Linux Kernel, Software, and Distros (EasyOS, Garuda, and More)

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 20, 2026

• Kernel

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Dev uses Claude Hey Hi (AI) to create native macOS driver for 'obscure' Windows-only printer — GNU/Linux container hack enables system-wide Cmd-P printing, driver now available on Microsoft's proprietary prison [Ed: Proprietary-made slop hosted by Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub]

    A developer has revealed that they used Claude Code to create a macOS laser printer driver for the HP Laser 1008a, a machine designed for backdoored Windows users.

    [...]

    Kuber provides some background to the driver development on the above-linked GitHub page. The HP family of printers, which includes the Laser 1008a, were just rebadged versions of Samsung’s SPL3 lasers, they say. This is fine for Windows users, but they don’t talk to computers via more widely compatible standards such as PostScript or PCL. Nor do they work with open source SPL/QPDL drivers, or Apple AirPrint.

  • Linux.org ☛ IRC is back on linux.org

    I set up an IRC server this week. irc.linux.org, port 6697, TLS.

    Main channel is #linux.org.

  • Frame Buffer Compression Promises Performance Boost for Intel GPUs on Linux

    Intel's Arc GPU performance on Linux has improved greatly since the early days of the new architecture, but improvements are still being made via updates to the GPU drivers. The latest performance boost comes by way of the addition of frame buffer compression in the DXVK translation layer for Direct3D 8, 9, 10, and 11 games. The new patch comes by way of Mesa 26.3-devel, a new update to the open-source GPU driver stack, and it brings performance improvements previously seen in the VKD3D for DX12 games.

• Applications

  • Cinegy To Highlight Linux-Based Playout Efficiency and Software-Defined Workflows

    Cinegy GmbH will use IBC2026 to demonstrate how its software-defined television technology is addressing rising hardware costs, cloud migration and the demand for more scalable media workflows.

    The company will exhibit at stand 7.A01 at Amsterdam RAI from September 11 to 14, with a particular focus on Cinegy Air and its ability to run core back-end functionality in a Docker environment on Linux.

• EasyOS

  • Barry Kauler ☛ More packages compiled in woofQ2

    Just to let you guys know, I'm still working on EasyOS; currently compiling packages in woofQ2.

    The Excalibur-series is built with a lot of binary packages from the Scarthgap-series. Scarthgap is built with binary packages compiled in OpenEmbedded/Yocto, and there are a lot that are not available in the Devuan/Debian repositories. Hence, those binary packages have been used to build the Excalibur-series. But, I am gradually porting them into woofQ2, so they will be compiled in a running Easy Excalibur.

• SUSE/OpenSUSE

  • GSoC 2026 Final Report: Enhancing openSUSE Git Workflow

• Arch Family

  • Distro Watch ☛ Distribution Release: Garuda Linux 260819

    The Garuda Linux project has published a new release. The new version, 260819 "Temeraire", introduces a refined way to handle disk sectors and switches the default kernel to match CachyOS. [...]