Linux / Unix

A handful of DIY-friendly Epomaker mechanical keyboards are on sale on Amazon, with up to 50% off. The sale brings some impressively quality keyboards down to very reasonable prices, like the Epomaker x Aula F87 Pro wireless TKL keyboard that is now as low as $39.99. Epomaker's keyboards often feature gasket mounting, foam noise isolation, and hot-swappable key switches, for endless customisation.

Codenamed "Wilma" and to be supported until 2029, Linux Mint 22 comes with multiple software updates, including the Linux kernel 6.8, themes with GTK4 support alongside multiple visual changes across the entire system, HiDPI in the boot sequence, Plymouth, and Slick-Greeter. Hexchat has been replaced with the Matrix chat network.

Based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and available in no less than ten editions, Ubuntu Pack 24.04 is now out. This distro comes with a universal VLC player, a comprehensive set of media codecs, and support for running Windows apps. The list of preinstalled apps includes Inkscape, XnView, Peazip, Firefox, Veracrypt, and more.

Available in its current form since early August 2007, MidnightBSD started as a FreeBSD fork in 2005. Version 3.2.0 brings the Ravenports integrated system, which allows you to build packages of complex software, including private repositories for targeted use. The default desktop environment remains Xfce.

MagicX is developing yet another retro gaming handheld. Supposedly arriving with a $40 target price tag, the MagicX XU HD should be powerful enough to emulate Nintendo DS, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1 games.

System76's long-awaited Cosmic desktop environment will officially ship with the Pop!_OS 24.04 alpha build, bringing with it a host of improvements to GPU compatibility and features. Despite it being an alpha build, System76 hopes for Cosmic and Pop!_OS 24.04 to be completely usable as a daily driver OS.

JSAUX has announced a Lite version of its innovative, foldable portable monitor. It is now the most affordable variant of its line-up, and is also the first version of the FlipGo in which its dual screens are 15.6 inches in diagonal length. Then again, there are some compromises relative to its higher-end Pro siblings.

Available since July 10, 2022, Nobara Linux is a Fedora-based distro aimed at gamers and content creators. Yesterday, version 40 arrived with a completely remade updater, KDE 6.1.1, Gnome 46, as well as the Nvidia 555 drivers and much more. Five versions are available for download, including two made to look and feel like the Steam Deck.

CheckMag While buying the latest tech is tempting, older desktop and laptop computers are often more than enough to meet the demands of modern computing work. An older machine may require some time and tinkering to get up to par, but the payoff can definitely be worth the work and the results can be rather surprising.

Anbernic has decided to offer yet another compact gaming handheld. Arriving shortly after the RG Cube, the RG40XX H starts at just $69.99 and should be powerful enough to emulate most retro game consoles up to the PlayStation Portable.

Anbernic is gearing to release yet another retro gaming handheld, roughly a month after the arrival of the RG Cube. This time, the company has delivered the RG40XX H, a 4-inch option that has been shown to emulate up to Dreamcast and PlayStation Portable games for a $64.99 starting price.

A recent video from Mental Outlaw explores what it means to be able to boot from Google Drive, how it is possible, and how this proof of concept could impact future PC hardware.

Capable of providing a fully-loaded Linux firewall solution that only requires a few clicks to secure a network, NethSecurity got an update with two major highlights. Version 8.1 comes with a user account manager in the web GUI, as well as a visual connection tracker.

Unleashed yesterday, Finnix 126 is built using the Linux kernel 6.8 (Debian 6.8.12-1, to be entirely accurate) and comes with several new packages, such as libc6-i386, features, as well as fixes and improvements. This release also includes a fix for the recently discovered OpenSSH CVE-2024-6387 vulnerability.

The Linux Mint development team has released the beta version of Linux Mint 22 for download, which for the first time is based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and comes with the Linux 6.8 kernel. In addition to the updated Cinnamon 6.2 desktop, MATE 1.26 and Xfce 4.18 are also available.

Manjaro Linux 24's third maintenance release, called "Wynsdey" and introduced earlier today, features Plasma 6 and version 6.9 of the Linux kernel. Each of the Manjaro editions available comes with updated desktops and visual traits, as well as under-the-hood fixes and optimizations.

The initial support for Linux has dropped on the Asus Vivobook S 15 OLED laptop, which is powered by Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100. However, not all the functionality is available on the latest kernel patch. For example, USB4, SD card, and battery monitoring aren't currently working.

The M25 is a new retro gaming handheld that closely resembles a particular Sony PlayStation accessory. Available for under $100 with 64 GB or 128 GB of storage, the M25 also has a modest battery capacity, a compact display, 4 GB of RAM and runs EmuELEC 4.3 by default.

As its fifth anniversary draws near, EndeavourOS gets a new update. Labeled 2024.06.25, this software refresh comes with Plasma 6.1 (both offline and live), Firefox 127.0.1-1, and Calamares 24.06.1.2-1, as well as a few fixes. Also, the r8168 legacy driver package has been removed in this update.

The Pocket Z is a new attempt at bringing back the classic PDA form factor. Built around a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, the Pocket Z runs Linux and should eventually be released for under $100.

System76's Cosmic Linux desktop environment now has an official logo. The development team confirms that a first alpha version of the Rust-based desktop is planned for the end of July.

Anbernic has now officially confirmed the existence of the RG40XX H after a spate of alleged leaks. Resembling the RG Cube, the RG40XX H appears set to arrive in three colours. Specifications for the Anbernic RG40XX H have now been confirmed, too.

A Red Hat developer has shown the first images of what a Blue Screen of Death could look like under Linux in the event of a kernel error. The error screen does not necessarily have to be blue, as we know it from Windows.

The Linux desktop environment KDE Plasma has been updated to version 6.1, which includes an improved desktop editing mode and session recovery under Wayland. Remote desktop connections have also been simplified.

Unleashed earlier today, War Thunder 2.37 "Seek & Destroy" brings new airplanes, ships, and ground vehicles into the game, as usual. Helicopters get reworked cockpits, the old maps get a few retouches, not to mention the introduction of additional modules for ground vehicles, and much more.

Taking its level of security one step further, Tails 6.4 comes with a random seed on the USB stick that strengthens all its cryptographic functions. Thanks to it, the Persistent Storage, Tor, or HTTPS are now more secure. Additionally, this new release comes with multiple minor tweaks and fixes.

CheckMag The Warframe Jade Shadows update has officially launched for Windows, Xbox, Switch, PlayStation, and iOS. Update 36 introduces a number of exciting new additions to the MMO looter shooter, including a new warframe, an exciting new quest offering insights into a long-time foe, and a whole new game mode to get stuck into as well as some valuable quality of life fixes.

Released yesterday, the sixth service pack of the enterprise-class SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 distro comes with both performance and security updates. The list includes a major kernel update to version 6.4, hardware and driver improvements with support for Intel, ARM, AMD, Nvidia, IBM Power, and IBM Z products, and more.

Although it targets only Linux fans for the time being, postmarketOS continues to receive regular updates. Released yesterday, the latest one is labeled 24.06 and comes with support for more than 250 devices. Its highlights include KDE Plasma Mobile 6.0.5, GNOME Shell on Mobile 46_git20240610, Phosh 0.39, and much more.

This time, Google admits that the latest YouTube update "may result in suboptimal viewing experiences for viewers with ad blockers installed" and urges viewers once again to support creators by allowing ads or trying YouTube Premium. Also, when accessing the website without logging in, a warning shows up asking the user to sign up.

This laptop is powered by the SpacemiT’s K1 processor with 8 RISC-V cores and expanded AI features, as well as up to 16 GB LPDDR4X RAM plus 1 TB SSD storage. Canonical ensures full compatibility with the Ubuntu 23.10 distro.

Until next year's announced arrival of the Adaptable Linux Platform-based Leap 16, openSUSE Leap keeps moving forward with version 15.6. Released yesterday, it comes with maintenance and security updates guaranteed until the end of 2025, OpenSSL 3.1 as default, Podman 4.8, KDE Plasma 5.27.11, and more.

Dangbei has unleashed its latest "Netflix Officially Licensed" home projector with the fairly conventional specs necessary to throw an up-to-120 inch image at an FHD resolution. Then again, the N2 also debuts a new type of stand which, despite its single leg, is rated to support it as it tilts through up to 210 degrees.

The list of operating systems with full Raspberry Pi 5 compatibility has just welcomed a new name. CentOS-successor AlmaLinux OS now supports the popular single-board computer in two of its recent releases, namely 8.10 and 9.4. Both of these versions were released last month.

Unleashed earlier today, Firefox 127.0 comes with enhanced screenshot capabilities that can also handle files rendered in the browser such as SVG or XML, HTTPS Media upgrades on HTTPS pages, improved support for DNS prefectching, authentication when firing up the built-in password manager, a Close duplicate tabs option, and more.

The SZDiiER D-007 Plus is another Rockchip RK3326-based retro gaming handheld claiming to be powerful enough to emulate various classic game consoles. Based around a 3.5-inch display and a 3,500 mAh battery, the SZDiiER D-007 Plus is available for under $50 in various transparent and solid colour options.

At Computex, Tuxedo showcased a 14-inch laptop prototype powered by a Snapdragon X Elite processor, 32 GB LPDDR5X, PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, USB4 connector and vapor chamber cooling. Linux was not actually running on it, as full ARM compatibility is coming with Kernel 6.10 or 6.11 later this year, so Toxedo is not mentioning a specific launch date.

Unveiled at the end of last week, NixOS 24.05 comes with version 6.6 of the Linux kernel, Gnome 46 alongside KDE Plasma 6, as well as support for the Lomiri and Mate 1.28 desktops. Another highlight worth mentioning is the introduction of ztsd compression for firmware blogs.

Although not even mentioned by Statcounter's desktop market reports, Brave is slowly but surely going up. In May, it broke its previous records with almost 79 million active users, as well as roughly 29 million daily active users. Brave Search also hit new peaks, exceeding 843 million monthly queries.

Security and forensics-focused Kali Linux is back with bug updates and tweaks, as well as new tools and desktop updates. Released yesterday, Kali 2024.2 includes Gnome 46 and Xfce updates for Kali-Undercover and HiDPI, as well as no less than 18 new tools, including coercer, horst, netexec, and snort.

Unleashed yesterday, FreeBSD 14.1 is the second release of the stable/14 branch. Available for multiple architectures, from servers and desktops to embedded platforms, it comes with improvements to the sound subsystem, upgraded versions of OpenZFS, Clang/LLVM, OpenSSH, and more.

The latest Steam Survey highlights Full HD as the most popular display resolution, with over 58% of the total. At the same time, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 is the most popular video card, accounting for roughly 6% of the total. The most popular multi-monitor resolution is 3,840 x 1,080, with slightly less than 58%.

With a Raspberry Pi, a speaker and the instructions on GitHub, you can easily use OpenAI at home. The freely programmable assistant can also control Spotify, smart lights and more.

On the way to its 10th anniversary, the Debian-based Linux distro Endless OS got updated to version 6. This new release comes with dark mode support, version 6.5 of the Linux kernel alongside the Gnome 43.9 desktop environment, as well as many minor tweaks, fixes, and updated components.

While the latest Intel Linux driver update allows for the system to automatically decrease the PCIe link speed when overheating is detected, link width throttling is not added yet. A future update will integrate it as well, since PCIe 6.0 and its successor, scheduled to arrive around 2028, could benefit from this.

Hades II has finally launched, with fans eagerly clamouring to get back to the dungeon-crawling indie roguelike inspired by Greek mythology. Within the first 24 hours after Hades II launched, it passed 100,000 concurrent players on Steam alone.

The popular command line tool Neofetch has not been actively developed for several years, and the source code has now been archived on GitHub by programmer Dylan Araps. However, there are a number of alternatives for displaying your Linux system information in the terminal.

Now fully supporting Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 with 64-bit versions, LibreELEC 12.0 launches with Kodi 21 Omega alongside the Linux kernel labeled 6.6.28. This minimalistic distro can be used to run Kodi on HTPC devices with hardware made by Amlogic, NXP, Allwinner, Rockship, and more.

Gaming on Linux can be a little complicated, but the open-source community has put into the software surrounding the Linux gaming experience. Here is a pick of four of the best tools and software packages to make the most of your gaming hardware running on Linux.