Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 12/04/2022: LXQt's 1.1.0 Promises and PeaZip 8.6



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

    • Server

      • Announcing the First Oracle Solaris 11.4 CBE

        I'm very happy to announce that today we are releasing a new version of Oracle Solaris 11.4 for free/open source developers and non-production personal use.

        Today marks the first delivery of our "Common Build Environment" (CBE) releases for the Oracle Solaris 11.4.

        To enable us to make new features and fixes available quicker and to more systems Oracle Solaris now uses a continuous delivery model of SRU/micro releases rather than much larger minor releases every few years.

        The GA release of a major or minor was historically the release intended for non-production use for developement of free/open source software, testing, proof of concept deployments. With the switch to a continuous delivery model many new features that have been added to Oracle Solaris 11.4 are not available in a release with a non-production use license.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • Tux DigitalI Spent 90 Days In openSUSE Tumbleweed, This Is What Happened! - TuxDigital

        In this video we check out openSUSE Tumbleweed and all of the amazing features in Gnome 42. openSUSE Tumbleweed is proof a distro can be rolling and stable all at the same time. I love rolling distros. Hand me an Arch or even a semi-rolling Fedora and I’m a happy man. If like me you want the latest and greatest Mesa drivers, the latest kernel enablement (whether hardware or software) and you also want to be run the latest versions of software check out openSUSE Tumbleweed. For the past 90 days I’ve done my videos, streaming live on Destination Linux, recording Hardware Addicts, coding, writing, and all of my main work on openSUSE Tumbleweed to prove just how stable it can be in production.

      • Linux Made SimpleEndeavourOS 22.1

        Today we are looking at EndeavourOS 22.1. It comes with KDE 5.24.4, Linux kernel 5.17, and uses about 900MB of ram when idling. Enjoy!

      • VideoEndeavourOS 22.1 Run Through - Invidious

        In this video, we are looking at EndeavourOS 22.1.

      • VideoFact Checking Common Myths About Open Source Software - Invidious

        In the last couple of weeks, I've been noticing a disturbing amount of comments that are factually incorrect about things that should be easily verifiable with a quick Google search. Comments like "Chrome is actually open source" and "Google actually owns Odysee." What?!

      • VideoFirst Look At Sway WM: Welcome Home "i3" - Invidious

        Back when I first started using Arch Linux I was usng i3 and now I'm finally trying out Sway which is intended to be a drop in replacement for i3 or i3 gaps over on the Wayland side.

    • Kernel Space

    • Applications

      • 9to5LinuxPeaZip 8.6 Released with More Customizable UI Layout, Improved Extraction and Archiving

        PeaZip 8.6 is here almost two months after version 8.5 to introduce a new default theme called “Main” that features icons designed to visually integrate with most of the designs of supported operating systems. In addition, new .ico and .png icons are now available in the (peazip)/res/share/icons directory to further customize the app.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Emulating Raspi2 like hardware with Rasbian in 2022
      • UbuntuWhat is High-performance computing (HPC)? [part 1] | Ubuntu

        In this blog, we will be introducing the concept of High-performance computing (HPC) and HPC clusters. We will also introduce a few categories of practical workloads important in the HPC space.

      • ByteXDHow To Connect to SSH Without Typing a Password

        The SSH (Secure SHell) protocol is a remote shell protocol that creates a secure channel (by using an encrypted connection), for accessing servers on an insecure network (like the Internet itself).

      • Linux Made SimpleHow to install Pitivi Video Editor on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install Pitivi Video Editor on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

      • Tux DigitalCustomizing KDE Plasma: How To Edit Panels And Layout - TuxDigital

        In this video, I show you how to customize your Plasma Panels by adding and editing widgets, moving and resizing panels, creating new panels to make a macOS-like experience in KDE Plasma and much more!

      • ID RootHow To Install Flatpak on Linux Mint 20 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Flatpak on Linux Mint 20. For those of you who didn’t know, Flatpak is a package management utility that allows users to install and run applications in a sandboxed or isolated environment. It’s similar to Snap apps, Flatpak aims at simplifying the management of software packages across various distributions.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of a Flatpak application distribution on a Linux Mint 20 (Ulyana).

      • Make Use OfHow to Run Multiple Linux Distributions Inside the Terminal Using Distrobox

        If you have been a Linux user for quite a while, you probably want to use multiple distros on your machine. Now it is possible because of a great tool called Distrobox. It allows you to create a container on your Linux system using Podman or Docker. These containers are integrated with hosts to enable users to share their home directory, external storage and USB devices, GUI apps, audio, etc.

        In case you're not familiar with Distrobox but want to know more about it, don't worry. This guide will help you learn everything about Distrobox including how to use it with any Linux distro.

    • Games

      • GamingOnLinuxHalo: The Master Chief Collection broke on Linux and Steam Deck, here's a quick fix | GamingOnLinux

        With a recent update to the Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Xbox Game Studios included the needed Easy Anti-Cheat file for Linux / Steam Deck to work online but they broke it in the process for some.

        It's a very good sign that official support may come, as I pointed out on Twitter but I found that it stopped the game working entirely on both my Fedora Linux desktop and the Steam Deck. Looking around, I'm not alone in this issue. Even when trying to use the mode they included with the game to play without anti-cheat (so you can at least play offline), that doesn't work now either.

      • GamingOnLinuxStrategy game 'Old World' comes to Steam and GOG on May 19 with Linux support | GamingOnLinux

        Old World, a game that was talked up as an alternative to the Civilization series that was previously exclusive to the Epic Games Store, is heading to GOG and Steam on May 19. When it arrives on the new stores, it will also come with an expansion called Heroes of the Aegean, which will be free for anyone who purchases Old World in the first two weeks after release.

        Set in classical antiquity, Old World is a historical 4X turn-based strategy game where players select a historical leader to guide their civilization. Leaders are mortal, and once they die, the dynasty's future depends on their heir.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

    • Distributions

      • Its FOSSAmidst Disagreement, elementary co-Founder Quits and Joins Endless OS

        elementary OS co-founder Cassidy James has shared a link titled “Farewell, elementary”.

        I looked at the headline first and then the date. 1st April. I smirked. You cannot fool me. I am not going to fall for the April Fool’s joke.

      • EasyOS

        • Barry KaulerEasyBlue icon set updated

          Earlier today I posted a snapshot of the EasyOS 3.3 desktop, which has 'EasyBlue' icons:

          https://bkhome.org/news/202204/easyblue-theme-for-gtk2-and-gtk3.html

          The 'desk_icon_theme_easyblue' PET needed some updating, new icons and some icons changed.

        • Barry KaulerEasyBlue theme for GTK2 and GTK3

          ...the grey window decorations are a JWM theme in this snapshot. But, EasyOS 3.3 also has a light-blue JWM theme. In the above snapshot, everything inside the window is the GTK theme.

          I modified the 'flat-grey-rounded' theme and created a new GTK3 'EasyBlue' theme. The new PET is 'gtk_2_3_theme_easyblue-20220412.pet', not yet uploaded.

        • Barry KaulerOomox GTK theme designer

          Nice, it creates consistent theme for both GTK2 and GTK3. In the case of GTK2, it requires the "murrine" engine to be installed.

          Some criticisms though; the GUI has limited adjustments, mostly just colours. You copy an existing theme, then modify colours -- and you can't import a theme.

          Another criticism is that the generated theme is large, mostly because, for gtk 3.20+, it has a file 'gtk.gresource' that is about 5MB.

          Hmmm, yes... with GTK2, and GTK3 prior to 3.20, you could define an engine, then just apply modifications to it -- or not even that -- in GTK2 you can just apply changes to individual widgets, modifications to the inbuilt theme. From GTK 3.20, engines are no longer supported, and CSS rules have to be provided for every widget. Absolutely every widget -- if you leave out CSS for a widget, it won't display. There doesn't seem to be any mechanism to fallback to the inbuilt theme.

        • Barry KaulerFlat-grey-rounded GTK theme imported from woof-ce

          I reported this morning that the GTK 3.20+ themes created by Oomox are enormous: [...] I examined some small themes that the author had developed them from scratch, rather than based on an existing theme. 'Azure-light' and 'Colloid-light' are two examples.

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

        • Fedora 36 Beta: The new Adwaita/GTK4 work breaks the world, causes confusion, but the performance is terrific. – BaronHK's Rants

          I got bored, I guess, with Debian working, and decided to load Fedora 36 on my Thinkbook 15 ITL Gen2.

          I’m happy to report that all of the HARDWARE works wonderfully, and Fedora manages to brush all of those unsightly UEFI bugs under the rug with a spiffy boot splash screen.

          (In Debian, there’s an awkward transition between the GRUB bootloader and the Debian splash screen where Lenovo’s UEFI BIOS vomits out a couple of dozen errors, which the Linux kernel prints to the screen. They’re there even if you use Windows, but Microsoft hides them to make Lenovo look less dodgy.)

          One area where Fedora 36 really improves things is with my video performance, and another is GNOME just “feels” faster, likely because of the latest batch of work Canonical has been upstreaming to GNOME over the years to remove some of the jank and jitter of GNOME Shell.

          In some cases, GNOME 42’s shell should be able to perform twice as well as before on some Intel integrated GPUs. The Shell has historically performed rather poorly even on good graphics chips, and has leaked an embarrassing amount of memory, but the code cleanups and optimizations over the last few years have largely moved the Shell past that awful stuttering mess.

        • FOSSLifeSecurity a Key Benefit of Open Source Enterprise Software [Ed: OK, so try using it, Red Hat]

          Security and quality are among the top benefits of open source enterprise software, according to Red Hat’s 2022 State of Enterprise Open Source report, with nearly 90 percent of respondents viewing open source as more secure or just as secure as proprietary software.

        • Enterprisers ProjectAgile: 3 ways your organization can benefit during hybrid work | The Enterprisers Project [Ed: IBM pushing buzzwords at the expense of actual substance or science]

          Digital transformation is complicated and requires the ability to manage complex processes that are built for flexibility and quick decision-making. This is why agile project management has evolved to replace rigid and slow traditional project management methodologies.

          Agile is an approach to software development that promotes continuous iteration per regular customer feedback, with the goal of increasing development speed and improving collaboration within and between teams while maintaining focus on key objectives and deliverables.

        • Enterprisers ProjectIT hiring: 4 tips to retain and attract top IT talent right now [Ed: “The Great Resignation” myth/narrative is being promoted by IBM, which lays off its own workforce]

          Amid the “The Great Resignation,” tech companies are hard-pressed to attract and retain talent. Most workplaces were radically disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and leadership teams have spent the past two years navigating how to support a remote workforce and ensure that their employees’ needs continue to be met.

        • Red HatThe state of static analysis in the GCC 12 compiler [Ed: Red Hat uses GNU logo while attacking the founder of GNU, defaming him to hijack his work/projects]

          Building a static analyzer into the C compiler offers several advantages over having a separate tool, because the analyzer can track what the compiler and assembler are doing intimately. As a Red Hat employee, I work on GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection. Our static analyzer is still experimental but is making big strides in interesting areas, including a taint mode and an understanding of assembly-language code.

        • LWNMalcolm: The state of static analysis in the GCC 12 compiler [LWN.net]

          David Malcolm has posted an update on the state of static analysis in GCC 12.

        • Red HatObservability in 2022: Why it matters and how OpenTelemetry can help [Ed: IBM openwashing surveillance, or spying "lite", with Microsoft proprietary GitHub (tied to NSA)]

          This article explains the basics of observability for developers. We’ll look at why observability should interest you, its current level of maturity, and what to look out for to make the most of its potential.

          Two years ago, James Governor of the developer analyst firm Redmonk remarked, "Observability is making the transition from being a niche concern to becoming a new frontier for user experience, systems, and service management in web companies and enterprises alike." Today, observability is hitting the mainstream.

          As 2022 gets underway, you should expect to hear more about observability as a concern to take seriously. However, lots of developers are still unsure about what observability actually is—​and some of the descriptions of the subject can be vague and imprecise. Read on to get a foundation in this emerging topic.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

        • Ubuntu MATE 22.04 – New Features and Release Details

          list of new features of the Ubuntu MATE 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) that includes what changed since the prior LTS release.

        • HowTo GeekWhat’s New in Ubuntu 22.04 ‘Jammy Jellyfish’

          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS “Jammy Jellyfish” will be released on April 21, 2022. This latest release of the ever-popular Ubuntu Linux distribution€ will havelong-term support until 2027. Is the Jammy Jellyfish worth the upgrade? Let’s find out.

        • H2S Media3 Ways to Install Kdenlive on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy - Linux Shout

          Kdenlive is a non-linear video editor for KDE. With the help of Kdenlive, it is possible to perform simple to complicated video cuts. The range of functions stands between applications such as cinema on the one hand and professional tools such as Jashaka or Cinelerra on the other. This video editing program is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, which means cross-platform support.

          When it comes to features it comes with extensive codec and format support. The software brings a lot of rendering power and can process multiple videos and audio tracks – lossless and non-destructive. This makes Kdenlive a real NLE – a non-linear editor that is based on MLT Video Frameworks and FFmpeg. The software offers a customizable user interface, unlimited undo steps, and functions for organizing the timeline. In addition, Kdenlive supports camcorders, webcams, and all common audio, video, and image formats and the recording of screen content.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • CNX SoftwareRAKwireless adds more Wisduo and Wisblock modules, launches WisToolBox configuration tool for IoT devices
      • Worldline launches LINURA LP 7220 POS terminal in India

        Worldline announced it has launched one of the most advanced LINUX-based 4G POS terminal – LINURA LP 7220 with highest security protocol, Dual Core Cortex processor and 256MB RAM to enhance in-store digital payments experience in India.

      • CNX SoftwareASRock 4X4 BOX-5000 Series mini PC features AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 U-Series processor

        ASRock Industrial has announced the 4X4 BOX-5000 Series Mini PCs powered by AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 U-Series with three models, namely 4X4 BOX-5800U, 4X4 BOX-5600U, and 4X4 BOX-5400U, based on respectively Ryzen 7 5800U, Ryzen 5 5600U, and Ryzen 3 5400U processors.

        The mini PCs support up to four 4K display outputs, come with up to two Ethernet (2.5GbE + GbE) ports, Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, offers M.2 Key M SSD and SATA 3.0 storage, as well as five USB 3.2/2.0 ports for peripherals.

      • Linux GizmosASRock Industrial release new range of industrial motherboards w/ 12th Gen Intel€® Core Processors

        The Taiwanese ASRock released a new line of industrial-grade motherboards equipped with Intel’s latest 12th Gen Core Processors (Alder-Lake-S) that feature 16-cores and 24 threads. ASRock expects their high-performance motherboards to be adopted in diverse applications i.e. smart cities, medical, Edge Artificial IoT, factory automation, kiosks, etc.

        ASRock motherboards rely on Intel’s Alder-Lake-S hybrid architecture which features Performance-cores and Efficient-cores with Intel€® Thread Director. Compared to the previous 10th Gen Intel Core processors, the latest 12th Gen Intel€® Core processors perform up to 1.36x, 1.35x , 1.94x times faster in single thread and multi thread mode (According to Intel). Intel’s UHD Graphics 770 optimized by their Xe architecture with up to 32x execution units, 4x DDR4 (3200MHz) up to 128GB to execute artificial intelligence applications seamlessly.

      • 3D Printed Wireless Joystick Controlled Animatronic Eyes - The DIY Life

        In this project, we’re going to be making a set of wirelessly controlled animatronic eyes. I’ve been wanting to do this project for a while, so when Quantum Integration launched their new Motor & Servo Driver board, this project immediately came to mind. Their new board is based on the PCA9685 driver chip, so you can also build a similar setup using an ESP32 or Arduino if you’d like.

      • Open Hardware/Modding

        • PurismPurism Cares about Environmental Impact

          Longevity of tech products reduces waste. As a Social Purpose Corporation one of the areas we work toward is longevity of product along with right to repair, this allows us to be a largely different global manufacturer of digitally-responsible electronic products. Founder and CEO, Todd Weaver, enshrined in the articles of incorporation two related areas towards this goal “When considering the selection of parts, The Corporation will weigh such issues as privacy, security, freedom, ethical working conditions, environmental impact, and performance, among other factors.“. One of the best ways to reduce waste is to manufacture products that continue to get operating system updates—something Purism does with PureOS on Librem hardware— versus planned obsolescence that Apple, Google, and all other major manufacturers force upon their customers, whereby piling up unusable technology called E-waste.

        • ArduinoIntroducing the Arduino secure boot

          To increase the range of features and firmware safety of Arduino products, we decided to release a new bootloader based on MCUboot. Here is a quick introduction on everything you need to know about it.

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • CISAApache Releases Security Advisory for Struts 2 | CISA

        The Apache Software Foundation has released a security advisory to address a vulnerability in Struts in the version range 2.0.0 to 2.5.29. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system.

      • PC MagThe Best Free Software of 2022 | PCMag

        Open-source Audacity can record and edit audio files on more tracks than you can imagine. It then outputs exactly what you need. It is perfect for noobs and pros alike, on any desktop OS.

      • Syslog-ng in GSoC 2022 - Blog - syslog-ng Community - syslog-ng Community

        This year the syslog-ng project will participate in the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) as a mentor organization again. If you are a university student or otherwise eligible to participate in the GSoC program, you can choose to develop a new feature for syslog-ng.

      • Events

      • Web Browsers

        • Mozilla

          • TechRepublicFirefox finally has a tab management add-on worth using | TechRepublic

            I’m not gonna lie: Opera Workspaces spoiled me. Since using that feature, no tab manager has come close. Not only does it make working with a mass of tabs incredibly simple but it also works to isolate pinned tabs to specific Workspaces (a feature no other tab manager includes). Safari has come close with its tab groups feature, but even that has its weaknesses.

          • GhacksFirefox 99.0.1 maintenance update released - gHacks Tech News

            Mozilla released Firefox 99.0.1 to the public release channel on April 12, 2022. The maintenance update addresses four issues in the browser, including one issue affecting the Zoom service and another that affected hardware video decoding for some Windows users.

          • MozillaWhat’s up with SUMO – April 2022 – The Mozilla Support Blog

            April is a transition month, with the season starting to change from winter to spring, and a new quarter is beginning to unfold. A lot to plan, but it also means a lot of things to be excited about. With that spirit, let’s see what the Mozilla Support community has been up to these days...

          • MozillaCompetition should not be weaponized to hobble privacy protections on the open web

            Recent privacy initiatives by major tech companies, such as Google’s Chrome Privacy Sandbox (GCPS) and Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, have brought into sharp focus a key underlying question – should we maintain pervasive data collection on the web under the guise of preserving competition?

            Mozilla’s answer to this is that the choice between a more competitive or a more privacy-respecting web is a false one and should be scrutinized. Many parties on the Internet, including but also beyond the largest players, have built their business models to depend on extensive user tracking. Because this tracking is so baked into the web ecosystem, closing privacy holes necessarily means limiting various parties’ ability to collect and exploit that data. This ubiquity is not, however, a reason to protect a status quo that harms consumers and society. Rather, it is a reason to move away from that status quo to find and deploy better technology that continues to offer commercial value with better privacy and security properties.

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

        • PostgreSQLPostgreSQL: pgBadger v11.8 released

          pgBadger is a PostgreSQL performance analyzer, built for speed with fully detailed reports based on your PostgreSQL log files.

          pgBadger 11.8 was released today, this release of pgBadger fixes some issues reported by users since past three months and especially two fixes on new log entries detection in incremental mode.

        • PostgreSQLPostgreSQL: pg_dbms_job v1.2.0 released

          pg_dbms_job is a new PostgreSQL extension to create, manage and use Oracle-style DBMS_JOB scheduled job. The use and behavior is just like with the DBMS_JOB Oracle package.

          It allows to manage scheduled jobs from a job queue or to execute immediately jobs asynchronously. A job definition consist on a code to execute, the next date of execution and how often the job is to be run. A job runs a SQL command, plpgsql code or an existing stored procedure.

      • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

      • Content Management Systems (CMS)

        • WordPress 6.0 Beta 1 – WordPress News

          This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, and test this version of WordPress on a production or mission-critical website. Instead, it is recommended that you test Beta 1 on a test server and site.

      • Programming/Development

        • Binary Coded Decimal

          Like many others I'm trying to implement a GameBoy emulator. The development is sporadic to say the least and mostly occurs when I happen to have both some time and inspiration to spare. I'm still implementing the CPU instructions, and this week I came to the one called DAA (Decimal Adjust Accumulator according to the GameBoy Programming manual). I mostly wanted to summarize my findings to have something to refer back to later, but maybe this someone out there will find it useful as well.

        • QtQt 6.3 released

          I’m happy to announce that Qt 6.3 has been released today. As always, the release is packed with many new features as well as a large amount of bug fixes.

        • Linux HintProtected C++

          Like many other programming languages, C++ also provides us with the feature of data hiding for security purposes. We use access modifiers within a C++ program to protect our data at different security levels. C++ includes the public, private and protected access specifiers to secure its variables and functions. The protected access specifier is a little different from both private and public. This article will focus on the “protected” access modifier in C++ code examples. So, let’s get started. Open the shell application, create a new c++ file and open it in the editor.

        • Linux HintREST API Authentication Using Laravel Sanctum

          Authentication is a major part of any Laravel project. Many packages exist in Laravel for implementing REST API authentication, such as Passport, Sanctum, JWT, etc. Laravel sanctum is a simple and lightweight Laravel package to implement a REST API authentication system for mobile applications, single-page applications (SPAs), and token-based APIs. It can generate multiple API tokens for the users, and the single-page application can be authenticated using the user’s session. It can be used as an alternative to Laravel Passport API. Laravel sanctum is better than Laravel Passport in many cases. It is simpler than Laravel Passport, and it does not require OAuth2 authentication like Passport authentication. The ways of implementing Laravel Sanctum authentication and checking the REST API by using postman have been shown in this tutorial.

        • Linux HintUse of isset() Function in PHP

          It is necessary to check any variable is defined or not defined before reading the file’s content because if the variable is undefined, it will generate an error when the value of that variable is tried to read. This problem can be solved by using PHP’s isset() function. It returns true if the variable is defined and false if it is undefined. Different uses of the isset() function have been shown in this tutorial.

        • EE JournalIAR Systems brings low-code state machine design solution to Linux – EEJournal
        • Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

        • Rust

          • Implied bounds and perfect derive

            There are two ergonomic features that have been discussed for quite some time in Rust land: perfect derive and expanded implied bounds. Until recently, we were a bit stuck on the best way to implement them. Recently though I’ve been working on a new formulation of the Rust trait checker that gives us a bunch of new capabilities — among them, it resolved a soundness formulation that would have prevented these two features from being combined. I’m not going to describe my fix in detail in this post, though; instead, I want to ask a different question. Now that we can implement these features, should we?

            Both of these features fit nicely into the less rigamarole part of the lang team Rust 2024 roadmap. That is, they allow the compiler to be smarter and require less annotation from you to figure out what code should be legal. Interestingly, as a direct result of that, they both also carry the same downside: semver hazards.

          • CTCFT 2022-04-18 Agenda | Inside Rust Blog

            The next "Cross Team Collaboration Fun Times" (CTCFT) meeting will take place on Monday, 2022-04-18 at 9pm US Eastern Time (click to see in your time zone). You’ll find the full details (along with a calendar event, zoom details, etc) on the CTCFT website.

  • Leftovers

    • Quitting

      So if you've read the last couple of entries on here you won't really be surprised to know that I'm quitting one of my jobs, the non-profit one that's been the source of a lot of my misery lately.

    • Search everything with dmenu

      Yes, this is another post about my current project, mastersearch. But as progress was pretty good in the last two days, I thought I would just post a update.

    • New-to-me Mandolin



      Many mandolins have floating bridges, which means that rather than being glued or bolted to the body like most guitars, it is simply held in place by the tension of the strings. Its position is variable and prone to misplacement by the unwitting neophyte attempting a seemingly routine string change. The bridge might also get shifted while the strings are temporarily detuned during shipping. If the bridge is not in the right place the intonation will be incorrect, and no matter how perfectly you tune it, it will be impossible to play in tune! Imagine the frustration of trying to learn to play an impossible-to-play instrument! If you have ever tried learning any string instrument, chances are you have dealt with intonation problems at some point. Knowing how to properly setup your instrument is an important part of the ongoing learning process, and it's really not as difficult as you might think.

    • The Register UKSacked source-keeper attempts revenge ● The Register

      Who has got your back up? Forget comments in code, what do you do when all your source has been packed into the trunk of a family sedan? Welcome to Who, Me?

      Today's story, from a reader Regomised as "Al", concerns his time at a company in the 1980s. The company was working on a project to replace thousands of ageing "dumb" terminals with PCs. "The Great PC Invasion and Distributed Computing Revolution were under way," Al observed.

      "The company had hired a collection of experienced PC and minicomputer programmers who were led by a management team of Mainframe Gods (as they viewed themselves)."

      We know just the type.

      "As a bunch of hotshot PC and UN*X types," he went on, "we demanded a version control system and a tool for backing up the source tree. In their wisdom, the Mainframe Gods chose not to invest in spurious tech like backups and version control, therefore each programmer had a personal responsibility to back up their source code."

      It went about as well as you might imagine. Some staff followed the process for a bit, but after a while nobody bothered. Nobody, that is, except for the person who did the builds. "Dave" (for that was not his name) had all the current production code on his PC. Everything. In one place.

    • Integrity/Availability

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • AccessNowFAQ: The EU’s plan to regulate political ads - Access Now

        Political advertisements can be a powerful driver for dangerous disinformation and propaganda online. It is often linked to platforms’ data-harvesting and exploitative business models.

        The EU has proposed a timely Regulation to increase transparency for political ads. The proposal however may not go far enough to protect people from covert manipulation.

        But what are political ads, exactly? What does the EU proposal say? What is its potential impact on Europeans’ rights and personal agency in the online environment? This FAQ has the answers for you.

      • IFF writes to the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan urging greater scrutiny of internet shutdown orders. #KeepItOn

        Remember the Rajasthan Government’s response to our RTI, where it admitted that Rajasthan’s Review Committee does not meet to review internet shutdown orders, and only confirms them by circulation? Applicable Indian law requires governments to publish all internet shutdown orders in the public domain, and these orders must be reviewed by a committee of high-level government officials, to ensure that they are proportionate, lawful and necessary. We found Rajasthan government’s Review Committee procedures concerning and have written to the Chairperson of the Review Committee, i.e. the Chief Justice of Rajasthan urging greater scrutiny of shutdown orders.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • The VergeUS says internet services are exempt from Russian sanctions

        The US Department of the Treasury is exempting telecommunications services from ongoing sanctions against Russia. The move, confirmed late last week in an order, follows requests from advocacy groups who feared a disruption would cut off Russian activists’ access to the outside world. It may not, however, cause companies that voluntarily cut off access to restore it.

        The new order authorizes business transactions involving “services, software, hardware, or technology incident to the exchange of communications over the internet,” including messaging, domain registration, email, and sharing photos or videos. It does not authorize transactions involving Russian financial institutions or state-controlled entities like the Russian Ministry of Finance.

    • Monopolies

      • Patents

        • Software Patents

          • In the Limelight: Truist joins Open Invention Nework [Ed: Software patents legitimised in the name of "Linux"]

            Open Invention Network (OIN), the organization formed to safeguard open source software (OSS) and now the largest patent non-aggression community in history, announced Mondaythat Truist Financial Corporation (Truist) has joined as a community member. Truist is the sixth largest U.S. bank by assets and the seventh largest global insurance broker. As a significant user and supporter of open source, Truist is reinforcing its commitment to OSS as an enabler of advanced financial services and mobile banking platforms.

      • Copyrights



Recent Techrights' Posts

Open letter to the ACM regarding Codes of Conduct impersonating the Code of Ethics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries
Links 26/03/2024: Inflation Problems, Strikes in Finland
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Losing Children, Carbon Tax Discussed
Links for the day
Mark Shuttleworth resigns from Debian: volunteer suicide and Albania questions unanswered, mass resignations continue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 26/03/2024: 6,000 Layoffs at Dell, Microsoft “XBox is in Real Trouble as a Hardware Manufacturer”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Microsofters Still Trying to 'Extend' Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Look What IBM's Red Hat is Turning CentOS Into
For 17 years our site ran on CentOS. Thankfully we're done with that...
The Julian Paul Assange Verdict: The High Court Has Granted Assange Leave to Appeal Extradition to the United States, Decision Adjourned to May 20th Pending Assurances
The decision is out
The Microsoft and Apple Antitrust Issues Have Some But Not Many Commonalities
gist of the comparison to Microsoft
ZDNet, Sponsored by Microsoft for Paid-for Propaganda (in 'Article' Clothing), Has Added Pop-Up or Overlay to All Pages, Saying "813 Partners Will Store and Access Information on Your Device"
Avoiding ZDNet may become imperative given what it has turned into
Julian Assange Verdict 3 Hours Away
Their decision is due to be published at 1030 GMT
People Who Cover Suicide Aren't Suicidal
Assange didn't just "deteriorate". This deterioration was involuntary and very much imposed upon him.
Overworking Kills
The body usually (but not always) knows best
Former Red Hat Chief (CEO), Who Decided to Leave the Company Earlier This Month, Talks About "Cloud Company Red Hat" to CNBC
shows a lack of foresight and dependence on buzzwords
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 25, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Discord Does Not Make Money, It's Spying on People and Selling Data/Control (38% is Allegedly Controlled by the Communist Party of China)
a considerable share exists
In At Least Two Nations Windows is Now Measured at 2% "Market Share" (Microsoft Really Does Not Want People to Notice That)
Ignore the mindless "AI"-washing
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Still Has Hundreds of Thousands of Simultaneously-Online Unique Users
The scale of IRC