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Links 3/8/2021: LibreOffice Autoupdater and Vulkan in X-Plane



  • GNU/Linux

    • Kernel Space

    • Benchmarks

      • Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD On Linux

        Last year Sabrent launched the Rocket 4 Plus PCIe 4.0 NVMe solid-state drive and left me puzzled for months finding that the Linux performance was coming in short of expectations under Linux. However, Sabrent recently released a firmware update (v1.2) for the Rocket 4 Plus and now the drive seems to be much better positioned under Linux.

        At launch the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus NVMe solid-state drive was coming in short of expectations and similar to the odd performance I have been seeing out of the Samsung 980 PRO under Linux also performing worse than expected. But it looks like things have smoothed out with the v1.2 firmware update available for the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus. The firmware update was made available to download in June while for a while now new drives have been shipping using this latest version.

    • Applications

      • Goggles Music Manager – music collection manager and player

        I spend an inordinate amount of time listening to music. My favorite pastime is to see an eclectic range of bands, solo artists, and orchestras live. It’s such a life-changing and exhilarating experience. It’s one thing to be sitting at home listening to a CD or watching music videos on TV or on YouTube, but being in the audience, packed out in a stadium or music hall, takes it to another level. But it’s an expensive pastime. And it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to attend music performances. Instead, I’m listening to music from my CD collection which I’ve encoded to FLAC.

        I’ve reviewed a smorgasbord of open source music players. But Linux is endowed with a huge selection, there remains a fair few I’ve yet to explore. For this review, I’m looking at Goggles Music Manager.

      • Virtualization on PC, Explained for Beginners with Practical Use Cases

        This guide is designed specifically for home users who want to try virtualization on their PC. We’ll take a detailed look at the different types of virtualization as well as the benefits of it.

        If you need to run more than one operating system on your laptop or PC there are several ways to do it. You’ve probably heard the terms “virtualization” and “virtual machine” before, but do you actually know what that is?

      • What's New in VMware Horizon 8 v2106 & v2103
    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Use the Linux terminal to navigate throughout your computer

        To navigate through the directories of your computer in a graphical interface, you're probably used to opening a window to get "into" your computer, and then double-clicking on a folder, and then on a subfolder, and so on. You may also use arrow buttons or keys to back track.

        To navigate through your computer in the terminal, you use the cd command. You can use cd .. to move one directory back, or cd ./path/to/another/folder to jump through many folders into a specific location.

        The concept of a URL, which you use on the Internet already, is actually pulled directly from POSIX. When you navigate to a specific page on some website, like http://www.example.com/tutorials/lesson2.html, you are actually changing directory to /var/www/imaginarysite/tutorials/ and opening a file called lesson2.html. Of course, you open it in a web browser, which interprets all that weird-looking HTML code into pretty text and pictures. But the idea is exactly the same.

      • Basic Hacks for Kobo E-Readers

        With a little hacking, you can free your Kobo e-reader from its proprietary chains. You may even transform your e-reader into a more general-purpose device.

        Any piece of proprietary hardware eventually spawns a community of hackers. Kobo e-readers are no exception. However, while I have used Kobo e-readers for a decade, I only recently started to explore Kobo’s hacker community. New Kobo models are released frequently, so all documented hacks do not work for every e-reader, especially hardware hacks. Moreover, as always when hacking, you may sometimes risk bricking your device. Still, the variety and ingenuity of known modifications is proof of how determined the free hardware and software communities are to bypass the arbitrary restrictions imposed by proprietary hardware.

        Rakuten Kobo is a Toronto-based company, whose products are a distant second to Kindle e-readers in market share. The company also hosts its own site for ebooks and audio books. Over the years, the company has shown a strong tendency to experiment with its hardware, no doubt in an attempt to increase its market share. For instance, Kobo’s first releases supported a Debian client, and several of its early devices used LCD displays rather than e-ink. These experiments sometimes make Kobo a moving target for hackers, but its primary use of the open ePub format makes it popular among those who prefer not to use the proprietary formats like MOBI used by Kindle.

      • Connect Ubuntu Linux Desktop 21.04 to an Active Directory domain: Here's how - TechRepublic
      • Set up a VPN server on your Linux PC | Opensource.com

        Have you been connected to an untrusted network such as a hotel or café WiFi and need to securely browse the internet from your smartphone or laptop? By using a virtual private network (VPN), you can access that untrusted network anonymously and as safely as if you were on a private network.

        VPN is an amazing tool for safeguarding private data. By using a VPN, you can connect to a private network on the internet while maintaining anonymity.

        There are many VPN services available, and many people have found that the preferred option for securing private data when using untrusted networks is OpenVPN.

        OpenVPN creates an encrypted tunnel between two points, preventing a third party from accessing your network traffic data. By setting up your VPN server, you become your own VPN provider. Many popular VPN services use OpenVPN, so why tie your connection to a specific provider when you can have complete control yourself?

      • Install Apache Tomcat 10 on Debian 11 Linux - Linux Shout

        Learn the steps and commands to install the latest version of Apache Tomcat on Debian 11 Bullseye Linux to test various Java-based applications…

        Apache Tomcat is an open-source web server that allows you to run web applications written in Java. Tomcat is developed and maintained by a free community of developers and our Apache license is published as open-source software.

        Well, Tomcat is significantly different from the Apache web server, it was developed to primarily focus on Web applications. Tomcat does not understand URLs as a file specification, but as a notification of a user action. This is comparable to event-driven programming in classic GUI programming: a click on a button generates an event that the window manager reports to the program. Calling up a URL is analogous, be it in the form of a link or a form called.

      • 13 Tips for Tuning and Optimizing Mysql and Mariadb Databases – VITUX

        MySQL and MariaDB are the most widely used relational database management systems (RDMS) when it comes to website hosting and CMS systems such as Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, and Typo 3. In this article, I will explain how to speed up and optimize your MySQL and MariaDB database server.

      • How To Install and Configure Todoist in Linux Distributions

        The word Todoist is the phonetic short form of To-Do List, and it can be used for organizing work, tasks, and quick notes. The Todoist can remember all of your works for you and recall you when you need them. If you work for different clients, Todoist can also manage to remind you of the high prioritized tasks. Mostly, if you’re a Linux sysadmin, I’m sure there is too much work to do for you in the entire week.

        You can now use the Todoist tool on your Linux system to remind the tasks, share the load among others, customize workload, and keep a balance between your work and life. You can also use Todoist for managing your shopping, store, day-to-day life, and social gathering.

        The Todoist application is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iPhones. It allows you to set labels, filters on the worklist, and even you can customize the Todoist theme based on your work category.

      • How To Install Java on AlmaLinux 8 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Java on AlmaLinux 8. For those of you who didn’t know, Java is a general-purpose and object-oriented programming language, lets application developers write once and run everywhere. This means that a compiled java code runs on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation. JDK is a collection of various programming tools such as JRE (Java Runtime Environment), Java, Javac, Jar, and many others.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of Java on AlmaLinux 8. You can follow the same instructions for Rocky Linux.

      • How to Find and Remove Duplicate Photos in Linux

        Clicked too many similar photos? Have saved the same photo in different folders? I know that feel.

        You click photos on camera, send it through WhatsApp. Now you back up the images and you have two copies of the photos from the gallery and WhatsApp. It is annoying, cluttered and takes extra space unnecessarily.

        I came across this issue while going through my father-in-law’s photo collection. Here’s what I did to find the duplicate photos and remove thm.

      • How to Install Java 16 in Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux

        Java is a cross-platform, object-oriented, and multipurpose programming language that is primarily used for creating mobile, web, and cloud applications. Additionally, you can use Java to create games, chatbots, enterprise applications, and a whole lot more.

        To develop Java applications, you need to install an IDE (Integrated Development Environment). IntelliJ IDEA is a perfect example of an IDE that is designed specifically for the development of Java applications. However, you need to have Java installed beforehand. This can be provided by either the OpenJDK (Open Java Development Kit) or Oracle JDK (Oracle Development Kit).

      • How to Install Postfix Mail Server on Ubuntu 20.04

        Postfix is both a popular and preferred Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) for more than 25% of active and public internet mail servers. This attribute has something to do with its open-source status. Many Linux systems benefit from its extensive mail routing and delivery services.

        If you are a user of the Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 18.04 system and wish to install and explore the depths of Postfix MTA, then this article will answer all your queries.

        We are going to take you through Ubuntu 20.04 Postfix installation and configuration. The final bit of this tutorial will test Postfix’s mail routing capabilities after we install “s-nail” – it is a popular email client or in more technical terms, a Mail User Agent (MUA).

      • How to define multiple when conditions in Ansible - nixCraft

        Sometimes we need to evaluate multiple when conditions in Ansible playbooks. Let us see how to define multiple when conditions in Ansible for a single task.

        This page explains how to define multiple when conditions in Ansible. The examples further tell how to do a logical “OR” or “AND” using Ansible IT automation tool on your macOS, Linux, or Unix desktop.

      • How to patch modules in Red Hat Enterprise Linux | Red Hat Developer

        Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), in version 8, introduced modules as a higher-level concept for packaging software stacks. Modules enable new features such as adding alternative versions of stacks, called streams. That's great, but what if you want to patch a stream? Is it possible? It is. Is it more difficult than patching non-modular software? Slightly. This article shows you how to patch a module stream while avoiding the invisible package problem.

      • 3 Ways to Remove Files from Trash on Ubuntu using GUI and Terminal

        By choosing files and documents and hitting the “Remove” key on the keyboard, users can remove all data. Those files are then moved to Junk, a computer location for discarded data. Deleted files remain inside the "Trash" folder unless you elect to clear it or restored the contents. Throughout this article, we'll look at the first choice: how and where to delete documents via Trash.

      • Get started with Argo CD | Opensource.com

        In a typical push-based deployment, tools like Ansible and Jenkins connect directly to the server or cluster and execute the provisioning commands. This approach works well when the cluster is accessible on the network and there is direct connectivity between your deployment server and the destination server. For compliance or security reasons, connectivity between the deployment tool and the cluster may not be possible.

        Argo CD is a pull-based deployment tool. It watches a remote Git repository for new or updated manifest files and synchronizes those changes with the cluster. By managing manifests in Git and syncing them with the cluster, you get all the advantages of a Git-based workflow (version control, pull-request reviews, transparency in collaboration, etc.) and a one-to-one mapping between what is in the Git repo and what is deployed in the cluster. This method is called GitOps.

    • Games

      • X-Plane Flight Simulator Continues Advancing Its Renderer With Vulkan - Phoronix

        X-Plane is not only the most realistic flight simulator that has long offered native Linux support but it's the only instance of a Vulkan-powered flight simulator I am aware of. While long tied to OpenGL, the company behind X-Plane is making it clear that the graphics rendering future is with Vulkan (and Metal when talking about Apple platforms).

        It was just last year that X-Plane debuted with Vulkan support after being tied to OpenGL support previously for its custom renderer developed at Laminar Research. That Vulkan support debuted in X-Plane 11.50 and has continued improving since and even more enhancements ahead for future releases.

      • Steam Hardware Survey Shows Linux Finally Breaks the 1% Barrier

        The monthly Steam Hardware Survey is quite possibly one of the best windows we get into not only how consumers are playing games but how their hardware is transitioning to keep up with the graphical advances. It’s also pretty handy for judging which operating system currently holds the biggest slice of the gaming pie. Following the release of the latest figures, however, Linux’s quite devoted fanbase is undoubtedly going to be exceptionally happy as for the time ever (to my knowledge) the operating system has finally hit the magical 1% market share figure on the platform.

        [...]

        We daresay that Microsoft is exceptionally unhappy that their Windows 10 (64 bit) user-based is down in the latest Steam Hardware Survey. More so likely in the fact that those users who did decide to leave the platform have seemingly chosen Windows 7 as a seemingly more viable alternative, or worse, their pretty much sole nemesis Linux.

        While Linux clearly still has a long way to go, as noted above, the operating system is very popular, and you’ll struggle to find someone using it who has any complaints. With 1% now hit though, who knows, maybe more developers will start looking at making their games compatible with it.

      • Proton 6.14 GE-2 and Wine 6.14 GE-2 are out, easily update Proton GE with ProtonUp

        Multiple updates to community-built versions of Proton and Wine, along with a very interesting bit of software to help you upgrade Proton GE called ProtonUp.

        If you're not clear on what Proton and Steam Play are, be sure to check out our constantly updated dedicated page. It's a special compatibility layer for running Windows games and apps from Steam on Linux. Proton GE is not affiliated with Valve/Steam, it also has less quality assurance versus the official Proton but often ends up with special game-specific fixes quicker.

      • Vomitoreum is a FPS Metroidvania with a sprinkle of horror out now

        Built using the power of the open source GZDoom (although it's a full standalone game), Vomitoreum is an FPS Metroidvania with a focus on atmosphere and horror, inspired by the paintings of Zdzisław Beksiński set in an interconnected and nightmarish world. If you love retro-styled first-person shooter then this is one you need to take a look at.

      • SkateBIRD gets delayed until September 16 | GamingOnLinux

        You're going to have to wait a bit longer to do flips and things as a cute little bird, as SkateBIRD from Glass Bottom Games has been a bit delayed.

        Seems all platforms have been delayed at this point with a new release date set at September 16. Why? In the brief announcement post Glass Bottom Games mentioned "Why? Usual reasons. Shipping a game is hard. Hit some bugs, SDK stuff where the old code worked but the new one suddenly didn't, you get the idea. Gave us more time to polish other stuff though, so that's nice!"

      • Flare, a free and open source RPG and game engine has a huge new 1.12 release | GamingOnLinux

        Flare is a name I've not heard for a while. It is both an RPG and a game engine for other developers to make their own games and a massive new release is out.

        The idea behind Flare as a game engine is to specifically deal with single-player 2D action RPGs. It is not a reimplementation of anything else but a tribute to the whole genre. While the developers also made Flare: Empyrean Campaign to show it off a little.

      • First-person brawler Paint the Town Red is officially out now | GamingOnLinux

        After a long time in Early Access, you can now go ahead and start all kinds of ridiculous fights in the first-person brawler Paint the Town Red as it's out properly now.

        If you love ridiculous games, this is the one for you. Start a fight in a bar? On a dance floor? Punch a shark. Yup, it has it all. Then there's also the Beneath roguelike RPG mode filled with secrets, hordes of monsters, and otherworldly bosses takes all fighters foolish enough to brave its depths.

      • A Prologue demo for IRIS: A Colorful Dream shows off the unique world | GamingOnLinux

        IRIS: A Colorful Dream is an upcoming 3D exploration platformer about restoring colour to the world. It looks simply wonderful and you can play a small unique slice of it right now. The developer recently put out a Prologue demo, which has its own unique world that won't be in the full game. The developer mentioned it's partly to "explore our ideas and hone our skills before diving into the real thing".

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • Your Hot New Stuff Here

          KNewStuff, our Framework designed to make it as easy as possible for people to Get Hot New Stuff for whatever app they're running, and for the people who make those apps to add that same functionality to the apps, has for some time suggested that the KDE Store has the ability to accept uploading of content directly from the application. Unfortunately, due to the way this was originally built (which was essentially built around the idea that People Are Nice) turned out to be a fairly effective vector for spam and malicious content.

          The result of this is that for several years, while KNewStuff has had an implementation of the OCS Content Create functionality, there is no serverside implementation which supports it as it stands. Which is a shame, especially when, while we may not be able to do it through the API because people are, apparently, sometimes Not Nice, what we can do instead is make it easier for people who are nice to learn how to add their own stuff to those listings.

          [...]

          While working on this innocent seeming bit of stuff, i ran into few little things that needed to be done first. Of course, i could have hacked this and just Made It Work, but also that is not what we do in KDE.

          The first, probably smallest thing is that this inherently shows up in our mobile apps, because it's now a part of both Page and Dialog now. Not that there's a problem with people finding their way to the store and uploading things there, but if we catch just a couple of people who would have otherwise not uploaded their stuff for the rest of the world to see, well, i'll chalk that down as a win :D

          As for more technical things, the way in which one would get a list of the providers known to a KNewStuffCore::Engine was previously all manner of awkward, and really does not fit into how a modern Qt application works (that is, you'd call one function to get some string IDs, then you'd call another function to get each provider, and there was no good way to keep track of what might happen if another got added late, and so on). So, we now have a little model, KNSCore::ProvidersModel, which handles this, and just gives you a list of all the Providers known to an Engine, with a bunch of roles that lets you read all the information you need.

        • Getting Started with UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) on Ubuntu 20.04

          UFW or Uncomplicated Firewall is an application to manage an iptables based firewall on Ubuntu. UFW is the default firewall configuration tool for Ubuntu Linux and provides a user-friendly way to configure the firewall, the UFW command is just like English language so the commands are easy to remember. The UFW firewall supports IPv4 and IPv6.

          UFW provides also a GUI application, if you use a GNOME desktop you can install gufw, or if you use a KDE desktop you can install kcm-ufw.

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • GNOME Web Canary is Now Available to Test Bleeding Edge Features

          Epiphany or GNOME Web is a minimal and yet capable browser for Linux distributions. You should find it as the default browser for elementary OS.

          With GNOME 40, the Epiphany browser has had some improvements and additions.

          Behind the scenes, it regularly gets some exciting improvements and feature additions. And for that, you can opt for the Tech Preview version of GNOME Web tailored for early testers.

          Now, a new Canary flavor has been introduced that you can use to test features that are not yet available even in the tech preview build.

        • Cinnamon 5 desktop review

          Based on this article review, Cinnamon 5.0 is a worthy Linux desktop environment to consider as it has more thumbs up than dislikes. A new user will find it amicably adaptable and scalable, while veteran users might have to re-adjust their muscle memories to adapt to some new GUI tweaks. It is responsive and performs in a lightweight manner. Furthermore, it automates most of its functionalities so that its user only needs to acknowledge their implementation, if any.

          Our articles on the features of Linux Mint 20.2 “Uma” and updating to Linux Mint 20.2 “Uma” directly reference Cinnamon 5.0 as the default associated desktop environment for Linux Mint 20.2 “Uma”.

          The Cinnamon desktop developmental status and mileage can be followed up on Github. Here, you can keep a close eye on the upgrade changes associated with it from the beta stage to an official release.

    • Distributions

      • New Releases

        • 4MLinux 37.0 Release Packs in Linux Kernel 5.10 LTS and New Applications

          One of the most lightweight distros, 4MLinux, has just announced its 37th major release. This version brings a variety of improvements, of which we shall be looking at here.

          Before that, however, I feel that it would be appropriate to find out more about it, especially since it’s such a niche distro.

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

        • Introducing the no-cost IBM Semeru Runtimes to develop and run Java applications – IBM Developer

          With the launch of IBM Semeru Runtimes, IBM makes it easier than ever to develop and run Java applications more cost-effectively in hybrid cloud environements, from public cloud to data centers.

          IBM Semeru Runtimes use the class libraries from OpenJDK, along with the Eclipse OpenJ9 Java Virtual Machine to enable developers to build and deploy Java applications that will start quickly, deliver great performance, all while using less memory.

        • IBM Semeru Runtimes deliver enterprise quality for Java applications – IBM Developer

          A large number of IBM software and services rely on IBM Semeru Runtimes technology to provide a solid foundation for IBM and many other Fortune 500 companies operating across a wide range of industry sectors. The runtimes are rigorously exercised across numerous architectures and operating systems, from desktops running Windows, Linux, or macOS to servers such as IBM Power Systems, IBM Z system mainframes, and X86 systems.

          IBM provides high-quality production-ready runtimes that meet the most demanding quality standards in the Java ecosystem. IBM stands behind that statement with optional commercial support available with IBM Runtimes for Business, offering flexible licensing to fit your needs.

        • Why I was scared of IT automation | Enable Sysadmin

          New technology often makes lots of promises but experienced IT professionals are likely to greet these promises warily. There can easily be a disconnect between what the vendor's sales team is pitching as a solution and the actual problems or challenges you're trying to solve. Having anxiety about significant change is expected. In our experience working with customers at Red Hat, we've found that certain roles share common concerns about IT automation.

        • IT modernization: 5 truths now

          IT Modernization increasingly means something new. Go back five, and certainly 10 years, it would have been primarily an efficiency – which is to say primarily a cost-cutting – story. Out with Solaris and in with Linux. Out with legacy Unix system hardware and in with x86. Out with a proprietary database and in with MySQL.

          We also saw the continued mainstreaming of virtualization, which served to improve the historically dismal utilization of mass-market servers, without requiring much of a fundamental change in how servers were operated.

          This was a common theme of that era of IT modernization. Make things more efficient but don’t upset existing processes, workflows, and development methods. Don’t require any large-scale upskilling of staff.

          But that’s changing. While some percentage of existing platforms are being either left as is or lightly refreshed, many others are being modernized through major refits or other fundamental platform shifts.

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • Apache Pinot Makes It To The Organization's Top Shelf For Real-Time Big Data Analytics

        After being started by LinkedIn and open-source now for more than a half-decade while incubating at the Apache Software Foundation the past three years, Apache Pinot is the latest project graduating to become a top-level Apache project.

      • Programming/Development

        • LibreOffice project recap: July 2021 - The Document Foundation Blog
        • Tender to implement autoupdater (#202108-01)

          The Document Foundation (TDF) is the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free/libre open source (FLOSS) office suite LibreOffice.

        • Managing GitOps control planes for secure GitOps practices

          Red Hat OpenShift GitOps provides Argo CD and other tooling used to implement GitOps workflows for cluster configuration and application delivery. OpenShift GitOps is a Red Hat OpenShift add-on, available as an operator in the OperatorHub. Once you've installed the OpenShift GitOps operator, you can deploy Argo CD instances using Kubernetes custom resources.

        • 2022 Fukuoka Ruby Award Competition - Entries to be judged by Matz

          The Government of Fukuoka, Japan together with “Matz” Matsumoto would like to invite you to enter the following Ruby competition. If you have developed an interesting Ruby program, please be encouraged to apply.

        • Git 2.33 Is On The Way With An Assortment Of Fixes, Updated Documentation

          Monday marked the release of Git 2.33-rc0 as the first test release of the next version of this distributed revision control system.

          Git 2.33 isn't the most exciting update in recent times but primarily an assortment of many different bug fixes. In fact, Git 2.33 seems to be primarily a maintenance release with no big shiny new features at this time but just an assortment of fixes and other smaller items.

        • LLVM 13 Feature Development Is Over, LLVM 14 Enters Development - Phoronix

          LLVM 13.0 feature development has ended with the code now branched and the first release candidate tagged.

          LLVM 13 brings AMD Zen 3 tuning, the GFX1013 target being added to the AMDGPU back-end for RDNA2 APUs, guaranteed tail calls are now supported via statement attributes for C and C++, many improvements to clang-format, the build system now allows building multiple distributions, support for ARMv9-A's Realm Management Extension (RME), the Hexagon target now supports the V68/HVX ISA, C API improvements, and a variety of other enhancements.

  • Leftovers

    • Hardware

      • My Google Pixel C: the end of an era

        I got my Google Pixel C tablet in early 2016, well over five years ago. I use it ever since almost every day. A big part of it is that I also have the Pixel C keyboard accessory. I prefer touch typing and funnily enough that does not work on a touch screen. It needs a real keyboard. And that keyboard died today. My Pixel C can still recognize the attached keyboard, but it does not work any more. Most likely it is a battery problem. And – as a nice coincidence – all this happened on the day, when Google announced its first own mobile CPU, called Tensor.

        [...]

        Without the keyboard I’m not sure how much I’ll use it in the future. Obviously, it will be still good for reading or listening to music. But I’ll need to switch to other devices a lot more often, as I prefer typing on real keyboards instead of screens.

      • Jakub Steiner: Single Cycle Rave

        Some pointless technicalities: Digitakt is a drum machine that allows to loop even super tiny samples so what you get is a very versatile oscillator to furter shape with EQ and effects. I am still terrible and slow, but there is definitely joy in playing versus programming a pattern in a tracker. Sure it feels a bit odd to keep the amazing Digitone off, but I feel like I always spoit the broth by adding and adding more. This track benefts from the minimalistic constraints I think.

    • Defence/Aggression

    • Monopolies

      • Patents

        • UK to look at whether change to the current SEP framework is required [Ed: FRAND as a concept should be banned as it boils down to a number of misleading euphemisms, perfuming a grave injustice]

          The UK courts have become an important reference point in the global FRAND landscape, so a process looking at whether changes to the current SEP environment are needed has the potential to be very significant

        • TiVo and Google renew patent partnership [Ed: This is not a "partnership"; this shows distortion or extreme miscomprehension of what patents are and how they work]

          TiVo has announced a long-term renewal of its patent license with Google.

          The agreement will see Google continue to have broad coverage under TiVo’s patent portfolios, and extends a relationship first established in 2012.

          TiVo, which became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xperi Holding Corporation in June 2020, has spent decades investing in R&D for technologies deployed across the media and entertainment industry. The company holds a global patent portfolio of more than 5,000 patents.

        • New call for proposals under revamped Academic Research Programme [Ed: The criminals who run the EPO are once again bribing scholars to produce biased and false 'studies' for reputation laundering purposes, in effect corrupting universities]

          Today the EPO is launching its call for proposals for its Academic Research Programme (ARP). With this revamped scheme, now in its fifth edition, the EPO will support collaborative research with scientific partner institutions, which can benefit from a wider scope, bigger budget and longer duration. The ARP foresees closer interaction between researchers and staff from across the EPO. Under the programme, grants of up to EUR 150 000 will be awarded per research area in relation to two streams (each with a grant envelope of €300 000).

        • UK court hands down first judgment in InterDigital and Lenovo’s five-patent battle

          EP 588 is one of five European patents are at the heart of the debate. The other patents at issue are EP 23 63 008, EP 2 557 714, EP 24 21 318 and EP 33 55 537. All pertain to the 3G and 4G standard. The court has already heard a second technical trial relating to EP 537, with a decision expected in the coming months.

          Since 2009, the parties have discussed licensing EP 558. InterDigital claims that it has made global licensing offers to Lenovo on FRAND terms. InterDigital also offered to licence the patent on alternative terms. However, so far the parties were unable to reach an agreement.

          InterDigital claimed that Lenovo was an unwilling FRAND licensee and would not accept the offered FRAND licence. However, Lenovo rejected claims that InterDigital’s offer was FRAND. Furthermore, InterDigital claims that Lenovo has imported and marketed 4G devices into the UK. Such an action, argued InterDigital, constituted infringement of EP 558.

          InterDigital patent is valid

          Lenovo denied infringement and counterclaimed for invalidity of the patent, on the basis of lack of novelty, lack of validity, and inventive step. The court rejected the counterclaim. The next trial is a FRAND trial, scheduled for next year, over EP 558.

          InterDigital had also initiated parallel proceedings in Germany, with the company filing infringement claims against Xiaomi at the Regional Court Munich. The claims are over EP 537, EP 318, and EP 558, on which the UK has just ruled. However, according to an InterDigital press release, the parties have now settled all pending litigation.

        • FOSS Patents: InterDigital on a roll, settles with Xiaomi: patent infringement complaints and anti-antisuit injunctions in Germany and India prove decisive--license covers 5G and HEVC

          The summer is treating U.S. research and patent licensing firm InterDigital well. Less than a week after netting a strategic victory in a UK patent infringement case against Lenovo, InterDigital (often referred to by its stock ticker symbol, IDCC) today announced a license deal that settles all pending litigation against Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi. The covered patents include InterDigital's 3G/4G/5G cellular portfolio as well as its HEVC (aka H.265) video codec patents.

          The amounts involved are not known, but the volume must be rather significant. Just last month, Bloomberg reported that Xiaomi had overtaken Apple to become the world's no. 2 smartphone maker by unit sales. Xiaomi is truly an amazing entrepreneurial success story, and also has ambitious plans in the electric vehicle market. Maybe Xiaomi will once again manage to "come out of nothing" and rise to the top.

          While InterDigital had greater leverage in litigation at this point, Xiaomi has so far been doing a good job demonstrating to patent holders that it is neither a soft target nor an unwilling licensee or "hold-out." Xiaomi seems to have learned the patent licensing and litigation game fast. Given its market share, I guess I'll have to pay closer attention to its future patent cases.

      • Copyrights



Recent Techrights' Posts

Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
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Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
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decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
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RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
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Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
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Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
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Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
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Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
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Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day