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Say it with me: Windows is the problem with Windows handhelds
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Oct '25

30 Oct '25

Sean Hollister says <https://www.theverge.com/games/807711/xbox-ally-sleep-fail-bazzite-fix-perf…>: It’s been nearly two weeks since Microsoft, a multi-trillion dollar company, shipped a $600 handheld “Xbox” that can’t be relied on to sleep, wake, or hold a charge while asleep in my tests. Neither Microsoft nor Asus would admit there’s a problem with the white Xbox Ally or offer a timeline to fix it after repeated requests by The Verge. But if you want your white Asus handheld to start working reliably, you could do what I did: I installed the latest build of Bazzite, a SteamOS-like, Linux-based operating system that works properly with gamepad controls, and sleeps like a dream. ... Did I mention Bazzite runs most of my Windows games *substantially faster* than Windows? Rub it in even more, why don’t you: It’s not just games that feel faster: Steam is a far more responsive interface without the bloat of Windows lurking under the hood. It feels like an entirely different handheld. With Bazzite, I can use it like I use a Nintendo Switch, simply pressing the power button whenever I want to pause a game, then picking up exactly where I left off hours or days later. Microsoft’s response: Microsoft declined our request for an interview about the future of the Xbox Ally or a timeline on fixes, but VP of Windows product management Anshul Rawat provided this statement to The Verge: ... We’ve identified a small set of issues and initial fixes will be rolling out soon. Optimizing Windows, the most flexible OS in the world, for a range of devices and screen sizes across PCs and the cloud is an ongoing journey. Really?? Windows is “the most flexible OS in the world”, getting its lunch eaten by Linux not just in mobile, but in practically every computing sphere?

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Blender 5.0 Introducing HDR Support On Linux With Vulkan + Wayland
by Peter Reutemann 29 Oct '25

29 Oct '25

'Michael Larabel writes via Phoronix: The upcoming Blender 5.0 3D modeling software application is introducing High Dynamic Range (HDR) display support on Linux when making use of Wayland -- no X11 support for HDR -- and Vulkan graphics accelerator. HDR support for Blender 5.0 on Linux is currently considered experimental. Enabling the HDR support on Linux for the Blender creator software requires having a High Dynamic Range display (of course) and be running on a Wayland desktop, enabling Vulkan API acceleration rather than OpenGL, and enabling the feature currently deemed experimental. ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/06/26/2035245 Cheers, Peter

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toolong
by Peter Reutemann 29 Oct '25

29 Oct '25

Just came across the "toolong" tool: 'A terminal application to view, tail, merge, and search log files (plus JSONL).' -- github: https://github.com/Textualize/toolong -- source: https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/115455395475544673 Cheers, Peter

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Nearly 90% of Windows Games Now Run on Linux, Latest Data Shows
by Peter Reutemann 29 Oct '25

29 Oct '25

'Nearly nine in ten Windows games can now run on Linux systems, according to data from ProtonDB compiled by Boiling Steam. The gains came through work by developers of WINE and Proton translation layers and through interest in hardware like the Steam Deck. ProtonDB tracks games across five categories. Platinum-rated games run perfectly without adjustment. Gold titles need minor tweaks. Silver games are playable but imperfect. Bronze exists between silver and borked. Borked games refuse to launch. The proportion of new releases earning platinum ratings has grown. The red and dark red zones have thinned. Some popular titles remain incompatible, however. Boiling Steam noted that other developers appear averse to non-Windows gamers.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/10/28/206219 Cheers, Peter

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Games Run Faster On SteamOS Than Windows 11, Ars Testing Finds
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '25

16 Oct '25

'A report from Ars Technica: Nearly a decade ago, Ars testing found that Valve's "Steam Machines"-era version of SteamOS performed significantly worse than Windows when SteamOS's Linux game ports were tested on the same hardware as their Windows counterparts. Today, though, Ars testing on the Lenovo Legion Go S finds recent games generally run at higher frame rates on SteamOS 3.7 than on Windows 11. [...] As you can see in the included charts, SteamOS showed noticeable frame rate improvements in four of the five games tested. Only Borderlands 3 showed comparable performance across both operating systems, with Windows eking out ever-so-slightly higher frame rates in that game's benchmarks. For the other four tested games, the stock Lenovo Windows drivers were sometimes significantly worse than those included with SteamOS. When playing Returnal at "High" graphics presets and 1920x1200 resolution, for instance, changing from Lenovo's Windows drivers to SteamOS meant the difference between a hard-to-take 18 FPS average and a downright decent 33 FPS average. Sideloading the updated Asus drivers showed a noticeable improvement in Windows performance across all tested games and even brought Homeworld 3's "Low" graphics benchmark test to practical parity with SteamOS. In all other cases, though, even these updated drivers resulted in benchmark frame rates anywhere from 8 percent to 36 percent lower than those same benchmarks on SteamOS. These results might seem a bit counterintuitive, considering that games running on SteamOS must go through a Proton translation layer for every native Windows instruction in a game's code. But Valve has put in consistent work over the years to make Proton as efficient and cross-compatible as possible; not to mention its continued work on Linux's Mesa graphics drivers seems to be paying dividends for SteamOS graphics performance. Running SteamOS also means eliminating a lot of operating system overhead that the more generalist Windows uses by default. Microsoft seems aware of this issue for gamers and has recently announced that the upcoming "Xbox Experience for Handheld" will "minimize background activity and defer non-essential tasks" to allow for "more [and] higher framerates" in games.' -- source: https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/06/25/2034243 Cheers, Peter

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Nosey Parker: Open-source tool finds sensitive information in textual data and Git history
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '25

16 Oct '25

This sounds like a useful tool: 'Nosey Parker is an open-source command-line tool that helps find secrets and sensitive information hidden in text files. It works like a specialized version of grep, focused on spotting things like passwords, API keys, and other confidential data. The tool was built with offensive security in mind, such as helping red teams move through systems during tests. It’s also useful for defensive teams checking their own systems. Offensive cybersecurity company Praetorian has used it in hundreds of security engagements to uncover hidden secrets. Key features: - Flexible scanning: Works on files, folders, GitHub repositories, and Git history. It also supports custom input sources. - Proven detection rules: Uses 188 tested regular expression rules, built from feedback by security engineers, to cut down on false positives. - Less noise: Groups duplicate matches of the same secret, making reviews 10 to 1,000 times faster. - High performance: Can scan gigabytes per second on multicore machines and handle datasets as large as 20TB.' -- source: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2025/09/24/nosey-parker-open-source-tool/ -- github: https://github.com/praetorian-inc/noseyparker Cheers, Peter

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Secure Boot Bypass Risk Threatens Nearly 200,000 Linux Framework Laptops
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '25

16 Oct '25

'Roughly 200,000 Linux-based Framework laptops shipped with a signed UEFI shell command (mm) that can be abused to bypass Secure Boot protections -- allowing attackers to load persistent bootkits like BlackLotus or HybridPetya. Framework has begun patching affected models, though some fixes and DBX updates are still pending. BleepingComputer reports: According to firmware security company Eclypsium, the problem stems from including a 'memory modify' (mm) command in legitimately signed UEFI shells that Framework shipped with its systems. The command provides direct read/write access to system memory and is intended for low-level diagnostics and firmware debugging. However, it can also be leveraged to break the Secure Boot trust chain by targeting the gSecurity2 variable, a critical component in the process of verifying the signatures of UEFI modules. The mm command can be abused to overwrite gSecurity2 with NULL, effectively disabling signature verification. "This command writes zeros to the memory location containing the security handler pointer, effectively disabling signature verification for all subsequent module loads." The researchers also note that the attack can be automated via startup scripts to persist across reboots.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/10/14/2123205 Cheers, Peter

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FSF Announces the LibrePhone Project
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '25

16 Oct '25

'The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has launched the LibrePhone Project, an initiative to create a fully free and open-source mobile operating system that eliminates proprietary firmware and binary blobs. From the FSF: "Librephone is a new initiative by the FSF with the goal of bringing full freedom to the mobile computing environment. The vast majority of software users around the world use a mobile phone as their primary computing device. After forty years of advocacy for computing freedom, the FSF will now work to bring the right to study, change, share, and modify the programs users depend on in their daily lives to mobile phones. ... Practically, Librephone aims to close the last gaps between existing distributions of the Android operating system and software freedom. The FSF has hired experienced developer Rob Savoye (DejaGNU, Gnash, OpenStreetMap, and more) to lead the technical project. He is currently investigating the state of device firmware and binary blobs in other mobile phone freedom projects, prioritizing the free software work done by the not entirely free software mobile phone operating system LineageOS." ' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/10/15/0312206 -- project: https://librephone.fsf.org/ Cheers, Peter

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Austria Military Ditches Microsoft for Open-Source Libreoffice – Here’s Why
by Peter Reutemann 14 Oct '25

14 Oct '25

'Austria's military has completed a major IT overhaul, replacing Microsoft Office with the open-source LibreOffice suite across all its desktop systems. The change, finalized this month, affects approximately 16,000 workstations in the Austrian Armed Forces. This move will substantially reduce Austria's software bill. At $33.75 per user per month, a Microsoft 365 E3 subscription for 16,000 workstations costs approximately $6,480,000 per year, compared to LibreOffice's zero cost. But this move isn't about saving money. The real motivation is to gain digital sovereignty and control over critical data. As Michael Hillebrand of Directorate 6 information and communications technology (ICT) and Cyber Defense, explained: "It was very important for us to show that we are doing this primarily to strengthen our digital sovereignty, to maintain our independence in terms of ICT infrastructure and to ensure that data is only processed in-house."' -- source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-european-military-just-ditched-microsoft… Cheers, Peter

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Flatpak Doesn't Work in Ubuntu 25.10, But a Fix is Coming
by Peter Reutemann 14 Oct '25

14 Oct '25

'"It's not just you: Flatpak flat-out doesn't work in the new Ubuntu 25.10 release," writes the blog OMG Ubuntu: While Flatpak itself can be installed using apt, trying to install Flatpaks with Flatpak from the command-line throws a "could not unmount revokefs-fuse filesystem" error, followed by "Child process exited with code 1". For those who've installed the Ubuntu 'Questing Quokka' and wanted to kit it out with their favourite software from Flathub, it's a frustrating road bump. AppArmor, the tool that enforces Ubuntu's security policies for apps, is causing the issue. According to the bug report on Launchpad, the AppArmor profile for fusermount3 lacks the privileges it needs to work properly in Ubuntu 25.10. Fusermount3 is a tool Flatpak relies on to mount and unmount filesystems... This is a bug and it is being worked on. Although there's no timeframe for a fix, it is marked as critical, so will be prioritised. The bug was reported in early September, but not fixed in time for this week's Ubuntu 25.10 release, reports Phoronix: Only [Friday] an updated AppArmor was pushed to the "questing-proposed" archive for testing. Since then... a number of users have reported that the updated AppArmor from the proposed archive will fix the Flatpak issues being observed. From all the reports so far it looks like that proposed update is in good shape for restoring Flatpak support on Ubuntu 25.10. The Ubuntu team is considering pushing out this update sooner than the typical seven day testing period given the severity of the issue. More details from WebProNews: Industry insiders point out that AppArmor, Ubuntu's mandatory access control system, was tightened in this release to enhance security... This isn't the first time AppArmor has caused friction; similar issues plagued Telegram Flatpak apps in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS earlier this year, as noted in coverage from OMG Ubuntu.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/10/13/067256 Cheers, Peter

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