 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 856, 9 March 2020 |
Welcome to this year's 10th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
Many Linux distributions strive to provide accessible, newcomer-friendly experiences in order to entice new community members away from Windows and macOS. One family of distributions which has long been known for its beginner-friendly approach is Mandriva (formerly Mandrake Linux). Though Mandriva itself is no longer developed, it has spawned multiple community projects, including OpenMandriva. This week Robert Rijkhoff takes OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 for a spin and reports on his experiences with the project. Then we discuss the Ubuntu team making Snap package upgrades smoother and the Kali Linux team publishing new install media with fixes for the setup process. Meanwhile, iXsystems is planning to unite their commercial TrueNAS platform with the community-supported FreeNAS project. Plus we offer tips on sharing a home directory and data files between multiple distributions. Our Opinion Poll this week asks how many of you share a home directory between operating systems and, if you do, we would like to hear how you set up your shared space. We are also pleased to cover the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a terrific week and happy reading!
Content:
- Review: OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 "Mercury"
- News: Ubuntu works on smoother Snap updates, Kali provides refreshed install media, FreeNAS unites with TrueNAS
- Questions and answers: Sharing a home directory between distributions
- Released last week: Linux From Scratch 9.1, Porteus Kiosk 5.0.0, DragonFly BSD 5.8.0
- Torrent corner: Arch Linux, AUSTRUMI, Container, DragonFly BSD, FuryBSD, Kali Linux, KDE Neon, Netrunner, NomadBSD, Obarun, Pardus, Porteus Kiosk, SparkyLinux, Zorin OS
- Upcoming releases: Tails 4.4
- Opinion poll: Sharing a home directory between distributions
- New distributions: Rescuezilla, Openxi
- Reader comments
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (13MB) and MP3 (10MB) formats.
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| Feature Story (by Robert Rijkhoff) |
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 "Mercury"
OpenMandriva Lx, which I will call OpenMandriva from here on, is an independent Linux distro. The project's roots go back to Mandriva Linux, which was a distro produced by Mandriva S.A. The company went under in 2011 but, as is typical for Linux, new distros rose from the ashes, including Mageia and OpenMandriva.
Unlike Mandriva, OpenMandriva is very much a community project. The distro's aim is to provide a free alternative to Windows and macOS and the distro relies on donations to cover expenses. It also appears to be a struggling project. I started my trial on the 4th February, and for pretty much the whole day the OpenMandriva website was down. I sometimes got a "Site under construction" message, while at other times I got a "gateway time-out" error. The next day the home page was showing a "Congratulations, you installed Discourse" message, and after that the site was again either "under construction" or throwing errors. As OpenMandriva 4.1 was released on the 2nd February the timing of the website troubles was unfortunate.
Installation
While the website was down I was able to grab an OpenMandriva ISO image from SourceForge. There are two ISOs: plasma.x86_64 and plasma.znver1. The latter image is optimised for current AMD processors (Ryzen, ThreadRipper and EPYC).
I later learned that SourceForge is the only location from where you can download the latest OpenMandriva version. OpenMandriva's download page does list various mirrors but none of them includes an image for the latest release. There is also a link to torrents, but there is again no torrent for version 4.1.
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- The live desktop environment
(full image size: 618kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
OpenMandriva can be run as a live environment and uses the Calamares installer. I do like Calamares. It looks clean and, for the most part, it works. If you just click "Next, Next, Next" and let the distro take over your entire disk everything will be fine. Calamares does, however, always seem to struggle with encrypting partitions. I had opted to encrypt my system and all seemed to go well. The installer started to perform its magic and I was presented with a little slide show made up of self-congratulatory marketing slogans:
- OpenMandriva, Everybody, Everywhere
- OpenMandriva is innovative
- OpenMandriva is fast
And then the install failed with the message "cryptsetup -s 512 --batch-mode --force-password --type luks1 luksFormat /dev/sda3".
After a bit of digging I found that the solution was to not use a swap partition. My second attempt was successful and I got to see the remaining slides. I learned that OpenMandriva is also "an exciting ground for users and developers", "stable", "mobile" and "unique".
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- Don't use swap and encryption in Calamares
(full image size: 450kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
First impressions
The boot process is far from flicker-free but I got to the login screen fairly quickly - and throughout my trial I would have no issues when it came to performance. I would have various other gripes, and one them is the sound clip that is played when you log in. I don't know why, but I found it annoying, and it didn't help that the clip is about ten seconds long. If you are a fellow opponent of sound clips, the feature can be disabled via System Settings > Notifications > Applications: Configure > Plasma Workspace > Configure Events > Login.
OpenMandriva's Plasma desktop uses a fairly standard layout. There is a taskbar at the bottom of the display with all the usual suspects: an applications menu, application launchers and a system tray. Open applications are displayed in two rows, which feels a little odd. After some poking in the settings I was able to organise the taskbar to my liking. I was even able to tidy up the rather overcrowded system tray.
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- A slightly customised desktop with OM Welcome
(full image size: 520kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
I should also mention "OM Welcome", which is - surprise, surprise - a welcome application. OM Welcome is launched automatically when you log in and features a handful of tabs. The "Features" tab contains information about the kernel, the Plasma desktop and a few applications. The information is presented in a slide show, and each slide is displayed for three seconds. If you aren't proficient at speed reading, you can pause individual slides by putting your cursor on a slide's label.
The "Configure" tab provides shortcuts to various Plasma setting menus (of which there are many) and the "Applications" menu features a selection of curated software, which you can install with the click of a button. You don't get any progress information when you install an application but the software installer works - I managed to install GIMP and Scribus via the Welcome application.
Finally, the "Contribute" tab provides links to various resources, including the OpenMandriva forums and donate page. Four of the eight links on the tab result in a "page not found" error. I suspect that this is because various sections and pages on the website have moved elsewhere - I encountered lots of dead links on the OpenMandriva website as well.
What's cooking?
On the third day of my trial the OpenMandriva website had recovered, and I was able to read the release notes [PDF]. Apart from the usual version updates (Linux kernel 5.5.0, systemd 244, Plasma 5.17.5 etc.) there are a few interesting new features. There are two new tools: om-update-config can be used to configure automatic updates and om-feeling-like is a desktop theme switcher. Also, Zypper has been added as an alternative package manager.
I was missing some basic information in the release notes. It is unclear, for instance, how long OpenMandriva 4.1 will be supported and what the upgrade path from version 4 to 4.1 is.
om-update-config
om-update-config appears in the menu as "Update Configuration" and gives you three options for applying updates:
- Do not install updates automatically
- Download updates automatically, install manually
- Download and install updates automatically
The first option ("do not install updates automatically") is a little unclear, as it doesn't tell you whether or not updates will be downloaded automatically. You can deduce that nothing will be downloaded, as the option would otherwise be identical to "download updates automatically, install manually". Still, a description along the lines of "Manually manage updates" would have made more sense. You shouldn't have to deduce what an option does.
I did not get to test the tool. That is partly because I got very few updates during my trial, and partly because the tool was removed when I uninstalled DNF (I will get to that shortly). I do have a Top Tip related to the tool though: you can run om-config-update from the command line (as root). The utility takes one of three arguments: none, download or install.
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- The Update Configuration tool
(full image size: 442kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
om-feeling-like
om-feeling-like appears in the menu as Desktop Presets. Put simply, with the click of a button you can change the desktop theme. The available flavours are OpenMandriva (the default), Plasma (which is a stock Plasma desktop), Windows 7, Windows 10, Ubuntu and macOS. It is an idea that has been borrowed from Ubuntu MATE, which has a similar desktop layout switcher.
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- The om-feeling-like application
(full image size: 378kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
I tried two themes: macOS and Ubuntu. The macOS theme was fairly nice. I like having a global application menu and I liked the Latte dock. The overall experience wasn't great though. For instance, clicking the OpenMandriva icon opens the menu, which has a semi-transparent background. That might look pretty, but it becomes difficult to navigate the menu when another application is open in the background. When I tried (and failed) to find a setting to change the background I noticed that the global menu also doesn't work as expected: the menu of the Falkon browser would still be displayed when another application had focus.
The Ubuntu theme was much worse and, frankly, looks like a joke. The vertical dock overlaps the top bar and the "Default" button (which is named "Activities" in GNOME); the clock isn't centred properly and you can't open the activities overview using the Super key. The latter might actually be a good thing, as the activities overview looks dreadful.
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- The Ubuntu theme
(full image size: 857kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
I also found that most of the customisations I had made to the default desktop were lost when I switched back to the OpenMandriva theme. I am sure many users will enjoy om-feeling-like, but to me it felt like a beta application that should not have been pre-installed.
Zypper
OpenMandriva uses the DNF package manager, but you can now install Zypper. I felt a little nervous about this. In particular, I wasn't sure if Zypper could be installed alongside DNF, or whether it would be better to replace DNF with Zypper. Having two package managers installed just doesn't feel right.
I decided that it was my duty to take the plunge. As far as I can tell DNF and Zypper can live happily side-by-side (but please don't get angry with me if the experiment turns out to be a disaster for you). I also tested what happens if you uninstall DNF, and that didn't cause any obvious issues either. It is worth mentioning, though, that uninstalling DNF will also remove the above-mentioned om-update-config utility and dnfdragora, which is a graphical front-end for DNF. Removing DNF will also break the software installer in the Welcome application, as clicking on any of the applications executes the command "dnf install --assumeyes ".
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- Using Zypper to uninstall DNF
(full image size: 409kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
Software and the KDE experience
OpenMandriva ships with a fairly large collection of software. I got on well with most applications. The only real issue I encountered was that KMail was broken, but then I have never had much luck with KMail. This time I got the error "Could not convert value of setting 'AccountIdentity' to required type" when I tried to configure an e-mail account. That appears to be a Qt bug.
As an alternative I installed Trojitá. The e-mail client consistently crashed when I clicked on any of the headers in the messages pane (i.e. if you try to sort e-mails by date, sender or subject) but other than that I liked Trojitá. It's minimal, but does the job as an e-mail client on a spare laptop.
The default web browser is Falkon, which comes with a basic ad-blocking extension enabled by default. For some reason OpenMandriva uses a local file (/usr/share/mdk/indexhtml.html) as the default home page. That is odd, as the page redirects to the OpenMandriva website. When you open the browser it will show the local HTML file for a few seconds before you are redirected. Of course, that is easily fixed - Falkon is quite configurable.
The application I liked most was Elisa, which is one of four pre-installed media players. It looks nice and it strikes just the right balance between ease of use and functionality - at least for me.
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- The Elisa music player and digiKam photo manager
(full image size: 468kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
There were a few applications I was missing. Most of them were command line applications, such as pass, moc and newsboat. There were also a few graphical applications I would have liked, including a password manager and podcast player. I could work around these issues by installing pass from source and by adding podcast feeds to Akregator, which is another application I got on with very well.
Discover, which is KDE's software centre, worked better than expected. In the past I never cared much for Discover, but I feel it has improved quite a bit. It was easy to install and remove packages, and I like that it also lets you manage repositories and updates. There were a few bugs though. For instance, Firefox wasn't listed in the category "Web Browsers".
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- Available web browsers, according to Discover
(full image size: 269kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
In general, Plasma pleasantly surprised me. There were a few weird dependencies, such as Marble being tied to KMail. There were a few applications with toolbars on all four sides of the window (digiKam was a notable exception) and my volume keys worked on the login screen. For the most part, things worked and the desktop got out of my way - and when it didn't I was able to tweak the relevant settings.
Plasma on Wayland, which is an available session on the login screen, isn't quite in its prime yet. It mostly worked but there were various minor nibbles. The task switcher, for instance, didn't work. Using Alt-Tab would show me open windows, but I couldn't cycle through them.
Documentation and more website troubles
Even though the OpenMandriva website had recovered I wasn't able to find any useful information on the website. For instance, I was hoping to find some information about proprietary codecs (which seem to be installed by default) and Zypper in the wiki. Unfortunately, the SSL certificate for wiki.openmandriva.org had expired in late December. As they have set up a redirect to always use HTTPS the page could only be accessed by adding an SSL exception in my browser, which I tend not to do.
I wanted to report the expired certificate as a bug. It had been six weeks since the certificate had expired, and nobody seemed to have noticed the issue. The bug tracker, though, was also buggy. After entering my e-mail address I was supposed to be sent an account verification e-mail, but instead I got a blank page.
The wiki got a new Let's Encrypt certificate on the 8th of February. However, to my surprise the wiki was complete empty. The domain showed a "MediaWiki has been installed" message, and there was no content whatsoever. And on that same day I noticed that the SSL certificate for the "downloads" subdomain had expired on the 8th February. Whoever is looking after the website is having a difficult few weeks.
OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 -- The OpenMandriva wiki
(full image size: 472kB, resolution: 1366x768 pixels)
There is another section on the website with documentation. However, it contains very little content and what documentation exists talks about OpenMandriva Lx 3, which was released in 2017. Like the project's website, the documentation doesn't get much love.
Conclusions
I did not like OpenMandriva very much. The project has quite a few issues with its infrastructure and the documentation is in a very poor state. My main issue, though, was that I found the OpenMandriva-specific features rather underwhelming.
That is an unkind conclusion, and I don't enjoy writing negative reviews. But then, the distro aims to be an alternative to Windows and macOS, and I honestly don't think OpenMandriva is that alternative. There are much better distros for both Windows / macOS refugees and KDE-lovers.
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Hardware used for this review
My physical test equipment for this review was a Lenovo Z570 laptop with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Core i3-2350M, 2.3GHz
- Memory: 4GB of RAM
- Wireless network adaptor: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285
- Wired network adaptor: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E 05)
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Visitor supplied rating
OpenMandriva has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.1/10 from 46 review(s).
Have you used OpenMandriva? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Ubuntu works on smoother Snap updates, Kali provides refreshed install media, FreeNAS unites with TrueNAS
Normally, when Snap packages are updated, the experience should be seamless. Assuming all goes well, the user will not notice the shift from one version to the next. However, there are situations when we do not want software to automatically update without warning and Snap packages will soon include the ability to hold back updates when the application is running. Igor Ljubuncic writes: "By design, snaps come with automatic updates, and by default, the update (refresh) frequency check is four times a day. Whenever new application versions are published, they soon become available and propagate to all end-user systems. Normally, the process is transparent and seamless, but there could be exceptions. For instance, if you have an app open and running, an update could be disruptive in the middle of your work. Some developers have asked for an option to inhibit refreshes of snaps while they are running, and this is now a new, experimental feature that you can enable and test on your system." Details on how to test inhibiting Snap updates can be found Ljubuncic's blog post.
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Last month the Kali Linux team published a new version, Kali Linux 2020.1, which introduced a number of important changes in the distribution's system installer. Some users reported problems with the new installer and the team has published new media with an updated installer. The fixed media carries the version number 2020.1a. "Just a quick update to the 2020.1 release we put out last month. We made some major changes to the installers, and some people had a few issues with some of the images we released. So, we made some slight alternations to smooth things out and make the install process easier for everyone." The project's blog post has more information about the updated media.
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The FreeNAS project, along with TrueNAS, are very closely related network attached storage platforms maintained by iXsystems. FreeNAS is a community-supported NAS solution while TrueNAS receives commercial support from iXsystems. The two projects have been growing closer together and will unite later this year. The iXsystems team plans to call the newly merged platforms TrueNAS. FreeNAS will continue under the name TrueNAS CORE while TrueNAS will be referred to as TrueNAS Enterprise. "The only thing changing is the name. FreeNAS will take on the name of TrueNAS CORE. More than just a Free-NAS, TrueNAS CORE is enterprise-quality software-defined storage that can be used without restrictions or cost. It is also the core of the full-fledged enterprise edition, TrueNAS Enterprise, which provides the additional fault-tolerance, performance, and support that businesses and critical applications require."
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Sharing a home directory between distributions
Looking for a place to call home asks: Is it safe to share a home directory between distros? What are the best practises for maintaining one home with two or three or four distros?
DistroWatch answers: It is possible to share the same /home partition (or home directories) between Linux distributions. From a technical side of things there isn't anything which prevents one distribution from mounting the same /home partition used by another distribution [1].
Once the /home partition is mounted though there are some potential problems with sharing the same home folders between distributions. For instance, if your user account has a different identification number (UID) on each system you may run into permission problems. Most distributions start numbering user accounts at 1,000 and go up incrementally, but not all do. If your user IDs start at different points (for example, 500 versus 1,000), or you create your user accounts in a different order on each distribution, then the permissions will not be the same for each account and you may have trouble accessing your own files because they will be associated with different UIDs.
Another problem, and a more common one, is different distributions will have different default settings. They are also likely to run different versions of programs which may save their options in your home directory differently. This can lead to programs not working properly or desktop environments breaking when they do not recognize the settings saved by another version in the same directory. You may also end up overwriting your settings for one distribution when you are working in another.
To get around this, people will often maintain separate home directories for each distribution while maintaining one common space for data files and information that they wish to share between systems. This is typically done by settings up one large, common, shared partition that can be accessed by all distributions. We might call this partition /Data. Under /Data we might have directories like:
jesse/Documents
jesse/Downloads
jesse/Music
guest/Documents
guest/Downloads
In our home directory we can then make symbolic links to this shared /Data directory. Here I remove my distribution's Documents directory and link it to the shared equivalent space in /Data:
cd
rmdir Documents
ln -s /Data/jesse/Documents Documents
Now whenever I save a file in my Documents folder, it goes into the shared partition which can be accessed from each distribution. Meanwhile my configuration files for each distribution remain separate, in my local /home folder rather than in the shared space where they may conflict with my accounts on the other systems.
The key to this approach is making sure you create a large, shared data partition ahead of time, maybe when you install the first distribution. Then you can add as many additional distributions as you wish later, each one having its own home folders. Then each distribution can mount the shared data partition and users can link to the shared storage space.
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1. There is an exception. If you are using a non-standard filesystem or one that is not widely supported across distributions yet, such as ZFS, then it may not mount properly across all distributions. Standard Linux filesystems like ext2/3/4 and XFS are generally supported on all distributions.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Linux From Scratch 9.1
Bruce Dubbs has announced the release of Linux From Scratch (LFS) 9.1 and Beyond Linux From Scratch (BLFS) 9.1, updated versions of the project's books that provides step-by-step instructions on how to build a base Linux system from scratch (using a standard Linux live system): "The Linux From Scratch community is pleased to announce the release of LFS version 9.1, LFS version 9.1 (systemd), BLFS version 9.1, and BLFS version 9.1 (systemd). This release is a major update to both LFS and BLFS. The LFS release includes updates to glibc 2.31, and Binutils 2.34. A total of 35 packages have been updated. A new package, zstd 1.4.4, has also been added. Changes to text have been made throughout the book. The Linux kernel has also been updated to version 5.5.3. BLFS includes approximately 1,000 packages beyond the base Linux From Scratch Version 9.1 book. This release has over 840 updates from the previous version in addition to numerous text and formatting changes." Here is the brief release announcement. The LFS and BLFS books are available for on-line viewing or they can be downloaded in HTML and PDF formats.
Porteus Kiosk 5.0.0
Porteus Kiosk is a lightweight Gentoo-based Linux operating system which has been downscaled and confined to allow the use of one application only - the Firefox web browser. The project's latest release, Porteus Kiosk 5.0.0, offers several package updates and user interface improvements. "I'm pleased to announce that Porteus Kiosk 5.0.0 is now available for download. Major software upgrades in this release include: Linux kernel 5.4.23, Google Chrome 80.0.3987.122 and Mozilla Firefox 68.5.0 ESR. Packages from the userland are upgraded to portage snapshot tagged on 20190908. Short changelog for 5.0.0 release: Added support for setting mouse speed (acceleration) in the system. Its possible to set different number of seconds for every browser tab which is displayed on the kiosk screen. Added support for viewing TIFF files in the Firefox browser. TIFF files are converted to the PDF format first so its possible to open them directly in Firefox. This function requires 'enable_file_protocol=yes' parameter present in the kiosk config. System clock is fetched every day from remote NTP server. It helps the kiosks which are not rebooted for a long time (e.g. 6 months) to retain correct system time." Further information can be found in the project's release announcement.
DragonFly BSD 5.8.0
The DragonFly BSD team has published a new release, version 5.8.0 of the server-oriented operating system. The new version makes it easier for users to compile their own repository of binary packages from ports, addresses some glitches in low-memory situations and improves video driver support. "Big-ticket items: dsynth(1) written and added to base, making it more convenient for users to build their own binary repos for DPorts(7). dsynth is used to build some or all of the DPorts collection, over 25000 third-party packages. It's also working as an informal performance measure, with many of the changes in this release to speed up DragonFly when building multiple dependent packages. Many ports these days seem to assume a greater degree of signal safety for libc function, particularly for malloc(). We have implemented a low-overhead signal masking feature that now allows us to make malloc*() and other related functions signal-safe. A ton of bug fixes, stability work, and usability work has gone into this release. Many niggling little annoyances, such as Chrome/Chromium stuttering when system memory is low, have been fixed. DRM (GPU) support continues to improve slowly but steadily. Significantly improved paging algorithms reduces or eliminates UI/browser glitches in low-memory situations." Further details can be found in the release announcement.
Zorin OS 15.2
Zorin OS is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution designed especially for newcomers to Linux. It has a Windows-like graphical user interface. The project has published a new release, Zorin OS 15.2, which provides both updated hardware support and newer versions of desktop applications. "Today we're introducing Zorin OS 15.2. With this new release, we've focused on refining the foundation of Zorin OS: its core technologies and software stack. This allows us to provide you with an even faster, more secure, and powerful computing experience. Stronger security and hardware compatibility: Many of the built-in system technologies have seen improvements for better security, compatibility, and performance. Zorin OS 15.2 is now powered by Linux Kernel version 5.3, which introduces new security patches, so you can have the peace of mind knowing that you're using the most secure version of Zorin OS ever. In addition, support for even more hardware has been included, such as: AMD Navi GPUs, including the Radeon RX 5700, Intel 10th generation processors, Newer MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards and touchpads." Further details can be found in the project's release announcement.
Zorin OS 15.2 -- Running the Xfce desktop
(full image size: 926kB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
NomadBSD 1.3.1
Marcel Kaiser has announced the release of NomadBSD 1.3.1, an updated build of the project's FreeBSD-based, desktop-oriented operating system featuring the Openbox window manager. This release brings various improvements, but also an increased size of the decompressed image: "We are pleased to present the release of NomadBSD 1.3.1. Changes since 1.3: the base system has been upgraded to FreeBSD 12.1-p2; the automatic network interface setup has been improved - this includes better hardware detection and support for IPv6; the NomadBSD image size has exceeded the 4 GB mark - a Flash drive of 5 GB and above is now required; due to the bigger image size, Claws-mail could be replaced by Thunderbird; the NomadBSD setup now locks all kernel module packages to prevent users from running into problems when upgrading their packages; nomadbsd-chusr, which is a graphical tool for modifying user accounts, has been added; nomadbsd-sysinfo, which is a shell script to collect information about the running system, has been added; Zeroconf via avahi and mdns has been added...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. As usual, NomadBSD is available in the form of IMG files for amd64 and i386 architectures as well as Apple computers.
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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: 1,862
- Total data uploaded: 30.8TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Sharing a home directory between distributions
In this week's Questions and Answers column we talked about sharing a home directory between distributions and some issues to consider when setting up shared storage space. We would like to hear whether you share a home directory on your main computer. Let us know how you share files between operating systems in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on the desktop editions of Solus in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Sharing a home directory
| I share one home directory between distributions: | 73 (5%) |
| I keep separate home directories for settings but share data files: | 259 (18%) |
| I maintain completely separate home directories: | 361 (25%) |
| Other: | 27 (2%) |
| I run only one distro on my computer: | 749 (51%) |
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| Website News (by Jesse Smith) |
Distributions added to waiting list
- Rescuezilla. Rescuezilla is a revival of the Redo Backup & Recovery distribution, now under a new name and with a new maintainer. The project still uses Ubuntu as a base and strives to provide powerful backup and restore options for hard drives and partitions.
- Openxi Linux. Openxi Linux is an Arch Linux-based distribution featuring the GNOME desktop environment.
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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, 16 March 2020. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Article Search page. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
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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 1099 (2024-12-02): AnduinOS 1.0.1, measuring RAM usage, SUSE continues rebranding efforts, UBports prepares for next major version, Murena offering non-NFC phone |
| • Issue 1098 (2024-11-25): Linux Lite 7.2, backing up specific folders, Murena and Fairphone partner in fair trade deal, Arch installer gets new text interface, Ubuntu security tool patched |
| • Issue 1097 (2024-11-18): Chimera Linux vs Chimera OS, choosing between AlmaLinux and Debian, Fedora elevates KDE spin to an edition, Fedora previews new installer, KDE testing its own distro, Qubes-style isolation coming to FreeBSD |
| • Issue 1096 (2024-11-11): Bazzite 40, Playtron OS Alpha 1, Tucana Linux 3.1, detecting Screen sessions, Redox imports COSMIC software centre, FreeBSD booting on the PinePhone Pro, LXQt supports Wayland window managers |
| • Issue 1095 (2024-11-04): Fedora 41 Kinoite, transferring applications between computers, openSUSE Tumbleweed receives multiple upgrades, Ubuntu testing compiler optimizations, Mint partners with Framework |
| • Issue 1094 (2024-10-28): DebLight OS 1, backing up crontab, AlmaLinux introduces Litten branch, openSUSE unveils refreshed look, Ubuntu turns 20
| | • Issue 1093 (2024-10-21): Kubuntu 24.10, atomic vs immutable distributions, Debian upgrading Perl packages, UBports adding VoLTE support, Android to gain native GNU/Linux application support |
| • Issue 1092 (2024-10-14): FunOS 24.04.1, a home directory inside a file, work starts of openSUSE Leap 16.0, improvements in Haiku, KDE neon upgrades its base |
| • Issue 1091 (2024-10-07): Redox OS 0.9.0, Unified package management vs universal package formats, Redox begins RISC-V port, Mint polishes interface, Qubes certifies new laptop |
| • Issue 1090 (2024-09-30): Rhino Linux 2024.2, commercial distros with alternative desktops, Valve seeks to improve Wayland performance, HardenedBSD parterns with Protectli, Tails merges with Tor Project, Quantum Leap partners with the FreeBSD Foundation |
| • Issue 1089 (2024-09-23): Expirion 6.0, openKylin 2.0, managing configuration files, the future of Linux development, fixing bugs in Haiku, Slackware packages dracut |
| • Issue 1088 (2024-09-16): PorteuX 1.6, migrating from Windows 10 to which Linux distro, making NetBSD immutable, AlmaLinux offers hardware certification, Mint updates old APT tools |
| • Issue 1087 (2024-09-09): COSMIC desktop, running cron jobs at variable times, UBports highlights new apps, HardenedBSD offers work around for FreeBSD change, Debian considers how to cull old packages, systemd ported to musl |
| • Issue 1086 (2024-09-02): Vanilla OS 2, command line tips for simple tasks, FreeBSD receives investment from STF, openSUSE Tumbleweed update can break network connections, Debian refreshes media |
| • Issue 1085 (2024-08-26): Nobara 40, OpenMandriva 24.07 "ROME", distros which include source code, FreeBSD publishes quarterly report, Microsoft updates breaks Linux in dual-boot environments |
| • Issue 1084 (2024-08-19): Liya 2.0, dual boot with encryption, Haiku introduces performance improvements, Gentoo dropping IA-64, Redcore merges major upgrade |
| • Issue 1083 (2024-08-12): TrueNAS 24.04.2 "SCALE", Linux distros for smartphones, Redox OS introduces web server, PipeWire exposes battery drain on Linux, Canonical updates kernel version policy |
| • Issue 1082 (2024-08-05): Linux Mint 22, taking snapshots of UFS on FreeBSD, openSUSE updates Tumbleweed and Aeon, Debian creates Tiny QA Tasks, Manjaro testing immutable images |
| • Issue 1081 (2024-07-29): SysLinuxOS 12.4, OpenBSD gain hardware acceleration, Slackware changes kernel naming, Mint publishes upgrade instructions |
| • Issue 1080 (2024-07-22): Running GNU/Linux on Android with Andronix, protecting network services, Solus dropping AppArmor and Snap, openSUSE Aeon Desktop gaining full disk encryption, SUSE asks openSUSE to change its branding |
| • Issue 1079 (2024-07-15): Ubuntu Core 24, hiding files on Linux, Fedora dropping X11 packages on Workstation, Red Hat phasing out GRUB, new OpenSSH vulnerability, FreeBSD speeds up release cycle, UBports testing new first-run wizard |
| • Issue 1078 (2024-07-08): Changing init software, server machines running desktop environments, OpenSSH vulnerability patched, Peppermint launches new edition, HardenedBSD updates ports |
| • Issue 1077 (2024-07-01): The Unity and Lomiri interfaces, different distros for different tasks, Ubuntu plans to run Wayland on NVIDIA cards, openSUSE updates Leap Micro, Debian releases refreshed media, UBports gaining contact synchronisation, FreeDOS celebrates its 30th anniversary |
| • Issue 1076 (2024-06-24): openSUSE 15.6, what makes Linux unique, SUSE Liberty Linux to support CentOS Linux 7, SLE receives 19 years of support, openSUSE testing Leap Micro edition |
| • Issue 1075 (2024-06-17): Redox OS, X11 and Wayland on the BSDs, AlmaLinux releases Pi build, Canonical announces RISC-V laptop with Ubuntu, key changes in systemd |
| • Issue 1074 (2024-06-10): Endless OS 6.0.0, distros with init diversity, Mint to filter unverified Flatpaks, Debian adds systemd-boot options, Redox adopts COSMIC desktop, OpenSSH gains new security features |
| • Issue 1073 (2024-06-03): LXQt 2.0.0, an overview of Linux desktop environments, Canonical partners with Milk-V, openSUSE introduces new features in Aeon Desktop, Fedora mirrors see rise in traffic, Wayland adds OpenBSD support |
| • Issue 1072 (2024-05-27): Manjaro 24.0, comparing init software, OpenBSD ports Plasma 6, Arch community debates mirror requirements, ThinOS to upgrade its FreeBSD core |
| • Issue 1071 (2024-05-20): Archcraft 2024.04.06, common command line mistakes, ReactOS imports WINE improvements, Haiku makes adjusting themes easier, NetBSD takes a stand against code generated by chatbots |
| • Issue 1070 (2024-05-13): Damn Small Linux 2024, hiding kernel messages during boot, Red Hat offers AI edition, new web browser for UBports, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 released, Qubes extends support for version 4.1 |
| • Issue 1069 (2024-05-06): Ubuntu 24.04, installing packages in alternative locations, systemd creates sudo alternative, Mint encourages XApps collaboration, FreeBSD publishes quarterly update |
| • Issue 1068 (2024-04-29): Fedora 40, transforming one distro into another, Debian elects new Project Leader, Red Hat extends support cycle, Emmabuntus adds accessibility features, Canonical's new security features |
| • Issue 1067 (2024-04-22): LocalSend for transferring files, detecting supported CPU architecure levels, new visual design for APT, Fedora and openSUSE working on reproducible builds, LXQt released, AlmaLinux re-adds hardware support |
| • Issue 1066 (2024-04-15): Fun projects to do with the Raspberry Pi and PinePhone, installing new software on fixed-release distributions, improving GNOME Terminal performance, Mint testing new repository mirrors, Gentoo becomes a Software In the Public Interest project |
| • Issue 1065 (2024-04-08): Dr.Parted Live 24.03, answering questions about the xz exploit, Linux Mint to ship HWE kernel, AlmaLinux patches flaw ahead of upstream Red Hat, Calculate changes release model |
| • Issue 1064 (2024-04-01): NixOS 23.11, the status of Hurd, liblzma compromised upstream, FreeBSD Foundation focuses on improving wireless networking, Ubuntu Pro offers 12 years of support |
| • Issue 1063 (2024-03-25): Redcore Linux 2401, how slowly can a rolling release update, Debian starts new Project Leader election, Red Hat creating new NVIDIA driver, Snap store hit with more malware |
| • Issue 1062 (2024-03-18): KDE neon 20240304, changing file permissions, Canonical turns 20, Pop!_OS creates new software centre, openSUSE packages Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1061 (2024-03-11): Using a PinePhone as a workstation, restarting background services on a schedule, NixBSD ports Nix to FreeBSD, Fedora packaging COSMIC, postmarketOS to adopt systemd, Linux Mint replacing HexChat |
| • Issue 1060 (2024-03-04): AV Linux MX-23.1, bootstrapping a network connection, key OpenBSD features, Qubes certifies new hardware, LXQt and Plasma migrate to Qt 6 |
| • Issue 1059 (2024-02-26): Warp Terminal, navigating manual pages, malware found in the Snap store, Red Hat considering CPU requirement update, UBports organizes ongoing work |
| • Issue 1058 (2024-02-19): Drauger OS 7.6, how much disk space to allocate, System76 prepares to launch COSMIC desktop, UBports changes its version scheme, TrueNAS to offer faster deduplication |
| • Issue 1057 (2024-02-12): Adelie Linux 1.0 Beta, rolling release vs fixed for a smoother experience, Debian working on 2038 bug, elementary OS to split applications from base system updates, Fedora announces Atomic Desktops |
| • Issue 1056 (2024-02-05): wattOS R13, the various write speeds of ISO writing tools, DSL returns, Mint faces Wayland challenges, HardenedBSD blocks foreign USB devices, Gentoo publishes new repository, Linux distros patch glibc flaw |
| • Issue 1055 (2024-01-29): CNIX OS 231204, distributions patching packages the most, Gentoo team presents ongoing work, UBports introduces connectivity and battery improvements, interview with Haiku developer |
| • Issue 1054 (2024-01-22): Solus 4.5, comparing dd and cp when writing ISO files, openSUSE plans new major Leap version, XeroLinux shutting down, HardenedBSD changes its build schedule |
| • Issue 1053 (2024-01-15): Linux AI voice assistants, some distributions running hotter than others, UBports talks about coming changes, Qubes certifies StarBook laptops, Asahi Linux improves energy savings |
| • Issue 1052 (2024-01-08): OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, keeping shell commands running when theterminal closes, Mint upgrades Edge kernel, Vanilla OS plans big changes, Canonical working to make Snap more cross-platform |
| • Issue 1051 (2024-01-01): Favourite distros of 2023, reloading shell settings, Asahi Linux releases Fedora remix, Gentoo offers binary packages, openSUSE provides full disk encryption |
| • Issue 1050 (2023-12-18): rlxos 2023.11, renaming files and opening terminal windows in specific directories, TrueNAS publishes ZFS fixes, Debian publishes delayed install media, Haiku polishes desktop experience |
| • Issue 1049 (2023-12-11): Lernstick 12, alternatives to WINE, openSUSE updates its branding, Mint unveils new features, Lubuntu team plans for 24.04 |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • 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 |
| • 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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| Random Distribution | 
Crunchbangplusplus
Crunchbangplusplus, a continuation of CrunchBang Linux which was discontinued in 2015, is a minimalist distribution based on the latest stable Debian release while featuring the lightweight Openbox window manager. It is available for both i686 and x86_64 processor architectures.
Status: Active
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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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