Category Archives: Linux

[$] The troubles with Boolean inversion in Python

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The Python bitwise-inversion (or complement) operator, “~“, behaves
pretty much as expected when it is applied to integers—it toggles every
bit, from one
to zero and vice versa. It might be expected that applying the
operator to a non-integer, a bool
for example, would raise a TypeError, but, because the
bool type is really an int
in disguise, the complement operator is allowed, at least for now. For
nearly 15 years (and perhaps longer), there have been discussions about the
oddity of that behavior and whether it should be changed. Eventually,
that resulted in the “feature” being deprecated, producing a warning, with removal slated for
Python 3.16 (due October 2027). That has led to some reconsideration and the
deprecation may itself be deprecated.

SilverStone RM4A: 4U Rackmount Server/Workstation Chassis That’s Great For Liquid Cooling

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For those looking to build a rackmount-ready server or workstation that can handle up to an SSI-EEB motherboard and capable of fitting a large liquid cooling setup, the RM4A is a new option from SilverStone that can fit up to a 360mm radiator while still fitting an SSI-EEB motherboard and up to eight expansion slots within 4U size constraints.

Two new stable kernels, possible regression

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Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the 6.19.4 and 6.18.14 stable kernels. Shortly after
6.19.4 was released Kris Karas reported “getting a repeatable Oops right
when networking is initialized, likely when nft is loading its
ruleset“; the problem did not appear to be present in 6.18.14. Users
of nftables may wish to hold off on upgrades to 6.19.4 for now. We
will provide updates as they are available.

Mesa Developers Trying To Reach A Consensus On AI Policy

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If all goes well, Mesa developers are hoping to reach a consensus or at least some common ground on an AI policy in March. Mesa is the latest open-source project making considerations around the growing activity around AI coding agents and the like and how to deal with them for this project that is crucial to the Linux desktop and open-source 3D graphics drivers at large…

Benchmarking 18 Years Of Intel Laptop CPUs: Panther Lake As Much As 95x The Speed Of Penryn

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For those curious how far Intel laptop CPU performance has evolved over the past nearly two decades, here are power and performance numbers when re-benchmarking all of the Intel-powered laptop CPUs I have on hand that are still operational from Penryn to Panther Lake. A ThinkPad from 2008 with the Core 2 Duo T9300 “Penryn” was still firing up and working with the latest upstream Intel open-source Linux driver support on Ubuntu 26.04 development. On a geo mean basis over the past 18 years from Penryn to Panther Lake, the performance was at 21.5x in over 150 benchmarks. At the most extreme was a 95x difference going from Intel’s 45nm Penryn to the 18A Panther Lake.

DietPi February 2026 Update Adds NanoPi Zero2 Support and WhoDB Database Tool

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The February 21, 2026 release of DietPi v10.1 introduces new hardware support, expands the software catalog with the WhoDB database management tool, and includes a range of enhancements and bug fixes across supported single-board computers. DietPi: DietPi is a lightweight, Debian-based operating system optimized for single-board computers and embedded devices. It focuses on minimal resource […]

sudo-rs Breaks Historical Norms With Now Enabling Password Feedback By Default

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On recent builds of Ubuntu 26.04 when being prompted by sudo for the password, password feedback is now enabled by default to show asterisk (*) characters when inputting your password. Traditionally sudo has not provided password feedback in the name of security to not divulge the length of your password in case anyone is looking/capturing your screen. But upstream sudo-rs has now changed the default behavior in the name of an improved UX…