Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 20/08/2023: Budgie 10.8 Desktop and Linux 6.5 RC7



  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • Going LinuxGoing Linux #444 €· Welcome to Linux! - Desktops

        We review some of the most popular Linux desktop environment options. Included are KDE Plasma, Gnome, Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE, LXDE, Budgie, Pantheon and Deepin.

        Episode Time Stamps
        00:00 Going Linux #444 €· Welcome to Linux! - Desktops
        01:18 Bill broke KDE on his computer
        02:08 Larry fixed a 13 year old laptop with LXLE
        09:29 Definition: Linux desktop environments

    • Kernel Space

      • Linux mailing listsLinux 6.5-rc7
        So it's Sunday afternoon, just not in the usual timezone where I do
        these releases, since I've been traveling.
        
        

        But apart from the timezone difference, everything looks entirely normal. Drivers (GPU, networking and sound dominate - the usual suspects, in other words) and architecture fixes. The latter are mostly arm devicetree fixlets, but also some x86 cleanups and fallout from the embargo last week.

        Not a huge amount of patches, and I really get the feeling that a lot of maintainers are on vacation. But I will be optimistic and also blame it all being quiet on things working fairly well.

        So I think this will be the last rc unless something nasty comes up. Do keep testing,

        Linus
    • Graphics Stack

      • Mike Blumenkrantz: Yep

        Finally a default value for gl_PointSize.

        Long-term fans of the blog will recall that I’ve previously raged against the insane concept that pointsize must be written many times prior. In fact, it remains the second most blogged about topic in SGC history right behind

        Big Triangledescriptor management, the topic that modern graphics-related blogs must cover above all others.

        Finally with maintenance5 we can be freed from these unjust shackles that have bound us for so long. No more* shall complex logic be unnecessarily injected into the compiler stack to add senseless writes to this output.
        * except all that code still has to exist and run to handle drivers that don’t support maintenance5

        Beyond the obvious benefit of having a fixed default pointsize (sanity), let’s check out some other benefits.

        Shader Reduction

        Previously all zink-emitted shaders would have a pointsize write, even those that were never used for drawing points. This resulted in unnecessary shader i/o at the hardware level. Nobody wants unnecessary shader i/o at the hardware level.

        Now, however, it’s possible to use heuristics during linking to delete all unnecessary pointsize writes any time there is no XFB emission.

        How much performance improvement will this yield?

    • Applications

      • Linux Links8 Best Free and Open Source Search Engines for Big Data

        Big Data is an all-inclusive term that refers to data sets so large and complex that they need to be processed by specially designed hardware and software tools.

      • Linux Links7 Best Free and Open Source Linux Speed Reading Tools

        The software featured in this group test is based on spritzing. Read text without moving your eyes, and therefore rapidly increase your reading speed.

      • Sparky GNU/LinuxPenguins’ eggs

        There is a new application available for Sparkers: Penguins’ eggs What is Penguins’ eggs? penguins-eggs is a console tool, under continuous development, that allows you to remaster your system and redistribute it as live images on usb sticks or via PXE. It supports: Debian, Devuan, Ubuntu and major derivatives: Linuxmint, KDE neon, etc.

      • Make Use Of10 Ways to Secure Your Samba Server on Linux

        SMB (Server Message Block) protocol is a cornerstone of file and printer sharing in connected environments. However, the default configuration of Samba can pose significant security risks, leaving your network vulnerable to unauthorized access and cyberattacks.

        If you're hosting a Samba server, you need to be extra cautious with the configurations you have set in place. Here are 10 critical steps to ensure your SMB server remains secure and protected.

        Linux is great for hosting servers. However, whenever you're dealing with servers, you have to tread carefully and be extra aware as Linux servers are always a lucrative target for threat actors.

        It is paramount that you put sincere effort into fortifying your network and hardening your Linux servers. Besides properly configuring Samba, there are a few other measures you should take to ensure your Linux server is safe from the crosshair of adversaries.

    • Instructionals/Technical

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • 9to5LinuxBudgie 10.8 Desktop Released with New Trash Applet, Budgie Menu Improvements

        Budgie 10.8 comes with a new applet called Budgie Trash Applet that was previously available as a third-party applet, but not it comes pre-installed by default with the new Budgie release. Apart from the usual functionality of such an applet, the Budgie Trash Applet also features support for restoring trashed files.

        Another interesting change in Budgie 10.8 is support for the StatusNotifier specification in the System Tray Applet, which enables applications to show their icons and menus in the system tray area in a modern way that is expected from a desktop environment in 2023.

      • Beta News Budgie 10.8 takes Linux desktop experience to new heights
        Exciting news, y’all! Budgie 10.8 has landed, and the Linux desktop environment is packed with features that promise to transform how we interact with our desktops.

        First off, the Budgie Menu has received quite the makeover. If you've ever scratched your head wondering why certain apps are in the 'Other' category, you're not alone. The team listened to feedback, and now, applications have found more fitting categories. Plus, there’s a nifty fix for non-Latin text crashes, thanks to a switch to C for the Application Indexer's fuzzy scoring function. And, let's say goodbye to the Utilities category; its apps have found a new home in System Tools.

      • LinuxiacBudgie Desktop 10.8 Released, Here’s What’s New
        Budgie Desktop is a modern, user-friendly desktop environment for Linux operating systems built on GNOME technologies. It is designed to provide a clean, elegant user interface while lightweight and efficient.

        Initially developed by the Solus Project, the desktop has gained popularity and has been widely adopted by other Linux distributions. Currently, it is developed by the Buddies of Budgie organization.

        Nearly seven months after version 10.7 was released at the beginning of the year, Budgie 10.8 is here, so let’s see what’s changed.

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • Are we transparent enough?
          For me this was surprising, so I would like to raise a few questions here that might as well be answered with: "sure, we are", and I just did not see it because I am a bit out of touch with KDE development news (and modern ways of communication in general). Personal and biased opinion follows. But here are the questions first:

          Are we handling such a prominently user-facing (as in in your face) changes transparently enough?

          How do we decide for such (as in groundbreaking) new defaults?

          Have the users (as in many of them) been asked?

          So, now for the personal opinion...

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Top 10 Best Linux Server Distros for Powerful Performance

      Linux servers are renowned for their robustness, enhanced security features, and ability to handle heavy traffic, making them an optimal choice for businesses and organizations. These servers offer dynamic versatility and scalability, allowing diverse customization options and the ability to adapt to varying load conditions.

    • BSD

    • SUSE/OpenSUSE

      • DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer)I Managed to Make Fallout 4 Work in openSUSE Leap.

        So, openSUSE Leap 15.5 being an enterprise-like system with slow moving releases, it’s been something of a chore to set up for a laptop, especially one where I occasionally want to play Windows games.

        Even after installing the vulkan packages and Wine Stable 8.0, and the media codecs from the “Packman” repository with “opi”, when I launched Fallout 4 Game of the Year Edition this time, I ended up with no voices and no soundtracks.

        When I ran it with wine Fallout4.exe, it complained that it could not find a Windows Media Audio codec for gstreamer.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • CNX SoftwareSetting up a private LoRaWAN network with WisGate Connect gateway

        In this guide, we’ll explain how to set up a private LoRaWAN network using the Raspberry Pi CM4-based RAKwireless’ WisGate Connect gateway and Docker or Portainer to install NodeRED, InfluxDB, Grafana, and other packages required to configure our gateway. The WisGate Connect is quite a versatile gateway with Gigabit and 2.5Gbps Ethernet plus several optional wireless connectivity options such as LoRaWAN, 4G LTE, 5G, WiFi 6, Zigbee, WiFi HaLoW, and more that can be added through Mini PCIe or M.2 sockets, expansion through WisBlock IO connectors and a 40-pin Raspberry Pi HAT connector. We’ll start by looking at the gateway features in detail, but if you already know all that, you can jump to the private LoRaWAN network configuration section.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

  • Leftovers

    • Ruben SchadeSpelling misatkes (cough)

      I’m trying to train myself to stop misspelling these words:

      • acknowlege → acknowledge
      • discernable → discernible
      • existance → existence
      • eshew → eschew
      • maintanance → maintenance
      • vaccum → vacuum
      • vechile → vehicle

      My success rate thus far is hovering around… 50%? I’m at the point now where I remember both spellings, but forget which one I’m supposed to be using.

    • UNIX CopWhat is Web Security and Why It Is Important for Your Website? [Ed: Linkspam disguised as article? This is very poorly done SEO stuny.]

      Businesses of all kinds are finding it increasingly challenging to protect their customers’ financial and private details as technology advances.

    • Zach Oglesby: Change

      As the old saying goes, “The only constant in life is change.” My life has been ruled by it, moving around as a kid, life in the military, and the same old stuff we all deal with as we age and grow.

      For the last 15 years, my wife has been the only constant in my life. We met in Delaware while I was stationed there. We fell in love, got married, and I scooped her away from the only home she had ever known to go live in Spain with me.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Firefox in Trouble in the US, Down to Lowest Level in 20+ Years
more sites will stop or intentionally neglect Firefox support
Clownflare: More Than 1 in 5 Laptops or Desktops in El Salvador Run GNU/Linux or ChromeOS
Clownflare Radar reckons it's more like 20%+ now
 
Links 20/08/2026: 'Linux' Foundation Promoting Slop Hype for Money (Hype as a Service), Malaysia’s Exports Jump 38% Year-on-Year
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/08/2026: A "Break From Routine" and "Modem Was the Problem"
Links for the day
Clownflare Reckons GNU/Linux is on Almost 1 in 10 Laptops/Desktops in Western Europe
Western Europe and China are leaving more of GAFAM behind them
Looking Ahead at September
Rianne and I look forward to a productive September
Links 20/08/2026: Facebook "Ran Ads for an App That Promised to Nudify Female Politicians" and Facebook Faces "Social [Control] Media Addiction Trial"
Links for the day
Clownflare Sees GNU/Linux at 16% Market Share on Desktops/Laptops in Tajikistan
in Tajikistan it seems like adoption of GNU/Linux is exceptionally high, based on a very large data set associated with Web access
The Demise of Social Control Media Continues
Entering (anew) social control media in 2026 seems foolish
SLAPP Censorship - Part 155 Out of 200: Throwing Stones in Houses Made of Glass
character-assassination-as-a-service
Gemini Links 20/08/2026: Planners, Pantsing, Vinylyssee
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 19, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: "Big Boost in Autonomy" and "Answer of E-Mail"
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 154 Out of 200: Computer-Generated Legal Filings From Men Who Are Salaried by Mass Plagiarism Companies in Another Continent (America)
This isn't the behaviour of a moral person but of some sort of "crypto bro" or "slop bro"
Fired by IBM for Medical Leave, Rampant Censorship of IBM Critics Explained
We've already caught and showed many cases where thelayoff.com deleted comments that were not even remotely racist
Links 19/08/2026: First Amendment Under Fire by White House of Cards, "Universities Were Forced to Pay Up" for Not Censoring
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: What Friendship Means, Sm0lNet/SmolNet, and New Feeds
Links for the day
Omarchy is Already Dying
Same as the life cycle of slopfarms
No, WSL (Windows With Fake 'Linux') Isn't Growing Faster Than Ubuntu, This Was Disinformation Spread by a Microsoft Propaganda Site, Then Spread by Slopfarms
Be sceptical; Microsoft is truly desperate for anti-Linux spin right now, seeing that Windows is in a freefall
Microsoft's Mass Layoffs Impact the Ability to Run Microsoft
Can Microsoft still run Microsoft?
Microsoft's Active Directory ("AD") and "Entra" Are National Security Threats
Even the US government concluded Microsoft could not be trusted for security; it issued a formal report about it in April 2024
Instant Impact: GNU/Linux Skyrockets to 10% in China Days After Policy Changes
Let's see what the 'aftermath' looks like by year's end
Links 19/08/2026: Timothy James King (AmigaDOS) Dies, GitHub Goes Offline, Finland Wants to Shun Social Control Media
Links for the day
Slop's Achilles Heel: It Increases the Workload, Not Just Costs
Set aside its inability to scale well
Improving techrights.org
Technical debt (like 17 years with WordPress) is something that's better to address early, not later
Mass Layoffs at Dropbox, Blame the Debt, Not Slop Hype
The debt of Dropbox Inc., which isn't an imaginary (estimated) thing, is over 4 billion dollars
Microsoft is 'Angel of Death' to Developers (Even Its Own), 'Voluntary' Layoffs Happening Again
From what we are hearing and reading, there are 'voluntary' layoffs again
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: Shirts, Handwriting, and Fights in Geminispace
Links for the day
Laos Leaving GAFAM Behind, Gradually
Yesterday evening it was measured at 10% for GNU/Linux at one point
They Were Wrong All Along
Two women combined won't deliver a healthy baby in just 4.5 months
A "Tech Journalist" Would Not Cover Vote on LLMs as a Sex Issue
For a moment there you have to pause and wonder, is this a "Tech Journalist" or the Daily Stormer?
20,000 by Year's End
The "New Techrights" will have 20,000 pages by year's end
Last Night GNU/Linux Measured at 9% in Africa
Nighttimes in Africa are times when GNU/Linux usage on desktop/laptop devices typically surges, based on Clownflare [...] It changes in favour of GNU/Linux
Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Google Bait and Switch (Getting College People 'Hooked' on 'Cheap' Storage, Then Backups Gone), a "Question of E-mail"
Links for the day
Bluesky is in Trouble
Bluesky is a private company (unlike Bluesky Digital Assets Corp. in Toronto, that one runs a pyramid scheme!), so it's hard to know for sure just how much money it is losing
China Says Goodbye to Microsoft
It is hardly surprising that Windows is shedding off userbase all around the world
Links 18/08/2026: US Abandons South Korea, New Legal Disputes Over Slop Plagiarism in the Music Scene
Links for the day
Linux Losing Interest in Users' Freedom, Pursues DRM Instead
"Linux" is (or was, as GNU/Linux) meant to empower - not artificially restrict - the users
GNU/Linux in Ecuador and Colombia: Growing, Still Below International Average
locals turn away from Windows and try GNU/Linux instead
IBM is Dead or Dying. Now It Asks Workers to 'Resign' Voluntarily.
To save face, to pretend no layoffs are happening (as it might alarm shareholders) [...] We keep hearing more and more stories like that
Links 18/08/2026: Sergey Brin Controlling State Policies, "Dario Amodei's (Anthropic) Wife Is Closely Linked to Jeffrey Epstein"
Links for the day
SBS News Interviews Daniel Pocock
The locals say this PR stunt (by the bigot, Farage) was a waste of money
Clownflare Sees One in 7 Web Requests in Libya Originating From GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux has taken a (foot)hold there
Openwashing and Manifestos Composed in Private by Dictators With Deliberately Addictive (and Subsidised, Bundled) 'Tech'
It's long, so make a cuppa first
SLAPP Censorship - Part 153 Out of 200: Decades of Debt, Weaponising Borrowed Money to Try to Put Their Critics in Debt
they've always had a financial report by now
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 17, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 17, 2026
Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Solar Power, Kipple and Impermanence, Catastrophe Ethics
Links for the day