• Paradox of the perfect code editor

  Imagine if someone summoned a magical genie and wished for a perfect code editor. Since it is perfect, does that mean it provides you everything you ever need to code the optimal solution? Or since it is perfect, does it enable you to accomplish the coding aspect instantly?

  Thus, the paradox:

  Does the perfect code editor mean that you spend nearly 100% of your work time using the editor or does it mean you spend nearly 0% of your work time using the editor?

• I write code 100 hours/week, here's why I probably won't stop

  I feel strongly you should never feel compelled or required to do what I am doing. Any company, manager, or person asking you to do so is horrible and you should get out quick. I don’t want to contribute to that culture or feed it.

  But-I love what I’m doing. I love the amount of progress I’m able to achieve every day. I love my time spent solving problems. I love what I’ve achieved so far. I want to go further than ever before - I’ve been marathon coding for as long as I can remember, and I’m not going to stop. I need to see how far I can go.

  I love the choices I’ve made in life. I hope you love yours too.

• The reports of Perl’s death have been greatly exaggerated

  But you know what? Perl’s still going. It’s had a steady cadence of year­ly releas­es for the past decade, intro­duc­ing new fea­tures and fenc­ing in bad behav­ior while main­tain­ing an admirable lev­el of back­ward com­pat­i­bil­i­ty. Yes, there was a too-​long adven­ture devel­op­ing what start­ed as Perl 6, but that lan­guage now has its own iden­ti­ty as Raku and even has facil­i­ties for mix­ing Perl with its native code or vice versa.

• Share with us your say on interoperability benefits in digital public service delivery

  As the the ISA2 programme and ELISE are coming to an end, is the right time to reflect on what we have achieved together and how to build on that in the next generation programmes.

• How BSD Authentication Works

  The way OpenBSD authenticates users is quite different from other Unix-like operating systems. Most other systems like AIX, Solaris, Linux, the other BSDs, and MacOS, use a framework called Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM). The two main implementations are Linux PAM and OpenPAM. PAM modules are created as dynamically loaded shared objects, which communicate using a combination of common and implementation specific interfaces (Linux-PAM and OpenPAM). It's configured using the pam.d directory and pam.conf file. While it can be flexible, it's highly complex and very easy to mis-configure, leaving you open to strange and hard to track down authentication bugs. On top of that, the fact that it's a shared library means that any vulnerability in a poorly vetted authentication module gives attackers direct access to the internals of your application. Author Michael W. Lucas said it best when he described PAM as unstandardized black magic.

  OpenBSD on the other hand uses a mechanism called BSD Authentication. It was originally developed for a now-defunct proprietary operating system called BSD/OS by Berkeley Software Design Inc., who later donated the system. It was then adopted by OpenBSD in release 2.9. BSD Auth is comparatively much simpler than PAM. Modules or, authentication "styles", are instead stand alone applications or scripts that communicate over IPC. The module has no ability to interfere with the parent and can very easily revoke permissions using pledge(2) or unveil(2). The BSD Authentication system of configured through login.conf(5).

• Explaining top(1) on FreeBSD

  We all know and have at least once used the top(1) command to track information about our cpu and processes, but how many of you know what each field means? Today we will guide you through each of these fields. By default, top(1) displays the ‘top’ processes on each system and periodically updates this information every 2.0 seconds using the raw cpu use percentage to rank the processes in the list.

• Early Progress Made On Porting Radeon Vulkan Driver To BeOS-Inspired Haiku OS - Phoronix

  After successfully getting Mesa's software-based Lavapipe Vulkan implementation building on Haiku last month along with related Mesa code for headless support, a developer independent of AMD has started work on porting the Mesa Radeon Vulkan driver "RADV" to Haiku.

  Haiku developer "X512" has been spending the past number of weeks so far trying to get the open-source Radeon Vulkan driver stack working on this BeOS-inspired platform. This would be the first major Vulkan driver working for Haiku though there is also interest in getting the open-source Intel Vulkan driver working there too.

• Machine Learning: Esperanto coaxes 1092 RISC-V Processors to Dance on the Head of a Pin, er Chip

  Based on its analyses, Esperanto claims that the ET-SoC-1 ML inference engine achieves 123X better performance per watt on the MLPerf Deep Learning Recommendation Model benchmark compared to an Intel Xeon Platinum 8380H processor and 25.7X better performance per watt on the ResNet 50 benchmark compared to an Intel Xeon Platinum 9282.

• Linux 5.14.9 starts to land in Debian Backports for Debian 11 “Bullseye”. – BaronHK's Rants

  Linux 5.14.9 has started to land in Debian Backports for Debian 11 “Bullseye”.

  Right now, the only kernel image available is “unsigned”, and there are no new device firmware packages yet.

  The difference between “signed” and “unsigned” kernels, is that unsigned ones aren’t signed by Microsoft for Security Theater Boot, and so they won’t work if you don’t have it turned on.

  Since I don’t have Security Theater Boot turned on, I went ahead and pulled all of the Intel, Free, and Non-Free Linux firmware packages out of Debian Testing (as well as an AMD Graphics firmware bundle since apt complained that one of the others depended on it, even though it won’t do me any good since this is an all-Intel laptop.

• Cyberattackers strike payday as ransomware attacks increase tenfold [iophk: Windows TCO]

  Ransomware has emerged as one of the defining cybersecurity threats of 2021, witth attacks increasing tenfold over the past year and the trend set to continue as cyberattackers see lucrative paydays from ransomware operations.

  That’s the view of security solutioms provider Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs ahead of Australian Cyber Week (25-29 October 2021) and CERT New Zealand’s Cyber Smart Week (18-24 October 2021).

• Want a fully specced-out MacBook Pro? You’ll have to pay more than $6,000

  And if you want to buy the absolute highest-end model, with 64GB of unified memory, 8TB of SSD storage, a 140W USB-C power adapter, and the M1 Max chip, that will cost you a cool $6,099, according to Apple’s online store.

• Apple Drops Intel in Biggest MacBook Pro Overhaul in Years

  The company showcased the chips at an event Monday called “Unleashed” that also included its latest audio products. The new components, called the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, are 70% faster than its M1 predecessors, Apple said. It also unveiled a redesigned MacBook Pro, adding larger screens, MagSafe charging and better resolution.

• Apple drops Intel in biggest MacBook Pro overhaul in years

  The chips include 10 total CPU cores — the components that handle processing — up from the eight in the M1 chip. The 10 cores are split into eight high-performance cores and two cores for tasks that require less energy. That compares with four high-performance and four low-performance cores in the M1.

• Apple Ditches Intel Chips for MacBook Pro With Lineup Featuring M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max

  Apple has nixed all of the Intel MacBook Pro models from its MacBook Pro lineup, with the prior-generation Intel i7 and i9 machines now discontinued.

  All of Apple's MacBook Pro models now feature M-series chips as the company continues to phase out Intel chips. That means Apple's entire portable notebook lineup (the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro) is Intel-free and running Apple-designed chips.

• Alder Lake May Break Some Games Due To DRM Tripwire But Intel Is Working With Devs

  To prep coders for the new era of computing on Intel hardware, the company published a guide primarily aimed at game developers, on how to optimize their stuff for Alder Lake. We covered many of the high-level details, except for one interesting tidbit—potential compatibility issues with Data Relationship Management (DRM), as Intel calls it (we call it Digital Rights Management around these parts).

  "If your existing or upcoming game uses a DRM middleware, you might want to contact the middleware provider and confirm that it supports hybrid architectures in general, and the upcoming Intel ADL platform in particular," the guide states.

  "Due to the nature of modern DRM algorithms, it might use CPU detection, and should be aware of the upcoming hybrid platforms. Intel is working with leading DRM providers such as Denuvo to make sure their solutions support new platforms," the guide continues.

• The Eclipse Foundation Releases Results from the First

  The Eclipse Foundation, one of the world’s largest open source foundations, along with the Eclipse Cloud DevTools Working Group, today announced the availability of the first annual Cloud Developer Survey Report. The report was commissioned by the Eclipse Cloud DevTools Working Group and is the result of more than 300 interviews conducted by an independent analyst organization. Participants consisted of software developers, as well as DevOps, IT and development leadership. Primary survey objectives were to gain a better understanding of cloud-based developer trends by identifying the requirements, priorities, and challenges faced by organizations that deploy and use cloud-based development solutions, including those based on open source technologies.

• OpenCV 4.5.4 Released, Look For Updated Features And Fixes

• Brother printers may not work in Windows 11 if connected via USB [Ed: Even Lawrence Abram, a fervent Microsoft propagandist, seems to realise Vista 11 is a trainwreck like Vista (hardware won't work)]

  Brother is warning that many of their printers may no longer work or display errors when using a USB connection in Windows 11.

  One help article states that updating to Windows 11 could prevent the operating system from detecting your Brother machine when connected via USB, changing printer settings, or connecting more than one printer via USB.

• Enfield Dispatch | Hospital appointments lost as NHS trust hit by IT problems

  Patients across Barnet, Enfield and Camden have been affected by lost appointments caused by IT failures at a hospital trust.

  The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands that Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust experienced a string of problems after upgrading its electronic patient record (EPR) system and widening its use.

  Lists of appointments for a number of clinics are understood to have been lost as a result of the transfer last week, causing delays to clinical activity across the NHS trust’s services in North London. There were also difficulties reported with booking in new appointments and accessing patient records.

  As well as The Royal Free Hospital in Camden, the NHS trust runs a range of other hospitals and clinics in North London, including Barnet Hospital and Edgware Community Hospital in Barnet, and Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield. The trust started upgrading and expanding its EPR system, which is designed to replace paper records, at the beginning of October.

• Open-source software: Nine out of 10 companies use it, but how much is it really worth? | ZDNet

  The report marks the third and final chapter in OpenUK's investigation into the impact of open-source software on the UK economy as detailed in its State of Open: The UK 2021 paper. The organization is trying to encourage the adoption of open-source software in the energy sector ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.

IBM Bits:

• Thoroughly Modern: Talking IBM i System Management With Abacus [Ed: IBM-sponsored fake 'journalism' about itself; how long can this marketing budget last?]

  If you want the members of your IT department to focus on the core applications that define, run, and improve your business, and they also have to manage your systems, and you have limited budgets to do it all, you have to learn to let go of something. There are only so many hours in a day, only so many days in a year, and only so many people to do the work. Something has to give, and you have to keep what brings the real value.

• The Shape Of The IBM To Come [Ed: IBM-sponsored Timothy Prickett Morgan on state of IBM]

  Big Blue is getting ready to spin off its managed services businesses, which represents about a third of its revenue stream and a big chunk of its employee base, into the separate company called Kyndryl and hopes to have this task done by the end of the year. Last week, IBM’s top brass had a virtual meeting with Wall Street to host its Investor Day, and IBM’s chief executive officer, Arvind Krishna, and the rest of the team unveiled a new segment and financial reporting structure that will be put into effect once the Kyndryl spinout is done.

  At that time, IBM will no doubt do its financial reporting for the quarter and backcast the new way of talking about product lines and money into prior quarters, and if history is any guide, it will do this for all of 2020 as well as whatever bits of 2021 are done at the time. And everybody, including us, will set about to recast our IBM revenue models.

• IBM's former Chinese Power Systems partner sues for theft of customer data • The Register

  IBM has been sued for trade secret misappropriation by a Chinese company called Beijing Neu Cloud Oriental System Technology Co., Ltd, over "fraudulent and unfair business practices" that allegedly saw Big Blue encourage use of Neu Cloud's customer information by staffers at server-maker Inspur.

  According to Neu Cloud's complaint [PDF], its parent company TeamSun had been a distributor and implementor of IBM POWER technology since 2010.

• IBM still spending its way to cloud relevance with BoxBoat buy

  IBM has splashed yet more cash on cloud after confirming it plans to acquire BoxBoat Technologies – the Maryland-based DevOps consultancy and enterprise Kubernetes certified service provider.

• Ads in Firefox, Android is confirmed spyware, and PinePhone PRO released - Linux + open source News - Invidious

  This time, we have The Pine 64 announcing the PinePhone PRO, Firefox putting ads in the suggestions bar, and a study confirming that Android gathers a LOT of data on their users, on top of major Ubuntu and KDE releases.