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OpenWrt 24.10 Brings Kernel 6.6 and Initial WiFi 7 Support
by Peter Reutemann 11 Feb '25

11 Feb '25

'OpenWrt, a free and open-source Linux-based operating system primarily used for embedded devices, most notably residential gateways and routers, has just announced the first stable release of its 24.10 series. Most notable among the changes is the jump from Linux kernel 5.15 to 6.6 LTS, which promises better hardware support and long-term viability. Additionally, TLS 1.3 support is now standard in the default images, bolstering security capabilities for systems relying on encrypted connections. Another noteworthy improvement is the activation of POSIX Access Control Lists and file system security attributes on devices with larger flash memory sizes. Moreover, kernel support for Multipath TCP has been enabled on devices with greater storage capacity. Regarding wireless networking, OpenWrt 24.10 further refines WiFi6 (802.11ax) and adds initial, although still limited, support for WiFi7 (802.11be). Of course, each new release also expands device coverage, with OpenWrt 24.10 now supporting over 1,970 devices, adding compatibility for more than 100 new models compared to the previous release. And completely expected, their own OpenWrt One is now among them.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/openwrt-24-10-brings-kernel-6-6-and-initial-wifi-7-sup… Cheers, Peter

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How To Make Any AMD Zen CPU Always Generate 4 As a Random Number
by Peter Reutemann 10 Feb '25

10 Feb '25

'Google security researchers have discovered a way to bypass AMD's security, enabling them to load unofficial microcode into its processors and modify the silicon's behaviour at will. To demonstrate this, they created a microcode patch that forces the chips to always return 4 when asked for a random number. Beyond simply allowing Google and others to customize AMD chips for both beneficial and potentially malicious purposes, this capability also undermines AMD's secure encrypted virtualization and root-of-trust security mechanisms.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/02/09/2021244 Cheers, Peter

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Red Hat Plans to Add AI to Fedora and GNOME
by Peter Reutemann 05 Feb '25

05 Feb '25

'In his post about the future of Fedora Workstation, Christian F.K. Schaller discusses how the Red Hat team plans to integrate AI with IBM's open-source Granite engine to enhance developer tools, such as IDEs, and create an AI-powered Code Assistant. He says the team is also working on streamlining AI acceleration in Toolbx and ensuring Fedora users have access to tools like RamaLama. From the post: One big item on our list for the year is looking at ways Fedora Workstation can make use of artificial intelligence. Thanks to IBMs Granite effort we know have an AI engine that is available under proper open source licensing terms and which can be extended for many different usecases. Also the IBM Granite team has an aggressive plan for releasing updated versions of Granite, incorporating new features of special interest to developers, like making Granite a great engine to power IDEs and similar tools. We been brainstorming various ideas in the team for how we can make use of AI to provide improved or new features to users of GNOME and Fedora Workstation. This includes making sure Fedora Workstation users have access to great tools like RamaLama, that we make sure setting up accelerated AI inside Toolbx is simple, that we offer a good Code Assistant based on Granite and that we come up with other cool integration points. "I'm still not sure how I feel about this approach," writes designer/developer and blogger, Bradley Taunt. "While IBM Granite is an open source model, I still don't enjoy so much artificial 'intelligence' creeping into core OS development. This also isn't something optional on the end-users side, like a desktop feature or package. This sounds like it's going to be built directly into the core system." "Red Hat has been pushing hard towards AI and my main concern is having this influence other operating system dev teams. Luckily things seems AI-free in BSD land. For now, at least." ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/02/04/2047240 Cheers, Peter

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Framework Laptop’s RISC-V board for open source diehards is available for $199
by Peter Reutemann 05 Feb '25

05 Feb '25

'We've covered the Framework Laptop 13 primarily as a consumer Windows laptop, reviewing versions with multiple Intel and AMD processors. But the system's modular nature makes it possible to expand it beyond Windows PC hardware, as we've seen with experiments like the (now-discontinued) Chromebook Edition of the laptop. Today Framework is expanding to something even more experimental: a DeepComputing RISC-V Mainboard targeted primarily at developers. RISC-V is a fully open source and royalty-free instruction set, making it possible for anyone to adopt and use it without having to license it (unlike x86, which is a maze of cross-licensed Intel and AMD technologies that other companies can't really buy into; or Arm, which is licensed by the company of the same name). First announced in June 2024, the board is available to order today for $199. The board is designed to fit in a Framework Laptop 13 chassis, which means that people who would prefer a desktop can also put it into the $39 Cooler Master Mainboard Case that Framework offers. Made in concert with DeepComputing, the board uses a StarFive JH7110 processor with four 1.5 GHz SiFive U74 CPU cores. The board can officially run either Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or Fedora 41, with tech support provided by DeepComputing.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/framework-laptop-expands-beyond-x86… Cheers, Peter

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procfs -- Too Much Info
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Feb '25

04 Feb '25

What used to be a single proc(5) man page, documenting the contents of the /proc file system, has now been broken out into over a hundred separate pages. You can find them with man -s5 -k proc | grep ^proc

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Popular Linux orgs Freedesktop and Alpine Linux are scrambling for new web hosting
by Peter Reutemann 04 Feb '25

04 Feb '25

'In what is becoming a sadly regular occurrence, two popular free software projects, X.org/Freedesktop.org and Alpine Linux, need to rally some of their millions of users so that they can continue operating. Both services have largely depended on free server resources provided by Equinix (formerly Packet.net) and its Metal division for the past few years. Equinix announced recently that it was sunsetting its bare-metal sales and services, or renting out physically distinct single computers rather than virtualized and shared hardware. As reported by the Phronix blog, both free software organizations have until the end of April to find and fund new hosting, with some fairly demanding bandwidth and development needs. An issue ticket on Freedesktop.org's GitLab repository provides the story and the nitty-gritty needs of that project. Both the X.org foundation (home of the 40-year-old window system) and Freedesktop.org (a shared base of specifications and technology for free software desktops, including Wayland and many more) used Equinix's donated space. Equinix Metal "were very kind and generous with us and even if it's a shame we have to move out on a short notice, all things come to an end," writes Benjamin Tissoires, admin for the project, on the issue page. Tissoires lays out the project's needs—more than 400GB of database storage and close to 100TB of storage data—and a wishlist for new hosting.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/popular-linux-orgs-freedesktop-and-… Cheers, Peter

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Mozilla Adapts 'Fakespot' Into an AI-Detecting Firefox Add-on
by Peter Reutemann 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

'OMG Ubuntu reports: Want to find out if the text you're reading online was written by an real human or spat out by a large language model trying to sound like one? Mozilla's Fakespot Deepfake Detector Firefox add-on may help give you an indication. Similar to online AI detector tools, the add-on can analyse text (of 32 words or more) to identify patterns, traits, and tells common in AI generated or manipulated text. It uses Mozilla's proprietary ApolloDFT engine and a set of open-source detection models. But unlike some tools, Mozilla's Fakespot Deepfake Detector browser extension is free to use, does not require a signup, nor an app download. "After installing the extension, it is simple to highlight any text online and request an instant analysis. Our Detector will tell you right away if the words are likely to be written by a human or if they show AI patterns," Mozilla says. Fakespot, acquired by Mozilla in 2023, is best known for its fake product review detection tool which grades user-submitted reviews left on online shopping sites. Mozilla is now expanding the use of Fakespot's AI tech to cover other kinds of online content. At present, Mozilla's Fakespot Deepfake Detector only works with highlighted text on websites but the company says it image and video analysis is planned for the future. The Fakespot web site will also analyze the reviews on any product-listing pages if you paste in its URL.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/02/02/2156241 Cheers, Peter

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Facebook Flagging Linux Discussions as “Cybersecurity Threats”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

Facebook is blocking posts and users that mention Linux, according to this report <https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/facebook-flags-linux-topics-as-…>. Distrowatch seems to have been the first to notice this, saying that many of its readers have reported trouble with Facebook. But the trouble is not confined to them. And when the site tried to report the issue, its complaint was firmly rejected, and the writer’s account was also locked. And yes, if you were wondering, doesn’t Facebook itself rely heavily on Linux? It does indeed: Facebook's overzealous ban on some Linux topics in the name of Community Standards and its protection of its users from threats come with a large ladle full of irony. "Facebook runs much of its infrastructure on Linux," DistroWatch points out, "and often posts job ads looking for Linux developers." My most charitable interpretation of this is some kind of over-reliance on automated AI-based procedures has got a bit out of hand ...

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Build-Your-Own Open-Source Laptop
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 28 Jan '25

28 Jan '25

Looking further back at the Tom’s Hardware articles, I found this one <https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/student-builds-open-source-laptop-in-6…> about a senior high-school student’s project to build his own laptop from off-the-shelf parts. Its core is a Raspberry-Pi competitor, it has a 4K display, and can manage 7 hours of battery life. The entire effort took six months. And the result doesn’t look too shabby, either.

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Linux 6.14 Brings Some Systems Faster Suspend and Resume
by Peter Reutemann 28 Jan '25

28 Jan '25

'Amid the ongoing Linux 6.14 kernel development cycle, Phoronix spotted a pull request for ACPI updates which "will allow for faster suspend and resume cycles on some systems." Wikipedia defines ACPI as "an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components" for things like power management and putting unused hardware components to sleep. Phoronix reports: The ACPI change worth highlighting for Linux 6.14 is switching from msleep() to usleep_range() within the acpi_os_sleep() call in the kernel. This reduces spurious sleep time due to timer inaccuracy. Linux ACPI/PM maintainer Rafael Wysocki of Intel who authored this change noted that it could "spectacularly" reduce the duration of system suspend and resume transitions on some systems... Rafael explained in the patch making the sleep change: "The extra delay added by msleep() to the sleep time value passed to it can be significant, roughly between 1.5 ns on systems with HZ = 1000 and as much as 15 ms on systems with HZ = 100, which is hardly acceptable, at least for small sleep time values." One 2022 bug report complained a Dell XPS 13 using Thunderbolt took "a full 8 seconds to suspend and a full 8 seconds to resume even though no physical devices are connected." In November an Intel engineer posted on the kernel mailing list that the fix gave a Dell XPS 13 a 42% improvement in kernel resume time (from 1943ms to 1127ms).' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/01/25/2343225 Cheers, Peter

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