Distributions & Packages (Week 43 / 2020)
A new format for our Linux Gossip publication
After trying out the functionality a couple of days ago, we’re happy to share the following distribution updates and package upgrades with you in this first issue of our experimental Linux Gossip newsletter.
Linux Updates
Week 43 (October 18–25)
We’re tracking distrowatch.com and loads of relevant mailing lists for this purpose. In the past week the Linux development community released a couple of very interesting distribution updates and lots of fresh packages. We want to highlight some of the Linux distributions first.
OpenBSD 6.8
The OpenBSD community celebrated the 25th anniversary of the project launch in October 1995 as a fork from NetBSD by Theo de Raadt. OpenBSD 6.8 is the 49th release, including Mesa 20.1.7 and various improvements around hardware support. Visit the official site here: openbsd.org
Trisquel 9.0
The most recent Trisquel stable distribution is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and delivers a solid desktop experience. Trisquel GNU/Linux is a 100% free operating system; blobs are not included which makes Trisquel a bad choice for users with nonfree hardware that requires nonfree drivers. Trisquel 9.0 uses the MATE desktop environment and comes with all the applications a casual user needs.
NetBSD 9.1
The NetBSD project released version 9.1 on the same day that OpenBSD 6.8 was released: October 18th, 2020. It comes with lots of X11 improvements, more hardware RNG entropy for Allwinner & Rockchip SoCs, and various security fixes. NetBSD 9.1 can be installed on almost any hardware. Read the complete release notes here.
Tails 4.12
The most up-to-date release of Tails comes with an updated Kernel (5.8), Tor Browser 10.0.2, and tor 0.4.4.5. Find the official blog post here. The update includes several security fixes as well, so you should probably update your LIVE install USBs or home installations.
Scientific 7.9
The release notes contain more detailed information about the changes. The 6.x/7.x series of Scientific Linux are going to be the final releases as outlined in this mailing list entry from April 2019: https://listserv.fnal.gov/scripts/wa.exe?A2=SCIENTIFIC-LINUX-ANNOUNCE;11d6001.1904
The end of life date is estimated to be around June 2024. The CentOS project is the replacement for the longlived Scientific Linux distribution.
ExTix 20.10
The ExTix Linux distribution (“The Ultimate Linux System”) was released with the Deepin desktop environment as the default DE. ExTix 20.10 comes with Spotify and Skype. Both packages and lots of other useful apps are pre-installed. You can run ExTix 20.10 from RAM which makes it really fast and responsive. Read the release notes or download ExTix 20.10 Deepin right away.
Alpine 3.12.1
“Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox.” — That’s what they say on their website. Firefox was updated (78.0.1) and intel-ucode received a few fixes as well. You’ll find the complete release notes here and the download section there. We wrote about Alpine Linux 3.11.0 in January.
Septor 2020.5
In the short review of Septor 20.20 (released in January 2020) I wrote: “If you are indeed on the run… get your copy while you can.”
Septor 2020.5 has been upgraded in several places and makes for an even better Linux distribution for people using dubious websites and/or wanting a secure system out of the box. Linux Kernel 5.9, updated tor packages, Plasma 5.14.5, and a heap of other useful improvements make Septor 2020.5 a rock-solid release. Download the updated ISO here.
Ubuntu 20.10 family
Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu and its derivatives, has published the highly anticipated Ubuntu 20.10 series. Notable changes: GNOME 3.38, Linux 5.8 Kernel, Mesa 20.2 — this combination comes in handy for gamers who should experience performance gains in most of the benchmarks. A neat new feature: Raspberry Pi 4 support. Yep, you can install Ubuntu on your Pi. Groovy, right? Download Ubuntu here.
The Ubuntu family includes several distinct distributions for different purposes and equipped with different desktop environments: Kubuntu (KDE), Lubuntu (LxQt), Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu (Xfce).
Pop!_OS
Pop!_OS 20.10 has launched. Updated components: Linux Kernel 5.8, GNOME 3.38, security fixes backported to Pop!_OS 20.04. New and improved features: window stacking & fractional scaling. Download this interesting operating system/Linux distribution from System76’s official website here.
Exciting Linux Package Upgrades
The following packages have been upgraded and should be available in your favorite distribution soon. If you prefer life on the bleeding edge (and getting fresh packages as soon as possible) you could try out one of the rolling release distributions mentioned above.
Important Linux/Open Source packages released between October 18th and October 25th:
⬆️ git 2.29.1
⬆️ less 563
⬆️ apt 2.1.11
⬆️ thunderbird 78.4.0
⬆️ VirtualBox 6.1.16
⬆️ plasma-desktop 5.20.1
⬆️ freetype 2.10.4
⬆️ firefox 82.0
⬆️ libressl 3.2.2
⬆️ mysql 8.0.22
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