Distro watch
What’s behind the free software sofa?
ORACLE 9.3
Oracle Linux is an enterprise-class distro backed by Oracle and built from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Despite Red Hat’s new source code policy, this version is still application binary compatible with the corresponding RHEL 9 Update 3 release. It ships with the newest Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 7 Update 2 (UEK R7U2) and also now supports automatic reboot of systems after patches are installed through DNF. Read more: www.oracle.com/linux.
BACKBOX 8.1
BackBox Linux is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution for penetration testing and security assessments. Like version 8, the latest release (code name Sara) is based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, but version 5.15 of the kernel has been updated. Other improvements include an overhaul of the desktop environment. BackBox includes enhanced hacking tools such as Airgeddon, a multi-use bash script for Linux systems to audit wireless networks. The bootable ISO hybrid also now has UEFI support. You can learn more at www.backbox.org.
CLONEZILLA LIVE 3.1.1-27
Clonezilla is an extremely efficient, open source partition and disk cloning program similar to Norton Ghost. The Live edition can be booted for easy cloning of system partitions. The latest version is based on the Debian Unstable Sid repository and the Linux kernel has been updated to 6.5.8. Partclone has also been updated to version 0.3.27 with new read and write options. There are also numerous language file updates. Read more at https://clonezilla.org.
FEDORA 39
Fedora is developed by the community-supported Fedora Project. The latest version was released exactly 20 years and one day after the very first iteration, Fedora 1. Fedora Workstation now includes Gnome 45, which means there’s a new workspace switcher and better image viewer. There are also updated desktop flavours for KDE Plasma, Xfce, Cinnamon and more. Fedora 39 includes the latest version of Inkscape, too, which also turns 20 this year.
You can find out more at https://fedoraproject.org.
RHEL-9.3
As the name suggests, RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) is designed for the commercial market. The latest version includes support for both legacy and UEFI boot for AWS EC2 images. Red Hat is also now compatible with the Linux storage system Stratis. This includes advanced features like thin provisioning, snapshots and caching. The Convert2rhel tool has been updated to support more RHEL-derived distros to make transitioning easier. Read more at www.redhat.com.