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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Torrents (by Amar Nath Reu on 2026-01-19 02:28:49 GMT from India)
Jessi,
Your torrent page needs some improvements.
1. The torrents do not sort according to name (A-Z).
2. You might have a tree for each torrent. The most recent at the top and then opening to the older versions.
IMHO, this will unclutter your torrent page.
Sincerely,
Amar Nath
2 • Chimera Linux (by InvisibleInk on 2026-01-19 02:53:49 GMT from United States)
Personally, I don't get the appeal of Chimera Linux. If I want a BSD userland and BSD core utils, I'll just install FreeBSD.
Maybe having the Linux kernel is good for hardware support? But even that advantage is rapidly disappearing in real time as the FreeBSD devs port more updated drivers from Linux with each release.
3 • Installers (by Keith S on 2026-01-19 02:54:46 GMT from United States)
Nice writeup on Chimera and the new installer. It does seem pretty obvious that copy and paste operations should be automated. I mean, automating simple tasks is one of the best uses of computers, right?
I have been repeatedly using OpenBSD's text installer recently (due to pibkac errors) and find that it works just as well as a graphical installer such as calamares for the most part. It is very convenient to have a step where a partition manager is available during installation, though. I have noticed that some distros have a much more forgiving and flexible partition tool than others. I think it must be a little more complex than it appears to make that work well.
4 • Types of system installers (by Devlin7 on 2026-01-19 03:47:31 GMT from New Zealand)
GUI installers in general are user friendly. However, I find text installers like those found on Void, Arch, Nutyx and Alpine much quicker (after a little practice).
5 • Best installer (by Jyrki on 2026-01-19 04:59:44 GMT from Czechia)
is the one that OpenBSD has. Simple, straightforward, logical, complete, easy and does the job. It used to scary me years ago when I was new to OpenBSD, but I gave it try and fell in love with it.
But for instance installer that Obarun has is pain. So, I prefer text based installers, does not care if it's menus or prompts, but it should lack efficiency and completeness.
6 • Torrent and mandatory checksums ,etc. (by Bobbie Sellers on 2026-01-19 05:56:49 GMT from United States)
I have seen the bad advice many times online that torrents need not
be check-summed. Fortunately I never believed that sort of advice.
Thanks for a clear statement of the necessity of doing checksums
on torrents as well as downloaded by other means files.
I started with Graphical Installers with Mandriva, one of the great changes
for Linux that made it much more accessible, thanks to Gael Duval...
bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2026- Linux 6.12.65 pclos1- KDE Plasma 6.5.5
7 • Text installer (by Dave on 2026-01-19 08:43:47 GMT from Australia)
The Alpine "setup-alpine" script is very heavily inspired by the openbsd installer
8 • Favourite installer style (by Kazlu on 2026-01-19 11:27:23 GMT from France)
I selected graphical, but text menus are totally fine. What matters to me is that the installer takes care of the commands while asking me to select a few options. Having to type the commands yourself can lead to mistakes.
Great examples of installers, IMO, are Mageia's and OpenSUSE's. A little bit overwhelming for a beginner maybe, but you can just click "next" on most steps to get decent defaults while still being able to dig deeper in settings where it matters to you. To me that is the best way to design an installer.
9 • installer (by david on 2026-01-19 12:01:50 GMT from United States)
Agreed, OpenBSD's installer is efficient and strait to the point. If you take the defaults it is rather fast as well.
10 • IMHO (by maybe baby on 2026-01-19 12:05:59 GMT from Italy)
I don't think the point is a matter of graphical vs text, but the easiness of use. Being able to decide less to none options is not better than have to choose dozens of details.
Installers should consider who's going to run them might range from rookie to expert, and offer a starting choice of paths accordingly.
11 • Torrents (by busted on 2026-01-19 12:34:19 GMT from Switzerland)
I have tried using the torrents, but invariably find there is no actual torrent to download.
12 • Pacman not being rewritten in Rust (by Blizu on 2026-01-19 13:46:28 GMT from France)
You're right Jessie to point out that the Arch Linux Package Management is especially a set a libraries to could replace pacman (i.e. mostly read and writing configuration files, like buildinfo), but it's mainly to document with code how packages (which is something complex that continually gets more complicated with time) work, just as describer in the great Arch Wiki.
There is no announced plan to rewrite the official pacman using ALPM, despite some very badly sourced rumors on internet.
13 • installer preference (by MikeOh Shark on 2026-01-19 14:37:14 GMT from United States)
I like that I can boot a live MX Linux, make tweaks in the live instance, and suspend to RAM when I go do other things. I can wake the computer and do more tweaks to my setup. Once I have my WiFi settings, install apps that are not part of the default, remove a thing or two I will never use, and feel that I am closer to what I want, I then run the installer.
It's nice that the installed version saves my tweaks so they are there the first time I boot from my hardware. I don't know if other live linuxes do this but I really appreciate it. The MX tools are icing on the cake. You can even make a live USB with encryption so you don't have to worry about losing the USB drive and your personal information.
14 • Documenting package (by We all float down on 2026-01-19 17:32:23 GMT from The Netherlands)
@12 Ah yes, partially correct Rust, our new celebrity^W job security.
SEE ALSO: embrace, extend, extinguish
15 • installers (by thym on 2026-01-19 17:36:05 GMT from Greece)
I believer that a good installer should be something simple, yet flexible. Lightweight and should be able to run in a vast array of hardware. Self-explanatory too: i do not want to read pages of manuals or read from a wiki and copying commands to perform an installation. I do not care for fancy colours, pictures, graphics what elso.
So i favor text based installers where you read something and make your decisions by choosing entries through a menu or by answering questions,
I like ncurses installers (Slackware, Void, Arch as it was 10 and 15 years ago). I like Debian's/Devuan's installer with all those well defined options to choose from.
During the past 10 years, only a couple of time i had problems with an installer and was not sure what to: both times it was a graphical installer.
On the other hand, i find it ridiculous the idea of not providing an installer at all (example: what arch developeres decided once upon a time).
The initial installation should be simple and straight forward.
16 • Installer (by Chris on 2026-01-19 19:57:45 GMT from South Africa)
My introduction to Linux was the installation of Gentoo Linux and the introduction of 'merge'. I have never used Gentoo since.
17 • Installers (by Daniel on 2026-01-19 20:14:13 GMT from United States)
As long as the installer works as intended, I don't care how pretty it is. It's not as if I will be using it on a daily basis. In my experience, Slackware is as easy to install as Ubuntu. While I didn't have a problem with it myself, I know some people complained about the previous hub-and-spoke iteration of Red Hat's Anaconda being unintuitive, and I do think an installer should be straightforward.
18 • Types of system installers (by Mario on 2026-01-19 21:13:39 GMT from Italy)
I voted "graphical" (thinking to beginners). I am also happy with a text installer.
19 • dum installers (by netter on 2026-01-19 21:50:18 GMT from Mexico)
Graphical or text installers are OK. The worst are those that expect you to configure the network or the install aborts. Defeats the purpose of ease of use.
20 • Installers. Or not. (by Robert on 2026-01-19 23:15:05 GMT from United States)
My real preference is an installer that lets you set things up any way you like. All the options, all the parameters. I don't like the defaults on any distro out there, and because of that I really dislike the trend of streamlining installers down to "Pick a disk."
The old Yast installer for Opensuse was almost what I wanted. Nothing else has come remotely close, so my best option is a manual install.
21 • @ 13 • installer preference (by Tutus Groan on 2026-01-21 06:46:42 GMT from New Zealand)
MX Linux is not the only installer to provide an installer that also includes "all my additions, removals, wifi settings, installed printer, photos, documents and tweaks" to the Live system.
22 • Installer and Chimera project... (by rhtoras on 2026-01-22 08:00:16 GMT from Greece)
Chimera used an inataller almost identical to the one of void linux of course with fewer options. It is to be expected since this distro is made by an ex void contributor which left void thankfully (ask users why). This distro has some nice ideas (turnstile for example) but they are dying slowly. The reason is the central idea of the distro.that systemD might be good. Also i do not like that they offer a Gnome iso. It also lacks the packages that come with other distributions. I think it has room for improvements.
Anyways the best installer is the one from openbsd or void. They are flexible because the os should work in many cases and in some of them graphical installer is not always the solution. Don't get me wrong but although i like graphical installers (i.e the one from antix for example) they tend to work mainly with desktop in mind.
23 • Installers (by That Mr B on 2026-01-22 11:46:28 GMT from United Kingdom)
@20 - I agree completely. I think the OpenSUSE installer is/was the best I've ever seen.
24 • Installers & Redcore (by S. B. Squarepants on 2026-01-22 15:57:12 GMT from Denmark)
As long as the documentation is ok the type of installer doesn't matter that much. Well, maybe projects aimed at newcomers should have a nice, friendly, graphical installer but other than that it really makes no difference imho.
Re. Redcore: Good on them for cutting their editions from 3 to 2. Interesting project.
25 • Types of system installers (by Marcello on 2026-01-22 16:36:34 GMT from Italy)
Text installer.
26 • Poll (by Sandy Cheeks on 2026-01-23 02:31:24 GMT from Canada)
I say graphical, it makes it so much more easier and intuitive, and for newcomers to Linux, it’s very helpful.
27 • Poll (by Pearl Krabs on 2026-01-23 03:26:49 GMT from Canada)
I say graphical- much easier to use and understand to say the least.
28 • Poll (by Pearl Krabs on 2026-01-23 03:27:18 GMT from Canada)
Graphical- much easier to use and understand to say the least.
29 • Graphical all the way (by Doodle Bob Buff Shorts on 2026-01-23 05:45:00 GMT from Canada)
As the subject says- graphical for the win!
30 • installer (by Jake on 2026-01-23 11:58:28 GMT from United States)
Graphical, I am not a techie and have no desire to become one. I just want to get the OS Installed and to start using it.
31 • redcore (by redhopper on 2026-01-23 22:28:22 GMT from Malaysia)
Redcore looks a little different to most distros, with security features like hardening and opensnitch. Appreciate the effort to bring Gentoo's detailed approach to the public.
Number of Comments: 31
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1163 (2026-03-09): KaOS 2026.02, TinyCore 17.0, NuTyX 26.02.2, Would one big collection of packages help?, Guix offers 64-bit Hurd options, Linux communities discuss age delcaration laws, Mint unveils new screensaver for Cinnamon, Redox ports new COSMIC features |
| • Issue 1162 (2026-03-02): AerynOS 2026.01, anti-virus and firewall tools, Manjaro fixes website certificate, Ubuntu splits firmware package, jails for NetBSD, extended support for some Linux kernel releases, Murena creating a map app |
| • Issue 1161 (2026-02-23): The Guix package manager, quick Q&As, Gentoo migrating its mirrors, Fedora considers more informative kernel panic screens, GhostBSD testing alternative X11 implementation, Asahi makes progress with Apple M3, NetBSD userland ported, FreeBSD improves web-based system management |
| • Issue 1160 (2026-02-16): Noid and AgarimOS, command line tips, KDE Linux introduces delta updates, Redox OS hits development milestone, Linux Mint develops a desktop-neutral account manager, sudo developer seeks sponsorship |
| • 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 |
| • 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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