Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 27/06/2022: GNOME Design Rant



  • GNU/Linux

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • VermadenSplit Audio Files into Parts

        I recently got in the need of splitting quite large amount of audio files into smaller equal parts. The first thought that came to my mind was – probably thousand or more people had similar problem in the past so its already solved – so I went directly to the web search engine.

        The found solutions seem not that great or work partially only … or not work like I expected them to work. After looking at one of the possible solutions in a bash(1) script I started to modify it … but it turned out that writing my own solution was faster and easier … and simpler.

        Today I will share with you my solution to automatically split audio files into small equal parts.

      • Jim NielsenA Previous Sibling Selector

        In natural language, what I wanted was: “select every

        element that directly precedes an <hr> element and style the <a> link inside of it.”

        I know how to select the next sibiling of an element with div + p.

        And I know how to select any adjacent sibling of an element (which follows it) with div ~ p.

        And I learned how to select an element when it only has one child with p:only-child a (even though they are the only element on their line, markdown will wrap the [link](#) elements in a paragraph tag).

        But how do I select the previous sibling of an element? Something like p:before(hr) which would select all paragraphs that precede an <hr> element.

      • Linux BuzzHow to Set Static IP Address on Ubuntu 22.04

        Hello folks, in this guide, we will cover how to set static ip address on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish) step by step.

      • OpenSource.comMake a temporary file on Linux with Bash | Opensource.com

        When programming in the Bash scripting language, you sometimes need to create a temporary file. For instance, you might need to have an intermediary file you can commit to disk so you can process it with another command. It's easy to create a file such as temp or anything ending in .tmp. However, those names are just as likely to be generated by some other process, so you could accidentally overwrite an existing temporary file. And besides that, you shouldn't have to expend mental effort coming up with names that seem unique. The mktemp command on Fedora-based systems and tempfile on Debian-based systems are specially designed to alleviate that burden by making it easy to create, use, and remove unique files.

      • Red HatUse a SystemTap example script to trace kernel code operation | Red Hat Developer

        SystemTap allows developers to add instrumentation to Linux systems to better understand the behavior of the kernel as well as userspace applications and libraries. This article, the first in a two-part series, shows how SystemTap can reveal potential performance problems down to individual lines of code. The second part of the series will describe how a SystemTap performance monitoring script was written.

      • MakeTech EasierHow to Add Your Own Custom Color in LibreOffice - Make Tech Easier

        While writing or editing text in LibreOffice, there are times where you need to change the color of the text or the background. LibreOffice comes with its own set of color palette that you choose the color from and it is easily accessible from the toolbar. The problem is that if you want to use a custom color which is not available in the palette, you are out of luck because there are no visible options for you to add your own color to the palette.

      • Linux Shell TipsHow to Split Vim Workspace Vertically or Horizontally

        There is no better computing environment than the one availed by a Linux operating system distribution. This operating system environment gives its users a complete computing experience without too much interaction with the GUI (Graphical User Interface). The more experienced you are with Linux the more time you spend on the Linux command-line environment.

        The command-line environment is efficient enough to handle OS-centered tasks like file editing, configuration, and scripting. A command-line text editor like the Vim editor makes it possible to perform such tasks.

      • CitizixHow to Create AWS VPC Peering in same account/region using Terraform

        Amazon VPC peering enables the network connection between the private VPCs to route the traffic from one VPC to another. You can create VPC Peering between your own VPC with the VPC in the same region or a different region or with other VPCs in a different AWS account in a different region.

        AWS create peering connection by using the existing infrastructure of the VPC. VPC peering connection is not a form of gateway or VPN connection. It helps to make easy to transfer the data from VPC to VPC.

        In this guice, it is assumed that the VPCs that you want to peer have been created. If you need help creating a VPC checkout this guide. We need to create the peering request from the peering owner VPC, accept the peering connection request in the accepter account and update the route tables in both the VPCs with entries for the peering connection from either side.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Darktable on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS - LinuxCapable

        Darktable is a free and open-source photography application program and raw developer. Rather than being a raster graphics editor like Adobe Photoshop or GIMP, it comprises a subset of image editing operations specifically aimed at non-destructive raw image post-production. In addition to basic RAW conversion, Darktable is equipped with various tools for basic and advanced image editing. These include exposure correction, color management, white balance, image sharpening, noise reduction, perspective correction, and local retouching. As a result, Darktable is an incredibly powerful tool for photographers of all experience levels. Best of all, it is entirely free to download and use.

      • Linux Shell TipsHow to Create a Sudo User on Fedora Linux

        Fedora Linux is not a new name in the world of computing. This Linux operating system distribution has Red Hat as its primary sponsor. Red Hat made its development possible via the Fedora Project. Through free and open-source licenses, Fedora hosts a variety of distributed software.

        This Linux distribution also functions as an upstream for the Red hat Enterprise Linux Community version. The latter statement implies that the Fedora Project is a direct fork for Red Hat. In other words, Red Hat directly borrows its features’ implementation from Fedora.

      • Trend Oceansulimit command usage in Linux - TREND OCEANS

        ulimit command is used by the administrator to limit hardware resources in a pool share and is mainly used by shared hosting providers to curb unwanted hardware resource usage by other tenants.

        There are two types of limits that you can set on your Linux machine.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Pinta on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS - LinuxCapable

        Pinta is an excellent image editing tool for both novice and experienced users. The user interface is straightforward yet still packed with features. The drawing tools are comprehensive and easy to use, and the wide range of effects makes it easy to add a professional touch to your images. One of the best features of Pinta is the ability to create unlimited layers. This makes it easy to keep your work organized and tidy, which is essential for anyone who wants to develop complex or detailed images. Pinta is a great all-around image editor in every artist’s toolkit.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • Liam ProvenWhy I think the GNOME designers are incompetent

          But GNOME folk didn't know how to do this. They don't know how to do window management properly at all. So they take away the title bar buttons, then they say nobody needs title bars, so they took away title bars and replaced them with pathetic "CSD" which means that action buttons are now above the text to which they are responses. Good move, lads. By the way, every written language ever goes from top to bottom, not the reverse. Some to L to R, some go R to L, some do both (boustrophedon) but they all go top to bottom.

          The guys at Xerox PARC and Apple who invented the GUI knew this. The clowns at Red Hat don't.

          There are a thousand little examples of this. They are trying to rework the desktop GUI without understanding how it works, and for those of us who do know how it works, and also know of alternative designs these fools have never seen, such as RISC OS, which are far more efficient and linear and effective, it's extremely annoying.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • Espressif SystemsIntroducing ESP32-C5: Espressif’s first Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 MCU

        ESP32-C5 packs a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) radio, along with the 802.11b/g/n standard for backward compatibility. The Wi-Fi 6 support is optimised for IoT devices, as the SoC supports a 20MHz bandwidth for the 802.11ax mode, and a 20/40MHz bandwidth for the 802.11b/g/n mode.

      • Linux GizmosCompulab’s new IoT gateway is based on NXP’s i.MX.8M processor and runs on Linux, MS Azure IoT and Node RED [Ed: Compulab should shun spyware from Microsoft. Bad neighbourhood.]

        The IOT-GATE-IMX8PLUS is an IoT gateway made by Compulab that is based on the NXP i.MX.8M Plus System on Chip (SoC) for commercial or industrial applications. The device features dual GbE ports, Wi-Fi6/BLE 5.3 support, LTE 4G, GPS and many optional peripherals.

        Compulab’s new IoT gateway provides support for two processor models, the C1800Q and the C1800QM. Both come with a real time processor but only the C1800QM includes the AI/ML Neural Processing Unit.€ 

      • HackadayWant A Break From Hardware Hacking? Try Bitburner

        If you ever mention to a normal person that you’re a hacker, and they might ask you if you can do something nefarious. The media has unfortunately changed the meaning of the word so that most people think hackers are lawless computer geniuses instead of us simple folk who are probably only breaking the laws meant to prevent you from repairing your own electronics. However, if you want a break, you can fully embrace the Hollywood hacker stereotype with Bitburner. Since it is all online, you don’t even have to dig out your hoodie.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Education

      • Geeks For GeeksHow Learning To Code Can Change Your Life?

        The art of “Communicating with Computers” is called coding, It allows us to be able to communicate with computers, and make them do what we want them to. One of the most exciting aspects of learning to code is the potential to bring your ideas to life and that’s how popular games, software, apps, web apps, and various other algorithms are built.

    • Programming/Development

      • Matt RickardHistory of Version Control Systems: Part 1

        First-generation version control systems made collaboration possible, but it was painful. Deleting, renaming, or creating new files wasn't easily done. Tracking files across multiple directories as part of one project was impossible. Branching and merging were confusing. Locks worked by copying a file with read-only or read-write UNIX permissions. Inevitably, programmers didn't want to wait for someone else to finish editing, so they got around the lock system with a simple chmod.

        The two widely used first-generation version control systems were SCCS and RCS.

  • Leftovers

    • Hackaday3D Scanning Trouble? This Guide Has You Covered

      When it comes to 3D scanning, a perfect surface looks a lot like the image above: thousands of distinct and random features, high contrast, no blurry areas, and no shiny spots. While most objects don’t look quite that good, it’s possible to get usable results anyway, and that’s what [Thomas] aims to help people do with his tips on how to create a perfect, accurate 3D scan€ with photogrammetry.

    • Counter PunchIn Memoriam

      Concealed in blowing foam, a tiny seal Scarce escapes my foot.

    • Science

      • HackadayOdd Inputs And Peculiar Peripherals: Chorded Keyset Recreates Engelbart’s Vision

        Douglas Engelbart’s 1968 “Mother of all Demos” introduced the world to a whole range of technologies we take for granted today, the most prominent being his great invention, the computer mouse. However, the MOAD also showcased things like cut-and-paste text editing, a point-and-click interface, video conferencing, and even online collaboration à la Google Docs. One of the innovations shown that for some reason didn’t stand the test of time was the chorded keyboard: an input device with five keys that can be pressed simultaneously in different combinations, the same way you would play chords on a piano.

    • Education

    • Hardware

      • HackadayThis Custom Workbench Will Make You Flip

        In a recent video, [SomeSkillStudio] created a tidy tool storage system for their slim garage workbench. We have seen the “five knuckle” 270 degree hinges used here before and knew they’d enable some cool hacks. Here you’ll see how he puts this unique type of hardware to work building a densely packed work surface. For anyone who’s set up shop in a garage that’s somehow also supposed to still regularly host vehicles, you’ll know how important it is to have a place to put everything away and make it easy to do so.

      • HackadayDIY Night Vision, Where Four Is Better Than Two

        Night vision projects are great, and the hardware available to hobbyists just gets better and better. [Just Call Me Koko] shows off just such a build using four low-light, IR-sensitive cameras, four displays, and four lenses in 3D printed enclosures mounted to a helmet. Why four? Well, mounting two cameras and displays per eye is the easiest way to yield a wider field of view, and for bonus points, it sure looks extra weird.

    • Security

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • Site36Maritime surveillance: Spy satellites in Frontex operation

          Electronic intelligence from space has long been the business of intelligence agencies and the military. Miniaturized technology and Musk’s SpaceX company are now making this interesting for border agencies. Even radars from ships are to be scanned unnoticed by satellites.

        • Digital Music NewsMeta Rolls Out More Monetization Tools for Facebook and Instagram

          Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company is unveiling more ways for creators to make money on Facebook and Instagram. The company is also expanding some of its existing monetization tools to more creators. To put more money into the hands of creators, Zuckerberg says Meta will keep paid online events, fan subscriptions, badges, and upcoming independent news products free for creators until 2024. Previously, the company intended to do so until 2023.

        • New York TimesSchools Are Spending Billions on High-Tech Defense for Mass Shootings

          But common student items have routinely set off the Evolv scanners, among them laptops, umbrellas, three-ring binders, spiral-bound notebooks and metal water bottles.

        • Rohan KumarTwo types of privacy

          Threat modelling provides important context to security and privacy advice. Measures necessary to protect against an advanced threat are different from those effective against unsophisticated threats. Moreover, threats don’t always fall along a simple one-dimensional axis from “simple” to “advanced”. I appreciate seeing communities acknowledge this complexity.

          When qualifying privacy recommendations with context, I think we should go further than describing threat models: we should acknowledge different types of privacy. “Privacy” means different things to different people. Even a single person may use the word “privacy” differently depending on their situation. Understanding a user’s unique situation(s), including their threat models, can inform us when we select the best of approach. How do we choose between reducing a footprint’s spread and size?

        • Computer WorldLet’s put smartphone mics to better use

          In fact, the iPhone has quite a few sounds it is trained to listen for: fire alarms, sirens, smoke alarms, cats and dogs, appliances (though I'm not clear about exactly which appliances), car horns, doorbells, door knocks, glass breaking, kettles, water running, baby crying, coughing and shouting. It also has to deactivate “Hey, Siri” voice commands if it's listening for other sounds. It's not clear why that's the case; if the phone's already listening, why not just include the "Hey, Siri" command to the list of items to listen for?

          But what if this sound-recognition could be tweaked to do core IT and operational chores? Think of it as an option to customize the phone to listen for sounds specific to your company. Just like the classic machine learning example, could the phone hear a sound in a work area and say, “That sounds like the XYZ component in that huge piece of machinery is overheating.”

    • Defence/Aggression

    • Environment

      • Energy

        • ScheerpostEurope Dumps Its Climate Commitments After Facing Shortage of Russian Gas

          The quick shift by rich European countries to “dirty” energy sources such as coal instead of managing demands raises serious concerns about the fate of global climate action and the future of the e…

        • Neil SelwynThe cloud is material (notes on Monserrate 2022)

          The anthropologist Steven Gonzalez Monserrate (2022) reports on his extensive ethnographic study of the cloud industry – detailing the operation of sprawling data centres, and the sometimes disorientating experience of working within them and/or living around them. Taking into account wider connections to the worldwide infrastructure of telecommunications cabling and the ever-growing e-waste industry, Monserrate is able shine light on the material limitations and environmental consequences of our thirst for online data storage and computational processing.

        • [Old] Current AffairsWhy This Computer Scientist Says All Cryptocurrency Should “Die in a Fire”

          UC-Berkeley’s Nicholas Weaver has been studying cryptocurrency for years. He thinks it’s a terrible idea that will end in disaster.

        • [Old] David RosenthalEE380 Talk

          Bitcoin is notorious for consuming as much electricity as the Netherlands, but there are around 10,000 other cryptocurrencies, most using similar infrastructure and thus also in aggregate consuming unsustainable amounts of electricity. Bitcoin alone generates as much e-waste as the Netherlands, cryptocurrencies suffer an epidemic of pump-and-dump schemes and wash trading, they enable a $5.2B/year ransomware industry, they have disrupted supply chains for GPUs, hard disks, SSDs and other chips, they have made it impossible for web services to offer free tiers, and they are responsible for a massive crime wave including fraud, theft, tax evasion, funding of rogue states such as North Korea, drug smuggling, and even as documented by Jameson Lopp's list of physical attacks, armed robbery, kidnapping, torture and murder.

          [...]

          Despite all the cleverness and hype, the technology just isn't that good. It is both extraordinarily inefficient, and extraordinarily insecure. Nicholas Weaver points out that the "Ethereum computer" is 1/5000 as powerful as a Raspbery Pi. and that for the cost of 1 second of its use you can buy nearly 60 Raspberry Pis. Moxie Marlinspike points out that an NFT is a link to a file of metadata that links to the image it purports to represent, so neither is guaranteed to exist or be valid. You have only to glance at Molly White's Web3 is going just great timeline wonder why anyone thinks this "wretched hive of scum and villainy" should be the future of the Web.

      • Wildlife/Nature

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • Digitech Media Pvt LtdTwitter withholds Rana Ayub's account, her supporters term it censorship

        Such withholdings will be limited to the specific jurisdiction that has issued the valid legal demand or where the content has been found to violate local law(s)," Twitter's policy says.

        Further Twitter says that it is compelled to withhold the entire specified account in response to a valid legal demand such as a court order.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • Teen VoguePolice Torture in the U.S.: What to Know About the History of Law Enforcement Violence

        The U.S. continues to condemn cruel, inhumane, degrading treatment, and torture abroad, without turning inward to heal the wounds of these abuses within our own country. We condemn abuses such as beatings, denial of food and water, dog attacks, forced and painful positions, abduction, sexual assaults, threats, lack of adequate temperature control, overcrowded prisons with limited health care, and solitary confinement.

      • Counter PunchThe (Migrant) Season of Death is Upon Us

        Summer Solstice should be a time for celebration. But for many desperate migrants attempting to enter the United States, it is a time of death. Soaring summer temperatures in the desert of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, which grow hotter and hotter due to human-induced climate change, claim many lives of undocumented migrants funneled into remote crossings riddling the rugged and vast region.

        For those who do successfully cross, the network of highways leading into the U.S. interior can prove fatal.

      • TruthOutFormerly Incarcerated Women in Tennessee Win Reforms Ending Shackled Births
    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Monopolies

      • Copyrights

        • Digital Music NewsUniversal Music Group Faces Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Over Tupac Shakur Photo

          The estate of photographer Chi Modu, who passed away in May of 2021, is officially suing Universal Music Group (UMG) for copyright infringement over the major label’s allegedly unauthorized use of a Tupac Shakur photo.

        • Torrent FreakHarvard Lawyers Don't Think That Piracy is Theft, Research Finds

          An in-depth study among 50 Harvard lawyers shows that downloading and streaming pirated content is widely tolerated and even supported by some. It is certainly not seen as a form of theft by these legal experts. Based on these findings, the researchers call for a paradigm shift where entertainment providers focus more on convenience, accessibility and affordability.



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