{"id":8260,"date":"2026-09-10T05:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=8260"},"modified":"2026-09-10T05:57:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:57:06","slug":"foss-weekly-26-37-swiss-linux-move-flyline-ppa-guide-fedora-win-over-windows-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=8260","title":{"rendered":"FOSS Weekly #26.37: Swiss Linux Move, Flyline, PPA Guide, Fedora Win Over Windows and More"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

Let’s start with the good news. Switzerland is on track to kick out Microsoft<\/a> across 3,000 workstations in its Federal Chancellery.<\/p>\n

The Firefox Nova redesign lands for everyone<\/a> in Firefox 157 on September 29, six months after it leaked<\/a>. The version shipping is noticeably less aggressive than the March mockups.<\/p>\n

And we have a robot pitting Fedora against Windows 11 on identical hardware<\/a>. PhoneBuff ran the same real-world tasks on two Dell XPS 13s, and Fedora won six of eleven tests while Windows took one.<\/p>\n

Bottles, the tool that makes running Windows software on Linux easier now has an experimental ARM64 build<\/a>, delivered through cpak rather than Flatpak for now.<\/p>\n

KDE is considering replacing the Gwenview image viewer with Photos, a proposed replacement<\/a> that would perform better, be mobile-friendly, and offer a bunch of really cool features.<\/p>\n

Elon Musk’s X Corp sent out a cease-and-desist letter to Nitter, ordering them to shut down. Two weeks later, after legal advice, the project and at least one popular instance are back<\/a>, with a proper announcement following soon.<\/p>\n

This edition of FOSS Weekly is supported by, <\/strong>Bitwarden<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\ud83d\udce3 <\/span>Event alert<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Join Bitwarden for the <\/span>7th annual Open Source Security Summit<\/span><\/a>, a free, virtual event bringing together cybersecurity leaders, journalists, and the open source community for conversations on geopolitics, security culture, and protecting critical industries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Featured speakers include: <\/span><\/p>\n

– David Sanger, New York Times White House correspondent and author of <\/span>New Cold Wars <\/em><\/i>and<\/span> The Perfect Weapon<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n

– Joseph Menn, cybersecurity journalist and author of <\/span>Cult of the Dead Cow<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n

September 17, 2026 | 8-10 a.m. PDT \u2022 11-1 p.m. EDT \u2022 5-7 p.m. CEST <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n Register for FREE Here
\n <\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\ud83e\udde0 What We\u2019re Thinking About<\/h2>\n

Ikey Doherty, creator of Solus and AerynOS, has come out of retirement triggered by Omarchy’s $13+ million funding and DHH’s comments about nomadic people. His response is Barney<\/a>, a Rust-based tool for building Linux distros from source, named after his son.<\/p>\n

Despite the resistance and criticism, Omarchy keeps on growing. its userbase Only yesterday, cloud server provider Digital Ocean joined the Omacom foundation with $3 million donation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The rise of Omarchy can be attributed to two things: built-in AI features and DHH’s determination to make it work. Some people may not like either or both, but for now Omarchy is an unstoppable force.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\uddee Linux Tips, Tutorials, and Learnings<\/h2>\n

There was a time when PPA were the backbone of Ubuntu’s app ecosystem. They are not as popular after Snaps, but you will still find software distributed through PPAs. I have written a detailed guide that has all the necessary information on using PPA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Quick tip: if you often create similar types of documents, you should utilize the template feature in LibreOffice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You might have never heard of GNU Readline<\/a>, but it’s a library included with your Linux installation that implements Bash’s interactive command-line editing and various other features.<\/p>\n

And seeing as we are on an open platform like Linux, this too can be customized! Flyline is a Rust-powered Readline replacement<\/a> that brings intelligent suggestions, fuzzy search, syntax highlighting, and modern completion to Bash.<\/p>\n

If that doesn’t scratch your itch of trying something new, why not get started with NixOS<\/a>? It’s immutable nature, and package management ought to keep you occupied for a while.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Desktop Linux is mostly neglected by the industry but loved by the community. For the past 14 years, It’s FOSS has been helping people use Linux on their personal computers. And we are now facing the existential threat from AI models stealing our content. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you like what we do and would love to support our work, please become It’s FOSS Plus member. It costs $49 a year (less than the cost of a McDonald’s burger a month), and you get an ad-free reading experience with the satisfaction of helping the desktop Linux community. And there are also free Linux ebooks.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n Join It’s FOSS Plus
\n <\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc77 AI, Homelab and Hardware Corner<\/h2>\n

FreeCORE<\/a> is for NAS setups that are still stuck on TrueNAS CORE. While AI is clearly involved in development, you can still check it out.<\/p>\n

Jellyfin has done away with its older version naming scheme<\/a>, jumping straight from 10.11 to 12. The release also brings proper books and comics metadata without needing the Bookshelf plugin, and music recommendations can now pull from ListenBrainz listening data instead of relying on tags alone.<\/p>\n

\u2728 Apps and Projects Highlights<\/h2>\n

I tested out an app after ages, and Privacy Notes<\/a> was the one I went with. It’s a markdown editor that does many things and even comes with an encrypted vault.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfd\ufe0f Videos for You<\/h2>\n

Angry IP Scanner<\/a> is an open source tool that I have been using for the past 20+ years.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n
Subscribe to It’s FOSS YouTube Channel<\/a><\/div>\n

\ud83d\udca1 Quick Handy Tip<\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n

In KDE Plasma, the panel uses “Icons-Only Task Manager<\/em>” to show favorite windows and open windows. Right-click on it and select Configure<\/em>. <\/p>\n

In the behavior tab, set the “Clicking grouped task<\/em>” option to “Shows large window previews<\/em>” and apply the settings.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n