Category Archives: Linux

NTFSPLUS Driver Updated As It Works Toward The Mainline Kernel

Posted on by

Announced last month was the NTFSPLUS driver as a new NTFS file-system driver for the Linux kernel with better write performance and more features compared to the existing NTFS options. A second iteration of that driver was recently queued into “ntfs-next” raising prospects that this NTFSPLUS driver could soon attempt to land in the mainline Linux kernel…

AMDGPU Driver Lacks HDMI 2.1 While AMD-Xilinx Driver Has Some HDMI 2.1 Support

Posted on by

Those following Phoronix and the open-source AMD Linux kernel graphics driver know that the HDMI Forum has prevented AMD from implementing HDMI 2.1 support in their open-source “AMDGPU” driver as due the driver implementation would run afoul to the organization’s licensing requirements. It’s been pointed out online this week that the AMD-Xilinx DRM driver though does have some HDMI 2.1 support albeit different hardware…

Giga Computing R284-A92-AAL1: A Reliable 2U Rack Server For Intel Xeon 6900 Series

Posted on by

Over the past two months I have been publishing a number of fresh benchmarks of the Intel Xeon 6980P “Granite Rapids” flagship processor performance under Linux. All of those new Xeon 6900 series benchmarks on Phoronix have been from the Giga Computing R284-A92-AAL1 2U rack server that has proven to be a very robust and reliable server platform.

How Ada Computer Science empowers students: Survey findings

Posted on by

Listening to the voices of young people is crucial in creating genuinely effective learning resources. That’s why we recently ran a survey of students who use Ada Computer Science, our platform designed to help students learn and revise key computer science concepts.

“The different topics are nicely categorised and it is easy to find the information I wish to revise.” – Ada Computer Science student

We were delighted to hear from 103 students, most of whom are 16–19 years old and studying in England, and their insights are invaluable in helping us to continue to develop Ada CS.

Students think Ada CS is high quality and useful

The most common ways students use Ada CS are for revision and to check whether they understand concepts. The majority of respondents are building Ada CS into their regular study habits, with over half of respondents using the platform every week.

Photo of a class of students at computers, in a computer science classroom.

We were pleased to see the benefits of updates we’ve made, including a redesign of the question finder released in March 2025 — students reported that it is easy to navigate the platform and find what they need: 81% reported being able to find relevant content, and 77% could find the questions they were looking for.

“It’s SO EASY to find exactly what I want.” – Ada Computer Science student

Overall, students perceive Ada CS as both useful for learning about computer science concepts and of high quality. They reported finding the content clear, with a good level of detail.

“The topics are broken down into easily digestible sections, and the provided diagrams really help with understanding the topics.”  – Ada Computer Science student

“The resource is really well designed, short and concise.”  – Ada Computer Science student

We also received helpful suggestions for future improvements. Students shared feedback on how the information on the platform is presented, asking for more concise, revision-friendly content as well as guidance for exploring concepts in more depth. We’ll therefore be looking into alternative ways to structure content as we continue to develop Ada CS. 

Graph depicting how strongly students felt that Ada Computer Science helps them to learn about computer science concepts.

Students rate the quizzes highly

The most popular feature is the quizzes and practice questions, including the immediate feedback and hints provided. Students value how these resources help them solidify their knowledge, learn from mistakes, and prepare for assessments. 

“The questions are clear and make me think, they’re relevant to my studies and the hints for the questions are very useful.” – Ada Computer Science student

We also appreciated the suggestions we received for how we can further develop this feature, for example, creating more questions, extending the range of question types per topic, and making improvements to the hints.

Impact on learning

Students also feel that using Ada CS has a tangible impact on their learning. 82% agreed they were more confident that they understand CS concepts as a result of using Ada CS and 79% feel more confident learning about computer science concepts without a teacher to explain.

“I do CS A level but I hadn’t done the GCSE and I found that all of the resources gave me enough information to learn the concepts from scratch and now I’m much more confident in my knowledge of the theory.” – Ada Computer Science student

Graph depicting how students feel using Ada CS has on their learning.

What’s coming next?

Students provided us with lots of useful feedback and suggestions for how we can further improve Ada CS, especially relating to practice questions. We’re already working on adding more questions across topics, creating more challenging questions, and adding more question types that will enhance students’ learning experience. We’ve got some other exciting developments in the pipeline too, which we’ll announce soon!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. These findings are invaluable for shaping the future of Ada Computer Science, helping us to continue to provide the best possible learning platform for students.

The post How Ada Computer Science empowers students: Survey findings appeared first on Raspberry Pi Foundation.