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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Debian Family
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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
- Intel, Facing Mass Layoffs (Including Many Key Engineers Who Work on Linux Kernel), is Pushing for Slop Inside Linux
- replacing proper, well-tested code (and documentation thereof) with slop
- More People Want to Quit Windows (Vista 10 is "End of Life"), Restricted Boot (UEFI) Makes That Harder
- It's widely agreed (a consensus) that Restricted Boot is a bad thing for GNU/Linux
- How We Managed to Make IRC Inclusive and Free Speech-Tolerant Without Banning People
- People in IRC seldom agree on everything, more so if politics are aired and especially in the wrong context/s
- Germany-Based Focus Online is Apparently Covering Up Cocaine Use at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the European Patent Office
- More contact details for the German press - Focus online
- Photos From Richard Stallman's Talk in Argentina Earlier Today (Remote Talk)
- Dr. Stallman's talk went ahead
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- After Denial (of the Issues) Comes Censorship
- Every critic of the status quo is "racist" and every criticism is "racism"
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 16, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, November 16, 2025
- IRCNow Helped Techrights
- If you want to gain more independence or "sovereignty" over your communications and need help setting things up (no prior experience setting up/configuring IRC), go to IRCNow
- UEFI 'Restricted Boot' Will Usher in Rootkits Into Linux
- Those of us who understand and value what it means to truly own our devices should definitely be alarmed by these trends
- Plan for European Patent Office (EPO) Coverage This Month, Next Month, and Next Year
- How much longer can European politicians ignore all this corruption?
- opensource.net Dead Since Middle of Summer, opensource.org (OSI) Still Leaderless
- At the moment the brand "Open Source" is misused so heavily that we have considered adding a new category to our Daily Links, focusing a lot less on "Open" and more on software freedom as a concept
- Slopwatch: Google News Full of Slop
- Google News has serious problems
- Gemini Links 16/11/2025: The Cure for Slop, Rapsberry Pi Zero 2 W, and POSIX from Ada
- Links for the day
- NHS Data Breach Caused by Proprietary Software, as Usual, The Register MS Blames "Hackers" and "Cybercriminal Gang"
- Nothing will get solved unless we have a rethink and media quits using the "hacker" narrative, which shifts blame from the holes to those who merely exploit them
- IBM is Vanishing (First Moving, Then Going Away Completely)
- Salary reduction is only the first step
- Links 16/11/2025: Japan-China Tensions Grow, Surveillance Giant Google Checked for Breach of the Digital Markets Act (DMA)
- Links for the day
- Links 16/11/2025: Censorship Battles and Margaret Sullivan Speaks
- Links for the day
- German Media and German Politicians: Working for the Public or Manipulating the Public?
- The "common person" does not have printing presses
- Informing the Public of Suppressed Facts
- We are all in this together
- Canadian Linus Meets Finnish-American Linus
- LTT does have a very large audience, which it can steer away from Microsoft and Windows
- The UK's Online Safety Act (OSA) Discourages Technological Entities, Including Free Software Projects, Being Based in or Near the UK
- When it comes to IRC hosting, we never had any serious speech restrictions imposed upon us by the UK
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 15, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, November 15, 2025
- Father of GNU Giving Keynote Talk Today, Father of Linux Collaborating With Linus Tech Tips (LTT)
- Some time soon we can expect Linus Tech Tips (LTT) / Linus Media Group / Linus Gabriel Sebastian to produce something with Torvalds
- Gemini Links 16/11/2025: Emacs Font Fun and UI x TUI x CLI
- Links for the day
- Flagging or Labelling LLM Slop Meaningfully to Discourage the Practice
- We're still refining the annotation for better contrast
- LLM Slop is an Addiction One Can Quit
- Sites that crossed over to "the dark side" (slop) can still return, and even fully regain the trust lost by betraying people with 'botspew'.
- BILD is Apparently Covering Up Cocaine Use at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the European Patent Office, as It's Based on Germany
- Journalist contact details
- Techrights Site Search Pushed to 'Stable'
- we've just added it to the navigation menu and footer
- Situation Publishing's DevClass (Sister Site of The Register MS, Run by MS Tim) Has Been Abandoned, Microsoft's MS Tim Now Interjects Anti-Linux Directly Into The Register MS
- Not only does this sell Microsoft; it's also googlebombing - as before - the real "maui" (or "MauiKit" in Linux).
- Many IBM Workers to Become Unemployed a Few Weeks - Maybe Just Days - Before Christmas
- as one last humiliating exercise IBM pimps/trots them out in social control media, telling "happy" stories
- Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, WebProNews, and Linux Journal (Slopfarms)
- More fake articles about "Linux"
- Links 15/11/2025: Openwashing of Kubernetes and Austerity Planned for Canada
- Links for the day
- Links 15/11/2025: "Small Web, Big Voice" and China Cracking Down on Slop
- Links for the day
- Links 15/11/2025: Science, Conflicts, and International Politics
- Links for the day
- Annus Horribilis at the European Patent Office (EPO)
- The article explains how the EPO "Cocainegate" scandal is turning 2025 into an Annus Horribilis for Campinos
- Links 15/11/2025: Latest in "Component Abuse Challenge" and Qt Keeps Promoting LLM Slop
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 15/11/2025: Egoism, Misunderstood Universe, DeX, and "Why desktop Linux is growing"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 14, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, November 14, 2025
- Richard Stallman Talk Tomorrow in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress 2
- It's not clear if a livestream of some kind will exist
- Many "Last Days" at IBM on Allegedly the "Last Day" for IBM to RA People This Quarter
- "Last day" is "social media code" for "got laid off", more so at IBM because they compel people to act like it's a happy departure with gratitude, photos and so on