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Security Researchers Find Current RISC-V CPU Implementations Coming Up Short
While many open-source enthusiasts like to flaunt RISC-V as not having the security challenges as x86_64 CPUs have seen over the past several years with various speculative execution / side-channel attacks and arguing for the benefits of an open-source ISA in stronger security, in practice it's not so clear-cut. Security researchers at Germany's CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security have found current RISC-V CPU implementations coming up short for their actual security...
Turn off these 3 annoying Ubuntu defaults in 5 minutes
Disable three default Ubuntu settings to cut nags, avoid surprise updates, and keep your screen from locking mid-task.
Origami Linux Introduces an Immutable OS Built Around COSMIC
Origami Linux is a new experimental Fedora Atomic–based distribution using rpm-ostree and the COSMIC desktop.
Loongson 3B6000 Benchmarks: How China's LoongArch CPU Compares To AMD Zen 5, Intel Arrow Lake & Raspberry Pi 5
Recently I finally got my hands on a LoongArch processor, the ISA developed by China's Loongson Technology as an evolution from their earlier use of the MIPS64 ISA and inspired by RISC-V and other modern ISAs. The Loongson-3B6000 features 12 cores / 24 threads with dual channel DDR4 ECC memory support. Here is a look at how that latest-generation LoongArch desktop processor compares to the current generation AMD Zen 5 and Intel Arrow Lake desktop processors under Linux. Plus also tossing in the Raspberry Pi 5 (Raspberry Pi 500+) for an ARM reference point.
Experimental Linux Code For 1GB PUD-Level THPs Shows 34% Faster Memory Access Times
Early, experimental code for implementing 1GB PUD-level THPs in the Linux kernel are showing positive benchmark results but other upstream stakeholders were surprised by this patch series appearing and it looking like it could be a while until if/when the patches are mainlined for helping to reduce translaction lookaside buffer (TLB) pressure without resorting to Hugetlbfs...
Rust Coreutils Continues Working Toward 100% GNU Compatibility, Proving Trolls Wrong
Sylvestre Ledru who serves as the lead developer of the uutils project for the Rust Coreutils implementation presented at FOSDEM 2026 this weekend on this initiative. Ledru has spoken at FOSDEM in prior years on Rust Coreutils and this year's talk focused primarily on Ubuntu 25.10's adoption of it in place of GNU Coreutils...
Intel ISH Firmware Upstreamed For Linux With Dell's New Panther Lake Laptops
Ahead of Dell's new XPS 14 and XPS 16 laptops powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" expected to be shipping in volume beginning in March, more of the Linux support for these premium Panther Lake laptops continues to be finished up...
Linux From Scratch Abandoning SysVinit Support
Linux From Scratch was one of the holdouts continuing optional SysVinit init system support through 2026, but that's now ending. Linux From Scratch "LFS" and Beyond Linux From Scratch "BLFS" are ending their System V Init support moving forward...
9to5Linux Weekly Roundup: February 1st, 2026
9to5Linux Weekly Roundup for February 1st, 2026, brings news about GParted 1.8, Transmission 4.1, GStreamer 1.28, OpenSSL 3.6.1, Proton 10.0-4, GParted Live 1.8, VirtualBox 7.2.6, Calibre 9.0, Tails 7.4.1, AerynOS 2026.01, Linux Lite 7.8, Shotcut 26.1, TigerVNC 1.16, and more.
Raspberry Pi Raises Prices As Much As $60 Due To Memory Demand
Last year Raspberry Pi announced price increases due to memory demand. Today they have announced another round of increased prices as a result of the memory shortages going on industry-wide...
Steam Survey Results For January 2026
After Steam on Linux gaming hit a record high in December of 3.58%, the January 2026 numbers are now published...
The Wild‑West Napster Is Gone. What’s Left Is an AI Mall
Remember when Napster meant free music and trouble with the labels? Now it means glossy AI therapists, fake experts, and generative “content” on tap. If… The post The Wild‑West Napster Is Gone. What’s Left Is an AI Mall appeared first on FOSS Force.
Linux Release Roundup (January 2026)
VLC 3.0.23, GIMP 3.0.8 and VirtualBox 7.2.6 were among January’s Linux app releases, slipping alongside an open-source video editor, versatile command-line file manager and image flashing tool. I covered a number of software updates already, but below are software updates from January 2026 that didn’t get the full-blown article treatment. VLC 3.0.23 After a bit of “is it actually out” limbo, VLC 3.0.23 rolled out across all supported OSes in mid-January. Key highlight is dark mode support on Linux and Windows, with the UI adopting light or dark theme automatically when system dark mode preference is changed. Beyond that, the […]
Kernel prepatch 6.19-rc8
The 6.19-rc8 kernel prepatch is out for testing. "So things all look good, and unless something odd happens we'll have a final 6.19 next weekend."