FOSS Weekly #26.27: Dev Mode in KDE Linux, Local AI, De-Google Android, Free Terminal Starter Course, KDE Step and More

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I recently had a very interesting conversation with a reader who suggested that I should not ignore AI. Because this is the next new normal and we have to adapt.

I agree but in the context of local AI. Local AI is the popular term used for the open source models that live on your system, stay offline and don’t send data anywhere.

Sure, it’s not for everyone and not every one would be interested in AI, irrespective of whether it is open source or not.

And that’s why I am creating a separate newsletter called “Local AI Weekly” for people who are interested in learning and using the local (open source) AI.

If you are interested, you can subscribe to this upcoming newsletter.

FOSS Weekly will have the usual Linux and open source material that you love. No changes on that end. If you don’t like AI, nothing changes for you.

📰 Linux and open source news that matter

David Plummer, the ex-Microsoft engineer who built the original Windows Task Manager, has had enough of what Notepad has become, his response is TinyRetroPad, a fully functional Notepad clone built in x86 assembly that comes in around 2.5KB.

Proton’s Lumo 2.0 fills the gaps that made the original feel half-baked.

Memory is in; web search now actually searches, returning cited results instead of falling back on training data; and image generation is finally possible.

If you’re not a developer or bug hunter, Ubuntu 26.10 Snapshot 2 isn’t really worth your time yet; the user-facing stuff (GNOME 51, voice typing) is still months out. But Canonical has done some backend work that should simplify image delivery.

The Wine 11.12 release is mostly housekeeping, with fixes for two gamepad bugs worth knowing about. Need for Speed: Most Wanted had a stuck Up input firing on its own, and Super Hexagon went deaf to keyboard and mouse once a controller was plugged in.

The Linux Foundation has launched Akrites, a body for open source vulnerability handling, with roughly 20 founding members,…

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