Intel Affairs

• Congatec teams up with OSADL for real-time Linux

  In a first step, OSADL qualified congatec’s latest real-time Linux implementation that uses Linux kernel 4.9.47-rt37 on conga-TS170 Server-on-Modules equipped with the embedded server-class Intel Xeon processor (E3-1578L v5 at 2.00GHz). The challenge when implementing hard real-time Linux behaviour lies in mastering all processing layers from BIOS to Linux kernel to user space, since the overall real-time capabilities are only as good as the weakest link in the chain. In addition, modern processors such as Intel’s Skylake family offer a wide range of energy saving features that must be balanced to the requirements of real-time computing. Executed in standardized racks, the OSADL quality assurance testifies that conga-TS170 Server-on-Modules are perfect for any real-time application. The boards support all major real-time capable OS from both x86 and ARM technologies. These include first and foremost real-time Linux but also further RTOS such as VxWorks or QNX, as well as deterministic hypervisor and virtualization technologies from vendors such as Real-Time Systems.

• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS certified for Intel NUC for IoT device development

  The pairing of Ubuntu with Intel® NUC provides benefits to device manufacturers at every stage of their development journey and accelerates time to market. Once in the field, the Intel® NUC is built to ensure deployment is easily manageable and runs seamlessly with little operational support needed.

• Intel CEO Brian Krzanich quits biz after fling with coworker rumbled

  Intel chief exec Brian Krzanich has quit after his “past consensual relationship” with an employee came to light. Staff flings are frowned upon in US corporate tech world, and against Intel company policy, which bans bosses from having relationships with people who report to them, directly or indirectly.

• Intel CEO Brian Krzanich Resigns

  While Intel's second quarter revenue and non-GAAP EPS is exceeding their prior guidance, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has resigned effective immediately.

Security Leftovers

• Security updates for Thursday

• Hortonworks’ Shaun Bierweiler on Enterprise Open Source’s Security Edge Over Proprietary Software

  Shaun Bierweiler, vice president of U.S. public sector at Hortonworks, told Datanami in an interview published Tuesday about the advantage of adopting an open approach to technology development in the big data space. “When you think about integration points, and the various technologies and players coming to market, if you don’t have an open approach and open model and open interfaces, it’s really difficult costly and time-consuming to bring those pieces together,” he said.

• Best free Linux firewalls of 2018

  A firewall is an important aspect of computer security these days, and most modern routers have one built in, which while helpful, can be difficult to configure. Fortunately there are also distributions (distros) of the free operating system Linux which have been specifically designed to function as firewalls. These will generally have much more advanced features than those found on a router, and allow you to have far greater control over keeping your personal or business network safe.

• The LJ Password Generator Tool

• Open Source Hardware Cryptocurrency Wallet Unveiled By McAfee And Bitfi

  Global payments tech firm Bitfi has launched the Bitfi Wallet. According to the payments company the hardware wallet is unhackable. Some of the digital currencies that the wallet supports include privacy-oriented virtual currency Monero (XMR) which has not previously had a hardware wallet. The wallet comes with a dashboard consisting of a wireless setup as well as support.

Zapcc Liberated, HMM and GPL

• Zapcc high-speed C++ compiler now open source

  Zapcc, a caching C++ compiler built for speed, has gone open source. Ceemple Software, Zapcc’s builder, claims the compiler offers dramatic improvements in both incremental and full builds compared to building with Clang 4.0 and Clang 5.0. Based on heavily modified code from the Clang compiler project, Zapcc uses an in-memory compilation cache in a client-server architecture. All compilation information is remembered between runs.

• Heterogeneous memory management meets EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL()

  One of the many longstanding — though unwritten — rules of kernel development is that infrastructure is not merged until at least one user for that infrastructure exists. That helps developers evaluate potential interfaces and be sure that the proposed addition is truly needed. A big exception to this rule was made when the heterogeneous memory management (HMM) code was merged, though. One of the reasons for the lack of users in this case turns out to be that many of the use cases are proprietary; that has led to some disagreements over the GPL-only status of an exported kernel symbol. The HMM subsystem exists to support peripherals that have direct access to system memory through their own memory-management units. It allows the ownership of ranges of memory to be passed back and forth and notifies peripherals of changes in memory mappings to keep everything working well together. HMM is not a small or simple subsystem, and bringing it into the kernel has forced a number of low-level memory-management changes. After a multi-year development process, the core HMM code was merged for the 4.14 kernel, despite the lack of any users.

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