Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 14/3/2022: postmarketOS 21.12 Service Pack 3, Linux 5.17 Buys More Time



  • GNU/Linux

    • Linux Made SimpleLinux Weekly Roundup #173

      We had another full week in the world of Linux releases with SparkyLinux 2022.03, Bluestar Linux 5.16.12, ArcoLinux 22.03.08, Zorin OS 16.1, and Robolinux 12.04.

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • Make Use Of5 Reasons to Use the Linux Desktop Instead of WSL

        With a full Linux desktop, you don't have to give up your Windows programs. Linux has supported various ways to run Windows alongside Linux from the beginning.

        The classic option is dual-booting, using a bootloader to choose between the two systems at boot time. You can also run Windows or desktop Linux in a virtual machine, depending on which system you use less frequently. If you want to run Windows programs, but you're dead-set on only running Linux, you can use Wine or Proton.

        You have options when you want to run Windows and Linux apps. You could keep Windows around for games and other programs you need while using Linux to learn more about computers, programming, system administration, or operating systems in general. It's a nice division of labor.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • Make Use OfWhy Is the Linux Logo a Penguin? The Story Behind Tux

        You might've seen a penguin logo somewhere on the internet when reading about Linux. So how did a penguin become the official Linux mascot?

        What's the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of Linux? If it is a cherubic, rotund penguin, you're referring to Tux, the current age iconic brand identifier of Linux.

        But did you know, it was a good five years before Linux got a penguin for a brand ambassador? The story behind how the famous mascot was born and how the Linux penguin name came to be, makes for some interesting trivia, especially if you're a fan of the open-source kernel and its lineage.

      • Linux 5.17-rc8
        So last weekend, I thought I'd be releasing the final 5.17 today.
        
        

        That was then, this is now. Last week was somewhat messy, mostly because of embargoed patches we had pending with another variation of spectre attacks. And while the patches were mostly fine, we had the usual "because it was hidden, all our normal testing automation didn't see it either".

        And once the automation sees things, it tests all the insane combinations that people don't tend to actually use or test in any normal case, and so there was a (small) flurry of fixes for the fixes.

        None of this was really surprising, but I naïvely thought I'd be able to do the final release this weekend anyway.

        And honestly, I considered it. I don't think we really have any pending issues that would hold up a release, but on the other hand we also really don't have any reason _not_ to give it another week with all the proper automated testing. So that's what I'm doing, and as a result we have an -rc8 release today instead of doing a final 5.17.

        There's a number of non-spectre things in here too, of course. Among other things, people finally chased down a couple of mislaid patches that had been on the regression list, so hopefully we have those all nailed down now too.

        And obviously there's all the usual random fixes in here too. But because of the spectre thing, about half of the -rc8 patch is architecture updates.

        That said, it's still a fairly _small_ half of the patch. It was not one of the "big disaster" hw speculation things, it was mostly extending existing mitigations and reporting.

        Anyway, let's not keep the testing _just_ to automation - the more the merrier, and real-life loads are always more interesting than what the automation farms do. So please do give this last rc a quick try,

        Linus
      • LWNKernel prepatch 5.17-rc8 [LWN.net]

        Linus has released 5.17-rc8 rather than the final 5.17 kernel.

      • ReiserFS may Lose Support in Linux Kernel

        The Linux kernel has existed for more than 30 years. Over time, several technologies considered innovative, become obsolete giving way to something more modern.

        Although it is possible to maintain certain living technologies for a few years in favor of retro-compatibility. This “survival” can disrupt innovation and creation of tools more suitable for the reality in which we live; and the Linux kernel team knows this well.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • The Fork System Call in Linux - ByteXD

        In this article, you will find a brief description of the fork system call and how it works.

        This article requires that you have some background knowledge of the concept of process in any operating system.

      • What is the X Window System? (X, Xorg, X11)

        From its beginning, Unix and all the operating systems based on it were text-based. It means that you have to learn a set of commands and use them to perform various operations. With the passage of time, Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) were included in almost all operating systems. Soon GUI get popular as they are user-friendly and easy to understand and use, especially for beginners.

        The X window system (also known as X11 or simply X) provides GUI facilities both to a local desktop and in a network environment. In this tutorial, you will learn about the X window system, how it works, its elements, and some of its advantages.

      • Linux Made SimpleHow to install Discord on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install Discord 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.

      • VideoHow to install the Brave Beta browser on Zorin OS 16 - Invidious

        In this video, we are looking at how to install the Brave Beta browser on Zorin OS 16.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • KDE Frameworks 5.92.0
          KDE today announces the release of KDE Frameworks 5.92.0.

          KDE Frameworks are 83 addon libraries to Qt which provide a wide variety of commonly needed functionality in mature, peer reviewed and well tested libraries with friendly licensing terms. For an introduction see the KDE Frameworks release announcement.

          This release is part of a series of planned monthly releases making improvements available to developers in a quick and predictable manner.

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • 9to5LinuxGNOME 42 Release Candidate Brings Back Fingerprint Dialog in Control Center

          GNOME 42 Beta, the devs added the ability to take screenshots of the current window with the Shift+PrntScrn keyboard shortcut, the ability to switch workspaces with Home and End keys in Activities Overview, the ability to cancel ongoing update downloads in GNOME Software when system power is low, and G722 as the preferred codec for SIP calls in the new GNOME Calls app.

          GNOME 42 Release Candidate also improves gnome-bluetooth to allow GNOME Shell’s Bluetooth menu to appear when expected and to make the Connect switch available for Bluetooth LE MIDI devices. GNOME Boxes received the ability to recommend the latest operating system releases for download when they’re available in osinfo-db.

    • Distributions

      • Best Linux Distro for Beginners in 2022: Top 5 Picks

        Linux is an open-source operating system that has been growing in popularity in recent years. It is often praised for its stability and security, as well as its low system requirements. In this blog post, we will discuss the best Linux distros for beginners in 2022.

        Distro stands for “distribution” and refers to the specific flavor of Linux you are using. There are many different distros available, each with its own unique features and benefits. We will also take a look at the advantages of using Linux, and what you need to know before making the switch.

      • New Releases

        • 9to5LinuxIPFire Hardened Open-Source Linux Firewall Is Now Powered by Linux Kernel 5.15 LTS

          IPFire 2.27 Core Update 164 is here as the first release of the IPFire Linux firewall to be powered by the Linux 5.15 LTS kernel series, which is supported until October 2023. As you can expect, the new kernel improves compatibility with newer hardware components, adds security and bug fixes, enables virtualization support with libvirt and KVM, and improves the performance of cryptographic operations on the AArch64 (ARM64) architecture.

      • SUSE/OpenSUSE

      • Debian Family

        • OSMC's March update is here with Kodi v19.4 - OSMC

          We're happy to release OSMC's March update, our first update of 2022. This has a number of improvements and bug fixes. We had planned to release an update the end of January -- but decided to hold off until we could release a more substantial update, as there will be a delay in getting the next significant changes out.

          In the background, we're laying the groundwork for a number of other changes which will be released in the near future, including improvements to video playback for Vero 4K/4K+; a number of Raspberry Pi improvements and finalising the move to Debian Bullseye.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

        • FOSS PostExtend Ubuntu LTS Support Period to 10 Years With Ubuntu Advantage

          Historically, Ubuntu Long-term support (LTS) versions were always supported with updates for 5 years after the release date. So for example, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS was supported with updates from 2012 to 2017.

          However, Canonical announced last year that it is going to extend this support period up to 10 years for Ubuntu Advantage users. Ubuntu Advantage is a subscription service from Canonical that can be used to add additional security and hardening features to the default Ubuntu installation, whether on desktops, servers or the cloud.

          This means, for example, that you can extend your Ubuntu 20.04 LTS installation support period to 10 years instead of 5, so that it can continue to be supported with updates until 2030. A very nice feature indeed, because it means you won’t have to bother with the underlying OS for a very, very long period of time, and will just have to focus on your own workflow.

        • Real-time Analytics News for Week Ending March 12 - RTInsights

          Canonical, publisher of Ubuntu, along with cPanel announced they are expanding collaboration to provide full support for Ubuntu LTS 20.04 with cPanel and WHM version 102. The collaboration with Canonical will give cPanel and WHM Ubuntu users more open-source Linux distribution architecture options within their current infrastructure while providing a more robust business suite of solutions to help customers scale and expand their business hosting operations.

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

        • Linux HintDrop View If Exists postgres

          As the name suggests, a view can be a glance at a database record from a different site. A view in PostgreSQL is a subset of one or more tables to see the important data. We mostly create views to execute the most-used query in the database. Those, who don’t have any understanding of Database views, will get some knowledge today. Therefore, we will be discussing a method to create, use and drop the views in the PostgreSQL database.

        • Linux HintHow to Use postgres Xpath

          You may have worked on Html, XML, and CSS while learning web designing. XML is said to be an extensible markup language that contains user-defined tags without already defined tags as the “Html” language has. While working in the PostgreSQL database, there come situations when you have to save the XML type data in your tables. Most of the students get confused about fetching such sort of data from the PostgreSQL database tables. Therefore, the PostgreSQL database provides us with the “XPath” function to fetch and modify the XML type data columns. Thus, this article will contain an explanation of using the Xpath function in the PostgreSQL database. Let’s initiate and make sure to not skip any step.

      • Programming/Development

        • Julia EvansCelebrate tiny learning milestones

          Hello! Today I want to talk about – how do you know you’re getting better at programming?

        • Linux LinksExcellent Free Tutorials to Learn Less - LinuxLinks

          Less (stands for Leaner Style Sheets) is a backwards-compatible language extension for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). This dynamic preprocessor style sheet language can be compiled into CSS and run on the client side or server side.

          Less provides the following mechanisms: variables, nesting, mixins, operators and functions; the main difference between Less and other CSS precompilers is that Less allows real-time compilation via less.js by the browser.

          Because Less looks just like CSS, learning it is easy. Less only makes a few convenient additions to the CSS language, which is one of the reasons it can be learned so quickly.

  • Leftovers

    • Hardware

      • HackadayReversible Ventilation Hack Keeps The Landlord Happy

        When a person owns the home they live in, often the only approval they need for modifications is from their significant other or roommate. In the worst case, maybe a permit is required. But those who rent their dwellings are far more constrained in almost every case, and when it comes to environmental controls, they are most decidedly off limits. Unless you’re a resourceful hacker like [Nik], that is, who has seamlessly integrated his apartment’s ventilation system into his smart home controller — all without any permanent modifications!

      • HackadayMiniPC Surgery Makes It 50% Cooler

        [G3R] writes to us about a mod they did on a HP ProDesk/EliteDesk 400 G3 miniPC they use as a home emulation center. The miniPC would overheat as soon as the CPU load increased, resulting in frame drops and stutters, as well as throttling CPU. [G3R] took the original cooling solution, threw out half of it and modified the remaining half to accept a tower CPU cooler.

      • Hackaday5-Axis 3D Printing For The Rest Of Us

        By now we’re all used to the idea of three dimensional printing, as over the last fifteen years or so it’s become an indispensable tool for anyone with an interest in making things without an industrial scale budget. There are still a few limitations to the techniques used in a common 3D printer though, in particular being tied to layers in a single orientation. It’s something that can be addressed by adding tilt and rotational axes to the printer to deliver a five-axis device, but this has not been available in an affordable form. [Freddie Hong] and colleagues have tackled the production of an affordable printer, and his solution fits neatly on the bed of a Prusa i3 to convert it to five-axis machine without breaking the bank.

      • HackadayHaptic Smart Knob Does Several Jobs

        A knob is a knob, a switch is a switch, and that’s that, right? And what about those knobs that have detents, set in stone at the time of manufacturing? Oh, and those knobs that let you jog left to right and then snap back to center — that can’t be modified…right? Well, you likely know where this is going, and in the video below the break, [scottbez1] shows off a new open source haptic input knob that can be€ all of these things with just some configuration changes!

      • HackadayRetro Breadboard Gives Up Its 1960s Secrets

        When we see [Ken Shirriff] reverse engineering something, it tends to be on the microscopic level. His usual forte is looking at die photos of strange and obsolete chips and figuring out how they work. And while we love those efforts, it’s nice to see him in the macro world this time with a teardown and repair of a 1960s-era solderless breadboard system.

      • HackadayRemote MQTT Temperature Sensor Shows How It’s Done

        First of all, there are definitely simpler ways to monitor remote temperatures, but [Mike]’s remote MQTT temperature sensor and display project is useful in a few ways. Not only does it lay out how to roll such a system from scratch, but it also showcases system features like solar power.

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • The HillUS, EU cyber investments in Ukraine pay off amid war [iophk: Windows TCO]

          The West began actively investing in Ukraine’s cyber defenses following the 2015 power grid hack and the 2017 Petya malware attack. The electrical grid attack left more than 200,000 people without power for several hours while the Petya malware disrupted key Ukrainian institutions, including banks, government ministries and companies.

        • Security

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • [Old] You Can Change Your Number

              If you’re keeping your existing phone, but getting a new number, the Change Number feature will let you keep your profile and all of your existing messages and groups on your device, while making you reachable at your new phone number.

            • The VergeInstagram is finally letting livestreamers add moderators

              Instagram notes that creators can assign a moderator by tapping the three dots in the comment bar during a Live. From there, they can choose a moderator from a list of suggested accounts, or use the search bar to search for a specific account.

            • IT WireABC appears to be hell-bent on compulsory iview logins

              And the taxpayer-funded corporation has hinted that such logins may also become mandatory for other digital services, with its chair Ita Buttrose not ruling it out, by saying in a response to the APF: "There are no current plans to make a login requirement necessary for other ABC digital products."

              Buttrose's statement was part of a short response sent to the APF on 8 March. It was made public only on Monday, along with the APF's reply. For the most part, the APF made the same arguments as it did in the original letter which iTWire reported on 3 March.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • HungaryOur strength is our unity: Putin chose war. We remain united with Ukraine
      • Common DreamsRussia Bombs Ukrainian Military Base Near Border of NATO Member Poland

        Russian forces on Sunday bombed a Ukrainian military facility located just 22 miles from the border of NATO member Poland, killing at least 35 people and injuring dozens more.

        Prior to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the facility hosted NATO drills and U.S. troops used it to train Ukrainian forces on the deployment of anti-tank missiles and other weaponry. The base has been described as "a vital link in the pipeline to get weapons from NATO allies into Ukraine."

      • Common DreamsOpinion | What Happens After the Russia-Ukraine Conflict?

        Offering predictions about what will follow the Russia-Ukraine conflict is probably a foolhardy exercise, but here are a few thoughts that might engender further speculation and discussion.

      • Common DreamsMass Anti-War Protests Held Across Europe as Russia's Assault Continues

        Tens of thousands of people took to the streets to join anti-war demonstrations across Europe on Sunday as Russia continued its deadly assault on Ukraine, bombarding major cities and intensifying a humanitarian crisis that is having reverberating effects worldwide.

        In addition to protests in Berlin, London, Warsaw, and Madrid—where participants carried signs and banners that read "Stop the War" and "Peace and Solidarity for the People in Ukraine"—demonstrations sprang up on a smaller scale in occupied Ukrainian cities and in Moscow, despite the threat of arrest and police brutality.

      • The Telegraph UKPro-war Russians target opponents by daubing 'Z' insignia on doors

        In Surgut, Siberia, police fined an unnamed person 40,000 roubles (€£320) for posting a message on the VKontakte social networking site that the authorities did not approve of.

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • EFFThe Foilies 2022

        Each year during Sunshine Week (March 13-19), The Foilies serve up tongue-in-cheek "awards" for government agencies and assorted institutions that stand in the way of access to information. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock combine forces to collect horror stories about Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state-level public records requests from journalists and transparency advocates across the United States and beyond. Our goal is to identify the most surreal document redactions, the most aggravating copy fees, the most outrageous retaliation attempts, and all the other ridicule-worthy attacks on the public's right to know.

        And every year since 2015, as we're about to crown these dubious winners, something new comes to light that makes us consider stopping the presses.

        As we were writing up this year's faux awards, news broke that officials from the National Archives and Records Administration had to lug away boxes upon boxes of Trump administration records from Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's private resort. At best, it was an inappropriate move; at worst, a potential violation of laws governing the retention of presidential records and the handling of classified materials. And while Politico had reported that when Trump was still in the White House, he liked to tear up documents, we also just learned from journalist Maggie Haberman's new book that staff claimed to find toilets clogged up with paper scraps, which were potentially torn-up government records. Trump has dismissed the allegations, of course.€ 

    • Environment

      • Energy

        • The HillThe [cryptocurrency] conflict unfolding in Ukraine

          As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its third week, much of the world is using digital technologies to watch it unfold. Behind the physical soldiers in uniform, there are unseen digital algorithms at work, from artificial intelligence to the movement of money, including cryptocurrency, or “[cryptocurrency].”

        • Heat Pumps for Peace and Freedom

          Heat pumps aren’t the only commodity we might produce this time around. Europe is also apparently short of insulation, and America has spare productive capacity—load ships full of the pink stuff, and let Britons pack their attics so that when November rolls around next year (and November will roll around) the old boiler in the basement won’t have to work so hard while it waits to be replaced by a modern heat pump.

        • The EconomistWhy [cryptocurrency] is unlikely to be useful for sanctions-dodgers

          For an oligarch looking to dodge American sanctions, converting wealth into [cryptocurrency] would ideally be a means, not an end. It is not possible to buy most everyday items or financial assets directly with cryptocurrencies. “Ultimately what they really need to do is get access to some form of fiat currency, which becomes more challenging,” said Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, in a United States Senate hearing on the Russian invasion on March 10th.

          To convert back into fiat currency requires interacting with an exchange, which would act as the interface between traditional banks which operate in sovereign money, like the dollar, and [cryptocurrency]. As [cryptocurrency]-exchanges have grown bigger and more important, many have become regulated. Some of the biggest are publicly listed. Most have a presence in America and Europe. This poses two problems for would-be sanctions-dodgers.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Democrats Slash $5 Billion in Global Covid Aid—With Biden Already Behind on Vaccine Donations

        As the Biden administration falls woefully behind on its pledges to donate Covid vaccines to the world, on Wednesday, the U.S. House slashed $5 billion for the global pandemic response from an omnibus spending bill. The cut to Covid funds underscores the capriciousness of the U.S. government’s promises, and lends credence to public health activists who argue that countries in the Global South cannot rely on the pledges of wealthy nations, and should be given the information they need to manufacture vaccines€ themselves.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Washington Needs to Do Something About UAE Dirty Money

        Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered a literal hunt by Global North nations for his and his cronies’ ill-gotten financial assets. It has pushed USAID to announce a new global anti-corruption program aimed at expanding the capacity of investigative journalists and civil society to pursue reforms, and sift through big data dumps that are increasingly a critical source of the financial flows and evidence both sanctions officials and bank regulators need.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Democrats in Congress Want Windfall Tax on Big Oil, Consumer Rebates, and Cheap Green Energy

        Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has introduced, and several other congressional Democrats have co-sponsored, a bill to curb big petroleum companies engaged in profiteering.

      • Robert ReichPutin and Trump Have Convinced me I was Wrong about the 21st Century
      • NewYorkTimesShaming Apple and Texting Musk, a Ukraine Minister Uses Novel War Tactics

        To achieve Russia’s isolation, Mr. Fedorov, a former tech entrepreneur, used a mix of social media, cryptocurrencies and other digital tools. On Twitter and other social media, he pressured Apple, Google, Netflix, Intel, PayPal and others to stop doing business in Russia. He helped form a group of volunteer hackers to wreak havoc on Russian websites and online services. His ministry also set up a cryptocurrency fund that has raised more than $60 million for the Ukrainian military.

        The work has made Mr. Fedorov one of Mr. Zelensky’s most visible lieutenants, deploying technology and finance as modern weapons of war. In effect, Mr. Fedorov is creating a new playbook for military conflicts that shows how an outgunned country can use the internet, crypto, digital activism and frequent posts on Twitter to help undercut a foreign aggressor.

      • The VergeRussia will ban Instagram on March 14th

        The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said in a tweet that “This decision will cut 80 million in Russia off from one another, and from the rest of the world as ~80% of people in Russia follow an Instagram account outside their country. This is wrong.”

      • [Old] Business StandardMark Zuckerberg bought Instagram as it was a 'threat' to Facebook

        "Facebook, by its own admission saw Instagram as a threat that could potentially siphon business away from Facebook," Nadler said during the hearing on Wednesday.

        "So rather than compete with it, Facebook bought it. This is exactly the type of anti-competitive acquisition the antitrust laws were designed to prevent," Nadler added.

        Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, a shocking sum at that time for a company with 13 employees,

    • Misinformation/Disinformation

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • IT WireNational Press Club offers fig leaf as it opts for censorship

        On 11 March, the NPC withdrew its invitation for Pavlovsky to address the club in Canberra. The acting Ukrainian envoy, Volodymyr Shalkivskyi, had spoken at the club on 10 March.

        In order to justify the cancellation, the NPC claimed the invitations to both diplomats were issued "at a different stage in the conflict in Ukraine before allegations of war crimes and bombing of civilian targets".

        In saying this, the NPC made it clear that it had already passed judgment on these allegations and decided that they are true, which is a remarkable decision to take.

    • Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press

      • RTLUS journalist shot dead in Ukraine: medic, witnesses

        Papers found on the American reporter's body identified him as 50-year-old video documentary shooter Brent Renaud, of New York.

        A New York Times identity card was among the papers, leading to reports he worked for the paper, but the US daily said he was not working for it at the time of his death.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • ABCSaudi Arabia puts 81 to death in its largest mass execution

        Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to belonging to militant groups, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history.

      • Counter PunchThe Benedict Arnold of LSD

        This was 1974 when Leary was in Folsom prison in northeastern California, after convictions for a number of marijuana busts plus time for his jailbreak.

        It’s not entirely fresh news that the late Timothy Leary was a squealer and a snitch to the FBI. The snitching was well known at the time. The FBI was eager to leak the fact that Leary, high priest of LSD and potentate of the counterculture, was singing about his former associates.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Instead of Taxing the Poorest, the US Needs a Maximum Income

        Mitch McConnell, the GOP Senate leader, doesn’t have a problem with billionaires. He’s spent his entire political career helping billionaires make more billions. But Mitch McConnell does have a problem with one particular fabulously rich figure.

      • Former Debian Project Leader: Migrating to Dreamwidth

        Over the years, Livejournal has become more commercial and has been less associated with my community values. I never left during the mass exoduses around TOS changes because while I saw things changing, the worst terms seemed in response to government regulation rather than the choices of the company. I know that if I were to look into US laws, I'd find several that I object to as well.

    • Monopolies

      • Copyrights

        • Torrent FreakTorguard Settles Piracy Lawsuit and Agrees to Block Torrent Traffic on U.S. Servers

          TorGuard has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by several movie companies last year. The VPN provider stood accused of failing to take action against subscribers who were pirating films. As part of the settlement, TorGuard agrees to block BitTorrent traffic on U.S. servers; however, it stresses that user privacy is in no way affected by this decision.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Next Month 'New Techrights' Turns Two
Next month, on the fourth week, it'll be 2 years since the migration
Online Safety Act Tries to Accomplish the Impossible
All I can say is, "good luck with that!"
 
They Tell Us That "Cloud Storage" is Safe and Robust to Incidents Like Fires
Do you have backups? Where are they and who controls them?
"Allowing SDL to default to Wayland caused a number of customer issues so keep the default at X11 for now"
2025 is another year of Wayland ambitions. It's also a year of self-fulfilling prophecies.
In The United Kingdom (UK), Microsoft Search (Bing) Falls to All-Time Low
Grow? What grow??? It's collapsing.
GNU/Linux Reaches 5% in Oman
Some GNU/Linux distros are made in Oman
Google's "AI Mode" is a Pathetic Joke Prematurely Introduced in the UK (Like "Bard", Which Sank the Company's Shares)
what Google "thinks" about PCLinuxOS
What the Free Software Foundation Started Four Decades Ago is Becoming Mainstream
"Four decades; Four freedoms; For all users"
Doing a Better Job at Labelling Slop Images
we'll label screenshots that contain slop, typically with red-coloured text overlay
Social Control Media is Out of Style
What's your excuse for wasting time on (or in) it?
Maldives: GNU/Linux at All-Time High, Windows at New Lows
data from statCounter shows a reassuring trend
Efficiency is Good, So Why Won't Governments Cull LLM Companies Using Stronger, Stringent Policies?
Like every bubble that ever existed, including some recent ones, an end will come
The Defunct Site LinuxConfig Has Published a Fake Article About Richard Stallman Using LLM Slop, Which Stallman Calls "Bullshit Generator"
Worse yet, it is writing using a "Bullshit Generator" (the term used by Stallman) about Stallman's health
Microsoft Windows Falls to All-Time Lows in Morocco and Algeria
About 70% or even less
StopGenAI in the Cyber Show (C|S)
covering a theme that we too covered a lot lately
Gemini Links 03/08/2025: Once-a-Decade Couch Shopping and Blessings in Disguise
Links for the day
Links 03/08/2025: Political Catch-up, Global Warming, and Hunger
Links for the day
Brittany Day Entered LLM Slop Into LinuxSecurity.com and Something Hilarious Happened: The Site is "Exploited"
The brainless, effortless copypasta of "slop artists" shows its limits
Links 03/08/2025: Microsoft Exchange 0-day Exploited and Avoidable Nuclear Escalation
Links for the day
Definitely Not a Ponzi Scheme
Bitcoin v Microsoft
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a Billionaires' Lobby
Billionaires that control tech companies
Microsoft Borrows 3 Billion Dollars Per Month, a Company Truly Worth Trillions Would Not Do This
if Windows (and Office) "market share" fell from about 90% to barely 30%, how come Microsoft is now "valued" at 20 times more?
It's Even Worse Than Microsoft Lunduke Puts It; GNOME is SLAPPing Journalists
In our experience, GNOME is so malicious - some elements of it in particular - that it would launch multiple simultaneous SLAPP campaigns not only against journalists but also their spouses
GNU/Linux Adoption Reaches All-Time Highs in Chile, statCounter Indicates
This month marks 4 years since Vista 11 came out (as a fake "leak") and some surveys still measure its adoption at less than 40%
Slop Will Not Change the World
Some of us grow up sooner and leave that nonsense behind (or altogether avoid/skip it)
Gemini Links 03/08/2025: Nostalgia and TOFU
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 02, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 02, 2025
Google Throwing Out the Search Engine With the Bathwater is a Complete and Utter 'Shi---ow' as the Company Drowns in Debt, Layoffs, and Worse
The mainstream media almost never mentions GAFAM debt
Operating Systems' Statistics in New Zealand: GNU/Linux Up, Windows Down to All-Time Lows
Remember all this when the media says that Microsoft became like 10 times more valuable in those 15 years (from 400 billion to 4,000 billion in alleged "worth")
Microsoft Windows "Market Share" Measured Around 2.7% in Iraq, Plunges to 6.5% in Saudi Arabia
Microsoft isn't on the agenda in Iraq
GNU/Linux Share in Sweden Has Doubled Since PewDiePie, A Swede, Recommended It
months ago he moved to GNU/Linux, then told others to consider doing the same
GNU/Linux Hits Record High in Portugal
GNU/Linux picking up in Portugal
Gemini Protocol is Not Dying, It's Growing
When people say things like "Gemini Protocol is dying" the data does not support them
GNU/Linux is Thriving This Summer
It is meanwhile acknowledged, even by Microsoft pushers, that many GNU/Linux PCs will get sabotaged next month
The End of Microsoft's Reign in Spain: Windows Falls to All-Time Lows in Spanish Web Traffic
Windows sank to new lows in Spain
The Bots Never Sleep: In The Weekends, Slopfarms Dominate Google News, Majority of Entries in Google Are Fake Articles About 'Linux'
Google is fast becoming an ocean of plagiarism; the same goes for Google News, which was supposed to have extra quality control
Russia's Yandex Has Caught Up With Bing in Terms of "Market Share"
Microsoft has been firing loads of Bing workers for over 2 years already
Canada: GNU/Linux Up to Records Highs, Windows Down to Record Lows
Microsoft already announcing some plans to shut down Vista 11
Gemini Links 02/08/2025: Transducers in Typed Racket and American ISPs
Links for the day
Links 02/08/2025: Microsoft Already Kills Vista 11 SE, Smartphone Sales Down, Truth Gets "You're Fired!" in the US
Links for the day
Video: The Rise of GNU/Linux and Free Software as Seen by RMS in 2004
DTP's founder argued that when Windows goes below 85% "market share", it'll lose its grip in the monopoly sense
Russia: GNU/Linux Rises to Highest Adoption Level Since Invasion of Ukraine
Moving up in the north
Microsoft's Latest Financial Report: We "Gained" 300 Million Dollars in "Goodwill" and Liabilities Grew by 32 Billion Dollars
Microsoft's debt has reached an all-time high
The Register US = The Register MS
Formerly The Register UK
Weeks After Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan Windows Falls to All-Time Lows
Only less than a month ago it was quietly revealed, based on laid-off staff, that Microsoft shut down in Pakistan
Criminal Behaviour is the Standard Operating Procedure at Microsoft
In the future I'll be able to tell how, when dealing with SLAPPs from Microsofters, their Microsoft services failed me and sometimes even blocked my contacts
GNU/Linux Rises to All-Time Highs in Europe
many people will get fired for buying Microsoft
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux on the Client Desktop/Laptop, Based on Steam Survey
GNU/Linux rose to 2.89% in Steam
Links 02/08/2025: Blaugust 2025 and "Russia Declares Navalny Memoir ‘Extremist’"
Links for the day
Free Software is Not a Business Model
Go ahead, ask your friend, "how do you plan to monetise your children?"
When (Almost) One-Man Operations Are Disguised as Medium-Sized Companies
the CEO hides in the US (hiding from his ex-wives, 4 daughters from those wives, and Sirius staff that he defrauded)
LLM Slop Harms Real Literature, Real Web Sites, Real Journalism
LLM slop is a parasite and it'll run out of legitimate outputs
Upcoming OSI Scandal Series
The OSI is a rogue actor because it serves Microsoft in exchange for money
Slopwatch: The Issue Persists, But the Consensus in the Media Changes as Google Enrages It With LLM Plagiarism
We've meanwhile assessed the latest output from Linuxiac
Microsoft Actually in Trouble, Microsofters Unable to Obey Judges' Orders
For the second time in a week, Microsofters are unable to obey orders
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 01, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 01, 2025
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Links 02/08/2025: İstanbul Retail Inflation Reaches 42.48%, US FBI Opens Office in New Zealand
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/08/2025: ZFS, LLM Hype, and Fake Modules
Links for the day
Links 01/08/2025: Health, Conflict, and Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Microsoft's Debt Exploded by 15.4 Billion Dollars in the Past 9 Months Alone (Despite All the Layoffs)
As of minutes ago, at 6PM on a Friday, the numbers are made public
Meeting (Webchat) With Maria Arranz Gomez, Florian Grundies, Jürgen Janda and Konstantinos Kortsaris Confronts EPO Management About Breaking Promises and Crushing Workers
The lack of consistent messages suggests plans other than what's advertised and the lack of consultation (secrecy) likewise
Links 01/08/2025: "The Great British Firewall" and U.S. Army Sponsors Palantir
Links for the day
For Second Day in a Row, Top Story in The Register MS is "Microsoft Says"
The editor in chief exercises control over everybody else
LLMs as Attack Method Against Free Software and Programming
DDoS in "hey hi" (slop) clothing
Stability and Reliability, Backward Compatibility
I don't fancy relying on social control media as "sources"
What "the News" Looks Like in 2025
The "says" (or "sez") phenomenon
History Will Be Distorted, Sometimes Intentionally, Under the Guise of Intelligence (Manipulated/Curated Slop)
Militarised misinformation or military-grade chaff is a national security threat, even domestically
Financial Engineering Companies: A Company Worth 4 Trillion Dollars Would Not Borrow 100+ Billion Dollars at Interest Rates Like Today's
Many headlines perpetuate the lie Microsoft had just 2 waves of layoffs
Microsoft is Googlebombing "Linux" While Paying Former News Sites to Publish SPAM
How much lower will IDG sink?
Google as a 'Bullshit Generator' Disguised as Intelligence
It'll probably cause Google to get sued a lot, both by individuals and companies
As Expected, Google in the UK Now Experiments With Slop Instead of Web Search
At this point more people ought to stop and think: Does Google's search engine deserve trust?
The Data You Don't Give Away is Your Advantage
stop sharing data that does not need to be shared
Being Obedient or Doing the Right Thing
The world always changes for the better because of people who think "Outside the Box", not the cogs
Gemini Links 01/08/2025: Happy Hacking Keyboards and New Gemini Arrivals
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 31, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 31, 2025