Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 10/05/2023: WordPress Turns 20 and GCC 12.3 Released



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • University of TorontoCuring my home desktop from locking up in the cold (so far)

        I've had a long running mystery where my home desktop would lock up if it got cold, where as time developed it seemed that getting too cold was down not much below 68 F (which is hardly cold, at least for Canadians). Back in December of last year I had the idea of 'replacing' the case front panel with just a stand-alone ATX chassis power switch. I hesitated for a bit, but the situation was getting more irritating this past winter and stand-alone ATX chassis power switches are not expensive items. Finally at one point I carried through with this plan (possibly when I had to open up the case after forgetting a critical step in software disk shuffling). Somewhat to my surprise, this relatively simple change seems to have fixed all of the problems.

      • Jake BauerComputers as Workspaces

        As Gauer mentions, this idea might seem a bit extravagant and wasteful, considering that there are many who can hardly afford one computer, let alone several. He mentions that relatively powerful computers are quite inexpensive these days, especially on the second-hand market, but I’d also like to add that a separate physical computer might not even be necessary. If you are strapped for cash or simply don’t want another thing in your life, a separate user account with a different set of programs installed and a different look and feel on the same physical computer might also work.

      • DebugPointTop 5 Best Linux Distributions for Laptops [2023 Edition]

        Over the past few years, the mainstream Linux distributions significantly improved all its components, making it a compelling choice for new or old laptops. Thanks to their customizability, low resource requirements, and vast community support, they have become a go-to choice for many laptop users.

        However, with so many Linux distributions available, choosing the right one can be daunting. In this article, we will explore the top Linux distributions optimized for laptops.

    • Server

      • LinuxSecurityWhy Cloud Linux Is Beneficial for E-Commerce Stores

        Cloud-based Linux solutions offer the inherent security and stability of Linux, along with the well-known flexibility of cloud computing. This article will explore why using Linux in the cloud is beneficial for e-commerce stores, along with some potential challenges you may encounter, to equip you with the knowledge you need to make an informed decision.

      • NetcraftNetcraft among the UK's 100 fastest growing technology companies

        According to a list compiled by E2E and published in partnership with the Independent newspaper, Netcraft is amongst the 100 fastest growing technology companies in the UK.

        The E2E Tech 100 showcases companies that are excelling, experiencing consistent growth, and creating an impact not just in their own sector, but also on a nationwide or global scale.

        Netcraft appear in the Tech 100 table, based on independent research and data analysis by Experian.

    • Benchmarks

      • Maira Canal: Rotating Planes on VKMS

        In my last blog post, I described a bit of my previous work on the rustgem project, and after that, as I had finished the VGEM features, I sent a RFC to the mailing list. Although I still need to work on some rustgem feedback, I started to explore more of the KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) and its properties.

        I talked to my mentor Melissa Wen, one of the VKMS maintainers, and she proposed implementing plane rotation capabilities to VKMS. The VKMS (Virtual Kernel Mode Setting) is a software-only KMS driver that is quite useful for testing and running X (or similar compositors) on headless machines. It sounded like a great idea, as I would like to explore a bit more of the KMS side of things.

        What is Plane Rotation?

        In order to have an image on a display, we need to go through the whole Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) Display Pipeline. The pipeline has a couple of different objects, such as framebuffers, planes, and CRTCs, and the relationship between them can be quite complicated. If you are interested in the KMS Display Pipeline, I recommend reading the great KMS documentation. But here we are focused in only one of those abstractions, the plane.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • ID RootHow To Install PostgreSQL on Fedora 38

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install PostgreSQL on Fedora 38. Are you looking for a powerful open-source relational database management system that can handle large amounts of data with ease? Look no further than PostgreSQL!

      • Own HowToBash script to read user's input

        In this tutorial, you will learn how to read the users input on bash script and then do something with the input.

        To read users input in bash we need to use the read command as shown in the example below

        In this script we are using echo command to

      • [Old] FiatjafHow IPFS is broken

        If you have run an IPFS client you’ll notice how much it clogs your computer. Or maybe you don’t, if you are very rich and have a really powerful computer, but still, it’s not something suitable to be run on the entire world, and on web pages, and servers, and mobile devices. I imagine there may be a lot of unoptimized code and technical debt responsible for these and other problems, but the DHT is certainly the biggest part of it. IPFS can open up to 1000 connections by default and suck up all your bandwidth – and that’s just for exchanging keys with other DHT peers.

        Even if you’re in the “client” mode and limit your connections you’ll still get overwhelmed by connections that do stuff I don’t understand – and it makes no sense to run an IPFS node as a client, that defeats the entire purpose of making every person host files they have and content-addressability in general, centralizes the network and brings back the dichotomy client/server that IPFS was created to replace.

      • TuMFatigSelf-Hosted Bookmarks using DAV and httpd on OpenBSD

        I’ve long time used NextCloud and the floccus iOS App and Firefox plugin to store, manage and use my bookmarks. In reality, I don’t use the NC interface. I only use floccus ; and it works really well.

        In my journey to quit NextCloud, the only acceptable option to keep using floccus was getting a DAV self-hosted share. But, AFAIK, httpd(8) does not provide a DAV feature (yet?).

        I already use Baikal to self-host my calendars and addressbooks and it’s working great. So here’s a quick’n’dirty way to provide DAV using OpenBSD’s httpd(8) and sabre/dav.

      • WikiMediaAround the world: How Wikipedia became a multi-datacenter deployment

        Our in-house Content Delivery Network (CDN) is deployed in multiple geographic locations. This lowers response time by reducing the distance that data must travel, through (inter)national cables and other networking infrastructure from your ISP and Internet backbones. Each caching data center that makes up our CDN, contains cache servers that remember previous responses to speed up delivery. Requests that have no matching cache entry yet, must be forwarded to a backend server in the application data center.

        If these backend servers are also deployed in multiple geographies, we lower the latency for requests that are missing from the cache, or that are uncachable. Operating multiple application data centers also reduces organizational risk from catastrophic damage or connectivity loss to a single data center. To achieve this redundancy, each application data center must contain all hardware, databases, and services required to handle the full worldwide volume of our backend traffic.

      • Cap5 B VSSH quick and easy login setup

        If you have the need for more complex SSH configuration settings it would be better to put those in your .ssh/config . This keeps your alias list clean and readable. You can simply move (part of) those parameters to said file.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Content Management Systems (CMS)

      • WordPressWP Briefing: Episode 55: Happy Anniversary, WordPress!

        Join WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy in the 55th episode of the WordPress Briefing as she looks back at the 20 years of WordPress and how the open source community made WordPress what it is today.

    • GNU Projects

      • GCCGCC 12.3 Released
        The GNU Compiler Collection version 12.3 has been released.
        
        

        GCC 12.3 is the first bug-fix release from the GCC 12 branch containing important fixes for regressions and serious bugs in GCC 12.2 with more than 127 bugs fixed since the previous release.

        This release is available from the WWW servers listed here:

        https://sourceware.org/pub/gcc/releases/gcc-12.3.0/ https://gcc.gnu.org/mirrors.html

        Please do not contact me directly regarding questions or comments about this release. Instead, use the resources available from http://gcc.gnu.org.

        As always, a vast number of people contributed to this GCC release -- far too many to thank them individually!
    • Programming/Development

      • RlangPledging My Time VI: scraping and analysis of race results in R

        I’ve posted in the past about analysing race results in R (most recently here). I ran the 2023 MK Marathon and wanted to have a look at the finishing times.

      • RlangswephR v0.3.1

        This morning swephR version 0.3.1 made it unto CRAN and is now propagating to the mirrors.
        The goal of swephR is to provide an R interface to the Swiss Ephemeris (SE), a high precision ephemeris based upon the DE431 ephemeris from NASA’s JPL.

      • RlangColor vision deficiency emulation fixed in colorspace 2.1-0

        The color vision deficiency emulation provided by R package colorspace was inaccurate for some highly-saturated colors due to a bug that was fixed in version 2.1-0. The (typically small) differences are illustrated for a range of palettes.

      • QtNew graphics integration in Qt WebEngine 6.6 and even 6.5

        With the 6.5.1 release, there will be one new change our users might notice. Qt WebEngine has previously forced the Qt Quick SceneGraph to use the OpenGL backend on Windows and macOS, even though the Qt defaults were using D3D11 and Metal respectively. With Qt 6.5.1 Qt WebEngine will now run with the Metal and D3D11 default QSG backends.

        This has been a long time coming. Chrome has always preferred using ANGLE on Windows. Where Qt did offer ANGLE in Qt5 but defaulted to WGL (Windows OpenGL), since Qt6 the ANGLE backend has been removed from Qt Gui, and WebEngine required Chromium to run in WGL mode. This has caused many issues, due to buggy Windows OpenGL drivers, and due to not using the same backend as Chrome itself.

      • CloudbookletMojo: New programming language for AI
        If you're already working with Python and looking to boost your AI projects, Mojo is definitely worth exploring read this article and try Mojo immediately.

      • TecAdminMastering Environment Variables in Java: A Comprehensive Guide

        Environment variables are a fundamental aspect of software development, offering a flexible and powerful way to configure applications. By understanding how to work with environment variables in Java, you can create efficient, scalable, and robust programs.

      • LibreBootExperimental Nvidia GPU support on Dell Latitude E6400 variants, plus E6400 XFR support now confirmed

        Dell Latitude E6400 with Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics was added, and included in the recent Libreboot 20230423 release. Today, experimental support is now available for variants with GPU: Nvidia Quadro NVS 160M. The Dell Latitude 6400 XFR (rugged variant) was also tested today (Intel graphics) and confirmed working in Libreboot 20230423.

        The Nvidia variants are not supported in Libreboot 20230423. Support is available in an experimental branch of Libreboot. 6400 XFR testing+photo provided, courtesy Mark Cornick (mcornick on Libreboot IRC).

  • Leftovers

    • RTERTÉ Concert Orchestra Explores the History of Soul

      Enjoy soul classics made famous by€ Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, All Green, Jackie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield, Bessie Smith and more.

    • James GThe Peace Lily

      I mentioned casually in passing that I have houseplants. My peace lily has been troublesome; my other plants have grown and thrived. A friend mentioned in passing that peace lilies can be difficult plants to grow and thrive. The wisdom shared by my friend -- the sort of serendipitious remark that stands out in your mind -- provided me with a semblance of relief. It was not I who was the problem (Taylor Swift's Anti-Hero is now singing softly in my mind), with my forgetfulness interfering with watering schedules.

    • uni StanfordRethinking Globalization through the Eyes of Artists: Exploring Economic Relocalization

      Deep Transformation Network – Artists and Creatives Group, hosted by Christina Conklin and Michele Guieu Tuesday, May 16, 2023. 12:00 pm€  to 1:15 pm PST – Online THE LINK TO THE EVENT IS HERE.

    • Helsinki TimesDigital Skills Week encouraging Finns to transition to digital services

      Each and every Finn should know at least how to use e-mail, manage their own affairs in digital services, use passwords and identify themselves in services. This is reflected in the digital skills recommendations published by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. The recommendations have been published as part of the programme of the Digital Skills Week that begins today. The topic of the week is Digital Courage. Digital courage is needed in order to transition to primarily providing digital services.

    • uni StanfordWhat’s Next for Earth: Economic Relocalization Exhibition

      Online Exhibition opened March 13, 2023 Featured Artists Jodie Atherton (US), Christina Conklin (US), Alison Lee Cousland (Australia), Yvonne C Espinoza (US), Ries Faison (US), Diane Farris (US), Deborah Kennedy (US), Michele Guieu (US), Rosalind Lowry (Ireland), Peggy Rose (US), Susan Smith (US), Kim Tanzer (US), Marcela Villasenor (US), Karen Viola (US).

    • Savannah Chrisley: I don’t know if ‘I actually want kids’ after parents went to jail

      The 25-year-old “Chrisley Knows Best” star was granted guardianship of her niece and younger brother after her parents reported to prison for tax evasion and bank fraud.

    • YLEEnglish-language dominance at Aalto University breaches Finnish law, justice office says

      The Deputy Chancellor of Justice noted that only about five percent masters-level economics courses at Aalto University are taught in Finnish.

    • CS MonitorA scholar who finds the good in ‘bad’ English

      In her book, “Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English," Valerie Fridland argues that many maligned verbal tics play useful roles.

    • uni Stanford‘Nonanswers’: What are you doing this summer?

      Erin Ye reflects on productivity culture and the importance of taking it easy in this fourth installment of her column "Nonanswers."

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Technical

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Intro to AI

          Classes started up again recently and I'm taking the last university course I'll ever have to take. There's not a ton of offerings during spring/summer, but I saw an intro to AI course was being offered and I figured it would be a fun one to end things on.

          It's pretty chill, even despite the condensed schedule that spring and summer classes at my school take on. I think that's owing to it being a senior-level course (which I find tend to treat students more like adults) and the smallish class size which lets the lectures be very discussion focused. And the fact that it's the only class I have to focus on doesn't hurt at all.

        • Gemini's Killer App

          To perhaps get bogged down in the technical details, I think Gemini owes a lot of this to its thoughtful design. Specifically here by not having allegories for CSS or Javascript. All that's left at that point is the text. There are no design or interactivity knobs to tune to make up for poor writing.

          But I believe it's bigger than that. Gemini's design eschews extensibility, and a lack of styling options or a client-side programming language are just 2 examples of this larger choice.

      • Programming

        • Newcommer - Or, trying to rethink my new life

          I learnt about smolweb circa 2020 and lost all contact with it. Now after a chat with some friends at a Ruby irc, I discovered Gemini and fell in love. After a while I found here. So nice to meet you all :)

        • A new-post script

          Now I'm feeling a little motivated to evict python from this script, because there's some friction in doing this task partly in bash and partly in python.

          Python isn't the greatest scripting language for one-liners, and using the -c switch isn't really useful any more beyond that. So for now this script (1) creates a tempfile, (2) dumps mostly hard-coded python into it (from a bash HEREDOC), (3) executes it, (4) captures the return code, (5) unconditionally removes the tempfile, and (6) exits the script if the return code was unsatisfactory. That's...not great.

        • Programming language learning

          But I haven't written any zig in around 4 months, and never did it daily for any sustained period. So going through ziglings is supposed to refresh my memory and get my skills back up. With recent advancements in the tooling and standard library (in particular package management and TLS) I'm interested in starting to use it for small web applications.

          What I really noticed about going through ziglings is that I'm *flying* through this. I got through 50 in a day, and spent maybe 20 minutes today getting through another 20. That's probably partly because I have some experience here already, but I know that the structure of this project (over 100 tasks) would push me towards prioritizing speed regardless. I barely read the comments (some of them are quite long), and I'm mostly kind of banging on it until the build is green. This is what concerns me.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

Search @ Techrights: Almost There Now (Maybe an Anniversary Gift)
Just to be very clear, search would not be unprecedented at Techrights
At IBM, Layoffs Start at 1AM (at Night)
not a single English-speaking site covers the news about the layoffs
Envy Makes People Do Self-Harming Things (and Harm to Others)
Online communities that can be deemed successful are built around trust, mutual respect, and collective accomplishment
What Julian Darley Wrote About the Stallman Talk Regarding "AI" in Oxford (2025)
From LinkedIn (Microsoft)
"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." -Galileo Galilei
This site is educational
Many People Have Said That They "Leave" IBM in Recent Days (Ahead of Mass Layoffs)
So the real extent of layoffs is greater than what's publicly stated (there are silent layoffs) [...] Whatever IBM says about the scope, scale, or magnitude of the "RAs", it doesn't tell the full story
Techrights Will Contact German Media About the EPO's Substance Abuse
This scandal won't "go to waste"
The Rumour Was True, Mass Layoffs at IBM Today
How widespread the layoffs are (or how they're disguised, e.g. PIPs) is hard to assess
 
Richard Stallman's 2005 Article on Why Patents on Software Should be Denied
If patent law had been applied to novels in the 1880s, great books would not have been written. If the EU applies it to software, every computer user will be restricted, says Richard Stallman
"Last Day" at IBM and Red Hat as "Stealth Layoffs" (They Force People to Pretend It's Wilful)
So the real extent of the layoffs is being kept 'undercover'
Slopwatch: The WebProNews Slopfarm and the Serial Slopper
The Web is ill
Links 04/11/2025: Tensions Around Belarus Grow, Turkey’s Hype-inflation Continues
Links for the day
Corporate Media That Fails to Report Cocaine at EPO is Totally Failing to Report Mass Layoffs at IBM
How come nobody anywhere writes about this week's RAs?
Links 04/11/2025: Google Cloud Account Engages in Censorship of the Innocent, arXiv Spammed by LLM Slop
Links for the day
EPO Cocaine Chronicles: Our Aim Will be to Ensure This Becomes a Mainstream Media Topic, Not a Suppressed Scandal (Which the German State Deems Embarrassing and Detrimental to Its Pan-European Patent Franchise)
At the EPO, and perhaps in German media as well, people "fall upwards" (they get rewarded for bad things)
Static Site Generators (SSGs) Made Techrights Better, Faster, Easier to Manage
Consider adopting SSGs if you still use a CMS such as WordPress
But he Was Born in Manchester! (Origin Stories)
Borussia Dortmund does not exist!
GNU/Linux is American, Not Finnish
It started in Boston, not in Helsinki
'Hacker' 'News' Makes Dumb Assertions Against Smart People
A logical fallacy
We Turned Down Every Settlement Offer Because Truths Aren't Determined in Bank Accounts
Without free press, there won't be free society
Why I'm Always Proud of the Site I've Devoted My Life to
As a graffiti around the corner from our home says, "be a better person"
Standing Up or Standing for What's True But Inconvenient
Bad actors need to be called out
Media Coverage Regarding IBM is Vapourware and LLM Slop
With slop images, too
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Rose to 4% in the Russian Federation
Adoption of Vista 11 has been embarrassingly weak
Corruption is Not a Joke
we'll try to limit our use of humour to avoid misunderstandings or misinterpretations
The Slopfarm WebProNews is Overwhelming "linux" Results in Google News
Google News is slop
The Fall of IBM: What Happened?
Just like the EPO continues riding some old reputation acquired in the 1970s IBM relies on old myths like, "nobody gets fired for buying IBM."
IBM's CEO Already Has the Excuse for the Latest Wave of Mass Layoffs
Only days ago the CEO told a bunch of nonsense
Links 04/11/2025: Conflicts, Politics, and IPv6 at Home
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/11/2025: Entering WiFi Passwords and Programming Rambles
Links for the day
Arch Linux Seems Like the New Debian
Arch users (btw!) are growing in relative and absolute share
Analytics From US Government Affirm a Trend: Microsoft's "Market Share" in Search is Falling
the data set is large
Holding Institutions Such as the EPO Accountable Through Public Information
Speaking truth to power is never easy
EPO Staff Losing Holidays, as Usual, as the Office Increases Profits by Illegally Granting Invalid Patents While Reducing Salaries
How much more can the staff endure and generally tolerate?
Free Software Does Not Always Speak for Itself, It Needs Advocates
Legal matters that relate to sharing of code will be discussed
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 03, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, November 03, 2025
The Register MS Continues Looking for Money in Promotion of the "AI" Ponzi Scheme
That The Register MS participates in this deceit rather than tackle/debunk it says a lot about The Register MS
IBM Layoffs in "Software", This Likely Impacts Red Hat as Well
Many people say "software" people are impacted
Escaping Proprietary Software, Not Just Escaping Microsoft
To take control of your life adopt GNU/Linux
A Lot of Fake News About Microsoft Headcount (Also: Microsoft's Debt Rose by About 24 Billion Dollars in Past 12 Months)
If you see some headline about Microsoft's CEO making claims about hirings, look away
Techrights Turns 19 in Three Days
It would be nice to meet for a chat
Akira Urushibata on How Grokipedia Fails to Work
The Grokipedia article gives the wrong character for the "Ko" on "Koan"
Links 03/11/2025: Data Breaches, Wars, and Digital Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2025: Poetry, Old Androids and Small Shells
Links for the day
Links 03/11/2025: Internet Anniversary
Links for the day
Two Years of Uptime
Reboots are seldom involuntary
Richard Stallman is Giving Another Talk in Less Than a Fortnight
in two weeks' time (13 days from now)
Windows Falls Below 20% in the UK
Many people choose to leave Windows altogether
Microsoft's Search Business Falls to Lowest Point in 2 Years, Based on statCounter
what can Microsoft sell other than shares in Microsoft?
Evidence Regarding Layoffs at Red Hat
Seems like IBM layoffs
Microsoft: Our "Goodwill" Value Grew More Than Tenfold Since 2011
Hallmark of pseudo-economics
GNU/Linux as a Boarding Pass
being mostly analogue is still feasible
Links 03/11/2025: Lack of Trust in LLMs and Windows TCO at Jaguar
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2025: Books in October and Change
Links for the day
Mozilla Firefox Won't Survive and Many Sites Don't Work With It (Compatibility Abandoned)
The Web has become monocultural
Debian is Non-Free
Devuan might be worth looking into
Slopwatch: Brian Fagioli and LinuxSecurity
This is a real problem and most certainly a big problem because when people try to find real information about security and GNU/Linux they instead read "word salads" made by bots
Four Reasons to Party With Us in Four Days, Celebrating the Four Freedoms
Today we expect to be back to a more-or-less regular publication pace
Links 03/11/2025: The "Smartphone Panopticon" and Belarus' Hybrid Attacks on EU Intensify
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 02, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, November 02, 2025
Microsoft's Debt Has Skyrocketed by More Than 15 Billion Dollars in 6 Months or 8.2 Billion Dollars in the Past 3 Months Alone
The corporate media intentionally disregards - or merely turns a blind eye to - such data
Rumour: IBM Layoffs in Canada Starting Tomorrow
"RA (IBM's term for layoffs) Coming to Canada this week (Nov 3rd)"
Debunking False/Misleading Statements Made or Told to the High Court
People who try to cheat the system by gaslighting judges will end up discrediting themselves
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD) by LLM Slop
The Web has become such a sordid mess that this FUD made by bots is what Google News deems to be "the news"
This Month's Analytics Show Vista 11 Down, GNU/Linux Up
After pulling the plug on Vista 10 we see losses - not gains - for Vista 11
Almost Fully Caught Up
The EPO series will continue very soon, maybe tomorrow or on Tuesday
Links 02/11/2025: Another Halloween Bust and MAGA Regime Says Public Universities Should No Longer Hire 'Foreign' Employees
Links for the day
The Long-Coveted Milestone of 3,200 Active Gemini Capsules
Despite being away some days last week, about 50,000 Gemini requests were served each day, on average
Five More Days Till Techrights Party
We'll have many more batches of Daily Links as we catch up with a 'backlog' of news
Links 02/11/2025: More Nuclear Escalations and "Anti-Cybercrime Laws Are Being Weaponized to Repress Journalism"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/11/2025: "The Pragmatic Programmer", Perl New Features and Foostats
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 01, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, November 01, 2025