Claude desktop app for Linux enters beta

Anthropic has released a beta of its Claude desktop app for Linux, launching alongside an apt repo Ubuntu users can add for ongoing updates. According to the official docs, Claude desktop for Linux offers “the same Chat, Cowork, and Claude Code experience as macOS and Windows: parallel sessions, visual diff review, an integrated terminal and … [Read more...]

Linux Mint 23 to offer full Wayland support (but X11 is staying)

Linux Mint says Wayland support in its next release will no longer be considered experimental, but available as a fully-supported option. However, it will continue to provide and support X11, unlike other Linux distributions which have jettisoned the legacy Xorg/X11 display server from their default installations – Ubuntu dropped Xorg support in … [Read more...]

TUXEDO OS drops Ubuntu to rebase on Debian Testing

TUXEDO Computers is rebasing TUXEDO OS on Debian, moving away from Ubuntu. The German Linux hardware company launched TUXEDO OS in 2022, building on top of an Ubuntu long-term support (LTS) release to, chiefly, support its own hardware with customisations, though the distro is free to download and install on any machine. To keep things fresh, … [Read more...]

Ubuntu 25.10 loses security updates this week

Support for Ubuntu 25.10 “Questing Quokka” ends 9 July 2026 – which is this week. If you’re still using it, you can upgrade to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS directly to keep receiving updates. Ubuntu 25.10 was released in October 2025. As an ‘interim release’ the desktop edition it receives only 9 months of ongoing updates. … [Read more...]

Ubuntu is swapping its time sync tool for a Rust-based version

Canonical wantsntpd-rs, a Rust rewrite of NTP (Network Time Protocol), to become Ubuntu’s default time sync client. To help get there, Canonical has become a Gold Sponsor of the Trifecta Tech Foundation, the non-profit behindntpd-rs, committing €40,000 a year to help fund its memory-safe software projects. The goal is to make the Rust-based … [Read more...]

Snap Store will be down for maintenance this weekend

Canonical’s Snap Store will be shutting down for database maintenance at the weekend, meaning users won’t be able to install or update snaps until it’s back online. The planned downtime is expected to last for four hours, starting on Sunday, 5 July 2026 at 22:00 UTC and ending on Monday, 6 July at 02:00 UTC. During the maintenance … [Read more...]

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS has fixed its missing video/audio thumbnails

If you installed Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and noticed video and music files weren’t showing image thumbnails in the file manager, a packaging oversight was to blame, not anything you did. It turns out that Ubuntu’s Default install option (aka minimal install) wasn’t pulling in the gst-audio-thumbnailer and gst-video-thumbnailer packages … [Read more...]

Linux App Release Roundup (June 2026)

June was sweltering, but the summer heat didn’t slow down open-source software developers. Last month delivered a wave of app updates, including the release of Firefox 152 with its streamlined settings, HandBrake resolved its Linux WebM handling and the Audacity 4.0 beta made a brand-new design available for public scrutiny (mainly of the … [Read more...]

Firefox is adding Vulkan video decoding for Nvidia GPUs

Firefox is adding hardware-accelerated Vulkan Video decoding, saving Nvidia users on Linux the hassle of manually configuring thenvidia-vaapi-driverpackage. The change will be included in Firefox 153, out July 21, but it will not be enabled by default – not to start with. Instead, users will be able to flip a pair of preferences in about:config to … [Read more...]

Ubuntu’s new ‘Myna’ AI offers voice typing – but how?

Ubuntu is working on speech-to-text AI transcription so you can talk to type. It's powered by project Myna. Here's how it'll work and why it's adding it. You're reading Ubuntu’s new ‘Myna’ AI offers voice typing – but how?, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. … [Read more...]

This Flatpak runs a 30-year old version of GIMP – pre-GTK

Every wondered what famed FOSS image editor GIMP was like in 1996? Well, now you can find out. Developer balooii has packaged GIMP 0.54 into a Flatpak that runs on modern 64-bit Linux desktops with Wayland. It’s apparently the earliest version of the app with the source code still available to build. This is not not an official GIMP effort, … [Read more...]

Ubuntu 26.10 Snapshot 2 is out (with a ‘breaking change’)

Ubuntu 26.10 Snapshot 2 is available to download, the second of four snapshots planned for the ‘Stonking Stingray’ development cycle ahead of a stable release in October. As with the first snapshot, there’s not a lot “new” stuff to see or test out, so unless you’re a developer or an avid bug hunter there’s … [Read more...]

Fed up with complex note taking apps? Try Whisp for Linux

Whisp is a Linux notes app with a difference. A gesture-driven GTK4/libadwaita UI offering a scratchpad for note taking. Inspired by Antinote for macOS. You're reading Fed up with complex note taking apps? Try Whisp for Linux, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. … [Read more...]

Ubuntu brings Livepatch to arm64 for rebootless kernel updates

Canonical has broughtLivepatch to Arm64 devices for the first time, allowing Ubuntu systems on Arm hardware to apply critical kernel security patches without a full reboot. Livepatch is one of Ubuntu’s best hidden security features – it’s not enabled by default, requires Ubuntu Pro – as it allows kernel security updates to be applied in … [Read more...]

Pine64 launch $50 smart speaker for Home Assistant tinkerers

Open-hardware manufacturer Pine64 has launched a $50 smart speaker that runs open-source software on a RISC-V chip. PineVoice (previously known as PineVox) is built around a Bouffalo Lab BL606P RISC-V SoC with integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 and Zigbee radio interfaces. It’s equipped with dual microphone array and speaker with support for … [Read more...]

COSMIC desktop update adds new system monitor app

A new update to System76’s COSMIC desktop is now rolling out with a new system monitoring tool and a fresh set of fixes and fine-tuning. COSMIC Epoch 1.1.0 also sees the developers behind the Rust-based desktop opting to “[increment] the minor version regularly in order to allow for mid-release patch versions if necessary”. The … [Read more...]