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Links 26/02/2023: A Look at GNOME 44 Features and FreeBSD 13.2 Reaches Third Beta



  • GNU/Linux

    • ZDNet8 things you can do with Linux that you can't do with MacOS or Windows | ZDNET

      Back when I first started using Linux in 1997, the open-source operating system was primarily used by computer science students, hackers, and programmers who wanted an alternative to the Windows operating system. It was serious and geared toward serious work. Fast forward to now and Linux is used for everything. Why? Simply put, it's more flexible than Windows.

      Linux can be bent and twisted into just about anything. But Linux is not only more flexible, reliable, and secure than the competition, but it's also a lot more fun. I've spent many a day (and weekend) tweaking the Linux desktop simply because I could.

      Some of the desktops I've configured have been so amazing that friends wanted to know how they could achieve the same look, only to be disappointed that their operating system of choice wasn't capable of pulling off such a feat.

    • 9to5Linux9to5Linux Weekly Roundup: February 26th, 2023

      This week was really exciting with all the fuss around Canonical’s decision to force all official Ubuntu flavors to ditch Flatpak support by default, also staying that future Ubuntu releases won’t include support for Flatpak apps by default. Of course, this means that users will have to manually add Flatpak support after the installation.

      Next week will be really exciting with lots of cool news. Until then, you can read the hottest news of this week and also access all the distro and package downloads in 9to5Linux’s Linux weekly roundup for February 26th, 2023.

    • Server

      • SJVNStarlingX 8: The cloud for edge computing gets a major upgrade | Open Source Watch

        StarlingX uses best-of-breed open-source programs to deliver a complete edge computing stack. This starts with Ceph. This Red Hat-sponsored do-it-all, open-source software-defined storage platform can work with object-level, block-level, and file-level storage. For cloud management, it uses the tried and true OpenStack. And, for container orchestration, StarlingX uses, of course, Kubernetes.

    • Kernel Space

      • Forbes Apple Loop: Massive iPhone 15 Pro Leak, Mac Pro Hints, Linux Cracks Open MacBook - Forbes

        The latest update to the Linux Kernel, taking it to version 6.2, offers something of interest to those who love tinkering with their Mac hardware. The Apple Silicon chipsets are now supported, which means Linux installs will be along in the near future:

        "Linux has been happily running on Intel based harder, including the older Mac platform, for many a year. ARM-based hardware has been in rather short supply (outside of smartphones, tablets, and some experimental platforms). The introduction of Apple Silicon offered a hardware base, but Apple’s restrictions around another OS using the GPU meant the masses had to wait until a solution was found. Obviously, a solution has been found."

    • Graphics Stack

      • CollaboraMonado's "Mercury" hand tracking now ready for use!

        Now, after a little over a year of development, it's finally ready for the public to use!

        Mercury currently works on Valve Index, Windows Mixed Reality headsets (Reverb G2 v2 shown below), Oculus Rift S (early support), and Luxonis cameras (video shows a OAK-D Pro W Dev mounted on a North Star). It estimates hand pose accurately, supports limited hand-over-hand interactions, tracks fast hand movements, and is useable for drawing, typing and UI interaction.

    • Applications

      • Ubuntu Pit15 Best Fractal Software for Linux

        Are you seriously seeking to know about some fantastic fractal software for Linux? It may seem to be a common and normal thing to find, but only a few resources will show you the right solution. Yes, you came to one of the proper places to check! I will show you the best 15 Linux fractal tools that are excellent in drawing, shading, and creating perfect and appealing artistic work.

        Before going to the main part, let’s look at what the tool actually means. From the dictionary, fractal means a geometrical figure with the same statistical character as the whole. It may define as a complex pattern showing self-similarity in different scales. That means whatever you do with any part (like zooming or the opposite) shows the same amount of detail as before.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • TecAdminHow to Install and Secure MongoDB on Ubuntu 22.04

        MongoDB is a popular open-source, document-oriented NoSQL database that provides high performance, scalability, and flexibility. It is widely used in modern web applications due to its ability to store and manage large volumes of unstructured data. MongoDB can be installed on various operating systems, including Ubuntu 22.04.

      • Linux NightlyHow to List Installed Packages With apt

        The apt command is an essential tool, created by Debian, used to manage packages in Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and other derivative distributions. In this tutorial, we will learn how to use the apt command to list the installed packages in Ubuntu.

      • TecAdminHow to Install Apache with PHP-FPM on Ubuntu 22.04

        Apache and PHP-FPM are both widely used in web development to serve dynamic content. While Apache is the most popular web server used today, PHP-FPM is a FastCGI process manager that provides a faster and more efficient way to process PHP requests. Combining the two can significantly improve the performance of a website.

      • Make Use OfHow to Change Your DNS Server on Ubuntu

        Changing the DNS server on Ubuntu can improve your network speed and is a common troubleshooting step to fix internet issues on Linux.

      • Make Use OfHow to Install Ruby on Linux

        Here's how you can set up a development environment on your Linux machine by installing Ruby.

      • Make Use OfHow to Quickly Change Default Apps on Ubuntu

        On Ubuntu, files like MP4 or PDF are set to open with the preinstalled media player or PDF viewer. Here's how to change these default apps on Ubuntu.

      • Make Use OfHow to Enable the SteamOS Beta on Your Chromebook

        You can finally game on Steam direct on your Chromebook. Here's how it works.

      • ID RootHow To Install LibreWolf Browser on Fedora 37

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install LibreWolf Browser on Fedora 37.

      • ID RootWhat You Need to Know About the Linux Kernel: A Comprehensive Overview

        The Linux kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system that manages hardware and software resources. I

      • ID RootHow To Install Neovim on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Neovim on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

      • FOSSLinuxUbuntu Terminal: Beginner’s Guide to Command Line Interface

        This article provides a beginner's guide to the Ubuntu terminal and command line interface, covering basic concepts and essential commands.

      • H2S MediaHow to Install GitHub Desktop on latest Fedora Linux [Ed: GitHub is Microsoft's proprietary prison and an attack on Free software; avoid GitHub, use Git]

        Are you tired of typing git commands in your terminal? Do you want a GUI for Git on Linux so it's easier to manage your repositories?

      • Linux CapableHow to Install GitHub Desktop on Fedora Linux

        GitHub Desktop is a powerful tool designed to simplify managing your code on GitHub.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Pale Moon Browser on Debian 11 or 10

        Pale Moon is a fast, efficient, and customizable web browser that offers a unique alternative to major browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi. Designed to provide a clean and straightforward browsing experience, Pale Moon offers a range of features and benefits that set it apart from the competition.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install LibreOffice on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

        LibreOffice is a free and open-source office productivity suite that offers users powerful tools for word processing, spreadsheet management, presentation creation, and more. It is designed to be easy to use and offers a variety of features that make it a compelling alternative to other office suites like OpenOffice, FreeOffice, and WPS Office.

      • Linux CapableHow to Upgrade Mesa Drivers on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

        Mesa is an open-source 3D graphics driver used on Linux systems to render high-quality 3D graphics. It enables advanced hardware acceleration, shading, and other graphics-related tasks. Mesa is a powerful tool that enhances the user experience on Linux systems, making it a popular choice for gamers and professionals.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install PHP ImageMagick on Debian 11 or 10

        Regarding web development and design, having high-quality images on your website is essential to enhance user engagement and experience. ImageMagick is a powerful software suite that allows you to process, manipulate, and convert images from the command line. Fortunately, installing ImageMagick on Debian 11 Bullseye and Debian 10 Buster is a simple process.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Open VM Tools (VMWare Tools) on Debian 11 or 10

        Open VM Tools is a set of open-source tools used to enhance virtual machines’ performance and functionality. These tools are widely used in virtual environments because they offer better integration and compatibility with various operating systems.

      • DebugPointComplete Guide to Install VirtualBox on Debian Linux (with Guest Additions)

        VirtualBox is a very popular virtualisation application with several advanced features and controls for your virtual machines. You can dynamically allocate virtual machine storage, USB, networking and other critical parameters. Other free and open-source virtual machine apps are available such as virt-manager, and GNOME Boxes, which are equally good for average use cases. However, VirtualBox is easy to use and comes with advanced options. Remember, it is free to use but is a closed-source application from Oracle.

        In prior articles, I explained how to install it in other distributions, such as Fedora and RHEL. This article outlines the steps to install it in Debian Linux.

    • Games

      • Godot EngineWhat's new in C# for Godot 4.0 [Ed: This is the impact of Microsoft paying Godot; they should quit helping Microsoft]

        All about changes and improvements that Godot 4.0 offers to C# developers.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • OMG! LinuxGNOME 44: The Best New Features - OMG! Linux

          The upcoming GNOME 44 release is shaping up nicely, with devs adding a raft of new features, enhanced capabilities, and visual changes.

          In this article I run through the most noticeable new GNOME 44 features, and touch on a few smaller, more subtle touches you might not otherwise notice.

          Keep in mind that GNOME 44 is due to be released on March 22, 2023. Accordingly, the features mentioned in this article are subject to change and/or refinement until release.

          Let’s dive in!

        • It's FOSS7 Cool GNOME 44 Features To Watch Out For

          GNOME 43 packed in some useful UX upgrades, and now GNOME 44 release is around the corner.

          What are the exciting changes this time? Is it a significant upgrade that you should try?

          Let us look at the features of GNOME 44's release scheduled for March 22, 2023.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • BSD

      • FreeBSDFreeBSD 13.2-BETA3 Now Available
        The third BETA build of the 13.2-RELEASE release cycle is now available.
        
        

        Installation images are available for:

        o 13.2-BETA3 amd64 GENERIC o 13.2-BETA3 i386 GENERIC o 13.2-BETA3 powerpc GENERIC o 13.2-BETA3 powerpc64 GENERIC64 o 13.2-BETA3 powerpc64le GENERIC64LE o 13.2-BETA3 powerpcspe MPC85XXSPE o 13.2-BETA3 armv6 RPI-B o 13.2-BETA3 armv7 GENERICSD o 13.2-BETA3 aarch64 GENERIC o 13.2-BETA3 aarch64 RPI o 13.2-BETA3 aarch64 PINE64 o 13.2-BETA3 aarch64 PINE64-LTS o 13.2-BETA3 aarch64 PINEBOOK o 13.2-BETA3 aarch64 ROCK64 o 13.2-BETA3 aarch64 ROCKPRO64 o 13.2-BETA3 riscv64 GENERIC o 13.2-BETA3 riscv64 GENERICSD

        Note regarding arm SD card images: For convenience for those without console access to the system, a freebsd user with a password of freebsd is available by default for ssh(1) access. Additionally, the root user password is set to root. It is strongly recommended to change the password for both users after gaining access to the system.

        Installer images and memory stick images are available here:

        https://download.freebsd.org/releases/ISO-IMAGES/13.2/

        The image checksums follow at the end of this e-mail.

        If you notice problems you can report them through the Bugzilla PR system or on the -stable mailing list.

        If you would like to use Git to do a source based update of an existing system, use the "releng/13.2" branch.

        A summary of changes since 13.2-BETA2 includes:

        o Added support for some 4G modems.

        o Added the nproc(1) utility.

        o Added missing loader help files.

        o Updates to the LinuxKPI kernel compatibility layer.

        o ice(4) updated to 1.37.7-k.

        o zlib updated to 1.2.13.

        A list of changes since 13.1 is available in the releng/13.2 release notes:

        https://www.freebsd.org/releases/13.2R/relnotes/

        Please note, the release notes page is not yet complete, and will be updated on an ongoing basis as the 13.2-RELEASE cycle progresses.

        === Virtual Machine Disk Images ===

        VM disk images are available for the amd64, i386, and aarch64 architectures. Disk images may be downloaded from the following URL (or any of the FreeBSD download mirrors):

        https://download.freebsd.org/releases/VM-IMAGES/13.2-BETA3/

        BASIC-CI images can be found at:

        https://download.freebsd.org/releases/CI-IMAGES/13.2-BETA3/

        The partition layout is:

        ~ 16 kB - freebsd-boot GPT partition type (bootfs GPT label) ~ 1 GB - freebsd-swap GPT partition type (swapfs GPT label) ~ 20 GB - freebsd-ufs GPT partition type (rootfs GPT label)

        The disk images are available in QCOW2, VHD, VMDK, and raw disk image formats. The image download size is approximately 135 MB and 165 MB respectively (amd64/i386), decompressing to a 21 GB sparse image.

        Note regarding arm64/aarch64 virtual machine images: a modified QEMU EFI loader file is needed for qemu-system-aarch64 to be able to boot the virtual machine images. See this page for more information:

        https://wiki.freebsd.org/arm64/QEMU

        To boot the VM image, run:

        % qemu-system-aarch64 -m 4096M -cpu cortex-a57 -M virt \ -bios QEMU_EFI.fd -serial telnet::4444,server -nographic \ -drive if=none,file=VMDISK,id=hd0 \ -device virtio-blk-device,drive=hd0 \ -device virtio-net-device,netdev=net0 \ -netdev user,id=net0

        Be sure to replace "VMDISK" with the path to the virtual machine image.
    • Gentoo Family

      • LinuxiacGentoo-Based Redcore Linux 2301 Brings KDE Plasma 5.27.1

        Redcore is a Gentoo-based Linux distribution first released in 2017, designed to provide a user-friendly and easy-to-use desktop environment while retaining Gentoo’s flexibility and customization options. It targets casual desktop users and, to some extent, power users.

        The distro follows a rolling release model, but unlike Gentoo, Redcore Linux provides more current software than Gentoo by using the Gentoo testing repositories as its package base.

        Recently, more than four months after the previous 2201 (Rastaban) release, Redcore 2301 (Sirius) is here, so let’s see what’s changed.

    • SUSE/OpenSUSE

      • SUSE's Corporate BlogSUSE Manager: The Journey Continues

        A little more than 6 months ago, SUSE launched SUSE Manager 4.3.€  It was an exciting launch because for the first time, we rearchitected the solution so that you could implement the SUSE Manager Proxy as a set of containers.€  Hub architecture and reporting capabilities were also improved for better scalability.€ 

    • Debian Family

      • Gregor Herrmann: demo video: dpt(1) in pkg-perl-tools

        in the Debian Perl Group we are maintaining a lot of packages (around 4000 at the time of writing). this also means that we are spending some time on improving our tools which allow us to handle this amount of packages in a reasonable time.

        many of the tools are shipped in the pkg-perl-tools package since 2013, & lots of them are scripts which are called as subcommands of the dpt(1) wrapper script.

      • Jelmer VernooijJelmer Vernooij: Silver Platter Batch€ Mode
        Background

        Silver-Platter makes it easier to publish automated changes to repositories. However, in its default mode, the only option for reviewing changes before publishing them is to run in dry-run mode. This can be quite cumbersome if you have a lot of€ repositories.

        A new “batch” mode now makes it possible to generate a large number of changes against different repositories using a script, review and optionally alter the diffs, and then all publish them (and potentially refresh them later if conflicts€ appear).

      • Petter ReinholdtsenPetter Reinholdtsen: OpenSnitch available in Debian Sid and Bookworm

        Thanks to the efforts of the OpenSnitch lead developer Gustavo Iñiguez Goya allowing me to sponsor the upload, the interactive application firewall OpenSnitch is now available in Debian Testing, soon to become the next stable release of Debian.

        This is a package which set up a network firewall on one or more machines, which is controlled by a graphical user interface that will ask the user if a program should be allowed to connect to the local network or the Internet. If some background daemon is trying to dial home, it can be blocked from doing so with a simple mouse click, or by default simply by not doing anything when the GUI question dialog pop up. A list of all programs discovered using the network is provided in the GUI, giving the user an overview of how the machine(s) programs use the network.

        OpenSnitch was uploaded for NEW processing about a month ago, and I had little hope of it getting accepted and shaping up in time for the package freeze, but the Debian ftpmasters proved to be amazingly quick at checking out the package and it was accepted into the archive about week after the first upload. It is now team maintained under the Go language team umbrella. A few fixes to the default setup is only in Sid, and should migrate to Testing/Bookworm in a week.

      • Holger Levsen: 20230225-Debian-Reunion-Hamburg-2023
        Debian Reunion Hamburg 2023 from May 23 to 30

        As in the last years there will be a Debian Reunion Hamburg 2023 event taking place at the same location as previous years, from May 23rd until the 30th (with the 29th being a public holiday in Germany and elsewhere).

    • Devices/Embedded

      • CNX SoftwareePulse Feather ESP32 development board is optimized for low power consumption (in deep sleep)

        The board is based on the ESP32-WROVER with 8MB Flash and 8MB SPRAM and comes with a USB-C connector for charging the battery and programming through a CH9102F UART chip, as well as the I/Os headers provided by the Feather form factor. The board can be especially useful in battery-operated WiFi remote controls for home automation or other purposes that sleep most of the time until the user presses one of the buttons.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • SJVNFOSSDA: Preserving the history of open-source and free software€  | Open Source Watch

      Today, we take for granted that open source is The way to create software. It wasn't always that way. It wasn't just that people like then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, considered "Linux is a cancer," many didn't take open source seriously at all. That was then. This is now. But, we shouldn't forget that free software and open-source software were revolutionary in their day. The newly formed Free and Open Source Stories Digital Archive Foundation (FOSSDA) knows this, so it's seeking to record and archive the stories of the open-source software pioneers.

      FOSSDA is a not-for-profit foundation that aims to engage with the pioneers of open-source software and share their legacies with the world. The FOSSDA Project will create digital recordings and archives of the history of the open-source software movement, documenting the stories of the developers, visionaries, and strategists who challenged the establishment and changed how we interact with the world.

  • Leftovers

    • Science

    • Atlantic CouncilHow legal actions against Russian aggression in Ukraine can serve as a model for other conflicts

      There is an unprecedented number of investigations and accountability efforts under way in response to Russia's invasion. It's a sign of success—but it also shows how victims of international crimes have unequal access to justice.

    • France24Most G20 nations condemn Russia over Ukraine invasion, China stays silent

      Finance chiefs of the world's largest economies strongly condemned Moscow for its war on Ukraine on Saturday, with only China and Russia itself declining to sign a joint statement. Read FRANCE 24's liveblog below to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

    • JURISTUS federal prosecutors announce charges against 13 members of MS-13 gang

      US federal prosecutors Thursday announced charges against 13 members, including three leaders, of MS-13. The members were accused of terrorism, racketeering and murder charges, spanning over 20 years, in the US, El Salvador and Mexico.€ 

    • LRTLukashenko’s crusade against the Roman Catholic Church

      Ever since the anti-government protests of 2020, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has attempted to control all parts of society. This is even true regarding the local branch of the Catholic Church, whose members continue to criticise the regime. Camilla Gironi writes for New Eastern Europe, partners of LRT English.

    • Mexico News DailyStaying safe in Mexico means more than avoiding the ‘bad guys’

      When "Mexico," and "safety" come up, many think of crime, but let's talk about the more everyday precautions to take to stay safe here.

    • Federal News NetworkMore than 70 soldiers killed in Burkina Faso, extremists say

      The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for killing more than 70 soldiers, wounding dozens and taking five hostage in an ambush on a military convoy in northern Burkina Faso. The statement, posted Friday by Amaq, the group’s news agency, said it attacked a convoy trying to advance to areas under its control near Deou, in the Sahel’s Oudalan province, seized weapons and chased retreating soldiers for miles into the desert. Images released by the group show 54 slain bodies in military uniform lying in the bloodstained dirt, as well as more than 50 seized assault rifles and images of the five soldiers it said were taken prisoner.

    • Federal News NetworkChelsea manager Potter says he has received death threats

      Chelsea manager Graham Potter says he and his family have received death threats in the wake of the team’s poor form. Potter says he has been targeted by an anonymous email account. Potter says “I’ve had some not particularly nice emails come through, that want me to die and want my kids to die. That’s obviously not pleasant to receive." Potter bullishly rejects accusations that a calm demeanor in the face of adversity means he does not care about the club.

    • Federal News NetworkPhilippines marks 1986 revolt with dictator’s son as leader

      Pro-democracy protesters have marked the anniversary of the 1986 “people power” revolt in the Philippines with the son of the dictator, who was ousted in that uprising, now leading the country. About 1,400 demonstrators, some waving Philippine flags and holding placards that read “Never forget,” gathered at a democracy shrine along the main EDSA highway in metropolitan Manila. Faced with the awkward situation of issuing a statement to mark the revolt that toppled his namesake father, Marcos Jr. called for reconciliation without citing the event as a democratic milestone, as his predecessors had done. He told a TV interview last year that labeling his father a dictator was wrong.

    • Science AlertYou Might Survive a Nuclear Blast if You're in This Kind of Shelter, Finds New Study

      Material and location matter.

    • Modern DiplomacyNorway’s atonement for Nord Stream sabotage

      Norway was attracted to Biden’s sabotage project like a fly to the honeypot, since it stood to gain fabulously in financial terms if it helped the US military to destroy Nord Stream pipelines near Danish waters, and replace Russia as Germany’s principal source of piped natural gas, writes Indian Ambassador and prominent international observer M.K.€ Bhadrakumar.

    • Off GuardianAUDIO: Kit Knightly talks Nordstream 2 Sabotage

      On his latest appearance on Perspective, OffG editor Kit Knightly and host Jesse Zurawell discuss our recent article on Sy Hersh’s Nordstream 2 “revelations”. The talk ranges across the history of the conflict in Ukraine, how it furthers the same agenda as Covid, how the war might end, the nuclear “near miss” scenario and the …

    • Off Guardian…A LIE SO BIG…

      RK Winfield Yes, all the world a stage[1], Turned to a theatre of deceit When “Money” directs the plays. Then, it’s lies, lies, endless…the lies! All ‘agents provocateurs’ and ‘false flags’ these days. Inconvenient truths just don’t make the grade, Won’t find their way onto newspaper pages, Bought newspaper pages, Bought lies. And all of …

    • NYPostAustralian professor, hostages released by Papua New Guinea kidnappers

      An Australian-based archaeologist and two Papua New Guinea nationals have been released from captivity after being taken hostage by an armed group in a remote part of Papua New Guinea several days ago.

    • RFERLKazakhstan Says China's Peace Plan For Ukraine 'Worthy Of Support'

      Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry has expressed its approval of China's 12-point peace plan for Russia's war with Ukraine, saying it is "worthy of support" based on UN principles.

    • RFERLReports: At Least 30 Dead In Southern Italy After Migrant Shipwreck

      At least 30 people have died after a migrant shipwreck off the eastern coast of Italy's Calabria region, according to reports.

    • RFERLPutin Says Russia Must Take NATO's Nuclear Capability Into Account

      President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia had no choice but to take into account the nuclear capabilities of NATO as the U.S.-led military alliance was seeking the defeat of Russia.

    • RFERLBombings Kill At Least Six People As Violence Flares In Pakistan

      At least six people, including two policemen, were killed in two separate bomb attacks in southwestern Pakistan amid a surge in violent attacks in the country.

    • RFERLAs Its Forces 'Repel' Russian Attacks, Ukraine Aims To 'Drive Wedge' Between Crimea And Russia

      The Ukrainian military said on February 26 that it had repelled more than 70 attacks by Russian forces a day earlier, while a senior military intelligence officer said Ukraine is girded for a Russian offensive but is also "trying to drive a wedge" between occupied Crimea and Russia.

    • RFERLRussia Says A Foreign Ministers Meeting With Turkey, Syria, And Iran Is In The Works

      The foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Syria, and Iran are arranging a meeting, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, according to state media on February 26.

    • RFERLRallies In Berlin, Paris Call For Peace In Ukraine

      Protesters in Germany and France on February 25 demanded peace for Ukraine, a day after activists in both countries marked one year since the Russian invasion.

    • RFERLEU Announces Additional Sanctions Against Wagner Group For Activities In Africa

      The EU has€ announced additional sanctions against Russia's Wagner mercenary group for "human rights abuses" in the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Mali.

  • Environment

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Censorship/Free Speech

  • Civil Rights/Policing

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Organizing My Life

        I have always been bad at organizing my life. It can be hard for me to know what to do and when to do it. This is a particularly big problem for me because of executive disfunction. There are many ways in which I could go about keeping track of what needs to be done, but they all boil down to some sort of calendar system. That being said, each system has you think about things in a different way.

        I have tried using my calendar app, various todo apps, and physical journaling. Each one has their pros and cons, but they all ultimately failed me in the sense that I have gotten out of the habbit of using them. Life has been getting overwelming recently and so I thought that it would be a good idea to get back into the habbit of using one of these.

      • eggcream

        It says that this drink contains neither egg nor cream. But why is it called this way? Why use a name if the name isn't descriptive? what other lies are out there? so many questions

      • Hello World



        Anyway, hello. My name’s Matt. I’m based in the UK, near the south coast.

        I enjoy playing with computers and technology (currently learning how to use Flask) but very much at an amateur level. I do love it though!

        Aside from that I like listening to music, drinking coffee, and doing crosswords (the cryptic kind), and also tending my houseplants.

    • Technical

      • The Two Steves, Revisited

        The story of Jobs and Wozniak soldering away in a garage is such an iconic tale... It inspired me greatly, actually shaping my entire life. I scraped, borrowed and stole money to save up for my Apple ][+, and in the 80's I actually tried (not realizing it at the time) to re-live this story, dropping out of high school and taking on the role of Jobs, suiting up for meetings by day (East coast) and wielding soldering iron by night...

        I didn't get to stop and think about it much back then, or even try to verify the legend until the 90s (and I was on the East coast, away from the action). It was a big shock. I was an Apple fanboy until then -- putting up with the closed architecture and the insanely high prices (as a developer I was forced to buy a couple of multi-thousand-dollar Macs every year).

      • Annoyed with Foss Desktops

        I've pretty much finished rebasing HitchHiker Linux to use Musl libc now, verifying that builds work for all of the platforms I'm trying to support (x86_64,aarch64 and riscv64). I've been working slowly through building packages for it using NetBSD's Pkgsrc. As expected, there have been a lot of annoyances along the way. I'll be explicit in warning (in case you haven't already figured it out) this post is going to be a rant.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Additional features decentralized services needs - practical web3 ep.2

          First I tried to imagin an email like service on GNUnet and have it actually be better then clearnet. I mean that by, getting SMTP to "work" over GNUnet is easy. Just use CADET as a TCP replacement. However, this does not buy us much in terms of usability or privacy. Users still are relying on a single service provider; if they go down everything the user has disappears. And the service provider still knows the user's peer ID (IP address of the GNUnet world). The only benefit this have is CADET can route traffic under a very restrictive environment.

          Clearly proxying clearnet protocols over GNUnet won't work. We need designs native to decentralization.

          Something like `libgnunetchat` works better. It is a fully decentralized chat system native to GNUnet. However, unlike SMTP-over-GNUnet, `libgnunetchat` does not replicate chat history and uses your Egos (virtual identities) as user accounts. Thus you can't 'login' to the same account on multiple devices, nor retrieve old messages, at least not without some extremely complicated setup.

        • Marginalia Search: 2 years, big news [ 2023-02-26 ]

          No time like the project's two year anniversary to drop this particular bomb...

          Marginalia's gotten an NLNet grant.

        • Gemini song words 🎶

          Gritty made an aside that there could/should be a Gemini song words thing. Keeping such a thing up to date is a big task. But there's a Musixmatch API that looks do-able, and skimming their ts&cs didn't scare me. I would do it myself, but my capsule has no CGI or similar.

        • Hello, people

          I had to stop using only three social medias a day and surf the web again. A link directory showing the way to websites with no or less CSS brought me here. That's how I found the pub.

        • new here/first post

          Having spent most of the last two decades in the deeply unfulfilling social-media focused online spaces, taking the defaults offered to me, I'm working on spreading myself thin: posting on social media I don't hate (right now: mastodon, cohost), writing on my website and in geminispace, making physical things and mailing them to strangers, and otherwise generally trying to improve the online experience by participating in the kinds of experiences I wish I'd had during the years of FB and Twitter and Reddit.

      • Programming

        • I Created Two Ultra-Minimalistic Jekyll Themes

          I created “Nixer”, after I was finished with “Nix”, to see, how far you can go to remove most functionality from a website, until it wouldn’t make sense anymore.

          Both themes are optimized for fast build speeds, therefore doesn’t have either SCSS, includes, or any dependencies.

          Their purpose is to be minimalistic (“Nix”) or hard-core minimalistic (“Nixer”), single-author themes. Because there is no menu, pages can be manually linked in the body of `index.md`. But “Nixer” users won’t be doing that, because the whole point of this theme is to not display anything more than just the content of posts and a list of posts.

          They implement as little changes as possible from the default browser settings. They only do it to improve legibility.

        • Dot

          . to end input is a rather old tradition in computing, which in turn is as yet young.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

At Microsoft, "Firing People is a "Cheat Code" to Pump the Stock Short-term But They Are Literally Destroying the Company's Soul Long-term."
They frame layoffs as a "success story"
Google News Poisons Its Own Index With More Slopfarms (Including "filmogaz")
Naming and shaming lazy slobs who rip off other people using LLMs can work, eventually
Naming Culprits in Switzerland
Switzerland is highly secretive about white-collar crime
Sanitised Plagiarism as "AI" (How Oligarchy Plots to Use Slop to Hide or Distract From Its Abuses, or Cause People Not to Trust Anything They See/Read Online)
This isn't innovation but repression
Recent Layoffs at Red Hat (2026 the Year of Ultimate Bluewashing)
I found it amusing that Red Hat's CEO has just chosen to wear all blue, as if to make a point
Team Campinos Talks About SAP Days Before EPO Industrial Actions and a Day Before the "Alicante Mafia" Series (About Team Campinos Doing Cocaine)
EPO staff that isn't morally feeble will insist on objecting to illegal instructions
Stack(ed) Rankings and Ongoing Layoffs at Red Hat and IBM (Failure to Keep Staff Acquired by IBM)
IBM is mismanaged and its sole aim is to game the stock market (by faking a lot of things)
 
Great Reset at IBM, the Company That Pulps Red Hat
In 2026 many workers are RTO'ed, PIP'ed, and at Red Hat many have effectively 'left the company' and now start afresh as "IBM" staff
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part II - Breakout of Discontent This Winter in Europe's Second-Largest Organisation
So far we've caused a lot of panic and stress inside Team Campinos
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part I - An Introduction to the Mafia Governing the EPO
Are some people 'evacuating' themselves to save face?
J.H.M. Ray Dassen & Debian, Red Hat, GNOME unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 16/01/2026: "Porting My Main Website Over to Gemini" and Seeed Studio DevBoard
Links for the day
IBM Stacked and Ranked Badly, Maladministration Dooms the Company
Now they stack people up for PIPs and layoffs ("RAs")
Links 16/01/2026: UK Royal Family's "Legal Team Accused of Dishonesty, Fraud and Misconduct", OSI Still Controlled by Microsoft (the OSI's Spokesperson is on Microsoft's Payroll, Not Interim Executive Director, Deborah Bryant)
Links for the day
Writing About Corruption
Fraud is everywhere
The B in IBM is Brown-nosing and Buzzwords (or Both)
International Buzzwords Machines
IBM's 'Scientific-Sounding' Tech-Porn Won't Help IBM Survive (or Be Bailed Out)
Who's next in the pipeline?
IBM Was Never the Good Guy
its original products were used for large-scale surveillance, not scientific endeavours
The Bluewashing is Making Red Hat Extinct (They All Become "IBM", Little by Little)
IBM does not care what's legal
Slopfarms Push Fake News About Microsoft Shutdown, 30,000+ Microsoft Layoffs Last Year Spun as Only "15,000"
The Web is seriously ill
Countries Take Action Against Social Control Media and 'Smart' 'Phones', Not Slop (Plagiarised Information Synthesis Systems or P.I.S.S.)
None of this is unprecedented except the scale and speed of sharing
Sites That Expose Corruption Under Attack, Journalism Not Tolerated Anymore (the Super-Rich Abuse Their Wealth and Political Power)
Sometimes, albeit not always, the harder people try to hide something, the more effective and important it is for the general public
Links 16/01/2026: Social Control Media Curbs in Australia Underway, MElon Still Profiting by Sexualising Kids 'as a Service'
Links for the day
More People Nowadays Say "GNU/Linux"
We still see many distros and even journalists that say "GNU/Linux"
LLM Slop on the Web is Waning, But Linuxiac Has Become a Slopfarm
I gave Linuxiac a chance to deny this or explain this; Linuxiac did not
More Signs of Financial Troubles at Microsoft, Europe Puts Microsoft Under Investigation
The end of the library is part of the cuts
Pedophilia-Enabling Microsoft Co-founder Cuts Staff
Compensating by sleeping with young girls does not make one younger
Microsoft Shuts Down Campus Library, Resorts to Storytelling About "AI" to Spin the Seriousness of It
Microsoft is in pain
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Back to Advertising the Talks of Richard Stallman
A pleasant surprise
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 15, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, January 15, 2026
Gemini Links 16/01/2026: House Flood and Pragmatic Retrocomputing Dogfooding
Links for the day
Links 15/01/2026: Starlink Weaponised for Regime Change (by Man Who Boasted About Annexing South American Countries for Tesla's Mining), Corruption in Switzerland Uncovered by JuristGate
Links for the day
Linuxiac May Have Reverted Back to LLM Slop (Updated Same Day)
Is he back off the wagon?
GAFAM and IBM Layoffs Outline
a lot of the layoffs happen in secrecy and involve convincing people to resign, retire, relocate etc.
Links 15/01/2026: Internet Blackouts, Jackboots Society in US
Links for the day
Coming Soon: Impact With EPO Cocainegate
Will Campinos survive 2026?
The Last 'Dilberts' or Some of the Last Salvaged (Comic Strips Which Disappeared Shortly After They Had Been Published)
Around the time the creator of Dilbert went silent he published some strips mocking TikTok and usage of it
The Creator of Git Probably Doesn't Know How to Install and Deploy Git
Nobody disputes this: Mr. Torvalds created Git
Slop is a Liability
Slopfarms too will become extinct because people aren't interested in them
GAFAM is a National and International Threat to Everybody
GAFAM is just a tentacle in service of imperialism
EPO People Power - Part XXXVI - In Conclusion and Taking Things Up Another Notch
They often say that the law won't deter or stop criminals because it's hard to enforce laws against people who reject the law
Running Techrights is Fun, Rewarding, and Gratifying
In Geminispace we are already quite dominant
Red Hat is Connected to the Military, Its Chief Comes From Military Family (From Both Sides)
The founder of Red Hat's parent company literally saluted Hitler himself (yes, a Nazi salute)
Don't Cry for Gaslighting Media in a Country Which Loathes the Press
my wife and I received threats for merely writing about Americans
Red Hat (IBM) is Driving Away Remaining Fedora Users
I've not used Fedora since Moonshine
Robert X. Cringely Has Already Explained IBM's Bullying Culture (Towards Its Own Staff)
IBM is a fairly nasty company
Proton Mail compromise, Hannah Natanson (Washington Post) police raid & Debian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 14, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Gemini Links 15/01/2026: "Ode to elinks", envs.net Pubnix and Downtime at geminiprotocol.net
Links for the day
Still Condoning Child Labour and Exploiting Unpaid Children Developers as PR Props (to Raise Monopoly Money)
These people lack morals. So they project.
"Security, AI or Quantum" on "the IBM Titanic"
Who's RMS?
Hours Ago The Register MS Published Microsoft Windows SPAM "Sponsored by Intel." The Fake 'Article' Says "AI" 34 Times.
The Register MS isn't a serious online newspaper
EPO People Power - Part XXXV - Where Else Will Corruption and Substance Abuse be Tolerated?
We need to raise standards
Status and Capital
People who do a lot are too busy to boast about it and wear fancy garments
IBM Paying the Price for Treating Workers Badly and Discarding Real Talent (Because It's "Expensive")
IBM is dead man walking
Turbulence Ahead
I last rebooted my laptop in 2023
Google News Rewards Plagiarism With LLMs (About Linux, Too)
Google is in the slop business now
Links 14/01/2026: Failing Economy and Conquest Abroad as a Distraction From Domestic Woes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/01/2026: The Ephemerality of Our Digital Lives and "Summer of Upgrades"
Links for the day
Projection Tactics - Part III: Silencing Inconvenient Voices Online
If X gets banned in the UK, it'll be hard to see what the spouse says in public
Outsourcing on Microsoft's Agenda, Offshoring Also
"In some cases, India hiring is poised to replace certain roles previously based in the U.S."
Links 13/01/2026: 'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams Passes Away With Cancer, Ban on X/Twitter Considered for CSAM Profiteering
Links for the day
The Goal is Software Freedom for All
Anything to do with "Linux Foundation" is timewasting
Reminder That Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Is Not Free, And It's Because of IBM
software freedom just 'gets in the way'
Under IBM, in Order to Game the Stock Market, Red Hat Resorted to Boosting the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in Human History
This is what IBM turned Red Hat into
Revision handed Microsoft the keys to the distortion of the past/history
This isn't the first time The Register MS rewrites computing history in Microsoft's favour, as we pointed out several times in past years
What Will Happen to GAFAM After the US Defaults Rather Than Bails Out the Market?
Or tries to topple every government that doesn't play by its rules?
EPO People Power - Part XXXIV - Bad Optics for the European Union (for Failing to Act and Tolerating Cocaine Use in Europe's Second-Largest Institution)
There are principles in laws which tie awareness with complicity
EPO's Central Staff Committee is Now Redacting (Self-Censoring) Due to Threats From the EPO "Mafia"
"On the agenda: salary adjustment procedure for 2025 (as of January 2026)"
"AI" (Slop) 'Demand' Isn't Growing, It's Fake, It's a Pyramid Scheme
They try to resort to 'creative' accounting (fraudulent schemes like circular financing)
Difficult Times at IBM and Microsoft Ahead of Mass Layoffs (Probably Before This Month's Results Unless Postponed to 'Prove' Rumours 'Wrong')
IBM and Microsoft used to be tech giants. Nowadays they mostly pretend by pumping up their stock and buying back their own shares.
Canonical: Make Ubuntu Bloated (Debian With Snaps), Then Sell the 'Debloated' Version for a Fee
If people want a light distro, then they ought not pay Canonical but instead choose a light (by design) GNU/Linux distro
People Don't Want "Just Enough", They'll Look for Quality
That's why slopfarms will go away or become inactive
Gemini Links 14/01/2026: 3D and Tiny Traffic Lights Pack
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 13, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Slop Waning Whilst Originals Perish
Slop is way past its "prime"
XBox's 'Major Nelson' Loses His Job Again, This Time in a Microsoft Mono Pusher
Microsoft hasn't much of a future in gaming. XBox's business is in rapid decline and people who push Mono to game developers are the same