Zorin OS 16.02 Now Available

Zorin OS is one of the more user-friendly (and beautiful) Linux distributions on the market. Only seven months after unleashing the first point release for the 16th iteration, a new point release is available that includes a really important feature for those migrating from Windows.

With Zorin OS 16.2, users will now find a new Windows App Support menu in the System Tools section of the desktop menu. This new feature makes it considerably easier for users to install Windows applications with just a few clicks.

The new Windows App Support feature also makes it easier for the distribution to detect Windows installer files for many popular applications and will suggest alternatives.

Other features include improved compatibility with Microsoft Office documents (by including alternatives to proprietary fonts), a much better Zorin Connect experience (for example, you can now view the status of your laptop battery on your phone), and GDevelop was added to the Zorin OS Education spin.

LibreOffice 7.4 is installed by default, a new maximize effect and refined physics for Jelly Mode have been added, as well, and new hardware compatibility has been added.

You can download Zorin OS 16.2 from the official site (https://zorin.com/os/download/) and find out more from the official Zorin blog (https://blog.zorin.com/2022/10/27/zorin-os-16.2-has-landed/).

Linus Torvalds Considers Dropping i486 Support

For anyone who still depends on aging hardware for Linux use, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise. Linus Torvalds has announced that he is considering dropping support for aging i486 hardware in the kernel.

On this issue, Torvalds says, "We got rid of i386 support back in 2012. Maybe it's time to get rid of i486 support in 2022?" (https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAHk-=wjrpH1+6cQQjTO6p-96ndBMiOnNH098vhS2jLybxD+7gA@mail.gmail.com/).

The good news is, i486 hardware is pretty irrelevant at this point and anyone still depending on such hardware is on borrowed time anyway. In fact, i486 hardware is pretty much considered a relic of days gone by. However, that doesn't mean it's completely vanished from sight.

Torvalds received a bit of pushback from the statement, as such hardware is still being shipped. And given that i486 is still the listed minimum requirement for most Linux distributions and is well accepted by lightweight Linux distributions such as Tiny Core Linux, the idea might get enough flack that it could be set aside for another year.

However, if Torvalds has his way, the writing is definitely on the wall and i486 support in the Linux kernel will eventually be dropped.

This all might well come down to cmpxchg8b, which is directly tied to the Pentium F00F bug. The issue might simply become a matter of security. And given how much work goes into the Linux kernel (and how complicated it has become), it wouldn't surprise me in the least if i486 hardware is dropped for this reason alone.

Firefox 106 Lands with Back-Forward Swipe Gesture Support

The popular open source web browser has been updated to version 106 and includes a pair of features that should excite many users … with a caveat. But first, the features.

With the release of Firefox 106, users will be greeted with the ability to use trackpad gestures (two-finger swipes left and right) to go backward and forward in the browser. Although this feature has bounced in and out of the browser, previously it required using the Alt key to make it work. Now, the Alt key isn't necessary.

However, the caveat is that this feature only works with Wayland, so X11 users are out of luck. If, however, Wayland is your X server of choice, the feature works flawlessly.

The next big addition to Firefox 106 is the PDF annotator. This new feature uses the built-in PDF viewer and allows you to load a PDF in Firefox such that you can take freehand notes within a PDF. With this new feature, you can adjust the size, font, and color and even move annotations around as needed.

Other new additions to Firefox 106 include the Firefox View, which makes it easy to view tabs from other Firefox instances that are connected to your Firefox account, and a darker Private mode.

You can download Firefox 106 (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/106.0/releasenotes/) from the Mozilla site or wait for your distribution of choice to pick it up in its standard repositories. To find out more about Firefox 106, read the official release notes (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/106.0/releasenotes/).