Links 25/01/2014: GNU/Linux Distributions Roundup
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-01-25 21:03:21 UTC
- Modified: 2014-01-25 21:04:32 UTC
Summary: Various bits of recent news about lesser-known distributions of GNU/Linux
Choices
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A lot of you may use many different versions of Linux on a regular basis. Or, maybe you don't see your choice here. Vote for the one you use the most or the one from this list that is your favorite.
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Bodhi is definitely a fine looking distro, and Xubuntu would also go at the top of my list for desktop distros. Be sure to click through and read the full article for details on why Carla picked each distribution. Then fire up VirtualBox and check out the ones that interest you. There's definitely some fun distrohopping to be had in her list.
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The Linux avalanche is rolling and gathering mass and momentum. Linux won, so what's next? Amazing growth is what's next: we're at the bare beginning of the Linux juggernaut rolling into existing markets and blazing into new ones. All this growth and progress is the result of years of hard work by tens of thousands of people and billions of dollars of investment. It has reached critical mass and there is no stopping it.
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Doesn't it seem a bit ridiculous that there are so many Linux distributions? I had recently read an article where some guy was lamenting about five Linux distributions which they believe need some TLC (Note: I did not say THC :) ). That is five extra Linux distributions, on top of the five main Linux distributions which just about everybody knows about and from which every other Linux distribution is based off of. Not only that, they all claim pretty much the same thing. Everything just works out of the box, blah, blah, blah. I would consider that a standard for today's Linux operating systems, not something to use as a selling point.
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As I wrote in my previous post, Linux is Everywhere and there are hundreds if not thousands of different distributions. Some are very famous, some boasts of their 10 million user base and then there are others who live in the shadow of famous distributions. Some distributions struggle to even gain a fraction of what big distributions enjoy and a few handful of distributions die every year. But today we are here to discuss about few distributions that being awesome still don’t get the love they deserve. It doesn’t matter if the distribution is original or forked or based on some other distribution, if it does the job, is stable enough for daily use and is not getting the love it deserves, it will be on the list.
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The key to a good netbook operating system is that it needs to fully utilise its resources. Memory usage has to be kept to a minimum when running idle. The screen is smaller so you need to have a very intuitive navigation system that doesn’t clutter the screen.
Quirky
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The Quirky Linux distro has a lightweight design with a powerful delivery system. That, plus a leading-edge test bed of new ideas, makes Quirky Linux an ideal OS for netbooks and older computers with limited storage and memory. Run Quirky on a hardware-enhanced modern machine and experience a new definition of fast and dependable. It's definitely worth a try.
CAINE
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The distribution’s name is derived from Computer Aided INvestigative Environment, and it is an Italian GNU/Linux live distribution, whose development is headed by Nanni Bassetti. The goal of this distribution is to provide an interoperable environment and user-friendly tools for digital forensics.
Netrunner
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The Netrunner Team is proud to release Netrunner 13.12 – 32bit and 64bit stable.
Black Lab
Qimo Linux
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Qimo Linux is a kid-friendly distribution designed to make computers simple for children. Parents will appreciate the cartoon theme and the fact that everything is easy to find, even for the youngest users.
Parted Magic
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A new release of the once popular Parted Magic Linux distribution is available that aims to assist in data recovery and disk/partition management, but it continues to be commercial-only.
Last year was when Parted Magic fundamentally shifted its distribution model and went from being freely available for download without charge to then being behind a pay wall but some free download links remained. Now with modern versions of the Linux distribution designed for disk/partition management, the pay wall is being enforced.
Santoku Linux
Jolicloud
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Jolicloud 2 will be the next version of Jolicloud, a Cloud service that aggregates all the popular and not-so popular Cloud services.
It started life as Joli OS, a free operating system optimized for netbooks and other low-resource computers. Since then, it has evolved into a pure online service. Jolicloud, the company behind it, is based in Paris, France.
Microlinux
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MLED 14.1 Xfce is a lightweight production desktop based on Slackware 14.1 and the Xfce desktop environment with many enhancements. It sports a complete choice of neatly integrated applications, one per task.
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MLED 14.1 MATE is another lightweight production desktop, based on Slackware 14.1 and the MATE desktop environment with many enhancements. It sports a complete choice of neatly integrated applications, one per task.
This edition uses the MATE desktop environment provided by Chess Griffin and Willy Sudiarto as a base. MLED adds some eye candy and applications galore.
Misc.
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If you have been following the news and stories on Linux distributions since over ten years like I have been, you tend to have a fairly standard view -yet an educated one- about what’s going on with them, why every year since about 2002 this could have been the year of the Linux desktop, how Mandriva almost made it but was beaten off by Ubuntu, and why Android and likely Ubuntu are triomphing not on the desktop itself but on the phones and tablets.
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At the beginning of 2013 I wrote about an ambitious Linux distribution that set out to create what its lead developer called would be the most robust, beautiful, and performant Linux operating system out there and ultimately aspired to take on Ubuntu. Well, that distribution is now a matter of the past.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 116 Out of 200: 5 Years of Multiparty Lawfare Against Techrights, Funded by Americans and Also by Third Parties (Including Microsoft Salaries)
- The public and our government will be informed in full
- After IBM's Shares Collapsed the CEO is Trying the "Quantum" Trick Again, Bolstered by a Demented Dictator in the White House
- from what we can gather IBM's CEO is trying to get the US government to participate in the scam
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 115 Out of 200: Spending the Next Decade Writing About SLAPPs and Trying to Fix the System
- It's the same industry that got paid by corrupt EPO officials to try to cover up the corruption
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- The Media's "Satya Says" Syndrome Distracts From Grim Reality
- how insiders see Microsoft slop
- Oracle's Collapse Has Nothing to do With Slop, It's About Its Debt Exploding by Almost 50% in Just 12 Months
- How are people meant to trust the media?
- Now... a Word From Our Sponsor
- Powerade
- Links 23/06/2026: Microsoft Studio Closures and Journalism Subjected to Further Cuts
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/06/2026: Gardens, Basketball, Blocking Hyperscaler, and New Commodore Phone
- Links for the day
- Links 23/06/2026: Apple Price Hikes and Technical Debt in Slop
- Links for the day
- Greece Ought to Curb the Threat of Social Control Media
- its national discourse seems to be run by an American company called Facebook
- State of the GNU/Linux Desktop (and Laptop)
- The time to advocate GNU/Linux is now
- The 'XBox Narrative' Distracts From Destructive Cuts Across the Whole of Microsoft
- Microsoft is preparing to lay off a likely record-breaking number of people [...] this isn't just an XBox problem
- Microsoft's Stock Fell Nearly $200, But the Real Problems Are Just About to Begin
- if they dump slop, what will they tell shareholders?
- The Cyber Show on Starmer and Software Freedom
- The Cyber Show's Andy has just explained why our departing national leader wasn't all bad
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 22, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, June 22, 2026
- Gemini Links 23/06/2026: Girlrotting, Homeworlds at BGA, Slop Ruins Sites
- Links for the day
- A Lifetime of Whistleblowing
- Ellsberg did not have an easy life, but it was a rewarding life with a rich legacy focusing on justice
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Man With Many Missions...
- Campinos – accompanied by Gilles Requena and Patrice Pellegrino
- Links 22/06/2026: Ubisoft Co-founder Dies, Americans Have Turned Against Slop
- Links for the day
- Links 22/06/2026: "The Sycophancy Machine" and "Port 22 Open for 54 Days"
- Links for the day
- When People Who Make the Most Money Are the Best "Boot Lickers" (Sucking Up to Jeffrey Epstein's Circle and the Dictator)
- Sucking up to rich people may pay off
- The Aim is Not Fame
- Reposted from schestowitz.com
- "Internally Important, Externally Irrelevant": IBM in a Nutshell
- Right now its debt spins out of control and its stock spirals down the drain
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 114 Out of 200: Thousands of Long Articles to Come, Properly Covering the SLAPP Industry in the UK and Its Modus Operandi
- "Stowell described SLAPPs as ‘a stain on our legal system’."
- Finding a Way to Get Paid to Improve LibreJS
- So now we have more people resurrecting LibreJS and improving it
- Microsoft Can't Even Wait Until July, Shutdowns and Layoffs Already Happening
- Mashable speak of "a grim picture for the state of Xbox."
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 21, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, June 21, 2026
- Gemini Links 22/06/2026: Appreciating Simple Things, Perfect Summer Evening, IRIX, Vim and so
- Links for the day
- Chad's Move to GNU/Linux or the Point of Exceeding 5% "Market Share"
- experienced centuries of being colonised
- Gemini Links 21/06/2026: Dating Oaks, Paying With Cash, and "More on Withered Technology"
- Links for the day
- GAFAM is Drowning in Debt, GAFAM is Clearly Not Sustainable Anymore (It Runs on Borrowed Money and Bailouts)
- The war and surrender in Iran will deepen the debt; we'll see the GAFAM reports in late July
- GAFAM Was Never an Ally to Europe
- Only 1 in 10 Europeans see US as an ally — study [...] military providers in "tech" clothing cannot be trusted
- GitHub, LinkedIn, and XBox Will Finish Like Skype (Sustainability Crisis)
- Skype should become a verb. When Microsoft 'Skypes' something it means it basically shuts it down with some temporal excuse/s.
- Drowning in Garbage: AUR Shows That Too Much Low-Quality Software (Including Slop) is Bad for Everybody
- What happened in AUR had happened elsewhere before and will happen again in the future
- Links 21/06/2026: EU on Patented (Monopolised) Crops, Microsoft Software "Narcs on You to Your Boss"
- Links for the day
- Microsoft at 50 Follows the General Trajectory of Skype
- How many years does Microsoft have left before payroll becomes impossible?
- A Year After a Microsofter Took Over The Register MS It is Effectively a Content Farm With News as a 'Side Dish'
- This is not journalism, this is spam
- IBM Pays the Media and Cons Some 'Journalists' Into Participating in "Quantum" Spam
- "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"
- You Don't Need an 'App' for Your Birdhouse (Slopfondlers Come for Birds)
- That they sell those things as "AI" really says a lot about how dishonest slopfondlers really are
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 113 Out of 200: The United Kingdom is Not Turkey
- Turkey is ranked almost worst in the Western World for press freedom
- Cybersecurity Does Not Mean Asking Microsoft for Permission to Boot
- There were very good and timely reasons to speak about the matter, including impending antitrust complaints against Microsoft
- Links 21/06/2026: Bots from Alibaba Do Harm and Many Xbox Games Are Being Cancelled
- Links for the day
- 5 Years After Release of Vista 11 Not Even One in 5 People Use It (in the US)
- It doesn't look like Vista 11 will ever be adopted like prior versions and announcing a Vista 12 will mostly upset companies/organisations that only recently "upgraded" to 11
- Gemini Links 21/06/2026: Boca Raton, Perfect Summer Day, and LLM Doing Things Poorly
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 20, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, June 20, 2026