A pair of flashy-looking weather extensions for GNOME Shell
I revised my list of the best Linux weather apps recently, but I know most people prefer to use panel applets to glean current conditions and future forecast data. There’s no drought in weather extensions for GNOME Shell. All kinds – some like Weather or Not show a simple label on panel, others dish out reams of meteorological data in a dropdown of varying designs (and, in a few cases, vertical length). I’ve seen a flurry of newer weather extensions for GNOME Shell emerge in recent months. The searing heatwave that spread the globe this year may have had developers […] You’re reading A pair of flashy-looking weather extensions for GNOME Shell, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

Ubuntu 26.10 drops Btrfs, XFS & ZFS /boot with Secure Boot

Canonical has changed how Ubuntu 26.10 boots on system with Secure Boot enabled, in an effort to reduce the attack surface of the boot process.

You’re reading Ubuntu 26.10 drops Btrfs, XFS & ZFS /boot with Secure Boot, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Scrcpy 5.0 adds hardware decoding for Android mirroring

Scrcpy, the open-source tool for mirroring your Android phone on your desktop, now supports zero-copy hardware decoding in its latest release.

You’re reading Scrcpy 5.0 adds hardware decoding for Android mirroring, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Firefox GNOME theme updated to work with Nova
The unofficial GNOME theme for Firefox has been updated to work with the Firefox 157 release and its newer, rounder Nova theme. It is not a traditional Firefox theme (like the ones you can install from the Mozilla Add-ons site) but, to quote its GitHub page, a “bunch of CSS code to make Firefox look closer to GNOME’s native apps” – an excellent job it does at it too. With Nova now rolled out, the theme team working on the unofficial Adwaita-esque garb needed to update to account for CSS class changes and new widget style Nova adds in newer […] You’re reading Firefox GNOME theme updated to work with Nova, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

Hylki is a modern, Rust-based email client for GNOME
Hylki is a Rust-based email client designed for the GNOME desktop with an incredibly amount of customisation packed in. Like Postcard, Convey and Letters, Hylki is part of the new(ish) Linux mail clients aiming to serve as a modern Geary-like alternative to more powerful email clients Thunderbird and Evolution. GTK4/libadwaita interface? Check. 3 column vertical layout? Built around conversations? Check. Oh, and ‘this wouldn’t exist without AI coding tools?’ Check – I come to that aspect further down. On the website, Hylki describes itself as “fast to open, effortless to read, and private by default” – but is it? Modern […] You’re reading Hylki is a modern, Rust-based email client for GNOME, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

Play Roblox on Linux without Wine, using Sober
Roblox does not officially support Linux, but Linux users can run using Sober, an unofficial third-party ‘port’ that works without Wine (hence the name). I know; this isn’t a ‘game’ most of you are itching to play. Roblox users are mostly under 16, access it via mobiles and have an unhealthy interest in Robux, the in-game virtual currency. But you may – as I – have snotty relatives who demand to play it on your laptop because their tablet needs charging… Performance ‘the same or better’ than Windows Sober is a ‘specialised runtime just for Roblox’s code’ made by the Vinegar project, […] You’re reading Play Roblox on Linux without Wine, using Sober, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

Orion browser for Linux axed months after beta launch
Kagi has announced that it is ending the development of the Orion web browser for Linux. The native GTK port of Orion for Linux was announced in 2025 and a public beta launched earlier this year. The goal was feature parity with the macOS build. Recent beta releases edged closer to realising it but, alas, fell short – and that’s where things will stay. At least officially. Kagi says it plans to open source the Orion for Linux codebase, as well its WIP port of Orion for Windows. This could enable the FOSS community the opportunity to step up and […] You’re reading Orion browser for Linux axed months after beta launch, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

A 2GB Raspberry Pi 4 now costs 50% more than it did at launch
Raspberry Pi has announced further price increases for its single-board computers driven, of course, by the ongoing cost of memory components. The cost of a 2GB Raspberry Pi 4 or Raspberry Pi 5 jumps by $12.50 (£12) from 1 October, 2026: Model Launch price Old price New price Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB) $45 $55 $67.50 (£64.80) Raspberry Pi 5 (2GB) $50 $65 $77.50 (£74.40) For context, the Raspberry Pi 4 2GB model launched at $45 in 2019. It was later reduced to $35, before increasing back to $45 in 2021. It then rose by $10 in February to $55. At […] You’re reading A 2GB Raspberry Pi 4 now costs 50% more than it did at launch, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

Linux App Release Roundup (September 2026)

I roundup of Linux software update from September, including updates to FOSS video editors OpenShot and Shotcut, Fooyin music player and more.

You’re reading Linux App Release Roundup (September 2026), a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

Ubuntu 26.10 Beta released with Linux 7.3 & GNOME 51
The beta release of Ubuntu 26.10 (Stonking Stingray) is now available for download – a week later than planned. Ubuntu 26.10 Beta runs on the Linux 7.3 kernel (release candidate) and ships the GNOME 51 desktop. Lower-level changes include a complete set of Rust core utilities and better handling of low-memory situations. Beta builds are not final or stable, but generally more reliable than earlier snapshots. Users and developers alike can test the new release and report any bugs they find so any fixes can land in time for the final, stable release of Ubuntu 26.10, out on 15 October […] You’re reading Ubuntu 26.10 Beta released with Linux 7.3 & GNOME 51, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

Ubuntu 26.10 ships with Rust-based OpenPGP tooling

Ubuntu 26.10 adds a Rust-based OpenPGP implementation, Sequoia PGP, to default installs. GnuPG is still included, but Canonical plans to ‘phase’ it out.

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Ubuntu 26.10 adds early support for Snapdragon X2 laptops
Canonical has released a test build of Ubuntu 26.10 with early support for laptops using Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X2 chips. The new preview ISO is built on the Ubuntu 26.10 Beta and Canonical’s Tobias Heider says the aim is to find bugs in the upcoming release early and get feedback from users. He expects ‘most’ of the work will be present in the final release, out 15 October. Among new X2-powered devices able to run the Ubuntu 26.10 Snapdragon Concept image are the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 (gen 11), HP EliteBook X G2q and the ASUS Zenbook A14/A16. Ubuntu’s support […] You’re reading Ubuntu 26.10 adds early support for Snapdragon X2 laptops, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

New FOSS web browser Blanc opts for a different kind of UI
Blanc is a new open-source web browser that swaps a traditional, always-visible tab strip and address toolbar for a minimal floating ‘island’. A dynamic pill sits top the of the browser’s window (not over the web page, which feels a missed trick) so that the site address and site security info is visible, and provide quick buttons to open new tab, navigate back/forward and favouriting sites. It’ll expand as-needed, from where you can open, manage and switch between tabs, type web addresses, run searches or sift through your browsing history and bookmarks. Click the island to open it or press […] You’re reading New FOSS web browser Blanc opts for a different kind of UI, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

VLC makes its ‘biggest security release ever’
VLC 3.0.24 is out, billed as the video player’s ‘biggest security release ever’ with more than 130 fixes across the app and its bundled libraries. VideoLAN president Jean-Baptiste Kempf says the bulk of security flaws patched by the update are “hard to exploit in practice” but adds that not all of them are ‘harmless’. He encourages users to update. No major new user-facing features arrive in this update to the open-source media player, but improvements do. VLC 3.0.24 supports ATRAC3 and ATRAC9 decoding (the former used by Sony MiniDiscs the latter for PSP-era audio), CEA-708 closed captions in MP4 files and, by […] You’re reading VLC makes its ‘biggest security release ever’, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …

And we’re go – upgrades to Ubuntu 26.04 from 24.04 finally enabled
It’s taken longer than expected, but users can now upgrade to Ubuntu 26.04 from 24.04 directly, without command-line workarounds. Canonical has finally flipped the switch on in-place upgrades for LTS systems. A notification will let users know that a new LTS is available, which can be actioned right away, ignored or ‘remind me later’d. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS was released on 23 April 2026, and direct upgrades from Ubuntu 25.10 were enabled a few weeks after the ISO downloads went live. However, upgrades from 24.04 LTS to 26.04 LTS were not. Canonical only officially gives LTS-to-LTS upgrades the go-ahead once the […] You’re reading And we’re go – upgrades to Ubuntu 26.04 from 24.04 finally enabled, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission. …