Making today very exciting in Linux 7.1 merge window land was a pull request being sent out for introducing the new, modern NTFS file-system driver. Linus Torvalds has yet to comment if he's going to merge the new driver but it looks like it's ready for providing a better Linux NTFS experience over the current NTFS3 driver that was upstreamed by Paragon Software a few years ago and hasn't seen too much feature progress.

Veteran Linux developer Namjae Jeon who has been responsible for exFAT driver work, KSMBD, and other kernel contributions announced NTFSPLUS last year as a better NTFS driver with greater performance and more features over what the NTFS3 driver or other NTFS driver alternatives provides. That driver has been iterated on in recent months and ultimately dropped the "NTFS PLUS" name as just taking on a remake of the original Linux NTFS kernel driver.

From the press release [my emphasis]:

Require operating system developers like Apple and Google to verify users’ ages when setting up a new device, rather than relying on self-reported ages.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/25834609

The U.S. has been quietly building up a set of state-level laws that push operating system providers into the age verification plague.

California's AB 1043, signed in October 2025, requires OS providers to collect age data at account setup and pipe it to apps through a real-time API. It kicks in on January 1, 2027.

Colorado is working on something nearly identical. SB26-051 (which we covered when it was still a proposal) passed the state Senate 28-7 on March 3, 2026, and is now waiting on a House vote to become law there too.

However, these are just state-level laws. A new federal bill, H.R.8250, introduced on April 13, 2026, by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, with Rep. Elise M. Stefanik signing on as cosponsor, has us intrigued.

I’ve been using Linux for years, but as the proprietary alternatives get more aggressive with telemetry and adverts, I wanted to document the choices that actually keep my desktop predictable.

This isn't a manual, but a practical overview of my setup. From why I’ve settled on CachyOS and KDE Plasma for my main rig, to the reality of dealing with proprietary software and app compatibility in 2026. It’s just an honest look at the transition and why I’m done with the corporate defaults.

Back in 2005, a bug report was filed by Kjetil Kjernsmo, then running KDE 3.3.2 on Debian Stable. He wanted the ability to have each connected screen show a different virtual desktop independently, rather than having all displays switch as one unit.

Over the years, over 15 duplicate reports piled onto the original as more people ran into the same wall. And that's not a surprise, because multi-monitor setups have become increasingly common.

The technical reason why this issue stayed open this long comes down to X11. Implementing it there would have required violating the EWMH specification, which has no concept of multiple virtual desktops being active at the same time.

So I've been using tint2 as my taskbar in openbox for years, but with tint2 basically having released its final release (17.0.2) years ago, I'm in the market for a different taskbar.

I've used lxpanel and xfce4's panel in the past, but they have a different setup and I really just need something that does what tint2 does without too much bs around it.

Something which stays out of the way and allows me to click through it for openbox' right-click menu.

Anyone have any suggestions for something simple like tint2 which is actually maintained and which works on a WM instead of relying on a DE?

I enjoyed this article by Lars Wirzenius, who has known Linus Torvalds since the 80s.

Thus, mine was the first PC where Linux was ever installed. While this was happening, I was taking a nap, and I recommend this method of installing Linux: napping, while Linus does the hard work.

Alas, early Linux networking code was occasionally a little rough, having been written from scratch. At one point, Linux would send some broken packets that took down all of the Sun machines on the network. As it was difficult to get the Sun kernel fixed, Linux was banned from the university network until its bug was fixed. Not having Usenet access from one's desk is a great motivator.

This is EXACTLY the kind of review we should be seeing when people say they tried X distro.

An old man who doesn't have time for any bullshit who used the distro for at least a year who says that it's his favorite distro is a big positive in my book.

I think I'm going to switch to that distro after all.

Because of the ubiquity, nay, monopoly of systemd I always assumed it was miles ahead of other init systems. Nope. I've been using a non-systemd environment for a while and must say I'm surprised by how little breaks, i.e., next to nothing. Moreover, boot and shutdown times are faster. I'd suggest trying it out.

https://nosystemd.org/.

OC writeup by @arsCynic@piefed.social

The "new" linux distro StillOS is now released for the public.

For tinkers and super users, this distro is perhaps not that interesting.

But for users that just wants to have a system that works without the need to use terminal or being afraid of destroying system files, this distro looks very promising.

I like the way how they implement web apps (when needed).

What are your thoughts?

The author raises some good questions about the licensing of the core utils.