Speaker
Description
Spectrum is a desktop Linux operating system with a focus on security. Each application instance, and some drivers, are run in their own virtual machines, but this virtualization is designed to be as transparent as possible to users using standard mechanisms like cross-domain virtio-gpu and XDG Desktop Portals in a new way.
Other desktop Linux systems struggle to take full advantage of the security architecture of Wayland, Flatpak, etc. due to their need to maintain compatibility with applications that were not designed with modern interfaces in mind. This talk will demonstrate how Spectrum is able to use these technologies to their full potential thanks to its positioning, which lets us prioritize security over legacy features, while still aiming for maximal compatibility with the modern Linux application ecosystem and user expectations.
Twitter and/or Mastodon Handle
@qyliss@chaos.social
Author(s) Bio
Alyssa Ross is the project lead for Spectrum. She is a member of the Nixpkgs core team and a frequent contributor to Cloud Hypervisor, and has contributed to projects across the Linux desktop ecosystem.
| Participation | In-person |
|---|---|
| Track | Main Track |
| Level of Difficulty | Technical |
| Pronouns | she/her |
