Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 16/05/2022: FreeBSD 13.1 and Inkscape 1.2 Released



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • ZDNetThese two Linux desktops are the simplest picks for new users

        Let's face it, any time you come across articles that offer advice on choosing the right Linux distribution, they tend to get bogged down in a lot of technical advice that rarely (if ever) applies to those who've never experienced Linux. They'll speak of things like rolling releases, package managers, kernels, open-source licensing, and other features and ideologies that not only have little bearing on those new to Linux and open-source technology but mire the decision in unnecessary complications.

        I want to take a very different approach, one that should make the process quite simple for anyone looking to dive into the world of desktop Linux for the first time. I'm going to shrug off the usual advice and aim straight for the heart of the matter. What exactly is that matter?

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Applications

      • What you’ll find inside Inkscape version 1.2 | Inkscape

        Our annual Spring release has left the building! From offering multiple pages to making tiling super easy and fun, Inkscape 1.2 has something for everyone seeking to Draw Freely.

        What’s not making a comeback are many of the bugs that were fixed thanks to everyone who tested the earlier versions and shared their feedback with the Inkscape teams. This helps us to improve the program between alpha, beta and final releases.

        While we cannot possibly mention everything inside version 1.2 in an article, we suggest a test drive of the actual software. Before you download it – or as it’s downloading – we suggest checking out our Inkscape 1.2 video specially prepared to demonstrate some of the most popular new features and updates.

      • 9to5LinuxInkscape 1.2 Released with Support for Multi-Page Documents, Numerous Enhancements

        Coming almost a year after Inkscape 1.1, the Inkscape 1.2 release is here to introduce a new Page tool that implements support for multiple pages in Inkscape documents. To access the new Page tool, click on the lowest button in the toolbar. The tool also lets you import and export multi-page PDF documents.

        Also new in Inkscape 1.2 is a ‘Tiling’ Live Path Effect (LPE) that allows for interactive tiling, the ability to import SVG images from Open Clipart, Wikimedia Commons, and other online sources, on-canvas alignment snapping, as well as the ability to edit markers and dash patterns.

      • MedevelSurf Ice is an open-source brain surface renderer

        Surf Ice, an open-source software package for visualizing connectome networks, tractography and statistical maps on top of anatomical brain images.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • ByteXDComprehensive Guide to Using FFmpeg to Convert Media Files

        FFmpeg is one of those modern marvels of open source software. It is a suite of libraries and smaller programs to handle video and audio files primarily.

        It works with images and other multimedia files such as video streaming formats. It has lots of uses like video transcoding, video editing, video scaling, video cropping or other video manipulation work.

        At its heart FFmpeg is a command line tool used with the ffmpeg command.

        It has a basic simple video player and ability to probe video media information for analysis.

        FFmpeg is also included in the workflow of other software like the popular video player VLC. Enterprise companies like YouTube use it in their core processing when ingesting video uploads. Overall FFmpeg can play, record, convert, and stream audio and video. It includes libavcodec – the leading audio/video codec library.

        In this tutorial we’ll install FFmpeg and learn how to use some its most popular features through practical examples and detailed explanations.

      • Network WorldExtracting substrings on Linux [Ed: This should say "GNU", not "Linux"]

        There are many ways to extract substrings from lines of text using Linux and doing so can be extremely useful when preparing scripts that may be used to process large amounts of data. This post describes ways you can take advantage of the commands that make extracting substrings easy.

      • HowTo ForgeHow to Install WordPress with Apache and Let's Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu 22.04
      • Linux Made SimpleHow to install Godot Mono 3.4.4 on a Chromebook
      • VideoHow to install Steam Link on Debian 11 - Invidious

        In this video, we are looking at how to install Steam Link on Debian 11.

      • ID RootHow To Install MongoDB on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install MongoDB on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, MongoDB is a document-oriented NoSQL database used for high-volume data storage. Instead of using tables and rows as in the traditional relational databases. MongoDB is available in two editions: Community and Enterprise.

        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 the MongoDB NoSQL database server on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 22.04 and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS, and more as well.

      • ByteXDHow to Install Python Pip on Ubuntu

        Pip is the recommended package installer for python, with which you can install any python library or package that is present in the Python Package Index (and other indexes).

        Pip is a command-line tool that is cross-platform, featuring easy-to-use commands to manage your python packages. Like Python, pip has two versions, Pip 3 for Python 3 and Pip 2 for Python 2.

        This article explains how to install both of them in Ubuntu 20.04 (the guide works for other releases of Ubuntu and most Debian-based distros).

      • Using a Linux phone as a secondary monitor

        As a software developer on the go, one of the very first use cases that I started investigating after installing Linux on my first tablet was that of using a portable device as a secondary display for another Linux machine. Ideally, this would happen wirelessly (or wired, if that involved lower power consumption), with unnoticeable delay, and - why not - even including real-time touchscreen input.

        The journey, however, took longer than planned. Existing solutions, like VNC, tend to be strangely laggy, and others, like Miracast, are so deeply enclosed in proprietary protocols that they do not scale well to a bug-free experience on all devices. The first solution to this problem, at an even less stable stage than currently, was my most shared post ever on Twitter, so I decided to write a post on how this was done.

      • VideoEasily Add Startup Sounds To Your Linux Desktop - Invidious

        One of the most striking features of operating systems of the past were the startup sounds when you logged into your computer. For whatever reason, most Linux desktops don't incorporate a startup sound. But we can easily add one, regardless of distribution or desktop environment or window manager.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Why Blueman Notifications Stay Forever

      For many years, Puppy Linux had no Bluetooth support. But lately, a user has complained about (the recently added) Blueman: it shows a notification, which don't disappear until you restart X. For some reason, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are super unreliable in this apartment (and I can't wait until we finally move to our new apartment in the summer), so I constantly have to close these distracting and useless notifications about connections and disconnections. I didn't have to do anything to reproduce the problem.

    • BSD

      • FreeBSDFreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE Announcement

        The FreeBSD Release Engineering Team is pleased to announce the availability of FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE. This is the second release of the stable/13 branch.

      • FreeBSDFreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE Release Notes

        The release notes for FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE contain a summary of the changes made to the FreeBSD base system on the 13-STABLE development line. This document lists applicable security advisories that were issued since the last release, as well as significant changes to the FreeBSD kernel and userland. Some brief remarks on upgrading are also presented.

      • FreeBSDFreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE Errata

        This document lists errata items for FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE, containing significant information discovered after the release or too late in the release cycle to be otherwise included in the release documentation. This information includes security advisories, as well as news relating to the software or documentation that could affect its operation or usability. An up-to-date version of this document should always be consulted before installing this version of FreeBSD.

      • FreeBSDRelease Information

        FreeBSD releases are classified into Production Releases and Legacy Releases. Production releases are best suited to users looking for the latest new features. Legacy releases are for users wishing to stay with a more conservative upgrade strategy.

    • Fedora Family / IBM

      • Ben Williams: F36-20220516 updated Live isos released

        The Fedora Respins SIG is pleased to announce the latest release of Updated F36-20220516-Live ISOs, carrying the 5.17.6-300 kernel.

        This set of updated isos will save considerable amounts of updates after install. ((for new installs.)(New installs of Workstation have about 1GB of updates savings )).

      • ZDNetRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6: Better security, more options

        Do you want a solid Linux distribution that also delivers the latest languages and solid security? Yes? Then consider getting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6.

        Red Hat announced this new release at the Red Hat Summit. It has numerous new features, but the ones that caught my eye were the security improvements.

      • Silicon AngleOS consistency solves Linux talent issues, says RHEL executive

        The new Red Hat Enterprise Linux, released during the recent Red Hat Summit, caters to rapidly escalating hardware development occurring throughout tech, along with a growing Linux admin skills shortage.

        RHEL 9 performs the combo double act, in part, by more efficiently optimizing the operating system, according to Gunnar Hellekson (pictured), general manager of the Enterprise Linux Business Unit at Red Hat Inc. Upgrading to the new OS means enterprises can get by with fewer admins. A skills shortage is caused, in part, by a lack of U.S. visas.

    • Debian Family

      • LinuxiacKali Linux 2022.2 Comes with the Latest GNOME and KDE Desktop Environments

        This year’s second Kali Linux update, 2022.2, brings the latest GNOME 42 and KDE Plasma 5.24 desktop environments and many other improvements.

        Kali Linux is a popular operating system designed for security professionals and Linux enthusiasts. It is a Debian-based distribution developed, funded, and maintained by Offensive Security.

        Following the February release of version 2022.1, the new Kali Linux 2022.2 update significantly improves the user experience for all fans of this security-oriented Linux distribution.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • GNU Projects

      • Hackers getting married

        We had several of our old-time friends from the GNU Project, and some guests with young children still unused to such an international context who soon enough learned to enjoy the sound of different languages and the happy chaos of people meeting for the first time, some more traditional if not formal, others fun and weird.

  • Leftovers

    • Consequentialist Passengers

      I enjoyed the 2016 space movie Passengers. It was hated online because the character Jim Preston does something very cruel and selfish but the movie tries to redeem him and his choice, and presents him as a sympathetic viewpoint character. And I agree with the criticism.

      I like space movies so I saw it anyway. The way I managed to get over it, and to get to enjoy the movie, was by just not consider the character very redeemed. Movies can have villains. He is just a villain whom I could fear and root against and I could get over (or not fall for) the movie’s editing decisions and soundtrack cues and the decisions of other characters. I was going against the obvious intent of the movie, I was “changing it” in my li’l viewer head, but the only “edit“ I needed to do was to let myself feel the way I felt about Jim (creeped out) instead of trying to contort my brain and heart into going where the movie wanted me to go.

    • Security

      • USCERTCISA Adds Two Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog [Ed: VMware in trouble again]

        CISA has added two new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. These types of vulnerabilities are a frequent attack vector for malicious cyber actors and pose significant risk to the federal enterprise. Note: to view the newly added vulnerabilities in the catalog, click on the arrow on the of the "Date Added to Catalog" column, which will sort by descending dates.

    • Internet/Gemini

      • Dig Deeper Should Be Taken With A Grain Of Salt

        Sure, Tutanota doesn't offer POP/IMAP/SMTP, but at least when using it I can be sure that my emails are making it to their destinations and that I'm receiving everything that's been sent to me. In contrast, I've encountered one reliability issue after another with cock.li over a period of a couple of years.

      • Hello Web!

        Maybe it's because I'm trying to put off other things I should be doing, but I set up a website where I'll be mirroring some of my logs from my gemini capsule to.

      • Desktop Backdrops

        I was hoping to have had time to edit and upload the next couple of hiking videos -- the Lake District is nothing if not picturesque -- but life's got in the way. What I have started doing, though, is taking some panoramas to use as desktop backdrops. A few of these have come out really well, so I thought I'd share.



Recent Techrights' Posts

European Patent Office (EPO) Reformation Project
It's a stain on the EU's reputation
Slopwatch: Google News and Other Slopfarms
Google News is rewarding sites that misuse LLMs and cheat the Web
Moral Standards From the Masters of Linux
They get hung up on minor language issue and promote this crazy theory that racism will go away if only everyone spoke a little differently (no matter where he or she came from)
 
Serial Slopper (SS) Still at It, Still Misusing Plagiarism Tools and Cheatware for Images and Text About "Linux"
All the slopfarms are a very big problem
Reddit Deletes Stuff, But Not for Being False or Misleading
Yet another one of those articles that speak of a man in his 50s as if he's terminally ill
Times of India and India.com Are Clickbait and LLM Slop
Google continues to reward bad actors
The More "Market Share" Microsoft Loses, The Higher the Shares Go
People joke about the same sort of thing in relation to IBM
To OIN, Software Patents Are Not a Problem
Had software patents ceased to exist, OIN too would cease to exist and its staff would be unemployed.
Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia is Only the Beginning
Due to politics it mostly makes sense that Windows is being phased out, also in part due to policy changes
Microsoft-Funded Publishers Lied to Us About Vista 10 and Now Advocate Us Owning Nothing
They want you to own nothing, but they also want you to buy a PC on which to become Microsoft's slave and they make it harder if not practically impossible to remove Windows
Articles Promoting and Celebrating Wayland Are LLM Slop
New example (100% slop)
The Register MS, Dominated by American Editors, Says UK Should be Run (Digitally) by Microsoft US
The Register MS is sponsored by American money, run by Americans, and its chief editor is a Microsofter from the US
Gemini Links 14/08/2025: Drought, Climate Experiments, and LLM Slop Considered Detrimental
Links for the day
Links 14/08/2025: Second-hand ThinkPad and Enhanced Surveillance on Chipsets from the United States
Links for the day
Links 14/08/2025: Data Brokers Hiding Opt-Out Pages From Google, "Fight Chat Control"
Links for the day
FSF Infrastructure Under Constant Attack
The disconnect (literally) has had an effect on credibility
Feels Like The Register MS is Trying to Diversify a Bit
If The Register MS goes back to being The Register US (or UK), that will be a nice improvement
Gemini Links 14/08/2025: Reading Journal and LLM Fatigue Revisited
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 13, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Hopping From One Set of Buzzwords to the Next
Rotating hype and vapourware
Currys PCWorld Hates GNU/Linux Even Though It Runs the World
If more and more people choose to remove Windows, then Currys PCWorld will feel the financial impact of its dumb policies
Internet Relay Chat and Gemini Protocol Help Us Relive the Net of the Dial-Up Era
The kids were alright
The Register MS Takes More Money to Boost Slop Hype, This Time From Snyk, a Notorious FUD Source
At some stage or at some point they might even decide to stop doing so
"GPT-5" is Another Microsoft Dead Cat Trying to Bounce
The hype, the momentum (or the inertia) is wearing off
Microsoft Windows Losing Its Grip Near Turkey and Russia
The 'corridor' nations connecting Iran to Europe
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Google News, and Serial Slopper (SS)
The slop, the bad, and the ugly
Links 13/08/2025: The “Incriminating Video” Scam and Corruption in South Korea
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/08/2025: Movie Memories and Mystery Machine Bus
Links for the day
"AI" Hype or LLM Slop is Not About Efficiency, It's About Lowering Standards
It does not seem like IBM is genuinely committed to the same goals (or commitments) as the original Red Hat
Links 13/08/2025: GitHub Trouble and Openwashing by Microsoft OSI With the Typical Buzzwords
Links for the day
If Free/Libre Software is Adding Trillions in Value to the European Economy, Then the European Commission Must Crush Software Patents
Further to what we wrote yesterday
Microsoft Swallows GitHub Losses
Only Microsoft knows how much money it has already lost on GitHub
Gemini Links 13/08/2025: Climate, Coffee, and Deploying Troops in Washington DC After Pardoning 1,000+ Insurrectionists in Washington DC
Links for the day
The Register MS Lowered MS Focus This Week
We hope The Register recognises its errors and tries to make up for them
Learning Ethics From Jeffrey Epstein's Enabler/Client/Ally, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft Accenture
Whatever merits vocabulary changes initially had are being tainted or obscured by later iterations, which tell us to avoid word like "normal", which apparently offend some people (so they argue)
Personal Attacks From Rust People Serve to Confirm They Have Lost the Argument
"The discussion I find around the net so far has no technical merit and centers around ad hominem"
Physical Meters and Purely Mechanical Meters Aren't Dumb; It's Dumb to Mock or Dismiss Them as Antiquated
I've learned a lot this week, both online and over the telephone
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 12, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 12, 2025
GitHub Will End Up like XBox and Skype
It is not likely that the XBox franchise will survive the next 5 years
Stones Thrown in Glass Houses
Projecting? You bet!
As Europe Gets Increasingly Serious About Software Freedom and Digital Sovereignty It Needs to Enforce a Ban on Software Patents ASAP
many councils in Europe move to Free software and US policy/companies cannot be trusted
Windows 12 in Bahrain (Microsoft "Market Share" Down to 12%, an All-Time Low)
They really ought to get away from Windows even faster
The Web Needs 'Pest Control' When It Comes to LLM Slopfarms
The goal is to discourage more sites becoming slopfarms
Microsoft Can Now Stop Reporting the GitHub Layoffs (Even When They Happen)
GitHub's original staff will see the true cost of becoming "b0rged" - something that Microsoft earned a bad reputation for
How to Get Very Bad or Even Malicious Code Into Linux? Write it in a Language That Linus Torvalds and Most Other Linux Developers Don't Understand.
One point nobody brings up is, what if code gets committed while evading audits and scrutiny?
Links 12/08/2025: Wikipedia Fails at UK High Court, Perlmutter Still Fights to Squash the Slop Lobby
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/08/2025: Field Recording and Digital Legacy
Links for the day
Links 12/08/2025: WinRAR Zero-Day, SonicWall Does More Harm Than Good
Links for the day
Links 12/08/2025: More Sabotage of Underwater Cable Ahead of Russian Alaska Summit
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Will Not Miss Microsoft GitHub, It Was Only Good at Harvesting a Lot of Code for Plagiarism-as-a-Service
investors are apparently willing to lose money for buzzwords
Slopfarms Slopping Away at "Linux" and Spreading Microsoft Misinformation
Slopfarms don't comprehend this as they lack actual comprehension, they're just parrots
Links 12/08/2025: Science, Hardware, and Ukraine Excluded From Negotiations About Its Future
Links for the day
GitHub the Company Has, in Effect, Just Died (Time to Look for Alternatives)
To Microsoft, what's left of GitHub after dismantling/folding it is some "training set" (people's code, without permission to "train" i.e. misuse under the guise of "GenAI" plagiarism)
Linux Foundation Says "Housekeeping", "Hung", "Normal", "Native Feature/Support" and "Girl/Girls" Are Offensive Words
Bombing people is OK, just use the right "terms"
It Looks More Like Microsoft GitHub Layoffs
GitHub is just losing loads of money
Gemini Links 12/08/2025: Meditation, OpenStreetMap, Smolweb, and More
Links for the day
Google News is Dying: Most of Its Top Stories Now Are LLM Slop With Slop Images (i.e. 100% Fake 'Content')
Google News has been drowning in this sort of stuff for quite some time
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 11, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 11, 2025
Our Predictions Were Right: GitHub Dying as Losses Pile Up (as a Company It Cannot Continue to Exist, It's Not 'Free Hosting')
GitHub always lost money