Vivaldi web browser has just released its first major update of the year – a corker it is, too! Fans of the Chromium-based browser—though Vivaldi Technologies doesn’t appear to be part of the new Linux Foundation-led Supporters of Chromium Browsers project—will discover a bunch of improvements to the Dashboard feature Vivaldi 7.0 delivered. A new weather widget can be added to see current conditions and hourly and weekly weather forecasts for custom locations, plus the ability to set a preferred temperate, precipitation and wind speed unit (celsius, mm, and mph ftw). Keeping things scandi-cool, the Norway-based browser makes use of […]

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I won’t lie: it’s easy to add or remove startup apps, commands, and scripts in Ubuntu. Just open the Startup Applications tool, click ‘Add’, and away you go. But while Ubuntu’s utility is adequate, it’s not as user-friendly as similar tools available elsewhere. Sure, Startup Applications is equipped with the critical customisation fields a user will need to curate a set of software/services to start at login — SSH agent, VPN app, password manager, backup script, resolution tweaks, and so on — but it’s rather rote. Take the way you add an app to start at login: Ubuntu’s Startup Applications […]

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VirtualBox 7.1.6 is out, the third maintenance release to the VirtualBox 7.1 stable series first released in September of last year. Headline offering in this update is initial support for the recently released Linux kernel 6.13 in Linux Guest Additions, plus improved support for the Linux 6.4 kernel to fix graphics freezing when using VBoxVGA adapter, and Linux 6.12 fixes for vboxvideo. Linux guest screens no longer flicker when using VMSVGA graphics adapters, Windows 11 24H2 guests no longer throw BSODs, and entering a custom proxy server in a guest OS’ settings will now take effect, which some will be […]

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A fresh stable release of Wine — the open-source compatibility layer that makes it possible to run Windows apps and games on Linux and macOS — has been uncorked. More than 6,000 thousand changes were distilled in Wine 10.0, changes collected, collated, and curated over the past 12 months of Wine 9.x development releases. For those who’ve supped the dev cycle builds, the bulk of what’s new in Wine 10.0 will be familiar. Wine is not the ‘everyday essential’ it was in years past. Back then, web-based services weren’t as capable, so folks were wedded to specific pieces of Windows software, […]

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Ubuntu is mulling a switch to Matrix from IRC to handle real-time development discussion. Canonical’s Robie Basak has begun a discussion on the Ubuntu Developer Mailing list regarding a potential switch, in an effort to find consensus for or against such a move. But he urges devs in favour not to abandon Ubuntu IRC channels just yet. “First let’s discuss, and if we decide to move, then we can pick a date to move the “official” place for realtime Ubuntu developer conversation,” he writes. If Ubuntu’s development discussions — that is, discussions between approved Ubuntu developers, Canonical engineers, etc — […]

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A clutch of new customisation and configuration options were added to Refine, a GTK4/libadwaita app in the vein of GNOME Tweaks (but better), over the weekend. Refine is compelling due to its goal of offering the “convenience to add or remove options without touching a single line of source code” — though for a GUI option to exist it must be hooking into a variable within GNOME, i.e., it can’t magic up a toggle to make it rain glitter! A brief bit of turbulence ensnared those attempting to run the tool on Ubuntu after I covered it in early January […]

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The first new kernel release of the year has arrived — yes, Linux 6.13 has gone stable. Linux kernel 6.13 adds, as ever, a vast array of improvements, from an updated Raspberry Pi graphics driver promising speed gains, to lazy preemption logic, expanded Rust support and new drivers for a host of hardware, peripherals and digital doohickeys. Plus, as with all new kernel releases there’s ongoing work to support new and upcoming CPUs and GPUs from industry titans Intel and AMD. Linus Torvalds quietly confirmed the Linux 6.13 release in an email to the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML), noting that as […]

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A major new release of Linux Mint is now available to download. Linux Mint 22.1 is the first update in the Linux Mint 22.x series and, like that version, is built on top of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and uses Linux Kernel 6.8 (though the distro plans to release newer kernel updates more often by opting-in to the Ubuntu HWE). Being based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS means Linux Mint 22.1 receives on-going updates until July 2029. Though it features few foundational changes, Linux Mint 22.1 brings improvements to what sits on top – a new version of the Cinnamon desktop, Wayland-friendly features, new […]

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Doing anything right now? Oh, you’re reading this – appreciated – but once you’re done go and install the pending update to Rsync, pushed out to all supported versions of Ubuntu desktop and server this week. Rsync is a command-line tool preinstalled in all versions and flavours of Ubuntu. It’s used for data-efficient copying and synchronising of files between locations, be it local or remote. You might not (knowingly) use it (it’s not a GUI app) it’s there, on your system. And the fact it’s there is important. This week, security researchers at Google disclosed major vulnerabilities in the Ubuntu […]

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When GNOME 48 is released in March it will debut with a brand-new audio player. Per a recent merge request, Decibels graduates from GNOME Incubator to GNOME Core Apps as part of GNOME 48, making the software something GNOME recommends downstream Linux distributions include to give users a fully-featured GNOME experience. You may be familiar with or even using Decibels already. I wrote about the app in late 2023, and it’s been available to install from Flathub for almost as long. For anyone not familiar with it, Decibels is a no-frills audio player designed for the GNOME desktop (but can […]

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A new stable release of Flatpak is out with a wealth of improvements in tow. Flatpak 1.16.0 is the first stable release in the new 1.16.x series, coming more than two years after the Flatpak 1.14.x cycle began and containing features, fixes, and other work undertaken from the 1.15.x development releases. Such as? Well, the way that Flatpak apps access USB devices is improved in Flatpak 1.16.x thanks to a new input device permission. Developer Georges Basile Stavracas notes that this is “technically still a sandbox hole that should be treated with caution” but enables apps to purposefully limit the scope […]

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Enlightenment 0.27, released this week, brings a wealth of incremental improvements to users of this unique desktop environment. Though not as well known or widely used as GNOME, Xfce, KDE Plasma, et al, Enlightenment (often abbreviated as just ‘E’) differentiates itself through the use of Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL). An assembly of modules, Enlightenment offers a lightweight window manager, compositor, and desktop shell built using Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL), plus a small set of native EFL-based apps including a file manager, photo viewer, and terminal. Enlightenment’s aesthetics aren’t to everyone’s tastes (it’d be a boring world if it did; most […]

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Window snapping GNOME extension Tiling Shell —not that you need an introduction to it by now— adds a nifty new feature in its latest update. Tiling Shell v16 introduces Windows Suggestions, a feature the add-on’s author described as being able to “provide intelligent recommendations for other windows to tile, making window management smoother and more intuitive.” Per the GIF below, placing a window in a tile using the tiling system results in on-screen suggestions for other windows to tile in the the remaining gaps. If too many windows are open (so suggestions don’t fit within the available space) it’s scrollable. […]

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Real-time AI subtitling is in the works for VLC, the phenomenally popular open-source media player. VideoLAN, the non-profit in charge of VLC development, demoed automatic subtitle generation in VLC during CES 2025 —where not using AI made you stand out this year— and shared a clip of the feature in action at their CES booth on X last week. No cloud service or internet connection is needed for VLC to auto-generate subtitles with AI. The feature works offline to provide real-time translation support for more 100+ languages; is able to translate/display two languages at once; and can ‘save’ translations to […]

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Google is teaming up with the Linux Foundation, Microsoft, Meta, and Opera to form a new Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers group. Members of the group, managed by the Linux Foundation, will work together, pool resources, talent, time, and expertise to improve, innovate, and accelerate development of the open-source Chromium codebase. Why the Linux Foundation? Google cites their “long established practices for open governance, prioritizing transparency, inclusivity, and community-driven development.” For its part, Google says it has no intention of reducing its contributions to Chromium (which made up roughly 94 percent of all commits to the codebase in 2024), but will […]

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A new alpha update to System76’s COSMIC desktop environment has arrived with a clutch of interactive improvements. This is the fifth alpha of the Rust-based DE since August 2024. More alphas will arrive each month until all the features planned to ship in the first stable release – or ‘epoch’, as System76 is calling them – are in place, at which point beta testing will begin. Arriving alongside this alpha is a refreshed ISO of Pop!_OS 24.04 (Alpha) with COSMIC Alpha 5 preinstalled — but, just like previous COSMIC desktop alpha releases, users of other Linux distributions, like Arch Linux, […]

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Raspberry Pi has today announced the launch of a Raspberry Pi 5 with 16 GB RAM. A engorged-memory model had been oft-rumoured since the launch of the raspberry Pi 5 in 2024 – and long-desired by fans of this particular single-board computer (SBC). The launch of the new Raspberry Pi CM5 late last year offers up to 16 GB RAM whilst utilising the same underlying chipset as the Pi 5, all but confirming a bumper RAM revision for the full-size board was imminent. Why didn’t they launch a 16 GB model right away? It’s only due to last year’s (minor) […]

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Mozilla Firefox 134 has landed, making the browser’s first release of the new year. It’s been a month since Firefox 133 delivered time-saving tab overview access, beefed up bounce tracking protection, finessed flaws with Flatpak file opening, and smoothed out issues causing slow DNS lookup/connection timings on 64-bit Linux distributions. Do the changes in Firefox 134 best those? Let’s take a look! Firefox 134: New Features Touch hold gestures on Linux On Linux, Firefox 134 supports touchpad hold gestures. This allows kinetic scrolling to be stopped simply by placing two fingers on the touchpad. If you ever scroll down a lengthy article […]

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Sad news from Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth today: longtime Ubuntu and Debian contributor Steve Langasek has passed away. In a touching post on the Ubuntu Discourse, Mark Shuttleworth shares: “Steve passed away at the dawn of 2025. His time was short but remarkable. He will forever remain an inspiration.” “Judging by the outpouring of feelings this week, he is equally missed and mourned by colleagues and friends across the open source landscape, in particular in Ubuntu and Debian where he was a great mind, mentor and conscience.” As a former Debian and Ubuntu release manager, and a long-term Canonical employee, […]

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If you’ve ever played around with customising Ubuntu (or any GNOME Shell-based Linux distribution) you’ll have encountered GNOME Tweaks, an official app giving you GUI access to options, settings, and controls not otherwise exposed in the UI. In recent years, GNOME’s developers have begun migrating settings out of GNOME Tweaks and into the desktop proper — a move which refutes that oft-opined claim that GNOME only removes options, never adds them. But we (as users) can’t expect GNOME to cover and cater to every whim, want and wish. It pulls engineers and developers away from working on arguably more important […]

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A new year has started, and who knows what kind of innovations and improvements it holds for for Ubuntu, which remains the world’s most used desktop Linux operating system. We get two new releases of Ubuntu each year, one in April and one in October. Plus, new point releases of the latest long-term support release rolling up bug fixes, app updates, and back-porting newer Linux kernels and GPU drivers. So 2025 should be another golden year for Ubuntu, those of us using it, and the Linux and open-source community as a whole. Changes to Ubuntu in 2024 span a wide […]

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As another year transitions from present to past, I want1 to recap the notable new features, changes, updates and innovations Ubuntu saw over the past 12 months. And there was a fair bit: we got a noble new long-term support release in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, plus an opulent follow up in the form of Ubuntu 24.10, Canonical focused on ensuring Ubuntu stays the forefront of next-gen tech, and even snaps started to suck less! ;) For a round up of 10 cool things Ubuntu got, did, or committed to in 2024—listed in no particular order, lest anyone question my priorities— […]

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Removing backgrounds from video in Kdenlive, the free, open-source video editor for Linux, macOS and Windows, is about to get a whole lot easier. Developers are adding a “modern background removal tool” that uses machine learning to create object masks so you can ‘cut out’ an object, person, or item in a video clip. Real-time background removal features are common in video conferencing/chat apps like Slack. They allow a user to replace their actual backdrop (like a messy kitchen) with an alternative image or, sometimes, even a video clip. And image editing tools like GIMP and Photoshop have long been […]

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Orbit by Mozilla is a new AI-powered assistant for the Firefox web browser that makes summarising web content while you browse as easy as clicking a button. After all, why read an article to understand what it says when you can read an AI summary rephrasing the article instead? ;) Mozilla’s AI assistant Orbit is currently a beta product and available to install from the Firefox add-ons site where the extension, which works on Firefox for Windows, macOS, and Linux, is pitched thus: Orbit empowers you to stay informed and efficient by delivering the information you need in a condensed […]

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