Enlarge / AlmaLinux lets you build applications that work with Red Hat Enterprise Linux but can't promise the exact same bug environment. That's different from how they started, but it's also a chance to pick a new path forward. (credit: AlmaLinux OS)

I asked benny Vasquez, chair of the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, how she would explain the recent Red Hat Enterprise Linux source code controversy to somebody at a family barbecue—somebody who, in other words, might not have followed the latest tech news quite so closely.

"Most of my family barbecues are going to be explaining that Linux is an operating system," Vasquez said. "Then explaining what an operating system is."

It is indeed tricky to explain all the pieces—Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, CentOS Stream, Fedora, RHEL, Alma, Rocky, upstreams, downstreams, source code, and the GPL—to anyone who isn't familiar with Red Hat's quirky history , and how it progressed to the wide but disparate ecosystem it has today. And, yes, Linux in general. But Vasquez was game to play out my thought experiment.

Enlarge / You might draw a fairly similar schematic diagram to give someone a simplified idea of how a traditional Linux distribution is put together—but it wouldn't be as close to literal accuracy as this Ubuntu Core diagram is. (credit: Canonical )

Canonical released Ubuntu Core 20 today, which is now available for download. If you're already familiar with Ubuntu Core 20, the standout new feature is added device security with secure boot, full-disk encryption, and secure device recovery baked in. If you're not familiar with Ubuntu Core yet... read on!

The key difference between regular Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core is the underlying architecture of the system. Traditional Linux distributions rely mostly on traditional package systems— deb , in Ubuntu's case—while Ubuntu Core relies almost entirely on Canonical's relatively new snap package format.

Ubuntu Core also gets a full 10 years of support from Canonical, rather than the five years traditional Ubuntu LTS releases get. But it's a bit more difficult to get started with, since you need an Ubuntu SSO account to even log into a new Ubuntu Core installation in the first place.

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Sponsored by Red Hat, the Fedora Linux distribution has today released Fedora 33 which brings in numerous improvements for desktop users.

For desktop users, Fedora Workstation is what you're looking for if you want what they claim is a "just works" Linux experience. Fedora 33 pulls in GNOME 3.38 'Orbis' which by itself is a pretty big upgrade, see our previous overview on that here . They're also now using the BTRFS filesystem as the default, which is again quite a major change that includes lots of advanced features for those who want it but for desktop users it shouldn't be a noticeable change. The Fedora team mention that the switch to BTRFS is laying the foundation to build upon in future releases.

Pictured - a fresh test install of Fedora 33.

This release also brings in an animated background (based on the time of day) by default which is pretty slick looking. As part of Fedora's "First" mission they try to include all the latest and greatest software and with Fedora 33 you get the likes of Python 3.9, Ruby on Rails 6.0, and Perl 5.32 as default. In their KDE edition, they've also enabled the EarlyOOM service by default to improve the user experience in low-memory situations.

If you make use of the Wine compatibility layer, this release should also now use the Direct3D to Vulkan translation layer DXVK as the default instead of wined3d which should give much better performance in Windows games run through it. As after we covered the proposal , it was approved . Fedora 33 ships with Wine 5.20 and DXVK 1.7.2.

You can see the release announcement here , release notes here and download from here .

Enlarge / No, that's not a pink panther—that catlike critter is a fossa, and it's both mascot and default wallpaper of Ubuntu 20.04, preloaded on this Thinkpad P920. (credit: Lenovo )

Beginning today, Lenovo is offering a greatly expanded selection of OEM Linux PCs to the general public. Earlier this year, Lenovo began offering Fedora Linux preinstalled on laptop systems including Thinkpad P1 Gen 2, Thinkpad P54, and Thinkpad X1 Gen 8. Today's announcement makes Ubuntu Linux available on a considerably broader swath of both desktop and laptop PCs.

ThinkPad T14 (AMD and Intel)	ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5	ThinkPad P1 Gen 3
ThinkPad T14s (AMD and Intel)	ThinkPad L14	ThinkStation P340
ThinkPad T15p	ThinkPad L15	ThinkStation P340 Tiny
ThinkPad T15	ThinkPad P15s	ThinkStation P520c
ThinkPad X13 (AMD and Intel)	ThinkPad P15v	ThinkStation P520
ThinkPad X13 Yoga	ThinkPad P15	ThinkStation P620
ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3	ThinkPad P17	ThinkStation P720
ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8	ThinkPad P14s	ThinkStation P920

The devices themselves—and their Ubuntu certifications—aren't new, but the public accessibility is. Previously, these systems were only available to enterprise customers via custom bid, but the 27 new models—mostly featuring Ubuntu 20.04, except for the L series laptops featuring Ubuntu 18.04—will now be available for retail purchase through Lenovo.com. Just beware of the footnote warning that some models may be limited to specific markets.

Although it's been simple for individual customers "in the know" about enterprise-only model certifications to buy those machines with Windows and install Ubuntu themselves, the new OEM program removes roadblocks in both knowing which systems to buy and getting factory support on them once installed.

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