MP3 – mintCast

First up in the news: Updated Mint ISOs

Then in our Wanderings: Majid explore Tailscale, Joe does it all again. Jim, Charlie, and Charles got some stuff too.

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

Updated Mint ISOs

First up in the news: Mint 23 is named, Ubuntu 26.04 coming up and its already causing controversy, Firefox gets more features, big tech making some changes, and the governments of the world are meddling, in good and bad ways… and we welcome another host!

In security and privacy: Flatpak getting more secure allegedly

The code name for Mint 23 is “Alfa”

26.04 Beta

Does Ubuntu Now Require More RAM Than Windows 11?

26.10 could drop btfrs zfs and luks

Firefox Announces Built-in VPN and Other New Features Including New Mascot

Google Now Lets You Change Your Gmail address

Samsung’s Messages App Is Shutting Down

Microsoft Mysteriously Freezes Accounts for VeraCrypt, WireGuard, Windscribe

Why did the FCC ban foreign-made consumer routers?

NHS staff resist using Palantir software

France Launches Government Linux Desktop Plan as Windows Exit Begins

Student Loans Fiasco, and its IT underpins

LibreOffice Drama: TDF Removes Collabora Developers in One Sweep

Flatpak 1.16.4 Brings Important Security Fixes

CPUID website hacked: users report HWMonitor and CPU-Z delivering malware

Cloudflare aims to dethrone WordPress with EmDash, its new plugin-secure CMS

New & Update Flatpaks – Nora

26.04 – Another view

First up in the news: The fight against enshittification starts

In security and privacy: Shock-horror, Chinese government spies

Then in our Wanderings: Joe rambles, Bill drives himself crazy, Majid actually has fun! Charles, and Jim explores notes apps.

Norway’s Consumer Council takes aim at enshittification

China Upgrades the Backdoor It Uses to Spy on Telcos Globally

First up in the news: Mint Monthly News, March 2026; Major Redesign for Firefox: Chrome getting an upgrade; Debian 13.4; SUSE for sale – again; ASUS says MacBook Neo is “shock”; HBO, Paramount Merge; Xfwl4 coming to XFCE, and more.

In security and privacy: Age Verification coming to your Linux PC?; Anthropic turns Claud loose on Firefox code.

Mint Monthly News for March 2026

Firefox Is Getting a Major Redesign After 5 Years

Google Chrome on Linux is Getting the Much Awaited Upgrade

Debian 13.4 Released With Dozens Of Fixes

Xfwl4 – The roadmap for a Xfce Wayland Compositor

SUSE May Undergo Another Ownership Change in Potential $6 Billion Sale

Asus Co-CEO: MacBook Neo Is a ‘Shock’ to the PC Industry

HBO Max and Paramount+ will soon merge into one mega streaming service — here’s what you need to know

Age Verification Laws Are Multiplying Like a Virus, and Your Linux Computer Might be Next

Anthropic found a heap of Firefox security flaws using new Claude tools

YTDown YouTube Downloader

Vogon Poetry

First up in the news: California is doing its thing again

Then in our Wanderings: Bill does it while sick, Joe does a lot, Jim plays with ghost

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

California introduces age verification law for all operating systems

MidnightBSD excludes California users

First up in the news: Mint Monthly News – January 2026,

In security and privacy: Theres an SSH Stalker

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

Mint Monthly News – January 2026

Discord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings Globally. Face scan or I.D. needed?

Firefox Announces ‘A.I. Controls’ To Block Its Upcoming A.I. Features

AppManager offers drag-and-drop AppImage management.

Sony Will Ship Its Final Blu-ray Recorders This Month

The Memory Crisis Is Taking No Prisoners

RaspberyPi goes Dual RAM

Linux 6.19

KDE 6.6 & Gnome 50 Betas out

Ubuntu getting rid of the Software & Updater tool

Libreoffice 26.2 released

SSHStalker Botnet Uses IRC C2 to Control Linux Systems via Legacy Kernel Exploits

First up in security and privacy: Euro firms ditch American Clouds and systemd stuff

Then in our Wanderings: Joe, Majid does yoga with his distros, Charles is our security guru, Jim explores the new Mint release

And finally, the feedback and a couple of suggestions

Systemd daddy quits Microsoft to prove Linux can be trusted

We are building cryptographically verifiable integrity into Linux systems

Europe’s digital sovereignty paranoia

Dow Chemical says AI is the element behind 4,500 job cuts

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