653: The Kernel Always Wins

The news this week highlights shifts in Linux from multiple angles. What's evolving, why it matters, and that moment where the future actually works. Sponsored By:

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Support LINUX Unplugged (https://jupitersignal.memberful.com/checkout?plan=52946) Links:

• 💥 Gets Sats Quick and Easy with Strike (https://strike.me/) • 📻 LINUX Unplugged on Fountain.FM (https://www.fountain.fm/show/dWiuBeqpDSM86AwXRXov) • SCaLE 23x | Registration (https://register.socallinuxexpo.org/reg23/) — Get 40% off registration with promo code "UNPLG" • PlanetNix 2026 (https://planetnix.com/) — Where Nix Builders Come Together • Pasadena Linux Party Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/jupiterbroadcasting/events/313050140/) • Valve explains why it hasn’t announced release dates for its new hardware, now plans for “first half of the year” (https://www.pcguide.com/news/valve-explains-why-it-hasnt-announced-release-dates-for-its-new-hardware-now-plans-for-first-half-of-the-year/) — Valve now says all three products will ship “in the first half of the year.” • Latest VirtualBox Code Begins Supporting KVM Backend (https://www.phoronix.com/news/VirtualBox-Upstream-With-KVM) — Support for KVM or other native OS hypervisors in conjunction with VirtualBox has long been sought and it's finally becoming a reality. • bcachefs-tools v1.36.1 (https://evilpiepirate.org/git/bcachefs-tools.git/tree/Changelog.mdwn) — Interactive TUI for monitoring various filesystem internals, slowpaths and device performance, with duration and frequency tracking for various events. Helpful for diagnosing performance issues. • bcachefs v1.36.1 is out - next release will be erasure coding : r/bcachefs (https://www.reddit.com/r/bcachefs/comments/1qy1hv0/v1361_is_out_next_release_will_be_erasure_coding/) • bcachefs PSA: if you're on 1.33-1.35, upgrade asap (https://www.reddit.com/r/bcachefs/comments/1qyryzn/psa_if_youre_on_133135_upgrade_asap/) — Several people have been hit by this, so - please upgrade asap. • Mattermost (https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost) — Mattermost is an open source platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle. • Debian's CI Data No Longer Publicly Browseable Due To LLM Scrapers / Bot Traffic (https://www.phoronix.com/news/Debian-CI-LLM-Restrictions) • Venice AI - Private AI for Unlimited Creative Freedom (https://venice.ai/) • ThinkBox V2 - A Custom 4-Bay SATA/SAS HDD NAS for Your Lenovo M720Q (https://makerworld.com/en/models/2291411-thinkbox-v2-a-custom-4-bay-sata-sas-hdd-nas) • Code for Climate 2026 — The Mad Botter Earth Day Open Source Challenge (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7422747650325716993/) — We're doing our Earth Day open-source competition again The Mad Botter INC. Once again featuring System76 hardware and this time with dual tracks for college and non-college students. • Michael Dominick on X - Earth Day Open Source Challenge (https://x.com/dominucco/status/2017282757051699655) • Red5d/podcast_mcp (https://github.com/Red5d/podcast_mcp) — MCP server for accessing Podcasting 2.0 RSS feed episode data. "I've really only tested it with JB feeds!" • Pick: Plexus (https://f-droid.org/packages/tech.techlore.plexus/) — Remove the fear of Android app compatibility on de-Googled devices. • Plexus-app: GitHub (https://github.com/techlore/Plexus-app) • Pick: ReinschriftTodo (https://github.com/danst0/ReinschriftTodo) — Reinschrift combines a native GNOME interface with the simplicity of plain text. Your tasks remain a normal Markdown file – easy to back up, versionable via Git, and editable on any device with your favorite editor. • Reinschrift on Flathub (https://flathub.org/en/apps/me.dumke.Reinschrift)