- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Steam Deck & PC Gaming
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Feb '25

26 Feb '25

PC gaming is still a bigger business than consoles, according to <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/01/way-more-game-makers-are-working-on-…>. And the Linux-powered Steam Deck has been pioneering the new handheld segment of the PC gaming market. But figures on Steam Deck sales are hard to come by. Here <https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/p/steam-deck-everything-you-were-afraid> is an attempt to tease out, from the available hints, how popular the product actually is. That article is over a year old by now, but it estimates that there were 3-4 million Steam Decks sold by that point. I think we can safely say another million or more in units has been added to that since then. One concrete figure from the Steam Hardware Survey <https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welc…> is that about 2.3% of all Steam users are on Linux. This looks like 0.7% specifically on the Steam Deck, so other Linux would be about 1.6%. Another linked survey reports that over half of Steam Deck users run other game emulation systems (e.g. PlayStation 2, Game Boy, GameCube) on their Decks.

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Pi-hole 6 Is Here: Now Faster, Smarter, and More Secu
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

'The much-anticipated Pi-hole 6, a network-wide ad blocker that acts as a DNS sinkhole to block advertisements, trackers, and malicious domains at the network level, has been officially released, now featuring an embedded web server and a new REST API directly integrated into the pihole-FTL binary. This eliminates the need for Lighttpd and PHP, reducing the installation footprint and boosting overall performance. Moreover, the new API introduces server-side pagination for the query log, ensuring a faster and more responsive user experience. Next, advanced filtering gets a boost by introducing support for subscribed allowlists, also known as “Antigravity.” These allowlists work similarly to traditional blocklists but allow domains rather than denying them, giving users more nuanced control over what content gets filtered. Additionally, configuration management has been made more user-friendly by consolidating multiple settings files into a single, richly commented TOML file located at “/etc/pihole/pihole.toml.” Whether you prefer direct file editing, command line tweaks, API usage, or environment variables—Pi-hole 6 has you covered. It’s also worth noting that the user interface has received a complete overhaul. With settings now divided into Basic and Expert modes, users can tailor their experience based on their comfort level.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/pi-hole-6-is-here-now-faster-smarter-and-more-secure/ Cheers, Peter

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Greg Kroah-Hartman Supports Rust in the Kernel
by Peter Reutemann 24 Feb '25

24 Feb '25

'Report from Phoronix: Linux's second-in-command Greg Kroah-Hartman has also been a big proponent of Rust kernel code. He's crafted another Linux kernel mailing list post [Wednesdsay] outlining the benefits of Rust and encouraging new kernel code/drivers to be in Rust rather than C. Greg KH makes the case that the majority of the kernel bugs are due to "stupid little corner cases in C that are totally gone in Rust." "As someone who has seen almost EVERY kernel bugfix and security issue for the past 15+ years... and who sees EVERY kernel CVE issued, I think I can speak on this topic," Kroah-Hartman began. Here's some excerpts from his remarks. Citing corner cases like overwrites of memory, error path cleanups, use-after-free mistakes and forgetting to check error values, Kroah-Hartman says he's "all for... making these types of problems impossible to hit." That's why I'm wanting to see Rust get into the kernel, these types of issues just go away, allowing developers and maintainers more time to focus on the REAL bugs that happen (i.e. logic issues, race conditions, etc.)... [F]or new code / drivers, writing them in Rust where these types of bugs just can't happen (or happen much much less) is a win for all of us, why wouldn't we do this...? Rust isn't a "silver bullet" that will solve all of our problems, but it sure will help in a huge number of places, so for new stuff going forward, why wouldn't we want that...? Yes, mixed language codebases are rough, and hard to maintain, but we are kernel developers dammit, we've been maintaining and strengthening Linux for longer than anyone ever thought was going to be possible. We've turned our development model into a well-oiled engineering marvel creating something that no one else has ever been able to accomplish. Adding another language really shouldn't be a problem, we've handled much worse things in the past and we shouldn't give up now on wanting to ensure that our project succeeds for the next 20+ years. We've got to keep pushing forward when confronted with new good ideas, and embrace the people offering to join us in actually doing the work to help make sure that we all succeed together. Kroah-Hartman emphasized later that "a huge majority of the stupid things we do in C just don't happen in the same code implemented in Rust (i.e. memory leaks, error path cleanups, return value checking, etc.) " The complete thread contains over 140 messages — including Linus Torvalds' observation that " #pragma is complete garbage and should never be used."' -- source:https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/02/22/0543255 Cheers, Peter

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Brave Now Lets You Inject Custom JavaScript To Tweak Websites
by Peter Reutemann 11 Feb '25

11 Feb '25

'Brave Browser version 1.75 introduces "custom scriptlets," a new feature that allows advanced users to inject their own JavaScript into websites for enhanced customization, privacy, and usability. The feature is similar to the TamperMonkey and GreaseMonkey browser extensions, notes BleepingComputer. From the report: "Starting with desktop version 1.75, advanced Brave users will be able to write and inject their own scriptlets into a page, allowing for better control over their browsing experience," explained Brave in the announcement. Brave says that the feature was initially created to debug the browser's adblock feature but felt it was too valuable not to share with users. Brave's custom scriptlets feature can be used to modify webpages for a wide variety of privacy, security, and usability purposes. For privacy-related changes, users write scripts that block JavaScript-based trackers, randomize fingerprinting APIs, and substitute Google Analytics scripts with a dummy version. In terms of customization and accessibility, the scriptlets could be used for hiding sidebars, pop-ups, floating ads, or annoying widgets, force dark mode even on sites that don't support it, expand content areas, force infinite scrolling, adjust text colors and font size, and auto-expand hidden content. For performance and usability, the scriptlets can block video autoplay, lazy-load images, auto-fill forms with predefined data, enable custom keyboard shortcuts, bypass right-click restrictions, and automatically click confirmation dialogs. The possible actions achievable by injected JavaScript snippets are virtually endless. However, caution is advised, as running untrusted custom scriptlets may cause issues or even introduce some risk.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/10/2348258 Cheers, Peter

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This Keyboard Has A “SMOL” Key
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Feb '25

11 Feb '25

The review claims this is the “world’s largest keyboard”. <https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/keyboards/im-typing-this-on-the-wo…>. It is supposedly inspired by the legendary “Space Cadet” keyboard from the 1980s <https://www.deviantart.com/default-cube/art/Space-Cadet-Keyboard-650629356>, and is certainly a wonder to behold. Yet with all the modifiers it does provide (look, they found room for *two* “Meta” keys, both on the right-hand side!), they somehow decided to omit any CTRL keys. Note on modifiers: “Meta” is commonly a synonym for “Alt”, while the “Super” key is usually mapped to the one with the Windows logo on it, for those still stuck in the Microsoft world. The “Hyper” moodifier has no equivalent on a conventional keyboard. These are all names well-established from the days of high-powered workstations running Unix or doing AI work with Lisp. But what the heck is the “SMOL” key supposed to do?

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Tails 6.12 Rolls Out, Sealing Critical Security Gaps
by Peter Reutemann 11 Feb '25

11 Feb '25

'The Tails project announced the release of its privacy-focused Linux distro, Tails 6.12, featuring vital security patches alongside an array of functional updates. According to the development team, several vulnerabilities were discovered during an external security audit by Radically Open Security. In light of this, perhaps the most noteworthy highlights in Tails 6.12 are the fixes preventing attackers from monitoring Tor circuits and altering Persistent Storage settings. Here are some more details about it. Tor Circuit Monitoring Prevention In earlier versions (up to Tails 6.11), vulnerabilities within Onion Circuits and the Tor Browser wrapper could have allowed a hostile actor—who had already hijacked a running application—to monitor or modify Tor connections, potentially revealing user identities. The Tails developers emphasize that there is no indication these flaws were exploited in the wild. Persistent Storage Security Enhancements Another fix addresses a loophole that, if exploited, could have allowed attackers with existing control of an application to change Persistent Storage settings. This patch ensures that user data in the Persistent Storage remains more securely locked down even in the unlikely event of a breach.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/tails-6-12-rolls-out-sealing-critical-security-gaps/ Cheers, Peter

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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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Could New Linux Code Cut Data Center Energy Use By 30%?
by Peter Reutemann 26 Jan '25

26 Jan '25

'Two computer scientists at the University of Waterloo in Canada believe changing 30 lines of code in Linux "could cut energy use at some data centers by up to 30 percent," according to the site Data Centre Dynamics. It's the code that processes packets of network traffic, and Linux "is the most widely used OS for data center servers," according to the article: The team tested their solution's effectiveness and submitted it to Linux for consideration, and the code was published this month as part of Linux's newest kernel, release version 6.13. "All these big companies — Amazon, Google, Meta — use Linux in some capacity, but they're very picky about how they decide to use it," said Martin Karsten [professor of Computer Science in the Waterloo's Math Faculty]. "If they choose to 'switch on' our method in their data centers, it could save gigawatt hours of energy worldwide. Almost every single service request that happens on the Internet could be positively affected by this." The University of Waterloo is building a green computer server room as part of its new mathematics building, and Karsten believes sustainability research must be a priority for computer scientists. "We all have a part to play in building a greener future," he said. The Linux Foundation, which oversees the development of the Linux OS, is a founder member of the Green Software Foundation, an organization set up to look at ways of developing "green software" — code that reduces energy consumption. Karsten "teamed up with Joe Damato, distinguished engineer at Fastly" to develop the 30 lines of code, according to an announcement from the university. "The Linux kernel code addition developed by Karsten and Damato was based on research published in ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review" (by Karsten and grad student Peter Cai). Their paper "reviews the performance characteristics of network stack processing for communication-heavy server applications," devising an "indirect methodology" to "identify and quantify the direct and indirect costs of asynchronous hardware interrupt requests (IRQ) as a major source of overhead... "Based on these findings, a small modification of a vanilla Linux system is devised that improves the efficiency and performance of traditional kernel-based networking significantly, resulting in up to 45% increased throughput..."' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/01/25/2111225 Cheers, Peter

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kiwix
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jan '25

23 Jan '25

Hi there Just stumbled across kiwix, an offline reader for things like Mediawiki (incl Wikipedia) and other books: https://kiwix.org/en/applications/ The library: https://library.kiwix.org/#lang=eng -- source: https://infosec.exchange/@Em0nM4stodon/113872764752277451 Cheers, Peter

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Wine 10.0 brings Arm Windows apps to Linux, still is not an emulator
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jan '25

23 Jan '25

'The open source Wine project—sometimes stylized WINE, for Wine Is Not an Emulator—has become an important tool for companies and individuals who want to make Windows apps and games run on operating systems like Linux or even macOS. The CrossOver software for Mac and Windows, Apple's Game Porting Toolkit, and the Proton project that powers Valve's SteamOS and the Steam Deck are all rooted in Wine, and the attention and resources put into the project in recent years have dramatically improved its compatibility and usefulness. Yesterday, the Wine project announced the stable release of version 10.0, the next major version of the compatibility layer that is not an emulator. The headliner for this release is support for ARM64EC, the application binary interface (ABI) used for Arm apps in Windows 11, but the release notes say that the release contains "over 6,000 individual changes" produced over "a year of development effort." ARM64EC allows developers to mix Arm and x86-compatible code—if you're making an Arm-native version of your app, you can still allow the use of more obscure x86-based plugins or add-ons without having to port everything over at once. Wine 10.0 also supports ARM64X, a different type of application binary file that allows ARM64EC code to be mixed with older, pre-Windows 11 ARM64 code. Wine's ARM64EC support does have one limitation that will keep it from working on some prominent Arm Linux distributions, at least by default: the release notes say it "requires the system page size to be 4K, since that is what the Windows ABI specifies." Several prominent Linux-on-Arm distributions default to a 16K page size because it can improve performance—when page sizes are smaller, you need more of them, and managing a higher number of pages can introduce extra CPU overhead.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/wine-10-0-released-adding-linux-com… Cheers, Peter

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TuxCare Stops Microsoft From Killing .NET 6.0
by Peter Reutemann 17 Jan '25

17 Jan '25

'TuxCare today announced that it’s added Microsoft’s .NET 6.0 to the roster of open-source platforms its supporting through its Endless Lifecycle Support program. This means that organizations that wish to continue using the platform, which reached end of life on Nov 12, 2024 and no longer receives updates, can continue to safely do so. TuxCare’s service will supply security patches for any vulnerabilities that arise in the software, just as it continues to patch long dead Linux distros. In times past, continuing to keep expired software in production was considered to be bad policy. These days, however, it’s becoming more common for sysadmins and DevOps teams to rely on services like TuxCare rather than go through the often frustrating and always time consuming and costly ordeal of upgrading, a process that often breaks essential secondary components which then have to be upgraded or fixed. When FOSS Force spoke with Joao Correia, a technical evangelist for both TuxCare and its parent company CloudLinux, he was quick to point out that supporting a product from Microsoft is something new, not only for TuxCare but for any of the companies that offer aftermarket support for expired open-source projects. “That’s somewhat of a departure in that we are now touching on proprietary Microsoft space which we hadn’t touched before,” he said. “At the same time, it’s an open-source project, and we have lots of experience with those types of projects and maintaining them.”' -- source: https://fossforce.com/2025/01/tuxcare-stops-microsoft-from-killing-net-6-0/ Cheers, Peter

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Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Now Works on the HiFive Premier P550 RISC-V Development Board
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jan '25

14 Jan '25

'Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, announced today that they’ve partnered with SiFive and ESWIN Computing to enable Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on the HiFive Premier P550 RISC-V development board. The HiFive Premier P550 is a RISC-V single-board computer powered by the ESWIN EIC7700X SoC with a SiFive Quad-Core P550 64-bit RISC-V processor running at 1.4 GHz and an integrated Imagination AXM-8-256 GPU supporting hardware accelerated video encoding up to 8K@25fps, hardware accelerated video decoding up to 8K@50fps, and hardware accelerated AI NPU with ~20 TOPS. The RISC-V board also features up to 32GB Samsung/Micron LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB Samsung eMMC storage, two 10/100/1000 Ethernet RJ45 connectors, a single Ethernet RJ45 connector for remote board management using dedicated MCU, an M.2 Key E connector for Wi-Fi / Bluetooth module, an HDMI 2.0 connector, a SATA 3 connector (6Gb/s), a JTAG Header, a microSD card connector, three fan headers, five USB 3 ports, and PCIe expansion slots. And the best thing for those who want to buy this 64-bit RISC-V development board for their projects is that it comes pre-installed with the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) operating system featuring the long-term supported and optimized Linux 6.6 LTS kernel series, which will receive updates until December 2026.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-24-04-lts-now-works-on-the-hifive-premier-p550… Cheers, Peter

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Debian 12.9 “Bookworm” Arrives with 72 Bug Fixes and 38 Security Updates
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jan '25

14 Jan '25

'Today, the Debian Project announced the release and general availability of Debian 12.9 as the eighth ISO update to the latest Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” operating system series. Coming a little over two months after Debian 12.8 and powered the Linux 6.1 LTS series, Debian 12.9 is the eighth point release of Debian Bookworm. Yes, eighth, because Debian 12.3 was never released due to an issue in the EXT4 file system leading to data corruption so it doesn’t count. As with previous updates, Debian 12.9 is here to provide updated installation media to those who want to deploy the latest Debian Bookworm operating system on new hardware and they had issues with previous Debian 12 versions or don’t want to download hundreds of updates from the repositories after the installation. In numbers, this new release includes a total of 72 bug fixes for miscellaneous packages and 38 security updates. Details about these security and miscellaneous bug fixes can be found on the release announcement page.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/debian-12-9-bookworm-arrives-with-72-bug-fixes-and-38… -- release: https://www.debian.org/News/2025/20250111 Cheers, Peter

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Mastodon’s founder cedes control, refuses to become next Musk or Zuckerberg
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jan '25

14 Jan '25

'Mastodon announced Monday that it's shifting its structure over the next six months to become wholly owned by a European nonprofit organization—"affirming the intent that Mastodon should not be owned or controlled by a single individual." This takes control of the social network away from its previous "ultimate decision-maker," Eugen Rochko. As founder, Rochko initially took the reins to ensure the decentralized platform would never be for sale and "would be free of the control of a single wealthy individual." His grand vision remains to leave Mastodon users in control of the social network, making their own decisions about what content is allowed or what appears in their timelines. The news comes after leaders of other social networks, like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, have sparked backlash over sudden changes to popular apps like Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). For years, Musk has drawn criticism for changing Twitter's hate speech policies through his X rebranding. And more recently, Zuckerberg this month defended Meta's decision to relax hate speech policies (permitting women to be called "property" and gay people to be called "mentally ill") by calling bans on such speech "out of touch with mainstream discourse." Mastodon is hoping to provide an alternative social network for users who are potentially frustrated with their lack of control over their timelines and content on other networks. But to achieve the "envisioned independence" for all users, Mastodon's structure needed to "evolve," the blog said, "as the community grew" to about 1.5 million monthly active users in 2023. Remaining headquartered in Europe primarily, Mastodon's day-to-day operations will be managed by the new European not-for-profit entity, "establishing a new legal home for Mastodon." The user experience on Mastodon won't be affected much by the transition to a nonprofit owner, Mastodon said. But "changes are definitely in the pipeline."' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/mastodon-becomes-nonprofit-to-m… Cheers, Peter

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Pilet: A Modular, Portable Mini-Computer Powered by Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jan '25

13 Jan '25

'Pilet is a retro-futuristic mini-computer that runs on the latest Raspberry Pi 5. It’s built to be fully modifiable, both in hardware and software, so you can escape the limitations of closed systems like iOS or Android. Pilet works with various Linux distributions and is compatible with Raspberry Pi OS out of the box. The team is also developing Pilet OS, a custom-optimized operating system for Pilet. Key Features of Pilet Here are some of Pilet's key features: - Raspberry Pi 5 Power: Pilet is powered by the Raspberry Pi 5, which offers a performance boost and supports advanced features like PCIe and NVMe storage. - Long Battery Life: With a 7-hour battery life, you can take your projects anywhere without being tied to a desk. - Open Source: Pilet is fully open source. After launch, the team will release schematics, PCB files, CAD files, and source code, so you can tweak and modify both the hardware and software. - Modular Design: Pilet’s modular design lets you add your own modules, like cameras, sensors, or even LTE connectivity. The team is also working on modules like NVMe and LTE. - VESA compatibility: Makes it easier and more secure to mount Pilet anywhere. - Active+passive cooling: A metal back combined with a fan keeps the Raspberry Pi 5 cool and running smoothly. - AI module support: Supports the Hailo-8L module, delivering 13 TOPS of processing power. - Rear stand: Allows users to position Pilet at any angle. - Custom battery management: Ensures stable performance even under demanding applications. - Simple and Practical: Pilet follows the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle. It’s easy to use, with no extra drivers or complicated setups. All components are 3D-printable and customizable. Technical Specifications - Supported SBC: Raspberry Pi 5 - Power Source: 3.7V Lithium Polymer/Lithium-Ion Batteries, 5V USB-C - Screen: 5-inch or 7-inch IPS touchscreen - I/O: MicroHDMI (2x), USB 3.0 (2x), USB 2.0 (2x), Programmable GPIO - Network: Wi-Fi, LAN, Bluetooth 5.0, LTE (via module) - Storage: SD card, NVMe SSD (via module) - Dimensions: 175mm x 125mm x 28mm' -- source: https://ostechnix.com/pilet-modular-portable-mini-computer-powered-by-raspb… Looks funky! :-) Cheers, Peter

1 0

German router maker is latest company to inadvertently clarify the LGPL license
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jan '25

13 Jan '25

'The GNU General Public License (GPL) and its "Lesser" version (LGPL) are widely known and used. Still, every so often, a networking hardware maker has to get sued to make sure everyone knows how it works. The latest such router company to face legal repercussions is AVM, the Berlin-based maker of the most popular home networking products in Germany. Sebastian Steck, a German software developer, bought an AVM Fritz!Box 4020 (PDF) and, being a certain type, requested the source code that had been used to generate certain versions of the firmware on it. According to Steck's complaint (translated to English and provided in PDF by the Software Freedom Conservancy, or SFC), he needed this code to recompile a networking library and add some logging to "determine which programs on the Fritz!Box establish connections to servers on the Internet and which data they send." But Steck was also concerned about AVM's adherence to GPL 2.0 and LGPL 2.1 licenses, under which its FRITZ!OS and various libraries were licensed. The SFC states that it provided a grant to Steck to pursue the matter. AVM provided source code, but it was incomplete, as "the scripts for compilation and installation were missing," according to Steck's complaint. This included makefiles and details on environment variables, like "KERNEL_LAYOUT," necessary for compilation. Steck notified AVM, AVM did not respond, and Steck sought legal assistance, ultimately including the SFC. Months later, according to the SFC, AVM provided all the relevant source code and scripts, but the suit continued. AVM ultimately paid Steck's attorney fee. The case proved, once again, that not only are source code requirements real, but the LGPL also demands freedom, despite its "Lesser" name, and that source code needs to be useful in making real changes to firmware—in German courts, at least. "The favorable result of this lawsuit exemplifies the power of copyleft—granting users the freedom to modify, repair, and secure the software on their own devices," the SFC said in a press release. "Companies like AVM receive these immense benefits themselves. This lawsuit reminded AVM that downstream users must receive those very same rights under copyleft."' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/suing-wi-fi-router-makers-remains-a… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Linux Foundation bands together Chromium browser makers in a “neutral space”
by Peter Reutemann 10 Jan '25

10 Jan '25

'Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers sounds like a very niche local meetup, one with hats and T-shirts that barely fit the name. But it's really a "neutral space" for funding and support, corralling together some big names with a stake in the future of Chrome's open source roots, Chromium. The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit started in 2000 that has grown to support a broader range of open source projects, spurred the initiative. In a press release, the Foundation states that the project will allow "industry leaders, academia, developers, and the broader open source community" to work on Chromium, with "much-needed funding and development support for open development of projects." A few names you don't often see together are already on board: Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Opera. Krystian Kolondra, executive vice president of browsers at Opera, stated in a release that "as one of the major browsers contributing to the Chromium project," Opera would "look forward to collaborating with members of the project to foster this growth and keep building innovative and compelling products for all users." How will this work? Kind of how Chromium has been working already. The group will have an open governance model, according to the Foundation, based on other Foundation initiatives based on "transparency, inclusivity, and community-driven development." The Linux Foundation's structure supports Kubernetes, Node.js, RISC-V, ONAP, and, of course, Linux, in such a manner. A Technical Advisory Committee will ensure the work done in the group "meets the needs of the wider Chromium community." Otherwise, the Chromium projects will keep to their existing governance structures.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/google-meta-microsoft-and-opera-agr… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Red Hat In-Vehicle Linux Gets Closer to Go With New Certification
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jan '25

09 Jan '25

'There was good news on Monday for the futures of Linux in general and Red Hat in particular in the automotive sector. Less than six months after Red Hat announced that the Linux math library — a fundamental component of Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System — achieved ISO 26262 ASIL-B functional safety certification, it’s announced the achievement of functional safety certification of mixed criticality. All of this may sound like mumbo jumbo, which it is a bit, but it’s important mumbo jumbo as far as Red Hat’s efforts to build a turnkey open-source solution for software defined automobiles are concerned. And no matter how convoluted it sounds, this is not only good for Red Hat; it’s good for Linux. The keyword phrase in Red Hat’s announcement is “mixed criticality,” which basically means that Red Had has certified that its in-vehicle OS can safely execute several applications of different criticality –in this case safety-critical and non-safety critical — on the same system-on-chip running a single operating system.' -- source: https://fossforce.com/2025/01/red-hat-in-vehicle-linux-gets-closer-to-go-wi… Cheers, Peter

1 0

"Make The Terminal More Enjoyable with These Linux Terminal Tools"
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jan '25

07 Jan '25

The following tools are mentioned in the article linked below: - tldr - btop - mc - zoxide - ripgrep - tmux - fzf - bat -- source: https://www.maketecheasier.com/linux-terminal-tools/ I'm quite liking btop and I've mc in the past when having only console access and requiring a two-panel file-manager. Cheers, Peter

2 1

Here’s the Most Popular Databases for 2024
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jan '25

07 Jan '25

'The DB-Engines ranking of the most popular database management systems for January 2025 is now available. It features data from the past 12 months’ popularity trends for 423 databases, thus highlighting the platforms that dominated the data management scene over the past 2024. From traditional relational databases to modern NoSQL solutions, the list provides clear insights into trends in the tech sector, particularly in data storage and processing. Here’s a quick look at who came out on top and who fell short. Unsurprisingly, Oracle holds the top spot as the leading database, dominating the enterprise sector for many years. MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB complete the top five. Among them, MongoDB stands out as the sole NoSQL database in the group, while the other four represent the leading stars of the RDBMS segment.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/most-popular-databases-for-2024/ Cheers, Peter

2 1

Time to check if you ran any of these 33 malicious Chrome extensions
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jan '25

07 Jan '25

'As many of us celebrated the year-end holidays, a small group of researchers worked overtime tracking a startling discovery: At least 33 browser extensions hosted in Google’s Chrome Web Store, some for as long as 18 months, were surreptitiously siphoning sensitive data from roughly 2.6 million devices. The compromises came to light with the discovery by data loss prevention service Cyberhaven that a Chrome extension used by 400,000 of its customers had been updated with code that stole their sensitive data.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/01/dozens-of-backdoored-chrome-extens… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Setting Application Menu Shortcut
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 24 Dec '24

24 Dec '24

So after my last Debian Unstable upgrade, I am now running KDE Plasma 6 as my desktop. KDE Plasma, by default, brings up its application menu if you press and release what it calls the “Meta” (more commonly “Super” or “Windows”) modifier key. I have this disabled because I use Meta/Super instead of Alt as the modifier key for moving windows around; and I did that switch to avoid interfering with the use of the Alt-click function in Blender. Previously, I did this change to Meta/Super behaviour by editing a config file called ~/.config/kwinrc. But now, this has been unified with the rest of the system settings, and can be controlled through the same interface <https://www.lorenzobettini.it/2024/06/modifier-only-shortcuts-in-kde-plasma…> (excuse the ads).

1 0

Home Assistant's New Voice Assistant Answers To 'Hey Jarvis'
by Peter Reutemann 20 Dec '24

20 Dec '24

'Home Assistant (not to be confused with the Google Assistant on Google Home) has launched the Voice Preview Edition (Voice PE), its first dedicated voice assistant hardware for $59. The device offers a privacy-focused, locally controlled solution that supports over 50 languages and integrates seamlessly with the open-source smart home platform. As The Verge notes, Voice PE supports the wake words "Hey Jarvis" right out of the box. From the report: The Voice PE is a small white box, about the size of your palm, with dual microphones and an audio processor. An internal speaker lets you hear the assistant, but you can also connect a speaker to it via a 3.5 mm headphone jack for better-quality media playback. A colored LED ring on top of the Voice PE indicates when the assistant is listening. It surrounds a rotary dial and a physical button, which is used for setup and to talk to the voice assistant without using the wake word. The button can also be customized to do whatever you want (because this is Home Assistant). A physical mute switch is on the side, and the device is powered by USB-C (charger and cable not included). There's also a Grove port where you can add sensors and other accessories. For those who don't like the idea of always-listening microphones in their home from companies such as Amazon and Google, but who still want the convenience of controlling their home with their voice, the potential here is huge. But it may be a while until Voice PE is ready to replace your Echo or Nest smart speaker. [...] if you want more features, Voice PE can connect to supported AI models, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, to fully replace Assist or use it as a fallback for commands it doesn't understand. But for many smart home users, there will be plenty of value in a simple, inexpensive device that lets you turn your lights on and off, start a timer, and execute other useful commands with your voice without relying on an internet connection. ' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/12/19/231255 Cheers, Peter

1 0

vim and files from gvfs mounted file systems
by Peter Reutemann 19 Dec '24

19 Dec '24

Hi everyone Since upgrading to Linux Mint 22 Wilma and vim 9.1.x, I noticed an issue with vim when editing remote files (eg mounted via sftp through caja): saving the file would fail. Not ideal... Looks like there is an issue with gvfs mounted file systems: https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/5309 https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/5237#issuecomment-1366262853 Disabling the creation of backup files avoids the issue: :set backupcopy=no Or, if you want to automate it based on path, you can place the following in your .vimrc: autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile /run/user/* set backupcopy=no Cheers, Peter

1 0

TP-Link faces possible US ban as hijacked routers fuel Chinese attacks
by Peter Reutemann 19 Dec '24

19 Dec '24

'US government authorities are reportedly investigating whether to ban TP-Link wireless routers, which have been targeted in some high-profile attacks linked to the Chinese government. TP-Link, which was founded in China in 1996 and said it relocated its headquarters to the US in October this year, has racked up significant market share in US homes and businesses. US authorities are investigating whether TP-Link "poses a national-security risk and are considering banning the devices," The Wall Street Journal reported today. The WSJ notes that TP-Link is "the top choice on Amazon.com, and powers Internet communications for the Defense Department and other federal government agencies."' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/12/report-us-considers-banning-tp-… Maybe time to flash your TP-Link router with something like OpenWRT? https://openwrt.org/toh/start Cheers, Peter

1 0

Australia Moves To Drop Some Cryptography By 2030
by Peter Reutemann 19 Dec '24

19 Dec '24

'Australia's chief cyber security agency has decided local orgs should stop using the tech that forms the current cryptographic foundation of the internet by the year 2030 -- years before other nations plan to do so -- over fears that advances in quantum computing could render it insecure. The Land Down Under's plans emerged last week when the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) published guidance for High Assurance Cryptographic Equipment (HACE) -- devices that send and/or receive sensitive information -- that calls for disallowing the cryptographic algorithms SHA-256, RSA, ECDSA and ECDH, among others, by the end of this decade. Bill Buchanan, professor in the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University, wrote a blog post in which he expressed shock that the ASD aims to move so quickly. "Basically, these four methods are used for virtually every web connection that we create, and where ECDH is used for the key exchange, ECDSA or RSA is used to authenticate the remote server, and SHA-256 is used for the integrity of the data sent," he wrote. "The removal of SHA-256 definitely goes against current recommendations."' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/12/18/173242 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Xfce 4.20 Desktop Environment Released with Experimental Wayland Support
by Peter Reutemann 17 Dec '24

17 Dec '24

'Two years after the release of Xfce 4.18, Xfce 4.20 is here as another major update to this light and fast desktop environment for GNU/Linux distributions. Xfce 4.20 is packed with lots of new features and improvements like experimental support for Wayland with support for the Labwc and Wayfire compositors, improved support for HiDPI displays, and libxfce4windowing as a new abstraction library to present windowing concepts in a windowing-system-independent manner. Wayland sessions of Xfce can be started with the startxfce4 --wayland command. However, you should keep in mind that several Xfce components don’t run at all on Wayland, including the Xfwm4 window manager, Xfdashboard, Xfce4-screensaver, Xfce4-windowck-plugin, and Xfce4-xkb-plugin. “So far Xfce does not feature a compositor which supports Wayland. If you want to run Xfce in Wayland, Labwc and Wayfire will give you the best results,” said the Xfce development team. “Plans are underway to add Wayland support to Xfwm4 while preserving its existing X11 functionality. However, such a restructurization will be a major effort and we cannot tell yet when/if it will be done, so please don’t hold your breath waiting for it.”' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/xfce-4-20-desktop-environment-released-with-experimen… Cheers, Peter

1 0

How to Share Your Linux Terminal Over the Web Using Ttyd
by Peter Reutemann 16 Dec '24

16 Dec '24

Looks like an interesting project: 'Ttyd is a simple tool that allows you to share a Linux terminal over a web browser. It’s cross-platform and uses the libuv and WebGL2 Javascript APIs for performance and real-time connection between the browser and Linux terminal. The SSL support is offered by OpenSSL. It supports multiple clients at once, allowing multiple clients to connect to the same Linux terminal from different browsers (or tabs). No additional package is required on the client-side, only the correct web address is needed. You can use this tool for remote system administration, troubleshooting, assisting a friend with any specific task, debugging or recovering a process, and much more.' -- source: https://linuxtldr.com/installing-ttyd/ Cheers, Peter

3 2

Let's Encrypt Announces New-Certificate-Every-6-Days Offering
by Peter Reutemann 16 Dec '24

16 Dec '24

'The non-profit, free certificate authority Let's Encrypt shared some news from their executive director as they approach their 10th anniversary in 2025: Internally things have changed dramatically from what they looked like ten years ago, but outwardly our service hasn't changed much since launch. That's because the vision we had for how best to do our job remains as powerful today as it ever was: free 90-day TLS certificates via an automated API. Pretty much as many as you need. More than 500,000,000 websites benefit from this offering today, and the vast majority of the web is encrypted. Our longstanding offering won't fundamentally change next year, but we are going to introduce a new offering that's a big shift from anything we've done before — short-lived certificates. Specifically, certificates with a lifetime of six days. This is a big upgrade for the security of the TLS ecosystem because it minimizes exposure time during a key compromise event. Because we've done so much to encourage automation over the past decade, most of our subscribers aren't going to have to do much in order to switch to shorter lived certificates. We, on the other hand, are going to have to think about the possibility that we will need to issue 20x as many certificates as we do now. It's not inconceivable that at some point in our next decade we may need to be prepared to issue 100,000,000 certificates per day. That sounds sort of nuts to me today, but issuing 5,000,000 certificates per day would have sounded crazy to me ten years ago... It was hard to build Let's Encrypt. It was difficult to scale it to serve half a billion websites... Charitable contributions from people like you and organizations around the world make this stuff possible. Since 2015, tens of thousands of people have donated. They've made a case for corporate sponsorship, given through their Donor-Advised Funds, or set up recurring donations, sometimes to give $3 a month. That's all added up to millions of dollars that we've used to change the Internet for nearly everyone using it.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/12/15/0059216 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Banan OS: A Fully Functional Unix-like OS Built From Scratch In C++
by Peter Reutemann 16 Dec '24

16 Dec '24

'A student has built an entire operating system from scratch in C++. Yes, you read that right! Meet Banan OS, a hobbyist operating system for x86_64 and i686 architectures, written entirely in C++ by an university student Oskari Alaranta. The project is fully independent, with all code written exclusively by Alaranta, except for any ported software.' -- source: https://ostechnix.com/banan-os-a-fully-functional-linux-os-built-from-scrat… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Raspberry Pi 500 Brings All-in-One PC Power to Your Desk for Just $90
by Peter Reutemann 13 Dec '24

13 Dec '24

'Just in time for the holiday season, Raspberry Pi has launched two highly anticipated products that promise to revolutionize compact computing. Enter the Raspberry Pi 500 and the official Raspberry Pi Monitor, designed to provide a sleek and complete desktop experience at an exceptionally affordable price. Raspberry Pi’s mission has always been clear: to provide affordable, programmable personal computers to people worldwide. Over the years, this vision has expanded as the company has grown into one of the leading manufacturers of industrial and embedded computers. For example, products like the $15 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and the flagship Raspberry Pi 5 have demonstrated the company’s ability to cater to both cost-conscious and performance-driven audiences. Let’s also not forget that just two weeks ago, the company announced another exciting product, the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5, specifically designed for embedded applications. And now, building on the success of the Raspberry Pi 400, the newly launched Raspberry Pi 500 takes compact computing to the next level. Combining the high-performance Raspberry Pi 5 platform with an all-in-one form factor, this device offers exceptional power and versatility: - Processor: 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 - Memory: 8GB LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM - Graphics: VideoCore VII GPU, supporting OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan 1.3 - Display Outputs: Dual 4Kp60 HDMI - Connectivity: Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and Gigabit Ethernet - Ports: 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0 - GPIO Connector: Horizontal 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/raspberry-pi-500-announced/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

AMD’s trusted execution environment blown wide open by new BadRAM attack
by Peter Reutemann 11 Dec '24

11 Dec '24

'One of the oldest maxims in hacking is that once an attacker has physical access to a device, it’s game over for its security. The basis is sound. It doesn’t matter how locked down a phone, computer, or other machine is; if someone intent on hacking it gains the ability to physically manipulate it, the chances of success are all but guaranteed. In the age of cloud computing, this widely accepted principle is no longer universally true. Some of the world’s most sensitive information—health records, financial account information, sealed legal documents, and the like—now often resides on servers that receive day-to-day maintenance from unknown administrators working in cloud centers thousands of miles from the companies responsible for safeguarding it. In response, chipmakers have begun baking protections into their silicon to provide assurances that even if a server has been physically tampered with or infected with malware, sensitive data funneled through virtual machines can’t be accessed without an encryption key that’s known only to the VM administrator. Under this scenario, admins inside the cloud provider, law enforcement agencies with a court warrant, and hackers who manage to compromise the server are out of luck. On Tuesday, an international team of researchers unveiled BadRAM, a proof-of-concept attack that completely undermines security assurances that chipmaker AMD makes to users of one of its most expensive and well-fortified microprocessor product lines. Starting with the AMD Epyc 7003 processor, a feature known as SEV-SNP—short for Secure Encrypted Virtualization and Secure Nested Paging—has provided the cryptographic means for certifying that a VM hasn’t been compromised by any sort of backdoor installed by someone with access to the physical machine running it. If a VM has been backdoored, the cryptographic attestation will fail and immediately alert the VM admin of the compromise. Or at least that’s how SEV-SNP is designed to work. BadRAM is an attack that a server admin can carry out in minutes, using either about $10 of hardware, or in some cases, software only, to cause DDR4 or DDR5 memory modules to misreport during bootup the amount of memory capacity they have. From then on, SEV-SNP will be permanently made to suppress the cryptographic hash attesting its integrity even when the VM has been badly compromised. “BadRAM completely undermines trust in AMD's latest Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV-SNP) technology, which is widely deployed by major cloud providers, including Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure,” members of the research team wrote in an email. “BadRAM for the first time studies the security risks of bad RAM—rogue memory modules that deliberately provide false information to the processor during startup. We show how BadRAM attackers can fake critical remote attestation reports and insert undetectable backdoors into _any_ SEV-protected VM.”' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/12/new-badram-attack-ne… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Linux Mint Dethrones MX Linux As the Most Popular Distro On DistroWatch
by Peter Reutemann 11 Dec '24

11 Dec '24

'Linux Mint has reclaimed its position as the top-ranked Linux distribution on DistroWatch, dethroning MX Linux. The latest page hit rankings, which reflect the popularity of distributions among DistroWatch users, place Linux Mint in first place with 2,412 hits per day. MX Linux, previously the reigning champ, now sits in second with 2,280 hits.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/24/12/10/1754230 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Linux Kernel 6.12 Confirmed As LTS, Will Be Supported For 'Multiple Years'
by Peter Reutemann 10 Dec '24

10 Dec '24

'Renowned Linux kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced Thursday that the Linux 6.12 kernel series has been officially marked as LTS (Long Term Support) on the kernel.org website with a predicted life expectancy of at least two years. Linux kernel 6.12 was released on November 17th, 2024, and introduces new features like real-time "PREEMPT_RT" support, a new scheduler called sched_ext, and DRM panic messages as QR codes, as well as numerous new and updated drivers for better hardware support... Linux kernel 6.12 joins the many other long-term support kernel branches, namely Linux 6.6 LTS, Linux 6.1 LTS, Linux 5.15 LTS, Linux 5.10 LTS, and Linux 5.4 LTS. Apart from the latter, the rest of them, including Linux kernel 6.12, will be officially supported until the end of December 2026. Hopefully, Linux kernel 6.12 will be supported for more than two years as the kernel maintainers usually aim for four years of support for a new LTS kernel, especially if there's demand from hardware manufacturers and other companies that aim to use a long-term supported kernel in their devices. ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/24/12/09/0125219 Cheers, Peter

1 0

migration of wlug list
by Peter Reutemann 06 Dec '24

06 Dec '24

Hi everyone Thanks to Elliot Hathaway from TechnologyWise working hard behind the scenes, we now have an alternative mailman instance to keep our wlug mailing list going forward. As a reminder, the university server will be shut down next week Friday, December 13th. Thanks to Daniel Lawson, a former WLUG president, and now owner of the wlug.org.nz domain, the list will be a sub-domain under the wlug.org.nz domain. What is next? On Monday, December 9th, we will do a final migration of members and archives from the current mailman instance to the new one. Once that is done, you will receive an invitation to subscribe to the new list. If you want to continue using the list, then please accept it. This might also be a good opportunity to revisit your password and replace it with a strong one (passwords won't be migrated!). I will then make a final post on the old mailing list that the migration has finished with a link to the new one (just in case your invitation ended up in spam). After that, the old mailing list will be disabled, i.e., members removed and no longer accepting new member sign-ups. Have a good weekend! Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ Mobile +64 22 190 2375 https://profiles.waikato.ac.nz/peter.reutemann http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Linux Making Inroads In PC Gaming
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Dec '24

06 Dec '24

You’d think that PC gaming was the last nearly unassailable bastion in the Windows world, where potential users who were willing to consider Linux would be few and far between. Reinforcing this idea, Valve tried to bring out its Linux-based “SteamOS” a few years ago, and failed. But then, the Steam Deck pioneered a new market segment, namely PC gaming in a handheld form factor. And here, Valve has found success with Linux -- to the point where the Windows-based competitors look overpriced and underperforming -- in short, just plain clunky. This in spite of the natural advantage of Windows in offering better compatibility with games specifically written for Windows. Now we hear that Valve is having another try at offering SteamOS for third-party hardware <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/12/the-return-of-steam-machines-valve-r…>. The article suggests, and I strongly suspect it is so, that this is to allow those competitors to the Steam Deck to offer a better OS than Windows on their products. Some of them have already made noises to this effect. The Steam Deck is already so far ahead of its Windows-based competitors, that offering serious competition to the Steam Deck will only leave Windows further behind in the lurch -- further cementing the dominance of Linux in this new market segment.

1 0

testing the new list
by Peter Reutemann 05 Dec '24

05 Dec '24

blah blah blah -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ Mobile +64 22 190 2375 https://profiles.waikato.ac.nz/peter.reutemann http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 2

Trying Out Bluesky
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Dec '24

04 Dec '24

Just signed up at Bluesky <https://bsky.app/> earlier this morning. Did some searches for stuff on Python, Blender, Linux, NZ etc. Already got into reasonably civil discussions with a bunch of people on related topics, and got some likes on my comments. Feels a lot like Twitter from, say, a decade ago. No doubt there are topics with much greater traffic than those I’ve mentioned. Possibly even some loonies and other questionable content, if you look hard enough. This seems to be a Fediverse-type system, connected via open-source protocols/software. I think there are people running their own servers, it’s not all on bluesky.social.

1 0

OpenStreetMap Migrates To Debian 12 For Enhanced Performance
by Peter Reutemann 04 Dec '24

04 Dec '24

'OpenStreetMap (OSM), the collaborative project to create a free and open map of the world, has migrated its servers to Debian 12 (Bookworm) after 18 years on Ubuntu. This transition brings with it a number of benefits, including improved speed and closer ties with the Debian community. Why the Switch? The decision to migrate was driven by a number of factors, with performance being a key consideration. OSM's infrastructure relies heavily on physical hardware, and the team encountered significant I/O performance issues with certain kernel versions on systems using NVMe storage. Debian 12 offered a solution by allowing the installation of backported kernels, effectively resolving these performance bottlenecks. Another motivating factor was the desire to align more closely with the maintainers of the software packages that OSM relies on. Debian boasts a strong reputation for package maintenance, and many Debian maintainers are deeply invested in the software they support, ensuring prompt attention to critical bugs. A Smooth Transition The migration process was facilitated by OSM's infrastructure management practices. Their server setup is largely code-driven, and rigorous testing is performed using tools like Test Kitchen and Inspec. By adding Debian as a test target platform, the team was able to identify and address any compatibility issues early on. The required code changes were relatively minor, primarily involving adjustments to package names and configuration filenames. The transition involved the following key steps: - Frontend Server Migration: OSM successfully migrated its frontend servers to Debian 12, resulting in a Ruby version upgrade from 3.0 to 3.1. This upgrade allowed for a corresponding upgrade to the Ruby on Rails framework used for the www.openstreetmap.org website. - Networking Management Shift: OSM transitioned from using netplan, the default network management tool in Ubuntu, to systemd-networkd, Debian's preferred tool. This change streamlined network management across both Ubuntu and Debian systems, ensuring consistency. - Custom Package Management: OSM adopted aptly to manage their own Debian package repository. This shift from Ubuntu's Personal Package Archives (PPA) was driven by the need to manage pre-release or custom patches of OSM software. A Shared Community The move to Debian also reflects the strong overlap between the OSM and Debian communities. Many OSM contributors are also active within the Debian ecosystem, fostering a shared understanding and collaborative spirit.' -- source: https://ostechnix.com/openstreetmap-migrates-to-debian-12-for-enhanced-perf… Cheers, Peter

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Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Launches as a Modular Version of Raspberry Pi 5
by Peter Reutemann 02 Dec '24

02 Dec '24

'The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced today the general availability of Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 as the fifth update to their Raspberry Pi CM (Compute Module) series. Designed as a modular version of the Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 is powered by a 2.4GHz Quad-Core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A76 processor and it’s available with 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB of LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM memory, as well as with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of MLC eMMC storage. Raspberry Pi CM 5 also comes with a powerful VideoCore VII graphics card supporting OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan 1.3 standards, a 4Kp60 HEVC decoder, dual 4Kp60 HDMI display output, 2 × 4-lane MIPI camera/display transceivers, and 30 GPIOs supporting 1.8V or 3.3V operation. Connectivity-wise, the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 supports a PCIe 2.0 x1 interface for fast peripherals, two USB 3.0 interfaces for supporting simultaneous 5Gbps operation, Gigabit Ethernet with IEEE 1588 support, and optional dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. The Raspberry Pi CM5 IO board features a standard 40-pin GPIO connector, two full-size HDMI 2.0 connectors, two 4-lane MIPI DSI/CSI-2 FPC connectors, two USB 3.0 connectors, a Gigabit Ethernet jack with PoE+ support, an M.2 M-key PCIe socket, a microSD card socket, an RTC battery socket, and a 4-pin fan connector. Despite its small design, Raspberry Pi CM 5 also supports various peripherals, including UART, SPI, I2C, I2S, SDIO, and PWM. On top of that, Compute Module 5 is mechanically compatible with its predecessor, Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, but provides additional stability with four M2.5 mounting holes at the corners of the board.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/raspberry-pi-compute-module-5-launches-as-a-modular-v… Cheers, Peter

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Code found online exploits LogoFAIL to install Bootkitty Linux backdoor
by Peter Reutemann 02 Dec '24

02 Dec '24

'Researchers have discovered malicious code circulating in the wild that hijacks the earliest stage boot process of Linux devices by exploiting a year-old firmware vulnerability when it remains unpatched on affected models. The critical vulnerability is one of a constellation of exploitable flaws discovered last year and given the name LogoFAIL. These exploits are able to override an industry-standard defense known as Secure Boot and execute malicious firmware early in the boot process. Until now, there were no public indications that LogoFAIL exploits were circulating in the wild. The discovery of code downloaded from an Internet-connected web server changes all that. While there are no indications the public exploit is actively being used, it is reliable and polished enough to be production-ready and could pose a threat in the real world in the coming weeks or months. Both the LogoFAIL vulnerabilities and the exploit found on-line were discovered by Binarly, a firm that helps customers identify and secure vulnerable firmware.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/11/code-found-online-exploits-logofai… Cheers, Peter

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