GNU/Linux, GNOME and More

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 20, 2025

• Desktop/Laptop

  • Mike Rockwell ☛ What I Miss From macOS

    I’ve been using Linux almost exclusively since starting my sabbatical at the beginning of July. I’m loving it overall and plan to write more about what I enjoy most about my setup in the future. But for now, I thought I’d focus on the things I miss most about macOS.

• Audiocasts/Shows

  • Linux Matters #62: Mirrors, Motors and Makefiles

    Alan prepares for the inevitable by mirroring Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub to Forgejo], Martin sidesteps complexity with Just, and Mark gives his first thoughts on the VW ID.3.

• Kernel Space

  • Peter Hutterer: Why is my device a touchpad and a mouse and a keyboard?

    If you have spent any time around HID devices under GNU/Linux (for example if you are an avid mouse, touchpad or keyboard user) then you may have noticed that your single physical device actually shows up as multiple device nodes (for free! and nothing happens for free these days!).

• Games

  • Juha-Matti Santala ☛ Board game nights are my favourite way to socialise and make new friends

    I always carry some games with me when I leave home because every day is an opportunity to meet new people to play games with. When I traveled to Prague for PyCon CZ in 2023, I met a couple in a train who were playing Skip-Bo and asked if I could join. That turned into more than 4 hours of playing various games and the train ride flew by.

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

  • University of Toronto ☛ What an "AppIndicator" is in Linux desktops and some notes on it

    Suppose, not hypothetically, that you start up some program on your Fedora 42 Cinnamon desktop and it helpfully tells you "<X> requires AppIndicator to run. Please install the AppIndicator plugin for your desktop". You are likely confused, so here are some notes.

  • GNOME Desktop/GTK

    • OMG Ubuntu ☛ For a Quick Way to See Disk Space in Ubuntu, Try This Extension

      Monitor disk space in GNOME Shell with this extension. An alternative to the now-gone Other Locations panel in Nautilus, it gives glanceable filesystem usage checks.

    • Sam Thursfield: Status update, 19/08/2025

      Hello! I’m working on an interesting project this month, related to open source GNU/Linux operating systems. Actually I’m not working on it this week, I’m instead battling with vinyl floor tiles. Don’t let anyone tell you they are easy to fit. But I think on the 5th attempt I’ve got the technique. The wooden mallet is essential.

      When I started these “status update” posts, back in 2021, I imagined they’d be to talk about open technology projects I was working on, mixed with a bit of music and art and so on. In fact I write more about politics these days. Let me explain why.

      In my book review earlier this year I mentioned economics dude Gary Stevenson. I still didn’t read his book but I do watch all his videos now and I’m learning a lot.

• Distributions and Operating Systems

  • New Releases

    • OSMC's August update is here

      Today we're happy to release OSMC's August 2025 update for all supported devices. We hope you're having a fantastic Summer and want to keep your OSMC experience running smoothly.

      USA shipment warning

      From 29th August, all items sent to the USA will have tariffs applied from them and the $800

  • Gentoo Family

    • Manjaro GNU/Linux vs Gentoo Comparison in 2025 – All Features Checked

      All who have used GNU/Linux must have heard about big names such as Ubuntu, Debian, Arch and Mint. Very few know about the smaller ones like Manjaro or Gentoo. Such people do not know what they are missing.

• Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

  • Lee Yingtong Li ☛ Migrating Signal Desktop keyring backend

    Since 2024, the Signal encrypted messenger desktop app uses the Electron safeStorage API to protect its database encryption key. On Linux systems, this means that the freedesktop.org Secrets API is used, which on GNOME is provided by GNOME Keyring, but on KDE is provided by KWallet. This causes Signal Desktop to be unable to decrypt its database when migrating from GNOME to KDE, or vice versa, giving the error message: [...]

  • Events

    • Collabora ☛ Collabora at OSS Europe 2025: Five talks, hands-on demos, and workshops!

      Collabora is heading to Amsterdam with talks, demos, and workshops covering Embedded Linux, KernelCI, Bluetooth & Auracast, mainline video capture for Rockchip, and more. Join us to see our latest open source work in action!