Untitled Linux Show 248

Hardware / Devices

Pine64 — Pine Time Pro

• New FOSS-friendly smartwatch announced (FOSDEM 2026 update).
• Key hardware highlights:
  • AMOLED display
  • Built-in GPS
  • SpO2 (blood-oxygen) sensor
  • Rotating digital crown plus an extra button
  • Custom chip with per-component power gating (battery-life benefit)
• Unknown price and release date; unlikely to match the original Pine Time’s sub-$30 price.
• Firmware and supply considerations:
  • Infinitime (open firmware) may need porting; drivers for display, GPIO, and power management are required.
  • Likely MCU: nRF52-family SoC (Cortex‑M4, small RAM ~64 KB).
  • Parts availability, fab capacity, and MCU shortages could affect availability.
  • Concern that the device may become physically larger than the original Pine Time.

OS / Desktop / Benchmarks

KDE Plasma 6.6 vs GNOME 50 benchmarking (Ubuntu 26.04 beta)

• Test platforms:
  • AMD Radeon 9070 XT (Mesa 26)
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 (NVIDIA 595.8.03 driver)
• Results summary:
  • KDE Plasma (Wayland) generally outperformed GNOME 50 in these tests.
  • On AMD: Plasma Wayland scored best, Plasma X11 next, GNOME last.
  • On NVIDIA: KDE again led (only Wayland tests were usable for NVIDIA in the beta environment).
• Caveats:
  • Resource usage (memory and idle footprint) was not measured.
  • Some games/benchmarks froze on AMD; X11 tests failed for NVIDIA in the beta environment.
• Practical takeaway:
  • KDE currently shows better raw performance in these specific tests; consult full articles and methodologies before generalizing.

NVIDIA Linux driver 595.8.03 — notable changes

• DRM modeset enabled by default (improves Wayland support).
• nvidia-smi can reset GPUs while DRM is loaded (with conditions).
• Vulkan improvements:
  • VK_EXT_descriptor_heap
  • VK_EXT_present_timings
  • These are foundational for better Proton/DXVK/VKD3D performance and smoother frame pacing.
• DRI3 v1.2 / DMA-fence support added (better sync, less tearing).
• CUDA profile to allow P0 performance state for compute workloads.
• HDR behaviour reportedly improved (reduces need for workarounds).
• Notes:
  • Driver raises minimum userland requirements (Wayland/Xorg/glibc versions).
  • Ubuntu 26.04 beta showed issues with X11 + this new driver.

Security / Boot / Filesystems

Ubuntu/Canonical proposed change to signed GRUB (secure-boot path)

• Proposal intent: reduce features in signed GRUB to shrink the preboot attack surface.
• Planned removals from the signed GRUB path include:
  • Btrfs, XFS, ZFS
  • LVM
  • Many MD RAID modes
  • Some LUKS/encryption support
  • Theming support
• Practical effect:
  • Secure-booted systems would be pushed toward a minimal, unencrypted ext4 / signed-boot partition.
  • Advanced root setups (ZFS/Btrfs root, LVM-encrypted root, RAID boot) would require unsigned GRUB (so users would need to disable secure boot or use workarounds).
• Implications and discussion:
  • Breaks some existing Ubuntu installer defaults and native ZFS support.
  • Highlights tension between security (smaller attack surface) and usability/features (snapshots, rollbacks, encrypted root).
  • Alternatives and considerations: systemd-boot, dual-signed builds, enterprise/FIPS contexts, and Microsoft signing logistics.

Distributions / Releases

Kali Linux 2026.1

• New visual theme and “BackTrack mode” (BackTrack 5 look & feel) for the BackTrack anniversary.
• XFCE flagship theme refresh and new boot splash/installer artwork.
• Kali NetHunter updates:
  • Android 16 kernel on Redmi Note 8
  • Internal wireless firmware support for Samsung S10 in chroot
  • Wi‑Fi packet injection updates, tool updates, and bug fixes

openSUSE — Agama 19 web-based installer

• New features:
  • Install modes: standard vs immutable
  • SSH public-key auth for root during install
  • Ability to install into existing LVM volume groups and add PVs
  • Export installer configuration as JSON
• Architectural revamp:
  • Consistent API core while keeping backwards-compatible JSON configuration

Systemd / Community / Policy

systemd birthdate field controversy

• Change: an optional birthdate field was added to user records (admin-settable) as a simple self-attested signal to help distributions with age-verification compliance.
  • The field is not meant for automatic ID checks, facial recognition, or third-party verification.
• Community reaction:
  • Heavy backlash and forks (for example, a “liberated systemd” fork removing the field).
  • Heated online abuse targeted at developers.
• Human impact:
  • Developer Dylan M. Taylor reported doxxing, threats, and harassment.
  • The incident broadened debate about OS-level surveillance, compliance pressures, and differences between corporate-backed and independent distributions.

Open Source Sustainability

GNOME Fellowship Program

• New funded fellowships to pay contributors (12-month terms).
  • Typical compensation range: roughly $70k–$100k depending on region and experience.
• Focus areas:
  • Long-term sustainability tasks: infrastructure, CI, testing, documentation, maintenance, accessibility.
• Model:
  • Trust-based (rather than strict deliverables).
  • Funded by Friends of GNOME donations.
  • Initial cohort likely small (one full-time or two part-time).
• Aim:
  • Professionalize and stabilize essential, often underfunded maintenance work.

AI in OSS Development

• Current trends:
  • LLMs/AI are being used for bug finding and triage across Linux kernel and other OSS projects.
• History and risks:
  • Early problem: many low-quality, AI-generated bogus bug reports flooded projects.
• Recent developments:
  • LLMs are increasingly surfacing real, actionable bugs; developers sometimes use LLMs to propose patches/fixes.
• Practical point:
  • LLMs are powerful when used by knowledgeable engineers, but they can produce convincing yet incorrect reports if used without domain expertise.
  • Projects are experimenting with review systems and tooling (for example, Google’s review system is now a Linux Foundation project).

Tutorials / Guides / Tips

Grafana + MQTT demo (hands-on)

• Fedora example workflow:
  1. Install Grafana package and start/enable grafana-server.
  2. Install the Grafana MQTT plugin.
  3. Install Mosquitto broker.
  4. Configure the MQTT data source in Grafana (localhost:1883).
• SELinux guidance:
  • Use audit.log and audit2allow to create a module if AVC denials block Grafana ↔ Mosquitto communication:
    • audit2allow -M
    • semodule -i
• Notes:
  • Grafana default login: admin/admin.
  • Demo focused on local setup; steps can be adapted for server deployments.

Oh My Posh (terminal theming)

• OM Manager (installable via cargo) can install Oh My Posh, Nerd Fonts, and configure shells (bash/zsh/fish).
• Makes browsing and installing themes easy.

FluidSynth (CLI synthesizer)

• Real-time command-line synthesizer for SoundFont2 files.
• Can play MIDI files or accept live MIDI input.
• Basic usage example:
  • fluidsynth

exiftool-like metadata editing (“XF tool”)

• CLI tool to read/write image/video metadata (EXIF/IPTC/XMP).
• Can add comments and export metadata to CSV/JSON/HTML.
• Example workflow: view metadata, set a comment (e.g., -comment=”sunset”), and re-read to confirm.

Other notes / Context

• Fedora and Ubuntu 26.04 beta were mentioned multiple times.
• Industry supply-chain context: fab capacity and shortages in advanced fabs can cascade down to older-node parts and MCUs.
• Secure boot / GRUB debates involve enterprise, cloud, virtualization, and OEM firmware realities (on some systems, turning secure boot off may be difficult).

Main speakers / Sources

• Hosts/regulars: Jonathan (host), Rob (Robert P. Campbell), Jeff, Ken.
• Named authors/reporters referenced: Bobby Baris, Marcus Nester, Jack Wallen, Michael (benchmark author referenced), Stephen Javen Nichols, Greg Kroah‑Hartman, Dylan M. Taylor, Jeffrey Cronin Sardina.
• Organizations / projects mentioned: Pine64, Infinitime, Pine Time Pro, KDE (Plasma 6.6), GNOME (50 + GNOME Fellowship), NVIDIA (driver 595.8.03), Ubuntu / Canonical, GRUB, systemd, Linux kernel, Kali Linux / NetHunter, openSUSE / Agama installer, Grafana, Mosquitto, Oh My Posh, FluidSynth, exiftool-style tools.

Note: The transcript contained some auto-generated name/word inaccuracies; names above are taken as presented in the subtitles.