from The Netherlands)
I did some further testing if in Linux (with live-testing) both can be installed and both can be used. (I do not intend to use both at the same time, but it is a test if problems can arise).
To my surprise within Debian (and its derivaties I think) this seems possible, without any additional aid-programs.
So with Linux-Debian it is possible to have 2 real different FF-browsers. (I consider Waterfox etcetera not really different from FF-regular).
29 • systemd and choice (by Dan on 2024-06-13 00:33:52 GMT from Australia)
@5 Luckily there are other distros that don't use it. I've been on VoidLinux a while and very pleased with it.
30 • @28 • Firefox-regular + Firefox-ESR both installed/usable (by Mr. Moto on 2024-06-13 02:56:59 GMT from Philippines)
"So with Linux-Debian it is possible to have 2 real different FF-browsers." A miscommunication somewhere. It's possible with any distro I'm familiar with, and probably those I've never tried. Nothing special. Sometimes, if running from the same home folder there can be conflicts and one or the other might misbehave. To avoid that, Firefox instances can be isolated from each other. Distrobox is not an "aid-program". Together with docker or podman it allows apps to be run inside containers, isolated from the installed system. This enhances security. Since you like "large management/organizations", distrobox comes from Red Hat; and you can't get any larger in Linux. See the link to screenshots below with multiple firefox browsers:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/164785504@N08/albums/72177720317853417/
31 • init diversity (by hulondalo on 2024-06-13 15:12:02 GMT from Hong Kong)
i'm not an ideologist, i use whatever works. i even used systemd for a while until it writes logs at boot which makes booting insufferably long. and then it gets bloated - at first it was just about init, and then it came at login and boot managers, logging, networking, and by the end of the day, i'm willing to bet, it would do away with the kernel too :p
you see. linux is about choice. that's not a jargon or sick joke even if open source world is full of them. a distro is made of software created by people not knowing each other, or even hate each other guts, but when put together they work in perfect harmony. now take that away and you might as well not use inux, yes? when your fixing to destroy something, you first attack its spirit
@17 "Users have choice". that may of been true but most of the time they are using the defaults, the stuff the distro chose for them
32 • 30 Mr Moto, Distrobox (by Jan on 2024-06-13 15:51:42 GMT from The Netherlands)
I installed Disrtobox in the live-mode of MX-KDE (through Synapsis). After that I could not find it in MX.
I also roamed the internet how to use Distrobox,
I am afraid that using Distrobox (for running 2 versions of FF) is a "Question and Answer" item by Jesse for a Distrowatch-weekly.
33 • Distrobox (by Jesse on 2024-06-13 15:56:17 GMT from Canada)
@32: "I am afraid that using Distrobox (for running 2 versions of FF) is a "Question and Answer" item by Jesse for a Distrowatch-weekly."
I did an article on setting up and using Distrobox to run desktop applications about two years ago. You might find it useful:
https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20220221#distrobox
34 • @33 Jesse: Distrobox article (by Jan on 2024-06-13 20:43:27 GMT from The Netherlands)
Thanks
Read it. Must review it further.
Seems to me a lot of effort to have FF-regular + FF-ESR installed and usable, without interfering to each other.
I wonder why it seems to work in MX-KDE and Debian-Gnome without Distrobox. Do they now have container-functionallity build-in?
I hope it is not because they are Flatpacks (I dont trust those, had a bad experience with one).
35 • Firefox (by Jesse on 2024-06-13 20:55:48 GMT from Canada)
@34: "I wonder why it seems to work in MX-KDE and Debian-Gnome without Distrobox. Do they now have container-functionallity build-in?
I hope it is not because they are Flatpacks (I dont trust those, had a bad experience with one)."
Having one bad experience with one Flatpak doesn't seem like a compelling reason to avoid all of them forever.
To answer your question though, no Debian and MX don't use Flatpak packages or container functionality for packaging Firefox. Firefox (latest) and Firefox ESR are just packages as two separate packages, likely in different locations. There's nothing which prevents you from having two different versions of the same browser on a Linux systems, as long as you install them in different locations. For example, you could put one in /usr/local and one in /opt.
36 • @32 Distrobox (by Mr. Moto on 2024-06-14 00:48:58 GMT from Philippines)
Still a miscommunication. You don't need Distrobox to run multiple Firefox. I did that while trying Distrobox, just to see. To run Firefox you don't even need to install it. Just download from the Mozilla website. Once downloaded, right-click and choose "Extract". Open the resulting Firefox folder, click on "firefox" or "firefox.bin" and you'll be running Firefox, or ESR, whichever you downloaded, or both if you want. They won't show on the menu. I won't go into that here, although it's easy to do that with KDE.
May I suggest that if you want to learn about using Linux you need to get off the live ISO, install a distro somewhere, and start learning. The distros' own forums and Google/DudDuckGo are better places to get information than here.
37 • @31, init diversity (by Kilroy the Great! on 2024-06-14 09:08:19 GMT from United States)
'"Users have choice". that may of been true but most of the time they are using the defaults, the stuff the distro chose for them"
I see! Users should have choice, but only the choices you approve of. No SystemD as default because they might or will probably choose that and you don't like it.
38 • Web Browsers (by De Schatberg on 2024-06-14 09:14:26 GMT from The Netherlands)
It is always a good idea to have at least two different web browsers installed, especially if you usually use something exotic (and broken).
Firefox is such an example.
Firefox: https://ibb.co/LNLrtb7
Chrome: https://ibb.co/wr1FZ6G
If you rely on a single browser, you never know what the web really looks like, or if it is just you, or dead-for-all.
DistroWatch in Opera GX: https://ibb.co/QJMt5WX
39 • Web Browser Diversity (by Otis on 2024-06-14 11:26:38 GMT from United States)
@38 thanks for that direct comparison (of just 3 of dozens of web browsers out there). I miss Mosaic, but I'm old.
I wonder how the internet looks on Lynx now (I think that was the first).
That Opera to DW thing, do people still use Opera? Asking for a friend.
40 • Chrome or no "surfing" (by De Schatberg on 2024-06-14 12:19:18 GMT from The Netherlands)
@39
>>I wonder how the internet looks on Lynx now (I think that was the first).
Ugly.
>>That Opera to DW thing, do people still use Opera? Asking for a friend.
Oh, well...
Do people still use Firefox? Did people ever started using Linux? Asking for a friend. 😉
https://www.w3schools.com/browsers/
https://gs.statcounter.com/
41 • Opera (by Jesse on 2024-06-14 12:59:34 GMT from Canada)
@38, @39: I'm pretty sure if you update to the latest version of Opera you won't run into the "Forbidden" error. I think it only affects version 109, but people running 110 and 111 are fine.
42 • (Opera GX) Browser (by De Schatberg on 2024-06-14 13:52:36 GMT from The Netherlands)
@39
>>I wonder how the internet looks on Lynx now (I think that was the first).
https://ibb.co/cr0q0Dk
>>thanks for that direct comparison (of just 3 of dozens of web browsers out there).
That was actually 4. Crome vs. Firefox and Edge vs. Opera GX.
@41
>>I think it only affects version 109, but people running 110 and 111 are fine. I'm pretty sure if you update to the latest version...
Thanks Jesse, it's always good to learn something new.
As for the Opera... Well, it is the "newest, latest and greatest" (dead horse in the stable) version, updated this morning, and it is...
Opera GX
LVL5 (core: 109.0.5097.130)
Chromium-Version:123.0.6312.124
😄😆😅😂🤣🙃
https://www.msi.com/Landing/opera-gx-gaming-browser
43 • Opera (by Jesse on 2024-06-14 14:08:25 GMT from Canada)
@42: The site you're linking to is a few versions behind. If you get Opera directly from the Opera website they're on version 111, not 109. Even 110 has been out for a while. This is why it's dangerous to rely on third-party sources.
44 • Opera GX, NOT Opera (by De Schatberg on 2024-06-14 16:02:35 GMT from The Netherlands)
@43: No, Jesse.
You can go to the MSI site, click download, and it will redirect you to the Opera site, or you can go directly to the Opera site.
Either way, it downloads the same file (OperaGXsetup.exe, 6.30 MB). It is a tiny web installer that downloads the latest available version.
Now, do not confuse Opera GX with a regular Opera browser.
Opera GX is a "web browser for gamers", with different color and sound schemes to match different "bling-bling" gaming gear, and with even more junk out of the box, advertisements for newly released games, gaming-related news, etc. (All of which any sane person would actually try to avoid).
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/f64897b5da6d004b10451cbec36fe037883c6022ae34382480d5b165e6c4a2f8
45 • Opera (by Jesse on 2024-06-14 16:26:22 GMT from Canada)
@44: I think you misunderstood my post. The Opera GX browser is using Opera 109 as its core, which is outdated. As you can see from the above post it's running 109 at its core, which is a couple of versions out of date. People running the current version of Opera are up to date.
46 • @45 (by De Schatberg on 2024-06-14 16:48:35 GMT from The Netherlands)
... and I thought you misunderstood me. I am sorry, Jesse.
Yeah, I know there is a newer "regular Opera" version. In fact, I have almost every browser available installed somewhere on some of the test machines.
The funny thing about Opera GX is that it is so massively outdated, but is intended for use by people who normally like to use the latest software and hardware.
47 • Edge? (by Otis on 2024-06-14 16:50:53 GMT from United States)
@42 I somehow am missing the Edge reference in the @38 post I was referring to in my post @39. Just seeing the three, Opera, Firefox, and Chrome.
48 • Yup, Edge (by De Schatberg on 2024-06-14 17:34:02 GMT from The Netherlands)
@47: https://ibb.co/b2pj29m
49 • Ummm... (by Otis on 2024-06-14 19:04:25 GMT from United States)
@48 That is labeled "Opera GX" in the post I have been referring (@38) to. Not Edge.
Number of Comments: 49
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| • Issue 1103 (2025-01-06): elementary OS 8.0, filtering ads with Pi-hole, Debian testing its installer, Pop!_OS faces delays, Ubuntu Studio upgrades not working, Absolute discontinued |
| • Issue 1102 (2024-12-23): Best distros of 2024, changing a process name, Fedora to expand Btrfs support and releases Asahi Remix 41, openSUSE patches out security sandbox and donations from Bottles while ending support for Leap 15.5 |
| • Issue 1101 (2024-12-16): GhostBSD 24.10.1, sending attachments from the command line, openSUSE shows off GPU assignment tool, UBports publishes security update, Murena launches its first tablet, Xfce 4.20 released |
| • Issue 1100 (2024-12-09): Oreon 9.3, differences in speed, IPFire's new appliance, Fedora Asahi Remix gets new video drivers, openSUSE Leap Micro updated, Redox OS running Redox OS |
| • Issue 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
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CensorNet
CensorNet was an Internet Management Appliance designed to control and monitor individuals accessing Internet resources on a local area network. This dedicated server inspects all inbound and outbound data and decides, based on configurable rules, whether the individual or workstation concerned has the correct access profile to allow the request to be completed.
Status: Discontinued
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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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