Dell has announced the return of its XPS laptop line at CES 2026, introducing redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch models, the former of which will be available to buy pre-loaded with Ubuntu later this year. The tech company retired the XPS branding in last January as part of a marketing revamp of its product lines. Inspiron, Latitude, and Precision devices became “Dell,” “Dell Pro,” and “Dell Pro Max” respectively, while XPS models were re-badged “Dell Premium”. But you can’t keep a good brand down for long, and the XPS has returned — with some notable design changes in tow. The company […]
It’s fair to say that 2025 delivered plenty of wins for Ubuntu and the wider Linux ecosystem. Wayland is no longer “on the way”, but settled in and feeling comfortable (for most of us); gaming on Linux is practically mainstream at this point (thanks to Valve); and Ubuntu’s desktop team continued to think big with app/tooling changes, encryption focus, and more. Still, one shouldn’t lose sight of how far things have come already. In a chronically online world, attention is forever fixated on what’s new, what’s next, and (outrage industrial complex) what is the absolute worst. Mindfulness isn’t a meme; […]
Got time for a final blast through smaller Linux app updates to round out 2025? There will be plenty of big new releases to look forward to in 2026, no doubt. But before we race head on in to another year, I wanted to give one last glance back at software updates that landed in December but which, as ever, I didn’t give a full article to… …But didn’t want to leave out either. Clapper 0.10.0 Clapper media player hit 0.10.0 this month, continuing to expand its “enhancer plugin system”. MPRIS, Server, and Discoverer features are now enhancer plugins. A […]
A new version of Shotcut video editor is out, rounding out what’s proven to be a bumper month for Linux video editing enthusiasts thanks to big updates to Flowblade, OpenShot and Kdenlive. The headline feature in Shotcut 25.12 is full 10-bit video support in the CPU pipeline. Until now, editing 10-bit clips in this MLT-based tool involved trade-offs: using GPU effects and filters, or opting for basic CPU filters that lack transitions or compositing. Now, you don’t need to. Most CPU filters, transitions, and other editing/blending options have been updated to to handle 10- and 12-bit sources, though a few remain […]
A new GNOME Shell extension rethinks the app grid (aka the app picker, app drawer, launcher screen – what do you call it?) by making it scroll vertically instead of horizontally. Y’know, the way it did before GNOME 40 changed it. GNOME 40’s switch to horizontal app grid scrolling in 2021 irked a few of its mice-favouring aficionados. Their main gripe? A vertical mouse scroll wheel to move horizontally feels off. The app grid does have clickable buttons (and supports swipe gestures and keyboard arrow keys too). But GNOME Shell is malleable; the way it is out of the box […]
Following on from its beta release in September, the Pinta 3.1 release is now available for download with new features and plenty of fixes. Pinta is, as I’m sure you know, a modest open-source and cross-platform image editor. It began life as a pseudo-clone of Paint.NET (the former being written in Mono, an open-source implementation of Microsoft’s .NET, which the latter was made in). These days, it’s very much its own thing, serving as a simple yet capable raster graphics editor sitting below The GIMP in complexity, but above no-frills Tux Paint type offerings. Pinta 3.1 brings a variety of […]
A new version of Turntable, the standalone music scrobbling tool and desktop ‘now playing’ controls for Linux, is out with a couple of notable new features. Given the app is a conduit for relaying your listening habits, this update adds “wrapped year-in-review” style recap of your hither logged listening habits. Well, kinda. Turntable’s developer, Evan Paterakis, says the year-end recap feature is an ‘experiment’ so far from perfect. This is because the app doesn’t track your listening habits itself, merely relays it to your preferred service. Since “different services provide different levels of information and assets and almost none provide […]
Ghostty, the fast GPU‑accelerated terminal, now operates under a non‑profit funding model through fiscal sponsorship with Hack Club. Here’s what it means.
Want to run COSMIC desktop on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS? A new (unofficial) PPA makes it easy to. Follow the steps in this guide, learn about the caveats and how to 'undo'.
A new version of Ubuntu-based Linux distribution elementary OS is available to download. The elementary OS 8.1 ‘Circe’ release is built atop a Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS base and runs the Linux 6.14 kernel by default. A raft of improvements to the Pantheon desktop environment, core apps, and the wider user experience are included. Danielle Fore, the elementary team lead, says this release follows through on the team’s release goals for OS 8, improve support for devices and inclusivity, and address feedback from its users – “with over 1,100 issue reports fixed”, she says. November 2024 saw the release of elementary OS 8.0 […]
Add an animated Santa desktop pet to Ubuntu with Gnomelets GNOME extension. See Santa walk on windows, jump and roam your screen. Works with GNOME 45+.
A new look app menu, expanded search abilities in the file manager and a modern on-screen keyboard are among new features in Linux Mint 22.3, which just hit beta. Linux Mint 22.3 “Zena” is the fourth and final update in the Linux Mint 22 branch, building on the many changes the Linux Mint 22.2 “Zara” delivered in early autumn. Linux Mint 22.3 is based on Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS, so inherits all of the foundational goodies from its upstream kin, including Linux 6.14 kernel (with access to the Ubuntu HWE updates – Linux kernel 6.17 and Mesa 25.2 are due in the coming weeks). […]
Canonical confirms Ubuntu 26.04 LTS will ship with Linux kernel 6.20 (7.0) in April, bringing latest hardware support and performance improvements to users.
Linux News