 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1110, 24 February 2025 |
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Welcome to this year's 8th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
What makes open source operating systems, such as Linux distributions, special is how they shift the balance of power in the computing world. With commercial software and commercial operating systems the majority of the power lies with the vendors. They are the only ones who get to read the source code, they are the only ones able to fix bugs in the system, they are the only ones legally allowed to distribute the software and any security patches for it. The software is purchased by the user, but controlled by the vendor. This balance is corrected with open source platforms as the user is able to audit, modify, and share the software running on their computer, making sure it works in their own best interest. This week we talk a lot about privacy, about security, and about platforms (especially mobile platforms) designed to work for the user rather than for the company who sold the product.
We begin with a look at the iodeOS mobile operating system. iodeOS is a branch of the LineageOS family which offers a more open and more privacy-protecting flavour of Android. The iodeOS platform also ships with a special service for tracking which applications are trying to spy on you and for whom. In our News section we discuss Tails trying to further protect privacy through updated install instructions while Murena begins selling its first privacy-focused tablet. Meanwhile Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, specifically RISC-V, while openSUSE is verifying packages with reproducible builds. We also report on Arch retiring old repositories which are no longer in use. Then, for our readers who are interested in programming and helping to improve open source software, we share tips to help people get started programming in our Questions and Answers column. Do you already know how to write code? Let us know in this week's Opinion Poll. 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!
This week's DistroWatch Weekly is presented by TUXEDO Computers.
Content:
- Review: iodeOS 6.0
- News: Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale
- Questions and answers: Learning to program and improve Linux
- Released last week: Ubuntu 24.04.2, Qubes OS 4.2.4, NuTyX 25.02.5
- Torrent corner: Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Qubes OS, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Unity, Xubuntu
- Upcoming releases: FreeBSD 13.5-RC1
- Opinion poll: Do you know how to write software?
- Site news: Donations and sponsors
- Reader comments
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| Feature Story (By Jesse Smith) |
iodeOS 6.0
This week I'd like to talk about a mobile operating system called iodeOS. The project's website shares a succinct summary of what we can expect from this operating system:
iodéOS is an Android based Operating System freed from Google trackers. iodéOS analyses in real-time connection attempts from your apps and allows you to:
- see the identities of all recipients and the quantity of data they wish to collect
- block (if you want) malicious recipients (advertisements, malware, spams, statistics and trackers)
- measure how privacy-respectful your apps are.
Details on these features are discussed on the website.
Perhaps the biggest question I had while reading the documentation (where I learned iodeOS devices are not rooted) was how to pronounce "iode". According to a video on the project's website, it sounds similar to "Yoda", with a softer start.
The iode project not only provides a system installer and images for several Android devices, it also sustains itself by selling refurbished phones with iodeOS pre-installed. This gives users an easy way to use iodeOS without needing to learn how to flash a new operating system to their phones. The project also sells subscriptions to additional filters and parental controls to help people keep their devices free of adware, trackers, and content inappropriate for minors.
The iode team were kind enough to send me a demo device, a Pixel 6, with iodeOS pre-installed. The device arrived in a nice box which was decorated with a list of key features. For instance, the text on the box points out iodeOS is a Google-free flavour of Android, that ad and tracker blockers are included, there is an app to audit our connections, and the organization reduces electronic waste by selling refurbished phones.
The Pixel 6 and its iode packaging
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The box contained the Pixel 6, a protective case with "iode" written on it, and a USB charging cable. There was no booklet or instructions, but I figure this makes sense. It's unlikely many people would be tech savvy enough to seek out a de-Googled, privacy-protecting phone, but not know how to plug one in or find its power button.
Once I'd powered on the phone it displayed a brief "Powered by Lineage" message, giving a nod to the work done by the LineageOS project. We are then walked through the typical Android setup steps. These include connecting to a wireless network, optionally enabling push notifications (we're warned if we enable push notifications it will result in sending data through Google), and picking our timezone from a list. We're given the chance to restore a backup of the mobile operating system from a variety of local and remote sources, and asked if we'd like to enable GPS/location services. We can then optionally set a PIN to protect the phone and select whether we want to use a light or dark theme. Finally, we're asked if we'd like to navigate through apps using three buttons on the screen (which is the default), two buttons, or swiping gestures.
The default font is a little small on the Pixel's screen, but the process is smooth and pretty straightforward. We're shown a welcome screen which provides quick access to some screens in the Settings app (including a screen where we can browse a list pre-installed apps) and then we get to explore the iodeOS interface.
When I first started using iodeOS my device was running version 5.8 of the operating system, which is based on Android 14. As I'll mention later, one of the first actions I took was applying an over the air (OTA) update which gave me iodeOS 6.0, which is based on Android 15.
iodeOS 6.0 -- The home screen
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Early impressions
iodeOS uses a home screen (or launcher screen) program called Trebuchet. By default, it displays two screens where we can place launcher icons and widgets. Across the bottom of the display are five icons that have been pinned in place. These icons launch the phone app, the SMS messenger program, the contacts app, a web browser (a re-branded Firefox), and the camera app. There are other icons spread across the two pages of the launcher which offer us software centres, settings, system updates, a photo gallery, a media player, a calendar, and an app which supplies us with project news. Tapping this last icon opens a news feed from iode and tells us about new updates. There is also an app called iode which I will discuss in depth later.
iodeOS 6.0 -- The iode dashboard
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The operating system includes several more applications, including an e-mail client, a weather forecast reporter, a calculator, and a file manager. These can be found by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to pull up an app drawer. We can then launch programs from the drawer or drag their icons onto the home screen.
The iode app
The main feature of iodeOS, the gem which sets it apart from other members of the Android/LineageOS family, is an app called iode. This application handles monitoring and filtering network connections between the phone's software and the outside world. The iode app is divided into five screens or tabs.
The first screen is called Home and it displays a dashboard, giving us an overview of how many trackers it has blocked from phoning home or otherwise accessing the Internet. This dash is organized into five sections. At the top of the screen we find a power button which toggles the blocking software on/off. The blocking feature is enabled by default.
Next we can filter information on the screen by time periods, showing statistics for the current day, the current week, or for all time.
Next we find a readout telling us how many trackers have been blocked. Then there is a display which counts Apps monitored under Standard or Reinforced blocking. Finally, at the bottom of the page, we find the tabs for accessing additional data, options, and statistics. The remaining pages of the iode app are quite extensive and I'd like to just touch on the highlights of what each one offers.
By the way, most of the apps which ship with iodeOS are well behaved. To properly test the blocking software, I downloaded a few extras - a social media app and a toy remote control app which I suspected would provide me with proper test data. I was not disappointed.
The second tab is called Report and it shows us a list of apps which have accessed the network and which of them are using trackers. This allows us to quickly identify which apps are the worst spies.
iodeOS 6.0 -- Tracking the trackers
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The third tab is called Stream. Here we can see which remote servers our apps have tried to contact. We can then choose to block or allow connections to a selected server, either for one app or all apps.
Map is the name of the fourth tab. It shows us how much data is being sent to servers in various countries. We can tap a country's name to see the servers our phone is talking to in that region. We can also see which apps were trying to contact the remote servers and how much data was sent.
iodeOS 6.0 -- Watching where our data is going
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The final tab, Settings, covers more advanced options. This tab enables us to block or allow specific apps. Some of these settings are available only to subscribed iode users (which costs 3.99 Euro/month). However, we can enable/disable blocking on a per-app basis from this screen for free. We can also block apps from connecting over certain network connections. For example, we might want to block system updates over mobile connections and allow it only over wi-fi. This could enforce rules for updating or syncing over specific connections.
Everything in the iode app worked well for me. I especially liked being able to cut off any/all Internet connection for some apps and block others from using mobile data.
iodeOS 6.0 -- Limiting app network access
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Software centres
iodeOS ships with two software centres: Aurora for anonymously accessing apps in the Google Play store and F-Droid for accessing open source apps. Both of these software centres worked well for me. I particularly liked how Aurora could show a changelog of any app updates right on the update screen by tapping a button.
These two software centres mostly look and act the same, with minor variations, and are pleasantly easy to navigate.
iodeOS 6.0 -- The F-Droid software centre
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Updating the system
Earlier I mentioned that I updated iodeOS from version 5.8 to 6.0 on my first day of playing with the operating system. An update appeared on my screen announcing the new version. I was able to tap the Updater icon on the desktop to see the new version, its release date, and size. The new 6.0 update also upgraded the base system from Android 14 to version 15. All that I had to do was tap a button to download the update and then tap another to indicate I was ready to restart the phone. The process was smooth and painless.
Updates to iodeOS appear to be approximately 1.5GB in size, which is about what I've seen recently from other members of the LineageOS family.
iodeOS 6.0 -- The settings panel
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Other observations
I'd like to share a few other observations from my time experimenting with iodeOS and the Pixel 6. For example, the Pixel 6 can charge both through a wired connection and wirelesses, which is convenient.
There is a clock widget on the home screen. Going into this widget's settings presents us with options for changing the background of the widget, the font colour used, and the size of the font. I found changing these settings had no effect. I was always shown a medium, white font on a transparent background.
I'd like to mention that when I started using iodeOS 5.8 there was a music player icon on the home screen, but when I updated to version 6.0 the Music icon was removed.
Maybe due to age of my other device and the differences in the Android base version (my Murena phone runs /e/OS based on Android 12 while iode is based on Android 15) there are some visual and style differences. For instance, Murena uses buttons we can tap to access widget controls and settings. The iodeOS system uses tap-and-hold or tap-and-drag to access widget settings.
iode puts four of its launchers in containers (or "grouped icons") which it probably doesn't need to do, considering the amount of empty screen space available. For example, there are two app stores grouped together and two settings/updater icons grouped on the home screen. Meanwhile there is a lot of empty space on the display.
iodeOS 6.0 -- The mostly-empty screen with app launchers
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Comparison to Murena
A moment ago, I mentioned a project with similar aims called Murena. Both iode and Murena strive to offer Android phones with Android-compatible operating systems, and support for most Android applications. I'd like to talk a bit about what else they have in common and what sets them apart.
Both iode and Murena offer similar phones at similar prices. Both organizations are based in France. It looks like iode ships devices to anywhere in Europe while Murena has outlets around the world. Both projects offer images or installers which work on many Android devices, thanks to their shared LineageOS base.
Murena is more beginner oriented, I think. It offers a widget which gives the user the option of enabling a VPN with a single tap. Another single tap to turns on the fake location feature and another tap blocks app tracking. Murena's system does not offer much customization. We can see which apps/trackers were blocked, but not drill down into customizing rules or getting more than surface level statistics. Murena's /e/OS offers single-tap protection against both local threats (apps) and external threats (GPS tracking and IP tracking).
iodeOS goes in the other direction. It also has an on/off button for blocking trackers, but it gives us a lot of power and a lot of information. We can block specific apps, see where they are trying to send data, get real-time reports from the app or (optionally) through notifications. We can see to which countries our data is going from the apps we use. We can toggle data use on/off for each app on a per connection basis. It's incredibly flexible.
iodeOS doesn't appear to have built-in VPN/IP hiding or a fake location option, though we could add those later through the software centres. iodeOS focuses on protecting the user from our own apps rather than from external parties. Its settings are more involved, but also more powerful. The iodeOS platform is really geared toward giving us a lot of information and the tools to do something with that information.
The other big difference I noticed was Murena offers cloud storage with the option to synchronize files and contacts built into the operating system. iodeOS does not include any cloud services by default, though we could install a cloud client (such as Nextcloud) if we wanted access to such a service. I suspect cloud syncing is considered, by the iode team, to run counter to their privacy-focused mission.
Conclusions
I think iode is a fairly young project and it's already doing a great job. It has a store for people who want to buy phones with a privacy-focused operating system pre-installed, they have a wide range of supported phones with an installer which works on Linux and Windows, and the FAQ covers most of the information I wanted.
Once installed, iodeOS mostly acts like a typically Android phone - offering the same widgets, features, apps, and cellular abilities. It can call and text, and the operating system appears to receive regular updates (around once per month, based on their announcements). The main difference is it doesn't fill the screen with ads and nagging messages to enable features. iodeOS does what I ask it to and mostly stays out of the way so I can use my phone like a tool rather than have it regularly distract me like an advertising platform.
As I mentioned above, the key feature iodeOS brings to the ecosystem is its powerful and detailed iode filtering app. I really like this application. It's easy to use and its dashboard provides most of the information we might want. It also gives us a great deal of flexibility in terms of blocking apps, tracking where our data is sent, and filtering apps based on connection types. It's unusually flexible (compared to equivalents used on other platforms) and I enjoyed exploring its options a lot.
Earlier in my trial I was talking about this demo phone with someone and commented that I feel like Murena is trying to replace Android for less tech-savvy folks. It's good for people who want single-tap solutions and cloud storage. iodeOS feels like it's aimed at techies, such as myself, who want to have all the information, to have all the control, and to have nothing syncing or communicating with the outside world by default. We can add these features if we wish, but iodeOS offers a cleaner slate to start with and we can build on features to its foundation.
In short, if you are really curious about where your data is going, who is spying on you, and wish to stop it then iodeOS is a great place to start.
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Visitor supplied rating
iodeOS has a visitor supplied average rating of: 9.4/10 from 5 review(s).
Have you used iodeOS? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale
The Arch Linux project is retiring old repositories which have not been used in a few years. Starting in March 2025 these repositories will go off-line and may result in error messages when people running Arch Linux, or one of its many children, attempt to synchronize with package mirrors. "Around two years ago, we merged the [community] repository into [extra] as part of the git migration. In order to not break user setups, we kept these repositories around in an unused and empty state. We're going to clean up these old repositories on 2025-03-01.
On systems where /etc/pacman.conf still references the old [community] repository, pacman -Sy will return an error on trying to sync repository metadata. The following deprecated repositories will be removed: [community], [community-testing], [testing], [testing-debug], [staging], [staging-debug].
Please make sure to remove all use of the aforementioned repositories from your /etc/pacman.conf (for which a .pacnew was shipped with pacman>=6.0.2-7)!"
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The openSUSE project has taken a step closer to providing its users with reproducible builds. A reproducible build creates binary packages which are identical each time they are compiled. Reproducible builds makes it easier to spot problems, such as malicious altering of binary packages or faulty logic in the build system. "The Reproducible-openSUSE (RBOS) project, which is a proof-of-concept fork of openSUSE, has reached a significant milestone after demonstrating a usable Linux distribution can be built with 100% bit-identical packages.
Reproducible builds ensure software can be rebuilt in an identical, bit-for-bit manner anywhere at any time using the same tools. This means that someone rebuilding the software from the same source code will get exactly the same results. Why is this important? Because it's a crucial aspect for supply-chain security.
This milestone for RBOS, led by openSUSE member Bernhard Wiedemann, advances software supply-chain security. Reproducible builds allow us to confirm that the binaries used are correct, which ensures software has not been tampered with during the build process." The process of making all of openSUSE's package reproducible is ongoing and integrating the work of the fork back into openSUSE will take some time. Details can be found in the project's news post.
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The Fedora project is getting more serious about the RISC-V architecture. While Fedora has experimented with RISC-V support over the years, it hasn't been considered a supported CPU architecture. Fedora Magazine reports: "Fedora's interest in RISC-V isn't new - the Fedora Project has been experimenting with the architecture since at least 2015. Over the better part of a decade, our hands-on development and community collaboration have paved the way for exciting milestones. While RISC-V is not yet a primary architecture within Fedora (see Fedora Architectures for details), we're beginning to invest in it alongside Intel/AMD (x86_64), ARM (aarch64), IBM Power (ppc64le), and IBM Z (s390x). In time, it will be accessible to all Fedora packagers to submit builds to." The post goes on to offer tips on getting started running and testing Fedora's RISC-V builds on real hardware and in virtual machines.
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The Tails project has announced it is changing its installation instructions to avoid a potential privacy issue with the balenaEtcher application. "We replaced balenaEtcher with Rufus in our installation instructions for Windows to solve privacy concerns with balenaEtcher. Since January 2019, we had been recommending balenaEtcher to install Tails from Windows and macOS. We loved the simplicity of balenaEtcher, which was really easier to use and worked on macOS as well.
Shortly after, balenaEtcher started displaying ads. Although we didn't like that, we initially didn't view it as a significant privacy risk and had no better alternative at the time.
However, in 2024, the situation changed: balenaEtcher started sharing the file name of the image and the model of the USB stick with the Balena company and possibly with third parties. While we have not experienced or heard of any attacks against Tails users stemming from this change, we believe it introduces potential for abuse. To eliminate that risk altogether, we started looking again for alternatives." Information on the replacement application can be found on the Rufus website.
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Back in December, Murena announced it was preparing to launch a privacy-focused tablet running the company's de-Googled /e/OS platform. "You've been asking and waiting for an officially supported tablet with /e/OS, an now it's finally coming! Introducing the Murena Pixel Tablet, now available for pre-sale with shipments starting in January. This marks a major milestone for /e/OS, expanding its reach to tablets for the very first time." The tablet has now gone on sale and is available in multiple locations through Murena's on-line shop.
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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) |
Learning to program and improve Linux
Offering-a-hand asks: Any advice for someone who wants to learn how to code and help make Linux better?
DistroWatch answers: I think this is a great idea! The open source community can always use more people helping out, writing code, fixing bugs, and porting software to new platforms.
Where to start? Well, if you ask ten different developers where to get started you'll likely get a dozen different answers. In my opinion, people usually make one of two mistakes when recommending how to get started as a developer. They either suggest starting where they started, which (while it worked for them) is often not the easiest or most beneficial road to follow. For example, I started by learning BASIC and Pascal in the 1980s and 90s, but it made sense back then when many personal computers shipped with BASIC script interpreters. These days BASIC is rare and doesn't usually integrate well with the host operating system. Likewise, Pascal has mostly disappeared, much like the once-mighty dinosaurs.
Another piece of advice people tend to give, which I don't think is helpful, is recommending people start learning a language which is currently popular. I don't like this approach because the hot language of the day is often difficult to learn. For example, 20 years ago nearly everyone was recommending people learn Java if they wanted a career in programming, because that was where the jobs were. But Java is one of the most abstract, complex, and awkward programming languages I've encountered. It can be useful, but it's a mind-bender and not a good place to start. It's like reading Shakespeare to learn English. The same goes for the current Rust craze - yes, Rust is popular and useful, but it does some things which are going to be hard for a beginner to wrap their head around.
My recommendation is to start out with a beginner-friendly language, something that is relatively easy to pick up and use in just about any environment. I also suggest starting with a language which has a sense of data types. In other words, a language which won't suddenly change the nature of the data you're using without warning. To get a sense of what I mean by this, consider these three lines of JavaScript code:
var a = 5;
var b = "hello";
alert(a + b);
What do you think the result is when you try to add variables "a" and "b" together? The script prints out "5hello" because it magically changes variable "a" from the value of 5 to a string of text ("5"), then concatenates the second string onto the end. This is not friendly behaviour in a programming language.
Contrast this with Python:
a = 5
b = "hello"
print (a + b)
Python will display an error saying adding an integer (5) and a string ("hello") is unsupported, because it's smart enough to know numbers and text are not interchangeable. It's annoying to see code give errors, but it is much worse to have code do unexpected things silently. Especially when you are a beginner.
I also recommend avoiding languages which use a lot of short-hand or cryptic symbols. For example, this is a valid piece of C code, one of the most prolific programming languages in the world. The following single line is valid and compiles:
int main(int b,char**i){long long n=b,a=b^n,r=(a/b&a)>>4,y=atoi(*++i),_=(((a^n/b)*(y>>b)|y>>b)&r)|(a^r);printf("%.8s\n",(char*)&_);}
Do you really want to start with a mess like that? Probably not.
I mention all of this because I want to put my recommendation into context. I think people should start their programming journey these days by learning Python. I say this as someone who didn't learn Python until relatively late in my journey and as someone who avoided Python for a while due to the incompatibilities between version 2 and 3 of the language. It's not the hot, exciting language right now. What Python is though is beginner friendly. It offers structure, its syntax is not cryptic, and there are a mountain of add-on libraries which can be used with the language if you want to get into more complex projects. I also like that Python works virtually everywhere, from Linux to macOS, to Windows, to the BSDs. Usually Python code can be run on any platform with little to no modification. The Python website has some great tutorials to get you started too.
Once you learn the basic concepts of programming using a friendly language like Python, it will be much easier to pick up a second or third language if you need them.
Once you learn a programming language, whichever one you choose, you can start looking around for things to do. Maybe there is a tool you wish existed, but you cannot find? Maybe there is a bug in an application you use daily that you wish someone would fix? You could be that someone! Look around for tasks you wish you could automate or problems you want to fix and then look for ways to make things better - for yourself. Then you can share your projects and fixes with the world, so everyone benefits!
On a related note, if you're a young person looking to learn how to program (or an adult who wants to learn about coding games), then a great place to start is Scratch. The Scratch application is basically a sandbox where you can import images and then assign code and behaviours to those images, using a point-and-click environment. It's intended for people aged five and up, and it's a great way to learn coding logic and concepts. Scratch isn't intended for large programs or solving practical problems, it's more of a fun sandbox where you can create and experiment, using simple logic, loops, and visual elements.
As a bonus, Scratch doesn't allow its programs to write to the disk or connect to the network (at least with the default setup), so it's safe to let kids create whatever they want and it won't open your computer up to the risk of them accidentally deleting files, creating a virus, or making games which expose them to communications from strangers on the Internet.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Qubes OS 4.2.4
Qubes OS, a security-oriented operating system that uses Xen-based virtualization to create and manage isolated compartments called qubes, has been updated to version 4.2.4. Besides the usual security updates and bug fixes, the new version also upgrades the included Fedora template to version 41. "We are pleased to announce the stable release of Qubes OS 4.2.4. This patch release aims to consolidate all the security patches, bug fixes and other updates that have occurred since the previous stable release. Our goal is to provide a secure and convenient way for users to install (or reinstall) the latest stable Qubes release with an up-to-date ISO image. The ISO image and associated verification files are available on the downloads page. What's new in Qubes 4.2.4? All security updates to date; all bug fixes to date; included Fedora template upgraded from Fedora 40 to 41. For more information about the changes included in this version, see the Qubes OS 4.2 release notes and the full list of issues completed since the previous stable release." See the complete release announcement for further details.
Ubuntu 24.04.2
Florent Jacquet has announced the release of Ubuntu 24.04.2, a minor update to the 24.04 LTS series: "The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS (Long-Term Support) for its Desktop, Server, and Cloud products, as well as other flavours of Ubuntu with long-term support. As usual, this point release includes many updates and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-severity bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS." Additional information can be found in the release announcement and in the release notes.
NuTyX 25.02.5
NuTyX is a French Linux distribution (with multi-language support) with a custom package manager called "cards". The distribution's latest snapshot is version 25.02.5 which introduces a major new version of the cards package manager. "Spiky and me are happy to announce the new version of NuTyX 25.02.5 and cards 3.1.0. What's new: two separated init systems. From now on, init system are separated. One set of ISOs is available in each init system. Cards 3.0 - A year of development will have been necessary. No new runtime dependencies for cards. Packages are now signed with the ED25519 EdDSA algorithm. Hash is now via SHA512 instead of MD5. The archive name of a package is now easier to read. The /etc/cards.conf configuration file has been simplified. New commands (cards functions) are introduced: cards repo for metadata verification/generation; cards dependent for displaying a package's reverse dependencies; cards key for generating the key pair for signing packages." Additional details can be found on the distribution'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: 3,164
- Total data uploaded: 46.6TB
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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) |
Do you know how to write software?
In our Questions and Answers section this week we talked about learning to write software. We're interested to know if you write software and, if so, do you contribute to any open source projects? Let us know which language you started with in the comments.
You can see the results of our previous poll on Xfce 4.20 in our previous edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Do you write software?
| Yes - and contribute to open source projects: | 190 (9%) |
| Yes - but do not contribute to open source: | 484 (23%) |
| No - but I am learning: | 266 (13%) |
| No - not a programmer and not learning to code: | 1130 (55%) |
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| Website News |
Donations and Sponsors
Each month we receive support and kindness from our readers in the form of donations. These donations help us keep the web server running, pay contributors, and keep infrastructure like our torrent seed box running. We'd like to thank our generous readers and acknowledge how much their contributions mean to us.
This month we're grateful for the $125 in contributions from the following kind souls:
| Donor |
Amount |
|---|
| J S | $50 |
| Jonathon B | $10 |
| Sam C | $10 |
| Brian59 | $5 |
| Chris S | $5 |
| Chung T | $5 |
| John B | $5 |
| Maki | $5 |
| surf3r57 | $5 |
| TaiKedz | $5 |
| Ernst-Michael E | $5 |
| Nick L | $3 |
| J.D. L | $2 |
| PB C | $2 |
| aRubes | $1 |
| Colton D | $1 |
| Stephen M | $1 |
| Kai D | $1 |
| Lars N | $1 |
| Shasheen E | $1 |
| William E | $1 |
| Ppb | $1 |
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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, 3 March 2025. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. 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)
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Full list of all issues |
| Star Labs |
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| Random Distribution | 
StratOS Linux
StratOS Linux is an Arch-based Linux distribution which uses scripts from Bedrock Linux to include various packages and repositories from other Linux distributions. It provides several desktop variants featuring the GNOME desktop as well as the Hyprland and the Niri Wayland compositors. The project also develops several custom tools, such as StratVIM (a fork of the Neovim text editor), Rockers (a custom package manager wrapper able to fetch and install binary and source packages from other Linux distributions and from Flatpaks), Stratmacs (a custom Emacs configuration), grab (a fetch script), and Maneki-Neko (a Welcome application).
Status: Active
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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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| 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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