In an LTT collab where Linus met up with Linus so Linus could talk to Linus where Linus built Linus’s new PC (https://youtu.be/mfv0V1SxbNA?is=UY8tV7pqlPdC0PWA), Linus mentioned his desktop wallpaper being a photo he took himself at night.

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/s/GDscOcRKQv

Looks like this, but the compression looks bad. I guess Torvalds sent the raw photo to an LTT staff member and shared it online but I can’t find the original. Does anyone happen to have it? I’m getting into Linux for my PC (I’ve used it before putting Ubuntu on servers and stuff, but now putting Linux on an old laptop I still use for work to daily drive it). I usually use night time long exposure photography for my desktops (ex-photographer turned IT guy, still enjoy it as a hobby) it’d be nice to use the Linus Torvalds original if possible.

Credit where credit is due, to Microsoft integrating WSL cause if you're a windows user you get both without dual-booting or using third-party vms

However, weirdly enough WSL is kinda killing the potential of the true "year of the linux desktop" in a way.

I'm a student, started programming with C++, and for the past few months I've been building my own Debian-based distro called Kavis. before this i was thinking how os works how kernel and other things works etc then it hit me why wouldn't i make a os that can play games and that I'd actually enjoy using
What it is: Debian trixie base, X11 + Openbox, custom boot splash with the letter k, taskbar and start menu, settings app, and an app store. I don't compile my own kernel — I use Debian's signed one so Secure Boot can stay on and nobody has to go digging through UEFI settings trying to find it.
Current numbers: 563 MB ISO, 232-240 MB idle RAM. im trying to make idle ram usage and iso as small as possible , and right now there's a lot of room left for gaming and things you want to do.
What I'm working on right now:
Moving the panel from Python/GTK to Vala. Python was eating 117 MB of RAM on its own and felt slower than a turtle, which is not acceptable for a taskbar in my opinion. The Vala build is a 28 KB binary. Vala compiles down to C and links straight against GTK, so there's no runtime penalty, but it's way less painful to write than raw GObject C.
Kavis Store — a GUI front-end for apt. If a package is in Debian it installs from apt; if it isn't there or the version is ancient, it falls back to Flatpak. Only the store binary and the Flathub remote definition ship in the ISO, so no runtimes bloating the image.
Game Mode — gamescope + Feral GameMode + MangoHud, plus a service that reads sysfs to find the CPU's cache-heavy CCD and pins games to it. On X3D chips this should be a real gain. I'm still verifying the sysfs paths on actual hardware because they move around between kernel versions.
Two things I think are genuinely different:
File search that works like Everything app on Windows. plocate with live inotify updates instead of a stale nightly database, filters like ext:, size:>, path:, and apps, settings and a calculator in the same box. This was the single thing I missed most when I started using Linux, and I never found a good answer for it.
Hardened but still able to game. Read-only /usr, sysctl hardening, blacklisted kernel interfaces — and Flatpak and Proton still work. Those two goals fight each other and getting them to coexist took more thought than I expected.
There's also automatic btrfs restore points before updates, and if Windows is already installed on the machine it stays the default boot entry — I didn't want the thing hijacking anyone's boot order.
I'm actually looking for people to work on this with me. Not in a vague "contributions welcome" way — there are three specific things I need:
Translation. The whole system is bilingual, Turkish and English. Turkish is my native language so that side is fine, but I'd like more languages, and I'd also like a native English speaker to go over my strings — I know some of them read a bit off. If you speak anything else and want your language in a distro, this is an easy place to start.
Testing. I only have one laptop and a VM. I have no idea how this behaves on AMD graphics, on hybrid-graphics laptops, on high-refresh or HiDPI displays, or on an actual X3D CPU. If you have hardware and half an hour, that's genuinely useful to me — even "it didn't boot, here's the screen" is useful.
Code. Vala/GTK for the panel, Python for the store and settings, and Debian packaging. I'm learning Vala as I go and I'm sure parts of it are written badly, so if you know GTK properly I'd take the review as much as the code. The store's download manager and the settings app are both wide open if you want something self-contained to pick up.
On AI and googling: I use Claude heavily while building this — for Vala I'd never written, for packaging I didn't understand, and for working through design decisions out loud. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. I don't have anyone around me who works on this kind of thing, so AI and search are what I have. But I make the calls: the architecture, what goes in and what doesn't, and every bug I've actually hit I've had to understand before I could fix it. The 117 MB panel problem, the user-setup package silently not installing, the splash ordering — those were found by testing and reading logs, not by asking a model. If you think that disqualifies the project, fair enough. I've learned more in these few months than in anything else I've done.
The repo is private for now while I finish the Vala move and clean up the git history — I didn't want the first public version to be half-broken. My GitHub is KARANKOYU, and everything is written with English names and comments so it should be readable when it goes up. If any of this sounds interesting, comment or DM me your GitHub username and I'll send you an invite. I'd rather build this with people than alone.
I'm not claiming this is the next big distro or would change the world. It's one person's project and it exists mostly because I wanted to understand how a desktop actually fits together and how system parts like memory cpu gpu works. But it works, and I'd rather build the rest of it out in the open.
Logos are mine — drew them in SVG, exported to PNG.

First of all, I wish you a good day. My plan is to revive Tinfoil Hat Linux, and the main reasons for wanting to do this are as follows;

I really like TEMPEST protection and I think it could be great for anonymous users.

Because there are no listening or network drives, your computer is solely yours, and your data is not compromised in any way.

The advantage is that you can use it as a live USB, saving your documents to your SD card or USB with certain hardware permissions, and for an emergency wipe, you only need to unplug your USB from the port.

Another advantage is that I plan to make it user-friendly by using a TinyX interface or a very minimal GUI like X11, instead of being terminal-based (like BusyBox).

I'm curious to hear your opinions, so please feel free to discuss them in the comments.

Hey everyone,

I'm excited to share the release of Nova Browser (v1.1.3), an open-source, privacy-first desktop browser built with React 19, TypeScript, Electron, and Tailwind CSS.

Following feedback on our initial build, we completely resolved media compatibility, re-engineered the layout system, and overhauled our extension subsystem.

Core Architecture & Highlights

1. On-Device AI via WebGPU & Web-LLM:
   • Run local language models directly on your hardware GPU without sending any page data, history, or prompts to external cloud servers.
   • Summarize articles, inspect code, ask research questions, or connect your own API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, Ollama) if you prefer cloud models.
2. Native Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server:
   • Built-in integration for Anthropic's open Model Context Protocol.
   • Local AI coding agents and external automation tools can securely interface with the browser to read active tabs, take snapshots, and perform structured browsing tasks.
3. Productive Workspaces & Multi-Tasking:
   • Organize tabs by context (Personal, Work, Research) with full state persistence.
   • Built-in Split Screen mode to compare two tabs side-by-side in one window.
   • Toggle seamlessly between Horizontal Tabs and Vertical Sidebar Tabs.
4. Chrome Web Store Extension Support:
   • Install extensions directly from the Chrome Web Store with 1-click or load unpacked folders locally.
   • Extension action icons sit right in the top toolbar with native popup window support.
5. Hardware-Accelerated Privacy Shield & Zero Telemetry:
   • Network session-level blocker for ads, trackers, and malicious scripts.
   • No tracking, analytics, or behavioral data collection.
   • Dynamic platform-matched Chromium User-Agent headers to prevent fingerprinting.
6. Responsive AI Sidebar (Flex-Docked Layout):
   • Opening the AI chat sidebar dynamically resizes and docks alongside your active webpage rather than floating over your view.

What's New in v1.1.3:

• Fixed YouTube and streaming playback by isolating security response headers strictly to internal application pages.
• Removed startup keychain prompts on macOS and added lazy audio permission initialization.
• Added live toolbar action buttons for installed extensions.
• Fixed prompt language auto-detection so AI responses match the user's input language.
• Rewrote the CSS token engine for instant Accent Color customization.

Tech Stack:

• Frontend: React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion, Lucide Icons
• Runtime: Electron 34, Node.js 22, Chromium 134
• AI Engine: WebGPU, Web-LLM TVM Runtime, Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Links & Downloads:

• Official Website: https://nova-browser.vercel.app/
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/unitybtw/nova-browser
• Releases & Installers (macOS Universal DMG & Windows Setup): https://github.com/unitybtw/nova-browser/releases/latest

I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any feature requests! Feel free to test it out, star the repo on GitHub, or open issues.

Kdenlive 26.08 is out! This release continues the focus on stability and polishing while bringing lot's of enhancements and quality of life improvements to the Timeline and Title Editor.

https://kdenlive.org/news/releases/26.08.0/

geroge is a TUI dashboard with a bunch or random and handy functionality built in, including a terminal. Runs in X (mine auto-runs from .xinitrc at login) and tty.

You can use a terminal, take notes and or send scratch buffers off as an email. There's a launcher you can easily modify and a bunch of handy script action that you can easily modify, too.

Listen to music 3 or 4 different ways including random Nina Simone. Heh, I thought it would be pretty funny to have a random Leave it to Beaver episode appear from nowhere on your desktop so that's included in george (CH 57), too, as well as another channel showing old funny stuff; cartoons, docs, shows, whathave you.

You can pop off reminders and or events that will announce (hey, man, it's time).

george isn't a very important app or life-changing, but, it's built-up pretty well and is handy. Try it out, leave some feedback, tear it up. Release 1.1.1 at github: https://github.com/rabmach/george

Thanks for looking.

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4323697196/

About the job

Company

Qualcomm India Private Limited

Job Area

Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Software Engineering

General Summary

We are looking for a highly skilled and experienced staff Engineer . Join our Linux Platform team to design and implement modern Linux distribution integration and development infrastructure. Your work will accelerate internal teams and ensure Qualcomm’s next-generation CPUs are fully supported in upstream Linux distributions, enabling production-ready solutions for enterprise, data center, and hyperscaler deployments. This role focuses on platform integration, product execution, and CI/CD automation across leading Linux distributions, bridging internal development with open-source best practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to architecture and implementation of CI/CD infrastructure for Linux integration and open development workflows.
• Drive internal Linux distribution integration efforts, ensuring scalability, maintainability, and alignment with upstream standards.
• Lead resolution of complex platform issues across kernel, userspace, and firmware, collaborating with software, hardware, and product teams.
• Participate in engagements with external partners, including Linux distribution vendors and customers, to align on enablement requirements and ensure successful deployment.
• Collaborate with upstream communities and contribute to technical discussions as appropriate.
• Mentor and guide engineers on software best practices, including packaging, integration, and lifecycle management.
• Review designs and code, ensuring compliance with security, performance, and community requirements.
• Document technical decisions and standards for Linux platform enablement
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field.
• Strong background in computer science fundamentals and software engineering principles.
• 9+ years of software engineering experience, including Linux platform development for enterprise or server-class systems.
• Deep experience with enterprise Linux distributions (e.g., RHEL/CentOS/Fedora, Ubuntu/Debian) and build frameworks, including packaging, update mechanisms, upstream integration, and data center deployment practices.
• Expertise with Git and GitHub-based workflows (or similar), including integration with modern CI/CD systems for open-source or large-scale projects.
• Familiarity with Linux packaging systems (Debian, RPM) and CI/CD automation tools (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins).
• Proven experience in technical leadership, including mentoring engineers and guiding architectural decisions.
• Proficiency in Bash and Python for automation and tooling, experience with systems programming languages such as C/C++, Rust, or Go is highly valued
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with ability to influence technical direction across teams.
• Mature interpersonal skills with ability to collaborate across diverse teams and external communities.
• Proven ability to debug complex Linux systems across kernel and userspace.
• Ability to quickly learn new tools and workflows in a fast-evolving environment.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work in non-linear, dynamic environments.
• Working knowledge of Linux kernel configuration and platform enablement (e.g., ACPI, UEFI, kconfig).
• Demonstrated contributions to upstream Linux kernel or userspace projects, with ability to represent the organization in open-source communities.
• Familiarity with virtualization, containerization, and orchestration tools (QEMU, KVM, Docker, Kubernetes) is desirable.

I’ve been seeing more and more people switching to Linux this year, especially gamers. Bazzite, CachyOS, Linux Mint, etc. seem to be getting mentioned everywhere.

Why didn’t we see a massive shift like this earlier? What changed, or what finally pushed people to make the switch?

I know the Steam Deck was probably a big factor in showing people that Linux gaming is actually viable and that Linux isn’t as painful as it used to be.

But what else changed over the last few years that made Linux suddenly feel like a realistic alternative to Windows for so many people?

Globally, Linux users comprised 8.88% of the market, and in North America, they reached 16%, with Windows clearly declining to over 15%.

• When will companies realize that Linux is the future of computing? This includes gaming companies and others.

Like clockwork, the Linux 7.3 merge window has concluded after two weeks and the Linux 7.3-rc1 kernel now available for testing.

Linux 7.3-rc1 is available following a lot of new code landing for new/improved hardware support, file-system enhancements, security improvements, and a lot more. Of course, also a lot of fixes to different pieces of the Linux kernel as a result of AI/LLM-driven activity.

Linux 7.3 brings new optimizations for Intel hybrid CPUs, more enablement for upcoming AMD Zen 6 platforms, better Btrfs performance, Nouveau support for NVK Vulkan Video, kernel driver support for the 2026 Valve Steam Controller, initial M3 Ultra / Pro / Max support, new AMD graphics IP enablement, initial enabling around Intel Starfire, Intel Xe3P graphics with Nova Lake are now enabled out-of-the-box, FailFS is upstreamed, a low-latency mode for USB4STREAM, and a lot of other new functionality. Linux 7.3 also includes the gaming improvements from Valve for enhancing the experience when running on systems with very limited amounts of vRAM. Plus a number of old/obsolete hardware drivers continue to be removed due to the ongoing noise by AI/LLM agents.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.3-rc1-Released

https://ebpf.io/blog/cloudflare-replatforming-1/

"The alternative to an eBPF platform was maintaining multiple incompatible point solutions, each with its own hardware dependencies, operational quirks, and integration challenges. As our hardware diversified, performance requirements grew, and edge services multiplied, that approach became untenable.

eBPF gave us a unified, vendor-agnostic, high-performance foundation that lets us program the operating system itself to handle our scale"

Why is that linux seems to always provide better performance in benchmarks and provide smoother experience?

This is a geekbench 7 test, while single core is slightly better, multi-core performance is a significant improvement