linux

Samsung recently presented the Galaxy Tab S4 as the ultimate productivity portable device but initial reviews have been rather scathing. Thanks to its timing, Samsung’s premium tablet is being compared to the likes of the cheaper iPad, the cheaper Surface Go, and, closer to home, Chromebooks. The latter, especially, is getting more and more talented and the latest experimental feature nearly turns it into that ultimate productivity OS. That is if you live and breathe Linux.

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Once belittled as a glorified browser masquerading as a desktop, Google’s Chrome OS is arguably more exciting now than Android. Save for a phone, it now runs on different form factors, including detachable 2-in-1s and standalone tablets. It can run Android apps and, soon, Linux apps as well, both command line and graphical. Chrome OS is definitely now in a better position to take on even the likes of Apple’s iPads, but it will not be enough to simply have Chrome OS tablets or convertibles. Fortunately, Google might already have all that it needs to take it to the next level.

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Since the moment Stardew Valley launched back in 2016, multiplayer has been one of the most anticipated additions to the games. After a period of beta testing, it's nearly ready to roll out on PC, Mac, and Linux. While it probably isn't going to look a lot different from the beta that's currently available, this is exciting news for more reasons than one.

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Popular Linux distribution Gentoo has been hacked, with the company warning that its GitHub repository should be "considered compromised." Unknown hackers took control of the GitHub account earlier this week, on June 28, and modified both pages and the OS data there.

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If you thought Chrome OS was just a boring glorified web browser turned OS, then your impressions are woefully outdated. Next to still unofficial, or even unconfirmed, platforms like Google Fuchsia or Microsoft Andromeda, Chrome OS is shaping up to be one of the most exciting operating systems of late. That is, if you owned a Google Pixelbook or one of the more recent, more powerful, more expensive recent Chromebooks. Worry not because Google has just recently flipped the switch that will give even the cheaper and older ones some powerful features, namely Linux app support.

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What do Planet Computers’ Gemini PDA and Jolla’s Sailfish OS have in common? They’re both remnants of a past once thought very, very dead but have now come back to life. It is almost fitting, then, that the two have joined forces to bring a new kind of hardware and software experience never seen before: a smartphone-centric Sailfish OS running on a PDA phone.

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It really seems that Chrome OS is being groomed to be the one OS that runs them all. Well almost all. In addition to its native Chrome-based platform, it now supports Android through Google Play Store and, just recently, Linux. Because of those two, it is also possible to run Windows programs to some extent. CodeWeavers, which develops software for running Windows programs on Mac and Linux, has just shown what could be a better way to run those same programs on a Chromebook.

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Thanks to the antics of some of your favorite, and not so favorite, tech companies, there has been a lot of focus and frenzy shed on privacy. If you really think about it, no one and nothing is safe from these corporate giants, from always-listening and sometimes-recording smart speakers to even your supposedly silent and deaf smartphone. There has never been a more opportune time for products that champion privacy and the user to come out of hiding. And, if all goes well, one such product will be available for purchase at the start of 2019: the privacy-focused, freedom-loving, Linux-based open source Purism Librem 5.

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This morning the Steam Link app was released for Android devices in BETA mode. A release in Beta on Android means there'll probably be a few bugs left to work out. If you're alright with a few tiny insects, now might be the best time for you to download the app.

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Wear OS by Google, the wearable platform formerly known as Android Wear, is based on Android and, therefore, technically and legally open source. But just like Android itself, development doesn't exactly happen in the open completely and there are some parts that are proprietary to Google. That is especially frustrating for smartwatch believers, especially when their wearables get abandoned and outdated. Now they might have a choice with the first stable release of AsteroidOS, a completely open source operating system designed not just to run on Wear OS smartwatches but also to give the community a hand in its development.

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Chrome OS is slowly but surely transforming into an all-in-one, general purpose operating system, the Google OS that many might have been waiting for. While running Windows software is still a bit roundabout, Chrome OS already supports directly running Android apps and, announced at I/O 2018, now Linux apps as well. More than just simply increasing the number of things you can run on a Chromebook, this move opens up the platform for development, including creating Android apps right on Chromebooks.

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Who needs a combined Android and Chrome OS when Chrome OS can pretty much run it all. There's native Chrome OS, of course, and official Android support via Google Play Store. There's even preliminary Windows support via WINE for Android on Chrome OS. And, soon, Chromebooks might be able to run Linux programs as well. That possibility already was hinted at last February but might be coming really soon with the appearance of the Terminal app in Chrome OS' dev channel.

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