Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 30/11/2022: Gaming on GNU/Linux With Mac PCs, onak 0.6.2 Released



  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • Tales of the M1 GPU - Asahi Linux

        In order to handle all these moving parts in a reasonably safe way, modern GPU drivers are split into two parts: a user space driver and a kernel driver. The user space part is in charge of compiling shader programs and translating API calls (like OpenGL or Vulkan) into the specific command lists that the command processor will use to render the scene. Meanwhile, the kernel part is in charge of managing the MMU and handling memory allocation/deallocation from different apps, as well as deciding how and when to send their commands to the command processor. All modern GPU drivers work this way, on all major OSes!

        Between the user space driver and the kernel driver, there is some kind of custom API that is customized for each GPU family. These APIs are usually different for every driver! In Linux we call that the UAPI, but every OS has something similar. This UAPI is what lets the user space part ask the kernel to allocate/deallocate memory and submit command lists to the GPU.

        That means that in order to make the M1 GPU work with Asahi Linux, we need two bits: a kernel driver and a user space driver!

      • LWNLina: Tales of the M1 GPU [LWN.net]

        Asahi Lina gives a detailed update on progress toward a graphics driver for Apple M1 hardware.

      • HowTo GeekLinux on Apple Silicon Macs Is Now Good Enough for Gaming

        Even though the M1 and M2 chips in modern Macs are based on ARM processor designs, they aren’t like any other ARM designs. That has made porting Linux to new Macs a difficult challenge, but there has been some impressive progress recently.

        Much of the work around porting desktop Linux to Apple Silicon (M1 & M2) Mac computers has been under the Asahi Linux project, which already offers a desktop distribution that can boot natively on many models. Even though Linux has supported ARM chips for years, largely due to Google’s use of Linux for the Android kernel and devices like the Raspberry Pi, making everything work on Apple Silicon has been a challenge.

        The core operating system and desktop experience has been working on Asahi Linux for a while now, so some developers have moved onto proper graphics support. Alyssa Rosenzweig helped reverse engineer the GPU in the M1 chip to create a user space driver, based on documentation work by Dougall Johnson. However, a kernel-level driver was still missing — a task taken up by VTuber Asahi Linya.

        Asahi Lina explained in a blog post, “just like other parts of the M1 chip, the GPU has a coprocessor called an “ASC” that runs Apple firmware and manages the GPU. This coprocessor is a full ARM64 CPU running an Apple-proprietary real-time OS called RTKit… and it is in charge of everything! It handles power management, command scheduling and preemption, fault recovery, and even performance counters, statistics, and things like temperature measurement! In fact, the macOS kernel driver doesn’t communicate with the GPU hardware at all.”

    • Applications

      • onak 0.6.2 released

        Over the weekend I released a new version of onak, my OpenPGP compatible keyserver. At 2 years since the last release that means I’ve at least managed to speed up a bit, but it’s fair to say its development isn’t a high priority for me at present.

        This release is largely driven by a collection of minor fixes that have built up, and the knowledge that a Debian freeze is coming in the new year. The fixes largely revolve around the signature verification that was introduced in 0.6.0, which makes it a bit safer to run a keyserver by only accepting key material that can be validated. All of the major items I wanted to work on post 0.6.0 remain outstanding.

        For the next release I’d like to get some basic Stateless OpenPGP Command Line Interface support integrated. That would then allow onak to be tested with the OpenPGP interoperability test suite, which has recently added support for verification only OpenPGP implementations.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • ID RootHow To Install Apache Kafka on Rocky Linux 9 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Apache Kafka on Rocky Linux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, Apache Kafka is open-source software that enables the storage and processing of data streams via a distributed streaming platform. It’s developed by Apache Software Foundation and written in Java and Scala. Apache Kafka is used to build real-time streaming data pipelines and applications that adapt to the data stream, especially for enterprise-grade applications and mission-critical applications.

        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 Apache Kafka distributed streaming platform. on Rocky Linux. 9.

      • HowTo ForgeHow to Install Caddy Web Server with PHP 8.1 on Ubuntu 22.04

        Caddy is a modern web server built in the GO language. It is a simple, user-friendly, lightweight, and commercially supported web server.

      • HowTo ForgeHow to Install RabbitMQ Cluster on Ubuntu 22.04

        RabbitMQ is a free and open-source message broker.

      • Use SSH to proxy web traffic

        As discusse in a previous post, I use nebula to create a VPN connection between the various machines I use. Usually what I really care about this setup is the ability of consuming services those machine expose on my nebula network.

        When I travel, I prefer to proxy my data through my nebula network. This allows me to not have to care about the limitations imposed in those networks, as long as I’m able to open my tunnel. The second advantage I have, is that I can choose the location where my traffic leaves my VPN, since I have multiple machines in multiple nations. Another advantage is that I can be sure that no data is visibile by the network manager, even if this is becoming less and less relevant, since the majority of the traffic is encrypted nowadays.

      • Make Use OfHow to Access Hidden GNOME Settings With Dconf Editor

        Take GNOME desktop customization to the next level by accessing all the hidden desktop settings with Dconf Editor.

        As the default desktop environment for many distros, GNOME is popular in the Linux desktop space. Its consistent design principles and large app ecosystem make it attractive to many Linux users. But GNOME also has a reputation for lacking custom settings.

        To streamline the desktop experience, the GNOME team has had to make compromises on user customization. These compromises do not mean the end of GNOME customization. A lot of GNOME settings are actually present, though hidden out of the box. Users can access these hidden settings with a powerful app called Dconf Editor.

      • Major HaydenMake screenshots quickly in i3 with maim and xclip

        My daily workflow includes taking tons of screenshots. I’m constantly relaying views of different data or results of various work between different chat systems and emails. As with all things that I do often, I look for ways to optimize them as much as possible.

      • ZDNetHow to create message filters in Thunderbird to keep your inbox organized | ZDNET

        Call me a dinosaur, but I still depend on email. I use it for personal and professional communication every day of the year. Because of that, my inbox can get scarily full. Within a span of sixty minutes, I'll have received hundreds of emails in multiple accounts.

      • Linux Made SimpleHow to install Pinegrow web editor on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install Pinegrow web editor on a Chromebook.

        If you have any questions, please contact us via a Rumble comment and we would be happy to assist you!

        This tutorial will only work on Chromebooks with an Intel or AMD CPU (with Linux Apps Support) and not those with an ARM64 architecture CPU.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • Ubuntu HandbookThis Extension Tells Your App Startup Time in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04 | UbuntuHandbook

          Want to measure your application launch time in Linux? There’s an extension can do the job for GNOME desktop.

          Meaning Ubuntu, Fedora workstation, and other Linux with GNOME desktop can easily tell how much time it takes for launching an application, which is useful for benchmark and/or software developing purpose.

          With the extension enabled, every time you launching an application, an on-screen display pops up shows the loading time in millisecond. Not only for native .deb/.rpm, but also for Snap and Flatpak applications.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • TechTargetSmall open source projects pose significant security risks [Ed: 12 months later "Log4j" is still used for FUD against Free software]

      Open source security initiatives might prevent large-scale vulnerabilities such as Log4j, but smaller projects pose risks without more maintainer support, industry experts say.

    • ZDNetOpenStack cloud sees explosive growth | ZDNET

      One bit of accepted wisdom in some cloud circles is that OpenStack, the open-source Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud, is declining. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's alive, well, and growing like crazy. According to the 2022 OpenStack User Survey, OpenStack now has over 40 million production cores. Or, in other words, it's seen 60% growth since 2021 and a 166% jump since 2020.

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • Mozilla

        • Mozilla3 ways to use Mozilla Hubs, a VR platform that’s accessible and private by design

          When NASA’s Webb Space Telescope team and artist Ashley Zelinskie wanted to bring space exploration to everyone, they chose Mozilla Hubs, our open source platform for creating 3D virtual spaces right from your browser.

          Ashley told us that they “didn’t want to cut people out that didn’t have fancy VR headsets or little experience in VR. … If we were going to invite the world to experience the Webb Telescope we wanted everyone to be able to attend.”

          That’s exactly why Mozilla has been investing in the immersive web: We believe that virtual worlds are part of the future of the internet, and we want them to be accessible and safe for all.

          That means each Hubs user controls access to the virtual world they created, which is only discoverable to the people they share it with. Hubs users and their guests can also immerse themselves in this world right from their desktop or mobile browser – no downloads or installations required. And while you can use a VR headset, you can access the same spaces through your phone, tablet or desktop computer.

    • SFC

      • How we all develop and support free software - Conservancy Blog - Software Freedom Conservancy

        Today is Giving Tuesday, and I'd like to share part of my story that brought me to Software Freedom Conservancy. Having started as a donor over 5 years ago, I find myself now with even more passion for our mission as an employee.

        I've been using software for close to 30 years; I wrote my first program around 25 years ago, and I've been working in non-profit free software for over a decade. Over all that time the thing that keeps bringing me back is that software is for people. Made by and for people.

    • GNU Projects

      • FSFGNU Guix: Support the growth of the distribution into 2023 and beyond

        An update from GNU Guix co-maintainer Maxim Cournoyer on the impressive work they did in 2022.

        The Free Software Foundation (FSF) supports the work of several important free software projects through fiscal sponsorship through a program we call the Working Together for Free Software Fund.

        Donations to any of the Working Together for Free Software Fund projects directly benefit the work that can be done. Too often, these sorts of projects are underfunded, and developers put in a lot of personal time and effort to keep the project moving forward. With the FSF's fiscal sponsorship, projects can receive donations, apply for funding, and enter into legal contracts, all enabling them to spend more time on their work.

    • Programming/Development

      • October 2022: "Top 40" New CRAN Packages - R Views

        One hundred seventy-four new packages made it to CRAN in October. Here are my “Top 40” selections in sixteen categories: Astronomy, Biology, Business, Computational Methods, Data, Ecology, Finance, Genomics, Mathematics, Machine Learning, Medicine, Pharma, Statistics, Time Series, Utilities, Visualization.

  • Leftovers

    • Matt RickardSchelling Point

      Let's say you are playing a game where you need to meet someone in New York City. You can't communicate with the other person to agree on a meeting time or place – where would you think to meet, and at what time?

    • Hardware

      • Linux GizmosEmbedded platform integrates ESP32 module and RP2040 co-processor

        CrowdSupply recently featured the EsPiFF SBC designed for multimedia, firewall and NAS applications. The EsPiFF combines a ESP32-WROVER module for wireless connectivity and a RP2040 chip functioning as a coprocessor.

        The ESP32-WROVER module featured is likely to be the ESP32-WROVER-IE-N16R8 since it provides up to 16MB of Flash memory, 8MB of PSRAM and a connector for an external antenna.

    • Security

      • CISACISA Releases Seven Industrial Control Systems Advisories | CISA

        CISA released seven (7) Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories on November 29, 2022. These advisories provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits surrounding ICS.

      • Best Linux Patching Strategies for Business Success

        Anytime you upgrade software, you risk something breaking. This is the nature of the IT beast. The purpose of patches is usually to fix a bug or, worse, a security vulnerability. That said, sometimes good intentions lead to bad outcomes. For example, you hire a plumber to come and fix a leaky pipe. He patches it but inadvertently breaks the toilet in the process—good intentions with bad outcomes. That doesn’t need to be the case with Linux patching, though.

        To make Linux patching easier, you can use some tools known as patch managers to help you save time and money. A patch manager tool also helps you avoid the bad patch that could accidentally break your toilet. In this article, I’ll cover why patch management is important. I’ll also discuss its benefits, problems, best practices, and strategy. Let’s first talk about why patch management is important for your business.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Daniel PocockWho predicted Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition in 2018?

        In 2018, attending the UN forum on business and human rights, I blogged a photo of the Afghan president and made some brief comments about the possibility of Twitter falling into the wrong hands.

        The full video is available from UN Web TV. There is an extract below where Bennett Freeman of the Global Network Initiative gives some interesting responses to my comments.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • New York TimesAt a China Covid Protest, a Mix of Giddy Elation and Anxiety - The New York Times

        The crowd was hard to make out at first, a dark mass huddled along the Beijing riverbank after sunset. The people stood quietly, almost nervously, dozens bundled in thick coats beside yellowed willow trees. At their center was a small altar, strewn with candles and flowers, for the 10 people who died in a fire in western China last week.

        Two hours later, that crowd had swelled into the hundreds, a mass of people marching and chanting for freedom, rule of law, an end to the three years of coronavirus restrictions that have dragged life here to a near standstill. Temperatures were frigid, but people stayed for hours, even outlasting a shift change in the police officers who monitored the whole event Sunday night.

      • New York TimesWhy Protesters in China Are Using Blank Sheets of White Paper - The New York Times

        In Shanghai, a vigil grew into a street protest where many held blank sheets of white paper in a symbol of tacit defiance.

        In Beijing, students at Tsinghua University raised signs showing a math equation devised by the Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann, whose surname in Chinese is a homonym for “free man.”

        And on China’s suppressed internet, where positive messages abound and negative ones are scrubbed, protesters resorted to irony: They posted walls of text filled with the Chinese characters for “yes,” “good” and “correct” to signal their discontent while evading censors.

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

      • Le MondeMedia outlets call to end Julian Assange prosecution for disclosing secrets

        Twelve years ago, on November 28, 2010, our five international media outlets – The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais and Der Spiegel – published a series of revelations in cooperation with Wikileaks that made the headlines around the globe.

        "Cablegate," a set of 251,000 confidential cables from the US State Department disclosed corruption, diplomatic scandals and spy affairs on an international scale.

        In the words of the New York Times, the documents told "the unvarnished story of how the government makes its biggest decisions, the decisions that cost the country most heavily in lives and money." Even now in 2022, journalists and historians continue to publish new revelations, using the unique trove of documents.

      • Peoples DispatchWikileaks delegation in Latin America to rally support for Assange’s release : Peoples Dispatch

        A delegation from Wikileaks is on a tour across Latin America to drum up support from various social movements and progressive governments in the region to call for Julian Assange’s release. The delegation consisting of Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of Wikileaks, and Joseph Farrell, journalist and Wikileaks ambassador, are set to finish their Brazil leg of the tour on November 30.

        The duo had already completed a visit to Colombia between November 22 and 24, before coming to Brazil. There, they met with the leftist president Gustavo Petro and Colombian foreign minister Alvaro Leyva Duran as part of their larger campaign to organize international solidarity for Assange.

        In a press release Hrafnsson stated that they were “content with the outcome of the meeting” and that Petro and Duran showed “their commitment and support for Julian Assange’s freedom, and strongly recognized the implications for press freedom worldwide that Assange’s extradition would set.”

      • ScheerpostInternational Media Groups Urge US to Drop Julian Assange Charges in Letter - scheerpost.com

        Publishing is not a crime: The US government should end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets.

        Twelve years ago, on November 28th 2010, our five international media outlets – the New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, El País and Der Spiegel – published a series of revelations in cooperation with WikiLeaks that made the headlines around the globe.

        “Cablegate”, a set of 251,000 confidential cables from the US state department, disclosed corruption, diplomatic scandals and spy affairs on an international scale.

        In the words of the New York Times, the documents told “the unvarnished story of how the government makes its biggest decisions, the decisions that cost the country most heavily in lives and money”. Even now in 2022, journalists and historians continue to publish new revelations, using the unique trove of documents.

        For Julian Assange, publisher of WikLeaks, the publication of “Cablegate” and several other related leaks had the most severe consequences. On April 12th 2019, Assange was arrested in London on a US arrest warrant, and has now been held for three and a half years in a high-security British prison usually used for terrorists and members of organised crime groups. He faces extradition to the US and a sentence of up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison.

      • ReasonNew York Times and Others Condemn DOJ’s Prosecution of Julian Assange

        The open letter warns the indictment “threatens to undermine America’s First Amendment and the freedom of the press.”

        [...]

        The Times is joined in the letter by The Guardian in England, Le Monde in France, Der Spiegel in Germany, and El País in Spain. They were the five media outlets that in 2010 published many details of the hundreds of thousands of confidential cables from the U.S. Department of State about hidden corruption and diplomatic scandals.

        The letter includes a paragraph critiquing Assange's judgment in releasing unredacted copies of these cables in 2011. It says "some of [the outlets] are concerned about the allegations in the indictment that he attempted to aid in computer intrusion of a classified database." This is in reference to Assange allegedly helping Manning attempt to crack encryption on classified military files, according to the Justice Department indictment.

        In other words, the editors and publishers are willing to acknowledge that Assange might not be just a passive recipient of classified information but deliberately sought it out. But many major media outlets (particularly the five that signed the document) have recognized the public value and public concern of the information that Assange illegally obtained and published it.

      • New York TimesNews Outlets Urge U.S. to Drop Charges Against Julian Assange - The New York Times

        The New York Times and four European news organizations called on the United States government on Monday to drop its charges against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, for obtaining and publishing classified diplomatic and military secrets.

        In a joint open letter, The Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País said the prosecution of Mr. Assange under the Espionage Act “sets a dangerous precedent” that threatened to undermine the First Amendment and the freedom of the press.

        “Obtaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists,” the letter said. “If that work is criminalized, our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker.”

      • teleSURMajor Outlets Call on the US to Drop Charges Against Assange

        Twelve years ago, those American and European media released excerpts of the revelations obtained in 250,000 documents, which were leaked to WikiLeaks by the then American soldier Chelsea Manning. Following that leak, Washington began proceedings to indict Assange under legislation designed to put World War I spies on trial.

        "Publishing is not a crime," said those outlets, emphasizing that Assange's prosecution under the Espionage Act sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the U.S. First Amendment.

        “Obtaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists... If that work is criminalized, our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker,” the letter stated.

      • The NationA United Front Is Needed to Fight the Threat to Journalism Posed by the Assange Prosecution | The Nation

        Media unions, independent journalists, and civil libertarians have for three years argued that Julian Assange must not be prosecuted by the US Department of Justice for obtaining and publishing classified materials that revealed the extent of US wrongdoing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, as the WikiLeaks founder fights extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States, they’ve gotten some powerful allies.

        In a letter dispatched Monday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, The New York Times joined four major European publications—The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País—to argue that the attempt to go after Assange using the Espionage Act “sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s First Amendment and the freedom of the press.” The concern is that, by prosecuting Assange under the draconian law that was written in 1917 to prohibit interference with military operations or recruitment during World War I, the Justice Department could create a new tool for intimidating investigative reporters who simply seek to inform the American people about what is being done in their name but without their informed consent.

        [...]

        Yet the letter also acknowledges that, for Assange, the publication of the 251,000 confidential cables “had the most severe consequences. On April 12, 2019, Assange was arrested in London on a US arrest warrant, and has now been held for three and a half years in a high security British prison usually used for terrorists and members of organized crime groups.” Assange now faces extradition to the United States and a 175-year sentence.

        The prospect that such a sentence could have a chilling effect on journalists is the overarching concern of the joint letter.

        “Holding governments accountable is part of the core mission of a free press in a democracy,” it explains. “Obtaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists. If that work is criminalized, our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Fine Character Scale

        TL;DR: To convert, add or subtract 16 to DCs or contested rolls, multiply/divide distances by twelve, multiply/divide carrying-weights by sixteen, divide torchlight by four or multiply it by three.

        One of the reasons Fudge RPG was invented was actually… fairies! SOS was working on a GURPS Faeries book but it turns out that GURPS’s 3d6 roll-under system is super difficult to get to work for anything other than normal humans. The bell curve makes things difficult to scale and the roll-under-nature makes things difficult to move. Fudge’s zero-centered, dice+adds system is perfect since you can just have different “scales” for different things. Faeries and bunnies can have one scale, normal people another, and kaiju yet another.

    • Technical

      • Accessibility is hard

        It goes without saying that accessibility in design is extremely difficult. So many different ability sets need to be taken into account and so many tools need to be provided. At a base level, all UI designs must follow web accessibility guidelines, all UX copy must follow best practice, and all tools must be considered for assistive technologies. This is a huge overhead, so it's unsurprising when startups feel like they can't focus on it while building their core offering for the market.

      • snac on the fediverse

        I installed snac, a simple, minimalistic ActivityPub instance, written in C. I hate C, but it's small, it uses JSON files (like Epicyon), and it seems to work. I think I finally figured out what kept GoToSocial from working. But instead of going back, I'm going to wait and see how much I like this one as a fallback. I'm @alex@social.alexschroeder.ch.


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



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Did IBM Pay thestreet.com for Puff Pieces? (Like It Did With Forbes)
If so, there is no disclosure
Wikipedia - Funded by Slop-pushing Companies and 'Broligarchs' - Gave Benefit of the Doubt to Slop, Then Regretted It
Wikipedia sucks. Without slop it'll suck a little less.
Payoffs of Lifelong Commitments
"The Lifelong Activist"
Links 30/03/2026: "We Can’t Income-Tax Ultra-Elites"; "The Pirate Bay’s Oldest Torrent Turned 22"
Links for the day
Today, Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) Goes on Strike That Can Last Until 2027. Nobody in the Media Covers This!
"We stand with the protesters"
When the Cost (or Time) of Maintenance Exceeds the Value
In recent years it seems like more people learn to remove things from their lives, not add more things
Passage of Wealth Upwards, Blaming the Victims
Tim Sweeney's net worth is 5.1 billion USD according to Forbes
More Media Needs to Tell the Public Slop is a Giant Bubble, It Should Stop Taking "Sponsorship" Money to Inflate This Bubble
If enough of (what's left of) the media changes its tune and quits being a parrot of GAFAM, then we can debate slop like grown-ups
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 29, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 29, 2026
Trying to Hide One's Abuses by Imposing Silence on Critics ("My Profile Was Private")
With enough daylight, sooner or later everyone knows you are a vampire
Fedora Badges System Shows the Demise of Fedora Under IBM
IBM isn't good at keeping what it buys
IBM is Sunsetting Red Hat, It Only Uses the Brand and the Shell
IBM buys or spins off companies as containers for "toxic assets" and debt
Cisco Systems is a Still Weak Spot With Bug Doors
nothing to offer except storytelling
EPO Strike Begins Today and It's the Longest One Yet (Can Last a Year)
Where's the media?
Gemini Links 30/03/2026: Approaching April and Arvelie Calendar
Links for the day