Matrix encrypted chat rolls out across Germany, Project ACRN's new IoT release, and more open source news

Catch up on the biggest open source headlines from the past two weeks.
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In this week’s edition of our open source news roundup, an open source microfluidics pump, Germany rolls out an encrypted messaging platform based on Matrix, and more open source news.

A Reddit user shares his open source microfluidics pump

As COVID-19 limits access to chemistry and biology labs, one open source user made his own solution. Josh Maceachern shared the model in a thread on Reddit, sharing his microfluidics pump for less than $300 in total. 

According to the creator, the pump runs on only 3D-printed and common components for less than $300 total. An article by Hackaday adds that the pump delivers up to 15 mL/min with accuracy to 0.1uL/min. That's enough power for users to do their own genetics or biology projects at home.

Along with the design files for folks to build their own pumps, Maceachern said on Reddit that he's releasing the pump under the CC BY 4.0 license. He gave his blessing for anyone to use it, asking that they attribute him.

Germany prepares for the world's largest deployment of Matrix-based open source software 

When Dataport rolls out Element collaboration software this fall, they'll deploy it for half a million users in the German states of Schlesweig-Holstein and Hamburg. According to Element in this article, it will be "...the biggest single messaging and collaboration implementation in the world."

In an era of videoconferencing dominated by big brands, Germany's choice of a fully open source tool is noteworthy. It's also no accident that this deployment will occur in Europe: Element shared in a blog post that it's devoted to giving users more control over their data, rather than seeing it stored on overseas systems.

The post also cited "increasingly anti-encryption" sentiment in the U.S. as another reason to offer end-to-end encryption for European users. Element's forthcoming rollout in Germany will allow users to host their own data and messages. Dataport hopes to deploy Element as a matrix-based solution by September, in time for the start of term in Germany.

Project ACRN release Version 2.0 of its IoT hypervisor

ACRN is an open source hypervisor supported by the Linux Foundation's Automotive Grade Linux. The project says its lightweight hypervisor supports IoT functions like graphics, imaging, and audio on less than 40k lines of code. After the initial focus on automotive safety, the Linux Foundation's latest release of Project ACRN is more focused on IoT applications by balancing safety features with more general purpose Virtual Machines (VMs). 

The Project's v2.0 expands support to Kata containers and OpenStack. It also supports partition mode and sharing mode in tandem.

In other news:

Thanks, as always, to Opensource.com staff members and Correspondents for their help this week.

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Lauren Maffeo has reported on and worked within the global technology sector. She started her career as a freelance journalist covering tech trends for The Guardian and The Next Web from London. Today, she works as a service designer for Steampunk, a human-centered design firm building civic tech solutions for government agencies.

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