Ubuntu fans that have slight problems with their current version 9.10 might want to look at Linux Mint. Version 8, a.k.a. "Helena," is now ready for download.

In his blog, Canonical coworker Jorge O. Castro announces his so-called "b-sides" of Ubuntu, software that didn't make it into Ubuntu's standard installation.

The FreeBSD project has released its 8.0 version of the free UNIX operating system, thereby starting a new stable branch.

The Inkscape team has come out after a year's time with a new release of their vector drawing program. It provides not only new features but countless detailed enhancements.

Born out of the practical needs of a Swiss telecommunications firm, the new version of the NConf configuration interface for Nagios has undergone some further improvements.

Phonon in KDE 4.4 now supports PulseAudio. Ubuntu 9.10 users can install a new version of the sound server via Launchpad PPA.

Bryce Harrington is agonizing over the nontrivial task of delivering a working X server for Ubuntu. On the Ubuntu desktop mailing list he speaks of a flood of bug reports and appeals to improving the situation.

About a half year after big technological changes, the KOffice project has released version 2.1 of its office suite, even if it's not quite ready for everyday use.