LWDW 253: A Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux plans to fill a CentOS sized void, Fedora 34 goes full PipeWire, OBS 26.1 adds support for virtual cams, and project Croissant brings Chrome OS to any laptop.


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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
04:56 Rocky Linux
11:01 Kernel 5.10
16:06 Gnome Oct Nov updates
20:46 PipeWire for Fedora 34
23:31 OBS Studio 26.1
28:06 OBS Jack fix
35:31 Chromefy
42:26 iQaudio HiFi Pie hats
46:46 Emails


Rocky Linux 

  • Rocky Linux is an upcoming Linux distribution that is currently in development. It is intended to be a downstream, complete binary-compatible release using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system source code. 
  • The project’s aim is to provide a community-supported, production-grade enterprise operating system.
  • Named after the CentOS co-founder Rocky McGough.
  • CloudLinux is doing their own thing as well. 
  • Oracle even tried to get in on the action.
  • As we talked about in January, Huawei offers a CentOS based enterprise Linux distribution called EulerOS as well.
  • Huawei also has released a community edition of EulerOS called openEuler.
  • I would steer clear of both Huawei and Oracle when it comes to your low budget enterprise needs.
  • Rocky may very well turn out to be the distro you’re looking for in that instance.

 

Linux Kernel 5.10

  • Linus Torvalds just released Linux Kernel 5.10, the latest ‘Long Term Support’ Linux Kernel, with major updates and improvements.
  • Support for the initial RISC-V boot by EFI.
  • More support for AMD RDNA 2 Radeon RX 600 GPUs.
  • Supports the Nintendo Switch Joy Cons and Pro controller.
    • And Guitar Hero. 
  • The EXT4 format has a major write performance boost from ‘fast commits’ support, and gains optimised file overwrites in DAX/DIO modes.
  • Nothing big to report on the audio front aside from a handful of chipsets gaining support.
  • Well, there is support for the SB AE-7 but, meh. 
  • Betterish support for AMD RDNA 2 and whatever Intel is working on. 
  • Work continues on USB4. 
  • Builds with the latest Nvidia Vulkan beta driver. 
  • Very much looking forward to the ext4 bits, even though I’m pretty sure I won’t notice much of a difference
  • There’s some extra fixes in there for Zen 3 and supposed performance improvements.
  • Which sound great since I do plan to replace this 3700X with its Zen 3 equivalent or maybe a 5900X if they happen to drop below £399.

 

Gnome Oct Nov Updates

  • The Flycast Libretro core can now play Dreamcast games. 
  • New app for health tracking. 
  • Gnome Circle is a new thing for promoting third party apps. 
    • Gnome will provide promotion and advertising.
    • Contributors quality for foundation membership. 
  • Rusting all the things.
  • Introducing Souk.
  • Souk is an up and coming independent Flatpak app store written in GTK4 and Rust.
  • And is an easy to use and less clunky alternative to GNOME Software, or the Ubuntu Software/Snap Store in Ubuntu.
  • It is made by Felix Hacker and Christoper Davis.
  • Felix Hacker is the developer of other great GTK4 apps for Linux, including the Shortwave internet radio player and the Fragments bittorrent app.
  • A more modern and simple GUI approach to a Flatpak app store is something that is so needed, especially in GNOME.
  • Although I still prefer using the flatpak command line.
  • Gnome Games trying to cut in on that Lutris action
  • Honestly, if you’re developing an application primarily aimed at GNOME and GTK, you should apply for the Circle.

 

Fedora goes full PipeWire

  • Talked about the proposal a few weeks back.
  • PipeWire will replace Pulseaudio In the next version of Fedora. 
  • Desktop users should not notice any changes. 
  • This will be good for hunting down bugs and edge cases.
  • We had talked about that the Fedora developers were aiming for PipeWire to be stable in Fedora 34, so it’s great that they are on track. 
  • Good timing!
  • I get to try piping the wires on the newly i7’ed X240.

 

OBS Studio 26.1

  • Virtual Camera output on Linux is now a thing. 
  • You will need the loopback module installed. 
  • OpenBSD support!
  • HLS support and ingests for YouTube.
  • Twitch VOD output. 
  • And the ability to ingest captions with Decklink. 
  • By the way, nobody with a Blackmagic Decklink card will be able to capture from another PC.
  • I filed a bug report two days before release but hey, at least they didn’t insta-close it. 
  • And if you ever had two or more instances of OBS opened at the same time and things feel a bit sluggish:
    • On Linux, OBS will now detect other instances that are currently running and warn the user about running more than one copy at a time.

 

OBS Jack fix

  • After two years of trying to bring attention to this bug and get it fixed. 
  • Hector Martin stepped in and sorted some of the nasty stuff going on in the OBS audio stack.
  • From my testing it appears to work. 
  • Of course the feefee brigade had to come in at the end of the thread to whinge about someone who literally fixed their problem for them being a bit mean.
  • You know, the person who had their issue insta closed.
  • Went to Discord to say that there was in fact an issue, and got told it wasn’t.
  • The person who went back two years and found the original issue being discussed and the fact that it was known to be a bit iffy.
  • And they’re more worried about their feefees.
  • Though I am glad @marcan backed up every single one of his claims and slapped their egos a few extra times for good measure.
  • Linux bug and pull requests don’t get much attention in OBS land.
  • Much needed things like Save device by path #3437 have been open since September. 
  • Case in point, my Decklink report from two weeks prior. 
  • That was insta-closed with a comment suggesting I built it incorrectly and I should visit Discord for support. 
  • No investigation was done, zero. 
  • It was actually investigated, reopened and fixed later that day. 
  • My Decklink PC capture bug was reported a day before release but it had Linux in the title. 
  • 26.1 was shipped the next day and whoops, it affected Windows as well. 
  • At the end of the day I want to thank the OBS team for their continued efforts. 
  • But, your community engagement needs work.
  • Until then you can find me in the OBS Discord in Linux support helping where I can. 

 

Project Croissant

  • Chances are you probably own a laptop that’s more powerful than your typical Chromebook.
  • This will let you install ChromeOS by modifying a ChromiumOS image with the extra bits Google didn’t open the sauce for.
  • Might make for an interesting stream.
  • This could be a great way to update an older Chromebook that is no longer receiving official ChromeOS updates.

Slice of Pi

HiFi Pi

  • DAC+, DAC Pro, DigiAMP+ from IQaudio.
  • These are not new but I guess they are now in the official supply chain.
  • Codec Zero will ship early in the New Year.
  • Like the Pi HQ cam, set your expectations accordingly. 
  • I would like to see ADAT and XLR input options. 
  • Or at least line level ¼ jacks. 
  • Still, for $30 it’s something to play around with.
  • This is the first time that the Raspberry Pi Foundation have brought third party products into their lineup.
  • The IQaudio products have been used heavily for in-store audio streaming, so this acquisition makes sense.
  • I was impressed by the IQaudio DigiAMP+, and that it could drive a pair of speakers at up to 35W per channel. 
  • The new zero DAC hat will only ship in 2021, the rest should be available shortly if not already.

Feedback

Mobile music

  • On the topic of keeping your music local vs in the cloud. 
  • *presses satellite radio button* 
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