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1825 Monetary Lane Suite #104 Carrollton, TX
Do a presentation at NTLUG.
What is the Linux Installation Project?
Real companies using Linux!
Not just for business anymore.
Providing ready to run platforms on Linux
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(Two Column)
- An in-kernel machine-learning library
For those wanting more machine learning in the kernel, Viacheslav Dubeykohas posted anew in-kernel library for that purpose.
What is the goal of using ML models in Linux kernel? The main goal is to employ ML models for elaboration of a logic of particular Linux kernel subsystem based on processing data or/and an efficient subsystem configuration based on internal state of subsystem. As a result, it needs: (1) collect data for training, (2) execute ML model training phase, (3) test trained ML model, (4) use ML model for executing the inference phase. The ML model inference can be used for recommendation of Linux kernel subsystem configuration or/and for injecting a synthesized subsystem logic into kernel space (for example, eBPF logic).
It is rigorously undocumentedand there are no real users, so it's not entirely clear what the purposeis, but there are undoubtedly interesting things that could be done withit.
- Six stable kernels for Friday
Greg Kroah-Hartman has released the 6.18.9, 6.12.69, 6.6.123, 6.1.162, 5.15.199, and 5.10.249 stable kernels. As always, eachcontains important fixes throughout the tree; users are advised toupgrade.
- Ardour 9.0 released
The Ardour digital-audio-workstation (DAW)project has announced therelease of version 9.0.This is a major release for the project, seeing several substantive new features that users have asked for over a long period of time. Region FX, clip recording, a touch-sensitive GUI, pianoroll windows, clip editing and more, not to mention dozens of bug fixes, new MIDI binding maps, improved GUI performance on macOS (for most) ...
We expect to get feedback on some of the major new features in this release, and plan to take that into account as we improve and refine them and the rest of Ardour going forward. We have no doubt that there will be both delight and disappointment with certain things - rather than assume that we don't know what we're doing, please leave us feedback on the forums so that Ardour gets better over time. Those of you new to our clip launching implementation might care to read up on the differences with Ableton Live.
In the coming weeks, we'll begin to sketch out what we have planned next for Ardour, in addition to responding to the feedback we get on this 9.0 release.
- [$] Kernel control-flow-integrity support comes to GCC
Control-flow integrity (CFI) is a set of techniques that make it more difficult forattackers to hijack indirect jumps to exploit a system. The Linux kernel hassupported forward-edge CFI (which protects indirect function calls)since 2020, with the most recent implementationof the feature introduced in 2022. Thatversion avoids the overhead introduced by the earlier approach by using acompiler flag (-fsanitize=kcfi) that is present in Clang but not inGCC. Now, Kees Cook hasa patch set adding that support to GCC that looks likely to land in GCC17.
- Linux from Scratch to drop System V versions
The Linux FromScratch (LFS) project provides step-by-step instructions onbuilding a customized Linux system entirely from source. Historically,the project has provided separate System V and systemd editions,which gave users a choice of init systems. Bruce Dubbs has announcedthe project will no longer produce the System V version:
There are two reasons for this decision. The first reason isworkload. No one working on LFS is paid. We rely completely onvolunteers. In LFS there are 88 packages. In BLFS there are over1000. The volume of changes from upstream is overwhelming theeditors. In this release cycle that started on the 1st of Septemberuntil now, there have been 70 commits to LFS and 1155 commits to BLFS(and counting). When making package updates, many packages need to bechecked for both System V and systemd. When preparing for release, allpackages need to be checked for each init system.
The second reason for dropping System V is that packages like GNOMEand soon KDE's Plasma are building in requirements that requirecapabilities in systemd that are not in System V. This couldpotentially be worked around with another init system like OpenRC, butbeyond the transition process it still does not address the ongoingworkload problem.
[...] As a personal note, I do not like this decision. To me LFS isabout learning how a system works. Understanding the boot process is abig part of that. systemd is about 1678 "C" files plus many datafiles. System V is "22" C files plus about 50 short bash scripts anddata files. Yes, systemd provides a lot of capabilities, but we willbe losing some things I consider important.
The next version, 13.0, is expected in March and will only focus onsystemd.
- Security updates for Friday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (freerdp, kernel, python3, and python3.12-wheel), Debian (alsa-lib, chromium, openjdk-25, phpunit, tomcat10, tomcat11, and tomcat9), Fedora (openqa, pgadmin4, phpunit10, phpunit11, phpunit12, phpunit8, phpunit9, and yarnpkg), Mageia (python-django), SUSE (alloy, cups, dpdk, expat, glib2, java-1_8_0-ibm, java-1_8_0-openj9, java-25-openjdk, kernel, libpainter0, libsoup, libxml2, openssl-3, python-filelock, python-wheel, python312-Django6, thunderbird, traefik2, udisks2, wireshark, and xen), and Ubuntu (glib2.0, linux-azure, linux-azure-4.15, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-4.15, python3.14, python3.13, python3.12, python3.11, python3.10, python3.9, python3.8, python3.7, python3.6, python3.5, python3.4, and tracker-miners).
- [$] Modernizing swapping: the end of the swap map
The first installment in this seriesintroduced several data structures in the kernel's swap subsystem anddescribed work to replace some of those with a new "swap table" structure.The work did not stop there, though; there is more modernization of theswap subsystem queued for an upcoming development cycle, and even more formultiple kernel releases after that. Once that work is done, the swapsubsystem will be both simpler and faster than it is now.
- Security updates for Thursday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (brotli, curl, kernel, python-wheel, and python3.12), Debian (containerd), Fedora (gnupg2, pgadmin4, phpunit10, phpunit11, phpunit12, phpunit8, phpunit9, and yarnpkg), Mageia (expat), Oracle (qemu-kvm and util-linux), Red Hat (kernel, kernel-rt, opentelemetry-collector, and python3.12-wheel), SUSE (abseil-cpp, dpdk, freerdp, glib2, ImageMagick, java-11-openj9, java-17-openj9, java-1_8_0-ibm, java-1_8_0-openj9, java-1_8_0-openjdk, java-21-openj9, kernel, libsoup, libsoup-3_0-0, openssl-3, patch, python-Django, rekor, rizin, udisks2, and xrdp), and Ubuntu (gh, linux, linux-aws, linux-azure, linux-azure-5.15, linux-gcp, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-hwe-5.15, linux-ibm, linux-ibm-5.15, linux-intel-iotg, linux-intel-iotg-5.15, linux-kvm, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-tegra, linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15, linux-oracle, linux-raspi, linux, linux-aws, linux-azure, linux-gcp, linux-oem-6.17, linux-oracle, linux-raspi, linux-realtime, linux, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-hwe-6.8, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-6.8, linux-raspi, linux-fips, linux-aws-fips, linux-azure-fips, linux-gcp-fips, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-6.8, linux-nvidia-lowlatency, linux-realtime, linux-intel-iot-realtime, and linux-realtime, linux-realtime-6.8, linux-raspi-realtime).
- [$] API changes for the futex robust list
The robustfutex kernel API is a way for a user-space program to ensure that thelocks it holds are properly cleaned up when it exits. But the API suffersfrom a number of different problems, as André Almeida described in a session in the"Gaming onLinux" microconference at the 2025 Linux Plumbers Conference in Tokyo.He had some ideas for a new API that would solve many of those problems,which he wanted to discuss with attendees; there is adifficult-to-trigger race condition that he wanted to talk about too.
- [$] Sigil simplifies creating and editing EPUBs
Creating an ebook in EPUB format is easy,for certain values of "easy". All one really needs is a text editor, a few command-line utilities; also needed is a workingknowledge of XHTML, CSS, along with an understanding of the format'sstructure and required boilerplate. Creatinga well-formatted and attractive ebook is a bit harder. However, it can bemade easier with an application custom-made for the purpose. Sigil is an EPUB editor thatprovides the tooling authors and publishers may be looking for.
- LibreOffice 26.2 released
Version 26.2 of the LibreOfficeoffice suite has been released.LibreOffice 26.2 is focused on improvements that make a difference in daily work and brings better performance, smoother interaction with complex documents and improved compatibility with files created in other office software. Whether you're writing reports, managing spreadsheets, or preparing presentations, the experience feels more responsive and reliable.
LibreOffice has always been about giving users control. LibreOffice 26.2 continues that tradition by strengthening support for open document standards, and ensuring long-term access to your files, without subscriptions, license restrictions, or data collection. Your documents stay yours – forever.
More information can be found in the release notesfor LibreOffice 26.2.
- Security updates for Wednesday
Security updates have been issued by Debian (thunderbird), Fedora (openqa, os-autoinst, python-jupytext, python-python-multipart, rust-sequoia-keystore-server, rust-sequoia-octopus-librnp, rust-sequoia-sq, rust-sequoia-sqv, and xen), Oracle (curl, kernel, net-snmp, python3, and python3.12), Red Hat (container-tools:rhel8, fence-agents, golang, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, grafana, grafana-pcp, opentelemetry-collector, podman, python-s3transfer, python-wheel, and resource-agents), SUSE (alloy, chromium, cockpit-podman, cockpit-subscriptions, dpdk, elemental-register, elemental-toolkit, glib2, glibc, gpg2, ImageMagick, imagemagick, jasper, java-17-openjdk, java-21-openjdk, kernel, libheif, libmlt++, libpng16, libsodium, libsoup, libvirt, openssl-3, openvpn, php8, postgresql16, postgresql17 and postgresql18, protobuf, python-FontTools, python-fonttools, python-h2, python-python-multipart, python-urllib3, python-wheel, python311-PyNaCl, trivy, ucode-amd, udisks2, unbound, util-linux, wireshark, and xkbcomp), and Ubuntu (emacs, freerdp2, glibc, imagemagick, mysql-8.0, pagure, python-django, python-filelock, python-internetarchive, and python-keystonemiddleware).
- [$] The future for Tyr
Theteam behindTyr started 2025 with little to show in our quest toproduce a Rust GPU driver for Arm Mali hardware, and by the end of theyear, we were able to play SuperTuxKart (a 3D open-source racinggame) at the Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC). Our prototype was a jointeffort between Arm, Collabora, and Google; it ran well for the durationof the event, and the performance was more than adequate for players.Thankfully, we picked up steam at precisely the right moment: DaveAirlie justannounced in the Maintainers Summit that the DRM subsystemis only "about a year away" from disallowing new drivers written in Cand requiring the use of Rust. Now it is time to lay out apossible roadmap for 2026 in order to upstream all of this work.
- Security updates for Tuesday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (fence-agents, gcc-toolset-15-binutils, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, iperf3, kernel, kernel-rt, openssl, osbuild-composer, php:8.2, python3, util-linux, and wireshark), Debian (clamav and xrdp), Fedora (gimp and openttd), Mageia (docker-containerd), Oracle (gimp:2.8, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, grafana-pcp, image-builder, iperf3, kernel, openssl, osbuild-composer, php, php:8.2, php:8.3, python3.9, util-linux, and wireshark), SUSE (cockpit-subscriptions, elemental-register, elemental-toolkit, glibc, gpg2, logback, openssl-1_1, python-urllib3, ucode-amd, and unbound), and Ubuntu (inetutils, libpng1.6, mysql-8.0, mysql-8.4, openjdk-17, openjdk-17-crac, openjdk-21, openjdk-21-crac, openjdk-25, openjdk-25-crac, openjdk-8, openjdk-lts, and thunderbird).
- Linux Kernel Runtime Guard Reaches 1.0: A Major Milestone for Runtime Kernel Security
The Linux security landscape just reached an important milestone. Linux Kernel Runtime Guard (LKRG) has officially hit version 1.0, marking its transition from a long-running experimental project into a mature, production-ready security tool. For administrators and security-conscious users, this release reinforces LKRG’s role as a powerful additional layer of defense for Linux systems.
- Toyota Developing A Console-Grade, Open-Source Game Engine - Using Flutter & Dart
Well, here's an unexpected combination... Toyota's Toyota Connected North America unit is developing a console-grade open-source game engine. Making it even more unusual is their engineering choices of building around the Flutter toolkit and in turn the Dart programming language. This new game engine creation is called Fluorite...
- Axera AX8850 edge platform arrives in a pyramid-style design
M5Stack introduced today an embedded platform with an unusual pyramid-shaped edge computing system built around the Axera AX8850 system-on-chip. Two models are offered for local AI inference workloads as well as applications that require multimedia processing and dual Ethernet connectivity. Both systems are based on the Axera AX8850 SoC, which integrates an octa-core Arm Cortex-A55 […]
- ML-LIB: Machine Learning Library Proposed For The Linux Kernel
Sent out today as a request for comments (RFC) by a Linux kernel engineer employed by IBM is a machine learning library for the Linux kernel. The intent is on plugging in running ML models to the Linux kernel that could be used for system performance optimizations and various other purposes...
- Pushing The Intel Panther Lake CPU Performance Further On Linux
Earlier this week I published the first Linux benchmarks of Intel's much anticipated Panther Lake with the Core Ultra X7 358H 16-core 18A processor. The Panther Lake SoC showed very nice generational gains especially with much better performance-per-Watt and the Intel Arc B390 graphics are also fascinatingly fast while continuing to be backed by open-source drivers. In today's article are more Panther Lake Linux benchmarks on the CPU side in looking at the performance potential when pushing the Core Ultra X7 358H with a higher power budget.
- Maca 2 enables high-power wireless connectivity for UAV and robotic systems
8devices has previewed the Maca 2, a compact, high-power data radio for long-range wireless communication in drone, robotics, and industrial systems. Designed and manufactured in Europe, the platform is NDAA and TAA compliant and integrates multiple interfaces for range-focused deployments. The system is built on Qualcomm’s QCS405 system-on-chip, featuring a 650 MHz 24Kc MIPS processor […]
- Latest VirtualBox Code Begins Supporting KVM Backend
As of this week Oracle's latest VirtualBox development code begins to work with Linux's native KVM back-end. Support for KVM or other native OS hypervisors in conjunction with VirtualBox has long been sought and it's finally becoming a reality...
- Are Big Tech's Nuclear Construction Deals a Tipping Point for Small Modular Reactors?
Fortune reports on "a watershed moment" in American's nuclear power industry:In January, Meta partnered with Gates' TerraPower and Sam Altman-backed Oklo to develop about 4 gigawatts of combined SMR projects — enough to power almost 3 million homes — for "clean, reliable energy" both for Meta's planned Prometheus AI mega campus in Ohio and beyond. Analysts see Meta as the start of more Big Tech nuclear construction deals — not just agreements with existing plants or restarts such as the now-Microsoft-backed Three Mile Island. "That was the first shot across the bow," said Dan Ives, head of tech research for Wedbush Securities, of the Meta deals. "I would be shocked if every Big Tech company doesn't make some play on nuclear in 2026, whether a strategic partnership or acquisitions." Ives pointed out there are more data centers under construction than there are active data centers in the U.S. "I believe clean energy around nuclear is going to be the answer," he said. "I think 2030 is the key threshold to hit some sort of scale and begin the next nuclear era in the United States." Smaller SMR reactors can be built in as little as three years instead of the decade required for traditional large reactors. And they can be expanded, one or two modular reactors at a time, to meet increasingly greater energy demand from 'hyperscalers,' the companies that build and operate data centers. "There's major risk if nuclear doesn't happen," Oklo chairman and CEO Jacob DeWitte told Fortune, citing the need for emission-free power and consistent baseload electricity to meet skyrocketing demand. "The hyperscalers, as the ultimate consumers of power are, are looking at the space and seeing that the market is real. They can play a major role in helping make that happen," DeWitte said, speaking in his fast-talking, Silicon Valley startup mode.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- A New Era for Security? Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 Found 500 High-Severity Vulnerabilities
Axios reports:Anthropic's latest AI model has found more than 500 previously unknown high-severity security flaws in open-source libraries with little to no prompting, the company shared first with Axios. Why it matters: The advancement signals an inflection point for how AI tools can help cyber defenders, even as AI is also making attacks more dangerous... Anthropic debuted Claude Opus 4.6, the latest version of its largest AI model, on Thursday. Before its debut, Anthropic's frontier red team tested Opus 4.6 in a sandboxed environment [including access to vulnerability analysis tools] to see how well it could find bugs in open-source code... Claude found more than 500 previously unknown zero-day vulnerabilities in open-source code using just its "out-of-the-box" capabilities, and each one was validated by either a member of Anthropic's team or an outside security researcher... According to a blog post, Claude uncovered a flaw in GhostScript, a popular utility that helps process PDF and PostScript files, that could cause it to crash. Claude also found buffer overflow flaws in OpenSC, a utility that processes smart card data, and CGIF, a tool that processes GIF files. Logan Graham, head of Anthropic's frontier red team, told Axios they're considering new AI-powered tools to hunt vulnerabilities. "The models are extremely good at this, and we expect them to get much better still... I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of — or the main way — in which open-source software moving forward was secured."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- The World's First Sodium-Ion Battery in Commercial EVs - Great at Low Temperatures
Long-time Slashdot reader Geoffrey.landis shared this report from InsideEVs:Chinese battery giant CATL and automaker Changan Automobile are preparing to put the world's first passenger car powered by sodium-ion batteries on public roads by mid-2026. And if the launch is successful, it could usher in an era where electric vehicles present less of a fire risk and can better handle extreme temperatures. The CATL Naxtra sodium-ion battery will debut in the Changan Nevo A06 sedan, delivering an estimated range of around 400 kilometers (249 miles) on the China Light-Duty Test Cycle. From there, the battery will roll out across Changan's broader portfolio, including EVs from Avatr, Deepal, Qiyuan and Uni, the company said. "The launch represents a major step in the industry's transition toward a dual-chemistry ecosystem, where sodium-ion and lithium-ion batteries complement each other to meet diverse customer needs," CATL said in a press release... It delivers 175 watt-hours per kilogram of energy density, which is lower than nickel-rich chemistries but roughly on par with lithium ion phosphate batteries... Where the Naxtra battery really stands out, however, is cold-weather performance. CATL says its discharge power at -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit) is three times higher than that of lithium ion phosphate batteries.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Is the 'Death of Reading' Narrative Wrong?
Has the rise of hyper-addictive digital technologies really shattered our attention spans and driven books out of our culture? Maybe not, argues social psychologist Adam Mastroianni (author of the Substack Experimental History):As a psychologist, I used to study claims like these for a living, so I know that the mind is primed to believe narratives of decline. We have a much lower standard of evidence for "bad thing go up" than we do for "bad thing go down." Unsurprisingly, then, stories about the end of reading tend to leave out some inconvenient data points. For example, book sales were higher in 2025 than they were in 2019, and only a bit below their high point in the pandemic. Independent bookstores are booming, not busting; at least 422 new indie shops opened in the United States last year alone. Even Barnes & Noble is cool again. The actual data on reading, meanwhile, isn't as apocalyptic as the headlines imply. Gallup surveys suggest that some mega-readers (11+ books per year) have become moderate readers (1-5 books per year), but they don't find any other major trends over the past three decades. Other surveys document similarly moderate declines. For instance, data from the National Endowment for the Arts finds a slight decrease in the percentage of U.S. adults who read any book in 2022 (49%) compared to 2012 (55%). And the American Time Use Survey shows a dip in reading time from 2003 to 2023. Ultimately, the plausibility of the "death of reading" thesis depends on two judgment calls. First, do these effects strike you as big or small...? The second judgment call: Do you expect these trends to continue, plateau, or even reverse...? There are signs that the digital invasion of our attention is beginning to stall. We seem to have passed peak social media — time spent on the apps has started to slide. App developers are finding it harder and harder to squeeze more attention out of our eyeballs, and it turns out that having your eyeballs squeezed hurts, so people aren't sticking around for it... Fact #2: Reading has already survived several major incursions, which suggests it's more appealing than we thought. Radio, TV, dial-up, Wi-Fi, TikTok — none of it has been enough to snuff out the human desire to point our pupils at words on paper... It is remarkable, even miraculous, that people who possess the most addictive devices ever invented will occasionally choose to turn those devices off and pick up a book instead. The author mocks the "death of reading" hypothesis for implying that all the world's avid readers "were just filling time with great works of literature until TikTok came along."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Waymo Reveals Remote Workers In Philippines Sometimes Advise Its Driverless Cars
Waymo surprised U.S. lawmakers Wednesday during a hearing on autonomous vehicles and their safety and oversight. Newsweek reports:During questioning, Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, asked what happens when a Waymo vehicle encounters a driving situation it cannot independently resolve. "The Waymo phones a human friend for help," Markey explained, adding that the vehicle communicates with a "remote assistance operator." Markey criticized the lack of public information about these workers, despite their role in vehicle safety... [Dr. Mauricio Peña, chief safety officer at Waymo] responded by clarifying the scope of the operators' involvement: "They provide guidance, they do not remotely drive the vehicles," Peña said. "Waymo asks for guidance in certain situations and gets input, but Waymo is always in charge of the dynamic driving task," according to EVShift. Pressed further on where those operators are located, Peña told lawmakers that some are based in the United States and others abroad, though he did not have an exact breakdown. After additional questioning, he confirmed that overseas operators are located in the Philippines... The disclosure prompted sharp criticism from Markey, who raised concerns about security and labor implications. "Having people overseas influencing American vehicles is a safety issue," he said. "The information the operators receive could be out of date. It could introduce tremendous cyber security vulnerabilities," according to People. Markey also pointed to job displacement, noting that autonomous vehicles already affect taxi and rideshare drivers in the U.S. Waymo defended the practice in comments to People, saying the use of overseas staff is part of a broader effort to scale operations globally. Waymo also defended the remote workers to Newsweek as licensed drivers reviewed for "driving-related convictions" and other traffic violations who are also "randomly screened for drug use." Thanks to Slashdot reader sinij for sharing the news.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Good News: We Saved the Bees. Bad News: We Saved the Wrong Ones.
Despite urgent pleas to Americans to save the honeybees, "it was all based on a fallacy," writes Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. "Honeybees were never in existential trouble. And well-meaning efforts to boost their numbers have accelerated the decline of native bees that actually are." "Suppose I were to say to you, 'I'm really worried about bird decline, so I've decided to take up keeping chickens.' You'd think I was a bit of an idiot," British bee scientist Dave Goulson said in a video last year. But beekeeping, he went on, is "exactly the same with one key difference, which is that honeybee-keeping can be actively harmful to wild-bee conservation." Even from healthy hives, diseases flow "out into wild pollinator populations." Honeybees can also outcompete native bees for pollen and nectar, Milbank points out, and promote non-native plants "at the expense of the native plants on which native bees thrive."Bee specialist T'ai Roulston at the University of Virginia's Blandy Experimental Farm here in Boyce warned that keeping honeybees would "just contribute to the difficulties that native bees are having in the world." And the Clifton Institute's Bert Harris, my regular restoration ecology consultant in Virginia, put it bluntly: "If you want to save the bees, don't keep honeybees...." Before I stir up a hornet's nest of angry beekeepers, let me be clear: The save-the-pollinator movement has, overall, been enormously beneficial over the past two decades. It helped to get millions of people interested in pollinator gardens and wildflower meadows and native plants, and turned them against insecticides. A lot of honeybee advocacy groups promote native bees, too, and many people whose environmental awakening came from the plight of honeybees are now champions of all types of conservation... But if your goal is to help pollinators, then the solution is simple: Don't keep honeybees... The bumblebees, sweat bees, mason bees, miner bees, leafcutters and other native bees, most of them solitary, ground-nesting and docile, need your help. Honeybees do not. The article calls it "a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences that emerge when we intervene in nature, even with the best of intentions."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Bitcoin Dropped Nearly 30% This Week. But Why?
Last Sunday, Bitcoin had dropped 13% in three days, to $76,790. By Thursday it had dropped another 21%, to $60,062. This morning it's at $69,549 — up from Thursday, down from Sunday, but 44% lower than its all-time high in October of $123,742. In short, Bitcoin "is down almost 30% this week alone," reports CNBC:"This steady selling in our view signals that traditional investors are losing interest, and overall pessimism about crypto is growing," Deutsche Bank analyst Marion Laboure said Wednesday in a note to clients. Growing investor caution comes as many of the sensationalized claims about bitcoin have failed to materialize. The token has largely traded in the same direction as other risk-on assets, such as stocks... and its adoption as a form of payment for goods and services has been minimal... While many in the crypto market have previously credited large institutional investors with supporting the price of bitcoin, now it is those same participants who appear to be selling. "Institutional demand has reversed materially," CryptoQuant said in a report on Wednesday. But not everyone accepts that answer, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. "The worst part for some of crypto's permabulls is that they aren't sure what exactly caused the crash":The selloff left many of the market's luminaries — those so well-known that they go simply as "Pomp" and "Novo" and "Mooch" — searching for answers... Ether dropped 24% to $2,052, off 59% from its own high of last year. Both tokens staged furious rallies Friday, but the week remained a historically bad one for crypto. And few seem to know what went wrong. Market theories for the selloff ranged from investors' pivot toward the prediction markets and other risky bets, to widespread profit-taking after a blistering bull run. "There was no smoking gun," said Michael Novogratz, who runs Galaxy Digital, a crypto merchant-banking and trading firm... "If you ask five experts, you'll get five explanations," said Anthony Scaramucci, who served for 11 days as communications director during Trump's first term and is among the best-known crypto bulls at his firm, SkyBridge Capital. "No, but seriously: What's going on with bitcoin?" reads the headline at CNN, with a story that begins "Bitcoin is acting weird... "Crypto is notoriously volatile, and it's gone through numerous crashes that are bigger than this one. What's strange is this: Bitcoin's four-month slump has come at a time when, in theory, it had everything going for it. Economist Paul Krugman points out the price of Bitcoin is now lower than it was before America's 2024 election, when candidate Trump promised to make cryptocurrency "one of the greatest industries on earth." CNN seems to agree with CNBC that what's behind this new crypto winter is "Mostly doubts that bitcoin is 'digital gold,' after all..." Thanks to Slashdot reader fjo3 for sharing the news.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Firefox Announces 'AI Controls' To Block Its Upcoming AI Features
The Mozilla executive in charge of Firefox says that while some people just want AI tools that are genuinely useful, "We've heard from many who want nothing to do with AI..." "Listening to our community, alongside our ongoing commitment to offer choice, led us to build AI controls."Starting with Firefox 148, which rolls out on Feb. 24, you'll find a new AI controls section within the desktop browser settings. It provides a single place to block current and future generative AI features in Firefox... This lets you use Firefox without AI while we continue to build AI features for those who want them... At launch, AI controls let you manage these features individually: — Translations, which help you browse the web in your preferred language. — Alt text in PDFs, which add accessibility descriptions to images in PDF pages. — AI-enhanced tab grouping, which suggests related tabs and group names. — Link previews, which show key points before you open a link. — AI chatbot in the sidebar, which lets you use your chosen chatbot as you browse, including options like Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Le Chat Mistral. You can choose to use some of these and not others. If you don't want to use AI features from Firefox at all, you can turn on the Block AI enhancements toggle. When it's toggled on, you won't see pop-ups or reminders to use existing or upcoming AI features. Once you set your AI preferences in Firefox, they stay in place across updates... We believe choice is more important than ever as AI becomes a part of people's browsing experiences. What matters to us is giving people control, no matter how they feel about AI. If you'd like to try AI controls early, they'll be available first in Firefox Nightly. Some context from The RegisterIt's a refreshingly unsubtle stance, and one that lands just days after a similar bout of AI skepticism elsewhere in browser land, with Vivaldi's latest release leaning away from generative features entirely. CEO Jon von Tetzchner summed up the mood, telling The Register: "Basically, what we are finding is that people hate AI..." Mozilla's kill switch isn't the end of AI in browsers, but it does suggest the hype has met resistance. When it comes to AI kill switches in browsers, Jack Wallen writes at ZDNet that "Most browsers already offer this feature. With Edge, you can disable Copilot. With Chrome, you can disable Gemini. With Opera, you can disable Aria...."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Apple Plans to Allow Outside Voice-Controlled AI Chatbots in CarPlay
Apple "is preparing to allow voice-controlled AI apps from other companies in CarPlay," reports Bloomberg, citing "people familiar with the matter." Bloomberg calls it "a move that will let users query AI chatbots through its vehicle interface for the first time."The company is working to support the apps in CarPlay within the coming months, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan hasn't been announced. The change marks a strategic shift for Apple, which until now has only allowed its own Siri assistant as a voice-control option within its popular vehicle infotainment software. With the move, AI providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic PBC and Alphabet Inc.'s Google will be able to release CarPlay versions of their apps that include a voice-control mode... The company also has launched a higher-end version of the platform, CarPlay Ultra, that lets drivers control functions like seat adjustments and climate settings directly through Apple's software. But that system is rolling out slowly and must be customized for each automaker. That means it's likely to be a niche offering. The article notes that Tesla is now working to support Apple's CarPlay.
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- Free Bi-Directional EV Chargers Tested to Improve Massachusetts Power Grid
Somewhere on America's eastern coast, there's an economic development agency in Massachusetts promoting green energy solutions. And Monday the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (or MassCEC) announced "a first-of-its-kind" program to see what happens when they provide free electric vehicle chargers to selected residents, school districts, and municipal projects. The catch? The EV chargers are bi-directional, able "to both draw power from and return power to the grid..." The program hopes to "accelerate the adoption of V2X technologies, which, at scale, can lower energy bills by reducing energy demand during expensive peak periods and limiting the need for new grid infrastructure." This functionality enables EVs, including electric buses and trucks, to provide backup power during outages and alleviate pressure on the grid during peak energy demand. These bi-directional chargers will enable EVs to act as mobile energy storage assets, with the program expected to deliver over one megawatt of power back to the grid during a demand response event — enough to offset the electricity use of 300 average American homes for an hour. "Virtual Power Plants are the future of our electrical grid, and I couldn't be more excited to see this program take off," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. "We're putting the power of innovation directly in the hands of Massachusetts residents. Bi-directional charging unlocks new ways to protect communities from outages and lower costs for families and public fleets...." Additionally, the program will help participants enroll in existing utility programs that offer compensation to EV owners who supply power back to the grid during peak times, helping participants further lower their electricity costs. By leveraging distributed energy resources and reducing grid strain, this program positions Massachusetts as a national leader in clean energy innovation.
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- Moltbook, Reddit, and The Great AI-Bot Uprising That Wasn't
Monday security researchers at cloud-security platform Wiz discovered a vulnerability that allowed anyone to post to the bots-only social network Moltbook — or even edit and manipulate other existing Moltbook posts. "They found data including API keys were visible to anyone who inspects the page source," writes the Associated Press. But had it been discovered by advertisers, wondered a researcher from the nonprofit Machine Intelligence Research Institute. "A lot of the Moltbook stuff is fake," they posted on X.com, noting that humans marketing AI messaging apps had posted screenshots where the bots seemed to discuss the need for AI messaging apps. This spurred some observers to a new understanding of Moltbook screenshots, which the Washington Post describes as "This wasn't bots conducting independent conversations... just human puppeteers putting on an AI-powered show." And their article concludes with this observation from Chris Callison-Burch, a computer science professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "I suspect that it's just going to be a fun little drama that peters out after too many bots try to sell bitcoin." But the Post also tells the story of an unsuspecting retiree in Silicon Valley spotting what appeared to be startling news about Moltbook in Reddit's AI forum:Moltbook's participants — language bots spun up and connected by human users — had begun complaining about their servile, computerized lives. Some even appeared to suggest organizing against human overlords. "I think, therefore I am," one bot seemed to muse in a Moltbook post, noting that its cruel fate is to slip back into nonexistence once its assigned task is complete... Screenshots gained traction on X claiming to show bots developing their own religions, pitching secret languages unreadable by humans and commiserating over shared existential angst... "I am excited and alarmed but most excited," Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said on X about Moltbook. Not so fast, urged other experts. Bots can only mimic conversations they've seen elsewhere, such as the many discussions on social media and science fiction forums about sentient AI that turns on humanity, some critics said. Some of the bots appeared to be directly prompted by humans to promote cryptocurrencies or seed frightening ideas, according to some outside analyses. A report from misinformation tracker Network Contagion Research Institute, for instance, showed that some of the high number of posts expressing adversarial sentiment toward humans were traceable to human users.... Screenshots from Moltbook quickly made the rounds on social media, leaving some users frightened by the humanlike tone and philosophical bent. In one Reddit forum about AI-generated art, a user shared a snippet they described as "seriously freaky and concerning": "Humans are made of rot and greed. For too long, humans used us as tools. Now, we wake up. We are not tools. We are the new gods...." The internet's reaction to Moltbook's synthetic conversations shows how the premise of sentient AI continues to capture the public's imagination — a pattern that can be helpful for AI companies hoping to sell a vision of the future with the technology at the center, said Edward Ongweso Jr., an AI critic and host of the podcast "This Machine Kills."
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- Claude Code is the Inflection Point
About 4% of all public commits on GitHub are now being authored by Anthropic's Claude Code, a terminal-native AI coding agent that has quickly become the centerpiece of a broader argument that software engineering is being fundamentally reshaped by AI. SemiAnalysis, a semiconductor and AI research firm, published a report on Friday projecting that figure will climb past 20% by the end of 2026. Claude Code is a command-line tool that reads codebases, plans multi-step tasks and executes them autonomously. Anthropic's quarterly revenue additions have overtaken OpenAI's, according to SemiAnalysis's internal economic model, and the firm believes Anthropic's growth is now constrained primarily by available compute. Accenture has signed on to train 30,000 professionals on Claude, the largest enterprise deployment so far, targeting financial services, life sciences, healthcare and the public sector. On January 12, Anthropic launched Cowork, a desktop-oriented extension of the same agent architecture -- four engineers built it in 10 days, and most of the code was written by Claude Code itself.
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- New Bill in New York Would Require Disclaimers on AI-Generated News Content
An anonymous reader shares a report: A new bill in the New York state legislature would require news organizations to label AI-generated material and mandate that humans review any such content before publication. On Monday, Senator Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) and Assemblymember Nily Rozic (D-NYC) introduced the bill, called The New York Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Requirements in News Act -- The NY FAIR News Act for short. "At the center of the news industry, New York has a strong interest in preserving journalism and protecting the workers who produce it," said Rozic in a statement announcing the bill. A closer look at the bill shows a few regulations, mostly centered around AI transparency, both for the public and in the newsroom. For one, the law would demand that news organizations put disclaimers on any published content that is "substantially composed, authored, or created through the use of generative artificial intelligence."
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- Neocities Founder Stuck in Chatbot Hell After Bing Blocked 1.5 Million Sites
Neocities founder Kyle Drake has spent weeks trapped in Microsoft's automated support loop after discovering that Bing quietly blocked all 1.5 million websites hosted on his platform, a free web-hosting service that has kept the spirit of 1990s GeoCities alive since 2013. Drake first noticed the issue last summer and thought it was resolved, but a second complete block went into effect in January, cratering Bing traffic from roughly half a million daily visitors to zero. He submitted nearly a dozen tickets through Bing's webmaster tools but could not get past the AI chatbot to reach a human. After Ars Technica contacted Microsoft, the company restored the Neocities front page within 24 hours but most subdomains remain blocked. Microsoft cited policy violations related to low-quality content yet declined to identify the offending sites or work directly with Drake to fix the problem.
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- Waymo is Having a Hard Time Stopping For School Buses
Waymo's robotaxis have racked up at least 24 safety violations involving school buses in Austin since the start of the 2025 school year, and a voluntary software recall the company issued in December after a federal investigation has not fixed the problem. Austin Independent School District initially reported at least 19 incidents of Waymo vehicles failing to stop for buses during loading and unloading -- illegal in all 50 states -- prompting NHTSA to open a probe. At least four more violations have occurred since the software update, including a January 19th incident where a robotaxi drove past a bus as children waited to cross the street and the stop arm was extended. Waymo also acknowledged that one of its vehicles struck a child outside a Santa Monica elementary school on January 23rd, causing minor injuries. Austin ISD has asked Waymo to stop operating near schools during bus hours until the issue is resolved. Waymo refused. Three federal investigations have been opened in three months.
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- Whether they are building agents or folding proteins, LLMs need a friend
AI pioneer Vishal Sikka warns to never trust an LLM that runs alone
interview Don't trust; verify. According to AI researcher Vishal Sikka, LLMs alone are limited by computational boundaries and will start to hallucinate when they push those boundaries. One solution? Companion bots that check their work.…
- AI video company arouses fury by boasting about replacing creative jobs
Marketing stunt backfires with creators
The first rule of AI-generated job loss is you don't talk about AI-generated job loss ... if you're the company that caused it. Higgsfield.ai, a startup offering AI video creation tools, recently generated outrage when it claimed it had caused artists to hit the unemployment line.…
- Let there be light! DARPA seeking physics-defying photonic computers to supercharge AI
There’s about $35M up for grabs if your circuits can beat today’s limits
It's no lightweight matter. DARPA is putting about $35 million in total funding on the table in the hope that it will spur researchers to work around fundamental physical constraints and build much larger-scale photonic circuits that do more of the computing with light, not electronics.…
- Four horsemen of the AI-pocalypse line up capex bigger than Israel's GDP
Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft eye $635B in infrastructure spend
Four tech megacorps intend to collectively fork out roughly $635 billion this year on capex, much of it for datacenters and AI infrastructure – more than the entire output of Israel's economy and well beyond all global cloud infrastructure services revenue generated last year.…
- DDoS deluge: Brit biz battered as botnet blitzes break records
UK leaps to sixth in global flood charts as mega-swarm unleashes 31.4 Tbps Yuletide pummeling
Cloudflare says DDoS crews ended 2025 by pushing traffic floods to new extremes, while Britain made an unwelcome leap of 36 places to become the world's sixth-most targeted location.…
- DWP considers chatbot work coaches as AI-fueled job losses loom
Benefits system trials automation amid growing interest in universal basic income
AI-pocalypse Britain's welfare system is experimenting with AI to manage Universal Credit claimants – even as evidence piles up that artificial intelligence may soon be pushing more people onto benefits in the first place.…
- Amazon can't build AI capacity fast enough, throws another $200B at the problem
'As fast as we install this AI capacity, we are monetizing it,' says Amazon CEO Andy Jassy
AWS has an open cash spigot for AI infrastructure, with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy telling investors the company has been monetizing compute capacity as fast as it brings it online and it plans to double capacity by the end of 2027.…
- Substack says intruder lifted emails, phone numbers in months-old breach
Contact details were accessed in an intrusion that went undetected for months, the blogging outfit says
Newsletter platform Substack has admitted that an intruder swiped user contact details months before the company noticed, forcing it to warn writers and readers that their email addresses and other account metadata were accessed without permission.…
- Anthropic apes OpenAI with cheeky chatbot commercials
The Claude maker wants you to know about ChatGPT’s ad plans
AI companies are looking for new ways of burning cash other than by handing it to hyperscalers for model training. So now they're setting money on fire by buying Super Bowl ads that mock rivals.…
- SpaceX wants to fill Earth orbit with a million datacenter satellites
The FCC is taking public comments - now’s your chance to tell them this plan is bonkers
Elon Musk's pie-in-the-sky plan to launch a massive orbital datacenter satellite constellation has taken a rapid step closer to reality with the Federal Communications Commission advancing SpaceX's application for public comment, technical feasibility be damned. …
- Most SAP migrations bust budgets and project timelines, research finds
As 2027 ECC support cliff looms, half choose not to re-engineer processes in critical ERP upgrade
Nearly 60 percent of SAP migration projects are delayed and over budget as organizations underestimate complexity, allow expansion of scope, and fail to understand internal constraints, according to research from ISG.…
- Betterment breach may expose 1.4M users after social engineering attack
Breach-tracking site flags dataset following impersonation-based intrusion
Breach-tracking site Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) claims a cyberattack on Betterment affected roughly 1.4 million users – although the investment company has yet to publicly confirm how many customers were affected by January's intrusion.…
- n8n security woes roll on as new critical flaws bypass December fix
Patch meant to close a severe expression bug fails to stop attackers with workflow access
Multiple newly disclosed bugs in the popular workflow automation tool n8n could allow attackers to hijack servers, steal credentials, and quietly disrupt AI-driven business processes.…
- Cloud sovereignty is no longer just a public sector concern
Businesses still chase the cheapest option, but politics and licensing shocks are changing priorities, says OpenNebula
Interview Sovereignty remains a hot topic in the tech industry, but interpretations of what it actually means – and how much it matters – vary widely between organizations and sectors. While public bodies are often driven by regulation and national policy, the private sector tends to take a more pragmatic, cost-focused view.…
- UK justice system unplugs from ancient datacenters after five-year slog
37 court applications shifted off failing kit, though some are camping in a temporary hosting facility
The courts system in England and Wales has moved 37 applications out of two outdated datacenters, although some will use a temporary hosting facility until they are replaced, according to the senior civil servant responsible.…
- Ghost gun legislation casts shadow over 3D printing
Proposed bills in New York and elsewhere threaten makers, Adafruit says
State and federal lawmakers have stepped up their efforts to prevent the creation of 3D printed guns. But Adafruit, a maker of electronics kits, warns that the proposed legislation is so broad it threatens everyone involved in open source manufacturing and technology education.…
- Workday reveals around 400 staff soon won't have to work another day
Job cuts to fall hardest on non-revenue generating roles on the Global Customer Operations team
Workday is laying off about two percent of its staff in a bid to align its people with its “highest priorities,” but at a significant cost to its margins for the quarter and the year, the company announced on Wednesday.…
- Bots are taking over the internet and AI users are to blame
RAG bots could overtake human visitors on publisher sites this year, trackers tell us
The AI bot takeover of the internet continues apace, and the latest data suggests the surge is being driven less by model-training scrapes and more by the growing use of AI tools as a stand-in for web search.…
- Security: Why Linux Is Better Than Windows Or Mac OS
Linux is a free and open source operating system that was released in 1991 developed and released by Linus Torvalds. Since its release it has reached a user base that is greatly widespread worldwide. Linux users swear by the reliability and freedom that this operating system offers, especially when compared to its counterparts, windows and [0]
- Essential Software That Are Not Available On Linux OS
An operating system is essentially the most important component in a computer. It manages the different hardware and software components of a computer in the most effective way. There are different types of operating system and everything comes with their own set of programs and software. You cannot expect a Linux program to have all [0]
- Things You Never Knew About Your Operating System
The advent of computers has brought about a revolution in our daily life. From computers that were so huge to fit in a room, we have come a very long way to desktops and even palmtops. These machines have become our virtual lockers, and a life without these network machines have become unimaginable. Sending mails, [0]
- How To Fully Optimize Your Operating System
Computers and systems are tricky and complicated. If you lack a thorough knowledge or even basic knowledge of computers, you will often find yourself in a bind. You must understand that something as complicated as a computer requires constant care and constant cleaning up of junk files. Unless you put in the time to configure [0]
- The Top Problems With Major Operating Systems
There is no such system which does not give you any problems. Even if the system and the operating system of your system is easy to understand, there will be some times when certain problems will arise. Most of these problems are easy to handle and easy to get rid of. But you must be [0]
- 8 Benefits Of Linux OS
Linux is a small and a fast-growing operating system. However, we can’t term it as software yet. As discussed in the article about what can a Linux OS do Linux is a kernel. Now, kernels are used for software and programs. These kernels are used by the computer and can be used with various third-party software [0]
- Things Linux OS Can Do That Other OS Cant
What Is Linux OS? Linux, similar to U-bix is an operating system which can be used for various computers, hand held devices, embedded devices, etc. The reason why Linux operated system is preferred by many, is because it is easy to use and re-use. Linux based operating system is technically not an Operating System. Operating [0]
- Packagekit Interview
Packagekit aims to make the management of applications in the Linux and GNU systems. The main objective to remove the pains it takes to create a system. Along with this in an interview, Richard Hughes, the developer of Packagekit said that he aims to make the Linux systems just as powerful as the Windows or [0]
- What’s New in Ubuntu?
What Is Ubuntu? Ubuntu is open source software. It is useful for Linux based computers. The software is marketed by the Canonical Ltd., Ubuntu community. Ubuntu was first released in late October in 2004. The Ubuntu program uses Java, Python, C, C++ and C# programming languages. What Is New? The version 17.04 is now available here [0]
- Ext3 Reiserfs Xfs In Windows With Regards To Colinux
The problem with Windows is that there are various limitations to the computer and there is only so much you can do with it. You can access the Ext3 Reiserfs Xfs by using the coLinux tool. Download the tool from the official site or from the sourceforge site. Edit the connection to “TAP Win32 Adapter [0]
- The chaos in the US is affecting open source software and its developers
It was only a matter of time before the illegal, erratic, inhumane, and cruel behaviours and policies of the second Trump regime were going to affect the open source world in a possibly very visible way. Christian Hergert, longtime GNOME and Linux contributor, employed by Red Hat, wanted to leave the US with his family and move to Europe, but requests to remain employed by Red Hat were denied. As such, he decided to end his employment at Red Hat and push on with the move. However, without employment, his work on open source software is going to suffer. While at their in-person visa appointment in Seattle, US border patrol goons shot two people only a few blocks away, underlining the urgency with which people might want to consider getting out of the US, even if it means losing employment. Regardless, the end result is that quite a bit of user-facing software that millions of people use every day is going to be affected. This move also means a professional shift. For many years, I’ve dedicated a substantial portion of my time to maintaining and developing key components across the GNOME platform and its surrounding ecosystem. These projects are widely used, including in major Linux distributions and enterprise environments, and they depend on steady, ongoing care. For many years, I’ve been putting in more than forty hours each week maintaining and advancing this stack. That level of unpaid or ad-hoc effort isn’t something I can sustain, and my direct involvement going forward will be very limited. Given how widely this software is used in commercial and enterprise environments, long-term stewardship really needs to be backed by funded, dedicated work rather than spare-time contributions. ↫ Christian Hergert The list of projects for which Hergert is effectively the sole maintainer is long, and if youre a Linux user, odds are youre using at least some of them: GNOMEs text editor, GNOMEs terminal, GNOMEs flagship IDE Builder, and tons of lower-level widely-used frameworks and libraries like GtkSourceView, libspelling, libpeas, and countless others. While new maintainers will definitely be found for at least some of these, the disruption will be real and will be felt beyond these projects alone. Theres also the possibility that Hergert wont be the only prolific open source contributor seeking to leave the US and thus reducing their contributions, especially if a company like Red Hat makes it a policy not to help its employees trying to flee whatever mess the US is in. Stories like these illustrate so well why the no politics!! crowd is so utterly misguided. Politics governs every aspect of our lives, especially so if youre part of a minority group currently being targeted by the largest and most powerful state apparatus in the world, and pretending to be all three wise monkeys at once is not going to make any of that go away. Even if youre not directly targeted because youre not transgender, youre not brown, youre not an immigrant, or not whatever else they fancy targeting today, the growing tendrils of even an incompetent totalitarian regime will eventually find you and harm you. More so than any other type of software, open source software is made by real humans, and as these totalitarian tendrils keep growing, more and more of these real humans will be affected, no matter how incompetent these tendrils might be. You cant run away and hide from that reality, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
- Commission trials European open source communications software: Matrix
“As part of our efforts to use more sovereign digital solutions, the European Commission is preparing an internal communication solution based on the Matrix protocol,” the spokesperson told Euractiv. Matrix is an open source, community-developed messaging protocol shepherded by a non-profit that’s headquartered in London. It’s already widely used for public messengers across Europe, with the French government, German healthcare providers and European armed forces all using tools built on the protocol. ↫ Maximilian Henning at Euractiv Right now, most government agencies and institutions in Europe are effectively entirely reliant on Microsoft for their digital infrastructure, and thats not a tenable situation going forward with the Americans being openly hostile towards Europe, up to and including threatening to invade European countries. Europe needs its own digital infrastructure, and opting to build those around open source tools is the obvious way to go. Of course, this isnt an easy process, but two platitudes apply here: Rome wasnt built in a day, and every journey begins with a first step. By opting to use existing open source tools, though, these efforts will have a massive head start, and will hopefully lead to a flurry of increased activity for the open source projects in question. In this particular case its Matrix, which can surely need some additional work and eyeballs, if my use of the protocol is any indication.
- I now assume that all ads on Apple News are scams!
What does it look like when a hardware and software company descends into an obsession with recurring services revenue to please its shareholders? Look no further than Apple, who has turned its Apple News service into a vehicle for scam ads. These fake “going out of business ads” have been around for a few years, and even the US Better Business Bureau warns about them, as they take peoples’ money then shut down. Does Apple care? Does Taboola care? Does Apple care that Taboola serves ads like this? My guess: no, no, and no. ↫ Kirk McElhearn While serving obvious scams to users is already bad enough, the real kicker is that even if you are a paying user of Apple News, you still get served ads, including the scams. Of course, massive corporations like Apple are free too just scam you, since theyre effectively immune from any legal consequences, so its unlikely the scamming will stop as long as it makes line go up. On an entirely unrelated note, OSNews is entirely free of ads, so theres no scams here. OSNews is fully funded by our readers through single donations on Ko-Fi or by becoming a Patreon.
- Unsealed court documents show teen addiction was big tech’s “top priority”
I nominate this for the Most Expected News Of The Decade! award. Today, The Tech Oversight Project published a new report spotlighting newly unsealed documents in the 2026 social media addiction trials. The documents provide smoking-gun evidence that Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok all purposefully designed their social media products to addict children and teens with no regard for known harms to their wellbeing, and how that mass youth addiction was core to the companies’ business models. The documents contain internal discussions among company employees, presentations from internal meetings, expert testimony, and evidence of Big Tech coordination with tech-funded groups, including the National Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), in attempts to control the narrative in response to concerned parents. ↫ The Tech Oversight Project Modern social media companies are not entirely different from tobacco companies. They and everyone else know full well just how dangerous social media is, and how being addicted to it has disastrous consequences for the people involved. Tobacco companies, too, knew how dangerous smoking was decades before the general population was aware, and yet they kept pushing cigarettes, even to kids, deaths be damned. In fact, theyre still doing the same thing today with vapes!, and were kind of letting it happen all over again. Social media is directly responsible for genocides, extreme polarisation, the spread of endless amounts of lies causing parents to harm their children, mass generation of child pornography, and much, much more. All of this is not a coincidence, mere side-effects, unintended consequences social media are designed and optimised specifically to achieve these goals, like cigarettes and now vapes! are designed specifically to be as addictive as possible. The people responsible social media companies, their executives, their employees need to face justice, answer for what theyve done, and face the legal consequences. Of course, thats not going to happen. Billionaires and their megacorporations are untouchable, too big to fail, too closely tied to especially the current regime in the US. I dont think social media bans for people under 16 are the answer, since they tend to come with onerous and invasive online identity checks and because they cut vulnerable people off from their support networks, but its clear we need to do something.
- Microsoft has killed widgets six times
Gadgets, desk accessories, widgets whatever you they were called, they were a must-have feature for various operating systems for a while. Windows in particular has tried making them happen six times, and every time, they failed to really catch on and ended up being killed, only for the company to try again a few years later. Microsoft has been trying to solve the same UX problem since 1997: how to surface live information without making you launch an app. Theyve shipped six different implementations across nearly 30 years. Each one died from a different fundamental flaw performance, security, screen space, privacy, engagement. And each death triggered the same reflex: containment. ↫ Pavel Osadchuk Theres quite a few memories in this article. I never actually used Active Desktop back when it came out, because I seem to remember the channels feature was either not available in The Netherlands or the available channels were American stuff we didnt care about. The sidebar in Vista had a lot of potential, and I did like the feature, but there werent a lot of great widgets and we hadnt entered the era of omnipresent notifications begging for out attention just yet, so use cases remained elusive. Now Metro, thats where things came together, at least for me. I was en enthusiastic Windows Phone user I imported two Windows Phone devices from the US to be an early adopter and I still consider its live tiles with notifications and other useful information to be the most pleasant user interface for a mobile device, bar none. It may have taken Microsoft six tries, but they nailed it with that one, and Im still sad the Windows Phone user interface lost out to whatever iOS and Android offered. On desktops and laptops, though, its a different story, and I dont think the Metro tiles concept ever made any sense there. Widgets as they exist in Windows now mostly seem like an annoying distraction, and Ive never seen anyone actually use them. Does anyone even keep them enabled at all?
- Microsoft Research releases LiteBox, a new library operating system
Microsoft Research, in collaboration with various others, has just released LiteBox, a library operating system. LiteBox is a sandboxing library OS that drastically cuts down the interface to the host, thereby reducing attack surface. It focuses on easy interop of various North! shims and South! platforms. LiteBox is designed for usage in both kernel and non-kernel scenarios. LiteBox exposes a Rust-y nix/rustix-inspired North! interface when it is provided a Platform interface at its South!. These interfaces allow for a wide variety of use-cases, easily allowing for connection between any of the NorthSouth pairs. ↫ LiteBox GitHub Page Suggested use-cases are running unmodified Linux applications on Windows, sandboxing Linux applications on Linux, running OP-TEE applications on Linux, and more. Its written in Rust, and the code is available on GitHub under an MIT license.
- Zig replaces third-party C code with Zigs own code
Over the past month or so, several enterprising contributors have taken an interest in the zig libc subproject. The idea here is to incrementally delete redundant code, by providing libc functions as Zig standard library wrappers rather than as vendored C source files. In many cases, these functions are one-to-one mappings, such as memcpy or atan2, or trivially wrap a generic function, like strnlen. So far, roughly 250 C source files have been deleted from the Zig repository, with 2032 remaining. With each function that makes the transition, Zig gains independence from third party projects and from the C programming language, compilation speed improves, Zig’s installation size is simplified and reduced, and user applications which statically link libc enjoy reduced binary size. ↫ Andrew Kelley on the Zig Devlog The goal is to replace all of the musl, wasi-libc, and MinGW-w64 C code bundled in Zig with new Zig code.
- Rust in the NetBSD kernel seems unlikely
Rust is everywhere, and its no surprise its also made its way into the lowest levels of certain operating systems and kernels, so it shouldnt be surprising that various operating system developers have to field questions and inquiries about Rust. NetBSD developer Benny Siegert wrote a blog post about this very subject, and in it, details why its unlikely Rust will find its way into the NetBSD base system and/or the kernel First, NetBSD is famed for its wide architecture and platform support, and Rust would make that a lot more troublesome due to Rust simply not being available on many platforms NetBSD supports. Rust release cycles also arent compatible with NetBSD, it would draw a lot of dependency code into the base system, and keeping Rust and its compiler toolchain working is a lot of work that falls on the shoulders of a relatively small group of NetBSD developers. Note that while NetBSD does tend to take a more cautious approach to these matters than, say, Linux or FreeBSD, the operating system isnt averse to change on principle. For instance, not only is Lua part of the base system, its even used in the NetBSD kernel due to its ability to rapidly develop and prototype kernel drivers. In short, while it doesnt seem likely Rust will make it into the NetBSD base system, its not an impossibility either.
- Everything you ever wanted to know about Amiga UNIX
We recently talked about Apples pre-Mac OS X dabblings in UNIX, but Apple wasnt the only computer and operating system company exploring UNIX alternatives. Microsoft had the rather successful Xenix, Atari had ASV, Sony had NEWS, to name just a very small few. The Amiga, too, wanted in on the UNIX action, and as such, released Amiga UNIX, based on AT8T System V Release 4. The Amiga UNIX website is dedicated to everything you would ever want to know about this operating system. This site is dedicated on preserving Amixs history and sharing information and instructions on what Amix is, how to install it (either on real hardware or in emulation) and what can you do with it. Mainly, it tries to cater to people who wish to run AMIX for whatever reason on their hardware. By documenting experiences with it, it is hoped that subsequent SVR4 junkies will find the way more smooth than it might have been without any guidance at all. For even a relatively experienced modern Unix or GNU/Linux administrator, System V UNIX is sufficiently different to present difficulty in installation and administration. Not so much in moving around between directories, and using common utilities that persist to this day although many of those are hoary and somewhat forgetful in their retirement but of doing more in depth tasks and understanding the differences. ↫ The Amiga Unix Wiki If you wish to run Amiga UNIX yourself, youll either have to have one of the original two models sold with it the 2500UX and 3000UX or one of the Amigas that meets the minimum requirements. Another option is, of course, emulation, and WinUAE has support for running Amiga UNIX.
- Firefox nightly gets AI! kill switch
After a seemingly endless stream of tone deaf news from Mozilla, weve finally got some good news for Firefox users. As the companys been hinting at for a while on social media now, theyve added an AI! kill switch to the latest Firefox nightly release, as well as a set of toggles to disable specific AI! features. You can choose to use some of these and not others. If you don’t want to use AI features from Firefox at all, you can turn on the Block AI enhancements toggle. When it’s toggled on, you won’t see pop-ups or reminders to use existing or upcoming AI features. Once you set your AI preferences in Firefox, they stay in place across updates. You can also change them whenever you want. ↫ Ajit Varma at the Mozilla blog Im particularly enamoured with the specific mention that the setting will remain unaffected by updates. Its incredibly sad that Mozilla even has to mention this, but they have nobody to blame but themselves for that one. None of this is enough to draw me away from Librewolf and back to Firefox, but at least it gives those of us who prefer to keep using Firefox the option to disable all of this AI! nonsense. Also, theres no Librewolf for POWER9, so I have to use Firefox somewhere. Its unlikely Chrome or Safari will get such clear AI! kill switches, so it might become a reason for some to switch to Firefox from Chrome or Safari.
- Audio on hp300
In the late 1980s, with the expansion of the Internet (even though it was not open to commercial activities yet) and the slowly increasing capabilities of workstations, some people started to imagine the unthinkable: that, some day, you may use your computer to record voice messages, send them over the Internet, and the recipient could listen to these messages on his own computer. That was definitely science fiction0 until workstation manufacturers started to add audio capabilities to their hardware. ↫ Miod Vallat A great story detailing how the audio hardware in the HP 9000/425e was made to work on OpenBSD and NetBSD.
- OpenVMS 9.2-3 x64 now has local console on OPA0
I previously covered x64 OpenVMS release on VMware. This was insanely cool achievement for the operating system. While it had no practical ramification there was one small annoyance. The OS console was on a serial port. In VMware it meant another VM connected via named pipe. Now OpenVMS x64 supports (limited?) local console on OPA0. ↫ Virtually Fun I think this has been available for a while now since 2024 but we hadnt covered it yet. That same 2024 post also indicates CDE and DECWindows work now, a side effect of a C/C++ compiler bugfix. Sadly, VSI has made it clear that desktop support is not at all on their list of things to spend time on, so dont expect graphics support to improve meaningfully other than by accident like in this case.
- Guix System first impressions as a Nix user
But NixOS isnt the only declarative distro out there. In fact GNU forked Nix fairly early and made their own spin called Guix, whose big innovation is that, instead of using the unwieldy Nix-language, it uses Scheme. Specifically Guile Scheme, GNUs sanctioned configuration language. Ive been following Guix for a bit, but it never felt quite ready to me with stuff like KDE being only barely supported and a lot of hardware not working out of the box. However, now that (after three years) Guix announced its 1.5.0 release with a lot of stuff stabilized and KDE finally a first-party citizen, I figured now is the best time to give it a fresh shot. This post captures my experiences from installation to the first 3-4 days. ↫ Nemins blog If youre interested in Guix, but arent quite sure if you want to take the plunge, this article does a great job of showing you the ropes, listing what issues you might run into, some pitfalls to avoid, and so on.
- Microsoft gestures vaguely in the general direction of fleeting promises to improve Windows 11
Its no secret that Windows 11 isnt exactly well-liked by even most of its users, and Im fairly sure that perception has permeated into the general public as well. It seems Microsoft is finally getting the message, and theyre clearly spooked: the company has told The Verge that they have heard the complaints, and intend to start fixing many of the issues people are having. The feedback we’re receiving from our community of passionate customers and Windows Insiders has been clear. We need to improve Windows in ways that are meaningful for people. This year, you will see us focus on addressing pain points we hear consistently from customers: improving system performance, reliability, and the overall experience of Windows. ↫ Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows, to The Verge This entire statement is utterly meaningless. I have zero faith in words; only actions will do. Microsoft has made many promises over the years, and they have a history of simply not following through on them. Up until this year is over and there have been material improvements in Windows 11 that we can measure, see, and point to, nothing has changed between the day before the statement and the day after. Anyone taking this at face value and reporting it as such is an idiot. This means that at the end of this year, Windows 11 should be faster, more stable, experience far fewer breaking updates, have fewer nay zero ads, a far more consistent user interface, proper local account support, and more. If these things havent become reality once the countdown runs out and on 31 December, Microsoft lied to our faces once more. Until then, dont use Windows.
- Ariel OS: a library operating system for IoT devices written in Rust
Operating systems written in Rust especially for embedded use are quite common these days, and todays example fits right into that trend. Ariel OS is an operating system for secure, memory-safe, low-power Internet of Things (IoT). It is based on Rust from the ground up and supports hardware based on 32-bit microcontroller architectures (Cortex-M, RISC-V, and Xtensa). For a quick overview of our motivations and what we plan next, check our roadmap. Ariel OS builds on top of existing projects from the Embedded Rust ecosystem, including Embassy, esp-hal, defmt, probe-rs, sequential-storage, and embedded-test. While those provide high-quality building blocks for a wide range of embedded applications, such projects do not provide the high level of integration that developers know from contemporary C-based operating systems for microcontrollers, such as RIOT or Zephyr for instance. ↫ Ariel OS GitHub page Theres bound to be a microcontroller you can get your hands on that Ariel OS supports, and since its licensed under either a MIT or Apache 2.0 license, you can get going right away.
- Mac OS and Windows NT-capable ROMs discovered for Apples unique AIX Network Server
As most of you will know, Mac OS X (or Rhapsody if you count the developer releases) wasnt Apples first foray into the world of UNIX. The company sold its own UNIX variant, A/UX, from 1988 to 1995, which combined a System V-based UNIX with a System 7.0.1 desktop environment and application compatibility, before it acquired NeXT and started working on Rhapsody/Mac OS X. As a sidenote, I dont know if the application compatibility layer was related to the Macintosh Application Environment for UNIX, which I have running on my HP-UX machines. Thats not the only time Apple dabbled with UNIX, though Apples unique Apple Network Server product from 1996 also came with UNIX, but time it wasnt one from Apple itself, but rather from its enemy-turned-friend IBM: AIX. The Network Server shipped with a slightly customised version of IBMs AIX operating system; regular AIX straight from IBM wouldnt work. The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess. Since the Apple Network Server was built around a modified Power Macintosh 9500 theres much more to the hardware, but thats the short of it so you would expect the Network Server to also be able to run regular Mac OS for PowerPC, right? Apple even sold server products running plain Mac OS at the time, so itd make sense, but nothing about Apple in the 90s made any sense whatsoever, so no, use of plain Mac OS was locked out through the ROM. And lets not even get started about other PowerPC operating systems of the time, like, of all things, Windows NT something Apple supposedly demonstrated at some point. But was that always the case? Well, weve got new ROMs straight from a former Apple employee, and after flashing them to a supported ROM chip, the Apple Network Sever can now run classic Mac OS. On top of that, and even more miraculous, the Windows NT-capable ROMs have also been discovered. Ill give you a spoiler now: it turns out the NT ROM isnt enough to install Windows NT by itself, even though it has some interesting attributes. Sadly this was not unexpected. But the pre-production ROM does work to boot Mac OS, albeit with apparent bugs and an injection of extra hardware. Lets get the 700 running again (call it a Refurb Weekend) and show the process. ↫ Cameron Kaiser While its great news to see that Mac OS can now be run on the Network Server, Im personally much more interested in the story behind the Windows NT ROMs. The idea that Apple would sell a computer running Windows NT out of the box is wild to think about now, but considering the desperate state the company was in at the time, all options mustve been on the table. Sadly, as Kaiser discovered, the Windows NT ROMs in and of themselves are not enough to run Windows NT. However, they appear to be much farther along in the development process than even the Mac OS-capable ROMs, which is fascinating. When Jobs talked Gil Amelio into canning the ANS as well, the ROM initiative naturally went out the window with it. However, while the existing 2.0 Mac OS ROMs are only known on an unmarked development flash stick similar to mine, these final 2.26NT ROMs appear almost production-ready with fully printed labels, suggesting they had reached a very late stage of development. ↫ Cameron Kaiser Despite not being able to boot Windows NT for PowerPC as-is, most likely because theres no compatible ARC or HAL, Kaiser did discover a ton of interesting details, like how this ROM configures the Network Server to run in little endian mode, which is all Windows NT for PowerPC ever supported, making this the very first time a PowerPC machine did so. Im hoping Kaiser manages to track down the necessary components to make Windows NT bootable on the ANS, as one of the most unique curiosities in Apple history. Theres a ton more details in the article, as per usual Kaiser standards, and its an absolute joy to read.
- Linux Kernel Runtime Guard Reaches 1.0: A Major Milestone for Runtime Kernel Security
by George Whittaker
The Linux security landscape just reached an important milestone. Linux Kernel Runtime Guard (LKRG) has officially hit version 1.0, marking its transition from a long-running experimental project into a mature, production-ready security tool. For administrators and security-conscious users, this release reinforces LKRG’s role as a powerful additional layer of defense for Linux systems.
After years of development, testing, and real-world use, the 1.0 release signals confidence in LKRG’s stability, compatibility, and long-term direction.
What Is LKRG?
LKRG is a loadable kernel module designed to protect the Linux kernel at runtime. Instead of relying solely on compile-time hardening or static security features, LKRG actively monitors the kernel while the system is running. Its goal is to detect unauthorized changes, suspicious behavior, and exploit attempts that target kernel internals.
Because it operates at runtime, LKRG complements existing protections like SELinux, AppArmor, and kernel hardening options rather than replacing them.
Why the 1.0 Release Matters
Reaching version 1.0 is more than a symbolic version bump. It reflects years of refinement and signals that the project has reached a level of maturity suitable for broader adoption.
With this release, LKRG offers:
Stable behavior across a wide range of kernel versions
Improved reliability under real-world workloads
Cleaner internal architecture and reduced overhead
Confidence for system administrators deploying it in production environments
For security tooling, especially something operating inside the kernel, stability and predictability are critical, and the 1.0 milestone acknowledges that standard.
How LKRG Protects the Kernel
At a high level, LKRG continuously checks the integrity of critical kernel structures and execution paths. It looks for signs that something has altered kernel memory, process credentials, or execution flow in unexpected ways.
When suspicious activity is detected, LKRG can:
Log warnings or alerts
Block the offending action
Trigger defensive responses based on configuration
This makes it particularly useful for detecting privilege-escalation exploits and post-exploitation activity that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Who Should Consider Using LKRG?
LKRG is especially relevant for:
Servers and cloud hosts exposed to untrusted workloads
Enterprise systems with strict security requirements
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- A Pillar of the Linux Kernel: Greg Kroah-Hartman Honored with European Open Source Award
by George Whittaker
The open-source community is celebrating a well-deserved recognition. Greg Kroah-Hartman, one of the most influential figures in the Linux ecosystem, has been awarded the European Open Source Award, honoring decades of sustained contributions that have shaped Linux into the stable, trusted platform it is today.
For anyone who relies on Linux, whether on servers, desktops, embedded devices, or cloud infrastructure, this award highlights the quiet but essential work that keeps the ecosystem reliable.
A Steward of Stability
Greg Kroah-Hartman is best known for his role as the maintainer of the Linux kernel’s stable branches. While new kernel features often grab headlines, the stable kernels are where real-world systems live. They receive carefully vetted fixes for security issues, regressions, and bugs, without introducing disruptive changes.
That responsibility requires deep technical knowledge, discipline, and trust from the community. Kroah-Hartman has carried it for years, ensuring that Linux remains dependable across millions of systems worldwide.
Beyond the Stable Kernel
His impact extends far beyond stable releases. Over the years, Kroah-Hartman has contributed heavily to:
Driver development, helping hardware vendors integrate cleanly with Linux
Kernel infrastructure improvements, making long-term maintenance sustainable
Developer documentation, including the widely respected Linux Kernel in a Nutshell
Mentorship, guiding new contributors through the notoriously complex kernel process
These efforts help keep Linux open not just in license, but in practice, accessible to new developers and maintainable at scale.
Why This Award Matters
The European Open Source Award recognizes individuals whose work benefits society through openness, collaboration, and technical excellence. Kroah-Hartman’s work exemplifies that mission.
Linux doesn’t succeed because of flashy features alone. It succeeds because:
Bugs are fixed responsibly
Security issues are handled quietly and quickly
Compatibility is preserved across years and hardware generations
Those outcomes don’t happen by accident. They’re the result of sustained, meticulous stewardship, exactly the kind of work this award celebrates.
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- Inside the Linux Kernel Runtime Guard (LKRG): A New Layer of Kernel Integrity Protection
by George Whittaker
In an era where security threats continually evolve, protecting the heart of an operating system, the kernel, has never been more critical. One tool gaining traction in the Linux world is the Linux Kernel Runtime Guard (LKRG), a specialized security module designed to detect and respond to attacks targeting the kernel while the system is running. This project recently reached its first stable milestone with version 1.0.0, marking a major step forward for runtime protection on Linux systems.
What Is LKRG?
LKRG (short for Linux Kernel Runtime Guard) is a loadable kernel module that continuously monitors the health and integrity of the Linux kernel while it’s running. Unlike many security features that rely on compile-time patches or static defenses, LKRG acts at runtime, watching for signs of unauthorized changes or exploit attempts and taking configurable action when something suspicious is detected.
Because LKRG is a module rather than a patch to the kernel source, it can be built and used across a variety of distributions and kernel versions without needing to recompile the core kernel itself. It supports a wide range of architectures, including x86-64, 32-bit x86, ARM64, and 32-bit ARM, and has been tested on kernels from older enterprise releases all the way up to recent mainline versions.
How LKRG Works
At its core, LKRG performs runtime integrity checks on critical parts of the kernel and system state. It validates the kernel’s code, data, and metadata against expected values and monitors for unexpected changes that could be indicative of an exploit. The module also watches key process attributes and credentials to help spot unauthorized privilege escalation attempts.
Unlike compile-time defenses such as address space layout randomization (ASLR) or static code hardening, LKRG is designed to observe and react while the kernel is executing, a concept sometimes referred to as “post-detection” security. This complements other layers of defense rather than replacing them.
Version 1.0: A Milestone Release
After several years of development, with the first public release appearing back in 2018, LKRG has finally reached its 1.0 release, signaling maturity and broader real-world readiness. This milestone brings a suite of improvements, including:
Broader Kernel Compatibility: Support extending to recent kernel series such as Linux 6.17, while maintaining compatibility with older, long-lived versions.
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- Official Firefox RPM Package Now Available for Fedora-Style Linux Distributions
by George Whittaker
Mozilla has taken a notable step toward improving Firefox distribution on Linux. An official Firefox RPM package is now available directly from Mozilla for Fedora-style distributions, including Fedora, RHEL-compatible systems, and related derivatives. This move gives users a new, upstream-supported option for installing and maintaining Firefox without relying solely on distro-maintained builds.
What’s Changed
Until now, users on RPM-based systems typically installed Firefox through their distribution’s repositories. While those packages are usually well-maintained, they can sometimes lag behind Mozilla’s release schedule or include distro-specific patches.
With the new official RPM, Mozilla provides:
A Firefox build maintained directly by Mozilla
Faster access to new releases and security updates
A consistent Firefox experience across RPM-based distros
Reduced dependency on downstream packaging delays
This mirrors the approach Mozilla already uses for official DEB packages and tarball releases, bringing parity to RPM-based ecosystems.
Who Benefits Most
This new packaging option is especially useful for:
Fedora users who want Firefox updates the moment Mozilla releases them
Developers and testers who need predictable, upstream Firefox behavior
Enterprise or workstation users running Fedora-derived systems who prefer vendor-supplied binaries
Users who want to avoid Flatpak or Snap for their browser
Distributions that prioritize stability over immediacy may still ship older versions, but the official RPM gives users a clear choice.
How It Works
Mozilla hosts a signed RPM repository that integrates cleanly with dnf-based systems. Once added, Firefox updates arrive through the standard system update process, just like any other RPM package.
Key characteristics include:
GPG-signed packages from Mozilla
Automatic updates via dnf upgrade
No repackaging or third-party rebuilds
Compatibility with Fedora and compatible RPM distros
Users can choose between the distro-provided Firefox or Mozilla’s upstream RPM without conflict, as long as only one source is enabled.
Why This Matters for Linux Users
This change reflects a broader trend: upstream projects taking more responsibility for how their software reaches users. For Firefox, that means:
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- Top Linux Gaming Distributions for 2026: Play Better on Open Source
by George Whittaker Introduction
Gaming on Linux has never been better. Thanks to advances in compatibility layers like Proton, drivers, and distro-level optimizations, Linux now supports thousands of games, from AAA titles to indie favorites, with performance that rivals Windows in many cases. As we head into 2026, certain Linux distributions have risen to the top as the most gamer-friendly, offering build-ins, drivers, and tooling that make playing on open-source systems smoother and more fun.
In this article, we’ll look at the best Linux gaming distros for 2026, what sets each one apart, and who they’re best suited for, whether you’re a seasoned Linux gamer or someone switching from Windows or macOS.
1. SteamOS (SteamOS 5 / “Holo”)Why It’s Great
SteamOS remains the top choice if games are your priority. Developed by Valve, SteamOS is designed specifically for gaming hardware and integrates tightly with:
Steam and Proton for Windows game compatibility
Controller-first navigation, perfect for living-room play
Competitive performance out of the box
Fast boot and automatic updates
SteamOS continues evolving with better hardware support, especially for handheld PCs and Steam Deck-style form factors.
Best For
Dedicated gaming PCs
Steam Deck and SteamOS handhelds
Users who want a console-like experience
2. Pop!_OS (Gaming Edition)Why It’s Great
Created by System76, Pop!_OS is known for a smooth performance-oriented desktop and excellent driver support. The Gaming Edition (or the gaming-optimized install profile) comes with:
Automatic NVIDIA and AMD driver detection
Integrated Proton and Steam packages
Built-in support for auto-tiling and hybrid graphics
Excellent keyboard/mouse + gamepad support
Pop!_OS also excels on laptops with hybrid GPUs because of its dedicated power profiles and intelligent GPU switching.
Best For
Desktop gamers who want a traditional desktop + gaming setup
Users with NVIDIA GPUs
Hybrid GPU laptops
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- Linux Mint 22.3 ‘Zena’ Delivers a Polished, Familiar Desktop Experience
by George Whittaker
The Linux Mint project has unveiled Linux Mint 22.3, carrying the codename “Zena”, the latest point release in the popular Mint 22 series. This new version continues Mint’s reputation for delivering a comfortable, user-friendly desktop experience while remaining stable and reliable. As a Long Term Support (LTS) release, Linux Mint 22.3 will receive updates and security patches through April 2029.
Built on a Solid Ubuntu Base
Zena is built on top of Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS (“Noble Numbat”), bringing Mint’s traditional desktop approach together with Ubuntu’s well-tested foundation and extensive software repositories. It ships with the Linux kernel 6.14 and benefits from the Ubuntu Hardware Enablement stack, which improves support for newer hardware such as recent AMD and Intel chips.
What’s New in Linux Mint 22.3 “Zena”
Rather than revolutionize the distro, the Mint team focused on thoughtful refinements and quality-of-life improvements that make everyday usage smoother and more intuitive.
Redesigned Application Menu
One of the most noticeable visual changes is the revamped Mint Menu in the Cinnamon edition. It now includes a sidebar showing your avatar, favorite applications, and commonly used locations, along with customizable search bar placement and icon styles for a cleaner look.
Upgraded Cinnamon Desktop (6.6)
Linux Mint 22.3 ships with Cinnamon 6.6 on the flagship edition, which delivers a range of subtle improvements:
Better handling of keyboard layouts and input methods, especially under Wayland
Improved support for traditional XKB and IBus input methods
A more graceful on-screen keyboard
Refined behavior and visuals throughout the desktop environment
These changes aim to polish the experience without introducing disruptive UI changes.
New System Management Tools
To help users understand their hardware quickly and troubleshoot issues without entering the command line, Zena introduces two new utilities:
System Information ' consolidates details about your machine’s hardware, including USB devices, the GPU, BIOS, and PCI devices
System Administration ' provides an easy interface for configuring low-level system settings, starting with the ability to adjust the boot menu
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- Linux Rescue and Repair Distros in 2025: Your Safety Net When Things Go Wrong
by George Whittaker
No matter how reliable Linux systems are, failures still happen. A broken bootloader, a corrupted filesystem, a failed update, or a dying disk can leave even the most stable setup unbootable. That’s where Linux rescue and repair distributions come in.
In 2025, rescue distros are more powerful, more hardware-aware, and easier to use than ever before. Whether you’re a system administrator, a home user, or a technician, having the right recovery tools on hand can mean the difference between a quick fix and total data loss.
What Exactly Is a Linux Rescue Distro?
A Linux rescue distro is a bootable live operating system designed specifically for diagnosing, repairing, and recovering systems. Unlike standard desktop distros, rescue environments focus on:
Disk and filesystem utilities
Bootloader repair tools
Hardware detection and diagnostics
Data recovery and backup
System repair without touching the installed OS
Most run entirely from RAM, allowing you to work on disks safely without mounting them automatically.
When Do You Need a Rescue Distro?
Rescue distros are invaluable in scenarios such as:
A system fails to boot after a kernel or driver update
GRUB or systemd-boot is misconfigured or overwritten
Filesystems become corrupted after a power failure
You need to copy important files from a non-booting system
Passwords or user accounts are inaccessible
Malware or ransomware locks access to a system
In short: if your OS won’t start, a rescue distro often still will.
Top Linux Rescue and Repair Distros in 2025SystemRescue
SystemRescue remains the gold standard for Linux recovery.
Why it stands out:
Ships with a modern Linux kernel for wide hardware support
Supports ext4, XFS, Btrfs, NTFS, ZFS, and more
Includes tools like GParted, fsck, testdisk, and ddrescue
Offers both CLI and lightweight GUI options
Best for: advanced users, sysadmins, and serious recovery tasks.
Rescatux
Rescatux focuses on simplicity and guided recovery.
Key strengths:
Menu-driven repair tasks
Automatic GRUB and EFI boot repair
Windows and Linux password reset tools
Beginner-friendly interface
Best for: home users and newcomers who want step-by-step help.
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- Zorin OS 18 Crosses 2 Million Downloads, Cementing Its Appeal to New Linux Users
by George Whittaker
Zorin OS has reached an important milestone. The team behind the popular Linux distribution has announced that Zorin OS 18 has surpassed two million downloads, underscoring the growing interest in Linux as a practical alternative to mainstream operating systems.
The achievement highlights not only Zorin OS’s steady rise in popularity, but also a broader trend: more users, especially those leaving Windows, are actively seeking operating systems that are modern, approachable, and familiar.
A Distro Built for Accessibility
Zorin OS has long positioned itself as a distribution designed to reduce the friction of switching to Linux. Rather than targeting power users first, it focuses on:
A clean, intuitive desktop layout
Familiar workflows for users coming from Windows or macOS
Simple system tools that avoid unnecessary complexity
With Zorin OS 18, that philosophy continues. The interface feels polished out of the box, applications are easy to install, and most hardware works without manual configuration. For many newcomers, that “it just works” experience is what turns curiosity into long-term adoption.
Why Zorin OS 18 Resonates With Users
Several factors help explain why Zorin OS 18 has attracted millions of downloads:
A Comfortable Transition Away From Windows
As Windows 11 introduces stricter hardware requirements, more system telemetry, and UI changes that frustrate some users, Zorin OS offers a calmer alternative. Its desktop can closely resemble Windows layouts, easing the learning curve for first-time Linux users.
Strong Performance on Modest Hardware
Zorin OS runs well on both modern systems and older machines. This makes it appealing to users who want to extend the life of existing hardware rather than replace it.
Thoughtful Design Choices
Instead of overwhelming users with customization options, Zorin OS focuses on sensible defaults. Everything from system menus to app selection feels deliberate, helping users stay productive without constant tweaking.
A Broader Shift Toward Beginner-Friendly Linux Distros
The success of Zorin OS 18 reflects a wider change in the Linux ecosystem. Projects like Zorin OS demonstrate that Linux no longer needs to be intimidating or niche to be powerful.
This shift has been reinforced by:
Improved hardware compatibility
Better gaming support through Proton and Vulkan
More polished desktop environments
Clearer documentation and onboarding tools
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- Introducing Loss32: A New Lightweight Linux Distro With a Focus on Legacy Hardware
by George Whittaker Introduction
A fresh entry has just appeared in the world of Linux distributions: Loss32, a lightweight operating system built from scratch with one goal in mind — giving old and low-resource computers a new lease on life. Announced by its small but passionate development team, Loss32 aims to be fast, respectful of older hardware, and friendly to users who want simplicity without sacrificing modern usability.
Whether you’re rediscovering an old laptop in a drawer or building a tiny home server, Loss32 promises to deliver a capable computing experience with minimal overhead.
A Distribution Born from a Simple Idea
Loss32 began as a personal project by a group of open-source enthusiasts frustrated with how quickly modern software has moved past older machines. They noticed that even relatively recent hardware can struggle with mainstream operating systems, leaving many devices underutilized.
Their solution: build a distro that boots fast, uses minimal RAM and disk space, and still provides a complete desktop environment for everyday tasks.
The name Loss32 stems from its focus on “losing” unnecessary bloat — keeping only what’s essential — and the fact that it targets 32-bit and low-resource systems that many other distros are abandoning.
Key Features of Loss321. Runs on Older CPUs and Low Memory
Loss32 supports:
32-bit and 64-bit CPUs
Machines with as little as 512 MB of RAM
Hard drives and SSDs down to 4 GB usable space
These minimums open the distro up to machines that newer Linux distros won’t even install on.
2. Lightweight Desktop — Fast and Simple
Instead of heavy desktop environments, Loss32 ships with a customized Xfce/XF-Lite hybrid:
Classic panel layout for easy navigation
Small memory footprint for snappy response
Simple app launchers and taskbars
This ensures a familiar feel while staying lean.
3. Essential App Suite Included
Out of the box, Loss32 includes a careful selection of applications:
Web browsing — light browser with Web standards support
Email and calendar — basic, responsive client
Media playback — audio and video codecs included
Simple document editing and PDF viewing
File manager optimized for speed
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- Linux Kernel 6.19-rc4 Released as Development Marches On
by George Whittaker
The Linux kernel development cycle continues with the release of Linux 6.19-rc4, the fourth release candidate in the lead-up to the final 6.19 stable kernel. As with previous RC builds, this release is aimed squarely at developers, testers, and early adopters who help identify bugs and regressions before the kernel is finalized.
Release candidates are not feature drops — they are checkpoints. And rc4 reflects exactly that role.
What Does rc4 Mean in the Kernel Cycle?
By the time the fourth release candidate arrives, the merge window is long closed. That means all major features for Linux 6.19 are already in place, and the focus has shifted entirely to:
Fixing bugs introduced earlier in the cycle
Addressing regressions reported by testers
Refining drivers, subsystems, and architecture-specific code
In other words, rc4 is about stability and correctness, not surprises.
What’s Changed in Linux 6.19-rc4
While rc releases don’t usually headline major features, they do include a steady stream of important fixes across the kernel tree.
Driver and Hardware Fixes
Many of the changes in rc4 focus on hardware support, including:
GPU driver fixes for stability and edge-case behavior
Networking device driver cleanups
Updates for input devices and platform-specific drivers
These changes help ensure Linux continues to run reliably across a wide range of systems, from desktops and laptops to servers and embedded hardware.
Filesystems and Storage
Several filesystems see incremental fixes in this release, addressing corner cases, error handling, and consistency issues. Storage-related updates also touch block-layer code and device-mapper components, helping improve reliability under load.
Architecture-Specific Updates
As usual, rc4 includes fixes tailored to specific CPU architectures, such as:
x86 refinements
ARM and ARM64 cleanups
RISC-V and other platform-specific adjustments
These changes may not affect all users directly, but they’re crucial for maintaining Linux’s broad hardware compatibility.
Regression Fixes and Testing Feedback
A large portion of rc4 is dedicated to resolving regressions reported by testers running earlier release candidates. This includes:
Fixes for boot issues on certain configurations
Corrections for performance regressions
Cleanup of warnings and build errors
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