In this episode, we'll talk about GNOME 40, Ubuntu 21.04, Parrot OS 4.11, RHEL 8.1's Common Criteria Certification and Red Hat Summit 2021.
Debian 10.9
Debian has announced a new release of Buster, otherwise known as Debian 10. Version 10.9 adds some security updates to the already stable Debian 10 OS. You can now install the OS with a Debian 10 image and update packages from the old to newer package versions by using an up-to-date Debian mirror. New installation images will be available soon.
Parrot OS 4.11
Parrot OS 4.11 has been released with the Linux 5.10 long-term support kernel. The Linux 5.10 LTS kernel provides better hardware support with updates to core components. There are a few other updates I'd like to dig in further, and I'll do that in our top story segment coming up.
GNOME 40
GNOME 40 has arrived with 24,571 commits over the last six months. We're now able to see what GNOME is calling their best desktop yet. Some of the new features include a complete redesign of the overview screen and a horizontal workspace switcher. Would you like to see the changes for yourself? They've created a video on YouTube to showcase their new features.
Ubuntu 21.04
Ubuntu's 21.04 release resolves the desktop icons issue, finally! Of course, desktop icons existed before, but you couldn't move them or do anything with them. This latest release includes more versatile options for desktop icons, such as the ability to drag and drop with folder.
RHEL 8 Common Criteria Cert
Red Hat Enterprise Linux eight has achieved its first major security certification, RHEL 8.1 achieved the common criteria certification with an evaluation assurance level or EAL of two. Although previous versions of RHEL achieve EAL four-plus certification. The new common criteria recognition agreement now only recognizes EAL's up to level two. So this means that we now have a certified version of the completely redesigned RHEL 8 operating system, including AppStream and system roles, that's officially secure enough for government to use with their critical and sensitive workloads.
Red Hat Summit 2021
And another Red Hat update for you. Red Hatters were challenged when COVID hit last March to create a summit experience that would be user-friendly and offer it remotely all within a few weeks. Well, they did an amazing job and the Red Hat virtual experience is back in 2021 with a few changes that we'll dive into in our top stories next.
Parrot OS 4.11 Main Story
But I mentioned earlier, there are a couple of key stories that I'd like to dive into further. This includes Parrot OS 4.11 and the Red Hat 2021 virtual experience. So let's get started. Parrot OS 4.11 has been released and it's powered by the latest LTS long-term support, Linux kernel 5.10. The team stated that they do have plans to upgrade the OS to the recently released Linux 5.1 kernel, but that they haven't provided a timeframe for this as of yet.
Parrot OS is a Debian based distribution and was designed with security and penetration testing in mind. Though there are other security oriented operating systems out there such as Kali Linux, Parrot OS has lower system requirements, and this latest release provides a more stable platform and better hardware support too.
This release includes up-to-date core components as well as updated packages for Metasploit, which enables you to discover, exploit and validate vulnerabilities, Bettercap for Bluetooth and wifi security as well as man in the middle attacks, and Routersploit to identify router exploitations. Security updates were also included in the Xspy X-windows keystroke sniffer tool to prevent it from being executable on the host system and the Pompem exploit and vulnerability finder tool was patched for better handling of down services.
ParrotSec developers also revealed that they plan on releasing an LTS branch of the distro in the future, which promises stability over bleeding edge features and will also reintroduce ARM support init freedom. Overall many great updates and a lot of cleanup has been provided with this release, which you can download at Parrotsec.org.
Red Hat Summit 2021 Main Story
And lastly, but not least in Linux news, Red Hat Summit 2021 has gone virtual again. Last year's summit was quite a change from the live general sessions, keynotes, and numerous breakout sessions. Last spring, when COVID hit, Red Hat had their work cut out for them in continuing to provide an engaging summit experience virtually. And boy did they deliver. With live virtual general sessions, keynote sessions and virtual breakout rooms with Red Hat staff on chat, participants were not left disappointed.
Red Hat also included training webinars, product demos and wellness sessions. In addition, recordings of the virtual sessions were available online for a full year. As an ex-Red Hatter myself, hats off to the amazing people who continue to develop and deliver a summit-like experience with all of the new challenges.
This year, Red Hat is going virtual again with free registration for the two first events of the summit anyway. The 2021 virtual experience is structured a bit differently and includes three separate events.
The first virtual event is available at no cost and will be held April 27th and 28th. This virtual experience session enables you to get the latest Red Hat news, ask your technology questions, hear from customers around the globe and learn how open source is innovating the future of enterprise. You'll get keynotes, live demos and access to Red Hat employees.
The second virtual session is also free and will be held on June 15th and 16th. This session includes breakout sessions, ask the expert panels and a virtual expo hall. The last summit experience will be held in October or November, and it's intended to provide you with hands-on activities at some type of in-person event.
Although keep in mind that this last session isn't free. So if you're interested in checking out Red Hat Virtual Experience 2021, I placed a link for you in this episode's resources. So that's it for this month's Linux This Month. If you liked the show, be sure to give this episode a big thumbs up below. Also, if you have a question or comment about any of the news you've heard here, feel free to leave a comment below. May your source remain open and your code compile.]
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