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BSD and Linux Kernel Leftovers
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Klara ☛ ZFS vs Btrfs: Architecture, Features, and Stability #2 - Klara Systems
Modern storage administrators expect more than just a place to put files. The demands of cloud infrastructure, container platforms, and large-scale data services require filesystems that integrate snapshots, data integrity mechanisms, and volume management. Traditional Linux filesystems such as EXT4 or XFS do not provide these capabilities. Instead, they rely on external tools like LVM and mdraid, leaving administrators with a stack of loosely connected layers that can fail in unpredictable ways.
ZFS and Btrfs both attempt to solve this problem. Each was designed not as a conventional filesystem, but as a comprehensive storage platform. Both integrate volume management directly into the filesystem and on paper, they appear to be similar solutions.
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Dedoimedo ☛ VirtualBox can't operate in VMX root mode
Weird problems rarely manifest solo. To wit, I recently encountered several issues running my virtual machines in VirtualBox on top of Kubuntu 24.04. These problems occurred after I upgraded my system to Kubuntu 24.04, and then added a new kernel into the mix. First, I couldn't run any guests because the program's drivers weren't loaded into memory. I had to install headers manually, and recompile the kernel. Whatever.
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Intel Arc "Alchemist" Linux Driver Update Can Yield Up to 260% Performance Boost
Linux users with Intel's newer graphics hardware have experienced an unexpected performance boost and critical stability improvements with the latest Mesa 26.1 driver updates. Francisco Jerez, an engineer working on Intel's open-source graphics stack, successfully merged 18 patches aimed at addressing persistent video corruption issues affecting both "Alchemist" DG2 discrete and integrated GPUs on "Meteor Lake" SoC. The primary goal was to resolve visual artifacts and rendering errors that had long troubled these platforms. However, preliminary testing revealed significant performance improvements in various gaming scenarios, with one benchmark showing gains as high as 2.6x the original frame rate.
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WCCF Tech ☛ New Mesa Linux Patches Reportedly Deliver Up To 260% Performance Boost On Intel Alchemist Graphics
The newly submitted Mesa Linux patches for Intel Alchemist DG2 Graphics, the GPUs can reportedly deliver up to 260% of performance boost.
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PC Gamer ☛ This 'scientifically dubious' Linux CPU scheduler makes decisions 'based on real-time planetary positions, zodiac signs, and astrological principles'
Should you wish to allow the (extremely dubious) astrological laws of the universe to decide the CPU scheduling within your home machine, I've found just the Github project for you. Also, you shouldn't. I just wanted to get that in early.
Nevertheless, scx_horoscope is a fully functional CPU scheduler that loads into the Linux kernel to decide your processor's priorities based on "real-time planetary positions, zodiac signs, and astrological principles", and it's just the sort of rabbit hole I like to fall down on a Tuesday afternoon.
Its creator, Github user and software engineer Zampierilucas, says that the scheduler is "100% for educational and entertainment purposes" and that "while the astronomical calculations are real and the scheduler actually works" using astrology to schedule CPU tasks is "scientifically dubious, cosmically hilarious... [and] perfect for conference talks, hackathons, and proving that anything it possible."