FOSS Weekly #24.52: Holiday Special Tuxmas Days

The last newsetter of 2024
Warp Terminal

The "12 Days of Tuxmas" have begun 🎄

I'll share 12 new content, features or changes to It's FOSS platform during the holiday period.

On the first day of Tuxmas, you get holiday themed wallpapers for your Linux desktop.

On the second day of Tuxmas, you can enjoy holiday-themed Linux quizzes and puzzles.

Stay tuned for the rest of Tuxmas days.

❤️
By the way, this is the 52nd newsletter of 2024. One for each week of the year. If you read all the 52 editions this year, you and me both, deserve some sort of award for the consistency 😊

Also, if you haven't already, please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and help us reach 60,000 subscribers before 2025. We need nearly 3,000 more people.

💬 Let's see what else you get in this edition

  • A trip down memory lane.
  • Mozilla partnering with Ecosia.
  • Defining moments of open source and Linux in 2024.
  • And other Linux news, videos and, of course, memes!

📰 Linux and Open Source News

Following its rebranding, Mozilla has now teamed up with Ecosia.

Mozilla’s New Partnership Adds Ecosia Search Engine as a Default Option for Everyone
A new default search engine option for everyone, in the form of a new partnership!

🗓️ Year End Specials

As we end this memorable year, let's take a look back at some of the most notable Linux applications and FOSS apps for Android.

These Are The Most Useful Linux Apps I Discovered in 2024
Here are the best Linux apps we encountered in 2024. Try them out if you haven’t yet!

Beyond that, the year 2025 has some interesting Linux distributions to watch out for.

6 Linux Distros to Watch Out for in 2025
Some great Linux distributions are expected to be released in 2025. Here’s what you should keep an eye out for.

There were many important events in the world of open source and Linux, but eight such occurrences caught our eye.

8 Defining Moments in the Open Source and Linux World: 2024 Edition
Ready to recap the biggest moments in 2024? Let’s go!

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

We can start preparing our wishlist for 2025, right?

What do I want to see in the Linux ecosystem in 2025?
The expectations are high for the Linux ecosystem in 2025. What do you think?

You'll relate to some of these if you have been using Linux for a long time.

9 Major Annoyances With Linux That Look Like a Thing of the Past in 2025
It is a breeze to use Linux in 2025 with all the major annoyances gone. And, here’s why.

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More


👷 Maker's and AI Corner

No need to surrender documents to online AI tools for basic tasks, you can do the same locally.

5 Local AI Tools to Interact With PDF and Documents
Interact with your documents but in private with these local AI tools.

Retro tech, major impact—meet AGC that powered the Apollo missions.


📹 Videos We are Creating for You


✨ Apps of the Week

Is Betterbird a “better” alternative to Thunderbird? Find out:

Betterbird: A Thunderbird Fork That Promises Better Features
A better Thunderbird? Let’s take a look!

If you find yourself searching for the meaning of words, then freeDictionaryApp can be a great fit.



🧩 Quiz Time

Can you guess the year of release for these distros?

Guess the Year of These Distros’s First Release
Test your history knowledge and guess in which year these popular distros were released.

💡 Quick Handy Tip

In Thunar file manager, you can enable sidebar image preview. For doing that, click on “View” and then hover over the “Side Pane” option. Here, click on “Image Preview”, and Thunar should start showing image previews.

In some cases, you might have to enable it each time you use Thunar.


🤣 Meme of the Week

Santa got no chill. ☠️


🗓️ Tech Trivia

Charles Babbage, born on December 26, 1791, designed the Analytical Engine, a mechanical computer ahead of its time. He also developed the Difference Engine to automate polynomial calculations. His work laid the foundation for modern computing, influencing future generations.


🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

A FOSSer is wondering about the state of VR support in Linux; care to share your thoughts?

The State Of Linux & VR
So, as the title implies, I AM curious - what is the state of VR gaming in Linux? is it ‘viable’ at this time?

❤️ With love

Share it with your Linux-using friends and encourage them to subscribe (hint: it's here).

Share the articles in Linux Subreddits and community forums.

Follow us on Google News and stay updated in your News feed.

Opt for It's FOSS Plus membership and support us 🙏

Enjoy using Linux even in 2025 🐧

About the author
Abhishek Prakash

Abhishek Prakash

Created It's FOSS 11 years ago to share my Linux adventures. Have a Master's degree in Engineering and years of IT industry experience. Huge fan of Agatha Christie detective mysteries 🕵️‍♂️

Become a Better Linux User

With the FOSS Weekly Newsletter, you learn useful Linux tips, discover applications, explore new distros and stay updated with the latest from Linux world

itsfoss happy penguin

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.

Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.

You've successfully subscribed to It's FOSS.

Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.

Success! Your billing info has been updated.

Your billing was not updated.