ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

New AMD Zen 6 Linux Patches Posted - Confirming Up To 16 Memory Channels

([AMD] 7 August 06:49 PM EDT AMD Zen 6)

Following the recent Linux kernel patch adding the AMD Zen 6 synthetic feature flag I suspected more AMD Zen 6 kernel patches would begin flowing... Sure enough, two new patches today noting some new model IDs in the Family 1Ah family as well as confirming rumors that next-gen EPYC Venice processors would support 16 channel memory.


Linux 6.17 Standardizes The Keycode For The "Performance Boost" Key

([Hardware] 7 August 02:51 PM EDT Performance Key)

With the input subsystem updates for Linux 6.17 in addition to now mapping ther F13 to F24 keys by default for PS/2 keyboards, the "performance boost" key beginning to be found on some laptops now has a standardized keycode. With standardizing that keycode, Linux desktop/user-space software will be able to more easily and uniformly set the intended behavior should your laptop/system have such a performance key.


Redox OS Recently Saw 500~700% Performance Improvement For Basic File I/O

([Operating Systems] 7 August 12:53 PM EDT Redox OS)

The Rust-written open-source Redox OS operating system saw a roughly 500% to 700% performance improvement for basic file copy operations since the end of last year, among other ongoing performance optimizations. Plus various other Redox OS features continue to be addressed too as noted in their newest monthly status report.


AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 vs. Ryzen 9 9950X vs. Ryzen 9 9950X3D Linux Performance

([Processors] 7 August 11:00 AM EDT 15 Comments)

In today's launch-day review of the Framework Desktop with AMD Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" were a number of benchmarks comparing the mini/SFF PC to Framework Laptops, the Strix Halo powered HP ZBook Ultra G1a laptops, and similar devices. With this being a desktop after all, for those wondering how the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 compares in a desktop form factor to the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X series processors, this article has all those benchmark numbers.


Framework Desktop With AMD Ryzen AI Max Offers Excellent, Linux-Friendly Performance

([Computers] 7 August 11:00 AM EDT 24 Comments)

Today the review embargo lifts on the much anticipated Framework Desktop computer powered by AMD Ryzen AI Max 300 Series "Strix Halo" SoCs. Aside from offering an enclosure to allow old Framework motherboards to be re-tasked as a makeshift desktop computer, the Framework Desktop is the company's first dedicated desktop computer offering and it's very impressive in building around the Ryzen AI Max "Strix Halo" platform. Here is a look at the Framework Desktop with initial testing under Linux and a wide assortment of benchmarks.


Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS Released With Linux 6.14 HWE Kernel

([Ubuntu] 7 August 10:35 AM EDT Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS)

Canonical just announced the release of Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS as the newest point release for this long-term support (LTS) operating system across desktop, server, and cloud.


Heterogeneous CPU Cores, HDMI & Other Work Continues For Enhancing FreeBSD On Laptops

([BSD] 7 August 10:29 AM EDT FreeBSD On Laptops)

It's just not Microsoft Windows and to a lesser extent Linux that can have challenges in dealing with heterogeneous CPU cores like Intel P/E hybrid cores but FreeBSD developers have begun working through those headaches too in trying to ensure a good experience of modern laptops running this BSD operating system.


Rust 1.89 Released With More AVX-512 Intrinsics & x86 Target Features

([Programming] 7 August 08:28 AM EDT Rust 1.89)

Rust 1.89 is out today as the newest update to this popular programming language implementation prided by its memory safety features and more.


Flang-Tidy Cleaning/Correcting Fortran Code In "Sort Of Opinionated Fashion"

([LLVM] 7 August 06:53 AM EDT Flang-Tidy)

Similar to Clang-Tidy for tidying up C/C++ code using LLVM/Clang components, Flang-Tidy is in development as a tool for Fortran static analysis built upon LLVM's modern Flang compiler code. Flang-Tidy may be upstreamed in the future to LLVM while for now it's developed by TU Munich and Max Planck Computing.


Linux 6.17 SoundWire Support Extended To Upcoming AMD ACP 7.2 Hardware

([Hardware] 7 August 06:00 AM EDT AMD Audio Co-Processor 7.2`)

The Linux 6.17 sound subsystem code last week introduced support for AMD ACP 7.2 as the next version of AMD's Audio Co-Processor IP. This appears to be for yet-to-be-released hardware and now over in the SoundWire subsystem is similar enablement work landing for AMD ACP 7.2.


Linux 6.17 Will Correctly Map By Default F13 To F24 Keys On PS/2 Keyboards

([Hardware] 7 August 06:25 AM EDT F13 To F24 Function Keys)

It has taken until 2025 for the AT/PS2 keyboard driver to map F13 through F24 function keys by default. But that day has come and the support was merged today as part of the input driver changes for the Linux 6.17 kernel.


Intel Phasing Out 16x MSAA Support - Being Disabled With Xe3 Graphics

([Intel] 7 August 06:07 AM EDT Intel Dropping 16x MSAA)

Intel is phasing out 16x multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA) with modern upscaling tech like XeSS / FSR / DLSS being superior and more performant plus there being alternative anti-aliasing techniques. Upcoming Xe3 graphics are seeing 16x MSAA support retroactively disabled as the Intel graphics driver moves away from this highest-level MSAA sampling count.


PyTorch 2.8 Released With Better Intel CPU Performance For LLM Inference

([Programming] 6 August 08:50 PM EDT PyTorch 2.8)

PyTorch 2.8 released today as the newest feature update to this widely-used machine learning library that has become a crucial piece for deep learning and other AI usage. There are a few interesting changes worth highlighting with the new PyTorch 2.8 release.


Linux 6.17 KVM Additions Include Intel LKGS From FRED, Smarter AMD SEV Cache Flushing

([Virtualization] 6 August 08:30 PM EDT Kernel-Based Virtual Machine)

The KVM feature changes were merged a few days ago with all of their enhancements for the in-development Linux 6.17 kernel. Some nice improvements made it this cycle for enhancing the open-source Linux virtualization stack.


Windows Subsystem For Linux "WSL" Updated For A Yet-To-Be-Public Security Vulnerability

([Microsoft] 6 August 06:58 PM EDT WSL 2.5.10)

Microsoft today released an updated version of Windows Subsystem for Linux "WSL" that allows running Linux binaries atop Windows 11. There is only one change noted and it's for a yet-to-be-public security vulnerability.


Microsoft Announces Open-Source "Wassette" Using Rust + WebAssembly To Help AI Agents

([Microsoft] 6 August 04:44 PM EDT Microsoft Wassette)

Microsoft formally announced today its newest open-source project: Wassette. The Wassette is MIT-licensed and includes Linux and macOS support alongside Windows while being a Rust+WebAssembly-based project focused on securing AI agents.


Mesa 25.2 Released With Many Improvements For RADV, Intel & NVK Drivers

([Mesa] 6 August 01:46 PM EDT Mesa 25.2)

Mesa 25.2 is now available as the newest quarterly feature release for this set of open-source Linux graphics drivers predominantly for OpenGL, Vulkan, and video acceleration support on the Linux desktop.


Intel Xe Enabling SR-IOV PF By Default, Marking Driver As "Broken" For Non-4K Kernels

([Intel] 6 August 10:25 AM EDT Intel Xe)

On top of all the Linux 6.17 kernel graphics driver feature changes that landed last week like promoting Panther Lake's Xe3 graphics to on-by-default, SR-IOV for Battlemage GPUs, multi-GPU preparations, Wildcat Lake enablement work, and more, some additional Intel Xe kernel graphics driver changes were submitted today for merging to Linux 6.17 in the coming days.


AlmaLinux Introduces Native NVIDIA Support Using Open-Source Kernel Driver

([NVIDIA] 6 August 09:59 AM EDT AlmaLinux + NVIDIA)

The AlmaLinux project announced today that there is now "native" NVIDIA graphics driver support for AlmaLinux 10 and AlmaLinux 9 using NVIDIA's open-source kernel modules that are now conveniently packaged in an AlmaLinux repository for easy usage complete with NVIDIA's closed-source user-space packages like CUDA.


Linux 6.17 Fixes A Performance Bottleneck In The Futex Code

([Linux Kernel] 6 August 08:50 AM EDT FUTEX)

Merged last week for Linux 6.17 were the FUTEX locking changes that include addressing an observed performance bottleneck.


More

There is something you must understand about the Soviet system. They have the
ability to concentrate all their efforts on a given design, and develop all
components simultaneously, but sometimes without proper testing. Then they end
up with a technological disaster like the Tu-144. In a technology race at
the time, that aircraft was two months ahead of the Concorde. Four Tu-144s
were built; two have crashed, and two are in museums. The Concorde has been
flying safely for over 10 years.
-- Victor Belenko, MiG-25 fighter pilot who defected in 1976
"Defense Electronics", Vol 20, No. 6, pg. 100