GNU/Linux

• XDA ☛ 5 surprising ways a live USB can save your computer (and your sanity)

  Most people think of a live USB as something you only reach for when it’s time to reinstall your operating system. In reality, a bootable USB can be much more than just a recovery stick. With the right tools baked in, it can act as a portable workstation, a rescue kit, or even a secure browsing environment. Whether you’re a tinkerer or just want to be prepared, there’s a lot of untapped potential waiting inside that little drive.

• Instructionals/Technical

  • XDA ☛ 5 Linux tweaks that instantly made my system lightning fast

    If you’ve used Linux for a while, you know it can be incredibly fast out of the box. Still, there are always adjustments that can squeeze out extra performance, especially on older hardware or systems with limited resources. The best part is that many of these tweaks are simple to implement and have immediate results. Here are five changes I made that noticeably improved the speed and responsiveness of my Linux setup.

  • HowTo Geek ☛ 6 Ways to Use the Linux cat Command

    One of the most available day-to-day Linux commands is cat, a simple tool for viewing files. Or is it? It turns out, there’s a lot more to cat than you may realize. From the basic to the sublime, here are some of the many ways you can use cat.

    1 Combining Several Files

    I’ll start here, even though it’s probably not the most common use for cat, because the tool’s original purpose was to concatenate files. That “cat” in the middle of “concatenate” is where the name comes from. If you’re unfamiliar with this term, it means “to join together,” so cat is all about joining files.

• WINE or Emulation

  • HowTo Geek ☛ Proton vs. Proton GE: What’s the Difference and Which One Should You Use?

    Linux gamers are familiar with Proton, the go-to solution for running Windows games on Linux, but there’s another, similar tool in the shed. It’s called Proton GE, and while it performs the same function, it differs from Valve’s Proton. Let’s find out how they differ and which one you should use.

    Proton Is a Compatibility Layer for Windows Games on Linux

    Now, while Linux and Windows can run on the same hardware, they’re wildly different beasts software-wise. For instance, you can use both Linux and Windows on the exact same machine made of precisely the same components. However, try running a game designed for Windows on the same PC that runs Linux, and you’re going to have a bad time. This is where Proton comes to the rescue.

• Desktop Environments (DE)/Window Managers (WM)

  • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

    • XDA ☛ KDE's window manager learned from Microsoft... before Windows did

      Before I moved away from Windows as my primary operating system, I fell in love with a tool called FancyZones. It's included in Microsoft's PowerToys suite, and if it's not clear, Microsoft also makes Windows 11. So, I always kind of wished that FancyZones would someday be implemented directly in Windows, and even wrote about that exact wish. I've also written about how I had to find alternatives to FancyZones when switching to other platforms, such as MacsyZones on macOS and the Tiling Shell extension for GNOME when I used Ubuntu.

      What I didn't realize was that, for some time now, there's been a Linux desktop environment that has FancyZones-like functionality built right in. KDE Plasma, the desktop environment I'm using on top of Arch Linux, comes with a window manager that takes the best of FancyZones — and reminds me that Microsoft should have done this a long time ago.

Distributions and Operating Systems

• Fedora Family / IBM

  • HowTo Geek ☛ Why I Won’t Use a Linux Distro Without Flatpak Support

    Trying a new Linux distribution can be exciting, but I’ve learned that one missing feature can turn the whole experience sour. For me, that dealbreaker is simple: if a distro doesn’t support Flatpak, I won’t bother installing it.

    The Limits of Traditional Package Managers

    Most Linux distributions rely on their own package managers and repositories. While this works in many cases, it comes with some frustrating limitations. Dependency conflicts can leave you stuck when two programs need different versions of the same library. Some apps never make it into official repos at all, and when they do, the versions can lag behind what the developers actually release. Worst of all, every distribution handles packages differently, which makes switching distros more complicated than it needs to be.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• Programming/Development

  • Python

    • HowTo Geek ☛ How to Use Libraries in Python to Do More With Less Code

      As with other programming languages, Python has libraries to make coding tasks easier. Here's how you can take advantage of them, and how you can create your own libraries as well.

      What Are Python Libraries?

      Libraries are collections of shared code. They're common in Python, where they're also called "modules," but they're also ubiquitous across other programming languages. A library defines functions that any programmer can use in their own programs, similar to how a public library offers anyone access to its materials.

      The advantage of using libraries is that you can save time and effort by not having to code your own solutions. Libraries tend to be better tested and debugged than anything you could come up with. They will also let you do more than you could on your own.

      There are numerous libraries in Python for tasks such as graphics, game development, and more. My favorite libraries tend to be for data analysis. Python is especially popular for statistics and data science due to the large number of libraries available for these tasks.

Leftovers

• Security

  • HowTo Geek ☛ The Best VPNs for Linux in 2025 [Ed: Probably, at least in part, referral spam]

    If you’re a Linux user, you’ll quickly find that many big-name VPNs don’t cater to you. These five VPN services offer solid clients for Linux users that will keep you safe and private while online.