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Linux 4.18 Releases With Steam Controller Kernel Driver, Spectre Updates (phoronix.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-and-improved dept.

fstack writes: Linus Torvalds has released Linux 4.18 as the newest kernel bringing a Steam Controller kernel driver, Spectre updates for ARM64, power management updates, a "Restartable Services" system call, AMD Radeon graphics driver improvements, V3D DRM as Broadcom's new graphics driver, DM writecache support, USB 3.2 support, and many other updates. Linus Torvalds wrote of the 4.18 final release: "It was a very calm week, and arguably I could just have released on schedule last week, but we did have some minor updates. Mostly networking, but some vfs race fixes (mentioned in the rc8 announcement as 'pending') and a couple of driver fixes (scsi, networking, i2c). Some other minor random things (arm crypto fix, parisc memory ordering fix)." In a separate article, Phoronix details all the changes and new features available in this release.

47 comments

  1. Linus the legend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    What a guy. Should win a Nobel prize. Best buy in tech ever.

    1. Re: Linus the legend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Best *guy in tech. I'm sure he's not for sale!

    2. Re:Linus the legend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's only a small handful of truly greats in this field, and Linus is definitely counted among them.

      CAP === 'protein'

    3. Re:Linus the legend by TeknoHog · · Score: 2

      In 2012 Linus received the Millennium prize, which is kind of like the Nobel prize for technology (the Nobels are more about fundamental science). https://www.bbc.com/news/techn...

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  2. Sounds great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will this be the kernel of Ubuntu 18.10?

    1. Re:Sounds great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It might make the updates before 18.10 is ready. The rate of uptake with new kernels seems to have increased with Ubuntu and derivative distros. Not sure why you would want Steam gaming inside the kernel, but then these are deep technical matters. As long as it works and doesn't break my day, whatever.

    2. Re: Sounds great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Steam Controllers are hardware devices sold by Valve, literal game controllers. I guess now we have a USB driver for the receiver dongle.

      No advertisement intended, just a reference: https://store.steampowered.com/app/353370/Steam_Controller/

    3. Re: Sounds great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't even need the dongle anymore. Valve released a firmware update for the controller to use normal bluetooth.

    4. Re: Sounds great. by wed128 · · Score: 1

      The dongle still works better then bluetooth, if you can deal with a thingy sticking out of your PC

    5. Re: Sounds great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good. If there's a non-bluetooth wireless option, that's always better as bluetooth is not known for low latency. (or for being available as internal desktop hardware till recently)

  3. Spectre update by manu0601 · · Score: 2

    Get used to it: we are going to get Spectre updates for years. That one will never be completely patched in software.

  4. Also... by thePsychologist · · Score: 0, Troll

    They forgot to mention it now runs inside Emacs.

    --
    "What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
    1. Re:Also... by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1, Funny

      Great! Now we're just waiting on a decent text editor...

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re: Also... by unrealmp3 · · Score: 1

      What's wrong with vim? ;) *grabs popcorn*

  5. Can he reverse the Theory of Relativity ? by rojash · · Score: 1

    The brash braniac that he is, wonder whats his take on the ToRs...

    1. Re:Can he reverse the Theory of Relativity ? by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Reverse Relativity, sounds catchy.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  6. Spectre hardly a big deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Spectre is mostly tweaks of first updates because of some slight variances in each way they work. Yeah we will probably see this for some time to come.

    1. Re:Spectre hardly a big deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, there is a big deal given that they do compromise your computer. Just because the silicon's fault will have to be patched by software forever doesn't make it a lesser deal.

  7. Emacs has been assimilated into systemd by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Emacs is now part of systemd. It can now be used to edit binary blobs. Ascii file support has been deprecated in the new systemd.emacs.

  8. let me be the first to ask .. by thygate · · Score: 1

    why we need a kernel driver for a gaming device ? surely there is some userland service or something that can talk usb hid ?

    1. Re:let me be the first to ask .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could ask the same question about most of the drivers. Well, not exactly the same question but sub in usb for gaming.
      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/hid?id=94710cac0ef4ee177a63b5227664b38c95bbf703

      For this one specifically:
      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/hid/hid-steam.c?id=94710cac0ef4ee177a63b5227664b38c95bbf703

      The driver is exposing the keyboard and mouse emulation specifically when there isn't a userland service (typically the Steam client) running.
        * This controller has a builtin emulation of mouse and keyboard: the right pad
        * can be used as a mouse, the shoulder buttons are mouse buttons, A and B
        * buttons are ENTER and ESCAPE, and so on. This is implemented as additional
        * HID interfaces.

      It seems like you're asking since you don't think they're worth being in the kernel and in reply to that strawman I say there's a bunch of stuff were probably don't need in the kernel but someone thought it was a good idea and someone wanted to write the code and someone thought it was sufficient quality to include.

      Then the off topic people start bringing up ideas like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanenbaum%E2%80%93Torvalds_debate and I forget to come back to read the replies because I couldn't bother to sign in.

    2. Re:let me be the first to ask .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      surely there is some userland service or something that can talk usb hid ?

      Unfortuately, most of those so called "services" are either not maintained and / or not packaged in most distros. So even if they do exist, most people will not know about them, much less do the extra work needed to use them.

      The safest place to put code for hardware is in a kernel module, because that ensures that the code will be maintained for awhile, and bypasses the need for distro maintainers to package it. As a bonus, any non-standard hardware can be made to look standard to userspace that way. So standard userspace programs can actually use the hardware without needing special case code to be written for them.

      Honestly, I'd be in favor for a "driver distro" to be made that Fedora, Debian, etc. pull from for their hardware support packages, but that's unlikely to happen in the near future.

  9. Re: Systemd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    get used to it, systemd is it, linus' kernel is just ancillary to systemd

  10. For anyone else wondering by Trogre · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Steam Controller, is a hand controller for playing Steam games.

    It is not, disappointingly, a gadget for controlling steam engines.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    1. Re:For anyone else wondering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Worry not, as Valve has committed to supporting all controllers with its magic sauce.

    2. Re:For anyone else wondering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought it was for helping me get my shirts crisp and wrinkle-free.

    3. Re:For anyone else wondering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's also the best controller ever made. EVER. I've used dozens going back to the 80s.

    4. Re:For anyone else wondering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's also the best controller ever made. EVER. I've used dozens going back to the 80s.

      Sounds pretty bad if you went through a dozen.

    5. Re:For anyone else wondering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lemme see how many I can remember...

      NES
      NES Max
      NES Advantage
      NES Power Pad
      NES Power Glove
      NES QuickShot
      Super NES
      Sega Genesis
      Sega Saturn
      Virtual Boy
      GameCube
      N64
      Wii Remote
      Wii Motion Plus
      PlayStation
      PlayStation Dual Shock
      PlayStation 2
      XBOX Type-S
      XBOX 360
      XBOX One
      Gravis Gamepad
      Gravis Gamepad Pro
      Gravis Phoenix
      Gravis Xterminator
      NYKO AirFlo (this one was my second-favourite)
      SunCom F-15 Talon ... and that's just what I can remember off the top of my head. There's definitely more.

      Steam Controller beats all of them. Hands down. No contest.

    6. Re:For anyone else wondering by wed128 · · Score: 1

      I bought one during the summer sale, it seems like a neat piece of hardware, but man is it wierd.

      I *want* to like it so much, but i'm having a lot of trouble getting used to it. So much configuration!!!

    7. Re:For anyone else wondering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And yeah, I fucked up my wording. I didn't mean that I've gone through dozens of Steam controllers, I meant that I've owned dozens of controllers -- in general -- throughout my life, so I consider myself to be a good judge of quality when it comes to these particular types of peripherals.

      Oh, and I forgot the X-Arcade Dual Tankstick + Trackball on that list, but that's hardly a "controller" in the traditional sense, it's a 40-pound hulking beast of an input device that requires a desk to sit on because it would otherwise crush your lap with any extended use.

    8. Re:For anyone else wondering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I find the configuration to be the most fun of all! I've probably dedicated just as much time making custom configurations as I have spent actually playing games with the controller. Once you get the hang of it, you can make some really impressive configurations for games you'd never be able to play on any other controller. It's liberating.

      I've got this idea for making a Steam controller profile for Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. See you all in a few weeks.

    9. Re: For anyone else wondering by unrealmp3 · · Score: 1

      It takes a whole to get used to, but once you do you will sorely miss its precision when you go back to regular controller. IMO, it shines when you combine the right trackpad (for large motions) with the gyro (for small motions).

  11. Re:Systemd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They retire that pile of shit yet or is Poettering still sucking everyone's dicks to keep it?

    Oh Aaaachie.

    I know you're being facetious, but for the uninformed audience out there: TFA was about the Linux kernel. systemd is not a component of the kernel.

  12. Steam Controller? by TuringTest · · Score: 1

    Man, I knwe Linux was all about supporting old devices, but this is Steampunk-grade.

    --
    Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
  13. Re:Systemd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Predictable retard prize for whining about systemd offtopic in a kernel thread.

  14. Re:Systemd by The+Cynical+Critic · · Score: 2

    The annoying part about SystemD is that like PulseAudio, a previous Pottering project known to be a buggy mess (at least until some more competent management came in and fixed it), it's a genuinely needed replacement for something aging and badly outdated.

    Unfortunately people are too aware of the pitfalls of NIH syndrome so you're not going to be able to get enough members of the open source community to create a competently done init replacement to replace an incompetently done one that still (somewhat) works.

    --
    "Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
  15. Ukuu? by Herve5 · · Score: 1

    Why not trying by yourself?

    If the procedure to update kernel looks complex, you may just use the Ukuu very simple updater (actually just a wrapper, with nice explanations, and even available within U. app store itself IIRC).

    I for one am using the latest 4.17 kernel (from two days ago), installed via Ukuu, on all my Ubuntu 16 LTS machines*.

    (Ukuu even explains you how to proceed if you loaded a failed kernel, with a simple action to switch back to your previous one. Which happened to me once in the last 20 updates (an obviously too small download that I would now detect), and I did switch back in something like 5 mn, reboots included.)

    (*) OK, two machines ;-)

    --
    Herve S.
    1. Re:Ukuu? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you sure they are not _virtual_ machines? ;-)

  16. Re:Systemd by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    They retire that pile of shit yet or is Poettering still sucking everyone's dicks to keep it?

    Given Linus's own comments on the matter why would you think anyone who matters cares?

  17. Re:Systemd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wrong. There are several other init systems - that predated systemd.

    And there are systemd-free distros, if that is what you want. Devuan, artix, ...

  18. Re:Systemd by The+Cynical+Critic · · Score: 1

    Sure, there are other init systems, but none of them are as well supported as init or SystemD. As for distros without SystemD, they're more of a developer demonstration rather than anything maintained as a proper distro meant for production use.

    --
    "Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
  19. Hmmmm.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... so there was a race condition in this linux file system ! Already knew it and posted about it... wonder if I inspired further research into this.

    This bug may have caused NTFS corruption ?!? Hmmm... Running two programs at the same time accessing/writing to same file on NTFS ??? hmmmm....

  20. Re:Systemd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MX Linux, PCLinuxOS, Devuan

  21. I actually dug out some old Pentium era hardware. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While it won't replace my fast boxes for web browsing and the like, all my non-realtime crypto can be punted to it, and the rest pushed onto RPis or similiar in-order ARM processors. Maybe if we are lucky VIA or that Shenzen licensed company can produce an in-order x86 which will pass electron microscope audits and both solve the spectre sidechannel as well as avoid any obvious backdoors.