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Links 27/06/2023: Graphics Work and Face-Saving Red Bait (IBM) Spin



  • GNU/Linux

    • Kernel Space

      • It's FOSSLinux Kernel 6.4 Released: Embracing Apple M2, New Hardware, and More Rust Code

        Another Linux Kernel release is here! This comes just months after the release of Linux Kernel 6.3, right on schedule.

        This release offers many improvements, such as initial Apple M2 silicon support, storage enhancements, better sensor monitoring, and more.

        Even though this is not a major upgrade for regular users, it caters to a specific group of users who want to take advantage of the better hardware/software support on offer.

    • Graphics Stack

      • 9to5LinuxOpen-Source NVIDIA Vulkan Driver NVK Now Supports Older GPUs, New Extensions

        Development on NVK kicked off almost nine months ago and it looks like the open-source NVIDIA Vulkan driver is getting more mature and in a pretty decent state for Linux gaming.

        Since then, NVK gained support for older, pre-Turing NVIDIA graphics cards from the Maxwell and Kepler series, support for geometry, tessellation, and transform feedback to support modern video games, as well as better support for the DXVK Vulkan-based implementation of D3D9, D3D10, and D3D11 for Linux / Wine.

      • Tomeu Vizoso: Etnaviv NPU update 3: Deeper into the convolution units

        What two weeks!

        Programming of the convolution units
        Taking from where I left at the last update, I made progress in understanding the format of the buffer that contains the weights and biases.
        The bit of knowledge that made a difference was realising that the format is optimized so that each NN core can efficiently access the portion of it that it needs, without having to do any parsing or decoding. Knowing that also helped in guessing what some fields in the parameter structure are for.

        With that, I€  was able to correctly run a convolution on a small matrix with arbitrary weights and biases.

        The biggest roadblock in this area currently is understanding how I need to program the output unit in the NN so the output data is in the desired scale. There are a series of fields that influence how the output values are processed before being placed in the output buffer, and I don't really know how they work yet. They are called post_shift and post_mult and the first correlates moderately (r=0.78) to the quantization scale of the output. I know that the post_shift field does what it says, to the right, but to understand what value I need in each situation I feel I need to understand better how the hardware works and what could be the initial values at the end of the convolution and before the output unit. I will be reading a bunch of research papers about NN-accelerating silicon in the summer.

        That said, replacing the OpenCL kernels in TensorFlow Lite's GPU delegate that do convolutions with the fixed units turned out to be a worse idea than I initially thought. This is because that delegate is completely oriented towards float-first hardware such as GPUs and this accelerator is integer only.

        A consequence of this is that TFLite inserts a dequantize operation at the start of the graph and a quantize at the end, to match the desired intput and output formats of a fully quantized model while feeding floats to the GPU. We need integers, so would be having to quantize after TFLite's dequantization and vice versa. Also, the other operations in the graph expect floats as well... This is certainly the wrong path to take for performance in a bandwidth-constrained device as all embedded boards are, so I had to go back to the drawing board.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Installing Google Chrome on Ubuntu: A Comprehensive Guide

        Ubuntu is a popular operating system used by millions of users across the world. While it comes with a pre-installed web browser, many users prefer using Google Chrome for its speed, security, and functionality. In this article, we will discuss how to Install Google Chrome on Ubuntu.

      • BeebomHow to Find Large Files in Linux | Beebom

        One of the most common problems we all face with our systems is identifying large files that take up precious disk space. Whether you are a seasoned Linux user or a beginner, efficiently managing disk space is a necessary skill everyone should know. In this article, we will discuss different methods to find large files in your Linux system to help you recover valuable disk space.

      • How to Add Borders in LibreOffice and OpenOffice Writer

        Borders in a document can improve your document's readability and overall aesthetics. It applies to both online and physical printed documents. LibreOffice and OpenOffice Writer provide simple tools for adding borders to various elements within your documents.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • SUSE/OpenSUSE

      • ForbesPatch Work, SUSE Stitches Tighter Digital Infrastructure Threads

        Technology has layers. A lot like the ogre’s onion analogy in Shrek, technology comes in layers because we have an upper front-end user interface layer, a middleware connectivity layer and a lower substrate back-end, all of which must function in beautiful harmony if we are to enjoy apps the way we want them. We can classify technology stacks into tiers that extend beyond those three basic forms, but you get the point i.e. the modern digital stack is a fabric of interlaced services, functions, computing resources and threads.

        It’s not hard to extend the fabric analogy further, when we need to fix tears, breaks, misconfigurations and frailties in our IT systems today, we talk about ‘patching’ with application code designed to remediate, update and obviate the risk of an IT service becoming further degraded, less function or (at worst) compromized from a security perspective.

    • Fedora Family / IBM

      • Red Hat OfficialRed Hat’s commitment to open source: A response to the git.centos.org changes

        I spent a lot of time walking this weekend thinking about the reaction from our industry to my last blog post. We’ve been called evil; I was called an IBM exec who was installed to turn Red Hat closed source — and that’s only the “nice” stuff. So let’s clear things up.

      • SlashdotRed Hat Enterprise Linux Sources Will Now Be Available To Paying Customers Only - Slashdot

        "CentOS Stream will now be the sole repository for public RHEL-related source code releases..." Red Hat posted this week on its blog, arguing that "The engagement around CentOS Stream, the engineering levels of investment, and the new priorities we're addressing for customers and partners now make maintaining separate, redundant, repositories inefficient."

        Long-time Slashdot reader slack_justyb notes this means patches and changes will now hit CentOS Stream before actually hitting RHEL, which "will make it difficult for other distributions such as Alma Linux, Rocky Linux, and Oracle Linux to provide assured binary compatibility as their only source now will be ahead of what RHEL is actually using."

      • Web Pro NewsAlmaLinux Responds to Red Hat Going Closed-Source

        AlmaLinux has weighed in on Red Hat’s controversial decision to restrict access to its source code, saying the community distro will need to come up with “a new solution.”

        Red Hat riled the Linux community with news that it would restrict access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) source code to paying customers. The news immediately cast doubt on Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux, two community enterprise distros that offer 1:1 compatibility with RHEL.

        Rocky Linux quickly posted a message reassuring users that everything would continue on and that customers would not be impacted by Red Hat’s change. AlmaLinux has similarly weighed in, although the organization is taking a measured approach. Writing for the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, Board Chair benny Vasquez highlighted what many others have noted, namely that the RHEL license appears to prohibit “re-publishing sources acquired through the customer portal,” likely eliminating the possibility of simply acquiring an RHEL license and using it to maintain AlmaLinux.

      • LinuxiacRed Hat Boosts Free Developers Subscription to 240 Systems

        Red Hat has quietly expanded the number of entitlements in the Developer Subscription for Individuals program from 16 to 240.

        Red Hat Enterprise Linux Individual Developer Subscription is an initiative launched by Red Hat in February 2021, two months after the company discontinued the existence of CentOS. The goal is clear – to give CentOS users a free alternative to migrate their systems to RHEL.

        After signing up in the Red Hat Customer Portal, the program allows you to freely download, install, and register Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Then you can freely use it and receive updates for it.

      • LWNMcGrath: Red Hat’s commitment to open source

        Red Hat's Mike McGrath responds to the many criticisms aimed at the company since it changed its policy regarding RHEL source code.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • 9to5LinuxLibreboot Open-Source BIOS/UEFI Replacement Gets Support for New Hardware

      After almost a year of hard work, Libreboot 20230625 is out now as a hefty update that introduces support for new mainboards for both laptops and desktops, including HP EliteBook 2570p, HP 8300 USDT, and Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L, which was removed from previous Libreboot versions.

      While the devs are still working on improving hardware support, Libreboot currently works well on Acer G43T-AM3, Apple iMac 5,2, Intel D510MO and D410PT desktop motherboards, as well as on Apple MacBook1,1 and MacBook2,1, Dell Latitude E6400, HP EliteBook 2560p, and HP EliteBook Folio 9470m.

    • Programming/Development

      • IT JungleMaking Git Part of Your Modernization Strategy

        Maybe the most important part of your IBM i modernization strategy should be modernizing the tools you are using to develop and maintain your applications. Most of the application development world has moved to tools centered around using Git for version control. There is no reason IBM i developers cannot do the same thing. IBM is solidly behind this strategy with their new Merlin product and most of the change management vendors have some kind of Git integration.

      • Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

        • TecAdminCreating Progress Bar in Bash

          As a system administrator, developer, or tech enthusiast, you will often find yourself interacting with Bash or another Unix shell.

        • TecAdminUsing Pipe (|) Operator in Bash

          Bash scripting is an integral part of managing and working on Unix-like systems, and the pipe operator (|) is an incredibly powerful tool in the Bash scripting toolkit. Despite its simple appearance, it's a cornerstone of efficient command line operations, streamlining processes and enabling complex data manipulation.

  • Leftovers

    • Off GuardianInternational Center for 9/11 Justice releases trailer for ‘Peace, War and 9/11’

      We at the International Center for 9/11 Justice are thrilled to announce the release of the official trailer for€ Peace, War and 9/11.

    • Major HaydenEngineering through layoffs

      Layoffs create traumatic times for many. Find ways to break through the frustration and pain. For those that stay, your ability to influence the business can grow. 🪴

      [...]

      In my experience, some of the decisions are made based on data that you can’t see at a publicly traded company. Sometimes a company sheds employees simply because everyone in their market sector is doing it and they’re looking for a temporary bump in the stock price. And then there are those situations where a company chooses to end a product line or project.

      These decisions are often made at a high level within the company and done in such a way to avoid any type of employment-related lawsuits. That brings me to my next topic.

    • AxiosTitanic sub tragedy stokes fears for space tourism

      The catastrophic implosion of a submersible near the wreckage of the Titanic is a sobering moment for another extreme and risky tourism industry: private human spaceflight.

      Why it matters: It's not a matter of if, but when a deadly accident will rock the commercial human spaceflight industry, experts say.

    • HackadayFlying Submarine Documentary Is A Story Of Defied Assumptions

      Donald Reid had a passion for applying himself to challenging problems, and in many ways his life’s work was that of developing a prototype submersible aircraft — or flying submarine — for which his son Bruce was a test pilot. [Jesse Moody] brought to our attention a fantastic documentary he created (with a short teaser trailer here) in which he interviews Bruce, and in the process teaches us all about a story that spanned decades and formed an important part of aviation history. Bruce experienced his share of hair-raising moments while testing the craft, but still has all of his fingers and limbs. Still, in his own words, “you wouldn’t be doing that kind of testing today!”


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



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