Way back, Valve had the intention of making gaming on Linux a reality by allowing anyone to make PCs running SteamOS, with the goal of making Steam less dependent on the whims of Windows. This effort failed and fizzled out, but the idea clearly never died inside Valve, because ten years later the Steam Deck would take the market by storm, spawning a whole slew of copycats running unoptimised, difficult to use Windows installations. There have been hints Valve was toying with the idea of releasing official SteamOS builds for devices other than the Steam Deck, and the company has not confirmed these rumours. The company’s long said it plans to let other companies use SteamOS, too — and that means explicitly supporting the rival Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld, Valve designer Lawrence Yang now confirms to The Verge. ↫ Sean Hollister at The Verge This is great news for the market, as some of these Steam Deck competitors are interesting from a specifications perspective – although pricing sure goes up with that – but running Windows on a small handheld gaming device is a chore, and relying on OEMs to make “gaming overlays” to make Windows at least somewhat usable is not exactly something you want to have to rely on. SteamOS is clearly lightyears ahead of Windows in this department, so having non-Steam Deck handheld gaming PCs officially supported by Valve is great news. We’re still a long way off, though, says Valve, and the same applies to Valve’s plans to release a generic SteamOS build for any old random PC. That effort, too, is making steady progress, but isn’t anywhere near ready. Of course, there’s a variety of unofficial SteamOS variants available, so you’re not entirely out of luck right now. On top of that, there’s things like Bazzite, which offer a SteamOS-like experience, but using the Atomic variants of Fedora.

Following the removal of IA-64 (Itanium) support in the Linux kernel and glibc, and subsequent discussions on our mailing list, as well as a vote by the Gentoo Council, Gentoo will discontinue all ia64 profiles and keywords. The primary reason for this decision is the inability of the Gentoo IA-64 team to support this architecture without kernel support, glibc support, and a functional development box (or even a well-established emulator). In addition, there have been only very few users interested in this type of hardware. ↫ Gentoo website Et tu, Gentoo? Linux removing Itanium I can understand; the Freemason corporate overlords who pull the strings of Linux kernel development are terrified of just how powerful Itanium really is. GCC removing Itanium makes sense too, as the unwashed communists at the FSF just don’t understand the capitalist greatness that is Itanium. But Gentoo? Now I know how Jesus felt when Judas betrayed him; how Caeser felt when he gazed upon Brutus’ face. I feel empty inside.

It’s been busy in the world of hobby and teaching/learning operating systems these past few months, and today we’ve got another one – SpecOS. SpecOS is a 64 bit operating system kernel for x86-64 processors, still in quite early stages, written in (questionable quality) C. It is (not very) powerful. This used to be 32 bit, but has been transferred to a 64 bit operating system. It uses a monolithic kernel, because I like having everything in one place. This may take some inspiration from other operating systems, but it is not UNIX based. ↫ SpecOS GitHub page It’s got the basics covered with PS/2 keyboard and VGA support, a real-time clock driver, a basic hard disk driver, and physical and virtual memory management, among other things. We’re clearly looking at a hobby project, and the author is very clear about that. A virtual machine is highly advised, as running it on real hardware is… Well, you’re on your own, basically.

Serena is an experimental operating system based on modern design principles with support for pervasive preemptive concurrency and multiple users. The kernel is object-oriented and designed to be cross-platform and future proof. It runs on Amiga systems with a 68030 or better CPU installed. One aspect that sets it aside from traditional threading-based OSs is that it is purely built around dispatch queues somewhat similar to Apple’s Grand Central Dispatch. There is no support for creating threads in user space nor in kernel space. Instead the kernel implements a virtual processor concept where it dynamically manages a pool of virtual processors. The size of the pool is automatically adjusted based on the needs of the dispatch queues and virtual processors are assigned to processes as needed. All kernel and user space concurrency is achieved by creating dispatch queues and by submitting work items to dispatch queues. Work items are simply closures (a function with associated state) from the viewpoint of the user. ↫ Serena GitHub page Serena is a remarkably advanced concept, and since it runs in an Amiga emulator just fine, there’s no need for real hardware, which is becoming ever harder to come by. It has its own unique file system, the executable file format is Atari ST GemDos (for now), and it has its own shell. It comes with a variety of drivers and services for your basic needs like keyboard and mouse input, a basic graphics drivers, a VT52 and VT100 series compatible interactive console, a floppy disk driver, and much more. Anyone can load up WinUAE and try SerenaOS out – it’s available under the MIT license.

I have no contracts, agreements, or business with Apple, I do not use any Apple products, I do not rely on any Apple services, and none of my work requires the use of any of Apple’s tools. Yet, I’m forced to deal with Apple’s 30% tax. Today, Patreon, which quite a few of you use to support OSNews, announced that Apple is forcing them to change its billing system, or risk being banned from the App Store. This has some serious consequences for people who use Patreon’s iOS application to subscribe to Patreons, and for the creators you subscribe to. First: Apple will be applying their 30% App Store fee to all new memberships purchased in the Patreon iOS app, in addition to anything bought in your Patreon shop. ↫ Patreon’s website First things first: the 30% mafia tax will only be applied to new Patreons subscribers using the Patreon iOS application to subscribe, starting early November 2024. Existing Patreons will not be affected, iOS or no. Anyone who subscribes through the Patreon website or Android application will not be affected either. Since creators like myself obviously have no intention of just handing over 30% of what our iOS-using supporters donate to us, Patreon has added an option to automatically increase the prices of subscriptions inside the Patreon iOS application by 30%. In other words, starting this November, subscribing to the OSNews Patreon through the iOS application will be 30% more expensive than subscribing from anywhere else. As such, I’m pondering updating the description of our Patreon to strongly suggest anyone wishing to subscribe to the OSNews Patreon to do so either on the web, or through the Patreon Android application instead. If you’re hell-bent on subscribing through the Patreon iOS application, you’ll be charged an additional 30% to pay protection money to Apple. And just to reiterate once more: if you’re already a Patreon, nothing will change and you’ll continue to pay the regular amounts per tier. Second: Any creator currently on first-of-the-month or per-creation billing plans will have to switch over to subscription billing to continue earning in the iOS app, because that’s the only billing type Apple’s in-app purchase system supports. ↫ Patreon’s website This is Patreon inside baseball, but as it stands right now, subscribers to the OSNews Patreon are billed on the first of the month, regardless of when during a month you subscribe. This is intentional, since I really like the clarity it provides to subscribers, and the monthly paycheck it results in for myself. Sadly, Apple is forcing Patreon to force me to change this – I am now forced to switch to subscription billing instead, somewhere before November 2025. This means that once I make that forced switch, new Patreons will be billed on their subscription date every month (if you subscribe on 25 April, you’ll be charged every 25th of the month). Luckily, nothing will change for existing subscribers – you will still be billed on the 1st of the month. This whole thing is absolutely batshit insane. Not only is Patreon being forced by Apple to do this at the risk of having their iOS application banned from the App Store, Apple is also making it explicitly impossible for Patreon to go any other route. As we all know, Patreon won’t be allowed to advertise that subscribing will be cheaper on the web, but Apple is also not allowing Patreon to remove subscribing in the Patreon iOS application altogether – if Patreon were to do that, Apple will ban the application from the App Store as well. And with how many people use iOS, just outright deprecating the Patreon iOS application is most likely going to hurt a lot of creators, especially ones outside of the tech sphere. Steven Troughton-Smith did some math, and concluded that Apple will be making six times as much from donations to Patreon creators than Patreon itself will. In other words, if you use iOS, and subscribe to a creator from within the Patreon iOS application, you will be supporting Apple – a three trillion dollar corporation – more than Patreon, which is actually making it possible to support the small creators you love in the first place. That is absolutely, balls-to-the-wall, batshit insanity. Remember that ad Apple made where it crushed a bunch of priceless instruments and art supplies into an iPad – the ad it had to pull and apologise for because creators, artists, writers, and so on thought it was tasteless and dystopian? Who knew that ad was literal.

Haiku, the platform grossing in ported browsers while its native WebPositive browser languishes, has added another notch to its belt – and this time, it’s a big one. Firefox has been tentatively ported to Haiku, but it’s early days and there’s no package ready to download – you’ll have to compile it yourself if you want to get it running. It’s version 128, so it’s the latest version, too. Without the ability to easily test and run it, there’s not much more to add at this point, but it’s still a major achievement. I hope there’ll be a nice Haiku package soon.

About two years ago, the very popular and full-featured Android launcher Nova Launcher was acquired by mobile links and analytics company Branch. This obviously caused quite the stir, and ever since, whenever Nova is mentioned online, people point out what kind of company acquired Nova and that you probably should be looking for an alternative. While Branch claimed, as the acquiring party always does, that nothing was going to change, most people, including myself, were skeptical. Several decades covering this industry have taught me that acquisitions like this pretty much exclusively mean doom, and usually signal a slow but steady decline in quality and corresponding increase in user-hostile features. I’m always open to being proven wrong, but I don’t have a lot of hope. ↫ Thom Holwerda Up until a few days ago, I have to admit I was wrong. Nova remained largely the same, got some major new features, and it really didn’t get any worse in any meaningful way – in fact, Nova just continued to get better, adopted all the new Android Material You and other features, and kept communicating with its users quite well. After a while, I kind of forgot all about Nova being owned by Branch, as nothing really changed for the worse. It’s rare, but it happens – apparently. So I, and many others who were skeptical at first as well, kept on using Nova. Not only because it just continued being what I think is the best, most advanced, and most feature-rich launcher for Android, but also because… Well, there’s really nothing else out there quite like Nova. I’m sure many of you are already firing up the comment engine, but as someone who has always been fascinated by alternative, non-stock mobile device launchers – from Palm OS, PocketPC, and Zaurus, all the way to the modern day with Android – I’ve seen them all and tried them all, and while the launcher landscape is varied, abundant, and full of absolutely amazing alternatives for every possible kind of user, there’s nothing else out there that is as polished, feature-rich, fast, and endlessly tweakable as Nova. So, I’ve been continuing to use Nova since the acquisition, interchanged with Google’s own Pixel Launcher ever since I bought a Pixel 8 Pro on release, with Nova’s ownership status relegated to some dusty, barely used croft of my mind. As such, it came as a bit of a shock this week when it came out that Branch had done a massive round of lay-offs, including firing the entire Nova Launcher team, save for Nova’s original creator, Kevin Barry. Around a dozen or so people were working on Nova at Branch, and aside from Barry, they’re all gone now. Once the news got out, Barry took to Nova Launcher’s website and released a statement about the layoffs, and the future of Nova. There has been confusion and misinformation about the Nova team and what this means for Nova. I’d like to clarify some things. The original Nova team, for many years, was just me. Eventually I added Cliff to handle customer support, and when Branch acquired Nova, Cliff continued with this role. I also had contracted Rob for some dev work prior to the Branch acquisition and some time after the acquisition closed we were able to bring him onboard as a contractor at Branch. The three of us were the core Nova team. However, I’ve always been the lead and primary contributor to Nova Launcher and that hasn’t changed. I will continue to control the direction and development of Nova Launcher. ↫ Kevin Barry This sounds great, and I’m glad the original creator will keep control over Nova. However, with such a massive culling of developers, it only makes sense that any future plans will have to be scaled down, and that’s exactly what both Barry and other former team members are saying. First, Rob Wainwright, who was laid off, wrote the following in Nova’s Discord: To be clear, Nova development is not stopping. Kevin is remaining at Branch as Nova’s only full time developer. Development will undoubtedly slow with less people working on the app but the current plan is for updates to continue in some form. ↫ Rob Wainwright Barry followed up with an affirmation: I am planning on wrapping up some Nova 8.1 work and getting more builds out. I am going to need to cut scope compared to what was planned. ↫ Kevin Barry In other words, while development on Nova will continue, it’s now back to being a one-man project, which will have some major implications for the pace of development. It makes me wonder if the adoption of the yearly drop of new Android features will be reduced, and if we’re going to see much more unresolved bugs and issues. On top of that, one has to wonder just how long Branch is for this world – they’ve just laid off about a hundred people, so what will happen to Barry if Branch goes under? Will he have to find some other job, leaving even less time for Nova development? And if Branch doesn’t go under, it is still clearly in dire financial straits, which must make somehow monetising Nova users in less pleasant ways come into the picture. The future of Nova was definitely dealt a massive blow this week, and I’m fearful for its future. Again.

I regularly report on the progress made by the Servo project, the Rust-based browser engine that was spun out of Mozilla into its own project. Servo has its own reference browser implementation, too, but did you know there’s already other browsers using Servo, too? Sure, it’s clearly a work-in-progress thing, and it’s missing just about every feature we’ve come to expect from a browser, but it’s cool nonetheless. Verso is a web browser built on top of Servo web engine. It’s still under development. We dont’ accept any feature request at the moment. But if you are interested, feel free to help test it. ↫ Verso GitHub page It runs on Linux, Windows, and macOS.

In line with the release of the COSMIC alpha, parts of which are also available for Redox, we’ve got another monthly update for the Rust-based operating system. First, in what in hindsight seems like a logical step, Redox is joining hands with Servo, the Rust-based browser engine, and they proposed focus will be on Servo’s cross-compilation support and a font stack written in Rust. It definitely makes sense for these two projects to work together in some way, and I hope there can be more cross-pollination in the future. Simple HTTP Server, an HTTP server written in Rust, has been ported to Redox, and the Apache port is getting some work, too. Wget now works on Redox, and several bugs in COSMIC programs were squashed. UEFI also saw some work, including fixing a violation of the EUFI specification, as well as adding several workarounds for buggy firmware, which should increase the number of machines that can boot Redox. Another area of progress is self-hosting, and Redox can now compile hello world-programs in Rust, C and C++ – an important step towards compiling more complex programs and the end-goal of compiling Redox itself on Redox. There’s way more in this update, so head on over to get the full details.

After two year of development, System76 has released the very first alpha of COSMIC, their new Rust-based desktop environment for Linux. This is an alpha release, so they make it clear there’s going to be bugs and that there’s a ton of missing features at this point. As a whole, COSMIC is a comprehensive operating system GUI (graphical user interface) environment that features advanced functionality and a responsive design. Its modular architecture is specifically designed to facilitate the creation of unique, branded user experiences with ease. ↫ System76 website Don’t read too much into “branded experience” here – it just means other Linux distributions can easily use their colours, branding, and panel configurations. The settings application is also entirely modular, so distributors can easily add additional panels, and replace things like the update panel with one that fits their package management system of choice. COSMIC also supports extensive theming, and if you’re wondering – yes, all of these are answers to the very reason COSMIC was made in the first place: GNOME’s restrictiveness. There’s not much else to say here yet, since it’s an alpha release, but if you want to give it a go, the announcement post contains links to instructions for a variety of Linux distributions. COSMIC is also slowly making its way into Redox, the Rust-based operating system led by Jeremy Soller, a System76 employee.

Payment security is changing due to blockchain’s growing use in safe online transactions across industries.  This technique guarantees transaction security, transparency, and immutability.  Understanding Blockchain Technology Blockchain is a decentralized ledger that securely logs transactions across numerous computers, making it very impossible to tamper with or change data.  Verified transactions that are immutable once locked are contained in every block of the chain, guaranteeing transparency and confidence.  This approach improves transparency and security by eliminating centralized control. Thanks to blockchain’s transparency, everyone may take part in transaction validation, as each completed transaction is documented on a public ledger for simple tracking.  Users can manage their assets with digital wallets, which offer a quick and safe way to conduct online transactions.  All things considered, blockchain’s structure protects data integrity, making it a reliable option for safe online operations. Blockchain’s Impact on the Gaming Industry Blockchain technology is transforming the gaming sector by increasing online transaction security and transparency.  By guaranteeing safe and effective payment processing, blockchain becomes relevant across genres, including US casino gaming platforms, esports, and NFT-based games. It lowers the possibility of fraud and guarantees equitable gameplay.  Blockchain generates a tamper-proof system advantageous to operators and players by decentralizing transaction records.  Additionally, because they offer quick, private, and affordable options, cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin are quickly gaining traction as payment options in online gaming.  Blockchain is becoming an essential part of the future of online gaming businesses as more use it to streamline their operations and establish confidence.  This expanding role emphasizes how blockchain might change online transactions in several industries, including gaming. Enhancing Payment Security with Blockchain Blockchain uses cryptography to prevent fraud and theft, which greatly improves the security of Internet transactions.  Because of its immutability, data cannot be changed once it is captured, prohibiting illegal changes.  Blockchain-enhanced identification verification lowers identity theft in financial transactions, while tokenization further protects data by substituting unique identifiers for crucial payment details.  The seamless conversion between fiat money and cryptocurrencies made possible by blockchain’s integration with conventional banking institutions expedites safe payment procedures.  Biometric technology, such as fingerprint scanning and facial recognition, are increasingly integrated into mobile wallets to enhance security.  Furthermore, dynamic QR codes have increased the security and effectiveness of QR-based payments by providing real-time updates and fraud protection. Financial Institutions and Blockchain  Blockchain is being used by financial organizations more and more to improve payment security and lower data breaches.  Because blockchain technology is decentralized, hackers are unable to exploit a single point of weakness.  Smart contract implementation expedites the response to questionable activity and automates the identification of fraud.  Blockchain’s real-time transaction monitoring makes it possible to quickly identify transactions that might be fraudulent.  Blockchain’s advantages may potentially be used by Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) to increase the effectiveness and security of payments.  Because of blockchain’s immutability, data cannot be changed once it is recorded, maintaining the reliability and correctness of transaction logs and assisting with anti-money laundering initiatives by enhancing identity verification. Securing E-commerce Transactions with Blockchain Because blockchain technology offers a distributed ledger that safeguards online transactions, it is revolutionizing e-commerce.  Its unchangeable record-keeping lowers fraud and increases customer confidence. Blockchain simplifies payment processing by enabling safe, direct transfers between parties without the need for middlemen.  Tokenization, which replaces critical payment data with a special code that cannot be decrypted to disclose original details like credit card numbers, is a crucial component of this security.  This prevents intercepted data from being useful. Blockchain facilitates blockchain-oriented payment gateways and safe payment methods like stablecoins and cryptocurrencies.  These advances increase the general effectiveness of e-commerce payment procedures while shielding customers from fraudulent transactions. Blockchain in Supply Chain Management Blockchain technology is revolutionizing supply chain management. It offers a distributed ledger that improves transparency and enables real-time product tracking.  By facilitating the process of authenticating products and confirming their origins, this technology enhances consumer trust and encourages ethical business practices.  Pharmaceutical companies stand to gain a great deal from blockchain’s capacity to control drug recalls and guarantee the legitimacy of medications.  Blockchain lowers costs, increases transactional efficiency, and streamlines supply chain procedures by doing away with the need for middlemen.  By automating payments between parties, smart contracts improve operations even further.  Platforms such as MediLedger demonstrate how smart contracts can automate contract execution and product verification while guaranteeing compliance with intricate rules. Real-World Applications of Blockchain in Various Industries Blockchain technology is revolutionizing online transaction security in a number of different sectors.  Solutions like Medicalchain enable users to restrict access, improving data security in the healthcare industry and providing individuals with control over their personal records.  Through programs like Embleema, blockchain is also expediting virtual trials while guaranteeing the safe management of patient data.  Companies like Propy are using blockchain in real estate to build safe, transparent systems for tracking property ownership, which lowers fraud.  These systems show how blockchain may improve security, streamline procedures, and foster trust amongst many businesses.  Because of its decentralized, unchangeable ledger, which guarantees data accuracy and lifespan, businesses and customers involved in digital markets or services can both profit. Advanced Security Measures with Blockchain Preventing security breaches in blockchain technology requires the use of sophisticated security mechanisms.  Multi-factor authentication (MFA), which necessitates several verification techniques for access and transaction confirmation, is one of the essential elements.  Asymmetric encryption depends on a special pair of keys to increase security, whereas symmetric encryption uses the same key for both encryption and decryption.  Payment data is encrypted while it is transmitted to prevent information from being intercepted without the decryption key.  A digital signature is a feature of every blockchain transaction that helps to further prevent manipulation.  Furthermore, the consensus mechanism makes sure that all of the network nodes validate transactions before adding them to the ledger, protecting private information and preventing fraud and illegal access to online transactions. Future Trends in Blockchain and Online Payment Security Blockchain technology advancements portend a promising future for online payment security.  Future innovations are expected

Speaking of an operating system for toddlers: Apple is eliminating the option to Control-click to open Mac software that is not correctly signed or notarized in ‌macOS Sequoia‌. To install apps that Gatekeeper blocks, users will need to open up System Settings and go to the Privacy and Security section to “review security information” before being able to run the software. ↫ Juli Clover at MacRumors On a related note, I’ve got an exclusive photo of the next MacBook Pro.

When you’re shopping online, you’ll likely find yourself jumping between multiple tabs to read reviews and research prices. It can be cumbersome doing all that back and forth tab switching, and online comparison is something we hear users want help with. In the next few weeks, starting in the U.S., Chrome will introduce Tab compare, a new feature that presents an AI-generated overview of products from across multiple tabs, all in one place. Imagine you’re looking for a new Bluetooth portable speaker for an upcoming trip, but the product details and reviews are spread across different pages and websites. Soon, Chrome will offer to generate a comparison table by showing a suggestion next to your tabs. By bringing all the essential details — product specs, features, price, ratings — into one tab, you’ll be able to easily compare and make an informed decision without the endless tab switching. ↫ Parisa Tabriz Is this really what people want from their browser, or am I just completely out of touch? I’m not at all convinced the latter isn’t the case, but this just seems like a filler feature. Is this really what all the AI hype is about? Is this kind of nonsense the end game we’re killing the planet even harder for?

It seems to be bootloader season, because we’ve got another one – this time, a research project with very limited application for most people. SentinelBoot is a cryptographically secure bootloader aimed at enhancing boot flow safety of RISC-V through memory-safe principles, predominantly leveraging the Rust programming language with its ownership, borrowing, and lifetime constraints. Additionally, SentinelBoot employs public-key cryptography to verify the integrity of a booted kernel (digital signature), by the use of the RISC-V Vector Cryptography extension, establishing secure boot functionality. SentinelBoot achieves these objectives with a 20.1% hashing overhead (approximately 0.27s additional runtime) when compared to an example U-Boot binary (mainline at time of development), and produces a resulting binary one-tenth the size of an example U-Boot binary with half the memory footprint. ↫ Lawrence Hunter SentinelBoot is a project undertaken at the University of Manchester, and its goal is probably clear from the description: to develop a more secure bootloader for RISC V devices. An additional element is that they looked specifically at devices that receive updates over-the-air, like smartphones. In addition, scenarios where an attacker has physical access to the device in question were not considered, for obvious reasons – in such cases, the attacker can just replace the bootloader altogether anyway, and no amount of fancy Rust code is going to save you there. The details of the implementation as described in the article are definitely a little bit over my head, but the gist seems to be that the project’s been able to achieve a much more secure boot process without giving up much in performance. This being a research project with an intentionally limited scope does mean it’s most just something that’ll immediately benefit all of us, but it’s these kinds of projects that can really push the state of the art and try out the viability of new ideas.