Linux Action News

It's confirmed Linux apps are coming to Chrome OS. Google is finally putting pressure on OEMs to ship security patches, and we try Android of Things.

Plus we get some clarity on CoreOS and Red Hat, and their strategy for cloud domination in the future.

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• Linux apps on Chrome OS confirmed — Linux runs inside a virtual machine that was designed from scratch for Chromebooks.
• It could be a while before Linux apps work well on Chrome OS — There are other bits of glue, such as these in-container tools, to run whatever programs you want within a Linux VM within a Chrome OS container.
• Google puts pressure on OEMs over Android patches —

Fedora fights for the user, Ubuntu Flavours draw the line, and why we're worried small distributions are starting to collapse.

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• Ubuntu MATE 18.10 - dropping i386 images — Less than 10% of Ubuntu MATE users are running the i386 (32-bit Intel) images.
• 18.10 and beyond - 64bit images only | Ubuntu Budgie — from the various reports and statistics we have observed from 16.04 budgie-remix all the way to you enthusiastic 18.04 trail-blazers, almost all of you are now using the 64bit ISO.
• Lubuntu finally ready to move to LXQt — Lubuntu 18.10 will be the first release to ship with LXQt as default desktop environment instead of LXDE, according to Simon Quigley.

Ubuntu 18.04 is out and we round up the new features, the flavours, and our first takes. The Librem 5 learns a new trick, and Linux apps on Chrome OS looks like a much bigger deal than first suspected.

Plus what's great about GIMP's biggest release in six years, and more.

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• Ubuntu Touch will be an official option on the Librem 5 — While the Librem 5 will ship with Free Software Foundation-endorsed PureOS by default, utilizing GNOME across all devices, Purism will support customers who want to easily install Ubuntu Touch offering great diversity for users around the world.
• Purism feel the icy breath of Intel on their neck — After receiving a courtesy request from Intel’s Director of Software Infrastructure, we have decided to remove this post’s technical contents while we investigate our options.
• Chrome OS moves a step closer to proper Linux — A new Terminal app has been added to the app drawer, and clicking it opens a dialog explaining the feature.
• Linux apps will look seamless in Chrome OS — First native Linux apps in Chrome OS, and they’ve opted for Adapta, a popular Material Design-inspired Gtk theme that can be used on many of your favorite GNU/Linux distributions.
• Huge GIMP Update — GIMP 2.10 is the result of six years of work that originally focused on porting the program to a new image processing engine, GEGL. However the new version ships with far more new features, including new and improved tools, better file formats support, various usability improvements, revamped color management support, a plethora of improvements targeted at digital painters and photographers, metadata editing, and much, much more.
• Ubuntu 18.04 released — Optimised for multi-cloud infrastructure, machine learning, AI and software development
• 18.04 flavours also released — Long-term support (LTS) releases of Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie and the (always magnificent) Ubuntu MATE are available to download.
• Clear focus on cloud and containers — “Multi-cloud operations are the new normal” said Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical and founder of Ubuntu. “Boot-time and performance-optimised images of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on every major public cloud make it the fastest and most efficient OS for cloud computing, especially for storage and compute-intensive tasks like machine learning.”
• Ubuntu 18.04 even runs on a Nintendo Switch — I've written a script to build a full Ubuntu Desktop image for the Switch
• TechSNAP Episode 365: The Unfixable Exploit — ShofEL2, a Tegra X1 and Nintendo Switch exploit

Trisquel has a new release, and Chris tries out the new ReactOS. Plus our thoughts on Microsoft announcing their own Linux, the German government switching to NextCloud, and the fix is in for Gnome Shell's infamous "Memory leak".

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• Trisquel 8.0 LTS Flidas — The biggest internal change to the default edition is the switch from GNOME to MATE 1.12. The main reason for this change was that GNOME dropped support for their legacy desktop, which retained the GNOME 2.x user experience and didn't require 3D composition -- a feature that in many computers would still need non-free software to run at full speed. MATE provides a perfect drop-in replacement, it is very light and stable and it retains all the user experience design that we are used to from previous Trisquel releases.
• ReactOS 0.4.8 released — The ReactOS Project is pleased to announce the release of version 0.4.8 as we continue to work on releasing every three months.

ZFS' first data loss bug comers to Linux, GameMode could have some serious potential, and Mozilla thinks the Internet is in bad shape.

Plus new research shows Android OEMs are lying about their patch levels, Lineage goes hard on "Play certification" and we have thoughts on all of it.

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• GameMode is a new tool to optimize CPU performance — GameMode is an open-source tool intended to deliver the best performance out of their Linux games. GameMode does handy things like tells the CPU to automatically run in the performance governor mode rather than ondemand/powersave modes. GameMode consists of a daemon (gamemoded) and a library (libgamemode) so that games can tell the daemon when they would like to be put into performance mode, etc.GameMode currently relies upon systemd.
• ZFS data loss bug patched — ZFS On Linux 0.7.8 is now available as an emergency release to deal with a possible data loss issue. The past few days there has been a busy bug report about unlistable and disappearing files.
• Mozilla thinks the Internet isn't in a great shape — the Mozilla Foundation released a report that highlights the dangers posed to the entirety of the Internet ecosystem by the increasing concentration of control over how people experience the online world in the hands of companies like his.
• Some Android OEMs lying about patch level — The problem, Nohl points out, is worse than vendors merely neglecting to patch older devices, a common phenomenon. Instead, it's that they tell users they install patches that they in fact don't, creating a false sense of security.
• Lineage on Google Play Certification — Google Play Certification is Google’s way of ensuring that devices running with Google Play Services are in a known-good state. This is implemented via checking of SafetyNet, which you can read more about in our SafetyNet blogpost.

The Linux kernel gets a spring cleaning, things are going well for RISC-V, and Linux-Libre is clearly prioritizing freedom over security with their recent update.

Steam Machines were pronounced dead and then alive this week, we'll try and clear things up, and Mozilla has a new project.

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• Linux kernel to remove several old CPU architectures — The architectures which will become deprecated are Blackfin, CRIS, FRV, M32R, Metag, MN10300, Score and Tile. Although not being deprecated, the Unicore32 and Hexagon architectures are also at risk but their maintainers are working on improving the situation so their support can be continued.
• RISC-V Support Continues Maturing Within The Mainline Linux Kernel — Linux 4.17 kernel include support for dynamic ftrace, clean-ups to their atomic and locking code, module loading support is now enabled by default, and other fixes.
• Save money using RISC-V rather than Arm — According to a report published last week by The Information, more than 80 tech goliaths including Nvidia, Google, Qualcomm, Samsung and Tesla are working to adopt RISC-V technology. The main reason behind the push to adopt RISC-V is said to be the processor's open-source design, which will facilitate "a much cheaper way to build chips for new technologies like autonomous vehicles," says the source.
• Debian now supports RISC-V — We've been working in the last few weeks to do a (second) boostrap of

ChromeOS comes to tablets, and we ponder why... Google removes Kodi from autocomplete results in an apparent bow to pressure, Firefox combats Facebook tracking, and Oracle vs Google is back for their biggest fight yet.

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• ChromeOS now on tablets — The new Acer Chromebook Tab 10 is a 9.7 inch tablet that runs Google’s Chrome operating system, supports Android apps, and has no keyboard
• The final nail in the Firefox OS coffin — the Firefox Marketplace is shutting down on March 30th, 2018, which means the handful of folks who actually have devices running Firefox OS won’t be able to download apps from the official app store after that.
• Google removes Kodi from autocomplete — C: 30NEWS

webOS is back, and the Linux Foundation has a Hypervisor for your car. Plus some of GNOME's performance issues, Firefox changes, and the hidden files in Bitcoin's blockchain.

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• LG releases webOS Open Source Edition, looks to expand webOS usage — LG wants to expand the adoption of webOS and the company is working with the South Korean government to solicit business proposals from other companies interested in using webOS.

Gnome's new tricks, our favorite thing about the Raspberry Pi 3B+, Eric Raymond's call for an open source UPS, and the US city that banned Bitcoin mining.

Plus Let's Encrypt rolls out wildcard certs, Firefox 59's new Linux feature, and why Wil Wheaton switched to Debian.

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• GNOME 3.28 Released — One major new feature for this release is automatic downloading of operating systems in Boxes, which takes the work out of creating and running virtual machines – just pick the operating system that you want to create a virtual machine of, and Boxes will now download and install it for you.
• GNOME 3.28 Release Notes
• Firefox 59 released — We launched an entirely new engine in November, made significant improvements to graphics rendering in January, and are continuing to post performance gains and add features with this release. On Firefox for desktop, we’ve improved page load times, added tools to annotate and crop your Firefox Screenshots, and made it easier to arrange your Top Sites on the Firefox Home page. On Firefox for Android, we’ve added support for sites that stream video using the HLS protocol.
• Firefox is a Snap
• Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ — Alongside a 200MHz increase in peak CPU clock frequency, we have roughly three times the wired and wireless network throughput, and the ability to sustain high performance for much longer periods.
• US city bans new Bitcoin mining — Plattsburgh, New York has imposed an 18-month moratorium on Bitcoin mining to prevent miners from using all the city’s cheap electricity.
• Let’s Encrypt rolls out wildcard certs — Free "wildcard" certificates to enable secure HTTP connections for entire domains. In addition to a new version of the Automated Certificate Management Environment (ACME) protocol, an interface that can be used by a variety of client software packages to automate verification of certificate requests.

OpenWatch is trying to free your wrist and empower modular smart watches, Fedora's solution to the IoT mess, and more AMP shenanigans from Google to take over the web.

Debian and Kali land on Windows 10's Linux Subsystem, and Noah joins Chris from SCaLE16x

Special Guest: Noah J. Chelliah.

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• OpenWatch — Modular smartphone and smartwatch devices may be a niche idea, but it’s one that has a lot of passionate people behind it. The process of having to buy a brand new device just to upgrade or replace a single component feels very archaic. Unless you’re willing to pry apart a device yourself (or pay someone to do it), you’re forced to purchase a brand new device when something inside of it breaks.
• Fedora IoT Edition — So what will be happening over the coming weeks (and months)? We’ll be getting the working group in place, getting an initial monthly release process in place so that people can start to have something to kick the tires with and provide feedback and drive discussion.
• More AMP tyranny from Google — Google’s goal is to extend support in features like the Top Stories carousel to AMP-like content that (1) meets a set of performance and user experience criteria and (2) implements a set of new web standards. Some of the proposed standards in the critical path are Feature Policy, Web Packaging, iframe promotion, Performance Timeline, and Paint Timing.
• ​GitHub makes open-source project licensing easier with an open-source program | ZDNet — GitHub has open sourced Licensed, an internal tool they've used to automate some of GitHub's open-source projects licensing process.
• Debian & Kali Linux Are Now On Windows Subsystem for Linux — Joining Kali, Ubuntu, SUSE, and openSUSE on Windows WSL now is also Debian Linux.
• SCALE 16x Report — SCaLE 16X – the 16th annual Southern California Linux Expo. Pasadena Convention Center.