Linux Action News

Fixing Steam on Linux for good, new toys for Fedora and Plasma users, OnePlus gets busted & the Librem 5 gets funded.

Plus some key project updates & more!

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• Solus pushing forward Steam with Snaps — That snap, as some people have already guessed as much, will be the linux-steam-integration project, using a strict-mode LSI intercept module. We can also make various tweaks on top of that runtime to enforce ABI compatibility where it might be missing.

Google's new hardware fails to impress, Sailfish X becomes a reality, and the most disappointing thing about Munich's slide back to proprietary software.

Plus why Bitcoin Gold is the people's coin, Oracle advises the White House against FOSS, and ChromeOS gets a grownup Linux feature.

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• Google Announce new Hardware — Google announced the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL; an interesting new camera called Google Clips; a new Google Home Mini and Max; a Pixelbook, and an updated Google Daydream.
• Chrome OS gets a lot more interesting — This component, known as crosvm, runs untrusted operating systems along with virtualized devices. No actual hardware is emulated. This only runs VMs through the Linux's KVM interface.
• Sailfish X becomes a reality — Jolla have released the Sailfish X product page and the Jolla shop (which at the moment is dedicated to the selling of Sailfish X).
• First 64-bit RISC-V SOC released — The processor is intended for AI, machine learning, networking, gateways and smart IoT devices.
• Oracle advises White House against FOSS — Silicon Valley is comprised of IT vendors most of which fail. The USG is not a technology vendor nor is it a start-up. Under no circumstance should the USG attempt to become a technology vendor
• Munich starts move back to Microsoft products —

Atari has a Linux powered console, some brief Ubuntu updates, and the biggest Kernel news in years.

Then we consider the recent smattering of opinion pieces on Microsoft's commitment to Open Source.

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• New Atari console runs Linux — The Ataribox is powered by a ‘customised’ AMD processor and uses Radeon graphics. On the software side the machine runs a ‘customised’ version of Linux that has an “easy-to-use user interface”.
• Ubuntu 17.10 final beta — Artful Final Beta includes updated versions of most of our core set of packages, including a current 4.13 kernel
• Ubuntu 17.10 Will Drop The 32-bit Desktop ISO — There will no longer be any "ubuntu-desktop-i386.iso" produced. There is no longer any effective QA or testing being done on the Ubuntu i386 desktop image on actual 32-bit-only hardware.
• Announcing the XFree KWin project — The idea is to be able to start KWin/Wayland without XWayland support.
• 6 year LTS kernel — Linux LTS releases will now be maintained for six years.
• Nextcloud Introducing Native Integrated End-to-end Encryption — Nextcloud End-to-end Encryption keeps the server from ever seeing the data while still facilitating syncing between devices and sharing with other users.
• SQL Server lands on Linux for the first time — Microsoft hit a major milestone today with the official general availability of SQL Server on Linux.
• Microsoft Rolls Out A Preview Of The New Skype For Linux — This long-awaited Skype for Linux update brings screen sharing, group chat, and other features not recently available under the current Skype for Linux client. This new Linux client is part of their effort to "rebuild Skype from the ground up with cloud technology."
• Microsoft becomes a sponsor of the Open Source Initiative — As a premium sponsor, Microsoft joins the likes of Google, IGM, HPE, AdblockPlus, GitHub and Heptio as top sponsors of the project. Other sponsors at lower levels include RedHat, The Linux Foundation, Mozilla and HP.
• When Microsoft met SUSE: This Windows-Linux partnership gets stronger every day — Microsoft SQL Server, which just became available on Linux, is also available on SLES and SLES on Azure on October 2.
• Will Microsoft love Linux to death? Shuttleworth and Stallman. — "It certainly looks that way. But it won't be so easy to extinguish us, because our reasons for using and advancing free software are not limited to practical convenience," he said.

GNOME endorses the Librem 5, Replicant and UBports support more devices, Pipewire is major news for video on Linux, EFF walks away from W3C over DRM, Facebook reacts to community pressure, and Red Hat expands their Patent promise.

Special Guest: Wes Payne.

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• GNOME officially on board for the Librem 5 — The GNOME Foundation is committed to partnering with Purism to create hackfests, tools, emulators, and build awareness that surround moving GNOME/GTK onto the Librem 5 phone.
• Replicant expands list of supported devices — A few months have passed since the initial Replicant 6.0 release and it’s time for another one. This release more than doubles the number of supported devices and contains a few important fixes and improvements.
• UBports release OTA 2 — The UBports project is excited to announce the immediate availability of Ubuntu Touch 15.04 OTA-2.

Gnome users have something to celebrate, Purism and KDE are working together, and Manjaro has some hardware.

Plus why we're not too worried about BlueBourne, the fight for public money to fund public code, and a new power tool for Firefox users.

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• GNOME 3.26 — The GNOME Project is excited to announce the release of version 3.26, the latest version of GNOME 3. The new version is the result of six months’ hard work by the GNOME community, and comes packed with improvements and new features.
• GNOME 3.26 Release Notes — GNOME 3.26 no longer shows status icons in the bottom-left of the screen. This prevents the status icon tray from getting in the way and is expected to provide a better overall experience.
• Purism and KDE to Work Together — Having full access to Purism's hardware platform is a dream for the KDE community.
• Relevant Email 1 — One of the open questions for the phone is still which UX we will use,

Why AsteroidOS on your wrist is worth watching, what Project Treble means for future custom ROMs, Debian's Docker dominance, and why China might shut down Bitcoin exchanges.

Plus how NGINX plans to make big money, Mozilla wants to reinvent online comments, and more.

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• Connnect Watch smartwatch with AsteroidOS crowdfunding campaign begins — First unveiled in late August, the team behind the Connect Watch have launched a campaign on European crowdfunding site Ulule in hopes of raising about $33,000.
• Sailfish meetup in Krakow — We are inviting you to a meetup with our CEO, Mr. Sami Pienimäki in the city of Kraków on Thursday, September 14th for a round or two of beer!
• What Project Treble Means for Future Custom ROM Development — Because of the way the lower layer of Android was modularized, all Treble devices in the market will be able to boot a generic stock, AOSP Android build. This takes away most of the hassle of porting custom ROMs to an older device since a single, generic Android build can run on many devices.
• Mozilla and the Washington Post Are Reinventing Online Comments — Talk is developed by The Coral Project, a Mozilla creation that builds open-source tools to make digital journalism more inclusive and more engaging
• Chinese government bans ICOs — The ruling comes from China’s central bank, which issued a statement criticizing ICOs for “disrupting” the country’s financial order. The regulator described initial coin offerings as “a form of unapproved illegal public financing” that “raises suspicions” of fraud and criminal activity
• Might shut down Bitcoin exchanges — China’s Bitcoin exchanges said on Saturday they are still awaiting clarification from the authorities on a media report that they will be shut down.

An Ubuntu developer event is happening soon, 17.10 Beta 1 has dropped for most of the flavours, Reddit closes its source while Phoenix OS opens theirs, Google getting serious about kernel updates in Android, Essential need to up their game, Blockchain is serious business and Linux desktop marketshare hits a new high.

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• Ubuntu Rally in NYC — The Ubuntu Rally, taking place in New York City September 25th-29th, is a forward-thinking five day software hackathon attended by major software vendors, Ubuntu developers working at every level of the stack, and community contributors.
• 17.10 Beta 1 of Ubuntu flavours released — The first beta is available today for the Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" release for the flavors opting in to participate in this development milestone ahead of the official launch in October.
• Reddit closes its source — Open-source makes it hard for us to develop some features "in the clear" (like our recent video launch) without leaking our plans too far in advance. As Reddit is now a larger player on the web, it is hard for us to be strategic in our planning when everyone can see what code we are committing.
• Phoenix OS urged to open source their kernel — So a dedicated fan of the platform, Karol Putra, has created a Change.org petition in hopes that it will change their minds.
• Petition update · Victory! — It's most likely really the Phoenix OS kernel as it carries slight unique modifications in comparison to Android-x86 and it's forks
• Google mandates 4.4+ kernel for Oreo — Starting this year with smartphones which ship with Android Oreo, Google is requiring that all SoCs productized in 2017 must launch with kernel 4.4 or newer.
• Essential underdelivers — Essential – a device, marketing team, and CEO that seem to blur the lines between fact and fiction and possible and impossible
• Then Essential royally screws up — Dozens of customers replied with their personal information, but those emails didn’t just go to Essential. Instead, they went out to everybody who had received the original email.
• Blockchain is big in big business — Hundreds of projects have collectively raised more than a billion dollars through “initial coin offerings” (ICOs). There are now tokens funding every conceivable endeavor
• Linux creeps above 3% browser marketshare — According to Net Applications' Netmarketshare, the Linux market share on the desktop as judged by browser interactions may now be above 3%.

New Linux hardware, Purism's Librem 5, and Jolla's €50 Sailfish ROM.

Plus Chris' quick take on Android Oreo, Google goes for Microsoft's heart, while Microsoft gets cozier with Red Hat and SUSE pretends not to be upset about it.

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• Ubuntu Budgie machines — UK-based computer outfit Nimbusoft is gearing up to sell two laptops and an all-in-one desktop PC pre-loaded with the aforementioned nimble, GNOME-based Ubuntu spin.
• Librem 5 — The Librem 5 phone will be the world's first ever IP-native mobile handset, using end-to-end encrypted decentralized communication.
• Jolla wants to try and sell a development ROM for €50 — Today it’s our pleasure to announce all the details for Sailfish X, aka Sailfish OS for Sony Xperia X!
• Android Oreo — Android Oreo brings with it a host of new features and improvements over Android Nougat. While not all of them would be immediately visible to end users, they would surely contribute towards the end experience of a mature smartphone OS.
• Chrome OS enterprise edition — The paid service will allow companies to manage multiple devices running Chrome, and includes support for Microsoft Active Directory and VMware Workspace One, as well as managed or custom storefronts in the Play service.
• Microsoft and Red Hat expand alliance to containers — Red Hat and Microsoft have expanded an alliance which was first announced about two years ago, with plans to help organisations more easily adopt the use of containers.
• SUSE pretends not to be butthurt — Asked where SUSE stood in view of the fact that Red Hat, whose revenue dwarfs that of the Germany company, would obviously be a preferred partner for Microsoft, a company spokesman said, pointing to the announcement of the deal: "I don't see where it says Red Hat is 'preferred'. Perhaps I'm missing something."
• and holds firm on Btrfs — SUSE is committed to btrfs as the default filesystem for SUSE Linux Enterprise, and beyond.

A big batch of Debian updates, Gnome turns 20, Joe's report from OggCamp, the Solus trifecta, encrypted ZFS comes to Linux finally, and Bitcoin is forking, again.

Plus some thoughts on tiny Linux computers, the Linage survey and more.

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• GNOME turns 20 — There have been 33 stable releases since the initial release of GNOME 1.0 in 1999.
• Debian turns 24
• Raspbian Stretch has arrived for Raspberry Pi — PulseAudio is therefore no longer installed by default, and the volume plugin on the taskbar will no longer start and stop PulseAudio.
• Work on Debian for mobile devices continues — Work on Debian for mobile devices, i.e. telephones, tablets, and handheld computers, continues. During the recent DebConf17 in Montréal, Canada, more than 50 people had a meeting to reconsider opportunities and challenges for Debian on mobile devices.
• Lineage summer survey — The survey is really simple and we won’t collect any sensitive information.
• Solus 3 Released — On behalf of the Solus team and community, we’re extremely proud to announce the immediate availability of Solus 3. This is the third iteration of Solus since our move to become a rolling release operating system.
• ZFS On Linux Adds Encryption Support — This support allows creating and managing natively-encrypted datasets. There have been ZOL patches going back months for encryption
• Bitcoin Is Forking. Again. — Three months from now, there will likely be three different versions of bitcoin all attempting to prepare the currency for more traffic in different ways.
• Henry Brade Call for a Fight Against SegWit2x on Twitter — The SegWit2X hard fork scheduled for Nov is an attempted hostile corporate takeover of the #Bitcoin protocol.

Flatpak and snap get the Solus boost, Ubuntu's community is getting a remake, and development on Ubuntu 17.10 has taken an interesting turn.

Plus more good news for Firefox users, and why Google's "streaming OS updates" could be great for the Android ROM community.

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• Snaps in Solus — Occurs to me that I likely have to make some kind of statement or whathaveyou about the whole "Solus adopting snaps" thing.