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Links 24/9/2021: Ubuntu 21.10 Beta, Istio 1.11.3, and More Milestones for Steam Deck



  • GNU/Linux

    • Server

      • Announcing Istio 1.11.3

        This release contains bug fixes to improve robustness. This release note describes what’s different between Istio 1.11.2 and Istio 1.11.3

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • Android to take an “upstream first” development model for the Linux kernel

        The Linux Plumbers Conference is this week, and since Android is one of the biggest distributors of the Linux kernel in the world, Google software engineer Todd Kjos stopped by for a progress report from the Android team. Android 12—which will be out any day now—promises to bring Android closer than ever to mainline Linux by shipping Google's "Generic Kernel Image" (GKI) to end-users.

        Traditionally, the Linux kernel is forked several times before it hits an Android phone, usually by each stakeholder in an Android device. First, Google forks the Linux kernel into "Android common"—the Linux kernel plus a bunch of phone- and Android-specific changes. Then SoC vendors like Qualcomm, Samsung, or MediaTek fork Android Common to make an SoC-specific kernel for each major chip release. Then each device gets a fork of the SoC kernel for device-specific hardware support.

        Android's kernel fragmentation is a huge mess, and you can imagine how long and difficult the road is for a bugfix at the top of the fork tree to reach to the bottom, where end-users live. The official Android.com documentation notes that "These modifications can be extensive, to the point that as much as 50% of the code running on a device is out-of-tree code (not from upstream Linux or from AOSP common kernels)." It's also a big time sink, and even Google phones typically ship kernels that start at two years old.

        Google has been on a journey to lessen the distance between Android and Linux with the GKI. The goal is for Google to fork the Linux kernel once for Android, instead of three times, and give SoC and device manufacturers space for their customizations via plug-in modules.

      • Linux 5.15 Lands Memcg Performance Regression Fix - Phoronix

        As a follow-up to A Fix Is Pending For That Linux 5.15 Performance Regression, Linus Torvalds decided to pull the fix directly into Linux 5.15 Git today for addressing this real-world, measurable performance regression.

        Linus commented on the proposed memcg change today, "Ok, I've applied this just to close the issue. If somebody comes up with more data and the delayed flushing or something is problematic, we'll revisit, but this looks all sane to me and fixes the regression."

      • BPF-Based Linux Firewall "bpfilter" Shows Impressive Performance Potential - Phoronix

        Generating much excitement back in 2018 was bpfilter for the potential to better Linux's firewall and packet filtering by making it more robust and performance. Recently work on this BPF-based firewall solution was renewed and the performance potential over iptables and nftables is looking very good for the future.

        This year the BPF-based firewall code work was taken up by Facebook's Dmitrii Banshchikov and he's trying to push the code along now. Ahead of the next iteration of these patches, Dmitrii presented at this week's Linux Plumbers Conference on the effort.

      • Graphics Stack

        • X.org Server 21.1.0 RC Build Available for Test

          The last full-time release of the X.org server took place in 2018 with version 1.20. With the trend towards Wayland, Red Hat is no longer interested in taking over release management for X.org as it used to be. For a long time no other organization or a developer could be found for the task.

    • Applications

      • Tetzle 2.2.0 released

        Added support for Qt 6 Refactored code Removed XPM icon Translation updates: Dutch, Turkish, Ukrainian, Ukrainian (Ukraine)

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Gunicorn graceful restarts

        How to configure the Gunicorn application server for graceful restarts, and what is the difference between regular, hot, and phased restarts?

        Application restarts are necessary when things go wrong or if we need to push a new application version. A regular restart isn’t usually anything more than stopping and starting the server again. To keep clients connected or even keep serving requests, we need a better strategy.

      • How to install OBS Studio on Linux Lite 5.4 - Invidious

        In this video, we are looking at how to install OBS Studio on Linux Lite 5.4. Enjoy!

      • How to create Let's Encrypt SSL certificates with acme.sh on Linux

        Installing SSL certificates isn't difficult, but it's a process every Linux administrator will have to take on at some point in their career. One of the more popular methods of getting and installing SSL certificates on Linux is by way of Let's Encrypt, which is a certificate authority that offers free, automated SSL and TLS certificates. And Let's Encrypt isn't at all challenging to use.

        But there's an even easier way, one that doesn't have any dependencies or requirements. The acme.sh script is written in Shell and supports more DNS providers than other similar clients. This means you can get your SSL/TLS certificates faster and easier.

        I'm going to show you how to get and use acme.sh on Linux, so you can start working with SSL without any hassle.

      • How to install Photosounder on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install Photosounder on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

    • Games

      • Steam Deck, Linux and Mac Get Easy Anti-Cheat Support

        Epic Games has just released an update to its Easy Anti-Cheat software that will add support for the Steam Deck, as well as Linux and macOS operating systems. According to an Epic blog post today, the new update is now available to developers for free and is designed to work with Wine and Steam's Proton compatibility layer to ensure all platforms under Linux get full anti-cheat support.

        This is great news for Linux Gamers and for the new Steam Deck, since the anti-cheat services were previously locked to Windows operating systems. Even though the games could be fully functional in a compatibility environment such as Proton or Wine. Now, more platforms have the capability to run all multiplayer games with Epic's popular anti-cheat software, as long as developers enable Linux and Mac support.

        This is especially important for Valve's Steam Deck, which counts on its SteamOS being able to run the entire Steam library. Obviously, lacking anti-cheat support could have been a major problem for the new console.

      • Valve's Steam Deck supports dual boot and booting from a microSD card - Liliputing

        The Valve Steam Deck is expected to begin shipping in December to customers who pre-orders the handheld gaming computer for $399 or more. But ever since introducing the Linux-powered PC with a custom AMD processor this summer, Valve has been getting a lot of questions.

      • Updated "FUTEX2" futex_waitv Patches Posted To Address Latest Feedback - Phoronix

        The promising FUTEX2 work focused on improving the Linux performance for running Windows games via Wine/Proton by extending futex to wait on multiple locks is still moving forward.

        Last month the work was revised in simpler form by just focusing on the new "futex_waitv" system call and postpone additional improvements planned around variable-sized futexes, NUMA-awareness, and more. That additional work will come later while the immediate focus is on the "futex_waitv" system call to address the needs of Wine/Proton by better matching Windows' WaitForMultipleObjects behavior with more efficient emulation.

      • Steam Deck: Valve Confirms Multi-Boot Support and More in New FAQ

        While Valve has not been particularly tight-lipped about the upcoming Steam Deck hardware, there have still been plenty of questions left unanswered about it. Thankfully, there should now be fewer of those than before as the company has shared an official Steam Deck FAQ full of answers to questions from the community received via Reddit, Discord, Twitter, and -- as Valve states -- "straight up emails to Gabe."

      • Easy Anti-Cheat is now supported on macOS, Linux, and by extension, Steam Deck

        In a surprise announcement, Epic Games today revealed Linux and macOS support for Easy Anti-Cheat, the widely used cheat detection service for PC games. This service, which Epic made free earlier this year, is what's being used for catching cheaters in a substantial number of popular PC titles, including Apex Legends, Fortnite, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Hunt: Showdown, Gears 5, and others.

        There is even more good news for Linux gamers, as alongside native support for their preferred operating system, Epic has also implemented support for the Wine and Proton compatibility layers. "Starting with the latest SDK release, developers can activate anti-cheat support for Linux via Wine or Proton with just a few clicks in the Epic Online Services Developer Portal," adds the announcement.

      • Steam Deck Interface for Dev Kits Leak Out

        While there’s a lot of info known about Valve’s upcoming Steam Deck, prepare for more, as the Steam Deck interface for dev kits have leaked! This comes from an unnamed Chinese developer who apparently doesn’t care about NDA’s (non-disclosure agreements).

      • One of the Steam Deck’s biggest hurdles just disappeared: EAC has come to Linux

        Valve promised it would work with anti-cheat software makers EAC and BattlEye to ensure some of the most popular games will run on its upcoming Steam Deck Linux-based gaming handheld, and one of those companies is now officially on board — Epic Games announced today that its Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) now supports Linux and Mac. Not only that, it’s specifically set up to work with the Proton and Wine compatibility layers that Valve’s relying on to bring Windows games to the Deck.

        While developers would still need to patch their games, this immediately means some of the most popular games on Steam are now theoretically within reach, including Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight and War Thunder, which are all among the top 25 games on Steam. Other popular EAC games include 7 Days to Die, Fall Guys, Black Desert, Hunt: Showdown, Paladins, and the Halo Master Chief Collection.

      • Epic Online Services launches Anti-Cheat support for Linux, Mac, and Steam Deck - Epic Online Services

        Easy Anti-Cheat now supports all major PC operating systems, including Linux, Mac, and Steam Deck.

      • Epic Games Announces Easy Anti-Cheat For Linux - Including Wine/Proton - Phoronix

        Not too surprising given the Steam Deck is inching closer towards release and we've known Valve has been working to improve the anti-cheat situation for games on Linux, but today EAC owner Epic Games officially announced Easy Anti-Cheat for both Linux and macOS.

        Easy Anti-Cheat is one of the popular anti-cheating solutions used by a number of Windows games. Epic Games is now making EAC available for Linux and macOS. Plus they are also making it supported under Wine/Proton too.

      • Epic Games announce full Easy Anti-Cheat support for Linux including Wine & Proton | GamingOnLinux

        Today, Easy Anti-Cheat from Epic Games / Epic Online Services has officially announced a full expansion for Linux including native builds and Wine + Proton. This is big for Linux Gaming and the Steam Deck.

        For those who don't know, Epic Games owns Easy Anti-Cheat and earlier this year they made it free for all developers making Windows games. Today this has been expanded to fully support developers doing native Linux games (and macOS too).

        Not only that, this is the big one we've been waiting for — they've also expanded Easy Anti-Cheat support officially for the Wine and Steam Play Proton compatibility layers.

      • Epic Games makes Easy Anti Cheat available for Linux, paving the way for Steam Deck | Windows Central

        One of the big flies in the Steam Deck ointment has always been how anti-cheat software will be handled. The truth is that a lot of the popular Windows games that can't be played on Linux through Steam's Proton Compatibility layer, or through WINE, are because of anti-cheat software.

        The first big step forward has just happened, though, right as game developers are starting to receive their Steam Deck dev kits. Epic Games, owner of Easy Anti Cheat, has announced that the software is now compatible with Linux, including WINE and Proton, as well as macOS. And all for the low price of free.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • Günther Wagner: GNOME Builder 41 Highlights

          Builder now maintains a private Flatpak installation to install SDKs and SDK extensions that are not available in the user’s Flatpak installation. This means Builder will no longer add flathub or gnome-nightly to your user’s Flatpak installation.

          Builder now uses an out-of-process Flatpak helper (gnome-builder-flatpak) to vastly improve its ability to track and resolve SDK extensions. This will improve the situation for applications requiring Rust, LLVM, and others going forward.

          You can update your SDKs and dependencies together using the “Update Dependencies” button in the build popover.

          More information can be found in Christian’s blog post.

        • [Older] GNOME to prevent theming, wider community not happy

          If you’ve been paying attention to recent chatter in the GNOME and surrounding communities, you may have noticed there’s a lot of disgruntled developers within certain communities that rely on parts of the GNOME stack, such as Pop!_OS and Budgie. I’ve been trying to follow most of these discussions and have been itching to write about it, but with the discussions still ongoing and my own lack of knowledge on the intricacies of the interplay between distribution maintainers, desktop environment developers, application programmers, and GNOME itself, I figured I should stay away from it until someone with more knowledge stepped in.

          Well, thanks to Joshua Strobl, experience lead of Solus and one of the main developers of Budgie, I now have a great in-depth story to link to. I urge you to read the whole article, but here’s Strobl’s conclusions...

        • [Older] Building an Alternative Ecosystem



          I am an unashamed Linux user. I have used Linux since first getting an Ubuntu 8.04 CD in the mail, exploring over those years many different distributions and desktop environments, ranging from a radical user experience built on web technologies in the form of JoliOS, to experiencing the classic GNOME aesthetic of the 2.x days, Cinnamon, Plasma, and for the last few years helping to build a desktop environment that balances a traditional feel with modern features in the form of Budgie.

          Budgie has evolved significantly over the years, going from a more GNOME 2 look-and-feel, to a ChromeOS-like aesthetic in v2, to the Budgie experience many of you are familiar with introduced in v10. The constant throughout all of these changes is our enduring stance on how Budgie should fundamentally function out-of-the-box, with a more “traditional” feel that makes it approachable for new Linux users while offering additional functionality that existing Linux users would find attractive. To facilitate this user experience, we have built Budgie on software developed by GNOME, from GTK as our toolkit of choice, Mutter as the underlying window manager for budgie-wm, multiple integrations with gnome-settings-daemon, and so forth. This has been the case dating clear back to even before its first “testing” v1 release in February of 2014.

        • GNOME 41: Slick with heaps of new features for users and devs – but annoyances remain

          The GNOME Foundation has released GNOME 41 - six months after GNOME 40, which was the first to be based on the GTK4 toolkit.

          Although GNOME 41 is out, it will take time before the various distros support it and even longer before it turns up as a default desktop environment.

          We used a pre-release of Fedora 35 (full release expected next month) and updated it to the latest available GNOME 41.

          The headline changes begin with an improved power mode, with access from the system status menu and the ability for applications (such as games) to request a particular power mode for full performance.

          The utility for discovering and installing applications, imaginatively called Software, has been redesigned with more categories, revamped information tiles, and bigger screenshots. The team also claimed that "there have been many fixes and improvements under the hood, which make the experience faster and more reliable."

    • Distributions

      • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

        • Command Line Heroes: Season 8: Robot as Software

          Building a physical robot isn’t cheap. Simulation software is reducing the scrap heap—and bringing down the costs of building robots from the ground up.

        • PHP version 7.3.31, 7.4.25 and 8.0.11 - Remi's RPM repository - Blog

          RPMs of PHP version 8.0.11 are available in remi repository for Fedora 35 and remi-php80 repository for Fedora 33-34 and Enterprise Linux (RHEL, CentOS).

          RPMs of PHP version 7.4.23 are available in remi repository for Fedora 33-34 and remi-php74 repository Enterprise Linux (RHEL, CentOS).

          RPMs of PHP version 7.3.30 are available in remi-php73 repository for Enterprise Linux (RHEL, CentOS).

        • Fedora Linux earns recognition from the Digital Public Goods Alliance as a DPG! - Fedora Magazine

          In the Fedora Project community, we look at open source as not only code that can change how we interact with computers, but also as a way for us to positively influence and shape the future. The more hands that help shape a project, the more ideas, viewpoints and experiences the project represents — that’s truly what the spirit of open source is built from.

          But it’s not just the global contributors to the Fedora Project who feel this way. August 2021 saw Fedora Linux recognized as a digital public good by the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), a significant achievement and a testament to the openness and inclusivity of the project.

          We know that digital technologies can save lives, improve the well-being of billions, and contribute to a more sustainable future. We also know that in tackling those challenges, Open Source is uniquely positioned in the world of digital solutions by inherently welcoming different ideas and perspectives critical to lasting success.

          But, we also know that many regions and countries around the world do not have access to those technologies. Open Source technologies can be the difference between achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 or missing the targets. Projects like Fedora Linux, which represent much more than code itself, are the game-changers we need. Already, individuals, organizations, governments, and Open Source communities, including the Fedora Project’s own, are working to make sure the potential of Open Source is realized and equipped to take on the monumental challenges being faced.

        • 4 Reasons Why Kubernetes Is So Popular | IT Pro

          Among the reasons why Kubernetes has been so widely adopted are flexibility and lack of fragmentation.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

        • Ubuntu releases another version of 18.04 & extends support for two previous versions

          The first time Ubuntu 18.04, Bionic Beaver, was released was back in 2018 as the numbers in the name suggest. Recently, however, Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu were forced to release another version of the operating system specifically version 18.04.6 This is just not any other update it’s actually a “new version” that was necessitated by unusual circumstances.

          [...]

          Ubuntu 20.04, 16.04 and 14.04 are what is known as Long Term Support versions. Canonical keeps releasing security patches and ports back some updates to these versions for a long time. This is supposed to help with business customers who are more interested in stability and productivity rather than shiny new things.

          We have seen how in the real world businesses have struggled to say move on from Windows XP to 7 and now we have a lot of businesses stuck on Windows 7 for some reason. LTS releases are meant to prevent problems like this. Now Canonical has retroactively extended the support period for Ubuntu 16.04 and 14.04 to 10 years. This means Ubuntu 14.04 released in 2014 will keep receiving patches and updates until April 2024 and Ubuntu 16.04 until 2026.

          Of course, an operating system made in 2014 sounds boring but boring is good as long as boring is secure and hardened. Imagine a company like Wikipedia which has gazillions of servers running in the cloud. They would rather have a very stable operating system that works and is secure than be constantly updating their servers and breaking things. LTSs allow businesses to create a recipe that works and focus on productivity.

        • Canonical Extends Support For Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04

          The company behind Ubuntu offered a much-needed lifeline to those who still depend on older versions of the open-source operating system.

          Both Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04 are Long Term Support (LTS) versions of the operating system, both of which had already hit End Of Life (14.04 in 2019 and 16.04 in 2021). The problem is, however, a large number of enterprise businesses are still making use of those versions of the open-source platform. Of course, anyone can always upgrade to the latest LTS version of Ubuntu, but in some use cases, that’s not an option.

          Because of this, Canonical has extended their support for both versions of Ubuntu to bring those releases in line with the new 10 years support period that was given to both 18.04 and 20.04 (both of which are also LTS releases).

        • Ubuntu 21.10 Beta Released, This is What's New - OMG! Ubuntu!

          We’re just a few short weeks away from the final Ubuntu 21.10 release, but first things first: a beta.

          Yes, Ubuntu 21.10 beta is now available to download. Developers and non-developers alike can go hands on with the “Impish Indri” to try it out ahead of a stable release on October 14, 2021.

          Those who install the Ubuntu 21.10 beta can upgrade to the final version (when it arrives) just by installing all updates — and I do mean all — as they arrive down the chute.

          Intro out of the way, let’s take a look at what’s new!

        • Ubuntu 21.10 Beta Now Available for Download with Linux Kernel 5.13 and GNOME 40

          Ubuntu 21.10 has been in development since May 2021 and, like all previous versions, it was based on the previous release, in this case Ubuntu 21.04 "Hiruste Hippo." After a few months of hard work, the Ubuntu devs managed to make some important changes to the upcoming release.

          Besides the updated toolchain based on GNU C Library 2.34, GCC 11, LLVM 13, and GNU Binutils 2.37, Ubuntu 21.10 beta now ships with a more recent kernel, namely Linux 5.13, and finally makes the jump to the GNOME 40 desktop environment series with its revamped Activities Overview and other major changes.

        • Ubuntu 21.10 Beta Released, Download and Test Now.

          The Ubuntu team announced that Ubuntu 21.10 Beta "Impish Indri" is now available for download and test. We give you a quick look at the new features and download instructions.

        • Portainer and Canonical Expand Partnership Launching Business Charm for Charmed Kubernetes

          Portainer announced the launch of its Portainer Business Charmed Operator, allowing for seamless integration with Canonical’s Charmed Kubernetes distribution.

          The new Portainer charm allows users of Canonical’s Charmed Kubernetes distribution to automatically install and integrate Portainer Business as part of the Kubernetes cluster deployment process, using Juju, the Charmed Operator framework.

          Portainer Business is a powerful operating platform that transforms any Kubernetes implementation into a ‘containers-as-a-service’ solution. With Portainer Business at the core, Platform Managers can use Portainer’s simple GUI to configure a range of security and governance policies –such as Role Based Access and resource quotas – that control how end users (typically Developers) interact with the environment.

          Developers working in a Portainer-managed environment benefit from an easy-to-use GUI to deploy, manage, and monitor their applications or, equally, can connect any dashboard or CI/CD tool they like via Portainer. Without Portainer, Developers must use complex CLI commands to deploy and monitor their apps, which is hard and a major inhibitor in the overall K8s adoption trend.

        • Canonical at Grace Hopper 2021

          Canonical is excited to announce our virtual attendance at the Grace Hopper Conference September 27th – October 1st, 2021. We are thrilled to sponsor, and once again attend, an event that aligns with our values of bringing enthusiastic, diverse, and talented employees into our rapidly-expanding global workforce.

          During the Grace Hopper Conference 2021, Canonical aims for attendees to gain knowledge of our open positions and insights from various team members through a day in the life of a Canonical employee. Participants are encouraged to check our YouTube channel to learn about roles from Sales, Support, Field and IoT Engineering. There team members who are involved in our internal resource groups cover topics such as Women in Tech, parents, LGBTQIA+, and more. Engagement is encouraged company wide, and presented during onboarding procedures, allowing every new employee the chance for involvement from their first day.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • Mini-PCIe card showcases 900MHz HaLow wireless tech

        Gateworks announced a “GW16146” mini-PCIe card for its Arm/Linux SBCs with 900MHz HaLow (802.11ah) wireless tech, which has up to 4Mbps bandwidth, Bluetooth-like power consumption, and a 1km+ range.

        The IEEE 802.11ah LPWAN spec for Sub-1GHz IoT, which the Wi-Fi Alliance dubs Wi-Fi HaLow, has been around for a few years but without much adoption. Now Gateworks is giving the campus-wide wireless tech a boost with its GW16146 mini-PCIe card.

      • Fairphone 4 5G Revealing Snapdragon 750G SoC Spotted on Geekbench, Launch Expected Soon

        We are aware of the fact that Fairphone is prepping up for the launch of the Fairphone 3 successor – the Fairphone 4 5G (FP4). The device’s key specifications and renders were revealed last week, courtesy of a retailer listing. As per the preliminary retailer listing, the Fairphone 4 5G is expected to pack 6GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB storage. The hardware specs of the device remained a mystery up till now. However, these details now are out courtesy of the Geekbench listing. MySmartPrice is the first to spot the Fairphone 4 Geekbench listing. The test results reveal that the device will pack Snapdragon 750G SoC and 6GB of RAM.

      • Spotify Box

        The Spotify Box acts as a middleman between the official Spotify app and a new or existing home audio system – allowing you to connect your smart phone to your audio setup and stream music throughout your house. The basic premise of the device revolves around Spotify’s feature known as Spotify Connect which allows you to use your Spotify app as a remote to control different devices that are on the same Wi-Fi network or associated with your account. The Spotify Box has stereo RCA jacks so you can simply plug it into a preamp, mixer, or amplifier and start playing your tunes. Connecting to a Wi-Fi network is simple enough. Just download the Spotify Box app and give the pushbutton a press to start searching for networks. Then you can choose your Wi-Fi network through my app to get connected. You can also connect over ethernet.

        The origin of the Spotify Box stems from an older project of mine where I created a Bluetooth speaker with a RGB parallel touchscreen interface to display the song, volume, connectivity, etc. In the process of developing this speaker, I stumbled across Spotifyd, an open-source Spotify client that runs as a UNIX daemon. This ultimately sparked the idea to create the Spotify Box. I’ll walk you through the features and process I went through while designing and developing the Spotify Box.

      • NVIDIA Jetson Nano/Xavier NX carrier board offers 5 SATA, 6 CSI camera, dual GbE, and more

        Leetop has introduced two carrier boards for NVIDIA Jetson Nano or Xavier NX modules, with Leetop A205 a full-featured carrier board offering five SATA ports, six MIPI CSI camera interfaces, an M.2 Key E slot, dual Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 ports, dual HDMI output and more, as well as the more compact Leetop A203 about the size of the modules themselves and offering Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI output, USB 3.0/2.0 ports, a camera interface, and an M.2 slot for optional WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.

        We’ll focus on the former in this article, as it offers more features, and the smaller board provides less functionality than the NVIDIA Jetson Nano developer kit at a much higher price, although I understand it can still be useful for space-constrained applications.

      • Maxtang MTN-TL50 is a compact desktop with Intel Tiger Lake

        The Maxtang MTN-TL50 will be available with processor options ranging from an Intel Celeron 6305 chip to a Core i7-1165G7 processor. And under the hood, it supports up to 64GB of RAM and has room for an M.2 2280 SSD and/or a 2.5″ SATA 3 hard drive or SSD.

      • Open Hardware/Modding

        • Meet the Marvelous Macro Music Maker

          Do you kind of want a macropad, but aren’t sure that you would use it? Hackaday alum [Jeremy Cook] is now making and selling the JC Pro Macro on Tindie, which is exactly what it sounds like — a Pro Micro-based macro keypad with an OLED screen and a rotary encoder. In the video below, [Jeremy] shows how he made it into a music maker by adding a speaker and a small solenoid that does percussion, all while retaining the original macro pad functionality.

          [Jeremy]’s original idea for a drum was to have a servo seesawing a chopstick back and forth on the table as one might nervously twiddle a pencil. That didn’t work out so well, so he switched to the solenoid and printed a thing to hold it upright, and we absolutely love it. The drum is controlled with the rotary encoder: push to turn the beat on or off and crank it to change the BPM.

          To make it easier to connect up the solenoid and speaker, [Jeremy] had a little I€²C helper board fabricated. There’s one SVG connection and another with power and ground swapped in the event it is needed. If you’re interested in the JC Pro Macro, you can pick it up in various forms over on Tindie. Of course, you might want to wait for version 2, which is coming to Kickstarter in October.

      • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • Web Browsers

        • Brave Browser offers video conferencing

          A long time ago, Brendan Eich had equipped his Brave browser in the Nightly versions with the video conferencing service Brave Together for testing. Now the service has been incorporated directly into the stable version of the browser as Brave Talk . Behind this is an implementation of Jitsi as a service with WebRTC from the provider 8 × 8 . Brave Talk is available for the desktop as well as for Android and iOS.

        • Chromium

          • Chrome 95 Beta Completely Removes Deprecated FTP Support, Reduced User Agent Info Trial

            With Chrome 94 having shipped this week, Google has now promoted Chrome 95 to beta.

            With Chrome 95 Beta there is a random assortment of changes with some of the highlights including:

            - Beginning as an origin trial is the attempt to reduce the HTTP user agent string information exposed to cutdown on the possible browser fingerprinting by websites.

      • Programming/Development

        • Upcycling A VFD | Hackaday

          A lot of electronics wind up in landfills, and when [Playful Electronics] saw an old cash register heading for the dump, he decided to give its VFD display a new life as an Arduino peripheral. While you might not find the exact same parts, it is still fun to watch him work through the process, and you might find some tips for doing your own upcycle project next time you see some old tech heading out to pasture.

          The project was relatively straightforward since data for the display was available. It is meant to connect via RS232 with a point of sale printer, so working with it is pretty straightforward.

        • Dirk Eddelbuettel: digest 0.6.28 on CRAN: Small Enhancements



          Release 0.6.28 of the digest package arrived at CRAN earlier today, and has already been uploaded Debian as well.

          digest creates hash digests of arbitrary R objects (using the md5, sha-1, sha-256, sha-512, crc32, xxhash32, xxhash64, murmur32, spookyhash, and blake3 algorithms) permitting easy comparison of R language objects. It is a mature and widely-used as many tasks may involve caching of objects for which it provides convenient general-purpose hash key generation.

          This release comes eleven months after the previous releases and rounds out a number of corners. Continuous Integration was updated using r-ci. Several contribututors help with a small fix applied to avoid unaligned reads, a rewording for a help page as well as windows path encoding for in the vectorised use case.

  • Leftovers

    • Hardware

      • Making Tea Pots With Antique Machinery

        We in the West take quite a lot for granted. We’re used to certain standards of care in our homes and our places of work, so much so that we rarely even take time to notice it. Workplace accidents are a big deal, and failing to report can lead to you finding yourself being shown the door. So it’s a little sobering to see how things get made in countries with a less stringent approach in certain areas of basic health and safety.

        With the urge to drive prices to the lowest possible, low-tech items such as clothing and housewares tend not to be made in highly sophisticated, automated factories, but more likely in smaller facilities employing more labour, which favours countries where such labour is cheaper and more available. The video we’re highlighting here shows a small factory in what is likely Pakistan (but equally could be a few other places, we’re only guessing) which would seem fairly typical for the level of sophistication required to make enameled teapots.

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • Security

          • Apple Releases Security Updates

            Apple has released security updates to address vulnerabilities in multiple products. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. These vulnerabilities have been detected in exploits in the wild.

          • TenFourFox Development: Questionable RCE with .webloc/.inetloc files

            A report surfaced recently that at least some recent versions of macOS can be exploited to run arbitrary local applications using .inetloc files, which may allow a drive-by download to automatically kick off a vulnerable application and exploit it. Apple appeared to acknowledge the fault, but did not assign it a CVE; the reporter seems not to have found the putative fix satisfactory and public disclosure thus occurred two days ago.

          • Elastic Announces New Threat Prevention Capabilities for Windows, macOS and Linux, and Host Isolation for Cloud Native Linux Environments
          • Elastic Announces New Threat Prevention Capabilities for Windows, macOS and Linux, and Host Isolation for Cloud Native Linux Environments
          • Rust, reproducibility and shadow-rs

            Generally all of our Rust code are reproducible. If you build it in a fixed path, and also use SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH environment variable, the final library or executables will be producible. This is really helpful, for example while building cryptography python wheel, I can keep building it in a reproducible way even with the Rust dependencies.

            A few days ago I saw shadow-rs, which can provide a lot of build time information. For example, in khata now I have a way to tell if I am using any custom build and also identify which one. I was a bit worried as shadow allows to store the build time too, but later found that the community already put in the patches so that it follows SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH.

          • Download SSL/TLS pem format cert from https web host
          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • Amicus brief in privacy fight against Colombia’s mandatory CoronApp

              Leer en español. People should not be forced to give away personal data to exercise their freedom of movement — but that’s exactly what’s playing out in Colombia with the contact-tracing CoronApp. As part of the fight against the app’s mandatory use, Access Now filed an amicus brief to the nation’s Constitutional Court on September 3, 2021, raising the risks of making the use of the contact tracing app mandatory.

              “The Court’s ruling will be crucial because it concerns the safety of the plaintiffs and because it would be setting a precedent regarding the use of highly invasive privacy technologies by the public sector,” said Natalia Krapiva, Tech Legal Counsel at Access Now. “Making these apps mandatory is opposing basic human rights and data protection principles that don’t cease to exist due to the critical situation we are experiencing.”

    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Monopolies



Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
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
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
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
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
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!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
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