FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

Did you notice the number 23.52? Yes, this is the 52nd newsletter of this year. That’s happening for the second year in a row when I was able to send you the newsletter each week of the year. Something to be proud of, surely.

There are more achievements and statistics: It’s FOSS websites have been visited over 35 million times in 2023. We get most readers from US, UK, India, followed by Germany and Canada.

It’s FOSS reached 100,000 followers on Twitter and 25,000 subscribers to the FOSS Weekly newsletter in 2023.

2024 will see some changes on It’s FOSS. More tutorial series, some coverage on homelab and open source AI are on the roadmap, among other things. You should start seeing them by the end of January.

What would you like to see more on It’s FOSS in 2024? You can suggest by replying to this email.

๐Ÿ’ฌ Let’s see what you get in this edition of FOSS Weekly:

  • Rising distros of 2023
  • Exciting new apps of 2023
  • Clipboard managers
  • And other Linux news, videos and, of course, memes!

๐Ÿ“ฐ Linux news

  • Qubes OS 4.2 was recently released with PipeWire support.
  • darktable 4.6 is a release that features better performance, and new features.
  • DietPi released a new version that brings support for OrangePi 3B and some other SBCs.

๐Ÿ›’Linux book deals

FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

This Humble Bundle of Linux books could not have come at a better time. If improving your Linux skills is one of your new year resolutions, you could give this ‘pay what you want’ bundle a try.

Explore Humble Bundle Offering

๐ŸŒ Follow us on Google News

By the way, if you use Google, follow It’s FOSS on Google News to get trusted It’s FOSS content before other websites in Google search.

Itโ€™s FOSS – Google News
Read full articles from Itโ€™s FOSS and explore endless topics, magazines and more on your phone or tablet with Google News.
FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

๐Ÿง  What weโ€™re thinking about

RISC-V architecture presents immense potential for innovation and technological advancement.

Examining Chinaโ€™s Grand Strategy For RISC-V
On November 24, 2023, DAMO Academy (้”ๆ‘ฉ้™ข; literally โ€œDharmaโ€), Alibabaโ€™s research division, unveiled three ground-breaking processors rooted in the open-source RISC-V architecture. The Xuantie (็Ž„้“) C920, Xuantie C907, and Xuantie R910 processors promise to accelerate application of RISC-V technology into diverse sectors, from autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence (AI) to enterprise hard drives and network communications (Mydrivers News, November 24). โ€ฆ
FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

๐Ÿงฎ Linux Tips, Tutorials and More

Another year has come to an end, and we couldn’t help but think of some underrated distros that took the spotlight in 2023.

7 Unknown Linux Distros that Emerged Winner in 2023
Distributions that caught your attention in 2023!
FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

And the application that were loved by It’s FOSS readers in 2023.

8 Exciting Open Source Apps Linux Users Loved Exploring in 2023
The best underrated apps that we discovered in 2023.
FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

Using a clipboard manager can save you from the headache of lost text. We listed some good ones available for Linux:

Ctrl+C Ctrl+V Made Better With Clipboard Managers in Linux
Save yourself time and frustration with a clipboard manager and never lose track of your copy-pasting.
FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

And I know that GNOME users may face the issue of missing applet indicator for those Clipboard managers, so here’s the ‘fix’ for that.

Also, something to help you with your new year learning resolution.

20 Best Linux Books You Can Download For Free Legally
Let me share the best resource to learn Linux for free. This is a collection of Linux PDFs that you can download for free to learn Linux.
FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

๐Ÿ“น What we are watching

A rather detailed video showing Fish shell features.


โœจ Project highlights

Xplorer might surprise you with its highly customizable nature and modern looks.

Xplorer: Not Just a Pretty Open-Source File Manager!
For a change, do you want to a try a new file manager? Xplorer is an interesting project to look at!
FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

๐Ÿงฉ New quiz unit

An absolutely new kind of fun unit this week ๐Ÿ˜ธ

Spin the Wheel to Get Your Distro of 2024
Do you feel lucky, Tux?
FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

The Plus Members-only puzzles will be back in 2024. As a Christmas gift, the puzzles are open for all.


๐Ÿ’ก Quick handy tip

FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

Use CTRL+ Left-Click on any location in the Nautilus File Manager location bar to open that location in a new window.

For example, to open the Test directory in a new window, press CTRL and Left-Click on that location on the location bar to open it in a new window.


๐Ÿคฃ Meme of the week

Some people can be difficult to deal with, unless you call their bluff.

FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

๐Ÿ—“๏ธ Tech Trivia

Linux creator Linus Torvalds was born on 28 Dec, 1969.

Incidentally, Debian creator Ian Murdock committed suicide on the same day in 2015. RIP!


๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿคโ€๐Ÿง‘ FOSSverse corner

A FOSSer wonders how we can market Linux for it to reach an even wider audience.

Running an advertising campaign for Linux
Linux has several problems, because of which its market share is quite low on the desktop (including laptops). Itโ€™s not known by many people. Those who know about it are either professionals or hobbyists which are interested. To the average user who knows about it, it usually comes down to โ€œisnโ€™t Linux that software which makes computers difficult to use?โ€ Lack of software. Especially specialist software (Adobe and Autodesk come to mind here, but there are others). Fracturing of the comโ€ฆ
FOSS Weekly #23.52: Winning Distros and Apps of 2023, Linux Books and More

โค๏ธ With love

Share it with your Linux-using friends and encourage them to subscribe (hint: it’s here).

Share the articles in Linux Subreddits and community forums.

By the way, I use Arch Linux help us achieve the goal of 125 Plus members by the end of 2023 by opting for It’s FOSS Plus membership?

Happy holidays ๐Ÿ˜„

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