Debian: Freexian Report, Peppermint OS Release, Zorin OS, and Release of Tails 7.1

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 15, 2025,
updated Oct 15, 2025

• Freexian Collaborators: Debian Contributions: Old Debian Printing software and C23, Work to decommission packages.qa.debian.org, rebootstrap uses *-for-host and more! (by Anupa Ann Joseph)

  The work of Thorsten fell under the motto “gcc15”. Due to the introduction of gcc15 in Debian, the default language version was changed to C23. This means that for example, function declarations without parameters are no longer allowed. As old software, which was created with ANSI C (or C89) syntax, made use of such function declarations, it was a busy month. One could have used something like -std=c17 as compile flags, but this would have just postponed the tasks. As a result Thorsten uploaded modernized versions of ink, nm2ppa and rlpr for the Debian printing team.

• Distro Watch ☛ Distribution Release: Peppermint OS 2025-10-12

  The developers of Peppermint OS, a minimalist, Debian-based Linux distribution with Xfce as the preferred desktop, have announced the release of a new Peppermint OS build, now based on Debian 13: [...]

• Zorin Group ☛ Zorin OS 18 Has Arrived - Zorin

  With Windows 10 reaching its end of life today in most of the world, an estimated 240 million computers that don’t meet Windows 11’s strict hardware requirements will be left behind. Many users are faced with the choice of either buying a new computer soon or switching to a supported, modern operating system.

  With Zorin OS, your next computer can be the one you already own. It’s designed to be the perfect Windows replacement for everyday users, professionals, and everyone in between. Thanks to its ease of use and powerful features, Zorin OS has earned wide critical acclaim throughout the years: [...]

• Distro Watch ☛ Distribution Release: Zorin OS 18

  The Zorin OS distribution has a new update and a new look. Zorin OS 18 features new themes, new layouts, OneDrive integration, and includes a Web Apps tool to integrate web-based software into the desktop. Zorin OS 18 also includes a new, improved way to tile application windows: [...]

• Bruce Lawson ☛ Goodbye Windows 10, Hello Zorin OS

  But you don’t have to do that. Your Windows 10 machine can carry on living an even better life, using Zorin OS, which is a free operating system called Linux, but tweaked to look and feel like classic Windows.

  I recently converted my 80 year old mum’s PC from Win 10 to Zorin, and after a 10 minute intro to using it, she’s had no problems at all (she had been running Libre Office previously, rather than Microsoft Office, so there was less of a learning curve, but Libre Office is pretty easy to get used to after Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc).

• Tor ☛ New Release: Tails 7.1 | The Tor Project

  Automatic upgrades are available from Tails 7.0 or later to 7.1.