GNU/Linux Distributions and Operating Systems: News, Releases, Activity

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Apr 16, 2026

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

  • Thibault Martin: I realized that Niri can have gorgeous animation

    I was a huge fan of Niri already. It's a scrolling tiling window manager. Roughly: [...]

  • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

    • LibreNews ☛ New Linux Hardware, France switches to Linux, and more!

      Framework is teasing new hardware, and this time around they seem to be particularly leaning into Linux support! That's a good trend, especially since Framework is also directly funding FOSS development. As an example, they've recently been announced to be a KDE Patron, which means they are actively donating money to KDE.

  • GNOME Desktop/GTK

    • Jakub Steiner ☛ 120+ Icons and Counting

      Back in 2019, we undertook a radical overhaul of how GNOME app icons work. The old Tango-era style required drawing up to seven separate sizes per icon and a truckload of detail. A task so demanding that only a handful of people could do it. The "new" style is geometric, colorful, but mainly achievable. Redesigning the system was just the first step. We needed to actually get better icons into the hands of app developers, as those should be in control of their brand identity. That's where app-icon-requests came in.

      As of today, the project has received over a hundred icon requests. Each one represents a collaboration between a designer and a developer, and a small but visible improvement to the Linux desktop.

• Distributions and Operating Systems

  • [Repeat] HaikuOS ☛ Haiku Activity & Contract Report, March 2026 (ft. ARM64)

    The biggest news this month is probably all the work that’s been done on support for ARM64, largely thanks to contributors smrobtzz and SED4906!

  • New Releases

    • Barry Kauler ☛ EasyOS Excalibur-series version 7.2.5

      Version 7.2.4 was released only a few days ago:

      ...see that post for alternative download URLs.