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Links 19/07/2023: Vanilla 4.0, Cython 3.0.0, and VirtualBox 7.0.10



  • GNU/Linux

    • Kernel Space

      • It's FOSSThe systemd Controversy: A Beginner's Guide to Understanding the Debate

        In the world of Linux, few debates have stirred as much controversy as the battle between the traditional System V init system, often known as SysVinit, and the newer systemd.

        In this article, I'll briefly discuss what systemd is, what advantages and disadvantages it has over the traditional init systems and why it is controversial.

        As a Linux user hailing from the older days of UNIX, my preference leans toward the traditional init system. However, I've come to accept systemd, seeing some of its benefits despite my initial resistance. Each system has its own place in the Linux world, and it's important to understand both.

        The systemd debate continues. What is your take on it?

    • Applications

      • NeowinVirtualBox 7.0.10

        VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software. Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Solaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4, 2.6, 3.x and 4.x), Solaris and OpenSolaris, OS/2, and OpenBSD.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • How to encrypt a file within seconds in Linux!

        The art of Cryptography consists of two parts Encryption and Decryption. One is the exact reverse of the other and they are both powered by some serious math. The purpose of Cryptography is to hide the content of a message so that if someone, other than the receiver of the message, finds it, they won’t be able to read it.

        In this article I will show you the easiest way to encrypt a file in Linux in just a few seconds using the GNU Privacy Guard(gpg tool).

      • Make Tech EasierHow to Install 32-Bit Linux On An Old Mac

        The launch of macOS Catalina ended Apple’s support for 32-bit hardware, an event that was a long time coming but rendered millions of systems unable to run an up-to-date version of the operating system they were designed for. In another universe, this may have spelled doom for you if you owned an old Mac system, but in this one, there’s always Linux to come to the rescue!

      • Make Use OfHow to Set Up a Rust Development Environment on Linux

        According to Stack Overflow's Developer Survey 2022, Rust has been the most-loved programming language for the last seven years. It's safe, efficient, and versatile for handling applications of all levels of complexity, from system programming to chatbots and more.

        If you haven't had the chance to start developing in Rust yet, you should start by setting up a Rust development environment on Linux.

      • ID RootHow To Change Hostname on Debian 12

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to change the hostname on Debian 12. A hostname is a label assigned to a device within a network, aiding in system identification and network communication.

      • ID RootHow To Install ExifTool on Debian 12

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install ExifTool on Debian 12. ExifTool is an open-source software developed by Phil Harvey, designed to extract, manipulate, and edit metadata information embedded within digital files.

      • ID RootHow To Install 7-Zip on Debian 12

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install 7-Zip on Debian 12. 7-Zip is an open-source file compression and archiving utility known for its high compression ratio and support for multiple file formats. It offers a user-friendly interface and command-line support, making it suitable for both novice and advanced users.

    • Games

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • [GNOME/Outreachy] Jose Hunter: My Career Goals

          I have been increasingly disillusioned and disappointed by corporate technology. The absolute dumpster fire of Twitter and the issues present at Reddit has also reminded me how absolutely horrible these massive tech companies are. I do not want to be another underpaid cog in a massive contraption that is only making our world worse.

          I hope that one day in the future I could make a living as an independent developer. I envision a career where I am not just building software, but creating tools that respect users' freedom and privacy while contributing to the common good. I want my work to reflect my values, and to stand for something more than just profit.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Reviews

      • ZDNetThis beautiful Linux distribution makes it easy to migrate from any OS | ZDNET

        Within the realm of technology, I've been claiming for years that Linux isn't nearly as hard as people assume it is. And with each new release of the major distributions (such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Fedora) I'm given even more reason to espouse that opinion.

        But it's not just the major distributions that are pushing the limits of simplicity. Even the minor distributions are helping to make the Linux ecosystem one that anyone can enjoy. In fact, I'd go so far as to say some of the minor distributions take the idea of user-friendliness even further.

    • New Releases

      • Unicorn Media Solus Is Back, but Can It Survive Its Troubled Past?
        A Linux distribution that many thought was probably gone for good has risen from the dead.

        On July 8, the Solus project announced that its once popular distro, which had given birth to the popular Budgie desktop environment that’s now the default DE in several other distros including an official Ubuntu spin, had released version 4.4, code named Harmony, as its first release in two years.

        That’s a long time for a distro to go without a release. Long enough that in April the website Distrowatch, which earns its keep by tracking the comings and goings of Linux distros, changed Solus’s status to “dormant” and took it off its list of active distros.

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • UbuntuVanilla 4.0 release

        Last week we released a new major version of the Vanilla framework. Vanilla 4.0 introduces the elements of the new style used for a current rebranding of Canonical’s brochure websites, including typography changes of headings utilising new variable Ubuntu font, wider grid width, removed rounded corners, some updated colours, and updates to any related components.

        We treat Vanilla 4.0 as an interim release that includes elements of new branding but keep the support for the old style of components as well to allow for easier and more granular migration on our biggest websites. Therefore there are no significant breaking changes or removed components.

        But even without breaking changes, because of quite significant visual differences introduced by updated typography and wider grid, it is recommended to properly QA templates and pages, especially if there are any custom styles built on top of Vanilla.

        Below we explain in a bit more detail the most important aspects of the Vanilla 4.0 release.

      • CNX SoftwareAetina introduces fanless NVIDIA Jetson Orin embedded box PCs with Ubuntu 20.04

        All embedded box PCs run Ubuntu 20.04 as part of the NVIDIA JetPack SDK and support the various machine learning and artificial intelligence SDKs provided by NVIDIA. The new fanless models have the same specifications as the actively-cooled ones introduced in January, so they may last longer in industrial environments with plenty of dust, consume a little less since a fan is not required, and also operates more quietly although I’m not sure it’s that important for this type of hardware. So the main reason to still use the actively cooled embedded systems from Aetina is the wider temperature range from -25€°C to +70€°C, while the fanless systems are not guaranteed to work properly over +55€°C. The fanless model also appears to lack the RS232 DB9 port for some unknown reason and is taller.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • CNX SoftwareEspressif ESP-SR enables on-device speech recognition framework on ESP32-S3 and ESP32 WiSoCs

        Espressif ESP-SR is a speech recognition framework enabling on-device speech recognition on ESP32 and ESP32-S3 wireless microcontrollers with the latter being recommended due to its vector extension for AI acceleration and larger, high-speech octal SPI PSRAM. The ESP-SR framework was first released on December 17, 2021 with version 1.0, before the v1.20 update was introduced in March of this year, but I only found out about ESP-SR offline speech recognition solution through a tweet by John Lee showing an ESP-SR demo video by @ThatProject. Comrades of the world, liberate your hands from the chains of typing and touching germy switches! Embrace the revolutionary power of speech recognition with ESP32-S3 + ESP-SR.>

      • CNX SoftwarePolos CH32Vxx 32-bit RISC-V MCU boards starts at $1.99

        XPU Labs, a subsidiary of AnalogLamb, has designed three inexpensive “Polos” development boards based on WCH CH32VXX RISC-V microcontrollers with pricing starting at just $1.99. The three development/breakout boards have the same form factor and only differ in the specific RISC-V MCU used with three parts selected: the 48 MHz CH32V003F4U6 microcontroller, the 144 MHz CH32V203F8P6 MCU, and the CH32V305FBP6 that’s similar to the former but add more memory (32KB) and flash (128KB). You can see also three boards side-by-side in the photo below along with the Amnos LinkE CH32Vxx debugger & programmer board.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Events

      • LWNSambaXP 2023 videos posted

        The 2023 sambaXP conference was held May 10 and 11 in Goettingen, Germany. Videos of the talks held there have now been posted on YouTube; topics covered include an io_uring update, fuzzing, passwordless services, GPL compliance, and much more.

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • Mozilla

        • Ten Four FoxCameron Kaiser: Floodgap downtime

          Just a quick note: Floodgap is down due to upstream issues beyond their control. I'm hoping we'll be back up in a day or two more. Sorry about that. E-mail still works, so anything you've sent me will still get through; this only affects the Web and gopher servers.

    • Content Management Systems (CMS)

    • Programming/Development

      • Python

        • TecAdminPretty Print a JSON String in Python

          JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is a popular data format used extensively in data interchange. It is compact, easy to read, and easy to parse, making it a common choice for data storage and transmission over networks.

        • CNX SoftwareESP32-S3 based Arduino Nano ESP32 board supports Arduino and MicroPython programming

          The Arduino Nano ESP32 is an ESP32-S3-based WiFi and Bluetooth microcontroller board designed for IoT applications for hobbyists and enterprise use cases. The new Nano board comes with 8 MB€  PSRAM and 16 MB flash storage and can be programmed with either the Arduino or MicroPython languages. It’s not the first ESP32 board from Arduino, as the Nano RP2040 Connect pairs a Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU with an ESP32 module from u-Blox and the just-released Arduino UNO R4 WiFi marries a Renesas RA4M1 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU with an ESP32-S3-MINI-1 module.

        • Cython 3.0.0

          Since Cython 3.0.0 started development, CPython 3.8-3.11 were released. All these are supported in Cython, including experimental support for the in-development CPython 3.12. On the other end of the spectrum, support for Python 2.6 was dropped.

          Cython interacts very closely with the C-API of Python, which is where most of the adaptation work happens. Independently, Cython strives to be able to parse newer Python constructs for use with its pure python mode, which has been a focus. In short, this allows to compile a wider range of Python code into optimized C code.

        • LWNCython 3.0 released [LWN.net]

          Version 3.0 of Cython (described as ""a programming language that makes writing C extensions for the Python language as easy as Python itself"") has been released. Changes include support for Python through 3.11 (but 2.6 support was dropped), the implementation of a number of PEPs, initial support for the CPython limited API, better exception handling, and more.

      • Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

        • DebugPointLinux Shells: Bash, Zsh, and Fish Explained

          Linux is powerful because of its versatile command line interface to interact with the system. Central to this experience are the shells, which act as the bridge between users and the Linux kernel. This article will explore three popular Linux shells – Bash, Zsh, and Fish – and delve into their unique features and capabilities.

        • It's FOSSBash Basics Series #6: Handling String Operations

          In this chapter of the Bash Basics series, learn to perform various common string operations like extracting, replacing and deleting substrings.

  • Leftovers

    • Science

    • Hardware

      • IT WireChinese chip firm wins trade secrets case against US company

        AMEC filed the first instance suit in the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in December 2010. It won this case in March 2017 and the case was then appealed to the Shanghai High Court.

        {loadposition sam08}"The second-instance judgement follows a six-year battle to protect and safeguard AMEC’s valuable intellectual property," the company said.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Security

      • Cybernews Linux-friendly email program hit by zero-day bug [Ed: "Linux-friendly": how Microsofters blame on "Linux" things that have nothing to do with it]

        Zimbra has issued a warning that its email platform and supporting software are prone to a security glitch that’s being actively exploited by threat actors, a cyber watchdog warned today.

        CybersecurityHelp quoted the email services provider on July 17th as saying: “A security vulnerability in Zimbra Collaboration Suite Version 8.8.15 that could potentially impact the confidentiality and integrity of your data has surfaced.”

        The bug is fresh enough that it has yet to be assigned a CVE docket number, although Zimbra claims it has patched the system flaw.

      • LWNSecurity updates for Tuesday [LWN.net]

        Security updates have been issued by Fedora (java-1.8.0-openjdk), Red Hat (bind, bind9.16, curl, edk2, java-1.8.0-ibm, kernel, kernel-rt, and kpatch-patch), SUSE (iniparser, installation-images, java-1_8_0-ibm, kernel, libqt5-qtbase, nodejs16, openvswitch, and ucode-intel), and Ubuntu (linux-oem-6.0 and linux-xilinx-zynqmp).

      • Data BreachesNo Need to Hack When It’s Leaking.. and Leaking… and Leaking…

        In 2022, DataBreaches filed a watchdog complaint with HHS about a leak of patient information. The patient data appeared to be from a Florida nursing services entity and was exposed in an unsecured Amazon bucket. Attempts by multiple entities to alert the Florida firm to the leak were unsuccessful, as outlined in our previous post.

        This week, I learned that the entity was telling HHS investigators that they had never been contacted by any of the entities I named in my complaint and that it wasn’t their bucket and maybe I had the wrong entity.

        HHS asked me if I could send them evidence to support my claims.

        So I started searching thru my files and contacted Jelle Ursem, one of the researchers who had reported discovering that leak and who had called the entity twice trying to disclose responsibly, to no avail. I also contacted Blue Cross Blue Shield and asked if they had logged their phone call to the entity.

      • Data BreachesPhoenician Medical Center notifying 162,500 patients of attack that “disrupted” IT systems

        And while Henry Ford Health is notifying 168,000 patients who are possibly affected by a phishing attack, Phoenician Medical Center in Arizona is notifying 162.500 patients about sounds like it may be a ransomware attack although they don’t say exactly what caused the “disruption” in their IT systems on March 31.

        Their press release makes no mention of offering patients any mitigation services. Perhaps they are offering services to those who call them, or perhaps they think it’s unnecessary for the types of information that was potentially compromised?

      • CalPERS CEO gives update on data hack that exposed Social Security numbers, birth dates

        The California Public Employee and Retirement System launched its three-day offsite meeting in Monterey with a long-awaited update on a June data breach that exposed Social Security numbers, birth dates and other personal information on nearly 1.2 million retirees and other beneficiaries.

        The update follows a call from California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, who sits on both the CalPERS and CalSTRS boards, for the nation’s two largest public pension funds to hold special meetings and provide members with an update on the organization’s response to the breach.

      • Click On DetroitHenry Ford Health confirms data breach affecting 168,000 patients

        Henry Ford Health has confirmed that an email phishing scheme led to a data breach affecting 168,000 patients.

        Patients were told Monday that someone conducting an email phishing scheme gained access to business email accounts on March 30, 2023. That access was quickly discovered, and the email accounts were secured, according to officials.

        Some patient information was contained in the affected emails, but it’s unclear if that information was accessed, according to Henry Ford Health. This discovery was made on May 16. The affected information might have included name, gender, date of birth, age, lab results, procedure type, diagnosis, date of service, telephone number, medical record number and/or internal tracking number.

      • SANSWireshark 4.0.7 Released, (Sat, Jul 15th)

        Wireshark version 4.0.7 was released with 2 vulnerabilities and 22 bugs fixed.

      • SANSDShield Honeypot Maintenance and Data Retention, (Thu, Jul 13th)

        Some honeypot changes can maintain more local data for analysis, ease the process of analysis and collect new data. This diary will outline some tasks I perform to get more out of my honeypots:

      • SANSLoader activity for Formbook "QM18", (Wed, Jul 12th)
      • SANSControlling network access to ICS systems, (Mon, Jul 3rd)

        After 6 years, I have returned to the world of operating technologies. One of my main concerns at that time regarding the use of new technologies was to seek access control via the network to the different devices that make it up, because unlike the world of information technologies where access is sought to be widespread and there are multiple ways to perform access control at the application and network level, the world of industrial control has limitations depending on the version of the supervision and control protocols that are supported.

      • SANSDShield pfSense Client Update, (Fri, Jun 30th)

        The SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) developed the DShield pfSense client in 2017 [1] to support the ingestion of pfSense firewall logs into the DShield project. The pfSense project has also evolved over the years, with some changes in the offerings [2]. With the advent of pfSense Community Edition (CE) 2.7.0 [3, 4] and pfSense Plus 23.01, updates to the DShield client were required to fix unintended issues.

      • SANSGuLoader- or DBatLoader/ModiLoader-style infection for Remcos RAT, (Thu, Jun 29th)
    • Defence/Aggression

    • Environment

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • AntiWarFree Speech Upsets Powers That Be

        The Biden administration, along with mainstream politicians and journalists, are really upset that U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty has forbidden the executive branch of the central government from communicating with social-media platforms for the purpose of censoring or otherwise suppressing constitutionally protected speech.

      • RFAFrom exile, ‘Crazy Zhang' vows to keep putting out hard-hitting music

        Chinese officials demand satirical singer-songwriter delete his Twitter account

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • Internet SocietyAn Internet Champion for Africa: Remembering Pierre Ouédraogo

        On 13 July 2023, the African Internet technical community lost one of its stars, Pierre Ouédraogo, fondly known by his peers as “Pierre O.” Pierre was such an important part of the community that it is difficult to imagine it without him.

    • Monopolies

      • Spain Fines Apple and Amazon $218 Million for Elbowing Out Small Retailers

        Amazon and Apple were fined a total of 194 million euros ($218 million) Tuesday for colluding to box out competitors by favoring sales of Apple products directly from the online retail giant, Spain’s antitrust watchdog said.

        Amazon and Apple reached agreements in 2018 that limited the free competition of third-party sellers who hawk Apple goods through Amazon’s platform for smaller retailers, according to Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission, which oversees Spanish markets for antitrust violations.

        "The investigated behaviors could be restricting competition in the sectors of the Internet sale of electronic products, and the provision of marketing services to third-party retailers through online platforms (Marketplace) in Spain,” the regulator said.

        The tech giants also limited the capacity for third parties to advertise Apple products on Amazon, according to Spanish regulators. In addition, the companies are accused of reaching a deal that limited Amazon’s ability to direct advertising toward customers of Apple products or offer them products of competing electronics makers.



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