Linux Action News 42

Open Source salvation from Android and iOS gets closer this week, an update on Ubuntu's metrics collection, and huge news for Signal and RISC-V Linux fans.

• LineageOS 15.1 is finally here — We’ve been working hard these months to get this new version available; the changes that were done in upstream (AOSP) are huge: Project Treble changed the way hardware is managed in Android, so all the OEM-abandoned platforms that are supported by Lineage had to be adapted for the new platform.
• XDA article
• Unity 8 running on 18.04
• Ubuntu metrics collection will be opt-in when upgrading to 18.04 — ”Upgrading users would need to purposely “opt-in” to this behaviour, as that wasn’t explicitly asked in the past.
• Collecting user data while protecting user privacy — The technique varies a lot in exactly how it’s applied, but the basic concept is that for any question, there’s a random chance that the answerer should lie in their response.
• Signal Foundation is born thanks to $50M from WhatsApp co-founder — Today, we are launching the Signal Foundation, an emerging 501(c)(3) nonprofit created and made possible by Brian Acton, the co-founder of WhatsApp, to support, accelerate, and broaden Signal’s mission of making private communication accessible and ubiquitous.
• First RISC-V board available to pre-order — HiFive Unleashed is the ultimate RISC-V developer board. Featuring the world’s first and only Linux-capable, multi-core, RISC-V processor – the Freedom U540 – the HiFive Unleashed ushers in a brand new era for RISC-V.
• HiFive Unleashed launch FOSDEM 2018 Video
• Tech Talk Today is back — Elon Musk bet the future of SpaceX on the Falcon Heavy launch. On Thursday SpaceX launched a pair of prototype satellites intended to form the basis for Starlink, a constellation of satellites that are designed to beam broadband internet down to Earth.