Planet News Roundup

This is a roundup of articles from the openSUSE community listed on planet.opensuse.org.

The below featured highlights listed on the community’s blog feed aggregator are from October 18 to 26.

Recent Planet highlights includes an announcement from the Open Build Service Blog, a Halloween install party, Leap driving fleets, configuring a PDF viewer in Thunderbird and more.

Here is a summary and links for each post:

Distroless Containers – Nix Flakes vs Fedora

The latest blog as of publication was riemann.cc comparomg the approaches of Nix flakes and Fedora’s tooling for building distroless containers that highlights the differences in reproducibility, usability, and ecosystem integration.

Plasma 6.5 is here – This week in Plasma

KDE Blog announces the arrival of Plasma 6.5 with a solid mix of User Interface enhancements, performance tweaks and bug fixes, which includes a smoother drag-and-drop in the launcher, better multi-screen support and fixes for older AMD GPU cursors.

Linux Marathon Special (Podcast Linux #30)

KDE Blog revisits episode #30 of Podcast Linux, which was a special “Linux Marathon” live-broadcast with more than two hours of discussions featuring multiple Linux community contributors.

Halloween Install Party Valencia

KDE Blog shares details of a free-entry event on Oct. 31 in Valencia organised by GNU/Linux València. The event will offer GNU/Linux installations, free software help and a Super Tux Kart game-party theme to mark the end of Windows 10 support.

Leap Keeps Fleets on Track

openSUSE News highlights how an openSUSE Leap distribution can power mission-critical fleet-tracking systems and is handling real-time GPS data in Indonesia and the Philippines with PostgreSQL clustering and RabbitMQ to deliver reliability for vehicle-management operations.

More Mobile Settings: Keyboard & Wired Network

This blog by sebas outlines new settings modules in Plasma Mobile for keyboard layout/language switching and wired-network configuration. The focus is aimed at non-phone devices like embedded systems or occasional keyboard users.

Release Schedule for KDE Gear 25.12

The KDE Blog published the schedule for the KDE Gear 25.12 release cycle. The freeze and first beta is scheduled for Nov. 13, RC on Nov. 27 and the final release is scheduled for Dec. 11.

Thunderbird on KDE Plasma | Fine-Tuning File Dialogs

CubicleNate’s Techpad explains how to replace the default GTK file dialog in Mozilla Thunderbird with the native KFileDialog on KDE Plasma for a smoother user experience.

Relevant Upstream Package Version Information

The Open Build Service Blog announces enhancements to upstream version tracking as part of its “Foster Collaboration” beta program, which introduces interactive upstream-version links and detailed status labels.

Eighth Update of digiKam 8: Now Able to Import or Export Tag Hierarchies

KDE Blog announces that version 8.8 of digiKam adds support for importing/exporting tag hierarchies from/to text files, enhancing workflow consistency and cross-platform tag sharing.

Configuring an External PDF Viewer in Thunderbird on Linux

CubicleNate’s Techpad walks through how to set up Mozilla Thunderbird on Linux to use a native external PDF viewer instead of the built-in one for improved usability.

Plasma 6.5 Launched: Reaching the Turning Point

Plasma 6.5 represents a major maturity milestone for the desktop, according to the KDE Blog; it focuses on polishing existing features, refining usability, and adds thoughtful enhancements rather than a sweeping new redesign.

GNOME Tour in openSUSE and Welcome App

The blog on danigm.net outlines how the GNOME Tour fork for openSUSE provides a refreshed welcome experience. With custom pages, a donations section and links tailored for openSUSE, the welcome offers a modern replacement for the older Qt-based opensuse-welcome app.

UjiLliureX 2025, Continuing with LliureX as an Educational Innovation Tool

KDE Blog reports on the UjiLliureX 2025 event located in the province of Castellón. The event confirmed that the LliureX distro remains a key driver of innovation in education with aims to blend free-software teaching and institutional collaboration.

Xeno-canto: The Wiki of Bird Songs

Victorhck highlights xeno‑canto, where users around the world contribute and explore bird-song recordings from thousands of species. The site offers a rich resource for bird lovers, researchers and curious ears alike.

The Video You Need to Understand Linux

KDE Blog shares a video that explains the history and essentials of Linux. It goes into what it is, who created it, and why it matters for new users stepping into the world of free open-source software.

Installing openSUSE Leap 16.0 on a Dynabook XP (Secure Boot Enabled, Dual-Boot)

The Geeko Blog documents installing openSUSE Leap 16.0 on a Dynabook XP with Lunar Lake (Core Ultra 258V) under Secure Boot and dual-boot with Windows 10. The blog covers the offline ISO install, failing the standard installer due to Arc Xe2 GPU issue, and using nomodeset as a workaround.

Plasma 6.5 Is About to Arrive and KDE Turns 29 — Help Us Celebrate!

KDE Blog highlights the imminent release of Plasma 6.5 alongside the 29th anniversary of KDE. The blog encourages donations and community involvement as the project enters these new milestones.

View more blogs or learn to publish your own on planet.opensuse.org.