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Links 09/08/2022: EndeavourOS Artemis Neo and 14″ Pinebook Pro GNU/Linux Laptop



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • Linux MagazineThe 14" Pinebook Pro Linux Laptop is Shipping

        After a lengthy shipping delay, caused by COVID-19 limitations in China, the ARM-based Pinebook Pro 14" laptop is available again from Pine64. The device ships with a 64-Bit Dual-Core ARM 1.8GHz Cortex A72 and Quad-Core ARM 1.4GHz Cortex A53, with a quad-core MALI T-860 GPU, 4 GB LPDDR4 dual-channel system DRM, and 64 GB eMMC 5.0 internal storage.

        The audience for the Pinebook Pro 14" is mostly those who want to experiment with Linux on Arm devices. In fact, Pine64 goes so far as to say, “Please do not order the Pinebook Pro if you’re seeking a substitute for your X86 laptop, or are just curious and you’re ordering it with an intent to file a return/refund return request. These pre-orders are meant for enthusiasts familiar with the Arm architecture and interested in the PineBook Pro for this specific reason.”

      • 14″ PINEBOOK Pro LINUX LAPTOP (ANSI, US Keyboard)
    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Applications

      • Make Use OfThe 10 Best Free Linux Firewall Tools

        For those who are serious about their network security, knowing which Linux firewall apps and solutions are available for free is crucial.

        Setting up a firewall is key to securing your network perimeter. A firewall blocks sensitive ports and filters incoming and outgoing traffic to thwart malicious connections and ensure there is no unsolicited exchange of data.

        In the world of FOSS, there are plenty of firewall solutions to choose from. Here's a list of the best firewall solutions for fortressing your network on Linux.

      • Linux Links9 Best Free and Open Source Linux Disk Cloning Software

         Disk cloning software is not simply helpful for system backups. It has a wide range of other uses such as provisioning new computers in the workplace, restoring computers from a master image, and system recovery. ManageEngine OS Deployer is a comprehensive disk imaging solution.

        To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 9 high quality Linux disk cloning software. Hopefully, there will be something of interest for anyone who needs to perform system admin tasks.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • RoseHostingHow to Install PostgreSQL on Ubuntu 22.04

        In this blog post, we are going to show you how to install PostgreSQL on Ubuntu 22.04 OS.

      • TecMintHow to Upgrade Linux Mint 20.3 to Linux Mint 21

        If you do not wish to do a fresh Linux Mint 21 Vanessa installation, you can simply upgrade from an earlier version.

        In this article, we will walk you through the steps to upgrade Linux Mint 20.3 (the latest minor version of the 20.x version) to Linux Mint 21.

      • Jim NielsenMultiple Inline SVGs (From QuickChart)

        I’m working on generating some stats and accompanying graphs for my blog (blog post to come on this…).

      • AddictiveTipsThe easy way to run a virtual machine on LAN with Linux

        The easiest way to run a virtual machine over the LAN with Linux is by using Quickemu. This tool automates the configuration and setup of QEMU virtual machines on Linux and makes remote connections (with the Spice protocol) easier.

        To install Quickemu, you’ll need to open up a terminal window. You can launch a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, search for “Terminal” in the app menu and launch it that way.

        With the terminal window open and ready to use, follow the installation instructions below that correspond with the Linux OS you use.

      • ELinuxHow to prevent Email blacklisting | Linux Webhosting blog

        Mails can bounce back with the message ” Your message is blocked for low reputation”, or similar. If you wonder: it is likely that your e-mail landed on an e-mail server blacklist! This happens when your domain/mail server IP is blacklisted by any 3rd party anti-spam agency. Eg: Spamhaus, RBL, CBL, etc. Also, many mail servers reject such emails outright if the mails look suspicious and have a probability of being spam mail. Your mail can be flagged for spam and get rejected.

        This can even happen if your are not a spammer and if your e-mails have no bad intention. If your e-mails are blocked due to blacklisting there are things you can do to remove your mail address from the list. We give you some information about that further below. However, more important, we like to give you some hints how you can avoid that your e-mail address is putted on a blacklist:

        What steps to take to keep away from blacklists?

      • AddictiveTipsTranslate text to different languages on the Linux desktop

        Are you tired of loading up Google Translate in a web browser each time you need to translate some text? If you’re on Linux, you’ll love Dialect. It uses the Google Translate API and allows you to do translations from the Linux desktop quickly. Here’s how to use it.

      • AddictiveTipsHow to use the new Gnome Shell remote desktop feature

        Gnome 42 has a fantastic new feature that allows Linux users to share their desktop with Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol remotely. In this guide, we’ll show you how you can use this great new feature.

      • AddictiveTipsEasily create bootable drives on Linux with BootQT

        BootQT is a highly easy-to-use bootable drive creation tool for Linux. In this guide, we’ll show you how to install it. We’ll also go over how you can easily use BootQT to create bootable drives on your Linux system.

      • ID RootHow To Install OpenCV on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install OpenCV on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, OpenCV is a programming library that focuses on real-time computer vision with the support of GPU and multi-core processing. OpenCV is used for a wide range of applications, including medical image analysis, stitching street view images, surveillance video, detecting and recognizing faces, extracting 3D models, and much more. OpenCV is a cross-platform library so that it can run well on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

        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 OpenCV 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.

      • ID RootHow To Install Steam on Linux Mint 21 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Steam on Linux Mint 21. For those of you who didn’t know, Steam is a multi-platform application for playing games. By having it installed on your system, you can conveniently play games on Linux just like you can do with the Windows operating system. In addition to providing a convenient way to purchase and download games, Steam offers features like user-created mods, achievements, and cloud saves.

        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 Steam on Linux Mint 21 (Vanessa).

      • Make Use OfHow to Create Taskbar and Menu Entries for Linux Applications

        Sometimes Linux applications aren't available from your distro's repositories and software stores, or as downloadable DEB or RPM packages. Many times apps are only available as AppImages or old-school tarballs. These standalone executables don't actually install, they just run.

        The problem is, with no installation, you don't have taskbar or menu entries for these apps. While there are tools to make creating these entries easier, it's good to know how to manually create them yourself.

        Luckily, most major Linux desktop environments rely on a common set of specifications provided by freedesktop.org. So the process of creating application shortcuts works the same on different Linux distributions.

      • Make Use OfHow to Create and Use Your Own Cloud-Based VPN Server

        Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are a mainstay of internet privacy—offering anonymity and the ability to disguise your location. With servers around the world, commercial VPN providers allow you to access geoblocked content by making it appear that you are in a country where that content is allowed. A VPN protects your privacy by altering your IP address, making it more difficult to associate your online activity with your real identity.

      • CitizixHow to Install & Configure Redis 7 on Rocky Linux/Alma Linux 9

        Redis is an in-memory data structure store, used as a distributed, in-memory key–value database, cache and message broker, with optional durability. Redis supports different kinds of abstract data structures, such as strings, lists, maps, sets, sorted sets, HyperLogLogs, bitmaps, streams, and spatial indices.

        In this tutorial we are going to learn how to install Redis 6 on Rocky Linux/Centos 8.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Brightness Controller on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

        At one point, Desktop Dimmer was a popular Ubuntu application used to control screen brightness. However, the Desktop Dimmer application is now outdated and no longer works in Ubuntu 22.04. The best possible alternative to the Desktop Dimmer application is Brightness Controller, a graphical user interface (GUI) based application that works like Desktop Dimmer to help us control screen brightness. While Brightness Controller may not be an exact replacement for Desktop Dimmer, it does offer similar functionality. It is currently the best option for those looking for a screen brightness controller.

        The following tutorial will teach you how to install Brightness Controller on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish using a LaunchPAD APT PPA with the command line terminal.

      • UNIX CopHow to install ZapZap on Linux – An excellent no official WhatsApp desktop client

        WhatsApp is a popular messaging service, but it doesn’t have an official client for Linux. This is unbelievable, but today you will learn how to install ZapZap on Linux, a WhatsApp client for the desktop on Linux.

      • Linux HintVim Redo Command

        The “redo” term is used as the opposite of the “undo” term used in several fields of study, i.e., it will remove the changes made by “undo” and take you to the original state. While doing any important task, have you ever encountered a situation where you have accidentally done something that you never wanted to do? If so, then you may have felt that the mistake that happened accidentally should be “undone” to get back to the original status of the work. In Ubuntu 20.04, we came up with its Vim editor that uses the “undo” and “redo” commands in it to perform opposite functions. So, we will be discussing the use of “redo” command today.

      • ZDNetHow to open websites as apps with Firefox on Linux | ZDNet

        Linux Mint includes a few "homegrown" applications that are pretty fabulous, including Bulky (batch renaming tool), Hypnotics (internet TV viewer), Mint Install (USB image writer), Mint Stick (USB formatting tool), Sticky Notes (notes tool), Thingy (document search), Warpinator (file transfer), Xviewer (image viewer), and one of my favorites, Web-App Manager.

        The Web-App Manager tool makes it possible to open websites as web apps with Firefox. This feature has been available to Chrome for some time, but not Firefox.

      • Linux HintVi Delete Empty Unwanted Lines

        There are several editors available in different distributions of the Linux systems, especially when you are working on the Ubuntu 20.04 Linux system. These editors come in handy when you need to edit or modify something within the file opened, i.e., add, remove, or update information. The “Vi/Vim” editor in Ubuntu 20.04 is very interactive, with various and simple modes to use within it. In today’s guide, we will be discussing the use of different Linux commands to remove extra empty lines from the file opened in the Vi/Vim editor.

      • VideoHow to install MEGAsync on Pop!_OS 22.04 - Invidious

        In this video, we are looking at how to install MEGAsync on Pop!_OS 22.04.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install/Upgrade cURL on Linux Mint 21 LTS

        For those who aren’t familiar, cURL is a software application that enables you to transfer data between two systems using a variety of protocols – including HTTP, FTP, and even email. cURL is often used for web development tasks such as testing website functionality or downloading files from a remote server. However, its capabilities go far beyond that. With a little bit of creativity, cURL can be used to automate a variety of tasks – making it an incredibly useful tool for developers and system administrators alike.

        One of the most powerful features of cURL is its ability to execute commands on a remote system. This can be used to trigger scripts or programs on another machine – which can be extremely useful for automating tasks or performing complex actions that would otherwise be difficult to do manually. For example, you could use cURL to automatically download and install updates on a remote server, saving you the hassle of logging in and performing the updates manually.

        Of course, cURL can also be used for more mundane tasks – such as simply transferring files between two systems. This can be handy if you need to quickly move a file from one machine to another – without having to go through the hassle of setting up a full-fledged file transfer protocol like FTP. In addition, cURL can be used to download entire websites – which can help create offline backups or mirror sites.

        All in all, cURL is an incredibly versatile tool that can save you a lot of time and effort when working with data on multiple systems. Whether you automate tasks or transfer files, cURL is worth learning!

      • GhacksHow to upgrade to Linux Mint 21 using the Upgrade Tool - gHacks Tech News

        Last week, the Linux Mint team released Linux Mint 21, a new base version of the popular Linux distribution. Today, instructions have been published on updating existing installations of Linux Mint to the new release.

      • CitizixHow to install and configure MongoDB 6 on Ubuntu 22.04

        In this guide we are going to learn how to install MongoDB 6.0 Community Edition on an Ubuntu 22.04 server.

        MongoDB is a cross-platform document-oriented NoSQL database program that uses JSON-like documents with optional schemas. MongoDB is developed by MongoDB Inc. and licensed under the Server Side Public License.

        MongoDB was built for people building internet and business applications who need to evolve quickly and scale elegantly. Companies and development teams of all sizes use MongoDB for a wide variety of reasons.

      • Linux HintHow to Transfer Files from Raspberry Pi to a System Using FileZilla

        File sharing programs improve work efficiency and assist in saving time. There are many programs to share files; one of the simplest file-sharing systems is FileZilla, which works on the principle of FTP and allows you the freedom to share files from your Raspberry Pi to your PC or any other device.

        In this article, we will guide you on how you can install FileZilla on your Raspberry Pi device and start sharing files to another system.

      • CitizixHow to Install and Set Up mysql 8 on Ubuntu 22.04

        In this guide we are going through the process of installing and configuring mysql server 8 in Ubuntu 22.04. We will also test our installation by creating a database and a user.

        MySQL is one of the popular open-source relational database management system. It is commonly installed as part of the popular LAMP or LEMP (Linux, Apache/Nginx, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP/Python/Perl) stack.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Wine (WineHQ) on Linux Mint 21 LTS

        Wine is the open-source compatibility layer that allows you to run Windows applications on various operating systems, including macOS and Linux. It translates each system call your application makes into an equivalent POSIX function used across all three platforms – something which can be very helpful if one doesn’t have access or need specific features available only in Microsoft’s OSs!

        A few benefits come with using Wine, such as not having to worry about licensing issues associated with Windows-specific software or data compatibility between different platforms. Another significant advantage is that it’s usually much easier to find troubleshooting solutions for issues online using standard, well-documented software like Wine rather than windows-exclusive alternatives. For these reasons and more, many users find Wine a helpful tool for running Windows applications on their preferred operating system.

        One of the most significant features worthy of mentioning is The Wine AppDB is a godsend for Linux users who want to use Windows-based programs. Not all programs will work this way, but the vast majority do. This program saves the trouble of dual-booting Windows and Linux or using a virtual machine. You can install Wine and run the apps you need in a Windows-like environment. Some programs may have strange bugs or crashes when run with no errors beforehand, but that’s to be expected. Overall, the Wine AppDB is a handy tool for anyone who needs to use Windows apps on their Linux machine.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Steam on Linux Mint 21 LTS

        Steam is a video game cross-platform that Valve created. It was launched as a standalone software client in September 2003 as a way for Valve to provide automatic updates for their games and expanded to include games from third-party publishers. Nowadays, the Steam library is filled with thousands, if not tens of thousands of games across all gaming consoles. Originally, Steam was only available for Windows, but it has since been ported to macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and even the Nintendo Switch.

        In addition to providing a convenient way to purchase and download games, Steam offers features like user-created mods, achievements, and cloud saves. The Steam Workshop makes it easy to find and install community-created content for your favorite games.

        In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install Steam on Linux Mint 21 LTS release series desktop using the command line terminal and APT package manager utilizing the default APT repository or importing the official steam repository, which you can then install the stable branch, or for users that want to see the next version release of Steam’s launcher, you can install the beta branch.

      • markaicode by MarkThe Most Essential SSH Commands You Must Know | Mark Ai Code

        We will cover the SSH commands that every network administrator should be familiar with. essential for managing your VPS or Linux server.

      • H2S Media3 Ways to install MySQL Workbench on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Linux

        MySQL Workbench is a graphical user interface developed to offer an easy-to-use graphical interface and a collection of tools for managing and working with MySQL databases. The system can be used to design and edit databases, present them clearly and administer them.

        It provides extensive functions for daily work with the databases and can be used to design, create, edit, administer and display databases. The software is able to extract structures from existing databases and reproduce them clearly.

      • markaicode by MarkHow to Install Calibre E-book on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | Mark Ai Code

        Get the steps to install MySQL Workbench on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Linux Jammy JellyFish to manage MySQL or MariaDB Databases graphically.€ 

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Krita on Linux Mint 21 LTS

        Krita is a free and open-source graphics editing program popular among digital painters, 2D animators, and those who enjoy general image manipulation. Its wide range of features and ease of use make it an excellent choice for both beginners and professionals. Krita runs on Windows, macOS (both Intel 64bit), Linux hits, Android & Chrome OS systems and has something to offer everyone. With its extensive brush library and wide range of colors, Krita is perfect for creating digital paintings.

        For those who prefer 2D animation, Krita offers a timeline mode that makes it easy to create smooth animations. And for anyone who enjoys playing around with images, Krita’s many filters and effects provide endless possibilities for experimentation. Whether you’re a professional artist or just starting with digital art, Krita will indeed have something to suit your needs.

        The following tutorial will teach you how to install Krita on Linux Mint 21 LTS release series using the official PPA to install the command terminal’s digital editor.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install ModSecurity 3 with Nginx on AlmaLinux 9

        ModSecurity, often referred to as Modsec, is a free, open-source web application firewall (WAF). ModSecurity was created as a module for the Apache HTTP Server. However, since its early days, the WAF has grown and now covers an array of HyperText Transfer Protocol request and response filtering capabilities for various platforms such as Microsoft IIS, Nginx, and Apache. ModSecurity’s primary role is to provide protection for web applications by filtering incoming traffic and blocking malicious requests. The WAF can also be configured to monitor traffic for certain types of activity, such as SQL injection attacks, and generate alerts when such activity is detected. In addition to its security benefits, ModSecurity can improve web performance by caching rules and eliminating the need to process the same request repeatedly.

        Along with Modsecurity installation, OWASP Core Rule Set (CRS) is commonly used in conjunction with an open-source set of rules written in ModSecurity’s SecRules language. The CRS is highly regarded in the security industry, and ModSecurity is considered one of the most effective ways to protect web applications from attack. While ModSecurity is not a silver bullet, it is an essential tool in the arsenal of any organization that takes web security seriously.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install MongoDB 6.0 on Debian 11 Bullseye

        MongoDB is a powerful document-oriented database system. Classified as a NoSQL database, MongoDB eschews the traditional table-based relational database structure in favor of JSON-like documents with dynamic schemas (MongoDB calls this BSON), integrating data in certain types of applications easier and faster. Although it uses memory for storage, it can also write data to disk so that it persists beyond the life of the process. In addition to its speed and flexibility, MongoDB’s other main advantage is its active and vibrant open source community, with drivers and tools for many programming languages. As a result, MongoDB has become one of the most popular databases for modern web applications.

        The following tutorial will teach you how to install MongoDB 6.0 Debian 11 Bullseye Desktop or Server by importing the community repository and installing and securing the software.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Pale Moon Browser on Linux Mint 21 LTS

        Pale Moon is a web browser built on an independently developed source that offers features and optimizations to improve stability. It was forked off from Firefox/Mozilla code many years ago. Its focus is efficiency in use by carefully selecting what should be included – it has full customization options alongside this growing collection of tools! Pale Moon’s unique user interface makes it stand out, which allows users to customize their browsing experience fully. It also includes performance-enhancing features, such as optimized JavaScript and HTML rendering. In addition, Pale Moon is one of the few browsers still supporting the use of add-ons developed for the older versions of Firefox. These add-ons can provide additional functionality or customization options unavailable in other browsers. As a result, Pale Moon provides users with a unique and efficient browsing experience that is not available in other browsers.

        More information about Pale Moon for those that have never heard about the browser before can visit Pale Moon’s information page, which can show more details, and screenshots about the browser.

        In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install Pale Moon Browser on Linux Mint 21 LTS desktop using the command line terminal with tips about maintaining and removing the browser versions.

      • Trend OceansHow to Check Video Resolution Width(W) and Height(H) in Linux

        When you check statistics, video consumption among users is increasing, which means video consumption is becoming part of daily life for people of all ages. So I thought, why not add a video of the performed steps, which will be very helpful for the reader to understand the steps?

        For that reason, I started recording the output of the terminal using the inbuilt GNOME 42 screen recording features, but the problem for me was that I was unaware of the screencast or video width and height, so I was intrigued to know the height and width of the video through a terminal.

    • Games

      • GamingOnLinuxSteam Deck hits 4,500 games officially Verified or Playable

        After only being available for a few months now officially and with Valve still going through the reservation queue, the Steam Deck has hit 4,500 titles officially marked Verified or Playable.

      • GamingOnLinuxThe Final Frontier Bundle has some fun space sci-fi available

        Once again Humble Bundle have something that's quite interesting with a nice mixture of sci-fi stuff in the Final Frontier Bundle. Going over each game I'll list the Steam Deck Verified rating plus either Native Linux status or ProtonDB ranking so you've got the full picture.

      • Björn WärmedalSim City: 31 Years Young

        I was six years old when the first Sim City was published. As a kid I never played it, because when I had a computer to play anything on I got my hands on Sim City 2000; the first Sim City game I ever knew of.

      • GamingOnLinuxDespot's Game: Dystopian Army Builder releases September 15

        After currently being in Early Access for around 10 months, Despot’s Game: Dystopian Army Builder is set to fully release for all platforms on September 15.

      • GamingOnLinuxSandbox voxel game and game engine Minetest 5.6.0 is out now

        Want to play something somewhat resembling Minecraft with excellent modding support, that's also free and open source? Minetest is what you need and a big new release is out now. Minetest is a game engine and platform, for others to build upon and make whole games like a clone of Minecraft and tons of other unique entire game-packs and mods.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • GNOME 43 Wallpapers

          Evolution and design can co-exist happily in the world of desktop wallpapers. It’s desirable to evolve within a set of constraints to create a theme in time, set up a visual brand that doesn’t rely on putting a logo on everything. At the same time it’s healthy to stop once in a while, do a small reflection on what’s perhaps a little dated and do a fresh redesign.

          I took extra time this release to focus on refreshing the whole wallpaper set for 43. While the default wallpaper isn’t a big departure from 3.38 hexagon theme, most of the supplemental wallpapers have been refreshed from the ground up. The video above shows a few glimpses of all the one way streets it took for the default to land back in the hexagons.

        • OMG Ubuntu7 Big Changes Coming to Nautilus in GNOME 43

           Now, I’ve had a bit too much coffee (which is to blame for the barrage of words beginning with ‘B’ in this blog post), and, having gone on hands-on with what’s in store, I’m feeling pumped. So here I am, bashing out a few Gutenberg blocks’ worth of brazen brio in honour of the Nautilus 43 beta.

          So read on for a quick run through of seven (why? 4 + 3 = 7) user-facing changes coming in Nautilus as part of September’s GNOME 43 release (and likely included as part of Ubuntu 22.10 this October).

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • [Old] Tech Philosophy Ponderings 2022

      Given all this, what spaces in consumer tech are actually left to play in? Not many, it seems.

      For processors, the options (at the moment, yes, I know RISC-V is coming but it’s not here yet in a high enough performance form) are AMD (staying in the x86 world), and various ARM cores. We finally have some high performance, non-Apple ARM cores, though finding them at an affordable cost is harder than one might hope, mostly due to licensing fees.

      On the operating system side, I’m pretty much left with the FOSS OSes - Linux and the BSDs, with Linux having rather more general support for the sorts of things I do. On the other hand, the paranoia of OpenBSD seems to have held up alarmingly well through the past few years - and, conveniently, there’s an OS that blends the paranoia of OpenBSD with the general usability of Linux. Yes, I know this sounds like the punchline to a bad joke… but Qubes is a thing, and I’ll be going into depth on it this year.

    • Data SwampHow to get NixOS hosted at OpenBSD Amsterdam

      In this guide, I'll explain how to create a NixOS VM in the hosting company OpenBSD Amsterdam which only provides OpenBSD VMs hosted on OpenBSD.

      I'd like to thank the team at OpenBSD Amsterdam who offered me a VM for this experiment. While they don't support NixOS officially, they are open to have customers running non-OpenBSD systems on their VMs.

    • BSD

      • FreeBSDFreeBSD Quarterly Status Report Second Quarter 2022 | The FreeBSD Project

        Here is the second quarterly report of 2022, with 26 reports included.

        This quarter the quarterly team managed to publish the report much faster and, hopefully, with much fewer mistakes. If however you notice some errors, please report them so that we can correct them and also add some automatic checks in our tools to prevent them in the future and stay as efficient as possible in the pubblication process.

        We would also like to remind you that if for any reason you need more time to submit a quarterly report, the team will wait for you, but please warn us so that we are aware that some report is still missing.

        Many thanks to all those that have chosen to share their work with the FreeBSD community through the quarterly reports.

        Lorenzo Salvadore, on behalf of the status report team.

    • Arch Family

      • 9to5LinuxArch Linux-Based EndeavourOS Artemis Neo Is Now Available as a Minor Update

         Powered by the Linux 5.18.16 kernel, as well as the Mesa 22.1.4, XOrg Server 21.1.4, and NVIDIA 515.65.01 graphics stacks, EndeavourOS Artemis Neo downgrades the Calamares graphical installer to version 3.2.59 from 3.2.60 to address a local issue, fix an archlinux-keyring issue affecting offline installations, and adding the ability for the installation process to rank EndeavourOS mirrors for online installations in addition to Arch Linux’s mirrors.

      • Artemis Neo is available – EndeavourOS

        Our Artemis Neo ISO is available for users who want to install a fresh EndeavourOS on hardware or virtual machine.

        This release isn’t shipping with big improvements from our side but has some corrections to the Artemis release from last month and an upstream refresh for the live environment and the offline install option. So there aren’t any fixes done on the DE options like the empty icon on our Plasma installations. We are working on it, but most of our team is in Summer holiday mode, so these changes will be shipping on one of our upcoming major releases later this year.

    • Fedora Family / IBM

      • Its FOSS7 Best Fedora Based Linux Distributions

         I am not going into Ubuntu vs Fedora debate. I am just saying that I will list some options if you want to try something in the Fedora domain.

        Please remember that I am not going towards the server-oriented Linux distributions. The list here is for desktop Linux users.

        The list is in no particular ranking order, and the options mentioned may not always be a good fit for a new user. So, make sure that you explore the documentation before installing any Fedora-based distro for the first time.

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • GamingOnLinuxLinux Mint 21 is out now and you can easily upgrade

        In case you didn't already know Linux Mint 21 is officially out now with editions that come with the Cinnamon, MATE or Xfce desktop environments.

      • The Fridge: Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 747

        Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 747 for the week of July 31 – August 6, 2022.

      • Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 747
      • UbuntuElectrical and electronic vehicle architecture trends: an exploration
      • OMG UbuntuRegistration for the (All New) Ubuntu Summit Opens Sept 1, 2022 - OMG! Ubuntu!

        You will be able to register to attend the revived Ubuntu Summit from September 1, 2022.

        A webpage to promote the 3-day in-person conference (which folks will be able to follow along with online) is live, ahead of the event itself, which is being held in Prague, Czech Republic between November 7th to 9th, 2022.

        Canonical says the new summit is an “opportunity for the broader Ubuntu community to learn and speak about the amazing work and success stories happening in the ecosystem. We want to enable a wide and diverse group to connect, collaborate, and lower the barriers between what they do best and how Ubuntu can help achieve that”.

        I blog about Ubuntu and I from my vantage point the Ubuntu community — which spans developers and technical enthusiasts through to users and companies — has waned since the peak years of 2012, which is when the last in-person conference under the UDS banner was held.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • [Old] MakeReview: Adafruit MagTag

        The Adafruit MagTag might just contain everything that you ever wanted in an e-Ink refrigerator magnet. First, the display itself is a comfortable 2.9″ presenting a 298x128x4 grayscale image. The 4-level grayscale is an excellent design choice, allowing improved image rendering while keeping display updates at about one second (Tri-color black, white, red displays often have long update times). Above the display are four downward-lighting RGB NeoPixels that create a sort of billboard illumination effect. Below the display, mirroring the LEDs, are four buttons connected to GPIO pins. A light sensor rounds out the devices found on the front of the board.

        The brains of the operation is an ESP32-S2 microcontroller. This latest iteration in the ESP line of Wi-Fi-enabled microcontrollers adds native USB support, allowing Adafruit to deploy CircuitPython to the platform. But that’s not all that’s found on the backside. There is a connector and charge controller for a LiPo battery and a convenient space to affix a battery with double-sided tape. Crammed in around that are a small speaker and a three-axis accelerometer.

      • [Old] MakeReview: Adafruit Feather RP2040

        One of the most exciting things about the RP2040 is the number of programming environments to which it is amenable. Raspberry Pi’s own Pico SDK enables development in C, C++ or assembly, while Earle Philhower’s Arduino-Pico core brings unofficial Arduino support to the board. But because this is an Adafruit board, we thought it would make the most sense to try it with CircuitPython, the MicroPython fork that Adafruit recommends as the best way for newcomers to the world of microcontrollers to get started.

      • [Old] MakeReview: Adafruit Metro ESP32-S2

        The Adafruit Metro ESP32-S2 packages the best features of Adafruit’s recent microcontroller boards in a traditional Arduino Uno form factor. The heart of the board, the Espressif ESP32-S2, improves on the ESP line of Wi-Fi-enabled microcontrollers by adding native USB support. The addition of USB mass storage to the platform allows drag-and-drop deployment of Adafruit’s CircuitPython, making the board very easy to program. It also allows the board to act as a USB input device (HID). The form factor allows shields to be added to the Metro, but be aware that all I/O runs at 3.3V. Thus shields designed for the Arduino Uno’s 5V system may not work.

      • Linux GizmosRP4B based dual-arm robot offers 13 Degrees of Freedom

        The myBuddy by Elephant Robotics, is a dual-arm platform built around a Raspberry Pi 4B. This platform is enabled with thirteen Degrees of Freedom (DoF) and a maximum payload of 250g for each arm. The platform also supports VR control and integrates a 7” touchscreen display.

        Following the introduction of the mechArmPi 270, the myBuddy is another robotic platform based on Raspberry Pi 4B developed for students or software developers. The myBuddy already provides preconfigured movements/functions, however it can also be programmed by beginners (i.e. Blocky) or advanced users (i.e. Python, ROS and RVIZ).€ 

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • [Old] Journey to the Center of the Junction Box

        Two posts ago, I talked about hunting arc fault warnings in solar strings - and I’ve found and replaced the panel that was faulting. As near as I can tell, the fault was inside the junction box - it was running hot, and opening it up… well, it looks pretty toasted. But is this panel dead? Or is there some way to make use of the perfectly good silicon on the front of the panel despite this corrosion and thermal damage in the junction box on the back?

      • HackadayHackaday Prize 2022: A Plasma Tweeter For Ultimate Clarity

        In the world of audio there are a huge variety of esoteric technologies which are rarely seen. One such is the plasma tweeter, a type of loudspeaker which generates sound by modulating a small electrical discharge. The benefit of this design comes in its delivering the closest possible to a point audio source, in effect the theoretical ideal speaker for treble frequencies. They’re a little hazardous due to the voltage but aren’t too difficult to make, as demonstrated by [Mircemk] whose version uses a recycled power pentode tube — which is how it showed up in the Hack it Back round of the Hackaday Prize.

      • Red HatFirmware updates, part 3: Firmware Delivery and Building

        This is the third post in a series about doing device firmware updates (DFU) over the air (OTA) and continuous deployment of firmware for embedded devices. We'll explore the different parts of a complete end-to-end system with this capability.

      • HackadayAutomated MicroSD Card Swapping Helps In Embedded Shenanigans

        [Saulius Lukse] has been working on some single board computer, seemingly, running Linux. Naturally, that boots from a microSD card – and as development goes on, that card has to be reimaged all the time. Sick of constantly plugging and unplugging the microSD card between the SBC and an SD card reader, [Saulius] started looking for a more automated solution – and it wasn’t long before he found out about the SDWire project, a hardware tool that lets you swap a card between a DUT (Device Under Test) and your personal computer with no moving parts involved.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Programming/Development

      • Red Hat8 elements of securing Node.js applications | Red Hat Developer

        Making your Node.js applications secure is an essential part of the development of Node.js modules and applications. Security practices apply to both the code itself and your software development process. This installment of the ongoing Node.js Reference Architecture series focuses on some of the key security elements that JavaScript developers should address.

      • Adriaan ZhangGenerating Random Floats in [0, 1)

        Recently, I found myself in a situation where I needed to generate a random float between 0 and 1 using a random 32-bit integer in C. This subject has been done to death before, but I felt like feeling a little pain so I decided to figure it out myself before using someone else's better solution.

      • ChrisQueueing Systems 2: Percentiles and Simulation

        In response to the previous article on Markov chains to model queueing systems I received a lot of requests on how to compute percentiles.

        I’m happy about that! More people need to realise that the upper percentiles is where it’s at. That’s what you need to know to evaluate most systems. The average is useful for things like capacity planning and resource allocation, but not to determine user experience.

      • Grgely NagyThe Ideal Continuous Integration System, part two

        Continuing my continuous integration system adventures, in today's episode, I will explore a few ideas I had since.

        As you may recall, I was unhappy with how the build stage turned out to be with the templates. It was reasonably short, but I felt bad about bolting templating on top of YAML, it also wasn't exactly clear what's going on,when are we overriding stuff in the template, and when are we adding to a list? The way I handled matrices and templating wasn't much to my liking either, it put too much burden on the CI, and some scenarios were totally opaque for anyone not versed in the language and its features.

      • RlangHow to write insertion sort in R

        The insertion sort algorithm works by constructing a sorted vector one element at a time: [...]

  • Leftovers

    • HackadayThe Car Of Theseus Boldly Goes Where Many Cars Have Gone Before

      We could all use a good chuckle every once in a while. [William Osman] revisited the ship of Theseus in a simplified manner. How many parts can you remove from a car and still be a car? (Video, embedded below the break.)

    • HackadayLarge Tip Driven Copter Turns Very Slowly

      Picking propeller size for any aircraft, but especially VTOLs, it’s a tradeoff between size and RPM. You can either move a large volume of air slowly or a small volume of air quickly. Small and fast tend to be the most practical for many applications, but if you’re thinking outside the box like [amazingdiyprojects], you can build a massive propeller and make it fly at just one revolution per second. (Video, embedded below the break.)

    • VOA NewsWhat is the US National Archives?

      When John Carlin started his job at the head of the U.S. National Archives back in June of 1995, he was shocked to learn that government emails were not being preserved.

      “They, at that time, did not consider email as a record, and I said, ‘Folks, I may not be an archivist, but those are records,’” says Carlin, who served as archivist for a decade. “By September I was able to go through the process of getting that changed. More and more records now are coming in the archives in the electronic form.”

    • Education

      • Counter PunchChegg, Cheating and Australian Universities

        The student, along with others featured in the programme, talk about accessing a multitude of websites that provide “support services” that aid the cheating industrial complex. As to whether he is worried about being caught out, he likens it to the consequences of speeding: it’s all fine if you don’t get caught.

        The pressures are enormous, notably for international students or those on scholarships who must achieve certain grades to retain their place or stipend. The stresses of the pandemic on learning has also pushed students to search for other aides in facilitating study to maintain their grades.

    • Hardware

      • HackadayReplace An AA Battery With Paper

        Paper is an ubiquitous part of society; so much so that the incredible engineering behind it often goes unnoticed. That isn’t the case for [Robert], though, who has a deep appreciation for the material and all its many uses far beyond recording information. In this particular video, he recreates a method found by researchers to turn a piece of paper into a battery with equivalent performance to a AA-sized alkaline battery. (Video, embedded below the break.)

      • The Next PlatformDatacenter Props Up Nvidia As Gaming Sales Collapse

        For the past four years, Nvidia’s datacenter business, which includes GPUs, networking, and servers, has been hot on the heels of its gaming GPU business. In the first quarter of fiscal 2023 ended in early May, the datacenter division edged out in front of gaming, and thanks to a collapse in gaming GPU sales – which may be as much about the flooding of the market with used GPUs aimed at cryptocurrency mining as it is about demand for shiny new GPUs for video games – the datacenter business is going to by far outpace gaming sales for Nvidia.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

      • Common DreamsOpinion | How We Must Address the Monkeypox Emergency

        In early May, Massachusetts General Hospital confirmed that it was treating a patient with monkeypox – the first case of the rare virus in the United States in 2022. As of August 1, there are now 5,811 confirmed cases of the virus in the United States, and more than 23,000 cases have been reported across 76 countries. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in late July of this year found that 98 percent of those infected between April and June 2022 across 16 countries identified as men who have sex with men.€ € 

      • TruthOutCOVID Hasn't Been Defeated, But Effective Public Health Measures Have Been
    • Proprietary

      • Jim NielsenThe OG Social Network: Other People’s Websites

        But what if the world's information becomes locked in disparate silos, inaccessible to a search engine? Is there a future where Google dies on the vine, not enough content to make their engine useful?

        Walled social networks were always a problem for Google.

        But now there’s Slack. Discord. Substack. Newsletters. Paywalls. All walled and inaccessible to Google — an existential problem.

        Perhaps history will conclude killing Google reader killed Google, an overly-simplistic conclusion but poetically ironic nonetheless.

    • Security

      • LinuxSecurityBenefits & Drawbacks of Using a VPN on Linux

        If you use Linux, whether it is just to browse the web, use it as a VPN server, or even if you use it to hack people (Just kidding!), then it is pretty essential and worthwhile to understand the pros and cons of using a VPN for Linux. An effective VPN works by routing all your Internet traffic through another computer. This means that if you use the Internet with a VPN, the remote computer/server in which traffic is being routed through becomes the source of data. In short, A VPN allows you to secure traffic between two locations, whether that be a VPN server you set up yourself at home or a location provided by a VPN provider, or even between your location and your work office! All your data traffic is routed through an encrypted virtual tunnel. With a VPN, not even your ISP or other third parties can see which websites you visit or the data you send and receive online. This article will explore the benefits and drawbacks of using a VPN on Linux.

      • EFFHacking the Future at DEF CON 30

        Below€ is a listing of all of EFF's official appearances during€ DEF CON 30.€  If you attend the conference, be sure to stop by the EFF booth in the Vendor hall€ and catch up with us directly! Learn more€ about the latest in online rights, get on our action alert list, and take advantage of on-site-only EFF membership specials. This year EFF will present a€ limited-edition member t-shirt design for DC30, created in collaboration with artist Eddie the Y3t1€ Mize and our€ multi-year€ t-shirt puzzle champions: @aaronsteimle, @0xCryptoK, @detective_6, and jabberw0nky of the Muppet Liberation Front.

        "The Man" in the Middle (Virtual Presentation)Friday, August 12 at 12:00 PDT at the€ Blacks In Cybersecurity VillageEFF€ Director of Engineering for Certbot€ Alexis Hancock

      • OpenSource.comFix file permission errors on Linux

        If you're sharing files between two users over the network or "sneaker net" (saving a file to a hard drive and copying it to a computer), you may encounter permission errors when you try to read or write the file. Even if you understand the concept of file permissions, you may not know exactly how to diagnose the problem or solve it. I used to perform data migration as a service, so I've run into my fair share of permission errors and ownership conflicts. Here's how I fix them fast.

      • Enterprisers ProjectDevSecOps: 4 key Kubernetes trends to know | The Enterprisers Project

        To better understand the key trends in Kubernetes and cloud-native security more broadly, we asked more than 300 DevOps, engineering, and security professionals and published the findings in the 2022 State of Kubernetes security report.

      • TechTarget10 top open source security testing tools

         A few quick caveats: All the open source security testing tools listed can be used both lawfully and unlawfully. Make sure that you stay on the right side of the law. If you're not sure whether a given usage is legal or not, talk to a lawyer. If you're still not sure after that, don't do it. Also, when using applications or systems in unexpected ways, sometimes, downtime can occur. Have a plan in case something important goes offline. Lastly, testing well requires a lot of training and practice. Don't expect internal efforts to have the same results as a specialist.

        That said, let's look at 10 security testing tools routinely used by testers. Since it isn't possible to cover the thousands of tools out there, the focus here is on tools that do the following...

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Common DreamsFears of Hate-Inspired Serial Killer Grow as 4th Muslim Man Murdered in Albuquerque

        The murders of four Muslim men of South Asian descent in Albuquerque, New Mexico in recent months—with the latest killing taking place Friday night—have horrified the local community, fueling fears of a serial killer targeting people on the basis of their religion and race.

        Following their discovery of 25-year-old Naeem Hussain late Friday, Albuquerque authorities said the killing "may be connected" to the murders of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, Aftab Hussein, and Mohammad Ahmadi, each of whom was reportedly ambushed and gunned down in New Mexico's largest city.

      • The NationUvalde Congress
      • The NationSpace: The Final Frontier—or the Last Battlespace?

        Space has long been a domain for international rivalry. The US and USSR were fierce competitors in space during the Cold War. The International Space Station has nevertheless served as a model for cooperation. But the current diplomatic breakdown between Russia and the United States makes it harder to develop common rules for further space activity.

      • VOA NewsUN Chief Calls for Access to Ukraine Nuclear Plant After New Attack

        Speaking in Vienna, Tsymbaliuk appealed for the nuclear facility to be declared a demilitarized zone to prevent a Chernobyl-style catastrophe. He contended that Russian forces, with the shelling of the nuclear facility, are trying to cause blackouts in southern Ukraine, where intense fighting is ongoing.

        In his daily video address Monday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for new Western sanctions on Russia's nuclear industry "for creating the threat of a nuclear disaster."

      • Common DreamsOpinion | We Must Seize This Opportunity to End the War in Ukraine
      • Counter PunchIt’s Time to Stop the MAD-Ness!

        MAD= Mutually Assured Destruction, the actual nuclear war planners’ term.

        Think of the billions of years of evolutionary work that would be undone.

      • The NationFor 60 Hours, Israeli Bombs Fell All Around Us, Getting Closer and Closer

        Al-Remal, the Gaza Strip—My wife, Asmaa, and I had just finished Friday lunch when we decided to go out shopping with our newborn son, Rafik. We had been planning for a while to tweak our daily routine with extra sport, so we went on foot. It was a typical Friday afternoon in Gaza in the middle of a very crowded area known as “downtown.” Then, suddenly, the ground shook. We heard four or five loud blasts and the sky went black.

      • TruthOutIsraeli Attacks on Gaza Kill 44, Including 15 Children. Will Ceasefire Hold?
      • Craig MurrayPre-Emptive Murder

        The lives of the latest fifteen Palestinian children to be murdered by Israel in Gaza, lives ripped from their small, terrified bodies with devastating violence, do not seem of much concern to the powerful in the West, or indeed anywhere.

      • Common Dreams'Let Those Numbers Sink In': At Least 45 Palestinians Killed During Israeli Attacks on Gaza

        Dozens of people were killed and hundreds more were wounded during Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip over the weekend, Palestinian officials said as Israel and the militant resistance group Palestinian Islamic Jihad declared a truce late Sunday night.

        "It's outrageous that the Biden administration gave Israel 'full-throated support' for its murderous 'preemptive' assault on Palestinians in Gaza."

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Pro-Israel PACs Are Subverting Open Debate and Free Elections

        Twenty years ago when Congress passed the bipartisan McCain-Feingold bill on campaign finance reform, many celebrated what they hoped would be a new era in US politics. There were limits set for individual contributions and those of political action committees. All contributions in federal elections were to be reported to the Federal Election Commission and made available for public scrutiny. There was also a taxpayer fund established that would allow presidential candidates, if they wished, to secure matching funds for lower-level contributions to their campaigns, if they accepted a limit on their overall spending.

      • Democracy Now“Horrifying”: Gaza Assault Kills 44 Palestinians, 15 Children. Will Ceasefire End Bloodshed?

        The death toll from three days of an Israeli military bombardment on Gaza has reached at least 44 Palestinians, including 15 children. At least 350 Palestinians were wounded. Bombing has since stopped after Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group agreed on Sunday to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt, and border crossings reopened on Monday to allow bare necessities in. We go to Gaza to speak with the journalist and activist Issam Adwan, who says Israel’s military operation is meant to bolster the current Israeli government ahead of November elections. “They are using the Palestinian blood to promote a campaign for certain individuals,” says Adwan.

      • Democracy Now“It Brings Hope”: Colombia Inaugurates Leftist Former Guerrilla as Pres. & Afro-Colombian Woman as VP

        President Gustavo Petro’s inauguration Sunday ushers in a new political era for Colombia, with Francia Márquez Mina becoming the first Afro-Colombian woman to be sworn in as vice president. We feature part of Petro’s historic inauguration speech and play part of a recent interview with Simón Mejía, a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning Colombian band Bomba Estéreo, who says the new leftist presidency “brings hope … to the underrepresented people of the periphery of Colombia.” He also speaks about his time working on a new film project called “El Duende” that centers Afro-Colombians, who have long faced violence and repression.

      • Common DreamsUkraine Plant Under Fire Showcases 'Dangerous' Nature of Nuclear Power, Experts Say

        Critics of atomic energy on Monday described the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia power station in southeastern Ukraine as "a warning that nuclear power plants are a liability, not an asset, especially under extreme conditions of war or climate change."

        "We would not be having this conversation if we were dealing with solar panels or wind turbines."

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Theirs But Not Ours? No War Criminal Should Be Immune From Prosecution

        The issue of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine highlights the decades-long reluctance of today’s major military powers to support the International Criminal Court.

      • Common DreamsUN Chief Denounces Shelling of Ukraine Nuclear Plant as 'Suicidal'

        Global concerns about the possibility of a nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia power station in southeastern Ukraine continued on Monday, with officials from Kyiv calling for the creation of a demilitarized zone around the site and the head of the United Nations condemning the latest shelling there.

        "Any attack [on] a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said at a press conference in Japan.

      • ScheerpostThe Chris Hedges Report: Soldiers Speak Out Against America’s Misguided Wars

        In their new book, veterans Andrew Bacevich and Danny Sjursen describe how the realities of war expose the lies told by generals and politicians about American goodness and virtue.

      • Counter PunchThe Urgency of Nuclear Abolition

        During the period of postponement, the nuclear-armed states have continued to modernise their nuclear weapon arsenals, some have announced increases in the size of their stockpiles, and others have expanded their delivery systems. The US government has changed, but it still seems intent on prefiguring a conflict with China—increasing tensions to manufacture a stand-off, for which it is gearing up in coordination with its allies. The recent announcement of a new military alliance and sharing of nuclear submarine technology amongst Australia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) is part of this scheme.

        This already troubling situation has been massively exacerbated by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Along with the devastation of cities and towns through explosive violence, horrific acts of sexual and gender-based violence, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, the conflict has increased the risk of the use of nuclear weapons. Russian President Putin ordered the country’s nuclear forces to be put on heightened alert status and he and other government officials made several remarks over many months indicating their€ readiness to use€ nuclear weapons if other countries “interfered” in the war.

      • Common DreamsHopes Rise for Return to Iran Nuclear Deal Destroyed by Trump

        Negotiators hashing out a revived Iran nuclear deal said Monday they believe they're close to reaching an agreement to impose limits on Tehran's uranium enrichment, a promising development that came over four years after then-U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally abrogated the landmark accord.

        "It is still up to POTUS and Iran to make the political decisions necessary to restore the agreement and head off growing risks of conflict."

      • Meduza‘Every day, I lose hope’: In their own words, the children of Russian soldiers recount losing their fathers to the war in Ukraine — Meduza
      • Common DreamsTrump Says Mar-a-Lago 'Under Siege, Raided, and Occupied' by FBI

        This is a developing story… Please check back for possible updates...

        Former U.S. President Donald Trump said in a lengthy statement Monday that Mar-a-Lago, his residence in Florida, was "under siege, raided, and occupied" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

      • MeduzaFit for service: Ukraine’s recruitment efforts leave volunteers waiting, while others receive draft notices in unexpected places — Meduza
      • Counter PunchSecretly and Unjustly Executed in Myanmar: My Friend “Jimmy” Kyaw Min Yu, Pride of the 8888 Generation

        The regime is being as brutal as possible in order to make clear that opposition to their rule will result in maximum pain and suffering. Among those killed were some of the most loved and popular leaders of the ongoing movement to overthrow the dictatorship: hip hop artist and elected parliamentary representative, Phyo Zeya Tha, leader of Generation Wave that followed the 2007 Saffron Revolution; Hla Myo Aung; € Aung Thura Zaw; and Kyaw Min Yu—better known to his friends, among whom I count myself, as Jimmy.

        Jimmy was the pride of “the 8888 generation.” At precisely 8:08 am on August 8, 1988,€  a synchronized and coordinated nationwide uprising broke out€  and established a de facto government. Neighborhoods governed themselves, students directed traffic, and councils comprised mainly of monks and students served as judges and peaceful arbiters of disputes. A general strike shut down the economy. But the military struck back with an iron fist, thousands of people were killed, and even more arrested. For weeks, the military roamed the country, arbitrarily murdering activists, until the general strike collapsed on October 3.

      • Counter PunchBiden, Pelosi and the Futility of Dual Containment

        Dual containment is more problematic than any single-minded concept of containment.€  The Truman administration briefly found itself in a policy of dual containment in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when it endeavored to stop any Soviet domination of the European theatre and then risked extending the Korean War into China.€  The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, General Omar Bradley, called it the “wrong war, at the wrong place, in the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.”€  President Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first president to renounce the objective of victory in a war, which a series of U.S. presidents should have proclaimed much sooner in America’s losing ventures in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

        The Clinton administration practiced dual containment on a smaller scale in the Persian Gulf in the 1990s with similarly unsuccessful results.€  A member of Clinton’s National Security Council, Martin Indyk, officially announced the policy in 1994 to contain both Iran and Iraq, and to make sure Tehran and Baghdad could not interfere with the region’s oil supply or President Bill Clinton’s pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.€  Eventually, President George W. Bush pursued “aggressive containment” against Iran and Iraq, which failed.€  The fact that Iran is the most influential actor in Iraq speaks to the U.S. failure.€  Our prolonged military involvement in the Persian Gulf testifies to this failure as well.€  After all, what happened to the “pivot” from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific that the Obama administration declared in 2011?

      • IT WireAmerican terror victims sue Ericsson over alleged bribery in Iraq

        Swedish telecommunications equipment provider Ericsson has been hit with a lawsuit by Americans who claim its alleged payment of bribes to Al Qaeda and Islamic State in Iraq also helped the two groups to stage terrorist attacks.

        The Wall Street Journal reported on 5 August that more than 500 American service members and civilians were involved in the suit.

        This is the second lawsuit that Ericsson is facing after its alleged payment of bribes in Iraq was revealed in The Guardian which based its report on leaks from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Similar reports were also carried by the BBC and the Washington Post.

        That case was reported in March and was filed by investors who claimed the company had misled them over its dealings in Iraq. Reuters said the filing, by a law company known as Pomeranz, claimed the company had misled investors by exaggerating the extent to which it had eliminated the use of bribes.

    • Environment

      • ABCIn dry California, salty water creeps into key waterways

        They may be close by, but these two rivers, central arms of California's water system, have become too salty to use in some places as the state's punishing drought drags on.

        In dry winters like the one California just had, less fresh water flows down from the mountains into the Sacramento River, the state's largest. That allows saltier water from Pacific Ocean tides to push farther into the state's main water hub, known as the Delta. It helps supply water to two-thirds of the state's 39 million people and to farms that grow fruits and vegetables for the whole nation, playing a key but sometimes underappreciated role in the state's economy.

      • Pro PublicaA Mining Company Buys Out Homeowners to Avoid Cleanup

        The “death map” tells the story of decades of sickness in the small northwest New Mexico communities of Murray Acres and Broadview Acres. Turquoise arrows point to homes where residents had thyroid disease, dark blue arrows mark cases of breast cancer, and yellow arrows mean cancer claimed a life.

        Neighbors built the map a decade ago after watching relatives and friends fall ill and die. Dominating the top right corner of the map, less than half a mile from the cluster of colorful arrows, sits what residents believe is the cause of their sickness: 22.2 million tons of uranium waste left over from milling ore to supply power plants and nuclear bombs.

      • Pro PublicaWhat Is Radon? The Radioactive Gas Is Found in Homes Across the Country
      • Pro PublicaHelp Us Report on Uranium Mining, Milling and Enrichment

        The American uranium industry boomed in the 1950s, pockmarking the West with mines and mills and leaving behind contamination that disproportionately impacted Native American land.

        Four decades ago, the industry collapsed, hit by high-profile nuclear accidents, changes in global markets and the advent of new uranium extraction methods.

      • Energy

        • YLEFinland may resort to rolling blackouts this winter

          Households would be informed in advance of pre-planned power outages, which would likely last between 30 minutes and two hours. Suur-Uski said the blackouts would be targeted alternately to different areas, so consumption would not peak when supplies are short. A blackout in the capital region, for example, would always affect a limited area.

        • [Old] ReutersSwiss brace for rolling four-hour blackouts in any energy crunch

          Switzerland could resort to rolling four-hour regional blackouts should Europe's energy crisis lead to winter power shortages, a senior utility sector official said on Wednesday.

        • Matt RickardBraess's paradox

          The counterintuitive result is called Braess's paradox:

          Adding a new road to a traffic network could make overall travel times longer

        • DeSmogSanders Says Senate Bill ‘Nowhere Near’ Enough as Dems, GOP Tank His Amendments

          After his amendments to expand Medicare and strip out giveaways to the fossil fuel industry were defeated in near-unanimous votes by Democrats and Republicans, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday supported final passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act but said it “goes nowhere near far enough in addressing the problems facing struggling working families.”

      • Wildlife/Nature

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Six ColorsiMessage and the Secret Service

        I was struck by this section of a report by Politico’s Eric Geller involving the deletion of Secret Service messages related to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol: [...]

      • New York TimesMusk Says Twitter Committed Fraud in Dispute Over Fake Accounts

        Mr. Musk argues that Twitter concealed the true number of inauthentic accounts on its platform, accusing the company of fraud. Such accounts made up at least 10 percent of Twitter’s daily active users who see ads, Mr. Musk’s legal team asserted, reiterating worries that he expressed shortly after signing the deal in April. Twitter has maintained that the figure is less than 5 percent.

      • TechdirtElon Musk Still Wants Everyone (Including The Judge) To Believe His Fight With Twitter Is About Spam. It’s Not

        As I type this, I’m sitting in a (fairly uncomfortable) chair in the lobby of a Holiday Inn, having read through nearly 300 pages of legal filings of sniping between Elon Musk (165 pages) and Twitter (127 pages) trying to figure out how to best explain what’s in the filings in a meaningful and accurate way. Because the media coverage of this case continues to suck. For example, you may have heard that Elon Musk “countersued” Twitter. Headlines blasted that left and right and Musk’s fans lapped it up. I saw multiple tweets claiming that Musk was going to cost Twitter “so much” money by suing them back.

      • [Old] QuartzTwitter is blaming Elon Musk for its poor second-quarter results

        Twitter also appeared to respond to Musk’s constant attacks on its user base. Musk has accused the social media platform of lying about the percentage of spam users it counts as real in its regulatory filings.

      • Counter PunchSri Lanka’s Crisis is a Chronicle Foretold
      • Democracy NowViktor Orbán Has Eroded Democracy in Hungary. Now He’s Being Embraced by CPAC & American Right

        CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, ended Saturday in Texas with a speech by former President Trump, after kicking off with far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who just won a fourth term in office. Political scientist Kim Lane Scheppele says American conservatives look to populist leaders turned autocrats in foreign countries like Hungary, Israel and Brazil for strategies to undermine the constitutional democratic process and consolidate power. Orbán, for example, is sharing the “playbook” for “taking over the courts, developing a compliant parliament, shutting down all the independent think tanks, shutting down all the independent agencies of government,” says Scheppele.

      • Counter PunchThe Orban Model: Far-Right Axis Under Construction

        Yet extremists of the Republican Party, or what’s left of a onetime respected political institution (it should change its name to something more accurate) invited a virtual dictator to deliver the keynote address at its popular right-wing get-together, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

        In some of his more belligerent remarks at the conference at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas last week, the creeping authoritarian focused on a theme of uniting Hungary and the United States by coordinating their militaries and by Americans electing conservatives in the midterm elections in November and Europeans doing the same in the European Union election in 2024.

      • Counter PunchKansas: What it Looks Like When the "Center" Wins

        Pro-choice groups hailed the outcome as evidence that abortion rights are a “winning issue” this year; partisan Democrats have reason to look more hopefully toward their chances of holding on to majorities in the US Senate, and maybe even the House of Representatives, this November.

        More interesting, I think, is what the result tells us about where the “moderate center” is in American politics. Letting people vote on one specific issue often produces very different outcomes from letting people vote on “representatives” based on the candidates’ baskets of multiple issues.

      • Counter PunchSurrendering Power to Reverence

        So said Pope Francis last week, at a powwow in Alberta, at the start of his “apology tour” across Canada — for the participation of the Catholic Church in the multi-century horror of Native American “residential schools” on this continent, which more accurately might be called concentration camps for 6-year-olds.

        This papal mega-apology, while cheered by some, has been widely criticized as little more than a wimpy shoulder-shrug — sorry about that — for a governmental, church-complicit policy, lasting well into the 20th century, of snatching indigenous children from their families and squeezing their culture, if not their life, out of them.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | The Frightening Wins of GOP Election Deniers

        Last Tues€­day, Repub€­lican primary voters in Arizona chose elec€­tion deniers as their nomin€­ees for governor, attor€­ney general, and secret€­ary of state. The results make Arizona the only battle€­ground state so far to nomin€­ate for all three top statewide offices proponents of the false claim that the 2020 elec€­tion was some€­how “stolen” from Donald Trump.

      • Common DreamsSanders Says Senate Bill 'Nowhere Near' Enough as Dems, GOP Tank His Amendments

        After his amendments to expand Medicare and strip out giveaways to the fossil fuel industry were defeated in near-unanimous votes by Democrats and Republicans, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday supported final passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act but said it "goes nowhere near far enough in addressing the problems facing struggling working families."

        Sanders, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, offered amendments that would have removed oil and gas handouts from the reconciliation bill; added dental, hearing, and vision coverage to Medicare; established a Civilian Conservation Corps; strengthened the measure's drug price provisions; revived the expanded child tax credit; and hiked the corporate tax rate.

      • ScheerpostThe Significance of the 14th BRICS Summit at This Critical Conjuncture

        Today, the international community is under a cloud of Cold War thinking and power politics, traditional and non-traditional security threats are emerging, and some countries are seeking to expand their military alliances in pursuit of absolute security

      • ScheerpostHow the Communist Party of China Renews and Improves Itself

        An in-depth analysis of the Communist Party of China by Chinese researcher Huang Ping.

      • TruthOutMichigan Probe Links Trump-Backed Attorney General Candidate to Voting Breach
      • Common DreamsMichigan AG Urges Probe of Alleged GOP-Led Effort to Break Into Voting Machines

        Democracy defenders on Monday welcomed reports that Dana Nessel, Michigan's attorney general, is calling for a special prosecutor to probe allegations of a Republican-led attempt to feloniously break into voting machines after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

        "We believe the alleged actions of Mr. DePerno highlight a well-known truth: Our democracy is in danger—both in Michigan and across the country."

      • The NationIlhan Omar Knows Government Must Deliver Big Things

        In the second week of March 2020, at a point when President Donald Trump was busy downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, and many members of Congress were struggling to figure out how to respond to an unprecedented social and economic crisis, US Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) knew just what to do.

      • The NationA Cruel World

        Ottessa Moshfegh’s latest book, Lapvona, is a masterful and excruciating novel about a village of idiots. How do we know that they’re idiots? Because the narrator says so, constantly, mercilessly, and in every possible way. Even before the narration begins, their idiocy is made clear in an epigraph borrowed from a Demi Lovato song: “I feel stupid when I pray.” But Lovato has one up on Lapvona’s characters. At least the singer has enough self-awareness to recognize stupid behavior.1

      • Meduza‘Not With You’: Russian rock band DDT channels Perestroika-era film in new music video about generational politics — Meduza
      • Common DreamsNew Ad Against Herschel Walker Features Ex-Wife's Domestic Violence Accusations

        An advertisement featuring footage of Herschel Walker's ex-wife discussing his alleged threat to kill her garnered national attention Monday—less than three months before the Republican former professional football player will face off against Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia.

        The ad features Cindy DeAngelis Grossman, who filed for divorce from Walker in 2001. According to HuffPost, the footage is from an interview Grossman gave after the 2008 publication of Walker's book, Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

      • Misinformation/Disinformation

        • Can you pick out the correct version of these famous pop culture icons?

          A forthcoming paper by University of Chicago scholars, currently available in preprint, found that people have consistent, confident, and widespread false memories of famous icons—also known as the Visual Mandela Effect. Co-authored by University of Chicago scholars, the paper is the first scientific study of the internet phenomenon.

          Forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science, the paper adds to a growing body of evidence showing consistency in what people remember—but by demonstrating new evidence that there is also consistency in what people misremember.

          “This effect is really fascinating because it reveals that there are these consistencies across people in false memories that they have for images they've actually never seen,” said Asst. Prof. Wilma Bainbridge, a neuroscientist and principal investigator at the Brain Bridge Lab in UChicago’s Department of Psychology.

        • New York TimesDon’t Expect Alex Jones’s Comeuppance to Stop Lies

          Other conspiracy theorists are less likely than Mr. Jones to end up in court, in part because they’ve learned from his mistakes. Instead of straightforwardly accusing the families of mass-shooting victims of making it all up, they adopt a naïve, “just asking questions” posture while poking holes in the official narrative. When attacking a foe, they tiptoe right up to the line of defamation, being careful not to do anything that could get them sued or barred from social media. And when they lead harassment campaigns, they pick their targets wisely — often maligning public figures rather than private citizens, which gives them broader speech protections under the First Amendment.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • New York TimesClassic Internet Censorship

        What is happening in three of the world’s four largest countries — China, India and Indonesia; the U.S. is the 3rd largest — is simpler than that. It fits the classic definition of censorship. Governments are seeking to silence their external critics.

      • TechdirtProject Veritas Not Only Loses Its Vexatious SLAPP Suit Against Stanford, It Has To Pay The University’s Legal Fees

        Project Veritas, the faux conservative group of pranksters pretending to be journalists likes to pretend that they’re “free speech” supporters. But they’re not. They appear to really only support their own free speech, and have a much more flexible view of free speech when it includes speech critical of themselves. Over the past few years, Project Veritas (PV) has gotten fairly aggressive in suing organizations that are critical of PV. That’s… not very free speechy. PV has tried to silence the NY Times, has sued CNN, and last year it sued Stanford and the University of Washington over a blog post debunking some of the usual nonsense from PV.

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

      • New York TimesAxios agrees to sell itself to Cox Enterprises for $525 million.

        The deal is structured so that the company’s three founders — Jim VandeHei, the chief executive; Roy Schwartz, the president; and Mike Allen, a journalist — have financial incentives to stay at the company. Each will be a minority shareholder and will continue to make day-to-day newsroom and business decisions. Alex Taylor, the chief executive and chairman of Cox Enterprises, will join the Axios board.

      • NPRAxios agrees to sell to Cox for $525 million in cash

        Under the deal's terms, the two companies will share seats on Axios' seven-person board, with Cox getting four slots and VandeHei, Allen and Schwartz accounting for the remaining three, according to Axios.

        "This is great for Axios, for our shareholders and American journalism," VandeHei said.

        Axios also reports that the deal calls for Cox to invest $25 million to bolster Axios' media operation. The purchase doesn't include Axios HQ, a software venture that will spin off into its own company, working with corporations' communications departments.

      • VOA NewsArrest of Zimbabwe Journalists ‘Out of Sync’ With Press Freedom Norms

        “They allege l published a false statement on [Internet], but l see this as an intimidation tactic. There were allegations that they are burying people on a part of Glen Forest Memorial Park called Chikomo Chemhute, which is situated at the confluence of Mazowe River, without approval from responsible ministries,” he said.

        Chingarande said he sought comment from all sides in the story before publishing. But, with the story now part of a police matter, he says he is unable to say much more.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • MarginaliaBotspam Apocalypse

        Modern bot traffic is virtually indistinguishable from human traffic, and can pummel any self-hosted service into the ground, flood any form with comment spam, and is a chronic headache for almost any small scale web service operator.

        They're a major part in killing off web forums, and a significant wet blanket on any sort of fun [Internet] creativity or experimentation.

      • TechdirtAmerica’s Two Biggest Cable Broadband Monopolies Failed To Add Any New Customers Last Quarter

        Roughly 83 million Americans currently live under a broadband monopoly. In most instances, their only choice is Comcast or Charter Communications, which sells service under the “Spectrum” brand. And in both cases, users pay significantly higher prices for spotty, slow, service with statistically terrible customer service, because that’s how monopolization works.

      • IT WireiTWire - NBN Co revenue up 10% for FY22, but red ink remains on balance sheet

        The NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, recorded $5.1 billion in revenue for the full-year 2021-22, an increase of 10% year-on-year. But the company has yet to hit profitability, with the loss for the period being $1.46 billion.

        This latter figure was not, expectedly, highlighted by the company in its statement issued on Tuesday listing results for the financial year to June 30. On the plus side, it was well down on losses of $3.8 billion for the previous financial year.

        The company said in a statement that 8.5 million residential and business premises were connected to the network, meaning there had been about 316,000 additional activations since the end of 2020-21 financial year.

    • Digital Restrictions (DRM)

      • DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer)Firefox has DRM even if you turn off DRM.

        Today I learned that Firefox has DRM even if you turn off DRM.

        Even if you hide it in the GUI and stop sites from asking you to turn it on.

      • VarietyWhy the Future of Streaming Is in Advertising

        While the three tiers grew by similar proportions — 1.5 percentage points for SVOD, 1.6 points for AVOD, 2.1 points for FAST — looking at these figures in the context of historical trends is illuminating. SVOD penetration has fluctuated within two points of 81 percent over the past year, while FAST and AVOD have seen continuous growth, with the former doubling its household penetration in that time.

    • Monopolies

      • ABCStephen King weighs in as DOJ tries to quash merger of two publishing powerhouses

        “I came because I think that consolidation is bad for competition,” said King, who identified himself on the stand as a "freelance writer." The way the industry has evolved, he said, “it becomes tougher and tougher for writers to find money to live on.” King said the payments book publishers make to writers before their book is published, called advances, have dwindled.

      • Price-fixing

      • Copyrights

        • Torrent FreakBREIN Took 349 Pirate Sites and Services Offline Last Year

          Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN has just posted its latest annual report. The group shut down 349 illegal sites and services, ranging from streaming portals to open directories. BREIN also booked significant progress on the site blocking front, an effort that continues this year. Meanwhile, its plan to warn and educate persistent infringers is taking longer than expected.

        • Torrent Freak$32.5m Pirate IPTV Lawsuit Must Be Dismissed Due to 'Encrypted Traffic'

          A $32.5m copyright infringement lawsuit filed by DISH Network claims that CDN company DataCamp failed to prevent several pirate IPTV providers from pirating its content, even after receiving hundreds of DMCA notices. DataCamp has just informed the court that since it's unable to monitor encrypted traffic, there is no liability and the lawsuit must be dismissed.

        • TechdirtEnjoy This Fan Made Take On ‘Mario 64’ While You Can

          This post will serve as the start of what will be a familiar cycle for fans of Nintendo. I’m going to show you something cool that Nintendo fans did, you’re going to get moderately excited, and then you’ll immediately become depressed when you realize that Nintendo will absolutely shut this cool project down in the name of copyright. This happens all the time, with Nintendo shutting down remakes of games that are decades old, a fan-made modded up version of Super Mario Bros. that allowed up to 75 players to play a level at the same time, and getting a video of a fan project for a first-person Pokemon game taken down. It’s due to these actions and many, many more that I have taken to referring to Nintendo as the Disney of the video game industry.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • A Zetteldream

        I had a dream that featured a paper Zettelkasten. Someone whose opinion I truly valued, in the dream, (because in the real world, who would that be?) -- was showing me their system: very large cards in a box, scribbled with tiny writing. I was asking that distinguished person about their methodology, and felt hopeful about my own Zettelkasten.

        When you dream of something, it seems that you are finally internalizing whatever the subject is. I find that when I work on complicated things long enough, eventually I start dreaming about it. Some dreams result in solutions of problems at hand, or at least a different direction to try.

      • New Card Game: "Bring Down the Mountain"

        I wanted to play a game of cards with my kids the other day, but I wanted it to be relaxing and non-comptetitive. After thinking for a little while I came up with this co-op game for four players using a standard deck of cards which I decided to call Bring Down the Mountain.

    • Technical

      • Let's Update Our Server, 2022 Edition

        This is pretty straightforward. Any sysadmin will know that all you need to do is to run your package manager.

      • Distro-hopping itch

        I've been running void linux with musl for the past couple of months. I've enjoyed trying something new, but I can't help but feel like running musl has far more costs than it does benefits. Void with musl compared to void with GLibc certainly feels snappier, but more so in the fact that void with glibc felt sluggish. Fortunately I've not run into too many errors with compiling things that relied on c code, rust had a mysterious compilation error but I don't know rust so maybe the project I was compiling had something wrong.

        The primary annoyance with musl is that any web page that used DRM of some sort (including my bank's website) refused to run. This made movie night with my friends extra frustrating. Fortunately flatpaks, being universal, used glibc so I just installed the Firefox flatpak to watch any DRM content.

      • Converting my 1TB drive to BTRFS and Firejail

        I have two 128GB SSD's and 1TB hard drive. The SSD's have been on BTRFS for a while, but I have not converted the 1TB to BTRFS because there's no way for me to backup the data (due to lack of money). There is nothing important stored on there so I didn't mind losing the data per se, but it would be inconvenient to download/set everything up again.

        I bit the bullet and decided to incrementally shrink the ext4 partition while increasing the size of the BTRFS partition then copying the data over. This was a very time consuming process. While technically risky, I've never experienced data loss via this method and so long as you don't accidentally shrink the partition too far, the chance of data loss is actually quite low.

      • Texas cryptocurrency outfit makes more money by not mining cryptocurrency

        Bitcoin mine in Texas makes 318 BTC ≅ $6.88 million dollars from mining bitcoin in July. The same mine also received $9.8 million dollars for shutting off their equipment during peak electricity use hours in July.

      • Libraries, the Internet we were promised, and the Internet we got

        I believe that in the not-too-distant future, many of us — even those of us who don’t live on sailboats — will be living with networks much like 100r’s, composed of multiple computers happily chatting with each other on a LAN, with slow, intermittent access to the Internet. Seeing these pain points makes me feel like I’m looking into my own future.

        Someone might say “that’s not so bad, we used to have LANs that didn’t have any internet access at all, and it worked fine.” I remember those days too (I’ve even carried a PC and CRT monitor to a friend’s house to play games). But software in the 90s (and early 00s) was written without the assumption of constant internet access, and 20 years later that’s not always true anymore. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but it ought to be criminal for companies like Adobe to turn their programs into “subscription services”.

      • ipfs.scm

        I'm really glad how it turned out. I think the list of endpoints along with their arguments is very easy to maintain (easily the most tedious job of such a library), and more importantly I think it's very easy to use also.

        A new version of Kubo was released some day of this past week, and today I spent a few hours updating the egg. I received nice comments from teiresias and a couple of improvements. That and the fact that they're using the egg made today that much better.

      • My first year with OpenBSD

        Last year in March, I made another review of OpenBSD and finally decided to migrate from Linux. At least in the case of my servers. But somehow I stuck with it on my personal laptop too, thanks to a lucky coincidence. Here is my migration story and my 5 cents about using OpenBSD as a daily driver on all my personal machines.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Alpha release of a VT220-like Gemini Client



          Lunar Rover is a VT220-like client made for browsing and subscribing to text-based content. It supports online and offline workflows alongside both Gemini and Spartan.

          Lunar borrows much from the venerable VT220 (as well as gemini clients like AV98/Offpunk). VT220 features like orange phosphors and a font that matches the original multinational character set. An 80x30 character display (+6 rows from 80x24) and ray-traced chassis with an exaggerated display curvature.

      • Programming

        • RE: Let's Update Our Server, 2022 Edition



          npm suffers from the same issue. Sure, you can run npm update, but due to version/dependency locking you basically have to rely on the developer to keep things up-to-date. This results in funny situations where a project depends on a dependency that depends on a dependency that fixed a CVE but until the dependent updates THEIR dependency, the dependent dependent dependency cannot update and neither can the project (say that five times fast). While it's considered "good" practice for developers to pin the versions of dependencies, it can backfire when technical debt accumulates.

        • Mecrisp Stellaris: Code Size Optimization for Constants

          With the ARMv6-M architecture you can't simply drop a 32-bit value into a register, even though the registers are 32-bit registers. What I mean is, you can't drop the value in as an IMMEDIATE value, that is to say, as part of your processor instruction. You can load a 32-bit value from a memory address, say with the LDR instruction. But if you want an immediate value dropped in, you are limited to 8-bits, which is the size of the immediate field in encoding T2 of the ADDS instruction in ARM's Thumb instruction set.

          What is the difference? Calls to memory are (I'm told) much more expensive, when compared to doing this with only direct manipulations on the register. If you want to load a 32-bit value without the memory call, the trick is to drop in the first byte, shift over the bits in the register by one byte, add the second byte, shift again, and so forth. So, for example, here is a simple word that drops DEADBEEFh on the stack, along with the dis-assembled code...


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day