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Links 06/09/2022: KDE Plasma 5.25.5 and YaST Development Report



  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Applications

      • Make Use OfThe 5 Best Linux IRC Clients Still Worth Using in 2022

        While it's certainly past its prime, IRC is still alive and kicking today. Here are some of the best open-source and free IRC clients for Linux.

        Despite being overshadowed by other forms of social media, there are people who still use IRC. It's been one of the most resilient forms of conversation in the history of online communication, and while it's certainly past its prime, IRC is still alive and kicking today. It's so alive that dozens of clients are still being actively developed.

        Here are some of the best Linux IRC clients to choose from today.

      • MakeTech Easier7 Best Apps to View Disk Usage in Linux

        Linux desktops has a lot of utilities to view disk usage. These utilities gives us information on what programs or files uses large chunk of our disk space. Here we will show you some of the best apps for you to view disk usage in Linux.

        [...]

        Disk usage analyzer or Baobab is a GUI tool comes preinstalled with many popular Linux distributions. If you are using Gnome desktop environment, then Baobab is already preinstalled in your system.

        In addition to local disk usage, disk usage analyzer can also view remote disks mounted in your system. You can see the disk usage in a very intuitive spherical graph.

        [...]

        The most popular option to work with disks in Linux is gnome-disk-utility. You can use this to not only view all the disks, but also format, change filesystems and make encrypted disks.

        Alternatively, you can also view disks connected with your device using the file manager application. Open your file manager and click on the other location tab at the bottom to see all the disks connected with your device.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • H2S MediaHow to install Thinkorswim on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Linux

        Thinkorswim was launched in 1999 as an options brokerage platform. However, later it was acquired by TD Ameritrade, although Thinkorswim’s brokerage services were shut down, the trading platform is still active and distributed by TD Ameritrade for its clients. Besides the trading feature, Thinkorswim users also have access to trading and analysis tools, online courses, etc.

        Unlike TradingView which can be linked to the trading accounts of many different brokers, Thinkorswim is only used by TD Ameritrade clients.

        Thinkorswim allows users to freely set alerts based on parameters of technical indicators and price movements. Meanwhile, TradingView allows users to receive only 12 different alert conditions. However

      • UNIX CopHow to install LibreCad on Ubuntu 22.04 | Linux Mint 21

        In this post, you will learn how to install LibreCad on Ubuntu 22.04 | Linux Mint 21.

        [...]

        One of the main advantages of LibreCad is that it is free and therefore is used in educational or professional environments.

        It’s available in over 30 languages with cross-platform support for macOS, Windows, and Linux. So many people worldwide can use it without too many problems.

        With LibreCAD you can do many designs and all with a robust, open-source platform.

      • Julia EvansHow to send raw network packets in Python with tun/tap

        Recently I’ve been working on a project where I implement a bunch of tiny toy working versions of computer networking protocols in Python without using any libraries, as a way to explain how computer networking works.

        I’m still working on writing up that project, but today I wanted to talk about how to do the very first step: sending network packets in Python.

        In this post we’re going to send a SYN packet (the first packet in a TCP connection) from a tiny Python program, and get a reply from example.com. All the code from this post is in this gist.

      • ZDNetHow to run websites as apps with ease in Linux | ZDNET

        Most of what we do happens from within a web browser. However, that doesn't mean we want every single page we use to run as yet another tab. If you're like me, those tabs can add up. And if you're not using a browser with a solid tab management feature (such as Opera's Workspaces - which is the best tab manager, hands down), those tabs can very quickly become overwhelming.

      • Laptop refreshment

        This resulotion is 1920*x , the scaling seems very small for me with 12 inch. So I decided to adjust it. I was using libinput drivers for the trackpad. But It was horrible for thinkpad trackpad. So I decided to move back to synaptics.

      • TechRepublicHow to install Docker on ChromeOS | TechRepublic

        Jack Wallen shows you how to install Docker on your Chromebook so you can start developing containers on the go.

      • TechRepublicHow to install the macOS Homebrew package manager on Linux | TechRepublic

        Homebrew is a command line package manager for macOS that is similar to apt-get or dnf. Homebrew makes installing over 5,000 applications from the command line very simple. Some of the tools found in Homebrew aren’t available to any of the default Linux package managers and some packages found in the apt and yum repositories aren’t exactly well maintained.

      • VideoHow to install BigLinux 2022.08.29 - Invidious

        In this video, I am going to show how to install BigLinux 2022.08.29

      • H2S MediaHow To Install Consul by HashiCorp on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

        Consul is an open-source multi-networking tool that offers a fully-featured service mesh solution that solves the networking and security challenges of operating microservices and cloud infrastructure (multi-cloud and hybrid cloud).

        Consul manages services and nodes in the form of a “directory service”, i.e. in the form of what runs where? Access is via DNS or HTTP(s). Consul operates in either Server or Agent mode. The servers store the data, if several are used, the data is automatically synchronized.

        The data can be accessed directly on the servers via DNS or HTTP(s) or via the required agent anyway. Any node or host logs on to Consul via the agent and is registered as a node. Services can also be registered. A web server, for example, registers as a new cluster member to an existing service. In addition, tags can also be set, which then display themselves as aliases via DNS query.

      • Red Hat OfficialHow to use Satellite 6.11 for bulk Convert2RHEL operations

        Convert2RHEL is a Red Hat utility that converts operating systems that are similar to or derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), such as CentOS Linux and Oracle Linux. For a full list of supported operating systems, please read this document. For more information, read Terry Bowling’s blog entries here and here on Oracle Linux.

      • ID RootHow To Install Opera Browser on Fedora 36 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Opera Browser on Fedora 36. For those of you who didn’t know, Opera is one of the most popular and widely used web browsers globally, developed by Opera Software. The browser is based on Chromium but distinguishes itself from other Chromium-based browsers through its user interface and other features such as battery-saving and built-in VPN.

        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 the step-by-step installation of the Opera Browser on a Fedora 36.

      • Linux.orgVirtualBox Explored (Part 1) | Linux.org

        Many people that use VirtualBox, at some point come across a problem they have not encountered before.

        In this article, I want to cover as many issues that may arise and how to fix them. This may be hum drum to some, but I’m sure there may be some tidbits in here that can be useful. The first part of the article is more basic than the second part.

      • TechRepublicHow to cluster Webmin 2.0 for easier data center administration | TechRepublic

        How many Linux servers do you administer? Chances are pretty good you’re working with considerably more servers running the open-source operating system than ever before. That can be a time-consuming task when you have to SSH into each server and run your daily admin tasks.

      • TechRepublicHow to upgrade Rocky Linux from 8.5 to 9 using the CLI | TechRepublic

        Rocky Linux has quickly become a darling of the open source industry, poised to help users and admins alike totally forget that CentOS ever lived on their servers and data centers. Rocky Linux is as fine a server OS as you’ll ever use and has all but been guaranteed that it will never go away.

        But, like all operating systems, you’re going to need to upgrade. Why? Security patches, bug fixes and new features. I realize many admins are hesitant to migrate their production servers from one release to another and that’s an understandable proposition. After all, everything is working to perfection, so why would you want to risk it? As with any operating system, with major updates come major features.

      • Borg corrupted hints file

        I've been using Borg backup for a couple of years and it has seemingly worked very well for me. One difference I really appreciate from my previous arrangement (rdiff-backup) is the freedom to move large files or file hierarchies around (including between different filesystems) without provoking large backup incrementals.

      • ID RootHow To Install NVM on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install NVM on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, NVM is a Node Version Manager tool. Using the NVM utility, you can install multiple node.js versions on a single system. Its works on any POSIX-compliant shell (sh, dash, ksh, zsh, bash), in particular on these platforms Linux, macOS, and Windows WSL.

        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 the step-by-step installation of the NVM (Node Version Manager) on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 22.04 and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS, and more as well.

      • Linux HintLinux PAM Tutorial

        Linux-PAM is a rich collection of shared modules that interactively authenticate a user to programs (or services) in a Linux system. Linux-PAM is an acronym for Pluggable Authentication Modules, which developed from the Unix-PAM design. It combines numerous low-level authentication modules with a high-level API to provide dynamic authentication for apps. Despite the underlying authentication scheme, this enables developers to create applications that require authentication. Linux-PAM (also known as “PAM”) is frequently supported by default in contemporary Linux variants.

        The most crucial thing for a system administrator to understand is how PAM configuration files provide the link between services and PAMs that carry out the actual authentication activities. You don’t need to comprehend PAM’s inner workings. PAM could significantly alter your Linux system’s security. Incorrect settings may fully or partially prohibit access to your machine.

      • Ubuntu HandbookHow to Install LXQt 1.1.0 in (L)Ubuntu 22.04 via PPA | UbuntuHandbook

        This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest LXQt desktop 1.1.0 in (L)Ubuntu 22.04 via its official PPA.

        The light LXQt desktop environment has reached version 1.1.0 for a few months, which LUbuntu 22.04 ships the 0.17 version by default.

      • Linux HintGIT Compare Two Branches

        Git is the most popular version control system. Many developers and teams use Git for their activities. One common practice when working with Git is to create branches that help create a separate working environment. With branches, you can mess around with things without affecting the other sections of the code, and at long last, you can compare your branches and then merge them. The question is, “how do you compare two branches using Git?”

      • TechRepublicHow to deploy the Malcolm network traffic analysis tool with Ubuntu Server 22.04 | TechRepublic

        Malcolm is an open-source network traffic analysis tool that uses a framework of tools to create a robust analysis tool for network admins. Malcolm accepts network traffic data in the form of PCAP (full packet capture) files and Zeek logs.

    • Games

      • VideoGames for Linux | August 2022 - Invidious

        I myself did great research on this topic of Linux games and came to you for fulfilling your thirst for a generic list of games for Linux in August 2022.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • 9to5LinuxKDE Plasma 5.25.5 Is Out as the Last Update in the Series, Improves Multi-Monitor Support

          Arriving a month after KDE Plasma 5.25.4, the KDE Plasma 5.25.5 point release is here to address more significant bugs and regressions, such as the major regression in multi-monitor support for the Plasma Wayland session that could cause screens to not display the output.

          Also in the Plasma Wayland session, KDE Plasma 5.25.5 fixes a KWin crash that occurred when dragging an attachment from the Mozilla Thunderbird email client and improves support for some apps like the GIMP image editor to no longer fail to appear in the Task Manager when it’s opened.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • SUSE/OpenSUSE

      • YaST Development Report - Chapter 8 of 2022 | YaST

        Time for another development report from the YaST Team including, as usual, much more than only YaST.

        [...]

        Over the last year or so, we got some reports about the graphical interface of YaST presenting rendering issues, specially on HiDPI displays and on openQA. The reporters provided screenshots that showed how some widgets were apparently drawn on top of the previous ones without an intermediate cleanup, so the screen ended up displaying a mixture of old and new widgets that were very hard to read.

        We were unable to reproduce the problem and we tried to involve people from different areas (like graphic drivers maintainers, virtualization experts or X11 developers) to track the problem down with no luck… until now! We finally found where the bug was hiding and hunted it down.

        See the pull request that fixes the issue if you are interested in a technical description including faulty HiDPI detection, unexpected Qt behavior and QSS style sheets oddities. It also includes a screenshot of the described (and now fixed) problem.

      • SUSE's Corporate BlogSUSE BYOS Images and the AWS Marketplace | SUSE Communities

        Recently we have had a run on Bring Your Own Subscription (BYOS) topics in the cloud, here is another.

    • Fedora Family / IBM

      • CentOSHow updates work in CentOS [Ed: IBM views CentOS as little but an upselling strategy for RHEL]

        Fedora is where day-to-day development and innovation happens. Fedora Linux releases every 6 months and each release is maintained for about 13 months. Major changes should be (and almost always are) deployed in Fedora first, following the Change process. Fedora packages sources are maintained in dist-git and built in Fedora Koji.

        At the beginning of the development cycle of a new CentOS major release (meaning, 9, 10, etc.), Fedora is branched into the new distribution. Historically, this is done from the current stable Fedora release at the branching time (e.g. Fedora 34 for CentOS Stream 9). After the distribution is branched, the development cycle for the new CentOS Stream release begins.

        Nowawadys, Fedora ELN helps prepare for the branching process by continuously rebuilding Rawhide (the development version of Fedora). This provides a view into what a new CentOS Stream could look like if it were branched from Fedora today, and ensures that the spec file logic stays compatible with the future set of EL macros and build flags at any given point in time.

      • GSoC Post 2: FlatpakKCM Update 2

        My previous post in this series tracked what I had done until the 5th week, and gave some information on the technical aspects of the project. This post covers the work done since.

        [...]

        The KCM didn’t actually work like a KCM because changing a permission on the interface would instantly change the permission in the overrides file as well, instead of sending it to a “waiting” area until the user hits “Apply” button. Similarly, the “Default” and “Reset” buttons did nothing.

        Most KCMs use a KConfig file, instead of an overrides file like being used here, to store the settings. This caused me to stall for a while since I wasn’t sure how to proceed, but after my mentors referred me to the tablets KCM, work picked up again and I proceeded to implementing the 3 buttons.

    • Debian Family

      • Debian on Phone - Experiences in the community

        Now because I was not there so my understanding and knowledge would be disadvantageously asymmetrical to Guido and others who were there and could talk and share more. Having a Debian mobile or Debian on the mobile could also make Debian more popular and connectable to the masses, one of the things that were not pointed out in the Debian India BOF sadly. At the same time, there are some facts that are not on the table and hence not thought about.

        [...]

        FWIW, while I do have GNOME and do use a couple of tools from the GNOME stack, I hate GNOME with a passion. I have been a mate user for almost a decade now and really love the simplicity that mate has vis-a-vis GNOME. And with each release, MATE has only become better. So, it would be nice if we can have MATE on the mobile phone. How ‘adaptive’ the apps might be on the smaller area, I dunno. It would be interesting to find out if and how people are looking at debugging memory leaks on mobile phones. Although finding memory leaks on any platform is good, finding them and fixing them on a mobile phone is pretty much critical as most phones have fixed & relatively small amounts of memory and it is and can get quickly exhausted.

        One of the things that were asked in the Q&A was about payments. The interesting thing is both UK and India are the same or markedly similar in regard as far as contactless payments being concerned. What most Indians have or use is basically UPI which is basically backed by your bank. Unlike in some other countries where you have a selection of wallets and even temporary/permanent virtual accounts whereby you can minimize your risks in case your mobile gets stolen or something, here we don’t have that. There are three digital wallets that I know – Paytm – Not used (have heard it’s creepy, but don’t really know), Google pay (Unfortunately, this is the one I use, they bought multiple features, and in the last couple of years have really taken the game away from Paytm but also creepy.). The last one is Samsung Pay (haven’t really used it as their find my phone app. always crashes, dunno how it is supposed to work.) But I do find that the apps. are vulnerable. Every day there is some or other news of fraud happening. Previously, only States like Bihar and Jharkhand used to be infamous for cybercrime as a hub, but now even States like Andhra Pradesh have joined and surpassed them :(. People have lost lakhs and crores, this is just a few days back. Some more info. on UPI can be found here and GitHub has a few implementation examples that anybody could look at and run away with it.

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • TechRepublicUbuntu 22.10 offers subtle changes to an already outstanding platform

        Ah, the impending smell of autumn. The crunch of leaves, the smell of pumpkin spice everything… and a new release of Ubuntu. ‘Tis the season for the .10 release of Canonical’s flagship operating system, and this time around, the name is Kinetic Kudu. On Sept. 29, 2022, the new release will be available to the masses, and although it doesn’t offer up a single feature that will blow anyone away, it does have a few nice tricks up its sleeve that are sure to please longtime fans.

      • Linux MagazineUbuntu 20.04.5 LTS Release Now Available - Linux Magazine

        The latest point release of the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS distribution is now available and sports kernel 5.15.

        As you might expect, there’s another point release available for the LTS version of Ubuntu. Although this update doesn’t include much in the way of new features, it does offer plenty of bug fixes, security patches, app updates, and kernel 5.15.

        If you’re already using Ubuntu 20.04, you can get the .5 release by way of the built-in upgrade system, which means there’s no need to do a fresh install.

        One thing to keep in mind is that 20.04 is not the latest LTS release for Canonical’s flagship operating system. That title would belong to 22.04. However, since there are still a large number of users still working with 20.04 (and since it is still supported until April 2025), Canonical continues to push upgrades.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • ArduinoMass scale with the new Arduino Cloud CLI [Ed: Arduino outsourced its 'Clown' CLI to a proprietary prison controlled by Microsoft/NSA (GithHub). Very poor decision.]

        The Arduino IoT Cloud enables makers, IoT enthusiasts and professionals to build easily connected projects based on a wide range of Arduino, ESP32 and ESP8266 boards.

        Following Arduino’s vision, it has been carefully designed to provide the most user-friendly and intuitive experience, abstracting the complex tasks that create barriers for users who are not familiar with coding.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • CollaboraOpen source machine learning at IBC 2022

      Returning for a long awaited reunion, IBC is back at the RAI in Amsterdam! The content and technology community will connect at this 4 day event, starting September 9, to gain the latest insights on empowering content. Collabora will be present to take part and share in this exciting edition for 2022. If you are planning on attending, please make sure to add booth F57 in Hall 5 to your itinerary & come say hello!

    • Web Browsers

      • Mozilla

        • Using VS Code for merges in Mercurial [Ed: Mozilla praises and promotes Microsoft's proprietary software (which also spies)]
        • MozillaThe Tech Talk [Ed: Mozilla is nowadays committed to Web censorship in the name of "protecting children" from "misinformation" (like politics that Mozilla managers don't like)]

          The internet is a great place for families. It gives us new opportunities to discover the world, connect with others and just generally make our lives easier and more colorful.

        • Firefox Nightly: These Weeks In Firefox: Issue 122
    • SaaS/Back End/Databases

      • The Register UKWhy open source databases have achieved dominance ● The Register

        For developers, there is no debate. The future of the database is open source. A glance at the 2022 Stack Overflow survey of around 70,000 code-wranglers shows nearly all pros use one of the two leading open source RDBMSes, PostgreSQL (46.5 percent) or MySQL (45.7 percent), although they use other systems as well.

        Oracle, which built a global software empire starting with an RDBMS, is only used by about 12 percent of developers, while Db2, the IBM data workhorse used by banks and global retailers, is only used by 2 percent.

        There is no question that the leading edge is open source – the people who build new systems are making it so by their choice. The question is why they are achieving dominance among devs.

        Peter Zaitsev, CEO of database consultancy Percona, was an early employee of MySQL AB under the leadership of original open source database author Michael "Monty" Widenius. To Zaitsev, it is a question of economics in the startup scene of the early Noughties.

        "If you look at Oracle and Db2, they can be very, very expensive systems. In the early 2000s, just after the dotcom era, the new generation of startups, starved of capital, needed but could not afford Oracle, Db2 or SQL Server," he says.

    • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

      • Crash fixes for LibreOffice, part 1: segfaults - LibreOffice Development Blog

        One of the bugs that we see in computer programs including LibreOffice is the crash. You’re working with the application, and suddenly the program is suddenly closed! Here we discuss the usual causes for these crashes, and how to fix some of them.

      • LibreOffice QA/Dev Report: August 2022

        LibreOffice 7.4.0 was released on August 18

        Rafael Lima added documentation in Help for the new method Normalize in ScriptForge FileSystem and made the Templates dialog work better with HiDPI displays

        Olivier Hallot (TDF) made some smaller fixes and cleanups in Help

    • Content Management Systems (CMS)

      • Kiwi TCMS 11.5

        This is a small release which contains several improvements, bug fixes and new translations!

    • GNU Projects

      • Taler"Zero-Knowledge Age Restriction for GNU Taler"

        We propose a design for a privacy-friendly method of age restriction in e-commerce that is aligned with the principle of subsidiarity. The design is presented as an extension of a privacy-friendly payment protocol with a zero-knowledge scheme that cryprographically augments coins for this purpose. Our scheme enables buyers to prove to be of sufficient age for a particular transaction without disclosing it. Our modification preserves the privacy and security properties of the payment system such as the anonymity of minors as buyers as well as unlinkability of transactions. We show how our scheme can be instantiated with ECDSA as well with a variant of EdDSA, respectively, and how it can be integrated with the GNU Taler payment system. We provide formal proofs and implementation of our proposal. Key performance measurements for various CPU architectures and implementations are presented.

    • Programming/Development

      • A story of binary search and bezier curves :: Shidao's blog

        For my GSoC project, I wanted to find the intersecting point of two arbitrary bezier curves. There are some existing algorithms for this purpose, but since it can be interesting, I decided to try to find one algorithm myself. I did some not successful research on finding it, here’s the story and what I learned.

        The bezier curves in Krita are 2 variable cubic equations, so naturally, I thought of finding the intersecting point by solving the equations of the two curves. I wrote down the equation, type them into Wolfram Mathematica and hoped MMA to give me a result. There must be some performance regression between MMA 11 and MMA 13. The MMA 13 I’m using stuck there and never gave any result. I had to ask my friend who’s still on MMA 11 to calculate it.

        Yes, though I have more or less thought that the general solution of the equation would be complicated, however, when I saw my friend sending me a 1.1M picture of the result, I knew the actual result was way wilder than I expected. (You may view this picture on a new page to see how big it is.)

      • GNUGNU C Language Intro and Reference Manual

        This is to announce release of the GNU C Language Intro and Reference Manual. See https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=c-intro-and-ref.

        This manual is intended for learning the C language, if you know how to program in some other language. It is also a reference manual for GNU C.

      • VideoFriendship with iostream ENDED fmt is my best friend now! - Invidious

        The fmt library is an awesome C++ library for printing and formatting text. I highly recommend using it in your projects. For more information about this library and to read the documentation

  • Leftovers

    • Pseudo-Open Source

      • Openwashing/Microsoft Pushers

        • OSI BlogEpisode 4: Building creative restrictions to curb AI abuse [Ed: OSI is at it again, and some people promote Microsoft's proprietary software at the expense of better stuff that's Free/libre; OSI's podcasts are still full of Microsofters and Microsoft talking points; OSI has been thoroughly corrupted since taking bribes from Microsoft; it nowadays promotes proprietary lock-in and abets GPL violations. OSI is so incredibly corrupt that just like insecure despots it's working to censor critics and even works to deplatform critics]

          He’s conducted his research at Intel Labs, Microsoft and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

        • TechRepublicHow to deploy a Docker Container with VS Code [Ed: Jack Wallen helps Microsoft spread that lie that "VS Code is one of the most popular open-source IDEs" when it is in fact proprietary software and spyware (many reject it; popularity as a self-fulfilling prophecy/PR tactic?); ZDNet and this sister site are paid by Microsoft to keep pushing such lies. Jack Wallen used to write for Linux.com before Jim Zemlin and other Microsoft charlatans sacked him.]
    • Security

      • Open Source Security (Audio Show)Why has software supply chain security exploded? - Open Source Security [Ed: SBOM is not a solution but a product pushed by FOSS-hostile entities through imposters at the 'Linux' Foundation]

        I take a bike ride every morning, it’s a nice way to think about topics of the day. I’ve been wondering lately why software supply chain security has exploded in popularity in the last year or so. Nothing happens by accident, so there must be some series of events we can point at that has led to everyone suddenly making this a priority. Software supply chain security is not new, I’ve been doing it since about 2002 when I was helping track and coordinate security vulnerabilities in Linux distributions. We didn’t call it a supply chain back then, and nobody really paid attention to it. So what changed between then and now?

      • Dark ReadingDefenders Be Prepared: Cyberattacks Surge Against Linux Amid Cloud Migration [Ed: Conflating attacks with actual compromise. Typical Microsoft nonsense.]
      • CISACISA Releases Five Industrial Control Systems Advisories | CISA [Ed: Some of these are CISAWindows issues, but CISA goes out of its way not to name the culprit]

        CISA has released five Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories on September 06, 2022. These advisories provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits surrounding ICS.

      • USCERT#StopRansomware: Vice Society [Ed: Stop using Microsoft Windows; Windows is the king of ransomware.]

        CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), #StopRansomware: Vice Society, to disseminate tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with Vice Society actors identified through FBI investigations as recently as September 2022.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • Internet Freedom FoundationSC directs States to take action against pending 66A cases

        The Supreme Court (SC) heard the People’s Union of Civil Liberties’ (PUCL) Application seeking directions to ensure that authorities do not prosecute individuals under S.66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000), considering the SC has struck down S.66A as unconstitutional in Shreya Singhal v Union of India & Ors., (2015) 5 SCC 1. Since the last date of hearing, 12 High Courts, 10 States and 1 Union Territory (UT) replied to the Application and several of them admitted that S. 66A cases were still pending in their jurisdiction. Today, after hearing submissions from counsels, SC directed Advocate Zoheb Hossain, the counsel for the Union of India, to write to States where S.66A cases are pending, on behalf of the Supreme Court of India, and impress upon them the need to take remedial measures. Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh represented PUCL and IFF provided legal assistance.

      • Linux HandbookLHB Linux Digest #22.10: Linux Server Security, Know Your System and More

        Unfortunately, I'll have to start this month's newsletter with sad news. The co-creator of Let's Encrypt, Peter Eckersley, lost his battle with cancer at the age of 43. He was also the director of computer science at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and has worked on Certbot, Privacy Badger, HTTPS Everywhere and many other privacy-related projects. RIP, Peter.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Confusion on Interacting

        This is a community of writers, I can tell. While I would like to say that I am a writer as well, admittedly, I write a lot faster than most. I started writing when I started roleplaying, and I've gotten in the habit of quickly writing things down then eagerly awaiting responses. That can be alright, in an environment such as that, but here everyone types elegantly and verbosely, and I feel a bit out of place. I can write detailed and powerful, but I just don't always do that, always aiming for a weird combination of humor and seriousness when writing.

      • Re: Confusion on Interacting

        To answer your question impulse, I think you should write whatever you feel like writing, be it short or long.

        I get your apprehension though. I definitely felt overwhelmed by all the technical posts here initially. I know considerably less than most people on here about programming and general tech stuff, so I felt a bit out of place when it came to the drivel I personally felt like writing.

        [...]

        For me the draw of Gemini is in it's ease of use and the fact that you're free to write long or short pieces.

      • BENOSWY Wordo: POOLS

* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



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The Register MS Published a Ponzi Scheme-Boosting Fake Article This Morning. It Mentions "AI" 30 Times.
Will credibility be left after the bubble pops entirely?
They Try to Ruin Linux, Too ("Attestation" in GNU/Linux)
In the context of Web browsers, this isn't unprecedented and we wrote a lot about it
Mozzarella Company: All Our Cheese Comes With Mold Now, But You Can Ask the Seller to Remove the Mold
If you reject and oppose slop, do not download/use Firefox
Stallman Was Right About Back Doors
I had some conversations with Dr. Stallman about security and back doors
Australian Signals Directorate ex-employee sold back doors to Russia
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
IBM Debt-Loading and Liability (Toxic Asset) Offloading
One can hope that IBM will be subjected to the same attention Kyndryl received, but this boils down to politics
Links 25/02/2026: 'Hybrid Warfare' and "Boycott the State of the Union"
Links for the day
IBM (and Red Hat) Can Disappear in the Coming Years, Along With Kyndryl (Debt Twice as Big as Its 'Worth')
No wonder Red Hat workers tell us they hate IBM
Software Freedom is Science, But It Also Sustains Life
In some sense, Software Freedom can be explained in the context of nourishing people
“Xbox, like a lot of businesses that aren’t the core AI business, is being sunsetted."
There has been a lot of narrative control lately, including at 9PM on a Friday
3,300 Capsules Known to Lupa and Currently Accessible
Gemini Protocol turns 7 this summer
When it Comes to Firmware, the FSF and Its Founder RMS Won the Argument (But Not the Fight, Yet)
The "whataboutism" tactics are physiological manipulation means of discouraging those who move in the correct direction
Austria Tackles Digital Weapon Disguised as "Social" and/or "Media"
Are we seeing the end days of Social Control Media?
Nothing Over the Horizon for XBox
XBox is not even being sold in many places anymore
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Contradicting Itself: You Can Use Slop to Cheat Clients, But You Can Also Face Disciplinary Actions Over Slop
Where does the SRA stand on the matter?
In Praise of Eben Moglen
Hopefully Professor Moglen will be with us for many decades to come and become an active speaker on issues such as Software Freedom
Sunsetting IBM (for the Benefit of Few Corrupt Officials and Wall Street Speculators)
IBM will not (and cannot) survive for much longer [...] The issue is bad leadership, not any particular nationality/race
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 24, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Gemini Links 25/02/2026: Rise of Solar in 2025 and Smallnet Protocols
Links for the day
HR Blunder at IBM or IBM Struggling With Money?
Weird for such an allegedly rich company to be so stingy
Gemini Links 24/02/2026: x86 Computer In-Browser and Administration
Links for the day
Envy is the #1 Enemy of Richard Stallman
Whenever you see someone mocking Richard Stallman, ask yourself: does this person have a reason to be jealous of Richard Stallman?
Life is Sweeter When Less Means More
People need to think "small", not "big" (as in capital)
Championing a Cause
Probably over 100 million GNU/Linux users on laptops/desktops
Balmoral rape cult & Debian suicide cluster indifference, community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Can Much Longer Can the Financial 'Press' (Pump-n-Dump Megaphone) Cheer for IBM's Accounting Enigma?
IBM has fallen almost 25%
Religious or Not, Consider Quitting Social Control Networks (All of Them) This Season
Lent is a good time to quit addiction such as social control media
Liberating the Self From the Invisible Prison of Plutocrats-Controlled Media and Social Control Media
Can you always see the full picture or does something (someone powerful) obstruct it?
Links 24/02/2026: Drug Cartel Decapitated, Jeffrey Epstein-Connected 'Linux' Foundation Promotes Slop and Buzzwords at MWC Barcelona 2026
Links for the day
2023: Layoffs Are Because of "AI". 2024: Shares Up Owing to "AI". 2025: Shares Recently Fell Due to "AI". 2026 Forbes (Paid by IBM): Shares Falling is Good!
"AI" is smoke and mirrors
Bitcoin: Code of Conduct stifled open source concerns
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Slop Boosters and 'Hype Agents' Render Themselves Irrelevant and the General Public Becomes Incredulous Due to "Bros Who Cry Wolf!"
It won't age well
"Half-baked Vibe Code Shipped Full of Errors"
Seems timely after our latest article
IBM Did Not Fall Because of COBOL Vapourware, IBM Still Collapses Because It's Worthless, Way Overvalued, and Very Likely Cooks the Books
language-to-language conversion (in the context of programming) is nothing new
Links 24/02/2026: Copyright Litigation Over Anne Frank’s Diary, "Arrogance of Developers"
Links for the day
Another New Low for Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA): Authorising Slop Disguised as "Legal Advice"
SRA is a lapdog - not a watchdog - of the "litigation industry"
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part IV - "Many Jobs Were Given to Spanish Employees for No Related Skills At All"
The EPO's fate might be similar to that of the XBox
Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Hardware Tinkering and Slop Bots Attacking the "Small Web"
Links for the day
Quitting Reddit (Social Control Media Controlled by Conde Nast)
There is a new post in Reddit
IBM is the World Champion at Layoffs and There Are Reportedly More Layoffs in IBM This Month (EU)
IBM fired 60,000 in 1993
Free Software is for Everyone
Young and old, rich and poor etc.
Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Voltage Divider on Slide Rule and Many Raspberry Pi Projects
Links for the day
Links 24/02/2026: Telephone Turns 150, Political News Catchup, and Rearmament
Links for the day
Asha Sharma "a Palliative Care Doctor Who Slides Xbox Gently Into the Night"
2026 will probably be the last year of XBox
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 23, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, February 23, 2026
Probably IBM's Worst Day in Wall Street in Well Over a Decade
They try to blame some Anthropic slop, but that's just a distraction from IBM having nothing to offer
The Monday After the 9PM-on-Friday Prepared Puff Pieces-Under-Embargo Microsoft Strategy for XBox Collapse
There are more layoffs ahead at Microsoft's XBox
Kyndryl Also in a Freefall Today, James Kavanaugh's Accounting Skills Seem to be Based on Pumping and Dumping
What is the real value of Kyndryl when its debt is about twice its alleged "worth"?
Not Much Left to "Pump" in This Slop Bubble
let's hope that by the end of the year the whole bubble fully implodes
IBM Common Stock Crashes Hard (Almost $100 Below the Levels of February's Beginning)
Another Kyndryl?
Links 23/02/2026: Withdrawal From Slop and Ukraine Invasion Enters Fifth Year
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/02/2026: Moving to Gentoo, Wake-on-LAN Script
Links for the day
Kyndryl Fell by About 50% in One Day, IBM Fell 23% in 20 Days
the IBM Titanic
Security and blobs, by Alex Oliva (GNU Linux-Libre)
Reprinted with permission from Alex Oliva
Trusting the Evil Maids
Don't listen to liars and frauds
Aaron Swartz Has Already Explained What Reddit/Conde Nast Meant to Him and Why We Should All Avoid Reddit If We Value Software Freedom
Aaron Swartz did not start Reddit
Valnet's Good Legacy of GNU/Linux Advocacy in Journalism Form
Let's hope they carry on like this
Techrights Thanks Every Single EPO Worker Who Went on Strike Today
We have so much in common
Coders and Thinkers
I used to be a hyper-productive coder; these days I do more thinking and writing
Slop (So-called 'genAI') is Not a Skill, Slop Gets You Suspended or Even Sacked, It Can Eventually End Your Career
Benj Edwards, a so-called 'Senior' so-called 'AI' so-called 'Reporter'
There is No Such Thing as "AI Skills", "AI Competency", "AI Fluency" Etc.
Slop does not give anybody an advantage
EPO Staff Union: The Strike Actions and Other Industrial Actions "Have Already Delivered Measurable Gains."
SUEPO Munich has just issued a statement to staff
Links 23/02/2026: "What Boston Will Cost Me" and Women as Hostages
Links for the day
IRC Usage Levels Seem to be Rebounding This Year
it looks like the total count (tally) of users increased a lot lately
Microsoft Tricked the Media Into Lying About Microsoft Layoffs in January. Now It Does the Same (in February).
Microsoft has got the media by the wallet (or balls)
Free Software Projects Become Slow Due to Slop
It does not improve efficiency or productivity, it reduces both
EPO Strike Has Begun (or Resumed)
The EPO status quo is untenable
Links 23/02/2026: US Surrenders to Climate Change (to Benefit Oil Companies and Slop), UK Court of Appeal to Hear Mazur
Links for the day
GAFAM Jobs No Longer Lucrative
Those days are long gone
Based on Insider Leaks, Asha Sharma's Job is to Kill XBox While Talking About "AI"
They cite SneakerSO
Germans Recognise the Contagion is Digital, Not Racial
How to dismantle or neutralise those weapons? Turn them off
Free Software (or Software Freedom) Ain't No Religion
It's hardly surprising that some of the loudest opponents of Software Freedom and its luminaries also disregard or bend facts
Dr. Andy Farnell Explains Why the Slop Industry is Like Trespassers and Thieves
interesting new article about robots.txt files
The Demise of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Profession Based Around Bullying With SLAPPs and Empty Threats
For press to survive and thrive in the UK we need the hired gun to be submerged
Linux Kernel 7.0 Release Candidate Comes Out, Stallman Turns 73 in Three Weeks
It predates Microsoft and Apple
In Greenland, Firefox's Gecko and KHTML (KDE, But Bastardised by Apple) Bigger Than Chrome
Are those Danes recognising the risk of monoculture?
Gemini Links 23/02/2026: Imperfect Journal, Evil, and "Progress Goes Boing!"
Links for the day
“Power is a Thing of Perception. They Don't Need to be Able to Kill You. They Just Need You to Think They are Able to Kill You” ― Julian Assange
When leadership becomes corrupt enough to lose a sense of authority its days are numbered; it'll be replaced
IBM Has Already Admitted 2026 Mass Layoffs (in 4Q Earnings Call)
We showed this earlier this month, but some people bring that up again
Reasons to Go on Strike in the European Patent Office (EPO)
If you live in Europe and don't work for the EPO, you can still help
First speech of Chanellor Hitler, Andreas Tille & Debian denounce Branden Robinson
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 22, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, February 22, 2026