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Links 23/02/2023: Debian-based TrueNAS Scale and GNOME 44 Beta



  • GNU/Linux

    • Dignited5 Great Linux Operating Systems to Try Out in 2023

      If you’re anything like me, then you’re always on the lookout for the latest and greatest Linux distributions to test-drive. And let’s be honest, there’s nothing quite like the thrill of discovering a new distro that just clicks with your workflow and personality.

      So, let’s dive into the top Linux distros to watch out for in 2023, and who knows, you might just find your next Linux soulmate. Also, since Ubuntu has been the go-to for many years and there are countless distros out there, why not focus on these instead? Let’s dig in.

    • HackadayA Linux Distro For All Your Ham Needs

      For anyone new to the world of ham radio, one of the things that takes a little getting used to is visiting the websites of authoritative experts in various fields and feeling like you’ve traveled back to the Internet of 1999. As a hobby that lends itself to extremely utilitarian amateurs, the software side can feel a little left behind like that. [Andy] aka [KB1OIQ], on the other hand, is also a Linux enthusiast and has been putting together a complete Linux distribution with everything needed to operate a radio in the modern era.

      While most ham radio software seems to be developed for Windows, there is a lot available for Linux. It just takes a bit of tinkering and experimentation to get everything configured just right. Andy’s Ham Radio Linux, or AHRL, takes a lot of the guesswork out of this. The distribution includes everything from contact logging software to antenna modeling, propagation forecasting, and electronic design. While tools like this are largely optional for operating radios themselves, there are also tools included to allow the user to operate various digital modes as well, which require some sort of computer interface to use.

    • insideHPCiXsystems€ Introduces€ TrueNAS Mini€ R€ Appliance with Linux-based TrueNAS SCALE - High-Performance Computing News Analysis | insideHPC
    • CNX SoftwareTrueNAS Mini R rack-mountable system supports TrueNAS CORE or Debian-based TrueNAS SCALE

      All three versions of TrueNAS support many of the same features, but the main difference is that TrueNAS SCALE is based on Debian Linux instead of FreeBSD, which leads to differences in terms of supported applications (e.g. plugins vs Docket Linux containers), virtualization (e.g. OpenStack vs Kubernetes), and so on.

      I had read forum threads in the past where people wanted to run FreeNAS on Arm, but each time they were told it was not going to happen, so I asked a company representative who contacted CNX Software if the new TrueNAS SCALE would be cross-platform or limited to x86. Here’s the answer...

    • The Register UKDebian-based TrueNAS Scale updated – and iXsystems wins a gong

      Enterprise NAS vendor iXsystems has updated its Kubernetes-capable Debian-based NAS OS, and scored Digital Public Good status too.

      iXsystems now has a family of dedicated storage-server OSes, and the new release of TrueNAS Scale, version 22.12.1. The company has a very cautious, slow-moving lifecycle – which is what you want from a vendor whose offerings will hold all your corporate data.

    • Ubuntu PitTrueNAS SCALE Bluefin 22.12.1 Released: What’s New?

      TrueNAS SCALE is a powerful, open-source operating system specifically built for enterprise-level data storage and management. Powered by Debian Linux and the innovative ZFS file system, it offers advanced features such as snapshotting, replication, and data compression to make sure that your organization's most critical information is always secured in the best way possible.

    • Finextra Research Computop debuts three new Linux-based payment terminals

      The Linux-based devices from Swiss partner, PayTec, expand the existing range with three options for the most typical use cases in retail.

      With the support of ZVT and OPI, the new Computop models have been designed for the most common international connection protocols of POS terminals. They enable card acceptance via magnetic stripe, chip and contactless NFC transmission and are certified according to the PCI PTS* 5.x and 6.x security standards. This guarantees that they can be used for at least 10 years.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • It's FOSSLinux is Just a Kernel: What Does it Mean

        Well, technically, Linux is just a kernel, not an operating system. However, the term Linux is often referred to a complete operating system that includes a shell (like bash) and command line and/or GUI tools to control the system. The technically correct term for this complete operating system is Linux distribution or simply Linux distro. Examples of popular Linux distributions include Ubuntu, Red Hat, and Debian.

        Back in 1991, what Linus Torvalds created was the kernel only. Even today, he works on the Linux kernel. He doesn't code anymore but supervises which code goes into the kernel.

      • MacworldLinux 6.2 is up and running on M1 Macs but still missing many key features | Macworld

        The latest Linux build can technically run on Apple silicon, but you won't be able to do much.

    • Graphics Stack

      • 9to5LinuxMesa 23 Graphics Stack Released with Radeon Memory Visualizer Support, Rise of the Tomb Raider Fixes

        Highlights of Mesa 23 include Radeon Memory Visualizer support, various raytracing, graphics pipeline library, and RDNA3 improvements for the RADV (Radeon Vulkan) driver, Rise of the Tomb Raider’s Ambient Occlusion pass misrenders (swimming shadows), improved support for the KDE Plasma desktop environment when using the Plasma Wayland session and the Gallium LLVMpipe driver.

        Mesa 23 also implements more VK_EXT_dynamic_state3 features for the RADV and Turnip drivers, enables the VK_EXT_mesh_shader extension by default on RADV/RDNA2, fixes Rise of the Tomb Raider crashes in Soviet Installation 20% with VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST on Wine/DXVK, and improves support for the Battlefield 1 (DX11), Hi-Fi Rush, and Minecraft video games, as well as the VLC Media Player software.

    • Applications

      • 9to5LinuxFwupd 1.8.11 Linux Firmware Updater Adds Support for New Devices, New Features

        Coming a month after fwupd 1.8.10, the fwupd 1.8.11 release is here to add support for the CalDigit Element Hub and CalDigit TS4 Dock devices, prefer the Intel USB4 plugin over the Thunderbolt plugin when required, allow desktop software to inhibit the system to prevent updates, and add support for replaying USB devices so they can be emulated in CI.

        Fwupd 1.8.11 also introduces support for using requirements with depth=0 and no parent, automatically sets the CCGX remove-delay to parse DMC subcomponents, implements a new mechanism to detect and warn users with broken NVMe 3B2QGXA7 firmware, and the ability to print errors as JSON objects when using the fwupdmgr --json command.

      • Linux Links14 Best Free and Open Source Test Automation Tools

        It’s very important to select the best set of test automation tools for your specific needs and requirements. There’s lots of tools available which makes selection somewhat problematic.

        You don’t need to spend money on test automation software as there is a great range of free and open source tools, libraries, and testing frameworks available.

        To start your automation journey, we make the following recommendations captured in a LinuxLinks-styled ratings chart. All of the programs are free and open source goodness

      • Ubuntu Pit10 Best Comic Book Viewers for Linux

        From our childhood, we've all been well-versed in comic books. Many of us enjoyed reading them, and they kept us amused during leisure time -- it's a pastime that many of us still treasure today.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Ubuntu HandbookControl Screen Brightness for External Monitor in Ubuntu (GUI & CLI)

        Want to control screen brightness, color preset, contrast etc for your external monitor connected in Desktop PC or laptop?

      • Net2How to Install ffmpeg on Ubuntu 22.04

        FFmpeg is a free and open-source tool that runs through the command line. Basically, it’s used to convert multimedia files from one format to another. It's got a bunch of audio and video libraries that it shares, like libavformat, libavcodec, and libavutil.

      • TecAdminConfiguring Nginx for Laravel on Ubuntu & Debian

        Laravel is a popular PHP web application framework used to develop robust and dynamic web applications. When it comes to deploying a Laravel application, Nginx is a popular web server choice due to its speed, stability, and scalability. Configuring Nginx for Laravel is important for production deployments.

      • TecAdminDeveloping a Simple Mobile App with Ionic Framework

        Ionic Framework is a powerful and popular option for developing cross-platform mobile applications. In this article, we'll walk you through a step-by-step guide to creating a simple mobile app using Ionic Framework.

      • TecAdminGetting Started with Vim: A Beginner’s Guide

        Vim is a powerful and widely used text editor that provides users with a number of advanced features for editing and manipulating text. If you're new to Vim, however, it can be a little intimidating to get started.

      • Peter Czanik: Installing a syslog-ng 4 development snapshot on FreeBSD

        Unless there is a serious problem, FreeBSD ports usually contains the latest stable syslog-ng release. However, sometimes people want to compile a git snapshot to test a new feature or bugfix. To do that, one way is to generate a syslog-ng release tgz on FreeBSD and edit the syslog-ng port files yourself. However, this needs some practice. As such, an easier solution is to use my weekly development snapshots.

      • TecAdminHow to Set Up an NFS Share on Debian

        NFS (Network File System) is a distributed file system that allows clients to access files and directories on remote servers over a network. NFS is commonly used in environments with many systems, where it is important to share resources between different servers.

      • Trend OceansStig: A TUI and CLI for the BitTorrent Client Transmission

        If you're looking for a terminal-based bittorrent client that should do all your work with the essence of a GUI, then Stig BitTorrent Client is for you.

      • UNIX CopHow to Install Helpy Customer Helpdesk on Ubuntu 22.04

        Helpy is an open-source customer support system based and written in Ruby on Rails language. It is open-source and allows you to customize it according to your needs. This tool can be used to build up businesses allowing them to create automated ticketing, emailing, and integration with multiple apps.

      • UNIX CopHow to install Zeek Network Security Monitoring Tool

        Zeek is a highly used, free, open-source security tool for detecting network interference and analyzing network traffic. It is favored by security experts who use it to identify irregular patterns and monitor DNS, HTTP, and FTP traffic.

      • Network WorldTailoring your Linux command prompt | Network World

        Here's how to change your Linux command prompt to something you might like better.

      • Linux JournalSFTP Port Forwarding: Enabling Suppressed Functionality | Linux Journal

        The OpenSSH maintainers have determined that sftp and scp have no legitimate use for port forwarding (via the -L and -R options). A flag to explicitly disable these features is unconditionally passed to the child SSH executable during file transfers with these utilities.

      • HackadayLinux Fu: Sharing Your Single WiFi | Hackaday

        If you are trying to build a router or access point, you’ll need to dig into some of the details of networking that are normally hidden from you. But, for a normal WiFi connection, things mostly just work, even though that hasn’t always been the case. However, I ran into a special case the other day where I needed a little custom networking, and then I found a great answer to automate the whole process. It all comes down to hotel WiFi. How can you make your Linux laptop connect to a public WiFi spot and then rebroadcast it as a private WiFI network? In particular, I wanted to connect an older Chromecast to the network.

        [...]

        There had to be a better way to solve this than fumbling with hostapd configurations after a long flight. There is and it is called linux-wifi-hotspot. It uses hostapd along with networking tools like iproute2, iptables, and dnsmasq, to create a hotspot with very little effort. It is worth noting that NetworkManager can also do this if you have two WiFi adapters. But, as far as I can tell, it doesn’t know how to put the AP on the same adapter as the incoming Internet connection.

        I installed the program from a package and I had to install hostapd, too. There’s also a ppa for Ubuntu, or you can build it from source by following the instructions.

        The interface to the program is relatively simple. You name your hotspot and provide a password. You can make it a tough one because you can have the program display a QR code that will let your phone, for example, hook right up to it.

      • Linux HintHow to Use “apt install” Correctly in Your Dockerfile

        To use apt install in Dockerfile...

      • Linux HintDebian AppArmor Tutorial

        Tutorial on how to work with the AppArmor profiles to restrict the programs to specific resources and connect the access control properties to the programs.

      • Make Use OfHow to Open the Terminal in Linux

        The command line gives you complete control of a Linux system. Here's how you can open a terminal on your Linux computer.

      • ID RootHow To Install OpenLiteSpeed on Rocky Linux 9

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install OpenLiteSpeed on Rocky Linux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, OpenLiteSpeed is an open-source, high-performance web server designed to handle large volumes of traffic efficiently.

      • ID RootHow To Install Jira Agile Project Management on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Jira Agile Project Management on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Jira Agile Project Management is a project management tool designed specifically for software development teams.

      • LinuxConfigBash and DD: Testing Flash Drive Speed with a Simple Script
      • Linux HintHow to use systemctl in Ubuntu?

        In Ubuntu, the “systemctl” command is used to control and manage the “systemd” services with a combination of service commands.

      • Linux HintHow to Close a Browser in Selenium

        Comprehensive tutorial on how to close a browser in Selenium using the close() and quit() methods to check whether the WebDriver session ID is alive or not.

      • Linux HintHow to Push Local Docker Image to AWS ECR

        AWS ECR is a fully managed registry that aids in deploying docker containers using Docker images. This guide provides detail about how to push a docker image.

      • Linux HintHow Do I Record Audio on Ubuntu?

        In Ubuntu, the “Gnome-Sound-Recorder” and the “Audio Recorder” external software packages are used to record the audio/voice from various sources.

      • Linux HintHow to Create and Extract TAR.GZ Files on Ubuntu 22.04?

        The pre-installed “tar” command utility supports the compression and decompression operation of “tar.gz” compressed files.

      • Linux HintHow to Install the Adobe Reader in Linux Mint

        Tutorial on how to install the Adobe Reader in Linux Mint by downloading the “.deb” package and using the "sudo dpkg -i adobereader-*.deb" terminal command.

      • Linux HintHow to Update Grub on Arch Linux

        Tutorial on the uses of Grub in Linux-like operating systems and how to update it on Arch Linux using the grub customizer and the update-grub repository of Git.

      • How to Install and Configure Neo4j on AlmaLinux

        Neo4j is a popular graph database used to store and manage data in the form of graphs. Instead of rows and columns, it uses nodes and relationships to represent data.€  It is a highly scalable NoSQL database system developed by Neo Technology.

      • Trend OceansLolcat: Make your Terminal Output Colourful

        Let’s add a bit of fun to the text that comes out of our terminal using one of the internet’s most beloved commands.

    • Games

      • CubicleNateSuper Mario World Widescreen on the SteamDeck

        The SteamDeck is a great retro gaming platform. I have loaded it up with many of my retro games and one of my favorites to play on it is Super Mario World but in a widescreen format. I have seen this done elsewhere but wanted to do this for myself.

      • Boiling SteamNew Steam Games with Native Linux Clients, with Blue Fish Yokohama and Selene Apoptosis – 2023-02-22 Edition

        Between 2023-02-15 and 2023-02-22 there were 33 New Steam games released with Native Linux clients.
      • Ruben SchadeAtelier Games on special on Steam

        You can by games in the Atelier franchise for ~35% off on Steam until the end of the month. It's not an ad, it's a recommendation! Right?

        I only got into the Atelier games in the last few years, but they're so comfy and fun. The alchemy/crafting mechanics are approachable and interesting, the art is beautiful, and the voice acting is top notch. Unlike previous Atelier titles that had time limits, this slower gamer appreciates that you can take the modern ones at your own pace. They also reward you for exploring, which admittedly is something I tend to do more in these sorts of games.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • Djalel OukidPlasma 5.27 is released, marking the end of Plasma 5's reign. It's time to hand over the throne!

          KDE plasma is one of the top Linux desktop environments. For me, it is the top. Plasma is free, open source, feature-rich, and highly customizable DE. The KDE team develops Plasma extensively and thoughtfully to offer us a fresh and stable desktop experience.On February 14, the efforts of dozens of KDE developers and contributors in the past months culminated in Plasma 5.27 release.

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • 9to5LinuxGNOME 44 Beta Released with Quick Settings Enhancements, WireGuard Support

          GNOME 44 Beta is an important milestone in the development cycle of the GNOME 44 desktop environment and brings lots of changes to further polish the final release, which will probably be available in most GNU/Linux distributions in mid- or late April 2023.

          We already know from the GNOME 44 alpha release that GNOME 44 promises a GTK4 port of the Epiphany (GNOME Web) web browser, a grid view for the GTK file chooser, support for 64px icon size in Nautilus (Files)’s grid view, a new Bluetooth submenu in Quick Settings, the ability to disable Settings search results in Shell, and more.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Linux HintTop 7 Lightweight Linux Distributions

      Top 7 lightweight Linux distributions are “Linux Lite”, “antiX Linux”, “Xubuntu”, “Lubuntu”, “Tiny Core”, “Puppy Linux” and “Bodhi Linux”.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • It's FOSSFOSS Weekly #23.08: Kernel 6.2 Raspberry Pi Debugger, 40 FOSS Android Apps and More

      Announcing a new tutorial series on NixOS.

    • MedevelTiny Tiny RSS Is An Open Source RSS Feed Aggregator

      Tiny Tiny RSS is a tiny open source project which is an advanced RSS reader/news aggregator. It is a self-hosted RSS aggregator, which can also be used to read from remote sources. With an intuitive UI and great performance, it is fast and easy to install on any hosting

    • MedevelBuild A Backend For Your Apps in Mins with The Low-code Pocketbase

      Pocketbase is a free low-code open-source solution that offers developers a fast way to build backend systems for their apps.

      It is written in the Go programming language and works extremely fast. Also, it does not take much to setup on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

    • Medevel17 Open Source To Share Your Files Over The Network and The Cloud

      File and document sharing are required by companies, web agencies, freelancers, and enterprise. It is an essential to for teams to collaborate and share files and documents internally and externally.

    • Container Journal10+ Open Source Kubernetes-Native Observability Tools

      Kubernetes is revolutionizing the way modern enterprises manage their cloud infrastructure. But as the technology develops, so does the need for visibility into systems running on Kubernetes. Without proper observability, it's hard to monitor the health of applications and services running on Kubernetes. Luckily, plenty of Kubernetes-native observability tools can

    • Container JournalTCO For a Cloud-Native Environment? $5.6 Million

      A report published today by OutSystems, a provider of a low-code platform for building applications, estimates the total cost of building and maintaining a cloud-native IT environment is, on average, $5.6 million. More challenging still, the report notes it can take 18 months to achieve that goal.

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • Chromium

      • Mozilla

        • Heather J MeekerFOSSDA Launches to Celebrate FOSS Month

          I am thrilled to announce that, with generous support from Mozilla and the Apache Foundation, we have officially launched FOSSDA, the Free and Open Source Stories Digital Archive. It's time to tell the story of the free and open source movement!

        • MozillaFirefox UX: People do use Add to Home Screen

          Last week Apple added a bunch of capabilities for web apps added to an iPhone or iPad home screen. This includes the ability for 3rd party browsers, like Firefox, to offer Add to Home Screen from the share menu and to open home screen bookmarks if it’s the default browser. I’d love to see us add this to our iOS app. It looks like a contributor did some investigation and this might be easy.

        • MozillaMozilla Performance Blog: Announcing side-by-side videos for performance regressions

          Early in the fall, I was talking about integrating the side-by-side tool in Continuous Integration (CI). This started as a script for generating a side-by-side comparison between two page load test runs, and emphasizes the visual differences. Using this tool, you can see more clearly which metrics have regressed, and how they might be experienced by a user. The first milestone was to have a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

          What is the side-by-side comparison?

          The page load tests measure the performance of Firefox (and competitors) browsers and run in Taskcluster (which is our CI) which are then visualized in Treeherder. Perfherder is our tool for catching performance regressions. When a regression bug is filed, the author of the regressing commit is needinfo-ed and asked for a fix. Sometimes the issue is not obvious and additional debugging information is needed, in which case the side-by-side comparison is very useful to help preview the impact the regression would have on the end-user.

    • Programming/Development

      • Red HatOur advice for installing Node.js modules using npm registry

        The Node.js ecosystem is a vast landscape, and one of the most important parts of that ecosystem is its various modules.€  Installing these modules is an easy process, thanks to the npm registry. It is easy to download packages, create your own module, and publish it to the npm registry.€ The Node.js Reference Architecture team has recommendations for creating and publishing your modules.

      • OpenSource.comHow I do automated accessibility testing for my website
        This article covers adding accessibility tests to your site using Pa11y (pa11y-ci with axe) and Cypress (with cypress-axe) in GitLab CI/CD. I use a Jekyll website as an example, but any website technology that runs in CI/CD can leverage this setup.

        Prep your website

        In addition to getting your website to run in CI/CD, I recommend enabling an XML sitemap feature. A sitemap allows the accessibility tests to parse all URLs to find accessibility issues across the site. I recommend the jekyll-sitemap plugin for Jekyll sites.

        Collecting a list of all major URLs is a good alternate step if a sitemap is not possible. The URLs should cover all potential layouts of the website, such as pages with the highest traffic or the most landings. This approach won't catch all accessibility issues, especially content level concerns, but it will test the layout and main pages.

        This scenario requires the npm or yarn package managers. I used npm for this article. If your project doesn't have npm initialized, run the npm init command to create the package.json file.

        Begin with Pa11y

        Pa11y is a free and open source software that tests websites for accessibility issues. Pa11y-ci is the command line utility geared towards continuous integration (CI). Install pa11y-ci as a development dependency with npm: [...]

      • OpenSource.comMapping the program counter back to the function name in your code

        Compilers are commonly used to convert human-readable source code into a series of instructions that are directly executed by the computer. A common question is "How do the debuggers and error handlers report the place in the source code where the processor is currently at?" There are various methods to map instructions back to locations in the source code. With the compiler optimizing the code, there are also some complications in mapping the instructions back to the source code. This first article in the series describes how tools map the program counter (also known as the instruction pointer) back to the function name. Subsequent articles in this series will cover mapping the program counter back to the specific line in a source file. It also provides a backtrace describing the series of calls that resulted in the processor being in the current function.

        The function entry symbols

        When translating source code into an executable binary, the compiler keeps symbol information about the entry to each function. Keeping this information available makes it possible for the linker to assemble multiple object files (.o suffix) into a single executable file. Before the object files are processed by the linker, the final addresses of functions and variables are not known. The object files have placeholders for the symbols that do not yet have addresses. The linker will resolve the addresses when creating the executable. Assuming that the resulting executable is not stripped, those symbols describing the entry of each function are still available. You can see an example of this by compiling the following simple program: [...]

      • The Hayes Code

        The obscure command set that gradually helped us move past acoustic couplers and brought dial-up modems into the mainstream. For a while, at least.

  • Leftovers

    • Federal News Network6.8 magnitude earthquake shakes Tajikistan near China border

      A 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook part of Tajikistan early Thursday near China’s far western Xinjiang region. It was 41 miles west of Murghob, Tajikistan and 12 miles deep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The area is remote and lightly populated. China Earthquake Networks Center said the quake was 7.2 magnitude and 6 miles deep. Preliminary seismic measurements by different agencies often differ. Further information was not immediately available.

    • Mexico News DailyEnglish stand-up in Mexico a growing niche over last decade

      English-language stand-up comedy thrives here, with a diverse audiences of tourists, expats in Mexico and English-fluent Mexicans.

    • Ruben SchadeThe OSs Nico Cartron Uses

      Last month I blogged about which OSs I use most frequently, which may be different from ones I’d prefer to use. The imitable Nico Cartron posted his own list, which is similar to mine.

      The biggest difference? Aside from not needing to run Windows (I’m jealous), he gives a notable mention to the Amstrad CPC running C/PM, which is too cool. I came so close to buying a later model Amstrad PPC on eBay with the flippy LCD, but it went for silly money. One day I’ll save up enough to have an apartment big enough for a retrocomputer room, and shelving to fit all these machines.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

    • Technical

      • Programming

        • Federation and forges

          One way GitHub could make itself a lot better and less hated-by-me would be if they set up a way for people who don’t have accounts on there to contribute with git send-email and/or git request-pull (the latter obviously requires some place to host repos). They could translate those contributions in the fancy-schmancy (probably better known as super confusing) “pull request” format and interface GitHub-using devs love so much. Their gh cli thing is fun and all but that still requires an account, which is the biggest reason for my hatred of them.

          I was looking enviously at sourcehut and being intimidated by trying to install it (since the docs are all like “warning warning warning this project is a super scale project that stretches many servers”) but the other day my envy disappeared when I realized that my current setup—plain cloneable repos + a mailing list—is, from a non-maintainer contributor’s perspective, not much different from sourcehut. A way to browse the repos without cloning them is the only thing missing, and I’m on that. (I just need spoons. Looking at softserve and cgit as options. But I kinda also don't wanna do anything and just chill.)

          Even if GitHub were made open source under the AGPL, if it kept the same “you need an account to contribute” problem we’d still be in trouble. That’s also the problem with a lot of other forges like Gitea.


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



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There Has Never Been a Better Time to Quit Social Control Media
Those networks are selling something. And that something is not peace because peace does not sell "attention".
Microsoft Users Drowning in Slop, If They Complain Microsoft Censors Them
Like an authoritarian regime
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 01, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 01, 2026
Speed of Sites Matters
Being easily accessible all the time matters to us
Dr. Andy Farnell on "Good Tech"
in the age of "rent everything" and "own nothing"
Gemini Links 01/03/2026: Simpler Software and Announcing OFFLFIRSOCH (OFFLine-FIRst SOftware CHallenge) 2026
Links for the day
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part V - Jobs at the EPO for Those Connected to Cocaine Addicts (Skills Not Required)
EPO management is trying to shoot the messenger
Booz Allen Hamilton, the Former Employer of Edward Snowden (NSA Contractor), is Drowning in Debt
Can Supreme Leader Cheeto bail it out like he does slop companies?
On the Concept of "Protected Class" (or Race) at IBM
It's self-harming as in practice it imperils the company and harms the reputation/brand
The Mass Layoffs at Microsoft That Nobody in the "News Industry" Wants to Talk About (and TheLayoff.com Censored, Then It Censored the Evidence of the Censorship)
They basically cover up how they censored the news about Microsoft layoffs
Richard Stallman to Give at Least Three Talks in Switzerland, Starting This Week
No mention (yet) of the Bern talk
On Who 'Speaks for' Techrights
typically a case of misrepresenting the site
'FSFE' an Imposter in Europe, Paid by GAFAM to Represent GAFAM Interests
The Microsoft-sponsored 'FSFE', which violates the terms of use of its name, is causing confusion [...] formally-recognised institutions got tricked into thinking that the Microsoft-sponsored 'FSFE' is the FSF
Lots of Lies From the Slop Industry
The slop industry relies on fake news to give a notion or fake demand
Links 01/03/2026: American Plutocrats Buy American Media While American Constitution Shredded
Links for the day
Teaser: The Next Series About the SRA, Which Would be Just as Effective as It Is Right Now If It Had Zero Employees
the lapdog (of the "litigation industry") that is meant to be perceived as a watchdog
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part I - Introduction
The SRA is a sham. Many people know this already, but we want to document our own experiences with it.
Live Simply, Live Better
Life isn't about "collecting" possessions; it's about doing things that matter and accumulating knowledge so as to make better choices
Now That XBox is Pretty Much Dead and There Are Mass Layoffs at Microsoft
This means our predictions about Microsoft (and XBox) are "falling into place"
Gemini Links 01/03/2026: "In the Spirit of OFFLFIRSOCH" and "Delete Patreon"
Links for the day
ACM Lowers Its Standards for Age of Autocracy
IBM is more than happy to work with autocracies
The term FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) was created to describe IBM's tactics and IBM is doing it again
Rob Thomas or "RT"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 28, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, February 28, 2026
Slop is Distraction
LibreWolf will never include any of this slop nonsense, no matter if toggled on or off
Cult inquiry: Parliament of Victoria, last chance to have your say
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Turns 37.5
Can IRC reach age 75?
Gemini Links 28/02/2026: Loadbars 0.13.0, IME (Input Method Editor), and ColorColumn in Vim
Links for the day
Two EPO Strikes in March (Maybe More)
As per the SUEPO diary [...] We still have an ongoing series about the EPO, with several more series to start later
Why We Are Concerned About the SRA's Failure and What That Means to the Profession of Lawyers in the UK
Unregulated industries will lose their credibility as there is a threat of growing perception that they operate outside the law rather than practice law
Over 10,000 Pages/Articles Per Year?
Probably my most productive month, ever
Keeping Techrights Online 99.99% of the Time
Some time later this year we'll tell a very long story about how extremists attacked our webhosts
Richard Stallman, Founder of the Free Software Movement, Will be Giving Public Talk in Bern (Switzerland) in Less Than 12 Days
We are still doing a series about him and his talks
Still Lots of IBM Departures
It's not that we lack evidence of IBM layoffs. It's just that we have ample evidence of the press not doing its job (or barely existing anymore).
The Register MS Standards: Promote a Ponzi Scheme in Exchange of Money
Once upon a time it was a serious publisher. Months ago it was taken over by a Microsoft person.
Slopfarms' Demise Looks Like the Beginning of the End (Lowered Demand for Slop)
Slop about "Linux" has gotten hard to find this past week
Dr. Andy Farnell: Time to Pull the Plug?
insightful, as usual
Links 28/02/2026: "Tehran’s Two-Tiered Internet", "Internet Under Fire"
Links for the day
When an Entire News Site is About One Topic (and One Topic Only)
Tomorrow we start a new series for the new month
Links 28/02/2026: Bill Epsteingate Admits Sex With Young Girls, "Epstein Files Are the Horror That Keeps on Giving"
Links for the day
IBM: Where Companies Come to Perish
thelayoff.com is censoring stories
Tech Layoffs Are Not Because of Slop, They're an Effect of a Rotting Economy and Tech Giants Being Too Deep in Debt
Block is rapidly sinking in debt
The Slopfarms' Business Case (or Business Model) Never Existed and Nowadays, in 2026, They've Mostly Collapsed
Hopefully by year's end many slop suppliers will be offline and slopfarms that rely on them throw in the towel
March in London Today Against Slop's Harms to Society (and the Environment), Starting at 12:00 GMT at the Microsoft OpenAI Office
Today there is a protest in London (UK)
Microsoft Mass Layoffs Have Officially Resumed, Microsoft's Waggener Edstrom/Frank Shaw Lied
"The former employees say this was a mass layoff"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 27, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, February 27, 2026