ConnexionVirtualBox 7.1.4 Readies Linux Kernel 6.12 Support + More
Oracle has released the second maintenance update for the latest VirtualBox 7.1 series. VirtualBox 7.1.4 includes a small set of improvements, bug fixes, and stability enhancements to this open-source, cross-platform virtualisation tool, though new major new features are included. Among the changes are 2 which affect the Linux Guest Additions package (installing this enables Linux VMs to integrate better with the underlying host OS and hardware, be it a Linux, macOS, Windows, or Solaris host). Firstly, Linux Guest Additions picks up initial support for the upcoming Linux kernel 6.12 release, which due out in the next few months. Adding initial […]
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Ubuntu 24.10 may have only just been released, but development on the next version is getting underway and the codename for Ubuntu 25.04 revealed. Since codenames are alphabetical (as of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS; restarted at ‘A’ with 17.10) it means the Ubuntu 25.04 codename will start with the letter ‘P’… Ubuntu 25.04 is the ‘Plucky Puffin’. Yup, it seems a fellow feathered mascot is following in the footsteps – or rather the talon steps – of the ‘Oracular Oriole’. The ‘Plucky Puffin’ is only the 2nd ‘P’ codename in Ubuntu’s 20 year history, the other one being Ubuntu 12.04 LTS […]
When it comes to open-source vector graphics software there’s perhaps nothing else as well known or as well made for the task than Inkscape – and a brand new version is now released. Inkscape 1.4 adds a crop of new features and improves accessibility buffs, with bug fixes, code cleanups, stability tweaks, and performance tune-ups (including faster extensions) also included. A new Filter Gallery dialog is, Inkscape say, “your new entry point into the world of filters. Head to the Filters menu to find it and your favorites more easily, with previews by category or by typing key words in […]
With the latest release stacked with new features, you may be looking to upgrade to Ubuntu 24.10 from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS but wondering exactly how. “I just wait for Ubuntu to tell me, right?” – Er, no. As Ubuntu 24.04 is a long-term support (LTS) release it will not ask you if you want to upgrade to Ubuntu 24.10. This is because LTS releases are configured to only notify of new LTS releases (next one is due 2026) and Ubuntu 24.10 is a short-term release. Fret not; you can do a direct upgrade to Ubuntu 24.10 from 24.04 LTS, but […]
GNOME Shell shows now playing info in the notification shade, out of view but there when you want to check in. Most users like this approach, but perhaps you don’t? Personally, I do like seeing media info (album art, artist name, track title) in the top bar. If I listen to a playlist like Spotify Discover I can see which song/artist is playing by looking at the top of the screen. I find that easier than interrupting my workflow by having to switch apps or click on the notification shade to take a peek. Plus, having ‘now playing’ info on […]
KDE neon users can now upgrade to rebase their systems on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. For those unfamiliar with it, KDE neon is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution that is something of a reference platform for KDE Plasma. It’s available in User, Testing, Unstable, and Developer editions. KDE neon (User Edition) is the ‘stable’ version but still described as suiting ‘adventurous KDE enthusiasts’ rather than those seeking a rock-solid, totally-reliable distro. KDE neon isn’t tested as a distro as throughly as, say, Kubuntu. But if you want the benefits of the Ubuntu 24.04 package set with the latest KDE Plasma 6.2 release […]
Ubuntu 24.10 is now available for download after six months of dedicated development. The latest release offers plenty of changes and new features, including the latest GNOME 47 release, more preinstalled tools for developers, and better signalling of background snap app updates. As a short-term release, Ubuntu 24.10 receives 9 months of supports. Users will need to upgrade again by July 2025 to keep getting updates. The next major update, Ubuntu 25.04, is released in April 2025. I showcase the new features in Ubuntu 24.10 in a separate article, so if you want lashings of detail give that a read. […]
If you’re using Canonical’s Steam snap to game on Ubuntu you may be pleased to hear that a number appreciable performance improvements have begun to filter out. Valve recommend Ubuntu users stick to the official Steam DEB for the best experience but plenty of Ubuntu users prefer the convenience offered by the unofficial Steam snap maintained by Canonical and available to install through App Center. The latest release of snapd, the engine that installs, manages, and configures snap apps, includes a couple of changes that improve the performance of the Steam snap specifically. Snapd 2.65 sees the removal of “all […]
A new major update to the KDE Plasma desktop has been released, and it’s jam-packed with new features, enhancements, and performance-focused improvements. Serving as the third release in the new 6.x series, KDE Plasma 6.2 builds on the foundations introduced in earlier this year in KDE Plasma 6.0 and KDE Plasma 6.1 (the latter being the version of KDE shipping out-of-the-box in the new Kubuntu 24.10 release). KDE developers say of the new update: “Plasma 6 has come into its own over the last two releases. The wrinkles that always come with a major migration have been ironed out, and […]
Ardour is one of the most popular and powerful open-source digital audio workstations (DAW) around, and a major new update was recently made available. Now, I can’t profess to be some kind of music-making maestro, though I did spend much of my late teens face-first in FL Studio (formerly Fruity Loops) trying – and failing – to channel my inner Cash Cash (’08 ‘era, before their mainstream genre shift). Ardour 8.8 is the second update to the DAW in 2 weeks because, as the software’s devs explain, “v8.7 […] turned out to have a couple of major issues that required […]
A new version of NetworkManager – used by most Linux distributions (including Ubuntu) to manage wired and wireless network connections – was released this week. NetworkManager 1.50 won’t be included in Ubuntu 24.10 (that ships with v1.48) but I think some of the changes it makes may be worth knowing about all the same. Notably, NetworkManager 1.50 now formally deprecates support for dhclient in favour of its own internal DHCP client. The former is now no longer be built “…unless explicitely (sic) enabled, and will be removed in a future release.” Will this have a major issue? Unlikely; NetworkManager began […]
There are plenty of ways to download videos from well-known video streaming sites on Ubuntu but I find Parabolic the easiest, least hassle option out there. For those yet to hear about it, Parabolic is a GTK4/libadwaita app for Linux (or a Qt one for Windows) that offers what it describes as a ‘basic frontend’ to yt-dlp. All sites supported by yt-dlp are supported in this app. Paste in a URL, validate, and download. Parabolic lets you download multiple videos simultaneously and save them to popular video or audio formats; sign-in with account details (if needed) and see the credentials to […]
A few months ago I reported that Mozilla is getting a brand revamp and that it incorporates the non-profit company’s iconic red dinosaur mascot – now I have a bit more info. A reader, Nicolas, recently pointed me to the website of global design agency Jones Knowles Ritchie, who Mozilla hired to update, refine, and revitalise its brand identity. As design agencies go, Jones Knowles Ritchie has considerable cultural cache having worked with major world-famous brands, ranging from Burger King to Budweiser – and now web browser maker Mozilla. Their website has a dedicated page to showcase their work on […]
Pine64 has confirmed that its open-source e-ink tablet is returning. The PineNote was announced in 2021, building on the success of its non-SBC devices like the PinePhone (and later Pro model), the PineTab, and PineBook devices. Like most of Pine64’s devices, software support is largely tackled by the community. But only a small batch of developer units were ever sold, primarily by enthusiasts within the open-source community who had the knowledge and desire to work on getting a modern Linux OS to run on the hardware, and adapt to the e-ink display. That process has taken a while, as Pine64’s […]
A chorus of improvements are on offer in the newest update to the popular open source, cross-platform Audacious music player. Audacious 4.4.1 builds on the changes introduced in Audacious 4.4 (a release that brought GTK3 and Qt6 UI choices, the return of a dedicated lyrics plugin, and better compatibility with PipeWire) rather than adding any huge new features of its own. But that’s no bad thing; finesse, fix ’em ups, and extended support for existing features are as welcome as gaudy new GUI elements to me. Notable changes include: The change-log also says the PulseAudio plugin is now preferred over […]
Mozilla Firefox 131 is now available to download with a small set of improvements in tow. The first change I noticed when opening Firefox 131 is the new icon for the ‘all tabs’ feature1. Previously a small downward pointing arrow, this new—more obvious— icon is a small squarish depiction of a tabbed web browser. The change was made ahead of vertical tabs (upcoming feature) that moves this button to the toolbar if vertical tabs are enabled. Mozilla say “hovering the mouse over an unfocused tab will now display a visual preview of its contents”. These visual tab hover previews were […]
If you’re looking to kick the tyres on AI image processing/recognition projects and own an older Raspberry Pi mode, the company’s new ‘AI Camera’ add-on will be of interest. Where the $70 Raspberry Pi AI Kit announced in June only works with a Raspberry Pi 5, the new $70 AI camera works with all Raspberry Pi boards that have the relevant camera connector port (spoiler: most, including the Raspberry Pi Zero and Raspberry Pi 400). This new AI Camera is the latest fruit from Raspberry Pi’s ongoing partnership with Sony Semiconductor Solutions, making use of the latter outfit’s IMX500 image […]
As revealed last month, Linux Mint is working on an improved default theme for the Cinnamon desktop – and today we got our first look at what’s coming. The way Cinnamon looks in Linux Mint (the distribution) is not the way it looks if you install the Cinnamon desktop yourself on a different distro. There, assuming a theme pack is isn’t pulled in as a dependency, you’ll see the default built-in Cinnamon theme. And it’s that built-in theme that Linux Mint is currently improving. Mint says “the new default theme [is] much darker and contrasted than before. Objects are rounded […]
A major new release of Mission Center, a modern system monitor app for Linux desktops, has been released. Fans of this Rust-based GTK4/libadwaita system monitoring tool (which to address the recurring elephant in the room does indeed have a user interface inspired by—now I’d argue superior to—the Windows system monitor app) will find a lot to like in the latest update. I’m not going to recap all of this tool’s existing features in this post as I’ve covered this app a few times in the past. The Mission Center homepage has more details for the uninitiated. Instead, I’m going focus […]
Oracle has release a new maintenance update for VirtualBox, its open-source virtualisation software. VirtualBox 7.1.2 is the first such point release since the VirtualBox 7.1 series debuted earlier this month. Naturally, it builds on that major release with a flurry of big fixes, performance finesse, and UI refinements, and adds a few new features. Among them, the latest version adds support for a multi-window layout, gives users the option to choose remote display security method, and fixes for a 3D acceleration-related quirks, including black screens in Windows VMs and minor rendering issues. A bug fixes ensures virtual machines created using […]
If you’ve cast a half-glazed eye over Linux social media feeds at some point in the past few days you may have caught wind that a huge Linux security flaw was about to be disclosed. And today it was: a remote code execution flaw affecting the CUPS printing stack used in most major desktop Linux distributions (including Ubuntu, and also Chrome OS). With a severity score of 9.9 it’s right at the edge of the most severe vulnerabilities possible. The CUPS Security Vulnerability Canonical explains in its security blog: “At its core, the vulnerability is exploited by tricking CUPS into […]
Chocks away —British saying, don’t stare at me weirdly— as the second alpha of System76’s homegrown COSMIC desktop environment has been released. To make it easy for us all to try out the latest improvements a second alpha build of Pop!_OS 24.04 is also available to download. Those who installed the first Pop!_OS 24.04 alpha don’t need to re-install. All of the improvements in this post are available as software updates via the COSMIC App Store. Not that anyone needs to use Pop!_OS to try the COSMIC. This Rust-based DE is also available to test on a wide range of […]