Linux-based mini PCs usually feature very modest specs in order to offer solutions that are as easy on the wallet as possible, but there are exceptions. Take for example the new Focus NX model launched by the developers of the popular Kubuntu Linux distro themselves. Instead of integrating ULV processors from the Intel Celeron series, the Kubuntu Focus NX is powered by up to a Core i7-1165G7 CPU with 28 W TDP and Iris Xe iGPU. Prices are obviously more spicy, yet the Kubuntu team is offering premium features such as Thunderbolt connectors and an SDXC card reader.
Besides the i7 CPU, users may opt to equip the Kubuntu Focus NX mini PC with the more affordable i5-1135G7 model. The DDR4-3200 RAM capacity can be configured to include between 8 GB and 64 GB, while the storage options range from a single 250 GB NVMe SSD up to 2 GB of NVMe + 4 TB SATA SSDS with optional disk encryption.
The Canonical Kubernetes team is delighted to announce that Canonical Kubernetes 1.25 is now generally available, with Charmed Kubernetes joining our Microk8s release last week, following the release of upstream Kubernetes on 23 August.
We consistently follow the upstream release cadence to provide our users and customers with the latest improvements and fixes, together with security maintenance and enterprise support for Kubernetes on Ubuntu. This blog is a quick overview of the latest development highlights available in Canonical Kubernetes 1.25 as well as a look at our favourite upstream enhancements.
This article introduces the Container Object Storage Interface (COSI), a standard for provisioning and consuming object storage in Kubernetes. It is an alpha feature in Kubernetes v1.25.
File and block storage are treated as first class citizens in the Kubernetes ecosystem via Container Storage Interface (CSI). Workloads using CSI volumes enjoy the benefits of portability across vendors and across Kubernetes clusters without the need to change application manifests. An equivalent standard does not exist for Object storage.
Object storage has been rising in popularity in recent years as an alternative form of storage to filesystems and block devices. Object storage paradigm promotes disaggregation of compute and storage. This is done by making data available over the network, rather than locally. Disaggregated architectures allow compute workloads to be stateless, which consequently makes them easier to manage, scale and automate.
I’ve Compiled a little video showing what’s up with Makulu Max …
Every so often you'll hear FOSS and Linux advocates discuss something called TiVoization as being one the reasons for GPLv3 existing but what exactly is that and why should you even care?
Debian’s firmware future is up for debate, Pine64 teases a RISC-V SBC, and some of your favorite tools just got new tricks.
With the release of the VK_EXT_mesh_shader extension Vulkan gets an alternative geometry rasterization pipeline. This extension brings cross-vendor mesh shading to Vulkan, with a focus on improving functional compatibility with DirectX 12.
Mesh and Task shaders follow the compute programming model and use threads cooperatively to generate meshes within a workgroup. The vertex and index data for these meshes are written similarly to shared memory in compute shaders. Mesh shader output is directly consumed by the rasterizer, as opposed to the previous approach of using a compute dispatch followed by an indirect draw. Therefore mesh shading applications can avoid preallocation of output buffers.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 16 high quality open source podcast tools that offer an excellent way to manage and download podcasts. The selection includes both graphical and console based tools, software which includes built-in podcast management, as well as stand-alone tools, so all tastes should be catered for here.
While Linux does have a variety of security features to help make it safer, it’s not impenetrable, which is why you need open-source tools to secure your Linux server. You need the right software to sniff out potential attacks and vulnerabilities. On its own Linux isn’t going to keep your server safe. It’s the other security measures you take. Luckily, open-source tools make this job easier.
Free open-source video capturing, recording and live streaming software, OBS Studio, just got a big update with exciting new features!
It’s the 10th anniversary release that features 10-bit & HDR video encoding support! Thought, the new feature so far works only with AV1 and HEVC encoders, and 10-bit HEVC encoding requires NVIDIA 10-series, AMD 5000 series, or newer GPU.
OBS Studio 28.0 also adds native Apple Silicon support, many third-party plugins may not yet be ready for the native build.
The release is also porting to Qt6. Except for Ubuntu 20.04 PPA package, all others are now based on Qt6. Meaning many plugins may not work until the developers updated with Qt6 support. See most common plugins, that works with OBS Studio 28.0.
The big news in VirtualBox 6.1.38 is that it introduces initial support for the upcoming Linux 6.0 kernel. This means that users will be able to virtualize GNU/Linux distributions powered by Linux kernel 6.0, when it will be officially released later this fall, as well as to install VirtualBox in a Linux 6.0-powered distribution.
FIXED: Could not change language in portable mode FIXED: Crashed during paste from context menu FIXED: First line indent was lost on empty paragraphs Always write RTF as Latin1 Replaced ICU with iconv Improved Linux deployment Translation updates: German, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish
Wireguard is an open-source cross-platform Virtual Private Network (VPN) implementation that uses state-of-the-art cryptography. It supports IPv4 and IPv6 connections. It is faster, simpler, and more functional than IPSec and OpenVPN protocols. It is designed as a general-purpose VPN to run on embedded interfaces and super computers and runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and various other platforms.
Wireguard's encryption works using private and public keys for peers to establish an encrypted tunnel between themselves.
This tutorial will cover how to install Wireguard VPN on a Ubuntu 22.04 server and connect to it using a Ubuntu client.
When setting up a new Linux desktop or virtual machine, you may encounter the error: "sudo: command not found". This Linux error message can be infuriating, and prevent you from progressing further with your setup. Here's what it means and how to fix it.
Ansible opens an SSH connection for every playbook run. When you have multiple servers you need to configure in parallel with multiple playbooks being applied to them then it all adds up.
Steps in DNS server troubleshooting include checking the DNS status, looking at zone configurations and evaluating logs. Follow these best practices for Windows and Linux servers.
Today we are looking at how to install WebStorm 2022 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.
In this video, we are looking at how to install Olive video editor on Pop!_OS 22.04.
In this video, I am going to show how to install MX Linux 21.2.
The entire Linux ecosystem works on the concept of packages; each package on Linux is crucial for ensuring the smooth functioning of the operating system.
To update your packages on Debian and Ubuntu-based distributions, you might need to run from pillar to post, trying to figure out the best way to update all the essential software.
When looking for ways to update packages, you will come across commands like apt update, apt upgrade, and related versions. But the point is, what's the difference between these commands, and how can you use them to update your Linux packages?
FileZilla is a free FTP client with cross-platform support. It can be downloaded for Windows or Linux on both server and client sides. FileZilla supports sftp connections which helps transfer files without wrapping them up in archives. This reduces traffic on your network while still getting the job done quickly. Another helpful feature of FileZilla is that it allows you to resume interrupted transfers. If your connection drops in the middle of a transfer, you can pick up right where you left off without starting over from scratch. Whether you’re a web developer who regularly uploads files to a server or a network administrator who needs to transfer large amounts of data between computers, FileZilla is a helpful tool in your arsenal.
In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install the latest version of FileZilla on Linux Mint 21 LTS using a recommended Launchpad PPA repository or the alternative third-party package manager Flatpak to provide the most up-to-date version using the command line terminal.
The extended support release (ESR) for Firefox is specially designed for organizations that require stability and security but may not have access to the latest features. ESR versions are officially supported by Mozilla and do not contain any known bugs or unfinished products. The extended support release cycle is perfect for universities, large businesses, and other organizations that must carefully plan and test their software before upgrading. The standard release cycle is recommended for individual users who want the latest features and can tolerate a few bugs. Firefox ESR is an excellent choice for anyone who values stability and security over cutting-edge features.
The following tutorial will teach you how to install Firefox ESR on Linux Mint 21 LTS using a recommended Launchpad PPA repository to provide the most up-to-date version using the command line terminal.
Liquorix Kernel is a free, open-source general-purpose Linux Kernel alternative to the stock kernel. It features custom settings and new features and is built to provide a responsive and smooth desktop experience, especially for new hardware. Liquorix Kernel is popular amongst Linux Gaming, streaming, and ultra-low latency requirements and often boasts the latest Linux Kernels, having multiple branches for different Hardware requirements. For users looking for more performance out of their systems or just wanting to use the newest kernel, Liquorix Kernel is an excellent option. The company that builds the Liquorix Kernel offers commercial support and development services should you need them. If you’re looking for a rock-solid and well-supported Linux Kernel alternative, Liquorix Kernel is worth checking out.
MariaDB is one of the most popular open-source databases next to its originator MySQL. The original creators of MySQL developed MariaDB in response to fears that MySQL would suddenly become a paid service due to Oracle acquiring it in 2010. With its history of doing similar tactics, the developers behind MariaDB have promised to keep it open source and free from such fears as what has happened to MySQL. In addition, they have also made sure that MariaDB is compatible with existing MySQL installations, making it an ideal drop-in replacement. As a result, MariaDB has become the preferred choice for many businesses and organizations looking for a robust and reliable open-source database solution.
In the release of MariaDB 10.5, an LTS edition, there are many new features and capabilities that will help improve the performance and stability of MariaDB installations from previous versions. One of the most notable changes is the inclusion of a new storage engine, Aria, which is designed to replace MyISAM as the default engine for MariaDB. In addition, there have been several improvements to InnoDB, including better support for full-text search and a reduction in I/O overhead. Other changes include improved KILL statement handling, enhanced PARTITIONING options, and support for parallel creation and dropping databases. With these and other changes, MariaDB 10.5 provides a more robust and scalable database solution that suits demanding production environments.
Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL in 2010 led to fears that the popular open-source database would become a paid service. In response, the original creators of MySQL developed MariaDB, and MariaDB is now one of the most popular open-source databases. Like MySQL, it is free and can be used for various purposes, including web development, data analysis, and application development. The developers behind MariaDB have promised to keep it open source and free from the same fears that led to its creation. This commitment has helped to solidify MariaDB’s position as a leading open-source database.
MariaDB 10.6 brings several significant improvements to the popular open source database, including improved performance, scalability, and new features such as a crash-safe replication mechanism and improved SQL compatibility. In terms of performance, MariaDB 10.6 includes several optimizations that can help to speed up database operations. For example, the new version contains several changes that can help to reduce disk IO and improve caching. These changes can result in a significant performance boost for high-traffic databases. MariaDB 10.6 also introduces a new replicated log much more resilient to crashes and other failures. This feature can help to ensure that data is always safe and available, even in the event of an unexpected shutdown. Finally, MariaDB 10.6 includes several improvements to SQL compatibility, making porting applications and data from other database systems easier. Overall, MariaDB 10.6 is a significant step forward for the popular open source database and will provide substantial benefits for users looking for a high-performance, scalable, and feature-rich option.
PHP is a programming language used to develop server-side applications. It is one of the most popular languages to date, with code that can be embedded into HTML pages. PHP code is executed on the server, producing HTML or other types of output, which is then sent to the client’s web browser. PHP can be used for many tasks, such as developing dynamic web pages, generating images, and even sending and receiving cookies. In addition, PHP can connect to databases and access files on the server. As a result, PHP is an essential tool for developing modern web applications.
PHP 8.0 is a significant update of the PHP language, released on December 3, 2020. This new version includes many features that improve performance and enable greater flexibility in coding. For example, PHP 8.0 introduces union types, allowing a single variable to hold multiple data types. This can be handy when working with complex data structures. Other new features include Named Arguments, which make it easier to call functions with multiple arguments, and the Printf Directive, which allows printf-style string formatting within PHP code. In addition, this release has updated or improved many existing features. Overall, PHP 8.0 is a welcome addition that will help make PHP an even more powerful and flexible language.
Redis is an open-source database frequently used as a cache or message broker. Unlike other databases, Redis stores data in memory, making it significantly faster. In addition, Redis supports a wide range of data structures, including strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets, bitmaps, and streams. This makes Redis an incredibly versatile tool that can be used for various purposes. For example, Redis can be used as a simple key-value store, or it can be used to implement more complex data structures such as queues or leaderboards. Additionally, Redis comes with a built-in replicated caching system that can be used to improve the performance of web applications. As a result, Redis is an incredibly popular database that is used by thousands of companies all over the world.
In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install Redis on CentOS 9 Stream workstation or server using the terminal command line with two methods: appstream or Remi Redis pm, along with basic setup instructions to get you started using the command line terminal.
Spotify is a digital music streaming service with both free and paid features. As of September 2022, it is the world’s largest music streaming service provider, with over 443 million monthly active users, including 187 million paying subscribers. Spotify can give instant access to a vast online library of music and podcasts and has been very popular as you can listen to the content of your choice whenever you feel like it. You can also create your playlists or listen to those created by Spotify. In addition, Spotify offers several features for its premium users, such as ad-free listening, high-quality audio, offline mode, and more. Spotify is available on various devices, including smartphones, tablets, computers, and more.
The following tutorial will teach you how to install Spotify on Linux Mint 21 LTS using the official Spotify repository or alternative flatpak installation manager using the command line terminal.
Thunderbird Mail is a free, open-source email client that can be used on your desktop computer and mobile devices like iPhone or Android. The mail client software was initially developed by the Mozilla Foundation but is now maintained by the Thunderbird community for community. Thunderbird offers support for multiple email accounts, a personal address book, and built-in search tools to help you find messages quickly. It also includes message filtering and tagging to help you organize your inbox. In addition, Thunderbird supports both POP and IMAP protocols, making it easy to set up and use with most email providers.
In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install Thunderbird Mail on Linux Mint 21 LTS using one of two installation methods: APT or Flatpak using the command line terminal.
XanMod is a popular Linux kernel modification that provides enhanced performance and stability for gaming, streaming, and other resource-intensive tasks. The XanMod team is known for its timely release of new kernels, which often include support for the latest hardware before it is available on other distributions. For desktop users who are not into gaming or streaming, XanMod can still be a desirable choice for its up-to-date hardware support. In addition to its kernel modifications, XanMod offers many other features and tweaks that make it an appealing option for many users.
Zoom is a communications technology platform that provides video telephony and real-time online chat services through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform. Zoom’s easy-to-use platform lets users connect with colleagues, classmates, and customers in real-time from any device. Zoom’s features include high-definition video and audio, screen sharing, and the ability to record meetings. Zoom also offers a variety of enterprise features, such as single sign-on, integration with calendaring systems, and support for large-scale deployments. Zoom is used by businesses of all sizes, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Zoom is also popular with educational institutions and non-profit organizations.
In the following tutorial, you will learn to install Zoom on Linux Mint 21 LTS using the flatpak package manager or the snapcraft package manager, with some tips for maintaining or removing software in the future.
RescueZilla is a wonderful tool, and it definitely makes using CloneZilla easier and more accessible. The only downside the program has is the somewhat clunky GUI - the desktop, the application itself. The information should be more presentable, but other than that, I really had no worries or complaints. The most important thing is, the software is solid, robust and fast.
Hopefully, this tutorial gives you what you need to make your first steps with RescueZilla. I strongly endorse this program, it's another step on my journey away from Windows. Plus, recently I discovered that Acronis True Image (ATI) no longer offers perpetual-license keys for their software, it's all subscription now, nope, and so the still truly offline editions that I currently own (2019 and 2020) will be the last ever for this product. In this regard, RescueZilla comes as a beautiful falcon of poetic justice. Anyway, this is a fantastic system toolbox, and you should have it, and use it, and enjoy it. Dedoimedo out.
Wil Wheaton runs Linux Mint. It’s official! I really like him so it made my day to know about it. I just thought I’d mention it
To all the really cool people out there who haven’t come out yet. If you like what we do, don’t be a stranger, let us know!
Another piece of cool news this month is the Steam Deck. It’s starting to become available. I managed to get one. I’m hoping we’ll manage to get a few more for the team. It’s brilliant as a portable gaming device but it’s also fantastic for the future of gaming in Linux. A lot of people will get a Steam Deck. Many studios will want their games to be “Deck Verified” and thus this is going to significantly boost the compatibility of games with Linux, or at least with Proton.
Other than Linux and Proton, the Deck relies on an immutable version of Arch, Flatpak and KDE so its ecosystem is a little bit different than the one we have in Linux Mint. The development of SteamOS and Linux Mint isn’t likely to have much in common or to converge in any way. That said there will likely be some use cases we’ll be able to help with. Warpinator for instance, which we made available as a Flatpak, proved to be useful to share files between computers, smartphones and the Steam Deck.
There are 4 upcoming test days/weeks in the coming weeks. The first is Wed 31 August through Wed 07 Sept. It is to test Pre-Beta Release Validation. The second is Tuesday 6 Sept through Monday 12 Sept. It focuses on testing i18n. The third is Monday 5 Sept the Crypto Policy test day. The fourth is Wed 7 Sept through Wed 14 Sept to test GNOME 43 Final. Please come and test with us to make the upcoming Fedora 37 even better. Read more below on how to participate.
The team at Red Hat OpenShift, an enterprise ready Kubernetes container platform for an open hybrid cloud strategy, recently released the platform’s newest update, Red Hat OpenShift 4.11. With this, developers gain several improvements to the developer experience in the OpenShift Container Platform web console.
The OpenShift console now offers users dark mode, a long-awaited feature according to the company. Users can set their theme preferences by going to User Preferences and selecting either Light, Dark, or System Default.
Customer requested usability enhancements are also included in 4.11, such as the ability to easily create and edit routes and ConfigMaps with a form-based interaction. Additionally, users can now connect to the Red Hat console from the Application Launcher as well as share their project with other members of a team by clicking the Sharing card on the Add page.
Deepin 20.7 arrives precisely two months after the previous version’s release, bringing a new set of desktop features and improvements.
Deepin is a Chinese-made Linux distribution based on the Debian stable branch aimed at the average desktop computer user.
It has a long history of paying attention to visual detail that is more akin to macOS than Windows. Like elementary OS, is visually attractive straight out of the box, with no customization. In other words, it is one of the most good-looking Linux distros.
The 8th monthly Sparky project and donate report of 2022: – Linux kernel updated up to 5.19.6 & 5.15.64-LTS (6.0 RC1 is also available) – Added to repos: g4music – Created a new script/package called ‘sparky-openbox-diagnose’ which check default application which should be started with Openbox; and print message if something wrong; this output is helpful to help you if any problem with loading Openbox – Finished adding es_ES locales to Sparky tools, thanks to depaz – Sparky 6.4 of the stable line released – LXQt desktop updated up to version 1.1.0 (Sparky testing (7) amd64 only); can be installed from Sparky ‘extra main’ repos
Ubuntu Unity is now an official Ubuntu flavour, and the first release will be Ubuntu Unity 22.10.
I loved the Unity desktop but not enough to keep on using it when Ubuntu ditched it in 2017 for GNOME.
I have started liking the customized GNOME Ubuntu offers. And the old flame enters again.
Ubuntu Unity is going to be an official Ubuntu flavor with the release of version 22.10 Kinetic Kudu.
The good news for the Ubuntu Unity lover as Canonical has accepted Ubuntu Unity as the official flavor of Ubuntu. Ubuntu Unity is a remix of Ubuntu featuring the Unity7 desktop environment Ubuntu Unity which was formerly known as Ubuntu Unity Remix was started a few years ago. It was based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa).
Kubuntu and Lubuntu desktops have been upgraded but you won't automatically get the new versions. Here's how to get the optional lifts.
There's only one official flavor of Ubuntu. The standard desktop is GNOME, and if you pay for optional support, that's the only supported edition. But if you don't care for GNOME – and we entirely understand and sympathize with that – there are seven other "flavours". We took a look at all of them recently, after they were updated for 22.04.1.
The underlying OS is the same for all of them, and it will get five years of updates, just like the standard version. It's important to be aware, though, that these alternative desktop versions don't get the full five years of updates, and they aren't supported by Canonical.
That means two things. Firstly, you should plan on upgrading at least every two years, because unlike the baseline GNOME edition, after three years, the flavours won't get updates for anything except the text-mode OS underneath.
Secondly, if you want the latest and greatest versions of their component desktops, you have to install the newer desktop yourself – and you should. Fortunately, that is quite easy to do, and once you add the relevant repos to your system, the desktop will get updated along with everything else.
The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS (Long-Term Support) for its Desktop, Server, and Cloud products, as well as other flavours of Ubuntu with long-term support.
Like previous LTS series, 20.04.5 includes hardware enablement stacks for use on newer hardware. This support is offered on all architectures. Ubuntu Server defaults to installing the GA kernel; however you may select the HWE kernel from the installer bootloader.
As usual, this point release includes many updates, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
Kubuntu 20.04.5 LTS, Ubuntu Budgie 20.04.5 LTS, Ubuntu MATE 20.04.5 LTS, Lubuntu 20.04.5 LTS, Ubuntu Kylin 20.04.5 LTS, Ubuntu Studio 20.04.5 LTS, and Xubuntu 20.04.5 LTS are also now available. More details can be found in their individual release notes:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FocalFossa/ReleaseNotes#Official_flavours
Maintenance updates will be provided for 5 years for Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Cloud, and Ubuntu Core. All the remaining flavours will be supported for 3 years. Additional security support is available with ESM (Extended Security Maintenance).
Thanks to all the hard work from our contributors, we are pleased to announce that Lubuntu 20.04.5 LTS has been released!
The fifth point release of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is available to download.
Now, now: don’t get too excited. Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS is a freshly-spun install image composed of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS plus all major security patches, bug fixes, and app updates issues since the release of Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS, which was back in February.
Periodic refreshes to install media are necessary as they cut down on the number of post-install updates a user has to install after (or during, as that is an option) install.
So if you already run Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and you have installed all updates as/when released you do not need to reinstall anything to ‘get’ 20.04.5 LTS.You’re not missing out on anything; you have everything included in these new images — in fact, you’ve had it for a while!
But if you don’t currently use Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and you plan to, this all-new ISO is the one to use.
Canonical released today Ubuntu 20.04.5 as the fifth and last planned point release to its long-term supported Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) operating system series.
Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS is here a little over six months after the release of Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS, which shipped with the Linux 5.13 kernel and Mesa 21.2 graphics stack from the now obsolete Ubuntu 21.10 (Impish Indri) release.
Hardkernel has revealed the ODROID-Go Ultra, another gaming handheld in the ODROID-Go series. To recap, the company released the ODROID-Go Super for US$89.95 in January 2021, which featured the Rockchip RK3326 SoC and a 5-inch display running at 854 x 480 pixels. Seemingly, the ODROID-Go Ultra utilises the same display as the ODROID-Go Super, but with a more potent chipset powering it.
Specifically, the ODROID-Go Ultra has the 5-inch LCD display from the ODROID-Go Super, but with the Amlogic S922X, a chipset on which Hardkernel bases the ODROID-N2 Plus. For reference, the Amlogic S922X has four ARM Cortex-A73 CPU cores running at 2.2 GHz, another two Cortex-A53 CPU cores clock at 2.0 GHz and a Mali-G52 MP4 GPU that peaks at 846 MHz. Additionally, the ODROID-Go Ultra comes with 16 GB of eMMC flash storage, expandable via a microSD card slot (UHS-1), and 2 GB of LPDDR4 RAM running at 1,608 MHz.
Online interactive development environments (IDE) have taken off during the recent years. Traditionally, local IDEs were considered the best tools for programming as they were usually faster than their online counterparts. But the arrival of new web programming frameworks and the standardisation of high-speed internet connections have improved the user experience of interactive editors using browsers.
Arduino’s popular online IDE is a widely used tool for programming not only Arduino boards but also 3rd party hardware. Improving the user’s experience including or changing features is part of its dynamic nature, always based on the developers’ experience and feedback.
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a fantastic standard because it is versatile enough to encompass almost all instruments, but simple enough to work with using low-power digital hardware. A typical MIDI message contains three bytes. The first is a status byte that describes the action (like “note on”) and the channel to use, the second byte contains the note to play, and the third byte defines the velocity. Because a single switch can act as a trigger to send a MIDI message, one can turn an old touch tone telephone into a MIDI instrument.
The phone used in this project and most others like it have numeric keypads set up in the same way as keyboards, with a matrix reducing the number of I/O pins needed on a connected microcontroller. Multiply the number or rows in the matrix by the number of columns to get the maximum number of keys. This particular keypad had a combined row/column total of 11, which means it could support up to 30 unique keys. But only 12 of those are connected, so the tutorial includes instructions on how to identify the key that each row/column combo triggers. Once you know that information, you can connect the row and column wires to the I/O pins of an Arduino.
Samsung is one of the few companies making premium Android tablets these days… and the company’s been at it for years, even when Google seemed to have largely given up on the space.
But now that Google has remembered that tablets are a thing and started releasing versions of Android optimized for large screens, Samsung is starting to incorporate some of Google’s new features (like the Android 12L taskbar) into the software for Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 series.
PureBoot is our high-security, tamper-detecting boot firmware that we offer as an alternative to our default coreboot firmware on hardware like our Librem 14 and Librem Mini. The combination of PureBoot, our anti-interdiction services, and the option of Qubes as the pre-installed OS makes hardware like the Librem 14 among the most secure computers you can buy. We are constantly adding improvements to PureBoot, and the release of PureBoot version 22 has added a new feature we are calling “PureBoot Basic” that lets you optionally disable the tamper detection. In this blog post I will discuss why we created this feature, where it’s useful, and some of our future plans for it.
Google on Monday introduced a new bug bounty program for its open source projects, offering payouts anywhere from $100 to $31,337 (a reference to eleet or leet) to secure the ecosystem from supply chain attacks.
Called the Open Source Software Vulnerability Rewards Program (OSS VRP), the offering is one of the first open source-specific vulnerability programs.
Google has introduced a new bug bounty program for open source projects, with payouts ranging from $100 to $31,337 to tackle supply chain attacks.
Unless otherwise noted, changes described below apply to the newest Chrome beta channel release for Android, ChromeOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Learn more about the features listed here through the provided links or from the list on ChromeStatus.com. Chrome 106 is beta as of September 1, 2022. You can download the latest on Google.com for desktop or on Google Play Store on Android.
Hello extension developers, I’m Juhis, it’s a pleasure to meet you all. In the beginning of August I joined Mozilla and the Firefox add-ons team as a developer advocate. I expect us to see each other quite a lot in the future. My mom taught me to always introduce myself to new people so here we go!
My goal is to help all of you to learn from each other, to build great add-ons and to make that journey an enjoyable experience. Also, I want to be your voice to the teams building Firefox and add-ons tooling.
In this post, I will outline some progress I made towards a full WoT implementation. The current milestone entails integrating certificate stores more closely with the core API.
On most systems, OpenPGP certificates (public keys) are typically stored and managed by GnuPGs internal key store. The downside of this approach is, that applications that want to make use of OpenPGP either need to depend on GnuPG, or are required to manage their very own exclusive certificate store. The latter approach, which e.g. Thunderbird is taking, leads to a situation where there are multiple certificate stores with different contents. Your GnuPG certificate store might contain Bobs certificate, while the Thunderbird store does not. This is confusing for users, as they now have to manage two places with OpenPGP certificates.
There is a proposal for a Shared PGP Certificate Directory nicknamed “pgp.cert.d” which aims to solve this issue by specifying a shared, maildir-like directory for OpenPGP certificates. This directory serves as a single source for all OpenPGP certificates a user might have to deal with. Being well-defined through the standards draft means different applications can access the certificate store without being locked into a single OpenPGP backend.
Today, a brainworm! I had a thought a few days ago and can't get it out of my head, so I need to pass it on to another host.
So, imagine a world in which there is a a drive to build a kind of Kubernetes on top of WebAssembly. Kubernetes nodes are generally containers, associated with additional metadata indicating their place in overall system topology (network connections and so on). (I am not a Kubernetes specialist, as you can see; corrections welcome.) Now in a WebAssembly cloud, the nodes would be components, probably also with additional topological metadata. VC-backed companies will duke it out for dominance of the WebAssembly cloud space, and in a couple years we will probably emerge with an open source project that has become a de-facto standard (though it might be dominated by one or two players).
In this world, Kubernetes and Spiffy-Wasm-Cloud will coexist. One of the success factors for Kubernetes was that you can just put your old database binary inside a container: it's the same ABI as when you run your database in a virtual machine, or on (so-called!) bare metal. The means of composition are TCP and UDP network connections between containers, possibly facilitated by some kind of network fabric. In contrast, in Spiffy-Wasm-Cloud we aren't starting from the kernel ABI, with processes and such: instead there's WASI, which is more of a kind of specialized and limited libc. You can't just drop in your database binary, you have to write code to get it to conform to the new interfaces.
We just released KDChart version 3.0.0!
KDChart is a comprehensive business charting package with many different chart types and a large number of customization options. We are constantly improving the package, and have been doing so for years.
This is the first release of KDChart that supports Qt 6, and both Qt 5 and Qt 6 can be co-installed.
And get this: KDChart 3.0.0 is completely free! We’ve relicensed KDChart from the GPL to the MIT license and removed our commercial offering. This means that you can use it as you want without license restrictions. Find out more about the MIT license, here.
RPMs of PHP version 8.1.10 are available in remi-modular repository for Fedora ââ°Â¥ 34 and Enterprise Linux ââ°Â¥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky...) and in remi-php81 repository for EL 7.
RPMs of PHP version 8.0.23 are available in remi-modular repository for Fedora ââ°Â¥ 34 and Enterprise Linux ââ°Â¥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky...) and in remi-php80 repository for EL 7.
The September 2022 issue of the Communications of the ACM features an entertaining pair of point/counterpoint articles, with William Dally advocating for concurrent computational models that more accurately model both energy costs and latency here and Uzi Vishkin advocating for incremental modifications to the existing Parallel Random Access Machine (PRAM) model here. Some cynics might summarize Dally's article as “please develop software that makes better use of our hardware so that we can sell you more hardware” while other cynics might summarize Vishkin's article as “please keep funding our research project“. In contrast, I claim that both articles are worth a deeper look. The next section looks at Dally's article, the section after that at Vishkin's article, followed by discussion.
TL;DR: In complete consonance with a depressingly large fraction of 21st-century discourse, they are talking right past each other.
On June 30, MIT hosted the Imagination in Action Web3 Summit, an event jointly organized by MIT Connection Science, Forbes, and Link Ventures. The Summit brought together almost 600 developers, entrepreneurs, investors, and academics to discuss the present state and potential evolution of Web3. The agenda featured a number of panels and talks. Speakers included Alex (Sandy) Pentland, - MIT professor and Connection Science Director, Michael Federle, - CEO of Forbes, John Werner, - Managing Director at Link Ventures, and Esther Dyson, - investor, journalist, and philanthropist.
The MIT Summit is the first in a series of Imagination in Action conferences. The next one will take place on October 6 in San Francisco, followed by one on January 17 at Davos, and back to MIT in June of 2023. The summits aim “to take us from reflections on the last major social and economic transformation precipitated by the arrival of the Internet era, to the economics to build and the governance to sustain Web3,” as well as to envision the possibilities of a Web3 future and to try to discern hype from reality in these early days of a potential new internet era.
I wasn’t able to attend the Summit in person, but I watched the recordings of a number of the sessions, where I heard a variety of opinions on what Web3 is about. This is not surprising. In their early years, major new technologies are generally accompanied by a mixture of excitement, speculation and confusion, as people sort out what the technology might be about and how it’s likely to evolve. Something important is going on out there, but it takes time and marketplace experience to sort things out.
China is the world’s second largest economy, it has the world’s largest population, and it is only a matter of time before has a world-class technology ecosystem spanning the smallest transistors to the largest hyperscale and HPC systems. It simply has enough money, and enough time, and enough smart people, to get there.
But that does not mean that the United States wants to make that transition for the Middle Kingdom an easy one. And so, every now and then, export controls and licenses are put into effect by the US Department of Commerce to restrict the sale of hardware, software, and other vital pieces of technology to China. And even before it was waging war against Ukraine, sales of technology to Russia were also restricted.
The attack started on Thursday, August 25, targeting Microsoft and VMware ESXi servers operated by the agency.
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Conti [Windows] has been previously linked to attacks on entire nations, such as the one on Costa Rica in July 2022, which took five days from gaining initial access to stealing and encrypting the systems.
June 2022 saw the publication of Addressing Cybersecurity Challenges in Open Source Software, a joint research initiative launched by the Open Source Security Foundation in collaboration with Linux Foundation Research and Snyk. The research dives into security concerns in the open source ecosystem. If you haven’t read it, this article will give you the report’s who, what, and why, summarizing its key takeaways so that it can be relevant to you or your organization.
Security updates have been issued by Fedora (pdns-recursor, thunderbird, and vim), Gentoo (firefox, thunderbird-bin, virtualbox, and webkit-gtk), Red Hat (convert2rhel), SUSE (gstreamer-plugins-good, open-vm-tools, postgresql12, rsync, and ucode-intel), and Ubuntu (linux-azure, linux-gcp, linux-hwe).
All users that use any 5.10, 4.19 and 4.9 kernels are strongly advised to upgrade to the latest versions in the antiX repos. This applies to 64 bit and 32 bit pae and non-pae kernels for antiX-19, antiX-21 and testing/sid users.
Basically, the scammers use the PayPal invoicing system to send the email. The email lists a phone number to dispute the charge, which is not PayPal and quickly turns into a request to download and install a remote-access tool.
CISA has released two Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories on September 01, 2022. These advisories provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits surrounding ICS.
Exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to take control of affected device.
Today, we’re happy to announce our newest white paper, “Consensus, Not Command: A Smarter Approach to Standard Technical Measures,” by Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Nicholas P. Garcia.
The paper explores a little-known facet of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, that outlines a voluntary and consensus-driven process for adopting “standard technical measures,” or STMs, that enable copyright identification and enforcement. Codified at Section 512(i) of Title 17, this law has been in place for almost 25 years. Through the inclusive and multistakeholder approach in this law, no technical measure has ever garnered the broad consensus needed to become standard under this section, and for good reasons. The paper examines the technological, legal, and economic factors that have weighed against STMs and highlights the success of the current decision-making model in avoiding impractical, costly, and harmful technology mandates.
After an initial introduction in 2018 and reintroduction in March 2021, Congressional sponsors released the revised version of S. 673, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (“JCPA”) on August 23, 2022. What began as an effort to give journalism organizations an antitrust “get-out-of-jail-free” card has morphed into a vast link-tax-and-spend scheme under which leading digital services would be compelled to distribute and subsidize online content publishers, at prices set by a government-mandated panel of arbitrators.
There are numerous reasons why this effort is misguided. First, it is constitutionally unsound in multiple ways. Second, it prohibits content moderation practices that are used to remove hate speech and fight misinformation online. Third, the bill runs afoul of existing U.S. copyright law, with a ‘savings clause’ too narrow to save anything. Fourth, the JCPA remixes two failed 20th century competition policies: it grants a special interest antitrust exemption in a government-guided effort to make prices subjectively “fair”. Yet, antitrust exemptions have historically fallen flat, including one specifically given to journalism producers, and the government’s New Deal foray in “fairness” regulation for pricing is widely regarded as a disaster. Finally, national and international experience shows that special treatment for news publishers has done little for independent journalists and instead resulted in government-mandated negotiations controlled by large and influential publishers. Each of these problems are discussed below.
Tip: instead of thinking of the office as the place where you sell your soul, think of it as free real estate and make it as nice for yourself as you can!
I have always been a procrastinator. But each time, the deadline would get closer, and I would eventually do the thing in time, usually being satisfied with the end product. But this time it feels different, the rut that I am in seems inescapable. Most of my time is spent stressing over the fact that I am not working on my master's thesis, but also feeling paralyzed, unable to start the work.
I have tried many things, and was able to get some things done, but I can't seem to be able to get into the rhytm of research. I tried pomodoros, they sort of work sometimes, but they don't allow me to really get into reading, I feel that stopping after 25 minutes interrupts the flow and "removes" me from the text in a way that makes it harder to get back into, and also to understand the big picture. I tried going to the library instead of staying at home, which again, works, but for some reason, I tire much faster there, and cannot get as much work done as I would at home. I have divided my tasks into smaller sections, but they are still daunting. Thinking about the thesis makes me anxious.
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I am sending this message out to you, nice people of Gemini, in the hopes that someone might have a suggestion on how to beat this. Thank you for reading.
The other day I had the idea to use a bip39 mnemonic seed in a poem. It would be the perfect place to hide it, right? But you'd have to be a really good poet in order to make it make sense.
No one would know which words to use other than you, and you can hide it in plain sight! No need to worry about others seeing it, and you can use something like archive.org to make sure you don't lose it. And since bip39 produces a seed rather than a single key, you could use the seed for all your keys! I don't really know if that's a security risk or not...
Due to my terrible creative writing, I will not be attempting this.
I have a problem with impulsive spending when it comes to credit cards. I understand that the temptation of having easy access to credit is the whole point of them, from a capitalist perspective. Losing track of my credit balance and racking up a ton of debt is as easy as just *not* checking the balance, which is something I excel at.
This is another subject that is complicated to explain. But is crucial to understand to write efficient code. Especially on embedded systems and integrated GPUs. I explained this with my coworkers recently. I figure to write it down as a reminder. This post mostly references Intel's article on minimizing memory copy[1] and AMD's ROCm OpenCL optimization guide[2].
Over that last couple of years I've gone more and more offline. And by offline, I mean I'm growing more disconnected from internet culture. It's been a big change, and definitely for the better.
For most of my 20's I was one of the more 'online' people in my circle. I knew what the latest memes were, what was trending on Reddit and Twitter, and was just glued to social media feeds all day.
However, the thing that I was most aware of on any given day, and the thing that ultimately pushed me to disconnecting, was what the internet was mad about at that time. And not just what they were mad about, but what every influencer, celebrity, and viral tweet had to say about said thing.
Long time no see, Gopherspace!
September is here again, bringing with it not only the hope of lower
temperatures for those of us suffering through recent heatwaves, but
also the fourth installment of the annual Remote Outdoor Off-grid
Phlogging Challenge, ROOPHLOCH 2022!
* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.