First up in the news: Mint 22.3 “Zena” released. Then lots of drivers news, new distros, AI and Apple getting sued (again)

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

Mint 22.3 “Zena” released

EndeavourOS 2026.01.12 Released With Linux 6.18 LTS Kernel, NVIDIA Open Modules

Ubuntu 26.04 Aims To Deliver Better NVIDIA Wayland Performance Atop GNOME

Big GPU & Kernel Update Headed to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

Firefox 147 Arrives with XDG Support on Linux, Auto-PiP + More

GNOME and Firefox Consider Disabling Middle Click Paste By Default

WINE 11.0 Released

Adobe Photoshop 2025 Installer Now Working On Linux With Patched Wine

Microsoft Office Is Now ‘Microsoft 365 Copilot App

Microsoft is Slowly Turning Edge Into Another Copilot App

A.I., now including advertisements!

Discord Files Confidentially for IPO

New Dell XPS 14 and 16 Announced, Ubuntu Version Coming This Year

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Shut Down After 58 Years

Apple to pay $95 million to settle Siri privacy lawsuit

How to Install COSMIC Desktop on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

First up in the news: A retraction

Review of our predictions for last year, and what we predict for 2026

Then our much anticipated Wanderings

The first is from the mint monthly blog where we said there would be a way to upgrade to the beta of 22.3 directly from 22.2. This was a misunderstanding of the information, and is in fact not true. There is, as has been the case in the past no way to upgrade in place from any version of Mint to any beta. That has just never been a thing. The confusion stems from the line stating there will be an announcement when the links are available. If you want to run the beta, you will have to install it (Nuke and Pave)

The other thing is when Bill mentioned the new Cinnamon menu was currently available to use with 22.2. Bill was confused by an update he saw come down for an alternative menu, “CinnVIIStarkMenu” which is a very feature rich, traditional menu much like the Arc menu in Gnome, The Brisk Menu in Budgie, and the Whisker Menu in XFCE. The new menu will be available in the up-coming 22.3 release of Linux Mint Cinnamon.

Topgrade

topgrade is an intelligent, cross-platform (Linux, BSD, Windows & macOS) command-line utility designed to streamline the process of updating various software components on your system. Instead of manually running apt update && apt upgrade, dnf update, pacman -Syu, brew update && brew upgrade, pip install --upgrade, cargo update, or specific updates for tools like oh-my-zsh, topgrade automates this entire sequence.

In this episode of mintCast, we kick things off with Mint Monthly News for December, covering what’s new and noteworthy in the Linux Mint world.

In Security and Privacy, Charles breaks down two fresh vulnerabilities, React2Shell and Tarmageddon-Flaw, explaining what they are, why they matter, and how they could impact Linux users.

Then, in the Innards segment, Dale joins us for a deep dive into Syncthing. We explore what it is, how it works, and why it’s such a powerful, privacy-friendly tool for keeping your files in sync across devices—without relying on the cloud.

Linux Mint 22.3 “Zena” – BETA Release

React2Shell Vulnerability

Tarmageddon-Flaw

HPR New Years show

AI headphones automatically learn who you’re talking to-and let you hear them better

First up in the news: Mint Monthly News – November, and a variety of other items

In security and privacy: Cloudfare goes down and Charles finds out that Shai-Hulud returns from Arrakis

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

Mint Monthly News – November 2025

Mozilla Unveils Plans for New ‘AI Window’ Browsing Mode in Firefox, Opens Signups

KDE Plasma 6.8 Desktop Environment to Drop the X11 Session and Go Wayland-Only

Windows 11 Growth Slows As Millions Stick With Windows 10

FreeBSD 15 trims legacy fat and revamps how OS is built

Ownership of Digital Content Is an Illusion Unless You Self‑Host

The Last Video Rental Store Is Your Public Library

Jellyfin does hardware transcoding for free, and Plex wants $250 to match it

Mad Men’s 4K debut botched by HBO Max streaming episode with visible crewmembers

Netflix Buys Warner Bros. including HBO & HBO Max for $83 Billion

Cloudflare blames Friday outage on borked React2shell fix

Emulating PC games on Android is easier than ever, and you can thank Valve

Shai-Hulud worm returns, belches secrets to 25K GitHub repos

Twins who hacked State Dept hired to work for gov again, now charged with deleting databases (And then they asked an AI to help cover their tracks)

Clone like a boss – Veronica Explains

First up in the news: Theres and initiative in protecting OTA TV from DRM

Then in our Wanderings: Joe does a lot, Bill plays magical video cards, Majid is trying to resist Black Friday, Charles goes to a Linux conference, and Jim eschews the mouse.

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

FCC Seeks Comment on ATSC 3.0 DRM – Protect OTA TV!

First up in the news: Mint Monthly News – October 2025

Then, new distro news and updates, and more streaming stuff

In security and privacy: don’t trust every PPA!

Mint Monthly News – October 2025

GNOME 50 Ends the X11 Era After Decades

CachyOS Continues Delivering Leading Performance Over Ubuntu 25.10, Fedora Workstation 43

ElementaryOS Updates

IncusOS: A New Immutable Linux System Built for Running Incus

KDE Plasma 6.6 Introduces QR Code Wi-Fi Connections, Boosts Performance

Ikey Doherty Missing from AerynOS for Six Months

Debian’s APT Package Manager to Integrate Rust Code by May 2026

90% of Windows games now run on Linux; Linux gamers on Steam cross 3% mark

The Internet is Dying. 50% of all traffic is now non-human

The Internet Archive’s legal fight is over but loses 500,000 books from its Open Library in the process

The Internet Archive’s legal fight is over but loses 500,000 books from its Open Library in the process

YouTube TV’s Disney blackout reminds users that they don’t own what they stream

Don’t blindly trust every PPA. FreeRDP installed via this PPA for Winboat may have malware

Instagram- web site to view videos and photos without an account: https://imginn.com

Firefox- tip to get shorter tab height: about:config change browser.uidensity from 01 to 1 https://leochavez.org/old/firefox-tabs.html

AppImageLauncher v.3.00 beta (.deb file or AppImage, not the old PPA, which is no longer compatible with Noble Numbat and therefore Mint 22.0+) https://github.com/TheAssassin/AppImageLauncher/releases

Load All Reddit Comments: Bookmarklet with keyboard shortcut triggered bykeyword using javascript on Bookmarks Toolbar (CTRL + Shift + B)bookmarklet

IRCCloud allows a persistent connection with the free tier as long as your device stays connected, and allows two network connections, plus is able to connect to same network twice, so one can use two different nicknames on same network.

How to get started with Tailscale in under 10 minutes

Interview with Mark Shuttleworth on LNL

First up in the news: LMDE 7 “Gigi” released

Then in our Wanderings: Bill suffers an outage, Joe’s Jellyfin is “ok”, Majid is back to “full time”, and Jim has a lot of extensions

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

LMDE 7 “Gigi” released

Amazon appears to be suppressing Fire TV 4K Select reviews and calling negative reviewers

NewPipe, alternate YouTube and PeerTube client for Android, turns 10

Zen Browser

First up in the news: LMDE 7 ‘Gigi” release imminent, Mint Monthly News, Ubuntu 25.10 is out and breaking stuff, Firefox shaking is loved by TIME, Windows 10 is officially dead and lots more!

In security and privacy: Charles has some interesting news on AI and new laws in Spain

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

LMDE 7 Release Imminent

Mint Monthly News – September 2025

Ubuntu 25.10 released, and breaks flatpaks!

Ubuntu Linux 26.04 LTS Officially Named Resolute Raccoon

Cosmic Beta released

Mozilla Firefox is about to add an important feature other browsers have had for years: Profile Management

Mozilla Firefox Shake To Summarize feature gets special mention in TIME’s Best Inventions of 2025

Opera Wants You To Pay $19.90 a Month for Its New AI Browser

Android Security or Vendor Lock-In? Google’s New Sideloading Rules Smell Fishy

Open Source Android Repository F-Droid Says Google’s New Rules Will Shut It Down

Amazon Ditches Android — Launches ‘Linux-Based’ Vega OS for Fire TV

TiVo Exiting Legacy DVR Business

California Law Forces Netflix, Hulu To Turn Down Ad Volumes

Windows 10 support ends on October 14, 2025

PC Sales Explode In Q3 As Windows 11 Deadlines Force Millions To Upgrade

Microsoft Is Plugging More Holes That Let You Use Windows 11 Without an Online Account

AI for America – “A Roadmap to Make AI Work for All Americans, Not Just Big Companies”

Spain’s New age Verification

Workaround for Flatpaks

First up in the news: LMDE 7 ‘Gigi” BETA released

In security and privacy: Mississippi enforces Age Assurance Law, NPM suffers a security breach.

Then in our Wanderings, Joe works with Proxmox, and Openmediavault, Jim Troubleshoots hard disks, Majid goes back to work, and Bill works on his “Immich.”

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

LMDE 7 ‘Gigi” BETA released

Vivaldi takes a stand: keep browsing human

Mississippi’s Age Assurance Law

NPM Packages Security Breach

First up in the news: Linux Mint 22.2 “Zara” released, Mint Monthly News – August

In security and privacy: Plex is a problem again

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

Mint 22.2 ‘Zara’ released

From the Mint blog by Clem

What’s new in Mint 22.2 Zara

Release Notes for Mint 22.2 Zara

How to upgrade from Mint 22.1

LMDE 7 beta expected in Sep. 2025; Mint 22.3 in Dec. 2025

KDE launches its own distribution (again)

Firefox To End 32-bit support in 2026

Run Windows apps in Linux using open source WinBoat

Is Roku Driving the Final Nail in the Coffin of Traditional TV?

Not completely linux related but Borderlands 4 released Sept 12

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite Linux Performance Improving But Short Of AMD Ryzen & Intel Core Ultra

Plex User Data Exposed

An (almost) catastrophic OpenZFS bug and the humans that made it (and Rust is here too)

NerdyDayTrips

The Bullshit Machine