By Larry Cafiero
Marcus Nestor at 9 to 5 Linux reported on Wednesday that full Wayland support is on the way for the Linux Mint Cinnamon edition version 6.8.
According to the article, “Linux Mint project Clement Lefebvre revealed today in the monthly newletter some of the new features and improvements coming to the next major version of the Cinnamon desktop environment, version 6.8, such as full Wayland support.”
Nestor continues that the “Linux Mint devs have been working hard on making Cinnamon’s Wayland session as stable as possible, and it looks like Cinnamon 6.8 will finally remove the ‘experimental’ status of the Wayland session and fully support Wayland.”
Wayland improvements and featuresinclude proper mapping for new windows, applet popup menus and context menus, proper focus stealing prevention, and improved support for multiple monitors and KVM switches, according to the article.
“There’s also full HiDPI support for crisp icons, smoother mouse cursor, and better handling of Chromium apps, as well as support for running root apps as Wayland clients, window progress to see, for example, Firefox download progress in the panel app button.,” the article says.
Tuxedo OS skips Ubuntu for Debian
Bobby Barisov at Linuxiac reported on Tuesday that Tuxedo Computers has made a major change for its in-house Linux distribution, Tuxedo OS, saying goodbye to its Ubuntu base and hello to Debian Testing.
“According to the company, the decision arrives after several months of reduced update cadence, especially around KDE Plasma updates,” the article states. “While Plasma 6.7.x is already available upstream, Tuxedo OS is still based on Plasma 6.5.x, and the company had not previously given a precise timeline for moving existing users to an Ubuntu 26.04 LTS base.”
So the reason behind this? It’s complicated.
“Until now, Tuxedo OS has followed a hybrid release model which combined a stable Ubuntu LTS base with more frequently updated components such as the Linux kernel, web browsers, NVIDIA drivers, the graphics stack, and KDE Plasma,” the article continues.
“However, Tuxedo says this model has become increasingly difficult to maintain as Ubuntu LTS releases age. According to the company, backporting modern software to an older package base requires more work over time, especially when newer applications depend on libraries that are either missing or outdated in the underlying distribution.”
But why switch to Debian Testing?
“Debian Testing . . . provides a more current package base,” the article states. “For Tuxedo, this gives the distribution a more flexible foundation while still staying within Debian’s well-established package ecosystem.”
KDE Plasma 6.6.6 released
Mark of the Beast or just plain happenstance? You decide.
Liam Proven at The Register reports Thursday that KDE Plasma has released version 6.6.6, which has a long list of upgrades featured on the KDE web page.
“KDE Plasma 6.6.6 is a release that really is just about bug-fixes, but while there are no headline-grabbing features coming out for this inauspicious version number, it’s worth remembering: in a world of bloated code, real-world software still depends on experienced maintainers,” the article states.
If you really like Plasma 6.6, you should hope that version 6.6.6 lasts longer than Linux kernel 6.6.6 did – that was only around for a couple of days before it was replaced with Linux 6.6.7.
“This version appeared precisely on schedule, but that planned release timetable holds some bad news. Under the heading Bugfix releases, it says: “Beginning with Plasma 6.3, stable ‘feature’ releases will each receive six (6) subsequent updates containing bug fixes.”
Interesting.
Later in the article, Proven writes that, “[w]e suspect that will matter more, because as we reported last month, the plan is that Plasma 6.7 will be the last version to support an X11 session. KDE Plasma 6.8 is currently scheduled for mid-October, in order to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the announcement of the ‘Kool Desktop Environment.’ The plan is still as it was in 2025: Plasma 6.8 will be Wayland-only. Already today, the default setup of Plasma 6.7 on most OSes uses Wayland, but it’s still possible to install the necessary package and have the option of running Plasma using X11 instead.”
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.