 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1145, 27 October 2025 |
|
Welcome to this year's 43rd issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
This month the computing world said farewell (partially) to supported installs of Windows 10, and several Linux organizations took this opportunity to invite former Windows 10 users to try out Linux and open source applications. This invitation, which was collectively called the "End of 10" event, saw people around the world offer their advice, time, and experience to help new users install and try out open source software. In our Questions and Answers column this week we respond to a request for general advice that will help Linux newcomers. If you are new to Linux, please let us know in this week's Opinion Poll and say hello in the comments. This week we talk about Linux Mint Debian Edition 7, the new alternative release from the Linux Mint project which showcases the latest version of Cinnamon on a Debian 13 base. Then, in our News section, we report on AlmaLinux extending support for installs on Btrfs storage and KDE's new features in Plasma 6.5.0. Plus we talk about Fedora's new policy for AI-created contributions and Ubuntu's update issue. We are also pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. As the month draws to a close we also take a moment to thank our wonderful supporters who continue to send donations - it means a lot! We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
|
| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7
The Linux Mint project creates a popular, Ubuntu-based distribution which is available in Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce desktop editions. The Mint project has gained a reputation over the years for taking Ubuntu and polishing it, removing components most users do not like and replacing them with practical alternatives.
The Linux Mint team also produces an alternative branch which is based on Debian's Stable repository and appropriately named Linux Mint Debian Edition. This second branch of the project features one edition with the Cinnamon desktop environment and otherwise looks and behave very similarly to the main, Ubuntu-based branch.
A few months ago we asked our readers in a poll whether they wanted to see a review of the latest version of Mint's Ubuntu edition or a review of Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). The results were overwhelmingly in favour of the Debian flavour.
As mentioned above, LMDE version 7 is available in a single desktop edition featuring the Cinnamon desktop. The distribution runs on one architecture (x86_64) and is based on Debian 13 "Trixie". The ISO for LMDE 7 is 2.8GB in size. Booting from the ISO brings up a menu offering to start the distribution's live desktop, launch the desktop in failsafe mode, or start an OEM installation.
Installing
LMDE 7's live media boots and launches the Cinnamon desktop. The desktop is presented with dark wallpaper and a thick panel is placed across the bottom of the screen. An application menu can be found on the panel's left side and a system tray is located to the right. There is a single icon on the desktop for launching the project's system installer. There is no welcome window or guided tour when we are running the live desktop session.
Mint's Debian Edition uses a custom graphical system installer which looks and acts similarly to Calamares or Ubiquity, though with a few minor differences in the style and layout. The installer begins by asking us for our preferred language and our timezone, which can be selected from a map. Both of these were detected for me automatically and correctly. We then select our keyboard layout from a list - the layout was also guessed automatically for me, though incorrectly.
The installer asks us to make up a username and password for ourselves and offers to encrypt our home directory. I like this feature and Mint is one of the few distributions I know of which still offers home directory encryption at install time. Next, we are asked how we would like to partition the hard drive. We can take an automated option which will set up an ext4 filesystem on the available disk. The guided approach can be asked to set up LVM volumes and encrypt the root partition. There isn't any option to select whether we will have swap space and there is no option to use an alternative filesystem, such as Btrfs. (I was surprised there is no option to use Btrfs since some of Mint's key feature in the Ubuntu-based branch require Btrfs.) We can also manually partition the disk, assigning mount points to existing partitions. The installer can launch GParted to help us create or change the partitions on the disk.
Mint's installer asks if it should install the GRUB bootloader and, if so, where with locations listed in a menu. The installer copies its packages to the hard drive, reports when it is finished, and offers to restart the computer. Alternatively, we can exit the installer and continue to explore the live Cinnamon environment.
Early impressions
Booting into my new copy of LMDE brought up a graphical login screen. We are able to sign into one of three sessions from the login page: Cinnamon (on X11), Cinnamon with software rendering (on X11), or Cinnamon on Wayland. The "software rendering" option is helpful on systems with low-end video cards or that are running a limited video driver. In the past this software rendering option was one I found helpful, though these days Cinnamon's regular session provides good performance and the software fallback probably won't be needed by most users.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 -- The welcome window
(full image size: 731kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
When we sign into Cinnamon we are greeted by a welcome screen. This screen is divided into multiple tabs. The first tab simply presents a welcoming message. The second tab, called First Steps, presents what is probably the most useful of the screens. The First Steps tab offers us buttons which will launch configuration tools. From this page we can quickly access a settings module for changing the default theme and colours, another button launches Timeshift to create backups (or snapshots) of the operating system, and a third button installs media codecs. One button opens the update manager, another the system settings panel, and yet another button launches the software centre to help us find new applications. The final button opens the firewall configuration tool (Gufw) to help us lock down or open network ports. Each of these tools works well and I liked having them quickly accessible in one spot.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 -- Adjusting the desktop theme
(full image size: 714kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The remaining tabs in the welcome window provide us with access to documentation and on-line support. The support options include the project's web forum and a Matrix chat room. The former can be browsed without an account while the Matrix option requests we create an account to view or participate in any discussions.
Once we dismiss the welcome window, Cinnamon remains quiet, staying out of the way while we explore. I saw no pop-up notifications or other distractions. When software updates become available an icon in the system tray will change slightly to let us know. We can click on this icon to launch the update manager, which I will explore later in this review.
Hardware
I found LMDE performed well on my laptop, detecting all of my hardware and offering above average responsiveness when logged into Cinnamon. The distribution was able to boot in both UEFI and Legacy BIOS modes. Networking, audio, and desktop resolution were all setup properly. My touchpad detected taps as clicks, which was appreciated. The touchpad was set up to use inverse scrolling, a feature I do not like, and this was easily changed in the desktop's settings panel. My screen was dark by default, projecting at about 20% brightness, even when plugged into AC power. My laptop's shortcut keys for adjusting brightness quickly fixed this problem.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 -- The Cinnamon settings panel
(full image size: 767kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
When running in VirtualBox the distribution performed well. The desktop was responsive, it was easy to change desktop resolution, and Mint ran smoothly. LMDE uses about 8.2GB of disk space for a fresh install, which is about average for a mainstream Linux distribution. Cinnamon consumed 890MB of RAM which puts it in the upper-medium range - larger than Xfce and LXQt, but smaller than Plasma and GNOME.
I feel a though Cinnamon's performance has improved over the years. When I first started using it, it was about average or a little poorer on physical hardware and tended to lag a bit in virtual machines. These days it runs well across test environments and is almost as responsive as some lightweight desktops. It also hasn't gobbled up resource to the same degree as modern versions of Plasma, COSMIC, and GNOME Shell.
Included software
LMDE ships with a "who's who" of popular, open source applications. Digging through the selection we find Firefox, Thunderbird, the Transmission bittorrent client, and LibreOffice. There is a calendar application, the Celluloid video player, and the Rhytmbox music player. The streaming TV application Hypnotix is included too. I found that Celluloid worked well in the X11 session and was able to play videos, but it showed only a blank screen with audio playing in the Wayland session. When I installed VLC it worked in both the Wayland and X11 desktop sessions.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 -- Exploring the application menu
(full image size: 823kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The Pix image viewer is installed for us alongside a simple drawing program (appropriately called Drawing). The Nemo file manager is present and I like its default look which uses yellow office folder style icons. The system is equipped with a backup tool which will archive both our personal files and a record of installed packages. A process monitor is included and Timeshift is present for taking snapshots of the system.
LMDE ships with the GNU command line utilities and the GNU Compiler Collection. The system features manual pages and runs systemd to manage services. We find version 6.12 of the Linux kernel running in the background.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 -- Creating a backup
(full image size: 820kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
One application of note, which isn't found on many other distributions, is the Web Apps utility. This program helps us create application menu entries which will open a dedicated web browser window for a specific website. This makes setting up launchers for web apps quite easy and we can assign a name and icon for each new website.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 -- Creating a web app launcher
(full image size: 811kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Package management
The distribution offers a few options for managing software. LMDE supports working with Deb packages (which the distribution calls "system packages") and Flatpak. The Flatpak management utilities connect automatically with Flathub to provide us with a wide range of software. Snap is not installed by default, but it is available in the Deb repositories. We can make use of APT and Flatpak command line tools if we wish, but most users will probably prefer to use the various graphical utilities.
Mint ships with a modern-style software centre which allow us to browse for available applications or type a search for key words. The software centre shows us both Flatpak and Deb packages in a unified view. When we click on an application's entry its source location (System Package or Flathub) is shown in the upper-right corner of the screen. If a package is available from multiple sources we can select our preference from a drop-down menu. (The software centre's settings also let us specify which package source we would rather see by default.) A package that has been installed can be launched or removed with a click.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 -- Browsing the software center
(full image size: 903kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
The software centre is pleasantly easy to navigate; I like that it has just one window/tab and makes it easy to see both Flatpak and Deb packages together. By default Mint's software centre shows us "verified" Flatpak bundles only - verified software means packages for which Flathub has confirmed the author. We can expand the selection to see all package in the Flathub repository by clicking a checkbox in the software centre's settings.
Mint provides an update manager which can be launched from the application menu or from the system tray. It provides a list of newly available packages we can update along with information on each package. This information includes an icon indicating if the software update is a security fix or a package upgrade. We can then select which items we want to install. I like that the update manager provides a lot of information while also providing good defaults. Everything is updated for us, by default, but we can also hold back packages and make informed decisions based on what Mint's updater shows us.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 -- Checking for package updates
(full image size: 716kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
Wayland session
While running LMDE I mostly logged into Cinnamon's X11 session. However, I did spend a little time in the Wayland session too, for the sake of comparison. The Mint team still marks Cinnamon's Wayland edition as "experimental" and this probably makes sense, treating the newer session option with caution. However, with the exception of the video player issue I mentioned earlier, the two sessions worked the same for me. Performance, mouse movement, and application responses were all the same. Usually I can quickly tell if I'm logged into a Wayland or X11 session, but Cinnamon makes it possible to switch between the two fairly seamlessly.
I occasionally run into people on-line who want to run a Wayland-focused desktop and have discarded Cinnamon as an option because of its "experimental" tag and I think those people are cheating themselves as Cinnamon's Wayland session is already one of the more mature available; the development team is just more cautious about setting new technology loose on their users. This (ironically) sends users into the arms of less mature implementations.
Differences between LMDE and Linux Mint
There are very few differences between running Linux Mint's Ubuntu-based branch and the Debian-based branch. This is by design. The two branches are intended to provide the same software and mostly the same experience. The Debian branch exists as a fallback option in case Canonical ever takes Ubuntu in a direction the Mint community doesn't like.
There are a few differences, most of them a matter of background components or conveniences. For instance, LMDE is available in the Cinnamon desktop edition only while the main edition is offered in three desktop flavours. We can, of course, install an alternative desktop on LMDE if we want after we complete the install process.
Speaking of the install process, the system installer is different. There are not a lot of differences, but Linux Mint veterans will spot a different layout and slightly different prompts in the installer. A few of the background components are slightly different or are offered under different versions. For example, Mint's main edition runs version 6.14 of the Linux kernel while LMDE runs version 6.12. It's not likely to make a difference, but we can spot a few of these small gaps in version numbers.
These days it probably won't affect many people, but Linux Mint's main edition is compatible with Ubuntu personal package archives (PPAs) while LMDE is not. Usually portable formats, such as Flatpak, are used today instead of PPAs, but it is a distinction between the two branches.
Otherwise I found LMDE and Linux Mint worked identically. The default applications, performance, and capabilities appear to be the same in almost every way between the two branches of the project.
Conclusions
Linux Mint is a rare gem in the open source community. It is a project which consistently puts out quality, polished, well designed releases. The in-house applications, the Cinnamon desktop, the update manager, and tools like the LMDE installer are all well put together. Mint is a project which is friendly to beginners while also being flexible and powerful enough for expert users. It makes computing easy without getting in the way and I am regularly impressed by the quality of software coming out of the Mint project.
Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 is no exception to this tradition. The project finds a good balance between being friendly without being distracting, being polished without being too flashy, providing good tools without overloading the application menu, and (as always) sane defaults have been chosen. It was difficult to find any faults with the latest release from the Mint team. The system installer should, in my opinion, default to using Btrfs in order to leverage filesystem snapshots (which would work well with Timeshift). This isn't a bug, but I think it is a missed opportunity.
The Cinnamon desktop is one of the better Linux desktops available these days and, even with the "experimental" Wayland session, Cinnamon performed well. The only bug I encountered this week was Celluloid not displaying videos in the Wayland session. Though I feel it only fair to point out both Celluloid and Totem have this same issue in GNOME and Plasma Wayland sessions too and the player works properly in Mint's default X11 session.
In short: this is another excellent release from the Mint team. LMDE 7 is a distribution I would feel equally comfortable installing on my non-technological family members' computers and on my own.
* * * * *
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
* * * * *
Visitor supplied rating
Linux Mint has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.8/10 from 937 review(s).
Have you used Linux Mint? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
AlmaLinux offers Btrfs support for fresh installs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5.0, Fedora accepts AI-written contributions, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates
The AlmaLinux team have announced AlmaLinux OS 10.1 will include support for the Btrfs advanced filesystem, making it possible for users to install the distribution on a Btrfs volume. "Btrfs support encompasses both kernel and userspace enablement, and it is now possible to install AlmaLinux OS with a Btrfs filesystem from the very beginning. Initial enablement was scoped to the installer and storage management stack, and broader support within the AlmaLinux software collection for Btrfs features is forthcoming." Additional information on how to set up AlmaLinux OS on Btrfs is provided in the project's blog post.
* * * * *
The KDE project has released version 6.5.0 of their Plasma desktop. The desktop includes several new features, including automatic switching between light and dark themes at specific times of day and an option to save data in the clipboard for future use. "Plasma 6.5 includes a number of highly-requested features: First up: rounded bottom window corners! Breeze-themed windows will now have the same level of roundness in all four corners. If you don't like this, you can un-round them, too. Another one is automatic light-to-dark theme switching based on the time of day. You can configure which global themes it switches between, and also which themes are shown on the manual toggles on System Settings' Quick Settings page. As a part of this feature, you can also configure whether you want the wallpaper to switch between its light and dark versions based on the color scheme, the time of day, or be always light or dark. Next up is a 'Pinned clipboard items' feature, which lets you save text you use regularly into the clipboard, so you don't have to keep copying them over and over again." Additional features and screenshots can be found in KDE's release announcement.
* * * * *
The Fedora project has announced it will start accepting contributions from developers who generated their submissions using large language models (LLMs). This policy of accepting code from "AI" generation was announced by Aoife Moloney: "I wanted to share the outcome of today's Council meeting regarding this proposal. After several weeks of discussion and incorporating feedback from our community into better revisions of the initial proposal, the Fedora Council has approved the latest version of the AI-Assisted Contributions policy formally. The agreed-upon version can be read in this ticket. You can read the full meeting transcript in the meeting log.
This is a hotly debated move by the Fedora team for a few reasons. One concern is that code generated by LLMs is based on code of unknown origin and licensing, meaning code submitted could be in violation of licenses (either of the original author or it could be incompatible with the receiving project). It's also a concern because AI models cannot hold copyright, making assigning ownership to code and documentation a legally tricky issue. Finally, AI-generated code and documentation tends to contain errors and security flaws which concerns users of applications which may be build using AI-generated software. This has resulted in some calls to boycott the distribution until the policy is reversed.
* * * * *
As we mentioned last week, one of the key new features in Ubuntu 25.10 was a migration from the GNU core utilities (coreutils) to a new, Rust-based alternative. While most of the transition worked well, not all of the Rust-based tools provided all the same functionality as the GNU tools. This has resulted in some Ubuntu users not being able to install updates. Julian Klode explains: "Due to a now-resolved bug in the 'date' command, some Ubuntu 25.10 systems have been unable to automatically check for available software updates. Affected machines include cloud deployments, container images, Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server installs. To check if your system is affected, run `dpkg -l rust-coreutils` and check the version field: Systems with version '0.2.2-0ubuntu2.1' or later are not affected." Klode's report includes steps to fix the issue.
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Advice for new Linux users
Roll-out-the-welcome-mat asks: With all the new Linux users coming over with the End of 10, any advice for the Linux newbies?
DistroWatch answers: For anyone who might not be aware, Microsoft Windows 10 reached the end of its supported life on October 13th, 2025. Well, it sort of reached the end of its official life, meaning it will not receive any more security updates, leaving Windows users vulnerable. I say "sort of" because there are ways for Windows 10 users to continue to receive security updates and there are various extensions and exceptions, depending on where you live and whether you pay for a OneDrive account... However, for most people, Windows 10 is no longer supported. This end of support from Microsoft for Windows 10 is commonly called the End of 10 event.
Since migrating to Windows 11 usually involves buying a new computer and throwing out perfectly good hardware, there has been an effort to invite people to try Linux instead of migrating (I hesitate to say "upgrading") to Windows 11. Linux is free of cost, doesn't require buying a new computer, isn't bogged down by ads and AI annoyances, and (for most people) will run all the applications they need. It's also faster and easier to install than Windows 11, so we have that in our favour.
As for advice to newcomers? Yes, I can think of a few things which might be helpful.
- Pick an easy distro and dive in - If you ask ten different Linux users which flavour (or "distro") of Linux you should install, you will get a dozen answers. Based on my experience from helping people migrate from Windows to Linux over the past 15 years, the easiest path is almost always to install Linux Mint. Mint has excellent hardware support, it's set up to be familiar for people migrating from Windows, it has a practical collection of applications, and it is supported for five years. There are a lot of good distributions in the world, and I'd suggest eventually looking at a range of them if you feel experimental, but being someone's first Linux distribution is what Linux Mint is best at doing.
- Be willing to unlearn what you know - The main complaint I hear from people who have recently moved from another operating system to Linux is "Why can't I just do ____ like I did with my last OS?" The short answer is that Linux is a different platform and it works differently. A hammer works differently from a screwdriver, a motorcycle works differently from a pick-up truck, and Linux works differently from Windows/macOS.
The greatest barrier to new knowledge is often believing you already know the right answer. So, one of the best things you can do for yourself when testing out any new technology is to try to forget what you know, forget what you are accustomed to doing. Linux does things differently, often with good reason. If you're caught up on how you did things before you won't get a chance to benefit and enjoy the way Linux works. Less experienced computer users often have an easier time switching to Linux than power users because they do not need to unlearn past habits.
- Linux distributions are designed to be complete operating systems - Most operating systems in the world, whether they are on your desktop computer or phone, are designed to be platforms that run third-party technologies. Your Windows laptop runs applications from other companies and your iPhone runs apps provided by third-party developers. There is a clear distinction between most operating systems and the programs they run. Most Linux distributions don't work that way.
With Linux, almost every application you are going to run is provided by your distribution. If you are running Linux Mint, almost every application you will run comes from Linux Mint's software centre. If you run Debian then almost every program you install and run will come from the Debian package manager. Linux distributions try to provide everything you need in one central collection (called a repository). Windows and macOS users are accustomed to browsing the web, looking for applications, clicking a download link, and running an installer. With Linux we skip all of that. We can open the software centre (or "app store") and find just about anything we need.
- Linux is not a babysitter - A lot of modern operating systems, especially ones for mobile platforms, tend to want to hold your attention. They tend to have guided tours, notifications a dozen times a day, reminders to install upgrades, and suggestions to install new applications. They are designed to hold your attention for the benefit of their advertisers. In short, using a lot of commercial operating systems feels like dealing with a babysitter who thinks they need to jingle keys in front of an infant every minute to prevent the child from becoming bored.
Linux isn't going to show you ads, nag you to install updates, suggest you install new applications or services, or pester you to check your settings. Linux is, for the most part, developed by adult professions for adults. It is not an advertising platform or a babysitter; Linux will mostly work quietly in the background and let you get on with working, gaming, or browsing the web.
The flip side to Linux treating you like a responsible adult is that it means, in order to get the most out of your Linux experience, it helps to act like a responsible adult. This means learning about how something works before tinkering with it, it means being proactive about checking for security updates, it means doing some occasional care and maintenance of your operating system. Not a lot, this isn't a full time job, but much like being a pet owner or a car owner, being a computer owner involves a certain amount of self-education and responsibility. Linux will let you use your computer the way you want to use it, whether that is a good idea or not. Before attempting something new, it's a good idea to read up on the subject or ask other Linux users on forums to learn about the best approach.
In short, pick a beginner-friendly distribution, try to keep an open mind, and remember that a little bit of self-education will go a long way to making your Linux experience a pleasant one.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
Clonezilla Live 3.3.0-33
Clonezilla Live is a Debian-based distribution for duplicating and restoring disk images and partitions. The distribution has published an update to its Stable branch which includes a new kernel with new hardware support and updates to its key utilities. "The underlying GNU/Linux operating system was upgraded. This release is based on the Debian Sid repository (as of 2025/Oct/17). The Linux kernel was updated to 6.16.12-1. Partclone was updated to 0.3.38, which includes a fix for a btrfs-related issue. Added a new program, ocs-blkdev-sorter, which allows udev to create Clonezilla alias block devices in /dev/ocs-disks/. This is used by the udev rule 99-ocs-sorted-disks.rules. Added the "-uoab" option to ocs-sr and ocs-live-feed-img to support selecting Clonezilla alias block device names in the TUI. This experimental feature addresses the random ordering of kernel block devices and can currently only be enabled via a command-line parameter. Improved the performance of ocs-get-dev-info. Improved ocs-blk-dev-info to ensure 'jq' works correctly in some cases and to increase efficiency. Added ocs-cmd-screen-sample, which can be used with the "run again" script. It works with screen, tmux, and the console." Additional details can be found in the distribution's release announcement.
Ultramarine Linux 42
The developers of Ultramarine Linux, a set Fedora-based distributions with a choice of Budgie, GNOME, KDE Plasma and Xfce desktops, have announced the release of Ultramarine Linux 42. The new version, based on Fedora 42, brings improvements to the Taidan input method editor and hardware acceleration for Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL): "We've put a lot of time into Taidan, our out-of-the-box experience, in Ultramarine 42. It's really matured into a polished and useful tool. We hope to land some more features in Ultramarine 44 this year, so stay tuned to that. Windows Subsystem for Linux users now have hardware acceleration. This means you can run apps inside Ultramarine inside Windows using the GPU from your real device. Hope you have fun with this one. Due to maintenance burden and conflicts, collaboration between Terra and Repology has ended starting in Terra 42. Specifically, Repology requires all Terra sources to be fully accessible via a predictable URL format." Read the full release announcement for more information and for the project's upcoming plans.
Ultramarine Linux 42 -- Running the Budgie desktop
(full image size: 1.5MB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
OpenBSD 7.8
Theo de Raadt has announced the release of OpenBSD 7.8, the latest of the regular biannual updates of the project's free, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating system. This version adds support for Raspberry Pi 5, among many other changes: "We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 7.8. This is our 59th release. We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of thirty years with only two remote holes in the default install. As in our previous releases, 7.8 provides significant improvements, including new features, in nearly all areas of the system: added support for Raspberry Pi 5 (with console on serial port); implement acpicpu(4) for arm64; on Apple variants, enter DDB when exuart(4) detects a BREAK; on arm64 and riscv64, avoid multiple threads of a process continuously faulting on a single page when pmap_enter(9) is asked to enter a mapping that already exists; make apm and hw.cpuspeed work on Snapdragon X Elite machines; fix processing of GPIO events for pin numbers less than 256 with an _EVT method, fixes power button on various ThinkPads with AMD CPUs...." Continue to the release announcement for a full list of changes and improvements.
HydraPWK GNU/Linux 2025.03
HydraPWK 2025.03 has been released. HydraPWK GNU/Linux, based on Debian's "Testing" branch, is a live distribution designed primarily for penetration testing and security auditing. It contains a collection of penetration testing tools, including tools for information gathering, scanning, stress testing, exploitation, cracking, reversing engineering and forensics. "Today HydraPWK released a new version of HydraPWK, say hello to HydraPWK 2025.03 'Apes'. The best things is, now HydraPWK is defensive too. In other words, the focus isn't just on penetration testing, HydraPWK is now a security auditing toolkit. HydraPWK still the same one-task-one-tool philosophy and all the tools on HydraPWK are curated tools. All the tools we choose are based on real-world use cases. What's new? Updated logo; new tools - Arkime, Elasticsearch; new Polkitd rules; desktop changes; update recommended minimal hardware requirements; tools documentation page; update HydraPWK using a fresh ISO image or APT." Read the release announcement for more information.
HydraPWK GNU/Linux 2025.03 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 597kB, resolution: 2560x1600 pixels)
Vinari OS 5.0.0
Javier Vintimlla has announced the release of Vinari OS 5.0.0, the latest version of the project's a desktop Linux distribution based on Debian's "Stable" branch and featuring a customised GNOME desktop. Code-named "Krypton", Vinari OS 5.0.0 is the first release that is based on Debian 13. The changelog provides a list of important changes since version 4.0.0: "Debian base is 13.1 'Trixie' now; the Linux kernel has been updated to version 6.12.48; the libwayland-client0 package has been updated to version 1.23.1; the libwayland-server0 package has been updated to version 1.23.1; the PipeWire package has been updated to version 1.4.2; the WirePlumber package has been updated to version 0.5.8; the GNOME desktop environment has been updated to version 48.4; vinari-os-cli-coreutils has been updated to version 5.0.0; Firefox has been updated to version 144.0; Drawing has been updated to version 1.0.2; Geary has been updated to version 46.0; LibreOffice has been updated to version 25.8.2; Eye of GNOME has been deprecated; Loupe has been installed (version 48.1); Ruby has been updated to version 3.3.8; Python has been updated to version 3.13.5; GCC has been updated to version 14.2.0; Dos2Unix has been updated to version 7.5.2...."
Planeta Tecno OS 7
Pablo Arreche has announced the release of a brand-new version of Planeta Tecno OS, a Uruguayan Linux distribution based on Debian 12, with MATE as the default desktop and a variety of artificial intelligence tools integrated into the desktop. "Today we officially present an improved version of Planeta Tecno OS 7. It brings many updates to performance, interface, tools (including a brand-new launch). These new features are based on the various tests I've conducted and also on the contributions made by the community through comments, reviews, information and queries via this website, the YouTube channel and our social media accounts. Therefore, this is a version that, more than ever, is based on user requests and needs. Below I'll discuss the main changes and their motivations. The first thing you notice when you log in is the new environment. For the first time, we're leaving Xfce and switching to MATE, which is, of course, quite customized. The reason for the change? There are several factors, but we can summarize them as follows: performance - the overall system speed and responsiveness are noticeable; lightness - lower RAM usage in idle mode and also when under heavy workload...." Read the detailed release announcement (in Spanish) for further information.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Are you a newcomer to Linux because of the End of 10?
In our Questions and Answers section we talked about the End of 10 event, the time at which Microsoft dropped support for Windows 10. Efforts around the world have been inviting people to try Linux distributions and LibreOffice over Windows and Microsoft Office. If you are new to Linux because of the End of 10 event, welcome! We'd like to hear how many people reading this weekly newsletter are new to our community.
You can see the results of our previous poll on encrypting backup archives in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Are you new to Linux because of End of 10?
| Yes - new to Linux because of End of 10: | 88 (4%) |
| New to Linux but not because of End of 10: | 56 (3%) |
| Not new to Linux - switched before End of 10: | 1582 (80%) |
| Not new to Linux - have not switched to Linux: | 258 (13%) |
|
|
| Website News |
Donations and Sponsors
Each month we receive support and kindness from our readers in the form of donations. These donations help us keep the web server running, pay contributors, and keep infrastructure like our torrent seed box running. We'd like to thank our generous readers and acknowledge how much their contributions mean to us.
This month we're grateful for the $124 in contributions from the following kind souls:
| Donor |
Amount |
|---|
| J S | $50 |
| Jonathon B | $10 |
| Sam C | $10 |
| Joshua B | $7 |
| George E | $6 |
| Brian59 | $5 |
| Chris S | $5 |
| Chung T | $5 |
| Joe Football | $5 |
| John B | $5 |
| TaiKedz | $5 |
| J.D. L | $2 |
| PB C | $2 |
| aRubes | $1 |
| Colton D | $1 |
| Stephen M | $1 |
| Kai D | $1 |
| Lars N | $1 |
| Shasheen E | $1 |
| William E | $1 |
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 3 November 2025. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 0, value: US$0.00) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • The Poll question #4 is kind of weird (by Andy Prough on 2025-10-27 00:35:45 GMT from Switzerland)
I answered that I am "Not new to Linux - have not switched to Linux".
That's because I've been using GNU/Linux distros since the 1990s - it has not been a "switch" for me.
But after I answered, I thought maybe what was meant by the question was "I am not new to GNU/Linux distros, because I do not use them."
Anyway, I am not new, and like a lot of DW readers I would expect many to say, "not new - been doing this a long time".
Maybe the Poll needs a 5th option? "I'm an old-timer".
2 • Poll (by Wedge009 on 2025-10-27 01:06:02 GMT from Australia)
I interpreted the 'switch' as being for your primary device. I used Linux quite a lot on secondary machines before 'End of 7', but it wasn't until that happened (January 2020) that I made the 'switch' on my main machine. (Actually, I built a brand new machine, made that my primary, and used Linux on it instead of Windows.)
Thanks to my experience on those secondary machines, I did some preparation in the lead-up to that as well, switching to FOSS alternatives to Windows-exclusive applications and used them on Windows before making the 'switch'. Wine and Proton were also helpful in breaking free of the last area tying me to Windows: games.
BTW, for the few people (at time of writing) that expressed 'new to Linux' in the poll - welcome!
3 • Poll (by Jesse on 2025-10-27 01:12:06 GMT from Canada)
@1: "Maybe the Poll needs a 5th option? "I'm an old-timer"."
That is what the third option is.
4 • This weeks poll... (by CassiopeiaM52 on 2025-10-27 01:20:26 GMT from United States)
Oops... The poll got me too. I've never used Windows.
5 • @3 - Jesse third option (by Andy Prough on 2025-10-27 01:51:20 GMT from Switzerland)
But I didn't really switch at any point. I used various computers at work in the early 90s and just used whatever the workplace had at the time - various types of DOS, early versions of Windows, early versions of Mac, some unix terminals, other oddball systems. But I wasn't really what I would consider a computer user myself until I started installing GNU/Linux distros on used computer equipment at home. I was still using a typewriter, a landline phone, and graph paper to work at home until then. I did more postal mail than email until I started seriously using GNU/Linux. There was nothing in particular to switch FROM.
6 • Poll (by Jesse on 2025-10-27 01:55:21 GMT from Canada)
@5: " There was nothing in particular to switch FROM."
You just said you used DOS, Windows, Mac, and some Unix flavours before you started using Linux. You switched from using those to Linux. This isn't just about what you used at home, you were an experienced computer user for years before you tried Linux.
7 • AI-generated Code (by InvisibleInk on 2025-10-27 02:04:47 GMT from United States)
The inclusion of AI generated code in both the kernel and in distributions like RHEL and Fedora are an existential threat to software licensing. LLMs plundering software forges and everywhere else for code means the authors of that code that is regurgitated back to developers has all licensing and authorship attribution entirely obfuscated. Licensing, whether copyright or copyleft will be rendered meaningless.
8 • Poll-end of 10 (by Craig on 2025-10-27 02:14:59 GMT from United States)
Progressing through CP/M, DR/MS DOS, Win 3.1, NT 4, 2000, XP, and 7, I called it quits to MS at Win 7. Win 8 looked unexciting and Win 10 abysmal, especially the telemetry. With extra at-home time during the pandemic, I bought a cheap NUC and started testing Linux distros going as far afield as Intel’s Clear to see what worked for me and what I liked. For a while I dual booted Ubuntu and Mint. I eventually headed upstream to Debian with Mate desktop and now run that on 5 computers. I use Wine and Virtual Box to run my legacy software but it’s hard to beat the readily available1000’s of deb packages.
My insight for Win 10 users wishing to switch to Linux would be: it will take time to become proficient. So be patient. It took me about 3 years to become comfortable with all the Linux moving parts. Today, nearly 5 years into using Linux, I’m quite pleased with my decision to leave Windows in the dust—especially as I see the “joy” that Windows 11 is bringing others.
9 • Poll / Fedora and AI / MX adoption of systemd (by Keith S on 2025-10-27 02:32:20 GMT from United States)
I don't understand why poll questions are so hard for people to understand lol. No. 3 for me, obviously.
I agree with InvisibleInk @7 above. IBM / Red Hat / Fedora continue to lead the charge in the destruction of open source software with their latest decision to include LLM-generated code. And please, don't even offer the "Fedora isn't Red Hat!" b.s. excuse. The people who made this decision also certainly supported the decisions about systemd and Wayland and probably other unnoticed attacks on sound software engineering. Call it what it is: a money and power grab to exploit the collective efforts of a generation of developers who donated their time, effort, and skill to create something for the common good. It is disgusting.
And now MX Linux has released their latest release candidate with a systemd init, with SysV as an option. I guess I understand why, since just yesterday I tried to install Proton VPN on my MX box and it failed because it requires systemd. Lennart has finally gotten where he wanted to be those many years ago when systemd was allegedly just to simplify the init process, but now has expanded to such a massive piece of the infrastructure that app developers can't get traction in the Linux world without requiring it. I know, I know, I'm just one of the enemies of progress.
10 • Poll options again (by Dave on 2025-10-27 02:51:33 GMT from Australia)
Lol, there it is. The inevitable complaining over the poll options. "I want to choose the option that is as explicit and specific as a legal document and leaves no room for interpretation and matches my unique circumstances"
You're not a program, you don't need everything spelled out. Use your human intelligence and stop pretending you don't understand the intended meaning of the simple options.
11 • AI-generated Code (by Radek on 2025-10-27 02:54:49 GMT from The Netherlands)
@7 invisibleink
The inclusion of AI-generated code in both the kernel and distributions like RHEL and Fedora, being supervised by humans, does not pose an existential threat to software licensing or open source. Any reported copyright infringement would lead to the selective removal of proprietary software portions (it is already happened). I am optimistic: AI can be managed and controlled well.
12 • LMDE review (by Keith S on 2025-10-27 02:57:23 GMT from United States)
I forgot to thank Jesse for his review of LMDE in my previous post. As usual, a very thorough and helpful review. I also really appreciate that Jesse actually listens when we respond to his questions about what we would like to see. I think I'll try LMDE out myself, since after the next MX release with systemd there may not be a compelling reason to stay there, and last week's review removed OpenSuse Leap from consideration.
13 • @11 AI control (by Keith S on 2025-10-27 02:59:43 GMT from United States)
Ah yes, the old "thousands of eyes looking it over" argument. I still remember how well that worked with OpenSSL, all the way up until Heartbleed.
14 • poll (by jonathonb on 2025-10-27 03:03:32 GMT from Australia)
I switched for the same reason as the Poll but it was XP's lack of support.
Starting with a Puppy Linux based on Ubuntu 12, I didn't think my hardware fast enough for "heavy" Distros like Mint, turns out I was wrong of course.
Who would a thunk all that's happened since then :)
15 • The Fedora is filled with AI Slop! (by Jupiter on 2025-10-27 03:35:06 GMT from United States)
@11 My guy, thats not gonna work out. I wouldn't trust AI as more than a minor tool for making certain things, leave it out of the creation and coding, tis not a great idea
Myself I am quite a bit disappointed in Fedora for this, although realistically Red Hat probably pushed this cause money... really y'all? You couldn't listen to the community?
Real shame, but yet again another reason to avoid corporate-backed distros. Stay with community distros that don't rely on some massive company.
At least Canonical doesn't push the AI slop, although they sure aren't saints either!
16 • @6 Poll options - nothing to switch from (by Andy Prough on 2025-10-27 03:49:19 GMT from Switzerland)
>"You just said you used DOS, Windows, Mac, and some Unix flavours before you started using Linux. You switched from using those to Linux. This isn't just about what you used at home, you were an experienced computer user for years before you tried Linux."
No, I wasn't an experienced computer user - they were just different forms of terminals provided by work to type things into, I never knew how an OS worked until I started building and using my own GNU/Linux machines out of used spare parts at home. My prior experience was on my dad's Zenith Z-100 running Z-DOS on two floppy disks in the 1980s, but I wouldn't say I switched from that. None of the computers after that were anything under my control, they were just terminals at the university or at an office, usually to send something to a line printer or laser printer. A glorified typewriter.
Besides, your poll incorrectly assumes that everyone switched to using GNU/Linux from Windows, which is clearly untrue in many cases. There are going to be a lot of unix-to-GNU/Linux anecdotes, a lot of people coming over from one of the many versions of DOS or from using a Mac or a Commodore, or even from OS/2 or one of the BSDs. And many younger people today will never use a computing device other than their phone until they have some special need for it. There are entire nations today where Android phone usage represents 70% or more of the computer usage of the entire populace.
17 • Poll (by Dr.Saleem Khan on 2025-10-27 05:04:13 GMT from Pakistan)
Poll needs another question: Not new to Linux using Linux for ages and use windows rarely so windows 10 or 12 , it doesn't matter!
18 • LMDE (by joel on 2025-10-27 05:20:27 GMT from France)
LMDE in Wayland is impossible to use for users who use a language other than English. It is impossible to change the keyboard.
This is why Wayland is still "experimental" because it excludes many users.
19 • And there goes Fedora. (by EH2 on 2025-10-27 05:52:03 GMT from Mexico)
As I commented last week, I'm one more person in the number calling it quits with Fedora. No longer going to recommend it or keep in my devices.
I guess, at least, until the "AI" bubble bursts and LLM contributions to the distro are deprecated, replaced, or thoroughly re-audited with a complete change in perspective. And that can't come soon enough! Just as we all saw NFTs and the Metaverse die in a ditch, I don't lose hope that AI's final days are just around the corner...
20 • poll (by user on 2025-10-27 06:27:51 GMT from Bulgaria)
5th option - Not new to Linux, but switching to the Windows/BSD pair soon. To replace Linux after the systemd crap completely engulfs all distros. My case.
21 • LMDE (by André Decasteau on 2025-10-27 06:32:35 GMT from Belgium)
The fact is it is not possible to use wayland with AZERTY keyboard, when you select wayland, whatever language you select, you switch to QWERTY that is probably why it is "experimental"
22 • Not new to Linux - have not switched to Linux (by Rob on 2025-10-27 07:35:41 GMT from Switzerland)
There might be even a more important question: "New to FOSS?".
GNU/Linux has made tremendous progress and evolved into a usable and robust operating system. These days, it's more convenient to list the distributions that don't allow your hardware to run properly than the other way around. There's a plethora of distros, packaging systems, and desktop environments. Fine!
Perhaps the time has come to focus efforts on software availability and quality. In this area, there is still a considerable gap.
A peaceful user of GNU/Linux, Windows and MacOS
23 • Are you new to Linux because of End of 10? (by Jake on 2025-10-27 09:40:58 GMT from United States)
If you ask ten different Linux users which flavour (or "distro") of Linux you should install, you will get a dozen answers.
If you ask ten different Linux users to ansnwer a poll on the use of Linux y, you will get a twenty answers to the poll Jesse should have had as answers a long with the four he already gave.
24 • Linux Mint Debian Edition.... (by Marc Visscher on 2025-10-27 09:51:59 GMT from The Netherlands)
I would like to thank Jesse for the great review on Linux Mint's LMDE-edition. Wonderful to see how much quality the Linux Mint team bring to the table when it becomes to the distro.
I like the LMDE-edition, but I hope to see one day that Clement and his team will incorporate a choice menu within the installer which desktop you want to install. Now it's only the Cinnamon desktop. Nothing wrong with it, but Cinnamon is a bit heavy on older machines. It would be nice to make a choice beforehand when LMDE gets installed. Some prefer KDE (heavier), others (like me) Xfce (lighter).
I know I can install Xfce or another desktop alongside Cinnamon, but that method requires extra space. I hope this will be possible in the (near) future. When the Linux Mint team incorporates that feature, I think it's popularity will hit the roof even more.
I'm a Linux Mint user for years, among other distros. It's one of the best Linuces around by far. So Clement, keep up the fantastic work you and your team do! :-)
25 • Poll (by Jesse on 2025-10-27 10:15:43 GMT from Canada)
@16: "Besides, your poll incorrectly assumes that everyone switched to using GNU/Linux from Windows, which is clearly untrue in many cases."
Nowhere in the poll does it assume that the user is moving from Windows to GNU/Linux. Only one of the four options listed are related to Windows, the other three options are for people moving to Linux _not_ because of the End of 10 event.
Based on this comment and the previous one, it suggests you haven't read the question or at least three of the four possible responses.
26 • LMDE7 (by Almond on 2025-10-27 12:13:39 GMT from Czechia)
Thanks for the review, Jesse. May we take note of the fact (for the sake of those who complain when DW reviewers dare to mention hardware incompatibilities with some distros) that this week's reviewed distribution worked flawlessly on the computer used -- like so many other distros. If other distros can't do that, it shouldn't be denied.
27 • Poll @3 (by kc1di on 2025-10-27 12:30:30 GMT from United States)
I agree I'm been using Linux since 1996 and didn't find what I thought was a good fit in the poll so did not choose any of them.
28 • Coreutils (by Fylbli on 2025-10-27 12:34:07 GMT from France)
The coreutils bug didn't prevent users from updating their system, just checking automatically (i.e. on regular basis).
The bug "seems" (the codebase changes many times a day) to be related to timezone support, which has always been a pain in the back in development history, even for a command as simple as "date" that is supposed to display the current date (but under the hood, allows parsing dates).
29 • Response to Radek and others: AI Generated Code (by eb on 2025-10-27 13:16:26 GMT from United States)
Radek stated: "I am optimistic: AI can be managed and controlled well."
Up to a point, yes. But I am not optimistic and think that point of management has already been passed. The world in general is obsessed with and has gone mad with AI. Here is what a world renowned physcist and author stated in 2014:
"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." (2014)
- Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) - World renowned English theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author who suffered with ALS from age 21.
The ultimate result of uncontrolled AI is portrayed in this 2004 film:
"I, Robot" (2004)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343818/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1
I wish to have nothing to do with AI.
30 • AI in the Linux kernel (by Sausage Cat on 2025-10-27 13:23:14 GMT from United Kingdom)
@ Invisibleink re. AI in the kernel and distro:
That's a massive ethical point.
I don't use Fedora or RHEL, anyway. And I gave up on Ubuntu and its offspring when they stopped being 'towards humanity'. I've been using customised vanilla Debian for a long time.
I get the security aspect of the containerised OS that Fedora publishes, but if they make AI part of the kernel, then is it really the 'Linux Kernel' any more?
Really, who owns it?
If you subjugate your integrity to an external artificial power, that has only the power that you accord it, then you are willingly submitting to tyranny. But the 'tyrant' has no name, unless we accept our role as individuals in a collective tyranny.
Do we give in, or, do we say, "NO!"?
In actual reality, 'loosers' DO get 'pwned'.
31 • switch (by wally on 2025-10-27 13:26:46 GMT from United States)
Linux became my full-time system during Win5.
I still maintain Win OS for wife and others.
I always said Win10 was like watching paint dry.
11 is like building the mine for the paint chemicals, building a paint plant, building a house to paint...... and so on.
32 • On the poll (by Robert on 2025-10-27 13:36:47 GMT from United States)
Look at it this way - if you've never used anything but Linux, just interpret it as switching from nothing to Linux. The OS you used before Linux is allowed to be a blank field. It's not that difficult.
As for me, I switched the first time around 2005 or so, having been scared off by reports of spyware (now known as telemetry) in what would become Windows Vista.
Then I switched to Windows 10 due to issues I was having with all the churn in Linux at the time. Fixed device nodes to udev+hal, then dropping hal. Pulseaudio. Packagekit. ConsoleKit / PolicyKit / polkit / etc. Too much stuff was changing and breaking. I did keep a Linux VM around though.
Switched back to Linux in 2015 with a Windows VM for gaming, then dropped Windows entirely in 2019. Though I did spend 6 months on BSD somewhere in there.
33 • Re.: Response to Radek and others: AI Generated Code (by Sausage Cat on 2025-10-27 13:47:28 GMT from United Kingdom)
@ eb
Thank you for the reminder of Asimov's Laws.
34 • Q&A Advice for new Linux users (by Kazlu on 2025-10-27 14:16:15 GMT from France)
I think your point "Linux distributions are designed to be complete operating systems" is misleading. Linux distros are designed to run third party software just as much as Windows or macOS. Firefox is a third party software to all Linux distros just as well as for Windows and it's a good thing.
When you explain further, you focus on the distribution of software. I realize it's a wording issue, but being "designed to be a complete operating system" does not mean the same thing as "designed to distribute software through built-in tools" to me. Besides, with Apple's App Store and Microsoft's Microsoft Store, it's now possible to get software on Windows and macOS the same way Linux does... There is, indeed, an change of habits, but it's not unique to Linux.
When I want to explain how Linux is different from Windows to a newbie and hope they get the core differences that will help them understand what has to be thought differently, I often say that Linux can be thought as a system working a bit like Android under the hood, but with an interface tailored for computers instead of tablets that makes it look and feel closer to Windows. Few people know Linux but a lot of people know Android, they know the concept of an application store and they know that not all software that runs on Windows also runs on Android. And even if it does, there might be some differences. I think this comparrison helps a lot.
35 • Linux or bust (by Will on 2025-10-27 14:25:17 GMT from United States)
I have been on the road to linux forever. I finally made "the switch" after Apple stopped supporting updates on my 2012 MBP. The move from Windows to Mac in 2005 was painless, I bought all of this software to ease the transition, but didn't use any of it, 3 weeks after that switch, I realized my PC was gathering dust as a doorstop and that my family wasn't calling me at work anymore with bluescreens or other windows issues. This switch has been a bit harder - I miss time machine and I miss omnigraffle. Draw.io takes some getting used to, but it works as an omnigraffle substitute, but it's definitely a poor man's version. Timesomethingorother is nothing like time machine and I haven't found anything remotely as good. I do have ZFS which is way, way, way better than any FS on Mac or anywhere else, but snapshots are manual and not a good alternative for timemachine.
I tried pure linux in the home environment, but my wife still prefers MacOS, my servers are simpler to maintain as FreeBSD systems (as in, they just sit there and do their thing and require nothing). But all of the laptops and desktops are linux. Debian pure, these days, Cinnamon works these days on debian and none of that ubuntu crap (snaps are the devil). If mint would ditch ubuntu, I'd go back - things are easier on mint, but LMDE doesn't seem mainline enough to forgo debian pure for...
Still, happy to be on linux for all daily driver work... extremely happy.
36 • Re.: Q&A Advice for new Linux users (by Sausage Cat on 2025-10-27 15:29:41 GMT from United Kingdom)
@ Kazlu:
There's a massive difference.
Windows and Apple are closed-source, and tend to be hardware specific. If you're not an insider, then you don't have access, unless you're a skilled hacker.
The Linux OS is open-source. You can do whatever you want with it. You can make a totalitarian state version, if that's what you want to do.
When we talk aboot Linuxen, we're generally speaking aboot the distributions and desktop environments that are placed atop the Linux OS.
And that's the massive difference.
With Windows or Apple you have NO choice. You WILL have THIS, and you WILL pay for it, FOREVER. (Sure, you can have you unsupported add-ons, but the Linux versions are much less likely to be malware.).
And if certain corporations that base their proprietary operating systems upon the Linux Kernel, and thereby seek control and influence over it, then the Linux 'community' can stop giving them any support. It can refuse.
The fundamental point of Linux is that it achieved and continues to achieve what Stallman never managed to do. The BSDs don't even come close.
But the fact IS that the publishers of distros DO actually put forward their offerings as 'complete operating systems' for specific purposes.
So I don't get your point.
# Written from a highly customised/personalised Linux-based installation.
37 • Windows, Mac or nothing else (by vmc on 2025-10-27 16:02:06 GMT from United States)
Windows, MAC users won't even consider Linux or open source OS. They will keep using Windows 10 or install Windows 11. Simple as that.
I have several Windows friends, and they never heard of Linux. Your kidding yourself thinking otherwise.
38 • Third-party software (by Jesse on 2025-10-27 16:14:25 GMT from Canada)
@34: "Linux distros are designed to run third party software just as much as Windows or macOS. Firefox is a third party software to all Linux distros just as well as for Windows and it's a good thing."
Firefox is a native package in almost all Linux distributions. It's not intended to be treated as third-party softwre, but just another package available to the system.
> .. There is, indeed, an change of habits, but it's not unique to Linux.
It is unique (or nearly unique) to Linux.
With the BSDs, Windows, and macOS if you install an application, like Firefox, even if you get it from a built-in software centre, the application is logically separate from the OS. It's in a whole different directory structure, isolated. If you install Firefox, or any other application, on Linux it's almost always installed alongside system binaries in /usr/bin.
Linux is just about the only platform that draw no distinction between "third-party software" and "part of the OS". Both in terms of package management and where the binary programs end up in the filesystem.
39 • Re.: Q&A Advice for new Linux users (by Kazlu on 2025-10-27 16:25:22 GMT from France)
@36 Sausage Cat:
I agree with you 100%. I just don't see what is the connection with my post, sorry 😅
I only see a connection with your last sentence : "But the fact IS that the publishers of distros DO actually put forward their offerings as 'complete operating systems' for specific purposes."
Yes of course, most Linux distros offer complete operating systems in the sense that you don't need to add something to have a working OS. But so do Microsoft and Apple. All of them offer an OS you can do a lot with, including fetching third party software. My point here was about the wording in the Q&A section, which talks about the distribution of software but whose wording could be interpreted as "Linux distros make all the software you will need themselves while Windows and macOS provide just the OS and the rest of the software is third party". A lot of the software *provided* by a Linux distro is third party software, it's just packaged and provided differently to the user, it's a massive difference. And, again, Apple and Microsoft do the same thing now, so it's no longer a differenciating element.
40 • Its time to change (by Eldes on 2025-10-27 16:38:39 GMT from Argentina)
Well.. I like to see people discussing about open source correct mindset but since +15 years we're discussing the same without reach an agreement due to ego/non sense thinking.
Programmers are employees from companies.. they will follow up them. We lost programmers with real open source soul and kindness, all its about money and power.
Linux was great because it was born as a collective effort, with mutual interests.
Today, distributions, including FreeBSD (Apple), are testbeds for large companies.
41 • WindowsME made me switch (by Matt on 2025-10-27 16:47:34 GMT from United States)
I have been using linux for a very long time. The thing that pushed me to start using linux was Windows Millennium Edition. If you aren't old enough to know about that Windows release, just google it. Years ago I was assigned a WindowsME laptop at work. I soon realized that this horrible crash prone operating system was preventing me from accomplishing things. The IT department gave me permission to install linux with the understanding that I was 100% responsible for my own tech support. I accepted that deal and never looked back.
42 • Opinion Poll (by nobody on 2025-10-27 17:04:06 GMT from Germany)
I did not vote on the Opinion Poll. As I have switched to Linux at the end of Win XP cycle.
Did enjoy the Win 7 Ultimate (multi-boot) for some time, and after its end of life, I have never bothered to this very day, with Win.
(Under Win 7 however I did lost allot of time checking and unselecting the updates I did not want. Frustrating time consuming Cat and Mouse game..And there was allot more frustrations)
43 • Opinion poll (by David on 2025-10-27 17:37:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
I voted "switched before the end of Windows 10" because it's true, even though I never used Windows — I switched from QDOS! I had used CP/M and MSDOS at work, though. My Linux sequence has been Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS, and PCLinuxOS — and that's where I'll stay
44 • Eldes: FreeBSD "Testbed for large companies"? (by picamanic on 2025-10-27 18:18:23 GMT from United Kingdom)
@40: Eldes, "Today, distributions, including FreeBSD (Apple), are testbeds for large companies."
Really? Do you have a reference?
45 • Re.: Q&A Advice for new Linux users (by Sausage Cat on 2025-10-27 18:29:40 GMT from United Kingdom)
@39 Kazlu:
Perhaps we're making the same point from different perspectives.
I'd go as far to say that almost everything available to a Linux-based system is 3rd party. I use Debian (12), and several programmes I use are not available in the Debian repositories. I either add compatible repositories (at my own risk) or install a .deb package. So, yeah, a little bit like M$W or Apple. And yes, it's displeasing that since the release of Debian 13, 12 is no longer working as well, although it's not a case of having to purchase new hardware, not yet.
But the structure of the OS is very different. Where Windows and Apple and Android are massive concrete constructions that claim to be all things for everyone, Linuxen are for the most part very much like Lego, unless you're stuck in a particular DE that will break and become unusable if you remove a certain thing or two. For example, Ubuntu is a bit 'all or nothing' corporate, perhaps more so than Fedora.
But with Debian, it still is 'my computer', not theirs. And no Linux-based distro tells me what I need.
46 • Test-beds For Large Companies (by Sausage Cat on 2025-10-27 18:55:18 GMT from United Kingdom)
@44, @40
That is quite a claim.
The Apple OS is partially based upon the FreeBSD kernel (along with an alleged NSA backdoor), but that doesn't make FreeBSD property of Apple, Inc.
Now if you were to say that Fedora is the test-bed/sandbox for RHEL, then that would be accurate. But it doesn't mean that RHEL is breathing down your neck and tracking your every move. And even if you do use RHEL, you are not imprisoned by it, and you are not hardware constrained.
That's the difference between a distribution and a proprietary closed source consumer product.
47 • Not new to GNU-Linux (by Roger on 2025-10-27 19:12:25 GMT from France)
I am not new to GNU-Linux, stated in 1998 with BeOS and using Linux Mint from 2006 which was Barbara / Mint 2.
Now no Mac or Windows, put even Linux Mint on my old MacBook Pro.
48 • Experimental Wayland (by NDkittah on 2025-10-27 19:14:00 GMT from France)
@18 that was my complaint at least a year ago, maybe longer.
How can this problem persist so long?
Dos > Win 3.x > Win95 > WinME > Red Hat (discovered Linux as a viable option) > XP (for the games) > Mint (VM on Win7 + games) > Mint (discovered compatibility with my games) > Debian (games)
49 • Q&A helpful (by Joe on 2025-10-27 19:31:23 GMT from New Zealand)
Thanks Jesse for this week's Q&A. Exactly what I have needed - something short and weel written that I can put in front of people to calm their fears when I propose Linux after their years of using Windows (because it came with the machine).
50 • Turn to Linux (by Dave Postles on 2025-10-27 20:56:27 GMT from United Kingdom)
FWIW, I'll recount how I came to Linux in 2003. My university IT people were committed to Windows. Then I met the people in Maths and Computer Science who set up their own Linux system and inducted me into Linux.
51 • Fedora and LLM's (by Nate on 2025-10-27 22:38:00 GMT from United States)
The fact that Fedora has adopted a policy of allowing LLM generated code shows a clear disconnect between the distro leadership and the Linux community at large. I am not going to predict imminent doom and gloom, but clearly they have misread what the community does and does not find acceptable. This is likely to erode their user base. How much it erodes depends on how long they persist, and what other missteps they make.
In the past this would have been much more worrisome, as RedHat was one of the greatest contributors to not just the Linux kernel but to open source infrastructure in general. However, they have steadily been moving away from being solid open source citizens for some time, and I am fairly confident that they will just continue to drive themselves towards greater and greater irrelevance rather than dragging Linux down with them. It is sad, but it isn't the end of what we all know and love about Linux.
52 • Not new to Linux - switched before End of 10: (by No garbage os here on 2025-10-27 22:41:48 GMT from Canada)
Lol error 404, not new to linux - switched at first try of winblowout 95.
Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. (Mark Twain)...
Windows is nothing but Os2 with garbage from a college student. (Myself)
53 • Re. Fedora and LLMs (by Sausage Cat on 2025-10-28 00:28:43 GMT from United Kingdom)
@51
There's some very relevant points you've made.
My inroad to Linuxen was via Red Hat, and I agree with you on the importance of their contribution over the years. my conversion really started with Ubuntu, when it was great, then CrunchBang#!, until Phil Newborough abandoned that project, and I adopted various spins of Debian with OpenBox/LXDE until I settled on vanilla Debian with my own custom set up, carrying/copying and pasting my home .config since I ran #! on an EeePC 701.
Perhaps Fedora/RHEL want to do something like Android, and if so, then I hope they do it better.
I sincerely hope that Debian doesn't go in that direction.
But if it does, then I would probably go with antiX/MX Linux, but if that was too dependent on Debian, then I would take the Archway (pun intended). But I'm too lazy to adopt Slackware or Gentoo, let alone a pure source-based distro.
If Fedora/RHEL want to become as irrelevant as Oracle Linux, that's their loss and lack of goodwill.
Linux ain't going to disappear because of some committee's (rash) decision.
Keep the faith.
@52
Broccoli is cauliflower with Summa cum Laude. (Myself)
54 • Linux Mint (by Sebastian on 2025-10-28 01:01:16 GMT from Canada)
Love Linux Mint. The only downside is that if you have a newer machine, it might not recognize all the new hardware like the video card. I had to install Fedora for the Nvidia card to work properly.
55 • No poll option truly applicable (by So very over GNU and Linux on 2025-10-28 02:11:59 GMT from Norway)
"new to Linux because of End of 10"
No, definitely not that one. Even if you'd call me 'new to Linux', the end of Windows 7 had far more impact on my computer usage than that of Windows 10.
"New to Linux but not because of End of 10"
I don't think so, but it might depend on what you mean by 'new'. I've been using Linux for almost twenty years at this point, yet I still have trouble getting it to do most of the things I want. In fact, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to do the things I was doing with ease back in the late '00s and early to mid '10s. Linux is getting exponentially harder to use with every passing year.
"Not new to Linux - switched before End of 10"
Well no, I never really 'switched' to Linux at all, you see. I just use numerous different Linux distros as needed, the same way I also use BSD, Windows, ReactOS, Amiga, Haiku, SculptOS, and to a much lesser extent MS-DOS, TempleOS, MenuetOS, KolibriOS, SerenityOS, OpenIndiana, and even more rarely tinker with PhantomOS, HelenOS, PikeOS, Solaris, KasperskyOS and macOS, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting about. And that just on desktop.
"Not new to Linux - have not switched to Linux"
I guess this is technically true, in a strictly literal sense? But that just makes it sound like I don't use Linux at all, while I use it on a daily basis, just not exclusively. Though I would certainly love to escape from having to use (contemporary) Linux at this point, that is unfortunately simply not possible.
56 • Windows and even Mac users can and will switch to Linux if... (by OpenSUSE Slowroll Fan on 2025-10-28 07:07:30 GMT from United States)
My experience has been that Windows and even Mac users can and will switch to Linux if:
They can’t afford to buy or don’t want to buy a new PC or Mac to replace the one that Microsoft or Apple has told them is “obsolete” and they have to buy a new one. This is often quite annoying when they can see for themselves that their existing computer still seems to work fine and they can’t understand why, if it ain’t broke, they still have to replace it.
They are fed up with the price of a new Mac or new PC and, if you tell them, that you can “fix” their obsolete computer in 15 minutes for free, they suddenly are interested in hearing how you can do that?
They are fed up with one or another policy of Microsoft or Apple and you tell them there are alternatives.
They are tired of updates that render their PCs unbootable or that their current OS sometimes trips over its own shoelaces and falls flat on its face, sometimes taking precious files with it.
I find that most people have heard of Linux but they know very little about it other than some old myths about it. The brother of a good friend of mine learned that he had been using Linux for about 15 years. His brother assumed that he was using a Mac or a Windows PC and he said he thought you had to be a “Linux Guru” to use Linux. That surprised my friend because he’s never thought that Linux was hard to use.
Sometimes it is simply inertia and it’s just easier to stay with what seems familiar, which is ironic given the huge changes in the user interface between Windows XP and Windows Vista or Windows 7 and Windows 8.0 and 8.1 or Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 or Windows 10 and Windows 11. The KDE Plasma or the Linux Mint Cinnamon user interface changes from one version to the next seem relatively minor compared to the massive flip-flops between “our new version is like a touch-screen smartphone” and “oops, that was a bit too much like a smartphone, we’re now gone back to be much closer to what you used to like in Windows 7.”
They’ve heard from someone who tried using Linux 23 years ago or someone who heard from someone who knew someone who had a good friend who told them that that Linux was too hard for ordinary people. People who think that Linux is hard to use or hard to install clearly haven’t tried booting up Linux Mint Debian Edition or MX-Linux or certain other Live Linux distros which are usable when you boot them from a flash drive and easier to install than Windows.
They are simply frightened of change and are not willing to “take a chance” on something they are afraid of.
Sometimes all you have to do is to boot their “obsolete” computer up with a Linux Mint Debian Edition or MX-Linux or some other Live Linux and let them try reading their email on it or watching a YouTube video or listening to Spotify or playing a game and answering a few questions if they say, “How do I copy a file from a USB flash drive onto a Linux computer? or can I install Google Chrome on this?” Perhaps you show them that their Intel cpu based MacBook or MacMini will run Linux which will seem like magic to them and might make them wonder what other miracles are beyond the wall around the Magic Garden?
The most rewarding thing is that if they start using Linux, within a week or two, they realize that, “Hey, this is actually pretty easy to use and, gee, it’s actually faster on my old PC than Windows was, and it seems pretty stable, and, by golly, it looks like I can do just about everything I normally did before on my previous OS and, wow!, look how many different kinds of software are available to download for free! At some point in the future, they will sometimes remember that they used to be so afraid of viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, malware, ransomeware and had to install all sorts of programs to protect their OS but realize they haven't worried about that sort of thing for a long, long time and that their computer hasn't be compromised, invaded or taken over.
57 • Wayland&Cinnamon (by Karsten on 2025-10-28 07:48:41 GMT from Germany)
Same here: every login the keyboard falls back to English (which is annoying if you need äöüÄÖÜß). This is the reason why I go back to Gnome every time!
Gnome works flawlessly in Wayland, it look appeal to me and the *only* thing I need to add is "ArcMenu" and "Dash to Panel" extensions to get *exactly* the look/functionality that I need.
@Jesse: I wish you tested the Gnome desktop with these extensions one day (any distro). I mean you also switch dark mode and natural/inverse scrolling, so it should be okay to switch those things too. Just one time. I would like to hear your opinion, if these changes makes Gnome a valid alternative for you (and others) to KDE and Xfce.
58 • Mixed bag - Mint, Windows EOL (by eco2geek on 2025-10-28 11:33:34 GMT from United States)
One feature that I really miss in LMDE that they have in Ubuntu-based Mint is the ability to install and uninstall kernels from a pull-down menu in the update manager. In my experience, the easiest way to uninstall kernels in LMDE usually involves running "apt autoremove" from the command line, just like in Debian.
I did install Linux Mint Cinnamon (the Ubuntu-based edition) on a relatively new laptop that dual-boots with Windows 11. Getting it to work with a UEFI BIOS (especially with new kernel installs) was, shall we say, an interesting experience.
Regarding Windows 10's EOL, I'm writing this on an old laptop where the CPU is not supported for getting Win11, and it doesn't have a working TPU, according to the MSInfo utility. It runs Windows 10 just fine and I'm sure it'd run Win11 fine. Linux, too, but I'm the odd duck that likes to use various operating systems, so for now I'm signed up to get a year's worth of "Extended Support Updates" or ESUs. No new features, just security updates. You can get them for free by letting OneDrive back up your computer's settings. Or you can get them for 1,000 Microsoft Reward Points. Or you can spend $30 for them. Either way, you will need a Microsoft password, which some people don't like. I'm not sure if you can get ESUs for more than a year. (I plan on installing Kubuntu 26.04 LTS on this laptop when the year of ESUs runs out.)
For Linux newbies, make sure you have a way to get on the internet and search for information/ask questions while you're installing Linux, in case something goes wrong. In other words, have another computer handy, or a smart phone. Used to be you could go to a bookstore and buy a book on Ubuntu which included an Ubuntu DVD to install from, but the computer book industry seems to be going the way of the computer magazine industry.
59 • switching to Linux because of 10 (by Josh on 2025-10-28 03:04:47 GMT from United States)
I didn't switch to Linux because of the end of Windows 10. I switched because Windows 7's days were numbered, and I refused to "upgrade" to 10. I wanted nothing to do with the data collection, forced updates, removal of user control, bloatware, and other general enshittification. Boy, I'm glad I jumped from the M$ ship when I did!
60 • @56 (by 50-Years-Computing on 2025-10-28 12:56:54 GMT from Bulgaria)
The first two reasons are actually the same one. The third reason is "1%." The fourth reason: "They are tired of updates that render their PCs unbootable or that their current OS sometimes trips over its own shoelaces and falls flat on its face" is what regularly happens under Linux, but much more often.
"They’ve heard from someone who tried using Linux 23 years ago or someone who heard from someone who knew someone who had a good friend who told them that that Linux was too hard for ordinary people."
That one is plain wrong. Linux was more user friendly 10-years ago, then it is today. For example installing GIMP is impossible without using command line and fiddling around. Yes, one can go in "App Store" and get it with one click, but without Resynthesizer and Gmic-Qt, which were available in Software Centers 10-years ago, but are unavailable in 2025. User doesn't care why something isn't there or doesn't finction properly.
They are frightened of change for a reason. All they care for is, will their software work or not. NOBODY cares for the operating system that it is running on.
The rest of your writing is your imagination and "wet dreams."
61 • Poll (by OldManSeph on 2025-10-28 13:24:28 GMT from United States)
I switched to Linux when support for Windows 98 was ending.
62 • Linux has backdoors (by Eldes on 2025-10-28 13:47:25 GMT from Argentina)
@44
Apple made it's MACH kernel based on FreeBSD/NeXT due to issues.
Specially because they couldn't solve network (TCP/IP) & memory management issues.
Apple's employees worked on main FreeBSD development body (Core Team).
I don't know if actually still they're working on it.
@46 Claim would be that Linux doesn't have backdoors*
We need to have an independent code audit body..
*Check SystemD, Wayland and now LLM code.
63 • Windows 10 (by Gustavo on 2025-10-28 15:44:33 GMT from Brazil)
I'm on Windows 10 after 15+ years of Linux. Two reasons:
1. My all-in-one's internal speaker doesn't work on cold boot on Linux;
2. Roblox doesn't run on Linux.
OK, there are other reasons, but these are showstoppers.
64 • Switching... (by Friar Tux on 2025-10-28 16:32:34 GMT from Canada)
I switched to Linux BECAUSE OF Windows 10. It had the audacity to install itself without my permission, stopping my workflow mid-stream to do so.
Also, I have to say, I actually rather enjoyed Windows 8 when it came out. Especially, when I realized that it was just the Windows 3.11 Program Manager come back in a more modern outfit. (I cut my teeth on Windows 3.11 so I knew it inside out.)
65 • @62 Eldes: "linux backdoors" (by picamanic on 2025-10-28 17:18:52 GMT from United Kingdom)
@62 Eldes: "linux backdoors".
I studied the operating system timelines, and Apple and FreeBSD intersect in about 1970 [3BSD], so you must be suggesting that Apple inserted covert agents in the FreeBSD project to plant backdoors in the code that have remained undiscovered. The stuff of Cyber Legends. Without actual evidence, just that.
My objection to Projects like Systemd and Wayland in Linux has been that they offer opportunities to hide malware, in Plain Sight. But again, there is no evidence. Bug-riddled code is not intentional, just sloppy.
With a typical Linux distribution running to 1 billion lines of code, things have already gone beyond being secure. Time for a reset.
66 • @55 Linux ease of use (by Kazlu on 2025-10-28 17:34:07 GMT from France)
"In fact, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to do the things I was doing with ease back in the late '00s and early to mid '10s. Linux is getting exponentially harder to use with every passing year."
Really? I have had the opposite feeling. Many things were complex around 2010 and are now far easier to do. I don't feel like ease of use has been lost, but we certainly "gained" some bloat so that counts. Could you be more specific about things harder to do? I'm curious to understand how we can have drastically opposite views.
67 • @60 reasons to switch (by Kazlu on 2025-10-28 17:37:14 GMT from France)
"The fourth reason: "They are tired of updates that render their PCs unbootable or that their current OS sometimes trips over its own shoelaces and falls flat on its face" is what regularly happens under Linux, but much more often."
Depends on the distro. Has happened to me several times with Ubuntu based distros (but never Mint...), never with Debian based distros. Indeed, never. Have been using it for 12 years. I stopped counting those occurrences for Windows long ago.
"That one is plain wrong. Linux was more user friendly 10-years ago, then it is today. For example installing GIMP is impossible without using command line and fiddling around. Yes, one can go in "App Store" and get it with one click, but without Resynthesizer and Gmic-Qt, which were available in Software Centers 10-years ago, but are unavailable in 2025."
You just wrote "installing GIMP is impossible without using the command line" and "Yes, one can go in "App Store" and get it with one click". I do not understand your point. Is it about customizing the installation with Resynthesizer and Gmic-Qt? Were you doing that graphically before, but not today?
68 • Not new to Linux (by Little-Miss-Piggy2 on 2025-10-29 00:33:17 GMT from United States)
Not new to Linux-switched *way* before eol-10. Switched to Mandrake 7 on 01-01-2000 !
69 • @ 67 (by Kazlu) (by PhotoManipulator on 2025-10-29 11:06:57 GMT from The Netherlands)
Resynthesizer is absolutely essential. GIMP without Resynthesizer (and Gmic-Qt) is completely pointless. There are better applicatins to make a color corection, and layers and clone stempel are not a reason to use GIMP. Every other contender has it OOTB.
70 • Linux used to be okay but is horrible now and probably will die (by Slappy McGee on 2025-10-29 14:05:33 GMT from United States)
@55 No. Linux is fine and far more diverse and functional than when I first encountered it in 1996 after growing increasingly dismayed with Windows. I say 1996 but truth be told I was off and on dismayed with linux distros too back then. I can now see that I was spoiled by Windows spoon-fed approach to things, and had no shell/cli experience and of course suffered because of that.
Now we see such (afore mentioned) diversity in linux distros that one can gather quite a collection of them and multi-boot and use them daily and never have to crack a shell; just click away at the desktop as Windows gave us decades ago. But of course some love and use the terminals voraciously and can tell us why.
That post, @55 up there, the logic and the overall point, reminds me of the way Windows adherents, fanbois, advocates, whatever they like to be called, used to post in here and elsewhere as time went by. We'd see them reporting "trying linux" and then using the same gaslighting techniques that we see in political discussions these days: The same wording to honestly critisize Windows would be used to critisize this or that linux distro.
Look around, Norway guy or gal, there is something for everyone in the linux/bsd universe.
71 • I don't think so... (by ostro on 2025-10-29 19:10:57 GMT from Poland)
56 • Windows and even Mac users can and will switch to Linux if... (by OpenSUSE Slowroll Fan on 2025-10-28 07:07:30 GMT from United States)
My experience has been that Windows and even Mac users can and will switch to Linux if:
Well, I don’t think so.
I’ve been using Windows since 1990, and Linux since 2005. I then switched to macOS two years ago. I don’t believe I’ll return to Linux, or even Windows. There have been a few occasions where I’ve dual-booted several Linux distributions alongside Windows, but the chances of me going back to them fully are practically nil. I've had enough of tinkering, and now it’s time to enjoy! Moreover, MacBooks are cheaper than the Windows laptops we have to convert to Linux, and they’re also less expensive than “dedicated” Linux laptops.
If you find Mac users transitioning to Linux, you might just be able to count them on your fingers.
72 • AI Really (by jc on 2025-10-29 19:56:02 GMT from Germany)
Student Handcuffed when School's AI System Mistakes Bag of Chips for Gun
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/24/baltimore-student-ai-gun-detection-system-doritos
Shades of Robocup
73 • Laptops for Linux (by Dave Postles on 2025-10-29 21:04:17 GMT from United Kingdom)
'Moreover, MacBooks are cheaper than the Windows laptops we have to convert to Linux, and they’re also less expensive than “dedicated” Linux laptops.'
I can configure a laptop at PCSpecialist in the UK without an operating system for half the price of the cheapest MacBook Pro and have no trouble installing any Linux distro.
74 • Canonical Knew (by OnlyPengs on 2025-10-29 21:06:19 GMT from United States)
Canonical knew that the rust coreutils wasn't ready for implementation. For goodness sake. Even now it's failing about 15% of tests. The fact that they knew and decided to move forward anyway causes me to lose all trust in Canonical and I'll be moving all of my servers off of Ubuntu Server LTS and over to Alma over the next few weeks.
75 • Laptops for Linux (by ostro on 2025-10-29 22:46:24 GMT from Poland)
73 • Laptops for Linux (by Dave Postles on 2025-10-29 21:04:17 GMT from United Kingdom)
I can configure a laptop at PCSpecialist in the UK without an operating system for half the price of the cheapest MacBook Pro and have no trouble installing any Linux distro.
I can too, my friend, and that’s not what I meant, as you know. If you compare the quality of the cheapest MacBook with an equal Windows laptop or a no-OS laptop, you’d find that it is considerably more expensive than that MacBook. We don’t even need to discuss dedicated Linux laptops, as they tend to be pricey and out of reach for the average Linux user. So, he buys a second-hand Windows laptop to convert it into a Linux one.
76 • I'm Not Really Too Worried (by Sausage Cat on 2025-10-30 00:09:23 GMT from United Kingdom)
I don't often get a serious LOL moment, but THIS:
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/amazon-microsoft-outages-apps-internet-5HjdG84_2/
(Headline)
"Millions left without internet and access to apps after Amazon and Microsoft hit by outages
Dozens of websites and apps have been knocked offline."
The biggest tech companies in the World cannot keep their acts together on a fundamental level.
What, me worry?
LOL!!!
77 • @72 • AI Really (by Nicky No Nose on 2025-10-30 00:32:45 GMT from United States)
@72, "Student Handcuffed when School's AI System Mistakes Bag of Chips for Gun" At least he was just handcuffed. In the neighborhood I grew up that kind of mistake was made by street cops, no AI required; and it would likely get you shot.
78 • LMDE7 (by Mike Sonic on 2025-10-30 15:51:13 GMT from United States)
This is a very good review, I used LMDE6 and did a new install with LMDE7. I use LMDE because it is not Ubuntu based and more important to me is that LM is a distro that offers full disk encryption. I use it on a 13 year old laptop just for banking, I don't use it for anything else.
The only possible drawback is Cinnamon. It is a nice DE but can´t be really customized as Mate, KDE, or others and that is the reason I do not use it on my other computers.
79 • Answer 4 (by Mike W on 2025-10-30 19:09:40 GMT from United States)
Windows is kind of like "Hotel California": you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." I'm stuck on Windows at work, and I keep a Windows laptop around in the event I need to use a stray app that has no counterpart on Linux.
Other than that. I've switched completely to Linux for my home computing needs: music server, music playback, desktop.
On a related front: I have a wife who is not comfortable with tech, and was concerned about moving away from Windows. As an experiment, I had her try Google Chrome Flex, and she too it right away. Maybe eventually I can get her to try one of the more newbie friendly Linux distros, but I consider the move to Flex a small victory for her.
80 • polls by AI (by gnuby on 2025-10-30 22:11:49 GMT from United Kingdom)
Jesse, the complainers want more modern polls that a geek could understand - by getting AI to make them - e.g., this week's poll:
"Are you new to Linux because of End of 10 Windows?
Yes - new to Linux because of End of 10 AI assistants
New to Linux but not because of End of 10ntacles
Not new to Linux - switched before End of 10th reboot
Not Gnu to Linus - have not switched to [expletive] Linux"
81 • Cinnamon... (by Friar Tux on 2025-10-31 01:25:10 GMT from Canada)
@78 (Mike) And here I am loving Cinnamon for the exact opposite reason you hate it. So far, I found Cinnamon to be the easiest to customize. Mate, KDE, and the others, I found, were quite difficult to work with. With Cinnamon, I just open the "gtk.css" file in the theme folder, and fiddle with it till I like the colours and shapes. Usually, only takes me a couple of minutes to get/change the results I want. After fiddling with hundreds of theme files, I went with Darkomarko42's Cristal theme as it was THE easiest to work with.
If you want a really good retro theme, that is also quite easy to redo, colourwise, go with OneStepBack, by jpsb.
My wife also has no tech inclinations, but, in her case, anger made her choose Linux. She was in the middle of some really important work when Windows shut her down and started installing Windows 10 without so much as a "Mother May I". She handed me her laptop and said, "Fix it." I shut down the Windows install (mid install - my bad) and loaded on Linux Mint/Cinnamon. That was ten years ago. She still doesn't know much about tech/software, but then, she hasn't had any issues in ten years.
82 • AI / Systemd (by dragonmouth on 2025-10-31 12:48:26 GMT from United States)
The "goodness" of AI, just like that of any technology, is determined by the way it is used. Some built nuclear power stations, others built nuclear bombs. As currently used, AI is a data harvester on steroids.
AI is definitely "artificial" but is far from "intelligence". It has no "free will". It will never tell you it doesn't feel like answering your question. It is a long way from Data (Star Trek) or R. Daneel Olivaw (Caves of Steel.)
AI, at its core, is still a program, or a bunch of programs, designed and written by human programmers that include all the implicit and explicit biases of said programmers.
Systemd was supposed to be a "new and improved" init. Since its introduction, it has taken over more and more functions until it has become a "system manager" without which distros will not run
Number of Comments: 82
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
| | |
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Archives |
| • Issue 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 |
| • Issue 1106 (2025-01-27): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta 6, Pop!_OS 24.04 Alpha 5, detecting whether a process is inside a virtual machine, drawing graphics to NetBSD terminal, Nix ported to FreeBSD, GhostBSD hosting desktop conference |
| • Issue 1105 (2025-01-20): CentOS 10 Stream, old Flatpak bundles in software centres, Haiku ports Iceweasel, Oracle shows off debugging tools, rsync vulnerability patched |
| • Issue 1104 (2025-01-13): DAT Linux 2.0, Silly things to do with a minimal computer, Budgie prepares Wayland only releases, SteamOS coming to third-party devices, Murena upgrades its base |
| • 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 |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
| Random Distribution | 
MAX: Madrid_Linux
Madrid_Linux, or MAX for short, is an GNU/Linux distribution created by the Council of Education of Madrid, Spain. It is a live operating system based on Ubuntu. Besides the ability to boot the operating system on any computer, the distribution includes a graphical installer with an option to resize FAT or NTFS partition and create space for installing MAX on a hard disk.
Status: Active
|
| TUXEDO |
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite
Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included!
Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.
|
| Star Labs |
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux.
View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
