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1 • FreeBSD (by Brad on 2025-12-08 01:50:23 GMT from United States)
I don't use it, for a couple of reasons - I know that both "objections" can probably be overcome with time, patience, or more expertise, but I have a limited amount of all three:
Objection #1 - I use laptops only, because my home has limited space, so I find that setting up ZFS seems somewhat pointless without two (or more) storage devices. Perhaps I'm wrong?
#2 - since I use laptops, I don't usually use wired connections - in the past, this has been a major obstacle to using the OS - again, things may have changed, and perhaps I'm wrong.
In the distant past, I used BSD 4.2 at work, and I really liked learning and using the CLI. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, and I'd like to re-create the "good ol' days", but FreeBSD may be a bridge too far.
2 • FreeBSD (by TuxBSDUser on 2025-12-08 03:14:12 GMT from Canada)
I use FreeBSD on a laptop at work. I just did a complete re installation on FreeBSD 15. The biggest problem in the past has often been compatibility with Wi-Fi hardware. This has long time been obstacle for many potential users. Once installed, it is a reliable, stable system with simple updates. My opinion is that if you want to use FreeBSD, learn how FreeBSD works. Derivatives add too many personal components, cause the system to fail after a few months when you update the system. GhostBSD is superb, but I have never managed to get past the 6-month mark without breaking the system. That's why I stay with the original.
I agree with the conclusions of the review.
3 • FreeBSD (by Abe on 2025-12-08 03:41:11 GMT from United States)
I have also used FreeBSD as my daily driver on a laptop for both home and work for the last several months. Wifi works, although switching locations everyday sometimes brings up hiccups. The Wifi experience is not as smooth as Linux, but it does work. Mostly I am working through the web browser, where things like video calls work great with no fuss. Email, TeXLive, LibreOffice, and entertainment software like music and video players round out what I use most. FreeBSD has just about everything.
I was disappointed that I could not get my browsers to run in Jails, no matter how many guides I followed that claim to do just that. It could be user error---I am no power user---but it was so much smoother to use automatically isolated browsers on OpenBSD with Unveil and Pledge.
Today's review might have mentioned that one can install a desktop more or less automatically on a new FreeBSD system with the package "desktop-installer". I haven't tried this myself though.
4 • FreeBSD <3 (by Jonathan Vasquez on 2025-12-08 04:42:46 GMT from United States)
I used to be a Gentoo Linux Developer maintaining the OpenZFS package and I also am the creator of bliss-initramfs, a tool that allowed Linux to be installed on a mainstream Linux distro all the way back in 2012. In 2018 I switched away from Linux on my server to FreeBSD, this was when they first switched to using the ZFS on Linux tree rather than the independent one. After a few years of learning and getting used to FreeBSD, and absolutely loving the system, I decided to switch my personal laptop (Framework Laptop) to FreeBSD as well, completely leaving Linux (other than some small devices that are using it, like my Anbernic RG35XX-H running muOS - which is using Linux). I was one of the first people to switch to start using and documenting FreeBSD support on the Framework Laptop 11th gen Intel, and I still maintain the FreeBSD on the Framework laptop blog post (but now I'm on a Framework Laptop running an AMD mainboard). I'm definitely not going to say it was sunshine and rainbows in terms of hardware support, or getting adjusted from Linux to FreeBSD, but it was definitely worth it. I'm MUCH happier in the BSD work than on Linux. I love the harmony of the entire OS stack, I love the Simplified BSD License, and I also love that we don't have as much politics as what's going on in the Linux world (and yes, no systemd).
For the past few months I've even switched my entire gaming setup to be inside a Windows 10 Virtual Machine running fully offline inside a bhyve VM running inside of FreeBSD, easily passing through my AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT. It's been running pretty smoothly overall and I can run Cyberpunk 2077 on Ray Tracing: Ultra in 2K at 40 fps constant~, and 80 fps with frame gen. There is definitely room for improvement than but the game is very smooth at 40 fps. No complaints from me for the most part.
As far as I'm concerned, FreeBSD is going to continue getting better from here.
I've left some links to my framework laptop / freebsd blog post, and also my GPU passthrough blog posts. There are some videos I've uploaded to youtube that directly show the performance of the GPU inside the FreeBSD Bhyve VM.
https://xyinn.org/blog/freebsd/freebsd_bhyve_gpu_passthrough_amd
5 • Typo (by Jonathan Vasquez on 2025-12-08 04:49:45 GMT from United States)
I also am the creator of bliss-initramfs, a tool that allowed Linux's rootfs to be installed and boot on top of OpenZFS for a mainstream source-based Linux distro all the way back in 2012**
6 • FreeBSD (by Any on 2025-12-08 07:18:47 GMT from Spain)
Back in 2003 when I started tinkering with Linux I also tried FreeBSD 4.8 I think. Installing KDE was easy with "sysinstall". When I tried Slackware installing it seemed to me much more terrifying than FreeBSD. Then PCBSD came and I even could use Skype on it. Then I went with the Linux road. From time to time I install some BSD with NetBSD being the easiest for me. Ten years ago I used DragonflyBSD on a VM for banking and NetBSD also on a VM for email. Both of them with XFCE.
7 • I'd have liked to (try FreeBSD)... (by maybe on 2025-12-08 07:28:42 GMT from Italy)
...but some very old-style limits as reported are discouraging. Maybe I'll have a look at GhostBSD if it can help.
All of this reminds me of what I had to do when I wanted to use Debian but had to start with Knoppix first and Kanotix later because in the beginning Debian had some similar complicated way of starting. It's been a very long time ago: as of now, Debian has been very easy to setup and work with for years, so problem is definitely over.
FreeBSD maintainers should consider a "two-path" approach: keep it old-fashioned but give first-time users a chance to start smoothly. Otherwise most people won't consider that, and maybe GhostBSD or something like that, too.
8 • FreeBSD (by Patrick on 2025-12-08 08:01:51 GMT from Luxembourg)
I tried FreeBSD (on a desktop PC) many years ago and after trying to compile *Office (don't remember if it was Open* or Libre*) I gave up. Moved to Slackware and was happy for years.
Nowadays I use Linux on servers only, and I find that there's only one distribution that really fits my mind and my use-cases, and that's Alpine Linux. Simple, efficient, and the only one with a short update cycle (6 months) while still being stable (I'm looking at you, Fedora).
Which also means that one of these days I risk of actually *having* to move to FreeBSD and leaving Linux behind. I've installed 15.0 in a virtual machine and I'm starting to learn it step by step in order to have a fallback solution if necessary.
OTOH, Linux fits my needs much better on the desktop. I care less about complexity there, as long as it works and as long as I have a reliable backup of my data.
9 • FreeBSD (by dr.J on 2025-12-08 08:33:43 GMT from Luxembourg)
I have been using FreeBSD in a virtual machine for a long time. Currently 14.3. I will be upgrading to 15 this week. To be honest, I don't really care about software management. The new system is different, but is it better? I will see. I found the old system took some getting used to (I mainly used Arch and pacman), but so far it has fit in well with FreeBSD's general software policy and isn't really difficult or time-consuming. There are just two update commands. So what?
In general, FreeBSD hasn't managed to get me to leave Archlinux and switch completely. I find its basic design too complicated in many areas. One example: I still haven't managed to transfer all the desired mount parameters to a network drive via fstab. This leads to annoying permission problems, etc. I have many examples like this, and I don't know of any such problems with Archlinux (which has a reputation for being complicated).
Nevertheless, I like FreeBSD and will continue to use and maintain it as a secondary system. I can't say much about hardware problems, as I've never installed it outside of a virtual machine. Apart from a few issues, it is a fully-fledged and fully usable desktop system. And installing a window manager or DE was really no problem. It ran out-of-the-box with Openbox.
I also like it because it's a piece of preserved history. Back to the 70s/80s. AT&T, UC Berkeley, Unix, etc. A time when everything we take for granted today began. FreeBSD is still rooted in this world, and that is living history, yet still modern, with ancient tools like dump.
10 • FreeBSD (by Ferdo on 2025-12-08 10:09:49 GMT from United States)
I am using FreeBSD from version 6 as a desktop. Five years I have on Lenovo laptop and WiFi works all the time.
11 • FreeBSD, yawn (by We all float down on 2025-12-08 13:12:45 GMT from The Netherlands)
Used NetBSD and OpenBSD before the bright pcc future was lost to bigfoot llvm, but FreeBSD was never compelling.
Now, just the other day I played with xwoaf (old Linux 2.2 kernel, xterm, some X games), installed from a 2 MB (not a typo) iso.
One truly wonders what causes the smallest FreeBSD text mode install iso to be 650 times larger and still not contain at least a primitive desktop. Surely not a few hundred Ethernet/Wifi drivers?
Is there support for mobile 4G/5G modems at all? Probably, but I couldn't find it in the handbook.
12 • FreeBSD (by Tyus on 2025-12-08 14:02:20 GMT from France)
I've tried to install FreeBSD 6 from a bunch of CDs some twenty years ago. Despite many attempts, I've never succeed at the time, when Ubuntu was running from a Live CD without any hustle.
Since then, I've never tried again, just like if the first experience was supposed to be the last. And Linux just work.
Every few years, we've got some news articles pretending that Linux is bloated and *BSD will be the only way to go in few years. Since, we still don't have the "Year of Linux Desktop", I don't get much faith in the "Year of BSD Desktop" (even Apple, with billions dollars, cannot get it).
But things get better, WiFi, KDE and Wayland are reportedly getting better support in FreeBSD, thanks to its close friend Linux that get all the attention, and things could only (but very slowly) get better.
13 • FreeBSD, pkgbase (by Robert on 2025-12-08 15:06:24 GMT from United States)
I do not currently use FreeBSD. Last time I used it I felt it was a worse experience than Linux. I doubt that's changed, but it might be more usable today than it was.
I do find it interesting that FreeBSD is moving to using a package manager for their base system in this time that a sizeable chunk of Linux is trying to move away from that. Various immutable distros like Silverblue that discourage the use of traditional packages, and at the extreme KDE Linux that doesn't even have one.
14 • FreeBSD (by borgio3 on 2025-12-08 16:23:07 GMT from Italy)
I'm using GhostBSD since 2024, after 19 years on Linux. There are no big differences, so i will stay on Ghost.
15 • FreeBSD (by Scott on 2025-12-08 17:48:35 GMT from United States)
A typical install for me, on a single disk where I'm using ZFS, takes about 5 minutes. That just uses the root account. Upon reboot to add a user and install, say, openbox, a terminal, etc. takes about another 10 minutes. I do work with FreeBSD at $DAYJOB and am quite familiar with what I want it to do, and what I want to install.
Depending upon your needs, it can serve perfectly well as a desktop workstation, and with recent improvements to wireless can, with some cards, such as an AX200, match Linux speeds.
The update from 14.3 to 15.0 has't gone smoothly for some people, including myself, but to be fair, it's the first update in literally years, though I don't remember how many, that it hasn't been a quick and easy thing. I suspect this might be due to the change to pkgbase.
For those familiar with Arch or Gentoo, it won't be that major a change. You can get an idea of what's like by using Nomad BSD (made to be installed on a USB, with an openbox window manager), or GhostBSD which is more like a Desktop. It can and is, be used as a good desktop. I prefer lighter window managers like openbox or dwm, but lots of people use it with KDE, and Gnome. You can browser around their forums at https://forums.freebsd.org to get sort of an overview of what people are doing with it. Or look at https://vermaden.wordpress.com/news/ where a user called Vermaden makes a collection of interesting news items each week, many about FreeBSD. Most weeks, there's usually one article comparing it to Linux.
16 • FreeBSD pkgbase (by Dave on 2025-12-08 20:29:06 GMT from Australia)
We use FreeBSD extensively on servers. I hope pkgbase will finally make upgrades easy. The old upgrade process is absolutey insane, complicated, easy to break, requires 2 reboots, takes an exceptionally long time and almost impossible to automate.
17 • FreeBSD to GhostBSD (by Slappy McGee on 2025-12-08 20:43:13 GMT from United States)
Years ago I for reasons I've not figured out tried to install FreeBSD. The experience gave me access to areas of my brain and sensibilities that until then were reserved exclusively for comedy. After a full day and part of a night of laughter and destruction gave up.
Not long after I found other BSD iterations and gave a few a try. GhostBSD stuck. Monsieur Turgeon the developer and GhostBSD forums helper seemed to understand the plight of those of us trying BSD coming from Linux distros with user friendly installation and desktop habits. It was and still is beautiful. It was back then a bit troublesome as to some hardware support, but that has changed; now it is user friendly as was his goals long ago and sees network and audio cards etc that it used to not see, to put it simply.
I'm glad GhostBSD is mentioned in Jesse Smith's review of FreeBSD.
18 • @17 GhostBSD (by Jan on 2025-12-08 22:02:36 GMT from The Netherlands)
In live testing 2 apps wrt internetradio from the repository did not install to a usable situation (1 nowhere to be found after installation, and 1 doing nothing).
This problem, apps from the repository not working, happened also with other distros.
19 • FreeBSD (by Mark on 2025-12-08 22:06:39 GMT from United States)
I don't run FreeBSD, but I do run OPNsense (which is based on FreeBSD) as my home router/DNSmasq/unbound/firewall/VPN server.
20 • FreeBSD 15 (by Robert on 2025-12-09 11:01:20 GMT from Switzerland)
Using FreeBSD as a daily driver with a DE works as a proof of concept. The FreeBSD project is captivating, for good reasons, and mysteriously attracts back and again a considerable number of computer enthusiasts.
Installing FreeBSD on a laptop is similar to the filling that you get when you build your first radio receiver with a copper coil, a handful of resistors and capacitors and 3 transistors. A lot of frustration, a lot of try and fail, tones of pages of documentation read from different sources, a colossal waste of time…and at the end it might work…but it performs quiet poorly compared to a nice radio receiver with a Hi-Fi sound, a remote control and a sleek design.
FreeBSD derivatives (GhsotBSD and NomadBSD) shorten the difficult path to get a driver with a DE but they exhibit the same limitations as their parent OS does.
In this respect, FreeBSD 15.0 is no different from previous versions. The promise to include a KDE installer in this releng has not been kept, although the project has been trying to improve the experience for this type of end-users since at least the version 13.x (see all announcements regarding Wi-Fi drivers, suspend function, power usage, DE).
FreeBSD is a niche OS with a clearly defined target audience (“The power to serve”). How can fifty senior programming gentlemen ensure the sustainability of such a project and offer a versatile product that is in line with its time and all the end-users?
21 • slowly changing operating systems (FreeBSD review) (by keithpeter on 2025-12-09 11:32:02 GMT from United Kingdom)
Quote from the review
"Mainstream Linux distributions experiment with (and discard) new technologies like a caffeinated border collie while FreeBSD tends to plan, test, polish, and introduce changes in slow evolutionary steps, usually keeping old technologies around for several versions. "
Slackware? Gradual (some might say TOO gradual) evolution. Knowledge gained from previous experience can usually be reused.
Comment on post 20 by Robert: I take the point that a small but extremely knowledgeable core of programming people might want to retain focus on the server function. But using the system to develop the system is a known strategy for finding and correcting issues, so that implies that a desktop functionality is available. Seems to work for the OpenBSD project.
Off to read the handbook...
22 • Freebsd vs Unix (by rhtoras on 2025-12-09 21:34:01 GMT from Greece)
I like no systemD linux. I like to explore alternatives. The bsd i like is openbsd and i have tried all major bsd options. I would like to check midnight bsd and dragonfly bsd but they could not work on bare metal.
On the other hand side projects based on free bsd were okish. Personally i liked nomad bsd. Now my perspective.
I like openbsd because feels different from linux in a good way. The distro which is closer to openbsd is alpine linux (non gnu principals, doas, installer). I like the idea of fvwm. In contrast freebsd uses twm which is not that good imho. As for software freebsd has more to offer but this depends on what you are using. What I don't like in freebsd is the resources used in a session. For example 500 mb ram on openbsd when using Mate vs 900 when using the same setup on freebsd. I like minimalistic approach in my os. Ghost bsd is also resource hungry but also a tad different compared to freebsd. When it was using openrc it was exotic now it's not.
23 • FreeBSD (by John on 2025-12-09 21:41:21 GMT from Canada)
My FreeBSD Desktop died a heat death when I replaced a power supply and forgot to plug in the fan to the CPU. That had v9. Back then the had just started talking about the pkg change, I had no opinion and that is how I voted. But there were people not that happy about it. Glad to see it all worked out.
I have been waiting for v15 and may install on a Thinkpad, just need to find time :) I use to use a Jail as a file upload from work when I wanted to get files home to work with. Only the Jail was opened to the wild chaos of the outside internet. No issues, and I still believe Jails are far better than the multiple corresponding things Linux use :)
24 • cd, pushd and autojump (by alfred on 2025-12-10 14:33:15 GMT from Germany)
You told us about pushd/popd for "bookmarking" a dir. Nice commands.
I'd like to mention also autojump (in the debian repositories), a great utility that works with a tiny database, it remembers the directories targeted by a "cd" and their frequency. it's sort of a "cd command that learns".
Then a few letters as param to the command "j" (an alias for "autojump") will be enough to go to the more used dir beginning with those letters. It must be in its database, .i.e autojumpt will choose in all the dirs already targeted by a "cd" or a "j"
Example : j D --> ~/Downloads
j tem -> /media//alfred/work/temp
It's magic !
man autojump :
autojump is a faster way to navigate your filesystem. It works by maintaining a database of the directories you use the most from the command line.
autojump must be loaded before it can be used.
Directories must be visited first before they can be jumped to.
25 • Jumping Around in Other Ways (by Carl on 2025-12-10 18:20:45 GMT from United States)
Environment var $CDPATH may assist, and 'dirs' shows the push/pop stack. Then of course 'zoxide' offers an interactive selector drop-down.
Some file managers like 'lla' have a jump command, even script-parsable output (JSON, whatever). Never parse 'ls' output, unless you must, and then sparingly. Warning, 'lla' ignores $XDG_* for hard-wired paths.
$CDPATH like $PATH / $MANPATH / $LD_LIBRARY_PATH is a colon-delimited list. I'm not sure whether Modernish has something to help with them.
https://github.com/modernish/modernish
26 • got a dogbite (by Dion on 2025-12-12 05:36:39 GMT from New Zealand)
I had to exercise a lot of restraint this week, as one of those "caffeinated border collies" which had been a happy and faithful puppy for a long time, suddenly updated and turned into a rabid maniac. Applications don't open where they used to, the mouse acts like it has some paranoia and is jacked in energy drinks, Ctrl-C doesn't copy, videos don't play in the image viewer as before, and the distro now defaults to Wayland - possibly at the root of all this evil. A note to distros - please don't do this to your users. For once again, I face weeks of downloading ISO images and testing different distros. And I _was_ ever so comfortable, getting work done,...
Number of Comments: 26
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1159 (2026-02-09): Sharing files on a network, isolating processes on Linux, LFS to focus on systemd, openSUSE polishes atomic updates, NetBSD not likely to adopt Rust code, COSMIC roadmap |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Full list of all issues |
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Navy Linux
Navy Linux is an open source community project founded by UnixLab (Unix/Linux developers community). The project aims to provide a free-of-cost clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux with minimal install media.
Status: Dormant
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| Star Labs |
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View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.
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