 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 731, 25 September 2017 |
Welcome to this year's 39th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
A lot of the best advancements in software come from collaboration and sharing ideas. Open source software allows for projects to test and cross-pollinate concepts, resulting in better software and experiences for the users. This week we share a collection of examples of projects borrowing and sharing ideas, starting with a look at BackSlash Linux. BackSlash mixes together an Ubuntu base, the KDE Plasma desktop software and the look of OS X. In our News section we talk about Linux Mint making it easier for users to share bug reports with developers and Canonical introducing Wayland support into their Mir display server. Plus we report on Debian trying out enabling the AppArmor security software in default installs. Our third column this week concerns web standards and the introduction of DRM into W3C's standards for the World Wide Web. Plus we share the distribution releases of the week and provide a list of the torrents we are seeding. In our Opinion Poll we ask which open source desktop environment you would most like to use on mobile devices. Finally, we are pleased to share a fun graphic: The Periodic Table Of Distros which visually groups the large families of Linux distributions. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: BackSlash Linux Olaf
- News: Mint makes reporting bugs easier, Canonical adds Wayland support to Mir, Debian experimenting with AppArmor
- Opinion: The W3C, encrypted media and software freedom
- Released last week: Kali Linux 2017.2, Endian Firewall 3.2.4, Korora 26
- Torrent corner: ArchBang, Clonezilla, Kali, Korora, Manjaro, NuTyX, Subgraph, Tiny Core
- Upcoming releases: Ubuntu 17.10 Beta 2
- Opinion poll: User interfaces for GNU/Linux mobile devices
- DistroWatch.com news: The Periodic Table Of Linux Distros
- New distributions: EGOS
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (64MB) and MP3 (77MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
BackSlash Linux Olaf
BackSlash Linux is an Ubuntu-based distribution which features a customized desktop interface based on the KDE Plasma desktop environment. BackSlash is available in one edition as a free, 1.7GB download for 64-bit x86 computers. The project also sells USB and DVD media containing BackSlash for people who wish to support the project, or avoid the bandwidth required for a large download.
I was not able to find much information on BackSlash's mission or niche on the project's website, but it appears as though BackSlash is based on Ubuntu 16.04 and is specifically designed for desktop computing. The screen shots of BackSlash suggest the distribution is striving for a macOS style interface with a unified menu bar and a launch bar with large, bouncy icons.
Booting from the BackSlash media brings up a customized Plasma environment. At the top of the display we find a panel which houses the application menu and system tray. This panel also handles the unified menu bar when applications are open. At the bottom of the display is a launch bar for commonly used applications. On the desktop we find icons for the project's PDF documentation and a system installer. The PDF document is a single page which provides us with the operating system's default username and password, along with a very general overview of what BackSlash Linux is.
Installer
BlackSlash uses Ubuntu's Ubiquity system installer. The installer's branding identifies it as being part of the "neon 16.04" distribution. On the first page we are shown a link for accessing the project's release notes. Clicking this link opens the Chromium web browser and shows us BackSlash's home page, but no release information. The installer's second page asks if we would like to download software updates during the installation process. We are also given the option of installing third-party media support. I opted to skip the updates, but did request media support. Next, we are given the chance to have the installer handle disk partitioning or we can partition our hard drive manually. I went with the manual option and found the process pleasantly streamlined. Ubiquity works with ext2/3/4, Btrfs, JFS and XFS formats. We have the option of selecting where we would like to install a boot loader, but we cannot entirely skip installing the GRUB boot loader. We are then asked to select our time zone from a map of the world and confirm our keyboard's layout. On most distributions, Ubiquity will ask us to provide a username and create a password for our account. BackSlash skips this step and, instead, sets up an account with the username "administrator" which can be accessed with the password "root". This administrator account logs in automatically when we boot the computer, suggesting security is taking a backseat to convenience with this distribution.
Early impressions
Once we have finished the install and BackSlash has booted, logging directly into the desktop environment, we are left to explore the operating system. One thing I found interesting about BackSlash is that it uses a classic, tree-style application menu. However, there is a button on the launch panel which will open a full screen grid of launcher icons if we prefer the mobile-style way of opening programs. The entries in the menu provide an application's description, but not name. This will likely make the distribution easier for newcomers who are more interested in finding an e-mail client than knowing if they are launching KMail or Thunderbird. By contrast, the icons on the launch bar at the bottom of the screen have no accompanying text or tool tips to let us know what the icons will open. If we recognize a program's icon, this is a streamlined design, but I ended up doing some experimenting with the icons I did not know.
Software management
When I first started using BackSlash, a red icon in the system tray let me know software updates were available. Clicking on the icon listed the number of updates to be downloaded (188) and presented me with a big "Update" button. Clicking the Update button brought up an error message saying Discover had crashed. Discover is the distribution's software manager. I tried to restart Discover, resulting in another crash of the application. I then tried launching Discover from the application menu and the software manager crashed again on start-up.
BackSlash Linux Olaf -- Checking for package updates
(full image size: 363kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
After a few minutes, the update icon turned from red to blue. Clicking the blue icon brought up a report saying 312 updates were now available and clicking the Update button opened the Discover utility. So it seems Discover will not open if the system is updating its package information. Discover lists all the available updates and we can check a box next to each one we want. Luckily, we have the option of simply selecting and downloading all the updates. I clicked the update button and, for a minute, nothing seemed to happen. Then progress bars next to package names appeared and indicated software was being downloaded. After a minute, Discover simply stopped. No error message was displayed, but I still had 280 updates waiting and I could not get the software manager to resume its work.
BackSlash Linux Olaf -- Browsing available updates
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When I started exploring package management from the command line, I found the dpkg low-level package manager had crashed earlier, leaving package management in limbo. I had to run the command "sudo dpkg --configure -a" to correct the issue and then used the apt-get command line tool to fetch the remaining upgrades.
Later, I went back to Discover. The software manager has an unusual layout. On the left side of the window we can select options to show available software, available desktop components, available repositories or installed software. The right side of the window then shows items in the selected category. When available software is displayed, a tree of sub-categories is shown in the left pane and specific programs on the right, along with an Install button. When repositories are selected, a list of available repositories are shown on the right and we can check boxes next to the ones we want to access. I found Discover was typically slow to respond and did not show progress while it was working, sometimes causing me to wonder if Discover was working at all. I also found it frustrating that I had to type my password every time I wanted to install or remove a package. This approach is okay if we only want to grab a few applications, but it is tedious if we wish to install a dozen different items.
BackSlash Linux Olaf -- The Discover software manager
(full image size: 460kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
For people who want a lower level approach, the Synaptic package manager is included in BackSlash. Synaptic focuses on packages rather than applications. Synaptic can also install upgrades and manage repositories. I found that Synaptic, while its interface was less flashy, worked faster and did not require me to continually put in my password.
Hardware
I explored running BackSlash in two test environments. I started by running the distribution in a VirtualBox virtual machine. BackSlash worked in the virtual environment and integrated with VirtualBox, allowing me to use my computer's full screen resolution. However, the desktop environment was very slow to respond in VirtualBox. I tried disabling visual effects, turned off some features and disabled file indexing, but the Plasma-based desktop was always too unresponsive to be practical in the virtual machine. When running BackSlash on a physical desktop computer, I had a slightly better experience. BackSlash properly worked with my hardware, audio and networking functioned out of the box and my screen was set to its full resolution. However, the desktop was still sluggish to respond. Applications opened faster and responded quicker when running on physical hardware, but I still experienced more than the usual amount of lag. In either environment, BackSlash used approximately 430MB of memory and 6.5GB of hard drive space.
Applications
BackSlash ships with a useful range of desktop software, some of it quite common, but there were a few surprises. Like many distributions, BackSlash ships with the Chromium web browser, the Thunderbird e-mail client and a remote desktop viewer. Network Manager is present to help us get on-line. Unlike most Linux distributions, BackSlash ships with the WPS productivity suite instead of the popular LibreOffice suite. The distribution also ships with GNOME Calendar to help us stay organized and the Okular PDF viewer. There is a tool for managing software sources, updates and third-party hardware drivers. For entertainment, BackSlash provides us with the VLC media player, the Musique audio player and Kodi Media Centre. We also have access to the Cheese webcam tool and the Minitube YouTube client. There is a simple image editor, KolourPaint, and an image viewer for browsing pictures. The default file manager is Dolphin.
BackSlash Linux Olaf -- Using Calendar and WPS Writer
(full image size: 132kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
I found two text editors, Kate and the Vim editor, which would open in a virtual terminal. We are also given a system monitor, an archive manager and the Clam virus scanner. The distribution also ships with the Maps for GNOME application, giving us a Google Maps-like experience on our desktop. The GNU Compiler is installed for us if we wish to build software from source code. BackSlash uses systemd as its init implementation and runs on version 4.4.0 of the Linux kernel.
Earlier I mentioned that, during the initial install process, I opted to install third-party media support, including Flash. I found media codecs for playing music and videos were included in the distribution, but Flash support was not available by default when using the Chromium web browser.
BackSlash Linux Olaf -- The Maps application
(full image size: 490kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
I ran into a few issues while using BackSlash's default programs. One was that Chromium would prompt me for my KDE Wallet password every time it launched. Since I do not use KDE Wallet, this was an unnecessary annoyance. The other problem I ran into was, in both test environments, the first time I opened the WPS word processor, the application immediately crashed. Future attempts to open WPS succeeded, but an error was always displayed stating "Some formula symbols might not be displayed correctly due to missing f..." I'm guessing the last word of that message should be "fonts". Despite this warning, WPS functioned well after the message was acknowledged.
One last quirk I ran into was sometimes the bottom desktop panel would be hidden behind windows and, other times, it would appear in front of windows. I noticed, for example, the launch panel always displayed over top of the VLC window, obscuring the controls.
Settings
BackSlash uses the KDE System Settings panel to manage the desktop environment and underlying system components. The configuration modules are generally presented in a clear manner and we can use a search box to help us pinpoint the specific controls we want to access from the many, many options Plasma offers. Most of these modules worked well and I find the Plasma configuration tools to be very powerful.
BackSlash Linux Olaf -- The settings panel
(full image size: 291kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Earlier I mentioned BackSlash sets us up with a default username and password. The documentation suggests we change the password, but does not mention how. Luckily, the System Settings panel can help us with that, using its Account Details module.
I ran into a few issues. For example, when turning off desktop effects and file indexing, the settings panel crashed on me. I was later able to relaunch the panel and make the changes I wanted without further problems. I ran into a snag when trying to set up my printer. The settings panel includes a printer module, but there was no option for automatically finding network printers. I had to manually provide the printer's address and protocol, which is something mainstream distributions tend to automate.
Conclusions
Though the project does not make any grand claims about their distribution's focus, I get the impression BackSlash is hoping to appeal to Linux newcomers. Specifically, I think the project is hoping to make macOS users feel at home, judging by the layout of the desktop and the unified menu in the top bar.
I felt having a default username and password is an unusual choice, but I can see how it simplifies things, both for the user and anyone performing technical support.
BackSlash Linux Olaf -- Browsing the web with Chromium
(full image size: 268kB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
While using BackSlash, I had two serious concerns. The first was with desktop performance. The Plasma-based desktop was not as responsive as I'm used to, in either test environment. Often times disabling effects or file indexing will improve the situation, but the desktop still lagged a bit for me. My other issue was the program crashes I experienced. The Discover software manager crashed on me several times, WPS crashed on start-up the first time on both machines, I lost the settings panel once along with my changes in progress. These problems make me think BackSlash's design may be appealing to newcomers, but I have concerns with the environment's stability.
Down the road, once the developers have a chance to iron out some issues and polish the interface, I think BackSlash might do well targeting former macOS users, much the same way Zorin OS tries to appeal to former Windows users. But first, I think the distribution needs to stabilize a bit and squash lingering stability bugs.
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Hardware used in this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a desktop HP Pavilon p6 Series with the following specifications:
- Processor: Dual-core 2.8GHz AMD A4-3420 APU
- Storage: 500GB Hitachi hard drive
- Memory: 6GB of RAM
- Networking: Realtek RTL8111 wired network card
- Display: AMD Radeon HD 6410D video card
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Visitor supplied rating
BackSlash has a visitor supplied average rating of: N/A from 0 review(s).
Have you used BackSlash? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Mint makes reporting bugs easier, Canonical adds Wayland support to Mir, Debian experimenting with AppArmor
The Linux Mint team has announced they will be introducing a new bug reporting tool into future versions of the popular Linux Mint distribution. The utility, called mintReport, will help users by automatically collecting relevant data when an application crashes which will be useful when creating bug reports. "At the end of the last development cycle I mentioned the idea of a tool which would bring information to users and help them troubleshoot issues. This is an ambitious project and we're still not sure it will land in the next release, at least not fully. I say not fully because this tool received its codename (mintReport), because we started implementing it and because one of its features is now completely ready and will be shipped with Linux Mint 18.3. That feature is the gathering of crash reports. Using apport as a backend, a report is made whenever an application crashes. mintReport lists these reports and generates stack traces for them: Non-experienced users rarely know how to produce a stack trace and that information is crucial to developers when they're not able to reproduce a bug. This tool will make it much easier for anyone to produce these traces. It also suggests the installation of debugging symbols (-dbg packages) when these are missing and warns in case of mismatches." More details about mintReport and other changes coming to Linux Mint can be found in the project's September Monthly News report.
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Mir is a display server which can act as a replacement for the aging X display software. In recent months there has been talk of multiple desktop environments (including MATE and Yunit) using Mir as a display server, if Mir could be made to be compatible with the Wayland display protocol. This would avoid duplication of effort as each desktop environment could use Mir instead of developing its own Wayland implementation. Mir is now a step closer to being a functioning, Wayland-compatible display server with initial support for the Wayland protocol included in the code. Alan Griffiths explains: "What we are doing is teaching the Mir server library to talk Wayland in addition to its original client-server protocol. That's analogous to me learning to speak another language (such as Dutch). This is not anything like XMir or XWayland. Those are both implementations of an X11 server as a client of a Mir or Wayland. (Xmir is a client of a Mir server and XWayland is a client of a Wayland server.) They both introduce a third process that acts as a 'translator' between the client and server. The Wayland support is directly in the Mir server and doesn't rely on a translator. Mir's understanding of Wayland is going to start pretty limited (like my Dutch). At present it understands enough 'conversational Wayland' for a client to render content and for the server to composite it as a window. We need to teach it more 'verbs' (e.g. to support for the majority of window management requests) but there is a limited range of things that do work."
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To date the Debian project has held off enabling kernel-level mandatory access controls such as AppArmor. AppArmor, and related technologies like SELinux, are used by several mainstream Linux distributions, including Fedora, Ubuntu and openSUSE. AppArmor prevents hijacked or misbehaving programs from damaging or compromising the operating system by placing restrictions on processes beyond just what file-level permissions are able to accomplish. Following a proposal to enable AppArmor by default, it looks as though Debian's Testing and Unstable branches will use AppArmor for at least a year to allow the developers to test the affect AppArmor has on the distribution. If the trial is successful, AppArmor is expected to be enabled in the next Stable version of Debian.
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Opinion (by Jesse Smith) |
The W3C, encrypted media and software freedom
Though this topic is not, strictly speaking, related to Linux or other open source operating systems, the following discussion is entangled with software freedoms and how the Internet is used. As such, I believe it affects all of our readers and deserves exploration.
The World Wide Web Consortium (better known as W3C) announced last Monday they had published Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) as a web standard. That probably sounds wordy and technical, not to mention abstract, so let's break it down.
The W3C basically sets the standards for the World Wide Web. Standards on the web are important because, without them, each web browser would display content completely differently, possibly using different tags or code. Standards create a common denominator so that, in theory at least, each web browser recognizes the same instructions and displays web pages approximately the same way. This makes it easier for publishers as they only need to create one version of their website, and it is easier for users because we only need one web browser to view any given page on the web. The components of the web all speak a unified set of languages, thanks to a set of standards.
Some of the latest standards, such as HTML5, allow web browsers to display video files without the help of insecure add-ons like Flash. These days we can simply visit a website like YouTube and start watching a video without downloading any add-ons. The code which displays HTML5 video content is open and can be audited for security issues and backdoors.
For the past several years, the W3C has been trying to get Digital Rights Management (DRM) inserted into the latest set of HTML5 standards for web pages. DRM allows media providers, such as Netflix, BBC and Disney, to encrypt their audio and video files so that a special key is needed to view the content. This means that only authorized media players would be able to download and display the content. Right now, if you use most web browsers to visit Netflix or other DRM-protected content providers, you will be prompted to install a third-party extension which will allow you to view the content. This is because the DRM code is not standard and not a core part of the web browser, the web browser needs an add-on in order to unlock the encrypted video.
With the W3C voting to make EME (a form a DRM) part of the web standard, they are essentially saying that the add-ons required to play protected media should become part of every standards-compliant web browser. This is problematic as DRM extensions are non-free. Their internal workings must be hidden and unauditable in order to keep the methods of decryption secret from the computer's user.
If you are interested in the open web and software freedom, this change should be very concerning. What the W3C has done is basically dictate that any standards compliant web browser must feature non-free, secret code. Code which developers cannot check for security flaws, for backdoors or for mistakes which could crash the web browser. These non-free pieces were previously add-ons which people could download as they wished, but most of us could ignore as they were not included in most browsers by default. Now, it looks as though most browsers will need to adopt the standard, forcing their users to run non-free software on their computers in order to browse the web.
The reasoning behind the new DRM standard is it allows media providers to do away with creating their own, separate, often insecure media players. We will no longer need to download Flash for one website and another extension for another website. There will be one, unified player that should work across all video-providing websites. This approach, the W3C claims, is more secure and more convenient. Neither argument holds up to scrutiny.
On the convenience side of things, it has always been trivially easy to install non-free extensions to play video. Anyone who visited older versions of YouTube, or a modern content provider like Netflix, has probably observed a notification bar or message saying "Click here to install media player." The user clicks, the player installs, the content plays. It's a very straight forward process.
On the security side of things, the W3C says having one central standard is better than multiple sites having their own, separate players. While it is true that each website having its own media player often leads to shoddy coding and poor security, the W3C's new standard is not better, it merely moves the problem. Instead of some people having insecure add-ons, each one different, requiring a different exploit from attackers, now everyone will have insecurity built directly into their browsers. Simply removing an insecure add-on to improve security will not be an option; the non-free code will be baked right into the web browser.
A third issue with this new standard is it overlooks an obvious option. In theory, media companies could simply use the existing, open, secure standards for transmitting video. YouTube does this already, no add-ons or DRM required. But most large media companies do not wish to use open standards and free software formats; they are worried people will copy their content if it's not encrypted. They want to make sure DRM is applied to all their media to make it harder to copy or alter. Having DRM built into the web will not actually make the media companies' content more secure, of course, just as DRM on DVDs did not prevent video sharing, but the media corporations insist on using DRM anyway.
At this point, with the new DRM standard published and the appeal against it already voted down, what can people who value software freedom do? Unfortunately our remaining options are limited. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) published an open letter against the W3C's decision and has resigned from the standards body in protest. I quote a part of the letter here:
You have to search long and hard to find an independent technologist who believes that DRM is possible, let alone a good idea. Yet, somewhere along the way, the business values of those outside the web got important enough, and the values of technologists who built it got disposable enough, that even the wise elders who make our standards voted for something they know to be a fool's errand.
We believe they will regret that choice. Today, the W3C bequeaths a legally unauditable attack-surface to browsers used by billions of people. They give media companies the power to sue or intimidate away those who might re-purpose video for people with disabilities. They side against the archivists who are scrambling to preserve the public record of our era.
The EFF has stated it will continue to fight against DRM in court to try to make the laws surrounding encrypted content less destructive. However, this only lessens the blow and does not protect the software freedoms of people browsing the web.
At this point it looks like people who value software freedom and an open web have just three options remaining. The first is to file a complaint with the W3C and ask them to reverse their decision. The appeal against baking DRM into the web failed, but perhaps enough protesters can get a vote to repeal the new web standard.
A second option is to boycott web browsers which implement the new, non-free standard. If Safari, Chromium and other mainstream browsers implement non-free code, we should avoid them and promote free software browsers which do not include non-free blobs by default. We can also petition distributions to patch out the non-free parts of otherwise open web browsers. If Firefox includes a non-free decryption module Linux distributions should remove it as part of their build process.
Finally, we should support organizations, such as the EFF, who are actively fighting in favour of software freedom and an open Internet. We should also avoid using websites which provide DRM-protected media. DRM is not good for anyone - it causes more hassles for the user, does not successfully block content piracy and it now introduces security risks for all of us - it should be avoided as much as possible.
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| Released Last Week |
Endian Firewall 3.2.4
Endian has announced the release of Endian Firewall 3.2.4, an updated build in the 3.2 series of the project's CentOS-based Linux distribution for firewall and routers: "The Endian team is proud to announce an updated image for the 3.2 release. Check out the new release today by downloading the latest ISO image. If you already have an installed community with at least a 3.2.0beta1 version you could just register and run the updates. The registration procedure is much easier now - follow the initial wizard and just with an email address you can keep the system updated. Don't forget to give us a feedback or report the bugs to JIRA. Here's a short list of changes compared to the latest 3.2.2 released ISO image: updated Squid to 3.5.25; updated Dnsmasq to 2.76; updated OpenVPN to 2.4.3; security improvements to certificates management and OpenVPN; extended support for hardware raid; extended support for network interfaces; security fixes; added hourly graphs. No need to say, this new image includes a lot of improvements and bug fixes as well." Here is the brief release announcement.
Kali Linux 2017.2
Kali Linux is a Debian-based distribution with a collection of security and forensics tools. The project's latest version, Kali Linux 2017.2, introduces a number of new security and penetration tools, as well as package updates from Debian's Testing branch. "In addition to all of the standard security and package updates that come to us via Debian Testing, we have also added more than a dozen new tools to the repositories, a few of which are listed below. There are some really nice additions so we encourage you to 'apt install' the ones that pique your interest and check them out. hurl - a useful little hexadecimal and URL encoder/decoder; phishery - phishery lets you inject SSL-enabled basic auth phishing URLs into a .docx Word document; ssh-audit - an SSH server auditor that checks for encryption types, banners, compression, and more; apt2 - an Automated Penetration Testing Toolkit that runs its own scans or imports results from various scanners, and takes action on them..." A complete list of new utilities and their functions can be found in the project's release announcement.
Kali Linux 2017.2 -- Running the GNOME desktop
(full image size: 1.0MB, resolution: 1280x1024 pixels)
Korora 26
Jim Dean has announced the release of Korora 26, a brand-new version of the project's desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Fedora, but with many user-friendly enhancements: "The Korora project is pleased to announce the release of version 26 (code name 'Bloat') which is now available for download. Korora 26 continues the tradition of having code names based on characters from 'Finding Nemo'. Existing Korora users can upgrade to 26 'Bloat', see our upgrade guide. Features: Cinnamon 3.4 - this new release of Cinnamon includes lots of refinements to the popular desktop environment; GNOME 3.24 brings a number of new features to the GNOME desktop including the new Night Light setting which reduces eye strain; KDE Plasma 5.10 gains a new default desktop view and improvements to the Task Manager among a long list of improvements; MATE 1.18 - this release completes the migration to GTK+ 3 but also includes many new features; Xfce 4.12 - this release mainly focused on polishing the desktop and improving the user experience in various ways." Read the full release announcement for more details.
NuTyX 9.1
NuTyX is a French Linux distribution (with multi-language supporti) built from Linux From Scratch and Beyond Linux From Scratch, with a custom package manager called "cards". The NuTyX project has released a maintenance update, version 9.1, for the distribution's 9.x series. "The NuTyX team is please to annonce the 9.1 release of NuTyX. NuTyX 9.1 comes with kernel LTS 4.9.23, glibc 2.25, GCC 6.3.0, binutils 2.28, Python 3.6.0, xorg-server 1.19.2, Qt 5.8.0, Plasma 5.9.4, kf5 5.31.0, GNOME 3.22.2, MATE 1.18.0, Xfce4 4.12.3, Firefox 54.0.1, etc. New ISOs are available in 32-bits and 64-bits. Sizes are respectively 246MB and 247MB. This is a maintenance release of the 9.0 branche of NuTyX. It is possible to make an upgrade of your system without problems. There's no need to reinstall your NuTyX. If the automatic upgrade process is activate, it will be done at next shutdown." Additional information can be found on the project's News page.
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 579
- Total data uploaded: 15.7TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll |
User interfaces for GNU/Linux mobile devices
This year there has been a lot of talk about developing GNU/Linux operating systems for mobile phones. The UBports team is expanding on Canonical's port of Ubuntu for mobile devices and Purism is working on a phone that should run Linux distributions with possibly both the GNOME and KDE mobile interfaces available.
This week we would like to find out which desktop interface you would most like to use on your smart phone. Do you like the flexibility of KDE software, the touch-friendly layout of GNOME or the convergence style of Unity/Yunit?
You can see the results of our previous poll on configuring software using a control panel verses editing text files in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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User interfaces for GNU/Linux mobile devices
| I prefer GNOME: | 446 (31%) |
| I prefer KDE Plasma: | 455 (32%) |
| I prefer Unity/Yunit: | 152 (11%) |
| Other: | 388 (27%) |
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| DistroWatch.com News |
The Periodic Table Of Linux Distros
The Linux family of distributions is large, varied and complex. There are hundreds of Linux distributions in the world, many of them with close ties to other projects and it can be difficult to keep track of the relationships between distributions.
One DistroWatch reader has organized the list of active Linux distributions into a table, similar to The Periodic Table Of Elements. This creation, called The Periodic Table Of Linux Distros, groups Linux distributions together based on their origins. Families of distributions are grouped together by colour and ranked based on DistroWatch's page hit ranking. The table is published here with permission:
The Periodic Table Of Linux Distros
(full image size: 752kB, resolution: 7500x5000 pixels)
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Distributions added to waiting list
- EGOS. EGOS is a Linux distribution based on Linux Mint featuring the Xfce desktop environment. The distribution is intended to be used by children and has an unusual installation process which requires the use of Systemback to install the project's 6GB download image.
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DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 2 October 2017. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. 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)
- Bruce Patterson (podcast)
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 bc1qtede6f7adcce4kjpgx0e5j68wwgtdxrek2qvc4  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
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| Linux Foundation Training |
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| 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.
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1033 (2023-08-21): MiniOS 20230606, system user accounts, how Red Hat clones are moving forward, Haiku improves WINE performance, Debian turns 30 |
| • Issue 1032 (2023-08-14): MX Linux 23, positioning new windows on the desktop, Linux Containers adopts LXD fork, Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ form OpenELA |
| • Issue 1031 (2023-08-07): Peppermint OS 2023-07-01, preventing a file from being changed, Asahi Linux partners with Fedora, Linux Mint plans new releases |
| • Issue 1030 (2023-07-31): Solus 4.4, Linux Mint 21.2, Debian introduces RISC-V support, Ubuntu patches custom kernel bugs, FreeBSD imports OpenSSL 3 |
| • Issue 1029 (2023-07-24): Running Murena on the Fairphone 4, Flatpak vs Snap sandboxing technologies, Redox OS plans to borrow Linux drivers to expand hardware support, Debian updates Bookworm media |
| • Issue 1028 (2023-07-17): KDE Connect; Oracle, SUSE, and AlmaLinux repsond to Red Hat's source code policy change, KaOS issues media fix, Slackware turns 30; security and immutable distributions |
| • Issue 1027 (2023-07-10): Crystal Linux 2023-03-16, StartOS (embassyOS 0.3.4.2), changing options on a mounted filesystem, Murena launches Fairphone 4 in North America, Fedora debates telemetry for desktop team |
| • Issue 1026 (2023-07-03): Kumander Linux 1.0, Red Hat changing its approach to sharing source code, TrueNAS offers SMB Multichannel, Zorin OS introduces upgrade utility |
| • Issue 1025 (2023-06-26): KaOS with Plasma 6, information which can leak from desktop environments, Red Hat closes door on sharing RHEL source code, SUSE introduces new security features |
| • Issue 1024 (2023-06-19): Debian 12, a safer way to use dd, Debian releases GNU/Hurd 2023, Ubuntu 22.10 nears its end of life, FreeBSD turns 30 |
| • Issue 1023 (2023-06-12): openSUSE 15.5 Leap, the differences between independent distributions, openSUSE lengthens Leap life, Murena offers new phone for North America |
| • Issue 1022 (2023-06-05): GetFreeOS 2023.05.01, Slint 15.0-3, Liya N4Si, cleaning up crowded directories, Ubuntu plans Snap-based variant, Red Hat dropping LireOffice RPM packages |
| • Issue 1021 (2023-05-29): rlxos GNU/Linux, colours in command line output, an overview of Void's unique features, how to use awk, Microsoft publishes a Linux distro |
| • Issue 1020 (2023-05-22): UBports 20.04, finding another machine's IP address, finding distros with a specific kernel, Debian prepares for Bookworm |
| • Issue 1019 (2023-05-15): Rhino Linux (Beta), checking which applications reply on a package, NethServer reborn, System76 improving application responsiveness |
| • Issue 1018 (2023-05-08): Fedora 38, finding relevant manual pages, merging audio files, Fedora plans new immutable edition, Mint works to fix Secure Boot issues |
| • Issue 1017 (2023-05-01): Xubuntu 23.04, Debian elects Project Leaders and updates media, systemd to speed up restarts, Guix System offering ground-up source builds, where package managers install files |
| • Issue 1016 (2023-04-24): Qubes OS 4.1.2, tracking bandwidth usage, Solus resuming development, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS offers preview of Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1015 (2023-04-17): Manjaro Linux 22.0, Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Arch Linux powering PINE64 tablets, Ubuntu offering live patching on HWE kernels, gaining compression on ex4 |
| • Issue 1014 (2023-04-10): Quick looks at carbonOS, LibreELEC, and Kodi, Mint polishes themes, Fedora rolls out more encryption plans, elementary OS improves sideloading experience |
| • Issue 1013 (2023-04-03): Alpine Linux 3.17.2, printing manual pages, Ubuntu Cinnamon becomes official flavour, Endeavour OS plans for new installer, HardenedBSD plans for outage |
| • Issue 1012 (2023-03-27): siduction 22.1.1, protecting privacy from proprietary applications, GNOME team shares new features, Canonical updates Ubuntu 20.04, politics and the Linux kernel |
| • Issue 1011 (2023-03-20): Serpent OS, Security Onion 2.3, Gentoo Live, replacing the scp utility, openSUSE sees surge in downloads, Debian runs elction with one candidate |
| • Issue 1010 (2023-03-13): blendOS 2023.01.26, keeping track of which files a package installs, improved network widget coming to elementary OS, Vanilla OS changes its base distro |
| • Issue 1009 (2023-03-06): Nemo Mobile and the PinePhone, matching the performance of one distro on another, Linux Mint adds performance boosts and security, custom Ubuntu and Debian builds through Cubic |
| • Issue 1008 (2023-02-27): elementary OS 7.0, the benefits of boot environments, Purism offers lapdock for Librem 5, Ubuntu community flavours directed to drop Flatpak support for Snap |
| • Issue 1007 (2023-02-20): helloSystem 0.8.0, underrated distributions, Solus team working to repair their website, SUSE testing Micro edition, Canonical publishes real-time edition of Ubuntu 22.04 |
| • Issue 1006 (2023-02-13): Playing music with UBports on a PinePhone, quick command line and shell scripting questions, Fedora expands third-party software support, Vanilla OS adds Nix package support |
| • Issue 1005 (2023-02-06): NuTyX 22.12.0 running CDE, user identification numbers, Pop!_OS shares COSMIC progress, Mint makes keyboard and mouse options more accessible |
| • Issue 1004 (2023-01-30): OpenMandriva ROME, checking the health of a disk, Debian adopting OpenSnitch, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1003 (2023-01-23): risiOS 37, mixing package types, Fedora seeks installer feedback, Sparky offers easier persistence with USB writer |
| • Issue 1002 (2023-01-16): Vanilla OS 22.10, Nobara Project 37, verifying torrent downloads, Haiku improvements, HAMMER2 being ports to NetBSD |
| • Issue 1001 (2023-01-09): Arch Linux, Ubuntu tests new system installer, porting KDE software to OpenBSD, verifying files copied properly |
| • Issue 1000 (2023-01-02): Our favourite projects of all time, Fedora trying out unified kernel images and trying to speed up shutdowns, Slackware tests new kernel, detecting what is taking up disk space |
| • Issue 999 (2022-12-19): Favourite distributions of 2022, Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releasing security patches for 16.04, Haiku working on new ports |
| • Issue 998 (2022-12-12): OpenBSD 7.2, Asahi Linux enages video hardware acceleration on Apple ARM computers, Manjaro drops proprietary codecs from Mesa package |
| • Issue 997 (2022-12-05): CachyOS 221023 and AgarimOS, working with filenames which contain special characters, elementary OS team fixes delta updates, new features coming to Xfce |
| • Issue 996 (2022-11-28): Void 20221001, remotely shutting down a machine, complex aliases, Fedora tests new web-based installer, Refox OS running on real hardware |
| • Issue 995 (2022-11-21): Fedora 37, swap files vs swap partitions, Unity running on Arch, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for more devices |
| • Issue 994 (2022-11-14): Redcore Linux 2201, changing the terminal font size, Fedora plans Phosh spin, openSUSE publishes on-line manual pages, disabling Snap auto-updates |
| • Issue 993 (2022-11-07): Static Linux, working with just a kernel, Mint streamlines Flatpak management, updates coming to elementary OS |
| • 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.
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| Shells.com |
Your own personal Linux computer in the cloud, available on any device. Supported operating systems include Android, Debian, Fedora, KDE neon, Kubuntu, Linux Mint, Manjaro and Ubuntu, ready in minutes.
Starting at US$4.95 per month, 7-day money-back guarantee
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| Random Distribution | 
SENTINIX
SENTINIX was an operating system (or a so called Linux distribution) designed for monitoring, auditing, intrusion detection and anti-spam. It's completely free; free to use, free to modify and free to distribute. SENTINIX includes the following software installed and pre-configured; Nagios, Nagat, Snort, SnortCenter, ACID, Cacti, RRDTool, Nessus, Postfix, MailScanner, SpamAssassin, openMosix, MySQL, Apache, PHP, Perl, Python and lots more. SENTINIX was shipped with a lot of programs, not all licensed under the same license (e.g. GNU GPL). SENTINIX contains (and will only contain) software whose license has been approved by the Open Source Initiative. Compledge Sentinel was the predecessor of SENTINIX.
Status: Discontinued
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| 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.
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