GNU/Linux Leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Sep 19, 2025

• Linux Made Simple ☛ 2025-09-14 [Older] Linux Weekly Roundup #342

• Applications

  • XDA ☛ This HASS.Agent alternative is the best data reporting application for Home Assistant users on Linux

    Home Assistant is a powerful way to connect all of your devices, self-hosted services, and build automations between all of them. However, connecting your computer on an operating system level can be a confusing endeavor. HASS.Agent is the best way to do that on Windows, but a recent Windows Defender update has seen the most recent stable version of the application become unusable thanks to the expiration of the certificate that the WinRing0 driver uses. For Linux users who could never use HASS.Agent, though, there's a great alternative that's even better than HASS.Agent, and it's called Go HASS Agent.

    First and foremost, despite being an application targeted at Linux users, it can actually build and run on Windows, it just won't support most of what actually makes it useful. That's because all of the monitoring is built for Linux users, but you could, theoretically, add your own functionality with ease for Windows to report the same data. When you install it and authorize the client, it'll be added as a "Mobile App" to Home Assistant, where you can see all of the reported data. With MQTT support, too, it adds additional buttons and features.

• Distributions and Operating Systems

  • XDA ☛ What's your favorite Linux distro?

    As you may know, I've become a very big fan of Linux over the past few months, and my primary laptop now runs Arch linux with KDE Plasma. I love using it and find it much more fun than Windows, but I also know there's a huge world of distros out there for all kinds of people.

    So I'm curious what your favorites are. Do you use Arch? NixOS? Maybe something more user-friendly like Ubuntu or Linux Mint? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

  • Fedora Family / IBM

    • Marvelous Designer finally sews itself into Linux

      CLO Virtual Fashion will release Marvelous Designer for Linux on 30 September 2025. The company confirms support for Rocky Linux 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, and equivalent distributions. The Linux version is aimed squarely at studio pipelines. CLO states the release was designed with “stability and simulation accuracy in mind,” focusing on predictable results in production environments.

  • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

    • ZDNet ☛ Just got Linux Mint 22.2? Two more versions are coming soon - and they're big

      Does it seem like Linux Mint developers just released a new version of their popular Linux distribution? Why, yes. Yes, they did. I installed Linux Mint 22.2, Zara, on Sept. 4. That isn't stopping Clement "Clem" Lefebvre from announcing that Mint will be releasing not one, but two, new versions of Linux Mint before the end of 2025.

      First, the Mint programming team has kicked off development of Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) 7, codenamed "Gigi." This is on top of the latest Debian Linux distro, Debian 13, Trixie, and it comes after the 2023 LMDE 6 release.