NEW • Distribution Release: MX Linux 18.1

Dolphin Oracle has announced the release of MX Linux 18.1, an updated build of the project's desktop Linux distribution (with Xfce, based on Debian's "stable" branch) built as a cooperative venture between the antiX and former MEPIS Linux communities. This version is an "ISO refresh" release, featuring bug fixes and application updates: "We are pleased to offer MX Linux 18.1 official releases ISO image for your use. MX Linux 18.1 is a refresh of our MX Linux 18 release, consisting of bug fixes and application updates since our original release of MX Linux 18. Note: existing users do not need to reinstall, all bug fixes and additions will come through the regular update channel. Updated packages: the latest updates from Debian 9.7 'Stretch', antiX and MX repositories; Firefox 65.0; VLC 3.0.6. New and updated mx-apps: mx-installer (based on gazelle-installer) received fixes to address crashes during grub install; mx-repo-manager now lists many many more repository mirrors; miscellaneous bug fixes and improvements to MX-PackageInstaller and MX-Conky." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download: MX-18.1_x64.iso (1,381MB, SHA256, signature, pkglist), MX-18.1_386.iso (1,396MB, SHA256, signature). - About MX Linux MX Linux, a desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Debian's "stable" branch, is a cooperative venture between the antiX and former MEPIS Linux communities. Using Xfce as the default desktop, it is a mid-weight operating system designed to combine an elegant and efficient desktop with simple configuration, high stability, solid performance and medium-sized footprint.

Alternative Web Browsers revisited; Brave and Vivaldi mentioned

In the previous blog where I mentioned Web browsers, of course the usual Google Chrome, Firefox - and for proprietary, commercial systems, we know that Internet Explorer, Edge, and Safari also exist.

I have mentioned some of the Firefox alternatives; Waterfox is one of those.  Of the Firefox alternatives, I really like Waterfox.  It is stable, seems to be updated reasonably often,and it works well.

A decent alternative to Google Chrome is Flashpeak Slimjet, also previously mentioned.  Flashpeak Slimjet is just about as "heavy" as Google Chrome, yet the performance is good and I do not think it reports back to Google, so if you have concerns about what browsers save, share, or report, these are some alternatives worth your consideration.

A browser that I'm using today is the Brave browser, https://www.brave.com
This browser is based on Chromium, the freely available browser alternative to Google Chrome, which in native form contains only the free, open source code available from Chrome.  Brave is lauded by some as one of the least intrusive browsers, so in that respect it is "safe".  As long as it is kept up-to-date, it may be an excellent choice.

Vivaldi is another interesting alternative created by CEO Jon von Tetzchner, who co-founded Opera in 2003.

The local Wunderground site I now use

URL: http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KSCGREEN163
Site Description: "Weather Underground PWS KSCGREEN163 - NW Paris Mountain Weather"

IBM Began Buying Red Hat 20 years ago

The article: https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/ibm-began-buying-red-hat-20-years-ago suggests in the title that IBM Began Buying Red Hat 20 years ago.  While that is actually just a title intended to attract attention, I can tell you that IBM was one of the first major companies to embrace both Linux and other forms of Open Source and other types of software that for years have stood side by side with their own proprietary brands of hardware and software.

IBM is not afraid to carry several different lines of competing products and services and has done this for several decades - most of my career, in fact.  HP has not been too far behind IBM in their support.  I went to a few conferences in the early 2000s concerning UNIX, and then Linux products and services.  Both companies had a solid presence and even had several employees who served on committees, and in many cases, chaired committees - using company resources and the company name, so this really isn't new, but as of now it's about as mainstream as either companies collections of traditional name brand products.

Fedora 29 - upgrading from Fedora 28

Tonight I am attempting to upgrade Fedora 28 Xfce to Fedora 29.

There are over 3000 packages to be installed and configured as part of this network-based release upgrade.  It ought to be interesting!

FlashPeak Slimjet - good performance on an "aging" laptop computer

Last time I wrote on this blog, I wrote about "Alternative" Web browsers.  Since I wrote the article, I've been using the FlashPeak Slimjet Web browser more and more often.  One of the reasons I have been using it more often is that it has been decidedly more responsive than most of the other browsers that I've been using.  In particular, pages generally load and respond more quickly, sometimes significantly more so, particularly if I am accessing a Webmail page, such as Yahoo Mail or Google Gmail.

I haven't put a "stopwatch" to my observations, but on a couple of occasions, when I was using something else, I'd encounter delays of 5-15 seconds in loading pages, and when I would close them and start up the FlashPeak Slimjet browser instead, response time was typically less than 3 seconds.

I'm writing this note in Slimjet.  The response is immediate to keyboard input in the Blogger interface.

Alternative Web Browsers

Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Chromium are not, by any means the only Web browsers in the world, nor are they necessarily the best browsers for every situation.  Some of the other alternative browsers may be better at some things and inferior in other areas, but there are plenty of choices these days.

Alternatives in the Mozilla "world": Firefox,

Iceweasel

(this will probably be disappearing; Firefox is once again available on some Debian-based distributions).

SeaMonkey

Seamonkey is an original descendant of the Mozilla browser family.  If you remember Netscape and the early Mozilla replacement, Seamonkey descends from that.

Pale Moon

 "Pale Moon diverges from Firefox in removing accessibility and parental control options, while modifying the default interface settings to be similar to earlier versions of Firefox — it has a bookmark toolbar and status bar by default. It also uses its own configuration directory, unlike Waterfox."  Version: 27.6.2 (64-bit) is the current version I happen to have installed and I am using it now.

Waterfox

 Until recently, Mozilla didn’t provide official builds of Firefox compiled for 64-bit systems.  I just checked; this is no longer true; I just re-downloaded the latest Firefox.  Waterfox is available on multiple platforms, including 64-bit Linux systems. All of these are decent Web browsers. Waterfox is quite a bit similar to Firefox and seems to have equal or superior performance.  It is not updated quite as often (nor are the others, so be careful if you are concerned about the latest security fixes.