This Week in Linux

video: https://youtu.be/eb8Evj5nw40

This week's Linux news is packed with all kinds of stuff to talk about from new hardware devices, desktop environments, and a blast from the past. Valve has some exciting news about their new Steam Machine, their latest SteamOS update and also hide your wallets because the Steam Summer Sale is happening right now. Then PINE64 announced a new Home Assistant powered Smart Speaker as a local alternative to Amazon Echos and all those. We've got some desktop news from Xfce as their new Wayland Compositor has Preview Release ready for testing and tinkerers. The COSMIC desktop also has a new release with new features and lots of polish but is it ready to go. Then later we've got a blast from the past because for some reason someone made a Flatpak of GIMP 0.54 the version from 1996.

All of this and more on This Week in Linux, the weekly news show that keeps you up to date with what’s going on in the Linux and Open Source world. Now let's jump right into Your Sourcewe are for Linux GNews!

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:19 Steam Machine, SteamOS, and Steam Summer Sale

08:14 Akrites from Linux Foundation

11:49 PINE64 Smart Speaker with Home Assistant

14:41 Home Assistant OS 18.0 Released

17:37 GIMP 0.54 as a Flatpak

22:23 COSMIC 1.1 Released

26:46 Xfce’s Wayland Compositor Preview Release

29:08 Outro

Links:

Steam Machine, SteamOS, and Steam Summer Sale

https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/45479024/view/685257114654870245

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/06/steam-summer-sale-2026-is-live-heres-our-budget-recommendations/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/06/steam-machine-pricing-and-launch-announced-and-yes-its-pricey/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Steam-Machine-1049

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/06/valve-upgraded-the-steamos-installation-image-to-the-big-steamos-3-8-release/

Akrites from Linux Foundation

https://akrites.org/

https://akrites.org/linux-foundation-and-industry-leaders-launch-akrites-to-defend-critical-open-source-software-against-ai-enabled-cyber-threats/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Akrites

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/06/linux-foundation-and-leading-orgs-launch-akrites-to-protect-open-source-from-ai-threats/

https://lwn.net/Articles/1079657/

PINE64 Smart Speaker with Home Assistant

https://pine64.org/documentation/PineVoice/

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/06/pine64-pinevoice-riscv-smart-speaker-launch

https://itsfoss.com/news/pinevoice-smart-speaker/

Home Assistant OS 18.0 Released

https://www.home-assistant.io/

https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/06/23/the-matter-upgrade-youve-been-waiting-for/

https://github.com/home-assistant/operating-system/releases/tag/18.0

GIMP 0.54 as a Flatpak

https://gimp-0-54-410d78.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/

https://fossforce.com/2026/06/its-1996-all-over-again-on-the-new-gimp-0-54-flatpak/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/GIMP-0.54-Flatpak

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1ub8xae/gimp_v054_from_1996_with_motif_toolkit_now/

COSMIC 1.1 Released

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/06/cosmic-desktop-update-system-monitor

https://www.phoronix.com/news/COSMIC-Epoch-1.1

https://9to5linux.com/cosmic-1-1-desktop-environment-released-with-cosmic-monitor-more-improvements

Xfce’s Wayland Compositor Preview Release

https://www.spurint.org/journal/2026/06/xfwl4s-first-preview-release

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Xfwl4-First-Release

https://linuxiac.com/xfce-wayland-compositor-gets-its-first-preview-release/

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video: https://youtu.be/RCmZKZB-Mf8

The Linux News this week was jam packed. Linus Torvalds announced a new release of the Linux kernel. KDE announced a new release of the Plasma desktop. We've got an update on the AUR Malware from last week, it got better and then worse. Commodore revealed their next product, the Commodore Callback a Smart dumb phone. Yea I know. Plus there's some rumbles going on about the Return of Antergos Linux, we'll talk about that

All of this and more on This Week in Linux, the weekly news show that keeps you up to date with what’s going on in the Linux and Open Source world. Now let's jump right into Your Source for Linux GNews!

Download as MP3

Support the Show

Become a Patron = tuxdigital.com/membership

Store = tuxdigital.com/store

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:50 Linux 7.1 Released

03:36 KDE Plasma 6.7 Released

08:40 Antergos Linux Returns?!

16:08 AUR Malware Update for Arch Linux Users

19:39 Commodore Callback, a Smart Dumbphone

25:48 Epic Games Launches Lore Version Control System

28:24 DistroWatch Goes Down, Backups Save the Day

29:59 Outro

Links:

Linux 7.1 Released

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/06/linux-7-1-kernel-features

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.1-Released

https://9to5linux.com/linux-kernel-7-1-officially-released-heres-whats-new

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/06/linux-kernel-7-1-out-now-with-new-ntfs-driver-lots-of-hardware-improvements/

KDE Plasma 6.7 Released

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.7.0/

https://quantumproductions.info/articles/2026-05/union-spring-2026-update

Antergos Linux Returns?!

https://github.com/Antergos-NeXT

https://9to5linux.com/first-look-at-antergos-next-a-modern-revival-of-antergos-linux-with-kde-plasma

https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=showheadline&story=20201

AUR Malware Update for Arch Linux Users

https://lwn.net/Articles/1077619/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/06/the-security-situation-with-the-arch-linux-aur-got-a-lot-worse/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Arch-Linux-AUR-More-Malware

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Arch-Linux-AUR-More-Than-1500

https://itsfoss.com/news/yay-v13-release/

https://itsfoss.com/news/arch-linux-aur-malware-flood/

https://fossforce.com/2026/06/arch-says-alls-clear-after-aur-malware-incident-affects-1500-packages/

https://fossforce.com/2026/06/aur-registrations-blocked-amid-ongoing-malware-mess/

https://fossforce.com/2026/06/aur-to-arch-houston-weve-got-a-problem-were-under-attack-again/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Arch-Linux-AUR-Russian-Spam

Commodore Callback, a Smart Dumbphone

https://commodore.net/callback/

https://itsfoss.com/news/commodore-callback-8020-launch/

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/commodores-newest-gadget-is-a-flip-phone-that-blocks-social-media-and-browsers/

https://www.tomshardware.com/phones/commodore-announces-linux-based-flip-phone-with-no-social-media-no-browser-the-callback-8020-will-be-available-in-five-retro-colorways-starting-at-usd499-runs-99-percent-of-android-apps

https://www.wired.com/story/commodore-callback-8020-is-a-digital-detox-phone-that-isnt-dumb/

Epic Games Launches Lore Version Control System

https://lore.org/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Epic-Games-Lore-VCS

https://itsfoss.com/news/lore-launched/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/06/unreal-engine-6-is-all-about-generative-ai-fortnite-and-the-verse/

https://www.theregister.com/devops/2026/06/17/git-good-with-epic-games-new-open-source-vcs-lore/5257978

DistroWatch Goes Down, Backups Save the Day

https://distrowatch.com/

https://www.patreon.com/distrowatch/posts/server-outage-161521259

https://mastodon.social/@distrowatch

Support the show

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video: https://youtu.be/86dRcm8BKI0

This week in Linux, we have some distro news like a new release of NixOS and some unfortunate security news for Arch users. Plus we'll check out the new RTX Spark Superchip that Nvidia announced and it's time to celebrate 25 years of DistroWatch as they reached this massive milestone this week!

All of this and more on This Week in Linux, the weekly news show that keeps you up to date with what’s going on in the Linux and Open Source world. Now let's jump right into Your Source for Linux GNews!

Download as MP3

Support the Show

Become a Patron = tuxdigital.com/membership

Store = tuxdigital.com/store

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:47 DistroWatch.com Celebrates 25 Years

09:56 NVIDIA RTX Spark "Superchip"

16:31 NixOS 26.05 Released

18:50 Arch Linux's AUR Compromised with Malware

27:06 T2 Linux 26.6 Released

29:51 Homebrew 6.0 Released

33:30 Microsoft Coreutils, Wait! What?

37:23 Outro

Links:

DistroWatch.com Celebrates 25 Years

https://distrowatch.com/

https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20260601#sitenews

NVIDIA RTX Spark "Superchip"

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/products/rtx-spark/

https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-microsoft-windows-pcs-agents-rtx-spark

https://www.phoronix.com/news/NVIDIA-RTX-Spark

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/products/workstations/dgx-spark/

NixOS 26.05 Released

https://nixos.org/blog/announcements/2026/nixos-2605/

Arch Linux's AUR Compromised with Malware

https://archlinux.org/news/active-aur-malicious-packages-incident/

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1u3alhe/comment/or3vhax/

https://discuss.cachyos.org/t/aur-compromised-400-packages-affected-20260611/31040

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1u3alhe/roughly_400_aur_packages_compromised/

My Video = https://youtu.be/LunA3n_cRvU

T2 Linux 26.6 Released

https://t2linux.com/download/26.6

https://9to5linux.com/t2-linux-26-3-is-out-with-fully-reproducible-wayland-based-kde-plasma-experience

https://distrowatch.com/?newsid=12864

Homebrew 6.0 Released

https://brew.sh/2026/06/11/homebrew-6.0.0/

Microsoft Coreutils, Wait! What?

https://github.com/microsoft/coreutils

https://itsfoss.com/news/windows-coreutils/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/MS-Coreutils-For-Windows

Support the show

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video: https://youtu.be/bdyl-BXlV9s

This week in Linux, we got yet another vulnerability in the Linux kernel to talk about. Is it something to be scared of or is it being blown out of proportion? Stay tuned to find out. Plus we have some great news from the KDE team about a new release of Plasma and new funding to the project. Then we'll talk about some interesting work done over on the Fedora side with Fedora Hummingbird and what that can mean for the future of Linux systems.

And two years ago, on episode 256 of TWIL, I talked about how the HDMI Forum was actively getting in the way of Open Source but apparently, it seems things might have changed and they might be finally getting it.

All of this and more on This Week in Linux, the weekly news show that keeps you up to date with what’s going on in the Linux and Open Source world. Now let's jump right into Your Source for Linux GNews!

Download as MP3

Support the Show

Become a Patron = tuxdigital.com/membership

Store = tuxdigital.com/store

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:54 Fragnesia Linux Vulnerability

05:49 €1.2 Million for KDE from Sovereign Tech Fund

09:40 KDE Plasma 6.7 Beta

12:46 Fedora Hummingbird Announced

16:36 Project Bluefin Dakota Alpha 2

21:50 Hyprland 0.55 Released

26:00 HDMI might be finally getting Open Source

30:05 Outro

Links:

Fragnesia Linux Vulnerability

https://lwn.net/Articles/1072647/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Fragnesia

https://ubuntu.com/blog/fragnesia-linux-vulnerability-fixes-available

https://almalinux.org/blog/2026-05-13-fragnesia-cve-2026-46300/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/05/fragnesia-and-ssh-keysign-pwn-are-the-latest-linux-security-problems/

https://github.com/v12-security/pocs/tree/main/fragnesia

€1.2 Million for KDE from Sovereign Tech Fund

https://kde.org/announcements/sovereign-tech-fund-invests-kde/

https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/kde

https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/05/kde-sovereign-tech-fund-grant

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/05/kde-gets-over-1-million-in-funding-from-the-sovereign-tech-fund/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/KDE-1M-EUR-Investment

KDE Plasma 6.7 Beta

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.6.90/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/05/kde-plasma-6-7-beta-arrives-with-plasma-bigscreen-new-union-theme-system/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/KDE-Plasma-6.7-Beta-Released

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Plasma-6.7-Beta-Big-Screen

https://community.kde.org/Plasma/Plasma_6

https://community.kde.org/Schedules/Plasma_6

https://thisweekinlinux.com/99

Fedora Hummingbird Announced

https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/fedora-hummingbird-linux-brings-agentic-linux-builders

https://fedoramagazine.org/fedora-hummingbird-linux-taking-the-hummingbird-model-to-the-full-os/

https://itsfoss.com/news/fedora-hummingbird-images/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/KDE-1M-EUR-Investment

https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/fedora-hummingbird-taking-the-hummingbird-model-to-the-full-operating-system/191184/37

https://developers.redhat.com/articles/2026/04/28/exploring-distroless-containers-project-hummingbird

https://hummingbird-project.io/

Project Bluefin Dakota Alpha 2

https://docs.projectbluefin.io/blog/dakota-alpha-1/

https://docs.projectbluefin.io/blog/the-dinosaur-and-the-hummingbird/

https://docs.projectbluefin.io/blog/making-our-own-fate/

https://projectbluefin.io/dakota/

https://github.com/projectbluefin/dakota

Hyprland 0.55 Released

https://hypr.land/news/update55/

https://hypr.land/news/26_lua

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1t8bopd/hyprland_055_is_out_completes_the_transition_to_a/

HDMI might be finally getting Open Source

https://www.phoronix.com/news/AMDGPU-HDMI-2.1-FRL-Patches

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/05/expanded-amd-hdmi-2-1-support-is-coming-to-linux/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/HDMI-2.1-DSC-AMDGPU-FRL

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/05/further-expanded-amd-hdmi-2-1-support-is-coming-to-linux-now-with-frl-and-dsc/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.2-AMDGPU-FRL-Regs

https://www.hdmi.org/announce/detail/172

https://thisweekinlinux.com/256

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