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1 • No Covergence (by Brad on 2026-01-26 01:25:22 GMT from United States)
Hi - my work involves remotely accessing sensitive information which belongs to my employer (and ultimately to our customers), so no convergence - I could find myself in big trouble if this sensitive information was leaked. A misplaced or stolen laptop would be a disaster in my personal or work life.
An old colleague, long since passed, put it this way, "Physical access trumps all" - no matter how well you protect information by encryption, etc., it's relatively easy to steal once the device is lost or stolen.
For a similar reason, no cloud will ever cross my threshold - I must keep my work and my private life separate, distinct, and unavailable to anyone but myself, my family, and my employer.
2 • Convergence - KDE's Plasma and dependence on systemd (by Bobbie Sellers on 2026-01-26 01:54:17 GMT from United States)
Does Convergence not exist with Cell Phones/Tablets where we can do most of what
is done on computers these days with the additional capability of calling people up,
sending them AV records, leaving Text messages, etc.
But as for me I do not want a combination of a cell phone and computer because
all that is too limiting as far as privacy goes.
I do not care for systemd and will possibly move to another Desktop Environment
after having used KDE for about 20 years since I moved from AmigaOS
to Mandriva in 2006.
bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2026.01- Linux 6.12.67pclos1- KDE Plasma 6.5.5
3 • Convergence (by Keith S on 2026-01-26 01:58:33 GMT from United States)
I agree with the analysis of why convergence didn't happen. I haven't had a desktop machine for over ten years since I quit working in an office. I've had three or four laptops and a bunch of different phones since then, and I sync everything on Proton's cloud or sometimes on Google's (mainly for Android settings). I also have a ton of usb drives and microSD cards.
I remember when convergence was the hot new topic. The company I worked for at the time gave me a Windows phone that I thought I would hate but that I ended up really loving. In fact, sometimes I miss that UI. But Windows 8 was its companion on the desktop and it was horrible. I think Windows 9 was intended to be the next iteration of the convergence idea, and apparently either it was so bad or the idea was so dead by launch time that Microsoft skipped over it to Windows 10, which was something of a return to XP / Windows 7 ideas.
As an aside, I have been using Pro Launcher for the last six months and I don't think I'll ever go back to swiping back and forth through six or seven screens filled with icons. The home screen has room on the left side for 14 customizable menus where any number of related apps can be grouped (with custom names, if needed; e.g., to avoid having three different apps named "Calendar"), and 14 customizable icons for one tap launch of the most used apps on the right side of the screen. Swiping right gives a screen where widgets can be added, and swiping left from home takes you to a screen with a very simple and useful notes app. I can get to the most used apps with one tap, and absolutely any of the 200 apps I have with just two taps. It works well on most brands, but the software on some of the Chinese phones like OnePlus, Oppo, and Honor interfere with any attempt to replace their UI, so it doesn't work so well on some of those. And that's a shame, because the Chinese are making the very best Android phone hardware these days.
I'm befuddled as to why none of the smart phone makers have adopted the idea of customizable menus, instead of rehashing the same old 200 icons plus gestures plus 30 widgets scheme. It's a bit like KDE vs Gnome vs XFCE vs LXQT et al.
4 • Convergence and laptops (by Wedge009 on 2026-01-26 02:02:48 GMT from Australia)
I feel like I'm very much in the minority, but I very much prefer desktops over laptops for reasons of better performance-to-price ratio and ability to repair and customise myself. A laptop is often limited in terms of hardware and software options, support, and upgrade paths (at least in Australia). Seems like the whole laptop has to get replaced vs individual components in a desktop. Not to mention hardware support is usually only through proprietary means.
I also eschew phones for the most part - although I do have a 'smart' phone, I hardly use it in the way that most others seem to. So, no thank you to convergence from my perspective as well...
My previous workplace switched from high performing virtual desktops (that could be accessed from both office and home equally effectively) to severely restricted laptops in the last few years - developers like me who needed to install their own applications were given high latency and poorer performing virtual desktops based in Azure instead. Productivity went downhill after that...
5 • Convergence (by Arve Eriksson on 2026-01-26 02:37:30 GMT from Sweden)
Ah, wasn't the idea of convergence a fundamental concept in Windows 10? I guess MS starting dev work on Win11 coincided with it going out of fashion.
6 • @2 (by James on 2026-01-26 02:59:08 GMT from United States)
&2 you must mean GNOME troll
7 • Home Server (by soothsayer on 2026-01-26 03:35:40 GMT from United States)
Would be more useful if you could throw in the beans to access it from outside your home -- maybe a cloudflare tunnel can be coaxed to make it accessible with a registerd domain?
8 • Convergence (by Peter Longhi on 2026-01-26 04:22:28 GMT from Australia)
Convergence seems to be the opposite of the Unix philosophy of doing one thing and doing it well - an anti-Unix philosophy.
We've all seem multitool devices such as the Swiss army knife but it has been my experience that tools designed to do multiple tasks generally are not good at doing any of them.
9 • convergence (by user on 2026-01-26 07:43:10 GMT from Bulgaria)
No, but I want convergence. In fact I tolerate now only Samsung and Huawei, and specifically with Display Port, smartphones that provide desktop mode in Windows. Too bad that there is no Linux equivalent.
10 • Convergence is not the issue - SNAP is the issue (by bin on 2026-01-26 07:44:51 GMT from United Kingdom)
It was so predictable and yet the herd just snorted its approval and all headed off to the trough...and so here we are with SNAP being used as a serious attack surface thanks totally to Ubuntu.
11 • A computer is a computer, a smartphone is a smartphone (by mad yogurt on 2026-01-26 08:18:27 GMT from Italy)
Don't mess with all of them altogether. Period.
12 • @10 • Convergence is not the issue - SNAP is the issue (by Bill on 2026-01-26 11:06:45 GMT from United States)
Snap is not the issue. Convergence failed long before Snap and Flatpak, Also Snap itself is failing. Just tell the truth you are an Ubuntu hater. That is okay, there are a lot of other options with Linux.
2011 Canonical announced Ubuntu Touch, aiming to bring Ubuntu to mobile devices.
2012 Microsoft released Windows 8, introducing a touch-style UI for desktops.
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver), released in April 2018, that Snaps began to see widespread adoption and integration as a default way to install applications.
13 • Convergence (by OldManSeph on 2026-01-26 13:51:08 GMT from United States)
Microsoft tried convergence with Windows 8 and everyone disliked it. The same would go for Linux/BSD and Mac desktops if they ever tried to force it with GNOME or KDE. Make the versions like 2 available for those who’d want it, but don’t force it.
14 • Convergence (by PeachOrchard on 2026-01-26 13:52:21 GMT from France)
Sounds cool until the security minded folks get in and show you why you don't want everything on every device. At best, a bug affects all your devices, at worse, data breach on one spreads to the others.
Also, first time in a long time (or ever?) I've seen a bug attack the comment section... maybe I'm just lucky and it will be gone in 5 mins which would explain why I don't remember ever seeing any problems...
15 • Convergence (by Robert on 2026-01-26 15:33:15 GMT from United States)
I can understand the idea behind convergence, and it seems like a great idea when you first hear it. But I'm glad it didn't happen in the end, too many issues with it.
First, the obvious: The insistence on having the same UI for every form factor / use case. The UI should chance when docked vs handheld. This is so obvious I don't know why hardly one tried it.
Second, the dock issue as mentioned in the article. Either having docks everywhere, or carrying one with you just defeats the purpose.
And finally, the whole idea was pretty intertwined with the BYOD idea for workplaces. And that is an idea I am thoroughly against. I for one would never allow my workplace to access my device, snoop around to make sure I'm not doing things they don't like, and installing all their management malware garbage on my hardware. Just not gonna happen, and I don't know why anybody else would want that.
16 • A "touch" of time (by Bhuz on 2026-01-26 15:47:01 GMT from France)
* 2007: Apple introduced a shiny tactile-only pocket computer. "App" and "touch" became words.
* 2008: Google introduced Android, with "apps" and "touch".
* 2010: Apple introduced a new tactile-only larger-than-pocket computer, declared that computers are finished, and "everybody will soon only use tablets" [sic]. Microsoft, King of OS, announced Windows 8 and Windows Mobile 8, and also a $20k *table* called "Surface", betting on "tactile-only" because it was the future.
* 2015: People complained that you cannot be as productive with tactile interfaces as with a keyboard and mouse. Microsoft stopped Windows Mobile 8, announced Windows 10, and few Surface computer/tablets with touch screen but also keyboard and mouse.
* 2026: Computer still exist but nobody care about touch-screen computers. Phone have bigger screen and selling more than ever. Tablets are selling 50x less than phones. AI is the new future.
17 • just FYI (by AppUser on 2026-01-26 16:19:21 GMT from United States)
@16 { * 2007: Apple introduced a shiny tactile-only pocket computer. "App" and "touch" became words.}
I started using computers in the 80`s, and "app" was a word long before Apple decided to impose exclusive rights to it as 'their word.'
18 • Static IP address (by Denis Bernard on 2026-01-26 16:41:33 GMT from Canada)
Jesse, your instructions for static IP address are incomplete. Upon a router reboot, it will provide your new server IP address to whichever machine requests an IP via DHCP first. This will cause networking issues with conflicting IP addresses.
You must also go in the router setup program and reserve the server IP address for a specific mac address (the one of the server). Instruction to do that differ depending on router brand and version, which may be why you left this part out. Regards,
19 • Static IP address (by Denis Bernard on 2026-01-26 16:44:56 GMT from Canada)
Sorry Jesse, I meant Jeff...
20 • Convergence (by Glen McNabb on 2026-01-26 17:56:53 GMT from United States)
The problem with convergence from the get-go was that developers tried to wedge a desktop on to mobile devices. To do this they modified desktop environments to simplify them to where they were usable-ish on mobile devices. Unity desktop is a good example. The result was a set of environments that were terrible on both desktop and mobile in terms of utility. Windows tried the same thing with the tiling format.
I am hopeful about mobile devices switching to desktop mode when connected to station docks such as DEX. There is still some bugs to work out with that, but it is reasonably doable. Given the humongous storage available these days, having 2 or more user interfaces on a device (given the situation) is promising.
21 • Setting up a home server (by Loup on 2026-01-26 22:25:27 GMT from Canada)
@Jeff Hi, nice article, but you are killing a fly with a bazooka !
Have a look at ipfire ... my install is on an old core 2 with 2 G memory running 24hrs since 2019.
Prior to that was p4 with 1 G.
Install take less than 20 minutes.
The list of servers, firewall options, privacy options is too long to write-up, have a look for yourself.
Thank's anyway for the effort.
22 • @21 re: Home Server-Thanks (by Gary on 2026-01-27 02:09:01 GMT from Canada)
Likewise, I am grateful to Jeff for describing a simple process using freely available open source OS towards the beautiful end goal of a server you can implement and customize to your own needs as appropriate to the hardware you own.
After reading up on ipfire, a firewall which you could extend with add on applications to simulate the far simpler approach Jeff wrote about, I would advise that you may benefit from reviewing the guidelines published here, which raises concern about ipfire on older hardware such as yours (and perhaps security of ipfire is fine, outdated hardware might not be):
https://www.ipfire.org/docs/hardware/considerations
Also, I noticed the hardware requirement of making full use of what ipfire offers included having at least 2 ethernet adapter installed. This is described here:
https://www.ipfire.org/docs/hardware
The freedom of using more commonly available hardware lends itself very well to implementation of a home server Jeff wisely advocates for in his article.
23 • convergence, plasma (by thym on 2026-01-27 09:25:04 GMT from Greece)
I am the sole user on my computer and i am using it mainly for writing (fiction) and then photography (a lot of digikam. rawtherapee) and listening to music.
So any new feature that PLM brings on the table is an overkill for me. Heck, even systemd is an overkill.
I do not stay in front of the screen staring at the login manager. My work starts after i log in.
The real problems that worry me are those two: 1)gimp inside plasma looks awful and out of place due to the client side decorations
2)krunner does not work properly under wayland (typing on the desktop does not bring krunner up most of the times). For the time being i have x11 where it works flawless.
I do not want any convergence - a mobile inspired interface won't help me in anything. And attempts to bridge the gap (gnome shell for example) produce environments which were limiting options for the end users.
24 • IPFire (by Tim on 2026-01-27 15:23:31 GMT from Denmark)
> reviewing the guidelines published here, which raises concern about ipfire on older hardware such as yours (and perhaps security of ipfire is fine, outdated hardware might not be):
> https://www.ipfire.org/docs/hardware/considerations
They wrote: "You will need BIOS & microcode updates for a long time. If your system is already discontinued the vendor won’t publish those for much longer". This point is mostly irrelevant for firewall and home server server use cases - because only the administrator can log in to the server and all the running code is trusted. If a service is exploited there is a large attack surface anyway for further privilege escalation or data exfiltration - the Linux kernel.
25 • KDE PLM question (by vw72 on 2026-01-27 19:02:32 GMT from United States)
Will the new login manager make it simpler to use Plasma in a immutable distos? My understanding is that SDDM makes this more difficult (but I could be wrong).
26 • Home server & @16, the word 'app' (by Gaston Lagaffe on 2026-01-27 19:29:11 GMT from Denmark)
The home server needs a static ip address that won't change on router reboot.
Needs more focus on security too, firewall, fail2ban etc.
And rule #1: Redundancy + backup. When it fails, and someday it WILL fail, you'll call me on the phone crying, hating yourself for not maintaining a backup of all your data. I'll fix as much of your mess as I can but at a price that'll teach you to respect rule #1 for all eternity.
Re 'app': Apple didn't invent it. I remember using it on the Commodore 64 scene in the mid eighties. And we probably weren't the first either.
27 • New convergence AI variant (by Keith S on 2026-01-27 22:34:46 GMT from United States)
I was catching up on CES 2026 and came across this interesting tidbit:
"Lenovo Qira is a new personal AI agent launching on select devices in 2026, designed to sync tasks and information across Lenovo and Motorola devices."
The fact that Lenovo has identified a new way to sync phones and laptops using AI shows that the idea of convergence isn't totally dead, even if they don't call it that. All of them want us to use their cloud capabilities to store our data. It is probably time to renew focus on saving everything locally.
28 • Home server (by Keith S on 2026-01-27 22:39:13 GMT from United States)
Although the initial setup will probably have a bit of a steeper learning curve, using OpenBSD as a home server is a much simpler proposition in the long term. The base install includes all the software needed to set up a firewall, network storage, router, web server, and mail server.
29 • @22 re no thank's (by loup on 2026-01-27 22:56:35 GMT from Canada)
Context my friend ... install in a home not a business ... by the way ipfire is a professionnal firewall for business. The only draw back, that is a real one is the missing ipv 6.
Ipfire include a hardware vulnerability mitigation screen with the ones impacting each system.
Her is mine:
Downfall/Gather Data Sampling (CVE-2022-40982) Not Affected
Indirect target selection (CVE-2024-28956) Not Affected
iTLB MultiHit (CVE-2018-12207) KVM: Mitigation: VMX unsupported
Foreshadow (CVE-2018-3620) Mitigated - PTE Inversion
Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754) Mitigated - PTI
Register File Data Sampling (RFDS) (CVE-2023-28746) Not Affected
Retbleed (CVE-2022-29900, CVE-2022-29901) Not Affected
Speculative Return Stack Overflow (CVE-2023-20569) Not Affected
Spectre Variant 1 (CVE-2017-5753) Mitigated - usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Spectre Variant 2 (CVE-2017-5715) Mitigated - Retpolines; STIBP: disabled; RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
Special register buffer data sampling (CVE-2020-0543) Not Affected
Transient sheduler attacks (CVE-2024-36350,36357,36348,36349) Not Affected
TSX Async Abort/ZombieLoad v2 (CVE-2019-11135) Not Affected
So on ...
So my opinion remain
30 • Moar convergence (by Keith S on 2026-01-28 02:58:55 GMT from United States)
And today on The Register there's an article about two phones that can dual boot Android and Linux. One of them can also boot into an Android-based version of Windows 11, and the other offers a VM that can run various Linux distros. They can connect to a keyboard and monitor, and one can connect to an NVMe SSD.
So no, the convergence idea is not dead, just as many of the smaller distros are not dead.
31 • @30 (by Gaston Lagaffe on 2026-01-28 10:11:22 GMT from Denmark)
Interesing. But a lot of that article is about a product from known scam artist Robert Braxman.
Buyer beware.
32 • systemD (by rhtoras on 2026-01-28 11:59:16 GMT from Greece)
"It does come with a few limitations, ones that users of systemd-free Linux distributions or BSD systems likely won't appreciate. Here's what it's all about. PLM is strictly systemd-native, relying on systemd-logind and systemd user services for session lifecycle management, permissions, and seat handling. These are hard dependencies, not optional features, and they form the foundation of the new login manager. Because of this, systemd-free Linux distributions cannot use Plasma Login Manager, and the same applies to all BSD operating systems, which lack systemd entirely and have no compatible substitute for the APIs PLM depends on." Other login managers will still work to launch the Plasma desktop.
THIS IS WHAT DISTROWATCH MENTIONS and it is straight from the KDE devs.
I am talking to all of you. Don't you see whats happening ? They are destroying linux through systemD. Someone could say: "use something else" and then i answer: "you use windows since it seems for you there is nothing wrong with microsoft and its employees who happen to create systemD. It is not we that should leave linux alone but all of you. Where is our freedom ? Where is our matter of choice ? We will resist. We must save linux. Create software without systemD dependencies because sooner or later linux will be a part of the computer history like DOS/BeOS were once.
33 • @31 & @32 (by Keith S on 2026-01-28 12:52:43 GMT from United States)
@31 Yes, the Brax phone is not something I would recommend. His privacy claims are laughable. But it is interesting that he seems to have found a market for a product that offers convergence of some sort.
@32 The trend towards apps (or "programs") becoming Linux-only has been rapidly accelerating for the last several years. It is well on its way to becoming the walled garden of open source under the thumbs of RHEL/IBM and Canonical and SuSE. Google is working to close off Android from apps outside of the Play Store. I only wish that much of the energy put into the Linux ecosystem would be put into development of the BSD projects, but most of the people laboring under the GPL licenses still think that BSD/MIT/ISC licenses are unacceptable so they won't consider it. It might turn out that in five or ten years, Linux just lingers on as a husk of its former self like Amiga and BeOS. (DOS is still alive under layers of Windows junk.)
34 • Convergence (by Jesse on 2026-01-28 13:13:50 GMT from Canada)
@30: "And today on The Register there's an article about two phones that can dual boot Android and Linux. One of them can also boot into an Android-based version of Windows 11, and the other offers a VM that can run various Linux distros. They can connect to a keyboard and monitor, and one can connect to an NVMe SSD. So no, the convergence idea is not dead, just as many of the smaller distros are not dead."
I think you misunderstand what convergence is. With convergence you don't dual boot or use a VM. With convergence the idea is you use one interface, one desktop environment, across all device/screen sizes. If you're dual booting or launching a VM, that's not convergence.
Phosh and Lomiro are convergence interfaces, booting into a VM on your phone isn't.
35 • Convergence (by Simon Wainscott-Plaistowe on 2026-01-28 03:35:33 GMT from New Zealand)
I used to like the idea of a dockable device, to be used as phone and workstation. Nowadays when I say I want convergence, I really just mean I want my phone to run a "real" open-source Linux system so I'm not held hostage by the Google ecosystem. As things stand, I already have my calendar, contacts, e-books, notes & to-do list synced between my phone & laptop - so I have little need for much else.
36 • Convergence (by notsharing on 2026-01-28 15:40:55 GMT from France)
I use a surface, so i would love to have Windows (10) like convergence on Linux. Using Gnome rn but it clearly does not cut it.
Oh, and Nextcloud server snap? No way i'd use that, just use ZimaOS
37 • Convergence to the de facto standard (by Tim on 2026-01-28 17:26:29 GMT from Poland)
@33:
> The trend towards apps (or "programs") becoming Linux-only has been rapidly accelerating for the last several years.
*BSD market share on desktops and laptops is about 0,02%, GNU/Linux has circa 4% (these stats are unreliable but the orders of magnitude seem to be correct).
> It might turn out that in five or ten years, Linux just lingers on as a husk of its former self like Amiga and BeOS. (DOS is still alive under layers of Windows junk.)
GNU/Linux is too dominant in the server market for this prediction to come true. DOS and 16-bit code are no longer used in Windows since XP, and are not included in 64-bit versions of this OS, e.g. Windows 11. The "GNU" part in GNU/Linux and other important system services are mostly developed by Red Hat. Canonical tried to push their own solutions but stopped. Nevertheless it is still perfectly possible to run a desktop BSD, even with a patched systemd-centric GNOME: https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/x11/gnome-shell/files. By the way, GNOME is also becoming more dependent on systemd: https://blogs.gnome.org/adrianvovk/2025/06/10/gnome-systemd-dependencies/.
38 • BSD and snap thing (by rhtoras on 2026-01-28 20:40:50 GMT from Greece)
I feel you my friend. You see the problem with the snaps and systemD where a vulnerable thing took over the systems? They might think again what is happening before the total eclipse of thr linux kernel and it's derivatives. Something very bad is being cooked behind the doors and it's our time to resist!!!
39 • @33 (by rhtoras on 2026-01-28 20:41:31 GMT from Greece)
Inwas talking for @33 comment...
40 • @34 Convergence (by Keith S on 2026-01-28 22:25:28 GMT from United States)
Fair enough. I might have been misled by the accompanying photo of a phone connected to a keyboard and monitor, and maybe that is an accurate representation of what the Nexphone can do but perhaps using a different OS than Android to accomplish it. Still, file sharing from the same device on different OSes sort of accomplishes what I always understood to be one of the main goals of convergence.
41 • @37 Linux (by Keith S on 2026-01-28 22:32:31 GMT from United States)
Well, to be fair, I was not promoting the idea that the BSDs were going to replace Linux in market share. And as to the 0.02% share for BSDs, I'm sure that excludes appliances like routers and so on. My point is really that Linux world has some delusions about its ecosystem being "open." It is becoming less portable to other OSes and that mainly because of systemd. Yes, FreeBSD has hacked together a solution to run GNOME, and KDE still runs on OpenBSD, but the solutions to make that possible remind me a bit of running Windows programs using Wine. It wasn't always that complicated.
42 • @37 & @38 systemd (by Keith S on 2026-01-28 22:40:25 GMT from United States)
Further to my last comment, if some difficult CVEs hit Linux through systemd or other hard dependencies, the market share of Linux on servers could drop rapidly. Tech markets can change very rapidly, including for the software that controls the internet plumbing. It is always an error to assume that things will just continue as they are. Banks may be "too big to fail," but there's no software that can make that claim.
43 • linux target (by boss lady on 2026-01-29 22:10:21 GMT from United Kingdom)
Ubuntu : "There's a relentless campaign by scammers to publish malware in the Canonical Snap Store"
The price of sidling up to the corporates.
44 • ESSORA os (by rhtoras on 2026-01-30 00:46:55 GMT from Greece)
Please Jesse i almost forgot that... could you review Essora os (especially the Devuan version) which you just insterted in your database ? Thanks a lot...
45 • AntiX 26 RC (by Jan on 2026-01-30 01:05:46 GMT from The Netherlands)
I tested AntiX 26 RC from a Ventoy-stick, so in live-mode. It was OK.
This is the first time that on my old hardware AntiX behaves non-sluggish and I could find/set the display to portrait-mode. It also has the applications-install-menu like that in MX-linux. So for me an improvement. Nice.
Now the question is: AntiX or MX-XFCE/KDE (and systemd (which is an unavoidable future) or non-systemd (which seems to be on a starvation path).
46 • Convergence (by Michele on 2026-01-30 08:34:09 GMT from Italy)
The idea of one-size fits interface has proven its shortcominga, but using one device in multiple "modes" has some appeal, I'm thinking for instance of Android tablets that can be used with both the traditional android ui and in "desktop mode", with many apps also switching to a more "desktop like" interface.
To make a comparison it's like many modern websites, with a separate desktop view and mobile view
47 • Antix... (by rhtoras on 2026-01-30 15:24:44 GMT from Greece)
@45 I suggest Antix... It is lighter, better and of course has all the potential for the average user.
Number of Comments: 47
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1158 (2026-02-02): Manjaro 26.0, fastest filesystem, postmarketOS progress report, Xfce begins developing its own Wayland window manager, Bazzite founder interviewed |
| • Issue 1157 (2026-01-26): Setting up a home server, what happened to convergence, malicious software entering the Snap store, postmarketOS automates hardware tests, KDE's login manager works with systemd only |
| • Issue 1156 (2026-01-19): Chimera Linux's new installer, using the DistroWatch Torrent Corner, new package tools for Arch, Haiku improves EFI support, Redcore streamlines branches, Synex introduces install-time ZFS options |
| • Issue 1155 (2026-01-12): MenuetOS, CDE on Sparky, iDeal OS 2025.12.07, recommended flavour of BSD, Debian seeks new Data Protection Team, Ubuntu 25.04 nears its end of life, Google limits Android source code releases, Fedora plans to replace SDDM, Budgie migrates to Wayland |
| • Issue 1154 (2026-01-05): postmarketOS 25.06/25.12, switching to Linux and educational resources, FreeBSD improving laptop support, Unix v4 available for download, new X11 server in development, CachyOS team plans server edtion |
| • Issue 1153 (2025-12-22): Best projects of 2025, is software ever truly finished?, Firefox to adopt AI components, Asahi works on improving the install experience, Mageia presents plans for version 10 |
| • Issue 1152 (2025-12-15): OpenBSD 7.8, filtering websites, Jolla working on a Linux phone, Germany saves money with Linux, Ubuntu to package AMD tools, Fedora demonstrates AI troubleshooting, Haiku packages Go language |
| • Issue 1151 (2025-12-08): FreeBSD 15.0, fun command line tricks, Canonical presents plans for Ubutnu 26.04, SparkyLinux updates CDE packages, Redox OS gets modesetting driver |
| • Issue 1150 (2025-12-01): Gnoppix 25_10, exploring if distributions matter, openSUSE updates tumbleweed's boot loader, Fedora plans better handling of broken packages, Plasma to become Wayland-only, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1149 (2025-11-24): MX Linux 25, why are video drivers special, systemd experiments with musl, Debian Libre Live publishes new media, Xubuntu reviews website hack |
| • Issue 1148 (2025-11-17): Zorin OS 18, deleting a file with an unusual name, NetBSD experiments with sandboxing, postmarketOS unifies its documentation, OpenBSD refines upgrades, Canonical offers 15 years of support for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1147 (2025-11-10): Fedora 43, the size and stability of the Linux kernel, Debian introducing Rust to APT, Redox ports web engine, Kubuntu website off-line, Mint creates new troubleshooting tools, FreeBSD improves reproducible builds, Flatpak development resumes |
| • Issue 1146 (2025-11-03): StartOS 0.4.0, testing piped commands, Ubuntu Unity seeks help, Canonical offers Ubuntu credentials, Red Hat partners with NVIDIA, SUSE to bundle AI agent with SLE 16 |
| • Issue 1145 (2025-10-27): Linux Mint 7 "LMDE", advice for new Linux users, AlmaLinux to offer Btrfs, KDE launches Plasma 6.5, Fedora accepts contributions written by AI, Ubuntu 25.10 fails to install automatic updates |
| • Issue 1144 (2025-10-20): Kubuntu 25.10, creating and restoring encrypted backups, Fedora team debates AI, FSF plans free software for phones, ReactOS addresses newer drivers, Xubuntu reacts to website attack |
| • Issue 1143 (2025-10-13): openSUSE 16.0 Leap, safest source for new applications, Redox introduces performance improvements, TrueNAS Connect available for testing, Flatpaks do not work on Ubuntu 25.10, Kamarada plans to switch its base, Solus enters new epoch, Frugalware discontinued |
| • Issue 1142 (2025-10-06): Linux Kamarada 15.6, managing ZIP files with SQLite, F-Droid warns of impact of Android lockdown, Alpine moves ahead with merged /usr, Cinnamon gets a redesigned application menu |
| • Issue 1141 (2025-09-29): KDE Linux and GNOME OS, finding mobile flavours of Linux, Murena to offer phones with kill switches, Redox OS running on a smartphone, Artix drops GNOME |
| • Issue 1140 (2025-09-22): NetBSD 10.1, avoiding AI services, AlmaLinux enables CRB repository, Haiku improves disk access performance, Mageia addresses service outage, GNOME 49 released, Linux introduces multikernel support |
| • Issue 1139 (2025-09-15): EasyOS 7.0, Linux and central authority, FreeBSD running Plasma 6 on Wayland, GNOME restores X11 support temporarily, openSUSE dropping BCacheFS in new kernels |
| • Issue 1138 (2025-09-08): Shebang 25.8, LibreELEC 12.2.0, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, the importance of software updates, AerynOS introduces package sets, postmarketOS encourages patching upstream, openSUSE extends Leap support, Debian refreshes Trixie media |
| • Issue 1137 (2025-09-01): Tribblix 0m37, malware scanners flagging Linux ISO files, KDE introduces first-run setup wizard, CalyxOS plans update prior to infrastructure overhaul, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1136 (2025-08-25): CalyxOS 6.8.20, distros for running containers, Arch Linux website under attack,illumos Cafe launched, CachyOS creates web dashboard for repositories |
| • Issue 1135 (2025-08-18): Debian 13, Proton, WINE, Wayland, and Wayback, Debian GNU/Hurd 2025, KDE gets advanced Liquid Glass, Haiku improves authentication tools |
| • Issue 1134 (2025-08-11): Rhino Linux 2025.3, thoughts on malware in the AUR, Fedora brings hammered websites back on-line, NetBSD reveals features for version 11, Ubuntu swaps some command line tools for 25.10, AlmaLinux improves NVIDIA support |
| • Issue 1133 (2025-08-04): Expirion Linux 6.0, running Plasma on Linux Mint, finding distros which support X11, Debian addresses 22 year old bug, FreeBSD discusses potential issues with pkgbase, CDE ported to OpenBSD, Btrfs corruption bug hitting Fedora users, more malware found in Arch User Repository |
| • Issue 1132 (2025-07-28): deepin 25, wars in the open source community, proposal to have Fedora enable Flathub repository, FreeBSD plans desktop install option, Wayback gets its first release |
| • Issue 1131 (2025-07-21): HeliumOS 10.0, settling on one distro, Mint plans new releases, Arch discovers malware in AUR, Plasma Bigscreen returns, Clear Linux discontinued |
| • Issue 1130 (2025-07-14): openSUSE MicroOS and RefreshOS, sharing aliases between computers, Bazzite makes Bazaar its default Flatpak store, Alpine plans Wayback release, Wayland and X11 benchmarked, Red Hat offers additional developer licenses, openSUSE seeks feedback from ARM users, Ubuntu 24.10 reaches the end of its life |
| • Issue 1129 (2025-07-07): GLF OS Omnislash, the worst Linux distro, Alpine introduces Wayback, Fedora drops plans to stop i686 support, AlmaLinux builds EPEL repository for older CPUs, Ubuntu dropping existing RISC-V device support, Rhino partners with UBports, PCLinuxOS recovering from website outage |
| • Issue 1128 (2025-06-30): AxOS 25.06, AlmaLinux OS 10.0, transferring Flaptak bundles to off-line computers, Ubuntu to boost Intel graphics performance, Fedora considers dropping i686 packages, SDesk switches from SELinux to AppArmor |
| • Issue 1127 (2025-06-23): LastOSLinux 2025-05-25, most unique Linux distro, Haiku stabilises, KDE publishes Plasma 6.4, Arch splits Plasma packages, Slackware infrastructure migrating |
| • Issue 1126 (2025-06-16): SDesk 2025.05.06, renewed interest in Ubuntu Touch, a BASIC device running NetBSD, Ubuntu dropping X11 GNOME session, GNOME increases dependency on systemd, Google holding back Pixel source code, Nitrux changing its desktop, EFF turns 35 |
| • Issue 1125 (2025-06-09): RHEL 10, distributions likely to survive a decade, Murena partners with more hardware makers, GNOME tests its own distro on real hardware, Redox ports GTK and X11, Mint provides fingerprint authentication |
| • Issue 1124 (2025-06-02): Picking up a Pico, tips for protecting privacy, Rhino tests Plasma desktop, Arch installer supports snapshots, new features from UBports, Ubuntu tests monthly snapshots |
| • Issue 1123 (2025-05-26): CRUX 3.8, preventing a laptop from sleeping, FreeBSD improves laptop support, Fedora confirms GNOME X11 session being dropped, HardenedBSD introduces Rust in userland build, KDE developing a virtual machine manager |
| • Issue 1122 (2025-05-19): GoboLinux 017.01, RHEL 10.0 and Debian 12 updates, openSUSE retires YaST, running X11 apps on Wayland |
| • Issue 1121 (2025-05-12): Bluefin 41, custom file manager actions, openSUSE joins End of 10 while dropping Deepin desktop, Fedora offers tips for building atomic distros, Ubuntu considers replacing sudo with sudo-rs |
| • Issue 1120 (2025-05-05): CachyOS 250330, what it means when a distro breaks, Kali updates repository key, Trinity receives an update, UBports tests directory encryption, Gentoo faces losing key infrastructure |
| • Issue 1119 (2025-04-28): Ubuntu MATE 25.04, what is missing from Linux, CachyOS ships OCCT, Debian enters soft freeze, Fedora discusses removing X11 session from GNOME, Murena plans business services, NetBSD on a Wii |
| • Issue 1118 (2025-04-21): Fedora 42, strange characters in Vim, Nitrux introduces new package tools, Fedora extends reproducibility efforts, PINE64 updates multiple devices running Debian |
| • Issue 1117 (2025-04-14): Shebang 25.0, EndeavourOS 2025.03.19, running applications from other distros on the desktop, Debian gets APT upgrade, Mint introduces OEM options for LMDE, postmarketOS packages GNOME 48 and COSMIC, Redox testing USB support |
| • Issue 1116 (2025-04-07): The Sense HAT, Android and mobile operating systems, FreeBSD improves on laptops, openSUSE publishes many new updates, Fedora appoints new Project Leader, UBports testing VoLTE |
| • Issue 1115 (2025-03-31): GrapheneOS 2025, the rise of portable package formats, MidnightBSD and openSUSE experiment with new package management features, Plank dock reborn, key infrastructure projects lose funding, postmarketOS to focus on reliability |
| • Issue 1114 (2025-03-24): Bazzite 41, checking which processes are writing to disk, Rocky unveils new Hardened branch, GNOME 48 released, generating images for the Raspberry Pi |
| • Issue 1113 (2025-03-17): MocaccinoOS 1.8.1, how to contribute to open source, Murena extends on-line installer, Garuda tests COSMIC edition, Ubuntu to replace coreutils with Rust alternatives, Chimera Linux drops RISC-V builds |
| • Issue 1112 (2025-03-10): Solus 4.7, distros which work with Secure Boot, UBports publishes bug fix, postmarketOS considers a new name, Debian running on Android |
| • Issue 1111 (2025-03-03): Orbitiny 0.01, the effect of Ubuntu Core Desktop, Gentoo offers disk images, elementary OS invites feature ideas, FreeBSD starts PinePhone Pro port, Mint warns of upcoming Firefox issue |
| • Issue 1110 (2025-02-24): iodeOS 6.0, learning to program, Arch retiring old repositories, openSUSE makes progress on reproducible builds, Fedora is getting more serious about open hardware, Tails changes its install instructions to offer better privacy, Murena's de-Googled tablet goes on sale |
| • Issue 1109 (2025-02-17): Rhino Linux 2025.1, MX Linux 23.5 with Xfce 4.20, replacing X.Org tools with Wayland tools, GhostBSD moving its base to FreeBSD -RELEASE, Redox stabilizes its ABI, UBports testing 24.04, Asahi changing its leadership, OBS in dispute with Fedora |
| • Issue 1108 (2025-02-10): Serpent OS 0.24.6, Aurora, sharing swap between distros, Peppermint tries Void base, GTK removinglegacy technologies, Red Hat plans more AI tools for Fedora, TrueNAS merges its editions |
| • Issue 1107 (2025-02-03): siduction 2024.1.0, timing tasks, Lomiri ported to postmarketOS, Alpine joins Open Collective, a new desktop for Linux called Orbitiny |
| • Full list of all issues |
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VenenuX
VenenuX is a South American desktop distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux and intended primarily for Spanish-speaking users. It adheres strictly to the principles of free software as defined by the Free Software Foundation.
Status: Dormant
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