LWDW 361: No mode for vintage GPUs

Modesetting drivers for vintage GPUs get the axe! Fwupd 1.8.10 flashes a keyboard, ChatGPT invades Gnome, AI powered toonification, and rocking on with RadXa.


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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
05:50 RIP Modesetting drivers for vintage GPUs
13:10 Fwupd 1.8.10 flashes a keyboard
20:06 ChatGPT invades Gnome
27:14 AI powered toonification
41:32 Rocking on with RadXa


VennJill

RIP vintage GPUs 

https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/Y8kDk5YX7Yz3eRhM@linux-uq9g/

  • RIP kernel usemode support for Voodoo Banshee, Voodoo3, Voodoo4 and Voodoo5.
  • Along with r128, SiS, and Matrox.
  • Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) is a method for setting display resolution and depth in the kernel space rather than user space.
  • The Linux kernel’s implementation of KMS enables native resolution in the framebuffer and allows for instant console (tty) switching.
  • This is sad news for those of us that use older machines with these video cards in them :-(
  • I was a bit surprised by the removal of the Matrox cards drivers because there are a lot of servers out there still using them.
  • And Matrox cards historically were one of the first to get driver support on Linux.  
  • Matrox Millennium cards for the win!
  • But time does march on to leave space for new innovation.
  • You can still use them but you won’t have slick-and-crisp tty.

Fwupd 1.8.10

https://9to5linux.com/fwupd-1-8-10-adds-support-for-starbook-mk-vi-laptop-system76s-launch-heavy-keyboard

  • There is a new version of the Fwupd firmware updates application for Linux that adds more hardware support and new features.
  • Fwupd 1.8.10:
    • Adds support for the UK based Star Labs StarBook Mk VI linux laptop.
    • Adds support for System76’s Launch Heavy configurable keyboard that I had fun reviewing on LWDW #356.
    • And the Quectel RM520 5G Internet of Things module.
  • Significant ChromeOS startup improvements when using directory remotes.
  • Fwupd 1.8.10 is available for download right now from the project’s GitHub page if you would like to compile it.
  • Otherwise, just wait for the new release in the stable software repositories of your favorite Linux distros.

ChatGPT GNOME

https://news.itsfoss.com/chatgpt-gnome-extension-development/

  • Some cool news, so ChatGPT, is the AI chatbot that can interact with its users as if they are having a conversation we have all been talking about in the Linux world.
  • Well, a developer who goes by the user handle ‘HorrorPills’ on Reddit has started working on a GNOME extension for ChatGPT.
  • This is a GNOME desktop extension that adds ChatGPT to the system tray of your desktop.
  • It is still a work in progress.
  • You will need an existing ChatGPT account to use this extension and your keyboard to navigate around it because the mouse cursor implementation is quite buggy.
  • And support for GNOME 43 is also quite patchy, but there is a temporary fix.
  • It’s available via its GitHub repo, with all the instructions and files required to run it, but will be available on the GNOME extensions website when the extension is more stable.
  • The irony is that I have gone to the ChatGPT/OpenAI https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/ site to play around with it and create an account several times, but it has been down due to high capacity.
    • Wonderful, finally got in! LOL
    • And, yes using the mouse is buggy using the ChatGPT GNOME extension!
    • Yeh, having issues in GNOME 43, keeps checking if the site connection is secure in an infinite loop.  But that could just be because the OpenAI site is sooo spotty! LOL

TOONS

https://github.com/williamyang1991/VToonify

  • Controllable High-Resolution Portrait Video Style Nightmare-Fuel. 
  • It’s like a tech demo, a preview of the future. 
  • This will be the future of low cost animation for kids shows.
  • Right now it can churn our 5/10 fps with a stack of Tesla V100s. 
  • All you need is CUDA, pytorch and some uncanny valley.
  • 11 pretrained models. 
  • This is incredible AI, because doing this manually can take many hours, or hundreds doing an animation.
  • You can instantly create video of people with The SIMS look and feel, or an animated Avatar you can use on Twitch!

Slice of Pi

Printables 

https://www.printables.com/brands

  • Wouldn’t it be great, if you could download official 3D printable files with replacement parts and accessories for your home appliances? 
  • Or an official fan model from your favorite game?
  • The first brands to populate Printables’ brand area are Prusa Research, Adafruit, Noctua, Raspberry Pi, World of Warships, Cooler Master, Framework Computer, and Bohemia Interactive. 
  • How hilariously bad would a 3D printed fan be in 2023. 
  • What better way for a company to support sustainability and the right to repair!

Radxa Rock 5A

https://www.hackster.io/news/radxa-s-rock-5a-borrows-the-raspberry-pi-4-layout-for-an-eight-core-beast-with-up-to-16gb-of-ram-d97b583a8177

  • Rock on with Radxa. 
  • 8-core A76. 
  • Mali G610 GPU and support for up to 16GB of RAM.
  • M.2.
  • $129 for the 16GB version. 
  • Radxa’s Rock 5 will be available from the end of Q1 2023.
  • The RK3588 has been gaining ground and features in a number of SBC.
  • Radxa has announced a new model in its Rock family of single-board computers, the Rock 5A.
  • The Rock 5A features eight processing cores, up to 16GB of RAM, and an on-board neural processing unit (NPU) accelerator for machine learning workloads.
  • And the new Rock 5A is a device roughly the same size as a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B but with considerably higher performance.
  • The Radxa ROCK 5 SoC we talked about in November used the Rockchip RK3588 chipset as well, but this ROCK 5A uses the more updated RK3588S with 8 cores instead of 4.
  • $99 for the 4GB model, $119 for the 8GB model, and $159 for the 16GB model.
  • Radxa has partnered with ALLNET China to sell pre-order codes for $5, which is good for a $30 discount, bringing the prices down to $74, $94, and $134 respectively.
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