LWDW 272: Windows Subsystem For Linux Gets GUI

Ubuntu and Fedora have fresh distros for you to play with! Blender nukes OpenCL from orbit, Kernel 5.12 gets official support for DualSense, adding a virtual KVM with Barrier, and GUI app support launches for Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Special thanks to:
Minus9 (new patreon)
Strider (SDD from the Pedro wishzone)
Mfoxdog (RDR2 & The Henry Stickmin Collection steam gifts)

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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
05:00 Blender nukes OpenCL
07:48 Kernel 5.12 is out
11:29 Fedora 43 brings the pipes
15:14 Ubuntu 21.04 gets dark
19:34 Firefox 88 drops FTP support
24:24 Open-source KVM with Barrier
27:29 WSL gets GUI
36:09 Pi Zero W hacking gadget
38:24 RasPi PS4/5 client.


RIP OpenCL

https://code.blender.org/2021/04/cycles-x/

  • Being able to use the Intel denoiser AI rendered in the viewports alone is exciting.
  • After 10 years it’s time for an overhaul of Cycles, the physically based production rendered in Blender.
  • As part of the new architecture they are removing nuking OpenCL from orbit. 
  • The OpenCL standard is a hot mess. 
  • That’s why projects like Davinci Resolve “support” it but it’s very much use at your own risk outside of MAC-land. 
  • They are working with AMD and Intel to get the new kernels working on their GPUs.
  • You are stuck on 2.83 and 2.93 LTS releases for now. 

 

Linux 5.12

https://9to5linux.com/linux-5-12-kernel-officially-released-this-is-whats-new

  • Linus Torvalds released Linux Kernel 5.12 with lots of new device support, including gaming!
  • Support for the Nintendo 64, the game controllers and data cartridges. 
  • Thanks to Sony, official duelsense Playstation 5 support.
  • The open source AMDGPU graphics driver now supports Freesync HDMI and overdrive of AMD “Sienna Cichlid” GPUs.
  • Better support for Microsoft Surface laptops.
  • And support for lots of new cell phones:  Alcatel Idol 3, OnePlus 6 and 6T, Samsung I9070 Galaxy S, Sony Xperia Z3+, Z4, and Z5 phones . . .

 

Fedora 34

https://fedoramagazine.org/whats-new-fedora-34-workstation/

  • GNOME 40, Pipewire by default, and Btrfs transparent compression by default.
  • They’re hoping to have the NVidia drivers sorted in Wayland during the 34 lifetime.
    • Basically any point between now and Fedora 37.
  • This release is fantastic, and it was nice playing with GNOME 40 and having Wayland and Pipewire work out of the box when testing the beta.

 

Ubuntu 21.04

https://ubuntu.com/blog/ubuntu-21-04-is-here

  • Ubuntu 21.04 ‘Hirsute Hippo’ has been released with lots of new changes!
  • Some of my favorite things about Ubuntu 21.04 in my beta testing, were the ‘Hirsute Hippo’ wallpaper, Yaru dark theme by default and Wayland by default.
  • Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, says:
    • “Native Active Directory integration and certified Microsoft SQL Server on Ubuntu are top priorities for our enterprise customers. For developers and innovators, Ubuntu 21.04 delivers Wayland and Flutter for smoother graphics and clean, beautiful, design-led cross platform development.”
  • And the timing is perfect with the release of WSL Linux GUI app support.
  • I look forward to the influx of  “Linux sucks!” comments about stuff not working in Wayland.
  • In case you need a stable OBS 26.1.1 build for Ubuntu 21.04 
  • https://launchpad.net/~gol-d-ace/+archive/ubuntu/test/+build/21465783/+files/obs-studio_26.1.1-0obsproject1~hirsute_amd64.deb
  • Please note that the auto updater will likely try to replace the package with the debian build.
  • They have a dark theme, nice. 

 

No FTP-fox

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2021/04/firefox-88-new-features

  • Mozilla Firefox 88 has been released, with some significant new changes and updates.
  • I haven’t used FTP in years, and the last time I did was with FileZilla, which is a great FTP client.
  • Also the Konqueror file manager/web browser for KDE is a great way to transfer files securely over FTP, as well as the Nautilus FTP server in Ubuntu.
  • apt-get install gvfs-fuse gvfs-backends
    • Now your Thunar will take care of your sftp needs. 
  • Barring that, use wget. 
  • It can now handle PDFs with embedded javascript.
  • You can do pinch to zoom on Linux if your touchpad supports it.

 

Barrier

https://github.com/debauchee/barrier

  • Barrier has been around for some time but I never had an excuse to use it. 
  • Welp, I found me one of them excuses. 
  • If you need a boringly simple software KVM this gets the job done. 
  • Seriously, I was able to set it up on two machines with seven or so clicks and it just works ™ .  
  • Awesome Venn!
  • I have been wanting to play with this one as well, especially since I have hundreds of machines, and am using several hardware KVMs spread around my computer room.

 

Microsoft gets GUI

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/the-initial-preview-of-gui-app-support-is-now-available-for-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux-2/

  • I am happy to see that there is 3D graphics GPU acceleration support now using OpenCL, thanks to Mesa 21.0.
  • Now running a VMware Linux virtual machine is not needed for GPU acceleration.
  • We knew WSL Linux GUI app support was coming soon, but I wasn’t expecting Audio, mic and 3D graphics support being launched at the same time.
  • The real news is the hardware acceleration and audio support.
  • I had XFCE running on WSL two years ago.
  • It was slow but it worked.
  • Gedit running on Windows, eww. 
  • Audacity is working. 
  • The GPU access with WSL could come in use. 
  • All of the power & flexibility of Linux with all of the black box security vulnerabilities of Windows. 
  • Simple as wsl –install. 

Slice of Pi

Yoink Oi 

https://thesmashy.medium.com/raspberry-pi-zero-password-thief-cb2bea8d6dc0

  • If you spray paint the clear acrylic black or darkish gray, that will basically make it go unnoticed in most office environments.

 

PS4 Pi

https://github.com/Fredrum/chiaki

  • Get your PS4 Remote Play on from Linux.
  • From what I hear, the latency with the official software on Windows is atrocious.
  • Maybe this will be better?
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