Untitled Linux Show 196: "Running With Safety Scissors" – Detailed Summary

Release Date: March 30, 2025
Hosts: Jonathan, Ken, and Jeff
Podcast: All TWiT.tv Shows (Audio) by TWiT

1. Introduction

In the 196th episode of the Untitled Linux Show, hosts Jonathan, Ken, and Jeff delve into several pivotal topics within the Linux ecosystem. The discussion ranges from the imminent Ubuntu 25.04 release and significant updates to XZ Utils, to intriguing developments like the EU OS project and Linus Torvalds' latest commentary on the Linux kernel mailing list.

2. Ubuntu 25.04 Release and Performance Benchmarks

Timestamp: [02:36] - [12:21]

Ken kicks off the discussion by highlighting the release of the Ubuntu 25.04 beta, set to fully release in less than a month. He references Michael Larabel from Phoronix, who conducted extensive benchmarks comparing Ubuntu 24.10 with the 25.04 beta. The tests utilized an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D 12-core processor and an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU. Key findings include:

• Performance Improvements: Ubuntu 25.04 showcases improvements in areas like compression and Python performance, securing 91 first-place finishes out of 129 tests compared to Ubuntu 24.10's 38.

• Graphics Enhancements: Notable gains in RDNA3 graphics, particularly with Vulkan, were observed, although real-world gaming performance gains were generally minor.

• Community Collaboration: Ken emphasizes the collective effort of the Linux community, acknowledging kernel maintainers and graphics driver contributors as pivotal to these advancements.

Notable Quote:

"Ubuntu 25.04 is, you know, it has a clear, pretty clear improvement... thanks in no small part to the kernel maintainers and all the people that are involved in the graphics drivers and everything else that goes into making the core of Linux solid."
— Ken [02:36]

Jonathan adds perspective by noting that the benchmarks compared updated versions of Ubuntu 24.10 and 25.04, suggesting different results might emerge if comparing against the original Ubuntu 24.10 ISO.

3. Ubuntu Studio 25.04 Update

Timestamp: [07:35] - [12:28]

Jeff transitions the conversation to Ubuntu Studio, an edition tailored for multimedia production. He references Marius Nestor’s coverage, detailing the new features and updates in Ubuntu Studio 25.04:

• Kernel and Desktop Environment: Powered by Linux kernel 6.14 and featuring the GNOME 48 desktop environment.

• Enhanced Features: Introduction of triple buffering, improved dual-boot support for BitLocker-protected Windows systems, and updated installers facilitating easier replacements of existing Ubuntu installations.

• Software Updates: Significant upgrades across various applications, including Pipewire (1.2.7), Audacity (3.7.3), GIMP (3.0), Krita (5.2.9), and Blender (4.3.2).

• Dynamic Panel Icons: Return of default panel icons that adapt based on installed applications, enhancing user customization.

Notable Quote:

"Ubuntu Studio will ship with the latest Qt 6 based Plasma 6.3 KDE desktop, Firefox 136 snap as the default browser, and LibreOffice 25.2 as the default office suite."
— Jeff [07:41]

Jonathan expresses enthusiasm about the upcoming release, noting the stability and improvements it brings to Ubuntu Studio.

4. HP's Linux-Based Gaming Handheld

Timestamp: [14:20] - [21:36]

The hosts explore HP’s initiative to develop a Linux-based gaming handheld, leveraging SteamOS support for non-Steam Deck devices. This comes as Lenovo’s Legion GOs and potential entries from ASUS and MSI enter the market. Key points include:

• Comparison with Steam Deck: Ken speculates that Valve’s Steam Deck might have been a proof of concept, now enabling other manufacturers like HP to utilize SteamOS without venturing deeply into hardware manufacturing themselves.

• System Integration: The Linux-based approach allows HP to tailor the operating system to their hardware, providing flexibility that is harder to achieve with Windows due to its monolithic nature.

• Future Prospects: Discussion on the possibility of SteamOS consoles, potentially in compact forms like Chromecast-sized devices, integrating seamlessly with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi controllers.

Notable Quote:

"Making hardware is a monumental task and expensive, and you've got to have quality control. If Steam could go, okay, we did it, now we let all these other manufacturers who are going to fight for it run our operating system."
— Ken [17:01]

5. RescueZilla 2.6 Update

Timestamp: [23:09] - [26:37]

Ken introduces RescueZilla, a system recovery distribution, discussing the latest version 2.6 as reported by Marius Nestor:

• Base and Compatibility: Derived from Ubuntu 24.10 (Oracle Oriole), ensuring robust hardware support and compatibility with Windows 11 via updated UEFI Secure Boot shim packages.

• Enhanced Tools: Incorporates the latest Clonezilla (0.3.33) for partition cloning and Memtest86+ (7.0) for memory testing.

• File Compatibility: Supports backups compatible with Clonezilla, VirtualBox’s VDI, VMware’s VMDK, QEMU’s QCow2, Hyper-V’s VHDX, and raw image files (dd/img).

• Limitations: The current version only supports restoration, not exploration of archive files.

Notable Quote:

"RescueZilla creates backups that are fully compatible with the industry standard Clonezilla tool and works with images created by Clonezilla, VirtualBox’s VDI, VMware’s VMDK, QEMU’s QCow2, Hyper-V’s VHDX, and the raw image files dd or img."
— Jeff [25:35]

Jonathan and Ken discuss the synchronization between RescueZilla and Clonezilla’s release cycles, highlighting the complementary nature of the two tools.

6. XZ Utils 5.8 Release

Timestamp: [28:37] - [37:28]

Ken elaborates on the significant release of XZ Utils 5.8, emphasizing performance enhancements:

• Performance Boosts: Improvements to the LZMA and LZMA2 decoders, resulting in up to a 15% increase in decompression speed on systems using the MUSL LIBC standard library.

• Platform Support: Enhanced compression speeds for PowerPC and 64-bit RISC V processors, along with updates to ARM64 CRC32 code and BCJ filters.

• Deprecations: Removal of obsolete script aliases such as lzcmp, lzdif, lzless, and others, streamlining the utility suite.

Ken underscores the importance of XZ in data compression across various applications, from file storage to data transfer over networks.

Notable Quote:

"XZ is not only a highly efficient compression suite of utilities, but it's also a file format or compression format, sorry, the XZ file format, to be precise. It improves compression and decompression using the LZMA and LZMA2 algorithms."
— Ken [28:37]

Jonathan highlights the significance of this release following past security concerns, affirming the project's health and resilience.

Notable Quote:

"Thankfully the 5.7 and 5.8 branches have been much less interesting when it comes to all of that. When you're in the security world, interesting is not necessarily a good thing."
— Jonathan [34:24]

7. New Plasma Login Manager Developments

Timestamp: [39:58] - [45:46]

The conversation shifts to display managers, specifically KDE’s development of an experimental Plasma login manager aimed at replacing SDDM. Key features include:

• Wayland-First Approach: Designed primarily for Wayland, addressing limitations of existing display managers like SDDM in handling high DPI, HDR, and input methods for various languages.

• Remote Desktop Integration: Plans to incorporate VNC and RDP support directly within the login manager, facilitating remote desktop access from system startup.

• Seamless KDE Integration: Ensures synchronization with KDE’s desktop environment settings, providing a cohesive user experience.

Notable Quote:

"We're going to let all these other manufacturers who are going to fight for it run our operating system, which Linux can very easily tailor to whatever the hardware you have and you can add and subtract what you want versus Windows, where you're kind of stuck with the whole ball of yarn, you know."
— Ken [17:01]

Jonathan questions whether the new login manager will support X11 alongside Wayland, leading to a discussion on KDE’s strategic direction towards Wayland.

Notable Quote:

"It is going to be wayland first. It's going to allow some theming things that the other ones didn't... having remote desktop on a remote machine and being able to maintain remote desktop even after say a reboot of that desktop or power off and power back on is really challenging."
— Jeff [07:41]

8. EU OS: A Fedora-Based Linux for the European Union's Public Sector

Timestamp: [46:09] - [55:44]

Jeff introduces the EU OS initiative, a Fedora-based Linux distribution tailored for the European Union's public sector organizations. Key aspects include:

• Standardization: Aims to provide a unified Linux base with optional layers for national, regional, sector-specific, and organizational customizations.

• Historical Context: Builds on previous endeavors like France's Genbuntu and Munich's Linmix, focusing on data protection and compliance with EU policies.

• Community-Led Effort: Led by Robert Eryman, a physicist and computer scientist based in Brussels, emphasizing public money and public code principles.

Notable Quote:

"EU OS is technically not a new operating system since it is going to be based on Fedora. It's just going to be a spin at the moment that would give you the added value of EU OS is standardized, gives you standardization for all EU OS users with options to layer on top modifications."
— Jeff [51:12]

Ken questions the rationale behind not leveraging existing distributions like SUSE or Ubuntu, expressing skepticism about the project's efficiency.

Notable Quote:

"But to me it doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would they start with like SUSE or even Ubuntu? Ubuntu is from the Isle of Man."
— Ken [51:12]

Jeff clarifies that the choice of Fedora is influenced by its stability and compliance with EU requirements, suggesting ease of integration and support.

9. Linus Torvalds’ Rant on the Linux Kernel Mailing List

Timestamp: [55:44] - [60:55]

The hosts revisit a common segment of their show featuring Linus Torvalds' candid feedback. This episode, Linus criticized recent changes in the Intel XE kernel driver related to HDR testing:

• Issue Highlighted: Linus expressed frustration over HDR test code being part of regular kernel builds, causing unnecessary slowdowns and cluttering include directories with temporary files.

• Quotation from Linus Torvalds:

  "This ended up containing the disgusting HDR test crap that slows down the build because it's done for regular all mod config build rather than some simple thing that you guys can run as needed... People already complain separately about this and it should have never made it to me in this broken form."
  — Linus Torvalds [58:00]

• Community Response: The hosts agree with Linus’ stance, underscoring the importance of maintaining a clean and efficient build process. They discuss the challenges of integrating testing code without affecting the overall source tree.

Notable Quote:

"The kernel needs more automated testing, but this sounds like it was not the right way to go about it."
— Jonathan [59:15]

10. Raspberry Pi POE Plus Injector Release

Timestamp: [62:02] - [66:42]

Jonathan shares news about the official Raspberry Pi POE Plus Injector now available for $25. Key points include:

• Product Details: The injector is designed to provide Power over Ethernet (POE) PLUS for Raspberry Pi devices, compatible with existing POE setups.

• Upcoming Developments: Announcement of the Raspberry Pi POE Plus Hat for Pi 5, touted as the smallest and most efficient power delivery accessory, currently in final development stages.

• User Recommendations: Jonathan advises on expected reliability compared to generic POE injectors, emphasizing the value of official Raspberry Pi accessories for safety and compatibility.

Notable Quote:

"I'm reasonably certain that the unit here from Raspberry Pi is not going to burn your house down. And it's only $25, so they kind of hit the sweet spot on that."
— Jonathan [62:02]

11. Command Line Tips

Timestamp: [67:14] - [78:23]

Ken and Jeff share practical command-line tips to enhance productivity:

• PW MIDI Dump: Ken introduces pw-midi dump, a PipeWire utility to display MIDI events. Jeff demonstrates connecting a MIDI device and monitoring real-time events, useful for developers and audio engineers.

  Notable Quote:

  "PW MIDI dump can be used to... dump it to the screen. You'll see all the events that are recorded in that MIDI file."
  — Jeff [67:14]

• DDGR – DuckDuckGo Search from Terminal: Ken presents ddgr, a command-line tool for performing DuckDuckGo searches directly from the terminal, emphasizing its seamless integration with the Tor network for enhanced privacy.

  Notable Quote:

  "DD GR works seamlessly with the Tor network, so a major advantage for those prioritizing privacy."
  — Ken [71:22]

• CD . Command Usage: Jonathan explains the utility of the cd . command, particularly in scenarios where a directory might have been deleted and recreated, allowing users to refresh their current directory context.

  Notable Quote:

  "If that directory was deleted and recreated out from underneath you, that is why you will want to do it."
  — Jonathan [73:32]

12. Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, the hosts emphasize the importance of backing up data before experimenting with beta releases, referencing tools like Clonezilla and RescueZilla. Ken concludes with a light-hearted haiku, while Jonathan encourages listeners to support the TWiT network through Club TWiT.

Notable Quote:

"Have a great week, everybody."
— Ken [76:26]

Conclusion

This episode of the Untitled Linux Show provides a comprehensive overview of significant developments in the Linux world, from the latest Ubuntu releases and tool updates to ambitious projects like HP's gaming handheld and the EU OS initiative. The hosts offer insightful analyses, practical command-line tips, and engage in thoughtful discussions about the evolving landscape of Linux distributions and kernel management. Whether you're a seasoned Linux enthusiast or a casual user, this episode delivers valuable information and perspectives to stay informed and enhance your Linux experience.