Links: Distribution Reviews, Sabayon Linux 5.3 “Extra Spins”, Fedora Community Web Site Design
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2010-07-22 08:20:47 UTC
- Modified: 2010-07-22 08:20:47 UTC
Summary: Distributions news accumulated in recent days
One or two of the five distros I mentioned yesterday had been labeled as “lightweight” either by their designers or the community around them, and I was probably pushing that definition just a little bit when I gave them the chance to run at 150Mhz on 32Mb of memory.
-
Reviews
Unity Linux had their first release on 09/07/2010 after around 1.5 years of development. The project was created in 2009 by former developers from the PClinuxOS (hereafter abbreviated PCLOS) community. One of them was KDulcimer who at the time had his own project TinyMe based on PCLOS, which according to the website started in 2006. His distribution would in the future be based on Unity Linux. So much for how the two are intertwined.
[...]
I have to say I like this basic distribution and the philosophy behind, there is definitely a niche for it. The artwork is an inoffensive non-blinding white swirl on dark-blue background, good for my sensitive eyes, with a Mint leaf floating around giving a fresh impression, and for convenience sake you got 'halt' and 'logout' buttons on the desktop to access these functions. Mandrake/Mandriva has always been my favourite rpm based distribution and one of the first I used back in the 90's, and I'm glad to see it and its many innovations living on in so many forms. Mandriva is of course in ongoing financial troubles and after so many years of it I'm a bit pessimistic if that will change any time soon. So what will projects like Unity Linux do if Mandriva disappears?
For the moment at least they are still around, so let's enjoy this little spin-off if you don't have long term planning needs.
Unity also runs well in Virtualbox, with guest additions pre-installed. As you would imagine due to its size, it ran well with 384MB memory, but will probably be happy with less.
Unlike Microsoft Windows, Linux has a deserved reputation as a bullet-proof operating system. To teach computer security a University lecturer has deliberately produced the most damn vulnerable Linux you’ll ever see.
I didn't have many complaints when it came to Zenwalk's security. The install process sets a password for the administrator and allows the user to create additional, unprivileged accounts. I did have two concerns. While I was using the distro the repositories were populated with updates, but there didn't seem to be any notification for the user when security updates were available. I've been spoiled recently by systems which automatically check for me. My other concern is Zenwalk runs a secure shell service by default, which allows remote root logins. Preventing root from remotely logging into a machine is a policy I'd like to see more distributions adopt.
Lucid Puppy Linux 5.0 was released back in May of 2010, but as one of my favorite distros, I have been playing with it heavily since then. I have been so impressed with the new version that I wanted to take a moment and write a quick review of this release.
You can find the official release page here, along with download information.
-
New Releases
Our crew, is happy to announce the immediate availability of XFCE, LXDE and SpinBase/OpenVZ Sabayon 5.3 “Spins” built on top of Sabayon “SpinBase” ISO images.
Under the “Extra Spins” umbrella, the Sabayon developers are going to experiment new Stable Releases with different package compositions.
-
Red Hat Family
The open source remote access project will include 3D acceleration, network tunneling, and perhaps iPad, iPhone, and Android tablet support
Server maker Hewlett-Packard and commercial Linux juggernaut Red Hat have teamed up to help shops using Oracle's Sparc/Solaris platforms make the jump to Linux-based x64 iron.
While the two companies did not say so, the migrations services being offered today through HP Services are no doubt a reaction to Oracle's spiking of HP's Solaris OEM agreement last month. Under that agreement, HP was able to bundle Solaris on its ProLiant rack and blade servers and sell Solaris support contracts, much as it does for Microsoft's Windows, Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and Red Hat's Enterprise Linux.
-
Fedora
When it was launched in late 2004 it was up against a number of distributions that had been in development for years: Red Hat, Fedora, Suse Linux and Mandriva (then still called Mandrake). These were well-developed distributions with their own fans and unique features. Ubuntu, based on Debian, had a solid base but had a long way to go to be as user-friendly as it planned.
Fast forward almost six years and Ubuntu has delivered. For many users it has been the perfect starting point for their Linux adventures. For others it offers the stability that they want from an operating system. It also has a huge fan-base and is the dominant voice in Linux marketing.
-
Debian Family
-
Canonical/Ubuntu
“Does Ubuntu have a firewall, and how do I turn it on?” is a popular question among new Ubuntu users. The answer is a bit complicated, but it’s an understandable inquiry for those migrating from the Windows world. WorksWithU addresses that question below by taking a look at Ubuntu’s firewall and some of the tools available for managing it.
In This Issue
* Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase calls all artists to contribute to next version of Ubuntu
* Operation Cleansweep: We Need You!
* Ubuntu Accessibility Team Personas Survey
* ISO testers for the Hall of Fame
* Ubuntu User Days Wrap-Up
* Ubuntu Stats
* Rocking The LoCo Council
* Ubuntu: a computer operating system built around community
* Ubuntu Chicago Bike Tour
* The Early-Summer LoCo BBQ at hutchnate's house was a tasty success!
* Ubuntu Honduras LoCo Team Wakes up
* Launchpad News
* Ahmed Kamal Joins the Horsemen
* Reviewers Team and Operation Cleansweep
* Ubuntu Manual Project core philosophy
* Man Your Browser
[...]
I’m an Ubuntu and FOSS kinda guy, I’m not happy with software that isn’t FOSS and I don’t find any sense in proprietisation of code. Having said that there are times when I must be a little more considered and not simply shun an entire site because it’s not foss.
Heaven known that deviantArt is one of the most proprietary, confused and messed up places I know. Bad copyright advice, no public domain option, admins that consistently ignore open formats like png and svg. FOSS Software isn’t promoted at all in any way. So why in Slartibartfast’s fjords would I want to hang my coat over there?
Well no matter what I do there _will_ be artists over there who use Ubuntu, people who may need help with wacom tablets, upgrades or finding help. There will be people who use Windows or Mac but don’t have FOSS tools yet or perhaps wouldn’t do better with Ubuntu instead. There are artists who’d love to get involved with the wider community but for what ever reason are disconnected by social chance.
Officially, Ubuntu does not come with built-in support for the GMA 500 drivers. We gave a workaround to this problem way back in Oct 2009 when the Ubuntu had just released Ubuntu 9.10. People expected Ubuntu to include these drivers in the Ubuntu 10.04 that never happened.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Links 27/05/2026: TSMC Workers Next to Consider Strikes, Ceasefire Cracking
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 89 Out of 200: SRA Admits Malfunction, That's Why Transparency is Paramount
- There have been more efforts than we can to count or can enumerate (probably over 100 such efforts) to gag us and to prevent us writing about what has happened
- Our Free Software Activist in Connecticut (USA)
- We'll soon revisit the latest round of legislation on "age" (surveillance, ID)
- Links 27/05/2026: Living Without 'Smartphoones' and "Russia’s Biggest Attack on Ukraine in 18 Months"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 27/05/2026: The USA as an "Experiment" and Some Ubuntu Manuals
- Links for the day
- [Video] Full Video of Richard Stallman's Talk in Rome
- It seems inevitable that the official GNU site will have it
- Slop is a Passing Fad, It's About Faking Productivity (Plagiarism, Misinformation, and False Positives)
- Slop is a bubble. Some people accept it later than others.
- Anderon - Like Kyndryl - Could be Far Deeper in Debt Than Its Alleged Worth (Vapourware)
- Time will tell, but it seems like a Federal-enabled (by the Federal Government) accounting scam, nothing more, nothing less
- The Media That Keeps Covering "AI" Because the Pushers of It Pay for Spam
- 23 times in the page they mention "AI"
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 26, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, May 26, 2026
- Codecs and Software Patents - Part XI - The Stance of RMS (Dr. Stallman) Reassured GNU Regarding AV1
- cautioned against software patents since the early 90s if not earlier
- Google: We Are Locking You Out of Your Account (Since 15+ Years Ago) Because You Don't Have a Spyphone We Remotely Control
- Google (GAFAM) is an evil company deep in debt
- Red Hat: Bluewashing by IBM, Followed by RAs (Layoffs)
- We could use some hints or evidence related to this
- Gemini Links 26/05/2026: A Year of Composting, Fedora Bricks Itself and Infuriates Users With Slop and Wayland (Not What Users Want, What IBM Wants), Crawlers on Geminispace a Nuisance
- Links for the day
- Links 26/05/2026: "Making the Digital Physical"; "The Medical System Abandons Women When They Are Most Vulnerable"
- Links for the day
- While US Government Greenlights (or Bluelights) Bailouts for IBM Some Foreign Governments Blacklist It
- "Albany leadership doesn’t know what they are doing but are damn good at pretending they do."
- Good Thing When Home Appliances Are Ancient Antiques
- dealing with the alarm has cost only time
- The Bloating of the Web Contributes to Global Warming and Causes Burnout (Slowdown, Hardware Erosion, Waste)
- This problem isn't limited to weather sites or subsites
- IBM Bailouts and the IBM People Inside the Administration
- It seems possible/plausible that it is bailout money down the drain or that this money will never arrive at all
- Links 26/05/2026: Lithium Batteries Causing Fires (Even on Planes), 'Timmy' the Whale Dies
- Links for the day
- Why It's Ludicrous to Call Us "Microsoft Haters"
- Even if clustered together, news items still cover a broad spectrum (or spectra) of issues
- Pursuing Facts in an Age of Lies and 'Hallucinations' (Falsehoods Without Anyone Accountable, They Try Calling Computer-Generated Lies or Forgeries "Intelligence").
- Our aim is to relay information while bypassing gossip networks like social control media and slop in "search" clothing
- Computer-Generated Legal Filings Get You Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
- We'll write a lot more about this in the future
- EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part XII - In the Second-Largest Institution in Europe One Can Take Paid 'Sick Leave' for Doing Cocaine, Then Come Back
- Cocaine addicts in the management were bullying colleagues. They're still in charge.
- Sites in Their Twenties
- We currently run concurrently a handful of series and have a lot more in the backlog
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 88 Out of 200: Brett Wilson LLP is Defaming Trans People in America Because Garrett Pays Hired Guns to Silence Them
- Garrett is scoring many own goals this year
- Sloppy "Resource Action," (RA) or IBM Layoff, Leads to Another IBM Lawsuit, Alleging IBM Tries to Pass Liability to Algorithms
- IBM is meanwhile resorting to slop to gaslight its remaining shareholders
- The Latest IBM Layoff Rumours
- What has happened to the company that invented so much of modern computing?
- Holy See Recognises the Threat of GAFAM and Slop
- Will the Holy See move away from GAFAM?
- The Old Ways of Computing Were Objectively Better
- Not as fast, but certainly much better
- Social Control Media is a Giant Waste of Time (and There Are No Future Remedies for This)
- Social Control Media is considered unhealthy to young people, but it is also collectively unhealthy to nations and nation-building
- Codecs and Software Patents - Part X - Florian Müller Still Muddying the Waters for FOSS, Using Software Patents
- Some things never change...
- Gemini Links 26/05/2026: Slop Bug Reports and Crawlers Considered Evil
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 25, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, May 25, 2026
- Slop Causes Global Warming
- in some parts of the world people die from overheat (heat strokes) as temperatures reach almost 50 degrees as early as May in the northern hemisphere
- Vatican Speaks Out Against Slop, Promoting Instead "Truth, Dignity of Work, Social Justice, and Peace."
- Religion (no matter which) does not oppose machines, but LLMs aren't useful machines
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 87 Out of 200: Access to Justice
- this part will be short
- A Promise IBM/Red Hat Could Not Keep
- "all about control, not so much optics."
- Links 25/05/2026: Russia Lobbing Oreshnik Ballistic Missile Again, Slop Comes Under More Fire
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 25/05/2026: Injury in Gym and Abusive LLMs DDoSing Software Developers While Misusing Their Code
- Links for the day
- A 'Bank Holiday' When National Debt Doubles in a Decade
- Maybe it's time to rename "Bank Holidays"
- Links 25/05/2026: Lingering Environmental Concerns and Domain Registrars Targeted for Unmasking
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 24, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, May 24, 2026