In today's open source roundup: Linus signs off on Linux kernel 3.19. Plus: Korora 21 released, and FocusWriter provides distraction-free writing Linux kernel 3.19 released It’s always news when a new version of the Linux kernel is released. This time around it’s version 3.19 that has been approved by Linus Torvalds. Simon Sharwood reports for The Register: Version 3.19 of the Linux kernel has been signed off by Linus Torvalds. New in this release is improved support for Intel and AMD graphics, plus support for LZ4 compression in the SquasFS which should make for better Linux performance on Live CDs. Owners of Lenovo, Dell, Acer and Toshiba will now find Linux plays better with some of their unqiue hardware features, especially keyboard backlights. The KVM Hypervisor has dropped support for the IA64 chip, a milestone in that architecture’s demise. More at The Register You can also read the official announcement by Linus: So nothing all that exciting happened, and while I was tempted a couple of times to do an rc8, there really wasn’t any reason for it. Just as an example, Sasha Levin used KASan and found an interesting bug in paravirtualized spinlocks, but realistically it’s been around forever, and it’s not even clear that it can really ever trigger in practice. We’ll get it fixed, and mark it for stable, and tempting as it was, it wasn’t really a reason to delay 3.19. And the actual fixes that went in (see appended shortlog) were all fairly small, with the exception of some medium-sized infiniband changes that were all reverting code that just wasn’t ready. So it’s out there – go and get it. And as a result, the merge window for 3.20 is obviously also now open. More at the Linux Kernel Mailing List Korora 21 released Korora 21 is a distro that is based on Fedora 21. It is designed to be a bit more user-friendly. It comes in Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE and Xfce versions. The Korora site has information about Korora 21: It has taken a few weeks longer than we had hoped, but we’re finally happy to announce that the final release of version 21 (codename “Darla”) is now available for download (we strongly recommend using BitTorrent). The 21 beta was quite successful and we were able to make some minor changes to help improve the overall experience. Users who are currently on the beta need not re-install, updates are provided via the package manager. Users who are on 20 may consider upgrading, however this is not necessary as version 20 is supported for another 6 months or so. Features: Cinnamon 2.4 GNOME 3.14 KDE Software Compilation 4.14.3 Xfce 4.10.1 Ruby 21. OpenCL Terminal More at Korora You can download Korora 21 with these links: Korora 21 64-bit Cinnamon (1,753MB) Korora 21 64-bit GNOME (1,859MB) Korora 21 64-bit KDE (2,547MB) Korora 21 64-bit Xfce (1,716MB) FocusWriter provides distraction-free writing Anybody who writes frequently knows that it’s tough to block out distractions sometimes, particularly with today’s word processors that have all kinds of doodads in the interface. Focuswriter is a word processor that lets you focus on writing instead of fiddling with your software. Ryan Lerch reports for Fedora Magazine: FocusWriter is a neat word processor available in Fedora that provides a user experience to minimize all these cat-related distractions, allowing you to focus on what you need to write. FocusWriter is a full-screen application that — by design — hides all the other desktop elements, and even most of its own user interface, and pretty much just leaves you with somewhere to write. FocusWriter also has a focused text feature that greys out all other visible text in the document other than the current line, the current 3 lines, or the current paragraph. This is designed to help you focus on what you are currently writing, and reduce the urge to go back and edit other sections of your document. More at Fedora Magazine Focuswriter is available for more distributions and platforms than just Fedora. You can get it for Debian and openSUSE from the FocusWriter site, and it’s also available for Windows and OS X too. The FocusWriter site has more information and download links: FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free writing environment. It utilizes a hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen, allowing the program to have a familiar look and feel to it while still getting out of the way so that you can immerse yourself in your work. It’s available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X, and has been translated into many different languages. Features: TXT, basic RTF, and basic ODT file support Timers and alarms Daily goals Fully customizable themes Typewriter sound effects (optional) Auto-save (optional) Live statistics (optional) Spell-checking (optional) Multi-document support Sessions Portable mode (optional) Translated into over 20 languages More at FocusWriter Did you miss a roundup? Check the Eye On Open home page to get caught up with the latest news about open source and Linux. Software DevelopmentOpen Source