ConnexionCanonical Brings Ubuntu 24.04 to Qualcomm Dragonwing Vision Kit
Canonical has announced the first official Ubuntu desktop image for the Qualcomm DragonWing platform. A beta image of Ubuntu 24.04 desktop compatible with Qualcomm Dragonwing QCS6490 and QCS5430 processors, and specifically tailored for the Qualcomm RB3 (Gen 2) Vision Kit and RB3 (Gen 2 Lite) Vision Kit is available for testing. Ubuntu 24.04 server images were previously available for the same model vision kits, so it’s the addition of desktop builds that is an interesting development. Canonical say marrying a full Ubuntu desktop experience married with “powerful AI acceleration with high-performance graphics” in the Dragonwing devices provides “a powerful development environment […]
You're reading Canonical Brings Ubuntu 24.04 to Qualcomm Dragonwing Vision Kit, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
Development today opened on Ubuntu 25.10 “Questing Quokka”, the next short-term release of Ubuntu, due for release in October. Canonical engineer Utkarsh Gupta fired the figurative starting pistol for developers in a post to the Ubuntu mailing list, announcing the opening, and the enabling of auto-sync. “As usual, we expect a large influx of builds and autopkgtests in this initial period, which will cause delays. Please help fixing any breakage that occurs,” Gupta adds. It’s only been a couple of weeks since the Ubuntu 25.04 release, but the dedicated devs who spent 6 months diligently shaping that release don’t get much time […]
April saw a solid set of software updates land for an slew of popular Linux apps. In this post, I run through a number of recent releases that didn’t get the “full article” treatment on this blog. Sometimes it’s a challenge to cover everything I want to (especially in an Ubuntu release month, as April was), and some updates are rather minor and hard to say too much about. Also, covering updates relies on me knowing they’re out in a timely fashion. I track as much as I can, as best as I can. But it’s easy for things to […]
Luna brings moon phases to your Ubuntu desktop with a simple GNOME Shell extension. Track current phase, illumination percentage, and upcoming changes right from your panel.
At long last, Mozilla Firefox has GUI profile management features – obvious, easy to use and don’t require poking around the browser’s backend and creating custom shortcuts. The feature, which begins rolling out in today’s Firefox 138 update, is the latest “big ticket” feature the browser has belatedly sought to add, following recent long-requested supported for vertical tabs and tab grouping capabilities. Last month’s Firefox 137 release added the aforementioned tab grouping features, give its address bar a chip-laden overhaul, and flipped the switch on HEVC video playback on Linux. Firefox 138 has a number of notable changes to match those […]
If you’re looking for an easy way to “scrobble” music on Linux, no matter which music player you use, check out a new app called Turntable — and even if you don’t scrobble you should! Before I go any further I should bring those unfamiliar with what a “scrobble” is, up to speed. “Scrobbling” is—no, not one of those old fashioned British words I’m fond of using—the term given to logging the music you listen to, as you listen to it, on services like Last.fm and Libre.fm. When you play a track in a media player connected to a compatible […]
Of note, Ubuntu 24.04 developer images are now available for the new OrangePi RV2 RISC-V single-board computer (SBC). The news underscores Canonical’s on-going interest in the fledgling, open-source architecture. Last year, DeepComputing released Ubuntu-powered RISC-V tablet and laptop, and Ubuntu Server 25.04 was released last month with support for a myriad of RISC-V SBCs. “At Canonical, we believe that it’s important to do our part to help RISC-V succeed and gain acceptance as an open standard. Ubuntu’s availability on the OrangePi RV2 is a testament to the continued collaboration between [us] and the broader RISC-V community,” the company says. Adding […]
System76 has just announced the 7th alpha release of its Rust-based COSMIC desktop environment. As with earlier alphas, the focus remains adding features and functionality earmarked for inclusion in the first stable release (dubbed Epoch 1). What should you expect from that first stable release? Promise. It makes me sound a bit of a party-popper to say that but it’s worth keeping expectations grounded. It’s unfair and unrealistic to expect the first sable release of COSMIC developed in just a couple of years to feature-match desktop environments developed over decades. Nor will COSMIC’s native core apps, capable though they are […]
If you installed Ubuntu 25.04 (or upgraded from 24.10 before the gate was closed due to various pernickety issues) you might have noticed that window buttons in GTK apps. Ubuntu user Cristiano Fraga G. Nunes certainly did, filing bug report to report that “…on Ubuntu 25.04, the window control buttons (minimize, maximize, close) appear at inconsistent sizes across different GTK applications.” As he notes, GTK4 apps like Nautilus and Text Editor use smaller window buttons than in GTK3 apps, like Terminal which uses larger buttons (the same size GTK4 apps did in Ubuntu 24.10): Why the discrepancy? Ubuntu uses Yaru […]
Time is nearly up on support for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, with standard software, bug fix and security updates coming to an end on May 29, 2025. Users on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS should consider upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (or newer) if possible, but if unable should enable Extended Support Maintenance (ESM) as soon as possible in order to continue receiving critical security patches. ESM for Ubuntu provides “10 years of vulnerability management for critical, high and selected medium [security issues] for all software packages shipped with Ubuntu.” Enabling ESM is a bit of a no-brainer since it’s free for regular […]
Ghostty terminal fans needn’t fear an upgrade to Ubuntu’s latest release, as a community packaging effort just added Ghostty DEB packages for Ubuntu 25.04. The Ghostty Ubuntu project was set up was the aim of providing “Ubuntu/Debian (.deb) packages for Ghostty” so users on supported Linux distributions, including Ubuntu-based distros like Linux Mint and ZorinOS, can download, install and use the app properly. To date, there’s no official snap or Flatpak version of Ghostty available, and although compiling it from source isn’t hard, it’s more hassle than most are willing to go through to try a new app — yes, […]
The fourth major release in the Parallels Desktop 20 series has been released, bringing a stack of fixes for running Windows, macOS and Linux virtual machines on macOS. Yes, I did say macOS. I know; at first blush it seems odd for an Ubuntu blog to cover macOS app updates. But, Parallels is virtualisation software. It lets macOS users run Windows, macOS and Linux distributions as virtual machines so they can …Do whatever it is they need to. Scores of developers rely on Linux virtual machines in their day-to-day work since they aren’t able to run Linux on ‘bare metal’ […]
The Ubuntu 25.04 release is packed full of fresh features, updated apps and other upgrades that deliver a practical, pleasing out-of-the-box experience. —Perhaps not a perfect one, though. I just installed Ubuntu 25.04 on my “couch potato” laptop and there were a few “things” I had to do to make the experience better — albeit better for me! I didn’t do anything drastic: I didn’t remove Snap, uninstall GNOME Shell, or decamp to a 100% Libre Linux kernel and expunge proprietary drivers. Part post-install tasks and todos, part future-proof plumbing to setup a few things ahead of time so I […]
Do you currently run Ubuntu 24.10 on your computer but want to upgrade to the new Ubuntu 25.04 release to benefit from its (many) changes? As long as you’re full up-to-date and have a working internet connection, you can upgrade to Ubuntu 25.04 directly – no need to do download an ISO, flash it to a USB stick and do a clean install. And upgrading soon is a good idea. Ubuntu 24.10 supports ends in July, and those using it after that date will need to upgrade to Ubuntu 25.04 to continue receiving security updates. Those left cold by the churn of upgrading every […]
Pull the party poppers and unpack the cake as today is Ubuntu release day — and Ubuntu 25.04 ‘Plucky Puffin’ is now available to download. Ubuntu 25.04 is arguably the most polished & performant release to date! The latest short-term release of the world’s best-known desktop Linux operating system, Ubuntu 25.04 receives ongoing support until January 2026 — not long, but Ubuntu 25.10 is out in October, with direct upgrades available from this version. Over the past six months Ubuntu engineers, developers and community contributors have baked plenty of improvements into this release — arguably the most polished & performant […]
Ubuntu 25.04 is out this week and many will be turning to virtual machine to test, trial or tie the release into their development workflows — perfect timing for a new version of VirtualBox, then! Oracle today (April 15) issued the fourth maintenance update in the current VirtualBox 7.1 series. No new features were added but a flurry of bug fixes, stability boosts and integration buffs are present, which users across all supported OSes will benefit from. For Linux users frustrated at flakey wireless network adapter detection in earlier releases, the 7.1.8 update fixes the issue. Similarly, anyone ticked off […]
A major new release of Rnote, an open-source app for taking handwritten notes, sketching out ideas and annotating documents and pictures, is out. Rnote 0.12 brings several new features, new customisation and configuration options, user experience buffs, bug fixes, and other lower-level tune-ups. For those unfamiliar with it, Rnote is a digital note-taking app built using GTK4 and Rust. It’s primarily intended to be used with stylus input (so includes pen pressure, stroke styles, button actions, etc) but supports typed text entry, shapes, importing images, etc too. Rnote offers a range of document layouts, from fixed pages to infinite canvases, […]
Indulging your casual creativity (read: making memes, defacing selfies, etc) using open-source tools is made easier with the long-awaited release of Pinta 3.0. Pinta, as long-time Linux users will be aware, is a cross-platform raster graphics tool with a feature set and user-interface partly inspired by popular Windows image editing tool Paint.NET. I previewed the Pinta 3.0 beta back in January and came away impressed. Pinta port to GTK4/libadwaita lends the UI a much-needed modern look – and is more than superficial: usability, performance and stability is bolstered by the toolkit bump. Pinta 3.0 switches to a button-based header bar […]
Finding the exact files you want in the Nemo file manager will soon be easier and faster. Linux Mint is bringing ‘enhanced’ search functionality to the next major version of its GTK-based Nemo file manager (which is likely to see release the same time as Cinnamon 6.5 and ship out-of-the-box in Linux Mint 22.2 in the summer). The new filters allow you search, sift and surface files using regular expressions (often abbreviated to simply ‘regex’) queried against filenames. While regex searching is already included in Nemo it doesn’t work on file names, only file contents. The next version of Nemo adds […]
Hate having to read an article and use your brain to understand what it’s about? Would you rather read what an AI says it (hopefully) says instead? If so, Mozilla has your back. Saltiness aside, current nightly builds of Firefox include an experimental link preview feature that shows an AI-generated summary of what the linked page is (purportedly) about, so you can check before you visit it, saving you time, a click, or the need to use critical thinking. Firefox generates its AI summaries locally, on device – great for privacy but not for speed No data about you or […]
Open-source video player Celluloid premiered a new release this weekend with user-interface improvements, support for Lua models and more. Celluloid is a popular GTK front-end to MPV, the (incredibly) configurable cross-platform, command-line based media player, and makes many of MPV’s more advanced features a touch easier for users to find, try and benefit from. In Celluloid 0.28 its developers have focused on improving the UI. Player controls see refinement in both regular mode, full-screen mode and if ‘floating’ controls are enabled for windowed mode – fewer buttons are shown by default: As you can see above (and below), the player […]
A new version of Tauon music player is out, gifting fans of the powerful and unique-looking audio app a raft of new features to play with – including some Linux exclusive eye candy! Tauon 8.0 has been fully ported to SDL3, an efficient cross-platform and open-source multimedia library that provides a robust API for interacting with hardware (like audio devices). Tauon mention that the port provides better stability and scope for adding interesting new capabilities. Features-wise, Tauon 8.0 adds an options menu to the stop button so let users define stop behaviour (including an ‘always’ setting, e.g., ‘always stop after […]
Digital artists, designers and vector illustrators among you may be be interested to know that an updated version of open source graphics app Inkscape is (sort of) out. Inkscape 1.4.1 builds on the giant set of features last year’s release of Inkscape 1.4 brought with it with a number of worthwhile enhancements and bug fixes, plus two new features. When opening Inkscape a new splash screen is shown during loading (it can be disabled) to let users (especially those on older/slower devices) know something is happening since they clicked or tapped on Inkscape icon to open it: The welcome dialog which […]
Ubuntu users can enjoy a fresh new desktop wallpaper each and every day with this new app, which sources backgrounds from Bing, Wikimedia, and NASA.
A new version of DeaDBeeF music player is out with some cool features, FFMPEG 7 support, and a flurry of bug fixes sure to appease long-time fans of this tool. Admittedly, the popularity of traditional desktop music player apps like this one has dipped considerably since the arrival of music streaming services like Spotify. They give on-demand (and often free) access to expansive music catalogues. Still, many people (myself included) continue to maintain music libraries filled with MP3s etc. I’d wager most such users have (by now) settled on a preferred music client; for many, that choice is DeaDBeeF. I […]
March was another stellar month for Linux software updates, with big improvements to essential privacy tools like KeePassXC, creative apps such as Shotcut and DigiKam, and many more — updates that didn’t warrant dedicated articles on this blog. Why? ..Well, sometimes it’s an update making small changes hat it’s hard to say much1 about. Other times I’m just deathly late to hearing about it (which is why new tips via the contact form are super appreciated – you help me catch the things I miss). For those of us on fixed-release Linux distributions like Ubuntu, even small app updates can […]
Tab grouping is the latest big-ticket feature addition to get added to Mozilla Firefox, which sees a new stable release roll out from today. Last month’s Firefox 136 update delivered long-requested support for vertical tabs, a redesigned sidebar experience giving easy access to existing and new features (including online AI chatbots), and flipped the switch on AMD video hardware decoding for Linux users. Firefox 137 is an equally big update, adding tab grouping, an enhanced address bar experience with new features, and a clutch of smaller changes, including HEVC support for Linux For a closer look at the changes, read on. Firefox […]
Will Ubuntu 25.10 be codenamed the Quizzical Quokka? It’s an adjective + animal moniker Canonical’s marketing team tersely tweeted today—sans context—but as today is April 1 (aka April’s Fools Day, aka the day when companies, teams, and unpaid marketing interns spam the web with try-hard lolslop)… I’m questioning it. Ubuntu 25.10 could well be a Quizzical Quokka, but it also may not be — and if it isn’t, should it? The ‘Quizzical’ element is a playful if slightly odd adjective to roll with. It means confused, baffled, perplexed – terms that don’t describe a dependable operating system like Ubuntu particularly […]
An iconic desktop weather app from Linux’s past has just blown in — yes, Typhoon is back! Typhoon’s conceit is simple: display current conditions at a location plus a 4 day forecast on a customisable coloured background. Long long-time OMG! Ubuntu readers may just about recall that Typhoon is a fork of an older app called Stormcloud. Between 2012 and 2013, Stormcloud was one of the best-selling apps on Ubuntu – topping the download chart for 6 consecutive months! Sadly, development on Typhoon dried up not long after it launched, with its dev unable to weather changes to its backend […]
A new update to Tiling Shell, an efficient window snapping extension for GNOME Shell, is rolling out this weekend with a few appreciable enhancements in tow. For example, its nifty ‘Windows Suggestions’ feature, which makes it easy to tile your other open windows to remaining spaces in a layout, can now be enabled for use with the Snap Assistant. If turned on, tiling a window to a layout using the slide-in drop-zone widget will let you select open window it faster to fill the remaining spaces with other open apps, like so: In this update, Windows Suggestions can be enabled […]
Ubuntu users frustrated by the inability to connect to a new password-protected Wi-Fi network at the login screen will be pleased to know a fix is rolling out. This particular bug affects users of both Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Ubuntu 24.10. When trying to join a wireless network at the login screen (GDM) which requires a password, the password input prompt never appears and the connection fails. Why does—soon to be ‘did’—connecting to a wifi network at the Ubuntu login screen fail? Canonical software engineer (and the original bug reporter) Bartosz Woronicz explains: "The log-in screen [in Ubuntu] is implemented […]
Ubuntu 25.04 provides a plethora of new features, foundational changes and user-experience enhancements that are well worth upgrading for. In this post, I run through the best features Ubuntu 25.04 ‘Plucky Puffin’ has to offer. From notification grouping and digital ‘wellbeing’ tools to a more capable OS installer and performance-focused Linux kernel – there’s plenty to love in this newest release. You can look forward to trying all of the changes I spotlight below in April, when Ubuntu 25.04 is released — whether you do a fresh install or upgrade from Ubuntu 24.10. So read on to find out what […]
If you’ve been pining to sample the Plucky Puffin, now’s the time: the Ubuntu 25.04 beta downloads are out! Ubuntu 25.04 beta lands ahead of the planned stable release on Thursday April 17, 2025. As a beta, the purpose is to let folks like you and I muck in to test it out, check it works with hardware, and report any bugs, breakages, or big issues so they can be looked into, worked on and fixed up in time for the release premiere next month. Ubuntu 25.04 is a short-term release supported for 9 months — Ubuntu LTS releases are […]
The Vivaldi web browser is famed for offering a plethora of options, settings and features that cater to all kinds of use-cases and needs — today it added a new one: an integrated VPN. Proton VPN for Vivaldi is exactly what it says it is: Proton VPN in Vivaldi – as in, no need to download an app or configure anything on a system level since you click a button and, bam, it’s there in browser, ready to use when/if you need. Vivaldi isn’t blazing new ground here since other web browsers either include a built-in VPN (like Opera) or […]
The new Zorin OS 17.3 release is available to download and it includes a number of major changes – like a new default web browser. Based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Linux kernel 6.8, Zorin OS 17.3 offers “new features, strengthens your privacy, and enhances the entire user experience,” according to its developers. For a closer look at those features, privacy changes, and UX enhancements, read on. Zorin OS’s New Default Web Browser Zorin OS 17.3 makes a huge change to its choice of default web browser, hitherto Mozilla Firefox. But no more. The distro cites Mozilla’s “recent policy changes” […]
If you’re an avid user of GNOME Shell extensions then a) you’re in good company, and b) you’ll be familiar with Matt Jakeman’s terrific Extension Manager app since it makes finding, installing and managing GNOME extensions terrifically easy. This week Extension Manager received a small-ish update. I was going to cover the changes in my next Linux Release Roundup at the end of the month, but with GNOME 48 out—cue the “does my favourite extension still work” panic—it feels fitting to let the update stand in a solo spotlight. Especially since Extension Manager‘s Flatpak build now depends on the GNOME […]
Linux Kernel 6.14 has arrived, bringing a clutch of changes to make your computer run more efficiently and more securely than before. Interestingly, Linux 6.14 is one the smallest kernel updates in terms of commits (not lines of code) for some time. It is also the kernel version that will be included in Ubuntu 25.04, released next month. Announcing the promotion to stable on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) Linus Torvalds explains why this release has landed a day later than expected “So it’s early Monday morning (well – early for me, I’m not really a morning person), and […]
Canonical has announced that it now ‘officially supports’ Ubuntu on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin series of computing modules, designed for low-power AI and machine learning applications. The General Availability (GA) of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for the NVIDIA Jetson Orin brings “optimized performance, out-of-the-box compatibility, and an easy pathway to high-performance AI solutions for AI developers everywhere“, say Canonical. Offering Ubuntu certified images for cutting-edge hardware is something Canonical has been ramping up, and doing so for NVIDIA Jetson modules should provide a lure to developers wanting to leverage them for edge AI, robotics and other uses. Our collaboration with NVIDIA […]
A new version of Miracle-WM, the Mir-based tiling window manager developed by Canonical engineer Matthew Kosarek is out, the first update to be released this year. Miracle-WM 0.5 adds a number of new features, compatibility enhancements, and (at long last) introduces a couple of animations. Yes, animations—remember: Miracle-WM wants to be “a flashy, cozy tiling window manager that absolutely anyone can use, similar to hyprland but with less of a focus on expert users”. Frivolous though they are to some, animations will help realise that goal. Miracle-WM 0.5 changes at-a-glance: On the bug-fixes side: Plus more – see the Miracle-WM GitHub for a comprehensive […]