Let’s count the numbers, shall we?

• 18,360 members to round out the year
• 13,389 messages on average per day
• Averaging 72 hours of VC per day

We need your ideas

Last month, we introduced the Events Team to rustle up some exciting events for the server, starting from January 2026.

We already have a few ideas in mind, but we’d love to hear your thoughts too — you can fill out a form with your suggestions here

Return of the Nix channel?

Nixers amongst you — rejoice!

The #nix channel, at the request of our members, has been brought back — have fun endlessly discussing flakes, guys!

Advent of Code Winner

Congratulations to our winner, @thebyteslayer, for coming out on top after 12 grueling challenges!

Also, a big round of applause to our runners-up, @waaberi and @susanthenerd, for taking 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

Code of Conduct Rewrite

With @aimai at the helm and some other helping hands, we’ve completed a major rewrite of our Code of Conduct to better reflect our mission. The update focuses on clearer rule definitions, improved guidance around enforcement, and modernization to support our growing community.

The revised Code of Conduct will come into effect on January 1, 2026, which should give everyone time to review the changes. Community feedback is still welcome as we continue to refine the document.

Check out the updated Code of Conduct here

Team Expansion

Welcoming to the team, we have:

Systems Administrators: @wilbycat48 @sg37 @bippington @ikci @joetroll @polymo1 @susanthenerd Devs: @im.ela @fr3sh @pepper314 Moderators (new and returning): @ayru.dev @yingvay @beacrox @nickname5491 @toyotarav41996

Jr. Moderators: @inzane84 @parametheus

And that’s a wrap

Well, that’s it — this brings us to the end of a booming 2025. Thank you to each and every single one of you for making this place what it is.

All that’s left to say from us is: Merry Christmas ATL, and a Happy New Year!

This November, on the 9th, we hit 2 years as a community. At almost 9 million messages, this was truly something extraordinary. And for certain, we could not have done it without each and every single one of you.

How’s the membership looking?

Growing, as usual. All thanks to our amazing community.

We’ve got some quick stats for you:

• 17,538 members
• 9,000,000+ messages (nearly 12,000 messages per day for 730 days!)
• 102 hours of VC per day on average

Still climbing and kicking strong!

Management changes

• In Aug 2025, we promoted @farcotton to now be acting as our newest Admin.
• In Oct 2025, we appointed a new role of Director of Moderation to @estralia.
• We’ve also recently formed an Events Team to start planning out routine fun events and activities across the server next year.

Promoting transparency

• In Jan 2026, we will be releasing a public ledger of all financials.
• You can now view a public roadmap of all ongoing ATL projects here: Public Roadmap
• You can now view all ATL assets, like all the cool banners we've had over the past 2 years, here: ATL Assets

Infrastructure improvements

• We’ve added some new tools to atl.tools and improved the website UI slightly.
• We’ve implemented a standard security/reporting policy across our services: Security Policy
• Enhanced internal security via Vaultwarden, Cloudflare Access, Okta, and Tailscale.
• Distributed various services from a central machine to a distributed architecture.
• Converted our code of conduct to be "machine readable" to allow for future integrations of it: Code of Conduct
• Soon we will be migrating the atl.tools mail server to a new datacenter provider, completely repolished and documented internally.
• Soon we will be moving to a monorepo/GitOps/IaC-style architecture for all existing and future projects.

atl.wiki

In Aug 2025, our homegrown wiki, atl.wiki, had its first 1.0 release! As of today, the wiki has 301 pages, 4,205 edits, and 245 users. We appreciate everyone who has helped contribute and encourage you to get involved. A wiki takes a team, and we believe that we can make this wiki a one-of-a-kind resource for the Linux ecosystem.

atl.chat

Over the past few months, we've slowly been rebuilding our IRC and XMPP servers to be of the highest quality and compliance. Currently the release of these is blocked by a new project codenamed Portal, which we will share more info about in the coming months. You can view the new implementations at irc.atl.chat and xmpp.atl.chat.

Tux

Not only has ATL been 2 years in the making, but Tux, our custom Discord bot, has also been in formation across those 2 years. Tux was created on Nov 11th, 2023. As of today, Tux has about 60K lines of code, 3.2K commits, and ~40 contributors. We will soon be releasing v0.1.0 and a polished roadmap. Once that is released, we are calling anyone who is familiar with Python to help contribute and make Tux the greatest open-source Discord bot.

Mod apps reopened

Lastly, our mod team is currently looking to grow, so we encourage you to apply if you have any desire to help support and keep our community safe. You can find said application and others here: atl.sh/apply

Steam group

We now have an official ATL Steam group, and we’d love for you to join - it’s invite only and you can find the link here. Stay tuned for some potential events in the future wink wink!

Wowie

Again, from the entire team and me, thank you for supporting All Things Linux. And to all of our Donors, a special thank you for believing in our vision and allowing us to continue building. We couldn't do this without you!

Busy month, wasn’t it?

Let’s take a breather, and we’ll catch you in the next one!

Welcome to October, everyone — we know you like your statistics, so here you go:

• Membership rose to 16,074 members!
• Averaging 15,920 messages and 100 hours of VC per day!

Come take a look

We’ve opened up our work to our members in true open-source fashion.

You can now take a look at our live roadmap and objectives via Fibery, which has become our new organizational home. Our increased visibility comes after a quieter few months and is part of our collective staff effort to improve transparency around where time, effort, and your generous donations are going. As this continues to evolve, we hope to continue to build trust and clarity with you moving forward.

You can view the public roadmap here

Banners, banners, banners

What’s that you say? You wonder where all our old server banners are kept?

Well, you’re in luck! You can browse through our creative banner choices, both old and new, here.

Enjoy!

And that’s all, folks

This brings an end to an open, more transparent month at ATL — catch you all in the next one!

Updates usually provide more features, stability, and continued software support. Windows 10 has already been stable for everyday use for almost a decade now. So why do updates matter so much to users?

Well, connecting to the internet always carries some risk. You expose your device to the wider world, and malicious actors may try to exploit that: whether through direct attacks on your system or by tricking you into giving away sensitive details.

While some risks (Such as phishing) can be avoided with awareness and caution, operating system vulnerabilities are different. They can only be addressed through official patches and updates. Without them, Windows 10 will gradually become less secure. No matter what mitigations or antivirus solutions you use, such as Windows Defender, your device will always be at a significantly higher risk of compromise.

If you never connect your device to the internet, Windows 10 can still work fine, since the external exposure is very limited. But for most people, this is a huge restriction in today's increasing digital landscape.

What are your options?

We'll break this down into Windows Options and Non-Windows Options, assuming you're keeping your current device.

As always, make sure to back up your data before making significant changes to your system. Be that the official Windows upgrade, a clean install, or switching to a different operating system entirely.

Windows Options

1. Upgrade to Windows 11, this is the so-called "official" method, but it requires compatible hardware. You can check if your hardware meets the Windows 11 requirements here.

2. Utilizing rufus you can create bootable drives for Windows 11 if your device does not support a direct upgrade. Please be aware that this method is not supported by Microsoft and may lead to instability or data loss.

Non-Windows Options

There are plenty of other operating systems other than Windows, with Linux being the most prominent alternative for general computing. If you are unfamiliar with any of the terminology used or want to learn more check out our Linux and FOSS wiki at atl.wiki!

In our experience, most everyday users don't need the full scope of Windows features. Many popular applications are available on Linux, or at least have strong alternatives. Tools like WINE and Bottles can also help run certain Windows apps.

Linux comes in many forms (called distributions, or “distros”), but don't let that overwhelm you. Here are some good starting points:

Linux Mint

Fedora Linux

Ubuntu Linux

Summary

Any of these distributions are good options for beginners, and you can try them out without installing by using a live USB using Rufus (Windows exclusive) or the Fedora Media Writer Tool, which you can use it for any distro not just Fedora, you can see a tutorial on atl.wiki! Just select your own .iso file and get started. You also can try it out in a virtual machine using software such as VirtualBox. This will let you see how they feel on your hardware before committing to an installation.

In the end whichever option you choose it is your choice and because of the freedom of Linux you can do mostly the same on all distros, so don't worry too much about picking the "right" one. You can always try a different one if you want with no vendor or software lock-in.

Some extra clarifications about Linux

1. You don't need to use the terminal to run Linux (though it can be handy).
2. Most mainstream apps are available, but certain specialized software (e.g. Adobe or Office 365) may not be.
3. Installing apps is, in our view, usually easier and faster than on Windows through provided tools.
4. Linux often feels faster than Windows because as it has less overhead.
5. You can install Linux alongside Windows (though the setup may feel tricky if you're new to OS installation).
6. If you dislike forced updates, Linux gives you full control over when to update: no surprise restarts.

So, when Windows 10 reaches End of Life, you have choices. You can stick with Microsoft by moving to Windows 11, or explore the community-driven world of free and open-source software.

We invite you to join us at All Things Linux, where we can help you navigate the transition and make the most of your computing experience on our Discord server. Come say hello or find support and learn from fellow users in the #quick-support and #support-forum channels! Our community has heped many users getting started with Linux, we will continue to do so in the future. We hope to see you there!

As per usual, our community continued to expand — we managed to reach the lofty heights of 15,000 members! Hard to imagine just how far we’ve come.

This month, we averaged around 16,125 messages per day and 117 hours of VC. We also flew past 8 million total messages — thank you to everyone who helps keep the place buzzing! 🔥

Anything happening over here?

September proved to be a relatively quiet month by our usual standards. All in all, it was a month of fewer headline moments and continued graft and behind-the-scenes progress to keep pushing towards our community goals.

That’s all from us for now — short and sweet.

Much love to all of you, see you next month!

Once again, our membership has continued to climb even higher. This month we passed an incredible 14,520 members, and we're now well on our way to the 15,000 milestone - averaging 15,795 messages and 109 hours of VC per day! As always, thank you to each and every one of our members!

A Fresh Lick of Paint

This month saw the introduction of new and updated colour roles, complete with their hex codes to support our visually impaired users. A small detail, but one that means a lot — accessibility matters, and we’re proud to keep doing all we can to keep our space accessible for all.

We have also updated the channel descriptions, which should make the server easier to navigate - a big thanks to @miyu for the good work! Keep an eye out for some Easter eggs!

Holding the Line

This month, we faced down multiple DDoS attacks on our infrastructure, but thanks to the quick work of our team, we stood firm. You can read about it in more detail on our blog post here: https://allthingslinux.org/blog/notices/8-25-ddos. We are pleased to say that we have now migrated and secured our critical infra. We have also deployed our security page, for our members to report any issues you may find with our systems - you can do so here: https://allthingslinux.org/security.

New Privacy Channel

We’ve opened a brand-new Security & Privacy channel — a dedicated space for sharing tips, tools and discussions on keeping your digital presence secure. Dive in, learn something new and help others do the same.

atl.wiki Official Launch!

The long-awaited atl.wiki has officially launched! https://atl.wiki/ is now fully live and ready for action!

Our mission is to provide reliable, informative resources for users of all ability levels interested in Linux and FOSS from guides to informational articles, and so much more! We're looking for editors to write new content and to help tidy up existing pages and make atl.wiki the best Linux/FOSS resource out there! Be you a seasoned veteran, or new to the community you are welcome to come join us and help make atl.wiki an amazing resource for everyone.

Create your wiki account and you can just start editing!. If you're not sure how to get started you can check out this section for ways you can help!

Almost anything Linux or FOSS-related is welcome as long as it follows our Guidelines.

You can read more about the changes here: https://allthingslinux.org/blog/projects/wiki-1-0.

A big thank you to @atmois and everyone else who made this project a reality.

Looking Ahead

August has certainly not been the easiest, but we're still here and we're still going strong. From tackling challenges head-on to launching projects we've dreamt of, it's really been a packed month.

We appreciate every single one of you. Let’s keep building, together.

See you all in September!

Starting on August 3rd, 2025, the All Things Linux infrastructure experienced a series of DDoS attacks that resulted in service disruptions over the following week. This incident report outlines the attack vector, our immediate response, the security improvements implemented, and lessons learned to prevent future occurrences.

Timeline of Events

Initial Attack

At roughly 8:45AM UTC on August 3rd, atl.wiki became inaccessible due to a coordinated network flood DDoS attack that overwhelmed our servers. The malicious actor initially presented themselves in our Discord server as someone attempting to help diagnose the issue, while simultaneously continuing their malicious activities against our infrastructure.

Immediate Response

The malicious user publicly disclosed that our server was directly accessible via its IP address, which they had obtained from a public database. Upon verification of this vulnerability, we immediately implemented emergency mitigations:

• Cloudflare Security Activation: Enabled all available Cloudflare security features
• IP Address Rotation: Rolled to a new server IP address
• Firewall Enhancement: Increased the depth and coverage of our firewall protection
• Service Restoration: Achieved service restoration at 11:45PM UTC after approximately 3 hours of downtime

No data integrity was compromised during this incident due to systems that were previously configured for resilience to handle infrastructure degradation.

Continued Attacks

At 8:30PM UTC on August 7th, the same malicious actor began launching waves of network flood DDoS attacks against all ATL services, lasting 15 minutes, stopping, then returning 15 minutes later. This pattern continued until 1:00AM UTC, causing intermittent service availability across our entire platform. This pattern was repeated over the following 3 days until the migration was completed. No data integrity was compromised at any point during these ongoing attacks.

Migration Begins

From the 8th of August to the 10th of August, we began the migration of services to our new distributed infrastructure to better protect against ongoing attacks. We subsequently implemented comprehensive security and anti-DDoS systems as part of our infrastructure redesign.

Migration Completion

On August 14th, we finalized all migrations and implemented extra security protocols and systems. We also gained access to Cloudflare Alexandria protection for our most critical domains, significantly enhancing our defensive capabilities against future attacks.

Root Cause Analysis

Our investigation revealed that DNS records had been improperly configured at some point, which inadvertently exposed our server's direct IP address. The malicious actor leveraged this exposed IP to flood our infrastructure with network requests, effectively creating a denial-of-service condition that prevented legitimate access to our services.

Long-term Security Improvements

Following the initial incident, we developed and began implementing a comprehensive infrastructure redesign focused on DDoS protection and service resilience:

Security Enhancements

• Cloudflare Proxy Protection: Secured all services behind Cloudflare's proxy infrastructure
• Multi-layered Firewall Strategy: Implemented both VPS provider firewalls and built-in server firewalls to block all non-Cloudflare traffic
• SSH Bastion Implementation: Established secure SSH access protocols via a bastion which has been designed to provide maximum resilience to future attacks
• Infrastructure Distribution: Migrated from a single dedicated server for atl.tools, atl.dev and atl.chat services to multiple smaller, distributed servers for improved resilience

Ongoing Challenges

During the implementation of these security measures, the same malicious actor continued launching similar network flood DDoS attacks against all of our services intermittently, which were still hosted on our main VPS during the migration period. These attacks caused intermittent service availability across our entire platform throughout the following days, prompting us to expedite our migration timeline.

Resolution and Current Status

Migration Completion

After about a week, we successfully completed migration of most of our systems to the new distributed infrastructure. However, some services remain offline to ensure they can be properly secured for the future:

• atl.chat Services: Temporarily taken offline pending a migration to urealircd to improve security and resilience and ease upkeep of the platform.
• Monitoring Infrastructure: Currently being restructured for improved efficiency and capability

Additional Support

We're grateful to have received access to Cloudflare Alexandria protection for our most critical domains, significantly enhancing our defensive capabilities against future attacks.

Lessons Learned and Future Prevention

This incident has strengthened our security posture and provided valuable insights:

1. DNS Configuration Auditing: Regular reviews of DNS records to prevent IP exposure
2. Infrastructure Segmentation: Distributed architecture provides better resilience against targeted attacks
3. Multi-layered Defense: Combined Cloudflare protection with local firewall rules and service host provider firewalls to create robust protection
4. Incident Response: Improved coordination between security implementation and service migration

Security Vulnerability Reporting

If in the future you find a security vulnerability in our infrastructure, we encourage you to report it responsibly. We take security very seriously and appreciate the community's help in identifying potential vulnerabilities.

Please see how to disclose vulnerabilities on our security page for more information on reporting potential issues. By following these procedures you can help us effectively respond and secure our systems against potential threats.

Acknowledgments

We extend our sincere gratitude to:

• Our users for their patience during the extended service disruptions
• Community members who provided advice and assistance during the incident
• Cloudflare for their support in protecting our services through the Alexandria program

Moving Forward

We are now significantly more confident in our infrastructure's resilience against future attacks. This incident, while disruptive, has resulted in a much stronger and more secure platform for all our users. We view this experience as an opportunity to improve our security practices and better serve our community.

In the coming weeks, we will be focusing on restoring the remaining services that were temporarily taken offline during the migration, including atl.chat services and our monitoring infrastructure. These services will be brought back online with enhanced security configurations and improved Cloudflare compatibility. Additionally, we are implementing comprehensive infrastructure redundancy improvements to ensure that future incidents have minimal impact on service availability, including distributed backup systems and automated failover mechanisms.

For questions about this incident report or our security practices, please open a ticket on our Discord server for more information.

After over a year of development, refinement, and collaboration, atl.wiki 1.0 is officially here. This marks a huge milestone for the project — with better tools, clearer policies, and a stronger foundation, we're ready to serve the Linux and FOSS community better than ever before.

For those not familiar with the wiki, in May of 2024 we launched atl.wiki with the goal of providing reliable and informative resources to users of all ability levels of Linux and adjacent FOSS software. We have so far amassed 3000 edits over 200 pages from 130 users, and we welcome you to join us in growing the wiki!

✅ What's changed?

• Full infrastructure rebuild: We reinstalled MediaWiki from scratch for a clean and maintainable setup and we moved the wiki database to its own secure server for improved resilience and security. Scott also assisted in migrating from Apache to NGINX for faster page loads and easier configuration management.

• Short URLs implemented: We now use URLs like atl.wiki/Page_Title instead of atl.wiki/w/index.php?title=Page_Title, for a cleaner experience. This went hand in hand with improved visibility and indexing across search engines to help users discover content.

• New homepage design: Rebuilt from the ground up to be more useful, readable, and visually appealing to give a user a better experience when first finding and using the wiki.

• Dedicated staging wiki: Allows safe testing of config changes without impacting the live wiki. We also adopted a long-term support versions only for improved stability and security for the wiki.

• Launched Guides section: A curated space for step-by-step tutorials and helpful walkthroughs in any topic you can think of. It's a crowd sourced guide space for authors to nerd out about their interests and share their knowledge and experience.

• Expanded and rewritten policies: We established and wrote our extensive guidelines and policies to guide authors on how to best write content for the wiki. We also created and refined a privacy policy and disclaimer to be as transparent to users as possible about how the wiki funcitons.

• Revamped page moderation: It helped us streamline editing while keeping quality control where it matters most. We also deployed Cloudflare Turnstile which blocks bots during signup without annoying captchas for the users.

• User experience features added: Logged-in users get access to favorites, TOTP 2FA, and more as well as SSO which simplifies internal account management and improves staff security.

• Established core community values: We're guided by five key principles:

  • Accuracy - factual, well-sourced content
  • Impartiality - free from bias
  • Consistency - clean, unified standards
  • Courtesy - respectful collaboration
  • Accessibility - open and usable by all

🌱 What's Next

To everyone who contributed or supported the project — thank you. Your time and effort helped shape the wiki into what it is today. We hope you've found atl.wiki useful, and we're always looking forward to welcoming new editors and readers into the community.

Here's to the future of atl.wiki, we hope to see you there with us!

• atmois (Head of Wiki Operations)

Our community continues to go from strength to strength, and this month we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve reached over 13,084 Linux enthusiasts!

Whether you’ve just joined or have been here since the early days, your energy, knowledge and support are what keep ATL thriving.

Fresh Faces & Familiar Friends

This month, we welcomed both returning and newly promoted members into key positions:

• @miyu rejoins our moderation team, bringing back their invaluable experience to the squad.
• @joetroll joins our systems team, eager to get stuck into the technical side of keeping ATL running smoothly.
• A huge congratulations to @ryna for their well-deserved promotion to become a fully-fledged moderator! We've been super impressed with his growth, level-headedness and insight. Looking forward to seeing him go far!

Crypto Comes to ATL

You've asked and we’ve finally taken the plunge — crypto donations are now live in a wide variety of crypto currencies!

You can contribute via: atl.sh/crypto

Every single donation, no matter the size, helps to keep our community vibrant and strong. From all of us at ATL: thank you for supporting what we do.

Projects Taking Flight

We’ve seen incredible progress on our community-led projects this month.

Special shoutout to @wilbur, who has taken the lead on our ISO Archival Project. We’ve already hit over 12TB of ISOs preserved — an amazing milestone and a great sign of more to come.

New & Returning Roles

You asked, we listened!

• The EndeavourOS role has made its grand return.
• The C language role has now been split into C and C++, letting members showcase their specific programming strengths.

Add them to your profile and wear your skills with pride!

Wrapping Up

July has been yet another fantastic month of growth and community spirit.

From welcoming old friends and launching new initiatives, to hitting record-breaking archival goals — we're moving full steam ahead into August.

Here’s to another month of success.

We love you all — let’s keep pushing forward!

June was a massive month for our community, with continued expansion pushing beyond our goal of 10,000 members, new team members on the systems team and moderation team, and even more exciting projects taking shape. Let’s go over and celebrate this months achievements.

Growth and Activity

More Members, More Engagement

Our community grew from 10,764 to 12,064 members, with an impressive average of 15,001 messages sent daily and an average 93.48 hours of voice chat activity every day. The discussions and contributions from everyone make this space what it is - thank you!

New Team Members on Board

We’re excited to welcome @storm, @bghs and @Ryna to the moderation team! We'd also love to welcome back @Khrozma after a break! Their help will ensure the community stays well-managed and welcoming for all.

Additionally, we'd like to welcome new Systems team members @Ela, @ikci, @waffles and @Clemthealien. These manage our systems and keep ATL turning!

Projects Updates

Giveaway!

We gave away a Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 this month to celebrate reaching 10,000 members! With the winner being '@$name'!

Wiki 1.0

Looking ahead, in July, the Wiki is releasing in 1.0! A massive step in our wiki's life as it progresses to being a much bigger wiki! Remember to contribute to the wiki at atl.wiki!

CoC Changes

As usual, we've made some changes to the Code of Conduct which we request you review at https://allthingslinux.org/code-of-conduct.

Looking Ahead to July!

July is an exciting month as we move forward! Let's keep it up as we move into July!

May hit harder than ever. With massive growth, unforgettable community events, and some long-awaited milestones, this month has redefined what ATL is capable of.

Community Growth & Activity

We surged past 10,000 members, growing from 8,800 to 10,600 our fastest growth ever, averaging 60 new users daily.

Engagement didn’t slow down either:

• 80+ hours of voice chat per day, with peaks over 125 hours.
• ~15,000 messages per day, spiking to 20,000 on some days .

This isn’t just activity it’s a movement.

10K Member ThinkPad Giveaway

We're giving away a Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3
(Intel i5-1235U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 14” FHD)

Entry Details:

• Must have the @Grublet (Lvl 5+) role – check via $lvl in #bot-commands
• No staff entries
• One entry per person (no alts)
• Giveaway runs for 2 weeks
• Winner & mods will coordinate worldwide shipping post-draw

Podcast w/ Brodie Robertson

Kaizen recorded a special podcast episode with Brodie Robertson!
Brodie joins us to chat Linux, open source, and some behind-the-scenes ATL history. Don't miss it.

Twitch Debut: Countdown to 10K

We officially launched our Twitch thanks to @electron271 and @amilie@archcord for organising the hopefully first of many streams!

To celebrate, we hosted a live countdown to 10K members and the energy was unreal.

Follow us on Twitch for upcoming streams and community events.

TuxGPT is Live

@Terminal Tinkerer (Lvl 10+) users now have access to TuxGPT – ATL's own AI assistant!

Capabilities:

• Understands Linux, tech questions, ATL culture
• Can see images, process text files, and retain 50-message chains
• Access it in #bot-commands by pinging @/bin/tuxgpt

Huge thanks to @jakob for building this.
GitHub – jakobdylanc/llmcord

Promotions & New Roles

Staff Promotions

• @FarCotton & @Hunter → Admin Assistant
• @Vuks → Senior Mod
• @armv8 & @abby → Junior Mods

Role Styling Upgrades

We’ve introduced holographic username styles for:

• @Donors
• @Helpful
• @ally@atl
• @FOSS Contributor

Show ATL support with flair.

Server Tags Are Live

You can now add a custom ATL server tag to your profile:

User Settings → Profiles → Server Tag

It’s a small way to show off your community pride and help ATL grow stronger.

Looking Ahead

May was monumental. We hit milestones, launched new platforms, and welcomed waves of new members.

As June rolls in, expect:

• Some news for the wiki!
• Additional community tools and role upgrades

Thanks for being a part of it all.
Stay active. Stay curious. Stay Awesome.

— See you in next month’s roundup.

April was packed. From explosive growth to infrastructure and policy refinements, this month showcased the strength and direction of the ATL community. Here's the full breakdown.

Community Growth & Activity

We started April with 8,000 members and are closing the month at nearly 8,900, with over 500 joins in the final week alone. We’re now averaging ~20,000 messages per day and over 100 hours of voice chat daily. That’s serious engagement.

Public Recognition

Featured by Brodie Robertson

We were featured on Brodie Robertson’s channel in their latest video:
“Useful Resources Every New Linux User Needs”
Watch here

This kind of exposure helps us reach even more Linux users and strengthen the community’s presence across platforms.

Server Structure Overhaul

Channel Changes

To simplify navigation and improve usability:

• polls → archived (Polls now go in #random)
• wiki category → cleaned up:
  • #wiki-changelog → moved to /var/logs
  • #wiki-todolist → archived
  • #wiki-chat → moved to /home/atl/atl-wiki
  • #wiki-news → archived (Future updates will be in #announcements)
• Access archived channels via the @/mnt/archives role
• New onboarding option: Logs which grants public log channel access
• New channel: #dj-booth for music bot use

Updated Channel Layout

Aimed at reducing clutter in key discussion areas:

• #linux - strictly linux
• #general-tech - general tech discourse
• #off-topic - daily chatter, media, non-technical discussions
• #random - memes, "spam", light banter

We’re hoping this helps balance the load and keep #general-tech useful and on-topic.

Wiki Guide Section - Soft Launch

We soft-launched the Wiki’s Guide section this month to prep for a full release in May. Expect detailed walkthroughs, curated resources, and user-contributed content to become easier to find and share.

Code of Conduct Updates

Policy updates rolled out this month:

• 1.7 - Piracy & Penetration Testing
• 2.3 - Voice Channel Behavior
• 3.4 - Hard Rules (Pull Request #40)
• 📄 Full Code of Conduct

Please review these if you haven't already.

Staff Updates & Roles

Promotions & Additions

Our newest staff members to join the team are:

• @Redkey has joined as an Admin Assistant
  • Junior Mods: @Jess, @Storm, @Dyl, @Arm and @Abby.
  • Systems Team: @Fr3sh & @Wilbur

New Roles

We've added a few new community roles by request:

• Distro: @Solus
• DE: @COSMIC
• Editor: @Ed, @Zed

Want to join the team? Learn more or apply at atl.sh/apply

Role & Permission System Cleanup

We’ve cleaned up role and channel permissions. Some level unlocks were adjusted—check your standing via $lvl in bot-commands.

Summary:

• Level 5: Post invites, use external emojis, stream
• Level 10: Use stickers, embed in off-topic, access #Lounge++
• Level 15: Access to #irl
• Level 20+: Voice messages, full tech channel access, VIP perks

Show Your Support

Support ATL publicly by setting your status to .gg/linux or discord.gg/linux and you’ll earn the @ally@atl vanity role + an XP boost ❤️

Looking Ahead

April was all about refinement and starting a new phase of our history. As we enter May, we’ll be rolling out the full wiki launch, onboarding new staff, and continuing to scale for growth. Thanks for being here—and for shaping one of the most active and collaborative Linux spaces around.

See you in next month’s roundup.

March has been one of our busiest months yet—full of backend upgrades, community changes, and public recognition for our in-house projects. Let’s break it all down.

Community Growth & Activity

We have grown from 7,500 to 8,000 members, holding strong with an average of 12,000 messages per day and a new high of over 120 hours of voice chat daily. Your ongoing engagement makes ATL what it is an active, informed, and collaborative community.

Stats Platform Relaunch

The ATL Stats site is back online at stats.atl.dev.

• If you leave the server, your data is automatically removed.
• You can opt in anytime using s$optin.
• Full privacy details can be seen on the sites Privacy Policy

This brings transparency to our activity levels and helps us understand community trends over time.

Tux Gets the Spotlight

Our Discord bot, Tux, was featured in a live YouTube stream this month!

• The stream highlighted its recent Docker refactoring, thanks to contributors Ivan and Kyle.
• Tux was showcased alongside major tools like AgentGPT (33k+ GitHub stars).
• Watch it here: YouTube Stream
• Check out the repo: Tux on GitHub

We hope this brings more attention to the quality work being done by the community.

Major Site & Backend Updates

Website Overhaul

Our main site at allthingslinux.org got a facelift:

• New branding and structure
• New forms for staff applications: Apply
• Google Forms are deprecated going forward

Infrastructure

Big strides behind the scenes:

• @Thanos joined the systems team
• Monitoring and uptime tracking: ATL Status
• Public dashboards: Grafana
• Self-hosted URL shortener: atl.sh

Code of Conduct Revisions

Rule 1.2 has been significantly updated.

Please read it here: GitHub - Rule 1.2.

Updates have also been made to sections 1.1, 1.3, and the Notice.

Staff & Structure

Promotions

• @Atmois has been promoted up to the role of Admin Assistant!

Departmental Structure

We are also refining our team structure into defined departments:

• Community/Moderation
• Management/Admin
• Creative/Content
• Systems/Development

This helps contributors avoid burnout and focus on what they enjoy most and can do best to help grow and strengthen the community.

New Channels

• #⁠projects: A forum for users to showcase personal work, get feedback, and collaborate.

These additions aim to broaden discussion areas and foster deeper engagement in tooling and workflows.

Looking Ahead

The first quarter of 2025 has shown us what this community is capable of—growth, adaptability, and technical excellence. In April, we’ll continue refining infrastructure, expanding documentation, and bringing tux to the spotlight.

Thanks for sticking with us. See you next month.

February brought even more growth, new features, and major backend improvements to our community. Here’s everything that happened this month.

Growth and Activity

More Members & Engagement

We expanded from 6,900 to 7,500 members, maintaining an active community with over 12,500 messages sent daily and an average of 75 hours of voice chat per day. Thanks to everyone for keeping discussions lively and engaging!

New Community Features

Projects Updates

We’ve introduced a new Projects forum to give members a space to showcase their personal projects, receive feedback, and collaborate with others. If you have ideas to improve the forum, check out the pinned thread and share your thoughts!

TuxGPT Updates

The @/bin/tuxgpt instance is available to all Level 15+ members, donors, and boosters! Recent updates have improved response quality! Test it out in bot-commands and let us know what you think. Huge thanks to @Jakob for providing the source!

Major Infrastructure Overhaul

We’re preparing for a full revamp of our backend services, including:

• Separating mail and other critical services to new servers
• Implementing automated backups, better security, and improved monitoring
• Standardising configurations with Ansible, dotfiles, and user groups

We’ll announce scheduled downtime in advance, so stay tuned for updates.

New Blog Launch

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our official blog! Our first post explores the power of MDX and the flexibility it brings to our platform.

Moving forward, the blog will cover more than just news—it will become a hub for:

• Guides & tutorials
• Technical deep dives
• Opinions & discussions from community members

To kick things off, we’ve gone through every announcement since the server’s inception and compiled monthly roundups of all major updates. Looking back, it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come in just a year!

Looking Ahead

We’re excited for March and the continued growth of our community. We’ll be focusing on improving our infrastructure, enhancing member engagement, and rolling out some major new systems in the coming month. Thank you for being part of this journey with us!

January was a big month for our community, with continued expansion, new team members, and exciting projects taking shape. Let’s go over the highlights.

Growth and Activity

More Members, More Engagement

Our community grew from 6,262 to 6,843 members, with an impressive average of 12,500 messages sent daily and an average 50 hours of voice chat activity every day. The discussions and contributions from everyone make this space what it is - thank you!

New Moderators on Board

We’re excited to welcome @Glocean, @Electron271 and @Vuks to the moderation team! Their help will ensure the community stays well-managed and welcoming for all.

Projects Updates

ISO Archival Effort

We’re looking for volunteers to support The ISO Archival Project, which focuses on preserving old and obscure operating system ISOs. We have managed to document over 7TB of ISO's so far. If you’re interested in software preservation, this is a great opportunity to contribute. Check out the thread in our forum for more information!

Wiki Upgrade

atl.wiki has been updated to MediaWiki 1.43, bringing improvements in performance and functionality. We are doing large internal overhauls to improve the experience for contributors and users as well as introduce new options for information and continue to provide useful and unbiased information for Linux and FOSS users of all abilities.

Looking Ahead

With January behind us, we’re excited for what’s next. Let’s keep the momentum going and continue making this community an amazing place for Linux and FOSS enthusiasts of all abilities!

As we close out the year, December has brought remarkable growth and pivotal updates to the All Things Linux community. We’re thrilled to share recent achievements and plans that set the stage for a prosperous 2025.

Here’s a look at our highlights this month:

Community Growth

6,000 Members Milestone:

We’ve officially surpassed 6,000 members! A warm welcome to all new members, and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributes to the ⁠support-forum. Your assistance and dedication are incredibly valued.

Recent Developments

Domain and Infrastructure Enhancements:

Primary Domain Acquisition

By pure luck or destiny, yet again, we’ve successfully acquired our new primary home for the forseeable future, https://allthingslinux.org/.

Although we also own allthingslinux.com, we felt as a team that this domain reflected our organizational goals and mission stronger. Email migrations from .com to .org are underway, with aliases preserved.

Resource Partnerships

We've secured significant benefits through partnerships and discounts:

• Google Workspace: 2,000 accounts and 100TB of shared space.
• GitHub: Advanced features for our projects, including CI/CD time, package storage, codespaces, and more.
• Canva: 30 pro accounts at no cost to help with our design needs.
• Okta for SSO: 50 accounts at no cost to help with our SSO needs.
• Discounted Fees: Lower fees with Stripe and PayPal.

More partnerships are in the works and will be announced soon.

We’ve also set up an official non-profit bank account with US Bank to enhance our financial transparency and efficiency.

Compliance and Policy Updates

Legal Compliance Initiatives:

To effectively safeguard user data and adhere to privacy standards, we’ve introduced new Privacy and Cookie policies, along with updated Terms & Conditions on allthingslinux.org. These steps ensure compliance with regulations like GDPR, CPRA, and LGPD across all platforms.

Visit https://www.iubenda.com/ for more on our compliance systems, or check our current policies on our website: https://allthingslinux.org/.

Team Growth

Staff Promotions:

Congratulations to our latest staff promotions. Their contributions have been invaluable to the community and we are excited to see them take on new roles.

• Senior Mod: @estralia
• Mods: @imnotpolar, @ilovecanada
• Junior Mods: @vuks, @electron271, @glocean
• Admin Assistant: @green

Closing Remarks

As we prepare to welcome the new year, your support remains vital for our continued success. Donations are always appreciated and help us drive new initiatives and maintain operations.

Thank you for making this year a resounding success for All Things Linux. Your passion and involvement are what fuel our growth and innovation. Here's to new opportunities and continued collaboration in 2025!

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes,

November marks a monumental milestone for All Things Linux as we celebrate our one-year anniversary. Over the past year, we’ve grown, innovated, and forged stronger connections, reaching new heights as a non-profit organization. Here’s a look at recent developments and future plans:

Milestones and Achievements

One-Year Anniversary Celebration:

A year ago, this community was born, overcoming early challenges with tenacity and collaboration. We've grown to over 5.5K members, engaging in 4M+ messages, with 40K+ VC hours, all thanks to your dedication.

Team Expansion:

Our moderation team has grown from 0 to nearly 40 staff members over the year. Many have stayed, some have moved on to new adventures & others continue being promoted for their amazing contributions. The culture that we have built over the year has shown to be a great success and we are proud of the leadership that we are continuing to build.

Non-Profit Status:

We’re thrilled to announce that All Things Linux is now officially a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. This achievement unlocks new possibilities for growth and contribution to the Linux community.

What's in store

atl.wiki:

We now welcome contributions from anyone with an account but with changes requiring approval by trusted or admin users. You can gain trusted status through active contributions.

atl.tools:

We plan to revamp our servers with a stable, modular approach to offer a wider array of tools, resources & mirrors for various self-hosted software.

atl.chat:

We've heard your feedback on IRC & XMPP, and we apologize for the delays. Plans are underway for a sysadmin team to enhance security and moderation. A Mastodon or Matrix server could be in our future also.

atl.dev:

Though not formally shareable yet, this project aims to provide free cloud storage/VPSes for developers, FOSS projects & Linux enthusiasts, along with a pubnix-like ecosystem. We are really excited about how valuable this project can truly be in particular.

tux:

We're preparing to transition Tux into a formal release cycle, starting with a proper v0.1 release. Upcoming improvements include Redis caching & rigorous testing and optimization.

Other Projects:

Behind the scenes, we're developing internal documentation & training materials, such as our Moderator Handbook & onboarding presentations.

We've also been working hard on forming tight knit standard operating procedures, record keeping, and best practices to ensure we can continue to grow and improve as a non-profit organization.

Website Launch:

We are excited to announce the launch of our new website (the one you're on right now) to learn about our mission, apply for positions, and stay updated on projects and announcements.

Community Engagement

Logo Design Contest:

Put your creativity to the test! We’re seeking logo designs for All Things Linux, with a $100 prize for the winning entry. Submit your ideas now and help us establish a visual identity that represents our mission.

Thanksgiving Giveaway:

Congratulations to @kant for winning our Raspberry Pi 5 giveaway!

We appreciate everyone who participated and supported this vibrant community.

Infrastructure Updates

IRC Revival:

IRC services are back online, featuring custom automod and slowmode features.

• Connect via irc.atl.chat/6697 and register to join the conversation.

Web IRC Addition:

Enhanced web IRC provides easier access with media embedding features.

• Visit https://webirc.atl.chat/.

Signal Addition:

We've also opened up a Signal chat for anyone who's into that sort of thing:

• Join the group at https://signal.atl.chat/

Closing Remarks

As we enter December, we reflect on a year of incredible achievements and the many possibilities that lie ahead. Thank you for your unwavering support, creativity, and collaboration that make All Things Linux a thriving community.

Here’s to a bright future filled with learning, growth, and connection. Onward to another successful year! 🌟

With gratitude,

Kaizen and the All Things Linux Team

As we step into October, we celebrate the incredible growth and exciting updates that have shaped our community over the past months. With our one-year anniversary just around the corner on November 9th, prepare for more exciting events and announcements.

Let’s dive into this month’s highlights:

Community Milestones

Nearing 5,000 Members:

Our community continues to grow, and as we approach 5,000 members, your support and engagement remain invaluable. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of ATL!

Recent Updates

New Channels:

• #forum: A space for off-topic discussions not suitable for dedicated channels. Share and suggest new topics in the Forum Suggestions sub forum.
• #submit-a-report: Streamlines ticket creation, guiding new members unfamiliar with slash commands.

Staff Changes:

• @atmois, @estralia, and @bee promoted to Mod.
• @owuawo welcomed as our new Admin Assistant.
• Creative Team formation underway with @pseudify and @juniiii; applications opening soon.

Role Adjustments:

Because we are limited by Discord role limits, we've streamlined roles by merging similar ones to improve organization and reduce clutter.

Merged Roles:

• @Arch-based: e.g. EndeavourOS, ArcoLinux, Manjaro
• @Ubuntu-based: e.g. Pop!_OS, Kubuntu, Zorin
• @Fedora-based: e.g. Nobara, Kinoite, Silverblue
• @*BSD: e.g. FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD
• @Universal Blue: e.g. Bazzite, Aurora, Bluefin

Tux and Minecraft Updates

Tux Development:

Exciting features inbound, including a new leveling system and custom automod solutions. Your contributions can make a difference:

Minecraft Server Revamp:

The Minecraft server is back online after extensive upgrades, featuring Towny management, better plugins, and improved hosting. Join us if you meet the Terminal Tinkerer level requirement.

Server Details:

• IP: mc.atl.tools
• Version: 1.21.1, Semi-Vanilla, US West
• Rules and more at #mc-chat.

Read the full announcement here.

Engagement and Rewards

New Leveling System:

Our server now features a robust leveling system managed by Tux with exciting perks and roles:

• XP Roles:
  • Level 5+: Grublet
  • Level 10+: Terminal Tinkerer
  • Level 15+: Daemon Wrangler
  • Level 20+: Penguin Prodigy

You can learn more about the leveling system here.

Additionally, we are happy to share that level 20 and up is now automatically qualified for an @atl.tools email address!

Closing Remarks

Thank you for driving All Things Linux forward with your passion and creativity. As we near our anniversary, stay tuned for more events and opportunities to contribute.

Here’s to continued success and shared experiences as we venture into November and beyond!

As we transition into September, we reflect on the substantial developments and community growth over the past two months. With new roles, channels, and exciting projects on the horizon, our momentum continues to build.

Here’s an overview of what has unfolded:

Community Updates

New Roles and Icons:

Thanks to @Juniiii, our role icons have been fully refreshed to a consistent theme.

Recent role additions also include:

• Ping Roles: @Polls, @Support (notifies when new support forum posts are made)
• GPU Roles: @AMD, @Nvidia, @Intel
• Language Role: @Dart

Channel Updates:

• New Channels:
  • #server-meta: Organizes useful resources, cleaning up our channel list.
  • #quick-support: For smaller support requests, formerly support-chat.
  • #media: A space exclusively for images and videos, similar to ⁠random.
  • #donors: Highlights new contributions from Open Collective.

Staff Changes

We’re thrilled to announce several internal promotions:

• @tess promoted to Senior Mod.
• @arkannon and @pocki promoted to Mod.
• @bee and @estralia promoted to Junior Mod.

Technology and Development

ATL Tools and IRC/XMPP Status:

Our IRC/XMPP services remain unbridged as per the recent update in our blog here.

With that being said, thank you for your ongoing support and donations, which are crucial to maintaining our services and further developing solutions to improve them.

Tux Development:

We now have a dedicated server for @allthingslinux/tux development.

With over 75 stars, 20+ contributors, and 1,200+ commits, your contributions can help shape this project even further.

Ongoing Initiatives

Minecraft Developments:

Exciting things are underway for our Minecraft activities.

Join the conversation and get updates in #mc-chat

Community Statistics:

A massive thank you for your engagement — we've hit 3.2 million messages and 4,500 members!

Explore all of our insights and beautiful graphs via Statbot here.

Closing Remarks

Thank you all for your continued support, creativity, and participation. Your contributions make ATL a thriving, dynamic community. Let's forge ahead with shared success and innovation!

As the summer winds down, we celebrate an incredible month filled with creativity, competition, and collaboration. August has proven to be a pivotal moment for our community’s growth and engagement, largely thanks to the excitement around The Tux Games.

Here’s what unfolded over the past few weeks:

Community Events and Achievements

The Tux Games:

This month, we hosted The Tux Games, a landmark event packed with fun competitions and community engagement. From speedruns to creativity showcases, the event was a resounding success!

• Event Highlights:

  • Art Contest
  • Manual Arch Install Speedrun
  • Super Tux Kart Racing Bracket
  • Minecraft Hunger Games Tournament
  • Speech from our founder, @kaizen

• Winners Spotlight:

  • Art Contest:
  • Manual Arch Install Speedrun: 1st Place: @aru
  • Super Tux Kart Racing: 1st Place: @ryna
  • Minecraft Hunger Games: 1st Place: @andrew

Congratulations to all our winners!

Keep your eyes peeled for your rewards, and revel in your achievements! 🎉

Creative Contributions

Art Contest Submissions:

Our community showcased incredible talent, contributing promotional banners and emojis that added vibrancy to the event. A special congratulations to @devobass for your outstanding submission!

Ongoing Opportunities:

Interested in ongoing creative projects or technical challenges? Consider joining us in making the server more robust and enjoyable by helping shape our new Creative Team!

Infrastructure and Development

Role and Channel Updates:

With our roles nearing the limit, new additions will be based on community polls. Participate and help shape future role selections.

Tux Bot Development:

Our growing Discord bot project, @allthingslinux/tux seeks contributors as we approach a stable release. Dive in to test new skills and contribute to this important project.

Recent Highlights:

• Over 9,000 lines of code and 20+ contributors with 1,000 commits, 89 closed issues, and 235 closed pull requests
• Modern tech stack utilizing Python 3.12 with strict typing, Sentry, Supabase, CI/CD, and more!

For more information or to join us, visit our development server here.

Updates and Announcements

IRC/XMPP Progress:

Check out the latest IRC/XMPP update in our blog post here. This update covers our plans and progress following initial shutdowns due to abuses.

Reminders and Acknowledgments

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in The Tux Games.

Your involvement was invaluable, and we couldn't have done it without the support of our dedicated @%wheel (staff) team, volunteers, and donors.

A special thank you to the following people: @Atmois, @Amilie, @electron271, @dc7341, @MelonOof and @tess for their contributions to the event!

Looking Ahead: Interested in becoming a Mod or contributing to future events? Consider applying or volunteering for our vibrant community.

As we transition to September, let's continue nurturing the enthusiasm and passion that keep our community growing. Here’s to more incredible achievements together! 🌟

As we step into July, we celebrate an incredible journey marked by growth, creativity, and exciting plans for the future. With our community now officially 4,000 members strong, let's review June's achievements and look ahead to what's next!

Community Milestones

4,000 Members Achievement:

We are thrilled to announce reaching 4,000 members! From our start on November 9th, 2023, to now, your enthusiasm has been our foundation. Thank you for being a vital part of this journey.

Upcoming Celebration: The Tux Games

To celebrate reaching 4096 members, we're introducing the @/dev/tty4096 role and hosting The Tux Games! Join us next weekend, August 9th and 10th, for an eventful weekend of competitions and fun.

Key Developments

Financial Transparency and Donations:

You can now view all incoming donations and server expenses on our Airtable Ledger. Thank you to all who have donated and continue to support our growing offerings.

Service Enhancements:

• Email Server: Our email server at atl.tools is live, with around 70 accounts registered.

• Minecraft Server Upgrade: Hardware upgrades mean we're considering new server variations like a modded or anarchy server.

New Roles and Channels

Roles and Ping Options:

• Donor Roles: @Donor Legend, @Super Donor, @Donor+ & @Donor to show your support for our server.
• Privacy Roles: @Ask To DM, @Closed DMs, @Open DMs to manage direct message preferences.

Channel Expansions:

• New Channels:

  • #bsd/unix for BSD/Unix discussions.
  • #engineering for topics ranging from embedded programming to 3D printing.

• Revamped Theming Channels:

  • #showcase for completed rices.
  • #wallpapers for sharing and discussing wallpaper choices.

Celebrate Creativity: Art Submissions for The Tux Games

Art Submissions open for the Tux Games starting Friday, August 2nd, closing on Monday, August 5th. Submit your best work for our promotional banner and emoji designs.

Contribute to the Event

Are you interested in volunteering for The Tux Games? Help us make this event extraordinary by collaborating with our team! Please each out via /ticket to get involved.

Reminders and Opportunities

Your suggestions are invaluable! Share ideas in the #suggestions channel, and stay involved in events and discussions within #general and #lounge.

As we transition into August, let's celebrate the achievements and growth of our vibrant community. Here's to the next chapter in our journey and the exciting possibilities ahead!

Cheers to July and the Tux Games! 🎉

June has marked a period of significant growth and expansion for our community. From launching new services to embracing generous donations, your continued engagement is the heartbeat of All Things Linux.

Let's explore this month's milestones:

Key Announcements and Developments

Community Wiki Initiative:

We’re exploring the development of a comprehensive resource hub to address frequently asked questions and provide valuable guidance to new and experienced users alike.

Share your ideas and get involved with the planning in the #wiki-chat channel. And for those that are familiar with wiki/knowledge-base style platforms, we'd love to hear your input on what we should use - place your vote here.

Official Minecraft Server Launch:

We are thrilled to announce our new Minecraft 1.20.6 Java Edition server, offering a vanilla survival experience. Request whitelist access for the mc.atl.tools server, and enjoy building alongside our community.

Infrastructure and Services

IRC and XMPP Services Reboot:

Our IRC and XMPP servers are live again, now at irc.atl.chat and atl.chat.

While re-registration is needed, this comes with our newly acquired domain: atl.chat, paving the way for exciting systems to come, like a potential Matrix homeserver and more!

Dotcom Domain Acquisition:

Big news! We are thrilled to announce that we are now the proud owners of the allthingslinux.com domain. In true Linux fashion, acquiring this domain was made possible by a generous donation from a long-time Linux enthusiast.

Community Contributions and Support

Donations:

A heartfelt thank you to our donors! We've managed to raise nearly $500 in just one week, our server expenses are fully covered for quite some time and preparations for new services continue.

For more information about contributing, please visit: #donations

New Updates and Features

Staff Promotions

• Mod Promotions: Congratulations to @tess
• Junior Mod Promotions: Welcome @flatbread and @green

New Roles:

• @Universal Blue

Channel Additions:

• #donations, #vip-lounge and expanded wiki channels like #wiki-news.
• #mc-chat now live for Minecraft server discussions.
• A new music bot channel joins the server: #🎵 ATL RISC-V RADIO.

New Tux Features:

And for classic internet fun, enjoy our new XKCD comic commands accessible via /xkcd. You can find other related commands via $help xkcd.

Reminders and Opportunities

If you have FOSS contributions, make a /ticket to obtain our @FOSS Contributor role for your contributions!

Thank you all for your incredible support and participation, which enabled us to achieve these rapid advances. Here’s to more engaging discussions, innovative contributions, and shared successes in the months ahead!

Cheers to a fantastic June and an even more exhilarating July! 🚀

May has been another extraordinary month for our community, filled with new beginnings, exciting partnerships, and, most notably, an unparalleled milestone of reaching 3,000 members! Let’s dive into the highlights:

Key Events and Announcements

3,000 Members Celebration:

We've achieved a whopping 3,000 members!

To celebrate this monumental milestone, we held a Nitro giveaway. Congratulations to our winner, @AnyCreatureMorph, and thanks to @Pseudify for sponsoring the gift.

Super Tux Kart and Beyond:

Gear up for another Super Tux Kart Saturday this weekend! After racing, let’s unwind with some @Gartic fun. Install SuperTuxKart here and find our server titled “All Things Linux.”

Event Details: Discord Event

New Features and Roles

Community Safety Features:

Introducing anonymous reporting via /report command in the bot-commands channel. While tickets are preferred, we understand the need for a discreet option. Thank you for helping keep our community safe!

New Roles and Additions:

• Newly added roles such as @CachyOS and @Swift
• Newly added base 16 color roles: Catppuccin Frappe

Partnering with The Debian Den:

We’re excited to announce our partnership with The Debian Den server! This opens doors for collaborative events, including Super Tux Kart sessions and more. Be sure to familiarize yourself with their rules.

Administration and Moderator Updates

New Admin and Moderators:

Welcome to our newest admin, @Miyu, and our freshest Junior Mod, @Tess!

We’re thrilled to have you on board.

Application for Junior Moderator:

We’re continually accepting applications for Junior Mod positions. Interested in helping shape our vibrant community? Apply here.

Community Engagement

New Channel:

The #reviews channel is live and fully public!

Transparency is key to our community, and we want to hear from you. Share your feedback and kind words to help us grow and thrive.

Reminders and Opportunities

Want to help us grow further? Spread the word by sharing our Discord link with friends or adding it to your bio.

Let's keep the energy high and continue expanding our amazing community. Thanks to each of you for being part of our journey!

Onwards and upwards, ATL! 🚀

April has been another fantastic month for our community, filled with engaging events, new features, and exciting updates. Your ongoing support and participation are crucial as we continue to grow and enhance the user experience. Here’s a recap of everything that happened:

Key Events

Super Tux Kart Saturday:

Prepare for another exhilarating Super Tux Kart Saturday! Join anytime—our server is listed under “All Things Linux.”

If you haven’t already, install the client via SuperTuxKart here. Feel free to reach out if you have questions or join in on some fun GarticBOT activities afterward!

Event Details: Discord Event

New Updates

New Roles Added:

• DE/WMs: @LXQt
• Languages: @GDScript, @Nim

Our Newest Junior Mod:

Congratulations to @Gurov for joining our mod team as the newest Junior Mod.

Server Enhancements

New Tux Command:

Explore our helpful and new tldr command in the #bot-commands channel. Try searching any linux command like /tldr <command> or $tldr <command> for quick man-page like explanations with examples and usage.

Permanent SuperTuxKart Server:

We've implemented a modified SuperTuxKart server fork from an active STK ambassador to deliver an enhanced gaming experience, now open to all!

Community Feedback

Share Your Thoughts:

We've opened the #reviews channel, inviting our community to share feedback and kind words. Your support brings joy and encourages us to showcase our community’s success.

Guidelines Updates

New Code of Conduct:

We've made changes to our Code of Conduct to improve clarity and guidance.

In our commitment to maintaining a high quality server, we must emphasize the importance of thoughtful and substantial discourse within our community. Accordingly, content that is considered low-effort/low-quality, including but not limited to messages that lack substantive value or do not encourage meaningful conversation, is prohibited.

This includes "brainrot" which are words or phrases with no substantial value. (an example would be animal sounds, reply chains, and current viral memes).

Please review the latest changes here.

Reminders and Opportunities

Mod Applications:

Interested in joining our mod team? Check out the new application form here.

As we move forward into May, let’s maintain our community’s momentum and continue building on our successes. Your involvement is the heart of our community, and together we achieve great things.

Here’s to another month of growth and excitement! 🚀

March has been a bustling month for our community, marked by significant milestones, member interactions, and crucial updates. Your support continues to fuel our journey as one of the most dynamic Linux hubs.

Let's dive into what we've accomplished:

Key Announcements

SFW Reminder and Code of Conduct:

Please remember that our server is strictly SFW. Do not assume anyone's age to be over 18. Server conduct guidelines are being transitioned to GitHub for improved transparency and contribution management. Share feedback and suggestions as needed.

GitHub Code of Conduct: Code of Conduct Repository

Community Milestones

2,000 Members Achieved:

We've hit an astounding 2,000 members! The server's growth maintains its momentum, and your engagement is pivotal. Let's continue building towards new horizons.

Message Milestone:

A special shout-out to our early supporters—1 million+ messages sent since our inception.

New Features

New Color Scheme:

Introducing the "Gotham" color scheme for roles. Claim your new look in the Channels & Roles tab.

New Channels and Roles:

• Channels: Added #support-info
• Roles: Added @R-Lang

New Bots:

We thought it would be fun to bring some games to the server. We've now added @Gartic to the server, you can start a game with g.gartic or g.restart in #bot-commands, have fun!

New Team Members:

Welcome to our latest mods:

• @Pseudify
• @Amilie
• @Leah

Community Safety

Vulnerability Alert:

Attention 64-bit system users: A vulnerability in xz version 5.6.0 and 5.6.1 has been identified. Consider downgrading or securing your system.

• Read More: Vulnerability Details
• CVE Information: CVE-2024-3094

Ongoing Projects

Tux Bot Development:

Our server bot Tux is progressing well. If you are experienced in Python or Discord.py and want to contribute, please reach out.

Group Project Ideation:

We are currently looking for group project ideas! The main goal of these projects would be first to have fun, but also foster collaboration while developing teamwork skills in a more technical and creative way. We'll also have something to show for in the end!

Moving Forward

As we advance into April, let's keep the momentum strong. Your participation and passion are the backbone of this community.

Here's to continued growth and shared successes—upwards and onwards with ATL! 🚀

February has been filled with excitement and growth for our community! From successful events to new roles and servers, there’s a lot to recap. Thanks to all of your continuous support, our community keeps reaching new heights.

Here’s everything that happened this month:

Key Events

Super Tux Kart Saturday:

We geared up for another Super Tux Kart Saturday on February 17, 2024, at 12:00 PM! Join us for games throughout the day, and hop in whenever you can. The event can be accessed through the in-game server titled “All Things Linux.”

Additionally, we met with the Super Tux Kart discord server and they were kind enough to give us a shoutout on their server and film our event. You can watch the video here.

Community Enhancements

New Channels and Roles:

We've added several new roles to the server. These include but not limited to: @Fedora Atomic, @RHEL, @Plan 9, @Clojure, @/bin/dash.

Furthermore, we added a special @Revive role to help revive chat when it needs some life.

New Mod Team Members:

Welcoming @Eternal and @eve to the moderation team. Thank you for stepping up to support our community!

Other Updates

Music Bots and Scrobbling:

We’ve doubled our music fun with two @tempo bots. Plus, Last.fm users can scrobble their tracks through @fmbot.

Reminders

• Get involved in our events and share feedback in the #suggestions channel.
• Reach out if you need any help or have questions about our role offerings.

As we step into March, let's continue embracing and celebrating the Linux spirit that unites us all. Your contributions and enthusiasm are what make this community vibrant and welcoming. Here’s to more shared successes!

Happy End of February! 🎉

January has been a phenomenal month for our community, marked by rapid growth and the launch of key projects. Your support and participation set the tone for a remarkable start to the new year.

Let’s look back at what we achieved together:

Key Milestones

1K Members Achieved:

We reached an outstanding milestone of 1,000 members this month! This achievement underscores our place as one of the fastest-growing Linux communities. Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm.

With reaching this milestone, we have set a huge goal to reach 10,000 members by the end of the year. Whether we reach this goal or not, we will be proud of all the members we have gained this year.

Nitro Boosters:

A big thank you to our @Boosters for helping us secure 30 boosts, ensuring we keep our .gg/linux vanity URL. Remember, we need 14 boosts at all times to maintain it, so your boosts are always appreciated.

New Features & Updates

New Roles:

We've added several new roles to the server. These include but not limited to: @Slackware, @Asahi, @Budgie, @Nano, @Micro, @Helix, @Assembly, /bin/zsh & /bin/bash.

You can find these roles in the Channels & Roles category.

Additionally, we've launched a special @FOSS Contributor role for verified contributors in the open-source space.

Community Server Initiatives:

We are exploring the start of a dedicated VPS to host various community services. Ideas include XMPP servers, a Pastebin service, Git frontends, and more.

Community Engagement

Web Dev Channel:

We've opened up a new forum channel for web developers to share new libraries, tools, and resources for collaborative learning.

Color Roles Voting:

We hosted a poll to choose the community's next color scheme, and continued engagement is encouraged as we roll these updates out.

Announcements

IRC & XMPP Integration:

Since the initial ideation around the VPS discussion, we have been working on our IRC and XMPP servers.

Our IRC and XMPP servers have been properly built and are operational:

• IRC: Connect with SSL via irc.atl.tools #general
• XMPP: Register at atl.tools, chat in our MUC at conference.atl.tools

Join us in testing these integrations!

Mail Server Testing:

We are currently testing a self hosted mail server for the community to use so we have opened up a poll to gauge everyone'sinterest. You can find this poll here.

A Big Thank You

1K Member Giveaway:

We celebrated our 1,000-member milestone with a giveaway, offering three winners various Nitro subscriptions.

Congratulations to our winners. And a special shoutout to @prohistamine for generously passing on his prize!

Reminders

• Share your thoughts in the #suggestions channel to shape our community.
• Report issues via the ticketing system for a secure and enjoyable atmosphere.

As we welcome February, we aim to keep the momentum and innovation flowing. Your contributions are the lifeblood of this vibrant community. Here’s to another amazing month!

As we close out another remarkable month, let's celebrate the impressive growth and dynamic changes we've accomplished together this December. The energy and enthusiasm within our community have been truly inspiring.

Here’s a recap of December’s highlights:

Key Milestones

Membership Expansion:

We are thrilled to announce surpassing 700 members and 350,000 messages this month, marking significant growth as we head into the New Year.

Super Tux Kart Saturday:

Our community gaming event was a great success! Thanks to everyone who joined. If you couldn't make it, stay tuned for more events.

New Features & Updates

Special Roles:

We launched innovative special roles to acknowledge member achievements:

• @Top 10 Text is awarded to our most active participants.
• First 128 members achieved the @/dev/tty0 role, with additional milestones set for even more ambitious member counts (e.g. @/dev/tty128) and more.

Monthly Color Rotation:

This month we rotated color roles inspired by the Tokyo Night palette.

New Channels:

• Ricing/Wallpapers: Share and tag your favorite wallpapers and rices in the #ricing/wallpapers channel.

Community Involvement

Ongoing Role Debates:

We've added new roles in Channels & Roles, sparking friendly debates and preferences discussions among our members.

Social Interaction Roles:

• @Activities role introduced for event-related pings.
• @Voice role for members interested in social VC activities.

Announcements

Forum Access:

The #forum channel is now open for all to create focused discussions that persist over time, enhancing our conversation depth.

Reminders

• Keep sharing feedback and ideas in the #suggestions channel—your input is vital to shaping our community.
• Use the ticket system to report violations, ensuring a safe and enjoyable space for everyone.

As we transition into the New Year, sustaining and building upon our existing momentum is key. Thank you for your unwavering support and for making this server a lively, inclusive hub. Here's to an even more successful 2024 together!

Happy New Year! 🎉

As we wrap up an exciting month on our server, let's take a moment to reflect on the developments and key milestones we achieved together. Your enthusiasm and dedication have been incredible, making this community a lively and inclusive space for all Linux enthusiasts.

Here’s what happened in November:

Key Milestones

Acquired discord.gg/linux:

We've acquired the .gg/linux discord vanity URL by pure luck. This is a great opportunity for us to grow and expand our community.

Membership Growth:

We reached over 200 members and exchanged more than 100,000 messages in just 12 days! A big welcome to all our new members.

Top.gg Placement:

We made it to the front page of Top.gg, thanks to your participation in voting and reviews. Keep those bumps coming!

Server Enhancements

Initial Rules Draft:

The first draft of our community rules is now available for viewing and feedback. Your input is valuable to making this community a better place.

View the draft here: All Things Linux v1 Code of Conduct

Ticketing System:

We introduced a ticket system using Helper.gg, allowing you to report concerns and speak with moderators when needed.

Please use /ticket for any issues you may have.

Role Updates:

• Added several new roles related to programming, distributions, and desktop environments/window managers.
• Added a wide range of color roles to spice up your profile.
• Standardized all bot prefixes/nicknames for a more streamlined experience.

RSS Feeds:

We've added several RSS feeds for the #news channel to help you stay up to date with the latest news in the Linux community.

Community Initiatives

Directory Listings:

We've started adding our server to various directories and platforms. We'd appreciate whenever you get the chance to vote on any of our links listed here!

• Discadia
• Disboard
• Discord Chat
• Discord Home
• Discords

Tux Development Begins:

We're seeking Python developers interested in contributing to our first community project, Tux. Tux will be an all in one bot to help manage the server and provide a wide range of features to the community. You can learn more about Tux here: @allthingslinux/tux

Moderation Opportunities:

As we grow, we're looking for more moderators to help keep the server running smoothly. If you're interested in helping moderate our server, please submit your pitch via a ticket in the bot-commands channel.

Other News

Controversial Topics:

We’ve decided to keep the server focused strictly on Linux-related discussions. Topics deemed controversial will no longer be permitted. You can find this community poll here.

Archived:

Gaming and hardware channels have been archived. You can access these through the Channels & Roles section by claiming an @Archives role.

Reminders

• Continue to share your thoughts and suggestions to shape our community in the #suggestions channel.
• Report any rule-breaking behavior via the ticket system to keep our space safe and enjoyable for everyone.

Lastly, as we move into December, let’s maintain the momentum and enthusiasm. Your contributions are what make this server thrive. Thank you all for being a part of this energetic and passionate community.