FOSSPicks
FOSSPicks
Nate explores the top FOSS including a utility to "curse" MP4s, the latest Gnome desktop, a fantastic Hexen source port, and a minimalistic RSS aggregator.
The FOSS Rises
If you visit www.killedbygoogle.com, you'll find almost 300 projects that have been relegated to Google's graveyard. These include the Google toolbar, which for over 20 years provided a Google search bar in browsers such as Internet Explorer. Linux users are unlikely to mourn this, but gamers everywhere have been lamenting Google's decision to kill off Steam for Chromebook after less than four years.
Most Chromebooks run a heavily modified version of Gentoo (ChromeOS), so in theory, users can keep gaming by installing the Linux version of Steam. However, this will run in a container within a VM and there's no dedicated GPU access.
Like the Chrome browser, ChromeOS is based on an open source project but contains proprietary elements. That means when the gods of Google decide to remove a particular feature such as Steam, the end user is always going to get stiffed. Of course, projects get nixed in the world of open source, too. In this month's FOSSPicks, I've even covered a source port of Hexen II based on a previously abandoned Linux project. However, this is the beauty of a community-led approach to software development. When there's a demand for a project to be maintained, it will be fulfilled.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Happy Birthday, ADMIN Magazine!
ADMIN is celebrating its 15th anniversary with issue #90.
-
Another Linux Malware Discovered
Russian hackers use Hyper-V to hide malware within Linux virtual machines.
-
TUXEDO Computers Announces a New InfinityBook
TUXEDO Computers is at it again with a new InfinityBook that will meet your professional and gaming needs.
-
SUSE Dives into the Agentic AI Pool
SUSE becomes the first open source company to adopt agentic AI with SUSE Enterprise Linux 16.
-
Linux Now Runs Most Windows Games
The latest data shows that nearly 90 percent of Windows games can be played on Linux.
-
Fedora 43 Has Finally Landed
The Fedora Linux developers have announced their latest release, Fedora 43.
-
KDE Unleashes Plasma 6.5
The Plasma 6.5 desktop environment is now available with new features, improvements, and the usual bug fixes.
-
Xubuntu Site Possibly Hacked
It appears that the Xubuntu site was hacked and briefly served up a malicious ZIP file from its download page.
-
LMDE 7 Now Available
Linux Mint Debian Edition, version 7, has been officially released and is based on upstream Debian.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Reaches EOL
Linux kernel 6.16 has reached its end of life, which means you'll need to upgrade to the next stable release, Linux kernel 6.17.