FOSS News Big Show 6
Big Show 6
Distro News
- Nitrux Updating
- New Linux Mint Beta
- Freedom Consultation
- RedHat Locks Down RHEL Stream Source Code
#distronews #TechFreedom #FOSSNews #NUTS #LinuxMint #RedHat
Distro News, Tech Freedom, FOSS News, NUTS, Linux Mint, Red Hat
FOSS News
- OBS Studio Update
- 4 Best Google Docs Alternatives
- Degoogled
- KDE 5.27.6
#FOSSNews #OBS #nomoregoogle #kdeupdates #TechFreedom
FOSS News, OBS update, Top 4 Google Docs Alts, KDE update, Tech Freedom
FOSS Fun
- Xonotic Update
- SDL 2.28 Released
- Freedom Overhaul
- DREAMM, Now with Linux Support
#FOSSFun #xonotic #sdl #dreamm #TechFreedom #FOSSNews
FOSS Fun, Xonotic Update, New SDL, DREAMM, Tech Freedom, FOSS News
#BigShow #FOSSNews #DistroNews #TechFreedom #LinnuxMint #RedHat #OBS #KDE #xonotic #SDL #DREAMM
Big Show, FOSS News, Distro News, FOSS Fun, Linux Mint, Red Hat, DREAMM, Tech Freedom
Distro News
DN 1 – NUTS
Nitrux Update Tool System released to help you update your immutable installs. Aww NUTS… Sorry, I had to. Let’s take a look at NUTS, shall we? It is a CLI tool meant to enable much simpler upgrading, which to date, has meant downloading the newest ISO, burning it to a flash drive, booting into the live environment, then carefully avoiding your home partition when reinstalling the OS. This tool allows you to skip that tedious process. It is not currently available in releases, but you can install it using git. I love the idea of the OS, and immutability is a huge buzz word right now for a good reason. However, it is not ready in terms of their desktop UI tweaks to KDE, much less their Mauikit and Maui Desktop. I do not suggest anyone use Nitrux right now because of those UI issues, but other than that, the fundaments of the distro are super solid.
If you are using it, here is how to grab the NUTS package and use it:
git clone –depth=1 https://github.com/Nitrux/nuts.git $HOME/nuts
sudo cp $HOME/nuts/usr/bin/nuts /usr/bin
sudo cp $HOME/nuts/etc/nuts.conf /etc
Once installed, use
sudo nuts to update your system
Or sudo nuts restore to use a backup which gets built automatically before you you actually update with the sudo nuts command
https://9to5linux.com/nitrux-devs-make-it-easier-to-upgrade-your-immutable-nitrux-os-installations
DN 2 – New Linux Mint Beta
LM 21.2 “Victoria” has a new beta release. Mainstream Linux Mint is still based on Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish, but this packs a whole raft of good stuff, in particular for the Cinnamon Desktop. Let’s preview what’s new, then shall we?
- support for touchpad and touchscreen gestures (huge, here… About time)
- a global Dark Mode setting for supporting GTK4/libadwaita apps
- XDG Desktop Portal support to provide users with better compatibility for Flatpak apps
- support for accent colors
- a faster Nemo file manager with new folder icons
- revamped tooltips and notifications
In terms of the OS itself, though, what is new with this next point release?
- a much-improved login manager
- better keyboard navigation
- support for Wayland sessions
- support for LXQt/Pademelon badges
- a configurable layout for the Onboard on-screen keyboard
- a scrollable session list
- support for multiple keyboard layouts
- better touchpad support with automatic detection and enablement of tap-to-click
- Other Misc things
- Full support for HEIF and AVIF images
- update the in-house built Xreader document viewer app to properly support Adobe Illustrator documents
- Update to Pix image viewer app with a rebase on the gThumb 3.12.2 image viewer.
- Software Manager app
- UI refresh
- better scoring/sorting algorithms
- tuned package list.
- Warpinator app received support for the Landlock and Bubblewrap technologies to implement folder isolation
This is a whole lot for the very conservative Mint Team, considering this is just a point release not a full upgrade, ie from 21 to 22 (which is unlikely until sometime next year, after the next LTS version of Ubuntu is released in April, 2024). As an aside, if you want to try Linux Mint out, I strongly suggest that you go for the Debian Edition, which very much allows you to avoid all of the missteps with Canonical. Given, even mainstream Mint cuts out Snaps and much of the other stupidity from upstream, but it also isn’t as fast as the Debian Edition. In fact, I think that LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) should be the default iteration for that distribution, rather than the original Ubuntu-based version because of the lack of Canonical mess and because it is just faster.
https://9to5linux.com/linux-mint-21-2-beta-is-now-available-for-download-with-cinnamon-5-8
Freedom Consultation
Free Call
Actionable steps to set you free
https://techfreedom.pro/freedom-consultation
DN 3 – Red Hat Goes Full Nazi, or Did They?
Ok, so until now, everything was more or less a free for all for any developer or team (Euro, Alma, Rocky, Etc) to access the open source codebase for RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), but now the team at Red Hat has decided that they want to exercise some oversight or something (is this a frog in a pot kind of situation, though?) in terms of who and how many access their code base. I have to admit that I got click-baited by the It’s FOSS headline on this piece. Once I really read the article, though, I realized my initial reaction was unwarranted. Lots of questions about how this will shake out, however, for now it doesn’t appear to be that bad. Some overreacted, as I did at first, but according to gloriouseggroll, who works for Red Hat, this change is not so much meant to cut off access to the code, but it can make it inconvenient. Developers of RHEL-based distros simply need to sign up for a free developer account and life can go on as per normal. How much will this affect distros like Alma and Rocky Linux? It looks like not much in the immediate future, but who knows how much this change will feed into real lockdowns at Red Hat? Only time will tell. Let’s hope that RHEL doesn’t almost go proprietary and totally screw over anyone who depends on one of these binary-compatible distributions, not to mention the teams behind these distributions.
https://news.itsfoss.com/red-hat-restricts-source-code/
FOSS News
FN 1 – OBS Studio 29.1.3 Released
So we have a new minor release out for the popular screen capture and streaming tool. I use this whenever I make a video or stream, so I get happy whenever they put out an update. What’s new?
- Many bugs squashed
- Source Record plugin by fixing a crash that occurred when properties are deleted in the callback
- improves the AMF (Advanced Media Framework) encoder’s reconfiguration and dynamic bitrate as they didn’t work in previous releases (AMF is the AMD encoder)
- AMF preset fallback to take into account the GPU reported throughput
- Also fixed window and game capture issues
- Also fixed audio settings issues
- Also fixed service selection issues
- crash with Freetype 2 text sources when non-ASCII text is used, and fixes other crashes in obs-websockets and Lua scripts.
- Properties dialogs now closeable by hitting the cancel button
- Fixed keyboard shortcuts weren’t displayed for some context menu items
- the View menu’s “Source Toolbar” checkable menu item wouldn’t update when the “Show Source Toolbar” and “Hide Source Toolbar” hotkeys were used.
- Fixed a bug where switching between “Fade” and “Fade to Black” for a quick transition would fail to work correctly
- fixed an issue where unnecessary undo/redo entries were being created for text sources
- fixed a bug where the placeholder text for “Group” would not be correctly localized when adding a new group.
Basically, a whole host of bug fixes, which I’ve come to expect with this project. OBS is a great FOSS project and deserves whatever support it can get.
https://9to5linux.com/obs-studio-29-1-3-improves-the-source-record-plugin-amf-encoder-and-more
FN 2 – Tired of Volunteering Your Data to Big Tech?
This is a top 4 piece. Top 4 alternatives to using Google Docs. The first 3 make perfect sense for general use, but I don’t know that I agree that #4 needed to be on a general purpose list like this. The first one is OnlyOffice, which is designed to be self-hosted in a private cloud, but can just be used locally as well. The second is CryptPad, the third is EtherPad, and the fourth is CurveNote, which is designed for scientific use and as a CMS for scientific teams.
OnlyOffice Docs
Is a fully FOSS, MS Office compatible office suite which enables you to connect with a private cloud or simply create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations locally. I use this on the daily. It generally just works, and is available cross-platform. One thing to keep in mind is that it will struggle to connect if you are using the flatpak version, as it has yet to be updated to the latest version. If you are working from a distro-specific package (AUR, DEB, etc), you are probably fine, and it will connect as soon as you tell it where to connect to. One thing that I wish was different would be that if it recognizes that you are in a given region, then it would default to measurements and layouts and page dimensions which reflect that region. Other than that, this is an excellent option for both local and cloud based work. https://www.onlyoffice.com/
CryptPad
I’ve done a how-to on the best way to install CryptPad on your own server before. It is not as easy to integrate with nextcloud as OnlyOffice is, but on the other hand, it is end-to-end encrypted by default, so if you are collaborating on something which is of a sensitive nature, then CryptPad may be a better solution for you. It also has the ability to work with documents, notes, spreadsheets, and presentations in its entirely web-based editors. You have the option to self-host (but that can be a pain, see my video on it here: https://rumble.com/v29wpc2-free-your-pc-friday-special-interwebz-news-and-how-tos.html) or use their French servers to store your files. This option not only gives you the protection of GDPR from the EU, but the extra layer of privacy laws present in France. You can choose to use it entirely for free, and without an account, but if you do that, then you won’t be able to collaborate with anyone. If you sign up for an account, you get a gig of storage for free and can start to collaborate with other users. If you pay a bit, then that storage level goes up, and your support urgency level goes up as well. https://cryptpad.fr
EtherPad
Is purely web-based just like CryptPad, but only does text editing, and is not end-to-end encrypted. It is also purely self-hosted. If you want to try it out, you’ll have to stick it on your own server, which you can do by following these directions: https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite#installation or you can hop on someone else’s instance, of which, here is a list: https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/wiki/Sites-That-Run-Etherpad, apparently.
Finally, we have Curvenote, which is more than a collaboration suite, as it is designed to be a content management system, or CMS, for scientists, engineers, or other technical professions. This is not technically FOSS, though it is freemium. That is, it has a free tier to whet your appetite, but it is limited to 1 private project and getting community based support, rather than unlimited private projects and dedicated support from the team who create the software. The paid plans start at $9/month https://curvenote.com/pricing
So, as you can see, each of these options have their distinct benefits and drawbacks, as well as a likely intended audience. The most accessible one, in my opinion, is OnlyOffice. The most secure one is easily CryptPad. Etherpad is the simplest of them, where Curvenote is likely the most specifically targeted one of the bunch.
https://www.tecmint.com/google-docs-alternatives/
Degoogled
Want to learn how to cut the umbilical to Mountain View, CA? Take a look at the blogs linked here. If you just want a Freed Phone, you can order one there as well.
https://techfreedom.pro/degoogled
FN 3 – KDE Plasma 5.27.6 Out Now
So what, you may be asking… I can understand that attitude, but bear with me, this update is significant. It improves both the wayland and x11 sessions. For Wayland, it fixes a bug where after a screen has gone to sleep and wakes up, the mouse cursor looks weird in xwayland windows, and that fractional scaling would often produce visual glitches. For x11, drag & drop files to take manager task actions have been improved, krunner searches for short character strings have also been improved. System settings has better keyboard navigation (about time), now you can actually use the arrow keys to get around, rather than having to tab through the sidebar menu. They’ve also improved the magic lamp animation for minimizing windows so it works right with floating panels, hidden panels, and multi-screen setups. They’ve also lavished more love on flatpak support in the form of proper support within Discover so they actually show up when you search for them, the correct version also appears when you are trying to update a flatpak. This is a significant bump in quality of life, if you have adopted the flatpak way of life. A couple of other bugs got squashed in Discover as well in regard to the weird error messages about metadata URIs, as well as to make the Software Sources button appear properly in the settings window. The Login Screen in Settings now shows you error messages which occur in SDDM, fixed a KRunner crash, and updates the “add new page” dialog in the System Monitor app so that it handles non-English translations better. A significant bug caused by simply moving windows around was fixed. Many other things were fixed, as well, so if you want a full list, take a look at the article this section was based on or take a look at the changelog, here: https://kde.org/announcements/changelogs/plasma/5/5.27.5-5.27.6/.
FF 1 – Good Old Xonotic Got an Update
Xonotic is a Quake 3 –esque arena shooter based on the Nexuiz project. This update brings some fixes for the AI and performance, some new updates to vfx, and introduces a couple of new maps and a few new game modes:
Mayhem – Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch where players spawn with all weapons and full health / armour. Score is given 75% based on damage and 25% based on frags. (this sounds like a fun wrinkle)
Survival – A few randomly selected players must frag all survivors, without being identified. (hmmm… Sneak around and hunt everyone…)
Team Keepaway – A team variant of the free for all, where points are awarded to the team in possession of a ball for each kill. (get the ball, and pray your team is more efficient than the other one)
If you want to see the changelog: https://xonotic.org/posts/2023/xonotic-0-8-6-release/
FF 2 – SDL 2.28 Released
SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) provides low level access to things like mice, keyboards, joysticks, audio hardware, and GPUs in an open source, cross platform manner. This is crucial for things like Linux gaming, and has been used by just about everyone in the gaming space at one time or another: Valve, Unity Engine, games & emulators, and others. Many bug fixes and other improvements will come with this version, most of which are above my paygrade, as I do not have any kind of grasp on low level programming languages. What you need to know is that a) this should make gaming better and b) this is the last major release in the SDL 2 series and they are now focused on big things for SDL 3.
Freedom Overhaul
This is the full package. A whole-life exit from Big Tech. Migration from Windows or MacOS to Linux. Migration from iOS or stock Android to Graphene OS. Migration from Big Tech email and collaboration tools to ones which will honor your right to privacy.
https://techfreedom.pro/product/freedom-overhaul/
FF 3 – Ever Heard of DREAMM?
It is another emulator, but this one specializes in classic LucasArts games. They’ve released a new version which added a whole slew of new (old) games and initial Linux support, so you should be able to play your old Jedi Knight games (among others) on Linux better than you can with ScummVM. Sound like a good time? Need a 90s and aughts LucasArts nostalgia hit? Take a look here. https://aarongiles.com/dreamm/