In today's open source roundup: Run iTunes in Linux or use iTunes alternatives. Plus: Ten Linux distros worth checking out. And DistroWatch reviews Void Linux iTunes and Linux It will probably be a cold day in you-know-where before we ever see a native version of iTunes for Linux. Apple just isn’t interested in supporting Linux. But you actually can run iTunes in Linux via WINE, and if that doesn’t float your boat then there are some native Linux alternatives to iTunes that are worth considering. Danny Stieben reports for MakeUseOf: As you’re getting used to Linux (potentially as your new main operating system), you’ll eventually try to find a way to efficiently manage your music. iTunes comes to mind because it’s been the most popular way to manage music over the years, but you’ll quickly find out that iTunes isn’t available natively on Linux. Plus, better ways exist to manage your music now that it’s 2015. However, that doesn’t automatically mean that you won’t be able to manage your music the way you want to. There’s plenty of other ways to keep tabs on your music library. Here’s six great ways to get it done. iTunes Via WINE: Install WINE Run the iTunes installer via WINE Google and try to solve any problems you come across. Linux iTunes alternative music managers: Amarok Banshee Rhythmbox Clementine Google Play Music More at MakeUseOf MakeUseOf readers shared their thoughts about iTunes and Linux: JonGl: “My choice is Google Play–and I’m still on my Mac. I moved all my music over–even protected music, apparently, is accessible. I guess Google knows the album and track name, and just plays something from their own collection. I pay $7 a month and get access to everything on Play, and I have it on all my devices, regardless of OS, etc. I suppose the downside is that I need a data connection, but so far, this has never been a problem. The upside is that my 16gb phone has no music stored on it, which leaves space for other, more important things. Since moving my files to Play Music, I almost never launch iTunes any more. (I have Play Music extensions for Chrome that I use to listen on my Mac.)” Manuel: “I’m using Tomahawk at the moment and I’m pretty satisfied with it. I find the GUI and features (or lack of them out of the box) more appealing than the other options out there.” Muss60: “I use Clementine as local native app in ubuntu but I have started to use “Amazon Music” more. While you cannot download complete album in one hit on Linux it does let you song by song. Downside will not let you upload if you run Linux os. I use this as most albums on cd purchsed through Amazon have a mp3 copy stored in Amazon Music for free. It also will recognise your locally stored music and make it available through Amazon Music player. I use it on desktop via Ffox and or Chrome and on android via application.” More at MakeUseOf This video has some helpful instructions on how to install iTunes in Ubuntu via PlayOnLinux: Ten Linux distros worth checking out There are tons of Linux distros to choose from, but it can be difficult to figure out which ones are worth considering for your organization or system. Information Week has a roundup of ten Linux distributions that should be on your short list. Information Week staff reports: There are now hundreds of distros, with different capabilities and functionalities, available on the market. Some of them provide a superior graphical user interface (GUI), while others are known for faster performance. Only a few are known for their commercial support, and even fewer are preferred for their simplified or faster deployment mechanisms. To develop or expand a Linux environment, one option is to develop a distro from scratch, potentially matching all of your requirements but also requiring huge amounts of time and effort. Alternatively, many Linux distros are available for commercial use. Identifying the Linux distro that can serve all of an organization’s needs can be a tricky task. Here are some of the most commonly used Linux distros, with a high-level analysis of their strengths and weaknesses to help organizations determine which will best meet their requirements. Debian Ubuntu Linux Mint Fedora Red Hat Enterprise Linux CentOS OpenSUSE/SUSE Linux Enterprise Arch Linux Slackware Linux Mageia/Mandriva More at Information Week DistroWatch reviews Void Linux Void Linux is a distribution that offers a general purpose operating system. Currently the distro has more than 4500 binary packages for x86, x86_64, ARMv6, and ARMv7 architectures. DistroWatch put Void Linux through its paces and found that it still needs a bit of work. Jesse Smith reports for DistroWatch: Perhaps much of my poor luck with Void was a result of hardware incompatibilities, it certainly seemed that way when I was trying to use the Cinnamon edition of the distribution. However, whether due to software bugs or drivers or hardware, my time with Void was unfruitful. The distribution’s Cinnamon edition did not work for me in any practical sense and the Base edition, while it installed, offered only minimal functionality. The functionality that was provided was sometimes flawed. For example, the xbps-install program worked well for me, but xbps-query regularly failed to locate software, even when given the exact name of a package I wanted (and had located through the project’s website). I could install multimedia programs, but audio didn’t work. I could install X, but did not get a working graphical interface. The main reason I tried Void was to get a look at the runit init software in action. Void starts up faster than perhaps any other Linux distribution I have worked with, so runit would appear to have its good points. I was able to enable and disable services without any trouble, so that is another point in runit’s favour. I was not able to find much documentation about runit on Void’s website, but a little looking through the local manual pages turned up information on how to start, stop and check on the status of background services. At this point I am very much a beginner when it comes to using runit, but I like what I have seen thus far. The runit software appears to be very lightweight (using only 1MB of memory compared to Upstart’s 33MB and systemd’s 185MB*), the service management commands have simple syntax and the runit scripts for managing services appear to all be just two or three lines of text apiece. This may be the most straight forward approach to managing services I have encountered, at least based on the experimenting I’ve done so far with Void. In the end, I appreciate what Void’s developers are trying to do. I like the runit service manager and I’m open to new approaches to package management. However, at this time I think Void would benefit from more documentation to assist new users and bug testing to smooth out the user experience. More at DistroWatch The Void Linux site has more information and a download page: Void is a general purpose operating system, based on the monolithic Linux® kernel. Its package system allows you to quickly install, update and remove software; software is provided in binary packages or can be built directly from sources with the help of the XBPS source packages collection. Currently there are over 4500 optimized binary packages for the x86, x86_64, ARMv6, ARMv7 architectures; also there’s support to build (natively or cross compiling) from sources any package easily that is available in the XBPS source packages collection. More at Void Linux Did you miss a roundup? Check the Eye On Open home page to get caught up with the latest news about open source and Linux. Software DevelopmentOpen Source