Steemtux Weekly Linux News #1 - Snap channels, B&O RPi amplifier addon and more

In the first edition of Steemtux Weekly Linux News, you'll find some interesting news about Snap channels, Linux applications on Chrome OS, B&O Raspberry Pi addon and more.

Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver with Snap channels

Ubuntu 18.04 is set to release in April. One of the features that it will come with, is the ability to switch Snap channels in the Ubuntu Software store. This will enable you to switch from stable releases to the latest beta and development releases.

I think this is pretty cool. And it will make it easier for people to switch and test the latest beta versions of their favorite software when you can do it all with a GUI. It's certainly a step in the right direction, and makes me pretty stoked for the 18.04 release.

Linux applications on Chrome OS?

If you want to run Linux applications on Chrome OS today, you'll have to use things like Crouton, that sets up a chroot of Linux on top of Chrome OS. To get it working you'll need to enable Developer mode, which isn't exactly the best thing as it disables most of Chrome OS' security features.

There is a new commit to the Chromium code which looks to have the intent of allowing Linux VMs on Chrome OS. This means that Chrome OS most likely will support Linux applications in the future.

I think this is a step in the right direction for Chrome OS, and it will make Chrome OS more attractive to a lot of new users. We'll just have to wait and see how they eventually implement this and if it will work smooth enough on the Chromebooks.

Unity 8 on Ubuntu 18.04

Ubuntu abandoned work on the Unity 8 desktop last year in favour of GNOME from version 17.10 forward. The UBports team and community has continued to work on the Unity 8 desktop, and has now gotten it to run on Ubuntu 18.04. It's still in alpha, but if you miss the Unity 8 desktop it's an alternative to the GNOME desktop that Ubuntu officially comes with. The installation instructions can be found in their GitHub repository.

Bang & Olufsen's Beocreate 4 turns old speakers into smart speakers

Bang & Olufsen, in collaboration with HifiBerry, have launched an open source Raspberry Pi addon that turns old speakers into smart speakers. The addon has a 180-watt 4 channel amplifier, a DSP, a DAC and gives the speakers wireless connectivity.

The amplifier board pairs with your own Raspberry Pi 3. The price is $189. They also have the Beocreate software suite, which is open source, that includes a Raspbian Lite DSP toolkit. This enables users to create DSP programs on a PC using SigmaStudio.

The Beocreate 4 is optimized for B&O's Beovox CX50 and CX100 speakers, but it can work with any speaker you might have. More information can be found on the product page on HifiBerry's website.

This is awesome stuff. I got a few old speakers that I really love the sound of, and this kit would give them a new life. The price isn't too bad either, especially considering that B&O is involved.

Skype available as Snap package

This is a bit older news, but I thought it would be of value to you guys to include it. In the start of February Canonical announched that Skype would be available as a Snap package. Snap is a universal Linux application packaging format.

Snaps are containerised software packages. They are simple to install and auto-update themselves. They bundle all their dependencies, which makes them work on all major Linux distributions without any modifications.

That Skype now is available as a Snap package makes Skype available to a lot more Linux users. You can say what you will about using a Microsoft product, but the fact is that Skype is a popular software amongst many people so being able to use it when needed is a step in the right direction. At least in my opinion.

I hope you've enjoyed this first edition of Steemtux Weekly Linux News. All sources are listed at the bottom of this post, and I recommend you go checking out the links for the full stories on topics covered in this post.

Sources:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/02/ubuntu-software-snap-channels
https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/02/25/chrome-os-may-soon-able-run-linux-applications-container/
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Unity-8-On-Ubuntu-18.04
http://linuxgizmos.com/bang-olufsens-rpi-add-on-brings-digital-life-to-old-speakers/
https://www.linuxinsider.com/story/Skype-Comes-to-Linux-in-a-Snap-85108.html