The latest Linux 4.11, a big release with more storage and also boosts speed

The release of Linux 4.11 is great news to all Linux users. The release adds support for pluggable IO schedules framework in the multi-queue block layer, journaling support in the implementation of MD RAIDS, which closes the write hole. Linux 4.11 is a big release for shared memory, storage, CPU speed boosts as well as touchy-feely types.

WHAT TO EXPECT WITH THE LINUX OPERATING SYSTEMS

This time around, with the new Linux release, among other things it is now better in hot-swapping solid state disks and now could perform journaling on RAID 4/56 volumes. Aside from storage, there is also a support for the OPAL self-encrypting disk drive standard. Also, the kernel has gained support for the Shared Memory Communications over RDMA 9SMC-R) (SMC-R) specification. It is an IBM invention that enables a virtual machine to share memory and thus hastens communications between machines, helping with balancing load and does not hurt when clustering Linux boxen.

Users in the enterprise industry and games both would be happy that the kernel adds enhanced support for the Intel Turbo Boost Max Tech 3.0 technology, which allows a CPU to determine which of its core is quickest and then boost the speed of the clock in response to a vital workload’s requirements. Among the more interesting smaller changes with the latest release, the Infiniband implementation of the kernel has a lot of added nuances. Now, Wacom tablets are supported and the Realtek ALC299/ALC1220 codecs have overdue support, which means that some KABY Lake motherboards now could make noise when running Linux.

The 4.11 release definitely means that the merge window is open for the next Linux Kernel version. Would-be contributors as ever have a little more than a week to give their codes and ideas before Linux Torvalds will set the next Linux version down the assembly line. The 4.11 release is a mix of various things. Majority of the code is dominated by drivers, such as the sound and networking. The rest of the code has Arch updates, file system fixes and generic networking. The biggest Linux Kernel 4.11 features and changes include the following.

1. Changes in graphics. The release of Linux 4.11 brings more maturity to the AMDGPU power management. Also it’s faster for RADV Vulkan. Now, the Intel DRM driver is capable of handling DisplayPort MST audio. Furthermore, Intel has allowed frame-buffer compression via default for newer hardware and Skylake. TinyDRM has been merge as well.

2. Scalable swapping for robust state drives. The make the swapping of solid state disks more scalable and easier, Linux kernel’s new release came up with new changes.

3. Initial Gemini Lake support. Version 4.11 also introduced an initial support for the Intel Gemini Lake chips.

4. Enhanced Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 support. Thanks to the enhancements in the Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 support, more users could take advantage of the feature on their systems. Also, they could make better use of CPU cores.

5. SMC-R Protocol support. Linux 4.11 brings initial part of the ‘Shared Memory Communications-RDMA protocol implementation. For those who have no idea, SMC-R is an invention of IBM, which allows VMs share memory and hasten communications.

6. Pluggable IO schedulers support in Multi-queue block layer. The release added a new multi-queue design on the Linux block layer for better performance with the new hardware. The new release adds support for pluggable IO schedulers.

7. New perf ftrace tool. Adding perf flrace tool is noticeable in the 4.11 feature. The new tool is intended to be a simple perf front-end for the present ftrace interface.

The installation and use of Linux on a system is the easiest way of preventing malware and viruses. The security aspect was prioritized during the development and it’s much less vulnerable to viruses than Windows. Programs could not do changes a system settings as well as configurations, not unless a user is logged in as the root user. Majority of users don’t log in as the root, thus they could not do a lot of damage to the system, with the exception to their own programs and files, because the download file or malware would have limited privileges. One could browse the web without having to worry on the system getting infected. Nonetheless, users could install ClamAV antivirus software in Linux for further security to the systems.

The reason for the higher security level is that since Linux is open source, the source code is dispensable for review. A great number of developers worldwide have gone through the code, meaning that most flaws have been discovered already. The Linux system is considerably stable and thus it’s not prone to crashes. The OS runs exactly as rapidly as it did when first installed, even after years of use. There’s a robust community support for the platform over the web via different forums. Also, a paid support is available for commercial organizations.

Citibank now opens APIs to API developers in Hong Kong to connect directly

APIs are the same as UIs or User Interfaces, just with different users in mind. These are used by software apps in a much similar way that interfaces for applications and other software are used by humans. Providing API access enable content to be made once and published automatically or made available to a lot of channels. The company’s content is made ready for easy sharing and for redistribution to directly deliver the mission to more people. By making anyone create a new presentation layer, such as a website or application or a widget, APIs could be used to distribute information and ser5vices to new audiences and in particular contexts that could be tailored or customized to provide tailored user experiences.

API DEVELOPMENT TOOLS TO PUT IDEAS INTO PRACTICE

Citi opens APIs to Hong Kong developers. First launched in the United States and selected markets in Asia in November 2016, the Citi API Developer Portal aims on providing a platform for API developers to directly connect to Citi, while driving growth for the Fintech industry as a whole. The launch in Hong Kong by Citi will make it as the first in the local market to release its APIs, as stated by Angel Ng, the current business manager of global consumer banking of Citi in Hong Kong. Furthermore, Ng said that technology evolves at lightning speed and now clients demand faster and more tailored services, which suit their changing lifestyle. By allowing the Fintech community to access the open API architecture, it is the hope of the bank to contribute to developing a positive incubation environment and a healthy ecosystem to pave the way for growth in Hong Kong.

The business manager further said that they are pleased to be the first bank in the area to launch an open API platform. The launch of the innovative solution is an integral milestone on the company’s quest for future compatibility. The 30 app program interfaces or APIs will be available to the local developer community so as to create financial tech solutions. With the API Developer Portal, local developers could build solutions and access the bank’s APIs across seven use categories, including:

1. Onboarding – Tap into the acquisition partner services of the bank for loans and credit cards.
2. Accounts – Provide clients access to their account summaries in an innovative manner.
3. Pay with points – Enable clients to utilize points in order to cover purchases using statement credits when they are using eligible credit cards.
4. Customers – Enable customers to access profile information.
5. Cards – Allow customers to manage both their credit cards and debit cards while abroad.
6. Money movement – Provide clients the ability to move their money across several accounts.
7. Reference data – Have programmatic access to reference data for multi-country development.

Citi has also announced the Citi Hk Fin Tech Challenge launch. It’s an accelerator program that supports the Monetary Authority x Cyberport Haccelerator initiative of Hong Kong. The program aims to let the API developer jobs or the Hong Kong developer community to put their ideas into practice as well as help them build real-world innovations that could function with existing Citi technology with less connectivity integration. API developers are encouraged to come up with solutions that are innovative via using Citi’s APIs as well as through connecting to a development sandbox. The APIs covered seven use scenarios, like customer profile access, funds transfer and credit cards management and made available on the API developer portal of the bank.

The Senior Executive Director of HKMA, Howard Lee welcomes the launch of the API Developer Portal that aims to foster closer collaboration with the FinTech companies in developing apps that provide customers with a bigger choice of financial services. Citi also launched an accelerator program to determine developers who have innovative product ideas and offer the resources to help bring these ideas into production. Citibank stated that applicants would have to submit a product concept that would be evaluated by Fintech and other industry experts. Shortlisted finalists could feature their products in June on Hong Kong Demo Day and could win HK$650,000 or $83,673. HKMA welcomes Citi making use of the Haccelerator platform, promoting sharing of technology and collaboration among the technology and financial sectors and fostering the development of the local financial technology ecosystem.

Registration for both the Citi API Developer Portal and the Citi HK FinTech Challenge has started in March 29. Winners get a chance to take their technologies into production. Those who are interested to join could register until May 14, 2017. Furthermore, participants are also required to submit a concept note of their solutions that would be assessed by a panel of industry experts and leaders. The lists of finalists would be announced in May.

Github is opening its developer program to developers without paid accounts

For those who are contemplating a career in web and software programming would want to know is web development a good career path. GitHub pages, a popular code-sharing service is on the lookout to attract the open source community by opening its developer program to developers who do not have paid accounts. GitHub is a Git repository hosting service but adds a lot of its own features. While it’s a command line tool, the platforms provides a web-based graphical interface. Furthermore, it offers control and various collaboration features, including wikis and basic task management tools for each project. Its flagship functionality is ‘forking’, copying a repository from a user’s account into another. This allows taking a project that one does not have to write access to and change it under one’s own account. Now, free account holders could join the developer program. This means that if a free account is what’s holding back a developer, he or she could join the program regardless of the stage of the development one is in.

KEEPING UP WITH THE CHANGING PROGRAMMING ART

The art of programming is changing fast. The GitHub Developer Program launched in 2014 featured a community of 17,000 programmers who are mainly developing software through the use of the GitHub API. Allowing access to developers that don’t have paid accounts could significantly expand the membership. The purpose of the program is to encourage developers to incorporate with GitHub and boost the developer workflow. Participants will get advance notice on changes on APIs and invited to events. Also, the program offers services like license to create and test apps against GitHub Enterprise platform iteration. Together with the growing access to the program, GitHub introduces participation levels which could be accessed for free.

The first level is for member apps or organizations with one to 499 users, offer tools for learning GitHub’s API as well as access to the integrator community. Level 2 is for companies with 500 to 999 persons or member apps. It provides all Level 1 benefits and GitHub.com credits as well as network discounts. The third level is for member apps or organizations with 1,000 and more users. It fe4atures all benefits of the first two levels and member spotlights, which include retweets or preferred GitHub digital apps placement. There are also consulting services for scaling as part of Level 3. The program, which so far has attracted 17,000 people is designed to inspire more developers to build sites on the GitHub platform.

As a whole, GitHub supports over 20 million developers and hosts over 50 million projects. The program is aimed on helping developers if they want to transition a hobby into a business. Also, the platform is announcing the first integration partners in the Developer Program. The partners will get additional benefits such as a dedicated co-marketing with GitHub in the coordinated and enterprise sales training with the sales teams of GitHub. The first integration partners are SRC, Circle CI, Travis CI, GitPrime, ZenHub, Buildkite and Waffle. Developer tools as an industry truly has a way to go when it comes to options.

BEST REASONS TO USE GITHUB

1. The platform makes contributing to open source projects easy. Nowadays, almost every open-source project makes use of GitHub for managing project. It is free if the project is open source and includes issue tracker and wiki, making it easy to include more in-depth documentation and acquire feedback on the project.

2. Markdown is a way of writing formatte4d documents with the use of nothing more than a text editor. GitHub has turned everything into markdown. This only makes it easier to learn another system to format on other parts of a website. GitHub uses what it calls a ‘GitHub flavored markdown’ that makes a few changes to standard markdown, making it more useful in a programming scenario.

3. It has excellent documentation. The help section and guides contain articles for almost any topic that is related to Git that one could think of. When using GitHub, one will not run out of content, thanks to the well-padded guide as well as the help section for articles. There is a guide for Git workflows and samples on gitignore and more abound for the next project planned, among others. There is no need to look somewhere else for all information needed.

The platform introduces Gists features that enable turning one or more files to a Git repository. The Gists make it easy to share and keep tabs of changes for configuring files or simple scripts. With GitHub pages, it’s possible to build and host a static site for the project via just committing HTML pages to a different repository the same as one would with any other Git repository. Using pages, one could begin blogging easily, write more documentation for a project or provide a web presence that otherwise it would not have.