Category: KaOS

Bits & Bobs: Pssst … want to save $60?

By Larry Cafiero

On Thursday, Sourav Rudra at It’s FOSS on Thursday gave the entire Linux universe a tip – a $60 saving tip, from the looks of it.

It seems that the new Brave web browser, called Origin, “is Brave’s stripped-down browser, built for people who never touch most of what the company packages with Brave Browser,” the article states. “It drops the AI assistant, the rewards program, the crypto wallet, and the VPN, leaving the ad and tracker blocking in place.”

But don’t let that fool you into thinking that Origin is a half-baked browser, because according to the article, “you still get regular security upgrades, Chromium-specific patches, and general browser updates.”

Here’s the kicker: For most users, Brave Origin costs $59.99 for a one-time license purchase for use across Windows, Android, macOS, and iOS. However, people running a Linux distro on their computer do not have to pay a dime or sign up for an account.

The article takes you through the paces of using Origin, as well as providing ways to download it – for free – on to your given Linux distro. This article is worth a read.

KaOS 2026.06 released with Dinit

Marcus Nestor of 9 to 5 Linux reported Wednesday that KaOS “has officially released KaOS Linux 2026.06 today as the first ISO snapshot of this independent distribution using Dinit as the default init system instead of systemd.”

As mentioned earlier, the KaOS Linux devs have decided to move away from systemd and the KDE Plasma desktop environment after more than 12 years of using them by default. In February, they dropped KDE Plasma for a Niri/Noctalia setup, but they were still working on replacing systemd with another init system.

“As of today, they have succeeded in delivering a stable ISO image that users can use to install the distribution without using systemd as the default init system,” the article states. “The replacement is Dinit, a modern and lightweight init system and service manager designed as a fast, dependency-based alternative to systemd.”

But apparently, KaOS isn’t completely systemd-free, according to the developers: “A move away from systemd as an init system is completed. KaOS now uses dinit > turnstile > seatd for the system startup, seats & services. This does not mean the system is systemd-free, a much-reduced systemd is still in use mainly for udev & tmpfiles,” the KaOS Linux development team was quoted in the article.

GIMP 0.54 goes on a test-drive

Well, this was inevitable. Someone makes and flatpaks software from 30 years ago, and someone else gives it a test drive and writes about it.

As we reported on Monday, a developer has revived an older version of GIMP – otherwise known as the GNU Image Manipulation Program – specifically, version 0.54 from 1996 and “Flatpak’ed” it for use by modern Linux desktops.

Christine Hall at FOSS Force took the bait and gave it a test run because, well, it was there. Hall got it up and running on her Linux Mint rig, and Hall’s impression – overall – is that it should have stayed in the past.

“Playing around with it was fun — in a frustrating sort of way — but it mainly served to remind me how much better computing is now than it was back in the days when I was working in DOS with Windows for Workgroups sitting on top,” the article concludes.

And that’s all for today. Don’t forget: Distro of the Week appears Wednesday – and it’s always a good one on hand – and Bits and Bobs will return on Monday.

Bits and Bobs: Alpine, KaOS and more

By Larry Cafiero

Editor’s note: First things first – I am glad to write and post Distro of the Week on Wednesdays every week. However, the thought of posting only weekly seems to be, well, not enough. So what are the options? Here’s something: I thought I’d post some Linux distro developments at the beginning and end of each week to liven things up a bit, and I’ll call it Bits and Bobs. Bits and Bobs will run on this site Mondays and Fridays, while the Distro of the Week will run on Wednesdays. Good idea? No one really knows for sure, but we’re doing it anyway. Hope you enjoy it.

Alpine Linux releases version 3.24

The Alpine Linux team announced Tuesday the release and general availability of Alpine Linux 3.24 as another major update to this independent and security-oriented Linux distro, so says Marcus Nestor on 9 to 5 Linux.

“Powered by the long-term supported Linux 6.18 LTS kernel series, Alpine Linux 3.24 introduces support for the latest Gnome 50, KDE Plasma 6.6 and Cosmic desktop environments, as well as support for the Sway 1.12 tiling Wayland compositor and a drop-in replacement for the i3 window manager for X11,” according to Nestor’s article.

You can download Alpine Linux on the Alpine download page here.

KaOS releases first Dinit-based ISO

Sourav Rudra writes in an It’s Foss article on Wednesday that KaOS, “the independent distro built around Qt, has successfully embarked on its move away from systemd, introducing the first release candidate (RC) for what will be the next chapter in its developmental cycle,” according to the article.

Rather than being based on systemd, the KaOS release candidate is based on Dinit, an alternative service manager that also administers init procedures as well.

The article explains that, “Dinit . . . handles starting services in parallel, respects dependencies between them, and is designed to work with other system components rather than replace them fully.” The article also mentions that Dinit powers Chimera Linux and eweOS as the default init, and it’s one of the init options on Artix Linux and antiX.

Want to give it a try? Download the KaOS RC ISO here.

Last, but not least . . .

Buried somewhat deep in the DistroWatch Weekly this week was this tiny morsel: Origami Linux and RakuOS – both Fedora-based immutable Linux distributions – have merged, and the two projects will take the name of the latter.

Origami founder John Holt said in the Distrowatch article, “[a]fter connecting with the creator of RakuOS, it became clear our projects share the exact same goals, direction, and technology stacks. RakuOS is paving the way for the future of immutable Linux, and we are joining forces to build it together.”

The article also states that Holt is “stepping into a project co-lead role at RakuOS.” As a result of the merger, the status of Origami Linux has been set to “discontinued” on DistroWatch.

Oh, and one more thing . . .

Happy Birthday today to It’s FOSS, a web portal that’s been keeping Fosstafarians like us informed for the last 14 years. Lift a glass of your favorite drink in a toast for 14 more, if not longer.

That’s all for today. See you Monday.

Got a news development? Let me know! Contact me at larry.cafiero@gmail.com and I’ll make sure it makes Bits and Bobs after confirmation.