Android and GNU/Linux Software on Chrome OS

• Chrome OS 76 adds a flag to enable GPU support for Linux apps

  The new feature was first noticed by Keith I Myers. It is available in Chrome OS 76.0.3789.0, which is the first dev build of Chrome OS 76. It goes without saying that the feature is unstable right now. It is in the very early stages, so bugs and stability issues are to be expected. Also, keep in mind that GPU acceleration is only supported on a handful of Chromebooks...

• Google working on new way to run Android apps in Chrome OS called ‘ARCVM’

  For the past few years, it’s been possible on many Chromebooks to install the Play Store and run Android apps. This opened the door for Chromebooks to become more than just glorified web browsers. Now, Google is looking to make some major under-the-hood changes to Chrome OS’s Android apps support, which may allow for a long-requested feature.

Android Leftovers

• The LG V40 in the U.S. is just now getting its Android Pie update

• Huawei could still survive without Android, but not very well

• How to access Android’s hidden developer options

• Android-based WonderOS wants to let you play any game from your phone

• Google working on new way to run Android apps in Chrome OS called ‘ARCVM’

• What is Android TV? Google’s smart TV software fully explained

• Some Android Q Beta devices are randomly rebooting as part of Mainline test

• The Tor Browser is finally officially available on Android

• Android System Recover – What to Do?

AMD Staging Another Fix To Try Correcting Some Raven Ridge Systems On Linux

AMD Raven Ridge APUs have been out for more than one year now and at least under Linux can still be quite problematic depending upon the particular motherboard BIOS and other factors. Fortunately, while Raven 2 and Picasso APU support is appearing to be in better shape, the AMD open-source developers haven't forgot about these problematic Raven 1 systems. Out today is the latest patch trying to help those with original Raven Ridge systems. This latest hopeful fix is now skipping over loading the DMCU firmware for Raven Ridge. DMCU in this context is the Display Micro-Controller Unit and is the micro-controller used for Panel Self Refresh (PSR) and similar functionality. Also: Intel 19.20.13008 Open-Source Compute Stack Restores Broadwell To Production Quality

Graphics: Intel, XWayland and Vulkan

• Intel Linux Graphics Driver Adding Support For The Mule Creek Canyon PCH

  Mule Creek Canyon is the PCH to be paired with Intel Elkhart Lake processors. Elkhart Lake as a reminder is the Gemini Lake SoC successor that will feature Gen11 class graphics and now thanks to the open-source Intel Linux graphics driver we know that new PCH is the Mule Creek Canyon. Mule Creek Canyon doesn't appear to be widely publicized up to this point but appeared in today's latest open-source development activity. Mule Creek Canyon is the new PCH for Elkhart Lake and required some minor changes around Port-C remapping that differ from other Icelake graphics hardware.

• XWayland Receive An EGL-Based GLX Provider, Helping Various Games On Linux

  A notable improvement was merged into the "xserver" Git tree for the eventual X.Org Server 1.21 release that will improve the support for various Linux games relying on XWayland for running under a Wayland compositor.

• Vulkan 1.1.109 Released With Two New Intel Extensions

  Vulkan 1.1.109 was released today as the latest update to this graphics/compute specification ahead of the US holiday weekend. With two weeks having passed since Vulkan 1.1.108 there are a few different documentation corrections/clarifications. There are also two new vendor extensions contributed by Intel.