Articles about Open Source

After a long wait, the much-anticipated Linux kernel 4.15 is finally here. While these kernel releases are always important, this one is particularly noteworthy. Why? Because it largely focuses on Spectre and Meltdown mitigation. With that said, it is not only about those vulnerabilities, of course.

Linus Torvalds, the inventor of Linux, has been quite critical of Intel’s patches of the aforementioned vulnerabilities, and Microsoft seemingly agrees -- the Windows-maker has disabled one of Intel’s shoddy "fixes" with an emergency update. With kernel 4.15, Torvalds is quick to say that the work on Spectre and Meltdown is far from finished.

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There are many Linux-based operating systems out there, but not many I would call great. My absolute favorite is Fedora, as I am a GNOME fan that likes using a distro that focuses on truly free and open source software. Not to mention, it quickly gets many updated packages while also retaining stability. So yeah, Fedora is great.

Another great Linux distro? Netrunner Rolling. This Manjaro-based operating system uses KDE Plasma for its desktop environment. As the name implies, it follows a rolling release, meaning it is constantly being updated to fresh packages -- no major upgrades needed. It has a lot of polish and many quality pre-installed programs which indicates the developers truly care about the overall user experience. Quite frankly, it reminds me of Windows 7 -- in a good way -- which also makes it a wise choice for those unhappy with the much-maligned Windows 10. Today, Netrunner Rolling gets its first ISO refresh of 2018.

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At the end of last year, the Linux desktop scored a huge win when Spotify became available as a Snap. If you aren't familiar with Snaps, please know that they are essentially software packages designed to run as a container on any Linux distro. Not only does it make installing software packages easier for users, but it makes things simpler for developers too. Ultimately, Snaps have the potential to solve the big fragmentation problem in the Linux desktop community.

Today, yet another wildly popular program gets the Snap treatment, and quite frankly, it is arguably more significant than Spotify. What is it? Slack! Yes, Canonical announces that the ubiquitous communication app can be installed as a Snap. True, Slack was already available on the Linux desktop, but this makes installing it and keeping it updated much easier.

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The name Edward Snowden will always be associated with the NSA, but the man has fingers in many other pies. His latest venture is an app called Haven which can turn a smartphone into a security device that keeps an eye on your possessions.

Haven is an Android app, currently in beta, designed to be installed on an "extra" phone that you wouldn't mind losing. Placed with your belongings, it uses a phone's sensors -- microphone, camera, gyroscope, accelerometer, and so on -- to detect and record theft and tampering.

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There is a lot of software in the world, and much of it is terrible. It is rare that a truly great program comes along that actually disrupts things. When that software is open source, it is even more remarkable. That is why Kodi is such an impressive program. The open source project has impacted the way much of the world consumes music, movies, TV and more -- both legitimately obtained media and pirated content.

Earlier this year, we shared with you that a pre-release version of Kodi 18 "Leia" 64-bit for Windows was available. There was a big catch, however -- it was not up to par with its 32-bit brother. And so, many people just stuck with the 32-bit version, because, well... why not? It is finally time to make the jump to the 64-bit variant, however, as according to the Kodi team, it is now identical to the 32-bit version from a feature perspective.

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Christmas is almost here, and I don't know about y'all, but I am thrilled. While I am looking forward to spending time with family and thinking about the birth of Jesus, I am not ashamed to say I am excited about presents too!

Today, Christmas comes a bit early thanks to a new LibreELEC (Krypton) release. Version 8.2.2 of the Kodi-focused Linux-based operating system is being called a minor release, but it is still a very special gift for users of the media center. After all, version 8.2.1 was previously called the final Krypton version, but as we now know, it wasn't.

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It's quite interesting to see just how far Microsoft has come since Satya Nadella became CEO. The company has gotten out of its comfort zone and made its products more appealing to a wider range of customers, embracing rival platforms and the open-source community. Having Visual Studio on Macs and tons of apps on Android and iOS is something that would have been unheard of only a few years ago.

The same goes for offering a subsystem for Linux or OpenSSH support on Windows 10. That last bit may not excite everyone, but it is especially useful for those who want to log in remotely on Linux devices -- which would have normally required third-party tools like PuTTY. Microsoft is not stopping there though, as it's taking things to the next level by adding a native OpenSSH client and server to Windows 10.

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Open source is the future of computing. Don't believe me? Three of the most important technology companies -- Microsoft, Apple, and Google -- not only license open source software, but they contribute to open source projects too. While closed source will likely never go away, it is becoming less important.

Today, popular anti-virus and security company, Avast, announces that it too is contributing to the open source community. You see, it is releasing the code for its machine-code decompiler on GitHub. Called "RetDec," the decompiler had been under development since 2011, originally by AVG -- a company Avast bought in 2016.

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Two of my favorite things are dogs and Linux. No, really. When I am not having fun with my Linux box, I am playing or cuddling with my dog. And so, whenever there is a way to mix these things, I am all for it. That's probably why Puppylinux is so endearing to me. Make no mistake, however, the operating system is much more than a cute name. Actually, it is a solid distro for breathing new life into ancient computers.

Today, Puppylinux 7.5 sees release. Named "Xenialpup," the ISO is an insanely small 330MB. Well, that is a diminutive operating system by today's standards at least. Heck, you can even burn it to a CD rather than a DVD -- very useful for an old PC without a DVD drive. You don't need to install it to the hard drive if you don't want -- it can be used as a live environment from optical disk, memory card, or flash drive. Despite its focus on being lightweight, it is still very capable too.

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There is this stereotype that Linux is not conducive to creativity, and I want you to know it is totally false. True, some photographers, videographers, and other types of artists may opt for a Mac or Windows machine, but they can be just as creative with open source and Linux. Not to mention, if you are a maker, engineer, or other type of creator, Linux is probably your best option.

The folks over at System76 have been preaching about the benefits of Linux and open source for many years, and its excellent Linux-powered computers are used by many creative professionals -- including Pixar. This year, however, the computer seller decided to take things a step further by creating its own Ubuntu-based operating system. Called "Pop!_OS," it aims to inspire its users. The company wants to get more people using the distro, so today, it announces a really cool new contest. By simply trying the operating system and sharing your experience with System76, you could win some sweet prizes, including a trip to the company's headquarters in Denver, CO!

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Over the last three years open source container platform, Kubernetes has been adopted by a diverse community of providers including some of the biggest names in the cloud.

Now the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) is launching a Kubernetes Software Conformance Certification program, which ensures Certified Kubernetes products deliver consistency and portability.

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While ARM has been slowly making inroads in the server market, it still has a long way to go before it can truly challenge the x86 architecture. Today, it makes a big step in the right direction thanks to Red Hat.

The enterprise open-source company has officially added ARM support to its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (also known as RHEL) server distribution, after two years of testing with partners like Qualcomm.

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Ubuntu is a great operating system, and this year it has gotten even better. Why? The maker of the distribution, Canonical, ditched the much-maligned Unity desktop environment. Instead, the latest version of the distro uses the far-better GNOME.

Not only does Ubuntu get better by using GNOME, but GNOME should improve thanks to Canonical’s contributions. Today, the GNOME Foundation Advisory board announces that Canonical has joined. This makes a lot of sense, as the company’s popular operating system should bring a renewed interest in the desktop environment. In other words, it is win/win for both.

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Secure software development practices are increasingly being adopted by open source software (OSS), and are underscoring the importance of managing OSS risk.

The latest report from development platform Synopsys uses results from the free Coverity Scan static analysis solution to assess the quality of development practices and the overall maturity of the OSS ecosystem.

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As a computer user in 2017, privacy is always on my mind -- as it should be. I suppose I have always cared about securing my information and data, but in recent years, we have learned so many troubling things about government hackers -- including the USA -- that it seems more important than ever. Patriot Edward Snowden really shone a light on the unfortunate state of privacy, or lack thereof, in modern days.

This is why I was very intrigued by the Purism line of laptops. These are computers that are designed with privacy in mind. The Librem 13 v2, which I have been testing, features two hardware kill-switches -- one will cut the webcam and microphone, while the other kills the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios. By cutting access on the hardware level, hackers cannot access these things when switched off. Instead of using a traditional bios system for booting, it even leverages Coreboot. It runs a Linux-based operating system called "Pure OS" which aims to be very secure and private. Unfortunately, the OS ends up being a little too secure, and the weak link of the overall package. But does that really matter?

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