All the News that Matters

• [$] The second part of the 7.4 merge window
  The 7.4 merge window, whichclosed on November 1,included a record-breaking 18,591 non-merge changesets.That is almost as many as the entire 7.3 development cycle, which had 18,765, itself a record breaker. Ofthose, 11,838 landed after the article covering thefirst part of the merge window. Most of those were bug fixes ofvarious forms; it seems as though bug fixes may be crowding out featureadditions across the open-source ecosystem tosome extent. Still, a good number of new features were included, and a handfulremoved, in the tail end of the merge window.
  

• Shutting the Door on the XCPE Botnet (Threat Intelligence)
  The Google Threat Intelligence blog describes,in great detail, the XCPE botnet, which has just been taken down.
  Last week, Google and industry partners dismantled the XCPE backdoor which enrolled more than 1.3 million set-top boxes into a botnet. We assess with high confidence that the backdoor and botnet were intentionally developed, deployed, and operated for financial gain by Videostrong Technology Co., an Android Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Original Device Manufacturer (ODM).
  Videostrong monetized the backdoor by selling access to criminal affiliates and loading those affiliates' malware modules onto infected devices. These secondary modules were conducting ad-fraud; silently enrolling infected devices into residential proxy networks; and loading additional malware onto XCPE-compromised devices.

• [$] Managing the kernel CVE flood
  We recently looked at how thekernel community is dealing with the firehose of vulnerability reports, butsaid little about how users of the kernel are responding. At the 2026 Linux Plumbers Conference, Amazon employeesDylan Johnson and Justinien Bouron discussed the problem from the point ofview of engineers trying to keep AWS running and secure in the face of astorm of CVE disclosures. The kernel community's longstanding advice is torun current kernels, and that turns out to work — sort of.

• Tor Browser 16.0 released
  Version16.0 of the Tor Browserhas been released. This is the first stable version based on Firefox ESR153. Notable changes in this release include support for Linux on 64-bit Arm,redesigned settings, and a "generic window titles" feature to help prevent otherapplications from snooping on one's browser activity. Tor Browser forAndroid has had a number of interface updates to Google's MaterialDesign 3 design language.
  
  This release also follows Firefox in ending support for 32-bit x86 Linuxsystems. See the fullchangelog for all of the updates and bug fixes.
  

• Security updates for Monday
  Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (firefox, java-17-openjdk, kernel, kernel-rt, mariadb:10.5, podman, python-jwt, python27:2.7, python38:3.8 and python38-devel:3.8, python39:3.9 and python39-devel:3.9, ruby:2.5, ruby:2.7, thunderbird, util-linux, and virt:rhel and virt-devel:rhel), Debian (chromium, eog, imagemagick, python-aiohttp, thunderbird, and vim), Fedora (asciinema, atuin, btrfs-backup-ng, clevis, gcc, janus, kernel, libheif, libreswan, mingw-expat, mupdf, nautilus, nicotine+, ntpd-rs, openscap, perl-DBI, python-streamlink, python3.12, retsnoop, ruby, rust-cargo-deny, rust-cargo-rpmstatus, rust-ctutils, rust-gst-plugin-reqwest, rust-rbspy, rust-resctl-bench, rust-rpki, rust-rustls-webpki, rust-sequoia-chameleon-gnupg, rust-sequoia-git, rust-sequoia-octopus-librnp, rust-webpki-root-certs, rust-webpki-roots, tpm2-tss, and vhs), Oracle (.NET 8.0, .NET 9.0, aspell, bind9.18, curl, httpd:2.4, java-1.8.0-openjdk, kernel, libXi, mod_auth_openidc:2.3, nodejs:24, python-pillow, and tomcat), Red Hat (libxml2), Slackware (libarchive), and SUSE (buildah, curl, docker, gnutls, nodejs22, and suseconnect-ng).

• Kernel prepatch 7.4-rc1
  The 7.4-rc1 kernel prepatch is out, andthe merge window is closed for this development cycle.
  This is a *BIG* merge window. I think the reason is the by now obvious one, but I'm actually taking it as a good sign: I'm *much* happier with the flood of AI triggered work going into the merge window than it showing up mainly as extra fixes during the -rc period. So I'm hoping that this merge window being larger than usual is a sign that the AI fixes are becoming more part of the "normal development" than a flood of fixes that go into the whole stabilization phase. I think that's a much healthier model.
  There were 18,591 non-merge changesets brought in during this merge window— this is not just a record, but it nearly matches the patch volume duringthe entire (record-setting) 7.3 development cycle. So far, 2,678developers have contributed to 7.4; 625 of them are first-time kernelcontributors. Subscribers can find more details in the KSDB 7.4 page.

• Final release for the 7.2 stable series
  Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of the 7.2.15 kernel, with a handful of updates.
  
  Note, this is the LAST 7.2.y kernel release. After this one the 7.2.y kerneltree is end-of-life. Please move to 7.3.y at this time.
  
  And yes, you aren't imagining things, this one went "end-of-life" a bit soonerthan normal. But based on the release cycle at the moment, and the number ofpending cc: stable patches in the queue, I figured it was better this way so wecan focus on the latest 7.3.y release as it would require us to keep 8different branches alive at the same moment, a taxing task under the best oftimes.
  
  
  

• A massive pile of security updates for Saturday
  Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (.NET 10.0, .NET 11.0, .NET 8.0, .NET 9.0, aspell, bind, bind9.18, container-tools:1.0, container-tools:rhel8, curl, dogtag-pki, ignition, java-21-openjdk, python-pillow, tomcat, and virt:rhel, virt-devel:rhel), Debian (antiword, cyrus-sasl2, dovecot, dpdk, nss, python-git, and thunderbird), Fedora (7zip, aegisub, aom, apptainer, arm-none-eabi-binutils-cs, assimp, avr-binutils, baresip, barman, bind9-next, btrfs-backup-ng, chezmoi, chromium, cifs-utils, clevis-pin-trustee, composer, containerd, curl, docker-buildx, dotnet10.0, evolution, evolution-data-server, evolution-ews, exim, fips-provider, firefox, flare-im, forgejo, freeipa, freerdp, gcc, gegl04, ghostscript, GitPython, glib-networking, gnome-shell-extension-gsconnect, golang-x-mobile, hcloud, helix, httpd, ImageMagick, iperf3, jfrog-cli, jupyterlab, keepassxc, kernel, knot-resolver, krb5, kryoptic, libdigidocpp, libheif, libindi, libinstpatch, libpng12, libpng15, librabbitmq, libre, libXi, libzip, linux-firmware, Lmod, log4net, markdownlint-cli2, mingw-freetype, mingw-gstreamer1, mingw-gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free, mingw-gstreamer1-plugins-base, mingw-gstreamer1-plugins-good, mingw-libpng, mingw-LibRaw, mingw-python-certifi, mingw-python3, mongo-c-driver, mstflint, mutt, nant, nebula, nix, nsd, ntpsec, openbao, openjpeg, openssl3, openvpn, perl-Badger, perl-CLI-Simple, perl-Cpanel-JSON-XS, perl-CSS-Inliner, perl-Encoding-FixLatin, perl-ExtUtils-Typemaps-Default, perl-GD-SecurityImage, perl-HTML-Query, perl-libnet, perl-Markdown-Render, perl-Net-IDN-Encode, perl-Net-Whois-Raw, perl-Plack, perl-Plack-Middleware-ReverseProxy, perl-Text-CSV_XS, pgbouncer, php-getid3, php-pecl-mongodb2, python-boto3, python-botocore, python-cairosvg, python-django5, python-django6, python-jupyter-builder, python-mkdocs-rss-plugin, python-nbdime, python-nh3, python-notebook, python-pydantic-core, python-pypdf, python-uv-build, python3.10, python3.11, python3.12, python3.13, python3.14, qdigidoc, qdl, qt5-qtbase, radicale, rclone, rt, ruff, rust-ammonia, rust-archive-trait, rust-astral-html, rust-astral-ini, rust-astral-mail-headers, rust-astral-pubgrub, rust-astral-version-ranges, rust-astral_async_http_range_reader, rust-astral_async_zip, rust-asyncband, rust-backtrace, rust-blake2b_simd, rust-blake3, rust-cargo-semver-checks, rust-chrono, rust-clap-cargo, rust-constant_time_eq, rust-dua-cli, rust-faster-hex, rust-gengo-bin, rust-gitui, rust-lzma-rust2, rust-object, rust-object0.37, rust-object0.38, rust-object0.39, rust-onefetch, rust-ppmd-rust, rust-quick-junit, rust-rbw, rust-regorus, rust-reqsign, rust-reqsign-aliyun-oss, rust-reqsign-aws-core, rust-reqsign-aws-v4, rust-reqsign-aws-v4a, rust-reqsign-azure-storage, rust-reqsign-command-execute-tokio, rust-reqsign-core, rust-reqsign-file-read-tokio, rust-reqsign-google, rust-reqsign-http-send-reqwest, rust-reqsign-huaweicloud-obs, rust-reqsign-oracle, rust-reqsign-tencent-cos, rust-reqsign-volcengine-tos, rust-routinator, rust-rustls, rust-ruzstd, rust-sccache, rust-tar-codec, rust-tar-framing, rust-tokei, rust-totp-rs, rust-trustfall-rustdoc-adapter, rust-trustfall-rustdoc-adapter57, rust-trustfall-rustdoc-adapter60, rust-typed-path, rust-zip, rust-zip0.6, rust-zip2, rustup, samba, SDL3_image, socat, stargz-snapshotter, stgit, sudo, syncthing, thunderbird, tor, trafficserver, ty, unbound, unshield, uv, webkitgtk, wordpress, xorg-x11-server, xorg-x11-server-Xwayland, zchunk, and zvbi), Mageia (libgit2), Red Hat (go-toolset:rhel8 and rhc), SUSE (ab-av1, ansible-core, aws-nitro-enclaves-cli, bouncycastle, cadvisor, chromium, cifs-utils, coredns, crun, dr_libs-devel-20260901, dssim, epiphany, expat, forgejo, freetype2-devel, fuseiso-20260614, gh, ghostscript, gosec, gvfs, hashcat, hauler, hugo, ImageMagick, kernel-devel, kubevirt1.9, libmikmod, libsoup, percona-toolkit, perl-cpanel-json-xs, perl-dancer2-plugin-auth-extensible, perl-mozilla-ca, pocketbase, putty, python-brotli, python-CairoSVG, python-cairosvg, python-django, python-pypdf, python-urllib3_1, roundcubemail, rsyslog, shadowsocks-rust, shadowsocks-libev, stgit, suseconnect-ng, tailscale, trivy, and vlc), and Ubuntu (brotli).

• How We Could Have Backdoored Bash (Hacktron blog)
  The Hacktron blog documents howthe group was able to compromise the GNU Savannah forge and could havepushed malware into any of the projects hosted there.
  Using Hacktron, we found that an email address like a`touch${IFS}/tmp/savane-rce-proof`@attacker.example gave any registered user code execution on its backend. From there, we made our account a superuser, impersonated Bash's maintainer, and confirmed we could add an SSH key with push access to the upstream Bash repository. An unpatched kernel gave us root access and access to a GNU backup server. We reported it to the FSF on May 11, 2026.

• [$] Removing binder.c
  The final talk at Kangrejos 2026 was about the removal of the C implementationof Android'sBinder driver, the primary interprocess communication mechanismused on Android devices. Carlos Llamas announced that he had deleted the Ccode to general applause, and then shared some insights about what went intoreplacing the C implementation. Alice Ryhl, who has worked on the Rustimplementation for some years, added her own thoughts about what the mostdifficult and interesting parts of the transition were.
  

• Haas: Postgres 19 is late, and it's AI's fault
  PostgreSQL developer Robert Haas writesabout the struggles the project has encountered in putting together itsnext release.
  In the end, I don't think that the delay in shipping PostgreSQL 19 is particularly concerning. It is not a long delay in the grand scheme of things, and it emerges directly from the project's concern for quality.
  The long-term picture is less clear and in some ways more troubling: given that we have forty years of bugs that humans were unable to find but LLMs are quite capable of discovering, how are we ever going to catch up, and how will PostgreSQL continue to innovate? Right now, I'm not sure. What I do know is that I, and many others, are working really hard to figure it out.
  LWN looked at the PostgreSQL 19 releaseand its challenges in September.

• Remote code execution on Linux systems with multipath TCP
  On October 27, LLM provider Anthropicreportedon aremotely exploitable use-after-free bug affecting systems withmultipath TCP listeners open. The bug works by triggering a response to aretransmitted SYN packet at the same moment that the TCP connection isestablished in another thread, causing the first thread to access theconnection's options structure after the second thread has freed it. The firstthread can then disclose kernel memory or cause a buffer overflow, writing anattacker-controlled payload. The fix wasto only free the structure after an RCU grace period.On October 29, the Go security teamadvisedthat all programs written in Go use multipath TCP by default, so manysystems may be unknowingly vulnerable. And, of course, there is always thepossibility of related bugs in other sections of the TCP stack. Users may bewise to update to a patched kernel as soon as one becomes available for theirdistribution.
  

• [$] System-call wrappers for glibc
  In a followup to his session at the2025 Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC), Carlos O'Donell returned to the topicof system-callwrappers for the GNU C library (glibc) at this year's event. This timearound, he was joined by Florian Weimer, who is another glibc maintainer.The idea was to give an update on what has happened over the last year withregard to Linux system calls that lack a glibc wrapper, thus are onlyaccessible viasyscall(). In addition, they wanted to hear from attendees about theirneeds in this area.

• Eight more stable kernel updates
  Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of the 7.3.1,7.2.14,6.18.60,6.12.115,6.6.161,6.1.191,5.15.224, and5.10.273 stable kernels. As usual, he advisesall users to update—advice that seems especially wise given theincreased number of security-relevant bug fixes that the kernel is seeing these days.[Edit: the 7.2.15 stable release is already in review as well.]
  

• Security updates for Friday
  Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (aspell, cjose, curl, gcc-toolset-15-gcc, httpd:2.4, ignition, java-21-openjdk, libX11, libXi, libXrender, libXtst, mariadb:10.11, nodejs:24, python-pillow, python3.12-urllib3, and webkit2gtk3), Debian (imagemagick, libdatetime-timezone-perl, python-git, tor, tzdata, vlc, and wordpress), Fedora (accessibility-inspector, akonadi-calendar, akonadi-calendar-tools, akonadi-contacts, akonadi-import-wizard, akonadi-mime, akonadi-search, akonadi-server, akonadiconsole, akregator, alligator, analitza, angelfish, applet-window-buttons, arianna, ark, artikulate, audex, audiocd-kio, audiotube, aurorae, baloo-widgets, blinken, bluedevil, bomber, bovo, breeze-gtk, brotli, bup, calendarsupport, calindori, calligra, cantor, colord-kde, cxx-rust-cssparser, dolphin, dolphin-plugins, dragon, elisa-player, eventviews, falkon, fcitx-configtool, ffmpegthumbs, filelight, firefox, flatpak-kcm, francis, ghostwriter, granatier, grantlee-editor, grantleetheme, grub2-breeze-theme, gwenview, incidenceeditor, isoimagewriter, itinerary, juk, k3b, kaccounts-integration, kaccounts-providers, kactivitymanagerd, kaddressbook, kajongg, kalarm, kalgebra, kalk, kalm, kalzium, kamera, kamoso, kanagram, kapman, kapptemplate, kasts, kate, katomic, kbackup, kblackbox, kblocks, kbounce, kbruch, kcachegrind, kcalc, kcalutils, kcharselect, kclock, kcolorchooser, kcron, kde-cli-tools, kde-connect, kde-dev-scripts, kde-dev-utils, kde-gtk-config, kde-inotify-survey, kde-partitionmanager, kdebugsettings, kdecoration, kdeedu-data, kdegraphics-mobipocket, kdegraphics-thumbnailers, kdenetwork-filesharing, kdenlive, kdepim-addons, kdepim-runtime, kdeplasma-addons, kdesdk-kioslaves, kdesdk-thumbnailers, kdevelop, kdevelop-php, kdevelop-python, kdf, kdialog, kdiamond, kdnssd, kdominate, keditbookmarks, keepsecret, keysmith, kf6-baloo, kfind, kfourinline, kgeography, kget, kglobalacceld, kgoldrunner, kgpg, kgraphviewer, khangman, khealthcertificate, khelpcenter, kidentitymanagement, kig, kigo, killbots, kimagemapeditor, kimap, kinfocenter, kio-admin, kio-extras, kio-gdrive, kirigami-gallery, kiriki, kiten, kitinerary, kjournald, kjumpingcube, kldap, kleopatra, klettres, klickety, klines, kmag, kmahjongg, kmail, kmail-account-wizard, kmailtransport, kmbox, kmenuedit, kmines, kmix, kmousetool, kmouth, kmplot, knavalbattle, knetwalk, knights, knighttime, knot, koko, kolf, kollision, kolourpaint, kompare, kongress, konqueror, konquest, konsole, kontact, kontactinterface, kontrast, konversation, kopeninghours, korganizer, kosmindoormap, kpat, kpimtextedit, kpipewire, kpkpass, kpmcore, kpublictransport, kqtquickcharts, krdc, krdp, krecorder, kreversi, krfb, kruler, ksanecore, kscreen, kscreenlocker, kshisen, ksirk, ksmtp, ksnakeduel, kspaceduel, ksquares, ksshaskpass, ksudoku, ksystemlog, ksystemstats, kteatime, ktimer, ktnef, ktorrent, ktouch, ktrip, ktuberling, kturtle, kubrick, kunifiedpush, kup-backup, kwalletmanager5, kwave, kwayland, kwayland-integration, kweather, kweathercore, kwin, kwin-zones, kwordquiz, kwrited, layer-shell-qt, libgravatar, libkcddb, libkdcraw, libkdegames, libkdepim, libkeduvocdocument, libkexiv2, libkgapi, libkleo, libkmahjongg, libkomparediff2, libksane, libkscreen, libksieve, libksysguard, libktorrent, libplasma, libquotient, lokalize, lskat, mailcommon, mailimporter, marble, markdownpart, massif-visualizer, mbox-importer, merkuro, messagelib, mimetreeparser, mingw-python-certifi, minuet, neochat, ocean-sound-theme, okular, oxygen-sounds, palapeli, pam-kwallet, parley, perl-Alien-Brotli, picmi, pim-data-exporter, pim-sieve-editor, pimcommon, plasma-activities, plasma-activities-stats, plasma-bigscreen, plasma-breeze, plasma-browser-integration, plasma-camera, plasma-desktop, plasma-dialer, plasma-discover, plasma-disks, plasma-drkonqi, plasma-firewall, plasma-integration, plasma-keyboard, plasma-login-manager, plasma-milou, plasma-mobile, plasma-nano, plasma-nm, plasma-oxygen, plasma-pa, plasma-phonebook, plasma-print-manager, plasma-sdk, plasma-settings, plasma-setup, plasma-systemmonitor, plasma-systemsettings, plasma-thunderbolt, plasma-union, plasma-vault, plasma-wayland-protocols, plasma-welcome, plasma-workspace, plasma-workspace-wallpapers, plasma5support, plasmatube, plymouth-kcm, plymouth-theme-breeze, polkit-kde, powerdevil, poxml, qmlkonsole, qqc2-breeze-style, qrca, rocs, sddm-kcm, signon-kwallet-extension, skanlite, skanpage, skladnik, spacebar, spectacle, step, svgpart, sweeper, tokodon, trafficserver, umbrello, xdg-desktop-portal-kde, yakuake, and zanshin), Mageia (cfitsio, libsolv, tomcat, and xrdp), Oracle (bind, cjose, curl, dogtag-pki, expat, gcc-toolset-15-gcc, ignition, kernel, libX11, libXrender, libXtst, php, python3.12-urllib3, and webkit2gtk3), SUSE (389-ds, aws-nitro-enclaves-binaryblobs-upstream, brotli, chromium, firefox, flatpak, gnutls, google-osconfig-agent, haproxy, hawk2, kernel, libapr1, libtcnative-1-0, tomcat, liboath-devel, libpcre2-16-0, librecad, libXi-devel, libXtst-devel, python311, python313, python313-markdown2, python313-xhtml2pdf, rabbitmq-server, roundcubemail, rust-keylime, and xen), and Ubuntu (dotnet8, dotnet10, dotnet11).

• How to Install Dolphin Emulator in Ubuntu 25.04
  Learn a step-by-step guide to installing and using the Dolphin emulator on Ubuntu 25.04 to play your favorite GameCube and Wii console games.

• GIMP 3.2.8 Image Editor Restores Support for Offset as a Non-Destructive Filter
  GIMP 3.2.8 is now available for download as the fourth maintenance update to the latest GIMP 3.2 series of this open-source, free, and cross-platform image editing software for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows.

• Killed by Ubuntu, Linux Mint is Bringing This Classic Feature Back
  Linux Mint is bringing back a feature most Linux distributions quietly gave up on years ago: hibernation.

• Raspberry Pi 5 16GB Price Jumps to $385 Amid Memory Shortages
  Raspberry Pi raises the price of its 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 by $80 to $385, citing rising memory costs and supply constraints.

• Fixes available in -proposed pocket for CVE-2026-98432
  Fixes for the CVE-2026-98432 Linux kernel vulnerability are available for Ubuntu.

• GIMP 3.2.8 Speeds Up Preferences, Improves Text Tool
  GIMP 3.2.8 delivers a faster Preferences dialog, improved RTL text editing, restored Offset filtering, and multiple bug fixes.

• Intel Brings RPL-M/RPL-P SoundWire To Upstream Linux For Raptor Lake Powered Automobiles
  Intel today posted a set of patches for bringing SoundWire support in the upstream Intel AVS driver for Raptor Lake. While Intel SoundWire activities are not new, I was curious to see them focusing on Raptor Lake improvements in 2026 for what will then go into a 2027 Linux kernel version0

• Linux Mint is bringing back hibernation to laptops
  Linux Mints next release will offer a hibernation mode, so you can close your laptop mid-session and not worry about returning to a drained battery. A new Sleep Modes page in the System Administration tool will make it easy to enable hibernation, and ensure it get setup the way you need. Over a few days, a laptop may sleep for a few days, but continues to use some power. If the battery runs out0

• aerynOS 2026.11 Is Out with GNOME 51, KDE Plasma 6.8, COSMIC 1.11, and Budgie 10.10
  The aerynOS project has informed 9to5linux.com today about the release and general availability of aerynOS 2026.11 as the latest ISO snapshot of this independent Linux distro previously known as Serpent OS.

• aerynOS 2026.11 ISO Adds Budgie Desktop, New Installer, and Revamped Moss CLI
  aerynOS 2026.11 ISO adds Budgie Desktop, an experimental installer with Btrfs support, and a redesigned Moss package manager CLI.

• Lunduke Releases His Own Devuan-Based Linux Distro
  The Lunduke Computer Operating System! from the Linux Tycoon is systemd-free, but wears a MAGA hat.

• CutefishOS Is Reborn as Cutefish, Demonstrates Running Mac Apps on Linux
  Cutefish returns with a rebuilt desktop environment, early macOS application compatibility, and nightly ISOs for AMD64 and ARM64.

• SUSE to cut one in ten employees because of... AI
  'Modern tooling is already changing our daily workflows' says CEO at open source biz

• Install Tumbleweed via Agama Installer and automated detection of HDMI ports (bare metal)
  After booting via USB pen on target box, right after you see the first screen for selection of desired OS, you are supposed to press CTRL+ALT+F3 without any other input into the first page of Agama Web UI. You would see in terminal IP-TARGET of target host and root password. From another box ( in my case no https://IP:443 ) launch your browser to https://IP-TARGET. This step will bring you to Agama WEB UI and prompt for root "password". After entering Agama WEB UI environment select OS (Tumbleweed for instance) manage as usual until creating root account . . . . .

• Microsoft's moolah mountain is more massive than ever. It just doesn't want the people who built it
  Flash the cash, flush the cache

• Learn Linux dd Command with 17 Examples
  In this article, you will learn how to use the Linux dd command with options and arguments and use it to create backups, clone hard drives, make bootable USB flash drives, and more.

• Ubuntu vs CentOS: Which Linux Server OS Should You Run in 2026?
  CentOS Linux is gone, but CentOS Stream and Ubuntu Server are still here. See how they compare on support, security, packages and cost before you deploy.

• India floats AI plan under which The model travels to the data, rather than the data travelling to the model
  Wants more local AI, without Big Tech getting open access to everything

• (Updated) 16-TOPS AI SBC with SATA 3.0 runs on octa-core Sophgo BM1688
  Orange Pi has published hardware details for the OrangePi O1, a 90  70mm SBC based on the Sophgo BM1688 processor. It pairs eight Arm Cortex-A53 cores with a RISC-V C906 coprocessor and a 16-TOPS INT8 TPU, along with up to 16GB of LPDDR4/LPDDR4X memory. The BM1688 integrates eight Arm Cortex-A53 cores operating at up0

• Frances Weird Per-Gigabyte Data Tax Could Cost VLC Over d1 Million a Year!
  France's National Assembly has voted in favour of a new "internet tax" that would charge companies for every gigabyte of data they send to users in France. It may get messier than GDPR.

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• Cops Bust Botnet of 1.3 Million Android TV Boxes
  A coalition of security firms working with Japan's National Police Agency has disrupted a botnet of more than 1.3 million Android devices across 200+ countries. "We assess with high confidence that the backdoor and botnet were intentionally developed, deployed, and operated for financial gain by Videostrong Technology," the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) said in a blog post. The Register reports: Videostrong Technology is a hardware manufacturer based in Shenzhen, China. It builds Android devices, including home TV boxes and projectors. According to Google, Videostrong deliberately embedded the XCPE backdoor in device firmware and sold access to criminal affiliates, allowing them to install additional malware modules on devices shipped to unsuspecting customers. When buyers connected these devices to their home networks, the preinstalled backdoor allowed operators to create proxy networks and hide malicious traffic using the customers' internet connections without their knowledge. The firmware's pre-installed management agent purported to be a standard remote-management client, according to TrendAI. It pulled updates from a GitHub page, and connected to a Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) server that gave the operator full remote control of each box, allowing them to install and remove apps, change settings, and push updates to the infected devices. Between June 3 and October 1, TrendAI documented more than 3.8 million distinct home and mobile IP addresses connected to the operation. The coalition also disrupted the command-and-control domains used to manage the affiliate modules. "Because these affiliates each have diversified distribution channels for their modules beyond XCPE, we assess that taking down their C2 domains will sever access to at least 10 million additional compromised devices," according to GTIG. Google said it had since cut ties with Videostrong, and banned the OEM from making devices with preloaded Google apps.
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• China Publicly Discloses Plan For a Lunar Landing Within Three Years
  At the Seventh Manned Spaceflight Conference in Beijing, Chinese space officials publicly outlined the most detailed roadmap yet for landing astronauts on the Moon "before 2030." Ars Technica reports: China's lunar landings will involve a lunar-orbit rendezvous similar to what NASA did in the 1960s and early 1970s with the Apollo program. However, lacking a rocket as powerful as the Saturn V vehicle, the crew and lunar lander will launch separately to the Moon. According to slides shared on social media, the current plan involves: - An uncrewed test of the Long March 10A rocket (a single-stick variant, with no boosters) and the Mengzhou spacecraft to low-Earth orbit. Target: early 2027- An uncrewed test of the larger Long March 10 rocket (a core stage with two boosters) and the Lanyue lunar lander, including descent/ascent from Moon's surface. Target: 2028- A concurrent launch of two Long March 10 rockets, one carrying uncrewed Mengzhou and the other the Lanyue vehicle; they will dock in lunar orbit. Target: 2029- Dual launch of Long March 10 rockets, this time with crew on the Mengzhou spacecraft, leading to crewed landing mission. Target: "Before 2030" The public release of this new information provides a timeline for gauging China's technical progress in its efforts to land humans on the Moon before 2030 and beat NASA and the United States back to the lunar surface. Notably, the plan (for now, at least) omits a mission similar to Apollo 8 or Artemis II, which involved a crew flying out to the Moon and either entering orbit or passing close by before returning to Earth. The Mengzhou vehicle should still get a workout closer to Earth with humans on board as part of missions carrying astronauts to Tiangong, China's space station in low-Earth orbit.
  
  
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• BYD Sold More EVs Last Month Than the US Did All Quarter
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: The world's leading EV maker is showing no signs of slowing down. BYD sold 490,168 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in October, up 11% from the prior year and the company's highest monthly total in 2026. BYD's battery electric vehicles drove the growth, with a record 305,743 units sold, up 37% year over year and marking the first time its EV sales have crossed the 300,000 mark. To put that into perspective, just over 262,500 EVs were sold in the US in the entire third quarter combined, according to Kelley Blue Book estimates. By the end of the year, BYD expects overseas shipments to reach about 2 million vehicles. "In 2027, that number is expected to rise to more than 2.5 million vehicles," adds Electrek.
  
  
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• Snap Reaches Settlement In Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Ahead of Trial
  Snap has settled a lawsuit brought by two teenagers who alleged Snapchat was deliberately designed to be addictive and contributed to their mental health problems, avoiding a trial that was scheduled to begin this week. Snap was the last defendant to settle after Meta, Alphabet and TikTok resolved claims in the same case. CBS News reports: The teenage plaintiffs, identified in court documents as S.J. and K.D.B., had alleged in the suit that Snapchat was designed to be addictive and that using the platform from a young age contributed to their mental health issues. "We are glad to reach resolution for our clients," Mark Lanier, founder of The Lanier Law Firm and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement to CBS News. "We believe this jury would have found the companies' conduct reprehensible." Snap was the last social media company named in the lawsuit to settle the case, which was set for opening arguments this week. Meta resolved claims last week, while Alphabet and TikTok, the other defendants, each also resolved the allegations. Terms of the Snap settlement were undisclosed [...]. Earlier this year, a jury found Meta and Google-owned YouTube liable in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit, awarding $6 million in damages to a young woman who alleged the platforms' addictive features harmed her mental health. In August, Meta also agreed to pay up to $18 billion in settlements and introduce new child-safety measures to resolve claims from dozens of U.S. states that it deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children while misleading the public about their risks.
  
  
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• Study Claims Vizio Simply Ignores 'Smart' TV Spying Opt Out Requests
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Techdirt: Recently, reports emerged that LG TVs are sniffing around your local network, and even listening to your local environment, even when the TV is purportedly "off." Some of those voice commands were then stored in plain text and uploaded to the internet. LG's response? To deny everything. [...] That latter point is central to a new study out of Northeastern that conducted 5,943 experiments across twelve commercial "smart" TV devices. The researchers found that most smart TVs utilize automatic content recognition (ACR), a technology that captures audio or video snapshots of viewed content and then monetizes that data to help build personalized profiles of viewers. TV makers insist that users are supposed to be able to opt out, but the choice simply doesn't work across a large segment of TVs. Companies like Vizio simply ignored the consumer requests entirely more often than not: "We find that the advertised ACR opt-out fully suppresses ACR-attributable traffic on only four operating systems; on Samsung Tizen traffic consistent with ACR activity persists in morethan 60% of evaluated scenarios, and on Vizio SmartCast a content correlated endpoint hosted on Amazon Kinesis continues to receive traffic in 100% of opted-out scenarios." [...] The researchers say since they can't see the precise scope of what's being collected due to encryption, they're unsure whether Vizio is technically violating its FTC agreement (not that we have a current FTC that would care if they were): "The opt-out setting has no observable effect on traffic sent to this endpoint; however, we cannot inspect the payload due to encryption so we cannot confirm whether this violates the FTC settlement." Results of whether opting out of ACR tracking actually stopped ACR tracking were all over the map. Roku, for example, ignores opt-out requests when users are watching Roku's own channels. None of the smart TV vendors track Netflix viewing for fear of violating agreements with the streaming giant. Samsung's opt out function was more likely to actually work when a user was watching antenna broadcasts. On two Smart TV platforms, personal viewing data collected by ACR remains unencrypted, despite years of bad press and scandal on the subject. Many appear to be violating the law, but because U.S. regulatory oversight has been gutted, they see no meaningful accountability. That includes smart TV OS' like VIDAA, which is most prominently found on Hisense and Toshiba smart TVs: "VIDAA OS sends ACR data to servers run by Unruly over MQTT without encryption, so anyone on the network path between the TV and those servers can read it. Each message carries a Client ID, a permanent identifier for the TV that can't be reset, along with the time zone, the app name, the input (antenna, HDMI), the antenna channel and an audio fingerprint."
  
  
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• Apple HomeView Ultra, Drone and Laundry-Folding Robot Reportedly In Development
  According to The Information, Apple is developing a $1,000 HomeView Ultra smart home hub with a 9-inch touchscreen mounted on a motorized arm that can follow users around a room and autonomously respond to its surroundings. It's also said to be experimenting with more ambitious home robots, including a wheeled robot that follows people, a smart home drone and a machine capable of folding laundry. Notebookcheck reports: According to the report, HomeView Ultra will feature a larger 9-inch touchscreen mounted on a robotic arm. This arm can automatically turn the screen toward the user. With a camera and several sensors, this smart home hub is said to be "fully aware" of its surroundings and capable of acting autonomously. This autonomy ranges from turning on the lights when someone enters the room to shooing a cat away when it jumps onto a table. These sensors are also intended to prevent the arm from hitting nearby objects with the display. Apple is reportedly currently planning to announce this smart home hub in 2027 for around $1,000, but according to The Information, its launch could be delayed until 2028. The reason is allegedly the software, which has not yet been finalized, while the hardware is said to be ready for market already.
  
  
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• SpaceX Is Reportedly Looking At Buying Boost Mobile
  SpaceX has reportedly held talks with EchoStar about acquiring Boost Mobile or gaining access to its network, potentially giving Starlink a shortcut toward becoming a full-fledged U.S. mobile carrier. Engadget reports: According to Washington Post's sources, the deal could look like SpaceX acquiring Boost Mobile outright or gaining access to its cell network, which is leased from AT&T and T-Mobile. There could be a major hitch with the deal though, since SpaceX's potential mobile service would need the green light from those major mobile carriers, according to the report. The Washington Post also reported that major cell companies, which include AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, have already turned down Musk down for access to its cell networks in order to launch a separate SpaceX service. Last month, SpaceX reportedly held talks with Crown Castle to access at least 80,000 cellular tower sites across the U.S. as it prepares to launch Starlink Mobile. "We will be building out our terrestrial networks so there's broad-based connectivity anywhere that SpaceX and Starlink are allowed to operate," Musk said during SpaceX's earnings call this week. Satellite launches plus spectrum acquisition "will pave the way for Starlink Mobile to become a major mobile carrier in the US," he said.
  
  
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• OpenAI Might Rebrand Its Data Centers As 'AI Compute Campuses'
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Data centers are deeply unpopular. But what if we called them something else? Axios reports that OpenAI is preparing a "PR blitz" for after the midterm elections on Tuesday, as Democrats seem likely to win back the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate, too. The company's chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane told Axios that the midterms will be "a bit of a movie trailer for what you're going to see in 2028," when he expects AI to be "the issue" in the presidential election. So OpenAI is to influence the AI debate moving forward, with Lehane discussing several proposals, including the development of AI "speed limits"; finding ways to help people see AI as empowering them in their daily lives; pushing the U.S. to take a role in developing global standards; and yes -- rebranding data centers as "AI compute campuses." Lehane also described the conversation around data centers (a debate that has pushed Amazon and Microsoft to say they will no longer use NDAs in their negotiations with local governments) as "good and healthy." "Communities should hold companies responsible and accountable so they really and truly get a transformative benefit from these projects," he said.
  
  
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• The New York Times Sues Brave Web Browser For AI Scraping, Bypassing Paywalls
  The New York Times and several other publishers have sued (PDF) Brave Software, accusing the browser maker of scraping their websites without permission and helping users bypass paywalls. The Verge reports: According to a complaint (PDF) filed by the companies that run New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and the Orlando Sentinel, Brave Software has monetized its index of scraped websites by, in part, providing AI companies with paid access to "real-time online content from the Brave Index." The AI companies then use that index to train their models, access content to "respond to specific user queries," or both. Brave has allegedly provided "stolen copyrighted content" to "many" AI companies including Anthropic, Perplexity, Mistral, xAI, and Cohere. Brave also promotes "hundreds of top publishers" as being accessible through its "Paywall blocker" feature in its browser. "Brave has never asked for the Publishers' permission to access their websites, much less to copy the material and provide it to users or other AI companies," the complaint says. "On the contrary, as noted above, Brave allows its users to bypass the Publishers' paywalls without their consent, and has taken other steps that prevent the Publishers from blocking Brave's access to the Publishers' websites. Brave has never compensated the Publishers for the unlawful use, copying, and distribution of the Publishers' copyrighted content." "While we believe in the ethical and responsible use and development of AI, Brave has flouted established copyright law and ignored repeated requests by The Times to stop its infringing conduct," Graham James, an NYT spokesperson, says in a statement. "We filed this lawsuit to hold Brave accountable for stealing our content to power its own products and to provide it to some of the most prominent and well resourced generative AI companies in the world."
  
  
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• Microsoft's Canada Timezone Troubles Leave Admins Fixing Calendars, Pretending They're In Bogota
  Microsoft is scrambling to fix time-zone problems across Outlook, Power Automate, Fabric, SharePoint and other products after parts of Canada stopped observing seasonal clock changes on November 1. "The company has confirmed problems across a chunk of its software estate, leaving some customers facing incorrect times, broken schedules and a collection of workarounds while Redmond catches up," reports The Register. From the report: Outlook users have been left with the most homework. Switching to the new Canadian time zones won't automatically update existing calendar entries, meaning that meetings scheduled after November 1 are potentially an hour out of whack. Microsoft advises users to change their Outlook calendar time zone, then update upcoming events and meetings to use it. For meetings involving other people, only the organizer can make the change. Recurring meetings come with an additional treat: changing the time zone resets any previously moved occurrences, which then have to be recreated. Anyone with a calendar full of recurring meetings may wish to put the kettle on first. Microsoft is working on an Exchange Online PowerShell cmdlet to remediate non-recurring meetings, but according to its guidance, that's not due until later this week. A fix for recurring meetings remains "in development," with an ETA yet to be confirmed. Things get stranger with Power Automate and Fabric, where Microsoft's temporary fix involves pretending you're somewhere else entirely. Depending on the product and province, that could mean Saskatchewan, Arizona or, for Manitobans, Bogota. Because apparently time zones weren't confusing enough already. SharePoint On-Prem customers, meanwhile, have to wait until November 10 for the correct time zones to arrive, while Power Pages users could see server-formatted dates appear an hour out until a service fix lands. Microsoft's current milestone for that is December 12.
  
  
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• Marvell to Buy Lumentum In $115 Billion Bet On AI Connectivity
  Marvell has agreed to acquire optical components maker Lumentum in an all-stock deal with an implied enterprise value of $115 billion. "AI infrastructure is undergoing a fundamental architectural shift toward optical connectivity, creating an opportunity that comes along once in a generation," said Marvell Chairman and CEO Matt Murphy. "The companies that move first and help define this transition will set the standard for decades to come." CNBC reports: Through the acquisition, Marvell said it can combine electrical and optical technologies to meet accelerating and shifting AI connectivity demands across regions and systems. Companies are increasingly relying on optical connections to piece together chips used to run and train large language models. Lumentum shareholders will receive 4.5 Marvell shares for each Lumentum share under the agreement. The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2028. Marvell's takeover marks one of the most significant bets on AI in 2026 and comes despite recent concerns over the long-term sustainability of infrastructure spending.
  
  
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• Supermarket Freezers Across Europe Hit By Second Suspected Cyberattack
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Supermarket chains in Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg have said the temperatures of their refrigerators and freezers in dozens of stores rose overnight, prompting fears of a cyber-attack similar to one that caused millions of euros of food losses in France. Sweden's Coop chain told the daily Aftonbladet on Monday that six of its stores had been affected, while ICA said it was "aware that a limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight which impacted their refrigeration and freezer systems". The Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize, which last month reported a cybersecurity incident to police in the Netherlands, said an "IT incident" had hit fridges and freezers in dozens of its supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg. A company spokesperson, Sarah De Meester, said the supermarket chain had established that temperatures in the cooling systems had increased, adding that the incident was being investigated. Belgium's Le Soir newspaper reported that dozens of stores and supermarkets were affected, including five Spar outlets, multiple Shop & Go convenience stores attached to Q8 service stations, and a number of smaller Proxy Delhaize minimarkets. "We started mobilizing technicians at 1am," Stephan Moelans, the chief executive of Sabcobel, which specialises in refrigeration system installations, told the paper. "We spent all night and morning disconnecting the affected installations from the grid."
  
  
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• Itch Is Being Flooded By AI-Generated Garbage
  The number of game pages being created per-day on Itch has doubled, the indie games site announced Saturday on Bluesky. When asked why, they responded: "take a guess." As the gaming news site Aftermath puts it, "the surge has been almost entirely down to AI-created garbage racing onto the platform as the popularity of vibe-coded theft, copycats and machine-built slop explodes."Back in 2024, when the spectre of AI-'created' video games was still in its infancy, indie platform itch.io decided that the best it could do to combat this growing threat was, like Valve has done with Steam, institute a voluntary 'AI' filter when adding new projects to the site. By November 2026, as itch buckles under the weight of new AI-generated 'games' pouring onto the site, that filter is proving about as robust as a wet paper bag.... Shopfronts are being deluged by this shit, and it's making it a terrible user experience for customers. And while in Valve's case there's a compelling case for stronger human moderation of the store, I'm not sure that's a viable option for a relatively tiny, community-run platform like itch... [A]t time of writing I visited the latest releases section and there was still a huge number of clearly AI-generated titles (or titles making extensive use of AI in their visual assets) which made no use of itch's voluntary tag system. The issue here isn't that these games are making money--itch themselves say in a reply that while the number of projects listed has doubled, "the number of downloads and purchases has not"--it's that an inability to combat this surge makes the site worse for every single person using it. It gets harder to find real games, for example, and it also makes the shopfront look like a clearance rack.
  
  
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• Bad Flock Info Leads Police To Tow Wrong Car, Then Towing Company Totals It
  "Police continue to blindly trust Flock cameras above and beyond the evidence in front of their own eyes," reports Jalopnik.com. "After incorrectly connecting Rosalyn Crump's car to a shooting that had occurred the previous day, police had her car towed and impounded as evidence, reports Moneywise..."According to WWBT 12 On Your Side, Richmond, Virginia, police didn't have a license plate number for the suspect's car, making it impossible to search Flock's records for that plate. Flock cameras collect more than just license plate information, so police searched for a make, model, color, and approximate model year. Based on this extremely vague description, police zeroed in on Crump's 2012 Hyundai Elantra. Around 2 a.m. they started looking through the windows with flashlights to see what was in plain sight, which isn't technically a "search" — at least, not one that would require a warrant... [Crump was asleep, but left her home to speak to the police officers to tell them they had the wrong car. But they didn't believe her.] Other body cam footage shows an officer expressing doubt that Crump's car is the right one, since child seats and other items inside seem inconsistent with a shooting. Another officer replies, "Don't be surprised if they would have set that up like that." Instead of believing the evidence, or Crump, or interviewing witnesses who could have corroborated her story, police called Seibert's Towing to impound the car... [Later] Police identified a similar-looking car that seemed to be actually connected to the shooting, and released Crump's Elantra. Nobody actually told Crump this until four days later. Seibert's told Moneywise that police didn't actually release the car until then. Either way, they didn't tell her that Seibert's had ripped the front bumper off during the towing process — leaving the car undrivable — until she arrived to pick it up. Seibert's took responsibility for causing the cosmetic damage, and was willing to cover the $2,212.30 bill to paint and replace the bumper cover, fog lights, and wheel liners. Then Crump asked for a full mechanical inspection, which revealed damaged tie rods and ball joints, jacking the bill beyond $6,000. Seibert's says it didn't cause this damage. Regardless of how it occurred, Seibert's insurer and Crump agree that her Hyundai is now a total loss due to the cost of the repairs it needs. It had been drivable, if mechanically worn, before police ordered it towed, damaging it for nothing more than a case of mistaken identity. The president of Seibert's towing told Moneywise that while they'd originally offered $2,200 to repair the bumper damage, Crump must now negotiate with their insurance company. Crump has now resorted to a GoFundMe campaign to attempt to raise $17,100 for rental car expenses, a new car, and the expenses of moving to a different neighborhood. 130 donors have already contributed $7,431. Reached for comment, the Richmond Police Department told local newscasters they "understand that Ms. Crump did not ask to become part of this investigation," and that they recognize the "frustration of having a vehicle towed and subsequently damaged." But they also said they were following a "credible" lead, which is their responsibility. The department "appreciates Ms. Crump's cooperation" (and "sincerely hopes the remaining concerns about her vehicle can be resolved.") The city of Richmond has "already started backing away from Flock before Crump's story aired," reports Moneywise. "Mayor Danny Avula has decided not to renew Richmond's license plate reader deal with Flock, which ends June 30, 2027. As of September, the city had 99 Flock readers on its streets." They note that the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm in Arlington, Virginia, "has tallied at least 27 cases since 2018" of similar police errors. "In each case, a license plate reader mistake led police to stop, jail or point guns at drivers who'd done nothing wrong. More than half came in 2023 or later."
  
  
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• Rocky Linux Creator Built a New 'Not Linux' Kernel in 11 Days Using AI
  From the blog It's FOSSGregory Kurtzer is no stranger to the Linux world. He created CentOS, and when Red Hat messed it up, he started Rocky Linux as the community replacement. He also co-founded CIQ, the company offering enterprise support around Rocky. His latest project has nothing to do with rebuilding another Linux distro, though. He has built an entirely new operating system kernel, and he didn't write most of the code himself. An AI agent did. Meet Ginux, Linux userspace without Linux underneath... It's an independent, Rust-first x86-64 kernel. Which simply means it is NOT a fork of the Linux kernel. It has its own memory management, scheduler, process model, filesystems, networking, and device support, all written from scratch. The most interesting part is that even though it is not Linux, it is Linux-compatible. Ginux implements the Linux ABI (the binary interface compiled programs use to talk to the kernel), so existing Linux binaries can run on it unmodified. In the project's own terms, Linux is a "personality" that Ginux exposes, not the kernel running underneath... Right now, Ginux runs only in a QEMU virtual machine, with no physical hardware profile, no GPU or NVMe support, and no independent security audit.
  
  
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• 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]

• Enlightenment 0.28.0 released
  Enlightenment, the long-running desktop environment and associated libraries and frameworks, just released version 0.28.0. It brings initial support for NetBSD, support for Network Manager and a whole slew of related changes and fixes to make that possible, as well as native PipeWire support. Theres also a brand new clipboard manager, which brings with it modernisations and bug fixes for related UI elements. This release also reworks a ton code related to battery management, AC polling, and more, adding features like setting battery thresholds, ACPI power profile support, and so on. Of course, theres also the long list of smaller fixes and changes. You can download the release and build it yourself, or wait for your distribution of BSD variant to package it.

• GEFS on OpenBSD continues to improve
  A little while ago, we talked about 9fronts Good Enough File System being ported to OpenBSD. A lot of progress has been made on this front lately. Aside from fixing bugs and porting over fixes from the 9front side, theres also been a ton more substantial changes. Some userspace tools have been done (you can now mkfs on openbsd!), but snapshot control hasnt. Im thinking we have a userspace gefs program that lets you handle this, trying to keep the interface similar to the 9front ctl file. ↫ Ori Bernstein Theres still some major hurdles to overcome, some of which have already been addressed on the 9front side, but the progress is clear. Considering OpenBSD desperately needs a more modern file system, this is great news. A fun sidenote is that Im actually posting this news item from OpenBSD.

• Sam Altman wants to take your RAM
  From a global allocation perspective, actually, its quite terrible to have everybody have a bunch of the worlds limited supply of DRAM sitting in their own computer and being used 5% of the time,! Altman said. You want maximum utilization in the cloud if youre trying to deal with this very supply-constrained environment. And somehow many peoples intuition is the opposite of that.! ↫ Andrew E. Freedman at Toms Hardware Im installing a 32bit operating system without support for physical address extension on my laptop with 64GB of RAM, just because I can.

• Sculpt OS 26.10 releases
  Sculpt OS 26.10 brings quite a few new features, like scalable cursors, support for UK keyboards, better webcam support, and more, but the real meat of this release is much tastier. First, Sculpt 26.10 is the first version based on Genodes custom microkernel instead of relying on a 3rd-party kernel. This kernel  designed from the ground up for the needs of Genode and Sculpt OS in particular  is not only more micro! than any other of the microkernels supported by Genode, it also solves long-standing deficiencies concerning CPU scheduling and kernel-memory management. Sculpt OS finally stands on Genodes own footing! Finally, Sculpt OS 26.10 pays tribute to this years overall theme of building bridges! by featuring our software development kit (Goa SDK) running directly on Sculpt OS without virtualization. This entails a wealth of tooling including GCC, Binutils, Git, Sequoia, Expect, Curl, man, Make, and CMake having landed on Genode. Although still young and not time-tested yet, it shows whats possible today and allows us developers to gradually shift more and more development routine into this self-hosted environment, stressing the general-purpose qualities of Genode and motivating further optimizations. ↫ Sculpt OS release 26.10 announcement This new release also completes the transition from XML to Genodes own HID language for configuration, moves from VirtualBox 6 to 7, and upgrades a whole slew of its Linux-based drivers

• How long do you need to hold down the power button to turn off a PC?
  Raymond Chen published another story from the Windows development trenches, this time about what happens when you hold down the power button. If you hold a PC’s power button for 12 seconds, it will turn off at the hardware level without notifying the operating system. This is a safety feature so that you can turn of the computer even if the operating system’s “Shut down” command isn’t working. After eight seconds of the power button being held down, the Windows kernel realizes that the user is trying to do a force-power-off of the system, and it quickly takes a kernel dump that can be uploaded to the Windows Error Reporting service the next time you turn the system on. ↫ Raymond Chen Im a bit confused by these numbers, because I have never seen a PC take this long to power off when holding down the power button; usually it takes only a few seconds to do so, meaning Windows would never generate said kernel dump. I tried reading through the various ATX specification documents to find more information on this, but then I remembered Im not an electrical engineer so I have no idea what Im looking at. The baseline is that ATX always provides standby power to the motherboard, and pressing the power button shorts the power button pin to ground, telling the PSU to power on fully. Pressing the power button if the computer is running tells the operating system to initiate a shutdown (although you can change this behaviour), but if you hold the button down for a certain number of seconds, it forces a power-off. So far, so good; basic information. It seems that the length of time you need to hold down the power button to force a power-off is dependent on the motherboard in question, handled by a microcontroller or some other IC. Virtually every source I can find says this timing is set to about 4-5 seconds, which is quite a bit shorter than the number of seconds given by Chen. Perhaps motherboard manufacturers consider the 12 seconds to be too long, and just do their own thing, regardless what the ATX specification suggests? What further complicates matters is that Chen details how the kernel dumps created after pressing the power button for 8 seconds do, in fact, get sent to Microsoft once the computer turns on again. In fact, he is one of the people who gets to see these dumps and respond to them, so obviously they are indeed rolling in. Does this mean theres a huge number of computers out there that require you to hold down the power button for 12 seconds to force a shutdown that nobodys ever seen? These emergency kernel dumps are internally classified as “long power button hold” (LPBH) failures. One of the pieces of information recorded in these emergency kernel dumps is whether the screen consists entirely of black pixels. Those failures are sub-classified as “black screen LPBH”, and they go to a special virtual team for analysis. (I happen to be a member of this black screen LPBH team.) ↫ Raymond Chen Whats going on here? Obviously, Im not going to doubt Chen, so there must be something here I dont quite understand or that Im missing. The ATX specification might suggest 12 seconds, but could Windows perhaps adapt its kernel dump behaviour  dumping much sooner than 8 seconds  based on the motherboard its running on, maybe through information provided by the chipset drivers? I would love it if someone more knowledgeable than me can help us unravel this small mystery.

• How curl was accidentally Turing-complete for nine months
  From curl 8.12 through 8.16, config files could slice variable values and include other config files without an explicit depth cap. Together, these features let curl simulate any two-counter Minsky program. Under the usual idealization of unbounded strings and resources, this construction was Turing-complete. Curl 8.17.0 added a five-level include cap that breaks this reduction. ↫ Nicolas Seriot Neat.

• AlpineBSD combines NetBSD with Alpines apk package manager
  AlpineBSD is an operating system based on the NetBSD kernel with a userspace inspired by Alpine Linux and the objective of making it possible to use as little AI-generated software as possible. There is no LLM output included in the base system or main package repository (AlpineBSD AI policy). ↫ AlpineBSDs website AlpineBSD uses the NetBSD kernel, libc, and essential tools, and combines them with Alpines apk-tools package manager, busybox, and generlaly preferring GNU tools over their BSD equivalents. It uses the s6 init system, but the project intends to add OpenRC as an alternative. The project is in its very early stages, so dont expect things like an installer; youre on your own, basically.

• My favourite PowerMac is a Nintendo Wii!
  The Nintendo Wii (and its related consoles) were already made to run the PowerPC version of Windows NT as well as Mac OS X, but now we can add another milestone to the list: classic Mac OS. So today I reached a nice milestone in one of my projects: my work porting classic Mac OS to PowerPC systems with what I affectionately call ArtX chipsets (Nintendo GameCube, Wii, eventually Wii U; the GameCube’s Flipper integrated chipset was very much designed by ArtX as it was effectively finished when ATI acquired the company, and the Wii’s Vegas (and its later revision Bollywood) and Wii U’s Latte are effectively straight successors) reached the desktop for the first time, most likely the first time since the CHRP clone era that someone outside of Apple brought up classic Mac OS on a new system to the desktop. Despite still being nowhere near ready for a public release, I want to talk about the challenges I faced with this project so far. ↫ Rairii at Virtuallyfun Various versions of Mac OS boot to the desktop, including Mac OS 9.2.2, the last ever version, but theres still a ton or work to be done before this is ready for release. Still, with Rairii amazing track record of porting all kinds of things to various PowerPC machines, including getting the PowerPC version of Windows NT to run on various PowerPC Macs, I have little doubt theyll manager to get this to a releasable state. I absolutely love this kind of work.

• Microsoft hopefully fixes Modern Standby and adds online Windows reinstallation
  I think its safe to say that Windows Modern Standby feature isnt exactly free from issues. The biggest problem seems to be that its not very good at actually determining when to transition between regular sleep and hibernation, often leaving users with an empty battery as they open their laptops lid. Microsoft has now released an update to hopefully address this long-standing problem. This update improves the adaptive hibernate policy to provide more instant-on resumes from Modern Standby while helping preserve battery life when the charge is low. Noticeable changes include less hibernation while the battery is above 80% and hibernating sooner when the battery is below 10%. ↫ KB5127936 Among other new features and changes this update brings are Cloud Rebuild, a way for devices to install Windows without needing a local image. Cloud Rebuild can be started form within an existing installation, remotely by administrators, or through the Windows Recovery Environment. Obviously, a working internet connection, wired or wireless, is required for this feature to work. This is the same update that introduces CLAT, which we talked about yesterday, to smooth the transition from IPv4 to IPv6.

• NetBSD adds nano-like text editor to base system
  Flag LinuxNetBSD made a seemingly small, but very welcome announcement today: theyre adding a more user-friendly, easier to use command-line text editor to the base install. To ease the transition for new users, NetBSD -current now includes an alternative editor to vi(1) and xedit(1) in its base system, atto(1). It is a modeless screen-based editor similar to nano, pico, xedit, or emacs. It is only 48 kilobytes, making it suitable for inclusion in the rescue system. ↫ NetBSD Foundation on Fedi Most guides and how-to article for operating systems like NetBSD assume the use of vi, and while I dont want to ignite a flamewar, vi isnt exactly the most approachable or friendly piece of software out there. My occassional text editing in the command line is all done through nano, but now Im definitely curious to give atto a go. While other tech news websites are plastered with articles about a PC maker adding a touch screen to one of their laptops, were talking about a new CLI text editor in NetBSDs base system. Priorities, folks.

• Windows CLAT is now generally available
  Windows 11 25H2, starting with build 26200.9550, now comes with something called CLAT. As organizations move toward IPv6-only and IPv6-mostly networks, some applications still depend on IPv4-only applications or services. Windows CLAT helps those applications continue to work when a network does not provide native IPv4 connectivity. CLAT is the client-side component of`464XLAT. It statelessly translates IPv4 traffic from the Windows client into IPv6 for transport across the network to a provider-side translator (PLAT), which provides stateful NAT64 translation to IPv4. ↫ Jim Alumbaugh at Microsofts Networking Blog Yet another important component of the long, neverending transition to IPv6. Like endlessly cutting a cucumber in half, youll never quite run out of cucumber to cut.

• Sylphide OS: an operating system for computers based on microcontrollers
  Do you want a hobby operating system with a desktop for a microcontroller-based computer? Sylphide OS is a new project aiming to build just that. For the last few weeks, I’ve worked on a new pet project: an operating system for computers based on microcontrollers. There aren’t many yet, but I expect them to be more and more common. Why MCU computers ? You get a relatively very simple platform, booting straight to your code (or almost), and you can understand the whole architecture. Exactly as it was with home computers long ago. And not at all what you get with modern computers. Even booting involves lot of very different systems, black magic, and even blog/proprietary software. ↫ Thomas Capricelli Its very early in development, but by building it atop FreeRTOS, Capricelli had a head-start. Its got a basic desktop, one that might need some changes to avoid the lawyers. The codes open source, of course.

• Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11
  Whats the oldest Windows GUI application you can still run on Windows 11 today, without any modifications? For now, the best answer Boris Popik can come up with is an innocuous application from build 347 of Windows NT 3.1, an early prerelease: CDPLAYER.EXE. You cant go any older than that, because earlier prerelease builds had not yet finalised its PE format and calling convention. Neat find. Popik also mentions a few other contenders, but I wont spoil those here.

• Another month of Redox improvements
  Another month has crumbled to dust under the oppressive boots of time, so its time for another month of Redox improvements. This past month, Redox build system gained support for Clang, SDL2 saw performance improvements, and WebKitGTK3s HTML layout rendering was fixed. Users of Intel Tiger Lake processors can now enjoy external display hot-plugging, and overall system performance has been improved in a variety of ways. And as always, theres the long lists of kernel, relibc, and driver improvements and fixes as well. Redox keeps making big strides every month, and its definitely one of the few alternative operating systems that actually feels like it might, one day, be an actual contender for general purpose use.

• Microsoft.UI.Reactor: a C#-first way to build WinUI apps
  Thew day ends in a Y, so Microsoft is launching a new way to build Windows applications. Get excited, Windows application developers! If you caught our session at Microsoft Build 2026 or you’ve been watching the repo, you’ve seen this one taking shape in public for a while now, and a lot has changed since Build. Here’s the longer tour: Microsoft.UI.Reactor, an experimental C# framework that brings the MVU (Model-View-Update) pattern to WinUI desktop apps. No XAML files, no code-behind, no ViewModels. Two things before the fun part. Reactor is experimental: no support policy, no API guarantees, published this early on purpose because we’d rather hear we got the design wrong now than once people have shipped on it. And it is not a replacement for XAML or MVVM, which we’ll come back to. ↫ Alexandre Zollinger Chohfi at Microsofts Dev Blogs At multiple points in the linked blog post, Microsoft underlines that no, Reactor is not going to replace XAML. Im sure Windows developers who learned Win32, Silverlight, WinRT XAML, WPF, UWP, WinUI 2 and 3, and all the others, over the past two decades will feel deeply comforted by Microsofts insistence that Reactor will not replace XAML. Microsoft repeats: this wont replace XAML. They swear.

• MacOS Extensions pack for the Apple Network Server v1.0
  Weve been following along with Carmen Kaisers Apple Network Server exploits, and by now things are really starting to come together for owners of this machine. When we last left off, the ROM to allow Mac OS to run on the machine which normally runs IBMs AIX, but there were still a number of bugs, limitations, and issues to be worked out. A lot of progress on that front has been made. The good news is, many of the issues with the preproduction ROM in Mac OS can be fixed or worked around in software. So Ive fixed or worked around many of them in software: the MACE Ethernet is fixed, the on-board video is now supported, and the ANS can restart properly back into Mac OS. Plus, because its the preproduction ROM, you can still boot AIX, thus preserving the entire historical reason for Shiners existence. Heres the first cut of that software and how it was developed. ↫ Cameron Kaiser Theres still two issues Kaiser wishes to address  the internal SCSI bays dont work, and the ROM doesnt properly register parity RAM  but the progress here is amazing.

• KDE Plasma 6.8.2 Released With More KWin and Wayland Fixes
  by George Whittaker
  The KDE Project has released KDE Plasma 6.8.2, delivering another round of stability improvements for its Wayland-based Linux desktop environment. Released on October 27, 2026, the update arrives one week after Plasma 6.8.1 and two weeks after the anniversary release of Plasma 6.8, which marked 30 years since the KDE project's founding.
  
  This second maintenance release concentrates on correcting regressions discovered after the initial rollout. The largest collection of changes targets KWin, KDE's window manager and Wayland compositor, with fixes involving multi-GPU synchronization, display handling, pointer constraints, color pipelines, and window stacking. Additional improvements address disappearing desktop icons, application launcher behavior, remote desktop sessions, screen recording, accessibility, and system monitoring.
  
  Although Plasma 6.8.2 does not introduce major new desktop features, its corrections are particularly important because Plasma 6.8 completed KDE's transition away from native X11 desktop sessions. With Wayland now serving as Plasma's display foundation, improvements to KWin and its supporting components directly affect the reliability of the entire desktop environment.
  KDE Continues Stabilizing Its Anniversary Release
  KDE Plasma 6.8 arrived on October 14, 2026, coinciding with the project's 30th anniversary. The release introduced significant desktop changes, including the retirement of native X11 sessions, additional HDR improvements, expanded remote desktop capabilities, NVIDIA graphics optimizations, and further development of KDE's Union theming engine.
  
  The transition represented an important architectural milestone, but major desktop releases frequently expose problems that were not encountered during development or beta testing. Linux desktops must operate across numerous combinations of graphics hardware, display configurations, drivers, input devices, and applications. Even extensive testing cannot always reproduce every environment used by the wider community.
  
  KDE acknowledged this challenge during the development cycle following Plasma 6.8, noting that users had discovered regressions that were not reported during the beta period. Contributors responded with a substantial collection of fixes, many of which have now reached the stable 6.8 branch through its first two maintenance releases.
  
  Plasma 6.8.2 continues that stabilization effort. Rather than changing the desktop's overall direction, it improves the reliability of existing functionality and addresses issues that could affect everyday workflows. The release includes corrections across KWin, Plasma Desktop, Plasma Workspace, Discover, KRDP, KPipeWire, and several other components.
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• RefreshOS 3.1 Strengthens Its Debian Foundation With Independent Package Management
  by George Whittaker
  The RefreshOS project has released RefreshOS 3.1, bringing an updated Debian foundation, a dedicated software repository, improved 32-bit application compatibility, and several refinements to its KDE Plasma desktop experience. Released on October 27, 2026, the update advances the distribution's 3.x "Colorful Cosmos" series while introducing infrastructure that could significantly improve how RefreshOS delivers its own packages and configuration changes.
  
  The new release moves from Debian 13.4 to Debian 13.7 "Trixie", incorporates Linux kernel 6.12.113, and continues using KDE Plasma 6.3.6. However, the most important development is the introduction of an official RefreshOS APT repository with separate Stable, Testing, and Experimental channels. This gives the project a more structured way to distribute customized software while continuing to benefit from Debian's established package ecosystem.
  
  RefreshOS 3.1 also enables i386 architecture support, making it easier to install compatible 32-bit software and dependencies required by applications such as Steam. Additional changes address desktop localization, KDE integration, installer configuration, package permissions, and installation image cleanup. Together, these improvements represent an effort to make RefreshOS easier to maintain while preserving its focus on a ready-to-use Linux desktop.
  RefreshOS Builds on Debian's Stable Release Model
  RefreshOS is a Debian-based Linux distribution developed by eXybit Technologies, designed to provide a polished desktop environment without requiring users to configure every component manually. The project combines Debian's stable package foundation with KDE Plasma, preinstalled applications, hardware support, multimedia capabilities, and custom desktop styling.
  
  Unlike distributions that emphasize constant adoption of the newest software versions, RefreshOS prioritizes a relatively predictable desktop experience. Its Debian foundation provides access to established security maintenance, package management, and compatibility practices, while RefreshOS adds its own configuration choices to simplify everyday use.
  
  Version 3.1 continues that philosophy by incorporating Debian 13.7, the seventh point release of Debian 13 "Trixie." Debian published this update on September 12, 2026, primarily to consolidate security corrections and fixes for significant software problems. These point releases do not represent entirely new Debian generations. Instead, they refresh installation media and package selections so newly installed systems begin with a more current collection of fixes.
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• Tails 7.15.1 Blocks Compromised HTTPS Certificates in Urgent Privacy Security Fix
  by George Whittaker
  The Tails project has released Tails 7.15.1, an emergency security update addressing a compromised certificate authority that could allow attackers to impersonate legitimate HTTPS websites. Released on October 23, 2026, the update focuses on protecting users against a potentially serious man-in-the-middle attack involving certificates associated with eMudhra, an authority whose intermediate certificates were compromised.
  
  The emergency release updates Tor Browser to version 15.0.26, addressing CVE-2026-113470, and modifies the distribution's trusted certificate authorities to block all eMudhra certificates. These changes are particularly important for Tails because the operating system routes internet traffic through the Tor network, where malicious exit nodes or other network intermediaries could potentially exploit compromised certificates to impersonate secure websites.
  
  Unlike a conventional maintenance update, Tails 7.15.1 does not introduce major desktop features, new applications, or significant interface changes. Its purpose is to close a security gap that could undermine the authenticity of HTTPS connections. The developers recommend upgrading promptly, especially for users who rely on Tails for sensitive communications, anonymous research, journalism, or other privacy-critical activities.
  Why Tails 7.15.1 Was Released as an Emergency Update
  Tails, short for The Amnesic Incognito Live System, is a Debian-based Linux distribution designed to help users preserve their privacy and reduce traces of their computing activity. It typically runs from a USB stick and routes internet connections through Tor, making it useful for people who need stronger privacy protections than those provided by a conventional desktop operating system.
  
  The distribution also emphasizes minimizing persistent data. By default, Tails operates as a live environment and does not retain ordinary session activity after shutdown. Users who need to preserve selected files and settings can configure encrypted Persistent Storage on their USB device, allowing them to maintain important information across sessions without changing the operating system's general amnesic behavior.
  
  Because Tails is built around privacy and secure communication, problems involving HTTPS certificate validation deserve particular attention. Tor helps obscure the relationship between a user's network location and the websites they visit, but it does not automatically guarantee that every website encountered through an exit node is authentic. HTTPS provides an additional layer of protection by authenticating websites and encrypting communications between the browser and the destination server.
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• Omarchy 4.0.5 Released With Better NVIDIA Laptop Support
  by George Whittaker
  The Omarchy project has released Omarchy 4.0.5, introducing a substantial collection of hardware compatibility improvements, desktop performance optimizations, security fixes, and package updates for the Arch Linux-based operating system. Released on October 18, 2026, the update focuses on refining the existing desktop experience while preparing the distribution for its next major feature release.
  
  Among the most important changes are improved NVIDIA hybrid graphics support for laptops, an updated Linux 7.2.8 kernel featuring the BORE scheduler, and compatibility improvements for Qt 6.12. The release also resolves boot-related black screens, fixes audio problems affecting certain Dell and USB speaker configurations, corrects Steam graphics driver selection, and improves the reliability of several desktop utilities.
  
  Although version 4.0.5 is primarily a maintenance release, its improvements extend across many of the components that determine how smoothly a Linux desktop operates. From faster application launches and more responsive desktop panels to stronger security defaults and more reliable hardware detection, the update demonstrates Omarchy's continued emphasis on delivering a preconfigured Linux environment that requires relatively little manual setup.
  Omarchy Continues Refining Its Arch Linux Desktop Experience
  Omarchy is an opinionated Arch Linux-based distribution designed to provide a ready-to-use development and desktop environment built around the Hyprland Wayland compositor. Rather than presenting users with a minimal installation that requires extensive customization, Omarchy combines a carefully selected collection of applications, themes, keyboard shortcuts, and system configurations into a cohesive desktop experience.
  
  The distribution has attracted attention among developers and experienced Linux users who appreciate keyboard-driven workflows, tiling window management, and the flexibility of Arch Linux without necessarily wanting to configure every component manually. Its desktop environment emphasizes efficient navigation, integrated development tools, and a consistent visual design, while retaining access to Arch's extensive software repositories.
  
  Version 4.0.5 continues that approach by concentrating on problems that can interrupt everyday workflows. The release improves hardware compatibility, corrects regressions introduced by newer software packages, and reduces unnecessary delays in common desktop operations. Rather than introducing a dramatic redesign, the developers have focused on making the existing environment more predictable and responsive.
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• KDE Plasma 6.8 Marks 30 Years With a Major Shift to Wayland and a More Powerful Linux Desktop
  by George Whittaker
  The KDE Project has officially released KDE Plasma 6.8, introducing a substantial collection of desktop improvements while celebrating three decades of open-source software development. Released on October 14, 2026, exactly 30 years after Matthias Ettrich announced the original KDE project, this anniversary edition brings significant changes to display management, accessibility, graphics performance, remote desktop functionality, system monitoring, and application theming.
  
  Perhaps the most consequential development is KDE's decision to retire native X11 desktop sessions in Plasma 6.8, completing its transition toward Wayland as the primary display architecture. The release also introduces NVIDIA triple buffering by default, improved HDR support, a more capable remote desktop server, CPU affinity controls in System Monitor, and expanded capabilities for the experimental Union theming engine. These improvements reflect KDE's effort to modernize the Linux desktop while maintaining the customization and flexibility that have defined Plasma for years.
  
  Plasma 6.8 is therefore more than a commemorative release. It represents an important architectural transition for one of Linux's most widely used desktop environments, with changes that affect both everyday users and developers building applications for the next generation of Linux desktops.
  KDE Celebrates Three Decades of Open-Source Desktop Development
  KDE's history began on October 14, 1996, when Matthias Ettrich proposed creating a consistent graphical desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems. At the time, Linux was becoming increasingly capable as a free operating system, but its graphical experience remained fragmented. Users could choose from several window managers and applications, yet there was no universally integrated desktop environment comparable to the commercial graphical systems available elsewhere.
  
  The original KDE initiative sought to address that limitation by building a cohesive desktop around the Qt application framework. Over the following decades, the project evolved through several major generations, introducing increasingly sophisticated desktop technologies while expanding into applications, development frameworks, mobile interfaces, and other open-source projects.
  
  Plasma 6.8 arrives as KDE marks its 30th anniversary, but its development priorities are focused primarily on the future. Rather than introducing a purely cosmetic anniversary edition, KDE has concentrated on modernizing underlying desktop infrastructure while improving accessibility, usability, and performance. The result is a release that combines immediately visible enhancements with architectural changes intended to support future development.
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• Building a Reliable Event-Driven Payment Service With XRP Ledger
  by Emma Clapp
  Receiving a transaction notification is only the first step. Production software still has to decide whether that event is safe to turn into application state.
  
  A WebSocket callback can arrive in milliseconds. What happens afterward is harder. The Go to Full Article

• Linux Moves Closer to Retiring the x32 ABI After Years of Limited Adoption
  by George Whittaker
  Linux kernel developers are renewing efforts to retire the x32 application binary interface (ABI), a little-used compatibility feature that attempted to combine the advantages of 64-bit processors with the smaller memory footprint of 32-bit applications. A revised patch series submitted on October 8, 2026, proposes the first steps toward disabling the interface, potentially ending support for an architecture experiment introduced more than 14 years ago.
  
  The latest proposal comes from Sebastian Andrzej Siewior, a Linux kernel developer at Linutronix who has been working on the removal effort throughout 2026. Rather than immediately deleting every component associated with x32, the proposed approach would first prevent the feature from being enabled through normal kernel configuration. This would give remaining users and distribution maintainers an opportunity to respond before the underlying implementation is removed.
  
  The effort reflects a broader challenge in Linux development: maintaining compatibility with older or rarely used technologies while keeping the kernel manageable, secure, and efficient. Although x32 offered theoretical performance and memory advantages, it never achieved widespread adoption. With conventional x86_64 software dominating modern Linux systems, developers are increasingly questioning whether the additional maintenance burden remains justified.
  Understanding the Linux x32 ABI
  The x32 ABI was introduced with Linux kernel 3.4 in 2012 as an alternative to conventional 32-bit and 64-bit application environments. Its goal was to provide applications with access to the architectural improvements of x86_64 processors while retaining smaller data types and pointers associated with 32-bit software.
  
  Traditional 32-bit x86 applications use the i386 ABI, which operates with a more limited register set and 32-bit execution conventions. Standard x86_64 applications, meanwhile, benefit from additional general-purpose registers, wider registers, and modern calling conventions, but they normally use 64-bit pointers. Those larger pointers can increase memory consumption in applications that maintain large numbers of pointer-heavy data structures.
  
  The x32 ABI attempted to offer a compromise. Applications would execute using the x86_64 instruction set and its larger register file while retaining 32-bit integers, long values, and pointers. This programming model is commonly described as ILP32, meaning that integers, long integers, and pointers are all 32 bits wide.
  
  The distinction can be illustrated by comparing the expected sizes of common C data types:
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• Google's Kage Project Rethinks Linux Kernel Security With Isolated Device Drivers
  by George Whittaker
  Google is exploring a new approach to Linux kernel security that could significantly change how device drivers interact with the operating system. The experimental project, known as Kage, uses compiler-based sandboxing to isolate drivers inside the kernel, potentially limiting the damage caused by memory corruption, programming errors, and exploitable vulnerabilities without requiring drivers to run as separate user-space processes.
  
  The research was presented at the Linux Plumbers Conference 2026, held October 5–7, with Stanford University and Google researcher Zachary Yedidia discussing how LLVM's Lightweight Fault Isolation (LFI) technology can create restricted execution environments for native kernel code. Unlike conventional isolation techniques, which often depend on separate processes or virtual machines, Kage attempts to preserve the performance advantages of kernel-space execution while reducing the amount of memory individual drivers can access.
  
  Early prototypes have already demonstrated the concept using NVMe storage, networking, and Wi-Fi drivers. However, Kage remains an experimental research project rather than a feature available in mainstream Linux distributions. Its developers are still investigating performance, hardware access, and compatibility with more complicated drivers, including graphics hardware.
  Why Device Drivers Remain a Major Linux Security Challenge
  Linux device drivers are responsible for connecting the operating system to hardware components, including graphics cards, network adapters, storage controllers, USB devices, and wireless chipsets. Most traditional Linux drivers execute in kernel space, giving them privileged access to system resources and the ability to interact directly with hardware. This architecture is one reason Linux can deliver high performance across such a broad range of devices, but it also creates a significant security challenge.
  
  When an ordinary application encounters a memory error, the operating system can often terminate that process without affecting the rest of the system. Kernel drivers operate under different conditions. Because they typically share the kernel's address space and privileges, an invalid memory access or exploitable vulnerability can affect unrelated kernel components, potentially resulting in a system crash, privilege escalation, or complete compromise of the operating system.
  
  The challenge becomes more complicated when considering the enormous number of drivers supported by Linux. Some are maintained by large organizations with extensive testing infrastructure, while others receive contributions from smaller development teams or individual maintainers. Even carefully reviewed drivers can contain bugs, particularly when they interact with complicated hardware, asynchronous operations, and memory-management mechanisms.
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• Speech Synthesis on Linux: Adding a Voice to Scripts and Systems
  by George Whittaker
  Linux users have long had a pragmatic relationship with text-to-speech. The classic open-source engines have been available for years, wired into accessibility tools and the occasional script, dependable but unmistakably robotic. They do the job where the job is simply to convert text to some kind of speech, but the mechanical output has kept them out of anything where the voice actually matters. The arrival of high-quality speech synthesis delivered over an API changes what is possible, letting Linux users add genuinely natural voices to scripts, services, and applications without hosting a heavyweight model themselves.
  The Familiar Trade-Off
  Anyone who has used the traditional Linux speech engines knows the trade-off. They are free, local, and scriptable, which fits the Linux ethos perfectly, but the voices are clearly synthetic. For accessibility and for utilitarian tasks where intelligibility is all that counts, that has been acceptable. For anything user-facing where the quality of the voice shapes the experience, it has not.
  
  The alternative of running a modern, high-quality speech model locally is possible but comes with real costs: significant computational requirements, model management, and the ongoing maintenance of a demanding piece of infrastructure. For many use cases, particularly on servers, embedded systems, or ordinary workstations, that overhead is disproportionate to the need. This is the gap that an API-based approach fills, offering the quality of a large modern model without the burden of hosting one.
  The API Approach on Linux
  Delivering speech synthesis over an API fits naturally into how Linux users already build things. Rather than installing and maintaining a model, you make a request to a service and receive audio back, which you can then play, save, or pipe into whatever comes next. A Go to Full Article

• Archinstall 4.5 Released with AArch64 Support, Real-Time Kernels, and Major Installer Fixes
  by George Whittaker
  The Arch Linux project has released Archinstall 4.5, the latest version of its guided text-based installer, bringing expanded AArch64 support, new real-time Linux kernel options, additional translations, security improvements, and numerous fixes for installation workflows.
  
  Archinstall 4.5 was released on September 29, 2026, roughly three months after Archinstall 4.4. The new version arrives just ahead of Arch Linux's October installation media refresh and has already been packaged as archinstall 4.5-1 for Arch Linux repositories.
  
  While Archinstall remains optional, it provides users with a guided way to configure an Arch Linux installation without manually performing every step described in the Arch installation guide. Version 4.5 concentrates primarily on hardware support, installer reliability, security, and expanding the range of systems that can use the guided installation process.
  AArch64 Support Gets a Major Upgrade
  One of the biggest changes in Archinstall 4.5 is improved support for AArch64, the 64-bit ARM architecture.
  
  The installer can now handle GRUB and Limine EFI installations on AArch64 systems. It also gains support for the proper AArch64 root partition type GUID.
  
  Previously, parts of Archinstall's bootloader configuration were more heavily oriented toward x86_64 installations. The latest changes make its guided installation workflow more useful on ARM64 hardware.
  
  AArch64 has become increasingly important throughout the Linux ecosystem. The architecture can now be found in cloud servers, development boards, laptops, workstations, and specialized computing platforms.
  
  Supporting both GRUB and Limine EFI installations gives Archinstall more flexibility when preparing these systems.
  GRUB Can Now Be Installed on AArch64
  GRUB remains one of the most widely used Linux bootloaders, and Archinstall 4.5 extends its installation logic to AArch64 EFI systems.
  
  This allows ARM64 installations to use a bootloader workflow much closer to what Archinstall already provides on conventional x86_64 UEFI computers.
  
  The change doesn't mean every ARM device will automatically become compatible with Arch Linux. ARM hardware can still have highly platform-specific firmware and boot requirements.
  
  It does, however, remove an important Archinstall limitation for AArch64 machines that provide conventional UEFI environments.
  Limine EFI Support Expands to ARM64
  The same architectural expansion applies to Limine.
  
  Limine is a modern multiprotocol bootloader supported as one of Archinstall's bootloader choices. Archinstall 4.5 extends its EFI installation support to AArch64 as well.
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