09.12.22

Gemini version available ♊︎

Links 12/09/2022: New in KDE Plasma 5.26, Istio Has New Releases

Posted in News Roundup at 8:23 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • WCCF TechAMD Utilizes User-Space Hinting To Achieve Faster EPYC CPU Performance in Linux

        Before the Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC) session, to be held next week in Dublin, Ireland, AMD will be conducting a seminar on improving the scheduler for split last-level cache, or LLC, architectures. K. Prateek Nayak, an engineer of the Linux server team for AMD, published a patch series focusing on counting user-space hinting at task placement. This new development displays AMD’s intent to improve the Linux kernel’s scheduler for split-LLC CPU plans to aid their EPYC server processors.

    • Applications

      • Make Use Of3 Ways to Screenshot Right-Click Context Menus on Linux

        There are many easy-to-use screenshot utilities for Linux, but most of them fail to capture context menus and tooltips if not configured properly.

        If you take a lot of screenshots on your computer, there are several tools that can help you do it effectively. However, most of these screenshot tools don’t allow you to screenshot right-click menus in Linux.

        As such, if you need to take screenshots of right-click/context menus on your computer—perhaps to help someone troubleshoot an issue with their system—you have to look toward other methods.

        If you use Ubuntu, there are a few different ways to do this on your computer. Follow along as we check out these methods to screenshot right-click menus in Linux.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Linux Made SimpleHow to install Sonic Battle Rematch on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install Sonic Battle Rematch 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.

      • VideoHow to install Visual Studio Code on Pop!_OS 22.04 – Invidious [Ed: Or don't. It's proprietary software that Microsoft uses for spying.]
      • Linux HintHow to List Installed Packages in Ubuntu 22.04

        A “package” is a compressed file archive containing all the files that come with a particular application. Several examples of packages are .tgz, .deb, and .rpm.
        Today, we will explore how to display the list of all the packages installed on our system. To do that, we have presented three different methods. We have used Ubuntu 22.04 to demonstrate the procedure. We will run easy-to-follow Linux commands on Ubuntu’s command line (Terminal) to list the packages.

        Without any further ado, let’s get started!

      • Linux HintHow to Open a File With Nano Editor in Linux?

        GNU nano is a text editor for Unix-like computing systems or operating environments using a command line interface.

      • Linux HintMySQL JSON Data Type

        You may have often heard about the type of clothes or food a person may like. Just like that, the value in a variable can be of a different type. These types define the class of a variable and to which category it belongs and which operations can be used on them. For a programmer or developer, it’s very common to use many data types every day while coding. Within databases like MySQL database, MySQL works so well with many data types as its open source platform. Our topic is to cover the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) datatype in databases without adding complex examples and unnecessary details. Therefore, you have to log in from your Linux system and open its terminal application further.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • DebugPointKDE Plasma 5.26: Top New Features and Release Details

          KDE Plasma 5.26 is about improving the desktop experience, a huge set of bug fixes and some very nice, much-needed changes.

          The majority of the changes in this release revolve around desktop customizations. However, a vast amount of under-the-hood bug fixes and cleanup is a welcome change for the stability of the desktop. This release is based on Qt 5.15.2 and KDE Framework 5.98.

          The most iconic changes are animated wallpaper, resizable kick-off menu, tray widgets and Discover updates related to Flatpak.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • ZDNetLooking to switch to Linux from Windows? The Feren OS Transfer Tool makes it easy | ZDNET

      Feren OS is a version of the Linux operating system that leans heavily into the KDE Plasma desktop with plenty of tweaks, such as substituting the Nemo file manager in place of Dolphin, to make it as elegant as it is user-friendly.

      I’ve already reviewed Feren OS, but there’s a tool within the desktop distribution that focuses specifically on Windows users to help them make the migration. That is what I want to highlight here.

      [...]

      Anyone looking to adopt Linux as their daily operating system would be remiss if they didn’t at least give Feren OS a try.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Programming/Development

  • Leftovers

    • Proprietary

      • IT WireiTWire – VMware pays fine to settle SEC charge of misleading investors

        Multi-cloud services provider VMware has paid a fine of US$8 million (A$11.6 million) following a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over a charge of misleading investors about its order backlog management practices.

        In a statement issued on Monday, the SEC said these practices meant the company could “push revenue into future quarters by delaying product deliveries to customers, concealing the company’s slowing performance relative to its projections”.

        It found that these practices had begun in fiscal 2019. “VMware began delaying the delivery of licence keys on some sales orders until just after quarter-end so that it could recognise revenue from the corresponding licence sales in the following quarter,” the SEC said.

      • John GruberDiffusion Bee 1.0: Easy to Install Stable Diffusion for Apple Silicon Macs [Ed: Apple easy to use? No!]

        It’s been a bit tricky to get running on Apple Silicon Macs, because (among other factors) the Python situation is complex.

      • IT WireiTWire – Apple fixes 10 bugs including two zero-days under exploit

        Apple has released fixes for 10 bugs in macOS Big Sur, including two zero-days that are being exploited in the wild.

        Both the zero-days, CVE-2022-32894 and CVE-2022-32917, were attributed to an anonymous researcher and affect the kernel of the operating system.

        Apple offered no details about these issues, merely saying, “An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.”

    • Linux Foundation

    • Security

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

    • Environment

      • [Older] Teachers’ Forum Condemns NCERT’s Decision to Remove Chapters on Climate Change | NewsClick

        After widespread outrage, a teacher’s forum has also stepped in to criticise NCERT for removing crucial chapters concerning climate and weather change from students’ syllabus and has urged a rethink on the issue and reintroduction of the chapters.

        In a statement released recently, Teachers Against Climate Crisis (TACC) highlighted said chapters on the greenhouse effect, weather, climate and popular environment movements from syllabi for classes 6th to 12th were crucial and should not have been removed.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • AccessNowGlobal Leaders of Digital Human Rights: Marianne Díaz Hernández recognized as international changemaker – Access Now

        Access Now is proud of Marianne Díaz Hernández, #WhyID Campaigner at Access Now, and her global recognition as one of Ouano Foundation’s 2022 Global Leaders of Digital Human Rights.

        “At Access Now, we’re well aware of the significance of Marianne Díaz Hernández’s work in fighting for the rights of people and communities impacted by technology and digital agendas, and we are overjoyed to see her tireless efforts acknowledged on a global scale,” said Carolyn Tackett, Campaigns and Rapid Response Director at Access Now. “We look forward to learning more from this gathering of global leaders, including Marianne, Access Now board members Arzu Geybulla and Nanjala Nyabola, and many others who have been at the heart of our movement for a more rights-respecting digital future.”

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Like Riding a Bike

        I started playing squash again after a five-year break. It wasn’t a voluntary break by any means, just weird life stuff I suppose. Regardless, I got a membership with the local community centre and booked my first court in ages.

        Going into it I knew my stamina was going to be really bad. I’m relatively active, but squash always kicks my ass when I’m returning to it after a while. It probably has to do with the short, intense bursts of movement that get me. However, knowing it had been years since I last picked up a racket, I was really worried my skills would be almost gone.

    • Technical

      • Internet/Gemini

        • My Favourites page from Kristall

          I just published a page on this capsule to list my favourites from Kristall (Gemini Browser). There are some interesting stuff there that you could use as a starting point on your Gemini voyage. :)

      • Programming

        • Real life examples of bad upstream packaging

          The debate between upstream and downstream packaging rages on, especially as of late. I thought I’d express some frustration at some third party repositories I’ve tried to install lately and what went wrong.

          [...]

          Fedora has strict packaging guidelines on what’s allowed in the base repositories. Usually this may be due to patenting issues, but security and quality is another issue. Fedora makes no guarantees about the security or quality of third party repositories. Examples are COPR and RPMFusion. COPR is a build service similar to openSUSE’s Open Build System while RPMFusion works closely with Fedora to provide packages that cannot land in Fedora itself.

          However, increasingly as of late, developers have opted to take over packaging of their own software themselves. Many people argue that this is a good thing as it cuts out the middleman. After all, developers would know their own software best, updates can be delivered faster and it’s better for security right? However, there are some downsides to this approach that I will detail below.


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