OpenMandriva 3.0, Google Linux Snub, TCP Vulnerability
OpenMandriva Lx 3.0 was announced Saturday with Linux 4.6.5, Plasma 5.6.5, and systemd 231. An early reviewer said he liked OpenMandriva but Plasma not as much. Elsewhere all anyone can seem to talk about is Google's decision to use something other than Linux to power its next embedded devices and a TCP vulnerability that could allow remote hijacking of Internet traffic. Patrick Volkerding has upgraded the toolchain in Slackware-current and Red Hat security expert said you can't trust any networks anywhere.
Saturday's release of OpenMandriva Lx 3.0 is my top story today. As you would expect, 3.0 comes chocked full o' applications and improved tools for work. Some of the big changes this release include an upgrade from Python 2 to Python 3, OpenMandriva Welcome re-written in C++, and improved OpenMandriva BuildISO. The main attractions include:
* KDE Plasma 5.6.5
* KDE Frameworks 5.24.0
* KDE Apps 16.04.3
* Kernel 4.6.5
* Systemd 231
* Xorg 1.18.3
* Mesa 12.0.1
* F2FS support – A filesystem for SSD
Blogger Mechatotoro tested the release Saturday noticing immediately how quickly the installation completed. He noted it took "less than 15 minutes." He discovered a fresh install works better than an upgrade, interestingly. Plasma 5 was a bit of a trade-off and he sounded less than impressed, but nevertheless, Mechatotoro said, "I am keeping OpenMandriva Lx 3.0 for sure. The OS picked up the wi-fi with no problems, the sound works, effects are working, I saw no crashes, and speed feels good. Kudos to the OpenMandriva team."
The OpenMandriva team said they are discussing some lightweight desktop spins. Alternative desktops LXQt and Xfce 4 are available currently, but future plans may include "one using LXQt for older, resource limited hardware and one for more modern lightweight hardware using the Hawaii desktop combined with the Wayland graphical server." Download 3.0 at www.openmandriva.org. Be sure to check the full release notes for errata information.
Most of the Internet seemed rather concerned that Google has decided to go with something dubbed the "Fuchsia" operating system instead Linux in its future IoT and other embedded devices. Fortunately, Swapnil Bhartiya was there to tell me why it "is a huge deal." Apparently the big deal is that it's Open Source released under an MIT License. It's available now at GitHub for ARM and will soon run on Raspberry Pi 3s as well.
Jesse Smith reviewed Slackware off-spring Zenwalk in today's Distrowatch Weekly. Version 8.0 was released last month and shipped with Xfce 4.12.1, Linux 4.4.14, Libreoffice 5.1.3, Chromium 51, and SysVinit 2.88. Smith said while he liked some things about Zenwalk, software dependency problems kicked sand in the gears.
In other news:
* New Toolchain in Slackware Current
* Linux TCP flaw fix likely in next stable release
* VMware survives GPL breach case, but plaintiff promises appeal