FOSSNerds 000 - The Introduction

In this episode, Charlie, Majid and Bill take a question each, then a quick extra about where desktop Linux may be heading. Majid asks who Ubuntu's interim releases are really for. With Ubuntu 26.10 just out, is the point more than a testbed for the next long-term release, and how does that compare with Fedora's six-monthly cadence? Charlie asks whether the Raspberry Pi is still the go-to for your next project. As prices climb and mini PCs and other boards improve, is it still the default, and who needs a 16 GB Pi 5 anyway? Bill asks whether you can embrace open source without giving up Windows. Is running Firefox and LibreOffice on Windows enough, and why do some of us judge people who start that way? Plus a quick extra from Majid: Canonical has restarted work on an immutable, snap-based Ubuntu Core desktop. Could immutable Linux become the norm, what would attestation mean for banking apps, and what happens to the freedom to tinker?

The very first full episode of FOSSNerds. Charlie, Majid and Bill introduce themselves and how they each came to Linux and open source, then take a question each from the news, argue about open source office suites, and finish with an app each that they think you should try. This one was recorded a little while ago, so some of the news may be slightly behind. In the news: Linux passes 10% of desktops in North America, according to StatCounter. Is it real, why now, and do we even want it to get much bigger? Can Immich, the self-hosted photo and video library, finally replace Google Photos? Setting it up, importing an old library, and why self-hosting your only copy of family photos is a worry. Jellyfin's project leader steps away: burnout, the weight of a big volunteer project, and why open source survives the people who start it. The main topic: with Microsoft Office 2021 coming to the end of its updates, which office suite would you switch to? LibreOffice, SoftMaker's FreeOffice, and a new Apache-licensed suite from the AI company Genspark, plus a detour into AI itself. Recommendations: Majid: Tailscale, for reaching your home server from anywhere. Bill: start self-hosting with something that shows you what is running, such as Proxmox, OpenMediaVault or TrueNAS. Charlie: Fetch Terminal, his own terminal app with one-click snippets. Also mentioned: Immich, Jellyfin, LibreOffice, FreeOffice, ZimaOS, Umbrel and the Arcane Docker manager.

A short introduction to the new podcast, FOSSNerds.