Linux back over 4% in the July 2026 Steam Survey
The Steam Hardware & Software Survey for July 2026 is out now and going by the current data, Linux has managed to jump back just over 4%.

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Steam On Linux Use Back Above 4% In July
Valve just published the Steam Survey results for July 2026 and point to a small uptick in Linux gaming use… ⌘ Read more

NetBSD 11.0 Released With RISC-V Support, Enhanced Linux System Call Compatibility
NetBSD 11.0 officially shipped today as the nineteenth major release of this popular BSD operating system… ⌘ Read more

MPEG-4 Patent Expiration, RADV On Windows, Open-Source AI & Other July Highlights
Last month on Phoronix there were 257 original Linux/open-source related news articles and another 20 featured Linux hardware reviews / multi-page benchmark articles. Following the recent 22nd birthday of Phoronix.com, this puts the overall tally at nearly 51k original news articles and more than 5,600 Linux hardware reviews. Here is a look back at what readers found most exciting during the course of July… ⌘ Read more

Prominent Arch Linux Developer Resigns After 10 Year Run
Arch Linux developer, security team member, AUR maintainer, and package maintainer Morten Linderud “Foxboron” announced today he is resigning from the project… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.2-rc6 Working Around Several Buggy Western Digital SATA Drives
Merged ahead of tomorrow’s Linux 7.2-rc6 kernel test release are several ATA fixes that include a number of device-specific workarounds for some Western Digital SATA drives that have been failing to work on recent versions of the Linux kernel… ⌘ Read more

AMD Begins Posting Display Core Next 6 “DCN6” Linux Patches For RDNA5 GPUs
AMD closed out the month of July by posting some new AMDGPU Display Core “DC” patches. Most notable with this weekly patch ritual is several patches beginning to establish the foundation for Display Core Next 6 “DCN6” as their next-generation display IP. The patches tie DCN6 to the AMD GFX13 graphics engine, which is anticipated to be for the next-generation RDNA5 graphics processors… ⌘ Read more

Nouveau Preparing To Finally Enable Atomic Mode-Setting By Default
In addition to the Nouveau kernel driver unblocking Vulkan Video H.264 support for the Mesa NVK driver, another feature change on the way is this open-source NVIDIA Linux driver finally preparing to enable atomic mode-setting by default… ⌘ Read more

Arch Linux AUR Under Another Wave Of Malicious Packages, Package Adoptions Halted
Last month the Arch Linux User Repository “AUR” saw more than 1,500 malicious packages amid a sophisticated malware attack and then also seeing an influx of spam and profanities amid this community/user-maintained repository for the popular Arch Linux distribution. Unfortunately, there is another round of AUR troubles… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.3 To Allow Tuning AMD P-State Dynamic EPP With Per CPU Core Granularity
Sent out last night was the last batch of planned AMD P-State driver feature improvements targeting the upcoming Linux 7.3 merge window… ⌘ Read more

Nouveau Patch For Linux 7.3 Opens The Door For NVK Vulkan Video Atop NVIDIA NVDEC
This week’s round of drm-misc-next patches for staging ahead of the Linux 7.3 kernel merge window bring an exciting change for the open-source NVIDIA “Nouveau” driver… ⌘ Read more

x86_64 Shadow Stack By Default Retargeted For Fedora 46
In recent weeks there was a proposal to enable x86_64 Shadow Stack support by default with the upcoming Fedora Linux 45 release. That change has been approved now by the Fedora Engineering and Steering Committee (FESCo) but with the feature being punted off to Fedora 46 next year… ⌘ Read more

Sound Fixes For Linux 7.2-rc6: “Far Larger Than Wished”
Linux sound subsystem maintainer Takashi Iwai of SUSE previously warned of many sound driver fixes due to AI/LLMs and a “new normal” of patch activity as a result. While we are approaching the end of the Linux 7.2 merge window with the stable release coming up in August, the sound patches continue trending higher and this week were “far larger than wished” ahead of Linux 7.2-rc6 due out on Sunday… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.3 Will Treat Intel Nova Lake S Graphics As Stable
Ahead of the next-generation Intel Nova Lake processors expected to begin rolling out around the start of 2027, the upcoming Linux 7.3 kernel cycle is going to begin treating Nova Lake S processors with their integrated graphics as stable… ⌘ Read more

AMD Posts Linux Patches For HDMI 2.1 Auto Low-Latency Mode “ALLM” & VRR
Following AMD posting AMDGPU patches for HDMI 2.1 FRL support after the HDMI 2.1 open-source support was long blocked by the HDMI Forum, as part of working toward a complete HDMI 2.1 implementation in this AMD Linux driver it was followed by HDMI 2.1 Display Stream Compression (DSC) support. Now the latest on the AMDGPU HDMI 2.1 enabling path is enabling Auto Low-Latency Mode (ALLM) as well as HDMI Variable Rate Refresh!.. ⌘ Read more

There’s Finally A New Game Powered By The Unigine 2 Engine
It’s been about a decade since seeing any new games released on the visually-impressive, Linux-friendly Unigine Engine. Unigine Corp has mostly been focusing on Unigine Engine usage for simulations and other professional applications, but coming as a surprise today is a new game being developed on their latest Unigine 2 engine technology… ⌘ Read more

OPI Abstraction v0.1 Published With Aiming To Standardize DPU/IPU Ecosystems
The Linux Foundation hosted Open Programmable Infrastructure “OPI” announced its first coordinated release with OPI Abstraction v0.1. The work of the Open Programmable Infrastructure is hoping to standardize the data processing unit (DPU) and infrastructure processing unit (IPU) ecosystems… ⌘ Read more

Nouveau vs. NVIDIA R610 On CachyOS With The GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU
With the Razer Blade 18 as the first laptop Razer’s certifying for (Ubuntu) Linux use while testing it out I was predominantly using the NVIDIA R610 official driver stack. Some users were interested though in how well this laptop is working with the open-source, upstream Nouveau+NVK driver stack given Razer is marketing this high-end laptop for Linux use too. Before sending the review unit back I had run some graphics benchmarks to see … ⌘ Read more

AMD Zen 6 Client HSMP Patches Points To “Ryzen Master” Functionality On Linux
In an interesting twist, patches this week posted to the Linux kernel mailing list are enabling AMD Zen 6 client desktop and laptop SoCs for the HSMP driver. Up to now the AMD HSMP Linux driver was just used for modern EPYC server processors while now we are seeing this HSMP driver supporting the upcoming Medusa and Olympic Ridge client platforms… Including mentions of overclocking and even noting “Ryzen Master” as the Windows-only … ⌘ Read more

Patches Posted To Improve Linux Media Acceleration On Intel Alchemist GPUs
The Intel Arc A-Series graphics (DG2) remains in a bit of an awkward state on Linux due to the transition period moving from the i915 kernel driver to more modern and feature capable Xe kernel driver. It’s only post-Alchemist where the Intel Xe driver is officially supported and used by default while those opting for the Xe driver with the A-Series can often enjoy better performance and functionality. Except one of the caveats in using t … ⌘ Read more

Valve Sponsors Work Bringing Open-Source RADV Driver To Windows
Valve is funding Collabora’s experimental effort to port the open-source RADV Vulkan driver from Linux to Windows. The team has already demonstrated Counter-Strike 2 running with RADV, but a stable interface or compatibility shim will be needed to handle undocumented driver changes. Phoronix reports: Louis-Francis Ratte-Boulianne put out a blog pos … ⌘ Read more

DRM Format Modifiers For Old AMD GPUs Coming With Linux 7.3: Thanks Valve
Sent out today was another week’s worth of features and other code changes to the AMDGPU kernel graphics driver and AMDKFD kernel compute driver. We are nearing the cut-off of new feature material for next month’s Linux 7.3 kernel but there is some nice feature work in store for this week… ⌘ Read more

Steam Client Adds HDR Streaming On Steam Deck OLED, AV1 Video Streaming
Today’s Steam client beta update brings some new game streaming enhancements for Linux gamers… ⌘ Read more

Intel Graphics Driver Support For Xe3 “Peak Bandwidth Threshold” Feature In Linux 7.3
Intel today sent out their latest batch of kernel graphics driver updates that are ready for staging ahead of next month’s Linux 7.3 merge window… ⌘ Read more

ARCTIC Launches Its New Fan Controller That Already Has Mainline Linux Support
In over 22 years of Linux hardware reviews and testing at Phoronix, I have never been more excited for a fan controller… ARCTIC today launched their new Fan Controller and in making the product very unique for Linux users, it already has mainline Linux kernel support via a open-source driver contributed directly by ARCTIC… ⌘ Read more

Starling: A New Linux Desktop Written In Swift, Own Wayland Compositor & Written With AI
There’s yet another new open-source desktop option for Linux users in the era of new open-source projects largely written via AI/LLMs. Starling is this new project largely written via Claude and using the Swift programming language for the desktop while having its own Wayland compositor implemented in C. It also includes a built-in X11 server for handling X11 clients… ⌘ Read more

CachyOS Outperforming Windows 11, Slight Advantage Over Ubuntu & Fedora On AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470
A recent mini PC being benchmarked at Phoronix is the BOSGAME VTA-439 that employs the new AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 Gorgon Point SoC. With the BOSGAME mini PC having shipped with Microsoft Windows 11, here are some comparison benchmarks of the out-of-the-box Windows 11 performance up against Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and Fedora Workstation 44 while also tossing the rolling-release, highly-optimized Arch Linux based CachyOS into … ⌘ Read more

CachyOS Outperforming Windows 11, Ubuntu & Fedora On AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470
A recent mini PC being benchmarked at Phoronix is the BOSGAME VTA-439 that employs the new AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 Gorgon Point SoC. With the BOSGAME mini PC having shipped with Microsoft Windows 11, here are some comparison benchmarks of the out-of-the-box Windows 11 performance up against Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and Fedora Workstation 44 while also tossing the rolling-release, highly-optimized Arch Linux based CachyOS into the benchmarking mix. ⌘ Read more

GOG confirm they are working towards GOG Galaxy on Linux
GOG previously said they planned to Linux closer at Linux, and that it was the next major frontier - and they’re now working towards GOG Galaxy on Linux.

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AMD P-State Linux Driver Patches Can Boost 1%-Low FPS Gaming Performance By 31%
A set of patches posted today to the Linux kernel mailing list implement per-core Energy Performance Preference (EPP) boosting for recently-busy CPUs. This feature is designed to have a dramatic impact for Linux gaming and helping especially with the 1% low frame-rates improving by 31.8% on the Valve Steam Deck… ⌘ Read more

Proton Experimental brings fixes for Far Cry New Dawn, Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, controller hotplugging and more
Valve pushed out a brand new update for Proton Experimental on July 28th - making more Windows games run well on SteamOS / Linux systems.

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Read the full article on [GamingOnLinux](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/ … ⌘ Read more

Linux’s crypto_rng Abstraction Layer Next On The Chopping Block
In addition to the deprecation and stripping down of AF_ALG, another piece of the Linux kernel crypto code steaming ahead toward removal is the crypto_rng abstraction layer… ⌘ Read more

Mission Center is a slick app to monitor CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, GPU and more on Linux
An app I haven’t covered he before is Mission Center - giving you a tidy interface to monitor CPU, Memory, Disk, Network and GPU and more.

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Read the full article on [GamingOnLinux](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/07/mission-center-is-a-slick-app-to-monitor-cp … ⌘ Read more

ASUS Laptop Whisper Mode Support Being Worked On For Linux
ASUS laptops support a feature called “Whisper Mode” that intentionally slows down the fan speed and lowers the CPU clock speed in order to keep the device running cool and quiet. The open-source ASUS Armoury Linux kernel driver is now seeing patches to properly support this Whisper Mode on Linux… ⌘ Read more

AMD PMF Testing Tool Slated For Linux 7.3
Looking to be added to the Linux kernel source tree for the upcoming Linux 7.3 cycle is test_amd_pmf, a small testing application for exercising the AMD Platform Management Framework (PMF) interfaces and dumping various system data points… ⌘ Read more

Mysterious 16-Tile & 32-Tile AMX Implementations Talked Up For More Performance
Last October on Phoronix we were first to point out there being some mysterious intrigue around a new x86 implementation from a “corporate entity other than Intel/AMD” with the developer involved not elaborating on the matter. Now that same developer has posted another semi-cryptic message to the Linux kernel mailing list to talk about 16-tile and 32-tile Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX) implementations. To date Intel only has … ⌘ Read more

Fwupd 2.1.7 Released With Many Bug Fixes
Fwupd 2.1.7 is out today as the newest update to this open-source firmware updating utility that pairs with the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) for offering a nice firmware upgrade story on Linux systems… ⌘ Read more

Framework Laptop 13 Pro: Aiming To Be One Of The Best Upgradeable Linux Laptops
Back in April, Framework Computer announced the Framework Laptop 13 Pro as a ground-up re-design of their modular/upgradeable laptop. This new Framework Laptop 13 Pro features a much larger battery (74Wh), LPCAMM2 memory support, a full CNC aluminum chassis, haptic touchpad, and a new power-optimized touch display. Paired with the very efficient Intel Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” SoCs, the Framework Laptop 13 Pro ends up being … ⌘ Read more

NVIDIA, Red Hat, Cloudflare, The Linux Foundation and more launch the “Open Secure AI Alliance”
Some big names are coming together to form the “Open Secure AI Alliance”, with a plan to “share open tools that promote responsible use of and trust in AI”.

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Read the full article on [GamingOnLinux](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/07/nvidia-red-hat-clo … ⌘ Read more

‘KVM Chainsaw’ Expected to Hit Linux 7.3 For Dealing with ‘God Data Structure’
An anonymous reader shared this report from Phoronix:

A patch series that appears destined for the upcoming Linux 7.3 merge window is what’s dubbed the “KVM Chainsaw” as a major code clean-up in dealing with the kvm_mmu “god data structure”. Red Hat engineer and KVM maintainer Paolo Bonzini has merged the kvm-chainsaw br … ⌘ Read more

Ubuntu To Provide Virtualization HWE Stack For Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
Ubuntu has long provided hardware enablement “HWE” stacks for Ubuntu LTS releases to provide a newer kernel and Mesa drivers and more for better supporting new/modern hardware on the long-term support Ubuntu Linux releases. With Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, Canonical will also now be providing a virtualization HWE stack for shipping newer virtualization / confidential computing features… ⌘ Read more

AMD “Low Power” CPU Core Type Patches Queued Ahead Of Linux 7.3
Last month I wrote bout new AMD Linux patches introducing a new “low power” CPU core type as an alternative to their standard performance cores and dense efficiency cores. That work now is poised to land with the upcoming Linux 7.3 kernel… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.2-rc5 Released: “Once More We Have Quite A Massive -rc5”
In working toward releasing the stable Linux 7.2 kernel in less than one month’s time, out today is Linux 7.2-rc5 to ship this week’s latest bug/regression fixes and help facilitate more testing of this in-development kernel version… ⌘ Read more

GNU Binutils 2.47 Released With More RISC-V Extensions, New Options
Along with this weekend’s release of GNU C Library 2.44, the GNU Binutils 2.47 release is also now available for this important set of binary utilities common to Linux systems and other platforms with the GNU toolchain… ⌘ Read more

“KVM Chainsaw” Expected To Hit Linux 7.3 For Dealing With God Data Structure
A patch series that appears destined for the upcoming Linux 7.3 merge window is what’s dubbed the “KVM Chainsaw” as a major code clean-up in dealing with the kvm_mmu “god data structure”… ⌘ Read more

User Frustrations Over The “Tragic State of FreeBSD Audio/Sound” Support
Besides the FreeBSD graphics and WiFi drivers lagging behind Linux and other operating systems, the FreeBSD audio driver support and handling of audio streams with FreeBSD on the desktop can be problematic depending upon the hardware/system. One of the most active mailing list threads this week in the FreeBSD camp was over the “tragic state” of FreeBSD audio/sound support… ⌘ Read more

Auto-CPUFreq 3.1 Adds Monitoring Mode To GUI, New Configuration Options & Fixes
Auto-CPUFreq is one of the open-source projects striving to be a CPU speed and power optimizer for Linux systems to improve battery life without making any real compromises to the user experience. Out today is v3.1 as the newest feature release of Auto-CPUFreq… ⌘ Read more

Realtek RTL8723B/RTL8723BS Trying To Be Tacked On To The RTW88 Linux Driver
Since 2017 in Linux 4.12 has been the Realtek rtl8723bs WiFi driver where it was introduced into the staging area and remains there nearly a decade later. The rtl8723bs driver for this Realtek 802.11n WiFi SDIO driver has seen a lot of code cleaning over the years and all these years later still is needing lots of code clean-ups from unnecessary code abstractions to dealing with malicious WiFi APs for what Greg Kroah-Hartman has cal … ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.2-rc5 Fixing Longstanding Bug In IPv4 Networking Over Firewire
Firewire still isn’t dead yet on Linux. Current plans call for maintaining IEEE-1394 Firewire on Linux at least through 2029 and with today’s Linux 7.2-rc5 kernel release is a fix for those wanting to leverage IPv4 networking over Firewire… ⌘ Read more

@david@daiwei.me Yes!

So, a hobby OS, just like Linux was for Linus?

Although this is really an exercise is self-hosting a lagnguage, then self-hosting the language to build a self-hosting OS. It’s all meta-circular.