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1 • GhostBSD - intention to move to Gershwin (by Jyrki on 2026-02-23 04:55:57 GMT from Czechia)
I found this worrying. I have always found Apple user interface clumsy so I don't like idea that it's imitation will be default DE in the future.
The question also is, if XLibre is an option. It seems to be more like a one man show. What move FreeBSD is going to do? I think GhostBSD should just copy their approach.
2 • Guix evaluation (by Bobbie Sellers on 2026-02-23 06:29:29 GMT from United States)
Thanks for the evaluation of GUIX.
Despite 20 years of Linux experience and 40 of using computers
it sounds like nothing I would want to use.
A tool for developers and maintainers of packages which might be
useful
Jesse Smith does good work...
bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2026.02- Linux 6.12.74 pclos1- KDE Plasma 6.6.0
3 • GhostBSD, that sounds like being the wrong way (by *BSD...? on 2026-02-23 08:08:12 GMT from Italy)
[deketed]
4 • NuTyX (by Hank on 2026-02-23 08:13:51 GMT from Germany)
The NuTyX distribution has published a new version, 26.02.2, which switches the default init software from SysV to systemd
Well, yet another distro off the list of those I am prepared to install and maintain for
other users.
That especially after another call for assistance with a non booting distribution I usually refuse to touch, Ubuntu.
Out of space due Gigabytes of systemd logfiles which could only be safely deleted using systemd tools.
And yes a maximum log size was set. And Ignored. My opinion unprintable.
5 • AI (by The Mekon on 2026-02-23 08:19:30 GMT from United Kingdom)
Jesse's comments about AI, encapsulates most need-to-know and would be well heeded by so many wannabes buzzing around these fora. K.I.S.S. never best said.
6 • Guix and Nix (by D him ohx rd s on 2026-02-23 08:40:09 GMT from France)
I suspect if Jesse doesn't understand the Guix nuances about updates, etc. then they don't understand how nix works either even if they are comfortable using it. Packages don't exist separately from each other, an update will update all packages that all installed packages depend on (to run, not necessarily to compile, unless younees to compile). If you require a certain version then you either install that version from a certain channel with all its dependencies from that channel, or you specify the version of the package you want and it has to compile using the packages using the current channel version dependencies. You can choose.
With respect to who they are for, they are a developers dream. You stick a flake.nix or a guix.scm describing your development tools and their versions in your project directory and everytime you go there you are in your perfect development shell. You work on a different project with different tooling, you just write a different flake.nix or guix.scm and you have your new development shell. And everything can live side by side. All other distributions make this difficult, you are at the mercy of the distribution keeping or changing versions of the development tools.
I'll note that i like nix flakes more than the classic nix or guix approaches, but I much prefer writing in scheme which gives guix a little upside, otherwise they are both nice to use.
7 • AI (by Saif on 2026-02-23 09:16:58 GMT from Tunisia)
I think the Linux approach to LLM models (ie "AI"), is actually the right one. An operating system should just serve the role of a software interface between the computer and its user, with the user having full control on what he/she would need to install. LLM models can be useful when they are local and sandboxed inside specific apps, with specific tasks (AI chats on a browser, coding models in a code editor, models for medical image segmentation in a DICOM viewer, ...) without encompassing all the system, and without the obnoxious notifications and pop-ups.
And in this way, Linux distros are doing the correct approach, and will be doing fine when the imminent bursting of AI bubble happens.
8 • AI (by Jake on 2026-02-23 11:03:21 GMT from United States)
Almost no distros install AI by default.
Great, If you want AI it is easily installed. I find it hilarious that the people always complaining about software installed by default now want AI installed by default. Minimum is better, more should be up to the user.
Almost every browser today has an AI search option, why does my system need one too?
9 • guix space after ten minutes/use? (by We all float down on 2026-02-23 12:18:44 GMT from Netherlands)
Sharlatan wants bash and gpg. Experiment terminated. Disk still 90% full. How much would it have taken?
Now for something completely different, I discovered I finally have the hardware to run Oberon^Wplan9. It's always lupus^Wdevice drivers causing untold indeterminate suffering. I'm so excited at last.
# git clone https://github.com/9mirrors/ports
# du -sh ports/
4.7M ports/
10 • GUIX & AI (by dragonmouth on 2026-02-23 12:32:21 GMT from United States)
GUIX:
Thanks but Iĺl stick with Synaptic.
AI:
AI should be the userś choice, not forced on users by the developers.
There is already too much crap being installed by default just because developer(s) think it MIGHT be useful or cute. Used to be that a distro fit on a CD. Now one needs a 8 GB USB stick. Talk about feature creep! IF I want some feature, I am quite capable of installing it myself.
11 • GhostBSD changes (by Adelanta Fopp on 2026-02-23 12:46:38 GMT from United States)
I am very confident that Eric will thoroughly develop his great project with the changes at hand. I have followed GhostBSD since its beginnings and have experienced its gradual improvements into a fully functional operating system as it is now. It is very good to see him state his reasoning moving forward.
12 • Systemd drama (by JD on 2026-02-23 14:22:57 GMT from Italy)
@12
IMHO systemd works well in Fedora, Debian and Kubuntu. Don't you like sistemd? There is Devuan with his workhorse XFCE.
13 • Ghost (by Jobe314 on 2026-02-23 23:19:56 GMT from Australia)
@1
GhostBSD is absolutely making the correct decision to switch to XLibre considering Xorg has been terminated (rolling back 2 years of improvements has that effect). XLibre has more than 500 contributors to the codebase and the last release was 2 weeks ago, so development and improvements are intense and not just a "one man show". Give credit where credit is due.
As to whether GhostBSD stays with Mate or switches to another desktop or if it will even continue to exist, who knows. BSD distros are a rare breed and maintaining them is no doubt very difficult, especially for a small team of less than 5 people.
The issue I always had with GhostBSD is that there is no option for full disk encrypted install. This may have been acceptable 10 years ago, but not anymore, not in the age of surveillance we live in these days.
If only FreeBSD where as friendly to install as GhostBSD? FreeBSD has the option of GELI encrypted install, as does NomadBSD, MidnightBSD and HardenedBSD. Why Ghost is the outlier here? It's a shame.
14 • GUIX and AI (by soothsayer on 2026-02-24 04:45:11 GMT from United States)
I think GUIX is a good idea -- you don't have to use it everyday.
If it can get out of your way most of the time, and you only use it if you run into trouble with one package that breaks your peace, like recovering a file from Dropbox.
Currently roll backs for me at least are nuke the machine and rebuild in most cases.
Re: AI -- most AI models run on linux only.
Linux hosting is far more common than windows, which MSFT has decided to destroy!
What else is there to do for an OS? being left behind -- left behind where?
AI and OS are two differnet thing.
Llinux is a fine eliable platform and ft's the only reliable platform for computing, Android is proprietary and so are Windows and IOS.
15 • Guix/Nix (by Keith S on 2026-02-24 05:10:12 GMT from United States)
I tried NixOS once just for fun. It has a very interesting system of package management but has no advantages for the way I use a computer. It sounds like Guix would be that, only more.
16 • @4 log files (by Keith S on 2026-02-24 05:19:23 GMT from United States)
I don't recall exactly when it became common practice in Linux world to put everything into one big root partition, or maybe a root and a home, but it would seem to me that the old way of making separate partitions for /, /tmp, /usr, /usr/local, /var, /var/log, and /home would help the situation where rampant log files bork a system. It's an old problem with an old fix. Even just making a separate /var/log partition seems like it should help.
On the other hand, with the merging of some of these old partitions in the "modern" systemd distros, maybe that isn't where log files are stored anymore. But it definitely isn't a new problem and confining how much disk space logs can consume with a fixed partition is still an easier fix that should be considered.
17 • Proud user of both (by zetamacs on 2026-02-24 20:18:20 GMT from United States)
I use and appreciate both NixOS and GuixSD, and use both package managers in and out of those systems.
If I had to declare a preference, it would most definitely be for Guix, simply because I love Scheme. However, the fact is that GuixSD is a principled distribution that will not include any non-free components, and that sometimes means it's not an option without going down some unsupported avenues. I respect the commitment, but not enough that I'd cater hardware to it in every case.
Regardless, declarative system management has a great many benefits that I consider worth the mental tax of changing from "the way you've always done things". I would highly recommend trying either one.
18 • @13 (by Jyrki on 2026-02-24 21:15:20 GMT from Czechia)
ok, interesting. I am please there is more than 1 person behind XLibre.
As for full disk encryption, the most probably it's not important to Eric. I don't use disk encryption at all so this is not a hard stop for me.
19 • Linux + AI (by Some float up on 2026-02-25 05:38:29 GMT from Malaysia)
@8 "Almost no distros install AI by default"
Makulu Max - Electra AI
Deepin - UOS AI
NeuroShellOS - local LLM
Don't worry, in a few years time Distrowatch will have an "AI-assisted" category in the Search page; and we'll all be thinking "no AI in Linux - what were we thinking?"
20 • LLMs (by Jesse on 2026-02-25 15:42:02 GMT from Canada)
@19: "Don't worry, in a few years time Distrowatch will have an "AI-assisted" category in the Search page"
We already do. We are still in the process of tagging projects, but the option is there.
21 • GhostBSD evolvement (by Slappy McGee on 2026-02-26 15:55:37 GMT from United States)
@1, @11, @13 and anyone interesting in GhostBSD, I encourage you to read Eric's quite thorough explanation of what is happening and what his thinking has been along the way (I like this guy's full accountability for his decisions, not just reasoning but thought processes leading up to the development of that reasoning):
https://ericbsd.com/addressing-xlibre-change-and-ghostbsd-future.html
As said before, his project is polished and as functional as any of the relied upon Linux distros. The biggest (only) complaint I see repeated about GhostBSD is the lack of disk encryption as we install. There are other measures we can take, of course, for security, but encryption at install is common in Linux and some do wonder the why and when of that issue.
22 • Nebios (by parent-child linux on 2026-02-27 21:48:20 GMT from Malaysia)
Nebios - nice distro - very smooth operation. A case of child improvement on parent (Ubuntu)?
Number of Comments: 22
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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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JBLinux was a Linux distribution designed primarily for security and performance, as well as aiming to provide the end-user with up-to-date high quality software. All packages are optimized for Pentium-class CPUs.
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