Linux World - a smorgasbord of penguins !

[Abarbarian]

There are a load of GNU/Linux distros out there, choosing one can be difficult. Distro Watch is a pretty decent place to find out information and there are plenty of sites with partial information on many distros. Here is a site that has information and links to distro home sites covering almost all the offerings available.

The LWN.net Linux Distribution List

You have found the LWN.net Linux Distributions List. LWN has been tracking Linux distributions since 1999. Early versions of the list consisted of links on the side bars of the weekly Distribution page. By 2001 the list had grown to fill both sidebars of the weekly page, often trailing far below any actual mid-page content. So the list was moved to a flat file and released on October 11, 2001.

The next major release was on February 7, 2002. Additional information was added to each entry, and in the process links were fixed, entries moved to different categories and dead distributions were removed. Minor revisions have been made almost every week since then. A table of contents was added on May 9, 2002. There have been no major releases since then, however new distributions are added when found, dead distributions are removed when found, and link checking remains an ongoing process.

The site also contains some fascinating facts and articles concerning GNU/Linux

 

[Abarbarian]

Ubuntu Fan Wakes from Two Year Coma, Excited to See New Unity and Convergence Developments

The family of teenager Micheal Robertson gathered to his bedside at their local hospital, welcoming the young man back into reality as he had finally come out of a two year coma, following an incident where he was hit by a car after being distracted by Mark Shuttleworth’s private jet, Canonical One, flying overhead.

Reports say Mr. Robertson is a “huge fan” of all things to do with the Ubuntu operating system and upon greeting his family, they apparently were not at all surprised that one of his first questions was regarding the GNU/Linux OS.

 

[bootneck02]

Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.2 both 32bit and 64 bit download is now available for download Having said that I will hang fire for a couple of weeks before I install it.

 

[Abarbarian]

USU linux (Bulgarian: УСУ; Учи Свободен с Убунту)

USU can be your perfect learning tool, no matter whether you are a child, a student or a teacher. There are a few dozens of preinstalled quality educational applications, grouped by field of knowledge and covering the whole educational process. Many more applications are just one click away. And being completely free for use or share, USU can be used at home or at school without any costs and complex licensing agreements.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USU_(operating_system)

USU linux (Bulgarian: УСУ; Учи Свободен с Убунту) is Bulgarian open source desktop operating system built around the KDE desktop environment and based on the popular free Linux distribution, Ubuntu.

USU haves this approximate system requirements:

• processor with working frequency ~900 MHz
• minimum 384 MB RAM (512 MB if using as live CD without SWAP)
• ~7 GB free space on hard disk (only in installation choice)
• DVD reader
• monitor, with minimum resolution 640х480, for normal work - 800х600 and up.
• video card, that can show at least 16 bit colors and resolution 640х480 (recommended - 800х600 and up)

This looks like a very neat little distro. Nice to see that they have three different versions with one specially designed for netbooks. I wish them well.

 

[Abarbarian]

The GoboLinux Way

Welcome to GoboLinux

The main task of a Linux distribution is to keep track and organize the programs in your computer, so that they work properly. GoboLinux is no different from the others in this goal, but it adopts fundamentally different approach in solving this problem. Instead of scattering the files of programs around following the decades-old conventions of ancient UNIX systems and then adding a layer of control (a "package manager") to try to give order to chaos, in GoboLinux we organize the files that comprise the programs in an ordered way in the first place.


In GoboLinux, every program lives in its own subdirectory. Under the top level directory /Programs; e.g you'll find Xorg 7.0 at /Programs/Xorg/7.0/, and ping at /Programs/Netkit-Base/0.17/bin/ping. To see what programs are installed in the system, all you need to do is to look in the /Programs directory:

Historical tidbit: When most distributions switched to GCC 3 they released a new major version, mostly incompatible with previous ones. When the 006 series of GoboLinux adopted GCC 3, it was just a matter of keeping old versions of libraries alongside the new ones, while they were gradually phased out. No "compat" packages involved.

GoboLinux, on the other hand, is not a clone of anything else. It uses standard Linux desktop software. We believe that the well-organized directory structure makes it a good testbed for new ideas -- possibilities are wide open (see the forum and moreso the mailing list for discussions, and to a lesser extent IRC channel #gobolinux on freenode).

For a better overview of how it looks and feels right, nothing beats giving the Live CD a spin. You'll be running a full GoboLinux system without having to install anything. Just burn a CD-ROM and give it a go!

HOME SITE

DOWNLOAD LINK
This is a fascinating distro and well worth a try out in the Live version. You can tell it is well developed as they have made the effort to include Window Maker in their recipes.

 

[Abarbarian]

I gave GoBoLinux a whirl. Downloaded it and installed it on a usb stick. I only gave it a trial on my Skylake as the backup pc still needs a hard drive and is not operational at the moment.
The live version of GoBo was recognised by my UEFI mobo and booted up with no problems and I was presented with a working desktop. Not being familiar with the Awesome desktop I could not do a great deal as it is a keyboard centred desktop which I am not familiar with at all. So I was limited to opening the few programs included in the Live option.
Faster than a speeding bullet was my impression of the whole distro. It loaded up from the usb very very quickly and programs opened and closed in the blink of an eye and shut down was the fastest I have ever seen.
As I do not want to bork my dual boot on the Skylake I will not be installing for real on this pc. When the back up is up and running I will definitely be running a real install as I think this is a very intriguing distro.
Did I mention it was fast......................

 

[Abarbarian]

Welcome to moebuntu

If you are into PINK and ANIME and run a Buntu then this may be a perfect choice for you.
If you run another distro then help is offered to get your pc Moe-nized.

 

[bootneck02]

I am not adventurous I think I will stick with Linux Mint Cinnamon, I love it.

 

[Abarbarian]

GeckoLinux: A Polished Distro Just Got Smoother

The developer released a major update of GeckoLinux earlier this week. I enjoyed testing the beta version last fall, and I was even more pleased with the added embellishments packed into this final version.


Among the attractions of GeckoLinux are its innovations within the openSuse community. These include non-free packages not found in openSuse's default repositories.


GeckoLinux has a reputation for polish and out-of-the-box usability. It offers users a better hands-on experience than the more traditional approach taken by the openSuse community.

Both Rolling and Static
GeckoLinux spares users from the nagging dilemma of choosing between Linux distros that offer static versus rolling upgrades. It does both. All you have to do is pick the maintenance method you prefer when you download the ISO file.

Added Benefits
This new release includes live USB persistence. Without persistence, you can not save system settings and added or removed software configured during a live session. Now you can use GeckoLinux as a portable OS that runs just the way you used it in your last live session.

Depending on your hardware, running GeckoLinux from a USB installation may be slower -- but you will not notice much sluggishness if the host computer has ample installed RAM.

I was disappointed in GeckoLinux in only one situation. The practice of including a password for the live session demo mode was a new feature promised in this release. The product description hawks the convenience of not having to enter passwords for the live session user account.

Thought this might be of interest to the Suse fans here. Looks like a pretty decent offering and persistence on a usb live install is always a great feature.

Enjoy.



Yet the brief documentation for the ISO download mentions the user password for the live session as "linux." I was hoping that the developer merely forgot to update the download information.

Alas, the new version still needs a password. Oh well, maybe the next release.

Otherwise, GeckoLinux 423 is a worthy release that provides improvements over the standard openSuse mindset.

 

[Abarbarian]

4MLinux

4MLinux is a small, independent, general-purpose Linux distribution with a strong focus on the following four "M" of computing:
- Maintenance (system rescue Live CD),
- Multimedia (full support for a huge number of image, audio and video formats),
- Miniserver (DNS, FTP, HTTP, MySQL, NFS, Proxy, SMTP, SSH, and Telnet),
- Mystery (meaning a collection of classic Linux games).

The forums look to be very active.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/4mlinux-115/

The blog has some excellent walkthroughs,

4MLinux Legacy Installer

The 4MLinux Desktop

All in all a very intriguing distro. Very useful for older pc's and they have 32 bit versions too. I have not found out what the distro is based on from my reading though there are details on the software used.

A couple of task specific versions are offered one of deals with backups. As I have a spare 32 bit pc lying idle I may have a play with this to see what's what.

BakAndImgCD

Welcome to BakAndImgCD !

BakAndImgCD is a small Linux-based operating system, which has been designed to perform the following two tasks: data backup (the supported filesystems are: btrfs, ext2, ext3, ext4, f2fs, fat16, fat32, hfs, hfs+, jfs, nilfs2, ntfs, reiser4, reiserfs, and xfs) and disk imaging (using Partimage, Partclone and GNU ddrescue). The output files (archives and images) can be optionally compressed and sent to a remote FTP sever (via Ethernet, WiFi or Dial-up interface). BakAndImgCD is fully compatible with UNetbootin, which can be used to create an easy-to-use live USB.
The latest version 24.0 is based on 4MLinux Backup Scripts 24.0.

 

[Abarbarian]

CorvOS: A custom, Linux-based solution for the classroom

While many schools invest in Chromebooks and iPads, a growing flock of Linux-forward institutions is mapping an alternate route. I recently caught up with one innovative educator and IT leader from my home state. Aaron Prisk is the network administrator at West Branch Area School District, a small rural school an hour north of State College, Pennsylvania. Aaron told me how Linux and open source software is transforming teaching and learning at West Branch and explained the role of CorvOS, his custom Linux distribution for schools.

CorvOS Home site

CorvOS takes the best attributes of a traditional Linux desktop: Speed, Security, Flexibility and merges it with the Simplicity of ChromeOS without the privacy issues and Google vendor lock-in.

The West Branch Area School District currently has 700+ laptops and desktops running CorvOS.

The Peel District School Board has over 2000+ CorvOS laptops and desktops donated through the RCT Program.

A companion article,

4 Linux-forward schools

To meet future demand for IT skills, we need to bring open source into the PK-12 classroom today. These schools are leading the way.

It's well known that there's a shortage of qualified candidates to fill IT jobs. Employers are urgently looking for people to fill DevOps, development, sysadmin, and other IT roles—especially employees with experience in the cloud, web technologies, and Linux—to manage the infrastructure powering their businesses.

Aaron Prisk is enabling students at West Branch Area School District in Pennsylvania to learn to use Linux. Through Aaron's foresight and leadership, each student was given a Linux laptop with full root access and encouraged to experiment with the software. West Branch's approach was to create an open campus where students received a toolbox, not merely a tool. That might seem like an invitation to chaos for network administrators, but it has been a successful model for students in the district.

In addition to these educational leaders, many schools have introduced the Raspberry Pi platform into the curriculum, offering even more opportunities for students to explore the Raspbian Linux operating system that powers most of these devices, as well as become involved in the growing maker movement.

What is your school system doing to prepare students to address this critical need for IT professionals in the workforce?

Some thought provoking reading above and a good question at the end.

 

[Abarbarian]

This offering is probably the easiest way to gain some experience of a linux operating system I have ever come across.

Meet Endless OS, a lightweight Linux distro

Endless OS uses a read-only root file system managed by OSTree and Flatpak. Many of its applications are available offline, so Endless has everything you need to take full advantage of your computer.

Endless OS 3.4.0 | Release Notes

May 15, 2018

As with all of our major releases, Endless OS 3.4 also brings many stability and performance improvements since we’ve updated our open source core. With all of these great new features and improvements, we hope that you will enjoy this new version of Endless OS as the best release to date.

Read on for more details on what’s new in Endless OS 3.4!

Endless OS Home site

The operating system that comes with everything your family needs. Download Endless OS to access a world of knowledge.

Endless is designed to feel natural and intuitive, making it easy to use even if you have little or no computer experience.

https://endless-global.myshopify.com/#

I was pretty impressed with all I read about Endless OS so as I had a spare 4 GB stick lying around I decided to give it a whirl.
I could have used ETCHER but I used the "dd" command to install to the usb stick. The image booted up on my UEFI system with no problems. The desktop is very slick and modern and ran very smoothly and quickly.
My internet connection was found and ran without any fiddling about as did sound and the desktop automatically found the best settings for my 24" monitor.
I downloaded the VLC and WolfenDoom Blade of Agony flatpaks and they both installed and ran flawlessly.
For anyone wishing to try out a linux os or indeed anyone wishing to run a linux os then Endless OS is probably the easiest way to go.
All of the extra programs offered come as flatpaks which are basically programs in a container which includes everything needed to run the program. So with a couple of clicks you can install a program and be assured that it will run without any fiddling around. The Flatpak hub has almost every type of common program that a ordinary user would need to have a full and decent computing experience.
If you have a spare half an hour then why not give Endless OS a whirl.

I just came across this excellent article on Endless OS which details installing and running the os much better than I can.
They state that you need to buy codecs due to USA legallities which is true for the included Totem player. However if you install VLC you do not need to purchase codecs as they are included with VLC.

Endless OS: A Unique Take on Linux That’s Perfect for New Users

If you think Mint is an easy to install and use linux os then you will be blown away by the simpicity of Endless OS.

 

[Abarbarian]

Debian-Based Slax 9.5.0 Released, Now Available on Hardware-Encrypted USB Keys

Slax developer Tomas Matejicek announced today the release and immediate availability of the Slax 9.5.0 release with the latest updates and security patches.
Since it's been rebased on the Debian GNU/Linux operating system, Slax saw two releases, versions 9.3.0 and 9.4.0, which introduced numerous enhancements and new features, including one-click-to-install launchers, support for various Wi-Fi devices, EXT4 and NTFS support, and persistent support enabled by default when booting from USB flash drives.

Slax author's Blog

I am also happy to announce that it is now possible to purchase Slax preinstalled on an USB flash drive with hardware-based AES encryption. This device is universally usable because the encryption is performed directly by the drive itself, there is no software to install needed. Once disconnected, the USB drive automatically locks itself again. Payment is possible only with Bitcoin, because I truly wish to see PayPal and credit card companies to cease to exist soon.

Here is some information on the Data Traveller 2000,

Kingston DataTraveler 2000 Encrypted Flash Drive Review

The DataTraveler 2000 has several interesting factors that might make it one of the best secure flash drives around. The first is that it includes AES-256 in XTS mode and is hardware based rather than software based. Next, while some hardware encrypted flash drives partition the drive and use software to unlock the main data portion of the drive, the DataTraveler 2000 uses an alphanumeric keypad to unlock the drive. Finally, it includes an automatic data wipe after 10 failed PIN entries.

I had never seen a usb stick with a key pad before so went hunting for further information. It appears that here in the UK You can get a iStorage stick for quite a bit less than the Kingston one, although they do run at slightly slower speeds.
I really like that they run on anything that supports usb or usb2go.

 

[Abarbarian]

BasicLinux

BasicLinux is a mini-Linux that boots from HD, FD or CDrom and runs in a 4mb ramdisk. It has a fully-featured shell, an easy-to-use editor, and a variety of useful utilities. In particular, BasicLinux is well equipped for internet use: it can dial an ISP, browse the web, send/receive mail, and download/upload files. It can also share an internet connection with other computers.

So way back when they had an os that could connect to the internet, surf the net , do e-mail and upload and download files, all with 8 mb of ram. I wonder what happened along the way....................

BasicLinux Questions & Answers

> I was hoping to find something that would be similar to
> say Windows 3.x that fit comfortably in a space of 40 megs

BasicLinux + X + icewm runs in 20mb of HD space.

> and can run the internet.

I recommend Netscape 3.04. It works well with BasicLinux,
and is easy to install (full instructions are on the X page).
Netscape 3.04 requires an additional 10-15mb of HD space.

There is a more modern version here,

http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/

The current release of BasicLinux is 3.50. It comes in two versions: one boots from a DOS harddrive, the other boots from floppies. Both versions have the option to install themselves to a Linux partition on the harddrive.

I had a read through some of the questions in the FAQ and was struck by how polite and civilised the question askers and the repliers were. Some of the modern day distro forums could certainly learn something from them.

 

[Abarbarian]

Five Trends Influencing Linux's Growth at the Endpoint

A recent IDC InfoBrief identified Linux as the only endpoint operating system growing globally. While Windows market share remains flat, at 39% in 2015 and 2017, Linux has grown from 30% in 2015 to 35% in 2017, worldwide. And the trend is accelerating.

Although the “Which is the better operating system: Microsoft Windows or a Linux-based OS?” debate is as popular as ever these days, in truth, Linux has won the war. If there is any doubt, consider the influence of the Linux-based Android operating system (and its UNIX-based Apple brethren) to that of Microsoft Windows. Windows still has a place in our lives, but only because of the large volume of core applications that require a Windows OS. This will not always be the case, and to Microsoft’s credit, it has seen the future, and the future is Linux.

It took Microsoft a few years to acknowledge the populist change in the software development world. Linux was thriving in an Open Source community, and competitors were succeeding. As early as 1998, companies like IBM and Oracle had announced Linux support. Startup companies like Google, Amazon and Netflix were building new businesses on Linux by writing code for everything from the Elastic Compute Cloud to entertainment delivery systems to Android and Chrome OS.

Further evidence of Linux reaching deeper into large players’ business strategy is the closer alliance between Intel and Alibaba, which will have far-reaching implications in cloud deployment, machine learning and a wide range of applications. One of their important initiatives is Intel and Alibaba teaming up on AliOS, which VentureBeat described as a highly customized Linux distribution, tailored for mobile, industrial and IoT devices.

The proliferation of IoT will contribute to further Linux growth. Many virtual appliances already use the Linux kernel, and analyst projections indicate Linux will benefit by dominating IoT device proliferation. Gartner claims that there were 8.4 billion connected things in 2017 with expectations to rise to 20.4 billion in 2020. Nearly all of these “connected things” will be running a Linux kernel.

IDC researchers found that improving security remains the top priority (40%) for organizations, and of particular concern is the vulnerability of the endpoint. Linux-based endpoint devices, including thin clients, are the toughest against threats since Linux operating systems are generally limited to specific functionality and are nearly impossible to manipulate when hardened and properly configured.

Linux at the endpoint—and as the secure choice for the growing number of IoT devices—is the OS that is future-ready. As billions more devices come online, and the Internet of Things takes hold, Linux is the one OS that can securely accommodate the cloud, the edge and the endpoint.

I seem to recall that some time ago I said that Windows (the os) was a dying dinosaur and that Linux would rise to the fore. Looks like I was right for once.

 

[Abarbarian]

What Is Ubuntu? The Past and Present of the Ubuntu Linux Distro

Ubuntu comes from the Debian Linux distribution. Debian is one of the oldest and most welrespected distributions, and it developed many advancements that modern Linux users rely on daily. Mark Shuttlesworth, a South African entrepreneur, was a fan of Debian and worked with it when he built his company, Thawte Consulting. After that same company was acquired, Shuttlesworth chose to fund the development of a new Linux distribution, Ubuntu.

The article above has obviously not seen a spellchecker as even Mark Shuttleworth's name is spelt incorrectly. However there is no denying that Ubuntu and all its offspring are popular with the masses and Ubuntu has made headway in the bussiness world.

Mark Shuttleworth has led quite an extraordinary life as his Wikipedia page shows,

Mark Richard Shuttleworth (born 18 September 1973) is a South African entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Canonical Ltd., the company behind the development of the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system.[2] In 2002, he became the first South African to travel to space as a space tourist.[3][4][5][6] He lives on the Isle of Man[7] and holds dual citizenship from South Africa and the United Kingdom.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Shuttleworth

 

[Abarbarian]

MiyoLinux: A Lightweight Distro with an Old-School Approach

A Nice Nod to Old-School Linux
If you’re itching to throw it back to a time when Linux offered you a bit of challenge to your daily grind, MiyoLinux might be just the operating system for you. It’s a lightweight operating system that makes good use of a minimal set of tools. Anyone who likes their distributions to be less modern and more streamlined will love this take on the Linux desktop. However, if you prefer your desktop with the standard bells and whistles, found on modern distributions, you’ll probably find MiyoLinux nothing more than a fun distraction from the standard fare.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/miyolinux/

Miyo - is simply an acronym for "make it your own". Primarily intended for users with older hardware, MiyoLinux is a very minimal and base system that allows users the freedom to add the software and applications that they want or need without having to remove the ones that they don't want. It's your choice to decide what goes on the system in order to make it your own. Based on Devuan and by utilizing Window Managers, the system is ideal for (but not limited to) older computers with limited resources.

Features

• Devuan + Openbox, Awesome, or i3
• Dynamic Menu (with icons or without)
• User chooses their software/applications
• Miyo=Make it your own!
• Wiki support

The i3 version would make a good base for Window Maker and still keep a lean mean os.

 

[Abarbarian]

Open source advances deeper into hardware: The CHIPS Alliance project

Open-source hardware is older than you might think. Sun released OpenSPARC in 2007, and IBM started OpenPOWER in 2013. OpenSPARC would die after Oracle bought Sun, and OpenPOWER remains largely IBM-driven. With the recent arrival of the RISC-V (pronounced Risk-Five), though, open-source CPU designs have finally caught fire. Now, the Linux Foundation is helping form the CHIPS Alliance project. CHIPS, in turn, will host and curate high-quality, open-source silicon device design code.

Backed by Esperanto, Google, SiFive, and Western Digital, the CHIPS Alliance will foster a collaborative environment for creating and deploying new open-source chip designs. These will be used across the entire spectrum of computing. This will include mobile, computing, consumer electronics, and Internet of Things (IoT) chip and System on a Chip (SoC) designs.

Once upon a time, and it wasn't that long ago, innovation rules in chip design. With the fresh air of open source blowing through processors, perhaps we'll see those days returned. With all the inherent security problems revealed in the dominant x86 processor world by the Meltdown and Spectre bugs, it's well past time for new ideas.

The article is not really about linux but it is in the same spirit. I wonder would it be a blessing or a curse if we had the choice of five or six different cpu and graphics designs to choose from.

 

[Abarbarian]

XINUTOP-NAV is a Linux portable or installed marine OS,

Xinutop is made in the KISS mind with a special care of simplicity, efficiency, reliability, lightness (who say bloatware ?) and can operate from multiple data devices (HDD, SSD, USB, SDcard, Flash) on a great variety of x86 compliant computers, from up-to-date hardware to low power or old processors. They poorly supporting the growing greed of currents OS, less and less compatible with embedded hardware, according to Wirth's law. Today it's much easier to add programs (only the programs that you need) on a simple system base than eradicate from the system heart softwares that you are useless.

Xinutop is assembled with Debian 8.x packages (Jessie) and include these features:

• A robust architecture: main filesystem in squashfs, boot system protected, no write access.
• A fast boot provided by lrd scripts, more simple and very much faster at boot than casper, the default live system for Debian-Ubuntu. (ex: ~30s from a compact-flash on a modest Intel/Atom n270 single core platform)
• A persistent mode that allows to keep the user data and system changes in a transparent user layer above the main filesystem (as "data" partition in Linux-Android).
• A restore mode (factory reset) allowing to findnize exactly the original system (simply by deleting the user layer). Interesting if you want try audacious or hazardous sofware solutions !
• A "home-save" function, to automatically save and move user home data during a restoration.
• A ramdisk mode, which boost time access, running Xinutop from a virtual harddisk emulated in memory (RAM mini 1Go). You can start it from a slow device as an USB key and run it faster than a conventional installation on a HDD. All your changes and data are keeped at reboot.
• A simplified boot and installation (no questions !) , simply copying by block mode to your device.
• The full compatibility with applications of the Debian distribution. You can install and run any other application from your user layer.
• Alvailable in *.img format to grab directly on a device and *.vdi to run simply into VirtualBox.

The developer is French so the translation is a tad quirky. However the software looks to be pretty darn neat and is up to date with a late 2018 download of the os available.

Xinutop can run in portable mode on removable device as secondary or rescue OS, but also as a main operating system on hard drive. The memory usage after startup is about 100MB. To make Xinutop unbreakable (may I say "unbrickable ?") the necessary system files are locked and can't be deleted or modified by a normal way

This is a good example of the customisationability of linux and open software. The developer has made a distro with all the bells and whistles you need to sail a boat safely anywhere in the world without spending a fortune.
Looking at the programming side of this offering you notice that he has used X11-Basic which has been around since 1991 and is still a very useful tool.

OS

• Debian: the base of Xinutop.
• TinyCore Linux: not only tiny, but modulable and a very interesting mode of zero installation.
• Puppy Linux: also tiny for low power systems. As say Barry Kauler, the leader project, don't buy a new computer, download it !
• Android-x86: a very nice implementation of Linux-Android OS on x86 compliant processors.

PROGRAMMATION

• Shell Bash: powerfull and native with all Linux distro, base script for Muplex, Rastow and OSD-Depth.
• X11-Basic: Basic is not dead and can make interesting things by simple ways.
• GTKdialog and Yad: small and lightweight GUI dialog creation.
• Geany: lightweight IDE with syntax highlighting, suited for these scripts languages.

All in all a first class effort and one I will look into in more depth once my luxury yatch docks.

 

[Abarbarian]

The Parrot Security team released a new version of their ethical hacking and penetration testing Linux-based operating system with numerous enhancements and noteworthy features for the security community.

After more than three months in development, the Parrot 4.6 operating system is now available with a Security edition featuring the KDE Plasma desktop environment alongside the existing MATE edition featuring the more lightweight MATE desktop environment. Both the KDE and MATE flavours are available in Home and Security editions.

"We love MATE but we'd heard great things about KDE and decided we could try and support two desktop environments," said Parrot Security team in the release notes. "We heard you and it is finally here! A Security edition featuring the KDE Plasma desktop environment."

https://www.parrotsec.org/download.php

This is a pretty interesting os which comes in several flavours. Most interestingly it is offered as a Docker image which makes it easy peasy to try out. If I can find the time I will give it a whirl.