# Twtxt is an open, distributed microblogging platform that
# uses human-readable text files, common transport protocols,
# and free software.
#
# Learn more about twtxt at  https://github.com/buckket/twtxt
#
# This is an automated Yarn.social feed running feeds v0.1.0@72e53a9
# Learn more about Yarn.social at https://yarn.social
#
# nick        = osnews
# url         = https://feeds.twtxt.net/osnews/twtxt.txt
# type        = rss
# source      = https://www.osnews.com/feed/
# avatar      = https://feeds.twtxt.net/osnews/avatar.png#3p5yfurwkedxleuxxmsg42t4rymmahtgcy5prxx34eu4w2o6vwva
# description = 
# updated_at  = 2024-12-06T22:21:47Z
#
2024-02-23T12:35:40Z	**The Plop boot managers**
I wrote different boot managers. Three boot managers are available as download. The Plop Boot Manager 5, PlopKexec and the new boot manager PBM6. The new boot manager is under development. ↫ Elmar Hanlhofer I had never heard of the three Plop boot managers, written by Elmar Hanlhofer, but they seem like quite the capable tools. First, Plop Boot Manager 5 is the most complete version, but it’s also quite outdated by now, with its last release stemming from 2013. That being said, it’s in ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138640/the-plop-boot-managers/)
2024-02-24T11:10:25Z	**Windows-as-a-nuisance: How I clean up a “clean install” of Windows 11 and Edge**
I frequently write about Windows, Edge, and other Microsoft-adjacent technologies as part of my day job, and I sign into my daily-use PCs with a Microsoft account, so my usage patterns may be atypical for many Ars Technica readers. But for anyone who uses Windows, Edge, or both, I thought it might be useful to detail what I’m doing to clean up a clean install of Windows, minimiz ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138645/windows-as-a-nuisance-how-i-clean-up-a-clean-install-of-windows-11-and-edge/)
2024-02-26T22:37:52Z	**Some OpenBSD features that aren’t widely known**
In this blog post, you will learn about some OpenBSD features that can be useful, but not widespread. They often have a niche usage, but it’s important to know they exist to prevent you from reinventing the wheel. ↫ Solène Rapenne Written by Solène Rapenne, who also happens to be an OpenBSD developer, so a great source for information like this. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138651/some-openbsd-features-that-arent-widely-known/)
2024-02-27T10:37:52Z	**A history of the tty**
It’s one of those anachronisms that is deeply embedded in modern technology. From cloud operator servers to embedded controllers in appliances, there must be uncountable devices that think they are connected to a TTY. I will omit the many interesting details of the Linux terminal infrastructure here, as it could easily fill its own article. But most Linux users are at least peripherally aware that the kernel tends to identify both serial devices and terminals as TTYs, assigning them filesy ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138653/a-history-of-the-tty/)
2024-02-27T10:41:56Z	**Microsoft wants to update your Windows 11 PC without forcing you to reboot**
If there’s one thing Windows users hate about Windows, it’s Windows updates interrupting your workflow or gaming session with a popup asking you to restart your PC finish installing the latest security update. It happens at least once a month, because that’s how often Microsoft rolls out security updates to Windows PCs. This may soon be a thing of the past, as the company is now test ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138655/microsoft-wants-to-update-your-windows-11-pc-without-forcing-you-to-reboot/)
2024-02-28T20:36:55Z	**Meta will start collecting “anonymized” data about Quest headset usage**
Meta will soon begin “collecting anonymized data” from users of its Quest headsets, a move that could see the company aggregating information about hand, body, and eye tracking; camera information; “information about your physical environment”; and information about “the virtual reality events you attend.” In an email sent to Quest users Monday, Meta notes that it currently collects “the data  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138650/meta-will-start-collecting-anonymized-data-about-quest-headset-usage/)
2024-02-28T20:47:45Z	**Tumblr and WordPress owner is striking deals with OpenAI and Midjourney for training data, says report**
Speaking of collecting data, here’s another major content player signing a deal to sell your content to “AI” companies. The owner of Tumblr and WordPress.com is in talks with AI companies Midjourney and OpenAI to provide training data scraped from users’ posts, a report from 404 Media alleges. The report, based on an anonymous so ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138659/tumblr-and-wordpress-owner-is-striking-deals-with-openai-and-midjourney-for-training-data-says-report/)
2024-02-28T21:25:03Z	**New Wear OS devices run two operating systems**
Wear OS smartwatches have a dual-chipset architecture inclusive of a powerful application processor (AP) and ultra low-power co-processor microcontroller unit (MCU). The architecture has a powerful AP capable of handling complex operations en-masse, and is seamlessly coupled with a low power MCU. The Wear OS hybrid interface enables intelligent switching between the MCU or the AP, allowing the AP to be suspended when not needed to preserve  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138661/new-wear-os-devices-run-two-operating-systems/)
2024-02-28T21:43:39Z	**KDE Plasma 6 released**
KDE Plasma 6 has been released – and this is an important release with two massive low-level stack upgrades. With Plasma 6, our technology stack has undergone two major upgrades: a transition to the latest version of our application framework, Qt, and a migration to the modern Linux graphics platform, Wayland. We have done our best to ensure that these changes are as smooth and unnoticeable to the users as possible, so when you install this update, you will see the same familiar desktop  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138663/kde-plasma-6-released/)
2024-03-01T00:40:56Z	**HDMI Forum rejects open-source HDMI 2.1 driver support sought by AMD**
One of the limitations of AMD’s open-source Linux graphics driver has been the inability to implement HDMI 2.1+ functionality on the basis of legal requirements by the HDMI Forum. AMD engineers had been working to come up with a solution in conjunction with the HDMI Forum for being able to provide HDMI 2.1+ capabilities with their open-source Linux kernel driver, but it looks like those efforts  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138666/hdmi-forum-rejects-open-source-hdmi-2-1-driver-support-sought-by-amd/)
2024-03-01T00:47:12Z	**HP wants you to pay up to $36/month to rent a printer that it monitors**
HP launched a subscription service today that rents people a printer, allots them a specific amount of printed pages, and sends them ink for a monthly fee. HP is framing its service as a way to simplify printing for families and small businesses, but the deal also comes with monitoring and a years-long commitment. Prices range from $6.99 per month for a plan that includes an HP Envy printer ( ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138668/hp-wants-you-to-pay-up-to-36-month-to-rent-a-printer-that-it-monitors/)
2024-03-01T00:52:08Z	**Microsoft announces super resolution DirectX API**
We’re thrilled to announce DirectSR, our new API designed in partnership with GPU hardware vendors to enable seamless integration of Super Resolution (SR) into the next generation of games. Super Resolution is a cutting-edge technique that increases the resolution and visual quality in games. DirectSR is the missing link developers have been waiting for when approaching SR integration, providing a smoother, more efficient experience t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138670/microsoft-announces-super-resolution-directx-api/)
2024-03-01T10:48:00Z	**Wikipedia no longer considers CNET a “generally reliable” source after “AI” scandal**
Remember last year, when we reported that the Red Ventures-owned CNET had been quietly publishing dozens of AI-generated articles that turned out to be filled with errors and plagiarism? The revelation kicked off a fiery debate about the future of the media in the era of AI — as well as an equally passionate discussion among editors of Wikipedia, who needed to figure ou ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138673/wikipedia-no-longer-considers-cnet-a-generally-reliable-source-after-ai-scandal/)
2024-03-01T22:16:48Z	**MenuetOS 1.50.00 released**
MenuetOS has released two new versions recently, version 1.49.60 on 5 February, and 1.50.00 on 1 March. Aside from the usual bugfixes and updates, these two new versions bring, among other things, new screensavers, a musical chord calculator, and support for UEFI booting thanks to Easyboot. MenuetOS is a small operating system written entirely in assembly, available in both 32bit and 64bit versions for x86. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138672/menuetos-1-50-00-released/)
2024-03-01T22:51:04Z	**Google Messages is blocking RCS texts on rooted Android phones**
Rooting an Android phone is no longer as popular as it was a few years ago. Plus, if you root your phone now, you will run into several issues, like Google Wallet and banking apps not working, as the device will fail the Play Integrity API test. It makes sense for Google to block banking apps and payment functionality on rooted phones for safety and security reasons. But the company is now taking things a s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138685/google-messages-is-blocking-rcs-texts-on-rooted-android-phones/)
2024-03-02T10:25:58Z	**Why I use Firefox**
Questions like “Which browser should I use?” regularly come up on the r/browsers subreddit. I sometimes respond to these posts, but my quick replies usually only contain one or two points. To be honest, until recently I wasn’t even sure myself why I use Firefox. Of course it’s a pretty good browser, but that doesn’t explain why I’ve stubbornly stayed loyal to Firefox for more than a decade. After giving it a bit more thought, I came up with the following reasons. ↫ Šime Vidas There’s really no v ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138687/why-i-use-firefox/)
2024-03-02T10:30:54Z	**Apple silicon: a little help from friends and co-processors**
So far in this series, I have looked in broad terms at how the CPU cores in Apple silicon chips work, and how they use frequency control and two types of core to deliver high performance with low power and energy use. As I hinted previously, their design also relies on specialist processing units and co-processors, the subject of this article. ↫ Howard Oakley Another excellent read from Howard Oakley. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138689/apple-silicon-a-little-help-from-friends-and-co-processors/)
2024-03-02T10:39:11Z	**Apple walks back decision to disable home screen web apps in the EU**
Following the release of the second beta version of iOS 17.4, it emerged that Apple had restricted the functionality of iOS web apps in the EU. Web apps could no longer launch from the ‌Home Screen‌ in their own top-level window that takes up the entire screen, relegating them to a simple shortcut with an option to open within Safari instead. The move was heavily criticized by groups like Open Web ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138692/apple-walks-back-decision-to-disable-home-screen-web-apps-in-the-eu/)
2024-03-03T21:10:45Z	**Redox gets massive performance boost**
Redox has published the summary of development covering February, and there’s quite a few interesting leaps forward this month. First and foremost, the operating system got a major file read/write speed boost by implementing records in RedoxFS. The migration to UNIX-format paths is ongoing, Boxedwine is currently being ported, and more and more programs are getting ported, including complex applications like Audacity, Celestia, KiCad and Neothesia. There’s a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138695/redox-gets-massive-performance-boost/)
2024-03-03T21:21:05Z	**Supermium: up-to-date Chromium for Windows XP, Vista, and 7**
Modern browsers don’t really support older versions of Windows anymore, so anyone running Windows XP, 2003, Vista, and even Windows 7 and 8 are losing access to secure and capable browsers. While running those older versions of Windows on production machines isn’t exactly advised, they’re still great fun as retrocomputing platforms and to keep older Windows games accessible using period-correct hardware. As such, th ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138697/supermium-up-to-date-chromium-for-windows-xp-vista-and-7/)
2024-03-04T12:46:56Z	**NixBSD: unofficial NixOS fork with a FreeBSD kernel**
NixBSD is an attempt to make a reproducible and declarable BSD, based on NixOS. Although theoretically much of this work could be copied to build other BSDs, all work thus far has been focused on building a FreeBSD distribution. ↫ NixBSD Github page It was only a matter of time before someone would try and build this. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138700/nixbsd-unofficial-nixos-fork-with-a-freebsd-kernel/)
2024-03-04T20:26:05Z	**An Apple district manager’s Macintosh Portable in 1989-91 (featuring GEIS AppleLink and a look at System 7.0 alpha)**
A few months ago I introduced you to one of the more notable Apple pre-production units in my collection, a late prototype Macintosh Portable. But it turns out it’s not merely notable for what it is than what it has on it: a beta version of System 6.0.6 (the doomed release that Apple pulled due to bugs), A ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138703/an-apple-district-managers-macintosh-portable-in-1989-91-featuring-geis-applelink-and-a-look-at-system-7-0-alpha/)
2024-03-04T23:27:23Z	**Rust for embedded systems: current state, challenges and open problems**
Embedded software is used in safety-critical systems such as medical devices and autonomous vehicles, where software defects, including security vulnerabilities, have severe consequences. Most embedded codebases are developed in unsafe languages, specifically C/C++, and are riddled with memory safety vulnerabilities. To prevent such vulnerabilities, RUST, a performant memory-safe systems langu ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138705/rust-for-embedded-systems-current-state-challenges-and-open-problems/)
2024-03-05T15:50:39Z	**European crash tester says carmakers must bring back physical controls**
The European organisation for crash testing and car safety, Euro NCAP has announced that starting in 2026, cars will need physical controls in their interiors to gain the highest safety ratings. “The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138708/european-crash-tester-says-carmakers-must-bring-back-physical-controls/)
2024-03-05T16:10:44Z	**Facing reality, whether it’s about Apple or the EU, is a core requirement for good management**
Baldur Bjarnason has written an excellent piece to explain why, exactly, companies like Apple seem wholly incapable of working with the EU, instead of against it. He argues – quite effectively – that Apple, and US tech punditry in general, simply do not understand the EU, nor are they willing to spend even 10 minutes to understand it, which is reall ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138710/facing-reality-whether-its-about-apple-or-the-eu-is-a-core-requirement-for-good-management/)
2024-03-05T16:20:27Z	**Running CP/M on the C128**
I owned a C64 and was familiar with the C128, but this one was odd. It wasn’t running any games, color graphics or playing music. Instead, it was connected to a monochrome monitor which always displayed either a weird command line prompt or what seemed to be some boring professional writing software. I soon came to find that it was running CP/M and WordStar, one of the first word processors for microcomputers. My daily obsessive visits to the computer shop led to some friendship wi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138715/running-cp-m-on-the-c128/)
2024-03-05T17:56:04Z	**Microsoft kills Windows Subsystem for Android**
Well, that was a short run. Announced with much fanfare in 2021, Microsoft has announced it’s already killing Windows Subsystem for Android, Microsoft’s solution to run Android applications on Windows 11. Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android™️ (WSA). As a result, the Amazon Appstore on Windows and all applications and games dependent on WSA will no longer be supported beginning March 5, 2025. Until then, technic ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138718/microsoft-kills-windows-subsystem-for-android/)
2024-03-06T14:50:16Z	**Windows to add gobs of “AI” to Explorer**
According to my sources, AI Explorer is the blockbuster AI experience that will separate AI PCs from non-AI PCs. It’s described as an “advanced Copilot” with a built-in history/timeline feature that turns everything you do on your computer into a searchable moment using natural language. It works across any app and allows users to search for previously opened conversations, documents, web pages, and images. For example, you could type, “Find me that list ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138724/windows-to-add-gobs-of-ai-to-explorer/)
2024-03-06T20:36:09Z	**Google announces measures to fight spam in its search results**
Every day, people turn to Search to find the best of what the web has to offer. We’ve long had policies and automated systems to fight against spammers, and we work to address emerging tactics that look to game our results with low-quality content. We regularly update those policies and systems to effectively tackle these trends so we can continue delivering useful content and connecting people with high-qual ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138729/google-announces-measures-to-fight-spam-in-its-search-results/)
2024-03-06T20:32:30Z	**FreeBSD 13.3 released**
FreeBSD 13.3 has been released, and as this is a point release of the stable branch, it’s not a major shake-up or overhaul of the platform. We’ve got the usual updated versions of LLVM, clang, OpenSSH, and so on, and there’s a number of stability fixes to native and LinuxKPI-based WiFi drivers. Of course, there’s much more, so head on over to the release notes for the full details. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138727/freebsd-13-3-released/)
2024-03-06T22:52:29Z	**Adding systemd to postmarketOS**
You heard it here first folks: systemd is coming to postmarketOS! As a mobile oriented OS, our main goal has always been to work for everyone. From technical folks to casual users. postmarketOS should have all the benefits you expect from a Linux based distribution, such as being free software, respecting your privacy, getting updates until your device physically breaks, respecting your attention and not shoving advertisements in your face. Your phone should be a tool y ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138732/adding-systemd-to-postmarketos/)
2024-03-07T00:35:07Z	**The future that never was**
Just before the end of 1989, Microsoft made available the first pre-release version of the long promised 32-bit OS/2 2.0, which was intended to be the first mass-market 32-bit PC operating system. This was accompanied by a press release detailing the $2,600 OS/2 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK). Unfortunately, the December 1989 pre-release of OS/2 2.0 may not have survived to the present day. But in June 1990, Microsoft shipped the second pre-release of the OS/2 2.0 SDK. And th ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138737/the-future-that-never-was/)
2024-03-07T00:29:02Z	**Google’s changes to comply with the DMA**
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) comes into force this week for companies who have been designated. Today, we are sharing some more details about the changes we are making to comply, following product testing we announced earlier this year. ↫ Oliver Bethell on the official Google blog This is Google’s overview of the changes it’s implementing to comply with the DMA, some of which the company already announced months ago. Google’s changes d ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138735/googles-changes-to-comply-with-the-dma/)
2024-03-07T21:38:06Z	**Fedora Workstation 41 to no longer install GNOME X.org session by default**
Fedora Workstation has long defaulted to using GNOME’s Wayland session by default, but it has continued to install the GNOME X.Org session for fallback purposes or those opting to use it instead. But for the Fedora Workstation 41 release later in the year, there is a newly-approved plan to no longer have that GNOME X.Org session installed by default. ↫ Michael Larabel Expect more and m ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138751/fedora-workstation-41-to-no-longer-install-gnome-x-org-session-by-default/)
2024-03-07T21:43:42Z	**A peculiarity of the X Window System: windows all the way down**
Every window system has windows, as an entity. Usually we think of these as being used for, well, windows and window like things; application windows, those extremely annoying pop-up modal dialogs that are always interrupting you at the wrong time, even perhaps things like pop-up menus. In its original state, X has more windows than that. Part of how and why it does this is that X allows windows to nest insi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138753/a-peculiarity-of-the-x-window-system-windows-all-the-way-down/)
2024-03-10T13:09:21Z	**The Apple curl security incident 12604**
When this command line option is used with curl on macOS, the version shipped by Apple, it seems to fall back and checks the system CA store in case the provided set of CA certs fail the verification. A secondary check that was not asked for, is not documented and plain frankly comes completely by surprise. Therefore, when a user runs the check with a trimmed and dedicated CA cert file, it will not fail if the system CA store contains a cert that can ver ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138761/the-apple-curl-security-incident-12604/)
2024-03-10T21:59:51Z	**Accessibility improvements in GTK 4.14**
GTK 4.14 brings various improvements on the accessibility front, especially for applications showing complex, formatted text; for WebKitGTK; and for notifications. ↫ Emmanuele Bassi Excellent improvements that, if you listen to those that need these improvements, are sorely needed in GTK 4. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138772/accessibility-improvements-in-gtk-4-14/)
2024-03-10T21:57:04Z	**Everything there is to know about Windows 1.x**
Here you can find everything there is to know about the first version of Windows. ↫ David Simunič And they truly mean everything. This is an exceptional amount of information about Windows 1.0. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138770/everything-there-is-to-know-about-windows-1-x/)
2024-03-10T21:54:30Z	**House panel unanimously approves bill that could ban TikTok**
A powerful House committee advanced a bill on Thursday that could lead to a nationwide ban against TikTok on all electronic devices, renewing lawmakers’ challenge to one of the world’s most popular social media apps and highlighting unresolved fears that TikTok may pose a Chinese government spying risk. The measure that sailed unanimously through the House Energy and Commerce Committee would prohibit TikTok from  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138756/house-panel-unanimously-approves-bill-that-could-ban-tiktok/)
2024-03-11T12:51:47Z	**Better, faster, stronger time zone updates on Android**
From the beginning, time zone rules were a component in Mainline, called Time Zone Data or tzdata module. This integration allowed us to react more quickly to government-mandated time zone changes than before. However until 2023 tzdata updates were still bundled with other Mainline changes, sometimes leading to testing complexities and slower deployment. In 2023, we made further investments in Mainline’s infrastructure and dec ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138774/better-faster-stronger-time-zone-updates-on-android/)
2024-03-11T13:09:06Z	**Linux Kernel 6.8 released**
Highlights of Linux kernel 6.8 include LAM (Linear Address Masking) virtualization and guest-first memory support for KVM, a basic online filesystem check and repair mechanism for the Bcachefs file system introduced in Linux kernel 6.7, support for the Broadcom BCM2712 processor in Raspberry Pi 5, AMD ACPI-based Wi-Fi band RFI mitigation feature (WBRF), zswap writeback disabling, fscrypt support for CephFS, a new Intel Xe DRM driver, and a multi-size THP (Transparent Huge Pages)  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138777/linux-kernel-6-8-released/)
2024-03-11T21:50:33Z	**Image-scraping Midjourney bans rival “AI” firm for scraping images**
On Wednesday, Midjourney banned all employees from image synthesis rival Stability AI from its service indefinitely after it detected “botnet-like” activity suspected to be a Stability employee attempting to scrape prompt and image pairs in bulk. Midjourney advocate Nick St. Pierre tweeted about the announcement, which came via Midjourney’s official Discord channel. ↫ Benj Edwards So “AI” companies ar ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138781/image-scraping-midjourney-bans-rival-ai-firm-for-scraping-images/)
2024-03-11T23:04:05Z	**Messy ToS update allegedly locks Roku devices until users give in**
Roku customers are threatening to stop using, or to even dispose of, their low-priced TVs and streaming gadgets after the company appears to be locking devices for people who don’t conform to the recently updated terms of service (ToS). This month, users on Roku’s support forums reported suddenly seeing a message when turning on their Roku TV or streaming device reading: “We’ve made an important updat ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138783/messy-tos-update-allegedly-locks-roku-devices-until-users-give-in/)
2024-03-12T11:10:03Z	**Oracle Solaris 11.4 SRU66 released**
Oracle Solaris 11.4 SRU 66 is now available via ‘pkg update’ from the support repository or by downloading the SRU from My Oracle Support Doc ID 2433412.1. Highlights of the changes in this release are given in the release announcement and important information to read before installing it is provided in the Readme linked from the above support document. This blog post provides more details about selected new features and interface changes in this SRU, as well a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138788/oracle-solaris-11-4-sru66-released/)
2024-03-12T12:40:29Z	**European Commission’s use of Microsoft 365 infringes data protection law for EU institutions and bodies**
Following its investigation, the EDPS has found that the European Commission (Commission) has infringed several key data protection rules when using Microsoft 365. In its decision, the EDPS imposes corrective measures on the Commission. ↫ European Data Protection Supervisor You often hear people state that EU rules and regulati ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138790/european-commissions-use-of-microsoft-365-infringes-data-protection-law-for-eu-institutions-and-bodies/)
2024-03-13T15:57:44Z	**Intel continues prepping the Linux kernel for X86S**
Nearly one year ago Intel published the X86S specification (formerly stylized as “X86-S”) for simplifying the Intel architecture by removing support for 16-bit and 32-bit operating systems. X86S is a big step forward with dropping legacy mode, 5-level paging improvements, and other modernization improvements for x86\_64. With the Linux 6.9 kernel more x86S bits are in place for this ongoing effort. ↫ Michael Larabel I doubt we’ll  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138808/intel-continues-prepping-the-linux-kernel-for-x86s/)
2024-03-13T17:01:33Z	**MNT Reform review: brutalist hardware, familiar software**
There’s a channel on YouTube called The Proper People. It’s two guys who travel all over the United States (and in a few cases, elsewhere too) exploring abandoned buildings, and recording both the exteriors and interiors for posterity, since many of these buildings suffer from massive decay and are often slated for demolition. These buildings have histories and stories that otherwise would be lost to time. They are incre ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138608/mnt-reform-review-brutalist-hardware-familiar-software/)
2024-03-15T14:45:06Z	**Secure by design: Google’s perspective on memory safety**
Google’s Project Zero reports that memory safety vulnerabilities—security defects caused by subtle coding errors related to how a program accesses memory—have been “the standard for attacking software for the last few decades and it’s still how attackers are having success”. Their analysis shows two thirds of 0-day exploits detected in the wild used memory corruption vulnerabilities. Despite substantial investments to impr ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138837/secure-by-design-googles-perspective-on-memory-safety/)
2024-03-15T14:35:09Z	**Nanos: a kernel designed to run one application in a virtualized environment**
Nanos is a new kernel designed to run one and only one application in a virtualized environment. It has several constraints on it compared to a general purpose operating system such as Windows or Linux – namely it’s a single process system with no support for running multiple programs nor does it have the concept of users or remote administration via ssh. ↫ Nanos GitHub page The p ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138835/nanos-a-kernel-designed-to-run-one-application-in-a-virtualized-environment/)
2024-03-15T14:56:52Z	**Loongson 3A6000: a star among Chinese CPUs**
Computing power has emerged as a vital resource for economies around the world. China is no exception, and the country has invested heavily into domestic CPU capabilities. Loongson is at the forefront of that effort. We previously covered the company’s 3A5000 CPU, a quad core processor that delivered reasonable performance per clock, but clocked too low to be competitive. Now, we’re going to look at Loongson’s newer 3A6000 CPU. The 3A6000 is also  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138839/loongson-3a6000-a-star-among-chinese-cpus/)
2024-03-16T13:54:39Z	**An actual look at Microsoft OS/2 2.0**
This release marks the last time that Microsoft would release an OS/2 beta to developers, instead with the runaway success of Windows 3.0, Microsoft would remove resources from the constrained OS/2, and refocus both on Windows 3.1, and Windows NT. Thanks to one of my Patrons – Brian Ledbetter, the much-sought Microsoft OS/2 2.0 Pre-Release 2 is now available! So obviously the first thing to do was to re-create the original magical screenshot. ↫ neozeed at Vi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138842/an-actual-look-at-microsoft-os-2-2-0/)
2024-03-17T13:32:27Z	**Fuzzing Ladybird with tools from Google Project Zero**
While Ladybird does an okay job with well-formed web content, I thought it would be useful to throw some security research tools at it and see what kind of issues it might reveal. So today we’ll be using “Domato”, a DOM fuzzer from Google Project Zero, to stress test Ladybird and fix some issues found along the way. The way this works is that Domato generates randomized web pages with lots of mostly-valid but strange HTML, CSS ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138853/fuzzing-ladybird-with-tools-from-google-project-zero/)
2024-03-17T22:23:52Z	**Google adds “real-time, privacy-preserving URL protection” to Chrome**
For more than 15 years, Google Safe Browsing has been protecting users from phishing, malware, unwanted software and more, by identifying and warning users about potentially abusive sites on more than 5 billion devices around the world. As attackers grow more sophisticated, we’ve seen the need for protections that can adapt as quickly as the threats they defend against. That’s why we’re excited to  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138855/google-adds-real-time-privacy-preserving-url-protection-to-chrome/)
2024-03-17T22:30:47Z	**Hackintosh is (almost) dead**
It’s true that latest macOS 14 (Sonoma) still supports the latest generations of Intel Macs and it’s very likely that at least one or two major versions will still be compatible. But there’s one particular development that is de-facto killing off the Hackintosh scene. In Sonoma, Apple has completely removed all traces of driver support for their oldest WiFi/Bt cards, namely various Broadcom cards that they last used in 2012/13 iMac / MacBook models. Those Mac models are not sup ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138858/hackintosh-is-almost-dead/)
2024-03-19T13:02:10Z	**TrueNAS CORE 13 is the end of the FreeBSD version**
Bad news from BSD land – the oldest vendor of BSD systems is changing direction away from FreeBSD and toward Linux. NAS vendor iXsystems has been busy this year, but apart from some statements in online user communities, it hasn’t been talking about the big news. Back in 2022, we covered TrueNAS CORE 13, the new release of its FreeBSD-based turnkey OS for NAS servers, and in that article we mentioned its new product, the Debian-base ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138867/truenas-core-13-is-the-end-of-the-freebsd-version/)
2024-03-19T15:06:10Z	**There is no EU cookie banner law**
You know those modal screens that interrupt your groove when you are surfing? There are no laws forcing websites to use them. They use them because they choose to. ↫ Bite code! Cookie banners are not only not required, they’re not even needed, and most implementations you encounter today are illegal anyway. You can use session cookies and anonymous stats cookies without needing any user approval. Companies like to use these cookie banners because they want to make y ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138870/there-is-no-eu-cookie-banner-law/)
2024-03-19T21:05:30Z	**How to write a QML effect for KWin**
In order solve that problem, we started looking for some options and the most obvious one was QtQuick. It’s a quite powerful framework and it’s already used extensively in Plasma. So, in Plasma 5.24, we introduced basic support for implementing kwin effects written in QML and even added a new overview effect. Unfortunately, if you wanted to implement a QtQuick-based effect yourself, you would still have to write a bit of C++ glue yourself. This is not great beca ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138875/how-to-write-a-qml-effect-for-kwin/)
2024-03-19T21:24:43Z	**OSNews sponsorships**
Did you know we offer sponsorships at OSNews? A weekly sponsorship puts your display ad on our site for a week. We will make an introductory post at the start of the week, and a thank you post at the end of the week, which will both make it to our RSS feed and social accounts. OSNews gets about 450,000 visits per month with more than 32,000 registered users, spread out over North America and Europe. In addition, for any sponsorship you buy, you can opt to give a free weekly sponsorship to an ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138877/osnews-sponsorships/)
2024-03-20T18:14:08Z	**Trusting content on the KDE Store**
A global theme on the KDE third party store had an issue where it executed a script that removed user’s data. It wasn’t intended as malicious, but a mistake in some shell parsing. It was promptly identified and removed, but not before doing some damage to that user. This has started a lot of discourse around the concept of the store, security and upstream KDE. With the main question how can a theme have access to do this? ↫ David Edmundson That ‘some damage’ was p ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138884/trusting-content-on-the-kde-store/)
2024-03-20T20:59:52Z	**GNOME 46 released**
GNOME 46 has been released, and its packs a ton of new features and improvements. One of the headline improvements is the new global search feature. Files comes with a new global search feature in GNOME 46. The feature is simple: activate it by clicking the new search button, or by using the Ctrl+Shift+F shortcut, then enter your query to search all your configured search locations. Global search is a great way to jump directly into search, without having to think about where the items you want  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138890/gnome-46-released/)
2024-03-20T20:54:50Z	**Java 22 released**
Java 22 ships the final versions of the Foreign Function and Memory API as well as the Unnamed Variables and Patterns API. Plus Java 22 brings region pinning for the G1 garbage collector, statements before super(…) are in preview phase, a class-file API preview, support to launch multi-file source code programs, the latest work on the Java Vector API, Stream gatherers in preview, the second preview for structured concurrency programming, and various other additions. ↫ Michael Larabel at Phoronix Y ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138888/java-22-released/)
2024-03-20T23:17:48Z	**Chuwi MiniBook X (2023): a lot of laptop for very little money**
What if the kind of laptop you’re looking for just isn’t available from any of the major or even minor manufacturers? You know exactly what you want out of a laptop, and while quite a few fulfill many of your requirements, the requirement that matters most just isn’t being made. It’s not a case of “too expensive” or “too cheap” – simply nobody will sell it to you. From HP, Dell, Apple, down to smaller and loca ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/136891/chuwi-minibook-x-2023-a-lot-of-laptop-for-very-little-money/)
2024-03-21T16:10:49Z	**United States files antitrust lawsuit against Apple**
For many years, Apple has built a dominant iPhone platform and ecosystem that has driven the company’s astronomical valuation. At the same time, it has long understood that disruptive technologies and innovative apps, products, and services threatened that dominance by making users less reliant on the iPhone or making it easier to switch to a non-Apple smartphone. Rather than respond to competitive threats by offering lower smar ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138900/united-states-files-antitrust-lawsuit-against-apple/)
2024-03-22T16:51:04Z	**Qualcomm says most Windows games should ‘just work’ on its unannounced Arm laptops**
In a 2024 Game Developers Conference session titled “Windows on Snapdragon, a Platform Ready for your PC Games,” Qualcomm engineer Issam Khalil drove home that the unannounced laptops will use emulation to run x86/64 games at close to full speed. Those laptops may be coming fast. Qualcomm has confirmed it will launch Snapdragon X Elite systems this summer, and unannounc ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138903/qualcomm-says-most-windows-games-should-just-work-on-its-unannounced-arm-laptops/)
2024-03-22T19:53:14Z	**Switch emulator Suyu hit by GitLab DMCA, project lives on through self-hosting**
Switch emulator Suyu—a fork of the Nintendo-targeted and now-defunct emulation project Yuzu—has been taken down from GitLab following a DMCA request Thursday. But the emulation project’s open source files remain available on a self-hosted git repo on the Suyu website, and recent compiled binaries remain available on an extant GitLab repo. While the DMCA takedown request has no ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138905/switch-emulator-suyu-hit-by-gitlab-dmca-project-lives-on-through-self-hosting/)
2024-03-22T20:33:07Z	**Haiku in February: tons of small fixes and improvements**
Haiku published its latest monthly activity report, and this one is a veritable grab bag of a whole bunch of small fixes, improvements, and changes – there’s really no tent pole features or major improvements this month. Going through the list, the items that jump out at me are updated ping and traceroute applications and work on improving FFmpeg, but there’s so much more in there, so be sure to read the whole thing. At t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138908/haiku-in-february-tons-of-small-fixes-and-improvements/)
2024-03-22T21:11:43Z	**Mozilla drops Onerep after CEO admits to running people-search networks**
The nonprofit organization that supports the Firefox web browser said today it is winding down its new partnership with Onerep, an identity protection service recently bundled with Firefox that offers to remove users from hundreds of people-search sites. The move comes just days after a report by KrebsOnSecurity forced Onerep’s CEO to admit that he has founded dozens of people-search netwo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138910/mozilla-drops-onerep-after-ceo-admits-to-running-people-search-networks/)
2024-03-22T22:01:35Z	**Android 15 Developer Preview 2 rolling out to Pixel**
Android 15 adds “UI elements to ensure a consistent user experience across the satellite connectivity landscape.” A system-level “Auto-connected to satellite” notification conveys how “You can send and receive messages without a mobile or Wi-Fi network” with a shortcut to “Open Messages” or get more information. Meanwhile, note the status bar icon at the right. Speaking of Google Messages, “Android 15 provides support for SMS/ M ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138914/android-15-developer-preview-2-rolling-out-to-pixel/)
2024-03-23T12:33:15Z	**Picotron: a fantasy workstation for making pixelart games, animations, music, demos and other curiosities**
Picotron is a Fantasy Workstation for making pixelart games, animations, music, demos and other curiosities. It has a toy operating system designed to be a cosy creative space, but runs on top of Windows, MacOS or Linux. Picotron apps can be made with built-in tools, and shared with other users in a special 256k png cartridge  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138918/picotron-a-fantasy-workstation-for-making-pixelart-games-animations-music-demos-and-other-curiosities/)
2024-03-23T12:39:57Z	**Atari Falcon030: impressive, but too late to the party**
So looking back, it is obvious that neither Atari or Commodore would really be able to succeed in the long-term, although perhaps one of them could have become the 3rd “also-ran”. For a while, Atari really thought they could be that third choice and some of their late-model computers have some impressive innovations. With that preamble over with, let’s talk about the last Atari computer: the Falcon030. ↫ Paul Lefebvre In my  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138920/atari-falcon030-impressive-but-too-late-to-the-party/)
2024-03-23T13:59:47Z	**Feds ordered Google to unmask certain YouTube users. Critics say it’s ‘terrifying.’**
Federal investigators have ordered Google to provide information on all viewers of select YouTube videos, according to multiple court orders obtained by Forbes. Privacy experts from multiple civil rights groups told Forbes they think the orders are unconstitutional because they threaten to turn innocent YouTube viewers into criminal suspects. ↫ Thomas Brewster at Forbes  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138923/feds-ordered-google-to-unmask-certain-youtube-users-critics-say-its-terrifying/)
2024-03-23T14:39:00Z	**‘Even stronger’ than imagined: DOJ’s sweeping Apple lawsuit draws expert praise**
The Department of Justice’s antitrust division has come into its own, having filed its third tech monopoly lawsuit in four years. The accumulated experience shows up in the complaint, according to antitrust experts who spoke with The Verge about the complaint filed Thursday accusing Apple of violating antitrust law. The DOJ describes a sweeping arc of behaviors by Apple, arguin ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138925/even-stronger-than-imagined-dojs-sweeping-apple-lawsuit-draws-expert-praise/)
2024-03-23T16:19:57Z	**Doctorow on the antitrust case against Apple**
The foundational tenet of “the Cult of Mac” is that buying products from a $3t company makes you a member of an oppressed ethnic minority and therefore every criticism of that corporation is an ethnic slur. Call it “Apple exceptionalism” – the idea that Apple, alone among the Big Tech firms, is virtuous, and therefore its conduct should be interpreted through that lens of virtue. The wellspring of this virtue is conveniently nebulous, which a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138931/doctorow-on-the-antitrust-case-against-apple/)
2024-03-23T21:05:32Z	**Some personal news**
I’ve got two bits of related news that will affect the future of OSNews. The first bit of news kind of led to the second bit of news. You don’t have to care much about former, but the latter will be important for where OSNews will be going from here on out. First, after 14 years, I’ve effectively quit my job as a translator – I am self-employed so there’s no dramatic clearing of my desk of being led out by security, which is probably a little bit of a letdown to some of you. The translation in ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138936/some-personal-news/)
2024-03-24T19:54:50Z	**Digital wallets and the “only Apple Pay does this” mythology**
I hope what you take away from this post is that while Apple Pay is a great way to pay for things and that Apple did a great job mainstreaming digital wallets like this, what they do is not unique in the industry. DPANs are great for making it harder to track one person’s purchases across multiple merchants and they make customers less at risk in the event of a data breach of payment card info. ↫ Matt Birchler Th ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138941/digital-wallets-and-the-only-apple-pay-does-this-mythology/)
2024-03-24T20:05:13Z	**The Mind Khadas: a modular PC**
I saw this on a Linus Tech Tips video today, and it’s pretty neat: the Khadas Mind is a tiny computer powered by an Intel Core i5-1340P or Core i7-1360P, but it has a souped-up PCIe connector at the bottom that allows you to hook it up to all kinds of other devices, like a graphics card, a dock, and so on. It looks slick and quite user-friendly, and according to the LTT video, the company intends to release the specs for the connector so that third parties can hook into it ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138945/the-mind-khadas-a-modular-pc/)
2024-03-24T20:35:14Z	**Hyprland crash course**
For the past week I have been configuring hyprland and using it as my daily driver. Coming from major Desktop Environments like KDE or Gnome, this was definitely quite challanging, specially when implementing features that we take it for granted on these DEs, like screen sharing or screenshot annotating. In this post I will be going through all the tools and scripts I have been creating to configure this amazing Window Manager to my liking. ↫ xd1.dev Like I mentioned in my MNT Reform rev ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138947/hyprland-crash-course/)
2024-03-25T09:14:00Z	**Sources: iOS 18 lets users customize layout of home screen app icons**
While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce the ability to create blank spaces, rows, and columns between app icons. ↫ Joe Rossignol at MacRumors It’s 2024 and iOS’ Springboard is slo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138952/sources-ios-18-lets-users-customize-layout-of-home-screen-app-icons/)
2024-03-25T12:18:23Z	**Floorp Firefox fork makes it modifications closed source due to forks**
Recently, a few people suggested I give the browser Floorp a try, a Firefox fork with some additional UI changes and additions. Since it was based on Firefox ESR, however, I saw no point in even trying it, because I prefer to be on the latest Firefox release. It seems I accidentally made the right choice, since yesterday the developers behind Floorp decided to take their modifications closed s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138954/floorp-firefox-fork-makes-it-modifications-closed-source-due-to-forks/)
2024-03-25T12:47:14Z	**EU opens non-compliance investigations against Alphabet, Apple and Meta under the Digital Markets Act**
It turns out Apple, Facebook, and Google were not as clever with their malicious compliance with the European Union’s DMA, as the European Commission has opened investigations into their compliance plans. Especially Apple, who has been most public about its malicious compliance, seems to be the target. Today, the Commission has ope ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138956/eu-opens-non-compliance-investigations-against-alphabet-apple-and-meta-under-the-digital-markets-act/)
2024-03-25T21:54:07Z	**“Temporary” disk formatting UI from 1994 still lives on in Windows 11**
Windows 11 has done a lot to update and modernize long-neglected parts of Windows’ user interface, including many Settings menus and venerable apps like Notepad and Paint. But if you dig deep enough, you’ll still find parts of the user interface that look and work like they did in the mid-’90s, either for compatibility reasons or because no one ever thought to go back and update them. Former Mic ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138970/temporary-disk-formatting-ui-from-1994-still-lives-on-in-windows-11/)
2024-03-25T21:58:29Z	**C64 OS gets hidden files, here’s how it works**
Version 1.06 is a more modest release than 1.05 or 1.04. But I think that’s okay. v1.06 includes one new Application, three new Utilities and new features and improvements to several existing Apps and Utilities, and even some new low-level features in the KERNAL and libraries. This latest release makes use of a combination of all of the above to provide a handy new feature for users and a potentially powerful and useful feature for developers ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138973/c64-os-gets-hidden-files-heres-how-it-works/)
2024-03-25T22:06:10Z	**SysV init 3.09 released**
Most of the Linux world has moved to systemd by now, but there are still quite a few popular other init systems, too. One of those is the venerable SysV init, which saw a brand new release yesterday. The biggest improvement also seems like it’ll enable a match made in heaven: SysVinit, but with musl. On Linux distributions which use the musl C library (instead of glibc) we can now build properly. Specifically, the hddown helper program now builds on musl C systems. ↫ SysVinit 3.09 re ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138976/sysv-init-3-09-released/)
2024-03-26T10:58:25Z	**Google’s first Tensor processing unit: architecture**
In Google’s First Tensor Processing Unit – Origins, we saw why and how Google developed the first Tensor Processing Unit (or TPU v1) in just 15 months, starting in late 2013. Today’s post will look in more detail at the architecture that emerged from that work and at its performance. ↫ The Chip Letter People forget that Google is probably one of the largest hardware manufacturers out of the major technology companies. Sadly, we ra ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138978/googles-first-tensor-processing-unit-architecture/)
2024-03-26T11:04:26Z	**Run Windows 95 to XP, Mac OS 8.6 to 10.4 in your browser**
Complete desktops contain all operating system components as well as Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Where possible, I have tried to include built in file transfer programs (Web Publishing Wizard, Web Folders), useful system tools (System File Checker, System Restore) and certain wizards (Network Setup Wizard, Internet Connection Wizard). As a result, some of the desktops are quite large and can take some time to ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138982/run-windows-95-to-xp-mac-os-8-6-to-10-4-in-your-browser/)
2024-03-26T15:32:52Z	**Sega Saturn architecture: a practical analysis by Rodrigo Copetti**
Welcome to the 3D era! Well… sorta. Sega enjoyed quite a success with the Mega Drive so there’s no reason to force developers to write 3D games right now. Just in case developers want the extra dimension, Sega adapted some bits of the hardware to enable polygon drawing as well. Hopefully, the result didn’t get out of hand! ↫ Rodrigo Copetti These in-depth analyses by Copetti are always a treat, and the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138988/sega-saturn-architecture-a-practical-analysis-by-rodrigo-copetti/)
2024-03-26T15:27:26Z	**Friends don’t let friends export to CSV**
I worked for a few years in the intersection between data science and software engineering. On the whole, it was a really enjoyable time and I’d like to have the chance to do so again at some point. One of the least enjoyable experiences from that time was to deal with big CSV exports. Unfortunately, this file format is still very common in the data science space. It is easy to understand why — it seems to be ubiquitous, present everywhere, it’s human-r ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138986/friends-dont-let-friends-export-to-csv/)
2024-03-26T22:52:17Z	**Canonical expands Long Term Support to 12 years starting with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS**
Today, Canonical announced the general availability of Legacy Support, an Ubuntu Pro add-on that expands security and support coverage for Ubuntu LTS releases to 12 years. The add-on will be available for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS onwards.  Long term supported Ubuntu releases get five years of standard security maintenance on the main Ubuntu repository. Ubuntu Pro expands that commitm ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138992/canonical-expands-long-term-support-to-12-years-starting-with-ubuntu-14-04-lts/)
2024-03-26T23:04:08Z	**Google launches Arm-optimized Chrome for Windows, teases Snapdragon X Elite boost**
Following testing in Canary earlier this year, Google today announced that the Arm/Snapdragon version of Chrome for Windows is now rolling out to stable.  Google says this version of Chrome is “fully optimized for your PC’s hardware and operating system to make browsing the web faster and smoother.” People that have been testing it report significant performance improvem ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138996/google-launches-arm-optimized-chrome-for-windows-teases-snapdragon-x-elite-boost/)
2024-03-26T23:05:55Z	**Plasma 5: the early years**
With KDE’s 6th Mega Release finally out the door, let’s reflect on the outgoing Plasma 5 that has served us well over the years. Can you believe it has been almost ten years since Plasma 5.0 was released? Join me on a trip down memory lane and let me tell you how it all began. This coincidentally continues pretty much where my previous retrospective blog post concluded. ↫ Kai Uwe It took them a few years after the release of Plasma 5.0, but eventually they won me over, and I’m now ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138994/plasma-5-the-early-years/)
2024-03-27T11:49:11Z	**Happy birthday APFS, 7 years old today**
Seven years ago, on 27 March 2017, Apple introduced one of the most fundamental changes in its operating systems since Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah was released 16 years earlier. On that day, those who updated iOS to version 10.3 had their iPhone’s storage silently converted to the first release of Apple File System, APFS. Six months later, with the release of macOS 10.13 High Sierra on 25 September, Mac users followed suit. ↫ Howard Oakley The migration from HF ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138998/happy-birthday-apfs-7-years-old-today/)
2024-03-27T12:01:36Z	**Infinite Mac: turning to the dark side**
About a year ago I came across the Previous emulator – it appeared to be a faithful simulation of the NeXT hardware and thus capable of running NeXTStep. While including it in Infinite Mac would be scope-creep, NeXT’s legacy is in many ways more relevant to today’s macOS than classic Mac OS. It also helped that it’s under active development by its original creator (see the epic thread in the NeXT Computers forums), and thus a modern, living codebase². Pre ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139000/infinite-mac-turning-to-the-dark-side/)
2024-03-27T15:49:01Z	**FuryGpu: a hardware GPU implemented on an FPGA**
FuryGpu is a real hardware GPU implemented on a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ FPGA, built on a custom PCB and connected to the host computer using PCIe. Supporting hardware features equivalent to a high-end graphics card of the mid 1990s and a full modern Windows software driver stack, it can render real games of that era at beyond real-time frame rates. ↫ FuryGpu A really cool project, undertaking by a single person – who also wrote the Windows ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139007/furygpu-a-hardware-gpu-implemented-on-an-fpga/)
2024-03-27T19:53:09Z	**Why x86 doesn’t need to die**
Hackaday recently published an article titled “Why x86 Needs to Die” – the latest addition in a long-running RISC vs CISC debate. Rather than x86 needing to die, I believe the RISC vs CISC debate needs to die. It should’ve died a long time ago. And by long, I mean really long. About a decade ago, a college professor asked if I knew about the RISC vs CISC debate. I did not. When I asked further, he said RISC aimed for simpler instructions in the hope that simpler hardware imple ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139009/why-x86-doesnt-need-to-die/)
2024-03-27T19:57:47Z	**Qualcomm quietly demos Baldur’s Gate 3 and Control on Snapdragon X Elite laptops**
If you read my scoop last week, I bet you’ve been wondering — how well could a Snapdragon chip actually run Windows games? At the 2024 Game Developers Conference, the company claimed Arm could run those titles at close to x86/64 speed, but how fast is fast? With medium-weight games like Control and Baldur’s Gate 3, it looks like the target might be: 30 frames per second at ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139014/qualcomm-quietly-demos-baldurs-gate-3-and-control-on-snapdragon-x-elite-laptops/)
2024-03-27T23:45:27Z	**Phil Spencer wants Epic Games Store and others on Xbox consoles**
In an interview with Microsoft’s CEO of Gaming during the annual Game Developers Conference, Spencer told Polygon about the ways he’d like to break down the walled gardens that have historically limited players to making purchases through the first-party stores tied to each console. Or, in layperson terms, why you should be able to buy games from other stores on Xbox — not just the official storefront. Sp ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139017/phil-spencer-wants-epic-games-store-and-others-on-xbox-consoles/)
2024-03-27T23:48:21Z	**Microsoft’s new era of AI PCs will need a Copilot key, says Intel**
Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and AMD have all been pushing the idea of an “AI PC” for months now as we head toward more AI-powered features in Windows. While we’re still waiting to hear the finer details from Microsoft on its big plans for AI in Windows, Intel has started sharing Microsoft’s requirements for OEMs to build an AI PC — and one of the main ones is that an AI PC must have Microsoft’s Copilot  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139020/microsofts-new-era-of-ai-pcs-will-need-a-copilot-key-says-intel/)
2024-03-28T11:16:35Z	**Writing GNOME applications with Swift**
Swift is well-suited for creating user interfaces thanks to the clean syntax, static typing, and special features making code easier to write. Result builders, combined with Swift’s closure expression syntax, can significantly enhance code readability. Adwaita for Swift leverages these Swift features to provide an intuitive interface for developing applications for the GNOME platform. ↫ The Swift blog It seems the Swift project is actively trying to move b ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139022/writing-gnome-applications-with-swift/)
2024-03-28T11:27:13Z	**ARM64EC (and ARM64X) explained**
Probably the most confused looks I get from other developers when I discuss Windows and ARM64 is when I used the term “ARM64EC”.  They ask is the same thing as ARM64?  Is it a different instruction set than ARM64?  How can you tell if an application is or ARM64 ARM64EC? This tutorial will answer those questions by de-mystifying and explaining the difference between what can be called “classic ARM64” as it existed since Windows 10, and this new “ARM64EC” which was introduc ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139025/arm64ec-and-arm64x-explained/)
2024-03-28T11:34:14Z	**lEEt/OS: graphical shell and multitasking environment for DOS**
lEEt/OS is a graphical shell and partially posix-compliant multitasking operating environment that runs on top of a DOS kernel. The latest version can be downloaded from this site. lEEt/OS is tested with FreeDOS 1.2 and ST-DOS, but it may also work with other DOS implementations. It can be compiled with Open Watcom compiler. 8086 binaries are also available from this site. ↫ lEEt/OS website I had never heard o ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139027/leet-os-graphical-shell-and-multitasking-environment-for-dos/)
2024-03-28T16:25:18Z	**Oregon’s governor signs right-to-repair law that bans ‘parts pairing’**
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has now signed one of the strongest US right-to-repair bills into law after it passed the state legislature several weeks ago by an almost 3-to-1 margin. Oregon’s SB 1596 will take effect next year, and, like similar laws introduced in Minnesota and California, it requires device manufacturers to allow consumers and independent electronics businesses to purchase the nec ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139032/oregons-governor-signs-right-to-repair-law-that-bans-parts-pairing/)
2024-03-28T19:55:06Z	**How Apple plans to update new iPhones without opening them**
Unboxing a new gadget is always a fun experience, but it’s usually marred somewhat by the setup process. Either your device has been in a box for months, or it’s just now launching and ships in the box with pre-release software. Either way, the first thing you have to do is connect to Wi-Fi and wait several minutes for an OS update to download and install. The issue is so common that going through a lengthy downloa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139034/how-apple-plans-to-update-new-iphones-without-opening-them/)
2024-03-29T01:01:10Z	**Copilot is finally gone from Windows Server 2025 and admins rejoice**
After the Windows Server 2025’s launch, a Windows insider posted a screenshot on X showing Copilot running on Windows Server 2025, Build 26063.1. The admins discovered the feature in shock and wondered if it was a mistake from Microsoft’s part. A month later, the same Bob Pony broke the news that most admins wanted to see: Copilot is gone in Windows Server 2025’s Build 26085. ↫ Claudiu Andone This ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139037/copilot-is-finally-gone-from-windows-server-2025-and-admins-rejoice/)
2024-03-29T12:20:58Z	**Proxmox gives VMware ESXi users a place to go after Broadcom kills free version**
One alternative to ESXi for home users and small organizations is Proxmox Virtual Environment, a Debian-based Linux operating system that provides broadly similar functionality and has the benefit of still being an actively developed product. To help jilted ESXi users, the Proxmox team has just added a new “integrated import wizard” to Proxmox that supports importing of ESX ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139040/proxmox-gives-vmware-esxi-users-a-place-to-go-after-broadcom-kills-free-version/)
2024-03-29T13:04:48Z	**The Apple Jonathan: a very 1980s concept computer that never shipped**
In the middle of the 1980s, Apple found itself with several options regarding the future of its computing platforms. The Apple II was the company’s bread and butter. The Apple III was pitched as an evolution of that platform, but was clearly doomed due to hardware and software issues. The Lisa was expensive and not selling well, and while the Macintosh aimed to bring Lisa technology to the masses ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139042/the-apple-jonathan-a-very-1980s-concept-computer-that-never-shipped/)
2024-03-29T14:39:21Z	**Ubuntu will manually review Snap Store after crypto wallet scams**
The Snap Store, where containerized Snap apps are distributed for Ubuntu’s Linux distribution, has been attacked for months by fake crypto wallet uploads that seek to steal users’ currencies. As a result, engineers at Ubuntu’s parent firm are now manually reviewing apps uploaded to the store before they are available. The move follows weeks of reporting by Alan Pope, a former Canonical/Ubuntu staffer on ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139044/ubuntu-will-manually-review-snap-store-after-crypto-wallet-scams/)
2024-03-29T18:24:00Z	**Intel “Family 6” CPU era coming to an end soon**
Since the mid-90’s with the P6 micro-architecture for the Pentium Pro as the sixth-generation x86 microarchitecture, Intel has relied on the “Family 6” CPU ID. From there Intel has just revved the Model number within Family 6 for each new microarchitecture/core. For example, Meteor Lake is Family 6 Model 170 and Emerald Rapids is Family 6 Model 207. This CPU ID identification is used within the Linux kernel and other operating systems for i ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139060/intel-family-6-cpu-era-coming-to-an-end-soon/)
2024-03-29T18:31:30Z	**A used ThinkPad is a better deal than a new cheap laptop**
Since the technology industry and associated media outlets tend to focus primarily on the latest and greatest technology and what’s right around the corner, it sometimes seems as if the only valid option when you need a new laptop, phone, desktop, or whatever is to spend top euro on the newest, most expensive incarnations of those. But what if you need, say, a new laptop, but you’re not swimming in excess disposable in ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/138939/a-used-thinkpad-is-a-better-deal-than-a-new-cheap-laptop/)
2024-03-29T18:28:07Z	**Monogon OS: a new kind of Linux operating system**
Monogon OS is an open-source, secure, API-driven and minimal operating system unlike any other. It is based on Linux and Kubernetes, but with a clean userland rebuilt entirely from scratch. It is written in pure Go and eliminates decades worth of legacy code and unnecessary complexity. It runs on a fleet of bare metal or cloud machines and provides users with a hardened, production ready Kubernetes, without the overhead of traditional  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139062/monogon-os-a-new-kind-of-linux-operating-system/)
2024-03-29T20:57:05Z	**Backdoor in upstream xz/liblzma leading to SSH server compromise**
After observing a few odd symptoms around liblzma (part of the xz package) on Debian sid installations over the last weeks (logins with ssh taking a lot of CPU, valgrind errors) I figured out the answer: The upstream xz repository and the xz tarballs have been backdoored. At first I thought this was a compromise of debian’s package, but it turns out to be upstream. ↫ Andres Freund I don’t normally repor ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139064/backdoor-in-upstream-xz-liblzma-leading-to-ssh-server-compromise/)
2024-03-30T13:57:33Z	**Ext2 filesystem driver now marked as deprecated**
It’s the ext2 filesystem driver that will be marked as deprecated in the upcoming 6.9 Linux kernel. The main issue is that even if the filesystem is created with 256 byte inodes (mkfs.ext2 -I 256), the filesystem driver will stick to 32 bit dates. Because of this, the driver does not support inode timestamps beyond 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038. ↫ Michael Opdenacker Kernel developer Ted T’so did state that if someone wants to add supp ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139068/ext2-filesystem-driver-now-marked-as-deprecated/)
2024-03-30T22:53:39Z	**NetBSD 10.0 released**
NetBSD 10.0 has been released, and it brings a lot of improvements, new features, and fixes compared to the previous release, 9.3. First and foremost, there are massive performance improvements when it comes to compute and filesystem-bound applications on multicore and multiprocessor systems. NetBSD 10.0 also brings WireGuard support compatible with implementations on other systems, although this is still experimental. There’s also a lot of added support for various ARM SoCs and boards, in ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139072/netbsd-10-0-released/)
2024-03-31T03:26:20Z	**Maptwin: an 80s-era automotive navigation computer**
A couple of years ago, I imported a Japanese-market 4×4 van into the US; a 1996 Mitsubishi Delica. Based on the maps I found in the seat pocket and other clues, it seems to have spent its life at some city dweller’s cabin in the mountains around Fukushima, and only driven occasionally. Despite being over 25 years old, it only had 77,000 km on the odometer. The van had some interesting old tech installed in it: what appears to be a  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139077/maptwin-an-80s-era-automotive-navigation-computer/)
2024-03-31T15:00:05Z	**Windows 11 may get a highly requested Start menu redesign, here is how to try it**
In October 2023, we published a recap of the top 10 features Windows 11 users want for the redesigned Start menu. Number 6 was the ability to switch from list view to grid view in the “All Apps” list, which received over 1,500 upvotes in the Feedback Hub. Six months later, Microsoft finally appears to be ready to give users what they want. PhantomOfEarth, the ever-giving s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139086/windows-11-may-get-a-highly-requested-start-menu-redesign-here-is-how-to-try-it/)
2024-03-31T15:12:22Z	**Servo: tables, WOFF2, and more**
This month, after surpassing our legacy layout engine in the CSS test suites, we’re proud to share that Servo has surpassed legacy in the whole suite of Web Platform Tests as well! ↫ Servo blog Another months, another detailed progress report from Servo, the Rust browser engine once started by Mozilla. There’s a lot of interesting reading here for web developers. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139090/servo-tables-woff2-and-more/)
2024-03-31T15:08:08Z	**Redox: significant performance and correctness improvements to the kernel**
This year, there have been numerous improvements both to the kernel’s correctness, as well as raw performance. The signal and TLB shootdown MRs have significantly improved kernel memory integrity and possibly eliminated many hard-to-debug and nontrivial heisenbugs. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to be done optimizing and fixing bugs in relibc, in order to improve compatibili ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139088/redox-significant-performance-and-correctness-improvements-to-the-kernel/)
2024-03-31T15:17:18Z	**Open source is about more than just code**
As some of the dust around the xz backdoor is slowly starting to settle, we’ve been getting a pretty clear picture of what, exactly, happened, and it’s not pretty. This is a story of the sole maintainer of a crucial building block of the open source stack having mental health issues, which at least partly contributes to a lack of interest in maintaining xz. It seems a coordinated campaign – consensus seems to point to a state actor – is then started  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139070/open-source-is-about-more-than-just-code/)
2024-04-01T14:04:47Z	**The hearts of the Super Nintendo**
Every computer has at least one heart which beats the cadence to all the other chips. The CloCK output pin is connected to a copper line which spreads to most components, into their CLK input pin. If you are mostly a software person like me, you may have never noticed it but all kinds of processors have a CLK input pin. From CPUs (Motorola 68000, Intel Pentium, MOS 6502), to custom graphic chips (Midway’s DMA2, Capcom CPS-A/CPS-B, Sega’s Genesis VDP) to audio chips  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139099/the-hearts-of-the-super-nintendo/)
2024-04-01T14:10:15Z	**Microsoft to separate Teams and Office globally amid antitrust scrutiny**
Microsoft will sell its chat and video app Teams separately from its Office product globally, the U.S. tech giant said on Monday, six months after it unbundled the two products in Europe in a bid to avert a possible EU antitrust fine. The European Commission has been investigating Microsoft’s tying of Office and Teams since a 2020 complaint by Salesforce-owned competing workspace messaging ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139101/microsoft-to-separate-teams-and-office-globally-amid-antitrust-scrutiny/)
2024-04-01T14:46:56Z	**A deep dive into email deliverability in 2024**
On October 3, 2023, Google and Yahoo announced upcoming email security standards to prevent spam, phishing and malware attempts. Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail) is also enforcing these policies. With the big 3 Email Service Providers (ESP) in agreement, expect widespread adoption soon. Today’s threats are more complex than ever and more ESPs will begin tightening the reigns. Failure to comply with these guidelines will result in emails being ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139103/a-deep-dive-into-email-deliverability-in-2024/)
2024-04-01T21:16:52Z	**libmui: classic Mac OS and GS/OS widget library for Linux**
This is a contender for the World Record for Feature Creep Side Project. It is pretty high in the contender list as it’s a bolt on to another contender for the World Record for Feature Creep Side Project (the MII Apple //e emulator). It is a library that duplicate a lot of a Macintosh Classic “Toolbox” APIs. It is not a complete implementation, but it is enough to make a few simple applications, also, all the bits I n ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139108/libmui-classic-mac-os-and-gs-os-widget-library-for-linux/)
2024-04-01T21:42:41Z	**GCC 10 ported to QNX 6.5 SP1**
Way back in the day, back when I wasn’t even working at OSNews yet, I used to run QNX as my desktop operating system, together with a small number of other enthusiasts. It was a struggle, for sure, but it was fun, exciting, and nobody else was crazy enough to do so. Sadly, the small QNX desktop community wasn’t even remotely interesting to QNX, and later Blackberry when they acquired the company, and eventually the stand-alone Neutrino-powered version of QNX disappeared beh ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139111/gcc-10-ported-to-qnx-6-5-sp1/)
2024-04-02T08:51:13Z	**Fedora change proposal suggests switching the main Fedora Workstation release to KDE Plasma**
I have been assured by the main author of the proposal itself that this is very much not an April Fools joke, but of course, there’s still the very real possibility we’re being led on here. Still, I’m taking the risk and treating this as a serious change proposal for Fedora, even though it’s likely to cause some controversy in the wider Fedora commun ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139116/fedora-change-proposal-suggests-switching-the-main-fedora-workstation-release-to-kde-plasma/)
2024-04-02T20:36:43Z	**Apple wouldn’t let Jon Stewart interview FTC Chair Lina Khan, TV host claims**
Before the cancellation of The Problem with Jon Stewart on Apple TV+, Apple forbade the inclusion of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan as a guest and steered the show away from confronting issues related to artificial intelligence, according to Jon Stewart. ↫ Samuel Axon at Ars Technica Just when you thought Apple and Tim Cook couldn’t get any more unlikable. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139126/apple-wouldnt-let-jon-stewart-interview-ftc-chair-lina-khan-tv-host-claims/)
2024-04-02T20:28:43Z	**Redis’ license change and forking are a mess that everybody can feel bad about**
Redis, a tremendously popular tool for storing data in-memory rather than in a database, recently switched its licensing from an open source BSD license to both a Source Available License and a Server Side Public License (SSPL). The software project and company supporting it were fairly clear in why they did this. Redis CEO Rowan Trollope wrote on March 20 that while Redis and ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139113/redis-license-change-and-forking-are-a-mess-that-everybody-can-feel-bad-about/)
2024-04-02T22:03:38Z	**Discord turns to ads**
Quests are a way for players to discover games and earn rewards for playing them on Discord. We started experimenting with them over the last year, and millions of you opted in and completed them. We’ve heard great feedback from developers who partnered with us to create them and from many of you who completed one. If you didn’t see firsthand, the “May the 4th” Fortnite Quest is a great example. Now, we’re opening up sponsored Quests to more game developers. ↫ Peter Sellis That’s a lot of  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139128/discord-turns-to-ads/)
2024-04-02T22:07:03Z	**Microsoft is working on an Xbox AI chatbot**
Microsoft is currently testing a new AI-powered Xbox chatbot that can be used to automate support tasks. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the software giant has been testing an “embodied AI character” that animates when responding to Xbox support queries. I understand this Xbox AI chatbot is part of a larger effort inside Microsoft to apply AI to its Xbox platform and services. ↫ Tom Warren at The Verge I’m convinced. T ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139130/microsoft-is-working-on-an-xbox-ai-chatbot/)
2024-04-02T22:34:10Z	**Microsoft announces prices for the Windows 10 Extended Security Update program**
Windows 10 is reaching end of support on October 14, 2025, so if you’re still using Windows 10 – and let’s face it, if you’re somehow forced to still use Windows, better 10 than 11 – your time is running out. Luckily, end of support is a bit of a nebulous term when it comes to Microsoft products, and many among you, especially those managing larger fleets of systems, will kno ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139132/microsoft-announces-prices-for-the-windows-10-extended-security-update-program/)
2024-04-03T11:06:42Z	**Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ checkout system consisted of 1000 people in India watching you shop**
Amazon is phasing out its checkout-less grocery stores with “Just Walk Out” technology, first reported by The Information Tuesday. The company’s senior vice president of grocery stores says they’re moving away from Just Walk Out, which relied on cameras and sensors to track what people were leaving the store with. Just over half of Amazon Fresh stores ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139138/amazons-just-walk-out-checkout-system-consisted-of-1000-people-in-india-watching-you-shop/)
2024-04-03T10:58:48Z	**The rise and fall of 3M’s floppy disk**
Even with that said, those gray-hairs will frequently claim that of the many makers of floppies out there, 3M made the best ones. Given that, I was curious to figure out exactly why 3M became the most memorable brand in data storage during the formative days of computing, and why it abandoned the product. ↫ Ernie Smith I do not remember if I ever held any particular views on which brand of floppy disk (or diskettes, as we called them) was the best. We had a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139136/the-rise-and-fall-of-3ms-floppy-disk/)
2024-04-03T11:18:08Z	**How Stability AI’s founder tanked his billion-dollar startup**
It was Stability’s armada of GPUs, the wildly powerful and equally expensive chips undergirding AI, that were so taxing the company’s finances. Hosted by AWS, they had long been one of Mostaque’s bragging points; he often touted them as one of the world’s 10 largest supercomputers. They were responsible for helping Stability’s researchers build and maintain one of the top AI image generators, as well as break important new ground on generative audio, video and 3D  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139140/139140/)
2024-04-03T19:57:15Z	**KDE 6 release: D-Bus and Polkit galore**
The SUSE security team restricts the installation of system wide D-Bus services and Polkit policies in openSUSE distributions and derived SUSE products. Any package that ships these features needs to be reviewed by us first, before it can be added to production repositories. In November, openSUSE KDE packagers approached us with a long list of KDE components for an upcoming KDE6 major release. The packages needed adjusted D-Bus and Polkit whitelistings du ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139143/kde-6-release-d-bus-and-polkit-galore/)
2024-04-03T20:06:17Z	**Improvements to static analysis in the GCC 14 compiler**
I work at Red Hat on GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection. For the last five releases of GCC, I’ve been working on -fanalyzer, a static analysis pass that tries to identify various problems at compile-time, rather than at runtime. It performs “symbolic execution” of C source code—effectively simulating the behavior of the code along the various possible paths of execution through it. This article summarizes what’s new with -fa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139147/improvements-to-static-analysis-in-the-gcc-14-compiler/)
2024-04-03T20:37:03Z	**Tribblix image structural changes**
We’ve talked about Tribblix before on OSNews – it’s a distribution of illumos, built by Peter Tribble. In his latest blog post, Tribble details some of the changes he’s made to the live ISO and other images for the most recent release. All along, there’s been an overlay (think a group package) called base-iso that lists the packages that are present in the live image. On installation, this is augmented with a few extra packages that you would expect to be present  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139150/tribblix-image-structural-changes/)
2024-04-04T18:11:44Z	**Microsoft Edge will let you control how much RAM it uses soon**
Microsoft is working on a new feature for its Edge browser that will let you limit the amount of RAM it uses. Leopeva64, who is one of the best at finding new Edge features, has spotted a new settings section in test builds of the browser that includes a slider so you can limit how much RAM Edge gets access to. ↫ Tom Warren at The Verge Isn’t it the operating system’s job to manage memory? It seems very archa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139153/microsoft-edge-will-let-you-control-how-much-ram-it-uses-soon/)
2024-04-04T19:19:39Z	**Microsoft Exchange breach from 2023 was Microsoft’s fault**
In May and June 2023, a threat actor compromised the Microsoft Exchange Online mailboxes of 22 organizations and over 500 individuals around the world. The actor—known as Storm-0558 and assessed to be affiliated with the People’s Republic of China in pursuit of espionage objectives—accessed the accounts using authentication tokens that were signed by a key Microsoft had created in 2016. This intrusion compromised seni ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139155/microsoft-exchange-breach-from-2023-was-microsofts-fault/)
2024-04-04T21:24:15Z	**AMD unveils their Embedded+ architecture, Ryzen Embedded with Versal together**
One area of AMD’s product portfolio that doesn’t get as much attention as the desktop and server parts is their Embedded platform. AMD’s Embedded series has been important for on-the-edge devices, including industrial, automotive, healthcare, digital gaming machines, and thin client systems. Today, AMD has unveiled their latest Embedded architecture, Embedded+, which combines the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139159/amd-unveils-their-embedded-architecture-ryzen-embedded-with-versal-together/)
2024-04-04T21:37:55Z	**Qt 6.7, Qt Creator 13 released**
Earlier this week, Qt 6.7 was released with a whole slew of new features and improvements. Reading through the various highlights, there’s further improvements to Qt Graphs, first released with Qt 6.6 and still under active development, better SVG support, variable fonts and icon font support, and much more. There’s also a variety of new examples and demo applications, and of course, Qt 6.7 supports all the latest operating system releases. One feature that truly stood o ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139161/qt-6-7-qt-creator-13-released/)
2024-04-04T22:18:03Z	**Roku gets patent for injecting ads through HDMI**
Oh boy. Roku has an… Interesting new patent. Thought you could avoid the ads infesting every “smart” TV you buy now by using external devices through HDMI? Disclosed herein are system, apparatus, article of manufacture, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for ad insertion by a display device coupled to a media device via a high-definition media interface (HDMI) connection ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139164/roku-gets-patent-for-injecting-ads-through-hdmi/)
2024-04-05T10:26:39Z	**PCIe 7.0 draft 0.5 spec available: 512 GB/s over PCIe x16 on track for 2025**
PCIe 7.0 is is the next generation interconnect technology for computers that is set to increase data transfer speeds to 128 GT/s per pin, doubling the 64 GT/s of PCIe 6.0 and quadrupling the 32 GT/s of PCIe 5.0. This would allow a 16-lane (x16) connection to support 256 GB/sec of bandwidth in each direction simultaneously, excluding encoding overhead. Such speeds will be handy for  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139166/pcie-7-0-draft-0-5-spec-available-512-gb-s-over-pcie-x16-on-track-for-2025/)
2024-04-05T10:55:23Z	**FFmpeg 7.0 released**
A new major release, FFmpeg 7.0 “Dijkstra”, is now available for download. The most noteworthy changes for most users are a native VVC decoder (currently experimental, until more fuzzing is done), IAMF support, or a multi-threaded ffmpeg CLI tool. This release is not backwards compatible, removing APIs deprecated before 6.0. The biggest change for most library callers will be the removal of the old bitmask-based channel layout API, replaced by the AVChannelLayout API allowing such features a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139168/ffmpeg-7-0-released/)
2024-04-05T11:14:07Z	**OpenBSD 7.5 released**
OpenBSD 7.5 has hit the streets (or servers and workstations), and it comes with a metric ton of improvements and new features. Of course, the kernel has been improved in countless ways, from symmetric multiprocessing improvements to a new font usable as a console font. The graphics drivers have been updated to match Linux 6.6.19, and drivers for the Apple display coprocessor were added. Furthermore, a whole slew of additional ARM boards and SoC are now supported, and new drivers for a var ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139171/openbsd-7-5-released/)
2024-04-05T18:22:40Z	**Setting up a YubiKey on Linux is a mess, and it really shouldn’t be**
One of the things I’ve always wanted to experiment with on my computers is logging in and authenticating things like sudo requests with a hardware tool – a fingerprint reader, a smart card, or a USB hardware security device like a YubiKey. There’s really no solid reason for me to want this other than that it just feels cool and futuristic to me (yes, even in this, the year of our lord 2024). I have  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139174/setting-up-a-yubikey-on-linux-is-a-mess-and-it-really-shouldnt-be/)
2024-04-06T20:10:24Z	**An IRC client in your motherboard**
I made a graphical IRC client that runs in UEFI. It’s written in Rust and leverages the GUI toolkit and TrueType renderer that I wrote for axle’s userspace. I was able to develop it thanks to the vmnet network backend that I implemented for QEMU. I’ve published the code here. ↫ Phillip Tennen Words are not enough. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139177/an-irc-client-in-your-motherboard/)
2024-04-06T20:51:37Z	**The Rise and Fall of Silicon Graphics**
Clark founded Silicon Graphics Inc on the 9th of November in 1981, and he left Stanford early in 1982 to pursue building the company full time with just $25000 in funding (around $85000 in 2024) from a friend and the contents of his own accounts. Accompanying Clark in this adventure were Kurt Akeley, Dave Brown, Tom Davis, Mark Grossman, Marc Hannah, Herb Kuta, Rocky Rhodes, and Abbey Silverstone. While SGI knew they would deal in computers outfitted with  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139179/the-rise-and-fall-of-silicon-graphics/)
2024-04-07T19:56:21Z	**WinBtrfs: an open-source btrfs driver for Windows**
WinBtrfs is a Windows driver for the next-generation Linux filesystem Btrfs. A reimplementation from scratch, it contains no code from the Linux kernel, and should work on any version from Windows XP onwards. It is also included as part of the free operating system ReactOS. ↫ WinBtrfs GitHub page If you’re running a distribution that defaults to Btrfs, or you actively choose to use it on other distributions, and you also happen to du ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139182/winbtrfs-an-open-source-btrfs-driver-for-windows/)
2024-04-07T20:07:09Z	**Outlook is Microsoft’s new data collection service**
With Microsoft’s rollout of the new Outlook for Windows, it appears the company has transformed its email app into a surveillance tool for targeted advertising. Everyone talks about the privacy-washing campaigns of Google and Apple as they mine your online data to generate advertising revenue. But now it looks like Outlook is no longer simply an email service; it’s a data collection mechanism for Microsoft’s 801 external partners a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139184/outlook-is-microsofts-new-data-collection-service/)
2024-04-07T20:14:15Z	**Microsoft blocks even more customization apps in Windows 11 version 24H2**
Users recently noticed that third-party apps for customizing the user interface no longer work in the upcoming Windows 11 version 24H2. Not only does Microsoft not allow you to run those apps, but it even blocks you from upgrading to newer builds. StartAllBack, a popular tool for tweaking the taskbar and Start menu in Windows 11, was among the first to fail on 24H2. Sadly, it is not the  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139186/microsoft-blocks-even-more-customization-apps-in-windows-11-version-24h2/)
2024-04-08T12:31:45Z	**Just how much faster are the GNOME 46 terminals?**
Over the GNOME 46 cycle, VTE has seen a lot of performance improvements. Christian Hergert mentioned some of them in his blog posts about VTE and about his work in GNOME 46. But how much did the performance actually improve? What should you, the user, expect to feel after installing a fresh Fedora 40 update and launching your favorite terminal? Let’s measure and find out! ↫ Ivan Molodetskikh The short version is that the improvements a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139192/just-how-much-faster-are-the-gnome-46-terminals/)
2024-04-08T12:46:46Z	**Microsoft adds driver to Windows that prevents changing the default browser using the registry**
There are various ways you can change the default browser and similar defaults on Windows, but oneof the ways many third-party tools do this is by editing the relevant registry strings. It turns out that Microsoft is not particularly happy with this, as they’ve recently introduced a new driver specifically designed to prevent this from happenin ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139194/microsoft-adds-driver-to-windows-that-prevents-changing-the-default-browser-using-the-registry/)
2024-04-08T20:05:06Z	**SmolBSD: make your own BSD UNIX MicroVM**
SmolBSD is a tiny BSD UNIX (NetBSD) system creation tool, primarily aimed at building modern, lightweight, fast micro VMs. SmolBSD can start a service in (way) under a second, giving it the ability to be used as a virtualized container, thus reducing attack surface and actually isolating workflows. ↫ SmolBSD website Neat. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139197/smolbsd-make-your-own-bsd-unix-microvm/)
2024-04-08T20:58:04Z	**Google launches new Find My Device network on Android**
Today, the all-new Find My Device is rolling out to Android devices around the world, starting in the U.S. and Canada. With a new, crowdsourced network of over a billion Android devices, Find My Device can help you find your misplaced Android devices and everyday items quickly and securely. Here are five ways you can try it out. ↫ Erik Kay on the Google blog This old Android feature has basically been updated to be the same  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139199/google-launches-new-find-my-device-network-on-android/)
2024-04-08T21:51:21Z	**Intel’s ambitious Meteor Lake iGPU**
Intel and AMD both tried to ship iGPUs fast enough to compete with low end discrete cards over the past 10 years with mixed results. Recently though, powerful iGPUs have been thrown back into the spotlight. Handhelds like Valve’s Steam Deck and ASUS’s ROG Ally demonstrated that consumers are willing to accept compromises to play games on the go. AMD has dominated that market so far. Valve’s Steam Deck uses AMD’s Van Gogh APU, and the ROG Ally uses the newer Phoen ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139201/intels-ambitious-meteor-lake-igpu/)
2024-04-09T12:21:39Z	**Embedding the Servo web engine in Qt**
I’ve been talking about Servo, the Rust browser engine project originally started at Mozilla, for a while now, and while the project’s still got a long way to go, it’s definitely a serious contender to become a competitive browser engine in the future. It seems it’s starting to get some traction already, as The KDAB Group is working on bringing Servo to Qt. At KDAB we managed to embed the Servo web engine inside Qt, by using our CXX-Qt library as a bridge be ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139205/embedding-the-servo-web-engine-in-qt/)
2024-04-09T13:05:18Z	**Google launches Axion processors, new Arm-based CPUs for the data centre**
Built using the Arm Neoverse™ V2 CPU, Axion processors deliver giant leaps in performance for general-purpose workloads like web and app servers, containerized microservices, open-source databases, in-memory caches, data analytics engines, media processing, CPU-based AI training and inferencing, and more. Axion is underpinned by Titanium, a system of purpose-built custom silicon microcont ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139209/google-launches-axion-processors-new-arm-based-cpus-for-the-data-centre/)
2024-04-09T13:14:11Z	**Ten years ago, Windows XP received its final update**
Exactly ten years ago, on April 8, 2014, Microsoft released the final security patch for Windows XP. The day marked the end of the road for one of the most iconic Windows versions ever released. ↫ Taras Buria at Neowin I never liked Windows XP. Compared to the operating systems I was using at the time – BeOS, Mandrake Linux 8.x – Windows XP felt kind of like a bad joke I wasn’t in on. It looked ridiculous, didn’t seem to offer an ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139212/ten-years-ago-windows-xp-received-its-final-update/)
2024-04-09T19:05:01Z	**Google details privacy and security features of its new Find My Device network**
Yesterday, I posted an item about the updated Find My Device network Google launched for Android, but I forgot to link to an additional blog post by Google about the various security and privacy precautions they’ve taken. One aspect in particular stands out as something new that Apple’s Find My network doesn’t do (yet): This is a first-of-its-kind safety protection that makes ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139218/google-details-privacy-and-security-features-of-its-new-find-my-device-network/)
2024-04-09T19:59:29Z	**Beeper leaves beta, acquired by Automattic**
If you haven’t already heard of Beeper, welcome! Beeper is a universal chat app for Android, iOS and desktop. Our goal is to build the best chat app on earth. Beeper is built on an open source chat protocol called Matrix. Over time, we’ll help people migrate from proprietary, siloed chat networks to an open standard for chat. If you’re interested in learning about this, we’ve written more about our intentions. ↫ Beeper team Beeper is just great. B ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139220/beeper-leaves-beta-acquired-by-automattic/)
2024-04-09T22:50:34Z	**HP 200LX and related palmtops**
The HP 200 LX was a successful palmtop computer introduced in 1994. HP continued to sell it through 1999, an unusually long run for a 1990s computer model. In this blog post, we’ll dig into this largely forgotten form factor and why it became such a quiet success. ↫ Dave Farquhar These devices are incredibly cool, but I disagree that they disappeared, as the blog post states. Just recently I reviewed my main laptop, a very small Chuwi MiniBook (2023) with the N100, and in ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139222/hp-200lx-and-related-palmtops/)
2024-04-09T23:08:26Z	**iXsystems: focusing on Linux makes more sense than FreeBSD**
A few weeks ago we talked about how iXsystems, the company behind TrueNAS CORE and SCALE, has all but confirmed that its FreeBSD-based CORE product will be put in maintenance mode, while the Linux-based SCALE product will get all the attention and focus from here on out. In an interview with Blocks & Files, the company gave more insight into this choice. “We had a huge chunk of our engineering staff spending time im ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139225/ixsystems-focusing-on-linux-makes-more-sense-than-freebsd/)
2024-04-10T15:02:46Z	**“Why does part of the Windows 98 Setup program look older than the rest?”**
Well, this is something I never knew. Over on the retrocomputing section of StackExchange, someone asked why the second phase of the Windows 98 installation looked decidedly different from the third phase, even though they’re both graphical phases (the first phase is textual). The answer turns out to be both surprising, and entirely predictable. The first phase is a DOS program called DOS ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139231/why-does-part-of-the-windows-98-setup-program-look-older-than-the-rest/)
2024-04-10T15:05:22Z	**Microsoft may want to add a dedicated Windows 11 button for ads and promos**
The company is seemingly contemplating on whether to add a new “Recommended” button on the Taskbar. Interestingly, it is unfinished at the moment, or perhaps Microsoft is just not sure if it should proceed with this button at all. ↫ Sayan Sen at Neowin The beatings will continue until morale improves. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139234/microsoft-may-want-to-add-a-dedicated-windows-11-button-for-ads-and-promos/)
2024-04-10T21:19:10Z	**Microsoft details new features coming in Windows Server 2025**
Microsoft recently held a streaming event in which it detailed a lot of the new features and changes coming in Windows server 2025, and has now followed that up with a blog post, as well. There’s a lot to go over here, and I’m anything but a Windows Server specialist, so I’ll highlight some of the thing I’m certain will be welcomed by Windows Server administrators. First and foremost, the biggest improvement: h ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139236/microsoft-details-new-features-coming-in-windows-server-2025/)
2024-04-10T21:40:21Z	**EU’s new tech laws are working; small mobile browsers gain market share**
Independent browser companies in the European Union are seeing a spike in users in the first month after EU legislation forced Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and Apple to make it easier for users to switch to rivals, according to data provided to Reuters by six companies. The early results come after the EU’s sweeping Digital Markets Act, which aims to remove unfair competition, took effect on ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139238/eus-new-tech-laws-are-working-small-mobile-browsers-gain-market-share/)
2024-04-10T22:39:54Z	**How does the classic Win32 ListView handle incremental searching?**
The classic Win32 ListView supports incremental search: You can start typing the name of an item to search for it. But it’s a bit more complicated than that. ↫ Raymond Chen Gather ’round, children, Mr Chen is telling a story. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139244/how-does-the-classic-win32-listview-handle-incremental-searching/)
2024-04-11T17:44:22Z	**So it begins: Microsoft starts showing full-screen ads about the end of Windows 10 support**
We are about 18 months away from the end of mainstream Windows 10 support, but Microsoft thinks it is time to start nagging warning Windows 10 users about the inevitable. Users on Reddit report spotting a new full-screen ad with a notification that Windows 10 is about to reach its end of life in October 2025, even though it is still getting new features ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139251/so-it-begins-microsoft-starts-showing-full-screen-ads-about-the-end-of-windows-10-support/)
2024-04-11T18:20:21Z	**Humane AI pins review confirm what we already expected: it’s useless trash**
I didn’t want to spend too much time on this thing, but I feel like we can all use a good laugh at a stupid product hyped only by the tech media. The Verge reviewed the Humane AI pin, and entirely predictably, it’s a complete and utter trashfire. But until all of that happens, and until the whole AI universe gets better, faster, and more functional, the AI Pin isn’t going to feel remot ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139253/humane-ai-pins-review-confirm-what-we-already-expected-its-useless-trash/)
2024-04-11T20:46:24Z	**GNU Hurd ported to AArch64, and more Hurd news**
Hurd, the kernel that is supposed to form the basis of the GNU operating system, is perpetually a research project that doesn’t get anywhere close to being a replacement for Linux, but that doesn’t mean the project doesn’t make progress and has a place in the world of operating systems. Their most recent major improvement has been porting GNU Hurd to AArch64, spearheaded by Hurd developer Sergey Bugaev. Since then, however, I have been (so ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139255/gnu-hurd-ported-to-aarch64-and-more-hurd-news/)
2024-04-12T00:11:42Z	**Android 15 Beta 1 is here, but details are still under wraps**
After two months of developer previews, Google has finally released Android 15 Beta 1. While the beta usually offers more user-facing changes, Google is still pretty light on details with this build, giving us only a few more details on what we can expect. Instead, the company is pointing to Google I/O for more details, which will take place on May 14 this year, basically confirming that this is when we will get ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139261/android-15-beta-1-is-here-but-details-are-still-under-wraps/)
2024-04-12T00:18:03Z	**OpenBSD is a cozy operating system**
With the recent release of OpenBSD 7.5, I decided to run through my personal OpenBSD “installer” for laptop/desktop devices. The project is built off of the dwm tiling window manager and only installs a few basic packages. The last time I updated it was with the release of 7.3, so it’s been due for an minor rework. While making these minor changes, I remembered how incredibly easy the entire install process for OpenBSD is and how cozy the entire operating system ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139263/openbsd-is-a-cozy-operating-system/)
2024-04-12T10:29:44Z	**Discord is nuking Nintendo Switch emulator devs and their entire servers**
Discord has shut down the Discord servers for the Nintendo Switch emulators Suyu and Sudachi and has completely disabled their lead developers’ accounts — and the company isn’t answering our questions about why it went that far. Both Suyu and Sudachi began as forks of Yuzu, the emulator that Nintendo sued out of existence on March 4th. ↫ Sean Hollister at The Verge This is exactly what p ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139267/discord-is-nuking-nintendo-switch-emulator-devs-and-their-entire-servers/)
2024-04-12T10:14:04Z	**DwarfFS: a read-only compression file system**
DwarFS is a read-only file system with a focus on achieving very high compression ratios in particular for very redundant data. DwarFS also doesn’t compromise on speed and for my use cases I’ve found it to be on par with or perform better than SquashFS. For my primary use case, DwarFS compression is an order of magnitude better than SquashFS compression, it’s 6 times faster to build the file system, it’s typically faster to access files on Dwa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139265/dwarffs-a-read-only-compression-file-system/)
2024-04-12T14:45:14Z	**Do not use Kagi**
For quite a while now, you might have noticed various people recommending a search engine called “Kagi”. From random people on the internet, to prominent bloggers like John Gruber and David Pierce, they’ve all been pushing this seemingly new search engine as a paid-for alternative to Google that respects your privacy. Over the past few months to a year, though, more and more cracks started to appear in Kagi’s image, and I’ve been meaning to assemble those cracks and tie a bow on them. Well, it turns ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139270/do-not-use-kagi/)
2024-04-12T14:41:15Z	**Amazon virtually kills efforts to develop Alexa Skills, disappointing dozens**
There was a time when it thought that Alexa would yield a robust ecosystem of apps, or Alexa Skills, that would make the voice assistant an integral part of users’ lives. Amazon envisioned tens of thousands of software developers building valued abilities for Alexa that would grow the voice assistant’s popularity—and help Amazon make some money. But about seven years after launchi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139273/amazon-virtually-kills-efforts-to-develop-alexa-skills-disappointing-dozens/)
2024-04-12T22:31:25Z	**Microsoft tests ads in the Start menu**
Building on top of recent improvements like grouping recently installed apps and showing your frequently used apps, we are now trying out recommendations to help you discover great apps from the Microsoft Store under Recommended on the Start menu. This will appear only for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel in the U.S. and will not apply to commercial devices (devices managed by organizations). This can be turned off by going to Settings > Personalizatio ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139276/microsoft-tests-ads-in-the-start-menu/)
2024-04-13T20:34:46Z	**VMS Software guts its community licensing program**
VMS Software, the company developing OpenVMS, has announced some considerable changes to its licensing program for hobbyists, and the news is, well, bad. The company claims that demand for hobbyist licenses has been so high that they were unable to process requests fast enough, and as such, that the program is not delivering the “intended benefits”. Despite this apparent high demand, contributions from the community, such as writing ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139246/vms-software-guts-its-community-licensing-program/)
2024-04-14T20:32:53Z	**KDE’s Kate on all platforms**
Kate, KDE’s programming-focused text editor, is, of course, a Qt application, and is also available on a variety of other platforms. Christoph Cullmann, one of the developers of Kate, published a short blog post with screenshots of Kate running on the three biggest platforms – Linux/BSD, Windows, and macOS. Sadly, while Haiku gets a mention, there’s no screenshot of the Haiku version of Kate. Still, it’s interesting to see the family resemblance. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139281/kdes-kate-on-all-platforms/)
2024-04-14T20:41:09Z	**Linux 6.10 to merge NTSYNC driver for emulating Windows NT synchronization primitives**
Going through my usual scanning of all the “-next” Git subsystem branches of new code set to be introduced for the next Linux kernel merge window, a very notable addition was just queued up… Linux 6.10 is set to merge the NTSYNC driver for emulating the Microsoft Windows NT synchronization primitives within the kernel for allowing better performance with Valve’s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139283/linux-6-10-to-merge-ntsync-driver-for-emulating-windows-nt-synchronization-primitives/)
2024-04-15T13:58:17Z	**Why good external SSDs are faster with Apple silicon**
After several days testing the latest Express 1M2 enclosure from OWC, I have changed my recommendations for the best external SSDs. Previously I had chosen the relatively reliable Thunderbolt 3 up to 3 GB/s, even though few drives ever seemed capable of achieving that up to. If you’re still needing good performance with an Intel Mac, that makes sense. But if you need best performance with an Apple silicon Mac, you’re far bette ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139285/why-good-external-ssds-are-faster-with-apple-silicon/)
2024-04-15T18:42:31Z	**Apple’s mysterious fisheye projection**
If you’ve read my first post about Spatial Video, the second about Encoding Spatial Video, or if you’ve used my command-line tool, you may recall a mention of Apple’s mysterious “fisheye” projection format. Mysterious because they’ve documented a CMProjectionType.fisheye enumeration with no elaboration, they stream their immersive Apple TV+ videos in this format, yet they’ve provided no method to produce or playback third-party content using this projection ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139288/apples-mysterious-fisheye-projection/)
2024-04-15T18:50:36Z	**GestureX: control your Linux machine with hand gestures**
GestureX enables you to control your Linux PC using hand gestures. You can assign specific commands or functionalities to different hand gestures, allowing for hands-free interaction with your computer. ↫ GestureX GitHub page I personally see no use for any of this, but I’m sure there are some interesting accessibility uses for technology like this, which in and of itself make it a worthwhile endeavour to work on. Do note ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139290/gesturex-control-your-linux-machine-with-hand-gestures/)
2024-04-15T20:47:26Z	**Radxa ROCK 5 ITX: a first look**
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the ROCK 5 ITX coming soon and since then, samples of the Rockchip RK3588-based Radxa ROCK 5 ITX have been landing on doorsteps (or service points, screw you, UPS) of a lucky group of people and somehow I was one of those, so here’s a first look at Radxa’s latest Single Board Computer in a Mini ITX form-factor! It’s going to be a photo-heavy post and I make no apologies for that, it’s a very nice-looking PCB, with the black and gold co ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139295/radxa-rock-5-itx-a-first-look/)
2024-04-15T20:59:58Z	**Framework’s software and firmware have been a mess, but it’s working on them**
Framework puts a lot of effort into making its hardware easy to fix and upgrade and into making sure that hardware can stay useful down the line when it’s been replaced by something newer. But supporting that kind of reuse and recycling works best when paired with long-term software and firmware support, and on that front, Framework has been falling short. Framework will need to ste ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139298/frameworks-software-and-firmware-have-been-a-mess-but-its-working-on-them/)
2024-04-15T21:04:42Z	**Fedora intends to fully embrace “AI”, but doesn’t address sourcing or its environmental impact**
All weekend, I’ve been mulling over a recent blog post by Fedora Project Leader Matthew Miller, which he wrote and published on behalf of the Fedora Council. Fedora (the KDE version) is my distribution of choice, I love using it, and I consider it the best distribution for desktop use, and not by a close margin either. As such, reading a blog post  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139293/fedora-intends-to-fully-embrace-ai-but-doesnt-address-sourcing-or-its-environmental-impact/)
2024-04-16T12:36:53Z	**Google’s Generic Kernel Image now required on all Android form factors**
New TVs that launch with Android TV 14 or later on Linux kernel 5.15 or higher will be required to meet Google’s Generic Kernel Image (GKI) requirements in order to pass certification! This means that GKI is now enforced on all major Android form factors with AArch64 chipsets: handhelds, watches, automotive, & televisions. ↫ Mishaal Rahman What this means is that all the major Android form fa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139304/googles-generic-kernel-image-now-required-on-all-android-form-factors/)
2024-04-16T12:56:07Z	**Reproducing the printer hack of Windows 95**
During my daily web crawl I encountered a very interesting gif that I haven’t seen in a long time. It was a hack of an unspecified version of Windows 95, which showed how to bypass the login screen with the help of the menu and printing dialog. However, after a brief check, I found a fair amount of people stating that “just hitting the cancel” button would do the same. Sharp-eyed viewers would notice that it was the very first action taken in the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139308/reproducing-the-printer-hack-of-windows-95/)
2024-04-16T19:29:26Z	**They’re looting the internet**
This is the state of the modern internet — ultra-profitable platforms outright abdicating any responsibility toward the customer, offering not a “service” or a “portal,” but cramming as many ways to interrupt the user and push them into doing things that make the company money. The greatest lie in tech is that Facebook and Instagram are for “catching up with your friends,” because that’s no longer what they do. These platforms are now pathways for the nebulous concept of “co ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139310/theyre-looting-the-internet/)
2024-04-16T21:38:53Z	**Ubuntu 24.04 supports easy installation of OpenZFS root file-system with encryption**
So with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is the ability to continue with a standard EXT4 file-system install, an encrypted file-system using LVM, or using OpenZFS with/without encryption. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS also has the ability to enjoy hardware-backed full-disk encryption with TPM as another new experimental option. Or, of course, the Ubuntu desktop installer continues supporting ma ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139317/ubuntu-24-04-supports-easy-installation-of-openzfs-root-file-system-with-encryption/)
2024-04-17T08:33:29Z	**A better, more compact UI for Firefox**
Proton is Firefox’s new design, starting from Firefox 89. Photon is the old design of Firefox which was used until version 88. Proton’s overall feel is good, but there were a few things I didn’t like and wanted to improve.That’s why this project was born, and Lepton to denote light theme layer. Lepton’s photon styled is preserve Photon’s feeling while keep Original Lepton’s strengths. ↫ Firefox UI Fix GitHub page I do not like the current Firefox user inter ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139322/a-better-more-compact-ui-for-firefox/)
2024-04-17T08:33:29Z	**A better, more compact UI for Firefox**
Proton is Firefox’s new design, starting from Firefox 89. Photon is the old design of Firefox which was used until version 88. Proton’s overall feel is good, but there were a few things I didn’t like and wanted to improve.That’s why this project was born, and Lepton to denote light theme layer. Lepton’s photon styled is preserve Photon’s feeling while keep Original Lepton’s strengths. ↫ Firefox UI Fix GitHub page I do not like the current Firefox user inter ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139322/a-better-more-compact-ui-for-firefox/)
2024-04-17T16:59:52Z	**Framework lays out plan to improve its firmware and software development cycle**
Only two days ago we were talking about the software and firmware issues at Framework, and today the company’s CEO has announced they’re taking some pretty big steps to address these problems. When building products to last, it’s not enough to design the hardware to be repairable, upgradeable, and customizable. The overall longevity of devices as complex as modern notebooks a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139328/framework-lays-out-plan-to-improve-its-firmware-and-software-development-cycle/)
2024-04-17T17:10:58Z	**Microsoft installs Copilot “AI” app on Windows Servers by accident, it claims**
Do you administer Windows Server machines, and were you surprised to find a Windows Copilot application on your servers, that neither you nor your users installed? Well, it turns out that Microsoft installed this application alongside an update to the Edge browser – but the company claims this is in error, and the application will be removed in a future update. Updates to Edge bro ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139330/microsoft-installs-copilot-ai-app-on-windows-servers-by-accident-it-claims/)
2024-04-17T22:15:01Z	**LXQt 2.0.0 released, completes move to Qt 6**
LXQt, the lightweight Qt desktop environment, has released a major new version, which brings with it a whole slew of very important changes and upgrades, with two main focal point. First and foremost, the desktop environment is now using Qt 6 across the board, meaning the transition from Qt 5 to Qt 6 is now complete. To support themes and the LXQt File Dialog for Qt5-based apps you can install libqtxdg-3.12.0, lxqt-qtplugin-1.4.1, and libfm-qt-1 ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139332/lxqt-2-0-0-released-completes-move-to-qt-6/)
2024-04-17T22:27:57Z	**Linus Torvalds really prefers tabs**
Linus Torvalds really doesn’t like spaces – as in, tabs vs. spaces – and got a little annoyed that a commit removed a hidden tab because it “apparently showed breakage in some third-party kernel config parsing tool”. So, Torvalds decided to add some hidden tabs to trigger breakages like this, and is threatening to add more hidden tabs if necessary. It wasn’t clear what tool it was, but let’s make sure it gets fixed. Because if you can’t parse tabs as whitespace, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139334/linus-torvalds-really-prefers-tabs/)
2024-04-18T09:02:39Z	**Broadcom says “many” VMware perpetual licenses got support extensions**
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan this week publicized some concessions aimed at helping customers and partners ease into VMware’s recent business model changes. Tan reiterated that the controversial changes, like the end of perpetual licensing, aren’t going away. But amid questioning from antitrust officials in the European Union (EU), Tan announced that the company has already given support extensions for ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139345/broadcom-says-many-vmware-perpetual-licenses-got-support-extensions/)
2024-04-18T10:53:35Z	**COSMIC continues march towards alpha release**
COSMIC, System76’s Rust-based desktop that’s going to replace GNOME in Pop!\_OS, is nearing its alpha release, and the Linux OEM has published another blog post detailing the latest progress it’s made. First and foremost, theming support has been further refined by adding support for theming GTK applications (both GTK3 and 4) and flatpak applications. If the user has enabled global themes, these themes will be applied automatically whenever s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139347/cosmic-continues-march-towards-alpha-release/)
2024-04-18T19:39:23Z	**Google is combining its Android and hardware teams – and it’s all about “AI”**
AI is taking over at Google, and the company is changing in big ways to try to make it happen even faster. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced substantial internal reorganizations on Thursday, including the creation of a new team called “Platforms and Devices” that will oversee all of Google’s Pixel products, all of Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Photos, and more. The team will be run by R ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139349/google-is-combining-its-android-and-hardware-teams-and-its-all-about-ai/)
2024-04-18T21:32:51Z	**GTK: graphics offload revisited**
We first introduced support for dmabufs and graphics offload last fall, and it is included in GTK 4.14. Since then, some improvements have happened, so it is time for an update. ↫ GTK Development Blog This one’s for the ones smarter than me. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139351/gtk-graphics-offload-revisited/)
2024-04-18T22:10:09Z	**Microsoft shows banner in Settings app to push users from local accounts to Microsoft Accounts**
In this week’s Windows 10 Build 19045.4353 announcement blog post, there was this little gem in the changelog. This update starts the rolls out of account-related notifications for Microsoft accounts in Settings > Home. A Microsoft account connects Windows to your Microsoft apps. The account also backs up all your data and helps you to manage y ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139354/microsoft-shows-banner-in-settings-app-to-push-users-from-local-accounts-to-microsoft-accounts/)
2024-04-19T15:05:24Z	**Corporatism and fascism are two sides of the same coin**
Apple has removed WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China, following an order from the country’s internet watchdog which cited national security concerns. ↫ Juliana Liu at CNN Over the recent months, as Apple had to change some of its business practices to comply with the European Union’s new Digital Markets Act, a still-ongoing process, Apple fans, spearheaded by John Gruber, have pushed Apple to leave the Europe ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139357/corporatism-and-fascism-are-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/)
2024-04-19T15:00:56Z	**DuckDuckGo launches “AI” chat**
DuckDuckGo AI Chat is a private AI-powered chat service that currently supports OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and Anthropic’s Claude chat models. ↫ DuckDuckGo’s new “AI” chat feature I guess I have to find another search engine. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139360/duckduckgo-launches-ai-chat/)
2024-04-19T20:23:09Z	**Porting 8-bit Sonic 2 to the TI-84+ CE**
It all started in fall of 2022, when I was watching This Does Not Compute’s video on the history of graphing calculator gaming. Around the 5 minute mark, he offhandedly mentions the kind of processors TI’s graphing calculator line uses. Most of them use the Z80, the 89 and 92 use the M68K, and the Nspire line uses an ARM-based processor. That really piqued my interest, since I already knew the processors that Sega’s retro game consoles used: The Z80 for t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139363/porting-8-bit-sonic-2-to-the-ti-84-ce/)
2024-04-20T10:30:44Z	**Firefox nightly now available for Linux on ARM64**
Linux distributions running on ARM have had to roll their own Firefox builds for the architecture since forever, and it seems that Mozilla has taken this to heart as the browser maker is now supplying binary ARM builds of Firefox. They come in either a tarball or a .deb package installable through Mozilla’s apt repository. Do note, though, that Mozilla does not give the same kinds of guarantees for the ARM build of Firefox as they do  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139369/firefox-nightly-now-available-for-linux-on-arm64/)
2024-04-20T15:23:53Z	**Haiku’s Genio IDE introduces symbol outline feature**
Genio, the Haiku OS integrated development environment (IDE), is receiving another exciting update in preparation for the upcoming summer release. The update focuses primarily on improving the Language Server Protocol (LSP) stack and introduces a cool new feature: Symbol Outline. Symbol Outline allows Genio to retrieve the list of symbols defined in a source file from the language server. This list can be sorted, nodes can be exp ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139372/haikus-genio-ide-introduces-symbol-outline-feature/)
2024-04-20T18:16:52Z	**Microsoft wants to hide the ‘Sign out’ button in Windows 11 behind a Microsoft 365 ad**
Microsoft is not done adding more odd stuff into its operating system. Following the not-so-great reception of new Start menu ads in one of the recent Beta builds, Microsoft is bringing even more ads, which, besides being slightly annoying, come at the cost of existing features. In build 22635.3500, the Sign Out button is now hidden behind a menu with a Microsoft  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139374/microsoft-wants-to-hide-the-sign-out-button-in-windows-11-behind-a-microsoft-365-ad/)
2024-04-20T21:00:18Z	**Miracle-wm 0.2.0 released**
Miracle-wm is a Wayland compositor built atop of Mir, and its core is a tiling window manager like i3 and sway. It intends to offer more features compared to those, though, gunning more for swayfx. The project, led by Canonical’s Matthew Kosarek, recently released version 0.2.0, which comes with a bunch of improvements. It supports sway/i3 IPC now, so that it can function in conjunction with Waybar, a very popular tool in the build-it-yourself Wayland window manager space. There’ ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139378/miracle-wm-0-2-0-released/)
2024-04-21T21:48:42Z	**Microsoft now lets you download app executables directly from the Microsoft Store website**
Microsoft is on a roll with updating its app store on Windows 10 and 11. Following the recent release of performance upgrades and improved algorithms, the company announced big changes in how the web version of the Microsoft Store works. Now, every user can download app executables directly from the website using new “installers for web.” ↫ Taras Buria a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139383/microsoft-now-lets-you-download-app-executables-directly-from-the-microsoft-store-website/)
2024-04-21T21:47:02Z	**Lunatik: a framework for scripting the Linux kernel with Lua**
Lunatik is a framework for scripting the Linux kernel with Lua. It is composed by the Lua interpreter modified to run in the kernel; a device driver (written in Lua =)) and a command line tool to load and run scripts and manage runtime environments from the user space; a C API to load and run scripts and manage runtime environments from the kernel; and Lua APIs for binding kernel facilities to Lua scripts. ↫ Lun ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139381/lunatik-a-framework-for-scripting-the-linux-kernel-with-lua/)
2024-04-21T22:25:44Z	**Niri 0.1.5 released**
Earlier this year, we talked about Niri, a very unique tiling window manager for Wayland that scrolls infinitely to the right. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and while it seems polarising, I think it’s absolutely worthy of a dedicated niche. The project’s got a major new release out, and there’s a lot of improvements here. First and foremost, virtually all animations have been overhauled, and new ones have been added for almost every kind of interaction. The videos on the release pa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139385/niri-0-1-5-released/)
2024-04-22T11:20:54Z	**Inside the Super Nintendo cartridges**
One of the remarkable characteristics of the Super Nintendo was the ability for game cartridges (cart) to pack more than instructions and assets into ROM chips. If we open and look at the PCBs, we can find inside things like the CIC copy protection chip, SRAM, and even “enhancement processors”. ↫ Fabien Sanglard When I was a child and teenager in the ’90s, the capabilities of the SNES cartridge were a bit of a legend. We’d talk about what certain games would ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139387/inside-the-super-nintendo-cartridges/)
2024-04-22T11:43:27Z	**New version of Tiny11 Builder lets you debloat any Windows 11 build or version**
The maker of Tiny11, a third-party project that aims to make Windows 11 less bloated with unnecessary parts, released a new version of Tiny11 Builder, a special tool that lets you create a custom Windows 11 image tailored to your needs and preferences. The latest release makes it much easier to create a lightweight Windows 11 ISO without worrying about installing a system mod ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139389/new-version-of-tiny11-builder-lets-you-debloat-any-windows-11-build-or-version/)
2024-04-22T17:42:43Z	**Facebook opens its Android-based Quest operating system to other VR device makers**
Today we’re taking the next step toward our vision for a more open computing platform for the metaverse. We’re opening up the operating system powering our Meta Quest devices to third-party hardware makers, giving more choice to consumers and a larger ecosystem for developers to build for. We’re working with leading global technology companies to bring this new ecosyste ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139391/facebook-opens-its-android-based-quest-operating-system-to-other-vr-device-makers/)
2024-04-22T21:27:57Z	**Paying for it doesn’t make it a market**
Cory Doctorow, nailing it as usual. If you care about how people are treated by platforms, you can’t just tell them to pay for services instead of using ad-supported media. The most important factor in getting decent treatment out of a tech company isn’t whether you pay with cash instead of attention – it’s whether you’re locked in, and thus a flight risk whom the platform must cater to. ↫ Cory Doctorow I’m sick and tired of the phrase “if you’re not payi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139393/paying-for-it-doesnt-make-it-a-market/)
2024-04-22T23:14:47Z	**What we learned inside a North Korean internet server**
A misconfigured North Korean Internet cloud server has provided a fascinating glance into the world of North Korean animation outsourcing and how foreign companies might be inadvertently employing North Korean companies on information technology (IT) projects. The incident also underlines how difficult it is for foreign companies to verify their outsourced work is not potentially breaking sanctions and ending up on computers ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139397/what-we-learned-inside-a-north-korean-internet-server/)
2024-04-23T11:58:33Z	**Making a flute controlled mouse**
There is something about surprising interfaces: clapping to switch on lights is more fun than a flipping a switch. Pressing a panic-button to order a pizza is more fun than ordering via an app. Recently I came across this surprising interface: a flute controlled mouse cursor for a first person shooter. I recognize a good idea when I see one, and immediately wanted replicate the idea and make it freely available. So I got to work. ↫ Joren Six I don’t think I have ever  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139399/making-a-flute-controlled-mouse/)
2024-04-23T12:41:44Z	**Tribblix SPARC milestone 30 released**
Tribblix, the unique ilumos distribution – think Solaris – has a new SPARC milestone. It’s one of the few platforms still actively supporting SPARC, so even if the amount of users might be slim, I think it’s an important contribution to the ecosystem. The application software here roughly corresponds to m34 on x86 systems, although the underlying illumos is still closer to m25/m26. Note that there are no functional illumos changes from the m28 sparc release  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139401/tribblix-sparc-milestone-30-released/)
2024-04-23T12:47:51Z	**NetBSD 9.4 released**
Hot on the heels of NetBSD 10.0 comes NetBSD 9.4, a minor release in the previous release branch. NetBSD 9.4 is primarily a bug and security fix release, however, there are some new features, such as support for more MegaRAID controllers, ZTE MF112 and D-Link DWM222 USB 3G modems, and improved CPU feature detection for newer AMD/Intel devices. All users of netbsd-9 should upgrade if they are not following the stable branch. ↫ NetBSD 9.4 release announcement A very important note here is that ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139403/netbsd-9-4-released/)
2024-04-23T17:49:23Z	**Fedora 40 released with KDE Plasma 6 and GNOME 46**
It’s a big day for Fedora users such as myself – and especially for Fedora KDE users, also such as myself. Fedora 40 has been released today, and while the main focus is always on the GNOME release – although not everyone is happy about that – the various other spins, in Fedora parlance, have also seen major updates. Most prominently among them is the KDE spin, which ships with KDE’s recent megarelease, KDE Plasma 6. Starting at the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139405/fedora-40-released-with-kde-plasma-6-and-gnome-46/)
2024-04-23T22:47:24Z	**The man who killed Google Search**
These emails — which I encourage you to look up — tell a dramatic story about how Google’s finance and advertising teams, led by Raghavan with the blessing of CEO Sundar Pichai, actively worked to make Google worse to make the company more money. This is what I mean when I talk about the Rot Economy — the illogical, product-destroying mindset that turns the products you love into torturous, frustrating quasi-tools that require you to fight the company’s intentions t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139407/the-man-who-killed-google-search/)
2024-04-23T22:54:36Z	**Logitech adds ChatGPT to its computer mice**
Did you know there’s one surefire way to know when a technology has truly jumped the shark? When they start adding it to computer mice. In today’s fast-paced, technology-enabled world, everyone is learning to work differently with breakthroughs in Generative AI. Mastering prompt building enhances your efficiency and creativity. That’s why we developed the Logi AI Prompt Builder, a time and click-saving solution. Rephrase, summarize, and create cu ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139409/logitech-adds-chatgpt-to-its-computer-mice/)
2024-04-24T08:43:55Z	**OpenBSD as a daily driver**
I always like it when I can link to an article written by an OSNews, and this time it’s even relevant to me as I’m exploring OpenBSD myself. OSNews reader and silver Patreon supporter Morgan has written an article about using OpenBSD as a daily driver. OpenBSD is forever tied in first place with Void Linux as my favorite desktop OS. This is particularly funny because OpenBSD isn’t “just a desktop OS”; in its purest form, the base installation without any installed packages, it ma ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139413/openbsd-as-a-daily-driver/)
2024-04-24T12:51:51Z	**How I tricked iOS into giving me EU DMA features**
In iOS 17.4, Apple introduced a new system called eligibilityd. This works with countryd (which you might have heard about when it first appeared in iOS 16.2) and the Apple ID system to decide where you physically are. The idea is that multiple sources need to agree on where you are, before giving you access to features such as those mandated by the Digital Markets Act. ↫ Adam Demasi The way Adam Demasi managed to convince Apple his v ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139416/how-i-tricked-ios-into-giving-me-eu-dma-features/)
2024-04-24T17:41:17Z	**US Senate passes TikTok ban bill**
A bill that would force China-based company ByteDance to sell TikTok — or else face a US ban of the platform — is all but certain to become law after the Senate passed a foreign aid package including the measure. It now heads to President Joe Biden, who already committed to signing the TikTok legislation should it make it through both chambers of Congress. The House passed the foreign aid package that includes the TikTok bill on Saturday. ↫ Lauren Feiner at The Verg ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139418/us-senate-passes-tiktok-ban-bill/)
2024-04-24T17:58:05Z	**Snapdragon X Plus will bring ARM to ‘even more’ Windows laptops**
While it’s still yet to debut, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite is looking like a big deal for ARM-powered Windows machines and, now, it’s getting a more affordable cousin in the Snapdragon X Plus. Announced today, Snapdragon X Plus is based on the same Oryon CPU as Snapdragon X Elite, just with a bit less power. The chip has 10 cores to the Elite’s 12, and is also clocked down from the Elite’s 3.8GHz to 3.4GH ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139421/snapdragon-x-plus-will-bring-arm-to-even-more-windows-laptops/)
2024-04-24T23:30:39Z	**Google postpones phasing out third party cookies in Chrome once more**
While Firefox and Safari phased out third party cookies years ago, it’s taking Chrome a bit longer because, well, daddy Google got ads to sell. As such, Google has been developing a complicated new alternative to third party cookies that it calls “Privacy sandbox”, a name in the vain of “Greenland”. This process has not exactly been going well, because Google has had to postpone phasing out thir ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139425/google-postpones-phasing-out-third-party-cookies-in-chrome-once-more/)
2024-04-25T14:05:36Z	**The only viable Android and iOS competitor intends to leave China and go global**
Huawei plans to expand its native HarmonyOS smartphone platform worldwide, despite coming under US-led sanctions that have deprived it of access to key technologies. The Chinese tech megacorp released its own phone platform in 2019, the same year that US sanctions blocked Huawei from having further access to Google’s Android software to power its devices. More recently, the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139424/the-only-viable-android-and-ios-competitor-intends-to-leave-china-and-go-global/)
2024-04-25T14:02:31Z	**Palm OS and the devices that ran it**
But just as smartphones would do, PDAs offered a dizzying array of operating systems and applications, and a great many of them ran Palm OS. (I bought my first Palm, an m505, new in 2001, upgrading from an HP 95LX.) Naturally, there’s no way we could enumerate every single such device in this article. So in this Ars retrospective, we’ll look back at some notable examples of the technical evolution of the Palm operating system and the devices that ran it—and ho ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139434/palm-os-and-the-devices-that-ran-it/)
2024-04-25T19:44:14Z	**Ubuntu 24.04 LTS released**
It wasn’t too long ago that new Ubuntu releases were major happenings in the Linux world, as it was the default Linux distribution for many, both old and newcomers, in the desktop Linux space. These days, Ubuntu release hit a little different, with Canonical’s focus having shifted much more to the enterprise, and several aspects of the distribution being decidedly unpopular, like the snap package management system. Still, Ubuntu is probably still one of the most popular, if not t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139439/ubuntu-24-04-lts-released/)
2024-04-26T08:49:48Z	**Gentoo bands use of “AI” tools**
Gentoo, the venerable Linux distribution which in my headcanon I describe as ‘classy’, has banned any use of “AI”. A proposal by Gentoo Council member Michał Górny from February of this year banning it use has been unanimously accepted by the Gentoo Council. The new policy reads: It is expressly forbidden to contribute to Gentoo any content that has been created with the assistance of Natural Language Processing artificial intelligence tools. This motion can be revisited, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139444/gentoo-bands-use-of-ai-tools/)
2024-04-26T09:56:30Z	**Corporate greed from Apple and Google have destroyed the passkey future**
William Brown, developer of webauthn-rs, has written a scathing blog post detailing how corporate interests – namely, Apple and Google – have completely and utterly destroyed the concept of passkeys. The basic gist is that Apple and Google were more interested in control and locking in users than in providing a user-friendly passwordless future, and in doing so have made passkeys effective ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139447/corporate-greed-from-apple-and-google-have-destroyed-the-passkey-future/)
2024-04-26T18:32:37Z	**Microsoft open-sources MS-DOS 4.00, releases early beta of MS-DOS 4.0 (multitasking)**
Today, in partnership with IBM and in the spirit of open innovation, we’re releasing the source code to MS-DOS 4.00 under the MIT license. There’s a somewhat complex and fascinating history behind the 4.0 versions of DOS, as Microsoft partnered with IBM for portions of the code but also created a branch of DOS called Multitasking DOS that did not see a wide release.  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139453/microsoft-open-sources-ms-dos-4-00-releases-early-beta-of-ms-dos-4-0-multitasking/)
2024-04-27T00:31:48Z	**How not to release historic source code**
Regarding the release of the MS-DOS 4.00 source code, Michal Necasek makes an excellent point about how just dumping the code in git is a terrible and destructive way to release older source code. It’s terrific that the source code for DOS 4.00/4.01 was released! But don’t expect to build the source code mutilated by git without problems. Historic source code should be released simply as an archive of files, ZIP or tar or 7z or whatever, with all times ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139455/how-not-to-release-historic-source-code/)
2024-04-27T14:02:26Z	**Microsoft intends to record everything you do on your PC for “AI” processing**
Microsoft is about to go even more hog-wild with “AI” in Windows, as it intends to start recording everything you do on your Windows computer so “AI” features can find stuff for you. According to my sources, AI Explorer will run in the background and capture everything you do on your computer. It will document and triage everything it sees, no matter what apps or interfaces you’re  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139462/microsoft-intends-to-record-everything-you-do-on-your-pc-for-ai-processing/)
2024-04-27T14:15:55Z	**Sculpt OS 24.04 released with initial suspend/resume support, new audio stack, and much more**
The Genode project has released Sculpt OS 24.04, the general purpose desktop operating system based on the Genode OS Framework. This release is absolutely jam-packed with new features, improvements, and changes, and it’s hard to know where to begin. One of the biggest new features is support for suspend/resume, an experimental feature for now, for wh ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139465/sculpt-os-24-04-released-with-initial-suspend-resume-support-new-audio-stack-and-much-more/)
2024-04-28T08:19:29Z	**A BSD person tries Alpine Linux**
In February last year I wrote about running a FreeBSD desktop, and concluded that sometimes you need to give yourself permission to tinker. Well recently I’ve started tinkering with Alpine Linux! It’s been recommended to me for years, so I’m finally getting around to checking it out. There’s a lot to like if you come from BSD, which we’ll dig into here. ↫ Ruben Schade Just a quick look at this unexpectedly popular Linux distribution that really has its own identity. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139469/a-bsd-person-tries-alpine-linux/)
2024-04-28T08:45:38Z	**GNOME Foundation in financial trouble**
As you may be aware, the GNOME Foundation has operated at a deficit (nonprofit speak for a loss – ie spending more than we’ve been raising each year) for over three years, essentially running the Foundation on reserves from some substantial donations received 4-5 years ago. The Foundation has a reserves policy which specifies a minimum amount of money we have to keep in our accounts. This is so that if there is a significant interruption to our usual incom ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139472/gnome-foundation-in-financial-trouble/)
2024-04-28T12:51:32Z	**Windows NT and NetWare on PA-RISC, and a HP-UX port to x86**
Back when I was working on my article about PA-RISC, HP-UX, and UNIX workstations in general, I made extensive use of OpenPA, Paul Weissmann’s invaluable and incredibly detailed resource about HP’s workstation efforts, HP-UX, and tons of related projects and products. Weissmann’s been doing some serious digging, and has unearthed details about a number of essentially forgotten operating system efforts. First, it tur ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139479/windows-nt-and-netware-on-pa-risc-and-a-hp-ux-port-to-x86/)
2024-04-29T07:53:00Z	**The first video game, Spacewar!, on the DEC PDP-1 in your browser**
This is a virtual DEC PDP-1 (emulated in HTML5/JavaScript) running the original code of “Spacewar!”, the earliest known digital video game. If available, use gamepads or joysticks for authentic gameplay — the game was originally played using custom “control boxes”. Spacewar! was conceived in 1961 by Martin Graetz, Stephen Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen. It was first realized on the PDP-1 in 1962 by Stephen  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139485/the-first-video-game-spacewar-on-the-dec-pdp-1-in-your-browser/)
2024-04-29T10:41:11Z	**Microsoft At Work**
Well, this was a wild goose chase of a read. J. B. Crawford dove into the history of something I’ve never heard of – Microsoft At Work – and came away with a story that’ while clearer thanks to his research, is still frustratingly nebulous. I’m still not entirely sure what Microsoft At Work really was, but I think it had the goal of running Windows on communications devices like faxes, to make it easier to share and work on documents across various devices. Crawford did a lot of digging, and eve ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139488/microsoft-at-work/)
2024-04-29T11:49:22Z	**run0: a systemd-based, more secure replacement for sudo**
Lennart Poettering, main developer of systemd, has announced run0, a systemd-based replacement for the well-known sudo command that fixes many of he inherent issues with the widely used tool to gain temporary elevated privileges. There are various problems with sudo, which basically come down to that it’s a large SUID binary, meaning it consists of privileged code that unprivileged users can run from their own context. This ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139490/run0-a-systemd-based-more-secure-replacemen-for-sudo/)
2024-04-29T11:59:15Z	**9front “DO NOT INSTALL” released**
There’s a new 9front release! So, what exactly is 9front, you may ask? Well, after it became clear that Bell Labs wasn’t doing much with plan9, a group of developers took matters into their own hands and created 9front, a fork of plan9. Their latest release is called DO NOT INSTALL, and brings things like more USB audio support, DNS over TLS, WiFi support for the Raspberry Pi, I2C support, and much more. I’m not particularly well-versed in the world of plan9, and more ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139493/9front-do-not-install-released/)
2024-04-29T12:10:34Z	**JMP: this week’s sponsor**
JMP is a fully FOSS service providing a way to get a real phone number that operates over the internet using XMPP. They provide numbers in the USA and Canada with everything you need to access SMS/MMS/etc. and voice calls using your XMPP (or SIP) clients of choice across all your devices. They are committed to growing the use of open communications technology such as XMPP, ultimately working to help people move their communication off the unencrypted telephone network and onto the fe ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139475/jmp-this-weeks-sponsor/)
2024-04-30T18:46:25Z	**RISC-V support in Android just got a big setback**
Although Google has shown significant progress in recent weeks in improving RISC-V support in Android, it seems that we’re still quite a bit away from seeing RISC-V hardware running certified builds of Android. Earlier today, a Senior Staff Software Engineer at Google who, according to their LinkedIn, leads the Android Systems Team and works on Android’s Linux kernel fork, submitted a series of patches to AOSP that “remove ACK’s suppo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139504/risc-v-support-in-android-just-got-a-big-setback/)
2024-04-30T19:38:32Z	**A few facts about POSIX**
Over 35 years ago, these problems with software portability led to the emergence of the first POSIX standard in 1988. The acronym was coined by Richard Stallman, who added “X” to the end of Portable Operating System Interface. It’s meant to provide a specification of the interface that different Unix operating systems should have in common, including programming languages and tools. It’s important to note that the interface is portable, and not the implementation. ↫ vorakl While POSI ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139506/a-few-facts-about-posix/)
2024-04-30T20:35:59Z	**You can’t just assume UTF-8**
Humans speak countless different languages. Not only are these languages incompatible, but runtime transpilation is a real pain. Sadly, every standardisation initiative has failed. At least there is someone to blame for this state-of-affairs: God. It was him, after-all, who cursed humanity to speak different languages, in an early dispute over a controversial property development. However, mankind can only blame itself for the fact that computers struggle to talk to each other ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139508/you-cant-just-assume-utf-8/)
2024-05-01T09:03:06Z	**Linux Mint: non-GNOME GTK desktop environments need to work together in the face of libadwaita**
Anyone who has spent any time recently using non-GNOME GTK desktop environments, like Cinnamon, MATE, or Xfce, has had to deal with the unfortunate reality of a lot of GTK applications becoming GNOME applications instead, using GNOME’s own libadwaita. These applications are hard to theme, and do not integrate at all with the proper GTK applicati ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139512/linux-mint-non-gnome-gtk-desktop-environments-need-to-work-together-in-the-face-of-libadwaita/)
2024-05-01T09:02:20Z	**Redox gets USB HID support**
Another month, another detailed report about the progress made in Redox, the Rust-based operating system. A major improvements this month is support for USB HID, allowing USB keyboards and mice to work on Redox, but the project does note USB hubs are still problematic and might not work properly. Thanks to these USB improvements, Redox’ desktop environment Orbital now also ran on ARM64 in Qemu for the first time, which is a great step towards running it on real ARM64 hardware.  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139514/redox-gets-usb-hid-support/)
2024-05-01T13:05:00Z	**Chinese Tencent-owned company Riot Games installs rootkit on every League of Legends players’ computer**
With 14.9, Vanguard, Riot’s proprietary Anti-Cheat system will be deployed and active in League of Legends. This means that active enforcement of Vanguard will be in effect and working hard to make sure your queues are free from scripters, botters, and cheaters! We recently released a blog detailing the “why” behind bringing Vang ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139517/chinese-tencent-owned-company-riot-games-installs-rootkit-on-every-league-of-legends-players-computer/)
2024-05-02T21:48:45Z	**Inside the Snapdragon 855’s iGPU**
Qualcomm’s Adreno 6xx architecture has been superseded Adreno 7xx, but it’s still used in countless devices, including the current-gen Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. Here, I’ll be looking at the Adreno 640 GPU in the Snapdragon 855. Zarif98 on Reddit kindly provided a OnePlus 7 Pro, and I’ll be using that to check out Adreno 640. Compared to the older Snapdragon 821’s Adreno 530, Adreno 640 dramatically increases compute throughput while still working within a very constraine ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139531/inside-the-snapdragon-855s-igpu/)
2024-05-02T21:47:02Z	**At Microsoft, years of security debt come crashing down**
Years of accumulated security debt at Microsoft are seemingly crashing down upon the company in a manner that many critics warned about, but few ever believed would actually come to light.  Microsoft is an entrenched enterprise provider, owning nearly one-quarter of the global cloud infrastructure services market and, as of Q1 last year, nearly 20% of the worldwide SaaS application market, according to Synergy Research Gr ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139528/at-microsoft-years-of-security-debt-come-crashing-down/)
2024-05-02T21:55:48Z	**The BASIC programming language turns 60**
Sixty years ago, on May 1, 1964, at 4 am in the morning, a quiet revolution in computing began at Dartmouth College. That’s when mathematicians John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz successfully ran the first program written in their newly developed BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) programming language on the college’s General Electric GE-225 mainframe. Little did they know that their creation would go on to democratize computing a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139534/the-basic-programming-language-turns-60/)
2024-05-02T22:10:42Z	**RISC OS Open 5.30 arrives with Raspberry Pi Wi-Fi support**
This is, in a way, a mature OS with an ecosystem and an aftermarket. (Which, we feel we must explicitly spell out, means that quite a few of those third-party applications and drivers will cost you money.) There are emulators that will let you run 20th century Acorn apps that you can find online, but this isn’t an emulated vintage environment like Amiga Forever. It’s not meant for running games from thirty years ago. ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139527/risc-os-open-5-30-arrives-with-raspberry-pi-wi-fi-support/)
2024-05-03T21:01:20Z	**Microsoft overhaul treats security as ‘top priority’ after a series of failures**
Microsoft is making security its number one priority for every employee, following years of security issues and mounting criticisms. After a scathing report from the US Cyber Safety Review Board recently concluded that “Microsoft’s security culture was inadequate and requires an overhaul,” it’s doing just that by outlining a set of security principles and goals that are tied  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139547/microsoft-overhaul-treats-security-as-top-priority-after-a-series-of-failures/)
2024-05-03T21:05:44Z	**FreeBSD is building a graphical installer**
FreeBSD is working on a graphical installer. Finally. The first hurdle to overcome when testing a new Operating System is to get it installed. What is more, the first impression new users gather from an Operating System is its installation process. The state of the art for Operating System installers nowadays definitely involves a graphical process. This is the case for mainstream systems but also for other UNIX systems comparable to FreeBSD: RedHa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139545/freebsd-is-building-a-graphical-installer/)
2024-05-03T21:05:22Z	**How to install the COSMIC desktop environment on Fedora 40**
COSMIC Desktop Environment (DE) is a new project by System76, the company behind the popular Linux distribution Pop!\_OS. In this tutorial, we will give you an overview about COSMIC DE and its features, and then we will walk you through the steps to install COSMIC Desktop Environment in the latest Fedora 40 Linux system. ↫ Senthilkumar Palani at OSTechNix A very easy way to try out the current pre-alpha state of CO ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139549/how-to-install-the-cosmic-desktop-environment-on-fedora-40/)
2024-05-04T11:11:45Z	**Nintendo issues DMCA takedown notice against over 8,500 Yuzu emulator repositories**
The notice was filed on developer platform GitHub, which Nintendo claimed housed repositories that “offer and provide access to the Yuzu emulator or code based on ” which “illegally circumvents Nintendo’s technological protection measures and runs illegal copies of Switch games.” GitHub said it contacted the owners of the repositories to provide an “opportunity to make ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139552/nintendo-issues-dmca-takedown-notice-against-over-8500-yuzu-emulator-repositories/)
2024-05-04T15:14:03Z	**Microsoft announces Zero Trust DNS private preview**
To support Zero Trust deployments trying to lock down devices to only access approved network destinations, we are announcing the development of Zero Trust DNS (ZTDNS) in a future version of Windows. ZTDNS was designed to be interoperable by using network protocols from open standards to satisfy Zero Trust requirements such as those found in OMB M-22-09 and NIST SP 800-207. ZTDNS will be helpful to any administrator trying to use  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139555/microsoft-announces-zero-trust-dns-private-preview/)
2024-05-05T22:08:05Z	**Dillo 3.1.0 released: first release since 2015**
Do any of you remember the browser Dillo? The project’s been through a rough few years after the main developer of the layout engine sadly passed away, the lead developer disappeared from the project, the dillo.org domain was lost and taken over by spammers – but now there’s new people at the helm, and the browser just released it first new version since 2015. Dillo 3.1.0 brings a whole host of new features and improvements. Dillo is open  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139566/dillo-3-1-0-released-first-release-since-2015/)
2024-05-05T22:15:35Z	**X.Org on NetBSD: the state of things**
The big question – does all this have a future? The good news is that all new hardware has generic support in X. Someone writes either a modesetting kernel driver or a classical wsdisplay kernel driver and they will be automatically supported by the associated drivers in X. The bad news is that to have applications running we require access to a larger open source ecosystem, and that ecosystem has a lot of churn and is easily distracted by shiny new squirrels ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139568/x-org-on-netbsd-the-state-of-things/)
2024-05-05T22:23:29Z	**Why I run a BSD on a PC**
But the biggest differential factor between BSDs and GNU/Linux is the way it is structured. In Linux, all components are designed to work together, but are completely separate. You’ve got the kernel, init systems, multimedia daemons, userland, bootloader, virtualization and containerization mechanisms, package managers, and so on. They are all separate projects with their own goals and are operated by separate entities. This is why we’ve got different Linux Distributions instead of O ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139562/why-i-run-a-bsd-on-a-pc/)
2024-05-05T22:21:20Z	**The Game of Trees version control system**
Game of Trees (Got) is a version control system which prioritizes ease of use and simplicity over flexibility. Got is still under development; it is being developed on OpenBSD and its main target audience are OpenBSD developers. Got uses Git repositories to store versioned data. Git can be used for any functionality which has not yet been implemented in Got. It will always remain possible to work with both Got and Git on the same repository. ↫ Game o ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139570/the-game-of-trees-version-control-system/)
2024-05-05T22:27:41Z	**Thanks to our outgoing sponsor: JMP**
We’d like to thank this past week’s sponsor JMP for sponsoring OSNews. As a reminder, JMP is a fully FOSS service providing a way to get a real phone number that operates over the internet using XMPP. They provide numbers in the USA and Canada with everything you need to access SMS/MMS/etc. and voice calls using your XMPP (or SIP) clients of choice across all your devices. They are committed to growing the use of open communications technology such as XMPP, ult ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139575/thanks-to-our-outgoing-sponsor-jmp/)
2024-05-06T14:15:53Z	**Palm OS gets a TOTP application**
Still rocking your Palm OS device, but mutter under your breath every time you need to log into a website or service with two-factor authentication? Sick of carrying around an Android or iOS device just so you can log in on your Palm PDA? Worry no more, your prayers have been answered, you can finally throw that Android or iOS garbage into the sun. Get your 2-factor codes on your Palm, just like Google Authenticator. Unlike Hotpants (an old port of a J2ME phone app),  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139577/palm-os-gets-a-totp-application/)
2024-05-06T14:27:50Z	**With PowerPC, Windows CE and the WiiN-PAD slate, everyone’s a WiiN-er (except Data General)**
That’s right: it’s PowerPC, the most unloved of the architectures CE ever ran on — in fact, this is the first PowerPC Windows CE device I’ve ever found, and I’m the self-described biggest pro-PowerPC bigot in the world. Here’s an unusual form factor Windows CE device, running on the operating system’s least used CPU, from a storied computer company near t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139579/with-powerpc-windows-ce-and-the-wiin-pad-slate-everyones-a-wiin-er-except-data-general/)
2024-05-06T14:33:08Z	**Snikket: this week’s sponsor**
Snikket is a FOSS project for creating private chat spaces for small groups, such as families, friends, or clubs. It doesn’t depend on a phone number, doesn’t upload address books anywhere, and doesn’t sell data to advertisers. It supports all the features you expect, including media and voice messages, audio and video calls, end-to-end encryption, group messaging, and more. Use it from multiple devices at once with the official apps, or even with unofficial, third-party apps ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139582/snikket-this-weeks-sponsor/)
2024-05-06T22:37:24Z	**First-generation Windows on ARM PCs will not be able to run Windows 11 24H2**
Windows 11 supports a variety of ARM processors from Qualcomm. According to the official documentation, you need a computer with the Snapdragon 850 processor inside or newer to run the current operating system officially. However, customers with PCs powered by the Snapdragon 835, the original Windows on ARM chip from 2016, can bypass hardware requirements and install Windows 11 at  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139585/first-generation-windows-on-arm-pcs-will-not-be-able-to-run-windows-11-24h2/)
2024-05-06T23:09:05Z	**PowerPC 40x processor support to be dropped from the Linux kernel**
In addition to Linux 6.10 expected to drop support for very old DEC Alpha processors (EV5 and earlier), it looks like the PowerPC 40x (early PowerPC 400 series) processor and platform support will be retired too. Back in 2020 was a proposal for dropping PowerPC 40x support from the Linux kernel given that the code was orphaned for a long time with no apparent users. The PowerPC 40x processors were fou ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139588/powerpc-40x-processor-support-to-be-dropped-from-the-linux-kernel/)
2024-05-06T23:16:03Z	**The VGA attribute controller is weird**
The grabber in Windows 3.1 was improved to save and restore the index register as well, but it does not attempt to restore the flip-flop state, which is significant. The problem with the VGA emulation was that it erroneously applied the flip-flop state to reads from port 3C0h, and Windows 3.1 would save the wrong index register value… but only the second time through, because the flip-flop state was different at that point. That is to say, the Windows 3.1  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139591/the-vga-attribute-controller-is-weird/)
2024-05-07T13:00:01Z	**Running NetBSD on OmniOS using bhyve**
I want to run GoToSocial on some \*BSD system. Because I am who I am, I went for using NetBSD 10.0 . And because my hypervisor is running bhyve on OmniOS , you get the title of this blog post. Don’t get too anxious, it is quite straightforward. So let the journey begin. ↫ Joel Carnat Bhyve is a hypervisor originating from FreeBSD, while OmniOS is a distribution of illumos, a continuation of the last open source Solaris release from Oracle. GoToSocial, meanwh ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139596/running-netbsd-on-omnios-using-bhyve/)
2024-05-07T14:58:29Z	**Stack Overflow signs deal with OpenAI, bans users trying to alter answers**
We’re all aware of Stack Overflow – it’s a place where programmers and regular users can ask technical questions, and get answers from anyone who thinks they know the answer. Stack Overflow has become so ubiquitous among programmers and developers, the concept of “I just copied the code off Stack Overflow” has become a consistent meme to indicate you don’t fully grasp how something work ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139601/stack-overflow-signs-deal-with-openai-bans-users-trying-to-alter-answers/)
2024-05-07T22:31:18Z	**GCC 14.1 released**
GCC 14.1 has been released, and it should come as no surprise that the new features are not exactly something I, someone who doesn’t program, can properly parse. So, here’s the three items GCC itself thought were important to list first. The C frontend when targeting standards newer than C89 now considers many non-standard constructs as errors that were previously only warnings. See https://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-14/porting\_to.html#warnings-as-errors for more details. C23 \_BitInt Bit-precise integer  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139604/gcc-14-1-released/)
2024-05-07T23:53:43Z	**LPCAMM2 memory is finally here**
But today we got our hands on LPCAMM2 for the first time, and this looks like the future to us. LPCAMM2 is a totally modular, repairable, upgradeable memory standard for laptops, using the latest LPDDR chips for maximum speed and efficiency. So instead of overpaying (or under-speccing) based on guesswork about your future memory needs, you’ll hopefully be able to buy your next laptop and then install more RAM as needed. Imagine that! ↫ Carsten Frauenheim LPDDR memory, u ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139606/lpcamm2-memory-is-finally-here/)
2024-05-08T08:58:13Z	**Jolie: the service-oriented programming language**
Jolie crystallises the programming concepts of service-oriented computing as linguistic constructs. The basic building blocks of software are not objects or functions, but rather services that can be relocated and replicated as needed. A composition of services is a service. ↫ Jolie website Jolie is open source and available on GitHub. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139608/jolie-the-service-oriented-programming-language/)
2024-05-08T13:52:22Z	**Just a bunch of scanners (JBOS?)**
This is the story on how I spent far too much money and time getting a scanner to work over iSCSI so that I could prove “Chris O” wrong on StackExchange. The TL;DR is that yes scanners work fine over iSCSI. ↫ xssfox The next step is connecting a bunch of flatbed scanners to a disk array enclosure, but that turns out to be quite an expensive little exercise. Regardless, this is absolutely wild, and I love it when people go to great lengths just to prove that something p ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139611/just-a-bunch-of-scanners-jbos/)
2024-05-08T14:02:29Z	**NetBSD 8.3 released, marks the end of the 8.0 branch**
NetBSD 10 and NetBSD 9.4 were only recently released, leaving one final branch to receive what will be its last update: NetBSD 8.3. NetBSD 8.0 was originally released in 2018, so this final release marks six years of updates, which is a good track record, especially now that two newer main releases are available to choose from. With 8.3 being the final release, this means no more regular or security updates, pkgsrc no longer su ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139613/netbsd-8-3-released-marks-the-end-of-the-8-0-branch/)
2024-05-08T20:36:16Z	**US revokes Intel, Qualcomm’s export licenses to sell to China’s Huawei, sources say**
The U.S. has revoked licenses that allowed companies including Intel and Qualcomm to ship chips used for laptops and handsets to sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies, three people familiar with the matter said. ↫ Alexandra Alper, Fanny Potkin, David Shepardson The timing of this news is very interesting, as despite the massive sanctions the Un ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139615/us-revokes-intel-qualcomms-export-licenses-to-sell-to-chinas-huawei-sources-say/)
2024-05-08T21:17:49Z	**Raspberry Pi Connect: remote desktop for your Pi**
Today we’re pleased to announce the beta release of Raspberry Pi Connect: a secure and easy-to-use way to access your Raspberry Pi remotely, from anywhere on the planet, using just a web browser. It’s often extremely useful to be able to access your Raspberry Pi’s desktop remotely. There are a number of technologies which can be used to do this, including VNC, and of course the X protocol itself. But they can be hard to configure, part ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139617/raspberry-pi-connect-remote-desktop-for-your-pi/)
2024-05-08T23:53:07Z	**Did GitHub Copilot really increase my productivity?**
Yuxuan Shui, the developer behind the X11 compositor picom (a fork of Compton) published a blog post detailing their experiences with using GitHub Copilot for a year. I had free access to GitHub Copilot for about a year, I used it, got used to it, and slowly started to take it for granted, until one day it was taken away. I had to re-adapt to a life without Copilot, but it also gave me a chance to look back at how I used Copilot, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139622/did-github-copilot-really-increase-my-productivity/)
2024-05-09T13:42:11Z	**ChromeOS App Mall unifies app discovery for Chromebooks**
We’ve been on the lookout for the arrival of the ChromeOS App Mall for a few months now. First discovered back in March, the new App Mall is arriving to do one, simple task: put the apps users want in one place to be found a Chromebook. While we have access to web apps, PWAs, Android apps and Linux apps on Chromebooks, it’s not always clear how to go about finding them. Should you install the web version or the Play Stor ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139627/chromeos-app-mall-unifies-app-discovery-for-chromebooks/)
2024-05-09T14:14:13Z	**Opening windows in Linux with sockets, bare hands and 200 lines of C**
X Server is slowly being deprecated in the Linux world and being replaced Wayland. Still X11 is an interesting protocol to look at from the perspective of binary communication and management of resource which require fast speeds. In this post I tried to cover basic information and create a simple but working app that is simple, defined in single file and easily compiles. No external code except l ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139629/opening-windows-in-linux-with-sockets-bare-hands-and-200-lines-of-c/)
2024-05-09T14:30:59Z	**COSMIC improves its application store, display mirroring, and more**
As its first alpha release is closing in, we have another monthly update about COSMIC, System76’s new Linux desktop environment written in Rust. This month, they’ve further polished and shored up their application store, imaginatively named COSMIC App Store, and it’s supposedly incredibly fast – something I can’t say for its GNOME and KDE counterparts, which tend to be so slow I’ve always just default ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139632/cosmic-improves-its-application-store-display-mirroring-and-more/)
2024-05-10T00:33:10Z	**Haiku isn’t a BeOS successor anymore**
So I got accepted into GSoC again! I’m going to be working on WebKit2. But what is WebKit2, or even WebKit, for that matter? Well, WebPositive uses WebKit to render its web pages. Currently, we use the WebKitLegacy API to communicate with WebKit. It would be nice to switch to the newer version: WebKit2. However, our port of WebKit2 still needs work. At present, it has lost its ability to even render any webpage at all! So, getting WebKit2 to work will be the  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139634/haiku-isnt-a-beos-successor-anymore/)
2024-05-11T23:34:03Z	**NVIDIA to install open Linux kernel modules by default**
Starting in the release 560 series, it will be recommended to use the open flavor of NVIDIA Linux Kernel Modules 119 wherever possible (Turing or later GPUs, or Ada or later when using GPU virtualization). ↫ NVIDIA developer forums Slowly but surely, NVIDIA is taking a more favourable position towards open source. It still feels surreal. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139646/nvidia-to-install-open-linux-kernel-modules-by-default/)
2024-05-11T23:45:15Z	**Obsolete, but not gone: the people who won’t give up floppy disks**
If you remember a time when using floppy disks didn’t seem weird, you’re probably at least 30 years old. Floppy disks or diskettes emerged around 1970 and, for a good three decades or so, they were the main way many people stored and backed up their computer data. All the software and programmes they bought came loaded onto clusters of these disks. They are a technology from a different era of computing, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139648/obsolete-but-not-gone-the-people-who-wont-give-up-floppy-disks/)
2024-05-12T00:29:30Z	**Apple II DeskTop currently testing 1.4 alpha releases**
Disassembly and enhancements for Apple II DeskTop (a.k.a. Mouse Desk), a “Finder”-like GUI application for 8-bit Apples and clones with 128k of memory, utilizing double hi-res monochrome graphics (560×192), an optional mouse, and the ProDOS 8 operating system. ↫ Apple II DeskTop GitHub page The goal of this project is to reverse-engineer Apple II DeskTop, and fix bugs and enhance it in the process. I didn’t actually know tha ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139650/apple-ii-desktop-currently-testing-1-4-alpha-releases/)
2024-05-12T22:28:22Z	**The Emacs window management almanac**
Window management in Emacs gets a bad rap. Some of this is deserved, but mostly this is a consequence of combining a very flexible and granular layout system with rather coarse controls. This leaves the door open to creating and using tools for handling windows that employ and provide better metaphors and affordances. As someone who’s spent an unnecessary amount of time trying different approaches to window management in Emacs over the decades, I decided to su ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139654/the-emacs-window-management-almanac/)
2024-05-13T00:35:33Z	**Apple Vision Pro has the same effective resolution as Quest 3… Sometimes?**
This article is a partial-rebuttal/partial-confirmation to KGOnTech’s Apple Vision Pro’s Optics Blurrier & Lower Contrast than Meta Quest 3, prompted by RoadToVR’s Quest 3 Has Higher Effective Resolution, So Why Does Everyone Think Vision Pro Looks Best? which cites KGOnTech. I suppose it’s a bit late, but it’s taken me a while to really get a good intuition for how visionOS renders fram ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139656/apple-vision-pro-has-the-same-effective-resolution-as-quest-3-sometimes/)
2024-05-13T20:22:21Z	**MacRelix: a Unix-like environment that runs in classic Mac OS**
MacRelix is a Unix-like environment that runs in classic Mac OS. MacRelix natively supports classic 68K and PPC Mac OS, as well as Mac OS X on PPC via Carbon. ↫ MacRelix website The creator of MacRelix, Josh Juran, published an article in 2019 detailing the origins of the project. As a Mac OS developer, he was so unhappy with both CodeWarrior and Apple’s Macintosh Programmer’s Workshop (MPW), that he set out t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139659/macrelix-a-unix-like-environment-that-runs-in-classic-mac-os/)
2024-05-13T22:10:36Z	**iOS 17.5 and other Apple updates arrive with Bluetooth tracker notifications and more**
Apple has released the latest updates for virtually all of its actively supported devices today. Most include a couple handfuls of security updates, some new features for Apple News+ subscribers, and something called Cross-Platform Tracking Protection for Bluetooth devices. The iOS 17.5, iPadOS 17.5, macOS 4.5, watchOS 10.5, tvOS 17.5, and HomePod Software 17.5  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139667/ios-17-5-and-other-apple-updates-arrive-with-bluetooth-tracker-notifications-and-more/)
2024-05-13T22:36:20Z	**IBM introduces entry-level Power10 server and tower**
Each S1012 node has a single Power10 processor, which can have 1, 4, or 8 cores activated, which suggests that it is the same single chip module (SCM) implementation of the Power10 processor that was used in the Power S1022s entry machine. The Power S1012 node has four ISDIMM memory slots (using the differential signaling created by Big Blue for its Power10 memory) with a maximum capacity of 256 GB. The node has four half-height ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139669/ibm-introduces-entry-level-power10-server-and-tower/)
2024-05-13T22:42:30Z	**Thanks to our outgoing sponsor: Snikket**
Snikket is a FOSS project for creating private chat spaces for small groups, such as families, friends, or clubs. It doesn’t depend on a phone number, doesn’t upload address books anywhere, and doesn’t sell data to advertisers. It supports all the features you expect, including media and voice messages, audio and video calls, end-to-end encryption, group messaging, and more. Use it from multiple devices at once with the official apps, or even with unoff ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139671/thanks-to-our-outgoing-sponsor-snikket/)
2024-05-14T10:16:29Z	**EA is prototyping in-game ads even as we speak**
Electronic Arts has a long, storied history of trying to wring more money out of gamers after they’ve purchased a game — now, it appears, the company’s hard at work on its next generation of in-game ads. EA CEO Andrew Wilson admitted as much on the company’s Q4 earnings call: when an analyst asked about “the market opportunity for more dynamic ad insertion across more traditional AAA games,” he said the company’s already working on it. “W ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139675/ea-is-prototyping-in-game-ads-even-as-we-speak/)
2024-05-14T14:32:19Z	**Nintendo Switch hacked to run Windows 11 on Arm**
As Nintendo Switch unlocks and homebrew software develops, people are inclined to explore the possibilities and whether or not they actually provide a good experience. Our new prime example seems to be a full install of Windows 11 Arm on the Switch. As noted by @PatRyk on Twitter, who actually set this up, the experience is pretty grueling! The initial installation took three hours, and even basic system tasks were unresponsive. ↫ Chris ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139679/nintendo-switch-hacked-to-run-windows-11-on-arm/)
2024-05-14T15:02:53Z	**Google is experimenting with running Chrome OS on Android**
Now that Android – since version 13 – ships with the Android Virtualisation Framework, Google can start doing interesting things with it. It turns out the first interesting thing Google wants do with it is run Chrome OS inside of it. Even though AVF was initially designed around running small workloads in a highly stripped-down build of Android loaded in an isolated virtual machine, there’s technically no reason it c ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139681/google-is-experimenting-with-running-chrome-os-on-android/)
2024-05-14T21:14:48Z	**VMware Workstation Pro and Fusion pro go free for personal use**
After Broadcom acquired VMware, there’s been a steady stream of worrying or outright bad news for people using VMware products at home, for personal use, as enthusiasts. The biggest blow to the enthusiast market was the end of perpetual licensing, forcing people into subscriptions instead. Finally, though it seems we’re getting some good news. The most exciting part is that Fusion Pro and Workstation Pro wi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139684/vmware-workstation-pro-and-fusion-pro-go-free-for-personal-use/)
2024-05-14T22:11:34Z	**Google details some of the “AI” features coming to Android**
Google I/O, the company’s developer conference, started today, but for the first time since I can remember, Android and Chrome OS have been relegated to day two of the conference. The first day was all about “AI”, most of which I’m not even remotely interested in, except of course where it related to Google’s operating system offerings. And the company did have a few things to say about “AI” on Android, and the gener ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139686/google-details-some-of-the-ai-features-coming-to-android/)
2024-05-14T23:46:34Z	**The new APT 3.0 solver**
A crucial but often entirely transparent feature of a modern package management system like Debian’s APT is its solver – basically the set of rules and instruction on how to handle dependencies when installing a package. APT is currently in the process of radically changing its solver, the first bits of which can be found in APT 2.9.3, referred to as solver3. Many of the changes and improvements get a little into the weeds and will mostly be transparent to users, but there is one featu ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139688/the-new-apt-3-0-solver/)
2024-05-15T12:24:37Z	**Google now offers ‘web’ search — and an AI opt-out button**
This is not a joke: Google will now let you perform a “web” search. It’s rolling out “web” searches now, and in my early tests on desktop, it’s looking like it could be an incredibly popular change to Google’s search engine. The optional setting filters out almost all the other blocks of content that Google crams into a search results page, leaving you with links and text — and Google confirms to The Verge that it will b ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139691/google-now-offers-web-search-and-an-ai-opt-out-button/)
2024-05-15T16:37:53Z	**GNOME OS is switching from OSTree to systemd-sysupdate**
I’m pretty sure most of you are familiar with KDE Neon, the distribution KDE maintains to provide easy access to the latest KDE technologies. However, did you know GNOME has something similar, called GNOME OS? It’s been around for a while, but has a far lower profile than KDE Neon does, and it seems they want to change that and put more of a spotlight on GNOME OS. GNOME OS is an immutable distribution using OSTree, the sam ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139696/gnome-os-is-switching-from-ostree-to-systemd-sysupdate/)
2024-05-15T19:44:00Z	**NetBSD bans use of Copilot-generated code**
The NetBSD project seems to agree with me that code generated by “AI” like Copilot is tainted, and cannot be used safely. The project’s added a new guideline banning the use of code generated by such tools from being added to NetBSD unless explicitly permitted by “core“, NetBSD’s equivalent, roughly, of “technical management”. Code generated by a large language model or similar technology, such as such as GitHub/Microsoft’s Copilot, OpenAI’s ChatGP ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139698/netbsd-bans-use-of-copilot-generated-code/)
2024-05-15T21:17:01Z	**Raspberry Pi officially announces intent to IPO**
As expected earlier this year, Raspberry Pi is going public on the stock exchange in London. Back then, CEO Eben Upton said he did not expect the IPO to change how Raspberry Pi did things, but history tells us that initial public offerings tend to, well, change how companies do things. In their official announcement that they intend to hold an IPO, there’s an incredibly interesting and telling contradiction, as noted by @yassie\_j on Ma ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139700/raspberry-pi-officially-announces-intent-to-ipo/)
2024-05-15T23:52:46Z	**Android 15 beta 2 released**
Google released Android 15 beta 2 today, and with it, they unveiled some more of the new features coming to Android later this year when the final release lands. Android 15 comes with something called a private space, an area with an extra layer of authentication where you can keep applications and data hidden away, such as banking applications or health data. It’s effectively a separate user profile, and shows up as a separate area in the application drawer when unlocked. When ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139707/android-15-beta-2-released/)
2024-05-16T00:07:25Z	**Qualcomm details Linux on Snapdragon X Elite, and it’s looking surprisingly good**
With Qualcomm and Microsoft about to flood the market with devices using the new Snapdragon X Elite, those of us who don’t want to use Windows felt a bit uneasy – what’s Linux support going to look like for this new generation of ARM devices? Well, it seems Qualcomm’s been busy, and they’ve published a blog post detailing their work on Linux support for the X Elite. It’s be ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139709/qualcomm-details-linux-on-snapdragon-x-elite-and-its-looking-surprisingly-good/)
2024-05-16T20:10:38Z	**The X Window System and the curse of NumLock**
Ordinary modifiers are normally straightforward, in that they are additional keys that are held down as you type the main key. Control, Shift, and Alt all work this way (by default). However, some modifiers are ‘sticky’, where you tap their key once to turn them on and then tap their key again to turn them off. The obvious example of this is Caps Lock (unless you turn its effects off, remapping its physical key to be, say, another Ctrl key).  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139713/the-x-window-system-and-the-curse-of-numlock/)
2024-05-16T22:56:26Z	**Virtual Boy: the bizarre rise and quick fall of Nintendo’s enigmatic red console**
Nearly 30 years after the launch of the Virtual Boy, not much is publicly known about how, exactly, Nintendo came to be interested in developing what would ultimately become its ill-fated console. Was Nintendo committed to VR as a future for video games and looking for technological solutions that made business sense? Or was the Virtual Boy primarily the result of Nintendo  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139718/virtual-boy-the-bizarre-rise-and-quick-fall-of-nintendos-enigmatic-red-console/)
2024-05-16T22:50:51Z	**Winamp to “open up” its source code**
Winamp has announced that on 24 September 2024, the application’s source code will be open to developers worldwide. Winamp will open up its code for the player used on Windows, enabling the entire community to participate in its development. This is an invitation to global collaboration, where developers worldwide can contribute their expertise, ideas, and passion to help this iconic software evolve. ↫ Winamp press release Nice, I guess, but twenty years to late ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139715/winamp-to-open-up-its-source-code/)
2024-05-17T00:26:44Z	**State of the terminal**
It’s only been in the last couple of years that I’ve begun to dig deep into the inner workings of how terminal emulators, and the applications that run inside of them, really work. I’ve learned that there is a lot of innovation and creative problem solving happening in this space, even though the underlying technology is over half a century old. I’ve also found that many people who use terminal based tools (including shells like Bash and editors like Vim) know very little about terminals ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139712/state-of-the-terminal/)
2024-05-17T12:59:02Z	**Why a ‘frozen’ distribution Linux kernel isn’t the safest choice for security**
It’s a compelling story and on the surface makes a lot of sense. Carefully curated software patches applied to a known Linux kernel, frozen at a specific release, would obviously seem to be preferable to the random walk of an upstream open source Linux project. But is it true? Is there data to support this ? After a lot of hard work and data analysis by my CIQ kernel engineering c ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139722/why-a-frozen-distribution-linux-kernel-isnt-the-safest-choice-for-security/)
2024-05-17T21:10:33Z	**Slack users horrified to discover messages used for “AI” training**
After launching Slack AI in February, Slack appears to be digging its heels in, defending its vague policy that by default sucks up customers’ data—including messages, content, and files—to train Slack’s global AI models. ↫ Ashley Belanger at Ars Technica I’ve never used Slack and don’t intend to ever start, but the outcry about this reached far beyond Slack and its own communities. It’s been all over v ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139725/slack-users-horrified-to-discover-messages-used-for-ai-training/)
2024-05-17T23:11:49Z	**Apple geofences third-party browser engine work for EU devices**
Apple’s grudging accommodation of European law – allowing third-party browser engines on its mobile devices – apparently comes with a restriction that makes it difficult to develop and support third-party browser engines for the region. The Register has learned from those involved in the browser trade that Apple has limited the development and testing of third-party browser engines to devices physically loc ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139724/apple-geofences-third-party-browser-engine-work-for-eu-devices/)
2024-05-17T23:53:06Z	**Microsoft’s official Windows performance boost app feels your PC is broken if you snub Bing**
I didn’t know this was a thing, but apparently Microsoft offers a Windows tune-up application in the vein of things like CCleaner and similar tools. One of the things it does is protect users from applications that try and change default settings, and it seems the application takes this matter very seriously. Microsoft may be taking a bit of liberty w ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139729/microsofts-official-windows-performance-boost-app-feels-your-pc-is-broken-if-you-snub-bing/)
2024-05-18T22:42:12Z	**Company behind Amiga OS 4 seems to be either going or is in fact bankrupt**
So, I won’t be wasting too many words on this – partially because I’m not into cheap soap operas, and partially because there’s no way to know what’s going on with this nonsense without dedicating a year’s worth of detailed study into the subject. So it seems that the company Hyperion, which develops and owns the rights to Amiga OS 4 and Amiga OS 3.2 has gone into bankruptcy proceeding ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139733/company-behind-amiga-os-4-seems-to-be-either-going-or-is-in-fact-bankrupt/)
2024-05-18T22:56:53Z	**Troubling iOS 17.5 bug reportedly resurfacing old deleted photos**
iOS 17.5 seems to be experiencing a rather nasty bug that raises some very, very concerning questions about what Apple thinks “delete” really means. After updating their iPhone, one user said they were shocked to find old NSFW photos that they deleted in 2021 suddenly showing up in photos marked as recently uploaded to iCloud. Other users have also chimed in with similar stories. “Same here,” said one R ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139735/troubling-ios-17-5-bug-reportedly-resurfacing-old-deleted-photos/)
2024-05-20T12:27:27Z	**KDE Plasma 6 comes to OpenBSD**
Last year marked a significant milestone for both myself and the OpenBSD desktop community, as we successfully ported KDE Plasma 5 and all dependencies to OpenBSD. With the release of OpenBSD 7.5 on April 5, 2024, KDE Plasma in version 5.27.10 has become a part of our lovely operating system. This success is the result of years of development work and commitment to achieving this goal. KDE launched version 6 of its Plasma desktop environment on February 28, 2024, bringing ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139742/kde-plasma-6-comes-to-openbsd/)
2024-05-20T12:21:29Z	**Windows Server 2025 to ship with DTrace by default**
Windows Server 2025 comes equipped with dtrace as a native tool. DTrace is a command-line utility that enables users to monitor and troubleshoot their system’s performance in real-time. DTrace allows users to dynamically instrument both the kernel and user-space code without any need to modify the code itself. This versatile tool supports a range of data collection and analysis techniques, such as aggregations, histograms, and tra ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139740/windows-server-2025-to-ship-with-dtrace-by-default/)
2024-05-20T21:29:12Z	**Microsoft gives Windows new compiler, kernel, scheduler, and x86 translation layer on ARM**
Microsoft’s developer conference Build is taking place this week, so there’s been some major Windows news and announcements, and for once – we’re not talking about more ads in your operating system, or even “AI” shoehorned into, I don’t know, Phone Dialer or Windows Fax and Scan. First and foremost, Windows is going to get a new compiler, kernel, and schedu ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139748/microsoft-gives-windows-new-compiler-kernel-scheduler-and-x86-translation-layer-on-arm/)
2024-05-20T23:15:50Z	**Modernizing the AntennaPod code structure**
AntennaPod has been around for a long time – the first bit of code was published in 2011. Since then, the app has grown massively and had several main developers. The beauty of open-source is that so many people can contribute and make a great app together. But sometimes having many people work on a project can lead to different ways of thinking about how to structure the project. Because of this, AntennaPod gradually grew to have a number of weird ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139750/modernizing-the-antennapod-code-structure/)
2024-05-20T23:36:18Z	**Xeon Phi support removed in GCC 15 compiler**
Last week I wrote about Intel aiming to remove Xeon Phi support in GCC 15 with the products being end-of-life and deprecated in GCC 14. While some openly wondered whether the open-source community would allow it given the Xeon Phi accelerators were available to buy just a few years ago and at some very low prices going back years so some potentially finding use still out of them especially during this AI boom (and still readily available to buy ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139752/xeon-phi-support-removed-in-gcc-15-compiler/)
2024-05-21T15:01:25Z	**Scarlett Johansson says she is ‘shocked, angered’ over new ChatGPT voice**
Lawyers for Scarlett Johansson are demanding that OpenAI disclose how it developed an AI personal assistant voice that the actress says sounds uncannily similar to her own. Johansson’s legal team has sent OpenAI two letters asking the company to detail the process by which it developed a voice the tech company dubbed “Sky,” Johansson’s publicist told NPR in a revelation that has not been pr ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139754/scarlett-johansson-says-she-is-shocked-angered-over-new-chatgpt-voice/)
2024-05-21T18:39:26Z	**noTunes: a macOS application to prevent iTunes or Apple Music from launching**
noTunes is a macOS application that will prevent iTunes or Apple Music from launching. Simply launch the noTunes app and iTunes/Music will no longer be able to launch. For example, when bluetooth headphones reconnect. You can toggle the apps functionality via the menu bar icon with a simple left click. ↫ noTunes GitHub page Apparently, this is such a common complaint that an appli ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139757/notunes-a-macos-application-to-prevent-itunes-or-apple-music-from-launching/)
2024-05-21T21:47:37Z	**How to make Google’s new “Web” search option the default in your browser**
Last week, Google unveiled a new little feature in Google Search, called “Web”. Residing alongside the various other options like “All”, “Images”, “Video”, and so on, its goal is to effectively strip Google Search results from everything we generally don’t like, and just present a list of actual links to actual websites. It turns out it’s quite simple to set this as your default search “engine” in your bro ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139762/how-to-make-googles-new-web-search-option-the-default/)
2024-05-22T18:59:26Z	**Microsoft adds Dev Drive block cloning to Windows**
At the heart of developer productivity lies improving performance for developer workloads on Windows. Last year at Build, we announced Dev Drive a new storage volume tailor-made for developers and supercharged for performance and security. Since then, we have continued to invest further in Windows performance improvements for developer workloads.   With the release of Windows 11 24H2, workflows will get even faster when developing o ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139767/microsoft-adds-dev-drive-block-cloning-to-windows/)
2024-05-22T20:11:39Z	**Dell continues to base its ThinOS client operating system on FreeBSD**
Several Dell products use ThinOS 9, such as the OptiPlex 3000 Thin Client, the OptiPlex All-In-One, and the Latitude series laptops, such as the Latitude 3440 and 5440. ThinOS is a ready-to-deploy solution that aims to improve virtual desktops while offering a secure platform for applications and services. It provides users with a seamless and integrated experience, whether remotely or from the  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139769/dell-continues-to-base-its-thinos-client-operating-system-on-freebsd/)
2024-05-22T21:55:38Z	**Microsoft Recall takes constant screenshots of everything you do**
About a month ago we talked about the rumours, but now the feature’s officially announced: Microsoft is going to keep track of everything you do on your Windows machine by taking a constant stream of screenshots, and then making said screenshots searchable by using things like text and image recognition. As you might expect, this is a privacy nightmare, and the details and fine print accompanying this n ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139771/microsoft-recall-takes-constant-screenshots-of-everything-you-do/)
2024-05-23T15:12:04Z	**Cortile: auto-tiling manager that runs on top of your current window manager for X11**
Linux auto tiling manager with hot corner support for Openbox, Fluxbox, IceWM, Xfwm, KWin, Marco, Muffin, Mutter and other EWMH compliant window managers using the X11 window system. Therefore, this project provides dynamic tiling for XFCE, LXDE, LXQt, KDE and GNOME (Mate, Deepin, Cinnamon, Budgie) based desktop environments. Simply keep your current window manager ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139775/cortile-auto-tiling-manager-that-runs-on-top-of-your-current-window-manager-for-x11/)
2024-05-23T16:46:46Z	**Google pays $60 million to tell users to eat glue**
Google’s new search feature, AI Overviews, seems to be going awry. The tool, which gives AI-generated summaries of search results, appeared to instruct a user to put glue on pizza when they searched “cheese not sticking to pizza.” ↫ Jyoti Mann at Business Insider Google’s “artificial intelligence” is literally just parroting a joke Reddit comment from 11 years ago by a person named fucksmith. Google is paying Reddit 60 million dollar ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139777/google-pays-60-million-to-tell-users-to-eat-glue/)
2024-05-23T20:37:37Z	**Building a Psion/EPOC32 emulator**
In which I build WindEmu, an emulator for the Psion Series 5mx (a PDA from 1999 running EPOC – the OS that would become Symbian), over the course of just over a week, without access to the actual hardware. Yet another cursed project. ↫ Ash Wolf I had never seen this before, even though it’s from 2019. You can load the emulator in your browser and use EPOC32 as if it’s running on the real thing, and I have to say it feel remarkably realistic for a project completed i ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139780/building-a-psion-epoc32-emulator/)
2024-05-23T21:11:33Z	**Bing went down, and lots of people discovered alternative search engines are whitelabel versions of Bing**
It turns out way fewer people knew search engines like DuckDuckGo are just whitelabel versions of Microsoft Bing than I thought. Today, in most of Europe and Asia, search engines like DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Qwant, other alternative search engines, ChatGPT internet search, and even Windows Copilot were all down. It turns out the  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139782/bing-went-down-and-lots-of-people-discovered-alternative-search-engines-are-whitelabel-versions-of-bing/)
2024-05-24T20:42:57Z	**Writing a Unix clone in about a month**
I needed a bit of a break from “real work” recently, so I started a new programming project that was low-stakes and purely recreational. On April 21st, I set out to see how much of a Unix-like operating system for x86\_64 targets that I could put together in about a month. The result is Bunnix. Not including days I didn’t work on Bunnix for one reason or another, I spent 27 days on this project. ↫ Drew DeVault Bunnix’ creator, Drew DeVault, has quite a bit ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139786/writing-a-unix-clone-in-about-a-month/)
2024-05-24T23:38:18Z	**iFixit ends its collaboration with Samsung**
iFixit is ending its collaboration with Samsung, as iFixit claims the Korean giant is not actually interested in offering repair options at all. As we tried to build this ecosystem we consistently faced obstacles that made us doubt Samsung’s commitment to making repair more accessible. We couldn’t get parts to local repair shops at prices and quantities that made business sense. The part prices were so costly that many consumers opted to replace  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139788/ifixit-ends-its-collaboration-with-samsung/)
2024-05-25T19:36:31Z	**Microsoft open-sources GW-BASIC**
These sources, as clearly stated in the repo’s readme, are the 8088 assembly language sources from 10th Feb 1983, and are being open-sourced for historical reference and educational purposes. This means we will not be accepting PRs that modify the source in any way. ↫ Rich Turner I’m loving all these open source releases from Microsoft, but honestly, I’d wish the pace was a little higher and we’d get to some more recent stuff. Open sourcing early versions of MS-DOS an ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139791/microsoft-open-sources-gw-basic/)
2024-05-25T19:46:48Z	**After you die, your Steam games will be stuck in legal limbo**
It turns out that digital rights management and its consequences extend even beyond your passing when it comes to Steam. Valve has made it clear that no, you cannot will your Steam account or games to someone else when you die. The issue of digital game inheritability gained renewed attention this week as a ResetEra poster quoted a Steam support response asking about transferring Steam account ownership via a la ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139793/after-you-die-your-steam-games-will-be-stuck-in-legal-limbo/)
2024-05-25T22:48:46Z	**Google just updated its algorithm, and the Internet will never be the same**
But Google results are a zero-sum game. If the search engine sends traffic to one site, it has to take it from another, and the effects on the losers in this Reddit equation are just as dramatic. “Google’s just committing war on publisher websites,” Ray says. “It’s almost as if Google designed an algorithm update to specifically go after small bloggers. I’ve talked to so many people w ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139795/google-just-updated-its-algorithm-and-the-internet-will-never-be-the-same/)
2024-05-27T08:55:24Z	**IceWM 3.5.0 released**
IceWM, the venerable window manager we’ve all used at some point in our lives, has released a new version, 3.5.0. It’s a relatively minor release, so you’ve got things like a new install option which will install an extra theme, a fix for porting to NetBSD 10, translation updates, and more such small improvements. The AddressBar, a command line in the taskbar that can be summoned with ctrl+alt+space, also got some love, with file argument completion and support for the cd and pwd commands. ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139801/icewm-3-5-0-released/)
2024-05-27T13:00:26Z	**MSI shows off motherboard with CAMM2 memory**
Earlier this month, we talked about the arrival of the new CAMM2 memory module standard, specifically designed to make replaceable memory modules as fast and capable as soldered memory. There’s technically no reason for CAMM2 to not also be beneficial to desktop use, and it turns out MSI is experimenting with this. MSI on Thursday published the first image of a new desktop motherboard that supports the innovative DDR5 compression attached memor ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139804/msi-shows-off-motherboard-with-camm2-memory/)
2024-05-28T11:20:10Z	**Introduction: DBus and systemd**
systemd uses DBus as the mechanism to interact with it. This article introduces just enough DBus concepts and the usage of busctl to communicate with systemd. These concepts should be useful when using DBus libraries. ↫ Beartama Exactly what it says on the tin. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139807/introduction-dbus-and-systemd/)
2024-05-28T13:39:32Z	**Evolution of the ELF object file format**
The ELF object file format is adopted by many UNIX-like operating systems. While I’ve previously delved into the control structures of ELF and its predecessors, tracing the historical evolution of ELF and its relationship with the System V ABI can be interesting in itself. ↫ MaskRay The article wasn’t lying. I had no reason to know this – and I’m pretty sure most of you didn’t either – but it turns out the standards that define ELF got caught up in the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139809/evolution-of-the-elf-object-file-format/)
2024-05-28T18:58:46Z	**Microsoft published minimum system requirements, CPU support for Windows 11 LTSC 2024**
Aside from that, the company also announced Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 this week. The company has also published the minimum system requirements as well as supported processor families. They have been categorized as Preferred and Optional. Interestingly, SSD has been added as a minimum system requirement, which has been a rumour about the client OS since ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139813/microsoft-published-minimum-system-requirements-cpu-support-for-windows-11-ltsc-2024/)
2024-05-28T19:24:55Z	**Jef Raskin’s Canon Cat**
Few things in technology excites me more than an amazing computer I have never heard of before – especially one with pedigree. Many people take a casual glance at this machine and say, “Isn’t that an overgrown word processor?” And one could certainly think so, in part because of its keyboard-centric operation, but mostly from the utterly uncomprehending way Canon advertised it in 1987. Canon dubbed the Cat a “work processor” because of its built-in telecommunications, modem and word pro ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139811/jef-raskins-canon-cat/)
2024-05-29T07:32:08Z	**Turbo9: a pipelined 6809 microprocessor IP**
The Turbo9 is a pipelined microprocessor IP written in Verilog that executes a superset of the Motorola 6809 instruction set. It is a new modern microarchitecture with 16-bit internal datapaths that balances high performance vs small area / low power. The Turbo9R with a 16-bit memory interface achieves 0.69 DMIPS/MHz which is 3.8 times faster than Motorola’s original 8-bit MC6809 implementation. It is an active graduate research project at the Dep ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139818/turbo9-a-pipelined-6809-microprocessor-ip/)
2024-05-29T19:19:29Z	**Microsoft’s ‘Auto Super Resolution’ DLSS competitor isn’t exclusive to Qualcomm**
When you launch a game on a Snapdragon on a Windows laptop, you might get an AI frame rate boost from Microsoft’s mysterious Auto Super Resolution (Auto SR) feature. But while Microsoft hasn’t fully explained how the feature works, The Verge can now confirm it’s not Qualcomm technology, not exclusive to Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X chips, and not exclusive to specific games, eit ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139821/microsofts-auto-super-resolution-dlss-competitor-isnt-exclusive-to-qualcomm/)
2024-05-29T21:41:21Z	**Vox Media and The Atlantic sign content deals with OpenAI**
Speaking of The Verge, its parent company Vox Media, along with The Atlantic, have signed a deal with OpenAI. Two more media companies have signed licensing agreements with OpenAI, allowing their content to be used to train its AI models and be shared inside of ChatGPT. The Atlantic and Vox Media — The Verge’s parent company — both announced deals with OpenAI on Wednesday. ↫ Emilia David at The Verge In the case of V ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139825/vox-media-and-the-atlantic-sign-content-deals-with-openai/)
2024-05-29T22:38:31Z	**Google is killing off the messaging service inside Google Maps**
Google is killing off a messaging service! This one is the odd “Google Business Messaging” service—basically an instant messaging client that is built into Google Maps. If you looked up a participating business in Google Maps or Google Search on a phone, the main row of buttons in the place card would read something like “Call,” “Chat,” “Directions,” and “Website.” That “Chat” button is the service we’re ta ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139828/google-is-killing-off-the-messaging-service-inside-google-maps/)
2024-05-30T12:23:08Z	**Help identify these osbscure operating systems and vendors**
Over on the GNU config-patches mailing list, Zack Weinberg is looking for help identifying a number of ancient operating systems and vendors. These are probably all either vendor or OS names from the late 1980s or early 1990s. Can anyone help me fill out the following list of things that ought to appear in testsuite/config-sub.data, if I knew what to put in place of the question marks? ???-pc533 ???-pc533-??????-si ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139830/help-identify-these-osbscure-operating-systems-and-vendors/)
2024-05-30T23:11:05Z	**First, and possibly only, look at Dell’s weird version of FreeBSD: ThinOS**
About a week ago I reported on a case study from Dell and FreeBSD, about Dell’s ThinOS thin client operating system, which basically consists of a proprietary Dell GUI running on top of, at the moment, FreeBSD 12 (they’re moving to FreeBSD 14 for the next ThinOS release). Well, this got me interested – I’ve always been fascinated by thin clients, and a Dell/Wyse FreeBSD ‘distribution’ is j ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139840/first-and-possibly-only-look-at-dells-weird-version-of-freebsd-thinos/)
2024-05-31T13:59:46Z	**25 years of Krita**
Twenty-five years. A quarter century. That’s how long we’ve been working on Krita. Well, what would become Krita. It started out as KImageShop, but that name was nuked by a now long-dead German lawyer. Then it was renamed to Krayon, and that name was also nuked. Then it was renamed to Krita, and that name stuck. I only became part of Krita in 2003, when Krita was still part of KDE’s suite of productivity applications, KOffice, later renamed to Calligra… And I became maintainer of Krita in 2004,  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139842/25-years-of-krita/)
2024-05-31T14:27:40Z	**Servo sees another month full of improvements**
Servo, the Rust-based browser engine originally started by Mozilla but since spun off into an entity under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation, has published another monthly update. As almost every month, there’s been a lot of progress on rendering tech I don’t quite understand, and further improved support for various standards. Another major focus is the ongoing font system rework, which is yielding not only vastly improved support for f ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139850/servo-sees-another-month-full-of-improvements/)
2024-05-31T21:44:49Z	**Canonical releases Real-time Ubuntu 24.04 LTS**
Real-time Ubuntu 24.04 LTS integrates the PREEMPT\_RT patch on AMD64 and ARM64. As the de-facto Linux real-time implementation, PREEMPT\_RT increases predictability by modifying the existing kernel code. With time-bound responses for mission-critical latency requirements, Real-time Ubuntu 24.04 LTS provides deterministic processing to the most demanding workloads across industries, from manufacturing and automotive to the critical infrastru ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139852/canonical-releases-real-time-ubuntu-24-04-lts/)
2024-05-31T21:50:51Z	**Wayland adds OpenBSD support**
Wayland 1.23.0 has been released. This new release includes the usual bugfixes and protocol clarifications, a number of new features few of us will really understand because we lack the expertise, and most importantly of all: OpenBSD support. That’s it. That’s the news. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139854/wayland-adds-openbsd-support/)
2024-05-31T23:06:58Z	**Chrome begins limiting ad blockers**
If, for some reason, you’re still using Chrome or one of the browsers that put a little hat on Chrome and call it a different browser, the time you’re going to want to consider switching to the only real alternative – Firefox – is getting closer and closer. Yesterday, Google has announced that the end of Manifest V2 is now truly here. Starting on June 3 on the Chrome Beta, Dev and Canary channels, if users still have Manifest V2 extensions installed, some will s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139856/chrome-begins-limiting-ad-blockers/)
2024-06-02T14:35:29Z	**This message does not exist**
The act of discarding a message that does not exist must therefore do one of two things. It may cause the message contents to also cease to exist. Alternately, it might not affect the existence but only the accessibility of message contents. Perhaps they continue to exist, but discarding the message (which already did not exist) causes the copy operation to cease being invokable on the message contents (even though they do continue to exist). The story of existence has many m ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139859/this-message-does-not-exist/)
2024-06-03T14:05:55Z	**Tock: a secure embedded operating system for microcontrollers**
Tock is an embedded operating system designed for running multiple concurrent, mutually distrustful applications on Cortex-M and RISC-V based embedded platforms. Tock’s design centers around protection, both from potentially malicious applications and from device drivers. Tock uses two mechanisms to protect different components of the operating system. First, the kernel and device drivers are written in Rust,  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139861/tock-a-secure-embedded-operating-system-for-microcontrollers/)
2024-06-03T14:32:18Z	**AMD unveils Ryzen 9000 CPUs for desktop, Zen 5 takes center stage at Computex 2024**
In regards to performance, AMD is touting an average (geomean) IPC increase in desktop workloads for Zen 5 of 16%. And with the new desktop Ryzen chips’ turbo clockspeeds remaining largely identical to their Ryzen 7000 predecessors, this should translate into similar performance expectations for the new chips. The AMD Ryzen 9000 series will also launch on the AM5 socke ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139863/amd-unveils-ryzen-9000-cpus-for-desktop-zen-5-takes-center-stage-at-computex-2024/)
2024-06-03T20:25:24Z	**Libadwaita: splitting GTK and design language**
There’s no denying that not everyone is happy with the state of the GTK world, and I, too, have argued that GNOME’s massive presence and seeming unwillingness to cooperate with or even consider the existence of other GTK-based desktop environments is doing real, measurable harm to the likes of Xfce, Cinnamon, and others. A major root cause is a feeling that GTK is nothing but a vessel for GNOME, and that the project doesn’t really seem to ca ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139865/libadwaita-splitting-gtk-and-design-language/)
2024-06-03T20:31:56Z	**Redox replaces core applications with COSMIC applications**
Another month, another Redox progress report. The Rust-based operating system, headed by system76 engineer Jeremy Soller, has made a big move by replacing Redox’ Orbital file manager, text editor and terminal by their COSMIC counterparts, COSMIC Files, COSMIC Editor and COSMIC Terminal, in the default Redox installation. COSMIC is the Rust-based desktop environment system76 is currently developing for their Linux dis ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139868/redox-replaces-core-applications-with-cosmic-applications/)
2024-06-03T21:51:19Z	**Andreas Kling steps down from SerenityOS to focus entirely on the Ladybird browser**
We’ve got some possibly sad, possibly great news. Today, Andreas Kling, the amazing developer who started SerenityOS as a way to regain a sense or normalcy after completing his drug rehab program, has announced he’s stepping down as the ‘big dictator for life’ of the SerenityOS project, handing leadership over the maintainer group. The other half of the coin, however, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139870/andreas-kling-steps-down-from-serenityos-to-focus-entirely-on-the-ladybird-browser/)
2024-06-04T13:50:06Z	**A brief look at the 3DS cartridge protocol**
About a week ago, there has been a little addition to the 3dbrew wiki page about 3DS cartridges (carts) that outlines the technical details of how the 3DS cartridge controller and a 3DS cartridge talk to each other. I would like to take this opportunity to also include the 3DS itself in the conversation to illuminate which part of which device performs which step. I will then proceed to outline where I think the corresponding design decisions ori ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139872/a-brief-look-at-the-3ds-cartridge-protocol/)
2024-06-04T14:03:21Z	**Intel unveils Lunar Lake architecture, moves RAM on-die**
Hot on the heels of AMD, here’s Intel’s next-generation processor, this time for the laptop market. Overall, Lunar Lake represents their second generation of disaggregated SoC architecture for the mobile market, replacing the Meteor Lake architecture in the lower-end space. At this time, Intel has disclosed that it uses a 4P+4E (8 core) design, with hyper-threading/SMT disabled, so the total thread count supported by the  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139874/intel-unveils-lunar-lake-architecture-moves-ram-on-die/)
2024-06-04T15:20:54Z	**FreeBSD 14.1 released**
A new point release in the FreeBSD 14 series – the first one, in fact, not counting 14.0. FreeBSD 14.1 adds SIMD implementations of string and memory operations on amd64 in the C library to improve performance, improvements to the sound system, such as device hotplug support, and the latest versions of OpenZFS, clang/llvm, and OpenSSH. FreeBSD 14.0 users can just upgrade to FreeBSD 14.1, or you can do a fresh install, of course. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139876/freebsd-14-1-released/)
2024-06-05T14:52:49Z	**AMD drops Windows 10 support for new chipsets and processors, while Microsoft expands testing efforts for new Windows 10 features**
Remember when I said the honeymoon with AMD’s consumer-friendly chipset and socket support policy would eventually end? Well, while this is not exactly that, it will make a lot of people very unhappy. While AMD, as does any other company, was boastful about its product touting ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139879/amd-drops-windows-10-support-for-new-chipsets-and-processors-while-microsoft-expands-testing-efforts-for-new-windows-10-features/)
2024-06-05T21:39:12Z	**GNU Nano gains optional modern keybindings**
GNU Nano, by far my favourite text editor when using the command line, released version 8.0 recently – and by recently I mean a month ago – and in it, there’s a pretty interesting additional feature that should make using Nano a little bit more straightforward for those not used to its key combinations. Command-line option –modernbindings (-/) makes ^Q quit, ^X cut, ^C copy, ^V paste, ^Z undo, ^Y redo, ^O open a file, ^W write a file, ^R replace, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139884/gnu-nano-gains-optional-modern-keybindings/)
2024-06-05T23:03:00Z	**EU data protection board says ChatGPT still not meeting data accuracy standards**
OpenAI’s efforts to produce less factually false output from its ChatGPT chatbot are not enough to ensure full compliance with European Union data rules, a task force at the EU’s privacy watchdog said. “Although the measures taken in order to comply with the transparency principle are beneficial to avoid misinterpretation of the output of ChatGPT, they are not sufficient to ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139886/eu-data-protection-board-says-chatgpt-still-not-meeting-data-accuracy-standards/)
2024-06-06T13:13:44Z	**Windows Recall demands an extraordinary level of trust that Microsoft hasn’t earned**
The short version is this: In its current form, Recall takes screenshots and uses OCR to grab the information on your screen; it then writes the contents of windows plus records of different user interactions in a locally stored SQLite database to track your activity. Data is stored on a per-app basis, presumably to make it easier for Microsoft’s app-exclusion featur ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139892/windows-recall-demands-an-extraordinary-level-of-trust-that-microsoft-hasnt-earned/)
2024-06-06T13:35:48Z	**An overview of the Starlark language**
Starlark is a small programming language, designed as a simple dialect of Python and intended primarily for embedded use in applications. Some people might say it’s a bit like Lua with Python syntax, but I think there are many interesting bits to discuss. The language is now open-source and used in many other applications and companies. As I led the design and implementation of Starlark, I’d like to write a bit more about it. ↫ Laurent Le Brun I’m sure there ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139894/an-overview-of-the-starlark-language/)
2024-06-06T13:46:16Z	**They’re putting “AI” in your BIOS**
You know what could really use a dose of “AI”? Your BIOS. aiBIOS leverages an LLM to integrate AI capabilities into Insyde Software’s flagship firmware solution, InsydeH2O® UEFI BIOS. It provides the ability to interpret the PC user’s request, analyze their specific hardware, and parse through the LLM’s extensive knowledge base of BIOS and computer terminology to make the appropriate changes to the BIOS Setup. This breakthrough technology helps address a major hurdle  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139896/theyre-puting-ai-in-your-bios/)
2024-06-06T13:51:59Z	**A BSD person tries Alpine Linux**
I’ve barely scratched the surface, but there’s enough here for me to seriously consider a switch to it as my primary Linux distro for testing and servers. I love that htop(1) and lsof(1) only shows a small list of recognisable processes, that it uses OpenRC, that package management seems straight forward, and that it’s so simple to configure. I’ve wondered what a modern, functional “Occam’s Linux” would look like. This is it. ↫ Ruben Schade Alpine is very popular am ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139899/a-bsd-person-tries-alpine-linux-2/)
2024-06-06T14:42:35Z	**OSNews needs your help to stay alive**
As some of you will know, I recently started working on OSNews as my full-time job, and that means I sometimes need to be annoying and remind you all that I need your help in keeping the website going. Ad income has been going down the drain for years and years now, so your support is crucial in keeping OSNews online. We’ve been providing you with the latest technology news for over 25 years now, and I’d really like to keep things going for another 25 years. ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139901/osnews-needs-your-help-to-stay-alive/)
2024-06-07T14:45:30Z	**Microsoft blocks Windows 11 workaround that enabled local accounts**
Before PC users can enjoy everything Windows 11 has on tap, they must first enter an e-mail address that’s linked to a Microsoft account. If you don’t have one, you’ll be asked to create one before you can start setting it up. A frequently used trick to circumvent this block is a small but ingenious step. By entering a random e-mail address and password, which doesn’t exist and causes the link to fa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139903/microsoft-blocks-windows-11-workaround-that-enabled-local-accounts/)
2024-06-07T15:03:57Z	**Quick out-of-the-box BSD support for the Topton GM1**
I bought a Topton GM1 Industrial Mini PC for my HomeLab. It is aimed at running Slackware Linux but I wanted to have a quick look at how well BSD OSes support it out-of-the-box. ↫ Joel Carnat That’s really all there’s to this story. I just really, really love tiny industrial and office computers and thin clients, and every time I see another one for sale I really have to stop myself from buying one I have absolutely no use for.  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139905/quick-out-of-the-box-bsd-support-for-the-topton-gm1/)
2024-06-07T19:19:18Z	**Microsoft implements drastic changes to Recall after criticism**
It turns out that the storm of criticism Microsoft’s recently unveiled Recall feature has actually pushed Microsoft to change its mind and make some very significant changes to the feature. Today, after over a week of sustained criticism and worries, Redmond announced it’s going to implement Recall very differently. First and foremost, instead of Recall being enabled by default and only configurable after i ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139907/microsoft-implements-drastic-changes-to-recall-after-criticism/)
2024-06-08T15:46:28Z	**US agencies to probe AI dominance of Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI**
The US Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission reportedly plan investigations into whether Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI are snuffing out competition in artificial intelligence technology. The agencies struck a deal on how to divide up the investigations, The New York Times reported yesterday. Under this deal, the Justice Department will take the lead role in investigating Nvidia’s behavior wh ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139909/us-agencies-to-probe-ai-dominance-of-nvidia-microsoft-and-openai/)
2024-06-08T18:04:15Z	**Initial Fuchsia support upstreamed to Mesa 3D**
We haven’t been hearing much out of the Fuchsia team anymore after said team was hit hard by the Google layoffs, but we’ve got some news so my fancy Fuchsia database category doesn’t go entirely to waste. As Phoronix highlights, Fuchsia support is being upstreamed to Mesa 3D, indicating that no, Fuchsia is not entirely dead. This adds fairly standard support for Fuchsia in src/util. It’s being used in downstream forks of Lavapipe and it’s u ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139911/initial-fuchsia-support-upstreamed-to-mesa-3d/)
2024-06-09T22:28:25Z	**Adobe terms clarified: will never own your work, or use it for AI training**
Adobe Creative Cloud users opened their apps yesterday to find that they were forced to agree to new terms, which included some frightening-sounding language. It seemed to suggest Adobe was claiming rights over their work. Worse, there was no way to continue using the apps, to request support to clarify the terms, or even uninstall the apps, without agreeing to the terms. ↫ Ben Lovejoy ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139913/adobe-terms-clarified-will-never-own-your-work-or-use-it-for-ai-training/)
2024-06-09T22:44:32Z	**What is PID 0?**
The very short version: Unix PIDs do start at 0! PID 0 just isn’t shown to userspace through traditional APIs. PID 0 starts the kernel, then retires to a quiet life of helping a bit with process scheduling and power management. Also the entire web is mostly wrong about PID 0, because of one sentence on Wikipedia from 16 years ago. There’s a slightly longer short version right at the end, or you can stick with me for the extremely long middle bit! But surely you could just google what PID 0 is, right? W ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139915/what-is-pid-0/)
2024-06-10T14:07:19Z	**Reverse-engineering MenuetOS 64: primary boot loader**
Now that we have the MenuetOS 64 disk image file (M6414490.IMG), it is time to analyze! We will analyze the image file both statically and dynamically. Static analysis is reading and analyzing code without running it, whereas dynamic analysis is running the code and watching how it changes registers and memory during execution. Each analysis mode compliments the other; there are some things that can only be discerned through co ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139918/reverse-engineering-menuetos-64-primary-boot-loader/)
2024-06-10T14:36:11Z	**Void Linux on ZFS**
Last night, I ran through the ZFSBootMenu documentation guide for Void and followed it both on a VM and then on an external SATA HDD plugged through a USB case, taking some notes and getting a general idea of the process. The Void installer does not support ZFS out of the box, so the Void Handbook itself recommends the ZFSBootMenu documentation before its own (a manual chroot installation) when it comes to doing a ZFS-on-root install. This guide from ZFSBootMenu is what we’ll be following throug ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139920/void-linux-on-zfs/)
2024-06-10T20:25:22Z	**NetBSD 10 with disk encryption on UEFI, and NetBSD 10 on the Pinebook Pro**
NetBSD 10 was released recently, so a lot of people are experimenting with it and writing down their thoughts. I’ve got two of those for you today, to help you in case you, too, want to install NetBSD 10 and play around with, or just use, it. First, what if you want to install NetBSD 10 on a UEFI system, but with full disk encryption in case your device gets stolen? It turns out there a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139922/netbsd-10-with-disk-encryption-on-uefi-and-netbsd-10-on-the-pinebook-pro/)
2024-06-10T23:06:44Z	**Tuxedo showcases prototype Linux laptop with Snapdragon X Elite**
I’ve long been waiting for a powerful ARM laptop that can run Linux comfortably, and it seems that with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite SoC, that’s finally going to happen. We talked earlier about how for once, Qualcomm is taking Linux support for their new laptop-focused processors very seriously, and that promise and associated effort is paying dividend. Tuxedo, a popular Linux OEM from Germany, has a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139924/tuxedo-showcases-prototype-linux-laptop-with-snapdragon-x-elite/)
2024-06-11T19:22:01Z	**Apple WWDC 2024: the 13 biggest announcements**
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote has come to a close — and the company had a whole lot to share. We got our first look at the AI features coming to Apple’s devices and some major updates across the company’s operating systems. If you missed out on watching the keynote live, we’ve gathered all the biggest announcements that you can check out below. ↫ Emma Roth at The Verge Most of the stuff Apple announced aren’t particularly i ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139926/apple-wwdc-2024-the-13-biggest-announcements/)
2024-06-11T19:58:06Z	**Under pressure from Russian censors, Mozilla removes anti-censorship extensions**
A few days ago, I was pointed to a post on the Mozilla forums, in which developers of Firefox extensions designed to circumvent Russian censorship were surprised to find that their extensions were suddenly no longer available within Russia. The extension developers and other users in the thread were obviously not amused, and since they had received no warning or any other fo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139928/under-pressure-from-russian-censors-mozilla-removes-anti-censorship-extensions/)
2024-06-12T21:09:37Z	**Microsoft pulls release preview build of Windows 11 24H2 after Recall controversy**
Microsoft recently announced some big changes to the Recall feature in Windows, and now it’s pulled the Release Preview version which contained Recall entirely. It’s likely not a coincidence that Microsoft also quietly pulled the build of the Windows 11 24H2 update that it had been testing in its Release Preview channel for Windows Insiders. It’s not unheard of for Micr ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139933/microsoft-pulls-release-preview-build-of-windows-11-24h2-after-recall-controversy/)
2024-06-12T21:12:35Z	**OpenBSD extreme privacy setup**
This is an attempt to turn OpenBSD into a Whonix or Tails alternative, although if you really need that level of privacy, use a system from this list and not the present guide. It is easy to spot OpenBSD using network fingerprinting, this can not be defeated, you can not hide the fact you use OpenBSD to network operators. I did this guide as a challenge for fun, but I also know some users have a use for this level of privacy. ↫ Solène Rapenne Written by OpenBSD developer  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139935/openbsd-extreme-privacy-setup/)
2024-06-12T21:50:15Z	**Linus Torvalds: extensible scheduler “sched_ext” in Linux 6.11**
The extensible scheduler “sched\_ext” code has proven quite versatile for opening up better Linux gaming performance, more quickly prototyping new scheduler changes, Ubuntu/Canonical has been evaluating it for pursuing a more micro-kernel like design, and many other interesting approaches with it. Yet it’s remained out of tree but that is now changing with the upcoming Linux 6.11 cycle. Linus Torvalds as the b ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139937/linus-torvalds-extensible-scheduler-sched_ext-in-linux-6-11/)
2024-06-12T22:56:40Z	**Arm, Qualcomm legal battle seen disrupting AI-powered PC wave**
The new Windows on ARM Copilot+ PC thing, running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and Pro chips, isn’t even out the door yet, and we’re already dealing with legal proceedings. But the main conversation among conference attendees was over how a contract dispute between Arm Holdings and Qualcomm, which work together to make the chips powering these new laptops, could abruptly halt the shipment of new PCs that i ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139939/arm-qualcomm-legal-battle-seen-disrupting-ai-powered-pc-wave/)
2024-06-12T23:23:54Z	**Chrome OS switching to the Android Linux kernel and related Android subsystems**
Surprisingly quietly, in the middle of Apple’s WWDC, Google’s ChromeOS team has made a rather massive announcement that seems to be staying a bit under the radar. Google is announcing today that it is replacing many of ChromeOS’ current relatively standard Linux-based subsystems with the comparable subsystems from Android. To continue rolling out new Google AI features to use ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139941/chrome-os-switching-to-the-android-linux-kernel-and-related-android-subsystems/)
2024-06-13T17:00:18Z	**Exclusive: Mozilla reverses course, re-lists extensions it removed in Russia**
Two days ago, I broke the news that Mozilla removed several Firefox extensions from the add-on store in Russia, after pressure from Russian censors. Mozilla provided me with an official statement, which seemed to highlight that the decision was not final, and it seems I was right – today, probably helped by the outcry our story caused, Mozilla has announced it’s reversing the decis ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139943/exclusive-mozilla-reverses-course-re-lists-extensions-it-removed-in-russia/)
2024-06-13T22:30:08Z	**The Qualcomm Snapdragon X architecture deep dive: getting to know Oryon and Adreno X1**
In the last 8 months Qualcomm has made a lot of interesting claims for their high-performance Windows-on-Arm SoC – many of which will be put to the test in the coming weeks. But beyond all the performance claims and bluster amidst what is shaping up to be a highly competitive environment for PC CPUs, there’s an even more fundamental question about the Snapdragon  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139946/the-qualcomm-snapdragon-x-architecture-deep-dive-getting-to-know-oryon-and-adreno-x1/)
2024-06-13T22:45:16Z	**Canonical and DeepComputing announce new RISC-V laptop shipping with Ubuntu**
Speaking of PCs that don’t use x86 chips, Canonical and DeepComputing today announced a new RISC-V laptop running Ubuntu, available for pre-order in a few days. It’s the successor to the DC-ROMA, which shipped last year. Adding to a long list of firsts, the new DC-ROMA laptop II is the first to feature SpacemiT’s SoC K1 – with its 8-cores RISC-V CPU running at up to 2.0GHz with 16G ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139948/canonical-and-deepcomputing-announce-new-risc-v-laptop-shipping-with-ubuntu/)
2024-06-14T17:07:08Z	**Microsoft delays Recall feature**
After initially announcing it was going to change its Recall feature and then pulling the preview Windows release containing the feature, Microsoft has now given in almost entirely and is delaying Recall altogether. Instead of shipping it on every new Copilot+ PC, they’re going to release it as an optional feature for Windows Insiders. Today, we are communicating an additional update on the Recall (preview) feature for Copilot+ PCs. Recall will now shift from a previe ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139950/microsoft-delays-recall-feature/)
2024-06-14T21:18:31Z	**Driving forward in Android drivers**
Google’s own Project Zero security research effort, which often finds and publishes vulnerabilities in both other companies’ and its own products, set its sights on Android once more, this time focusing on third-party kernel drivers. Android’s open-source ecosystem has led to an incredible diversity of manufacturers and vendors developing software that runs on a broad variety of hardware. This hardware requires supporting drivers, meaning that many different cod ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139952/driving-forward-in-android-drivers/)
2024-06-14T21:21:38Z	**Microsoft chose profit over security and left US government vulnerable to Russian hack, whistleblower says**
Former employee says software giant dismissed his warnings about a critical flaw because it feared losing government business. Russian hackers later used the weakness to breach the National Nuclear Security Administration, among others. ↫ Renee Dudley at ProPublica In light of Recall, a very dangerous game. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139954/microsoft-chose-profit-over-security-and-left-us-government-vulnerable-to-russian-hack-whistleblower-says/)
2024-06-14T22:12:59Z	**Apple set to be first big yech group to face charges under EU digital law**
Brussels is set to charge Apple over allegedly stifling competition on its mobile app store, the first time EU regulators have used new digital rules to target a Big Tech group. The European Commission has determined that the iPhone maker is not complying with obligations to allow app developers to “steer” users to offers outside its App Store without imposing fees on them, according t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139956/apple-set-to-be-first-big-yech-group-to-face-charges-under-eu-digital-law/)
2024-06-14T23:08:01Z	**Can you blow a PC speaker with a Linux kernel module?**
Sometimes you come across a story that’s equally weird and delightful, and this is definitely one of them. Oleksandr Natalenko posted a link on Mastodon to a curious email sent to the Linux Kernel Mailing List, which apparently gets sent to the LKML every single year. The message is very straightforward. Is it possible to write a kernel module which, when loaded, will blow the PC speaker? ↫ R.F. Burns on the LKML Since this g ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139958/can-you-blow-a-pc-speaker-with-a-linux-kernel-module/)
2024-06-16T14:00:26Z	**A brief history of Mac enclaves and exclaves**
Howard Oakley has written an interesting history of secure enclaves on the Mac, and when he touches upon “exclaves”, a new concept that doesn’t have a proper term yet, he mentions something interesting. While an enclave is a territory entirely surrounded by the territory of another state, an exclave is an isolated fragment of a state that exists separately from the main part of that state. Although exclave isn’t a term normally used in comput ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139966/a-brief-history-of-mac-enclaves-and-exclaves/)
2024-06-16T14:05:37Z	**Doom for SNES full source code released by former Sculptured Software employees**
The complete source code for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) version of Doom has been released on archive.org. Although some of the code was partially released a few years ago, this is the first time the full source code has been made publicly available. ↫ Shaun James at GBAtemp The code was very close to being lost forever, down to a corrupted disk that had  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139968/doom-for-snes-full-source-code-released-by-former-sculptured-software-employees/)
2024-06-16T14:21:17Z	**StreamOS source code republished 15 years later**
Way, way, way back in 2009, we reported on a small hobby operating system called StreamOS – version 0.21-RC1 had just been released that day. StreamOS was a 32-bit operating system written in Object Pascal using the Free Pascal Compiler, running on top of FreeDOS. It turns out that its creator, Oleksandr Natalenko (yes, the same person), recovered the old code, and republished it on Codeberg for posterity. It’s not a complete history, r ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139970/streamos-source-code-republished-15-years-later/)
2024-06-17T18:50:38Z	**Mobile Comms via Satellite for Backcountry and Maritime Safety**
Stranded on a desert island; lost in the forest; stuck in the snow; injured and unable to get back to civilization. Human beings have used their ingenuity for millennia to try to signal for rescue. there’s been a progression of technological innovations: smoke signals, mirrors, a loud whistle, a portable radio, a mobile phone. With each invention, it’s been possible to venture a little farther from populate ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139973/mobile-comms-via-satellite-for-backcountry-and-maritime-safety/)
2024-06-17T19:28:12Z	**Microsoft starts beating the Windows 11 PR drum in face of reluctant Windows 10 users**
I have a feeling Microsoft is really starting to feel some pressure about its plans to abandon Windows 10 next year. Data shows that 70% of Windows users are still using Windows 10, and this percentage has proven to be remarkably resilient, making it very likely that hundreds of millions of Windows users will be out of regular, mainstream support and security pa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139964/microsoft-starts-beating-the-windows-11-pr-drum-in-face-of-reluctant-windows-10-users/)
2024-06-17T21:58:07Z	**Vinix now runs Solitaire**
Way, way back in the cold and bleak days of 2021, I mentioned Vinix on OSNews, an operating system written in the V programming language. A few days ago, over on Mastodon, the official account for the V programming language sent out a screenshot showing Solitaite running on Vinix, showing off what the experimental operating system can do. The project doesn’t seem to really publish any changelogs or release notes, so it’s difficult to figure out what, exactly, is going on at the mom ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139985/vinix-now-runs-solitaire/)
2024-06-17T21:59:33Z	**Cinnamon 6.2 released**
Cinnamon, the popular GTK desktop environment developed by the Linux Mint project, pushed out Cinnamon 6.2 today, which will serve as the default desktop for Linux Mint 22. It’s a relatively minor release, but it does contain a major new feature which is actually quite welcome: a new GTK frontend for GNOME Online Accounts, part of the XApp project. This makes it possible to use the excellent GNOME Online Accounts framework, without having to resort to a GNOME application – and will come  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139983/cinnamon-6-2-released/)
2024-06-17T21:59:07Z	**IceWM 3.6.0 released**
Less than a month after 3.5.0, IceWM is already shipping version 3.6.0. Once again not a major, earth-shattering release, it does contain at least one really cool feature that I think it pretty nifty: if you double-click on a window border, it will maximise just that side of the window. Pretty neat. For the rest, it’s small changes and bug fixes for this venerable window manager. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139979/icewm-3-6-0-released/)
2024-06-17T21:58:36Z	**Meta halts plans to train machine learning on Facebook, Instagram posts in EU**
It seems that if you want to steer clear from having Facebook use your Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. data for machine learning training, you might want to consider moving to the European Union. Meta has apparently paused plans to process mounds of user data to bring new AI experiences to Europe. The decision comes after data regulators rebuffed the tech giant’s claims that ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139981/meta-halts-plans-to-train-machine-learning-on-facebook-instagram-posts-in-eu/)
2024-06-18T18:48:38Z	**Adobe’s hidden cancellation fee is unlawful, FTC suit says**
To lock subscribers into recurring monthly payments, Adobe would typically pre-select by default its most popular “annual paid monthly” plan, the FTC alleged. That subscription option locked users into an annual plan despite paying month to month. If they canceled after a two-week period, they’d owe Adobe an early termination fee (ETF) that costs 50 percent of their remaining annual subscription. The “material terms” ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139989/adobes-hidden-cancellation-fee-is-unlawful-ftc-suit-says/)
2024-06-18T19:02:54Z	**The history of DR-DOS**
I’ve always found the world of DOS versions and variants to be confusing, since most of it took place when I was very young (I’m from 1984) so I wasn’t paying much attention to computing quite yet, other than playing DOS games. One of the variants of DOS I never quite understood where it was from until much, much later, was DR-DOS. This this day, I pronounce this as “Doctor DOS”. If you’re also a little unclear on what, exactly, DR-DOS was, Bradford Morgan White has an excellent article  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139991/the-history-of-dr-dos/)
2024-06-18T20:53:30Z	**KDE Plasma 6.1 released**
After the very successful release of KDE Plasma 6.0, which moved the entire desktop environment and most of its applications over to Qt 6, fixed a whole slow of bugs, and streamlined the entire KDE desktop and its applications, it’s now time for KDE Plasma 6.1, where we’re going to see a much stronger focus on new features. While it’s merely a point release, it’s still a big one. The tentpole new feature of Plasma 6.1 is access to remote Plasma desktops. You can go into Settings and  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139993/kde-plasma-6-1-released/)
2024-06-18T21:53:03Z	**Update on Newton, the Wayland-native accessibility project**
There’s incredibly good news for people who use accessibility tools on Linux, but who were facing serious, gamebreaking problems when trying to use Wayland. Matt Campbell, of the GNOME accessibility team, has been hard at work on an entirely new accessibility architecture for modern free desktops, and he’s got some impressive results to show for it already. I’ve now implemented enough of the new architecture that Or ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139996/update-on-newton-the-wayland-native-accessibility-project/)
2024-06-18T22:13:18Z	**DeepComputing announces third-party RISC-V mainboard for the Framework 13 laptop**
Framework, the company making modular, upgradeable, and repairable laptops, and DeepComputing, the same company that’s making the DC ROMA II RISC-V laptop we talked about last week, have announced something incredibly cool: a brand new RISC-V mainboard that fits right into existing Framework 13 laptops. Sporting a RISC-V StarFive JH7110 SoC, this groundbreaking Mainboard  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140001/deepcomputing-announces-third-party-risc-v-mainboard-for-the-framework-13-laptop/)
2024-06-19T22:12:17Z	**The X Windowing System turns 40 today**
Today just so happens to be the 40th birthday of X, the venerable windowing system that’s on its way out, at least in the Linux world. From the original announcement by Robert W. Scheifler: I’ve spent the last couple weeks writing a window system for the VS100. I stole a fair amount of code from W, surrounded it with an asynchronous rather than a synchronous interface, and called it X. Overall performance appears to be about twice that of W. The code seems ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140008/the-x-windowing-system-turns-40-today/)
2024-06-19T23:16:20Z	**The ExectOS operating system**
ExectOS is a preemptive, reentrant multitasking operating system that implements the XT architecture which derives from NT architecture. It is modular, and consists of two main layers: microkernel and user modes. Its’ kernel mode has full access to the hardware and system resources and runs code in a protected memory area. It consists of executive services, which is itself made up on many modules that do specific tasks, a kernel and drivers. Unlike the NT, system does not f ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140011/the-exectos-operating-system/)
2024-06-20T21:53:19Z	**Is 2024 the year of Windows on the desktop?**
It should be no secret to anyone reading OSNews that I’m not exactly a fan of Windows. While I grew up using MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, and Windows 9x, the move to Windows XP was a sour one for me, and ever since I’ve vastly preferred first BeOS, and then Linux. When, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Wine community and Valve gaming on Linux became a boring, it-just-works affair, I said goodbye to my final gaming-only Windows installation about fo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/139987/is-2024-the-year-of-windows-on-the-desktop/)
2024-06-21T18:33:34Z	**Apple’s won’t release its new AI features in the EU because they don’t comply with EU privacy and competition laws**
Apple has announced it’s not shipping three of its tentpole new features, announced during WWDC, in the European Union: Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring, and SharePlay Screen Sharing. Ever since the introduction of especially Apple Intelligence, the company has been in hot water over the sourcing of its  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140034/apples-wont-release-its-new-ai-features-in-the-eu-because-they-dont-comply-with-eu-privacy-and-competition-laws/)
2024-06-21T22:43:09Z	**EasyOS: an experimental Linux distribution**
There’s really a Linux distribution for everyone, it seems. EasyOS sounds like it’s going to be some Debian derivative with a theme or something, but it’s truly something different – in fact, it has such a unique philosophy and approach to everything I barely know where to even start. Everything in EasyOS runs in containers, in the distribution’s own custom container format, even entire desktop environments, and containers are configured entirely  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140037/easyos-an-experimental-linux-distribution/)
2024-06-23T05:58:03Z	**Andrew S. Tanenbaum receives ACM Software System Award**
Andrew S. Tanenbaum, professor emeritus of Computer Science at VU Amsterdam, receives the ACM Software System Award for MINIX, which influenced the teaching of Operating Systems principles to multiple generations of students and contributed to the design of widely used operating systems, including Linux. Tanenbaum created MINIX 1.0 in 1987 to accompany his textbook, Operating Systems: Design and Implementation. MINIX was a  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140041/andrew-s-tanenbaum-receives-acm-software-system-award/)
2024-06-23T21:17:50Z	**In Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, what is a “grabber”?**
Windows 3.0 Enhanced Mode introduced the ability to run MS-DOS programs in a virtual machine. This by itself was already quite an achievement, but it didn’t stop there. It also let you put the MS-DOS session in a window, and run it on the screen along with your other Windows programs. This was crazy. Here’s how it worked. ↫ Raymond Chen When Raymond Chen speaks, we all shut up, listen, and enjoy. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140043/in-windows-3-1-and-windows-95-what-is-a-grabber/)
2024-06-23T22:34:06Z	**Mozilla acquires ad analytics company, for some reason**
One of my biggest concerns regarding the state of the web isn’t ads (easily blocked) or machine learning (the legal system isn’t going to be kind to that), but the possible demise of Firefox. I’ve long been worried that with the seemingly never-ending downward marketshare spiral Firefox is in – it’s at like 3% now on desktop, even less on mobile – Mozilla’s pretty much sole source of income will eventually pull the plug, le ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140047/mozilla-acquires-ad-analytics-company-for-some-reason/)
2024-06-24T20:39:11Z	**iOS and iPadOS 18 can format external drives**
I can’t believe this is considered something I need to write about, but it’s still a very welcome new feature that surprisingly has taken this long to become available: iOS and iPadOS 18 now allow you to format external storage devices. Last year when I began testing iPadOS 17 betas, I noticed the addition of options for renaming and erasing external drives in the Files app. I watched these options over the course of the beta cycle for iPadOS ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140051/ios-and-ipados-18-can-format-external-drives/)
2024-06-24T21:10:00Z	**Apple first company to be found violating DMA**
Today, the European Commission has informed Apple of its preliminary view that its App Store rules are in breach of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), as they prevent app developers from freely steering consumers to alternative channels for offers and content. In addition, the Commission opened a new non-compliance procedure against Apple over concerns that its new contractual requirements for third-party app developers and app stores, includin ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140053/apple-first-company-to-be-found-violating-dma/)
2024-06-24T22:58:38Z	**Windows 11 is now automatically enabling OneDrive folder backup without asking permission**
Microsoft has made OneDrive slightly more annoying for Windows 11 users. Quietly and without any announcement, the company changed Windows 11’s initial setup so that it could turn on the automatic folder backup without asking for it. Now, those setting up a new Windows computer the way Microsoft wants them to (in other words, connected to the internet an ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140055/windows-11-is-now-automatically-enabling-onedrive-folder-backup-without-asking-permission/)
2024-06-25T08:16:48Z	**Microsoft puts repair front and center**
It seems the success of the Framework laptops, as well the community’s relentless focus on demanding repairable devices and he ensuing legislation, are starting to have an impact. It wasn’t that long ago that Microsoft’s Surface devices were effectively impossible to repair, but with the brand new Snapdragon X Elite and Pro devices, the company has made an impressive U-turn, according to iFixIt. Both the new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro are exceptional ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140059/microsoft-puts-repair-front-and-center/)
2024-06-25T08:35:56Z	**Ubuntu 24.10 will default NVIDIA users to Wayland**
The transition to Wayland is nearing completion for most desktop Linux users. The most popular desktop Linux distribution in the world, Ubuntu, has made the call and is switching its NVIDIA users over to Wayland by default in the upcoming release of Ubuntu 24.10. The proprietary NVIDIA graphics driver has been the hold-out on Ubuntu in sticking to the GNOME X.Org session out-of-the-box rather than Wayland as has been the default for ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140061/ubuntu-24-10-will-default-nvidia-users-to-wayland/)
2024-06-25T15:23:53Z	**Microsoft charged with EU antitrust violations for bundling Teams**
The European Commission has informed Microsoft of its preliminary view that Microsoft has breached EU antitrust rules by tying its communication and collaboration product Teams to its popular productivity applications included in its suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365. ↫ European Commission press release Chalk this one up in the unsurprising column, too. Teams has infested Office, and  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140063/microsoft-charged-with-eu-antitrust-violations-for-bundling-teams/)
2024-06-25T15:45:21Z	**Looking ahead to 30 years of FreeDOS**
In a few days, 29 June, FreeDOS will turn 30. This happens to make it one of the oldest, continuously active open source projects in the world, originally created because Jim Hall had heard Microsoft was going to kill DOS when the upcoming Windows 95 was going to be released. After seeing the excitement around Linux, he decided it an open source DOS would be a valuable time investment. I still used DOS, and I didn’t want to stop using DOS. And I looked at wh ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140067/looking-ahead-to-30-years-of-freedos/)
2024-06-25T22:07:58Z	**Of Psion and Symbian**
As cool as the organizer was, it was extremely limited in pretty much every way. Psion had got many things right in the first go, as reviewers were quick to admit, and that made iterating on the design somewhat easy. The Organiser II CM released in 1986 was built on the Hitachi HD6303X (Motorola 6803) clocked at 920kHz with 8K RAM and 32K ROM. The screen was a much improved dot matrix LCD with two lines of sixteen characters. This version also shipped with a little piezo beeper built in, a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140070/of-psion-and-symbian/)
2024-06-26T15:53:37Z	**Mozilla integrating AI chatbots into Firefox**
Mozilla has announced it’s adding easy access to tool like ChatGPT, Gemini, and so to Firefox. Whether it’s a local or a cloud-based model, if you want to use AI, we think you should have the freedom to use (or not use) the tools that best suit your needs. With that in mind, this week, we will launch an opt-in experiment offering access to preferred AI services in Nightly for improved productivity as you browse. Instead of juggling between ta ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140074/mozilla-integrating-ai-chatbots-into-firefox/)
2024-06-27T19:52:16Z	**Fixing KWin’s performance on old hardware**
KWin had a very long standing bug report about bad performance of the Wayland session on older Intel integrated graphics. There have been many investigations into what’s causing this, with a lot of more specific performance issues being found and fixed, but none of them managed to fully fix the issue… until now. ↫ Xaver Hugl An excellent deep dive into a very annoying problem KWin on Wayland running on older Intel hardware was facing. It turns out t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140076/fixing-kwins-performance-on-old-hardware/)
2024-06-27T22:59:34Z	**Windows 10 will be covered by 0patch, a third-party paid patching service**
So I learned something new today: there are companies that provide security patches for Windows that aren’t Microsoft. I never even considered this could be a thing, but it turns out that a paid service called 0patch seems to have been around for a long time, and the consensus seems to be that not only can it be trusted, it also sometimes provides patches sooner than Microsoft does. Tod ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140078/windows-10-will-be-covered-by-0patch-a-third-party-paid-patching-service/)
2024-06-28T17:14:43Z	**It’s not unusual to port the Linux Vector Packet Processor (VPP) to FreeBSD**
The Vector Packet Processor (VPP) is a framework for moving packets around at high rates. Its core concept is handling packets in groups known as “vectors,” which allows for the native use of vector processor instructions for packet classification and processing in different CPU architectures — currently amd64 and arm64. VPP can process packets at incredibly high rates and competes wi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140084/its-not-unusual-to-port-the-linux-vector-packet-processor-vpp-to-freebsd/)
2024-06-28T22:07:04Z	**Apple II graphics: more than you wanted to know**
The Apple ][ is one of the most iconic vintage computers of all time. But since Wozniak’s monster lasted all the way until 1993 (1995 if you could the IIe card, which I won’t count until I get one), it can be easy to forget that in 1977, it was a video extravaganza. The competitors– even much bigger and established companies like Commodore and Tandy– generally only had text modes, let alone pixel-addressable graphics, and they certainly  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140086/apple-ii-graphics-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/)
2024-06-28T22:26:58Z	**Microsoft: all content on the web is fair use**
When someone tells you who they are, believe them. Microsoft’s AI chief Mustafa Suleyman: With respect to content that is already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the ’90s has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been freeware, if you like. That’s been the understanding. ↫ Mustafa Suleyman This is absolute bullshit from the first word to the very last. None of t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140088/microsoft-all-content-on-the-web-is-fair-use/)
2024-06-29T00:08:56Z	**If your immutable Linux desktop uses Flatpak, I’m going to have a bad time**
The openSUSE project recently announced the second release candidate (RC2) of its Aeon Desktop, formerly known as MicroOS Desktop GNOME. Aside from the new coat of naming paint, Aeon breaks ground in a few other ways by dabbling with technologies not found in other openSUSE releases. The goal for Aeon is to provide automated system updates using snapshots that can be applied atomically ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140090/if-your-immutable-linux-desktop-uses-flatpak-im-going-to-have-a-bad-time/)
2024-06-30T21:27:25Z	**Neo Geo architecture: a practical analysis**
Straight from the arcade world, the Neo Geo was, without a doubt, the most expensive hardware of the 4th generation. This begs the question: how capable was it and how did it compare with the rest? In this entry, we’ll take a look at the result of one company (SNK) setting budget restrictions aside and shipping a product meant to please both arcade owners and rich households. ↫ Rodrigo Copetti Rich households, indeed. Back in the ’90s, when Ninten ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140104/neo-geo-architecture-a-practical-analysis/)
2024-06-30T21:39:15Z	**Vivaldi takes firm stance against AI, will not include it in its browser**
The web browser Vivaldi is taking a firm stance against including machine learning tools to its browser. So, as we have seen, LLMs are essentially confident-sounding lying machines with a penchant to occasionally disclose private data or plagiarise existing work. While they do this, they also use vast amounts of energy and are happy using all the GPUs you can throw at them which is a prob ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140107/vivaldi-takes-firm-stance-against-ai-will-not-include-it-in-its-browser/)
2024-07-01T19:22:20Z	**Booting Linux off of Google Drive**
On the brink of insanity, my tattered mind unable to comprehend the twisted interplay of millennia of arcane programmer-time and the ragged screech of madness, I reached into the Mass and steeled myself to the ground lest I be pulled in, and found my magnum opus. Booting Linux off of a Google Drive root. ↫ Ersei That’s not… You shouldn’t… Why would… ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140111/booting-linux-off-of-google-drive/)
2024-07-01T19:39:53Z	**Below MI – IBM i for hackers**
In this writeup we provide a summary of technical information crucial to evaulate the exploitability and impact of memory safety problems in IBM i programs. As administrators and developers of IBM i aren’t supposed to work “below MI level” this kind of information is not officially documented by the vendor. The information presented here is thus based on already published reverse engineering results, and our own findings uncovered using IBM’s System Sertice Tools (SST) and th ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140117/below-mi-ibm-i-for-hackers/)
2024-07-01T19:57:25Z	**Ladybird browser goes serious: GitHub billionaire co-founder now involved**
Well, it seems we’ve got a better understanding now of why Andreas Kling decided to leave the SerenityOS project to focus entirely on Ladybird, the web browser that grew out of his hobby operating system. They’ve got some big plans for where to take Ladybird, and I’m saying “they” because it’s being backed by a big name. They’ve set up a fancy new website for the project, which makes it ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140120/ladybird-browser-goes-serious-github-billionaire-co-founder-now-involved/)
2024-07-02T18:28:20Z	**European Commission shoots down Facebook’s “pay or consent” model**
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act is the gift that keeps on giving. This time, it’s Facebook’s turn to be slapped on the fingers with a ruler – a metric ruler, of course – because of its malicious compliance with the DMA. Today, the Commission has informed Meta of its preliminary findings that its “pay or consent” advertising model fails to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In the Commiss ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140126/european-commission-shoots-down-facebooks-pay-or-consent-model/)
2024-07-02T23:43:07Z	**The history of Alt+number sequences, and why Alt+9731 sometimes gives you a heart and sometimes a snowman**
Once upon a time, the IBM PC was released. In the IBM PC BIOS, you could enter characters that weren’t present on the keyboard by holding the Alt key and typing the decimal value on the numeric keypad. For example, you could enter ñ by holding Alt and typing Numpad1 Numpad6 Numpad4, then releasing the Alt key. ↫ Raymond Chen  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140128/the-history-of-altnumber-sequences-and-why-alt9731-sometimes-gives-you-a-heart-and-sometimes-a-snowman/)
2024-07-03T08:02:06Z	**R9OS: Plan 9 in Rust**
R9 is a work-in-progress effort to build a Plan 9 kernel to Rust. It was started a couple years back by the maintainers of the Harvey OS distribution of Plan 9, who threw in the towel after “loss of traction”. R9 is a reimplementation of the plan9 kernel in Rust. It is not only inspired by but in many ways derived from the original Plan 9 source code. ↫ R9OS GitHub page For now, the project is obviously mostly focused on running in virtual machines, specifically Qemu, in which it can be run ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140049/r9os-plan-9-in-rust/)
2024-07-03T21:47:00Z	**An unexpected journey into Microsoft Defender’s signature world**
Microsoft Defender is the endpoint security solution preinstalled on every Windows machine since Windows 7. It’s a fairly complex piece of software, addressing both EDR and EPP use cases. As such, Microsoft markets two different products. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud based endpoint security solution that combines sensor capabilities with the advantages of a cloud processing. Microsoft Defende ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140135/an-unexpected-journey-into-microsoft-defenders-signature-world/)
2024-07-03T22:15:43Z	**How dot matrix printers created text**
The impact printer was a mainstay of the early desktop computing era. Also called “dot matrix printers,” these printers could print low-resolution yet very readable text on a page, and do so quickly and at a low price point. But these printers are a relic of the past; in 2024, you might find them printing invoices or shipping labels, although more frequently these use cases have been replaced by other types of printers such as thermal printers and laser prin ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140137/how-dot-matrix-printers-created-text/)
2024-07-03T22:27:08Z	**Redox secures more funding deals, gives UI small makeover, and more**
Another month, another report from the Redox team. The Rust-based operating system saw another active month, including getting a whole bunch of new funding deals for specific features, such as adding UNIX-style signals to Redox, as well as the further development of Termion, a Redox project that is “a pure Rust, bindless library for low-level handling, manipulating and reading information about term ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140139/redox-secures-more-funding-deals-gives-ui-small-makeover-and-more/)
2024-07-04T16:07:06Z	**Some sanity for C and C++ development on Windows**
The article’s from 2021, but I think it’s still worth discussing. A hard reality of C and C++ software development on Windows is that there has never been a good, native C or C++ standard library implementation for the platform. A standard library should abstract over the underlying host facilities in order to ease portable software development. On Windows, C and C++ is so poorly hooked up to operating system interfaces that most portab ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140142/some-sanity-for-c-and-c-development-on-windows/)
2024-07-04T19:50:49Z	**Cloudflare lets customers block AI bots, scrapers and crawlers with a single click**
It seems the dislike for machine learning runs deep. In a blog post, Cloudflare has announced that blocking machine learning scrapers is so popular, they decided to just add a feature to the Cloudflare dashboard that will block all machine learning scrapers with a single click. We hear clearly that customers don’t want AI bots visiting their websites, and especially th ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140146/cloudflare-lets-customers-block-ai-bots-scrapers-and-crawlers-with-a-single-click/)
2024-07-04T22:41:57Z	**David Rosenthal on the X Windowsing System’s 40th birthday**
David Rosenthal, one of the primary contributors to the X Windowing System, has published an awesome blog post about the recent 40 year anniversary of X, full of details about the early days of X development, as well as the limitations they had to deal with, the choices they had to make, and the environment in which they were constrained. Once at Sun I realized that it was more important for the company that the Uni ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140149/david-rosenthal-on-the-x-windowsing-systems-40th-birthday/)
2024-07-05T14:13:58Z	**Moving to an RTOS on the RP2040**
I’ve been working on a bunch of small projects involving microcontrollers. Currently a lot of them are based around the Raspberry Pi Pico boards because I like the development experience of those a lot. They have a decent SDK and cheap hardware to get started and the debugger works with gdb/openocd so it just integrates in all IDEs that support that. One of my current projects is making a fancy hardware controller for a bunch of video equipment I use. The main things  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140153/moving-to-an-rtos-on-the-rp2040/)
2024-07-05T21:02:56Z	**Psion OPL: when we owned our devices**
We talked about Psion last week, and we’re talking about Psion again this week. This time, Kian Ryan highlights a very important capability of Psion’s devices, a capability that’s entirely absent from today’s mobile devices: a built-in IDE and dedicated programming language so you can write code and build applications, including ones with a graphical user interface, right on the device. All Psion devices could run OPL, either preinstalled on the device or via ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140155/psion-opl-when-we-owned-our-devices/)
2024-07-05T21:19:28Z	**Apple bows to Russian censorship once more, removes VPN apps from Russian App Store**
A few weeks ago, I broke the news that Mozilla had removed several anti-censorship Firefox extensions from its store in Russia, and a few days later I also broke the news they reversed course on their decision and reinstated the extensions. Perhaps not worthy of a beauty prize, as a Dutch saying goes, but at least the turnaround time was short, and they did the right ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140159/apple-bows-to-russian-censorship-once-more-removes-vpn-apps-from-russian-app-store/)
2024-07-05T22:12:25Z	**Google is bringing Fuchsia OS to Android devices, but not in the way you’d think**
To evolve Fuchsia beyond smart home devices, Google has been working on projects such as Starnix to run unmodified Linux binaries on Fuchsia devices. In addition, since late April of this year, Google has been working on a new project called “microfuchsia” that aims to make Fuchsia bootable on existing devices via virtualization. Microfuchsia, according to Google, is a Fuch ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140162/google-is-bringing-fuchsia-os-to-android-devices-but-not-in-the-way-youd-think/)
2024-07-06T19:33:34Z	**Breaking: comment editing is back**
I’ve just confirmed with, well, myself, that comment editing on OSNews finally works again. We’re finally free. Our trying times are behind us, and we can begin to rebuild. Stay safe out there, and be kind to each other. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140164/breaking-comment-editing-is-back/)
2024-07-06T20:49:01Z	**Android 15 could include a desktop mode — but what for?**
If there was ever a “will they, won’t they?” love story in mobile computing, it’s definitely Google’s on and off again relationship with Android’s desktop mode. There have been countless hints, efforts, and code pertaining to the mythical desktop mode for Android, but so far, Google has never flipped the switch and made it available. It’s 2024, Android 15 development is in full swing, and it seems Google and Android’s deskt ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140167/android-15-could-include-a-desktop-mode-but-what-for/)
2024-07-08T11:53:33Z	**A brief summary of click-to-raise and drag-and-drop interaction on X11 and Wayland**
The goal is to be able to drag an icon from a background window without immediately raising that window and obscuring the drop target window when using the click-to-focus mode. This is a barebones description of what needs to happen. It assumes familiarity with code, protocols, etc. as needed. ↫ Quod Video The articles describes how to get there using both X and Wayla ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140170/a-brief-summary-of-click-to-raise-and-drag-and-drop-interaction-on-x11-and-wayland/)
2024-07-08T12:17:49Z	**Getting the most out of TWM, X11’s default window manager**
Graham’s TWM page has been around for like two decades or so and still isn’t even remotely as old as TWM itself, and in 2021 they published an updated version with even more information, tips, and tricks for TWM. The Tab Window Manager finds its origins in the lat 1980s, and has been the default window manager for the X Windowing System for a long time, now, too. Yet, few people know it exists – how many people even kn ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140172/getting-the-most-out-of-twm-x11s-default-window-manager/)
2024-07-08T13:51:20Z	**Design and build the next version of OSNews**
Despite being live since 1997, OSNews has had fairly few redesigns in the grand scheme of things. If my memory serves me correctly, we’ve had a grand total of 6 designs, and we’re currently on version 6, introduced about 5 years ago because of unpleasant reasons. It’s now 2024, and for a variety of reasons, we’re looking to work towards version 7 of our almost 30 year old website, and we need help. I have a very clear idea of what I want OSNews ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140175/design-and-build-the-next-version-of-osnews/)
2024-07-09T21:43:43Z	**No more boot loader: lease use the kernel instead**
Most people are familiar with GRUB, a powerful, flexible, fully-featured bootloader that is used on multiple architectures (x86\_64, aarch64, ppc64le OpenFirmware). Although GRUB is quite versatile and capable, its features create complexity that is difficult to maintain, and that both duplicate and lag behind the Linux kernel while also creating numerous security holes. On the other hand, the Linux kernel, which has a large develope ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140181/no-more-boot-loader-lease-use-the-kernel-instead/)
2024-07-09T21:56:38Z	**Mozilla opts to extended Windows 7/8/8.1 support**
Among them, Byron Jourdan, Senior Director, Product Management of Mozilla, under the Reddit username ComprehensiveDoor643 revealed that Mozilla plans to support Firefox on Windows 7 for longer. When asked separately about whether it also included Windows 8 and 8.1 too, Jourdan added that it was certainly the plan, though for how long the extended support would last was still undecided. ↫ Sayan Sen at Neowin Excellent move by Mozilla.  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140183/mozilla-opts-to-extended-windows-7-8-8-1-support/)
2024-07-09T22:26:19Z	**Google extends Linux kernel support to keep Android devices secure for longer**
Android, like many other operating systems, uses the open-source Linux kernel. There are several different types of Linux kernel releases, but the type that’s most important to Android is the long-term support (LTS) one, as they’re updated regularly with important bug fixes and security patches. Starting in 2017, the support lifetime of LTS releases of Linux was extended from t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140185/google-extends-linux-kernel-support-to-keep-android-devices-secure-for-longer/)
2024-07-10T14:48:27Z	**“I fixed a 6-year-old .deb installation bug in Ubuntu MATE and Xubuntu”**
I love a good bug hunting story, and this one is right up there as a great one. Way back in 2018, Doug Brown discovered that after installing Ubuntu MATE 18.04, if he launched Firefox from the icon in the default panel arrangement to install Chrome from the official Chrome website, the process was broken. After downloading the .deb and double-clicking it, GDebi would appear, but after clickin ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140188/i-fixed-a-6-year-old-deb-installation-bug-in-ubuntu-mate-and-xubuntu/)
2024-07-10T21:24:22Z	**AmiKit launches a new Amiga that’s not an Amiga at all**
I try to keep tabs on a huge number of operating system projects out there – for obvious reasons – but long ago I learned that when it comes to the world of Amiga, it’s best to maintain distance and let any important news find its way out of the Amiga bubble, lest one loses their sanity. Keeping up with the Amiga world requires following every nook and cranny of various forums and websites with different allegiances to diff ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140197/amikit-launches-a-new-amiga-thats-not-an-amiga-at-all/)
2024-07-11T20:21:20Z	**“Majority of websites and mobile apps use dark patterns”**
A global internet sweep that examined the websites and mobile apps of 642 traders has found that 75,7% of them employed at least one dark pattern, and 66,8% of them employed two or more dark patterns. Dark patterns are defined as practices commonly found in online user interfaces and that steer, deceive, coerce, or manipulate consumers into making choices that often are not in their best interests. ↫ International Consum ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140203/majority-of-websites-and-mobile-apps-use-dark-patterns/)
2024-07-11T20:25:07Z	**Palestinians say Microsoft unfairly closing their accounts**
Palestinians living abroad have accused Microsoft of closing their email accounts without warning – cutting them off from crucial online services. They say it has left them unable to access bank accounts and job offers – and stopped them using Skype, which Microsoft owns, to contact relatives in war-torn Gaza. Microsoft says they violated its terms of service – a claim they dispute. ↫ Mohamed Shalaby and Joe Tidy a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140207/palestinians-say-microsoft-unfairly-closing-their-accounts/)
2024-07-11T21:22:49Z	**Iconography of the X Window System: the boot stipple**
For the uninitiated, what are we looking at? Could it be the Moiré Error from Doom? Well, no. You are looking at (part of) the boot up screen for the X Window System, specifically the pattern it uses as the background of the root window. This pattern is technically called a stipple. What you’re seeing is pretty important and came to symbolize a lot for me as a computer practitioner. ↫ Matt T. Proud The X bootup pattern is defin ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140211/iconography-of-the-x-window-system-the-boot-stipple/)
2024-07-11T22:59:21Z	**Qualcomm’s Oryon core: a long time in the making**
In 2019, a startup called Nuvia came out of stealth mode. Nuvia was notable because its leadership included several notable chip architects, including one who used to work for Apple. Apple chips like the M1 drew recognition for landing in the same performance neighborhood as AMD and Intel’s offerings while offering better power efficiency. Nuvia had similar goals, aiming to create a power efficient core that could could surpass designs  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140215/qualcomms-oryon-core-a-long-time-in-the-making/)
2024-07-12T19:16:35Z	**Ubuntu security updates are a confusing mess**
I’ve read this article several times now, and I’m still not entirely sure how to properly summarise the main points without leaving important details out. If you really boil it down to the very bare essentials, which packages get updates on which Ubuntu release is a confusing mess that most normal users will never be able to understand, potentially leaving them vulnerable to security flaws that have already been widely patched and are availab ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140219/ubuntu-security-updates-are-a-confusing-mess/)
2024-07-12T21:35:27Z	**Google is ending support for Lacros, the experimental version of Chrome for ChromeOS**
Back in August 2023, we previewed our work on an experimental version of Chrome browser for ChromeOS named Lacros. The original intention was to allow Chrome browser on Chromebooks to swiftly get the latest feature and security updates without needing a full OS update. As we refocus our efforts on achieving similar objectives with ChromeOS embracing portions of the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140222/google-is-ending-support-for-lacros-the-experimental-version-of-chrome-for-chromeos/)
2024-07-12T22:11:04Z	**Package AmigaOS software for Linux and Windows with AxRuntime**
This solution lets developers compile their Amiga API-based applications as Linux binaries. Once the features are implemented, tested and optimized using the runtime on Linux or Windows, developers re-compile their applications for their Amiga-like system of choice and perform final quality checking. Applications created with AxRuntime can be distributed to Linux or Windows communities, giving developers a mu ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140225/package-amigaos-software-for-linux-and-windows-with-axruntime/)
2024-07-12T22:33:47Z	**Windows NT 4.0 ported to run on certain Apple PowerPC Macs**
The most fascinating time for Windows NT were its first few years on the market, when the brand new operating system supported a wide variety of architectures, from default x86, all the way down to stuff like Alpha, MIPS, and exotic things like Intel i860, and even weirder stuff like Clipper (even a SPARC port was planned, but never released). One of the more conventional architectures that saw a Windows NT port –  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140227/windows-nt-4-0-ported-to-run-on-certain-apple-powerpc-macs/)
2024-07-14T19:44:18Z	**GitHub is starting to feel like legacy software**
The corporate branding, the new “AI-powered developer platform” slogan, makes it clear that what I think of as “GitHub”—the traditional website, what are to me the core features—simply isn’t Microsoft’s priority at this point in time. I know many talented people at GitHub who care, but the company’s priorities just don’t seem to value what I value about the service. This isn’t an anti-AI statement so much as a recognition that the tool  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140229/github-is-starting-to-feel-like-legacy-software/)
2024-07-14T19:50:21Z	**Microsoft quietly updates official lightweight Windows 11 Validation OS ISOs for 24H2**
Microsoft has again quietly updated its Validation OS ISOs. In case you are not familiar with it, Validation OS is an official lightweight variant of Windows and it is designed for hardware vendors to test, validate and repair hardware defects. ↫ Sayan Sen at Neowin I had no idea this variant of Windows existed, but it kind of makes sense when you think about it ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140231/microsoft-quietly-updates-official-lightweight-windows-11-validation-os-isos-for-24h2/)
2024-07-15T06:37:04Z	**Pretty pictures, bootable floppy disks, and the first Canon Cat demo?**
About a month ago, Cameron Kaiser first introduced us to the Canon Cat, a computer designed by Jeff Raskin, but abandoned within six months by Canon, who had no idea what to do with it. In his second article on the Cat, Kaiser dives much deeper into the software and operating system of the Cat, even going so far as to become the first person to write software for it. One of the most surprising as ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140234/pretty-pictures-bootable-floppy-disks-and-the-first-canon-cat-demo/)
2024-07-15T06:55:35Z	**Google can totally explain why Chromium browsers quietly tell only its websites about your CPU, GPU usage**
It’s time for Google being Google, this time by using an undocumented APIs to track resource usage when using Chrome. When visiting a \*.google.com domain, the Google site can use the API to query the real-time CPU, GPU, and memory usage of your browser, as well as info about the processor you’re using, so that whatever ser ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140237/google-can-totally-explain-why-chromium-browsers-quietly-tell-only-its-websites-about-your-cpu-gpu-usage/)
2024-07-15T06:55:35Z	**Google can totally explain why Chromium browsers quietly tell only its websites about your CPU, GPU usage**
It’s time for Google being Google, this time by using an undocumented APIs to track resource usage when using Chrome. When visiting a \*.google.com domain, the Google site can use the API to query the real-time CPU, GPU, and memory usage of your browser, as well as info about the processor you’re using, so that whatever ser ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140237/google-can-totally-explain-why-chromium-browsers-quietly-tell-only-its-websites-about-your-cpu-gpu-usage/)
2024-07-15T12:38:28Z	**Fusion OS: writing an OS in Nim**
I decided to document my journey of writing an OS in Nim. Why Nim? It’s one of the few languages that allow low-level systems programming with deterministic memory management (garbage collector is optional) with destructors and move semantics. It’s also statically typed, which provides greater type safety. It also supports inline assembly, which is a must for OS development. Other options include C, C++, Rust, and Zig. They’re great languages, but I chose Nim for its s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140239/fusion-os-writing-an-os-in-nim/)
2024-07-15T20:04:11Z	**The AMD Zen 5 microarchitecture: powering Ryzen AI 300 series for mobile and Ryzen 9000 for desktop**
Built around the new Zen 5 CPU microarchitecture with some fundamental improvements to both graphics and AI performance, the Ryzen AI 300 series, code-named Strix Point, is set to deliver improvements in several areas. The Ryzen AI 300 series looks set to add another footnote in the march towards the AI PC with its mobile SoC featuring ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140243/the-amd-zen-5-microarchitecture-powering-ryzen-ai-300-series-for-mobile-and-ryzen-9000-for-desktop/)
2024-07-15T20:46:14Z	**I told you so: Mozilla working with Facebook to weaken Firefox’ privacy and anti-tracking features**
I’ve long been warning about the dangers of relying on just one browser as the bullwark against the onslaught of Chrome, Chrome skins, and Safari. With Firefox’ user numbers rapidly declining, now stuck at a mere 2% or so – and even less on mobile – and regulatory pressure possibly ending the Google-Mozilla deal with makes up roughly 80%  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140247/i-told-you-so-mozilla-working-with-facebook-to-weaken-firefox-privacy-and-anti-tracking-features/)
2024-07-16T20:13:13Z	**Safari already contains ad tracking technology, and they’re now adding it to Safari’s Private Browsing mode, too**
We’ve been talking a lot about sleazy ways in which the online advertising industry is conspiring with browser makers – who also happen to be in the online advertising industry – to weaken privacy features so they can still track you and the ads they serve you, but with “privacy”. They’re trying really hard to ma ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140252/safari-already-contains-ad-tracking-technology-and-theyre-now-adding-it-to-safaris-private-browsing-mode-too/)
2024-07-18T13:15:35Z	**Inside an IBM/Motorola mainframe controller chip from 1981**
In this article, I look inside a chip in the IBM 3274 Control Unit.1 But before I discuss the chip, I need to give some background on mainframes. ↫ Ken Shirriff Whenever we talk about mainframes, I am obligated to link to the story of an 18 year old buying a mainframe, while still living at his parents. One of the greatest presentations of all time. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140256/inside-an-ibm-motorola-mainframe-controller-chip-from-1981/)
2024-07-18T14:04:26Z	**Unified kernel image**
UKIs can run on UEFI systems and simplify the distribution of small kernel images. For example, they simplify network booting with iPXE. UKIs make rootfs and kernels composable, making it possible to derive a rootfs for multiple kernel versions with one file for each pair. A Unified Kernel Image (UKI) is a combination of a UEFI boot stub program, a Linux kernel image, an initramfs, and further resources in a single UEFI PE file (device tree, cpu µcode, splash screen, secure boot sig/key, … ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140258/unified-kernel-image/)
2024-07-18T19:34:14Z	**Ly: a TUI display manager**
Ly is a lightweight TUI (ncurses-like) display manager for Linux and BSD. ↫ Ly GitHub page That’s it. That’s the description. I’ve been wanting to take a stab at running a full CLI/TUI environment for a while, see just how far I can get in my computing life (excluding games) running nothing but a few tiled terminal emulators running various TUI apps for email, Mastodon, browsing, and so on. I’m not sure I’d be particularly happy with it – I’m a GUI user through and through – but l ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140260/ly-a-tui-display-manager/)
2024-07-18T21:23:39Z	**Linux patch to disable Snapdragon X Elite GPU by default**
Not too long ago it seemed like Linux support for the new ARM laptops running the Snapdragon X Pro and Elite processors was going to be pretty good – Qualcomm seemed to really be stepping up its game, and detailed in a blog post exactly what they were doing to make Linux a first-tier operating system on their new, fancy laptop chips. Now that the devices are in people’s hand, though, it seems all is not so rosy in this ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140262/linux-patch-to-disable-snapdragon-x-elite-gpu-by-default/)
2024-07-18T21:35:01Z	**NVIDIA transitions fully towards open-source GPU Linux kernel modules**
It’s a bit of a Linux news day today – it happens – but this one is good news we can all be happy about. After earning a bad reputation for mishandling its Linux graphics drivers for years, almost decades, NVIDIA has been turning the ship around these past two years, and today they made a major announcement: from here on out, the open source NVIDIA kernel modules will be the default for all re ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140265/nvidia-transitions-fully-towards-open-source-gpu-linux-kernel-modules/)
2024-07-19T08:53:34Z	**CrowdStrike issue is causing massive computer outages worldwide**
Well, this sure is something to wake up to: a massive worldwide outage of computer systems due to a problem with CrowdStrike software. Payment systems, airlines, hospitals, governments, TV stations – pretty much anything or anyone using computers could be dealing with bluescreens, bootloops, and similar issues today. Open-heart surgeries had to be stopped mid-surgery, planes can’t take off, people can’t b ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140267/crowdstrike-issue-is-causing-massive-computer-outages-worldwide/)
2024-07-19T20:30:49Z	**Introduction to NanoBSD**
This document provides information about the NanoBSD tools, which can be used to create FreeBSD system images for embedded applications, suitable for use on a USB key, memory card or other mass storage media. It can be used to build specialized install images, designed for easy installation and maintenance of systems commonly called “computer appliances”. Computer appliances have their hardware and software bundled in the product, which means all applications are pre-installed. The a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140271/introduction-to-nanobsd/)
2024-07-19T20:42:45Z	**Why I like NetBSD, or why portability matters**
All that to say, I find that NetBSDs philosophy aligns with mine. The OS is small and cozy, and compared to many minimal Linux distributions, I found it faster to setup. Supported hardware is automatically picked up, for my Thinkpad T480s almost everything (except the trackpad issue I solved above) worked out of the box, and it comes with a minimal window manager and display manager to get you started. It is simple and minimal but with sane  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140273/why-i-like-netbsd-or-why-portability-matters/)
2024-07-21T08:01:38Z	**Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available**
In 2018, we announced the deprecation and transition of Google URL Shortener because of the changes we’ve seen in how people find content on the internet, and the number of new popular URL shortening services that emerged in that time. This meant that we no longer accepted new URLs to shorten but that we would continue serving existing URLs. Today, the time has come to turn off the serving portion of Google URL Shortener.  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140279/google-url-shortener-links-will-no-longer-be-available/)
2024-07-21T12:35:36Z	**Managing Classic Mac OS resources in ResEdit**
The Macintosh was intended to be different in many ways. One of them was its file system, which was designed for each file to consist of two forks, one a regular data fork as in normal file systems, the other a structured database of resources, the resource fork. Resources came to be used to store a lot of standard structured data, such as the specifications for and contents of alerts and dialogs, menus, collections of text strings, keyboard  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140281/managing-classic-mac-os-resources-in-resedit/)
2024-07-21T21:27:30Z	**1989 networking: NetWare 386**
NetWare 386 or 3.0 was a very limited release, with very few copies sold before it was superseded by newer versions. As such, it was considered lost to time, since it was only sold to large corporations – for a massive almost 8000 dollar price tag – who obviously didn’t care about software preservation. There are no original disks left, but a recent “warez” release has made the software available once again. As always, pirates save the day. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140287/1989-networking-netware-386/)
2024-07-21T21:43:27Z	**OpenBSD gets hardware accelerated video decoding/encoding**
Only yesterday, I mentioned one of the main reasons I decided to switch back to Fedora from OpenBSD were performance issues – and one of them was definitely the lack of hardware acceleration for video decoding/encoding. The lack of such technology means that decoding/encoding video is done using the processor, which is far less efficient than letting your GPU do it – which results in performance issues like stutterin ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140290/openbsd-gets-hardware-accelerated-video-decoding-encoding/)
2024-07-22T20:16:03Z	**OpenBSD workstation for the people**
This is an attempt at building an OpenBSD desktop than could be used by newcomers or by people that don’t care about tinkering with computers and just want a working daily driver for general tasks. Somebody will obviously need to know a bit of UNIX but we’ll try to limit it to the minimum. ↫ Joel Carnat An excellent, to-the-point, no-nonsense guide about turning a default OpenBSD installation into a desktop operating system running Xfce. You definitely don’t nee ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140293/openbsd-workstation-for-the-people/)
2024-07-22T20:42:51Z	**A brief history of Dell UNIX**
“Dell UNIX? I didn’t know there was such a thing.” A couple of weeks ago I had my new XO with me for breakfast at a nearby bakery café. Other patrons were drawn to seeing an XO for the first time, including a Linux person from Dell. I mentioned Dell UNIX and we talked a little about the people who had worked on Dell UNIX. He expressed surprise that mention of Dell UNIX evokes the above quote so often and pointed out that Emacs source still has #ifdef for Dell UNIX. Quick Go ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140296/a-brief-history-of-dell-unix/)
2024-07-23T13:54:59Z	**No, Southwest Airlines is not still using Windows 3.1**
A story that’s been persistently making the rounds since the CrowdStrike event is that while several airline companies were affected in one way or another, Southwest Airlines escaped the mayhem because they were still using windows 3.1. It’s a great story that fits the current zeitgeist about technology and its role in society, underlining that what is claimed to be technological progress is nothing but trouble, and that it’s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140301/no-southwest-airlines-is-not-still-using-windows-3-1/)
2024-07-23T22:25:13Z	**Google won’t be deprecating third-party cookies from Chrome after all**
This story just never ever ends. After delays, changes in plans, more delays, we now have more changed plans. After years of stalling, Google has now announced it is, in fact, not going to deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome by default. In light of this, we are proposing an updated approach that elevates user choice. Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new exper ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140309/google-wont-be-deprecating-third-party-cookies-from-chrome-after-all/)
2024-07-23T22:36:29Z	**New Samsung phones block sideloading by default**
The assault on a user’s freedom to install whatever they want on what is supposed to be their phone continues. This time, it’s Samsung adding an additional blocker to users installing applications from outside the Play Store and its own mostly useless Galaxy Store. Technically, Android already blocks sideloading by default at an operating system level. The permission that’s needed to silently install new apps without prompting the user, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140312/new-samsung-phones-block-sideloading-by-default/)
2024-07-24T19:43:44Z	**You can contribute to KDE with non-C++ code**
Not everything made by KDE uses C++. This is probably obvious to some people, but it’s worth mentioning nevertheless. And I don’t mean this as just “well duh, KDE uses QtQuick which is written with C++ and QML”. I also don’t mean this as “well duh, Qt has a lot of bindings to other languages”. I mean explicitly “KDE has tools written primarily in certain languages and specialized formats”. ↫ Thiago Sueto If you ever wanted to contribute to KDE bu ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140316/you-can-contribute-to-kde-with-non-c-code/)
2024-07-25T13:10:48Z	**FreeBSD as a platform for your future technology**
Choosing an operating system for new technology can be crucial for the success of any project. Years down the road, this decision will continue to inform the speed and efficiency of development. But should you build the infrastructure yourself or rely on a proven system? When faced with this decision, many companies have chosen, and continue to choose, FreeBSD. Few operating systems offer the immediate high performance and security of ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140325/freebsd-as-a-platform-for-your-future-technology/)
2024-07-25T20:06:34Z	**Intel: Raptor Lake faults excessive voltage from microcode, fix coming in August**
In what started last year as a handful of reports about instability with Intel’s Raptor Lake desktop chips has, over the last several months, grown into a much larger saga. Facing their biggest client chip instability impediment in decades, Intel has been under increasing pressure to figure out the root cause of the issue and fix it, as claims of damaged chips have stacked  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140327/intel-raptor-lake-faults-excessive-voltage-from-microcode-fix-coming-in-august/)
2024-07-25T22:45:11Z	**Two threads, one core: how simultaneous multithreading works under the hood**
Simultaneous multithreading (SMT) is a feature that lets a processor handle instructions from two different threads at the same time. But have you ever wondered how this actually works? How does the processor keep track of two threads and manage its resources between them? In this article, we’re going to break it all down. Understanding the nuts and bolts of SMT will help you decide  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140332/two-threads-one-core-how-simultaneous-multithreading-works-under-the-hood/)
2024-07-25T23:17:04Z	**OpenAI beta tests SearchGPT search engine**
Normally I’m not that interested in reporting on news coming from OpenAI, but today is a little different – the company launched SearchGPT, a search engine that’s supposed to rival Google, but at the same time, they’re also kind of not launching a search engine that’s supposed to rival Google. What? We’re testing SearchGPT, a prototype of new search features designed to combine the strength of our AI models with information from the web to give you ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140335/openai-beta-tests-searchgpt-search-engine/)
2024-07-26T22:14:01Z	**Full-featured email server running OpenBSD**
This blog post is a guide explaining how to setup a full-featured email server on OpenBSD 7.5. It was commissioned by a customer of my consultancy who wanted it to be published on my blog. Setting up a modern email stack that does not appear as a spam platform to the world can be a daunting task, the guide will cover what you need for a secure, functional and low maintenance email system. ↫ Solène Rapenne If you ever wanted to set up and run your ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140339/full-featured-email-server-running-openbsd/)
2024-07-26T22:32:10Z	**The bizarre secrets I found investigating corrupt Winamp skins**
In January of 2021 I was exploring the corpus of Skins I collected for the Winamp Skin Museum and found some that seemed corrupted, so I decided to explore them. Winamp skins are actually just zip files with a different file extension, so I tried extracting their files to see what I could find. This ended up leading me down a series of wild rabbit holes. ↫ Jordan Eldredge I’m not going to spoil any of this. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140342/the-bizarre-secrets-i-found-investigating-corrupt-winamp-skins/)
2024-07-28T20:07:31Z	**Managarm: microkernel-based OS with fully asynchronous I/O**
Ah, another microkernel-based hobby operating system. The more, the merrier – and I mean this, without a hint of sarcasm. There’s definitely been a small resurgence in activity lately when it comes to small hobby and teaching operating systems, some of which are exploring some truly new ideas, and I’m definitely here for it. Today we have managarm. Some notable properties of managarm are: (i) managarm is based on a  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140347/managarm-microkernel-based-os-with-fully-asynchronous-i-o/)
2024-07-28T20:40:58Z	**NotMyFault: Microsoft’s tool to create BSoDs**
Blue screens of death are not exactly in short supply on Windows machines lately, but what if you really want to cause your own kernel panic or complete system crash, just because you love that shade of crashy blue? Well, there’s a tool for that called NotMyFault, developed by Mark Russinovich as part of Sysinternals. NotMyFault is a tool that you can use to crash, hang, and cause kernel memory leaks on your Windows system. It’s useful for lear ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140353/notmyfault-microsofts-tool-to-create-bsods/)
2024-07-29T13:18:54Z	**Microsoft’s CrowdStrike post-mortem**
Microsoft has published a post-mortem of the CrowdStrike incident, and goes into great depths to describe where, exactly, the error lies, and how it could lead to such massive problems. I can’t comment anything insightful on the technical details and code they show to illustrate all of this – I’ll leave that discussion up to you – but Microsoft also spends considerable amount of time explaining why security vendors are choosing to use kernel-mode drivers. Micro ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140356/microsofts-crowdstrike-post-mortem/)
2024-07-31T11:27:19Z	**Logitech has an idea for a “forever mouse” that requires a subscription**
Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber talked about someting called the “forever mouse”, which would be, as the name implies, a mouse that customers could use for a very long time. While you may think this would mean an incredibly well-built mouse, or one that can be easily repaired, which Logitech already makes somewhat possible through a partnership with iFixIt, another option the company is thinking  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140363/logitech-has-an-idea-for-a-forever-mouse-that-requires-a-subscription/)
2024-07-31T12:43:21Z	**AI causing burnout, lower productivity**
Is machine learning, also known as “artificial intelligence”, really aiding workers and increasing productivity? A study by Upwork – which, as Baldur Bjarnason so helpfully points out, sells AI solutions and hence did not promote this study on its blog as it does with its other studies – reveals that this might not actually be the case. Nearly half (47%) of workers using AI say they have no idea how to achieve the productivity gains their employers expect ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140365/ai-causing-burnout-lower-productivity/)
2024-08-01T12:41:14Z	**The impact of AI on computer science education**
Yesterday I highlighted a study that found that AI and ML, and the expectations around them, are actually causing people to need to work harder and more, instead of less. Today, I have another study for you, this time focusing a more long-term issue: when you use something like ChatGPT to troubleshoot and fix a bug, are you actually learning anything? A professor at MIT divided a group of students into three, and gave them a programming t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140379/the-impact-of-ai-on-computer-science-education/)
2024-08-01T13:00:21Z	**Serpent OS prealpha0 released**
Serpent OS, a new Linux distribution with a completely custom package management system written in Rust, has released its very very rough pre-alpha release. They’ve been working on this for four years, and they’re making some interesting choices regarding packaging that I really like, at least on paper. This will of course appear to be a very rough (crap) prealpha ISO. Underneath the surface it is using the moss package manager, our very own package management solution wr ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140384/serpent-os-prealpha0-released/)
2024-08-01T21:19:28Z	**“Why I prefer rST to Markdown”**
This is my second book written with Sphinx, after the new Learn TLA+. Sphinx uses a peculiar markup called reStructured Text (rST), which has a steeper learning curve than markdown. I only switched to it after writing a couple of books in markdown and deciding I needed something better. So I want to talk about why rst was that something. ↫ Hillel Wayne I’ve never liked Markdown – I find it quite arbitrary and unpleasant to look at, and the fact there’s countless variants  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140388/why-i-prefer-rst-to-markdown/)
2024-08-01T21:47:51Z	**Play Store could soon handle updates for sideloaded applications**
Android 14 introduced the ability for application stores to claim ownership over application updates, to ensure other installation sources won’t accidentally update applications they shouldn’t. What is still lacking, however, is for users to easily change the update ownership for applications. In other words, say you install an application by downloading an APK from GitHub, and later the application mak ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140390/play-store-could-soon-handle-updates-for-sideloaded-applications/)
2024-08-02T13:32:26Z	**Technology history: where Unix came from**
Today, every Unix-like system can trace their ancestry back to the original Unix. That includes Linux, which uses the GNU tools – and the GNU tools are based on the Unix tools. Linux in 2024 is removed from the original Unix design, and for good reason – Linux supports architectures and tools not dreamt of during the original Unix era. But the core command line experience in Linux is still very similar to the Unix command line of the 1970s. The next t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140392/technology-history-where-unix-came-from/)
2024-08-02T20:38:46Z	**Override xdg-open behavior with xdg-override**
Most application on GNU/Linux by convention delegate to xdg-open when they need to open a file or a URL. This ensures consistent behavior between applications and desktop environments: URLs are always opened in our preferred browser, images are always opened in the same preferred viewer. However, there are situations when this consistent behavior is not desired: for example, if we need to override default browser just for one application and  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140394/override-xdg-open-behavior-with-xdg-override/)
2024-08-03T08:59:13Z	**Servo enables parallel table layout**
Another month, another chunk of progress for the Servo rendering engine. The biggest addition is enabling table rendering to be spread across CPU cores. Parallel table layout is now enabled, spreading the work for laying out rows and their columns over all available CPU cores. This change is a great example of the strengths of Rayon and the opportunistic parallelism in Servo’s layout engine. ↫ Servo blog On top of this, there’s tons of improvements to the flex ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140398/servo-enables-parallel-table-layout/)
2024-08-04T12:51:22Z	**Limine: a modern, advanced, portable, multiprotocol bootloader and boot manager**
Limine is an advanced, portable, multiprotocol bootloader that supports Linux, multiboot1 and 2, the native Limine boot protocol, and more. Limine is lightweight, elegant, fast, and the reference implementation of the Limine boot protocol. The Limine boot protocol’s main target audience is operating system and kernel developers that want to use a boot protocol which supports mo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140407/limine-a-modern-advanced-portable-multiprotocol-bootloader-and-boot-manager/)
2024-08-04T12:33:29Z	**Exploring O3 optimization for Ubuntu**
Following our recent work 5 with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS where we enabled frame pointers by default to improve debugging and profiling, we’re continuing our performance engineering efforts by evaluating the impact of O3 optimization in Ubuntu. O3 is a GCC optimization 14 level that applies more aggressive code transformations compared to the default O2 level. These include advanced function and the use of sophisticated algorithms aimed at enhancing execution speed. ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140403/exploring-o3-optimization-for-ubuntu/)
2024-08-04T14:10:10Z	**Chrome warns uBlock Origin may soon be disabled**
As uBlock Origin lead developer and maintainer Raymond Hill explained on Friday, this is the result of Google deprecating support for the Manifest v2 (MV2) extensions platform in favor of Manifest v3 (MV3). “uBO is a Manifest v2 extension, hence the warning in your Google Chrome browser. There is no Manifest v3 version of uBO, hence the browser will suggest alternative extensions as a replacement for uBO,” Hill explained. ↫ Sergiu Gatla ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140411/chrome-warns-ublock-origin-may-soon-be-disabled/)
2024-08-05T06:59:34Z	**FreeBSD as a daily driver**
Not too long ago I linked to a blog post by long-time OSNews reader (and silver Patreon) and friend of mine Morgan, about how to set up OpenBSD as a workstation operating system – and in fact, I personally used that guide in my own OpenBSD journey. Well, Morgan’s back with another, similar article, this time covering FreeBSD. After going through the basic steps needed to make FreeBSD a bit more amenable to desktop use, Morgan notes about performance: Now let’s compare FreeBSD. We ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140416/freebsd-as-a-daily-driver/)
2024-08-05T20:38:28Z	**50 years ago, CP/M started the microcomputer revolution**
CP/M is turning 50 this year. The ancient Control Program for Microcomputers, or CP/M for short, has been enjoying a modest renaissance in recent years. By 21st century standards, it’s unimaginably tiny and simple. The whole OS fits into under 200 kB, and the resident bit of the kernel is only about 3 kB. Today, in the era of end-user OSes in the tens-of-gigabytes size range, this exerts a fascination to a certain kind of ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140419/50-years-ago-cp-m-started-the-microcomputer-revolution/)
2024-08-05T21:34:23Z	**Every Microsoft employee is now being judged on their security work**
After a number of very bug security incidents involving Microsoft’s software, the company promised it would take steps to put security at the top of its list of priorities. Today we got another glimpse of the step it’s taking, since the company is going to take security into account during performance reviews. Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft’s chief people officer, has outlined what the company expects  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140421/every-microsoft-employee-is-now-being-judged-on-their-security-work/)
2024-08-05T22:43:59Z	**US judge rules Google is a monopoly, searxh deals with Apple and Mozilla in peril**
That sure is a big news drop for a random Tuesday. A federal judge ruled that Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the search and advertising markets. “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140425/us-judge-rules-google-is-a-monopoly-searxh-deals-with-apple-and-mozilla-in-peril/)
2024-08-06T13:24:05Z	**WordStar for DOS 7.0 archive**
As you all know, I continue to use WordStar for DOS 7.0 as my word-processing program. It was last updated in December 1992, and the company that made it has been defunct for decades; the program is abandonware. There was no proper archive of WordStar for DOS 7.0 available online, so I decided to create one. I’ve put weeks of work into this. Included are not only full installs of the program (as well as images of the installation disks), but also plug-and-play solutions for ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140431/wordstar-for-dos-7-0-archive/)
2024-08-07T11:28:49Z	**Developing a cryptographically secure bootloader for RISC-V in Rust**
It seems to be bootloader season, because we’ve got another one – this time, a research project with very limited application for most people. SentinelBoot is a cryptographically secure bootloader aimed at enhancing boot flow safety of RISC-V through memory-safe principles, predominantly leveraging the Rust programming language with its ownership, borrowing, and lifetime constraints. Additionally, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140437/developing-a-cryptographically-secure-bootloader-for-risc-v-in-rust/)
2024-08-07T17:00:18Z	**Chrome will let you shop with “AI”**
When you’re shopping online, you’ll likely find yourself jumping between multiple tabs to read reviews and research prices. It can be cumbersome doing all that back and forth tab switching, and online comparison is something we hear users want help with. In the next few weeks, starting in the U.S., Chrome will introduce Tab compare, a new feature that presents an AI-generated overview of products from across multiple tabs, all in one place. Imagine you’re looking  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140439/chrome-will-let-you-shop-with-ai/)
2024-08-07T19:14:14Z	**macOS Sequia will nag you every week if you have screenshot apps and screen recorders installed**
With macOS Sequoia this fall, using apps that need access to screen recording permissions will become a little bit more tedious. Apple is rolling out a change that will require you to give explicit permission on a weekly basis to these types of apps, and every time you reboot your Mac. If you’ve been using the macOS Sequoia beta this summer i ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140442/macos-sequia-will-nag-you-every-week-if-you-have-screenshot-apps-and-screen-recorders-installed/)
2024-08-07T19:21:44Z	**macOS Sequoia makes it harder to override Gatekeeper security**
Speaking of an operating system for toddlers: Apple is eliminating the option to Control-click to open Mac software that is not correctly signed or notarized in ‌macOS Sequoia‌. To install apps that Gatekeeper blocks, users will need to open up System Settings and go to the Privacy and Security section to “review security information” before being able to run the software. ↫ Juli Clover at MacRumors On a rela ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140446/macos-sequoia-makes-it-harder-to-override-gatekeeper-security/)
2024-08-08T13:07:18Z	**Apple memory holed its broken promise for an OCSP opt-out**
When you launch an app, macOS connects to Apple’s OCSP service to check whether the app’s Developer ID code signing certificate has been revoked by Apple. In November 2020, Apple’s OCSP service experienced a mass outage, preventing Mac users worldwide from launching apps. In response and remedy to this outage, Apple made several explicit promises to Mac users in a support document, which can still be seen in a Waybac ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140450/apple-memory-holed-its-broken-promise-for-an-ocsp-opt-out/)
2024-08-09T13:13:24Z	**COSMIC alpha released**
After two year of development, System76 has released the very first alpha of COSMIC, their new Rust-based desktop environment for Linux. This is an alpha release, so they make it clear there’s going to be bugs and that there’s a ton of missing features at this point. As a whole, COSMIC is a comprehensive operating system GUI (graphical user interface) environment that features advanced functionality and a responsive design. Its modular architecture is specifically designed to facilitate  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140453/cosmic-alpha-released/)
2024-08-09T23:05:35Z	**Redox gets HTTP server, wget, UEFI improvements, and much more**
In line with the release of the COSMIC alpha, parts of which are also available for Redox, we’ve got another monthly update for the Rust-based operating system. First, in what in hindsight seems like a logical step, Redox is joining hands with Servo, the Rust-based browser engine, and they proposed focus will be on Servo’s cross-compilation support and a font stack written in Rust. It definitely makes sense fo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140455/redox-gets-http-server-wget-uefi-improvements-and-much-more/)
2024-08-11T13:41:18Z	**Verso: a browser using Servo**
I regularly report on the progress made by the Servo project, the Rust-based browser engine that was spun out of Mozilla into its own project. Servo has its own reference browser implementation, too, but did you know there’s already other browsers using Servo, too? Sure, it’s clearly a work-in-progress thing, and it’s missing just about every feature we’ve come to expect from a browser, but it’s cool nonetheless. Verso is a web browser built on top of Servo web engine. It’s  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140462/verso-a-browser-using-servo/)
2024-08-11T13:33:34Z	**Wayland merges new screen capture protocols**
Nearly three years in the making, the ext-image-capture-source-v1 and ext-image-copy-capture-v1 protocols have been merged into the Wayland Protocols repository for vastly improving screen capture support on the Wayland desktop. The ext-image-capture-source-v1 and ext-image-copy-capture-v1 screen copy protocols build upon wlroots’ wlr-screencopy-unstable-v1 with various improvements for better screen capture support under Wayland. These new pro ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140459/wayland-merges-new-screen-capture-protocols/)
2024-08-11T22:53:59Z	**Almost entire Nova Launcher team laid off**
About two years ago, the very popular and full-featured Android launcher Nova Launcher was acquired by mobile links and analytics company Branch. This obviously caused quite the stir, and ever since, whenever Nova is mentioned online, people point out what kind of company acquired Nova and that you probably should be looking for an alternative. While Branch claimed, as the acquiring party always does, that nothing was going to change, most people,  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140464/almost-entire-nova-launcher-team-laid-off/)
2024-08-12T20:01:44Z	**Microsoft deprecates Paint 3D**
Way back in the early before time, Microsoft thought it would be a good idea to brand Windows 10 entirely around the label “creators”, and one distinctly odd consequence of that was an application called “Paint 3D”, a replacement for the traditional Paint application that Microsoft had been shipping one way or another since 1985, when it included a simple bitmap editing program called “Doodle” with its mouse drivers for DOS. Doodle would be replaced shortly after by a whi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140467/microsoft-deprecates-paint-3d/)
2024-08-12T20:36:28Z	**Haiku gets tentative Firefox port**
Haiku, the platform grossing in ported browsers while its native WebPositive browser languishes, has added another notch to its belt – and this time, it’s a big one. Firefox has been tentatively ported to Haiku, but it’s early days and there’s no package ready to download – you’ll have to compile it yourself if you want to get it running. It’s version 128, so it’s the latest version, too. Without the ability to easily test and run it, there’s not much more to add  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140473/haiku-gets-tentative-firefox-port/)
2024-08-12T21:42:26Z	**Apple forces Patreon to charge Patreons 30% tax, or have its iOS application banned from the App Store**
I have no contracts, agreements, or business with Apple, I do not use any Apple products, I do not rely on any Apple services, and none of my work requires the use of any of Apple’s tools. Yet, I’m forced to deal with Apple’s 30% tax. Today, Patreon, which quite a few of you use to support OSNews, announced that Apple is forcing t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140475/apple-forces-patreon-to-charge-patreons-30-tax-or-have-its-ios-application-banned-from-the-app-store/)
2024-08-13T14:42:35Z	**Chrome iOS browser on Blink**
Earlier this year, under pressure from the European Union, Apple was finally forced to open up iOS and allow alternative browser engines, at least in the EU. Up until then, Apple only allowed its own WebKit engine to run on iOS, meaning that even what seemed like third-party browsers – Chrome, Firefox, and so on – were all just Safari skins, running Apple’s WebKit underneath (with additional restrictions to make them perform worse than Safari). Even with other browser engines ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140481/chrome-ios-browser-on-blink/)
2024-08-13T20:19:56Z	**Serena: an experimental operating system for 32bit Amiga computers**
Serena is an experimental operating system based on modern design principles with support for pervasive preemptive concurrency and multiple users. The kernel is object-oriented and designed to be cross-platform and future proof. It runs on Amiga systems with a 68030 or better CPU installed. One aspect that sets it aside from traditional threading-based OSs is that it is purely built around dispatch q ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140483/serena-an-experimental-operating-system-for-32bit-amiga-computers/)
2024-08-13T21:38:18Z	**SpecOS: an x86_64 OS kernel from scratch**
It’s been busy in the world of hobby and teaching/learning operating systems these past few months, and today we’ve got another one – SpecOS. SpecOS is a 64 bit operating system kernel for x86-64 processors, still in quite early stages, written in (questionable quality) C. It is (not very) powerful. This used to be 32 bit, but has been transferred to a 64 bit operating system. It uses a monolithic kernel, because I like having everything in one place. ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140488/specos-an-x86_64-os-kernel-from-scratch/)
2024-08-13T21:54:30Z	**Haiku gets tons of performance fixes, new FAT driver from FreeBSD, and a lot more**
There’s a new Haiku activity report, and it’s a big one. A lot of bottlenecks and performance issues were addressed recently, and the list is too long and detailed for me to cover everything. Haiku developer Waddlesplash does a great job in this report detailing the various things he worked on to solve some of these bottlenecks and performance issues, and they cover every ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140490/haiku-gets-tons-of-performance-fixes-new-fat-driver-from-freebsd-and-a-lot-more/)
2024-08-14T19:49:46Z	**Gentoo Linux drops IA-64 (Itanium) support**
Following the removal of IA-64 (Itanium) support in the Linux kernel and glibc, and subsequent discussions on our mailing list, as well as a vote by the Gentoo Council, Gentoo will discontinue all ia64 profiles and keywords. The primary reason for this decision is the inability of the Gentoo IA-64 team to support this architecture without kernel support, glibc support, and a functional development box (or even a well-established emulator). In addit ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140494/gentoo-linux-drops-ia-64-itanium-support/)
2024-08-14T22:19:28Z	**Valve confirms it’ll support the ROG Ally with its Steam Deck operating system**
Way back, Valve had the intention of making gaming on Linux a reality by allowing anyone to make PCs running SteamOS, with the goal of making Steam less dependent on the whims of Windows. This effort failed and fizzled out, but the idea clearly never died inside Valve, because ten years later the Steam Deck would take the market by storm, spawning a whole slew of copycats runn ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140498/valve-confirms-itll-support-the-rog-ally-with-its-steam-deck-operating-system/)
2024-08-14T22:39:25Z	**US said to consider a breakup of Google to address search monopoly**
While a US judge ruled last week that Google is a monopoly, and hat it has abused its monopoly position, potential remedies were not part of the case up until this point. Now, though, the US Department of Justice is mulling over potential remedies, and it seems everything is on the table – down to breaking Google up. Justice Department officials are considering what remedies to ask a federal judge t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140500/us-said-to-consider-a-breakup-of-google-to-address-search-monopoly/)
2024-08-15T12:29:23Z	**US judge says he’ll ‘tear the barriers down’ on Google’s app store monopoly**
Last week wasn’t the first time Google was declared a monopoly – eight months ago, in the Epic vs. Google case, Google’s control over the Play Store was also declared monopolistic. The judge, Google, and Epic have been arguing ever since over possible remedies, and in two weeks’ time, we’ll know what the judge is going to demand of Google. Eight months after a federal jury unanimously  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140502/us-judge-says-hell-tear-the-barriers-down-on-googles-app-store-monopoly/)
2024-08-15T20:22:51Z	**Cartridge software for the Psion Series 3**
Similar to less popular handheld of the era, the Gameboy, the Psion used a proprietary cartridge format for distributing commercial software. Psion sold blank cartridges, flashing hardware and duplicators to software houses, as well as releasing a number of titles under their own license. There’s a wide range of commercial software available for the Series 3 family, and only some of it was ported to the Series 5 (I really wish Scrabble had been rel ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140509/cartridge-software-for-the-psion-series-3/)
2024-08-16T12:30:14Z	**Windows can now create 2TB FAT32 file systems**
Even though FAT32 supports disk sizes of up to 2TB, and even though Windows can read FAT32 file systems of up to 2TB, Windows can’t actually create them. The maximum file system limit Windows can create with FAT32 is 32GB, a limitation that dates back to Windows 95 which has never been changed. It seems Microsoft is finally changing this with the latest Insider Preview build of Windows 11, as the format command can now finally create FAT32  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140513/windows-can-now-create-2tb-fat32-file-systems/)
2024-08-16T21:09:46Z	**The Apple IIGS megahertz myth**
A story you hear all the time about the Apple IIGS is that Apple purposefully underclocked or limited its processor in some way to protect the nascent Macintosh, and ensure the IIGS, which could build upon the vast installed base of Apple II computers, would not outcompete the Macintosh. I, too, have always assumed this was a real story – or at least, a story with a solid kernel of truth – but Dan Vincent decided to actually properly research this claim, and his findings  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140515/the-apple-iigs-megahertz-myth/)
2024-08-17T13:30:57Z	**Popular AI “nudify” sites sued amid shocking rise in victims globally**
San Francisco’s city attorney David Chiu is suing to shut down 16 of the most popular websites and apps allowing users to “nudify” or “undress” photos of mostly women and girls who have been increasingly harassed and exploited by bad actors online. These sites, Chiu’s suit claimed, are “intentionally” designed to “create fake, nude images of women and girls without their consent,” boasting that  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140518/popular-ai-nudify-sites-sued-amid-shocking-rise-in-victims-globally/)
2024-08-17T20:06:51Z	**Single-command Windows 11 system requirements bypass trick for unsupported PCs blocked**
In October last year, we covered a very simple bypass trick that involved just a single command when running the Windows 11 Setup. While this passthrough got popular in the tech community during this time as a result of the media coverage from Neowin as well as others, it was actually something even older. To use this, all a user had to do was add “/product se ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140520/single-command-windows-11-system-requirements-bypass-trick-for-unsupported-pcs-blocked/)
2024-08-17T23:03:03Z	**Google threatened tech influencers unless they ‘preferred’ the Pixel**
The tech review world has been full of murky deals between companies and influencers for years, but it appears Google finally crossed a line with the Pixel 9. The company’s invite-only Team Pixel program — which seeds Pixel products to influencers before public availability — stipulated that participating influencers were not allowed to feature Pixel products alongside competitors, and those who s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140522/google-threatened-tech-influencers-unless-they-preferred-the-pixel/)
2024-08-19T13:37:55Z	**Installing FreeBSD with OpenZFS via the Linux rescue system**
Hetzner no longer offers a FreeBSD rescue system but it is possible to install and manage FreeBSD with OpenZFS from the Linux rescue system on a dedicated server with UEFI boot. The installation is done on a mirrored OpenZFS pool consisting of two drives. ↫ Martin Matuska Not much to add here – Hetzner is a popular hosting and server provider, and if you want to use FreeBSD on their machines, here’s how. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140529/installing-freebsd-with-openzfs-via-the-linux-rescue-system/)
2024-08-19T21:40:15Z	**Parents rage against new fee to keep their smart bassinets smart**
But last month, that hand-me-down network was dealt a blow when Happiest Baby, the company that makes Snoo, began charging for access to some of the bassinet’s premium features — features that used to be available to Snoo users indefinitely, at no extra cost. Now, access to the app needed to lock in the bassinet’s rocking level, to track the baby’s sleep and to use the so-called weaning mode, among othe ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140532/parents-rage-against-new-fee-to-keep-their-smart-bassinets-smart/)
2024-08-19T22:00:39Z	**MenuetOS gets basic X server**
There’s been a few new releases since the last time we talked about MenuetOS, back in March of this year when version 1.50.00 was released, so I figured it was time to take a look at what the project’s been up to. And just in case you don’t remember – MenuetOS is 64 bit operating system written in assembly that fits on a single 1.44 MB floppy disk. There’s also a 32 bit version that’s no longer being developed – I think. Weirdly enough, the 1.50.00 released is no longer lis ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140534/menuetos-gets-basic-x-server/)
2024-08-20T13:16:11Z	**Google to websites: let us train our AI on your content, or we’ll remove you from Google Search**
Google now displays convenient artificial intelligence-based answers at the top of its search pages — meaning users may never click through to the websites whose data is being used to power those results. But many site owners say they can’t afford to block Google’s AI from summarizing their content. That’s because the Google tool that sifts thro ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140536/google-to-websites-let-us-train-our-ai-on-your-content-or-well-remove-you-from-google-search/)
2024-08-20T23:50:20Z	**FreeBSD and AMD collaborating on FreeBSD IOMMU driver**
The FreeBSD project has published its latest quarterly status report, and there’s a lot in there. The most prominent effort listed in the report is a close collaboration between FreeBSD and AMD on an IOMMU driver for AMD’s server processors. Work continued on a joint project between Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and The FreeBSD Foundation to develop a complete FreeBSD AMD IOMMU driver. This work will allow FreeBSD to fully su ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140540/freebsd-and-amd-collaborating-on-freebsd-iommu-driver/)
2024-08-21T12:47:01Z	**So you want to build an embedded Linux system?**
This article is targeted at embedded engineers who are familiar with microcontrollers but not with microprocessors or Linux, so I wanted to put together something with a quick primer on why you’d want to run embedded Linux, a broad overview of what’s involved in designing around application processors, and then a dive into some specific parts you should check out — and others you should avoid — for entry-level embedded Linux systems. ↫ J ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140546/so-you-want-to-build-an-embedded-linux-system-2/)
2024-08-21T13:09:40Z	**Automating ZFS snapshots for peace of mind**
One feature I couldn’t live without anymore is snapshots. As system administrators, we often find ourselves in situations where we’ve made a mistake, need to revert to a previous state, or need access to a log that has been rotated and disappeared. Since I started using ZFS, all of this has become incredibly simple, and I feel much more at ease when making any modifications. However, since I don’t always remember to create a manual snapshot befor ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140548/automating-zfs-snapshots-for-peace-of-mind/)
2024-08-21T21:08:44Z	**Microsoft update breaks GRUB on dual-boot systems**
Ah, secure boot, the bane of many running anything other than Windows. While it’s already been found to be utterly useless by now, it’s still a requirement for Windows 11, and ever since it became part of PCs about a decade or so ago, it’s been causing headaches for people who don’t use Windows. Yesterday, Microsoft released a patch for a two-year-old vulnerability in the GRUB bootloader, and while the company claimed it would only  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140553/microsoft-update-breaks-grub-on-dual-boot-systems/)
2024-08-22T13:25:04Z	**AMD says Microsoft’s next big Windows 11 update will improve Zen 5 CPU performance**
AMD says Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 version 24H2 update will improve performance for its new Zen 5 CPUs. The Ryzen 9000 series launched earlier this month, and failed to live up to AMD’s performance promises in most reviews. After rumors of a Windows bug, AMD has revealed that AMD-specific branch prediction code will be optimized in Windows 11 version 24H2, which  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140558/amd-says-microsofts-next-big-windows-11-update-will-improve-zen-5-cpu-performance/)
2024-08-22T14:46:15Z	**DOS’s last Stand on a modern Thinkpad: X13 Gen 1 with Intel i5-10310U**
When one thinks of modern technologies like Thunderbolt, 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet and modern CPUs, one would associate them with modern operating systems. How about DOS? It might seem impossible, however I did an experiment on a relatively modern 2020 Thinkpad and found that it can still run MS-DOS 6.22. MS-DOS 6.22 is the last standalone version of DOS released by Microsoft in June 1994. This makes ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140560/doss-last-stand-on-a-modern-thinkpad-x13-gen-1-with-intel-i5-10310u/)
2024-08-22T18:42:03Z	**Apple to let EU users set new defaults for multiple apps, delete App Store, Photos, Messages and more**
Apple is making additional changes to its app ecosystem in the European Union to comply with the terms of the Digital Markets Act. The default browser selection experience that’s already in place will be updated, Apple will allow EU users to set defaults for more types of apps, and core iOS apps like Messages and the App Store will a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140570/apple-to-let-eu-users-set-new-defaults-for-multiple-apps-delete-app-store-photos-messages-and-more/)
2024-08-22T22:57:12Z	**Linux scores a surprising gaming victory against Windows 11**
The conversation around gaming on Linux has changed significantly during the last several years. It’s a success story engineered by passionate developers working on the Linux kernel and the open-source graphics stack (and certainly bolstered by the Steam Deck). Many of them are employed by Valve and Red Hat. Many are enthusiasts volunteering their time to ensure Linux gaming continues to improve. Don’t worry, thi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140572/linux-scores-a-surprising-gaming-victory-against-windows-11/)
2024-08-24T13:49:53Z	**Ethernet history deepdive: why do we have different frame types?**
The history of Ethernet is fascinating. The reason why we have three different frame types is that DIX used the Ethernet II frame that is prevalent today, while IEEE intended to use a different frame format that could be used for different MAC layers, such as token bus, token ring, FDDI, and so on. The IEEE were also inspired by HDLC, and modeled their frame header more in alignment with the OSI reference ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140574/ethernet-history-deepdive-why-do-we-have-different-frame-types/)
2024-08-24T13:58:31Z	**They don’t make ’em like that any more: Borland Turbo Pascal 7**
All, in all, It was much easier to program for Windows using Turbo Pascal 7 than with anything else. Not only did it provide a programming model that matched the way the Windows user interface worked, the application itself had a Windows graphical interface – many Windows programming tools at that time actually ran under MSDOS, and were entirely text-based. TP 7 also had fully-graphical tools for designing the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140576/they-dont-make-em-like-that-any-more-borland-turbo-pascal-7/)
2024-08-24T20:19:12Z	**Adding 16 KB page size to Android**
A page is the granularity at which an operating system manages memory. Most CPUs today support a 4 KB page size and so the Android OS and applications have historically been built and optimized to run with a 4 KB page size. ARM CPUs support the larger 16 KB page size. When Android uses this larger page size, we observe an overall performance boost of 5-10% while using ~9% additional memory. In order to improve the operating system performance overall and to give d ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140578/adding-16-kb-page-size-to-android/)
2024-08-25T14:40:58Z	**Microsoft’s Copilot falsely accuses court reporter of crimes he covered**
German journalist Martin Bernklau typed his name and location into Microsoft’s Copilot to see how his culture blog articles would be picked up by the chatbot, according to German public broadcaster SWR. The answers shocked Bernklau. Copilot falsely claimed Bernklau had been charged with and convicted of child abuse and exploiting dependents. It also claimed that he had been involved in a dr ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140580/microsofts-copilot-falsely-accuses-court-reporter-of-crimes-he-covered/)
2024-08-25T23:37:15Z	**The Windows Control Panel being “deprecated” isn’t news**
Virtually every tech media outlet has been reporting that Microsoft is deprecating the Control Panel in Windows as if that’s some sort of big revelation we should be outraged about. They’re basing this on the following, now changed, paragraph someone found buried deep in a Windows support site somewhere: The Control Panel is a feature that’s been part of Windows for a long time. It provides a centralized location to view an ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140582/the-windows-control-panel-being-deprecated-isnt-news/)
2024-08-26T14:18:19Z	**Microsoft is bringing annoying Windows 11 Start menu ads to Windows 10**
Earlier this year, Microsoft introduced a so-called “Account Manager” for Windows 11 that appears on the screen when you click your profile picture on the Start menu. Instead of just showing you buttons for logging out, locking your device or switching profiles, it displays Microsoft 365 ads. All the actually useful buttons are now hidden behind a three-dot submenu (apparently, my 43-inch di ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140588/microsoft-is-bringing-annoying-windows-11-start-menu-ads-to-windows-10/)
2024-08-26T14:04:14Z	**No unmodified files remain from original import of OpenBSD**
The greek quiz is so obscure that it is ridiculous — noone can play this. Replace it with a new quiz about galley (ship) parts. This commit changes the LAST UNMODIFIED ORIGINAL FILE (meaning revision 1.1.1.1) from the original import that created OpenBSD on Oct 18, 1995. With this commit, we have completed an amusing mission of replacing the final parts of the original OpenBSD. We have reached OpenBSD of Theseus. ↫ ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140586/no-unmodified-files-remain-from-original-import-of-openbsd/)
2024-08-26T22:59:56Z	**Olivetti Programma 101: at the origins of the personal computer**
Due to its limited RAM of 1,920 bits, the Programma 101 was mostly a machine conceived to make arithmetic calculations – sums, subtractions, divisions, multiplications, square roots -, yet, like modern computers, it could also perform logical operations, conditional and unconditional jumps, and print the data stored in a register, all through a custom-made alphanumeric programming language. This was, in th ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140592/olivetti-programma-101-at-the-origins-of-the-personal-computer/)
2024-08-26T23:05:16Z	**Samsung will provide seven years of free Tizen OS upgrades for its AI TVs**
If you are looking to upgrade your TV and want a long-lasting option, you may consider getting a Samsung AI TV powered by Tizen OS. The reason is that Samsung announced plans to offer seven years of Tizen OS upgrades for some of its Smart TVs. ↫ Sagar Naresh Bhavsar at Neowin Since buying a dumb TV is no longer possible, you might as well get the one with the longest possible support l ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140594/samsung-will-provide-seven-years-of-free-tizen-os-upgrades-for-its-ai-tvs/)
2024-08-27T08:01:39Z	**Emulating the early Macintosh floppy drive**
I have been working on an emulator for early (Motorola 68000-powered) Macintosh computers. While implementing the disk drive, I noticed documentation was scattered and hard to find. Now that I have a working implementation, this post is my attempt to document everything in one place. ↫ Thomas Exactly what it says on the tin – everything you ever wanted to know about the disk drive on early Macintosh computers. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140599/emulating-the-early-macintosh-floppy-drive/)
2024-08-27T07:57:08Z	**How de-Googled is Lineage OS?**
On the whole, I’m satisfied that Lineage OS, as I use it, is preventing nearly all of Google’s data collection. I don’t install or use any Google services, I don’t enable A-GPS, I don’t use Chromium or the built-in browser. I could eliminate more arcane aspects of data collection – like the Internet connectivity check – if I wanted to take the trouble. I don’t think that taking reasonable precautions to avoid becoming part of Google’s data collection economy makes me a tin ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140597/how-de-googled-is-lineage-os/)
2024-08-27T22:19:56Z	**freebsd-rustdate: updating FreeBSD, but a lot faster**
This is freebsd-rustdate, a reimplementation of freebsd-update. It’s primarily written because of how slow freebsd-update is, and is written in rust because I felt like it. In usage, it’s expected to be similar, but not identical to freebsd-update. There are probably a number of minor edge-case differences I don’t even know about, but there are a number of larger ones that are intentional too. ↫ Matthew Fuller I love it when som ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140603/freebsd-rustdate-updating-freebsd-but-a-lot-faster/)
2024-08-27T22:30:51Z	**Microsoft hands over Mono to the Wine project**
Microsoft is handing over the Mono project to WineHQ, which came as a bit of a surprise announcement today. We are happy to announce that the WineHQ organization will be taking over as the stewards of the Mono Project upstream at wine-mono/Mono · GitLab (winehq.org). Source code in existing mono/mono and other repos will remain available, although repos may be archived. Binaries will remain available for up to four years. Microsoft maintain ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140605/microsoft-hands-over-mono-to-the-wine-project/)
2024-08-27T22:48:31Z	**What it takes to run The Witcher 3 on RISC-V**
The Box64 project, which allows you to run Linux x86-64 binaries on non-x86 architectures like ARM and RISC-V, has achieved a major milestone with its RISC-V backend. It’s been over a year since our last update on the state of the RISC-V backend, and we recently successfully ran The Witcher 3 on an RISC-V PC, which I believe is the first AAA game ever to run on an RISC-V machine. So I thought this would be a perfect time to write an update, a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140607/what-it-takes-to-run-the-witcher-3-on-risc-v/)
2024-08-28T22:25:13Z	**AMD branch prediction optimization for Ryzen 9000 and 7000 CPUs now available in Windows 11 23H2**
The Windows patch that’s supposed to improve Windows’ performance on AMD’s new Ryzen 9000 chips has been backported from Windows 11 24H2 to Windows 11 23H2. Now, AMD has confirmed that it’s bringing the same branch prediction optimizations to Windows 11 23H2 via backporting. The new update will be listed under the Windows Update menu in the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140615/amd-branch-prediction-optimization-for-ryzen-9000-and-7000-cpus-now-available-in-windows-11-23h2/)
2024-08-28T22:34:11Z	**The journey of an internet packet: exploring networks with traceroute**
The internet is a complex network of routers, switches, and computers, and when we try to connect to a server, our packets go through many routers before reaching the destination. If one of these routers is misconfigured or down, the packet can be dropped, and we can’t reach the destination. In this post, we will see how traceroute works, and how it can help us diagnose network problems. ↫ Seba ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140617/the-journey-of-an-internet-packet-exploring-networks-with-traceroute/)
2024-08-28T22:47:07Z	**When EV startups shut down, will their cars still work?**
When one of China’s once-popular electric vehicle startups went bust, car owners encountered an unexpected problem: Their vehicles went “offline.” Richard Qian didn’t know what to expect when he heard that WM Motor, a Shanghai-based EV maker popular for its low prices, filed for bankruptcy in October 2023. He tried to drive his compact EX5 SUV as he normally would, but discovered that he could no longer log into WM Motor’s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140619/when-ev-startups-shut-down-will-their-cars-still-work/)
2024-08-29T15:16:05Z	**GNU Screen 5.0 released**
I don’t use GNU Screen so I don’t have much to say here, but I do know it’s a popular tool among the kind of people who read OSNews, so a new major release should be covered here. In case you’re not aware, “Screen is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes, typically interactive shells”. Basically, it’s window manager for terminals. You can download the tarball yourself, or just wait until the update hits your distribution of choice ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140626/gnu-screen-5-0-released/)
2024-08-29T19:49:55Z	**Japan’s real first console? Bandai’s TV Jack 5000**
The Epoch Cassette Vision is often reported as the first Japanese cartridge-based game console. But reality is always a bit more complicated. In 1978, years before the Cassette Vision, two Japanese companies put together cartridge-based game consoles that were unique to Japan, but relied on technology and chips licensed from American firms. And hey, despite my whirlwind tour of Pong consoles, I never looked at GI chips. Behold, the \*b ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140628/japans-real-first-console-bandais-tv-jack-5000/)
2024-08-29T21:42:59Z	**Make your own CDN with OpenBSD base and just 2 packages**
The internet today relies TOO MUCH on just a few big players. When one of them stops working, half the world is impacted because too many services, in my opinion, depend on them. “Too big to fail,” some might say. “Single Point of Failure,” I respond.” The strength of the internet has always been its extreme decentralization, which is now less evident due to this phenomenon. In this article, I want to show how easy it is ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140631/make-your-own-cdn-with-openbsd-base-and-just-2-packages/)
2024-08-29T23:13:00Z	**Can you convert a video to pure CSS?**
He regularly shares cool examples of fancy css animations. At the time of writing his focus has been on css scroll animations. I guess there are some new properties that allow playing a css animation based on the scroll position. Apple has been using this on their marketing pages or so jhehy says. The property seems pretty powerful. But how powerful? This got me thinking… Could it play a video as pure css? ↫ David Gerrells The answer is yes. This is so cursed ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140633/can-you-convert-a-video-to-pure-css/)
2024-08-30T14:44:08Z	**End of the road: an AnandTech farewell**
I hate this timeline. It is with great sadness that I find myself penning the hardest news post I’ve ever needed to write here at AnandTech. After over 27 years of covering the wide – and wild – word of computing hardware, today is AnandTech’s final day of publication. For better or worse, we’ve reached the end of a long journey – one that started with a review of an AMD processor, and has ended with the review of an AMD processor. It’s fittingly poetic,  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140635/end-of-the-road-an-anandtech-farewell/)
2024-08-30T15:10:17Z	**NSA releases copy of internal lecture delivered by computing giant Rear Adm. Grace Hopper**
In one of the more unique public proactive transparency record releases for the National Security Agency (NSA) to date, NSA has released a digital copy of a lecture that then-Capt. Grace Hopper gave agency employees on August 19, 1982. The lecture, “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People,” features Capt. Hopper discussing some of the p ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140637/nsa-releases-copy-of-internal-lecture-delivered-by-computing-giant-rear-adm-grace-hopper/)
2024-08-30T18:24:57Z	**Microsoft quietly makes controversial Recall feature uninstallable**
After spending a few months in complete radio silence about Recall, Microsoft finally emerged with a statement that its controversial feature will make a comeback later this year, in October, to be more precise. In preparation for the release, Microsoft quietly made a big change in Windows 11 version 24H2 on Copilot+ PCs, namely, adding the ability to uninstall Recall (via Deskmodder). ↫ Taras Buria ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140639/microsoft-quietly-makes-controversial-recall-feature-uninstallable/)
2024-08-31T21:00:49Z	**Here’s 22 examples of Google employees trying to avoid creating evidence for court**
In its antitrust case against Google, the Federal Government filed a list of chats it had obtained that show Google employees explicitly asking each other to turn off a chat history feature to discuss sensitive subjects, showing repeatedly that Google workers understood they should try to avoid creating a paper trail of some of their activities.  The filing came follow ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140642/heres-22-examples-of-google-employees-trying-to-avoid-creating-evidence-for-court/)
2024-09-01T13:38:04Z	**Servo gets tabbed browsing, Windows improvements, and more**
If you’re reading this, you did a good job surviving another month, and that means we’ve got another monthly update from the Servo project, the Rust-based browser engine originally started by Mozilla. The major new feature this month is tabbed browsing in the Servo example browser, as well as extensive improvements for Servo on Windows. Servo-the-browser now has a redesigned toolbar and tabbed browsing! This includes ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140645/servo-gets-tabbed-browsing-windows-improvements-and-more/)
2024-09-01T14:40:35Z	**Heliography in darkness**
Telegram doesn’t hold up to the promise of being private, nor secure. The end-to-end encryption is opt-in, only applies to one-on-one conversations and uses a controversial ‘homebrewn’ encryption algorithm. The rest of this article outlines some of the fundamentally broken aspects of Telegram. ↫ h3artbl33d Telegram is not a secure messenger, nor is it a platform you should want to be on. Chats are not encrypted by default, and are stored in plain text on Telegram’s server. Only chats ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140647/heliography-in-darkness/)
2024-09-02T18:10:15Z	**Microsoft says its Recall uninstall option in Windows 11 is just a bug**
Despite reports to the contrary, Microsoft has stated that Recall will not be uninstallable after all. The feature did show up in the Windows Features dialog, but apparently, that was a bug. “We are aware of an issue where Recall is incorrectly listed as an option under the ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ dialog in Control Panel,” says Windows senior product manager Brandon LeBlanc in a st ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140649/microsoft-says-its-recall-uninstall-option-in-windows-11-is-just-a-bug/)
2024-09-02T19:59:37Z	**The Mouse programming language on CP/M**
Mouse is an interpreted stack orientated language designed by Peter Grogono around 1975. It was designed to be a small but powerful language for microcomputers, similar to Forth, but much simpler. One obvious difference to Forth is that Mouse interprets a stream of characters most of which are only a single character and it relies more on variables rather than rearranging the stack as much. The version for CP/M on the Walnut Creek CD is quite small at on ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140651/the-mouse-programming-language-on-cp-m/)
2024-09-02T21:00:58Z	**What we can learn from vintage computing**
Thanks to open source, no technology ever has to become obsolete, so long as a community remains to support it. You can sync Newtons and Palm Pilots with modern desktops, download web browsers for long-discontinued operating systems, or connect vintage computers like the Apple IIe to the modern internet via WiFi. Every year, new cartridges are released for old-school video game consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy. People keep ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140653/what-we-can-learn-from-vintage-computing/)
2024-09-03T15:16:16Z	**Pitch deck gives new details on company’s plan to listen to your devices for ad targeting**
For years now, people believe that their smartphones are listening to their conversations through their microphones, all the time, even when the microphone is clearly not activated. Targeted advertising lies at the root of this conviction; when you just had a conversation with a friend about buying a pink didgeridoo and a flanel ukelele, and you then get  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140661/pitch-deck-gives-new-details-on-companys-plan-to-listen-to-your-devices-for-ad-targeting/)
2024-09-03T14:57:14Z	**You have installed OpenBSD, now for the daily tasks**
Since we’re on the topic of BSD, what about yet another helpful guide on what to do after first installing OpenBSD? We’ve covered a few of these already, but more can never hurt, and OpenBSD is a great platform that would suit a lot more of us than you might think. Despite some persistent rumors, installing OpenBSD is both quick and easy on most not too exotic hardware. But once the thing is installed, what is daily life with the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140659/you-have-installed-openbsd-now-for-the-daily-tasks/)
2024-09-03T14:48:43Z	**Make your own CDN with NetBSD**
After covering setting up your own CDN with both FreeBSD and OpenBSD, it’s now time to learn how to set up your own CDN wit NetBSD. This article is a spin-off from a previous post on how to create a self-hosted CDN, but this time we’ll focus on using NetBSD. NetBSD is a lightweight, stable, and secure operating system that supports a wide range of hardware, making it an excellent choice for a caching reverse proxy. Devices that other operating systems may soon abandon, su ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140657/make-your-own-cdn-with-netbsd/)
2024-09-04T14:28:30Z	**Apple Helped Nix Part of a Child Safety Bill. More Fights Are Expected.**
Kim Carver, a legislator in the US state of Louisiana, added a provision to a child safety bill forcing Apple and Google to enforce age restrictions on downloads in their application stores. In other words, it would force Apple to make sure minors could not download gambling and casino applications – i.e., 99% of mobile games – that make up the vast majority of Apple’s services revenue. It w ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140664/apple-helped-nix-part-of-a-child-safety-bill-more-fights-are-expected/)
2024-09-04T20:47:05Z	**Programming the Convergent WorkSlate’s spreadsheet microcassette future**
That’s the 1983 Convergent WorkSlate, a one-of-a-kind handheld system from some misty alternate history where VisiCalc ruled the earth. Indeed, even the “software” packages Convergent shipped for it — on microcassette, which could store voice memos and data — were nothing more than cells and formulas in a worksheet. The built-in modem let you exchange data with other Workslates (or even spe ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140669/programming-the-convergent-workslates-spreadsheet-microcassette-future/)
2024-09-04T23:04:15Z	**Android 15 is released to AOSP**
Today we’re releasing Android 15 and making the source code available at the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Android 15 will be available on supported Pixel devices in the coming weeks, as well as on select devices from Samsung, Honor, iQOO, Lenovo, Motorola, Nothing, OnePlus, Oppo, realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo, and Xiaomi in the coming months. We’re proud to continue our work in open source through the AOSP. Open source allows anyone to build upon and contribut ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140672/android-15-is-released-to-aosp/)
2024-09-05T19:26:43Z	**Porting systemd to musl libc-powered Linux**
A. Wilcox, the original creator of Adélie Linux, has ported systemd to musl, the glibc alternative. I have completed an initial new port of systemd to musl. This patch set does not share much in common with the existing OpenEmbedded patchset. I wanted to make a fully updated patch series targeting more current releases of systemd and musl, taking advantage of the latest features and updates in both. I also took a focus on writing patches that cou ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140675/porting-systemd-to-musl-libc-powered-linux/)
2024-09-05T19:47:06Z	**The Internet Archive just lost its appeal over ebook lending**
The Internet Archive has lost its appeal in a fight to lend out scanned ebooks without the approval of publishers. In a decision on Wednesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that permitting the Internet Archive’s digital library would “allow for widescale copying that deprives creators of compensation and diminishes the incentive to produce new works.” The decision is another blow to the nonprofit in ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140678/the-internet-archive-just-lost-its-appeal-over-ebook-lending/)
2024-09-05T20:26:56Z	**A Windows Control Panel retrospective amidst a concerning UX shift**
Unsurprisingly, this change has not been met with a lot of enthusiasm by the average Windows user, and with Microsoft now officially recommending users migrate over to the Settings app, it seems that before long we may have to say farewell to what used to be an intrinsic part of the Windows operating system since its first iterations. Yet bizarrely, much of the Control Panel functionality doesn’t ex ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140680/a-windows-control-panel-retrospective-amidst-a-concerning-ux-shift/)
2024-09-05T20:26:56Z	**A Windows Control Panel retrospective amidst a concerning UX shift**
Unsurprisingly, this change has not been met with a lot of enthusiasm by the average Windows user, and with Microsoft now officially recommending users migrate over to the Settings app, it seems that before long we may have to say farewell to what used to be an intrinsic part of the Windows operating system since its first iterations. Yet bizarrely, much of the Control Panel functionality doesn’t ex ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140680/a-windows-control-panel-retrospective-amidst-a-concerning-ux-shift/)
2024-09-05T22:16:18Z	**Windows App SDK 1.6 released**
We are proud to announce that version 1.6 of the Windows App SDK is now available! Whether you’re looking for the incredible performance boost and footprint reduction of Native AOT support, enhancements for deploying your package, or quality of life improvements for controls like PipsPager and RatingControl, WinAppSDK 1.6 offers a raft of new features, performance boosts and structural changes that enable you to make your native Windows apps better than ever before.  The Wi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140682/windows-app-sdk-1-6-released/)
2024-09-06T20:32:14Z	**Xmem and FVWM**
So given that, xmem can be useful as a monitoring tool. Fluffy (my main server) runs both squid and apache, and given that fluffy only has 64MB of RAM, things can get a little cramped. If I suddenly see that the whole of xmem turns blue (i.e. the swap file’s thrashing), then I know that something is odd, and I can easily find out which processes are eating up so much RAM. I said earlier that xmem can brighten up one’s desktop. Indeed, as I use FVWM in a rather archaic fashion, it seems fitting I should  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140686/xmem-and-fvwm/)
2024-09-07T21:27:09Z	**Keyhole: a highly effective Windows DRM bypass also present on the Xbox One**
The MAS project, a group of people working on an open source Windows and Office activator featuring HWID, Ohook, KMS38, and Online KMS activation methods, discovered quite a neat and interesting bug in the code responsible for licensing in Windows. In our ongoing work to bypass Windows licensing checks, we occasionally stumble upon bugs that we choose to keep secret. This decision a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140689/keyhole-a-highly-effective-windows-drm-bypass-also-present-on-the-xbox-one/)
2024-09-09T00:05:01Z	**RISC Laptops of the 90s and early 2000s**
Paul Weissmann’s OpenPA, the invaluable archive on anything related to the HP’s PA-RISC architecture, devices, and operating systems, has branched off for a bit and started collecting information on RISC laptops. Technical computing in the 1990s was mostly done on RISC workstations with Unix operating systems and specialized applications. For mobile use cases, some of the popular RISC vendors built RISC Laptops for mobile Unix use in the 1990s. Often b ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140693/risc-laptops-of-the-90s-and-early-2000s/)
2024-09-09T09:39:03Z	**KDE to focus on improving developer experience, input methods**
The KDE project is currently having its yearly conference – Akademy – and at the conference, the project announced its goals for the coming years. The KDE community has charted its course for the coming years, focusing on three interconnected paths that converge on a single point: community. These paths aim to improve user experience, support developers, and foster community growth. ↫ Farid Abdelnour on the KD ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140697/kde-to-focus-on-improving-developer-experience-input-methods/)
2024-09-09T10:33:48Z	**Linux’s bedtime routine**
How does Linux move from an awake machine to a hibernating one? How does it then manage to restore all state? These questions led me to read way too much C in trying to figure out how this particular hardware/software boundary is navigated. ↫ Jacob Adams So this is a lot deeper of a dive than I expected, and it blows my mind just how complex sleep, hibernating, and waking a computer really is. Instinctively you know this, but seeing it spelled out like this really drives that point ho ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140700/linuxs-bedtime-routine/)
2024-09-09T10:33:48Z	**Linux’s bedtime routine**
How does Linux move from an awake machine to a hibernating one? How does it then manage to restore all state? These questions led me to read way too much C in trying to figure out how this particular hardware/software boundary is navigated. ↫ Jacob Adams So this is a lot deeper of a dive than I expected, and it blows my mind just how complex sleep, hibernating, and waking a computer really is. Instinctively you know this, but seeing it spelled out like this really drives that point ho ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140700/linuxs-bedtime-routine/)
2024-09-09T16:32:13Z	**AppSumo: this week’s sponsor**
AppSumo is a marketplace where software developers and other entrepreneurs can launch their products, giving special offers to early adopters. Many AppSumo deals offer lifetime licenses, so you can throw in your support for an up-and-coming product and be rewarded with a deal-for-life that will save you up to 95% compared to paying monthly. If you’re a developer, AppSumo is a great way to get attention for your launch, and quickly find a cohort of savvy paying customers. AppS ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140709/appsumo-this-weeks-sponsor/)
2024-09-09T19:44:38Z	**Redox 0.9.0 released**
It’s been two years, but we finally have a proper new Redox release: the Redox team released version 0.9.0 today. Since we’ve been covering all the monthly progress reports from this Rust-based operating system for a long time now, we’ve already covered most of the improvements in this new release, so if you’ve been following along there shouldn’t be any major surprises in here, but let’s do a quick summary anyway just so we’re all up to speed. I think the primary thing anyone moving from  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140715/redox-0-9-0-released/)
2024-09-10T07:30:09Z	**AMD deprioritizing flagship gaming GPUs**
I had a chance to speak to Jack Huynh, AMD’s senior vice president and general manager of the Computing and Graphics Business Group, during IFA 2024 in a question and answer session. Due to speculation that AMD won’t launch flagship GPUs for its next-gen lineup, I pressed Huynh for information regarding the company’s plans for the high-end GPU market with the RDNA 4-powered Radeon RX 8000-series. His comments sketch out a plan focused specifically on g ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140718/amd-deprioritizing-flagship-gaming-gpus/)
2024-09-10T18:43:11Z	**Make your own read-only device with NetBSD**
For certain use cases, it’s advisable to set up a read-only root file system, which ensures better reliability in case of system issues. Think of scenarios like a router (critical for network access) or a caching reverse-proxy, such as the one described in my series “Make your own CDN“. While FreeBSD natively supports this configuration and some Linux distributions offer custom solutions (e.g., Alpine Linux), NetBSD stands out as an excellent cho ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140723/make-your-own-read-only-device-with-netbsd/)
2024-09-10T19:05:40Z	**MNT unveils MNT Reform Next**
Earlier this year, I reviewed the excellent and unique MNT Reform laptop, an (almost) fully open source, very hackable laptop. MNT has just unveiled the upcoming follow-up to the Reform, called the Reform Next. Being highly performant, modular, and upgradeable, MNT Reform Next gives you more freedom than any other laptop. Swap modules, print your own case, customize your keyboard. Since we are committed to open hardware, all sources are public. While Classic MNT Reform is a p ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140725/mnt-unveils-mnt-reform-next/)
2024-09-10T21:56:23Z	**Rust on illumos**
With the recent Rust in Linux events in the last couple of days, it’s a good time to write up Rust in illumos. Both to spread the word a bit and also to set expectations for both sides (Rust and illumos/OpenIndiana devs) what is currently possible and what work would need to be invested to make things smooth. And also to let the Rust community know about what illumos people were talking about. What most of the talk currently is about, are the technical details. But we must not leave the social aspec ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140727/rust-on-illumos/)
2024-09-11T00:16:58Z	**Mozilla extends Firefox support on unsupported Windows versions to March 2025**
Not too long ago, Mozilla announced it was going to extend its support for Windows 7, and was mulling over extending support for Windows 8.x as well, without providing any time frames or details. Well, we’ve got the details now. According to the Firefox Release Calendar website, Firefox 115 ESR, the latest Firefox version with support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, will continue re ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140729/mozilla-extends-firefox-support-on-unsupported-windows-versions-to-march-2025/)
2024-09-11T13:38:13Z	**Chrome-based browsers highlight the risks of using third-party Firefox-based browsers**
And the hits just keep on coming. After buying an ad tech company and working with Facebook to weaken Firefox’ privacy features, Mozilla is now integrating AI chatbots straight into Firefox with the recent release of Firefox 130. People are understandably big mad about this, and as such the calls for switching to alternatives is growing stronger. Considering the ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140733/chrome-based-browsers-highlight-the-risks-of-using-third-party-firefox-based-browsers/)
2024-09-11T22:01:17Z	**‘Holy smokes, I just released a MiniGolf game for Palm OS in 2024’**
This summer, I embarked on a side project to create a brand-new Palm OS game, and after less than two months of intermittent coding, I’m excited to announce that it’s ready to be released to the public! ↫ Captain’s Quarters The game in question is a top-down minigolf game, and works on devices running Palm OS 3.5 and higher, in both monochrome and colour, and there’s high-resolution support for devices ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140735/holy-smokes-i-just-released-a-minigolf-game-for-palm-os-in-2024/)
2024-09-11T22:43:06Z	**Android applications can now block being sideloaded**
It seems Google is hell-bent on removing anything from Android that makes the platform stand apart from iOS. One of the features of Android and the Play Store that users of rooted and/or de-Googled phones will be familiar with is SafetyNet Attestation, something that Android applications can use to check, among other things, if the device it’s running on is rooted or not, and take any action from there based on that information. ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140737/android-applications-can-now-block-being-sideloaded/)
2024-09-13T12:43:37Z	**Microsoft vaguely gestures in the general direction of giving security vendors more userspace tools**
The consequences of the massive CrowdStrike failure for Windows are slowly coming into focus. Microsoft recently held a security summit with some of the large security software vendors, and the company is making several rather vague promises about what it’s going to do to make sure an incident like CrowdStrike never happens again. A k ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140741/microsoft-vaguely-gestures-in-the-general-direction-of-giving-security-vendors-more-userspace-tools/)
2024-09-13T18:42:43Z	**Google finally unveils its take on freeform windowing on Android**
To empower tablet users to get more done, we’re enhancing freeform windowing, allowing them to run multiple apps simultaneously and resize windows for optimal multitasking. Today, we’re excited to share that desktop windowing on Android tablets is available in developer preview. For app developers, the concept of Android apps running in freeform windows has already existed with solutions like Samsung De ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140743/google-finally-unveils-its-take-on-freeform-windowing-on-android/)
2024-09-13T19:48:01Z	**Haiku R1/beta5 released**
It’s always a lovely day when it’s a Haiku release day – and sadly, those don’t come very often. Of course, Haiku’s nightlies tend to be rather solid so an official release isn’t really a must if you want to use Haiku, but if you were holding out for something more stable: Haiku has just released its fifth beta, Haiku R1/beta5. We’ve covered most of the new features and changes as they were developed, but since it’s been so long since the previous beta, we should cover some of the hi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140746/haiku-r1-beta5-released/)
2024-09-15T20:00:54Z	**Linux 6.11 released**
Linus Torvalds just tagged the Linux 6.11 kernel as stable. There are many changes and new features in Linux 6.11 including numerous AMD CPU and GPU improvements, preparations for upcoming Intel platforms, initial block atomic write support for NVMe and SCSI drives, the DRM Panic infrastructure can now display a monochrome logo if desired, easier support for building Pacman kernel packages for Arch Linux, DeviceTree files for initial Snapdragon X1 laptops, and much more. ↫ Michael Larabel Es ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140749/linux-6-11-released/)
2024-09-16T10:54:00Z	**Chrome on the Mac uses less battery than Safari**
It’s one of the most pervasive common wisdoms shared all over the web, no matter where you go – it’s one of those things everybody seems to universally agree on: Chrome will absolutely devastate your battery life on the Mac, and you should really be using Safari, because Apple’s special integration magic pixie dust sprinkles ensures Safari sips instead of gulps electricity. Whether you read random forum posters, Apple PR spokespeople, o ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140751/chrome-on-the-mac-uses-less-battery-than-safari/)
2024-09-16T19:51:44Z	**Apple releases iOS/iPadOS 18, macOS 15, and a ton more**
It’s Apple operating system release day, so if you’re in the Apple ecosystem, it’s like Christmas morning, but for your devices. The two major platforms are, of course, iOS/iPadOS 18: ‌iOS 18‌ adds new customization options for the Home Screen, with the option to arrange apps and widgets with open spaces and add new tints to app icons. Control Center has been entirely overhauled with support for multiple pages, third-party c ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140756/apple-releases-ios-ipados-18-macos-15-and-a-ton-more/)
2024-09-16T23:37:20Z	**Releasing Windows as open source is the only viable way forward for Microsoft, and it’s going happen**
Last week, Julio Merino published an article I wish someone had written ages ago: a fair, unbiased look at the differences between Windows NT in its original form and UNIX roughly at the time of the initial releases of Windows NT. Merino, who has a long career in tech and has made contributions to several operating systems, does a gre ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140755/releasing-windows-as-open-source-is-the-only-viable-way-forward-for-microsoft-and-its-going-happen/)
2024-09-17T19:03:40Z	**A brief history of QuickTime**
We all know about the Desktop Publishing revolution that the first Macs and their PostScript LaserWriter printers brought in the late 1980s, but many have now forgotten the Desktop Video revolution that followed in the next decade. At its heart was support for multimedia in Apple’s QuickTime. QuickTime isn’t a single piece of software, or even an API in Classic Mac OS, but a whole architecture to support almost any media format you could conceive of. It defines container an ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140760/a-brief-history-of-quicktime/)
2024-09-17T21:17:47Z	**Things you really should know about Windows Input, but would rather not**
Are you developing a game for Windows, and are you working on input handling? At first, it could reasonably be assumed that mouse and keyboard should be the simplest parts of this to deal with, but in reality, they are not – at least if we are talking about Windows. In fact, several extremely popular AAA games ship with severe mouse input issues when specific high-end mice are used, and som ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140762/things-you-really-should-know-about-windows-input-but-would-rather-not/)
2024-09-17T21:45:14Z	**FreeBSD 13.4 released**
FreeBSD 13.4 has been released. This is already the fifth release in the FreeBSD 13 series, and contains the usual set of security fixes, driver updates, important updated packages, like openssh, LLVM, clang, and so on. If you’re running FreeBSD 13, you already know how to upgrade, and if you want to start using FreeBSD 13, here’s the download page. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140764/freebsd-13-4-released/)
2024-09-18T09:52:55Z	**Intel to spin off its chipmaking business**
Intel’s woes are far from over. Pat Gelsinger, the company’s CEO, has announced that Intel’s chipmaking business will be spun off and turned into a separate company. A subsidiary structure will unlock important benefits. It provides our external foundry customers and suppliers with clearer separation and independence from the rest of Intel. Importantly, it also gives us future flexibility to evaluate independent sources of funding and optimize the  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140767/intel-to-spin-off-its-chipmaking-business/)
2024-09-18T19:51:02Z	**GNOME 47 released with accent colours and completely new open/save file dialogs**
The GNOME project has released their newest major version, GNOME 47, and while it’s not the most groundbreaking release, there’s still a ton of good stuff in here. Two features really stand our, with the first one being the addition of accent colours. Instead of being locked into the default GNOME blue accent colour, you can now choose between a variety of colours, which is ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140769/gnome-47-released-with-accent-colours-and-completely-new-open-save-file-dialogs/)
2024-09-19T10:47:27Z	**European Commission to order Apple to take interoperability measures after company refuses to comply with DMA**
The European Commission has taken the next step in forcing Apple to comply with the Digital Markets Act. The EC has started two so-called specification proceedings, in which they can more or less order Apple exactly what it needs to do to comply with the DMA – in this case covering the interoperability obligation s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140771/european-commission-to-order-apple-to-take-interoperability-measures-after-company-refuses-to-comply-with-dma/)
2024-09-19T20:21:40Z	**DirectX adopting SPIR-V as the interchange format of the future**
As we look to the future, maintaining a proprietary IR format (even one based on an open-source project) is counter to our commitments to open technologies, so Shader Model 7.0 will adopt SPIR-V as its interchange format. Over the next few years, we will be working to define a SPIR-V environment for Direct3D, and a set of SPIR-V extensions to support all of Direct3D’s current and future shader programming ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140773/directx-adopting-spir-v-as-the-interchange-format-of-the-future/)
2024-09-19T21:11:57Z	**Nintendo and The Pokémon Company file patent lawsuit against maker of hit game Palworld**
Nintendo, together with The Pokémon Company, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, Inc. on September 18, 2024. This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights. ↫ Ninten ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140775/nintendo-and-the-pokemon-company-file-patent-lawsuit-against-maker-of-hit-game-palworld/)
2024-09-20T20:01:51Z	**Why Apple uses JPEG XL in the iPhone 16 and what it means for your hotos**
The iPhone 16 family has arrived and includes many new features, some of which Apple has played very close to its vest. One such improvement is the inclusion of JPEG XL file types, which promise improved image quality compared to standard JPEG files while delivering relatively smaller file sizes. Overall, JPEG XL addresses many of JPEG’s shortcomings. The 30-year-old format is not very e ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140781/why-apple-uses-jpeg-xl-in-the-iphone-16-and-what-it-means-for-your-hotos/)
2024-09-20T20:38:37Z	**Slowly booting full Linux on the Intel 4004 for fun, art, and absolutely no profit**
Can you run Linux on the Intel 4004, the first commercially produced microprocessor, released to the world in 1971? Well, Dmitry Grinberg, the genius engineer who got Linux to run on all kinds of incredibly underpowered hardware, sought to answer this very important question. In short, yes, you can run Linux on the 4004, but much as with other extremely limited and bare ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140783/slowly-booting-full-linux-on-the-intel-4004-for-fun-art-and-absolutely-no-profit/)
2024-09-20T23:48:29Z	**Qualcomm wants to buy Intel**
On Friday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reported Intel had been approached by fellow chip giant Qualcomm about a possible takeover. While any deal is described as “far from certain,” according to the paper’s unnamed sources, it would represent a tremendous fall for a company that had been the most valuable chip company in the world, based largely on its x86 processor technology that for years had triumphed over Qualcomm’s Arm chips outside of the phone space. ↫ Richard L ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140786/qualcomm-wants-to-buy-intel/)
2024-09-23T21:38:05Z	**Disable Sequoia’s monthly screen recording permission prompt**
The widely–reported “foo is requesting to bypass the system private window picker and directly access your screen and audio” prompt in Sequoia (which Apple has moved from daily to weekly to now monthly) can be disabled by quitting the app, setting the system date far into the future, opening and using the affected app to trigger the nag, clicking “Allow For One Month”, then restoring the correct date. ↫ tinyapps ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140793/disable-sequoias-monthly-screen-recording-permission-prompt/)
2024-09-23T22:26:44Z	**Microsoft deprecates Windows Server Update Services, suggests cloud services instead**
As part of our vision for simplified Windows management from the cloud, Microsoft has announced deprecation of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). Specifically, this means that we are no longer investing in new capabilities, nor are we accepting new feature requests for WSUS. However, we are preserving current functionality and will continue to publish updates t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140796/microsoft-deprecates-windows-server-update-services-suggests-cloud-services-instead/)
2024-09-25T13:39:53Z	**OpenBSD now enforcing no invalid NUL characters in shell scripts**
Our favorite operating system is now changing the default shell (ksh) to enforce not allowing invalid NUL characters in input that will be parsed as parts of the script. ↫ Undeadly.org As someone who doesn’t deal with stuff like this – I rarely actively use shell scripts – it seems kind of insane to me that this wasn’t the norm since the beginning. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140799/openbsd-now-enforcing-no-invalid-nul-characters-in-shell-scripts/)
2024-09-25T14:00:30Z	**What happened to the Japanese PC platforms?**
The other day a friend asked me a pretty interesting question: what happened to all those companies who made those Japanese computer platforms that were never released outside Japan? I thought it’d be worth expanding that answer into a full-size post. ↫ Misty De Meo Japan had a number of computer makers that sold platforms that looked and felt like western PCs, but were actually quite different hardware-wise, and incompatible with the IBM PC. No ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140801/what-happened-to-the-japanese-pc-platforms/)
2024-09-26T20:10:41Z	**Eliminating memory safety vulnerabilities at the source**
The push towards memory safe programming languages is strong, and for good reason. However, especially for bigger projects with a lot of code that potentially needs to be rewritten or replaced, you might question if all the effort is even worth it, particularly if all the main contributors would also need to be retrained. Well, it turns out that merely just focusing on writing new code in a memory safe language will dras ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140805/eliminating-memory-safety-vulnerabilities-at-the-source/)
2024-09-27T22:55:41Z	**Notice**
Just want to let y’all know that my family and I have been hit hard with bronchitis these past two weeks, and especially my recovery is going quite slowly (our kids are healthy again, and my wife is recovering quite well!). As such, I haven’t been able to do much OSNews work. I hope things will finally clear up a bit over the weekend so that I can resume normal service come Monday. Enjoy your weekend, y’all! ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140807/notice/)
2024-09-30T05:12:56Z	**Tcl/Tk 9.0 released**
Tcl 9.0 and Tk 9.0 – usually lumped together as Tcl/Tk – have been released. Tcl 9.0 brings 64bit compatibility so it can address data values larger than 2 GB, better Unicode support, support for mounting ZIP files as file systems, and much, much more. Tk 9.0 gets support for scalable vector graphics, much better platform integration with things like system trays, gestures, and so on, and much more. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140822/tcl-tk-9-0-released/)
2024-09-30T05:26:44Z	**COSMIC alpha 2 released**
System76, the premiere Linux computer manufacturer and creator of the COSMIC desktop environment, has updated COSMIC’s Alpha release to Alpha 2. The latest release includes more Settings pages, the bulk of functionality for COSMIC Files, highly requested window management features, and considerable infrastructure work for screen reader support, as well as some notable bug fixes. ↫ system76’s blog The pace of development for COSMIC remains solid, even after the first alpha release. Th ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140824/cosmic-alpha-2-released/)
2024-09-30T13:54:05Z	**California’s new law forces digital stores to admit you’re just licensing content, not buying it**
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a law (AB 2426) to combat “disappearing” purchases of digital games, movies, music, and ebooks. The legislation will force digital storefronts to tell customers they’re just getting a license to use the digital media, rather than suggesting they actually own it. When the law comes into effect next ye ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140826/californias-new-law-forces-digital-stores-to-admit-youre-just-licensing-content-not-buying-it/)
2024-09-30T20:58:13Z	**Arch Linux and Valve deepen ties with direct collaboration**
When Valve took its second major crack at making Steam machines happen, in the form of the Steam Deck, one of the big surprises was the company’s choice to base the Linux operating system the Steam Deck uses on Arch Linux, instead of the Debian base it was using before. It seems this choice is not only benefiting Valve, but also Arch. We are excited to announce that Arch Linux is entering into a direct collaboratio ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140832/arch-linux-and-valve-deepen-ties-with-direct-collaboration/)
2024-10-01T06:06:05Z	**IBM PC 5150 model numbers**
Recently I came across a minor mystery—the model numbers of the original IBM PC. For such a pivotal product, there is remarkably little detailed original information from the early days. ↫ Michal Necasek Count me surprised. When I think IBM, I think meticulously documented and detailed bureaucracy, where every screw, nut, and bolt is numbered, documented, and tracked, so much so in fact this all-American company even managed to impress the Germans. You’d expect IBM, of all compan ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140838/ibm-pc-5150-model-numbers/)
2024-10-01T13:30:44Z	**FreeBSD to invest in laptop support**
FreeBSD is going to take its desktop use quite a bit more seriously going forward. FreeBSD has long been a top choice for IT professionals and organizations focused on servers and networking, and it is known for its unmatched stability, performance, and security. However, as technology evolves, FreeBSD faces a significant challenge: supporting modern laptops. To address this, the FreeBSD Foundation and Quantum Leap Research has committed $750,000 to improve la ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140841/freebsd-to-invest-in-laptop-support/)
2024-10-02T18:18:19Z	**Nobody knows what happened within the MMC Association in 1998**
In 1999, some members from the MMC Association decided to split and create SD Association. But nobody seems to exactly know why. ↫ sdomi’s webpage I don’t even know how to summarise any of this research, because it’s not only a lot of information, it’s also deeply bureaucratic and boring – it takes a certain kind of person to enjoy this sort of stuff, and I happen to fit the bill. This is a great read. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140846/nobody-knows-what-happened-within-the-mmc-association-in-1998/)
2024-10-03T13:45:29Z	**Windows 11 version 24H2 is now available for download**
Windows 11 2024 Update, also known as version 24H2, is now publicly available. Microsoft announced the rollout alongside the new AI-powered features that are coming soon to Windows Insiders with Copilot+ PCs and Copilot upgrades. Unlike recent Windows 11 updates, version 24H2 is a “full operating system swap,” so updating to it will take more time than usual. What is going as usual is the way the update is being offered to u ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140848/windows-11-version-24h2-is-now-available-for-download/)
2024-10-03T14:16:45Z	**Redox’ progress in September 2024**
Hot on the heels of releasing Redox 0.9.0, the team is back with yet another monthly update. Understandably, it’s not as massive of an update as other months, but there’s still more than enough here. There’s the usual bug fixes and small changes, but also more work on the port to RISC-V, the QEMU port (as in, running QEMU on Redox), a bunch of improvements to Relibc, and a lot more. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140850/redox-progress-in-september-2024/)
2024-10-03T20:39:39Z	**Samsung is porting Tizen to RISC-V**
In case you missed it at the 2024 Samsung Developer Conference today, our partners at Samsung Visual Display discussed the work they have been doing to port the Tizen operating system to RISC-V. Tizen is an open-source operating system (OS) that is used in many Samsung smart T.V.s and it makes sense that they would look to the fast growing, global open-standard RISC-V to develop future systems. The presentation showed the results of efforts at both companies to  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140852/samsung-is-porting-tizen-to-risc-v/)
2024-10-04T19:27:29Z	**How can we make FreeBSD more attractive to new users?**
For nearly 15 years, FreeBSD has been at the core of my personal infrastructure, and my passion for it has only grown over time. As a die-hard fan, I’ve stuck with BSD-based systems because they continue to deliver exactly what I need—storage, networking, and security—without missing a beat. The features I initially fell in love with, like ZFS, jails, and pf, are still rock-solid and irreplaceable. There’s no need to overhaul ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140857/how-can-we-make-freebsd-more-attractive-to-new-users/)
2024-10-04T19:38:12Z	**Google is killing its one-click app to run Chrome OS in a VM on Android devices**
Remember earlier this year, when Android Authority discovered Google was experimenting with letting you run full Chrome OS on your Android device? In case you were wondering if that particular piece of spaghetti was sticking to the wall, I’m sorry to disappoint you it isn’t. Despite creating the Ferrochrome launcher app, which would’ve made the whole thing a one-click affai ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140859/google-is-killing-its-one-click-app-to-run-chrome-os-in-a-vm-on-android-devices/)
2024-10-05T20:17:18Z	**Mozilla “is going to be more active in digital advertising”**
In ancient Greek mythology, Kassandra, priestess of Apollo and daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, was granted the gift of prophecy by Apollo, in return for “favours”. When Kassandra then decided to, well, not grant any “favours”, Apollo showcased that as a good son of Zeus, he did not understand consent either, and cursed her by making sure nobody would believe her prophecies. There’s some variations  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140861/mozilla-is-going-to-be-more-active-in-digital-advertising/)
2024-10-07T08:28:31Z	**“Lost” 1983 programming language bought on eBay**
A YouTube channel has resurrected a programming language that hadn’t been seen since the 1980s — in a testament to both the enduring power of our technology, and of the communities that care about it. But best of all, Simpson uploaded the language to the Internet Archive, along with all his support materials, inviting his viewers to write their own programs (and saying he hoped his upstairs neighbor would’ve approved). And in our email in ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140866/lost-1983-programming-language-bought-on-ebay/)
2024-10-07T08:58:30Z	**macOS 15.0 now UNIX 03-certified**
You have to wonder how meaningful this news is in 2024, but macOS 15.0 Sequoia running on either Apple Silicon or Intel processors is now UNIX 03-certified. The UNIX 03 Product Standard is the mark for systems conforming to Version 3 of the Single UNIX Specification. It is a significantly enhanced version of the UNIX 98 Product Standard. The mandatory enhancements include alignment with ISO/IEC 9989:1999 C Programming Language, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 and ISO/IEC 9945: ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140868/macos-15-0-now-unix-03-certified/)
2024-10-07T20:29:04Z	**Google must crack open Android for third-party stores, rules Epic judge**
Late last year, Google’s Play Store was ruled to be a monopoly in the US, and today the judge in that case has set out what Google must do to address this situation. Today, Judge James Donato issued his final ruling in Epic v. Google, ordering Google to effectively open up the Google Play app store to competition for three whole years. Google will have to distribute rival third-party app st ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140871/google-must-crack-open-android-for-third-party-stores-rules-epic-judge/)
2024-10-07T22:31:35Z	**OpenBSD 7.6 released**
OpenBSD 7.6, the release in which every single line of the original code form the first release has been edited or removed, has been released. There’s a lot of changes, new features, bug fixes, and more in 7.6, but for desktop users, the biggest new feature is undoubtedly hardware-accelerated video decoding through VA-API. Or, as the changelog puts it: Imported libva 2.22.0, an implementation for VA-API (video acceleration API). VA-API provides access to graphics hardware acceleration capa ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140873/openbsd-7-6-released/)
2024-10-08T21:19:22Z	**Why I use KDE**
Over the decades, my primary operating system of choice has changed a few times. As a wee child of six years old, we got out first PC through one of those employer buy-a-PC programs, where an employer would subsidize its employees buying PCs for use in the home. The goal here was simple: if people get comfortable with a computer in their private life, they’ll also get comfortable with it in their professional life. And so, through my mother’s employer, we got a brand new 286 desktop running MS-DOS and W ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140538/why-i-use-kde/)
2024-10-09T18:13:10Z	**KDE Plasma 6.2 released**
Entirely coincidentally, the KDE team released Plasma 6.2 yesterday, the latest release in the well-received 6.x series. As the version number implies, it’s not a groundbreaking release, but it does contain a number of improvements that are very welcome to a few specific, often underserved groups. For instance, 6.2 overhauls the Accessibility settings panel, and ads, among other things, colourblindness filters for a variety of types of colourblindness. This condition affects roughly  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140892/kde-plasma-6-2-released/)
2024-10-10T17:20:10Z	**OS/2 TCPBEUI name resolution**
Sometimes I have the following problem to deal with: An OS/2 system uses NetBIOS over TCP/IP (aka TCPBEUI) and should communicate with a SMB server (likewise using TCPBEUI) on a different subnet. This does not work on OS/2 out of the box without a little bit of help. ↫ Michal Necasek My 40° fever certainly isn’t helping, but goes way over my head. Still, it seems like an invaluable article for a small group of people, and anyone playing with OS/2 and networking from here on ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140896/os-2-tcpbeui-name-resolution/)
2024-10-13T07:40:49Z	**Goodbye Windows 7**
I finally seem to be recovering from a nasty flu that is now wreaking havoc all across my tiny Arctic town – better now than when we hit -40 I guess – so let’s talk about something that’s not going to recover because it actually just fucking died: Windows 7. For nearly everyone, support for Windows 7 ended on January 14th, 2020. However, if you were a business who needed more time to migrate off of it because your CEO didn’t listen to the begging and pleading IT department until a week before th ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140900/goodbye-windows-7/)
2024-10-13T14:44:13Z	**Internet Archive hacked and victim of DDoS attacks**
Internet Archive’s “The Wayback Machine” has suffered a data breach after a threat actor compromised the website and stole a user authentication database containing 31 million unique records. News of the breach began circulating Wednesday afternoon after visitors to archive.org began seeing a JavaScript alert created by the hacker, stating that the Internet Archive was breached. “Have you ever felt like the Internet Archive runs o ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140902/internet-archive-hacked-and-victim-of-ddos-attacks/)
2024-10-13T19:04:01Z	**A Google breakup is on the table, say DOJ lawyers**
Next up in my backlog of news to cover: the US Department of Justice’s proposed remedies for Google’s monopolistic abuse. Now that Judge Amit Mehta has found Google is a monopolist, lawyers for the Department of Justice have begun proposing solutions to correct the company’s illegal behavior and restore competition to the market for search engines. In a new 32-page filing (included below), they said they are considering both “behavio ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140904/a-google-breakup-is-on-the-table-say-doj-lawyers/)
2024-10-16T17:20:58Z	**Google is preparing to let you run Linux apps on Android, just like Chrome OS**
Engineers at Google started work on a new Terminal app for Android a couple of weeks ago. This Terminal app is part of the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF) and contains a WebView that connects to a Linux virtual machine via a local IP address, allowing you to run Linux commands from the Android host. Initially, you had to manually enable this Terminal app using a shell com ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140912/google-is-preparing-to-let-you-run-linux-apps-on-android-just-like-chrome-os/)
2024-10-16T17:37:43Z	**Huawei’s Android-free ‘HarmonyOS NEXT’ will go live next week**
Earlier this year we talked about Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT, which is most likely the only serious competitor to Android and iOS in the world. HarmonyOS started out as a mere Android skin, but over time Huawei invested heavily into the platform to expand it into a full-blown, custom operating system with a custom programming language, and it seems the company is finally ready to take the plunge and release Harmony ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140915/huaweis-android-free-harmonyos-next-will-go-live-next-week/)
2024-10-17T18:05:26Z	**Android 15’s security and privacy features are the update’s highlight**
Android 15 started rolling out to Pixel devices Tuesday and will arrive, through various third-party efforts, on other Android devices at some point. There is always a bunch of little changes to discover in an Android release, whether by reading, poking around, or letting your phone show you 25 new things after it restarts. In Android 15, some of the most notable involve making your device less  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140921/android-15s-security-and-privacy-features-are-the-updates-highlight/)
2024-10-17T21:50:04Z	**The costs of the i386 to x86-64 upgrade**
If you read my previous article on DOS memory models, you may have dismissed everything I wrote as “legacy cruft from the 1990s that nobody cares about any longer”. After all, computers have evolved from sporting 8-bit processors to 64-bit processors and, on the way, the amount of memory that these computers can leverage has grown orders of magnitude: the 8086, a 16-bit machine with a 20-bit address space, could only use 1MB of memory while today’s 64- ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140930/the-costs-of-the-i386-to-x86-64-upgrade/)
2024-10-17T22:01:56Z	**How to install Windows 11 on supported and unsupported PCs, 24H2 edition**
We’ve pulled together all kinds of resources to create a comprehensive guide to installing and upgrading to Windows 11. This includes advice and some step-by-step instructions for turning on officially required features like your TPM and Secure Boot, as well as official and unofficial ways to skirt the system-requirement checks on “unsupported” PCs, because Microsoft is not your parent an ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140932/how-to-install-windows-11-on-supported-and-unsupported-pcs-24h2-edition/)
2024-10-18T17:38:48Z	**Go Plan9 memo, speeding up calculations 450%**
I want to take advantage of Go’s concurrency and parallelism for some of my upcoming projects, allowing for some serious number crunching capabilities. But what if I wanted EVEN MORE POWER?!? Enter SIMD, Same Instruction Muliple Data . Simd instructions allow for parallel number crunching capabilities right down at the hardware level. Many programming languages either have compiler optimizations that use simd or libraries that offer simd suppor ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140941/go-plan9-memo-speeding-up-calculations-450/)
2024-10-18T18:04:41Z	**Qualcomm cancels its mini PC with the Snapdragon X Elite processor**
Something odd happened to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Dev Kit, an $899 mini PC powered by Windows 11 and the company’s latest Snapdragon X Elite processor. Qualcomm decided to abruptly discontinue the product, refund all orders (including for those with units on hand), and cease its support, claiming the device “has not met our usual standards of excellence.” ↫ Taras Buria at Neowin The launch of the Snap ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140943/qualcomm-cancels-its-mini-pc-with-the-snapdragon-x-elite-processor/)
2024-10-18T22:46:20Z	**Google’s ad-blocking crackdown underway**
Google has gotten a bad reputation as of late for being a bit overzealous when it comes to fighting ad blockers. Most recently, it’s been spotted automatically turning off popular ad blocking extension uBlock Origin for some Google Chrome users. To a degree, that makes sense—Google makes its money off ads. But with malicious ads and data trackers all over the internet these days, users have legitimate reasons to want to block them. The uBlock Origin con ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140947/googles-ad-blocking-crackdown-underway/)
2024-10-19T07:53:38Z	**Chromium’s influence on Chromium alternatives**
I don’t think most people realize how Firefox and Safari depend on Google for more than “just” revenue from default search engine deals and prototyping new web platform features. Off the top of my head, Safari and Firefox use the following Chromium libraries: libwebrtc, libbrotli, libvpx, libwebp, some color management libraries, libjxl (Chromium may eventually contribute a Rust JPEG-XL implementation to Firefox; it’s a hard image format to  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140949/chromiums-influence-on-chromium-alternatives/)
2024-10-21T13:46:42Z	**Booting Sun SPARC servers**
In early 2022 I got several Sun SPARC servers for free off of a FreeCycle ad: I was recently called out for not providing any sort of update on those devices… so here we go! ↫ Sidneys1.com Some information on booting old-style SPARC machines, as well as pretty pictures. Nice palate-cleanser if you’ve had to deal with something unpleasant this weekend. This world would be a better place if we all had our own Sun machines to play with when we get sad. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140953/booting-sun-sparc-servers/)
2024-10-21T14:07:05Z	**Microsoft maintains its own Windows debloat scripts on GitHub**
It’s no secret that a default Windows installation is… Hefty. In more ways than one, Windows is a bit on the obese side of the spectrum, from taking up a lot of disk space, to requiring hefty system requirements (artificial or not), to coming with a lot of stuff preinstalled not everyone wants to have to deal with. As such, there’s a huge cottage industry of applications, scripts, modified installers, custom  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140955/microsoft-maintains-its-own-windows-debloat-scripts-on-github/)
2024-10-22T18:18:00Z	**System76 unveils ARM Ampere Altra workstation**
System76, purveyor Linux computers, distributions, and now also desktop environments, has just unveiled its latest top-end workstation, but this time, it’s not an x86 machine. They’ve been working together with Ampere to build a workstation based around Ampere’s Altra ARM processors: the Thelio Astra. Phoronix, fine purveyor of Linux-focused benchmarks, were lucky enough to benchmark one, and has more information on the new workstation. Sys ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140961/system76-unveils-arm-ampere-altra-workstation/)
2024-10-22T19:19:04Z	**Apple’s AirPods Pro hearing health features are as good as they sound**
Apple announced a trio of major new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2 in September, including clinical-grade hearing aid functionality, a hearing test, and more robust hearing protection. All three will roll out next week with the release of iOS 18.1, and they could mark a watershed moment for hearing health awareness. Apple is about to instantly turn the world’s most popular earbud ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140964/apples-airpods-pro-hearing-health-features-are-as-good-as-they-sound/)
2024-10-22T23:09:53Z	**/tmp should not exist**
I commented on Lobsters that /tmp is usually a bad idea, which caused some surprise. I suppose /tmp security bugs were common in the 1990s when I was learning Unix, but they are pretty rare now so I can see why less grizzled hackers might not be familiar with the problems. I guess that’s some kind of success, but sadly the fixes have left behind a lot of scar tissue because they didn’t address the underlying problem: /tmp should not exist. ↫ Tony Finch Not only is this an excellent, cohes ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140968/tmp-should-not-exist/)
2024-10-23T06:28:17Z	**Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 8 Elite flagship smartphone SoC**
At the Snapdragon Summit today, Qualcomm is officially announcing the Snapdragon 8 Elite, its flagship SoC for smartphones. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is a major upgrade from its predecessor, with improvements across the board. Qualcomm is also changing its naming scheme for its flagship SoCs from Snapdragon 8 Gen X to Snapdragon X Elite. ↫ Pradeep Viswanathan at Neowin It’s wild – but not entirely unexpected – h ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140975/qualcomm-announces-snapdragon-8-elite-flagship-smartphone-soc/)
2024-10-23T06:40:15Z	**bhyve on FreeBSD and VM live migration: quo vadis?**
When I think about bhyve Live Migration, it’s something I encounter almost daily in my consulting calls. VMware’s struggles with Broadcom’s licensing issues have been a frequent topic, even as we approach the end of 2024. It’s surprising that many customers still feel uncertain about how to navigate this mess. While VMware has been a mainstay in enterprise environments for years, these ongoing issues make customers nervous. And they ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140977/bhyve-on-freebsd-and-vm-live-migration-quo-vadis/)
2024-10-23T06:51:21Z	**Solving the mystery of ARM7TDMI multiply carry flag**
The processor in the Game Boy Advance, the ARM7TDMI, has a weird characteristic where the carry flag is set to a “meaningless value” after a multiplication operation. What this means is that software cannot and should not rely on the value of the carry flag after multiplication executes. It can be set to anything. Any value. 0, 1, a horse, whatever. This has been a source of memes in the emulator development community for a few  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140979/solving-the-mystery-of-arm7tdmi-multiply-carry-flag/)
2024-10-23T22:03:13Z	**Microsoft improves Windows’ update experience, and announces support for MIDI 2.0 and a new audio driver for professionals**
Windows 11, version 24H2 represents significant improvements to the already robust update foundation of Windows. With the latest version, you get reduced installation time, restart time, and central processing unit (CPU) usage for Windows monthly updates. Additionally, enhancements to the ha ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140983/microsoft-improves-windows-update-experience-and-announces-support-for-midi-2-0-and-a-new-audio-driver-for-professionals/)
2024-10-25T19:51:08Z	**Contractors training Amazon, Meta and Microsoft’s AI systems left without pay after Appen moves to new platform**
One-third of payments to contractors training AI systems used by companies such as Amazon, Meta and Microsoft have not been paid on time after the Australian company Appen moved to a new worker management platform. Appen employs 1 million contractors who speak more than 500 languages and are based in 200 countrie ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140987/contractors-training-amazon-meta-and-microsofts-ai-systems-left-without-pay-after-appen-moves-to-new-platform/)
2024-10-25T21:24:11Z	**A deep dive into Linux’s new mseal syscall**
If you love exploit mitigations, you may have heard of a new system call named mseal landing into the Linux kernel’s 6.10 release, providing a protection called “memory sealing.” Beyond notes from the authors, very little information about this mitigation exists. In this blog post, we’ll explain what this syscall is, including how it’s different from prior memory protection schemes and how it works in the kernel to protect virtual memory. We’ll al ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140991/a-deep-dive-into-linuxs-new-mseal-syscall/)
2024-10-25T22:05:10Z	**What can Windows 10 users do once support ends in October 2025?**
There’s a date looming on the horizon for the vast majority of Windows users. While Windows 11 has been out for a long time now, most Windows users are using Windows 10 – about 63% – while Windows 11 is used by only about 33% of Windows users. In October 2025, however, support for Windows 10 will end, leaving two-thirds of Windows users without the kind of updates they need to keep their system secure and  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140993/what-can-windows-10-users-do-once-support-ends-in-october-2025/)
2024-10-27T19:10:30Z	**A brief history of Mac firmware**
Firmware, software that’s intimately involved with hardware at a low level, has changed radically with each of the different processor architectures used in Macs. ↫ Howard Oakley A quick but still detailed overview of the various approach to Mac firmware Apple has employed over the years, from the original 68k firmware and Mac OS ROMs, to the modern Apple M-specific approach. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140996/a-brief-history-of-mac-firmware/)
2024-10-27T21:35:06Z	**The MIPS ‘ThinkPad’ and the unreleased Commodore HHC-4**
Old Vintage Computing Research, by the incredibly knowledgeable Cameron Kaiser, is one of the best resources on the web about genuinely obscure retrocomputing, often diving quite deep in topics nobody else covers – or even can cover, considering how rare some of the hardware Kaiser covers is. I link to Old VCR all the time, and today I’ve got two more great articles by Kaiser for you. First, we’ve got the more well-known – r ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/140998/the-mips-thinkpad-and-the-unreleased-commodore-hhc-4/)
2024-10-27T21:52:55Z	**What’s new in POSIX 2024 – XCU**
As of the previous release of POSIX, the Austin Group gained more control over the specification, having it be more working group oriented, and they got to work making the POSIX specification more modern. POSIX 2024 is the first release that bears the fruits of this labor, and as such, the changes made to it are particularly interesting, as they will define the direction of the specification going forwards. This is what this article is about! Well, mostly. POSIX is compose ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141000/whats-new-in-posix-2024-xcu/)
2024-10-28T14:28:07Z	**World’s first Haiku ransomware/malware**
There’s many ways to judge if an operating system has made it to the big leagues, and one of the more unpleasant ones is the availability of malware. Haiku, the increasingly capable and daily-driveable successor to BeOS, is now officially a mainstream operating system, as it just had its first piece of malware. HaikuRansomware is an experimental ransomware project designed for educational and investigative purposes. Inspired by the art of poetry and the c ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141002/worlds-first-haiku-ransomware-malware/)
2024-10-28T15:02:59Z	**TDE R14.1.3 released, and KDE developers hold impromptu TDE installfest at Akademy 2024**
The Trinity Desktop Environment, a fork of the last release in the KDE 3.x series, has just released their latest version, R14.1.3. Despite its rather small version number change, it contains some very welcome new features. TDE started the process of integrating the XDG Desktop Portal API, which will bring a lot of welcome integration with applications from t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141004/tde-r14-1-3-released-and-kde-developers-hold-impromptu-tde-installfest-at-akademy-2024/)
2024-10-28T19:11:08Z	**The OSNews 2024 fundraiser: support OSNews to keep it alive**
Do you want OSNews to continue to exist? Do you like the selection of news items I manage to scrounge up almost every day? Do you want OSNews free from corporate influence, “AI”-generated nonsense, and the kind of SEO-optimised blogspam we all despise? Consider supporting OSNews financially, so I can keep running the site as an independent entity, free from the forces that make the web shittier every day. There ar ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141012/the-osnews-2024-fundraiser-support-osnews-to-keep-it-alive/)
2024-10-30T13:23:17Z	**New Raspberry Pi OS switches everyone over to Wayland**
The slow rise of Wayland hasn’t really been slow anymore for years now, and today another major part of the Linux ecosystem is making the jump from X to Wayland. So we made the decision to switch. For most of this year, we have been working on porting labwc to the Raspberry Pi Desktop. This has very much been a collaborative process with the developers of both labwc and wlroots: both have helped us immensely with their suppo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141020/new-raspberry-pi-os-switches-everyone-over-to-wayland/)
2024-10-30T16:26:13Z	**Improving Xwayland window resizing**
Speaking of Wayland, one of the most important parts of the transition is Xwayland, which makes sure legacy X applications not yet capable of running under a modern graphics stack can continue to function. Xwayland applications have had this weird visual glitch during resize operations, however, where the opposite side of the window would expand and contract while resizing. KDE developer Vlad Zahorodnii wanted to fix this, and he wrote a very detailed article ex ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141022/improving-xwayland-window-resizing/)
2024-10-30T23:49:19Z	**Australia/Lord_Howe is the weirdest timezone**
The standard trope when talking about timezones is to rattle off falsehoods programmers believe about them. These lists are only somewhat enlightening – it’s really hard to figure out what truth is just from the contours of falsehood. So here’s an alternative approach. I’m gonna show you some weird timezones. In fact, the weirdest timezones. They’re each about as weird as timezones are allowed to get in some way. ↫ Ulysse Carion The reason wh ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141023/australia-lord_howe-is-the-weirdest-timezone/)
2024-10-31T13:38:02Z	**Microsoft isn’t secretly installing Recall on your Windows PC**
There’s been more controversy regarding Microsoft’s Recall feature for Windows, with people supposedly discovering Recall was being secretly installed on Windows 11 24H2. Furthermore, trying to remove this secretly installed Recall would break Explorer, as it seemed Explorer had a dependency on Recall. Unsurprisingly, this spread like wildfire all across the web, but I didn’t report on it because something abo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141028/microsoft-isnt-secretly-installing-recall-on-your-windows-pc/)
2024-10-31T21:55:21Z	**GNOME and KDE working on end user-focused “official” Linux distributions, not entirely without risks**
It seems the GNOME team is getting quite serious about turning GNOME OS into an end-user focused Linux distribution, similar to a project KDE is working on. GNOME OS is GNOME’s development, testing, and QA distribution. It’s not designed to be useful as a general-purpose system, and so it hasn’t been the center of attention. However, t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141031/gnome-and-kde-working-on-end-user-focused-official-linux-distributions-not-entirely-without-risks/)
2024-11-01T09:12:44Z	**Torvalds thinks “AI” is 90% marketing, and Google claims 25% of its code is “AI”-generated**
Torvalds said that the current state of AI technology is 90 percent marketing and 10 percent factual reality. The developer, who won Finland’s Millennium Technology Prize for the creation of the Linux kernel, was interviewed during the Open Source Summit held in Vienna, where he had the chance to talk about both the open-source world and the latest technology ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141036/torvalds-thinks-ai-is-90-marketing-and-google-claims-25-of-its-code-is-ai-generated/)
2024-11-01T09:21:25Z	**Microsoft just delayed Recall again**
Another day, another Windows Recall problem. Microsoft is delaying the feature yet again, this time from October to December. “We are committed to delivering a secure and trusted experience with Recall. To ensure we deliver on these important updates, we’re taking additional time to refine the experience before previewing it with Windows Insiders,” says Brandon LeBlanc, senior product manager of Windows, in a statement to The Verge. “Originally planned for Oct ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141038/microsoft-just-delayed-recall-again/)
2024-11-02T00:30:34Z	**Sculpt OS 24.10 released with multi-monitor support**
Genode’s rapid development carries on apace. Whilst Genode itself is a so-called OS Framework – the computing version of a rolling chassis that can accept various engines (microkernels) and coachwork of the customer’s choice – they also have an in-house PC desktop system. This flagship product, Sculpt OS, comes out on a bi-annual schedule and Autumn brings us the second for the year, with what has become an almost a customary bi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141035/sculpt-os-24-10-released-with-multi-monitor-support/)
2024-11-02T00:47:35Z	**Google confirms Android 16 is coming earlier than usual, developer preview begins soon**
In a major shift of its release cycle, Google has revealed that Android 16 will be released in Q2 of 2025, confirming my report from late last month. Android 16 is the name of the next major release of the Android operating system, and its release in Q2 marks a significant departure from the norm. Google typically pushes out a new major release of Android in Q3 ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141052/google-confirms-android-16-is-coming-earlier-than-usual-developer-preview-begins-soon/)
2024-11-02T13:06:28Z	**Bug or intentional? macOS 15.1 completely removes ability to launch unsigned applications**
Many MacOS users are probably used by now to the annoyance that comes with unsigned applications, as they require a few extra steps to launch them. This feature is called Gatekeeper and checks for an Apple Developer ID certificate. Starting with MacOS Sequoia 15, the easy bypassing of this feature with e.g. holding Control when clicking the application ic ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141055/bug-or-intentional-macos-15-1-completely-removes-ability-to-launch-unsigned-applications/)
2024-11-03T19:10:51Z	**OSNews fundraising goal reached in less than a week**
It’s been less than a week, and late Friday night we reached the fundraiser goal of €2500 (it sat at 102% when I closed it) on Ko-Fi! I’m incredibly grateful for each and every donation, big or small, and every new Patreon that joined our ranks. It’s incredible how many of you are willing to support OSNews to keep it going, and it means the absolute world to me. Hopefully we’ll eventually reach a point where monthly Patreon inco ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141061/osnews-fundraising-goal-reached-in-less-than-a-week/)
2024-11-04T14:26:44Z	**From Proxmox to FreeBSD: story of a migration**
It’s the start of the work week, so for the IT administrators among us, I have another great article by friend of the website, Stefano Marinelli. This article covers migrating a Proxmox-based setup to FreeBSD with bhyve. The load is not particularly high, and the machines have good performance. Suddenly, however, I received a notification: one of the NVMe drives died abruptly, and the server rebooted. ZFS did its job, and everything remained ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141064/from-proxmox-to-freebsd-story-of-a-migration/)
2024-11-04T14:40:37Z	**Moving a game project from C to the Odin language**
Some months ago, I got really fed up with C. Like, I don’t hate C. Hating programming languages is silly. But it was way too much effort to do simple things like lists/hashmaps and other simple data structures and such. I decided to try this language called Odin, which is one of these “Better C” languages. And I ended up liking it so much that I moved my game Artificial Rage from C to Odin. Since Odin has support for Raylib too (lik ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141066/moving-a-game-project-from-c-to-the-odin-language/)
2024-11-04T14:59:27Z	**Windows Server 2025 released**
Microsoft has confirmed the general availability of Windows Server 2025, which, as a long-term servicing channel (LTSC) release, will be supported for almost ten years. This article describes some of the newest developments in Windows Server 2025, which boasts advanced features that improve security, performance, and flexibility. With faster storage options and the ability to integrate with hybrid cloud environments, managing your infrastructure is now more streamlined. Win ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141068/windows-server-2025-released/)
2024-11-04T23:47:36Z	**Redox runs on RISC-V, boots to GUI login on Raspberry Pi 4**
Another month lies behind us, so another monthly update from Redox is upon us. The biggest piece of news this time is undoubtedly that Redox now runs on RISC-V – a major achievement. Andrey Turkin has done extensive work on RISC-V support in the kernel, toolchain and elsewhere. Thanks very much Andrey for the excellent work! Jeremy Soller has incorporated RISC-V support into the toolchain and build process, has begu ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141076/redox-runs-on-risc-v-boots-to-gui-login-on-raspberry-pi-4/)
2024-11-04T23:59:39Z	**NetBSD: the portable, lightweight, and robust UNIX-like operating system**
NetBSD is an open-source, Unix-like operating system known for its portability, lightweight design, and robustness across a wide array of hardware platforms. Initially released in 1993, NetBSD was one of the first open-source operating systems based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) lineage, alongside FreeBSD and OpenBSD. NetBSD’s development has been led by a collaborative commun ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141078/netbsd-the-portable-lightweight-and-robust-unix-like-operating-system/)
2024-11-05T15:08:31Z	**Windows Server IoT 2025 released**
Today, Microsoft announced the general availability of Windows Server IoT 2025. This new release includes several improvements, including advanced multilayer security, hybrid cloud agility, AI, performance enhancements, and more. Microsoft claims that Windows Server IoT 2025 will be able to handle the most demanding workloads, including AI and machine learning. It now has built-in support for GPU partitioning and the ability to process large datasets across distribu ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141081/windows-server-iot-2025-released/)
2024-11-06T21:16:46Z	**Notepad gets “AI”**
Nothing is sacred. With this update, we are introducing the ability to rewrite content in Notepad with the help of generative AI. You can rephrase sentences, adjust the tone, and modify the length of your content based on your preferences to refine your text. ↫ Dave Grochocki at the Windows Insider Blog This is the reason everything is going to shit. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141083/notepad-gets-ai/)
2024-11-06T22:34:31Z	**iPod fans evade Apple’s DRM to preserve 54 lost clickwheel-era games**
Old-school Apple fans probably remember a time, just before the iPhone became a massive gaming platform in its own right, when Apple released a wide range of games designed for late-model clickwheel iPods. While those clickwheel-controlled titles didn’t exactly set the gaming world on fire, they represent an important historical stepping stone in Apple’s long journey through the game industry. To ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141085/ipod-fans-evade-apples-drm-to-preserve-54-lost-clickwheel-era-games/)
2024-11-07T21:54:56Z	**QNX becomes free for non-commercial use, releases Raspberry Pi 4 image**
A long, long time ago, back when running BeOS has my main operating system had finally become impossible, I had a short stint running QNX as my one and only operating system. In 2004, before I joined OSNews and became its managing editor, I also wrote and published an article about QNX on OSNews, which is cringe-inducing to read over two decades later (although I was only 20 when I wrote that ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141089/qnx-becomes-free-for-non-commercial-use-releases-raspberry-pi-4-image/)
2024-11-07T23:40:51Z	**Microsoft improves its Prism x86-on-ARM emulator**
The current version of Windows on ARM contains Prism, Microsoft’s emulator that allows x86-64 code to run on ARM processors. While it was already relatively decent on the recent Snapdragon X platform, it could still be very hit-or-miss with what applications it would run, and especially games seemed to be problematic. As such, Microsoft has pushed out a major update to Prism that adds support for a whole bunch of extensions to the x86 ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141092/microsoft-improves-its-prism-x86-on-arm-emulator/)
2024-11-07T23:51:37Z	**LXQt 2.1.0 released with optional Wayland session**
LXQt, the desktop environment that is to KDE what Xfce is to GNOME, has released version 2.1.0, and while the version number change seems average, it’s got a big ace up its sleeve: you can now run LXQt in a Wayland session, and they claim it works quite well, too, and it supports a wide variety of compositors. Through its new component lxqt-wayland-session, LXQt 2.1.0 supports 7 Wayland sessions (with Labwc, KWin, Wayfire, Hyprland, ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141094/lxqt-2-1-0-released-with-optional-wayland-session/)
2024-11-08T20:33:50Z	**Fedora KDE approved to become of equal status to Fedora GNOME**
Earlier this year, a proposal was made to replace the primary edition of Fedora from the GNOME variant to the KDE variant. This proposal, while serious, was mostly intended to stir up discussion about the position of the Fedora KDE spin within the larger Fedora community, and it seems this has had its intended effect. A different, but related proposal, to make Fedora KDE equal in status to the Fedora GNOME va ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141098/fedora-kde-approved-to-become-of-equal-status-to-fedora-gnome/)
2024-11-08T20:43:21Z	**Mozilla Foundation lays off 30% of its employees, ends advocacy for open web, privacy, and more**
More bad news from Mozilla. The Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Firefox browser maker Mozilla, has laid off 30% of its employees as the organization says it faces a “relentless onslaught of change.” Announcing the layoffs in an email to all employees on October 30, the Mozilla Foundation’s executive director Nabiha Syed confirmed tha ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141100/mozilla-foundation-lays-off-30-of-its-employees-ends-advocacy-for-open-web-privacy-and-more/)
2024-11-12T21:54:24Z	**Valve ends Steam’s support for Windows 7 and 8**
Steam has finally stopped working on several older Windows operating systems, following a warning from Valve that it planned to drop support earlier this year. With little fanfare, Windows 7 and Windows 8 gaming on Steam is no longer possible following the most recent Steam client update on November 5. ↫ Ben Stockton at PCGamesN It’s honestly wild that Valve supported Windows 7 and 8 for this long for Steam in the first place. They’ve been ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141107/valve-ends-steams-support-for-windows-7-and-8/)
2024-11-12T22:09:14Z	**Improving Steam Client stability on Linux: setenv and multithreaded environments**
Speaking of Steam, the Linux version of Valve’s gaming platform has just received a pretty substantial set of fixes for crashes, and Timothee “TTimo” Besset, who works for Valve on Linux support, has published a blog post with more details about what kind of crashes they’ve been fixing. The Steam client update on November 5th mentions “Fixed some miscellaneous common crash ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141109/improving-steam-client-stability-on-linux-setenv-and-multithreaded-environments/)
2024-11-13T14:46:54Z	**quBSD: a Qubes-inspired containerization schema for FreeBSD**
quBSD is a FreeBSD jails/bhyve wrapper which implements a Qubes inspired containerization schema. Written in shell, based on zfs, and uses the underlying FreeBSD tools. ↫ quBSD GitHub page quBSD really seems to build upon the best FreeBSD has to offer. Neat. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141111/qubsd-a-qubes-inspired-containerization-schema-for-freebsd/)
2024-11-13T21:04:20Z	**.NET 9 released**
Today, we are excited to announce the launch of .NET 9, the most productive, modern, secure, intelligent, and performant release of .NET yet. It’s the result of another year of effort on the part of thousands of developers from around the world. This new release includes thousands of performance, security, and functional improvements. You will find sweeping enhancements across the entire .NET stack from the programming languages, developer tools, and workloads enabling you to build with a unified pla ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141114/net-9-released/)
2024-11-14T01:38:17Z	**Google drastically improves quality of the Android Emulator**
One of the things I’ve consistently heard from just about anyone involved in Android development are laments about the sorry state of the Android Emulator included in Google’s Android Studio. It seems that particularly its performance is not great, with people often resorting to third-party options or real devices. Well, it seems the Android development team at Google has taken this to heart, and has spent six mo ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141117/google-drastically-improves-quality-of-the-android-emulator/)
2024-11-14T22:47:33Z	**Startup’s “AI” tool spams GitHub repositories with bogus commits, without consent**
Most of the time, products with “AI” features just elicit sighs, especially when the product category in question really doesn’t need to have anything to do with “AI” in any way, shape, or form. More often than not, though, such features are not only optional and easily ignorable, and we can always simply choose not to buy or use said products in the first place. I mean, ov ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141134/startups-ai-tool-spams-github-repositories-with-bogus-commits-without-consent/)
2024-11-15T16:37:11Z	**PureDarwin intends to make Apple’s Darwin usable with a MATE desktop, future custom desktop environment, and more**
Remember Darwin? It’s the core of Apple’s macOS, and the company has always – sometimes intermittently – released its source code as open source. Not much ever really happens with Darwin, and any attempts at building a usable operating system on top of Darwin have failed. There was OpenDarwin, which at one poi ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141138/puredarwin-intends-to-make-apples-darwin-usable-with-a-mate-desktop-future-custom-desktop-environment-and-more/)
2024-11-16T00:31:01Z	**Massive Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Update is here**
Valve has been holding on to a special surprise for Half-Life 2 fans to celebrate the game crossing its 20th birthday. Today, the company shipped the 20th Anniversary Update for the iconic Gordon Freeman adventure from 2004, combining the base experience and all episodes into one, bringing developer commentary, Steam Workshop support, and much more. Adding to all that, the game is completely free to claim on Steam right now too. ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141140/massive-half-life-2-20th-anniversary-update-is-here/)
2024-11-17T00:44:23Z	**Microsoft finally publishes ISO for Windows on ARM**
This option is for users that want to create a Windows 11 on Arm virtual machine on supported hardware using an ISO file or to install Windows 11 on Arm directly without a DVD or USB flash drive.  The ISO file can also be used to manually create bootable installation media (USB flash drive) to install Windows 11 on Arm, but it may be necessary to include drivers from the device manufacturer for the installation media to be success ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141142/microsoft-finally-publishes-iso-for-windows-on-arm/)
2024-11-17T09:23:44Z	**Free Towns OS: an open source recreation of FM Towns OS**
A few weeks ago I linked to a story by Misty De Meo, in which they explored what happened to the various eccentric Japanese PC platforms. One of the platforms mentioned was FM Towns, made by Fujitsu, which came with its own graphical operating system from the era of Windows 3.x. I had never heard of this one before, but it looks incredibly interesting, with some unique UI ideas I’d love to explore, if only I could read Ja ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141145/free-towns-os-an-open-source-recreation-of-fm-towns-os/)
2024-11-18T10:28:36Z	**Linux 6.12 released**
Version 6.12 of the Linux kernel has been released. The main feature consists of the merger of the real-time PREEMPT\_RT scheduler, most likely one of the longest-running merger sagas in Linux’ history. This means that Linux now fully supports both soft and hard real-time capabilities natively, which is a major step forward for the platform, especially when looking at embedded development. It’s now no longer needed to draw in real-time support from outside the kernel. Linux 6.12 also brings  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141147/linux-6-12-released/)
2024-11-18T10:46:35Z	**Migrating Windows VMs from Proxmox BIOS/KVM to FreeBSD UEFI/Bhyve**
Another excellent guide from friend of the website Stefano Marinelli. A client of mine has several Windows Server VMs, which I had not migrated to FreeBSD/bhyve until a few weeks ago. These VMs were originally installed with the traditional BIOS boot mode, not UEFI, on Proxmox. Fortunately, their virtual disks are on ZFS, which allowed me to test and achieve the final result in just a few steps. This  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141149/migrating-windows-vms-from-proxmox-bios-kvm-to-freebsd-uefi-bhyve/)
2024-11-18T20:30:45Z	**iOS 18.1 will reboot iPhones to a locked state after 72 hours of inactivity**
In recent weeks, law enforcement in the United States discovered, to their dismay, that iPhones were automatically rebooting themselves after a few days of inactivity, thereby denying them access to the contents of these phones. After a lot of speculation online, Jiska Classen dove into this story to find out what was going on, and through reverse-engineering they discovered that t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141151/ios-18-1-will-reboot-iphones-to-a-locked-state-after-72-hours-of-inactivity/)
2024-11-18T23:18:03Z	**Google is reportedly killing Chrome OS in favour of Android**
Mishaal Rahman, who has a history of being right about Google and Android-related matters, is reporting that Google is intending to standardise its consumer operating system efforts onto a single platform: Android. To better compete with the iPad as well as manage engineering resources more effectively, Google wants to unify its operating system efforts. Instead of merging Android and Chrome OS into a new operati ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141154/google-is-reportedly-killing-chrome-os-in-favour-of-android/)
2024-11-18T23:45:15Z	**DOJ will push Google to sell Chrome to break search monopoly**
Speaking of Google, the United States Department of Justice is pushing for Google to sell off Chrome. Top Justice Department antitrust officials have decided to ask a judge to force Alphabet Inc.’s Google to sell off its Chrome browser in what would be a historic crackdown on one of the biggest tech companies in the world. The department will ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141156/doj-will-push-google-to-sell-chrome-to-break-search-monopoly/)
2024-11-19T07:45:51Z	**Why did Windows 95 setup use three operating systems?**
Way back in April of this year, I linked to a question and answer about why some parts of the Windows 98 installer looked older than the other parts. It turns out that in between the MS-DOS (the blue part) and Windows 98 parts of the installation process, the installer boots into a small version of Windows 3.1. Raymond Chen posted an article detailing this process for Windows 95, and why, exactly, Microsoft had to resort to s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141161/why-did-windows-95-setup-use-three-operating-systems/)
2024-11-19T19:49:44Z	**FLTK 1.4.0 brings Wayland support**
FLTK 1.4.0 has been released. This new version of the Fast Light Toolkit contains some major improvements, such as Wayland support on both Linux and FreeBSD. X11 and Wayland are both supported by default, and applications using FLTK will launch using Wayland if available, and otherwise fall back to starting with X11. This new release also brings HiDPI support on Linux and Windows, and improves said support on macOS. Those are the headline features, but there’s mor ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141163/fltk-1-4-0-brings-wayland-support/)
2024-11-19T23:24:51Z	**Windows 365 Link: a thin client from Microsoft**
One of my favourite devices that never took on in the home is the thin client. Whenever I look at a fully functional Sun Microsystems thin client setup, with Sun Rays, a Solaris server, and the smartcards instantly loading up your desktop the moment you slide it in the Ray’s slot, my mind wonders about the future we could’ve had in our homes – a powerful, expandable, capable server in the basement, running every family member’s software, a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141166/windows-365-link-a-thin-client-from-microsoft/)
2024-11-20T09:56:51Z	**“Why I stopped using OpenBSD”**
I’ve linked to quite a few posts by OpenBSD developer Solène Rapenne on OSNews, mostly about her work for and knowledge of OpenBSD. However, she recently posted about her decision to leave the OpenBSD team, and it mostly comes down to the fact she hasn’t been using OpenBSD for a while now due to a myriad of problems she’s encountering. Posts like these are generally not that fun to link to, and I’ve been debating about this for a few days now, but I think highlighting such  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141170/why-i-stopped-using-openbsd/)
2024-11-20T22:41:19Z	**OpenVMS V9.2-3 released**
VMS Software, the company migrating OpenVMS to x86 (well, virtualised x86, at least) has announced the release of OpenVMS 9.2-3, which brings with a number of new features and changes. It won’t surprise you to hear that many of the changes are about virtualisation and enterprise networking stuff, like adding passthrough support for fibre channel when running OpenVMS in VMware, a new VGA/keyboard-based guest console, automatic configuration of TCP/IP and OpenSSH during installation, i ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141174/openvms-v9-2-3-released/)
2024-11-20T22:53:54Z	**Microsoft pushes full-screen ads for Copilot+ PCs on Windows 10 users**
Windows 10’s free, guaranteed security updates stop in October 2025, less than a year from now. Windows 10 users with supported PCs have been offered the Windows 11 upgrade plenty of times before. But now Microsoft is apparently making a fresh push to get users to upgrade, sending them full-screen reminders recommending they buy new computers. ↫ Andrew Cunningham at Ars Technica That deadline s ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141176/microsoft-pushes-full-screen-ads-for-copilot-pcs-on-windows-10-users/)
2024-11-20T23:09:33Z	**Linux to lose support for Apple and IBM’s failed PowerPC Common Hardware Reference Platform**
Ah, the Common Hardware Reference Platform, IBM’s and Apple’s ill-fated attempt at taking on the PC market with a reference PowerPC platform anybody could build and expand upon while remaining (mostly) compatible with one another. Sadly, like so many other things Apple was trying to do before Steve Jobs returned, it never took off, and even Apple itse ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141178/linux-to-lose-support-for-apple-and-ibms-failed-powerpc-common-hardware-reference-platform/)
2024-11-23T08:14:58Z	**What’s in a Steam Deck kernel anyway?**
Valve, entirely going against the popular definition of Vendor, is still actively working on improving and maintaining the kernel for their Steam Deck hardware. Let’s see what they’re up to in this 6.8 cycle. ↫ Samuel Dionne-Riel Just a quick look at what, exactly, Valve does with the Steam Deck Linux kernel – nothing more, nothing less. It’s nice to have simple, straightforward posts sometimes. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141183/whats-in-a-steam-deck-kernel-anyway/)
2024-11-23T08:38:07Z	**Introduction to Bismuth VM**
This is the first post in what will hopefully become a series of posts about a virtual machine I’m developing as a hobby project called Bismuth. This post will touch on some of the design fundamentals and goals, with future posts going into more detail on each. But to explain how I got here I first have to tell you about Bismuth, the kernel. ↫ Eniko Fox It’s not every day the a developer of an awesome video game details a project they’re working on that also happens to be excel ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141185/introduction-to-bismuth-vm/)
2024-11-23T09:22:35Z	**The rare POWER Indigo 2**
This is a Silicon Graphics workstation from 1995. Specifically, it is an ‘Teal’ Indigo 2 (as opposed to a ‘Purple’ Indigo 2, which came later). Ordinarily that’s rare enough – these things were about £30,000 brand new. A close look at the case badge though, marks this out as a ‘Teal’ POWER Indigo 2 – where instead of the usual MIPS R4600 or R4400SC CPU modules, we have the rare, unusual, expensive and short-lived MIPS R8000 module. ↫ Jonathan Pallant It’s rare these days to find an a ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141187/the-rare-power-indigo-2/)
2024-11-24T00:22:45Z	**MaXX Interactive Desktop springs back to life with new release and updated roadmap**
I had to dive into our archive all the way back to 2017 to find the last reference to the MaXX Interactive Desktop, and it seems this wasn’t exactly my fault – the project has been on hiatus since 2020, and is only now coming back to life, as MaXXdesktop v2.2.0 (nickname Octane) Alpha-1 has been released, alongside a promising and ambitious roadmap for the future of t ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141182/maxx-interactive-desktop-springs-back-to-life-with-new-release-and-updated-roadmap/)
2024-11-24T22:13:32Z	**Using (only) a Linux terminal for my personal computing in 2024**
A month and a bit ago, I wondered if I could cope with a terminal-only computer. The only way to really find out was to give it a go. My goal was to see what it was like to use a terminal-only computer for my personal computing for two weeks, and more if I fancied it. ↫ Neil’s blog I tried to do this too, once. Once. Doing everything from the terminal just isn’t viable for me, mostly because I didn’t grow u ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141194/using-only-a-linux-terminal-for-my-personal-computing-in-2024/)
2024-11-24T22:25:24Z	**Microsoft Word is using you to train “AI”**
The author of this article, Dr. Casey Lawrence, mentions the opt-out checkbox is hard to find, and they aren’t kidding. On Windows, here’s the full snaking path you have to take through Word’s settings to get to the checkbox: File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings > Optional Connected Experiences > Uncheck box: “Turn on optional connected experiences”. That is absolutely bananas. No normal person is ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141196/microsoft-word-is-using-you-to-train-ai/)
2024-11-24T22:38:50Z	**Managing third-party packages in 9front**
Every now and then, news from the club I’m too cool to join, the plan9/9front community, pierces the veil of coolness and enters our normal world. This time, someone accidentally made a package manager for 9front. I’ve been growing tired of manually handling random software, so I decided to find a simple way to automate the process and ended up making a sort of “package manager” for 9front¹. It’s really just a set of shell scripts that act as a fronten ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141198/managing-third-party-packages-in-9front/)
2024-11-25T21:57:37Z	**Leaving big tech behind: Murena’s /e/OS on the Fairphone 5**
There are so many ecological, environmental, and climate problems and disasters taking place all over the world that it’s sometimes hard to see the burning forests through the charred tree stumps. As at best middle-income individuals living in this corporate line-must-go-up hellscape, there’s only so much we can do turn the rising tides of fascism and leave at least a semblance of a livable world for our children and  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141189/leaving-big-tech-behind-murenas-e-os-on-the-fairphone-5/)
2024-11-26T23:38:30Z	**Mozilla begs courts to allow Google search deal for Firefox to continue**
The moment a lot of us has been fearing may be soon upon us. Among the various remedies proposed by the United States Department of Justice to address Google’s monopoly abuse, there’s also banning Google from spending money to become the default search engine on other devices, platforms, or applications. “We strongly urge the Court to consider remedies that improve search competition witho ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141227/mozilla-begs-courts-to-allow-google-search-deal-for-firefox-to-continue/)
2024-11-27T20:05:20Z	**The capacitor that Apple soldered incorrectly at the factory**
There have been some past rumblings on the internet about a capacitor being installed backwards in Apple’s Macintosh LC III. The LC III was a “pizza box” Mac model produced from early 1993 to early 1994, mainly targeted at the education market. It also manifested as various consumer Performa models: the 450, 460, 466, and 467. Clearly, Apple never initiated a huge recall of the LC III, so I think there is some  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141230/the-capacitor-that-apple-soldered-incorrectly-at-the-factory/)
2024-11-27T22:03:08Z	**US Copyright Office strikes down proposed game preservation DMCA exception**
A three-year fight to help support game preservation has come to a sad end today. The US copyright office has denied a request for a DMCA exemption that would allow libraries to remotely share digital access to preserved video games. ↫ Dustin Bailey at GamesRadar This was always going to end in favour of the massive gaming industry with effectively bottomless bank accounts and more l ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141232/us-copyright-office-strikes-down-proposed-game-preservation-dmca-exception/)
2024-11-27T22:18:01Z	**So you want to write a KMail plugin?**
Recently, I’ve been moving away from macOS to Linux, and have settled on using KDE Plasma as my desktop environment. For the most part I’ve been comfortable with the change, but it’s always the small things that get me. For example, the Mail app built into macOS provides an “Unsubscribe” button for emails. Apparently this is also supported in some webmail clients, but I’m not interested in accessing my email that way. Unfortunately, I haven’t found an X11 or  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141234/so-you-want-to-write-a-kmail-plugin/)
2024-11-28T22:32:36Z	**Cinnamon Desktop 6.4 released**
The Cinnamon Desktop, the GTK desktop environment developed by the Linux Mint project, has just released version 6.4. The focus of this release is on nips and tucks in the default theme, dialogs, menus, and other user interface elements. They seem to have taken a few pages out of GNOME’s book, especially when it comes to dialogs and the OSD, which honestly makes sense considering Cinnamon is also GTK and most Cinnamon users will be running a ton of GNOME/Libadwaita applic ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141238/cinnamon-desktop-6-4-released/)
2024-11-29T15:13:45Z	**The OSNews extra special discount bonanza extravaganza Black Friday super coverage**
Today is “Black Friday”, which is the day where a lot of retailers, both online and offline, pretend to have massive discounts on things they either raised the prices for a few weeks ago, or for useless garbage they bought in bulk that’ll end up in a landfill within a year. Technology media happily partakes in this event, going full-mask off posting an endless stream  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141242/the-osnews-extra-special-discount-bonanza-extravaganza-black-friday-super-coverage/)
2024-12-02T12:39:08Z	**MNT Pocket Reform Sculpt 24.10 preview image**
Within in the last release cycle we worked on adding and extending the support for the i.MX8MP SoC as also found in one of the SoM options for the MNT Pocket Reform and are happy to show-case a first preview version of Sculpt running on this handy computing device. ↫ Josef Söntgen If you have a Pocket Reform – I reviewed its bigger sibling earlier this year – you can now run Genode on it. Not everything is working flawlessly yet – most notabl ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141248/mnt-pocket-reform-sculpt-24-10-preview-image/)
2024-12-02T13:31:09Z	**The Hall SC-VGA-2 video processor, the Atari ST and NeXTSTEP: more tales of the unscreenshotable**
This is the Hall Research Technologies SC-VGA-2, sold as a “VGA/HDTV Video Processor.” In addition to slicing, dicing and pureeing, apparently, it will take any of a bundle of input formats and both rescale and resample them on the fly into the VGA or HDTV signal you desire, including 60Hz rates. This came from a seller specializing in telepr ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141250/the-hall-sc-vga-2-video-processor-the-atari-st-and-nextstep-more-tales-of-the-unscreenshotable/)
2024-12-02T14:10:15Z	**If not React, then what?**
Rejecting an engrained practice of bullshitting does not come easily. Frameworkism preaches that the way to improve user experiences is to adopt more (or different) tooling from the framework’s ecosystem. This provides adherents with something to do that looks plausibly like engineering, except it isn’t. It can even become a totalising commitment; solutions to user problems outside the framework’s expanded cinematic universe are unavailable to the frameworkist. Non-idiomatic patterns ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141252/if-not-react-then-what/)
2024-12-03T07:52:10Z	**FreeBSD 14.2 released**
FreeBSD 14.2 has been released, and as the version number suggests, this isn’t a major release with huge changes. Still, it does bring support for downloading and installing necessary firmware packages after installation, the latest versions of OpenZFS and OpenSSL, and much more. FreeBSD 14.2 is available for the main architectures it supports – x86, PowerPC/POWER, ARM, and RISC-V, and can be downloaded from the usual location. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141254/freebsd-14-2-released/)
2024-12-03T14:32:50Z	**Intel board kicks out CEO, launches new budget desktop GPUs**
This is a bit of an odd few days for Intel. Mere days after the board ousted its CEO Pat Gelsinger, once heralded as the chip giant’s messiah, they’re today launching two brand new desktop graphics cards. They’re aimed at the more budget-oriented consumer, and might very well be the last discrete graphics cards Intel makes, since this is one of the product lines on the chopping block. Intel’s next — and possibly l ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141256/intel-board-kicks-out-ceo-launches-new-budget-desktop-gpus/)
2024-12-03T22:46:44Z	**Convert NTFS to Btrfs and boot Windows off Btrfs**
Ntfs2btrfs is a tool which does in-place conversion of Microsoft’s NTFS filesystem to the open-source filesystem Btrfs, much as btrfs-convert does for ext2. The original image is saved as a reflink copy at image/ntfs.img, and if you want to keep the conversion you can delete this to free up space. ↫ Mark Harmstone An amazing piece of software that works on both Linux and Windows, and even, as described above, comes with the option of  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141259/convert-ntfs-to-btrfs-and-boot-windows-off-btrfs/)
2024-12-04T12:20:56Z	**Microsoft: we’re not lowering the Windows 11 system requirements**
If you were secretly hoping Microsoft would lower the system requirements for Windows 11 so you could upgrade your or your family’s Windows 10 machines to Windows 11, you’re going to be in for some bad news. In a blog post, Microsoft detailed that its most stringent Windows 11 requirement – the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 – is here to stay and crucial to the future of Windows. By instituting TPM 2.0 ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141263/microsoft-were-not-lowering-the-windows-11-system-requirements/)
2024-12-05T19:05:20Z	**A brief introduction to OCI containers on FreeBSD**
14.2-RELEASE now includes OCI-compatible images, and the Podman toolkit on FreeBSD is ready to use them, on both amd64 and arm64 systems. ↫ Dave Cottlehuber This article from Dave Cottlehuber goes into more detail about the OCI-compatible FreeBSD images and how to use them. ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141271/a-brief-introduction-to-oci-containers-on-freebsd/)
2024-12-05T19:25:23Z	**HarmonyOS Next gets container tool to run Android applications**
HarmonyOS Next, the new version of Huawei’s mobile operating system, runs on a brand new microkernel, uses a new, homegrown programming language, and most notably in this duopolistic world, does not run Android applications. This won’t be much of an issue inside China, where Huawei can more easily make sure the most important Chinese applications are supported and ported over, but outside of China that migh ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141273/harmonyos-next-gets-container-tool-to-run-android-applications/)
2024-12-05T20:40:36Z	**VEKOS: the Verified Experimental Kernel Operating System**
VEKOS is an experimental operating system written in Rust that focuses on verification and security at its core. This is the first alpha release (v0.0.1) that demonstrates the basic architecture and key features of the system. ↫ VEKOS GitHub page Hobby and experimental operating systems written in Rust are not exactly a novel concept, but that doesn’t mean each new one that comes up isn’t cool. This one is still in its  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141276/vekos-the-verified-experimental-kernel-operating-system/)
2024-12-06T13:58:47Z	**Banan-OS: a hobby operating system in C++**
This is my hobby operating system written in C++. Currently supports x86\_64 and i686 architectures. ↫ Banan-OS git page A hobby operating system as a learning experience, but for once not written in Rust, which in and of itself makes it more unique than you’d think. Despite being mostly a one-person hobby project, it’s ticked quite a few boxes already: SMP, network stack, copy-on-write memory, ELF loading, NVME and ATA support, PS/2 and USB periphera ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141279/banan-os-a-hobby-operating-system-in-c/)
2024-12-06T15:39:39Z	**Mozilla announces massive rebrand that mentions Firefox exactly once**
Mozilla isn’t just another tech company — we’re a global crew of activists, technologists and builders, all working to keep the internet free, open and accessible. For over 25 years, we’ve championed the idea that the web should be for everyone, no matter who you are or where you’re from. Now, with a brand refresh, we’re looking ahead to the next 25 years (and beyond), building on our work and d ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141283/mozilla-announces-massive-rebrand-that-mentions-firefox-exactly-once/)
2024-12-06T21:48:34Z	**Vanir: open-source security patch validation**
Today, we are announcing the availability of Vanir, a new open-source security patch validation tool. Introduced at Android Bootcamp in April, Vanir gives Android platform developers the power to quickly and efficiently scan their custom platform code for missing security patches and identify applicable available patches. Vanir significantly accelerates patch validation by automating this process, allowing OEMs to ensure devices are protected  ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141285/vanir-open-source-security-patch-validation/)
2024-12-06T22:08:23Z	**RISC-V Redox runs on x86-64 Redox**
Every time a new Redox monthly report comes out, I’m baffled by the fact we’ve apparently rounded another month. They just keep on coming and going, don’t they? And I even turned 40 this 1 December, so it hits even harder this time. I’m now as old as I remember my parents were in some of my oldest memories, and now I’ve got two kids of my own. Wild. Time isn’t supposed to move this fast, and I strongly advise the Redox team to stop this madness. Anyway, this month ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141287/risc-v-redox-runs-on-x86-64-redox/)
2024-12-06T22:20:09Z	**EXiGY: let’s make shareware again**
EXiGY rolls up the all of the above experiences into a single package: make games the way they were made in the mid-90s, by dragging and dropping objects into a window, programming some behaviour into those objects, and clicking the Run button. It’s like ZZT with tile graphics instead of ASCII. Want to send your little game to some friends? Click the Gift button to package all of the files up, and send your friend the .XGY file. EXiGY is about making it fun to creat ... ⌘ [Read more](https://www.osnews.com/story/141289/exigy-lets-make-shareware-again/)