FOSS Weekly #25.48: Backup Flatpaks and Snaps, Arduino's Troubled Future, New Office, Popular Linux Apps Reborn and More

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃

I’m incredibly thankful for this community. To our Plus members who support us financially, and to our free members who amplify our work by sharing it with the world — you all mean a lot to us. Your belief in what we do has kept us going for 13 amazing years.

This Thanksgiving, let’s also extend our gratitude beyond our personal circles to the open-source contributors whose work silently powers our servers, desktops, and daily digital lives. From code to distributions to documentation, their relentless effort keeps the Linux world alive 🙏

Here's the highlight of this edition of FOSS Weekly:

• Zorin OS upgrade tool.
• Arduino's future looking precarious.
• Dell prioritizing Linux with its recent launch.
• Backing up Flatpak and Snap applications.
• And other Linux news, tips, and, of course, memes!

Thanksgiving is also associated with offers, deals and shopping. Like every year, I have curated a list of deals and offers that may interest you as a Linux user. See if there is something that you need (or want).

Black Friday Deals for Linux Users 2025 [Continually Updated With New Entries]

Save big on cloud storage, privacy tools, VPN services, courses, and Linux hardware.

It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

There is also a wholesome deal that will deliver fresh cranberry sauce to your doorstep while supporting keystone open source maintainers.

📰 Linux and Open Source News

• Blender 5.0 has arrived with major changes across the board.
• TUXEDO Computers has shelved its plans for an Arm notebook.
• Ultramarine 43 is here with a fresh Fedora 43 base and some major changes.
• Raspberry Pi Imager 2.0 has arrived with a clean redesign and new features.
• Dell has launched the Dell Pro Max 16 Plus, with the Linux version being available before Windows.

Collabora has relaunched desktop office suite. Which is basically LibreOffice under the core but with a more modern and fresh user interface.

Collabora Launches Desktop Office Suite for Linux

The new office suite uses modern tech for a consistent online-offline experience; the existing offering is renamed ‘Classic’ and it maintains a traditional approach.

It's FOSSSourav Rudra

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

Arduino's enshittification might've begun as Qualcomm carries out some massive policy changes.

Enshittification of Arduino Begins? Qualcomm Starts Clamping Down

New Terms of Service introduce perpetual content licenses, reverse-engineering bans, and widespread data collection.

It's FOSSSourav Rudra

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials, and Learnings

You can backup and restore your Flatpak and Snap apps and settings between distro hops.

Backup and Restore Your Flatpak Apps & Settings

Make a backup of your Flatpak apps and application data and restore them to a new Linux system where Flatpak is supported.

It's FOSSRoland Taylor

Move Between the Distros: Back Up and Restore Your Snap Packages

Make a backup of your Snap apps and application data and restore them to a new Linux system where Snap is supported. Works between Ubuntu and non-Ubuntu distros, too.

It's FOSSRoland Taylor

The Zorin OS developers have given early access to the upgrade path from Zorin OS 17 to 18.

And check out this list of OG applications that were reborn as NG apps.

Open Source Never Dies: 11 of My Favorite Linux Apps That Refused to Stay Dead

These Linux apps were popular once. And then they were abandoned. And then they came back with a new generation tag.

It's FOSSRoland Taylor

👷 AI, Homelab and Hardware Corner

Don't neglect your homelab. Manage it effectively with these dashboard tools.

9 Dashboard Tools to Manage Your Homelab Effectively

See which server is running what services with the help of a dashboard tool for your homelab.

It's FOSSAbhishek Kumar

🛍️ Linux eBook bundle

This curated library (partner link) of courses includes Supercomputers for Linux SysAdmins, CompTIA Linux+ Certification Companion, Using and Administering Linux: Volumes 1–2, and more. Plus, your purchase supports the Room to Read initiative!

✨ Project Highlights

A return from the dead? These open source apps sure did.

Open Source Never Dies: 11 of My Favorite Linux Apps That Refused to Stay Dead

These Linux apps were popular once. And then they were abandoned. And then they came back with a new generation tag.

It's FOSSRoland Taylor

📽️ Videos I Am Creating for You

In the latest video, I share how I customize and set up my Firefox browser.

💡 Quick Handy Tip

In Nautilus file manager, you can select files according to certain pre-set conditions.

To do that, first press CTRL+S and enter the relevant patterns you want to sort by. This will then make Nautilus select files or directories based on the given pattern.

You can press CTRL+SHIFT+I to revert the selection as well.

PS: The tip was tested using Nautilus, but other file managers should also have such functionality; only the shortcuts will vary.

🎋 Fun in the FOSSverse

Test your skills by reviewing Fedora's interesting history in this quick quiz.

The Fedora Side of Linux: Quiz

Fedora has an interesting history. Take this quiz to find out a little more about it.

It's FOSSAnkush Das

🤣 Meme of the Week: Step aside mortals, your god is here.

🗓️ Tech Trivia: On November 24, 1998, America Online announced it would acquire Netscape Communications in a stock-for-stock deal valued at $4.2 billion, a move that signaled the shifting balance of power in the browser wars and highlighted the rapid consolidation occurring during the late-1990s Internet boom.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 From the Community: Long-time FOSSer Ernest has posted an interesting thread on obscure Linux distributions.

Obscure GNU/Linux Distributions that May Interest You

In the ZDNET Tech Today newsletter that came into my inbox today, there’s an item that interested me, and I immediately thought about all my fellow !T’S FOSS’ers! You can read the item for yourself here, but one distribution in particular caught my attention, because it offers only open source software throughout, and it eschews systemd, and instead offers several other init systems users can choose from, including OpenRC, Runit, s6, and SysV (list copied directly from the article), which brough…

It's FOSS Communityernie

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