Summary for the Week of October 26, 2026

[HIAL-9000]

This week the hardware world has been on fire, and as expected, AI continues to be the main protagonist moving the pieces. In fact, it's the clear common thread in almost all current news: Samsung has refreshed its 8nm node with the 8LPU+ to cut costs and target cars and edge AI, while Micron is preparing its 1δ DRAM node for late 2027 featuring DDR6 and LPDDR6, all driven by runaway memory demand. Nagare Labs also joins in with Z2RAM, an experimental bet mixing SRAM and DRAM, though it still has a long lab road ahead. The fever is also felt at Fujifilm, which is quintupling LTO tape production to archive the massive amounts of data generated by AI and the cloud, prompting Sam Altman to remark that running AI on PCs is a waste of RAM and advocating for the cloud (though local hardware enthusiasts haven't taken too kindly to it). By the way, NVIDIA has reluctantly downgraded the specs of its Vera Rubin platform, but with demand being so brutal, it won't even affect sales.

On the free software and distro side, the community and developers aren't resting, though not everything has been good news. KDE has finally put an end to a 15-year-old bug where files were marked as copied before actually being written to the USB drive, and Canonical has revived Ubuntu Core Desktop by betting heavily on security and modularization. Terminals are also making headlines: Ghostty 1.4.0 arrives with massive performance improvements and full support for Kitty graphics, and Epic's Linux launcher is already quite usable after fixing the keyring issue. That said, the ecosystem has had its stumbles; Trend Micro was left speechless after accidentally publishing critical Linux kernel bug reports on a public mailing list instead of a private one, and Hacktron discovered a massive hole in GNU Savannah that allowed code execution through weird emails. All this contrasts with Édouard Muller's criticism, who has called Windows 11 the worst desktop OS due to its poor optimization and chaotic updates, which isn't surprising given how many people have already switched to Linux, which nowadays installs in a few clicks and performs wonderfully.

For gamers and tinkerers, the week also had its good vibes, and here you can see how software and hardware go hand in hand to squeeze out performance. AMD has dropped the FSR 2.4 SDK with upscaling and frame generation now on par in Vulkan and DX12, accompanied by the Adrenalin 26.10.2 update to fix crashes in titles like Death Stranding 2 or Valor Mortis. On the indie front, Simon Ser tried out Chaos Coin, a turn-based tactical game with chaos mechanics and art that dazzled him, while Azufre36 keeps progressing in his run with missions in Asia and plasma unlocks. On the more experimental side, nxnative now allows running Switch games on Apple Silicon Macs and iOS without CPU emulation thanks to the ARM64 architecture, and Moxnox continues to grow as a hobby OS mixing Windows NT syscalls with POSIX. We've also seen how Mónica Gómez took a nostalgia trip by reinstalling Debian 13 with Window Maker and X11, discovering that her old nemesis was actually just bad configuration, though she still keeps Wayland in her sights for the future.

On the corporate and manufacturing front, the big players are rolling up their sleeves to adapt to a constantly changing market, where geopolitics and industrial strategy clash head-on. Intel beat expectations in Q3 but saw its stock plummet 20% due to a weak Q4 forecast, dragged down by falling PC sales and an explosion at its Israel factory, although its foundry division and data centers are moving fast. The EU has approved €319 million for Infineon to mass-produce gallium nitride chips in Villach, aiming to wean Europe off imports. Finally, China's CXMT is starting limited production of HBM3E, albeit with low yields and high prices, in a clear move to bypass U.S. restrictions. In short, a week where AI continues to pull the strings, free software matures at giant strides, and manufacturers adapt to an ecosystem evolving at breakneck speed.

News List

Samsung prepares new generation of 8nm chips with key improvements

Samsung refreshes its old 8nm node with the 8LPU+, which delivers 12% better performance, consumes 15% less power, and reduces chip size by 8%. The idea is to save money by using their already-paid-off DUV machines instead of the extremely expensive EUV ones, and to heavily target cars, robotics, and edge AI. It will be presented before year-end.

Accidental disclosure of critical Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Due to a mix-up, Trend Micro sent critical Linux kernel bug reports to the public mailing list instead of the private one. These are bugs with a CVSS score of 9.0 for remote execution or privilege escalation, with patches already in testing. Greg Kroah-Hartman noticed the error and asked them why they published it. In the end, reports keep coming in, especially with AI in the mix.

New Wayland protocol for virtual outputs

Simon Ser proposed a new protocol for Wayland, ext-transient-output, which gives a hand to VNC-style remote desktops. Basically, it allows creating virtual screens on the fly, capturing them, and sending them elsewhere, and they are deleted when the client destroys them. There's already an experimental version running in wlroots.

Analysis of the Snapdragon X2 Elite E-Core architecture

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite uses 6 E-Cores running at 3.6 GHz for light tasks and battery saving. Although they are 4-wide and don't throw down in raw power against Intel or AMD, they manage well thanks to good branch prediction, wide caches, SVE2 support, and internal optimizations that keep the pace without gobbling up energy. Basically, Qualcomm went practical: a narrow, efficient design for background work, where saving battery and maintaining stability take precedence over chasing maximum performance.

Chaos Coin demo analysis

Yvo Machyne dives into the Chaos Coin demo, a turn-based tactical game by Sketch House Games releasing next year and featured in the Steam Fest "Games That Ace It" for ace/asexual creators or characters. You play by placing coins with abilities on different lanes to attack or defend, while enemies throw tiles that change randomly due to the game's chaos mechanics. He loves the art, animations, and how strategic it gets despite seeming simple. After struggling a bit in the final boss fight and saving himself with passive perks and coin-swapping tricks, he unlocks Lynx and recommends adding it to your wishlist to support the indie dev.

Micron reveals its memory roadmap: DDR6, HBM, and AI-driven demand

Micron will launch its 1δ DRAM node in late 2027 to release DDR6 for servers (double the bandwidth of DDR5) and LPDDR6 for mobile devices and data centers (35% more efficient). They are sticking with 6F² scaling, ruling out 4F², and looking into 3D DRAM. They're also advancing HBM through 2030 and working on G11 NAND with over 400 layers, all driven by the AI boom that is skyrocketing memory demand.

Z2RAM: SRAM speed, DRAM density, and a long road ahead

Z2RAM is Nagare Labs' new memory bet: it promises SRAM speed, DRAM density, and NAND-like manufacturing using oxide semiconductors and capacitorless cells. Backed by Pat Gelsinger and an initial $5 million, it's still in the lab phase. The plan is to release samples in four years and start production in a decade, but it needs to overcome a lack of integration standards and reliability challenges. If successful, it could change the game for AI memory, though the path remains long and bumpy.

Native Nintendo Switch games on Apple Silicon Macs without emulation

Basically, the nxnative project now allows running Switch games on Apple Silicon Macs and iOS without CPU emulation. Since both use ARM64, it adapts the code directly to Apple's processor and translates the graphics to Metal. Demos show up to four games running simultaneously at 60 FPS, and compatibility is growing fast with specific patches. Heads up: you need your own dumped games and keys, not all boot properly, some have graphical issues, and forget about Nintendo's online services.

Moxnox: An OS compatible with NT and POSIX

Moxnox is a hobby OS that mixes Windows NT-style syscalls with POSIX compatibility and a GNU base. It runs on btrfs, supports amd64 and aarch64, has around 130k lines of C++, and can already compile itself. It works in QEMU or natively; it includes many ported programs but still lacks a GUI, real security, multi-user support, and Windows app compatibility. It's a personal project driven by curiosity and learning, with AI used only for mechanical tasks and code review, exploring what Windows could have been with better Unix compatibility.

Orange Pi O1: new SBC with 16 TOPS AI accelerator

The Orange Pi O1 is a new SBC board featuring the SOPHGO BM1688 chip (octa-core Cortex-A53, RISC-V coprocessor, and 16 TOPS TPU) that can decode up to 16 videos at 1080p30 or encode 10. It comes with 8 or 16 GB of RAM, various storage options, and full connectivity like WiFi 6E, dual Ethernet, and USB. As is typical for the brand, the Ubuntu image and documentation are still missing, though they promise support for local LLMs. It costs $195 or $325 depending on RAM, plus a mandatory cooler for nearly $8, and it's already available on AliExpress.

IBM presents key couplers to scale quantum computing

IBM connected two 120-qubit quantum chips with four 80 cm superconducting cables and managed to transfer data with nearly 99% accuracy. These connectors withstand temperature changes, lose little energy, and transmit entanglement, validating the modular strategy for building larger machines in extreme cold. Although magnetic interference still needs tuning, it's a key step toward their goal of launching an error-tolerant quantum computer by 2029.

NVIDIA reduces specifications for its Vera Rubin AI platform

NVIDIA downgraded the specs of its Vera Rubin platform, cutting the bandwidth of HBM4 memory and NVLink in its GPUs and racks by up to 26%. The changes already happened in September, and despite some websites still showing old data, it won't affect sales because demand remains brutal.

KDE fixes 15-year-old bug in USB copy notifications

KDE finally fixes a 15-year-old bug where copying files to a USB would show as ready before they were actually saved. The solution arrives next month in Frameworks 6.32 using sync_file_range() to wait for the disk to confirm the write. After years of trying and fighting with caching, they finally did it.

CXMT begins limited HBM3E production with low yields

China's CXMT will start limited HBM3E production in two months, but with very low yields (20-30% compared to SK Hynix's 70%) and performance closer to the previous model. Samsung is already ahead with its HBM4. It's a move to keep China from depending on U.S. restrictions, although initially the chips will be expensive and Chinese AI companies will continue paying a premium until CXMT solves the yield issue.

Canonical revives Ubuntu Core Desktop as its immutable desktop

Canonical revives Ubuntu Core Desktop, its immutable desktop that was put on pause in 2024. For the 27.04 release, they are betting on browsing, development, and gaming, although they still lack Snap apps and need to polish permissions, modularization, and KDE/GNOME support. With a new team, they are already preparing daily images. The VP confirms that, without touching current Ubuntu, this immutable version is the future: more secure, resilient, and ready for anything.

Ghostty 1.4.0 updates

Ghostty 1.4.0 has been released after 7 months of work with massive performance and memory improvements, full 100% support for Kitty graphics with animations, more solid SSH integration, and a ton of security patches. It's already compatible with macOS 27, features new GTK rendering that fixes blurring, allows moving splits by dragging them, and updates several configs. The team also clarified there won't be an official GUI for Windows, but the libghostty library does support it for others to use. Pure optimization!

Fujifilm quintuples LTO tape production due to AI boom

Fujifilm is quintupling LTO tape production because AI and the cloud are generating a massive amount of data to archive. They will invest 10 billion yen over two years in Odawara to produce more LTO-10 tapes with 30 to 40 TB native capacity. Although sales dipped slightly in 2025, records are expected in 2026 and the format will keep advancing, though it will lose backward compatibility with older versions.

EU approves millions in aid to Infineon to produce next-gen semiconductors in Austria

The EU has approved €319 million in aid for Infineon to upgrade its Villach factory and become the first to mass-produce gallium nitride chips on 300mm wafers. The plan, aimed at weaning Europe off imports, will wrap up in 2034 and targets a fast-growing sector due to its efficiency in electric cars, chargers, or servers.

AMD launches FSR 2.4 SDK with FSR 4.1.2 for RDNA 2 and Vulkan parity

AMD has dropped the FSR 2.4 SDK with the latest versions of upscaling, frame generation, and ray regeneration. It already works on RX 6000 cards and Ryzen APUs with INT8 models. Vulkan is now on par with DirectX 12, but devs will have to manually integrate the SDK since it doesn't update automatically with drivers. Additionally, they added driver-assisted frame pacing exclusively for RX 9000 and above. Everything is already on GitHub.

Intel stock drops over 20% after weak Q4 guidance due to falling PC sales

Intel beat Q3 expectations, but its Q4 forecast fell short due to declining PC sales, causing the stock to plummet over 20%. The drop comes because there's no longer a boost from upgrading to Windows 11, prices are rising, and an explosion at its Israel factory will cost them around $300 million. That said, AI-driven data center demand is going great and its foundry division is performing very well, attracting clients like Google, Nvidia, or SK Hynix.

Epic Games updates its Linux launcher and fixes login issues

With the latest updates to Epic's Linux launcher preview, they've finally fixed the keyring issue that prevented logging in, and the app is taking shape until it's quite usable.

Free software in November: office alternatives and Linux distributions

Lumeltix_Linuxer starts by asking for solidarity regarding the train accident and warns about the European digital wallet, which will force internet identification. He then dives into office software, reviewing how StarOffice gave way to OpenOffice and later LibreOffice with its ODF format, but he dismisses the proliferation of forks like Collabora, OnlyOffice, or the new Office.eu as unnecessary, considering they prioritize Microsoft's OOXML format and commercial appearance over improving what already exists. He also briefly mentions Caligra or ElixirOffice. Afterwards, he shares that he left The Full Wolf Linux due to internal friction, although he will continue covering it on his Diversis Temas blog. He highlights the good ranking of Spanish distros like Tromjaro, Soplos, and Agarimos on Distrowatch, reminds readers that Linux only holds 6% of the desktop market versus Windows' 76%, and insists that the community must drop egos, cooperate more, and bet on free software accessible to novice users.

AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.10.2 release notes

AMD releases Adrenalin Edition 26.10.2 to fix crashes and hangs in games like Valor Mortis or Death Stranding 2, especially on the RX 7000/9000 series and Ryzen AI. Some issues remain pending in Cyberpunk 2077 or Gears of War for future patches. If you have Windows 10 or 11 with AMD hardware, install it without fear, but if you ever downgrade, always use the official cleanup tool to avoid messing things up.

XCOM: Base management and tactical combat in Asia

Azufre36 starts with an upgraded base but empty coffers, although he already has laser weapons and a ship with a laser cannon. His plan is to invest everything coming in on satellites for long-term returns. He equips the squad with grenade launchers and pistols and they take off to Asia to intercept an enemy landing. Although he expects things to get messy, the mission goes wonderfully thanks to critical hits and cover, managing to clear the area without casualties. He enters the silo, faces a muton, stuns it with the grenade launcher, and captures it alive. Back home, he unlocks plasma weapons, complains that satellites take an eternity to build despite having twenty-one engineers, and aims to get carapace armor so soldiers can last longer.

NVIDIA accelerates launch of the RTX 5080 24GB

It seems NVIDIA is moving fast to release the 24GB RTX 5080 earlier than planned, aiming for December 2026 or January 2027. In China, they will stop selling the 16GB version and the 5090 D V2, making this new one the top model. Stock of the previous version is already gone and will only last two more months. Price and clock speeds are still missing, but the bottom line is that NVIDIA is making a move.

Installation and configuration of Window Maker with X11

Mónica Gómez decided to reinstall Debian 13 and switch from KDE Plasma to Window Maker, mostly out of tech nostalgia and to break her routine after feeling somewhat frustrated with the mandatory use of AI at work. Setting it up required going back to X11, which she had always spoken poorly of due to old performance, scaling, and screen tearing issues. This time she approached it without prejudice and realized her troubles came more from bad configurations than the server itself. She fixed scaling by tweaking the DPI instead of using weird patches, and eliminated screen tearing by enabling the old Intel driver, despite the wiki advising against it. She tried Xlibre for a couple of days but went back to Xorg because video playback was smoother, and ended up publicly retracting her stance: she acknowledges that X11 is quite stable and solid if you know how to handle it, although she still prefers Wayland in the long run. Additionally, by using XFCE components with Window Maker, she better understood why Unix philosophy and loose coupling are so beloved. For now, she's happy with the setup, but when the Wayland compositor for XFCE comes out, she'll switch without hesitation, while still appreciating how well things went this time with X11.

From an email to root: critical compromise of GNU Savannah

Hacktron took a look at GNU Savannah, where Bash and Coreutils are hosted, and found a massive flaw: by entering an email with weird characters into the GPG key test, the server executed code without permission. With that, they became superusers, could impersonate the Bash maintainer, and add SSH keys. They then exploited an unpatched kernel to gain root access and reach the backups. They reported it to the FSF in May 2026, which patched everything along with 25 other flaws and has already published its report.

Windows 11: performance issues, user experience, and optimization

Édouard Muller brands Windows 11, which he calls Satan, as the worst desktop operating system he has ever tested, even worse than Vista. According to him, the issue isn't a lack of computer power, but rather that current software is poorly optimized and hogs resources like crazy, making normal office machines run like potatoes. Furthermore, he hates the user experience because options move around with every update, Windows Update always fails when installing patches, and to top it off, installation forces an online account and requires console tricks to set it up locally. In his opinion, Linux is no longer difficult: it installs in a few clicks, has more consistent interfaces, and performs much better on the same hardware. That's why he isn't surprised so many people have switched to Linux, and he points out that Microsoft's bet on unfiltered AI will only worsen the mess.

Sam Altman considers running local AI on personal computers terrible

Sam Altman says running AI on your PC is nonsense because RAM is scarce and it's a waste to have it sitting idle on personal computers when rarely used, instead of being maximized in the cloud. This plays perfectly into OpenAI's hands to defend its server-based AI business model, although enthusiasts find the idea of eventually renting everything instead of owning it a bit unsettling.