Weekly Forum Summary

Our Community
70

This week in our forums…

Key Stats

In the past week, our Linux forums had the following activity and key statistics:

  • Total New Posts: 102
  • Total New Topics: 9

Top Contributors

Interesting Topics

In #arch, @MadGoat shared a significant contribution in Brought a couple Cachy apps to the arch masses - scx-manager & kernel-manager. They describe how they forked, unbranded, and extended CachyOS’s kernel and scheduler managers so Arch users can build Cachy kernels with custom specs and switch SCX schedulers more easily. The thread includes feedback from @Brian_Masinick about using the tools on EndeavourOS, discussion of dependency hurdles, and a follow‑up from @MadGoat announcing convenient -bin packages for quick installation.

In Our Community Benjamin joins our moderator team announced that @benowe1717 is joining the moderator group. @hydn explains why Benjamin’s tone, patience, and alignment with the community’s code of conduct made him a natural fit, and shares a concise “manifesto” that captures how the forum approaches moderation and member interactions. The responses from members, like @Ben, are warm and supportive as the community welcomes another helping hand.

@ugnvs started a playful but thoughtful discussion in General Discussions with How to review and modify AI-generated code. What begins as a joke about using rm -rf to “fix” AI‑generated projects quickly turns into a safety conversation, with @Brian_Masinick and @ericmarceau highlighting the real danger of destructive commands and the responsibility experienced users have when posting them. @shybry747 adds a broader reflection on power, humor, and how AI can both help and harm, making the thread a nice mix of levity and caution.

In Our Community members took a step back from tech to reflect in Remembering 9/11, 25 years later. @hydn invites everyone to share where they were and how they were affected, and several members including @ericmarceau, @tmick, and @toadie describe their personal memories from different parts of the world. The conversation focuses on empathy, the importance of listening across differences, and how global events shape lives far beyond the immediate impact zone.

In Ubuntu, @Jymm brought visual news with The Default Wallpapers for Ubuntu 26.10 is Out [Download Link]. The topic links to the announcement of the new Ubuntu 26.10 wallpaper set, highlighting the stingray mascot and origami‑style background. @guiverc chimes in with details about the Ubuntu MATE “stonking” wallpaper package, including a small terminal snippet listing newly installed background images for those who enjoy customizing their desktop.

From news, Debian 13 Is Taking Over 2,200+ Control Systems Across CERN, shared by @Jymm, caught the attention of many Debian fans. The thread discusses CERN’s move from the Red Hat ecosystem to Debian 13 for thousands of industrial control systems and what it signals about long‑term stability, licensing, and hardware requirements. @Brian_Masinick, @MadGoat, and @ericmarceau each explore different angles, including corporate vs community governance, hardware lifecycle pressures, and why Debian’s approach may be better aligned with research institutions.

In General Discussions, @tmick opened Is it possible to make an ISO of a working computer? to figure out how best to image a dual‑boot Debian and Windows 10 system. The replies from @tkn and @ugnvs cover practical tools like Clonezilla, Rescuezilla, and raw dd disk images, along with caveats around ISO formats, partition layouts, and why it is safer to boot from live media before cloning. The thread is a compact reference for anyone wanting full‑disk backups that span both Linux and Windows partitions.

Over in news, @Jymm linked to an interesting piece of tech history in How did a publicly humiliated Japanese electronics firm turn a failed CD partnership with Nintendo into a console that outsold every rival of the 1990s?. The article recounts how Sony turned a failed collaboration with Nintendo into the original PlayStation, leveraging cheap CD manufacturing and publisher‑friendly terms to dominate a hardware generation. It is a nice off‑topic read for gamers and hardware enthusiasts in the community.

In #arch, @DeLinuxCo announced a fresh distro snapshot in DeLinuxCo ISO release - 260911. The new Arch‑based Cinnamon ISO ships with Linux kernel 7.2.3 and focuses on an AppImage‑centric workflow. Around 30 AppImages ship or are available through the package manager, covering daily‑driver tools like Firefox, LibreOffice, OBS Studio, creative apps like GIMP and Kdenlive, and utilities such as Duplicati and Rustdesk, which makes the system appealing to users who like portable, self‑contained application bundles.

In Our Community the infrastructure itself took a leap forward in Scheduled maintenance—September 20th, 2026. @hydn updated the original maintenance plan to say that the Discourse upgrade to v2026.7 ESR was being performed early, during a quieter weekend. The post outlines expected downtime, reassures members that posts and accounts remain intact, and notes interface changes such as a more unified responsive layout and optional rich‑text editing. After the work, the topic is edited to confirm that the upgrade is complete and invites bug reports for anything that looks off.

Activity by the @staff Group

Staff kept busy this week across moderation, infrastructure, and member support.

Best Reply or Topic of the Week

The standout reply this week is @Itachixkurosaki’s detailed explanation of their vulnerability scanning approach in Just asking for a little feedback on what I can do better.

They walk through running OpenVAS from three different network positions (DMZ, internal server segment, and VPN mesh), explain how to interpret “zero findings” as evidence of working firewall rules, and distinguish between external exposure and insider threat scenarios. It is a clear, real‑world example of thinking about security architecture rather than just tool output, and other members like @toadie have already picked it up as something to try themselves.

Thanks for reading. See you again next week! :penguin:

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Better Stack offers infrastructure observability services, uptime monitoring, logging, incident management, and a free tier worth checking out. Visit Better Stack

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4 Likes
71

This week in our forums…

Key Stats

In the past week, our Linux forums had the following activity and key statistics:

  • Total New Posts: 147
  • Total New Topics: 8

Top Contributors

Interesting Topics

In General Discussions, @ugnvs invited everyone to think about language design in What would make a programming language better?. The thread quickly turned into a rich compare‑and‑contrast of C, Python, Go and more. @tkn argued for strong backward compatibility and less bloat, while @Itachixkurosaki focused on predictable behavior and good tooling, using Rust and Go as positive examples. Others, like @Brian_Masinick, reflected on Go’s growing role for scalable and secure systems and how it compares to long‑lived C workflows.

Also in General Discussions, Let’s talk about web browsers by @ClaudioDC used a meme about “every browser being Chromium” as a springboard to discuss engine monoculture. @andreas highlighted how much engineering it takes to maintain a modern browser engine and why that pushes many vendors toward Chromium, while stressing the importance of Firefox for diversity. @Jymm and @tkn shared their own browser stacks, with a clear preference for Firefox‑based options like LibreWolf and Mullvad, and @Jymm gave a practical explanation of Firefox’s powerful about:config.

In #help, @ericmarceau opened Editing of EPUB files - Mass correction - Removal of mid-word breaks to look for tooling that can intelligently fix broken words such as excel lence in ebooks. Suggestions from @benowe1717 and @Itachixkurosaki explored combinations of Calibre, Python NLP libraries, and utilities like dehyphen and pd3f, along with discussion of tradeoffs between shotgun automated fixes and more “finesse” approaches that propose manual joins only where context makes sense.

Over in mate, accessibility and visual ergonomics were front and center in MATE Themes Advice or Reccomendations from @jmarkus. Dealing with vision loss and diabetic retinopathy, they described how darker themes and careful color choices make systems usable. @ugnvs shared a tweaked Human/TraditionalHumanized theme, larger fonts and low LCD brightness, while @ericmarceau suggested exploring specialized assistive software and even formalizing a highly customized setup using PolicyKit. The thread is a solid reference for anyone tuning MATE for low‑vision use.

Still in mate, @jmarkus also contributed some visual flair in Ubuntu MATE Resolute Raccoon Wallpaper?. They created and shared a custom 1920‑pixel wallpaper based on one of their own photographs for Ubuntu MATE 24.04 “Resolute Raccoon,” giving MATE users a polished community‑made background option.

In #linux-support, @ericmarceau started Local capture of entire discussion topic as a single PDF, documenting an extremely handy Discourse trick. By using the browser’s print dialog with Ctrl+P, you can have Discourse render a whole topic as a single page and then “print” it to PDF. @Norm24 noted using this method to preserve useful discussions from the old Ubuntu MATE site, and @ericmarceau suggested it could be used for building curated “choice topics” archives.

In #security, @DeLinuxCo published Sync your Passwords - No Cloud!, linking to a detailed tutorial on pairing KeePassXC with Syncthing. The guide walks through setting up an encrypted password vault that syncs across devices over your own infrastructure, removing the need for any hosted password service. It is a practical blueprint for users who want portability and redundancy without giving up local control.

Within desktop, the long‑running Dual-Boot Linux and Windows: 5-Minute Install Guide saw timely updates on dual‑boot decisions. @hydn shared that once Windows 11 hits EOL they will likely stop using Windows, and explained why a dormant Windows installation still lives on their system for GPU tuning and occasional testing. @andreas and @Norm24 contrasted that with their own setups, from retiring dual‑boot entirely to keeping a separate Windows machine for rare tasks like Garmin updates.

Also in desktop, 10 Best Linux Desktop Environments in 2026 (My Picks) got new perspective from @67Steve, who has spent years “DE hopping.” They explained why Xfce remains their home, especially for how easily it lets you create panel launchers via the GUI. @hydn agreed and pointed out how dependence on brittle GNOME extensions can hurt stability compared with simpler, long‑lived panels and applets.

In #our, the evergreen Welcome! Introduce yourself thread continued to bring in new members from around the world. This week saw introductions from @Abcin, @SatoriSatyriasis, @Bekah1573, @TheBigRedLimo, @Meeaver1111, @Dantonav, @goatherd, @mateusbacral and others. Regulars like @Brian_Masinick, @andreas, @Bombilla, @ericmarceau and @hydn kept the welcome wagon rolling, often tailoring advice to each newcomer’s interests, whether that is Python, homelabs, charity IT setups or choosing a first distro.

Finally, in #help, @ericmarceau shared a small but valuable productivity tip in Copying Files Between Linux Machines, where the discussion resurfaced about USB filesystem choices. @Jymm noted that formatting removable drives as ext4 led to confusing permission issues and that switching back to FAT solved cross‑system portability problems. The thread is a useful reminder to match filesystem choice with how you actually share media between Linux and non‑Linux systems.

Activity by the @staff Group

Staff were active across both community‑building and support topics this week.

In #our, @system published the previous Weekly Forum Summary, highlighting last week’s key stats and standout discussions. This automated roundup continues to serve as a reference point for members who want a quick overview of what they might have missed.

In the infrastructure space, @hydn posted an update in Scheduled maintenance—September 20th, 2026 about running Discourse ESR v2026.7 for a week without issues and enabling new mandatory features. The post walked through backend changes and showed front‑end examples, including the rollout of Whispers for @staff and trust level 3 and above. It keeps transparency high around platform changes that affect how conversations work.

Staff also spent time in welcome and support threads. In Welcome! Introduce yourself, @andreas, @Bombilla and @hydn each greeted new members and drew out extra detail, such as asking @Bekah1573 about preferred distro and desktop combinations. This kind of engagement helps quickly connect newcomers with relevant areas of the site. In Linux haqqinda sualim var, @Bombilla replied bilingually to guide @zhrabunyatova859-cmd toward using translation tools so they can get more help in English, while @ericmarceau followed up with a Turkish explanation about how English functions as the community’s working language.

On the help and troubleshooting side, @hydn dropped a useful upstream link in Problem with zoom 7.0.0 for @NullVoxPopuli, pointing to a likely Zoom regression affecting performance on some Arch‑based systems. In Dual-Boot Linux and Windows: 5-Minute Install Guide, @andreas added context about Windows licensing and how they eventually removed their Windows partition once gaming on Linux became good enough, offering a practical path away from dual‑booting.

In General Discussions, staff presence was felt around broader ecosystem questions too. @andreas joined Let’s talk about web browsers with a thoughtful explanation of why Chromium has become the default engine for so many vendors and why that concentration is worrying, reinforcing support for Firefox as a strategic choice. Staff also contributed to distro and DE conversations, with @hydn sharing long‑term impressions of KDE and GNOME extensions in 10 Best Linux Desktop Environments in 2026 (My Picks) and giving practical reflections on Windows 11 and dual‑boot longevity in Dual-Boot Linux and Windows: 5-Minute Install Guide.

Finally, @system curated the latest Saturday Showcase: Built & Shared by Members This Week roundup. The post spotlighted @DeLinuxCo’s KeePassXC + Syncthing tutorial, @Itachixkurosaki’s Kubernetes homelab notes, and updates on tools like scx-manager and kernel-manager, which helps surface member projects to a wider audience.

Best Reply or Topic of the Week

Featured reply: @Itachixkurosaki in the programming‑languages discussion

This week’s standout contribution is @Itachixkurosaki’s detailed reply in Editing of EPUB files - Mass correction - Removal of mid-word breaks. The post breaks down why traditional spellcheck tools fail on split words like excel lence, surveys real options such as LanguageTool and symspellpy, and outlines how to approach the problem with NLP and dictionary‑based heuristics. It balances practical tool suggestions with clear explanations of underlying limitations, making it useful to anyone dealing with messy text data, not just EPUB editing.

Top Contributor

Congratulations to @Brian_Masinick on earning this week’s Top Contributor badge! :trophy:

Thanks for reading. See you again next week! :penguin:

Our community remains free of banner ads thanks to our partnership with Better Stack.

Better Stack offers infrastructure observability services, uptime monitoring, logging, incident management, and a free tier worth checking out. Visit Better Stack

:warning: Important: Avoid replying to this topic. Instead, reply to the topics linked within. Or, if you have questions or comments related to this weekly summary, please post them in the #site-help or Our Community forum category.

4 Likes
72

This week in our forums…

Key Stats

In the past week, our Linux forums had the following activity and key statistics:

  • Total New Posts: 200
  • Total New Topics: 14

Top Contributors

Interesting Topics

In Showcase, @Bitpainter75 introduced a major new photography workflow tool in FerrumPix: bringing photo management, RAW editing and image editing together on Linux. Members like @jmarkus, @tkn, @Norm24 and @andreas put it through its paces, comparing results with Lightroom and Negative Lab Pro, probing privacy and “phone home” behavior, NAS workflow via /etc/fstab, and the limits of RAW/infrared support. The follow‑up posts from @Bitpainter75 detail rapid 0.9.50 and 0.9.52 releases with a GPS map view, RAW comparison against embedded JPEG previews, a redesigned dehaze tool, improved brush performance, and red‑eye removal, making this one of the week’s deepest technical app threads.

@goatherd shared a retro‑friendly terminal audio setup in Showcase with A TUI music player written in Go. The “goatplayer” uses mpv as its backend and sparked discussion with @tkn and @Halano about trusting binaries versus building from source, safe hosting on GitHub/Codeberg, and handling terminal quirks. The debugging back‑and‑forth around libtag_c.so.0, terminal escape sequences and minimum terminal sizes turned the thread into a mini case study on distributing TUI applications cleanly across different environments.

Also in Showcase, @Halano published XCropper - Fast Linux image cropping tool, a tiny 90K X11 cropper aimed at being faster than heavyweight editors for quick cuts and resizing. Members compared it with tools like GIMP, Shotwell, Mirage and Krita, while @Halano explained why startup latency and responsiveness pushed them to build yet another cropper. The thread is a compact look at “do one thing fast” utilities on the Linux desktop.

In Showcase, performance‑minded users got something new from @MadGoat with RamSleuth — RAM telemetry + memory benchmark for Linux. The tool offers live DDR timing and controller telemetry, SPD decoding and AVX2/AVX‑512 bandwidth/latency benchmarks, all via GUI and TUI frontends. Early Intel timing bugs are being chased down, and the thread invites people with newer Intel systems to contribute diagnostics, making it a useful place to follow if you care about memory tuning on Linux.

In General Discussions, browser enthusiasts continued a lively debate in Let’s talk about web browsers. @Jymm argued for classic Firefox with a full toolbar and deep about:config tweaks, while @svhs27102 and @Itachixkurosaki described reluctantly keeping Chromium around for “Chromium‑only” government and school portals. @MadGoat contributed a long piece on Brave, Pi‑hole setups, and the looming risk of platform integrity APIs locking down user‑controlled browsing. The thread is a great snapshot of the current browser monoculture concern from practical Linux users.

Another General Discussions discussion from @Jymm, Do you prefer classic/simple or modern/interactive shells?, explored command‑line preferences prompted by a DistroWatch poll. Several regulars, including @tkn, @ericmarceau and @andreas, made the case for sticking with POSIX‑style shells like sh and bash for scripting portability and documentation, while still acknowledging the appeal of modern interactive features in shells like fish and zsh. The thread highlights how many here lean conservative on shell tooling for reliability.

In General Discussions, nostalgia and Linux history surfaced in Are you a Registered Linux User? where @ClaudioDC asked who remembered the old Linux Counter project and its “Registered Linux User #12345” signatures. @pavlos and @JohnWick recalled participating, and @hydn dug up the original developer’s website and closing announcement archived on the Wayback Machine. The conversation doubles as a small oral history of early Linux community culture.

The Debian category saw detailed troubleshooting in Blue Tooth mouse disappeared, but it’s there?. Running MX Linux under VirtualBox, @jmarkus reported an invisible pointer while mouse actions still worked. After initial suggestions from @hydn, @Itachixkurosaki walked through how Liquorix kernels and mismatched VirtualBox Guest Additions can leave integration half‑broken. The recommended path involved switching back to a stock Debian kernel, checking module builds and avoiding premature kernel purges, all laid out in accessible steps for VM users.

In Ubuntu, @Pramit_Regmi posed a conceptual question in How to make ISO file empty about building an ultra‑minimal, immutable “naked Linux” ISO. @ugnvs clarified terminology around “completely blank” versus minimal, then pointed to Linux From Scratch as a learning route, while @Brian_Masinick and @ericmarceau suggested real‑world options such as antiX Net/Core setups and Canonical’s Ubuntu Core with its own image‑building tools. The thread is a concise pointer map for anyone interested in DIY minimal distributions.

In #help, @Watford asked why Thunderbird reports a 16 MB attachment as 22 MB in Email size under TBird. @ericmarceau and @tkn provided clear explanations of Base64’s 33% overhead and how MIME multipart emails duplicate plain text and HTML bodies. Their replies include intuitive bit‑level reasoning and give a practical mental model for why email size limits feel tighter than file sizes suggest.

Finally, in mate, desktop users continued to track project direction in Mate 1.30 development?. @Norm24 cited Fedora 45 notes mentioning a potential 1.30, and @ericmarceau outlined how incomplete handover of accounts and infrastructure from long‑time lead Martin Wimpress complicates visible progress. The thread ties into the broader Probing for status of handover discussion, where @ericmarceau shared a polite but pointed status request on Ubuntu’s discourse and @Norm24 and @Jymm echoed the desire for more transparent updates about Ubuntu MATE’s future.

Activity by the @staff Group

In Showcase, @hydn gave practical publishing advice in A TUI music player written in Go, recommending that @goatherd host both source and binaries on Git forges like GitHub or Codeberg, attach static binaries to tagged releases, and document mpv as a dependency. This guidance helped steer the project toward a more standard, trustable release process.

Within Arch Linux, @hydn joined Would you consider Arch to be for more experienced users? to ground the discussion in Arch’s own documentation. By quoting the official “Why would I not want to use Arch?” section and elaborating on the expectations around self‑maintenance, they provided a concise reality check for newcomers considering a switch from more automated distributions.

In Debian support, @hydn contributed concrete commands to the VirtualBox cursor issue in Blue Tooth mouse disappeared, but it’s there?. Their suggested sequence to install stock Debian kernels, boot them via GRUB’s “Advanced options,” reinstall Guest Additions, and later remove Liquorix packages gave @jmarkus a safe, ordered plan for recovering a working VM without losing the fallback kernels.

The News & Shares section also saw @hydn open ZOOM reading everything written to X11 clipboard after a link surfaced in the weekly news roundup about Zoom’s clipboard behavior. They coupled understandable concern with an explanation of how the topic was split using Discourse’s “Reply as linked topic” feature, which both highlighted a privacy‑relevant issue and modeled good use of the platform’s discussion tools.

In server, @hydn continued to iterate on their pfSense series with a follow‑up in pfSense Firewall 2.8: Install & Config – Settings Walkthrough. They detailed how adjusting Intel N100 CPU energy performance preferences from “balanced” to more energy‑saving modes dropped firewall temps by about 20°C in a hot Caribbean environment without impacting throughput. The post includes concrete screenshots and notes about idle versus load behavior that are useful for anyone running low‑power fanless firewalls.

Around meta‑forum topics, @hydn also helped members make better use of Discourse features. In Local capture of entire discussion topic as a single PDF they pointed to the keyboard shortcuts overlay and the Ctrl+P export behavior, and in ZOOM reading everything written to X11 clipboard they showcased Discourse AI’s “Related” tab and the standard “Suggested” topics list, explaining how each is powered and when they are most useful.

Lastly, in Arch Linux, staff member @andreas stayed active both as a developer and community voice. They engaged across threads such as Laser – A simple CD ripping application, clarifying that their Laser CD ripper uses MusicBrainz for disc and track lookups, and participated in general discussions about browsers, MATE development, and hardware setups, reinforcing the blend of staff support and peer‑level participation that defines much of the forum’s tone.

Best Reply or Topic of the Week

The standout reply this week is @Itachixkurosaki’s detailed VirtualBox diagnosis in Blue Tooth mouse disappeared, but it’s there?.

In that post, they:

  • Explain how VirtualBox’s mouse integration hides the guest cursor and what happens when Guest Additions fail to rebuild against a new kernel.
  • Suggest a quick test using the mouse integration toggle, then walk through inspecting the running kernel with uname -r and checking loaded modules via lsmod | grep -i vbox.
  • Describe how Liquorix kernels can outpace VirtualBox’s module support and why the in‑kernel vboxguest driver can leave things half‑working.

The reply is practical, clearly written, and uses minimal but effective commands, making it very accessible for anyone running Linux guests in VirtualBox.

You can read it directly here: Blue Tooth mouse disappeared, but it’s there? – post #4.

Top Contributor

Congratulations to @Brian_Masinick on earning this week’s Top Contributor badge! :trophy:

Thanks for reading. See you again next week! :penguin:

Our community remains free of banner ads thanks to our partnership with Better Stack.

Better Stack offers infrastructure observability services, uptime monitoring, logging, incident management, and a free tier worth checking out. Visit Better Stack

:warning: Important: Avoid replying to this topic. Instead, reply to the topics linked within. Or, if you have questions or comments related to this weekly summary, please post them in the #site-help or Our Community forum category.

2 Likes
73

This week in our forums…

Key Stats

In the past week, our Linux forums had the following activity and key statistics:

Total New Posts: 246
Total New Topics: 15

Top Contributors

@ericmarceau: 26 posts, 69 likes received
@tkn: 27 posts, 67 likes received
@Brian_Masinick: 24 posts, 74 likes received
@JohnWick: 17 posts, 58 likes received
@Bitpainter75: 13 posts, 49 likes received
@jmarkus: 16 posts, 49 likes received
@Jymm: 7 posts, 29 likes received
@Norm24: 8 posts, 26 likes received
@goatherd: 11 posts, 23 likes received
@Bitpainter75: 13 posts, 49 likes received

Interesting Topics

  1. Ubuntu MATE 26.04 → 26.10, LTS confusion, and practical upgrade advice

    In mate, @DeanHighland, @tkn, @bornagainpenguin, @suivue and others spent a very active week unpacking what it really means to be on Ubuntu MATE 26.04 / 26.04.1 and how that differs from the LTS base. The long-running thread “26.04.1 release” captured real-world upgrade experiences, issues like broken screenshots and menu editing, ESM/Ubuntu Pro interactions, and the emerging consensus that many users may be better off either staying on 24.04 LTS or moving to 26.10 once it lands. There is also clear signposting from @suivue about where maintenance effort is going and how fixes will be backported.

  2. Ubuntu MATE 26.10 beta lands

    Also in mate, @Norm24 highlighted that the next interim release is now available in “Ubuntu MATE 26.10 beta has been released”. @Jymm immediately raised a sharp UX question about branding, noticing that the beta image shows the standard Ubuntu logo even though it is a MATE spin. The thread is short but important as an entry point for anyone considering testing the beta instead of staying on 26.04.

  3. Screenshot and Eye of MATE problems on 26.04.1

    Still in #linux-support territory for Ubuntu MATE users, @Watford opened “Problem with Screenshot” after finding that area screenshots appear to work, but saving the image causes the app to stall. Follow ups from @tkn and @suivue explain that this is a known bug fixed in 26.10 and likely to be backported, while @DeanHighland confirms that even alternative tools like Flameshot then hit issues when viewing with Eye of MATE. The thread has concrete error logs and serves as a good reference for others hitting the same behaviour.

  4. Specifying and using USB storage “quirks”

    In #linux-support, @ericmarceau documented a subtle but important storage reliability issue in “Specifying and using hardware “quirks””. After seeing intermittent read failures from a WD MyBook over USB2, they tracked the fix down to adding the correct usb-storage.quirks parameters for each WD device in the GRUB kernel command line. The solution post explains both the original failure (including the du error) and the final stable configuration, which is likely to be useful to anyone relying on WD USB disks for backups.

  5. Recovery from a failed boot involving systemd-modules-load.service

    Also in General Discussions, @ericmarceau shared a detailed war story in “Recovery from failed boot - systemd-modules-load.service”. After repeated boot failures that dropped the system into maintenance mode, careful use of journalctl -xb, filesystem checks, and some targeted systemd investigation ultimately restored a working configuration. The narrative is a helpful example of how to methodically approach scary-looking boot errors without immediately resorting to a full reinstall.

  6. A simple readline in a Linux CLI or TUI

    In #help-support, @goatherd is designing a TUI in Go and wanted a minimal line-editing mechanism in “A simple readline in a Linux CLI or TUI”. The question digs into how to correctly handle backspace and control characters across terminals. @ugnvs pointed first to C examples (fgets, GNU Readline) and then to Go equivalents, eventually suggesting the github.com/chzyer/readline package, which the OP tested and confirmed works well. The discussion balances minimalism against robustness and includes side tips about shell read and stty behaviour.

  7. How to print (or save to PDF) entire Google AI response

    In #help-support, @ericmarceau raised a practical browser issue in “How to print (or save to PDF) entire Google AI response”. Google’s AI math output would not render correctly in printed or PDF form. @ClaudioDC experimented with Firefox print settings like “Print backgrounds” and system dialog printing, sharing screenshots showing which LaTeX-rendered equations appeared or vanished. The thread illustrates the difficulty of printing complex web-rendered math today and hints that the underlying problem lies in how Google serves the equation images.

  8. Sometimes I doubt my sanity

    In General Discussions, @tkn started a lighthearted thread “Sometimes I doubt my sanity” with a classic oversight: troubleshooting Ubuntu Studio update errors for 15 minutes before realising the laptop was not connected to a network. Replies from @pavlos, @ericmarceau, @Jymm, @Norm24 and @shybry747 turn this into a relatable discussion about aging, distraction and the importance of checking cables and simple causes first, all framed with humour.

  9. Severing old connections? Why not consider “Disroot.org”

    In news, @ericmarceau introduced privacy‑focused hosted services in “Severing old connections? Why not consider “Disroot.org””. @tkn expanded with a concise overview of Disroot as a Dutch foundation, their use of Triodos Bank, and a Nextcloud‑based stack hosted in the EU. The post also compares Disroot’s model to Proton services, emphasising GDPR compliance and immunity from the US CLOUD Act, which makes it relevant for members looking to move away from big tech providers.

  10. ESP32 project for those who play with uControllers

    In Showcase, @pavlos shared a hands‑on embedded example in “ESP32 project for those who play with uControllers”. Using Wokwi’s online simulator, the project links an ESP32 with a BMP180 sensor, providing a working virtual environment that others can fork and tinker with. It is a nice practical complement to the more desktop‑ and distro‑focused discussions elsewhere in the week.

Activity by the @staff Group

Staff were active across several areas this week, from publishing guides to steering tricky support threads.

Best Reply or Topic of the Week

Best Reply: @Bitpainter75’s deep FerrumPix update and support response

The standout contribution this week is @Bitpainter75’s detailed follow‑up on FerrumPix 0.9.56 in the showcase thread “FerrumPix: bringing photo management, RAW editing and image editing together on Linux”.

Read the reply here

In that single reply, Patrick lays out a clear, structured changelog that is unusually accessible for non‑developers:

  • Explains new manual chromatic aberration sliders in plain language and notes when to use them.
  • Describes performance improvements in RAW development and lens correction that users will actually feel.
  • Details improvements to masks, retouching tools (including larger brushes and better healing behaviour) and editor workflow options like compact adjustments.
  • Connects the changes back to real feedback from @jmarkus and others earlier in the thread.

It is a model of how to communicate complex application changes to a mixed audience of photographers and Linux users, and it effectively turns the forum post into documentation that others can reference when deciding whether to try or upgrade FerrumPix.

Top Contributor

Congratulations to @JohnWick on earning this week’s Top Contributor badge! :trophy:

Thanks for reading. See you again next week! :penguin:

Our community remains free of banner ads thanks to our partnership with Better Stack.

Better Stack offers infrastructure observability services, uptime monitoring, logging, incident management, and a free tier worth checking out. Visit Better Stack

:warning: Important: Avoid replying to this topic. Instead, reply to the topics linked within. Or, if you have questions or comments related to this weekly summary, please post them in the #site-help or Our Community forum category.

2 Likes
74

This week in our forums…

Key Stats

In the past week, our Linux forums had the following activity and key statistics:

Total New Posts: 217
Total New Topics: 15

Top Contributors

@mr_mcbride: 35 posts, 131 likes received
@Brian_Masinick: 20 posts, 54 likes received
@tkn: 15 posts, 50 likes received
@Bitpainter75: 15 posts, 49 likes received
@Norm24: 13 posts, 38 likes received
@J_J_Sloan: 7 posts, 33 likes received
@Jymm: 9 posts, 33 likes received
@jmarkus: 10 posts, 29 likes received
@taki_at_gamma_linux: 7 posts, 19 likes received
@taki_at_gamma_linux: 7 posts, 19 likes received

Interesting Topics

  1. FerrumKix joins the Ferrum family

    In Showcase, @Bitpainter75 introduced a new project, FerrumKix: a lightweight audio player, CD ripper, tagger, converter and Lyrion client for Linux. FerrumKix combines local playback, CD ripping, tag editing, conversion and Lyrion Music Server control into one desktop app, aiming to simplify what usually requires several separate tools. @tkn and @Norm24 tested early builds and discussed the target audience, album cover handling, and how it compares aesthetically and functionally to favorites like Sayonara and MusicBee.

  2. Gamma Linux on truly old hardware

    @taki_at_gamma_linux continued a very hands-on conversation in Showcase about I Built Gamma Linux to Give Old PCs Another Life :algeria:. This week, @tkn reported detailed testing on a Pentium 4-era Medion box and an Asus EeePC, uncovering DNS quirks, installer GPT/MBR pitfalls and missing NTP configuration. The thread now reads like a mini field report, including tips for adding firmware and configuring systemd-timesyncd so that Gamma runs smoothly even on 1 GB RAM machines.

  3. “The Adobe replacement” debate: ArtCraft enthusiasm and skepticism

    In General Discussions, @Halano kicked off ArtCraft - The new adobe creative alternative, sharing an overview of the ArtCraft suite that mirrors many of Adobe’s tools with Linux support and open development. @ugnvs and @tkn added links to in‑depth coverage and shared first impressions after testing components like SoundCraft, noting that the apps feel promising but not yet production ready. In parallel, @DeLinuxCo shared packaging work and screenshots in The Adobe Suite replacement for Linux is here?, showing how these AppImages are being made easy to try through a curated repo.

  4. Legal and ethical questions around AI‑cloned apps

    Also in General Discussions, @shybry747 opened ArtCraft Legality to explore whether AI‑generated “clones” of commercial software cross lines from inspiration into theft. The discussion digs into the ethics of vibe‑coding proprietary interfaces, how it might feel to have your own work cloned, and whether copying workflows and layouts without source access qualifies as stealing. @ClaudioDC took a strong stance that this kind of cloning feels like being “robbed,” while @andreas examined how the absence of Adobe source code and explicit branding might affect the legal picture.

  5. New tooling for HTML decks and one‑time sharing

    In Showcase, @nosworkspace presented NOS: a hosted workspace for AI-made HTML decks and reports. NOS is aimed at people who end up with AI‑generated single‑file HTML reports or slide decks and want a place to lightly edit and host them. The topic explains the free‑forever plan, shows an example deck, and clarifies that the service focuses on hosted editing rather than self‑hosted software. Follow‑up from @hydn and @Brian_Masinick helped surface questions about long‑term free access and how Linux users might integrate NOS into their workflows.

  6. New Linux users stepping into security

    In #our, @doffer-cyber introduced themselves and asked for learning pointers in New at Linux Need some advice. After a warm welcome from @andreas and @Bombilla, @Jymm shared a practical overview of security‑focused distributions and how to filter them on DistroWatch, distinguishing everyday privacy uses from full‑blown penetration testing environments. The replies are a good starting point if you are exploring both Linux and cyber security tools at the same time.

  7. Ubuntu MATE upgrade pitfalls and fixes

    The mate category saw continued real‑world upgrade feedback in 26.04.1 release, where @DeanHighland documented side effects of in‑place upgrades, such as fortune-mod being tied to ubuntu-mate-core and the new paged output behavior in apt. @guiverc clarified that some “glitches” are actually packaging design decisions, while @Norm24 and @suivue contributed concrete workarounds, including a PPA to fix mozo and an explanation of why MATE 1.28 has only partially landed yet in Debian and Ubuntu. The thread now doubles as a small troubleshooting guide for others moving to 26.04.1.

  8. Tuning MX Moksha and expectations for “lightweight” distros

    In General Discussions, @tkn shared benchmark‑style observations in MX Moksha, not as light and snappy as expected after testing MX Moksha on an EeePC. Memory and swap usage numbers show MX Moksha not outperforming a stripped‑down Ubuntu MATE setup on the same hardware, and certainly not matching Bodhi’s Moksha responsiveness. @taki_at_gamma_linux chimed in on expectations for different MX editions, and the thread is useful if you are evaluating ultra‑light options for very constrained laptops.

  9. Fine‑tuning the site navigation for heavy readers

    In #our, @hydn announced a quality‑of‑life improvement in Change to the “Topics” link in the sidebar. The Topics link now goes straight to your New/Unread list when there is something to catch up on, and falls back to Latest when you are up to date. @andreas reported that this better matches their habit of working through New sequentially, and the post includes a short how‑to for anyone who prefers the original behavior.

  10. Saturday Showcase roundup

    The Showcase index topic Saturday Showcase: Built & Shared by Members This Week was updated again by @system. This week’s edition highlights FerrumKix, NOS, and the Release State Reconcile CLI by @LaimaWu as projects worth a look. If you want a single jumping‑off point to explore what members are building, this recurring thread is increasingly valuable.

Activity by the @staff Group

Staff members were active across multiple areas of the forum this week, both in moderation and as regular participants:

Collectively, staff participation this week focused on smoothing the user experience in the forum itself, encouraging new members, and curating links and resources around performance, firmware, and community projects.

Best Reply or Topic of the Week

The standout reply this week is @tkn’s detailed tuning and configuration guide for Gamma Linux on low‑spec hardware in I Built Gamma Linux to Give Old PCs Another Life :algeria:.

In this post, @tkn documents how to get smooth video playback and proper time synchronization on an Asus EeePC with only 1 GB of RAM, including exact package names and systemd-timesyncd commands.

The reply walks through installing AMD firmware for OpenGL/DRI/VAAPI acceleration and then sets up NTP with systemd-timesyncd, timedatectl set-ntp true, and verification steps. It also includes real free -h output and observations about desktop responsiveness, making it an excellent, concrete resource for anyone trying to revive similar netbooks or tune Gamma Linux on very limited hardware.

You can read it here: Gamma Linux EeePC tuning and NTP setup.

Top Contributor

Congratulations to @mr_mcbride on earning this week’s Top Contributor badge! :trophy:

Thanks for reading. See you again next week! :penguin:

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