Summary of the week of April 4, 2022

cobito

I've extended this batch until today because there won't be any more news this week. The cover returns on Tuesday, the 19th. And remember that you are free to send whatever you consider appropriate.

AMD graphics drivers change the BIOS

The Ryzen Master module integrated into the latest Adrenalin drivers from AMD produces changes in the CPU configuration of the BIOS based on the GPU profile.

A Minecraft launcher for Linux

Someone has created a small tool that allows you to enter Minecraft settings on Linux from a graphical interface.

Firefox 99 is available

Firefox 99 comes with improvements in the reading view mode and searching in PDFs. In addition, the graphics server on Linux has been isolated from processes that have access to the web.

The quality of USB-C hubs

Someone has written about their bad experiences with three USB-C hubs. Apparently, if you want something decent, you have to spend at least 200€ on one of these gadgets.

AMD confirms that its drivers do OC

AMD has confirmed that its graphics drivers overclock the CPU without informing the user. This is a bug in the Radeon Adrenalin drivers that is already being investigated.

Encrypting the hard drive in Linux

This guide explains how to encrypt the entire hard drive in Linux using TPM and Secure Boot.

Pentium N5000

Someone brought us a Pentium N5000 the other day. It's a CPU with a TDP of 6W and 4 Goldmont Plus cores. Its maximum set is SSE3 so it's out of the running in the main rankings. Its performance is comparable to a Core 2 Quad Q9550.

New free Nvidia drivers

Nvidia has released free drivers for Linux. They only have support for the ARM Tegra platform but, given Intel and AMD's model, it could be a first step in a policy change that brings it closer to its competition.

Engineering sample 506E8 at 3GHz

Someone has brought us an engineering sample that seems to be a Kaby Lake. It comes with 4 cores, HT and a peak frequency of 3.5GHz. Its performance is very similar to the Core i7-7700HQ but its characteristics make one think of a different model.

Raspberry Pi OS stops using pi as the default user

The April update of Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye will stop using pi as the default user for security reasons.