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Links 26/03/2023: MidnightBSD 3.0 and FreeBSD 13.2 RC4



  • GNU/Linux

    • Linux LinksLinux Around The World: Nigeria

      We cover user groups that are running in Nigeria. This article forms part of our Linux Around The World series.

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • It's FOSSFramework Unveils a New Laptop With Game-Changing Open Source Module System

        Framework is a company that specializes in providing modular laptops that feature open-source hardware modules.

        At their Next Level Event 2023, the company showcased something new and a few updates to its previous laptop lineup, but it was the 16-inch laptop that caught our attention.

        If you are a gamer, creator, developer, and a power user looking for customizability on a laptop, you are about to get excited!

    • Applications

      • 9to5LinuxVentoy 1.0.90 Adds Support for LibreELEC 11.0 and Chimera Linux

        In Ventoy 1.0.90, the devs added support for new GNU/Linux distributions, including Chimera Linux and the recently released LibreELEC 11.0 and later versions. With this, Ventoy now supports more than 1,100 ISO images!

        Fans of the Fedora Linux distribution will be happy to learn that this new Ventoy release optimizes Fedora Linux ISOs’ boot process and improves the detection of the Fedora Rawhide install media.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • University of TorontoApache 2.4's event MPM can require more workers than you'd expect

        For our web server's current usage, these settings are okay. But they're unfortunately dangerous, because we allow people to run CGIs on this server, and the machine is unlikely to do well if we have even 1,000 CGIs running at the same time. In practice not many CGIs get run these days, so we're likely going to get away with it. Still, it makes me nervous and I wish we had a better solution.

      • Rob LandleyImplementing VisiCalc

        I'm writing this in preparation for the Computer History Museum's The Origins and Impact of VisiCalc panel on April 8th 2003. This is basically a draft and I hope to do some more editing as time permits and you should expect many typos until then. I'm also going to continue to edit and change this as I remember details.

        This is my long-delayed attempt at writing about my experience in writing VisiCalc and the many design decisions that we made along the way. But even after nearly a quarter century I remember many of the details though maybe my memories have evolved. The process of writing down this experience is already evoking many memories and, unless proven otherwise, I'll assume that they are memories of real events but others may view it differently and I will try to correct the more creative aspects of my memory.

        Even simple decisions were only simple in context. They were all intertwined and I will try to reduce the confusion by separating aspects of implementation, design and business.

        For more details on the history of VisiCalc and even a version that still runs on the IBM PC, see Dan Bricklin's VisiCalc History pages.

      • LibreOffice Czech User Guides are now in the Bookshelf

        The Czech Community is happy to announce the immediate availability of the Czech LibreOffice User Guides in the LibreOffice Bookshelf. Thanks to the efforts of ZdenÄ›k Crhonek and Stanislav Horáček, the bookshelf has now all recent user guides in Czech, available in PDF, OpenDocument (LibreOffice's native file format) and HTML for online reading...

      • It's FOSSHow to Install and Use Neovim on Ubuntu and other Linux Distributions

        Want to use Neovim? Here, we show you how to install it and get the ball rolling.

      • Ubuntu HandbookHow to Install Budgie Desktop 10.7.1 in Ubuntu Budgie 22.04

        This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest Budgie Desktop 10.7.1 in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Ubuntu Budgie is one of the official Ubuntu flavors features the Budgie desktop. While Ubuntu Budgie 22.04 ships with Budgie Desktop 10.6.1, the latest version has reached v10.7.1.

      • FOSSLinuxStreamlining your workflow with Tmux: Tips for developers

        In this guide, we will provide tips and tricks for developers on how to streamline their workflow using Tmux. We will cover the creation and management of Tmux sessions, window and pane manipulation, and customization options. We will also explore some popular Tmux plugins for further customization.

      • Tom's HardwareHow To Create Your Own AI Chatbot Server With Raspberry Pi 4

        Harness the power of the latest AI models using your Raspberry Pi 4.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Tor Browser on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

        The Tor Browser is a powerful tool for those who value privacy, anonymity, and the ability to access restricted content online. It offers a unique browsing experience by encrypting your internet traffic and routing it through a network of volunteer-operated servers, known as the Tor network.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Cinnamon Desktop Environment on Debian 12, 11 or 10

        The Cinnamon desktop environment is a modern, sleek, and highly customizable alternative to the default GNOME desktop environment found on Debian. Created as a fork of the GNOME Shell, Cinnamon focuses on offering users a more traditional desktop experience.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Nginx on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

        NGINX is a powerful, open-source web server, reverse proxy server, and load balancer that has gained significant popularity in recent years for its flexibility, performance, and scalability.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Modsecurity with Apache on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

        ModSecurity is a popular and powerful open-source web application firewall (WAF) designed to protect your server from various web-based attacks. As a module for the Apache HTTP Server, it provides real-time monitoring, logging, and access control capabilities to secure your web applications from common exploits and vulnerabilities.

      • Real Linux UserQuick Fix – How to solve AppImage not running on Ubuntu

        When Ubuntu version 22.04 came out, users ran into strange issues that didn't play a role before.

      • Upgrading a server from Karoshi V13 to V14

        Introduction Karoshi V13 server and LinuxSchools V14 server are built using Ubuntu LTS releases and when they reach the end of update support will either have to be re-installed with the newest version or updated to the newest version.

      • TechtownDelimited Files: Understanding and Utilizing Various Delimiters

        Delimited files are a common format for data storage and exchange. These files store data in a tabular structure, where each data value is separated by a specific character, known as a delimiter.

      • ID RootHow To Install Mixxx on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

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

      • ID RootSimplify Your Process Management With pkill Command on Linux

        Have you ever wanted to kill a process running on your Linux system but didn't know how to do it efficiently?

      • ID RootHow To Install Draw.io Desktop App on Rocky Linux 9

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Draw.io Desktop App on Rocky Linux 9.

      • ID RootHow To Install SMPlayer on Fedora 37

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install SMPlayer on Fedora 37. For those of you who didn’t know, SMPlayer is a free, open-source media player that supports a wide range of audio and video formats.

    • Games

      • TechdirtGame Jam Winner Spotlight: The Pigeon Wager

        So far in our series of posts showcasing the winners in all six categories of the fifth annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1927, we’ve featured Best Remix winner Lucia, Best Visuals winner Urbanity, and Best Adaptation winner To And Again. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the winner of the Best Deep Cut category: The Pigeon Wager by Jason Morningstar of Bully Pulpit Games.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • SOME CHANGES TO THE DISCORD CHANNELS. [Ed: Discord (proprietary) has not worked out for makululinux, so why not use IRC, Matrix etc.?]

      We have had to do some repairs to our Discord channels, everything should now be up and running. We had a childish team member exit and tried to sabotage the discord channels

    • New Releases

      • MidnightBSD 3.0

        3.0 i386 packages haven't been built for the release yet. There are some older ones available but without the full desktop environment. We'll be building those this weekend. We're uploading some ISOs but still need to do final testing on them...

      • FreeBSDFreeBSD 13.2-RC4 Now Available
        The fourth RC build of the 13.2-RELEASE release cycle is now available.
        
        

        Please note that a fifth RC build will be arriving very soon with one more bug fix; 13.2-RC5 is expected to be the final release candidate.

        Installation images are available for:

        o 13.2-RC4 amd64 GENERIC o 13.2-RC4 i386 GENERIC o 13.2-RC4 powerpc GENERIC o 13.2-RC4 powerpc64 GENERIC64 o 13.2-RC4 powerpc64le GENERIC64LE o 13.2-RC4 powerpcspe MPC85XXSPE o 13.2-RC4 armv6 RPI-B o 13.2-RC4 armv7 GENERICSD o 13.2-RC4 aarch64 GENERIC o 13.2-RC4 aarch64 RPI o 13.2-RC4 aarch64 PINE64 o 13.2-RC4 aarch64 PINE64-LTS o 13.2-RC4 aarch64 PINEBOOK o 13.2-RC4 aarch64 ROCK64 o 13.2-RC4 aarch64 ROCKPRO64 o 13.2-RC4 riscv64 GENERIC o 13.2-RC4 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-RC3 includes:

        o A fix to recalculate mitigations after reloading microcode on resume; this unbreaks suspend/resume on some laptops.

        o A fix to stack unwinding of kernel dumps on arm64.

        o A kernel panic fix in carp(4).

        o Fix bug resulting in misdetecting endianness on any platform when using endian.h sometimes.

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

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

        === 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-RC4/

        BASIC-CI images can be found at:

        https://download.freebsd.org/releases/CI-IMAGES/13.2-RC4/

        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.
    • SUSE/OpenSUSE

      • SUSE's Corporate BlogSUSE S.A. appoints Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen as new CEO

        A veteran of the enterprise software industry, Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen has spent nearly two decades at Red Hat, a global leader in open source solutions. Since joining Red Hat in 2004, he has held various senior management positions overseeing sales, marketing and operations, most recently as Senior Vice President and General Manager of North America, and before that of APAC.

        Melissa Di Donato, the current CEO, has decided to step down as she embarks on the next chapter of her career. Under her leadership SUSE listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2021 and became one of Europe’s most valuable public software companies. During her tenure, SUSE has also completed the strategic acquisitions of Rancher and NeuVector, which position the Company strongly in the high growth markets of container management and security. SUSE has increased its revenues by over 60% and its adjusted EBITDA by over 70% under Melissa Di Donato’s leadership.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • Linux GizmosSparkFun Thing Plus module supports Bluetooth 5 Low Energy

        The SparkFun Thing Plus NINA-B306 is a compact embedded device optimized for portable and wireless applications. This product is enabled with BLE 5.0 connectivity and it features a MicroSD card slot, 6-DoF IMU, an Environmental sensor and LiPo battery management.

      • Linux GizmosArduino UNO gets Renesas hardware update

        The upcoming Open Source board will be equipped with a 32-bit Renesas RA4M1 processor instead of the 8-bit ATmega328P chip. Moreover, there will be a UNO R4 version featuring an ESP32 module for wireless connectivity.

      • ArduinoArduino UNO R4 is a giant leap forward for an open source community of millions

        The history of making is now ready for the future: a 32-bit UNO will soon be available thanks to a powerful Renesas processor Here at Arduino we are thrilled to announce a new, revolutionary revision of the iconic UNO board, which will expand the concept of the open-source brand’s most iconic and popular product...

      • HackadayIs Your USB-C Dock Out To Hack You?

        In today’s installment of Betteridge’s law enforcement, here’s an evil USB-C dock proof-of-concept by [Lachlan Davidson] from [Aura Division]. We’ve seen malicious USB devices aplenty, from cables and chargers to flash drives and even suspicious USB fans. But a dock, however, is new. The gist is simple — you take a stock dock, find a Pi Zero W and wire it up to a USB 2.0 port tapped somewhere inside the dock. Finding a Pi Zero is unquestionably the hardest part in this endeavor — on the software side, everything is ready for you, just flash an SD card with a pre-cooked malicious image and go!

      • HackadaySingle Flex PCB Folds Into A Four-Wheel Rover, Complete With Motors

        You’ve got to hand it to [Carl Bugeja] — he comes up with some of the most interesting electromechanical designs we’ve seen. His latest project is right up there, too: a single PCB that folds up into a four-wheel motorized rover.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Volker KrauseFOSSGIS 2023

      Last week I attended the FOSSGIS-Konferent 2023 in Berlin and spoke about KDE Itinerary’s use of OSM data there.



      Conference

      With three days of three parallel conference tracks with tightly packed 20 minute slots I only got to see a small subset of the talks, focusing on the topics most relevant for KDE Itinerary. Some takeaways for me:

      • OSM core data model evolution: The initial steps discussed here aren’t directly impacting KDE’s uses of OSM data yet, the possible improvements for more efficient and accurate tile expiry are something potentially interesting for our raw data tile server though (although we currently don’t implement any form of tile expire yet).
      • Indoor positioning (with GPS usually not available inside buildings there is no similarly prevalent solution yet, let alone one that works without needing extra infrastructure in the building and without requiring non-standard/not-yet-standard hardware in phones): Two possible approaches for this were presented, one using common inertial sensors and map matching to compensate the drift, the other using a camera and a SLAM-like algorithm. Nothing published yet unfortunately, so we have to see how well those actually perform in practice.
      • Indoor map data: I found it particularly interesting to see for which very different usecases people need the same kind of data, from navigating through a train station to city-scale earthquake risk assessments with a scary level of detail and accuracy.

      I also did my first major conference talk in German there, which I hopefully managed to do without using an English term for every other word.

    • Programming/Development

      • Patrick Jordan BeneExplaining my fast 6502 code generator

        I reckon my compiler isn't doing more when it comes to high-level optimizations, so the gains must be from the code generation side. This makes sense, as most compilers are multi-target, with backends designed for modern RISC-like systems, not the ancient 6502. It doesn't matter how good GCC or LLVM's high-level optimizations are if they falter at the last leg of the race.

        Still, my compiler also beats those designed for retro and embedded systems, like VBCC, SDCC, and KickC. For this reason, it seemed like a good idea to write about my technique.

      • RlangHow fast do the files read in?

        I will demonstrate how to generate a 1,000 row and column matrix with random numbers in R, and then save it in different file formats. I will also show how to get the file size of each saved object and benchmark how long it takes to read in each file using different functions.

      • Greg Casamento: Swift->ObjC interop

        Some interesting notes. I will update this posting as i find more: * https://dart.dev/guides/libraries/objective-c-interop

      • Greg Casamento: Compatibility project almost complete

        As the much villified theme for star trek enterprise says "its been a long road getting from there to here" i am almost done with all of the work that needed to be done to get us to Catalina compatibility in GNUstep. The reason this is still significant is because Apple hasn't made many changes to either the Foundation or AppKit APIs since then. I have been workinf hard over the last three years. All of the new classes are fully tested. Once this effort is completed I am going to focus on printing, which has always been a problem in GS. And possibly a "reference" distribution.

    • Standards/Consortia

      • Ruben SchadeRyan Barrett on HTTP content negotiation

        I’ve been bitten by this before, and agree with Ryan's thoughts:

        Content negotiation is a feature of HTTP that lets clients ask for, and servers return, different content types based on the request’s Accept header.

        Sounds great, right? Well, no. Content negotiation is the classic example of an idea that sounds good in theory, but for the vast majority of web developers, turns out to be net harmful in practice.

  • Leftovers

    • The Local SETen secrets you can't keep in Sweden

      Swedes have a reputation for being private people, so it might seem paradoxical that details from age to salary to your home address are easily available to anyone who knows where to look.

    • Science AlertHere's How to Rewire Your Brain So You Actually Look Forward to Mondays

      Yes, it's possible.

    • TediumA Side of Gloss

      Tedium continues on its long journey to fill its glossary with hundreds of entries, and today’s list takes a long, hard look at all things food-related.

    • Tolkien GatewayTolkien Reading Day

      Tolkien Reading Day is an annual event held on the 25 March to celebrate and promote the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. It was founded by The Tolkien Society.[1]

    • Computers Are Baddocker

      There's been a lot of discussion lately about Docker, mostly about their boneheaded reversal following their boneheaded apology for their boneheaded decision to eliminate free teams. I don't really care much about this event in terms of how it impacts my professional work. I long ago wrote off Docker, Inc. as a positive part of the DevOps ecosystem. But what's very interesting to me is how we got here: The story of Docker, Docker Inc., Docker Hub, and their relation to the broader world of containerization is endlessly fascinating to me.

      How is it that Docker Inc., creator of one of the most important and ubiquitous tools in the modern software industry, has become such a backwater of rent-seeking and foot-shooting? Silicon Valley continually produces some astounding failures, but Docker stands out to me. Docker as a software product is an incredible success; Docker as a company is a joke; and the work of computing professionals is complicated by the oddly distant and yet oddly close connection between the two.

    • CNX SoftwareGetting Started with GL-S200 Thread Border Router kit

      Last week we checked out the hardware for the GL.iNet GL-S200 Thread Border Router kit with three nRF52840 Thread Dev Boards, and I’ve now had time to work with the kit, so I’ll report my getting started experience in the second part of the review. GL-S200 Initial Set Up I connected the WAN port to my Ethernet Switch itself connected to my modem router and the LAN port to my laptop, so I could access the web interface using the default IP address (192.168.8.1). The GL-S200 uses the same Admin Panel as other GL.iNet routers such as the Beryl AX router we reviewed at the beginning of the year.

    • Common DreamsBanning Eagle Song, Dragons Love Tacos, A Thai Lullaby and Pink! To Protect the Children

      The zealots are out in force these days, feverishly banning pernicious texts like Sneezy the Snowman, Grandmama's Pride, A Storm Called Katrina and Dim Sun For Everyone because they're "putting children at risk" while they quietly sit through live-shooter drills. Happily, some are calling out concerns "their kids’ minds may be opened by a book." Among them is Grace Linn, 100, whose husband died long ago fighting her era's brownshirts. "Fear is not freedom," she says. "Fear is control."

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Slot diegetics

        The spell slot system as implemented in 5e was first seen in a video game called Wizardry; they called it “spell points” in that game but you had separate pools of “level 1 spell points”, “level 2 spell points” and so on, just like 5e’s slots.

        So for a more JRPG-like vibe, you could lean into that. Call slots spell points or mana points or magic points or whatever game you’re more familiar with—not only video games, there are other table top games that uses MP. The hack, compared the cockamamie spell point system option in the DMG, is to just keep “the separate pools per level”, just like slots work non—i.e. don’t change anything, it’s just a new name for them.

      • 🔤SpellBinding: ACEINTY Wordo: PAILS

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



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