Distributions News: GNU/Linux Distros
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-14 08:34:19 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-14 08:34:19 UTC
High End
Old Computers
The Zorin developers have always marketed their products as the perfect Windows alternatives and they’ve had some success with this strategy. Their operating systems are regarded as good replacements, with familiar interfaces that can help people running away from Windows OSes to better adjust to a Linux distribution.
Single-purpose
GParted Live, a small bootable GNU/Linux distribution for x86-based computers that can be used for creating, reorganizing, and deleting disk partitions with the help of tools that allow managing filesystems, is now at version 0.18.0-2.
"The underlying GNU/Linux operating system was upgraded. This release is based on the Debian Sid repository, as of April 7, 2014," reads the official changelog.
The Linux kernel has remained the same, 3.13.6, and this is one of the most recent ones available. It's very likely that the next development version will feature Linux kernel 3.14.
Distrohopping
Various distro spin makers have made two unwritten laws that I very much disagree with:
A) A distro spin of desktop blah should have only programs built with the same widget library that desktop blah uses
B) A distro spin should only ship / pre-install one program for each application category
I mention this because I'm a big KDE fan but KDE-only distro spins do not include my preferred browser (Firefox) nor my preferred office suite (LibreOffice, not that I use an office suite much) because they aren't QT-native applications. While LibreOffice does a better job of integrating with KDE than Firefox does, both drag with them quite a bit of GTK baggage... which is considered "bloat" by many spin makers.
CAELinux
SparkyLinux
I think it started when I installed the same Linux distribution with the same set of applications, configuration and layout as mine, to my wife's and then to my colleague's computers. Then somebody asked me why should I not try to share my point of view with more people.
The SparkyLinux 3.3 “Annagerman” system is built on Debian GNU/Linux “Jessie,” just like the previous versions. The developer usually releases versions with various desktop environments, but this is just the Base, which means that it's only for command-line fans.
AVLinux
The really interesting and important thing about the AVLinux distribution, of course, is the Multimedia capability included in it. The Audio menu is shown to the right, above. Well, at least part of it is; it has so much in this category that it doesn't even fit on one screen! Audio players, mixers, editors, synthesizers, analyzers, and pretty much anything and everything you can think of in this category are included.
Arch Family
Starting with the 32-bit ISO labeled 2014.04i (“i” as in infinite) this is our first version of a Rolling Release and based on the excellent Manjaro/(Arch).
Manjaro 0.8.9, a Linux distribution based on well-tested snapshots of the Arch Linux repositories and 100% compatible with Arch, has just received its third update pack.
Fedora
Another round of features have been approved by the Fedora Engineering and Steering Committee for this year's Fedora 21 release.
Debian Family
Hello Linux Geeksters. As you may know, APT (Advanced Package Tool) is the default command-line package manager for Debian, Ubuntu and their derivative systems. Recently, APT has reached version 1.0, after 16 years since it was recently developed. Ubuntu’s Synaptic and Ubuntu Software Center run both apt in the background, for managing deb packages.
-
MakuluLinux 6 MATE, a Linux distribution based on the Debian testing branch, Jessie, that provides stability, speed, and a modern desktop, is the first in the series and it will be available for download on April 14.
Ubuntu and Derivatives
Numix Icon Packs is a small project developed by Numix project team focused to create high quality GTK themes and icons for Linux desktop. Their goal is to make a “difference” in theming and to present you a modern and stylish desktop without damaging its usability while at it, and quite frankly, up until now they seem to have done a pretty great job.
After wiring into the car's communications system, forum user "nlc" was able to find a number of ports and tap into the data flowing to the center console and navigation screens. Others soon joined in the fun and amongst the slightly esoteric bits of information the "hackers" eventually discovered was that the sub-system runs on a version of Ubuntu operating system, which is a Linux variant.
With Ubuntu 14.04 closing in to the release date, which is set for April 17th, I took Lubuntu for a spin from the daily live ISO image. Lubuntu is the most lightweight distribution in the Ubuntu family (the other one being Xubuntu which uses Xfce), using LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment), as well as a set of applications intended to be low on resources.
Okay, I have two socket 939 machines with XP collecting dust. Nevertheless they are quite stable and more than meets the requirements to run any version of Linux.
One has four gigs of RAM and the other two and both processors are AMD. I was wondering what you think of Mint and if there is another version of Linux you would recommend for the beginner.
Gentoo Family
PCLinuxOS
I will have to migrate it to a newer version of PCLOS. But I will do that during Easter. The thing is, I am not sure if I want to do it. The current install of PCLOS has everything I need to work and play (it even runs the game Braid on Desura), so... why fixing it if it is not broken?
Slackware Family
“We include Xfce4, the gimp, firefox, cups, exaile, popular multimedia plugins, and many other programs to maximize the desktop experience. Also new is an update to our very own installer, this was written from scratch and is a major improvement from previous installers. This is a RC release so final is soon to follow after initial peer testing,” notes the developer in the official announcement.
Salix MATE 14.1 Beta 1, a GNU/Linux distribution based on Slackware that is simple, fast, easy to use, and based on the MATE desktop environment, is ready for testing and download.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Massive Cuts Inside Microsoft (the Media Does Not Talk About That)
- It is in many ways like IBM a decade ago
- IRC's Growing Popularity in 2026
- No company controls or profits from IRC, it is in the Commons
- Amazon's Debt Skyrockets by Almost 100 Billion Dollars in 9 Months
- On top of that there is additional (secret, kept stealth by accounting tricks) debt
-
- Links 01/11/2026: Digital Ninimalism and "Palantir Cofounder Announces Cruel Plan to Breed Thousands of Lab Monkeys for Medical Experiments"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 31, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, October 31, 2026
- Gemini Links 31/10/2026: MangoWM, Qutebrowser and Codeberg, Plugh
- Links for the day
- In US Government Sites, GNU/Linux Measured at New All-Time High of 7% (or About 10% Across Desktops/Laptops Alone)
- There's no doubt GNU/Linux is growing
- Intel Has Just Lost in One Single Day Over 150 Billion Dollars in 'Value' (Market Cap), Intel is Also Over 50 Billion Dollars in Debt
- This really says a lot about Wall Street and the slop bubble, doesn't it?
- They Hate Him Because He's Effective
- Effective voices invite more aggressive censorship attempts
- Audience Growing in Spite of the Deluge of Webslop
- We probably benefit from the rejection of LLM slop
- The Munich FUD Tactics (Microsoft Modus Operandi): Microsoft-Connected Sites Claim Denmark Failed With Free Software, But That's Not What Actually Happened
- With Microsoft, it almost always boils down to politics
- Links 31/10/2026: John Romero Comeback After Being Shafted by Microsoft, Google Faces Criminal Probe Over Deforestation in Finland
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 31/10/2026: Rambling on Self-hosting and Ad Video Screens Don’t Make Money
- Links for the day
- Can't Trust Big Banks, Let's Try 'Bros' Instead?
- But let's blame "North Korea"
- "AI" as Surrogate for Debt and Distraction From Computing (Bots Described as "Agents" and/or Any Form of "Intelligence" is More Like a Religion)
- We're letting people without even college degrees game the "market" (Wall Street) by lying to it
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXV - Election Integrity at a Time of Back Doors and Very Severe Bugs in UEFI
- How dare British media comment on insurrection following a US election?
- "The Judge Accepted That Mrs Schestowitz Had Been the Subject of a Vicious Campaign of Online Harassment"
- That's consistent with how they men treat women
- Gemini Links 31/10/2026: Hallowe'en and "Thinking About People"
- Links for the day
- Links 31/10/2026: The Hinge on Apple's Constantly Breaking New Foldable iPhone Was "Built With Slop", Slop Causes Cash Squeeze GAFAM
- Links for the day
- Google Illegally Destroyed a Quarter Million Trees Without a Permit for a Hypothetical Project That Might be Cancelled, Debt Has Soared by 30 Billion Dollars in 3 Months ($10 Billions Borrowed Per Month)
- Google is bleeding from slop
- Slavery at Microsoft
- illegal if true
- Many People "Left" Red Hat This Month, Including Yesterday
- We already saw this with SUSE
- Gemini Links 31/10/2026: "Where I Draw the Line With" Slop Plagiarism and "Nobody Cares That You're Leaving Proton" (Over Slop)
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 30, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, October 30, 2026
- Links 30/10/2026: "Over 41,000 DHS Employee Records Leaked Online" and Concerns Over Radicalism in France
- Links for the day
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXIV - It's an Inherently American Issue and American Elections Are at Risk From Restricted ('Secure') Boot and LLM Chatbots (Disinformation at Scale)
- We'll focus a lot on US elections in the coming days
- Birss Replaces Vos in UK's High Court, LLM Slop Plagiarism a Contentious Issue
- Only days ago we mentioned Sir Geoffrey Vos in relation to lobbying for LLM slop
- "Early Retirement" (Silent Layoffs) for Everybody Except the Executives
- Some will stick around even past 70
- Despite the Mass Layoffs Microsoft's Debt Soared by 5.1 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months
- This is why Microsoft asks 60,000 workers to leave
- Gemini Links 30/10/2026: Solar MiniBBS, Kubernetes With FreeBSD, "Sysadmin Day"
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Layoffs Far Worse Than the Media Tells (Microsoft Spin Laundered as "Reporting")
- Some people are made to "retire" and sign an NDA to make it seem like a happy ending and mostly consensual retreat
- Links 30/10/2026: Google Crashes on Slop Disappointment and GAFAM's "Data Center Blitz Is Burning Through Cash and Scaring Wall St."
- Links for the day
- Fake 'Articles' in The Register MS Concerning "AI"
- We don't suppose The Register MS will be around for much longer after this bubble pops
- What Linus Torvalds Told Me Two Decades Ago
- It seems like he was eager to distinguish himself from the "elders" of FSF [...] For anything "revolutionary" to happen in the sciences one must accept the risk of living in poverty like Tesla (the person, not the right-wing fanatics) and Torvalds isn't too old to "cause a stir"
- GNU/Linux as a Free Software Platform is More GNU (and GPL) Than Linux
- GNU predates Linux by nearly a decades and it was born to tackle injustices
- Who Or What Are Security Professionals/Experts?
- Companies like GAFAM are willing to tolerate cheaters because those companies themselves are cheats
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXIII - What Garrett Did Puts Elections at Risk (Also in His Own Country, Where a Dictator Trusts Only Machines That 'Support' Him)
- UEFI 'security' is only as trustworthy as its ferocious boosters
- Gemini Links 30/10/2026: RIP Patrick Stewart and Amp Integration
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 29, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, October 29, 2026