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Social Media / Twitter's rebranding is now complete, switches URL to X.com

« Last post by javajolt on May 17, 2024, 07:47:53 PM »

Back in October 2022, a multi-billionaire bought the social media platform known as Twitter. No one would have imagined at the time that the name Twitter (and the iconic bird logo) would become a part of history in a couple of years.

Twitter's official rebranding to X started in July last year with a new logo available across its web version and mobile apps, followed by name changes for the services and official social media accounts operated by the company. TweetDeck became X Pro, Twitter Blue became X Premium, and the official @X handle was taken away from its owner.

Fast forward to now, Twitter's journey to X is complete as Elon Musk announced on the platform that "All Core systems are now on X.com." As part of the change, it will display the URL X.com instead of Twitter.com when you visit the social media platform using your web browser.

The social media platform has also put a notice on its sign-up page stating," We are letting you know that we are changing our URL, but your privacy and data protection settings remain the same." However, the URL shift has been gradual over the months since July last year when Elon Musk announced the rebranding.

At the time of writing, there are places where the old URL is still visible, for instance, the premium signup page for X Pro.

X.com isn't a new brand; it has been associated with Musk for more than two decades now. Musk founded an online bank called X.com in 1999, which later merged with Confinity to become PayPal.

Musk took charge as X Corp's CEO (then Twitter Inc.) after purchasing the company but later hired NBCUniversal's Linda Yaccarino. The billionaire's idea is to turn X into a one-stop shop with offerings such as job listings, video streaming, AI chatbot, and more. There were rumors of an X stock trading app in development but Elon Musk denied those claims.

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Linux, gOS, Harmony OS, Moblin, Ubuntu, OpenSuse / Are all Linux vendor kernels insecure? A new study says yes, but there's a fix

« Last post by javajolt on May 17, 2024, 06:56:48 PM »

All vendor kernels are plagued with security vulnerabilities, according to a CIQ whitepaper. Will the Linux community ever accept upstream stable kernels?

Paul Souders/Getty Images

In a new white paper, Vendor Kernels, Bugs and Stability, the infrastructure software and Rocky Linux company CIQ presents a compelling argument that Linux vendor kernels are plagued with security vulnerabilities due to the flawed engineering processes that backport fixes.

While this may shock some, it's an open secret in the Linux community. As Greg Kroah-Hartman, Linux stable kernel maintainer and a prominent member of the kernel security team, recently said: To be secure, you should always use the latest long-term stable kernel. The key word here is "latest." It's not enough to use an LTS. You must use the most up-to-date release to be as secure as possible.

Unfortunately, almost no one does that. Nevertheless, as Google Linux kernel engineer Kees Cook explained, "So what is a vendor to do? The answer is simple: if painful: Continuously update to the latest kernel release, either major or stable."

Why? As Kroah-Hartman explained, "Any bug has the potential of being a security issue at the kernel level."

Jonathan Corbet, Linux kernel developer and LWN editor-in-chief, agreed: "In the kernel, just about any bug, if you're clever enough, can be exploitable to compromise the system. The kernel is in a unique spot in the system ... it turns a lot of ordinary bugs into vulnerabilities."

What CIQ engineers Ronnie Sahlberg, Jonathan Maple, and Jeremy Allison did was to put hard numbers behind this position. Their paper shows that -- with current engineering practices -- almost all vendor kernels are inherently insecure and that securing those kernels is impossible.

That's because Linux vendor kernels have been created by taking a snapshot of a specific Linux release and then backporting selected fixes as changes occur in the upstream git tree. This method, designed in an era when out-of-tree device drivers were prevalent, aims to enhance stability and security by selecting changes to backport. This paper examines how this works in practice by analyzing the change rate and bug count in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.8, kernel version 4.18.0-477.27.1, comparing it to upstream kernels from kernel.org.

Although the programmers examined RHEL 8.8 specifically, this is a general problem. They would have found the same results if they had examined SUSE, Ubuntu, or Debian Linux. Rolling-release Linux distros such as Arch, Gentoo, and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed constantly release the latest updates, but they're not used in businesses.

Their analysis of the RHEL 8.8 kernel reveals 111,750 individual commits in the change log. This data, while not detailing the content or size of the commits, provides a general understanding of the backporting process. Initially, there was a steady rate of backporting, but this decreased around November 2021 and again significantly in November 2022, corresponding with the release of RHEL 8.5 and RHEL 8.7, respectively. This pattern, the authors believe, reflects a shift toward more conservative backporting to enhance stability as the major release cycle progresses.

Their examination found 5,034 unfixed bugs in RHEL 8.6; 4,767 unfixed bugs in RHEL 8.7; and 4,594 unfixed bugs in RHEL 8.8.

These figures represent known bugs with upstream fixes that have not been backported to RHEL. The earlier cessation of backporting in RHEL 8.6 and 8.7 has led to more unfixed bugs compared to RHEL 8.8. Red Hat's practice of not publishing the complete source code changes adds complexity, resulting in possible false positives and negatives in the data CIQ had to work with. Despite these limitations, CIQ reports that manual checks suggest a high accuracy in identifying missing fixes.

Contrary to the assumption that bugs are quickly fixed upstream, many persist for extended periods before resolution. This delay impacts kernel quality, as the slowing back-porting process results in an increasing number of known, unfixed bugs, which undermines kernel stability and security over time.

Since Linux kernel developers have taken over managing Linux's Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs), 270 new CVEs in March 2024 and 342 in April 2024 have been reported. These have already been fixed in the stable Linux kernel git branch.

Still, the sheer numbers underscore the importance of using stable upstream kernels for enhanced security. The volume of new CVEs and the lack of an embargo period for fixes necessitate a proactive approach from organizations in evaluating and addressing these vulnerabilities.

Besides, although RHEL 8.8 hasn't been actively developed since late 2022, about 10% of all newly discovered bugs still affect it. RHEL 8.8's last major set of bug fixes came in May 2023. The same is true of other, older (but still supported) enterprise Linux distros. More troubling still, according to CIQ: "Some of the missing fixes we examined are explicitly disclosed as being exploitable from user space."

Therefore, the CIQ team concluded the traditional vendor kernel model, characterized by selective backporting, is flawed. The growing number of known, unfixed bugs suggests that vendor kernels are less secure than upstream stable kernels. The team advocates for a shift toward using stable kernel branches from kernel.org for better security and bug management.

According to the authors, "this creates a strong incentive" for security-conscious customers to adopt stable kernels over vendor-specific ones. They assert, "We believe that the only realistic way for a customer to know they run a kernel that is as secure as possible is to switch to a stable kernel branch."

This paper is not a critique of the dedicated Linux vendor kernel engineers. Instead, it's an invitation for the industry to rally behind kernel.org stable kernels as the optimal long-term solution. Such a shift would allow engineers to focus more on fixing customer-specific bugs and enhancing features rather than the labor-intensive backporting process.

Therefore, they have four critical conclusions:

• The vendor kernel model is broken and beyond repair.

• Vendor kernels are inherently insecure, with late-cycle stabilized vendor kernels being particularly vulnerable.

• The sheer number of known open bugs makes analyzing or classifying them all impractical.

• Upstream stable kernels offer significantly better protection against security vulnerabilities and bugs in the kernel code.

So, will vendors do this? For all the good security reasons to move to upstream stable kernels, there are counter-arguments, which boil down to this: If you're always upgrading to the most recent kernel, you may also run into stability problems. A program that works just fine with the 4.18.0-477.27.1 kernel might not work with 4.18.0-477.27.1.el8_8. Of course, in that specific case, the newer kernel fixed an important security bug.

It all comes down to a delicate balancing act between security and stability. Some top Linux kernel developers and CIQ are coming down on the side of security. We'll see what the rest of the Linux vendor community has to say.

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Windows 10 | Windows 8.1 Pic's | Videos / I'm NOT Creating A Microsoft Account!!!

« Last post by javajolt on May 17, 2024, 06:36:41 PM »

This should work on 23H2 as well as 24H2 once its released.

Intel / Intel issues advisories for 90 security vulnerabilities

« Last post by javajolt on May 17, 2024, 10:01:09 AM »

Including critical level 10 for AI tools - An exciting Patch Tuesday for Intel.

(Image credit: Intel)

In keeping with industry tradition, Intel released 41 security advisories, for over 90 vulnerabilities, yesterday on Patch Tuesday. The advisories covered flaws across Intel's world of products, primarily on the software side — including one maximum-level vulnerability in Intel Neural Compressor.

The "critical" severity vulnerability found in Neural Compressor received a CVSS score of 10.0, which is the maximum level of severity that can be awarded to a security risk. Intel's Neural Compressor is open to an escalation of privilege attack via remote access on all updates before the current release, which were rushed out for Patch Tuesday. Neural Compressor is not on most computers, but those with AI-engineering workflows should check their computers for the software. Neural Compressor is a tool for optimizing AI language models and decreasing size and increasing the speed of LLMs.

The remaining exploits have severity levels that range from medium to high. High-level exploits are found in the UEFI firmware of server products, Arc & Iris Xe Graphics software, and a random collection of Intel software products. The high-level flaws contain risks of privilege escalation attacks, DoS attacks, or information disclosure.

Medium-severity vulnerabilities were found in Meteor Lake Core Ultra processors and a large range of Intel's software lines, including the Processor Diagnostic Tool, Graphics Performance Analyzers, and the Extreme Tuning Utility. Users who are concerned can rest assured that security updates have been rolled out for all vulnerabilities — but any listed software should be double-checked to ensure it is running the latest update. For the full list of vulnerabilities released this Patch Tuesday, take a look at Intel's Security Center.

Patch Tuesday is an industry-wide tradition in which major software and hardware manufacturers release the month's security updates on the second Tuesday of each month. This Patch Tuesday was particularly busy for Intel, which typically enjoys a fairly tame Patch Tuesday. We haven't reported on an Intel security fix of such high severity since Downfall in 2023.

Intel has been fighting for market dominance recently, as AMD continues its rise in market share as generations progress and AMD continues to beat Intel in performance.

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Huawei / Huawei denies plans for Kirin X-series PC processors

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 07:18:35 PM »

(Image credit: Huawei)

The US recently revoked Huawei's access to Intel processors for its products, and shortly thereafter, a leaked document from Huawei shared by Chinese media revealed that the company had a new plan called the 'Taishan Battle' for PC processors, reports Cailian News Agency. However, in a rare move, Huawei has denied the report and called it 'fake news.' The supposed plan included launching Huawei's HiSilicon Kirin X-series processors and supporting platform this year, and Huawei's rare rebuttal gives us some insight into the company's actual plans.

The report originally emerged from the Huawei Pollen Club, stating that He Tingbo and Yu Chengdong of Huawei HiSilicon Semiconductor and the Consumer Business Group had announced the plan. This initiative was supposedly aimed at speeding up the development and release of PC processors in the wake of the revoked Intel export licenses that left Huawei without a steady chip supply for its PC lineup.

Huawei officials categorically denied the report, describing it as unfounded. Journalistic investigations supported this by confirming that multiple sources within the company had not received any communications related to PC processors.

For now, Huawei says it will use processors it has already procured to build its PCs, meaning it will leverage its existing stockpile. However, some of Huawei's computers aimed at the domestic market already use processors from China-based chipmaker Phytium. Furthermore, the company is working with Phytium to unify the software and hardware infrastructure of the China-native Kunpeng and Phytium CPUs.

Oddly, Huawei strongly denies that it is developing its higher-end CPUs for laptops that would compete with Intel or AMD. That isn't too surprising, though—Huawei has a history of hiding its suppliers, and even its own chip models, from prying Western eyes that might bring about more sanctions on its products.

There are many reasons for Huawei to develop its own PC processors. On the one hand, this will ensure that the company can differentiate itself from other PC makers. On the other hand, this will reduce risks for Huawei's PC division amid tightening U.S. export controls. On May 8th, the U.S. government withdrew export licenses from semiconductor giants Intel and Qualcomm, effectively barring them from selling to Huawei. The Department of Commerce confirmed the revocation of these licenses, impacting undisclosed American companies. Intel has already cut its quarter forecast due to the revocation of the license.

Last month, it was reported that Huawei was developing a next-generation Kirin processor for PCs. The new PC chip is expected to feature eight Arm cores — four high-performance next-gen Taishan V130 cores and four energy-efficient cores. It also features a significantly enhanced Mailiang 920 GPU with 10 clusters, promising a major upgrade over the previous Kirin 9000s. This chip aims to rival Apple's M3 in multi-threading performance and near M2 levels in graphics, supporting up to 32GB of memory, which hints at a 128-bit interface. Moreover, Huawei is said to be considering expanding its Kirin lineup with "Pro" and "Max" versions, including additional cores, a more powerful GPU, and expanded memory capacity.

Despite having a smaller share of the global PC market than Apple, which means that it may have no economic reasons to develop its own processors, Huawei's development of high-performance Kirin CPUs aligns with China's goal of achieving self-sufficiency in semiconductors. These processors are poised to replace AMD and Intel components in PCs used by government agencies, enhancing national technological independence.

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Windows 11 | Windows 10 Software | Drivers & Utilities / This Microsoft Add-On Is the Ultimate Windows 11 Customization Tool

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 07:04:04 PM »

Microsoft’s own PowerToys utility can help you unlock the full potential of the Windows desktop.

Photograph: Microsoft

There's no shortage of utilities to tweak, customize, and modify Windows, but one of the best utilities is made by Microsoft itself. PowerToys is a free and powerful customization tool for Windows 11, and well worth installing if you want to see what's possible beyond the default settings and layouts of Microsoft's operating system.

From window management to image resizing, there's a lot to explore. Here I'll introduce you to some of PowerToys' best features. It has grown to include so many different tools, most people are going to find something of use here.

Once you've downloaded and installed the utility, you'll be met with a dashboard where you can browse through the various modules available and customize them as needed.

FancyZones

Specify zones for your windows. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

FancyZones can bring some order to an unruly desktop. It lets you set specific layouts on screen for your windows to drop into, and these layouts can be saved for later use too, so you can switch between different configurations as needed.

Choose Launch layout editor from FancyZones settings and you're able to pick between different layouts for windows on the screen. You can stack windows in columns, for example, or have them in rows on top of each other, or keep them stacked in one corner of the screen. It's particularly handy for widescreen monitors, or when using multiple displays.

With FancyZones enabled and your preferred layout selected, just hold Shift while dragging a program’s window to drop it into a zone, where it will snap into position. You can even tweak zone colors and the margins between the zones.

Keyboard Manager

Use Keyboard Manager to remap keys and shortcuts. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

If you feel a little bit limited by the keyboard customization options you get with Windows, give Keyboard Manager a go. This PowerToys module lets you remap keys and key press combinations so they do something different than the defaults.

For example, maybe you never use the Scroll Lock key on your keyboard, and you want to set it up to minimize all the windows on the screen when pressed. Shortcuts can be set up to only work in specific apps if you want, and you're also able to have certain keys produce specific blocks of text—handy if you're always typing out certain sentences and phrases.

Use the Remap a key and Remap a shortcut links in the Keyboard Manager settings pane to get the keyboard working the way you want it to. Note there are some system keys you won't be able to remap—Microsoft explains that here.

Crop and Lock

Use Crop and Lock to keep certain parts of apps visible. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

The best way to understand Crop and Lock is to see it in action, but if I were going to attempt a description, I'd say it works like an “always on top” mode for a video player—only instead of a video, you can lock anything, anywhere on the screen.

Maybe you're waiting on a countdown to ticket sales for an event: With Crop and Lock, you can have the countdown part of the website visible in its own window, which always stays on top of everything else on the screen. There are lots of ways to use it.

The default shortcut for Crop and Lock is Win+Ctrl+Shift+T, though you can change it if you want to. Press this combination, then drag your mouse over the part of the screen you'd like to pin, and it pops up in a new window.

PowerToys Run

Get the macOS Spotlight experience on Windows as well. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

If you've used macOS as well as Windows, you'll know how useful the Spotlight search tool can be: a floating bar in the middle of the screen that helps you find files, search the web, and launch applications.

PowerToys Run brings something similar to Microsoft's operating system. Once it's enabled, you can launch it with the Alt+Space keyboard shortcut (you can change this if needed). Then, type whatever it is you're looking for into the box.

You can use the same box to run calculations, conversions, and system commands. Use the settings available in PowerToys to change various aspects of the search box behavior, including how many search results you get at once.

Image Resizer

One of the fastest ways to resize images on Windows. COURTESY OF DAVID NIELD

PowerToys can enhance Windows’ File Explorer in a variety of different ways, and Image Resizer is one of them. As the name suggests, it enables you to quickly resize images without having to open up a photo editor.

It's best used for processing batches of pictures that you need to get into a consistent size and shape (for publishing on the web, for example). In the settings for Image Resizer, you're able to specify the preset sizes you'd like to work with, and the file formats you want your images to end up in.

As long as Image Resizer is enabled, you'll see it when you right-click on a picture in File Explorer and choose Show more options. You can work with images one by one, or select a whole group of them and right-click to resize them all together.

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Intel / Intel’s new Thunderbolt feature ‘fundamentally changes’ how you use two PCs

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 06:43:54 PM »

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Intel is finally leveraging its Thunderbolt platform to give you a direct connection between two of your PCs. Thunderbolt Share, a new feature launching today through some Thunderbolt 4 and 5 PCs and accessories, allows you to share files, use the same peripherals, and sync your data across two different systems — and all with a single cable.

There are a few different ways to set this up. Most obviously, you can connect two PCs and a single monitor to a Thunderbolt dock, or connect two PCs through a Thunderbolt monitor. The more unique advantage with Thunderbolt Share is a daisy-chain setup. You can connect two Thunderbolt PCs directly to each other and pass everything through to your monitor.

Intel

It’s not difficult to share peripherals and even copy files between multiple PCs if you already have a Thunderbolt dock or monitor. The fact that you can connect two PCs directly is a bit of magic, however.

It doesn’t work automatically. Thunderbolt Share is an application that will connect the two PCs together, and Intel is careful to note that you need Thunderbolt support on both ends of the cable — regular USB-C won’t work. However, only one device needs Thunderbolt Share support. If you have a Thunderbolt 5 or 4 port, it will work as long as at least one device in the chain supports Thunderbolt Share.

From there, you can only choose to do one thing at a time. There are four options in the app:

• Share peripherals across two computers

• Drag and drop files across two computers

• Sync files across two computers

• Transfer data from an old computer to a new one

You can do all of this through various different methods now, some of which are more convenient — a KVM switch for your monitor comes to mind. Thunderbolt Share stands out by condensing all of this functionality into one spot with a single cable. On top of that, it’s using a cable, so you don’t have to worry about your security like when transferring files over a network, and you’re getting the full speed and bandwidth of Thunderbolt.

Intel

There are some pretty clear downsides to Thunderbolt Share, however, at least right now. For starters, it only works on PC. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The more pressing issue is screen sharing.

When sharing peripherals, Thunderbolt Share will stream the display of one of your PCs to your main display. This appears in a window, and it’s limited to 1080p at up to 60 frames per second. Even in a work setting, that’s fairly low. Modern monitors are pushing to higher resolutions and refresh rates, even if you don’t use them for gaming.

Even with those issues, it’s clear this is just the first iteration of Thunderbolt Share, and the feature will likely be updated as new versions of Thunderbolt are released. To unlock the feature, you’ll need a compatible accessory. Intel says companies like MSI, Lenovo, Razer, Acer, Belkin, and Kensington will have PCs and accessories available this year.

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Windows 11 | Windows 10 Hardware / What is Thunderbolt, and is it different from USB-C

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 06:37:20 PM »

image: Youtube

Thunderbolt is a type of hardware interface technology that is used to connect various devices to a PC. You’ve likely already seen Thunderbolt in the form of its distinctive ports and cables — the latest generations use the USB-C connector. That’s the quick definition. But if you’re here, you’re probably looking for a more comprehensive explanation of what Thunderbolt is, and why it differs from USB-C.

In this guide, that’s exactly what you’ll get: We’ll go over some of its current iterations and how they compare, how Thunderbolt is different from USB-C, how to identify Thunderbolt ports, and find out the latest on when Thunderbolt 5 will launch. Now let’s take a closer look at Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolt 3 vs. Thunderbolt 4

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Since Thunderbolt was introduced in 2011, there have been a number of different versions of it. But these days, if you’re shopping for a device that features Thunderbolt’s use, you’re probably looking at Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4

Introduced in 2015, Thunderbolt 3 features a USB-C connector, a max transfer speed of 40GB/s, and up to 15W of power for running accessories. It can also support one 4K display and is compatible with USB4 specification.

Launched in 2020, Thunderbolt 4 is the latest version of its connection technology that’s currently available. Thunderbolt 4 still has the same max transfer speed as Thunderbolt 3: 40Gb/s, but it mandates that as the minimum, whereas for Thunderbolt 3, it’s not enforced. Like Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 also has a USB-C connector and offers up to 15W power delivery for accessories. But that’s where the similarities between the two pretty much end.

Unlike Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 can support two 4K displays and is rated as “compliant” for USB4 specification. Thunderbolt 4 also has double the PCIe SSD bandwidth speed (32 Gb/s) of Thunderbolt 3 (16 Gb/s).

Is Thunderbolt the same as USB-C?

No. Though Thunderbolt has recently incorporated the use of USB-C connectors, they’re still different connection technologies. So just because Thunderbolt 3 and 4 ports are designed for use with USB-C connectors, not all USB-C ports are designed to support Thunderbolt.

Do Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 accessories work with Thunderbolt 3?

Image used with permission by copyright holder

They can, but not without help. Thunderbolt 3’s USB-C connection isn’t compatible with devices based on Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 without an expensive adapter.

How do I know if I have a Thunderbolt port?

There are two main ways to know: You can either see if there is a thunderbolt icon next to your device’s USB-C port or you can check your device’s tech specs online to see if it mentions Thunderbolt ports in the product description.

When will Thunderbolt 5 launch?

While Intel officially introduced Thunderbolt 5 in September 2023, the exact launch date for Thunderbolt 5 has not been announced yet. Thunderbolt 5-based products are currently expected to begin their release at some point in 2024.

We’ll update this section once we know more.

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Windows 11 | Windows 10 Hardware / USB-A vs. USB-C: What’s the difference

« Last post by javajolt on May 16, 2024, 06:19:19 PM »

USB cables and ports are one of the most common types of connectors for everyday devices like computers, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, A/V receivers, game consoles, and many other components. Engineered for data transmission and charging capabilities, there are currently two main types of USB cables and ports: USB-A and USB-C.

When it comes to data transfer, charging, and other useful features, there are quite a few differences between USB-A and USB-C. This is why we’ve put together this guide to explain how these connections are similar, and what sets them apart from each other.

What is USB-A?

Digital Trends

USB Type-A connections refer to the physical design of the USB port. Every USB connection makes up a port in the host device, a connecting cable, and a receptor device. USB-A is a traditional USB host port design and one of the easiest to recognize on devices.

It’s a horizontal port with the bottom portion dedicated to pin connectors. This arrangement creates the infamous, one-sided USB connection that only works with the cable perfectly inserted — no matter how many times you have to try.

Interestingly, there is no USB-B host port. The USB-B connector is the receptor port on the USB device you are connecting to the host computer. Type B connections also are easy to recognize because of their square shape with rounded corners on one side, almost like the shape of a tiny house. USB type B is mainly for external peripherals, with a USB-A connection on one end and a USB-B connection. There are USB-B to USB-B cables, but they’re rarely used.

Note that there are also subsets of this design, like USB Mini-A and USB Micro-A, with different port designs, but these aren’t as important for our current discussion.

What is USB-C, and how does it differ?

Digital Trends

USB-C is a newer port type officially announced in 2014, although it took several years for the ports to reach widespread consumer devices, as we see today. Designed to solve many of the old USB-A port problems, USB-C is an entirely new type of USB port. Critical features of USB-C include:

• A slimmer design that fits into a port no matter which direction it’s flipped,

• A total replacement of USB-A, B, mini, and micro USB connections

• A 100-watt, 20-volt connection is far more powerful than the older port and can handily power even larger devices.

• Potential for a much higher data transfer rate than USB-A.

• Support for power delivery to charge up devices on either end (with the right cables) and charge larger devices.

• Support for video delivery at much higher quality, including transmitting 4K video to a screen.

• Support for alternate modes that allow for lots of different adapters for specific connections like HDMI or VG — or older types of USB connections.

• Potential compatibility with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 connections means a USB-C port can double as a TB4 or TB3 port with extra hardware.

So, USB-C is a better connection?

With the right data standard (see below), the USB-C connection is much faster and more versatile than USB-A. In time, you can expect USB-C connections to replace all older USB-A connections and other ports. This switchover will, however, probably take years.

For now, USB-A shows up alongside the USB type C connector in many computers, primarily to deal with compatibility issues. People may still have an older device, including smartphones, beloved controllers, receivers, TVs, keyboards, and many peripherals that require a USB-A/B connection.

Most people don’t want to buy an adapter to make USB-C backward-compatible with all their stuff. As the use of these older devices fades, USB-C will become the go-to port that everyone knows to look for — and we already see this happening in some sectors.

Where does USB 3.2 fit into this?

USB 3.0 to 3.2 refers to a specific USB protocol for data when it comes to USB connections: Instead of describing the physical port, this refers to the data formats the port can handle. A notable change came with USB 3.0, which required a modification of the USB-A and USB-B designs to gain more capabilities and a faster data transfer speed. USB-A cables that support USB 3.0 and above come with a blue pin protector instead of the standard gray one.

USB 3.2 is divided into two different types. The fully updated version called USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, which is named after both the second generation and how it uses two 10Gbps lanes to reach a total of 20Gbps. The second type is an older USB 3.1 10Gbps standard that, with its latest updates, can also be referred to as USB 3.2 Gen 2.

And just to throw one more wrench into the mix, USB type A and USB-C ports can support various standards, anywhere from USB 2.0 to USB 3.2. There are no universal names for these protocols to make matters more complex, so not everyone uses the same name. For example, USB 3.1 Gen 1 is also called USB 3.0. Fortunately, USB 3.2 is backward-compatible with all other USB connections, although USB-C ports may require an adapter. You also must make sure that your USB cables and devices support 3.1 data capabilities when possible.

What about USB4?

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Announced in 2019, the USB4 standard (also known as USB 4.0) is the latest addition to the USB cable and port lineup. While the technology is slowly being rolled out to modern PCs and other devices, Apple was one of the first companies to include USB4 ports on its 2020 M1 MacBook Air and Pro laptops, and M1 Mac mini.

Actually, these Apple ports are considered Thunderbolt 4 connections, that just so happen to support the USB4 standard. Not every USB4 cable and port will work with Thunderbolt 4 though.

So what are some key features of USB4? For starters, data transmission rates for the protocol are required to be at least 20Gbps, but you’ll find a lot of USB4 ports capable of 40Gbps transfer rates. And with the 2022 USB 2.0 update, you’ll even find some USB4 ports that can push up to 80Gbps.

USB4 can also deliver up to 100 watts via power delivery and is also backward compatible with USB 3.x, 2.x, and 1.x hardware.

The TLDR of USB-A and USB-C

If you’re feeling confused, we understand. Luckily, there are only a few simplified, crucial points that you would do best to remember:

• USB-A and USB-C can both have a degree of data standards, up to USB 3.2, which outlines their overall data capabilities.

• USB 3.2 is backward-compatible with other standards, making it an excellent standard for users, although it may call for you to use extra adapters.

• A USB-C connection is the only one that can support the full potential of USB 3.2

• Ensure that all of your external cables, cords, and devices are compatible with the USB data standard. It’s just simple
matching: if you get a port with USB 3.2, your cable and connected device must also support 3.2.

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Linux, gOS, Harmony OS, Moblin, Ubuntu, OpenSuse / Step aside AMD and Intel, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite will also support Linux

« Last post by javajolt on May 15, 2024, 03:56:45 PM »

The dominance of AMD and Intel could be coming to an end if Qualcomm has its way with its new ARM processors. ARM continues to make headlines with Qualcomm and Apple releasing incredibly powerful desktop and mobile processors and now the former has unveiled support for Linux is already in the works. Qualcomm’s efforts will see Snapdragon X Elite processors booting on Linux and Windows-powered systems.

The company has already upstreamed numerous patchsets for merging into the Linux kernel, including NVMe over PCIe, sound machine driver, PMC8380 PMIC, Pinctrl (TLMM), Phy (PCIe/eDP/USB), reference board support (CRD/QCP), and system cache. These were loaded into Linux kernels 6.8 and 6.9 and shows a strong commitment to supporting not only Windows but the alternative operating systems.

Why is this a big deal for Linux?

Qualcomm showing love for Linux is a massive step forward for the company and the Linux community. Many important features have already made their way into patches but Qualcomm has more in the works for Linux kernel 6.10 and 6.11, including battery, USB host, GPU, external DP, suspend/resume, video, camera, and speakers/microphone/headset.

The Snapdragon X Elite is a powerful CPU, featuring 12 cores that can run up to speeds of 4.3 GHz. It’s a system-on-chip (SoC) design with an Adreno GPU that can handle 4.6 TFLOPs for gaming and other GPU-intensive tasks. And as AI is all the rave right now, the Snapdragon X Elite boasts 45 TOPs for AI-specific workloads.

The roadmap for the next six months includes work in end-to-end hardware video decoding on Firefox and Chrome, CPU and GPU optimizations, power optimizations, making firmware openly available through Linux-firmware, and access to easy installers on Ubuntu and Debian.

Qualcomm published an experimental disk image for a Debian installer and is asking the wider community to monitor their work on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) archive (search for "X1E80100") to inform them of what needs to be added. It’s exciting times ahead for the Linux platform and the PC industry as a whole with more competition gearing up for an expansive launch.

Looking ahead at new Snapdragon PCs

We likely won’t see much in terms of Qualcomm hardware running Linux outside of laptops and other portable devices, but it’ll be interesting to see how far Qualcomm takes its new chips with the desktop market ripe for the taking. May 20th is just around the corner when we'll see a host of devices launch with the new Qualcomm chip and I cannot see Linux being too far behind with this work.

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