Articles about Linux

Linux Mint users are usually quite rabid when it comes to news about the operating system, and I am happy to say the distribution's developers have shared some interesting tidbits.

First and foremost, the upcoming Linux Mint 21.1 will be named "Vera." This is hardly surprising, as the Mint 21.x series will use female names that start with the letter V. Linux Mint 21 is named "Vanessa," for instance.

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Installing a pre-release version of an operating system on a production machine is downright foolish. You can run into serious bugs, and potentially, lose data too. So I urge you not to install Ubuntu 22.10 "Kinetic Kudu" Beta which was released earlier today... unless you are cool dude or "dudette."

Yeah, the truly cool Linux users are willing to throw caution to the wind and ruin their current Ubuntu installation in favor or living dangerously. Of course, these brave Linux users should also have their important data backed up just in case something catastrophic happens. After all, failing to backup is certainly not cool.

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The desire for software supply chain integrity and transparency has left many organizations struggling to build in software security measures like signatures, provenance, and SBOMs to legacy systems and existing Linux distributions.

This has prompted Chainguard to produce Wolfi, a new Linux '(un)distribution' and build toolchain, that's been designed from the ground up to produce container images that meet the requirements of a secure software supply chain.

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Microsoft continues to show a surprising level of love for Linux, and nowhere is this clearer than in the Windows Subsystem for Linux. With the latest version of the software, the company has worked with Canonical to bring systemd support to WSL for Windows 11.

What does this mean in practice? It means that as of Windows Subsystem for Linux 0.67.6 there is support for Ubuntu's snap installation method. But there is much more to the arrival of system support than this.

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System76's Thelio desktop computers have been notable for three things -- being assembled in the USA, running Linux-based operating systems, and having a largely wooden chassis. Moving forward, the PC will still be assembled in America and ship with a Linux distribution (Ubuntu or Pop!_OS), but it won't necessarily contain any wood.

You see, the computer manufacturer has decided to redesign the chassis to be mostly aluminum, save for a thin accent strip. Actually, while the strip can be made of wood, not all of them are. In other words, it is not a given that a Thelio desktop will contain any wood -- only if you specifically choose a wooden access strip. Some of the strips are instead made of powder-coated aluminum. And yes, you can replace the strip by easily pinching and sliding it off.

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Fedora and GNOME go together like peanut butter and jelly. It is the best Linux distribution combined with the greatest desktop environment. Not to mention, Fedora focuses on truly free and open source software. Sure, that may make the operating system a bit less inviting to Linux beginners, but many seasoned Linux experts know Fedora is the cream of the crop.

Today, Fedora 37 finally becomes available in Beta form, and the developers are hoping you will test it and provide some useful feedback. The most exciting aspect of Fedora 37 Beta is its use of GNOME 43, which is also in Beta. Also titillating is official Raspberry Pi 4 support, and yes, accelerated graphics are working. ARM fans will surely be happy about that, but sad to know the ARMv7 architecture will no longer be supported.

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Are there way too many Linux distributions these days? Absolutely. More specifically, there are far too many operating systems that are based on other operating systems. If I see one more Linux distro based on Debian or Arch, I swear I am going to literally puke.

Linux distributions based on Slackware, however, are far less common these days, so such distros are definitely worth some attention. Today, the Slackware-based Salix 15 becomes available for download. This Linux-based operating system uses the Xfce 4.16 desktop environment and kernel 5.15.63. In addition to Flatpak support, this version of the distro comes with some excellent software pre-installed, such as Firefox 102 ESR, GIMP 2.10, and LibreOffice 7.4. Believe it or not, there are even versions for both 32-bit and 64-bit processors!

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Once of the most beautiful and user-friendly operating systems is a Linux distribution from China called deepin. If you are dissatisfied with Windows 11 or macOS, and you are intrigued by Linux, deepin can be a great choice if you highly value beauty and well-designed user interfaces.

The newest version of that operating system, deepin 20.7, is now ready to be downloaded, and it is chock-full of bug fixes and new features such as improved Grand Search with Google integration and an enhanced Mail app with new calendar functionality. Yes, this looks to be the best version of deepin yet!

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Kali Linux is the most popular and advanced penetration testing Linux distribution within the cybersecurity industry. Using Kali Linux, a cybersecurity professional will be able to discover and exploit various vulnerabilities and perform advanced penetration testing on both enterprise wired and wireless networks.

The Ultimate Kali Linux Book -- Second Edition is a comprehensive guide for those who are new to Kali Linux and penetration testing that will have you up to speed in no time. Using real-world scenarios, you’ll understand how to set up a lab and explore core penetration testing concepts.

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Created and maintained by Chinese developers, deepin has long been considered one of the prettiest Linux-based operating systems. Understandably, due to its development happening in China, many people do not trust the distribution -- especially with biometrics being added. Not to mention the recent dustup over Taiwan and apparent ongoing genocide.

If you are someone that trusts deepin despite its country of origin, however, I have some really exciting news. Today, an official public preview of the upcoming deepin 23 becomes available for download. The developers highlight the inclusion of the new "Linglong" package format, atomic updates, and new repositories.

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Earlier this month, we shared the news that Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS (code-named "Jammy Jellyfish") was being delayed. Sadly, the first point release of this wildly popular operating system version was being pushed back an entire week -- an absolute eternity in the world of Linux.

Well, folks, a week has passed, and thankfully, Canonical stayed true to its word (this time) and sorted the show-stopping Ubuntu Linux 22.04.1 issue. Yes, the major bug that caused snaps not to open on computers that used the OEM install option is now resolved. Even better, starting today, Canonical will being prompting Ubuntu 20.04 users to upgrade to Jammy Jellyfish.

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The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has issued a warning about a security issue with the UnRAR tool for Linux-based systems.

The vulnerability is being tracked as CVE-2022-30333, and if successfully exploited, the flaw could allow an attacker to use the process of unpacking an archive to write data to an area of storage.

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Canonical is usually quite dependable when it comes to Ubuntu releases. When a new version of the Linux-based operating system is expected, it usually becomes available on time.

Sadly, Ubuntu 22.04.1 won't become available today as expected -- a huge gut-punch to the Linux community. Why is Canonical disappointing fans of the operating system? Well, it seems a serious bug has caused the tragic delay. This serious issue causes snaps not to run on computers that use the OEM install option.

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Originating from Linux, which uses a Unix operating system, SIGKILL is a common command that developers use to terminate absolutely any process. Most commonly, if anything needs to be shut down immediately as it's causing damage to the system itself, then SIGKILL is the go-to signal to use.

Alongside Linux, SIGKILL has also found itself into any developer platform that manages container systems, with the most popular example of this being Kubernetes. As one of the most drastic signals that you can execute, SIGKILL will instantly terminate a process, without giving the system the opportunity to block or ignore the signal. With this, absolutely any processes that are connected to the process you’ve killed will also terminate.

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Just yesterday, we told you 4MLinux 40 was available for download. We also stated 4MLinux was an operating system that simply didn't need to exist. Another such distribution that isn't necessary anymore is Linux Mint. While Mint is a very solid OS, the brutal truth is, users would be wise to just use the operating system on which it is based -- Ubuntu.

But OK, many people have been using Linux Mint for years and they are not interested in changing their ways. Fair enough. If you are such a person that is prepared to "ride or die" with Linux Mint, today, the latest version of the operating system is officially released. Code-named "Vanessa," Linux Mint 21 can be downloaded immediately.

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