This Week in Linux

video: https://youtu.be/2188McQBnHg

This week in Linux, was a HUGE week for Linux news and it was also a HUGE week for me because today marks the 10th anniversary of TuxDigital. That's right I started TuxDigital back in 2016 so it's just crazy to think I've been making content for 10 years. Also KDE has a brand new version of their desktop with Plasma 6.6. We've also got a new version of Linux game manager, Lutris. Then we've got an update from the Asahi Linux project for their work on getting Linux on Apple hardware. Later in the show, we've got everyone's favorite with Legal News, although seriously this is good news about Valve winning a lawsuit against a Patent Troll. All of this and more on This Week in Linux, the weekly news show that keeps you up to date with what’s going on in the Linux and Open Source world. Now let's jump right into Your Source for Linux GNews!

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

02:01 KDE Plasma 6.6 Released

09:25 Lutris 0.5.20 Linux Game Manager Released

11:11 NuTyX 26.02.2 Released

13:44 Sandfly Security, agentless Linux security

15:06 PipeWire 1.6 Released

18:52 Asahi Linux progress on Apple M3 Support

22:59 KaOS 2026.02 Released

26:45 Valve Wins Patent Lawsuit vs Rothschild

32:17 Outro

Links:

KDE Plasma 6.6 Released

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.6.0/

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/02/kde-plasma-6-6-released

https://itsfoss.com/news/kde-plasma-6-6-release/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/02/kde-plasma-6-6-released-with-improved-accessibility-new-on-screen-keyboard-and-lots-more/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/KDE-Plasma-6.6

https://9to5linux.com/kde-plasma-6-6-desktop-environment-officially-released-this-is-whats-new

https://9to5linux.com/kde-says-plasma-desktop-will-never-force-users-to-use-systemd

https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/26/plasma_6_6_systemd_login/

Lutris 0.5.20 Linux Game Manager Released

https://lutris.net/

https://github.com/lutris/lutris/releases/tag/v0.5.20

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/02/game-manager-lutris-v0-5-20-released-with-proton-upgrades-store-updates-and-much-more/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Lutris-0.5.20-Released

https://9to5linux.com/lutris-0-5-20-game-manager-adds-support-for-importing-commodore-64-roms

NuTyX 26.02.2 Released

https://nutyx.org/en/news

Sandfly Security, agentless Linux security

https://thisweekinlinux.com/sandfly

PipeWire 1.6 Released

https://pipewire.org/

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/releases/1.6.0

https://www.phoronix.com/news/PipeWire-1.6

https://9to5linux.com/pipewire-1-6-released-with-support-for-audio-channel-layouts-ldac-decoder

https://linuxiac.com/pipewire-1-6-released-with-ldac-decoder-and-128-channel-audio-support/

Asahi Linux progress on Apple M3 Support

https://asahilinux.org/2026/02/progress-report-6-19/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Apple-M3-Asahi-Linux-2026

https://lwn.net/Articles/1059339/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Apple-M3-Linux-Boot-To-KDE

KaOS 2026.02 Released

https://kaosx.us/news/2026/systemd_kaos/

https://kaosx.us/news/2026/kaos02/

https://9to5linux.com/kaos-linux-drops-kde-plasma-after-12-years-for-niri-noctalia-to-escape-systemd

https://linuxiac.com/kaos-2026-02-debuts-niri-wayland-desktop/

Valve Wins Patent Lawsuit vs Rothschild

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/02/valve-wins-legal-battle-against-patent-troll-rothschild-and-associated-companies/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2020/05/gnome-and-rothschild-patent-imaging-settle/

https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/21/gnome_foundation_settles_patent_troll_lawsuit/

https://patents.justia.com/inventor/leigh-m-rothschild

https://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/wawdce/2:2023cv01016/323951

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67569388/252/valve-corporation-v-rothschild/

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.323951/gov.uscourts.wawd.323951.256.0.pdf

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video: https://youtu.be/qMIdMJnqNkE

This week in Linux, we have a brand new version of the Linux kernel with Linux 6.19. Discord is in the news this week because they decided to roll out age verification to the entire world and received a lot of backlash for it... which is very much deserved. Linux Mint is talking about changing how they do releases of their distros and how they might do fewer of them. Then we'll take a look at the upcoming KDE Linux distro and what they've got cooking in their immutable oven. All of this and more on This Week in Linux, the weekly news show that keeps you up to date with what’s going on in the Linux and Open Source world. Now let's jump right into Your Source for Linux GNews!

Download as MP3

Support the Show

Become a Patron = tuxdigital.com/membership

Store = tuxdigital.com/store

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:57 Linux Kernel 7.0 Released

07:44 Discord Age Verification: "Wait. What? Nope!"

13:46 Updates on KDE Linux

17:53 Sandfly Security, agentless Linux security

19:17 Linux Mint Changes to Release Cadence

21:44 GRUB 2.14 Released

24:43 Mesa 26.0 Released

27:01 Tiny Core 17 Released

29:04 Outro

Links:

Linux Kernel 7.0 Released

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.19-Best-Feature-Changes

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/02/linux-6-19-kernel-features-amd-performance

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/02/linux-kernel-6-19-arrives-and-the-next-will-be-7-0/

https://itsfoss.com/news/kernel-6-19-release/

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/09/linux_6_19_7_named/

https://9to5linux.com/linux-kernel-6-19-officially-released-this-is-whats-new

https://lwn.net/Articles/1057417/

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1qzn6y1/linux_kernel_619_has_been_released/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.19-Released

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.0-Is-Next

Discord Age Verification: "Wait. What? Nope!"

https://discord.com/press-releases/discord-launches-teen-by-default-settings-globally

https://discord.com/press-releases/discord-launches-teen-by-default-settings-globally#age-assurance-clarification

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/02/discord-is-about-to-require-age-verification-for-everyone/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/02/discord-attempt-to-put-out-the-fires-with-a-clarification-over-new-age-verification/

https://www.polygon.com/discord-face-id-requirement-backlash/

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/theres-no-reason-for-discord-to-comply-in-advance-with-social-media-age-verification-laws-instead-of-fighting-for-their-users-says-eff-expert/

https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/social-media/the-vast-majority-of-people-can-continue-using-discord-exactly-as-they-do-today-discord-addresses-backlash-over-controversial-age-verification

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/discord-attempts-to-clarify-its-new-age-verification-rules/1100-6538091/

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/discord-faces-backlash-over-age-checks-after-data-breach-exposed-70000-ids/

Updates on KDE Linux

https://pointieststick.com/2026/02/06/busy-months-in-kde-linux/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/02/kde-linux-gets-performance-improvements-new-default-apps-and-goes-all-in-on-flatpak/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/KDE-Linux-Performance-Hardware

https://9to5linux.com/kde-linux-gears-up-for-beta-release-with-plasma-login-manager-kde-initial-setup

Sandfly Security, agentless Linux security

https://thisweekinlinux.com/sandfly

Linux Mint Changes to Release Cadence

https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4991

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/02/linux-mint-plans-longer-development-cycle

https://itsfoss.com/news/linux-mint-longer-release-cycle/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/02/linux-mint-may-slow-down-releases-to-have-more-development-time/

GRUB 2.14 Released

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/grub-devel/2026-01/msg00029.html

https://www.phoronix.com/news/GRUB-2.14-Released

https://9to5linux.com/grub-2-14-released-with-erofs-argon2-kdf-and-shim-loader-protocol-support

Mesa 26.0 Released

https://mesa3d.org/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mesa-26.0-Released

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/02/mesa-26-0-is-out-bringing-ray-tracing-performance-improvements-for-amd-radv/

https://9to5linux.com/mesa-26-0-open-source-graphics-stack-officially-released-heres-whats-new

Tiny Core 17 Released

https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,28008.0.html

http://www.tinycorelinux.net/

Support the show

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https://store.tuxdigital.com/

video: https://youtu.be/kV1QcpVhQqE

Download as MP3

Support the Show

Become a Patron = tuxdigital.com/membership

Store = tuxdigital.com/store

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:37 Ubuntu 26.04 & 24.04.4 Updates

05:10 LibreOffice 26.2 Released

07:06 Debian AI Bot & LLM Scraping Issues

09:40 Sandfly Security, agentless Linux security

11:07 NVIDIA GeForce NOW Is Now Available Natively On Linux In Flatpak Form

13:45 Systemd Founder Lennart Poettering Announces Amutable Company

16:00 Origami Linux February 2026 Update

18:45 MocaccinoOS 26.02 Released

22:00 Potential openSUSE Governance Changes

23:53 Outro

Links:

Ubuntu 26.04 & 24.04.4 Updates

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/26-04-resolute-raccoon-kernel-schedule/75827

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-26.04-LTS-Linux-Commit

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/02/ubuntu-24-04-4-lts-hwe-now-available

https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-24-04-lts-users-get-linux-6-17-and-mesa-25-2-ahead-of-ubuntu-24-04-4-lts

LibreOffice 26.2 Released

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/02/04/libreoffice-26-2-is-here/

https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/26.2

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/02/libreoffice-26-2-new-features

https://www.phoronix.com/news/LibreOffice-26.2-Released

https://9to5linux.com/libreoffice-26-2-open-source-office-suite-officially-released-this-is-whats-new

https://itsfoss.com/news/libreoffice-26-2-release/

https://lwn.net/Articles/1057256/

Debian AI Bot & LLM Scraping Issues

https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2026/02/msg00001.html

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Debian-CI-LLM-Restrictions

Sandfly Security, agentless Linux security

https://thisweekinlinux.com/sandfly

NVIDIA GeForce NOW Is Now Available Natively On Linux In Flatpak Form

https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/geforce-now-thursday-linux/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.phoronix.com/review/nvidia-geforce-now-linux

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/01/the-native-linux-app-for-nvidia-geforce-now-is-now-in-beta/

Systemd Founder Lennart Poettering Announces Amutable Company

https://amutable.com/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Amutable

https://itsfoss.com/news/amutable-linux-security/

https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/lennart_poettering_quits_microsoft/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-and-open-source-2026-predictions/

Origami Linux February 2026 Update

https://origami.wf/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/origami-linux-cosmic-desktop-immutable-fedora-base/

MocaccinoOS 26.02 Released

https://www.mocaccino.org/

https://www.mocaccino.org/blog/2026/02/02/mocaccinoos-v26.02/

Potential openSUSE Governance Changes

https://lists.opensuse.org/archives/list/[email protected]/thread/YKI5QVMT66WMZLOPTCQOEQZPTEWPDIBV/

https://linuxiac.com/suse-vp-jeff-mahoney-publishes-draft-governance-proposal-for-opensuse/

https://lwn.net/ml/all/[email protected]/

Support the show

https://tuxdigital.com/membership

https://store.tuxdigital.com/

video: https://youtu.be/2Ix1povKZrU

3v33itdS6PF74MLF3970

Download as MP3

Support the Show

Become a Patron = tuxdigital.com/membership

Store = tuxdigital.com/store

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:48 Michael on Linux Unplugged

01:35 What Happens If Linus Torvalds Leaves Linux? Kernel Continuity Document

03:31 Open Gaming Collective for Linux gaming developers

06:28 Xfce is making a new Wayland compositor called Xfwl4

09:08 Linux Events for the first half of 2026

12:01 Sandfly Security, agentless Linux security

13:31 AerynOS 2026.01 Released

15:58 GParted Live 1.8 Released

18:01 Linux is GOG's Next Major Frontier

22:00 Stop Killing Games to get European Parliament Public Hearing

25:46 Outro

Links:

Michael on Linux Unplugged

https://linuxunplugged.com/649

What Happens If Linus Torvalds Leaves Linux? Kernel Continuity Document

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=102606402f4f5943266160e263c450fdfe4dd981

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Kernel-Continuity-Doc

https://itsfoss.com/news/linux-kernel-continuity-plan/

https://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Linux-Kernel-Project-Releases-Project-Continuity-Document

https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/27/linux_continuity_plan/

Open Gaming Collective for Linux gaming developers

https://opengamingcollective.org/

https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/a-brighter-future-for-bazzite/11575

https://blog.fyralabs.com/open-gaming-collective-announcement/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/01/open-gaming-collective-ogc-formed-to-push-linux-gaming-even-further/

https://itsfoss.com/news/open-gaming-collective-launch/

https://videocardz.com/newz/bazzite-and-asus-linux-shadowblip-pikaos-fyra-labs-launch-open-gaming-collective

Xfce is making a new Wayland compositor called Xfwl4

https://alexxcons.github.io/blogpost_15.html

https://lwn.net/Articles/1056159/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Xfce-Xfwl4-Wayland

https://9to5linux.com/xfce-desktop-environment-is-getting-a-rust-based-wayland-compositor

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/01/xfce-is-getting-a-brand-new-wayland-compositor-called-xfwl4/

Linux Events for the first half of 2026

https://www.linux-magazine.com/Resources/Event-Calendar

https://foss.events

https://fosdem.org/2026/

https://www.developerweek.com/

https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale/23x

https://eventyay.com/e/88882f3e

https://events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe/

https://cloudfest.com/

https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-north-america/

https://www.oggcamp.org/

Sandfly Security, agentless Linux security

https://thisweekinlinux.com/sandfly

AerynOS 2026.01 Released

https://aerynos.com/blog/2026/31/january-2026-project-update/

https://9to5linux.com/aerynos-2026-01-released-with-linux-kernel-6-18-lts-gnome-49-3-and-more

https://www.phoronix.com/news/AerynOS-2026.01

GParted Live 1.8 Released

https://gparted.org/

https://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/files/gparted-live-stable/1.8.0-2/

https://gparted.org/news.php?item=261

https://9to5linux.com/gparted-1-8-open-source-partition-editor-released-with-many-enhancements

Linux is GOG's Next Major Frontier

https://www.gog.com/blog/gog-is-getting-acquired-by-its-original-co-founder-what-it-means-for-you/

https://af.gog.com/en/work/senior-software-engineer-c-gog-galaxy?as=1636858786

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/01/gog-job-listing-for-a-senior-software-engineer-notes-linux-is-the-next-major-frontier/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/01/gog-plan-to-look-a-bit-closer-at-linux-through-2026/

https://www.xda-developers.com/gog-calls-linux-the-next-major-frontier-for-gaming-as-it-works-on-a-native-client/

Stop Killing Games to get European Parliament Public Hearing

https://www.stopkillinggames.com/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/01/stop-destroying-videogames-initiative-to-get-a-public-hearing-organised-by-the-european-parliament/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/01/stop-killing-games-final-verified-vote-count-for-the-eu-petition-is-just-under-1-3-million/

Support the show

https://tuxdigital.com/membership

https://store.tuxdigital.com/

video: https://youtu.be/OvlUdZAEg1U

Download as MP3

Support the Show

Become a Patron = tuxdigital.com/membership

Store = tuxdigital.com/store

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:54 Wine Patches Brings Adobe Photoshop to Linux

05:21 MX Linux 25.1 Released

07:31 CachyOS Jan 2026 Release

09:41 Sandfly Security, agentless LInux security

11:13 PikaOS 2026-01-24 Released

12:45 Zorin OS 18 Crosses 2 Million Downloads

14:23 30 Years of ReactOS

15:38 NexPhone: Android Smartphone that also runs Linux and Windows

17:46 25,000 games rated Playable+ on Steam Deck

21:45 Outro

Links:

Wine Patches Brings Adobe Photoshop to Linux

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1qdgd73/i_made_adobe_cc_installers_work_on_linux_pr_in/

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/wine/pull/310

MX Linux 25.1 Released

https://mxlinux.org/blog/mx-25-infinity-isos-now-available/

https://mxlinux.org/blog/mx-25-1-infinity-isos-now-available/

CachyOS Jan 2026 Release

https://cachyos.org/blog/2601-january-release/

PikaOS 2026-01-24 Released

https://wiki.pika-os.com/en/changelogs-wiki/24-01-2026

https://wiki.pika-os.com/en/changelogs-wiki/03-01-2026

Zorin OS 18 Crosses 2 Million Downloads

https://x.com/ZorinOS/status/2010395940532736159

https://blog.zorin.com/2025/11/18/test-the-upgrade-from-zorin-os-17-to-18-and-celebrating-1-million-downloads-of-zorin-os-18/

https://blog.zorin.com/2025/10/14/zorin-os-18-has-arrived/

30 Years of ReactOS

https://reactos.org/blogs/30yrs-of-ros/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/ReactOS-30-Years-Old

https://www.phoronix.com/news/ReactOS-Async-Net-Connect

NexPhone: Android Smartphone that also runs Linux and Windows

https://nexphone.com/

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/01/nexphone-2026-convergence-android-debian

https://itsfoss.com/news/nexphone-returns/

25,000 games rated Playable on Steam Deck

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/01/steam-deck-hits-25000-games-valve-have-rated-playable-or-verified/

Support the show

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