The last few years have been troubled for the Gnome Project. Once a premier desktop environment for Linux, it has seen its market share diminish amid user dissatisfaction over Gnome 3 and accusations that the project was ignoring users. Yet, over the last six months, something important has been happening: Slowly and quietly, the members of Gnome have started trying to turn the situation around.

Linux Mint 14 “Nadia”

Linux Mint is a wildly popular Ubuntu-based desktop Linux with an emphasis on simplicity. Along with a strong assortment of open source applications and utilities, Mint takes pains to provide proprietary drivers and other helper tools for seamless-as-possible operations. The Mint 14 release features a new Windows Quick-list app for managing windows across multiple workspaces, as well as Alt+Tab window-switcher virtualization and a handy notification tool. Also debuting with this release is the new Nemo file browser, a fork of Gnome’s Nautilus file manager based on the Nautilus 3.4 codebase.

The Knoppix Live Linux distro is packed with powerful tools for fixing broken systems. We ask Knoppix creator Klaus Knopper for his favorite Knoppix rescue tricks.

Klaus Knopper is the creator of Knoppix and co-founder of LinuxTag expo. He currently works as a teacher, programmer, and consultant. If you have a configuration problem, or if you just want to learn more about how Linux works, send your questions to: klaus@linux-magazine.com

These days, security and privacy issues are increasingly making the news, but where can the average free software user learn more about safer practices? One of the best answers I have found is Tails, a Debian-based distribution that seems as much about teaching users to make informed decisions as about the software itself.

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