HiKey 960: Google And Huawei’s High-end Raspberry Pi Alternative Runs Android 7.1 And Linux Whenever we hear the name Android, the first thought that comes to our minds is an operating system that powers the most of the smartphones around the world. But, with time, it has grown to become one of the key players in the operating system world by finding its place on smart devices, televisions, computers, cars, etc. This has also created new opportunities for Android developers as they can code apps for devices of different form factors. Now, to help the developers code software for ARM systems without being dependent on Chromebooks or Intel x86 systems, Google, Huawei, and Linaro have launched HiKey 960. It costs $239 and measures 85x55mm. HiKey 960 single board computer is a powerful Raspberry Pi alternative that runs Android. The device is powered by the Huawei’s octa-core Kirin 960 chip that powers the Mate 9 flagship. Source: https://fossbytes.com/hikey-960-google-huawei-raspberry-pi-alternative/

GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) 7.1 Released to Celebrate 30 Years Since GCC 1.0 Believe it or not, GCC 7.1 marks the 30th anniversary of the GNU Compiler Collection's first Beta release. It's a major release featuring lots of new functionality and improvements that aren't available in GCC 6.x or any other previous branch of the project, which makes it the recommended version for all platforms using GCC. Prominent new features of GNU Compiler Collection 7.1.0 include experimental support for all the current C++17 draft library features in the C++ frontend, bringing the -std=gnu++1z and -std=c++1z options, as well as of some of them in the libstdc++ library, support for the Address Sanitizer to report the use of variables after leaving their scope. GNU Compiler Collection can now can be configured for OpenMP 4.5 offloading to Nvidia PTX GPGPUs (General-purpose Computing on Graphics Processing Units), the emitted diagnostics received improvements to locations and location ranges, suggestions for misspelled identifiers, fix-it hints, option names, and a bunch of new warnings. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/gcc-gnu-compiler-collection-7-1-released-to-celebrate-30-years-since-gcc-1-0-515368.shtml

CloudLinux 6 Gets New Beta Kernel to Backport a Fix for R1Soft's Backup Solution The updated CloudLinux 6 Beta kernel is tagged as build 2.6.32-673.26.1.lve1.4.26 and it's here to replace kernel 2.6.32-673.26.1.lve1.4.25. It is available right now for download from CloudLinux's updates-testing repository and backports a fix (CKSIX-109) for R1Soft's backup solution from CloudLinux 7's kernel. Source: http://linux.softpedia.com/blog/cloudlinux-6-gets-new-beta-kernel-to-backport-a-fix-for-r1soft-s-backup-solution-515291.shtml

Ultimate Edition Linux: Rough Road to a Nice Destination Ultimate Edition has a lot going for it. However, the latest release, version 5.4, also reflects numerous missteps that developers of a seasoned Linux distro should avoid. Ultimate Edition is a fork of two popular Debian-based Linux families – Ubuntu and Linux Mint. First released in December 2006, this distro aimed to take the best of both Linux entities and blend in a fresh mix of visually stimulating features. Ultimate's developers took a path that diverged somewhat from the two new desktop environments that were the hallmarks of its forked heritage. Ubuntu crafted the Unity desktop, while Linux Mint popularized the homegrown Cinnamon desktop. Instead, Ultimate Edition Linux focused on the MATE desktop. The MATE community forked the discontinued GNOME 2 environment when the GNOME 3 community introduced some radical user interface changes. This latest version, released last month, is based on the just-released Ubuntu 17.04 and adds the Budgie desktop. This is my first major disappointment in dealing with the Ultimate Edition. The developer, who goes by the moniker “TheeMahn,” said that this release would offer Budgie as an option – but it was still missing three weeks after version 5.4 hit the download queue. Source: http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/84502.html

Apricity OS, An Arch Linux-based Distro, Is Now Officially Dead Last year in August, we told you about the first stable release of Apricity Linux distribution. It was designed for beginners, who wished to use an easy-to-install and ready-to-use operating systems. Based on Arch Linux, the OS initially shipped in Cinnamon and GNOME flavors. In a sad development, the short journey of Apricity OS has come to an end. In a post on the Apricity OS website, the team of developers announced that Apricity is now officially dead. “Like all good things, Apricity OS must come to an end,” the team wrote. Source: https://fossbytes.com/apricity-linux-distro-dead-end/

Cinnamon 3.4 Desktop Officially Released, It's Coming Soon to a Distro Near You Linux Mint project leader Clement Lefebvre was happy to announce today the official availability of the Cinnamon 3.4 desktop environment for GNU/Linux distributions. Prominent features of Cinnamon 3.4 include desktop grid, support for mozjs38, support for more Wacom devices, wildcard support in file searches, a new list widget for Spices settings, a multi-process settings daemon, desktop actions in the panel launcher, and separate processes for desktop handling and file manager in Nemo. Also worth mentioning is better support for the configuration of sensitivity and acceleration for mice, support for lightdm-settings in System Settings, support for manage-systemd-units, extra configuration options for the screensaver, as well as theming engine improvements for margins and the system tray area. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/cinnamon-3-4-desktop-officially-released-it-s-coming-soon-to-a-distro-near-you-515553.shtml

Mark Shuttleworth: Ubuntu on the Desktop Will Remain Important to Canonical The Canonical and Ubuntu founder was interviewed by theCUBE, who were very curious to know what the state of Ubuntu Linux was these days, given that Mark Shuttleworth shocked the Open Source community when he announced last month that development of the Unity interface was shut down, along with the convergence vision. Of course, Mark Shuttleworth answered that his dream was always for Ubuntu to go mainstream on desktop, cloud, and IoT, but things don't always go the way we want them to. According to Shuttleworth, Ubuntu appears to be the de facto standard for cloud computing and data centers. In the interview, Shuttleworth said that he thinks Ubuntu on the desktop will remain important to Canonical in supporting developers, who are the blood life of free software, Open Source, and IT innovation, but as a business Canonical chooses to focus on the cloud and IoT (Internet of Things). Source: http://linux.softpedia.com/blog/mark-shuttleworth-ubuntu-on-the-desktop-will-remain-important-to-canonical-515529.shtml

NetworkManager 1.8 Is Officially Out, Handles PINs for PKCS#11 Tokens as Secrets NetworkManager 1.8 is a major release that introduces numerous improvements and new features over the NetworkManager 1.6 series. Prominent ones include more flexible configurations for hostname management, as well as support for more route options like mtu, lock-mtu, initrwnd, lock-initrwnd, cwnd, lock-cwnd, tos, window, lock-window, pref-src, src, initcwnd, and lock-initcwnd. The nmcli component has been updated in this release to be able to produce more machine parsing-friendly output, new “driver:” device specification was implemented in NetworkManager.conf to support matching of networking devices, the ability to handle PINs for PKCS#11 tokens as secrets was added, and EAP-FAST support in wpa_supplicant was improved. Among other noteworthy improvements that landed in the NetworkManager 1.8 stable series of the open-source network connection management tool, we can mention support for creating and managing dummy links, support for attaching user-data in the form of key-value pairs to network connection profiles, and the ability to set a hardcoded MAC address to teaming devices. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/networkmanager-1-8-is-officially-out-handles-pins-for-pkcs-11-tokens-as-secrets-515601.shtml

KDE Plasma 5.10 Will Let You Install Snaps and Flatpaks, Support GNOME's ODRS KDE Plasma 5.10 promises many new features and improvements over the KDE Plasma 5.9 release that probably many of you are using right now on your GNU/Linux distributions, but which reached end of life with the release of the KDE Plasma 5.9.5 maintenance update last month. So now most of the hardcore KDE fans are expecting for KDE Plasma 5.10 to land, which will happen at the end of the month, but, until then, there's a Beta that should arrive for public testing on May 15, to give users an early taste of what they should expect from the major release of the popular desktop environment. It just happens that we got our hands on some of the features coming to the KDE Plasma 5.10 release, so we'd like to share them here with you. For starters, you should already know from our previous reports that Folder View will be the default desktop, featuring spring loading, a unified drop menu, and a revamped rename UI. The second awesome feature of the KDE Plasma 5.10 desktop environment will be support for installing applications as Snaps or Flatpaks via the Plasma Discover graphical package manager, which now supports GNOME’s ODRS (Open Desktop Ratings Service) for reviews and comments on apps. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/kde-plasma-5-10-will-let-you-install-snaps-and-flatpaks-support-gnome-s-odrs-515658.shtml

Linux and Other Open Source Technologies Protect Online Privacy: Snowden Edward Snowden, the whistleblower is living in exile since 2013 when he uncovered the NSA’s surveillance operations. However, the tech world’s Robin Hood makes quite a few virtual appearances and gives his views on the state of privacy. Snowden’s latest Q&A interaction happened with the OpenStack Foundation’s COO Mark Collier over a video conference call during the OpenStack Summit. Snowden emphasized that premium cloud platform and proprietary software are a dent on people’s privacy. The NSA hacker has a soft spot for open source software as it allows people to share information without external interference. A few names he mentioned include Tor network, Debian open source OS, and the anonymity optimized Tails Linux distribution. He used a number of open source software during his 2013 revelation. Source: https://fossbytes.com/linux-and-other-open-source-technologies-protect-online-privacy-snowden/

Using Pidgin for multiple chat protocols simultaneously in GNU/Linux Pidgin is a wonderful application used for connecting to multiple chat protocols through a single application, making it much easier to chat to more people at once, and saving on system resources at the same time. I’m a multitasker, I always have multiple windows open and multiple things on the go simultaneously, but one thing I can’t stand is having to use multiple apps with similar purposes, separately, when I can find a way to link them all together. Pidgin satisfies this for me, and allows me to have my Skype, Facebook Messenger, and almost any other messaging related service all under all one handy little application. Something to note about Pidgin and Skype however, is that video and audio calls are not supported. If a friend of yours tries to call you, they will be notified you are unavailable, but you will not even see that they called you, so adding your account to Pidgin is only useful for text conversations. Source: https://www.ghacks.net/2017/05/14/using-pidgin-for-multiple-chat-protocols-simultaneously-in-gnulinux/

Ubuntu Login Screen Security Flaw Could Allow Anyone To Access Your Files A flaw of medium priority has been found in Ubuntu Linux operating system. Due to a bug in LightDM display manager, the guest sessions aren’t properly confined. This problem stepped in when user session handling moved from upstart to systemd in Ubuntu 16.10. Canonical has released a patch for this vulnerability and you need to install security updates to get the fix. After the widespread havoc caused in the closed world of Windows by the WannaCry ransomware, it’s time for the Linux users to update their systems and patch a medium priority flaw that has the potential to do a considerable amount of damage. The issue being talked about here deals with LightDM, the display manager that powers the Unity Greeter login screen. Reported by OMGUbuntu, the affected versions are Ubuntu 16.10 and Ubuntu 17.10. Due to this flaw in LightDM, it doesn’t correctly configure and confine the guest user session which is enabled by default on Ubuntu Linux. By exploiting the same, a notorious hacker with physical access can grab the files and gain access to the other users on the system. Please note that the files in a user’s home directories can also be accessed. Source: https://fossbytes.com/ubuntu-login-screen-security-flaw-lightdm/

Linux-based Tizen 4.0 Open Source Operating System Released At the Tizen Developer Conference (TDC) 2017, Samsung Electronics unveiled Tizen 4.0 open source operating system. The Korean tech giant showed off the new version of the Linux-based operating system and said that Tizen 4.0 OS has a wider range of applications to devices. It should be noted that Tizen 1.0 was announced at TDC 2012; since then, it has touched almost all of Samsung’s products. After bringing Tizen to smartphones, televisions, etc., Samsung is now planning to integrate Tizen 4.0 OS into more household and IoT devices. This will be done with the help of Tizen Real Time (RT). Samsung has also entered into a collaboration with Microsoft, which allows the developers to easily develop Tizen application with popular programming languages. Specifically, C# developers can make Tizen apps using .NET and Xamarin framework. To expand Tizen ecosystem, Samsung is strengthening the cooperation with Samsung ARTIK, Broadlink, Commax, and Gympse. Source: https://fossbytes.com/tizen-4-0-linux-operating-system/

Faster machine learning is coming to the Linux kernel It's been a long time in the works, but a memory management feature intended to give machine learning or other GPU-powered applications a major performance boost is close to making it into one of the next revisions of the kernel. Heterogenous memory management (HMM) allows a device’s driver to mirror the address space for a process under its own memory management. As Red Hat developer Jérôme Glisse explains, this makes it easier for hardware devices like GPUs to directly access the memory of a process without the extra overhead of copying anything. It also doesn't violate the memory protection features afforded by modern OSes. One class of application that stands to benefit most from HMM is GPU-based machine learning. Libraries like OpenCL and CUDA would be able to get a speed boost from HMM. HMM does this in much the same way as speedups being done to GPU-based machine learning, namely by leaving data in place near the GPU, operating directly on it there, and moving it around as little as possible. These kinds of speed-ups for CUDA, Nvidia’s library for GPU-based processing, would only benefit operations on Nvidia GPUs, but those GPUs currently constitute the vast majority of the hardware used to accelerate number crunching. However, OpenCL was devised to write code that could target multiple kinds of hardware—CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, and so on—so HMM could provide much broader benefits as that hardware matures. Source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3196884/linux/faster-machine-learning-is-coming-to-the-linux-kernel.html

Google makes Kotlin a first-class language for writing Android apps Google today announced that it is making Kotlin, a statically typed programming language for the Java Virtual Machine, a first-class language for writing Android apps. Kotlin’s primary sponsor is JetBrains, the company behind tools like IntelliJ. It’s 100 percent interoperable with Java, which until now was Google’s primary language for writing Android apps (besides C++). The company also today said that it will launch a foundation for Kotlin (together with JetBrains). JetBrains open-sourced Kotlin back in 2012 and version 1.0 launched just over a year ago. Google’s own Android Studio, it’s worth noting, is based on the JetBrains IntelliJ Java IDE, and the next version of Android Studio (3.0) will support it out of the box. Because Kotlin is interoperable with Java, you could already write Android apps in the language before, but now Google will put its weight behind the language. Kotlin includes support for a number of features that Java itself doesn’t currently support. Google noted in a later keynote that this is only an additional language, not a replacement for its existing Java and C++ support. It’s worth noting that the Kotlin announcement garnered what was likely the loudest applause from Google’s I/O keynote announcement today. Source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/17/google-makes-kotlin-a-first-class-language-for-writing-android-apps/

Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) Receives First Kernel Security Patch, Update Now Canonical released what it would appear to be the first security patch for the kernel packages of the recently released Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) operating system, addressing a total of six vulnerabilities discovered by various developers. Announced a month ago, on April 13, 2017, Ubuntu 17.04 shipped with a kernel from the Linux 4.10 series, which is still maintained upstream receiving weekly patches that fix bugs and security issues, but also update drivers and add new functionality. But the time has come for Ubuntu 17.04 users to update their kernels. According to Ubuntu Security Notice USN-3293-1, multiple security issues are affecting the linux-generic (including lpae), linux-lowlatency, and linux-raspi2 kernel packages of Ubuntu 17.04 and its official derivatives using the same kernels, such as Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu GNOME, etc. Canonical also released new kernel security updates for all other supported Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 16.10, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-17-04-zesty-zapus-receives-first-kernel-security-patch-update-now-515806.shtml

elementary OS Loki 0.4.1 Linux distro now available for download Despite the death of Unity, there is still no shortage of desktop environments for Ubuntu. In fact, there are some Linux-based operating systems that exist mostly to provide an arguably better environment and experience. Two good examples of this are Linux Mint and elementary OS. While these distros are more than just Ubuntu with an alternative DE, the UI is largely the star of the show. While Mint caters to folks that have trouble moving beyond the interfaces of yesteryear, elementary instead focuses on a forward-looking experience. Today, elementary OS Loki – the latest version of the operating system – reaches a new milestone. Release 0.4.1 adds many new features, including an updated 4.8 kernel, improved Kaby Lake support, and most importantly, the all-new crowd-funded AppCenter! Installing new apps on Linux can be a big pain point for new users, and so far, no one has really gotten it right. Their approach to user-friendly design and experience should translate well to this new AppCenter, and I only expect it to get better with time. The team uses a “pay what you want” download scheme, but you can enter $0 to get it free. Source: https://betanews.com/2017/05/18/elementary-os-loki-linux-041/

Feren OS: A Linux Desktop Game-Changer Feren OS is a polished and well-stocked Linux distro that comes close to being an ideal replacement for Microsoft Windows and macOS. In fact, this impressive Linux OS is a very attractive replacement for any Linux distro. The only impediment to this assessment is dislike of the Cinnamon desktop. Feren OS does not give you any other desktop options. However, it comes with a wide assortment of configuration choices that let you tweak the look and feel into almost any customized appearance you could want. It also is super easy to install. This makes it suitable for those migrating to Linux – or at least to this operating system. Feren OS offers a specialized software repository that is colorful and efficient to use. It has several specialized launchers to install and configure software packages with a single mouse click. Feren OS 2017.0 “Murdock” was released earlier this month. This distro is a relatively obscure Linux OS based on Linux Mint's main edition. Feren is a relative newcomer that first appeared in late 2015. Since then, Feren OS has acquired considerable maturity. It shows very little evidence of being a newcomer. It has its own personality, so you will not feel like you are using a Mint clone. Even the in-house customization of the Cinnamon desktop environment gives it a considerably different atmosphere than the current Linux Mint Cinnamon iteration. Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/84541.html