RISC-V Mainboard for Framework Laptop 13 Available from $199
Framework make the most exciting laptops around —I don’t own one to be able to say they’re good, but the modular components, and upgradeable and repairable ethos is unlike anything else. As news earlier this year that owners would be able to swap their Intel-based mainboard for a RISC-V mainboard underscores. Well, there’s now an update on that front. DeepComputing (makers of the Ubuntu-powered DC-ROMA II laptop and Pad II tablet) just launched an early access program for thee DC-ROMA RISC-V Mainboard, designed for the Framework Laptop 13. The mainboard is also compatible with the Framework and Cooler Master Case 
#News #Framework #Risc-V
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/risc-v-mainboard-for-framework-laptop-13-available-from-199
VMware Workstation is Now Free for Everyone, Including Commercial Use
Back in the spring, VMware did something unexpected: it made its desktop hypervisor software free to download and use on Windows, macOS, and Linux. No trial period, no in-app purchases, no feature limitations. The “catch” was that it was only free for personal use. Businesses, educators, freelancers, and developers who planned to use the software for so-called ‘commercial’ purposes were asked to be honest and pay for a license. Now, that’s no longer needed. Both VMware Workstation Pro and its Mac equivalent in Fusion Pro are free for everyone to use for whatever they want, be it personal or commercial.
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/vmware-workstation-free-for-all-part-2
New Linux Timer App Uses MPRIS in an Ingenious Way
MPRIS is something most of us associate with music apps and movie players, but a new app makes use of this freedesktop standard for something less entertaining: timers. Yes, timers. Timing your pizza in the oven, setting a deadline for a task, dedicating time to a hobby, or obsessively counting down to a date (figurative or romantic), MPRIS Timer does it just as well as anything else – with a twist: it shows your timer using MPRIS. MPRIS stands for ‘Media Player Remote Interfacing Specification’. It is a Freedesktop standard that gives app makers an accessible, consistent API to target
#News #Mpris
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/mpris-timer-app-for-linux-is-ingenious
Auto Accent Colour GNOME Shell Extension
For a pinch more personalisation of Ubuntu 24.10 check out Auto Accent Colour, a new GNOME Shell extension that changes the system accent colour based on your current desktop wallpaper. Accent colours are a headline feature in GNOME 47, although not new to Ubuntu users since Ubuntu added its own approach to accent colours back in 2022. Now aligned with upstream, this new GNOME Shell extension is going to interest Ubuntu users who want to go beyond the distro’s handpicked and hardcoded accent colour selection to add a more unique touch to the way their OS looks. Auto Accent Colour
#News #EyeCandy #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/automatic-accent-colour-gnome-shell-extension
Calibre 7.2.1 Brings Read Aloud Fixes, New Audio Overlay
Calibre ebook manager, converter, and reader is out with a new update, and it adds an enticing sounding new feature. For a while now Calibre has offered a ‘read aloud’ feature that does exactly what you think it does: a computer voice reads the text of an ePUB book. Calibre 7.2.1 intros a “new tool to create an audio overlay in EPUB files for all text using the Read aloud facility”. This, it says, enables readers to listen with sentence tracking, and assign different voices to different parts of the book’s text. Interestingly, Calibre say using the new tool can
#News #AppUpdates #Calibre #Ebooks #QtApps
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/calibre-7-2-1-brings-read-aloud-fixes-new-audio-overlay
GNOME 48: Release Date & Development Schedule
GNOME 47 ‘Denver’ proved a decent update to the GNOME desktop, delivering a hearty dose of new features, UI refinements, and app improvements. So as one release gets pushed out the door, work on the next begins. GNOME 48 ‘Bengaluru‘ (named after the host city of the GNOME Asia Summit taking place in December) is scheduled for release on March 19, 2025. The dates for important development milestones along the way to ensure there’s ample opportunity for implementing and testing of key changes, the necessary “freeze” to solidify the desired set of changes, and then more testing to refine and
#News #Development #Gnome48 #Loupe #Showtime #Ubuntu25_04
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/gnome-48-release-date-and-features
Raspberry Pi’s Product Announcements Continue with $12 USB Hub
Raspberry Pi has unveiled yet-another own-brand product, this time a 4-port USB 3.0 hub. We’ve seen the company expand its range of accessories for its single-board computer family over the past few months, going from a case, keyboard, and mouse, to SSDs HATs, SSDs, and SD cards all configured to provide fastest possible speeds. But while the most popular Pi models have a number of on-board USB ports, some folks do need or want more – which is where the company is launching an official Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub. It cheekily describes as a “high-quality four-way USB 3.0 hub for
#Hardware #News #PcAccessories #RaspberryPi #Usb
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/raspberry-pi-official-usb-hub
Burn My Windows Adds Dreamy New ‘Focus’ Effect
It’s been a while since the gorgeous (if admittedly gimmicky) Burn My Windows GNOME Shell extension gained a new effect for over-the-top window closing and opening animation. But the latest release, Burn My Windows v44, delivers one. The new Focus effect is a relatively subtle one using a blur and fade effect on close, as you can see in this GIF, and on open too (you can choose to turn open animations off): There are options to control the animation time, the blur amount, and the blur quality. The lower the blur quality the faster the overall effect will be, :sys_more_orange:
#News #BurnMyWindows #EyeCandy #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/burn-my-windows-adds-dreamy-new-focus-effect
Mozilla Foundation Axes 30% Staff, Axes Advocacy Division
Sweeping staffing cuts have fallen at The Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Mozilla tasked with advocating for web standards, internet privacy, and open-source. A huge 30% reduction in head count at the foundation cleaves away the entirety of the dedicated advocacy division, according to an internal memo seen by TechCrunch but since confirmed to them and other press outlets by Mozilla. “The Mozilla Foundation is reorganizing teams to increase agility and impact as we accelerate our work to ensure a more open and equitable technical future for us all,” Brandon Borrman, vice president of communications at Mozilla is quoted
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/mozilla-foundation-axes-30-staff-axes-advocacy-division
GIMP 3.0 Release Candidate is Ready for Testing
It feels like the next major release of open source image editor The GIMP has been in the works for an eon, but anticipation for its arrival has been building for even longer – but the wait will soon be over. A GIMP 3.0 release candidate is now available to download, giving those eager to see what sort of new features Wilber has planned the opportunity to find out, with fewer bugs and quirks getting in the way than development, snapshot, and beta builds have. I plan to do a proper rundown of the best new features in GIMP 3.0
#News #AppUpdates #Gimp
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/gimp-3-0-release-candidate-is-ready-for-testing
Raspberry Pi Gives its Tiny Touch Display a Big Upgrade
Raspberry Pi has announced a new version of its 7-inch ‘Touch Display’ accessory. And given that the previous model was announced 9 years ago, some kind of update was arguably due for this device. The Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 runs at a higher-resolution display than its predecessor, and uses a slimmer form factor now that the display driver board is integrated into the enclosure itself, streamlining the end setup. Yet despite those upgrades, the price point hasn’t changed: it still costs $60/£56 No details on the brightness, contrast, etc for the new model, and it’s notably described as offering
#Hardware #News #RaspberryPi #Touchscreen
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/raspberry-pi-touch-display-2
Apple Maps for Web Now Works in Firefox on Linux
Something to file under “won’t please many Linux users, but is nonetheless a good thing™ for choice”, Apple Maps on the web now works on Linux. Apple launched a web-based beta for its homegrown mapping service Apple Maps in July. Initially, it only officially supported Safari on macOS and iOS, and Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge on Windows, macOS, and Android. Mozilla Firefox support was added in August, but only for users on macOS and Windows. And according to the support page that remains the case. Yet… Mozilla Firefox 132 is able load Apple Maps on the web in full on
#News #Apple
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/apple-maps-beta-linux-support-ish
Linux Mint Adding Native ‘Night Light’ Feature to Cinnamon
Linux Mint has revealed it’s brining a native ‘night light’ mode to the Cinnamon desktop. Earlier versions of Linux Mint included a third-party app called Redshift to provide similar functionality. However, when then Mozilla location service was shut down earlier this year, the geo-location capabilities powering Redshift (which made the feature kick-in at sunset for the users location) no longer worked – although the app itself still did. But Linux Mint’s developers felt that asking users to work around the breakage by punching in their location’s longitude and latitude coordinates manually was a tough ask, especially for a distro focused
#News #Cinnamon #LinuxMint #NightLight #Redshift
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/linux-mint-night-light-cinnamon
COSMIC Alpha 3 Brings Custom Font Support, Orca Integration
System76’s COSMIC desktop continues to take shape with the release of a third alpha snapshot. The first alpha brought the basics, the second alpha added a bunch of new features, and the third alpha fills in gaps, fixes bugs, and finesses the users experience further. Of note, COSMIC now lets you set a custom system font (if the default Fira Sans isn’t your fave), and accessibility gets a boost with initial support for the Orca screen reader, albeit not currently in native COSMIC apps – but accessibility is a priority, so “soon”. COSMIC Alpha 3 also brings a lot of
#News #CosmicDe #Rust #System76
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/11/cosmic-desktop-alpha-3-whats-changed
Python is Now the Most Popular Language on GitHub
Python has overtaken JavaScript as the most-used language on GitHub, according to the code-hosting platform’s latest Octoverse report. The company attributes this momentum to a massive influx of “data science and machine learning on GitHub”, which has seen a 59% increase in the number of contributions to generative AI projects. With Python being heavily used across ML, data science, and related fields, the rise makes sense – it’s less that traditional software developers are switching to Python but more that developers working with AI-related projects are needing to use it. Plus, it’s good news for open source, with GitHub reporting
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/10/python-most-popular-language-on-github-2024
SuperTuxKart 1.5 Beta Released with Benchmark Mode, UI Tweaks + More
It’s hallowe’en, and there’s a frightfully good treat waiting for fans of the free, open-source racing game SuperTuxKart – a new beta! The first beta of SuperTuxKart 1.5 features hordes of improvements, touching everything from the underlying game engine to the user-interface through to networking features and score announcements for online multi-player games. No new tracks, karts, characters, or items included – those are planned for SuperTuxKart 2.0 along with a myriad of other major changes – but there is a new music track for the Das Luna Arena. Other SuperTuxKart 1.5 beta 1 changes: Naturally, there’s also a veritable
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/10/supertuxkart-1-5-beta-released
Google Chrome Update Offers More Control Over Memory Usage
The latest stable update to Google Chrome introduces an enhanced Memory Saver feature which could help you reduce the browser’s memory footprint. It’s fair to say that Google Chrome is infamous for being a memory hog. Is it deserved? Perhaps once upon a time; recent real-world tests suggest Chrome’s RAM usage is less egregious than popular opinion would contend. Anecdotally, many users say otherwise. Either way, the latest version of Google’s dominant browser now offers with 3 modes for Memory Saver, all accessible via the Settings > More Tools > Performance menu entry: Memory Saver (for those unfamiliar with it)
#News #AppUpdates #GoogleChrome
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/10/google-chrome-now-offers-more-control-over-memory-usage
Ubuntu 25.04 Officially Opens for Development
Ubuntu developers today announced that Ubuntu 25.04 ‘Plucky Puffin’ is officially open for development. We even have a tentative release date, with Ubuntu 25.04 due to arrive on April 17, 2025. But that’s a way off; there are 6 months of development stretching out ahead. What new features will Ubuntu 25.04 offer? It’s too early in the release cycle to say right now, but shipping with GNOME 48, a newer Linux kernel, and further improvements to Snap apps are all-but a given. Would it be too much to hope that the Plucky cycle will finally deliver that long-teased yet never-ready
#News #Ubuntu25_04
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/10/ubuntu-25-04-officially-opens-for-development
Pre-Orders Open for Pine64’s e-Ink Linux Tablet
Forget Amazon’s recent Kindle refresh, the most exciting e-ink device around is the PineNote from prolific open-source hardware makers Pine64. I reported last month that Pine64 had confirmed a new PineNote production run, the first in several years, now that it has a solid Debian-based OS to run. And now it’s begun taking pre-orders, with shipping expected to begin in mid-November. The PineNote has a 10.1-inch e-ink scratch-resistant display with up to 16 levels of greyscale at a resolution of 1404×1872 (227 DPI). Powered a quad-core RK3566 SoC with 4 GB RAM, 128GB storage, on-board Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a front-light, speakers,
#Hardware #News #Ebooks #Pine64
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/10/pine64s-e-ink-linux-tablet-is-now-available-to-pre-order
Mousam is a Stat-Packed Weather App for Linux
Being a Linux nerd I rarely go outside —that’s a joke— but knowing what the weather is doing beyond the basement walls —still a joke— is useful (if only because it often gives me an excuse to stay at my desk compiling my own kernel — not a joke). Scores of Linux weather apps, widgets, and add-ons exist. These put current temperature, conditions, and (usually) near-term forecasts within easy reach, or permanently on show. And that’s all the weather data most of us need or care about knowing – ‘will I need a jacket?’, ‘will it rain today?’, ‘can I
#News #SnapApps #Weather
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/10/mousam-modern-weather-app-for-linux
