Hacker News with Generative AI: Operating Systems

Bypassing disk encryption on systems with automatic TPM2 unlock (oddlama.org)
Have you setup automatic disk unlocking with TPM2 and systemd-cryptenroll or clevis? Then chances are high that your disk can be decrypted by an attacker who just has brief physical access to your machine - with some preparation, 10 minutes will suffice. In this article we will explore how TPM2 based disk decryption works, and understand why many setups are vulnerable to a kind of filesystem confusion attack.
Security, Hardware, Operating Systems, Cryptography
189 points by arjvik 1 day ago | 107 comments
Microsoft patches Windows to eliminate Secure Boot bypass threat (arstechnica.com)
For the past seven months—and likely longer—an industry-wide standard that protects Windows devices from firmware infections could be bypassed using a simple technique. On Tuesday, Microsoft finally patched the vulnerability. The status of Linux systems is still unclear.
Security, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Firmware
24 points by jron 1 day ago | 4 comments
New Features in Linux Mint 22.1 'Xia' (linuxmint.com)
Linux Mint 22.1 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2029. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop experience more comfortable.
Linux, Operating Systems, New Releases, Software Updates
4 points by paulnpace 2 days ago | 0 comments
Intel, AMD engineers rush to save Linux 6.13 after dodgy Microsoft code change (theregister.com)
Intel and AMD engineers have stepped in at the eleventh hour to deal with a code contribution from a Microsoft developer that could have broken Linux 6.13 on some systems.
Linux, Software, Operating Systems, Microsoft, Hardware
7 points by AbuAssar 3 days ago | 1 comments
Will the Linux Foundation Purchase Chrome? [video] (youtube.com)
Linux Foundation, Chrome, Acquisitions, Operating Systems, Technology
4 points by jarsin 3 days ago | 1 comments
Haiku OS Gets the Iceweasel Web Browser Up and Running (phoronix.com)
The BeOS-inspired Haiku open-source operating system has published their latest monthly development report. During December they worked on a number of features and fixes as well as getting a modern web browser up and running.
Operating Systems, Web Browsers, Open Source
9 points by rbanffy 3 days ago | 1 comments
JUring: Experimental IO_uring for Java with Big Performance Gains (phoronix.com)
For those looking toward better I/O performance with Java, there is JUring for making use of IO_uring and the reported performance benefits are very enticing.
Java, Performance, Operating Systems, I/O, Linux
4 points by ksec 3 days ago | 1 comments
The Shepherd 1.0.0 released (guix.gnu.org)
Finally, twenty-one years after its inception (twenty-one!), the Shepherd leaves ZeroVer territory to enter a glorious 1.0 era. This 1.0.0 release is published today because we think Shepherd has become a solid tool, meeting user experience standards one has come to expect since systemd changed the game of free init systems and service managers alike. It’s also a major milestone for Guix, which has been relying on the Shepherd from a time when doing so counted as dogfooding.
Software, Operating Systems, Linux
174 points by sharpshadow 3 days ago | 56 comments
What Every Hacker Should Know About TLB Invalidation [pdf] (grsecurity.net)
Security, Operating Systems, Computer Architecture
90 points by abhi9u 4 days ago | 18 comments
Usable DOS-based live USB media, for distraction-free writing (github.com/lproven)
This repo contains downloads of compressed disk images of bootable USB keys.
Operating Systems, Software, Writing, Productivity
10 points by todsacerdoti 4 days ago | 0 comments
Webtop – Alpine,Ubuntu,Fedora,and Arch containers containing full desktop envs (linuxserver.io)
Webtop - Alpine, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Arch based containers containing full desktop environments in officially supported flavors accessible via any modern web browser.
Linux, Containers, Web Browsers, Operating Systems
349 points by weitzj 4 days ago | 71 comments
Linux mailbox subsystem is a poor excuse for abstracting (Asahi Linux) (treehouse.systems)
Linux, Operating Systems, Software Development, Open Source
40 points by thehias 4 days ago | 0 comments
Fedora 42 Looks to Ship Optimized Executables for Different x86_64 Capabilities (phoronix.com)
Fedora Linux has already supported making use of glibc HWCAPs for allowing libraries to be built for different x86_64 micro-architecture feature levels for performance-sensitive code where it can pay off when leveraging AVX/AVX2 or other newer Intel/AMD CPU instruction set extensions. For Fedora 42 is now a proposal to extend that further to allow binary executables to also leverage glibc HWCAPs for better performance.
Linux, Operating Systems, Performance Optimization, CPU Architecture, Fedora
14 points by rbanffy 5 days ago | 2 comments
The history and use of /etc/glob in early Unixes (utoronto.ca)
One of the innovations that the V7 Bourne shell introduced was built in shell wildcard globbing, which is to say expanding things like *, ?, and so on.
Unix, Operating Systems, History, Shell, Programming
67 points by zdw 5 days ago | 47 comments
Right to root access (medhir.com)
I believe consumers, as a right, should be able to install software of their choosing to any computing device that is owned outright.
Consumer Rights, Software, Operating Systems
481 points by medhir 5 days ago | 413 comments
Qubes OS: Templates (qubes-os.org)
In Getting Started, we covered the distinction in Qubes OS between where you install your software and where you run your software.
Operating Systems, Security, Virtualization
35 points by doener 5 days ago | 4 comments
Superior Internet Privacy with Whonix (whonix.org)
Whonix gives your desktop Maximum privacy and anonymity on the Internet More reliability and security than any other tool on the market!
Privacy, Security, Anonymity, Operating Systems
41 points by doener 5 days ago | 11 comments
Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system (qubes-os.org)
Security, Operating Systems, Privacy
175 points by doener 5 days ago | 115 comments
Microsoft Bob: Microsoft's biggest flop of the 1990s (homeip.net)
It was January 1995. Microsoft was riding high. Windows 3.1 had sold well. The interim replacement, Windows 3.11, was selling well. The industry was abuzz for the upcoming Windows 95, expected sometime later in the year. Microsoft was in a golden era, a time when nothing could go wrong for them. And then they released Microsoft Bob. They should have named it Microsoft Bomb, because it bombed. But if you take one letter out of Bomb, you get Bob.
Microsoft, Operating Systems, History, Technology, Failure
88 points by rbanffy 5 days ago | 165 comments
macOS No Longer Ships with Emacs (batsov.com)
While I was setting up my new mac mini yesterday I noticed something interesting - Apple have stopped shipping the ancient Emacs 22.1 with macOS!
macOS, Emacs, Software, Operating Systems
14 points by eduction 6 days ago | 5 comments
Tabs and Makefile (beebo.org)
The computing world is littered with unfortunate mistakes that managed to make the leap from small-scale inconvenience to a source of grief to millions or billions–at which point so many people and systems have been become accustomed to the error that fixing it is impossible.
Programming, Software Development, Operating Systems, Tools
20 points by andyjohnson0 6 days ago | 1 comments
Nix – Death by a Thousand Cuts (dgt.is)
This is my perspective on using Nix (the OS, the package manager, and the language) as a main driver for the past 2 years. I have gone to conferences, engaged the community, donated, submitted bug reports, converted my home servers, and probably spent hundreds of hours in Nix configs. I consider myself well versed, but certainly no expert.
Operating Systems, Package Management, Nix, Software
332 points by jonotime 6 days ago | 312 comments
FreeBSD Suspend/Resume (wordpress.com)
I have been using FreeBSD on the desktops/laptops since about 20 years now and I have described all that I configured in the FreeBSD Desktop series.
FreeBSD, Operating Systems, Computer Hardware
136 points by vermaden 7 days ago | 63 comments
Tactility: OS for the ESP32 Microcontroller Family (tactility.one)
Loading...
Microcontrollers, Operating Systems, Embedded Systems, ESP32, Open Source
183 points by freetonik 8 days ago | 50 comments
How the OS/2 flop went on to shape modern software (theregister.com)
Opinion The resurfacing of a 1995 Usenet post earlier this month prompted The Reg FOSS desk to re-examine a pivotal operating system flop … and its long-term consequences.
Operating Systems, Software History, Legacy Software, Technology History
7 points by mooreds 9 days ago | 3 comments
Microsoft should be terrified of SteamOS (pcworld.com)
Ten years ago PC gamers were eagerly awaiting Steam Machines, console-style Linux boxes built from the ground up to play PC games. They flopped, due in no small part to Steam operator Valve’s lack of experience working with hardware partners. But in 2025, both Valve and its home-built gaming operating system are different beasts. And Microsoft should be afraid of them.
Gaming, Operating Systems, Microsoft, Valve
108 points by dingi 9 days ago | 136 comments
/bin/sh: the biggest Unix security loophole (1984) [pdf] (tuhs.org)
Unix, Security, History, Programming, Operating Systems
100 points by vitplister 9 days ago | 54 comments
Bringing SerenityOS to real hardware, one driver at a time (sdomi.pl)
Many moons ago, around the time when Andreas formally resigned from being Serenity's BDFL, I decided that I want to get involved in the project more seriously.
Operating Systems, Open Source, Software Development
309 points by LorenDB 9 days ago | 154 comments
The Making of UEFI NYAN 80x25 (github.com/diekmann)
Booting directly into nyan cat.
Programming, Operating Systems, Creative Projects
28 points by popitter 10 days ago | 3 comments
Linux Routing Fundamentals (sdn.clinic)
Linux has been a first class networking citizen for quite a long time now. Every box running a Linux kernel out of the box has at least three routing tables and is supporting multiple mechanisms for advanced routing features from policy based routing (PBR), to VRFs(-lite), and network namespaces (NetNS). Each of these provide different levels or separation and features, with PBR being the oldest one and VRFs the most recent addition (starting with Kernel 4.3).
Linux, Networking, Routing, Security, Operating Systems
58 points by mariuz 10 days ago | 6 comments