Open Source

Security Onion 2.4.210 is back with major improvements for the Onion AI Assistant, as well as local model support for Onion AI. Several system components of this platform that performs threat hunting and enterprise security monitoring were updated. This new version also comes with the usual set of minor tweaks and fixes.

One of the more recent Arch-based distros is Berserk Arch, which targets power users and "is not designed to be easy" but allows Linux connoisseurs to have a base to use for building their edge. Using Openbox as the default desktop environment, Berserk Arch 2026.03.01 updates several packages, including Firefox, Mesa, Vim, and more.

Loaded with the long-term support kernel labeled 6.12.74, MocaccinoOS 26.03 also includes Mesa 25.3.5, out-of-the-box support for RTW89, documentation improvements, including the MocaccinoOS manual now shipping with each ISO, and more. The ISO files available come with KDE, MATE, XFCE, and GNOME, as well as a minimal version.

Oreon, the live Linux distro based on AlmaLinux and born in the USA, is back with a new update. While keeping the decade-long support pledge and the custom-themed GNOME desktop, it moves from XFS to Btrfs and replaces the Anaconda installer with Centrio. Version 2603 also sports updated branding and logos, automatic Nvidia driver setup, and more.

Advertised as an operating system "that provides a breadth of functionality and ease of use without sacrificing aesthetics," Bluestar Linux has just been updated to version 6.18.9. Its highlights include LibreOffice 26.2.1, the 6.18.13 kernel, the Nvidia driver with version number 590.48.01, Firefox 148, Chromium 145.0.7632.116, and more.

Version 7.5 of the Debian-based Irish-flavored Linux distro with a strong focus on online anonymity and security, namely Tails, is now available with several updated apps and the usual set of bugs and fixes. It is also the first version that installs Thunderbird as additional software on each start.

Although based on Debian's unstable branch, Clonezilla Live 3.3.1-35 is available as a stable version. Its highlights include the 6.18.9 kernel, Partclone 0.3.45, improved BitLocker support, makeboot64.cmd instead of makeboot64.bat, as well as several other improvements, fixes, and tweaks.

TermDriver 2 from Excamera Labs is a USB-to-serial adapter with a built-in IPS display. Connect this board to power, link it to your target’s debugging port, then get straight to debugging MCUs or SBCs both on the workbench and in the field.

Packing roots that can be traced back to a personal SUSE Studio project that came out in 2014, today's NebiOS has just received an update to version 10.2. This release sports multiple bug fixes, two components entirely rewritten, namely Bundle Store and napp-runtime, as well as plenty of improvements to the NebiDE desktop.

Now built on LibreELEC 12.2, Lakka 6.1 is a new release of this retro console emulator for single-board computers. Back in April 2024, version 5.0 came out, and since then, the team has been working on revamping the core ecosystem and introducing several new features.

Labeled as the "Goodbye Lubuntu/Ubuntu" release, OmegaLinux arrives with an Arch Linux base while keeping the LXDE desktop to continue supporting low-end hardware. However, the new base provides faster updates and a more streamlined system while requiring users to adapt to its more technical approach.

The debut of the ReXGlue SDK for Xbox 360-to-PC recompilations has spurred the launch of four wildly different recompilation projects, though three of them are tied to deceased mangaka Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball fame. ReXGlue SDK also lays the groundwork for many more recomps to come.

After deciding against using the ISP router in part one, it’s time to focus on hardware: what actually works best for an OpenWRT router? A mini PC, Raspberry Pi, or a traditional router? And what about the switch and access point? In this part, I’ll walk through my hardware choices, including considerations around power consumption, architecture, and cost.

Provider routers are convenient—but that’s exactly their biggest problem. Poor Wi-Fi coverage, limited control, questionable privacy, and technical limitations are everyday issues for many users. In this new series, I’ll gradually replace my provider’s all-in-one device (the Vodafone Station) with a modular setup using an OpenWRT router, access point, and switch. In part 1, I’ll explain why I’m taking this approach and how the project is structured.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) have developed a new system called Stable Video Infinity (SVI) to tackle the drifting in video generation models.

Nearly 20 years later, the Nintendo DS is still receiving new hardware integrations, and with good reason. Given its superior form factor and sprawling homebrew community, the only thing missing seemed to be a little Raspberry Pi integration. Enter the DSpico flashcart.

In this second part of the series, we take a closer look at Asus gaming laptops. The open-source alternative this time is called G-Helper. While Asus Armoury Crate weighs in at a staggering 4 GB, G-Helper comes in at a ridiculous 5 MB — yet remains extremely powerful.

Privacy-focused hardware company Brax returns with an open-source 2-in-1 tablet offering a user-replaceable battery, M.2 expansion, and support for a range of operating systems.

Control center apps from major laptop manufacturers such as Asus Armoury Crate or Lenovo Vantage have grown into bloated, resource-hungry packages packed with ads and tracking. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Slim open-source tools, often just a few megabytes in size, can offer a very similar feature set—without the bloatware. In this new article series, we take a close look at the best open-source alternatives for gaming laptops and explain who actually benefits from switching.

Keychron has launched an updated Q Ultra mechanical keyboard series globally, bringing new ultra-efficient ZMK firmware that brings with it in-depth customisation and up to 660 hours of battery life. The new keyboards also launch with new switches and in various layouts, including the full-size Q6 Ultra and the gaming-optimised Q1 Ultra. The affordable Z Ultra series brings the same features in a plastic chassis at half the price.

Following the nearly half-million dollar crowdfunding success of the Mini-KVM, Openterface is back with the KVM-GO, a tiny KVM that reduces cable clutter by including all the hardware in the display connector.

CheckMag With the growing number of users jumping from Windows to Linux, I decided to fully take the plunge and dive deep into the Open Source ocean. A few months and several headaches later, it has proved to be the best computer-related decision I've made in over a decade (and perhaps in my entire life).

The Nuclear music player project has released an early build of the next iteration of its all-in-one music sourcing and playing program. While still in its early stages, this update is set to address many of the shortcomings of the popular yet temperamental program.

Gnome has officially banned the use of AI-generated code in its shell extensions, but the justification is more pragmatic than it is ideological. As of the announcement, any code submitted for consideration in the Gnome Extensions Library that has obvious evidence of AI or sloppy, inconsistent code will be rejected during the code review process.

I find the idea of self-hosting fascinating. I read about it regularly, and as someone who reviews PC hardware, I’m practically surrounded by ideal conditions—and gear—to finally get started. I’ve even tested devices that would be perfect for it. Yet despite thinking about it constantly, I still haven’t fully committed. Why?

Need to create a Windows rescue boot stick? Or a USB for Linux Mint, another for Kali Linux, or Tails? Finding the right boot sticks used to be a hassle for me—but now I can handle Windows, Linux, and more with a single USB stick, thanks to Ventoy.

An enterprising YouTuber has built a fully wireless split ergonomic mechanical keyboard with support for a track point, dual customisable knobs, and a focus on portability. The keyboard uses ZMK firmware, which is known for its hyper-efficient operation, and the design, along with build instructions, will be available on GitHub soon as an open-source project.

As a laptop reviewer, I take countless screenshots during every test—benchmark results, control-center settings, and more. I need a tool that’s lightweight, captures screenshots quickly, and automatically saves them to a predefined folder in the format I want so I don’t have to convert anything afterward. This tool checks all those boxes and runs on every PC I use.

Copying text from a Word document is easy. But how many times have I watched a YouTube video and wished for a tool that could extract the text shown on screen? Well, the open source app Text Grab can do exactly that — and more.

Square CEO and Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey is bankrolling DiVine, and its founders say AI-generated clips won’t fly thanks to multiple checks integrated into the system to prevent uploads.

DIY engineer and YouTuber CNC Dan has made a major overhaul of a basic VR headset he built a while ago, adding 6 DoF and wireless controllers. While not perfect, the result is impressive.

APT is set to gain Rust code in 2026 as Debian modernises its package manager. The coding language's presence in open-source projects keep growing.

Valve's October 2025 Steam survey shows Linux and SteamOS surpassing three percent of users, highlighting growing hardware optimisation across open-source platforms.

A lesser-known alternative Web browser, SeaMonkey received a version bump on October 31, 2025 that sees it lose a major strength while unfortunately failing to address SeaMonkey's biggest shortcoming, that is, the inability to render script-heavy websites such as Reddit or Stuff properly.

PayPal and OpenAI have reached a deal giving OpenAI's "Instant Checkout" feature the power of PayPal payments. Users will now be able to pay for goods and services directly through a ChatGPT session.

CheckMag If you are looking to step away from subscription services, reduce reliance on big tech, or simply have fun while learning, self-hosting is a great way to make your media collections available across all of your devices while keeping data under your control. Here are the best containers for managing almost every type of media.

An open-source tool called Grafana allows Garmin smartwatches users to evaluate and display their own data more or less independently of the manufacturer. It also offers more configuration options that may provide deeper insights.

DIY YouTuber CNCDan has uploaded a video of his latest project — a VR headset, which, besides the 3D-printed parts, cost him about $150. He also made all the resources needed for the project open source.

YouTuber Brady Y. Lin, who could be called a serial inventor, has uploaded a video of his latest invention — Stradex1. Stradex1 is a violin-inspired musical instrument, but more compact and possibly more intuitive. He also made the project open-source.

Facepunch refines Source 2–based creation platform with improved workflow, physics stability and rendering performance

DeepSeek has released DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp, an experimental AI LLM designed to reduce compute costs while maintaining good performance when compared to its prior version, DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus. The open-source model free to download and use, while the public API costs over 50% less.

Intel will no longer be blindly contributing to the open-source software ecosystem, with recent comments from the company indicating that it will be using open-source as an "advantage to Intel." Intel was previously known for contributing substantial development efforts to open-source projects and releasing many of its AI acceleration tools and programs under open-source licences.

As previously announced, Ubuntu 25.10 became available earlier today as the final step before the next LTS release, which is scheduled for 2026. In addition to the 6.17 kernel and GNOME 49, this release also comes with the Ptyxis terminal, the Loupe image viewer, improved Bluetooth audio handling, and more.

Blender 5.0 Beta has officially been released in preparation for the release candidate that is scheduled to land later this year. Blender 5.0 is slated to add a number of UI tweaks for readability and tweak the backend codebase to add new feature support and improve performance.

Bambu Lab and Presq have partnered to release a line of open-sourced, customisable footwear designs that will allow anyone to bring their concepts to reality using just a 3D printer. The lineup of 3D designs, which feature TPE and PLA based construction, will be available on Bambu's MakerWorld platform.

The openSUSE Project team is back with openSUSE Leap 16.0, a major update that sports a fresh software stack, a new installer, and simplified migration options. Additionally, it introduces "an unmatched maintenance- and security-support cycle," which promises annual minor releases until 2031, when Leap 16.6 is set to arrive.

The first Ubuntu Touch release based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is now available as version 24.04-1.0. The list of supported devices includes the Fairphone 3, Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1, Fairphone 4 and 5, Google Pixel 3a and 3a XL, Sony Xperia X, Xiaomi Redmi Note 9, and a few others.