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Linux Action News

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Linux Action News episodes

  • Linux Action News 11

    Android for the desktop might be dead, Google Glass is back, the latest Firefox usage data is devastating & the next Ubuntu is ready for a shakedown.

    Plus a quick look at Phoenix OS & the Ubuntu 18.04 survey!

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    • Android-Based Remix OS To Be Discontinued
    — Remix OS, the Android-x86 derived operating system for x86/ARM to run Android applications on PCs, is now being discontinued in its current form.
  • Phoenix OS Lives on
    • — Phoenix OS 2.1 includes a number of bug fixes and improvements including better hardware compatibility, an updated keyboard mapping feature, and the ability to remember window resizing settings after you reboot.
  • Google Glass gets a second chance in factories, where it’s likely to remain
    • — The major upgrades between the original Glass and the enterprise version are a better camera (with resolution upgraded from 5 megapixels to 8), extended battery life, faster Wi-Fi and processor, and a new red light that turns on when recording video. The electronics of Glass have also been made modular in the shape of a so-called Glass Pod, which can be detached and reattached to Glass-compatible frames, which can include things like safety goggles and prescription glasses.
  • Firefox marketshare revisited
    • — Based on this data, 22% fewer Firefox Desktop installations are active today than a year ago. This is a loss of 16 million Firefox installs in a year.
  • Ubuntu Artful Desktop July Shakedown
    • — Now is a great time to start exercising the new GNOME goodness that’s landed on our recent daily images! Please download the ISO, test it out on your own hardware, and file bugs where appropriate.
  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Desktop Default Application Survey
    • — Along with the switch from Unity to GNOME, we’re also reviewing some of the desktop applications we package and ship in Ubuntu. We’re looking to crowdsource input on your favorite Linux applications across a broad set of classic desktop functionality.
    31 min
  • Linux Action News 10

    With Chris away, Ryan joins Joe. A new release for Fedora, Yunit is now available for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu is now an app in the Windows Store, Ryan gives us more details about System76's new OS, Ikey starts his new job at Solus and Beaker is a new browser that promises a truly decentralized web.

    Special Guest: Ryan Sipes.

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    • Fedora 26 is here! - Fedora Magazine
    — What’s new in Fedora 26?
    First, of course, we have thousands of improvements from the various upstream software we integrate, including new development tools like GCC 7, Golang 1.8, and Python 3.6. We’ve added a new partitioning tool to Anaconda (the Fedora installer) — the existing workflow is great for non-experts, but this option will be appreciated by enthusiasts and sysadmins who like to build up their storage scheme from basic building blocks. F26 also has many under-the-hood improvements, like better caching of user and group info and better handling of debug information. And the DNF package manager is at a new major version (2.5), bringing many new features.
  • Fedora 27 Might Do Away With 32-Bit Kernel Builds - Phoronix
    • — A controversial change being considered for Fedora 27 is doing away with the i686 kernel build thereby effectively dropping support for older x86 32-bit systems.
  • Yunit packages for ubuntu 16.04 LTS – yunit
    • — We are pleased to announce that Yunit is now available as an overlay repository for ubuntu 16.04 LTS xenial (64bit).
    The following have been tested and should work with an existing ubuntu 16.04, ubuntu gnome 16.04, lubuntu 16.04 and xubuntu 16.04 installation.
    They will not work in either kubuntu 16.04 or ubuntu mate 16.04 due to the updated Qt libraries,
  • Windows 10 loves Ubuntu | Ubuntu Insights
    • — Ubuntu 16.04 is now available as an app from the Windows Store for users running Windows Insider builds. The newly improved app is created by Canonical in collaboration with the Microsoft WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) team as a result of the work announced at Microsoft Build 2017 Conference
  • First day! | Solus on Patreon
    • — Well, we're here! Today is officially my first day working full time on Solus. And it's thanks to YOU, supporters of Solus, for making this possible!
  • System76 Blog — Pop!_OS Updates
    • — CalDav and CardDav work continues. The deeper we’ve dug the more hard coding we’ve found.
    We’re considering writing a new installer for GNOME and any DE that features user setup separate from OS installation. The further we went down the Ubiquity path, the more it seemed over-complicated.
    Automated firmware updates are coming to System76 laptops. With this feature, the System76 Driver will prompt that there’s an update available. Running the update will reboot your computer, install the firmware, and take you back to login.
  • A New Browser Is Making Peer-to-Peer Web Hosting More User-Friendly - Motherboard
    • — Billed as a "peer-to-peer web browser," the idea behind Beaker is to provide a simple way to build and host websites directly from the browser, which can then be visited by other users of the browser without the need for any intermediary hosting providers.
    31 min
  • Linux Action News 9

    New data gives us insight into recent bold moves by Linux hardware vendors Tuxedo and System76, Endless OS takes big steps to get closer to upstream, Mycroft's first major public appearances goes hilariously bad, and Mozilla's plans to tame IoT.

    Sponsored By:

    • Ting: Save $25 off your first device, or $25 in service credit if you bring one!

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    • Endless OS 3.2 Released, Rebases From GNOME Shell 3.8 To 3.22
    — On the UI side, there are big updates to its desktop with the re-basing process from GNOME Shell 3.8 to GNOME Shell 3.22. Moving forward, they intend to re-base their desktop changes much more often to allow for a smoother transition to using the newer GNOME code in their operating system.
  • Tuxedo Announces Its Own Ubuntu Flavor
    • — “What we have done is [deliver a] desktop that is strongly adapted to the needs of our users. With [our] own theme, own icons, own boot logo and […] the latest firmware, the latest NVIDIA drivers (if necessary) and Linux kernel 4.11 preinstalled! Not to mention our configuration adjustments on the GRUB and optimizations to other system-relevant files.”
  • 2017 Linux Laptop Survey Results
    • — There are 30,171 responses, a lot of data to now sift through while in this article is an overview of the initial findings.
  • These Videos of Mycroft Are Just Too Funny
    • — As an intended open-source alternative to Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri and Google Home, the humble Mycroft AI has an awful lot of hype to live up to.
  • Youyota Sailfish OS 2-in-1 Tablet
    • — The Youyota Tablet packs Quad-Core Intel chipsets, and runs on Sailfish OS.
  • Mozilla launches Project Things IoT framework on Raspberry Pi
    • — Mozilla has now announced its own Project Things framework designed to pull together existing Web of Things specifications and code under a global framework comprised of device, gateway, and cloud components. As a starting point, it released a prototype version of a Things Gateway stack that runs on a Raspberry Pi.
    29 min
  • Linux Action News 8

    SUSE hits the Windows Store and we finally get some important classifications, System76 announces Pop!_OS and we do a deep analysis, and why Mir is back with a plan to support Wayland.

    Plus Debian warns of Hyper Threading issues; and of course a bit more.

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    • OpenSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise hit the Windows Store
    — Now OpenSUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and OpenSUSE Leap 42 are available for installation from the Windows Store.
  • System76 Announce Their Own Linux Distribution called Pop!_OS
    • — System76 say their ‘operating system’ — they don’t call it a distribution — will be built and tailored to meet the needs to “professionals and makers that use their computers to create.”
  • Canonical Promises Smooth and Easy Unity 7 to GNOME Shell Migration for Users
    • — Probably the most important thing that the Ubuntu developers have worked on lately is a smooth and easy migration process from Unity 7 to GNOME Shell
  • Mir 1.0 Now Aiming To Support Wayland Clients Directly
    • — Mir 0.27 also will feature a new set of APIs to develop a "Mir platform" outside of Mir itself, which can be used for developing Mir-Wayland platform support without having to fork Mir itself.
  • MATE Developers Are Considering Mir-Over-Wayland
    • — MATE developer Martin Wimpress has shared that they are talking to Mir developers about how Mir could be used as a Wayland compositor.
  • Debian Warns Of Hyper Threading Issue With Intel Sky/Kaby Lake CPUs
    • — Intel Skylake and Kabylake (6th and 7th gen CPUs) could "dangerously misbehave" when Hyper Threading is enabled.
    26 min
  • Linux Action News 7

    More hardware acceleration comes to desktop Linux, Mozilla launches ambitious new projects, Unity 7 fans can rejoice & Jolla has an important update.

    Plus we discuss the 2017 Linux Laptop Survey, the really fancy new trick Opus has pulled off in the latest release & more!

    Sponsored By:

    • Ting: Save $25 off your first device, or $25 in service credit if you bring one!

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    • Ubuntu Desktop Weekly Update: June 23, 2017
    — We’ve got hardware accelerated video decoding working in a Proof-Of-Concept using a GStreamer and VA-API pipeline. The result is 3% CPU usage to play an h264 4K 60FPS video on Haswell. 4K h265 HEVC is also playable but requires a Skylake or later processor.
  • 2017 Linux Laptop Survey
    • — So we've established this Linux Laptop Survey in conjunction with Linux stakeholders to hopefully gather more feedback that will be useful to many different parties -- this survey isn't just for our own benefit and enjoyment at Phoronix.
  • Jolla Summer 2017: CEO's Update
    • — It has been a while since our last update about the remaining Jolla Tablet refunds – we are committed to it and we will be progressing on it in a pace our financial situation permits us to do. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
  • Mozilla launches Firefox Focus for Android
    • — Like the iPhone and iPad version, the Android app is free of tabs and other visual clutter, and erasing your sessions is as easy as a simple tap.  
  • Firefox Focus uses the default Android WebView
    • — Firefox Focus uses the default Android WebView. Barbara Bermes, product manager for Firefox Mobile at Mozilla, told eWEEK.
  • Project Common Voice
    • — Project Common Voice, a project to help make voice recognition open to everyone. Now you can donate your voice to help us build an open-source voice recognition engine that anyone can use to make innovative apps for devices and the web.
  • Opus 1.2
    • — Speech quality improvements especially in the 12-20 kbit/s range
    Improved VBR encoding for hybrid mode
    More aggressive use of wider speech bandwidth, including fullband speech starting at 14 kbit/s
    Music quality improvements in the 32-48 kb/s range
    Generic and SSE CELT optimizations
    Support for directly encoding packets up to 120 ms
    DTX support for CELT mode
    SILK CBR improvements
    Support for all of the fixes in draft-ietf-codec-opus-update-06 (the mono downmix and the folding fixes need --enable-update-draft)
    Many bug fixes, including integer wrap-arounds discovered through fuzzing (no security implications)
  • Comparison between Opus versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2
    • — Here's a comparison between Opus versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 so you can hear for yourself how the quality has improved and how Opus now sounds in general. As an anchor (OK, and also to make us look good!), we've also included MP3 samples.
    25 min
  • Linux Action News 6

    More competition in desktop Linux, Debian 9, Tails 3, Firefox 54, FreeNAS 11 & OpenMediaVault 3 all get released.

    We discuss the important bits of it all, follow up on questions last week & take an open source unicorn for a spin.

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    • Ikey going full time with Solus
    — In 4 weeks from today I will be moving to Solus as a full time developer.
  • Debian 9 Stretch Released
    • — After 26 months of development the Debian project is proud to present its new stable version 9 (code name Stretch), which will be supported for the next 5 years
  • Tails 3.0 is out
    • — Tails 3.0, the first version of Tails based on Debian 9 (Stretch).
  • Firefox 54 finally goes multiprocess
    • — Firefox has finally been outfitted with simultaneous multiple content processes, a UI process, and a GPU acceleration process
  • Disabled by default in Ubuntu
    • — Firefox disables its’ new nifty memory saving magic if any enabled add-on doesn’t support it — and the ‘Ubuntu Modifications’ add-on that comes pre-installed in Firefox for Ubuntu doesn’t.
  • Ubuntu live patch update from Dustin Kirkland
    • — Now, if you purposefully boot into an older kernel -- or -- you reboot sometime in that 3 week period before we release an updated kernelwith those flattened fixes -- then yes, absolutely, all of the live patches that apply to your kernel will be applied about 60 seconds
    after reboot.
  • UBports release first stable OTA
    • — The UBports project is proud to announce Stable OTA-1 for all of our officially supported devices, minus the Nexus 5
  • FreeNAS releases version 11
    • — What's emerged is a new version of the product, based on FreeBSD 11-STABLE and packing the bhyve hypervisor so that FreeNAS boxen can host virtual machines.
  • FreeNAS 11.0 S3-compatible object storage services
    • — It also gives users S3-compatible object storage services, which turns your FreeNAS box into an S3-compatible server, letting you avoid reliance on the cloud.
  • The FreeNAS S3 service uses Minio
    • — The FreeNAS S3 service uses Minio to provide S3 storage hosted on the FreeNAS® system itself. Minio also provides features beyond the limits of the basic Amazon S3 specifications.
  • openmediavault 3 released
    • — Complete refactored backend
    31 min
  • Linux Action News 5

    A look at the future of the Ubuntu desktop and one of its flavors, plus Docker aims to improve Linux security upstream with LinuxKit.

    And an LXQt confession.

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    • Ubuntu 17.10 Begins Transition To GNOME Shell Desktop By Default
    — Those downloading the very latest Ubuntu desktop ISO of 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" for testing will find that it now boots to the GNOME Shell desktop and also provides an option for running GNOME on Wayland.
  • Ubuntu Switching to GDM
    • — We’ve made the decision to switch to using GNOME Display Manager (GDM) instead of LightDM.
  • Ubuntu Works with GNOME to Improve HiDPI Support
    • — Canonical is playing host to a ‘fractional scaling hackfest‘ in its’ Taipei offices this week. Both GNOME developers and Ubuntu developers are in attendance, ready to wrestle with
  • Lubuntu 17.10 Will Likely Launch with LXQt & LXDE Spins
    • — Lubuntu maintainer and LXQt developer Simon Quigley is reporting on some of the upcoming highlights of the Lubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) operating system, due for release later this year on October 19, 2017.
  • Canonical Kernel Livepatch Service now available for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS!
    • — Users of Ubuntu are welcome to enable the Canonical Kernel Livepatch Service on 3 systems running 64-bit Intel/AMD Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or now Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
  • GPG fundraiser
    • — To continue supporting and improving GnuPG, we, the main GnuPG developers, are soliciting donations from the general public. Our primary goal is to raise 15 000 euros per month to fully fund 3 developers; our stretch goal is twice that, 30 000 euros per month.
  • Docker Aims to Improve Linux Kernel Security With LinuxKit
    • — Within the LinuxKit effort there are a series of incubated projects that are focused on improving the security of Linux
    27 min
  • Linux Action News 4

    Two Linux desktop classics make big strides, Coreboot joins the Conservancy, and Toyota cars will soon run Linux. Plus newly announced Ambient OS will be open source, just like Android, and its creator Andy Rubin says they plan to take on the Amazon Echo and Google Pixel.

    This is is an episode about playing to your strengths, and taking over markets.

    Sponsored By:

    • Ting: Save $25 off your first device, or $25 in service credit if you bring one!

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    • Plasma 5.10 Released
    — Simple by default, powerful when needed.
  • Xfce 4.14 edges closer (along with GTK 3)
    • — Xfce 4.14 is a transitionnal release, where the main goal is to port all components to GTK+3.
  • Fedora 26 delayed
    • — This latest delay pushes Fedora 26 final out to 11 July, assuming no further delays this release cycle.
  • Coreboot joins Conservancy
    • — "By joining Conservancy, coreboot benefits from their project and community organization skills,"
  • Toyota to use Linux in its cars
    • — The Linux Foundation's Automotive Grade Linux project is celebrating its first big-name user, after Toyota said it will employ the OS in the 2018 Camry model it will sell in the United States.
  • ChrisLAS: "@autogradelinux Is it possible for car manufactures to use AGL and also offer Android Auto or Apple CarPlay on top?"
  • 2017 CES Demonstrator - [Automotive Linux Wiki]
    • — Hardware spec for AGL demo machine at CES 2017.
  • Essential’s Ambient OS will be open source
    • — Playground CEO Andy Rubin, whose new company Essential unveiled a new premium Android smartphone and Amazon Echo competitor today, says his company’s Ambient OS smart home platform will be open source.
  • Essential faces trademark dispute over name
    • — Spigen, Inc. successfully registered the trademark (Reg. No. 5014095) as early as August 2016. It's an International Class. 9 mark, the category which relates to computers and scientific devices, including smartphones and accessories.
    35 min
  • Linux Action News 3

    NextCloud goes global, Devuan hits one, Solus keeps expanding, Firefox is trying, but Chrome has won. And more progress on Coreboot.

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    • Nextcloud announces Global Scale architecture as part of Nextcloud 12
    — Achieve several orders of magnitude greater scaling. It is hard to scale the standard architecture to instances over hundred thousand users.
  • Devuan finally reaches 1.0.0
    • — There have been no significant bug reports since Devuan Jessie RC2 was announced only three weeks ago and the list of release critical bugs is now empty. So finally Devuan Jessie Stable is ready for release!
  • Debian Stretch is just weeks away.
    • — We plan to release on 2017-06-17.
  • SteamVR Home Now Works Under Linux
    • — SteamVR Home is a beta feature from Valve for making a social, interactive launcher experience in virtual reality. Those unfamiliar with SteamVR Home can learn about it via this earlier announcement.
  • SteamOS Brewmaster_beta gets huge update
    • — SteamOS 2.115 also implements AMD Vulkan support. Please note that this will only work if you’re using Steam Beta Client.
  • Solus adds experimental KDE Plasma support
    • — For the sake of clarity, please note that the Plasma Desktop from KDE is not officially supported at this moment in time. It is however a project that Peter is working on, and slowly building up to be something useful. This in itself was enabled by the vast amount of KF5 (KDE Frameworks) software required in the repositories already for the “Big Items” (Kdenlive, etc).
  • Firefox is Trying...
    • — It’s because of our newfound internal confidence with Firefox that Mozilla has started to be more aggressive externally again. Firefox’s campaign launching today, called “browse against the machine”, is a perfect example.
  • Chrome has won
    • — From these graphs it’s pretty clear that Firefox is not going anywhere. That means that the esteemed Fox will be around for many many years, albeit with an ever diminishing market share. It also, unfortunately, means that a turnaround is all but impossible.
  • More Coreboot progress for Purism
    • — We are now pretty confident that we should be able to have coreboot firmware ready in time for factory preloading of the new inventory we’ll be shipping from in June.
    42 min
  • Linux Action News 2

    Ubuntu's Gnome plans start to form, and they want your input. The Linux subsystem is coming to Windows Server, and Mycroft is finally ready to ship.

    Plus the Tizen surprise, elementary OS' pay-what-you-want AppCenter, and what's new Android O.

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    • Ubuntu Desktop Team Discuss Their Plans for GNOME in Ubuntu 17.10
    — “may consider a few tweaks here and there to ease our users into the new experience
  • The Ubuntu Desktop Team Wants YOUR Feedback
    • — The results of this survey will help inform and shape the Ubuntu desktop team’s approach to GNOME in Ubuntu 17.10.
  • OMG! UBUNTU! on Twitter: 16,000+ Ubuntu users have taken the survey
    • — 16,000+ #Ubuntu users have taken the 17.10 GNOME desktop survey
  • Windows Server will add the Linux subsystem, join the Insider program
    • — Microsoft announced that WSL will be included in Server later this year.
  • Will Linux distros run on Windows 10 S?
    • — Just because an “app” comes from the Windows Store does NOT automatically mean that it’s safe & suitable for running in Windows 10 S. There are some apps that are not allowed to run on Windows 10 S, including all command-line apps, shells and Consoles.
  • New Release: elementary OS Loki 0.4.1
    • — This release comes with a brand new version of AppCenter with support for apps submitted to the AppCenter Dashboard. Welcome to elementary OS, third-party developers!
  • Loki's New AppCenter with Daniel Foré | Chris Interviews Daniel
    • — Daniel Foré, elementary OS founder, joins Chris to chat about their new update to Loki, their pay what you want AppCenter, what the end of Unity means for them, and the future of the project.
  • Shipping Advance Prototype - Mycroft
    • — This first version of Mark 1 is an advance prototype, perfectly suitable for developers or enthusiasts, yet it is not ready for the consumer market.
  • What’s New in Android: O Developer Preview 2 & More
    • — New tools for developers to help create more performant apps, and an early preview of a project we call Android Go -- a new experience that we’re building for entry-level devices.
  • Samsung to extend Tizen OS to nearly all home appliances by 2020
    • — A new report says, though, that Samsung is looking to further increase Tizen adoption by bringing Tizen (or, in this case, Tizen RT) to nearly all of its home appliances by 2020.
  • Samsung to announce Tizen RT for smart home appliances
    • — Samsung intends to announce a slimmed-down Tizen OS, called Tizen RT, for its washing machines and other smart home appliances at its Tizen Developer Conference (TDC) today, according to a new report.
    37 min

About Linux Action News

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Weekly Linux news and analysis by Chris and Wes. The show every week we hope you'll go to when you want to hear an informed discussion about what’s happening.