A detailed list of changes in Linux 4.7
Linux 4.7 was recently released, and has already gotten quite a bit of attention from Linux journalists. But changes to the Linux kernel often involve much more than what gets reported in the media.
The folks at Kernel Newbies have a very long and detailed list of changes in Linux 4.7 that is worth browsing if you want to know what’s in it.
Linux 4.7 was released on Sun, 24 Jul 2016.
Summary: This release adds support for the recent Radeon RX 480 GPUs, support for parallel pathname lookups in the same directory, a new experimental ‘schedutils’ frequency governor that should be faster and more accurate than existing governors, support for the EFI ‘Capsule’ mechanism for upgrading firmware, support for virtual USB Devices in USB/IP to make emulated phones behave as real USB devices, a new security module ‘LoadPin’ that ensures that all kernel modules are loaded from the same filesystem, an interface to create histograms of events in the ftrace interface, support for attaching BPF programs to kernel tracepoints, support for callchains of events in the perf trace utility, stable support for the Android’s sync_file fencing mechanism, and many other improvements and new drivers.
Prominent features
Core (various)
File systems
Memory management
Block layer
Security
Tracing, perf, BPF
Virtualization
Networking
Architectures
Drivers
List of merges
Hands on with Android apps on the Chromebook
Google’s decision to add Android apps to Chromebooks has had many users looking forward to running them. But how well do Android apps run on Chromebooks? A writer at Digital Trends recently took some Android apps for a spin on his Chromebook.
Justin Pot reports for Digital Trends:
As it happens, I recently reviewed the Chromebook R 11, and Digital Trends still has it kicking in their closet full of laptops. Jealous of all the cool screenshots I saw on Twitter, and curious about how well Android apps work on the platform, I decided to switch the OS to Developer builds and take a look for myself.
I was thrilled to see Pokémon Go is seemingly supported on my Chromebook, at least so far as Google Play is concern. The app store let me download the game, and when I fired it up the music started playing. I was getting psyched. Then came the words “GPS Signal Not Found,” and everything crashed.
The Chrome Web Store tried for years to turn web apps into a platform, but it stagnated. Google Play, meanwhile, is massive, and instantly fills in thousands of Chromebook holes. Games, Microsoft Office, and so much more have suddenly become available.
The downside, of course, is that those applications were designed with phones and tablets in minds, not laptops. Android compatibility is a step in the right direction, but it’s a long ways from becoming a feature anyone can use with ease.
Six hacks for Linux on Windows
Microsoft’s inclusion of a Linux subsystem on Windows 10 certainly caught the attention of Linux users. And now a writer here at InfoWorld has a fun list of six hacks for Linux on Windows.
Serdar Yegulalp reports for InfoWorld:
A Linux subsystem in Windows? What sounded like an April Fools’ gag has turned out to be one of the biggest signs of Microsoft’s widening acceptance of open source and strategic cooperation with Linux.
It’s also created a veritable playground within Windows for creative hacking. Some of it is simple proof-of-concept tinkering. Other, more ambitious hacks show off both the creativity of the hackers and the robustness of the Linux subsystem, even at this early stage. (All this creativity has spurred Microsoft to include the Linux subsystem as a standard add-on in future versions of Windows.)
If you’ve already installed the Linux subsystem and want to tinker beyond the shell, here’s a collection of the most intriguing Lin-on-Win hacks we’ve seen thus far.
Use X applications with dbus
Run Quake
Run the i3 Window Manager
Launch Windows programs … from within Linux … from within Windows
Install Elixir, Ruby, and other languages
Last but not least: Microsoft itself
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