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Links 07/09/2022: GNOME Releases and elementaryOS Updates



  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Applications

      • Trend OceansTere: A Faster Alternative to cd + ls in Linux - TREND OCEANS

        To tackle your navigational pain with a long path in Linux, we again came up with another tool.

        Again? You heard it correctly. In recent times, or if you are regular reader, then you might have heard about nnn (terminal file manager) and pls (a modern alternative to the ls command) commands.

        No doubt, both are great tools. However, nnn can be a little complex and unnecessary for those who are just interested in their problems with navigation, and pls command only list the content with some sugar on top.

        So, to achieve your goal with just navigational issues over a long path, we came up with another tool named tere.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • OpenWRT Switches From iptables To nftables! - Jon’s FOSS Blog

        So after many years of using and learning iptables, one of my favourite firewalls, I had to translate my command line ruleset into a new format/syntax. It wasn’t too bad but with the added power and flexibility of nftables, it can be harder to find the order/priority of the rules for a given filter hook, for example, INPUT. However, I really appreciate how the new firewall incorporates some previous features that I used to have to install via iptables modules like ipset and hashlimit, which provides the rate limiting functionality!

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

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

      • Linux Made SimpleHow to install JDownloader 2 on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install JDownloader 2 on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

      • Install digiKam 7.8.0 on Ubuntu / Linux Mint - Alma Linux - Tips On Unix

        This tutorial will be helpful for users to install digikam 7.8.0 on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 21, Alma Linux 9, and Rocky Linux 9.

      • ID RootHow To Install Kate Text Editor on Linux Mint 21 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Kate Text Editor on Linux Mint 21. For those of you who didn’t know, The KDE Advanced Text Editor a.k.a Kate is a powerful text editor that supports Syntax highlighting for a wide range of programming languages. With a built-in terminal, syntax highlighting, and tabbed sidebar, it performs as a lightweight but capable development environment. Kate’s many tools, plugins, and scripts make it highly customizable.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of a Kate Text Editor on Linux Mint 21 (Vanessa).

      • Linux Shell TipsHow to Put Directory Restrictions in Nginx Web Server

        The power of Nginx should never be underestimated. This performant, lightweight, and fast web server application is capable of handling 10,000 connections simultaneously without straining. To accomplish such strides, Nginx makes use of its asynchronous and event-driven architecture for managing new connections.

      • UNIX CopHow to install Fail2ban on Ubuntu 22.04 | Secure your server

        In this post, we will help you to install Fail2ban on Ubuntu 22.04. It is important in this tool to keep up the security of our system.

      • uni TorontoAn rsyslog(d) syslog forwarding setup for Grafana Loki (via Promtail)

        Suppose, not hypothetically, that you have a shiny new Grafana Loki setup to store and query your logs (or at least the logs that come from the systemd journal on your Linux machines, and maybe some additional log files on them). Also suppose that you have some OpenBSD machines whose logs you would like to get into Loki. OpenBSD doesn't have the systemd journal, or for that matter a build of Promtail, the Loki log-shipping client. However, Promtail can receive logs via syslog, and OpenBSD can send syslog logs to remote servers (which we're already using for our central syslog server). Unfortunately Promtail only accepts syslog messages in RFC 5424 format, and OpenBSD doesn't send that. Instead, OpenBSD syslog sends what is usually called RFC 3164 format, which is really "the BSD syslog protocol" written down for informational purposes. In order to send OpenBSD syslog to Promtail, we need a converter in the middle (which is the recommended configuration anyway).

      • UbuntubuzzLibreOffice Impress: Save Presentation to Video

        This tutorial will explain how one can make video out of Impress ODP presentation. Impress is the presentation program of LibreOffice. In the video, you can include your narrations voice and (optionally) your face if you want. To do this, you will need a screen recording software, and here we will use the popular OBS Studio for example.

      • UbuntubuzzLibreOffice Calc Spreadsheet Basic Tutorials Collection

        We have finished publishing a collection of very basic Calc Spreadsheet tutorials for beginner grade since January 2022. Calc is a spreadsheet for everyone from LibreOffice -- the most excellent free alternative to Microsoft Excel. This collection explains the use of 14 basic Calc Formulas from SUM to VLOOKUP divided into eight parts. Now you can easily learn and practice by reading them one by one via links below. Happy learning!

      • UbuntubuzzFirefox and Smart RSS: Find Our Feed Reader Again

        Did you miss the old Firefox's feed reader feature? You can take it back by using Smart RSS. If you wonder, it is an ability to subscribe and read offline any blogs and websites you often visit in one place. Smart RSS is easy to use and has beautiful user interface, it could be your daily news reader. Now let's try it out.

      • uni TorontoOur Prometheus host metrics saved us from some painful experiences

        A couple of weeks ago, a few days after a kernel upgrade on our servers, we had an Ubuntu 22.04 server basically die with a constant series of out-of-memory kills from the kernel of both vital demons and random bystander processes. There was no obvious clue as to why, with no program or cgroup consuming an unusual amount of memory.

      • Data SwampSolene'% : Managing a fleet of NixOS Part 3 - Welcome to Bento

        I finally wrote an implementation for the NixOS fleet management, it's called Bento.

    • Games

      • PC World’Quality of Life' update makes Bioshock games unplayable on Steam Deck, Linux | PCWorld

        Software updates are generally supposed to make software, you know, better. That’s especially true when you label an update “quality of life,” as is the case with the latest patches for 2K’s classic Bioshock FPS series. But the newest patches to Bioshock Remastered, Bioshock 2 Remastered, and Bioshock Infinite are making the game straight-up unplayable for many Linux players, including those on the super-popular Steam Deck handheld.

        According to a litany of support forum posts and Reddit threads, the culprit seems to be the new game launcher, which publisher 2K decided to staple onto the executable files for games that are about a decade old or older. (Gamers tend to hate unnecessary add-on launchers, much preferring games to simply open from Windows, Steam, or any of the other launchers from which the games already launch.) As PC Gamer points out, it’s an especially unfortunate occurrence for an update specifically called “quality of life,” which apparently exists only to add direct links to years-old DLC packages.

        While the Steam Deck isn’t explicitly supported by any of the Bioshock games, and Valve lists all three titles as “unsupported” in its ever-growing list of Steam Deck titles, they have been officially released and are supported on Linux (and by extension, SteamOS). That means the games should play on the handheld without any need for go-between systems like Proton. Suddenly having perfectly functional games undermined by a mandatory update from the publisher is something that would boil Andrew Ryan’s libertarian blood.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • Make Use OfThe 11 Best Nautilus Tweaks to Get More Out of the File Manager on Linux

          Nautilus is the official file manager for the GNOME desktop. Here are some Nautilus tweaks to enhance your file management experience on Linux.

          Nautilus (now called GNOME Files or Files) is the default file manager on GNOME. It features a clean and intuitive interface and packs plenty of features to make your life easier.

          However, not all of these features come enabled in Nautilus by default; some of them need to be enabled separately, while others require installing a plugin.

          If you use Nautilus every day or have switched to it from another file manager recently, here are some of the best Nautilus tweaks you must check out—and probably enable in Nautilus—to make the most of it on your Linux computer.

        • GNOME Maps goes four

          Earlier in the summer it became apparent that maintaining Maps using the technologies (GTK 3 and libchamplain) would became troublesome in GNOME 43, since other dependencies (such as libgweather and geocode-glib) was being ported to use the libsoup version 3 API/ABI (libsoup is the HTTP library used in the GNOME software stack). And libchamplain is still on libsoup 2.x (Corentin Noël prepared a merge request porting libchamplain to libsoup 3, but especially if we would support parallel-installable version of it using either libsoup API would mean extra work on a library, using the deprecated Clutter technology, which we probably would best avoid).

          So I took the decision to try and take the chances at racing the clock finishing the GTK4 port before September…

          I decided to make it as a two-step rocket. First finishing porting to GTK4 and libshumate while still depending on libsoup 2 (building all the dependencies bundled locally in the development Flatpak manifest using libsoup2 build flags).

          And then at the second stage switch over to using libsoup 3 (this mean also start using a newer version of the librest library that we use when accessing the OpenStreetMap API for editing POIs).

        • Voice (gnome-voice) 0.2.0 with Streaming and Voice Recording into {G_USER_DIRECTORY_MUSIC}/GNOME.[ogg,voice] - Ole Aamot

          The tenth stable Voice (gnome-voice) 0.2.0 release is available at https://download.gnome.org/sources/gnome-voice/0.2/gnome-voice-0.2.0.tar.xz with Voicegram streaming and recording in Ogg Vorbis.

          Voice is a new Public Voice Communication Software being built on GNOME 43.

          Voice will let you listen to and share short, personal and enjoyable Voicegrams via electronic mail and on the World Wide Web by GNOME executives, employees and volunteers. Xiph.org Ogg Vorbis is a patent-free audio codec that more and more Free Software programs, including GNOME Voice (https://www.gnomevoice.org/) have implemented, so that you can listen to Voicegram recordings with good/fair recording quality by accessing the Voicegram file $HOME/Music/GNOME.[ogg,voice] in the G_USER_DIRECTORY_MUSIC folder in Evolution 3.45 or Nautilus.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Make Use OfIs Feren OS the New Best Linux Distro for Windows Users?

      Feren OS is an easy-to-use Linux distro tailor-made for new users, especially for those transitioning from Windows to Linux.

      Having many choices available is both a blessing and a curse to the Linux community. The seemingly endless line of options is undoubtedly the main reason many users fall in love with Linux. On the flip side, however, those same options can seem overwhelming to less tech-savvy users who want to get rid of Windows but don’t know how to go about it.

      For those users, there is one Linux distribution named Feren OS that goes above and beyond the call of duty to make switching as simple and painless as possible. Here's everything you need to know about it, from key features to the installation process.

    • elementaryOS Updates for August, 2022

      This month, updates for 6.1 are a bit small as we’ve been doing quite a bit more work on OS 7! Read ahead for a summary of your 6.1 updates plus information about our work porting to Gtk 4 and with responsive design in OS 7.

      [...]

      Everything shown here is still evolving and changing, but you can be among the first to try it and give your feedback by joining Early Access for a $10/mo sponsorship.

    • Barry KaulerSynaptic kind-of working on EasyOS Dunfell-series

      The Dunfell-series is built with packages compiled from source. Completely different packages from those in Debian Bullseye. It is not just Debian's habit of splitting packages up into many smaller packages; their packages may have been compiled differently, often with more dependencies. And different versions.

    • Reviews

      • ZDNetNitrux 2.4 Linux distro shows promise but seems rough around the edges | ZDNET

        Nitrux is one of the many KDE Plasma-based desktop Linux distributions that, once upon a time, made for a great operating system for first-time Linux users. Not only did it enjoy the reliability and ease of use that come with Debian, but the KDE Plasma desktop will also be immediately familiar to any computer user type. However, with the latest release, 2.4, (which includes the 5.19 kernel, ensuring it will work with most modern hardware and perform like an absolute champ), the distribution is a bit rough around the edges for everyday users.

        Let me explain.

        [...]

        Debian is one of the most rock-solid operating systems on the market, so the choice to go with Debian as a base makes perfect sense.

    • New Releases

      • CNX SoftwareOpenWrt 22.03 released with Firewall4, now supports over 1,580 embedded devices - CNX Software

        OpenWrt 22.03 open-source Linux operating system for routers and entry-level embedded devices has just been released with over 3800 commits since the release of OpenWrt 21.02 nearly exactly one year ago.

        The new version features Firewall4 based on nftables, switching from the earlier iptables-based Firewall3, and adds support for over 180 new devices for a total of more than 1,580 embedded devices, including 15 devices capable of WiFi 6 connectivity using the MediaTek MT7915 wifi chip.

    • Fedora Family / IBM

      • Fedora ProjectReplace DNF with DNF5

        Make DNF5 the new default packaging tool. The change will replace DNF, LIBDNF, and DNF-AUTOMATIC with the new DNF5 and new Libdnf5 library. It is a second step after https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/MajorUpgradeOfMicrodnf.

    • Debian Family

      • Louis-Philippe Véronneau: Montreal's Debian & Stuff - August 2022

        Our local Debian user group gathered on Sunday August 28th at the very hackish Foulab for the August 2022 edition of our "Debian & Stuff" meetings.

        [...]

        On my side, although I was badly sleep-deprived, I still managed to be somewhat productive!

        One of the WiFi Access Points we use in our 4-apartment LAN had been boot-looping for a few weeks, after a failed sysupgrade to the latest version of OpenWRT. lavamind and I suspect the flash got corrupted in a way or another during the upgrade process...

        Lucky for us, this model has a serial port and runs U-Boot. After a bit of tinkering, some electrical tape and two different serial adapters, we managed to identify the pin layout and got a shell on the machine. The device has a reset button, but since the kernel panic was happening too soon in the boot process, we weren't able to get into OpenWRT's failsafe mode this way.

      • The AnarcatDeleted GitLab forks from my account - anarcat

        I have just deleted two forks I had of the GitLab project in my gitlab.com account. I did this after receiving a warning that quotas would now start to be enforced. It didn't say that I was going over quota, so I actually had to go look in the usage quotas page, which stated I was using 5.6GB of storage.

        I found that puzzling: maybe wallabako? I build images there in CI... Or the ISOs in stressant?

        Nope. The biggest disk users were... my forks of gitlab-ce and gitlab-ee (now respectively called gitlab-foss and gitlab-ee, but whatever). CE was taking up roughly 1GB and EE was taking up the rest.

      • The AnarcatUsing LSP in Emacs and Debian - anarcat

        The Language Server Protocol (LSP) is a neat mechanism that provides a common interface to what used to be language-specific lookup mechanisms (like, say, running a Python interpreter in the background to find function definitions).

        There is also ctags shipped with UNIX since forever, but that doesn't support looking backwards ("who uses this function"), linting, or refactoring. In short, LSP rocks, and how do I use it right now in my editor of choice (Emacs, in my case) and OS (Debian) please?

    • Devices/Embedded

      • Linux GizmosROCK 4 SE Single Board Computer goes on sale for ~$70

        The ROCK 4 SE Single Board Computer (SBC) is powered by the hexa-core Rockchip RK3399-T processor along with the Arm Mali T860 GPU. The device comes with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, an HDMI port with 4Kp60 support, Wi-Fi 5/BT5.0 connectivity and expandable storage via eMMC module and a M.2 connector.

        The Rockchip RK3399-T SoC features a dual-core Cortex-A72 processor (up to 1.5GHz), a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor (up to 1.0GHz) and an Arm Mali T860MP4 GPU which supports OpenGL 3.1, Vulcan 1.0, OpenCL 1.2 and DirectX 11.1. According to the product brief, the chipset uses Arm big.LITTLE technology that automatically switches to high performance cores for complex tasks and power efficient cores for less intensive tasks.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • PurismTop 15 Book Picks for Your Reading List - Purism

        We asked the Purism team for their recommendations on top books that inspired them or provoked their imagination. The genres ranges from non-fiction, sci-fi and even cyberpunk. Here is the list of our team’s top 15 books, in no specific order. Feel free to share them with your friends. We’d also love to know which books framed your world-view, at feedback@puri.sm!

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Programming/Development

      • QtVxWorks for Qt 5.15.10 Released

        Qt 5.15.10 long-term supported (LTS) commercial release for VxWorks is a source code release made on the top of our most recent Qt 5.15.10 (LTS). This release officially updates Qt support for VxWorks from earlier Qt 5 versions, responding to the market demand in several industries such as aerospace and defence as well as medical.

      • RlangBoosted Configuration (neural) Networks Pt. 2 | R-bloggers

        A few weeks ago, I introduced Boosted Configuration (neural) Networks (BCNs), with some examples of classification on toy datasets. Since then, I’ve implemented BCN for regression (continuous responses) in R, and released a Python version (built on top of the R version) of the package on PyPi. What are BCNs?

      • RlangWebscraping Dynamic Websites with R | R-bloggers

        In this post, you’ll learn how to scrape dynamic websites in R using {RSelenium} and {rvest}. Although some basic knowledge of rvest, HTML, and CSS is required, I will explain basic concepts through the post. So even beginners will find some use in this tutorial for webscraping dynamic sites in R.

  • Leftovers

    • Security

      • Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation

        • Bleeping ComputerNew Linux malware evades detection using multi-stage deployment [Ed: This site, which is controlled by Microsofters, is trying hard to stigmatise Linux -- not Windows -- as a malware issue; never mind if installing malware on Linux in the first place is hard, whereas Windows itself is malware and it has back doors; this article says "The malware exploits vulnerabilities to elevate its privileges", but how does it get there in the first place (before elevating privileges)? It does not say, and moreover doesn't care as long as they can blame "Linux" for something else]]

          A new stealthy Linux malware known as Shikitega has been discovered infecting computers and IoT devices with additional payloads.

        • Redmond MagazineLos Angeles Unified School District Hit by Ransomware Attack [Ed: The Microsoft media does not mention it they used Microsoft Windows]
      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • Internet Freedom FoundationPrivacy Supreme 2022 : Digital Dystopia #NammaPrivacy

          Every year IFF hosts our flagship event, ‘Privacy Supreme’, to commemorate the anniversary of the landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India in K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India on August 24, 2017. In the decision, the Court held that the right to privacy is a fundamental right under the Constitution of India that attaches to each fundamental right under Part III of the Constitution of India.

          In the years since, the decision has been a beacon of hope to ensure human autonomy, dignity, and liberty. But how far are these hopes realised? Every year, we celebrate and reflect by organising expert conversations about the right to privacy in India from the perspective of digital technologies. All of them are public centred and have received growing interest.

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

      • Public KnowledgeStop the Presses! JCPA Favors Big Media Broadcasters Over Newspapers! - Public Knowledge

        We’ve talked a lot about the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) and why we think it’s a very bad idea. But the most recent version made public raises a new twist. For a statute supposedly designed to save journalism and avert the “newspaperpocalypse,” it drastically favors broadcasters over newspapers and gives the biggest rewards to massive media conglomerates rather than local newspapers. Given the role media consolidation has played in destroying local news, and the fact that local TV broadcasting remains quite profitable, this outcome gets a rare 5 out of 5 Morissettes on the irony scale.

        Briefly, to address the concern that the largest media companies will dominate negotiations with covered platforms and cut out the very local newspapers the statute is supposed to help, the JCPA sets some ground rules. In theory, no company with more than 1500 employees is eligible. Problem: That limit does not apply to broadcasters. An “eligible publisher” is defined as one that publishes “one or more qualifying publications.” By contrast, an “eligible broadcaster” is a person that has a license under Title III of the Communications Act (and does news stuff). The 1500 employee limit applies only to qualifying publications. Since the definition of qualifying publication excludes “eligible broadcaster,” the 1500 employee limit does not apply to eligible broadcasters.

        So The New York Times, with 5,000 employees, is not eligible to participate in the negotiating entities created by the JCPA. By contrast, Sinclair Broadcasting Group – with approximately 13,000 employees – can participate as an eligible broadcaster. Again, given the fact that Sinclair reported profits of $2.59 billion in the first quarter of 2022, it’s hard to see why Sinclair (or Nexstar, or Cumulus, or any of the other large group owners) needs to participate in the JCPA more than The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. But wait, the loopholes for big media conglomerates keep coming!

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • AccessNowRDR Scorecard: How Amazon, Google, Meta, and more rank on human rights in 2022

        Like it or not, Big Tech, regulation is coming! For better and for worse, more and more governments are establishing rules to govern how tech companies behave. With the tech sector responding to global geopolitical crises, from the war in Ukraine to the escalating situation in Myanmar, it is crucial for powerful companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta to not only respect human rights, but also tighten up their internal controls on how they respond to human rights issues. However, judging from the latest Ranking Digital Rights’ (RDR) Big Tech Scorecard, tech companies still have a long way to go to fulfill their human rights obligations.

        The sixth edition of RDR’s Scorecard evaluated the performance of 14 global platform companies, examining how their policies and practices affect users’ rights to free expression and privacy. The key findings show that, while there have been some improvements, all the companies are falling short, with none of them earning a passing grade.

    • Monopolies

      • Software Patents

        • DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer)Today, I had to stop and figure out what HEIC files are because my spouse uses an iPhone. It turns out they're basically irrelevant other than being a frustrating patent trap. | BaronHK’s Rants

          I’m getting ready to file another Immigration case to make my spouse’s permanent residence, well, permanent.

          As part of this next case, they want photos to show that our marriage continues.

          Fine, fine. But my spouse sent them in this strange format called HEIC, which is apparently some bizarre iPhone format, that’s technically one of those “MPEG standards”.

          As usual, Apple only takes what computers have done for 20 or 30 years and produces some dumbed down and incompatible version.

          This one is nastier than JPEG 2000 or even Microsoft’s JPEG-XR, because it’s based on the HEVC codec, which means there’s several thousand patents.

          Probably the entire point of pushing this HEIC format on iPhones and making it the default is to try to cause other people to have to pay money (patent royalties) for software that can actually handle the stupid things.

          I’m on Fedora and had to go install a package from RPM Fusion called “libheif” which came with a conversion program called heif-convert, which can turn these into standard image files in the JPEG and PNG formats, which is what Walmart accepts when you have photos done at their One Hour Photo department.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Home Again

        I'm back home and returning to work tomorrow. Overall, my time away was enjoyable and it was a good chance for me to catch up on rest. Although, my body's painful protests right now might suggest I wasn't taking it easy enough. My final night was a little bit interesting and not in a good way. Eating tinned curry while water practically poured through the ceiling of the flat* was not the quiet evening in that I'd hoped for, but these things happen.

      • On my mind

        I've seen some other people make lists of what they are into right now. Great idea!

    • Technical

      • NixOS Bento: now able to compare local and remote NixOS version



        Project update: the report is now able to compare if the remote server is using the NixOS version we built locally. This is possible as NixOS builds are reproducible, I get the same result on the server and the remote system.

        The tool is getting in a better shape, the code received extra checks in a lot of place.

      • Science

        • My Tangent Construction

          I decided to try to solve it without using any outside references--just my own understanding of geometry. My geometry curriculum in school, while covering some theorems and "pure" constructions, was largely analytical in nature. As a result, I was able to use analytical geometry to determine fairly quickly where the tangent points on the circle would lie, but I found it quite difficult to produce a construction without using angle measurements. It took a few days for me to iron out a solution.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Re: The Antenna Time Machine

          Antenna has always allowed this. You occasionally see stuff posted that is "from the future", presumably by mistake. Sometimes if it is way in advance and hanging around @ew0k seemingly corrects or removes them but sure, Antenna could be fixed, so that it is not possible. Or maybe it just does not happen enough that we need to worry about it.

        • Re: how can I pass a micro-log style to Antenna?
        • Native Applications over Gemini

          Lately I've been pondering the idea of native applications (GUI, TUI, platform irrelevant) over Gemini. They could look and feel identically to a native application, only the backend would be accessed over gemini:// instead of http://. Gemini can serve any file type, so the responses could have a MIME type of application/json or application/xml, etc. This would allow for more customized applications than simply dynamic text/gemini via a browser, with all the benefits of Gemini. The downside would be less room for user input, because of the limit on Gemini URL lengths, but that could be mitigated with the Titan protocol.

      • Programming

        • Software anthropomorphism… weird brain…

          I have starting on my blog a quick series of post about orgmode and emacs[1]. I installed emacs about 6 months ago just because I wanted to try orgmode. The goal of this gemlog post is not to repeat what I've published on my blog, that wouldn't be interesting… But more a reflection I had right after finishing proof reading my blog post and after starting the deploy script… I had a weird feeling about publishing a post about emacs… Me, a strong advocate for vim for so many years! Don't get me wrong, I'm still a vim user but orgmode made emacs appealing. Without orgmode, I would have ditched emacs after a few month of trying.


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



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Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2025: "Dedigitizing" and Forgejo on FreeBSD
Links for the day
Google News (Not Just Google Search) Lets Itself by Gamed by One Slopfarm - to the Point Almost Half of "Linux" News is Bot-Produced Plagiarism (LLM Slop With Slop Images)
That says a lot about what Google thinks of quality, even in Google News
Bill Gates-Funded Media Inadvertently Refutes the Microsoft Lie That in 2025 Microsoft Had Just Two Waves of Layoffs
There were about 12 rounds of layoffs so far in 2025
Official SUSE Blog Still Uses LLM Slop (Bots) to Make Fake Articles (Marketing)
The company is all about sound bites
Companies Realise That Slop Doesn't Work as Advertised, Accordingly Dump It
"Hype dims as a country-wide survey of US corporations shows a sudden drop-off in AI use among firms with more than 250 employees."
Microsoft-Funded Lawsuits Against Critics of UEFI 'Secure Boot'
Remember that no company (or law firm) ever survives collaborations with Microsoft
From theregister.co.uk to theregister.com (US) to The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives) and theregister.ai
The best way to break this racket (or cycle of hype and harm) is to break the chains of funding
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Culture of Censorship Necessitates More Speech
The OSI bans dissent or people who merely point out that the OSI is abusive
How to Reach Us Discreetly (Other Than Encrypted E-mail)
We're still managing to maintain a 100% source protection record. We soon turn 19.
LLMs Are Vastly Worse Than a Waste of Energy and the Externalities Are Huge
Worse than just higher power bills for everybody
LLMs Versus Search (Not Replacing Search But Engaging in DDoS Attacks Against Web Sites That Permit Searching)
The state of the Web isn't just bad; it's utterly terrible
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 08, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 08, 2025
It's Only the Second Week of September and Already Two Waves of Layoffs at Microsoft, Slopfarms and Microsoft-Funded Sites Spin It as "AI Investments" Rather Than Commercial Failure
A very large third one expected next week
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IX - Shunning Old Computers (in 2023 the Certificate Was Updated/Overridden, Underlying Aim May Be Herding/Forcing People to Get TPM and Other 'Novel' Restrictions)
the "upgrade treadmill"
Rumour: Second Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in September to Commence Third Week of September
That basically answers questions like, "Any specific date or time of the month?"
If Your Machine Still Has "Secure Boot" Enabled, Then Microsoft Has a de Facto Kill Switch (Even If Your Machine Doesn't Have Windows and Never Had Windows)
It is not incorrect to call UEFI 'secure boot' a "kill switch"
Gemini Links 08/09/2025: Reality, ROOPHLOCH 2025, and Writing Another Gemini Client
Links for the day
Updating Firmware is Not the Solution But Only Additional Risk, Disable "Secure Boot" Today
firmware blobs are buggy, secret, impossible to audit, and barely tested
Microsoft Tim's DevClass (Part of The Register MS/Situation Publishing) is Full of Slop
Looking at many sites that are full of slop images is becoming an eye sore and hallmark of text too likely generated by LLMs or 'assisted' (tainted) by them
Microsoft Trying to Fake Demand for Slop. At What Cost?
That's a giant demotion and broken promises
Reddit is Corporate Propaganda
To make matters worse, Reddit ousted many original moderators
Jeff Geerling Shocked to Discover Many Metrics in YouTube Are Fake (His Audience Turns Out to be Much Smaller)
Maybe self-host all videos, don't rely on Google's "FOMO" cheating (addiction based on false assumptions)
Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant and Kryptonite/Garlic to Vampires
Transparency (sometimes described by words like "Sunlight" or "Truth") is paramount
The Register MS Uses Slop in Articles About Slop
we are fairly certain it's slop or CG based on other people's work
Visiting a Web Page or a Public URL Should be Safe, Predictable, and Benign
It's probably too late to "fix" the Web
The Register MS (Situation Publishing) is Paid to Spread Mindless Hype for the "Hey Hi" Ponzi Scheme and That's a Serious Problem
"Sponsored by Zoom."
Links 08/09/2025: Burger King Cracked, Cox v. Sony Analysed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/09/2025: Socialist Computer Museum and GAFAM/ByteDance/TikTok-Dominated Net
Links for the day
Links 08/09/2025: Tim Crook Disappoints Apple Faithfuls and Zuckerberg Lies (Financial Fraud) for Cheeto King
Links for the day
EPO Workers Point Out that the EPO is Destroying the Planet Under the Guise of "Hey Hi" (It Also Grants Many Invalid Patents Illegally
On 12 March and 16 June 2025, staff representation met with the administration in the Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in Munich
Turn Off Microsoft's Restricted Boot ("Secure Boot")
We're still running a series on this issue
Social Control Media Sites Have Become Bot Farms (Not Limited to LLMs and Automation)
linkedin.com was nothing but trouble and losses for Microsoft
Deep in Debt With the Magnitude of Losses Quickly Growing, Microsoft "Open" "Hey Hi" Now Uses Broadcom for Vapourware, Pretending It'll Do OK Next Year
At some stage it'll collapse
You Can Tell Microsoft is in Trouble When Its Own Fans and Staff Blast it
"Microsoft sinks billions into chasing artificial intelligence fads to hype up its share price."
Multiple Undersea Cable Cuts and We're Still OK
Microsoft customers experience problems
Lawyers Who Think They Are Online Assassins Don't Deserve a Licence to Operate
they've become a laughing stock in their "sector"
Microsoft Windows Fell to 3.9% "Market Share" in Bahamas
Based on statCounter
How the European Union (EU) Fell Out of Love With Free/Libre Software
Lots of bribery
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 07, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 07, 2025