Linux NewsLinux 7.0 Wires Up Arm's 64-byte Single-Copy Atomic Instructions LS64/LS64V
Beyond all of the exciting Intel/AMD x86_64 changes and improvements to enjoy with the upcoming Linux 7.0, there is one notable ARM64 feature addition this kernel cycle...
Linux 7.0 Lands 8D-8D-8D Octal DTR Support In SPI NAND For Better Performance
The Linux Memory Technology Device (MTD) subsystem updates have been merged for the Linux 7.0 kernel and include introducing Octal DTR "8D-8D-8D" support in SPI NAND for better performance...
Firmware Upstreamed For Linux Speaker Support On The ASUS Zenbook 14 UM3406GA
For those that may be considering the new ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406GA) laptop that has been refreshed for the new AMD Ryzen AI 400 series, Cirrus Logic has now upstreamed the necessary firmware for the cs35l41 audio amplifier for working speaker support...
KDE Plasma 6.6 Sees Last Minute Fixes, Plasma 6.7 Aims For Painless Samba Shares
KDE's Plasma 6.6 desktop release is due out next week (17 February) and there's been some last minute fixes to land. Additionally, KDE Plasma developers continue to be quite active in already landing feature work for Plasma 6.7...
GNOME 50 Desktop Environment Enters Public Beta Testing with More New Features
GNOME 50 desktop environment is now available for public beta testing with more new features and improvements across all components. Here's what's new!
Godot 4.7 Making Progress On Vulkan Ray-Tracing
One of the latest exciting developments for the open-source Godot game engine is beginning to lay out support for Vulkan ray-tracing...
XFS Could Gain a Self-Healing Feature in Linux Kernel 7.0
Linux kernel 7.0 could introduce real-time XFS filesystem health events, enabling a userspace daemon to detect and automatically repair issues.
4 systemd tools that make everyday Linux troubleshooting much easier
Control services, read logs, profile boot time, and inspect crashes with these four built-in systemd tools.
KDE Frameworks 6.23 Brings Broad Fixes Across Core Libraries
KDE Frameworks 6.23 is out with stability updates, memory leak fixes, and broad improvements across the KDE libraries and developer platform.
KDE Frameworks 6.23 Improves the Open/Save Dialogs Across Plasma and KDE Apps
KDE Frameworks 6.23 open-source software suite is out now with various improvements and bug fixes for KDE apps and the Plasma desktop. Here’s what’s new!
GNOME 50 Beta Released With Stable VRR, GDM Improvements
The GNOME 50 beta release is now available ahead of the official GNOME 50 desktop due out in March...
New delegation for Debian's data protection team
Debian Project Leader (DPL) Andreas Tille has announced a new delegation for Debian's data projection team: Following the end of the previous delegation, Debian was left without an active Data Protection team. This situation has understandably drawn external attention and highlighted the importance of having a clearly identified point of contact for data protection matters within the project. I am therefore very pleased to announce that new volunteers have stepped forward, allowing us to re-establish the Debian Data Protection team with a fresh delegation. Tille had put out a call for volunteers in January after all previous members of the team had stepped down. He has appointed Aigars Mahinovs, Andrew M.A. Cater, Bart Martens, Emmanuel Arias, Gunnar Wolf, Kiran S Kunjumon, and Salvo Tomaselli as the new members of the team. The team provides a central coordination and advisory function around Debian's data handling, retention, dealing with deletion requests, and more.
[$] The first half of the 7.0 merge window
The merge window for Linux 7.0 has opened, and with it comes a number of interesting improvements and enhancements. At the time of writing, there have been 7,695 non-merge commits accepted. The 7.0 release is not special, according to the kernel's versioning scheme — just the release that comes after 6.19. Humans love symbolism and round numbers, though, so it may feel like something of a milestone.
[$] Open-source mapping for disaster response
At FOSDEM 2026 Petya Kangalova, a senior tech partnership and engagement manager for the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) spoke about how the project helps people map their surroundings to assist in disaster response and humanitarian aid. The project has developed a stack of technology to help volunteers collectively map an area and add in local knowledge metadata. "One of the core things that we believe is that when we speak about disaster response or people having access to data is that they really need accessible technology that's free and open for anyone to use."
Putting Linux on a tablet? Here's 7 distros to try
Refresh your tablet PC with these tablet-friendly Linux distros.