FOSS Weekly #25.03: Mint 22.1 Released, AI in VLC, Dual Boot Myths, Torvalds' Guitar Offer and More

by: Abhishek Prakash
Linux Mint 22.1 codenamed Xia is available now. I expected this point release to arrive around Christmas. But it got delayed a little, if I can call it a delay, as there are no fixed release schedule.

Wondering what's new in Mint 22.1? Check this out 👇

6 Exciting Features in Linux Mint 22.1 ‘Xia’ Release

Linux Mint’s latest upgrade is available. Explore more about it before you try it out!

It's FOSS NewsAnkush Das

And the Tuxmas lifetime membership offer is now over. We reached the milestone of 100 lifetime Plus members. Thank you for your support 🙏

💬 Let's see what else you get in this edition

• A new Raspberry Pi 5 variant.

• AI coming to VLC media player.

• Nobara being the first one to introduce a release in 2025.

• And other Linux news, videos and, of course, memes!

• This edition of FOSS Weekly is supported by PikaPods.

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PikaPods allows you to quickly deploy your favorite open source software. All future updates are handled automatically by PikaPods while you enjoy using the software. Did I tell you that they also share revenue with the original developers of the software?

Oh! You also get a $5 free credit to try it out and see if you can rely on PikaPods.

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📰 Linux and Open Source News

• Microsoft's Phi-4 AI model has been made open source.

• The Raspberry Pi 5 now has a 16 GB variant for power users.

• COSMIC Alpha 5 serves as a reminder of how the desktop environment is progressing.

• Flatpak version 1.16 is released with new features

Earlier, Kdenlive introduced AI feature and now VLC is adding AI subtitles.

AI Subtitles Are Coming to VLC— Get Ready!

VLC is adding the ability to generate subtitles with the help of AI.

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

🧠 What We’re Thinking About

Linus Torvalds is proposing to build a guitar effects pedal for one lucky kernel contributor.

Linus Torvalds offers to build free guitar effects pedal

‘I’m a software person with a soldering iron’, he warns alongside release of Linux 6.13-rc7

The RegisterSimon Sharwood

🧮 Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

• Level up your Gedit experience with these 10 tweaks.

• Using your phone's camera and mic in Ubuntu is possible.

• You can run Windows apps on Linux by following this beginner's guide.

Don’t Believe These Dual Boot Myths

Don’t listen to what you hear. I tell you the reality from my dual booting experience.

It's FOSSAnkush Das

👷 Maker's and AI Corner

ArmSoM AIM7 sets the stage for cutting-edge AI applications.

ArmSoM AIM7: A Promising Rockchip Device for AI Development

Harness the power of RK3588 Rockchip processor for AI development with ArmSoM RK3588 AI Module 7 (AIM7) AI kit.

It's FOSSAbhishek Kumar

Usenet was where conversations took place before social media came about.

Remembering Usenet - The OG Social Network that Existed Even Before the World Wide Web

Before Facebook, before MySpace and even before the Word Wide Web, there existed Usenet. From LOL to Linux, we owe a lot to Usenet.

It's FOSSBill Dyer

📹 Videos we are watching

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✨ Apps of the Week

What's so clever about KleverNotes? Find out:

KleverNotes Is A Practical Markdown Note-Taking App By KDE

That’s a clever markdown-powered editor. Give it a try!

It's FOSS NewsSourav Rudra

🛍️Deal You Would Love

Challenge your brain and have a blast learning with these acclaimed logic and puzzle games exploring key concepts of programming and machine learning.

New Year, New You: Programming Games

Have fun learning about programming and machine learning in this puzzle and logic game bundle featuring while True: learn(), 7 Billion Humans, and more.

Humble Bundle

🧩 Quiz Time

Here's a fun crossword for correctly guessing the full forms of the mentioned acronyms.

Expand the Short form: Crossword

It’s time for you to solve a crossword!

It's FOSSAnkush Das

💡 Quick Handy Tip

You can search for free icons from Font Awesome or Nerd Fonts to add to panels and terminal tools like Fastfetch.

Ensure that you install the respective fonts, font-awesome and firacode-nerd on your system before using. Otherwise, they won't appear properly.

On Font Awesome, click on Copy Glyph to copy the icon to the clipboard. And in Nerd Fonts, click on the Icons button to copy the icon to the clipboard.

🤣 Meme of the Week

Yep, that happens. 😆

🗓️ Tech Trivia

Wikipedia launched on January 15, 2001, as a free, collaborative encyclopedia. Created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, it grew to host millions of articles in multiple languages.

Today, it’s one of the most visited websites globally, embodying the spirit of open knowledge.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 FOSSverse Corner

Would it be possible to learn to code after 50? Community members share their views and experience.

50+ and learning to code...?

I’m over 50 (became 50 on 28 October 2024) and, while I did do some coding in a grey past, I noticed I’m currently finding it difficult to pick it up. There’s so much to learn: Coding (in my case C++) The API of the relevant libraries I intend to use for my Amazing FLOSS Project™. 🙂 (In my case FLTK, and yaml-cpp). The language of the build system (CMake in my case). Some editor like thing with some creature comforts (in my case I’m going with sublime text). Git (including how to…

It's FOSS Communityxahodo

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Enjoy FOSS 😄