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Do a presentation at NTLUG.
What is the Linux Installation Project?
Real companies using Linux!
Not just for business anymore.
Providing ready to run platforms on Linux
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(Two Column)
- Landlock-ing Linux (prizrak.me)
The prizrak.me blog is carrying an introduction to theLandlock security module.
Landlock shines when an application has a predictable set of files or directories it needs. For example, a web server could restrict itself to accessing only /var/www/html and /tmp.
Unlike SELinux or AppArmor, Landlock policies don't require administrator involvement or system-wide configuration. Developers can embed policies directly in application code, making sandboxing a natural part of the development process.
- Security updates for Friday
Security updates have been issued by Debian (krita and tryton-server), Oracle (bind9.18, ipa, kernel, libssh, redis, redis:7, sqlite, sssd, and vim), Slackware (cups), SUSE (containerd, cups, curl, dovecot24, git-bug, gitea-tea, glib2, grub2, himmelblau, java-25-openjdk, kernel, libmicrohttpd, libvirt, pnpm, powerpc-utils, python311, python313, redis, rnp, runc, sssd, tomcat11, unbound, and xwayland), and Ubuntu (cups, libxml2, openvpn, and webkit2gtk).
- Security updates for Thursday
Security updates have been issued by Debian (kdeconnect, libssh, and samba), Fedora (7zip, docker-buildkit, and docker-buildx), Oracle (bind, buildah, cups, delve and golang, expat, firefox, gimp, go-rpm-macros, haproxy, kernel, lasso, libsoup, libtiff, mingw-expat, openssl, podman, python-kdcproxy, qt5-qt3d, runc, squid, thunderbird, tigervnc, valkey, webkit2gtk3, xorg-x11-server, and xorg-x11-server-Xwayland), SUSE (buildah, cloudflared, containerd, expat, firefox, gnutls, helm, kernel, libxslt, mysql-connector-java, ongres-scram, openbao, openexr, openssh, podman, python311, python312, ruby2.5, rubygem-rack, runc, samba, sssd, tiff, unbound, and yelp), and Ubuntu (edk2, ffmpeg, h2o, python3.13, rust-openssl, and valkey).
- KDE Plasma 6.8 will be Wayland-only
KDE's Plasma team has announcedthat KDE Plasma will drop X11 session support with Plasma 6.8:
The Plasma X11 session will be supported by KDE into early2027.
We cannot provide a specific date, as we're exploring thepossibility of shipping some extra bug-fix releases for Plasma6.7. The exact timing of the last one will only be known when we getcloser to its actual release, which we expect will be sometime inearly 2027.
What if I still really need X11?
This is a perfect use case for long term support (LTS)distributions shipping older versions of Plasma. For example,AlmaLinux 9 includes the Plasma X11 session and will be supporteduntil sometime in 2032.
See the blog post for information on running X11 applications(still supported), accessibility, gaming, and more.
- Security updates for Wednesday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (bind, binutils, delve and golang, expat, firefox, haproxy, kernel, libsoup3, libssh, libtiff, openssh, openssl, pam, podman, python-kdcproxy, shadow-utils, squid, thunderbird, vim, xorg-x11-server-Xwayland, and zziplib), Debian (cups-filters, libsdl2, linux-6.1, net-snmp, pdfminer, rails, and tryton-sao), Fedora (chromium, docker-buildkit, docker-buildx, and sudo-rs), Gentoo (librnp), Mageia (webkit2), SUSE (amazon-ssm-agent, buildah, curl, dpdk, fontforge-20251009, kernel, libIex-3_4-33, librnp0, python311, rclone, and sssd), and Ubuntu (linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-6.8, linux-ibm, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-6.8, linux-nvidia-lowlatency, linux-oracle, linux-aws-6.14, linux-oracle-6.14, linux-aws-fips, linux-fips, linux-gcp-fips, linux-realtime, linux-realtime-6.8, mupdf, openjdk-17, openjdk-8, and openjdk-lts).
- Security updates for Tuesday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (buildah, firefox, go-rpm-macros, kernel, kernel-rt, podman, and thunderbird), Debian (erlang, python-gevent, and r-cran-gh), Fedora (buildah, chromium, k9s, kubernetes1.33, kubernetes1.34, podman, python-mkdocs-include-markdown-plugin, and webkitgtk), Gentoo (Chromium, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge. Opera, qtsvg, redict, redis, UDisks, and WebKitGTK+), Mageia (cups-filters and ruby-rack), Oracle (kernel and libssh), Red Hat (.NET 8.0, tigervnc, xorg-x11-server, and xorg-x11-server-Xwayland), SUSE (act, bind, cups-filters, govulncheck-vulndb, grub2, libebml, python39, and tcpreplay), and Ubuntu (linux-raspi, linux-raspi-realtime, openjdk-21, openjdk-25, python3.12, python3.11, python3.10, python3.9, python3.8, python3.7, python3.6, python3.5, python3.4, and runc-app, runc-stable).
- AlmaLinux 10.1 released
AlmaLinux 10.1 has been released. Inaddition to providing binary compatibility with Red Hat EnterpriseLinux (RHEL) 10.1, the most notable feature in AlmaLinux 10.1 isthe addition of supportfor Btrfs, which is not available in RHEL:
Btrfs support encompasses both kernel and userspace enablement, and itis now possible to install AlmaLinux OS on a Btrfs filesystem from thevery beginning. Initial enablement was scoped to the installer andstorage management stack, and broader support within the AlmaLinuxsoftware collection for Btrfs features is forthcoming.
In addition to Btrfs support, AlmaLinux OS 10.1 includes numerousother improvements to serve our community. We have continued to extendhardware support both by addingdrivers and by adding a secondary version of AlmaLinux OS and EPELto extend support of x86_64_v2 processors.
See the releasenotes for a full list of changes.
- [$] APT Rust requirement raises questions
It is rarely newsworthy when a project or package picks up a newdependency. However, changes in a core tool like Debian's Advanced PackageTool (APT) can have far-reaching effects. For example, JulianAndres Klode's declarationthat APT would require Rust in May 2026 means that a few of Debian'sunofficial ports must either acquire a working Rust toolchain ordepend on an old version of APT. This has raised several questionswithin the project, particularly about the ability of a singlemaintainer to make changes that have widespread impact.
- Security updates for Monday
Security updates have been issued by Fedora (calibre, chromium, cri-o1.32, cri-o1.33, cri-o1.34, dotnet10.0, dovecot, gnutls, gopass, gopass-hibp, gopass-jsonapi, kubernetes1.31, kubernetes1.32, kubernetes1.33, kubernetes1.34, and linux-firmware), Mageia (ffmpeg, kernel, kmod-xtables-addons & kmod-virtualbox, kernel-linus, konsole, and redis), Red Hat (bind and bind-dyndb-ldap and kernel), SUSE (act, alloy, amazon-ssm-agent, ansible-12, ansible-core, blender, chromium, cups-filters, curl, elfutils, expat, firefox, glib2, grub2, helm, kernel, libipa_hbac-devel, libxslt, nvidia-container-toolkit, ongres-scram, openexr, podman, poppler, runc, samba, sssd, thunderbird, and tomcat), and Ubuntu (cups-filters, linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp, linux-hwe-6.14, linux-oracle, linux-realtime, linux-oem-6.14, and linux-realtime-6.14).
- Linux 6.19 Will Allow You To Write I2C Drivers In Rust
With the upcoming Linux 6.19 kernel cycle there are yet more Rust kernel bindings being introduced and other additions to make it possible to write more Linux kernel drivers within the Rust programming language. Among the new Rust additions expected for Linux 6.19 are making it possible to write Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus drivers in Rust...
- reComputer Mini J501 Provides Jetson AGX Orin Connectivity in a Reduced Footprint
The reComputer Mini J501 is Seeed Studio’s upcoming carrier board for NVIDIA’s Jetson AGX Orin module. Its 110mm × 110mm design offers a compact platform for robotics while retaining the connectivity needed for perception and control. The board supports the Jetson AGX Orin module, which integrates an Arm-based CPU cluster, Ampere GPU architecture, and dedicated […]
- What Happens When You Kick Millions of Teens Off Social Media? Australia's About to Find Out
27 million people live in Australia. But there's a big change coming if you're under 16, reports CNN:From December 10, sites that meet the Australian government's definition of an "age-restricted social media platform" will need to show that they're doing enough to eject or block children under 16 or face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32 million). The list includes Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, and YouTube... Meta says it'll start deactivating accounts and blocking new Facebook, Instagram and Threads accounts from December 4. Under-16s are being encouraged to download their content. Snap says users can deactivate their accounts for up to three years, or until they turn 16... There's another sting in the ban, too, coming at the end of the Australian school year before the summer break in the southern hemisphere. For eight weeks, there'll be no school, no teachers — and no scrolling. For millions of children, it could be the first school break they spend in years without the company of time-killing social media algorithms, or an easy way to contact their friends. Even for parents who support the ban, it could be a very long summer. "There's every chance that bans will spread..." the article argues. "Other countries around the world are taking notes as Australia explores new territory that some say mirrors safety evolutions of years past — the dawning realization that maybe cars need safety belts, and that perhaps cigarettes should come with some kind of health warning." And according to the Associated Press, Malaysia "has also announced plans to ban social media accounts for children under 16 starting in 2026." But CNN reports few teenagers in Australia knew about its impending ban on social media, judging by a show of hands at one high school auditorium. Teenagers in the audience had two questions. "Can you get your account back when you turn 16?""What if I lie about my age?"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Amazon Tells Its Engineers: Use Our AI Coding Tool 'Kiro'
"Amazon suggested its engineers eschew AI code generation tools from third-party companies in favor of its own ," reports Reuters, "a move to bolster its proprietary Kiro service, which it released in July, according to an internal memo viewed by Reuters."In the memo, posted to Amazon's internal news site, the company said, "While we continue to support existing tools in use today, we do not plan to support additional third party, AI development tools. "As part of our builder community, you all play a critical role shaping these products and we use your feedback to aggressively improve them," according to the memo. The guidance would seem to preclude Amazon employees from using other popular software coding tools like OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude Code, and those from startup Cursor. That is despite Amazon having invested about $8 billion into Anthropic and reaching a seven-year $38 billion deal with OpenAI to sell it cloud-computing services..."To make these experiences truly exceptional, we need your help," according to the memo, which was signed by Peter DeSantis, senior vice president of AWS utility computing, and Dave Treadwell, senior vice president of eCommerce Foundation. "We're making Kiro our recommended AI-native development tool for Amazon...." In October, Amazon revised its internal guidance for OpenAI's Codex to "Do Not Use" following a roughly six month assessment, according to a memo reviewed by Reuters. And Claude Code was briefly designated as "Do Not Use," before that was reversed following a reporter inquiry at the time. The article adds that Amazon "has been fighting a reputation that it is trailing competitors in development of AI tools as rivals like OpenAI and Google speed ahead..."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Is OpenAI Preparing to Bring Ads to ChatGPT?
"OpenAI is now internally testing 'ads' inside ChatGPT," reports BleepingComputer:Up until now, the ChatGPT experience has been completelyfree. While there are premium plans and models, you don't see GPT sell you products or show ads. On the other hand, Google Search has ads that influence your buying behaviour. OpenAI is planning to replicate a similar experience. As spotted [by software engineer Tibor Blaho] on X.com,ChatGPT Android app 1.2025.329 beta includes new references to an "ads feature" with "bazaar content", "search ad" and "search ads carousel." This move could disrupt the web economy,as what most people don't understand is that GPT likely knows more about users than Google. For example, OpenAI could create personalised ads on ChatGPT that promote products that you really want to buy... The leak suggests that ads will initially be limited to the search experience only, but this may change in the future.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- AI Can Already Do the Work of 12% of America's Workforce, Researchers Find
An anonymous reader shared this report from CBS News:Artificial intelligence can do the work currently performed by nearly 12% of America's workforce, according to a recentstudy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The researchers, relying on a metric called the "Iceberg Index" that measures a job's potential to be automated, conclude that AI already has the cognitive and technical capacity to handle a range of tasks in technology, finance, health care and professional services. The index simulated how more than 150 million U.S. workers across nearly 1,000 occupations interact and overlap with AI's abilities... AI is also already doingsome of the entry-level jobsthat have historically been reserved for recent college graduates or relatively inexperienced workers, the report notes. "AI systems now generate more than a billion lines of code each day, prompting companies to restructure hiring pipelines and reduce demand for entry-level programmers," the researchers wrote. "These observable changes in technology occupations signal a broader reorganization of work that extends beyond software development." "The study doesn't seek to shed light on how many workers AI may already have displaced or could supplant in the future," the article points out. "To what extent such tools take over job functions performed by people depends on a number of factors, including individual businesses' strategy, societal acceptance and possible policy interventions, the researchers note."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Benedict Cumberbatch Films Two Bizarre Holiday Ads: for 'World of Tanks' and Amazon
"There are times when World of Tanks feels less like a videogame and more like a giant ad budget looking for something to be spent on," writes PC Gamer.This year, all those huge sacks with dollar signs on them have been thrown Benedict Cumberbatch's way, making him the game's newest "Holiday Ambassador" and the star of an absolutely bizarre Christmas advert. The story has very little to do with Christmas and, frankly, not much connection to tanks either, featuring Cumberbatch as a sort of chaotic, supernatural therapist trying to bring a meek nerd out of his shell with the help of a chaotic crowd of his other patients. It's a good watch, shedding the usual hard man action star vibe of past celebrity trailers in favour of something that feels more like a mischievous one act play. Cumberbatch also portrayed Smaug and Sauron in The Hobbit films (2012-2014), Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Dr. Strange in six Marvel movies. And now Amazon has also hired Cumberbatch for what its calls its "Cannes-winning '5-Star Theater' campaign... performing real Amazon customer reviews as theatrical monologues."Cumberbatch performed over 15 reviews, including popular holiday gifts like the Bissell portable carpet cleaner, Toto bidet, and SharkNinja blender — showing that Amazon truly does have something for everyone on your list. Last year Amazon produced a similar campaign starring Adam Driver ("Kylo Ren" from the final trilogy of Star Wars sequels). "The humor comes from the juxtaposition between Cumberbatch's gravitas and the text itself," reports Adweek, adding that the reviews were curated "using internal AI tools, to find the most oddly specific reviews on the platform." Amazon will stream Cumberbatch's bizarre ads on major platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Lyft, Uber, Disney/Hulu, Paramount, and Roku, and on several NFL football games. I remember when Amazon just chose the best funny fake reviews from customers, and then posted them on the front page of Amazon...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Browser Extension 'Slop Evader' Lets You Surf the Web Like It's 2022
"The internet is being increasingly polluted by AI generated text, images and video," argues the site for a new browser extension called Slop Evader. It promises to use Google's search API "to only return content published before Nov 30th, 2022" — the day ChatGPT launched — "so you can be sure that it was written or produced by the human hand." 404 Media calls it "a scorched earth approach that virtually guarantees your searches will be slop-free."Slop Evader was created by artist and researcher Tega Brain, who says she was motivated by the growing dismay over the tech industry's unrelenting, aggressive rollout of so-called "generative AI" — despite widespread criticism and the wider public's distaste for it. "This sowing of mistrust in our relationship with media is a huge thing, a huge effect of this synthetic media moment we're in," Brain told 404 Media, describing how tools like Sora 2 have short-circuited our ability to determine reality within a sea of artificial online junk. "I've been thinking about ways to refuse it, and the simplest, dumbest way to do that is to only search before 2022...." Currently, Slop Evader can be used to search pre-GPT archives of seven different sites where slop has become commonplace, including YouTube, Reddit, Stack Exchange, and the parenting site MumsNet. The obvious downside to this, from a user perspective, is that you won't be able to find anything time-sensitive or current — including this very website, which did not exist in 2022. The experience is simultaneously refreshing and harrowing, allowing you to browse freely without having to constantly question reality, but always knowing that this freedom will be forever locked in time — nostalgia for a human-centric world wide web that no longer exists. Of course, the tool's limitations are part of its provocation. Brain says she has plans to add support for more sites, and release a new version that uses DuckDuckGo's search indexing instead of Google's. But the real goal, she says, is prompting people to question how they can collectively refuse the dystopian, inhuman version of the internet that Silicon Valley's AI-pushers have forced on us... With enough cultural pushback, Brain suggests, we could start to see alternative search engines like DuckDuckGo adding options to filter out search results suspected of having synthetic content (DuckDuckGo added the ability to filter out AI images in search earlier this year)... But no matter what form AI slop-refusal takes, it will need to be a group effort.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- AI Helps Drive Record $11.8B in Black Friday Online Spending
Earlier this month MasterCard noted that even Walmart now allows its customers to make purchases through ChatGPT. And after polling more than 4,000 consumers in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and UAE, they found "more than four in 10 consumers already use AI tools to help them shop, including 61% of Gen Z and 57% of millennials."Many (50% of Gen Z and 49% of millennials) say they'd even let AI handle all their gift-buying if it meant avoiding stress. Younger shoppers trust AI's taste, with 51% of Gen Z and 55% of millennials relying on it to deliver unique and thoughtful recommendations (sometimes even more than they trust themselves). The most popular uses include getting personalized product recommendations, confirming the best deal before purchasing, and summarizing thousands of reviews instantly.The bottom line: Shoppers are embracing AI as their new personal assistant — one that knows their budget, style, and patience level... If the 2025 holiday shopper could be summed up in one word, it's intentional. They're planning earlier, spending wiser and using technology to make every dollar and every gift count. The first figures are now in for the traditional "Black Friday" shopping day after Thanksgiving, and U.S. shoppers "spent a record $11.8 billion online," reports Reuters, "up 9.1% from 2024 on the year's biggest shopping day, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks 1 trillion visits that shoppers make to online retail websites..." And sure enough, this year shoppers were helped by AI:AI-powered shopping tools helped drive a surge in U.S. online spending on Black Friday, as shoppers bypassed crowded stores and turned to chatbots to compare prices and secure discounts amid concerns about tariff-driven price hikes... The AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail sites soared 805% compared to last year, Adobe said, when artificial intelligence tools such as Walmart's Sparky or Amazon's Rufus had not yet been launched. "Consumers are using new tools to get to what they need faster," said Suzy Davidkhanian, an analyst at eMarketer. "Gift giving can be stressful, and LLMs (large language models) make the discovery process feel quicker and more guided..." Globally, AI and agents influenced $14.2 billion in online sales on Black Friday, of which $3 billion came from the U.S. alone, according to software firm Salesforce. There's another reason shoppers turned to AI. 2025's Black Friday arrived "amid tighter budgets, unemployment nearing a four-year high, U.S. consumer confidence sagging to a seven-month low and price tags that have shoppers watching every dollar," according to the article:Discount rates also remained flat when compared to 2024, with AI helping shoppers discover the best deals, and an increase in the price tags made deeper discounts difficult for retailers... Order volumes fell 1% as average selling prices rose 7%. Consumers also purchased fewer items at checkout, with units per transaction falling 2% on a year-over-year basis, Salesforce said. The spending surge sets the stage for an even bigger Cyber Monday, projected to drive $14.2 billion in sales, up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis and the largest online shopping day of the year, Adobe said. Electronics are expected to see the deepest discounts on Cyber Monday, reaching 30% off list prices, along with strong deals on apparel and computers, Adobe said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Are There More Linux Users Than We Think?
"By my count, Linux has over 11% of the desktop market," writes ZDNet's Steven Vaughan-Nichols:In StatCounter's latest US numbers, which cover through October, Linux shows up as only 3.49%. But if you look closer, "unknown" accounts for 4.21%. Allow me to make an educated guess here: I suspect those unknown desktops are actually running Linux. What else could it be? FreeBSD? Unix? OS/2? Unlikely. In addition, ChromeOS comes in at 3.67%, which strikes me as much too low. Leaving that aside, ChromeOS is a Linux variant. It just uses the Chrome web browser for its interface rather than KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, or another Linux desktop environment. Put all these together, and you get a Linux desktop market share of 11.37%... If you want to look at the broader world of end-user operating systems, including phones and tablets, Linux comes out even better. In the US, where we love our Apple iPhones, Android — yes, another Linux distro — boasts 41.71% of the market share, according to StatCounter's latest numbers. Globally, however, Android rules with 72.55% of the market. Yes, that's right, if you widen the Linux end-user operating system metric to include PC, tablets, and smartphones, you can make a reasonable argument that Linux, and not Windows, is already the top dog operating system... If you add Chrome OS (1.7%) and Android (15.8%), 23.3% of all people accessing the U.S. government's websites are Linux users. The Linux kernel's user-facing footprint is much larger than the "desktop Linux" label suggests. The article lists reasons more people might be switching to Linux, including broader hardware support and "the increased viability of gaming via Steam and Proton" — but also the rise of Digital Sovereignty initiatives. (One EU group has even created EU OS.") And finally, "not everyone is thrilled with Windows 11 being turned into an AI-agentic operating system."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Scientists Discover People Act More Altruistic When Batman Is Present
Psychology Today reports:In a study conducted in Milan, Italy, and published in November 2025, the sight of a person dressed as Batman led to a nearly doubled rate of people giving up their seat to a pregnant woman. Over the course of 138 subway rides, researchers found that people who saw "Batman" standing near the pregnant woman were far more altruistic than those who did not. Researchers are calling this the "Batman effect," suggesting a form of "involuntary" mindfulness may be at play. Noticing these subtle social cues appears to shift people's typical, automatic reactions. Most interestingly, 44 percent of the people questioned reported they did not even consciously register Batman's presence... The superhero costume serves as a visual nudge, pulling us out of our default, self-focused mode and into a more generous, attentive state. More from Futurism:Batman showing up is just one — albeit striking — way of promoting what's called "prosocial behavior," or the act of helping others around you, via introducing an unexpected event, the researchers write. "Our findings are similar to those of previous research linking present-moment awareness (mindfulness) to greater prosociality," said study lead author Francesco Pagnini, a professor of clinical psychology at the Università Cattolica in Milan, in a statement about the work. "This may create a context in which individuals become more attuned to social cues." Thanks to Black Parrot (Slashdot reader #19,622) for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Defense Company Announces an AI-Powered Dome to Shield Cities and Infrastructure From Attacks
An anonymous reader shared this report from CNBC:Italian defense company Leonardo on Thursday unveiled plans for an AI-powered shield for cities and critical infrastructure, adding to Europe's push to ramp up sovereign defense capabilities amid rising geopolitical tensions. The system, dubbed the "Michelangelo Dome" in a nod to Israel's Iron Dome and U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for a "Golden Dome," will integrate multiple defense systems to detect and neutralize threats from sea to air including missile attacks and drone swarms... Leonardo's dome will be built on what CEO Roberto Cingolani called an "open architecture" system meaning it can operate alongside any country's defense systems... Leonardo's dome will be built on what CEO Roberto Cingolani called an "open architecture" system meaning it can operate alongside any country's defense systems.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Baikonur's only crew-capable pad busted after Soyuz flight
Roscosmos confirms 'damage' as images suggest repairs could stretch into 2027
The pad used by Russia to send Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) sustained damage during yesterday's crew launch, according to Roscosmos.…
- PostHog admits Shai-Hulud 2.0 was its biggest ever security bungle
Automation flaw in CI/CD workflow let a bad pull request unleash worm into npm
PostHog says the Shai-Hulud 2.0 npm worm compromise was "the largest and most impactful security incident" it's ever experienced after attackers slipped malicious releases into its JavaScript SDKs and tried to auto-loot developer credentials.…
- GrapheneOS bails on OVHcloud over France's privacy stance
Project cites fears of state access as cloud sovereignty row deepens
French cloud outfit OVHcloud took another hit this week after GrapheneOS, a mobile operating system, said it was ditching the company's servers over concerns about France's approach to digital privacy.…
- GPUs aren't worth their weight in gold – it just feels like they are
Nvidia's accelerators look pricey, but bullion still wins on cost per ounce
For as long as I have been a reporter and analyst in the IT sector, November has always been supercomputing month. Way before there was a TOP500 ranking of supercomputers in June 1993 but just as I was leaving university, the first Supercomputing Conference was held in Orlando in 1988. And that November SC show set the cadence for high-performance computing for the decades that followed.…
- OBR drags in cyber bigwig after Budget leak blunder
Ex-NCSC chief Ciaran Martin asked to examine how forecast ended up online ahead of schedule
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has drafted in former National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) chief Ciaran Martin to sniff out how its Budget day forecast wandered onto the open internet before the Chancellor had even reached the dispatch box.…
- Security: Why Linux Is Better Than Windows Or Mac OS
Linux is a free and open source operating system that was released in 1991 developed and released by Linus Torvalds. Since its release it has reached a user base that is greatly widespread worldwide. Linux users swear by the reliability and freedom that this operating system offers, especially when compared to its counterparts, windows and [0]
- Essential Software That Are Not Available On Linux OS
An operating system is essentially the most important component in a computer. It manages the different hardware and software components of a computer in the most effective way. There are different types of operating system and everything comes with their own set of programs and software. You cannot expect a Linux program to have all [0]
- Things You Never Knew About Your Operating System
The advent of computers has brought about a revolution in our daily life. From computers that were so huge to fit in a room, we have come a very long way to desktops and even palmtops. These machines have become our virtual lockers, and a life without these network machines have become unimaginable. Sending mails, [0]
- How To Fully Optimize Your Operating System
Computers and systems are tricky and complicated. If you lack a thorough knowledge or even basic knowledge of computers, you will often find yourself in a bind. You must understand that something as complicated as a computer requires constant care and constant cleaning up of junk files. Unless you put in the time to configure [0]
- The Top Problems With Major Operating Systems
There is no such system which does not give you any problems. Even if the system and the operating system of your system is easy to understand, there will be some times when certain problems will arise. Most of these problems are easy to handle and easy to get rid of. But you must be [0]
- 8 Benefits Of Linux OS
Linux is a small and a fast-growing operating system. However, we can’t term it as software yet. As discussed in the article about what can a Linux OS do Linux is a kernel. Now, kernels are used for software and programs. These kernels are used by the computer and can be used with various third-party software [0]
- Things Linux OS Can Do That Other OS Cant
What Is Linux OS? Linux, similar to U-bix is an operating system which can be used for various computers, hand held devices, embedded devices, etc. The reason why Linux operated system is preferred by many, is because it is easy to use and re-use. Linux based operating system is technically not an Operating System. Operating [0]
- Packagekit Interview
Packagekit aims to make the management of applications in the Linux and GNU systems. The main objective to remove the pains it takes to create a system. Along with this in an interview, Richard Hughes, the developer of Packagekit said that he aims to make the Linux systems just as powerful as the Windows or [0]
- What’s New in Ubuntu?
What Is Ubuntu? Ubuntu is open source software. It is useful for Linux based computers. The software is marketed by the Canonical Ltd., Ubuntu community. Ubuntu was first released in late October in 2004. The Ubuntu program uses Java, Python, C, C++ and C# programming languages. What Is New? The version 17.04 is now available here [0]
- Ext3 Reiserfs Xfs In Windows With Regards To Colinux
The problem with Windows is that there are various limitations to the computer and there is only so much you can do with it. You can access the Ext3 Reiserfs Xfs by using the coLinux tool. Download the tool from the official site or from the sourceforge site. Edit the connection to “TAP Win32 Adapter [0]
- System 7 natively boots on the Mac Mini G4
Only a few weeks ago, the CHRP variants of Mac OS 7.6 and 8 were discovered and uploaded to the internet for posterity, but were already seeing the positive results of this event unfold: Mac OS 7.x can now run on the Mac Mini G4 natively. The very short of it is as follows. First, the CHRP release of Mac OS 8 contains a ROM file that allows Mac OS 8 to boot on the G4 Mac Mini. Second, the CHRP release of 7.6 contains a System Enabler that allows 7.6 earlier versions to run by using the aforementioned ROM file. Third, the ROM has been modified to add compatibility with as many Mac models as possible. Theres a lot more to it, of course, but the end result is that quite a few more older, pre-9.x versions of Mac OS can now run on G4 and G3 Macs, which is quite cool. Of course, there are limitations. Note that, although I describe many of these as stable!, I mean you can use much of it normally (sound/video/networking aside) without it crashing or misbehaving, at least not too hard, but that is not to say everything works, because that is just not the case. For example, when present, avoid opening the Apple System Profiler, unless you want a massive crash as it struggles trying to profile and gather all the information about your system. Some other apps or Control Panels might either not work, or work up to a certain point, after which they might freeze, requiring you to Force Quit the Finder to keep on going. And so on. ↫ Jubadub at Mac OS 9 Lives Issues or no, this is amazing news, and great work by all involved.
- Genode OS Framework 25.11 released
The release 25.11 wraps up our year of rigidity, clarity, performance! with a bouquet of vast under-the-hood improvements. Genodes custom kernel received special tuning of its new CPU scheduler for Sculpt-OS workloads, and became much more scalable with respect to virtual-memory management. Combined, those efforts visibly boost the performance of Sculpt OS on performance-starved hardware like the PinePhone or the i.MX8-based MNT Reform laptop. On account of improving clarity, our new configuration format now named human-inclined data (HID) proliferates throughout Genodes tooling. We are also happy to report that almost all Genode components have become interoperable with both XML and HID by now. ↫ Genode OS Framework 25.11 release notes The Genode Framework 25.11 also brings a major change to how important shared components that arent strictly part of the framework are handled, such as ports like libSDL, sqlite, or gnutls. Before, these could only be built with the Genode build system, which was suboptimal because this isnt designed for building individual components. Several changes have been made to now enable the use of multiple build systems and the Goa SDK, which should make it a lot easier to these crucial components to become the responsibility of wider parts of the community. Theres way more, of course, such as the usual driver improvements, including the addition of support for serial-to-USB adapters.
- Dell: about 1 billion PCs will not or cannot be upgraded to Windows 11
During a Dell earnings call, the company mentioned some staggering numbers regarding the amount of PCs that will not or cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. “We have about 500 million of them capable of running Windows 11 that haven’t been upgraded,” said Dell COO Jeffrey Clarke on a Q3 earnings call earlier this week, referring to the overall PC market, not just Dell’s slice of machines. “And we have another 500 million that are four years old that can’t run Windows 11.” He sees this as an opportunity to guide customers towards the latest Windows 11 machines and AI PCs, but warns that the PC market is going to be relatively flat next year. ↫ Tom Warren at The Verge The monumental scale of the Windows 10 install base that simply wont or cannot upgrade to Windows 11 is massive, and its absolutely bonkers to me that were mostly just letting them get away with leaving at least a billion users out in the cold when it comes to security updates and bug fixes. The US government (in better times) and the EU shouldve 100% forced Microsofts hand, as leaving this many people on outdated, unsupported operating system installations is several disasters waiting to happen. Aside from the dangerous position Microsoft is forcing its Windows 10 users into, theres also the massive environmental and public health impact of huge swaths of machines, especially in enterprise environments, becoming obsolete overnight. Many of these will end up in landfills, often shipped to third-world countries so we in the west dont have to deal with our e-waste and its dangerous consequences directly. I can get fined for littering rightfully so but when a company like Microsoft makes sweeping decisions which cause untold amounts of dangerous chemicals to be dumped in countless locations all over the globe, governments shrug it off and move on. At least we will get some cheap eBay hardware out of it, I guess.
- CDE 2.5.3 released
So my love for the Common Desktop Environment isnt exactly a secret, so lets talk about the projects latest release, CDE 2.5.3, released a few days ago. As the version number suggests, this first new version in two years is a rather minor release, containing only a few bug fixes. For instance, CDEs window manager dtwm picked up support for more mouse buttons, its file manager dtfile now uses sh to find files instead of ksh, and a few more of these rather minor, but welcome, changes and bugfixes. Ever since CDE was released as open source over thirteen years ago, and while considerable work has been done to make it build, install, and run on modern platforms, thats kind of where the steam ran out. CDE isnt being actively developed to build upon its strengths and add new and welcome features and conveniences, but is instead kept in a sort of buildable stasis. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this it keeps CDE accessible on modern platforms, and thats a huge amount of work that deserves respect and gratitude but itd be nice if we lived in a world where there was enough interest (and time and money) to have people work on actually improving it. Of course, the reality is that thered be very little interest in such an improved CDE, and thats exactly why it isnt happening. On top op the current work the CDE team is doing, youd need to not only develop new features, but also improve the Motif toolkit to make such new features possible, and make sure such improvements dont break anything else. With such an old codebase, that cant possible be an easy task. Still, I will continue to daydream of a slightly more modernised CDE with some additional niceties weve come to expect over the past 30 years, even if I know full well its futile.
- Moss: a Linux-compatible kernel written in Rust
Moss is a Unix-like, Linux-compatible kernel written in Rust and Aarch64 assembly. It features a modern, asynchronous core, a modular architecture abstraction layer, and binary compatibility with Linux userspace applications (currently capable of running most BusyBox commands). ↫ Moss GitHub page I mean, hobby operating systems and kernels written in Rust arent exactly the most unique right now, but that doesnt make them any less interesting for the kinds of people that frequent a site called OSNews. Moss has quite a few things going for it, including support for enough Linux system calls to run most BusyBox commands, complex memory and process management, use of Rusts async/await model in the kernel, and much more.
- I work for an evil company, but outside work, I’m actually a really good person
I love my job. I make a great salary, there’s a clear path to promotion, and a never-ending supply of cold brew in the office. And even though my job requires me to commit sociopathic acts of evil that directly contribute to making the world a measurably worse place from Monday through Friday, five days a week, from morning to night, outside work, I’m actually a really good person. ↫ Emily Bressler at McSweeneys The tech industry is full of people like this.
- KDE to drop X11 session in KDE Plasma 6.8
The KDE project has made the call. Well folks, it’s the beginning of a new era: after nearly three decades of KDE desktop environments running on X11, the future KDE Plasma 6.8 release will be Wayland-exclusive! Support for X11 applications will be fully entrusted to Xwayland, and the Plasma X11 session will no longer be included. ↫ The Plasma Team Theyre following in the footsteps of the GNOME project, who will also be leaving the legacy windowing system behind. What this means in practice is that official KDE X11 support will cease once KDE Plasma 6.7 is no longer supported, which should be somewhere early 2027. Do note that the KDE developers intend to release a few extra bugfix releases in the 6.7 release cycle to stabilise the X11 session as much as possible for those people who are going to stick with KDE Plasma 6.7 to keep X11 around. For people who wish to keep using X11 after that point, the KDE project advises them to switch to LTS distributions like Alma Linux, which intend to keep supporting Plasma X11 until 2032. Xwayland will handle virtually all X11 applications running inside the Wayland session, including X11 forwarding, with similar functionality implemented in Wayland through Waypipe. Also note that this only applies to Plasma as a whole; KDE applications will continue to support X11 when run in other desktop environments or on other platforms. As for platforms other than Linux FreeBSD already has relatively robust Wayland support, so if you intend to run KDE on FreeBSD in the near future, youll have to move over to Wayland there, as well. The other BSD variants are also dabbling with Wayland support, so it wont be long before they, too, will be able to run the KDE Plasma Wayland session without any issues. What this means is that the two desktop environments that probably make up like 95% of the desktop Linux user base will now be focusing exclusively on Wayland, which is great news. X11 is a legacy platform and aside from retrocomputing and artisanal, boutique setups, you simply shouldnt be using it anymore. Less popular desktop environments like Xfce, Cinnamon, Budgie, and LXQt are also adding Wayland support, so it wont be much longer before virtually no new desktop Linux installations will be using X11. One X down, one more to go.
- Microsoft will start preloading Explorer because its so slow
With all the problems Windows is facing, I think one area where Microsoft can make some easy, quick gains is by drastically improving Explorer, Windows file manager. It seems that in the latest developer releases, theyre doing just that. The most impactful change possibly is that Microsoft is going to preload Explorer. We’re exploring preloading File Explorer in the background to help improve File Explorer launch performance. This shouldn’t be visible to you, outside of File Explorer hopefully launching faster when you need to use it. If you have the change, if needed there is an option you can uncheck to disable this called “Enable window preloading for faster launch times” in File Explorer’s Folder Options, under View. ↫ Windows Insider Program Team Microsoft is also reordering the context menu in Explorer, and while this may seem like a small set of changes, the new context menu does look much tidier and less busy. They achieve this by moving a few top-level items to a submenu, and reordering some other elements. Sadly, the context menu still retains its own context menu ( Show more options!), which is a traditional Win32 menu which I still think is one of the most Windows of Windows things of all time. Regardless, I hope these small changes make Explorer more bearable to use for those of you still using Windows, because we all know you need it.
- Googles Android for desktops and laptops is called Aluminium
Google has made it very clear that its intending to bring Android to laptops and desktops, and replace Chrome OS with Android in the process. We now have a codename, and some more information about what this will look like in practice. Over the weekend, a tipster on Telegram named Frost Core shared a link to an intriguing Google job listing for a ‘Senior Product Manager, Android, Laptop and Tablets.’ While we already know Google is bringing Android to the PC, the listing explicitly states that the role involves ‘working on a new Aluminium, Android-based, operating system.’ This effectively confirms that Aluminium is the codename for the new unified platform. The name appears to be a nod to the project’s roots: like Chromium (the open-source version of ChromeOS), Aluminium is a metal ending in ‘-ium.’ The choice of the British spelling — emphasizing the ‘Al’ prefix — likely pays homage to Android serving as the project’s foundation.” ↫ Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority So we have the codename, and of course, what we also have is a strong focus on AI!, which will be at the core! of desktop Android. Further details uncovered in job openings include a focus not just on entry-level hardware, but also midrange and premium laptops and desktops, as well as Chrome OS being replaced by this new desktop Android variant. I somehow doubt existing Chrome OS devices will be updated to this new desktop Android variant, so Chrome OS will continue to exist as a product for at least quite a few years to come. I still have a considerable amount of doubt that Google would be able to pull this off in a successful way. Its already hard enough to get anyone to buy any laptop that isnt running Windows or macOS, and I doubt the Android operating system has the kind of pull with consumers to make them consider switching to it on their laptops or desktops. Enthusiasts will surely eat it up if only to try but without any clear, massive success, this desktop Android thing runs the real risk of ending up at Googles graveyard. These Android laptops can be incredible products, but even if they are, I just wont trust Google to remain interested in it.
- Microsoft admits almost all major Windows 11 core features are broken
You may have noticed a sharp increase in problems and issues in Windows recently following the rise of the AI! hype cycle, entirely coincidentally, Im sure and it seems Microsoft is finally starting to acknowledge just how bad Windows has become. On the positive side though, following all that backlash, Microsoft acknowledged Windows has issues, and as if on cue, the company in a new support article has admitted that there are problems on almost every major Windows 11 core feature. The issues are related to XAML and this impacts all the Shell components like the Start Menu, Taskbar, Explorer, and Windows Settings. ↫ Sayan Sen at Neowin Its wild how many core components like this have apparently been broken due to these problems since July of this year. This means countless Windows users have been experiencing weird issues on a daily basis in multiple components for four months now, which is absolutely wild. On top of all the more structural problems in Windows, I wonder how people can get anything done at all only a few days ago, I had to manually clean out the Installer folder in the Windows folder on my wifes gaming PC, because for some inexplicable reason, Windows decided to permanently store 18GBs worth (!) of past Adobe Acrobat updates and installers in there. Its impossible to reliably say that Microsofts incessant focus on crypto NFTs AI! lies at the root of all of these problems, but if 30% of new! code in Microsoft is indeed regurgitated by AI!, its hard not to conclude as such.
- Wine 10.19 Released: Game Changing Support for Windows Reparse Points on Linux
by George Whittaker Introduction
If you use Linux and occasionally run Windows applications, whether via native Wine or through gaming layers like Proton, you’ll appreciate what just dropped in Wine 10.19. Released November 14 2025, this version brings a major enhancement: official support for Windows reparse points, a filesystem feature many Windows apps rely on, and a host of other compatibility upgrades.
In simpler terms: Wine now understands more of the Windows filesystem semantics, which means fewer workarounds, better application compatibility, and smoother experiences for many games and tools previously finicky under Linux.
What Are Reparse Points & Why They MatterUnderstanding Reparse Points
On Windows, a reparse point is a filesystem object (file or directory) that carries additional data, often used for symbolic links, junctions, mount points, or other redirection features. When an application opens or queries a file, the OS may check the reparse tag to determine special behavior (for example “redirect this file open to this other path”).
Because many Windows apps, installers, games, DRM systems, file-managers, use reparse points for features like directory redirection, path abstractions, or filesystem overlays, lacking full support for them in Wine means those apps often misbehave.
What Wine 10.19 Adds
With Wine 10.19, support for these reparse point mechanisms has been implemented in key filesystem APIs: for example NtQueryDirectoryFile, GetFileInfo, file attribute tags, and DeleteFile/RemoveDirectory for reparse objects.
This means that in Wine 10.19:
Windows apps that create or manage symbolic links, directory junctions or mount-point style re-parsing will now function correctly in many more cases.
Installers or frameworks that rely on “when opening path X, redirect to path Y” will work with less tinkering.
Games or utilities that check for reparse tags or use directory redirections will have fewer “stuck” behaviors or missing files.
In effect, this is a step toward closer to native behavior for Windows file-system semantics under Linux.
Other Key Highlights in Wine 10.19
Beyond reparse points, the release brings several notable improvements:
Expanded support for WinRT exceptions (Windows Runtime error handling) meaning better compatibility for Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps and newer Windows-based frameworks.
Refactoring of “Common Controls” (COMCTL32) following the version 5 vs version 6 split, which helps GUI applications that rely on older controls or expect mixed versions.
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- Firefox 145: A Major Release with 32-Bit Linux Support Dropped
by George Whittaker Introduction
Mozilla has rolled out Firefox 145, a significant update that brings a range of usability, security and privacy enhancements, while marking a clear turning point by discontinuing official support for 32-bit Linux systems. For users on older hardware or legacy distros, this change means it’s time to consider moving to a 64-bit environment or opting for a supported version.
Here’s a detailed look at what’s new, what’s changed, and what you need to know.
Major Changes in Firefox 145End of 32-Bit Linux Builds
One of the headline items in this release is Mozilla’s decision to stop building and distributing Firefox for 32-bit x86 Linux. As per their announcement:
“32-bit Linux (on x86) is no longer widely supported by the vast majority of Linux distributions, and maintaining Firefox on this platform has become increasingly difficult and unreliable.”
From Firefox 145 onward, only 64-bit (x86_64) and relevant 64-bit architectures (such as ARM64) will be officially supported. For those still running 32-bit Linux builds, Mozilla recommends migrating to 64-bit or switching to the Extended Support Release (ESR) branch (Firefox 140 ESR) which still supports 32-bit for a limited period.
Usability & Interface Enhancements
Firefox 145 brings several improvements designed to make everyday web browsing smoother and more flexible:
PDF viewer enhancements: You can now add, edit, and delete comments in PDFs, and a comments sidebar helps you easily navigate your annotations.
Tab-group preview: When you hover over the name of a collapsed tab group, a thumbnail preview of the tabs inside appears, helpful for reorganizing or returning to work.
Access saved passwords from the sidebar, without needing to open a new tab or window.
“Open links from apps next to your active tab” setting: When enabled, links opened from external applications insert next to your current tab instead of at the end of the tab bar.
Slight UI refinements: Buttons, input fields, tabs and other elements get more rounded edges, horizontal tabs are redesigned to align with vertical-tab aesthetics.
Privacy, Security & Under-the-Hood Upgrades
Mozilla has also doubled down on privacy and risk reduction:
Fingerprinting defenses: Firefox 145 introduces new anti-fingerprinting techniques that Mozilla estimates reduce the number of users identified as unique by nearly half when Private Browsing mode or Enhanced Tracking Protection (strict) is used.
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- MX Linux 25 ‘Infinity’ Arrives: Debian 13 ‘Trixie’ Base, Modern Tools & A Fresh Installer
by George Whittaker Introduction
The team behind MX Linux has just released version 25, carrying the codename “Infinity”, and it brings a significant upgrade by building upon the stable base of Debian 13 “Trixie”. Released on November 9, 2025, this edition doesn’t just refresh the desktop, it introduces modernized tooling, updated kernels, dual init-options, and installer enhancements aimed at both newcomers and long-time users.
In the sections that follow, we’ll walk through the key new features of MX Linux 25, what’s changed for each desktop edition, recommended upgrade or fresh-install paths, and why this release matters in the wider Linux-distribution ecosystem.
What’s New in MX Linux 25 “Infinity”
Here are the headline changes and improvements that define this release:
Debian 13 “Trixie” Base
By moving to Debian 13, Infinity inherits all the stability, security updates, and broader hardware support of the latest Debian stable release. The base system now aligns with Trixie’s libraries, kernels, and architecture support.
Kernel Choices & Hardware Support
The standard editions ship with the Linux 6.12 LTS kernel series, offering a solid baseline for most hardware.
For newer hardware or advanced users, the “AHS” (Advanced Hardware Support) variants and the KDE Plasma edition adopt a Liquorix-flavored Linux 6.16 (or 6.15 in some variants) kernel, maximizing performance and compatibility with cutting-edge setups.
Dual Init Option: systemd and SysVinit
Traditionally associated with lighter-weight init options, MX Linux now offers both systemd by default and SysVinit editions (particularly for Xfce and Fluxbox variants). This gives users the freedom to choose their init system preference without losing new features.
Updated Desktop Environments
Xfce edition: Ships with Xfce 4.20. Improvements include a revamped Whisker Menu, updated archive management tools (Engrampa replacing File Roller in some editions).
KDE Plasma edition: Uses KDE Plasma 6.3.6, defaults to Wayland for a modern session experience (with X11 still optionally available), adds root-actions and service menus to Dolphin, and switches TLP out for power-profiles-daemon to resolve power widget issues.
Fluxbox edition: Offers a more minimal, highly customizable environment: new panel layouts, updated “appfinder” configs for Rofi, toolbar changes and themes refined. Defaults the audio player to Audacious (instead of the older DeaDBeeF).
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- Arch Linux November 2025 ISO: Fresh Snapshot, Smarter Installer (Archinstall 3.0.12) & Pacman 7.1
by George Whittaker
Arch Linux has shipped its November 2025 ISO snapshot (2025.11.01), and while Arch remains a rolling distribution, these monthly images are a big deal, especially for new installs, labs, and homelab deployments. This time, the ISO lands alongside two important pieces:
Archinstall 3.0.12 – a more polished, smarter TUI installer
Pacman 7.1 – a package manager update with stricter security and better tooling
If you’ve been thinking about spinning up a fresh Arch box, or you’re curious what changed under the hood, this release is a very nice jumping-on point.
Why Arch Still Ships Monthly ISOs in a Rolling World
Arch is famous for its “install once, update forever” model. Technically, you could install from a two-year-old image and just run:
sudo pacman -Syu
…but in practice, that’s painful:
Huge initial update downloads
Possible breakage jumping across many months of changes
Outdated installer tooling
That’s why the project publishes a monthly snapshot ISO: it rolls all current packages into a fresh image so you:
Start with a current kernel and userland
Spend less time updating right after install
Get the latest Archinstall baked in (or just a pacman -Sy archinstall away)
The 2025.11.01 ISO is exactly that: Arch as of early November 2025, ready to go.
What’s Inside the November 2025 ISO (2025.11.01)
The November snapshot doesn’t introduce new features by itself, it’s a frozen image of current Arch, but a few details are worth calling out:
Ships with a Linux 6.17.x kernel, including improved AMD/Intel GPU support and updated Btrfs bits.
Includes all the usual base packages plus current toolchains, drivers, and desktop stacks from the rolling repos.
The image is intended only for new installs; existing Arch systems should keep using pacman -Syu for upgrades.
You can download it from the official Arch Linux download page or via BitTorrent mirrors.
One small twist: the ISO itself still ships with Archinstall 3.0.11, but 3.0.12 was released the same day – so we’ll grab the newer version from the repos before running the installer.
Archinstall 3.0.12: What’s Actually New?
Archinstall has evolved from “nice experiment” to “pretty solid way to install Arch” if you don’t want to script everything yourself. Version 3.0.12 is a refinement release focused on stability, storage, and bootloader logic.
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- AMD Confirms Zen 5 RNG Flaw: When ‘Random’ Isn’t Random Enough
by George Whittaker
AMD has officially confirmed a high-severity security vulnerability in its new Zen 5–based CPUs, and it’s a nasty one because it hits cryptography right at the source: the hardware random number generator.
Here’s a clear breakdown of what’s going on, how bad it really is, and what you should do if you’re running Zen 5.
What AMD Just Confirmed
AMD’s security bulletin AMD-SB-7055, now tracked as CVE-2025-62626, describes a bug in the RDSEED instruction on Zen 5 processors. Under certain conditions, the CPU can:
Return the value 0 from RDSEED far more often than true randomness would allow
Still signal “success” (carry flag CF=1), so software thinks it got a good random value
The issue affects the 16-bit and 32-bit forms of RDSEED on Zen 5; the 64-bit form is not affected.
Because RDSEED is used to feed cryptographically secure random number generators (CSPRNGs), a broken RDSEED can poison keys, tokens, and other security-critical values.
AMD classifies the impact as:
Loss of confidentiality and integrity (High severity).
How the Vulnerability Works (In Plain English)What RDSEED Is Supposed to Do
Modern CPUs expose hardware instructions like RDRAND and RDSEED:
RDRAND: Gives you pseudo-random values from a DRBG that’s already been seeded.
RDSEED: Gives you raw entropy samples suitable for seeding cryptographic PRNGs (it should be very close to truly random).
Software like TLS libraries, key generators, HSM emulators, and OS RNGs may rely directly or indirectly on RDSEED to bootstrap secure randomness.
What’s Going Wrong on Zen 5
On affected Zen 5 CPUs:
The 16-bit and 32-bit RDSEED variants sometimes return 0 much more often than a true random source should.
Even worse, they simultaneously report success (CF=1), so software assumes the value is fine rather than retrying.
In cryptographic terms, this means:
Entropy can be dramatically reduced (many key bits become predictable or even fixed).
Keys or nonces derived from those values can become partially or fully guessable.
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- The Most Critical Linux Kernel Breaches of 2025 So Far
by George Whittaker
The Linux kernel, foundational for servers, desktops, embedded systems, and cloud infrastructure, has been under heightened scrutiny. Several vulnerabilities have been exploited in real-world attacks, targeting critical subsystems and isolation layers. In this article, we’ll walk through major examples, explain their significance, and offer actionable guidance for defenders.
CVE-2025-21756 – Use-After-Free in the vsock Subsystem
One of the most alarming flaws this year involves a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel’s vsock implementation (Virtual Socket), which enables communication between virtual machines and their hosts.
How the exploit works:A malicious actor inside a VM (or other privileged context) manipulates reference counters when a vsock transport is reassigned. The code ends up freeing a socket object while it’s still in use, enabling memory corruption and potentially root-level access.
Why it matters:Since vsock is used for VM-to-host and inter-VM communication, this flaw breaks a key isolation barrier. In multi-tenant cloud environments or container hosts that expose vsock endpoints, the impact can be severe.
Mitigation:Kernel maintainers have released patches. If your systems run hosts, hypervisors, or other environments where vsock is present, make sure the kernel is updated and virtualization subsystems are patched.
CVE-2025-38236 – Out-of-Bounds / Sandbox Escape via UNIX Domain Sockets
Another high-impact vulnerability involves the UNIX domain socket interface and the MSG_OOB flag. The bug was publicly detailed in August 2025 and is already in active discussion.
Attack scenario:A process running inside a sandbox (for example a browser renderer) can exploit MSG_OOB operations on a UNIX domain socket to trigger a use-after-free or out-of-bounds read/write. That allows leaking kernel pointers or memory and then chaining to full kernel privilege escalation.
Why it matters:This vulnerability is especially dangerous because it bridges from a low-privilege sandboxed process to kernel-level compromise. Many systems assume sandboxed code is safe; this attack undermines that assumption.
Mitigation:Distributions and vendors (like browser teams) have disabled or restricted MSG_OOB usage for sandboxed contexts. Kernel patches are available. Systems that run browser sandboxes or other sandboxed processes need to apply these updates immediately.
CVE-2025-38352 – TOCTOU Race Condition in POSIX CPU Timers
In September 2025, the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
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- Steam Deck 2 Rumors Ignite a New Era for Linux Gaming
by George Whittaker
The speculation around a successor to the Steam Deck has stirred renewed excitement, not just for a new handheld, but for what it signals in Linux-based gaming. With whispers of next-gen specs, deeper integration of SteamOS, and an evolving handheld PC ecosystem, these rumors are fueling broader hopes that Linux gaming is entering a more mature age. In this article we look at the existing rumors, how they tie into the Linux gaming landscape, why this matters, and what to watch.
What the Rumours Suggest
Although Valve has kept things quiet, multiple credible outlets report about the Steam Deck 2 being in development and potentially arriving well after 2026. Some of the key tid-bits:
Editorials note that Valve isn’t planning a mere spec refresh; it wants a “generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life”.
A leaked hardware slide pointed to an AMD “Magnus”-class APU built on Zen 6 architecture being tied to next-gen handhelds, including speculation about the Steam Deck 2.
One hardware leaker (KeplerL2) cited a possible 2028 launch window for the Steam Deck 2, which would make it roughly 6 years after the original.
Valve’s own design leads have publicly stated that a refresh with only 20-30% more performance is “not meaningful enough”, implying they’re waiting for a more substantial upgrade.
In short: while nothing is official yet, there’s strong evidence that Valve is working on the next iteration and wants it to be a noteworthy jump, not just a minor update.
Why This Matters for Linux Gaming
The rumoured arrival of the Steam Deck 2 isn’t just about hardware, it reflects and could accelerate key inflection points for Linux & gaming:
Validation of SteamOS & Linux Gaming
The original Steam Deck, running SteamOS (a Linux-based OS), helped prove that PC gaming doesn’t always require Windows. A well-received successor would further validate Linux as a first-class gaming platform, not a niche alternative but a mainstream choice.
Handheld PC Ecosystem Momentum
Since the first Deck, many Windows-based handhelds have entered the market (such as the ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go). Rumours of the Deck 2 keep spotlight on the form factor and raise expectations for Linux-native handhelds. This momentum helps encourage driver, compatibility and OS investments from the broader community.
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- Kali Linux 2025.3 Lands: Enhanced Wireless Capabilities, Ten New Tools & Infrastructure Refresh
by George Whittaker Introduction
The popular penetration-testing distribution Kali Linux has dropped its latest quarterly snapshot: version 2025.3. This release continues the tradition of the rolling-release model used by the project, offering users and security professionals a refreshed toolkit, broader hardware support (especially wireless), and infrastructure enhancements under the hood. With this update, the distribution aims to streamline lab setups, bolster wireless hacking capabilities (particularly on Raspberry Pi devices), and integrate modern workflows including automated VMs and LLM-based tooling.
In this article, we’ll walk through the key highlights of Kali Linux 2025.3, how the changes affect users (both old and new), the upgrade path, and what to keep in mind for real-world deployment.
What’s New in Kali Linux 2025.3
This snapshot from the Kali team brings several categories of improvements: tooling, wireless/hardware support, architecture changes, virtualization/image workflows, UI and plugin tweaks. Below is a breakdown of the major updates.
Tooling Additions: Ten Fresh Packages
One of the headline items is the addition of ten new security tools to the Kali repositories. These tools reflect shifts in the field, toward AI-augmented recon, advanced wireless simulation and pivoting, and updated attack surface coverage. Among the additions are:
Caido and Caido-cli – a client-server web-security auditing toolkit (graphical client + backend).
Detect It Easy (DiE) – a utility for identifying file types, a useful tool in reverse engineering workflows.
Gemini CLI – an open-source AI agent that integrates Google’s Gemini (or similar LLM) capabilities into the terminal environment.
krbrelayx – a toolkit focused on Kerberos relaying/unconstrained delegation attacks.
ligolo-mp – a multiplayer pivoting solution for network-lateral movement.
llm-tools-nmap – allows large-language-model workflows to drive Nmap scans (automated/discovery).
mcp-kali-server – configuration tooling to connect an AI agent to Kali infrastructure.
patchleaks – a tool that detects security-fix patches and provides detailed descriptions (useful both for defenders and auditors).
vwifi-dkms – enables creation of “dummy” Wi-Fi networks (virtual wireless interfaces) for advanced wireless testing and hacking exercises.
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- VMScape: Cracking VM-Host Isolation in the Speculative Execution Age & How Linux Patches Respond
by George Whittaker Introduction
In the world of modern CPUs, speculative execution, where a processor guesses ahead on branches and executes instructions before the actual code path is confirmed, has long been recognized as a performance booster. However, it has also given rise to a class of vulnerabilities collectively known as “Spectre” attacks, where microarchitectural side states (such as the branch target buffer, caches, or predictor state) are mis-exploited to leak sensitive data.
Now, a new attack variant, dubbed VMScape, exposes a previously under-appreciated weakness: the isolation between a guest virtual machine and its host (or hypervisor) in the branch predictor domain. In simpler terms: a malicious VM can influence the CPU’s branch predictor in such a way that when control returns to the host, secrets in the host or hypervisor can be exposed. This has major implications for cloud security, virtualization environments, and kernel/hypervisor protections.
In this article we’ll walk through how VMScape works, the CPUs and environments it affects, how the Linux kernel and hypervisors are mitigating it, and what users, cloud operators and admins should know (and do).
What VMScape Is & Why It MattersThe Basics of Speculative Side-Channels
Speculative execution vulnerabilities like Spectre exploit the gap between architectural state (what the software sees as completed instructions) and microarchitectural state (what the CPU has done internally, such as cache loads, branch predictor updates, etc). Even when speculative paths are rolled back architecturally, side-effects in the microarchitecture can remain and be probed by attackers.
One of the original variants, Spectre-BTI (Branch Target Injection, also called Spectre v2) leveraged the Branch Target Buffer (BTB) / predictor to redirect speculative execution along attacker-controlled paths. Over time, hardware and software mitigations (IBRS, eIBRS, IBPB, STIBP) have been introduced. But VMScape shows that when virtualization enters the picture, the isolation assumptions break down.
VMScape: Guest to Host via Branch Predictor
VMScape (tracked as CVE‑2025‑40300) is described by researchers from ETH Zürich as “the first Spectre-based end-to-end exploit in which a malicious guest VM can leak arbitrary sensitive information from the host domain/hypervisor, without requiring host code modifications and in default configuration.”
Here are the key elements making VMScape significant:
The attack is cross-virtualization: a guest VM influences the host’s branch predictor state (not just within the guest).
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- Self-Tuning Linux Kernels: How LLM-Driven Agents Are Reinventing Scheduler Policies
by George Whittaker Introduction
Modern computing systems rely heavily on operating-system schedulers to allocate CPU time fairly and efficiently. Yet many of these schedulers operate blindly with respect to the meaning of workloads: they cannot distinguish, for example, whether a task is latency-sensitive or batch-oriented. This mismatch, between application semantics and scheduler heuristics, is often referred to as the semantic gap.
A recent research framework called SchedCP aims to close that gap. By using autonomous LLM‐based agents, the system analyzes workload characteristics, selects or synthesizes custom scheduling policies, and safely deploys them into the kernel, without human intervention. This represents a meaningful step toward self-optimizing, application-aware kernels.
In this article we will explore what SchedCP is, how it works under the hood, the evidence of its effectiveness, real-world implications, and what caveats remain.
Why the Problem Matters
At the heart of the issue is that general-purpose schedulers (for example the Linux kernel’s default policy) assume broad fairness, rather than tailoring scheduling to what your application cares about. For instance:
A video-streaming service may care most about minimal tail latency.
A CI/CD build system may care most about throughput and job completion time.
A cloud analytics job may prefer maximum utilisation of cores with less concern for interactive responsiveness.
Traditional schedulers treat all tasks mostly the same, tuning knobs generically. As a result, systems often sacrifice optimisation opportunities. Some prior efforts have used reinforcement-learning techniques to tune scheduler parameters, but these approaches have limitations: slow convergence, limited generalisation, and weak reasoning about why a workload behaves as it does.
SchedCP starts from the observation that large language models can reason semantically about workloads (expressed in plain language or structured summaries), propose new scheduling strategies, and generate code via eBPF that is loaded into the kernel via the sched_ext interface. Thus, a custom scheduler (or modified policy) can be developed specifically for a given workload scenario, and in a self-service, automated way.
Architecture & Key Components
SchedCP comprises two primary subsystems: a control-plane framework and an agent loop that interacts with it. The framework decouples “what to optimise” (reasoning) from “how to act” (execution) in order to preserve kernel stability while enabling powerful optimisations.
Here are the major components:
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