Linux Kernel 6.3 Release Includes Interesting Features

For those who like to use the latest/greatest Linux kernel, version 6.3 has a few features that just might excite you.

On the top of that list is support for multi-actuator hard disk drives. Such drives are being more widely adopted for hyper-scale cloud deployments because of their ability to enable faster performance by way of a second set of read/write heads.

As well, Linux kernel 6.3 adds support for Kernel Address Space Layout Randomization, but this security feature is only available to Loongson RISC-V CPUs. Microsoft added nested hypervisor support for Hyper-V, and support for Intel's Meteor Lake CPUs is fully functional. In addition, with the 6.3 kernel, Intel GB NIC will be able to break the 60-percent throttle speed it's suffered for the past few years.

Other features/improvements include support for the upcoming AMD CPUs and graphics cards, support for AMD's Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (to help mitigate Spectre vulnerabilities), support for the Scalable Matrix Extension 2 instructions for ARM architecture, support for AES-SHA2-based encryption with NFS, EXT4 optimizations, a faster Btrfs driver, and a native Steam Deck controller interface in HID.

Although Linux kernel 6.3 has yet to make it into the standard repositories, you can download it from kernel.org (https://kernel.org/) and compile it yourself. Eventually, this kernel will arrive in your distribution's repositories, and it's generally best to wait.

For more information on the new kernel, check out part 1 (https://lwn.net/Articles/923846/) and part 2 (https://lwn.net/Articles/924384/) of the merge window.

Arch-Based blendOS Features Cool Trick

Imagine being able to install apps from Arch, Fedora, Ubuntu, Android, and even the web onto a single distribution. That's what blendOS (https://blendos.co/) does.

Created by the same maintainer as Ubuntu Unity, blendOS allows you to use the native Arch package manager (pacman), as well as DNF (from Fedora) and Apt (from Ubuntu). Both DNF and Apt are made available as containers by way of the Podman container runtime engine (with a bit of help from Distrobox for init and NVIDIA driver support).

Even though blendOS is based on Arch Linux, the developers have made it such that you can use any app from a supported distro. On top of that, you can choose between either the Gnome or KDE Plasma desktop.

When you install applications using the containerized versions of DNF or Apt, those applications will be available from the base OS (so you don't have to run them from the command line as typical Podman containers).

blendOS is also a rolling and immutable operating system that allows you to install system packages as you normally would, while still being able to roll back to an existing snapshot.

You can also use the blendOS build scripts (https://github.com/blend-os/blendiso) to create and submit your own blendOS remix with the desktop environment of your choice.

You can read more about the new release of blendOS here (https://blendos.co/blend-os-v2/).

Fedora 38 Released with New Features

The developers of Fedora Linux have gifted us with yet another stellar release, by way of number 38. It's a surprise, given the team rarely delivers early but it's certainly an early gift from a dedicated team.

Fedora 38 stars Gnome 44 and Linux kernel 6.2. The version of Gnome used in Fedora is straight-up standard, so there are zero changes made by the Fedora team.

Some of the new features found in Gnome 44 include expandable folders in the Files file manager as well as the icon/thumbnail mode for the file picker.

You'll also find full access to Flathub in the Software application, which means you'll find even more flatpak apps available for installation through third-party repositories.

Other additions include Mesa 23.0, Ruby 3.2, gcc 13, LLVM 16, Golang 1.20, and PHP 8.2.

With the release of Fedora 38, the team has made some significant changes to the website (https://fedoraproject.org/) and has included a few new spins, including one for Budgie, Sway, and one for mobile devices called Phosh.

You can read more about the latest release from the official blog (https://fedoramagazine.org/announcing-fedora-38/) and download an ISO from the download page (https://fedoraproject.org/workstation/download/).

LXQt 1.3 Released with Bug Fixes

LXQt is a fan-favorite Linux desktop environment for systems with meager resources. Suitable for older systems (but it will run like an absolute champ on new hardware), LXQt is not just easy on hardware, but easy to use.

With the latest release, version 1.3, the developers have remained with Qt 5.15 (although work is being done for initial Qt6 support) and have focused on adding new features.

For example, the LXQt Panel now defaults to include the DOM plugin and fixes a bug in the clock widget, as well as a bug discovered when switching between the dark and light themes. Additionally, the panel will correctly position the context menu when used with Wayland.

The default file manager, PCManFM-Qt has fixed a bug that prevented desktop items from "shaking" on configuration changes. Also, the latest iteration of the file manager adds a title for Desktop to help set window manager rules for certain Wayland compositors. You'll also find that smooth scrolling can now be disabled in all view modes.

There is also now support for procps-ng >= 4.0.0 in the LXQt session tool for better detection of window managers and system trays.

Although the new feature and bug list isn't exactly extensive, there were a lot of minor bug fixes added across the entire desktop.

Currently, LXQt is only available via source code. Eventually, however, rolling releases (such as Arch Linux, Gentoo, and openSUSE Tumbleweed) will pick up the latest version in their respective repos.

You can read more about this new release in the official LXQt announcement (https://lxqt-project.org/release/2023/04/15/release-lxqt-1-3-0/).