January 23, 2022
KC7NYR Linux in The News

Linux in The News 1-24-22

Last Updated on January 23, 2022 by KC7NYR

You Can Now Install 64-Bit EndeavourOS ARM on the Raspberry Pi 4 (1-21-22)

Good news today for owners of a Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer as they can now install the EndeavourOS ARM distribution with a 64-bit kernel, along with new graphical environments.

EndeavourOS founder Bryan Poerwo announced today that there’s a new version of the EndeavourOS ARM installation script that lets you install the Arch Linux-based distribution on several SBCs, which now offers a 64-bit installation option for Raspberry Pi 4 models.

This is possible thanks to the use of the 64-bit kernel from the official Raspberry Pi OS developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The 64-bit installation option is available alongside the 32-bit installation option and adds support for USB storage devices and the Linux 5.15 kernel series.

The previous version of the installation script used an AArch64 (ARM64) kernel that did not support USB storage devices on the Raspberry Pi 4, so this should come as excellent news for those wanting to use a 64-bit EndeavourOS install on their Raspberry Pi 4 Model B computers.

“It was a request that was high on the list of our ARM users and now we are proud to present our new and improved ARM installation script with the option to install more desktop environments, window managers, and a 64-bit installation option for the Raspberry Pi4b,” said project lead Bryan Poerwo.

In addition to the 64-bit installation option for Raspberry Pi 4 SBCs, the new installation script also adds the ability to install several graphical environments, including the lightweight LXDE desktop environment, as well as the Qtile, Openbox, and Sway window managers.

If you have a Raspberry Pi 4 and you want to install EndeavourOS ARM, you can follow the instructions provided by the development team here. Basically, you’ll have to write the latest EndeavourOS ISO image on a microSD card, then download the EndeavourOS ARM installation script, and run the text-based installer, which has several stages.

Linus Torvalds Announces First Linux 5.17 Kernel Release Candidate 1-23-22

Two weeks have passed since the release of Linux 5.16 and the opening of the merge window for the next major kernel release, Linux 5.17, which closes today with the launch of the first Release Candidate (RC) milestone for public testing.

Linus Torvalds just announced today the first Release Candidate of Linux kernel 5.17, which looks to be a normal release with a normal amount of changes and new features. Nothing fancy, and nothing that stands out. There’s a little bit of everything for everyone.

According to Linus Torvalds, the bulk of it is various driver updates, and there’s also architecture, documentation, and tooling updates. However, the random number generator work and the rewrite of the fscache persistent local cache tool stand out in the upcoming Linux 5.17 kernel series.

“[Linux] 5.17 doesn’t seem to be slated to be a huge release, and everything looks fairly normal. We’ve got a bit more activity than usual in a couple of corners of the kernel (random number generator and the fscache rewrite stand out), but even with those things, the big picture view looks very much normal,” said Linus Torvalds.

The final release of Linux kernel 5.17 is expected in mid-March 2022. As usual, its release depends on how many Release Candidate milestones will be released during the entire development cycle.

If there will be seven RCs, we’re looking at March 13th for the final release date, but if an eighth Release Candidate will be published, we’re looking at March 20th for the final release date of Linux 5.17.

Until then, if you want to help the kernel developers find and fix bugs in Linux kernel 5.17, go ahead and download the first Release Candidate from the kernel.org website. But, please keep in mind that this is an early development version, NOT suitable for use in production machines.