General availability of USM on linux systems, and distribution of OpenMP software

Hi all, I understand this question is a bit on the edge of what is allowed on this reddit.
Still, I really hope getting good answers here can be beneficial for this community as a whole and improve the future availability and distribution of software based on OpenMP for linux.

# The short version

Basically, I am asking for few seconds of your time to share the output of these commands:

grep HMMMIRROR /boot/config-$(uname -r)
grep DEVICEPRIVATE /boot/config-$(uname -r)
uname -a
cat /etc/-release

They will provide information about two kernel flags, its version and the distribution being used.
Please, make sure to remove any uniquely identifiable element from the output before sharing.
If you don't understand those commands DON'T run them and don't trust random people on reddit :).

# The longer explanation

Why? These flags are what is needed to enable a feature called "Unified Shared Memory".
It is used by modern graphic cards and CPUs to share the same address space and to automatically sync data in between.
This feature is used by language extensions like OpenMP to write scalable and offloadable applications in a simplified style.

However, I discovered today that some distributions don't have it enabled by default in the kernel images they distribute:

https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/136491
[https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/127334#issuecomment-2817171884](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/127334#issuecomment-2817171884)

There is not much software out there leveraging OpenMP for offloading. Which is strange as it promises (and delivers on) to write code once in a single language, without having to deal with domain specific ones for shaders or vendor-specific technologies like CUDA.
I recently have been working on a [demo project](https://github.com/KaruroChori/enance-amamento) to validate the idea and to understand why OpenMP is not more common beyond the realm of high performance computing; now I sort of get the picture:

Toolchains available on many distributions are not coming with full OpenMP support out of the box: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/136245
Dependencies from very narrowly versioned shared libraries which are not distributed on their own [https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/136255](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/136255)
And now the fact that many kernel images around might not support USM which I much more complex to address compared to the other two points.

I think it is mostly a egg/chicken problem to be honest.
This can be easily improved on the distribution side, it is just a matter of awareness.
So, aside from collecting data to understand how to fix this issue, I hope this post can spark some useful conversations to improve the current situation :).

Thanks for your time!

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Ubuntu server or other distru?

Hi, i have an old laptop that i'am using to host a Minecraft server, right now it's running on Windows 10 because i had to set it up quickly, but i noticed that i had to restart it every 2-3 days cuz it would fill the ram and start slowing down, it has an i5 2450m and 8gb of DDR3 at 1333mhz, i'am willing to use Ubuntu server if it will fix the slow down issue but i heard that there are better options out here, wich distru should i use in your opinion?

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Compiling older kernels?

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Install package not available in repo into several machines

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* Is it possible to compile from the source the package and generate an artifact that can be used to be distributed and directly installed in other machines?
* If you are using Chef... Would it be a good idea create recipe for compile packages and install it?
* Do you know another approach?

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In my research I found that fedora workstation has a immutable version, but if anyone has experience with this I would appreciate the input! Thanks :)

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Books like "The command line by William Shotts"

I have read this book twice and I just can't get over it haha. It's the Book that made me fall into love with linux. I have been using linux for nearly a decade now but really only became comfortable with stuff after reading this book.

However, as all good things must come to an end, there's only so many times I can read it. I am now looking for similar books where the author is pro foss and I like how he gives productivity tips along the way (for example, focus follows mouse setting is such a nice setting). "The command line" is filled with tips like these and author always writes in a simple tone. Ideally I am now looking for some intermediate to advanced level books with the goal to transition into system admin position down the years and possibly take linux+ comptia exams. (I have already cleared comptia A+)

Some popular noscripts I have come across (and would love to hear people's opinions on them)

1. The linux bible
2. Learning the bash (oreilly) by cameron newham
3. Comptia linux+ study guide by Richard blum and christine.
4. UNIX AND LINUX SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION HANDBOOK FIFTH EDITION by Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Trent, R. Hein, Ben Whaley, Dan Mackin

I am thinking to pick one book from this list but I am not quite sure which one Would be similar in tone to the "the command line". If you have other books you can suggest please feel free to share!

PS: I use man, and --help all the command but I like to read books for pleasure too and hence this post to find a linux related book.

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Recommended Linux Distros

So, I'm a distrohopper for not too long (6 months I think?) and I want more suggestions for Linux Distros that I can try! I know I can search online for some but I really need personal suggestions from you. I'm currently at EndeavourOS with KDE Plasma. So I prefer the plasma DE on the distro, if not then it's fine anyway. So, what do you suggest?

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SouthEast LinuxFest 2025 Registration and CFP is open
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What do you like about configuring?

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So what is your favorite way of configuring an application?

It probably highly depends on documentation. But I want to find out what other factors are there.

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Steam Linux Support - Valve will abandon support of the Steam client on Linux distributions without glibc 2.31 or newer as of 8/15/25
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Noob Question
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What are your top 3 gnome extensions? with 1 sentence reasoning at most

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