Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 25/08/2023: The Internet of Things Podcast Comes to an End



  • GNU/Linux

    • Server

      • Stéphane Graber: Stable Linux mainline builds [Ed: Canonical too pays the price for getting greedy]

        For the past year or so, I’ve increasingly been using mainline Linux kernels on my various servers and eventually laptop and desktop machines too.

        That was transitioning from Ubuntu’s generic kernel which I feel has sadly decreased in quality over time. The Ubuntu kernel includes a lot of backported fixes and occasionally, those backports go bad, resulting in missing commits, introducing bugs and regressions. Unfortunately the way the Ubuntu kernel is built, tested and published comes with a lot of delays, making fixing such regressions often take weeks if not months (depending on whether security updates show up in between).

        So I started taking the latest stable bugfix release of the mainline kernel, generate a configuration that’s very close to an Ubuntu generic kernel, cherry-pick a few small changes that aren’t upstream yet and then build that and push it to my machines.

    • Kernel Space

      • XDA On this day in 1991, Linus Torvalds announced he was working on what would become Linux
        Linux is one of the most popular operating systems besides Windows and MacOS. Its high focus on security, customizability, and portability, together with low hardware usage, make it highly versatile for casual users and developers alike.

        Linux wasn’t always a large ecosystem comprising hundreds of distributions. In fact, the OS was originally created by a 21-year-old Linus Benedict Torvalds as a kernel that mimicked Unix, and on August 25, 1991, he publicly announced his plans to create a free operating system. Little did he know that 32 years down the line, this hobby project of his would end up becoming one of the most successful innovations to grace the tech industry.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • It's FOSSHow to Turn Off KDE Wallet?

        Don't like KDE Wallet popping up every now and then? Here's how to disable it.

      • HowTo GeekHow to Use the chmod Command on Linux

        Control who can access files, search directories, and run scripts using the Linux's chmod command. This command modifies Linux file permissions, which look complicated at first glance but are actually pretty simple once you know how they work.

      • HowTo GeekHow to Mount and Unmount Storage Devices from the Linux Terminal

        File systems in Linux and Unix-like operating systems like macOS can be mounted, unmounted, and remounted using the terminal. This is a powerful and versatile tool---here's everything you need to know.

      • HowTo GeekHow to Use the Linux top Command (and Understand Its Output)

        The top command has been around since 1984, and there are many variants of it. For this article, we're running Ubuntu 18.04 with all patches applied, and version 3.3.12 of top. As of Ubuntu 23.04, very little has changed. We also cross-referenced everything on two other test computers, one running Fedora and the other Manjaro.

        The default top display crams as much information as possible in the terminal window. Information is a prerequisite to administration, so this is a good thing. One of the traits of a good system administrator is the ability to identify emerging problems and deal with them before they affect service. top gives you a dashboard of many different system metrics that help you do just that.

        The display is best described as functional, rather than intuitive, and abbreviations abound. When you first encounter top, it feels cramped, cryptic, and off-putting. With a few keypresses, though, you can tune the contents and format of the display according to what's important to you.

      • HowTo GeekHow to Delete Files and Directories in the Linux Terminal

        The rm and rmdir commands delete files and directories on Linux, macOS, and other Unix-like operating systems. They're similar to the del and deltree commands in Windows and DOS. These commands are very powerful and have quite a few options.

        It is important to note that files and directories deleted using rm and rmdir do not get moved to the Trash. They are immediately removed from your computer. If you accidentally delete files using these commands, the only way you'll be able to restore them is from a backup.

      • HowTo GeekHow to List Linux Services With systemctl

        Your Linux computer relies on a lot of background tasks called services or daemons. On systemd-based distributions you have built-in commands that let you see which services are running, disabled, or failed.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • DebugPoint20 Best Icon Themes for Ubuntu and Other Linux

        Your desktop environment isn't just a workspace; it's a canvas waiting to be painted with your personal style. Choosing the perfect icon theme is one of the most impactful ways to make your Linux desktop truly yours. Icons are the visual language of your computer, and selecting the right theme can transform your experience from ordinary to extraordinary.

        This article presents the 20 best icon themes that resonate with your aesthetic sensibilities. You can pair these with any GTK or KDE Plasma themes for the best experience.

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • HowTo GeekHere's What's New in GNOME 45

          The GNOME desktop environment is the default desktop for many Linux distributions, including Ubuntu and Fedora. Even distributions that have a different default desktop still have a version available with GNOME as its desktop. That’s not that surprising, GNOME is almost as old as Linux, and it has spread far and wide during its 24-year life.

          GNOME 45 is the latest version, and it's due to hit the streets on September 20th, 2023. All the GNOME versions since the iconoclastic GNOME 40 have boasted improvements in performance and appearance alike, and tighter integration to GTK4. This release carries on that tradition.

          It should be noted that we’re previewing the beta release here, not the finished article. Some things might change between the time of writing and the release date, although that’s unlikely. The release that comes after this beta is the release candidate, which acts as a sort of trial run for the final release itself.

          The content should be pretty much firmed up by now, and the developers will know what has and hasn’t made the cut. For something to be bumped out at this stage would require a serious defect to be discovered during testing that couldn’t be fixed without introducing further risk.

        • GNOMEChristian Hergert: Flamegraphs for Sysprof

          A long requested feature for Sysprof (and most profiler tools in general) is support for visualizing data as FlameGraphs. They are essentially a different view on the same callgraph data we already generate. So yesterday afternoon I spent a bit of time prototyping them to sneak into GNOME 45.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Linux Links15 Best Free and Open Source Python Microframeworks

      This article examines the best Python microframeworks. Micro means the framework is small, with little or no tools and libraries. Microframeworks are designed with extensibility in mind. They provide an essential set of features and rely on extensions to do the rest. Microframeworks have the advantage of making no or fewer decisions for you, making it easy to start development.

      When it comes to web development, there are a wide range of Python microframeworks to choose from. The choice actually helps you find the right tool for the job. Here’s our pick of the finest open source microframeworks captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart.

    • Linux Links12 Best Free and Open Source Linux Business Intelligence Software

      Linux and business intelligence are a good match in part because Linux has powerful toolkits for interacting with other systems, with open source databases (such as MySQL) to act as the data source.

      This article highlights the best business intelligence software that runs under Linux. Although there is not a wide range available, all of the applications featured below are useful for any business which wants to access, format and deliver information to their staff, their customers, and their commercial partners.

      Here’s our verdict on the 12 business intelligence software captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart.

    • Linux LinksBest Free and Open Source Alternatives to Google Groups

      What if you are looking to move away from Google and embark on a new world of online freedom, where you are not constantly tracked, monetised and attached to Google’s ecosystem.

      In this series we explore how you can migrate from Google without missing out on anything. We recommend open source solutions.

      Google Groups is a service that provides discussion groups for people sharing common interests.

      We recommend the best free and open source alternatives to Google Groups.

    • MedevelMass File Renamer: Batch Rename Large Number of Files with Ease

      Mass File Renamer is a powerful and user-friendly desktop application that is designed to make file renaming easier and more efficient. With its intuitive interface and advanced features, this app provides a comprehensive solution for users who need to rename multiple files quickly and easily.

    • MedevelFileMasta: The Open-source Desktop Federated Search Engine Is Abandoned

      FileMasta is a federated search application that allows you to discover a wide variety of files being shared online. Whether you're looking for video, music, books, software, games, subtitles, or anything else, FileMasta has you covered.

    • MedevelXODA: A Free Self-hosted Document Management System

      XODA is a simple yet powerful system for organizing documents using AJAX. It was designed with the KISS principle (Keep It Simple and Stupid) in mind, which means that it is easy to use and understand.

    • MedevelTagSpaces: is a Free Offline Document Manager For Daily Users

      TagSpaces is a comprehensive, versatile, and user-friendly application designed to help users organize and manage their local files with ease. This open-source software is free to use, and it doesn't involve any vendor lock-in.

    • MedevelYaCy: Free Self-hosted Privacy-First Decentralized Search Engine

      Distributed Peer-to-Peer Web Search Engine and Intranet Search Appliance

    • La Quadature Du NetIs Meta's arrival on the fediverse good news?

      The fediverse (a blend made from “federation” and “universe”) is a group of social media consisting of a multitude of platforms and software, each of them communicating with the others using a common protocol. Mastodon is one of the software applications used to offer an instance on the fediverse1More information on the fediverse on fediverse.party.. Last June, Meta announced its arrival on the fediverse, with the launch of a Twitter challenger called Threads, which will eventually be able to interoperate with other instances of the fediverse. For several years now, La Quadrature du Net has been calling for mandatory interoperability for these major social networks. So, is the interoperability of a service from Meta good news? Certainly not.

    • As Gov’t Agencies Turn to K8s, Cost Control is Critical

      Cloud-fueled technology change is happening at the federal level—but it is not without challenges, including K8s.

    • SaaS/Back End/Databases

      • SQLite Release 3.43.0 On 2023-08-24

        Add support for Contentless-Delete FTS5 Indexes. This is a variety of FTS5 full-text search index that omits storing the content that is being indexed while also allowing records to be deleted.

    • Programming/Development

      • QtQt for Android Automotive 6.5.2 is released

        The latest patch release for Android Automotive 6.5.2 is just released. This release is based on Qt LTS 6.5.2 with 290 bug fixes, security updates, and other improvements to the top of the Qt 6.5.1 release.

      • KDABOptimizing and Sharing Shader Structures

        When writing large graphics applications in Vulkan or OpenGL, there’s many data structures that need to be passed from the CPU to the GPU and vice versa. There are subtle differences in alignment, padding and so on between C++ and GLSL to keep track of as well.

    • Standards/Consortia

      • Nolan LawsonUse web components for what they’re good at

        Dave Rupert recently made a bit of a stir with his post “If Web Components are so great, why am I not using them?”. I’ve been working with web components for a few years now, so I thought I’d weigh in on this.

  • Leftovers

    • WhichUKWhat time should I get to the airport?

      With strike threats, cancellations and delays, many passengers think they should arrive at the terminal extra early, but airports tell us that’s not necessary

    • TediumThe New Chart Game

      The recent emergence of an out-of-nowhere chart-topper offers a great opportunity to talk about the music industry’s new favorite trick for gaming the Hot 100.

    • Ruben SchadeFinding myself in a video rendering studio

      Today was fun. Having set up shop in the office, my manager informed me that we were to have a meeting at a rendering studio. They were in need of burst capacity, and we’d delivered compute in this space before for clients in the US.

      Their office was spectacular. You know that cliché image of a creative space with unpainted concrete walls, polished wooden floors, plants, and art hanging everywhere? It was even more than that.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • Probably gonna quit sugar

        Howdy! It's been a while. I'd order mocktail margarita but it would defeat the point of my post. ...Although it's just virtual drinking right? Fine, I'll pretend to not be a hypocrite and order one.

        I've realized that I'm somewhat bored of sugar and I think these days the packaged snacks they sell is crap. It's just SUGAR without any care for actual quality. I like desserts where there's thought over flavors involved but I find that most packaged sweets dump sugar in their product out of fear customers might not find it tasty. Companies...the problem isn't less sugar! It's just that your formula tastes like trash.

        There are some sugary products I tolerate though because the product isn't just for "sugar overload" but it has its own flavor. I think good strawberry shortcake is a good example. Buttercream frosting paired with cake and paired with something fruity is just *chef's kiss*. I can't explain it but basically it's obvious they didn't just dump sugar for the sake of it, as the cake is good in it's own right. Maybe I should try out more tea cakes haha.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft Staff Explains How Microsoft Swindled Employees and Avoided Paying Out Severance Pay (Microsoft Hasn't Much Money Left in the Bank)
This is a classic way to avoid paying workers
Techrights Should be Even Faster Now
We're now better off
Richard Stallman (RMS) Gave 3 Talks in India in Less Than a Week
In India this month we've not seen a single negative comment about RMS
Microsoft Mass Layoffs Without Severance Pay Reported Hours After Microsoft Reported Weak Numbers and Microsoft Stock Fell
Microsoft has a bloodbath this month
Another Slew of Fake Articles About 'Linux' and 'Security' From Brittany Day at linuxsecurity.com (Spamfarm/Slopfarm)
linuxsecurity.com is basically a pariah and parasite. It lessens the incentive to write real articles about "Linux" by generating fake ones to outrank the originals.
 
Links 31/01/2025: Mass Layoffs at Amazon and Microsoft, Sweden Again Fails to Protect Critics of Violence
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux" and More (Latest Roundup Featuring BetaNews, Janus Atienza, and Brittany Day From Guardian Digital, Inc)
LLM slop season
"Not one of us" by Dr. Andy Farnell
Elon Musk has brought embarrassment to nerds and technologists
Gemini Links 31/01/2025: "Bulletin Buble" and "Why Blog?"
Links for the day
Static Site Generators (SSGs) Pay Off: Vastly Faster Sites, Much Smaller Hosting Bills
success story for SSGs
Of Note: Linux Foundation Has Already Let Linux.com Rot for About 4 Months (No Activity)
there's no campaign aside from marketing spam there
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 30, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, January 30, 2025
Indian Data Biases statCounter For or Against "Linux"
In statCounter, the GNU/Linux increases and decreases are deeply tied to what it does with data collected in India
The Corporate Media Pretends That Facebook ("Meta") Has Performed Well, But Its Debt Doubles Every 2 Years Despite Mass Layoffs
That same media also helps parrot misleading financial claims
Microsoft's Debt Surged by More Than 6,000,000,000 Dollars in Just 3 Months
numbers released hours ago
The Sheer Irony of Microsoft Proxy Accusing Others of 'Stealing'
Wherever DeepSick's data came from, Microsoft (or its proxy) is in no position to issue criticism.
The Difference a Decade (and GAFAM Money) Makes
Credibility cannot be purchased
[Meme] The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Critics Because Its Message is Effective
Applying to others the same standards one is willing to violate?
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Raised $422,000 (Another $22k in the Two Weeks After Campaign Ended), Proving That Truth and Justice Tend to Find a Way
10,000+ dollars a week even without campaigning for more funds
Faking Revenue Increase by Buying Your Own Products and Services (Through Scams and Scammers Like Scam Altman)
Is this what society deserves? Media that instead of exposing corruption has chosen to participate in it and profit from it?
Links 30/01/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) Causes Deaths, FBI Seizes Domains
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/01/2025: Action vs Inaction, Gopherholes, and More
Links for the day
Links 30/01/2025: Microsoft Wants Convicted Felon to Give Fentanylware (TikTok) to It (After Making a Phonecall Asking for That in 2019), "Moving Away From Google's Ecosystem"
Links for the day
Jack M. Germain (LinuxInsider) Seems to Have Turned to LLM Slop, Graphics Slop, and B2B SPAM
LinuxInsider is barely active anymore
Links 30/01/2025: Amazon Layoffs and DeepSeek Panic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/01/2025: Chaos Reigns, E-mail, Searching
Links for the day
IBM: Many Thousands of Layoffs in 2025
If 2025 is expected to be the same, then perhaps about 20,000 IBM workers will no longer be there
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 29, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Google: Your Only Option is Google YouTube (Coming Soon: Mandatory DRM and Attestation?)
Digital Restrictions (DRM) to follow? Only for "approved" (attestation) browsers?
Mastodon Was Always Biased (Just Like Twitter After Abandoning Chronological and Neutral Timelines in Order to Become More Like Facebook)
So bury-brigading and click-farming control what people see
Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Falls to Only 0.4% of the Total in Geminispace
Geminispace does not need to outsource trust
The Munich-Based EPO is Still Using a Platform That Promotes the Far Right and Rehabilitates Nazism
Active Twitter account
Links 29/01/2025: Dismantling Public Health in the US, Air Busan Plane Up in Flames (South Korea's Air Disasters Streak)
Links for the day
Announcements and Administrivia
This week we're going out for two days in a row to celebrate an achievement that's very respectable
Gemini Links 29/01/2025: Japan, GTD, and More
Links for the day
Sir, Yes, Sir. The Life of EPO Patent Examiners.
If working for the EPO makes it harder to sleep at night, take action
How the EPO Pressures Staff Into Minting More Monopolies (Patents), Even Illegal Ones That Harm Europe and Ultimately Dismantle the Rule of Law
insights into the pressure examiners are under
LLM Slop Machines Are Not a Win for "Open Source" and If They Get Cheaper, It's Even Worse
If some program that claims to be "Open Source" pollutes the Web with fake articles (Microsoft SPAM and fake "Linux" articles), whose win is it?
Links 29/01/2025: Data Privacy Day and Growing Tensions in Europe
Links for the day
Nazi Twitter (aka "X") Became a Troll Site That Lets People Buy a Blue Tick While Its Boss Actively Promotes Neonazi Politicians
the intellectual level of people who infest the Web through "Twitter" or "X"
This is Why They're So Afraid of Richard Stallman (He Tells People the Correct History)
Then they post about it to Microsoft's LinkedIn
Richard Stallman Speech in Bengaluru, "Silicon Valley of India"
62 years have passed since his "young nerd" days and he's still at it
Claim: Facebook Deletes Posts of IBM Red Hat Critics
As always, follow the money (advertisers)
Links 29/01/2025: Climate Crisis and "It’s time for the Xbox to fade away" (Microsoft Lose)
Links for the day
Links 29/01/2025: Buying Groceries During a Trade War, Political 'Retro'
Links for the day
More Illegal Patents at the EPO, Legality of Granted European Patents No Longer Matters to the Office
breaking the law for profit
Network Improvements Tomorrow
"Network maintenance" down in London
Sharing is Caring (But Advocating Copyleft Makes You a "Target")
GPLv3 does not close all the loopholes which the "Affero" helps close
Articles About Free Speech at Facebook
'Facebook vs Linux' story is now receiving a lot more media coverage
We Were Right About stallmansupport.org Making an Error by Joining Social Control Media. mastodon.social Suspends stallmansupport.org.
From what we can guess, accounts can be banned by some oversensitive admin or a mob of users ("bury brigades")
"Latest Technology News" in BetaNews Still LLM Slop and SPAM Composed by LLMs (It's Basically a Spamfarm Disguised as a News Site)
Only a fool would visit BetaNews in search of actual news
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 28, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, January 28, 2025
The EPO's Corruption, If It Remains Untackled, Helps the Far Right and Enemies of European Unity/Solidarity
Do not negotiate with evil
The Web, Including Wikipedia, Gets Filled With Lies About Bill Gates, Added by Bill Gates and His PR Team
Of course Wikipedia is funded by Gates
Facebook Banning Linux Sites (or People Who Link to Linux Sites) is Another Symptom of the Web's Demise
The state of media on the Web is really bad; Social Control Media amplifies the badness, as Facebook serves to show
Gemini Links 29/01/2025: Neovim Telescope and Writing Less
Links for the day