Debian: pk4, Freexian and More

• pk4: a new tool to avail the Debian source package producing the specified package

  UNIX distributions used to come with the system source code in /usr/src. This is a concept which fascinates me: if you want to change something in any part of your system, just make your change in the corresponding directory, recomile, reinstall, and you can immediately see your changes in action.

• Freexian’s report about Debian Long Term Support, September 2017

  Like each month, here comes a report about the work of paid contributors to Debian LTS.

• Sal Mubarak 2074

  Wishing all Debian people a prosperous and auspicious Gujarati new year (V.S. 2074 called Saumya.)

Kernel and Graphics: ZenStates, AMDGPU, RADV, Vulkan, NVIDIA

• ZenStates Allows Adjusting Zen P-States, Other Tweaking Under Linux

  ZenStates is an independent effort to offer P-States-based overclocking from the Linux desktop of AMD Ryzen processors and other tuning. ZenStates-Linux is an open-source Python script inspired by some available Windows programs for offering Ryzen/Zen CPU overclocking from the desktop by manipulating the performance states of the processor.

• AMDGPU DC Gets A Final Batch Of Changes Before Linux 4.15

  The AMDGPU DC display code has a final batch of feature updates that were sent in this weekend for DRM-Next staging and is the last set besides fixes for the "DC" code for the 4.15 target.

• Valve Developer Lands VK_EXT_global_priority For RADV Vulkan Driver

• Vulkan 1.0.64 Adds In Another AMD-Developed Extension

  Vulkan 1.0.64 is out this weekend as the newest specification refinement to this high-performance graphics/compute API. As usual, most of the changes for this minor Vulkan revision are just documentation clarifications and corrections. This week's update brings just under a dozen fixes.

• NVIDIA TX2 / Tegra186 Display Support Isn't Ready For Linux 4.15

  While the Jetson TX2 has been out since this past March and it's a phenomenal ARM development board, sadly the Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) driver support for it still isn't ready with the mainline Linux kernel. Thierry Reding of NVIDIA sent in the Tegra DRM driver changes for DRM-Next that in turn is staged for Linux 4.15. Reding commented that there is prepatory work for the TX2 (Tegra186) but it's not all ready for upstream yet.

Ubuntu: Mir running on Fedora and Ubuntu 17.10 Guidance

• Mir running on Fedora

  Last week we released Mir 0.28 and this week we settled down to tidy up a few bugs fixes and feature requests that didn’t make the release. I’ve started collecting these for a Mir 0.28.1 release to come in the next few weeks. The most interesting of these comes from conversations at the Ubuntu Rally: there were several requests from community members around getting Mir working (or even building!) on other distributions.

• Ubuntu Developer Gets Mir Running On Fedora

  Lead Mir developer Alan Griffiths has spent the time getting the Mir display server running on Fedora. This is part of a broader feature request of getting Mir running on more Linux distributions than just Ubuntu. The changes to get Mir running on at least Fedora should be merged for the upcoming Mir 0.28.1 point release. Mir 0.28.1 will also incorporate other bug fixes.

• How To Remove the Unity Desktop from Ubuntu 17.10

• 9 Things to do After Installing Ubuntu 17.10

• How To Install Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark

Purism Librem 5 Linux Smartphone Campaign Set To End At Around $2 Million

Tomorrow marks the end of the crowdfunding campaign for Purism's Librem 5 smartphone campaign. The campaign is looking like it will close at around two million dollars with the current tally as of this morning being at $1,962,517 in funds raised for this effort to build an original GNU/Linux smartphone stack with either GNOME Shell or KDE Plasma Mobile comprising the UI/UX elements.