DistroWatch muses on the best distro releases of 2025 - what are your picks?
https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20251222#2025

https://redd.it/1psnkvx
@r_linux

I didn’t expect to fall in love with Linux like this

I used Windows for years because it’s always been the easy, user-friendly choice. I’m not exactly an “average user” though, I’ve always been the type to tinker, and I’ve been self-teaching programming since I was a kid.

I also spent years trying to “make Windows mine”: random tools to change the look, add features, tweak stuff… and it usually ended with a system that felt heavier, buggier, and kind of messy.

I’ve done distro-hopping, but I never found a distro/DE that really clicked for me. Recently I’m working on one of the most important projects I’ve ever done, and I started getting paranoid about Windows spyware/malware risking it. So I set up a Fedora dual-boot and decided to use it only for that project.

While looking up the usual GNOME customization videos, I stumbled on one about installing Hyprland on Fedora.

I’d wanted to try Hyprland for a long time because I love the look and the whole vibe, but I always assumed it was basically “Arch-only”. Thanks to JaKooLit (seriously, I can’t thank them enough), I finally tried it... and yeah, I fell hard. Fedora + Hyprland gave me that dumb “new crush” feeling: the more I learned, the more I love it.

It’s the first OS where I genuinely feel like "this is mine". It fits how I think, I can noscript basically anything and the dotfiles are very addictive. Also, the Linux community philosophy is just beautiful.

I really hope more people give different distros a real try until they find something that matches them, especially now that Windows keeps getting more and more stuffed with AI bloat.

I don’t know how to explain it properly, but using an OS built by people who do this because they love it feels like the internet used to feel: more like ours, and less like something owned by cash-cow companies.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who made all of this possible <3

https://redd.it/1psqzxm
@r_linux

A month of upstreaming phones based on Snapdragon 845
https://ixit.cz/blog/2025-12-21-upstreaming-0

https://redd.it/1pstc58
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Made a weather app for linux using openweather api.
https://redd.it/1psvmnk
@r_linux

mpv v0.41.0 released - libplacebo used by default; color representation protocol support for Wayland
https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/releases/tag/v0.41.0

https://redd.it/1psvk9f
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My KDE Deskop in 2008
https://redd.it/1pt0gh4
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Competitive games is the only thing stopping me from swapping everything over to Ubuntu..

Game developers need to get serious about supporting competitive games in linux, windows hardware requirements is killing that OS, Ubuntu has worked incredibly for me and competitive gaming is the only thing stopping me from installing it on my gaming PC...

https://redd.it/1pt1j2e
@r_linux

Linux 6.19's significant ~30% performance boost for old AMD Radeon GPUs
https://www.phoronix.com/review/linux-619-amdgpu-radeon

https://redd.it/1pt3zuv
@r_linux

After toying with the notion for years, Microsoft ripped off the bandage for me.

I've been using Xubuntu for 2 months now... and every computer I own is now running it.

In the past, there were little hurdles here and there that were just a bit too cumbersome for me. I remember one was using ndiswrapper for my Netgear USB WiFi thingee. I could never get it working. But now? Development has come so far. The N300 worked right out of the box... Restricted codecs and Nvidia drivers installed alongside the OS... My sound worked perfectly... IT JUST WORKED. Hell, I had forgotten how quickly apps like Gimp or LibreWolf can open up when Microsoft isn't pulling strings behind the scenes.

The ONLY thing I couldn't migrate over was AutoCAD, but I can get by with a dual boot of Windows 10 that isn't allowed to touch the internet.

So yes, for the first time in a while, it finally feels like I own my operating system! I am loving it.

https://redd.it/1pt4pbk
@r_linux

Since we are sharing OLD Linux desktop pics - Behold my Gnome Slackware desktop from 2004
https://redd.it/1pt6rsr
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Supporting old desktop screenshot nostalgia. Year 2011, everyone was obsessed with Conky.
https://redd.it/1pt94pu
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Rex: Proposed Safe Rust Kernel Extensions For The Linux Kernel, In Place Of eBPF
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Kernel-Rust-Rex

https://redd.it/1pt4bh6
@r_linux

Linux-Next maintainer Change : Stephen Rothwell handing over the reins to Mark Brown...effective from Jan 16, 2026
https://lwn.net/ml/all/20251218180721.20eb878e@canb.auug.org.au/#t

https://redd.it/1pti3lc
@r_linux

I built a TUI client for WhatsApp
https://redd.it/1ptnh06
@r_linux

Got Arch stable after almost a month - suggest what I should do next

I had some pretty nasty hardware issues, but after about a month of troubleshooting, installing and uninstalling Arch 3 times, re-partitioning drives and rebuilding bootloaders many times, I finally have a stable setup. It really is like breaking free of chains. I despise loading into windows now and once time and money permit I'll aim to migrate as much over to linux as I possibly can.

Now that it's finally stable (for now), I'm looking for suggestions as to what to do next. I've got a fairly basic setup. I'm on KDE Plasma and didn't even install their application package. I've only been installing packages as I need them essentially and have most of my normal tools for work and daily use.

What are some suggestions in terms of customization, optimization or just tool installation for a new linux user?

https://redd.it/1ptqj3j
@r_linux

What is the best & worst distro you've used so far?

What is the best & worst distro you've used so far? And why?

Which one would you recommend and which one you totally wouldn't?

Was there a distro you tried and was hyped for it only to be dissappointed in the end? Was there a distro that surprised you in a good way? :)

https://redd.it/1ptr98e
@r_linux

Are there any distros that you don't daily drive (anymore), but remember fondly?

For me it's Slitaz Linux. I downloaded it and daily drove it for half a year when 4.0 was still new (2012/3). My computer specs at the time were Pentium 4, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, pretty measly even for that time period. Slitaz was small, nimble, and served me well.

The aspect I remember the most fondly however is the visual language: Clearlooks-esque theme, orange colors, Faenza icons, Polar cursors, the DejaVu Sans UI font, all of which combined makes for a coherent yet distinct 2010s style.

It was during my distrohopping days. I switched to Puppy Linux (another interesting memory) after that. The development of Slitaz eventually fizzled out, and now it's a dormant distro with mostly old packages.

What are some distros that you have fond memories of?

https://redd.it/1ptrs22
@r_linux

Pro Audio Config v1.9

A professional opensource audio configuration tool for Linux systems that provides a simple graphical interface to manage PipeWire and ALSA audio settings. Made for everyone, from music listeners to gamers, streamers, musicians and other heavy users...
Finally, an easy way to configure sample rates, bit depths, and buffer sizes without digging through config files:

Pro Audio Config on GitHub

Tested on for Arch, Fedora and Ubuntu (for all maju DEs Gnome,KDE, Cinnmaon MATE, XFCE...)

Monitor tab in action - Monitor tab scrshot

# Whats new:

Configuration Inspector Tab

Comprehensive File Scanning: Automatic discovery of all PipeWire/WirePlumber configuration files
Active Status Detection: Heuristic-based identification of active pro-audio configurations
Visual File Indicators: ✓ checkmarks show files currently influencing system audio settings
Smart File Organization: Clear separation between user and system configuration files
Desktop Environment Integration: Intelligent terminal detection for system file editing
File Metadata Display: Size, modification time, owner information, and content preview
Refresh Capability: On-demand rescanning of configuration files and PipeWire state

Enhanced Audio Monitoring Reconnection

Manual Reconnect Button: One-click recovery for monitoring connection issues
Multi-attempt Strategy: Exponential backoff reconnection with intelligent retry logic
Service Health Monitoring: Automatic detection of PipeWire service interruptions
Connection Cleanup: Removal of stale monitor ports before reconnection attempts
PID Change Handling: Automatic recovery when audio daemons restart
Monitoring Thread Lifecycle: Proper cleanup and restart of monitoring threads

 Smart Active Configuration Detection

Filename Pattern Recognition: Files starting with "99-" or containing "pro-audio" identified as active
Content Analysis: Detection of common pro-audio settings in configuration files
Application Signature: Files containing "# Generated by Pro Audio Config" marked as active
pw-dump Integration: Property parsing to identify referenced configuration files
Heuristic Fallback: Content-based detection when direct references unavailable

release-notes: Notes Version 1.9

If you like it and want to support new releases in the future, donate button in the readme...

New config inspector

https://redd.it/1pttb07
@r_linux

Meta Is Using The Linux Scheduler Designed For Valve's Steam Deck On Its Servers
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Meta-SCX-LAVD-Steam-Deck-Server

https://redd.it/1ptvwtd
@r_linux

Linux 6.19 boosts old AMD GCN HD 7900 GPU performance by ~30% with AMDGPU
https://videocardz.com/newz/linux-6-19-boosts-old-amd-gcn-hd-7900-gpu-performance-by-30-with-amdgpu

https://redd.it/1ptxz5p
@r_linux

Tiny OSC52 clipboard helper from remote servers — useful or redundant?

Working locally on macOS I got very used to piping things into pbcopy... configs, logs, whole files, so I could inspect or paste them elsewhere in one command.

When working on remote Linux servers over SSH, I really missed that workflow, so I put together a small helper using OSC52 to send data from a remote shell directly into my local clipboard (tested with iTerm2).

Here’s the noscript:

#/usr/local/bin/rc
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

usage() {
cat <<'USAGE' >&2
Usage:
rcopy <file>
rcopy - < <(command)
rcopy -p "literal text"

Env:
RCOPY_MAX_BYTES=75000
USAGE
exit 2
}

max_bytes="${RCOPY_MAX_BYTES:-75000}"
mode="file"; literal=""; src=""

[[ $# -ge 1 ]] || usage
case "$1" in
-h|--help) usage;;
-p|--print) mode="literal"; literal="${2-}"; [[ -n "$literal" ]] || usage;;
-) mode="stdin";;
*) mode="file"; src="$1";;
esac

tmp="$(mktemp)"
trap 'rm -f "$tmp"' EXIT

if [[ "$mode" == "literal" ]]; then
printf '%s' "$literal" >"$tmp"
elif [[ "$mode" == "stdin" ]]; then
cat >"$tmp"
else
[[ -f "$src" ]] || { echo "rcopy: not a file: $src" >&2; exit 1; }
cat -- "$src" >"$tmp"
fi

bytes="$(wc -c <"$tmp" | tr -d ' ')"
if (( bytes > max_bytes )); then
echo "rcopy: ${bytes} bytes exceeds limit ${max_bytes}. Refusing." >&2
exit 1
fi

b64="$(base64 <"$tmp" | tr -d '\n')"
printf '\033]52;c;%s\033\\' "$b64"
echo "Sent ${bytes} bytes via OSC52" >&2

Now I can do things like:

`rcopy nginx.conf`

`journalctl -u foo | rcopy -`

…and paste locally to inspect, diff, or share elsewhere.

I’m curious:

* Do people already use something similar?
* Is there an existing tool that does this better / more cleanly?
* Or is this a reasonable quality-of-life hack for SSH-heavy workflows?

Genuinely interested whether this is useful or just reinventing something obvious.

https://redd.it/1ptydpi
@r_linux