 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 959, 14 March 2022 |
Welcome to this year's 11th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
The creation of new Linux distributions is often more about exploring differences in design and philosophy than in technology. While many distributions share similar applications, desktops, and libraries, they can provide entirely dissimilar experiences due to the way these technologies are presented. This week we begin with a look at a distribution which seems fairly standard at first, but which features an unusual approach to software upgrades. Read on to learn more about the Hos OS project. Also on the topic of upgrades, this week's Questions and Answers column talks about getting new packages onto a machine which is not connected to the Internet. Do you have any computers which run entirely off-line? Let us know about it in this week's Opinion Poll. In our News section we share progress involved in getting OpenBSD running on M1-powered Apple computers and changes occurring in FreeBSD. We also report on Haiku gaining the ability to use wireless USB connections while DragonFly BSD migrates its packages from LibreSSL to OpenSSL. Plus we are pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a fantastic week and happy reading!
Content:
|
| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
The curious case of Hos OS 3.1
While browsing the DistroWatch Waiting List I occasionally find projects which show strong promise and some which have already been abandoned by the time I get a chance to look at them. Then there are other projects which catch my attention for doing something weird - not necessary good or bad, just against the normal grain. Finding these unusual projects is like walking through a park and coming across a statue of an octopus riding a giant moth into battle. Whether you like the look of the statue or not, it raises questions as to why it exists. This was my reaction to Hos OS.
On the surface, Hos OS appears to be fairly normal. The distribution is based on Ubuntu. It ships with the Openbox window manager, the Chromium web browser, LibreOffice, and Snap support. The distribution is built for 64-bit (x86_64) machines exclusively and aims to provide convenient desktop features while running a lightweight window manager. Apart from the website's retro look and the project's pixel-art style icon, the distribution looks like a regular Ubuntu spin. At first.
The more I looked at the website though the more unusual things started to reveal themselves. For instance, Hos OS ships with very few desktop applications and uses a super lightweight window manager, but the ISO is a large (3.5GB) download. I figured perhaps this was a side effect of shipping with multiple Snap applications.
The next thing which stood out was the download page mentions there are options for downloading updates to version 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4. However, the only ISO available is for Hos OS 3.1. This made me wonder what the updates available for download were. A closer look revealed the updates are Zip files. Each Zip file contains a documentation file and a simple shell script. The shell script just installs a package or two and downloads available package updates from the Ubuntu repositories.
The update instructions provide a seven step process for downloading the update file, unpacking it, marking the script with executable permission, and running it in a terminal. This is somewhat further complicated by the file names containing spaces. The entire seven step process could be replaced by asking people to run "sudo apt update; sudo apt upgrade; sudo apt install <new-package>" To me this seems a lot easier than the lengthy process laid out on the website and it wouldn't require downloading extra packages from the distribution's website.
Live media
The Hos OS media begins by presenting us with a boot menu. From the menu we can take the live desktop option or launch the system installer. The distribution's live session boots to a graphical login screen where we are asked for the password for the "Hos OS" user. The project's documentation tells us the live password is "hos".
The Openbox environment is set up with a transparent panel across the top of the screen. This panel holds the application menu, task switcher, and system tray. At the bottom of the display we find a dock which can be used to launch a file manager, the Chromium web browser, a text editor, and a virtual terminal.
When I first signed in, the snapd (Snap daemon) process was using up a lot of my CPU resources. However, after a minute or two it calmed down. Once it did, the Openbox environment was pleasantly responsive.
Hos OS 3.1 -- Trying to change the theme of the live session
(full image size: 234kB, resolution: 1536x864 pixels)
After a little looking around I decided to run the system installer. I couldn't find a way to do this from the live media and rebooted to select the installer from the distribution's boot menu. At this point I found out clicking the power button on the panel immediately reboots the computer without warning or delay, so it's best to be careful when clicking around the system tray.
System installer
The system installer is quite different from Ubuntu's Ubiquity installer or Calamares. It is a graphical application with just two screens. This is yet another way in which Hos OS is unusual. The installer begins by asking us to make up a username and password for ourselves. We can also optionally make up a password for the root account. The second screen handles partitioning. The layout of the partition manager is a little limited compared to other modern installers. However, using it I could set up partitions and assign them both mount points and filesystems. Only the Btrfs, ext4, ext3, and ext2 filesystems are supported. We can create a swap partition, but we specify its purpose by assigning it the mount point of "SWAP" rather than setting its filesystem type.
The installer starts to copy its files to the hard drive, but eventually fails. When it stops it reports an error: "System installation is aborted. There has been critical changes in the filesystem during this operation." I went back and tried the installer again and it failed in the same way.
I next tried to verify the ISO I had downloaded was uncorrupted. Here I ran into a new hurdle. As far as I could tell there was no checksum published on the Hos OS website and the ISO file is not signed. The parent distribution (Ubuntu) performs automatic verification of the media (a self-test), but this looks to have been disabled on the Hos OS media.
I had started my trial in a VirtualBox environment and shifted to trying Hos OS on my laptop. The distribution did not boot on my laptop. Looking into this further (in both test environments) it appears the distribution is unable to boot in UEFI mode and can only be launched in Legacy BIOS mode, which is fairly crippling in this case. The remainder of my exploration took place in a VirtualBox environment.
Applications
Hos OS ships with a fairly small collection of desktop software. Looking through the application menu we find the Chromium web browser (version 91), the PCManFM file manager, gedit, the VLC media player, and LibreOffice 6.4, The distribution also provides Rhythmbox, a calendar, and the Cheese webcam utility. The game 2048 is also installed
Hos OS 3.1 -- Exploring the application menu
(full image size: 375kB, resolution: 1536x864 pixels)
We find more software available in the background. Hos OS ships with the GNU Compiler Collection, Java, a full range of command line applications, manual pages, the systemd init software, and version 5.4.0 of the Linux kernel.
Most of the applications included look to be traditional Deb packages, though the web browser, VLC, and 2048 are all Snap packages.
Software management
Hos OS offers two approaches to working with software. The first is classic Deb packages which can be accessed through the APT command line programs. APT pulls in software from the Ubuntu repositories and a collection of personal package archives (PPAs). I tried running APT and found that it would fail when trying to sync with remote repositories because some of the PPAs are no longer valid. This causes APT commands to fail due to missing information.
The other approach is to use Snap packages, either with the snap command line program or through the Snap Store application. Snap Store is the name Hos OS assigns Ubuntu Software. Ubuntu Software is divided into three tabs for browsing available software, managing installed items, and fetching updates.
Hos OS 3.1 -- The Ubuntu Software centre
(full image size: 180kB, resolution: 1536x864 pixels)
I found that trying to perform any action, whether it was fetching information on an available package, updating a package, or listing installed packages would cause the Snap software to lock up and fail to return any results. On the command line snap would simply pause, never responding. This happened when running snap as either a regular user or as the root user.
Maybe the Snap issues were specific to the live media, but it prevented me from properly seeing what I could accomplish with the available Snap packages.
Conclusions
At first glance Hos OS looked to be a simple concept: Ubuntu with the GNOME desktop swapped out in favour of a customized Openbox environment. This idea appealed to me as I like the idea of Ubuntu's LTS stability combined with the base distribution's hardware support and a lighter user interface.
While Hos OS is indeed light in memory (it used less than 300MB of RAM sitting idle in the Openbox live session) and it is gentle on the CPU, that is where the appeal stopped. Hos OS uses an unusual installer which did not work for me, it couldn't boot on UEFI-enabled hardware, and both package managers (APT and Snap) had problems with their configurations which made installing new software and updates a challenge.
Hos OS 3.1 -- Running APT and the PCManFM
(full image size: 458kB, resolution: 1536x864 pixels)
The distribution doesn't appear to offer checksums, signed media, or to have left the live media's self-check in place so it's difficult to determine whether problems are the result of corruption or poor implementation. To top it off, Hos OS uses a strange system installer rather than the tried and true Ubiquity or Calamares installers which might have solved the initial setup problem.
What is really weird though is the developers' insistence of using update scripts, which are shipped in Zip files, which simply run the usual APT update commands. This adds several unnecessary steps to the update process and appears to offer no benefit and I cannot find any explanation for this bizarre move on the Hos OS website.
In short, Hos OS is a strange, curiously designed distribution where not much works. I like the look of the Openbox session, but everything else on the distribution seems to be broken or set up to be overly complicated.
* * * * *
My physical test equipment for this review was an HP DY2048CA laptop with the following
specifications:
- Processor: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
- Display: Intel integrated video
- Storage: Western Digital 512GB solid state drive
- Memory: 8GB of RAM
- Wireless network device: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + BT Wireless network card
|
| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
OpenBSD runs on M1 chips, FreeBSD publishes status report, Haiku gains wireless USB support, DragonFly BSD swaps LibreSSL for OpenSSL in package builds
A few weeks ago we reported on the Asahi Linux project getting Linux packages running on Apple's M1-powered computers. The OpenBSD operating system is also making progress on the young line of Mac computers. A Reddit thread links to a screenshot which shows OpenBSD running the Xfce desktop on an M1-powered computer. It is likely more projects will gradually gain support for the M1 chips which promise an improved balance of performance and energy savings.
* * * * *
The FreeBSD team have published their quarterly status report which details progress being made in all aspects of the project. The FreeBSD developers have been working on improving boot times, introducing new and improved drivers, and implementing randomized memory locations. "Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) is an exploit mitigation technique implemented in the majority of modern operating systems. It involves randomly positioning the base address of an executable and the position of libraries, heap, and stack, in a process's address space. Although over the years ASLR proved to not guarantee full OS security on its own, this mechanism can make exploitation more difficult. The Semihalf team made an effort to switch on the address map randomization for PIE (Position Independent Executables) & non-PIE 64-bit binaries. Once the patch was merged to HEAD, the ASLR feature became enabled for all 64-bit architectures." The report offers many more details.
* * * * *
The Haiku team have published a status report for the development work going into their BeOS-inspired operating system. The project has made some strides forward in terms of ARM support and hardware drivers. One of the important talking points is support for USB-attached wireless networking cards. "That's right, after many years of being requested, Haiku finally has support for USB WiFi devices! (Currently only Realtek controllers are supported, but Ralink and others should follow before too long; Realtek/'RTL' chips are generally the most common, however.) waddlesplash had started experimenting with these as early as 2018, but ran into problems in the USB stack (and also confusion about how FreeBSD's USB APIs mapped on to Haiku's.) Now, after having stabilized the XHCI (USB3) support and made Haiku's USB stack more robust, it was time to have a look at this again; and now it has been completed and merged into the nightlies (but not before it uncovered a few last bugs in Haiku's USB subsystems.)" The activity report has further details.
* * * * *
The DragonFly BSD team have announced the availability of a new snapshot of binary packages for their operating system. These binary packages (build from the project's ports tree) provide quick access to third-party software. One notable change is the migration from LibreSSL to the OpenSSL cryptography library. "We have switched from LibreSSL to OpenSSL as default in DPorts. If you're upgrading from anything prior 2021Q4, you'll have to make sure that you don't have both SSL libraries installed."
* * * * *
These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
|
| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Getting updates without network connection
Going-off-line asks: I have an old Sony Vaio that I want to use as a media playback system. My challenge is that the Sony Vaio doesn't have a working network interface card. Do you know of a Linux distribution that comes with all the codecs pre-installed that will work with VLC? Another option would be to install the codecs and their dependencies post installation if possible. Microsoft Windows used to have an option whereby you could download updates to a floppy or a USB stick and install them that way. Does Linux have that same capability?
DistroWatch answers: The good news, in this case, is that most of the desktop-oriented distributions, apart from the commercially backed ones, will include multimedia codecs. Basically this means projects such as openSUSE, Fedora, and Ubuntu and some direct descendants of Ubuntu like Linux Mint won't include a full range of multimedia codecs if you install them off-line.
However, I think you'll find a lot of the beginner-friendly, desktop distributions offer media codecs when installed in off-line mode. I suspect you'll discover Manjaro, MX Linux, Linux Lite and Solus ship with codecs and most of these will probably also be able to play DVDs out of the box.
As for fetching package updates and installing them from a USB stick, you can do this. Though it will require some manual work. You'll want to get a list of package names that are currently installed on your distribution. Then visit the on-line repositories of your distribution and download the latest version of the packages. There are a number of ways to do this and the method will vary from one distribution to the next. It'll involve some manual work because there is no way for the on-line repository to know which packages you have installed and you'll probably want to talk to people on your distribution's support forum about scripting the process.
Once you have downloaded the updated packages from your distribution's web-based repository you can transfer the files to a USB drive and then use your package manager to install them all. Most Linux package manages can install a batch of new packages from local media, though this process differs a bit for each distribution.
In short, you can do off-line updates, but it'll require manual work (or script writing) as you'll need to make a list of packages you have installed, track down each update in the repository, save them to a USB stick, and then install the packages on the off-line computer. Our page on package management may help.
Something you may want to consider is whether you need to install software updates. If your computer doesn't have an Internet connection and no untrusted people are using the computer, will you benefit from installing updates? Usually updates are installed to improve security, especially with a focus of guarding against remote attackers. If your computer is always off-line you may not need most updates.
Something else to think about is you may find it easier to get a USB-connected wireless card for your computer and work on-line. Not all wireless USB networking cards are compatible with Linux, but there are some available. The Think Penguin website has some and I've had good experiences when dealing with them. This would cost under $40 USD and probably save a lot of time trying to maintain the operating system. The USB wireless card would give you easier access to both updates and codecs.
* * * * *
Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
|
| Released Last Week |
SparkyLinux 2022.03
SparkyLinux is a Debian-based distribution with a wide range of editions. The project's semi-rolling branch has published a new snapshot, SparkyLinux 2022.03. The new release offers a number of desktop software upgrades and changes the way repositories are signed. The release announcement reports: "Sparky 2022.03 of the (semi-)rolling line is out, which is based on Debian testing Bookworm. The new ISO images provide: all packages upgraded as of March 6, 2022; Linux kernel 5.16.11 (5.16.12 and 5.17-rc7 in Sparky unstable repos); Calamares 3.2.53; Firefox 96.0.3 (firefox-sparky 98.0 and firefox-esr-sparky 91.7.0esr (Mozilla builds) available in Sparky repos); Thunderbird 91.6.1; LibreOffice 7.3.1 RC1; added a dock-like vala-panel with custom config which provides favorite apps launcher on the left side of your desktop (via 'sparky-launcher' package); small improvements. Sparky changed a way of signig its repos, the latest update of 'sparky-apt' and 'sparky-apt-unstable' packages fixes it; Sparky's wiki page lets you do that manually."
LibreELEC 10.0.2
An updated version of LibreELEC, a specialist, multi-platoform Linux distribution featuring the Kodi media centre, has been released. The project's 10.0.2 snapshot updates Kodi to version 19.4: "The final version of LibreELEC 10.0.2 has been released, bringing Kodi 'Matrix' 19.4 to our users. Users of LibreELEC 10 beta or RC1 get an automatic update to the final version. LibreELEC 9.2 setups will not be automatically updated, you will need to manually update. We can offer stable and good working versions for Allwinner, Generic and Rockchip devices. The RPi4 is also in good shape but the codebase is rather new, so it is not polished yet. New at the 10.0.2 release is the support for the RPi2 and RPi3. Changes since 10.0.1: update Kodi to 19.4; several minor package updates; support for RPi2, RPi3; RPi deinterlacing support; RPi CM4 NVME support; RPi4 support for 10/12bit video output; RPi fixes blank screen at some setups; RPi multiple decoder fixes. There are no Raspberry Pi 0-1 releases for LE10.0. The RPi graphic drivers are still in progress of a complete rewrite; additionally, the current development is focused on RPi 4." Continue to the release announcement for further details and known issues.
Zorin OS 16.1
The Zorin OS team has published a new update to the distribution's 16.x series. The latest version, Zorin OS 16.1, includes new hardware support and a new version of LibreOffice for additional document compatibility. "Many built-in system technologies have seen improvements for better security, compatibility, and performance. Zorin OS 16.1 introduces new security patches out of the box, so you can have peace of mind knowing that you're using the most secure version of Zorin OS ever. In addition, there's even better support for hardware such as: Newer NVIDIA graphics cards including the RTX 3050; Framework Laptop; Apple Magic Mouse 2; Sony PlayStation 5 DualSense controller; Intel Core 12th generation processors; Epson, HP, Canon, Fuji Xerox, DYMO, and other printers; more Wi-Fi and audio hardware. The Zorin OS 16 release series will continue to be supported with software updates and security patches until April 2025." The release announcement offers additional details.
Zorin OS 16.1 -- Exploring the application menu
(full image size: 1.4MB, resolution: 1920x1080 pixels)
IPFire 2.27 Core 164
The IPFire distribution is a minimal operating system intended for use on firewalls and routers. The project's latest release includes a new kernel (with Dirty Pipe fixes) along with a number of improvements to the firewall management software. "This update brings a couple of improvements for IPFire's firewall engine. Dropping any hostile traffic: Our IPFire Location Database contains a list of networks that are considered 'hostile' - a network nobody under any circumstance wants to communicate with at all like bullet-proof internet service providers or stolen/hijacked address space. This is enabled by default on new installations, but left disabled in this update. We strongly recommend for everyone to enable this on the Firewall Options page. Read more in a special post. A better source routing validation is being performed: The firewall will now reject any packets from systems that it cannot reach according to its own routing table. Packets that are not recognised by the connection tracking (because they might belong to an invalid connection) are now being logged to help with any debugging." Additional information is available in the project's release announcement.
* * * * *
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
|
| 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: 2,696
- Total data uploaded: 41.7TB
|
| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
|
Summary of expected upcoming releases
|
| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Working off-line
In our Questions and Answers column this week we talked about adding packages to a computer which does not have direct access to the Internet. These days it is rare to find computers which work entirely off-line as most devices are connected to one network or another. Do you currently run any computers which do not connect to a network or the Internet? If you do, let us know what you use these computers for in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on package managers which can revert changes in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
|
Do any of your computers run off-line?
| All my computers run on-line: | 1023 (70%) |
| I have a mixture of on-line and off-line machines: | 397 (27%) |
| I borrowed a machine to say all my computers run off-line: | 38 (3%) |
|
|
| Website News |
Updating package links for modern browsers
In October of last year we talked about how we were working to bring links for recent package releases up to date with the protocols expected by modern web browsers. In short, when DistroWatch got started many projects still used FTP as the preferred way to transfer package files. These days many modern browsers no longer support FTP, even though some open source projects continue to use the aging protocol as their default method of sharing new versions of their software.
This week we completed shifting the download links on our Packages page to HTTP and HTTPS protocols, doing away with the need to use a browser compatible with FTP or a dedicated FTP client.
* * * * *
DistroWatch database summary
* * * * *
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 21 March 2022. 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)
|
|
| Tip Jar |
If you've enjoyed this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly, please consider sending us a tip.
(Tips this week: 2, value: US$84.67) |
|
|
|
 bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx  lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr  86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le paypal.me/distrowatchweekly • patreon.com/distrowatch |
|
| Extended Lifecycle Support by TuxCare |
|
|
|
| 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.
|
| Archives |
| • 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 |
| • 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 |
| • 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.
|
| Random Distribution | 
All in One - System Rescue Toolkit
All in One - System Rescue Toolkit (AiO) was a live desktop distribution designed to rescue systems, recover files and reset Windows passwords. AIO was based on Lubuntu and ships with several rescue utilities for use by repair technicians and system administrations.
Status: Discontinued
|
| 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.
|
|
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
0x969CD4E778C7b6549A2B00e34114e0168c86A542 
