Hello TUXEDO Fans and Open-Source Enthusiasts!
What do a controversial kernel patch, a reserved Torvalds release, and energy-efficient USB sound have in common? That’s right: they’re all in the Linux spotlight this week. While Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux 6.16 with the serenity of a Zen monk („nice“, „calm“ – his words!), elsewhere the community is ablaze with debate: How much AI is too much for the kernel ? Sasha Levin, NVIDIA engineer and kernel maintainer, is pushing for clear rules on GitHub Copilot, Claude, and similar tools — stirring the mailing list into a lively frenzy.
Meanwhile, the developer penguins at TUXEDO keep things down-to-earth: this week they patched an annoying bug in the KDE file manager Dolphin, updated LibreOffice to the latest version, and bumped the TUXEDO drivers to version 4.14.4. Fittingly, this weeks TWIX takes a deep dive into Dolphin: What makes this file manager tick? How can you add your own actions via service menus? Enjoy reading and experimenting!
Enjoy reading,The TUXEDO OS Team
Note: We would like to keep you updated on the latest developments in TUXEDO OS with the TWIX series and introduce you to exciting applications as well as practical tips related to the KDE desktop and TUXEDO OS. However, this section should not be a one-way street: your feedback, ideas, and suggestions for improvement are very welcome! For this purpose, we have created a thread on Reddit, where you can reach us directly.
TUXEDO OS Updates
TUXEDO-Drivers 4.14.4
udev rules from tuxedo-fix-config-files have been moved into the tuxedo-drivers package.
Dolphin 25.04.3
Despite the correct settings, Dolphin always launched with a single window. Previously opened sub-windows or tabs were not restored (discussion on Reddit ).
LibreOffice 25.2.5
KDE App of the Week: Dolphin – the versatile KDE file manager for Linux, macOS, and Windows
In this issue, we take a closer look at Dolphin , a powerful yet user-friendly KDE application. Dolphin ranks among the most flexible and best-integrated file managers available for Linux – and it’s also usable on Windows and macOS. Our Tips & Tricks this week follow up on this topic, showing how to add custom actions to Dolphin using so-called service menus.
Dolphin is primarily focused on Linux and other Unix-like systems. Here, it’s tightly integrated into the KDE Plasma desktop and available out of the box on all major distributions. On macOS and Windows, Dolphin is considered experimental – some features available on Linux are missing there. Still, for many Linux users, Dolphin has become an essential tool for everyday work, thanks to its thoughtful design and wide range of customization options.
On first launch, Dolphin presents a clean and well-structured interface: folder view in the center, navigation panel on the left, and an optional sidebar on the right showing file previews, metadata, or file size details. Both side panels can be shown or hidden as needed.
Dolphin in split-view mode with both sidebars offers a clear yet powerful interface for daily file management tasks.
Functionality to meet every need
Dolphin combines a wide range of features that make working with files not only more efficient but also more enjoyable:
Tabs and split view: Open multiple directories at once – either in tabs or side-by-side in split-view mode.Advanced previews: View images, PDFs, videos, and other file types directly inside the file manager.Context-sensitive actions: Add your own entries to the context menu using service menus – ideal for repetitive tasks.Intelligent search: With KDE’s Baloo indexing service, Dolphin searches not only file names but also file contents.Access to remote locations: Thanks to KIO slaves, network shares, FTP, SFTP, or MTP devices can be seamlessly integrated into the interface.
Personalization down to the last detail
As is typical for KDE applications, Dolphin offers extensive customization options to fit your individual workflow. From color schemes and icon sizes to toolbar layouts – nearly everything can be tailored to your preferences. An integrated terminal can be toggled with F4 and automatically follows the currently open directory – especially handy when combining graphical and command-line workflows.
Even the way you open files is flexible: under General » Behavior in the settings, you can choose whether files open with a single or double click – whichever suits your workflow best.
Dolphin’s extensive settings let you tailor the interface to your personal workflow and visual preferences.
Info: Are you interested in more KDE applications and want to know which programs have been recently updated? A detailed overview can be found in the regularly published column This Week in KDE Apps , which summarizes new features, bug fixes, and developments from the KDE ecosystem on a weekly basis.
TUXEDO OS Tips & Tricks: Extending the File Manager’s Context Menu
In TUXEDO OS, you can open files with a simple double-click in the default associated application. But if you’d like to launch a file with a different program instead, just right-click and choose Open With… from the context menu. This allows you, for example, to open an image either in your image viewer or directly in GIMP for editing.
You can define which application opens by default on double-click under Settings » Default Applications or File Associations .
The “Open With…” context menu lets you launch a file with an alternative installed program that supports the file type.
File associations in the system settings control which applications are linked by default to specific file types.
Custom Entries in the Context Menu: Dolphin Service Menus
Things get even more practical when you add your own actions directly into the Dolphin file manager’s context menu. KDE provides a framework for this with Dolphin Service Menus . You can define commands using simple .desktop files placed in the following directory:
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/kio/servicemenus
touch ~/.local/share/kio/servicemenus/edit.desktop
chmod +x ~/.local/share/kio/servicemenus/edit.desktop
kate ~/.local/share/kio/servicemenus/edit.desktop
Example: The following file adds a Edit image with GIMP entry to the context menu for image files.
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
MimeType=image/png;image/jpeg;
Actions=editWithGimp
[Desktop Action editWithGimp]
Name=Edit image with GIMP
Name[de]=Bild mit GIMP bearbeiten
Icon=gimp
Exec=gimp %u
With this new context menu entry, you can open images directly in GIMP from Dolphin – no extra dialogs needed.
Compress PDFs Directly from Dolphin
One especially helpful real-world example involves working with PDF files. The Optimize PDF action uses the command-line tool Ghostscript , included in TUXEDO OS, to reduce PDF file size without visible loss in quality – perfect for email attachments or online applications with size limits.
This .desktop file calls a shell in the Exec-line, giving you more flexibility than a simple command. Save it, for example, as pdf-optimize.desktop in ~/.local/share/kio/servicemenus .
\Desktop Entry\
Type=Application
MimeType=application/pdf;
Actions=optimizePDF
\Desktop Action optimizePDF\
Name=Optimize PDF
Namede =PDF optimieren
Icon=ark
Exec=/bin/sh -c 'f="%u"; out="${f%.*}_optimized.pdf"; gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/default -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile="$out" "$f"'
Once saved, the action appears directly in the context menu. Here’s an example of its effect:
ls -alh cv*.pdf
(out)-rw-rw-r-- 1 tuxt tuxt 45K Jul 29 09:16 cv_optimized.pdf
(out)-rw-rw-r-- 1 tuxt tuxt 123K Jul 29 09:10 cv.pdf
You can edit the .desktop files directly in a text editor like Kate – no deep technical knowledge required.
After right-clicking a PDF, the new context menu entry appears for lossless compression using Ghostscript.
Ubuntu Security Updates
The security updates listed here from Ubuntu are directly integrated into TUXEDO OS:
USN-7682–3: Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities
USN-7682–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities
USN-7681–1: Linux kernel vulnerability
USN-7678–1: Perl vulnerability
USN-7677–1: cloud-init vulnerabilities
USN-7676–1: SQLite vulnerability
USN-7675–1: poppler vulnerability
USN-7674–1: OpenJDK 11 vulnerabilities
