FOSS News Big Show 5
FOSS News 5 – Big Show
Distro News
Ubuntu PSA
Debian Bookworm Released
Ultramarine Linux
Freedom Consultation
openSUSE 15.543,254
FOSS News
postmarketOS 23.06
OnlyOffice 7.4 Out
Degoogled
Linux Founder Opinionated (not really news)
FOSS Fun
Big Steam Client Updates
AMD Moving Toward FOSS
Freed Computer/ Free Your PC
Better Wayland Support for NVIDIA
#FOSSNews #Linuxnews #Linux #Distros #releaseenws #torvalds #libertarian #steam #AMD #NVIDIA #TechFreedom
FOSS News, Linux, FOOS releases, Torvalds a “wokist”, talk, FOSS Fun, Tech Freedom
DN 1: Ubuntu Update PSA
Kinetic Kudu support ending July 20. Upgrade your systems now to Lunar Lobster, if you want to continue receiving security updates. That is all.
https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-22-10-kinetic-kudu-to-reach-end-of-life-on-july-20th-2023
DN 2: Debian Bookworm Out Now
Lots of big things in this major update, which will be supported until December of 2028. The biggest of which is that they are adding new non-free repositories to the default mix: non-free-firmware is the newest and most important of these, as it contains things like NVIDIA and Broadcom drivers which many of us need in order to easily get our systems running properly. It will ship with the latest LTS kernel (but you can always choose to install a different, newer kernel if you need to), APFS support (huge), ntfs2btrfs (to easily convert NTFS drives to BTRFS), a new malloc implementation developed by Microsoft (yikes)(malloc stands for Memory Allocation), and many other things, such as: secure boot functionality on ARM with UEFI support, a new shiny-server package to simplify scientific web apps using the R language, and an update to GCC 12.2. They have also created all-new artwork, called Emerald. Aside from that, they have over 64,400 packages in the Debian repos, nearly 11,100 new packages were added, about 43,250 were updated, and close to 6,300 were removed. That is a crazy string of stats, but that is what you get with Debian, as it is the daddy of the 800 lb gorilla, Ubuntu, and the granddaddy of distros like Pop!OS and Mint. It is the most commonly used server distro as well. Beware if you are dual-boot kind of person, as they have deprecated os-prober to check for other OSes present on a system. You will need to use dpkg-reconfigure in order to tell GRUB that you have another OS on the system after you get set up with Bookworm.
It is available as live images with KDE Plasma 5.27 LTS, GNOME 43, Xfce 4.18, Cinnamon 5.6, MATE 1.26, LXDE 11, and LXQt 1.2.0 (but these are only available for 64-bit systems).
Debian is not sexy, but it generally just works and is simply stable, perfect for production environments and servers. You can download it here: https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/12.0.0/
https://9to5linux.com/debian-12-bookworm-officially-released-heres-whats-new
Freedom Consultation
Free call.
60-90 minutes.
Q&A
Leave with Actionable Steps to take, whether you work with me or not.
Schedule today.
https://techfreedom.pro/freedom-consultation
#distromonday #freedom #consultation #Linux #degoogleyourlife #TechFreedom
DN 3: Ultramarine Linux
What is that? It is Fedora with some tweaks: the Pop!OS system scheduler (however this is only fully implemented in the GNOME flavor). It comes in KDE, GNOME, Budgie, and Pantheon flavors, by the way. Its primary version is Budgie, though. You might like Budgie, but it’s not my cuppa tea. This one is vaguely interesting to me because it is a slight Frankenstein’s monster of Linux distros; with elements from Fedora (most of the core), Pop!OS (system scheduler), and even Solus (its flagship desktop). If you want to check it out, you can do so by downloading it from their site: https://ultramarine-linux.org/download/.
https://9to5linux.com/ultramarine-linux-38-launches-with-system76s-scheduler-based-on-fedora-38
DN 4: openSUSE Leap 15.5
This is the point-release version of openSUSE Tumbleweed, and is a bit of an odd duck, really. It is apparently a favorite of system admins and developers, but I fail to see why with the way it seems cobbled together in a more odd way than most distributions are. Connor used Tumbleweed for about a month or so, and enjoyed it, but then got majorly turned off when he noticed the way systemd worked in that distro. So here are some of the highlights: KDE 5.27, added default repositories for OpenH264 video codecs, VIM 9.0, Fully functional Python 3.11 stack, in parallel to the system Python (python36), Improvements to the Kate text editor, Fixes for crashes on Kdenlive, Qt 5.15 LTS netavark 1.5.0, Flatpak 1.14.4, fwupd 1.8.6, Ugrep 3.11.0, Network Manager 1.38.6, Mozilla Firefox 102.9.0, and Thunderbird 102.8.0.
You can peruse the release notes here: https://en.opensuse.org/Release_announcement_15.5?ref=news.itsfoss.com
Or download the latest here: https://get.opensuse.org/leap/15.5/?ref=news.itsfoss.com
Or read the article this piece is based on here: https://news.itsfoss.com/opensuse-15-5-leap/
FN 1: A Glance at Linux Mobile
In the last couple of weeks, we have seen both a new Mobian and a new postmarketOS release, both of which look to be excellent. Each one target different aspects, and approach the problems in keeping with their respective root distros: Debian and Alpine, respectively. Mobian released a new stable version based on Bookworm, just as it was released for the rest of us. It seems to promise more package stability than a slightly more rolling style release like Alpine. Bookworm sounds like an excellent base for Mobian, as the developers feel that it is the first one that is really mobile-friendly. That is something, y’all. Mobian sounds like a very sensible option, but as with Debian, if something just doesn’t work in that release, you’re kinda stuck until the next major update. On the other hand, if it just works for you, and that is what you need, then Mobian may be a good option for you. Take a look at Mobian here: https://blog.mobian.org/posts/2023/06/10/bookworm/
PostmarketOS, with its Alpine base, is systemd-free, and has a stable release roughly biennially along with Alpine. It is tiny on its own, and supports most if not all of the major, functional mobile DE options: Phosh, Plasma Mobile, GNOME Mobile Shell 44, and Sxmo. I am pretty excited about GNOME Mobile, if I’m honest. I don’t think that KDE is suited well for touch screens, as much as it pains me to admit. Glance at postmarketOS here: https://postmarketos.org/
Capyloon (FirefoxOS descendant), PureOS, and the Manjaro Mobile flavors have all each had releases as well. PureOS is based on Bookworm, but has some special sauce baked in for the Librem 5 to work as well as it does. Take a look here: https://capyloon.org/releases.html#jun-09-2023
Manjaro Mobile is still in beta for both the Plasma and Phosh flavorings. Check out the Phosh one here: https://github.com/manjaro-pinephone/phosh/releases and the Plasma flavor here: https://github.com/manjaro-pinephone/plasma-mobile/releases
Capyloon is built on top of Mobian, but functions a bit like ChromeOS, only with a Firefox base. This release introduces a feature called Web Tiles to replace classical web apps, and here are the highlights about them:
- Immutable: a Tile is a bundle of resources identified using content addressing. Our current implementation uses a tile:// protocol which is similar to the ipfs:// one.
- Safe by default: a tile can’t fetch foreign content. This is enforced by a default CSP applied to all tile:// url loads.
- Powerful: because they can’t leak data to external parties, tiles can be granted access to what are usually considered “dangerous” APIs.
- Installable and usable offline: being content addressed and local-only, tiles are naturally suited for offline use.
- Composable: being installed, tiles can register Web Activities like other installed Capyloon apps. This make them ideal candidates to bridge the Http web with new capabilities.
Capyloon also now has prebuilt images for both the Pinephone Pro and the Librem 5. Check out Capyloon here: https://capyloon.org/releases.html#jun-09-2023
https://linmob.net/weekly-update-23-2023/
https://9to5linux.com/postmarketos-23-06-arrives-for-linux-phones-and-tablets-with-gnome-mobile
FN 2: OnlyOffice 7.4 Out Now
I use this office suite myself, these days. I find Libre Office a bit cludgy, but wish that OnlyOffice had more tweakability at the same time, though. The overall approaches seem to be analogous to GNOME vs KDE, where GNOME is functional, but you have to learn it more or less as-is (barring extensions and the like) [that is OnlyOffice], and KDE is functional but exposes all of the possible levers and knobs and can be a bit awkward sometimes because of it [Libre Office]. So what are some highlights with this update?
- Drawing Support
- Is what it sounds like, you get to draw in your documents now, if you have a touchscreen device
- Save Docs/Sheets as Images
- Save as either jpg or png, to make sharing docs easier via social media.
- Plugins Upgrade
- Unlimited windows… Not helpful to me, but perhaps to some
- Spreadsheet Improvements
- Various chart improvements, as well as editing protection built right in
- Radar Charts
- New type of chart, might be easier to use than some others, particularly for multivariate datasets
- Combine Documents
- Merge two document versions into one, with tracked changes being carried over which you can either accept or reject at will.
- Save Objects as Pictures
- Save charts and other objects as pictures with transparent backgrounds
- And more
https://news.itsfoss.com/onlyoffice-7-4-release/
Tech Freedom Freed Phones
Google Pixel 5+ device with Graphene OS and all you need in order to pick it up and use your phone more privately.
https://techfreedom.pro/degoogled/
#degoogleyourlife #grapheneOS #privacy #security #TechFreedom
FN 3: Linus Torvalds Not a Conservative (duh)
Ok, so I know that many people who watch my content are conservatives, and it may shock you that the man behind the OS I champion is anything but conservative in his social and political stances. He railed against the NYT for having a poor web experience and requiring people to call in to cancel, then someone commented about woke communist ideologies, and Linus went OFF. He has always been very opinionated, and had this almost autistic bluntness about him. Let’s take a look at the exchange:
Well, Mr. Torvalds minces few words here, huh? Let’s face it, he has chosen to not work in the context of most of the software development world because he has a distaste for capitalism and the greed implied by it. He has done this for 30+ years. That sounds pretty communistic to me. He also sounds like a man who has a very loose morality, other than in that regard. He is a nerd without God, so why would he have issues with any of the moral failings he mentioned in his tirade, here? If there is no God, then abortion is and should be a matter of the woman’s choice, similar to LGBT+ demonizations. As for guns in America, I have to wonder who qualifies as “a moron with a pulse” in his book. All in all, this feels fairly anarchical, other than the need for a strong gov’t to handle the gun licensure issues he sees. Not the point of highlighting this exchange, though. I knew that Linus was not a conservative, and I don’t need him to be. As long as he stays all about freedom within reason, I will continue to use and encourage others to use the OS that he has created the kernel for for 32 years now.
https://news.itsfoss.com/linus-torvalds-woke-communists/
How to install GrapheneOS on a Pixel phone:
https://rumble.com/v179s8e-how-to-degoogle-your-pixel-3-xl-with-grapheneos.html?mref=2jfr3&mc=anr3y
#TechFreedom #techtips #howto #tutorial #Truth
How to install GrapheneOS on a Pixel phone:
https://tv.gab.com/channel/tech_freedom/view/how-to-degoogle-your-pixel-3xl-629bcda174999572f23b5032
#definitionsthursday #TechFreedom #techtips #howto #tutorial
FOSS Fun
FF 1 – Steam Client Update for Linux
Lots of really good stuff here, though I hardly remember the Steam interface at this point… I never play games that need Steam these days. At least not until some major things change in our lives. Let’s talk highlights, shall we?
- Refreshed UI Design
- Enable client hardware acceleration
- Caveats: not on NVIDIA GPUs, as it can cause x11 to crash
- New Compatibility tab to make switching versions of Proton and WINE easier
- Improved flatpak app support
- Better KDE support
- Uses global scaling factor to determine what the scaling should be for Steam
- New game overview panel in the in-game overlay
- And more
Sounds like good stuff for Linux gamers, here.
https://9to5linux.com/steam-client-now-lets-you-enable-hardware-acceleration-on-linux
FF 2 – NVIDIA Drivers: Now With Better Wayland Support
NVIDIA has released the 535.54.03 driver which should help your system do wayland better, thanks to the updated linux-dmabuf Wayland protocol. Also helps out those with AMD integrated GPUs (Ryzen laptops with NVIDIA GPUs in them) by fixing a bug in PRIME render offloading which essentially broke the feature. Also enables Extended Dynamic Boost support on AMD-powered laptops with older Renoir and Cezanne chipsets, suspend/resume support when using GSP firmware, as well as the ability to sync a Quadro Sync II graphics card to different House Sync signal rates. If you want a list of further changes, take a look at: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/06/nvidia-driver-535-54-03-stable-linux/
Otherwise, take a look at: https://9to5linux.com/nvidia-535-54-03-linux-graphics-driver-released-with-better-wayland-support
Sounds like we should be getting better Wayland support and a whole host of other bugs squashed in this updated driver release. All good.
Freed Computer
https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/
https://techfreedom.pro/free-your-pc
#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth
FF 3 – AMD Moving Toward Open Source with Open Arms
I think I mentioned this development when it was first announced a couple of months back. I am all for this. Intel needs to take notes. This is the future, boys & girls. AMD is committing further to migrating from AGESA (their proprietary firmware for their CPUs) to openSIL. They have now released their first proof of concept to GitHub for the community to pick through and improve. The goal at the moment, is to implement openSIL over AGESA sometime in 2026, so we are a few years out still. This process means that at the end of it, AMD should be more secure than Intel, as if they go full-open source, here, we won’t have any IME type nonsense in AMD chips anymore. That excites me. No more firmware backdoors… Doesn’t mean that there won’t still be silicon-level back doors, though. One step at a time, Matt.
What Do You Need to Know about Tech Freedom?
https://rumble.com/v19elx6-10-things-about-tech-freedom.html?mref=2jfr3&mc=anr3y
#TechFreedom #top10 #explainer #wifeysauce