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Links 07/06/2022: GNU/Linux Shows and Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter







  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Graphics Stack

      • CNX Software ☛ Panfrost now offers a fully-conformant OpenGL ES 3.1 implementation for Mali-G57 (Valhall) GPU - CNX Software

        The Mali-G57 GPU part of the Valhall family, and found in several Arm processors such as MediaTek MT8192 and MT8195 SoC powering some Chromebooks, is now supported by the Panfrost open-source driver with a fully-conformant OpenGL ES 3.1 implementation.

        Last year, Collabora updated Panfrost with support for OpenGL ES 3.1 on Midgard (Mali T760 and newer) and Bifrost (Mali G31, G52, G76) GPUs, and also announced having started working on Valhall GPUs. One part of the work was done in the summer of 2021 with some reverse-engineering work on Mali-G78 GPU’s instruction set, and this has culminated with a fully-conformant OpenGL3.1 for Mali-G57 GPU.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • ID Root ☛ How To Install GitLab on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
      • UNIX Cop ☛ How to install Ant on CentOS 9 Stream?

        Welcome, my friend. Today, you will learn how to install Ant on CentOS 9 Stream. Thanks to this tool, we will be able to automate the process of compiling and creating Java packages. Let’s take a look at it.

      • Linux Handbook ☛ Show File Transfer Progress With Rsync Command



        When you are transferring a large number of files that take some time, the rsync command shows a blank output.

        The cursor just blinks without any information.

        This leaves you wondering whether the files are being transferred or its just trying to connect to the remote server.

        The good thing is that rsync is a versatile tool and it allows to show the status of file transfers.

      • Make Use Of ☛ How to Customize Konsole, the Default KDE Terminal Emulator

        The Linux terminal is not going to become obsolete anytime soon, so it's time to embrace it. If you're ready to take that step, Konsole is a good place to start.

      • Linux Shell Tips ☛ Where Do Files Go When the rm Command is Issued?

        Using a Linux operating system distribution is not just about simplifying and solving technical problems in a flawless manner but also unraveling the technical mysteries behind them. One of the technical mysteries this article seeks to bring to light is the prominent use of the Linux rm command.

        As per its man page, the rm command is a member of the GNU Coreutils package and comes pre-installed in all Linux operating system distributions.

        It serves a primary goal of getting rid of files and directories no longer required in the Linux file system. This command is manually executed by a Sudoer/root user of the Linux OS system, especially when dealing with files stored under the root file system.

      • Trend Oceans ☛ List all Installed Packages on Ubuntu and Debian-based Linux Distributions

        We are still not in a utopia to have all the rolling-out versions of packages inside solo repositories for which we have to use a different medium to install them.

        Today, you will learn how to list all the installed packages from Apt, Deb, Snap, and Flatpak on Ubuntu or other Linux distributions.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

    • Devices/Embedded

      • Notebook Check ☛ Orange Pi 800 to give Raspberry Pi 400 some competition with a Rockchip RK3399 SoC and 4 GB of RAM - NotebookCheck.net News

        Orange Pi has presented the Orange Pi 800, its version of the Raspberry Pi 400. The Orange Pi 800 comes with a Rockchip RK3399 SoC, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage and a 6-row keyboard, among other features.

        Orange Pi has introduced the Orange Pi 800, its version of the Raspberry Pi 400. Like many of Orange Pi's Raspberry Pi alternatives, the Orange Pi 800 is a single-board computer attached to a keyboard. Accordingly, you only need an external monitor to use the Orange Pi 800, or a mouse if needed. As Orange Pi's marketing images show, the Orange Pi 800 contains a 6-row keyboard with half-sized directional keys and three status LEDs.

        Additionally, the Orange Pi 800 relies on the Rockchip RK3399, a chipset with two ARM Cortex-A72 CPU cores, followed by four Cortex-A53 cores and a Mali-T860 GPU. Also, the Orange Pi 800 has 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 64 GB of eMMC flash storage and a host of I/O.

      • CNX Software ☛ OSM Size-0 solder-on LGA module comes with ESP32 WiFi & BLE MCU - CNX Software

        German embedded systems company iesy’s ESP32 OSM-0F is an ESP32-based solder-on LGA system-on-module that complies with SGET OSM Size-0 (30x15mm) form factor, offers WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and more.

        The SGET Open Standard Module (OSM) standard defines four module sizes, namely Size-0 (30x15mm), Size-S (30x30mm), Size-M (45x30mm), and Size-L (45x45mm), and all the modules we’ve covered so far were powered by a Linux-capable processor. But it’s more challenging, albeit not impossible, to design a Linux-capable OSM Size-0 module, and that form factor is better suited to microcontroller-class chips like ESP32. (Technically, ESP32 can run Linux, but it’s more for show that any practical applications)

  • Leftovers

    • Response to Greenfeld's System to Stay in Touch with Hundreds of People

      Recently, I was browsing Hacker News and came upon Jakob Greenfeld's piece *The simple system I'm using to stay in touch with hundreds of people*[1]. Feel free to read this piece, as it's not very long and it could prove useful to some people. A quick summary of it is that Jakob managed to implement Derek Sivers's method of staying in touch with hundreds of people[2], by which you categorize people into four levels of importance that dictate how often you should contact them. Sort of like MySpace's top friends feature but even more punishing.



      Although Greenfeld's piece was genuinely interesting, I came out of it rather disappointed. For as good as his method of keeping in touch with people may be, it's not something I would feel comfortable doing myself or being a part of.



      For one, I have no desire to categorize people into different levels of importance. I don't even think it's possible to do that, and I'm sure the people I'm contacting wouldn't be comfortable knowing that they're merely a D list acquaintance to me. Sivers refers to the D list people as "demoted," which surprised me at first until I found out he's an entrepeneur. Founder of CD Baby, in fact. Weird way of refering to people when you're supposed to sincerely care how they are when you contact them, but I guess the entrepeneurial mindset doesn't see anything wrong with that.

    • Science

      • Daily Maverick ☛ Revealed: Why China blocked an Antarctic penguin rescue...

        In documents seen by Daily Maverick, a Chinese delegation at a top Antarctic meeting claimed rising polar bear numbers were among the reasons for stalling a global push to save emperor penguins. But while experts warn the species may go extinct in decades, China has not budged: based on ‘small’ threats – and claims by a controversial Canadian scientist who may have produced no peer-reviewed work on the links between ice loss and polar bears, or even penguins.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

      • I've recently discovered the importance of personal fitness
        This was not sustainable, though once I lost the weight I was able to keep it off for around a year, but then covid happened and being stationary for long stretches isn't known for being the best physical exercise. [...]

        However, I recently discovered, or really rediscovered, that physical exercise is actually really good at making you less fat. I know! crazy! who would have thought?! But really, losing fat is really only a cool side effect that comes with working out. After only a few days of regular exercise I felt a tremendous sense of contentment, I wasn't bogged down with sadness whenever I was alone like I was prior, and I felt like I had more energy at the start of each day. Falling asleep at night was so much easier and I slept deeper, feeling rested when I woke up.

    • Security

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • BBC ☛ The people making money from just surfing the internet [Ed: BillBC, infiltrated by Microsoft and bribed by Bill Gates, neglects to mention Microsoft as one of those spying fiends]

          This tracked data helps the likes of Google and Facebook earn billions and billions of dollars a year in advertising revenue, as they use the information to target adverts at us.

    • Environment

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Mind Matters ☛ Will Musk's Twitter Bid — Win or Lose — Damage Twitter's Power?

        Stirring the pot, Musk recently slammed current media’s marked disinterest in who teen sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s prominent clients were…

        [...]

        Musk knows perfectly well that it is not so much that no one in current media “cares” as that most of them have a heavy investment in protecting “good guys” like Bill Gates — around whom rumors swirl in this area — and other icons as well. A bit of protective censorship can come in very handy. Stay tuned.

      • The Epoch Times ☛ Elon Musk Says ‘No One in the Media Cares’ About Exposing Jeffrey Epstein’s Alleged Clients

        The richest person in the world has taken a swipe at the media over allegedly being disinterested in investigating the suspected clients of the alleged sex trafficking ring run by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

    • Monopolies

      • Patents

        • Lexology ☛ How to gain more time and delay the prosecution of a European patent application [Ed: Well, the EPO became a rubber-stamping machine, giving lots of fake patent; who is that good for?]

          How long will it take for my European Patent application to be granted?

        • Bloomberg ☛ Inventor Robots Deserve Patent Rights, Federal Circuit to Hear [Ed: Loaded and misleading headline from site of patent maximalists]

          A machine called DABUS is the rightful inventor of a light beacon and a beverage container, computer scientist Stephen Thaler will argue to the Federal Circuit on Monday in a battle over whether or not a human must be the inventor of a patent.

          Thaler built the artificial intelligence “creativity machine,” which he says should be listed as the inventor of two patents. The test case for AI inventorship has arrived at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit after losses around the world in the UK, Europe, and Australia. Only a court in South Africa has sided with Thaler.

        • Florian Müller ☛ FOSS Patents: Apple and other WiFi implementers pressuring IEEE not to abandon its 2015 patent policy--but serious impact of negative Letters of Assurance can't be denied

          Early last week, largely the same Apple-led crowd that is behind the "Save Our Standards" campaign (whose deceptive lobbying I've recently called out) sent a letter to Sophia Muirhead, the General Counsel of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). I'm in possession of that six-page PDF, which is dated May 3 and entitled Industry and Public Interest Support for Maintaining 2015 IEEE-SA Bylaw Updates. It's a pressure group effort ahead of a (fairly confidential) meeting of the IEEE-SA's Standards Board; the letter was allegedly authored by outside counsel for Apple; and from what I heard, it's more or less unprecedented for industry players to lobby the IEEE in that fashion.

          It looks like some folks are panicking, though a little over a year ago they had reason to celebrate: the Biden DOJ silently downgraded a letter that the Trump DOJ (specifically, then-Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim) had sent to IEEE, urging it to undo significant parts of its 2015 policy change favoring implementers. As I noted at the end of the post I just linked to, the wrangling over IEEE's standard-essential patent (SEP) policy was sure to continue. Mr. Delrahim is now a Latham & Watkins partner (oddly, a firm frequently used by Apple), so he's no longer in a position to push IEEE in the direction he outlined while in public office. But IEEE still has a problem on its hands that no one with an interest in a functioning standard-setting system can responsibly ignore or convincingly explain away.

        • Unified Patents ☛ Improving Patent Quality by Changing the USPTO’s RCE and Continuation Practices

          The U.S. patent system affects the work of every company and individual in the country, but can be highly technical and difficult to understand. Unified Patents is proud to celebrate Patent Quality Week - June 6-10, 2022 with a few blog posts on why patents matter and educate others about the effects of low-quality patents that can create barriers to innovation and competition.

      • Software Patents

        • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Zentian prior art

          On May 27, 2022, a new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on at least claim 15 of U.S. Patent 7,979,277, owned by Zentian Limited, an NPE. The ‘277 patent relates to speech recognition and has been asserted against Apple and Amazon.

      • Trademarks

        • TTAB Blog ☛ CAFC Affirms TTAB' s LEHMAN BROTHERS Ruling of No Abandonment and Likelihood of Confusion

          The CAFC affirmed the TTAB's decision [TTABlogged here], sustaining an opposition to registration of the mark LEHMAN BROTHERS for beer, spirits, and bar and restaurant services, on the ground of likelihood of confusion with the identical mark used for various financial services. The appellate court upheld Appellee Barclays' likelihood of confusion claim and dismissed Appellant Tiger Lily's counterclaims challenging Barclays' application to register the mark for financial services on the grounds of lack of bona fide intent, likelihood of confusion, and fraud. Tiger Lily Ventures Ltd. v. Barclays Capital Inc. and Barclays PLC, 2020 USPQ2d 513 (Fed. Cir. 2022) [precedential].

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some remaining links for today
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