Summary of the week of May 8, 2023

[cobito]

openSIL will replace AGESA in 2026

Starting in 2026, AMD will begin using openSIL instead of AGESA. It is an open-source firmware that will run on UEFI. Until then, it will be possible to test trial versions that will initially come out for Genoa processors (fourth-generation EPYCs).

Xorg becomes obsolete in Red Hat

Red Hat has decided to mark the veteran graphics server X.org as obsolete. It will stop supporting it in the next version and from now on, it will leave Wayland as the only official option.

A new material could make magnetic memory more efficient

A group of researchers has demonstrated that a thin layer of a metallic compound called palladium manganese three has the necessary properties to manufacture a type of memory that stores data in the spin directions of electrons. This storage method, known as spin-orbit torque magnetoresistive random access memory or SOT-MRAM, has the potential to store data more quickly and efficiently than current methods, which store data using electrical charge and require a continuous energy supply.

Firefox 113 available

Firefox 113 comes with improvements in the Picture-in-Picture functions and in the search function of the address bar.

About KDE 6

Details are starting to come out about KDE 6, the new major version of one of the most popular desktop environments on Linux. Among many other changes, the new version will come with Wayland and floating panels by default.