Release Announcement

Linux Lite 6.4 RC1 is now available for testing.

Building upon the release of 6.2, we have added a number if new changes. There are some details below, but all of the changes will be in the Release Announcement.

See below for details.

Linux Lite 6.4 Final will be released on 1st April, 2023.




Changes:


Linux Lite Applications

Our in-house applications are starting to be repackaged using ZSTD compression for significantly faster decompression speeds and higher compression rates.

Example:

Lite Themes - old compressed package: 91.2mb
Lite Themes - new compressed package: 76.8mb

This will benefit machines from a wider range of ages. Great for slower computers when installing updates, lightning fast updates for modern machines.


Added SystemD report to Lite System Report

This addition will help a wide range of people in regards to diagnosing a variety of booting and general system inquiries. Our amazing support team on the Forums will also find this very helpful.





Added webp support in the Thunar file manager for displaying thumbnails correctly

See below for before and after comparisons.

Before:



After:



The new look Thunderbird

Thunderbird gets, Redesigned Icons, Spaces Toolbar, New Address Book, Message Header Customization, Import and Export Wizard and Matrix Chat Support.















Other Changes:

- Latest Papirus Icon Theme
- The Hardware Database now has close to 80,000 submissions. 100k here we come! https://www.linuxliteos.com/hardware.php
- Latest stable versions of Chrome, LibreOffice, Lite applications etc
- New wallpapers

Plus many other tweaks and changes.

Window Theme: Materia
Icon Theme: Papirus
Font: Roboto Regular

Installation

How do I know if my Windows PC has UEFI?

In Windows Search, type msinfo or msinfo32 and launch the desktop app named System Information. Look for the BIOS Mode item, and if the value for it is UEFI, then you have the UEFI firmware. If it says BIOS Mode Legacy, then that’s the firmware you’re running.

Secure Boot is supported, but unless you know exactly how to handle it, it is a P.I.T.A. at best so I am going to say...you must disable Secure Boot to enable stress free computing.

Some helpful snippets from the latest Help Manual:





UEFI Support link - https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/uefi-secure-boot/

Details:

Kernel: 5.15.0-60 ( custom kernels also available via our Repository for versions 3.13 - 6.2 )
Chrome: 110.0
Thunderbird: 102.7.1
LibreOffice: 7.4.5
VLC: 3.0.16
Gimp: 2.10.30
Base: 22.04.2

Known Issues:

Eject Media prompt is only available at the end of the UEFI install.
Desktop icons - English support only.
Dropbox: if you get an error, run the set up twice.
There is NO Grub Edit in Lite Tweaks in this Series for Linux Lite due to an unsolvable issue. Ubuntu will show in the Grub menu if you are dual or more booting. Try Grub Customizer if it annoys you.
Grub menu shows Linux Lite as 'Ubuntu'. See below for more on this.

- Open /etc/default/grub as Administrator.
- Comment out: GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian` and leave GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR='Linux Lite' uncommented.
- Should look like:
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR='Linux Lite'
#GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
- sudo update-grub

Grub - press the ESC key whilst booting in UEFI mode after your BIOS has posted. Use the SHIFT key if running Linux Lite in Legacy mode.

Help Manual will be updated in the Final.

OEM Install option - is broken and crashes near the end of the install. If a fix can't be found, it will be excluded from each release until a solution if found.

Other Issues

You tell me.


There is no upgrade to or from RC releases. RC releases are for testing only and it is not recommended to run them as your main or secondary operating system.

Downloads:

HTTPS:

Download 64bit from here - Linux Lite 6.4 RC1 64bit
MD5SUM: dc60a277cde8e3a7fb1ffd31e87d8a0f
SHA256: f6f7cce1afdc465e755df0e68db4664b3b3c247a73563cc9eb245de5ab05931f
Size: 2.3Gb (DVD, USB)

Checking the MD5SUM and SHA256 of the Linux Lite ISO:

MD5SUM
Open a Terminal on Linux Lite and do:

SHA256
Open a Terminal on Linux Lite and do:


TORRENT: (Fastest way to download the RC)

64bit Torrent from here - linux-lite-6.4-rc1-64bit.iso.torrent
Hash: 773487e52aeceda4f531828335e37fab0b96ed4e
Size: 2.3Gb (DVD, USB)

Live USB/DVD/VirtualBox/Vmware:

Login is automatic, no credentials are required. The image can be written to a 4gb or larger USB stick, or a writable DVD. Alternatively, you can use the dd command: sudo dd if=linux-lite-6.4-rc1-64bit.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=4M where 'x' is the letter of your usb stick. In linux to find out the letter of your usb stick, open a terminal and type: df -h It is usually listed as 'media' or similar. Please see the built in Help Manual if you require a more detailed explanation of this procedure.

A good, simple point and click USB ISO burner is https://www.balena.io/etcher/ or https://rufus.ie/
In our testing, Etcher and Rufus (for Windows only) have proven to be the most reliable. Etcher is available for Mac, Windows & Linux.

If the screen locks during Live mode, type linux into the user box and click on the Login button (no password required)

Minimum Recommended Specs:
1Ghz processor
768mb ram
8gb HDD/SD
VGA screen capable of 1024x768 resolution
DVD drive or USB port for the ISO image

Preferred Specs:
1.5GHz processor+
1024mb ram+
20gb HDD/SSD+
VGA, DVI or HDMI screen capable of 1366x768 resolution+
DVD drive or USB port for the ISO image

Login to the live desktop is automatic.

The first thing you MUST do after a fresh install of Linux Lite is run Menu, Favorites, Install Updates.

As this is a RC release, there are bound to be bugs etc. Please help make the final stable for other people by participating in this RC. Please report any bugs and feedback in this thread.


Thank you

Jerry and the team.

Hi all - just installed the latest version of Linux Lite onto my older Acer Aspire Z5761 All-In-One PC. I'm not new to Linux (my daily driver laptop runs Linux Mint, my 'tinkering' laptop runs MX Linux and my HTPC runs Linux Mint as well) but this is my first time installing Linux Lite. I'm a tech. guy and do computer help and repairs as a side business, but I wouldn't call myself a 'Linux Guru'...fairly advanced user, maybe, but I'm not one of you folks that can do everything through Terminal!

Basically....the install went fine and everything works perfectly EXCEPT Sleep/Suspend. System specs:

When I put the machine to sleep, all is well - when I try to wake it up, all also SEEMS to go fine EXCEPT that within about 5-10 seconds of waking to the desktop, the entire system freezes and I have to do a hard restart...

I've reinstalled LL twice now to make sure it's not a corruption issue...still does the freezing thing both times. I don't THINK it's the WiFi reconnecting because I've tried forgetting the network so the WiFi wasn't trying to connect on Wake but the freeze still happens...unless it's some sort of WiFi driver issue...?

Anybody have any ideas what would be going, where I could look to figure it out, or how I could go about get it working correctly?

Thanks!

Hello,

Could you please help regarding my old laptop running slow with linux lite when compared with windows vista.
Laptop:
  intel core 2 duo
  4 GB ram
  250GB HD
  Dual boot :-  linux lite , windows vista
  I/O:-  wireless keyboard, touch pad of laptop (laptop keybord not working so using wireless keyboard)

On Windows vista system is very responsive, when clicked all applications , folders opens without any delay. But on linux, system is very slow response. Some times applications / folders open after few seconds of clicking. Some times typing text on keyboard, letters comes up after few seconds of typing.

To speedup the system updated below in /etc/fstab file:
    # move /tmp to RAM
    tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noexec,nosuid 0 0

But still the system is not as responsive as in windows vista.
Could you please help in finding the problem on linux lite on this laptop.
Please let me know if any info required from the laptop to narrow down the cause of problem.

thanks and regards
S Sarath
   

Went through these connections again for LL6 W11.
https://dbts-analytics.com/llvncrem1.html
TC

I am on LL 5.4.  I need to build a custom kernel to add Atari file system support back in.

The HOWTO at https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/tutor.../#msg42126 says not to use the guide if using proprietary drivers from the installation.

I am using the proprietary NVIDIA drivers.  Is there still a way to use a custom kernel with that?

The distro name on Neofetch sudently changed to Kubuntu... Is there a reason? or a fix? It's not a huge problem, But a wierd one

Just to report an experience.

Yesterday I tried to install linux lite for the first time. Made a USB drive with BalenaEtcher and booted. I clicked install now. A few steps later, it says no OS detected with a warning clause (all will be erased etc.). I clicked ok thinking it's installing to the USB drive (I read somewhere Linux lite is one of the best linux runs from a USB drive). Turned out it wiped out the entire hard drive with multipe partitions. I'm working on data recovery.

It's a Lenovo T450s with Windows 10. I used a old Segate external hard drive to boot (it has two USB cords and one is power only, don't know if that confused the installer? shouldn't.) Anyway, installer gave only one choice of disk and said no OS detected. It didn't show the size of the disk or other info except something like scsi(0, 0, 0). I was a little concerned but got distracted and chose to trust it. Big mistake.

Someone please take a look at it. There could be some bugs. Unfortunetly I cannot repeat it.

Bottom line, you can't blame an OS for slow boot times. It's so easy to generalize rather than confront the actual issue. Think about this logically - if we are using exactly the same operating system and version, and my pc boots fast, and yours does not, then what is the variable here...it can't be my computer or operating system that is the issue.

Slow boot times in Linux generally are due to some common factors.

Here you will find a summary of these:


What conditions promote a slower boot time?

- Older Hardware
- Low spec hardware - you can have the latest computer, but that doesn't necessarily translate to a 'fast modern machine'. You can still have slow boot times on a brand new pc.
- Using DHCP on your Network adapter
- A failing hard disk, SSD, NVME etc
- Devices with poor driver support, or an out-of-date or unmaintained/unsupported driver

Reports you can run that will help you pin point the issue:

Show which services are taking the longest to start up.

Overall boot time:

Open a Terminal.

Loading time of each service:



List enabled boot services:


Stop a service that you are NOT using (needs both the stop and disable flag)
eg. If you don't have or need Bluetooth:


NOTE: DO NOT DISABLE A SERVICE BEFORE UNDERSTANDING EXACTLY WHAT IT DOES. You may end up with an unbootable computer. But how do I know what is safe to disable and what is not? Ask us first

Confirm the service has been stopped:


A disabled service can be started by another service. If you really want it dead, without uninstalling it, then you can mask it to prevent it from starting under any circumstances:


Generate a list of all services:


Network

The Networking Service is a common issue for many people and the following change will remedy most situations. If after running the above commands you find that your Network device takes a long time to come up, then try setting a Static IP address as demonstrated here - https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/network.html under the heading 'Connecting to the Internet - Wired' (solution works for Wireless devices too).

Is my internal or external storage device (HDD, SSD, NVME) responsible?

Example, you run the following command and get the following output:


You're looking for a reference to sda or sdb, or just sd something. Here, it's dev-sda1.device and look, after the NetworkManager-wait-online.service is started, it takes another 58 seconds (approx) to run the sd or disk service. Bingo, our issue is either a slow or failing storage device.

Sleep or Hibernate

Instead of shutting your computer down, consider putting it into Sleep or Hibernate mode. A simple and fast resolution.

Old computer

Example: You're running a machine that was built from 2000-2015 with a mechanical hard drive, you could experience slow boot times.

Slow computer

You could have a slow computer. Even if it was built and released this year, if the internal components are cheap and or low spec, this could be the reason your boot times are slow.

Unsupported computer

Example, you're running Linux Lite on a Chromebook. Linux Lite is not designed specifically for this hardware. You cannot make your expectations match hardware that an operating system did not have in mind when it was created.

Upgrade some of your computer components

Running 4gb of memory? Yes, linux will run on low end machines, but that doesn't mean it's going to run like a powerhouse. Get the fastest memory your computer supports and increase the amount for example from 4gb to 8gb of memory. Upgrade to a fast SSD. Mechanical hard drives are slow and more prone to failure. I can't count on my fingers how many older computers I've transformed in an instant by simply throwing out the old hard drive and installing an SSD.

"But when I run Windows it boots so much faster"

Windows and Linux have completely different software in terms of kernels and init (types of initializing systems). This is not a valid argument. Consider also that you can get drivers for almost any computer Windows was designed for, and that PC makers on the whole do not build computers for linux, they're manufactured and supported largely for the Windows operating system.

I'm running Linux Lite via a DVD or USB Live

Running Linux Lite from a DVD, USB or external device will give you poor performance. The purpose of a Live system is for you to 'test drive' the features and hardware support before committing to an installation.

===========================
Install Updates Error log
===========================
Install Updates could not successfully download and install available updates.
Go to https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/ and paste the log below into the Software - Support - Updates section for assistance.

============ Log ===========

E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 3295 (apt-get)
E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), is another process using it?

:wave
Linux Lite just installed.

Tout fonctionne bien, mais le boot est vraiment très lent, je donne ci-dessous le résultat de systemd-analyze blame. Que puis-je faire pour améliorer la situation ?


It work fine, but at boot it took several minutes to show up. 
Please, have you suggestion ?