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Linus Torvalds releases Linux kernal v5.17

Version 5.17's standout features include:

Support for four-level page tables on RISC-V silicon, meaning the open source tech can handle 64TB of physical memory or double that in a virtual address space. That kind of scale makes RISC-V potentially more applicable to all sorts of high-end workloads;

A new AMD P-state driver that improves users' ability to change CPU frequency in cores using the Zen 2 and later design. The driver mainly improves matters on client devices, but AMD's EPYC server silicon also uses the Zen architecture;

Tweaks that ensure it's possible to accelerate imminent Alder Lake mobile CPUs to reach turbo speed across their many and varied cores;

Mitigation of new Specter-like issues in Intel and AMD CPUs.
Linux being Linux, the new version also includes an oddity in the form of a fix for an ancient bug that could cause the OS to hang when a floppy disk is ejected.

And of course it's no surprise, we can't have a feature that's software compatibility for non-native Linux programs???

Of course not. This is Linux, and this is how Linux will always be. Features that no one gives a crap about, and yet we will still have to rely on third party software to run other programs that are not native to Linux. This is why Linux will never be a desktop OS and it won't be an OS for gaming either.

If I could switch to Linux I would, but the software compatibility is just not there for the games that I want to play. And I have played city skylines, which is native to linux, and it ran awful compared to how it runs in Windows. If I was on a team with linux, the first thing I would say is, hey guys do you think software compatibility might be something we should really focus on? So that we could be competitive with other operating systems? It makes sense to me guys.
Northwest · M
Gaming on Linux? The kernel is not really the issues, it's the subsystems: graphics, I//O, networking, Physics Engines, 3D engines, VR/XR/AR engines, etc., that matter.

Ubuntu (Canonical), and its varieties have the bulk of desktop and server Linux and 100% of the Windows-based (WSL) Linux. Virtually none of the developers of the subsystems are interested in spending on developing them for Ubuntu.

The hardware adaptation layer (HAL), is a separate thing and it's up to the vendors (Intel, AMD, etc) to put in the effort and most will not bother, as the primary marker remains headless servers. Ubuntu (and others) will only do the mainstream.
Elessar · 26-30, M
There is Wine for what you're suggesting ([u]https://www.winehq.org/[/u]), and it's huge project and a grey area, legally, that'll never make it into the kernel (not that it would need to, anyway)

FWIW, Linux main use case is servers. There are a few nice desktop distributions but they'll never be anywhere as stable and user-friendly as things like Windows or macOS where you have million dollars being spent in UI/UX
helenS · 36-40, F
@Elessar Did you know that Apple tried to use an implementation of Unix called A/UX for their Macintosh computers in the early 1990s? A/UX had a very nice GUI, similar to Apple's System7.
Of course, nothing can beat a PDP11... 😏
basilfawlty89 · 31-35, M
@helenS they still do. Darwin, the Mac OS kernel is based on FreeBSD Unix.
Elessar · 26-30, M
@helenS UI/UX is something that evolves *really* fast tho, inheriting a good prototype but not having the resources to continually modernize it will still lead to users preferring alternatives.

macOS UI/UX is constantly improved, and there are millions if not billions spent in UI/UX R&D alone at Apple, GNOME for instance does not, or at least it doesn't in a way that appeases users, primarily because it certainly doesn't have Apple's resources.

(Personally I hate Apple UX btw)
helenS · 36-40, F
Working with scanners on Linux desktops still isn’t a pleasant experience. That's why I have a Mac – it's a Unix that can scan and print 😐
Wtjvpovdwfhc345355 · 26-30, M
Hi would you like to chat? Im pretty bored

 
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