Catch up on the latest Linux news: COSMIC 1.4, VirtualBox 7.2.14, Firefox 153, Wine 11.14, Hyprland 0.56, OBS Studio 32.2, Debian developers debate ban on AI-assisted contributions, and more.

Since 2017 in Linux 4.12 has been the Realtek rtl8723bs WiFi driver where it was introduced into the staging area and remains there nearly a decade later. The rtl8723bs driver for this Realtek 802.11n WiFi SDIO driver has seen a lot of code cleaning over the years and all these years later still is needing lots of code clean-ups from unnecessary code abstractions to dealing with malicious WiFi APs for what Greg Kroah-Hartman has called a "beast of a driver". The latest twist is there now being patches for adding Realtek RTL8723BS and RTL8723B onto the existing RTW88 driver...

The latest LibreOffice maintenance update pushes Skia back to experimental mode on Mac and Windows.

Besides the FreeBSD graphics and WiFi drivers lagging behind Linux and other operating systems, the FreeBSD audio driver support and handling of audio streams with FreeBSD on the desktop can be problematic depending upon the hardware/system. One of the most active mailing list threads this week in the FreeBSD camp was over the "tragic state" of FreeBSD audio/sound support...

The MUSE Pi Pro is an 85 × 56mm single-board computer built around SpacemiT’s M1 processor, combining eight 64-bit RISC-V cores with 2.0 TOPS of AI processing capability. The board provides up to 16GB of LPDDR4X memory, onboard eMMC storage, NVMe expansion, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, and multiple camera and display interfaces. The SpacemiT M1 […]

In working toward releasing the stable Linux 7.2 kernel in less than one month's time, out today is Linux 7.2-rc5 to ship this week's latest bug/regression fixes and help facilitate more testing of this in-development kernel version...

The 302nd installment of the 9to5Linux Weekly Roundup is here for the week ending July 26th, 2026, keeping you updated on the most important developments in the Linux world.

Garuda Linux has released FireDragon v13, a full reimplementation of its privacy-focused Firefox-based browser with new search, privacy, and performance controls.

Along with this weekend's release of GNU C Library 2.44, the GNU Binutils 2.47 release is also now available for this important set of binary utilities common to Linux systems and other platforms with the GNU toolchain...

The Fedora Council is considering a formal conflict-of-interest policy and inviting community feedback on the draft.

The NanoPi M6V2 is a compact SBC featuring 8K HDMI output, dual MIPI camera and display interfaces, NVMe SSD support, and 6 TOPS of AI performance. The board targets edge-computing applications such as light NAS systems, smart home gateways, digital signage, and portable media players. The RK3588S integrates four Arm Cortex-A76 cores running at up […]

The upcoming KDE Plasma 6.8 release will automatically lock the session when the last connected RDP client disconnects.

Following last month's beta release, Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.0 is now available as the latest feature release for this Ubuntu 24.04 LTS derived mobile operating system for select smartphones and tablets...

Wine 11.14 is now available with DirectSound 7.1 format conversions, a new WoW64 mode for FreeBSD, Start Menu icons, and 21 bug fixes.

Posted this week is a draft copy of the Fedora Conflict of Interest policy being worked on for dealing with identifying, disclosing, and managing any actual, actual, or perceived conflicts of interest within the Fedora Project...

GNOME is developing a modern way to reopen apps and restore their state after login, but the complete feature will not be ready for GNOME 51.

Networking is core to any operating system, and when it comes to Linux, it’s actually a combination of several key components. The Linux kernel handles the data plane, moving packets, and holding live device state. NetworkManager is the network configuration service, operating as the control plane, deciding what a device’s configuration should be.

NetworkManager 1.58 was released this week, following more than five months of development and 407 commits since version 1.56. The release covers three areas: expanded support for IPv6-only networks, a set of Wi-Fi management updates, and a round of security hardening.

Shadowfetch Linux combines Debian Testing, KDE Plasma 6.6, creative software, privacy-focused defaults, and tools for running AI models locally.

Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of Linux Kernel 7.1.4, the latest stable maintenance update for the Linux 7.1 series. As with other stable kernel releases, version 7.1.4 focuses on fixing bugs, improving hardware compatibility, and addressing security and reliability issues without introducing new features. The update became available on July 18, 2026, and users of the Linux 7.1 branch are encouraged to upgrade as soon as possible.

At this week's AMD Advancing AI 2026 event, "AI" was mentioned thousands of times in talks and in demos. As expected. Beyond that, the other term likely most heard during the event was "open"... Not particularly new for AMD with their long history of open-source efforts but I'd wager at this year's AMD Advancing AI 2026 event they were more acutely bringing up open-source, open ecosystems, and open standards. Certainly seemed like an uptick in "open" mentions and a ramp that's been building each year at the AMD events...

Frugality is nothing to be a shame of, it is generally working to one's advantage

Kiwi Menu as the macOS-inspired quick menu option for the GNOME Shell desktop is continuing to enhance its macOS-esque experience on GNOME...

Ubuntu Touch 24.04-2.0 updates Morph Browser to Chromium 134 and introduces printing, screenshot editing, and display notch support.

The widely used GNU C Library advances with version 2.44, featuring updates across functionality and security.

Debian developers are discussing whether to prohibit LLM-assisted contributions or allow them under a new set of accountability and disclosure rules.

The RealSense D585 Pro is a stereo depth camera built around the company’s new Gen 5 vision processor. It combines a 120 × 100-degree field of view, global-shutter sensors, dual infrared projectors, an integrated IMU, and on-device processing for robotics and industrial-vision systems. The Gen 5 SoC incorporates a depth engine, image signal processor, digital […]

Ubuntu Linux has shipped /etc/debian_version that is carried over from upstream Debian and in turn just indicating the Debian Sid development version from which the packages are arrived. Besides it being inaccurate, /etc/os-release has been the long preferred standard for reading the OS release information. Thus finally Ubuntu developers are looking at dropping the /etc/debian_version file...

Ventoy 1.1.17 optimizes its Secure Boot process, adds Athena OS and EulerOS support, and fixes several boot issues.

Going along with the upstream Linux 7.2 kernel deprecation of AF_ALG and Linux 7.3 to further restrict this interface for letting user-space programs interact directly with the Linux kernel crypto API, Fedora 45 is looking to follow and help support this transition...

The UBports Foundation released Ubuntu Touch OTA 2.0 today as a major update to this open-source and free mobile operating system for smartphones and tablets.