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1825 Monetary Lane Suite #104 Carrollton, TX
Do a presentation at NTLUG.
What is the Linux Installation Project?
Real companies using Linux!
Not just for business anymore.
Providing ready to run platforms on Linux
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(Two Column)
- [$] Enhancing FineIBT
At the LinuxSecurity Summit Europe (LSS EU), Scott Constable and SebastianÖsterlund gave a talk on an enhancement to a control-flowintegrity (CFI)protection that was added to the kernel several years ago. The "FineIBT: Fine-grain Control-flowEnforcement with Indirect Branch Tracking" mechanism was merged forLinux 6.2 in early 2023 to harden the kernel against CFI attacks of varioussorts, but needed some fixes andenhancements more recently. The talk looked at the CFI vulnerabilityproblem, FineIBT, and an enhanced version that is hoped to be able to unifyall of the disparate hardware and software mitigations to address bothregular and speculative CFI vulnerabilities.
- Security updates for Friday
Security updates have been issued by Debian (redis and valkey), Fedora (docker-buildkit, ibus-bamboo, pgadmin4, webkitgtk, and wordpress), Mageia (kernel-linus, kmod-virtualbox & kmod-xtables-addons, and microcode), Oracle (compat-libtiff3 and udisks2), Red Hat (rsync), Slackware (python3), SUSE (chromium, cJSON, digger-cli, glow, go1.24, go1.25, go1.25-openssl, grafana, libexslt0, libruby3_4-3_4, pgadmin4, python311-python-socketio, and squid), and Ubuntu (dpdk, libhtp, vim, and webkit2gtk).
- [$] Gccrs after libcore
Despite its increasing popularity, the Rust programming language is stillsupported by a single compiler, the LLVM-based rustc. At the 2025 GNU ToolsCauldron, Pierre-Emmanuel Patry said that a lot of people are waitingfor a GCC-based Rust compiler before jumping into the language. Patry, whois working on just that compiler (known as "gccrs"), provided an update onthe status of that project and what is coming next.
- [$] Last-minute /boot boost for Fedora 43
Sudden increases in the size of Fedora's initramfsfiles have prompted the project to fast-track a proposal to increasethe default size of the /boot partition for new installs ofFedora 43 and later. The project has also walked back a fewchanges that have contributed to larger initramfs files, but theever-increasing size of firmware means that the need for more room isunavoidable. The Fedora Engineering Steering Council (FESCo) hasapproved a last-minute changejust before the final freeze for Fedora 43 to increase thedefault size of the /boot partition from 1GB to 2GB; thiswill leave plenty of space for kernels and initramfs images if a useris installing from scratch, but it is of no help for users upgradingfrom Fedora 42.
- Ubuntu 25.10 released
Ubuntu25.10, "Questing Quokka", has been released. This release includesLinux 6.17, GNOME 49, GCC 15, Python 3.13.7,Rust 1.85, and more. This release also features Rust-basedimplementations of sudo and coreutils; LWN covered the switch to theRust-based tools in March. The 25.10 version of Ubuntu flavorsEdubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Cinnamon, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu have alsobeen released.
- Security updates for Thursday
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (gnutls, kernel, kernel-rt, and open-vm-tools), Debian (chromium, python-django, and redis), Fedora (chromium, insight, mirrorlist-server, oci-seccomp-bpf-hook, rust-maxminddb, rust-prometheus, rust-prometheus_exporter, rust-protobuf, rust-protobuf-codegen, rust-protobuf-parse, rust-protobuf-support, turbo-attack, and yarnpkg), Oracle (iputils, kernel, open-vm-tools, redis, and valkey), Red Hat (perl-File-Find-Rule and perl-File-Find-Rule-Perl), SUSE (expat, ImageMagick, matrix-synapse, python-xmltodict, redis, redis7, and valkey), and Ubuntu (fort-validator and imagemagick).
- [$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for October 9, 2025
Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition:
Front: Kernel Rust features; systemd v258, part 2; Cauldron kernel hackers; BPF for GNU tools; 6.18 merge window, part 1; Lifetime-end pointer zapping; Robot Operating System. Briefs: OpenSSH 10.1; Firefox profiles; Python 3.14; U-Boot v2025.10; FSF presidency; Quotes; ... Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.
- Better profile management coming to Firefox
Firefox has long had support for multiple profilesto store personal information such as bookmarks, passwords, and userpreferences. However, Firefox did not make profiles particularlydiscoverable or easy to manage. That is about to change; Mozilla hasannouncedthat it is launching a profile-management feature that will make iteasier to create and switch between profiles. According to the supportpage for the feature, it will be rolled out to users graduallybeginning on October 14.
- [$] Upcoming Rust language features for kernel development
TheRust for Linux project has been good for Rust, Tyler Mandry, one of theco-leads of Rust's language-design team, said. Hegave a talk atKangrejos 2025 covering upcoming Rust language features and thankingthe Rust for Linux developers for helping drive them forward. Afterward, Benno Lossin and Xiangfei Dingwent into more detail about their work on the three most important languagefeatures for kernel development: field projections, in-place initialization, and arbitrary self types.
- Security updates for Wednesday
Security updates have been issued by Fedora (apptainer, civetweb, mod_http2, openssl, pandoc, and pandoc-cli), Oracle (kernel), Red Hat (gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free, iputils, kernel, open-vm-tools, and podman), SUSE (cairo, firefox, ghostscript, gimp, gstreamer-plugins-rs, libxslt, logback, openssl-1_0_0, openssl-1_1, python-xmltodict, and rubygem-puma), and Ubuntu (gst-plugins-base1.0, linux-aws-6.8, linux-aws-fips, linux-azure, linux-azure-nvidia, linux-gke, linux-nvidia-tegra-igx, and linux-raspi).
- Python 3.14.0 released
Version3.14.0 of the Python language has been released. There are a lot ofchanges this time around, including official support for free threading, template string literals, and much more; seethe announcement for details.
- [$] Progress on defeating lifetime-end pointer zapping
Paul McKenney gave a remote presentation atKangrejos 2025 following up on thetalk he gave last year about thelifetime-end-pointer-zapping problem: certain common patterns for multithreaded code aretechnically undefined behavior, and changes to the C and C++ specificationswill be needed to correct that. Those changes could also impact code that usesunsafe Rust, such as the kernel's Rust bindings. Progress on the problem has been slow,but McKenney believes that a solution is near at hand.
- [$] Highlights from systemd v258: part two
Systemdv258 was released on September 17 after more than nine monthsof development. LWN has already covered some of thefeatures and changes being readied for v258 before it was final. Nowthat the release is out, it is time to look at more of what came inv258, including a sandbox shell, new boot options, service-level diskquotas, and enhancements to systemd-resolved.
- Security updates for Tuesday
Security updates have been issued by Fedora (chromium), Red Hat (kernel, open-vm-tools, and postgresql), SUSE (chromedriver and chromium), and Ubuntu (haproxy and pam-u2f).
- Compact M5Stack Unit C6L Integrates RISC-V ESP32-C6 and SX1262 for LoRa Meshtastic Use
The M5Stack Unit C6L is a compact LoRa module featuring the ESP32-C6 SoC and SX1262 transceiver. It supports 868 to 923 MHz operation for private LoRa networks with Meshtastic compatibility and options for custom development. The ESP32-C6 integrates a dual RISC-V architecture consisting of a high-performance 32-bit core running at 160 MHz and a low-power […]
- How to Easily Add a Live Wallpaper on KDE Plasma 6
In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to add a live wallpaper on KDE Plasma 6 using a video from the internet. We’ll turn a regular video into a dynamic desktop wallpaper, making your Plasma desktop look more lively and interesting.
- GCC Patches Posted For C++26 SIMD Support
One of the exciting additions on the way for the C++26 programming language is a standardized library around Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) operations. This portable SIMD implementation makes it easier to leverage SIMD and data parallelism in C++ for better performance and to work across SIMD architectures like AVX-512...
- Orange Pi Previews Orange Pi 6 Plus with 12-core architecture and dual 5G Ethernet ports
Orange Pi has introduced the Orange Pi 6 Plus, a single-board computer intended for high-performance and AI-oriented computing tasks. It uses the CIX CD8180/CD8160 SoC with a 12-core 64-bit CPU and an NPU rated at up to 45 TOPS. The SoC includes a 12-core architecture paired with an integrated graphics processor supporting hardware-accelerated ray tracing […]
- Python 3.14 Performance Looking Good In Benchmarks
With this week's release of Python 3.14 bringing performance improvements, debugging improvements, a new Zstd compression module, and other enhancements I have been eager to run some benchmarks seeing how Python 3.14 compares to prior Python releases.
- Toxic Workplaces Are Worsening: 80% of U.S. Workers Say Their Job Hurts Mental Health
Slashdot reader joshuark shared this report from Fast Company:According to Monster's newly released 2025 Mental Health in the Workplace survey of 1,100 workers, 80% of respondents described their workplace environment as toxic. The alarming statistic is an increase from 67% just a year ago. The challenging environment has major implications. An astonishing 71% of workers say their mental health is poor (40%) or fair (31%), while only 29% rank it positively: 20% said it was good and 9% described it as great. Workers say that a toxic workplace culture is the top cause of their poor mental health (59%), followed closely by having a bad manager (54%)... Mental health is incredibly important to employees. The majority (63%) care more about it than having a "brag-worthy" job. Likewise, many would pass on a promotion (43%) or opt out of a raise (33%) if it was better for their mental health... The vast majority (93%) say their employer isn't focused on supporting employee mental health — a statistic that rose drastically since just a year ago, with 78% claiming the same. "According to the survey, more than half of workers (57%) say they'd rather quit their job than continue working in an environment they feel is toxic and overall, causing major strains to their mental wellbeing..."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- There's No 'AI Bubble', Says Yahoo Finance Executive Editor
"I'm here to say we have to give these AI bubble predictions a rest," says Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi.First of all, AI is a real technology being deployed in real ways inside of Corporate America. Second, this technology is requiring more physical assets in the ground — which are being built to support AI's real-world application. What Zach Dell (son of Michael Dell) is working on at startup Base Power (which just raised $1 billion) impressed me this week. It's addressing a key issue — power availability and costs in part because of rising stress on the grid due to AI development. Next, the spending on AI infrastructure doesn't strike me as reckless. I talk to CFOs and they walk me through their thinking, which seems logical. They aren't foaming at the mouth with wild-eyed predictions of grandeur similar to the late '90s. Plus, the tech giants making the biggest AI investments are fueling their ambitions by cash on hand — not loading up balance sheets with debt. The upstarts in AI are well funded, not being 100% stupid in their organizational build-outs. They're working on tangible technology that has actual orders behind it... Lastly here in my scolding of the AI worrywarts is that valuations don't support the warning calls. According to new research out of Goldman Sachs this week, the median forward P/E ratio across the Magnificent Seven is 27 times, or 26 times if excluding Tesla (TSLA), which has a much higher multiple than the other companies. This is roughly half the equivalent valuation of the biggest seven companies in the late 1990s, while the dominant companies in Japan (mostly banks) traded at higher valuations still. What's more, the current enterprise-to-sales ratios are also much lower than those of the dominant companies in the late 1990s. "So it is true that valuations are high but, in our view, generally not at levels that are as high as are typically seen at the height of a financial bubble," said Goldman Sachs strategist Peter Oppenheimer.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Amazon Smart Displays Are Now Being Bombarded With Ads
"Amazon Echo Show owners are reporting an uptick in advertisements on their smart displays," reports Ars Technica.The company's Echo Show smart displays have previously shown ads through the company's Shopping Lists feature, as well as advertising for Alexa skills. Additionally, Echo Shows may play audio ads when users listen to Amazon Music on Alexa. However, reports on Reddit (examples here, here, and here) and from The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, who owns more than one Echo Show, suggest that Amazon has increased the amount of ads it shows on its smart displays' home screens. The Echo Show's apparent increase in ads is pushing people to stop using or even return their Echo Shows. The article notes Amazon's smart displays have also started showing ads for Alexa+ — and The Verge's reporter saw ads on one (but not all) of her Echo Shows this week. (Even when the display is set to show personal photos, ads sometimes appear for herbal supplements, Quest sports chips, and tabletop picture frames. Ars Technica notes that users "are unable to disable the home screen ads."When reached for comment, an Amazon spokesperson told Ars Technica: "Advertising is a small part of the experience, and it helps customers discover new content and products they may be interested in..." Amazon declined to comment on whether it has increased Echo Show ad loads... According to Amazon, Echo Show home screen ads change based on how close someone is to the gadget. "When the customer is more than four feet away from their device, ads will display full-screen in rotation with other content such as weather, recipes, sports, and news..."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- 'Death to Spotify' Event Draws Interest From Some Musicians to Try Alternatives
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Guardian:This month, indie musicians in San Francisco gathered for a series of talks called Death to Spotify, where attenders explored "what it means to decentralize music discovery, production and listening from capitalist economies". The events, held at Bathers library, featured speakers from indie station KEXP, labels Cherub Dream Records and Dandy Boy Records, and DJ collectives No Bias and Amor Digital. What began as a small run of talks quickly sold out and drew international interest. People as far away as Barcelona and Bengaluru emailed the organizers asking how to host similar events. The talks come as the global movement against Spotify edges into the mainstream. In January, music journalist Liz Pelly released Mood Machine, a critical history arguing the streaming company has ruined the industry and turned listeners into "passive, uninspired consumers". Spotify's model, she writes, depends on paying artists a pittance — less still if they agree to be "playlisted" on its Discovery mode, which rewards the kind of bland, coffee-shop muzak that fades neatly into the background... The Death to Spotify organizers say their goal is not necessarily to shut the app down. "We just want everyone to think a little bit harder about the ways they listen to music," says [event co-founder] Manasa Karthikeyan. "It just flattens culture at its core if we only stick to this algorithmically built comfort zone." So the goal was "down with algorithmic listening, down with royalty theft, down with AI-generated music," according to the event's other co-founder, Stephanie Dukich. Basically some artists "are questioning whether it's doing much for them," says a professor of music at the University of Texas at Austin. The article cites performers who are trying Spotify alternatives, like pop-rock songwriter Caroline Rose, who released her new album only on vinyl and Bandcamp. "I find it pretty lame that we put our heart and soul into something and then just put it online for free," Rose says.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Three-Wheeled Solar Car Maker Aptera is About to Go Public
Last November Aptera successfully tested its first production-intent three-wheel solar-powered EV — and said it already had over 50,000 reservations. The vehicles had a solar charge range of 40 miles per day, reported Digital Trends, noting the crowdfunded company's cars also had an NCAS charging port. ("Solar-powered electric vehicles are also being developed by the likes of Germany's Sono Motors and the Netherlands' Lightyear, and by big automakers such as Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz.") But this week the EV site Electrek pointed out that "There have been a handful of 'solar car' projects and they all have failed so far."Aptera is one of the rare survivors, thanks to a couple of relatively successful crowdfunding efforts. The company has been inching closer to bringing its vehicle to production, but it still appears to need some investments to make it happen. Now, Aptera is going public. Generally, that's good news. An initial public offering (IPO) means that a company is going to raise capital for its operations and give more people the opportunity to invest in the company. However, Aptera is not doing a traditional IPO. It's not even doing a SPAC deal. It's doing a direct listing, which means that if approved by NASDAQ, it will allow shareholders to trade their shares on the public market. This is usually an exit strategy for existing shareholders. Aptera won't receive any proceeds from going public... The company needs to be infused with capital soon, and this direct listing is not it. The top-rated comment on the site suggests "Open market trading will establish a fair price for exchanges among the holders. I don't think this necessarily indicates they are trying to wind down the company." And the article does also acknowledge the possibility of "public demand for the stock amid this crazy bubble we are in — resulting in a price increase, which Aptera takes advantage of with a public offering..." "Aptera has now confirmed that it has received NASDAQ approval and the stock will start trading on October 16."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- AI Slop? Not This Time. AI Tools Found 50 Real Bugs In cURL
The Register reports:Over the past two years, the open source curl project has been flooded with bogus bug reports generated by AI models. The deluge prompted project maintainer Daniel Stenberg to publish several blog posts about the issue in an effort to convince bug bounty hunters to show some restraint and not waste contributors' time with invalid issues. Shoddy AI-generated bug reports have been a problem not just for curl, but also for the Python community, Open Collective, and the Mesa Project. It turns out the problem is people rather than technology. Last month, the curl project received dozens of potential issues from Joshua Rogers, a security researcher based in Poland. Rogers identified assorted bugs and vulnerabilities with the help of various AI scanning tools. And his reports were not only valid but appreciated. Stenberg in a Mastodon post last month remarked, "Actually truly awesome findings." In his mailing list update last week, Stenberg said, "most of them were tiny mistakes and nits in ordinary static code analyzer style, but they were still mistakes that we are better off having addressed. Several of the found issues were quite impressive findings...." Stenberg told The Register that about 50 bugfixes based on Rogers' reports have been merged. "In my view, this list of issues achieved with the help of AI tooling shows that AI can be used for good," he said in an email. "Powerful tools in the hand of a clever human is certainly a good combination. It always was...!" Rogers wrote up a summary of the AI vulnerability scanning tools he tested. He concluded that these tools — Almanax, Corgea, ZeroPath, Gecko, and Amplify — are capable of finding real vulnerabilities in complex code. The Register's conclusion? AI tools "when applied with human intelligence by someone with meaningful domain experience, can be quite helpful." jantangring (Slashdot reader #79,804) has published an article on Stenberg's new position, including recently published comments from Stenberg that "It really looks like these new tools are finding problems that none of the old, established tools detect."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- California 'Privacy Protection Agency' Targets Tractor Supply's Tricky Tracking
California's Privacy Protection Agency "issued a record fine earlier this month to Tractor Supply," according to an EFF Deeplinks blog post — for "apparently ducking its responsibilities under the California Consumer Privacy Act."Under that law, companies are required to respect California customers' and job applicants' rights to know, delete, and correct information that businesses collect about them, and to opt-out of some types of sharing and use. The law also requires companies to give notice of these rights, along with other information, to customers, job applicants, and others. The CPPA said that Tractor Supply failed several of these requirements. This is the first time the agency has enforced this data privacy law to protect job applicants... Tractor Supply, which has 2,500 stores in 49 states, will pay for their actions to the tune of $1,350,000 — the largest fine the agency has issued to date. Specifically, the agency said, Tractor Supply violated the law by: - Failing to maintain a privacy policy that notified consumers of their rights; - Failing to notify California job applicants of their privacy rights and how to exercise them; - Failing to provide consumers with an effective mechanism to opt-out of the selling and sharing of their personal information, including through opt-out preference signals such as Global Privacy Control; and - Disclosing personal information to other companies without entering into contracts that contain privacy protections. In addition to the fine, the company also must take an inventory of its digital properties and tracking technologies and will have to certify its compliance with the California privacy law for the next four years. The agency's web site says it "continues to actively enforce California's cutting-edge privacy laws." It's recently issued decisions (and fines) against American Honda Motor Company and clothing retailer Todd Snyder. Other recent actions include: Securing a settlement agreement requiring data broker Background Alert — which promoted its ability to dig up "scary" amounts of information about people — to shut down or pay a steep fine. Launching the bipartisan Consortium of Privacy Regulators to collaborate with states across the country to implement and enforce privacy laws nationwide. Partnering with the data protection authorities in Korea, France, and the United Kingdom to share information and advance privacy protections for Californians.The agency has secured more than half a dozen successful enforcement actions against unregistered data brokers following an investigative sweep launched late last year to assess compliance with the Delete Act.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Cryptologist DJB Alleges NSA is Pushing an End to Backup Algorithms for Post-Quantum Cryptography
Cryptologist/CS professor Daniel J. Bernstein is alleging that America's National Security Agency is attempting to influence NIST post-quantum cryptography standards. Bernstein first emphasizes that it's normal for post-quantum cryptography (or "PQ") to be part of "hybrid" security that also includes traditional pre-quantum cryptography. (Bernstein says this is important because since 2016, "We've seen many breaks of post-quantum proposals...") "The problem in a nutshell. Surveillance agency NSA and its [UK counterpart] GCHQ are trying to have standards-development organizations endorse weakening [pre-quantum] ECC+PQ down to just PQ."Part of this is that NSA and GCHQ have been endlessly repeating arguments that this weakening is a good thing... I'm instead looking at how easy it is for NSA to simply spend money to corrupt the standardization process.... The massive U.S. military budget now publicly requires cryptographic "components" to have NSA approval... In June 2024, NSA's William Layton wrote that "we do not anticipate supporting hybrid in national security systems"... [Later a Cisco employee wrote of selling non-hybrid cryptography to a significant customer, "that's what they're willing to buy. Hence, Cisco will implement it".] What do you do with your control over the U.S. military budget? That's another opportunity to "shape the worldwide commercial cryptography marketplace". You can tell people that you won't authorize purchasing double encryption. You can even follow through on having the military publicly purchase single encryption. Meanwhile you quietly spend a negligible amount of money on an independent encryption layer to protect the data that you care about, so you're actually using double encryption. This seems to be a speculative scenario. But Bernstein is also concerned about how the Internet Engineering Task Force handled two drafts specifying post-quantum encryption mechanisms for TLS ("the security layer inside HTTPS and inside various other protocols"). For a draft suggesting "non-hybrid" encryption, there were 20 statements of support (plus 2 more only conditionally supporting it), but 7 more statements unequivocally opposing adoption, including one from Bernstein. The IETF has at times said they aim for "rough consensus" — or for "broad consensus" — but Bernstein insists 7 opposers in a field of 29 (24.13%) can't be said to match the legal definition of consensus (which is "general agreement"). "I've filed a formal complaint regarding the claim of consensus to adopt." He's also written a second blog post analyzing the IETF's decision-making process in detail. "It's already bad that the IETF TLS working group adopted non-hybrid post-quantum encryption without official answers to the objections that were raised. It's much worse if the objections can't be raised in the first place." Thanks to alanw (Slashdot reader #1,822) for spotting the blog posts.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- Ferrari Announces Its First Electric Sports Car, Promising Real Engine Noises - Sort Of
Ferrari's first electric car arrives next summer, reports Carscoops, with a top speed of 193 mph (310 km/h) and accelerating from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in just 2.5 seconds. "The Elettrica" will also have a large high-density battery for over 329 miles (530 km) of range, ultra-fast DC charging up to 350 kW, and a 122 kWh capacity and an energy density of 195 Wh/kg that Ferrari "claims is the highest among production EVs." But what's really interesting is its engine noises:Ferrari's approach to the Elettrica's sound moves away from artificial engine simulation. Instead, a sensor mounted on the inverter detects the powertrain's real mechanical vibrations, which are then amplified to create what the company describes as a natural, evolving tone that reflects how the car is being driven... a reactive soundtrack. Antonio Palermo [Ferrari's head of sound and vibration] calls it "language and connection," a way to keep drivers emotionally engaged with the car without resorting to synthetic gimmicks... Needless to say, how convincing this synthesized feedback will feel in practice remains to be seen, as much of Ferrari's allure has traditionally rested on the emotional impact of its combustion engines. "The Torque Shift Engagement system offers five selectable levels of power and torque using the right paddle, while the left paddle adjusts braking intensity," the article points out. But if the engine noises are well-executed, argues the EV news site Electrek, "I even think it might convince some petrolheads to give EVs a try," .Whether you like them or not, engine sounds are essential, especially in performance vehicles. They are part of the identity of certain cars — a sort of signature. They can be emotional. They can give a sense of power. But beyond that, they are information. The pitch, volume, and texture of the engine sound provide critical, real-time feedback to the driver about RPM, load, and the car's health. Some electric automakers are using curated soundscapes (like BMW with Hans Zimmer) or trying to mimic V8s (like Dodge with its "Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust")... Other automakers are simply letting the natural sounds of the electric motors exist. There's nothing wrong with that. However, considering that electric motors produce minimal sounds, which are then trapped inside a metal casing, you rarely hear anything significant, especially in modern vehicles with quiet cabins and even active noise cancellation. For most EVs, this is not a problem, but for a performance electric vehicle, it does feel like something is missing... Ferrari insists the sound will only be used when "functionally useful" to provide feedback to the driver and will be directly tied to torque requests... The entire system was reportedly developed in-house, giving Ferrari complete control over the vehicle's final acoustic signature... [T]hey are embracing the new technology rather than hiding it. They are making a confident statement that an electric powertrain can be emotionally engaging on its own terms, without having to pretend to be something it's not... If you prefer a completely silent drive, you can disable it. Electrek's conclusion? "The purists who were worried that Ferrari would lose its soul in the EV transition should be encouraged by this."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- In Copilot In Excel Demo, AI Told Teacher a 27% Exam Score Is of No Concern
A demo of educational AI-powered tools by a Microsoft product manager (in March of 2024) showed "how AI has the possibility to transform various job sectors and the education system," according to one report. But that demo "includes a segment on Copilot in Excel that is likely to resonate with AI-wary software developers," writes long-time Slashdot theodp:The Copilot in Excel segment purports to show how even teachers who were too "afraid of" or "intimidated" to use Excel in the past can now just use natural language prompts to conduct Excel analysis. But Copilot advises the teacher there are no 'outliers' in the exam scores for their 17 students, whose test scores range from 27%-100%. (This is apparently due to Copilot's choice of an inappropriate outlier detection method for this size population and score range). Fittingly, the student whose 27% score is confidently-but-incorrectly deemed to be of no concern by Copilot is named after Michael Scott, the largely incompetent and unprofessional boss of The Office. (Microsoft also named the other exam takers after characters from The Office). The additional Copilot student score "analysis" touted by Microsoft in the demo is also less than impressive. It includes: 1. A vertical bar chart that fails to convey the test score distribution that a histogram would have (a rookie chart choice mistake), 2. A horizontal bar chart of student scores that only displays every other student's name and shows no score values (a rookie formatting error)... So, will teachers — like programmers — be spending a significant amount of time in the future reviewing, editing, and refining the outputs of their AI agent helpers? "Not only does it illustrate how the realities of AI assistants sometimes fall maddeningly short of the promises," argues the original submission. "The demo also shows how AI vendors and customers alike sometimes forget to review promotional AI content closely in all the AI excitement!"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- New Large Coral Reef Discovered Off Naples Containing Rare Ancient Corals
Off the southwest cost of Italy, a remotely operated submarine made "a significant and rare discovery," reports the Independent — a vast white coral reef that was 80 metres tall (262 feet) and 2 metres wide (6.56 feet) "containing important species and fossil traces."Often dubbed the "rainforests of the sea", coral reefs are of immense scientific interest due to their status as some of the planet's richest marine ecosystems, harbouring millions of species. They play a crucial role in sustaining marine life but are currently under considerable threat... hese impressive formations are composed of deep-water hard corals, commonly referred to as "white corals" because of their lack of colour, specifically identified as Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata species. The reef also contains black corals, solitary corals, sponges, and other ecologically important species, as well as fossil traces of oysters and ancient corals, the Italian Research Council said. It called them "true geological testimonies of a distant past." Mission leader Giorgio Castellan said the finding was "exceptional for Italian seas: bioconstructions of this kind, and of such magnitude, had never been observed in the Dohrn Canyon, and are rarely seen elsewhere in our Mediterranean". The discovery will help scientists understand the ecological role of deep coral habitats and their distribution, especially in the context of conservation and restoration efforts, he added. The undersea research was funded by the EU. Thanks to davidone (Slashdot reader #12,252) for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- 'Tron: Ares' Mode Turns Teslas Into Glowing Light Cycles — Despite Bad Box Office
An anonymous reader shared this report from The WrapTesla this weekend introduced a new "Tron: Ares" mode, giving drivers an opportunity to turn their on-screen vehicles into the glowing Light Cycles that have been a big part of the Disney franchise since 1982. The optional update started rolling out on Friday, as Tron: Ares debuted in theaters. Tesla announced the update on X: "The grid has expanded to your Tesla — Tron: Ares update rolling out now." The feature is activated in Tesla's Toybox "infotainment" system, and turns the driver's vehicle avatar into a red Light Cycle. For drivers who have the "ambient lighting" feature, the mode will also expand the theme throughout the cabin. There was also a sleek black Tesla Optimus robot at the premier of Tron: Ares. Ironically, the Hollywood Reporter writes that by box office figures, "Tron is in big trouble," selling fewer tickets than expected (despite the movie's $180 million pre-marketing budget). While Tron's audience reviews gave it an 86% score on Rotten Tomatoes, its score with critics is just 57%. The Los Angeles Times says the movie "has glowing style, but its storytelling doesn't compute." (Or, as the New York Times puts it, "Who needs logic when you have neon?")
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
- German State of Schlesiwg-Holstein Migrates To FOSS Groupware. Next Up: Linux OS
Long-time Slashdot reader Qbertino writes: German IT news outlet Heise reports [German-language article] that the northern most state Schleswig-Holstein has, after half a year of frantic data migration work, successfully migrated their MS Outlook mail and groupware setups to a FOSS solution using Open-Xchange and Thunderbird. Stakeholders consider the move a major success and milestone to digital sovereignty and saving costs. This move makes the state a pioneer in Germany. As a next major step Schleswig-Holstein plans to migrate their authorities and administrations desktop PCs to Linux. The state has achieved "digital sovereignty by ditching Microsoft for open source solutions," writes the site It's FOSS, adding that European nations "have generally been more progressive in adopting open source solutions for government operations."The migration affected around 30,000 employees across various government departments. This includes the State Chancellery, ministries, judiciary, state police, and other state authorities. Over 40,000 mailboxes containing more than 100 million emails and calendar entries were moved to the new system. The state has adopted Open-Xchange as its email server solution and Thunderbird as the email client.... [Digitization Minister Dirk Schrödter] emphasized that "We are real pioneers. We can't fall back on the experience of others -, there is hardly a comparable project of this magnitude anywhere in the world."
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- New California Privacy Law Will Require Chrome/Edge/Safari to Offer Easy Opt-Outs for Data Sharing
"California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the 'California Opt Me Out Act', which will require web browsers to include an easy, universal way for users to opt out of data collection and sales," reports the blog 9to5Mac:[The law] requires browsers to provide a clear, one-click mechanism for Californians to opt out of data sharing across websites. The bill reads: "A business shall not develop or maintain a browser that does not include functionality configurable by a consumer that enables the browser to send an opt-out preference signal to businesses with which the consumer interacts through the browser...."Californians will need patience, though, as the law doesn't take effect until January 1, 2027. Americans in some states — including California, Texas, Colorado, New Jersey and Maryland — "have the option to make those opt-out demands automatic whenever they surf the web," reports the Washington Post. "But they can only do so if they use small browsers that voluntarily offer that option, such as DuckDuckGo, Firefox and Brave. What's new in California's law is that all browsers must give people the same option." That means soon in California, just using Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari and Microsoft's Edge can command companies not to sell your data or pass it along for ad targeting... It's an imperfect but potent and simple way to flex privacy rights — and becomes even more powerful with another simple privacy measure in California. Starting on January 1, California residents can fill out an online form once to completely and repeatedly wipe their data from hundreds of data brokers that package your personal information for sale. But their article also suggests other ways readers can "try a one-click privacy option now.""[S]ome national companies respect one-click privacy opt-out requests from everyone... This happens automatically if you use DuckDuckGo and Brave. You need to change a setting with Firefox.""Download Privacy Badger: The software from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a consumer privacy advocacy group, works in the background to order websites not to sell information they're collecting about you.""Use Permission Slip from Consumer Reports. Give the app basic information, and it will help you do much of the legwork to tell companies not to sell your information or to delete it, if you have the right to do so."
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- Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies Had Double-Digit Drops Friday, Largest Liquidation Event Ever
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Independent:Bitcoin and Ethereum both saw record liquidations as investors reacted to fears over a trade war, which saw many crypto investors move their money to stablecoins or safer assets... Bitcoin fell by more than 10 per cent to below $110,000, before recovering to $113,096 on Saturday morning. The value of Ethereum slumped by 11.2 per cent to $3,878. Other cryptocurrencies, including XRP, Doge and Ada, fell around 19 per cent, 27 per cent, and 25 per cent in the last 24 hours, respectively. LiveMint shares some statistics from Bloomberg:Citing 24-hour data from Coinglass, the report noted that more than $19 billion has been wiped out in the "largest liquidation event in crypto history", which impacted more than 1.6 million traders. It added that more than $7 billion of those positions were sold in less than one hour of trading on October 10. According to data on CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency market cap has dived to $3.74 trillion from the record-high $4.30 trillion level, the previous day. Trading volumes as of the market close were recorded at $490.23 billion. Bitcoin retreated on Friday, as US-China trade tensions reignited, after racing to record highs earlier in the week as persistent rate-cut bets and signs of some cooling in geopolitical tensions helped boost risk. Bitcoin was trading at $105,505.4 on Friday, down 13.15% on the day.
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- Weird ideas welcome: VC fund looking to make science fiction factual
Nuclear power is getting hot, but don't hold your breath for everlasting batteries
A venture capital fund is looking for ideas that are out of bounds for traditional investors, seeding technology that may only come to fruition decades down the line, but where researchers can show real results in the lab.…
- Who gets a Mac at work? Here's how companies decide
You can't always get what you want
Most corporate laptop fleets consist primarily of PCs. However, there’s always a contingent of users who beg for Macs. Deciding who gets a Mac in your organization involves balancing IT’s need for simplicity, finance’s requirement to keep costs under control, and users’ desire to work with their preferred tools.…
- Kyndryl sued for firing non-white workers, disabled vet
Security team cuts allegedly targeted workers based on race, national origin, age, and whistleblowing
Five former members of Kyndryl's internal IT security team have sued the IBM spinoff alleging that they were terminated as part of a campaign targeting employees based on their race, national origin, age, disability, and whistleblowing activities.…
- Pro-Russia hacktivist group dies of cringe after falling into researchers' trap
Forescout's phony water plant fooled TwoNet into claiming a fake cyber victory – then it quietly shut up shop
Security researchers say they duped pro-Russia cybercriminals into targeting a fake critical infrastructure organization, which the crew later claimed - via their Telegram group - to be a real-world attack.…
- Climate goals go up in smoke as US datacenters turn to coal
High gas prices and surging AI demand send operators back to the dirtiest fuel in the stack
US datacenters are experiencing a significant shift toward coal-powered energy due to elevated natural gas prices and rapidly growing electricity demand.…
- Amazon's Quick Suite is like agentic AI training wheels for enterprises
Slow down there Andy; you wouldn't want to bump into any hallucinations
Despite ongoing concerns over the accuracy, reliability, and trustworthiness of AI in the enterprise, Amazon believes that if it can just make building agents easier for the average worker, they'll be automating the boring parts of their job in no time.…
- Google rearranges Agentspace into Gemini Enterprise
A new spin on workflow automation as Chocolate Factory tries to displace Microsoft as the enterprise go-to
Google on Thursday announced the launch of Gemini Enterprise, a platform for automating business workflows using the company's Gemini family of machine learning models.…
- Crims had 3-month head start on defenders in Oracle EBS invasion
The miscreants started their attack all the way back on July 10
The raid on Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) likely began as early as July - about three months before any public detections - with extortionists compromising "dozens" of organizations, a Google investigation has determined.…
- Space Shuttle war of words takes off as senator blasts 'woke Smithsonian'
Houston, we have a custody battle
Exclusive The war of words over the possible relocation of Space Shuttle Discovery has ratcheted up, with the office of Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) telling The Register that the orbiter belongs in Houston "whether the woke Smithsonian and its cronies in Congress like it or not."…
- Gartner warns agentic AI startups: Prepare to be consolidated
Analyst predicts over-supply will trigger a market correction in favor of deep-pocketed incumbents
Gartner has signaled that the supply of "agentic AI" in terms of models, platforms, and products far outstrips demand, creating a situation that will lead to consolidation and market correction.…
- China moves to extend control over tech industry's critical rare earths
New laws restrict goods that are manufactured outside of China
China is hitting back at US export restrictions with some of its own, tightening its control on so-called rare earth minerals and introducing laws that require companies to get licenses before they can ship goods containing rare earths, even those made outside of the country.…
- Windows 11 gets a fresh Start in latest Canary build
Meanwhile, Microsoft resurrects Edit and kills .NET 3.5 SP1 on demand
It's taken a while, but Microsoft has finally made its redesigned Start menu available to Canary Channel Windows Insiders, while also removing .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 as a Feature On Demand, and adding Edit, the command-line text editor.…
- Kubernetes kicks down Azure Front Door
This time outage was not actually Microsoft's fault
If you struggled to access the Azure Portal or Microsoft Entra this morning, you weren't alone – Microsoft has blamed a Kubernetes crash for the outage.…
- SonicWall breach hits every cloud backup customer after 5% claim goes up in smoke
Affects users regardless of when their backups were created
SonicWall has admitted that all customers who used its cloud backup service to store firewall configuration files were affected by a cybersecurity incident first disclosed in mid-September, walking back earlier assurances that only a small fraction of users were impacted.…
- Hundreds of millions of business PCs are still on Windows 10 as D-Day nears
It's the end of support as we know it and users feel fine
With days to go before Microsoft finally pulls the plug on Windows 10 support, there are hundreds of millions of computers that have yet to upgrade to Windows 11, despite the best efforts of hardware manufacturers and the operating system's marketers.…
- McKinsey wonders how to sell AI apps with no measurable benefits
Consultant says software vendors risk hiking prices without cutting costs or boosting productivity
Software vendors keen to monetize AI should tread cautiously, since they risk inflating costs for their customers without delivering any promised benefits such as reducing employee head count.…
- 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]
- Liquid Glass is cracked, and usability suffers in iOS 26
With iOS 26, Apple seems to be leaning harder into visual design and decorative UI effects — but at what cost to usability? At first glance, the system looks fluid and modern. But try to use it, and soon those shimmering surfaces and animated controls start to get in the way. Let’s strip back the frost and look at how these changes affect real use. ↫ Raluca Budiu I have not yet used Apples new Liquid Glass! graphical user interface design, so heres the usual disclaimer that my opinions are, then, effectively meaningless. That being said, the amount of detailed articles about the problems with Liquid Glass from bugs to structural design problems are legion, and this article by Raluca Budiu is an excellent example. There are so many readability problems, spacing issues, odd animations that dont actually convey anything meaningful, performance issues, and tons of bugs. It feels like it was made not by user interface specialists, but by marketeers, who were given too little time to boot. It feels incoherent and messy, and its going to take Apple a long, long time to mold and shape it into something remotely workable.
- In bizarre move, Framework embraces deeply extremist views
Framework, the maker of repairable laptops, is embroiled in a controversy, as the company and its CEO are openly supporting people with, well, questionable views. If you know a little bit about PR in social media space, you might note that, right out of the gate, a project by a vocal white nationalist known for splitting communities by their mere presence, is not a great highlight choice for an overtly non-left-right-political company like Framework. Does it get worse from here? Sadly, it does. ↫ Arya Bread Crumbs The questionable views were talking about here are0 Lets just say were not talking about milquetoast stuff like we should be a bit stricter with immigration! or lower taxes on the rich!, but views that are far, far outside of the mainstream in most places in the world. Framework has stated in no uncertain terms that it is supporting and embracing people like this. Thats a choice they are entirely free to make, but I, and many with me, then, are entirely free to choose not to buy and/or promote products by Framework. I still sincerely hope that all of this is just a massive breakdown of PR and common sense at Framework and its CEO, but since theyve already doubled-down, Im not holding my breath. This whole thing is going to haunt them, especially since Im fairly sure a huge chunk of their community and users who are buying into hardware that is, in truth, overpriced are not even remotely aligned with such extremist views. I care deeply about Frameworks mission, but I dont give a single rats ass about Framework itself. There are countless alternatives to Framework, some of which Ive even reviewed here (like the MNT Reform or the NovaCustom V54), and if you, too, feel a deep sense of the ick when it comes to supporting extremist views like the above, I urge you to take them into consideration.
- Running FreeBSD using Windows Subsystem for Linux
What if you are forced to use Windows, but want to use a real operating system instead? You could use WSL2 to use Linux inside Windows, but what if FreeBSD is more your thing? It turns out someone is working on making FreeBSD usable using WSL2. This repository hosts work-in-progress efforts to run FreeBSD inside Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) with minimal to no changes to the FreeBSD base system. The project builds on the open-source components of WSL2 to enable FreeBSD to boot and run seamlessly in a Windows environment. ↫ WSL for FReeBSD GitHub page The project is experimental, and definitely not ready for production use. Its also important to note that this project is not part of Microsoft or FreeBSD. At this point in time, FreeBSD boots using WSL2 with basic functionality, and work is currently focused on networking, I/O, and process management.
- Fedoras AI! policy process highlights rift between IBM/Red Hat and Fedora
A lot of open source projects are struggling what to do with the AI! bubble, and Fedora is no different. This whole past year, the projects been struggling to formulate any official policies on the use of AI!, and LWN.nets Joe Brockmeier has just done an amazing job summarising the various positions, opinions, and people influencing this process. His conclusion: There appears to be a growing tension between what Red Hat and IBM would like to see from Fedora versus what its users and community contributors want from the project. Red Hat and IBM have already come down in favor of AI as part of their product strategies, the only real questions are what to develop and offer to the customers or partners. The Fedora community, on the other hand, has quite a few people who feel strongly against AI technologies for various ethical, practical, and social reasons. The results, so far, of turning people loose with generative AI tools on unsuspecting open-source projects has not been universally positive. People join communities to collaborate with other people, not to sift through the output of large language models. It is possible that Red Hat will persuade Fedora to formally endorse a policy of accepting AI-assisted content, but it may be at the expense of users and contributors. ↫ Joe Brockmeier at LWN.net Reading through Brockmeiers excellent article, the various forces pulling and pushing on Fedora become quite clear, and the fact weve got IBM/Red Hat in favour of AI!, and Fedoras community of developers and users against it, shouldnt come as a surprise to anyone. Wherever AI! makes an appearance, its almost exclusively a top-down process with corporate interests pushing AI! hard on a largely indifferent userbase. It seems Fedora is no different. The massive rift between IBM/Red Hat on one side, and the Fedora community on the other is probably best illustrated by a remark from Graham White, technical lead for the Granite AI agents at IBM. One of the earlier policy proposals referenced AI! slop, and White was offended by this, stating: Ive been working in the industry and building AI models for a shade over 20 years and never come across AI slop!. This seems derogatory to me and an unnecessary addition to the policy. ↫ Graham White, as quoted by Joe Brockmeier at LWN.net Us regular users are bombarded with AI! slop every day, and I just cant understand how disconnected from reality you must be to not only deny its a problem, but to deny its existence entirely, when virtually every single Google query will drop you in AI! muck. If such denial is commonplace within IBM/Red Hat, its really no wonder theres such a big rift between them and Fedora. It is wholly unsurprising, then, that Fedora is having such a hard time formulating an AI! policy. The current version of the proposed policy seems to view AI! and its use in or by Fedora mildly positively, which certainly has me, as a Fedora/KDE user, on edge. I dont want AI! anywhere near my operating system for a whole variety of reasons, and if the upcoming vote on the new policy ends up in favour of it, I might have to consider moving away from Fedora.
- Microsoft closes another loophole to enable local accounts in Windows 11
It seems like Microsoft is continuing its quest to force Windows users to use Microsoft accounts instead of local accounts, despite the fact Microsoft accounts on Windows are half-baked and potentially incredibly dangerous. In the most recent Windows 11 Insider Preview Build (26220.6772), the company has closed a few more loopholes people were using to trick the Windows installer into allowing local user accounts. We are removing known mechanisms for creating a local account in the Windows Setup experience (OOBE). While these mechanisms were often used to bypass Microsoft account setup, they also inadvertently skip critical setup screens, potentially causing users to exit OOBE with a device that is not fully configured for use. Users will need to complete OOBE with internet and a Microsoft account, to ensure device is setup correctly. ↫ Amanda Langowski at the Windows Blogs It seems that the specific workaround removed with this change is executing the command start ms-cxh:localonly! in the command prompt during the installation process (you can access cmd.exe by pressing shift+F10 during installation). Several other workarounds have also been removed in recent years, making it ever harder for people forced to use Windows 11 to use a local account, like the gods intended. The only reason Microsoft is pushing online accounts this hard is that it makes it much, much easier for them to collect your data and wrestle control over your installation away from you. A regular, proper local account with additional online accounts for various services would work just as well for users, allowing them to mix and match exactly what kind of cloud services they want integrated into their operating system. However, leaving this choice to the user invariably means people arent going to be using whatever trash services Microsoft offers. And so, Microsoft will make that choice for you, whether you like it or not. There are a million reasons to stay away from the Windows version that must be making Dave Cutler cry, and the insistence on online accounts is but one of them. Its a perfect example of how Microsoft developers Windows not to make it better for its users, but to make it better for its bottom line. I wonder how much more Microsoft can squeeze its users before we see some sort of actual revolt. Windows used to just lack taste. These days, its also actively hostile.
- Servo GTK: a widget to embed Servo in GTK4
Servo, the Rust-based browsing engine spun off from Mozilla, keeps making progress every month, and this made Ignacio Casal Quinteiro wonder: what if we make a GTK widget so we can test Servo and compare it to WebKitGTK? As part of my job at Amazon I started working in a GTK widget which will allow embedding a Servo Webview inside a GTK application. This was mostly a research project just to understand the current state of Servo and whether it was at a good enough state to migrate from WebkitGTK to it. I have to admit that it is always a pleasure to work with Rust and the great gtk-rs bindings. Instead, Servo while it is not yet ready for production, or at least not for what we need in our product, it was simple to embed and to get something running in just a few days. The community is also amazing, I had some problems along the way and they were providing good suggestions to get me unblocked in no time. ↫ Ignacio Casal Quinteiro The code is now out there, and while not yet ready for widespread use, this will make it easier for GTK developer to periodically assess the state of Servo, hopefully some day concluding it can serve as a replacement for WebKitGTK.
- Synology reverses policy banning third-party HDDs after NAS sales plummet
Earlier this year, popular NAS vendor Synology announced it would start requiring some of its more expensive models to only use Synology-branded drives. It seems the uproar this announcement caused has had some real chilling effect on sales, and the company just cancelled its plans. Synology has backtracked on one of its most unpopular decisions in years. After seeing NAS sales plummet in 2025, the company has decided to lift restrictions that forced users to buy its own Synology hard drives. The policy, introduced earlier this year, made third-party HDDs from brands like Seagate and WD practically unusable in newer models such as the DS925+, DS1825+, and DS425+. That change didn’t go over well. Users immediately criticised Synology for trying to lock them into buying its much more expensive drives. Many simply refused to upgrade, and reviewers called out the move as greedy and shortsighted. According to some reports, sales of Synology’s 2025 NAS models dropped sharply in the months after the restriction was introduced. ↫ Hilbert Hagedoorn at Guru3D.com If you want to screw over your users to make a few more euros, its generally a good idea to first assess just how locked-in your users really are. Synology is but one of many companies making and selling NAS devices, and even building one yourself is stupidly easy these days. Theres an entire cottage industry of motherboards and enclosures specifically designed for this purpose, and there are countless easy-to-use software options out there, too. In other words, nobody is really locked into Synology, so any unpopular move by the company was bound to make people look elsewhere, only to discover there are tons of competing options to choose from. The market seems to have spoken, and Synology can only respond by reversing its decision. Honestly, I had almost forgotten what a healthy tech market with tons of competing options looks like.
- MicroPythonOS: an Android-like operating system for microcontrollers like the ESP32
MicroPythonOS is a lightweight, fast, and versatile operating system designed to run on microcontrollers like the ESP32 and desktop systems. With a modern Android-like touch screen UI, App Store, and Over-The-Air updates, it’s the perfect OS for innovators and developers. ↫ MicroPytonOS website Its quite neat to see this running in such a constrained environment, especially considering it comes with a graphical user interface, some basic applications, and niceties like OTA updates and an application repository. As the name implies, MicroPythonOS uses native MicroPython for application and driver development, making cross-platform portability from microcontrollers to regular PCs a possibility. Its built on the MicroPython runtime, with LVGL for graphics, packaged by the lvgl_micropython project. Its still relatively early in development, but its completely open source so anyone can help out and improve the project. Im personally not too well-versed in the world of microcontrollers like the popular ESP32, so Im not entirely sure just how capable other operating systems and platforms built on top if it are. This particular operating system seems to make it rather easy and straightforward for anyone to build and distribute an application for such microcontrollers, to a point where even an idiot like myself could relatively easily buy, say, an ESP32 kit with a display and assemble my own collection of small applications. To repeat myself, it simply looks neat.
- Qualcomm gobbles up Arduino
It was good while it lasted, I guess. Arduino will retain its independent brand, tools, and mission, while continuing to support a wide range of microcontrollers and microprocessors from multiple semiconductor providers as it enters this next chapter within the Qualcomm family. Following this acquisition, the 33M+ active users in the Arduino community will gain access to Qualcomm Technologies’ powerful technology stack and global reach. Entrepreneurs, businesses, tech professionals, students, educators, and hobbyists will be empowered to rapidly prototype and test new solutions, with a clear path to commercialization supported by Qualcomm Technologies’ advanced technologies and extensive partner ecosystem. ↫ Qualcomms press release Qualcomms track record when it comes to community engagement, open source, and long-term support are absolutely atrocious, and theres no way Arduino will be able to withstand the pressures from management. Weve seen this exact story play out a million times, and it always begins with lofty promises, and always ends with all of them being broken. I have absolutely zero faith Arduino will be able to continue to do its thing like it has. Arduino devices are incredibly popular, and it makes sense for Qualcomm to acquire them. If I were using Arduinos for my open source projects, Id be a bit on edge right now.
- That small sliver of time where a QNX desktop was a real thing we did
Bradford Morgan White has published an excellent retrospective of QNX, the realtime microkernel operating system focused on embedded use cases. The final paragraph made me sad, though. QNX is a fascinating operating system. It was extremely well designed from the start, and while it has been rewritten, the core ideas that allowed it survive for 45 years persist to this day. While I am sad that Photon was deprecated, the reasoning is sound. Most vendors using QNX either do not require a GUI, or they implement their own. For example, while Boston Dynamics uses QNX in their robots, they don’t really need Photon, and neither do SpaceX’s Falcon rockets. While cars certainly have displays, most vehicle makers desire their screen interfaces to have a unique look and feel. Of course, just stating these use cases of robots, rockets, and cars speaks to the incredible reliability and versatility of QNX. Better operating systems are possible, and QNX proves it. ↫ Bradford Morgan White at Abort Retry Fail Way back in 2004, before I even joined OSNews properly, I wrote about QNX as a desktop operating system, because back then I went through a short stint where I used QNX and its amazing Photon MicroGUI as my primary desktop. Back then, there was a short-lived but very enthusiastic community using QNX on desktops, sharing tips and findings, supported by one or two QNX employees who tried their best to support this fledgling community in the face of corporate indifference. Eventually, these QNX employees left the company, and QNX started making it clearer than ever that they were not, in any way, interested in people using QNX on desktops, and in all honesty, they were most likely correct. However, I still think we had something special there, and had QNX management decided to help us out, it couldve grown into something more sustainable. An open source QNX and Photon couldve had an impact. Using QNX on the desktop back then was much easier than you might imagine, with graphical package managers, capable browsers and email clients, a massive pile of open source packages, pretty great performance, and little to no need to ever leave the GUI and use a CLI. If your hardware was properly supported, you could have a great experience. One of the very small what-ifs! form the early 2000s.
- Redox now multithreaded by default
Can these months please stop passing us by this quickly? It seems were getting a monthly Redox update every other week now, and thats not right. Anyway, what have the people behind this Rust-based operating system been up to this past month? One of the biggest changes this month is that Redox is now multithreaded by default, at least on x86 machines. Unsurprisingly, this can enable some serious performance gains. Also contributing to performance improvements this month is inode data inlining for small files, and the installation is now a lot faster too. LZ4 compression has been added to Redox, saving storage space and improving performance. As far as ports go, theres a ton of new and improved ports, like OpenSSH, Nginx, PHP, Neovim, OpenSSL 3.x, and more. On top of that, theres a long list of low-level kernel improvements, driver changes, and relibc improvements, changes to the main website, and so on.
- The case against generative AI: the numbers just dont add up (i.e., its a scam)
Every single “vibe coding is the future,” “the power of AI,” and “AI job loss” story written perpetuates a myth that will only lead to more regular people getting hurt when the bubble bursts. Every article written about OpenAI or NVIDIA or Oracle that doesn’t explicitly state that the money doesn’t exist, that the revenues are impossible, that one of the companies involved burns billions of dollars and has no path to profitability, is an act of irresponsible make believe and mythos. ↫ Edward Zitron The numbers are clear. People arent paying for AI!, and those that do, are using up way more resources than theyre actually paying for. The profits required to make all of this work just arent realistic in any way, shape, or form. The money being pumped around doesnt even exist. Its a scam of such utterly massive proportions, its easier for many of us to just assume it cant possibly be one. Too big to fail? Too many promises to be a scam. Its going to be a bloodbath, but as usual when the finance and tech bros scam entire sectors, its us normal folk who will be left to foot the bill. Lets blame immigrants some more while we implement harsh austerity measures to bail out the billionaire class. Again.
- Under pressure from US government, Apple removes ICEBlock application from the App Store
Your lovely host, late last night: Google claims they won’t be sharing developer information with governments, but we all know that’s a load of bullshit, made all the more relevant after whatever the fuck this was. If you want to oppose the genocide in Gaza or warn people of ICE raids, and want to create an Android application to coordinate such efforts, you probably should not, and stick to more anonymous organising tools. ↫ Thom Holwerda Lets check in with how that other walled garden Google is trying to emulate is doing. Apple has removed ICEBlock, an app that allowed users to monitor and report the location of immigration enforcement officers, from the App Store. We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps,! Apple said in a statement to Business Insider. Based on information weve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store.! ↫ Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, Peter Kafka, and Kwan Wei Kevin Tan for Business Insider Oh. Apple and Google are but mere extensions of the state apparatus. Think twice about what device you bring with you the next time you wish to protest your governments actions.
- Google details Android developer certification requirement, and its as bad as we feared
Google has been on a bit of a marketing blitz to try and counteract some of the negative feedback following its new developer verification requirement for Android applications, and while theyre using a lot of words, none of them seem to address the core concerns. It basically comes down to that they just dont care about the consequences this new requirement has for projects like F-Droid, nor are they really bothered by any of the legitimate privacy concerns this whole thing raises. If this new requirement is implemented in its current form, F-Droid will simply not be able to continue to exist in its current form. F-Droid builds the applications in its repository themselves and signs them, and developer verification does not fit into that picture at all. F-Droid works this way to ensure its applications are built from the publicly available sources, so developers cant sneak anything nefarious into any binaries they would otherwise be submitting themselves. The privacy angle doesnt seem to bother Google much, either, which shouldnt be a surprise to anyone. With this new requirement, Android application developers can simply no longer be anonymous, which has a variety of side-effects, not least of which is that anyone developing applications for, say, dissidents, can now no longer be anonymous. Google claims they wont be sharing developer information with governments, but we all know thats a load of bullshit, made all the more relevant after whatever the fuck this was. If you want to oppose the genocide in Gaza or warn people of ICE raids, and want to create an Android application to coordinate such efforts, you probably should not, and stick to more anonymous organising tools. Students and hobbyists are getting the short end of the stick, too, as Googles promised program specifically for these two groups is incredibly limited. Yes, it waves the $25 fee, but thats about the only positive here: Developers who register with Google as a student or hobbyist will face severe app distribution restrictions, namely a limit on the number of devices that can install their apps. To enforce this, any user wanting to install software from these developers must first retrieve a unique identifier from their device. The developer then has to input this identifier into the Android Developer Console to authorize that specific device for installation. ↫ Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority Google does waive the requirement for developer certification for one particular type of user, and in doing so, highlights the only group of users Google truly cares about: enterprise users. Any application installed by an enterprise on managed devices will not need to have its developer certified. Google states that in this particular use case, the enterprises IT department is responsible for any security issues that may arise. Isnt it funny how the only group of users who wont have to deal with this nonsense are companies who pay Google tons of money for their enterprise tools? The only way were going to get out of this is if any governments step up and put a stop to this. We can safely assume the United States government wont be on our side theyre too busy with their recurring idiotic song-and-dance anyway so our only hope is the European Commission stepping in, but Im not holding my breath. After all, Apples rules and regulations regarding installing applications outside of the App Store in the EU are not that different from what Google is going to do. While the EU is not happy with the details of Apples rules, their general gist seems to be okay with them. Im afraid governments wont be stepping in to stop this one.
- Dutch judge to Facebook: stop secretly disregarding your users settings
And here we have yet another case of the EUs consumer protection legislation working in our favour. Dutch privacy and consumer rights organisation Bits of Freedom sued Facebook over the companys little trick of disregarding a users settings under a variety of circumstances, such as when a user opts for a chronological, non-profiled timeline, only to have Facebook reset itself to the profiled timeline upon a restart. The judge states that Meta is indeed acting in violation of the law. He says that “a non‑persistent choice option for a recommendation system runs counter to the purpose of the DSA, which is to give users genuine autonomy, freedom of choice, and control over how information is presented to them.” The judge also concludes that the way Meta has designed its platforms constitutes “a significant disruption of the autonomy of Facebook and Instagram users.” The judge orders Meta to adjust its apps so that the user’s choice is preserved, even when the user navigates to another section or restarts the app. ↫ Bits of Freedom press release This is good news, of course, but I really wish we would take this a step further: a complete ban on targeted advertising and timeline manipulation based on harvested user data. I just dont believe these business models and ragebait machines offer anything of value to society, and in fact, do far more harm than good. I am convinced that our world would be a better place without these business models. We restrict of outright ban dangerous substances or activities all the time. This should be among them.
- Ubuntu Touch 24.04-1.0 released
With Google closing up Android at a rapid pace, theres some renewed interest in mobile platforms that arent either iOS or Android, and one of those is Ubuntu Touch. Its been steadily improving over the years under the stewardship of the UBports Foundation, and today they released Ubuntu Touch 24.04-1.0. Ubuntu Touch 24.04-1.0 is the first release of Ubuntu Touch which is based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, a major upgrade from Ubuntu 20.04. This might not be as big compared to our last upgrade from Ubuntu 16.04 to 20.04, but this still brings newer software stack to Ubuntu Touch (such as Qt 5.15). ↫ Ubuntu Touch 24.04-1.0 release announcement In this release, aside from the upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, theres now also a light mode for the shell, including experimental support for switching themes on the fly. Applications already supported a light theme since the previous releases, so adding support for it in the main shell is a welcome improvement. Weve also got experimental support for encrypting personal data, which needs to be enabled per device, which I think indicates not all devices support it. On top of that, theres some changes to the phone application, and a slew of smaller fixes and improvements as well. The list of supported devices has grown as well, with the Fairphone 5 as the newcomer this release. The list is still relatively small, but to be fair to the project, it includes a number of popular devices, as well as a few that are still readily available. If you want to opt for running Ubuntu Touch as your smartphone platform, theres definitely plenty of devices to choose from.
- Bringing Desktop Linux GUIs to Android: The Next Step in Graphical App Support
by George Whittaker Introduction
Android has long been focused on running mobile apps, but in recent years, features aimed at developers and power users have begun pushing its boundaries. One exciting frontier: running full Linux graphical (GUI) applications on Android devices. What was once a novelty is now gradually becoming more viable, and recent developments point toward much smoother, GPU-accelerated Linux GUI experiences on Android.
In this article, we’ll trace how Linux apps have run on Android so far, explain the new architecture changes enabling GPU rendering, showcase early demonstrations, discuss remaining hurdles, and look at where this capability is headed.
The State of Linux on Android TodayThe Linux Terminal App
Google’s Linux Terminal app is the core interface for running Linux environments on Android. It spins up a virtual machine (VM), often booting Debian or similar, and lets users enter a shell, install packages, run command-line tools, etc.
Initially, the app was limited purely to text / terminal-based Linux programs; graphical apps were not supported meaningfully. More recently, Google introduced support for launching GUI Linux applications in experimental channels.
Limitations: Rendering & Performance
Even now, most GUI Linux apps on Android are rendered in software, that is, all drawing happens on the CPU (via a software renderer) rather than using the device’s GPU. This leads to sluggish UI, high CPU usage, more thermal stress, and shorter battery life.
Because of these limitations, running heavy GUI apps (graphics editors, games, desktop-level toolkits) has been more experimental than practical.
What’s Changing: GPU-Accelerated Rendering
The big leap forward is moving from CPU rendering to GPU-accelerated rendering, letting the device’s graphics hardware do the heavy lifting.
Lavapipe (Current Baseline)
At present, the Linux VM uses Lavapipe (a Mesa software rasterizer) to interpret GPU API calls on the CPU. This works, but is inefficient, especially for complex GUIs or animations.
Introducing gfxstream
Google is planning to integrate gfxstream into the Linux Terminal app. gfxstream is a GPU virtualization / forwarding technology: rather than reinterpreting graphics calls in software, it forwards them from the guest (Linux VM) to the host’s GPU directly. This avoids CPU overhead and enables near-native rendering speeds.
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- Fedora 43 Beta Released: A Preview of What's Ahead
by George Whittaker Introduction
Fedora’s beta releases offer one of the earliest glimpses into the next major version of the distribution — letting users and developers poke, test, and report issues before the final version ships. With Fedora 43 Beta, released on September 16, 2025, the community begins the final stretch toward the stable Fedora 43.
This beta is largely feature-complete: developers hope it will closely match what the final release looks like (barring last-minute fixes). The goal is to surface regression bugs, UX issues, and compatibility problems before Fedora 43 is broadly adopted.
Release & Availability
The Fedora Project published the beta across multiple editions and media — Workstation, KDE Plasma, Server, IoT, Cloud, and spins/labs where applicable. ISO images are available for download from the official Fedora servers.
Users already running Fedora 42 can upgrade via the DNF system-upgrade mechanism. Some spins (e.g. Mate or i3) are not fully available across all architectures yet.
Because it’s a beta, users should be ready to encounter bugs. Fedora encourages testers to file issues via the QA mailing list or Fedora’s issue tracking infrastructure.
Major New Features & Changes
Fedora 43 Beta brings many updates under the hood — some in visible user features, others in core tooling and system behavior.
Kernel, Desktop & Session Updates
Fedora 43 Beta is built on Linux kernel 6.17.
The Workstation edition features GNOME 49.
In a bold shift, Fedora removes GNOME X11 packages for the Workstation, making Wayland-only the default and only session for GNOME. Existing users are migrated to Wayland.
On KDE, Fedora 43 Beta ships with KDE Plasma 6.4 in the Plasma edition.
Installer & Package Management
Fedora’s Anaconda installer gets a WebUI by default for all Spins, providing a more unified and modern install experience across desktop variants.
The installer now uses DNF5 internally, phasing out DNF4 which is now in maintenance mode.
Auto-updates are enabled by default in Fedora Kinoite, ensuring that systems apply updates seamlessly in the background with minimal user intervention.
Programming & Core Tooling Updates
The Python version in Fedora 43 Beta moves to 3.14, an early adoption to catch bugs before the upstream release.
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- Linux Foundation Welcomes Newton: The Next Open Physics Engine for Robotics
by George Whittaker Introduction
Simulating physics is central to robotics: before a robot ever moves in the real world, much of its learning, testing, and control happens in a virtual environment. But traditional simulators often struggle to match real-world physical complexity, especially where contact, friction, deformable materials, and unpredictable surfaces are involved. That discrepancy is known as the sim-to-real gap, and it’s one of the biggest hurdles in robotics and embodied AI.
On September 29th, the Linux Foundation announced that it is contributing Newton, a next-generation, GPU-accelerated physics engine, as a fully open, community-governed project. This move aims to accelerate robotics research, reduce barriers to entry, and ensure long-term sustainability under neutral governance.
In this article, we’ll unpack what Newton is, how its architecture stands out, the role the Linux Foundation will play, early use cases and challenges, and what this could mean for the future of robotics and simulation.
What Is Newton?
Newton is a physics simulation engine designed specifically for roboticists and simulation researchers who want high fidelity, performance, and extensibility. It was conceived through collaboration among Disney Research, Google DeepMind, and NVIDIA. The recent contribution to the Linux Foundation transforms Newton into an open governance project, inviting broader community collaboration.
Design Goals & Key Features
GPU-accelerated simulation: Newton leverages NVIDIA Warp as its compute backbone, enabling physics computations on GPUs for much higher throughput than traditional CPU-based simulators.
Differentiable physics: Newton allows gradients to be propagated through simulation steps, making it possible to integrate physics into learning pipelines (e.g. backpropagation through control parameters).
Extensible and multi-solver architecture: Users or researchers can plug in custom solvers, mix models (rigid bodies, soft bodies, cloth), and tailor functionality for domain-specific needs.
Interoperability via OpenUSD: Newton builds on OpenUSD (Universal Scene Description) to allow flexible data modeling of robots and environments, and easier integration with asset pipelines.
Compatibility with MuJoCo-Warp: As part of the Newton project, the MuJoCo backbone is adapted (MuJoCo-Warp) for high-performance simulation within Newton’s framework.
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- Kernel 6.15.4 Performance Tuned, Networking Polished, Stability Reinforced
by George Whittaker Introduction
In the life cycle of any kernel branch, patch releases, those minor “.x” updates, play a vital role in refining performance, patching regressions, and ironing out rough edges. Kernel 6.15.4 is one such release: it doesn’t bring headline features, but focuses squarely on stabilizing and optimizing the 6.15 series with targeted fixes in performance and networking.
While version 6.15 already introduced several ambitious changes (filesystem improvements, networking enhancements, Rust driver infrastructure, etc.), the 6.15.4 update doubles down on making those changes more robust and efficient. In this article, we'll walk through the most significant improvements, what they mean for systems running 6.15.*, and how to approach updating.
Release Highlights
The official announcement of Kernel 6.15.4 surfaced around late June 2025. The release includes:
A full source tarball (linux-6.15.4.tar.xz) and patches.
Signature verification via PGP for integrity.
A changelog/diff summary comparing 6.15.3 → 6.15.4.
This update is not a major feature expansion; it’s a refinement release targeting performance regressions, network subsystem reliability, and bug fixes that emerged in prior 6.15.* builds.
Performance Enhancements
Because 6.15 already brought several ambitious changes to memory, I/O, scheduler, and mount semantics, many of the improvements in 6.15.4 are about smoothing interactions, avoiding regressions, and reclaiming performance in corner cases. While not all patches are publicly detailed in summaries, we can infer patterns based on what 6.15 introduced and what “performance patches” generally target.
Memory & TLB Optimizations
One often-painful cost in high-performance workloads is flushing translation lookaside buffers (TLBs) too aggressively. Kernel 6.15 had already begun to optimize broadcast TLB invalidation using AMD’s INVLPGB (for remote CPUs) to reduce overhead in multi-CPU environments. In 6.15.4, fixes likely target edge cases or regressions in those mechanisms, ensuring TLB invalidation is more efficient and consistent.
Additionally, various memory management cleanups, object reuse, and page handling improvements tend to appear in patch releases. While not explicitly documented in the public summaries, such fixes help reduce fragmentation, locking contention, and latency in memory allocation.
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- Python 3.13.5 Patch Release Packed with Fixes & Stability Boosts
by George Whittaker Introduction
On June 11, 2025, the Python core team released Python 3.13.5, the fifth maintenance update to the 3.13 line. This release is not about flashy new language features, instead, it addresses some pressing regressions and bugs introduced in 3.13.4. The “.5” in the version number signals that this is a corrective, expedited update rather than a feature-driven milestone.
In this article, we’ll explore what motivated 3.13.5, catalog the key fixes, review changes inherited in the 3.13 stream, and discuss whether and how you should upgrade. We’ll also peek at implications for future Python releases.
What Led to 3.13.5 (Release Context)
Python 3.13 — released on October 7, 2024 — introduced several significant enhancements over 3.12, including a revamped interactive shell, experimental support for running without a Global Interpreter Lock (GIL), and preliminary JIT infrastructure.
However, after releasing 3.13.4, the maintainers discovered several serious regressions. Thus, 3.13.5 was accelerated (rather than waiting for the next regular maintenance release) to correct these before they impacted a broader user base. In discussions preceding the release, it was noted the Windows extension module build broke under certain configurations, prompting urgent action.
Because of this, 3.13.5 is a “repair” release — its focus is bug fixes and stability, not new capabilities. Nonetheless, it also inherits and stabilizes many of the improvements introduced earlier in 3.13.
Key Fixes & Corrections
While numerous smaller bugs are resolved in 3.13.5, three corrections stand out as primary drivers for the expedited update:
GH-135151 — Windows extension build failure
Under certain build configurations on Windows (for the non-free-threaded build), compiling extension modules failed. This was traced to the pyconfig.h header inadvertently enabling free-threaded builds. The patch restores proper alignment of configuration macros, ensuring extension builds succeed as before.
GH-135171 — Generator expression TypeError delay
In 3.13.4, generator expressions stopped raising a TypeError early when given a non-iterable. Instead, the error was deferred to the time of first iteration. 3.13.5 restores the earlier behavior of raising the TypeError at creation time when the supplied input is not iterable. This change avoids subtler runtime surprises for developers.
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- Denmark’s Strategic Leap Replacing Microsoft Office 365 with LibreOffice for Digital Independence
by George Whittaker
In the summer of 2025, Denmark’s government put forward a major policy change in its digital infrastructure: moving away from using Microsoft Office 365, and in part, open-source its operations with LibreOffice. Below is an original account of what this entails, why it matters, how it’s being done, and what the risks and opportunities are.
What’s Changing and What’s Not
The Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs has committed to replacing Microsoft Office 365 with LibreOffice.
Earlier reports said that Windows would also be entirely swapped-out for Linux, but those reports have since been corrected: Windows will remain in use on many devices for now.
For LibreOffice, the adoption is being phased: about half of the ministry’s employees will begin using LibreOffice (and possibly Linux in some instances) in the summer months; the rest are expected to transition by autumn.
Why Denmark Is Making This MoveDigital Sovereignty & Dependence
A primary driver is the concern over reliance on large foreign tech companies, especially suppliers based outside Europe. By reducing dependency on proprietary software controlled by corporations abroad, Denmark aims to gain more control over its data, security, and updates.
Cost and Licensing
Proprietary software comes with licensing fees, recurring costs, and often tied contracts. Adopting open-source alternatives like LibreOffice can potentially reduce those long-term expenditures.
Security, Transparency, Flexibility
Open-source software tends to allow more auditability, quicker patching, and the ability to adapt tools or software behavior to specific local or regulatory requirements.
Implementation Plan & TimelinePhase What happens Approximate Timing Phase 1 Begin by moving about 50% of Ministry of Digital Affairs employees to LibreOffice (and in selected cases, using Linux tools) Summer 2025 (mid-year) Phase 2 Full transition of the ministry’s office productivity tasks away from Microsoft Office 365 to LibreOffice Autumn 2025
“Full” here is understood in the scope of office productivity tools (word processing, spreadsheets, slides, etc.), not necessarily replacing all legacy systems or moving everything off Windows.
Challenges & Concerns
While the vision is ambitious, there are several hurdles:
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- Valve Survey Reveals Slight Retreat in Steam-on-Linux Share
by George Whittaker Introduction
Steam’s monthly Hardware & Software Survey, published by Valve, offers a window into what operating systems, hardware, and software choices its user base is making. It has become a key barometer for understanding trends in PC gaming, especially for less dominant platforms like Linux. The newest data shows that Linux usage among Steam users has edged downward subtly. While the drop is small, it raises interesting questions about momentum, hardware preferences, and what might lie ahead for Linux gaming.
This article dives into the latest numbers, explores what may be pushing them to abandon Steam, and considers what it means for Linux users, developers, and Valve itself.
Recent Figures: What the Data Shows
June 2025 Survey Outcome: In June, Linux’s slice of Steam’s user base stood at 2.57%, down from approximately 2.69% in May — a decrease of 0.12 percentage points.
Year-Over-Year Comparison: Looking back to June 2024, the Linux share was around 2.08%, so even with this recent slip, there’s still an upward trend compared to a year ago.
Distribution Among Linux Users: A significant portion of Linux gamers are using Valve’s own SteamOS Holo (currying sizable usage numbers via Steam Deck and similar devices). In June, roughly one-third of the Linux user group was on SteamOS Holo.
Hardware Insights:
Among Linux users, AMD CPUs dominate: about 69% of Linux gamers use AMD in June.
Contrast that with the Windows-only survey, where Intel still has about 60% CPU share to AMD’s 39%.
Interpreting the Slip: What Might Be Behind the Dip
Though the drop is modest, a number of factors likely combine to produce it. Here are possible causes:
Statistical Noise & Normal Fluctuation Monthly survey results tend to vary a bit, especially for smaller share percentages. A 0.12% decrease could simply be part of the normal ebb and flow.
Sampling and Survey Methodology
Survey participation may shift by region, language, hardware type, or time of year. If fewer Linux users participated in a given month, the percentage would drop even if absolute numbers stayed flat.
Language shifts in Steam’s usage have shown up before; changes in how many users set certain settings or respond could affect results.
Latency or delays in uploading or processing survey data might also contribute to anomalies.
External Hardware & Platform Trends
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- Qt Creator 17 Ushers in a Fresh Look and Stronger CMake Integration
by George Whittaker
In June 2025, the Qt team officially rolled out Qt Creator 17, marking a notable milestone for developers who rely on this IDE for cross-platform Qt, C++, QML, and Python work. While there are many changes under the hood, two of the spotlighted improvements are its updated default visual style and significant enhancements in how CMake is supported. Below, we’ll explore these in depth, assess their impact, and offer guidance on how to adopt the new features smoothly.
What's New in Qt Creator 17: A Snapshot
Before zooming into the theme and CMake changes, here are some of the broader enhancements in version 17 to set context:
The “2024” theme set (light and dark variants) — which first appeared in earlier versions — becomes the foundational appearance for all new installs.
General polish across the UI: icon refreshes, more consistent spacing, and better contrast.
Projects now bind run configurations more tightly to the build configurations. That means selecting a build (e.g. Debug vs Release) also constrains which run configurations apply.
Upgraded C++ tooling (with LLVM 20.1.3), improved QML formatting options, enhanced Python (pyproject.toml) support, and refinements in version control & analysis tools.
With that backdrop, let’s dive into the theme and CMake changes in more detail.
A Refreshed Visual Identity: Default “2024” ThemesWhat Has Changed
Qt Creator 17 makes the “2024” light and dark themes the standard look & feel for new installations. These themes had been available previously (since Qt Creator 15) but in this version become the out-of-the-box configuration.
Other visual adjustments accompany the theme change:
Icons throughout the IDE have been reviewed and updated so they align better with the new theme style.
UI consistency is improved: spacing, contrast, and alignment between interface elements have been refined so that the environment feels more cohesive.
Why These Changes Matter
A theme isn't just aesthetics. The look and feel of an IDE affect user comfort, readability, efficiency, and even fatigue. Some benefits include:
Improved clarity for long coding sessions: better contrast helps in low-ambient light or for users with visual sensitivity.
Consistency across elements: less jarring visual transitions when switching between parts of the interface or when using external themes/plugins.
Reduced setup friction: since the “2024” theme is now default, many users won’t need to hunt down or tweak theme settings just to get a modern, usable look.
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- Windows 11 Powers Up WSL: How GPU Acceleration & Kernel Upgrades Change the Game
by George Whittaker Introduction
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) has gradually become one of Microsoft’s key bridges for developers, data scientists, and power users who need Linux compatibility without leaving the Windows environment. Over recent versions, WSL2 brought major improvements: a real Linux kernel running in a lightweight virtualized environment, much better filesystem behavior, nearly full system-call compatibility, etc. However, until recently, certain high-performance workloads, GPU computing, video encoding/decoding, and very up-to-date kernel features, were either limited, inefficient, or unavailable.
In Windows 11, Microsoft has taken bold strides to remove many of these bottlenecks. Two of the most significant enhancements are:
The ability for WSL to tap into the GPU for acceleration (compute, video hardware offload, etc.), reducing reliance on CPU where the GPU is much more suited.
More seamless Linux kernel upgrades, allowing users to run newer kernel versions inside WSL2, bringing performance, driver, and feature improvements faster.
This article walks through each thing in detail: what has changed, why it matters, how to use it, what limitations still exist, and how these developments shift what’s possible with WSL on Windows 11.
What WSL Was, and Where It Needed Improvement
Before diving into recent changes, it helps to understand what WSL (especially WSL2) already provided, and where it lagged.
WSL1: Early versions translated Linux system calls to Windows equivalents. Good for basic command-line tools, scripts, but limited in compatibility with certain networking, kernel module, filesystem, and performance-sensitive tasks.
WSL2: Introduced a real Linux kernel inside a lightweight VM (Hyper-V or a similar backend), better system-call compatibility, better performance especially for Linux tools, and much improved behavior for things like Docker, compiling, etc. Still, heavy workloads (e.g. ML training, video encoding, hardware-accelerated graphics) were constrained by CPU support, lack of passthrough of GPU features, older kernels, etc.
So developers were pushing Microsoft to allow more direct access to GPU functionality (CUDA, DirectML, video decoding), and to speed up how kernel updates reach users.
GPU Acceleration in WSL on Windows 11: What It Means
GPU acceleration here refers to WSL’s ability to offload certain computation or video tasks from the CPU to the GPU, enabling faster, more efficient execution. This includes:
Compute workloads - frameworks like CUDA (for NVIDIA), DirectML, etc., so that things like deep learning, scientific computing, data-parallel tasks run much faster. Microsoft now supports running NVIDIA CUDA inside WSL to accelerate ML libraries like PyTorch, TensorFlow.
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- Harnessing GitOps on Linux for Seamless, Git-First Infrastructure Management
by George Whittaker Introduction
Imagine a world where every server, application, and network configuration is meticulously orchestrated via Git, where updates, audits, and recoveries happen with a single commit. This is the realm GitOps unlocks, especially potent when paired with the versatility of Linux environments. In this article, we'll dive deep into how Git-driven workflows can transform the way you manage Linux infrastructure, offering clarity, control, and confidence in every change.
GitOps Demystified: A New Infrastructure Paradigm
GitOps isn't just a catchy buzzword, it's a methodical rethink of how infrastructure should be managed.
It treats Git as the definitive blueprint for your live systems, everything from server settings to application deployments is declared, versioned, and stored in repositories.
With Git as the single source of truth, every adjustment is tracked, reversible, and auditable, turning ops into a transparent, code-centric process.
Beyond simple CI/CD, GitOps introduces a continuous reconciliation model: specialized agents continuously compare the actual state of systems against the desired state in Git and correct any discrepancies automatically.
Why Linux and GitOps Are a Natural Pair
Linux stands at the heart of infrastructure, servers, containers, edge systems, you name it. When GitOps is layered onto that:
You'll leverage Linux’s scripting capabilities (like bash) to craft powerful, domain-specific automation that dovetails perfectly with GitOps agents.
The transparency of Git coupled with Linux’s flexible architecture simplifies debugging, auditing, and recovery.
The combination gives infrastructure teams the agility to iterate faster while keeping control rigorous and secure.
Architecting GitOps Pipelines for Linux EnvironmentsStructuring Repositories Deliberately
A well-organized Git setup is crucial:
Use separate repositories or disciplined directory structures for:
Infrastructure modules (e.g., Terraform, networking, VMs),
Platform components (monitoring, ingress controllers, certificates),
Application-level configurations (Helm overrides, container versions).
This separation helps ensure access controls align with responsibilities and limits risks from misconfiguration or accidental cross-impact.
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