Ubuntu 26.04 is releasing today. As a long-term support release, it will be supported till at least 2031, making it an important upgrade for many users.
Curious about what’s new? I’ve covered the key features and changes in this major release.
If you’re currently on Ubuntu 24.04 or even 25.10, you probably have a few questions about upgrading. Should you do it now? Is it worth it? I’ve addressed those in a dedicated article.
On a related note, Fedora 44 faced another delay but is now expected to release tomorrow, April 24.
Here are other highlights of this edition of FOSS Weekly:
- A young Polish developer fixing 20 year old Linux bug.
- A new privacy-first cloud service.
- Russian CPUs being dropped from Linux.
- And other Linux news, tips, and, of course, memes!
📰 Linux and Open Source News
Linux 7.1 is dropping support for Baikal SoCs, the Russian ARM-based processors that were intended to give Russian state enterprises a domestic alternative to Intel and AMD.
Cal.com, the open source Calendly alternative, has gone closed source. The stated reason is that AI can now scan public repos and find exploitable vulnerabilities far faster than before.
A 20-year-old bug in the Enlightenment E16 window manager, introduced in 2006, was found and fixed this month by a 21-year-old graduate student who daily drives the 1999-era window manager.
MZLA Technologies, the Mozilla subsidiary behind Thunderbird, has launched Thunderbolt, an open source, self-hostable AI client aimed at organizations that can't send sensitive data to third-party AI services.
Elsewhere in the world of Mozilla, Firefox's new mascot Kit generated more drama than any browser mascot should've. A Reddit post used they/them pronouns to introduce the cartoon Firefox character; someone noticed a few weeks later, and the predictable cycle followed.
And some positive news. After months of advocacy by System76, Colorado's age verification bill is set for an amendment to exclude open source. At least that's what it looks like for now.
🧠 What We’re Thinking About
If you're already using Tuta for email and calendar and have been wondering where the cloud storage was, it's now in closed beta. Tuta Drive uses the same post-quantum hybrid encryption as the rest of the suite, is hosted in Germany, and is zero-knowledge by design.
Is the OS-level age verification all about protecting children? Theena does not think so and expresses his opinions in this article.
Theena Kumaragurunathan
🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials, and Learnings
Chapter 7 of our Terminal Basics series covers everything you need to know about the cp command for copying single files, multiple files, renaming during a copy, using -r for directories, and handling overwrites safely with -n and -i.
If your Linux Mint desktop feels a bit plain and you have RAM to spare, we have covered nine Cinnamon extensions and built-in effects worth trying for anyone who wants to make the desktop feel a bit more alive.
Compiling your own kernel sounds intimidating, but it's mostly a long sequence of well-defined steps. The journey involves fetching and verifying the source, configuring with menuconfig, building and installing modules, headers, and the kernel itself.
Markdown has become essential. From Git repositories to AI skills to personal knowledge base, knowing the basics of Markdown helps a lot.
👷 AI, Homelab and Hardware Corner
Linux gamers rejoice! A gaming console has been announced that runs an Arch-based distro.
Sourav Rudra
Tired of AI fluff and misinformation in your Google feed? Get real, trusted Linux content. Add It’s FOSS as your preferred source and see our reliable Linux and open-source stories highlighted in your Discover feed and search results.
✨ Apps and Projects Highlights
Managing a handful of containers from the terminal is fine until it isn't. Pods is a clean Adwaita-native GUI for Podman and Docker that handles the everyday tasks.
Sourav Rudra
📽️ Videos for You
And I share the new features in Ubuntu 26.04 in this video along with my opinions on (some of) them. Please watch it here.
💡 Quick Handy Tip
In many Linux terminal emulators like GNOME Terminal, Ptyxis, etc. You can press CTRL+SHIFT+F to open a search interface for going through your scrollback history. This typically contains options for matchcase, whole words, and regular expressions.
🎋 Fun in the FOSSverse
Take your container knowledge for a test with this members-only puzzle.
Abhishek Prakash
Who said that? Let me enlighten you. 🧐
🗓️ Tech Trivia: On April 21, 1988, Tandy Corporation announced it would clone IBM's PS/2, which was made possible only because IBM had opened up the license to its proprietary MCA bus patents after years of trying to lock competitors out.
The PS/2 was IBM's attempt to retake control of the PC market it had accidentally given away by publishing open hardware specs in 1981. It failed completely.
Within four years IBM was a minor player in its own market, and by 2005 it had exited PC manufacturing entirely, selling the division to Lenovo.
🧑🤝🧑 From the Community: FOSSers are deliberating whether CAMM2 memory will be the next thing in computer hardware.
