Summary
Highlights
A German state, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, is moving to NextCloud for its 50,000 employees, replacing Microsoft solutions. This is part of a larger trend in Germany towards digital sovereignty and open standards, with other states and even France adopting open-source software. This shift demonstrates the growing momentum behind open-source solutions globally.
Windows' desktop market share has fallen to 56.5%, its lowest point ever according to StatCounter. While biases exist in the data, the consistent downward trend indicates users are abandoning Windows, seeking alternatives in Linux (now at 4.69%) and macOS. This trend is attributed to Microsoft's unpopular decisions, providing an opportunity for Linux to grow its user base.
A developer in the OpenMandriva project sabotaged the distribution by deleting parts of the GitHub repository, specifically Gnome and Cosmic desktop environments, and pushing empty packages. This act of spite followed the developer's removal from the distro's Matrix instance due to abusive behavior. The project has since recovered the deleted repos and is restoring the empty packages, opting not to pursue legal action.
The first alpha of Gnome 51 brings a range of improvements, including a fallback session setting in the login manager, performance enhancements for Gnome Calendar, additional display options in settings, and the ability to disable touchpads when a mouse is connected. Other updates include offline map downloads in Gnome Maps, AMD hardware acceleration for remote desktop features, and a more consistent reduced motion setting implemented in GTK. Nautilus receives faster view reloading, and the file preview app Sushi is ported to GTK4.
The Free Software Foundation's Libre project, aiming for truly open smartphones with proper Linux support, has made progress. A developer extracted firmware from 200 Lineage installed packages and established a database to compare device components. This effort will help identify the best devices for reverse engineering, with many proprietary blobs found to be shared across devices, potentially easing the process of supporting multiple phone models with Linux.
Ubuntu is intensifying its focus on ARM 64 as a platform. Efforts include moving ARM packages to main repositories, releasing a Steam Snap for ARM with x86 emulation, and adding support for Snapdragon X Elite laptops with secure boot. Chrome is also building Widevine DRM support for ARM, enabling streaming services on Linux ARM devices. Snaps now directly support ARM 64 with applications like FreeCAD and Teams available. The main challenge remains device tree integration, but advancements in application compatibility and translation layers point to a promising future for ARM on Ubuntu.
A developer at Valve has significantly improved the RADV driver, the Vulkan driver for AMD GPUs, in Mesa 26.2. This update can double performance for variable rate shading, a crucial feature for optimizing power and performance in games, especially on devices like the Steam Deck. These enhancements further solidify AMD's position as the preferred choice for Linux gaming due to better driver support and consistent updates.
Tuxedo OS is moving away from Ubuntu LTS to Debian Testing as its base. The decision stems from the difficulty of maintaining a semi-rolling release with Plasma updates on an LTS base, which leads to dependency conflicts. Debian Testing offers a more stable rolling release experience and is community-led, allowing Tuxedo to potentially engage more in the distro's development. The shift will also include moving to Btrfs as the default file system with Snapper for system backups, though current users will require a fresh reinstallation.
Linux Mint has announced that Mint 23, slated for release by the end of the year, will feature a fully stable Wayland session, moving beyond its experimental phase. Both X11 and Wayland will be supported options. While this ensures future-proofing for Linux Mint, especially given potential changes in Ubuntu's X11 support, X11 will still be available for a long time.
Valve has released Windows 11 drivers for the Steam Machine, but advises against installing Windows. The company does not prioritize Windows optimization for its hardware, with Steam OS offering superior performance and being specifically designed for gaming. Installing Windows 11 would also erase Steam OS, preventing dual booting. Valve's primary goal is to promote Steam OS and its ecosystem, not to provide a general-purpose Windows-compatible device.
Proton 11, Valve's latest compatibility layer, is based on Wine 11 and includes numerous fixes and improvements for VR, EA games, and general graphics. It moves several games, including Resident Evil and Dino Crisis, from experimental to stable support. New playable games, such as Gothic 1 Classic and Breath of Fire 4, are now supported, along with fixes for titles like No Man's Sky VR and Hell Divers 2. Proton 11 also enhances window maximization under KDE and updates its core components, further improving the Linux gaming experience, though anti-cheat remains an ongoing challenge.
Tuxedo Computers, the sponsor of the video, offers Linux hardware (laptops and desktops) with Linux pre-installed. Based in Germany and shipping globally, Tuxedo provides various hardware options designed for maximum Linux compatibility. The presenter vouches for Tuxedo's quality, stating all his content creation and management are done on Tuxedo Linux computers.